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1) Tell us a little about yourself and your background.

My name Lee Fountain AKA “Lee The Myth”. I am 24 years old and currently live in Dallas, TX. I have lived here for about 3 years and it was here that I really began pursuing my music career seriously. I am quite possibly the lamest nigga in Hip-Hop right now, well maybe not that lamest but I am a super huge geek!

Aside from music I’m really into anime, film, comic books, manga, quantum physics, philosophy, sex, and women. I lost my virginity at 23 years, I’m the reincarnation of Bruce Lee, Michael Jackson is my 2nd father, and as of lately I have really been relating to Dr. Manhattan who is my favorite superhero. My 2nd favorite is Spider-Man (Sam Raimi’s version). In high school I was one of the geek/outcast’s who only had 3 best-friends named Jordan Fields, Hoang Tran, and Rico Atkins (Shout out to them!).

I had a hard time actually being myself back then and sucked at talking to girls. Now I’m the complete opposite! Its funny, once you think know yourself life throws something at you that reveals another side of yourself that you never thought was there.

2) Who were some of your musical influences coming up?

Whats really funny is that I didn’t get into Hip-Hip until around 2004 when Kanye West came out with the College Dropout and Lupe Fiasco came out with Food & Liquor. Before then my main musical influence was Michael Jackson. I have been a fan of him since I could walk. LITERALLY!

He was the only musical artist I ever cared to listen to and the only one I knew by name. I can dance like him and everything. He pretty much raised me! lol! I don’t know why I only cared about his music but if it wasn’t Michael Jackson, then it was whack! Michael Jackson to me was the definition of music and I felt that everybody that was creating music should follow his blueprint.

It wasn’t until around High School that I got into Hip-Hop and the people who influenced me were Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, Pharrel Williams, N.E.R.D, and Nujabes.

3) How would you describe yourself as an artist? Has your style changed much over the years?

When it comes to describing myself as an artist I’d like to think that I embody all forms of artistic expression. I call myself the “Omninitus” (Omni-Nytus) which means “Everything United”. Rapping is just one of the many ways I express myself. I am also a cartoonist, filmmaker, director, screenwriter, actor, voice actor, producer, and a graphic designer.

I’m a lot like Donald Glover AKA Childish Gambino in many ways lol! In my albums not only do you get songs but you get entire movie scene skits. I have an entire cast of voice actors who play characters in my albums and I use tons of sound effects to create realistic environments. I’ve been doing this since my first project called “Chasing Ryoko” and I have gotten allot better at it over the years.

My rapping abilities have also gotten a lot better thanks to studying artist like Kid Cudi, Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar, Pusha T, and Tyler the Creator. In the beginning I was an “OK” rapper but now I slay niggas.

4) What’s your process like for making music? Do you have a set routine or does it vary track by track?

My routine for making music is quite simple. Its creating the movie scene skits that is difficult . I do a little producing when it concerns the musical aspects of my projects but my main dude S.J Schulz AKA. Bizzy Tone and Calvin Lewis make the beats.

Bizzy Tone lives in Germany so I have never actually physically met him but he pretty much nails the sound I’m looking for. He is very experimental and can create more than just Hip-Hop music. He makes Dubstep, French House Music, Electronic musiic, etc.

He has a very versatile background which allows the music to sound original and fresh. I discovered him over the internet and we sort of just “Clicked” soniclly. He has been working with me since 2012 and has come to be one of my good friends! I couldn’t of made it this far without him.

Calvin Lewis is pretty much the exact same except I actually met him lol! We linked up through my friend Carey Brown who produces as well and Calvin has been working with me since 2010 when I sucked balls! Not literally lol! The way the music is made is these guys send me a beat, I write to it, record it, and boom! Its made!

The process varies depending upon how the beat sounds or makes me feel but it pretty much makes itself. If new ideas come to me after I think the track is done I just go lay them down. That happens allot. My life is like a real life anime to me so living it really fuels my creative engines. Shit gets pretty, interesting in my world.

5) Can you run me through the making of your latest project? Where were the studio vibes like?

My latest release “The 7 Seals Pt. 2” is the follow up to my 2013 project “The 7 Seals”. The way it was done is very unorthodox so bare with me. The first thing that happens is my producer Bizzy sends me beat, after beat, after beat. This goes on for about a good couple week since I really like his sound and he knows exactly what I want.

I then compile and organize all the music and listen to it constantly and its within this process that the story I wanna tell begins to reveal itself. You see the music is what creates the story for me. If the beat doesn’t paint any pictures in my mind then it will not be used.

The music serves as the soundtrack to the story which to me makes the project magnificent and its what got me my core fan base in the first place. Once I select the beats I want to create songs too I then begin writing to each one, one at a time. I can’t scatter my creative energy over several songs at once. If i do that then each song will either begin to so sound alike or I forget certain melodies I came up with.

This process takes the most time because each lyric has to be unique and capture the story while still being able to relate to an audience that knows nothing about the story. Once every song is written and recorded I then must assemble a cast to play the characters in my story.

On this project I had about 7 people casted which is the biggest I’ve done thus far. Once the cast is assembled it takes about 2 months to get all the dialog recorded. The final process is creating the environments surrounding the characters and adding all the proper sound effects.

The story I’m telling has allot of action sequences which I have to create using audio so its a very tedious process but once finished it takes the listener to another world. This takes about 2 weeks to complete but its the most fun I have when recording aside from making the songs.

While creating this album the vibes were always positive. I really enjoyed working with Rebecca Resse, she’s an actress who lives in Dallas and she did the voice of a character named Ryoko. We had allot fun recording and it really helped that she liked the character prior to recording her interpretation of her.

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6) What sort of independent hip-hop promotion and marketing are you doing to differentiate yourself from other artists?

I promote my brand in a very unique way. I usually start off by promoting my art to people who love anime. My albums are Audio Anime Space Odyssey’s filled with characters most anime fans would recognize. I don’t know if you know anything about Kingdom Hearts but I’m like the Sora of anime lol!

I My character jumps from anime to anime meeting popular characters throughout the universe. I usually share my art on anime blogs and anime Facebook fan pages which really got my name out there on the internet. I also do live shows here in the Dallas area which mostly promotes the music aspect of my art.

I try to incorporate elements of the story into my live show which really distinguishes me from all the other Hip-Hop acts. Its helps spread my name around via word of mouth. This year I’m actually starting to use online promo packages which has been really helpful so far. Whats really interesting about my career is that my core fans literally came out of nowhere.

When I dropped Chasing Ryoko people came out of the blue, listened to it, and became my fans! Shout out to John Appleseed, David Figueroa, Pedro Caceres, and Ozzie Figueroa who live in Florida! These guys have been there for me since the very beginning and help spread my name.

My homie HU3 has promoted my art through Dallas and in Atlanta. He has really been there for me too! He plays my music at photo-shoots and modeling events held at Atlanta. Shout out to So Official and Much love to you homie!

7) What are you thoughts on the current state of hip-hop music today?

My thoughts on the current state of Hip-Hop are actually very optimistic! I think artist like Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, and Tyler the Creator are pushing the culture forward and are constantly creating new and exciting things we all can enjoy.

Its also really cool that the industry is returning back to the people via internet and how an awesome Independent Hip-Hop artist like me can make it without having to sell his soul. Since this is happening the culture is spreading among the masses.

The best part about all this though is that now its cool to be “yourself” no more trying to be a gangsta, or a thug. There’s an audience for an artist like me who loves anime and comic books. Hell even thug/gangsta dudes can feel comfortable enough to admit that they fuck with DBZ and express it in their music.

Being weird is becoming excitable in Hip-Hop and I love that!

8) What music are you listening to these days? Anyone in hip-hop really blowing your mind?

These days I’ve really been blasting Childish Gambino. That dude to me is one the most visionary artist in Hip-Hop history. The way he used the internet in his art and music was groundbreaking. He is truly a God in my eyes and I want him to keep doing next level shit!

It really inspires me. His live show was the best live show I had ever seen in my life and his versatility is something that only a few posses. Outside of Hip-Hop I really love Alternative pop music. I’ve been listening to Little Dragon allot and Friendly Fires. Pop music at the mainstream level is very repetitive to me. I like weird shit. New shit.

I love it when artist blend genres together to make something different. Kid Cudi is a master of that to me. I’ve been blasting him allot these days as well. Oh yeah I almost forgot about Pharrell William and Tyler the Creator. I’ve been blasting them too.

9) If you could work with any artist you wanted, what would be your dream collaboration?

If I could work with any artist alive in Hip-Hop today it would have to be either Childish Gambino or Kid Cudi. Hell why not both! Those guys inspired most of the art that I have created and it would be a dream come true to collaborate with them.

We would make some Godly shit! I actually have roles created for them once my stuff really blows up. One day, I’m gonna work with them and were gonna take over Pop Culture. Every aspect of it!

10) What has been the best moment in your music career so far?

The best moment in my music career thus far will have to be my very first live performance at the Quixotic World Theater last year in Dallas.

I really had the crowd going nuts and their energy really fueled my performance. I’m a tough act to follow when it concerns Hip-Hop Showcases and that performance solidified that. The crowd was shouting my name and everything. The Myth was not a Myth anymore. I became real that night.

11) So what’s next for you?

This year I will be performing at SXSW in Austin which is very exciting and some deals may fall through which would really push me to the next level. Till then I will still be creating more music and hopefully get some music videos up.

I also plan on being employed as a voice actor for Funimation Studios and actually start doing voice overs for anime’s and cartoons. Whatever the future holds just know that this year Lee The Myth will be moving forward. I will live. I will live.

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Written by Stop The Breaks
Stop The Breaks is an independent music marketing company focused on showcasing independent hip-hop artists. Our goal is to help motivate, inspire and educate independent artists grinding around the world. We provide branding, content marketing, social media, SEO and music promotion services.