LATE is a true UK veteran with more releases under his belt as an artist than most record labels have in their discography! Hailing from Wolftown aka Wolverhampton this rapper has churned out some classic material over the years including the legendary album by Villains and Wolftown Committee before unleashing solo classics like ‘Below Street Level’ and more recently ‘UK Rapscallion’. He has just released his first ever mixtape with UK Runnings which is produced by Tricksta as well as launching his own website. Hip-Hop Life And Times interviews the L, the A, the T, the E… LATE.
You’ve been in the game now for over ten years and have many releases under your belt. Only a few artists from the UK scene can say they’ve done that. So the first question is what do you think the key is to longevity in Hip-Hop?
You must be in it for the right reasons it’s like any for of art, you have to love what you do so its not forced it should come natural
Your latest release ‘www.OfficialLate.net’ features some quality names Iron Braydz, Genesis Elijah, Supar Novar, Jai Boo, TBear, K9, Creamo, Streetz and Serocee, as well as being produced by Tricksta. How long did the release take to make and what was the initial idea behind the project?
What happened with this project is that Tricksta had remixed some of the tracks off my last album UK Rapscallion, Tricksta also had a couple of freestyles I had done just sitting there on his computer and at this time I was just getting ready to launch my new website www.officiallate.net so we decided to make a couple more exclusive tracks and put it out there as a free download to help promote the website al mixed and produced by Tricksta from UK Runnings
It says on the press release that this was your first mixtape with UK Runnings, apart the odd one you’ve hosted. How come it too so long to make a UK Runnings mixtape with a man you work with all the time? (lol)
What usually happens is we start making the release together then it just ends up being a full length album and we end up releasing it, my last album started off as a UK Runnings mixtape and half way through we both though this is sick lets make it a album
In your raps you talk on various subjects but what kind of tracks do you enjoy writing the most?
I mainly just write about myself and my surroundings, I’m constantly writing lyrics so whatever im on that day is what I write about
You’ve always kept it real to the underground, have you ever been tempted to make a pop song?
I don’t think I could, I think its very hard to write a pop song and you also need a massive budget behind it, In the UK the pop market is different to rest of the world.
I seen the hood videos for the ‘www.OfficialLate.net’ project – they look nice! Can we expect more videos from this project or from you as an artist soon?
Yeah most definitely as we completed the mixtape we managed to get out hands on a HD camera so we started experimenting with it, those videos are real underground we stepping the game up on the videos for the next project
You’ve had a spell of releasing some different projects, the ‘Street Product EP’, the digital ‘best-of’ album ‘From The Vaults’ and now ‘www.OfficialLate.net’ a collection of underground produced tracks and rare remixes. So will your next release be a new album?
Yeah im working on it now it’s gonna be called ‘Street Science’ and it’s my best work to date
Apart from making music you’re known for running the well-respected Rago Magazine with Tricksta. I see you do mixtapes with Tricksta and I remember you have your own series called Underground Exposure. How’s that all going?
I haven’t released one in a while, I will probably drop a new on around the time of the album, as Im focusing on the new album at the moment
Your also part of a crew called SPC. What does that stand for and what exactly is it?
It stands for South Park Coalition and its collection of talented artists from all over Houston Texas founded 25 years ago by the legendary rapper K-Rino.
Okay before you go can you give us all your website details please?
I can you a list of about 25 different accounts but you best just going to www.officiallate.net as everything is on there also check out www.ragomagazine.com
Interview by Stix
LATE FEAT K-RINO KB DA KIDNAPPA – IM A SAINT, IM A SINNER
LATE – UK RAPSCALLION
LATE – IM STILL HERE
LATE – SCIENTIFIC WORDPLAY
LATE – JUST ME
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