HHW: You’re from Atlanta. How would you say your buzz is in your hometown? Would you like to do more in your city?
ForteBowie: You can always do more with everything. But I feel like I could definitely do more in the city. It’s definitely an awareness. Everybody knows who I am. They know about my talent. I think everyone knows I’m a talented guy, but I feel like in 2014, the goal is to enhance that and really just show people that ForteBowie isn’t just a talented guy. It’s more than that. I’m trying to prove that I can be a star. That’s what 2014 is about.
HHW: You don’t necessarily have to takeover you city first, because of blogs and all. Would you prefer things to play out like that, though?
ForteBowie: Um, it doesn’t really matter to me, because like you said, we’re in a new day in age. But who wouldn’t want that — to have hometown praise, to be that dude in your hometown before the rest of the world gets on? A lot of people have told me that they feel like I’m going to blow in other cities before my own city, but you never know. Time will tell.
You just make the music and you put it out there on the Internet. I mean, it’s the World Wide Web, so anybody can get a hold of it anywhere. I have people all over the world that listen to my music, but it would be amazing to just really hit home in Atlanta and pretty much take that crowd over here.
Usually, the dudes that are heroes over here — usually, it’s in a trap world or a street world. Usually, those are the guys that are always given the keys to the city. It’s rare that a guy like me that’s the one on some Neo sh*t, but if I could change that it would definitely be amazing.
HHW: You have a different kind of sound that you create yourself. What’s inspired that?
ForteBowie: I think it’s just my love for music period and all kinds of music. A lot of my influences aren’t really even Hip-Hop. I’m just in love with different sounds, pushing the boundaries, and giving people something to really listen to and take in. Rather than just listen to and go about your day, I want you to really listen to my music and connect with it. If it’s not the words, it’s the music.
HHW: Understandable. You sing and you rap, too. Which did you do first?
ForteBowie: I definitely was singing first, because as children melody comes to us as something that’s easy. It’s so easy to attach words to melody. But I grew up listening to rapping and singing, so I thought it was just something that went together. I grew up on Bell Biv DeVoe’s Poison album and then listening to a lot of New Jack Swing records, it was like Hip-Hop infused with R&B. To me, I always felt like that sh*t went together. I felt like there shouldn’t be no separation.
HHW: Today is January 9, 2014, so on this day next year, what do you want to see happen your career?
ForteBowie: January 9, 2015, I want chaos. When I say chaos, I mean hopefully causing chaos within the industry and within the world. Hopefully, in 2014 I’ve impacted the world so crazy that in January 2015 it’s still the talk of the town and whatever project I release is still buzzing. In just being a better artist, hopefully there’s more growth in all realms of artistry (and personally of course).
Definitely domination, man. If not world domination, then hopefully we’ve dominated the country.
