MC Reef | Respect the Artist Interview
How did you get your name?
Before I had it as my stage name, my Facebook name was Ambitious MC Reef and upon labeling a song correctly for release an artist asked me if Ambitious MC Reef was my name or just MC Reef and from that moment on I decided to stick with it
How did you get into creating?
I've always had a creative mind as a kid, I used to draw what I thought were futuristic designs for inventions, in a book that I eventually lost, I always loved arts and crafts in school and I was a huge nerd when it came to reading books, newspapers etc and writing stories. The women in my family were poets and I was into movies and watching how they were filmed BTS. In my junior year of high school due to my behavior (cutting class and sneaking electronics in the school undetected), I was placed in a program called "My School Has Rhythm Not Violence" where I was challenged to write a verse and perform it in front of the school, once I did that and received great reviews I decided to keep trying but it wasn't until 2012 where I fully decided that I wanted to pursue the dream of being known and paid for my work
How has creating changed your life?
Drastically, I was always quiet and people had to try really hard to get a solid conversation with me regarding my personal life and feelings but I found peace in being able to make songs about it and making it into a story rather than feeling like I'm always being interrogated to speak about myself.
Where are you from?
I was originally born in Brooklyn NY, spent my first 7 to 8 years in Marlboro Projects (Coney Island), and bounced around the other boroughs until we ultimately settled in Far Rockaway, Queens where I spent about 14 years of my life.
How did growing up in your neighborhood/city affect you?
In Brooklyn, I had family all around so it was more comfortable for me just to walk around, when I moved to queens it was just my mom and my sisters and I had to make a name for myself in the streets because I didn't have anyone to protect me from the street life whenever it would conflict with my interests. I learned quickly how to conduct myself, who to trust and who to stay away from, how to eat (hustle) and how to stay sharp in case my survivability depended on it
What did you do to advance your skills/knowledge?
I always found ways to stay active, if I was in school, I did most of my work before acting a fool, I worked around kids which taught me how to conduct myself as a role model knowing that i had younger kids looking up to me, and I worked in a library which taught me to always have an open mind for learning as I didn't know everything that i thought i did and there was still more things that I could benefit from if i just put the time in, I had seasonal hustles to educate me on how money works and I had my uncles who were very serious about building character
Who inspires you? Why?
My Uncles have inspired me a lot, all 4 of them were very different from each other yet they all had the same ways of making sure by the end of the day they were closer to their goals even if it was just a small step taken on a long journey, they all instilled different qualities in me and all showed me pure love
What is your goal when you create?
To express myself fully in a way to makes my listeners who may not speak on these things normally feel like someone is listening and that they are not the only ones dealing with these issues, and also to show people that you can go thru life and come out on top every single time if you stay focused on the growth and not the downfalls
Why do you create?
As a way to reach others who may not have an outlet for their own expression outside of music
What's your go-to song right now and why is it important to you?
My go to song is "Status Symbol 2" by Nipsey Hussle, it's important to me because in the song nipsey speaks on how he is enjoying the fruits of his labor because he took the time to understand where he was going wrong in life and how he can turn his life around for the better and inspire other people to take that same time to understand and correct themselves for the better.
What is your dream as an artist and what steps are you taking to reach your dream?
My dream is to connect with people on a global level, I am traveling overseas any chance that I get and I look for chances to perform in these countries to show people that I am a man of my word and also to encourage them to follow their dreams as well
What is the best advice you would give someone with a dream?
Don't give up on yourself, anything you wanna do, go out and do it. If it costs money, save up, if it's too hard, practice until you're good enough to achieve it! Always believe that you will make it
Tell us about your most recent release
My most recent releases were music videos for songs "Everybody Dies" & "10pm in london" and I also released a 3rd installment of a 4 song EP titled "Barz Over Everything".
Everybody Dies is a Freestyle to Logic's original song and was featured on my "BOE 2" EP,
10 pm in London is a song about how I ended up taking a trip to London and why, the video was filmed by this guy I met on Instagram who wanted to work with an American artist to help push their career to the next level
Bars Over Everything 3 was the 3rd installment of my mistake series that I release in between albums to stay sharp and test my creativity on different beats and genres.
Listen on Soundcloud
Connect
Instagram: http://Www.instagram.com/iammcreef
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