The first I’d heard of Janelle Monae was some time in 2005 or 2006 in her early days with Deep Cotton. How would she do on the Purple Ribbon label – is the industry ready for her? Where does she fit in? Even on more traditional sounding songs such as “Peachtree Street Blues” it was apparent beneath the surface of her demure frame bubbled an intensity and conviction unseen by this generation probably since Michael Jackson, James Brown, Grace Jones, Betty Davis – the latter two whom far too many have no idea of. How would she fit in an industry predicated on the female image in pretty much every popular form of music centering around sexuality first – and talents second? Little did we know, Janelle had no intent of “fitting in” anywhere…

I think back to the liberating day I decided to quit a day job to document a band tour – her song “Lettin Go” was of the many that coaxed me out of a cushy law firm gig, down the road less traveled. Or her first official show as the persona “Cindi Mayweather” at Apache Cafe in Atlanta around this time in 2007. As Janelle seemingly broke character, spoke of her coming to Atlanta I noticed a young girl with whom I was standing shoulder to shoulder in a jam packed room. She beamed “This is my first time in Atlanta! I came all the way from Kansas City with my friends to see her!”. Janelle belted her riveting rendition of “Smile”, seemingly overwhelmed with emotion herself and the crowd alike. I left that show with EP in hand and somewhere with a heartstring tugged by the intensity of what I’d just experienced.

Fast-forward 3 years past the frenetic pace of shows from SXSW, AfroPunk, and Roots Picnic – all the way down to tiny community festivals. Even past her Grammy nominated teaser EP and not-so-hushed questions of “Why she sign with Puffy?”

Janelle Monae has finally arrived in the form of a superlative debut that not only transcends genres – but mediums of art.

I’m not going to pretend this is a totally objective review. This is the review of someone listening with the reserved excitement of a 9-year-old who inspects that Christmas box under the tree – hoping the contents yield the “____________” they’ve been pining for. Well Christmas came early, the box is open…and I’m replete with joy doing that crazy Christmas jig we’ve all done albeit replaced with some version of the “Tightrope.”

I’ll save the routine of track-by-track analysis, which has already been done quite well here and here. My policy on reviews is simple: If I don’t have anything nice to say, I don’t say anything at all. I’ve a lot to say here. I’ll only mention this one time feeling similarly inspired the first time I heard Lauryn’s debut, Gnarls Barkley, OutKast transformation on the last 2 albums – or the general ‘feel goodness’ inspiration you’d get from a Minnie Riperton song (namely the bravado of “Les Fleurs”).

“ArchAndroid” is a well-crafted work of emotion, creativity and commitment to push boundaries. Claiming “Wondaland” as a creative fortress and “music as our weapon” a sentiment by the late AfroBeat originator Fela Kuti who himself was influenced by the same Godfather of Soul whom Janelle evokes comparison. “ArchAndroid” feels like the spearhead moment destined to cement Monae in the grey area of the overused labels “conscious” and “commercial.” The cover could easily be mistaken your Moms/Pops’ Earth Wind Fire collection. While undoubtedly varied, “ArchAndroid” is through and through rooted in Monae’s ability to embed and transfer as much human emotion into your mp3, CD, and vinyl imaginable. Each song seems to be a little gem, a snippet of the emotion picture storyline, each song greater than the sum of its parts. I lay in bed the first night hearing this CD, sleeping with the album on continual loop, and in the end…I can’t really review this album for you. Its a sort of call and response that inspires you to define your own “tightrope” and as Janelle Monae issued from her twitter account the day of her release:

“ArchAndroid was written for you, the 1 who wants to be Respected 4 being yourself. This music was meant 2 empower u. U have a voice.”

The only real word of advice is for the uninitiated or those not fans of Kurzweil or Octavia Butler: Don’t be caught up in the android allegory. What would wax as cryptic really makes sense when you think of Monae not as this isolated occurrence of whimsical talk of human android relations – but almost as a modern day culmination of various popular forms of music with a dash of social commentary. Android can be conceivably substituted for anything considered ‘other’ as Monae elaborated in an interview with Pinboard Magazine. Then again she puts on a convincing android.

What is certain is the significance “ArchAndroid” holds. It ignores genre with essential nods to AfroBeat and Fela Kuti’s ‘Zombie’ rapping “Ghettos crawling to a street full of zombies/kids killing kids/tell the kid join the army” to “Wondaland” which is a sweet confectionery track inviting you into the creative nucleus of her comrades, and “Mushroom & Roses” which is set to spawn as much psychedelic inspiration as the Beetle classics “Strawberry Fields” and “Yellow Submarine”. These comparisons are useless, as Janelle without question commands her own beat to her own “funky” drummer. Only one group registers as remotely similar: Parliament Funkadelic. With its own fantasy world, spaceships, “swing down sweet chariot and let me ride” etc. Parliament is not so far detached from Monae’s “Metropolis,” “Wondaland,” and talk of Androids. And granted their long lasting influence on genres and generations to follow, this is no bad indication of what Janelle has in store.

“My goal is to really help preserve art and focus on ideas that are life-changing that will stay around for years and years, that will help the next generation that comes after me…” – Yahoo Music, May 20, 2010

While the difference between Monae and virtually every other contemporary artist are stark – she still appeals to broad audiences. Her own vow to “represent the working class” is refreshingly similar to an icon she is oft compared – James Brown. Monae constantly demands excellence as a challenge to herself, her collective of artists, and her audience to ‘follow their true dreams’ as she positions herself leader of the “creative new world” donning the phrase “imagination inspires nations” its pledge of allegiance. “ArchAndroid” is not alienating, as all the android talk would have you believe, but feels like a more heartfelt product of “grinding” or “going in” that allows Janelle to identify with broad groups from your parents and peers and across race, orientation, or ethnicity. Some tracks such as “Make the Bus” will undoubtedly raise eyebrows of those both familiar and unfamiliar with guest Of Montreal.

Still, in its entirety “ArchAndroid” seems a counterbalance to what some consider laughable trends in modern music: Both socially engaging and genuinely entertaining. The ‘tightrope’ almost registers as the more snazzy, dapper and smoothly polished big brother to the “stanky leg”, her Wondaland ensemble effortlessly gospelized Roscoe Dash’s “All the Way Turnt Up” – all the while inspiring MIT’s acapella ensemble cover of “Many Moons.” In all of which done in a non-pretentious whirlwind of Funk, Punk, PunkDance, cyberR&B, or whatever you want to call it – its clear Monae is intent on trailblazing a new path “Running fast through time like Tubman and John Henry.” A path that is sure to captivate her current and future legion of fans all swept into the cyclonic kinetic spell of her performances. Sincerest heartfelt congratulations to Janelle Monae and anyone anticipating this album: Good things can happen to you too, and are well worth the wait – “ArchAndroid” is certainly no exception.

Nuclear Evolution. The Sa-Ra Creative Partners installment coming in with 23 tracks featuring many of their creative partners, most famously Erykah Badu, whom the trio offered both production and writing credits to New Amerykah. Nuclear carries their signature ebb and flow through various genres with a verve that’s pretty much on a wavelength of its own. As usual Sa-Ra does as only Sa-Ra can, donning the mask of mythological griots spinning tales that are one part intellectual, one part spiritual, one part hood – and in sum maybe all parts sexual.

Taz: Love is information, love actually is knowledge…

Clutch: So for those that don’t know, and to quote the album “Who the F*$% is Sa- Ra?”
TAZ: Sa-Ra. We are sex. Sex is creativity. It is life. Its the human story –

Om’Mas: Well I wouldn’t say that.

TAZ: Well, its how we got here.

Om’Mas: Hmm, right then.

Shafiq: Unity.

TAZ: Wow, yea unified, ultimate unity.

With tomes of SRCP material already in existence (Second Time Around, The Niggertron Galaxy/Dark Matter & Pornography Mixtape, and The Hollywood Recordings) Nuclear Evolution, is by no means a lazy listening experience. While it doesn’t necessarily require you to “listen to it multiple times for it to grow on you”, it does require your brain to be engaged. Wordplay is sometimes tongue in cheek, other times flat-out explicit and yet never really comes off distasteful. Eroticism and sexuality have been central driving themes to Sa-Ra – for those unfamiliar with the trio, it will be a love it or hate it listening experience – and for those familiar, it will probably have you playing this album and revisiting old ones all over again.

Clutch: So about the Niggerton Mixtape a.k.a Dark Matter and Pornography…what about Pornography?
Om’Mas: Fantasy. Folly. Playfulness.

Taz: Nothing. Its an empty act – it doesn’t lead to or ultimately produce anything. Its actually vanity -which is the root word from Vain. Which means useless, without purpose.

Om’Mas: Can I add one more thing to Pornography.

Clutch: Sure.
Om’Mas: ..A necessary beautiful thing.

This is probably one of the more revealing things about Sa-Ra as a creative group. No, not pornography. Between Shafiq being a prodigy of Afrika Bambatta and the Zulu Nation, Om’Mas’s extensive training and upbringing around some of the greatest virtuoso’s of music, or Taz Arnold’s etymological stripe and affiliation with arguably the best known hip-hop producer of late, Kanye West…Sa-Ra could easily create theoretically sound, cerebral, self-righteous, overindulgent songs. Or go the other end of the spectrum and create music soul less and solely for mass consumption. Instead here is a sonic experience that is genre bending, sometimes serious, other times playful… and most importantly, an enjoyable listen. Production wise the entire album is solid though obvious standouts are the Bossa Nova inspired Spacefruit complete with a bouncy-rhythmic-gyrating beat and Spanish lyrics, Dirty Beauty featuring Erykah Badu, Bitch Baby, Gemini’s Rising, Cosmic Ball, and the blisteringly bluesy Just Like a Baby. Sure the method to Sa-Ra’s madness is about as esoteric as the construction of a pyramid – but that’s kinda the beautiful part of it all.

TAZ: This is like the everything 3 points coming together, this is where like if a person – the pyramid would represent your current self, your future past and present selves . . . None of us are any one thing, and without recognition of that you have an incomplete pyramid, which will crumble. Because we all have different dimensions to ourselves – the pyramid is the completion of all those things. Sa-Ra represents three individuals coming together, who are complete pyramids within themselves.

Shafiq: Thats it . . .Its the bringing together of everything, trinity – totality.

Clutch: Ok so the Niggerton mixtape –
Shafiq: – Actually its Niggertron. Do you know what that is actually?

Clutch: I came away with the idea it was like a planet, or more less really a state of mind.
Shafiq: Right, yea kinda see. It was actually a misprint, its printed in places as “Niggerton” but its really NiggerTRON. You see “tron” is like is like a program, and basically that mixtape was us saying we’re coming to deprogram you off all that thinking.

Clutch: So this in a way relates to what Taz was saying about “love” being information? Self love is being self informed, if a niggertron is self informed, he loves himself and can no longer be subscribed to “nigger” programming.
Shafiq: Basically, that mixtape is saying you have to realize a fuller mentality to escape that mindset.

Taz: But yea see the thing about the misspelling is “ton” is demeaning, like Simpleton – you were probably thinking like “what’s wrong with these dudes – why niggerton?” – but it actually was meant to be a statement about the whole mindset.

Om’Mas: Right is that whole thing about people being trained to think they can only be one thing, so much to the degree that if you do attempt to try to master more than one thing, they’ll demote you and call you a “Jack of All Trades”. We refuse to accept that.

Clutch: The album packaging is effectively in the color of Neon Bubblegum and Electric blue eels – so where did the concept for the album art sleeve come from?
Om’Mas: We actually came to the picture with those exact colors to our designer and said whatever you do, just use these. We’re not micromangers or anything, but we definitely wanted to work within the feeling those colors evoke.

Clutch: So then its safe to assume that your designer is part of your creative partnership?
Om’Mas: Oh definitely, he got his badge already. That’s the thing, we’re not just one thing. We’re a consulting firm, we’re a business, we employ people. Taz is marketing director for a fashion agency. We would be stupid to limit ourselves to one thing – we have customers in a variety of creative fields – because that’s essentially who we are a service driven partnership, and provide creative services for a myriad purposes.

Clutch: So what would you say is the progression for the previous three albums into Nuclear ?
Shafiq: This album is about the beginning of building on oneself and pulling in all of those elements to completion. This album like anything else, we just wanted to perfect everything and refine the process even better than previously.

Om’Mas: The apex is where we are or at least strive to be – every time we create something we’re aiming for the apex. People think that when you get to an apex, that the only place to go from there is down – the only thing you can do after an apex is a negative. But that’s not true, we will reach the apex, and then crown it and what we create from that point will exist in perpetuity. Like when we reach an apex in album sales, we will never go down from there because its not even that in sales, but that our sound will perpetuate beyond the sales and manifest itself in other ways.

Clutch: What’s on Sa-Ra’s production cutting floor?
Om’Mas: Yea — umm, see that’s actually something we never do. That’s a term we don’t really believe in because it has a negative connotation in our view. We NEVER – nothing is cut. I know what you mean, but we don’t work that way AT ALL.

Clutch: Hmm. So I would imagine a better term would be repurpose?
Om’Mas: That actually is the exact word we’ve been using lately. We realize that what may not be for the moment should be disregarded for all eternity – its up to us to find the correct place for that work. Actually we do cut some things like things that are counter productive – like people for instance that just want to use us or our creativity but not for our benefit, those get cut out of the process real quick. If anything that we cut out of the production process, it is obstacles or negativity.

Taz: Right, positive forward movement – if anything that’s what our music is about.

Shafiq: One example is Gemini’s Rising which actually has 2 parts, we could have easily disregarded or separated, but the truth is there is another side to that in an upcoming release.

Om’Mas: Everyone Sa-Ra considers a Creative Partner is in effect apart of this sprawling atomic “thing”. The world has yet to see an actual Sa-Ra album, everything you’ve heard is representative of some form of work with individuals we love to work with.

Obviously I couldn’t resist engaging in a round of 6 degrees of musical separation. David Bowie, Bootsy Collins, or Madonna? Each one degree away via Iggy Pop who is rumored to be a collaborator on the next release Black Fuzz. Bill Cosby, Annie Lenox, or Tina Turner…each only a degree away from Herbie Hancock who made an impromptu session dropping by their studio. The late and sorely missed King of Pop. One degree via Will.I.Am. J Dilla? – see “Thrilla”. Basically, even a cursory view of their discography illustrates if the trio is not already of ubiquitous status within the insular world of music– its clearly only a matter of time before something they’ve done reverberates in your vicinity.

Sa-Ra’s work being one big musical puzzle, the downside of course to something so evolutionary is the average listener’s tendency to pigeonhole what isn’t conventional.

Clutch: What do you think about people often describing your sound as “futuristic”?
Om’Mas: I think people come to that because they don’t know how to classify what it is you do. Like none of those things we express are new, in fact I’d say we’re reaching back in our music.

Shafiq: I think people say futuristic, because of progression. Like I think the futuristic can kinda of work, because when I say create some music, I’m creating it as me – but I’m always me, and when I listen to it in the future it will be representative of me. But then again what I created was in the past, so how much of the future is it?

TAZ: But also people will say futuristic because you’re progressing things beyond what anyone else in your era is doing – or at least you’re doing something differently than anyone else – so then obviously people are going to say you’re futuristic, because you’re moving things where they haven’t been before.

Clutch: And where should we look for this new release?
Om’Mas: Basically there shouldn’t be anywhere people are going now outside of the obvious places to get our music. There was a time when you had to go searching for our music, but truth is because of the agreements iTunes and Ubiquity are the some of the best places to get our music. Because they give us our money. We’re at the level that people who do want to work with us, know our worth and then there are those who just want to work with us and are willing to give us what we deserve.

Shafiq: Yea we’re almost at the point of consolidating where our music through one of the social networks.

Clutch: And what’s next? Any tours or stuff?
Om’Mas: Might as well put it out they’re wer’re confirmed for Sunset Junction in August, it’s a festival where about 20,000 people come out. You can go to the itenerary and see us there as well.We’re going to do a College west coast tour series, a mixture gigs and a lecture master series.

Clutch: So literally living proof of the Badu track “Master Teachers”?
Om’Mas: Only this will be Sa-Ra Academy, we in our own school of teachinig which is what we plan to do on this west coast college tour – and y’know you really with our music in general.

Clutch: Shouts?
TAZ: The whole TI$A crew, all the people who’ve supported us worked with us.

Om’Mas: My daughter Nunet, all our creative partners, and those who have worked with us, my moms, oh Badu right? My brothers in Sa-Ra, who’ve been my kindred spirits in this process.

TAZ: Yea that’s right I definitely would like to show my appreciation to my two brothers, even though we haven’t seen each other since…like last nite [chuckles]

Shafiq: Zulu Nation, my brother’s in Sa-Ra, Badu, our Creative Partners…just the whole of humanity y’know?

[See post to listen to audio]
[See post to listen to audio]
[See post to listen to audio]

Hollyweerd, may just be, by all accounts, the most unorthodox element to arise in the hip-hop scene as of late:

• One of the members actually plays an instrument and wants to be a teacher. Outside of the Roots or J Live respectively, in terms of hip-hop artist. . . .Weird.
• Another of the members could probably list 8-bit samples as a second language. In terms of an American having a second language period . . . Weird. Speaking in 8-bit –- doubly so.
• The other has apparently inspired a cadre of bloggers to create his namesake incarnate online. Unless you’re starting a musical cult. . .Pretty Weird.
• One of the members has secret aspirations to put down both the tattoo and lyricist pen to become a used car salesman. By all accounts . . .Weird. Or as they’d have you say “weerd”, their own amalgam of “weird” and the affirmative “werd”.

Catching up with the crew I got a second to observe them in rare form: Each member of Hollyweerd in some ways seem to be on a constellation of their own. Demond Toney aka “Dreamer” is tinkering and commenting on an instrumental. Jay Proce (Stago Lee) and Chris McAdoo (Love Crusader) speak on the finer points of paintball shooting, and Tuki Carter to my left, seemingly focused on some distant coordinate, becomes animated at the drop of a dime breaking into verse almost instantly.

Despite any perceived “weerdness” the group’s second’s full length LP, Electricity Showroom takes off strong – much where Edible Phat left off. Hollyweerd continues its habit of releasing mixtapes at breakneck speed and offering no shortcuts on quality in the process. Explaining the relatively short period of time its taken the band to garner attention, Dreamer expands on just what it means to get so much attention in such a short period of time. “Some don’t understand that if you’ve been doing it for 14 months, that you’ve got two tattoo artists, a musician that’s been in a jazz band, you have a solo artist – who all been doing their thing individually for a while now.”

“It just so happened we made these songs together,” explains Tuki, who is as lyrically limber as the lanky Ernie Barnes figures he resembles. “Y’know Dreamer masterminded putting Chris and Jay in, who was already on sax solos. We gelled the group over a couple of months.”

As much as this album sounds like a piece of Atlanta, the group isn’t shortsighted in their ambitions to spread word of the “New South”. When questioned on which corner of the world the group is next to stake claim, The Love Crusader exclaims: “Japan! London!” And with a perceivable grin Tuki adds, “Amsterdam, I just gotta get that one out of the way. Then, y’know I’ll be open to everywhere else.”

Perhaps the only real obstacle, if you could call it that, facing Hollyweerd are the initial comparisons to the multi-platinum ATLiens, OutKast. “We’re influenced by them in a sense to fill that void – but don’t get it twisted Hollyweerd is that 2009,” said The Love Crusader. “Don’t let no artist, I don’t care who they are tell you they ain’t influenced by nobody. .. they lying. I’d rather have an OutKast comparison, than any of these other things that there’s a lot of. “

In a candid moment Dreamer expanded on his own motivations. “I have a little brother with his own crew Above Average y’know, and part of it’s just to let them know, there’s something else out there for you to do than the 99% of what we all hear, see every day.” Still, obvious comparison’s aside, to the group’s credit – for any of those unsure after the Edible mixtape – Electricity certainly sheds heavy comparison to Dungeon Family. Not that there aren’t moments you think you’d be listening to 8Ball and MJG (Stago Lee and Tuki’s verses on the cover of Kid Cudi’s Day N Nite), another Parliament (the hook from Spend the Night Part II ), or the closest thing to a disco revival in hip hop (Electric Feel). But in general the execution of the LP – sounds most like the highly favored track “The Arrival” where despite reminiscent tinges of “this or that” – Hollyweerd maintains its own vibe.

Electricity is a mash-up of production from all coasts, and yet in the end what you get aren’t southern artists trying to sound like another region – but a cohesive group that is able to inject their own sensibility into the varied grab bag of references found on Electricity. From Dreamer’s standpoint, it’s really just the tip of the iceberg:

“People don’t get that there’s still another side to Atlanta. All you see on T.V. is the “snap/trap” but there’s still the other side. The Proton’s, Janelle’s, and the Outkasts. Y’know like a “weirdo” is a person who attempts unconventional things, in a conventional way. We’re that balance, opposite to a lot of the music that’s already out, there’s still another side. . . ”

[Artist] come to the South, and see how people are living, fresh air in terms of inspiration, and they picked up on the energy . . . gospel, the blues, the jazz, the hip hop – that’s the new thing. Like a new Motown, Atlanta’s the new Motown.”

Stago Lee, continues “There is a very organic feel here in Atlanta, Georgia . . .the thing about the South I tell people all the time is every great form/genre of American music started in the south and migrated – except for Hip-Hop. and now – it’s the South’s turn.”

Metaphorically speaking, if “snap/trap” music is the conscious everyday side to the Atlanta scene– Electricity Showroom reads like a subconscious stream of thought – the kind of scatterbrain genius that usually gets stuck in your dreams. In that effect, the monikers of the Dreamer, Stago Lee (a throwback to Blues legend Stagger Lee), and Love Crusader all seem like second generations ATLiens sure – albeit from some alternative universe not detached from the 808’s and early days of southern hip-hop influences. Even Tuki’s name (with translations varying from “anchor” or – well as Carter casually reflects in verse “Lyrically I am the Ish”) is about as apt as they come.

Clocking in just over an hour, the EP flits effortlessly between songs, well matched interludes, and 8-bit inspired beats like the track “Hold up Zeldaq”. Interludes are atypical serving as more than filler, but skillfully sampled, if not all out hilarious, mishmash of film references (From Zack and Miri Make a Porno to Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine) that envelop one track after the next. Admittedly, Tuki Carter exclaims, “yea, it’s part of our ADD generation”. ADD or not, the sprawl of Electricity’s landscape is as vast as the city of Atlanta itself, yet all seemingly gels together.

“There was a lady the other day who was saying to us,” Tuki explains, “that these interludes, keep her tapped into the flow of songs.” Through and through Hollyweerd has the uncanny ability to tap into other popular forms of art – and fuse that with their songs, creating an unending segue of sound from start to finish. “Black Dynamite/All in Your Smile”, for instance, ends with a brief melody that is bound to tickle your ears and evoke a smile, either for its sheer sweet sound or the subtle reference to hip-hop pioneers of the past.

Solidly planted amongst the new wave of Atlanta artists, like Janelle Monae, Proton, Grip Plyaz, and others, Electricity sounds a little bit like something from all over, and a lot of Atlanta in every nook and cranny in between. “Mandatory Mandate” for instance opens with a soliloquy reminiscent of “SpottieOtttieDopalicious” yet takes a twist where Love Crusader cruises through a verse as coolly delivered and “lax” as his L.A. counterpart Tuki.

Hollyweerd’s Electricity Showroom essentially is the side of Atlanta you probably haven’t heard unless you’re lucky enough to have caught them at this year’s SXSW festival or tapped into the scene lately. The range of content is a cornucopia here: With references to the bygone days of the “A’s” music scene (Dreamer exclaiming Yeek Yeek on “Bust it Open“), nods to the creative genius of Jimi Hendrix, the everyman anthem “Cut the Check”, certified club bangers “Bust it Open” to the bare bones lo-fi “Kodack” featuring Dreamer singing over a Jon Brion composition. From “Bankhead to Buckhead” and “Bootyshake to Bougeroise”, weird as it sounds Electricity Showroom is a collage representing everything you thought you knew about Atlanta, and a whole lot more you’d be excited to hear. Not to mention (true to frenetic form) another mixtape is on the summer horizon tentatively titled Kandy for Kleptos. “Speedballin” indeed.

Mandatory Mandate [See post to listen to audio]
Miles Again – Day N Nite (Wiimix) [See post to listen to audio]
Black Dynamite/All in Her Smile [See post to listen to audio]

“I’d describe my sound as Gnarls meets a new-age Janice Joplin mothered by Sarah Vaughn”. Its quite clear Bosco is at heart a contemporary artist, albeit one with very big influences in musical eras bygone. “Man, I watch a lot of old movies and films, I love Jazz, not really a T.V. person, but movies and theatrics I love.”

Starting with almost a jolt, “Welcome to Funkyolon” foreshadows, with a collage-like patchwork of blaring horns, tumbling go-go drum rhythms, and general sonic mixture that is a testament both to the production lent by D.C. native Alex Goose and the vocal range of Bosco.

While tracks like City of Nowhere and Glitch have a contemporary bend, the rest of the EP journeys full on and head first into Jazz, Soul, Funk and Blues. Solely because it may be the clearest hint at pinning Bosco into a specific style, Black Keys stands out. Here Bosco nestles vocals between a jazzy eardrum tickling xylophone melody and a kinetic mashing loop of high hats and kicks. As refreshing as all that is, what’s a really welcome switch-up is the latter half of the song where Bosco flexes her classical vocal training. Still, if Black Keys is the standout, Bosco is not shy about exercising her own creative span.

“I want to be booked by Essence Festival, Warped Vans Tour, then I want to do Afropunk, and then go to the Blues Room and do a straight up Jazz standards concert . . . Sunset Junction, SXSW, CMJ, I want them all…”

Black and White for instance almost sounds like a dramatic soliloquy, with minimal composition, and almost gut-wrenching vocals that convey a raw intimacy – which Bosco does equally well in Blues for Blue. With that in mind, as free spirited as this EP feels clocking in just under 30 minutes, every track seems to be carefully picked, from what you would imagine is a vast musical cache. Comparing her 2 favorite performances to date and the feel of this EP, you get the definite sense Bosco can hold her own in either setting.

“ I’d have to say my senior class recital which was at a Cathedral. I practiced like a month for that recital. That and my introduction to Atlanta and the world at a “Fuggin Awesome” show. My set was originally two songs, ended up being five, sold out of CDs, the crowd was in it, and I went home exhausted. Those are my two favorite shows so far.”

Spectrum [pun intended] paints Bosco in a prism of varied influence and expression, as if the wavelength of her expression effortlessly re-tunes with each track. Spectrum flows in a way that makes each song feel like a scratch on the surface of what we can expect in the future.

While aware and flattered by comparisons, Bosco is confident in her own identity as an artist. “I really admire a lot of the people I get compared to” but credits her uniqueness to crossing into various genres. “I’m comfortable adapting to various demographics”. One could imagine what a live EP recording of Bosco would sound like, as she hints towards one major source of inspiration: her fans. “Like in Cali, I didn’t know I had as diverse a fan base I have . . . I did not know. That opened my eyes up. . . you cannot stereotype people just from the type of music you make. It was amazing for me to see that, because there were only like eight or nine African Americans in the crowd. I want to make a song about that… ” Explaining further, “This one lady was like, I love your music can’t believe you came here! And I was like ‘WHAT?’ Cause’ I just go home, to my little house and cook food and chill, and have the same problems and struggles as everyone else.”

“It’s crazy” Bosco continues alluding to her upcoming opening show for electro-funk-hop-soul trailblazers J*Davey ““Maybe a year and a half ago I wondered if I’d ever perform alongside artist on this level – and now people are starting to look at my work similarly. It’s just crazy.”

Still, Bosco, despite having a very playful carefree element to her craft (probably in part evident by her identifying most with the characters Olivia and Denise from the Cosby Show), has moments of being very critical of her own work. When asked is there ever a piece of work she’s somewhat embarrassed of she replies emphatically “Yes, yes! I wish they would stop playing it. One of my first songs…its buried, and it can stay buried.

The EPs main short coming is that its varied approaches and short run time will likely leave you wanting more . . . or with more questions about who Bosco is as an artist. Still, the mystery of just what Ms. Bosco has in store aside is a question worth entertaining and definitely worth the listen.

For more on Brittany Bosco please visit www.myspace.com/brittanybosco.

Most music today, but not all, is pretty much disposable. It’s sad, knowing that the balance between classics and hot joints will be determined by the current generation of listeners, who buy women dranks now so that they can “superman” them later. As I get older I wonder where the art in music has gone, and everyday I have trouble identifying the differences between the gimmicks and the organic . Point blank commercialism has left the game pretty mediocre right now. Yet, for music lovers alike hope still lingers. Check it, mix one part hip-hop with electronic rock and alternative and you’ve got a hypnotic protonic narcotic…something hot, real, dope and additive… PROTON.

Clutch: For people who don’t know who ya’ll are Proton is made of?
Larry Proton: Thomas and Larry. I’m from Atlanta. Thomas is from Chicago. We went to college together and started doing music, known each other pretty much our whole lives – we are definitely riding the sense of simple subject matter, but not put so simple. Its so disgusting right now, everyone wants to be so mindless. As far as the enjoyment of entertainment, we have a difficult time thinking like that so we’re finding our balance between what people want and what we wanna give them.

Clutch: Thomas that’s cool?
Tommy Proton: That’s cool wit me!

Clutch: I think its actually cool that ya’ll are unapologetic in saying that – its cool that you’re actually saying “This is where we stand”, but not trying to bash people over the head.
Larry Proton: Oh no no no, definitely not that. I respect some of the simpler artist. If I could do it I would throw some of that stuff in there, but I have a difficult time thinking like a child all the time…I think that’s a talent man.
Clutch: On a slightly sadder note Thomas you’re from Chicago – is your heart there right now?
Tommy Proton: Yea man I love Bernie Mac, that’s unfortunate

Clutch: The first song I heard was “Jheri Kurl” maybe like 2 years ago – all I could think of was Pulp Fiction and Samuel Jackson. Where did that come from?
Larry Proton: That shit came from …that shit came from man, my Dad! My dad had a fuggin Jheri Kurl for like 30 years…he got it cut.
Tommy Proton: Just let the shit go.
Larry Proton: Had it up until just before we did that song. You know, I was thinking about hard ass dudes with Jheri Kurls like Sho’Nuff, Kurtis Blow – them were some hard ass dudes with some greasy-ass-shag curls – Ice Cube…

Clutch: Frenchie from In Living Color!
Larry Proton: Man that shit was so funny. See man, it was one of those styles so androgynous and gay – but some of the hardest ni**as had Jheri-Kurls – and nowadays everyone wanna be retro

Clutch: Someone will do it, but its gonna take someone with monster balls to do it, come out the house with activator in hand, Soul Glo ready to go.
Larry Proton: What’s funny actually, shortly after we made that song, at one of the Broke & Boujee parties…

Clutch: Nooooo
Larry Proton: This one dude came w/ the Jheri Kurl wig on with the Ricky Jersey from Boyz N Da Hood. I’m dead ass serious.

[Laughing]

Clutch: With this global warming you can’t do that though, you walk out the door and your shit will dry up on your head
So I took some names from Magazine Dreamz, who could rock a Jheri Kurl better?
a) Janelle Monae,
b) Estelle,
c) Kelis, or
d) Dania Ramirez

Larry Proton: Uhhhh oop! Go head Thomas! I know who Imma go wit!

Tommy Proton: I gotta say, if anyone is gonna pull it off – Kelis.

Larry Proton: That was exactly what I was gonna say

ClutchMag: Man see I would of thought you’d say Janelle cause she pulling off that pompadour like it ain’t nuthin,
Larry Proton: Y’know Janelle I just don’t think the Jheri-Kurl would work with the black/white ensemble as well.
Clutch: That’s true
Tommy Proton: It would get the back of her tuxedo wet.

ClutchMag: She too crisp, too clean. It would mess up her ensemble, she ain’t goin’ for that.
Larry Proton: Nah – hell nah.
Larry Proton: But you did forget one choice that i would of probaly said more than Kelis, like Santogold like I hate her hair – anything else she does I love. Man it looked like someone on 227 could of rocked it. I mean she’s dope now. Don’t get me wrong she’s talented as shit!

Clutch: So heres the next question cause we could talk about Jheri Kurls all day apparently So ya’ll went from vintage veg, girls ghetto shit and state of the art – how would you define the progression your style, names anything that’s changed since vintage vegetarians?
Larry Proton: My opinion is we really really pushed the envelope as far as production, lyrical content, – like at that time we really like at that time we were in our own reality…like you know.

Clutch: You’re just . . . un-compromised, you just jump in the wind at that point.
Larry Proton: Right, exactly, just the point that you’re unapologetic to anything, i should be honest, that’s when we both were undergrad that was a really interesting time, for me – we really weren’t concerned about making music but to please anybody but ourselves.

Clutch: Where did ya’ll go to school – where was this fertile ground?
Larry Proton: We went to Clark (Clark Atlanta University) man.

Clutch: Ok… so working on your Laptop – what’s your favorite machine and application?
Tommy Proton: What about Logic?
Clutch: Nope
Larry Proton: Garageband
ClutchMag: No GarageBand! Nothing obvious.
Larry Proton: So nothing music related?

Clutch: You a musician – you can’t call that.
Larry Proton: I just switched to FireFox – that shit is just a lot more convenient and easier to set up.
Tommy Proton: I need to update my iMovie, so I can start doing my video blogs with a little camera n shit

Clutch: Like Nikki Jean…
Tommy Proton: Exactly…yea, if not that I’d have to say its this shit called AudioHijack.

Clutch: MMmmmm! Wow, why’d you say AudioHijack – I know what it is…why is that your favorite?
Tommy Proton: Cause if I’m looking for a song or something. Imeem won’t let you download they give you like 30sec or try to send you to somewhere to pay for the music but if I need like a music/movie sample or something I can use that and rip the audio

Clutch: You should try GetTube – you go to YouTube and you can download the video or the mp3 of the video
Tommy Proton: Oh,Word?

Clutch: Yep – reediculous. That’s dope to hear an artist actually embrace that -I wasn’t even gonna ask this because I always do, but how do you feel about technology and free distribution of music?
Larry Proton: Y’all gotta understand the world we live in, keeps changing technology becomes more advanced, the downloads, industry complaining “Blah, blah blah”. But from my perspective – its always been my theory that the downloads went up when the quality of the music went down. “Why would I buy the whole album when 2 tracks are gonna be good”. Usually both of them are singles which they gonna beat into your head, you hear the shit all the time. So either you gonna get the shit for free somewhere or you’ll buy the one song. Radiohead said, “Name your price.” Some People would pay a dollar . . . some full price.

Clutch: And…the final figures I think was $8, which is better for artist because you cut the middle man – and in the end that’s your $8 that you don’t split with this A&R, this A&R and this rep.
Larry Proton: But at the same time they’re not saying, “name your price for concert tickets”.

Clutch: Yea ain’t no negotiation on that.
Larry Proton: Once upon a time we talked about we’d love to just give music away for free just to create the feeling that people would come to a show and pay whatever price that is. If its out there somebody can grab it. Interestingly enough though, record companies are now trying to get your show money with these whole 360 deals trying to scoop 10% of anything you do, record sales, ticket sales, t-shirt sales but that’s due to their lack of their sales.

Clutch: That’s like slavery
Larry Proton: Its serious if you in a movie – they’ll get 10% of that.

Clutch: The first time I actually saw ya’ll perform was a few days ago, but you also were at AfroPunk this year – how did ya’ll link up with James Spooner?
Tommy Proton: Fadia Kader! She’s the liaison between a lot of things we’ve recently got into.
Larry Proton: The Afropunk thing that was in the works for a few months and that solidified with Fadia. And we love Brooklyn.

Clutch: Yeah who doesn’t'? NY is a lovely city.
Larry Proton: Especially in the summer time.
Tommy Proton: It goes on all night long…
Larry Proton: Krunk!

Clutch: I know you guys worked/performed with local artist like Hollyweerd, Grip, etc – even Pacific Division out in LA correct?
Proton: Right.

Clutch: Who would you say was ya’lls favorite to work with or would like to work with?
Larry Proton: To be honest, I like to do show w/ Janelle, because usually she brings out a different crowd – its a different crowd, but they would appreciate us, its in that vein in one way or another.
Tommy Proton: We did a show called Perfect Attendance , Jaspects, Janelle, Grip, Hollyweerd, Wilmay -lots of good creative talent out there.

Clutch: You just added something to their iPod, you just filled a gap. Oh! I just saw Vivica Fox on the cover of JET, which is hilarious considering Magazine Dreamz.

Tommy Proton: You heard she got a show coming out right?
Clutch: I know a show on fashion? Which is something I didn’t really understand.

Larry Proton: Why is Vivica Fox doing fashion? Whhhyy?
Clutch: I don’t know why she does a lot of things.
Larry Proton: Lemme tell you some things right quick 50 Cent…
Clutch: He messed her up!
Larry Proton: He said one thing about her dress and she bought into that bullshit. I lost so much respect for her then, and then she go get all that done to her face looking crazy and shit…like c’mon baby age gracefully.

Clutch: I was expecting her to go Vernita Green on him and shit – just kick em in the chest n shit. We still love you Vivica trust me…just don’t care what people say so much, including us.

Larry Proton: I mean she could be like young Angela Bassett.
Clutch: Yessss! Yes.

Tommy Proton: Just be cool and graceful. she did a fucking Tarintino movie…but then you was in a Lil Jon performance in booty shorts.

Clutch: Wrong move…or maybe she was on some Jheri Kurl shit.
Larry Proton: Or maybe she was on some Forever 21 shit.

Clutch: I wasn’t goin there. I’m gonna pull 2 songs that I want you to pick and tell me your faves. Kilo Ali “Baby Baby” or Dungeon Family w/ Lil Will “Nikki”.

Larry Proton: KILO! Sheeit…And that’s Larry… [singing] Baby Babaaayy…

Tommy Proton: Imma have to ‘roll wit Kilo also.

Clutch: Now who the hell got myspace.com/proton ?
Tommy Proton: Some random dude who ain’t logged in like 2 years.
Larry Proton: yea like some assholes we picked proton2 like yea proton its 2 of us…this was before myspace was popping and Rupert Murdoch bought it. Maybe if we get big and get some clout we could call up Tom
Clutch: Or you know Suge Knight em…
Larry Proton: Vanilla Ice em…

Clutch: Yeah you know just scare em. So what’s happening in the nearish future…
Larry Proton: We’re supposed to be doing some show Clark Homecoming…not etched in stone, its in the works, like a Broke Boujee Clark Homecoming shit.

Tommy Proton: Last time we played for homecoming…like a million years ago, we had just gotten out of school and we did somebodies homecoming before the fashion show and this is when we had 2 other members one on the MP, the other on the guitar…as soon as we came out there BOOOOO!!!

Clutch: But that’s the thing, at homecoming people just want to come for one thing. I know ya’ll got places to go and an album to make –State of the Art is on the way.

Larry Proton: Yeah we got a mixtape coming around the end of the month, inspired by working with some ladies of music Roxy Cottontail, Amanda Diva on a track.

Clutch: I remember her from the show My Brother and Me.
Larry Proton: I never saw all that I saw her and me and her got into it, she was being a diva I’m like you that’s the girl that used to host from Sucker Free Sunday.

Clutch: Ah, that’s true, I was still stuck on Nickelodeon I was still stuck on that.

*deafening silence*

Clutch: Ummm, yea and apparently I just hit a blank spot with the Nickelodeon reference cause I’m the only thats still talking… ya’ll quiet as hell like “This fool still talkin about Nickelodeon“
Tommy Proton: [laughs] Yea that was exactly what I was thinking.
Clutch: Got super quiet. Like “this Negro is still watching Spongebob?” I’m too retro, that’s my “Jheri-Kurl” right there Nickelodeon I’ll claim it.
Larry Proton: It’s all good.

Clutch: But yea man, State of the Art is this year next year or…
Tommy Proton: Whew. Whenever!

Clutch: When the f**k ever it come out we’ll get it…
Larry Proton: Its coming that’s all they need to know

Clutch: When it be there just go get it.
Tommy Proton: That’s right.

Clutch: So anyone ya’ll want to shout out?
Larry Proton: Uh, yea my Auntie, Fadia Kader.
Tommy Proton: I wanna shout out Nikki…and all her freaky friends.

Muhsinah: La di da, di da da da da

Rif Raf: You there?

Muhsinah: Hello?

Rif Raf: Man you singin and everything?!

Muhsinah: I was “La la la’in” – Hey!!!

Rif Raf: So you got a new album out Day.Break and a sort of prequel called Pre.Lude - congratulations on that!

Muhsinah: Thanks!

Rif Raf: What was your inspiration for this project, I know some of the songs were re-done – some entirely new – so what was your inspiration leading into Day.Break?

Muhsinah: Um just the fact that a lot of people havent really heard of me before, y’know kinda making it a metaphor, just kinda coming in and being in my earliest stages. So if you like compare it to morning – that’s what Day.Break really is.

Rif Raf: So lets get back to the beginning of the interview – you were hyped as hell! What is YOUR sign?

Muhsinah: Cancer!

Rif Raf: Oh you and MJ Zilla are both Cancers that’s crazy. Are you the typical Cancer by astrology terms.

Muhsinah: Noo, I’m not – I’m like 2 days from being a Leo.

Rif Raf: So you’re name means “Doer of Good Deeds”

Muhsinah: Yea you can pronounce the “i” as an “e” { Moo~See~nuh }.

Rif Raf: We know you’re very passionate about music – what kind of things you like to do aside from music?

Muhsinah: Um, I like to make things . . . like my Mom’s a seamstress and I pretty much I learned to sew as a process through my whole life. I like being outside – like you can hear the birds.

Rif Raf: Yea I just heard a random bird like “what kinda habitat is in that room”?

Muhsinah: I had to go outside! That’s why I get so excited – its spring! Everything is gettin hype! I think growing in my age I really want to be a gardner at some point and just be really like corny and like, not necessarily being a hippie, but y’know growing my own food.

Rif Raf: REAL organic food you can trust…

Muhsinah: Exactly and not something that’s gonna make me sick.

Rif Raf: Do you like fruit or candy more?

Muhsinah: FRUIT more! Cause fruit don’t make you bug out like later on – yknow? You know like with candy – you get hyped and excited at first and then later on . . .

Rif Raf: You crash.

Muhsinah: Yea exactly. But fruit like you can eat fruit all day and be hopping around and be all right.
Rif Raf: So what’s the favorite fruit?

Muhsinah: Mangos!

Rif Raf: Mangos?

Muhsinah: Man actually – I would say Watermelon but, err, um like you know . . .

Rif Raf: Yea – there are some social stipulations with that.

Muhsinah:

The stereotype of watermelon I don’t know . . .I really want to get rid of it, because watermelon is so good for you it’s one of the best things.

Rif Raf: Yea I feel your pain on the watermelon.

Muhsinah: Yea like I be in the store like, making sure nobody is looking at me when I’m buying one. Yea like when I buy watermelon, I buy watermelon like every few days nowadays – its really stupid – like I love it – like I could eat it all day.

Rif Raf: I used to work at an Art Museum, and when I saw the title “Gogh” it made me wonder who are your favorite visual artist if you have any.

Muhsinah: Wow – uh my brother. Yea he’s really talented, he’s an animator, he draws, he does all types of stuff video – he’s probably my fav visual artist because he’s the closest to me. I’m not really picky, you know I might not remember their name – I’m not a name kinda person, but I’m really appreciative of visual art. Of course everyone is gonna name like Dali, but I like local artist. Like I go to the Herschorn Museum – that’s my favorite. Its free, and its a big circle, so you just go around the big circle and there is new stuff all the time. And I never remember who it is, and I go there like once a month -just to see what they have.

Rif Raf: You would have loved my job, I would just go there sometimes for lunch.

Muhsinah: Yea, Yo! Like people are NUTS! The stuff that they come up with. Like visually – I just get so inspired I take a tape recorder or my phone to the Museum sometimes, and just record.

Rif Raf: So the songs, I guess this goes back to the beginning – it changes the mood so much. Only and Always versus Always – I got 2 totally different feelings one was really heavy, with what I call the “Paul Robeson” voice, this deep rumble – do you have an alter ego?

Muhsinah: [Laughs] – Well I think I’m really sensitive to the environment, and I’m really sensitive to my surroundings so if something happens that day – even that day, like the day I wrote Always, the first version . . . James Brown died. That’s why that version is totally different from the other one.

Rif Raf: Wow – and I guess that’s why his voice is the sample?

Muhsinah: Exactly, but I didn’t even do those scratches – I went to Roddy’s house [DJ Roddy Rod] and asked him to do it, and I was like “Yea I did this, can we do it as a James Brown tribute – but not like directly?”

Rif Raf: Well yea just inclusive of him.

Muhsinah: Yea! And I mean that was what I was on that day – so why not? Yea alter-ego? Yea its growing – a few of em’ actually I think I could have a couple – but hopefully they’re the kind that  people won’t know its me. . . unless I tell em’.

Rif Raf: Ok well I ain’t gonna ask you to divulge anything else with your Clark Kent…

Muhsinah: I just wanna try different kinds of music so if my “little cousin” comes out with a CD, don’t be mad.

Rif Raf: That’s important though separating the person from the music sometimes – so you don’t have to worry about people saying “this is too much of this” “this doesn’t sound like the last one”.

Muhsinah: Yea, cause people automatically wanting to put you in a box before you even do anything. Even now I’m in such an early phase of my music, that people already want to hop on it and call it something.

Its like dagg like, man I’m like 5 years old – leave me alone.

At least let me get to middle school, cause I’m always going to be trying something else. I have ADD when it comes to something being called a certain style.

Rif Raf: What’s your fav place to travel or anticipate traveling to?

Muhsinah: Hmmmph! Well I think the first place I’m always gonna say is India, because its so far and its the biggest deal of a place that I’ve ever been to. And its pretty much one of the most beautiful places I been to. If you go to the right part of the country. even in the more . . .

Rif Raf: Impoverished areas?

Muhsinah: Yea, you can still appreciate how people just make do, and do what they gotta do to make their lives what they are. They appreciate nature, and appreciate sleeping on the ground at night in the summer, because its cooler than in the house. Just simple stuff that we take for granted and be like “Eww, I ain’t doin’ that”. I really appreciate that.

Rif Raf: Favorite accessory. What is one thing you can’t leave the house without?

Muhsinah: I take headphones everywhere.

Rif Raf: Like a doctor without a stethoscope?

Muhsinah: People laugh at me cause’ sometimes

I have a quarter-inch or a mic cable in my clutch, or something so not girly

- like you’re not supposed to have in there like “Why do you have a soldering iron in your bag?”

Rif Raf: McGyver is why!

Muhsinah: I might have to do a circuit board – I have no idea…

Rif Raf: Hey, you never know, you riding MTA, you might need to fix something.

Muhsinah: “Why you got a microphone in your bag?” Ya never know – just depends on where I’m going. I always have big headphones, even in the gym.

Rif Raf: Running on the treadmill with the studio joints?

Muhsinah: I don’t like the little plugs, they hurt my ear.

Rif Raf: If you had to transmit to outer space a song – any song yours or anyone else’s, that sort of summed up humanity what would it be.

Muhsinah: Um wow- do medley’s count? To sum up humanity is totally subjective – I don’t even know. . . I don’t think that song has been written yet. That song doesn’t exist. Its my goal to write it, or somebody else’s place to write it. That’s the thing I love so much music, but I think we have so far to go as far as figuring out what we are and try to convey to someone else – that song ain’t out.

Rif Raf: To be released, coming up on the next album.

Muhsinah: Right.

Rif Raf: If you had to pick a song as your own individual last will and testament – I ain’t gonna put the whole of humanity on your shoulders, y’know just yourself.

Muhsinah: I think me, its whatever song that I wrote last – because I try to make that next song the better one, like each song will get better and better. Whatever song I did last – that’s the one that’ll go.

Rif Raf: This is like the reverse of Office Space where each day was worse than the previous – but with you its the opposite! Every song we get is that much better!

Muhsinah: I get happy about it. Because I’m still learning new stuff, and its been that since the beginning for me. At first it was “I wanna learn Pro Tools so lemme start recording” not “I’m going to change the world – I’m going to change humanity!” No, no no. I wanna learn Pro Tools, lemme get a mic and I’m gonna record some songs because I wanna program some stuff.

Rif Raf: That’s more viable and honest than most people say- the one way to change the world really is to be honest and communicate what you’re feeling.

Muhsinah: Yea and just be. Exactly. Just you know, when we’re comfortable with just being, it makes it so much easier, and it makes you more lighthearted – and I don’t get you know wound up.

Rif Raf: What is your take on the future of music – being able to take Rxlngr digitally and then going the traditional route of distribution.

Muhsinah:

I think the future of music is about to be one of the best – I think people who see mainstream music, maybe they think the future is dwindling – but for us we’re like “Yo we free, we can do pretty much what we want to”

The fact that we [musicians] know we can be empowered- that’s what makes the future so bright. Somebody gotta be happy about it. Everybody so sick and tired – that’s WACK. And not resent everything and be regretful, its just a waste of time, we might as well just have fun and try something new everyday, and like live you know?

Rif Raf: What inspired you to do the “Scatterbrain/Dead as Leaves Remix”?

Muhsinah: Oh My God! Aw man. Like the fact that I had that song on repeat for like days! I was like Yo this is the best song I’ve ever heard in my life. And then the fact that its such a timeless song – I found the album way late, and listening to it and coming back to it, I was like Yo – I don’t even care if people hear the song, because listening to this song I’d be stuck on it if I didn’t do anything with it. People in my house were like “could you not listen to that song ?”

Rif Raf: Yea they’re like “Now’s a perfect time to put the headphones on”.

Muhsinah: [Laughs] Exactly.

Rif Raf: Okay, I got a random draw here, I got four names here – I’m gonna let you pick the numbers 1 through 4 – it’ll be your destiny to answer these questions. So between the numbers 1 and 4 pick two .

Muhsinah: 3 and 1.

Rif Raf: You got the Coltranes and Herbie Hancock – what would you say you channel from each of them, any attribute, method, equipment style, approach – anything that you feel inspires you?

Muhsinah: Well the way they in different ways took their experience and learned from what they got in that time – like Herbie playing with certain musicians when he was younger, and got so much information and did all this crazy stuff with it. And Herbie being a musician and such a scientist.

Rif Raf: He’s literally a Mad Scientist.

Muhsinah: Yea for real! The fact that he understands MIDI down to the circuit board, its like YO! If I could do like a fraction of that – that’s why I try to get thorough and understand music down to theory, we’re supposed to be able to do that as musicians.

Rif Raf: Yea some people know music to a molecular level, which is him well maybe he’s atomic level, others are molecules and some are just throwing compounds around.

Muhsinah: What I learned from Herbie, the fact that you can bring it backwards, scale it back – you can sound like whatever you want to sound like, because you know exactly what you’re putting together.

I could play classical music, like now. . . but I could also play along with Soulja Boy and them.

Rif Raf: Now that would be interesting to hear.

Muhsinah: It would be fun for me, it would be so much fun for me to do that. I was talking to my brother about this, and he sent me a link to a Soulja Boy video where he’s like “My teacher gave me a report with all F’s and I said “Throw some D’s On it”! We were like, if I was a kid, I would be watching Soulja Boy and doing that and. . .

Rif Raf: You’d be having fun with it.

Muhsinah: Yeah exactly, why everybody gotta be so heavy about everything? You’d smile more when you let it roll off your back. Don’t even worry about them. As far as the Coltrane’s I’m really inspired by the fact , the way that they learned from something was their traveling, the fact they went to India, and were blown away by this huge culture that’s been around thousands, and thousands of years that nobody really knew about. Its like Yo, they have so much stuff that they knew about way before any of us knew what was going on. There are so many people in India. The fact that they went and merged it with the music that they knew how to make already is mind boggling to me…

Rif Raf: They literally created a hybrid within jazz-  you could really open a subject on Coltrane method jazz just specific to their experience, it broadens music in a way that its just specific to them. And then you think if everybody did that music would be endless – which is a good thing.

Muhsinah: Well there’s a lot of music out there now, that we haven’t even touched yet. If everybody taps into their own experience genuinely – it’d be the craziest music. I consider myself behind sometimes, if I really, REALLY tried – I would shock myself. And that’s what I want to do, I want to surprise me. That’s what its about – all the greatest people that we pull from shocked themselves, they shocked everybody around them, nobody knew what was going on, people thought they were crazy – and all they did was pull from what they are. Yourself changes from day to day, Myself now is not me from ten years ago.

Rif Raf: Or even ten minutes ago.

Muhsinah: It will never be again.

Rif Raf: Not that this was a life-changing interview or anything! [LAUGHS]

Muhsinah: I mean if I moved to Africa, I would be a totally different person, I would make totally different music.

Rif Raf: Yea and not on some missionary “I can change your world” stuff but on “Your world can help change me”.

Muhsinah: Exactly, and if you know what you wanna be – the essence of who you are, or at least ballpark it makes the experience a lot better. If I went to India and didn’t feel good about what I was doing, I wouldn’t value the experience enough.

Rif Raf: Well I’m going to South Africa in 2010, and I’m taking people with me.

Muhsinah: Well put me on the list then!

Rif Raf: So collaborations – you’ve worked with Hezekiah, Roddy Rod, Benji B, Little Brother – featured in Okayplayer. Who else would you like to work with?

Muhsinah: Everybody, pretty much. Anybody who wants to do something. I’m really open to trying new things, I think that’s pretty much what I live for

Rif Raf: I’ma hold you to this, if you come to Atlanta we’re hunting Soulja Boy down, I’ll tell ya that right now.

Muhsinah: Aye, aye – you got my word: I will do a hook for Soulja Boy. If we can find him and he wants to do it.

Rif Raf: I’m putting this in

HUGE text, its going to be so BIG. I’m going to have five Million links pointing from his YouTube page to that 1 statement – trust me.

Muhsinah: Word up! See that’s the thing we need to do, as independent artist we got to work with people we’re not expected to. All the crazy collabo’s from the 60′s and 70′s people were like “Wait a Minute. You Black and you White – but why you?”

Rif Raf: I found this crazy jam session with Stevie Wonder and the Beatles all in the room together, and I’m like “what the hell” is this a comedy skit or for real? How’d this happen? Anybody you wanna give shout outs to?

Muhsinah: Everybody!

Rif Raf: You got more fans than you probably know about.

Muhsinah:I’m surprised everyday. I be at home, drinking watermelon juice – I have no idea, anybody who’s out there listening I appreciate – I don’t take it for granted. I do my hardest to make music for me – and if you like it listen along. Zilla of course, angelic monster, crazy great person. And to my momma and my daddy and my brother – and um yea, y’know. This was a fun interview.

Rif Raf: Your fun in the beginning was contagious.

Rif Raf: Thanks again for the interview!

Muhsinah: Thanks for calling and asking good questions. I’m inspired, I’m probably gonna go make music now!

Rif Raf: Now that you just said that, you know I’m putting this in right?

Muhsinah: Word up!

To learn more about Muhsinah please visit www.muhsinah.com and www.myspace.com/muhsinah

(Photo Credit: Jati Lindsay)

Bahamadia has been reshaping the definition of her career and artistry amongst MCs since long before (and after) her acclaimed release Kollage. Holding her own with the legendary (Jay Dilla and James Brown) to collaborating with lesser knowns in Hip-hop circles (Morcheeba and Roni Size), is par for the course from the Philly based MC. Bahamadia took a second to chat with Music Editor Rif Raf on heading up her own label B-Girl Freedom, and the evolution towards her third official offering Good Rap Music.

RifRaf: You just came back to the states from where?

Bahamadia: From South Africa

RifRaf: So did you go to Joburg – Capetown?

Bahamadia: I went to Joburg, Capetown, Tambiza and Soweto

RifRaf: Whoa! Yeah I stayed in Cape Town for like a minute. It’s one of those life changing experiences. How do you see Hip Hop globally versus here in the U.S.? Do you see it as more political there than here?

Bahamadia: I mean I feel like hip hop was political globally from the beginning stages though because there’s always been a premise to vent or to discuss social issues – as well as an entertainment vehicle. You know what I mean? But globally I feel like hip hop has been a global phenomenon for the last decade and a half you know, it’s just that a lot of people are just now realizing it with us being in the information age now. And seeing the world is easier to connect with with like minded people out there with the click of a mouse with these social networks and stuff.

RifRaf: The visibility and transparency for people to just reach out to you is just unreal. But I’m sure nothing compares to actually being there, like being in South Africa. Was that your first time over there?

Bahamadia: Yeah that was my first time ever setting my foot on African soil overall, so it was definitely a pivotal moment in my whole existence…not even just for hip hop, just as an African American woman overall. It was life changing for me; I don’t even feel the same. It’s like a rebirth or something took place in the process of being there. The things that we did get to see…I actually had the opportunity and honor of having a forum in a skating shop one of the days before we would leave, and just a group of the locals came through–you know a real loose environment. We just sat down and talked and whatever, just a forum for us to get to know each other as people, just a really cool dialog with people directly from the sources as opposed to being showcased the more tourist attractions.

RifRaf: You’ve been DJing since I was like two. You’ve been in the game for a quarter of a century! That’s a whole lot of time!

Bahamadia: [Laughs] Yeah a whole lifetime.

RifRaf: How have you navigated the landscape from being a DJ to MC to owning your own label.

Bahamadia: B-Girl Freedom

RifRaf: Right, for people that don’t understand, how do you think that aided your longevity?

Bahamadia: I was very fortunate coming in with a certain sense of self awareness. I had really healthy role models or what I deem to be really strong women, free thinkers and progressive thinkers in my immediate circle of influence, so I came in with a different perspective. I think it’s definitely the grace of God, and after that my passion for what I do. I understand it to be my life’s work. Making the transition from being a DJ to an MC I started out studying percussion as a child, and that’s when hip hop started to evolve with the park jams and dollar parties and all that here in Philly. I had just got my first taste with the Cold Krush blend tapes and stuff like that

And then from that era I just started writing, doing DJing gigs, rec centers, and stuff like that… my own basement parties.

RifRaf: Neighborhood stuff around the way…

Bahamadia: Right, stuff like that. And I actually was a writer for my first crew, West Philly Sound Crew but they weren’t reliable. So since I knew the material I felt I could utilize my voice more through the words as opposed to being a DJ. A mutual friend I met in art school introduced me to my first studio work. Boyz II Men, all of us came from BirdsNest Productions. I honed my recordings skills there for like a total of five years, and linked up with another mutual friend. DJ Ran, the technician DJs, used to DJ for WWF. He’s a top DJ in the city, he was looking for a female artist and he was dealing with Warlock records with PM Dawn and everybody they were all producers for that label, primarily a dance label, Hip House, House Records, when Little Louie Vega and all those people out during that time period. He had a group called “Taken.” I actually auditioned over the phone– freestyled over the phone–next thing you know I’m doing the record. Then touring with them doing the Tunnel and all the legendary dance clubs in New York. This was literally overnight: freestyled on the phone one week, next week I’m on tour with them. From there I stayed with them a total of four years. During that time I did a regional hit called “Funkvibe” when mixtapes were tapes and cassettes.

RifRaf: Literally, they could break if you played them too much.

Bahamadia: Right, right. And Guru had heard Funkvibe through another mutual friend who went to college with my sister. She passed him a tape and he offered me a production deal with Ill Kids Records. That led to Total Wrecks, which led to Kollage and ever since then …

RifRaf: It’s been poppin. The power of what you just said – each segment of your progression as an artist has been longer than people’s entire careers. How do you see the change in your sound over the three official releases and all the appearances in-between?

Bahamadia: Well actually, regarding my cadences – I studied percussion, a lot of my patterns and stuff seep into my knowledge of percussion and how to arrange songs.

RifRaf: So literally using your voice as an instrument.

Bahamadia: Right, actually my earlier style delivery was patterned after Nancy Wilson scat patterns. That’s where I was. I was heavily into Jazz at that particular time, so that kinda translated through the music. So from 1996 to the four to five year hiatus before BB Queen came out, naturally I became a different person. We evolve as humans so I had a whole other set of experiences that I had to filter. So I used the music to share my thoughts and experiences. For the Good Rap Music project, again I’d grown, so I had different things that I deemed important enough to deal with, but there’s no gimmick with who I am. I am very transparent with my music, so as I grow the music naturally changes with it.

Rif RaF: You mentioned life-changing events. Which one do you think was a milestone before you came back into the industry?

Bahamadia: What do you mean back into the industry?

RifRaf: Well you said you took a four year hiatus. When you came back…you had some events that changed your perspective.

Bahamadia: But each of those hiatuses were forced because it took me a process of four years to be released from the contract, the whole litigation and red tape because I did other genres like broken beat, drum n bass, hip house, trip hop. I was working with Herbaliser, Roni Size, and those guys. I just went to the UK and toured and did that thing until that process had expired. When I came back to the states I had a radio show for two years then once I linked up with GoodVibe, an independent label based in L.A., that put up BB Queen. I did that for a while then that situation kind of dissolved. They had lost the distribution or whatever. I decided I had to learn the business of music. I had already spent eight years in the game so naturally I was going to be a student and learn how to maneuver, how to maximize my opportunities as a business person.

RifRaf: Right.

Bahamadia: Especially when looking at it from an independent standpoint from dealing with the labels firsthand: I’m bringing you my whole vision my marketing idea, I’m bringing you the music, I’m coordinating the project, negotiating my own terms and all that. So basically I’m running the label without having my own label. This is my intellectual property. I’m really selling you my life so why shouldn’t I own it. Once I learned the business in music, I couldn’t stomach settling for 14 percent out of 100 percent of what should be mine.

So what we have now with The Good Rap music thing under B Girl Freedom is a process and challenge for distribution but I’m not willing to compromise this for the sake of a deal.

RifRaf: Do you think there is over/under-rating, or if there is any importance of how the mainstream commodity/market of rap perceives you as a hip hop artist?

Bahamadia: I believe all of us are individuals, so we will perceive things differently. I don’t pay attention to labels, but I can say I am an entrepreneur and I’m a businesswoman first, and I have a passion for the hip hop movement overall because I found that to be the most effective medium to express my experiences… to share my life with people. Overall, we’re in a different time. Hip hop was what it was in its beginning stages, because that’s what the times dictated it to be. I feel like it’s a multi-billion dollar industry where artist have to be educated about how to maneuver if they’re going to do this as a profession. If you don’t want to do this as a profession, and you’re a hobbyist then by all means do it for free or do whatever you do. But for me personally, I live off of my craft, and my aim is to get paid, though I’m not willing to compromise my integrity in the process. I’m a businesswoman. I live off my art. The whole myth of it being “noble”, “you’re being really true to the game” if you stay under the radar or stay a purist, I don’t think that, that’s umm…

RifRaf: Accurate?

Bahamadia: Yeah that’s not accurate at all. There’s nothing noble about being broke. There’s nothing noble about rocking a crowd and your lights are shut off as soon as you step off the stage. What’s noble about having children and you can’t feed them? If you’re signing a deal, you’re signing it with the intentions of being successful–that’s monetary and spiritually. Cut the charade, you want to get paid for what you do. That’s where I’m at.

RifRaf: You’ve worked with so many people. You’ve worked with Dilla, Morcheeba– a whole range. If you had to assemble a BB Queen Dream team, to work with who would it be?

Bahamadia: At this particular point, the creative process for me is a spiritual one. Believe it or not, everybody that I’ve worked with throughout the course of my career has had a mutual respect for what I do. These people either heard my voice, work or lyrical content or something and they approached me directly to do these songs with them. I’ve even toured with James Brown in Australia right before he passed away.

RifRaf: Okay yeah…that’s the top!

Bahamadia: That’s the epitome for me. I mean come on! You can’t get no bigger than that as far as hip hop is concerned.

RifRaf: That’s the ground architect right there, you really can’t do any better than that.

Bahamadia: To actually meet him, and to actually tour, and actually share a bill with James Brown the Godfather of Soul. Who?! Who else could I work with?!? I could say Phoebe Snow and Kraftwerk are definitely two I’d like to work with before it’s said and done.

Oh yeah, I want to thank Clutch Magazine, for the opportunity I want to thank you for your time.

RifRaf: I want to thank you more! Much more!

Bahamadia: That’s whats up!

ERifRaf: Enjoy Illaphiladelph life!

Bahamadia: Only for a couple of days. I’ll be on tour with Jaguar Wright and the band. We’re touring Europe, the Jazz Cafe and all that. Paris, Amsterdam, Poland, Vienna and all that.

RifRaf: So basically, we need to get some plane tickets…

Bahamadia: Yeah! And well you know how YouTube is… they’ll steal some clips from the shows and post them up. You can hit us on www.myspace.com/bahamadia

RifRaF: Shout outs?

Bahamadia: I want to give a shout out to anybody that’s open minded enough to explore something different from what’s being explored today. If you’re checking out Bahamadia for the first time, thanks for being open minded enough. And to my longtime supporters I appreciate you helping me keep my lights on – you know what I’m saying? Be on the lookout for Good Rap Music in the states sometime in 08′.

RifRaf: That’s what’s up!

Pacific Division is at the forefront of the Los Angeles hip-hop scene, bringing forth an innovative lifestyle and sound. Currently recording in the studio, Pacific Division’s highly anticipated debut LP drops this year on the independent label Two Tone Elephants. The group has already received the support of the Hip-hop community’s most elite including praise from Pharrell, ?uestlove, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, 9th Wonder, and DJ Khalil. The talented three recently took some time out to chat with our Music Editor, Rif Raf.

Like: Raf, what’s up, what’s up!

Rif Raf: So for those that don’t know who ya’ll are, go ahead and introduce yourselves.
Like: Well, three members to Pac Div (Pacific Division) “Like” that’s me, “Be-Young” over there, “Mibbs” over there.

Rif Raf: So, first of all thanks for catching up with us—and before I forget, Filthy said, “What’s up with the Roscoes?”
Like: Um tell him . . . I mean we can’t really send it UPS—come out here you know—I know he’s missin’ it out here, ya know.

Rif Raf: That sorta brings me to my first question, the first time that I actually heard ya’ll was on “sLAyer” . . . how did ya’ll link up with J*Davey? Or was it just by nature just by being in LA?
Like: I guess it’s just an LA thing. We knew them through a mutual friend; through a few mutual friends actually. And when we first heard their music we were like “Man this is Crazy!” Cause we were fans of it—so we just ended up meeting them and turns out they already knew who we were through mutual friends. It was a good bond and like I said we always try to stay around what they did, or at least hear about what they’re doing. They invited us a few times to the studio to record, then we did that joint (“sLAyer”) and we did a couple shows with them as well.

Rif Raf: Wow, now see that’s dope, because you never really get to see the shows and things. You just hear the studio work and assume that’s the only connection, but the shows are probably sick.
Like: Oh yeah, the shows are special.

Rif Raf:There’s actually a long tradition of what people would call “alternative” in the California hip-hop scene. For your music it’s not necessarily “real shit”, but real mundane type things that people can relate to? Is that by purpose or are you rapping about what you’re familiar with?

BeYoung: You know what man, I think it is real shit to an extent you know? Everybody has issues that they go through. This is kinda just . . . maybe not the gangster person’s life, but the regular young male or sometimes even females’ life with things that they go through. Working jobs, trying to go to schools, and all that and just manage everything. So, this is the real, real shit. Outside of the gangster life. Not to gangster bash or nothing, but the average person just trying to go to school and work. This is the real ish.

Rif Raf: Yeah, that ish gets pretty gully [laughs]
BeYoung: You know! Get ya lights cut off [chuckle].

Rif Raf: So the “Sealed for Freshness” blend tape, to anyone who hasn’t gotten it, for me it was funny because I’m in Atlanta, I get a pretty fair mix of music. When I first heard “Laffy Taffy” I was like “what in the hell is this?” So when I heard the “Sealed for Freshness” I was like I understand what they’re saying, but just to clear the air, what was the intent when y’all had that opening track? Cause you know how people get when they hear something and go “Oh what is that supposed to mean?”
Be Young: Ay, you know what it was just fun man, we don’t try to put a hinderance on anybody trying to live their life, and survive. So you know that wasn’t even a dis or something like that.

Rif Raf: Right, right.

BeYoung: We were just having some fun before we went in on em’ and came with that heat and started spittin’ them bars. You know, we ain’t trying to take no food off nobody’s plate, or hate on nobody. It’s not about that. It’s Black History Month right now too. . .

Rif Raf: And you ain’t trying to become history in Black History Month. And that’s the thing you know . . . the whole thing about trying to keep balance.
BeYoung: Rif raf, Rif raf, yo we be bangin that Shawty Lo song all the time too.

Rif Raf: On the blend tape you got clear influences: Souls of Mischief, Gangstarr’s “Mass Appeal”, Pharcyde—you could name the list of people. But if we ransacked your iPod right now are there any artist or genres we’d be surprised to see?
Mibbs: My music catalogue, you’d probably see Block Party, The Killers, um like BeYoung listens to a Flock of Seaguls, Michael McDonald, Sugarfree—a lot of Sugarfree, whatever that is—but Sugarfree goes there.

Rif Raf: That’s dope, that’s dope.

Mibbs: We’re not like pigeonholed to one type of music “Oh we just gonna listen to underground Hip-hop, Hip Hop, HIP HOP!”

Rif Raf: Yeah, exactly I think Like touched on that and we were talking about J*Davey, and it’s like OK if you got turned on by them. Clearly your catalogue isn’t monolithic, it can’t be one thing. So are there artist y’all like to collab with or are collaborations coming up?
Like: Yo, we’d like to collaborate with EVERYBODY, any and everybody who has a dope vision or fits good on a record we’re trying to do . . . it’s kinda like um, we’re really selective with who we work with, because there has to be some sort of a marriage. It has to be sort of like something that connects. And they don’t have to necessarily be “like us”; they don’t have to be rappers that are “like us”, or rappers who are “Hip hop.” It can be anybody and sometimes we’ll come out with a song – man I wish we had Jeezy in here, we’d throw him for that. I wish we had Trey Songs in here we might as well throw him in for that. It’s just kind of depends on the record we’re doing, man.

Rif Raf: So based on the song “Taste” – a girl is about to whip up your favorite dish which is…
BeYoung: A girl just recently almost stole my heart. She told me she was gonna make me some shrimp alfredo.

Rif Raf: Damn. Aight she could win with that.

Mibbs: I’ll go last, I’ll go last . . . I gotta think.

Like: She ain’t even gotta make me nothing man, she can just order me some pizza man.

Rif Raf: Wait, wait, wait who is this?

Like: This Like.

Rif Raf: Yeah, yeah I saw you eating the pizza in the F.A.T. Boys’ video! I knew it was you!

Like: I’m down like that man. Everybody was like “Man we doing the video . . .” I was like “Man! I’m finna eat this pizza.” Everybody that knows me [knows] I eat pizza like seven days a week.

Rif Raf: Damn dude you need to move to Brooklyn.

Like: Y’know how fools be wine tasting? I’m like that with pizza.

Mibbs: I want a chick to fix me the hood n**** tacos.

Rif Raf: Laughing. Aight what’s the concept of a “real n**** taco”?

Mibbs: A real n**** taco like in Baby Boy and he’s like “You gonna go in there and make some tacos ain’t you?” That’s exactly what I would like. The turkey tacos with the tacos seasoning, all the works, tomatoes, – that’s a Los Angeles hood.

Rif Raf: Wow. Real n**** tacos, I’m writing this one down.

Rif Raf: So based on the song “Gorgeous,” pumps or flats – if you saw a girl which one?
Like: Aw man, that’s a hard question. I like flats man.

BeYoung: Ay man, this is the type interview I like here! You know what there’s something about when chicks get in the pumps, and the legs start flexing and you see all the muscles up and down on the back of that thigh—on the back of the calve muscles. I gotta go with pumps right there. All the girls look like they ran track.

Rif Raf: Sassy or Classy?
BeYoung: Need a combination of both.

Mibbs: Man I say PUMPS! And keep them on while we’re doing our thing too. Tell them to keep them on man! I got something for them nice . . . them whatever kind of pumps.

Rif Raf: Stilettos?

Mibbs: Yeah, stilettos. It don’t matter—them six inch joints.

Rif Raf: You’re talking about those health hazard joints!

Mibbs:Yeah, exactly. The ones that are unsafe to dance in at the club. Dude I recently went to a rooftop party and I seen somebody with some pumps on that blew my mind!

Like: Sassy or classy? I mean it depends. She kinda gotta be both. She gotta feel classy, but sometimes she gotta . . . I want the “Thong Song” sometimes!

Rif Raf: So ladies gonna want to know: Do you have “Women Problems” or are you looking for women solutions right now?
Like: Hmm, looking for women solutions.

BeYoung: Nah man, no problems. I ain’t had no girl since 10th grade. I’m looking for these women solutions!

Mibbs: I’m looking for women solutions!

Rif Raf: Aight, cool, cool we got a consensus here, unanimous ladies! Understand it!
Like: That was a song—cats wrote, well maybe I was going through women problems but the solutions—like my brother say, “I’m sucker free right now.” I have no type of women problems. I got LIFE problems.

Rif Raf: Yeah you don’t need any extra ones to go on top of that.

Rif Raf: People never pay attention to the dude behind the beats, cause the arrangement of beats and tracks you can’t really pinpoint. You might hear Detroit, East Coast, or West Coast. So who’s behind all that and what are all their influences.

Like: It’s a mixture man, because like Swiff D, our in house producer. We all grew up together, so we grew up on all kinds of stuff. We grew up on Tribe, De La, Pharcyde, and all that and real West Coast DPG, Twinz. . .

Rif Raf: Kurupt and all that.

Like: But respected the East Coast and what they had with the whole Bad Boy movement, lyricist lounge, sound bombing like all the underground Hip hop over there, and all the Primo stuff over there. Pete Rock and down South stuff, we really feelin the production down there too. Like we don’t feel like we’re in one box, we feel like our music is one collective of how we feel at that particular time. Like nobody is in one mood all of the time. Nobody is one way all of the time. Sometimes you feel like going to the club, and sometimes we feel like we just want to chill and create music. We try to reflect to the music.

I’ll tell you what though, as far as artistically, we wild out to the beats, the choppy drum beats. We wild out over that. We definitely respect the art to that. Like our boy Swiff D, we always go and support. We be in awe of the things these producers can do these days man. And Dilla is our all-time favorite producer.

Rif Raf: His influence was so profound. Really people didn’t know how much they loved him until they found out he was the person who did the song. He did “Got Til It’s Gone” – how many people love that song?
Like: Like and Mibbs – we been Dilla fans since like 4th or 5th grade. That was especially abnormal coming from L.A. when everybody, I mean everybody was on some West Coast Gangster shit at the time—because it was really raining. But we were the type that when we’d hear Pharcyde “Runnin” play on the radio, we’d go wild.

Rif Raf: Exactly.
Like: We was like, “Who is Dilla?” I remember the first time we saw the “Stakes is High” video and we was like “Man this beat is CRAZY!” And then Friday Night Flavors we heard “Get this Money” and we was like “Man whoever doing these beats—got to be the same dude.” And then we all heard Tribe Called Quest “1nce Again” video, it all made sense. . .I have so much respect and love for Dilla. That’s one of my favorite producers of all times.

Rif Raf: So this year A3C in Atlanta we got Del the Homosapien, Aceyalone, we got I think your homeboy Blu, we got a couple of West Coast cats coming. Are Y’all gonna be here?!?
Like: Man we’re trying to do our best we can to get out there. Man we never been to Atlanta. We’re trying to go, we’re trying to get out there—holler at ya peoples! Let them know what’s up!

Rif Raf: So on that note, next video, tour, expected EP in 08′.
Like: All of that! But I can’t give you a date on neither one of them. It’s just going to happen! We got something real special real soon coming up . . . I’ll say about April. Filthy—that’s a cool dude by the way. Shout outs to Tanya Morgan. Can we do our shout-outs real quick?

Rif Raf: Yeah, yeah! Do your shout-outs, do your shout-outs . . .
Like: Our DJ Sean G, the homie Swiff D, the homie Blu, the homie Teron, y’know Dom Kennedy, 87 Stick-up kids, Cool kids, Carl Weathers, Carl Winslow, Eddie Winslow, Orlando from the Lakers, Ernie Hudson, Charles S. Dutton, all them is the homies. Uh, what’s it called? Grace Jones. Shout-outs to Wilt Chamberlain.

BeYoung: Lou Gosset Jr.

Like: Lou Gosset Jr! Comet from Full House; that’s the dog if you didn’t know.

Like: Damn. Going too far back.

Like: Shout-outs to Quincy.

Mibbs: Shout-outs to Filmore Slim. Gorgeous Dre the Pimp.

Like: Shout-outs to Montel Jordan, Montel Williams, Montay Ellis. Shout outs to Clutch Magazine!

Rif Raf: Yeah Dede’s doing things. She’s major, major. She’s making her moves. She’s doing her business.

Like: Shout-outs to J*Davey and my homie Diz Gibran. Uh, that’s pretty much man. Shout-outs to Rif Raf, uh Garfield and ummm. . .that’s about it.

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For more information about Pacific Division log-on to www.pacdiv.com and www.myspace.com/pacificdivision