Dopestylevsky in stores now! (The Xclusiv Interview)
EPRHYME’s sophmore album just hit stores and you could get it from Shemspeed direct at a discount right now!
Click for CD ($9.99) or MP3 ($6.99)
Now for an exclusive interview with the man himself!
Q: Is there such a thing as a sophmore slump? doesn’t sound like it here. a lot of times mainstream groups try and emulate their first album with just enough changes to make it new, but not enough to lose their audience. how did you approach this record? it sounds very different from your first?
A: Yeah, i definitely did not approach this album as just another replica of what i did with the last project. im a pretty restless soul, and that comes out in my music and wiritng. for me the creative process is both reflective and revelatory, so there i try to strike a balance between mirroring back what i am experiencing and where i am at during the creation of an album, as well as trying to reach beyond my current place and perspective, to bring back something new for and from myself. i can pretty confidently say that my next project will also sound significantly different than what i did here. i also worked with alot more live musicians on this album than the last one, which was primarily sample based. so i think that collaborative spirit really helped shape the album in unexpected and exciting directions. and also i think ‘waywordwonderwill’ was a meditiation on the ‘content’ of the songs, while ‘dopestylevsky’ was more of a meditation on ‘context’ and style…i really approached this project as a way to present the palette of styles and cadences that i have been working with and developing over the last decade or so…
Q: Shemspeed called this record ‘the John Coltrane of hip-hop’ what did that mean to you?
A: Well, um, i was very flattered. it’s a bold statement, and definitely not one that i would make myself about my own music…but being that john coltrane is my very musician and patron saint, it is very rewarding to know that at least some of the same passion and yearning and exploration that comes through in his music, might also come through in mine…but i know my music will never be on ‘the coltrane level’ until im practicing 14 hours a day…now thats commitment to development of a craft…i rhyme sometimes….that dude was a human saxophone…
Q: Basquiat was asked if he considered himself a painter, or a black painter. which brings us to our next question, do you consider yourself a rapper or a Jewish rapper?
A: That’s a good question. i don’t have a solid answer for it to be honest. i am really exploring that kind of stuff right now, with my own creative development, as well as with different groups of people and classes etc…im actually facilitating a discussion at the moishe house in portland, or. next wednesday on this ver topic, it’s called: “just art vs. jewish art”, and we will be exploring this very question. right now where im at, is that i do see a qualitative difference between being a ‘jew that raps’, and being a ‘jewish rapper’…so i think ultimately im both…but definitely alot of my writing and sound is pulling directly from our collective sample bank of symbols and stories and riffs etc…lately i have been thinking of myself as a renaissance MC…meaning that i want to represent a spirit of renaissance in the arts and culture and market of ideas within our jewish community, as well as within the global village at large…i want to add a contemporary jewish voice to the cultural dialogue…
Q: Do you respect writers or musicians more?
A: I respect any artist who takes their craft seriously and puts their whole self into what they are doing. whether thats music or writing or dancing or painting or torah or cooking…that ‘whole self involvement’ really transfers, and people can feel it in your work…
Q: Who is the music equivalent of jonathan safron foer?
A: You stumped me….hahaha
