Phoenix has just recently begun to make its way onto the hip-hop radar. One of the first artists to get put on was Willy Northpole. Thanks to his lyrical abilities and a diss song to every Phoenix MC, he landed a spot on Disturbing Tha Peace.

Willy’s road to success was not an easy one. As he came of age, he got involved in the street life, and soon found himself in prison, doing a 3-year bid. When he got out, he was a man with a mission and decided it was time to better his life.He put everything he had into his music and became a hometown hero.

 With an album slated for next year, Willy is undoubtedly a player to watch for. Sixshot.com sat down with Willy to discuss the Phoenix weather, Ice Cube, and why he loves New York.

Phoenix is just now starting to have some major success. Tell us what it’s like over there.

You gotta understand there’s a lot of people here from different states, alot of cats from the east coast,  alot of cats from the Midwest, a lot of cats from Chicago, its really like a mixture of everything.

This is the southwest or the west whatever you want to call it and the hip-hop scene is real big man. Everybody is trying to rap man.

There’s a lot of independent record labels out here. The fact that we stuck in a city with no shine and nobody tapped into the market, that’s why my album is the connect because I'm tryna connect my city with the rest of the world

So do you consider yourself a West Coast artist?

I consider myself a artist from the west, not the west coast because we don’t got no beaches (laughs), it's hot as hell out here man. As far as the music, we got the same thing, were two hours from the Cali border. You would call us west coast on the map but out here we’re the southwest.

So growing up what music had a big influence, especially coming from where you do.

West coast music. In the 90s growin' up a lot of Ice Cube. NWA was fading away of course.  A lot of Ice Cube, Biggie of course, the whole Dogg Pound movement, the whole Death Row movement with Dr.Dre was large.  We got the gangstas, the Dickies, the 64’s all that stuff is out here man. We're the original gunslingers, we are the Wild West. That’s pretty much what’s going on. In the 90’s, at the time, Snoop Dogg was first crackin' and The Chronic came in '91 I think, that was real big in west coast music.

Before you got settled as a rapper and your situation was set, what were you doing?

What was I doing? I was locked up.

How long were you in jail?

I was in there for 3 years man. I been in music my whole life but when I got locked up it slowed me down. When I got out I spent my own money to get in the studio, which is about 2001. 1994-1998 that’s when I got out. So Jay-Zzwas kickin' off. I was locked up for the whole Biggie and Pac situation. Jay taking over influenced me.

My music used to sound real west. I started branching out a little bit. I got real comfy  with the music when I started getting the response from people. That was pretty much it. I was laying tracks down. There’s a lot of hate out here because a lot of people wanna do what I’m doing and with that said, to get that many good responses is what helped me keep going

So were you like a hometown celebrity in Phoenix?

Of course man. I’m not gonna lie, I was trying not to mention it but you making me do it. I dissed every artist in Arizona. I was the underdog and there were a few cats out here making a lot of noise and when that came out, I sliced the city in half man.

Basically, I took a lot of personal shit and just embarrassed a lot of cats.  I’m cool wit 'em now. I needed it to put my name out. I knew it would make me or break me. I put it all out there. It was called "The Garbage Disposal". It got attention it got my managers attention. It got a lot of peoples attention.

When did the offers start coming in?

I met Hot Rod with G-Unit, I didn’t really know him at the time, I was making noise around "The Garbage Disposal" days and we kinda became friends right before he got singed. 50 asked Rod who he worked with and he said me and we flew out there and we stayed in 50's crib and worked on Rod's album, I'm on that. That’s when my manager, who I knew for a real long time, she hit me on MySpace and that’s how we connected.

She asked who was managing me and I said nobody. Sha Money was trying to manage me but he was being a little slow so...I had to branch off from the G-Unit situation and come back to Phoenix and she was working hard, she got my music in the hands of DTP.

What was the meeting with DTP like?

Man (laughs) it was crazy that day, we was running around like chickens wit our heads cut off. Chaka Zulu who is the CEO was meeting us.  We went out to LA and whatever and I needed a haircut man and I was running around, I was tryna make a good first impression. Chaka heard my music, I brought music to him I got there and he was boppin' his head to the music. He was talking about how has gonna market me, so we were looking around like who’s gonna ask him? should I ask him?, am I gonna get signed or whatever. So I said fuck it, I asked the nigga am I gonna be signed and he said 'yeah nigga that’s why you're here'. (Laughs).

I played it off like it was all cool then I went outside and called everybody in phoenix man and it’s been all love man. (Laughs) He said he's easygoing but sometimes he cracks the whip and he said what he expects of me and I been meeting that so its good man.

When did you first get to meet Luda?

I had  met Luda before he didn’t remember me, but it was when G-Unit played DTP in basketball and I was on the G-Unit side. (Laughs) I seen Luda again when I flew to L.A, I missed Luda in LA. I kept missing him, I went to meet Chaka and Cris just happened to be out there.

If I showed up, he was leaving or if I was in Chaka's room he was upstairs getting dressed or getting measured or some shit, I don’t know (Laughs).  I met him when they flew me to ATL.

Cris me sat in the room and he listened to 25 of my tracks and each one he was like, 'Ooooh!'. He was excited about them . He didn’t hear a lot of the music until me and him sat down and really listened to everything. He said ya'll didn’t tell me this nigga had records. That’s when we got cool right there.

One thing about DTP is they have a great track record.

They put out there artists; you gotta give them props on that. Its not like a nigga gonna be shelved or what’s going on in the next ten years. They got a 08 schedule for me. I got everything that they’re giving me I’m tryna give back to them because the project is coming out. Being that I’m the only artist from the west it’s a good market for me.

There’s southern hospitality out there man. That’s what I love about that label. We were at Hit Factory in Miami and there was a circle fryin' fish outside, they’re some good south niggas, real family oriented out there.

It seems like DTP is trying to secure a spot in every region of the U.S. They have you in the west and Serius Jones in the East.

Serius is a real good artist man. He's known for the battle thing and he's tryna branch off the battle shit and show he can make records. I haven’t heard his album. They’re snatching me up, snatching Serius up. They really tryna hit all the markets man.

Remember when Deathrow had it on lock. That’s how DTP is doin' it, Chingy is back so from now on out its gonna be a good thing for everybody. I'm definitely glad I’m the only artist reppin the west. If there were any artists from the west we'd have a problem because I’m a jealous dude. (Laughs)

Who was your main influence?

I was really influenced by Ice Cube. Right now, you gotta understand, when you 16 and everybody wanna be Michael Jordan or Michael Jackson, I got artists I look up to now like Jay and Snoop. I took a lil' from everybody but I developed my own sound.

People used to say I sound like Jay but I haven’t heard that for 4 years because since then I developed my own style and I made my own path and, I made Willy. I got a west coast feel, me coming from the streets and being lyrical and my delivery, I get that from Jay and Nas and there's a couple  other artists I look up to. 

So that’s where I get my shit from....and Kanye, gotta give it up to him,

A lot of rappers are taking the indie route or getting forced into the indie route. Are you happy with your spot at a major?

I’m in a better position because it’s the team that’s around me. Everything that happened to me was perfect, my lawyer is money hungry, so he wanna get paid, my manager make sure I get paid, and me wanting it that bad.

Me being with a label like that and having Def Jam behind them plus I’m coming from a different state, and I’m a good looking nigga on top of all the bullshit, you got the ultimate artist, I’m in an excellent position.

Def Jam is legendary, what is it like to be a part of that?

Yeah man,  lemme tell u this. Being associated with Def Jam is crazy, that’s the label that reps my label, so I’m a part of that. You got Mariah Carey, Neyo and Jay, I’m a piece of that regardless how you look at it. If I never meet Mariah I’m a piece of her, I’m a piece of Def Jam, that’s Run DMC man. I’m a piece of Def Jam, I couldn’t ask for nothing better

As a new artist, are you worried about the drop in sales at all?

Not really man, I believe in myself. I believe in my mixtapes. I believe in the people behind me and my marketing. It doesn’t scare me because I think people are waiting for something new anyway. People flip flopping because people aren’t patient or they're a tax write off.

If I don’t feel like I’m ready I won't come out. At the same time I know its possible to have good numbers and quality music.

It comes down to people getting to know you and if they feel you, or feel a connection with you. That’s why I’m on Youtube and MySpace. If people feel like they’re watching you grow they’ll follow that. Nothing scares me at all man.

Look how T.I popped out the box, 50, Kanye, you can still go platinum and it's definitely possible to go gold.

What can we expect to see from you soon?

We got DTP were tryna release a mixtape at the top of the year. I’m working on a mixtape with Hot Rod called Fire in Phoenix with a DJ from North Carolina and then after that, '08 we're going to release the single, Chingy is on the remix, then "The Life", featuring Neyo. It’s a pretty good marketing plan, every thing is everything brother.

Anything you want to say to your fans at SixShot.Com?

I want people to know, who come out and support me I appreciate it, hit me at http://www.myspace.com/willynorthpole. Hit me man, I'll holla back. I check all my shit.

 They could go to the DTP website, just google me man. Check me on Youtube; I got a couple freestyles on there. All you DJ's that need anything from me, you need drops, you need 16’s, If you need me to burp on ya shit let me know. (Laughs) And producers, I need beats, original beats man good beats. Anything you got that’s off the wall that you think somebody can’t rap to let me know and I'll get on that if its hot.

The joint that got me signed was actually done by a 14 year old kid.  A little kid from Canada, barely speaks English, lil' white dude. His name is Wonky. He like a lil' Willy Wonka in this motherfucker. He might be 15 now and he produced the song that got me signed. He did what a lot of people wanted to do and he made the album.

He just hit me on the MySpace. He actually sent it to my friend, it was a Lil Wayne sample, body marked up, but he aint have no tattoos so he sent it to me. And that’s a classic, classic, classic, joint off the album. When he gave it to me he was mad because its classic and I thought it was perfect for me. Wonka is with us right now. I had to scoop him up.

Do you currently have any artists under you?

No I don’t have any artists. I have a squad its about 20 niggas that all bring something different to the table. I’m definitely gonna get into that, I would love to do DTP West but I gotta worry about myself first, so I can open the door for my city and my state. Where u from?

Brooklyn

Brooklyn, BK, I got money in Brooklyn in the past. (Laughs) People think of Manhattan but the real New York it’s nice. It’s packed but coming from where I am there’s a lot of woman. NYC niggas operate a lil’ different. The razor under the tongue, a lil’ dramatic (Laughs) but I definitely adapt to the NYC street niggas.

Shout out to DTP and Family Tree, my management company, Phoenix, and my whole state.