I ran across M1 Platoon on myspace about a year ago, and instantly fell in love with the music. From DC to North Carolina, M1 Platoon is a group of young talented MC’s. I had an opportunity to meet the Heat Team , by bringing the group to The College of William and Mary to perform. They bring energy, humor, and pure hip hop to the stage.
Last week I had the chance to sit down and do an interview with the group. When I called, they were chillin’ in their new house, the M1 Mansion, which they are oh so proud of. They had their manager in there with them(Joanna Hernandez), along with songstress Carlitta Durand. One thing I love about them is their unity. They work together, live together, eat together, and to be able to be a sucessful family/group you need that.
~Blair
Left to Right: Sean D, C4 Black, Scoopay, Big Chopps, Arafat Yates
Blair: All of you are students at NCCU, but some of you didn’t meet there. How did the group come together?
Arafat Yates: I was born in DC, but moved to Minneapolis, and came back down to DC. I met Chops and Young Fueg ( from “Boyeeee”)., Chopps had a dream to come down to Central and work with 9th Wonder. He brought Sean D and some others from Dunbar, and we met Scoopay and C4 Black at Central. We used to freestyle with C4 in the cafeteria, and thats how the heat team came toegther. Sean D and Scoopay never rapped before M1 Platoon, but they tear shit up so dont worry bout’ em.
Scoopay: I’m from Fredrick, MD. I lived in the same dorm as them, and I came down stairs one day to listen to their music. I was feelin it, and some how I ended up on the track. It came to together. We all brothers so it worked out.
Blair: How did you all end up working with 9th Wonder?
Yates: Me and Chopps had a class with him. We didnt want to go smack at him because we knew everybody was doing it. He knew we knew our stuff when it came to Hip Hop. We’d tell him to listen to me and Chopps Cd called “Biscuits before Breakfast”. I kept tryna press 9th to lsiten to it. One day we went over to 9th studio to give beats to Carlitta Durand cuz she wanted some beats. I knew 9th was gonna be there so i brought some of my beats, and me and chopps joint. He was feelin’ this song on Chopps CD, and was like he wanted to do a track with us. He said it was the hottest song he’d heard this summer. It was called “All I Got” about givin’ girls all you got and they still want more. Then he just started fucking with us.
Blair: M1P, Being a group of many, and having a Heat Team of 5, and what allows you all to work well together as a group and build chemistry?
Yates: We live and do everything together. We not just artists that make music. We are always pushin each other to do better. Right now I am calling you from our house called the “M1 Mansion”. We aint gonna let know bullshit come between us because we know that we cant do it without each other. We live together like a tribe so thats how we have the chemistry.
Blair: Who came up with “Murder 1 Platoon” and what inspired the name? Also, How does the name Murder 1 Platoon fit you alls style?
Chopps: I got the name Murder 1 because its first degree murder. Thats how we be killing MCs (first degree murder). And I got the Platoon because its some shit of niggas. Anybody could be a member. So its a Platoon and we murdering MCs to the first degree.
Blair: Sometimes in M1P songs, somebody will say “we not dem” or something of that nature? As a whole what do you think separates yall from other rappers? What do you all bring to Hip Hop?
Yates: We fresh. We have a old school methods but we’re young. We listen to all types of music, and we know our history when it comes to this Hip Hop shit. We aint never gonna desrespect our Hip Hop elders because we know how to put it down. With that in mind it keeps us grounded. He keeps us “unfuckwitable”, because right now most rappers just do what everybody else is doing. We get most of our style from old MC’s, and we get stuff from other sources more than a average MC would today. Today most MCs do what they can. We are doing what we know, and whats real. We them niggas. Chopps said “wese the niggas”.
Blair: You all have been given the chance to work with the great producer 9th wonder, and record tracks with him in “de stu”. What is an average day of recording in “de stu” like?
Yates: An average day in “de stu” its always like mad people in there. All 9th people. Most of the time 9th will just throw on the track, and we just go smack at it. Its like a chill spot though. We just go in there and watch TV, doing homework, etc. We just hope he can do stuff because he has so many people in there. But we get in there most of the time, and we are working on an album now. Like Wale was just in there. So many people come through though, like Mr. Cheeks, Fansworth Bently, Wale, so many people.
Blair: A lot of the M1P tracks are produced by Arafat Yates, when you sit down to make beats, whats the process? What motivates you? What equipment do you use? Etc.
Yates: I try to do the opposite..The other shit. I look up to Dilla, Pete Rock ( he just flips shit), Premo, Madlib, and 9th because I can really see him when it comes to beat. He can really show me. Aas far as style I fuck with the Alchemist.
I use other shit now to make my sound bigger than it was on M1 Invasion. Its probably going to take me all summer to get it right. But Im tryna add keys, bass, echos, and bigger than when i had my SP44(Alexinah).
“I do what the record tells me. You know how niggas be like it depends on my mood. When I make my beats, I just see fine women.”~ Yates
Blair: What has the NC Hip Hop Scene done for yalls career, besides being able to work with 9th?
Yates: NC is kind of like one of the best spots because nobody looking for that. How the Justus league put it on the map was crazy. 9th Wonder still coming up and shit. We are apart of a team with inflow, kooley high, rapsody, napalm, beat justice, synoposis, foolery (academy) plus the Justus League. They are open and want to hear it, and it helps because we havent been in DC. Most of the time in DC you gotta have a go-go feel. We had to leave and i said that in ”Welcome”, ”its a shame niggas gotta to leave dc to get recognize”. Buts it true. We had to come down here to meet 9th, and he helped mold us in alot of ways.
Blair: A lot of artists get questions about what other artists influenced them, but How do the fan’s inspire and influence you all to keep doing the music?
Yates: Our fans help out because they make M1 feel like we doing it for something. We got alot of internet based fan, and we have NC(the triangle). Its Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. We can see some of the same people come to the shows. The fans give us feedback. When we first put out the M1 Invasion, we didnt expect to do what it did. I gave it to a couple of blogs ( http://queenievalentine.blogspot.com//, Amanda w/ http://www.hiphopdx.com, modi w/ http://www.dctobc.com/). It showed us that people was really lsitening. We had love and hate, but if they hate they are listening. To the fans we have more coming, and an album with 9th.
Blair: Who got the hottest sneaks in the group? What are you alls favorite pair of sneaks.?
Yates: Sean D has the illest shoes in the group. Sean used to be the freshest, but we broke now. He teaches us alot about fashion.
Sean D: Right now it aint really nothing new because we are broke. I put alot of people(the group) to basic dunks. In the sneaks song, I talk about Asics. I find lcheap joints and I flip em. I like to look for mad colors…colorful sneaks. I got some air max 95s, and just regular fly shit. I just look for colors with low prices. I go find them on the low, and I then I find out niggas dont even got them. Now everybody in the crew go look for the low keys joints.
Blair: I see you all already have two mixtapes out, M1 Invasion, and The Rhymin’ Hero’s Mixtape, what can the fans expect next from M1P? mixtapes, lps, shows, etc?
Yates: I had planned to put out Rhyming Heroes, and American Cakester, but really yall (w&m) are really the ones the got those. We are working on another mixtape right now called The Battle of the Cougar. Thats the name right now. Its based on the youtube video when the lions were fighting. It was on national geographic in africa. Also, im going to put up this song called ” I Rock Fitteds”. We have couple of new songs.
“I want to say sorry to those friends about Rhyming Heroes, but we on some other shit. We got a whole new thing going. We also working on one with 9th. Every song we do we get better, and we dont know what to keep. 9th is scared if we stop recording, we might miss out on something better. We were just chillin; with Wale the other day. I dont know for sure, but Chopps told me something about working on a mixtape with Wale.”~ Yates
CLICK PICTURE FOR DOWNLOAD!!!!
Recent Comments