How do you go about selecting tracks to write to and once you've found something you dig, describe your process for creating a song? I know quite a few people who make beats, some locally but a lot over the internet, cats from all over North America and Europe who maybe don't have access to local emcees that they feel. As a result, I either get sent a lot of beats or come across stuff because they are looking for feedback. I usually know immediately when I hear a beat that I want to write to it, and the first couple lines write themselves. From there, I look to see where the song can go. Sometimes I'll have something that I want to write about, if theres a chorus or cuts on the track already, I'll try to play off that, and whatever the name of the beat is might lead me down a particular path. I try to knock out all 3 verses or whatever at once, otherwise I feel like various verses don't mesh well.Do you have many influences? If so, name a few and explain how they influence your work. I try to draw from a large variety of sources, many genres of music as well as non-musical sources. I can't deny the effect of political groups like PE and the Coup have had on me, and that often shows up in my subject matter. I've ripped Bob Dylan off a couple of times, one song I did starts each verse with a line from "Subterranean Homesick Blues", another is me trying to recreate "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream." I also draw a lot of influence from people around me, people I'm working with like Hired Gun, seeing how they do what they do and why they do it makes it easy to transfer some of those ideas to my craft.
In fifty years what do you want be able to say you have contributed to the art form? What are you doing now to tattoo the art with your mark as an individual? I'm just trying to make good music for today, talk about topics that are relevant to people's lives now. Good music will still be good music, even though tastes will change. I'll leave the avant garde to people that are more talented then me. Not to say that I'm not trying to do something new or original, I'm always trying to grow. But I get the feeling that there are people out there who are better at coming up with those big ideas, and I'd just get frustrated trying to outdo them, its a lot more fun to just be amazed by what they are doing and maybe follow their lead.
Do ever think about flat out quitting? If you ever have those moments how do you reverse the feeling and push forward? It happens, though not so often. Music is a big part of my life, but its not the only thing going on. When I get frustrated, I just focus on something else until I am motivated to get back to it again. That way, its always fresh and fun, and that comes through in the end product I hope.
Do you freestyle? Do ever have a hard time memorizing material? How do you get it all into your head? Freestyling is a standard at Frequency Activism shows. I just try to fill in the gaps with Gun. He's better than me, but I don't usually embarrass myself. Memorizing material has never been a problem, my verses, your verses, whatever. It's in there, not sure how it got there. I can pick stuff up after a few listens. No complaints.
Were you a good kid growing up that needed little discipline or were you constantly into something? I didn't get into too much trouble. Mostly I lived vicariously through friends and learned from their mistakes. Maybe I could have benefited from some more discipline, but I got through. I would have perfect attendance and still barely pass my classes in high school. I didn't quite follow the rules, but I never broke them enough to do any lasting damage.
What was the last book that you read? Did you enjoy it? Why or why not? Well, it was either A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole or Computational Statistics by Hoeting and Givens. The former was for pleasure, the latter because I'm teaching out of it. They're both excellent, though for different reasons, and I think I'll play it safe and only recommend the first one. The author went on to commit suicide long before the book was published, and the main character happens to spend a lot of time writing and doesn't fit into society. You get a sense that its very personal. I skipped the forward where the circumstances surrounding the author was disclosed, and was half way through before the person who loaned it to me told me about it. It really tied things together for me. The ability to be so introspective and honest with ones self is something I strive to do in my music.
myspace.com/mcstatistics
