Now if you haven’t heard of Grind Mode and you’re from Miami, then
you need to get a reality check. These artists have been grinding on the edge
of the game for a minute now. Stage
McKlezie, lead of Grind Mode, has taken Hip-Hop to a whole new level. I
once told you before that Miami is on Fire, Grind Mode is one of the reasons
next to list of many more. McKlezie,
Chaos, and Hunger comprise Grind Mode and have just recently inked a deal with
Universal Republic. Their hit single
I’m So High has already swept across
the nation and banging in clubs all over the place. With Iconz in the past, and looking towards the future, there is
definitely no stopping the reign of Grind Mode.

I caught up with McKlezie at Audio Vision studios while in the
process of recording the official Grind Mode album and he agreed to vibe one on
one with 24hourhiphop.com and give
us a idea and scope into his current and future projects, leaving the past
behind him as just history.

24: So start
off, congratulations on the hit “I’m So High.” How have things been after that
huge success and what’s next?

McKlezie:
Everything right now is real crazy, we still on the grind, we on the main set.
We gotta do what we do, on the grind, still doing street promotion.  Basically seeing people day to day,
performing, we still in the studio making music; the easy part is making the
single, the hard part is staying on top. We always are going to be still on the
grind. That’s it.

24: For
those people that aren’t familiar with your work, let’s get them up to speed,
let them know who you are?

McKlezie: Well
most people know my name is McKlezie aka Stage McCloud from the world famous
Iconz, you know Mr. Get Crunked Up himself. I’m the one who spit the 16 on the
hook, 16 on the verse and ghost writer extraordinaire, you know just
international star and everything like that, but now I’m back in Miami.

24: From
Iconz to Grind Mode, what happened between then and now?

McKlezie:
It’s about maturity; more of an understanding as far as how the game goes. You
go through your whole life trying to get somewhere and become something and
when it stacked upon you, it’s either you can stand strong or fold. When things
are stacked up against you, chances are, you’re going to fold. I’m not saying
Iconz folded, but it is what it is. And now, this is an opportunity to give
myself, Chaos, and Hunger the ability to get back out there and show face.

24: Can you
explain to us, the downfall?

McKlezie:
It’s a lot of things tagged into the downfall, if you want to call it that, but
you know, differentials, dudes wanna do movies, fall out between Slip N Slide (Records), Koch (Records), and Atlantic (Records). But me personally,
I’m a very patient person, I played my role as a teacher and I played by part,
played the soldier role for a long time and it’s out of my character to play
the soldier role when I know exactly what I want to do with my career, what I
feel in my heart. But every time I play the General role, you see some difference
when I did it. So I played the soldier role, I played the obedient soldier, but
at the end of the day it is what it is. Things just happen, and the downfall,
if you wanna call it that, happened; Iconz is where it’s at right now, but they’re
doing good, they got some things poppin’ off, and I’m in a good place, I got
things poppin’ off. Me, Grind Mode, Bigg
D, Dadetown, we working on
something big, there’s going to be a session, ya’ll wait around for that.

24: Explain
the name change from Stage McCloud to what it is now, McKlezie?

McKlezie: Sometimes
when you’re shedding the past, you got to shed everything that comes with it, to
have a rebirth of your character. If I kept McCloud up then I would have to
keep the whole memories with Iconz. It’s not the same story, it’s not the same
environment, it’s not the same work ethic or the same people and principles
involved with it. It’s totally different people involved and I’m playing the
leading role sort of speak running the Grind Mode enterprise in itself. So if
I’m going to create something new, then everything’s going to be new, so Stage
McCloud had to die for McKlezie to run Grind Mode, and I don’t even let my crew
call me McCloud to be real, they call me McKlezie or they call me Stage, but as
far as McCloud, it’s dead.

24: So as
the head of Grind Mode, can you describe the history and your purpose?

McKlezie: As
far as the history, everybody knows our pedigree. We’ve been in the streets,
grindin’ like doing open mics, doing performances and hitting these clubs. We
did the Oh No; we did the Oh No video, Red Rat came through and just laced it. But for an independent
label to do what we were doing with my budget, my street budget, we made Video
Mix and out of 200 we hit 22, so we were number 22 most requested. And that was
just a buzz video, we were out there trying to have some fun and see what we
could do. So then we came out with the Yayo,
I Got that Yayo, and that was a different movement in itself, but we
couldn’t get any radio play off of it because of the subject matter and at the
time we didn’t have that major behind it so it wasn’t being pushed. It is what
it is, we just had to keep regrouping and coming back at them. Everything we
put out got a positive response. We always stayed in the foreground and do
things that people didn’t expect us to do and change it in a way where we just
had fun, not take ourselves too serious.

24: Who does
Grind Mode’s roster official consist of?

McKlezie:
Well, Grind Mode is the group and Grind Mode Enterprises is the label. The
group is Me, Hunger, and Chaos, that’s the group. As far as the label, we got a
couple of writers and producers on the roster. My dude Swagga, Gold, Sonya, the singer on the I’m So High and couple of other records,
so that’s who’s on the roster right now.

24: Besides
running the mixtape scene, when are we going to finally hear an official Grind
Mode Album?

McKlezie:
The fourth quarter did pretty good; we flooded the streets with 50,000 units
and we had the Oh No and the Yayo singles on it. It was a great
response, myspace went up. But I’m So
High is the first official single off of the I Will Grind Album. Right now we doing a lot, but I’m not one of
those type of dudes that like to predict the future and be like yeah “We gonna
have 30 albums.” I’m not that dude, cause I hate to eat my words at the end of
the day. So let’s just say, realistically, that we looking for a release for
the album sometime in the summer of 09, realistically, now if we come out
before that then God-Willing. But before we do anything it’s always thoroughly
planned and put together, we don’t just do things on a whim. Especially now
that we got Bigg D on the project, we’re mapping out everything, because a lot
of people say they’re moving units, but we’re trying to do something Miami
hasn’t done, be the first diamond sellers out of Miami. We looking past just
being a local and nationwide group, we’re trying to take it to an extreme and
our whole mindset in life is we want bigger things in life. I got family to
feed; we all got family to feed. There’s a lot of people in Miami that’s
looking to get out, I wanna be that person they look up to because why settle
for two gold or platinum records when you can try to do numbers that’s
ridiculous. I’m trying to do ridiculous numbers, cause I want (industry) people
to come back down to where I came from, where I got my training, like the pub,
or the pipeline, I want them to come down there and pick up other people. So
it’s on our back, we trying to do something they have not seen before and the
responses we’re getting is like comparisons to people that have done it
already, like the Fugees and the Black Eyed Peas. We’re not just being
labeled as a rap group; we’re called superstars, entertainers, artists. I love
the fact that they’re not calling us a rap group from Miami, they’re calling us
a group that just might take over the industry.

24: I had a
chance to hear several of your tracks, including I’m So High, now you said you don’t to be labeled just Hip Hop, you
want be labeled as a superstar, so what would you say your style of music is?

McKlezie:
Grind Mode style is like a personality, like all in all we just do not take it
that seriously. You gotta remember that at the end of the day, we’re all just
entertainers and some of these cats forget that and they want to mean mug
constantly and we ain’t built like that. Let me tell you something, I had a lot
of fights in my life and a lot of shit like that, some of the stuff I ain’t
proud of, but I’m not walking around mad at the world, I’m happy, I enjoy my
life. It’s proven that people want to go to clubs and enjoy themselves. So
we’re trying to provide something that is missing not only in Miami, but in the
industry because people are just mad for no reason. A lot of people are just
upset at the world, I don’t know. If you’re going to be real, then be real. So
with these characteristics that we all portray, if I’m crying on a track you’re
going to hear it, if I’m excited you’re going to hear it. So as far as style
goes, getting back to your question, we just real life, we don’t hide nothing,
everything is poured out on the track as far as Grind Mode.

24: What
producers have you been working with and what does Grind Mode have in store for
the world?

McKlezie: As
far as producers, we still constructing the album, but as far as guaranteed
producers, Bigg D definitely put down. Gorilla
Tek, he did the I’m So High record,
Swagga and Gold from Grind Mode did a couple of tracks for the album. We still
in the studio working, I mean, if we need a track with Timbaland and it landed in the right place, then we might get
something from Timbaland. Right now, we got a little family going and everyone
knows exactly where we’re trying to take this to.  So everyone’s on the same page. We’re going
to shake up the world. Change the books, sort of speak.

24: And how
about McKlezie, when can we expect a solo album?

McKlezie:
I’m not worried about a solo record right now because my focus, my major focus
is on Grind Mode. We’re not talking movies; we’re not talking solo records,
nothing, unless it has to do with I Will
Grind. So put that in everyone’s head, the only thing they should be
expecting is the I Will Grind album,
following the fourth quarter Vol. 2 mixtape; it’s going to be crazy, real
crazy.The I Will Grind Album that’s it, listen to my radio station, 98.7 on
the dial.

24: So how
do the fans get in contact with you and Grind Mode?

McKlezie:
Grind Mode Nation on myspace.com/grindmode2006, you can download the I’m So High track on there, check out
the videos, the Oh No video if you
haven’t seen it yet. Leave your comments; we have contests for people who leave
the best comments, we send you something. That’s Grind Mode Nation. If you want
to get in contact with the actual group, its myspace.com/grindmodemia and all
the members are the top 3, so you’ll see Hunger, you’ll see Chaos, you’ll see
me, the Grind Mode girls are up there. We just a whole movement, Grindtime T.V., my boy Chaos, every
Wednesday, 7pm, you can count on him to be there, Grind Magazine. We are trying to do everything. A lot of people
don’t grind, we grind. We will respond to ya’ll personally, no managers, no
monitors, just us. And ladies leave ya’ll comments, I will answer you
personally. You can also check us out on http://www.grindmodeent.com,
the site is up, we just gotta update it, so go check it out.

24: Thank
you for taking the time to vibe with 24hourhiphop.com, do you have any last
words?

McKlezie: 100%,
for real, for real, I know a lot of people said this before, but I really mean
this so, I do this music as a stress reliever just to get it out, but if the
fans wasn’t there to guide us on and empower us, then we couldn’t do what we do
on a regular basis. It’s more than a movement man, I don’t know what ya’ll
hearing, but it’s official.