Coming off a great year with several mixtapes heavy in the streets and one major label release, Torch and Triple Cs are continuing to build their momentum. As one-fourth of the group, Torch also has his own lane and supporters. Here Torch gives us a rundown on what’s new for him, and what makes him a standout part of Carol City Cartel. Tell us what you have poppin’ right now. We got the album Color, Cut, Clarity coming soon. We got the new mixtape Sticks & Stones. I got my solo mixtape Crash Course comin’. We got a lot of big things comin’ this year. You put out a lot of solo material last year. What all did you have circulating? My shit be like albums. I have a lot of original material, I don’t usually jack people’s shit like everybody else. I had about 3 or 4 mixtapes worth of material. I’m working on my next street album. Being from New York, your sound touches a different market than your group members. When you’re looking for beats for your solo music, do you use the same producers as Triple Cs? Or do you work with different people? I work with everybody that provides heat. Sometimes I work with producers from the group, but those people craft different kind of beats that what I’m on because I’m not from this region. But a lot of my stuff on this new mixtape came from up north. We do have a couple Runners beats on it, JUSTICE League, Transformers, Olympicks, just to name a few. It should be coming out within the next couple of weeks. We’re gonna drop the Triple Cs mixtape first. We’re just keeping shit in the streets so we stay relevant in the game. We’re one of the hottest labels in the game. So you guys have a fourth member now, Young Breed. What do you think he adds to Triple Cs? He’s like the gutta, young version of Triple Cs. We just added another element by bringing him into the crew. We been seasoned together, but when you get that younger strength in there, it’s like a big bowl of gumbo. Everyone likes to try to outdo their last project. Are you guys trying to improve anything from the last album? The only improvement is that there’s gonna be
less features and more Triple Cs. People were saying they wanted to hear a lot more of us. They know we can hold our own, we’re nice with it. So you gon’ hear more Triple Cs, more polished records, and the last album was really more raw and uncut and for the street crowd. We gonna keep our street crowd, but we gonna make a couple more records that will get a little more radio play. So you’re trying to get more of that radio market? We already knew what the people wanted, now we gotta give the PDs and radio what they want. All our mixtapes is what the people want, and our album is like a hot ass version of a mixtape. This new album is gonna be more polished, you’re gonna hear a lot of growth in Triple Cs. Of course it’s gonna surprise everybody. Have you come up with any singles yet? We got a lot of records recorded, that’s all we do. Right now we’re on everybody’s radar with “Teflon” for Ross’ new shit. When we record 100 songs, putting together an album isn’t really hard. Even with the last album, we didn’t release the records that were good for radio, we kept it street, but we had those records. What direction are you trying to go with your own solo records? My music has always been more about life than death. I’m pro-life. I talk about the struggle. You can just expect a lot of good music from me. I done been there, done that, touched on every subject in life. It’s time to start making more grown shit and get money. You have a reputation for lyrical content. Definitely. The game has changed. You can’t be in the trap forever. There’s gotta be some kind of message with your music. You gotta be able to balance it. That’s what makes Ross such a great rapper. He doesn’t just give you the trap; he makes good music too. That’s what I pride myself on. I’m a writer and I do a lot of writing for people. That’s how I became more musical with my craft. Anything else you want to add? Everybody follow me on Twitter @TorchCCC to keep up with everything. I got my own website TorchIsNY.com. It’s like somebody told me, if you ain’t got 15 ways to get money in this game you ain’t using it right – I’m up to 20. // OZONE MAG // 11