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2/1/2006 How are you doing? Right now, I'm just chilling. How do you want to introduce yourself to the HipHopGame family? I'm Sam Scarfo from Jersey. I put my money where my mouth is and do what I do. A lot of people don't like that, but that's just me. I'm going to come in, talk my shit, and sell a lot of records. I'm the next big thing. Where did you grow up? I was born in Brooklyn. Now that you're in Jersey, do you find it harder repping Jersey instead of New York? Definitely. I got signed off my street buzz, but if you come from Jersey, you have no radio outlet. If you ask anybody in Jersey, they'll tell you who Sam Scarfo is. There is no big media outlet here, but I just have to do what I do. It's definitely extra-hard. How do you feel about the way other artists are repping Jersey right now? I don't want to say they're misrepresenting, but I want to give you my side of the story. I think you have some artists that make Jersey look funny, and some artists that make Jersey look another way. How did you get signed to Def Jam? I was managed by Benny Boom. I'm in a group Con Air. Benny Boom set up a meeting for Con Air with an A&R at Def Jam. We showcased for the A&R staff. After I was coming out, my man got a two-way and it said that they were feeling the kid up there. They told me not to leave town. We did another showcase for them at night, and I walked out of there with a solo deal. What do you think got you that deal? My song-making ability got me that deal. They didn't know anything about my Fight Klub days. I was getting a buzz from it, but that wasn't the thing that got me the deal. I was grinding. I came from nothing. I'm that nigga that was really out there getting money, trying to get my label started. I have a studio and I'm always in there banging out. That taught me how to make records. I didn't focus on making mixtapes. On my album, you'll see that I'm not that mixtape-freestyle nigga. I'm not going to give you an hour of mixtape freestyles. I'm going to give you "Ready to Die" or "Infamous," something like that. How did the Fight Klub experience help you? Before the Fight Klub, I was the nigga in New York out there pushing my CD's. One day, they took me up to Fight Klub and I was watching. I watched it and I watched it. I was like, "You know, I could do this." I'm not really a battle rapper. I told them I could do that, I just needed two weeks to prepare. I went in there and bet $500 on myself, and I won $500. I was like, "Oh shit, this is crazy!" We came back the next day and just kept betting the money. We got up to $11,000 and then $20,000. Nobody was calling me off of this, though. How did battling help you as an MC? It's something that's kind of new for me. I didn't know that the battle thing like that was going to take off. I didn't think it would be crazy or that I would be "Fight Klub Champ." I didn't anticipate it. It's crazy. It's really, really new for me. It's hard for me to explain. It's hard for me to translate this into my records. I'm going to give you a Fight Klub record. Do you think all MC's should battle just to sharpen their skills? Yeah. And not just for that, but also for the adrenaline rush. The adrenaline rush is a feeling that I didn't even feel when I got signed. I definitely feel that every MC should go through that. How crazy has your life gotten since getting signed? I'm amped and ready to go! My record is crazy. I'm trying to get to the next level. I'm not going to go away. I'm not trying to battle anymore and go backwards. I'm ready to sell my records and get bread right now. How many times do you get asked to battle each day? All day. All day. I'm not battling nobody, especially for free. Now that some of my battles are leaking out, people aren't asking as much. People want to come at me correct. They know I'm a monster and I'll bite their head off. What would it take to get you back into the battling arena? It would have to be stupidly marketed. It would have to be a lot of money and MTV would have to film it. It would have to be stupid. I'm not going backwards. C'mon, I got Patti LaBelle on my album. If somebody wants to do it, I'll embarrass somebody and destroy somebody's career. Now that I'm in the industry, I'm going to start digging in people's business and put it all in my freestyles. We can battle for real. Patti LaBelle? Yeah man. I'm not playing. The album is real introspective and at the same time you're going to be able to party to it and relate to it. It's not a bunch of nothing. Right now, there's a lot of nothing out there. This album is not a bunch of nothing. You're going to be able to bop and walk away with something. How's your album coming? I'm wrapping it up right now. I'm looking at a May release right now. I'm definitely coming out for the summertime. What potential does your album have? My album is going to destroy the game. I'm going to bring the East Coast back. Remember I said this on HipHopGame. Sam Scarfo is going to bring the East Coast back. Jay-Z said that you're "the next big thing." Does that add more pressure to you? That adds a lot of pressure to me. I think it would be different if I was Jay-Z's cosign and repping Brooklyn. It would be different based on how the people and DJ's would look at it. I'm from Jersey and I didn't come up through the mixtapes. Some DJ's wouldn't even listen to my shit. I had to have a plan and be ready to crush everything. It's not going to take long. It's going to take about three months. The streets are mine. A lot of Def Jam's projects have flopped. How are you going to make sure your album doesn't flop? I'm working the streets. I'm about to do something so stupid. You have to your own leg-work. Nobody's going to work harder for yourself than you. Real recognize real. I'm going to go out there and make sure my shit doesn't flop. How would you say your buzz is right now? Right now, I would say I don't have a heavy mixtape buzz, but I have a few records out there that are relevant and have made some noise. I'm not on every DVD, but people definitely know who I am. Is Jay helping you with your album? No. After I performed my records for him and he found out who I was through the Fight Klub, Jay let me go on my own. He gives me suggestions on some joints, but for the most part, he lets me go my own way. He lets me work. Most of my album was done about a year ago. I'm working on a few new joints for it. In one trip, I knocked out a bunch of records. I knew I wasn't coming out until this year so I just stayed in the studio and worked. How do you take Jay-Z's advice? You have to respect his advice. I grew up off of the man's music. I'm not new to the game, but I am new to it. I definitely respect his opinion. Do you work fast in the studio? Definitely. I'm one of those MC's that just bang shit out. I'm a non-stop workhorse in the studio. Niggas are sitting at home doing nothing and I'm up in the studio putting it in. Do you have a lot of tracks in the stash? Definitely. I'm definitely going to be giving out some records pretty soon. I'm definitely going to be doing something crazy pretty soon. How do you work with Def Jam on a day-to-day basis? I talk to them daily. Their marketing department calls me a lot and I talk to the A&R department a lot. Since we're coming out this summer, we're trying to get things moving. Are you happy with how things are going so far? Definitely. I would say so. Do you see yourself in competition with other new Def Jam artists like Tru Life and Aztek? I don't see them as competition. We're all on the same team. Do you see yourself in competition with other up-and-coming artists like Saigon or Papoose? I don't really look at anyone as my competition. When my album comes out, you're going to have a "Reasonable Doubt." I'm different. No disrespect to those artists, I think they're great, but I'm in a whole different lane. I have monster records. I'll go record-for-record with anybody right now. What makes you different from everybody else on the come-up right now? I'm coming up a different way. I'm not going to over-saturate the streets. I'm not going to give the whole world my life for free. I'm going to let you look into my window a little something before the album drops. How has your perspective on music changed since getting signed? I learned that you have to stick with your team and the people you trust. You have to know who's your friend. Speaking of teams, are you still down with Con Air? Definitely. I'm definitely a member of Con Air and Con Air is alive and kicking. They're also on Def Jam, so they'll be out after I drop. What's the difference between Sam Scarfo as a solo artist and Sam Scarfo as a member of Con Air? Con Air is Sam Scarfo as a little more rowdy. That's the Sam Scarfo you'll see on Smack. I'm me, I'm me all day. But you know you get a little more riled-up when you're with your homies. You're also on the Madden game, how has that helped your exposure? That definitely helped a lot. It's crazy, because I wasn't nobody when I ran into the person that was putting together the music for the Madden game. She didn't know who I was. She was sleeping on me. I wrote that Madden song in 16 minutes. I was falling asleep when I was doing it and I laid it down half-asleep and kept it. I handed it in like that and got my money. I have to crush my way in. That's the difference. There are a lot of up-and-coming rappers that would have loved to have been on the Madden game. If I wrote that song falling asleep and in 16 minutes, imagine what my album is going to be. Stupid! I'm going to give you an example of a concept. It's the Patti LaBelle joint. It's me talking to my mother after I'm dead, talking about all the bad things I've done. It's crazy. Stupid! Renegade City. I'm amped right now. That's why I keep saying it's crazy, because I'm amped. Who's your team on Madden? My team is the Giants. I'm not really that good, though. I can't even front. What's your focus right now? Right now, it's to get hot in the streets. I'm going to get hot the right way. I'm going to really come in and get hot. There are a thousand dudes dropping freestyles and dropping songs, but how are you going to get your joints noticed? Who's going to fuck with you? I'm going to get my shit popping. I'm not going to tell you right now, but I'm going to show you. Do a lot of DJ's want money from you to play your records? No. I haven't come across that. Everyone that's been doing it is doing it for love. Shout out to Cocoa Chanelle, she's showed me a lot of love on the radio. Are you working on anything to drop before your album drops? Yeah, definitely. I have a mixtape dropping called "Welcome to Cainfield." I'm definitely going to leak some records off it first before I drop it. How did "Thug Medicine" with Prodigy come about? That's my man. Shout out to the whole G-Unit. Prodigy did this song with me before the deal. We just clicked. I have a bunch of records with P that we're about to leak. What's a normal day like for Sam Scarfo? I wake up, check my mailbox, work out, I own a studio right around the corner from where I live so I'll go in the studio and bang out, and just keep stocking up the clip because when I unload, it's going to be crazy. I'm going to start firing off. What do you want to say to everyone out there? Sam Scarfo will bring the East Coast back.

By Brian Kayser

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