Tetraz from Krazy Swag Entertainment
Interview by Scott Bejda
You have been in the Atlanta music scene for a long time now. Can you
give us some of your
history?
I started back in 1992 and that was when I did my first record, “Funk
Over-Dose”. At that time I was really a barber at a barber shop. Every
customer that sat in my chair I used to make them buy a cassette because
back in those days that’s all you had. Every customer bought a hat, t-shirt,
or cassette, and I ended up parlaying about five hundred. I took that
money put out my next record, which was called “Set It Off”. That became
my first major hit.
What did “Set It Off” do for your career?
I ended up going on tour with acts like Eric B & Rakim, Run DMC,
and LL Cool J. After that I continued to work hard and I ended up on
Billboard after selling ten thousand records in a month. I never had
a record deal my whole entire life and I hit Billboard. I worked with
everybody from Ichiban to Select-O-Hits to Power/Triad. To date I have
sold roughly 250,000 records independently. It has been a twenty year
process and I have been grinding, which ultimately led me to the current
deal with Universal.
To go from working as a barber to doing shows with Run DMC is amazing.
I used to do shows in these country towns playing my records, and people
like Ludacris used to open up for me. I remember bumping into Outkast
when they were dancers at a Luke concert.
Outkast as dancers? That’s going way back!
Yeah, they even had blonde hair and they were young. This was before
the Dungeon Family and all of that. At that time it was all about party
music. In Atlanta back then there was just a handful of rappers and I
was there during that independently. I had people like Greg Street asking
me, “How are you selling all these records?”
You must have had a lot drive and determination.
The crazy thing is people tell me all the time, “Man, what you did in
the 90’s won’t work now!”
Did you start off as a rapper?
I started off as a DJ first and then I went from a DJ into being a rapper.
Now I’m a producer plus I write and own a publishing company. I deal
with everything from apparel to publishing, marketing, promotions, and
music distribution. I was taught by Freak Nasty who showed me how to
do this independently and Cooley-C who did a lot of Kilo stuff back in
the day. I learned from Mannie Fresh, KLC, and DJ Toomp how to make beats.
I used to buy tracks and now I make my own stuff.
You learned from so many legendary people. DJ Toomp is phenomenal.
When I talk to Toomp we swap mixes. I’m a drum man and I like to put
it together.
Your new venture is Krazy Swag Entertainment. What are you planning right
now?
The company is about seven months old. I came together with two of my
business partners to form this company. This company wasn’t structured
to sell records and when I tell people that they say, “Man, what kind
of record company is this?” It’s not a record company; it’s Krazy Swag
Entertainment which is the parent company and it has three holding companies:
Krazy Swag Records, Krazy Swag Apparel, and Krazy Swag Promotions. We’re
into building brands to help artists make money on all aspects from shows,
records, merchandise, and any other outlets. We have great mission statements
and we have think tanks. We thought: what if there was a company that
nurtured an artist relationship, not only to put out records but to build
a brand? People like 50 Cent can put his brand on anything to sell a
product. A lot of people just put out a record and when the record dies
their career is pretty much over. They didn’t know how to explore other
options to build their career. We enlighten people about marketing, promotions,
sales, distributions, apparel, videos, and teach them the business of
music. A lot of people have gravitated towards Krazy Swag. We’ve got
a nice movement. We’re trying to change how people look at the industry.
We are exclusively distributed through Universal too.
How did you all get the deal with Universal?
They stepped to me and told me they could see what I’m doing and they
just want to get these acts coming out of Atlanta. I flew out to LA and
everything fell into place. We came back and we hit the ground running.
Krazy Swag was already born but we just took it to the next level and
started snatching up different groups left and right trying to find people
that fit our motto.
When are you going to start releasing product?
We’ve got DJ Brad who’s with the Legion of Doom DJ’s. He has the new
single “In Da Buildin’” which we just shot the video that will debut
in January on 106th & Park. We’ve also got Home Wrecker, and BCD
and Halftime. A lot of these groups are already getting BDS and are on
the radio so everything is coming together. We’re partnering up with
a lot of different independent labels and artists and we are always looking
for more.
What all do you do at Krazy Swag?
Other than being the President I go to all of the meetings. Right now
we are talking to Macy’s, Coca Cola, and Pepsi. My partners Charles and
Kevin are very connected and when we all came together it was great.
Charles is the Fortune 500 businessman, and he is a lawyer and a accountant.
Kevin is the apparel guy who has had a clothing company for over ten
years. I have been in the music industry for 20 years so when you bring
all of that together you know you got something.
Where would you like to see Krazy Swag in the next five years?
Of course we want to make it a big international entity and we want to
put out some of the best products on the market. By that time we hope
to release our first movie through Krazy Swag Films. We are looking to
build some 50 Cent’s, and some Ludacris’s. Also we want to give back
and have people take control of their careers and own their masters.
We want to show people that this industry is still vibrant and not all
cutthroat so if we can get in we can make that change. We want to have
a family environment to help people develop their careers. That’s our
five year goal to have all of those things in place. A lot of artists
don’t trust labels, but when you come to me and put your career in my
hands I want to show you that we are not going to take advantage of you.
We want to give you the best deal possible!
Who were you listening to when you were growing up?
I was definitely listening to Run DMC, LL Cool J, Eric B & Rakim,
Grand Puba, Brand Nubian and several others. I used to think that the
industry was so far away and thought it was only in New York because
Atlanta at the time didn’t have big music scene. I set out to try to
figure this business and I pay attention to everything. I just developed
a true passion for the music and it grew from there.
