I recently had the opportunity to interview New Orleans emcee, Lyriqs Da Lyraciss regarding his new project D.A.I.Y.L.F. and his involvement with Mickey Factz’s upcoming “The Red or Blue Pill” tour.

BB: What’s up man? Can you give us a quick introduction to who Lyriqs Da Lyraciss is? How long have you been making music?

LL: Lyriqs Da Lyraciss aka Alfred Banks is an 23 yr old emcee from New Orleans. I’ve been making music for about 5 years now professionally. HipHop is life at this point.

How did growing up in New Orleans develop you into the artist you are now?

LL: Well in Nola, its a dog eat dog world, so it groomed me to distinguish whose real and who isn’t quite early. Whose on your team and whose really not. But is also gave me a musical history like none other to pull from. Which I’m grateful for.

Name us a few of your musical influences, those who helped to mold you into the emcee you are now?

LL: I listened to a lot of Lupe fiasco, Mf Doom and Charles Hamilton. That’s really about it.

Underdogcentral is pretty prevalent in everything you do, can you elaborate on the meaning of the term?

LL: The term Underdogcentral is: “The place where the overlooked go to hone their skills, to come back and be the admired”. That’s my music career in a nutshell. Its my mantra. I live by.

I really dig the D.A.I.Y.L.F. (Dream As If You’ll Live Forever) project you dropped, who does this album represent to you?

LL: That album represents a piece of work that if I was to have a early demise, I’d want to be represented from. I put a lot of work into it and I’m really proud of the response. Its for the person that goes thru all of the cardinal emotions we all go thru while sporting some dope ass sneakers.

Mickey Factz hosted the album, how did that come about?

LL: Well Mickey Factz is my big Homie. So it was me just shooting him a Txt message and see what was going on. He was down. Which im grateful for, so shouts to Mickey.

You are set to tour with Mickey on the Red or Blue Pill tour starting October 17th in New Orleans, that’s a pretty big opportunity, how do you plan on capitalizing?

LL: I will capitalize by rocking every show like its my last. I understand how big this is for me, so I’m not taking it for granted. Networking, selling Merch and furthering the brand are the main goals. And that I will do. I’m very excited to hit the road. Its my first national tour.

What can the people who show up and see you rock expect from a Lyriqs Da Lyraciss performance?

LL: When you come to a Lyriqs show, Expect dope bars, awesome energy  good songs, charisma and fresh ass sneakers. Its how I made my name so I take pride in my live show. A lot of pride.

BB: Speaking of sneakers, what’s your most coveted pair that you own? What’s your Grail? If you had to give up your entire collection and keep only 3, which three would you keep?

LL: My most coveted pair I own is a tie between my Ice blue Jordan 3s and my Wheat Jordan 13s. If I had to keep 3 pairs it’d be the a fore mentioned to pair plus my all white Reebok bb4600. Way to comfy. I love all those pairs.

BB: Where are some of your favorite spots in New Orleans to cop kicks?

LL: In New Orleans, I love to shoe shop at Sports plus, Buffalo exchange and Funkeh Monkey. Those 3 spots usually have some heat rock of some sort. Good prices also.

BB: What is the next step for you as an artist once you finish this run?

LL: The next move is a whole lot of media. 3 new music videos, a new album, good pr run and all the trimmings. I want to end the year off with a bang. So that is what he have planned.

BB: 23 is still young in the musical world, what do you hope to accomplish in the next 5, 10 & 20 years?

LL: In the next 5 years, completely be able to tour the country successfully off of my name alone. 10 years would be to sell 10k copies of an album I release and have regular coverage on big media outlets. 20 years would be able to start a label and push out other artists to shine as well.

Tour information available after the jump……….

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