It's your boy Zeddy Will and you are now here with All Hip Hop
What's going on everybody? It's your man Chuck Creekmer aka Jigsaw here at One World Studios here with none other
than a young rising star. We were on TV together recently and I had to bring him in the studio
Zeddy Will is in the building. What's up? How you doing? I'm doing good
I'm doing good. Chill out. Have a good... How y'all doing? How y'all doing
How you doing? We were on Lisa Evers' Street Soldiers and we met each other over the Zoom and it was
good energy. You know, real good energy. So we were talking about 50 years of hip hop and what's next
You know, the 50 next years. So first of all, before we even get into all that, tell people a little bit about yourself
and where you are right now. Oh yeah. So, said it. Zeddy Will
So basically, I started from doing TikTok. I was born in Queensbridge
Queensbridge, New York. I'm from New York. All of this really started from me being a TikTok influencer, doing funny videos
My style of videos was comedy. So I was a comedian at the time. Still am
And when I got into the rapping joints, it was just like throwing out little freestyles. I would throw out freestyles for me and my friend Michael in the car and they was eating
it up. They was like, yo, how is he able to sound like that? How was he able to mix comedy with the rap joint
So I kept doing it. Then my manager, Sean Perez, we were like, yo, bro, I think you need to probably take
a stab at rapping. So I'm like, okay. And they started to compare me to Will Smith and that was a big thing because I grew up
loving Will Smith. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, all that type of vibe. So that's really where it started
And now we're doing the rap stuff and I just did this big old freestyle on the radar and
it's called Cha-Cha and that's what's going on now. Yeah, that went out of here
Like over millions of views on different platforms. We hit a million in a week
We hit a million streams in a week and the fans just eating it up, but it's just all
this work I've been doing these past couple, this whole year really, because it's really been a year I've really been working at the music and it's starting to work right now
Now you just threw a few things out there. Let me start with Sean Perez
People that don't know, don't know, but people like me that know, know
If you know, you know. It's that type of situation. If you know, you know Perez is
So tell people who Sean Perez is. So Sean Perez is my manager, but he worked at Bad Boys, a label that is, Bad Boys still
No, Bad Boys not that long ago. Not so much. Yeah, but killing the game with Bad Boys
And you know, Sean Perez really stopped with the music industry. You know, he was doing, you know, he's doing like motivational speaking
He's doing a whole bunch of other stuff. And my uncle brought me to him and I was like, look, you might want to work with this kid
My uncle was like, look, I got like, my nephew is the one. At first he's like, oh, you know, I'm out of here
I'm not really doing this. And then he took it upon himself to take me and I will forever be appreciative of that
That was just God. Like that was just God's time and I'm big on God
And that's where we are now. Sean Perez is the GOAT. And he's like my, what's the karate kid
What's them two? Mr. Miyagi. That's my Mr. Miyagi. So Sean Perez is my Mr. Miyagi. Back
Sean is Sean Perez, man. Yeah, we go back a ways. Global Spin Awards and all
All those things. All the things. He even did some interviews with DJ Vlad. I was like, yo, why are you over there with Vlad
I remember that Sean Perez. Yeah. No, no. I'm playing. But no, that's cool, though
That's dope. You got a certified dude helping you out. For sure
So you also mentioned Will Smith, which I think is interesting because for me, that
was really what first came to mind when I saw the visuals associated with the music
and what you were doing. So where are you heading? Is it going to be music or are you going to act
Will was only really rapping for a short period. Right. He dropped a couple, Parents Ain't Nothin' But Trouble
He dropped all that little stuff. Wait a minute. Girls of the World Ain't Nothin' But Trouble
No, no. Girls of the World Ain't Nothin' But Trouble. I was dancing like this and all that
I feel like I have no limits. I want to end up acting
That's my main thing. I want to end up being an actor. So if it happened tomorrow or happened four years from now, I'm not mad
The music and the comedy is just the start up, the build up. I feel like it's just endless
I can do as many things I want to do. I'm just doing it all right now
So the music is, if that's the thing that God wants me to be putting out to the world
and throwing my comedy out through that and showing I got good lyrics and all that type
of stuff, then that's what it is for now. I don't have a problem with that. I heard some of the songs and I was like, wow, he really does rap about a little bit
of everything. He talked about farting. It's me. I really talk about everything that's going on in my life and I just keep it fun
There are some songs I've made where it's the sad part of my life, but I'm always going
to make it high spirit positive and just dish it out like that, really
You mentioned Queensbridge. So growing up, or at least coming of age for me, Queensbridge was the blocks you might
not make it through, mob deep, what you going to do when my whole crew is blazing at you
So I didn't really go there until much, much, much, much later
Let me ask you, what's Queensbridge? What was it like for you growing up? Me growing up, my mom, I was always in the sports
So I really wasn't in the violent part of it, like being in the gangs and all that type
of stuff. Whatever was going on, I wasn't a part of that. It was cool, regular being in the playground, being with my friends
I got a bunch of friends that I met when I was young and I still know them now. Every time I go back to my hood, they always support
We always talk about the music I got, but growing up it was cool. My mother kept me out of it all
Just the sports, I did swimming, I ran track, I played lacrosse, I played basketball, I
played soccer. That was her way. And my mom, she was a dance teacher for this big community center in Queensbridge
So everybody knew my mom. So it was like, you see his mom, you going to see him
So it's all connected, but I was a good boy. It was a good boy in a wild place, really
Right, right. From a hip hop point of view, did you know the legacy of Queensbridge
No, I didn't. Growing up, I didn't know nothing. I'm just finding out about this, really this year, I didn't know nothing
I didn't know about MC Chan, I didn't know about Mobb D. I just know the songs, but I
didn't know Nas made some songs. He from where I'm from? Oh yeah, it's up
So I didn't know. Nah, that's crazy. Yeah, because you know now, but that's one of the places where..
Queens in general, I should say, just Queens in general was really one of the places that
helped put hip hop on the map. So I always salute Queens
Shout out to Queensbridge. Shout out to the bridge. So back to you
So you got the cha-cha. You do a bit of a mixing of old and new
Talk about the philosophy and the thinking behind that. I think this past year or two, I just been listening to a lot of old school music
And I think this year, really with the 50th anniversary, that type of vibe and how big
of a deal that was, since I'm doing music, I want to make sure I know everything about it while I'm getting into it
So like I said on the interview, I didn't know who Rakim was
Rakim was a big name. I went to the BET Awards and ATL and Rakim had this big old thing
I'm like, if I'm doing music, why don't I know how important he was to hip hop
I listen to a lot of old school music and I love our music that we got now
I just mix it up. That's why in the comments, they like, yo, we got this old school flow, but it sound
new school at the same time. So that's really my style. Really
Do you? Well, let me not load this question. What do you think or hear when you listen to the old school stuff
I think it's the best music. Like that's old school music is the best music
I still feel. I don't think nothing's going to beat it. But I'm not one of those people
I'm only 22 years old, so I'm not going to say, yeah, this hip hop sucks now. It's just not
It's just different times. And it's just a new era. And I feel like people use a lot more auto tune and people not saying no words
It's mama rap, but people like it. So it's fun. And I like that type of music too. I'm not going to sit here and be like, yeah, nah, I hate it
I only love old school music. So that's my take on it. It sounds like you made fun of that at one point
Oh yeah. Mama rap. I made a little joke. I got mad songs where I talk about mama rap, but I got a lot of friends that mama rap and
I love their music still. It's just, it feel good. I feel like as long as your music makes my feel good, then I think you winning. Yeah
That's how I feel. So, so soldier boy, old school now. So the way old school. Yeah. Yeah
He was all that. We not doing that no more that we not doing that, but he's still a legend though. Like soldier boy, what
Kiss me through the phone. He just starts everything. He's the, he, he was the big thing on trend
So he a little old to me though. That's so funny. Now, um, who did you grow up like, you know, looking up to
Who do you like? Who would you like sitting? I don't know. I don't know if you sitting in front of TV. Right
You know. Yeah. Ooh, mine, mine are two people. Um, I would say, well, two people on the entertainment side and then music is just a different thing
On my music side Eminem. Okay. I was a big Eminem fan all my life
I didn't know till this year. Like everything happened this year. I don't know why. My mother was telling me when I was younger, I used to listen to a bunch of Eminem
I was like four or five years old and she had to tell me, stop, you can't listen to too much
And I'm like, you know, he's saying wild things, but now I understand he be wilding. But as a kid, I just loved it
He was just so fun. And then on the entertainment side, Martin Lawrence and Will Smith
Those are my two, um, my goats of just entertainment in general. Cause they just are fun
Um, they appeal to the people. Um, I feel like they just understand comedy and acting and all of that
So those are my, those who I looked up to for. Okay. Now New York is kind of interesting right now
It's like very, I don't know. It's like all over the place. You got drill, you got what you're doing
You got ice spice. You got, you know, Cardi and all the legacy artists too
Um, what do you feel like, okay, so you do a very happy version of rap, you know, very
upbeat, positive, whatever you want to call it, but you smile a lot and stuff like that
Um, do you ever feel like someone might challenge you or try to, you know what I mean
Like, you know, like, oh yeah, absolutely. Cause it's like, they're going to think, oh, he's just doing this to be different
That's really how it'd be like, oh yeah, he's trying to be so different. But um, what helps that is like, if you just go look at the catalog and stuff I've been
doing from while I, my first song you just said, I was talking about fighting
Like this is just, this is me. I can't not be anybody else besides myself
So I do think they will try it. Um, but you know, they gone, they ain't gonna lie
In songs, I don't really think that this and I don't think that this and stuff is happening
anymore unless drill and drill music, they doing all of that. But type of music I'm doing, I don't think that's nothing to worry about for now. Yeah. Yeah
You, you have a couple drill type records, right? Yeah. I think I like, yeah, like one, like one, at least one of them. Yeah
It's something like I call blah, blah. It's kind of like drill Detroit ish. It mixes it up
But yeah. I'm glad you mentioned Detroit. Cause I was going to say, I feel like there's some influence there
Am I wrong? Nah, like, I mean, I listened to, or what am I hearing when I hear you
I just like they beats, like the Detroit type beats and all that style
Like a lot of producers out in has semi beats. They have been from like Flint, Detroit and all that other stuff
But I just like they beats that bang, that, that, that boom, that 808, like that stuff
is what I like. You feel me? So that's where that comes from. But I haven't really listened to a lot of, a lot of Detroit music like that
But I, when I do hear it, like the Baby Trons and hold them right
Rio de Young OG and Icewear Vezo. Like those is, they nice. Yeah
But I'm not really into it like that. Do you like any, like anybody from New York? Oh yeah
My favorite, my favorite New York artist is Busy Banks. I've always said this, like Busy Banks, drill, drill artists from Brooklyn
I love Busy Banks music. And I listen to all, all these drill rappers. I listen to the music
I can't relate to it. Right. I'm not here showing people, but it sounds good. And it'd make me want to dance and all that
And that's what it's about for me. Okay. I'll be having fun. Speaking of dancing, you do a lot of that. Yeah
It's kind of funny sometimes. Yeah. I'll be cracking up. I don't know
I don't know what the question is, but what brings, what makes you bring that into your brand
Like, I just, my mother was a dance teacher. I think that's really what it was. And she always had me in shows with her dancing
So I just took that along and I'm just dancing, no silly and goofy
When I just dance on TikTok, it's getting millions of views, hundreds of thousands
So the people love it. So if I love it and they love it, why not keep doing it
That's how I think about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, as I told you, I'm not doing anything. Yeah
You told me on the interview, you said you're not doing none of the get sturdy. Right. I know you probably tried it though
You got to try it to know you don't want to do it. What's the thing where you kick your leg back or something
That's the old joint. Oh, the shoot? Yeah. Yeah. That's the black boy. Yeah
That's the same problem. You like the two step, the regular little, hey, that's a little bar. That's why the cha-cha joint, you probably going, it's the same beat
You just a little hop to it. A little ah. Right. Right
So yeah, that's dancing. Rest in peace DJ Casper. He's the creator of that and he passed away this year. Yeah. R.I.P
That beat is, that song is crazy. So did you clear the publishing on that
We about to right now. We going to get through all that
We going to get that real soon. But you know, I feel like now that he's passed, we have to go through his entity or something
like that. So yeah, we'll get that. We'll get that done. So what about an album
Are you thinking about an album? Because right now we're in a Spotify, Apple music streaming era
Albums are not as important. People dropping singles. Everybody want to wait to drop the biggest single
Now I'm definitely, I want to take time on my first album. I want my first album to be one of those, like a college dropout or a Get Rich or Die
Tryin', a Slim Shady LP. I want a classic one. You know, and it's going to take time
I want to give a body of work that means a lot to me and a lot to the fans. So I'm not really focusing on that right now
I have a lot of songs that are made. I'm making a song. I got a studio in my crib, so I'm recording everything right now
But that's what I want for my first album. So that's my goal. So that's what I'm working on for now
Do you have any particular team in mind? I mean, when you talk about those albums you just mentioned, I mean, those
Those is big. Yeah, those big dogs. Those is heavyweights. Illmatic, all that
Oh my God. Yeah. Big, big time. You know what I mean
So do you have any producers or artists that you're interested in working with
Not right now. Right now, I don't know yet. You know, right now, I don't know. I don't, there's a bunch of people I'm meeting as I'm going up right now
Everything is hot right now. A bunch of people I'm meeting, a bunch of producers, everybody want to send a beat
Yo, send beats, beats, I got you a beats. So I'm just, you just feeling the vibe out
I will have some people on there though, for sure. I want to make it a classic. I want to make it a good one
So I'll definitely have some- Who do you work with now? Right now, one of my main producers is, what's his name? Oh
How you not going to remember your main producer? Daseful, Daseful. Daseful, his name is Daseful
He's from Europe. Oh, okay. Okay, that makes sense. That's why, he's like, he out of there, he out of there
Daseful is someone I work with a lot. Another person named Mosaics
And then a lot of my other songs, if you go look, they're just instrumentals from songs
that have been out already. So I don't really know those producers, but that's right now, that's what it is
And then my team who I'm working on with music is, I got my friend Michael, his name is PlayGT
And that's, oh, Damon. I got a friend named Damon, who I'm doing music with, but I want some singers
I'm looking for girl singers that can hop on a song and kill a hook
I'm looking for that type of vibe. Good, I'm glad you said that. Yeah, I'm looking for that
I don't want to hear the autotune. I hate it. Yeah, I want to, it'll be sometimes I'm singing on a hook, but I want to make it good
You know what I'm saying? So if I could ever work with Nicki Minaj or something to sing or to rap on my hook or
something crazy, I'll take it. I'm not mad at it. So. How do ladies treat you now
I mean, is it what they say, up? No, I'm up right now
So they love me. I ain't going to lie. The girls love me
It's just been, I've been speaking to a lot of different women, like from out of the country
I never talked to girls from out of the country. Like, whoa, you from London
I never been to London. What are you talking about? But the girls in the city and from these states and stuff, it's been cool. Yeah
They love my energy. I can say that. They love my energy. I want to just say, don't get Jonathan Majored up yet
Who was that? That sounds scary. Jonathan Majors. Who that? Jonathan Majors
What he do? What's his effect? I don't want the Jonathan Majors effect
I don't want the Jonathan. Who that? What he do? He's the guy that played Kang the Conqueror in Marvel Comics
Oh, he just got booked up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no
You don't got to worry about that. I'm going to be good. Oh yeah. You don't got to worry about that
I'll be fine. I'll be fine. Good. Thank you. Because we don't need that
I'll be good. Yeah. Because you seem like a rising star. Like we looked at him like, oh yeah
He's the next Denzel. He's the next, you know. He crazy actor. He's a crazy actor
I'm going to be good. I'm going to be good. I'm going to be good. I'm going to be good
So my grandma, it was me and my grandma, my grandfather, my sister, my brother, we
was all sitting down in a living room. Now they know I don't watch the news
That's not a thing I do. I don't care to watch the news. I want to be on YouTube watching the series and stuff
But we were in a living room. I said, yo, put on Fox 5. Because I had this schedule or whatever
And it just popped up. It was me, you, and Lisa, and Drewski. And they was like, huh
I'm like, yeah, you heard me? Because they all loved, they always said, I just want to see you on TV
That's what my mom says all the time. I just want to see you on TV. I don't care what you're doing. My mom was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
who was the dude in the front? He had makeup on the grandpa
That was mad. Cool. That's the one who actually shot the video. Well, he didn't shoot it, but he's the director behind it all
That's mad. Cool. Yeah. He mad as dope. He going to be with me in a lot of videos
We just dropped, we just made a whole nother music video. Um, we might have to make the cha-cha video and that's going to be crazy. Okay
I guess there's going to be a dance and tick. Is it going to be new or a sing
It's going to be different. Okay. It's like cha-cha slide. The old DJ Casper's video, everybody was just dancing
Watch what we do. Just that's all I'm gonna say. Just watch, just watch
Just watch what we do. We're going to turn it up. All right. So tell me a little bit about your creative process
And I pre-faced this with the fact that I noticed most rappers no longer write lyrics
They just, they just kind of go in there and just. Whatever's first
Yeah. Um, I'm writing like, uh, my pen game, like that's one thing Prez always taught me
Like, dude, you got it right. Cause it, you know, a lot of times you can go in the studio and just
freestyle and you might make a hit. A lot of hits have been made. People just freestyle in the studio, but when you want it to mean something
and you want it to come from the heart, you got to really, you got to write that. Um, so that's cha-cha
I wrote that. That was just me and my friend. We was in my, my room and my little studio and I wrote a little bit and he
helped me engineer it and my friend Michael, and it just, that day came about
like that and then freak you. I wrote that in my room, went, put it in the studio
It went out. So, um, that's how I write. I got it. Right. Do you, do you, are you able to stay focused
I mean, with, with social media, with Tik Tok, I mean, all these
notifications, the phone, everything. How, if you, how do you stay focused is really the question
I stay home. Yeah. I don't go outside. Really? I want nothing happening to me
You feel me? I go, I like to stay as regular as possible. So like, I like going to clubs
I like going to parties. I like going to the store. I'm not a, I don't feel the need to be, you know, a lot of people on my team get
at me a lot because I like going to the store without security. I don't, I don't like doing all that extra stuff, but I just stay in the house
That's the best thing to stay in the house, make music, record videos, and just chill
That's really what it is for me. That's my plan. Have your friends treated you different? Have they started to act funny
Nah, uh, not friends, but people that I went to high school with for sure
I went to prep school all the way out in Virginia for four years. So, um, a lot of those people that hit me up that never spoke to me, never gave
me the time of the day, um, that type of stuff. But other than that, I haven't had no, I don't got a lot of friends
I like to keep it, you know, family. And I got a couple of people I be with all the time, but all my friends out in
college, they playing sports, they doing anything, getting their majors. So I'm not really, I got to worry about none of that
You know what I'm saying? So that's what it is for me. What about Howard? Did you, um, did you graduate
No, I did. I did a year at Howard. You did one year? I did a year at Howard
And I'm not going to lie. That's probably the best year of my life up to this point
Howard is fun. Like HBCU culture is crazy. It was just girls, school
I was on the track team. So I got to walk the practice with my little track bag
They like, Ooh, like, and it made it even better that I was Eddie Will at the
school, so they was like, Oh, you know, they rocking with Eddie Will, but, um, it was fun
I needed there. I needed to be there. Um, cause that's my audience. You know, I got a lot of the college kids, the high school kids, the
elementary kids, whatever the case may be. So making music for them and they're going to relate to me the most
Cause it's like, Oh yeah, one, he went here. Not just Howard. I went to college period
And then he's just a young kid that just like having fun. Um, so that was my Howard experience
I love, I love Howard. Oh boy. I love Howard. Go Bison's facts. So, um, so this is a question we ask almost everybody comes up here
I don't know if you ready for this one, but it's not, it's not that bad, but I'm
curious to know who your top five dead or alive is. Oh, Oh, bet
Ready? Yeah. Biggie. Okay. Uh, Eminem. Nas. Okay. MF doom. Oh, and I'm gonna go MC light
I'm gonna throw a girl in like, why? Why? That's my mom's favorite artist. And I'm not being biased cause mommy. Yeah
But I actually listened to MC light and she'd be spinning and she got to be
known in some type of top five. Now, if I had to do girls, can I do an old girl? Yeah
Let's do that. All right. So I take MC light out for the boys. One and I throw in, um, I throw in Jay Z
Okay. Don't Jay Z girls. I'm going Lauren Hill. Oh, well, she's a singer
Yeah. No, no. All right. Lauren Hill, Lauren Hill, MC light, Foxy Brown, Nicki Minaj and
Hmm. Missy Elliott. Okay. Yeah. That's my father. What about top five
Young artists, younger or Drake. Okay. Um, Kanye. Okay. Uh, uh, let me see
Oh, it's harder. Yes. Hard now. Jay Kanye. I go. Damn. I feel like I'm in my mid
Oh, I like Gunna. Gunna. Okay. Gunna. Okay. Um, we don't care about snitching around
You're not gonna. Uh, I go, I go Meek Mill. Okay. And
Ooh. Ooh. My last one. Who's my last one? I feel like I'm
This is hard. This is a hard one. Yeah. I say T grizzly
T grizzly. Yeah. Okay. T grizzly. Crazy with his story time. Yeah
Like a, a newer slick Rick. Yeah. Yeah. I like T grizzly a lot
I think, I think he should turn them into like movies or something. Yeah. Like mini BT or to be, or whatever
Turn them drinks in the movies. Production is crazy. Yeah. That's my father. Okay
No, it was kind of hard. You see how locked in I've been told to fly
But newer. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So legacy wise, you know, I don't know
You, you just basically started, but do you, I mean, you already
seem to have an idea of legacy, right? What, what, what do you. Where does that come
Where does that come from? Like, you know, most people ain't gonna lie at that at 21, 22, don't
really know where they're going. And they're absolutely only thinking about what's mostly what's going on right now. Yeah
Right now, like the money and the famous stuff, where I get that from. I mean, it's my mom, Sean present God, like those, um, I'm always
led in the right direction. I'm blessed. Like you don't get people like that in your life. Um, and I got Chanel who's on my PR team
Like she's, she's, that's another person to like, yeah. Shout out to Chanel
Like they always got me on time with stuff and, and they, it's
just the vision, they understand me. A lot of people are not understood. And people don't, a lot of my age don't care to be understood
They just want to do their own thing, you know? So, um, that's really what it is. I just want to keep my head forward, do the work
That's really all it is. You do the work and you reap the benefits later. That's really what it is
That's, that's what I'm doing now. Do you feel prepared for, for the bright lights of fame
I feel like I am. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I am. Yeah. Cause it's been, you know, I haven't seen a lot of it yet, but like I said, the
people I got around me and just being confident in myself, I feel like I'll be fine. Would you join the Illuminati
No, I'm cool. I'm cool. I'm good. We're going to stay right here and keep it pushing
Are you ready for people to start saying your name all wrong? Like adding an S at the end
ZD, Zadi, I can't wait to go out the country. They start saying Zadi, Zadi
But yeah, I ain't gonna care about that. My real name is Zedekiah. Zedekiah Williams. I ain't never skipped on my name out there
I love my name. Biblical name, but Zeddy will, they're going to know the name. They're going to know it
It's going to be big. Promise. I won't lie. Chuck Carter first. Yeah. Hey
And on that note, man, thank you. Yeah, I appreciate you. Yes, sir. Yeah. I wish you well, definitely