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Errelevent Photo By Evan of Photo Doctor Graphics I saw you had a record come out recently. How is that doing? It’s doing great. It features Quinn, Kee, Guce, Keek, and a couple producers like Trax-A-Million, Baby D, Cosmo, and more. The name of that album is called “Redefinition”. The label is Relevant Music. Me and my boy Nick started the label in late 2001. How many projects have you dropped so far? I have about a total of six projects. In 2002 I released my first solo album and it was totally self produced. I had a couple of features on there like Mr. Kee, and 10sion. After that I dropped two mixtapes which were “Whether You Like It Or Not Volume One and Two.” I had a few guests on there like The Jacka, Federal, 10sion, Young Stacks, and Tayda Tay. In 2004 me and my boy 10shun dropped “Heaven Made Hell”, it was like a compilation group album that I produced. Who was featured on that project? We had Mr. Kee, Quinn, Ivan The Terrible, Bar None, Hit Makers, and others. After that I dropped another mixtape called “The True Answer” and that one had Mistah F.A.B., Big Rich and a few other folks. Last year I dropped a mixtape with Quinn which was hosted by him and DJ Strong called “The Best You Never Heard.” That was real good exposure because DJ Strong had connections and he helped put us out there in another market we had not touched. What was it like growing up in Frisco? It was cool. I lived with both of my parents and I got a lot of family around me. My family came from New York, so I got to see that side. I am a Puerto Rican and Greek. My dad is Puerto Rican and my Mom is Greek, Puerto Rican, and a little bit of Mexican. Life growing up was more on the Puerto Rican side, but I still had that Greek influence because of my grandfather. Family seems to be very important to you. Definitely. The reason I started rappin’ was because of my older brother. He was raised in the days of the B-Boys and was break dancing in the 80’s. He would break dance and have all his boys come over to the house making little tapes and shit. I was about nine or ten years old. I was watching them do that and I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I started doing that and writing rhymes back in the day. Would you say it has more of a Cali feel to it or would you say it is more East Coast? It’s a mixture of both because when I was younger I would listen to a lot of East Coast stuff like KRS-One, Brand Nubian, and Leaders Of The New School. I also listened to a lot of old school Bay Area shit out here like RBL Posse, 11/5, U.D.I., and Cold World Hustlers. That is where I got a lot of influence and I mix a lot of that. I like the East Coast stuff, and I like the West Coast stuff, so it just naturally came to me. On top of that I used to bump Geto Boys and stuff like that. You definitely are not a rookie by any means! I have been having my feet wet in this for a while. I have putting out project after project. This music really means a lot to me. Do you feature on other people’s albums? I used to do that a lot before, but recently I have been kind of laying low. Before I was on a lot of compilations and people’s mixtapes! I was on the “On One Mixtape” that B-12 and them put out, and I was also on “We Got Next” mixtape a few years back. There has been a lot of shit that I hopped on thru out the years trying to get exposure. I have been kicking back laying low lately just trying to wrap this album up and hit them with something fresh. How can you compare the new album to your previous stuff? It is a summary of what it is. That is why I named it Re-Definition. I named it that because over the years I have changed as a person, and the game has changed, and my musical style has changed. Before I was more lyrical trying to kill MCs and all that, but you have to evolve to where you are making more well rounded songs. That is the big part of it! I still got the lyrical shit and that will always be apart of me, but you have to make songs that are for everybody. You just have to evolve has an artist and a person. The game is constantly changing and you have to be able to adapt to the changes. Do you think lyrics are missing in the game right now? Definitely man! Back in the day that is why people used to buy the music for. They would be like “Man, this guy spits and I like the concept of the songs.” Now days people don’t listen to the same things anymore. That’s the evolution of rap, but when we were growing up it was about the lyrics. You appreciated the lyrical skills! There is so much money to be made right now and you get that catchy shit that anyone can catch onto and boom! you got something. It’s about the ring tones and shit now! Cats found a whole other way to make money out of this music. You have to be able to go where you can make money. Being so lyrical, does that put any pressure on you to where you feel that you have to make music a certain way nowadays to make that money? Yeah, it does and I went through all of that making this album. There is a phrase called “Dumb It Down”, and I tried to do that on a couple of occasions. I was like “Fuck man, I don’t know how to dumb it down!” I did it somewhat on songs but I still had to keep my element to it. It would be tough to have to dumb it down because what if it doesn’t fly? If it doesn’t sell you will have to go back to your old shit and then people will be like, “What happened to the dumb it down shit?” I try to do it, but it took my effort to try to do it. It is all a part of the game right now. You have to get that hit single to open up some other avenues for yourself. The key to all of this is to get yourself out there. Unfortunately the game is set up to where if you don’t roll with the future you will get left in the past! That is what it is. You have to be able to adapt, but just don’t lose your style in the process.
www.myspace.com/releventmmusic
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