A-Money
Meet Rising Bay Area Raised and Atlanta Based Rapper
A-Money is getting ready to become the next big artist in the rap industry. He has both West Coast and southern charm with a delivery that has helped him gain respect and recognition from his peers. His first single, “Hurry Up N Buy” featuring Pacman Viccz, has been making waves, and now has a debut album called “From The Bay to A” and an upcoming mixtape titled “Live from Clayco”.
He embarked on a three-day long journey across the country with sheer determination and passion to chase his dreams. Fueled by his love for money and a desire to create relevant music for the current times, he has been working tirelessly with platinum producer Zaytoven and A&R Kavon Jacobs to create a buzz that will resonate with everyone.
Real A-Money – Trapper Rapper
Meet and Get To Know A-Money
Kulture Vulturez: You are originally from San Francisco. Can you break down what was it like growing up there for you?
A-Money: San Francisco is real chill, laid back, and competitive. But the first thing I say every time that San Francisco is competitive as f***.
Kulture Vulturez: Why would you say that? Just the vibe of the Bay Area and San Francisco.
A-Money: Well, I mean, really the vibes of the city. I’m from San Francisco and the Bay Area in general there’s such a huge gap between low income folks and the people that are more well-off. I feel like the gap is a lot wider in San Francisco, because it’s such a small city. You might ride the bus and then you might see some private school kids up on the school bus.
You’ll see certain people driving nice cars, driving down different neighborhoods because you have to pass certain places to get somewhere. And just of how expensive the city is, with rent and home prices. You might have section 8 apartments, then you might have multi-million dollar homes in a 20 minute drive away.
Kulture Vulturez: As far music in the Bay Area, with a rich hip-hop culture, did that have any influence on you?
A-Money: I’d say what made me a little different aside from listening to artists from Cali, I would always listen to artists from all over, like Down South, the Midwest, and the East Coast. That is what kind of drew me to Atlanta and help built my style up today of where I am now. I kind of pull from everybody, versus your typical person from the Bay. They typically only listen to Bay Area or other artists from Cali versus me, I’ve always been more diverse into different artists from other parts of the country.
Real A-Money – DO THE MOST
Kulture Vulturez: What initially got you involved into hip hop music?
A-Money: Hip hop has always been around me. I grew up on hip hop. It’s just stuff I’ve always been listening to on the radio. I was born in 1999, so I had access to the Internet early on. When YouTube first came out and you had artist like Soulja Boy, I was around when he first dropped “Crank Down” and “Kiss Me Thru the Phone.” I remember playing that over on YouTube. I was around when kids was downloading songs off of LimeWire and convert to MP3 that website was my era. So, you know, hip hop was something that I had always listened to. It’s always been my favorite genre, and it’s been a big part of my life.
Kulture Vulturez: How has it been transitioning from the Bay Area to the city of Atlanta?
A-Money: So, it’s a process. I’ve been staying in the Atlanta area for five years. I’d say when I first made that move, five years ago, it was definitely a big culture shock. A lifestyle change for sure. Just your way of life, how people carry themselves, and how people see things. I will say it’s completely different. Now that I’ve been down here, I’ve adjusted. I’m a lot more open minded to both sides. But initially I was just like I guess that’s just how they are. After about a year or two, I got pretty well adjusted. But at first, I was unsure and just staying quiet, analyzing, trying to learn and adapt as quick as possible.
Kulture Vulturez: What motivated you to kick off your career and start rapping and getting in the game?
A-Money: What motivated me to start rapping was the people around me encouraging me. Me being an artist and rapping that’s always been something that I dreamed of. I always thought about it. So, it’s always been a secret dream. Even though I didn’t act on my dreams immediately, it was something that I never gave up on. It was still something that one day when I’m ready once I have enough money, or when I feel like I’m ready. I ended up getting a push from my people, and that encouraged me to start doing it. I started listening to beats on YouTube and began writing and recording myself on my iPhone.
I eventually set up my first real studio session. It was at someone’s home studio, but to me, that was more official than me going on my iPhone. Leading up to that, shout out to D, he would always say like, ‘Hey, I can get you contact with Zaytoven.’ I just kind of shrugged off the whole idea. He ended up setting up a meeting for me with Zay, showing him what I worked on. He liked it and we ended up doing the whole project, a project that I have out now “From the Bay to the A.” Once I got that encouragement from Zay saying I can do it, you know, really since then I started to believe in myself and I started acting and pursuing on my dreams and passions.
Real A-Money – What Time It Is
Kulture Vulturez: I wanted to ask, what has it been like working with Zaytoven?
A-Money: Rather humbling. It’s an honor for sure. And it’s humbling because he works fast, and he is efficient. He doesn’t waste no time at all. He did a few of the tracks on my project, and he had them quick, saying 15 minutes. We just kind of feel the vibe out and he’ll cook some up and then I just be sitting there like ‘Damn, let’s get it.’ Zay been around forever, you ain’t gotta question him. He know what he’s doing. He gonna get it done right, and you are going to be reassured that.
Kulture Vulturez: So your album From the Bay to to The A, can you break that down and what can people expect?
A-Money: As it says in the title, I’m saying you can definitely hear southern influences and influences from out West. The whole goal was trying to combine the mix of the two. Also showing people the raw reality and lifestyle that I went through. So anybody that’s in the streets or hustling and doing their thing, I think there’s a lot of things that they can relate to. So, motivation for me.
Kulture Vulturez: What do you have your sights on as you move forward into your career?
A-Money: I’m definitely looking forward to continuing to grow as an artist. I definitely came a long way from where I first started. It’s only been almost a year and a half, I definitely came a long way already. The biggest thing I’m looking forward to is my next project that I’m going to be dropping. It’s going to be called Live from Clayco. It’s going to be another street project.
The production is done on that. We really just got the mixing masters back, but I’m looking to drop that sometime this summer. I’m confident that’s my best work yet. Think it’s a lot better than what I currently have out now. I’m excited to show the people what I got upcoming and show people my growth. Also just looking forward to getting to that next level.