Say hello to Willie Joe, the latest phenom from the San Fransico's Bay Area well on his way to bringing his hometown back to the forefront. That may seem like a huge burden  to the average person, but Willie Joe has already proven that he was born to do this.

Born in Oakland and raised in Vallejo, CA, the rapper moved to Atlanta,Georgia due to his sister’s urgings.

Before long, Willie was doing his thing in the South and building a name for himself. His strong buzz happened to catch the ear of the honchos up at Shonuff Records who instantly offered Willie a deal

Now, with a major deal, Willie cannot be stopped. Making appearances in every national publication as well as having a hit single on his hands, his debut album is sure to make waves in the hip-hop community.

Sup Willie, what's good?

It ain’t nothing man, I’m just grinding my dude.

So let me ask you, growing up in the Bay were you influence by artists like E-40, the Luniz, etc.?

 Hell yeah, like you said I’m a Bay boy so alot of my first CDs I ever got was E-40, C-Bo, Mac Mall, Luniz, Mac Dre, Rappin’ Ron, 3xkrazy, like that whole era was really a big influence to me.

With all the recognition you are getting, do you consider yourself th e new
face of the Bay?

Yes sir! If I aint the new face, I'm damn sure one of them. 2008 is gonna be crazy for real, just watch and see.

How did you get into the rap game?

I been rapping like my whole life and if you mean in terms of a major label. I was performing at Club Crucial (T.I.'s club) and two of Shonuff's reps was in there, Earl and Smoove. So I gave them my CD, Tha Free Agent mixtape, I did with DJ Smallz and he hit my people. The next day, we meet with the boss Nonnie Lee and now its on and popping, Shonuff/Captiol.... Come Up album 2008.

Why did you decide to make the move to Atlanta?

You got to realize at that point I been in the Bay my whole life and that’s all I really knew so I jus felt stuck, like I needed to do something with my self. My sister was going to Clark Atlanta and she had been telling me it was going on out there, so one day I jus said I’m gone. So I got a one way ticket, 0 dollars,  and my mixtape and I went for it best decision I ever made, yaaddaa!

Do the cats down there respect that you're from the Bay?

What’s funny is that I thought they were not going to but I guess real recognize real all around the world. I think they fuck with me tough cause I be myself and I let it be known where I’m from, but at the same time respect where I’m at and they support that.

You won the Almost Famous showcase, what was that like?

That was big, it was one of the first showcases I won in Atlanta and it got me recognized from people that probably wasn’t paying attention before that.

When did all this national recognition start to come about?

When I came out with the song "Getem Gotem". I don’t know what it is about that song but when I perform it, it just has an effect on people and it just grew from there. Hot 107.9 and Infamous over at V103 started to play it and it was a wrap, Willie Joe was in everybodys mouth.

You also have a label, WataBoy Entertainment, tell us about it?

[It's] my label, we really in the kitchen cooking it up.

I got some real hittas on my side, I got Woodstock Da Great, Data Boi, and a duo called Tha Crime$$ Doodat and Dubious, plus my boy Rell Gunny so be on the look out, yaaddaa!

You've been on stage with some big names, what is that experience like?

It's real big and motivating so I just go hard wit every chance I get to perform.

You have a tour coming up right?

Yeah, we're working on promoting the single and letting everybody know whets going on.

Where can fans check you?

Myspace/williejoe or williejoe100@gmail.

Any projects you have coming up that we should know about?

Yeah, we got Tha Bayd Out mixtape in the streets now, we got the Signing Mixtape, Thrax on Wax Vol.2 is coming and I got a couple collaboration mixtapes, like me and Stevie Joe got one, "Not Yo Average Joe", me and R&B artist Jovan Dias got one good ass music and me and my boy B.O.B got one, "Cali Georgia".

I’m just working because the most important thing to look out for is the album 2008 Shonuff/Capitol Records Tha Come Up album. I got a DVD coming too called Willie Joe: Tha Whole World Need To Know! So look out for everything I’m a part of

Anything you'd like to say to your fans at Sixshot.com?

Thanks for all the support, stay focused and you can do whatever you put your mind to. If I can come up then you can come up so lets come up together. 2008 Shonuff/Wataboy/Capitol Records yaaadddaaa!