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Incognito Interview by Sherene Clark |
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Click
below to hear the audio version of this interview. It
was probably when I was 10 or 11 years old, kind of the whole
Fat Boys and Run DMC era. Run DMC was probably the first group
that I really got into and Rakim, you know KRS, a lot of the
ol’ school
stuff kinda got me interested. Tribe Called Quest was probably
I big influence you know, I really love Tribe music back in the
day and that kinda got me interested. It wasn’t directly
writing music or producing music it was just being involved with
hip-hop as a whole, whether it’s street teams putting up
posters. Just being involved with what was going on. I had a few
cats that were on the radio in Ottawa and going to the shows, ya
know what I mean, kinda getting your feet wet as far as what was
going on in the hip-hop community. Not just in music and that kinda
got me interested in being involved. Growing up in Ottawa, how did you become active in the hip-hop scene? How did it all start? It
really probably started with radio. We knew a lot of Deejay’s,
a lot of cats that a lot of community radio station gigs and they
were doing late night gigs, and we were always helping out for
release parties and stuff like that. That’s when we started
pushing that kind of loud era where we really started putting an
emphasis on team marketing and we were always involved in doing
that kind of stuff. I had Swapp Studios and they were recorded
joints so that’s how I got interested in producing and writing
as well and being kind of surrounded with that you always have
access to being able to start to create your own music. Just being
around everything. How did “A sample and a drum machine” come into creation? That
was the first solo record from before that record we did a compilation
album called “Welcome to the land of the lost” and
that was very local and contributed to the Indie pool at the time
and it was something we put together. There was three other artists
on the track compilation and we were all trying to get something
out and wanted to test the waters so we did “Welcome to the
land of the lost,” kind of representing what no one knew
what was going on at that time so we that compilation and from
that I pretty much produced 95% of that compilation, so a lot of
people were like “you should do a solo.” Not that we
were ever a group any ways so I was me doing my own thing and we
started recording for “A sample and a drum machine” we
did a 12 inch called “Spit forever 1” (part one) with
the leak on the B side and that kinda got a lot of people interested.
That’s probably the first record that we brought down to
Toronto and we serviced that 12 inch to Deejay’s here and
a lot of cats were feeling in, and one Deejay in particular was
DJ Grouch so, that kinda spawned our friendship that we still have
to this day. From there we just kinda had a bunch of tracks ready
to go and we went into the studio, we had a budget, we had about
17 tracks to do and 16 of those tracks are on that record. You
know, you spend so much time working around and that record just
really represented what I was trying to do and say at that time.
Some of the most requested songs that I do are still off of that
record. I did do that record when I was still on Ottawa. Yeah,
it was a little more of a struggle doing that record from Ottawa
for sure. What were the main obstacles that you faced to get your album recorded? Well,
it sounds cliché but it was money, you know what
I mean? You see that it was before hard disk recording. It was
good to go into a studio and actually be able to work but that
costs money and doing the videos. We didn’t get Video Fact
to do our first video that came out of our own pockets so we got
a bunch to pitch in whatever they could to make that happen, on
credit cards, you know you gotta do what you gotta do to get that
out there. If we didn’t do that for the video, we may have
never got to do another video again. We needed that proof to Much
Music and the industry here in Toronto that we were serious and
that we had something, not necessarily brand new but different
in what people were already doing. We deserved a shot of being
out there and I would say that was probably the biggest thing was
getting your finances straight to be able to do it and also getting
quote unquote respect from the industry here in Toronto. You know,
when your not from Toronto people don’t realize that avenues
like Factor or Video Fact to get grants for yourself, its not accessible.
There is no Factor board member in Ottawa when you go out. Here
you can mingle with those people who might help you get that grant
but in Ottawa you’re definitely limited and have to work
that much harder to get noticed regardless of how good your package
was. So we really needed to work on our overall presentation so
people could take us seriously. So, how did you become apart of URBNET? When
we did “A sample and a drum machine” we
had a record ready to go, we had a video ready to go, no distribution.
As much as you think that if you have those two pieces which are
the key elements to getting an artist signed and out there I mean,
it would be pretty easy to find distro. Urbnet was ready to go
basically at the time and they were young and they were just starting
to find a few acts and Daryl from Urbnet really felt the music
and he put some of our singles on his first couple compilations
he did. So we had to get our music out there and that was a good
opportunity for us to get our music across Canada and where else
the distribution channels were so we took that opportunity. We
did that in ’99-2000. It was a way to get our own music
out you know, like every one else that has a label. You know, labels
don’t sign any one anymore and that started from along time
ago. I’ve never been a fool to think just because I’m
recording music that I should go out there and try and get some
kind of major label deal. I’ve known from the beginning that
I might not be necessarily built for the masses so it is for a
niche market and who better to cater to a niche market than Indies’ and
that’s what Indie culture is and you kind of have to sell
to your fans and not sell to people that don’t necessarily
want to hear what you have to say. We a few other artists at the
time that we wanted to get music out for so, we just needed distro
and again that’s how Urbnet came in to play, we knew we had
a secure channel. So, overall, what would you say it is that your’re trying to communicate in your recent release – “Organic music for a digital world?” I’ve always been about the music and I think that’s
what this record kind of represents. Just taking people through
that musical journey one step at a time. “A sample and a
drum machine” was really focused on more battle rap, yo look
how nice I am and your typical braggadocios track. Even on that
record there was songs like anticipation, 90 degrees, and audio
coke that drifted away from just telling people how nice I am and
having more metaphors and stories. Then growing to the “Collection
of Experiences” it was the same thing, just a progression
of me not just as an artist but as a human being, you know your
not going to stay 18 forever so your thoughts are going to change,
you have different priorities, you don’t pay rent, then you
do. I’ve always tried to show people the human side of just
being an artist, that it’s not all glamorous, it’s
not all macho, its just music. On this record, it’s the same
progression, just showing people that you know there might have
been flaws on the first record and second record but you see my
growth as a person, in personal issues. You know my mom passed
away from cancer, you know that was a big day for me, realizing
that I’m not the only person that is going through that.
I kinda wanted to put that out there so that people that are maybe
going through the same thing don’t feel like your all alone
going through stuff like that, just reality of life in general.
You know, it’s life music without being to preachy and there
definitely is a lot of content on the record that you have to listen
to and that’s what I want to get people to and really take
the record in and listen to it. I may not be the club but it’s
probably for you crib or you car you know what I mean? That’s
it, not everyone can do club records. I just classify it as life
music. Can you share some of your process in making this record? My
producer, Techtwelve he pretty much had the audio landscape done
for a lot of the tracks. He had a lot of records and a lot of
stuff ready to go and I think I only produced three or four tracks
on this record. The previous two I probably did 60%-70% of the
records overall. I went through a lot in the last couple of years
and had a lot to say and it was really easy to kind of get it
out there. I like to write my records in blocks I don’t
write all the time. Once we have an idea of what we’re trying
to do I’ll spend whatever it is 2 months, 3 months, 4 months,
just writing. We got the chance to do a lot more this time around
and there was a lot of tracks that we left off where before we
were working with a tighter budget, so were like, ok are these
the 15 tracks we wanna do? This time around we had some time to
see if it’s the mood of the record. I think its always about
a mood you know, once you have your title you kinda want everything
to intertwine and be consistent. (for more listen to audio) Who have you collaborated within the past and are there any particular artists you would like to work with? I’ve done some work with Classified and a few Emcee’s in Montreal some Indie dudes. I haven’t done work with many people. I’m kinda self sufficient within our camp for so long and you come from a tight nit crew we never really tried to get there to collab with that many people, not meaning that I wouldn’t, it just never happens. When we are in the process of recording a record we always concentrated on what we can do. There are definitely a lot of cats that I would like to work with in the future, most would probably be producers like Primo or do some work with Alchemist. I think that definitely production is the key to try to get Canadian hip-hop out of where it’s at and that’s not to knock the producers that we have or even my own producers but I think if you want to step in the big leagues you have to know who the big leagues are in American music, needing that kind of production to get to where they got to go. How do you think you’ve grown creatively since your first album? I think creatively maybe not, but just as a person I guess the end result comes from what you’re trying to say and what kind of message that want to put. You may not realize when you first do your record that how many people actually pay attention to everything you say. So, you don’t really think about stuff like that until you go to a show and every one knows all your tracks. I think it’s my topics maybe, I like to touch on the bigger picture, I like to touch on stuff that I know that people will relate to. When I did “A sample and a drum machine” Anticipation was one that was every one’s favorite track, dudes and chicks alike. At a show there would be like 95% dudes and they’re like, do Anticipation! Which is a chick track but it just showed that words are very powerful. To take time in what I write so that I’m happy with the end result. (For more listen to audio) Any inspirational words for growing artists? Don’t give up man, you gotta believe in yourself. You know,
we never really had any handouts so we’ve been doing our
own thing. I don’t think it’s wrong to have your own
ideology to follow what you think is true. Really, be true to you.
At the end of the day when it’s all said and done, when you’re
talking to your kids about your career you’re going to present
your body of work to your people and you have to be proud of what
you have done. I’m happy with what we’ve been able
to do and if you’re an up and coming cat you shouldn’t
necessarily focus on what’s already out there and you gotta
ride it till the wheels fall off.
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