South East Hip Hop Magazine recently sat down and had a one on one discussion with rising North Carolina based recording artist Ron Beatty about his music, past, present and future and other things! Read all about it here....
South East Hip Hop Magazine: How are you Ron Beatty?Ron Beatty: Everything is cool man. I can't complain. Just been busy working "Heard About Me" and plotting on the next moves. All is well.
South East Hip Hop Magazine: How long have you been rapping?
Ron Beatty: I've been rapping for quite some time. Since 9 years old. Wrote my first rap called "Ya'll N****s Should Know". The hook was inspired by Nate Dogg and my verses were real gangsta, even though I wasn't at the time (he laughs out loud).
Ron Beatty: The era. I was a young boy in the era that rap was really poppin'. Like early 90s thru the 00s, I was young and just attentive man. I paid attention and gravitated to the sound of hip-hop. Plus, Rap City and Video Soul gave me the visual to really see it. Middle school cyphers at the lunch table and in the hallways gave me my competitive nature to want to be the absolute best. It wasn't until I met Nolo (Noland Hicks), a teacher at New Bern High School, that I really started taking music seriously, as far as thinking about making it. He always believed in me and went above and beyond to get me and my old crew, FRONTLINE, out there.South East Hip Hop Magazine: What inspired you to want to rap?
Ron Beatty: A southern rap star with a distinct story line and message; giving you a clear vision of what it's like to think and maneuver your way through life from a Eastern North Carolina perspective. We've never had a voice. The closest is Petey, and he came out reppin' Raleigh, or so it seemed, and that's not really down east. I drew inspiration from a lot of cats. From local to major ones. But I'm still unafraid to be myself, be different, be unique, and disregard the sound of the game and just do me. It has elements of the game currently, but it's in our form.South East Hip Hop Magazine: How would you describe yourself as an artist?
Ron Beatty: Through out my career, I've always made big sounding records. Records with a large hook, a dope beat and verses pertaining to that hook. And people always asked me, "Who are you?" Honestly, the shit used to piss me off. Not because they're wrong or anything. But just all of my lyrics are real. Like I really talk about things I actually live and do. So every song I make IS me, and giving you a piece of my story. But I understood what they were really asking me. They wanted me to detail my journey. Explain where I'm from and all that jazz. The beat that Kilo made directed me to what they wanted. In "Heard About Me", I told them everything from the beginning until now. I took it back to Nolo's crib, being passed up on in a possible deal shopping situation in LA, down to the hair grease I used to use, all that. And the feedback has been great so far. People love a story man.South East Hip Hop Magazine: How would you describe your latest single "Heard About Me" for those that haven't heard it yet?
South East Hip Hop Magazine: Who did you work with for the single and video?
Ron Beatty: Kilo Davinci on the beat. That's my little brother and he's come a long way. He's going to be a rich man very soon, at a young age too. All he does is make beats non-stop. Everyday, all day. Black Jeruz former G-Unit/Aftermath producer from back home in Carolina, mixed the records and added that seasoning to it. He's a cool dude and mad easy to work with. Crazy thing is, we communicated through email the whole time and I never do that. I'm more hands on, but due to our situation, email was best at the time. And my homie Travis Cherry, an R&B Grammy-nominated producer from Raleigh NC mastered the joint. He's the last one the records go to. After him, it's a wrap. Nerv picked the location for the video shoot and said "Yo, we should shoot that shit on the mountain trip in Gatlinburg." So I was like cool. Kelly luckily brought his camera too and shot some dopeness with us. We used a ton of his shots. Both of those dudes helped it all come together.
Ron Beatty: Just working on more videos. I'm going to single the hell out the game until the demand is where I want it to be. It's definitely growing by the day. By the minute. More people are sharing the video, more people are engaging with the content, more people are asking questions; I can feel the base growing. Once it reaches that point to where I feel everybody on the planet is asking about my shit, (he laughs), then I'll drop the album. I might do something special before then, who knows. But "Manifest Destiny" is in the works. Might be an EP, album, or I might do both. Haven't decided yet.South East Hip Hop Magazine: What other projects are you working on?
South East Hip Hop Magazine: Who are some of the artists and producers you've worked with or are currently working with?
Ron Beatty: I've worked with J. Cole on a few records, but I'm probably never dropping those. At least not in the near future. Everybody be like, "Yoooo, you got a Cole joint man!!! You crazy!!!! Put that shit out!!!!" But I really don't give a fuck. It's been mad people who dropped joints off Cole beats, even with him featured and nothing happened. Plus using one of those beats comes with so much red tape I'd rather not. So I'm not pressed about those. I work with my crew heavy. Kilo Davinci, Streetzmentor, and Nerv. That's my base for beats. Me and my homie Neman (Young Marcus) got a crazy record coming called "Windows Down". All those guys know my sound. Black Jeruz threw me some beats. Trav (Travis Cherry) threw me some bangers. Soul Keyz out of Trey Songz camp threw me some bangers. It's been mad love from all over the place I can't keep up. But artists wise, I rock with many from back home but haven't really had a chance to lately. Chriz Millz was the last artist I've worked on records with, from scratch. Dope artist out of Fuquay. I'm on my "me" shit at the time. Not that I don't want to work with them, because I do, but it's not the time right now. I got so many records with other people it's ridiculous. That'll happen more over time. I want my features to count and not just be songs that sit on my USB for 10 years.
Ron Beatty: Kanye and Good Music. Che Pope and all those guys. That's who I'm shifting my mind towards. They're going to see it. I know they will.South East Hip Hop Magazine: Who would you like to work with in the future?
Ron Beatty: In a studio out in LA, with my crew around, working on the project. Something new. Still smoking, still drinkin' Paul, still the same ballin' shorts, still the same people around, still making music for home. Just a little more money and fame. Nothing too much is going to change on the work side. We're workaholics bro. That's all we do.South East Hip Hop Magazine: Speaking of the future, where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
Ron Beatty: Material. Dope material. If you're the type to like visuals, videos and all that, then you're going to love what Life's Grand is bringing to the table. That's my brand by the way if you didn't know. But yea, we've got things mapped out thru the end of the year. And definitely shows. A lot of shows. They'll be in the southeast part of the country initially, like GA, SC, FLA, NC and such. They'll end up all over soon. Check ronbeattync.com soon for dates.South East Hip Hop Magazine: In the more immediate future, what do you have going on for the rest of 2015?
Ron Beatty: God for making everything so hard so I can appreciate the blessings to come. I don't know why, but he's made my journey super hard for some reason (he laughs). And shout out everybody that hasn't heard about me, but you will soon. I promise.Is there anything else you would like to plug? Any shout outs?
CHECK OUT RON BEATTY AT THESE DIRECT LINKS
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Contact Nerv at nervreck@gmail.com
for more information!
Read more at http://southeasthiphopmag.blogspot.com/2015/06/artist-spotlight-ron-beatty.html#LEgXi0fOqACqOSDo.99
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