There’s a new rookie in town and he goes by the name of Phil Ade. Raised in the DMV (DC-Maryland-Virginia) area and repping Nigeria and Grenada, this young scrapper is here to stake his claim in the rap world. Signed to soul singer Raheem Devaughn’s label 368 Music Group, Phil Ade has sparked buzz over his first mixtape Starting on JV. Now appearing on the same stage with stars like Clipse and Wale, he’s about to be the worst kept secret. As a fresh new face in a class of rappers looking to revive the genre, we introduce you to DC’s own Phil Ade.

AfriPOP!: When did you start doing music?
Phil Ade: I didn’t start doing music seriously until about a year ago, but I started rapping in my high school junior year. As far as singing, I’ve been singing my entire life. My mom sings around the house so I would sing with her. She also had me singing at church, so it’s something I’ve been doing forever, but I picked up rapping in high school.

AfriPOP!: How did you and Raheem DeVaughn hook up?
Ade: I attended one semester at this university out in Alabama called Oakwood University. I used to stay up late at night with my roommate and the people who stayed in the suite next to mine. Sometimes I’d come over and spit stuff that I’d written, and the dude took notice of that and he told his brother [who] happened to be best friends with Raheem Devaughn. He took me to the studio one day, when we were out of school in the summer. From there Raheem put me in the studio to see what I could do. He liked it, he started the label [and] signed me to 368.

AfriPOP!: So, the pen’s in your hand and the nib’s on the dotted line. Were you freaking out?
Ade: Nah, I was ready [laughs].  When I saw that piece of paper, I knew I was ready. I knew I was going to have someone push me and mentor me and was going to show me how to do things…and put me out there. I knew it was going to be a lot of help. I mean I looked through all the paper work, but I signed [laughs].

AfriPOP!: So all this happened within the last couple years?
Ade: Within the last year actually. When I met my friend that was spring 2008 and when I came back I was attending a college from out here [in DC]. He introduced me to his brother when I was living up here. I was kind of unsure about it, so I didn’t seriously meet Raheem until November.

AfriPOP!: It sounds like you weren’t even thinking about rap seriously.
Ade:I was but I wasn’t. I didn’t think it was going to go anywhere for a while. But when I saw it could actually take off, that’s when I started doing music full time and put my all into it. It’s crazy how everything worked out, because the dude who introduced me to his brother, they hadn’t spoken in like 10 years. Everything just happened all at once; it just felt like it was meant to be.

AfriPOP!: Let’s talk about the mixtape. How did you come up with the concept?
Ade: At first I wanted to call it Least Likely to Succeed, trying to play off high school. But the whole school thing was something Kanye West had already done. I wanted to give it a new twist, so Thelonius Dre came to me and said why don’t you compare hip hop to high school basketball. You know how if the varsity would be Jay-Z [and] Kanye, JV [junior varsity] would be those just coming up and just getting their start. The mixtape is making the statement that I’m one of the best coming out and just getting my start. That’s where we came up with Starting on JV. It’s a compilation of different sounds, of different types of music that I can do.

AfriPOP!: Who was behind production on the tape?
Ade: One of the first producers I ever worked with [is named] Dope Sunny from Chicago. The joints that I did for him is what sparked Raheem’s interest to want to sign me because those songs just came out so good. From there they flew him out here and we live together. We’re roommates, man [laughs]! Another dude is Mark Henry. One song that he did on the mixtape is the single…called “Hollywood.” Another dude is Sakwe, Thelonius Dre, and Jahi Chambers [who] did [my] remix of [N.E.R.D.’s] “Everyone Nose.”

Phil Ade – Hollywood: Behind The Scenes from Jaime Aquino on Vimeo.

AfriPOP!: We spoke with fellow DC-based, African rapper Tabi Bonney during CMJ and he mentioned collaborating with you. We know he directed the “Hollywood” video, but will you be working on something else?
Ade: Oh yeah, I’m already working on my next project. Me and him have been running through songs on my first joint but things haven’t worked out the way we wanted it to. We’re planning to do something on the next tape. I’m a fan of Tabi, and he’s a fan of what I’m doing also, so it would be dope to work with him.

AfriPOP!: This has been a good year for rap as far as the new class. What do you think sets you apart from everyone?
Ade: I think what sets me apart is my sound. Like I rap and also I sing which is something Drake is thriving off of right now. I believe I have something different with the way I sing and the type of song that I chose to do. Like if you listen to my mixtape there are a variety of different genres.  I touch on pop ish, house stuff or harder south. But at the end of the day it’s all hip hop. My sound is just international.

AfriPOP!: It’s funny that so many new rappers repping the DMV area, like Wale and Tabi Bonney, are African.
Ade: It just happens to be that Africans have a long history of music and arts. It’s not something that’s surprising to me. As far as the African community out here, it’s just thriving. Wale’s parents are both Nigerian, Tabi is from Togo, and my father is from Nigeria also. Part of the reason we moved up here is because of the large Nigerian community.

AfriPOP!: You’ve toured with the Clipse on The Sneaker Pimps Tour and Raheem DeVaughn. What were those tours like?
Ade:With Raheem that was a good experience for me, because I’ve never been on tour like that, like being on a bus going back and forth from city to city. With [The Sneaker Pimps tour] it was kind of dotted.  I did one show here and there. But with [Raheem’s] show it was a continual vibe, for about a week straight. It gave me experience being on tour as an artist. The Sneaker Pimps [opportunity]…came out of the show I did out here at DC Star. After hearing what I did and everything I was doing at the time, they were like “Yo, you want to join us for the rest of the tour?”

AfriPOP!: Did anything crazy happen on the tour? Any funny crazed fans or groupie stories?
Ade: Hmmm let’s see…actually, no not really [laughs].  I mean I didn’t get a bad reception from anyone. I mean they would kind of look at me at first, ’cause no one knew who I was, I mean, yeah no one knows who I am right now [laughs]. So they are looking like “what is this guy gonna do?” At the end of it I would always get a good reception, [so] it’s been dope! Being in the studio and making a song for people to listen to is one thing, but being able to perform and see peoples’ reaction and interact with people to who listen to your stuff is dope.

AfriPOP!: Outside of the tour, how do you think the reception to your mixtape has been?
Ade: It’s been surprising. I didn’t expect as many people to like it as they did. Of course I expected somebody to like it, because I’m confident that it’s good music, but I just haven’t gotten a lot of bad feedback from it. It’d been a lesson, some people are just like it’s cool, they don’t think it’s all that, but most people think it’s a great tape. I just feel like that’s a blessing.

AfriPOP!: In an interview you talk about being approached to perform in Nigeria. Is that going to happen and when and where?
Ade: It’s a situation that’s still being worked out. Raheem’s going to get my passport. It’s going to happen real soon. I haven’t been to Nigeria in a while, so it would definitely be great to go back. The thing with Nigeria is that a lot of people don’t have the things we have over here in the United States. So when they get things like music they grasp on to it and they appreciate it. The internet isn’t that big of a problem because only the major areas have access to it, so when they get music they cherish it. When you have something all over the place, you kind of take it for granted.

AfriPOP!: So what do you think your role is going to be in this hip hop game?
Ade: I wouldn’t call it a role, it’s just something I want to do. My music is a sound that hasn’t been heard, something that needs to be brought to the table. My role is just playing my role, just doing what I’m good at doing.

www.myspace.com/philade301