Hailing from Kingston Jamaica but reppin Ft. Lauderdale, O. Allen is making moves. Producing for other top artists as well as himself, O. Allen blends lyrical content with razor sharp swag and head knockin beats. Scroll down and learn about him, he’s on his 24/7 grind.

 

24H: Ok my man first off we at 24Hour would like to thank you for sitting down with us and letting us get to know you a little bit better. For those that don’t know you go ahead and introduce yourself to the people.

 

O. Allen: Ya already know, O. Allen. 24 Seven Hustla, Show Stoppa Ent., Lauderdale stand up. I’m a producer, artist, rapper, singer everything.

 

24H: Aight so your from Ft. Lauderdale?

 

O. Allen: Well I was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and I was raised in New York. But I been in Lauderdale since 2000.

 

24H: How long have you been doing music and how did you get started?

 

O. Allen: I been doing music since I was in 4th grade, playing instruments. I played drums, I played trumpets. As far as producing I been producing since 2000. When I first moved down here, I won the rap games that 99 Jamz used to do back in the day. And as the winner they put you in the studio with their people to record a song. So I did a freestyle with them and they (the producers) were like we wanna work with you and you should come do an original song. And man they just raped me. I mean I ended up payin like $1500 for a beat, another stack in studio time. And this is in 2000. Ya know what I’m sayin, that’s like payin somebody five stacks for a beat now. And the beat was just garbage so I was like ya know what, I could do this myself. So I went and bought a keyboard and I  been makin beats ever since.

 

24H: Okay, okay, I can feel that. So describe your style? What’s your music sound like?

 

O. Allen: Honestly I just got that vibe. No matter what you lookin for, if you lookin for a club (track), if you lookin for a storyteller, you lookin for a grimy track, you gon’ vibe to it when you put it on. Automatically you gon start noddin. If you listen to a beat CD or my album, nothing sounds the same. Like a lot of producers all their tracks sound the same. Me, I try to go all over the place with it. I’m more geared to the women, like my Myspace, I got 13,000 friends and 10,000 of them are women.

 

24H: You mentioned that you were born in Jamaica. Would you say that Caribbean background has an influence on your music?

 

O. Allen: Oh definitely, definitely. Growin up in the islands, wit reggae music, it’s music music ya feel me. It’s not just like a beat and some of this, it’s actual music. You’ll have like three hooks just in one song feel me. So it definitely impacted it.

 

24H: And besides that who are other artists that influenced you?

 

O. Allen: Growin up in New York, I would definitely say Hov, Biggie. They influenced the lyrical side. But besides those two, New York rappers didn’t really have swag. When I came down south I started bumpin down south rappers like Outkast, Tip, but I always looked up to Hov as far as creativity and how he puts his words together. Like he might say one thing but mean a totally different thing and the shit just be hot.


 

24H: So what’s a song of your own that’s a personal favorite?

 

O. Allen: I’d prolly have to say “I Don’t Know”. I just dropped a album, called Bet Money, it’s on iTunes. And the first song on there is called “I Don’t Know”. It’s just swagged out, ya feel me. So that’s prolly my favorite joint on there.

 

24H: So you produce all your own music?

 

O. Allen: Yeah all my own music.

 

24H: That must be a great advantage to you then, to only have to rely on yourself right?

 

O. Allen: It makes it different. See it makes it easier and it makes it harder. Because as a producer all the time I got people hittin me up “Yo I need beats, I need beats”. So it’s like when I start makin the beat, my artist side kicks in and I start writin to the beat. A lot of times I hate when artists hit me up like “Yo e-mail me beats.” And with this internet age, they jack it, put it out. And you don’t see a dime for it. But when they come to the studio and hear beats, I already got hooks for em’. But it’s hard cause when people come over to hear the beats, they always wanna hear some songs that I did. And then they hear those beats and they like “Aww man, I want those beats!” ya know what I’m saying. So it’s a struggle tryin to balance.

 

24H: So who are some artists you’ve worked with or produced for?

 

O. Allen: So far I’ve worked with Bris (Brisco). I’ve worked with C-Ride, Pleasure P, Sparks from Roc-A-Fella and Piccallo.

 

24H: Aight I dig. I also know you were on that Florida Boi Reppa Tour right?

 

O. Allen: Yeah it was me, Brisco, Numbaz, C-Ride, and GG. We did Lauderdale, Tampa, Pensacola, Daytona. That was my first time on the road so it was crazy. The music speaks for it self though. Like a lot of times we go in the club and people don’t even know who you are. But when you get on stage and you start rockin, if your music is hot, they bumpin ya see what I’m sayin. If your music is good, the people gonna walk wit you, whether they know you or don’t know you.

 

24H: Okay that’s definitely a good look. So what’s coming up next, what can we look for from you?

 

O. Allen: Right now like I said I got the album on iTunes, so I’m pushin that. Also I’m workin on a new mixtape right now with DJ Smallz, it’s called King Kong Swag. That’s gon be crazy. The first single off that is called “Damn”. And besides that I just been grindin, I just got some beats to Blue, I got some beats to Redd Eyez. Everyday I’m workin as a producer and an artist. I’m in the studio right now, workin on a record that I’ma do with Charles Reed. And Trick Daddy got a song sittin on his computer that I did, that if he drops, its gon’ be a hood classic. I don’t know why he’s handcuffin it over there, but they just got it sittin over there. I’m bout to put that out myself (laughs).

 

24H: Well I wanna thank you once again for this interview. How can people contact you and hear your music?

 

O. Allen: Ya need beats holla at me. Myspace.com/Oallen.

 

24H: Aight definitely, any shout outs before we wrap it up?

 

O. Allen: Shout out to whole Broward County, Lauderdale stand up. Shout out to my manager Juan, Show Stoppa Ent. The whole 24 Seven Hustla Fam. Shout out to Nina Marie for always grindin and workin with me. Damn I shoulda wrote these down. Yeah that’s it.