I love all music but I am a hip hop head all the way. I had no clue when I started writing ChicpeaJC that there was such a vast Hip Hop scene just around the corner from me… so many talented artist I am discovering every day; Nizz Sentine, Lana Sez (all future posts) and of course Verbal Phantom.

I found VP on Instagram; I thought his videos of himself freestyling about waiting tables and then ending it with a “Fuck Nick Cannon” to be hilarious. I checked out his other work and he reminded me of good ol’ slim shady… not because of the white thing but his style and lyrics; dark yet humorous. I met Verbal Phantom at the Path Train and everyone should know he was 15 minutes late and that is my pet peeve!!! That being said he’s a cool cat. We hung out, talked about hip hop and then met his boys PISS MOBB…. Talk about a surprise! These guys are on a whole other level. I seriously can’t make this shit up.

What’s your name? My name is Verbal Phantom

What’s your real name? Vincent

Why Verbal Phantom? When I was in middle school I wanted to rap but I didn’t want the fame, I just wanted to be known as a ghost and now as I got older the name is kind of meaningless… I felt like no one was paying attention to me when I was rapping in 8th grade so I named myself Verbal Phantom.

Is that when you started rapping? Yeah around the year 2000

How did it start? It started with my friend, I went to school in Newark… My friends were all rapping and I wanted to be in their group and they wouldn’t let me because maybe I wasn’t good enough for them…so I just made my own stuff.

Do you have any musical influences? I like just all Hip Hop pretty much.

What was your first hip hop album? Probably Coolio’s Gangsta Paradise. I liked the movie… my mother was a big fan of Michelle Pfeifer and I really liked Coolio.

How long have you been living in Jersey City? Since 2009

What’s your favorite Jersey City hangout spot? Lucky 7’s

They don’t play any hip hop there! That’s why I like it. I try to stay away from anything hip hop in Jersey City. It’s all the same circles and most of my friends are into punk so we like to go there.

What are you listening to now? Crazy and the Brains

How would you define your rapping style? I would say it’s punk, hip hop influence…it’s a little more on the lyrical side but we do like to get rowdy, antagonizing the crowd and stuff like that. Everything I released so far has been almost a year old, the new stuff I am recording is a little darker… The last album I did Theo was very “Party, get high and drunk with your friends”.

I’ve seen your instagram posts and you are always saying “Fuck Nick Cannon”, what’s up with that? Oh man… my friend Nizz Sentine said it really drunk one night and it just started from there…we don’t really know why we say it all the time, it’s just funny… and Nick Cannon has all these crazy hair styles.

Do you have a thing against Nick Cannon? Just his hair.

Your instagram posts are pretty hilarious. What inspires them? Just boredom I guess! All I do is serve tables and write music haha!

One of your videos reminds me of Eminem circa Slim Shady… That is kind of me. He has definitely been an influence on me…He is kind of why I started rapping. I think he is the greatest! I never wanted to be like him I just wanted to do it well like him.

If I wanted to freestyle what would I need to do? You have to think of one sentence, that would be your last sentence and then try to fill it up.

So if I gave you a sentence now can you rap to it? Do ChicpeaJC. That’s how narcisstic I am.. you need to rap about me… Haha ok lets see.

 

 

I saw some of your videos were shot in Jersey City? Yeah one of my first videos was shutter island. We shot around the Newport area… most of the times me and my friends just decide to shoot a video. We usually just shoot around here! I actually did another video in one of the alleys. I did one in Hamilton park.

Do you explicit content in your lyrics? (such a mom question) In the beginning I didn’t but now as I got older and I moved out of my mom’s house… I moved my studio with me so I don’t mind cursing. When I perform I will censor myself depending on the crowd…and sometimes I do it to just make a point.

Who produces your beats? There’s a couple of people. I meet them on sound cloud… There are producers I’ve actually never met. We just talk online, it’s almost like a barter stuff “I will promote your stuff and vise versa” .

What’s next? I am trying to finish my album it’s called “Piece of shit”

Piece of shit? Haha! That’s coming out early 2015. I think I am changing my name to Vincent The Owl

Why? More Mature? You know my mother said the same thing. I just think its different, it’s who my character is now as opposed to Verbal Phantom…I say those two words and I feel like I am being ironic/outdated cause hip hop these days…

You have to be out there! Yeah I don’t want to seem like I am some lyrical cat.

Yeah lyrical cats probably don’t tweet and take selfies. Yeah that’s why Vincent The Owl.

You talk about your mom alot, are you a momma’s boy? Absolutely. I love my mama. My mom is great, she is fully supporting my career and lets me do what makes me happy. I stopped talking to my father when I was 12 because they split.

Does she listen to your music? Yeah she will text me sometimes and say “I am dancing to your song right now”

Cute. She’s great.

Let’s go meet your boys.

So what does PISS MOBB stand for? Patriotic Illuminated Sacred Society Money Over Basic Bitches

 

Instagram

Web