If you’re not familiar with rising rapper Lantana, allow me to put you on to the first to come out of Cincinnati. The 25-year-old rapper has been dominating the underground scene for some time with his first mixtape Lantana On The Way. With his most recent release, All Hustle, No Luck, the newest artist to sign to Polo Grounds/RCA Records is already starting to stand out amongst the rest with the remix to the title track with Bun B, Yo Gotti & Pusha T.

In an exclusive interview with The Source, Lantana talks about his influences, explains his creative process behind All Hustle, No Luck, and his experience meeting with Wyclef Jean in the studio.

 So you’re straight out of Cincinnati. Who were your influences from out there?

Lantana: Coming out of Cincinnati, we really don’t have nobody representing from the region so we get influences from all areas. We got Latin folk and down south music but at the same time you got people listening to East coast music and you got people listening to West coast music. But my influences include The Hot Boys, Cash Money, Scarface, 2Pac and people like that.

You recently dropped your new mixtape ‘All Hustle No Luck.’ What was your creative process?

My whole thing was going in and making that authentic sound. I stayed motivated through everything. So when I was in the studio, we would start on the track with the sound and I like to write really. So then it depends on the sound and then I hear it and I’ll just start coming up with the idea in my head. I build the song from the ground up. I still go in and sometimes make songs on beats that’s premade from people but for the most part I like to build with the sound and come up with the song to put it all together. With All Hustle No Luck, that’s all me coming up. It’s like the soundtrack of what somebody goes through. It helps you get through and motivates you to do what you trying to do, whatever it is.

You’ve got a few visuals up on Youtube and it seems like you have a following in the UK. How do you feel you can make a global impact with your music in the future?

Lantana: I feel by just being real and being me. I think the whole motivational thing, giving people some kind of hope and having some type of circle regardless of the language. Wherever you go people can feel it. They can hear it in my voice that I mean what I’m saying. I was just in the studio with Wyclef. He goes around the country and people might not even speak the language that he sings his songs in but they can feel it. I hope I can have that kind of impact because just the stuff that I’m saying has so much meaning and it can pertain to anyone going through anything or not even just going through anything but trying to get somewhere. I just think it will be universal.

What sets you aside from the rest of the players in this game?

Lantana: The biggest thing I feel that sets me apart is my passion and how I feel about this. It’s not even like “let me come up with a catchy song so people can sing it.” I really want to go down in history. I want people to feel like I’m impacting them for the better. Coming from where I’m from, people have never heard of no rappers come out of my city. They don’t know what’s expected from my city or how we speak or our tone or our swag. It’s not really seen yet. I’m really the first rapper to be in this position to be in the light. That’s gonna be a big thing that sets me apart.

Tell me more about you and Wyclef Jean in the studio. What did you two get accomplished?

Lantana: I played a record for him and he played one for me. We really got to sit down and get to know each other. You know Wyclef is a legend in this music industry and he puts in work. So he looks at me as a young artist right now. And he’s been here for so long and he’s still pushing. We didn’t want to put anything down but we definitely going to be in there because he respects my work and I respect his body of work. We definitely are going to make moves in the future.

So you’re ready to put Cincinatti on the map?

Lantana: Yea man, I’m Cincinatti through and through. I’m definitely a representative of us. When they see me, they see Cincinatti. I got this on lock down. I take this serious because without my city I wouldn’t be where I’m at now, you know what I mean? They’ve supported me. They made sure I got on the radio. I just wanna let people know about us.

Besides working with Wyclef Jean, what else do you got coming up in the future?

Lantana: I got stuff coming up for the top of the year. We just put out the remix of “All Hustle No Love” with Bun B, Pusha T, and Yo Gotti and we just finished the video. It’s starting to get around and getting a lot of radio play. Right now I’m still establishing my name with the people. Showing them who I am is just a part of the process. Everything doesn’t happen overnight but just being down and over-committed to what you’re doing regardless of what gets in the way, you gotta make it happen.