Walt Fraze is probably the most relaxed person you’ll ever meet, not so surprisingly, the vibe melds right into his music. His latest studio project, BLUE, features ambient production and laid back delivery–a sound he affectionately calls, “Jiggy Shit.” While traveling back between Philly and Delaware, Fraze, connected with Dirty Middle Class (DMC), a crew of artists collaborating mostly within the confines of the east coast. Recently, we caught up with the Delaware native to speak on the Dirty Middle Class Movement, college and what inspired Blue. Meet, Walt Fraze.

Is this the first project you’ve put out?

As far as all original production. Yeah, It’s the first studio completed project. I put out a few mixtapes last year, but this is the first studio project.

Why title the project Blue?

Blue, that’s just how was feeling around that time. It was a real depressing  and confusing time. I named the project Blue, just how Asaad did his tape, White. The way I watched his process during that time was similar to how my process was when I recorded, so I really just ran with the color thing. That’s just how the process went and the how the title came about.

Tell me a bit about your relationship with Asaad and how you build off each other.

When I was younger I grew up listening to Rocafella and State Property, as did he as a kid growing up in Philly. That just goes back to what we grew up on. If you listen to some old State Prop, these guys might recite Jay’s lines in their  lines. It’s basically like paying homage.  It’s basically how you make a foundation in this world of music, I guess.  It’s a big part of how we operate. That’s my mans and I respect him as an artist, so I wanted to show people that.  And I wanted to show people that when you think of Dirty Middle Class, don’t only think of Asaad and don’t only think of me. Think about it as a whole, as one cohesive space.

How did DMC really get together?

Dirty Middle Class actually started off long before me and Asaad came. It was something that my man Troy came up with in Delaware. They were  younger and throwing parties inviting people on Facebook, he’d be like come to this Dirty Middle Class party. It basically came from that and me and Asaad started making music up in Philly. Everything just came out of that basically.

On the mixtape you have artwork for each track. Who’s the guy on the cover art for the track “Valley?”

That’s my road manager Sherm Deuce. The Valley is like an upper class community. That’s my man, I know him from the Valley rides.  That “Valley” song is dedicated to that place in Delaware where a lot of kids like to take Valley Rides. You know, just roll up the L and just ride around. It’s like big cribs everywhere and shit. That song is just dedicated to him and those Valley rides. It’s located at the line between where PA and Delaware meet. It’s like right before you get to Philly. I don’t know if you ever heard of Devils road but it’s mad weird shit out there. It’s kind of  hard to explain.

How was your college experience? On the tape, it seems as though you had a thwarted view of college, looking at some of the lyrics on the project.

I went to Morgan State. My grades were good enough for college but I didn’t really want to go though for education. I’m not a really school kind of guy, but I just kind of used it as a way to get away from home. I was fucking with it. I was just some new shit for me. I had never spent time like that in Baltimore before. So, It was cool just to be in a different atmosphere. I was exposed to some different shit that I hadn’t seen before. I had some shitty ass grades and I was smoking weed all day. I had to leave after that. But, as far as the school and the bitches, that was cool I liked college.

When did you began rapping?

I started rapping in like high school and middle school with my friends during that Meek Mill, Cassidy era where you would see niggas on youtube  and the hood DVDs battling each other. That era inspired me to rap. I had a hard time finding studios, producers that I could get with so around the time I went to Morgan, I just fell back from rapping and started creating the beats. My first mixtape came out in 2011, right when I got back from Morgan State. It was called the Dirty Diamonds Tape, and I officially started taking rapping seriously again. I had the production part down and I had my own setup.

What are you listening to right now?

I listen to a lot. I’m a person that collects music for the hell of it. I would probably say I listen to Curren$y alot and I like Wiz Khalifa. That was a big inspiration for Blue, listening to those two guys.I would say those are two of the most influential rappers. They took the lifestyle thing to another level. I see kids around my neighborhood and I be like damn these niggas look like Wiz Khalifa. They look like Jets. The got the camo shorts and snapbacks. That’s influential to me.

How Fly and Kush and Orange Juice are new mixtape classics, no?

How Fly joint was dope. I remember when Kush And Orange Juice came out. That was a big inspiration for Blue. We would be out and listen to it, talking about it and we would be like this is a classic for our generation. When kids listen to Blue I would love for them to say the same thing.

Is this your first step back from not producing your whole project?

This actually is the first project where I didn’t want to produce everything. Normally I throw it together with beats that I already made, but this time, I wanted to focus on the project as a whole, versus individual shit. I got up with Ben Pramuk, who’s also my engineer. He mixed the project and we collaborated on a few beats. DJ Namco produced “Indigo” which is one of my favorite joints on there. The people you see on the credits are actual friends of mine. Everybody’s in either Philly or Delaware. Ben’s from Pittsburgh but he goes to Drexel, in Philly. Some are in New Jersey and New York, but most of the people are from around that area.

How did you begin making all these connections on the east coast and how has that experience come through in your music?

I never wanted to be a local artist or a Delaware artist and that’s really where that comes from. I would just get up and catch the train to Philly and catch the train to New York, and get up and network with some people. I used to really travel a lot.  When you do that for a while, it’s going to show in the music. People that’s not where I’m from are listening to it now.

Have you had any  local reception yet?

People here show me mad love. a lot of the younger kids that are in high school. It’s not really much of a Hip-Hop scene. I really noticed a Hip-Hop scene starting to brew after I put out my tape in ‘11.  It’s a good reception, but it’s just small state. You probably won’t see too many Delaware rappers for a while though.

What are trying to do with music? What’s your end goal?

Right now I’m just trying to make a name for myself and see where it can go. I don’t really enjoy  anything else, I love this stuff. I don’t want a regular job. that shit sucks.  If that means touring around and doing shows or  having a multi-milion dollar label that I can run, as long as means that I can do this for the rest of my life.

Download Blue

The post “Delaware Stand Up” — Exclusive Interview With Walt Fraze appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Photo by Ryan Lyons/RESPECT.

It was a beautiful night on the rooftop of  the Wythe Hotel’s  bar  in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We sat overlooking the entire city, engulfed in the rush of it all. Asaad’s decked out in all black; his head wrapped in a black bandana, O.G Jordans on his feet and leather En Noir shorts cover his legs. In between sips of a sweet moscato, we chat about future endeavors and the gritty hustle of the east coast. His hair is growing, but his beard is barely just a 5 O’clock shadow. It’s a slightly different aesthetic than we’re used to seeing from Philly, home of long beards, and wavy Caesar haircuts. There’s a new culture brewing.

Photo by Ryan Lyons/RESPECT.

Though Asaad’s surrounded by peers, he seems like he’s on a mission alone. He’s completely consumed by and passionate about his art. Sure, he finds time to dress in Balmain denim and rub Kiehls almond lotion on his skin, but that’s just the material glimpse of Asaad’s life, the glimpse that opposes his stories of a rough upbringing in North Philly– The period of his life he often mentions in his songs. Asaad’s upcoming EP, 006, is a supposed culmination of every work he’s put out before. According to him, the title holds multiple meanings: the age his father left home, his childlike outlook on life, and him coming in the game, as he says, “On some stealth James Bond shit.”

So, how’d  he get here? In 2012 alone , Asaad dropped some incredible bodies of work, each showing more musical progression than the last. One of his most poignant being the Dirty Middle Class EP. He mentions that he’s written for both Jaden and Willow Smith, using connections he made from being around the studio at a young age. Philly legend Black Thought is a mentor, and he’s been around for a lot of Asaad’s growth. His buzz has been growing in what feels like overnight, “I get a lot of calls from influential people. It’s great, but I like to take it with a grain of salt,” he says.

In his music, Asaad is like a hero from a vintage blaxploitation film. His raps are crude, yet inspiring. Materialistic, but gangster. Much of it is produced by him and his father. After reuniting, they decided to create a production company, Wasted Youth, where the music is crafted by his father and sprinkled with work from other musicians.

Listening to Asaad talk, there’s an obvious method to his madness, and a group of specific individuals he wants to inspire. “It’s high energy,” he says while overlooking the city, “And if people are receptive to it then they’ll feel it. If it shocks people than so be it.”

One day, Asaad hopes to be that hero for Philly. It’s apparent he wants to live lavish and chase beautiful women, but that’s not his only dream. “I just wanted to be the voice of Philly and show kids that you can be yourself. If you don’t want to shoot a gun, you don’t have to shoot a gun,” he says.

Photo by Ryan Lyons/RESPECT.

On his new 006,  He’s trying to get those kids to dream more. “The whole project itself is  just a dose of inspiration,” Asaad says speaking about his upcoming EP. “On the records, I just want the listener to really  understand that I come from North muthafucking Philly. The heart of North Philly.  The 1700-1800 block of Gratz Street.”

He’s inspired by many of the relationships he’s held in life. Whether it’s working relationships, his father’s absence during his youth, or even his friends and his neighborhood, he lays it all on the table like a deck of cards. The bad hand and the good hand. It’s obvious he’s willing to be the guy in the leather kilt who walks through the hood, spitting gems.

During his live show, in front of a smaller crowd during D.C.’s Trillectro festival, only a few fans knew all the words to his songs, but you can tell it won’t be like that for long. He pulls his friend Walt Fraze, on stage for their cold collaboration, “Holy Mountain.” These kids are raw and descriptive  of their environment. The energy feels right.

Asaad often represents his street now, way more than in his earlier work, Flowers. It seems as though after his first project, his market changed. On his record “ Black Kids Dream” he spits, “I don’t fuck with hipsters, I’m cooler with the thugs.”  But why? “Because of me,  my man from the street can talk to my other friend who’s a Billionaire. If I wasn’t here, that might not have happened, ” he says confidently. Even in North Philly, roses grow from the concrete.

Photo by Ryan Lyons/RESPECT.

The post The Rose That Grew From The Concrete: Philly Rapper Asaad Breaks Through appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.