Interview: Stalley (2/24/10)

A lot’s changed for Stalley since our last interview back in November.  The Ohio native, who currently resides in New York, has since started working with Dame Dash and the people at Creative Control in what is quickly becoming quite the exclusive group.

This crew made up of talented artists such as Mos Def, Curren$y, Jim Jones, and Wiz Khalifa have been releasing a number of videos from Dame Dash’s Tribeca-based, “24 Hour Karate School.”  Stalley can often be seen contributing a verse or making a cameo.

Last night, at the Leader’s of the New Cool concert series, Stalley performed a number of tracks off his most recent release, MadStalley: The Autobiography, which tells the story of leaving the small town of Massillon, Ohio for New York.  “MadStally” is a reference to the amount of influence Madlib had over the project.

HipHopAtLunch.com caught up with Stalley last night to talk about working with Dame Dash and Creative Control, the sneaky filming set up for “We Can Do It Big” with The Cool Kids, and his upcoming projects produced by Ski Beatz.

It’s good to hear that he’s having fun working with Dame Dash.  The professional atmosphere Dame’s creating with this new movement has to be a great breading ground for creativity.

I knew Stalley and The Cool Kids had a lot of fun shooting their video for “We Can Do It Big,” but I had no idea it was done in such a grassroots fashion!  The visuals turned out great, especially considering the theater was open for business during the shoot.

Ski Beats – We Can Do It Big (Featuring Stalley and The Cool Kids)

“We Can Do It Big” will appear on the upcoming 24 Hour Karate School mixtape from Ski Beatz.  Here’s some footage of Stalley opening up last night’s show with his verse from the track.

Actually, while writing this article, Creative Control released yet another impressive video.  This time it was for a new Curren$y and Stalley track; “Address.”

“Address,” shot during Stalley’s recent trip to Jamaica, turned out great!   Not only is this song catchy, but I know Stalley’s fan base will expand after the Hot Spitta’s followers peep this. If you want to check out the first video that Creative Control did with Stalley, here’s “The Autobiography.”

Be on the look out for Stalley’s upcoming EP and LP, both being produced by Ski Beatz.  Also, be sure to check out the 24 hour Karate School mixtape dropping on March 30th.

Creative Control put together quite the visual mixtape for the project (seen below) with hilarious Karate interludes between the various artist appearances.  Skip to the 5:00 mark to see Stalley’s part.