After a childhood stint in a “boy band,” Bostonbred artist Masspike Miles reinvented himself as a business-savvy singer with a bit of Hip Hop swag. Now boasting some powerful allies, like Rick Ross and DJ Drama, Miles is prepared to take his art form to the next level. Do you think coming out of Boston is a challenge for an artist? Yeah, it’s always a challenge coming out of Boston. I’ve been doing music for damn near twenty years now. I was singing in a group called Perfect Gentlemen back in 1993. That was during the New Kids on the Block/New Edition era; I was caught up in that. Coming out of Boston is definitely different than coming out of Atlanta or New York. It’s hard; it’s difficult, I ain’t gonna lie. But now that I’m moving around and adapting to my environment, no matter what it is, they understand that the person is Miles as opposed to Masspike. They get to know who Miles is. Masspike is your alter ego? Kind of. Miles is my government name, so people who know me call me Miles. If you don’t know me, you can call me Masspike. (laughs) So the boy-band situation back in ’93 didn’t work out? I guess you could say we had mediocre success. By today’s standards selling 150,000 would be great, but back then it wasn’t great to the Warner Bros. staff. They expected [more] because the New Kids on the Block were worth a billion dollars in merchandising alone. I was only eleven then. I ain’t even gonna front, I was dancing, singing, whatever it took for me to be a part of the group. I was the lead singer of Perfect Gentlemen so I had to do what I had to do.
to have a microphone hanging from the lights and the ceiling. He would have a microphone plugged in with the tape deck and the boom. We would just freestyle, but the fact that I could do it so well just influenced them. I was rap/singing back then, kinda like what I’m doing now. I can do [rap] battles and pop music; I can do all that. Through them, I got into the beat-making and songwriting aspect of the music. That’s how I made the transition back into music when I was about fifteen. After your transition back into the music game on the songwriting and production side, what have you been working on? I got into beat-making and I worked with this artist named Smoke Bulga out of Boston. We ended up getting a deal with Sony/Epic. I produced his first single and was heavily involved with his project on the executive side of things. It just influenced me creatively to want to move forward. I knew I was talented enough. I’m not the greatest singer or dancer. I’m not gonna sit around and serenade your girl; if you meet me you may never know that I can sing. I just wanted to do music regardless if it was working as sa producer or an artist or being in the background. I just wanted to be a part of the music because I loved it so much. So in working with Smoke Bulga, you got more of a feel for the business side of the industry? Of course. I’m heavily involved with... The rest of this interview is featured in the current issue of OZONE.
Did that discourage you from continuing in the music business? For a few years I was discouraged. I was still developing as a young man and trying to come up smoothly in the industry. Being a young dude in the streets from Roxbury, Massachusetts, I had to deal with a lot of different things. I was a chubby light skinned dude singing in a [boy band] when I was 11 and 12 years old, and it didn’t really pan out. My peers and people who I thought were friends [ultimately] made fun of the fact that [my group] didn’t do well. That kinda deterred me from singing for a few years. One day I was on TV singing and then the next day I’m on the block, 13 years old, trying to sell weed. It was discouraging. I could still sing though. What made me get back into it was my homies in the hood who were really friends. We were really clicking; they were rapping. My man used OZONE | 23