Niko Is Says Prince Harvey's Secret Apple Album Is Proof "There's No Limits Anymore"

[With social media still buzzing over New York rapper Prince Harvey revealing he created an entire album from an Apple Store, Javotti Media’s Niko Is gives SOHH his reaction to hip-hop’s hunger to strive no matter the obstacle.]

I just tweeted [Prince Harvey], that’s good for him.

Since the beginning, hip-hop reflects a culture. It’s a culture of other worlds and us not having a lot. That’s kind of what gave us the inspiration to create. With me coming from Brazil and being an immigrant, we’ve always been very resourceful.

You get the cow and you just don’t cook one part of the cow, you cook the whole cow. You cook the head, you cook the ear, you eat the tongue, you eat the heart. You eat every part of the cow.

You use this part for stew, you use the bones for [something else]. We’re always trying to be resourceful and take advantage of everything we have. That’s kind of what hip-hop has always been.

And now, you see it.

There’s no time for excuses. Anything anybody says is bullsh*t. I don’t listen to people, they’ll say, “Look at you, you’re so good. I wish I had those connections.” I’m like, “Listen, everything we’ve done has been because of us.” We are completely in-house. Colours of Culture. We don’t outsource.

We never had money. We never had rich parents. I never had a trust fund. I never had anybody pay for my studio time like that. So I had to go out and get it. I had to prove that we can do this on our own. We’ve got this far on our own and we’re going to continue working with our people and give opportunities to our people, the people who really deserve it.

There’s no limits anymore.

A man just went to an Apple Store and recorded an album on the low, secret. That’s what pops up. Whether it’s good or not, it’s like, “F*ck you, I can do whatever I want whenever. I don’t need to wait for you.”

It’s real inspiring to see how independent people are getting, hands-on, and how creative people are when they don’t have resources because we’ve never had sh*t. So for us now, having sh*t, it’s really not that serious. We’ve never really had sh*t.