So myself, and one of the guys who also produced my project, he owns the studio that I record at. So it’s myself, him and this dude is a jack of all trades. He’s a producer, he does mixing, videography, and one of my other boys is into videography. So it’s really me and my peoples. We’re doing this, and they’re like “we’re going to make this work”. These guys are helping me. I would say independent artists, not even just making music but pushing yourself independently, it’s frustrating as hell. Sometimes it’s like, I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to email this person, or take care of these logistics. At the end of the day, if the right deal comes to me, then it’s really like, I’ve been paying for this, that, and the third. You need to be able to offer me better. I should not be able to do your job better than you.
U.G. Digital Mag: That’s perfect in that sense. Should the opportunity come along, you know immediately if they are trying to play you because you’ve already been doing it yourself, and doing it well I would add. With everything you’ve done already, you’ve built a massive amount of success alone. There’s not much they can offer you that you haven’t already provided for yourself.
Penny Shaw: Exactly. And it’s really just the dollar amount. That’s really it.
U.G. Digital Mag: I think the setup you have is perfect. You have a massive amount of success already, and it’s only going to get bigger.
Penny Shaw: Definitely. I’ve just been blessed. I don’t even think I’ve reached anywhere close to my potential, and I’m still being blessed with so many opportunities. Even artists that are “so-called” bigger or more popular, they don’t get some of the looks and opportunities. I’m just blessed that people look to me and my music for certain things.
U.G. Digital Mag: Obviously, you come from Queens, and there’s so many artists from there. You have L.L., you have Run DMC, and so many others man. Who were those artists that you listened to, and not so much emulated, but moreso who you looked up to? Who is or was doing it where you want to get to their level?
Penny Shaw: Queens has a long list of artists man. I would say I didn’t necessarily grow up to them, but I’m a student of the game so I went back to all the classics. Actually, they just put up Phife Dawg Way around my neighborhood, right where A Tribe Called Quest was from, so I had to go back and listen to them. They’re one of my favorite groups. Mobb Deep, but my biggest inspiration from Queens is Nas.
U.G. Digital Mag: Surely he’s one of the dopest out there man.
Penny Shaw: Yea, most definitely. It’s funny because usually you had to pick which one, between Jay-Z and Nas (laughing). It was like, I remember being more partial to Jay-Z. I don’t know if I even understood what he was saying. I think I just liked it at the time. As I grew up, and understanding more about Nas, I realized his poetic flow was so intricate. I would say he inspired me because of his career, ups and downs. He pushed the envelope, whether it was with the Damian Marley album, or the song with his
pops, but he did a lot of things to push his creativity forward.
I really respect that.
U.G. Digital Mag: I look at him and Jay-Z both. Jay has clearly been out there, but so has Nas. 1995 and 1996, it was my first year of college, and I can remember Nas had out Street Dreams, and If I Ruled the World with Lauryn Hill, and that was like the introduction to him for me. It made me go