“I’m not tryin’ to impress anyone on how hard my struggle was, or how messed up the conditions were where I came from,” says Plies. “I feel like most of the people in my situation come from the same type of background, the same type of environment.”
Being “one of the realest niggas you will ever know,” the rapper has managed to build a big presence on the underground level and among fans which have attended his live shows. Plies most powerful weapon when it comes to creating music is his inborn like ability to tell his own story with unique and memorable rhymes.
Plies was born in a small town called in Ft. Myers, Florida. This is a city which is known for the warm weather. But somewhat he grew up on the not so sunny side of town which we get from his songs.
“It’s a small town, but it’s a town that reflects so much to me. You’ve got two separate sides, you’ve got the serious side, then you’ve got the gutter side. I called it Pakistan because kids 11, 12 years old were running around with choppers and shit.”
Plies’ brother was the reason he got hooked on music. “He started pursuing music, and I saw his vision,” explains Plies. “It wasn’t a dream of mine. It kind of happened accidentally. But at the same time, I’m a believer that nothing happens on accident.”
Plies and his brother, Big Gates, founded the Big Gates Records in the late 90s. The label used to have not so many artist and released albums in the first place. Plies never had the desire to deal with this kind of stuff but as in the fairy tales there comes a moment that triggers your inner talent that makes you get to the happily ever after part. That thing for him was when he was trying to teach an artist of his to a particular thing. In order to show him how it should be don that Plies grabbed the mic and the rest is history. “He never could get the hook down, so the next day I let my brother hear the hook, and he told me to stay on there.”
Plies describes his major label debut, “THE REAL TESTAMENT,” as “the most anticipated situation in the streets right now.” And rightfully so. On the album’s Nitti-produced buzz track, “Got ‘Em Hatin’,” the Ft. Myers bad boy explains exactly why underachievers are jealous of his 26-inch rims, blue diamonds, and stacks on deck. Over an up-tempo beat of menacing synths, heavy bass drops, and sparse snares, Plies boasts: “Some wanna see me broke/Some wanna see me in the Feds/The haters hate you when you’re living/Love you when you dead/He just a mad rapper/He ain’t blew yet/The streets don’t feel him/I ain’t have to go through that.”
“I ain’t got real problems,” says Plies. “I’ve got the problems that come with being successful, but I ain’t got real problems. There’s some dude in the world that just got a life sentence today. That’s a real problem. I make reality music. I don’t make music that’s out of touch. There’s so much in the world that I can talk about that’ll help people through their struggles.” Is this what makes him stand out of the big crowd?
In order to reach every should that is or has been living on the street, or in some relation to the street lifestyle Plies is planning to make a Prison tour. “I like to win in life, but to me, every dude who’s in the prison system has lost it,” explains Plies. “To me, that’s not impressive.”
“I’m always coming up with reality situations in my music,” says Plies. “I never run out of shit to talk about. As long as I’m in these streets, I’ll always have something to talk about.”
