Mr. Al Pete and Notsucal Release Their Latest Collab, ‘G4.5’

Even by today’s standards, in a word of side hustles and systemic multitasking, Mr. Al Pete is a busy man.

A longtime co-architect, activist, even critic, of the Northeast Florida hip-hop community, the rapper-polymath has released his latest with area producer Notsucal. The latest installment of their G (or G.Dot) series, G4.5 continues their collaboration of releasing savvy beats and production and virtue-aiming lyricism. The years-long gaps in releases with Notsucal are by design, but also indicative of the creative drive of Mr. Al Pete, his other endeavors include working as a  DJ, podcaster and radio host, brand creator, event curator; freelance writer, In addition to this torrent of work, he recently earned a Masters in Communication Management from UNF.

JME recently caught up with Mr. Al Pete, to talk about the latest release, how he maintains health in a flurry of creative and business activity, and his views on the local hip-hop community and the detrimental presence and influence of Spotify. 

The latest, G4.5 is your fourth collaboration with Notsucal since 2009. How did your musical relationship begin and what do you think are some of the attributes that have sustained your working with Notsucal? 

It started with meeting Notsucal at a show I was performing at in Duval, I believe, at Club TSI. Notsucal shared that he thought my music was dope and I had done my research about his work with Dr. Sam Beckett (RIP), The N Word, etc. He ended up shooting my first rap video and between that, we spoke on recording music together. One song turned into a project (G3.0) and the race started. Outside of us being hip-hop fans and enjoying great music, we developed a brotherhood that stayed in place. I appreciate our friendship and philosophies a great amount. That is one of many recipes for why our relationship, inside and outside of music, is locked in.

There are gaps of a few years between each record that you have released with Notsucal. It’s interesting as well as it runs contrary to the current approach by many musicians, who self-release a slew of singles and albums on Bandcamp or Spotify at a fast clip, flooding sites and streamers with their music. Has this been a deliberate pace of gradually releasing new music—or is it just a matter of finding the time to work together? 

We purposely released the four collaborative albums. They’re released every five years. This came about when we completed G3.5. The number factor references our ages, but when we started G3.0, the age factor wasn’t the driving force of the method. The 3 and the 0 were in reference to Notsucal and Dr. Sam Beckett’s brand (3045 Enterprise) and the G was for my brand at the time (GrownFolk Entertainment).  So when we started working on G3.5, we were turning 35 that year. The intention to follow that method magically happened that way, so we ran with the idea of doing our albums every five years. I’m looking forward to seeing what we create in our sixties. (Laughs).

What is your methodology in working with Notsucal; how does it differ to the music you release as a solo artist? 

We do what we feel is right for us. That’s the primary method. We enjoy the creation factor and the effort to produce the music isn’t a difficult task. For me, I’m constantly in a tech or administrative role, so linking up with Notsucal and simply creating the sound that we love is easy. The formalities come once the music is created, like scheduling promotions and press runs, etc., but overall, let me hear some of his beats, let me get in artist mode—and it’s magic. 

Could you tell me about two notable developments in recent years: your founding of The MPN Network and your work with the podcasts Odd Ball, What It’s Like and The Tables Might Wobble—and your role as the host of your show The Neighborhood on WJCT. 

The MPN Network is the media side of my brand. I’ve always loved Communication/Media-related things and I’ve consistently exercised that through my brand work. When the brand was (and still is, to an extent) Mister Peterson’s Neighborhood, the focus was to shine light on the music and arts community by hiring them for my various events; but I wanted to make it a more legit and polished platform, so I shortened the name to an acronym, got licensed, constantly studied the layout of the land, and here we are. We’re digitally celebrating our fifth year in the game. Working on Odd Ball played a major role in the shift I wanted to see. It helped me spawn The Tables Might Wobble and a podcast network under The MPN brand. The Neighborhood plays the same role. These projects that I’ve worked on (with WJCT) have given me so much insight on the dreams that could be brought to life. So again, here we are. 

You have been both a participant and observer of the Northeast Florida hip-hop scene for many years. Do you think this area has any distinguishing sounds, styles or ethic that create a cohesive over-all vibe or energy? Do you see similarities in any of the artists who work in the area that are distinct to Jacksonville and the surrounding areas?

The batch of artists that are out now, or have been making headway in the Duval scene, are more fearless. Most of these artists are using the tools that will have them release a song quicker than the standard and promote themselves without needing a machine behind them; on top of them having their identified sound and swag to them. With that, there is a defined sound and style here. I will say that I wish more limits were pushed that would truly make us stand out as its own. At times, I feel like the Duval chant makes us the sound, style, and ethical way of it all…which is cool…but if we could add a few elements to the sauce we possess, we’ll be in trailblazing mode. 

You seem to thrive in working within a lot of creative disciplines. How do you balance all of these endeavors and stay healthy in the process? 

It’s funny that you mention health. Since 2025 started, I have been fully focused on my physical and mental health. I paid attention to it, but I’m more lasered in being that I’m not in the school portal. I’ve been in that portal for close to six years and that’s a lot coming from that, including straining your mind and sitting in a chair most of the day. On the good side of that, being progressive and positive about the end goals kept me going and optimistic. Plus, creating content, whether it’s writing a rhyme or a paper to curating a mix-show or a radio show is an outlet for me. It’s healing within those disciplines.    

In one of our recent email exchanges you told me you believed that “Spotify is such a daunting tool for musicians. It seems to work against us vs. for us. I get that it’s ‘needed’ but I would like to control as much as the narrative as I can.” What are your thoughts on possibly making more music fans aware that listening to an artist’s music on Spotify is, in many ways, actually harming musicians’ tangible livelihoods and incomes?

I support making our core and potential fans more aware of how Spotify and other engines are crippling all types of music artists. I’m a believer in exercising the educating aspect of things. With that, we need to teach our audience how to support us and be examples of what we would like to see. It has to come from a good place though. It can’t be a situation where we’re talking down to our supporters. We need to be easy with them while informing them of the direct ways to support our work. 

Mr. Al Pete and Notsucal’s G4.5 and the entire G series are available here. Follow Mr. Al Pete and Notsucal on Instagram at @mralpete and @notsucal.