Interview: The International – Roy Hamilton III

Currently his single “Invizible Man” showcases the complete talent that Roy is. Roy took out some time to talk with wordonthestreetsmag.com about how he got into the game, and what separates him from other artists

Wordonthestreetsmag.com: How did you get into the music industry?

Roy Hamilton III: I’ve been into music my whole like. My grandfather was big in the music scene in the 50’s and 60’s and my father is a singer/songwriter. Growing up I always had great musical equipment around me and listening to the likes of Ronald Isley to Earth Wind and Fire and Bob Skaggs. In the mid 90’s I saw Puffy and the whole Bad Boy movement and I remember seeing these young African-American men coming up and starting labels. I thought I could do the same thing. When I was 17 I did a demo package and gave it to R.Kelly. The rest is history, I’ve been doing this for 10-12 years now

Wordonthestreetsmag.com: Atlantic City is known more for gambling than putting out musicians.

Roy Hamilton III: Atlantic City is going to have a scene in the next ten to twelve months and I’m going to be the person who’s spearheading. A lot of real talented people coming out of this area. Rodney Jerkins is from this area. There’s a lot of talent here, its just been under the radar

Wordonthestreetsmag.com: What makes Roy Hamilton III different from the current crop of R&B acts.

Roy Hamilton III: I’m doing something different. I don’t curse in my music or objectify women in my music. I’m bringing a positive vibe back to the R&B and hip-hop scene. it’s a mash-up. I sing, I rap. I mess with live instruments. You can’t put it in a category, just call it good music.

Wordonthestreetsmag.com: Talk about your new single “Invizible Man”

Roy Hamilton III: “Invisible Man” the testament to me being a invisible man in the industry for so long and now I’m taking off the invisible suit and show people who I am. I’m also working on a micro-mixtape with Dj Whoo Kid called “The International” I’m not putting out an album until 2011 but the album will be called “The Monarch” and it will be a micro-album too, 4 songs and 4 videos to the songs. It’s a real interesting story about someone who came up and became King just to realize that he didn’t want to be King.

Wordonthestreetsmag.com: “The Monarch” sounds like an interesting project.

Roy Hamilton III: It’s a great album, I wish I could fast forward to next year. So I’ll be dropping the micro-mixtapes and singles, and doing live shows all summer and really just building my name and my buzz up.

Wordonthestreetsmag.com: You really sound like you are a fan of music. Do you think that most artists today don’t love music anymore?

Roy Hamilton III: For me it’s literally, “I am music” it’s not something that I just do from time to time. I want to use music to heal people and change what’s going on. I feel like music is a strong medicine and most artists aren’t taking that seriously right now. I really feel like it’s time to bring back that musicianship and not have be bailed out by using a curse word. Give the listeners an experience and music can really do that. I think a lot of young artists today are getting in it for the money. I’ve been blessed enough to never really have to go down that road. I’m really going to look after my integrity as an artists and giving it to the people and worrying about my pockets second.

Wordonthestreetsmag.com: The concepts sound great, but do you feel like the industry can get behind something like this?

Roy Hamilton III: I don’t think its going to hinder me at all. There are about 6 billion people on the planet, I just want to get a few hundred thousand to get behind a cat like me.If I touched a few people at the end of the day and feel like you can be different and not be put in a box then I served my purpose. I ignited some people

To find out more about Roy Hamilton III log onto RoyhamiltonIII.com