Nicolay

Artist/Group Name (also group members’ names): 

NICOLAY 

Reppin’ (What city you reppin’?): 

 WILMINGTON, NC & UTRECHT, NL 

Affiliation (What crew or artists you roll with?): 

 FOREIGN EXCHANGE 

Influences (Who inspires you? Not limited to just hip-hop): 

J DILLA, PRINCE, COLDPLAY, ZERO 7, 4 HERO, JAZZANOVA,

DANGER MOUSE 

Backstory (How’d you get in the game? How did the group form? What work did you put in before getting signed to a label?) 

MET PHONTE OF LITTLE BROTHER ON THE OKAYPLAYER

BOARDS AND WE ENDED UP DOING AN ALBUM TOGETHER, THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE.

 I HAVE BEEN WORKING IN MUSIC FOR MORE THAN A DECADE

NOW, PLAYING IN BANDS AND RECORDING.  

      Current project (What are you pushing right now? What can people expect from it? Feel free to just hype your album here…why did you name the album that name? Was there a theme? Any funny stories during its creation?)

HERE, HBE RECORDS

YOU WILL HEAR SOME UP & COMING ARTISTS (BLACK SPADE, WIZ KHALIFA, KAY) & SOME PEOPLE ARE FAMILIAR WITH FROM THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE (YAHZARAH & DARIEN BROCKINGTON)

 THE NAME OF THE ALBUM ACTUALLY CAME FROM MY

GIRLFRIEND, WHO AT THE TIME WAS LIVING IN THE STATES AND I IN THE NETHERLANDS. SHE USE TO ALWAYS SAY TO ME: I AM HERE, YOU ARE THERE, THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THE ‘T’.  

Purpose (What kind of impact do you hope to have on the game? Do you just want to go platinum or is there something more?)

FOR ONE, I DON’T LIKE TO THINK OF IT AS A ‘GAME’, BUT OVERALL, I JUST HOPE TO MAKE MUSIC THAT UNTIMATELY WILL STAND THE TEST OF TIME, AND HOPEFULLY PEOPLE WILL REMEMBER AND ENJOY FOR YEARS TO COME.

I HAVE NO INTEREST IN GOING PLATINUM, OF COURSE MAKING MONEY IS THE GOAL, BUT ITS MORE IMPORTANT TO ME TO MAKE GOOD MUSIC 

Is hip-hop really dead? (Wax philosophical here, break down what you think of hip-hop today or compare it to when you were coming up. Good? Bad? Break it down!)

I THINK EVERYONE THAT CLAIMS HIP HOP IS DEAD, SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR ANOTHER JOB. IF YOU HAVE A LOVE FOR HIP HOP, THE GOAL SHOULD BE TO KEEP IT ALIVE AND GROWING.  

Three wishes (If you had three wishes to change anything within hip-hop, what would they be? Bring someone back to life? Get a Kanye West beat? Make snap music disappear?):

 THE ONLY WISHES I HAVE, IS THAT ALL MY LOVED ONES STAY SAFE AND HAPPY. I DON’T HAVE ANY WISHES IN MY CAREER, MAINLY CAUSE I GREAT GOALS AND STRIVE TO ACCOMPLISH THEM, ALSO, I DON’T WANT TO JINX WHAT I DO THROUGH WISHING.