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Mr. Finley: Las Vegas Rapper Goes Beyond the Flashing Lights
We
all know the popular saying — what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
However Island Def Jam/Ghet-O-Vision Entertainment signee, Mr. Finley,
is stepping forward as the voice of the city to tell what goes on
beyond the strip. His anticipated debut album, The Talented Mr. Finley features production from some of music’s most elite, including KP and Malay, Don Cannon and DJ Toomp.
“I like to compare Mr. Finley to the Tupac of Las Vegas,” says Kawan
“KP” Prather, who signed the rapper to Def Jam. “He’s telling stories
about the city that people don’t normally get to hear.” Recently, Mr.
LV sat down to talk with rolling out about life beyond the casinos. –felicia j. barclay
Was there a heavy hip-hop influence in Vegas when you were growing up versus today?
Me and my homeboys started [doing music] in ’97 and from that point we
really put the groundwork down in Vegas as far as the hip-hop scene. We
were the ones that tried to give Vegas its own sound.
What type of exposure did doing mixtapes produce for you?
When I started doing my mixtapes everybody in the city was all on it
because there wasn’t anybody out here doing that. One of my homeboy’s
sisters took it to Mario Davis. We went to California and met with
Keith “WOK” Watts. From there we met with [Gavin] Marchand, Foxy’s
brother, who connected me with [Kawan Prather, senior vice president of
A&R for Def Jam]. After he heard my music he was ready to do
something.
What’s the concept behind the album’s title, The Talented Mr. Finley besides the obvious?
The obvious is a rip-off of The Talented Mr. Ripley,
but the real definition is that first it’s my last name, and secondly
I’m very talented. I started off singing then moved to rapping. There’s
no better title for me.
What separates you from the next artist?
[I] can guarantee that everything you hear on my album don’t remind you
of nothing, but it got a familiar good feel to it. I’m not gonna leave
it up to myself to say what separates me from everybody else cause
there’s a lot of people out. Just know that when I do it I’m doing it
hard, to the fullest and putting in 100 per cent every time, every
line, every syllable.
