A Mafia is making a name for himself as he puts out what seems like non-stop music. You can add “The Digital Hustler” to the growing list of up and coming MCs out of New York that is making waves in hip hop. Since coming home from prison, his work ethic has been relentless dropping mixtapes and releasing multiple videos for each tape. His newest tape is called Under The Scope.
Where did you get the name A Mafia come from?
I was known as AB in my neighborhood and when I was in jail I wanted a new name and for my new perspective. So I came up with A Mafia because I’m connected throughout Harlem. I know where everything is at.
What part of Harlem are you from?
I’m from 140th and Hamilton Place. The area is called Sugar Hill, this is where all the drugs are on Broadway. Everybody used to come up here and buy drugs. There were so many drugs out here that people came up with a slogan “Why you put my shit on Broadway”. Hamilton Place used to be called “Hungry Ham” because a lot of robberies went down and a lot of people would get caught up. It aint the same now, there are more police; it’s a whole different environment now.
You say the term “Real Harlem” a lot what does that mean?
Real Harlem for me is people who don’t wear skinny jeans, skinny clothes. Real Harlem niggas stick together. There are a certain amount of people that only promote Lenox Ave but Harlem is bigger than Lenox. Even though it’s small the presence is big.
Harlem seems to be having a renaissance with different rappers making an impact like ASAP Rocky, Teyana Taylor, Vado, Dipset/Byrdgang still moving how do you feel about that and where do you think you fit in that space?
I’m happy for everybody but for my own movement, I try to keep it as Harlem as possible. I’m from the gutter of Harlem basically the underground. The question is where they fit in. I’m in my own lane, nobody in my lane is out right now.
You were building a buzz for yourself around 2007, 2008 running with Camron post split with Jim Jones then you disappeared what happened?
As I said I represent that underworld so basically I got caught up and went to do some time. I went to jail for 2 years and 2 months for drugs. I’m still on parole now.
What is the relationship like with you and Camron now?
Me and Camron are cool, I get my own money and everything I need. I don’t have any problems with him or anybody everything is cool. I’m so focused on doing me, so I don’t have any problems. I got a lot of respect for his hustle and I will always want to work with Camron. The thing about me is I don’t like to wait around. I didn’t wait around in the streets so I’m definitely not waiting in the rap game.
Where does your grind come from?
The grind comes from the underworld. It’s nothing to do this rap shit. I’m a hustler already so for me to hustle in rap is nothing. I just switched the hustle. A lot of rappers didn’t hustle and that’s why they don’t know to be on their own. I came home with a plan to shoot videos and do mixtapes. One of my peoples on my team told me that people knew my name but they didn’t know my face. That’s why I went crazy with the videos. When people tell me the wrong thing, I get motivated and that motivated me.
Talk about Big L’s influence on you?
L is the nicest lyricist I ever heard and the nicest being from my neighborhood is dope to me. I don’t think nobody could fuck with L. He kicked that street shit. It’s how people feel about Biggie in Brooklyn.
How did Deep In The Game Entertainment come about?
Me and my partner Born Dibiase decided to start the label and do everything ourselves. We really deep in the game out here. We started it in January 2011. We were tired of the lies and small money being offered. The video 2050 was the stamp video for the label showing people we really do this.
You’ve dropped about six mixtapes and you were on the cover of Straight Stuntin Magazine for the 2nd time. What is next for A-Mafia?
Since I been home I have about 7 mixtapes but all together I have about 10 tapes. Until I reach my goal its nothing for me. I still feel like I’m on the bottom. I just dropped a video with me featuring 2 Chainz, another video called Crime Pays and Who Can I Run To featuring Herb McGruff. I’m going to jeep grinding and promoting Under The Scope mixtape.
