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Its been a minute since I did an Emcee Spotlight, and I’ve been dealing with real good dudes lately and I felt I needed to

Start Recognizing these Folks again on The Hip Hop Head. RedPhone Records is a label I’ve seen First hand, Grow Into a Promising Enterprise, of Real Emcee’s, Making Real Music. First started as an idea between friends, Redphone Records is lining itself up to be a powerhouse in the Hip Hop Indie Segment, and who knows The Hip Hop Industry Overall.Hip Hop being in a Internet Age Renaissance, RedPhone Records is Using that To its advantage, with an Artist in Hawaii (Matt Maddox) to their In house Producer In France (Ganjak) Matt Charette has used these Tools to Build what is the Fastest Growing Indie Label I’ve Come Across in a long time. I got a Chance to Chop it Up with the Owner of RedPhone Records to See the Inner workings of the Day to Day at RPR this is how it went down.

Matt thanks for taking the time to Sit down with The Hip Hop Head. I always start the Spotlight by asking you to let folks know where you Rep?

RedPhone Records is reppin Everyone! RedPhone really is for the people, of the people, and by the people, so we repping, The US, Europe, UK, Canada, Japan, China, Everywhere! Shout out to Worcester, MA, Allentown, PA, Lawrence MA, Jersey City, NJ, Long Island, NY, Kona, Hawaii, and Paris France!

Just-1

Now thats what’s good Fam, Forget repping one place let’s rep the world, I feel you 100 percent. Now this Spotlight is Different, in which, you’re an Owner of a label and not necessarily an artist. RedPhone Records To be Exact. Let Folks know how the Label came to be, and why you felt you needed to do this for Hip Hop.

So that I won’t take up a page and a half about how RedPhone got started in this interview, so that all of you will make it to the end of the interview with me, you can check out our website, and click on the link here to read the entire story of Just-1 and myself as it explains how and why we started RedPhone. http://www.redphonerecords.com/about.html. Please have a look after the rest of this interview as I think it will give you some great insight into what RPR is all about. But the bottom line is RedPhone is here to make dope, real, raw Hip Hop, and to help move the industry forward as much as possible.

We didn’t feel we needed to do this for Hip Hop, we did this for ourselves. We have, and will continue to contribute towards moving Hip Hop forward, and making the independent underground music stronger and better as a whole. Each one of us are on this label to make dope music, and try to make a difference in someone’s life through the music.

Ya’ll already know, go check that out after this Q&A and get the story. I dig that you guys are about the essence of Hip Hop, not watered down Pop Rocks. I’m going to give the readers a Little Flavor of what your talking about with The Redphone Records Anthem I premiered right here on THHH a few weeks back Called Rebel Assault.

So Lets Move on, Let Folks Know who’s on the RPR Roster.

Emcees are Just-1 and Matt Maddox, Tha Soloist and Nightwalker can both emcee and produce, and Ganjak is our main producer.

Nightwalker

That’s what’s up, That’s A line up that’s hard to Fuck with, I mean if you didn’t walk away with that feeling, after listening to Rebel Assault, you need to get your head out your ass and listen again haha..I kid I kid, But they’re all talented dudes no Question.

I know RedPhone Records is Spread out, with Matt Maddox being as far out as Hawaii, and you yourself acting as Manager for them, I know the Internet and social networking has been a blessing, But do you ever come across difficulties keeping everyone on the same page and handling different Personalities under one roof?

I’m actually the manager for ALL our artists, and I do this just so everyone is on the same page. We all work together, and have common goals, and are like minded people, so it makes it alot easier. We definitely have many different personalities, but We really do work well together. I would say for the most part, we are all friend. We’re just trying to do the best we can in this music industry. The great thing about RedPhone is, I really think we got the hardest working artists in the industry, and when everyone is always trying to outwork the next person, we all raise each others game and push each other to become great.

I Can dig that. It’s always been said that there’s no “I” in team and there’s No “I” in RedPhone Records Either. Teamwork is a must.

With the success of matt maddox debut album what is your next step in your plan of attack? Who’s project is dropping next? And how do you guys decided what order projects will drop on the label?

Nightwalker is definitely dropping his debut solo album next, “Walking at Night”. His album is so dope, he produced it entirely by himself, no features, just 15 tracks of NightWalker. A journey through Walker’s head,it’s definitely gonna be one for the ages, just as Matt Maddox’s “Asylum Artistry” was. One thing I want RedPhone to be known for is putting out top notch albums. When you get to the point, where fans buy an album coming, just cause of the fact RedPhone is putting it out, that’s when I think RedPhone, will have made it’s mark on the industry! After NightWalker’s Release, probably in November, then we will have the RPR compilaiton album dropping called “Weapons of Mass Awareness”. This album is going to be a free digital download as a thank you to all the fans for their support this year. We have all the RPR artists on there, almost all the songs are going to be original songs made for this project, and we got features from Block McCloud, Snowgoons, Prince Ea, Phillip Morris, Adil Omar, Sun of Saturn, Nico the Beast, Dr Ill, Mark Deez, Nohakai, Swann and Much more. That project should be dropping December 2010. We got Just-1 working on his first solo debut album “Simple Citizens” dropping early 2011.Then shortly after that Matt Maddox’s second solo album “Righteous Fury” will be dropping! Also, in March we got Tha Soloist dropping an EP called “March Madness” to get people warmed up for his first solo debut album “April Showers” dropping 4-11-11 in honor of his fathers passing! Oh yeah, and we got an EP with Nightwalker and Matt Maddox coming out around first of the year called “The Avengers” and Ganjak vs Matt Maddox “The Overlords” which will probably drop toward early summer of 2011.

To decide the order we all just work it out amongst ourselves, the artists really just stay focused on working period! At the end of the day we are here to put out dope music, and that’s why these guys are working their asses off everyday.

Cot Damn! It looks like RedPhone is looking to Constantly keep knocking dudes over the head with real Hip Hop. Thats How it gets done. On the Production side, who do you go to Inhouse?

Our main inhouse producer is Ganjak. He is from Paris, France, and is an amazing producer and DJ. He is a perfectionist and really puts alot of heart into everything he does. We are very happy to have him on the label,we all are thankful and blessed to be working with him. He also does most of the mixing and mastering for the label so he is a busy guy and does top notch work. Nightwalker and Tha Soloist both can produce, and they do sometimes, as Nightwalker produced his entire solo album, and a track or two on Diabolics album. As of late, He has been focused more on emceeing.

Ganjak

Yeah I’ve heard Ganjak’s Production, it goes hard man, he’s a talented brotha. Lets talk about what projects outside the label you have planned for, that folks should be checking into.

Along with the projects I mentioned earlier, we also have a dope project we will be working on in 2011 with another label, Klive Kraven’s, GoldMinded Records. We are going to have, what we think,is the first ever label vs label EP RPR vs GMD! This is something to keep your eardrums open for next year as more details come out. We’re

also working on securing our spot on the Airwaves, and Have RedPhone Records Radio which we hope to kick off early 2011. RPR also is working on opening a new branch of the business called RedPhone Records Films, having our own production studio heopfully by 2012, and a few other projects that are just in the discussion stages. We will let you know of them soon.

Ooowee! That’s what I call a business plan. I’m diggin’ what I’m hearing. RedPhone Records is gearing up for very big things. Lets get into something that’s been the Fate of many a great indie Hip Hop Institution such as , Rawkus and Def Jux, the Folding of a label. How do you feel RedPhone Records can avoid that Fate and stay strong and viable for many years to come? Are you guys prepared for the trials and tribs and the Cutthroat atmosphere the game brings?

I say BRING IT ON! We are just always prepared here at RPR, I feel like we are always one step ahead, looking toward the next thing to get done. When you have the mindset that you will not Fail, no matter what happens, SUCCESS will come. Then you really have a chance to achieve as much as you want too. I will continue to push and work long hours, and think differently because I am 100% committed to making RedPhone the model label for many years to come.

No doubt, That’s what’s up. So let heads know who outside the RPR Circle do You guys enjoy working with, as far as Artists and producers?

Canibus def has been great to work with, he is such a professional and just a great man to work wit real cool. Producers, probably Stu Bangas, He is from Boston, not too far from me and he a real dope dude to work with also, not to mention his beats a ridiculous, but everyone really that we work with are all good people, we try to stay away from working with assholes for the most part nah mean!

I know your working on a european distribution deal expound on that. And also do you enjoy the intricate dealings on the business side of hip hop?

Yeah we are almost done with all the paperwork,signing a major distribution deal with our partners RGS Entertainment/The Hip Hop Village in the UK. This partnership means we will have physical distribution in multiple stores/retail stores throughout all of Europe.We also are working with a smaller distributor, Don’t Talk to Stranger’s/The Dark City, and Just Cause Recordings.They have been great partners, some great people are over there. With this excellent partnerhip now, we are starting to talk with North American distributors for our US and Canadian fanbase to have product in many stores here as well. So We are making good progress with that, and also just started to talking to the owner of a rather large music retail chain in Japan, I am hopeful to have our artists in 30+ stores throughout Japan. Things are definitely moving in the right direction, thats what can happen when you make good music.

Before we go let folks how you can be reach as far as inquiring for features beats collabs or just to show love..

Best place to hit me up is, on my email which is matt@redphonerecords.com . Also on facebook at facebook.com/mintymatt or through our website www.redphonerecords.com. Hit up any one of those, and I’ll get back to you!

On a final note, RedPhone just wants to thank all the fans and supporters, your help is so greatly appreciated, and you really do make up what RedPhone Records is all about. We also want to thank DeeRok for all His support and contribution to the industry with a great blog site and all the projects you have going on, helping to get independent real Hip Hop out to as many people as possible. Let’s keep fighting the good fight and making good music for people to enjoy. Let’s GO!!!!!!