By Shamora EvansS.T.I.L.L.: LET ME SAY, FIRST, THAT YOU RIPPED IT AT THE “TROCADERO” LAST THURSDAY. DO YOU DO LIVE PERFORMANCES OFTEN, OR IS IT SOMETHING YOU MAKE TIME FOR OUTSIDE OF THE STUDIO?
NAPOLEON: That’s a good question! My music career is kinda in it’s infancy because it’s just starting out. I’m actually at my job right now doing the interview with you, but today is my last day, and then I’ll be pursuing music full-time. I recently got back into doing music a couple months ago, so I’ve been performing since then. I’ve done about four shows since that time, about one every week. I’ve been recording for a long time, but most of my work has been in the studio, and I got back to performing to give the audience a visual of me when I’m recording.
S.T.I.L.L.: THAT’S ALL IT IS…SO, ARE YOU WORKING ON AN ALBUM OR MIXTAPE?
NAPOLEON: Yes, I am working on an album. I have two projects, beforehand, that came out, but they were in mixtape form. This time I’m doing an album, and it’s gonna be called “The Napoleon Complex”.
S.T.I.L.L.: NOW, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT MY BROTHER COMMENTED ON AT THE SHOW, ASIDE FROM YOUR STRONG LYRICISM, WAS HOW HOT YOUR BEATS ARE. WHO DOES YOUR MUSIC PRODUCTION?
NAPOLEON: That’s a really good question because, on my first two albums, I did all the production, so this is the first time I’m taking the backseat on production for this album. The production team I’m working with is “The Best Kept Secret” from Washington, D.C. They’re a production team that I, actually, found out about online, but I like working with them because they let me push hip hop to the limits and just expand my sound. Also, they’ve worked with a few artists…“Freeway”, “Wa-Le”, “Rick Ross”…They’re really talented.
S.T.I.L.L.: SO, WHAT’S YOUR STORY? HOW AND WHEN DID YOU BEGIN YOUR RAP CAREER?
NAPOLEON: Well, I’ve been doing rap for about 10 years just “free-styling”, but I originally started out as a producer while I was on a Track scholarship at Notre Dame. So, I wasn’t into a lot of the things that a lot of rappers were into back then; I was like the “clean” kinda guy. After a while, I started letting people listen to a few tracks, and they were like ‘Hey, you should leave this in, and leave that in”. So, I kinda compiled a lot of things and did a lot of demos that I would let people hear. One day my manager (Brandon Hall) said, “You’ve got 20 or 30 songs recorded. Why don’t you just do an album?”, and that’s how my first album was born. It was called “Napoleon Dynamite”. After that, I kinda took a break because most of my friends in college were like, doctors, lawyers, and accountants, so I didn’t really want to be in the music industry at that time because I felt I should use my degree to do something. But, music was still in my heart, so I had to come back to it.
S.T.I.L.L.: YOU HAVE A COUPLE OF SONGS ON YOUR MYSPACE PAGE THAT ARE FIRE. ONE OF THE SONGS I HEARD WAS “OUTTA CONTROL”. WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO DO THAT TRACK?
NAPOLEON: “Outta Control”, first of all, I love that track! What I really wanna do is push hip hop’s limits and really go “mainstream” with this track, and do something that they would never expect me to do with it. So, I got the beat from the ‘The Best Kept Secret’, and it was just so hot that I got in the studio with some alcohol and stuff and just did it. I had recorded a hook with my voice on it, but I thought it needed to be more edgy, so I contacted a friend that I went to school with named “L. Santiago”. I emailed it to him because he was in Denver at the time, and he sent it back to me with the hook, and that was it. He used his own creative energy on that.
S.T.I.L.L.: THE OTHER ONE THAT’S HOT IS “ALL AROUND DA WORLD” FEATURING “NALEDGE”. WHAT WAS YOUR MOTIVATION FOR RECORDING THAT SONG, AND HOW DID “NALEDGE” GET ON THE TRACK?
NAPOLEON: I’m well-traveled in the States, so with that, I wanted to do a song that kinda embellishes that. It’s another one of my favorite tracks because “Naledge” is on the track, and other people really like it because it’s a “feel good” track. It just feels real good when you’re listening to it, and I think it’s just a dope track. I actually got a call in Miami one time, and one of my friends called me from Chicago and said that he heard it on the radio because “Naledge” was pushing it hard.
S.T.I.L.L.: WHAT RAPPERS WOULD YOU SAY INSPIRED YOU TO EXCEL IN HIP HOP?
NAPOLEON: First, and foremost, is “Big Pun”. He is the first Latin rapper to go platinum, and he’s like my role model. Like, the way I write rhymes, I try to emulate his style of writing. Latin rappers are not really as visible in the hip hop game as they should be, and I’m half Ecuadorian, so the fact that he came before me and paved the way definitely inspired me to do what I do. And then, I like “Jay-Z” and “Nas”, and a few other rappers.
S.T.I.L.L.: WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU’RE NOT IN THE STUDIO, WHICH IS PROBABLY RARE? (LAUGH)
NAPOLEON: It is rare, actually, but there are a few things that I like to do. It’s to the point where my friends just text me now because they assume I’m busy in the studio and can‘t talk on the phone. But, uh, I love playing video games; I’m a “video game head”. I challenge anybody out there to challenge me in “Street Fighter 4”. I also like to watch the show “Entourage” on HBO. I got every season, and I pick an episode to watch every day because I love that show.
S.T.I.L.L.: WHEN YOU GO IN THE STUDIO TO WRITE TO A TRACK, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY ARE THE THREE THINGS YOU TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE MOST BEFORE WRITING?
NAPOLEON: The first thing I do is just to listen to the beat, and let it take me somewhere. A lot of rappers will try to take a verse that they wrote before and stick it on a beat, and it doesn’t work that way. I don’t like that…I don’t do that. I believe every track has its own story. Then, once I figure out what I’m gonna talk about, I’ll mumble a flow along with the beat until I’m feeling it. And lastly, I like to think about the perspective that somebody would listen to it from…You know, like, “Is this a song that a person would listen to on their way to the party, or while they’re getting high, etc.?”
S.T.I.L.L.: HOW CAN THOSE WHO WANT TO HEAR MORE OF YOUR MUSIC, OR WANT TO TALK BUSINESS, CONTACT YOU?
NAPOLEON: Well, the first way, I would say, is my email address, nsuarez1@gmail.com. I also have a website that has all of my information and my manager’s information, and that’s bestoutproductions.com, which is the name of our indie label. Or, they can hit me on my Twitter page; it’s twitter.com/napoleonsuarez. And my manager’s email address is Brandon@bestout productions.com.
NAPOLEON: That’s a good question! My music career is kinda in it’s infancy because it’s just starting out. I’m actually at my job right now doing the interview with you, but today is my last day, and then I’ll be pursuing music full-time. I recently got back into doing music a couple months ago, so I’ve been performing since then. I’ve done about four shows since that time, about one every week. I’ve been recording for a long time, but most of my work has been in the studio, and I got back to performing to give the audience a visual of me when I’m recording.
S.T.I.L.L.: THAT’S ALL IT IS…SO, ARE YOU WORKING ON AN ALBUM OR MIXTAPE?
NAPOLEON: Yes, I am working on an album. I have two projects, beforehand, that came out, but they were in mixtape form. This time I’m doing an album, and it’s gonna be called “The Napoleon Complex”.
S.T.I.L.L.: NOW, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT MY BROTHER COMMENTED ON AT THE SHOW, ASIDE FROM YOUR STRONG LYRICISM, WAS HOW HOT YOUR BEATS ARE. WHO DOES YOUR MUSIC PRODUCTION?
NAPOLEON: That’s a really good question because, on my first two albums, I did all the production, so this is the first time I’m taking the backseat on production for this album. The production team I’m working with is “The Best Kept Secret” from Washington, D.C. They’re a production team that I, actually, found out about online, but I like working with them because they let me push hip hop to the limits and just expand my sound. Also, they’ve worked with a few artists…“Freeway”, “Wa-Le”, “Rick Ross”…They’re really talented.
S.T.I.L.L.: SO, WHAT’S YOUR STORY? HOW AND WHEN DID YOU BEGIN YOUR RAP CAREER?
NAPOLEON: Well, I’ve been doing rap for about 10 years just “free-styling”, but I originally started out as a producer while I was on a Track scholarship at Notre Dame. So, I wasn’t into a lot of the things that a lot of rappers were into back then; I was like the “clean” kinda guy. After a while, I started letting people listen to a few tracks, and they were like ‘Hey, you should leave this in, and leave that in”. So, I kinda compiled a lot of things and did a lot of demos that I would let people hear. One day my manager (Brandon Hall) said, “You’ve got 20 or 30 songs recorded. Why don’t you just do an album?”, and that’s how my first album was born. It was called “Napoleon Dynamite”. After that, I kinda took a break because most of my friends in college were like, doctors, lawyers, and accountants, so I didn’t really want to be in the music industry at that time because I felt I should use my degree to do something. But, music was still in my heart, so I had to come back to it.
S.T.I.L.L.: YOU HAVE A COUPLE OF SONGS ON YOUR MYSPACE PAGE THAT ARE FIRE. ONE OF THE SONGS I HEARD WAS “OUTTA CONTROL”. WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO DO THAT TRACK?
NAPOLEON: “Outta Control”, first of all, I love that track! What I really wanna do is push hip hop’s limits and really go “mainstream” with this track, and do something that they would never expect me to do with it. So, I got the beat from the ‘The Best Kept Secret’, and it was just so hot that I got in the studio with some alcohol and stuff and just did it. I had recorded a hook with my voice on it, but I thought it needed to be more edgy, so I contacted a friend that I went to school with named “L. Santiago”. I emailed it to him because he was in Denver at the time, and he sent it back to me with the hook, and that was it. He used his own creative energy on that.
S.T.I.L.L.: THE OTHER ONE THAT’S HOT IS “ALL AROUND DA WORLD” FEATURING “NALEDGE”. WHAT WAS YOUR MOTIVATION FOR RECORDING THAT SONG, AND HOW DID “NALEDGE” GET ON THE TRACK?
NAPOLEON: I’m well-traveled in the States, so with that, I wanted to do a song that kinda embellishes that. It’s another one of my favorite tracks because “Naledge” is on the track, and other people really like it because it’s a “feel good” track. It just feels real good when you’re listening to it, and I think it’s just a dope track. I actually got a call in Miami one time, and one of my friends called me from Chicago and said that he heard it on the radio because “Naledge” was pushing it hard.
S.T.I.L.L.: WHAT RAPPERS WOULD YOU SAY INSPIRED YOU TO EXCEL IN HIP HOP?
NAPOLEON: First, and foremost, is “Big Pun”. He is the first Latin rapper to go platinum, and he’s like my role model. Like, the way I write rhymes, I try to emulate his style of writing. Latin rappers are not really as visible in the hip hop game as they should be, and I’m half Ecuadorian, so the fact that he came before me and paved the way definitely inspired me to do what I do. And then, I like “Jay-Z” and “Nas”, and a few other rappers.
S.T.I.L.L.: WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU’RE NOT IN THE STUDIO, WHICH IS PROBABLY RARE? (LAUGH)
NAPOLEON: It is rare, actually, but there are a few things that I like to do. It’s to the point where my friends just text me now because they assume I’m busy in the studio and can‘t talk on the phone. But, uh, I love playing video games; I’m a “video game head”. I challenge anybody out there to challenge me in “Street Fighter 4”. I also like to watch the show “Entourage” on HBO. I got every season, and I pick an episode to watch every day because I love that show.
S.T.I.L.L.: WHEN YOU GO IN THE STUDIO TO WRITE TO A TRACK, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY ARE THE THREE THINGS YOU TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE MOST BEFORE WRITING?
NAPOLEON: The first thing I do is just to listen to the beat, and let it take me somewhere. A lot of rappers will try to take a verse that they wrote before and stick it on a beat, and it doesn’t work that way. I don’t like that…I don’t do that. I believe every track has its own story. Then, once I figure out what I’m gonna talk about, I’ll mumble a flow along with the beat until I’m feeling it. And lastly, I like to think about the perspective that somebody would listen to it from…You know, like, “Is this a song that a person would listen to on their way to the party, or while they’re getting high, etc.?”
S.T.I.L.L.: HOW CAN THOSE WHO WANT TO HEAR MORE OF YOUR MUSIC, OR WANT TO TALK BUSINESS, CONTACT YOU?
NAPOLEON: Well, the first way, I would say, is my email address, nsuarez1@gmail.com. I also have a website that has all of my information and my manager’s information, and that’s bestoutproductions.com, which is the name of our indie label. Or, they can hit me on my Twitter page; it’s twitter.com/napoleonsuarez. And my manager’s email address is Brandon@bestout productions.com.