Exclusive: Interview w/ Atlantic’s New Kid on The Block ‘Phreshy Duzit’

Now we bring you an exclusive interview with Atlantic‘s brightest new star! The remix to his single ‘Eyetag’ which features label-mate Trey Songz is currently one of the most downloaded songs this week on urban music blogs (listen below)!

Josiah (JDot.) from UrbanBridgez.com caught up with 21 year old and discussed his up-coming EP HateLove (due this spring), when he realized his talent for music, growing up in Brooklyn & Detroit, how he got the attention of Atlantic Records, his goals & much more! Get to know this dude, you’re going to be hearing alot about him in the near future!

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UrbanBridgez.com: When did you first realize you could flow?
Phreshy Duzit: In high-school like sophomore and jr. year. It was just like a hobby during lunch with a group of friends. It wasn’t anything serious at that time, but it was fun. After that I got into writing. So yeah I realized I could flow in high-school.

UrbanBridgez.com: What kind of MC would you say Phreshy Duzit is?
Phreshy Duzit: I would say creative and forward thinking. Basically more rap than MC, because MC is sticking more true to the essence. I like doing some forward thinking, progressive stuff.

UrbanBridgez.com: You turned down some scholarships, in order to follow your dreams, was that a hard decision for you?
Phreshy Duzit: I did turn some down, but it wasn’t like full ride scholarships. So I still would of had to find a way to pay for school and that wasn’t the easiest thing to do. But I had opportunities to play basketball and my art could of taken me into school. It was hard, but this is my dream and I always knew that if my dream didn’t come to reality. I could of still pursued art or basketball, I didn’t want to miss out on the music opportunity.
[audio:https://urbanbridgez.com/ubgblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/pdschoolmusic.mp3|titles=Phreshy Duzit: School Vs Music]

UrbanBridgez.com: You come from a musical family I hear, did they encourage you to follow your dreams?
Phreshy Duzit: Yes and no, I mean they knew this was like a one in a million shot, they didn’t want me to get to focused on music because they knew it was a difficult task and real hard to get into. And considering I’m young, they didn’t know how focused I was. But they was telling me to go to school and I was always like let me just take this year off and pursue this. And they supported and then it happened.

UrbanBridgez.com: Your bio says you’re from Brooklyn & Detroit, explain that for our readers?
Phreshy Duzit: Yeah I grew up in Brooklyn, in like 8th grade I moved to Detroit because my father got a better job. I would still come back for the summers and after high-school I moved back to Brooklyn & that’s where I’m at right now.

UrbanBridgez.com: How did you get noticed & signed to Atlantic Records?
Phreshy Duzit: At the time I had a big MySpace and YouTube presence. I was also putting my art online and I first got discovered by the person who’s now my manager. He had some contacts in the industry because he worked at KOCH (E1) at the time and he basically sent my MySpace stuff to the VP of Atlantic. I flew out to LA with him the same week. That’s when I got my first offer, I got a few more offers. But after all the meetings I stuck with Atlantic.
[audio:https://urbanbridgez.com/ubgblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/pddeal.mp3|titles=Phreshy Duzit:Atlantic Deal]

UrbanBridgez.com: Let’s talk about the HateLove EP, who did you work with for starters?
Phreshy Duzit: I worked with four producers, Nylez, Hitservice, Hit-Boy and DePuTy. Nylez is like my in-house producer that’s signed to me at SMC. He did two tracks. There’s only one collaboration track with Audio Push & Bei Major and the rest is basically all me!

UrbanBridgez.com: Tell us a little about SMC?
Phreshy Duzit: SMC is a company that was formed with three partners. It’s like a mini-label, we offer everything from shooting independent videos to in-house production with Nylez. Hopefully when we expand it’s gonna get other artists to the point where they can also sign to a major through us.

UrbanBridgez.com: ‘Pattycake’ is kinda different and cool at the same time, what’s the overall vibe of the EP?
Phreshy Duzit: That song stands out because it follows the whole creative process and to me it’s also forward thinking, it’s different which is what I’m going for! Basically the whole vibe of the EP is a slice of my reality. Like Hate is a very strong word and you don’t say love unless you mean it.The thing is at the point in my life with creating this EP, putting those words together comes from like relationships. Not being able to see the girl I was with or like going to the club, they’re like two or three of those records. I can break it down for you, the first song is Pattycake. That’s like me having an altercation in the club and it’s just showing that’s something that happens like everyday in the club. Like somebody might go and try to get at somebody else’s girl and causes chaos in the club. And this is just the start of this young and reckless behavior I’ve embarked on at this point. Second song is Your Favorite Freak, that’s about me traveling to LA and as soon as I touch down I call this girl & telling her I’m in town. I’m not in a relationship or if I am in a relationship, I could be creeping with this particular girl. Then in the middle I put a song that’s called Hate/Love, this is the strongest point in the EP, it explains everything from the title. Then Big Money, at this point I’m showing my love for money. It’s money over bi*ches at this point (laughs). And the last song is called Eyetag it’s about me going back to this club and having this eye contact with this pacific girl. So it’s really just like a portrayal of me at a certain point in time. I don’t want people to think this is all I am, this is just at this point. And I might run with this point for the next EP or mixtape, we’ll see.

UrbanBridgez.com: When can fans expect a full album from you?
Phreshy Duzit: We just started working on the full album, so I would say around the middle of this year!

UrbanBridgez.com: Any producers or artist you would like to work with on the album?
Phreshy Duzit: Definitely, I wanna work with Kanye, Swizz Beatz as far as production. Collaborations, I like anybody that’s relevant that’s pushing creative boundaries. I would love to work with…
[audio:https://urbanbridgez.com/ubgblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/pdworkwith.mp3|titles=Phreshy Duzit: Would Work With]

UrbanBridgez.com: Who are some of the artists who you look up to?
Phreshy Duzit: Kanye West, Drake, Lil Wayne, in the past Michael Jackson, Prince, so many others I can’t even name.

UrbanBridgez.com: Being that you mentioned Michael and Prince, as far as your style will you dip into any kind of singing or is it just rapping?
Phreshy Duzit: Oh yeah definitely! There’s actually two songs that are generally all singing, one straight rap crunk record and two like Pattycake where it’s a combination of both. There isn’t like a song that I don’t sing at least a little bit on it.

UrbanBridgez.com: Fashion is also important to you and I hear you’re starting a clothing line tell us about that?
Phreshy Duzit: Definitely, I haven’t had the time to really like start it, but in the near future when my name is bigger than it is now. I wanna either collaborate with people on clothing or just really begin my own clothing line with the help of others in like fashion.

UrbanBridgez.com: What are your goals for yourself in the next 5 years?
Phreshy Duzit: In the next five years…I make a list of goals everyday. Let me just say be a successful artist, a house-hold name. Whatever I put out whether it be music, fashion or whatever, I would like it to be received well. I just want overall success, wealth, positivity and all that!

UrbanBridgez.com: Do you have any words of encouragement for any artists like trying to get in the game?
Phreshy Duzit: Yeah that’s like the highlight of my day, people have seen me grow from like an artist putting out music on MySpace that was half way decent. It’s so many people who followed me since that time who congratulate me everyday. Just alot of positive feedback from people who have followed me since Step Ya Swag Up which was the first single I ever put out. So as far as encouraging it’s almost like a mutual reaction. I tell them things like you saw me do it and you can too. You saw how I did it, so follow that route and put out good music and this could be your situation whenever you put the work in!
[audio:https://urbanbridgez.com/ubgblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/pdavice.mp3|titles=Phreshy Duzit:Advice]

UrbanBridgez.com: Any last words for your fans?
Phreshy Duzit: Just check out the EP when it drops and much love to everybody!

[audio:https://urbanbridgez.com/ubgblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Phreshy-Duzit-Eyetag-Ft.-Trey-Songz.mp3|titles=Phreshy Duzit – Eyetag (Ft. Trey Songz)]Check out Eyetag (remix) featuring Trey Songz!