Lantana is a rising rapper who is looking to put Cincinnati on the map when it comes to the rap sphere. Even his name pays homage to Cincinnati, specifically, his hometown. While the rapper is working on his debut mixtape Live From Lantana, which is slated to drop January 7th on HotNewHipHop, we thought it'd be a good time to introduce you to Easy Lantana formally.
At this point, Lantana may be most familiar because of his track "All Hustle, No Luck," the remix of which features Yo Gotti, Bun B and Pusha T. However, you can learn more about the emcee from our new interview.
On his name:
"I'm from Cincinnati. And the neighborhood I'm from is College Hill, and the first street I lived on in that neighborhood is Lantana.So coming up in the hood they called me Easy, if you really know me you call me Easy, but when I went away my dudes started calling me Lantana. 'Cause it's like if you don't even know my hood, you gonna know that street. And when they started calling me that it suck, 'cause it meant more, it's bigger than me. When you say 'Lantana' it ain't just me, man, it's my people."
On what it's like in Cincinnati:
"It's real. Cincinnati one of the real type cities. Segregated like crazy. It made me who I am."
On going to jail:
"When I was 19 I got locked up, just out there in the life, I got caught up in something. I went away for four years, it shaped me. I hate jail, but I loved what it did to me. 'Cause I wouldn't be who I am right now, for real." He added, "It was [for] robbery."
On when he started rapping:
"I've been rappin' since like the 7th grade. I got a whole lot of difference influence on music. I started writing when I was in 7th grade, and just when I got to a certain age it started like I could really do something with it. It came after jail."
Peep the full interview below,