Timbaland’s Artist BK Brasco Talks Hustling, Learning His Craft, False Rap Personas, More

Crowned New York's Promising Rapper, BK Brasco is aiming for greatness. Brasco already caught a glimpse of the music industry when his former group, Brooklyn, was discovered by Shakir Stewart and signed a deal with Arista Records. His group was short-lived, but now older and wiser, he is ready to take his career to the next level. When one door closes, another one REALLY OPENS! Other producers such as Scott Storch and Sean Garrett recognized Brasco's songwriting credentials, which also grabbed Jay-Z and Jimmy Iovine from Interscope Records. But, another setback from Interscope led to greater heights. He was introduced to Timbaland and the musical chemistry was evident. Brasco is now Grammy winning producer Timbaland's artist. So watch out world! The man himself conversed with Rappersroom.com about his upbringing, the highs and lows of the business, and being real. It sounds like this man has a promising future. Check out our exclusive interview.

Hustling: Hustling is not something I really talk about it. It's not something I glamorize, but here's my story. From when I was a little kid, I was considered to be the "bad child." Growing up, I had a hard time dealing with life after my father's death. I acted out. I just didn't know how to deal with it at the time. I looked up to my best friend who was five years older than me. I saw how he and the crew was getting money and I wanted some money too. I wanted money in my pocket. I just wanted to provide and I saw how easy it was. So I just kept doing it. I said to myself if I wasn't scared, I wouldn't get caught. But, one night changed everything. My best friend was arguing with someone and he was just actin' real crazy. My best friend was taking ecstasy at the time; he was a different kind of person. The drugs just triggered two sides of him.

So I'm going out, getting ready and 30 minutes I hear gun shots. My best friend was shot in the left eye. After his death, I had a hard time closing my eyes because I just pictured everything all over again. And I just didn't want this to be my life. Just didn't understood why dudes were getting killed if they were hustling on this corner or that corner. Now cops are over here because we can't put ego aside and make money. Then one night when I'm sleeping, my best friend comes back to warn me in my dream. He's telling me that these dudes don't like you; they only tolerated you because of me. It was like I just needed to do something with my life. I asked my moms and she said it means stop. And she told me if I was selling still, she wanted me out of her house. Just decided to give it all up and never look back.

Infatuation with Music: Music was always in me. Me and my older brothers would sing in the house. My brother is a gospel singer now. Anyway, I grew up in Clinton Hills before I moved to Brownsville. When I went to PS 11, I saw my brother singing Bobby Brown's "Tenderoni," and the girls loved him. I was like I wanted some of that. I have to get that (lol). And Junior Mafia was the background dancers at the time. And in the house, we would just have good singing and dancing with my father. The girls loved it. I just wanted to be in the spotlight performing.

Music is everything and I got it from my father. He played all different types of music. My father had a guitar and every Friday and Saturday we would get on the turn tables and just listen to music. It was just good music and the sound was real. Aww man, music just draws me back to my pops. Back in the days, good records were recorded so people can have a good time. Now, everybody doesn't like to have fun anymore because we're too up tight or too tough. We forgot to make music that will make people dance. People need to dance, now everybody just want to glue themselves to the wall in the clubs. Clubs are closing down because the atmosphere is not the same. People in NY really need to step it up and boost their energy. You go to Miami or Atlanta, they're ready to party and have a good time.

[Listen to BK Brasco's "After All" Ft. Stacy Barthe]

Rapping: I met this guy, Hennessey, that's what they called him, and he was telling me, 'you're dope'. You're a star. But even before I was even really rapping, I use to print out the verses from Nas, Jay-Z, Biggie, Pac, and the list goes on. I would just study their dictation in the song, the lyrical content, delivery, vocabulary, or the use of metaphors. I just wanted to see how they put works together in their music. Ight now, back to Henny, he took it to my man, Shakir Stewart. Then we took a ride out to Atlanta, met LA Reid with my team and he signed us on the spot. He was feelin' us for real. Started working on the album but before the record dropped, Arista Records was disbanded, leaving my career on the back burner. It was just time for me to do my own thing. Started writing songs, and it got to Jay-Z and Jimmy Iovine. Jimmy wanted me to work with Swizz Beatz and it was crazy. We just started vibin'; it was cool. My plans with Interscope ended because we weren't seeing eye to eye. It was a lot of creative differences. I always kept in touch with Mike Daddy and he needed a writer for a retreat. He needed me to write a few hooks. Mike was like 'I really need you involve in this situation' and I ended up working with Timbaland. I cut all ties with the label and it was dope. Me and Tim been rockin' ever since.

Working with Timbaland: Timbaland is so cool to work with. It's a honor to work with one of the great producers of our time. I learned so much; just watching him put everything all together in music is dope. It's amazing. And it just feels good that someone really has your back and best interest. Because in the business, you heard it all, but I recognized Tim's sincerity. He said to me, "If you rock with me, you will never go broke. " Working with Missy is great because she is talented. I get to collaborate with these two great artists on a number of projects. Tim said you can be the fly pretty boy, you don't have to step out of character to fit in the business. Just be yourself. It was like he reinforced everything that I was feeling. And that's the greatest thing for me, being myself. The cool fly guy that doesn't smoke or drink that loves to be in the studio or travel. The club scene is not really my thing.

Goals: Just want to put out great music for the people. Advance my vocabulary, collaborate with other artists. I co-wrote Mario's single, "LSD." Stay true to my inner self, that is important because you tend to lose focus at times. Just want to push forward and music elevates me to move forward. I want to perform in stadiums and arenas and just be BIG. I don't want to be a mediocre artist. I didn't come in the business for that.

Stay True to Yourself: Rappers create personas where they glamorize the wrong things to be accepted. You don't have to smoke or drink to be cool. Some rappers needed to rap to get people's attention, especially girls. More than likely, before they started rapping they were not cool. That's not the case for me because I was cool already. In high school, I got all of the girls because it's all about being YOU! You just have to be truthful and know how to treat them. In my rhymes, I' m not going to talk about things that doesn't apply to me. You can't do that and try to sell that to people. I never killed nobody so why would I talk about that in my music? I was a cool fly kid who got girls and got money. I want to give people moments to live by when they listen to me as an artist. Leave them with something once you finish performing. That's what I'm about.

Current Project: Just the extended LP, 18th Floor: Hotel Thompson Edition. Working with some talented people on this project: Tim, Pusha T, Sean Garrett, Busta Rhymes, and RaVaughn.

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