Mir Fontane is by far my favorite up and coming artist that I’ ve found on the internet in a while. Something about him channels a mixtape Cole while continuing to construct his own style in the process. I found him on Hot New Hip Hop when his latest tape, Who’ s Watching The Kids, premiered in August. I immediately knew that I had to interview this artist. The only problem was he lives in Camden and I live in Atlanta. Regardless, I had started making miniscule contact with him on twitter, praising his work on his new mixtape and expressing my desire to interview him. Sure enough as months passed by, I was given his contact info, but the interview was far from set. I had just started my first semester at Georgia State University, so the fall was zooming past my eyes. Luckily, I had regained my footing in late September and was ready to pursue more interviews. And sure enough, I figured out how I was going to interview Mir Fontane.
He was coming to A3C in October, and this was gonna be my last chance for a while. I tweeted and tweeted, DM’ d and DM’ d, and emailed and emailed until I was scheduled to interview Mir Fontane on October 8, 2016.
The day came around and he was a lot more laid back than I expected. I got Wiz Khalifa vibes more than I was expecting to. He was to himself, but not in a creepy way. It was like he was just thinking a lot, and I could tell even though I couldn’ t tell what he was thinking about. His manager, Jon, is the GOAT, and I am forever grateful for him coordinating this with me. He was cordial from the minute I met him; even though this was business though he carried an air of passion with him as he walked with Mir and watched his interview. His tour manager, Veli Vel was in attendance as well, and I look up to him more than he probably even knows. Upon meeting him, I could automatically sense that this man had his shit together, and he told me about the A3C show that he had that night as a curator. This group of people were inspiring to say the least, and that’ s before the interview even got started.
And this interview was hard. We talked for roughly 35 minutes, but some of the chat got lost in translation to Youtube. However, Mir Fontane proved that he is capable of carrying hip hop. Not today, maybe not tomorrow, but Mir knows the rules of the game. That became evident within the first 10 minutes of our conversation. After that, I decided to have him explain some of my favorite lines off of Who’ s Watching The Kids. From“ I remember Fontane way before he had the locs” to“ I’ m tryna make it to the point where I am the best ever, to the point where we can fistfight if you think Tupac’ s better,” Mir had thoughtful commentary on it all, and it made the lyrics come alive even more.
Then we moved on to what makes his latest project connect so easily, and he dedicated that connection solely to storytelling. To Mir Fontane, sometimes all you have to hold onto to keep from giving up is a story, and that is what he’ s given Camden, New Jersey. From there we discussed his roots in a way that was more surreal than I had predicated it would be. While it is devastating to hear about what he has been surrounded by since youth, it is saddening but profound to see how it has affected him. Who’ s Watching The Kids isn’ t a title that is shot at young rappers who are being different, it is an earnest cry for help and attention to what happens in a community where kids are dying. Even the