Audio Push is one of the new young crews leading Hip-Hop for the West Coast after making teens move to the hit single “Teach Me How To Jerk.”
Determined to be respected for their lyricism, as well as, show the whole scope of what they’re bringing to the table, they’re dropping their mixtape this week which is a precursor for their upcoming debut dropping next year on Interscope Records.
The two-man tandem comprised of Pricetag and Oktane checked in with Hip-Hop Wired to discuss their plan to run the game in the next few years.
HipHopWired: So tell the people a little about the mixtape.
Oktane: The mixtape is called The Soundcheck and that’s pretty much what it is. Before a big show, you soundcheck to make sure everything is right and everything is ready. It’s to get everybody ready and make sure everything is right, all the levels is good so when the album drops it really goes down. Some of the records we got up there are “The Intro,” “Aviator” and the “Drop It Low” remix record.
HipHopWired: I see you got Ray J’s big sister on the project. That’s a big look for some new jacks without an album yet.
Oktane: “Aviator” is done with Brandy and that is probably like the craziest feature to me because this is our mixtape. We haven’t even came out with an album yet and Brandy caught wind of our music and was just in love with it and then decided to do a record with us. That’s insane to me.
HipHopWired: Who else did you collaborate with?
Oktane: We also got Steph Jones on the mixtape. We got a song with the New Boyz on our mixtape as well, and the rest is us. We were gonna put a lot of different features but we wanted to really showcase ourselves and show the people like yo, “This is Audio Push.” We not trying to blow off of features although that’s the route a lot people take. We wanted to establish us and show that we can stand on our own.
HipHopWired: That makes a lot of sense. Too bad a lot of artists don’t believe enough in themselves these days. So how did the collaboration with The New Boyz come about as many people see the two groups as rivals?
Pricetag: We felt it was necessary to do a joint with The New Boyz because we don’t want people to think we beef with them or different things like that. We’re actually gonna be on their mixtape too. We grew up around the same area so it was just to show people that we’re cool with each other.
HipHopWired: So what made you guys decide to give away music as a lot of these songs sound like album material.
Oktane: Only creative people can afford to give out free music. That’s what Drake and Wayne did. They give you album material away for free. We want people to say this Shyte shouldn’t even have been on the mixtape so if they giving this away, imagine what they want me to buy.
HipHopWired: The music industry has definitely changed over the past few years as getting signed seems to be the easy part. After that the hard work begins so is The Soundcheck part of that grind.
Oktane: Once you get the deal, then you have to prove yourself. Drake is like the only person that got his deal and already had his fan base already. When you get the deal that’s gravy, but now the work really begins because you now have to make yourself a priority at the label otherwise you’ll be sitting there posted looking dumb in fact.
HipHopWired: What other points do you want to get across with the mixtape?
Pricetag: We’re showcasing our lyricism too. That comes out from the gate on the intro. You get that off top. The first song says look we really rap and the next song and then you get that throughout. That’s natural. All you gotta do is press play and the rest is gonna unfold in front of you. Basically it’s a group of music that you probably wouldn’t expect us to make or the music that you do expect us to make, you don’t expect it to be at that level that it’s at.
HipHopWired: You guys’ promotion game is crazy too and from listening to the album, you make it clear that you’re more than just a jerk group.
Pricetag: We don’t run away from the whole jerk title, it’s just that we bringing hot music. People expect because you’re a young artist and new that you’re a fad and that you’ll soon be gone. Our music is Audio which means we can go in and out of different lanes. Whatever we hear, we gonna put the hottest thing down to it.
Octane: As far as us promoting and being out there, we try to make sure we stick to so many different things. That’s why we were doing so many viral videos. I really feel like we were cracking off that because for us to be new artist, we had so many viral videos online that were crazy. We also were keeping in touch with our fans on Myspace and Twitter and doing as many shows as possible. Putting yourself out there to the people is mandatory because when your album drops and you only sell 5-thousand copies that week because you didn’t put in that work, you’re gonna be looking retarded. So that’s why it’s all about sketching and making a plan for yourself as a group, artist, label.. whatever it is. You need to have a plan and get it in.
Click here to check out The Soundcheck.
