Category: Hip-hop

Exclusive Premiere: Da Buze Bruvaz – ‘Golden Brown Sea Bass’ + Interview

BUZE BRUVAZ GROWN UP RAP INTERVIEW

Da Buze Bruvaz, aka Him-Lo and Clever 1, are back with a new album coming soon, the delightfully-named Drinkin’ Beer Wit’ Prostitutez. Today we are premiering the video for the latest single, Golden Brown Sea Bass, which also features Driz Lo. Watch below, then keep scrolling to read an interview with Him-Lo.

You guys are pretty elusive. I know Da Buze Bruvaz is Him-Lo and Clever One, I know you are from Philly, and I know you make good hip-hop. But that’s about all I know. Can you give us more background?

We both grew up participating in all aspects of hip hop; graffiti, breakin, rappin, cuttin n scratchin. Been spittin since da 80’s. Clev was always more polished and had an arsenal of rhymes cuz he wrote regularly. I knew I could spit but didn’t write as much cuz I was hypnotized by cuttin n scratchin…u gotta remember we’re from da city wit da illest DJ’s

Tell us about the new album, Drinkin’ Beer Wit’ Prostitutez. What can we expect?

You just gotta expect da hardbody karate we always provide. Aint no switching up ’round here.

There are hardly any features on the new project. Is that important to you guys – to not have guests there just to piggy-back on their name, keeping the focus on your own skills?

The lack of features wasn’t done purposely, we move pretty fast n jus wasn’t waiting on anybody. We write n record regularly..got at least 500 songz.

You are known for being brash, unapologetic and hardcore. It’s a classic hip-hop sound, but not something you see that much anymore. Why do you think that is? 

We spit like dat cuz we a lil older than deez other rappers. We’re from a totally different era and try to preserve that sound without sounding dated.

I’ve noticed you choose not to be active on social media. I can understand why, but at the same time, its an important tool for musicians. How do you feel about social media in general?

I personally despise social media. Social media has given a lotta idiots rope 2 hang themselves. Many people have been caught cheatin, arrested, robbed, fired from jobs, n murdered over things they say and do on social media. People expose themselves as frauds n cornballz who can barely socialize in real life. Of course not everyone but it seems like a large majority. Plus I’m a person dat really doesn’t wanna be bothered. If u can’t reach me then there’s a reason 4 dat. I don’t want people finding me. As far as promoting our music on social media…if you can’t find our music then it isn’t for you.

You were a part of the Lo-Life crew in the early 90s – an era that has always fascinated me. For those that don’t know, describe that whole scene.  

Da Lo Life era was bugged out. We got strung out and addicted to rocking new Lo. We got a rush coming up on free pieces. We got a lotta Lo lifes here in Philly dat went on missions daily. My man B-Bill (R.I.P.) iz responsible 4 bringing da Lo Life saga 2 Philly. We would go out n boost a lotta shit…get back 2 da hood sell half of da clothes and keep the other half n show off new pieces on some fly nigga street fashion show shit.

Do you still have any of the gear stashed away?

We definitely got a lotta Lo but not anything from dat era. We outgrown all dat. We had to get rid of shit we can’t fit anymore. Plus I took a few trips in n outta jail. When dat happens your family will gladly rock ur belongings.

Going back to your roots in Philadelphia, I want to talk about one of the most interesting and tragic stories in rap history: Steady B and Cool C. What was it like being in that circle in the aftermath of what happened?  

Ah man that was messed up. At the time it happened they were tryna make a comeback as C.E.B. Cool C, Steady B, and Ultimate Ease. They fell on hard times financially n tried 2 get back in da game. It was an unfortunate situation. There’s always a chance 4 some’n 2 go left in a robbery n in this case it did. A lotta Philly m.c.’s were disappointed at the entire situation and how things transpired.

The new record is coming out on Grilchy Party, ran by MarQ Spekt. How did you first connect with him?

We were introduced 2 my man Spekt thru my homeboy Buddy Leezle at a spot called Kung Fu NeckTie here in Philly. We were all there to perform. We been friends ever since.

And what’s up next for you guys after Drinkin’ Beer Wit’ Prostitutez?

I  just completed 2 solo Him-Lo projects dropping soon. Clever One is finishing up a solo project n we’re halfway done another Da Buze Bruvaz album. We been workin hard 2 provide music 4 those who enjoy what we do.

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Drinkin’ Beer Wit’ Prostitutez is out December 24 via MarQ Spekt’s Grilchy Party label, and you can pre-order it here. Follow MarQSpekt on Twitter. Interview by Grown Up Rap Editor Ben Pedroche.

The High Light Zone by Damu the Fudgemunk

damu vignettes

Just like the producers she’s writing on, Paris-based writer, Madeleine Byrne seeks out artists, forgotten, overlooked or not given the attention they deserve to work out their particular brand of magic and express it in words.

Grown Up Rap is happy to announce we’ll be publishing some of her writing on hip-hop – past and present –  as part of an occasional series of articles, starting with Damu the Fudgemunk’s The High Light Zone, the 12-minute plus instrumental from the Washington DC, Redefinition Records owner’s album he likened to watching a movie, Vignettes. 

We’re huge fans of Damu at Grown Up Rap (read our interview with him and Jason Moore, aka Raw Poetic, here) – a sentiment more than shared by Madeleine as you’ll see.

The High Light Zone by Damu the Fudgemunk (Vignettes, Redefinition Records, 2017). First published at https://www.madeleinebyrne.com/ July 01, 2017.

 

Extravagant, outlandish claim alert: this track, The High Light Zone from DC-based producer, Damu the Fudgemunk’s two-hour opus, Vignettes might be one of the best pieces of music, Madeleine Byrne writes, in any genre released in 2017.

If you think of hip-hop production as the assemblage of sonic elements, where the skill comes via the construction and use of contrast, Damu the Fudgemunk’s The High Light Zone goes against such easy categorisation. This music sounds like its flying, pure movement – to stop, start, stop and start again. And has a stunning drum sound, a killer beat.

When researching this piece, I had one key question to answer, one puzzle to solve: was this music sample-based, live instrumentation, a mix of both? I contacted Redefinition Records – the label co-founded by Damu the Fudgemunk (the artist known to his classical musician parents as Earl Davis). I asked my friends; one thought it’d be sample-based, another said the opposite, or that it was made up of live instrumentation sampled and spliced and found a clip posted on Twitter by the flutist, Seb Zillner as back-up for his hunch that showed him recording a part for the record’s track Solitary Refinement.

But then my trying to ‘work it out’ runs counter against the experience of listening to this music, which encapsulates such energy that it leaves you feeling transcendent, perhaps even breathless at times because of the essential swing of it, the kick of it. And it is this energy that sets it apart.

Many contemporary hip-hop instrumentals mine a similar territory, it often seems to me. Whether they are following the classic prototype set down by the great masters from the 90s, or burrowing into the super-soft fractured melody-driven style so popular today, you can recognise a formula: start with a dramatic, or mood-setting vocal sample (a comedic skit, or something from the news, the voice of a famous artist to set the theme of the music) and combine three, or so elements that appear/re-appear at set intervals. There is nothing wrong with following conventions, but sometimes it can feel a bit stale.

The High Light Zone starts with a sample, but the overall effect of the music is closer to a live jazz performance, or poppy electronic music from the 80s, say the extended remixes, or live performances of English groups, such as New Order – not so much for the sound, but the music’s essential exuberance.

 

What makes The High Light Zone so interesting though is that even if it might seem to be closer to other genres of music – the duration could be that of a live jazz band performance, the snazzy feel could come direct from disco – the hip-hop foundations are plain to see, mainly via the way Damu the Fudgemunk exposes the beat and then allows the music to stop completely at times.

The final two minutes of the piece where one instrument/or one part comes forward and the others recede: this resembles jazz, but whereas the expectation within that genre would be for a musician to let loose with some kind of solo, or improvisation, it’s controlled/contained. Here we find the direct point of continuum with the hip-hop aesthetic.

This has always been something that has appealed to me in hip-hop production, the way the manipulation of the various elements thwarts our expectations and desires, via the refusal of development and release; the various parts begin, then stop, or are repeated over and over. It’s a kind of anti-music, in essence, punk almost.

This music by 9th Wonder, Let me Talk – released, I think in 2011 – offers up an extreme version of this tendency, aggressively cutting it back at points leaving total silence when you expect the music to build towards its conclusion.

 

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Paris writer Madeleine Byrne’s interviews and articles on hip-hop have been published at The Wire Magazine, Passion of the Weiss, Okayplayer.com, Ambrosia for Heads and here at Grown Up Rap – we published her interview with Nolan the Ninja earlier this year. Check out her site, madeleinebyrne.com to read more.