Fdot1 - Money MusicK

After opening for Omarion in Germany and opening for Mz Dynamite at the Brixton Academy, he has managed to create an eclectic fanbase spanning a multitude of continents including Europe, South and North America. Fdot1 - formerlyFloriginu1 and now known as Flo to many in the industry - is a producer originally born in Barbados, but raised in US, Canada and UK. Throughout his musical career, he has worked with a handful of familiar faces, as well as underground home-grown talents such as the pioneer graffiti artist 'Eros' whose artwork is featured in Flo's pictures. Flo's forthcoming 3 track EP is set for release March 2011, which will be followed by his album Money MusicK in 2011 which will feature artists such as Malarchi, Dray Delta, Stat-Us, 2-Amplified and neo-soul queen Kyra Simone. I thought I'd catch up with Flo himself to see where he gets all his inspiration from as well as where it all started.


When and where did your career start?
My career started back home in Barbados what seems like a million years ago.... back then I was making music with equipment last seen on Noah's Ark! My first gig in the UK was at Flava Of The Month, an event hosted & promoted by DJ 279 from Choice FM. Around the same time, I was a regular performer at Jonzi D (of Hip Hop Theatre fame) and TY's (UK hip hop legend) 'Apricot Jam'.

What is the best place music has taken to you to?

Wow, that's a tough one, but I'd have to say Munich, Germany opening for Omarion and Paris where I met and became friends with 'Eros' who is one of the pioneers of graffiti in France. Almost forgot, opening for Ms Dynamite at Brixton Academy... that was amazing!

In as much detail as possible, describe a typical day in the life of 'Flo' ?

My day starts usually around 8am (if I haven't been to bed late lol!), switching on my Power Mac & while it's loading I go get a cup of coffee, 4 sugars. I very rarely have breakfast so it's straight to work after saying goodbye to my kids or taking them to school.

I check my emails/Facebook/twitter etc whilst listening back to what I was working on the day/night before and making note of the things I need to change, vocally or musically. After that, I start editing like I work in CSI, picking apart the tracks keeping the good stuff and throwing out the rubbish, it's a non-stop quest for perfection.


I usually have several projects on the go at any one time. At the moment I'm working on a an album for UK rap legend Malarchi which involves recording and editing vocals then mixing the tracks. I'm also co-producing, editing & mixing an EP with Vivid Beatz who I do a lot of work with featuring up & coming London rapper Dray Delta.

Throughout the day I take breaks and check out videos/track on YouTube etc to check out the dare I say 'competition', see who's bringing that hot sh*t or on some bogus, weak, regurgitated nonsense because you have to remain aware of what's going on! I have to be honest, the industry does make me laugh at times.

After doing all that work during the day and sometimes most of the night, I usually crawl into bed between 1 and 3am. However, I have been known to be up for 3 days straight 'grinding' cause that's what needs to be done occasionally, if you want to be the best at what you do.

Now that's a typical day in the life of Flo, lol…..

Truthfully and as cliche as it sounds, I'm inspired by everything BUT if I have to name a few people musically, they'd be 2Pac, Bob Marley, The Roots, Mos Def, Dr Dre, Eminem, Durrty Goodz and Sizzla (both of whom I've produced for), DJ Premier, Anthony Hamilton, D'Angelo, James Poyser and Beethoven… Do you know what, there's simply too many to name, I just like artists that dare to be different.

What has been your best performance, and why?

It has to be a show I did in Brixton a couple years ago when the radio-mic stopped working & they couldn't find the battery or replacement mics so I stopped the music & finished my set acapella without a mic. That was the most appreciative crowd I've performed for cause they paid attention to the lyrics.


Do you think the music industry has change in comparison to 10years ago?

The industry has definitely changed, it's always been 'money motivated' but now the majority of music we hear sounds like it rolled off a factory production line. I think it's kinda sad really to see that most artists, singers, rappers and bands alike, are foregoing originality and creativity and simply 'following' trends and formulas. In short, almost every song is the same, lacking depth or substance and there's a lot of violent material… What ever happened to having a good time?
Instead of imitating what already exists, labels need to go back to finding the next UNIQUE artiste!

What advice would you give to up and coming musicians?

I'd advise any up and coming artists to work hard, persevere, focus and most importantly to be patient because it will be worth it in the end. Giving up is not an option, no matter how tough it appears to be to get YOUR music heard. Be prepared to compromise and experiment, but not to the point where you lose your creativity and 'sense of self' because more often than not, the reason people are attracted to you is because YOU ARE DIFFERENT…!!!

What can we expect from you in 2011?

Hell yeah! We got big plans for this year and beyond.

I finished editing, mixing and mastering my second studio album "Money MusicK" 2 days before Christmas at Abbot Street Studios (HUGE respect to the team there) and we're now in the process of doing the photo shoot, videos and artwork in preparation for it's release in April 2011. The album will be released on my own label fM Inc. featuring Malarchi, 2 Amplified, Stat-Us, Kyra Simone and Dray Delta. It also features production by Strat Carter (Barbados) & Vivid Beatz (London).

I'll be featuring on my homie Configa's next album "Inside The Echo Chamber", on a joint called "Pop Off" alongside Corporal Ass Kick out of Farrock, New Jersey and Serocee (UK/Jamaica) due for release early this year. Incidentally, I also appeared on Configa's last release "Configa Presents: Pac To The Essence Vol. 1" on "Dear Mama" Remix. The album was released on the anniversary of 2Pac's death last year and is available on iTunes. Almost forgot, the first collaboration Configa and I did together "Hot Off Da Press" (also available on iTunes) which was completed in less than 24hrs after we 'met' on Twitter, lol, that's a story in itself!


Also, keep a look out for Vivid Beatz collaboration with Dray Delta tentatively titled "Sonic Charged" which I am Executive Producer on. Not forgetting 2-Amplified's yet to be titled EP that I'm about to start mixing; Malarchi's album (me on Production again!) and also projects with Durrty Goodz plus two of the UK's hottest R'n'B vocalists, David Mensah & Kyra Simone.

There are a few more things I'm in the middle of negotiating but I'd rather not say until they're confirmed. So I guess you could say that 2011 is gonna be pretty busy for me and the fM Inc. team. Before I sign off I'd like to shout out my business partner Julez for all her hard work and support…, Julez you're the BEST..!!!

As you heard, Flo has a number of things in the pipeline for the forthcoming year, to keep up to date you can log on to his Official Site where you can also download his latest track Fyaaah. You can also contact him via his Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Youtube and you can also listen to all his latest tunes via Reverb Nation .