Meet Know Face. The Albanian New Yorker who defines hustle. He started his own contracting company at 19, and has been hustling in every aspect of the word. He recently dropped 3 tracks in the past 4 weeks, which that on it’s own shows you the determination he displays. While most artists can’t even drop a song a month, this dude dropped about a track a week, while working full time managing a major company. He’s clearly fit to run NY. His track’s ‘Do You Love Me‘ and ‘Vent’ featuring Yadhae Crea were hot enough to catch Rap Fiestas attention. Let’s dive in.

Devil Cant Touch Me

In his clean cut video for ‘Do You Love Me‘,  If his grit and hustle wasn’t enough to remind you he’s from New York, his fit clearly does. He rocks a World Series Yankee’s Jersey with a Rolex on his wrist, while he’s being whipped around an undisclosed area. This track is a declaration for the young artist. He spits verse’s filled with meaning and reflection that shows he’s aware of whose around him. His cadence is one that doesn’t overwhelm you, as his sound is naturally gliding over soft production of a dark vocal loop. It’s almost unclear whether the chorus of the song ‘Do You Love Me’ is Know Face‘s way of asking the world if they love him, or if he loves himself. He lets you decide.

His most recent drop ‘Vent’ he starts off the track asking his listeners if they’re ready. The reason he asks this is because he is about to drop some serious word play on your head top with bars like ‘Had to get in my bag like we about to trick or treat’ and ‘I’m a Star like Ringo’. His pen game clearly shows, and his delivery with it is cold. He doesn’t force one bar. It’s truly effortless. The vibe on this joint is similar to his previous release of ‘Do You Love Me’. We even catch some soothing female vocals at the end of the joint that fades off into what feels like a 2 part song with a beautiful, elusive sound.

We had the exclusive chance to interview Know Face , here at Rap Fiestas. Check that out below.

Hey brother it’s a pleasure to be linking with you on this. Let’s jump right in. We recently found out that you started your own contracting company 3 years ago with your brother. How did you originally get into that, and what makes a contractor want to become a rap artist?

Pleasure to link with you as well brother. I was trying different stuff when I was 21. I opened a biggie smalls themed pizza spot in Jax beach a month before I graduated college, then I did social media marketing for restaurants, but it just wasn’t something I saw longevity in, so a friend, partner of mine and my father were like “Yo I’m telling you, study get your license as CGC”, which is the highest license you can have as a general contractor in Florida, like I could build a bridge if someone put the opportunity in my hands, although I would never want to build a bridge! I do apartment complex exterior renovations. I passed a mad hard 8 hour exam and just said fuck it and went after it. Hit sales routes, hit connections me and my brother had, and just went after it.  We had capital from selling the pizzeria to our former partner who is a great dude and makes fire pizza so it was the perfect storm. So naturally, we had capital to buy real estate which me and G (my brother) are big on. We keep cash flowing, keep making money from construction now I got capital to fuck around and afford things like studio time! 
Fast forward 2.5 years later my 15 year cousin aka Don Fa the Don daddddddaaaaa starts rapping and gets in a “family rap beef” with our other cousin we all start fucking around and making songs. I pull up to the studio and the engineer (shoutout Phil green at green team media) was like you are niceeeee. Then I had my other boys telling me keep going (I don’t gotta name them they know who they are). So I kept going ever since. Keep in mind that was only 7 months ago. Never rapped for real a day before that. I always loved hip hop and would freestyle in high school as a joke but never wrote I just started like that. I’m hooked!

You have a real interesting stage name as well. How did you come up with it?

Originally I wanted to be “No Face”, and have no one know my face due to my profession and hating family members, but then I was like screw that I wanna be known. Check my my first video “Live from New York” you can see I actually blur my face, but that was too much and too corny! So I went with “Know Face”. I want you to Know my Face, but if you don’t know it then you will know the music. So no matter how you cut it, you will know something about Know Face.

Do you claim yourself as a New York artist? We see that you’re always back and forth in Jacksonville, Florida too. What is your connection there?

I’m a New Yorker till the day I die. I’m born and raised in Queens. I’m a Knick Fan. I’m a lunatic fan as a matter of a fact, so I do consider myself a New York artist. I want to put on for the city for sure. It needs real authentic hip hop, and I see it getting better with artists like Marlon Craft and Kota The Friend. My connection is I moved to Jacksonville in freshman year of high school with my mom, dad and brother. So it was for sure hard. However, I love Jacksonville and I definitely got a strong connection with Duval County. I became a man in this city, I learned life lessons in this city, I made great friends in this city, and I made my money in this city. It’s always love for Duval. 

On that track ‘Vent’, it sounds like you’ve been through a lot. Where is that energy and pain coming from?

For sure! The pain and energy comes from my life man. Life is hard we all know it. Everyone has different struggles. Now I have had some crazy struggles, especially in the past few years that I don’t like to speak on, but the good thing is life is beautiful. It has ups and downs and that’s what I wanted to portray in vent. The pain that I’ve had, the struggles in my personal life, with being a entrepreneur. The energy is all the hate thrown at me, and all the love thrown at me I combine them. 
Shoutout to my brother for telling me to never over think. My mom for telling me to never get too down, my dad for showing me a work ethic and my girl for showing me to manifest good things. They definitely inspire ‘Vent’  and all of my music. 

That video for ‘Do You Love Me’ is super well done too. It’s clear you put the work into your craft. What was the message you were trying to share with that video?

Shout out to Film Rat in Jacksonville for that he killed it. I wanted to show how through all of life we all want material things, but sometimes there is more to it. You see me pass mansions in the video in Ponte Vedra Beach and the hook says “do you love me I need to know” I’m asking myself If I love myself,  that’s a convo with me, “will these fancy things cute what I’m feeling or am I just filling the void”. That’s me asking me. 

On that track you said, ‘Looking from the water, forgot I came from the fire’. Can you elaborate on that more?

Very simple! I’ve been on so many planes and on so many dope beaches since I like to travel so much. I will be looking at the water whether it’s over a plane or on a beach and just zone out, and just forget it all man. All the struggles, all the hard times, I’ll forget the fire that me, and everyone else goes through. 

You mentioned you were Albanian as well. Does that play into your music in any way?

I love Albania. I Love my background I’m a first generation children of immigrants, and I love my parents for coming to this wonderful, although controversial country. I saw my whole family struggle to succeed. My mom, brother, and dad escaped communist Albania in a boat over a river with gun shots flying over them. My brother was one of the youngest immigrants to immigrate into Belgrade. My dad used to be a maintenance man. My mom was a maid, my aunts were maids. They cleaned filth for years and some still do. My father and uncles all worked together to buy real estate. My uncle fell 5 stories working construction and lived. My grandparents all of them struggled to get here. So that struggle, that pain, and that triumph I saw growing up all plays into my music. Those struggles also make me prideful to be Albanian, and that pride gives me confidence. Although, I never want to be known as just an Albanian artist. I want to be an artist loved by all- that’s all. When I make it though, I will always rep for my ancestral home land 100%. I wanna put Albanian artists on if I make it to that stage. Shoutout to my favorite Albanian American rapper Action Bronson one time.

Why should people being tuning into ‘Know Face’, and what separates you from other artists? 

I want you tuning in if you love hip hop, if you love good music, and if you want to hear substance. This is not that normal mumble rap. That rap talking about stuff that negatively influences kids growing up. This is inspirational rap. I talk about my family, my girl, my struggles, my pain. Not about lean and drugs! That’s the separation in the age of filler, I’m real. You hear my best selection. Everything is so soulful, I want you to relate to me, and to feel my story. I want you to have a experience when you hear me. That’s the difference.

What’s next for you?

I’ve dropped 3 singles so far. I got another dropping Sunday called “Thailand”. Next up is 4 more singles and hen a mixtape with the 7 singles dropped. I got 3 projects on deck. Videos on deck. We are locked and loaded. Once I learn to market this stuff better, it’s over. I will make it.