Cee-Rock “The Fury”, or Fury, as he is known to his friends and colleagues, is no new-comer to the Hip-Hop scene. Born and raised in Jamaica, Queens [also known as Q-Sector], Fury has his roots in “Hip Hop Central”.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Cee-Rock about the music, the challenges, the technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I was born in raised in Queens, New York. However, if you ever hear the word ‘Q-SECTOR’, that is the name I came up for Queens decades ago. No matter where I am on this planet I will always represent Q-Sector to the fullest. Within Queens, I grew up on 205th Street (off Linden Blvd.). The style genre of music I claim is #RealHipHop (and believe me, THERE IS A DIFFERENCE!). I’m an emcee from the early 80’s until this day so I had decades to master my craft. Still good at what I do and that’s put bars and verses together to make a song very potent and bangin’.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
I was always a person who enjoys music. I get drawn into various melodies and those melodies take me to certain places which enables me to write things accordingly. If it’s a smooth melody then my level and diction may come off smooth as well. If the beat is aggressive then I tend to release my inner animal and go predator on a track. If the beat is a party vibe then I got those lyrics that will make the party people go “Yess Yess, Y’all” and all that good stuff. As long as there is music and melodies traveling though my ear canals then I will express my thoughts on paper and create various songs that I like. I do music because I feel that it is an extension of me. It’s in my blood so for me to stop would be for me to lose blood…. and I need that to exist, don’t you think?
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
You can easily get lost in this over saturated universe. Albums don’t have much shelf life anymore. In fact, most physical record stores are extinct so the shelf life (in terms of that) is practically non-existent. The digital shelf life can come and go (depending on the demand). You can release a project on a certain date but then you may have ten thousand others who released on that day as well. You sometimes have to compete with the ‘clutter’ and a great project can easily be overlooked (as well as underheard). If you don’t have a big budget or ‘the machine’ to push your material you may not get the music out there the way you would like. There are so many gems out there that people may never get to hear because many music program director will only play something that has been marketed to the masses and pushed with a nice shiny red ribbon on it. The quality doesn’t seem to matter much anymore… however, I will stick to doing good quality music and push it the best way I can. Various social media outlets help out quite a bit so I would like to thank all those who supported me over the years via various social media. For those who may not know, !Handzup! Network is my label imprint. I’m distributed worldwide via The Orchard which is under the Sony Music Group.
How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
It helps because back in the days the demand was more than the supply. We couldn’t mail out physical records to everyone and it definitely was not cost-effective. With the digital age, you can contact an outlet and request to submit music material as an attachment with a click of a button. You don’t have to worry about FedEx or UPS cracking your vinyl or melting your music from leaving boxes in the hot sun. You can send mp3s and they can get your music within a few short clicks and then viola! You can send to hundreds in a day without using all your lunch money to buy stamps to mail that cassette off that may never make it to its destination. In that sense, the information superhighway is very convenient.
What was the last song you listened to?
“Didn’t You Know” by Patrice Rushen
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
I have lots of vinyl but I may be getting rid of them soon (except for a few gems) because carrying crates was a headache plus back-breaking! Buying needles and moving around heavy equipment doesn’t do it for me anymore. I still rock with CDs but that seems to be phasing out. A lot of the new computers and vehicles don’t even include a CD drive anymore so it’s only good for the ones who are diehard CD users and those with CD compatible equipment. The majority tends to lean toward MP3s so overall… MP3s would be my primary choice.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
I don’t really put one above the other in terms of those outlets. They are all useful to me. You may find more variety on Bandcamp. All of my music can be purchased on Spotify as well as Apple Music so I don’t care which one they get it from… just as long as the people simply go get it!
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
*Type Cee-Rock “The Fury” in your favorite search engine (such as Google or Yahoo).
*Instagram Username: furyanderson (follow me)
*Facebook Username: ceerockthefury (follow me)
*Twitter Username: furyanderson / ceerockthefury (follow me)
*YouTube Username: furyanderson_handzupnetwork (subscribe to me)
Anything else before we sign off?
Thanx for the interview! I wanna say please take care of yourselves. We are living in some crazy times and I am sure that I am not the only one who have lost very close friends, families and affiliates. WEAR A FREAKIN’ MASK! Check in on your loved ones. Try to give people their flowers BEFORE they leave this planet. Finally… please support CEE-ROCK “THE FURY” and the !HANDZUP! NETWORK label imprint. By doing that you are definitely supporting #RealHipHop… and that is facts to the max! Oh, almost forgot, one more thing…. I am in a movie on Amazon Prime (Prime Video) called ‘CARDIO’. I have an acting cameo part in the movie as well as my music within the movie as well as the end credits. So please go check that out. I dabble in a bit of this and a bit of that so always stay tuned! Shoutout to #IMD/#IndieMusicDiscovery and #Songdew! 🙂
