Starting his journey into hip-hop in the fourth grade, Texas bred emcee Nick Pratt, used the radio, as well as the rhyme styles of UGK, Q-Tip, Chamillionaire and The Swisha House, Outkast, and Jay-Z just to name a few, as an influence helping to mold and shape the artist he is today.

Years later, in 2010, Pratt entered the scene with his debut EP Fear of Falling, which put him on people’s radars allowing him to open for artists such as: Dom Kennedy, Pac Div, Tanya Morgan, Wale, Wiz Khalifa and Young Scolla.  The debut project also led Pratt to receive notable mentions in the blog world, BET’s The Deal, and JENESIS Magazine.

This past January, Pratt released his follow-up project The New Cool, and we got a chance to speak with Pratt about the project, his influences, how he’s grown as an artists and what realistically is “The New Cool.”   You can either read the transcription, or scroll down for the audio.

Erin:  I have questions specifically about your project, your new project is called, The New Cool, so for you I guess, what do you consider the New Cool and what was the concept behind the album title?

Nick Pratt: Well that title had just been in my head for a while.  The New Cool, was actually just an accident, it wasn’t supposed to be a real project at first.  I had been working with DJ YS and we were supposed to be doing a small EP what have you, and it basically just fell through.  We were putting our plans together all these things we were going to be doing with the EP and that was going to be the main body of work we were going to be focusing on while we were doing that. So yeah, The New Cool wasn’t ever supposed to happen and it would up happening anyway.

Like I said, the title was just something I had in my head all these songs were actually stuff I had recorded—not all of them, but a lot of them were songs I had recorded a while ago and didn’t really know quite what I was going to do with them but then when the EP with the DJ fell out it was like we got to put something together and we were just putting it together pulling out some of the best songs that I had that hadn’t been released.  I was recording other songs to fill in the blanks to try to give the project some fluidity or what have you, and I mean it all just kind of came together.  I’m surprised it sounds as good as it does and it’s been getting as good as of a response as it’s been getting because like I said it was an accident.

Erin: For me, what I really like about the project is it’s really well balanced I guess because a lot of projects have one kind of song like production wise everything sounds the same.  I know you said it happened by accident, but I wanted to ask how important was it for you to make something that was so balanced like was it hard to get all the songs together?  I know you said you had some of the songs already but was it hard to fit other songs in there to make it flow?

Nick Pratt: Actually, I’d never want to put out a project that didn’t have some sort of balance.  Like when I’m doing a body I’d want for it to be full circle.  That’s always going to be a goal of mine to make sure I can touch on everything as best as I can because like you said a lot of people put out projects and they have one kind of song or they put out a CD and it’s all Trap Music all the way through.  My life isn’t all just going out or going to the club I do more than that, I live more than that you know? The trap nigga lives more places than just in the Trap.  I feel like you’re doing yourself a disservice if you’re not making music about everything that you’re doing.  If I’m going to put out this CD, this CD is going to be a reflection of my life at the time and at the time; my life includes more than just one thing.   As far as the difficulty of putting out more than one type of song on my project isn’t that difficult at all because I feel like that’s a requirement.

Erin: Also, one of my favorite songs on the project was “Sinner’s Prayer,” kind of what made you want to write that song or what inspired that song I guess?

Nick Pratt: Well, I mean I’m a Christian, I’m from the South and church is big where I’m from.  My church was very big in my life growing up—like I grew up in the church so to speak.  I don’t like to say I grew up in the church but I basically did grow up in the church and I feel like in my music up to this point I had been kind of neglecting that fact—that I’m a Christian and that am a lot of times faced with issues as far as what path I should be taking and you know how this lifestyle I have going on verses what I should be doing and how it’s affecting me like how God’s viewing it, stuff like that.   So writing this song and making this song had been a long time coming because I had been feeling like that for a while and I had to get that out.  I liked it a lot like how it came out so it had to go on there.  It was either going to come first or last, I’m actually pretty glad it came first.

At this point on I really plan on putting a song at least that deals with my faith or my spirituality on every project I put out from here on out.  I really have to give props to Big K.R.I.T because when I listened to his project he really talked about God a lot and I really respected that because you know that aren’t a lot of rappers who put that out in the sense that he did it. I’m not trying to rap like him but I can’t say that, that was a heavy influence in me doing that song.

Erin: Do you have a particular favorite song from the project as well?

Nick Pratt: Shit.  Do I have a favorite song on the project?  I got a bunch of different favorites, I don’t think… I kind of got.  I really like “Cool Kid” for the message.   But then I also really like “Something That’s Cool” for the way it sounds in my car.   A lot of these songs speak to me for different reasons that’s why I put them on there because it’s like I like this song because of this or I really like this record because of that so they’re all favorites for some reason or another.  I know that was a weak ass answer but.

Erin: Your first EP was Fear of Falling, how do you think you’ve progressed from that to now?

Nick Pratt: Well when I did Fear of Falling was really where I was at this place like I really got to get some shit out.  I had been talking about how I was going to be a rapper—well not that I’m about to be a rapper but that I’m about to get serious about my music for a while, like I’m trying to do this and I’m trying to do that.  I felt like I just had to put something out so eventually, it was just like here it goes, here goes nothing; I’m putting this shit out.  I recorded both of these projects in the crib, like I record out of the house and back then when I was doing Fear of Falling, I was still in school and I was living in this house with the niggas who basically helped me found CSB or whatever. It was just, I just was recording songs about what was going on in my life and school my life up to that point was what that was.  From there to here I feel like I’ve really just have grown as a songwriter as far as writing songs, arranging songs and putting them together, I think that’s really what I’ve seen.

I think I’ve put songs together better on this project than the last one.  Lyrically, I don’t think—I actually think I have some better lyrics on the last one than this one, I’m surprised to hear some people think that this project is as lyrical as they think it is because I really think The New Cool, is very superficial but that’s a matter of opinion I guess.  It’s all good either way, but as far as the growth goes the biggest thing as far as growth for me was putting the songs together and really getting down and trying to make a great song on all these songs as opposed to just being the nigga rapping.  With the exception of, “Send A Message.”  But on all the rest I was really just trying to put out a good song, that was the biggest thing for me as far as growth.

Erin: I’ve got a couple of random questions, the first one being if you could work with anyone right now who would it be?

Nick Pratt: I really do want to work with Big K.R.I.T; I really like his shit a lot.  My top pick though is going to be Bun B off the rip.  I’d be lying if I said I wanted to work with someone else that’s the number one.  Pac Div, who else?  I’m really open to working with anyone as long as I think they’re good.   I’d love to work with Chuck Inglish, I love his fucking beats man, I think his beats are dope as shit man, they’re so different but I still love they way that they knock.  Those are probably like my top people.  As far as who I’d like to work with but don’t think I could reach.

Erin: You could reach them!

Nick Pratt: I mean, not like I can’t reach them but I can’t just like call up my phone and call them up like hey I got this song you trying to do it, those are probably like my top people if I could just hit them up and you know let’s do a track—I really fuck with Curt@ins too and Anthony Hamilton too.  I’d just want to do a song for him; I wouldn’t want to be on the song at all I’d just like to write it.

Erin: The last question I had, is like a thinking question, I’m not saying you weren’t thinking before but the question is, what’s the rawest line you can think of off the top of your head?

Nick Pratt: Aw shit (laughs)!  Damn.  The rawest line I could think of.  That’s not fair man, because all I’ve been listening to lately is one album so I can only think of songs from this one album, from the Dirty Money, album from UGK.  Damn.  The rawest line I can think of?  I don’t know.

Erin: You could even say a song.

Nick Pratt: One of the absolute rawest songs just ridiculously raw like that muthafucka just went off and didn’t really care at all,  “Kill Us All” by Twista off the Kamikaze album.  My God, that shit right there I feel was Twista at his fucking finest, like he was just was destroying everything on that fucking song.  That’s a beat that I listen to often and want to rap over it but just think about the original and change my mind and be like nah man I can’t do it.  But that’s probably the rawest song I could think of.  The only other song that’s really is super raw to be is “Dead Wrong” by Biggie with Eminem and Eminem’s fucking verse is just like monstrous.   Biggie was killing that shit all over it but Eminem came in and laid the icing on the cake.  Those are probably like the two rawest songs I can think of.  As far as lines go, I can’t even answer that question right now.

Erin: Any last words?

Nick Pratt: I really liked your guys’ review on the project I really appreciated it.  The only closing thing I am going to say is that “Last Call” is not about a girl.

Erin: What is it about?

Nick Pratt: I’m going to just let you go back and listen to it some more, and maybe you’ll figure it and maybe you won’t and you’ll listen to it all the time until you do either way it works for me.  “Last Call” is not about a girl.

Erin: Wait, can I have a clue so when I listen to it, I’ll be like Oh.

Nick Pratt: It’s clues all in the record just go listen to it man.