What made you focus on the esoteric for As Above So Below?
Oh man, I’ve always been into that kind of stuff just given my life and things that I have experienced. It’s just really really fucking cool, it fascinates the shit out of me. I love history and I’d love to be a professor of hip-hop or some shit one day and I just think the stronger you understand the power of certain knowledge you can time travel kind of. You’re reaching the same thoughts and the same frequencies that were thought of not too long ago, you go back into time and look into how amazing certain buildings or structures were and it really wasn’t that different. I think that’s why I’m interested in older music too, these guys were geniuses and we just need to remind ourselves of that all the time, of Frank Zappa or my man Alan Parsons. I think it all correlates in that regard.
You also dedicated an album to Dexter Wansel.
That’s one of the funkiest keyboarders, dude is just the man. I just really really took to his music when I came across certain songs. Hip-hop is a lens for me, I see a lot of my favourite songs and I see what they sample and look into the original songs. I think how I got into the Dexter Wansel stuff was “The Cool” by Lupe Fiasco, which was a song that I really liked and it was produced by Kanye West and I just found the original sample from that. I started listening to a lot of untouched gems and stuff that was on the internet or YouTube like “oh my god, this is some of the most potent shit I’ve ever heard.” I just love it, the whole Philadelphia sound and everything that came out of that era was just so righteous, they were playing their asses off and I love it.
Tell us about your Supreme Team DJ mixes on Soundcloud.
It’s homage to the 1980s radio of Mr Magic, the world famous Supreme Team of Newark, WHBI as well as Kiss Fm and the whole radio rivalries. How blogs essentially became what radio was in terms of breaking records was really what I wanted to allude to and just never forget how powerful someone like a Frankie Crocker or some of these really awesome DJs were.
Because your dad is so renowned and he’s a pioneering musician, is he also one of your harshest critics at times?
I’d definitely say he’s one of my toughest critics by far, by absolute far. Especially more recently, in the past couple of years. It’s good though, I know he’s involved and I know he gives a shit and I know he’s really really listening which is great. Like hyper listening and I know he likes it which is cool. We go back and forth making beats sometimes, but I know there’s things I’m able to do that are an extension of what he wants to do.
Does he still listen to a lot of new music? You know there’s a stereotype about hip-hop legends as grumpy old heads who hate everything new.
That’s so funny. I think somewhat because my dad, he’s in his own kind of world in that regard only in terms of the music that he plays and the stuff he’s around. He knows what works, he knows what the classic “make you want to get up and dance records” are and he holds tight to that. He’s definitely really open to new things, but he’s always re-cultivating things and remixing songs that have been out for eons. Doing his own thing. I guess I can see that, but I always put him onto new things and he doesn’t quite get it until it gets a big nod from a record company or aside from that, but he’s pretty open with new stuff.
I’m sure he can appreciate the more lyrical guys like Kendrick Lamar or even Nas is still making great records.
Yeah, of course he’s up on that, but even Kendrick now has a huge nod from Interscope. I was talking about Kendrick when he was K.dot when we both had our music put up on Kevin Nottingham at the same time. It was just one of those things where I would have loved to have been like “yo, dad let’s bring this new guy from Compton, I hear he’s really dope, bring him to the studio.”
I read a Tweet where you said “I think it’s corny when some people’s parents have vendettas against my dad and they use their kids to try set up traps in the music business.” Is this something that you encounter, people are that petty?
Yes, all the time. There will be something that pre-dates me but I’m the one that has to deal with it or some sort of “oh well your dad was a jerk to me.” Something stupid and it’s like whatever, holding onto a grudge of one little small nothing that really wasn’t that big of a deal. They look for any kind of reason to see you in a negative light. I encounter that sometimes. There are people who still work in the industry to this day that hold their grudges, they could still be at Def Jam or anywhere.
You’re trying to stand on your own as an artist, but your dad is a legend in the game. Do you ever get tired of talking about him, where you want to be known as yourself rather than as Marley Marl’s son?
Yeah for the most part, that’s every angle or selling point that’s ever used. Everybody who I’ve ever worked with like that, it’s always the huge huge sell point. Initially, no one is supposed to know, my early releases I’d just drop them on my own and not even really care. But it’s not something I can escape like alright I’ll take it for what it is and still try to do my own thing, it’s always going to be there because it’s in my name, I can’t do anything about it.
What’s next for you?
Well, I always have my hand in a lot of projects. I’ve been really tied up with a lot of different things. We put together shows in the city, I’ve been doing that a lot, just throwing parties or shows at Webster Hall or somewhere downtown with some of friends just really doing some cool stuff. I’m trying to get into the technology world with music and help cultivate some cool things with enhancing the music experience. I’ll always have three, four, five projects lined up, I’m definitely dropping something really soon, a beat tape that is just a by-product of all of these other great activities. That’s really how my music comes to be, As Above So Below is a perfect example as all of that stuff is a by-product of my life experiences at that time so I’ve got to make it tangible in some way.
Who would you love to work with?
It would be really cool to work with Q-Tip, if I had to pick a favourite producer without a bias I’d say in terms of the hiphop aesthetic that I really appreciate the most it would definitely be Q-Tip. God bless the dead, if I could bring Dilla back I’d love to work with him. Pete Rock I still haven’t worked with and would love to. Another rapper that has unfortunately passed on, Charizma from Peanut Butter Wolf and Charizma. That’s like the dopest swag right there. And of course Nas. Large Pro. My friends Ratking.
I’d love to work with Stevie Wonder or some shit. I’m a big fan of Robert Glasper, Thundercat, Flying Lotus I love that shit. I really really really like Thundercat and Robert Glasper. Joey Bada$$ is pretty cool, but I turned down being a member of Pro Era because they didn’t want to set me up right. They wanted me to do like five gigs for free on some real sucker shit and I wasn’t really bout it. But you know, that’s still a homie. We still hang out aside from music and shit. We got a close circle.
Is there something you’re trying to achieve with your music in particular?
I’m not sure, I guess it’s a little ambiguous but I think as long as you’re able to get something from it. I mean, I’m putting so much stuff into it. Everything from knowledge to just some cool sounds but as long as you like something that’s what I’m cool with. I think I just want to preserve and teach what I know as the truth or what I know as reality from my perspective and hopefully I can help create and cultivate an enlightened culture through hip-hop or music in general. Sun Ra is my dude and I really love what he stands for and I feel like him and I are on the exact same frequency in that regard. I know we have the same birthday but just in terms of the power of music and what it can do for humanity. It’s a great, great tool and I want to help cultivate, refine and make it as best as possible.
good stuff
It’s Dexter *W*ansel!! Good interview though