Interview with King Cobra

Back again with another interview. This time I stopped through Sterling (Jefferson Ave) to have Martino a.k.a Cobra answer a few question for me. Just really trying to give every one a inside look at who Capital Tyzz is and what we about. This is real life here, and nothing has ever been easy for any of us. We gotta continue to fight for what we want out of this life. We also have to make sure we are taking care of ourselves and the people we care about.

Anyways, Check it out.... Gone

How did you get the name King Cobra?

A. Well I got the name because of how I write. When a Cobra doesn't feel threaten it has it's hood down just swaying through life, hence the smooth and mellow RnB side of me. But when a Cobra feels threaten, his hood is up and it's in defense mode. ready to lash out and protect its pride, hence the strong lyrical side of me. Letting people no it's whatever with me, Lls. That's why I Like the name, it suits me.

What types of music do you like making the most?

A. Well I am an up and coming rapper so I enjoy making my lyrics GO you know. But at the same time God has blessed me with an RnB talent to sing and make hook that catch listeners attention. If I had to choose though, it would be my rap side explaining the name Cobra.

Who are some of the people you look up to in Music/Life?

A. Well I look up mostly to my brothers in Capital Tyzz because they continue to motivate me to chase what I want for me. The ones that stand out in music though are, Wiz Khalifa and Bone Thugs, artist that make catchy hooks and lyrics that come at you. Lyrics gotta mean something.

Where were you born and raised?

A. I was born in Reston, VA with all 12 brothers and sisters, with me being in the middle of it all. I moved from place to place finally ending up were I am now in Sterling, VA. I've always stayed close to friends and family through out all the moves. I know it motivates me and the rest of the group to build a foundation of stability in our lives.

Where did you go to School?

A. I graduated and hold my diploma from Park View High School, and its crazy because now a days people don't have the will power to finish what they started. Like they say though, you gotta have something to fall back on, so God has blessed me with that you know.

What's the difference between 703 Fam the group and Capital Tyzz?

A. Well, 703 Fam is our whole family with motivations and ambitions just like the next. We are all hungry and Capital Tyzz is a branch off of that. We just want to show people that we are serious and here to stay. We are always going to represent the 703 Fam becuase703 Fam represent us. At the end of the day we are all going to make it to the top.

Thanks Cobra. Go follow him he just got on Twitter @MartinoThompson

300 Supporters

What's an entertainer without supporters?

One of the goals we talked about as a group is getting back to performing. Doing shows, being requested to do shows, getting paid to do shows. Performers need that platform to entertain people, whether doing shows at local spots, or doing shows at the phone booth (Verizon Center) Wow what would that be like. We all have been to concerts to see our favorite artist perform some of their latest hits. It's an experience to be around 100 or 10,000 people partying to the same music. Any performer or entertainer knows it's their job to reach those people using their talents, and skills to bring happiness to the people who took time out to support.

Even though, yes we may have supporters from the beginning either family or friends. We know that's not enough.  Now we have a big family that extends across the DMV, but we can't depend on family coming to support us at ever show. As a manager, I know if I wanted to set a show for the group I need to be able to SELL Capital Tyzz to either a promoter or bar/club manager on why he should allow us to perform at there venue.  And as we all know money rules. Are we going to be able to bring people into the spot? To the bar to spend money? What is the establishment going to get from allowing us to perform? If nothing then most likely we wont be performing at to many spots. 

Now what does it take to gain supporters? Well I don't have all the answer but common sense will tell me we need to build some type of reputation in the area we are from before we can expand our reach.  That's why I brought up the point to the group that by next summer we should work to have 300 supporters outside of our circle. "I Need To Be Able To SELL Yall".  "Yall have performed before in front of smaller groups, but we need to work to take this next step".  People have to have a connection with your business before they feel like it's something they want to support.  Then if they do come out to support, they need to be entertained so that they continue to support. Quality, Quality, Quality, is what I have preached to the group from the beginning. 

Me, I'm still learning on how to keep track of our supporters. So hopefully by next summer I'll be posting a blog with pictures and video of our show packed with people coming out to support us. And we'll make sure we are ready to put on a show that will help us build on top of that support.

 New Single Coming Soon, Stay Tuned...............

                                                             HELP US REACH 300!
      Send us a email so we can add you to our contact list: Capitaltyzz@Gmail.com

Interview with Young Dev

What's up everybody?

1. Settings

Got another interview here with Young Dev @vaskllz703, the youngest of the group...Follow him on Twitter. 

 

 

1.    What do you do other then make music?

 

Other than making music I go to school part time in Sterling, VA and work in Leesburg, VA. In my free time I listen to beats and write as much as I can.

 

2.    How are you in relation to the other members

of the group?

 

Its me and my brotha C.T Anxious and my two cousins Fresh and Cobra . To me we all brothers and we get along just like that.

 

3.    Where do your lyrics come from?

 

They come from life experiences and some of my feelings. Me and my borthas never write things that are not true. Try to stay true and real to ourselves and everyone else out there listening to our music.

 

4.    Did you Vote at this past election?

 

Yea of course I did! And the results turned out the way I expected.

 

5.    How do other members of your family feel about you pursuing a career in music?

       

       I know that support me with whatever I want to pursue, just as I support 

       them.

 

6.    Do you feel there are any changes that can be made to your surrounding community?

 

I feel like there needs to be more influential people in the community. Someone people can look up to.

 

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Interview with C.T Anxious

Whats Up? Check Out This Interview With C.T Anxious aka Chris Thompson.  I wanted C.T to give you guys his thoughts on the music industry, the music scence in the DMV and whats the next move for Capital Tyzz.   

 

 

1. What do you think about the music scene in the DMV?

 

(A). I feel that there are a lot of musically talented artist out here. Just not enough of them are "branding" themselves. And they are not getting the recognition in our area because labels don't wanna believe our struggles because we're in the so called "suburbs".

 

2. What is Capital Tyzz going to bring in to the music industry?

 

(A). We're gonna bring versatility as the main thing. Then we're gonna show true family talent bonding to show the industry how important family is.

 

3. Who does Capital Tyzz make there music for?

 

 

(A). First we make it for ourselves. To help us express out emotions. Get our true feelings out. We make our music for our area next. To get them behind us and show the world that we can make a difference in the music industry with our view of things

 

4. Where does you motivation come from to make music?

 

 

(A). My motivation comes from all the hard work my parents put in to have a roof over my 4 siblings and I heads, doing whatever it took to get us what we wanted even though they had to spend there last. My motivation is no more struggling for my fam.

 

5. How is it working as a group?

 

 

(A). Tough schedule wise. Great because of all the ideas and points of views that  come to the table. Makes it easier for us to relate with others.

 

 

6. Who produces you guys music?

 

 

(A). I wouldn't say we have 1 producer. We all play a roll

 

 

7. How do yall choose your beats?

 

 

(A). Honestly we play them 1 by 1. And then whatever beat we feeling at the moment or who ever comes up with a idea first we run with it.

 

8. What are the next moves for Capital Tyzz?

 

 

 (A). The next move for us is to put in the labor of marking ourselves to the public doing whatever it take for people to get to know us

 

9. What are you guys working on now?

 

 

(A). At the moment were working on making as much music and as many songs as we can.

 

10. How do you feel about the music industry as a whole?

 

(A). I feel like its missing our influence

 

 

11. Who do you feel are the top artist in the industry now?

 

(A). A lot of artist bring a lot of different things to the game that makes them stand out. Who I hear the most of is Wayne, Drake, 2 Chainz and Maybac Music Group.

 

YOU'RE FEEDBACK OR COMMENTS  ARE ALWAYS WELCOMED.....

 

Lets us know what you think about the interview or any other thoughts you have about us.

2nd Photo Shoot

(L2R: Fresh, Dev, C.T, Cobra)

Here go a few photos from our second photo shoot. Shout Out Alisha Wallace @ayeciarra for looking out. She came over to Herndon High School and took these pictures for us. I think we got a lot of good pictures here, but we are still learning about the photo game. Taking pictures is a lot more work then it seem, and it don't take much to mess up a picture. Standing to far a way from one another,  looking the wrong way or a pose just not looking right. We learned a lot from this day though and we are looking forward to the next session.

 

Check out some more of our pictures from our first and second photo shoot

2nd Photo Shoot  1st Photo Shoot

 

 

More than Music

After Work, Your Hustle, Your Grind.... There is your personal life, your relationships, your hobbies,  yourself. If your personal  life isn't in some type of order your work will be effected.. When you have so many other unimportant interference in your life how can you really focus on the things you need to. Without any order how can you set a plan or goals for yourself down the line. Not everyones path is the same. We don't learn and go through the same things at the same time, but coming together we all can learn from one another.

These are just a few of the issues we as a team have discussed during our meetings over the past year and a half.  Since we made the decisions to come together to work towards a common goal, we all have to use our own abilities to make it work. Doing Your Part, taking accountability for the direction of your life. Even if music wasn't your direction, what are you doing to move forward period. The one thing about music is it allows you to be as creative as you want. It's open to your discretion, whatever you want to create just get in the booth.  In my personal opinion, I think a lot of people try to become musical artist because they are looking for something to do feeling they have limited options. Instead of looking for opportunities that may take some serious time and effort, the hours of a musical artist seem to be a more attractive way to live. This is one thing I had to find out about us..

From the time we started, we have all had to learn and have continued to learn how to manage our schedules around pur personal work and music lives.

1st on the agenda Jobs that pay money- We all need money in our pocket, and being independent artist you have to invest back in yourself.  Expenses come from every where just like a Business, so that's how you have to think about it. Money helps with your confidence as well.

2nd on the agenda Marketing- How do we want to present ourselves to the public.  How are we going to present ourselves to the public. What will it take to present ourselves to a larger audience. Questions you just don't come up with, these are questions you really have to think about. You represent more then yourself..

3rd on the agenda Meetings-  We are family we don't know everything that goes on in each other minds. I'm also older then Yung Dev by 9 years, C.T by 5 years, Cobra by 4 years and  Fresh 3 years, so naw we don't think the same.  Being able to get together to discuss ideas, progress and the next moves needed to be made as a team I felt was important to our long term progress.

Everything is Equally important...

703 Fam

Before Capital Tyzz, there was 703 Family. Now this is my perspective because 703 Fam has its own meaning to a lot of people, and in the music industry letting people know where you are from is important. But from a artist stand point, it included the Thompson, Robinson, and Thomas cousins that started making music in (WOW) like 2004.  One of the first songs I remember is "Why I Hustle" written by Fresh, Cobra, Yung Dev, and C.T.

check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAPVHYuAK2s

I still listen to this song today because my fam is still why I hustle. And yes friends are included in that and they know who they are. They made the song on a spur of the moment type thing, in my parents basement in Herndon, VA (Florida Ave) with a  few pieces of equipment, and some paper. From then on a love for making music started. At this time I lived in Huntington, WV going to school, working, living the college life but I still kept up with everything that was going on back home.  So as time went on I continued to hear more and more tracks being produced, and as I would come home I would collect the mixtapes that were being made put them in the CD player and bang them out my stereo when I was back in the West as me and my boys called it. 

Back then though it was all about just making music. From my side I didn't really think about the rhyme or reason behind making music other then just to have something to do, like a outlet I guess.  Being young having fun, freestyling, hanging out, listening to good music are all things a lot of us have done and continue. Some people music interest change but most stay the same.  Music has always been apart of my life and my family's life growing up having to stay upstairs as our parents had party's, or going to events where Big Cuz Anthony and Fantasy Productions which included my Dad and other Big Cuz Paul would DJ.  Big Cuz Anthony still does his thing today as a DJ.

Back to the Story:
Well I returned home for good in 2007 and the 703 Fam was still at work making music. Now I could see a diffrence in there expectations. They were more serious about getting better at writting music, producing music, and wanted more people to hear their music. Me, I was all about getting my two feet back on the ground as I moved back in with my parents in Herndon after living in my own place for the past 5 years.  Hearing and seeing my cousin making music though made me happy as I had seen and heard the progress. Skip to the Spring of 2009 and here come the shows and  Internet presence.  The only way to move forward is by taking action and that's what 703 fam was doing. NOW 703 Fam included more artist, including Maurice (Reese), (Anthony) LaLa, Marcus (Marley @MarleyMArc all cousins as well. But the sound was different and by different I mean better, you could really tell the hunger was there to really do something with there music.  Doing shows in Fall Church, D.C, Manassas, Leesburg, Herndon,  making moves I was impressed, and happy to see the fam making moves. 703 Fam even went to audition for 106 and Parks Wild Out Wednesday in New York.  As 2009 ended and 2010 went on things  started to slow down until nothing was going on. At this time my brain had already started to turn, thinking about how I could help my Fam continue to move forward.  Ahh not having a clear since of how to manage talent especially in the music industry, I received a message that gave me the confidence to make the move I did in 2011. 

Last thing, I always hear people say this and I have also made this statement myself. 

"Everybody wants to make music, be a rapper, or whatever" Yeah its true but its a lot of people who want to work in a lot of industries and it's competitive. This world is competitive. But the people who do rise above the rest do so for a reason. If you don't believe in what you are doing, or don't want to put in the work that may take you to the next level then you might as well quit whatever you doing. No Lies   

Fam in New York headed to they 106 and Park Audtion (L to R: Fresh, Cobra, Pops, Yung Dev)

C.T Anxious and Yung Dev at they First show in Falls Church VA

                        The 703 Fam out on U-Street in D.C getting ready to perform.

1st Photo Shoot

These are a Few of the pictures from out first photo shoot. We took these pictures at the Vienna Metro Station. I though it would provide a variety of  backgrounds to get different looks. We had some good pics some bad. I had my fiance Marj take the Pictures on this nice Nikon D3100 digital camera. We ain't know how to use all the features but we made it work.

        The top picture is T.T, middle C.T Anxious, low Yung Dev, lowest group plus me...

 Fresh isn't in any of these pictures, he was working towards different goals in a different career. Ill let him tell yall exactly what he was doing. He was a salesman though. Legal...Fresh did come to the second photo shoot we had. I'll post those pictures at a later date.

"Year 1, Day 270"

This is Day 268 of the first year I David Thompson Jr./Manager  @CapitalTyzz have been working with Chris "C.T Anxious" Thompson @Ct_Anxious/Artist, T.T "Cobra" Thompson/Artist, Devon "Yung Dev" Thompson @vaskllz703/Artist, and Mikey "Fresh" Robinson/Producer/Artist @fresh703va also known as Capital Tyzz. When you have a big family, you tend to have a lot of different characters and out of those characters comes a lot of talent. Now i am sure we all were encouraged to express our talents as kids in one way or another. Participating in sports, church choir, go to work with dad day, including over night shifts which for some reason we enjoyed. Just a few ways our parents encouraged us to express our talents, skills which we all benefit from today. Except church choir has changed to Hip-Hop music, Kind in nature but don't Cross that li____ne.... 

I wanted to start this blog to give a behind the scenes look at our journey as Independent Artist in Northern Virginia.

In February of 2011 703 Fam (In a meeting I suggested the a name change, and they all agreed)  accepted my request to help manage them as a group, and as manager I would along with the group come up with a plan to get their music heard. I would think that's what any artist would want. Me, I played sports even though music has always been an important part of my life, through the good and bad times. So the industry I have always paid close attention to.  I have always enjoyed watching artist come and go, seeing the brand that they have built and how they go about marketing themselves to the public something I feel artist, well their management have become great at.  Rap has never been something I seen myself doing, I'm more of a behind the scenes person. I don't really  need to be seen. Our Journey to this day has been a lot of meetings, studio sessions, family get together, new and old jobs, kids and everything else life has to throw at you. With everything, Through our Lord that strengthens us, we can do anything. And I choose to. We all do... 

O Yeah Capital Tyzz. Capital standing for the area we are from/representing the DMV
     Tyzz standing for the relationships or Tyzz we have through out the DMV family, friends etc.

                                          It's Capital Tyzz, It's No Lies