Published: Saturday - August 23, 2003
Words by Jay Casteel
Reignman (Photo: n/a)
Philly native Reignman was on the come-up pre-2003, but when he became the first winner of MTV's "MC Battle" series, he saw a whole world open up. His visibility became larger, his bank account became a little larger and he obtained a record deal with Def Jam for winning the competition.
But, what was the rapper doing beforehand? BallerStatus.com holla'd at Reignman to find out a little about coming up before MTV, how the MTV exposure helped his career, and where he's going. During the intervew, the rapper revealed he also tried out for P. Diddy's first season of "Making the Band," and made it. But shortly after, he left the show, recorded "Fagboy Killa" and won the MTV MC Battle.
BallerStatus.com: You were born in Brooklyn, but moved to Philly at the age of 9. Did Brooklyn rub off on you as far as hip-hop music is concerned?
Reignman: Yea, alot! Basically, compared to [Philadelphia], all the music in Philly... they mostly listen to mainstream music, like whatever is on the radio. I noticed in Brooklyn, where I was at, it was like Boot Camp and mostly underground music, so that exposed me to the underground aspect of music I say. That's about it.
BallerStatus.com: Tell us a little about growing up in Philly.
Reignman: Growing up in Philly was crazy. I don't know where to begin at. It was just crazy because at a young age, I lost my mom and my brother. So, growing up in Philly was just... I was sorta lost, you know what I'm saying? I just really had no family, so what I was doing was just doing music the whole time. Just writing.
BallerStatus.com: At what age did you become interested in hip-hop?
Reignman: When I was like 14. In 1994, yea.
BallerStatus.com: You mentioned the lost of your mother and brother. How did you cope with such as big loss in your life at a young age?
Reignman: Actually, I still ain't coping with it. My music is it. What ever I'm going through, I just write. That's it. That's the best way I can get over it for now.
BallerStatus.com: So you just let all your feelings and emotions out through your music?
Reignman: Exactly, that's the only way.
BallerStatus.com: Who influenced you musically growing up?
Reignman: I'd say, way back, what I was first listening to was like Boot Camp, Wu-Tang and all that. So, other than a Wu-Tang or a Boot Camp till now, I'd say a Jay-Z and an Eminem and that's about it. Growing up I was listening to underground music, anything underground.
BallerStatus.com: At what point as you were growing up, did you say hey "This is what I want to do?"
Reignman: I'd say probably about 17 because school wasn't really working. After I lost my mom and my brother, I didn't really wanna do nothing other than music. That was pretty much it, but I say after 17, the job thing isn't working, school isn't working, so I was like "I gotta do something." Music was it.
BallerStatus.com: Do you have an underground following in Philly?
Reignman: Yea, right now, I got like mixtapes. I try to come out with a mixtape as often as possible. Just to keep something going on. That's about it. They are waiting for my record to come out with Def Jam, so other than that we just doing mixtapes.
BallerStatus.com: You were a contestant on the first season of P Diddy's "Making the Band II" and you left. What were your reasons for quiting the show?
Reignman: I would say basically it was all because the whole show was nothing like I thought it would be. I thought it was going to be about us going up there to be rapping, possibly signing with him and learning alot of stuff, but it was nothing like that. We just got put in front of people and made us rap and after that, it was boot camp. After boot camp, it was... just orders. It wasn't even really music related, it didn't seem music related to me.
BallerStatus.com: Do you think Puffy's tactics on the show are neccessary?
Reignman: To each his own. I can't really speak for anyone else, but I know for me it ain't the move at all.
BallerStatus.com: Your people leaked a track to my site called "Fagboy Killa." Why do you feel that you had to diss Puffy on a track?
Reignman: Basically... It was a long time ago. It was way before the MTV MC Battle and all that. That was like RIGHT after the "Making the Band." Right when I first left, but it wasn't like a diss... It was a diss, but it wasn't a diss like I'm gonna come kill you or anything like that. It was a diss like I wasn't feelin the way the whole thing went down. It was like I put in a lot of time and did alot of stuff that I didn't have to do and to just get left the way I got left was crazy.
BallerStatus.com: So you were just fustrated right after the show and did the track?
Reignman: Exactly, pretty much.
BallerStatus.com: You were also the grand prize winner of the MTV's "MC Battle." What was that experience like for you?
Reignman: That was the greatest thing that happened to me so far. I can't even explain it. We did it the first time, they set it up and that was a stampeede. It was crazy out there. We stood in line for I believe like 11 hours. The 12th hour when they were letting everyone in , everyone starting rioting, so it was crazy.
The second time we went up there, we weren't expecting anything. We were expecting the same b.s. You know, we went along with the whole process and we kept getting furthur and furthur.
BallerStatus.com: Was there any competition out there for you?
Reignman: Yea, there was alot of competition. Everybody was competition in my opinion, everyone wanted what I wanted so, everybody was competition.
BallerStatus.com: Were you surprised when you were the one that ended up at the end?
Reignman: Yea! Surprised wasn't the word for it. I was speechless. I was just expecting to get a little bit of fame off of it. I wasn't going there to win. I just went there with the intentions to get my face seen and hopefully something would move furthur from that.
BallerStatus.com: On the show you had to freestyle. How do you hone your rhyming skills?
Reignman: Oh well, that's all in my emotions. Like I told you, I lost my mom and my brother, my emotions are real crazy, so that's it. That's all I do. Some people go to the movies, read books, or whatever. Music is all I do. I don't even watch TV.
BallerStatus.com: So all your free time is nothing but hip-hop?
Reignman: Exactly.
BallerStatus.com: We hear you have signed with Jimmy Henchman's Czar Entertainment, how and why did you decide to go with them?
Reignman: Basically, the first time I was at the MC Battle, I was approached by one of their representatives. To make a long story short, they just told me they liked the way I rapped before I even won the battle. They said whether or not you win this, we wanna deal with you and hopefully everything can work out. In the end why I ended up signing to them, was that everyone from Def Jam to everybody else, I got bills to pay... and at the end of the day, the Henchman's where the first ones to cut a check. They were the first ones to look out for me. That basically sealed the deal.
BallerStatus.com: In the MTV Battle, you won a contract with Def Jam, what going on with that?
Reignman: Everything is good with that. We are just getting more material. Basically the single should be out in the next couple weeks, possibly a month at the most.
BallerStatus.com: So it just a time process?
Reignman: Yea, that's all. We got plenty of songs, but we just wanna have more just to make sure.
BallerStatus.com: You have your debut dropping in 2004 sometime. How many tracks do you have recorded for that?
Reignman: I'd say easily about 20.
BallerStatus.com: What's the single?
Reigman: It's possibly 2. One is called "Back Up Off Me" and the other is "My Hood". It's a toss up between those two.
BallerStatus.com: Who do you have doing production?
Reignman: I got a kid named Nerve, a kid named Spot, Megahurtz, umm alot of people. Midi Mafia, the people that did the "21 Questions", 50 Cent track.
BallerStatus.com: What do you feel you bring to the table that other artists don't?
Reignman: One thing I think I bring that's different that other artists don't is that I'm actually trying to rap about something at the end of the day. Like, I feel like alot of rappers just rap. Just rap about whatever is hot at the time or whatever everyone wants to hear, but I like to rap about topics. If I can't rap about a topic then it's pretty much pointless.
BallerStatus.com: What do you think of hip-hop today?
Reignman: Right now, I love it. Everything's a battle right now. Battling is back to where it belongs in my opinion. It's not like they out there shooting people, they settling it on wax. That's the best way to me.
BallerStatus.com: What effect do you feel the internet has on hip-hop?
Reignman: At first, I didn't even think it had that big of effect on it because I... Like I said, all I do is music. Recently, when we leaked that "Fagboy" song on the internet, I saw how big it is. People in Detroit, people I see in the battles calling me from their hotel telling me they heard the song. Now, I'm realizing how powerful it is.
BallerStatus.com: What about bootlegging?
Reignman: People buy what they wanna buy. That's how I look at it. I can't even get into the bootlegging think because you know, they are gonna do it regardless.
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