Premiere: Realio Sparkzwell – 'The Main Ingredient' + Interview

REALIO
Today we premiere the new EP from Realio Sparkzwell. Listen below, then keep scrolling for an interview with the man himself.

 
The new EP is a tribute to, and uses samples from, the group The Main Ingredient. What is it about their music that made you want to dedicate a whole project to them?
I love soul music and love digging in the crates and The Main Ingredient’s music always has a lot of feeling and strings that I feel in tune with. Soul music touches me, soothes me, and also inspires me. I had the sample for Purple Grimace for a while and always wanted to use it. I also had the Questions sample. Originally I was working on looking for samples for my Bloody Luciano album which has a mob theme. I came across more ill samples I had from The Main Ingredient and I was thinking I can’t and shouldn’t use more than one Main Ingredient sample for my album, but maybe I can bang out an EP dedicated to them, using their music as source material.
I was instantly sparked on the idea and executive-produced and wrote the project in just a few days. I’m also proud of this body of work because I recorded it in one session, within a few hours, and I feel it came out flawless…with all due respect. I didn’t want any features on it either. Feel me for me, ya dig.
The Main Ingredient is very much in the same vein as the minimalist, modern gangster rap style mastered by Roc Marciano and Ka, and everyone they’ve inspired since: Meyhem Lauren, Westside Gunn, Conway, and to a lesser extent, Action Bronson. Who inspires you?
I think all those emcees are official and I would say I’m inspired by them. I respect what they do for sure and would like to work with them as well. In these modern times I feel they are definitely some of the ones holding the torch for the culture. I would guess to say that I’m probably inspired by some of the same artists that these artists were inspired by.
I’m heavily inspired by legends like Wu-Tang, Eric B & Rakim, Nas, Kool G Rap, Big L, Boot Camp Clik, Gang Starr, EPMD, Redman, D.I.T.C., etc. I used to go by iRealz and this is not the first time that I’ve released music with a more stripped down aesthetic. I think if we go back to the ’90s we can see the RZA, Q-Tip, Alchemist, and others helping to father that style, as far as minimalist beats are concerned.
You’re now recording as Realio Sparkzwell, but you’ve also in the passed gone by the names REALZ and iRealz. Is there significance in the name changes? Do they allow you to explore different parts of your personality, or create different characters on wax?
Yes sir, that is definitely a part of it. I am growing and developing as a person and as an artist. I have been through a lot in life and I want to express my colorful experiences and drop jewels. I’m also better lyrically. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for years, it’s always been an a/k/a. IRealz derives from Ireality. On the eastside of Syracuse, NY, in the projects we shorten everything down. My righteous attribute Ireality became iRealz as a nickname. Everyone called me that for years so it just became my default emcee name.
My homie Bourne Grimey used to call me Realio Sparkz all the time though. He’s doing ten in the Feds right now. He was one of my business and rhyme partners. We created a movement in Syracuse, NY, called LAMA. Our close friend and group member Allen Ross was murdered, our homie Pesc was also shot in a robbery (he survived and is alive), and Goon and Alley Grown have been constantly in and out of prison forever. So I been doing this dolo and feel a lot of pressure. For the past three years I’ve made a lot of changes to my life and I’m striving to be successful for all my peoples who can’t do it.
This was all our dream. So I took on Realio Sparkzwell officially in 2015 and put out a song called Quartz Crystal Rap with a YouTube video single to introduce the idea to people. Now that I am out of “the life” I can rhyme more vividly about it, telling stories, and drawing from experiences and drop jewels at the same time with messages. I never felt comfortable about rhyming about certain things before ‘cause I didn’t’ want to bring that attention to myself to incriminate myself or my people.


 
You recently became part of the Gold Chain Military/Poison Ring Regime extended family of artists. What does that represent to you, and where do you see it will take you?
That came from a simple conversation with Killa Kali. He had heard my leak Ravenous off this project. He asked me if I wanted to be down with the movement, GCM/PRR. I told him that I respect them and would be honored. Real simple. It’s just honor among swordsmen. Sharp swordsmen recognize other sharp swordsmen. We honor the blade if it’s sharp, ya dig? Same way I became affiliated with my brothers Cannibal Ox (Vast Aire & Vordul Mega). I’m also a part of the Iron Galaxy Clik (IGC) and Crimson Godz crew, and have been recording and touring with my bros for years. I’m also on their critically acclaimed sophomore album, The Blade of the Ronin. To me, it just increases affiliation from coast to coast, which I feel is important. So yeah, just honor among swordsmen, we are all kings in our own right.
There are two full-length projects on the way, The Top Emblem and Bloody Luciano. Tell us what we can expect.
 I’ll put it like this. The Main Ingredient is the fresh, crisp, healthy salad before the main courses that are underway. The Main Ingredient also makes for a good winter release. It fits that holiday vibe perfect. So, The Top Emblem is like the spicy chicken parm with baked ziti and fresh garlic knots. The Top Emblem represents top shelf premium quality. I will be spitting pure heroin for the fiends. There’s also an EP that follows The Top Emblem, Loosies Out the Bundy, which will be the dessert – basically a collection of looses that didn’t quite make their way onto The Top Emblem.
Bloody Luciano will follow up with the same kind of vibe. It’s mob themed, street music with jewels and messages from someone whose been there and seen it all. I’ve also got a lot more in store! Many more albums, I been working hard, but just digest this info for now. Peace.

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The Main Ingredient is out now. Follow Realio Sparkzwell here. Interview by Grown Up Rap Editor Ben Pedroche.

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.

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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.