Nitty | Interview (2005)

TMH (Josiah): Tell me where you got the name Nitty from?
Nitty: Okay (laughing), I’m going to give you the short version. When I was younger I was nick-named “Frank Nitty.” He was a gangsta and was Al Capone’s right man. He was very quiet, mysterious and private. He was very clean cut and very polite when you met him in person. He was the right hand man of Al Capone and he did a lot of his gangsta work on the side. I got that name in Junior High School. I had protected my sister from a bully one day in school. She knew that this bully came around all the time and took different kids lunch trays, so I took her tray and waited for him to try and take it from me. I messed up his image as a bully because he tried to take the lunch tray from me and I let go and it ended up hitting him in the face and breaking his nose. I caught everybody off guard because they thought I was so nice and to find out that I did that to the bully’s face, I was the talk of the school. One of the security guards thought that I was so gangsta for doing that and he nick named me “Frank Nitty.” As years went on, I just dropped the Frank and kept Nitty. I’m unexpected; you never know what I’m going to do next!

TMH (Josiah): (Laughing) Interesting story.
TMH (Josiah): So your single “Nasty Girl” is #1?
Nitty: Oh yeah, you heard about that. My single just went platinum recently.

TMH (Josiah): Congratulations! So how do you feel about your success across seas?
Nitty: It’s great. I just let the music speak for itself. I can’t take all the credit. It’s good to know that music can go abroad and that it’s not only in the States.

TMH (Josiah): Now, that single “Nasty Girl” hasn’t been released here in the States yet right?
Nitty: Yeah, actually it was released in the States first. I shot the video and it was played on MTV for a minute but it picked up faster across seas. The single was #1 on the billboard charts for four weeks before I even shot the video. People was like “who’s Nitty” without ever seeing me.

TMH (Josiah): Tell me about how you enjoy performing here in New York?
Nitty: I’ve been on a road tour as of lately. I’m in Australia right now. We’re going to work ourselves from the outside in. We’re going to do it backwards and promote like crazy across seas and then come back and focus on the U.S.

TMH (Josiah): That’s a unique approach to the album by promoting it across seas. Especially being that you are U.S. artist.
Nitty: I think the reason why it moved faster outside the States is because they just want to hear good music out here in countries such as Australia. And for rappers to bring good music that you can dance and vibe too, it’s a shoe in.

TMH (Josiah): So tell me about your second single “Hey Nitty.”
Nitty: It’s funny that you asked about this single because we just finished shooting the video for it. The movie Man of The House featuring Tommy Lee Jones and Cedric The Entertainer is coming out and my single was chosen as the lead song for the movie. You can hear it in the commercial advertising Man of The House. We just shot the video in L.A. and the video is bananas.

TMH (Josiah): That’s wassup. So now tell me who some of your musical influences are.
Nitty: I’m an 80’s kid. So the music I listen to spans from George Michael to Michael Jackson and from Smokie Robinson to Teddy Pendergrass. And in the whole rap game; Will Smith, L L Cool J, Heavy D and Dougie Fresh (who is a great entertainer). I’m all about the artists who like to have a good time and put on a good show. Those artists have great stage shows. I also give props to Usher because he definitely holds it down when he hits the stage and he’s an R&B artist. He’s paving the way for a lot of other artists ya know.

TMH (Josiah): You have any collaborations on your album or any upcoming collaborations with any other artists?
Nitty: Because I’m a new artist coming onto the scene, we shied away from having featured artist. I feel like I need to be able to prove myself and show people that I can shine on my own.

TMH (Josiah): So here’s your chance to tell the internet viewers why they should definitely pick up your album.
Nitty: Player’s Paradise is in stores now, if you want to know how a real player gets down check out the album. I invite all the women into my realm to see how a player does his thing. I also invite the male players to get their game on with my album as well.

TMH (Josiah): Nitty I know you’re busy so thanks a lot for the interview. Much success.
Nitty: Thanks a lot man, much success to you too!