talented rapper grew up in the Birmingham area. Corey Barbar, a great talent, began rapping only as a hobby during high school. He began rapping seriously once he realized the talent he poses. Corey Barbar’s career started when he and neighborhood friends began making their own cds and sold them around their school. As Corey developed a more serious passion for his craft, he began performing around the Birmingham area in local talent shows as he built his name up locally.
In late 2003, Corey was introduced to Freewill Records by a mutual friend of K. Bibbs. He has never looked back since. Bibbs says that “Corey’s determination to reach success made me wanna work with him.” With his determination and skills there’s nothing Corey can’t achieve as long as his focus is there. Alongside of Freewill Records, the sky is the limit for this young star.
WordofSouth.comWhat's going on with you man?
Corey Barbar: I'm straight.
WordofSouth.comYou're the first artist to be in our Independent section. so you gotta rep hard for it you know.
Corey Barbar: Yeah
WordofSouth.comIn your bio it said you started out making CDs by passing them out around school. How was the feedback with that?
Corey Barbar: Well, we dropped our first album and I was trying to get known so we dropped the cd. Only way to get known is to get it in the streets, so I passed it around school. I was in the club ripping clubs. I was in the clubs like five weeks winning the freestyle contests. I got a lot of feedback around school, and that's when people started knowing who I was. That started getting my name out somewhere.
WordofSouth.comWhen and why did you decide that you wanted to do rap for a career?
Corey Barbar: I say about 10th grade. At first rapping wasn't a thing to me. I played football; sports was my love. Then one day I just stopped playing, and I started watching TV and picked up a pen and a pad.
WordofSouth.comWhile growing up who were some of your biggest influences?
Corey Barbar: 2Pac, Big L, and right now I been listening to Cassidy.
WordofSouth.comYou hooked up with Freewill through a mutual friend. What did you do to hook up with them?
Corey Barbar: I hooked up with them through one of my closest friends named Shaun. He introduced me to Kid and heard I could rap. He came down through Huntsville. I was standing on the corner one day and I got the call. I went round there and freestyled for him. I let him hear a few of my written raps. The same day he came back, and we was in the studio same day.
WordofSouth.comWhy did you decide to hook up with Freewill?
Corey Barbar: He was about his business. You can see it in a man eyes if he real or if he not real. The way he handshake and how his smile looks. He sounded like he was about business and he was talking what I wanted to hear.
WordofSouth.comWhat is your opinion on the south right now musically?
Corey Barbar: The north is still in control but the south is coming up the ladder. We almost where we wanna be. We ain't running it because the whole South ain't in it all. You got Atlanta, New Orleans, Miami, you got Mississippi on the way, and you still ain't got Alabama here. Without Alabama it ain't the south. We ain't all the way formulated where we supposed to be.
WordofSouth.comYou got the solo album "Get It While You Can" coming soon. What do you plan to bring to the game that is not already there?
Corey Barbar: You got rappers in the game that's phony and just telling you this and there's people that's in the game- you know rappers like me that just coming up and trying to do it, but ain't nobody out there keeping the local artists. They'll rap and want it as a career, but ten years later when they see they ain't made it they giving up. They done let their time pass them by, so while you young you gotta make this paper, you gotta get it while you can. So I'm out here with every other nigga in the streets trying to get this money. They need this inspiration to keep them going everyday. I'm going to be that nigga keeping them going everyday.
WordofSouth.comHow deep are you into creating the album?
Corey Barbar: I ain't too deep into it yet. I just got started on it that's why. It's coming, it's getting better. My style since the first three albums have come out has matured with it.
WordofSouth.comWho are you working with on the album production wise?
Corey Barbar: I got Nino Brown, Dirty Dolla, Outstanding. I got a cat I went to school with me and him getting a little buzz too. I'm trying to step him into the game.
WordofSouth.comWhat about features?
Corey Barbar: I probably be featuring them too.
WordofSouth.comIs there a certain sound that you're trying to have for the album?
Corey Barbar: Ain't a certain sound. I don't want it to have one certain sound on the album. I want you to know who I am, but then I don't want you to get tired of listening to me. As a down south rapper, I still want to have crunk music, I still want to have up north lyrical music, I want to have westside music. I still want to have that smoking, clubbing, chillin'. I want to have a buzz that everyone can feel.
WordofSouth.comWhere do your song concepts come from?
Corey Barbar: I get them from walking outside everyday. Whatever I see that I feel like writing. Whatever I hear, whatever I feel. I write my songs from my senses, my feelings.
WordofSouth.comWhat would make this album be a total success to you?
Corey Barbar: It's me. It's just me spewing out everything I got in the inside. It's my time. I got the green light now. Sometimes I be holding back, but now it just me, Corey Barbar, getting it while you can. And I'm here to show you how to get it while you can.
WordofSouth.comWhat do you think is more important: to be a great lyricist or to make great music?
Corey Barbar: To make great music, because you can be a great lyricist and never go platinum and never sell anything. There are many great lyricists out there, but they ain't great music makers. You got to make a hit. It ain't about a punch line it's all about the hit, and I said that in one of my songs. The hit makes everything. It's the chorus, it's how the music go, it's how it flows. Most people in the streets- at least seven out of ten people- don't even listen to the words. They listen to the beat and the music. How it sound and if it sound good- they ain't really listening to what you're saying.
WordofSouth.comlyrically where do you think you're at? Where do you see yourself having room for improvement?
Corey Barbar: Lyrically, on a scale from one to ten, I'm at a six. I'm better then average but I ain't great. Soon I'll be a nine out of ten. I ain't gonna say no man perfect but that where I'm gonna reach with my maturity level and the growth.
WordofSouth.comAre you one that is down for constructive criticism?
Corey Barbar: Oh yeah, I love cons because I want to hear what someone gotta say or what that other man got to say. It will probably help me better myself. You can't have an attitude about what somebody else gotta say, because everybody ain't gonna like your music. That's just how it is. Everybody got an opinion. So whatever a man has to say- they can't break me, they can only make me.
WordofSouth.comOther than the album, what other projects are you working on?
Corey Barbar: Right now we just dropped "Heading to the Top", our third mix tape. We still selling "Paystyle Vol. 2" and Paystyle Vol.1." We got Freewill "Water"- we out here selling that. I'm trying to hook up some shows, clubs. While I'm working on my album I still gotta be in the streets grindin' and getting my name out.
WordofSouth.comLast but not least, let the readers know why you're this months Indie Grind Artist.
Corey Barbar: I'm working hard, came from the bottom to the top. In the independent game you ain't got no major deal, you ain't got no TV or videos, you gotta grind from the bottom to the top everyday. I'm in the streets. I don't go to sleep at night right well. I be thinking about my career. It's hard man, but I'm gonna be the man.
In late 2003, Corey was introduced to Freewill Records by a mutual friend of K. Bibbs. He has never looked back since. Bibbs says that “Corey’s determination to reach success made me wanna work with him.” With his determination and skills there’s nothing Corey can’t achieve as long as his focus is there. Alongside of Freewill Records, the sky is the limit for this young star.
WordofSouth.comWhat's going on with you man?
Corey Barbar: I'm straight.
WordofSouth.comYou're the first artist to be in our Independent section. so you gotta rep hard for it you know.
Corey Barbar: Yeah
WordofSouth.comIn your bio it said you started out making CDs by passing them out around school. How was the feedback with that?
Corey Barbar: Well, we dropped our first album and I was trying to get known so we dropped the cd. Only way to get known is to get it in the streets, so I passed it around school. I was in the club ripping clubs. I was in the clubs like five weeks winning the freestyle contests. I got a lot of feedback around school, and that's when people started knowing who I was. That started getting my name out somewhere.
WordofSouth.comWhen and why did you decide that you wanted to do rap for a career?
Corey Barbar: I say about 10th grade. At first rapping wasn't a thing to me. I played football; sports was my love. Then one day I just stopped playing, and I started watching TV and picked up a pen and a pad.
WordofSouth.comWhile growing up who were some of your biggest influences?
Corey Barbar: 2Pac, Big L, and right now I been listening to Cassidy.
WordofSouth.comYou hooked up with Freewill through a mutual friend. What did you do to hook up with them?
Corey Barbar: I hooked up with them through one of my closest friends named Shaun. He introduced me to Kid and heard I could rap. He came down through Huntsville. I was standing on the corner one day and I got the call. I went round there and freestyled for him. I let him hear a few of my written raps. The same day he came back, and we was in the studio same day.
WordofSouth.comWhy did you decide to hook up with Freewill?
Corey Barbar: He was about his business. You can see it in a man eyes if he real or if he not real. The way he handshake and how his smile looks. He sounded like he was about business and he was talking what I wanted to hear.
WordofSouth.comWhat is your opinion on the south right now musically?
Corey Barbar: The north is still in control but the south is coming up the ladder. We almost where we wanna be. We ain't running it because the whole South ain't in it all. You got Atlanta, New Orleans, Miami, you got Mississippi on the way, and you still ain't got Alabama here. Without Alabama it ain't the south. We ain't all the way formulated where we supposed to be.
WordofSouth.comYou got the solo album "Get It While You Can" coming soon. What do you plan to bring to the game that is not already there?
Corey Barbar: You got rappers in the game that's phony and just telling you this and there's people that's in the game- you know rappers like me that just coming up and trying to do it, but ain't nobody out there keeping the local artists. They'll rap and want it as a career, but ten years later when they see they ain't made it they giving up. They done let their time pass them by, so while you young you gotta make this paper, you gotta get it while you can. So I'm out here with every other nigga in the streets trying to get this money. They need this inspiration to keep them going everyday. I'm going to be that nigga keeping them going everyday.
WordofSouth.comHow deep are you into creating the album?
Corey Barbar: I ain't too deep into it yet. I just got started on it that's why. It's coming, it's getting better. My style since the first three albums have come out has matured with it.
WordofSouth.comWho are you working with on the album production wise?
Corey Barbar: I got Nino Brown, Dirty Dolla, Outstanding. I got a cat I went to school with me and him getting a little buzz too. I'm trying to step him into the game.
WordofSouth.comWhat about features?
Corey Barbar: I probably be featuring them too.
WordofSouth.comIs there a certain sound that you're trying to have for the album?
Corey Barbar: Ain't a certain sound. I don't want it to have one certain sound on the album. I want you to know who I am, but then I don't want you to get tired of listening to me. As a down south rapper, I still want to have crunk music, I still want to have up north lyrical music, I want to have westside music. I still want to have that smoking, clubbing, chillin'. I want to have a buzz that everyone can feel.
WordofSouth.comWhere do your song concepts come from?
Corey Barbar: I get them from walking outside everyday. Whatever I see that I feel like writing. Whatever I hear, whatever I feel. I write my songs from my senses, my feelings.
WordofSouth.comWhat would make this album be a total success to you?
Corey Barbar: It's me. It's just me spewing out everything I got in the inside. It's my time. I got the green light now. Sometimes I be holding back, but now it just me, Corey Barbar, getting it while you can. And I'm here to show you how to get it while you can.
WordofSouth.comWhat do you think is more important: to be a great lyricist or to make great music?
Corey Barbar: To make great music, because you can be a great lyricist and never go platinum and never sell anything. There are many great lyricists out there, but they ain't great music makers. You got to make a hit. It ain't about a punch line it's all about the hit, and I said that in one of my songs. The hit makes everything. It's the chorus, it's how the music go, it's how it flows. Most people in the streets- at least seven out of ten people- don't even listen to the words. They listen to the beat and the music. How it sound and if it sound good- they ain't really listening to what you're saying.
WordofSouth.comlyrically where do you think you're at? Where do you see yourself having room for improvement?
Corey Barbar: Lyrically, on a scale from one to ten, I'm at a six. I'm better then average but I ain't great. Soon I'll be a nine out of ten. I ain't gonna say no man perfect but that where I'm gonna reach with my maturity level and the growth.
WordofSouth.comAre you one that is down for constructive criticism?
Corey Barbar: Oh yeah, I love cons because I want to hear what someone gotta say or what that other man got to say. It will probably help me better myself. You can't have an attitude about what somebody else gotta say, because everybody ain't gonna like your music. That's just how it is. Everybody got an opinion. So whatever a man has to say- they can't break me, they can only make me.
WordofSouth.comOther than the album, what other projects are you working on?
Corey Barbar: Right now we just dropped "Heading to the Top", our third mix tape. We still selling "Paystyle Vol. 2" and Paystyle Vol.1." We got Freewill "Water"- we out here selling that. I'm trying to hook up some shows, clubs. While I'm working on my album I still gotta be in the streets grindin' and getting my name out.
WordofSouth.comLast but not least, let the readers know why you're this months Indie Grind Artist.
Corey Barbar: I'm working hard, came from the bottom to the top. In the independent game you ain't got no major deal, you ain't got no TV or videos, you gotta grind from the bottom to the top everyday. I'm in the streets. I don't go to sleep at night right well. I be thinking about my career. It's hard man, but I'm gonna be the man.