This month Carolina All Day highlights an up-and-coming group, The Empire, fresh outta Fayetteville, NC. The Empire stands as one of the hottest new groups hittin' the Carolinas. Packed with a pure love for hip hop and a grind like no other, these guys are on their way to the top. Walk with us as we stroll through the mind of an Empire.



CAD: Who are the members of The Empire?

Mista Jay, Prince Imperial, 5th Letter, & Speak No Evil

CAD: Where are you from?

The Empire: The Empire is an underground Hip-Hop group based out of Fayetteville, NC.

CAD: What makes The Empire different than other hip-hop artists?

The Empire: The Love for the art the respect for the history and the culture of Hip-Hop which we think is some what lacking on the commercial side of things in this game more recently.

CAD: Who were some of your early influences?

The Empire: KRS -ONE, WU TANG CLAN, NAS, RAKIM, ICE CUBE, & TRIBE CALLED QUEST

CAD: How hard is it for The Empire to record consistently when there have been times the members have been in different cities/countries?

The Empire: The group would email track and ideas back and forth and make calls finalize the each part of the process. It has been very difficult but the love for real Hip-hop keeps us wanting to deliver more classic music.



CAD: Where do you see NCC Records/The Empire in 5 years?

The Empire: Touring putting out more quality projects both group and solo.Success for us is based on the amount of people we touch and who feel our music so we see our music taking us around the world.

CAD: What projects are you currently working on?

The Empire: Several solo joints SpeaK no E."The Deens Office", 5th Letter "A Long Time Coming" Prince Imperial and another artist from the NCC collective female emcee MC Fab are doing "Couples Therapy Album" and Mistajay "One Heart Beat Away"

CAD: Where can people find your music online?

The Empire: They can get the Dark Ages album on either our Myspace page www.myspace.com/nccrecordstheempire or www.empiremusiq.com

CAD: Shout outs...

The Empire: Big ABe, Big Bruce, DJ Flash Fader.....We would like to send and extra special thanks to those who helped inspire the Dark Ages and lent there voices Craig G, Linque, and last but not least Mc Serch.