• Tweet
• Pin It

As boxer Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios readies to take on Manny Pacquiao on the November 23 Pay Per View televised fight being hailed as the fight of the year, he’s also preparing to launch his first album with HiPower Entertainment.

The album’s scheduled to be a compilation of motivational songs he’s been listening to while training; it will launch on Nov. 19.  The project, done hand in hand with iconic rapper Mr. Capone-E features 12 tracks, or “rounds” as they’re called on the album, and three bonus songs.

Among them are Round Two, “Going Back to China,” performed by Mr. Capone-E himself, Round Four, “Bam Bam Official Ring Entrance Song,” also by the multi-faceted rapper, and Round Eight, “Fly Hi,” by newcomers Pranxs & Crazyboy.

Mr. Capone-E recently answered questions this project.

Tell us a bit about this project.  How did it come about?
Brandon and I had talked about collaborating on a project for a while. We have been friends for many years and I always support him with his boxing. It’s been great to see him rise to become what he has become but yeah, he was saying how hard it was for him to get shine in the boxing world and catch a break for a long time, and you know hip hop is a tough game. It’s hard for new artists to get the opportunity, so we decided to give them a platform. Brandon likes good music, he uses it to train, I breathe good music, so it was a given. Plus, what better way than for him to train while listening to motivational music from people who care about his success.

You did a contest with Bam Bam’s and your fans asking them to submit entries that could make it in the album. Of the final product, how many songs are done by fans and which ones are they?
We wanted to bring it back to the people so we held the contest in social media. People wanted to show support and we ended up receiving over 1,000 songs, all of great quality. Brandon and his family promoted heavily and had big input on which ones we ended up including. Six of them were chosen.

You previously walked him down the ring towards his fight and Round 4 in the album is his official ring entrance. That’s a huge accomplishment in the boxing world. Does he use it every time?
He trains with the song and has used it in a lot of his fights. Particularly when I walked him into the arena last year. That night was special because all the fans were going for Bam Bam. You could feel the energy in there. It’s a good feeling to be able to show support not only to him as a boxer but as a good friend. He’s a loyal soldier; he always reps HiPower since he won his titles against Acosta and we’ve been solid like that for years.

How did Brandon’s involvement with Hi-Power come about?
He’s been listening to my music for years. I guess he was a fan and likewise. I enjoyed his boxing and later in our life we bumped into each other, and that’s when we started to ride for each other.

What are your favorite tracks on this album?
I like them all obviously, I exec produced it. But I’m partial to my own of course. I like “Going Back To China” and “Official Ring Entrance” because there’s so much history there.

 What are your upcoming projects?
A new album featuring Too Short, Twista and others for 2014.

You’re one of the originals of that whole West Coast & Chicano Rap and have worked with the likes of Snoop Dogg, Baby Bash, Twista and other huge names. What do you think your contribution has been to the game? 
Showing a new twist to the West. I rep the side that doesn’t get much attention but is the majority of Southern Cali population.

What’s your dream collaboration that you haven’t yet accomplished?
I am blessed to say that I have dealt with a lot of icons in so many different genres of music from hip hop to R&B to oldies. Perhaps a corrido with Lupillo Rivera since a lot of people say I resemble him or bring hipower music with Dr. Dre. That would be the biggest dream collab and a great business move.

• Tweet
• Pin It