Whitney Peyton has been kicking ass in the underground Hip-Hop scene for quite awhile with her own unique brand of authentic Hip-Hop. She recently toured with Fronzilla of Attila and has shared the stage with R.A. The Rugged Man and Potluck. Today 10/21/2015 she will be performing at Twiztid’s 15th Anniversary show for the Freekshow album at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, PA, alongside Rittz of Strange Music. Juggalos, don’t miss her set with Twiztid! She is going to kill it live!
Chad Thomas Carsten: How was touring with Fronzilla?
Whitney Peyton: Cool dude! It’s totally different for me. Because obviously as a Hip-Hop artist I’ve been on way more Hip-Hop related tours. Last year I toured with Three 6 Mafia. So going from Three-6 Mafia to someone like Fronzilla (who’s the lead singer of Attila, Vans Warped Tour type of band). It’s an entirely different crowd. I’m in front of more of the Warped Tour type of a crowd, rather than the Gangsta Rap/Old School Rap kind of crowd. It’s opening me up to an entirely different audience. I’m just lucky that I’m the kind of artist that can really jump on a lot of different tours and still be well received.
CTC:Yea, Attila is more of a Deathcore type of band, If I’m not mistaken?
Whitney Peyton: Yea! Fronzilla does the screaming type of vocals for Attila and he kind of raps on some of their songs too. So, he decided this year that he’s going to release a solo record that is just a rap album. So that is what he is doing now is his rap stuff. He needed a rapper obviously to be one of the openers. There’s two other bands that are with us. So instead of just having bands be openers, he needed something that was going to fit with what he was really trying to do, which was like a rap tour. So they hit me and they were like “Yo! Do you wanna go on this tour, because clearly you rap?! And he is trying for that demographic.” And I was like “Hell yea! Let’s do it!”
CTC: That’s bad ass! It’s cool to see an artist being able to branch out towards a different type of genre/crowd and break the mold beyond their normal audience. Hopefully the next step is Warped Tour for you!
Whitney Peyton: That would be awesome! I would love to do Warped Tour. I saw Riff Raff and Wacka Flocka on Warped.
CTC: Wow! First time I went to Warped Tour I watched Yelawolf for my first time live on the Skull Candy Stage. It was around Summer 2011.
Whitney Peyton: Did he do well?
CTC: Yes! Great performance!
Whitney Peyton: That’s good!
CTC: Funny thing is, I almost got kicked by him when he dropped kicked off the stage into the crowd. *Laughs* Let’s talk about your first single from “Break The Frame”, “It’s All Good”. I really like the line “Hip-Hop is my only occupation”. What exactly inspired the lyrics?
Whitney Peyton: It’s like when people tell you online to keep your day job. It’s funny, because Hip-Hop is my only occupation. You’re telling me to keep my day job, but this is my job, this is what I do for a living! It’s supposed to be a more laid back cruisy kind of song. It’s a different me. I’ve done a lot of more really aggressive darker songs on my last record. I needed something that was more of a feel good song. I went to the studio and I recorded the whole song and recorded the hook as well. Then I had a singer come in from Philly, this guy named Sounds. He’s relatively unknown as far as having a lot of material out. But that wasn’t really important to me. I just really like his voice! He has a really good R&B kind of voice. So, I sang the hook originally, but then I was like“I want someone who is a wayyyy better singer than me to come and sing this” He came in and blew me outta the water! So we ended up replacing my voice on the hook with his voice. It’s gotten a great reaction so far!
CTC: That’s awesome! Onto your upcoming album “Break The Frame”. The meaning behind it’s title and what kind of content can fans expect from the release?
Whitney Peyton: I like the three worded titles recently. The last album was called “On The Brink” and that was followed up by the Fear of Falling E.P. I like the syllable and they kinda match up and flow. The three worded titles are kinda like my thing right now. It’s kinda like break the mold. It’s like busting out the frame and not being put into a box. That’s really what it is. I really looked it up before hand to make sure no other artist had this title for an album before naming it. Surprisingly I didn’t find anyone. Artists constantly get put into a box. I don’t want to play this part, but I guess like being a female Hip-Hop artist, I’m being constantly compared to other female artists…no male artists at all. It shouldn’t matter that I’m female. It’s frustrating. I’m a Hip-Hop artist at heart. I like the other girls in the underground and I think they’re great. I bet it’s frustrating to them too. Fans like to create online battles about about this person vs that person and it’s like damn, you can listen to both of us, it’s ok. Or it’s “who’s sexier?!” Music fans sometimes *Laughs*Everyone just wants to label you, categorize you, and compare you to someone. Ya know, put you in a box. I’ve proven that with the tours I’ve gone on, you can’t put me in a box. As far as content, Jerry Only’s (of the Horror Punk Band Misfits) son, “Jerry JR” will be on the new record. As far as I know, he has never collaborated with a Hip-Hop artist, ever! It’s really off the wall kind of stuff that will appeal to a lot of different people. That’s what it’s really about. I even have an EDM type of song. There will be variety, but it won’t be unrecognizable, you’ll know it’s distinctively my voice. It won’t be boring! I would say the album is about eighty percent done. I don’t want a lot of huge collaboration tracks on the record. Yea Jerry JR will be featured, but I don’t want to use a lot of names and make it seem like I need the attention. I want to stand alone as an artist and prove I can do it on my own without having a bunch of names on the album.
CTC: I get where you’re coming from. I’ve seen way too many artists that stick so much cash into a bunch of collabs and you know damn well that ninety percent of the listeners skip their verses and listen to the guest features only. Artists should be proud that they can do it on their own without the help of guest features.
Whitney Peyton: Yea exactly!
CTC: How long will it be until a music video drops for “Break The Frame”?
Whitney Peyton: I have a music video for “It’s All Good” all ready to go. It’s in the final stages of editing. Before “It’s All Good” even dropped as a single, I had the music video on the back burner. I’m going have it out soon. Before the month is over.
CTC: Hell yea! Can’t wait to see it! You must be pretty excited about performing at Twiztid’s 15 year Freekshow Anniversary show. Let’s talk about that!
Whitney Peyton: It’s a big deal for me. I love performing with Twiztid! I’ve performed with Rittz and Twiztid several times, so it’s like a big family reunion for me. And it’s in my home town! It’s going to be a huge, huge show and it’s at a huge venue! Over two thousand people will be there coming from all different states. It’s going to be super awesome!
CTC: Much Respect on that! Twiztid are really nice guys and I’ve seen them once in Montana and I got to meet them in Colorado. Awesome times! Since it’s the Halloween season can you name your top five favorite horror films to watch around the season the pumpkin?
Whitney Peyton: Oh man! Ok, lets see! I love “Scream”! I have the Scream doll. The first scene with Drew Barrymore, I thought that was definitely scary. When that came out I was really, really young. It was one of the first horror movies that I saw. When you’re older and you look at it now, it’s “this is corny, why is she running up the stairs, she could be running out the front door”. But I still love it! “Child’s Play” I’m really into, because of Chucky being a doll. Anything that’s childlike and children related scares the shit outta people. I like “Carrie” a lot! Not many mention her. “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” scared the shit outta me. And I’m going to get corny brownie points for this one, but “House Of Wax”. *Laughs* There’s a lot of comedy in it and Paris Hilton is hilarious in it. When she was running from the dude trying to kill her, I was laughing the whole time.
CTC: *Laughs* Great choices. I definitely agree with the Drew Barrymore scene. That was intense for me at eight years old. I hid behind the living room couch and watched it when I wasn’t supposed to. I love Chucky and Carrie too. And “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” was very original. Never seen “House of Wax before. Any advice you can give to artists just starting out?
Whitney Peyton: Any advice I would give to another Emcee, do not wait to be discovered! Discover youself! We are not in a day of age anymore where people are just going to walk up to you and give you a million dollar record deal. Artists are expected to really build up a big buzz before anyone takes any interest them. At that point you might not want a record label, because at that point you’ll probably have everything you need by doing it yourself. It’s about getting everything done yourself and not waiting, not making up excuses on why you can’t be successful. “I don’t have enough of a budget” that’s a lame excuse. You can’t do that. You have to invest in yourself. I went on google and researched everything, including a press kit. I would just drive to Hip-Hop shows and try to meet everybody and network. Just get out there and do it!
CTC: Final Shout outs
Whitney Peyton: Shout out to Faygoluvers! Thanks so much for always supporting me. Also my movement Team Underdog! It’s not a record label. It’s simply my movement. Everything that I do has been word of mouth and underground. Everything that I’ve done so far has been completely independent. I represent people who feel like the underdogs in their life. Whether it’s a musician or someone who is stuck working in an office. People who feel under appreciated. I think all of us have felt like underdogs in their life. So this is for the underdogs!
Keep a look out for Break The Frame in December!
Follow Whitney Peyton on the following sites:
http://www.facebook.com/WhitneyPeyton…
http://www.Twitter.com/WhitneyPeyton
http://www.instagram.com/WhitneyPeyton
http://www.ReverbNation.com/WhitneyPe…
https://soundcloud.com/whitney-peyton
W.P. Merch here:
http://www.WhitneyPeyton.com
Interviewer: Chad Thomas Carsten
Interview Date:10/20/15
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