SS: This is Jabari Majid of Sol Source here with a dope up and coming emcee straight out the DMV, named Lyriciss. How is everything my brotha?

Everything’s good man.

SS: Starting out, congrats on the success of “The Day Job” Mixtape. I understand it’s getting a lot of downloads and people are definitely taking a listen to what you have to say.

SS: First off, for those who don’t know you, who is Lyriciss and how would you describe yourself and what you bring to the table as an artist?

I bring Hip Hop. Man, there’s really no other way to put it. Everybody nowadays is doing everything…its kinda like genre bending with what everybody is doing. I keep it very very Hip-Hop. I may throw in some different type of beats every now and then, but I definitely bring back that Old School Hip Hop feel. That’s what I was raised on. I can’t sing [laughts], so your going to hear me rap a lot.

SS: How long have you been doing your thing as an Emcee?

I’ve been rapping since I was nine. I’m 21 now, so that’s 12 years at it.

SS: Who were some of your major influences coming up and Who are some of your major influences now?

Rhymin‘, I started looking up a lot to Big Daddy Kane. My mom played a lot of Big Daddy Kane, a lot of Rakim, a lot of Wu-Tang, and she played A LOT of Jay-Z. So that really played a lot into what I do. Nowadays I listen to a lot of Joe Budden, J. Cole who is out of North Carolina. He’s also the first artist signed to Jay-Z‘s new label Roc Nation. A lot of people are getting hip to him now, but I started listening to him when he dropped his first mixtape “The Come Up.” I also listen to Christian Rich who is out of Chicago. They’re some of those genre bending artists, but I just like their music, they’re dope.

SS: I noticed that in your material you mix your punch line game with personal topics that the average person can relate to. How important do you feel it is to deliver a message in the today‘s music?

It’s very important because a lot of people don’t understand. A lot of people rap nowadays and they’re just trying to get the money. But what they don’t understand is that being a rapper and being in the public eye and ear you’re a role model. These little kids are looking up to us. Like even when I’m around the way little kids are saying “Man I love the fact that you’re saying something more than just “Get That Money” or “Get These Bitches.” You know what I’m saying. I’m a grown man. I like females. I’d love to have money even though I don’t have much, but I’m an average person. So I’m going to talk about something that reaches the common man, because I am the common man.

SS: On your mixtape you have beats from J-Scrilla, G-Way out of Boston, and Arafat. How did your relationships with some of the producers on the mixtape come about, as well as your production deal with Equinox Professionals?

Arafat is out of North Carolina and is working with M1 Platoon, and 9th Wonder. We have a mutual respect for each other. We got hooked up through Mody from www.dctobc.com and then it just went for there man. He’s a real cool dude. Very talented. And to know he likes my music is crazy to me, so we just started throwing beats back and forth, you know. M1 platoon is a group from DC themselves. They’re all out in North Carolina right now working on the music with 9th Wonder.

As far as with G-Way goes, Mody from dctobc.com also he hooked that up. That’s somebody he went to school with up at Boston College. As far as J-$crilla, I’d always see Inner Loop Records around at the events. I hit a lot of the DC events. They throw like the Beat Downs and all that. And he said he liked my music, like my flow so he threw me a beat for the mixtape. Also, even though it hasn’t materialized into the planning yet, we are trying to do an EP together. As far as Equinox Professionals it’s funny because I’ve known Pro’Verb from way back. Not way way back, but high school days. He was messin’ with a female, I was messin’ with a female and they were friends. And so we ended up meetin’. That was back when I was cocky rapper. Like I’m real quiet nowadays. Back then I was real cocky so he was like “I’ll battle anybody, I’m the best out!” So I saw Pro’Verb again at Howard’s Homecoming last year and they were watching Los from Bad Boy. He was out there performing. We were watching them. So, I saw Pro and Veda there. I didn’t know Veda at the time. I’m talking to Pro like “Yeah, so what ya’ll about to do?” He was like, “We going back to the studio, you trying to roll?” I was like, “Fuck it, let’s roll!” And we did the song “Rapture.” And that’s how it started. From there we just grew a mutual respect and started becoming like fam. I love that track. We were trying to out do each other. We went to the studio and built up a relationship through the music and they asked me if I wanted to get with Equinox and I was all for it.

SS: What’s your take on the sound of the DMV? Do you feel the DMV has any particularly unique style that differentiates it from other regions across the country?

You can say that in the fact that nobody’s going to bring the vibe we bring. You have the Go-Go beats that are mixed into the sounds. You can hear it clearly in the DC accent when certain words are used, but I don’t really try to pigeonhole our sound as the “DMV Sound.” I think if it’s dope it’s dope. If it’s not it’s wack. Everybody has their own style. Like you hear Pro’Verb. He doesn’t sound super DC, but you can tell by the way he says things that he’s from here [DC]. Everybody is bringing something to the table. You got Ardamus and Flex Mathews that spazz out on tracks and performances and they don’t sound like…its like a southern mix of the voices here and you can tell they’re from DC. It’s the personality. That’s what shines through.

SS: “The Day Job“…Now that particular project was spawned through Hip Hop and rapping being your main source of income correct? How has that fueled your drive in terms of the time you dedicate to your craft and how often you’re in the studio?

Yeah, I’m just doing the music. I don’t have anything else right now. I’m looking for jobs right now. I’ve always looked for jobs, but ya’ll know the recession man. It’s hard to get a job out here. It is what it is, right now music is all I got.

It’s made me a so much better artist. Like I’ve always wanted to rap, but I didn’t have the time to focus on being a good studio artist or a great writer. So now that I’ve focused on that, its made me that much better. Its made me drive that much harder. Not only that, but just the birth of my daughter made me go even harder, because it’s like this needs to work now. I don’t have another option. My daughter is 1 year and I think we’re coming on 5 or 6 months now. Her name is Syriah Lenelle Bailey. She is my heart, my soul. I don’t get to see as much as I wish I could, but every time I see her you’re going to see a smile on my face man.

SS: When you are in the studio, what’s your creative process when composing a song? Where do you draw your inspiration from?

Life. The whole time. Like anything that’s going on around me I’m going to rap about it. If I’m sitting in the studio and I need a line to think of and there’s a DVD right there I’m probably going to rap about the title of the DVD or something that happened in the movie. Or if I’m just sitting around and its like a somber beat I’m probably going to think about a sad time I had and draw from that and make that into music. A lot of my music is very reality based. So a lot of it correlates to my life. I’m not really into the whole fantasy talk like I got this car, this chain and ya’ll know damn well I just hopped off the train. That’s just not me.

SS: So, when you do sit down with the the pen and pad, do you draw from verses that you’ve already composed or do you try to write everything on the spot in the studio?

I try to write everything on the spot, but if I hear something, a beat, and I know that I have something that’s already written that would be great on it I will use that verse. All day. I don’t recycle verses. You won’t hear the same verse on two songs, but I have a lot of stuff that’s pre-written just because in my spare time…like let’s say I’m on the train and I have a random thought, I’ll write that line. Ya’ll see it on Twitter. I’ll just post a random line every now and then because it just hits me and I might put that into a song. I don’t really freestyle too much in the studio. You’ll catch me in the cipher out here on U St all the time, but I don’t really freestyle in the studio too much. I feel like with the craft, I want it to be right. I want it to be perfect. I don’t want to freestyle a verse and it goes off topic and shit like that. I’m not Wayne.

SS: Speaking of creativity, I know you recently shot a video with director Gadget for “Doing My Job?” Why did you choose Gadget to direct your video?

Well, he got at me. He said he was interested in doing some work. If someone is really interested in working with me we can do it. I don’t care too much about the whole money factor or whatever. If you can bring a vision to my lyrics then let’s do it. He was interested in doing it so I hit him up. We did the doing my job video. We had talked about that when he had the footage from the “Go Hard” photo shoot. So, we went from there, he sent me the treatment, we got together on that day, we went over there by New York Avenue and got it done.

SS: Why did you chose that particular location, “The Historical Society Museum,” as the backdrop? How did you relay your vision to Gadget in making the video a success?

Gadget chose the location. I had no idea Hip-Hop Cinema was going on that day. I’ve been to the Hip Hop Cinema before, but I didn’t know it was going on that day, so when I got there it was a big surprise for me. I enjoyed it and it really worked in the favor of it, because that really is an historical place. It was great for me, I loved it. In terms of the video, I didn’t really have an idea for it, because at first I wanted to do some crazy stuff like we’re going to do “Doing my Job” and I’m going to be working somewhere. But I was like nah. I didn’t want to do it too much on that one. I just wanted it to be straight visual. Me putting the lyrics out there and we put it together. The next video that I do though, you’re going to see some creativity in that one. I plan to draw out that treatment or work with someone experienced to draw out that treatment. Not to say Gadget isn’t experienced, but we went straight through with that one. So, the next time I do a video you’re going to see some ideas out there. I’m definitely inspired by the homies Christian Rich. If anybody saw their “Famous Girl” video you gotta step up ya game after that.

SS: There are many emcees out there who haven’t shot videos, but still have garnered a certain degree of notoriety in the Hip-Hop game. How important do you feel it is to use media and technology to advance yourself in today’s music industry?

It’s very important. This industry, they’re not going to do it for you anymore. You have to be a self-made businessman. I do a lot of the work for myself. I have my P.R. Candice Nicole, my favorite publicist in the world. I have my management out in New Orleans, A Lifestyle, but I put a lot of the load on my own back. They kind of hate me for that, because I’ll do stuff and not tell them and its just because its spur of the moment. I have that worker’s heart in me, because I feel like no one is going to care about my career as much as I am. And that’s the truth. These labels nowadays, they’re not going to care as much about your career as you are so if you think you’re just going to rock on a track with some crazy bass and then make it…yeah, you might make it, because you got your gimmick going, but they’re not going to look out for your best interest. They’re not going to give you a million dollar deal. They’re not going to make sure your publishing is straight. They’re not going to make sure you have your song copyrights straight. They’re going to make their money off the top. That’s all they care about. So its very important to know how to utilize technology to do it for yourself, because all that can be gone, but if you know how to do it yourself you don’t have to rely on anyone else. And it brings such a bigger audience to you. I never thought I would’ve been on Two Dope Boys and Ill Roots, but I went out of my way to hit them up and introduce myself and they liked the music and it happened. Thank you internet.

SS: I noticed that you have a Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace page. Have those various networking sites helped you to advance your career?

Yeah, definitely. Like I said, it all helps you get out to the people easier. I just reached 5,000 friends on Myspace, 2,000 followers on Twitter, and 1,000 something friends on Facebook. And I don’t feel like I’m anybody too special. I feel like I’m a dope artist, but I’m not all over TV, all over radio. So for me to get that many people that believe in the music and enjoy the music is crazy to me. And that’s all thanks to the internet.

SS: What do you think it takes to succeed in today’s music industry given the leveling of the playing field as it relates to independent artists on the rise?

Number 1: Learn your business. This music business is a business first. Know how get your royalties, your publishing, your copyrights. Know how to get your own distribution; whether it be through iTunes or physical. Make sure you do that yourself. Know every legal term of any contract you sign. Learn this business. Have business tact. Know how to talk to people about business. Learn how to separate the personal side from the business side. Other than that you have to have your own drive man. Like I said, you can’t expect anybody to do shit for you. Push yourself man, don’t feel like you have to give up because its not happening right now. It takes years. It takes many years. I’ve wanted to sign to Rock-A-Fella since I was 15. Not to say I want to be there now, but I’m just saying that I’ve been trying to chase this dream forever and haven’t made it, I’m just making strides. It takes forever. Jay-Z was 26 when he really hit the scene. It takes a while to make it happen, but if you keep that heart in you and you know the business, you’re going to make it.

SS: What locally or nationally known artists would you like to work with in the future?

Anybody that’s really trying to work with me. Anybody that’s really about making good music. Yeah, if you’re about making good music and you’re about making it for Hip-Hop and getting it out to the people, let’s do it man. Business has to be handled, but I’m not really too much about the “Oh, I’m going to pay $500 to $1,000 for this verse, because I can honestly make good music by myself. I’m in talks right now with the dude S.O. from New York. Anybody that’s on their underground New York game knows about S.O. We’re talking about doing some stuff. I’m trying to get a track with J. Cole. I got the contact info from Drake’s manager and I’m looking to make something happen with that. Whatever happens happens.

SS: What are some of your upcoming projects that people should be on the lookout for?

I’m working on a new mixtape. At first I was going to call the mixtape The Lyriciss Lounge Show, but I just made the decision that I’m going back to what the first mixtape was supposed to be. This one is going to be called The Voice of the Metro. The next project after that will be my EP. That will be called The Lyriciss Lounge Show or something relating to that. Then The Lyriciss Lounge LP will come after that. The Lyriciss Lounge LP will be distributed through iTunes.

SS: And lastly, on behalf of Sol Source I’d like to thank you for taking time out of your schedule and sitting down with me for this interview. Are there any parting words for your fans out there or for those people that have yet to hear about you?