Over the past few years, artists like Jack Harlow and E$T Gee have been making big waves on the Louisville, Kentucky scene as the spotlight has shined bright on the Bluegrass state for the first time since the Nappy Roots broke onto the scene "AwNaw." But while Southern Kentucky is having its day in the sunshine, Northern Kentucky near the border of Ohio and Cincinnati’s city limits is still waiting for its time to come out of the shadows. On the other side of the Ohio River, Producer Hi-Tek was the last big name we heard out of Cincy after his work with Talib Kweli and Mos Def on the Blackstar albums. But there's something in the air, perhaps a new strain of OG? Nah, his name is E the Profit, and his music bangs. nbsp;

Putting out concise 8-track projects (E for Effortless, 2 Effortless), E the Profit has delivered timeless and quality music for the fans, locking in with his in-house producer, Rocco Roy. Aside from his in-house producer, E the Profit has kept the features to a minimum, so it will be dope to see how he grows and expands his reach with collaborations in the future.

Somewhat reclusive and seemingly more focused on the music than absorbing himself in media and the business of music, E the Profit spoke to us about the Northern Kentucky scene near Cincinnati, his track "Evergreen" and more. Check it out below:

Talk to me about what it’s been like visiting Cali?

The first couple of days in Cali has been dope, dope food, dope people. The weather is great, you can’t complain, really can’t ask for anything better. nbsp;

And so you're from Elsemere, Kentucky - where is that?

Elsmere is a small city like 10 minutes south of Cincinnati, Ohio, but the part of Kentucky that I live in is really northern Kentucky, we are literally across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. That's the only thing that separates us from Cincinnati.

Talk to me about your influences, because that’s a different area to come from as far as rap music is concerned. Some rappers are coming from Kentucky, but you know what I mean right, it's kind of in the middle there?

Yea I feel like Kentucky and the area I’m in is really the Midwest and the Midwest is like this funnel. I got influences from all over. You got the Southern rap, you got the more East Coast and the West Coast stuff and it all comes together to create the sound that I have. I grew up a fan before I was an artist. And really just listening and those core memories over the years is where it really all comes from.

What is the scene like out there in Kentucky? It seems like it's bubbling now...

It's building and like you said Kentucky definitely has some artists popping up now from there but they are all from Louisville which is like more Southern Kentucky. Being from Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati we are kind of still just waiting for our first. But it’s just dope to see the area getting the attention and love we have. But it is really dope to just see it building and watching it in real-time is super fire and super rewarding

"Evergreen" is one of the tracks that stands out to me, that sh*t hits. Talk to me about that song there...

There are hella evergreen trees in Kentucky, a lot of the things that I tend to write about always have to do with something from back home. I always like to have some sort of tie to back where I’m from. Evergreen was just one of those things - I’m pretty sure my dude Rocco Roy produced that. We were in the stu and I was writing to that beat as he was making it. Then I re-recorded it that night, so it was pretty dope it was pretty organic, and having all that raw energy there was super fire.

Can you talk to me about your style overall musically?

A lot of my music comes from like me just being comfortable and finding a way to release my thoughts and feelings really because I used to be an over thinker. (Laughs)

What do you mean by that? How were you overthinking things?

I used to tweak and think about things and situations that weren’t even real. Just having to deal with that was just a toll on me and I was just like, "I'm wasting my energy and I’m wasting my time." So I was able to use music as a release in my life and it was like the one place where nobody could tell me what to do, I can say what I want and say what I mean. I'm lucky I was able to get that gift.

How long have you been making music altogether?

I’ve been involved with music since I was in like second grade. I started playing the drums early, but I would say that I for real started taking it seriously in 2020, and I’ve been rapping on and off since 2017.

What about production-wise, where do you get your beats from?

The majority of my beats I get from my guy Rocco Roy, that’s my go-to guy and he’s with us in LA right now. So me and him always link up and we always cook. We always have good ideas and can feed off each other. It's just a dope relationship because you know we are able to actually collaborate.

It's like a give and take relationship, where he will be like, “Yo let's try this.” or I will be like, “Yo check this out.” Or I’ll be like, “What about this?” and Rocco will be like “Nah that’s wack, let's try this.” I’m able to feed off that and listen. But we care about the art you know, so it's just dope to have someone that wants to put their all into it and get the same thing that you want to get out of it.

So you’ve been getting mad love online from the blogs and websites, what have the rap fans been saying?

It's been a lot of dope feedback. You get the comparisons and people trying to describe your sound. I love people saying, “You just gained a new fan,” or the messages when people are like, “Yo you’re hard.” It's just dope to have these random people from a state that I’ve never been to DMing me and telling me that I need to keep going and that I’m dope. That kind of stuff is an affirmation that keeps me going and it's a motivation for real. It’s love and I appreciate it for real.

Is there anything that you want to tell the fans? I appreciate you and I try to get back to all the fans keep rocking with me.

We live in an era where the rap music is more spastic, your music seems more calculated where does that come from?

I think it's just my focus on me being me. I've always been a huge quality over quantity type of guy. That's why I've dropped like two projects and they only had eight songs on them. I focus on the quality of the song and because I focus on the quality of the song it takes me a little bit longer to write because I want my ideas to make sense and I want it to sound the way that I composed it in my head. If I don't take that little time and effort to make the song sound how I want it to then no one else will. Because engineers can't read your mind, producers can't read your mind. Its up to you because at the end of the day the song you create is on you. So I really take pride in things that my name is attached to so if you're coming to get some E the Profit you should know what to expect. nbsp;

INSTAGRAM: @etheprofit nbsp;

TWITTER: @etheprofit nbsp;