C-Ride

In rap, you must have your city — your streets — behind you in order to succeed. And there are plenty of reasons why the streets of Miami — as well as savvy rap fans around the world — are anxiously anticipating the arrival of C-Ride’s Polo Grounds Music/J Records debut album, Automatic Vibe.

It’s partly because the Carol City native’s witty wordplay has dazzled listeners on his highly coveted mixtapes, 2 Pistols’ “Lights Low (Pt. 2)” single, DJ Khaled’s We Global album and his single “Pushin” from the Save The Last Dance 2 soundtrack. It’s also because C-Ride’s storytelling ability rivals that of rap legends. And it’s because fans recognize that C-Ride brings a new style of Miami rap to the table: one of supreme lyricism with swagger, charisma and verbal intricacy that hits you as soon as you hear it.

“Once you press play, you’re going to catch that vibe, my vibe,” explains C-Ride, who has several blogs proclaiming that he’s “quite possibly the next potential best thing” out of Miami. “Everybody can rap about the same thing, but when I rap about it, it gives you a vibe — and it’s so automatic.”

Executive produced by and featuring landmark beatwork from super producers Cool & Dre (Fat Joe, The Game), Automatic Vibe is an all-star effort that serves as a platform for C-Ride to shine, both next to today’s A-List talent and on his own.

For instance, C-Ride teams with The Game on current Internet sensation “Dat What It Is,” instantly showing that rap’s newest star can carry his own weight lyrically next to one of the genre’s most respected spitters. This Cool & Dre-produced cut features a polished menace that allows both rappers to slaughter the high-energy track with bone-crushing rhymes. Continuing the rugged vibe, C-Ride is joined by Gorilla Zoe and Gucci Mane on “What’s Hood.”

Switching lanes from the ghetto streets to the penthouse suites, C-Ride flosses on “Money Round Here,” which also features T-Pain. “I didn’t seek out T-Pain, but when I heard the record and the hook he did on this particular record, I had to have it,” C-Ride reveals. “I love it because it’s a street record. It’s like ‘I’m So Hood,’ part two. It represented me, Florida and Miami so much. I just had to have it.”

Another thing C-Ride has to have is the ladies. On “Walk Different” with Pleasure P, he details the joys of lovemaking, while on the club ready “I Ain’t Fakin’” he lets the object of his desire know that he’s second to none. “I’m telling the girl that I’m realer than the rest,” he says. “Trey Songz did his thing on the hook and the ladies love him. Hopefully I can snatch some of love from the ladies.”

As much as he’s aiming for the ladies, C-Ride also wants to sustain that adulation he already enjoys from his longtime fans of either sex. For those fans in particular, C-Ride will be reworking his street classic “Sittin On My Porch” for Automatic Vibe, where it will be rechristened as “Certified.” He’ll also deliver an epic, safe-sex edition of his “Virgin” song series, which has become an underground sensation. C-Ride promises the next “Virgin” installment will be something remarkable. “I’m making it into one phenomenal song,” he says. “It’s like ‘Stan’ by Eminem.”

Raised in rugged Carol City, C-Ride had much more than writing raps on his mind. Although he was a skilled student, skipped a grade and graduated from high school at age 16, C-Ride was also drawn to the streets. He came from a broken home and was raised by his grandparents, whom he considers his mother and father.

But as high school ended, trouble began finding C-Ride over and over again. He moved to Atlanta to try to reset his life, only to wind up facing potential legal issues in Georgia, too. “I’ve never been the type to keep a job, but I always had bills,” he says. “I always had to find ways to pay bills and that usually leads to trouble when you’re not working.”

Yet right before he left Atlanta, C-Ride made a fateful trip to a recording studio. While there, he thought that the rappers working that night weren’t overly talented and that he could create material that easily exceeded theirs. C-Ride starting asking people he knew what it took to write good raps. He studied the artists and movements he was already a fan of — T.I., Pastor Troy, Cash Money — and became determined to establish himself on equal footing. By taking pieces from all of his influences, C-Ride the rapper was born.

Once he settled back into Miami, C-Ride started honing his craft and recording. He got his rap name from a pimp, who originally called him C-Rider because he could ride any type of beat. Not satisfied with the way the moniker sounded, he shortened it to C-Ride.

In 2004, C-Ride spent his own money to press up his first mixtape, Wide Open — and that’s exactly what he got fans and music industry insiders alike. One copy of his mixtape made its way to producers Cool & Dre, whose commercialized gangster beats helped Fat Joe, The Game, Lil Wayne and others sell millions of albums. Soon thereafter, Cool & Dre called C-Ride directly.

“We’d never heard anybody from Miami rapping like that,” says Cool & Dre’s Dre. “You probably wouldn’t even know that he’s from Miami unless he told you. He’s a lyricist and he takes pride in murdering a beat.”

Adds Bryan Leach, owner of Polo Grounds Music, which signed C-Ride in 2008: “I’ve worked with a number of superstar platinum artists over the years, and C-Ride has the lyricism, style, swag and hunger to become one of the game’s best.”

Now officially paired with Cool & Dre, C-Ride has become a legitimate force in the underground, releasing a slew of mixtapes, hitting the road with Rick Ross, Hurricane Chris and others, and earning such seemingly unlikely fans as lyrical heavyweights Slaughterhouse — all testaments to C-Ride’s momentum, potential and talent.

“I want to show people that we can rap down here in the South,” he says. “A lot of people still have doubts because of all the dancing songs that are coming out. We dance a lot too, but we’ve still got flows and can keep up with the rest of ya’ll from the West, East and Midwest, Japan, whatever. When you hear my album, I want you to want more. When my CD goes off, I want you to be mad that it’s over.”

Cause that vibe — that Automatic Vibe — is gone.

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