Where did your name, Aristo, and your group The Offense’s name come from?

The name Aristo is short for Aristocrat which I think describes me as a person. I came up with the name in 1999 when I started to take rapping serious. My original rap name was Aristocrat until one of my close friends started calling me Aristo, after I just ran with it. Now, The Offense evolved from The Triangle Offense, which was one of the names we were thinking of using in the early stages. We just decided to run with The Offense because it was shorter, catchy and because we looked at our group as a team that comes to score and win.

How do you get your inspiration and motivation to persevere in your music?

I get inspiration from life, family, friends and seeing people who came from nothing make something out of themselves. For example; my mother who raised my little sister, little brother and I by herself until my father came to Canada to live with us.

How did The Offense get started? Did you choose the other artists personally or was there another process?

The Offense came from Littles, C.Leon and I. I remember talking with Littles one day on MSN and saying we should create a group and go hard, It was magic after that now WE HERE!!! Everyone in The Offense is considered family because we’re all friends and been recording together ever since so It was only right that we came together as one. I couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone else.

Is Canada appreciating you and your crew’s contribution to the hip-hop industry?

Hell yeah!!! Especially in Toronto and Halifax which are our home towns. Right now both me as a solo artist and The Offense as a group is making a lot of noise in Canada and the U.S. A lot people love the fact that we came together and made it happen. I mean the music is hot and we go hard so there’s no stopping us.

What’s the progress on your solo album Absolute Power? When can Aristo fans pick up a copy of this?

The album is a work in progress, but its coming together beautifully. We’re looking to release it spring 2007 worldwide with at least three big features including the one I already have with the reggae icon Sizzla. I’m also looking to get a feature from Young Jeezy for my first single called “Bring It Back” so everyone should keep their ears and eyes open.

Apart from the music industry, do you intend on branching off into other areas? For example, perhaps an Offense Clothing line, or ever considered getting into acting?

I’m glad you ask that question because I’m definitely more of a business man than artist with a lot of dreams and goals. I recently did a marketing campaign with nexlyne, X box and universal records modelling hats and I also started doing some acting for this sitcom called Hip Hop Slurpies. I also just started my own charitable foundation called “You Could Be a Star” which is designed to help students from low income families excellent by donating laptops, books etc to them as long they achieve top marks at the end of each semester.

What else can we expect from you and The Offense in the future? Any Mixtape/Album Releases, or tours even?

Well, I’m currently working on my follow up to the “Trials of a Hustler” CD called “The Block Exchange” which is set to drop late October. It is going to be an enhanced Cd like my last one but with a lot more goodies like music videos, video games and much more. When this CD is released I’m going on a Canada wide promo tour to raise awareness for my album and get a lot of footage for my dvd. The Offense is working on the round two as we speak which will be another classic mixtape for anyone who loves quality music. We’re also working on The PlayBook Remixes which is basically all the songs that were recorded on industry beats turned into original songs all produced by Offense in house and Canada’s number one producer Rich Kidd.

Any Shoutouts?

Stadium Music, The Offense, HeyWorld, www.nexlyne.com, Rich Kidd, Veterano, Blaq Magic, PZO, Trac and everyone that helps and supports Aristo to the fullest.

Thanks!
Blaq Magic