How Long Have You been in the industry ?
Neako :I’ve been lurking around for quite some time, maybe since like 15 years old I’ve been grinding. Going to labels, standing outside of them hustling hard, trying to get my music heard before the viral world took over I was out here paving my way, beating the streets up, and you know hand to hand mixtapes and confrontation with actual human beings. I mean, I’ve been on that trip since i was 15.
How do you think the use of the internet (blogs etc) has transferred over into success for you ?
Neako : oh WOW, being able to make a whole song and just upload it to the internet and them mass amounts of people listen to it helped me a lot. Theres only so much you can do in your one region. For me, shooting videos and them going viral helps me connect with people in all different places that you cant get to physically, so it’s very valuable for me.
How long have you Known Wiz, And how did you guys meet ?
Neako performing @ Green Carpet Tour 2011
Neako : It was straight off of some G shit really. It was waaaaaaaay back when myspace was poppin, I was on the frontpage of Myspace and Wiz was up there, i was like wow who is this kid, so i checked out his music and i was rockin with it. So I just hit him up on myspace like yo whats up man, i click clacked with him and let him know I liked his music. And then his people hit me back like “yo Wiz never uses his myspace (laughs) he likes your music too man, we know about you so we’re gonna get up” we just started click clacking over the phone and just doing music with each other , and he came up my way, and i went down to pittsburgh. We really just bounced off of each other ,Like he was in a higher place than i was. So i definitely was learning and i definitely was observing, and at the same time the viral world was just taking it’s turn. So it’s like he was already in it, and i stepped in it after. He was taking giant leaps and i was taking my steps to finally get to this point to where i’m at now and then take it to another level.
So you’re officially Taylor’d, One of three official artists of Taylor Gang with Chevy and Wiz…How does that feel ?
Neako :It’s cool man, I love it man, like to me I’ve ALWAYS been TG. We’ve been riding for a long time before the whole world really knew what it was. And we’ve been doing a whole lot of things behind the scenes and behind closed doors. Like with me and him, it’s not really about JUST music, you know we’re kickin it.. period. That’s the homie…. but Now we’re just putting out the music and letting the people rock with it and they’re going crazy excited. and it’s stuff that we’ve been doing it’s just that we’re just now starting to really put it out there. like Neako is TG, Chevy has been TG, and i’m just there man. I’m there on the verses, I’m there on the beats. My TG family already knows.
How Long did it take to record LP : TREE , and what was your favorite thing about the mixtape
Neako : I was with Wiz on his tour, and i think we were in Boston, and i was listening to the beats…. i was like yo i gotta go home. I told Will “I gotta get out of here”. And i went back home and i did 7 songs in one night and then i did 3 interludes, then i put it out, That mixtape only took me about a week to do. LP 2 was the same way , i did about 7 songs in four days , i added maybe four more and then i put that out rapidly. Then LP Tree which was 11 or 12 new songs, then i remixed some of the songs off of LP 2. think about it… that’s like three mixtapes in what, three and a half months. It was just i felt the energy this time around from the people. and you know all that music is music i listen to, i drive to it, i smoke to it
You use a lot of abstract different beats, and I know you do a lot of your own production.. where do you get ideas for the beats ?
Neako : Yeah, a lot of my beats aren’t samples either. Like Flossin, Flossin is actually from an artist named Wood King who is a great director too. My man vertical jones let me hear the horns and the trumpets and i was so moved by them, and i was like i need these horns on a full bar loop. And i just took it to a whole nother level. Like the Rubiks cube edition had no samples at all. But on the LoudPack i like to use samples that different people would be familiar with in a different region. Like a rock n roll sample , or an electronic music sample , even Latin music. Just reaching out to different outlets of music and putting my touch on it and putting it back out.
You made a song titled “Hector Lavoe” , what made you do a song with his name as the title and why him ?
Neako : Oh yeah, I was just using the transformer flow for that, you know ross has this crazy flow where you can take an object and you become it, or you can take a person and you can become that person, like a tupac’s back or BMF. I learned that flow from watching the game and watching the OG’s. And I Love the movie El Cantante with Marc Anthony and J-Lo, And i always watch that movie. I think Hector Lavoe is a great musician, even in his genre. Everybody was paying attention to RnB, and Jazz. But in the Latin community they have a lot of great entertainers as well. Hector Lavoe was doing shows, he ran his whole corporation, he always had dope sunglasses. It all just seemed like a synonym to who I became.
My Personal favorite track off the tape was “The Dawn”, It’s more of a reflective song. What were you going through at the time that made you just want to do a song like that.
Neako: My partner James played me that record. I was like this is real… I’m just gonna talk on this one. And that’s why on the song i say im a little drunk tonight, and i was just going off, no pen no paper no nothing. I was just going off with what i was feeling at the time, I didn’t want it to be too long, i didn’t wanna give too much information. I just wanted to let out what i was thinking at the time, and im gonna let this joint be that one song that serves that purpose.
You talk a lot about the passing of your Father on LP Tree, how did that change your outlook on life, on music, on everything ?
Neako :Yeah that made everything more serious, I was already going hard around the junkfood era, It’s when three fingers to the sun was booming. That’s when i was really making my set known to the world. So when my pops passed maybe 10 days after that tape came out I couldn’t even really promote it. But I immediately went into like Yellow Edition Mode. My father passed away in the hospital, and the color unit that he was on was Yellow. And I kept thinking, why would Music be on my mind when my father just passed away, But something was telling me that music was the direction i should go. and when i went into that direction it just kept me going. I worked on the Yellow edition for seven months , and it was one of my biggest releases. After that, Loudpack was an even bigger release, then came two and Tree. It just made me grind harder, it made me be more serious about my business and it just put everything into perspective for me.
On twitter, you were talking about a spaceship named Pepsi, what exactly is that ?
Neako: Oh yeah that’s my car man, it’s a camaro SS in a pepsi blue. I got for my birthday when i turned 25 on April 23rd. And I’ll rap about it, i’ll put it on twitter like im about to hop in Pepsi just on some funny shit.
What’s your favorite type of tree if you had to pick one ?
If i had to pick one… Hmmmm maybe some like REAL sour, not that bullshit im talking the REAL sour. I like some OG Kush too. But me… I can settle for some Blue Dream. We smoked Blue dream for the WHOLE Summer, like Blue Dream is so smooth. But on the regular everyday its sour, and some OG Kush, and some purple…..the purple. we burn purple all the time too.
You were just featured on Chuck with Wiz and Chevy, how was that whole experience ?
Neako : Chuck is hard man, I went out to LA to shoot a video with Juicy J , and you know Wiz was out there, he was out there running around taking care of some business. So he hit me up saying yo when you get out there let’s get some recording done. Wiz told me I’ve been killing these guys out here with my own music. Let’s touch some other beats and just have some fun. So Him and Chevy invited me to jump on that which was crazy. Just recording in the crib and not being in Song mode and just having a good time.
Are there any more collabs coming up ?
Neako : Yeah look for more of Neako and the TG Movement, definitely be on the look out for more videos off of LP Tree. I just shot this Crazy video for Flossin with Juicy J so that’s gonna be on it’s way.
Any Tours coming up ?
Neako : Yeah Man, We’re trying to get this Loudpack tour together now man, like a lot of different dates a lot of different places. we’re trying to just route it out so we can touch all the different places that’s been supporting me from the start. So we’re just taking our time and making sure it’s right for the summer so we can get out there and just go hard.
Other than TG, who are you feeling in the music game right now ?
Neako : All we play is Ross man, and my man Spitta. It’s usually Ross, Spitta and Drake. I like the artists that just go in. I feel like with Spitta it’s never a fail, with Ross it’s never a fail.Same thing with Wiz, It’s never a fail. I listen to people that are gonna push me. Ross is out here hustling like it’s his first time. He’s out here everyday. I check the internet and it seems like it’s something new from him every day. So these are the people im almost forced to keep up with, and i dont mind keeping up with them, the music is innovative and it keeps pushing me to go to the next level.
If there’s one thing you could tell artists on the come up right now what would it be ?
Neako: Get your team together man, because you can’t do it by yourself. Focus on your craft, Own your craft, get your team together and have a direction as a whole. Have an audience and speak to your audience, make sure your team believes in what you believe in. Make sure you’re all moving on the same accord, and speak to your audience. If you’re speaking to your audience other audiences will notice and they’ll join the conversation. And then you’ll elevate and just try to maintain that because that’s where I’m at now. Everyday I like to take like 5-10 minutes and appreciate the goals we’ve accomplished, then i forget about them and set some new ones
If there’s one thing that you know now that you wish you would have known when you were younger on the come up, what would it be ?
Neako : You can do it with just you (laughs), you dont need what they put in front of you, you don’t need labels telling you what to do. You Don’t need all the corporate structure things. I mean, It’s good to have that in place but you definitely don’t need it. If you put your team together and move together towards a goal, then you can do it yourself.
