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CONCRETE: You're from the North East. How did you end up in Nashville?
Sonny P: It was really my dad's idea. He wanted to come down and do country music. I kind of just followed him down here. After doing some country music for a little while, I was kind of just (done). My roots were rap music. I grew up listening to rap music, being Grand Master Flash and people like that. I just wasn't digging the whole country thing as much, even though I enjoy writing. So I just started getting into (rap). I started making rap beats in the studio as opposed to country stuff. Next thing you know I pulled in some demo deals. One of the demo deals I pulled in was Pistol. After doing a couple songs on Pistol, we were like, "Man, maybe we should make an album and put it out." That's pretty much me getting here and how everything started.
CONCRETE: So you were the guy doing production on Pistol's first album that was on Ruthless Records (Eazy-E, N.W.A.)?
Sonny P: His first two albums. We released it thru Street Flavor first. It sold a little bit and got picked up by Ruthless. After they saw it was obviously moving units, and then we went from there.
CONCRETE: You've worked with a lot of Nashville and national artists. Who are some of the people you've done production for?
Sonny P: Man this is a tough question. I've worked with the whole Cash Money (Records) crew. I worked with them, 8-Ball, Bun-B, Stak (Haystak), Pistol, Boogie. I've touched my hands with just about everybody in town on some kind of level. Whether it be Quanie Cash or whoever. Not necesarilly with just straight production, but whether it be recording them, mixing them, consulting them. I've had my hands on a whole lot of things from the beginning. Kool Daddy Fresh's career from the beginning. Just everybody really. It's pretty long. Even going to work for A&M (records). I was the V.P. at A&M for a year in New York. I took a break. I had a couple of #1 dance records when I was up there. Love Tribe and Third Party, they were dance records. Cause, in New Jersey when I grew up, house music was really a big thing. So, it was natural fit for me. Bubba Sparxxx, a lot of people.
CONCRETE: You're the head of Street Flavor Records, and it's been here for a long time. What's the history behind Street Flavor Records?
Sonny P: I try to tell people this all the time. You have a lot of people that have labels and stuff in town. I have all the respect in the world for them. At the same time, we're fourteen years of doing this. We're here every year. We sold over 60,000 records this past year, Sound Scan. No one else (in Nashville) is even anywhere near it. That's not putting down what these young cats are trying to do hustle wise, cause it's a different game now than it used to be. I believe that we're the longest running, biggest selling, number one label in Nashville. To me, that's uncontested by our history and our consistency and our record sells. You're talking almost a half million independent records (sold) over our period of time and five major record deals. It's a long, consistent history. That's the key to the game, you've got to be consistent.
CONCRETE: Break down what those five major record deals were?
Sonny P: Casino on Priority, Stak on Koch and Def Jam, Boogie on Relativity, Pistol on Ruthless are the five main ones. Of course, I put Red Eye on A&M, which was also on the soundtrack to the movie Kingpin with Woody Harelson. You know a couple of other little deals that were indirect that a lot of people in Nashville don't know about. I've worked with Adeva who was on Capitol, Michael Watford, Keisha Jenkins, Omar Chandler, these were my earlier dance days. When I came to Nashville I already had a lot of music experience. I was the first to shoot T.V. commercials for rap records other than K-Tell and all that stuff back in the day with the oldies stuff on T.V. That's where I got the idea. I go, "How come no one's doing this stuff for rap music." So I started shooting T.V. commercials for rap music, and then everybody started following that. I was the first one to really get any real radio attention in Nashville. I'm really not sure if anybody got any major rap deals before me, but I defintely think that mine was the first one that people really took notice of and the timing and the market. Everything was just perfect and it made a lot of noise. I really believe that Nashville's rap industry is standing on the bridges that I built. I don't want it to sound bold or cocky, but that's really the truth. I really believe that I paved the way for damn near anybody. A lot of people I've touched indirectly and they don't even know it. Whether it be somebody (Young Buck) getting hooked up with Cash Money because they met them at my recording session. It just goes on and on.
CONCRETE: Who are you currently doing production for?
Sonny P: As a production company we do a lot of local projects for whoever wants to come through and do stuff. Everybody from Dope City Boys. We do a lot of outside cats, some cats from Vegas, Trash Life from Indianapolis, Deleware, all over the country really. The majority of our work doesn't come from Nashville. I really feel like there's not a whole lot of money in Nashville. There's not a whole lot of rappers that have the ability to put there money into some real quality work. I think that's a reason why we are were we're at. You have a few key people. There's just not enough cheese for everybody to eat off of. There's no radio support here. There's a lot of reasons why these people can't do what they want to do. There's definetly enough talent. And if you listen to today's music it doesn't take too much talent. You know in my opinion.
CONCRETE: Why do you make music?
Sonny P: Well here's the thing. When I started making music the reason was different than it is now. I started making music, cause I guess it was just in my blood. It was just a natural thing that I was able to do. It came naturally. It didn't feel like I had to go learn it or go to school for it. I pick up a guitar, I had good pitch, I'd hear notes, whether someone was signing on key or not, I just knew it. I think I just went with what I knew I was best at instead of trying to go make something out of nothing. Now music is more like a job. Right now what I look for is a great artist. I have a hard time just making beats for no reason. Back in the day, I would just sit down and make beats. Now I like artists to inspire me. I like hearing a great rapper make me feel like making a beat. Like, "Oh yeah, I hear something in what he's doing." That makes me want to go make a beat. That's the only difference. It's really a job now. I'm older. I really attack this thing every day like a job. I think that's another for Street Flavor's success and our production's success, because I really do come sit behind my desk every day. A lot of these young cats don't understand that. There's a certain level of that, that has to happen. You have to do the business part and the entertainment part. I don't even really know of any record companies around town that have offices or are really trying to establish themselves in that way. But, if you're not doing it 24 hours a day, then you might as well quit.
CONCRETE: So what kind of equipment do you like to use?
Sonny P:
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