Mir Fontane is by far my favorite up and coming artist that I ’ ve found on the internet in a while . Something about him channels a mixtape Cole while continuing to construct his own style in the process . I found him on Hot New Hip Hop when his latest tape , Who ’ s Watching The Kids , premiered in August . I immediately knew that I had to interview this artist . The only problem was he lives in Camden and I live in Atlanta . Regardless , I had started making miniscule contact with him on twitter , praising his work on his new mixtape and expressing my desire to interview him . Sure enough as months passed by , I was given his contact info , but the interview was far from set . I had just started my first semester at Georgia State University , so the fall was zooming past my eyes . Luckily , I had regained my footing in late September and was ready to pursue more interviews . And sure enough , I figured out how I was going to interview Mir Fontane .
He was coming to A3C in October , and this was gonna be my last chance for a while . I tweeted and tweeted , DM ’ d and DM ’ d , and emailed and emailed until I was scheduled to interview Mir Fontane on October 8 , 2016 .
The day came around and he was a lot more laid back than I expected . I got Wiz Khalifa vibes more than I was expecting to . He was to himself , but not in a creepy way . It was like he was just thinking a lot , and I could tell even though I couldn ’ t tell what he was thinking about . His manager , Jon , is the GOAT , and I am forever grateful for him coordinating this with me . He was cordial from the minute I met him ; even though this was business though he carried an air of passion with him as he walked with Mir and watched his interview . His tour manager , Veli Vel was in attendance as well , and I look up to him more than he probably even knows . Upon meeting him , I could automatically sense that this man had his shit together , and he told me about the A3C show that he had that night as a curator . This group of people were inspiring to say the least , and that ’ s before the interview even got started .
And this interview was hard . We talked for roughly 35 minutes , but some of the chat got lost in translation to Youtube . However , Mir Fontane proved that he is capable of carrying hip hop . Not today , maybe not tomorrow , but Mir knows the rules of the game . That became evident within the first 10 minutes of our conversation . After that , I decided to have him explain some of my favorite lines off of Who ’ s Watching The Kids . From “ I remember Fontane way before he had the locs ” to “ I ’ m tryna make it to the point where I am the best ever , to the point where we can fistfight if you think Tupac ’ s better ,” Mir had thoughtful commentary on it all , and it made the lyrics come alive even more .
Then we moved on to what makes his latest project connect so easily , and he dedicated that connection solely to storytelling . To Mir Fontane , sometimes all you have to hold onto to keep from giving up is a story , and that is what he ’ s given Camden , New Jersey . From there we discussed his roots in a way that was more surreal than I had predicated it would be . While it is devastating to hear about what he has been surrounded by since youth , it is saddening but profound to see how it has affected him . Who ’ s Watching The Kids isn ’ t a title that is shot at young rappers who are being different , it is an earnest cry for help and attention to what happens in a community where kids are dying . Even the