It seems like only yesterday when we saw a very young Diggy Simmons running around onscreen with his younger brother Russy, wreaking havoc on his mom and dad, Rev. Run of the legendary Run DMC, in the hit reality show Run's House. But that was more than three years ago and in that time frame, Diggy has carved out a lane for himself as a legitimate artist, scoring a record deal with Atlantic Records.
The 16-year-old Simmons' fan base is exploding rapidly, and his single, "Copy, Paste," has proven to have some staying power on BET's hit music video countdown 106 & Park. Diggy is currently on the road for the 2011 Scream Tour, and he's one of the top acts billed in the show. His (largely) female fan base was eager to see him hit the stage but the young MC was kind of enough answer a few questions with us before he stepped out to the crowd at the Washington D.C. stop of the tour.
Read our interview with Diggy Simmons below
Q: Welcome to DC! Is this your first time here?
A: Thank you. Nah, this is isn't. I was here over the summer for the Closer to My Dreams tour, it's like the BET 106 & Park Tour. So this is like my third or fourth time here.
Q: Cool. So did you get to see the nation's capital and go around?
A: No, I haven't but in 8th grade I took a trip down here for like a whole weekend so I've been to all the monuments and all that.
Q: Congratulations on the success of your first single, "Copy, Paste." What was the message you wanted that song to convey?
A: It was just an anthem and a theme song for people that are original and just do them.
Q: That's true because it's easier sometimes to just take things that are out there and imitate them.
A:That's what I'm all about. My movement, JetSetters, is all about being you and not falling in to that peer pressure because it's so easy to do when you're young. But anybody can do it, it's very easy when you want to fit in and feel accepted.
Q: What's the JetSetter movement about? A lot of artists have names for their fan bases.
A:That's my movement and I didn't do it just because I wanted a name for my fans. I had a blog called "Life of the JetSetter," it was just based on a whole lot of the things that I liked and I did it during middle school, and I was different.
Nobody in my school liked that kind of stuff, but I did. I was inspired by Taz Arnold, Kanye West and Lupe and other influential people in fashion. So that's why I did that, and since my fans are a reflection of me, they're my JetSetters.
Q:You recently made it known that you'd not be using curse words in your music. Will Smith has a similar motto as far as his music goes. What made you make that decision?
A: It's not even difficult, because when you're being you, nothing should ever be difficult. My reason isn't even to be clean or connect with a large scale of people. It may do that, it may not. But that's just me being me at the end of the day. I don't feel as though I need to curse in my music.
Q:A good rhyme is a good rhyme, whether it's explicit or not.
A:Exactly. And I'm not opposed to listening to explicit music, all the music, as far as albums I have are explicit. So you know, I have nothing against that.
Q: So what's the next single? More music on the way?
A:Next single will be out in the next couple of days. Definitely in October. And it'll be the second single off my debut album.
Q:You're not gonna give us a title? Tell us who the producers are?
A:My fans they kinda know but….
Q:So it's gonna be a surprise. Alright, so what's 2012 gonna look like for Diggy Simmons?
A:I'll probably be embarking on my first tour by myself, for my album. Hopefully I'll have worked my way up to dope awards that year, magazine covers that year. There's a whole lot of prestigious things that I wanna do.
