Tony Cummings spoke to the singer, rapper and producer T HADDY about his "Fire Fire" radio hit

T Haddy: "I have one or two people that I deal with as far as production, but I produce myself. I have my own recording studio in a commercial space in Smyrna, Georgia. A lot of the recording and the arrangements I do at my own studio. There are rare times I might step in to somebody else's space to record. Since I got my start doing most of it on my own, I feel most comfortable engineering my own stuff. It makes it easier when it comes to chopping your takes up, being totally creative, more open to make mistakes. I'm shy by nature, so I can let loose in my own space versus coming to somebody else's space."

Tony: Do you perform live much?

T Haddy: "One of my personal jobs that I do is minister of music. I have to sing and perform and play, three times - two times on Sunday and once during the week. I've done that for a good long time. I've had breaks through my life, but for the most part I've always been a musician and a singer somewhere. I've run music departments as well. So I've never not been performing. That part is like second nature."

Tony: Would you call your music R&B or hip-hop?

T Haddy: "My influence is hip-hop and R&B. I'm a singer first - that's heavily hip-hop influenced. That's pretty much how it goes, man. I love all of it - when it comes to rhythms and cadences, things of that nature. You tend to get a lot of those from hip-hop. Add nice melodies to those things and you have an urban gospel sound as a result."

Tony: You've featured on a lot of other rappers' recordings.

T Haddy: "I'm probably featured on at least 60 different songs. I would say 80/20 singing. 80 percent: 'Put a hook on here for me'. 20 percent: 'Do a sixteen for me'."

Tony: Do you get paid for all that work?

T Haddy: "I do. I have small circle of friends I won't change, just because we came up together or I have a working relationship, but other than that we have a business protocol to follow. If somebody is interested in working with me, I ask them questions, I research them, then I make a determination; and of course there's money tied to that."