In the Field With Meaty Bone
Updated: Oct 25, 2020
On Father's Day, Meaty Bone dropped his latest project, Underdog. The Hudson Valley native initially distributed it using a method you don’t see too many artists use anymore: handing out physical copies. The project now lives on SoundCloud, where listeners can access it for free.99.
Meaty Bone, real name LeMetrius Armwood, was born and raised in Newburgh, New York, located north of New York City. He credits family as his biggest influence, earning his nickname and now stage name, Meaty Bone, from his grandmother, thanks to his thick, chunky build. His biggest influence overall was his uncle, whom he says had the biggest impact not only on his future but the man he has grown into today.
He began rapping at the early age of 12, after seeing his cousins spit verses to music playing from cars, going with them to ciphers, and watching them record in the booth at the studio. Meaty Bone took what he saw and ran with it, and is now known for his ability to lay down tracks in one take when he hits the recording booth.
You won’t find any features on Underdog as Meaty Bone goes it alone. The project has a raw, gritty sound, and you can hear Jadakiss’ influence in Meaty Bone’s aggressive delivery of his hard-hitting punchlines. His versatility shines in the single, “Kobe,” a cut for the ladies. Listeners can find Underdog on SoundCloud, and "Kobe" is available for download on iTunes.
Erin Boogie of In the Field Radio had the pleasure of going In the Field with the rapper to discuss his new project, how he got his start, throwing it down in one take, and more!
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. This interview aired in its entirety on July 6, 2020, on 91.3 FM WVKR. Tune in every Monday at 10 PM EST. Outside the area? Listen via the TuneIn or Simple Radio app by searching WVKR.
Erin Boogie: How are you doing during these turbulent times?
Meaty Bone: Yeah, I’m good as it could be. Just taking advantage of the idle time a little bit, you know?
Erin Boogie: For those that may not be familiar, who is Meaty Bone?
Meaty Bone: I’m an artist, rapper; however, you want to title me. Musician. From Newburgh, born and raised. I spent a little bit of time in North Carolina. I love music. I love everything like it’s my way of release. You got the people that play basketball; then, you got the guy that picks up the mic. I’m that.
Erin Boogie: Your uncle is someone who you credit as having a large influence on your future. Talk about that.
Meaty Bone: Yeah, I used to hear about my uncle. Most of the time, I didn’t really get to hear him rap or anything because he did that before I was born, but my mom told me he did do it, but I just got the comedian end of it. He used to roast, make you laugh even if you were in a bad mood, but it was always a presence that I got from him. You don’t got to be the coolest guy in the room, but you’ll know that we there. You’ll know that I’m there. Not just me, though. My cousins also do music too. The guys that I hang around with, too. Got my guy Mark Mazin; he shoots the videos. He does the graphic design. MoneighMadison is his little underling of the Unusual Suspects umbrella. And of course, you got Miyagi with the clothing line… you want to call him a manager, but he’s a manager, he’s not a manager. He don’t like a title, so that’s my brother. He looks out for me.
Erin Boogie: He’s informally your manager?
Meaty Bone: Yeah. He don’t like titles, he said. My uncle was really, I’d say about 95% of my influence, and the rest was just ‘cause I liked to put words together, and I was good at it.
Erin Boogie: Who influenced you musically?
Meaty Bone: That’s not family? Artists? Actual artists? Jadakiss. I just watched their VERZUZ yesterday, too, actually.
Erin Boogie: What did you think?
Meaty Bone: Jada— my philosophy on it is Jada won that battle, and I’m gonna tell you why he won that battle. Because everything he played was what he needed to play. Fab[olous] played what Fab played, but it wasn’t the time for that. The thing in a VERZUZ battle, you’re supposed to go hit for hit. Not lyrics, but it’s just that Jada was hitting boom, boom, boom. That’s like you fighting a losing battle. Fab already knew it. You see, he sat down in the corner. He was like, oh man; it’s over. Jadakiss. I like Fab too, as an influence. Really mostly whole D-Block, Styles, Sheek, Beanie Siegel. I got a few down south rappers like Jeezy, T.I., Lil Wayne, Rick Ross. I don’t see how people don’t have Rick Ross in their top 10 because he be talkin’. Yeah, that’s my list of influences.
Erin Boogie: How old were you when you started rapping?
Meaty Bone: 12. I was 12-years-old. I wrote my first rhyme, it was only four or five bars, but I kept saying it over and over again.
Erin Boogie: You say that you started taking your rap career more seriously a couple of years ago. What influenced that decision?
Meaty Bone: I’m just tired of working dead-end jobs and rapping for nothing. Everybody telling me, “yo, you nice, why are you not doing nothing with it? Why you not taking this nowhere?” And so finally that one day I was like, you know what, I’m gonna take some of this money I’m spending on stupid stuff and invest in myself. Go to a studio, reach out to people that got connections; that’s how I ended up linking up with Miyagi and my bro Mark Mazin. Along with other people, that’s on the team. They all play they part but really them two that was like, “Yo man, we gotta do it if we’re gonna do it.” We came up with the Bone Appetit, took a little hiatus because things were going on in life, and now we back to the drawing board with Underdog.
Erin Boogie: What do you wish the Hudson Valley provided more of in support of artists?
Meaty Bone: I think there should be more support in general. We all trying to get out of here. We all trying to eat. We all trying to feed our children. We’re all trying to take care of our mom, put her in that big house. So, why hate on the man— if you don’t like his music, you don’t like his music but don’t not share just because he’s doing the same thing and running the same race. If you don’t mess with him, you don’t mess with him, but at the same time, don’t be like, “I’m not gonna share just because they didn’t share mine.” I share people stuff even though I know they are probably looking at me like, “what? I ain’t gonna share it.” Whatever their feelings are, I still share it. I mean, I’m not saying that I do it all the time, but I do when I come across it. I be like yo, my man dropped this, let me share it. Boom. But I know that some people do it out of spite. “Nah, I’m not sharing this joint. He can keep it. Whatever. He’ll make his own way.” So I think unity and support altogether with the showcases, with the DJ’s too. Shout out to [Maserati] Styles, shout out to Odyssey, shout out to Sliime. All of them that do the showcases and the deejaying and the platforms. They be reaching out, and the artists just be wanting things for free. And that’s also why the DJ’s be like, “yo, man you get in there, and you rap about this and that, but when it comes time for you to broadcast that to the people, you don’t even have money to buy a slot.” So shout out to them DJs that did have all the platforms going on before the COVID hit and everything, and hopefully, when everything gets back on track, I’ll be rocking some stages. ‘Cause I think I’m ready for that. I ain’t gonna lie, I wasn’t prepared for the stage presence yet, but I think I’m passed that phase now. I think I’m ready to rock a couple of shows.
Erin Boogie: Explain your creative process.
Meaty Bone: I go in with some bottled water, cough drops, let Zubin sit there at the table real quick and do his thing, load it up, and I go in, and one take it. Most of the time, be one takin’ it. I’ll be practicing it so much, then I go in there and do it so that way we have more time in the studio to do other things. I got people that can vouch for that too. They be like, “yo, you one take that? How you did that?”
Erin Boogie: Your new project is out, Underdog. What’s the inspiration behind the project? When did it drop?
Meaty Bone: I handed out the hard copies on Father’s Day, Sunday, and I just recently dropped it on SoundCloud Thursday, this past Thursday. It’s on SoundCloud, but I also got the one track, number two, the R&B song that I got on my project called “Kobe,” it’s on iTunes for $.99. I put it on SoundCloud because I wanted it to be free, get y'all attention. I’m back. Now it’s on. “Kobe” was just so asked about, everybody was like “yo man, I like that one, number two,” so I was like, let me just put it on iTunes for those that do want to support. It’s only $.99. You got a dollar; you got a dollar to donate.
Erin Boogie: There are no features on the project; who would you want to collab with in the future?
Meaty Bone: Who would I want to collab with in the future? I mean, I got some features in the stash, but I can’t speak on those. In the future? I’m liking a lot of the— he from out there in Poughkeepsie. Muga? Muga Bagz. I like his flow. You got the Jig Nice; I definitely want to work with Jig. I mean, it’s a mix ‘cause I’m pro 845, so whoever be like “yo Meaty Bone, let’s do it,” I’m all with it. I’ll match the intensity; you know what I’m sayin’? I never go into a feature thinking I got to outdo the person. I go in there and do what I do. I don’t really go at it like we enemies on the track.
Erin Boogie: Who is your dream collab? If you could collab with anyone dead or alive, who would it be?
Meaty Bone: You gonna do me like that? I got the mean lineup that I would do. It’ll be me, Biggie, Jay Z, and my fourth, you might laugh at my fourth, my fourth would be Scarface. That would be my lineup. I already know we’ll get up there and talk that— what you need to hear. Not that flashy, pop bottle, Maserati parked outside… We not gonna talk none of that. We are gonna talk that pain, that real life, that nonfiction, as my cousin would say.
Erin Boogie: Favorite song on the project and why?
Meaty Bone: My favorite? My favorite is definitely the “Intro.” That’s all me. That one, as soon as I heard Rich play that beat, I was like yo, I got goosebumps. I came back a day or two after that and laid it down ‘cause it was like the beat just spoke to me. That’s my favorite. That one right, there was really my comfort zone—just bars.
Erin Boogie: Who did production on the album?
Meaty Bone: Shout out to my boy Rapz; he did the “Underdog.” Shout out to my boy Rich Morris, he did a few of the joints up there. He came through in the clutch and hit me with a few joints. I got a guy I reached out to that I met through Instagram, Young Devante; he also got a YouTube page. His joint be poppin’. He gets a lot of plays, but I reached out to him personally, and he gave me a beat, purchased from him. The NY Bangers, too. They also be on YouTube and everything, but I reached out to him personally on Instagram, too, and he was like, “I’m all for it. All you gotta do is put me in the producer credits.” Shout out to Zubin and Phil for mixing it up for me over at The Retreat. That’s how the project came complete.
Erin Boogie: What was the inspiration behind the title of the project?
Meaty Bone: The reason I called it Underdog was because I had so much going on while I was trying to record, and for some reason, everything was still going wrong, but I ended up making it to the studio. It was like I was fighting a fight, but I still had that one punch left, and it was a song, so go lay it down. Then finally I was like yeah, eight is enough. I don’t really want to go too deep into it; I’m gonna run out of stuff to talk about. I got a whole other album to drop. Yeah, so that’s how I came up with Underdog.
Erin Boogie: What are some goals you have for yourself right now?
Meaty Bone: I want to get everything in order as far as my family-wise, musically as well because I still got more room to grow—more things to learn. I want to make sure my mom healthy. It’s still unsafe for her to be traveling out here like that, but she gotta do what she gotta do to make it to the doctors, back and forth. My goal is to get their attention. Let ‘em know that 845, we a movement, we are a movement whether you like it or not. You may not see us on the map like that, but we comin’—we on our way.
Erin Boogie: There’s so much talent in our area.
Meaty Bone: Definitely is. I wish us all to win. I’m not selfish. There’s so much money out there for all of us. Not even just money, so many things that you could see besides Newburgh. And learn. Do what you do and do it to the max.” Be good or be good at it,” like Weezy said.
Erin Boogie: What can we expect next from Meaty Bone?
Meaty Bone: I’m halfway through my next mixtape already. I’m trying to drop that at the beginning or the end of September. The Bone Appetit 2. I got some videos lined up. We are just working. Staying humble, staying blessed. Taking every day and moving one step forward with our goal. It’s just to make music. Not just music, though, ‘cause it’s more than that, but right music is our lane. I don’t mean to take away from all the other projects that we got going on; it’s just music is our lane right now, so that’s what we are really trying to open that door up for, and then everything else will flow easier.