Published: September 07, 2007 10:27 PM EST
By: Isaac Joseph Davis Junior (Juniorscave.com)
New Music Spotlight: Droe Hefner
Droe Hefner
We are thrilled to bring you this next interview with G.Child (Allen), CEO of Longevity Entertainment Inc. What is the label all about? Well, the label is a music and film company that is taking the Indie community by storm. One of the hottest artists right now in the Indie Hip-Hop community is hip-hop/reggae artist name, Droe Hefner. If you have ever watched American Idol, Simon always speaks about the “It” factor. Droe certainly has that “It” factor to make a name for him in the music business. With a new release entitled, Droe Rock, one can clearly see the enormous talent by this young man. Check out this recent interview I did and learn more about Longevity Entertainment Inc’s Droe Hefner.
Q. What aspect of making music excites you the most right now?
A. All Aspects of music excites me, at this point because I like everything about it, from the beat making to the song writing, and the response to the music after its prepared and played for listeners. Most of all I love a good critic, which gets my adrenaline going to make better music. )
Q. What aspect of making music gets you the most discouraged?
A. I don’t ever really have a discouraging point, I just feel as if the fact that money is an issue just makes it more challenging for music t be made basically. Therefore, I'm never discouraged. I would say I get annoyed at time, which makes it even greater to welcome that challenge. )
Q. What are you up to right now, music-wise? (Current or upcoming
recordings, tours, extravaganzas, experiments, top-secret projects,
etc).
A. I'm recently in the Process of promoting my New Single "Droe Rock"
Produced by Gilflo Productions. It’s just another challenge for me,
given the fact that I don’t just Rap, so to speak, I do HipHop/Reggae/Rock/Alternative.
I'm also working my new album "Legal Status" which I won’t say too much about (laughs). I'm also doing many showcases here in New York to keep promoting and to make a bigger buzz.
Right now I’m nominated for the best buzz factor award at the Uderground Music Awards, "Thankx to my Manager G. Child" for all that hard work.
Q. What's the most unusual place you've ever played a show or made a
recording? How did the qualities of that place affect the
show/recording?
A. My most unusual showcase was a spot in Bowery N.Y. It was crazy but I never like the setting, but I made the most of it. It was rather small, not many people there, but I made it work for me. I had a few females onstage with me dancing doing there thing, and I appreciated them for that. As far as recording, I never recorded in an unusual surrounding though I must say I’ve recorded in studios around people who never believed in my music. Because, I never made the music their people was making; I wasn't saying the same thing gangsta slur
word for word. However, the outcome was different because I’m here pushing, award nominated, and making a U.S wide buzz while some of those guys are nowhere to be found, stunning, isn't it? A Jamaican right!
Q. In what ways does the place where you live (or places where you have
lived); affect the music you create, or your taste in music?
A. That question must be the ideal, if not perfect question to ask (laughs). I grew up in Jamaica until I was 17yrs. Then, I moved here and in that time I experience many great and violent things you could think of. When I came to the U.S, I saw it fit to change that lifestyle to something more calm and meaningful. So, that was all in my music from the Gangsta Hustling music to the violent killings music back to the partying club hopping music. And finally the Calm more mature person you speak to today. So it highly influenced each and every song I wrote, and as you know my image speaks for its self, at the end of the day, “I’m all yard man”. (Laughs)
Q. When was the last time you wrote a song? What can you tell us about
it?
A. I wrote not "A" song; I wrote 4 songs today, 3 of them Reggae, 1 hip-hop. They all sit well in there Shonra's cause when I do reggae I sound exactly like a Jamaican DJ Artist and when I do Hip-Hop it sounds
exactly as if I was born on U.S soil and never left; which is also part of what makes me different from most rappers, or upcoming rappers.
Q. As you create more music, do you find yourself getting more or less
interested in seeking out and listening to new music made by other
people...and why do you think that is?
A. I definitely find that I hardly listen to 85% of other artists. And I do so because I feel like, there's not much difference in the music currently. I think they all wanna be 50cent, Jay Z, The Notorious B.I.G And Nas. I only find that there are a few individuals I listen to because they don’t care to be someone else they are themselves (Eg. I listen to Kanye West, Jay Z, Bob Marley, Linkin Park, 3Doors Down, Chris Daughtry, Justin Timberlake, Ice Cube, and all my Jamaican Artists because they will never care about copying others, they are simply to flavorful).
Q. Lately, what musical periods or styles do you find yourself most drawn to as a listener? (Old or new music? Music like yours or different from yours?)
A. I'm not at any musical period at this time because I listen to everything even the one's I don’t feel, because I like to be different so I like to listen and know or study how to be different; especially, what not to write about or what no one else hasn’t written about. It doesn't matter old, new, I listen to them all. I believe to listen is to become better, and to appreciate and respect all music is to understand all music. I like to think that’s what makes me the artist who is Jamaican but does all these different types of music that no one else does all at once.
Q. Name a band or musician, past or present, who you flat-out LOVE and
think more people should be listening to. What's one of your all-time
favorite recordings by this band/musician?
A. I would say my very own Music Icon, "BoB Marley", because what he did was more than hip-hop originating from the Bronx. He actually brought Reggae across the sea's and over into foreign countries and made them love it. I mean before Michael Jackson, before Elvis, and the Beatles Who else made such moves? I don’t have a favorite from Bob though because I like everything he did because they all had meaning politically and just simply by writing a song. If you understand what
I mean, he was like The Musical Nelson Mandela of his time.
Q. What's the saddest song you've ever heard?
A. "Graced Once, shot twice", because it may have been one of the most revealing songs I’ve ever written about my life and true experiences that might not should have been written.
Droe Herner: Thanks for your support
Photo used in this story was provided by Droe Hefner.
Junior's Cave Online Magazine/JC Internet Radio Staff Team,
