Awthentik: In DC, the artist in the community has to be the ones to drive our scene. There are no big record label buildings or any bigwig cooperation’s in DC, so it’s very hard for a artist to be heard on a large scale coming from
here. The DMV statistically is one of the largest selling markets for music, but all the local artist are struggling to get people to support and listen. I think that's part of the mentality across the nation. People want
something to be stamped first before they support it. The Television dictates the majority of what people support, so if you are not on the television you will have a very difficult time getting their music to the masses. Its not all one sided. For example, DC supports Wale, but might not support Awthentik just yet because they haven't been put on to Awthentik by the right avenue that they are familiar with. I have been in the scene in the
DMV for a long time. I remember when Wale was just local and he would be everywhere grinding harder than ever to get people to listen. Now that he made the right moves and is in position, people will support his music on a grand scale. I think artist just have to be patient.
DM: Who were influences when you were coming up?*
Awthentik: Musically, I was raised in "The Golden Era" of hip-hop in he 90's. My biggest influences were J Della, Nas, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Gangstarr, Mos
Def & Talib Kweli, Dilated peoples, Kool G Rap, and Big L to name a few. In life, my biggest influence was my mom. She came here all the way from Haiti to persue the "American Dream' and by all means she did just that. People born in America are not cut from that cloth.