[MP3] #DK11 Project Interview with Emay – Dash

In my books, the homie, Emay is one of the most underrated rappers in Canada. Why his incredibly creative music and rhymes aren’t being talked about more in both hip-hop and alternative circles is completely beyond me but artists like him are part of the reason I even still keep doing this blog 11 years on.

The whole purpose of originally starting Different Kitchen was to champion and shine the spotlight on talent I thought was being unheralded and/or criminally overlooked by other outlets. In 2014, the hive mentality of much of that passes for music writing or journalism online and on social media has made that mission even more important. Suffice is to say, as with all the artists on the This One Goes To Eleven… compilation album project, I think Emay is dope and someone you should be paying attention to. Starting right here with this interview I conducted with him a few days ago…

DK: Hey Emay, good to finally connect. So my first question is: you’re still pretty under the radar on the scene even though you’ve been around for a while now. Even though your home town of Hamilton is super close to Toronto, can you talk about the pluses and negatives of being a rapper living there.

Emay: This is actually quite weird because I seem to be somebody that a handful of people know or have heard of, yet at the same time I’m somebody that nobody has heard of. I’ve been at some pretty random shows and other places where people have actually known who I was. Or friends have told me stories where they were talking about my stuff to other people and the other person had actually listened to one of my random releases. This is funny to me because I kind of like the idea of being a ghost. My goal is to be a very influential ghost though, so we’ll see how that goes. So far I think I’m doing a pretty good job of existing in non-existence.

DK: What about life in Hamilton?

Emay: In terms of my living in Hamilton, I actually love it here. The music scene here has been flourishing quite a bit over the past few years. We might not have the numbers, but the array of talent and diversity is pretty amazing. Artists and bands such as Lee Reed, Mother Tareka, Haolin Munk, and Canadian Winter that are situated here are great examples of that. It’s also a very welcoming scene. I’m not a Hamilton native, but I most certainly feel like one these days. I think it’s a perfect scene for me because it’s a great opportunity to generate a fresh sound that can be associated with such a unique, underrated, and misunderstood city. People tell me I relate to those adjectives.

DK: I first got up on your music via James from Hi-scores and your music treads a line between traditional underground hip-hop (that some might term ‘backpack)’ and what some would call alternative rap. Can you talk about your musical influences and how they inform the style of music you make?

Emay: In regards to rap, two of my biggest influences have to be AZ and MF DOOM. Listening to those two forced me to be really technical in terms of my flow. AZ’s style stuck to me just because of how smoothly the words flow when he lays them down. All you have to do is listen to the first few bars on “The Format” and you’ll see what I mean. The patterns he uses are just so goddamn crisp. ‘You know the chronicles, the shit that if mama knew, the stress the drama do, the tech’s phenomenal’. If I wrote that sh-t I’d have to put the pen down for a minute. The funny thing with DOOM though is that he’s more unorthodox with it, but still very technical. I actually never liked DOOM the first time I heard one of his tracks. I had never heard anything like it, in terms of his overall sound, so it took some adjusting. But once I got it, I got it. I think I converted after I heard “Accordion” and “One Beer.” Some other major influences are One Be Lo and O.C.

Now, when it comes to production there’s Lord Finesse, Prince Paul, Dilla, Kev Brown, Kanye West, El-P, Just Blaze, Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind, Flying Lotus, DJ Premier and the list goes on. I really stuck to producers that were able to create their own signature styles while still being very diverse in terms of what they sampled, the drums they chose and such. My goal on the production and rap tip is to be blatantly influenced by my favorites, but still fully original at the same time. When I create I don’t consciously attempt to do this, but it’s certainly something I strive to accomplish.

DK: Well, you’ve definitely done some really creative, original things musically, like the Karen O and the Kids EP which sampled songs from Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack and “Racist on Purpose” where you wrote from the perspective of a white supremacist. Where does that kind of creative inspiration come from?

Emay: I think it just comes from everything around me. I think that every “original” idea derives from older ideas that take newer forms. I mean, if you listen to early Rock music I’m sure you’ll hear remnants of what we now call Punk, Hip-Hop, Metal, and so on. Whether it comes to ideas for songs or concepts for entire projects, I think there’s a similar process of the mind taking what it wants and discarding what it doesn’t deem useful. Sometimes I make beats where an entire bass line is directly influenced by one that I heard from another song, but because it’s in the midst of different sounds, it takes on a new feel. Or it brings the same feel but just interacts differently with its new surroundings.

DK: Out of all your mixtapes and EP projects, which is your favorite and why?

Emay: I think that Adam was my favorite one because it was the hardest for me to make. Choosing to do all the production, writing and rapping took boatloads of time, but it was more than beneficial. I learned a lot about what it takes to create a full length project, and I think it helped me develop as an artist the most out of my projects. Adam, and everything before it was my attempt at finding my sound, or myself. Adam in particular was like the fusion of my rap self and production self. Now I feel a lot more comfortable making beats for myself and writing for those beats.

DK: “Dash” from the This One Goes To Eleven… album is a really good track, can you tell me what it’s about from your point of view and the process behind making it?

Emay: “Dash” was an interesting track for me because it was the first beat and song I made in Ableton. To me the song was just about an artist’s dreams being crushed. I wanted to depict that the persistence of individualism in our society puts a lot of pressure on people. There’s this notion that a person’s goals not being reached is entirely their fault, and it kind of blinds us from recognizing the societal factors at hand. For example I was having a conversation with somebody the other day about how a lot of what we call “conscious” rap can actually be very narrow-minded in that we see a lot of rappers blaming other rappers for not being as “righteous” as they are and such. This idea is also inherited by the listeners of said artists as well. This is narrow-minded because it blames the one individual for perpetuating a certain ideology but doesn’t look at the bigger picture. The bigger picture being that we live in a capitalist world, so the labels/businesses will only be concerned in what sells. The amorality of such a system is really what generates a lot of generic and formulaic art. A lot of artists feel the need to follow a certain format to be “successful” and then the emulation spreads like a virus. But yeah, the song is pretty much me depicting an artist or creator in a very depressed state.

DK: It’s not from your next full length project though, right which is the Sinner, Songwriter EP? Can you talk about what we can expect from that project?

Emay: Sinner, Songwriter EP is a project that I’ve been sitting on since late 2012 I would say. I had some of the beats since then and wrote for them as well but just wasn’t ready to do anything with them yet. Eventually I chose to go back and refurbish a lot of the verses and added a few more beats that I couldn’t turn down. This project is really different given that I’m working with a different producer for every track and only really had to write the lyrics for the songs. I also made some minor mixing adjustments, but all the beats were created by others. The lineup includes Giraffage, Star Slinger, Hut (who is also the drummer for Haolin Munk), RD (or Resolved Dissonance), and my dude, Hollow Pigeons from Toronto. I love this lineup because they’re all some of my favorite producers that I’ve known for quite a while, so I feel honoured to be flexing over their tracks on this project. I think this project will also cause people to focus a little more on my bars for a change. I know I’m not the only producer/rapper that gets a lot of compliments in regards to their production but gets their raps ignored at times. Although the people that really listen to bars know what’s good.

DK: Thanks for contributing “Dash” for the #DK11 comp. Before we wrap, is there anything else you’d like to add or share about what’s coming up for you or that you haven’t had a chance to let the world know via your music or previous interviews?

Emay: I have a couple of things in the works right now. My next LP being the most important, but I’m also working on some very interesting collabs as well. One is with my dude, l-spex who is somewhat of a jack of all trades and a really talented dude. Another one is with my friend Erynne who is an amazing soul and singer. We did a little EP late last year that I will get to focus on a little more now that Sinner, Songwriter is finally complete. Other than that, I have the tendency to make random projects here and there, so we’ll see what happens.

DK: Thanks again, Emay.

Emay: Much love for putting me on the compilation and it was truly my pleasure!

Follow Emay Online: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Haven’t heard it yet? LISTEN to the Different Kitchen presents This One Goes To Eleven… album HERE

Bonus: hit the jump for Emay‘s latest release, a remix of the track, “Congo” by Bear Mountain.

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[MP3] #DK11 Project Interview with Keita Juma – YRWEONTHISBEACH?

I’ve been a fan of Toronto-based rapper, Keita Juma (fka KJ) forever or more accurately since I moved back from NYC in ’09. He was one of the first of the new wave of local acts I got put up on after I came back home. I was super psyched when he agreed to be part of my This One Goes To Eleven… 11th anniversary compilation album. If you haven’t checked out his previous albums, Water and The Headphone Album, you need to rectify that immediately! KJ’s music is some of the best, most creative stuff happening in hip hop anywhere. Anyway, I was also happy that the homie agreed to answer a few questions about his music and in particular, the track, “YRWEONTHISBEACH?” that he gave us for the #DK11 album. Read on for what he had to say…

DK: You’re from Bristol, England originally, home of Massive Attack, Portishead (kind of), Roni Size, Smith & Mighty etc. How does being from home town of that incredible musical legacy inform your music?

KJ: I only recently went back and listened to a lot of those artists and found the similarity and was shocked initially. It wasn’t my intention to make a certain kind of music, only to make music that I felt reflected my personal experience. My memory of music in Bristol as far as that sound was at St. Paul’s Festival and through pirate radio stations. The hard part about that was I never knew any of the artists names, just the sounds. Upon reconnecting with these artists music now it makes complete sense why my sound is the way it is. To add to that, my favorite jungle song when I was younger was Shy FX and UK Apachi, “Original Nuttah,” such a big riddim. I think that was around the time I left England.

DK: There was a lot of great music dropping around that time (ed note: mid 90’s). I first got up on you though from the amazing one-take “Repeat” video which I loved. The track was from equally good The Headphone Album which is 5 years old now. What’s your thoughts when you think back on making that album or listen to the music now?

KJ: I just remember being super-inspired and it all happening in my bedroom in a short span of time. I had a lot of fun doing that record, thought I was going to take over the world. It’s crazy to hear the differences now though. I think that’s why I still love that album so much. It tells a few stories, mine as a producer, a rapper and a engineer. Everything is so different, the mixes were weak (laughs), the production was very raw and the lyrics were me at that time. I’m fine with that though, nobody has been able to rush being a good/great artist, it’s a process.

DK: Talk about the progress you made as an artist and/or person from doing The Headphone Album to recording the Water album

KJ: The Headphone Album was a happy accident. I felt a vibe and made a bunch of songs and they worked together. My understanding of mixing was very basic at that time because it was before I went to school, so I wasn’t able to sonically put it where it needed to be. Water was me understanding my process, creating and writing songs how I wanted to and in a way that I was comfortable with. I engineered that album but didn’t mix it, Noel Cadastre mixed and I watched & listened. That was a huge step for me in terms of learning, learning to create on a technical level as much as being creative in production and writing. After that I felt like I knew what I wanted to do and set out on that path and that’s where Chaos Theory comes from

DK: Speaking of Chaos Theory, which is your next project, can you talk about what that’s going to be about?

KJ: Chaos Theory is about the now, but my version of now, through my eyes. This is my masterpiece project, but to be honest I felt that way about Water. I guess the major difference with Chaos Theory is that I produced, wrote, engineered, mixed and mastered the entire project. That’s the first album I’ve done that with. The funny thing is I set out to collaborate more with this project but it just didn’t turn out that way.

DK: You’ve moved as of late to recording more EP length projects (the Peephole / Beach EP & Chaos Theory) rather than full albums. Why?

KJ: Well Chaos Theory is an album now

DK: I stand corrected

KJ: Well it’s an album now because its 9 songs and could easily be 10. I like EP’s though. I’ve had ongoing convos with friends about how people don’t listen to albums and we should just slow the releases down and keep them smaller and as far as the independent scene, it looks like its happening. I like flowing projects with themes but to wait a year to put out a project nowadays is too long plus you go to the soundcloud and the first song has the most plays and the last song is just out here looking grim!

DK: You’re a bit of a left-leaning rapper in general but your track on the comp “YRWEONTHISBEACH?” is even unusual for you. It seems to be exploring themes of identity and belonging but can you talk about the inspiration, meaning and process behind the track?

KJ: Peephole/Beach was loosely based on me going to Jamaica and “YRWEONTHISBEACH?” was supposed to be about getting lost on a beach in Jamaica. I didn’t get lost on a beach in Jamaica but it made me think about experiences feeling lost. It actually turned to be about being in cottage country and feeling like you stepped in a time machine because there aren’t any black people out there. Where does one go to find the Black people when you’re up north.

DK: You’re a frequent collaborator with Brendan Philip who’s also on the This One Goes To Eleven… album. Wondering if you can talk about why you guys click so well and maybe offer your perspective on his track on the album which you produced (called “Look”)

KJ: Brendan is my brother. I’ve known him since I was 14 and I’ve grew as an artist and person through our conversations and we’ve also been making music since back then. He’s one of the few peoples whose musical opinion I trust ‘cuz he’s been up on most of the music I’m just taking in now. A lot of it I made fun of him for listening to when I was younger and now I’m like “Damnnn B, I was sleep back then.” Brendan’s naturally ahead of the curve/times though, I think that’s his X-men type gift and now he can control it and is aware and about to take sh-t over. “The Look” is just a beat I sent him and Jahmal for us to work on. I ended up getting all the vocal stems back and put the mix on it.

DK: Well it turned out dope so thank you! You and Brendan were also both part of the 88 Days collective which is pioneering the development of the black weirdo/black boho musical & cultural scene in Toronto. Talk about working with them and what you think they bring to the table musically here in the city.

KJ: 88 Days was something Toronto needed because through everything you always ended up at the art. We were just pushing our art and trying to be heard, nothing too complicated. We couldn’t get shows so we came together to put on shows wherever we could, backyards, basements, bars, did the sound ourselves. I vastly improved as a performer while we were doing our monthly/semi-monthly parties, I felt so much love and trying new sh-t was welcomed. It sounds like some cliche hippie shit but it really was about getting love, creating a safe space and being a part of a community.

Wanna hear more from Keita Juma on The Kitchen? CLICK HERE.

Follow Keita Juma online: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

[MP3 + Music Video] Interview with Emerson Windy – Black America

Emerson Windy is a new West Coast producer/MC who recently dropped the very respectable Herojuana mixtape album. I featured a few tracks from the album a couple weeks back here on the site and he just premiered a new video for another track from the album, “Black America” on HipHopDX. Windy agreed to answer a few questions for The Kitchen about the video and his album so peep game:

DK: Emerson Windy: is that your real name? If not, what’s the inspiration behind the name?

Windy: No, Emerson Windy isn’t the name my mother gave me. Part of it is though, Emerson is my middle name and Windy came from the street I was primarily raised. I heard that’s how a lot of porn stars pick their names so I tried it and it worked. As Austin Powers would say, “Yeah, baby, yeah!”

DK: You have a pretty impressive resume for a producer that many people are probably still getting familiar with. Your grind is seriously on point, no doubt. Can you talk about how you’ve managed to work with the producers and artists you have on your one sheet bio?

Windy: I had to build personal relationships with either the artist or people inside their camps in order to work with most of them, this industry is all about the relationships you forge. For my latest project, Trendsetter Sense from The Academy played the largest role in connecting me with the producers and artist featured on Herojuana.

DK: Weed and hip-hop have gone together since the beginning. Most rappers take on the half baked/stoner persona (Wiz, Curren$y, Snoop, Cypress etc.) in their music or talk about marijuana as being their stress medicine to relieve the pressure of the street life. You come at it from the persona of being the ‘Weed Man.’ How much of that is rooted in your real life or real experiences?

Windy: All of that persona is real, I became the Weed Man in college when my mother told me I needed to get a job in the off-season when football ended. I went hammer until I had a little run with the boys in blue and a few FBI agents mixed so I took it easy in the streets after that than they made it legal so I got involved in the dispensary game. Nowadays my view of the plant is so much different, it’s not a drug, it’s a medicinal flower and I’m making it my mission to change the perception of my beloved marijuana industry. I applaud states like California, Colorado, Washington and others that have recognized the benefits as well.

DK: You’re from the west coast but for the most part, except for track a like “Watching Me,” your sound feels more influenced by Trap and maybe even Drill music than traditional west coast sounds. Can you talk about your influences and inspirations as an artist and producer?

Windy: This project definitely has Trap influences, I came up a Trapstar so that type of music speaks to me as well. I loved Jeezy coming up so when I was sent trap beats, I fucked wit’ ’em but as I release more music the fans will see that I dibble and dabble in damn near every genre I can with integrity. I appreciate music, all music that speaks to my soul. If I’m inspired, I’ll create. It’s that simple. Pigeon holes are the birds, Windy flies where inspiration takes him.

DK: You just released a video for the “Black America” track from Herojuana. I’ve been re-watching The Wire and just finished the fourth season centered abound the kids at Tilghman Middle and then there’s the Mike Brown tragedy in Ferguson so your timing seems especially good. Can you talk about the song, which is a pretty strong indictment of both what’s wrong in Black America and America in general, and the video?

Windy: When I wrote the record, Mike Brown was still alive and well (R.I.P.) so “Black America” wasn’t inspired by that tragedy. The failing education system in most American inner city’s is where I drew the words from. I realized that educators are drastically under paid and so often not given the tools necessary to make a difference with children that are bombarded with imagery of drugs, guns, robbery prostitution and murder to name a few. Some schools districts which are primarily located in urban areas are so bad that teachers are struggling just as much as a family on section 8 and the only tangible evidence of financial prosperity those children may see is the D-Boy or the rappers they listen to talking about the dope game. You didn’t see Blacks killing Blacks in these numbers in America before the dope game, we fought for our rights and preached education. We were together then. I want to see us together again….

DK: Thanks for your time and for offering to do this, Windy.

Windy: Thanks for supporting.

Follow Emerson Windy online: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

[MP3] T.I. – I Do The Most Feat. Yung Booke, Young Dro, Spodee & Shad Da God

New track produced by the homie, S.I.D. (formerly of the legendary NJ old school hip hop crew, The Flavor Unit and the group, Sid & B-Tonn) and his son, Von. Heater status, no doubt!

[MP3 + Music Video] Saukrates – Kingdom Come

Lead single (produced by Snaz) from the just-released today Amani EP by veteran Toronto MC, Saukrates. This is his first official release since his Season One album which I really loved personally but which got a mixed response overall. This track should appeal to those naysayers who thought Season One wasn’t boom bap, hip hop enough. The Amani EP is also the prelude to his forthcoming Season Two album. Can’t wait….

Listen to Saukrates – Amani EP: CBC Music (premiere) | RDIO

Related:

Read an interview with Toronto Rapper, King Reign for the #DK11 Project where he talks about his long-standing creative partnership with Sauks.

Listen to an interview with Bigg Soxx on The Come Up Show podcast.