Rarebreed’s name is suggestive of his uncommon characteristics, yet in spite of his moniker and larger than life persona, Rarebreed is just like anyone else in this world. His values are real. His struggles are real. And his messages are real. It’s these virtues that have made him a key building block for Miami’s Big Spenda Entertainment, and possibly the future backbone for Florida underground Hip Hop. Give us your life story in a nutshell. What was growing up like for you? I’m a single parent kid. My mom raised me. We lived in a lot of cities in Florida. I was born in Sanford, Florida but I was raised in Belle Glade. I’ve been here since I was four years old. I’ve been rapping for a while. I don’t want to say my personal life is something different from any other unprivileged kid growing up in the hood. It’s all the same story no matter where you’re from. A lot of violence, a lot of betrayal, a lot of stuff that went on in the city I grew up in, pretty much made me the lyricist I am today. So you’re from the same city as Papa Duck. Why did it take you guys so long to combine efforts? We’ve basically always been together; it’s just that our music reflects different avenues in Hip Hop. He was doing his thing on one end and I was doing my thing on the other. What separates his style from mine is that I’m more grimier. If you hear one of my records, I may cover some historical events or you may hear a straight New York type punch line, where I don’t even sound like a southern rapper. On another track I might sound like I’m from Houston or an L.A. based rapper. Or I might be going a hundred miles an hour with the lyrics like I’m from Chicago. My lyrical approach is far different from Papa Duck’s approach.
‘cause it gives me an urgency of wanting to do the right thing. Whenever I’m on stage, whatever the situation calls for I try to do it. I may try to give some history to the crowd concerning civil rights, where minorities came from in the United States to get where we are today. How did you become a part of Big Spenda Entertainment? DJ Mark T, who’s big in the Broward and Dade County underground, broke my mixtape in 2006. I was actually about to sign a deal with DJ Blackout and Team Blackout when Mims was taking off with “This Is Why I’m Hot.” I was actually inside of the camp when that started popping and the song got so big they had to focus all the attention on Mims. It left me pretty much on the backburner. I had to make a decision if I wanted to sign with them or not. So, I just built up my lyrics and went with it. Mark T kept playing my mixtape. Big Spenda Entertainment heard it and it was a domino effect. It got the best mixtape of the year at the Gainesville Music Summit this year. Benzino, formerly of the Source Magazine, heard my mixtape and he put me in the Independent Grind of the Monster Mag and Hip-Hop Weekly. I met Big Spendas in April and we inked the deal April 14th. They liked what they heard and flew me down to Miami and made it happen. Is there anything else you wanna let people know about? My ninth full-length album is going to be called Training Day. It’s like I’m in training. My mixtape I just did with Real Nigga Radio was actually my eighth underground CD in stores. Whenever you get an album from me, or a CD, or a song, I’m going all out. I ain’t trying to change up my lyrical style for nobody. Hopefully I’ll put out Training Day with major label distribution. We’re shooting the “Big Spendaz Anthem” video on South Beach in October and we’re taking that straight to MTV. I’m going hard with the music... The rest of this interview is featured in OZONE Magazine’s October issue.
When you get on stage you really take advantage of having a strong voice. What are some messages you want to get out there to the people? Music is about leaving the trouble behind. I got a real troubled past and I want to leave that behind. I vent out a lot of anger through lyrics. Like when you saw me perform in Atlanta, that’s a powerful city as far as the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King being from there. Whenever I’m there I go by his grave OZONE MAG // 29