Details:
In the past couple of years, teenage rising star Apex Rich has had to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was almost homeless after his mother kicked him out of the house, a best friend he looked up was brutally murdered and the Jersey City, NJ native had to reevaluate his life path, quickly shifting hustles. Now with a sniper focus on his career as an MC, the 19 year-old is breaking through with mainstream kudos for his debut single, the righteous riot starter, “Killuminati.”
“The record basically addresses some of that inner conflict we go through,” Apex explains. “I’ve been through that. ‘I know I shouldn’t be hustling and being in theses streets, but if I don’t do that, how else am I going to pay my bills?’ That song references to when I was hustling. I feel like the devil be telling me ‘be out there, go get that money, fuck bitches. Bust your gun.’ Then another side, a Godly side of me is saying ‘be patient.’ Killuminati be going through my mind, soul and my body.”
Serving as the soundscape for his expression is the thunderous track produced the newcomers The Co-Pilots. They sampled the beat from the Rampage of Busta Rhymes’ legendary rhyme crew The Flipmode Squad “Wild For Da Night.” That song originally came out in 1997, just two years after Apex was born.
“I remember that record,” Apex Rich smiles, when thinking back to the Rampage smash. “I know that record had the club going man. I heard it a long time ago. The beat for my song, the producers sent it to us. We all realized it was from ‘Wild For Da Night,” and you know I love that type of hip-hop. Rampage was spitting that third eye seeing, that real rap. I grew up on that style of rap. I was a Big L kind of dude. I loved Biggie too.”
As a youngster, Rich says he didn’t get exposed to hip-hop until he has about eight or nine years and heard the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Big Poppa” song in the film “Hard Ball.”
“My family played a lot of Spanish music around the house,” he details. “My family is Dominican. I have two sisters and three brothers. One of my brothers played a little Eminem around the house, some conscious rap, nothing hardcore. Mostly Spanish music. More like old school Spanish, Anthony Santos, old Ricky Martin. My family was real heavy on the culture.”
Unfortunately, some of Apex Rich’s family were also heavy into the streets and played an influence on him following them down that slippery slope.
“Jersey is s wild place, it’s a jungle with no churches,” he elaborates. “My boy just got shot in his head this past November. He got robbed for some drugs, he was one of the kingpins. Its crazy man, to see one of your friends go.
“I was hustling as soon as I graduated 8th grade, I felt I was becoming a man,” Apex contiues. “I started chilling with a lot of people outside and it got crazy after that. My parents separated when I was a year old. He came back when I was eight or nine he left again and I don’t know where he’s at. It was me and my mom. She kicked me out when I was 17. I didn’t get it then, I understand now. She used to cook meals. Sometimes you don’t appreciate that and you realize what life is all about. Sometimes you have to learn your lesson.”
Out on the streets, the rhyme goliath had to turn to friends for shelter. Longtime friend Idris Black not only took Rich in, but he convinced him to give up hustling and dive into rap, and Black also got Rich a day job doing marketing until his skills-to-pay-the-bills, actually started translating into big dividends.
“Sometimes I get frustrated with my 9 to 5, but I can’t be lazy with what I do,” Rich says. “If I have to go to work, I have to go to work. If I rap, I have to rap to the fullest. I feel like I can’t be lazy. I’m not complaining about nothing. Some people don’t even have a 9 to 5. I can use that money to support my career and push my career through. When I was hustling, that really wasn’t me. I had a vision for myself of doing something better. I had faith in that. I used to rap a little bit, not too much. Not everybody knew I was a rapper. But once I dropped that hustling shit, I pursued rap to the fullest to see where it could take me.”
As Killuminati bubbles online, in the streets and on radio stations like Shade 45 via “Sway in the Morning” and Hot 97 on Funkmaster Flex’s show, Apex continues to field offers for guest appearances, gear up for his second single and fine tune his debut project Heaven’s Gated.
“The title means that there’s a gate around Heaven,” he opines. “Not everybody is going to get in. You can’t bullshit God. God forgives for your sin, but not if you don’t ask for forgiveness and work at being better. The title is just a small reminder. I want to make hip-hop music, but I don’t want to make it too hardcore where it’s all about killing and people dying. I try to make music that people can relate to. I’m just glad to have an opportunity like this and I’m going to work hard at it. I’m going to make uplifting, motivational music. I feel like I’m going to get somewhere with my music. I believe in my music.
Written by Shaheem Reid
[url]https://soundcloud.com/apexrich[/url] - SOUNDCLOUD Photo Credits: C/o - Hector Perez from Vogue MagazineStyled by SUPREME NYC - Killuminati Written By Apex Rich Produced By - THE CO- PILOTS Recorded & Mixed by David SiskoMastered By Mike Tucci
Born in the Ghetto written By Apex RichProduced by - THE CO- PILOTS
Recorded & Mixed by David SiskoMastered By Mike Tucci
[b][b][b]Born in the Ghetto Video - Directed by Wily Cat Films / Taylor Gang[/b][/b][/b]
“The record basically addresses some of that inner conflict we go through,” Apex explains. “I’ve been through that. ‘I know I shouldn’t be hustling and being in theses streets, but if I don’t do that, how else am I going to pay my bills?’ That song references to when I was hustling. I feel like the devil be telling me ‘be out there, go get that money, fuck bitches. Bust your gun.’ Then another side, a Godly side of me is saying ‘be patient.’ Killuminati be going through my mind, soul and my body.”
Serving as the soundscape for his expression is the thunderous track produced the newcomers The Co-Pilots. They sampled the beat from the Rampage of Busta Rhymes’ legendary rhyme crew The Flipmode Squad “Wild For Da Night.” That song originally came out in 1997, just two years after Apex was born.
“I remember that record,” Apex Rich smiles, when thinking back to the Rampage smash. “I know that record had the club going man. I heard it a long time ago. The beat for my song, the producers sent it to us. We all realized it was from ‘Wild For Da Night,” and you know I love that type of hip-hop. Rampage was spitting that third eye seeing, that real rap. I grew up on that style of rap. I was a Big L kind of dude. I loved Biggie too.”
As a youngster, Rich says he didn’t get exposed to hip-hop until he has about eight or nine years and heard the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Big Poppa” song in the film “Hard Ball.”
“My family played a lot of Spanish music around the house,” he details. “My family is Dominican. I have two sisters and three brothers. One of my brothers played a little Eminem around the house, some conscious rap, nothing hardcore. Mostly Spanish music. More like old school Spanish, Anthony Santos, old Ricky Martin. My family was real heavy on the culture.”
Unfortunately, some of Apex Rich’s family were also heavy into the streets and played an influence on him following them down that slippery slope.
“Jersey is s wild place, it’s a jungle with no churches,” he elaborates. “My boy just got shot in his head this past November. He got robbed for some drugs, he was one of the kingpins. Its crazy man, to see one of your friends go.
“I was hustling as soon as I graduated 8th grade, I felt I was becoming a man,” Apex contiues. “I started chilling with a lot of people outside and it got crazy after that. My parents separated when I was a year old. He came back when I was eight or nine he left again and I don’t know where he’s at. It was me and my mom. She kicked me out when I was 17. I didn’t get it then, I understand now. She used to cook meals. Sometimes you don’t appreciate that and you realize what life is all about. Sometimes you have to learn your lesson.”
Out on the streets, the rhyme goliath had to turn to friends for shelter. Longtime friend Idris Black not only took Rich in, but he convinced him to give up hustling and dive into rap, and Black also got Rich a day job doing marketing until his skills-to-pay-the-bills, actually started translating into big dividends.
“Sometimes I get frustrated with my 9 to 5, but I can’t be lazy with what I do,” Rich says. “If I have to go to work, I have to go to work. If I rap, I have to rap to the fullest. I feel like I can’t be lazy. I’m not complaining about nothing. Some people don’t even have a 9 to 5. I can use that money to support my career and push my career through. When I was hustling, that really wasn’t me. I had a vision for myself of doing something better. I had faith in that. I used to rap a little bit, not too much. Not everybody knew I was a rapper. But once I dropped that hustling shit, I pursued rap to the fullest to see where it could take me.”
As Killuminati bubbles online, in the streets and on radio stations like Shade 45 via “Sway in the Morning” and Hot 97 on Funkmaster Flex’s show, Apex continues to field offers for guest appearances, gear up for his second single and fine tune his debut project Heaven’s Gated.
“The title means that there’s a gate around Heaven,” he opines. “Not everybody is going to get in. You can’t bullshit God. God forgives for your sin, but not if you don’t ask for forgiveness and work at being better. The title is just a small reminder. I want to make hip-hop music, but I don’t want to make it too hardcore where it’s all about killing and people dying. I try to make music that people can relate to. I’m just glad to have an opportunity like this and I’m going to work hard at it. I’m going to make uplifting, motivational music. I feel like I’m going to get somewhere with my music. I believe in my music.
Written by Shaheem Reid
[url]https://soundcloud.com/apexrich[/url] - SOUNDCLOUD Photo Credits: C/o - Hector Perez from Vogue MagazineStyled by SUPREME NYC - Killuminati Written By Apex Rich Produced By - THE CO- PILOTS Recorded & Mixed by David SiskoMastered By Mike Tucci
Born in the Ghetto written By Apex RichProduced by - THE CO- PILOTS
Recorded & Mixed by David SiskoMastered By Mike Tucci
[b][b][b]Born in the Ghetto Video - Directed by Wily Cat Films / Taylor Gang[/b][/b][/b]