MusicTimes caught up with rapper, Moka Blast to discuss his new song, "I Don't Get Y'all." The self-proclaimed "ladies man" dished how he was dubbed him an underground legend by rap star, Jadakiss, his plans on penning a song about the recent Baltimore and Ferguson riots in his new album Blast Radiius and why he wants his women to be open to threesomes before dating them.
MT: How did you get your name Moka Blast?
Moka Blast: Well, I got started in music in my teenage years, kind of late, 19, twenties. I used to be in the barber shop a lot, my mentor practically took me under his wing from a very young age. He would see me, just playing around, and he was like 'Yo this would be your way out of the streets,' you know we come from South Side Jamaica Queens, all we knew how to do was just make money- read between the lines- but that's how we got it and I guess I started, and I went off to college, I actually went off to college to learn how use better English, vernacular, you know how to use English vernacular to my advantage. And the name Moka Blast came to me working in a restaurant when I was younger, in Manhattan, there was a drink called Moka Blast and I got really addicted to it and the boss, she started calling me her little Moka Blast, and I hated it with a passion, but then I noticed females loved it, 'His name is Moka, we love Moka. So I kept the name after a while.
MT: So in you bio it says you're compared to 50 Cent and LL Cool J. What traits connect you to them?
MB: Um well, you could say they are big guys, but I don't see myself as being big, but a lot of people say at six feet, 230lbs 'Moka you're a pretty big dude'...besides that you know we all from Queens...I make music for the ladies, and I have a big female fan base that supports me to the moon and back, and I mean I'm from Jamaica Queens I grew up... straight in the hood.
I have a mesh between them. Body wise, I'm working on my body. I'm in boot camp every day. I box, I don't fight anymore, I'm more of a sparring partner. So, I see the comparison in like you know in my music. I go by "Ladies Love Moka" it's a tribute to LL and 50. I love 50! I grew up on this music, so when people tell me you're a cross between 50 and LL I'm like whoa for real? I'll take it. It's a big honor to me.
MT: So you say you're a ladies man right? So how were you dubbed by Jadakiss as an underground legend?
MB: I've been rapping for ten years, and a lot of people hear me spitting stuff to you know, hard core street stuff. The females are the ones who support me, and like transferring over is like 'Hey Mok, we see you have a big female fan base, you gotta go commercial." They always told me I was nice, you know I got a track with Jada when we shot the video he was like "now this what I'm talking about. You can leave the underground alone, you've been a legend, but it's time for you to make the money."
MT: When will you be going back on tour?
MB: I will be. I just came off a tour again. In March, I headlined a tour as well. The next tour I'm doing I'm doing with my running mate Montana Mills, he just signed with DJ Khaled, so we just got the news today, he's touring the whole July. So, I'll be touring with him, DJ Khaled and everything.
MT: Are there any other projects you want to do besides music?
MB: Of course, right now besides music, I want to open a halfway house for kids coming out of jail, huge though, for kids under the age of eighteen, show them there is life after being incarcerated young people coming out of prison. Change the thinking of the young black male. Get them to respect authority, don't have to hate cops. If you see a woman in the streets don't call her the "B word" approach her and if she rejects you, tell her have nice day. I blame the generations, all the generations, because if they did what they were supposed to do none of this would be happening.
MT: On Twitter, you said you were tired of people thinking you're hardcore or you're a thug. You tweeted, "Just because I look the part that doesn't mean I fit it." Now where did that come from did you have an experience recently?
MB: Yeah, a lot of people when they see me in the street, I'm built pretty broad, my shoulders are pretty broad, and at six foot, two thirty it's kind of intimating, and I usually don't smile when I'm running by myself. I'm almost always by myself... and I met up with a bunch of my friends and they were like Moka why don't you smile? You look like a thug. And I say 'what?' and they said 'yeah, you're very intimating,' and I'm like wow just because I look like a thug that doesn't mean I'm a thug. And people were like 'No it's not that, but you look the part so your probably gonna get profiled by the cops.' Like, My friends are more worried about my safety then I am, but all my run-in with the cops are done and over with. That was when I was young. I'm a grown man I've got a daughter to worry about. I try to let everyone know, just because I look a certain way doesn't mean I act a certain way.
MT: Do you plan in talking about stuff that's going on today in Baltimore and Ferguson in your music?
MB: Of course, I'm working on my album it's called, Blast Radiius and one of the songs I have is called the 3/5 Amendment where the black man was considered sixty percent, not even sixty-five percent, passing, sixty less than passing, you know, so I want to talk about everything because with this album as an independent artist and me having a college background, I don't want to fall in the category. I'm not gonna do that. I don't care about shaking a**, I'm not gonna do that, it's corny to me; it's really corny. So, I'm gonna go a different route and people are gonna respect it. I want to talk about the black race as a whole...We don't have our own history but if we go looking we can find it."
MT: So do you have any collaborations on your album?
MB: I'm gonna be doing a collaboration with Jadakiss for sure. I'm looking probably with Llyod, definitely Montana Mills. I don't know but I have a few names in mind. I'm a big fan of Busta Rhymes. I have a couple of people in mind but everything is up in the air."
MT: I go to twitter, your personality's there you were like that "oh I'm horny and lonely." How so if the ladies love you?
MB: Because I like my female a certain way. If my woman is not bisexual I can't be with her. Trisexual, a woman can try anything.
MT: So you've dismissed women if they weren't trisexual?
MB: Yup, because I don't want to cheat. I want to be open. I don't ever want to lie, a lot of guys lie to their females, they lie, they are not forthcoming. I don't want to lie to you and say I am here with the fellas when they are with another woman. I don't like that at all. I try to keep it a buck at all times so that the woman can say 'at least he kept it real, he never lied to me, so I can trust him.' Trust is important.
MT: That's funny, but I mean you are a lady's man right? So you go on tours, what's the wildest thing you've ever done or seen while on tour?
MB: I walked into a room with four females and in the doggy style position waiting for me. If I told anyone this no one would ever believe me. So this is the first time, I didn't do anything...wink...wink... wink!
MT: Laughs, I was gonna say "what?" that's funny...so they were your type then?
MB: My type is a good looking woman who is a porn star status.
MT: So wait do you have a single made for porn stars, do you have some sort of an anthem?
MB: Of course I do. I got one called, "I'm A Porn Star."
MT: Is there anything you want your fans to know?
MB: Well they have to know that, well one, I don't have sex with my fans. I don't do that, I keep my fans in one lane. I like to respect them music wise. But when I see a female, the first thing out of their mouths is 'I know you got groupies Moka.' But if I was ugly, I wouldn't have that problem.
MT: So are you saying you wish you were ugly so you wouldn't have that problem?
MB: Kind of, sort of, very overwhelming, like I'll be around my home girl, my phone will just ring and ring, it's annoying. Sometimes, I can't even do what I need to do in the bedroom because my phone is just blowing up.
