Laws may very well be hip-hop’s future. Fresh off of two successful mixtape releases: Your Future Favorite Rapper with DJ Smallz and this year’s 4:57 with Don Cannon, LAWS is doing big things.

As signified by the title 4:57 (the last time he punched a clock at his then day job), LAWS is now a full-time musician. He was recently signed by Grammy winning producers J.U.S.T.I.C.E. LEAGUE and Asylum/ Warner Brothers. HHS caught up with Laws to discuss his past, his present and his future of being your favorite rapper.

HHS: So you’ve been busy man. You were recently at the SXSW Festival and went to the Grammy’s. How were those experiences?

LAWS: The Grammy experience was cool. It was more of a tag-along with J.U.S.T.I.C.E League to meet everybody. My one celebrity moment was being on “the list”, the priority list at the Warner party. Seeing that side of the celebrity lifestyle, for a couple days, was cool. I consider myself more of a regular guy, so I don’t know if I could do that year round, but it was cool. I met a lot of people, man. I met a lot of my heroes. SXSW was great. It was my first time performing outside of either Florida or Atlanta. I did five shows in two days, so it was almost like a performance boot-camp for me. It was a learning experience because I’m still finding my comfort zone on stage. I pretty much used it almost as my blueprint for what set-list to do for 4:57. I did a different group of songs at every performance and was able to gauge the audience’s interest. So I was able to come up with what I think is a really fun stage show.

HHS: So how is it now to be a full time musician? What’s changed?

LAWS: My schedule and my whole life have changed. The concept of what a day is has changed. The days really just kind of melt into each other now. I’m working on music everyday just trying to make the next good project for my fans and potential fans.

HHS: I read something where you said that life was your motivation [for wanting to succeed in music] and trying to get away from a boring normal life. Are you still happy with that decision?

LAWS: It wasn’t really my life in general that I was trying to escape. It was the double life that I was leading: having to hold a regular routine that was completely removed from music and then also having to be a musician. I know a lot of musicians have to do that for a long time and actually I did it for a very long time. But I felt that my music was at a certain level and with the time I put into it, I felt that something should have happened with it by now. It was tiring, man. Especially, when you write the kind of music I write. It’s very involving and emotional. It’s t tough when you have to still work a 9 to 5, especially a stressful one. I’ve aged a lot in the last 3 or 4 years.

HHS: Do you miss the monotony of a workday sometimes?

LAWS: Nah, I don’t miss that shit at all (laughs). I feel like this is the first time in my life that I can dedicate a whole day to music. Now I’m writing the most incredible shit in my life because I took all of the weights off and I’m just runnin’.

HHS: You were signed to RAWKUS at a point and were initially jaded with the music industry when you started. Do you still feel that way?

LAWS: I don’t really know yet, man. I’m not really fan of any industry that tries to capitalize off of the essence of the fans and plays with their emotions. But that’s any entertainment industry, really. As far as how I feel about this…I don’t really yet because my record isn’t out (laughs). People think that you get signed and then just take off into the stratosphere, but it’s not really like that. From what I’ve seen, every stage of your career is really just proving yourself to different group of people. And with 4:57, it’s like showing my label: “Look at what I can do”.

HHS: Are you past that now? Feeling jaded…?

LAWS: I consider myself part of the underground hip-hop collective and I don’t think you can find one rapper from that collective that isn’t jaded in one way or another. I feel like I can carry the torch for that group because at one point I felt like the world had moved past me and now I’ve made that jump. But as far as being jaded with it…I do have some real emotions with this. So am I over being jaded? I’ll let you know when I get there (laughs).

HHS: How’d you hookup with Rook and J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League?

LAWS: I’ve been involved in the Tampa hip-hop scene for a long time, especially the battle scene. Rook and J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League were all big advocates of that scene. Rook heard about me here and there. But he approached me after a feud I had with a particular Tampa emcee. He liked my attitude and wittiness, but just wanted to polish my…pause… rough edges. I was a really aggressive, angry and jaded emcee. So he just taught me a lot of things about how to go from being a battle emcee to becoming a full-fledged song writer.

HHS: So, on your releases so far, you’ve worked with some pretty heavy hitters. Do you feel any pressure now that you’ve worked with such well known veterans as DJ Smallz, Don Cannon, DJ Khalil, 9th Wonder and of course J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League?

LAWS: I have a very small group of friends and before I got into this, they told me to not forget who I am. I consider myself part of that school of emcees where you really had to rhyme to be considered dope. I hold myself accountable to those guys more than to the emcees of today. You know, when I first hooked up with 9th, Khalil and J.U.S.T.I.C.E. L.E.A.G.U.E., I was a little intimidated. At times I felt like a small fish in a big pond. But my friends gave me a reality check and reminded me of who I am. They reminded me that there was a reason that these guys wanted to work with me. So I just tell myself that and just snap back into reality. Then, I’m able to work with these guys the same way I work with my producers back home. But yeah, there is that intimidation. My introduction to J.U.S.T.I.C.E. L.E.A.G.U.E was very gradual. I talked to them a bunch of times before I actually met them. But 9th was my first hip-hop person. So honestly, I was nervous as shit. But he’s a really laid back guy, same with Khalil. Both are really down to earth guys. So the nervousness just kind of goes away. But still, even if I sold 5 million records and I met one of my heroes tomorrow, I’d still be like wow because I’m a fan first.

HHS: So is your next release still supposed to be Yesterdays Future?

LAWS: It’s done…but we have some other things that came up too. There a bunch of new records we have stashed that I can’t really talk about. We might be putting something out soon on iTunes. We’re still figuring it out though because “Hold You Down” got a really big response and we have a couple other big releases in the stash. Yesterday’s Future is something I wanted to do for a long time. I just wanted to make a project with one of my favorite artists; Paul McCartney. A lot of people don’t really know his solo work, so I decided to take my favorites songs of his and write to them like we wrote them together. So I write lyrics to what he’s singing about. It’s a way for me to introduce everybody to something that is important to me. It’s the same reason that I rap to electronic music. I just want to show people that there’s something else outside of their little world. So that project should be out in about 3 months or so. It’s a really important project to me. I did that one for me and my mother (laughs).

HHS: You’re not strictly a hip-hop head. I’ve read about your love of The Beatles and you even cite Iggy Pop as an inspiration as far as performing. How does that influence you as a musician?

LAWS: I have different sections of being a fan. And I think you are what your parents are. My parents are BIG music collectors. My earliest memories are of my dad playing “L.A. Woman” by the Doors and my mom playing “Jungle Love” by Morris Day and the Time. I’ve always been a music fan, for as long as I can remember. Rock music just speaks to a different part of my soul than hip-hop does. Rock musicians just jump head first into their music and performances and I’ve always been a fan of that. With rock you speak of melodies and you can’t talk about that without thinking of some of the early 60’s rockers, especially the Beatles. They changed the musical landscape, dropped some of the most influential songs of all time and created genres. To me, it’s just powerful and with rock music they don’t shun the past. They really appreciate the classics.

HHS: How far away are you from dropping the debut, has it been pushed back?

LAWS: It’s not really getting pushed back, but moreso we’ll drop it when it’s done. I just want to get to a certain point before I release a full album. There’ll be a lot of music out for people to hear, and I don’t mind giving it away because I make so much music. I can give a date for the album release after the McCartney project drops. But if someone likes my music, trust me, there won’t be a shortage of music for them to pick up. I’m not going to over-flood, but there’ll always be something out for people to listen to that’s of the caliber of what I’ve put out.

HHS: You talk a lot about your background; being born in Brazil, then being adopted by a family, moving to Long Island and then down to Tampa. Has that shaped you as an artist?

LAWS: It was huge, man. Being an adopted child, there are a lot of things that go with that and I had parents that never made me feel like an adopted child. My family is very close and that family aspect is very important to me. Moving to Florida when I did was tough, especially at the age I was. And you know, doing that without your boys, it’s tough for a kid. I was a big hip-hop fan, so I was a little jaded because they didn’t play anything that I liked on the radio down in Florida. I was a little isolated for a while. I spent a lot of time indoors because it was a small town and I didn’t know anybody. So out of my isolation, I looked for a way out. I was always aware of emceeing, but at that point I started free-styling with a couple kids I met in school. We started sneaking into clubs to battle. I don’t know where the courage came from to do that, but all of this was born from that.

HHS: So do you think the move from New York to Florida spurred that?

LAWS: In New York, I was more of a fan and I didn’t start participating until I moved here. I don’t think I would have started emceeing if I hadn’t moved. I’m a big advocate of everything happening for a reason. I’ve had so many random occurrences in my life that have put me in life changing situations. Everything just happened in a way that if they hadn’t happened, my life would be drastically different. So I think it all had to happen the way it did. It happened for me to be doing what I’m doing now.

HHS: So what are you doing now? Are you going to be performing a lot or are you going to be in straight studio-mode until your album drops?

LAWS: There’s something monumental that has happened for me as far as touring goes. I really can’t say who it’s with…but let’s just say it’s someone or a collective of people that I admire a lot. There’s a very good chance that I’ll be able to hop on tour with them for a good amount of time. If that happens, that’s going to be going on. But I’m always recording, man. I’m putting the finishing touches on the McCartney project and working on the album. I want to get as much time on stage as possible to get it down pat and become more seasoned. But it’ll be a little bit of both. I’m just really excited with what I’ve been doing since 4:57 dropped. I can’t wait for people to hear what I’ve been doing. I’m excited as hell.

HHS: Anything else you’d like to say to the people?

LAWS: I’ve been a fan of Hiphopsite for a long time, man. I’ve been reading the site for a long time, so this is cool for me. It’s definitely a surreal moment for me, so thank you for reaching out.

Check LAWS out at: http://www.myspace.com/lawshiphop and http://twitter.com/lawshiphop