My City: Wordsmith - From Baltimore, With Love (Exclusive Interview)

Although he now calls Baltimore home, as the son of an Army man Wordsmith spent his formative years moving everywhere from Germany to Texas, travels that are no doubt responsible for his music's universal appeal (see his "Vintage Vault" mixtape). In the latest edition of our My City series, Wordsmith joins us to talk about how his international experience has shaped his music and breaks down the hip-hop scene in his adopted Baltimore hometown.

RefinedHype: As the son of an Army man you were constantly moving. How do you think those frequent travels affected your music?

Wordsmith: I think all the moving made me adapt to so many different cultures that it unconsciously made me look at music on a global level. I have always believed my material was universal and can't be tied to a certain block or state, which I like. I have been blessed to see the world young because I have friends that have never been out of the Baltimore area, much less flew on a plane before. A person that grows up in the same place all there life might suffer from a lack of creativity because they see the same surroundings all the time, but in the end its up to how far a musician wants to take his/her music.

RefinedHype: You now call Baltimore home, a city that's never really had a rapper achieve national prominence. Why do you think that is?

Wordsmith: My stance on this issue has always been that Baltimore doesn't really have a sound of its own. What is the Baltimore sound of rap? I doubt anybody could tell you, so I would def like to be the representative in the area. Though my music can be eclectic at times, I feel like I am a viable person to represent and display what the sound of Baltimore is. I think right now some of the artists are literally stuck between being a down south rapper or an MC from NY, which confuses me. Regardless, I love the area and the better the music, the better the response will be.

RefinedHype: Where do you go to get inspired?

Wordsmith: That's actually a tough question for me because I think I build my own inspiration from within. I am inspired by reaching the ultimate goal of living off my music because so many artists never reach that point.

RefinedHype: If I'm rolling through Baltimore, where can I find you? You would find me in my home studio.

Wordsmith: Last words?

I just want to thank all my fans and most of all Kontact, Black Knight, Professa, Capish, Strada, Street Level, DJ Andrew, Nick Dyer, Micheal Stein, Money Mike, Trey P., DJ Nominal, DJ Ykcor, DJ Tenacious and DJ leche and Diallo of my label NU Revolution Entertainment LLC. I am thankful for these guys for having faith in me as a person, business man, and trailblazer for all of our careers. Be sure to check us all out at www.revoltradio.com and www.wordsmithmusic.com.

Make sure you download my new Mixtape "The Vintage Vault" here on Refined Hype and cop my debut album "Vintage Experience" on March 30th through Itunes and Amazon.com

In closing, I gotta thank you Nathan for being very supportive of my music and movement equally. Other then that, I ask that all artists focus on making some good quality music in 2010.