Willy Flee is a Brooklyn born and bred new artist who's currently residing in Tampa Bay Florida. He recently signed to 2005 independent record label, Marquee Music Group W/ his 2017 debut single “Love Me Down”. A music video that has been considered for 9 nominations between the MTV VMA’s & the BET Music Awards. This gained a sense of establishment for Willy Flee as he ended up performing with Grammy-winning artists, Cardi B & Atlanta rapper, Kap-G in 2018.
Willy Flee dropped the hype record “Okay Okay” off his album titled “Till Tomorrow" and the song was a hit! As an upcoming artist, it’s difficult to establish a professional like sound with your music, instead of low-budgeted and amateurish. However, for Willy Flee, his sound was so well executed through the record there’s positivity he can compete with the best of the best! He has the right sound and niche to his artistry that will translate well across the current generation and their taste. “Okay Okay” had a hard-hitting bass that just slapped across your speaker, earbuds, or stereo with so much intensity and forces you’re instantly in the clubbing scene. The aesthetic of “Okay okay” was highly fun, charismatic, and exuded a sense of vibrancy in the record. Willy Flee has the delivery, approach, and appeal to his music and to his image. We’re anticipating what other hits he may have brewing in the pot! Tune out the outside world, and tune into this table shaking hit!
Listen to "Okay Okay" here and get to know more about Willy Flee below!
Welcome, Willy Flee to BuzzMusic! Being born in Brooklyn New York, you essentially have been brought up in the birthing state of hip-hop! In what ways has your growing environment impact your artistry and sound?
My growing environment has molded me into what you see today. Funny thing is, I didn’t learn about hip hop until around the age of 8. I have a West Indian family and was raised on the legends like Bob Marley, Beres Hammond, Gregory Isaacs, Soca artists, you name it. But once I got into Mase and Puff Daddy back then. It was an endless water fall for me. Jay Z. Fab. My favorites from home. And Busta. Cassidy is my all time favorite rapper. But Jay Z is the founding father of the way to flow for me. Cassidy’s bars set the standard for me to meet. And new age? Drake. No question. He’s the most , in my eyes, like myself. Or vice versa.
Tell us about the emotions you felt when you witness the success to your record “Love Me Down”?
Hahaaaa Love me down. That was the first major release under Marquee Music Group, my former label out in Cali. Michael Drentea , the owner real goes to work for me on this. And his partner, dove all the way in to this marketing and promo. We re did the song about 5-6 times to perfect it as much as possible. Production all that had to be on point. We got the song mastered by Big Jerm, MAC Miller’s former engineer . Once I seen how invested this was getting I knew it was gonna be big. It was for a project, “Patois” a reggae compilation I put together. I wanted to test the waters with Caribbean sound, being it’s in my blood, I gave it a shot and Love Me Down was the first single. Video was shot by Famous Kidd Fresh and it looked and did very well. Really got me pushing into a new level of discovery.
How did you manage to elevate your new releases from your past?
To elevate new releases from the past, I did a lot of trial and error. I’m big on that. It’s one of the best ways to learn and educate yourself. Lots of playlists relationships made, blogs, etc. and each time we would invest more into all things or more into one thing to get the most of out it. Say a promo run. Or radio campaign. Or shows. Putting your hands into one bucket usually works best instead of fingers in different ones.
Tell us about the hit song “Okay Okay” and how it fits into the theme of “Till Tomorrow”?
Okay okay. To be honest it’s not my favorite one on the album, but it’s the listeners favorite which I love. The more I performed it and heard people recite lyrics with me, I knew., “ok it’s Time to push this.” Learning that. Soooo much of my money went into that and the labels. Truly invested. Multiple playlists . Dj packs. Epk’s. Everything went into this record once we seen how much it’s taken off. It landed on Spotify’s discover weekly and is still there! 60k streams and counting. And the funny thing is we shot a video for till tomorrow thinkin that would be the one. But hey lol “Okay okay”
What's next for you?
Next for me? My recent record label Contract has finished and I’m back being a free agent. And I think I’m gonna stick to this for a while. I’m the type to need control and that I have again. Marquee was great I love Them. They were awesome teachers and I’m never closing the door to work again. They jumped started my Indy career and got me more discovered For that I thank them forever. I have an album coming “These Kids Wear Crowns” I may search for some distro deals or see who comes inquiring. Just keep grinding. Gonna start throwing major events with my brother D abundance , a special brand and lifestyle I love to wear and support, and no stop for me. I got plans to work with the drakes and jay z’s of the world and I promise you now...I will.
Connect with Willy Flee on social media
www.instagram.com/WillyFlee
www.twitter.com/WillyFlee