Koffee ChitChat
Koffee ChitChat
Beyond the Notes: A Rapper's Impactful Journey
Mark, also known as Mr. Wootay Barfield takes us on a captivating journey through his life in music, from the streets of the Cooper Road-Shreveport, Louisiana, to sharing stages with hip-hop legends like Boosie and T.I. With over 20 years in the industry, Mark has not only cultivated his own powerful voice but has also committed to uplifting young artists. In this episode, Mark opens up about his inspirations, his balancing act between his music career and personal life, and the influential figures who have shaped his path, such as Master P, C-Murder, and Soulja Slim. He offers insightful reflections on his extensive performances across the United States, illustrating his profound connection to his craft and community.
From the soulful town of Shreveport, Mark graces us with his mission-driven music, aiming to inspire and empower the youth. With his latest single, "Sacrifices," he tackles the tough subjects of overcoming legal challenges and the battle to establish a unique brand in a saturated digital landscape. He candidly shares his strategies for maintaining authenticity and the pivotal role his family and network play in sustaining his visibility and passion. He urges us to embrace the strength of community in the music industry, highlighting the importance of genuine connections with fans and fellow artists. As always, listeners are encouraged to engage with him across social media, reinforcing the power of support and collaboration in music.
Hey y’all hey, don’t miss the next episode of Koffee Chitchat!!
Hey y'all, hey, welcome back to another episode of Coffee Chit Chat. We have a rapper in the house. I hope you guys are ready. But before we introduce him, let's introduce or shout out our Coffee of the Week, which is a white chocolate pumpkin. Make sure you go and grab one. So today we have my cousin Mark Barfield. I think it's Mark.
Speaker 2:Well, it ain't Barfield but he's going to let me know.
Speaker 1:But we will learn more about Mark as we chit-chat with him today. Welcome welcome, mark, to Coffee Chit-Chat. We've been trying to get you on here for a minute and now you are on here. Welcome to Coffee.
Speaker 2:Chit-Chat. It's a blessing. I appreciate it. I love how my family is. We all interact and all do entertainment in all kind of ways. We're all connected in all kind of ways. You make the boy feel strong for real.
Speaker 1:All right, okay, let's tell my listeners just a little bit about yourself. Were you born in Shreveport and all that good stuff.
Speaker 2:I'm born on Cooper Road.
Speaker 1:He said Cooper Road. That's a little different from Shreveport, it's a little different than Shreveport.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a little different than Shreveport. You know what I'm saying. You know we only got Annington 1994, so I'm going on Cooper Road, but you know it's a neighborhood now in Shreveport and everything but 1980, 80 baby. You know what I'm saying. Okay, and it's Mr Wode Barfield Jr and everything. But you know you could do something, that's all good.
Speaker 1:If they don't introduce.
Speaker 2:If I can't introduce it right, you can't see it right. So and everything. But I'm an entrepreneur. I'm on my own record label, hard Night Records. Basically, I'm trying to explore the rap game again. I used to open up to Boosie, ti, ge, a number of rappers in there. I've been doing it for a pretty good while. It's self-relaxing, self-motivating and it's inspiration. You know what I'm saying. It gets you in trouble or out in trouble at the same time, no matter how you use it. And so you got to. You know, really, sometimes people don't get character, they stay in that character. I get you.
Speaker 2:So sometimes you got to know how to close that door and open that door at the same time. But basically that's me. You know what I'm saying. I'm glad to be on this coffee chat and everything I did. Say it right. Right Coffee chat, uh-huh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, coffee chat. Y'all know how the barfield women are.
Speaker 2:You know, what I'm saying. But yes, I'm glad to be on here. Yes, we've been trying to do it for a while, but I'm here now. So, hey, lines open.
Speaker 1:Ask me what you want to ask. Okay, well, see, listening to your background and your history, so you're an established rapper. You've been doing this for a minute.
Speaker 2:Yes, ma'am, how long? About 20 plus years. I really can't really put a gate on it and everything. I had a couple open deals and everything. There's a lot of sideways side stuff that happened here. I really, you know, like getting to it no more. Let the past be past. But you know, god do things in serious ways and he opens me up again to try to Branch out and do it again.
Speaker 2:Like I said, it's more like I'm trying to Motivate my young artists To push, you know. So I got one Young artist, hunter Harper. Right now I consider him my God nephew and you know I'm trying To guide him the right way and make him stay out of the way of crimes, which I mean, he's not a bad kid. I put somebody under me. I respect their character, so if I don't have to be around them to understand that, hey, I don't got to do certain things, we ain't got nothing to prove in life, like I tell, people have a faith and believe in the faith in two different things.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah. So did you know when you were growing up that this is something you wanted to do, or maybe at a later age you decided that you wanted to be a rapper.
Speaker 2:I wanted to be a singer but I couldn't hold a note to save my life. I was just playing. But you can see I got a little goofy side to me. But no, I, I enjoy playing basketball and you know, one of my childhood inspirations was Master P. So when you know, I like to always like the music anyway, listening from my office now. But you know where my neighborhood established, how it is, it's a gang of fish, the neighborhood, you know. So we catch up a lot of this through at the same time. So I just like growing up hard and it's all like storytelling. So basically I use that as a bridge, my gap to life, stuff that I've been through.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, that was going to lead me to my next question who was your favorite rapper? So is it Master P?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, master P is my favorite motivator, but C Merlin and Soulja Snow are my favorite rappers, one did and one incarcerated. So you know, I think I need to change favorite rappers.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying. But you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:But living life in Louisiana and you know sometimes it can be a double standard on a black male. But you know there's somebody else's life. I understand that too.
Speaker 1:Well, I know, being raised from Louisiana, you know the rap game wasn't like that popular until, I believe probably Master P and some of her, some out of New Orleans, came up. So do you just rap local or do you go other places?
Speaker 2:As far as I've been, it's probably I done did music out of Nevada, Seattle, North Carolina, Atlanta, Georgia and everything Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, of course, Jackson, Mississippi. I done been around Alabama. I done been in the region. I'm saying region, you know, southern region. Okay, I don't consider myself local. I consider myself as a Cooper Road artist.
Speaker 1:Okay, your hometown or neighborhood Cooper Road road. They know you love them.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah cooper road nation. That's all I represent now let me stop. Let me stop. 340. I know what it is. I love street form. I'm posting, I'm posting that down, you know, okay, okay, well, I think you cannot explain earlier. Your rap style is more storytelling, or how would you describe your rap style? But you know more me like. I don't consider myself a lyricist, I just consider myself. When you know a motivating speaker, you know I'm like a preacher of street gospel or something. You know.
Speaker 1:That's how I see myself because I see you sometimes, like when I'm going down the timeline on facebook, I see that you're rapping places. Is that more? Is that like streetport, or is that other places?
Speaker 2:um, probably the last place you seen them do was probably Dallas.
Speaker 1:Okay, dallas it was a big crowd.
Speaker 2:Oh no, that's when 50 Cent came to the city. That was the Humor and Harmony with 50 Cent and the 9947 that were local radio stations Mm-hmm, the true form of radio stations. Yeah, it was probably like 6,000 people in that crowd, okay, so yeah, that was a big crowd. We did our thing that night, saturday night, support good, no violence and nothing. That's good yeah it's real good for the students.
Speaker 1:Now with him coming, you guys see that it's more opportunity, because I know that he just like oh my bad. Oh no, no, I was just saying. I know he just came and I guess he purchased like a studio or something like that there he purchased like a studio, I think Some buildings downtown.
Speaker 2:I feel like Vincent comes to the city, he's got his pros a ton. You got to look at it like that, like you do hair, you're a hair stylist or you're a stylist period, a fashion designer or something like that, or makeup artist or what they call them, you artists and all that you know it should be.
Speaker 2:You know a lot of opportunities for you. So it's me. I always look at things with a bigger approach to it, because you got to broaden your horizon for everything you're trying to see. I look at it as a game for the city, because, as long as your downtown is inspiring and moving and you know selling, you know that's what you want. You know what I'm saying. I wish we had more entertainment for the kids in the city like this, and I wish more people would have done it before. You know. But you know it's not a time now, so you can't just do something over the past, but I think it's a good time, okay.
Speaker 1:And you are an entrepreneur, so you own your own like LLC. You know you have to tell me what you call it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I own my own record label LLC. Have to tell me what you call it. Yeah, I'm on record label. Yes, ma'am, you know what I'm saying. But you know, if he knock on my door saying you need an actor, I don't got no problem being my people. So but yeah, I'm on, I'm more like my own. So I can see what 50 cent coming from, coming from a door, I mean urban area pushing for itself and building a team. That's more like me too. I can see that.
Speaker 1:Okay, and so this is your full-time job.
Speaker 2:Is it no, no, no, okay, it's not my full-time job.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Let's get it. I am 43. I'm not trying to be a rapper for 20-something more years, you know what I'm saying, you know. I'm saying Unless the chicken ball. You know, what I'm saying. No, man, it's not my full time job, I'm a master dispatcher Okay, yes, you know us Barfields, we got brains.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, Multiple streams.
Speaker 2:Multiple streams. Sometimes we follow the short side, but we got ways to get to the other side. Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1:Because you know your little cousin Jody Jo the DJ. Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Man, listen. Jo invited me to so many different shows and I finally slowed down just to pop with her. And when I tell you she's going to be an amazing entertainer, she's going to pop with it. And when I tell you she's going to be an amazing entertainer, she's going to be that DJ. I'm calling it right now.
Speaker 1:You're manifesting.
Speaker 2:I'm manifesting Next 25 years. I'll hopefully get a couple years with her and I hope my artists get the rest of the years with her and everything. We most definitely going to do our thing. Hopefully somebody come sign up and get a distribution deal. I can say quick job, baby, hit the road with me. You know, what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:Just be my DJ on the road. Because I believe in family branching with family to build more family. Because if we can network within each other, we can really open a lot of angles. Mostly it's our could network within each other. We can really open a lot of angles you know what I'm saying, most of our women work with each other, but as men we be, you know, sucking our little ways and everything. So we're going to try to fix that. We're going to fix that. Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Maybe you can have that barfield label.
Speaker 2:Man, I'm trying. A big umbrella right, big old, it's one big tree. They say it's one big tree, so we got to reach out to each other.
Speaker 1:So maybe that's sort of like my next question Is that going to be like the end game? Maybe coming together with other people Like no collaborating, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, you know me and Phillip. You know what I'm saying. He got Brick Baby Entertainment and so we bridge the gap. You know what I'm saying. He already knows I'm sliding with him, he's sliding with me. So that's just how we're doing it. And you know, it's always about networking, because that's how hip-hop inspired and pushed for East Coast to West Coast to down South. You know what I'm saying. So go to different cities and learn different people, different promoters, djs and everything like this. So it's always about networking and everything. It's always somebody willing to give you a chance that's awesome.
Speaker 1:I liked how you said earlier you were working with a young man just like being a mentor, because I think that is just so needed now, because people do have to understand what's real and what's just. People are just singing about it to sell records. Yes, you're not. You know, when they are selling records and they bang bang bang, then nope, somebody's going to get back up.
Speaker 2:But if you do it in real, life.
Speaker 1:you don't get back up, so it's easy. It's important for these young people to have these little mouths.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and more. Like I always tell people, my music is more like soul style music.
Speaker 1:When.
Speaker 2:I say gutter, it's not like gang bang music, even though you won't hear something about it. You know what I'm saying. Saying it's just just talking my culture and where we come from, and basically you know. So I'm a product of my environment. But I'm also trying to tell the story for one that one little boy was playing on the same playground I used to play on, although if he can inspire and work rhymes and try to get out even a little step out, hey, that's probably a chance that he get a step ahead of me. And if I could give him a seed or something to plant to get further, I did my job. It's all about inspiration.
Speaker 1:That's good. We need more young men. You know, like you guys, getting our younger brothers and teaching them the straight and narrow, so that's that's awesome. I like that.
Speaker 2:That's the plan. Like I said, man, I'm not perfect. I got flaws, but we all do but the person who holds himself accountable is a smart person if he's trying to do better with everything. So we got to learn from our mistakes, one day at a time. One day at a time.
Speaker 1:Okay, so what's your latest album or song or single?
Speaker 2:My latest single is Sacrifices. I'm really I was going through a little situation and I had to beat a couple charges. It was some falsehood and just BS and everything. So I just got to quit it on them things and now I can hit the state line and grind more right now with my music. So, but Sacrifice and focusing on my building the brand on my own label again and my young artist, I mean, he got to have a return of the shoe. I'm waiting on him so he can walk in and introduce himself, but I guess he's still taking a shower or something, because we got to go do a drop of mic in a minute and everything. We're trying to stay busy. We got to stay busy because we're from Shreveport and it's small, so we got to stay moving. You know what I'm saying Building content for the world to understand us. But the internet made it also easier, but it also made it harder because everybody else can do it also. So you got to bridge the gap.
Speaker 1:Don't try to steal from your fans. You got to steal from your fans. You got to do something to set yourself apart from all the rest of them, right?
Speaker 2:That's it. You know what I'm saying. Mine is trying to be unique, genuine and real. That's all I want to be. I'm not trying to be a gangster gangster this and Thursday. I all I want to be. I don't. I'm not trying to be a gangster, gangsta, this and first. You know I'm not trying to be turn on it, I'm just trying to be me. So you get me, mr wolder, that's it I love it.
Speaker 1:I love it. Well, mr roadie, how can I follow us?
Speaker 2:uh, follow you okay you listen to me, everything is. Mr wold, I'm gonna send you a personal track called chain my way. I think you'll love that one and everything because, like I said I, I really I get y'all that gutter, gutter, gangster image. But if you listen to me, I open up and you be like, okay, look, okay, I see you, you know what I'm saying, but you got. But you gotta listen though. So you know, most people don't want to open their ears because they already judged the couples and everything, which I'm not saying it's you, but you know people in general. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:I'll listen.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I'll be trying to just stay in my own lane. But, Ed, Mr Wolding, M-R-W-O-O-T-A-Y, everything you can. Google me, whatever they're going to say Louisiana. Like I said, I've been doing it for a while. I enjoy my journey. I have some good days and bad days and very sad days. This all comes with. Keep pushing. That's motivation within yourself.
Speaker 1:Are you on Instagram Facebook?
Speaker 2:All platforms. You can pretty much do what you have. I probably own some platforms I probably don't know about. You know what I'm saying? Youtube, yes, ma'am, youtube is Mr Wally 3030 and basically you can find anything about me.
Speaker 1:Go from there but you know what? We're going to put this in our right before we do your actual Aaron. We'll make sure. Going to put this in our right before we do your actual Aaron. We'll make sure that we put it in our Facebook, Okay. We're going to share it out. We're on Facebook, we're on Twitter, we're on Instagram, so we're on all those platforms as well.
Speaker 2:I got to start sharing, resharing and commenting. I'm good at that. I always tell people it don't take you two seconds to share something. It's all about branding each other and pushing each other in those ways. I know we're pretty good at that you got to be when you're doing your own thing.
Speaker 1:We're going to definitely shout you out. Of course, we'll let you know when you air, and we're going to be when you're doing your own thing. Oh yeah, so we're going to definitely shout you out and, of course, we'll let you know when you air and we're going to be excited You're my first rapper.
Speaker 2:Hey. So, boy, I got number two on you, now I got two of my family members. I got Whitney and now I got the coffee chat. So catch up, kid.
Speaker 1:You know Whitney as well.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, and family, oh yeah, and fam, everybody doing it, you know. So I'm trying to support, we're supporting each other within one Okay, okay.
Speaker 1:So that's awesome, but we'll have to have you back when you get ready to release more music and stuff. Just reach out to me and call for Chit Chat to have you back. Okay, y'all. So that was Mark. Mr Wootay Barfield from the Cooper Row.
Speaker 2:Thank you, fam, I love you. Have a good one.
Speaker 1:Well, we thank you and we're going to shout out our motto of the week, and it's you are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream, and that is by Les Brown. Make sure you tune in next week for another exciting episode of Coffee Chit Chat.
