Back to Artist Profiles

10/27/2006 What’s up?  Young Tef: You already know, we’re grinding.  Snub Hollow: We’re working hard, trying to eat, man. We’re trying to get into this rap business. New Industry, we’re that new breed.  How did Chozen Few come together?  Snub Hollow: I started Chozen Few. I had a mutual friend that introduced me to Tef and he had that caliber that I was looking for that we needed to create that buzz in the streets. I was spitting at the time and smoking dudes away in my ‘hood.  Young Tef: Real recognize real eventually. And the town that we’re in is so small that eventually you’re going to find somebody on that same level that has the same state of mind as you. I ran into Snub and he has his movement going. I was just a little nigga at that time. I was 15 and he put me on. Ever since then I’ve been hungry.  Snub Hollow: I saw it in his eyes. I’ve dealt with other dudes before, but their whole drive and even trying to get into the game and doing whatever it takes to get there wasn’t even focused enough. From an early age, he was willing to put that work in. We put out a mixtape called Level 5 and it did numbers everywhere.  Young Tef: That’s what I was bumping 24-7. He was the only nigga that I knew that was running it. I was running with other niggas at the time but he was the only one that was doing it.   Asbury Park, NJ is an untapped area in hip-hop. What’s it like coming from Asbury?    Snub Hollow: Coming from Asbury, it just seems like a cloud is over us. But trying to get to that light over the last years, Chozen Few has done that. We’ve dealt with different DJs and we’ve gone state-to-state, going hand-in-hand with it. We’ve definitely brought light to Asbury Park.   Young Tef: You can’t just sit in the ‘hood and wait for something to happen. Nobody out of Asbury has really made it. We had to go up and get what we did. Nothing was given to us. Nothing at all. I’m telling you, we had to get up and go and do what we do.  How important have the mixtapes been to Chozen Few?    Snub Hollow: Oh, man, they’ve been everything, man. That’s for the streets. That’s for the ‘hood. The internet is where the majority of the fans are now, but when you’re on the mixtapes, you’re on the streets. That’s where all of the ‘hood niggas are at.  Young Tef: The mixtape game is very important, especially for independent, unsigned artists, just to create their buzz. But it’s not like automatically you get a buzz. You have to have a spark in your lyrics and punches to get people to react to them. You can’t just think that you’re going to get on the mixtapes and blow up. Hell no! It definitely had a big impact on us though.  How is your single “Frozen” with St. Laz doing for you right now?    Young Tef: Laz is the boss of New Industry and he basically told me the impact that he’s trying to have and we just ran with it. He’s a real dude and he looks out for niggas. He laid the hook to that song and that was it! We laced it.  Snub Hollow: And we did the video the next week. It’s a blessing. He sent us the track and the hook, “Many come, few are chosen.” That’s us. The lyrics speak for themselves. We’re Chozen Few. We got the whole thing mastered down. Ain’t nobody even on our level. That’s why we are the Chozen Few. Even with the stuff that we do…For producer Joey Bagz to come through with that, that was it from there. Jordan Tower did the video for it.  Young Tef: It’s on Video Music Box real hard. You can look for that on every Saturday. They previewed it last week just to give you a taste of it but now you’re going to see the whole thing. That’s a good thing for us.  Snub Hollow: Shout out to Ralph McDaniels. He’s been doing his thing for years.   What inspired “Frozen”?    Snub Hollow: Laz sent us the track. We just went in with the bars. Laz said he read the line about how many come and few are chosen in The Bible. He got the Pottersfield movement and there’s a whole meaning behind that. He felt like everything was meant to be. So when he spit that, he was adding everything together with the movements.  How has St. Laz been helping you guys?    Young Tef: He really helps us out. He looks out for us. We’ve been on two DVDs through him.  Snub Hollow: Yeah. The whole thing with St. Laz and New Industry, this is it. We’re the New Industry. Everybody had their little time and their little run. Everybody gets their own opportunity and it’s our time now.  How important is it for up-and-coming groups to have videos today?    Young Tef: It’s real important, man. You can have a song, but if you can’t match an artist’s face up, it’s going to be a waste of time. Once your fans get to see how you look and whatever, it’s going to be a whole different ballgame. They’re going to picture you rapping every time they hear you and if you look funny-style, they’re going to clown you!  Snub Hollow: For an independent artist, it’s important. If you’re an independent artist and you’re trying to create that buzz, nobody’s going to know you initially. You have to be able to put the face with the words for the people and for the labels because you might have that face or charisma that they’re looking for, so it’s a key thing. And as far as the money situation, if you’re not serious with getting into this game, then stick to your 9-to-5 because this isn’t for you.  Young Tef: You can waste money on a whole different investment! We’re from the ‘hood and we don’t get easy money. We put money into a lot of things in this game and a lot of rappers owe us money, but we’re not going to make nobody’s career by naming them. But there’s a lot of people out here taking shit for granted.  Chozen Few also works with a lot of other up-and-coming artists like Jay Bezel, Tom Gist and Magno. How important is that?    Snub Hollow: It’s very important. For one thing, real recognize real and that’s how it came about with us. Either they reached out to us or we reached out to the real, but just uniting is beautiful. That’s the problem now in the rap game. There are not really too many collabs going on with tracks with artists on the come up or with superstar rap stars. It’s still there, but there’s less of it. People don’t really understand that it’s a key thing.  Young Tef: Shout out to everybody that we’re working with. The first collab that we had was Push! Montana. That started everything. We said we were going to make a mixtape named Well Connected, Well Respected because we had been hustling hard and we were just coming up. We knew that we could do this and exchange fans. So we did that and everything else followed. Next was Magno. Shout out to Desert Storm South. That joint popped everything off though because we’re from the East and he’s from down South. He’s doing his thing and he’s buzzing right now, so that really jumped everything off. I don’t even remember how we got in contact with Bezel. We’re street dudes. Bez hollered at me and he came through my ‘hood and we chilled. It’s the same with Tom Gist. I respect all of those dudes, man. They’re real.  You also work with your own producers like Young Giftz and Joey Bagz. How does that help you?  Snub Hollow: Having your own producers is the best thing, man. You don’t have to pay nobody. First and foremost, we’re trying to make their career pop off. One little street hit can make their business skyrocket. Before, we dealt with certain people and they got a little buzz up. That’s what it really is.  Young Tef: Shout out to Joey Bagz. That’s my dude. That’s family. Shout out to Young Giftz. They’ve basically been holding us down. Anybody that’s been doing that, once we get a collab, we’re going to put them on. When we get in the game, they know they’re good and it’s vice versa because they have a little name too because they’re working with artists. They have their fans and we have our fans and we just mix it up.  What are your goals for your mixtape Well Connected, Well Respected?    Snub Hollow: We’re trying to reach every ‘hood on that and shut everything down. We’re trying to drop that at the end of the month.  How did the concept for Well Connected, Well Respected come together?    Snub Hollow: We dealt with a couple of real dudes and it was just a perfect idea to even come up with that concept. And plus these dudes are not in our state. They’re in different cities and in different states and we can go through their place anytime and we’re good.  Young Tef: And shout out to Remo da Rapstar. We have something with him. We have a real big collab coming too for the intro to the mixtape. We’re not going to let the cat out of the bag, but HipHopGame is going to be the first with it, as always.   Are you guys working on a Chozen Few album?    Snub Hollow: Right now, we’re just trying to get this Well Connected thing down. We’re probably going to start a series of that. Hopefully that can create a buzz and drive the attention to the label reps. We’re just going to keep it simple. We’re well connected and we’re well respected. That’s what it is.  Young Tef: There’s a couple of albums that I know are going to be dropping. DJ Diggz and DJ Rated R are dropping an album called Crack Costs Money. I don’t know if that’s dropping on Koch or where it is dropping but that should be dropping real soon.   What do you guys want from a label?  Snub Hollow: All they can give us is distribution. That’s all we need and a little advance.  Young Tef: We know how to promote ourselves. That’s what these artists have to learn, man. They want their label to do everything for them. Nah, man, we’re going to grind ourselves and get our name out there. We’re not going to depend on anybody to sell our records. We’re going to do that. If we can get a good response in the streets right now, once we hit the mainstream, it’s going to be all over and we’re going to be promoting ourselves right along with the label.  Snub Hollow: We’ll take it to the trunk of our car if we have to like we did a few years back. We’re going to make it do what it do, just like our song with Bezel. The internet and everything is going to get hit up with Well Connected, Well Respected. We’re definitely not waiting on nobody. That’s why we’re at this point in our career.  Young Tef: Ain’t no label going to be promoting us. Of course they’re going to be doing their promotion and stuff, but we’re never going to stop. If we lose our hunger, the people in the street are going to see it and we’re not going to get it. We’re going to get it and that’s why I reach out to real people like HipHopGame.   What’s the next move for Chozen Few?    Young Tef: The American Dream, my dude. We want to get in this game and get this gwop. But the next move right now, shit, the only thing that we’re focused on right now is getting this Well Connected, Well Respected in the streets and promoting it as hard as possible. You already know.  Snub Hollow: Yeah, the first thing is getting Well Connected, Well Respected out in the street. Then we’re going to continue to do what we do best. We’re going to do more shows, more collabs and get more money. That’s what we’re doing this for. It’s a hobby until you start getting paid for it.  What do you want to say to everybody?    Young Tef: Grind hard and you’re going to see results like we’re seeing.  Snub Hollow: Grind hard and eat later. We’re definitely from the bottom and everybody from the ‘hood, keep doing what you’re doing and don’t give up. There’s no days off. A lot of people get discouraged because they feel like they ain’t doing it. Don’t worry about what nobody is saying. Just do you.  Young Tef: Chozen Few gang, New Industry, unity or die!

By Brian Kayser

[32] REACT TO THIS INTERVIEW