Magazine Production: My Article Draft

“THIS IS WHAT OUR TEAM NEEDS, THE FLOW BY THIS GUY, THIS IS FRESH, AIN’T NO COPYCAT SH*T” TWEETED BY LIL WAYNE, SEPTEMBER 26^TH 2013 AT 16:45 EST.

Ethan, can you tell us how it feels to be signed to YMCMB?

It’s crazy, I mean like, one day I was sitting in my bedroom freestyling away to some of the biggest tracks Young Money artists have released and then I’m recording a mixtape in this shabby studio in my basement and trying to sell it on street corners in my hometown, Cleveland (Ohio, USA).  I mean, I didn’t sell a great deal of them, It’s hard because people see some kid on the street trying to sell  you something and they just point blank laugh in your face. So I moved on to just putting out videos on YouTube and they blew up, I couldn’t believe it. I went from having about 150 subscribers to 1,000 in one day and then after a week of my first video being put up, I was sitting on 7k subs. This seems like nothing to the 800k that I’m on right now but c’mon after one video? Man, that, that sh*t is insane.

 So how did the record deal come about?

I remember logging onto my twitter one day and my mentions were crazier than usual, I was scrolling through and all I could see were tweets that had my name tagged in with Lil Wayne’s. People were tweeting things like “oh my god, that’s @ethanparrish” so I looked at Wayne’s tweet and he had said “This is what our team needs, the flow by this guy, fresh, ain’t no copycat shit. Massive props” with the link to my freestyling of “Believe Me”. I was literally gobsmacked; I kept just refreshing to make sure that was actually me he was talking about. I’d say about a day later, I received an email from YMCMB’s talent recruitment team, we set up a meeting with Lil Wayne and Birdman and I flew out to LA roughly 4 days after the email. Once I got there, we just vibed y’know, Wayne asked me what my intentions were, my goals and why I wanted to be in the industry. I think my background got to him, they sent me back home and I waited about a week before I heard from them again. Birdman rang up and told me that they would like to sign me to YMCMB. I flew out to LA two days later; I live there now, well, when I’m not on the road.

You’ve been signed to YMCMB for about a year now, am I right? What have you been doing since then?

Yeah, I got signed on the 4^th of October 2013, so just over a year ago now. It’s gone really quickly. Wayne and Birdman went through a game plan; they decided they would get my name out there more by setting me up with feature tracks. I’ve done about 15 features this year, creating a buzz.  I done a joint on Lil Wayne’s new album; I got on the “No flex zone” remix with Nicki Minaj, which was absolutely surreal. I couldn’t come to terms with the fact that I was rapping alongside an absolute lyrical genius. Those ones really created uproar for more music from me. I’ve built quite the fan base.

You mentioned your remix with Nicki, what was it like working with her, let alone being on the same record label?

I can’t express enough how hard she works and puts effort into everything she does. She’s honestly dominated the past few years. She’ll never put something out if she’s not 100% happy with it. Nicki was super nice when I met her; she welcomed me to the team and spoke with me for about half an hour, trying to get to know me. Then she hit the booth, two takes, it only took two takes for her to perfect her verses. I was in awe. When the song was done, she was running around the studio dancing, flipping her hair, she’s crazy with a good heart. People are always talking about how she’s a diva and hard to work with, I call them out on that. She knows what she wants, so she goes to get it, ain’t nothing wrong with that. I respect her.

What’s next for you in this upcoming year?

I’m dropping my debut single “Can’t Catch Me” on the 1^st of January. I wanted it to be out the first day of the year because it’s going to be my year. The record is about how you can be on another level to people, it’s basically aimed at everyone who told me I wasn’t going to get anywhere in this industry. I’m basically just saying, look at me, I’m getting money and doing what I love and oh look, you’re still working at McDonalds, jokes on you. After my single drops, I’m just going to be doing interviews after interviews; I’m due to go on the Ellen DeGeneres in mid-January. I think after that, I’ll be looking to drop the second single from my EP and then I’ll be looking at dropping the EP and starting to create my album. I’m excited; I think it’s going to be well worth the wait.

Who do you go to when you need some inspiration? 

I obviously want to stay as loyal to my team as possible. So I’ll always go to listen to Wayne, Drake, and Nicki but sometimes I look to Big Sean for some guidance. When it comes to actually writing my lyrics though, it’s all me. I don’t want to be a copycat; I haven’t got time for unoriginality. I’m me, and I’m going to write what I feel. It’s what I’m known for.

What about your love life? Is any romance budding?

Nah, nah, I’m too focused on the grind. I don’t want to get everything mixed up at this moment in time. I need to concentrate on getting my career where I want it to be. I won’t rule it out if someone crops up but I don’t plan on looking for love anytime soon. The only love I have right now is for my family, friends and my very devoted fans.

Speaking of your fans, you have quite the few die-hards. How do you find that?

I think it’s kind of funny; they get so protective when new people become fans. I see them on twitter going ham at new fans because “we’re the originals”. Wayne was talking about it with me a few weeks back, he said I was the “Justin Bieber” of the rap community, I didn’t know how to take that title *laughs*, like is that a good thing or not, y’know haha? I have such a passion for my fans; I just want to succeed so we can say that we did it. They’re helping me along this journey and I’ll forever be humble and grateful to them.

Tell us, who are you listening to right now?

Again, not to be biased or anything but Nicki just released “The Pinkprint” and it’s absolute gold, so I love that at the moment. I just tend to listen to some of the A$AP MOB, they get me going sometimes *laughs*. I really just don’t spend a lot of time listening to other music recently; I’m just too busy trying to create my own sounds and beats, so I don’t want to get any ideas from anyone else. If I’m being honest, the only singer I really listen to is Whitney Houston, bless her soul. I was a massive fan when I was younger; I remember my mum telling me about when she seen her live when she was about my age, I was so jealous of her. If I just generally want to listen to some music in the car or something, I just put the radio on, that is if I’m not sleeping in the back seat. This life really gets me exhausted sometimes haha.

Well thank you for taking the time to come out here and talk to us, from all of us at boss magazine, we wish you the best for the New Year.
Thank you, thank you. I honestly never thought I’d be doing an interview for a UK magazine, so this is a new milestone in my career.

 Who do you go to when you need some inspiration? 

I obviously want to stay as loyal to my team as possible. So I’ll always go to listen to Wayne, Drake, and Nicki but sometimes I look to Big Sean for some guidance. When it comes to actually writing my lyrics though, it’s all me. I don’t want to be a copycat; I haven’t got time for unoriginality. I’m me, and I’m going to write what I feel. It’s what I’m known for.  I think too many people are just doing what they can to barely survive.