Boom Blake where did you get the name from and what is its meaning?
Boom is a name I’ve had since childhood. My mom told me when she was pregnant I used to kick real hard on her stomach so she called me Boom. I was just ready to come out she said. Then she also said I used to throw toys against the wall as a toddler so which story is accurate who knows but that’s what everybody has called me since a child. Before rap, that was what I was known as Boom. Now Blake is just short for my last name which is Blakely. When I started rapping everybody was like you need a name. I tried to come up with something flashy but none of those names fit me. The only thing that fit me was what everybody was already calling me either Boom or Blake. Put the two together and Boom Blake is who I am. So the name means alot to me because it was a nickname given to me from my family and it stuck.
Your rep New Jersey, whats the Hip Hop scene look like out their?
The Hip Hop scene is Jersey is popping. There are artist popping up from every area, North Jersey, South Jersey, Central Jersey. Every time I go on a hip hop site I’m starting to see more and more Jersey artist popping up and making a name for themselves. It’s really tough for us not having a major radio station or media presence right here at home so we have to grind the hardest we have to troop it to New York and Philly like its our backyard even though we are like 40 minutes to an hour from either area. It’s so much talent here in Jersey and we have a real gritty street sound that can’t be duplicated or fabricated.
Some would call you the East Coast rhyme-spitter and Trenton, New Jersey’s prodigal son. Do you feel you can handle putting the city back on the map in main stream Hip Hop?
Wow that’s an honor that people feel that way. I’m just making music based upon my life, my experiences, and different things that go on daily where I’m from. I can handle the task of putting us back on the map because I feel I have a sound that people all over can relate to.
What sets you apart from the next which gives you the right to claim that title?
Well, for one I can rhyme. Two, I have an ear to pick dope beats and have been blessed to have some good people in my corner that have helped my sound develop coming from absolutely nothing. We had no equipment so we went and bought our own and had to learn how to use it and through trial and error my style and sound has developed over the years. I feel that now I can make records that bring out emotions in people that make them go crazy and feel the message I’m getting through to them on any subject. Three, I grind like no other. I’m love making music and when I’m in my zone I can write songs all day long. Four, I seriously love hip hop. It’s not just music or rapping to me, its the entire culture and building with others about this culture I’m apart of.
Your latest song “Got It On Lock”, shows your lyrical skills, flow and definitely a story on your hood. What gave you the inspiration to write it?
I woke up one day and I felt like everything was going great that particular day. It reminded me of Ice Cube’s track “Today was a good day”. While I was riding in my car with the beat playing I was like damn ‘I got it on lock”. I was just riding around and thinking about everything that goes on daily in the city and how that day everything was going smooth and I drove home immediately and wrote the hook and the first verse.
Who did the production and do you really have Trenton on lock?
I got that beat from a guy named Rich from a production duo The Traphittaz. He goes by the name TrapLife Muzik. I definitely feel like I got Trenton on lock because my buzz is continually growing and the response I get is positive. I’m pretty much self made. There is nobody that can hinder my career except me because I made my career with my own hands and own money. There is nobody that can pull the plug on me because I don’t have to answer to anybody else. When you do it yourself you become your own boss and you have it on lock.
You got a crew called Money First whose in it with you and what rolls do they play in your career?
Yea, Money First is my click. I put us all together. It’s four of us in total. Myself, Ill Kayn, JP, and Tranzatick. That’s my support system right there. The key ingredient to our sound is Ill Kayn he makes beats and comes up with great concepts. We all have different flows and like different styles of hip hop so together we all blend well. They all make me keep going hard with the music because when I hear them rhyme I get inspired to compete. I’m very competitive and its like hey that verse was dope now let me write mine. That is how we keep our skills sharp and make the music we make by pushing each other to be greater.
Let’s talk about Digital Money and the direction its going in. Can you break it down for us?
Yea, that was just our way of saying Money First was jumping into the game and we were doing it digitally by getting known virally on the internet. Not having a radio station didn’t hinder us from doing what we love to do and getting people to hear us outside of our city so we attacked the internet. Digital Money is just us Money First attacking the game digitally. That entire album the concept was about being digital everything from the sounds used and not using any samples we just wanted to come with that futuristic sound to make us sound different than anybody else in our city.
What’s your favorite bars you said on it?
I said,”I told my mom I want to be star. Live like they do champagne and caviar. Hovderureves as appetizers, foreign cars, she said we dead broke that’s for the rich and times is hard. That’s three strikes against a nigga dream, I turned to the streets trying to make a little cream. That cool whip will drive a nigga crazy and dope dealers in my hood getting to the baby. And what a child sees they try to mimic I tried to learn to play a game another man invented. I’m at the pot mixing like a chemist cause I’m trying to be a millionaire before I’m finished”. I said that on a song called “Stadium Lights” it was about us wanting to be mega rap stars and not having any money or resources to get there. The song is real and I’m sure anybody trying to get in this game and feels the same struggle can relate to those bars. You have a dream but no money so to chase your dream you need to make some money and turn to the streets. Many young kids go that route in hopes of making it somewhere else in life. Those words came from my heart and they mean a lot to me.
As a collective how do you feel the crew did with it?
I feel we did great, but there are a few things that I think we could have done better. If we would’ve took another two or three months in the creative process that album could’ve been a classic from top to bottom. We really show growth and determination in that album but I’m my biggest critic and there are a few songs I think we could’ve done something different with. We are slowly working on Digital Money 2 and we are taking our time on this one the production we have already from Ill Kayn is incredible, he is really is his bag right now.
You debut solo album Manual Procedures is also getting some love from the streets, can you tell us the difference in your flow from your solo joint to your collaboration joint with Money First?
The difference is when we work as collaboratively everybody ideas go into a pot and sometimes we have to bend to ideas that fit the group more than fit us individually. On the Manual Procedures I was able to be 100% in control of the creative process. If I wanted something to sound one way it sounded that way there was nobody to say well I like this idea better or I don’t like that. I picked all the beats and wrote all the choruses even if there is a singer singing a chorus on my album, believe I wrote it and even went in the booth and referenced it so the singer would know exactly what I wanted. It was just something I was able to control and put my hands on all the way though.
What was the highs and lows of making music in your eyes?
The highs of making music is the feeling of accomplishment. That feeling you get when you create something and feel a sense of pride like hey I really did that. I really made that happen. The feeling of accomplishment that I created this and put it together and it came out dope. The lows of making music is that in order to make it some artists have to adjust their sound to fit their audience. Remember the blogs, the Djs, the fans all have certain types of music that they are used to and like and you have to captivate their ear. Also, its a lot of politicking where artist have to deal with people who don’t have their best interest at heart. So you have to be careful of who you do business with because there are alot of sharks out there trying to swindle people. But for me, my biggest low was losing a hard drive lol. Our hard drive crashed and we had to spend some big money to have the data files retrieved from that. We got the files back but it was kind of a waste of money because we made so much new music we never even looked back at those files. Maybe one day I should pull those files out and start putting together some lost tapes or something.
Do you feel that Hip Hop is getting softer with its direction and do you think the streets will always have its place in Hip Hop?
No, I think hip hop is fine there is a balance. Artist make the singles that they know will work and those are what the people get promoted daily, but all those artist put out mix tapes that the street can support. I think hip hop has a good balance right now.
What are you up to currently that we can checkout and become more of a fan?
I’m shooting more videos from The Manual Procedures. The plan is to have a video for every song out before my next project drops. Expensive Taste is whats next it will be about 11 or 12 original songs of that real gritty underground sound that the streets are looking for. That’s pretty much a wrap just mixing and putting together a marketing strategy. I’m gone give that to the people for free while I finish up the follow up to my first album which will be The Manual Procedures 2: The Continuation. Both of those projects are dope and I can’t wait to show the people what I have been working on. I never stopped writing and just vibed out from the zone I was in while writing the first album and the music just keeps getting better and better.
Why do you have next?
I have next because I have patiently and humbly grinded and all the stars are aligning in my favor. I took my turn to learn the culture and be a student of the game and now I can show people my style of music. It’s my time and I’m next.
