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LATE NIGHT IN THE PHOG
KANSAN.COM
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A Q&A WITH REDHEAD THE CREATOR OF THE SONG "FRANK MASON"
SCOTT CHASEN @SChasenKU
As Kansas point guard Frank Mason III burst onto the scene, so did a song with the same name, written by Redhead, or Derek Minigan, a rapper from Hopewell, Va.
The song is approaching 50,000 views on YouTube and has spread Redhead's name around the Midwest — specifically around the University of Kansas.
Redhead talked with The Kansan about a recent trip he made to Kansas, how he was inspired by Mason to make the song in the first place and where he's gone in his career since then.
Kansan: You made the trip to Lawrence pretty recently. What was your time like here?
Redhead: It was amazing. The campus was amazingly huge. I've never been to a campus that big at all. It was really fun catching up with Frank (Mason III) and seeing how his day-to-day life is.
What type of things did you do while you were here?
We just really chilled and played the game. We watched TV and just [focused on] catching up on old times. And I met some of the players; I met Wayne Selden, and I met Brannen Greene as well. [I was] just talking to those guys, [doing] guy stuff — sports. I talked to them a little bit about my music. I asked them about the campus and how they liked it there. Everything was good.
With the song "Frank Mason" and the visit, is it safe to say you consider yourself a Kansas basketball fan?
Yeah, I used to be a Tar Heels fan because [being] from Virginia, there are really no teams
Read the rest at Kansan.com/sports
— especially like any national teams and stuff like that — so we can really just pick anywhere. So, I was a Tar Heels fan because of Michael Jordan, but once I heard Frank committed to Kansas, it gave me a reason to actually be a fan of an actual college team. Ever since I first heard he committed I've been converted. I've been a Jayhawk fan ever since. And I'm going to be a Jayhawk fan forever, even after he leaves.
So let's talk about the song "Frank Mason." Of all the things to write a song about, why Frank Mason III?
Why Frank? Where we're from, it's not really easy to make it out [of there]. It's kind of a bad area out here, basically all around. To see somebody do good and make it out, I really saluted Frank for that. I just wanted to show him some recognition, but instead of just telling him like everybody else does, I wanted to make it into a song, because that's how I vent. That's how I let things out. I put my words and my experiences to music. If I want to tell you something, I'll say it in a song or something like that.
And with Frank? What did you want to say?
I really wanted to highlight his accomplishments, [while] at the same time trying to make it into a chant. It was a little vulgar, but I just wanted to make it into a chant and just show him my respect for what he's done. With my music career, Frank was at my first show I ever did in my life. It was at [Club Rain] out here in Petersburg (Virginia). I'm from Hopewell, Virginia, but it was at this club in Petersburg: My first show ever and Frank was right there. He's been supporting me since before I even
[blew up]; you know I've been to Hollywood and I'll be with celebs all the time now, but before even all that, Frank's just been supporting me, so I just wanted to show my love back.
And I didn't know he was going to be as big as he is right now. That's why I made the song. I made the song before he was even doing amazingly great at Kansas. A lot of people were doubting him because in his freshman year, his numbers weren't what everyone expected, but I knew he was going to come out on top the whole time. It was just a matter of time with him getting comfortable and everything. Because he was a star around here. And I just stayed with that and supported him all the way through, and I'm going to keep on supporting him all the way to the league.
The song really blew up last year, even though you had written it the year before. What was it like to go through all of that — all of the features and interviews?
Man I remember just waking up and my phone was just like jumping off the dresser. I was like, 'What in the world?' and then 1 checked the views on YouTube. Everyone was tweeting about it, but I didn't know [what had happened]. I had seen some people that work for ESPN and Fox Sports and all of that tweeting about it, [and I thought] 'No way; this can't be real.' And then I checked the views (on the video) — and the views were at 4,000 for a long time — I'd seen it in just two hours shoot up to like 8,000 — in just two or four hours.
I was like, 'What in the world?' because I don't pay for views or anything like that. I like everything to be real; I don't pay for followers or anything. So I'm like, 'Man, what is going on? This cannot be real.' To find out that it was real
"Why Frank (Mason)? Where we're from, it's not really easy to make it out [of there]. It's kind of a bad area out here, basically all around. To see somebody do good and make it out, I really saluted Frank for that."
REDHEAD
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