The newest member of Harlem’s Dipset crew is ready to make his mark on the hip hop world. With his Uptown movement behind him and a new album set for release in January (ed note: which has reportedly been pushed back since this interview took place last month) on KOCH Records, 20-year-old Writer has a game plan and is set to execute it. HHDX sat down with the future of Harlem to find out how he got his start, and where he plans to be in 10 years.

Battle Zone…

I didn’t necessarily come up as a battle MC, but that’s how I got my recognition, by battling and being on Public Access shows and DVDs. I think it helps me with the things that I could talk about, and expands my options.

I can rap about my battling days, where I was just grindin’ and doin’ what I had to do, going through what I had to go through as far as on the streets, to get my recognition. I can go back in the studio and put that on wax and tell people what I had to go through. I just had to perfect my own style – just write and write every day.

I was in a two bedroom apartment with my moms and I got two little brothers and an older sister, so there was always a lot of fighting in the house and screaming and someone wanna listen to the radio in one room and watch TV in another room. So I always had to go lock myself in the bathroom and just write. And everyone would always be like, “what you doin’ in there?!” Nobody understood. But you just gotta go hard, man. Know what you wanna do and focus on that and just keep on going. Don’t let nobody stop you. It’s hard – even when you get there.

It’s still hard to get over that hump. It’s always gonna be hard, even when you get signed.

Harlem Love…

We got that swagger! As far as the Diplomats, we’re not just a rap label. When we move, other people want to move with us. We got this affect on Harlem. Harlem got our back 100%. Some of the biggest rappers come from there: Cam’ron, Big L. We got that swag, we fly, we look good, and we nice.

We’re a movement. We’ve been a movement, and we’re just getting bigger and stronger by the day. Every time we move, it’s like the million man march, and by the time we’re done, it’ll be like the million man march. I just came back from Canada and it was crazy. I got a lot of love. It was the first time I been out there. I hosted a Much Music countdown [Canada’s version of MTV] of my favorite videos and had people following me with cameras. They love me out there, and I don’t even have a single out yet. Continued on page 2 »