-For the record, who are you and where are you from?Conscious The Renaisannce Man... Ha ha. Or just plain ol Conscious. I'm originally from Long Beach, Cali. I grew up between the Bronx & Harlem. Currently reside in theBronx.
-This is a prewritten interview, but what the hell, how are you doin Conscious?I'm doin well for the most part I've been having a great year thus far. Right now I'm trynah lay low and get my self to 100%. I've been running around alot at night have a lil bit of a throat situation now. Lost my voice like twice in the course of 2 or so weeks.
-So, how'd you first get into hip-hop?Hmmm... isn't it horrible when you ask someone a question and they can't answer. Well I'll say I really became totally immersed in it in like 98-99 of course before that I was listening to Tribe and Wu Tang during highschool but it was actually a few years after highschool that I really appreciated Hiphop for what it embodied. Listening to We Are Black Star and De La Da Stakes Is High, (My Favorite Hiphop Album to date) I basically was amazed by emcees spilling language on top of banging beats. One Day It'll All Make Sense was played until it was stolen. As was Extinction Agenda. I used to work in a theatre lighting shop before 2000 and everyday you'd hear Dr. Octagon blazing through half broken speakers.
-I'm actually headed to NYC for the first time in about a month, and I think most who haven't been there have this magical image of cultural explosion. What's the real hip hop scene in the nyc? How's it growing/expanding?Currently, NYC isn't looking too great. We get a lot of folks that travel out here just to see where all this amazing stuff began. Folks from overseas sometimes literally think you're gonna see someone breakin in the middle of every street. I think it's cool to love all that. It's wonderful. But it's 2006. Time to evolve make forward movement. Unfortunately, New York is a town where we have an abundance of talent and an abundance of not so talented. Sad thing is though we have a lot of folks that want to be independent but aren't built to be that. Artists in general fall into like 3 basic catergories. Trynah get on. Talented with no business sense. Talented with business sense but no real team to push them forward. And then you have some katz that are all together and making forward movement. So you have 4 types actually. There are individuals and groups attempting to reclaim some sorta control over our circuit. It's just gonna take a lot of work and persistance. Less crying about what's going on that they can't stand, more making things happen. The more we focus on what we can do and actually make steps towards doing it the better off we are and the faster we'll see apparant changes in the movement.
-Hip-hop in the mainstream today seems to be platinum albums, gold teeth, and rims- where's the counter-culture gone? Back Underground.
-From my memories of high school lunch- kids are holding much hyped battles... the subject matter of which was never anything really wide open, just bust on the guy in front of you. Hip-hop is about togetherness, using your voice, and edgy-ness. Where'd all the hate-matter come from?
Ha ha Puffy created that term. Man, honestly I'm about making some good music so I won't even talk about the foolishness that is going on. Progress. I'll talk about that.
-You're music is rather uplifting, artful, and outside the box. any particular influences?
Life... Ha ha. Man whatever that energy in uni-verse funnels through me falls from my pen. Then you guys hear it. I'm thrilled you feel that it's uplifting.
-You and others recently played a tribute show for J Dilla; one of I'm sure many worldwide... howd that go?
I can honestly say it was one of the greatest experiences I've ever had. I'm happy I had access to a venue and I was able to get the word out on short notice. Word travels fast over the net. There are so many people that love J Dilla. I felt that it had to be done. I wanted to get folks in the same place and enjoy what he created. It was a great opportuinity to introduce a lot of progressive folks I felt needed to meet. Have to do it again next year.
-I read somewhere you dabble in improv? are there any other talents you've shed on society we should know about?
Yeah I do a lil improv. I actually have done a lil bit of acting(You can find me on the IMDB but if I tell you my government name I'll have to hunt you down and kill you). Some modeling. I'm in a catalog for jaskclothing (
http://www.jaskclothing.com/) I started performing with poetry first about 6 years ago. I slammed. Did the Nuyorican thing. Never won a friday night spot. But performed there twice on friday. I got over not earning a spot through winning a slam pretty fast. I also paint and do various forms of visual art. Photography. There are some clothes on the way.
-What is freehiphopnow.com?
FHHN is basically a portal to information. A place to discover new artist and read new things. Educate! Enteratin! & Empower! is the motto. It all started though becuase a partner of mine wanted to give away his album. Funny we never gave away his album. FREE HIPHOP NOW really stands for free you mind. We're not attempting to force any ideaologies on visitors. Just push forward a progressive wave.
-Finally, any words of wisdom?
There are 2 kinds of people in this world. Those that make things happen. And the rest.
Take care of your health.
Be easy.
-Conscious, you're a quite the individual and I'm happy to have you enlighten me. take care friend.
You too.
http://matsumotosky.blogspot.com
Hey. We added a new blog a few days ago to our bloglist called '
When Conscious handed me this cd (Bombchelle – Blowin Up) and said give it a listen, I wondered if he’d taken to the use of narcotics (so many great artists, sadly seem to get captured by the ugly demon). Of course, even being as open minded as I am, I still have my moments. So to prove I wasn’t so irrationally bias, and could stomach just about anything, I took this very interesting looking cd, hoping that my brain would not hemorrhage. 
