General X-Tra

Artist name: General X-TraRank: General of ArmyRepresent: Brooklyn, N.YD. O. B: 7/16/1986What inspired you to make music? “Growing up I listened to many different genres and was intrigued by both the process it was done and the ability to keep a level of consistency in a creative arrangement. At this time my sister and I learned the lyrics to all of our favorite songs by taping them off the radio and playing them back in portions as we wrote the down the lyrics. Aside from that a close family friend had started a label and a studio which motivated me more to give the music business a shot.”Who would you say inspired you the most? “Well aside from waking up, eating, playing and going to sleep to music, my sister and my god father, But as far as the in the industry goes I’d have to say Biggie, Eminem, Jay-Z, LL, Heavy D, Big Daddy Kane, Craig Mack, Busta Bust, and DMX are just to name a few. There was also a few artist outside of the such as James Brown, The Beatles, Four Tops, Michael before the little boys (laughs), Temptations, Spinnerz and so on.”How long have you been rapping? “I began rapping at the age of 8 yrs. old towards the end of my 3rd grade yr.”How do you feel about the music business today? “Honestly all the real artists’ are either getting to rich, retiring or just get caught up in the system. So right now the business is in a recession, there are few artists out there doing real music. The rest is just get by music. I mean don’t get me wrong, the beats are hot the engineers are doing their thing but the artists are flopping.”Who in the industry would you like to work with? Well I’m interested in working with artists like T-Pain, Akon, Mya, Weezy, Neyo, Rock City, Eminem to name a few. There is also Scott Storch, Timbaland, Dark Child, Swizzy, Dr. Dre, Develop, Kuniva and I’d say Rodney Jerkins. You know I do it all (laughing) shit I would mind working with Quincy Jones.♠Biography♠Born July 16, 1986 in Brooklyn, N.Y, the third of five children to a single mother, he dedicated his early adolescence to becoming the missing link in his house hold whether he understood what that meant or not.By the age of eight he began to illustrate characters and developed his own cartoons and comics with the aspiration of later becoming a cartoonist. However, it wasn’t long before his future dreams took a different course as he found a passion in music. Though growing up a lonely and rather troubled child young X-Tra tended to face various ups and downs in his early years. From the harsh realities of the every day life in the streets of Brooklyn, to the in home disputes between his mother as well as the common sibling rivalry. Due to the tremendous amount of pressure he began to endure, he learned how to channel his troubles and inner emotions by way of creativity and began to express himself through his voice. Devoting his every bit of passion, in site and energy to every line recited.By the year 2000 he was given the name X-Tra for his tendency to always be hyperactive and over the edge. X-Tra has grown and emerged through out the years changing his style and melodic approach in the music industry; he has formed his own family taking the title "General" into his own hands. Later that year General X-Tra made his first official underground debut when he released the Compilation album titled “X-Tra Times Issue 1”, followed by Issue 2 and “Frustration & Rage”. It wasn’t long before he was able to gain acknowledgment by heavy hitters in the music industry allowing him to step it up a notch and release “X-Files Case 1. (X-Mixes)”.Working on projects with artists such as Bandy Leggz, Screechy Dan and Terry Felicia of Artical One productions, as well as his fellow X.F Members Paypa Boy & T.N.S (Top Notch Soldiers), He has also done projects like the infamous hustlin x-mix with Rick Ross, Me and U with Cassie and I love my Bitch with Busta Rhymes, Honey dip with J. R Writer and Juelz Santana and many more. Through out his career there has seems to be motivated to continue to hit harder each time around, hoping to strike hard enough to turn the industry back right side up.As of 2008 the beloved General is currently preparing his next full scale assault, as he begin to work on his next big release. When asked what’s taking him so long to take another shot at the charts the he replied, “I like to make sure that when I do swing, I knock off a few heads at the same time, you know. Besides timing in this business is everything and I felt like, I needed to step back and revise my game plan and then knock them with the left when they thought I was finish.” With all said and done the studio has been banging track after track as X-Tra embraces the new X.F family welcoming artists like V.I Gemini and others.