Gotham Green + Dunn Deal Promtions + DOF Interview

NY rapper Gotham Green presents “Cross Island Expressway”, his new single featuring guest appearances from Kool G. Rap & Nature. The track is produced by Lauryn Hill/Nas/Lil Wayne/Talib Kweli/Bun collaborators K-Salaam & Beatnick, and is the new single from Child Of An Immigrant, his forthcoming album also featuring Jojo Pellegrino, Wax, Marika, Jes Hudak and Hit Skrewface as well as production from Quickie Mart, Josh The Goon, Blessed By The Beats, DJ Hush, Rob Viktum and Twigg. “I grew up in New York during a time where lyrics and talent ruled hip hop,” says Gotham. “As a result, I gravitated towards artists who could verbally amaze listeners such as myself. Two artists I admired for their lyrical prowess were Kool G Rap & Nature. As I was beginning to work onChild Of An Immigrant I put together a list of artists I would want on the project. When both KGR & Nature’s name appeared on that list, it was only natural to put both rap titans on the same song.” Child Of An Immigrant drops September 26.

You’re Indian-American or, as you put it on your Twitter page, “dot not feather”. What do you think are some common misconceptions you encounter as a result of this?   

I am a first-generation, American-born Indian.  I feel like the biggest misconception of me has been that I am in fact not Indian at all, but most people think I am either Dominican or Puerto Rican.  This is why on my profile it says "No, I’m not Puerto Rican or Dominican, I'm dot not feather, figure it out..."  ‘Dot not feather’ is term I heard somewhere years ago and I took it as my own.  Whoever made that phrase up, thank you!

How did the song “Cross Island Expressway” featuring Kool G Rap and Nature come about? What was it like being in the studio with those two? Any interesting stories?

That song happens to be one of my favorites I have ever done.  It came about after Beatnick & K-Salaam sent me a bunch of tracks to listen to.  I selected that beat and then kept it in the stash for about a year.  As I do with all my albums, before really getting into too much writing, I sit down and write a list of "dream features" and from there try to make those features happen.  On the list for COAI, I had a bunch of ‘90s NY rappers who for whatever reason I wasn't able to get a song done with, either in time to make the album, or at all.  Two names which were on that list were Nature and Kool G Rap, at the time I made the list I didn't have in mind to put those two on the same song.  As disappointing as this may be to some readers and a bit to myself, all verses were recorded separately due to location of artist and timing of recording.  I had spoken to both camps about a possible video, so you may see all three of us together for some form of visual.  I named it “Cross Island Expressway” as I am from Long Island and they are both from Queens, and that is the name of a highway in NY that goes through both LI and Queens. 

What’s the number one thing you want people to know about you? What’s the number one thing about you people don’t expect?

The one thing I want people to know about me is that I am not just a "weed rapper", but after four volumes of Haze Diaries, most people assume that.  I also want people to know that lyrically, I'm better than your favorite rapper! I think when people see me, I'm pretty unassuming and like to stay as unnoticed as I can (I'm 5'8", 145lbs, so I don't stick out in a crowd), until it's time to hit that stage or that booth, and then people look at me like "damn, I didn't know you had that in you". 

Tell us about your new album Child Of An Immigrant. How do you think being the child of an immigrant has affected your life?

COAI is me. The content on that album is more personal to me than any other previous works.  There are issues in my life which I never wanted to deal with, be it women situations or family issues, or whatever.  I wrote about certain things I won't even talk about with my family or closest friends.  Writing about these things definitely gave me closure on some issues, while opening up deeper questions on other issues.  Those open items may be dealt with on future projects, or not.  Depends on how I feel when I get to really writing the next project.  I think being a child of an immigrant now in my adult life has no bearing on me, but as a kid I was definitely picked on for being different, growing up amongst mostly white kids, the majority of who were either Italian or Jewish.  I got it from all angles: my parents’ accents, the way my mom dressed on certain occasions, the food we ate, etc.  At the time I hated being picked on and didn't understand why my family was different, even though my parents made every effort for us to feel the same as the rest of the kids.  My parents celebrated Christmas and had a tree and all that so during the holidays while all my friends were getting gifts, I wouldn't feel left out. As an adult, I am proud that my parents instilled the culture of where I come from into my life.  I am grateful for everything they held onto and taught me. 

How does this album differ from your previous works, the Haze Diaries series?

That series was born as a brainchild of myself and Quickie Mart.  I had a bunch of material which was going to be released as a solo LP, but for numerous reasons, mostly having to deal with the politics of the industry and labels, we never released that solo LP.  We were sitting on a bunch of material which had heavy weed smoking content and QM and I decided we should put that material out one way or the other.  We recorded dozens of additional songs and came up with the idea that together we could conceivably put out several volumes of this type of content within a few years.  Haze Diaries was born. COAI was meant to be very different that HD from the jump.  I did not want to do HDv5 and just release it under a different name.  I purposely put only a sprinkle of weed related content on COAI as I needed some to tell my story, but did not want fans and listeners to think "here we go again". Every person has multiple sides to them, and I wanted to showcase this as best I could.  Another major difference with COAI over HD was the beat/sound selection.  With HD we used whatever we (me and QM) thought sounded dope, on COAI I really wanted something that when people heard it, it reminded them of the golden era of NY hip hop.  Judging by the reaction to the album, I think that was somewhat successful.