Vernon Harginy, also known as VURN, sits at the table outside of a Five Guys in North Miami with fellow Pro Club rapper B.Way.
Initially, his silence is as strong as the bars on songs such as "Bang" and hYena." But then he cracks a chuckle when Crossfade poses the question many of his followers ask.
"When are you releasing another project?"
See also: B.Way Talks Passion Fruit Love Sessions, Girls, Relationships: "The Mind Games Are Wack"
It's been a couple years since VURN released Elevation in 2011, but the rapper has stayed relevant by releasing several tracks, such as "Stay Down," Coasters," and "Neon."
We recently hung out with the 25-year-old rapper to discuss the delay of a new project, his role in Pro Club, and how he views the world.
Crossfade: Over the last year you've been consistent with putting out new music. Where's the next record?
VURN: Well, how long does it take to last forever, you know? That's how I feel about it. I've been working with different producers. I don't produce. I don't work with a beat machine, but I kind of pride myself on being able to craft a sound or create a feeling for a song by working with a producer. And I've been working with guys kind of stuck in their ways. I'm not going to half ass it. I want to make a movie for the city. I want it to be something special. And we've been kind of rebuilding our infrastructure, rebuilding the machine. The process of how we release music, how we market music so that we're not wasting our time. We're just plotting and getting out shit together.
Don't you think maybe you're putting more roadblocks for yourself? Isn't there a point where the project is good?
Naw, that's not even what's going on. It's just like new opportunities keep opening up. You know, Nuri's progressed significantly over the past year. I've been working with these young dudes who have come up, who's really impressive. You got Melv on the team. Young Purp who didn the Migos song with Soulja Boy. I've been working with him. Scuffle out of Port St. Lucie. What I thought would be a cool mixtape a couple months ago, now I'm having a chance to make an amazing album that I feel like could change my life.
I feel like real rap, some honest hip-hop, real life shit really hasn't been given a chance the way it should have been down here. I have lofty aspirations to kind of rebuild the infrastructure down here in Miami where, you know, in Overtown it used to be a place where you can go and go see somebody real up close, somebody amazing. Just go to amazing shows, some real music. It wasn't about the hype. It wasn't about showing your face and nobody's name. It was just about the love and the music and the people drinking and having a good time. That's what I'm trying to do.
How many hats do you wear with Pro Club?
Everybody is kind of in charge of their own thing. But I do my best to try and bring everybody together and make sure it's a cohesive unit. It take it upon myself to lead by example and do better everybody because I have big hopes for the collective and for myself.
Do you think you'd probably fit more as the head than as a talent?
I'm not an executive or anything like that at that capacity or anything right now. Right now I just try to lead by example with how I do my music and try to help whoever I can help along the way. My situation is a little bit different. I dropped the last tape and I've been doing shows everywhere. I did the A3C, the SXSW. I went to NY and did a little gig over there. Up and down Florida. Everywhere in Miami. So now it's like lets find a way we can do it and get us a larger audience and monetize it, and make it something that's memorable that undeniable even on the national level so that we can branch out even more.
I'm interested on how you view the world or just the nation as a whole because you're tweets are very interesting in the fact that you're honest and outspoken on our surroundings and current events.
I can't not say how I feel and say what I see, because I know that - like just me growing up, I remember almost being almost trapped in the system. Just, why they putting me in dumber classes? Why am I not getting a chance to succeed here and there? Why is the teacher not giving a fuck because my school is a poorer school and something like that? And just because I was lucky enough to have parents that cared. And I just always peeped game, like you know a lot of shit they tell you that you learned growing up to be true to accept as fact isn't. And it's just you have to keep your eyes open especially down here in Dade County with how the police are. It's just a crazy place really.
Is there a sense of vindication after attending a school like University of Florida?
I did that for my mom to be honest. Having a degree in 2013 that aint really worth a quarter, but you know I did it because not too many men in my family graduated college. It was just something I wanted to accomplish for my family.
College was a blast though. I'm not going to lie. A lot of people, they'll never know the joy and the fun of leaving home and just being around a bunch of young people. It was amazing.
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