Interview: PATH P Talks About His New Video "Fiasco" and What Inspires His Musical Creativity

We connected with PATH P (Positioned At The Highest Point), a talented rap artist originally from the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, for an exclusive interview to discuss his ill new video “Fiasco”. We also touch on how PATH P’s hometown is represented in his music, what inspires his musical creativity, and we learn more about his upcoming project "Revolution & Legacy, Vol. II: The Legacy".

After you read our Q&A with PATH P, be sure to connect with him on social media, check out his website and get ready for "Revolution & Legacy, Vol. II: The Legacy"!

You were born and raised in Brooklyn, specifically Brownsville, the home of Sean Price, Rock, Steele as well as many other very dope emcees. Tell us about how your hometown is represented in your music?

Brownsville is always part of my heart when I create my music. By and large - while there are some great, known Brownsville artists in the game and that have paved the way in the golden era – the current representation of Brownsville artists isn’t a widespread reach across the hip hop landscape, on a prominent or mainstream level, at least from my experience. In that, while I may not represent the gritty side of New York Hip-Hop, let alone what’s recognized as the energy of Brownsville legends like a Heltah Skeltah or MOP, I rep heavy always, whether in my music, interviews, networking or anywhere I go, haha. I’ll rep Brownsville on Mars if it comes down to it! Because I feel like there’s been a longstanding stigma around Brownsville as this dangerous place to be, or one of if not the roughest part of Brooklyn.

While I can acknowledge the rough times growing up, I also had some really great memories growing up in Howard P’s, hitting the skelly court in the summer time damn near everyday where everybody and their mama was on the court – from the OGs, thugs and dealers to the school kids, and there was and is community there. Beautification is happening in Brownsville as we speak that’s NOT due to gentrification, but due to the community – from education and vocation to food sovereignty. A gradual elevation into self-governance is taking shape.

So I’ll rep Brownsville all day up and down every block because I want and get to be a symbol of all of that which exists in the hood I’ve called home for most of my life whenever I hit the stage. Brownsville, Never Ran Never Will, as the saying goes… And I get to defy all the stigmas surrounding it by being a proud native whenever I create.

What inspires you from a creative standpoint to write new music, record it and share it with the world?

The world inspires me. My people, black people, the black community, our story … Our Being in the face of all we’ve gone through, to have the audacity to live and survive… That inspires me. Love, inspires me. Other creative beings inspire me. My mother, and all she was for me, my family… All inspires me. It’s all there. That conversation, intermixed, is all there in my music, in my visuals, in all I create. I’m 3 albums, 7 projects in total, 6 awards and a GRAMMY consideration for nomination into my career and climbing, whereas after I finished LITRH I had no clue what else I could possibly even write about, haha. Gratitude… Inspires me. Knowing that my voice matters and the message in my work means something to someone out in the world and can possibly make a difference for them. That inspires me to create as I do. Every day. I’m just getting started.

What do you look for the beats that you select to write to?

It really varies. I have an eclectic palate, as I listen to and love many genres of music. I just enjoy well composed music, no matter what it is. My regular go-tos are Hip-Hop, RnB/Soul, Rock and Pop or Electronic music, so sonic elements that explore these realms (especially if all at once, successfully, whaaaattt) is captivating to me.

I tend to look for beats that ignite storytelling or take you on a real journey of emotions. Instrumentally, I’m a fan of strings, 808s, heavy kicks or well-constructed piano compositions (depending on the mood I’m in or wish to evoke, especially when I write first without a beat and have a certain concept/story in mind).

Big ups to you for the release of your video "Fiasco". What initially motivated you to write the song and to shoot the video?

Many thanks! “Fiasco” as it implies, is just my way of paying homage to one of the lyricists who, for a very long time has inspired me as an artist, that being Lupe Fiasco. I’ve always been in awe and respect of how he not only interwove metaphorically loaded rhymes, vocabulary, and storytelling but also, up to now, how he finds a way to make his sound relevant and effective through his eclectic beat choices and flows.

The pinnacle point for me writing “Fiasco” was when I finally got the opportunity to see him in concert, full-fledged, at Sony Hall in NYC back in October 2018. It was such an incredible performance because he is such an engaging, energetic performer, while also masterfully vocalizing even some of his most lyrically dense tracks live on stage, which I find a great feat, as a performer. That was the point where I was like “aight, this dude is really an incredible artist” and I felt compelled to write something expressing how his music inspired me; this, while also showing what that inspiration looks like in creative action as a messenger to and for the People through my music.

The video was basically a reflection of how I go about crafting my music and the journey I take through my process, so it was like also bringing the viewer into my world when I create, musically.

Tell us about your upcoming project "Revolution & Legacy, Vol. II: The Legacy". Will "Fiasco" be featured on it?

“Revolution & Legacy, Vol. II: The Legacy” is a follow up, part 2 to my “Revolution & Legacy” project, volume 1 being The Revolution. The Legacy is, from where I stand now in reflection of it as I close in on the end of production, an elevated version of my debut album, “LifeInTheRealestHue”. LITRH was basically a well-rounded take on my everyday reflections of what was happening in my life over the 2-3 years prior to making that album, which was a time frame of a lot of ups and downs that heavily impacted my adult life.

The Legacy is similar in a diverse landscape of emotions and reflections, but I feel a more mastered understanding of where I am in my journey. As it indicates, it’s essentially the soundtrack to my legacy, what I’ve created, what I plan to leave behind creatively, emotionally, spiritually (even though I project having much more life ahead of me). Legacy has become a very important concept to me as I’ve gotten older, with being an only child, growing mostly with a dwindling immediate family after my mother passed and my father – who was not in my life at all – passed without me ever gaining a real connection with that side of my family. So I’ve grown to look at “legacy” and what that means to me and what will be the imprint I leave on the world even if I were to leave it in this very moment. The Legacy, in essence, is a telling of that story, through my thoughts, who I am in totality as a human, as a black human, as a man, as a black man in America living out this experience and coming to a space of adamantly searching and working to undo everything I’ve learned and create what gets to be for the future.

Unfortunately (or not, haha) “Fiasco” will not be on The Legacy, as The Legacy (like all my projects before it) is a very focused project beat wise and “Fiasco” was produced by a different music producer - shouts to Arkayem - than the music producer on The Legacy, who is a long-time friend and collaborator, MythMuzik. This project is definitely a long time coming because I’ve always been highly impressed with Myth’s compositions and always wanted to be sure if we ever did a project that I would truly bring forth my lyrical & storytelling best to accompany the music, just because of the journey he takes you on instrumentally as each song progresses. With that, I’m really excited for The Legacy and finally getting down to us working together in depth, on top of the double win (in my eyes, haha) of still working with Arkayem who has been a heavy support in engineering the album and supporting in its production, in that sense. Both brothers have been real instrumental in making the soundscape of The Legacy one of the best I’ve worked within.

Following up on the last question, how will this new project be different than "Revolution & Legacy, Vol. 1: The Revolution"

The Revolution, which featured beat production by Old Boy Sosa Beats, was a more laser focused album geared towards just what the title says – Revolution. Revolutionary mindset, cultivating complete awareness of the social landscape in order to activate reconstruction and reprogramming of Black and overall human consciousness. There’s acknowledgment of generational trauma the black community has faced for centuries, in the US and abroad, and looking at our universal treatment as people (or rather NOT as people) in many instances when it comes to self-identification, efficacy, determination, unity and community, family – so many ways. The Revolution is a look at these pieces and paints the pictures for those within the community and even outside of the community to gain better understanding of what’s at stake. It’s a journey through history, a reflection on the current state of affairs and emotions, a look at how we can heal and how we can ultimately move forward in an empowered space of being, as an ideal vision for the future.

As expressed earlier, The Legacy is more of a personal take, which does explore this concept, but as a piece to a bigger whole of who I am, because it is a part of who I am - this exploration of revolutionary thinking and action and want for radical reconstruction and healing for the world, that’s me. So while Revolution was an overall focus of Volume 1, it’s more of a chaptered reflection of a bigger story in Volume 2.

Stream and Share “Revolution & Legacy, Vol. 1: The Revolution” on Spotify

Stream and Share “Lifeintherealesthue” on Spotify

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