Episode 4 Winner of Hot97 Loaded Lux Top Shelf Freestyle Competition: Pressure225

The Bronx emcee made his presence felt and is now looking to capitalize from the success of the show.

Looks can be deceiving. Bronx rapper, Pressure225 knows this better than most. One glance at Pressure and you wouldn’t expect the flow that comes out of his mouth. It’s a pleasant surprise and he has proven to be able to hold his own against the best of the best. Confident in his abilities, he entered the, Hot97 Loaded Lux Top Shelf Freestyle, and walked away from episode 4 with a victory. Influenced by New York greats like, Jadakiss, Fabolous, Jay-Z and many more, Pressure’s goal is to remain true to his sound and never switch up to fit in with whatever wave is current. He plans to release a project by the end of the month and build from there.

During my recent conversation with, Pressure225, he talks about the experience of being a part of the show, the importance of having backing now and releasing a project soon.

Exciting times for you. You recently won Episode 4 of the Loaded Lux Top Shelf Freestyle show. How you feeling?

Pressure225: It feels good. That first initial one definitely got the people behind me. Going into the finals and going through that whole episode and experiencing it was pretty dope, man. It’s been overwhelming for sure.

No pun intended, but was there a lot of pressure on you from one performance to another?

Pressure225: (Laughing). The crazy part about the show is, Lux is a battle rapper. He’s probably one of the best of all-time. And they put a spin on it, they made us battle without giving us any warning. I haven’t battle rapped since high school and I definitely don’t consider myself an active battle rapper. The thing that makes it so special for me is, I pulled it off. It wasn’t a fluke or anything. But definitely a lot of pressure. To go up there in less than 5-minutes and you just have to flow in front of a crowd is kind of crazy.

Most definitely. There is a resurgence in on the spot freestyles and cypher type settings now.

Pressure225: Yeah 100%! I see more people doing it. It’s dope because of social media. The production is stepping up on it. You have people who are doing a whole production for one-shot-take freestyles. I definitely see that popping up a lot more and I appreciate that because that’s something I fell in love with.

Being from Louisiana, when I first saw your name, I thought you were from Baton Rouge because that’s the area code there. Where does your name stem from?

Pressure225: (Laughing). I always went by, Pressure growing up. And then when I jumped on social media, I put the 225 on it. That’s the street where I’m from in the Bronx; Uptown 225 Street. As I started taking the music more serious, the 225 kind of stuck. It’s been there ever since.

The Bronx has a real rich musical and hip-hop history. Who are some of your musical influences?

Pressure225: I get this question a lot. I’m heavy New York. I like, [Jada] Kiss right now. He just dropped an album. A lot of, Jay [Z], he’s probably one of my favorite all-time, some of Em [inem]. In the Bronx, you got Pun of course. But definitely heavy New York is what I’m tuned into, Fab. Stuff like that.

When you’re on a show like, Top Shelf Freestyle where your competition is right in front of you, did you have time to study your opposition at all or did you prefer not to?

Pressure225: I like the raw approach of it. It can make or break the other person. Like for me, I’m not worried in that sense because I know I could come with it. Even if it’s not the greatest round you heard, I know I can get through it. That’s something not everybody can do. I think the rapping part, you know if someone can rap if you can prepare for it because they were there, but the on the fly and on the spot type of thing, that’s not easy. I don’t think everybody is cut from that.

Your appearance doesn’t say dope rapper. Do you feel like you get underestimated right out of the gate and in turn that plays to your advantage?

Pressure225: Man, that’s a dope question, man because I’m telling you right now, I always feel that way. I always have that underdog feeling. They’ll look at me and I know they are thinking, “This guy can’t rap.” That fuels me. Once I get into it, I’m looking at the faces and the reactions and I always get that after the fact look of respect. I did that and got the attention off of my rap and my abilities. So, I feel like that all the time. I always feel like there is some type of underestimation based on my looks. And I’m quiet too in person. I’m very quiet, so I don’t give off that energy, so when you hear me rap it’s something different.

What’s the end goal for you?

Pressure225: I’m an artist. Music is what I love to do, so the end goal from this show is to captivate who’s paying attention now and translate that into the music. With the music, I know I’m capable there. But now that I have a platform behind me like Hot97, I got Lux in my corner and all of these people that are supporting the rap thing, I want the music to definitely be a representation going forward. I’m working on a project and I’m going to put that out by the end of the month most likely.

Do you see yourself collaborating with anyone from the show?

Pressure225: Chayna is someone I could work with. She is a dope artist from the Bronx. She’s like a real battle rapper. She has a huge following. We live in the same part of the Bronx. I would collab with her. She is an amazing talent. Anybody on the show, I think they are worth collabing with. Elz Money Muzik is amazing too.

You don’t sound like everything that’s out right now. Is it important to you to keep it that way?

Pressure225: Again, I feel like I get fueled by that to be honest. We got Griselda right now who are like the hottest and hardest group coming out of Buffalo, New York; very unexpected. But they did it sticking to their true sound. That’s something that I pride myself in. I’m in the studio, you’re not going to hear me play those type of records or autotune my voice. Again, it’s dope for who does it and can pull it off, but it’s very important for me to stick to what I initially fell in love with and that’s the art of it. The words, the bars, the punchlines and flows. The art of presenting a song in my way, my version and my story is super important to me. And that’s what you’re always going to get. You will always get that piece of me. You will always know what you’re going to get from me, more than the basic rapper.

What have you learned about yourself from the time you got into music up to this point where you are in your young career?

Pressure225: Two things for sure that I can think of off the top of my head, I know I can do it. I know that I can keep up with he best of them. I’m confident and I get to say it now and have the stamp now which is a very important thing for me. Having that respect behind it. And then one of the other things I feel like I’ve learned, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate in a way. As everything is turning through, it doesn’t matter what you feel like you deserve. It’s about what you worked out and what you put in the work for is what you’re going to get back. You’re in a game where you’re rubbing shoulders with a lot of people who want to make it as well, so you gotta make sure your situation is solidified before you move forward for sure.

I look forward to seeing more from you, good luck and stay in touch. Is there anything else you want to add?

Pressure225: I appreciate the time. I checked out the site, you guys are dope-dope-dope, so keep going and I appreciate you guys for having me.

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