Talk about your latest release Mark’s Wild Years.

I’d say Mark’s Wild Years was a big-time passion project, not that all projects aren’t essentially passion ones, this one was a special undertaking in it’s being a “tribute” (to Tom Waits) record. Tributes are hard to find in hip-hop and especially ones that are well-done. A lot of shit is done in a flavor of the month vein and end up coming out hastily. I wanted to take my time with it and also he’s a living artist and I think more tributes to the living should be made… So.. you.. know they can possibly hear it. It started as a good idea and morphed into my obsession as I spent countless hours tweaking it. But in the end I was happy.

What’s your favorite Tom Waits album?

My favorite Waits record definitely changes based on mood, but I gravitate toward Frank’s Wild Years and Rain Dogs the most. Also, Mule Variations is incredible as a later work as well. He’s got some great early work, but like most artists he really reached his pinnacle of creativity a bit later in the process. I think once he broke down a certain wall he was unstoppable. Interestingly enough… this happened when he got sober.

You just dropped a video for MWY via POW like last week, fresh.

“Singapore”… I had a total blast with that video. Too much fun and really dug how it came out. I love working with Crosby and all the extras really helped make it unique. And Elijah “Lil Bear” Timlin stole the show as the no-nonsense bouncer.

How’d you meet up with Willie Green?

Green and I met about 4 years ago at the popular open mic Bondfire (Shouts to Conscious and Tasty Keish) through the indelibly great Warren S. Britt. I needed an engineer for my first project and I got a good vibe from him. After a first few sessions we really hit our stride and began to work extremely well together. The friendship formed and now were stuck together ha. Funny caveat, I met YOU at your birthday party on Avenue C (where I live now) through Green as he told me to roll through that night. Small world eh?

Give us a tour story with Willie Green.

Mannnn we’ve met an extremely interesting cast of characters and been in some incredible situations. Whether it was me leaving him with the tab in a strange Czech bar at 8AM (Sorry bro) or a goat showing up to our Tours, France after party, or perhaps sleeping at a flat in Paris with no running water or electricity (why did dude even offer?), hostels in Prague, roaming Budapest streets taking shots of Palinka… We’ve definitely got a few. That’s my ace right there… and we all need an ace.

Can we put a spotlight on this track?

Yeah absolutely.. That track is pretty crazy, I wanted to go toe-to-toe with some of the better aggressively skilled MCs in the game and these two came right to mind and they were down so we all just went in. I had to bring the A game as the kids say and I hope, think I did.

Shouts to DJ Addikt tho.

Oh snappppp Dood Addikt is the man. His contributions to that record can’t really be said enough. I hate how much the DJ is overlooked these days. Jon is a technician and the sole reason I rooted for the Ravens in the Super Bowl.

So, freestyling, how do you do it?

I’m not going to give you long-winded bullshit explanation about it being an extension of our sub-conscious or a mythical moment in time.. It’s none of that. It’s something that I’ve always done, it’s how I learned to rap. It doesn’t define an artist but it’s certainly a telling part of their personality. The spontaneity of it is part of how certain minds work, I’m not going to say some bullshit likes “U aint NO MC if u cant sun!” that’s simply not true, it’s all a matter of the way you think. Some people essentially freestyle song concepts and then write a verse, that’s a freestyle in a way. But the traditional sense of the word is an on the spot, unrehearsed, unpremeditated rhyme. For the record if aliens asked me to pick 3 freestylers to battle for the fate of Earth it would be: Nocando, C Rayz Walz & iLLSpokinn.

Remember that Def Jux/mtvU contest?

YOOOO. The Def Jux/mtvU competition was a trip. Lots of talented people on there including you Miguel! That’s where I first heard of Has-Lo too. I was so geeked about that contest, which basically didn’t turn out to bear much fruit but it was still fun. I thought you guys were too weird at the time I remember, Sorry Marris! But it was a lot of fun to get that mtvU co-signature for a little while and someone told me they heard our song in a cafeteria at some school which was more than anything I’ve ever been exposed too then so I have nothing but fond memories of that time. Those were the days with my crew Central Intelligence, those were innocent times of wide-eyed wonder… and I think people did actually get record deals back then I can’t really remember.

What’s your favorite part about being remixed?

Being remixed is great. It’s kind of like the highest honor, and to hear another artist’s interpretation is forever one of the more intriguing aspects of doing this sort of thing. Also it exposes you to different crowd altogether usually, it’s a pretty neat deal!

*High fives air because this interview is not being done in person

Top 5 NYC venues by PremRock:

5 NYC Venues eh?? Well I’m not an OG out here so I can’t attest to some of the more classic venues but I’ll throw a few out there… Southpaw is up there I mean it really was indie friendly and gave you a professional and great venue RIP, Bowery Poetry Club meant a lot to me and many, many DIY acts over the years I miss getting completely trashed off PBRs and stumbling home from there :( I think Nuyorican is a definite gem of a spot, just saw my first show at Little Field I fools with that set up, I’ve done some dope shows at Cameo Gallery but those fools are acting silly about hip-hop all of sudden so if that’s how it’s gonna be I say fuck off, and I’m really digging Spike Hill right now, I think I’ll do the next few ones there. Peace to them. Honorable shouts to Public Assembly, Trash Bar and Glass Lands.

Jesse Abraham & PremRock – Live at Southpaw

So dope that you have a Live at Southpaw release.

All credit due to Jesse Abraham for the Live at Southpaw execution and idea. Most of our shows we throw probably have a live recording available if you just request it. Jesse recognized the potential in that and also the fact that the great Southpaw closed made it that much more dope. It was a great show and a very nice piece to add to the catalog. Plus there’s a dinosaur freestyle on there, which is not something you just FIND.

Why the switch from Premonition to PremRock?

The name switch kind of came organically but was ushered due to my frustration with no one being able to google search me with ease. Premonition is a word, was a movie etc. People couldn’t find me and in forming a career that is quite difficult. Also I chose the name in high school and I really am not that kid anymore. I began a rhyme w. “Prem, rock the…” And C Rayz was there and began calling me PremRock. It extended to the recording with Jesse Abraham and Spills on Alphabutter as I referred to myself as “PremRock” a few times during that record. After finally getting the balls to make the switch it became permanent. Although some people thought it was “PremeRock” and a tribute to Premier and Pete Rock, that’s not the case at all those are legends and the name distinction has nothing to do with them.

So what’s in store for the future?

Ahhh the future.. Well I am currently feverishly working on my next album. It doesn’t have a title but it’s beginning to take shape and direction. I won’t spill any beans yet but I have an INCREDIBLE production team lined up and can’t wait to put all of this into proper motion. I’ll spend the next 3+ months on this and then whenever it’s finished I’ll shop it around and if I don’t like any situations I’ll do it myself again. THEN I’ll plan the most back-breaking tour yet and hopefully gain a fan or two. I’m swinging hard on this one… I want it to be my signature release. I’ll be on a few guest spots coming out soon and continue to do regional shows and pop up now and again but this record is the highest..neigh the only priority right now.

How’d you get so fresh?

I acquired my freshness from a Laotian drunk in Thailand. He was drinking the foulest rice wine I ever laid eyes on and was screaming at me. The people I was with told me whatever I did not to drink his wine. But… I was told to never turn down a drink or I would be considered rude… or worse.. I could be without a drink. So I took it… And here we are.

planetpremrock.bandcamp.com
premrockandwilliegreen.bandcamp.com
@PlanetPremrock

PremRock is a post from: UGSMAG.COM.

Explain the concept behind For Madmen Only.

How words have multiple meanings/interpretations based on context. First, lets take a look at the definition of what it means to be mad.

Mad:
1 : disordered in mind : insane
2
a : completely unrestrained by reason and judgment <driven mad by the pain>
b : incapable of being explained or accounted for <a mad decision>

The title comes from the Black Panther’s Minister of Information, Eldridge Cleaver’s essay where he’s challenging “madmen” to step up, “intensify the struggle” and protect their community from injustice. For too long he believed, black people had sat back and allowed themselves to be abused. He’s forcefully questioning if the people had had enough. There’s no space for milquetoast half steppers. Be about it or take a seat.

You could very logically reason that to take up arms against the police is a totally unsound and illogical decision to make. Madness. But if you were tired of getting your head kicked in, and have the organized support of your members of your community, is it really that farfetched of and idea? Could it be an immediate solution to longstanding problems? How far are you willing to go to make your vision a reality?

The tarot card for The Fool/The Joker/The Madman represents letting go of worry & fear / living in the moment / doing the unexpected / expanding horizons / being true to oneself. Are these not qualities to strive for? At least sometimes in your extraordinarily mundane fucking existence on this planet? Who’s really mad?

Houses of worship and so called spiritual/religious leaders/gurus often provide great comfort to seekers of spiritual fulfillment sometimes under great deception and sick god complex driven ulterior motives. Like a Father Divine. Like a Jim Jones. Like a Bishop Eddie Long. Having grown up in Pentecostal churches, the preacher-man/congregant archetype was an natural target to subvert and attack.

“Catch them praying upon the lost one. Speaking to your distortion, sheep’ll follow for fortune. Seek until they’re exhausted, pay though they can’t afford it. “ — “Peoples Temple” / For Madmen Only

Planet Earth, about to be recycled?

Hahaha. Yeah man. Doomsday. Rebirth and all of that. I think. Its such a mindfuck of tune no? Ali Boombaye really came through with the crazy mash-up video that we love to play out live. That quote is taken from a video recording of Marshall Applewhite, leader of the Heavens Gate cult apparently right before he caught that Hale Bop comet. Heard that’s a bumpy ride… It’s another play on dialogue sampled from divisive 20th century personalities that included Malachi Z. York, Bill Hicks, Alex Jones and Marshall Applewhite. When divorced from their original context and placed within my own framework, they became my disciples. Sort of, hah.

How would you describe your sound?

It varies with every project. My last few projects (elucid.bandcamp.com) The Sub Bass Diet and Super Chocolate Black Simian 1&2 have been more of the experimental electronic/dub/dubstep sound. The previous projects Smash & Grab and Police & Thieves definitely had indie/garage rock leanings mixed with more traditional rap production. So I’m open to many different sounds and influences. It really depends on the ideas in trying to express lyrically.

I had the idea for this album, FMO before I met A.M. Breakups. When we connected and started to build I knew I wanted him to produce the whole record. I really liked that his sounds foundation was boom bap. Honestly after the past few projects and all the buzzy/zappy/tweaky electronic sounds, I wanted to scale back and rap over more sample based stuff. The first thing that attracted me to Breakups’s beats were the sense of space and his use of melody. It was never just a loop! They were these constantly building, layered organisms that never got too busy and always left a pocket for where i thought my vocal would sit. It really made my job as a songwriter very easy.

What’s your favorite A.M. Breakups track?

Playing the favorites game is hard but when I first met A.M. Breakups he had just put out The Cant Resurrection. I immediately wanted to rap over “Blackout (Another Trip Part 2)”. Paired with my lyrics, it eventually became the song “No Invitations” and was really the first Cult Favorite song created. His latest instrumental project 924 Myrtle is pretty rad as well.

What’s your favorite A.M. Breakups Remix then?

Super Chron Flight Brothers – “African Robotics”.

How did the Exit Tapes come about?

That’s just me wigging out on hash and caffeine making noise remixes to Cult Favorite songs. With the exception of “Demolition”, every song on the album has a noise interpolation. There might be a particular lyric or groove in the track that stood out to me. I would usually chop those sections and re play those elements live with my sampler. Most of the filtering and effects were also done live.

Same sampler you use for your vocal effects?

Yup same gear. Ive always been interested in sound design and I have applied those techniques on some of my earlier projects. For Madmen Only definitely showcases these ideas front and center. I earned that co production credit! It was cool that AM understood where I was coming from. He really gave me complete freedom and let me get weird producing my own vocals.

What’s your stance on indie rap?

Its cool, I guess. I like rap in general, indie or otherwise, as long as its skillful. Kendrick Lamar, who’s on a major label put out one of the best albums of 2012. So I don’t like to recognize those imaginary boundaries. Indie has become the new mainstream anyway. As someone who doesn’t have a record deal I enjoy a certain freedom in creating what I want, when I want. We book our own shows. We financed our own record. It might be cool to release music on a larger platform burning through seven figure budgets and hot publicists and spilling condiments from drippy $50 burgers on label conference room tables. But that model is basically a dinosaur at this point. Especially considering the type of music I make versus the majority of what major labels release as rap music. A group like Death Grips is really interesting to me though. I wonder what would make a major label like Epic Records take a gamble on a group that defies categorization the way that Death Grips does. Is it hope for the future of major labels? Is it an experiment to poach from indie culture? Who knows. Regardless, with or without a label, I’m still gonna be an artist and writer.

Those Reservoir Sound guys are weird right?

I’m a proud member of the Reservoir Sound Traveling Freak Show, Inc.

How’s Woods doing?

He is well. We have teamed up as a group calling ourselves Armand Hammer and are finishing up on our record Race Music. He’s one of my current favorite rap writers out really making that type of no compromise music that I do. Our album should be out before the close of the year.

What do you miss most about the ’90s?

Not much actually, haha. I still wear Tims and buy my camo at army navy stores. I recently grew back my flat top haircut. I bought a Sega Genesis on St. Marks Place. I release music on vinyl and cassette. What’s there to miss about the ’90s?

Is this real?

Is what real?

Talk about the artwork of Cult Favorite.

The artwork was a collaborative process between NYC based artists/designers Little Tree and Stephanie Matthews. I’m very proud that we were able to keep all production in house with super talented individuals who understand our families vision.

I hear there’s a remixed version of FMO coming out?

Yup. Its cool to hear these different interpretations of our tracks. We’re not sure when it will complete and ready for release. I don’t want to divulge any names of involved parties until its all complete, but I think people will enjoy it.

How does one join the cult?

You don’t! The cult calls you.

cultfavorite.com
cultfavorite.bandcamp.com
@cult_favorite

Cult Favorite is a post from: UGSMAG.COM.

You’ve got Disobey coming out, please expand.

Let me start off by saying I believe in the goodness of people. I believe there is a natural goodness in all of us but we’ve been led off course. The idea of disobeying comes as a threat when assuming the people giving the order have your best interest in mind. However, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to Disobey someone telling you to make a fool out of yourself or to be cruel to others. Our so called leaders, teachers, law enforcers, authoritative figures don’t always have our best interest in mind, though it may appear so.

“There’s a curtain behind a curtain behind a curtain behind a curtain behind a curtain” -We Are Here (off the Disobey album)

We have to constantly be on our toes as our minds are under attack at all times. Remember who these people are, they are the controllers, the slave owners, the sickened minds who wish to keep the populous in a zombie like state of unawareness. Their weapons are radio, tv, churches, schools, music, advertisement, food, sex, entertainment, culture, clothes, colors, etc.. all of these things can be used against you to prevent you from being your greater self.

They used to use white people to betray black people as fools in plays, they no longer have to as the black entertainers in hip hop do a great job of it themselves. When an artist projects a msg of self worth based on an object, it is a direct statement of how he or she is of little worth without it. “I’m special because of my car”, “I’m special because of my chain”. Look at all of the THINGS I have, they make me important. “You’re beneath me because your objects aren’t as expensive as mine”.

Now let us look behind the curtain.. Who’s to benefit from this MSG? Who owns mainstream radio? Who sells you the things you buy to fill this void of worthlessness? And most important of all, why do they want to keep you down!? If people knew what they were being robbed of, if people really knew who they really were, how valuable, limitless and full of potential they are, they would cease living a life that is beneath them and this system that enforces this false way of living would collapse. We humans have become hamsters in a wheel, running in place to see that it keeps turning but getting nowhere all the same.

So yeah, Disobey coming this May, touches upon all these things I just mentioned in a hard hitting unorthodox way. Its my attempt to awaken the sleeper, to free the enslaved mind. So it’s important that it’s readily available and something like money doesn’t get in the way of people having it.

Tell people why they should save their money. It doesn’t have to rhyme.

Because the people you’re giving it to don’t care about you. So you have to take care of yourself. Wanna impress a girl, take her to your apartment. Not your room in your moms house where you keep your sneakers and hats that help you look like every one else caught up in the same nonsense as yourself and that’s not to say there’s anything wrong with fashion, but ask yourself this… Would the people you’re giving your money to give their money to you? In fact, I challenge you to go into a jewelry store with something you made yourself and see if the merchant would give you 10 dollars for it, let alone the thousands one would spend on his gordy products.

You dropped S.I.N. (Strength In Numbers) right around this time last year, looking back…

The S.I.N. album is dope. There’s a good deal of originality on there. My fav joints on that are “Posers”, “Swine Flew”, “Universal Love”, “Victorious”, “Stardust”, “Look Mom No Pen” (which was pretty much a freestyle) but there all dope for different reasons.

Can you maybe list some posers you left out of the song?

Gladly. People who like and support parody rap. There’s this idea that its cool to be intelligent but like stupid rap. I think I know why.. I believe the psychology of it is this.. 1, it enables them to be the wannabes they always were. 2, majority of them being hipsters are parodies of artists themselves so they can relate to the joke of it all because their existences and life as they know it has always been a joke. Also, part of this is due to the idea that good music is a matter of opinion. Bullshit.

There is such a thing as better music being a matter of fact! No one is going to argue that Led Zeppelin is better than New Kids On The Block but you might get a kid who takes a run of the mill unskilled rapper and says he’s better than a more seasoned MC because they like his beats. Talent, skill and ability isn’t a matter of opinion. You’re either an amazing guitar player, a good guitar player, an ok guitar player, or someone who cant play the fucking guitar.

Either way, it’s not something that needs debating for 3 hours.. and if you take your sorry guitar playing ass to a blues club and get on stage like “Haha I don’t know what I’m doing, isn’t this great!?” you’re gonna get booed off stage and possibly have shit thrown at you.

So it makes my blood boil when outsiders think its funny and cool to cheer on the imbecile who makes a mockery out of himself and more importantly a culture that represents me.

How do you feel about the New School format for battle raps?

I love it. I think battling is being brought to the highest of levels these days cause of that very format.

Talk about your shirts.

I currently have 2 shirts I sell, the first is the Born Again Sinner tee. The second is Disobey. The born again sinner is a shirt that reps S.I.N. Strength In Numbers and pokes fun at the un Christ like “Christian” the Disobey tee represents thinking for yourself, marching to the beat of your drum, not falling for the okey doke

You have an EP coming out with Homeboy Sandman, that’s gonna be some shit right?

Indeed it is. Sand is a one of a kind artist as am I, we see eye to eye on a lot of things. So it wasn’t hard to formulate the concepts or topics for the joints. Its produced entirely by Vex Ruffin and is titled Get Big as we created it while training in the park. Sand is a great friend and the dopest MC in NY right now. So it’s an honor and a privilege to collab with him on a project.

I hear you offer personal training?

Yes, I’m very much into the unorthodox style of fitness. Much like hip hop it came from the streets of New York and has now become a world wide phenom. People seek advancement, they wanna achieve, grow, learn, evolve and that’s how it should be. We weren’t meant to stay the same. Nothing about us does, but it’s a common belief that life ends when you’re 30, that it’s no longer about you, that it’s too late to aspire to be something more cause if you were supposed to be it you would’ve already been it by now. That very thought along with other self-defeating notions drives the unhappy commuter to continue his or her on-going life of dormancy.

Now, one thing I appreciate about training is the fact that it’s not like rap. There’s no denying the obvious, you’re either in great shape or you’re not. You can’t hire a publicist or rely on a co-sign to assist you, it can not be bought and once you have it it’s yours in a way that few things are and it can not be taken from you. It brings us to experience who and what we are in a physical way.

Be on the look out for iammany.net where I will have a section of videos devoted mainly to training.

Tell us about your project with 2 Hungry Bros tho.

The album with 2 Hungry Bros is called Obese and is also very fresh. A good mix of uppity joints with some heavy thoughts and flows over charismatic beats. I knew Deep from when I went under the name ‘Many Styles’ this was back before Ben was producing.. We would head to TME studios in the Bronx and I would lay down the same verse 80 times for like 3 days.. Fred Ones called me ‘Many Files’ Those were the beginning days.. We recently shot a video for a song called “Cheeseburger” feat. Sand, that’s being edited and should be out soon. But yeah the album is really dope man.

Is there gonna be a follow-up to The Human Experience?

Very possible. That first release was the result of an incomplete project.. There were more songs written for it that never got recorded so I’m looking forward to revisiting that material and imagine I’ll be inspired to lay it down.

A dozen a capella videos, what’s that about?

I figure its a good way to stay active. It also it gives people a preview of what’s to come.

iammany.net
facebook.com/pages/I-Am-Many/197425756937511
@TheRealIAmMany

I Am Many is a post from: UGSMAG.COM.

You just dropped the Nightworks EP with producer The Arcitype, tell us about that.

It’s half an album written exclusively between the hours of 8pm and 2am. It’s about being frustrated with dedicating most of your time to a day job that you ultimately have no passion for. It is also about busting out of said job as soon as the sun goes down, getting intoxicated, acting like an asshole, pissing people off, punching someone in the nuts for treating you like you won’t amount to anything, and stumbling home to sleep it off. It’s got my pals Romen Rok, Fran-P, and Ceschi rappin’ and/or singin’ on it.

Arcitype and I have been close friends for about a decade but we had never made any music together until this EP. I’m not sure why. I think it was just never the right time in either of our development as artists or humans. We started off saying we were just going to make one song and put it out, but we caught a stride and decided to make a cohesive project. I think we established a good chemistry on this record and I’m proud of what we did.

I heard you guys are doing a follow up LP, how’s that coming along?

We just started, so it will be a while, but I can tell you that I really love working with that dude. So far it has been the most collaborative experience I’ve had. We are messing with beats and working out song concepts together. I feel like it’s the best way to work and I hope it shows once we have a finished product.

Are you riding the wolf-rapper wave or are you actually really a werewolf?

I am a real werewolf who rides a tsunami-sized wave of wolf-rappers, on a surfboard made from dinosaur bone and determination. The surfboard also shoots flares and bleeds real blood, so sharks are constantly following me.

“Werewolves Anonymous” is actually about being a scumbag drunk. The song opens with a man who has no idea where he is or what he did last night. He is naked in bed with a girl he has never seen. He sneaks out immediately and starts to put together the pieces from the night before in his head. He remembers being at a particularly dark dive-y bar where the bartender told him he’d had enough, and threatened to cut him off. He tells the bartender to fuck off, orders one last drink, and blacks out. Drunken shenanigans ensue. He’s not a bad dude he just lets the sauce get the best of him sometimes.

Do people ever confuse you for Jason Schwartzman?

Yeah, sometimes. One year I dressed as homeboy from Rushmore for Halloween. My costume was on point. Everybody was getting in my face all night and being like “OH SHIT!!! YOU LOOK JUST LIKE THAT DUDE FROM THAT MOVIE!!!” The thing is, I was tripping on a hefty bag of really good mushrooms that I had eaten earlier that evening, so it became one of the more surreal experiences I’ve ever had. People were approaching me all night bugging out and talking my ear off, but I couldn’t respond verbally. I would just nod and smile while I thought to myself, “am I pissing in my pants right now?” I didn’t piss in my pants tho.

You had the Invisible EP you did with producer Dox pressed to vinyl, what’s that?

Pressing the Invisible 10″ was cool. It’s the only permanent format in music. Vinyl will never really go away. It’s expensive and not the most accessible format, but that 10″ will travel from crate to crate for years until it is too battered to play. Even if it just ends up in the dollar bin.  It’s not always the easiest sell at a merch table, but people from all over will actively seek it out. Vinyl is really mostly for collectors, super fans, and, in rare cases, real audiophiles. I’ve always collected records so it was special for me to press the 10″. That being said, I will probably only press something like that again if a label with some money pays for it.

Tell us a tour story with Dox.

One time we went to a Furry orgy in Tennessee and Effile Towered a girl dressed as a Koala. That story is completely untrue except for the parts that are completely true, which is all of it, or maybe not.

You rocked the basement at my record release show, why’s everyone think rap sucks live?

Because the majority of rap sucks live. Rap is different than any other live performance. For the most part it’s just you up there. No instrument to hide behind, no band members to play off of. But watching someone pace around on a 10 square foot stage while rambling is inherently boring as fuck. You could be the best rapper ever, and it would still be boring as fuck. What sets apart a regular rapper from an actual entertainer is their ability to engage their audience. I’m not even talking about the standard call and response; I’m talking about truly engaging. If you are too intimidated to lock eyes with someone in the crowd, you suck live. If you have nothing to say in-between songs besides rehearsed boilerplate, you suck live. If you need a live band backing you to compensate for a lack of stage presence, you suck live. If you need to be up there with 12 other people, you suck live. If you need to bribe a crowd with free merch, you suck live. It’s easy…just don’t be boring. Step your charisma up, b. Give the people a reason to want to watch you. Anyone who has ever seen me live knows that 9 out of 10 times I will entertain the shit out of a crowd. And if you get that one dud, just know that I am going to get intoxicated and take my pants off.

You have a lot of fun in your music videos, what’s the most fun you’ve had while making a music video?

“Soap Scum” and “Bonafide Napoleon Complex” were both very fun shoots. Working with Adam and Tian of SBP productions was a good time. There were a lot of hilarious reactions to me running around Newbury St in Boston covered in mud and rhyming. For those who don’t know, Newbury St is where uptight douche bags go to purchase $700 jeans. The bathroom scene was pretty fun too. We got wasted in a shitty Motel 6 that smelled like crack pipe. Lucy Danger was a good sport for letting us pour fake champagne on her tits.

We made the entire Napoleon video up as we went along. The funniest part about that shoot was going to the Rocky steps and seeing some dude, without a hint of irony, dressed as Rocky running up and down the steps and punching the air. I can’t begin to tell you how serious homeboy was. I was geeking out watch him. He was the greasiest of guidos and oozing with misguided machismo.

I like how the “Bored Games” video turned out, but getting pelted with tomatoes for half a day sucked. It was nice working with Nick Heller of Ricky Shabazz and the Boom Bap Boys. That kid is a rare talent.

You have a lot of fun in your promo videos, what’s the most fun you’ve had while making a promo video?

Riding my bike wearing a beer helmet and holding a roman candle was one of my finer moments. Always wear a lid, kiddos. We didn’t have any tomatoes for that one so we used a lemon.

How do you feel about the indie rap scene right now?

There’s a lot of great Hip Hop being made on both an indie and major level. The Dark Time Sunshine album that Fake Four put out last year is stellar. Zavala and Onry have a crazy chemistry. I’ve been listening to the newest Homeboy Sandman, which doesn’t disappoint. That dude slays. My homies Moe Pope and Rain just put out a great album called Let The Right Ones In that you should check out. Anyway, my point is there is a lot of stuff out there that is worth sifting through massive amounts of shit to get to.

I have mixed feelings about all the Nostalgia Wave rappers out now. Labels seem to have a hard on for 19 year-olds dipped in fashions of yesteryear. There are some undeniably talented emcees coming out of that craze, but the whole 20-year cycle trendiness is strange to me.

I try as best I can to not get caught up in a “scene.” I just try to do what comes naturally and represent myself to the best of my abilities. Despite any frustrations, indie rap is fun a fuck, and if it isn’t then you are doing it wrong. I get to express myself creatively while making music with my best friends and traveling around the country meeting like-minded people and pouring my heart out on stage. There is nothing better than that.

Tell us about your compilation Loop-Minded Individuals.

Loop-Minded Individuals is going to be a full-length album co-produced by Intrikit and myself. It features about 15 different emcees that have contributed either verses or full songs. Me and Intrikit only have one verse each. It’s been a side project forever, but it is actually close to competition and will come out in 2013 unless a comet hits the earth. There are just a couple more loose ends to tie up.  There is some pretty great stuff on there and I can’t wait for it to be done. A lot of things that are out of my control have slowed the process, but I’m not trying to make excuses. There are verses or songs from Me and Intrikit, Moe Pope and Roc Doogie, XL and Big Juan of the Kreators, Seez Mics of Educated Consumers, Grey Sky Appeal and F.Virtue, Dee Bee from DIM, Romen Rok, Andrew Milica and Fran-P. I’m probably forgetting someone.

What’s it like to be a rapper that also produces?

I started making beats before I ever wrote raps, so I have no idea what it’s like to be a rapper that doesn’t produce. I think every rapper should have some knowledge of production on some level. It just makes you well rounded and gives you more control and understanding of the final product. I love making beats but, aside from the Loop-Minded project, it has taken a backseat to rhyming. It would be cool to be one of those artists who put out exclusively self-produced albums, but if you have obligations in your life besides making and releasing music, it’s just not realistic. At least for me. Maybe I just suck at managing my time.

I heard you’re building a birdhouse, how’s that coming along?

The hardest part is hanging the peanut butter pine-cone bird feeder…I am not building a birdhouse, but I did accidentally murder a 40-year-old parrot once. True story.

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Esh the Monolith is a post from: UGSMAG.COM.

Can you introduce yourself?

My name is Cody. I go by Sadistik on the interwebs.

You have an album coming out this month, Flowers for My Father. How is it different from your previous releases?

I think it is better [haha]. I feel I found my sound more…it feels more relaxed. I still put just as much effort into it, but I wasn’t scrambling or worried about things so much. Things felt more natural. I started out so focused on being complicated and technical. Now I feel more comfortable with that side, like I’ve technically proved myself. It’s challenging for me to do simple stuff, because it’s out of my comfort zone. Usually artists do the opposite. They get really good at the simple things then they get bored and complicate it. I got bored with complicated and now I’m going backwards and challenging myself with more simple stuff. Now I’ll decorate and layer something so heavily that I’m like wait, that’s my comfort zone. Maybe if I strip all that naked then it’s more vulnerable.

Do you have a song that’s the most important to you on the album?

No, I don’t really have a particular song that feels the most important, I guess I look at this project as more of a collection.

What were some things you had to come to peace with or let go of to make the album? How were you able to do that?

When I started it I made one song and was like, “This is it. This is what the album is gonna sound like”. It’s a song called “A Long Winter” and Ceschi ended up being on it. I wanted it to be brighter. I get bored if I don’t challenge myself. I don’t make as good of stuff if I don’t challenge myself and I don’t like listening to my shit as much. I got this dark stuff going maybe I’ll try to do something brighter. Not happy but a little bit more optimistic. I just had to let go of that [haha]. Cause I started making shit and it didn’t sound anything like that, but it kinda sounded cool to me. I had to let go of my plans that I naturally made in my head, so I went running with what sounded right. After a few songs I started to see something take shape. This is the stuff I want. I want more synthie and more 80’s in spots. I just had to trust myself if that makes sense. A lot of people worry about what other people are gonna think about their shit. I was more worried about what I was going to think about my own shit. I had to convince myself to let it go.

One of the most important things about art is how it affects others. What effect do you think FFMF will have on people?

My fan base is more fanatical than most fan bases. It’s smaller but people get very attached to my stuff when they like it. They feel more connected to it. So I get a lot of stories or emails or people at shows telling me about how something helped them through something. Which is awesome but I’d feel like a big fucking liar if I said I was doing it for that. Some artists say shit like, “I do this to help people” and I feel that’s such bullshit.  To be an artist in anyway is a pretty narcissistic thing. I basically made the decision to think I’m important enough to express my views as a living.  It’s kinda a really selfish thing. So I just don’t wanna be that dude who’s like “Yeah, I talk about issues people can relate to”. I talk about selfish shit or what I think and sometimes people connect to it. I love it and appreciate it but it’s just a bonus.

Was there something the album helped you understand more about yourself?

Yeah. I have to keep up with how I’m changing as a person musically. I’m in my mid-twenties and shit is changing. Especially lately these last few months I’m not such a sad sap, so I don’t feel like sitting and writing sad shit. But I’m still writing constantly so I’m trying something new.  I’m learning how to interpret things without everything being directly how I’m feeling at that exact moment…interpreting things from the past or how I see things. I don’t really talk much about other people or stuff around me as much; everything is from a first person perspective.

You’ve started directing some of your own videos. Is it more difficult for the concept of a song or video to come out the way you imagined it?

A video. A lot of the stuff I’ve been directing has been more like co-directing. The technical side of things I haven’t learned enough to do on my own. It’s more like conceptual when I’ve been writing the videos and providing what I want the scene to look like: how I see it in my head. It’s a lot harder for the video to match up than the song. I’m so technically in depth with music now that I can make things sound how I want. I just have to figure it out in my head.  I kind of look at it like a puzzle. Video I always have really ambitious ideas and ambitious pictures in my head—it’s just really hard to make that happen. A lot of times surprising things will come out of the video that are dope that I didn’t expect. Like when I wrote “Higher Brain” I only had one day to shoot that. It was horrifying. The concept I wrote didn’t come out as much as I wanted it to. There’s actually a deeper concept than what I think showed. But the visuals and the mood came out better than expected so I just took it. Videos for sure.

We’re meeting at Easy Street Records, one of the staples of the Seattle music community. Their other location just closed down. How do you feel about the direction music is headed?

I think it sucks. But it doesn’t matter that it sucks. It just is. I’m sure people felt like this when vinyl was going out, ya know? I’m hypocritical because I love the physical product and I love collecting things.  But at the same time lately I catch myself. If there’s an artist I really like I just download it off their Bandcamp and give’em ten bucks instead of actually buying the cd.

With that in mind, a single was the most purchased form of music in 2012. Does that have an influence on you and how important is the idea of an album to you?

No but it hurts me as an artist [haha]. I work really hard at making an album. You cannot listen to one song of mine and get it. All my favorite artists are like that. That’s why I love El-P so much. His albums sound like fucking albums. They don’t just sound like 14 songs but a well thought-out album. That’s why I don’t sleep at night. That’s why I’m stressed out all the time. I just want everything to sound right. Then there’s a lot of songs I make and don’t put them on an album and everyone online is like, “Why isn’t this on the album?” and I’m like, “Cause it doesn’t fucking fit!” I want it to be an album. It sucks.  I’m not a “single” type of artist. I mean, I have songs that people like more than others but I’m not a ringtone dude.

That’s one thing I love about your music: with every album there’s a clear beginning, middle, and end.

Yeah, exactly. That’s what I’m trying to do and that’s definitely the case with this new one, too.

Growing up was there anything you wanted to be besides a rapper?

Yeah. I decided I wanted to be a ninja. Like, I was positive. I was really into martial arts. My dad was a black belt in all these different styles of martial arts. He lived in Japan and used to train with Chuck Norris. He was badass! I basically hit a fork in the road when I got out of college deciding if I wanted to get a Ph.D in psychology or be a rapper. I did some interviews for the Ph.D. Shit, I had good grades so I could have skipped my masters and went straight into it. But that’s right when the “Search For Something Beautiful” video came out and I was really excited about it. I just didn’t wanna work my ass off to be in a cubical. Maybe in the future.

What was on top of your Best Of list for 2012?

Kendrick Lamar was the winner of the year for me. I think he’s the best rapper since Lupe and I think Lupe’s the best rapper since Eminem if that tells you anything. I think Kendrick Lamar is fucking amazing. There were a lot of good movies. Kill List was badass. Prometheus I liked more than most people. It was a good year for children’s movies; ParaNorman and Frankenweenie were awesome — the first Tim Burton movie that didn’t suck dick in like a decade. It was good to see El-P get lots of shine this year cause I feel like he deserves it. Aesop came back. That was dope.

Any last words, thoughts, shout-outs?

I think everyone should read Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. Shout-out to Nabokov.

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Sadistik is a post from: UGSMAG.COM.

Talk to us about History Will Absolve Me. What’s your two favorite tracks?

Man, that is tough. It changes on the regular and honestly, it’s the type of album that you put so much shit into, and for so long, that picking a favorite song is really a questionable undertaking. But that being what it is, right today, probably “The Man Who Would Be King” and “The Wake”. The former because the idea is something I had been trying to do for a long time and to finally get the execution right was a big moment for me. Plus the fact that the chorus is Kipling and the beat is sampled from one of my favorite movies as a child, and one that also connects to the subject of colonialism…it all just comes together where I really don’t think the song could be better. Or at least, I couldn’t do it any better. And “The Wake” because I think there is an essential truth I managed to grasp there, that again, I had been trying to do for a long time.

[MP3: View post to listen]

A lot of people have HWAM on their Best of 2012 list, what’s it like to have an indie rap album with a buzz in the world today?

Ha. No one knows who I am, let’s be real. That said, I am humbled by the people who have really fallen in love with this record and drawn attention to it. Don’t get it twisted, I am really grateful for everyone who is a fan or even just dug a track. The hope that someone will find some meaning in this is why I do it. It’s also rewarding to have some of my peers tell me they felt the record. Like any artist, I want to be respected in what I do. I am not trying to just be “okay” or “not bad”, I want greatness. So yeah, there are people who I think really highly of that have contacted me or publicly praised the record where it definitely made my day or week or year. But “buzz”? I think that word is probably overstating it by quite a bit. If I have a “buzz” right now, I don’t know about it.

Say something nice about the following 4 producers:

Bond – So underrated. So crucial to everything this label did for so long. We came into this together so there is a way that his beats compliment my rhymes that I will probably never find elsewhere. I’m sitting on what might be our last track together right now. Gotta find a home for it.

Marmaduke – Long time friend and musical collaborator. A guy who I can send ANY sample to, and get a beat back. Some people will be like “I dunno about this one” (and sometimes that is with good reason haha) but he will always make something and send it back. Dude is creative as fuck and is never scared to take hip-hop beats to leftfield. Like that skit on Operation Doomsday, “he sure thinks up the weirdies”

Willie Green – Best drums in the business. Best engineer I have ever encountered. Top 5 beatmaker. Clippers need to sit him down though.

A.M. Breakups – A prime example of what happens when talent meets a willingness to work hard at your craft. Lots of people have talent. Not everyone is down for the grind. Not everyone is willing to set their ego aside and really say, I need to get better and then actually put in the work. AM is a really dope producer who is constantly, constantly improving. Proud of that kid.

What are your feelings on the state of music right now.

Like everything in the world for the duration of my life, some good, some bad.

[MP3: View post to listen]

I couldn’t help but notice that “Lone Gunman” on Deleted Scenes was a diss track to Privilege of Super Chron Flight Brothers, can you shed some light on this?

I guess you could call it a diss track. I was really just speaking my mind on some shit that went down that is all pretty straightforward in the song, and it’s no point to really rehash it because you can just go listen to the track. I don’t think of it so much as a diss thing because that wasn’t just a dude I rapped with, that was like family for me, so the issue really had little to do with “rap”. I write shit that’s on my mind partially so I am not carrying all these feelings around upset about something that is water under the bridge. I don’t think about that shit now really at all. People ask me what’s up with dude and I’m like I don’t know and although I am curious, I honestly don’t care anymore. Life goes on. HWAM was the exorcism of a pretty tough couple years there for me, a lot of betrayals (real and imagined), a lot of losses, a lot of fear and anger, so to go back now seems unproductive. I said it on the opening track- “Broke up on impact/I swam from the wreckage”. It was sink or swim and I swam. At this point I wish dude the best and if he ever contacts me to speak on it, we can do that but honestly we could never be friends or associates or nothing so regardless of what, he is not part of my present or future.

What’s your favorite strain of weed or is that “some white-boy shit” & not make a difference?

Right now? Hmm, I’m visiting cats out on the West Coast at the moment but honestly haven’t been blown away by anything yet. It’s early though and I was in the Pacific Northwest where people never know what the strains are, it seems. But my top 5 in no particular order would be:

Any “pure” Haze (it’s basically impossible to get the real thing nowadays but I got hooked up recently and it was just as crazy as I remembered. Probably won’t see it again. Even in Amsterdam it’s some watered down hybrid fakemeout Haze that just doesn’t have that smell, taste and high of the real thing)
Blue Cheese
Headband (or a dope OG or Sour)
Blue Dream
Grand Daddy Purple

I also really like the Louis XIV strain but only had it a couple times. I really need to try a couple things like the Blueberry Yum or Chocolate Kush but haven’t yet so it might be hype.

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Are government trees the best?

It’s pretty clear that the private sector makes the best weed, no? I guess I’m in the Tea Party now…

Are you riding the weed-rapper wave or do you just really like weed?

I was rapping about weed before there was a weed rapper weed and people were asking me if I was riding the “political rapper” wave hahaha. I eagerly await being asked if I am riding the “food rapper” wave in a year or two or the “literary wave” after that or whatever people come up with. I just rap about the things around me or that I think of or my life or other people’s lives but even if I could figure out the next “wave” to ride, I just can’t see myself being successful doing that. At all. I have never been the most popular kid in school, I am not that person that everyone can relate to, no point trying to fit in now when I am old as fuck. What am I gonna do, start riding skateboards or trying to rock crazy kicks or skinny jeans? So, no, I am not a weed rapper or political rapper or conspiracy rapper or food rapper or whatever else.

I hear you’re doing a project with Elucid, very exciting, tell us about that.

Me and Elucid are doing a record as a group called Armand Hammer. The album is called RACE MUSIC. He is one of the best rappers out right now. People need to check his new tape Bird Eat Snake and his shit due at the top of the year with A.M. Breakups, Cult Favorite. It’s been both a lot of fun and a serious challenge working with Elucid, just a really talented guy who never, ever, ever spits an aiite rhyme. Ever. To say he keeps me on my toes would be a significant understatement. The stuff we have recorded so far is really exciting to me, it’s going to be different, if nothing else.

I also heard you’re doing a project with Blockhead, sick, how’s that coming along?

The Blockhead record is basically done. It’s called Dour Candy. We gotta wrap up a couple loose ends when I get back to the city, and hopefully it will be out early next year. It’s my first one producer, one rapper album and it has been a really different experience. Block is a really chill dude, easygoing, and it has all gone pretty smoothly, where it’s like damn, shit is done already! But I am really excited about it for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is I am a big fan of his production and discography. It’s also going to be interesting to see how people respond to it because whatever theoretical “buzz” HWAM has created, this record is completely different in concept, structure, mood, guests and even how I wrote my verses. So to drop this project in the wake of a definitive solo record, in collaboration with someone who already has their own much bigger fan base with it’s own expectations, I am very curious to see how people react and who likes or doesn’t like it and for what reasons. I fucks with it though, and honestly, I am really looking forward to finishing it up, mixing it and shooting a video. The lead single is one of the best songs I ever did. Easily.

Sizzla Kalonji, best to ever do it?

No. Peter and Bob. Gregory Isaacs. It’s a few, but in his generation, I would probably say Sizzla, yeah. I’m a big fan of Black Woman & Child, if you want a specific record.

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Billy Woods is a post from: UGSMAG.COM.

Photo by Daniel Carrillo

It was 2009 and I drove three and a half hours (by myself) to see Sole and The Skyrider Band play Missoula, MT. I arrived as the doors opened—second or third one there. I waited and waited drinking two dollar PBRs and expecting a big crowd — never panned out. It was not a sold out show, and it definitely wasn’t New York. It was turning out to be like most hip-hop shows I’ve seen: good but not great. That all changed when a lean, blonde-haired, blued-eyed man took the stage rocking skinny jeans and a back pocket handkerchief. I didn’t think he was a rapper, maybe a soundman. I’ve never been so happy to be wrong.

He blew me away from the first song. He rapped with this intense (borderline crazy) look in his eyes and his legs moved like earthquakes. His words hit me in the way I imagine the words of Ray Lewis hit teammates during a pregame speech. In a matter of minutes he captivated the crowd. He killed every track — non-stop energy and passion for 45 minutes. When it was over all I could think was man this guy just rapped his ass off.

Did I mention his mid-set freestyle? He grabbed five ideas from the crowd, threw on a Bob Dylan beat, and took off creating a story that must have lasted four minutes. Shit, how do you even remember the five things? I remember dope double rhymes, an interesting plot, and that it was hilarious — everyone was laughing; even Astronautalis couldn’t help himself at times. I left thinking that it was hands down the best freestyle I’d ever heard. I’ve now watched him perform a handful of times and he kills a freestyle every time.

I was a broke college student at the time so I bought as much merch as I could. I asked his manager, Harpoon Larry, which cd I should get if I could only get one. He turned me to The Mighty Ocean & Nine Dark Theaters. Made me really wish my ’89 Camry had a cd player; it was a long lonely ride home with a cd I couldn’t wait to session riding shotgun. I loved that album and played it over and over.

So who the hell is Astronautalis? Three years after that first show I had the privilege of sitting down with the man to find out for myself. He was dead sick and NyQuil’ed up, but still wanted to do the interview. What a boss.

Can we start by having you introduce yourself?

My names Andy Bothell. People call me Astronautalis.

You’re living in Minneapolis right now, what brought you out there?

I was actually living in Seattle for about three years and I was traveling out to Minneapolis all the time to work on music. The music scene there is, in my opinion, one of the most exciting in America. Seattle has a good scene but what was going on in Minneapolis was a really collaborative nature. The healthy competition that goes on in Minneapolis is something I was really drawn to. I was going there more and more and finally it got to the point where I’m like I should really just move there. It’s silly that I’m spending all this money on plane tickets when I could be paying rent. But yeah almost two years ago I moved out there and it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

What is The Four Fists?

It’s a project with myself and P.O.S from Doomtree. It’s about half-way done. It will get done… eventually. There’s a lot of circumstantial stuff that has to be taken care of in order to get it done. Our own releases and Stef’s health as well. But we’ll get it done. (Donate using the link below).

Bleubird mentioned you’ve moved onto greener more “Bon Iver” pasture. Can you tell us what happened one weekend in Wisconsin?

Last time I told people about it, it became a very big thing. Bigger than I was used to.  Then I got contact from Justin (Vernon)’s management and they’re like, “Yeah you probably shouldn’t do anymore interviews about this”. And I’m like, “Yeah that’s probably a good idea.”   I’m a little outta my league. I’ve never been in a band before. As soon as I did it I was like “Oh my god I probably shoulda told everybody; I should of asked about this.”  It’s really different from what anyone expects. I can’t tell you when it’s gonna come out I can’t tell you what it’s called. And that’s pretty much all I can tell you.

I heard “Top Down” by Marijuana Deathsquads and was instantly like “I think this might be my summer jam for at least the next 5 years.”   How did that song and album get put together?

Yeah, Ryan (Olson) who makes the music for Marijuana Deathsquads–who is part of my band with Justin (Vernon) as well–he lives down the street from me. He’ll just call me up at like three in the morning and tell me, “Hey man I need you to come to the house I need you to freestyle for me”. And I’m like, “Nah man I’m in bed.”  “Get outta bed, get outta bed”. When I walked in at three in the morning he gave me a bottle of whiskey and I freestyled for about eight hours. About six months later he sent me Top Down and then about 8 months after that the mixtape came out. There was a bunch of stuff on there I had no recollection of making cause I just freestyled all of that. It was a very surreal, exciting, experience. It was almost like an out-of-body experience to know this was a song that I made, but I have no memory of making it because freestyles just sorta disappear outta your brain when your done. You hear them made into full structured songs and it’s a pretty surreal thing.

Is that how all the artists perform for Ryan?

Ryan has a really funny way of… making music. He sorta just gets a bazillion musicians to come over and just piles stuff on.  He basically sorta has parties at his house with different musicians and microphones and we just sorta work. He does pretty rough mixes and recordings and stuff. He is then constantly working on like 10 different projects at any given time. Metal band, country band, electronic group, noise band, rap groups—always kinda working and tinkering. It’s one of the things when you’ll be like, “What’s this for?” He’ll be like, “Aww don’t worry about it, don’t worry about it.” Like eight months later you’ll get a track and you’re like, “Oh that’s pretty good actually…word up! That’s pretty awesome”.

You were also involved in making one of my favorite albums of 2012: Bleubird’s Cannonball!!!. What was it like working with him and helping bring that masterpiece to life?

Thanks man. I’m really proud of that record. I felt that with Jacques I got really fortunate cause when I started making one of my first records, I got a lot of instruction from my friend Radical Face from Florida, who made a lot of the other beats on Cannonball!!! When I started making my second record I switched producers to my friend John Congleton (Explosions In The Sky, The Polyphonic Spree, Modest Mouse) from Texas. He sort of let me take the reigns on things, but also gave it insight. I feel like I’ve been taught really well and I take to art education really well. I’ve always had a great amount of respect for Jacques albums, but felt they always lacked a coherency that comes from a little more education, a little reassurance to push yourself a little further. So we set out to make a record that’s not like anything he’s ever made before. Definitely more coherent and pushed him into territories he wasn’t really comfortable with… the singing, and melody and simplicity in verses. I’m really pleased with the result, and how it came out, and I think he is too. It didn’t get the recognition, but I’m really proud of the way it turned out.

Athletes train and get coached to get better. In other professions you get educated or experience. How do you try to improve as a rapper?

Well there’s definitely like technical stuff. The mistake indie rappers make is that they don’t listen to pop rap music, where a lot of the best technicians in rap music are—like Ludicris and Eminem and the guys whose content you may not love but they are the best technical rappers out there. They crush people. I mean I could listen to Ludacris verses all day long and Eminem when he works is amazing. When he’s lazy he’s garbage, but when he works he’s amazing. I think that’s a big thing for a lot of rappers and musicians in general. It’s really easy to exist in a bubble and I feel it’s important to listen to stuff that you normally wouldn’t listen to and listen to stuff that you don’t make. Other than the music my friends make, I don’t listen to a lot of underground music or indie rap music. I listen to a lot of other kinds of music. That gives me far more insight because you start to get in a bit of a fucking endless cycle where you listen to the same kind of music that you make. I feel that’s kind of where indie rap music sort of fails itself in the last like ten years… where everybody became incestuous and making the same style of records. It’s just now starting to break outta that in the last two-three years.

What are some things you strive for?

I wanna be like terrified of my work. I wanna finish a song and think, “God, that’s exactly what I wanted”. Everyone’s gonna fucking hate this (laughing). I’ve found the songs that have that sort of terror around them end up being the most popular songs on the record. The songs that scare me the most started with “Oceanwalk” and then it went to “My Dinner with Andy”, “Meet Me Here Later” and I thought people were going to hate those songs. They became the biggest songs on that record. For Pomegranate, “Trouble Hunters” and “The Wondersmith and His Sons”, I thought people were gonna hate this. People aren’t gonna get this at all cause it’s so different from the previous record. Then again with This is our Science the songs “Secrets on Our Lips” and “How To Measure The Globe”. I was like, “Wow I thought people were literally going to hate this.” And they didn’t. They really liked it. I started to recognize when I push myself beyond my own level of comfort that I feel confident in the product. It doesn’t matter if I’m scared. The public reaction doesn’t matter if I feel confident in the product… it’s gonna be okay. That starts to get back to the bigger point: I feel like there are two different kinds of bands. People listen to certain kinds of bands because they never change. They’re like familiar friends, ya know. AC/DC made the same song a fucking 150 times and when Bon Scott was interviewed about how he feels making the same song over and over again he’s answer was, “It’s a pretty fucking good song.” There are the bands you love cause they never change and then there are bands you love that are dynamic, that are always pushing forward and always changing. When any band breaks from that… personally a lot of my friends kind of got bored with Beck when Beck put out Guero. It felt like a throwback to Odelay. It felt like a rehash of this nice beautiful ever-changing progression and he sorta went stagnant for an album. It’s probably a really good record but I have a hard time getting into it. So my goal ultimately with my work is that I establish a reputation for change. The only expectation is change; that I can ultimately do whatever I want with my next record. People might be jarred by it like when Radiohead came out with Kid A and everyone lost their fucking minds when they heard “Idioteque” and their like, “Wow why’s this dance song on here? There’s no rock music on this record”. But eventually everyone listened to it five times and they gave it a fucking chance and they’re like, “Oh this is brilliant… this is something new”. That’s the goal to have people prepared for change.

You used old ass history books to help inspire This Is Our Science. Does the process then change for your next album?

I tend to try to change gears from the way that records are inspired and the language that I use and kind of erase everything. I’m still getting more inspiration from places and cultures on this record than the previous record, whereas the previous records are more like concepts or ideas and sort of legends and memories. This is more general watching impressions of places and cultures and the people that are sort of surviving and making the best out of a terrible situation.

How did your manager get the name Harpoon Larry? And can you tell us about how he’s been all in on Astronautalis since day once.

He was a buddy of mine in Texas and he was just part of the Dallas hip-hop community. Him and a dude—who’s actually gonna be here tonight funny enough—from Dallas who was a syndicate radio DJ in Atlanta. He’s a rapper named Headcrack [Ha that’s so funny that Crack’s gonna be here tonight] He has a rap group called Bodega Brovas and they’ll be playing tomorrow and they came in early. Crack back in the nineties, I heard him on these really amazing like New York City rap shows. In my opinion, he was one of the best freestyle rappers ever and I didn’t know he lived in Dallas. At that time Headcrack was just going around to every open mic battle in Dallas and just taking the prize money. Nobody was fucking with him. I watched him freestyle and was like, “Wow this guys fucking amazing…this is the dude”. He was watching me like, “Who the fuck is this white kid with long hair and a beard?” I’m looking fucking crazy cause I’m going to theatre school. I’m dressed super weird and he’s like, “Who the fuck is this white dude?” We ended up meeting in the finals. I think Crack beat me, Crack says that I beat him. But yeah, from that I met Headcrack and I met Brock that night. They both sort of took me under their wing in Dallas and shepherd me around like, “Go to this battle… go to this battle”. They got me nights hosting gigs and gigs pretty much opening up for every band, every rap group that came to Dallas. We made a bunch of connections through people while I was still going to school and by the time I graduated Brock was pretty much done working his real job. He was fucking over it and decided we needed to go out on the fucking road and give it a whirl. We got offered the Vans Warped Tour. We did the Vans Warped Tour and he quit his job he’d worked for like nine years. We bought a Hyundai and pretty much just drove around the country fucking nonstop for like ten years. Almost ten years in June, but that nickname Harpoon Larry came from the first Warped Tour when we were in Norfolk, Virginia. We got really drunk the night before, it was a hilarious party, and we were so hung-over driving around Norfolk to find Advil. We saw this restaurant there called Harpoon Larry’s and he’s like, “That’s the best name ever! I want to be called Harpoon Larry”. That’s your name man, and it’s been that way ever since.

What can we expect from Astronautalis in 2013?

A bunch of side projects. I’ll be on tour with Why?.  I’ll be taking the full band with me to Europe, which will be great cause it’s the first time bringing the full band to Europe. Maybe working on a mixtape, maybe start bringing out more new music. I’ll be playing one new song tonight… just trying it out live. I really enjoy trying out new music live. Bunch of new music. I’m taking time off the road this year. Probably the most time I’ve ever taken off the road in ten years.

Cause you’ve been touring the majority of the year.

I would say 8-10 months a year for almost 10 years straight. I’m pretty fried. I get my first full month break in January. No shows for a full month, which will be the first time in about four years or something like that… so I’m pretty stoked about that.

What do you want for Christmas?

I want a really big map. A really big map of the world, like huge, super detailed, with a foam backing and a nice frame around it so I can start to put pins in all the places that I’ve been. I’m finally like starting to have a “place” in Minneapolis… I’m gonna be there for a really long time. It’s the first place I’ve lived where I’ve been like, “Yes, this is home.”  I wanna start establishing a home. My birthday is coming up next week and Christmas is coming up after so I’m probably gonna claim that as my one present.

And everyone’s gonna come to your place thinking you’re tracking a serial killer or something.

Ha exactly. It all makes sense [creepy voice followed by laughter].

Any last words, thoughts, shoutouts?

Shout out to y’alls stuff, man. I’ve always enjoyed everything you guys have done. All my friends have enjoyed every interview they’ve ever done. Like it was no big deal to crawl out of my sick bed to do this interview. You guys do good work.

Appreciate it.

My pleasure.

astronautalis.com
@astronautalis

Astronautalis is a post from: UGSMAG.COM.

Introduce yourself, location & affiliates

L1: That mackin-azz playa known as young Lush One… if ya need me holla Uuuunnooooo when ya see me.

CR: My name is Cadalack Ron; I’m from Hollywood, California. Although I currently reside in my homeboy Rhyno’s kitchen on 9th and Normandie, an area I recently discovered is the most active MS13 neighborhood around. I’m from the mighty Machina Muerte family and I am a recording artist on the Machina Muerte label… I also have worked extensively with Blunt Boogie Records, and the Production team known as the Arch Druids… Any other affiliations will not be validated at this point.

What got you interested in rap?

L1: My older brothers showed me Eazy-E, Too $hort, and Ice T as a youngster. I’ve always been immersed in music and grew up in an artistic household.  I’ve always had a knack for writing and creative expression so it was natural that to want to add my voice to the tapestry of the art form that defined (and continues to define) my generation.

CR: My redneck cousins in Memphis, Tennessee were all bumping Easy-Duz-It back in the late 80’s and I learned the lyrics to Eazy-E songs from them before I had ever even heard the records. I think it was mainly the profanity, vulgarity, and misogyny that really got me interested in rap music as a 6 year old.

What makes you want to rap?

CR: Self-loathing and suicidal ideation are definitely my biggest motivators when it comes to rap music. The only way to convey to the masses how dark my psyche can get is through lyrics over beats. Otherwise I would just hang myself but I’m afraid the message would be misinterpreted. I started rapping when I was eight years old, writing shitty rhymes with my older brother about Anarchy and shit. I still feel the same way today when I see whack rappers on the mic I want to smack the shit out of them and show them how much they suck, show them that they have no life experience or concept of true pain and suffering.

What makes you hungry?

L1: I am motivated by the incessant and somewhat irrational desire to leave my mark on the planet. I want to tag up the annals of history.  And since I lack a formal education and many fundamental life skills, being an artist and involving myself in creative endeavors is the only alternative to selling dope and hittin’ licks to stack paper which is the only other thing I’m good at… besides pleasing women.

Do your parents & family know you rap or is it a dark secret you hide in shame?

L1: As previously stated, I grew up in an artistic household.  My parents see me perform regularly and are big supporters of my music.  They even went to see me on the Vans Warped Tour a couple years back which is way out of their element.  My older brother is a film maker and I have 8 songs on the soundtrack to his new film Dragon Eyes with Jean-Claude Van Damme.  I try to explain them the meaning. They obviously aren’t thrilled with all of my content but they respect it non-the-less.  I’m 30 though and have supported myself since 18 so its whatever.

CR: My family has always known I rapped. I think my father just thought I was a wannabe gangster that was infatuated with African-American culture. I was the definitely the black sheep of the otherwise all white family. Later in life, when I started getting arrested and getting into hard drugs I think my parents blamed my involvement in rap music to a large extent. They were probably right.

What’s the name of your current project & can you give a perfect description of it?

L1: I am working on a project called Walls of Gold Pain, it is the follow up to my previous release Gold Bricks in the Wall.  It’s that soulful fly stony music for fast talkin’ hustlas with heavy thoughts.

CR: I just wrapped the new project Times is Hard which will be dropping on Machina Muerte Records very soon. This record has been a long time in the works. It’s collaboration with my blood brother Briefcase (also from MM13) who produced all the beats for the project. This project basically focuses on a 3 year period of my life when I was either incarcerated, homeless on skid row, or in a rehab somewhere. It is kind of a throwback record to hardcore drug raps, street shit, scum fucks, and the streets of Los Angeles in general. It is even more pertinent now I feel because the majority of the last year ended up sucking really bad too, and culminated in a nasty dual Methadone/Heroin habit…

Who was involved with this current project, producers, features & etc.?

L1: I am working with producers who I am shaping my unique gritty yet smooth sound with. Most of them are up and coming and lesser known geniuses who shit on some of the cats getting’ hella burn now a days.  My young patna Matthew Houston from Cleveland is a problem, f’real.  My patna Da Ace from Texas who laced some of the Gold Bricks joint too is super slept on. I find the shy geniuses. I don’t like fuckin’ with cats who work with too many people, I like my own steez.  This cat Perpetuum who is highly respected in the drum & bass realm got some bangers on there. Also GKoop who is Jake One’s guitar player and has an amazing catalog of credits ranging from 2Pac to Nelly to George Clinton I work very close with as well.

CR: As aforementioned this record is primarily Cadalack Ron and Briefcase, but I was super stoked to get to work with most of the Machina family on this one too. Some of the more notable features include: Toothtaker, MURS, and Mestizo on “Dead Horse”, Awol One on “Jackknife” and Luckyiam and Existereo on “Desert of Death”… Although the album features: Rapewolf, Serp…, Hollywood Holt, Inaspace, Lush One, Kap Kallous to name a few. One of the final tracks is the now legendary “Machina Posse Cut” which clocks in at an epic ten minutes and thirty seconds.

What’s different about this project from your past works?

L1: Walls of Gold Pain is similar to Gold Bricks but it is considerably more polished.  My flow is greatly improved.. I’ve worked real hard on being less wordy.. adopting and revitilizing classic song writing techniques to make my at times abstract messages more direct.  Saying more with less syllabyls.. I am also incorporating more of the turfed out and gangsta styles of my earlier works back into the mix, since Gold Bricks and Music for Dope Runs were considerably more boombappy.  The beats on Gold Pain are larger as well.. it has a more epic feel to it.  Alexander Spit and I have been talkin about doin some work for a long time, that would be trill as hell.

CR: The last album I did was Space Cadalack and although I loved the record by the end of the project I was totally burned out on it, and I had pissed off a lot of people, including crew members. I just wanted it to be released so I could move on creatively. I feel disconnected from a lot of that record, even though I love the songs. This record is way more personal, so much so that it gets hard to listen to for me because it brings up so much real life shit. It’s like I had a camera crew with me in my darkest hours of loneliness and desperation. So now I don’t have to commit suicide I can just listen to this album.

How did you get linked up with Machina, what brought you to it?

L1: My introduction to Machina came very organically. It was based on friendship, a mutual respect for one another’s work, and a similar outlook on music and life in general. Even though I am a fan of every artist in the clique, my musical aesthetic and sensibilities are at times far different from the other members. We come together because all have a certain trillness about us and we put family first. Originally Mestizo, Cadalack Ron, and Rheteric who was on the set at the time brought me in but you know you ain’t finna get down period unless Isaiah respects you.

CR: I met Mestizo back in 2007 when I booked him for a show at some monthly I was throwing back then. I had only recently started getting super active in the LA underground scene following my release from Rehab in 2006. He recognized my skills and more importantly my grind. I was putting in overtime in the scene, booking shows, playing shows and sending myself on tour a few times a year. In 2008 me and Stizo toured the Northwest together and really clicked on some real life shit. I was one of the “rougher around the edges” dudes in the scene in LA at the time. Really back then the only other shit out was like Swim Team and they could all spit, but I wasn’t from the Blowed and I wasn’t a punch line rapper making conceptual records about fictional shit, ya feel me? Swim Team is all homies by the way, but I clearly wasn’t part of the typical rap scene at that time. I was fucking with Blunt Boogie Records super tough and working on side projects with the Arch Druids (Don Chalant and Animoss) and that’s really where I wanted to be. Animoss produced most of my 2009 record Last Known Photograph of Robert Paulson. it was right before some battle in 2009, when Mestizo asked me to join Machina Muerte, and I didn’t even know what it was, but I knew I would ride for the homie, so I was like “fuck yeah.”…

Describe Machina Muerte and your role as a crew member?

L1: Machina Muerte is a family, movement, artist collective, and state of mind.  We are based on the principles of integrity and honor, and everyone in the clique has gone thru some crazy life experience that define them as incredibly powerful people.  We got that gangsta-ass punk rock psychobilly 1970s horror film vibe. We will kill you, and you’ll like it.  I’m the one who keeps the party crackin’ with insatiable appetite for debauchery.  I’m the professional sinner with a heart of gold of the crew. Plus I’m kinda famous and kill posse tracks every time. Me and Plex hold down the Bay Area for the clique, got all the young turf patnas in the OAK reppin’ MM13.

CR: Machina Muerte when I joined was just like the illest new crew ever. I mean people were getting their feelings hurt because they weren’t getting asked to be in the crew. We had OG’s in the scene asking us to join, we didn’t have to recruit. We had fake ass fuckers claiming MM who had never got put on, it was buzzing super tough. Everybody got Machina Muerte tattoos, most of us got more than one MM tattoo hahahaha… I have 3 I think. Wait no, 4 actually. It has since evolved into a family, a record label and a true brotherhood. I think Isaiah Toothtaker has really led us into a great new era of Machina domination, where we just refuse to tolerate whackness, bull shit and mediocrity. All releases from the label this year especially are guaranteed super tough. I mean I feel like that old school Wu-tang interview segment and shit, you know, “ This is the shit I’ve been waiting to hear” type shit. My role as a crew member is to represent in everything I do, every battle, every track, every appearance, just to live Machina Muerte. To be there for my comrades, whether at album releases, copping their records on iTunes, making sure they don’t die, or in battle when necessary. I’m an OG from the crew and it is my responsibility to conduct myself as such, and to set an example for future MM’s or for other kids in general.

Now that you’re a member, If you could choose anyone else in the universe to join Machina who would it be and why? 

L1: Fuck man, Trent Reznor would be raw. Him or Juicy J.

CR: Pretty much like everyone I would want to be from Machina is already from Machina, but if I could get some of my favorite rappers to join Machina it’d prolly be like, Bun B, Kool Keith or Nico Claux…Bun is an obvious choice as a super OG in the game and someone that steadily puts out dope shit, Keith is an all-time favorite rapper of mine, and Nico Claux is a vampire serial killer from France and sick artist who actually helped me sell my soul to the devil in 2004. If that’s not MM13 I don’t know what is.

What’s your dream music collaboration?

L1: Not on an all-time level but for right now I know for a fact that Clams Casino and myself would make one of the trillest albums imaginable if we did some work..  I’ve always wanted to work with The Neptunes too. Sade.  Mac Mall is a dream collabo that will come true some point soon.

CR: I’ve always wanted to do a track with Kool Keith, just because I’m a huge fan, and he influenced me the most as an aspiring rapper because he was always doing different shit. Keith was rapping about prostitutes on Sunset and LaBrea when other people were rapping about clothes and shit. These days though I’d be super geeked on working with Project Pat and Brotha Lynch Hung as well.

What’s your worst or shittiest experience with rap or rappers?

L1: Dealing with Grind Time Now. And battle rappers in general. The shitty ones and the ones with false senses of entitlement especially.

Favorite rap related movie, why?

L1: Rhyme & Reason is classic as fuck.  I love the old school E-40 footage and I like to make fun of how pretentious KRS comes off ahaha.  No diss, but he just be soundin’ like a boring college professor or some shit, I respect him and all but his voice is funny when he lectures people and gets all serious and into it.  And fools can’t front of Juice for the simple fact of how impeccable that soundtrack was.

CR: Tales from the Hood was pretty fresh. There’s this documentary I was just watching called “rhyme and punishment” which is all about rappers in prison and shit. As clichéd as it sounds though I really liked 8 Mile… I was at a Phish concert in Ohio and I had just gotten arrested in the Columbus Airport for drug possession I ate a bunch of LSD and 8 Mile was on pay per view at the Holiday inn, I was like “ oh shit this movie is about me”…HAHAHAHA…fuckin’ Acid.

Who’s your favorite actor slash rapper?

L1: Pac was an incredible actor, let’s be serious now.  Watch Gridlock’d if you don’t believe me.   T.I. was real good in ATL too.  Macy Gray don’t count but she was extra ratchet in Training Day and I loved it.

CR: None really, but I’d like to see Gucci Mane in a high budget action flick. Ice Cube in Anaconda, “You mean they snakes out here dis big!!!!”

Who’s the ugliest female rapper and why?

L1: I have an odd fetish for female rappers, it’s very disconcerting. Most of them are pretty damn hot.  I’ll say Missy on default, but I feel bad for saying that cuz she’s dope. She’s one of the only ones I can think of that I wouldn’t fuck tho.

Name two rappers and the animals they look like?

L1: Mike Jones, Chamillionaire, Slim Thug, Paul Wall (aka all the Houston rappers who blew up in 04) and The Lox ALL look like Ninja Turtles.  Mestizo looks like Chester Cheetah.

CR: Snoop Dogg literally looks like a Doberman to me always has. The Grouch looks like David Carridine from Kung Fu.

Out of all the dead rappers which one made the worst music?

L1: Dolla. Sorry, no offense…RIP. “Who the Fuck was That”

CR: Dead Rappers…Heavy D. Even as a kid I wasn’t a fan.

Which rapper has the longest musical future?

L1: Too $hort. He started at 16…he’s like 46. He gon go ‘til he like 96 on some BowFly shit.

CR: That’s a hard question to answer; the scene evolves and changes so frequently. I really try and stay focused on my own longevity as an artist. I think Machina Muerte rappers are set to dominate for years to come.

What will we see in the future from you? 

L1: In the future you will see me everywhere.  I’m still not stopping ‘til I get my real estate of Jupiter. My place in the sky.  But before then I’ll be on tour in France for a month and a half this summer with my electro trip-hop homies Chinese Man Records who we rock star giant festivals in Europe with every summer.

Any last thoughts or shout outs?

L1: WEST up, Machina is the set ‘til the death. I love you Peachez.. .roll somethin’, po’ up some syrup, or pop some molly and get on.  We out this beyotch.

machinamuerte.com
caddyron.com
lushone.bandcamp.com
@lushone
@cadalackron

Machina Muerte Part 2: Lush One + Cadalack Ron is a post from: UGSMAG.COM.

Introduce yourself, location & affiliates

SYS: ShowYouSuck from Chicago reppin’ Machina Muerte, MurderClub, TreatedCrew, LOD, RumRunners.

AP: Kayare Eswon (Alex Pathetic/Rapewolf), LA, Machina Muerte.

What got you interested in rap?

SYS: I actually started rapping because it was the closest thing I could do to being in a punk band at the time. Growing up on the Westside no one was in bands or listened to punk so I was kind of on my own.

AP: These Mexican fuckers.

What makes you want to rap?

SYS: Just the fact that I’m awesome at it keeps me going.

AP: I don’t wanna rap.

What makes you hungry?

SYS: It’s literally the only thing I see myself doing for the next 100 years so I have to stay hungry. This shit is actually fun!

AP: Doing pushups.

Do your parents & family know you rap or is it a dark secret you hide in shame?

SYS: They know I do it, but sense they always got some negative shit to say about hip hop I don’t bother them with the details of all the rad shit I got going on. I rather include people who respect the culture.

AP: My parents think I’m a fucker.

What’s the name of your current project & can you give a perfect description of it?

SYS: My newest album is OneManPizzaParty2: Mo Slices Mo Problems. It’s a combination of trap music, social commentaries, and anthems of brotherhood and awesomeness!

AP: I think it’s “gargoloids or mongoyles?”, it’s me and Serpdot, rapping and making beats, trappin’ ass shit, but not like these other f—, they fucking suck, and are f—, but us, we are the best, it’s true, anyone who disagrees is getting put in a figure four leg lock plain and simple, fuck that shit.

Who was involved with this current project, producers, features & etc.?

SYS: MikeJaxx of tha Hydrox produced a bulk of the project with additional production from Flosstradamus and Floyd A Davis IV. With features from Auggie the 9th, Grade A Plus and Floyd A Davis IV.

AP: Uhh so far it’s me, Serp, Caddy, and Stizo, we want Isaiah on it too but he hates us, I wish Reh Dogg was on it, I wish I was Reh Dogg, I wouldn’t be answering these stupid questions right now, I’d be in the forest being Reh Dogg.

What’s different about this project from your past works?

SYS: This is the first project where I actually found my sound and the records have a huge sound to them, it’s a well flowing project I’m learning how to make an album an experience.

AP: My past work totally sucks balls, this new shit does not totally balls, we win so many groscars erryday from it.

How did you get linked up with Machina, what brought you to it?

SYS: I want to say it was largely due to the Hood Internet putting me on a track with Toothtaker. Me being a huge fan of his before that collab got me really excited about it and we developed a relationship from that I took notice to Machina and felt it was something I would fit into and seeing that my MurderClub/Treated brother Hollywood Holt was already in I wanted to become part of family as well. I support everything MM13 is about, I’m honored to be a part of this brotherhood.

AP: I’ve always been Machina.

Describe Machina Muerte and your role as a crew member?

SYS: I see it as a collective/brotherhood a support system for likeminded artist across the nation. I consider my role as one that will only help strengthen the integrity that’s already there. I am the facilitator of the TRILLNESS.

AP: Machina Muerte is the hardest shit ever, and my role is to watch cartoons, karate chop clavicles and shit, tough shit like that, do pushups, eat foods and stuff, real n—- shit.

Now that you’re a member, if you could choose anyone else in the universe to join Machina who would it be and why?

SYS: Real shit, I’d put my grandfather in. He is the most TRILL motherfucker of all time.

AP: I’d put Andy Kaufman in Machina, cause then I’d get to hang out with Andy Kaufman, beat bitches up and shit, you know? Well I mean I’d bring him back to life first, obviously.

What’s your dream music collaboration?

SYS: Andre 3000.

AP: Do a song with Project Pat Taaaaah, or Buckethead, but the song with bucket would prolly be all weird and suck balls as where the song with pat would fucking rule.

What’s your worst or shittiest experience with rap or rappers?

SYS: Bitter rappin’ ass rappers who talk sideways on people who destroy stages! Learn how to not bore the fuck out of people with those rappin’ ass raps!

AP: My shittiest experience with rappers is being near them when they cipher, fuck out my face with that shit.

Favorite rap related movie, why?

SYS: Backstage. It was my first look at tour life, and I can’t wait to live that shit.

AP: Master P’s “I got the hookup” cause it’s the fucking best are you kidding me?

Who’s your favorite actor slash rapper?

SYS: Lil Flip.

AP: Master P.

Who’s the ugliest female rapper and why?

SYS: Ceddy Bu the rap sumo, he got titties so that makes him a girl and he ugly as hell.

AP: Bahamadia because she look like that jungle dude.

Name two rappers and the animals they look like?

SYS: E40 looks like a walrus and Drake looks like a fucking sloth.

AP: Mike Jones look like a Donatello and the other fat n—- in De La look like Kung Fu panda.

Out of all the dead rappers which one made the worst music?

SYS: Can’t say I’m a Mac Dre fan.

AP: Is Freaky Tah a rapper? Prolly not huh? Uhh guru? Yeah guru.

Which rapper has the longest musical future?

SYS: ME, I’m TRILL as fuck.

AP: Flocka.

What will we see in the future from you?

SYS: More awesomeness and Trillness.

AP: In the future you will see me punching, in my space boots, at the faces of space aliens, or space Mexicans, or whatever they’re called now-a-days.

Any last thoughts or shout outs?

SYS: Shout to Machina Muerte, MurderClub, TreatedCrew, LOD, RumRunners. Homies Help Homies.

AP: Shout out to the Aryan nation, I see you n—–! Oh and I think Mindthoughts.

twitter.com/rapewolfpow
twitter.com/showyousuck
rapewolfmm.bandcamp.com
showyousuck.bandcamp.com

Machina Muerte Part 1: ShowYouSuck + Alex Pathetic (Rapewolf) is a post from: UGSMAG.COM.

Lets start with the whole introduction thing…

Peace…I’m casually known as Thaione Davis born and raised on the south side of Chicago. No particular crew or affiliations…cool with a handful of cats, bonded with a couple of like minded individuals.
 
You MC, produce, and direct videos. What do you have to say about having multiple skills/crafts in today’s musical climate?

It’s a natural progression…if not a natural requirement.  Coming up in Chicago during the times I did, it was commonplace to be multi-faceted. I’m just following suit from the way I was introduced to the culture. All the skills/crafts as you call it are mere vessels of expression.  Some cats only know me for one form of expression, others know me from b-boying, to engineering, to dj(ing), to you name it…I’m definitely an ”all city” cat, meaning I can cover all bases of the spectrum, on some modern day renaissance type shit.  I completely endorse cats wearing multiple hats in their craft, but the key is to become dope at all avenues you tackle. Don’t be limited.  Some days I fucking hate rhyming…so I may just focus on production for the time being…some days I just wanna dj and scratch all day. Other times I just chill on the music all together and do photography…they are all outlets, so if you are limited to only (one) outlet of expression then an unbalanced and frustrated person you might become. At the end of the day these are skills and perfecting your own particular skill is keen, that way you don’t have to depend on someone else to provide a skill for you. 

 
Tell us a bit your new instrumental project.

Emanuelle’s Theme Music. Yeah that shit hella smooth…real soft, sensual mood music. Well the name comes from my publishing, which actually comes from the soft porn joints that used to come on cinemax back in the day…I had a nice fix on the leading lady and her world traveling. I had always envisioned my music to be broad and well traveled, hence the title of the publishing.  As for the album, it’s a snapshot of the many various moods of the many women I’ve come across in my life.  It ranges from intimate and casual relationships, to women as friends and family….even those just in passing.  I just wanted to pay tribute to the essence and the air that they have given off, both positive and negatively during our course of interactions.  I was overseas listening to it and a young lady stated the album makes for a great listen from beginning to end, “goes well with a bottle of wine.” so there you go…

What are some of your favorite instrumental Hip Hop albums?

To answer that I have to first make the separation between hip hop album (as a composition and themed work) as opposed to hip hop album (the instrumental versions to what somebody rhymed over).  As a hip hop album (composition) I would have to say the one album by Nobody called “SOULMATES”.  It was real thematic and very well constructed.  Now as far as “instrumentals” to somebody album, I would go with both Digable Planets albums (Reachin’ & Blowout Comb).  Honestly every hip hop instrumental I’ve ever heard has a special place with me, from something super simple and sparse, to the more dense and complex sequences. I’m a fiend when it comes to the beats…
  
How do you approach making an instrumental track differently than one for an MC?

I can’t say I have a particular approach or a method when making a track for somebody to rhyme on.  I just do what I do, which is try and create some music that has a feel or a purpose behind it.  I just make mad beats (shout out to the homie), seriously I just produce as much music as I can, no particular sound in mind…all my joints got drums and a bottom, so the low end theory is always there and if it moves you to spit some bars then so be it.  One thing I can say is that my instrumentals can and will always be able to stand their own merit even without an mc guiding you over the track. That’s the faction behind my instrumental albums right there…the ability for the music to be able to stand on its own regardless.

 
If you could collab with anyone, who would it be?

I’m always open to collab with cats that are dope in my opinion or even those who I think have a good amount of potential…the sincere part of me is always open, but the logical side understands that you just can not work with everyone.  Politics and subliminal bullshit may often pop up unannounced…that’s why it’s better to keep emotions on the side when doing collabo. I make sure to keep things face value and strictly based on the music. There’s a phrase in regards to meeting your heroes (or someone you admire) and they actually turn out to be some pretty “ugly” characters…I’ve had my share of meeting a few of these cats and can say there is a bit of truth in that statement.  I guess on first thought would say Butterfly (from Digable Planets); I’m really intrigued by that Shabazz Palaces thing he is doing.
 
As a veteran, what are your thoughts on today’s generation of up and coming artists?

I honestly love the quantity of what up and coming artists are bringing to the table because it shows that cats have a lot on their mind and are willing at any opportunity to document that feeling or expression and get it out.  I don’t believe these new cats have truly realized the power they possess, so at times that can also be counterproductive. I applaud the new sense of independence and the no holds barred “you can’t tell me shit” attitude, but there also has to be a level of respect and understanding history behind it.  I think all the tools and avenues to get music heard and made readily available to the masses is a huge advantage that really shows the potential of strength in numbers. There is a whole new movement going on right now, unfortunately a lot of the members involved are too young to be familiar with the cats that paved the way for them to exist in the first place. I think with a little more knowledge and some balance, these up and coming cats are set to contribute a new dimension to the culture and the way it is delivered to the masses. I’m looking forward to the intense audio/visual overloads soon come…

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Thaione Davis is a post from: UGSMAG.COM.