On the Hill -The Kid Daytona

Hip Hop's past and future meet neatly in the music of The Kid Daytona. From the same neighborhoods that birthed the culture, this emcee rocks progressively. My Name Is: "'Daytona' came up from when I grew up, in the South Bronx. As a kid, I used to get into some mischief here and there. I was 14 or 15 years old, and one of my friends had a master [key] copy to 1987 Toyota Camrys. We took it on a lil' joyride [for several nights]. It was my turn [to drive] one night, and I thought I saw [something in the street], and I smashed the car into a row of three or four parked cars. I got out and ran. The block just started calling me 'Daytona 500,' and that's where it started from. [Laughs] Usually, we'd return the car the way it was - not on that night though." South, South Bronx: "I rep it. More so, I represent New York Hip Hop in general. In the past few years, it's been crazy, with the south takin' over and radio [taking the turn its taken], everything sounds the same. That New York feel kind of gets drowned out in the midst of everything that's going on. With this new project I'm doin' called The Interlude, I'm trying to hone that New York sound and keep it alive. I don't want to conform to everything that's going on - the 808's and the mid-tempos, that whole sound that everybody is trying to copy. From doing that, people say it's refreshing or brand new. Really, I'm just doing music that I fell in love with as a child."