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Today we get a new single from New York City rapper Leintz, who collaborated with the late-Fred The Godson for the track "Whoa" produced by Mic Coats.
When the world was struck with the COVID-19 pandemic, nobody knew all the lives that would be lost, including one of New York City's most respected and imaginative emcees, Fred The Godson. But while Fred the Godson is gone in the physical form, Leintz is still carrying the torch in his spirit with this new single that he hopes honors Fred's legacy as one of NYC's great emcees.
"Me and Fred had a very good connection. I contacted his manager then he gave me Fred’s number and history was made from there. We shared laughs, and he told me about himself, schooled me on how the industry worked and even met my son through FaceTime," Leintz explained. "When he was hospitalized I held back on the release of my single just to make sure he was doing well. When his wife posted that he was getting better, I was excited. Shortly two weeks later and three days after my single’s release, he tragically passed away. I didn’t know how to handle that. Even though it was business, I believe in longevity and we could’ve ended up as good friends."
Born and raised in Jamaica Queens, Leintz has spent the last 10 years going back and forth from Colorado and New York as he was deciding where he wanted to settle.
"I started off writing poetry at the age of nine on my elementary school boards, but due to depression and other tribulations at the age of 12, my poetry gradually came off aggressive. Then I discovered I had to add a flow to it and it was all fun and games from there throughout high school. Once I got to college I started taking music more seriously," Leintz explained.
After taking time for several years to understand the music industry, this is the first official single by Leintz which has already gotten some major support after finding its way onto HOT97 radio in NYC and with Shade45's DJ Kay Slay.
Combined with the efforts and work of well-known manager and music businessman Smit BDM CEO, Leintz is creating timeless music that will reach the masses.
Set to be featured on his upcoming project named after his son called, The Santana Album, Leintz plans to spend the next few months promoting his "Whoa" single with subsequent album releases.
"No shows for now since we are dealing with a pandemic worldwide but once everything is back to normal, I’ll be back to rocking stages again," Leintz concluded. "Expect great content. I’m making music that everybody can relate to. My goal is to touch the people because I figured if I can tell my story, I’m probably telling their stories and that way I can give everybody good music"
Recently Canadian rapper Filip Filipi dropped his mixtape hosted by Gucci Mane titled, Nine Roses. The project coincides with the unveiling of his elaborate plans to build a high tech basketball court in Akron, Ohio, the home of LeBron James. The futuristic backtop is dedicated to Filipi’s former manager Kiza, their shared heritage, love for music and basketball.
"I grew up on basketball culture, I'm obsessed with basketball. If you ask me, 'Who was the 12th man on the Celtics in 2004?' I can tell you - I love basketball trivia. So the court was inspired by my former manager who passed away two years ago at the age of 33. It was very important for me to do something with a humanitarian aspect of my music and we decided on the proceeds of the music, the merch and with some donations, we were going to make the most high tech basketball court. It has Wifi, it has eco-friendly paint, it has solar-powered benches that have wi-fi and everything you would want. But it has an important political message that speaks on the media manipulation using motifs of Serbian art that show the area where we are from. I can't wait to get started on it. I don't care if I get 10 billion streams or 10 million or 10 hundred. The fact that people would come play here and contribute to the court in any way - I'm proud. It's something for the community."
While Filip Filipi is still building his buzz, he has been working on the craft of Hip-Hop for over a decade and has had his music placed on major nationwide television shows after his Sizzerb mixtape garnered widespread attention.
"In middle school around 10th grade, me and my friend were freestyling in class and we started recording on his computer mic at his parents’ house when we were like 15," Filip Filipi said. "Back then, my thing was basketball, by the time I got to college I played a little bit of ball, and then I began to focus on rap. People were saying I could spit, so a few months after I started, DJ Vlad hosted my tape, and it sold like 11k physical copies. For me it was a really big deal because I'm from a small town in Canada and people were buying it in New York."
Following up with a few more mixtapes, Filip Filipi found commercial success with his single "Boom" on the show So You Think You Can Dance. Stepping away from his more conceptual 90's style, Filip Filipi was estranged from the rap he knew and he felt his story was becoming distorted.
"When I was coming up the sound was Dipset and that soul sample style on the beat, and every beat had the set of samples. We used to sample old Balkan and Serbian samples and really kind of made that the trademark of our production. There was a time when I started to not like the direction that Hip-Hop was taking toward Techno and EDM. To this day I listen to Tupac, Biggie, Nas, Lauren Hill, Bob Marley, The Fugees and that's my gold standard of Hip-Hop and music. Like all the tracks remixed with the Backstreet Boys and other boy bands, that's not Hip-Hop to me."
Choosing to step away to focus on humanitarian work, Filip Filipi, recalls going on a hiatus from music after he felt local artists were attacking Drake on a chat group.
"I just had to step away and focus on humanitarian work. I'm from Canada, and I turned away from rap music in Canada at the worst time. Toronto was a black hole for music for a time and then Drake hit. He had been coming up with his Degrassi following but he just blew up and at that point it wasn't really cool to blend Degrassi and rap. At one point, I remember on MSN messenger when everyone was dissing Drake and they started picking on him like a cybergang for like 30 minutes. At that time, my home country was going through a really rough time, so I was already thinking about trying to use my music to do something there. I guess that convo was the straw, because it made me focus completely on the humanitarian stuff, the organization, UN, all that. So I just exited that MSN convo and then The Weeknd, Drake and a whole bunch of other rappers broke big a month later."
Now back for more Filip Filipi is merging the worlds of basketball and Hip-Hop in memory of his former manager. He hopes music, art and basketball will come together on the court in Akron to provide refuge for other young kids, like they had for him.
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