Archive for the “Interview” Category
Boy, oh boy, where I do I start with this one? I mean, they call me Breeze as I tend to remain calm and Breezy in most any situation, but when I heard I was going to be able to interview this cat I must admit I geeked out a little bit. Ever since I heard his ‘07 album Pavement Special, I’ve been forcing his music on anyone and everyone who gives me the time of day. Like constant collaborater Blu, Sene is one of a new wave of young MCs who are coming into the game with a new approach to the game (or should I say revived) by not only giving us sound diversity, but by actually showing us what it means to rap. Only 22 years old, Sene may lack in the “my swag is greater than thou swag” department, but compensates ten times over in the field of being a real rude who speaks to his listeners about real shit rather than that which is trivial. If you’re a fan of Sene, then you know how hard it is to find anything about his personal life or just about his music in general, so peep the interview to get all of those questions about upcoming projects, personal history, political views and more answered and if you’re not already a fan, debt it up to Sene when you finish.
Name: Sene
Affiliations: Nostrand Classics / Bridgetown / Have (K)nots.
Age: 22
Hood/Hometown: Circle. 52.286.Bedford.Sheepshead. Brooklyn
Most Recent Release: Elevator Music: A Collection of rejected Excellence.
Record Label: Independent / ShamanWork.
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WGTJ: As an avid listener of your works for sometime, I would stylistically and lyrically compare you to the likes of Blu (who you’ve collaborated with on several occasions), Emilio Rojas, Illa J and Prince Ali (Toronto), but tell us… who do you think you are?
Sene: You mentioned some real dope cats. To be honest, I don’t really make many comparisons on cats including myself. Once in a while when the content and presentation is pretty spot on, or if I’m strongly reminded by someone I’ll make a comparison. Other than that, shit.. It’s probably my downfall… I don’t really think about what I can be compared to or boxed in with. I know it’s a big marketing tool; but I just make music talkin’ about things I’d like to talk about and don’t really curb it based on trend. I guess you could say I’m stubborn and personable. Even though I’m doing what I please and only that; Based on some of the experiences I’ll put out into lyrics and word out, I would hope people can find it personable.
WGTJ: Of all of the things you have in common with the previously mentioned cats aside from the fact that you’re all young and talented, you all seem to have a love for jazz tinged beats and introspective lyrical content, two aspects of hip-hop that came into style in the early 90s and unfortunately seems to be dying down (in the mainstream). Would you consider some of the jazzier hip-hop acts as your main influences or even the original jazz acts they sampled… maybe neither?
Sene: As far as cadence, yea earlier hip hop definitely had an influence. Jazz is the birth of freestyle in my eyes so obviously that plays a large roll too. I like to hit a beat like an extra instrument on the track as opposed to an extra sound forcing its way on a song. It seems over time cats were more worried about coming off as aggressive as opposed to articulate. Blu said somethin’ to me when we first cyphered together that kinda stuck… you can rap to people…or talk to people. Either one is cool. But if u can mix both and talk in raps to people thats dope..I’d rather have people feel like I’m talkin’ to them rather than barking or foolin’ them or selling them products.
WGTJ: A lot of heads I’ve introduced your music to initially think you’re from somewhere other than the United States, particularly from somewhere in Scandinavia. I can definitely see the similarities between you and acts like Pete Philly & Perquisite as well as LoopTroop Rockers, so I’m curious to know… Do you get this a lot?
Sene: Damn. Never heard that before.
WGTJ: As far as I know you’ve spent most of your life (if not all of it) in the United States but your parents are immigrants; immigrants who weren’t too fond of your listening to rap/participating in the culture as a child. Where exactly are your parents from? Was there really objection towards hip-hop in your household?
Sene: Yea I was born in raised in Brooklyn NY. My family spread from Sheepshead Bay Coney Island area to Flatbush area and even Red Hook. My mother grew up in Puerto Rico and then some years in Jamaica before coming to Brooklyn. I’ve been to Puerto Rico a bunch growing up. My father was born n raised in Brooklyn’s Nostrand Projects. My pops was more into music that was big in the Vietnam era. Pavement Special is a play on a term a South African girl told me. She said that’s a nasty way of saying mixed race individuals. I come from a mixed background so I thought that was dope.
Read the rest of the interview over at WeveGotTheJazz.com.
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New interview over at www.wevegotthejazz.com. MC/Producer of Tanya Morgan drops info on his latest release, the creation of Tany Morgan, what’s next for Tanya Morgan and even lets us know his Top 5 MCs.
Name: Von Pea
Affiliations: Tanya Morgan (is a rap group), The Lessondary
Age: 27
Hood/Hometown: Brooklyn, Ny
Most Recent Release: Tanya Morgan “The Bridge EP” and “The Further Adventures of Von Pea” Mixtape
Record Label: Interdependent Media
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WGTJ: To begin with, for readers who aren’t familiar with your previous solo efforts or your work as a member of Tanya Morgan,can you tell readers who you are? What role do you play as a member of Tanya Morgan as well as in hip-hop in general?:
Von Pea: Well im Von Pea of the rap group Tanya Morgan, im the mc/producer of the group, if we were the original slum village, for example, I guess I’m Jay Dee. I do some rapping and I push the buttons, Donwill is the lead role like T3 and Ilyas is the crazy one that’s secretly a genius like Baatin (haha) actually he’s Elzhi too. He stays in the cut and he’s dope as a motherfucker. our role in hip hop is just to play our part. hip hop is a team and we’re gonna be the small forward playing his role, but were gonna have more rings than anyone else in the end.
WGTJ: As a somewhat avid listener of Tanya Morgan records, I would personally group you with acts such as Danny!, Kenn Star, Median, Kidz in the Hall and of course Little Brother on a basis of lyrical content, production and overall vibe. With that stated, the majority of the aforementioned groups are from the South (Kidz in the Hall is a Midwestern act). Assuming the connection is there, what acts helped to mold the overall sound of Von Pea and Tanya Morgan?:
VP: That’s funny you name those people because I’m either friends or genuinely cool with everyone you just named. That’s a great list to be apart of for me. Actually i think Double-O is from New Jersey or something. Ilyas and Don are Midwest too, and I think that all lends to people having an East Coast/90s influence but from the outside so they all appreciated it in a different way. For me I was the baby in the family for years so I thought I was older and I had all the late 80’s hip hop at the time yet I was born in 81. When I poke fun at myself that’s the Fresh Prince, when I’m boasting that’s Phife Dawg and Big Daddy Kane. When I’m introspective its Posdnuos, my desire to stand out is De La Soul, my wordplay is Common, my album orchestration/sequencing is Prince Paul and ?uestlove, and my production started by listening to the Ummah, so that’s how I ended up being Von Pea. Take all of that and add in the Geto Boys threat,Ice Cube etc. and you get the influence of Donwill and Ilyas. Me being the guy from New York when i was coming up, I only knew New York stuff and Death Row/Hieroglyphics/Outkast. I missed a lot of classic albums because NY was known for not showing outside love back then, unfortunately. I just checked for the radio stuff back then, luckily back then it was classic shit. I’m talking about early 90s.
WGTJ: One of my most thoroughly bumped track off of The Bridge EP (Interdependent Media) has to be Hip Hop Is Dead II. Towards the end of the track you state “They keep sayin’ hip-hop is dead, but I can’t believe it/ I just can’t see it”. It seems throughout the past 3 years or so a lot of cats have also been questioning the livelihood/current state of hip-hop. Although this sentiment is steadily turning around with the growing popularity of so-called “hipster” acts such as Wale, The Cool Kids, Kid CuDi, Jay Electronica etc., I’ve gotten the idea that a lot of East Coast cats are still not feeling like hip-hop is really back to where it should be. A Brooklynite yourself, why do you still have faith in the art? :
VP: I think hip-hop is fine personally. I could rant about this question for like 4 paragraphs but, I’ll keep it short. There’s so much good hip hop out there that’s current. The problem is everything else. Like I said I could be on this answer all day so I’ll just attack my latest beef (ha ha): The whole “hipster rap” label. Was “my Adidas” hipster rap? when Nas said “…and im a Nike head” or “suede Timbs on my feet make my cypher complete” was he on some hipster shit? Rappers have rapped about their clothes forever. Everybody had beef with Biggie for talking about his Coogis etc., but when he died everybody was in love with him. Have you stopped to look at what Black Thought wears? Or what De La soul Wears? These cats have better chains than mainstream rappers. If you stop to listen to some of the so called “hipster” rappers they’re nice as hell. Better yet, some even have more content than so called “conscious” rappers. We don’t really get that label, but I’m just standing up for those colleagues that unfairly do like Kidz in the Hall and Pacific Division.
Read the entire interview here.
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Another test post:
In my search for sites to add RSS Feeds from, I was disappointed that
Okayplayer still does not have up their RSS Feed (it really is long overdue ?uest), but I was pleasantly surprised at the site’s new facelift. Okayplayer always has some of the best news from the conscious music scene and is also good about greenlighting promising cats, so check them out. Here’s an Okayplayer interview from the UK’s own Dizzee Rascal. I’ve been into dude for about two years now (you might remember him from the 2007 BET Awards show cypher), but he’s making his US debut with the album titled Maths & English on Definitive Jux April 29th (got released in Europe ages ago).
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The few days spent with the 5MC community surpassed my highest expectations!
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