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4/23/2008 Your debut album Each Dawn I Die is finally out. How does that feel?  It feels great. I really feel a sense of accomplishment because we did it basically with no budget. From here on in, we’re just going to be pounding it. We’re going to be putting out a lot of new material and getting the music where we want it to be. It’s been great having it out. I’m really proud of it.  You have guys like DJ Premier, Buckwild and Kool G. Rap backing you on the album. How do you make collaborations like that happen as an independent artist?  Obviously the Primo joint we had done awhile back. That’s when we actually did have a budget. We wanted to figure out who we wanted to use for the first song and we came up with Primo, obviously. I was growing up listening to Primo. Then Big K.O. said we should definitely use Buck and that he could make it happen. He played us a crazy batch of beats. It was really hard to pick the beat. Once he did, we banged that out. And then we got G. Rap through Domingo. It worked out perfectly as far as those three tracks and getting them done. And we based the rest of the album around our sound and we have our in-house producers at Orena Records and obviously Big K.O. came through.  Looking back today on the Premier-produced “The Exorcist”, how valuable was that song to getting yourself to where you are today?  Hopefully people look at it as a classic. I’m always going to work with Primo on every project that I do. It was definitely a landmark in my career. It was the first landmark. It did help because there are a lot of people out there who hate on Primo, which to me is crazy. But there are a lot of true Primo fans and it gave me a chance as a new artist to come out and have people listen to it because Primo produced it. We got good feedback from it. We got a lot of good feedback from it.  What was it like working with Buckwild on “The Evil That Men Do”?  Me and Buck are mad cool now. He’s one of my close friends. Just working with him and the amount of time that he puts into his production is really inspiring. He has live musicians coming in and playing over the tracks. He’s definitely a perfectionist and working with him, even on a production level, made me step my game up. I’m learning a lot from him and I’m continuing to learn a lot from him. He’s definitely one of the greatest producers of all-time.  How did you approach your verse on “Caked Up”, which also features Kool G. Rap?  What happened was K.O. sent me the beat and told me to check that out and that it would be dope for somebody with G. Rap. At the time it was just an idea. It was raw and it was something that was definitely perfect for a G. Rap collab. I wrote the first verse and I just wanted to keep it on the flow tip. I didn’t want to go too crazy on it, but he came through and he laid his verse and everyone’s jaw dropped. Then I went in and did the third verse and it just came out banging. It’s one of those hard-hitting neck-breaker joints. I’m blessed to have somebody like G. Rap on there with me.  What’s it like working with Big K.O?  K.O. is incredible. He’s an old soul. K can do anything, from R&B bangers to club joints to raw beats to live-sounding orchestra shit. He’s definitely on another level. I know a lot of beatmakers like to call themselves “producers” just because they’re MPC owners but they can’t take it to another level like K.O. He’s really inspiring to work with.  What can you tell us about your production crew Double Shot?  Double Shot is me, John John and Joey P. That’s the three of us. We just collabed and make a production team. We have a lot of similar styles when we’re making joints. Joey’s a dope musician and we’re trying to come with something a little different than if I were to produce a joint by myself or if John were to produce with Joey. We all try to add our little flavor to it. Having our own team is definitely a perfect collaboration between the three of us.  Do you have a favorite track off Each Dawn I Die?  Wow. Most of the album was recorded in the family. That’s me, John John, Joey P and Velotz recording every day. We must have done 30 tracks together and picked out of the 30 what we were feeling the most. Each track really has its own little story behind it. I couldn’t even pick one. They all have equal sentimental value to me.  What does the title Each Dawn I Die mean to you?  It’s a movie I liked. There was a beat that Lunatic Mind sent me that I named “Each Dawn I Die”. I had watched the movie a week before I did that. I named the track “Each Dawn I Die” and I liked that. It just had that gloomy appeal to it so I just kind of ran with it like that. It’s an old school movie so it’s kind of a metaphor for old school-sounding hip-hop.  Have you already started working on your next album?  Yeah. The next project is basically wrapped up. I just need a couple of more joints. I just need to reach out to a couple of producers but it’s going to be the usual suspects like Big K.O. and Buckwild, Velotz, Double Shot and hopefully Primo. Everything we’re going to do from here on in is going to be more advanced. I wanted to break the mold with Each Dawn I Die so people can feel my style and then hit them with the next joint and just keep hitting them and hitting them with no hiatus.  How hard is it to maintain a buzz in today’s game?  Very hard. With the internet and a lot of the sites that play new music every day and new music coming out every week, it’s hard. What I’m trying to do is just keep those solid joints coming out that hopefully won’t just disappear. I’m trying to make little earthquakes every time I can. It’s definitely hard but you got a lot of fans that help that out a lot. People really supported on this album and hopefully on the next one and whatever we have to follow Each Dawn I Die will continue to get the same amount of support. I appreciate it.  What are your goals for this album?  My goals are just for it to get played and appreciated. That’s why I got another album lined up. This is my debut and I just want people to have anticipation for the next one.  What’s the next move for Little Vic?  I’m going to continue promoting this album and continue producing and just see where it takes me. As far as goals, the next move is just to successfully have this one out and get the next one mixed. I have something lined up that’s doper than the first.

By Brian Kayser

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