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Ace Da God doesn’t curse. He doesn’t care about name brands. And he doesn’t really like rap music. All these factors easily make him one of the strangest new rappers out there. And, you know what, he doesn’t mind.

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The young 20-year-old MC is trying to fit his way into the rap game, and he’s trying to do it by being as different as possible.

Being that he’s so particular, there have been some bumps in the road. In October, Ace Da God appeared on 106 & Park’s Freestyle Friday. Even though he gave a spirited effort, the rapper lost to a MC named Misery. Even after taking the L, Ace Da God still trekked on. 

We kicked it with Ace Da God a little while back. He talked to us about his new tape, Another Classic Emcee, his philosophy on trying to be different and why he doesn’t curse.

Take a look down below!    

GlobalGrind: Is it true that you don’t curse?

Ace Da God: Yeah, I don’t curse on none of my songs.

Do you curse in real life?

Nah, not really. If you can express yourself without profanity, people will look at you differently.

Have you always been like that?

Yeah, I’ve always been like that. Always try to be different, a standout. That’s why I don’t dress like everybody else. I don’t talk like everybody else. I try not to rap like everybody else. I got a saying: ‘Be you, even if it isn’t popular.’

Alright, so everybody was wearing Jordans, what were you wearing?

Oh, me? I wore Filas. I had some high-tops Filas on. If you was wearing Rugby or Polo, I was wearing a button-up.

So what are you wearing right now?

I got a purple fleece on. I got on some Old Navy boot cut jeans. And I got on some purple and black Vans.

Do you listen to rap with a lot of curses?

Nah, I don’t listen to rap. I keep it real. I listen to a lot of R&B. I listen to a lot of Usher, a lot of Trey Songz.

What’s your most played song on your iPod?

Usher. I play the 8701 album the most. I listen to old-school rap. I’m into Illmatic. I got that on my iPod. I pump Elmatic by Elzhi a lot. I bump The Black Album. I listen to stuff like that. If I’m bumping rap, Ima listen to some Brand Nubian, The Roots, De La Soul. I bump Things Fall Apart all the time.

It seems like the rap you like is the Native Tongues-type, right?

Yeah, more real rap. I do commercial music, but I like to flip my knowledge of old-school rap into it. My thing is, I’ll make a catchy hook that you might hear on the radio, but my verse will be something that is going right over your head. I might be saying something thought provoking, but the way that I wrote the song, you would think it was a regular radio song.

You said the term “real rap.” What do you mean by that?

Real rap is what you feel, your emotions. Stuff that’s relatable. If I talk about how a girl rejected me because she said I had some busted sneakers and I wasn’t fresh enough, we all have those kind of stories. Or I’m trying to get on the bus and I don’t got enough on my MetroCard. That’s all something we can relate to. Relatable music.

Everybody want to be tough. I don’t believe in gangsta rap. The real gangstas don’t have time to rap. My thing is all the real gangstas are in jail or dead, so how are they going to come out with an album?

Well you had to talk a little tough when you did 106 & Park’s Freestyle Friday?

Yeah, but that’s not really my realm. I can freestyle and, the thing is, I don’t like people coming there with writtens. The dude who I went up against, he had straight writtens. I knew he was going to write. He was actually writing his verse while we were on line, waiting to go in. And I’m hearing his lines and I’m like ‘really?’

I’m like, I’m gonna freestyle on him.’ But, the reason, I think I didn’t win, I got nervous. I got a little nervous because, I’m freestyling. I’m trying to think of stuff on the spot right there. I’m trying to keep it in the essence of rap.

My thing is, back in the day when you were battling somebody, you freestyled about what they had on, you freestyled about what you saw right there on the spot. You ain’t going to write the verse and practice and then come battle the dude.

Did you feel like you should have won?

Honestly, yeah. If you look at it, it was kind of biased. There’s stuff people couldn’t see behind the cameras. When I spit my verse 2 Chainz—he’s texting on his phone. If you came here to really listen to what I gotta say, why you texting during my verse?

When the other dude was rapping, if you look on camera, you see them bopping their heads. When I start rapping, 2 Chainz gets on his phone. Jukebox, I said the line about ‘why every rapper got a snapback,’ and then he felt some kind of way about it because he had a snapback on. And I’m just saying a general line. If you feel offended, don’t wear snapbacks.

It was rap-politics. They were telling me I wasn’t marketable enough compared to him. The dude look like Chris Brown with a NY Knicks snapback on. So I’m like, that’s what I gotta go up against? If you look at the battle, you’ll see I’m actually freestyling. I’m talking about what he got on, I’m talking about his lines. I’m like “you look like J. Cole on crack.” 

If you would have won, what would it have done for your career?

Actually, losing felt better because I stayed true to myself. I lost, but I lost on my terms.

What are you working on now?

I just put together a mixtape called Another Classic Emcee
Another Classic Emcee is a compilation of all new music. I don’t use industry beats. I don’t use beats you heard rappers spit on already. My mixtapes are more like albums. I like to go and get on my own zone, and make my own beats, and sit down and actually put together a project that shows what I do.

So you produce also?

I have a production team. My production team is called Knockout Productions. 

What are your goals for 2012?

By the end of the year, I’m trying to be a XXL Freshman, if everything goes right. So I teamed up with rappers like Iron Solomon, trying to get me a little underground buzz. I hooked up with D.N.A., the battle rapper. They’re on the tape.

How did you meet them?

I knew D.N.A. before he was a battle rapper. So I hit him up when I was ready to drop my tape and I was like ‘I need a verse for the clubs.’ So we go together on a song called “Friday Night.” Me and Iron Solomon go back to the days of The End of The Week, the Pyramids, down in the Lower East Side. So we teamed up on a track called “Unlikely” because people didn’t expect me to ever rap.

If you know me, I’m pretty smart. Everybody in my family thought I was going to be a doctor or a lawyer. You never thought I would rap; I was always t

he smart kid. I talk in my raps about my 95 average. I talk about getting great SAT scores. I’m not a tough guy. I’m not a thug. I’m from Bed-Stuy, but I proved you can rap about other things then just Bed-Stuy.

You got high SAT scores, did you go to college?

I go to City Tech now. The thing I did, I chose the college that benefits me the most right now. I got into all the big names: I got into Fordham, I got into Hunter, I got into St. Johns, I got into NYU — you name a school, I got in. I’m pretty smart. But, I chose City Tech because they offered to pay me $45,000 a year as part of this program. 

Yeah a place like NYU shows no love with aid.

They show no love. Ima be $10,000 in debt for a semester, so why not go make some money for going to college? Then I found myself not liking the program. I got myself out of the program and just became a regular student at City Tech. And then I just started pushing my music. I quit my job at Chelsea Piers in August.

I started doing music full time, and then I bumped into people at MySpace, Justin Timberlake just bought MySpace. I just did a documentary for MySpace.

What’s the documentary about?

It’s about my life, my music.

MySpace started this whole music venture, are you down with that?

Nah. Honestly, Justin Timberlake’s manager, he’s in the works of talking with me about something.

That’s a big look.

Yeah, I got that going on. On top of those looks, I’m just pushing my music, trying to push my brand as Ace Da God. Trying to get people to really see it’s about music, it ain’t about popularity. Because, honestly, coming up in high school, everybody thought I was wack. In college, everybody think I’m wack. They don’t see the big picture. Just because I don’t talk about what’s popular, don’t mean I’m garbage, you know.

Yeah, everyone should be unique.

Yeah, that’s what I’m trying to bring to the table, from my haircut to my sneakers, I’m trying to be different.