‘But Sean,’ you may be protesting with a bit too much bass in your voice, ‘it’s not the end of the year anymore; we’re almost a month into 2009 already. What gives?’ And to that I say, ‘SIT YOUR FIVE DOLLAR ASS DOWN BEFORE I MAKE CHANGE.’ This was a list that was so meticulously crafted, so plentiful with insightful analysis, and so thoughtfully arranged that y’all weren’t READY for it in the ’08…I HAD to push it back for you non-believers…*

*Ok, the truth of the matter is that I got pretty busy towards the end of December and kept putting it off. Then my laptop crashed. And then it crashed again. And then it crashed AGAIN. I’m sorry for the delay, and I promise that this won’t happen next year…maybe.

(in order of release):

1) Ebu Gogo- Worlds (January 6)
Every so often, a band launches a kamikaze attack from out of nowhere, slaps the shit out of you, and then slips back under the radar. Imagine my surprise when I dropped by my local coffee house one evening to discover this Rhode Island ‘action/adventure’ instrumental trio absolutely OBLITERATING the room with their electro-math-rock acrobatics. Powered by the eclectic genius of Gavin Castleton (and two of his bandmates from prog-rock group Gruvis Malt), the music on Worlds is technically jaw dropping, mesmerizing, and bursting at the seams with energy. Never have I encountered a band whose music was so equally cerebral, visceral, and just plain fun.

2) MGMT- Oracular Spectacular (January 22)
Psychedelic undertones + electro-pop instrumentation + a dash of tongue-in-cheek posturing + art-rock aesthetic + stellar production from Dave Fridmann + songwriting that’s both brainy and populist + pretty much THE melody of 2008 (that would be “Kids,” folks) = a pretty awesome album. These guys’ music could be heard pretty much everywhere last year, and it’s easy to understand why; not bad for what essentially started as a joke project. Let’s hope that they can keep it going now that there are more people that are in on the gag.

3) Erykah Badu- New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War (February 26)
A year ago, I’d have been quick to call 2000’s Mama’s Gun Erykah Badu’s ‘important album,’ but she managed to up the ante on the first of her intended trilogy of records for 2008-2009. The comparisons to Sly Stone’s There’s A Riot Going On aren’t without merit – this is an edgy, experimental roller coaster ride of an record that’s oozing with tension, soul, and unabashed disregard for any expectations that she’d be forced to bear the burden of carrying the ‘neo-soul’ torch. There are very few ARTISTS in modern R&B/soul, but Erykah Badu is one of them.

4) Kaki King- Dreaming of Revenge (March 4)
Though I still don’t think that she’s made an album that truly lives up to her potential, guitar virtuoso/songwriter Kaki King is getting closer and closer to finding a balance for all of her strengths as an artist. I’m not the biggest fan of when she sings, which does happen on a good chunk of this record, but her absolutely gorgeous instrumental contributions more than make up for it. She’s always had a knack for making music that sounded delicate and powerful at the same time, and the expansion of her band’s instrumentation definitely helps her cause. But when it comes down to it, what I love most about her is that she can play her instrument in a way that’s never flashy and is really unlike any other popular guitarist out there.

5) Flying Lotus- Los Angeles (June 10)
While hip hop heads squabble with one another trying to decide who will lead the pack amongst the new generation of beatmakers, late-night Adult Swim fanatics already know the score –his name is Flying Lotus. Many have argued that his 1983 LP is better, but the hazy, ambience of his Warp Records debut (and the subsequent trilogy of L.A. EPs released soon after) makes it clear that this guy really is thinking outside of the box when it comes to his craft. This record sounds like what I imagine it’d be like to be lost on a beach at midnight, on Mars, stoned – the sloppy, synth-laden raw funk completely lulls you into a constant, zoned out head nod that’s hard not to constantly revisit.

6) Raphael Saadiq- The Way I See It (September 16)
Though he’s got quite a hefty discography already under his belt, The Way I See It sounds like the record that Raphael Saadiq was born to make. Without having to worry about maintaining the neo-soul/post-hip hop R&B format that’s essentially tainted a large percentage of today’s popular music (see also: the plight of Ms. Badu), the multi-instrumentalist/singer/producer is able to apply his keen songwriting chops to the warm analog sounds of classic Motown. Perhaps picking up where Amy Winehouse left off with last year’s Back to Black, the songs here invoke golden age R&B/soul without coming across as a revivalist hack-job. Even a grossly out-of-place cameo from Jay-Z (thankfully tacked on to the end of the album as a bonus remix) isn’t enough to derail this affair; this is a record that truly deserves to be called ‘instant vintage.’

7) Dungen- 4 (September 30)
This band is (almost) not fun for me to listen to, because doing so always results in me racking my brain with questions that I just can’t explain: How does this sound like some lost psychedelic record from the ‘60s? How can one band switch so effortlessly from free jazz to prog-rock to retro-esque folk (sometimes even within the same song)? Why am I singing along to these songs at the top of my lungs in a language that I don’t understand one word of? Gustav Ejstes and the boys continue to astound me with their latest: it’s beautiful, it’s complex, it tickles my brain, and it rocks my face off.

8) Foreign Exchange- Leave it All Behind (October 14)
It’s commendable when an artist branches outside of their usual style, but it’s even more notable when they pull it off as seamlessly as Phonte Coleman’s turn as full-fledged singer on the second album from Foreign Exchange. While Coleman’s vocal chops have  been alluded to in his work with underground hip hop group Little Brother, this isn’t an instance of a rapper’s ambition clearly extending beyond his ability (hi, Kanye). The man can SAING. It probably helps that he’s backed by absolutely beautiful music from Nicolay, producer/multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire; if anybody is truly an heir to the dream-like, smoothed-out J. Dilla style of beatmaking, it’s him. For two artists coming from a genre that isn’t exactly known for its maturity, this is a refreshingly ‘adult’ record that can get play from Saturday night all the way to Sunday afternoon.

9) Q-Tip- The Renaissance (November 4)
It may not have been immortalized in a song, but we all had dejectedly accepted Industry rule # 4081: Q-Tip’s second solo record was never going to see an official release. After all, since the former A Tribe Called Quest frontman’s only other solo album (1999’s Amplified), he’d seen three separate projects get shelved as he bounced around in record label limbo. But don’t expect to find any bitter feelings on The Reinassance; this is a breezy, bubbly collection of songs that harkens back to the vibe of Tribe’s classic albums. Heightened by tastefully used live instrumentation, the ease at which Tip weaves together songs is only what you’d expect from someone who’s been making hip hop records nearly all his life. More than just an emcee, producer, or even a cultural icon, the man is an artist, and this is truly his renaissance.

10) Wale- The Mixtape About Nothing (May 30)/Atmosphere- Strictly Leakage
Do mixtapes count as albums? In most cases, I tend to say no. But the truth of the matter is that both of these free releases spent enough time on my playlist last year to warrant a spot on this list.

As a fan of both Seinfeld and witty, thematic hip hop songs, how could I NOT like Wale’s Mixtape About Nothing? Just like the show from which it appropriates its title, this collection of tracks is feigning modesty with its claim to lack substance: this is a mixtape about EVERYTHING that’s going on in hip hop culture (ugh, did I just actually use that term), and it’s done so by a narrator who isn’t afraid to take chances, speak his mind, and most importantly of all, have fun while doing so. Plus, the dude got a drop from Julia Louis-Dreyfus – that’s a lot cooler than tapping Lil’ Wayne for a collaboration (though he shows up here, too). Here’s hoping that Wale is able to maintain this streak on his Interscope debut (and HERE’S hoping that that actually comes out at some point this year).

While Atmosphere’s ‘big’ release in 2008 was their When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold LP, this compilation of old-school flavored tunes is superior simply because it doesn’t have to carry the burden of making any kind of bold statement; it’s just party music that never has to dumb down to move the crowd. Slug is an emcee who favors simplicity over verbal gymnastics these days, but his vivid descriptions and storytelling are what kept me hitting the rewind button, while producer Ant is probably one of the most underrated beatmakers of his time. If more hip hop artists are able to find the balance of fun and importance that both Wale and Atmosphere put into these two releases, rap music will be a lot more interesting to listen to in 2009.

And there you have it. As always, I encourage any kind of feedback, discussion, argument, or insight as to what made YOUR list, so drop a comment as you see fit.

Much like the cast of characters that make up his acclaimed comic strip The Boondocks, Aaron McGruder is a man unafraid to speak his mind. Whether addressing America’s racial stereotypes, the absurdity of its government, or the idiosyncrasies of its culture in general, McGruder’s smart and sardonic commentary earned him a legion of followers. Huey and Riley Freeman, characters that respectively represented a culture’s skeptical worldview and near-deification of hip-hop music, resonated with audiences leading to the development of an animated series on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.

Of course, content that edgy is also bound to strike a nerve in more than one way. The comic strip’s political tone led several newspapers to withhold the more controversial strips (or cancel the series altogether), while two episodes from the Peabody Award-winning animated show’s second season were banned from TV due to their heavy criticism of the Black Entertainment Television network.

So it’s worth noting that, at least at this point, very little can hinder the voice of McGruder’s latest endeavor, the Web-based live action sketches from his new Partner Rumble Studio. “We began developing the material with SuperDeluxe.com, but things folded with them right before it was set to come out,” he says from his office in Los Angeles. “We had all this stuff that we were sitting on, so we decided to just put it out.”

While still in its early stages, the existing sketches (viewable at www.boondocksbootleg.com) combine the wit of The Boondocks with a raw aesthetic that’s been missing since the demise of The Chappelle Show. Characters like Black Jesus and gangsta rapper Tubesteak are already destined to be cult favorites, and web video allows McGruder and his team a creative freedom unavailable in the mediums of print or television. “I like the idea of it just being direct to the people. There’s no pitching, no studio meetings, no disapprovals – it’s just do whatever you want. And we can stay up to date with current events because it’s live action,” he says.

Though the specific details of the show’s future are still up in the air, McGruder and company (many of whom are also a part of The Boondocks) are clearly buzzed about the possibilities. “What we’ve got up now is a piece of us trying to summarize what we’d do with sketch comedy. I think that we’re looking forward to a place where I can house all of these other ideas I have that don’t fit with the animated show. In terms of its platform on the Internet, it’s always really exciting to try and keep up with how things are changing,” McGruder adds. “It’s just about waiting to see if the business model holds up and people can start making a living at it. We’re just getting into it. As we really start producing these things, I think you’ll see all types of people involved in it, going through a whole bunch of folks who you’ve seen on The Boondocks.”

Lest fans of that show become alarmed that its creator has shifted his focus to newer projects, McGruder affirms that The Boondocks is still a top priority. “I’m extraordinarily involved in the show. I run the show – I’m literally a showrunner,” he laughs. “I make all of the final creative decisions, I co-write most of the scripts; we have a 90-week production schedule. I’m not involved in every single detail, but it’s the biggest part of what I’m doing.”

As daunting as all of that sounds, McGruder insists that the workload is nothing compared to that of the comic strip, which he ended in 2006. “Anything is easier than that comic strip. I don’t think that I’ll encounter another job more difficult than that,” he says. “When you’re doing a show, you have a lot of people working for you, but the strip was just me. Having said that, the show is certainly unique in that it’s a very long production schedule, and it just goes on and on. Every season feels like we could have made The Lord of the Rings.”

Outspoken as he can be when it comes to America’s touchiest subjects, there are some things that McGruder is, in fact, pretty tight-lipped about; for one, he can’t talk about Season 3 of The Boondocks, beyond the fact that it’s in production and will still be aired on Adult Swim sometime in 2009. And don’t look for any deeper insight on the BET scandal of Season 2, either.

“Looking back at that, I have nothing to say about it,” he says plainly before bursting out into laughter. “I have no comment on it whatsoever. I know, it’s crushing, isn’t it? We made the shows, they got banned, and that’s it. They’re on The Boondocks Season 2 DVD, available in stores now.”

Fair enough. But ask him about Barack Obama’s election into office and the impact that may have on America, and McGruder is a bit more candid. Needless to say, he hasn’t hoisted up the victory flag just yet.

“I think that we can all agree that we’re in a moment of transition in this country,” he states after pausing for a moment. “We had that period in 2004 when Bush got re-elected, and soon after everyone finally figured out, ‘Oh, he’s a bad guy.’ But by that point, that type of material wasn’t funny anymore because there were a million people bashing Bush every day; it was just in vogue. In my observation, this country moves in a pattern between two extremes: you’re either saying something relevant and important when absolutely no one wants you to say it, or it’s a time like the one we’re in now where you can say it, but no one wants to hear it because it’s stale, not interesting, and everyone has already figured it out.”

“It’s exactly like after September 11th, when I started talking about things in the paper, and got people really mad,” he continues [Ed. Note: months after the terrorist attacks, McGruder ran a widely censored strip pointing out that the Reagan Administration directly funded Osama Bin Laden]. “It wasn’t four or five years later before everyone got to where I was – not that I was one of the only people to feel that way, but I was one of the only ones to address it publicly. A lot of people knew what was up and saw what was going on, but got swept up in the excitement of the moment. It was a social thing, an overwhelming feeling that went through most of this country…and that took us to Iraq.”

“Fast forward to this past election. While everybody was partying on election night and watching what took place, we had the biggest financial collapse in our history,” he points out. “I think there’s definitely a lot of excitement around Obama’s presidency. I also think that this is the biggest financial collapse in American history.”

“The truth is, it’s hard to tell people when they feel like they won, ‘Hey, we’re in the biggest financial crisis in American history,’” he says, before bursting into laughter again. “Then you’re just a hater. It is what it is. I understand why people have the need to feel excited. I just hope it goes well. But I’m looking at the news and what I’m seeing is a little troublesome, that’s all I’m saying. Some of it will be on the show. But a lot of it, I’ll keep to myself.”

Then again, he may be able to utilize Partner Rumble as a platform to get that point across. “You know how will.i.am keeps making these election videos? I’m gonna make a video about the biggest financial collapse in American history!” he launches into yet another spurt of infectious laughter that seems to go on for a minute, then catches his breath and composes himself. “It’ll be very inspirational.”

Originally Published on December 8, 2008 on Okayplayer

Has any other emerging artist in hip-hop had a rookie year as chockfull of material and schizophrenic artistic direction as Blu? While the LA-based rapper seemingly scored the most points with the underground hip-hop head demographic with his collaborative debut with producer Exile, Below the Heavens, he’s since been cranking out albums at an alarmingly rapid pace – his release with Ta’Raach as C.R.A.C., The Piece Talks hit stores months later, and now his latest project with producer Mainframe, known as Johnson&Jonson collectively, is set to be released. The self-titled Johnson&Jonson record drops on September 23, just a year and one month after the whole album cycle began.

“I was a month off from getting them all out within a year!” Blu blurts out with a sense of regret that seems surprisingly sincere, though you’d think dropping three albums in 13 months would be enough of an accomplishment. “All three of the albums were recorded during the same period. They were all done by the top of ’07 – we’ve been sitting on material for that long.”

While the plan was always there to hit listeners with an onslaught of material, Blu will be the first to admit that things took off much quicker than initially expected. “I thought that it was going to take all three records to get recognition, but pretty much everything that I asked for was met with Below the Heavens,” he explains. “Before that, nobody thought that people would like Blu’s records. But once that came out and got a good response, people trusted us enough to put out other material. I was like, ‘Please, man, put out this catalog!’ These are other pieces of my foundation and I want people to know about it.”

While his debut rode heavy on a vibe that was both introspective and insightful, and the C.R.A.C. project embraced a more care-free cross-genre sound, Johnson&Jonson is intended to be Blu’s ‘rap-swagger’ project. “This album is basically everything that Exile wouldn’t let me put on Below the Heavens,” he laughs, noting that the two projects do stylistically overlap at some points. “I still try to make every single record I do different from any other record I’ve done in the past, as far as complete albums go. Regardless of how similar the content might be throughout records, stylistically they stand on their own.”

The songs on Johnson&Jonson are soaked with Blu’s wit and unabashed love for hip-hop. Like the rest of his projects, it’s evident from one listen that the young talent is definitely a student of the game. “Johnson&Jonson was like waking up for six months straight in the lab, cutting joints every day at Mainframe’s studio in Long Beach. For this album, I was inspired by both Snoop and Posdnous, as well Planet Asia’s first EP; I still bang that to this day! This fool’s pocket is just so precise – I still throw that back on just to see how somebody should flow.”

<br> Beyond rapping, Blu has also recently gotten into production. “I got into producing about a year and a half ago, so it’s still brand new. I’m not about to be competing with no ill producers – you won’t catch me in a rap battle…you might catch Flying Lotus standing next to you, fuck that,” he laughs. “I’m working on an album with an emcee from Brooklyn called Sene called A Day Late and A Dollar Short. He’s breaking down his life in an ill narrative form, and I’m producing the whole record, complimenting his story with my own production.”

Based on the track record he’s developed so far, it should come as no surprise that Blu has quite a few additional projects still coming down the pipeline as well. “I’m getting ready to drop this rock album with Mainframe…I don’t know if Okayplayer will be hitting me up about that, though,” he laughs. “It’s going to be pretty low-key. Fools probably won’t even know that I’m involved in it. We produced the entire record, wrote a lot of the songs, got a few singers to wrap up the songs we had left over, and there’s a lot of live instrumentation. It’s crazy.”

“I was just in Rotterdam and hooked up with these guys there. We just did five songs, and we’re going to put out an EP under the alias Fried Cotton,” he continues. “I was in D.C. for about four days and did five songs with the homie Apex – it’s our ‘no sleep till Brooklyn’ project. I’ve got crazy notebooks everywhere!”

It’s a scattered discography, for sure – and the fact that such a mixed catalog of music might not sit well with the average hip-hop fan is not lost on its creator. “Fools are tripping,” Blu acknowledges. “They want certain things over and over again, but I put it out there once. There’s nothing I can really say. I may get inspired by Heltah Skeltah one day and try to take it back to 1996 again, but I don’t think I’m going back to that timeframe for a while.”

With so many outlets to spread his message, it’s clear that this is one man whose voice will continue to be heard for all those who care to listen. “But I really don’t have a strategy in terms of what I do, outside of just making the music how I want to make it,” he insists. “It’s not like, ‘Ok, I knew everybody liked Below the Heavens, so now I’m gonna make something in C.R.A.C. that they just won’t like!’ I made all of that because I wanted to make it first.” With a vision that pure, it’s hard not to root for Blu. If all of this has been the result of his rookie year alone, it looks like he’s got quite a career ahead of him.

Originally Published on September 19, 2008 on Okayplayer

With their latest release, The Bridge EP, garnering the group more attention than ever before, and their recent addition as opening act for indie hip-hop legends Hieroglyphics, it looks like another one of our own is on the cusp of breaking into a new sphere of success. Tanya Morgan is on the grind, having come a long way since the trio first linked up through Okayplayer’s message boards.

An hour before they were set to rock the stage at the Social in Orlando, FL, I caught up with group members Donwill and Von Pea (third member Illyas is holding it down on the homefront for this outing), and here’s how it all went down…

OKP: So you’re out on tour with Hieroglyphics, the biggest tour that you guys have ever done. I remember going to Hiero’s Full Circle Tour in 2003, and catching an opening act for the first time called Little Brother, and now I’m a fan for life. Now you’re in that same opening slot. How has the reception been?

Donwill: The response has been great. A lot of people who don’t know who we are take to it and they love what we do.

Von Pea: Not to make the comparison, but the energy is a little bit different; there was this big buzz and rumble around Little Brother when they were coming out. We have a lot more to prove. Although we’ve been out and paid our dues on our own for a while now, it’s not the same as their situation was. Peoples’ attitude is more like, ‘oh, who are these guys? Oh, they weren’t even wack.’

Don: There’s not the same anticipation. They were established a bit at the time, but we do kind of get the novelty act stigma sometimes.

OKP: But on the other hand – and not to gas you guys up –it’s not like there’s NO buzz about you. As someone who posts on Okayplayer several times a day, it’s ridiculous to me that a group that formed on an internet message board could already come as far as you guys have. Do you see the group’s beginnings as a detriment or has it helped you?

Von: When I say the energy is different, I just think it’s a sign of the times. It’s a different industry now. If it had been reversed, and it was us that came out back when Little Brother came out…not taking anything away from them at all, but it was a better time to come out and people appreciated new stuff a little bit more back then. It’s not the same amount of interest, but we still come out and definitely get a lot of love. I think nowadays, people are more likely to expect you to be bad. Back in 2002, and that’s not even that long ago, people might be more open, like, ‘oh this might be dope.’

Don: The decline in CD sales was just beginning then; now people don’t even buy CDs. Things like touring is just to supplement that, like ‘here’s the CD, we’re in front of you rapping, you like it?’ Being that we were founded on the boards, it’s kind of like our hometown. I’m from Cincinnati, Von’s from Brooklyn, and of course those are our hometowns. But usually artists gain a local buzz in their cities first, whereas we used the boards to gain our buzz a little bit. So it’s like okayplayer’s its own hometown. You’ve got love in your hometown, hate in your hometown, people who don’t really care, but love it or leave it, that’s home. OKP is home. (laughs)

OKP: Getting back to what we were talking about, why do you think people have become so cynical about new music?

Don: In my opinion, it’s too easy to make music in general and get it heard by as large a group of people as you can access. If you had an in at ConcreteLoop.com, you could record a song and post it on there, and people may love it or hate it, but that’s millions of people that are exposed. The Wizard of Oz curtain is gone – everybody can see that he’s a miniature wizard now.

Von: I don’t mean it to be negative, but I feel like hip hop has a going out of business sale sign hanging on the wall. You know a lot of record stores are closing. You would go to Tower Records, and you remember the day that Hard Knock Life, Aquemini, and The Love Movement came out, and there were posters all over. It was a nice place to be. And now you go in there, and it’s people you’ve never heard of, and everything is in boxes, and they’re having a going out of business sale. And that shit that used to be a big poster of Mariah Carey is now just a big hole in the wall. That’s how I feel it is now. Not only is the curtain open, but the curtain behind that curtain is open. There ain’t no curtains on the wall anymore, it’s just like shit in boxes. The whole industry is in boxes.

Don: The allure and mystery is gone.

Von: And this is not just coming from us, who are considered to be some new-jacks. Anybody you talk to, the legends from the 80’s and 90’s…

Don: We’ve been having some real ass conversations about it. Talked to ?uest about it, talked to Black Thought about it…it comes up with everybody, especially when you’re dealing with somebody who has a career in the game and they’re talking to you as a new artist. They guide you and help you out. Everybody is saying it’s just a scary time to be in the business.

Von: Nobody knows what to do except to make some good music. On the one hand that’s how it should be, but on the other hand, you still got them bills to pay and shit. I think it’s a great time to do this as far as art goes, but a bad time to do it in terms of maintaining your life.

Don: On the art side of things, one thing that me and Von discussed is that there’s no rules to it right now. You can upload ten-minute clips to YouTube, you can put out your songs for free…

Von: You don’t need MTV, because they don’t care about you…

Don: …You don’t need physical CDs to a certain extent. It’s a totally different climate, so I mean whoever it is that’s out there that has a very astute grasp on everything digital media is gonna have a good shot. Basically, I want to see the next Puff Daddy, the next guy who comes through and is the multimedia wizard of this generation, and he will make an extravaganza, because there’s going to be some shit. He might have a hologram show in every park in America, and motherfuckers are like ‘oh my god,’ during a simultaneous simulcast.

Von: I feel like Kanye might be that guy, I guess…

Don: This culture is coming to that. This Kyte phone we have has live feed. Say if Common did that, set up a few Kyte phones and did a broadcast of one of his live shows, the web would be on smash. It’s just going to take someone savvy to come along and coordinate that.

OKP: In such an uncertain time in the industry, what is it that gives you hope about what it is that you do musically? Because in spite of all of these problems, you guys are still doing it…

Von: I think it’s because you can get away with whatever. You might not have your joint on MTV/BET, but you’ve got that ten minutes on YouTube, and it doesn’t have to be a three minute joint, it can be a ten minute joint. You can do whatever you want. And also, you don’t have to be in some big studio rushing to get your joint finished, and it has to sound like this…chorus here, etc. There’s not really a rule to what is going to be a hit song or hit video because it has so and so featured on it. That’s what keeps me going. It’s just wide open. I feel like we ain’t done nothing yet. One day, god willing, we’ll do THAT shit, something that was like…’what the fuck is that?!?!’

Don: No music is really reinventing the wheel, it’s just perfecting it. For me, the industry may be crowded, but coming from a graffiti standpoint, it’s about finding a design that will stand out on a crowded wall. How can you stand out in that crowd?

Von: You’ve got to remember how groups made you feel before, and figure out how to make the audiences feel that way.

OKP: Would you attribute that feeling to the success you’ve had so far?

Von: I think it’s resonating with people at every stop. Let’s say 500 people show up tonight. And five of them know us – it’s guaranteed that three out of that five really, really like us a lot. I’ve had people come up to me all flabbergasted, into the music, and I feel like we’re some weird little cult that Hiero allows its own little spot. We’ve even had nights where two or three people pay to see our 15 minutes and then leave. It’s crazy!

Don: One guy in Austin, Texas was like, ‘I came to the show and I don’t even know who Hiero is.’ In my head, I was like, ‘what?!?’ To me, that’s fucking amazing. I sit here every night and watch Souls of Mischief do ‘‘93 till infinity’ and it’s like ‘AHHHHH!’ (laughs)

Von: To us, they’re as legendary as you can get from the class that we come from.

(At this point in the interview, Domino from Hieroglyphics interrupts the interview to go over the night’s schedule for a few minutes, then leaves to coordinate sound check.)

OKP: That was a really good segue way – what’s it been like touring with Hiero?

Von: It’s been fine. It’s like we’re with our older cousins – they’re not uncles, but not younger cousins either. They’ll come to us like, ‘y’all having a good show? Your show was dope, you’re doing your thing.’ For us to be the little guys and the very first act that goes on, they don’t treat us that way. They show us love.

Don: I liken it to going to summer camp. We have our activities for the day, have the main meet for the day, gotta get up early, you know. It’s nothing that the other tours weren’t; it’s just like watching a well-oiled machine, rather than us figuring it out on our own. Everybody on the tour has been really accommodating, from stage show times to having conversations and just being real people.

Von: On some nights, they’ll be like, ‘no one is here yet, and I know we got curfew but we trying to hold it off.’ There’ll be nights where everybody cuts some of their songs so that we can go on a little bit later when people are here. It’s like, you shouldn’t even care about the first guys! They don’t really have to care, so that’s a trip.

Don: And it’s funny, for a unit as big as Hiero, there’s always got to be a head and a body. But it’s been unanimous with usA-Plus, Opio, Tajai, Pep… they all dig our shit, and they really want to help us get somewhere. It’s cool as hell.

OKP: So right now you’ve got The Bridge EP…

Von: Yup, The Bridge EP, it got an 88 on Okayplayer. (laughs)

OKP: Ah yes, the often-maligned Reviews section. Anyway, beyond the EP, what’s next for Tanya Morgan?

Von: In February, we’ll have the full length, Brooklynatti, produced by me and Brickbeats, also with some production from Aeon. Phonte is on there, Blu is on there, Musinah, Carlitta Durand…but it’s not a compilation album. (laughs)

Don: What’s funny is that we’re saying all these names, but if you’re not paying attention you might miss them.

Von: We listened to the demos the other day, and some of the guest appearance are no different than a vocal sample. We’re trying to do something different where these people aren’t MAKING the song, they’re a part of the song. It was situations where, say, I come up with a hook, I can’t sing, so let me call Phonte, and see if he’ll sing it. Oh, Musinah, you can be on the album? We’ve got this joint where the sample is saying this, but can you say it instead of the sample? It’s organic. They’re not being downplayed, but if the album is a movie, then they blend in as part of the scene.

Don: It’s more organic. We’re not doing it to sell the album to people. If you’re gonna get it, you’re gonna get it. But it’s not going to be some big sticker on the album that says ‘FEATURING…’! It’s gonna be there when you pick it up.

Von: The homies is gonna be on the album. It’s not just who’s hot, it’s because we respect them and they respect us.

Originally Published on August 4, 2008 on Okayplayer

Skillz is something of an anomaly in hip-hop – he’s managed to maintain a healthy music career over the better part of two decades, and yet in many respects, his new album The Million Dollar Backpack is akin to a release from an up-and-coming artist.

“I realize that there’s a lot of people who have no idea who I am,” the VA-native explains on the way back from editing the video for his single “So Far, So Good” featuring Common. “I get complacent sometimes and think, ‘oh, people know me, people know this song,’ but the truth is a little different.”

Ask Skillz to break up his career into a trilogy of movie titles, and the history of his life in the public eye becomes a little bit clearer. “The first movie would be called The Introduction – me being a student of the game, learning what to do and what not do do,” he says. One can imagine it was quite a learning experience, as a quick rundown of his discography includes work with The Neptunes, Timbaland, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and The Roots. “That phase of my life was either going to make or break me, either make me want to stop fucking with this business or encourage me to proceed my way through.”

“The second movie would be called The Learning Tree. That’s when I got into other ways to make money from the industry besides just being in front of the camera or microphone. I started learning how these companies tick, and started to pay attention to why an artist was successful when he was, and what caused other artists to flop,” he continues.

Part of that behind-the-scenes foray into the industry would no doubt include his career ghostwriting rhymes for some of hip hop’s biggest names, including P.Diddy (one of the only artists to publicly confirm this connection to Skillz). “I occasionally still ghostwrite, but I wouldn’t even call it that,” Skillz acknowledges. “It’s more songwriting, a lot of R&B stuff, dealing with melodies and harmonies. I don’t sing or play instruments, but I’m definitely an arranger – I can arrange the hell out of a song, and I’m really good at picking the right beats.”

“I still get calls from people to ghostwrite, and it’s something that you can definitely be able to eat off of,” he continues. “There’s certain people who I will stop and work on a track for, if it’s not a bad business deal and they haven’t burned me in the past.”

Besides his reputation as the ghostwriter of the industry, Skillz is also known for another one of his roles in the rap game. Since 2002, many have first been exposed to him as the man behind the helm of the popular ‘Rap-Up,’ an annual summary of all that’s transpired in the music industry over the course of a year. Being known as the ‘Rap-Up Guy’ has been a mixed blessing for Skillz.

“At this point I understand it’s a marketing tool. Some people have no idea who I am till they hear it, but once they do, they go online and find out about the rest of my songs,” he says thoughtfully. “I mean, I really can’t say. I don’t have a ‘rap-up’ out right now, and somebody is still interested in interviewing me. There have been times that I didn’t want to make a ‘rap-up,’ but I’m glad I did. I was just contacted by a major cable network about ‘rapping up’ one of their shows. They want me to write a song about all of the seasons and put it on their website and box set of DVDs. Am I going to tell them I don’t want to do a ‘rap-up?’ Hell no!”

“I think there’s a common misconception that I’m just a ‘rap-up’ guy, that that’s all I’m good for. That’s cool. If people want to only check me for that, I don’t have a problem with it; it’s not like Howard Stern is going to play ‘So Far, So Good’ tomorrow morning, not in this day and age,” he says. “The ‘rap-up’ is mine, and people only want to hear it from me, which is a blessing in hip-hop right now, to have something that is your own, even if it is only once a year. I know a lot of cats who don’t get heard from once every five years.”

All that brings us to the third and current installment in the trilogy of Skillz’s career so far, The Million Dollar Back Pack, an effort that’s been a long time in the making. “I’m a perfectionist. I’m not really one to rush music. My last album that hit the streets really hit in a manner that I wasn’t cool with – repackaged songs, a lot of which were already a few years old,” he says, referring to 2005’s Confessions of a Ghostwriter. “Where I’m at now, I’m doing things my own way. And I’ve learned that I have to pretty much act like a new artist at this point.”

“It’s an adult, really good hip-hop album,” he says of his latest effort. “I’m not reinventing the wheel, I’m just giving you a dose of what Skillz is about, what a day in my life is like.”

“I’ve been to places I’d never thought I’d be. I’m just a kid from Virginia – I’m not supposed to be onstage in Australia. I’m not supposed to be in L.A. in the studio with Will Smith, or at the BET Awards in the second row. That’s someone else’s seat!” he says with a genuine sense of humble disbelief. “I’m just the ultimate fan that knows it, and I wouldn’t change a thing about my career. Hip-hop never had to be good to me, but it has been. I could be that guy who’s out there somewhere scrambling right now, and I’m not.”

“I’m not 50 Cent, I’m not Hov, but I’m not MC Joe Schmo rapping for his manager at McDonald’s, either,” he reflects. “It’s crazy that I’ve made it this far and everything that I’ve gained through hip hop was from an idea that was in a composition book, and that composition book was in my backpack.”

Originally Published on July 22, 2008 on Okayplayer