When I’m not plugging Curly Castro’s Winston’s Appeal or my recently released EP Bad Weather Classic, you might catch me spreading the word on Has-Lo via Twitter. In case you didn’t notice from “No Resolution 2″, “Cock Diesel” or even our “Forever Freestlye (Nike Run)” joint, me and Lo are twin gunmen. He’s the one rapper I know who most reminds me of myself and probably my favorite pure writer today. We both worship at the altar of Marcberg and Shallah Rae. And we both hate Nasir Jones.
His new album In Case I Don’t Make It, which I’ve studied and marveled over secretly in my whip the past 2 months, drops via Mello Music Group shortly (March 29th–pre order it on UGHH.com here). Its certainly influencing the themes behind the next Shadowboxers LP.
Anyway, before all the jibbing and jabbing increases in the coming weeks, here’s a slick lil’ chandelier Antelopes & Lions for you to hang in your labbo, culminating some choice works from Has’ past EP’s, remixes, and guest appearances mixed by Sonny James of the highly regarded Philly DJ sect Ill Vibe Collective:
1. The Commentary (pt.1) remix (Produced by DeeJay Tone)
2. Black Rose (Gumshoe Remix) (Produced by Culture I)
3. Divine (Produced by Culture I & Has-Lo)
4. Nas – Shootouts (Has-Lo Remix)
5. Darkness (Produced by Culture I)
6. 5 O’clock Shadowboxers – No Resolution 2
7. Common – Chi City (Has-Lo Remix)
8. FUCWITDAT (Produced by Has-Lo)
9. The Undisputed (Produced by Culture I)
10. Kindness 4 Weakness (Produced by Has-Lo)
11. Build Jewelz (Produced by Has-Lo)
12. Dogma (ft. Awar) (Produced by Has-Lo)
13. Allegiance (Produced by Has-Lo)
14. Small Metal Objects (Produced by Has-Lo)
15. Fiber Optics (Produced by Has-Lo)
16. The Quiet Things (Produced by Has-Lo)
17. Royce Da 5’9″, Elzhi, Supastition – Best To Do It (Has-Lo Remix)
MUCH LOVE to the new friends and fans we met last night at the Hidden House. I wasn’t sure if our brand of gunshot jazz would capture the audience, but after Curly Castro set off the night with a bone-breaking set, we felt like the sharks were ready for some new blood. Peace to Random for repping Philly extra hard last night too–his set made us feel like we were at the Khyber back home!
Like the 5 foot assassin Small Pro, I first heard of Has-Lo sometime in ’07. He was getting love on in the cut blogs like Souled On Music (shouts to Scholar!) as some kind of somber poet slash MPC terrorist. And he was from Philadelphia no less. His stock photo was taken on a Broad Street train platform I have frequented many many times. I don’t like it when talented emcees in my town are popping up on blogs that I read for enjoyment and I’ve yet to meet them in person. I had to find this guy. And kill him.
But first…I had to listen to his music. What intrigued me about his releases, from Fuck Has Day to the remix project You Can Live Through Anything if Magic Made It, was that he was really calm and clear on the mic like Masta Killa circa “Duel of the Iron Mic”. The production was very moody and cohesive–even the songs I didn’t like fit a specific need in the overall sequencing. Songs like “The Quiet Things” and ”The Commentary” sounded like staples on late 90′s college radio or singles from Def Jux’s glory days when you could be introspective without whining and rhythmically inclined with substance in the chamber.
I picked Has to jump on “No Resolution 2″ and join the Shadowboxer tribe because he’s someone who actually takes longer to write a rhyme than me. That’s a bad thing in this era of I Don’t Write My Rhymes On Paper, but a great skill when it comes to making actual records that are built to last. You’ll see in the answers below why guys like he and I struggle to jot down quick sixteen’s. His verse on “No Resolution 2″ is about a college kid studying up on the Anarchist Cookbook, then going Tyler Durden on campus. I don’t know how many guys in Philly would bring that to the huddle.
That’s why I like working with Has-Lo in the lab and quoting idosyncratic/hilarious/godbody lyrics from Raekwon and Roc Marciano with shallah: the kid is like the perfect sneaker, dipped with Egyptian musk hanging from Columbian choppers folding gwap lighting two Dutches up.
Or something…
It’s time for Has-Lo to learn you something.
1. At what point did you realize music was what you wanted to do?
I don’t remember it being a conscious decision. Me listening and becoming music blended into creating and wanting to affect WITH music. It was a very gradual course…or I could just say i was 10 lol. Whichever works for you.
2. How has Philly shaped your sound or molded you as a MC/producer?
Philly hasn’t shaped my MCing. Production-wise I think it has given me the rough edges that a metropolis does. I think there can be beautiful, stoic moments in the cloudiest days and the most unsavory sections. Philly is gray and metallic and working class. A city of industry for us blue collar rhyme writers.
3. Who are the people you look up to and learn the most from? I look up to out of the box thinkers. I admire a person that’s able to step far enough outside of their opinions and convictions to see that other beliefs, opinions, ideals, etc. are not wrong…just different…and different is not taboo…just interesting.
4. With everything you’ve learned thus far, what do you wish you could have told yourself at the beginning? Would you have done anything differently?
I wish I could have listened to my mother’s advice about school. I wish i could have prepared myself for how something that is meant to be artful and creative is often deceitful and destroys relationships to feed the appetite of the dreamer, whoever he/she is. I wish I would have known that 85% of music related people in any capacity are 85′ers and they won’t believe your vision because it wasn’t their brilliant idea. That way, it wouldn’t have hurt so much to find out that this industry is NOT about talent…it’s about who you know.
honestly…i wish i wouldn’t have allowed myself to fall in love with it.
5. What’s hard for you? What do you struggle at?
I struggle with focusing my ideas at times. There is such a fine line between polarizing and preaching, killing a beat and killing your brain cells. What does your music stand for? How do you avoid rehashing that for the 1 millionth time? Does having writer’s block mean you’re out of rhymes and have nothing left to say? When is it time to throw in the towel and move on? I have trouble with hooks too sometimes lol.
6. Here’s a scenario: tomorrow you become the CEO of a major label. What are the first 3 things you would do as the boss? 1. Fire the staff and hire forward thinkers and calculated risk takers
2. Fire the artists and hire forward thinkers and calculated risk takers
3. Bring Raekwon on board to give me daily Rae-isms to keep me motivated and glistenin’ wit my fly cubanos on.
7. What are some of your favorite albums?
Roc Marciano – Marcberg
Strong Arm Steady – In Search Of Stoney Jackson
I’m late but I’ve been listening to that Elzhi – Leftovers tape lately. Other than that it’s been older stuff (Beck, Elliott Smith, Kanye, Ghostface, etc.) and working on my album.
8. What is inspiring your work right now? Nothing. I’m working because of a fragmented dream. It’s habitual at this point. Will it change? nooooobody knooooows. *shrug*
9. What advice would you offer to someone getting in the business at
this time? BE YOURSELF AT ALL TIMES. Believe it. ALL your favorite rich artists say that that’s the best approach to making art…why don’t you believe them? Also, don’t believe these rappers that tell you the internet is the solution to all your problems. Getting out there is HARD. Sure, it’s harder for some than others but the difference between me and you and your favorite rapper is that they usually were know BEFORE the internet boom. Of course it’s easy for them, THEY’RE KNOWN! lol. A muhfuckah that’s never had a dayjob because they’ve been rapping all their adult life professionally can’t tell you shit about how YOU should handle what you’re dealing with. He wakes up to perform, you wake up and watch his performance on youtube while you’re punching the clock. Take what you need from them but learn how to discard the crap that doesn’t relate to you.
Secondly, don’t be afraid. People are going to try to jerk you, gas you for whatever little connects you have, rip you off for money…anything you can think of. It’s a crab in a barrel mentality. You can’t live in fear of what could happen to you though. Does the fact that you could get hit by a stray bullet keep you from leaving the house? Does fear of flying or driving accident prevent you from traveling? NO! of course not (unless you have a phobia of those things…but you know what I mean!). So yea…see you in your travels. Be just and respectful, don’t take yourself so seriously and find a way to keep it FUN.
It’s nice 2 be important but it’s even more important to be nice…on the mic and in life. Uno.
I describe Elucid to people as the cat Def Jux should’ve signed to bolster the roster. You always need young studs on the rise, and for one of the most remarkable indie labels in hip hop history, Elucid could’ve been Jason Heyward (or at the minimum, Billy Butler) smoking through AA ball and pounding his way onto the Opening Day roster for 2010 when the only remaining viable Jukies were El, Ace, and Cage. For good measure his releases have been named Police & Thieves, Smash & Grab, and Bear Traps.
Rhyming over Bjork and Portishead before Honda sponsorships where the prize for “eccentric blog rappers”, Elucid has made his bones to a new audience as a the anvil jawed awareness emcee of NYC’s Lessondary Crew alongside Tanya Morgan, Che Grand and Spec Boogie. Elucid’s music is hip hop catching up to the allure of dubstep, IDM, and punk rock. Sporting an striking gruff voice akin to Method Man in Arkham Asylum and song concepts more dead prez than “Dead Presidents”, Elucid has already captured the dubstep/grime/electro crowd with his coming work in the group CapricornOne alongside Seclusiasis founder El Carnicero (home of Starkey and Dev79). He’s the best kept siren in a room full of bullhorn hype rappers.
I asked him to contribute to “No Resolution 2″ because the paranoia and grit from the original was already apparent in his projects. Plus, I wanted a mean motherfucker with a wild voice to add some napalm to the venerable posse cut for Broken Clocks EP. After rocking the Khyber with him last October, he’s solidified himself to the tough-as-nails Philly hip hop crowd as a forward thinking emcee who could dismantle a tank with a whisper. It’s time for Elucid to learn you something.
1. At what point did you realize music was what you wanted to do?
Since I picked up a pen?
2. How has New York shaped your sound or molded you as a
MC?
Not sure. I haven’t lived anywhere else.
3. Who are the people you look up to and learn the most from?I’m influenced by and learn from hella different sources. My pops always told me to pay attention when old people speak. There’s usually a gem there. But fuck heroes for the most part.
4. With everything you’ve learned thus far, what do you wish you could have told yourself at the beginning? Would you have done anything differently? I wish that I put blinders on and really followed my heart regarding who I was as an artist. Instead of emulating artists I liked at the time. Could have probably saved me alot of time.
5. What’s hard for you? What do you struggle at?
Its hard to stop killing shit. Yeah, I’m on my own dick right now. Musically, I’m just in a zone where I feel like I’m finally making the music that’s in my head and heart. Without filter.
6. Here’s a scenario: tomorrow you become the CEO of a major label. Whatare the first 3 things you would do as the boss?
Fire everybody. Take the resources and establish a business model that TRULY reflected our times. Sign all the hardworking musicians I think are killing shit right now.
7. What are some of your favorite albums?
Just on the rap tip, albums like Cuban Linx Two, Muddy Waters, and Soul On Ice never really left my headphones in high school.
8. What is inspiring your work right now?
Futurism and the Singularity. All this post Dilla experimental beat music and late 70′s industrial/punk music. The Sirius Mystery by Robert Temple. Crazy ass Tumblr blogs for images. Follow my lead. Cobratoofnecklace.tumblr.com
9. What advice would you offer to someone getting in the business at
this time?
I’m not even really “in the business” to be giving advice but
1)Get a job.
2)Stop compromising, second guessing, and double thinking.
3)Create from your heart.
10. Any words to live by? Destroy. Rebuild. Transcend.
One day after anouncing the first date for the upcoming Twilight Spoiler Tour in LA (check the listing to your right–MANY more coming shortly), we decided to drop the lead single from the Broken Clocks EP. Sitting on this song the past 3-4 months has been painfully difficult. But discipline is good. Now you’ll understand why.
As always, the incomparable Objektiv One laced the ill cover.
