- 2 days ago
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00:00What up, though? It's the big homie, Kimbrough, right here.
00:02I got somebody very special in the building.
00:04My God, Negus, fresh up in the building.
00:07What up, bro?
00:08Yeah, what's the deal? What up, though? We in the city, right?
00:10Man, it's good. It's a pleasure to have you here, for real.
00:13I appreciate you, for sure.
00:14Yes, sir. Fresh off the tarmac.
00:16Yeah, man. Literally just landed in Chicago from L.A.
00:20My last 36 hours been crazy.
00:22Man, so let's get into it.
00:26Let's let the listeners know who you are.
00:28They ain't never heard you before.
00:28For sure. So shit, I go by Negus Fresh.
00:31That's N-E-G-U-S Fresh.
00:32You know, that name means king.
00:34You know what I mean?
00:35A lot of people don't know what that shit mean, but it means king.
00:37So it's a play on words, king, fresh.
00:39So, yeah, I'm from the west side of Detroit, born and raised.
00:41I live in Atlanta now, but, yeah, that's me.
00:44For sure, for sure.
00:45Now, me, you talked off camera.
00:48We were talking about you started music in 2017.
00:51Yeah.
00:51What made that happen, made that jump?
00:53Man, honestly, I was hooping.
00:55You know, I was doing the overseas wave.
00:57And then I had an ankle injury.
01:00I broke my ankle.
01:01Yeah.
01:01So, like, in between me trying to, you know what I mean, rehab and try to get another job
01:05or whatever, I started trying to learn how to produce.
01:07Okay.
01:07My cousin was already producing down in Atlanta.
01:09I was living in Atlanta at this point.
01:10Okay.
01:11And I couldn't do it, bro.
01:12The joint was hard.
01:13Yeah.
01:14So, me and him had, like, you know, worked on the beat together for some people.
01:17Okay.
01:18And I ain't like what they did to it.
01:19I was like, yo, y'all's song is whack.
01:21Like, it's corny.
01:22And they was like, yo, you can't do nothing better.
01:24In five, ten minutes, I made a whole song.
01:26And they listened to it.
01:27They were like, oh, no, you cold.
01:28And my cousin closed the laptop.
01:30Like, no, bro, from here on out, you rapping.
01:32Yeah.
01:32You know what I'm saying?
01:33So, at that point, it was for fun, right?
01:35Then, you know, later on or whatever, like, my mom got into, like, some legal trouble.
01:40So, I started using the rap as more, like, therapeutic release type shit.
01:44You know what I mean?
01:44Okay.
01:45I think it cuts on her, can it?
01:46No.
01:47But we'll bleep it out.
01:49We'll bleep it out.
01:49It's good.
01:50It's good.
01:50It's good.
01:50It's good.
01:50Yeah.
01:50So, therapeutic release.
01:52And, you know, yeah.
01:55Like, that was pretty much it, man.
01:56I was, like, if you listen to a lot of my earlier music, it's a lot of, like, pain in it.
02:00You know what I mean?
02:01Yeah.
02:01A lot of storytelling.
02:03You know, just a lot of pain, bro.
02:04I couldn't really talk to nobody about what I was going through because, I mean, everybody was leaning and dependent on me.
02:09You know what I mean?
02:09So, that was my way of just releasing, you know, what was inside.
02:13And as time went on, you know, my music started just becoming more happier as I started to flourish more in life, you know, make more money, you know, and do more investments, do more happier things.
02:22And, you know, now, listen to my music now.
02:24It's feel-good, you know, music that'll make somebody want to get up and do something right.
02:28Motivational music.
02:29You know what I mean?
02:29For sure.
02:30For sure.
02:30Now, your cousin, that's Alan Cash, right?
02:32Yeah, yeah.
02:33That's my cousin.
02:33Oh, look, you did your research, bro.
02:34Oh, man, hold up, hold up.
02:36Look, look, I do a little bit, a little bit.
02:39I got to know what I'm doing.
02:40Yeah.
02:40So, how long have y'all been doing music?
02:43It's since 2017, right?
02:44Yeah, so, man, yeah, I'd say like 2016 is when I started, like, kicking it with him more.
02:50Because he from here, too.
02:51Right.
02:51But he moved to Atlanta as a kid.
02:53So, we kind of, like, lost contact.
02:55But once I moved down to Atlanta, you know, we just reconnected.
02:58And, you know, we smoking chill.
02:59Yeah.
02:59You know what I mean?
03:00He'd be working on music, and I'd just be just there.
03:02You know what I mean?
03:02But if I'm just there, I might as well do something.
03:04Now, has he done any of your recent stuff or anything?
03:06He did.
03:07He produced a song recently for me called Good Job, Barry.
03:11You know, so one of my dogs, yeah, my dog, Barry, he from around here.
03:14He just passed away recently from cancer.
03:17Man, I just heard of that.
03:18Yeah, but he was well-known, well-loved around the community.
03:21But, yeah, my cousin, Cash, he produced that joint.
03:24Yeah.
03:24But he actually, I ain't going to say that he don't do music no more.
03:26Okay.
03:27But, man, in 2020, yeah, like, 2020, 2021, he moved.
03:31Him and his family, they moved to Thailand.
03:33Really?
03:33Yeah, bro.
03:34They moved to Thailand.
03:35That's dope.
03:36Yeah, him, his wife, and you see, he got two kids.
03:39Now, he about to have three.
03:40Wow.
03:40Yeah, bro, raising the whole family in Thailand.
03:42So, yeah.
03:43Man, that's what's up.
03:44Yeah, fire.
03:44So, it'd be kind of hard to, I ain't going to say it'd be hard to work,
03:47but, you know, they 24 hours.
03:49How about to say it's a time difference.
03:50Yeah, the time difference is hard.
03:50Yeah.
03:51Yeah, so 11 p.m. is 11 a.m. for me.
03:53Right.
03:53So, I'd have had, like, a couple nights where I was up 3, 4 in the morning,
03:56and, you know, we'd get on the call or whatever and work some stuff out.
03:59But, you know, all of my other producers that I rock with, you know,
04:02they from Detroit.
04:02They just all live in Atlanta.
04:03One of them live in L.A.
04:05So, yeah, everything Detroit-based for me, man.
04:08Okay.
04:08Now, who have you tapped in with in Detroit?
04:11Honestly, not too many people.
04:12But, like, I done politic and kicked it with, you know,
04:17chopped it up with Detroit Diamond.
04:18You know, she was recently on a Netflix show.
04:19Yeah.
04:21Kid from Doughboy's Cash Out.
04:23Okay.
04:23I mean, he came to the show that I had out here with Dom Kennedy
04:27when I was on tour with Dom Kennedy.
04:29I missed that show.
04:30That was a show show.
04:32I missed that show.
04:33That was literally my first, that was my actual first, like, performance.
04:37When I'm performing all of my music, you know, in the city of Detroit.
04:40And that was a great show for me, bro.
04:42But, yeah, he tapped in with me after the show.
04:45He, you know, walked up and introduced himself and all of that, you know,
04:47like a real man should, bro.
04:48Like, I rock with that for sure.
04:50And, you know, he definitely gained my respect because, I mean,
04:52he ain't have to do that.
04:53You know, people know who he is, you know, but he walked up,
04:55introduced himself to me, you know, tapped in like, let's work.
04:58But other than that, man, you know,
05:00I ain't really tapped into too many people out here because I don't live here.
05:02You feel me?
05:03Right.
05:03But what kids told me was like, yo, you got to start coming up here more.
05:06You know, I'm going to start getting you in these rooms.
05:07You can meet everybody.
05:08Yeah.
05:09That's what I'm on.
05:10The thing about it is that, and nothing against my city.
05:12Like, I love my city.
05:13Yeah.
05:14You know what I'm saying?
05:14But sometimes the only way you can grow is if you expand.
05:18Not for sure.
05:19You know what I'm saying?
05:19And that doesn't mean that you don't respect home.
05:23Like, you can't come back home or stuff like that.
05:25But sometimes you got to step in other rooms.
05:28Yeah.
05:29You know what I'm saying?
05:30Where everybody don't look like you, where everybody don't talk like you.
05:33So that way they can see what you bring and you can see what they bring and stuff like that.
05:37So only other person from the city that I have met was Bodie.
05:41I was on tour with Bodie and Benny the Butcher last year.
05:44Okay.
05:45And me and Bodie had chopped it up in Seattle.
05:49We was politicking for a minute.
05:50Okay.
05:51We talked about doing some music and everything.
05:53And it was the last city of the tour.
05:54And I was about to literally was like grabbing my bag to go to the airport.
05:57He had his manager come grab me.
05:59He was like, yo, you know what I mean?
06:00Like, let's chop it up.
06:01We chopped it up for like 15, 20 minutes, smoked a little bit.
06:03Yeah.
06:04And then, yeah, he a good dude too, man.
06:06Yeah, Bodie's cool, man.
06:07Yeah, he came through here about a few weeks ago.
06:09Yeah.
06:10So we talked about him and his project with Ant Beats.
06:13Yep, yep, yep.
06:13And stuff.
06:14So, yeah, that was cool.
06:15That was cool.
06:16Yeah.
06:16I rock with it though, man.
06:17Like I said, just getting back on that, you know, what you just said about, you know,
06:21things being different as far as, you know, having to leave and come back.
06:24I think more or less like with me not tapping into too many Detroit artists like that,
06:29it's more or less because I just didn't grow up in music in Detroit.
06:32You feel me?
06:33Like I picked it up late for one.
06:35And then for two, like I picked it up and my sound ain't necessarily the sound of the
06:39city right now.
06:40In some ways, you know what I mean?
06:41Yeah, in some ways.
06:41Beat-wise and stuff like that.
06:42But the story is still the same.
06:44Yeah.
06:44But as far as beat-wise and, you know, what's quote-unquote popping for the city, it don't
06:48really align.
06:49But that's not saying that I ain't about to be on that type of time with everybody because
06:52I want to work with everybody for real, you know?
06:54Because you can, I mean, like you said, like your sound, it doesn't sound like the typical
06:58Detroit sound, but you can tell that you from Detroit.
07:01For sure.
07:01Definitely.
07:01Like everybody can tell, people from Detroit can tell who from Detroit, the way they talk.
07:07So you can hear it, but I definitely feel what you're saying.
07:10Yeah.
07:10So right now you on the tour with Primo Rice, second free tour.
07:14Yep.
07:14How's that been going?
07:15Man, it's been going great, bro.
07:17Like I said, I was on tour with Dom Kennedy and, you know, them shows was back to back
07:21to back to back to back.
07:22Right.
07:22At least with Primo, you know, we be getting a few days, a lot of more weekend stuff.
07:26But it's, like I said, it's last 36 been crazy.
07:28LA, Chicago to here.
07:30Yeah.
07:30But it's been great, dog.
07:31The response from the crowd been crazy.
07:34I could see my growth in it, you know what I mean?
07:38Like, I'm not the headliner, you feel me?
07:40But it's to the point to where when people hear my song for me to come out, they got
07:44their phones out already.
07:45Exactly.
07:46You know, I had a show in Nashville last week and I'm recording, you know, I'm rapping
07:50doing my set and there's people in the front like, yo, play Red Eyes from Seattle.
07:54It's not even on my set list.
07:55It's a song I dropped in, like, 2021.
07:57Yeah.
07:57They just kept saying, play Red Eyes from Seattle.
07:59So I'm like, all right, I'm a performer.
08:01You better know all the words.
08:03My dog rapped every single word.
08:05I see.
08:06Like, every single.
08:06So I'm starting to get that type of effect where the crowd rapping my words, you feel me?
08:10Like, wanting the, Primo got his meet and greet.
08:13I walk out, people want to meet and greet me too type thing.
08:15You know what I mean?
08:16So I'm definitely seeing the growth, man.
08:18That's what's up.
08:19It's great to see.
08:20You feel me?
08:20I'm smiling, thinking about it.
08:21Like, it's good to see the work paying off.
08:24That's what you should, man.
08:25That's what you should, man.
08:26So with the tour, you know, a lot of people expect you to, like, put something else out.
08:34Yeah.
08:35Like, you got something working on now?
08:36Yeah, I'm working on a project right now.
08:38Me and a producer named Black Metaphor.
08:40Okay.
08:41Yeah, Black Metaphor, man.
08:42You may or may not know his name, but you know his music.
08:45I put it that way.
08:46Like, he produced a lot of songs for Rick Ross, Nas, French Montana, you know, just everybody,
08:52bro.
08:52I ain't gonna lie to you.
08:53Wayne, like, you know his music if you hear it.
08:56But he and I tapped in, in the A. You know what I mean?
08:59He live in Atlanta, and you know, he liked my music, and he was like, yo, bro, like,
09:03I'll trust you to do well with this musical, with these beats.
09:07So he sent me a pack over.
09:08He sent me packs literally for months, and I picked out whichever ones I wanted, and you
09:12know, he was like, yeah, so we're gonna have a collab project.
09:15I'm gonna drop it probably towards the end of the summer.
09:18Okay.
09:18But right now, I'm just focused on just dropping singles with videos, you know what I mean?
09:21Definitely.
09:22Yeah, because that is definitely where it's at, because I'm following your one track right
09:26now, Alexander O'Neal.
09:27Yeah, that's my joint.
09:28Wait, who produced that song?
09:29My dog, Crow.
09:30He from Detroit.
09:31Okay.
09:31Yeah, he live in L.A.
09:33He produced that joint, yeah.
09:35Okay.
09:35Yeah, his name Crow, man.
09:36Shout out to him.
09:37Now, when it comes to the beats, because I love an old school beat, especially when
09:43it taps into the music of the 80s and stuff like that.
09:47How do you go about, when you're selecting a beat and stuff like that, how does it come
09:53to you?
09:54You know what I'm saying?
09:55How do you write right to that?
09:56Yeah, so, man, that's a good question.
10:00A lot of the joints that I've sampled or that I've utilized, you know, it kind of like correlates
10:07back to my old days.
10:08So, you know, I'm from here, born and raised.
10:10But I spent my school years here, and I used to spend my summers sometimes here, if I was
10:15playing, like, you know, PAL, sports, baseball or something like that, basketball.
10:19But I would be in New Jersey with my mom.
10:21Okay.
10:22You know what I mean?
10:22Like, when my mom's side of the family, because my mom originally from New Jersey.
10:25She moved here in high school.
10:26She graduated from Cooley.
10:27So, getting back to your question, like, we would always take them drives.
10:31It's like 10 hours, you know what I mean, from here to New Jersey.
10:34And literally all the songs that I'd be, like, you know, kind of tapping into, just music
10:38that we used to listen and ride to back in the day.
10:41So, like, hearing, you know, the Alexander O'Neal joint, you know, like, I got, like,
10:44a sample from, like, Kissing You by, you know what I mean, by Total.
10:48You know what I mean?
10:49So, like, just all those type of tracks, like, it correlates because that's just what I'm
10:53used to hearing.
10:54You know what I mean?
10:54Like, even, you know, just being in Motown, bro, you know where we from.
10:57You feel me?
10:57Like, all that type of music, that's the heart of the city.
11:00You know what I mean?
11:01So, it's easy for me to create to it because that's what I listen to on the day.
11:03That's what's up.
11:04And that's what I grew up on.
11:05You know what I mean?
11:06Yeah, man.
11:07That's why I said, I think that's what makes your music so relatable for me.
11:10Yeah.
11:11Like, it just, it resonates because it's something that you grew up on and stuff like that.
11:16So, that's what's up.
11:17Listen to the, listen to, next time you listen to Good Job, Barry.
11:20Okay.
11:20Like, I rap at the beginning.
11:22But ironically, bro, like, my dawg Barry had, like, recorded something.
11:27You know, like, recorded, he was talking about me.
11:29Right?
11:29He was talking about me as an artist and stuff like that.
11:32And at the end of what he's talking about, he talks about how my music, you know, has,
11:38like, helped him, you know what I mean?
11:39Or, like, made him remember, like, his childhood.
11:43You know what I mean?
11:43Like, similar to what you're saying, it just reminded him of the past and made him get
11:47in a happy place from the samples and, you know, the beats and everything like that.
11:51Now, is that what music does for you?
11:54Yeah, it do, bro.
11:56You know what I mean?
11:56So, listen to the samples and stuff like that.
11:59I'm, like, creating new memories, you know, based on memories that I've already had from
12:03those beats that I used to take them rides to.
12:05You know what I mean?
12:05Like, literally used to be on that road in the little small, the smallest of cars, you
12:10feel me?
12:11Like, ice coolers and everything with sandwiches and, you know what I mean?
12:15Juice and all the type of stuff.
12:16Just listen to the music, bro.
12:18We had tapes back then.
12:19It wasn't no CDs.
12:20It was just tapes.
12:20Pop the tape in, you know, flip it around.
12:23Mary J. Blige and my life, you know what I mean?
12:24Just all that type of good music, bro.
12:26That's classic stuff.
12:27It's like me and my moms, we used to take them trips, man, and her, uh, she used to have
12:31a Geo Metro.
12:33Hey, I ain't gonna lie.
12:33That's the same joint my mama had.
12:35Yeah, she had a Geo Metro with the tape deck, man.
12:37It is, man, I can go on and on, but you always take those trips, too, so I definitely, definitely
12:42can relate.
12:44So, how many more days do you have left on the tour?
12:46The tour's about to wrap up soon.
12:47Yeah, it's wrapping up.
12:48We got, um, we actually got two more shows.
12:50We got a show in New York and a show in Washington, D.C., which is where Primo from.
12:55Yeah, yeah.
12:55He's from around the area.
12:56So, yeah, we got them two shows in a couple weeks.
12:59Okay.
12:59After that, I'm gonna start, um, you know, taking a look at my analytics, because I'm 100% independent.
13:04So, take a look at my analytics and figure out, you know, what cities it makes sense
13:08for me to start having my own shows, because I'm seeing, you know, the progress, you know,
13:12from these cities or these two tours that I've been on this year, I didn't see any progress
13:16to where I'm like, all right, I know I can go to a couple cities or a few cities and have
13:20my own show, especially Detroit.
13:21I know I could come here.
13:22Definitely.
13:22Yeah, I know I could come here and have my own show.
13:24Cleveland, I can go there.
13:25L.A., I can go there.
13:26So, like, at this point, it's like, all right, cool.
13:28I gotta start investing fully into myself.
13:31Right.
13:31That's the only way it's gonna pay off, for sure, for sure.
13:33So, now, who, because we're gonna start manifesting some things right now, who would
13:40you want on the show with you?
13:42Payroll.
13:42Okay.
13:43Easily.
13:44Okay.
13:44Payroll, like, before I was even rapping, he was somebody that I would listen to, like,
13:49pre-basketball game, you know what I mean?
13:51When you said something about, you know, tapping into people, like, Payroll, it's people
13:55I didn't already talk to them, you know what I mean?
13:57Like, he's somebody that I definitely want to do a song with.
13:59He's my favorite rapper from the city.
14:00I can feel that.
14:01Yeah, Payroll, for sure, and Peezy, you know?
14:03Okay.
14:04He's somebody.
14:04But other than that, you know, it's, like, people that's not from the city, you know what
14:08I mean?
14:08People that I didn't kind of, like, make connections with from other cities that, you know, like,
14:12one of my dogs in Memphis is named Goldie Rebel.
14:15He fired.
14:15Okay.
14:15Like, I want to bring him along.
14:17One of my other homies in Atlanta, you know, we started doing music around the same time.
14:20His name, King Elway.
14:21He fired.
14:22Okay.
14:22So, you know, just doing that and then going into these different cities and tapping into
14:26the people that's there, you know, like, my label is called One Up, We All Up, so it's,
14:29like, big on community.
14:31Okay.
14:31I mean, my slogan is, if I'm up, then you up.
14:33If you up, then we up.
14:34For sure.
14:35So, I'm, like, if I got some motion, I didn't create some motion for myself, you know,
14:39it don't cost nothing to have somebody from a local spot, you feel me, local DJ, local
14:43whatever, to come let them do their thing in their city, bro.
14:46You know what I mean?
14:47Like, people lose track of that all the time.
14:48It ain't always about a dollar.
14:50It's just sometimes about helping people out.
14:51I respect that.
14:52Yeah.
14:53I respect that.
14:53We definitely got to tap in because we do a lot of community involvement here at the
14:56station, so definitely got to tap in for that for sure, man.
15:00For sure, for sure.
15:01Well, anything you want to leave with the listeners, where can they find you on socials?
15:05We're going to get some music, all that.
15:06Yeah, so y'all can follow me at Negus Fresh.
15:08That's N-E-G-U-S Fresh on all social media.
15:11That's where my music is being played, streamed, videos on YouTube, you know what I mean?
15:15Run everything up because if I get paid, then y'all get paid.
15:18Y'all get paid with dope stuff, so yeah.
15:20For sure, for sure.
15:22Negus Fresh, man.
15:23I appreciate you, bro.
15:23I appreciate you, for sure, man.
15:25Thank you for having me in the city.
15:26Yes, sir.
15:26Yeah.
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