Artist Of The Week - Phar-city

Something for everybody. That’s the idea behind Connecticut’s Phar-city, one of the most talked about groups in the history of the state. Phar-city consists of three MC’s, Crisis, Pro and Sho-off, and producer Beatdown (as pictured it's Pro, Crisis, Beatdown & Sho-off w/ DJ Kay Slay in background). The group has released a number of CD’s including The Next Big Thing, which moved 10,000 units, The Talk Of CT, which was hosted by DJ Kay Slay and has moved 15,000 units, and the recently released The Talk Of CT Pt. 2, which is also hosted by DJ Kay Slay and DJ Radio. Phar-city has achieved a status far beyond their “local” tag, working with such heavyweights as Styles P, Pitbull, Trey Songz and Juelz Santana. The group has performed up and down the entire east coast, opening for everyone from 50 Cent to Kanye West and today they’re opening up to me for this week’s Artist Of The Week interview.

Adam Bernard: How did all of you get together and when did you decided to record as a team?
Crisis: We got together about six years ago. I went to school with Beatdown and I knew Pro from friend of the family. Sho-off had family that lived in Middletown so he would visit and that’s how we met. Me and Sho-off used to rhyme together and Pro used to do his own thing. One day we just all linked up and made a track after that we took it from there.

Adam Bernard: Hailing from Connecticut what kind of advantages and disadvantages have you experienced as artists?
Crisis: Coming from CT there’s more disadvantages than advantages. Some advantages that we have coming from CT is that it’s an untapped market and there is a lot of money that can be made out here. There’s a lot of major artists that comes out here and cake up from the Hip-Hop scene here in CT. Some disadvantages that we have faced coming from CT is that we are between two major markets which is in itself an advantage and a disadvantage. Being between NY and Boston is good because we get heard and this state helps break new artists, BUT the disadvantage is it breaks New York or Boston artists before it breaks any CT artists.

Adam Bernard: What do you feel is the next step for you as a group in terms of getting your music further out into the east coast and the rest of America? Basically, what are you doing next to build on your buzz?
Crisis: Well, basically we got the wrapped vans, rubberbands, matches, T-shirts, stickers, posters you name it we prolly got it. We are moving lots of mixtapes from the east coast to the south constantly. Also our radio spins has definitely picked up over the years. On our last record we got almost 700 spins and that’s great for an independent artist. There are signed artist that haven’t even see that that many spins so were grateful for that! So basically we gotta just keep makin hits and pushin our music. I feel we are doin the right things, everything will come into place when it’s time.

Adam Bernard: What was your biggest misconception about the industry when you first started? What I mean by that is what was the one thing that made you step back and go "whoa, you mean it's like THAT!?! I had no idea!"
Crisis: The grind factor was our biggest misconception. There are people that don’t grind and get their deals and there are also people that grind and get their deals. The people that don’t really put in that serious grind don’t last long in this music industry. Those that put in that grind and struggle usually last for years. I think if you put in the work and dedication you appreciate your success more and that also helps you become a good artist.

Adam Bernard: Well I know you guys network like crazy. You've worked with a long list of prominent artists. Any advice on networking for the people out there? Are there any things they should definitely do, or specifically avoid?
Crisis: The only advice I can give is to get out there and network. Go to events tastemakers, clubs, shows, do shows. All of these things are keys to being successful. Also be patient. There’s a lot of politics with this game and a lot of bullshit, but if you stay on your grind at the end of the day everything will pay off.

You can check out Phar-city on the web at http://pharcity.com and on MySpace at http://myspace.com/pharcity1.