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As the final member added to the Nappy Roots, R. Prophet’s concepts and visions completed the group’s overall creativity and fueled the success of their debut release in 2002. Now branching off into a burgeoning solo career, R. Prophet discusses his individual motives which include community involvement, his album release, and being a part of Louisville’s growth as a whole. What’s been going on with your music lately? I started my own label called VVS Records. I’m the first artist on the label. I have some things unfolding but I can’t speak on it yet ‘cause the contracts aren’t done. I got a single called “Run Tell the DJ” produced by Mannie Fresh which is the high researched song in Louisville urban history, even over the group’s “Aw Naw” and the Grammy nominated “Po Folk.” And I got a newer one called “What the Bidness Is.” My focus is putting together my album called R. Prophet: The Voice. A lot of people refer to me as the guy having the voice in the group. Have you worked with Mannie Fresh again since you recorded that song? I made that song in 2006. I have another song that nobody’s heard called “You the Shit.” When I went to Houston to work with Mannie Fresh I did two songs. I kept “You the Shit” for my album release. I’d like to work with him on each of my albums after this one. What’s the scoop on your side ventures? You have the new night club and the radio show now, right? I just opened a club twenty minutes away from Tampa, FL, in Dade City. The grand opening is gonna be in May. We’ve been having some pre-openings for the last few weeks. That’s looking nice for me. I’m expecting some good things from that. I also own like 30 properties in Tampa; that’s how that came about. My real estate company is called Your Place, LLC so right now the club is called Tu Casa Lounge – which means Your Place. We’re talking about naming it Club Prophet’s. And the radio show is on B96.5, right? I’ve been doing that for like 2 years now. It’s me, my brother, and Christopher 2X, who are both community activists in America and the city of Louisville. Not only do we talk about different issues, but we also give upcoming artists from Kentucky some shine so they can build their following. It’s called “The Streets Are Talking” and it’s on Sundays from 2-3 PM. How did you end up with the radio show? Being that Louisville is not as fast paced as other places, before us there wasn’t any artists
here in the city being played in rotation at the radio station. When I started working on my solo project, I made a song called “Represent the Ville” talking about all the different hoods in Louisville. Everyone wanted to hear it and it got a lot of requests at the station. After that the guy said he would put it in rotation but he didn’t. So me, my brother, and Christopher 2X had a meeting with that PD and his bosses. One thing led to another and we got into a heated discussion. I was saying, “Not only are you not playing and supporting me, but you’re not supporting any artists in Louisville. They need an outlet too in order for Kentucky to grow.” Me and the PD got into a heated discussion and I left the meeting. At that point I thought I may have jeopardized myself being played forever, and maybe even jeopardized the group getting played again because we got into it. But actually the next day they demoted the PD and hired a new one. It’s a wild thing because I went in there for one cause and it turned into me standing up for a lot of the artists. I didn’t know what was going to happen but I stood up for what I believed in. The next morning the new PD Tim Gerrard called me, and from that point on, me, my brother, and Christopher 2X were advising B96.5 how to bridge the gap between the station and the community. This is the first interview I’ve spoken on this publicly, and because of this incident local artists have been in rotation for the last couple of years. You seem to be very involved in the community. Do you have anything else going on, like charity work or things of that nature? I’m the youngest member on the board of chairmen for the Muhammad Ali Center along with the Dalai Lama, Quincy Jones, Will Smith, and Mya Angelo. They appointed me to help keep his legacy alive for the younger generation, to let people know all the great things he did for people. We do different events throughout the year where we bring kids together and help them with different issues like school. Outside of that, me and my brother came up with this thing called Hip Hop Multiplication. Hip Hop tends to get a bad wrap so we use Hip Hop to help kids with multiplication as well as other things to educate them. It’s a CD to help kids learn mathematics. I’m working on a website for it – Myspace.com/R.Prophet. Right now it can be purchased at CDBaby.com/RProphet. I also started a reading program that’s held at the Jefferson County Community College. Kids can come and we teach them how to read. My mother and brother run it. We’ve maintained that for a while. A lot of people refer to you as the voice of the OZONE |