Block Entertainment rapper Yung Joc has been tapped to star in a new national ad campaign promoting Rockport's Established 1971 collection.

Rarely in hip-hop do you see someone coming out clean-cut, positive and having fun. Do you think that’s helped with your success?
Definitely. I had a different sound and a different look. I wasn’t the average dope boy or thug, so it kind of helped. “He’s not wearing what everybody’s wearing. He’s hot.” It draws people in, and that’s what helps create a movement. A lot of people consider me the Southern Ma$e. But before he was Ma$e…

He was Murder Ma$e.
Exactly. So there was another element. Just because you don’t see it now doesn’t mean it don’t exist. The different elements are there, but what I reflect… I don’t wanna portray all those images, so I don’t define myself in one. I used to sell dope. I did all that s***. Don’t just think I’m a good boy. I know better now. I’m a grown man now. I got kids. This s*** is for real to me. I’m really living my dream right now. All that dumb s*** is in the past.

Q.: Why is Southern hip-hop -- Atlanta to be specific -- so hot now?

A.: I think it's the fact that Atlanta is like a multicultural melting pot. A lot of people come through that place. So when they come through they influence some of the things that we do because we get a chance to touch all types of people, just like New York. What happens is it influences our music and we put out music that's ours but it's been influenced by other people in other markets. It feels like people everywhere can relate to it.