We always joke that I’m always on. My boss always says, “You can’t turn it off Pete.” That’s been a positive and a negative in my life, that if I had an extra hour or extra day I would continue to make moves…”
In Part 2 of our interview with Minnesota’ s finest, Mr. Peter Parker breaks down his mixtape regime from his upcoming project with Cam’ron to past mixtapes featuring Asher Roth and Ice Cube.
This master of the mix also breaks down the music scene in a state more widely known for the likes of Prince than Hip-Hop, touches on his 25/8 Entertainment Company and delves into the possibility of a budding career in comedy.
Origin: Lawrence, Massachusetts
Current Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Top Ten Playlist:
1. Drake-Over
2. Donnis- Gone
3. Superstar LT ft. Kardinall Official & Red Cafe-I Love My City
4. Wiz Khalifa- This Plane
5. Young Money ft. Gucci Mane-Steady Mobbin
6. Joell Ortiz- Lemonade (Freestyle)
7. Red Cafe feat. Fabolous- I’m Ill
8. Masspike Miles- Nasty
9. Juelz Santana ft. Yelawolf-Mixin’ up the Medicine
10. Jay Electronica- Exhibit C
HipHopWired: Let’s talk about more of your mixtapes. Now you’ve got a gang of mixtapes, what’s the last one that you put out?
Mr. Peter Parker: The last one I did was this Grind Season Go Getters Vol. 1 that was hosted by J. Cole, who I had a cool little meeting with this dude, when I met these dudes I was on Chicago. The Grind Season Go Getters 1 is dedicated to these young kids that are already functioning in hip hop, I seem them on the blogs, I see them on Twitter and they’re competing. I wanted to get everyone that was young and competing a platform the same way Clue did in the 90’s when he had Method Man, Jaz-Z, all these guys. Clue wasn’t chasing Public Enemy, he was like Mase, Cam’ron, N.O.R.E., everybody of that era and then he rode into the game with them. So now look where Clue’s at and he’s responsible for a lot of these guys and working together with them. So that’s where the idea came from, I was like “Wow!” I see these guys doing it, I respect them and nobody has created a platform for them yet.
HipHopWired: Are you working on any new ones right now?
Mr. Peter Parker: Yeah, I’m actually working on a best of Cam’ron hosted by Cam. I have an interview that comes with that. Cam’s one of those artists that has so many records because he came up in the mixtape era, so it’s hard to really put a definitive “best of”, like Ice Cube’s easy because it’s all in albums, but Cam I gotta go through all the mixtapes and freestyles, so that’s taking awhile. But the Cam is coming out, it’s called “Pink is Dead” and the cover is crazy, Cam’s an interesting character.
HipHopWired: Are you still doing the How Hard Do You Hustle series?
Mr. Peter Parker: Yeah yeah yeah! That was a brand that I came up with when I was younger and was kinda work ethic, like hard work meets talent philosophy. I always do the How Hard Do You Hustle, that’s something that I’m always going to always kinda do, it motivates me and I like the whole idea. My coach used to yell at me, “You gotta hustle. You can’t stop moving just because you don’t have the ball.” Somebody told me one time when I was younger, “You don’t fight good with the belt” and that made a long-lasting impression on me, that you got to keep fighting even when you’re not on top.
HipHopWired: What about 25/8 Entertainment, that’s your entertainment company?
Mr. Peter Parker: Yeah. That’s like my little thing. Like the “How Hard Do You Hustle” was the motto for 25/8 Entertainment. My buddy always jokes with me like, “Yo, your work ethic is going to be the death of you.” I try to emulate that in my life, we always joke that I’m always on, my boss always says, “You can’t turn it off Pete.” That’s been a positive and a negative in my life, that if I had an extra hour or extra day I would continue to make moves.
HipHopWired: Yeah always out there working.
Mr. Peter Parker: Not even working, it’s not even work anymore, it was work and then it just became, I don’t know, I don’t think its work it’s just my lifestyle. Now it’s my lifestyle of 25/8, it’s like buying into your own stereotype of who you’re supposed to be. Everyone used to joke, “Oh Pete can’t turn it off,” well ok, then I’m going to be able to turn it up a notch on you!
HipHopWired: What about right now in Minneapolis, who‘s hot out there? Because you don’t really hear anything about what’s going on in Minneapolis, it’s kind of like I have no idea.
Mr. Peter Parker: It’s always like a punchline of a joke, like, “Do you know Prince?” or “Have you ever met Joe Mauer of the Twins?” It’s crazy about Minneapolis, there’s Atmosphere, Rhymesayers, Brother Ali. These guys that do this Rhymesayer Entertainment company out here are probably one of the most successful independent rap labels in the world. I’ve had label executives call me and call them the new Def Jam. Every year they have this festival called Soundset and last year it did like 12-13 thousand people and it’s amazing because it’s like Atmosphere, Brother Ali, P.O.S, all these local guys that are national in the underground scene, but then there’s Wiz Khalifa, Redman and Method Man, Hieroglyphics and it’s going to be this melting pot of true school hip hop and it’s probably going to do 15 thousand people this year. Minneapolis has a fantastic group of new artists, the Midwest is wide open. I’m from Boston and to be out here, being with these guys, the spirit of Hip-Hop is alive and so passionate in Minneapolis that it’s overwhelming at times to deal with some of the personalities. Dudes are looking at you like “Oh, uhm, commercial is bad” and I’m like dude, you guys are the illest underground heads, the most passionate hip hop fans. I look at it as passion, they love what they have and they love their scene. There are a lot of artists out here, a lot.
HipHopWired: Hopefully we can hear more from them.
Mr. Peter Parker: Yeah, the Rhymesayers Soundset of 2010 is like the best of the best and definitely a lot of the blogs, like 2dopeboyz supports a lot of artists from Minneapolis and they definitely show a lot of love, and NewMusicCartel, obviously HipHopWired is going to be tuned in, they’re talking to me so it’s definitely positive.
HipHopWired: I read somewhere, tell me if I’m wrong, but I read somewhere that you’re getting into comedy, is that true?
Mr. Peter Parker: I’ve always been like a comedian, I used to do a little stand up when we used to host parties. I used to host shows in Boston and in Boston everybody’s a comedian out there, so you have to be kind of on your toes. I used to do stand up a little bit lightly and when I used to host the parties it was all jokes, funny Isht, talking Isht to people, so I’ve always had this bug that I want to do stand up, I want to do comedy, it’s something that I’m aspiring to do. Radio has been so overwhelming, a lot of work, so I couldn’t get in and do it, so now that I’m not doing radio full time right now it’s definitely something that I’m trying to pursue.
HipHopWired: We’re going to wrap it up now but before I let you go, do you have any last words? Do you have any shout outs?
Mr. Peter Parker: Yeah, shout out to everybody that supports, everyone that motivates me, that inspires me, all the artists I work with. Shout out to Boston, shout out to Minneapolis Twin Cities area, shout out to HipHopWired, they’re doing their thing- I see it, I love it, I love the movement, I’m down. Thank you, this is my first interview that I’ve ever done with a website, I love it, I love you guys.
HipHopWired: Really?!
Mr. Peter Parker: Of course, I’m always working so hard, I don’t have time to give interviews, definitely a positive thing. MrPeterParker.com, How Hard Do You Hustle, all of the above, let’s go!
