, but raised in Atlanta. He is taller than the average rapper at well over 6 feet. He is not known for being lyrical, yet his music dominates airwaves. He is the rapper many love to hate, yet his sound is being duplicated at a rapid pace. Born Juaquin Malphurs, Waka Flocka Flame is one of his mother’s five sons, his youngest brother Rahleek, passed away after being hit by a car when Waka was 13. He was born in New York, South Jamaica Queens, to be exact. The same neighborhood that bred 50Cent, Onyx and Nicki Minaj. His New York roots are one of the reasons that his accent his neither here (Atlanta) nor there (New York). His mother told Vibe.com that of all her sons, Waka “adapted to everything about the South.”
Maybe it’s his name, Waka Flocka Flame. A name that has no connections to a mafia don, black gangster, or alcoholic beverage, Waka was his childhood nickname. Maybe it was his brazen debut album title, Flockaveli, a reference to 2Pac’s last album, Makaveli, which is almost sacred to hip-hop. Or maybe it was that painful106 & Park interview where they asked him about voting. Whatever it was, Waka Flocka Flame has earned the disdain of rap purists everywhere but the love and admiration of millions of rap fans.
Encouraged to rap by Gucci Mane, who was like a big brother to him after being managed by his mother, Debra Antney, when Waka picked up the microphone, his mother was the last to believe it, but became one of his strongest supporters. “People are gonna look at you any way they wanna look at you. People are gonna have good and bad to say about you. It don’t matter. As long as you know who and what you are, it’s beautiful.” Antney told Vibe.com last year, “But if you up there make yourself look so illiterate and so stupid, of course you leave no choice but for people to say whatever they say.”
And it’s been that less than intelligent image that Waka Flocka has had to fight for over a year. But, he has hit singles. “O Let’s Do It,” “Hard in Da Paint,” and the summer banger, “No Hands,” featuring Wale and Roscoe Dash, had over 40 million views on Youtube. Flockaveli has moved close to half a million units, and, the producer he discovered, Lex Luger, has tracks on Teflon Don, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and Watch the Throne.
Truth is, Waka Flocka Flame is probably smarter than you think and he is coming up fast in your rearview mirror just like a Ferrari
. AllHipHop.com: Tell me something good. Are you excited about Ferrari Boyz?
Waka Flocka Flame: Yeah, I’m always excited when something comes out. It feels like a birthday.
AllHipHop.com: Really? That’s a good comparison. So how did y’all pick the title?
Waka Flocka Flame: I mean, people are always trying to get into our lane, and we are some of the top people in our lane. By our lane, I mean our sound of music. People don’t want to give us our credit but they are constantly taking our sound… taking my sound.
AllHipHop.com: How does that make you feel? I mean, I’ve heard you talk about retirement and different stuff like that… How hard is your job?
Waka Flocka Flame: Honestly, I’m gonna be real with you. I mean we so “small” but dudes y’all love the most do my sound? The exact way. They just used different words. I mean, with different word play, they put it together differently, but they are doing the same thing. Why the f**k would I be mad? It’s flattering. I just need to keep doing what I’m doing. I just can’t look for credit. I always wanted credit (for my sound) but at the end of the day, they can have it, they can have all the credit. I’m good.
AllHipHop.com: What do you want to do differently? Are you and Gucci doing anything differently on this album?
Waka Flocka Flame: Most of the album is a Flockaveli tempo, which is all up. Differently? Wordplay.
AllHipHop.com: You and Gucci…Y’all go through a lot. With legal issues, and the media, a lot of praise but a lot of criticism too. What did y’all do to bring excitement to this project?
Waka Flocka Flame: I would have to say the producers. I met SouthSide through Lex Luger (who did 8 tracks on Flockaveli, and none on Ferrari Boyz). I met SouthSide and was like, let’s go!
AllHipHop.com: You get a lot of criticism about your lyrics, how do you react to that?
Waka Flocka Flame: I can’t react. Because it’s in some ways telling the truth. I do what works for me. If I react, and change for that, I would just be another person in line trying to get to first place. If all of y’all rapping that way (lyrically) and I copy it, that makes a follower and not a leader, but I see people chasing this sound. When I came out, I saw music change as a whole. A lot of people talk about lyrics, but that field is not really making it right now and my field is winning by far, as a whole.
AllHipHop.com: What’s a day in the life like for Waka Flocka Flame?
Waka Flocka Flame: Time’s like right now? Stressful.
AllHipHop.com: During album releases?
Waka Flocka Flame: During albums. The business… it’s stressful. It’s so stressful, it takes away from it. You be so stressed out it’s like, f**k it, I don’t even wanna do this s**t.
AllHipHop.com: So for all the young kids, you know the young kids watching you on videos, who wanna grow up and be just like you. What do you tell them? What’s the best and worst thing about your job?
Waka Flocka Flame: A plus? Your life is gonna change financially. A minus? Everybody is gonna leech off you. So you gotta have a good team around you. A team that’s so strong from the office to the stage, from the stage to the studio. You can’t win unless everybody knows their position, if everybody don’t know their position, you gonna lose.
AllHipHop.com: So speaking of teams, tell us about your mom.
Waka Flocka Flame: My mom? She’s always looking over things because she’s got more experience. But, she’s my mom and I’m her son. So, I treat my mother the best.
AllHipHop.com: The world loves your mom too. With the work that she does…she’s so outspoken.
Waka Flocka Flame: Yeah, but a lot of people slander her name. Publicly and behind closed doors. But you can’t stop a strong, black woman. I tell my mother, “You raised five boys on your own, you lost one, but a lot of people can’t do that.” Men can’t do that… and look at us right now.