The city of purple Sprite and “chopped and screwed” music has long been a staple for providing the South with some of the best country fried music in Hip-Hop. With legends like UGK, DJ Screw, Scarface, Slim Thug, Z-Ro, Trae tha Truth, Mike “5000” Watts, Paul Wall, and many others, Houston doesn’t come up short in the star power category. It’s where Jas Prince, son of J Prince, found Drake. It’s where the legendary DJ Screw dropped his first mixtapes and established a home for Texas hip-hop.
But times have changed, and the sounds kids like – in Houston and beyond – are different. Enter the next big star – Marcus Manchild. Signed to AMG, the label that recently brought Hip-Hop fans Killa Kyleon, this young, up and coming wordsmith can flip his words like some of the best from the Midwest, but also maintains the Southern swag ever present in music from Atlanta to Houston. Bouncing from strip club to strip club, and now signed up for The Smokers Club Tour with Big KRIT, Curren$y, Smoke DZA, Method Man, and several others, Marcus is certified as one of the next in line to take the reigns of rap.
Take a look at AllHipHop.com’s exclusive sit down with one of the game’s rising stars, who has made a name for himself not only amongst the slow moving listeners of the city of Houston, but also amongst Hip-Hop fans nationwide.
Marcus Manchild: Chillin, chillin man… in the studio, mannnn…
AllHipHop.com: Word… We heard you’ve been making a little, or should I say a lot of, noise down there, actually. Just wanted to catch up with you and talk with you man…
Marcus Manchild: Oh man, I appreciate it. We just got done working on the Preseason 2 right now, so we just pushing that, getting all these virals poppin’, and making sure things pop off the right way. I hope you’ve been hearing good things about me. man!
AllHipHop.com: Oh yea we’ve been paying attention since back when “Red and Yellow” joint came out, that “Black and Yellow” remix. I know Nate over there at AMG has been putting in work for a while. Recently, that Travis Porter and Big KRIT one was dope and has everyone buzzing. How did that single come together?
Marcus Manchild: That’s really my single. I mean, really, we didn’t really put it out as a single at first; we just put it out on Twitter. But we just kind of leaked it on Twitter, the fans picked it, and it’s what they wanted to hear from me, so we put it out on Twitter and they were like, “It’s hot, hot, hot.” So, we were like, let’s run with it, but some of my people got in touch with Travis Porter’s people and some people got in touch with KRIT and Dutch. That was actually the first song they done ever did together. so they were both excited to do the track. That sh*t just came out right, we all from the South…that sh*t gonna go.
AllHipHop.com: Obviously, with the AMG label, the work they did with Killa, and now you, everything is looking real nice right now. How is that AMG machine working out for your business?
Marcus Manchild: It helps, because we are just like a family, and we are like brothers, and they gonna be hard on me because I am the youngest. But, it also helps they are developing me before I hit a major label. We are independent, but we move like a major label machine. Being in the clubs, the only thing I didn’t get was the colleges, and now we are going back on that. But they just helped me promote myself out here in Houston and on the Internet. They taught me everything about music before I got a name out here and everything. If it wasn’t for them, there wouldn’t be no Marcus Manchild.
AllHipHop.com: Right. Now, about the name “Manchild” – why are you a “Manchild?”
Marcus Manchild: I feel like just a young dude that’s done done a lot, and I knew that question was going to come up, but I mean the Manchild name is just a young person who does stuff out of the ordinary or other young people. I think a lot of these young people don’t get to move around. I’m not no lyrical person, I can’t say that, and I try to show them some versatility. Me, as a young person with the maturity and understanding of the game, that is a “manchild.” That’s the name, and I just stuck with it. At first, it was corny, but I was like hell naw, I gotta keep that man.
AllHipHop.com: Who taught you about rapping and about the game?
Marcus Manchild: My cousins really put me up on rapping, but really when I got with AMG Boss, George, and Chad, they were real hard on me. Everything I was doing was wrong because I was just rapping. I was like, “I’m gonna just go rap,” and they were like, “Nah you gotta find your lane and do this, and that.” Them being strict on me prepared me for what I need to know when I come out and, now people are like, “Ohhhhh, that’s Marcus Manchild”
AllHipHop.com: So, what do you need to do to take things to that next level, based on what the guys are telling you?
Marcus Manchild: Work hard everyday, going to the studio everyday, reaching out to fans on Twitter, staying in touch with the fans, I’m trying to get this going. Get up training in the morning, shouting out my friends and fans on Twitter. Just keep going and keep going and make music that the fans who are listening to me want to hear.
AllHipHop.com: Can you describe your relationship with Killa Kyleon?
Marcus Manchild: Yeah, I mean, me and Killa, we cool. He’s part of the AMG fam, but he is just working on his own stuff right now. I’m working on my Preseason 2 project, but we still keep in contact. We just dropped the AMG s### with Bulu, so make sure you are on the look out for that. That just dropped.
AllHipHop.com: What’s up with Bulk?
Marcus Manchild: He’s super dope, he’s another artist from Alexandria, Louisiana, and he’s like a Louisiana Z-Ro. He’s passionate – the streets, the hustle, the struggle – he brings all that to the camp.
AllHipHop.com: You were just added to The Smokers Club Tour, correct?
Marcus Manchild: Yeah man, it is what it is. They put me on it, don’t know how it transpired, but they heard the music, and I’m looking forward to showing them what it’s all about. And, however it happened, I appreciate it, and I can’t wait to show the fans my music.
AllHipHop.com: If you could, talk to me about your relationship with the city of Houston and what it’s like as an artist down there, and how it has influenced your music.
Marcus Manchild: I grew up listening to Slim Thug, Z-RO, ESG. I had good relationships with every major artist out there. But I just felt like the music needed to change, not really change, but the way that young people didn’t grow up listening to the old Houston sound, you feel what I’m saying? But it’s still respect to the OGs. I look up to everyone, but I just had a different style from my voice, and I wanted to grab from every part of the country, and I’m going to make it known how it’s going.
AllHipHop.com: How old are you, man?
Marcus Manchild: 21.
AllHipHop.com: Yeah, so you are still young. As a manchild, you gotta eat. Tell me about your five favorite places to eat in Houston…
Marcus Manchild: Mickeys, Frenchies Pappaduex – let me see what other places I got to…I’m at Panera Bread now tryna get a salad. Oh man, there’s so much food out here! I’m trying to get the salads going. Chachos…
AllHipHop.com: Marcus…a Manchild can’t eat salads. You need a steak, bro. You’re from Texas, man! [laughter]
Marcus Manchild: [laughter] Now, people are starting to get after hours at the strip club, chicken wings and sh*t, Dream, and Platinum City and stuff. I think they at the strip club now starting to eat. Yeah, they’re going there starting to eat now. That’s the new places to eat out here.
AllHipHop.com: AMG is out in the strip club a lot?
Marcus Manchild: Man, do we?! We have fun in the strip club. That’s really where AMG really started poppin’ off as a name, and people was like, “Damn they be goin’ ham in the strip club.” Just know when you come down to the South, you ‘finna get big, man. You gonna get big out here!