CooLikeDat Exclusive: Interview W/ XV

So after about how many months... @XtotheV finally returns the e-mailed questions we sent to him! He is a real cool dude. To listen to some of XV's tracks while reading. Check the Bottom.

Interview After The Jump

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CLD: Who is XV?

XV: A humble, driven, quirky little dude from the middle of the map that went against all odds and pursued his dream and is now watching as it all becomes real! Haha.

CLD: How did you get started rapping?

XV: I've been taking rapping SERIOUSLY since the age of 15, which is how I got the name "XV". I felt it was such a young age to be pursuing this career, and releasing my own albums that I wanted to always remember the age I decided to follow this dream of mine so it became my actual moniker. I wrote my first rhyme at the age of 10 when I met my Dad for the first time. I've always ALWAYS wanted to do music, but the day I met my father in LA, who was also in the music industry at the time as a manager and an A&R. He gave me a black cassette tape with nothing but beats on it for me to write to. I wrote a song to every single beat on that tape.

CLD: You have a lot of material out there, do you have any favorites?

XV: As far as projects go, my favorite project is actually Complex Experiment Vol. 2 and The Square In The Circle. Both projects were points in my life where I FELT myself growing as an artist and a lyricist. So, whenever I listen back to it everytime it's just refreshing to me and I never have grown tired of those two tapes. "Final Fantasy XV" is probably my favorite song of my own to listen to. That and a record called "Familiar" on my upcoming project "Vizzy Zone".

CLD: In a world of internet hysteria, you have released a large number of mixtapes. Its even safe to say that you have more mixtapes than some people have albums. How does it feel to be so relevant without even putting out an official album?

XV: It's a gift and a curse. I love the fact that I can do a show in the most random of cities and because of the massive amount of free material I've put out, not only will the crowd know the songs I'm performing, but people will also be fans of numerous records and have their OWN favorites rather than just liking the 2 or 3 singles they've heard on the radio from my album or the "popular" songs. But this is still the music "INDUSTRY" so people have to realize I have to sell music to earn my stock in this game, and that's where the curse comes in. So, it makes me really excited to make a crazy and amazing ALBUM to put out for sale and see if all those same people who downloaded all of my free music come back through to pick up a full body of work from me that I actually went and put work in on.

CLD: Do you feel that the internet is a positive aspect of the evolving music industry? Or would you rather go back to the older way of finding talent, promotion, etc.?

XV: The internet is DEFINITELY a positive aspect of the evolving industry!! The internet has become as important as artwork, jewel cases and CD's to music. Marketing plans, single releases, everything that used to have to be strategically planned through the use of radio, television and street teams plastering the streets has all moved over to "twitter announcements" and blog posts. It's amazing. I love it. It makes music so much more exciting and spontaneous for fans AND artists. I can posts tomorrow on twitter, "Me and Just Blaze cooking up a record! Dropping it in one hour." Twitpic it. And it's a wrap. Now there's thousands of people all over the world waiting at their computers in anticipation for something that is being created right that minute. There's no "STRATEGY" anymore, and it has made the music industry much much more interesting!

CLD: Who is a part of your dream team (Producers, Artists, Directors)?

XV: I like that question. Well, the XV Dream Team would be something like this. Seven, Woody, Omen, Xaphoon Jones of Chiddy Bang, Just Blaze, and Kanye West on the production side. My hometeam members, Sez Batters and Freddy High on the artists side. And I like the "directors" being added to that, because I'm a very visual artist. So if I had Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry in my corner. It'd be a WRAP!

CLD: If you could do anything over again (in terms of your music career), would you?

XV: Not one thing. I think everything happened exactly as it was supposed to. I've had good shows, I've had horrible shows. I've had bad managers and a wack team and I've had a good and loyal team surrounding me, but in the end, every event, every person, everything has played a part in me evolving and without one of those things happening, who's to say I'd be where I'm at now in my career? And I'm very happy with where I'm at thus far in my career at my age.

CLD: (Favorites time!) Favorite TV Show? Rapper? Album? Video Game?

XV: Favorite TV show is The Office. Favorite rapper(s) Jay-Z, Eminem and Andre3000. Favorite album is "The Blue Album" by Weezer. Favorite video game of all time is Final Fantasy VII, as of late, Batman: Arkham Asylum.

CLD: What can we expect from you in the near future?

XV: An incredible debut album, "The Kid With The Green Backpack", an INCREEEEDIBLE tour to follow that. I have some really cool things in mind for that tour. And me dabbling into comics and screenwriting as well. And just building and building into a better artist as time goes on and I evolve.

CLD: Final question, what makes you CooLikeDat?

XV: The fact that I am myself and SO MANY people embrace it. Because there was a point in time where I tried being "coolikedat" and it wasn't being MYSELF and people always can see through that. So, I'm CooLikeDat because I can be who I really am, and reference characters from LOST in my raps and people not only understand it, but EMBRACE IT! That's pretty COOLIKEDAT to me! haha!

Look Out For XV & SEVEN Updates here!! Follow @XtotheV On Twitter!!!

"Awesome" XV

"Gettin' Bizzy" XV

"Fallout The Sky" Video


Search CooLikeDat for more XV Material! If you wanna basically get a taste of XV listen to Everybody's Nobody the mixtape. Well, I guess that's it! Just know this kid is a problem!