Philadelphia is a place filled with culture. It’s the city of brotherly love. It’s the place where the classic movie “Rocky” took place. It’s the place where Allen Iverson started his hall of fame career with the Philadelphia 76’ers. As most hip-hop fans know it’s also a hotbed for rap talent such as Beanie Siegel, Gillie Da Kid, Freck Billionaire, Peedi Crakk, Will Smith, Freeway, State Property, and the list just goes on. The latest MC coming out of Philly and destined for greatness is the city’s own Rocky Fontaine.

While having a rough childhood in the place with one of the highest murder rates, Rocky decided that the only thing he was going to be killing was a microphone. It wasn’t long before Rocky was submerged in the culture and gaining a buzz on the streets where he grew up.

As his buzz grew, so did his opportunities landing a deal with up and coming sneaker brand Kashi Kicks, hosting a slew of mixtapes, and recording with some of the industry’s biggest and brightest stars. Fontaine is all set to take the game by storm and if his progress keeps up like it is we shouldn’t have much of a wait.

Sixshot.Com’s Jon Michael sat down with Rocky Fontaine to discuss growing up in Philly, teaming up with Kashi Kicks, and why he’ll be accepted by e verybody.

Sixshot.Com: Sup man, what's good?

Rocky Fontaine: Everything is lovely homey. I’m just grindin’ everyday, livin’ the dream ya dig?

Sixshot.Com: So first things first, as an Italian dude myself, I'm lovin' the name, how'd you get it?

Rocky Fontaine: I used to box in Philly for some years and dudes in the gym and my sisters gave me the name Rocky. And over the years I always had women givin’ all types of big shit so my homies just ended up calling me Fontaine and the rest is history.
 
Sixshot.Com: What was life like for you growing up?

Rocky Fontaine: I mean it was pretty much a normal childhood you know? There were just a few incidents that changed my life at a young age and made me a man early in the game. My mom was murdered when I was like 6 and my pop was always in and out of jail so all I really had to raise me was my sisters. So needless to say the Philadelphia streets had a lot to do with me learning how to be a man. Shit got a little crazy at times but God doesn’t put more on your plate than you can handle so I basically fought through all the hard times and all of my experiences made me strong. Now I'm ready for the world and everything in it.

Sixshot.Com: You rep your city harder than most and it seems real genuine. Why do you love Philly so much?

Rocky Fontaine: I been all around the world and on some real shit its no place like home. Man everybody be all excited to go to Miami or ATL but I remember times when the Philly nightlife and just overall city spirit was just as poppin’ as cities like that. I scream Philly everywhere I go because I know I’m going to be the artist to get the city back to how it used to be. It takes celebs partying in a town to really bring the people out. When I pop I’m going to have all my celeb homeys comin’ to my town to get it crackin’ and before you know it we gonna be back on the map. (Laughs)

Sixshot.Com: The Paper Chase mixtape was crazy, were you happy with the response?

Rocky Fontaine: Yeah, I really just dropped the Paper Chase CD for my niggas and everybody in my hood and city. But I went down to ATL and niggas was scratchin’ to get copies of it so yeah I guess you could say I was happy with the response. I just wished I would have known it was going to pop like that because I would have pressed up a lot more and hit way more cities with it.

Sixshot.Com: Trappin' was a hot song, what was the creative process behind that?

Rocky Fontaine: That was a ten minute track. I was in the studio in Pittsburgh wit my niggas from out there that’s hot like Wiz Khalifa and the GOV, and one of my producers Sledgren came through with some tracks. I grabbed like 5 or 6 tracks and in like 6 hours we had finished all of them. I went back to ATL and had a meeting with the radio station. They listened to the track and put it right on the air the same day.

Sixshot.Com: You lived in Atlanta and you get a lot of love from the South. Is that cool for you especially you being an East Coast cat?

Rocky Fontaine: Love is love homey. I gotta take it how it come ya dig? Nowadays its so many haters you gotta appreciate support from anywhere you get it. But honestly I’m getting attention from all over the world right now so I’m blessed to be in this situation because it’s a million rappers that don’t get any love from nowhere ya know?

Sixshot.Com: How would you describe your rap style?

Rocky Fontaine: I’m a very realistic rapper. I rap about things that are going on at the time or things that I’m about to go through. So really my style changes with how I’m feeling and living. One day I might be in LA courtside at the Lakers game, and when I’m doing shit like that my rhymes are real cocky and have a lot of swag to them. Another day I might have went through some old dumb shit around the way so my style might be kind of rough but still with a calm swag to it so I’m very diverse.

Sixshot.Com: Your buzz is up, are a lot of labels coming around, and which ones?

Rocky Fontaine: Really I haven’t even focused on that attention because I have a plan that I’m executing now and when I pull it off a label will be the last thing I need. Stay tuned.
 
Sixshot.Com: You've worked with a lot of the big artists out there; do you have an artist that you particularly like working with?

Rocky Fontaine: I bang with Slim from 112 real hard. That’s one of my big homies. When you around dudes that sold 30 million records worldwide you learn a thing or two that most people never hear. But other than Slim I’m in the studio with heavy weight artists and producers almost everyday so I’ll have a nice amount of collabs on the album when it drops.
 
Sixshot.Com: Tell us about the Philadelphia Comeback Kid.

Rocky Fontaine: That’s a mixtape I dropped with DJ Scream and it has the south buzzin’ like crazy right now. We moved too many of them to count. It has features from dudes like Red Cafe, Wiz Khalifa, 112, S.Money, and it is basically a crazy listen from start to finish type of mixtape. If you ain’t got it make sure you go and get that. It’s a collector’s item for real.
 
Sixshot.Com: Who are some of your musical influences?

Rocky Fontaine: Anybody who is making serious international records and has their business mind right. If you doin’ what I’m tryin’ to do then you influence me in one way or another,
 
Sixshot.Com: What do you feel you're bringing to the game that it doesn't already have?

Rocky Fontaine: I’m a rap artist that everyone can relate to. The streets is gonna feel me because I've been through the everyday hood drama that they either going through or been through. The women are gonna love me cause I’m a real dude who is talking about real things and all the while lookin’ better than their dream nigga. (Laughs) And the industry is gonna accept me because I’m not really giving niggas a choice. All this momentum is based off hard work. Niggas cant knock a hard working artist no matter what way you look at it.
 
Sixshot.Com: What projects do you have coming up that we can check for?

Rocky Fontaine: Check for a new shoe line that I partnered up with called Kashi Kicks. You can go check them out on www.kashikicks.com. And just be on the look out for my name and music. I’m hosting like 40 mixtapes coming up soon from all the top DJ's in the world so be on the look out and grab those mixtapes.
 
Sixshot.Com: Anything you'd like to say to the fans at Sixshot.Com?

Rocky Fontaine: I appreciate the love homies. Philly we back baby let’s go.

For more info on Rocky Fontaine visit:
www.myspace.com/rockyfontaine