It’s not often that a rapper gets to put himself on the map but his state as well in one fell swoop. One MC who had the pleasure of doing so is Willy Northpole. As one of the first rappers from Arizona to get signed to a major label Willy has opened doors for the future of hip-hop in Arizona. As one of the last men standing at Ludacris’ Disturbing Tha Peace imprint, Willy is set to take the game by storm as one of the hottest up and coming MC’s in the game.

What separates Willy from the pack is not only his abilities as an MC but as one of the hardest workers in the biz. His skills and his grind are sure to make him one of the brightest stars in hip-hop’s future. Sixshot.com caught up with Willy Northpole to discuss the changes at Disturbing Tha Peace, working with Ludacris, and what we can expect from his debut album.

Sixshot.Com: All right Willy, we’ve been hearing a lot about changes going down at Disturbing Tha Peace. You’re still there and you’re still making noise. Are the changes as big as the media is making them out to be?

Willy Northpole: There’s been some changes goin’ on and everything but they haven’t affected me too much. Anything you see me doing is really a reflection of the hard work that I’m putting in. I’m try ing hard. I’m doin’ my thing so I’m not really affected by too much of what’s been goin’ on. I’m moving forward so I’m taking that as a sign that I must be doing good. I wish it would move a little faster but overall I’m blessed.

Sixshot.Com: What have you been up to since the last time we talked?

Willy Northpole: Man, I’ve been working a lot. I’ve been doing performances at the DUB car show in front of thousands of fans. I shot a new video that’s in heavy rotation. Howard homecoming is comin’ up and I got my set there. I got a new single coming out with B.O.B. Since the last time we spoke I have been busy Jay. Your boy been busy. Oh yeah, The “Body Marked Up” video is on MTV Jams. I also won an Ozone award, which is one of my biggest accomplishments to date. We got the “Body Marked Up” remix with Jim Jones, Paul Wall, that’s hot. I’m just workin’ hard man. That’s all I’m focused on right now.

Sixshot.Com: When we first spoke you hadn’t gotten a chance to really get up with Ludacris but now you’ve done songs with him and you’ve been putting in that work. What’s it like working with Luda?

Willy Northpole: Honestly, it is what you probably might think it is, you know what I’m sayin’? He’s a role model in a lot of ways so when we work together he just needs to give me an idea and I just run with it. Working with him is part of my dream, you know?

Sixshot.Com: Now Willy I wanted to address a rumor. There was a rumor flying around and I asked Serious Jones about this as well. The rumor was that he got dropped for maybe not getting along with management and whatnot and you got kept on because you do. Any truth to that?

Willy Northpole: To be honest with you I don’t really know the whole situation with Serius getting dropped but I always thought Serius was a good dude. Me and him always got along and all that. I honestly don’t know the whole situation. Serius is cool.

Sixshot.Com: Arizona has been on the come up since you, Hot Rod, Cinque, Atllas and a couple others began getting a lot of attention. Has the hip-hop scene out there changed at all since the state began getting some attention?

Willy Northpole: It’s been a good look overall I would say. A lot of people been getting together, working closer, because you know there’s strength in numbers. I think a lot of dudes see that it’s possible to be successful and from Arizona so I think there’s a lot more music coming out of Arizona. We opened up a lot of doors man. Its giving people a lot of incentive to get their stuff together, you know what I’m sayin’?

Sixshot.Com: Being a newer artist with a debut album coming out, do you have any feelings about records not selling like they used to and whatnot?

Willy Northpole: Not really, I mean I would be lying if I said that it never crossed my mind but the way that I see it is that it’s up to me how I sell. I feel like if I give a 100 percent and I work hard then I will sell and if I don’t then at least people will be able to say and I’ll be able to say that I put everything I had into tit. If I know in my heart that I put everything had into it then I’m all good and I’m going to be satisfied. I feel like people can see how hard I work. On my MySpace I got Willy Northpole TV and people can just see what I’m up to and what I’m doing. They don’t even have to know anything about music. They could just see how hard I work and I think people appreciate that.

Sixshot.Com: So you’ve been at Disturbing Tha Peace for a while now. Do you feel comfortable like that’s the place for you?

Willy Northpole: To be honest I haven’t done enough to be mad at them. We comin’ up to the hard stuff now, which is a release and marketing and promotion and all of that stuff. That’s when things get real hard and complications can come up. But for the most part I feel like I made the right decision signing with Disturbing Tha Peace. I feel like Chaka and Luda really have their ears on my project and they’re paying close attention to it. I don’t think they’re going to let anything happen to me that’s not supposed to happen, you know what I’m sayin’?

Sixshot.Com: All right Willy, tell us everything you got coming up that we could look out for.

Willy Northpole: Like I said I got the DUB magazine cover coming out which is a real good look so everybody should check for that. We got the DTP compilation album which is coming up maybe November or December and that’s going to be hot, Strength In Numbers. The album is coming up. I got a great album here. It’s a classic album. I got videos coming up. I got the single with B.O.B. Like I said before I really think my work ethic is going to show and it’s going to pay off. We just came off the DUB tour so we got a lot of contacts and a lot of collabs coming up. I’m stayin’ out in Atlanta now so you know.

Sixshot.Com: Anything you want to say to the Willy Northpole fans out there?

Willy Northpole: Man, a lot of people say the same thing but I just want to thank them for all the support and love they show me. They can see me and get to know me on my myspace page at www.myspace.com/willynorthpole. I got the reality show up there. I want people to get to know Willy Northpole for real and look at me as a friend. And for anybody that’s trying to be in this business whether it’s dancing, singing, rapping, whatever the case may be, just make sure that you do it every single day.