I had the pleasure to do my first interview with an artist of intelligent words. Ace Hood is a newly signed artist to DJ Khaled’s label We The Best Music. His debut single ‘Cash Flow’ has been murdering mainstream radio and he refuses to stop there.

Q: To start off, tell me about where you grew up.

Ace: Well you know, I’m from St. Lucia. Grew up in Deerfield Beach, Florida ya know. That was my home or my city for like 14 plus years.

Q: How did your childhood influence your music?

Ace: Well in my childhood I didn’t grow up with my original father, so my step father- he took place of his position or what not. My real father was a part of music as well. He was part of a band and my step father was part of a band as well. The pretty much inspired me. They inspired me coming up. Ya know. Do what I do. They was always supporting me to do it. So I might as well have pursued it like that. Q: How’d you end up teaming with DJ Khaled?Ace: Aww man. DJ Khaled is my brother man. I wasn’t really looking for a deal. I was at a birthday bash and all I wanted to do was perform you know what I’m saying. I had my manager with me or what not. All I wanted to do was do a performance. He said there was something about me when he first saw me. He said I had that swag, there was something about me he loved. He thought I had great potential or whatever. So basically he called my manager back like, “Yo, I like what he’s doing. He’s got potential”. He called me back at like 11:30 at night. So he brought over the ‘I’m So Hood’ record over just to see If I could handle a top notch record. I put that ‘I’m So Hood’ record down and sent it to him. He went bananas over it. And you know what I’m saying. A couple weeks later we went and talked to We The Best Music. We was talkin’ to Def Jam yo.Q: What type of advice would you give to new artists in the industry?

Ace: See the main key is starvation. Starvation like the one thing I learned coming up trying to make it in this music industry thing is starvation. A lot of people give up. They be talking about they hurt and they’ve been grinding too long you know what I’m saying? Ya know this situation with Khaled just happened so fast. So my advice to aspiring rappers or singers or whatever is starvation is big. Stay hungry. You gotta stay humble. You gotta grind is the main key. Starvation is so big in the music industry. Ya know, grind like you ain’t got a deal. You gotta grind.

Q: How did it feel working with big names like T-Pain and Rick Ross on your debut single ‘Cash Flow’?

Ace: I mean, working with T-Pain and Rick Ross is a blessing. They big names in the game. They think T-Pain and they already know it’s a hit record. Ya know, Rick Ross might have the game right now. His album in stores, ‘Trilla’. Ya know it’s definitely a blessing. I thank the man up above for putting me in this situation.

Q: What are some of your favorite tracks off your debut album ‘Gutta’?

Ace: Aww man. My favorite track on my album I would say is the second single ‘Gutta’. That’s coming so soon. I got a record on there with Plies. They give you a taste of what I’ve been through. It’s just work. I got the whole movement know what I mean?

Q: What can we look forward to seeing from you in the future?

Ace: You can see me being like the Energizer Bunny on stage. You can expect more of ‘Cash Flow’. You can expect to hear bigger records. You can expect to see amazing shows. You can expect to come back to my shows. I got a lot of show to gain. New records, new swag, new mission for the game. We tryna give the game a whole new swagger.

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Ace brings a new feel to the game. He’s certainly an artist you should not only support, but respect. Ace Hood’s debut album ‘Gutta’ drops August 26. Make sure you go cop this one.