Category: Aesop Rock

Playlist: Best New Music – November 2018

Spotify_Monthly_Playlist_November_FacebookWelcome to the November 2018 edition of our monthly playlist series, highlighting much of the best new hip-hop from the last month. This month’s selection includes music from Black Thought, Masta Ace, Slick Rick, Ice Cube, Aesop Rock, Westside Gunn, Action Bronson, Benny and many more. Listen to the playlist below, and then go support the artists with a purchase from wherever you buy your music. Check us on Spotify for more curated playlists.

Interview: billy woods


We already interviewed billy woods once this year, but since then he has been responsible for another incredible album, in the form of Armand Hammer’s Rome. So we thought we should return for more insights into his creative process, what it’s like working with Elucid, and how he’s feeling as 2017 comes to an end. Interview by Gingerslim.
2017 has been a good year for you, with two of the best albums of the past 12 months under your belt. How are you feeling now it’s all drawing to a close?
I feel really good about it, on a personal level, it’s always a good thing to feel productive. It’s satisfying to achieve a goal, however small, I try not to take stuff for granted. That said, it hasn’t felt like any kind of sea change or anything, my phone isn’t ringing off the hook. I also felt like I was part of two really great albums the label put out last year; Elucid’s Save Yourself and Willie Green’s Doc Savage, that didn’t get the attention they deserved, so I’m not going to complain either.
All you can do is do the work, and be happy with the work itself. On that level, I feel pretty happy with it. Rome is so tightly wound, so efficient, it’s one of the best things I have ever been part of, as an artist. And Known Unknowns is a completely different album, different sound, different ideas, but I think it’s really successful. And both of these projects are collaborations with people I genuinely am friends with, and who push me in directions I might not go on my own.

 

 

From reading various interviews, it seems you and Elucid have found a connection with each other that extends beyond your collaborations. How did you guys first meet?
Nasa (Uncommon Nasa) booked him for this Yule Prog event we did every December in New York for the last ten years. I had never heard of him before then, but I checked out his music before the show and was captivated by the Automatic Writing track. He had a really dope video for the song on Youtube, done by his man Ali, who also did the Obama Incense and Willie Bosket videos. Then I saw his live set and, well, I’m neither blind nor deaf, so I thought I should reach out.
How different is the dynamic when you’re making a record with him, as opposed to working on a solo project?
Completely different. From the ground up, it’s a different process. From the production choices – which includes the fact that Elucid is a producer himself – to the subject matter, to the process of writing and recording, it’s very different. One thing that I will say sets apart Armand Hammer stuff from a lot of other collaborative projects I have done is the amount of trust. I have total faith that if I go in a certain direction conceptually or stylistically, whatever Elucid does will compliment it, and likewise, if he gives me some beat or concept to try, I just go for it.
It’s a rare thing. And that ties into the next question, which is that I am fortunate to have that relationship with both Elucid and Willie Green. It’s not an accident what I have been able to do personally, what the label has been able to do, since I started working with them.
I found it interesting hearing you talk about Willie Green setting up a booth for guys to record at the same time – I think this was back when you did Today I Wrote Nothing – you said it made the recording much more exciting. I was wondering if that is how you guys have continued to record since then, for example with the new Armand Hammer record?
That was a one-time thing, but it was very cool, and ties back into the trust I have in Green to get the best sounds out of us. That said, recording for Rome was pretty random; some at The Greenhouse, a lot at Elucid’s spot in East NY. Speaking for myself, I cut some demos with some cats I know like Jeff Markey, Lt. Headtrip, definitely recorded a couple things with Steel Tipped Dove. I did a lot of recording over the last year, and as someone without a home studio or the slightest hint of engineering experience, I relied a lot on other artists to help me out.
Given your background and the current state of affairs, I wanted to see how you’re feeling about what has been happening in Zimbabwe recently. Are you hopeful for their future?
I am very much a child of the Independence Struggle, so to speak, so to see that whole paradigm finally fall apart was interesting and conflicting and cathartic. Not to say that what comes next will be better or worse, but with Mugabe gone, that era is finished.
I read an interview with you a few years ago, where you spoke about hanging out with Aesop Rock at his place, listening to beats and chatting about rap, which was something you said you never really got to do any more. Is that because you just don’t have the time?
It’s because I am old and all my friends don’t just drop by randomly to smoke weed and listen to beats every day.
Your latest solo album, Known Unknowns, is your second full-length collaboration with Blockhead. If you’re working with only one producer, does your creative process vary much from if you were making an album with beats from various producers?
It is definitely different when I am working with a single producer. For me, it’s more of a compromise on sound and direction just from the fact that you can’t just go looking for the beat you want that day. You gotta dig into the beats they got or work with them to make something new. Working with Blockhead, I think there is an element of that for both of us; I pick some beats he is surprised I picked, or randomly send him a sample I stumbled on, meanwhile I will end up rapping over beats that I wouldn’t have chosen left to my own devices. I go over to Blockhead’s later in the process, when we are getting started we mostly work through email and over the phone. I’ll call and be like I like this part at :15 seconds and this other part at 32 seconds should be the chorus and hold the phone to my speakers like “this part”. It’s kinda ridiculous but it works.
One of my favorite songs on Known Unknowns is Police Came to My Show. Can you tell me a little bit about the story behind it?
I once read something where a writer mused about what the song was about. I thought that was funny because it’s a pretty straightforward song. I was on the road with PremRock and Mo Niklz and Henry Canyons a couple years ago and this all happened when we did a show in Missoula, Montana. Actually, Henry may not have been on this leg of the tour but anyway, as soon as we showed up at this venue – and it was a really, really nice venue, really nice promoter, good town overall – I saw these two guys at the bar and I immediately knew they were cops.
Anyway, I wait till we are backstage and ask everyone including the promoter about it and they think I am imagining things. I’m pretty certain I am not but I say okay and then we settle in backstage and Mo is DJ-ing and this place is dead. Like, embarrassing, humiliating dead. Not to say I haven’t seen deader rooms but this was like five people in a pretty big venue. So the promoter is kinda feeling bad and keeps saying maybe push back the start time and Mo keeps spinning, ever denser and more aggressive shit too, and these undercover cops are just sitting there, getting more and more annoyed which is understandable because wow, I mean, what a waste of time and overtime pay. Nobody is at this show. No one. So they go and start demanding that I perform at the box office, which gives away the fact that they are cops, now everyone is all surprised and I’m just like “even when I win, I lose”.
So boom, I’m like fuck it, I’mma give em a good show, and I think I really did. I felt like I caught something and carried it through the rest of the tour, and maybe since, where I get on stage like “I’m gonna do my thing right now, however it comes out, and then when it’s over, whatever, but the next however long is my time”. I wrote the first verse of that song, that night. You can ask PremRock the rest of the story.

 
I’m a big fan of your desire to never show your face in press shots and videos. Is that purely down to you wanting to be able to walk the streets without being recognized, or is there more to it?
There was more to it, now it’s mostly just what it is. I don’t think people are going to be out recognizing me anyway, but christ, that would be awful.
How hard it is to maintain that level of anonymity, given how many people at your shows are likely to have a camera phone?
Not hard at all. Not that many people come to my shows.
Your label has been enjoying some much deserved success the past few years, having survived the earlier industry crash. Has your vision changed much as the years have progressed?
At it’s core, it has remained the same. I wanted to help push artists that I liked, that I thought were making or were capable of making dope music, important music, interesting music. How I thought that would look has certainly changed, but the motivation is the same.
Do you think things are moving in a better direction now, in terms of the industry and the options available to artists?
I have no idea. Honestly. As a working artist living in NYC, I am just trying to stay above water right now.
What’s next for woods?
There is a little project being mixed right now, but it’s not a solo thing. As far as that goes, I am really not entirely sure.

***

Rome by Armand Hammer, and Known Unknowns by billy woods are both out now. Get them from Backwoodz Studioz.
Gingerslim has been a hip-hop fan since 1994 and has written for various blogs and websites since around 2006. During that time he has contributed to style43, Think Zebra, Headsknow and Front Magazine. His main interests in rap are UK hip-hop and the underground movement in America, with a focus on Rhymesayers Entertainment and the once mighty Def Jux label. He lives in Bristol and has a beard. All other details are sketchy at best. Follow him here. 

Interview: Blueprint

Blueprint 'KNC' 4x6 FlyerBlueprint has become hugely respected on the independent hip-hop scene, thanks to a string of solid solo releases and collaborations, going back to 1999 and his debut EP as part of Greenhouse Effect. More recently he has garnered praise for his Super Duty Tough Work podcast, alongside his long-time friend and collaborator, Illogic. He is also releasing his first feature-length film this year, King No Crown. We caught up with him to discuss the project, his disciplined work ethic and the benefits of being able to speak openly and honestly. Interview by Gingerslim.

Your new film, King No Crown, is due for release soon. Can you give us a little bit of background on the project? 
I started wanting to try my hand at making a movie around 2012 or so and, even though my first few attempts didn’t work out, I kept my eyes open for any projects that I might be able to execute. My initial idea for the King No Crown movie came to me around the beginning of 2015, about five months before the album was released. The first thing I did was have a friend do an interview with me about topics from the album and from being an independent artist in general. When I saw how well that came out it gave me the inspiration to try a little more, so I had my guy Mario follow me around with a camera to track some of the action as I prepared to release the King No Crown album. At first, it was just supposed to be around 20-30 minutes, but as I started getting into it I saw that it had the potential to be much more, so I decided to dive deeper into it and really bring it to life as a full-length movie.

You’ve been involved in the creative world for years, was filmmaking just the natural progression for you from your interest in photography? Had you ever had a desire to make a film before this?
I think film was definitely a natural progression for me. Several years back, it really hit me how being a writer is my primary occupation and the only thing that really changes is the medium I use to tell my stories on. From music to podcasting, to books, and now to film; it just feels like natural progression to me. Naturally, there are a lot of technical things you have to learn to even be able to make an average film, but it feels no different than any of the other disciplines I’ve dedicated myself towards learning at a high level.
I didn’t own my own camera until 2011 and never had much of a desire to make movies prior to that. But getting a good camera taught me how powerful images and video are in storytelling. Once I saw that, I had to dive deeper into it.
BlueprintwCamera01web
Now you’ve made the film, do you think it is something you will pursue further?
As far as I’m concerned, this film is just the beginning. It’s been such an inspiring experience to see my idea actually come alive on screen that I definitely plan on doing more films in the future. My second film has been started already, but I don’t want to divulge too much about it yet until it’s a bit further along. It’s definitely coming though and should hopefully be out within a year or less.
And do you think there will ever be a point in the future where you step away from making hip-hop to focus purely on another medium?
I’m a hip-hop head to the core, so I don’t think there will ever be a time that I stop writing rhymes and making beats. There may be a time when I do a little more film work than music, but music will always be a huge part of my life.
I know part of the film’s main theme is the feeling of losing time and I was wondering if that was always a feeling you’ve had, or something that was borne from your accident back in 2015?
For sure. The accident we had in 2015 was a huge wake-up call to all of us. Sometimes you can be so busy pushing forward that you can forget to celebrate where you’ve come from. But then when you have a near-death experience like that, you realize just how sacred life is and how we should be celebrating it more by doing what we love every day. I’ve always felt like life is really short and should be enjoyed, but having it almost taken away from you in the blink of an eye really reminded me of that more than ever.
Something that’s inspired me is your work ethic. You describe your days as being scheduled by social media time, studio time, reading time etc. I’ve heard artists like Oddisee say the same, and it’s this organization that has allowed you to do music full-time. Is it something you think a lot of artists overlook?
Totally. Most artists live by a belief that they should only work when they’re inspired, not when it’s time to work, so they reject structure. To me, having structure is what allows me to get so much more work done. I still goof off sometimes even with the schedule, but the schedule and structure are always there to remind me of what I should be doing, or more importantly that I should be doing something. There’s no way I could get the amount of work done that I do without some real structure.
Weightless has been the putting out quality music since its inception. What was your original vision for the label when you started it?
Thank you. My original vision was that Weightless would be the platform that none of us ever had access to living in Ohio. Most artists from big cities know what it’s like to have major labels and media near them, but we never had that. As a result, I just wanted Weightless to be that – a platform for us to put out our creative work.
Do you feel you’ve exceeded your expectations as far as that’s concerned and has its success given you a different vision for the future of the label?
The goals I set for myself at anything are always really high, so I never actually feel like I’ve exceeded any expectations. There’s always so much farther things could go, especially as media and what a label is keeps on evolving and changing every year. Once upon a time, we were doing CDs and tapes, then books and vinyl, next will be movies and who knows what else. I’m just happy to still be around, but I’m never satisfied.
I just wanted to touch briefly on the Orphanage as I think of you guys as one of my favorite crews that never really existed as a crew, if that makes sense. I was wondering if there was a desire among any of you at the time to actually sit down and make more music, or was it more of a spontaneous thing when you happened to all be together?
At the time we did the Orphanage project we were all super in love with the idea of being our own version of one of rap’s super-groups. So once we formed the group we all met up in Minneapolis and spent a few days there writing and recording. It was a great time and we were all excited about it. I don’t think we really understood the pressure that came along with being a super-group at the time we recorded the Orphanage project together, we were just having fun. Later on, we saw that having fun is cool, but we would be judged really seriously on whatever we dropped. And, with five different people involved, it would take a whole lot of work to make a cohesive album that fit all of our standards. The year after we recorded, things really started to take off for all of us, so that also became something that we would have had to balance if we would have ever picked back up the project. It was amazing to spend three or four days straight, sleeping on couches, and working on music with my friends, but I think we all understood that some of the magic and fun would be lost if we ever released the project.

You’ve always been very open and honest about your career, both its ups and downs. I was wondering if there was anything you might do differently if you were given the chance to go through it again?
Nah not really. Anything that went bad for me gave me an opportunity to learn something that I applied later. I’ve never really had any regrets about my career because I truly believe every decision I made was the best decision given the information I had at the time. So I would probably do everything all over again the exact same way if given the opportunity.
Sticking with that honesty theme for a second, we’re big fans of your Super Duty Tough Work podcast. What’s refreshing about it for us is that you don’t shy away from saying what a lot of people within the hip-hop media world are afraid to. Yet you aren’t doing it in a controversial way or trying to cause scandal. You are just saying what needs to be said. Is that quite a liberating experience?
Oh yeah. Being able to talk candidly about those topics is the most liberating thing for me and Illogic. So many artists can never truly say what they really believe because they fear backlash for it, but we’ve set things up to where our listeners have allowed us to just be ourselves and honest. When people first hear our podcast, a lot of them are blown away because they’re just not used to that level of openness. Then after they listen for a while they love it.
What’s next for you after the film has been released and the promo run is over?
Next up for me will be getting my next solo album, Two-headed Monster, ready for 2018 release. I’m putting the final touches on it now and I’m excited to get it out to the people.  After that should be the Soul Position reunion album.

***

The King No Crown film is released on November 7, and you can pre-order a copy here. 
Gingerslim has been a hip-hop fan since 1994 and has written for various blogs and websites since around 2006. During that time he has contributed to style43, Think Zebra, Headsknow and Front Magazine. His main interests in rap are UK hip hop and the underground movement in America, with a focus on Rhymesayers Entertainment and the once mighty Def Jux label. He lives in Bristol and has a beard. All other details are sketchy at best. Follow him here.