Native Brooklyn, New York, rapper / producer Ron ‘Necro’ Braunstein initially founded his own indie imprint, Psycho+Logical-Records, in November ‘99, with his official solo debut, I Need Drugs, arriving that following year.
Necro is also a member of Hip Hop collectives; the Circle of Tyrants and Secret Society, with older brother Ill Bill, as well as one-half of The Godfathers, alongside Kool G Rap.
First things first, last year (August 11th to be exact) marked the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop — What exactly does that mean to and for you?
Not really much because Hip Hop is my daily life, and nobody from that world reached out to me for any words; it’s like THAT world does not even acknowledge I exist, and I have half a million Spotify listeners…it’s like a club from high school that only lets in certain rappers that ass kiss or are black.
To quote the late, great The Notorious B.I.G., “You never thought that Hip Hop would take it this far!” — Was this something that you ever could’ve imagined?
I don’t know, I always knew it was big and dope, so for me I wanted to be a rapper since I was 12 or younger; it was the biggest thing to me back then as a kid, so not really shocked.
What are some of your fondest, most stand-out moments / memories during your lengthy tenure in this thing called Hip Hop?
Doing an album with Kool G Rap was very entertaining, touring the world many times was a lot of fun, and just seeing my fan-base stay with me all these years as my listeners just keep growing.
That said, what are your future plans and / or goals throughout the remainder of 2024 and beyond?
I wanna drop DEATH RAP 2, and finish my metal album, RETURN TO ’86; those are 2 goals for this year.
Switching gears here, what exactly do you want people to get from your music?
My music is aggressive, so I want them to blast it loud and release tension and feel sedated when listening to the brutality; music soothes the savage beast as they say.
If you could collaborate with any one artist, living or dead, who would it be and why?
Not sure, maybe James Hetfield [Metallica], maybe Max Cavalera [Sepultura], maybe Havoc or RZA; those things will happen when the time is right…anything can happen in life, the least expected shit happens.
If you could play any venue in the world, which one would you choose and why?
Madison Square Garden is the NYC place, I wanna play there eventually; that would be an honor.
On a more serious note, are you happy with the current state of Hip Hop?
Not really because it seems to be mainly focused on mainstream; there was more outlets for hardcore underground before, and they all vanished; it’s sad now.
What do you feel has and will continue to be the key to your longevity?
I am hungry and never satisfied. I approach everything like it’s my first song, and I need to impress; I never get lazy.
Do you have any other outside / additional (future) aspirations, maybe even completely away from entertainment?
Yes, to have 100+ million – and I will – I am obsessed with this goal.
What’s an average day like for you?
A lot of studying, a lot of learning; focused on my rap career, health and investing strategies.
Please discuss how you interact with and respond to fans…
I show all my fans love always; this is how I have so many after all these years. I treat them good and with respect, as long as they are respectful in return; no fan would diss me ever, so people that diss me get dissed back.
What is your favorite part about this line of work? Your least favorite? And, why?
I love doing what I want and creating music I like, the shit I wanna hear, but I hate how this business sees underground as limited and niche only – and how we get paid horribly. I get paid well compared to others because I have a record label with 500 songs I own, but I should be getting paid 10x to 100x more. I see the glass half full because my business is the stepping stone to making 100 million; it gives me the extra money to invest and live comfortable, but I wish it paid even more because of the blood, sweat and tears I invested…but music industry sucks unless you make commercial music which appeals to everyone; that means formulating the music around that goal, and less about coming from the heart and soul.
What advice would you have for someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?
Be original and make money. I always focused on both; not just hardcore Hip Hop, but how to monetize it…this must be a priority, so you can invest in yourself over and over and build a business around your brand, which will give you more opportunities; it doesn’t happen overnight, but you gotta put in your 10+ years and 10,000+ hours at least.
Looking ahead, say five or maybe even ten years from now, where do you see yourself?
I will have 100 million, and will be able to do a lot of things I can’t now; like better more expensive videos – cars – houses – mom being spoiled more than now as I pay most of her bills now – a lot of opportunity – I have done everything I have done with very little money; maybe $50K a year invested into Necro, with 100 million I can pay for more people to work for me, to push my brand as brutal as it is into the Horror world; like movies and things like that. I need major label money to push my brand 100x bigger – not to mention all the fun I will have – I am not a materialistic guy to be honest – but having money like that can allow a lot of cool things to be done for my family and friends, and my brand, too.
Is there anything I left out or just plain forgot to mention?
Visit all my websites; please Go to Spotify and type in Necro.
Here are all the links:
