Artist Interview: Denzel Aquarius'Killa CuRRy

Lurking out the Badlands of Florida is the RVIDXR KLVN, a collective of young artists who have taken the underground rap scene by storm with their unique DIY take on the genre, filling their music with homages and nods to the past but still keeping it fresh. One of the younger members, Denzel Curry, was able to lend us some time to talk a little about himself and hopefully shed a little light on the still little-known collective.

Me: Introduce yourself to the masses who might not know who you are just yet. What do you bring to the table?

Curry: Well... shit my name is Denzel Curry AKA Raven Miyagi or Aquarius'Killa. I'm a part of the rap collective RVIDXR KLVN and don't expect anything to the table. Expect the unexpected.

Me: What does the "Aquarius'Killa" part of your name come from/stand for?

Curry: I was born in Feb 16 on 1995 which makes me an Aquarius, the Killa part comes in cuz I kill any beat. I get speaking on subjects [such] as murder and etc.because this shit is real where I'm from.

Me: How many total mixtapes/albums do you have out?

Curry: 2. Next question.


Me: I'm a huge fan of Goodie Mob, so when I heard you going in over the "Black Ice" beat I had it on repeat for a long while. That's probably my favorite song from you.

Curry: Respects to you and Dungeon Family.

Me: Most people see RVIDXR KLVN and only think SpaceGhostPurrp, if anything at all. Is 2012 more about getting the whole KLVN noticed for you guys? 

Curry: Most likely yes because we are getting recognition from our big bro SpaceGhostPurrp and bloggin' sites like Mishka ,Fader, Steady Bloggin , Cracked Atoms, etc.


Me: How many members of RVIDXR KLVN are there approximately? 

Curry: I'm not gonna count because I don't wanna miss no one but it's many.

Me: Is SGP's 4AD debut going to feature a ton of you guys? With such a high profile label handling it, it could be huge for you guys.

Curry: I hope we are featured on his debut album. Even if we not featured, there will be many albums by him and us to come when we all can be together.

Me: Have you guys thought of starting up your own label? 

Curry: Yes. We did RVIDXR KLVN records.

Me: A lot of RVIDXR KLVN members and affiliates have already dropped mixtapes and albums in 2012. Do you have a personal favorite out of any of them (besides yours of course)?

Curry: Mink Rug by Metro Zu,G Funk Resurrection by Yung Simmie,The History of Dough Dough by Dough Dough da Don,God of Black by SpaceGhostPurrp, 1996 by Mike Dece , 1994 EP by Amber London , The Wolf Gang's Rodolphe by ETHELWULF, H.O.E: Hell on Earth by Chri$ Travi$, PRXPXR BXYZ by Proper Boyz, Thug Isolation by Lil Ugly Mane, Ill Life by J.K. the Rapper.

Me: We know old school Prophet Entertainment/Hypnotize Minds is a huge influence on your music but what native Florida acts have had significant influence as well?

Curry: Trick Daddy, Uncle Luke, Uncle Al, Gunplay of Triple C's, JT Money, and Poison Clan. They are some of my main influences from Florida.

Me: Any word on a RVIDXR KLVN album? You guys should do a mixtape going over DJ Paul/Juicy J beats. 

Curry: The RVIDXR KLVN tape will be on its way when things is good and ready and we going to have our own beats... I mean I respect the old school Three Six style but that was them and it's our era now.

Me: When are we getting a whole RVIDXR KLVN tour? When you guys decide to do one, you better come to Chicago!

Curry: I honestly don't know but when Purrp gives us the word you will know. For now we are holding it down in our home towns.

Me: How would you feel if I told you the Bulls are going to rape the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals and win the whole thing? 

Curry: And I would say I raped your mom and hid her body in the closet.

Me: One thing that is evident with you guys is you all have a pretty good fashion sense. What is THE shoe for Spring 2012?

Curry: Fuck fashion I wear things I'm comfortable with.

Me: What should the people be on the look out for in the rest of 2012 in regards to Denzel Curry? Any cool collaborations in the works?

Curry: Well look out for music videos. I'm not releasing anything from my vault until I do succesful music videos with samurai swords, blood, and pistols. Sorta like Kill Bill.

Me: If someone were to ask you "Who the hell is Denzel Aquarius'Killa CuRRy?", what would you respond with?

Curry: Eat a sack of baby dicks and download my tape


Me: Thanks for your time man and know that everything you come out with has a 2nd home here at Oh.Globe. 2012 is yours to take!

Curry: May the force be with you bruh bruh!!!!

You can stream Denzel Aquarius'Killa CuRRy's first mixtape below or download it here.           

 

Download Mixtape | Free Mixtapes Powered by DatPiff.com

You can stream  Denzel Aquarius'Killa CuRRy's latest mixtape below or download it here.

Download Mixtape | Free Mixtapes Powered by DatPiff.com

Follow  Denzel Aquarius'Killa CuRRy on Twitter:

@KLVNRAVENCURRY

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Artist Interview: Has-Lo

I am going to go out and just let it out in the opening sentence: Mello Music Group is probably my favorite up and coming label out right now. Because of this, having the opportunity to chat with one of the most unique artists in the MMG roster, Philadelphia-born Ha-Lo, was obviously very special for me. We featured him on our 2012 Oh.Globe freshmen list for good reason. I made sure to take advantage of this Q&A to gain some more info on Has-Lo's group The Wrecking Crew, his future with Mello Music Group, and his planned releases for 2012. Check it out.

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Artist Interview: CASTLE

Last week, Greensboro, NC producer and rapper CASTLE and his new EP Tasting was featured on Oh.Globe. You can check out the article here. I had a chance to get to know the artist a little better, seeing how he is collaborating with some pretty big names. We talked his up bringing, his future collaborations, and even his thoughts of quitting. Check it out.


Me: You listed a bunch of East Coast artists as influences to your music. Being from NC, have any Southern artists influenced you?

CASTLE: No Limit and Outkast were big influences on me when I was a kid. Outkast satisfied my need for complexity, and No Limit was just live.

Me: What was your favorite No Limit release?

CASTLE: As far as albums? Good Girl Gone Bad by Mia X. she was hands down the best MC in that crew to me.

Me: What was it like to grow up in a household full of musicians?

CASTLE: Loud. Haha. Music was played constantly in my house, from blues to rap to hard rock.

Me: Did that wide range of genres played influence your sample choices for your beats in the future?

CASTLE: Definitely. There's a good number of beat makers that stick to soul records, which is cool...but there's so many different sounds you can play with in genres like blues or psych rock. I say about 80% of records I sample are from foreign musicians.

Me: When you told me about yourself for the Artist Spotlight, you mentioned that your dad put you on a track when you were a kid. What happened to that track?

CASTLE: In cassette tape heaven more than likely. Haha. If i could find it again, I would release it in a second. It'd be a good laugh.

Me: What did you do?

CASTLE: To the tape?

Me: On the song.

CASTLE: Ah, yes. I blessed the track with one bar. It was a song about how bratty me and my sister was.

Me: I first heard about you through a wall post from producer Small Professor's Facebook. Apparently you two are working together. How did you meet him?

CASTLE: Okayplayer.com, but we actually didn't start talking until I got the balls to create a Twitter account. I reached out to him, told him I was a big fan of the music he shared on the boards, and we've been linked up ever since. Smalls is a cool ass dude.

Me: What kinda stuff do you guys have planned?

CASTLE: We've toyed with this idea called N*ggas with Physics Books or N.W.P.B., since me and smalls are science geeks. If all goes according to plan, we'll have an album's worth of material before the year ends. All we really have to do is decide how it's ultimately going to sound.

Me: That would be really sick. Would you rap over his beats or would you add production too?

CASTLE: A mixture of both, which was his idea. I actually had no intention of rapping on it at first. I'm excited to get to work though.

Me: Besides Small Pro, who else are you in the lab with?

CASTLE: Right now I'm working with the members of a crew that Smalls is a part of: The Wrecking Crew. Has-Lo, Zilla Rocca, and Curly Castro. Crazy MC's. I'm also working with a producer named Why?Arcka. That guy is incredible on the beats. Then there's a group called Loud Gang that I've been producing for. They have some stuff coming pretty soon. There's more, but the list is too long. Collaborating is my mission this year.

Me: You also mentioned thoughts about quitting. Why is that?

CASTLE: Talking out of my ass for the most part. Every time I tell myself that music isn't worth it and "quit", I end up coming right back. Unfortunately they don't have clinics for recovering hip hop junkies. I did have to take a short hiatus though. Needed to find my bearings; start resting more, eating healthier, et cetera.

Me: If someone was to ask you "Who the hell is CASTLE and why should I listen to him?", what would you respond with?

CASTLE: I'd tell them "because CASTLE 'creates art so that life elevates.' you want those groceries in plastic or paper bags?"

Me: Haha, well your music backs up the talk. Good luck to everything you do with your music man and just know that Oh.Globe has your back with any of your future releases and collabs.

CASTLE: Word 'em up. I 'preciate you taking time out to listen and getting to know me.

Me: Fasho, the world needs a sneek peak at CASTLE before he blows up.

CASTLE: Haha, good shit!

You can download CASTLE's new free EP off his Bandcamp here or stream it here:

CASTLE's Bandcamp: http://castle.bandcamp.com/

CASTLE's Twitter: @cstlnova

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Artist Interview: Supreme Regime

Supreme Regime

Yesterday, the Oh.Globe spotlight was on up and coming Chicago collective Supreme Regime. You can read the Artist Spotlight and listen to their tunes here. In the Spotlight, I mentioned an interview with member Loud Mouth. Well, I was able to also get input from another member, Jommis Jettison. Here is my conversation with a fraction of the magnificent Supreme Regime.


Me: First off, identify yourself. What's your stage name and what do you contribute to Supreme Regime?

Loud: My stage name is Loud Mouth and I bring grimey, offensive, and often emmotional lyrics to the group.

Me: Who is all in Supreme Regime?

Loud: Right now, we have a production unit also known as Green Iris who make all of our original beats. We started off with three emcees, and added the newest/younger member a couple weeks back. He's a fifteen year old emcee that goes by Smiley Nahsa.

Me: And everybody is from Chicago?

Loud: Yessir Chi born and raised.

Jettison: I'm from Northside Chicago. Pulaski and Elston.

Me: That's pretty close to me...Portage Park area here.

Jettison: That's what's up. I fuck with the Chi...I need to tour though. I'm bigger than this city. For real. We gon' make it in a second.

Me: Has growing up in Chicago influenced your music in anyway? Are you guys big fans of any local Chicago giants like the Molemen?

Loud: Growing up in Chicago has definately influenced our music in one way or the other. We definately support local artists that are on the uprise.

Me: What's the story behind the name "Supreme Regime"?

Loud: I actually wasnt behind the origin of the name, I came in after Jesse and Paul already had the name so you're going to have to go through them for that one.

Jetisson: I came up with it kinda on a whim cause it sounds cool. It's not really anything too deep. It just sounds cool. I would like to find the perfect name but it hasn't hit me yet. We are dope (Supreme) and we are a squad (Regime). It's a wonderful family that has all different skills.

Me: How did you all meet each other?

Jetisson: High school essentially.

Me: Ahh ok. Have you guys reached out to other local buzzing Chicago artists? Guys like Rockie Fresh and Calez are making noise.

Loud: We are definitely fans of both of them. However, right now we're lacking a manager so its kind of hard to get into contact with other artists. We would love to work with them in the near future if that becomes an option. However, we have talked to Chance from Savemoney about possible future collabs but nothing's set in stone. We'll see what happens.

Jetisson: Supreme Regime and Chance a lil', but its really just Supreme. Why do we need anyone else? We got it all: hooks, flows, lyrics, and creativity. We're bout this. I'm living for this.

Me: Whatever's on your Soundcloud is what I know about Supreme Regime. Is there a tape or album out? If not, what's the timetable for one?

Loud: Glad you asked. Our Soundcloud is just a ragtag bunch of singles to create some type of portfolio. We've been working on an all original album called Sloane Peterson that will be dropping within the next two months. The only song that's out to the public right now from the album is S.O.G.

Me: Ferris Bueller's Day Off reference haha. That's one of my favorite movies.

Loud: Exactly, so Chicago. And Sloane is a bad bitch so it was only right.

Me: What's your favorite hot dog joint in the Chi?

Loud: Definitely Sam's Red Hots on Armitage and Western. May 15 is the release date for Sloane by the way.

Me: Oh for sure. When that drops, we'll be all over it.

Loud: Sounds good. We appreciate the support man.

Me: One last question. If someone was to ask you "who the hell is Supreme Regime and why should I listen to them?", what would you respond with?

Loud: I'd tell him Supreme Regime are just some real ass Chi-Town cats, tryna change music and that they should listen because I guarantee they never heard or will hear anything like it.

Jetisson: Just know that we ain't a fusion of old and new hip hop, we are SUPREME REGIME. We are forever this new breed of hip-hop. It ain't labeled.

Me: Your music really should do all the talking, it's dope. Well, good luck to you guys and know that whatever you guys drop has a home at Oh.Globe.

Loud: Much appreciated man, thanks for the love.

Jetisson: Supreme Regime will bandage every cut. We're covering the globe.

Supreme Regime's Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/supreme_regime

Follow Supreme Regime on Twitter: @Supreme_Regime

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Artist Interview: Emperor Bohe

Yesterday I highlighted the work of 20 year old Toronto producer Emperor Bohe here. I've known about his work for a while but he's still getting his feet wet in the game. I decided to try to get to know the beatsmith a little better since I do enjoy his music so much. I hit him up and we discussed what makes Emperor Bohe the expert musician he is today.

Me: I've been listening to your music for a long while. When I first heard about you, you were in a group called the Rhythm Voyagers Crew. What happened to that?

Bohe: To be honest, there really isn't an exact answer to that unfortunately. There may have been some creative issues, and there may have been some management issues. The RVC has never officially disbanded though, our work as a group just started to slow down... I guess. We've all remained on good terms with each other. On my album The Fantastic, a good amount of RVC members are on that. And of course, I also dropped an album with BE.water. Maybe we will start working together as a group again someday...we'll see. It's kind of like the Native Tongues....they had their down times.

Me:  Your album Elevator Music is a collaboration with RVC member PCO and is by far my favorite from you. Do you and PCO keep in touch at all?

Bohe: Of course. I've always considered PCO as a great friend of mine. We haven't really collaborated with each other musically for a while since the release of Elevator Music aside from a few random tracks, but we've always kept in touch since then. He's actually working on a solo album right now with a few different producers. I don't know if you've heard his first album, Dreamchaser, but it's kind of like that. I've already given him a few beats for that, so be on the look out.

Me: Who were your favorite artists growing up?

Bohe: To be honest, I didn't realize how much I loved music until I was like 13 or 14 years old. My dad has a great taste in music. I didn't really appreciate it until I got older. A broad range of music from classic soul to Doggystyle by Snoop Dogg haha. But growing up, I was definitely inspired by the Wu-Tang Clan the most. Especially the RZA, he is hands down the most influential producer to my style.

Me: Has growing up in Canada influenced your music at all?

Bohe: I'd guess so. Toronto is a very multicultural city so it is without a doubt that I've absorbed bits and pieces from all of the different musical backgrounds that are prominent in this city. But mainly, I'd say my style is mostly influenced by that gritty east coast style hip hop.

Me: From your style to your ability, how would you say your music has evolved from your first album Elevator Music in 2007 to your latest album Free Health Care, a collaboration with Broken Pen, in 2011?

Bohe: Oh man, so much as changed haha. When I was making Elevator Music, I used Sony Acid Pro exclusively for making beats. Nowadays, I use Ableton Live, an Akai Pro MPD26, and a M-Audio Oxyven V2 midi keyboard. I've always tried to make every album sound fresh, if someone listens to all of the albums that I had a major producing role in, they would notice that they all have a different sound from each other. A lot of people love the sound that I had on Cassette Tapes with BE.water, which was a throwback to the boom bap era of rap. So I'm going to try to make some more music in that vein. I'm a big fan of the sound I achieved on Free Health Care though, I learned a lot while making that album. Broken Pen is a producer as well, and I've learned a lot of techniques from him.

Me: I always thought your sampling in Elevator Music was top notch. It's incredible that you had such an amazing ear for samples at 16 years old.

Bohe: Thank you, I appreciate it. Once again, that ear for samples was trained while I was growing up listening to my Dad's vast library of music. He has actually given me all of his vinyls recently, so going through all of those records for samples has been amazing.

Me: What's the timetable for a new project? Are you working on anything right now?

Bohe: I'm working on another "solo" album right now. It's going to be in the same vein as my album The Fantastic, which means various other rappers over my beats. It's going to be called Focal Point, and I'm gonna drop it when it's done. I'm gonna take my sweet ass time with this project haha. I can't talk much about the rappers that are going to be on the album as the recording process hasn't been finalized yet. You'll probably recognize most of the artists that will be on the album. One artist that I can confirm for the album right now is Craig G from the legendary Juice Crew. I can't wait to release that track!

Me: How did you get him on board?

Bohe: Twitter, believe it or not. I showed him a few of my beats and he agreed to spit over one of them.

Me: That's pretty sick. I discovered your music a long time ago on a hip-hop forum that we both frequent. You were promoting it. On that same forum, like 7 years ago, you made a daily series of topics about the best song from an album from that day that reached up to 200 days. You don't know this, but that topic helped shape my underground hip-hop taste. For that, I say thank you.

Bohe: You're welcome. Oh man, that was so long ago. I barely remember anything about that haha. I vaguely remember participating in those topics. I would say the community helped shaped your hip hop taste more so than myself.

Me: Well, still haha. One last question. If someone were to ask you "Who the hell is Emperor Bohe and why should I listen to him?", what would your response be?

Bohe: I would show them that I make dope beats, with the tracks to prove it and I don't mean to sound cocky haha, but it is what it is. Either they feel my music or they don't. If they don't, then it's their loss. Man, that sounded cocky as fuck, didn't it? Hahahahaha. My bad. Despite all of that, I would say I'm humble as hell.

Me: You make some amazing beats bro so even if it was cocky, it's justified haha. Good luck with everything you do with your music in the future and know that everything you drop has a home at Oh.Globe!

Bohe: No doubt! I appreciate the interview. I wish you guys all of the best. Don't forget to listen to Focal Point when it drops!

Emperor Bohe's Bandcamp: http://emperorbohe.bandcamp.com/

Emperor Bohe's Tumblr: http://emperorbohe.tumblr.com/


Emperor Bohe's Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/emperor-bohe

Follow Emperor Bohe on Twitter: @EmperorBohe

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