00:00I see. So let me ask you, how did you get into hip-hop? My love for hip-hop really started in
00:07high school. I listened to guys like Nas and Eminem, Jay-Z, Exhibit, and even Tupac and B.I.G.
00:13And then when I went to college, it was Kanye, Common, Rupe Fiasco, Outkast, Blackstar, and others.
00:23And that's when I started practicing my freestyling a lot. I had written rhymes back in
00:29high school, but it wasn't until the end of college that I started to record myself.
00:34The Alex tape was largely off the top of my head freestyles. So it was a progression. Yeah,
00:42because later on after college, everything I recorded before my hiatus was committedly written
00:48down on paper prior to recording, so I had better song structure, more creative, inventive rhymes,
00:56conversations, and more focused topics. And that's all on Clash and Satanically Minded.
01:02You mentioned your hiatus. How did that come about? A couple reasons. I was getting deep
01:09into the working life, and I was living with my parents and living like an ordinary American,
01:14and I had lost touch with my creative inspiration. I was also focused mainly on writing critical reviews
01:21of the mainstream rap albums of that time. So that period served its purpose, but I'm much better
01:29off now than I was then. Do you still write critiques? No. Would you ever go back to it? Probably not.
01:39Maybe if I wasn't working a job and had a lot more time on my hands. But being a critic takes a toll on you.
01:46First, you're disproportionately focused on others, I feel. Second, you're putting them and their creative
01:53works down unnecessarily or inappropriately a lot of the time. No one likes negativity.
02:01Do you think some of your lyrics are negative? Maybe the lyrics I wrote when I was a young kid,
02:07but it's still good art. You just have to laugh with it. But a lot of it is just a reflection
02:13of what I see in the real world. So are the lyrics negative, or is the source of inspiration negative?
02:20Plus, a lot of my work, especially these days, is in fact positive.
02:26Some of your lyrics discuss women and homosexuals in a controversial manner. Do you think that's fair
02:31to say? I think women have an unfair advantage in some areas of life, just like men perhaps have or
02:38once had. And the same goes for the queer community. Is it nature or nurture? I think it's almost entirely
02:44nurture. We live in a devastatingly unnatural world right now. Is it meant to be, or for a greater
02:52purpose? Yes, I think this mess is all so humans can learn from their mistakes later on down the line.
02:59I imagine you feel the same with regards to food and diet and how people eat, right? Definitely. I
03:08don't think people are going to eat like they do now forever, because it's an abomination.
03:14You're a vegan, right? Yeah, but I'm also the kind of vegan who eats only whole foods,
03:20meaning minimally processed or entirely unprocessed from their natural state in the plant kingdom.
03:26So, for example, I don't eat like Impossible Burgers or Beyond Meat Burgers anymore.
03:31No offense to them. They're great for beginners, or extreme athletes perhaps, or for once in a while
03:37maybe, but not for me. Going back to the music, your hip-hop has such an underground indie essence to it,
03:44very much unlike the mainstream acts. Do you think one is better than the other?
03:52Mainstream or underground? Yeah. Underground is better. Not that it's the mainstream, but it's all
03:58about the reason for why you do it, the systems at play, and the rules you follow. In the mainstream,
04:05you're making your art for someone else, whereas in the underground, you're making it for you so it comes
04:10out better, more unique. But in a perfect world, all this underground business goes out the window.
04:17Because in that world, I'd be just as big as the hottest guys on the scene today, so you can't go
04:21by what's popular if you want the goods. How do you look at sampling and the like?
04:28It's fair game, unless of course you're making a ton of money from it, because then you should worry
04:32about them knocking on your door. But I see sampling and that sort of stuff as a show of respect and
04:38admiration as opposed to stealing. But last but not least, what advice would you give to other artists?
04:46Be original, be different, come from the heart, and follow your own rules. Forget about what other
04:53people may or may not think. Try different things, push yourself out of your comfort zone,
04:58work hard, stay organized, keep learning, and have a good time doing it. And set aside time for non-art
05:09stuff to live your life. That's where you get a lot of the inspiration. And then you'll be just fine.
05:16Thank you, sir. Thank you.
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