Lil Keef; if asking youths a couple years if they knew of
him the likely response would have been no. This name has blown up in the
R&B and Hip Hop scene in the last couple months, with him producing at
various concerts like The Crietrion and The O2; completely selling out tickets
at The O2. This was only ever else done by JLS.
So of course, the VIBE team
just had to catch up with him...
Q. “The last time we saw you were struggling to pay your rent,
how has your life changed since then?”
A. “Well ermm.. you know well shortly
after that I dropped my album, and my album that produced a crazy buzz. Getting
calls on this phone, asking if I’m free to open a concert on this line.. so
I mean my life’s changed dramatically, the best thing is I don’t
have to worry about paying no rent” (laughs hysertically)
Q. “What’s your fan base been like?”
A.“Well, I mean.. the
fans have got me this far because they believed in me and they bought myalbum so
I guess I kinda owe it to them...Right after I dropped my album within that week
I got about five hundred thousand more followers on Twitter so like yeah the fan
base is crazy and like it’s cpnstantly growing so that just makes it even
better. ”
Q. What’s like the maddest response you’ve ever got from
fan because I knoe you’ve had a few ?
A. “There was this one girl I
remember.. in a concert I did in ermm Chicago, I gave her my autograph.. and she
just broke down in tears. She just could not believe it was me. So like I took
her backstage and when my concert started I actually took her own stage with
me... later that night she actually told me this is the best day of her life so
like, I felt kinda proud and happy to be invlolved in that. ”
Q. Well we all know you relased your album called “Finally
Rich” but what actually inspired to make an album?
A. “Well, last year I
actually did a lot of covers and so like I just wanted to give my fans at
the time something that was actually me.. like I wanted to show my fans and
everyone else what music lane I was actually trying to go in.”
Q. Obviously it’s your album so you must like all the tracks
on there, but if you had to pick one as your favourite track which one would it
be?
A. “Haha.. well this is quite tough man.. ermm but track 4, “Laughin’ To
The Bank” I think that would have to be my favourite, I got my boy Kanye on that
one as well like yeah that one was real for me and also the most-known. But
reall, I do like all my tracks on my album, I mean I had sleepless nights,
that’s how hard I was working.”
Q. Obviously you’ve just released your album but is there
anything we can expect from you in the next six months?
A. “Hmm, in the next
six months..expect a bag of videos man, I’m planning to make a mad video for
track 5 ‘Understand Me’ and track 11 ‘Success’ so yeah and a few other videos
man, it’s due to be good.”
Q. One track in particular that caught stood out was track two
‘PAIN’, that came across as quite an emotional one. Was there a specific reason
behind the creation of that track?
A. “Well, I just wanted to let everyone
to know that I’m from the hood. I’ve felt pain! I’ve seen get their brains blown
out. I’ve lost people, I was was close to so I jsut wanted to make that track
and stay true to myself.”
Q.Staying around that subject, you spent some time in jail,
how did that have an impact on your life?
A. “Yeah, I was in the pen for
about 3 months. This was actually when I decided to music serious, so this was
when I actually started making my album..in prison. I started writing bars and
made sure they were perfect. I guess you could say I going pen turned out
to be positive.”
Q. Before we conclude our interview one thing alot of people
want to know is will Lil Reese feature on your remix of ‘Success’?
A. “Yes!
Yes and 100% yes!”