The Hype Magazine Interviews: Cokeboy Brock

Living that fast life caused Brock a few setbacks but at 17 he began his journey into the entertainment industry by working on a DVD projected called “Cocaine City” started by French Montana. “Cocaine City” interviewed upcoming artists and premiered music videos. Also, while working on the DVD, Cokeboy Brock started working on music where he began rapping with French Montana and Droop Pop.

In May 2010 Brock took part on the Cokeboys 1 Mixtape with French Montana and other various artists and took part in the first Cokeboys tour.

On February 6, 2012, Cokeboy Brock’s first solo mixtape called The Blackout was released. Within 2012, Brock released two more mixtapes called The First 48 and Blackout 2 and traveled more within the country for his talent to be heard and seen. Now in 2013, Cokeboy Brock next mixtape called Blackout 3, is approaching its release date. This mixtape is known for having more collaborations featuring west coast artists Dubb, Mitchy Slick, Compton Menace and the Cokeboy family, French Montana, Chinx Drugs, Droop Pop and Cokeboy Cheeze.

Tell me who is Cokeboy Brock, aka Jerry Daquawn Brockington?

Man, well, you said it there yourself. Cokeboy Brock is the street. He represents the people. The music speaks for itself. That’s why they messing with me how they do, because I represent them. Brock is all about the people right now. That’s where all the support comes from. That’s basically Brock.

You’ve got this crazy, crazy banging mix tape, “Strapped,” tell me about that.

I put that thing down last summer, I think that was last August. There are a few collabs from the whole team; we got Big Bro French on there. We got a few other players in the game. I put it together so quick. I put that mix tape together in like about three weeks.

So the next one up is “These Street Don’t Love You”?

That’s the new one to hit for everybody, it dropped January 14th, exclusively on datpiff.com. I’m giving that one away free because like I said, “I’m for the people.”  That’s a free download everywhere. Make sure you all get that.

So man, tell me, how did you hook up with the CokeBoy Crew?

Well, as far as me, Droop, French and Cheeze, we’re all from the same area in the Bronx. We all grew up together. We all knew each other since we were roughly about twelve years old. We went to school together. We played basketball, growing up together. We were childhood friends. That’s how that came about. We started out doing the DVD and everybody just leaned to the right side. That’s what really took off for everybody.

You having fun with the music?

I’m having fun, man. I’m loving it right now, man. Life couldn’t get any better. For me, doing something, you love, providing, taking care of self. It’s all fun, man. At the end of the day, it’s something I love to do. Music is a passion.

What’s the most fun part about the music for you?

I love to record, but what I started to fall in love with is the performing part. You actually get a show set together. Going out and you see a crowd full of people, knowing the words to music you recorded. That’s when you know. You’re looking at them, the’re saying it word for word. You look into the crowd. That’s one of the best feelings in the world, right there.

Gives you a big boost of energy, huh?

Yeah, man, that makes you want to go do a mix tape the next day. Man, I’m telling you. (laughs)

Besides the up and down of the street life, what type of problems, if any, have you had. Specifically with the music?

I really don’t have too, too many problems because of how we came in the game. We actually came in with a certain level of respect and a lot of mutual friends in the game. Only thing I could say that I kind of had a problem with is like people black balling the videos because of the name CokeBoys.

Right, I can see that happening

We had to let them know that name is the creation of kids everywhere. That is just because you can’t get some people to play your videos or post a song because of the name; that’s respectable. That’s kind of why, if you see, Chinx took the Drugs off his name. It’s just Chinx now. He had to do that because it’s hard to get sponsored and everything. You know, that would be the hard part, but me coming in, I kind of had a little smoothing out coming in because, like I said, one of my best friends is French, so I kind of had a little smoothing out, other people, maybe had it kinda rough, had to deal with a lot of the scams, a lot of the fake; you know how that goes. People scamming people for money on these social networks, everything like that. I didn’t have to go through that.

You know I’m not a musician of any sort. I can’t DJ, produce, can’t sing Mary Had a Little Lamb. I don’t have to deal with that.

Yeah, you got it different. You come into it with the pen. I saw it. I appreciate the ones that do your job the most because you’re out there for us. So you are putting our face out there, you get what I’m saying!?

Talking about the media. What’s your opinion, and don’t be afraid you’re going to hurt anybody’s feelings or whatever, what’s your feeling about the urban music media right now?

It’s good, because it’s an outlet. That’s an outlet to the people; getting our faces everywhere. Sometimes, I feel they instigate a lot of situations, just by them building a story or something. Like, they don’t understand, it’s a lot of, how you say it.  A lot of people like me in this music, are real street individuals. I got a problem with another artist, say, a guy, me, we had a couple of words. You never know how they will show back up in your face or stuff. Well, it may be they build a story on it the next day just to boost a couple of views for their blog site or something. That’s throwing fuel to the fire. Then, like recently, we just had a little something in the industry with Doe B from Grand Hustle. See how it is? He just passed away recently at the club. That’s crazy, because he was young. He was twenty-two years old.

I’m not saying that was a music conflict, but that just some things get escalated by the blog or by the Urban media, instead of helping, just putting a face out there, promoting the music. They like to promote the conflict. That’s why a lot of people like artists like me because they see I’m so aggressive with it. I don’t really get in a lot of conflict with rappers per se, because I’m not really friends with a lot of rappers unless they’re family. I feel like a lot of rappers act like females, if you ask me. They call themselves street dudes and all this, but the minute you, “Hey, what’s up with this song we’re collaborating? You told me you wanted to do it.” The next minute, you’ve got it all, a single you rapping on there. Your make up is off. I really don’t deal with a lot of rappers. I mean, unless they’re family, like I said, I’ve got a select few. Other than that, it’s just Brock and my day ones, before music.

In the past ten, fifteen years, loyalty and manning up, in my opinion has slipped on a major level. You know the coldest in the game, on the loyalty trip, shout out to Lil Kim, you know what I mean? She walks the walk, while other cats talk the talk. I’ve got much respect for her.

Yeah. Definitely. She shouldn’t have had to do the jail time. You know how that goes.

At Hype Magazine, we don’t write about beef. I don’t even care. I don’t want to hear about that nonsense. What I want to know is who Coke Brock is and what makes him tick and what motivates him to do music and how a song comes together. Those are the kinds of answers I would like to ask for our readers.

That’s what the people should be hearing, instead of “Oh, this and this backstage.” Its crazy because like, you look at World Star Hip Hop, that’s one of the biggest blog sites right now. That’s for us, that’s for the artist, to get our faces out there and everything. They’ll support a person. They lean to Adrien Bronner and as soon as he got knocked to the ropes, they threw him under the bus, to make him look bad the next day. I’m thinking, these are supposed to be his people. They do personal business with him.

We may think about sorry situations like the situation that just took place in Detroit, with the kid that got jumped and robbed for his chain. The next day, it was on World Star. It was old footage, but put it on World Star, it’s got 700,000 views in three hours. Now he feels that he’s got to retaliate. That’s just going to escalate further.

I felt that, they film people in certain situations; I mean, it is what it is, but we know what we did to an extent that we’ve got a big bulls eye on our heads. So that means I got to move my head, but I mean, it could be a little less fuel to the fire.

What I hear you saying is that we should just stick to the story at hand and not worry about the sensationalism. Let people know our interview subjects as people, get beyond that nonsense, we’d be doing a better job for the hip hop community.

Doing a WAY better job for the hip hop community. Better justice. Rappers like Gucci Mane would be free right now. It would just be a way better justice for the whole thing as a culture. It’d just be way better, for real.

Also, speaking on the music business itself. How can people prepare themselves better? Young artists, how can they prepare themselves better, if they don’t have a big brother like French, to watch out for them or have already gone through the experience? How do they prepare themselves better to step into this business?

I say, first you got to make sure you got a solid team around you. You’ve got to have people around you that really have your best interest at heart because if you’re just a dollar sign to somebody, then they are going to jerk you all around. Especially in this music business.

This is one of the Shysti-est businesses, if not the Shysti-est business on earth. I’ve seen every trick, every crossover known to man in this business. You’ve got to come in with a strong support. I say come in with a strong team. Make sure to get a good manager, somebody that’s really there for you and in your corner. Just stay in that studio and grind it out. That’s all, leave the politicking alone. Don’t take your life over there, your Instagram, leave the politicking alone.

In your analysis, what do you see as one of the largest problems in, not just hip hop, but the music community itself?

Right now? It’s actually kind of in a good state. What I would say the largest problem is, just the social networking. That is probably all we have right now. Everybody wants to be somebody on there. Everybody feeling like to get on, you have to knock the next person off the throne. That’s good if you just going to keep it on a music tip, but if you taking it elsewhere, drag people’s families in there and everything, that don’t go.

I was hearing that in New York, Southern artists were being more played than the New York artists.

It got ugly out here for a minute on the airwaves. Everything is going to have its little time frame actually. You know, I still don’t get it. We’re just opening ourselves up. We’ve been down South and we get love down there. Brick Squad, everything I mean, there were a few of them. I love their music, the artists from down there, I listen to, personally.

I just feel like when you’re down there, you aren’t going to have a New York artist playing every five minutes because that’s just not how they’re going to do it.  Growing up here, your home, you come on the radio, you want the same love from your city and we weren’t getting that. We’re getting back there, now.

I was real impressed with the movie project that you’re getting down on the soundtrack, Brotherhood: Code of the Streets.

Yeah, “Brotherhood: Code of the Streets.” That’s set to release in 2014. We started doing the soundtrack, we actually got the big song that we’ve been working on done. We’re back filming and I have a role in the movie now, so that should be coming up. That will be coming up 2014.

How do you come together with a film placement, like that? I know they reach out to you and you have the business to take care of and all that, but how does that come together?

It could be through a mutual friend or could be through management. With me, it was through a mutual friend. They wanted some artists that are moving upward right now, that shifted them towards my direction.

Even though we got to have a meeting at first, we actually started kicking it, you know, behind the scenes. We took that next step where they let me know they wanted me to be the face of the soundtrack, and also be a part of the movie. It’s actually based on a life that’s easy for me to relate to, it’s not fantasy. You know, its like, I came from that life. Everything just fit perfect. I mean, I said, “Yeah. I’m there for it.” So just be on the lookout for that.

Can you tell me a little bit about your creative process? Do you have a formula to make a song?

It’s really almost a feeling with me. When I do it, I just go out there in the studio and I go through my beats. I find the right beat and I like it and I lock myself in the booth. I just sit there for a minute. It doesn’t take me long. It doesn’t take me longer than fifteen or twenty minutes. I just spin it from the core. I ain’t fabricating nothing, everything is real, so its kind of easy for me. I like to come up with a lot of stuff in the studio, but I can do it in other spots. I could be in a car, anywhere. Whenever I get a problem in my head, I just go.

So you’re not necessarily a topic rapper, you just come from the gut?

Yeah, sometimes, you like the bass of a song or around the topic, though, because that will bring more substance to it, but you know, like me, sometimes I just let it flow. It always comes out right, though.

What do you do outside of music?

Any free time outside of music is rare, because if you’re doing this, you’re doing something out there. If your day is free, you don’t really have it free, because you’re going to go to a studio, you’re going to do something. I probably kick it, watch a little sports, you know. I’m a big basketball fan, so I’m going to watch a lot of basketball and boxing. I’ll do that, you know, just clear my mind. That’s only on the select few times. Other than that, though, you can rap in a studio somewhere, shoot a video; I’m doing something. I’m keeping busy. I’ve got to keep this work going right now. (laughs)

Right. So you mentioned boxing, though. Who’s your dude right now?

Oh man, you know I have to go with Floyd. Pretty Boy Floyd. We have to go with that type of champion right now. I mean, I watch a lot of Floyd. I like him, he’s not even an underdog, but everybody want to see him lose so bad. I like stuff like that, because its like that with me. Everybody don’t love me out here in this world. So, I’ve got to play for me. That’s okay because you want to see me lose so bad, but when his team drops and I win, that makes you with the sour face. I like that. That’s why I always go with Floyd. He walks in the ring and everybody is against him. He winds up getting a knock out in the seventh and they just all stutter. He keeps doing it. I like it like that.

Tell me, what can we expect on “These Streets Don’t Love You”?

You all can expect a solid body of work. It’s real. The title speaks for itself, man. “These Streets Don’t Love You,” so usually what I put on the tape, it’s going to all come together right.  Ain’t no DJ for it, I could have went and got the biggest DJ that’s out right now. I just want to give a solid body of music, old school type. Figure out three skits, four skits. You all going to get some music. You all going to enjoy it. Going to be a ride through. That you can relate to.

Yeah. Exactly. Exactly.

How do we keep up with you, keep in touch with you CokeBoy Brock?

They just start on everything CokeBoy Brock on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook CokeBoy Brock. C-O-K-E-B-O-Y B-R-O-C-K. I mean, hit me on my website, www.cokeboybrock.com. They can get that. I mean, I’m out here, [email protected]. You know that’s the booking contact for me and you can have me in your city. We do it like that.

Last but not least, … HYPE wants to know, what’s your craziest, where-they-do-that-at moment?

Oh man, craziest, where-they-do-that-at moment. Whoo, there’s been a few. You know the craziest? This is the one I can say and you might actually get it, yeah. We were on, this would be on the first CokeBoys Tour, we were on the bus, we had the “Hood Rat” bus. We had the accessorized van they pick up the elderly people with. I met this kid, rest in peace, my brother Judah. He was on the bus with us. He used to like to play around a lot. He was talking to me and French, then he farted. (laughs) So we said, “What you doing? What you doing?” We pull up to the hotel and we wondered why he went off the bus so quick. We’re like, “Where you going?” He went in my room. He was like, ” I had to go take a shower real quick because we have to leave.” I was like, “Take a shower? What are you doing in the bathroom?” So he goes through the door, and all I seen was a pair of drawers come out the door and he had doo doo’d on himself. Yeah, that was the craziest where-they-do-that moment, there. Rest in peace, dude, I have to give that one.

Wow. He sharted on the bus. Wow.

He sharted. That’s a good code. He sharted.

Wow. Wow. Wow. That’s crazy. Yeah, That would be foul.

Yeah man, we were dying because the drawers came out and we were, “What are you doing?” I said, “Oh, man. He’s crazy,” he was just by the door, crying laughing. I said, “Oh, that’s crazy.” I miss that kid, though. That was the craziest where-they-do-that moment, though.

What’s up with the Game of Thrones tour? I almost let that one slip.

Oh, yeah, You almost forgot the Game of Thrones tour. That’s going to be coming…well, they’re still putting together the dates and everything. You know, that’s coming around, I think we should be like, March, April. March, April we should be hitting the road, but that’s the Game of Thrones tour. There are going to be a whole lot of artists on there. We’re going to have me, Droop Pop on there. We’re going to have, the Ape Gang family on there. We’re going to be in I think thirty, cities if I’m not mistaken. Thirty cities, so yeah, we’re going to be around. That’s going, of course, with the tape drop and everything. So, make sure you look out for that Game of Thrones tour. Matter of fact, late May, yup.

It’s going to be awesome. I’m looking forward to that. I’m looking forward to seeing you guys again at the show. Once again, man. Shout out CokeBoy Brock. Shout out Droop Pop. Shout out Luck from Ape Gang. We appreciate you all for coming and showing us love at the Hype Magazine launch party in New York, man. We appreciate the time that you’re giving us and blessing us with the interview. We look forward to any time, you need to get your story out, man, holla at your boy.

You guys will be first on my list. Shout out to Hype Magazine. It’s love over there.

www.TheHypeMagazine.com

Interviewed BY: Jerry Doby