How can you out smart the smartest in the game? You might have to go back to school. Let me introduce, Alumni da Graduate, the smartest in the game, he has more degrees then most rappers have chains! Hailing from Georgia, Alumni has built a reputation as a serious rapper since his days of college. After releasing several successful singles in the underground, he has now released his debut album, "Well Respected", which was released on February 17th. Alumni opened up for acts like Pastor Troy, Bone Crusher, Killer Mike, and more. I had the chance to sit and talk to Alumni about his upcoming album release, his relationship with the military, his plans in the near future, and just what makes him the smartest rapper in the industry. So let's all sit down while Alumni teaches us a little about his hustle…
J-Chase: So where were you actually born and raised?
Alumni: Man I was born and raised in Brooklyn NY, and my Dad was in the military so we moved around allot, Japan, and New Mexico, South Dakota, New Jersey, and when he got out we relocated to Georgia where most of my family lives, so we been here since I was like 13, and started honing in my skills and getting into this music game.
J-Chase: So what was it like growing up there?
Alumni: Growing up down here in the south it's crazy, you know our pioneers are Outkast, Goodie Mob, Luke, UGK, Master P, even Cash Money, so you know being down here with the music scene breaking out, we like hey we can do this , just like everyone on the east coast and everyone on the west coast. We down here just looking up and seeing the Tupac and the Biggie situation, the Bone, the Twister, and all of a sudden we had our pioneers coming down here and laying down the carpet to make way for the rest of us to smash on the game like we doing now.
J-Chase: You were raised as an Army Brat, what effect did that have on you?
Alumni: Every 2 or 3 years having to move to a new base. It really let me know and showed me that there was a whole big world out there, letting me know there are other things out there, and by age 13 I had been all around the world. I had been on my own little tour and going here and going there let me see the different cultures and help me cultivate my style and bring that to my music.
J-Chase: So what age did you actually start rapping?
Alumni: I think it was about 10 years old. My dad used to pull out the old records, he used to play the Run DMC and Grandmaster Flash, and it as something that I just started gravitating to, and then around middle school I got into my first talent show, and ever since then I just been doing my thing.
J-Chase: What was it that inspired you to start rapping?
Alumni: Pretty much what inspired me was seeing how these cats was expressing themselves, they had their own styles and didn't conform to nothing, besides that, that pretty much pulled me in and I started writing raps and starting formulating the flow and started reading heavy to build my vocabulary up so I can manipulate more words and what have you, and even then I was break dancing and all the whole culture, I never really started graffiti because I wasn't trying to catch a charge for that.
J-Chase: Now you got your Bachelors Degree & a Master Degree in Biology, what career were you planning on following?
Alumni: Pretty much I just had one thing I learnt just having all type of opportunity open to me, and have a plan B. I was always into my school and always into my studies and always loved to rap, so with my degrees I had plans to be a Doctor, and I ended up teaching. I been in the classroom for a couple years teaching kids, and even with my music you know, relating to the kids, that helped me build a connection between the classroom when I was doing those endeavors.
J-Chase: So how long did you have to spend in school to get those?
Alumni: I want to say a total of about 6 or 7 years in school, writing raps and getting my school done. Now I'm on this full time grind and I got a backup plan if it doesn't pan out.
J-Chase: If you could work with any one, who would it be?
Alumni: If I could work with any one right now it would be Andre 3000.
J-Chase: What's the biggest influence in your life and music?
Alumni: My biggest influence was like Wu-Tang, I was just a wu-head, they really inspired me, Onyx, KRS-One, Tribe Called Quest, T.I. , and I'm still inspired by the ones that doing hard still.
J-Chase: Now you just released an album, can you tell us a little about it?
Alumni: The name of the album is "well respected", it's dropping February 17th, on CD Baby, Major Distributors, ITunes, Rhapsody, it's kind of like a collection of works that I did over the last year and a half. There are 10 hot bangers, the single "I can do that" been getting heavy review from the ladies, and a couple of DJ's hopped on it too, it's just a feel good album, it's got something on there for everyone.
J-Chase: Who did the production for the album?
Alumni: Some of the hottest underground producers, the Beat Gorillas, 229 Productions, Sermout Productions, these cats really got some fire and some heat, they blessed me with some wonderful tracks that I could lay my vocals to and make a harmonized marriage to.
J-Chase: Are you looking around for a record deal right now?
Alumni: You know the label game isn't the same as it used to be, it just not as promoted and solid as it was, you know we used to be like yea we definitely want to get with loud or with Def Jam, but as we seen over ages the ideas be kind of shady, money get cut 38 ways before it gets to the artist. So I'm just doing my independent thing right now.
J-Chase: What labels would you like to get with?
Alumni: I would have to say Slip N Slide, the way they doing their thing right now, the way they take care of artists, so yea it would be Slip N Slide.
J-Chase: You have any plans to go on tour this year?
Alumni: Oh yea, we're going on a promo run right now, we going through a whole bunch of spots in the area, I got Tallahassee coming up this month, I got a show coming up at the end of this month, and we going to a home coming, Georgia South West home coming, and I got some college dates for when college gets back in, and we supposed to be hopping on tour with Face to Face management.
J-Chase: So what can we expect to see from you this year?
Alumni: First you can check for the album, all day, "Well Respected" dropping on February 17th, and you know we got a good promo going for that, and we looking to do 500 in the first month, every 25th purchase gets a free T-Shirt, and I'm working on a little parody album, and you can expect that by summer, and we got another mixtape we been working on that's going to drop.
J-Chase: Anything else you want to shout out or promote?
Alumni: Just check me out all day, it's Alumni, the smartest in the game, Well Respected, check out the website, Alumnithegraduate.com, check out my MySpace page, myspace.com/nudae, and check it out we bringing it to you all day, shout out to my boy J-Chase, that's my home boy for real, this my main man, I been checking him for a minute he been checking me for a minute and now we coming together to make it happen.
J-Chase
AKA The Street Demon - Mr.Career Builder .Com - Slip N Slide DJ Head Squad Leader & Recruiter
