Fresh off a Crazy Gig in Nepal, Silentó came down to Mumbai and Delhi for his maiden India tour. We got a chance to sit down with American Rapper ‘Silento’ right before his massive gig in Mumbai. Richard Lamar Hawk known professionally as Silentó or Prince Silentó, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his debut single “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)”, which charted at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100. He later released a project titled Fresh Outta High School in August 2018. The name Silentó actually means “less talk, more action”. So the young man is living up to his name as he just dropped his second part of his album ‘Fresh Outta High School Part 2’.
Check out the interview below:
1. Do you have an exclusive set planned for tonight ? Are you gonna drop some unreleased material just a lil teaser maybe ?
S: For tonight I really can’t tell you my plan I’m silento less talk more action so what I can say is the Ninja will be on stage today. I’mma have a good time I haven’t had the set planned out but I know that I’m gonna do something unique. When I get there and I look at the crowd and just feel them out and end up doing something unique you never know.
2. This is your first time in India what kind of expectations you have from the crowd here and are you planning to drop some exclusives for tonight’s set ?
S: Yeah I know they’re gonna be crazy but I don’t want em to snatch me I’m little (laughs).
3. How was your experience working with Capitol Records ?
S: Yeah I’ve been making music since I was 13. A couple of my friends that I used to go to school with they were signed to Capitol Records and you know I’d already been on the scene, watching them while they were doing the deal and stuff like that. So I just manifested my own future in there and I attracted them to come and sign me.
4. What inspired you to get into hip-hop initially like you being from Atlanta where alot big names like Ludacris, Soulja Boy, Lil Jon are from. So how does it feel representing Atlanta on the global level ? And what role do you think Atlanta has played in your career?
S: You know it’s just everybody rapping there and you know when you come from the streets of Atlanta it’s either rapping or selling dope so I made a choice for the kids. I ain’t gonna sell dope I’m gonna rap you know I’m saying. I’m not gonna curse in my songs. Anybody who’s cursing in music is not an inspiration to me Michael Jackson, Tupac also but his cursing had a real reason behind it that’s different, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry to name a few.
5. You’re in the forefront of the next generation of rap for the simple fact that you don’t curse and that’s really good considering the this generation of rappers have someone to look upto. Are you gonna live upto this in the future also ?
S: Yeah I mean only if I diss somebody I’m gonna curse . It’s only for the diss.
6. How did you come up with Watch Me (Whip / Nae Nae) ?
S: I was in class and I was very popular in school I always used to sing the rap. I was part of a talent show and there was a big dance crazy at that time like you had the ‘stanky leg’ and ‘break your leg’. I made some stuff in there and I put ‘Soulja Boy’, ‘Superman’ and put that in there to bring him back to life.
7. Did you expect it be such a viral hit ?
S: Yes I did. I had four dreams of me being in front a couple thousand then it was couple million and billion and a trillion streams. I already got the million I still gotta get the billion and the trillion.
8. 2015 was a special year for you with ‘Watch Me’ being a super hit amassing over 1.6 B views on YouTube and also broke you out as an upcoming artist to watch out for.
S: Yes 2015, 2016 & 2017 because 15 when the song was just on SoundCloud, 16 is when it hit YouTube, 17 when the video came out. 2018 is the year when I got my awards and 2019 is the year when I’m gonna start travelling around the world. Yes but 3 billion streams overall and 15 million singles Sold in US. A million in France in Spanglish. Not to mention Nickelodeon they got me to remix my song and make a whole new Nickelodeon dance with SpongeBob, Patrick and almost all the new cartoons. It was exciting to say nevertheless.
9. How did you go about collaborating with Dawin for his hit ‘Dessert ‘?
S: I think Dessert was already out but they paid me for the feature they put me on it they reached out to me sent me the money. I was in school and I just came back home the producer was like you gotta do this feature they already sent the money so I just did it and they put it out and it took of really well.
10. After such huge success how do you deal with the fame ?
S: I was already famous since I was younger. I got 2000 likes when I was like 13. Once I learnt how to market myself young so I continued it and pushed it with my music what I do with my song is send it out to 10k people in 2 days and then it goes viral basically socialising with the people I grew up with it.
11. How does it feel to be part of the elite group of people who’ve got a billion views on YouTube ?
S: I’m the first African-American to get a billion views nobody else has it on one single by themselves. It’s a blessing I really planned it out young. I asked God to help me from the situation I was in , was really struggling and I was in the streets so I just asked the music to get me out which it did. I’m just grateful to God for this.
12. Do you have a song with Robin Thicke ? How did that come about and where did you meet him ?
S: Yes it’s called Body on Your Mind. It’s gonna be dropping real soon because I’m still doing my Album tour so I got some more stories to tell my fans. I ended up meeting him in LA, I got his number then I called him and sent him an acapella which he loved it and so we got on to it.
13. Do you have a message for your Indian fans ?
S: Stay tuned and always support me no matter what. I make sure I got my education because I had to make sure that I was determined to do this. I wanted to learn how to make the fortune while I was making a fortune and the only way to do that was to stay in high school and if I would’ve left I wouldn’t be talking to you.
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