[Nathaniel The Great](https://www.instagram.com/nathanielonline/?hl=en) is here to provide nothing but good vibes and positive energy. Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, the singer-songwriter grew up with 7 siblings and a single mother in the Fort Greene Housing projects. Luckily, music would be his ticket out.
When it comes to the music industry, Nathaniel has been grinding and putting in the work to make it to the big leagues. To date, he’s worked with everyone from Drake to French Montana to DJ Khaled… and sees no plans of slowing down. One decade later, he shifts his focus to his own solo artistry, unleashing his new single titled “Cash Out,” pairing it with an equally boisterous visual. The record itself serves as motivation for audiences all around the world, that they too can get the bag and make their wildest dreams come true.
Inserting his own style of contemporary R&B, Nathaniel The Great draws inspiration from real life experiences and struggles, creating heartfelt ballads for his growing fanbase. In addition, he just launched his own label titled Born Great Music, signing his first act Xay Oblivion.
_Flaunt_ caught up with Nathaniel via FaceTime to discuss his roots in Brooklyn, biggest influences, how he got his name, the inspo behind “Cash Out,” Los Angeles vs. Brooklyn, promoting positivity, working with DJ Khaled and French Montana, goals, his own Nathaniel app, and more!
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**What was a young Nathaniel like growing up in Brooklyn?**
It’s so crazy because I’m the youngest out of seven. I have seven siblings, I was a baby so it was a lot for me to absorb. Look around and know “not to do this or that.” I got a chance to absorb a lot. I was the youngest out of my crew. I had a crew of 13 dudes, I’m the baby out of that too. Brooklyn was crazy. Right now it’s 2021, I was outside early 2000‘s. The energy was more real. Right now it’s getting gentrified. People there now don’t really have culture connected to it. We’re listening to a lot of Biggie back then. It was real! \[laughs\]
**What was your crew?**
We called ourselves the Rise and all of us did something. Me and four of us were R&B singers, that was the singing part of the crew. There were some rappers. It was some of us that were shooters, I can be honest with you. It was a little mix.
**Biggest influences growing up ?**
I grew up singing in the church, so naturally I had to learn gospel first, which is what it is. The arrangement, the harmonies, the musicianship in gospel definitely helped me to have the arrangement and song format for R&B. I looked up to Boyz II Men, Temptations, Jagged Edge, 112, the real R&B singers. Musiq Soulchild came out, that’s the only artistI actually bought all of his physical copies.
**Favorite Musiq Soulchild song?**
“143,” Everyone knows “Love” or “Just Friends,” but “143” is that classic man. I used to sing that to girls in junior high.
**Did it work?**
Always! \[laughs\]
**At what point did you realize this music thing was forreal?**
For a living, honestly a year ago. I’ve done it for so long, invested and invested and never really made money back. A lot of artists even when we start making money, we’re in a hole of one million dollars. It’s crazy. By the time we get our first dollar, damn I can really do this. To make a living is a different type of statement. I’ve made a little money off it years ago, but to say I can pay my bills, that shit’s recent. It gotta come in a certain way for me to say “yo, I can take care of my family with this shit.”
**What’s the inspiration behind your name?**
My name was Nathaniel forever. Not for nothing, there were other Nathaniels where my music landed on their profiles. There’s another Nathaniel from Australia, it’s strange because I did songs with French Montana and Wu-Tang. In certain places, he was getting the credit. It was landing on his shit. I realized my wires were being crossed too much. When I tried to get verified on IG, the IG guys said “when we look up Nathaniel, we see a few. We can't differentiate you.”
That was another motivation. I said “I need to add something, I need to differentiate myself.” Ultimately, what’s a name I can live by? People always call me Nate The Great. Alexander the Great was a conqueror so for me, Nathaniel The Great felt like something I could stand on. Once I did that, honestly it was a wrap. Instagram verified me. If you Google me, all my shit pops up. Different websites started moving my content to the right place, it all made sense.
**Who or what inspired “Cash Out”?**
“Cash Out” is really a trying story, coming from nothing and always struggling. Even while making it towards your dream, it’s still a struggle there. “Cash Out” marked that moment a year ago. I finished the song a year ago but recently dropped a video to it so it has a breath of fresh air. It was me crossing that boundary of music being a struggle, life being a struggle to yo I’m here now. “Cash Out” really is a triumph story of that.
**Were you feeling yourself in the studio?**
I’m so subjective to my content. I always send it to my friends. I did the record like “this one sounds cool.” I sent it to my boy Justin and his brother Chris. I sent it out to my crew like “what y’all think?” I got their feedback. They made me feel more confident about it to be honest. I was telling a story but they said “this can actually go!” That’s why I stood behind it a little stronger.
**How was it shooting the video in front of the Hollywood sign?**
Yes, it was dope! It was West Coast. I'm a Brooklyn dude so anytime I go out West, it feels really good to get that air, that environment. That for me feels like such a level to change your environment, then be in Hollywood shooting. It was in Hollywood and in Vegas, I shot in two of my most favorite places. It was amazing, we had a lot of fun. My boy Peter shot it.
**What does it mean to have the bag?**
The bag symbolizes your goals, your accomplishments. Some people are going to interpret that as the money, some people interpret that with the fashion. Not gonna lie, I got a little fly in the video. More importantly, it was the landmark. Where you made it to that moment. That peak. I’m here now, I’m in my bag. That’s what the bag is for me. My dreams are in the bag, my goals are in the bag. I’ve got it, I’ve claimed my position in my journey. That’s symbolic to me.
**You said “from the bottom, had to get it out the mud for real.” What was the reality of coming up in the projects?**
For us when you look around, you don’t have a lot of people you can aspire to be like. Most people are great at things, but never pursue it all the way. Some roadblocks stumble along the way, so we don’t have a lot. That’s one of our biggest issues. Anybody has the capability to go get a job and work but to aspire to be something great, when you don’t have that, that’s the feeling of really being in the mud. That’s the hardest part of it. We can all make money, but to see greatness, we don’t get an opportunity to see that a lot where I’m from. I’m talking about coming out of that point right there.
**How does LA compare to Brooklyn?**
Everybody’s running out to LA to be something great. Let me say two sides of it. The great part is when you’re in LA, there’s a lot going on. A lot of people are accomplishing things so there’s a good energy of possibility. You always see stories of someone going there homeless, sleeping on their boy's couch, then they’re famous. Things are happening there. A lot of the industry is there sitting around, waiting for great things to pass through.
The dark side of it, that’s all it really is. You can’t go to that LA world and expect some friends and real shit. Brooklyn, it ain’t like that. You come to Brooklyn, you could have a real conversation with somebody, tap in, connect, get their phone number. Y’all going to build. It’s a Brooklyn thing, we really do show love genuinely. People aren’t coming to Brooklyn to become a star. People are going to LA to become a star, they’re not going to make friends. That’s the way that they contrast from each other.
**Why is it important to promote positivity in your music?**
Ultimately, I want my music to be able to be played everywhere. That’s first and foremost. Speaking death and speaking violence in music, I’m not taking away from anybody who does. That’s a choice, but you do put yourself in a certain box, and you’re pushing out a certain message. Let’s say I was speaking words, do you want to speak messages of negativity in terms of regular convo? As a regular person. Most artists that make music about it would say no, I don’t want to sit there all day talking about killing, talking about robbing. That’s how I see my music. My music’s really the conversation I want to have on a regular basis.
**3 things you need in the studio?**
I’m simple. I need the mic, the computer, and the beat. I don’t need no tea, no weed, no liquor. I'm good, just give me the equipment to use to make the music on and I’m straight.
**A decade in, what inspires you the most?**
It’s multiple things. Of course, creating a life for my family and creating opportunities for others. That’s one of my primary motivations. Motivation’s different from inspiration. I'm motivated by not wanting to be broke, by wanting to get rich, by wanting to take care of my family. What’s inspiring? What do I hear and see that makes me say “hey I need to make a song”? Strangely enough since I’m a R&B singer and R&B doesn’t get a lot of light right now, I don’t have a lot of R&B inspiration. It’s a tough question man, what makes me want to go record something new?
I have to come back to that because it’s hard to find inspiration nowadays, what would make me run to the studio? I used to have that. I used to listen to Usher songs and say “yo, this song ‘Climax’ is crazy. Let me get in here and make one.” I don’t have that anymore, nobody’s dropping like that.
**Damn, nothing?**
The last time I heard a song where I said “yo I have to go make something,” I don’t get that from music anymore. Let’s say I’m hanging out with some of my boys: me and my boys go to a club, an event, a party. Being in the environment, we’re there living our life. We’re in our section poppin’ bottles, we’re in the zone. Sometimes, yo man this is it. I gotta get on this type of time to where they’re paying me to come. I’m recording tomorrow. That can get me in the studio, I get inspired by real life shit more than music.
**Talk about working with Drake, Swizz Beatz, French Montana, DJ Khaled. Highlights from those collaborations?**
Those definitely leveled me up because I came from a point of having minimal to no collaborations, no respect really. I came from some singing dude from Brooklyn, nobody trying to hear me, but then getting my first placement with French Montana. It was Khaled first, it changed everything for me because Khaled was so big. Me being in the heart of Brooklyn from the projects, an R&B singer on a record with Khaled, everybody was hitting me. My phone was ringing, I ended up getting a record deal behind it. It really changed my life.
That was a high point, but the deal ended up being sour so the shit went back down. It was a roller coaster. Again with French Montana, it was similar. It was a high point of a single I had called “My Lady.” I did something with him, now all of the DJs were respecting me and my single. When I did the record with Khaled, it was their single. French’s was his too, but I had a record out at the time when the French joint dropped. All of a sudden, all of the DJs respected me. I was on the radio now, some people were singing my songs. It really gave me that identity as an artist. Those collaborations definitely changed my life.
**Talk about launching his label Born Great Music and signing your first act,** [**Xay Oblivion**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV3YhJW8NvE)**.**
It’s a great feeling first and foremost. All of us independent artists whether we claim the title or not, we’re all CEOs of our own invisible label. You’re self-sufficient, you find ways to accomplish things. You are a CEO, you just don’t see it. You don’t claim it, you didn’t document the paperwork at the county clerk. For me, it was putting it on paper that it’s my own thing. Xay Oblivion is my son, my son’s 16. It’s really a family thing. I'm in it for him to be good at whatever he wants to do.
It’s bigger than music for us. He happens to be taking off, building a crazy fanbase. He’s really good at it. He’s great with people, he’s humble. I’m honored for him to be a great artist. More importantly, he’s my son and I believe in regardless. For him to be my star player of my label. I feel like I have LeBron James. I believe in him so much, I know his potential. With that being said, my label’s going to be one of the greatest things of all time. I have one of the greatest artists I’ve ever met to lead the way for me, it’s a good thing.
**How’s fatherhood?**
It’s dope. I just had a new baby, his name is Cairo. He’s two months, it’s crazy over here. It’s great. I wake up rich. Just having the energy they give me is ridiculous.
**Goals yourself as an artist at this point of your career?**
The last two years have been a journey of me not just establishing myself, but really claiming my position. I know once I claim my position fully known, it’ll change everything. It’s going to allow me to put a lot of people on, handle a lot of great business. I also do IT, so I have a lot of other business ventures running alongside music. My ultimate goal at this point leading with my single “Cash Out” is to really claim my position.
The campaign that will be rolling out with this next is my game-changing move that’s going to put me in that tier where people are more responsive to everything I’m trying to do. With that goal being complete, everything else I want to do I know I’ll be able to accomplish. That’s really my goal, to get “Cash Out” to be one of the biggest records known in this era, so then I could roll out a bunch of other projects I have in mind.
**Anything else you’d like to let the people know?**
The last thing I’ll leave y’all with, check out my new Nathaniel app. If you have an iPhone or Android, go into the App Store and search my name Nathaniel, and it’s a mobile app. It has all of my content, my videos, whatever you need. This is in case Instagram disappears or Spotify disappears, we have a direct line of communication. Check that out, it’s to motivate any artist that wants to build and create their lane of independence. I want to lead by example.
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