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The First 5 with King Mez

Written by Justin Elgie. Published: Friday, February 26, 2010.

Not many notable hip-hop artists have emerged from Raleigh, North Carolina in recent years, at least none that I can think of. What do you expect from a city that helped create Clay Aiken? Well, King Mez, a 19-year-old member of the Lazaretto Crew, is hoping to change all of that.

Mez dropped a well-received free album in mid-January of this year titled Winter EP, which was featured on The Leak. Winter is a 4-track EP with E Major featured on one of them. Mez also teamed up with Thee Tom Hardy on a single titled “Nowhere To Go” which was produced by Commissioner Gordon. This was also featured on The Leak as well as Best Kept Fresh Vol. 4, our monthly installment that showcases the best singles dropped each month. Now, King Mez and Commissioner Gordon have teamed up once again and are working on a project called The Paraplegics. This effort is expected to drop sometime during the first quarter of this year.

Mez was kind enough to hook up with us to answer our First 5. Enjoy!

1. Tell us something no one knows about you.

Something no one knows about me… I’d have to say that would be that I have a big spot in my heart for rock music. I love certain types of it. A7X, the Gorrilaz, I have a few favs man.

2. What do you want people to take away from your music?

I want people to be themselves. I want people to love themselves man. That’s where it all starts. You cant love someone else until you love yourself first, nor can you help someone else. That’s where some of today’s biggest problems stem from.

3. What is one of your biggest regrets?

I never regret anything man. I just brainstorm and regroup, and thank God for the things that didn’t go wrong.

4. What’s one of your greatest hip-hop memories?

My greatest hip-hop memories were me being a kid back in like 98, wearing Nautica windbreakers, listening to EPMD at the ARMY family cookouts. I loved EPMD man, Rakim, Dr. Dre, Biggie. I was a different type of kid man haha.

5. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

In five years I see myself with a solid foundation in this hip-hop industry. I see myself fighting criticism for saying something that means something. And I also see myself winning that battle.

Catch more of King Mez and the Lazaretto Crew on Twitter, MySpace and his website/blog.

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