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9/19/2006 What's up? I'm feeling good. I'm about to head to the studio in a little while to finish a song I was working on last night. I have to stay focused. Your latest mixtape, Fully Focused, is out now. How's it doing? It's doing great. I knew we were going to do some things with it but the response has been real, real good. We just got reviewed in Scratch. They called me personally telling me they were really feeling the CD. We're trying to turn it up right now. We've been getting a lot of love and a lot of feedback. I'm very grateful for that. What are your goals for Fully Focused? I already put an album out, More Than One Way (available on website) and that's been doing real well. The independent grind is so different from the majors. We've sold about 9,000 of that. That album is more well-rounded. It has some street and party joints. This mixtape is to keep the name out. Why did you want Aftermath's Focus to host your mixtape? I reached out to him a long time ago. We have the same name and we respect each other's work. He's ridiculous beyond belief on the beats. The first record we did was "About Dat Doe." That came out so crazy that we just kept on making records. We put this out together and we're going to do more in the future. What are you guys working on? We have a few things up our sleeves. I don't want to put too much out, but his label A-Fam and mine, Loyalty, are going to do some things. You know he's signed to Dre at Aftermath and he's ridiculous on the beats. He has his label A-Fam and he has a nice stable of artists and I have my own label. What we did was we basically did a joint venture for my project. We united as one. I have a brand new album I'm working on called Every Journey Has a Story which should be out next year. Focus is executive producing that album. We banged out a couple of joints together. We're holding some of them. This is a dude who's worked with The Game, N-Sync, J.Lo and other big artists. It's a pleasure to work with him. I'm glad everything worked out. What's it like working with him? It's great. He's the most down-to-earth person you would ever meet. He's a very genuine dude. He's not on no industry shit. I respect that more than anything else. That's worth more than the accolades. He's a regular dude and that's what it's about. Just to give you an example, he dropped his mixtape, Ithadtohappen, and it had all big names on it like 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, Chino XL and Stat Quo, and he asked me for a verse. He's not on that industry BS. I respect that more than anything else about him. That's worth more than the accolades. There's a lot of rappers named Focus out there. Are you worried about any confusion? Not at all. At the end of the day, I own the trademark. I'm just waiting for one of them to pop up so I can shut them down. I trademarked that years ago. I'm not concerned about that at all. I'm about my business. People know my music and fans really know my work. That's not even a problem. I'm not even concerned about that one bit. You have a song with G. Rap. How was it working with him? G. Rap is a legend. That was a great experience. My man Mike Heron plugged that in for me. We went to his spot and banged it out. It was crazy being in his presence. As soon as I saw him I turned into a kid. I was like a fan. I told him he was one of the nicest niggas of all time, then it was work. We got mad drunk and worked. It was just crazy watching him work. I grew up listening to him and being on the same track as him was definitely an honor. He's a real good dude too. He made me feel right at home. How did your album More Than One Way do for you? The album did great. We've been on the hand-to-hand grind. I've been down to Florida, VA and some other places just selling them out of the trunk. I used to work for James Cruz at Violator. I got to see so much and learn. A lot of what I saw I applied to my career. I was able to make a lot of relationships and connections that I was able to use. I know how to approach people. It's not really about the product, it's how you pitch it. That's important. People have to understand that. You have to be approachable and you have to be likeable. You have to approach it in a certain way. It's a business and you have to understand that. Some artists' music may not be the greatest in the world, but their presentation is unbelievable so you have to respect it. What do you do as an engineer? A lot of people don't even know I was the engineer behind a lot of records like Tru Life's "New New York" record. I have my own studio. That's what I did with the first money I started making. We started building it up slowly. A lot of Dreddy Kruger's album, Wu-Tang Meets Indie Culture, was done at my studio too. What have you done on the production tip? I no longer go by the name Fokis out of respect for Focus. Me and my man JFR have a team we call The Factory. We've done records for a lot of people like Tru Life, G. Rap, Canibus and the Diplomats. We work. What's your relationship with Tru Life? That's my brother right there. We grew up together on the Lower East Side. We were working these past two years just banging out records. It's crazy. I guess a lot of people don't see the working side of him. I've seen him do three straight records from beginning to end in one session. He's a good dude and he's definitely going to win. Don't you have a problem with the Diplomats now? We had done a joint on the Diplomat 2 album. I think it's called "40 Cal." They never got the clearance for it so we're trying to resolve that now. I respect them for what they do and their work ethic, but at the end of the day, business is business. If there's any money that's made that I'm a part of, then I have to get my share. What are your goals for Loyalty Records? Right now the goal is to continue to put out product and keep that momentum. That's what it's about. We're going to keep moving and keep on pushing that product. We're trying to get that label situation but at the same time we're not going to turn down anything if it's right. I'm not a starving person that's going to snatch up any deal. I have a great team and great management (Rene McLean of RPM) and great support from a lot of people, so I'm not going to jump on just anything. You have a lot of groups like the Diplomats and cats from the South and Houston, they maintain control of their product. That's what it's about. It's business. That's how you have to do it. The way this business works, everything is timing. I learned that. You have to be playing though. You can't be on the bench and expect to score. It's all about playing the game. I'm enjoying it right now and it's beautiful. We're finally getting some loyalty on the Lower East Side and it's beautiful. We're all trying to get it at the end of the day. What's the next move for you? I'm heading out to the Power Summit. That's my motherland out there, the Dominican Republic. We're pushing this mixtape and we're about to start working on the album. I just did another video too which should be on my website soon. We're trying to work hard. That's what it's about. We're all trying to progress. There's also a documentary coming out on the Lower East Side next month called No Place Like Home. We're releasing the soundtrack on my label. It's all about forward movement. My moms always told me hard work pays off. That's the motto I continue to live by. What do you want to say to everybody? If you believe in something, just stay positive and move forward. You also have to be a realist and track progress. You have to keep moving and keep pushing and don't let nobody stand in your way. Don't get trapped in these streets because there's nothing there. Thank you for your support and be on the lookout for the new album. If you don't have the old one, please go get that. It has G. Rap, Killah Priest and Hell-Razah. It's definitely a tough project. They're all on my website. http://myspace.com/fokis2k http://fokis2k.com

By Brian Kayser

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