Rugged Intellect

Rugged Intellect a Canadian rapper—someone I never heard of—quietly making moves in these 2007 “rap games.” His album Renaissance Music: the Introduction features an impressive roster of rappers including: Kool G Rap, Ras Kass, Heltah Skeltah, RA the Rugged Man and André the Giant (of D.I.T.C.). The album is pretty solid, catering to those who like that classic New York sound, yet I doubt whether the album is designed to have massive appeal here at home; but I’ll digress, since this is an interview and not a review.

So I’m pretty impressed with the number of guests on your project and the new Sean Price song I got was pretty dope, so how’d you hook up with those guys? Did you have to shell out mad duckets?

Basically during the early stages of putting the album together I hooked up with a producer named Domingo who produced for Big Pun and KRS One. We worked on a few records and he took me under his wing as a protégé. Being an industry veteran for many years he had many established relationships with some of these artists and set it up to where I would work with them to show the world I could hold my own with some of the best lyricists of all-time.

How long have you been writing?

I have been writing poetry since 1995 and starting rhyming in 1997 although in secrecy. It was not until 2001, when I felt my skills had increased enough, that I started making real songs and getting myself out there on the performance circuit.

You’re from Montréal?

Yeah I was born and raised in Montréal in a neighborhood commonly known as Uptown. From a young age I was surrounded violence, drugs, crack-heads and gangs which influenced what I was writing about. I was exposed to hip-hop culture by the same token, since my neighborhood was always jumping off.

Everything I rap about is directly linked to what I’ve experienced growing up as an underprivileged individual with infinite ambition. From day one, regardless of my financial ineptitudes, I always had the thirst to pursue my aspirations as a hip-hop emcee and that is evidently starting to pay off and it’s a humbling thing to experience moderate success.

Is there a divide between Anglo and Francophone rap?

Well Montréal is a unique place in itself because first and foremost it’s in the province of Québéc which is the only French speaking place in North America, so off the top they’ve outcasted themselves from the rest of North America. Hip-hop gets no respect from the media whatsoever there are no urban stations and minimal coverage aside from American artists signed to the big labels. The media here acts like hip-hop doesn’t exist. For example, I’ve been getting coverage in many reputable publications like The Source where my album got 3.5 Mics but I can’t even get a 300 word blurb about my record in Montréal…unbelievable.

Is it possible you’d be more popular if you dubbed yourself a French emcee?

Injecting French in my music will not be beneficial in the international scope of things, at least not for what I’m trying to do at this time.

You’re getting attention in The Source and that’s a big step…what’s your plan now?

My plan now is definitely to continue representing hip-hop and re-introducing the core values of this celebrated culture to the younger generations of hip-hop fans eager to hear fresh material that represents them and not the impossible ideals suggested in the majority of hip-hop videos and songs shoved down their throats by the BETs, MTVs and others.

You sound like you’re inspired by New York sounds; break beats and crime rap…do you feel that this style is still relevant?

It’s definitely still relevant and I think the perception that it’s not is mostly propagated by those same media outlets we were discussing before. The classic East Coast sound is definitely what inspired me the most as I came up listening to such artists as Rakim, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Biggie, and Big L amongst others. One of the main reasons the East Coast sound may not be as relevant is primarily due to the fact that it is sample-based and once hip-hop became such a lucrative monster it was no longer profitable for the labels to put out records that had samples on them because of the high pricing of clearances. However, in the underground, where hip-hop is still pure for the most part, artists like myself are not affected by those shifts and continue to crank out music we feel is paying homage to that classic sound.

Tell us about the label you’re releasing your album on…

Definitely. We are releasing the album on Renaissance Music/Expertism Music Group which is a company run by myself and my partner Adam Sampler. This is our first official release that it is available worldwide through a distribution deal with Traffic Entertainment out of Quincy, MA. Expertism Music Group also represents the legendary Show & AG as well as Party Arty, among others. Speaking of which look out for the new Show & AG album due out this fall on DITC Records/Nature Sounds it’s a certified heat rock!

Damn! So, honestly, where is your eye in terms of popularity, the U.S. or Europe—where do you think you’re better off being successful?

I certainly do not have a preference especially considering hip-hop is such an international phenomenon. I think I’m just better off spreading my message to as many people as possible across the globe. As long as people enjoy what I do it doesn’t matter where they’re from, there’s no discrimination in my blood—I got love for everybody!

How did you get into this rap game?

Just like everyone else I started off just rhyming locally and then I got a shot when an A&R at DreamWorks heard some of my early songs and flew me out to California. Once there I signed a deal with Artistic Parole/Universal and recorded an EP that featured production by DJ Muggs, DJ Khalil of Self Scientific and Memo of the Molemen. Unfortunately the deal fell through because it was not in my best interest to be in there so the EP never came out.

So the EP is in the Universal vault somewhere?

Yeah man, I was trying to get the Muggs track for this record but it couldn’t happen because they had paid for it and owned the rights to the song unfortunately.

Are you still looking for a major deal?

At this point I’m not looking for a major deal because we’ve been doing well independently thanks to the dedicated team I work with including my publicist and street team people who do a fantastic job. However I am interested in being distributed by a major because that would undoubtedly help me spread my message even more. It would definitely have to be the right situation.

Anything else you want to mention?

I just want send a fat shout-out to all the hip-hop heads supporting what I do. If you’re looking to hear some dope hip-hop from a relatively uncharted territory check out my album now available worldwide. All promoters, DJs, producers or anyone else that want to get in touch with me check out www.myspace.com/ruggedintellect and an extra shout to my man Jon B for hooking up this dope interview!