As one of the few people in this life that can say they make a living off music, Latin Threat (born Joshua Bates) isn’t letting his tainted past hinder his future. To the contrary. Bates has “made it” in every sense of the phrase, overcoming adversity and a gangster lifestyle to do what he loves: make music. In the past year and under new management, Threat’s popularity on a national scale has risen, allowing him to headline his own tour and fill the places he plays, as well as work with bigger names in the industry.
We recently sat down with Threat to talk about how he ended up where he is now, the content of his music, and what’s next.
Say Hey There: If you could sum up your Wikipedia bio in one minute, what would you say?
Bates: Born Joshua Bates. Pioneer to South Omaha. Been doing this for about nine years. I’ve been living off my music completely for two years. I’ve worked with some of the biggest artists in the country, like the Taylor Gang, Glasses Malone from LA, Yo Gotti, Young Buck from G-Unit, the list goes on and on.
Say Hey There: How would you describe the style of music you’re putting out?
Bates: Struggle music. We’re real sample heavy. In the Midwest, we’re influenced by the East Coast, the West Coast, the South and Texas. Our style and mold is very different. I just like to say that it’s the struggle. It’s reality rap. We’re the voice of our people, of our struggle, and really coming from where we come from. A lot of people come to Omaha and they don’t see the inner city streets of South Omaha and the projects where I come from, and that’s why I’m so respected down there, because I really come from there and they know that. There’s a lot of love, but there’s a lot of hate out there. I like to emphasize the good and the bad. We push the struggle as far as you know, being hungry. Trying to feed your family. I represent that because I’ve been hungry. I’ve been behind on my rent.
I just like to say that it’s the struggle. It’s reality rap. We’re the voice of our people, of our struggle, and really coming from where we come from.
Say Hey There: I read somewhere that you spent some time in prison, and that’s when you really started getting into music because you carried a notebook around with you everywhere and used lyrics as your outlet and wrote about this lifestyle that you had been living. So maybe that’s where your music career started, but then it turned into something more?
Bates: Yeah, that’s where it started. You can’t keep rapping about the same thing over and over, but you can rap about your struggle and your history and where you’ve been. I was caught up in that as a teenager real heavy and was shot and all of that, but it’s all a part of maturing mentally and growing as a person. Because we’re from Omaha, I really like to say there is poverty here. There is struggle here. Even being from here and rising out of it is hard, because everyone talks about “being real,” but you have to be real to yourself first, and I’ve lost a lot of friends just by saying I’m going this route, I don’t want to do that no more. I don’t want to be around you if you got a pistol. I don’t want to sell drugs. I remember one day I woke up and I swear to you I prayed, and I said man I want to do this, I really want to make this step for me and live off my music.
I really struggled, I really went through my couch to grab change so I could feed my children, being a single father and having full custody of my kids. The first year was hard. The past year it has grown so much I’m blessed.
Even being from here and rising out of it is hard, because everyone talks about “being real,” but you have to be real to yourself first, and I’ve lost a lot of friends just by saying I’m going this route, I don’t want to do that no more.
Say Hey There: How did you go from barely scraping by to being able to do this full-time and see the level of success you have seen?
Bates: Hard work. Being persistent. Having quality music and being good at what you do. Not necessarily relying on Facebook. There were times when I was in the street saying, “Peep this, peep this, peep this” hand-to-hand, and it was serious. I did it every week. I think that caused a big buzz for us. It was an album called Dat New Block featuring another artist named Stylo. I think we did 5,000 copies in South Omaha, and you couldn’t drive down the street in South Omaha without hearing that CD. That’s what really made me realize I could do this.
Say Hey There: How did you come up with the name Latin Threat?
Bates: Originally when I got out prison, I went to a halfway house in South Dakota and there were some other rappers there called Two Latinos. I came along and they really liked what I was doing. Every time we would perform, they would be like “Threat.” I went my own way and took the name with me.
Say Hey There: =Do you ever rap in Spanish?
Bates: Somewhat. I like to say “Spanglish.” We try to sometimes.
Say Hey There: What producers do you work with?
Bates: We’ve built a formula with Alfonso Lee Jones. He produced a lot on this last album called Early Mornings Long Nights.
Say Hey There: What are you working on right now?
Bates: We just released an album called Early Mornings Long Nights with Berner and Tuki Carter from Taylor Gang. I also got a mixtape right now called All On Me, we’re gonna drop that in about a month and a half. It’s called All On Me because we’ve shed all this skin and dropped all this dead weight, we dropped people who were here for the wrong reasons or maybe people who were here for the right reasons but just weren’t right for my vision. We’re getting a lot of attention from the industry right now and are working real close with big labels and industry-connected people, and it’s all on me. I just dropped a video with Berner called “Coke Dreams.” We filmed that in the bay in Oakland, California.
It’s called All On Me because we’ve shed all this skin and dropped all this dead weight, we dropped people who were here for the wrong reasons or maybe people who were here for the right reasons but just weren’t right for my vision.
Say Hey There: Let’s talk about “Coke Dreams.” You talk about the struggle and say you don’t do gangsta rap, but some people could misinterpret or think of “Coke Dreams” as glorifying the drug movement. How would you describe the song and what it means to you?
Bates: The storyline talks about a kid being brought up in a drug-ridden environment. It talks about the struggle and what goes on with the good and the bad part with dealing drugs. People really want to kill you, but then there’s also the successful part of being a drug dealer and make a lot of money off it. So that’s why I say “Lavish life we live in, through this life I’m sinnin’, out of state lights, hotel lobbies and the baddest women.” I also relate it to my music because when I’m out of town it is this lavish life I’m living, but I might be around a bunch of bitches. It talks about the good and the bad. If you watch the video it tells the storyline of how it really is. And it’s reality, it’s what’s going on across America.
And it’s reality, it’s what’s going on across America.
Say Hey There: Why do you love hip hop?
Bates: Because hip hop is me. I am hip hop. It’s the culture. Latinos played a big part in hip hop. Fat Joe is Latino. Jim Jones is Latino. Cam’ron is Latin. Juelz Santana is Latin. Just because they look darker, that doesn’t mean they’re not Latino.
There you have it, fam. Check out everything Threat below, including a Say Hey Picks playlist, tour dates, and info on where you can pick up the new album.
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