True Prospeks are doing a rain dance.
Con Artest (left) and Tehron Porter (right) are growing foliage from dry dirt. As Con says in our interview with the duo, there’s never been much hip hop overgrowth from nearby Washington D.C., and that makes the Woodbridge, Virginia natives as underground as an earthquake.
Rather than take shortcuts, using the pesticides of the most obvious hip hop styles to gain prominence, True Prospeks take the hard road, planting new seeds and harvesting their own style along the way. We have the privilege of watching that yellow brick road turn green as they walk it.
With the help of a team of talented “Goodbridge” artists, True Prospeks are quickly putting their area’s movement on the map by bombarding the net through every artery possible. Whether it’s YouTube, Soundcloud, Bandcamp or Tumblr, you can always find the faces of True Prospeks uploading something somewhere.
As their name hints, True Prospeks have their own vision for how their success will come to them. When you watch a True Prospeks video, you don’t see artists emulating their favorite rappers. You don’t see the typical stoic stance, limited edition footwear or overpriced clothing adopted by a thousand other rappers who will be here today and gone in fifteen minutes. That materialistic mission is a surefire way to blend in and fade away. Con and Tehron do it different.
“Such a fool ’cause I dropped outta school right? Wasn’t cool cause my thrift shit was too tight.”
Instead, the duo have have their own clothing line. Prospeks and their friends have produced Lolafo Clothing out of their own bedrooms and garages for two years. The #Goodbridge team embraces the fact that fashion is a part of hip hop, while reminding us that expensive status symbols do not equal hip hop. That’s refreshing. More importantly, you can relate to that.
Offendin’ me, they sin to me, the industry is evil. Pretend to be befriendin’ me, eventually they endin’ me.”
True Prospeks want longevity instead of trendy. That integrity propels them upward. The group has worked feverishly with fellow Woodbridge native and True Prospeks’ unofficial third arm SUPR DOPE BEATS, and all three have been pumping out mp3s and videos that have caught the attention of hip hop heads all over the net.
I talked to Con Artest and he gave us some insight on Prospeks, Woodbridge, the upcoming project Terrific Treasures III and the two monster tracks–”HATERS SONG” and “SUPR FLY MUSIK”–just released from that album.
True Prospeks have released a lot of tracks on YouTube and SoundCloud since the beginning of the year. When did Con Artest, Tehron Porter and SUPR DOPE BEATS first get together?
We’ve been doing this for awhile now. We all went to high school together and mutual friends eventually linked us. I feel like the music making process has gotten a lot easier within the last year or so, leading to us making a shit ton more music.
Are you influenced by DC hip hop? Is there a Woodbridge scene?
I wouldn’t really say “DC hip hop” has influenced us much. It’s a scene that didn’t really exist until a few years ago, so I didn’t grow up with it. I kind of watched it start from the bottom. As far as a Woodbridge scene, it’s very underground currently.
I’d say we live in the city filled with the most talent in NOVA (northern Virginia), but the state of Virginia as a whole doesn’t get the respect it deserves–from DC, from Maryland, from anybody. We’re out here to change motherfuckers’ perceptions and shit.
What can you tell us about Lolafo Clothing?
“True Prospeks” initially started as a clothing/music hybrid type of thing, but it eventually changed into what it is today. “Lolafo” is an extension and expansion of the True Prospeks clothing line. Our boy Noah and Tehron are basically the CEOs of it. I don’t really have anything to do with that side of things.
Any upcoming projects, or anything else you want to say?
My new tape is dropping on Go Skateboarding Day aka June 21st. Tehron’s mixtape just dropped the other day. We’re coming out with a group mixtape at some point too. A lot of new videos and songs will be on the internets soon. Keep peeping trueprospeks.com, eat your vitamins, and wrap it up.
Go ahead and tell everyone you know.
@seanhive
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