Feature: The Talk of CT Phar-City

The Connecticut music scene has been thriving locally for decades, although few artists native to the small state have made an important impact on today’s Hip Hop and Pop music scenes. The men of Phar-Cityare focused on bringing their sound out of Connecticut, and beyond the realm of the Northeast region to touch the world.

Interviewed by: Latosha Foote



Please Introduce yourselves; names and where you're from.

Beatdown: We're all from Connecticut. Crisis and I are from Middletown, Sho-Off is from New Haven, and Pro is from Hartford.

How long have you guys been established as a group, and how did you meet?

Crisis: We've been established as a group for about eight years now. I went to school with Beatdown, and we played sports together. Sho use to come to Middletown during the summer to visit family. Pro's family and my family are close, so we've known each other since we were young.

What Inspires Phar-City?

Beatdown: I think everyday life inspires us. We just take situations that we individually go through and form it into songs. That's how the best music is made.

Describe the scenerio of where Phar-City was when you got your first big break and how did it feel?

Crisis: I wanna say like six years ago, when the radio station invited us to perform at their first major concert at the Civic Center. We performed on the same bill with a few other major artists. 8,000 people, and they were rockin wit ya boys! The feeling was great at that time - it was one of those feelings where you feel like you're unstoppable!

Is Phar-City signed yet? If so, with who?

Crisis: Naw, we aren't signed yet, we're just focused on making hits and good music! Everything will fall in place very soon!

When can we expect an album or a new mixtape?

Beatdown: The mixtape is dropping early February, and it's called The Talk of CT, Pt. 4. The album will drop as soon as we have the right situation to put it out. You can't rush perfection. [laughs]

Where can fans find your music?

Crisis: Everyone can find our music at www.myspace.com/pharcity also coming soon is our official site at www.pharcity.com. People can also follow us on twitter.com/pharcity for any updates about our shows, releases and anything else we might be doing!

What producers have you worked with?

Crisis: Mainly we worked with Beatdown, who is the producer within the group, and we also worked with DJ Static and Range.

How does Phar-City stand out or differ from other competition?

Beatdown: Without sounding too cliche', I feel we differ by staying consistant with the quality of material we release. Everyone thinks they make hot records, but we know we make hot records, and soon the world will know that too.

What was it like working with well-established artist such as T-Pain and Trey Songz?

Crisis: It was cool working with Trey Songz and T-Pain. With T-Pain, we met a couple times at a couple concerts in Connecticut and exchanged info. He was actually busy at the time when we did the song... It was around the time when he had "Buy You a Drink" out, which was starting to pick up heavy! So he recorded it while he was on the road and sent us the files.

Trey is a really cool dude very humble and hard working. I think that's why all his success is paying off for him. With the song "Gotta Have It" Trey actually wrote the hook for that song and recorded it in like 40 minutes. Phar-City and Trey have been like family ever since.


On days when Phar-City or a group member feels like giving up or having a feeling of being overwhelmed, what does Phar-City do to re-group, focus and find the drive to keep grinding?


Sho-Off: I try not dwell when things aren’t going “as planned” with the music. Of course there’s ups and downs in our pursuit of making it, but I’ve never wanted to get up. Anything worth having is never easy, and personally, I’ve never gotten anything easy. I’ve always grinded to get things I wanted. What keeps me going are the random people that see me and say, “Hey you're Sho-Off from Phar City - I love your music!” Hearing complete strangers tell me that drives me to never surrender to failure. I know we will make it - we work way too hard not to.


Crisis: We all get frustrated once in a while, but when a situation does come up when you feel like you hit a fall, or something didn't work out, we just regroup and figure out another way to make it work!

Why music? and if not music what career path would each of you individually have chosen?

Beatdown: I love music. I've always had an ear for sounds and melodies of any music I've listened to. Even my parents music. I just like being creative, and there's no feeling like the one you get when you've created something that others like. If music wasn't my career, I'd probably be a CEO of some corporate company. My brain is always thinking business first. If i can't see money being made, then I pass on the offer.

Sho-Off: I chose music because I’ve just always gravitated towards it. As a kid, I always felt like I listened to music differently then other kids. When I listened to a song or instrumental I would just zone out and get lost in it. I love music almost more than anything in my life. If I weren’t doing music right now, I would probably have a 9-5 honestly. I’m not knocking anyone that has a 9-5 job, but the thought of me doing that for the rest of my life is a fucking nightmare! [laughs] I love music - that’s what my passion is.

Crisis: I love music also. I like all different types of music, and I enjoyed seeing how people react to different songs in general. I like the fact that I can entertain people and make sure they enjoy what they came to see. Music is more than just a hobby, and i'm speaking for each and every one of us. We eat, sleep and breathe it. Besides music, I think I would own some sort of business and be my own boss!

Pro: Music is what I do, like Crisis just said, we eat, sleep and breathe this and 24/7, 365 were either talking about it or actually recording or performing. Besides music I would probably still be hustlin' out here in these streets.

What advice would you give to anyone trying to make it in the industry?

Sho-Off: My advice to anyone trying to get in the industry is make sure it's what you want to really do. I say that because if you only 'sort of' want to do this it’s not going to happen for you. You have to be willing to sacrifice anything for it, and you can never think of quitting as an option.

Crisis: My advice would be, if this is a passion of yours then work hard, don't give up and let the haters hate!

Finally, what are your thoughts on Haiti?

Beatdown: I think it's a terrible tragedy. It could happen anywhere. So far people have really reached out to try to help Haiti with all the donations and telethons. I think its gonna take time, but the people of Haiti will overcome this horrible situation.

Sho-Off: My heart goes out to Haiti. It’s a real tragedy to see that country in the state its in right now. The positive side of things is that everyone is pulling together for Haiti to try to aid it as much as possible. Phar-City is doing fund-raising shows to help raise money for the cause. Anything we can do to help.