Compton, California emcee MC Ren made four albums with N.W.A. and five solo works. Having most recently released 2009’s Renincarnated, Ren introduced HipHopDX to his 22 year-old son, who is making Hip Hop music under the moniker of Waxxie. Earlier this month, HipHopDX caught up with the Long Beach, California native.
Noting that he began taking music seriously in early 2010, Waxxie told DX, “I’ve been messin’ around with [music] for a while, freestylin’, the lunchtable [rapping]. People kept sayin’, ‘You be playin’ around, but you need to take it to the next level. You be killin’ it.'” The encouragement of his peers led Waxxie to begin going to the studio and working towards improving his craft.
With a father known for substance in his lyrics and a brash delivery, Waxxie was asked what Ren thought when he first learned of his son’s endeavors. “When [MC] Ren found out that I was really gonna go ahead and do the whole rappin’ thing, at first he was taken aback. I think he was wondering if I was really serious or if I was just playin’ around. ‘Cause he knew I could freestyle and play around, but he was wondering if I was really any good.” As Waxxie, who has lived off and on in Portland, Oregon in recent years showed his father the evolution, the “villain in black” cosigned. “When he heard a track I did last year, a track I just recorded with the homies over a Wiz Khalifa beat, he was trippin’ out. Ever since then he’s been trying to help me out, keep me growin’.”
With a sound closer to Black Hippy or Odd Future, Waxxie was asked how he believes his Rap peers have interpretted the influence of groups like Niggaz Wit’ Attitude, including himself. “Not everybody sounds like Ice Cube or N.W.A. or whatever, but you can definitely hear the influence, as far as people cussin’ and whatever, people doing the music [not heard in the mainstream]. To me, I think it’s cool. I know I don’t sound like Ren or [N.W.A.], but I definitely look up to that, and use it as [a reminder] to be myself. When they came out nobody was doin’ that kind of stuff. They was just bein’ them. I use that as a tool to keep me guided in the right way.”
AD LOADING...
Although he admits he’s shown a lot of growth in the last two years, Waxxie is committed to patiently stepping into the marketplace. “Right now, I’m still workin’ on a lot of songs,” he said, of a mixtape coming in the next six weeks. “It’s my first mixtape, so I’m super pumped about that.”
Lastly, with Lil Eazy E and Hood Surgeon removed from their N.W.A. fathers for collaboration, Waxxie was asked if we’ll see a father-to-son collaboration akin to work seen with Ghostface Killah and Son God or E-40 and Droop-E. “He’s more focused on being in the background right now. Right now he’s really focusing on getting my stuff out there right now, and guiding me and managing me. But if the time ever came or the opportunity ever came where me and him want to do a song directly, I’d be for it.”
Check Waxxie’s music on Soundcloud. Follow on Twitter (@WaxxieFool)
