DEF Magazine - Issue 2

DEF

MAGAZINE Featuring:

Al.Divino

The Premier Underground Hip-Hop Magazine ISSUE #2

“Hip-hop is the voice of this genera tion. Even if you didn’ t grow up in the Bronx in the ‘70s, hip-hop is there for you. I t has become a powerful force. Hip-hop binds all of these people, all of these na tionali ties, all over the world toge ther.”

- DJ Kool Herc

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HIP-HOP AT 50

On August 11th, 1973 DJ Kool Herc put two turntables together at his “Back to School Jam” party, and hip-hop was

born. Or at least that is how the legend tells it. But this party was not the Big Bang of hip-hop culture, it was a point of crystallization for a culture that was years in the making, and would continue to be re-invented over the 50 years that followed.

Graffiti first appeared in the late ‘60s as writers “Cornbread” and “TopCat 126” started to use their black markers to tag their names across Philadelphia and New York, using the city as their canvas.

The term DJ was coined back in 1935, but it was hip-hop’s DJs throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s that would experiment

and help make DJing what it is today. From Grand Wizard Theodore inventing scratching, to Marley Marl perfecting the modern art of sampling, these DJs helped form the sound of what hip-hop is.

Dancing and music go hand in hand. So when Kool Herc started breaking down songs and switching between two copies of the same record, looping up breaks, naturally breakdancers were able to discover a whole new form of expression to this new sound.

And MCing sprouted from seeds planted by artists like Gil Scott-Heron and The Last Poets, to become the words of the culture. After being perfected in the late ‘80s and ‘90s, MCing has become one of the most important forms of American expression in the spoken form, and has reached the entire world.

Since that party 50 years ago, hip-hop has continued to grow and redefine itself. Many lament the disappearance of some aspects of the culture from the musical genre that now runs the charts, but hip-hop is still here 50 years later. And as we look back over these 50 years and onto this time that we are in now, it’s important to remember that hip-hop is still young. 50 years from now we will be looking at 2023 as the old school, so here’s to 50 more years.

Stay Def!

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Producer Profile: Know-It - Ian McBride Despite being diagnosed with a rare kidney disease in 2004, Know-It has risen above adversity and continued his passion for hip-hop production. The Cambridge-based producer’s journey is inspiring to say the least, as he crafts beats to keep his mind off his serious illness. Growing up in Chatham, Ontario, his proximity to the Canada-U.S. border paved the way for developing musical connections south of the border. Know-It has collaborated with American hip-hop artists such as The Lyricists, Cool Demon and Substance810, as well as Canadian artists like Pro Logic, Sharky and D-Sisive, just to name a few. About two or three years ago, he ventured into the realm of trap beats under the alias Jay Young Music. Find out more about Know-It in the Q&A below!

Years ago when you were first diagnosed with kidney disease, did you ever consider quitting beat-making?

No, I didn’t. I didn’t ever think about quitting. In fact, it was something to keep my mind off of it. It was a positive. It never even crossed my mind. As a producer, when you do it for so long, you have lulls, just where you’re not feeling inspired. And because I’m sick, I think those lulls kind of hit me a little bit harder than they would for some other people because I just don’t have the physical energy sometimes to do those things. But it never made me want to quit at all.

While battling your disease, which obstacles have you had to overcome to continue with your passion for hip-hop production?

Sometimes I don’t feel like it has an effect on me as far as making beats and producing music. Most of the obstacles I’ve had to overcome are mental things like having surgeries, organ transplants. These types of things are stuff I have to overcome. It hasn’t really affected my music. In fact, a lot of the time it’s made me even work harder at it.

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What’s the name of the kidney disease?

Did you work with Freeway?

The acronym is FSGS. And it stands for focal

Freeway was also on kidney dialysis, and he had a

segmental glomerulosclerosis. Now what it is, is an

transplant and he’s doing well now. But because of

autoimmune disease. So my immune system didn’t

that connection, he did ask for beats, and I did send

think that my kidneys belonged to me, and it created

some and they never came out, which is becoming the

antibodies to kill them off. And the way that it does

story of my life.

that is it sends the antibodies to the filtering systems in my kidneys and it scars them so they can’t work

Wasn’t there that one track with Brooklyn35?

anymore.

The guy that runs that is Collizhun from Nefarius from Toronto. I’ve known him forever. And we just always

When did you first get into hip-hop culture?

stay in touch. I’ve known Collizhun for so long. We

I first got into hip-hop culture when I was super

would mail beat tapes to each other, even though

young. A lot of my friends that I grew up with listened

he just lived in Toronto and I lived here. When we

to hip-hop from the time they were born. Their

were teenagers, we’d make beat tapes and mail them

parents were into it. So I got into it, just being around

back and forth. And then talk on the phone for hours

them. I grew up in Chatham, it’s close to the border.

while we went through the tapes. We always stayed

So when you grew up there, you had the Detroit radio

in touch and we actually had a big song that we made

stations. From the time I can remember, hip-hop has

like two years ago. Thrust is on it too. And DJ Premier

been on the radio.

premiered it on his radio show on Shade 45.

When did you first start producing on a

Most memorable project that you’ve done?

serious level?

And the most successful project?

I think my first serious project was the Beat Down

There’s two full albums that I did with Sharky, he’s my

Invasion CD that I did with Pro Logic. It was a bunch of

best friend. So those times are very memorable. It was

guys from the Kitchener-Waterloo area and some guys

a lot different back then, now everybody sends music

that I knew from Michigan. The Lyricists, Cool Demon

over the internet and you don’t get that same feeling

and Sharky were a few of the artists involved in the

about the songs and the projects. But for those

album. That was probably the first time where it was

projects, me and Sharky worked on those together. I

like, “Okay, we’re gonna make an album. We’re gonna

would make the beat during the day, I would record

put it out, distribute it, push it.” That was probably the

it on a tape and we would listen to it in the car on the

first one. I think that was 1998.

way to the studio, and he would write the song in the car on the way to the studio and then we would record

Who are your biggest influences production-

it together. Yeah, I really love those projects. I did a

wise?

project about five years ago, with a guy from Toronto

I gotta say my number one influence is probably Jake

named Ivason Black. Probably my best work. It’s just

One from Seattle. I don’t want to say I’m trying to bite

an EP, very underrated, it’s called 5 to the 6. I suggest

his style, but he definitely has a huge influence over

everybody go check that out.

me. I study his drum patterns and the way that he uses the samples. I really follow his stuff.

Who is your favourite artist that you’ve collaborated with?

From both sides of the border, which hip-hop

I would say that it’s got to be Sharky again. It’s just

artists have you worked with?

more than the music. It’s a personal relationship. So

Even a lot of the guys that I grew up with, their dads

it’s always a pleasure working with him.

are American. Just because of that connection, I’ve met a lot of people in Michigan. So I started

Didn’t one of his albums do well on the

working with The Lyricists, they’re from Port Huron.

college charts?

Substance810. I also worked with Sharky from

It did really well. The album was Selacophobia. We did

Kitchener-Waterloo. He lives in London now. I worked

that independent. I mailed all those CDs to all those

with D-Sisive, 9th Uno, D.O.

radio stations by myself. And he was charting higher

the interviewer was like, “You’ve been doing this for 20 years. How do you stay relevant?” And he’s like, “You can’t be afraid to change with the times.” I used to be one of those people that hated on it, but then some of the artists that were using trap beats, I really got into, like J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar. There’s different types of trap beats, the kind that Tekashi 69 raps on, and then there’s the type that J. Cole raps on. And I was like, “Okay, I dig this. I can do this.” I switched my style, changed my name back to my original name and I’ve been making trap beats for the last two or three years.

What about The Transplant Beat Tapes?

I did a series of beat tapes called The Transplant Beat Tapes (Volume 1, 2, 3 and 4). I did that mostly to create awareness for organ donation for people to sign their organ cards. When you’re in Canada, you can do it at beadonor.ca Do you think there’s any major differences in Canadian hip-hop production styles versus American?

I think that there used to be more of a solid line between the two sounds. Or maybe it’s the influence that Drake has had over the world that everybody’s making music like us. It’s hard to tell, but I remember in the ‘90s, early 2000s, if you heard a record come on, you could definitely tell if it was Canadian or American. than Classified, and Classified had music videos for

Their music was always good, the videos were cool

his albums. Those were good times. I think that album

and very influential.

came out in 2002/2003.

From start to finish, what’s the process What are your favourite aspects of the Tri-

involved in making beats?

Cities hip-hop scene?

For me, it’s all about listening to the music. It’s a

A lot of the guys I’ve met through the Tri-Cities hip-

process: I go make coffee, put music on, put records

hop scene have become my friends. Guys like Pro

on, listen to the records, listen for samples, smoke a

Logic and Fraction. I have personal friendships with

little, get in the mood. Looking for the samples and

these guys and that’s probably the best part of being

then create from there. Mess around with it, change

involved in the Tri-Cities hip-hop scene.

the sounds, pitch the sounds, add the drums, and then get people to listen to it. Everything can sound

Who are the most influential people in the

good to yourself when you’re making it. It’s when you

local scene?

show your beats to other people and they’re freaking

Most influential guys are probably the Embassy crew.

out like, “Yo, this is the one!” That’s the best feeling.

You remember those guys? I even talk to some of those guys now. Astral Black is probably one of the

Did you feel like you had to adapt or change

best photographers, and we keep in contact. Mantis

when the trap style became popular?

and Justis, I really liked their music. The Get By, right?

I actually did. I saw this interview with Lil Wayne, and

Even Toronto used to have its own sound.

Yeah, Toronto had its own sound. Kardinal Offishall had a big part in that, patois rapping. That was one of the big things. I think the line is more blurred these days, it’s hard to tell.

What advice would you give to an up and coming producer who’s looking to do it on a more serious level?

Don’t be afraid to change and evolve. I wish back in the day I would have had somebody that was more business-oriented, because I’m not a business person, I’m a music producer. I think not being able to handle the business has held back the progression of me succeeding to the point where I want to be. So I’d say, make sure you get representation for your business aspects.

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ALBUM REVIEWS R.A.P. FERREIRA & SCALLOPS HOTEL - KEF 33 (SCALLOPS HOTEL HOSTS A READING OF THE PURPLE MOONLIGHT PAGES) - Review by Oliver Hogg

KEF 33 that was the first attempt at a project under that name. Recorded between January 2018 and February 2019, KEF 33 eventually melded into P.M.P, however, this is not merely a collection of demos, more so a retrospective ambiguity of an album, that, as Ferreira states, forces us to ask: which is the “real” one? KEF 33 or P.M.P.?

The beauty of KEF 33, to me, is this: it reveals that the puzzle was merely a piece. Looking at P.M.P., if we demagnify, through the viewfinder we find KEF 33. The opening track ‘viewfinder’ demonstrates as such. With the instrumental ascending forth, we start to see another track appear, the third track from P.M.P., ‘NONCIPHER’. Yet we expand, as ‘viewfinder’ goes on to deliver a verse which is exclusive to this blissfully upbeat beat which is one my favourites in recent memory. (I should also mention that the beat from ‘viewfinder’ is one found on ‘big business’ featuring Mike Ladd, from The Truly Ancient and Original Lefthanded Styles… that never had a verse from R.A.P. Ferreira… until now.) My favourite excerpt comes in the latter half of this verse, where Rory rhymes: “I wrote this waiting on some Postmates, with an empty belly, talking about the monsters in me like I’m Mary Shelley, metacognitive fairy-telling, mine is a dwelling, so I stay in it, press delayed in it”

Rory Allen Phillip Ferreira is a builder, and the building. This is not a new revelation, but one established many rap names ago. Whether you’re getting lost in rooms of ruminations in the Scallops Hotel, or in the sea of knowledge aboard the Ruby Yacht, with Black Orpheus at the helm, the artist currently known as R.A.P. Ferreira both expands his own mythos and deepens his own foundations with every release. KEF 33 is no different.

The uplifter that is Scallops Hotel takes us to the roof on the most tranquil of nights to gift us with, as the title suggests, a very special rendition of R.A.P. Ferreira and The Jefferson Park Boys’ acclaimed 2020 album, Purple Moonlight Pages (P.M.P.).

Excluding the physical only, The Truly Ancient and Original Lefthanded Styles of the Hoodwinkers and Penny Pinchers, P.M.P. was the reintroduction of the artist formerly known as milo, under his birth name, R.A.P. Ferreira. But it was what we now know as 6 DEF MAGAZINE ISSUE #2

Tying together a stomach growling and Frankenstein, R.A.P. Ferreira appears literal and figurative: both literally hungry and figuratively hungry in his delivery where he is vulnerable with his own worries. He is not haphazard in his whimsy, but methodical in his “fairy- telling”, assessing, evaluating, planning, applying, and reflecting on his poetry, within his poetry. He’s forged a world, or more aptly, a building, or maybe a yacht, which he now resides in. And he insists on staying there indefinitely, for R.A.P. Ferreira will rap forever.

The mirroring of KEF 33 and P.M.P. continues with ‘accept the mystery’, ‘as it pleases me’, and ‘witness’, reflecting Purple Moonlight Page’s ‘DOLDRUMS’, ‘AN IDEA IS A WORK OF ART’, and ‘ABSOLUTES’ respectively. ‘divine era’ featuring Bronze Kafka seems to be part ‘MYTHICAL’ and part ‘NO STARVING ARTISTS’, as on the hook we get a primordial version of one of the best hooks on P.M.P.:

“We not starving artists, we not starving”

‘nimzo indian (my regards)’ and ‘understanding’ have transformed into ‘RO TALK’ and ‘NONCIPHER’, while ‘chamber music (split seconds of light)’ is lifted directly from his album The Truly Ancient and Original Lefthanded Styles… But on the final track ‘enoch light demo 1’ we get the sole exception to the Scallops Hotel production, with, for a lack of a better descriptor, E L U C I D’s rendition of ‘GOLDEN SARDINE’.

A helter-skelter flute line oscillates between heartfelt vocal samples and eclectic percussion to form an enlivened dream that stands in contrast to the quaint production found on ‘GOLDEN SARDINE’, where the lyrics from ‘enoch light’ eventually landed. Even in R.A.P. Ferreira’s delivery, the tone shifts to one of elation on ‘enoch light’ while ‘GOLDEN SARDINES’ it is much more subdued. On every fourth, Ferreira echoes the sample like he is within the song as a part of a disembodied duet of excellence. My favourite example of this is when ‘been there!’ is echoed twice by R.A.P. Ferreira, followed by him humming along to the flute, before hitting back with a rapped section that has new emphasis: “He not right, might pop like Enoch Light, no subliminals, knowledge at intervals, it’s a rare science, in a cave with several dark thoughts and a clear mind” Brightness shines through, giving clarity to the unknown and yet casts shadows of the monsters within us. But, with the light, we can spot the weaknesses of our Frankenstein, defeat them, escape the cave, and enter into the world of forms, the world of ideas, or as R.A.P. Ferreira posits, the world of art, as, ‘AN IDEA IS A WORK OF ART’.

In its most derivative sense, KEF 33 is just ideas. But it is art by that same derivation, a piece of art which is essential for fans of one the greatest poets to ever live, and does so much than just give us more pieces to the puzzle that is, R.A.P. Ferreira. KEF 33 enlightens and uplifts Purple Moonlight Pages in magnificent ways which were hidden from us for all along. Do not fret. For now, we have light. The jig is up. The puzzle was merely a piece.

MAPS - BILLY WOODS & KENNY SEGAL - Review by Connor Dobson Despite the glimmer of hope, that pending doom still hangs over the whole record, instantly brought to attention on the intro ‘Kenwood Speakers,’ “Every time things going good or having a laugh, Have to remember God’s a hater.”

This change in sound is largely down to kenny segal’s production. The instrumentals on Hiding Places were unpredictable, almost clashing with woods vocals at certain points on the record, whereas the melodies on MAPS are lighter, they give woods time to breathe over some of the most accessible instrumentals he has ever rapped on, just like ‘Soft Landing.’

There is a distinct difference between the first billy woods and Kenny Segal album Hiding Places, and their most recent collaboration MAPS. The former often overwhelms you with a sense of dread, whilst the latest gives you hope when all is dark.

The album commands attention, whether it be woods barreling flow or the instrumentals that often bubble and boil into chaotic orchestration that mirror the subject matter at hand, just like on ‘Houdini.’ MAPS crowning moment comes with the final verse on the album though, as he lays down possibly his most personal writing to date… “I’m in the park with the baby on the swing. When it hits me crazy, anything at all could happen to him” … “I watch him grow, wondering how long I got to live.” woods relationships with his loved ones, whether fractured or whole, are truly the subject that keeps this album connected and concise.

The duo assembled some of the greatest artists in the underground right now to bless this album too, whether it be Quelle Chris’ hilarious verse on ‘SoundCheck,’ or a relentless Danny Brown flow on ‘Year Zero,’ possibly the standout track on the album, “Danny Brown back like skinny white girls, Workin’ out, ‘bout to get the money like curls.” All the features match the soundscape of the record, which just adds to the listening experience.

woods admitted himself, MAPS was written during a much favourable time than its predecessor, and that reflects perfectly in the music.

“Maps is a story of the road, or roads, taken and untaken; of living the dream and dreaming of another life. It is an album about trying to find your way home, after making your home wherever you lay your head.”

While not as packed with cultural content as Aethiopes, the album is still rich in depth, exploring woods psyche as he traverses throughout the world during tour, “Sometimes I don’t tell anyone I’m back around, Just lay low, crack a fresh pound.” This is all concluded with his return to New York with ‘NYC Tapwater’ in which he explores the pleasures of the metropolis while recognising the cruel reality of the city, “Crabs in a bucket, how the fuck I escape them claws? Survivor’s guilt with a side of buyer’s remorse, I’m home, but my mind be wandering off.”

Any fan of woods knows he paints a picture like noone else in the industry, so with imagery like “I don’t sleep, I hover outside myself, watching my body survive. My shell mechanical,” the record demands analysis from the audience.

Unlike a lot of other billy woods albums, a lot of the content here doesn’t need deciphering, but that isn’t to its detriment, he pulls back the curtain on his life, and reveals all to the listener. All of this is backed by an often haunting Kenny Segal soundscape.

Ultimately, that is the true brilliance of MAPS.

The typical one-liners and hard hitting punchlines remain, and hit just as hard… “Sooner or later it’s gon’ be two unrelated active shooters, Same place, same time”. Throw that in with some comedy… “It’s a party outside, some half, some overdressed, They was goin’ off during Playboi Carti set,” and you have an album that’s lyrical depth completely warrants the 17 track run-time.

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BLOODSTAINED SUEDE IAMGAWD & CLYPTO Review by OG Nick Marsh

IAMGAWD’s album from last year, Murder Castle, was one of the better releases I heard in 2022, so I was pretty excited when I saw that this latest project was out. I honestly think IAMGAWD is one of the most technically skilled rappers alive right now. Whenever I listen to his music I feel like very few artists can outrap him. He thankfully has good taste in production too and is pretty good at crafting fleshed out songs. His albums don’t just feel like collections of verses.

He doesn’t just show up to spit a 16 and then dip, ya know? Anyway, I’m not as familiar with the artist who handled the production on this album, Clypto.

However, I did enjoy their recent contribution to Ty Farris’ fifth No Cosign Just Cocaine album. It’s only one beat though, so I don’t have a good idea of what most of their production sounds like. I’m sure I’ll enjoy this though. From what I’ve heard, IAMGAWD has pretty good taste in beats, so I don’t think that’s gonna be a problem here.

The opening song is called ‘The Trenches’, and it’s got one of my favorite instrumentals on the album. It’s really soulful, and kind of triumphant sounding.

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I really like the hook on this track, and the way IAMGAWD flowed on the verse was mad nice.

“I promised myself that I’d grow to be Everything that I’m supposed to be I’m here to collect ‘em, what’s sold to me Tried to give up on this rhythm and poetry But I’m supposed to be here Determined to make it, but that’s just the goal to me Nigga, let’s get this shit totally clear” His flow is a lot more fast paced than I was expecting. His rhymes are really fluid, and his cadence is nice and bouncy. I think a second verse could’ve pushed this song to the next level, but this track works really well as an intro. I think it’s dope.

Track two is a highlight entitled ‘Caution Tape’. The production on this one is even better than that of the preceding track in my opinion. It’s pretty melodic,

and kind of dramatic sounding, but not in a bad way. I love the Ether-inspired opening lines on this track. IAMGAWD rhymed his ass off on this one.

“My mental health is subject to potential wealth Ain’t sweatin’ life’s obstacles, tryna conquer my inner self Niggas rather sit back and watch you struggle than lend some help So even when niggas pretend to be friendly the tension’s felt Nigga born alone, die alone, if you feel me then rhyme alone Niggas don’t mean you well so I vibe alone up inside my home” The entire track is just one verse, and then the beat switches up for the instrumental outro. The verse itself is absolutely fantastic. I really don’t mind the straightforward structure of this song since everything here is so well done.

It’s dope as hell to me. Same goes for the following track, ‘‘87 Miami Vice’. This one features a vocalist named Mykah Estelle, who did a really great job with the hook. The groovy production on this track sounds like it samples a song from the 80s. It’s honestly not one of my favorite beats on this album, but IAMGAWD floated over it so effortlessly that I can’t help but love the song. His flow is super clean on this track.

“I’m out to be the illest since being in contention just ain’t enough for me I vow to always come with it, just put your trust in me Banger after banger, I’m no stranger to police custody Lived in shitty conditions, it’s time that I go seek luxury” Every verse on this track is super entertaining just because IAMGAWD flowed like water, and his rhymes are on point. I really appreciate the fleshed out song structure here too. There are two full verses, a good hook, and a nice bridge.

The song is dope as hell. It’s followed by ‘Chosen, Pt. 2’, which features another vocalist named Oliv Blu. Once again, the production here is very clean and groovy. It’s not one of my favorites, but I definitely still like it to some extent.

With that said, if IAMGAWD wasn’t rapping as well as he was here then I probably wouldn’t be too into this track. His rapping is really the selling point of this song for me. Once again, his flow and rhymes are fantastic.

“Look, all I know is how to overcome The hood taught me how to hold a gun The pain taught me how to hold my son But hold your tongue if you speakin’ in judgment Rappers get beaten and bludgeoned Any time I speak on the beat it’s disgustin’ Mention me amongst the elite or just keep the discussion Came a long way from warmin’ the crib with the heat from the oven” The hook from Oliv Blu is really nice too. I kinda wish the verses didn’t all end the exact same way, but that’s just a nitpick. I appreciate how there are actually three whole verses on this song. This shit is really dope. The following track is called ‘Dialogue of Living Men’, and it’s easily one of my favorite tracks on the album. I kinda had a feeling that it would be a highlight since it’s the longest song here. It’s over five and a half minutes. The production here is pretty chill, at least for the first half of the song. The beat switches up after about 155 seconds.

The second beat is a lot more soulful. I think it’s really great. The second verse is definitely one of IAMGAWD’s best performances on the album. I’d say it’s one of his best performances period.

“I caught cases from crooked police that talk racist Now I’m tryna park spaceships and say I bought acres My goals different, so I rose different Niggas could never spit this shit how I spit it, nigga, my flow’s different Principality, sense of morality codes different I’m on tune with divinity, bitch, my soul’s different A stand-up nigga, my soles different I’m cut from a certain cloth, even the stitchin’ in my clothes different” He really slaughtered that verse. The hook that he spit on the first half of the song was nice too. There’s really nothing that I dislike about this track. I think it’s one of the best songs on the album. It’s dope as hell. Track six is yet another highlight entitled ‘Civil War’. As the title kind of hints, the subject of this song is the violence in IAMGAWD’s hometown of Chicago. I think the beat on this track is pretty good, and I love how IAMGAWD says “hold on, let me stop fuckin’ around” after the first few bars, at which point he gets way more aggressive and intricate with his flow.

“What the fuck is a safe haven when your own is your opposition?

No pot to piss in, no optimism, we locked in prison And killin’ each other like it’s incentivized You ain’t no bro of mine if you partake in genocide, dumb nigga” The first verse was really nice, but the second verse is what really blew me away.

The storytelling here is incredibly well done.

“He lay squirmin’ in a puddle of his own blood Gunshot wounds from thrown slugs from unknown thugs Two in the face, two in the neck, two in his chest Removin’ his flesh, he only got a few minutes left It’s a wonder he’s still breathin’ at all Some standin’ around in shock, some ain’t grievin’ at all Bitches holdin’ they mouth, starin’, mentally tryna process the imagery Possessed by a frantic, uneasy energy Visibly shakin’, now everybody takin’ phones out Footage of buddy barely breathin’ with his brains blown out Excessive bleedin’, now here comes anemia He ain’t been dead five minutes, it’s footage on social media” I really appreciate the alliteration in that last quatrain that I quoted. He slaughtered this shit. That’s another one of the best verses on the album in my opinion. The hook is a little underwhelming to me, but it’s not really bad at all.

The audio clips of news reports about rappers that have been murdered really tied things together well in my opinion. I think this song is dope as hell, and definitely a strong contender for my favorite on the album. The penultimate track is entitled ‘All Is One Till All Is Well’, and it features an MC named Lord SC. This is my least favorite song on the album, but I still like it to some extent. I just am not crazy about the production. It’s definitely not a bad beat at all. It’s actually a good instrumental. It’s just not my favorite style of Hip Hop. It’s cool though. I like the lyrical theme of unity on this track, and I of course enjoyed IAMGAWD’s writing. His flow and vocal delivery aren’t nearly as flashy on this song as they are on some of the other highlights, but he still sounds pretty nice. The guest verse from Lord SC is pretty good. That’s really my main thought on this track.

Everything here is just “pretty good,” but nothing stands out as being really great. I definitely like the song, but it’s just not super exciting to me. I fuck with it though. The closing track is one last highlight called ‘Dog Food’. This song has one of the most grandiose instrumentals on the album. I think it’s really great.

It’s very detailed, and I love how it evolves as the song progresses. IAMGAWD fucking killed this shit too.

“I two-step through clouds, I moonwalk on stars I tap dance on lava, I’m too advanced, don’t bother I footwork on a instrumental, it’s not coincidental I finish ya, I’m sinister, niggas sentimental I ain’t a killer, but try me, the outcome won’t be civil I’m more Malcolm in the window than Malcolm in the Middle I’m Martin Scorsese meets Martin Luther the King Doper than the hospital heroin that shoot through a fiend” He put his ass into that verse. That’s another one of my favorite performances on the album. The vocal sample that comes in after a minute and 18 seconds is really goddamn nice. This is probably my favorite instrumental on the whole album. This song honestly grew on me a lot. I loved it when I first heard it, but now I think it’s one of the best songs of the year. This shit is dope as fuck.

This album is really great. IAMGAWD’s rapping is as fantastic as ever, and this project is short and sweet. There’s not a single track here that I don’t like. Every verse he spits here is super impressive. The second half is noticeably more serious than the first half, which feels more fun and catchy due to the fluidity of his bouncy flows. The production is pretty solid, but it’s definitely not the main appeal of this project for me. I just really love IAMGAWD’s skills. I don’t really think he has any weaknesses as an MC. His stats are maxed out. I don’t have any consistent gripes with this album. I mean, the beats didn’t really blow me away, but I think they serve as a very good backdrop for IAMGAWD’s lyrical wizardry.

He killed this shit. I look forward to hearing what he does next because this shit is dope as hell. Check it out.

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by Def Goldbloom

As we celebrate hip-hop’s 50th birthday, it’s not only important to look at the artists who came before us and paved the way, but we should also look at right now to see which artists are carrying the torch, reinventing what hip-hop can be in the modern age. Al.divino is an artist who represents the past, the present and the future of hip-hop. He raps, produces, DJs, does graffiti, and paints. His entire essence as an artist revolves around originality and innovation, two of the main ingredients that made hip-hop great in the golden age.

In a short time span he has released over 50 projects, rapping and producing on most of them. His frequent release schedule and elusive persona create a mystique around his artistry. There is an air of exclusivity to his work, selling physical copies of his albums for hundreds of dollars, and large canvas paintings for thousands.

Those who have heard his catalog recognize the classics that he has made, and those who haven’t just aren’t tapped in.

While some of his music can be described as a throwback, he is far from stuck in the past. In fact, I would say he is ahead of the game in most aspects. Some of the music that he was releasing in 2017 is just now seeing its influence infiltrate the music of 2023. He also uses his CVV.Vino alias to release music that is drill inspired, pushing his artistry past this current scene and into the future. And with artists like Earl Sweatshirt and Drake hopping on similar trends now, it’s just another example of Divino being ahead of the curve.

One piece of hip-hop culture that many view as lost over the years, is the fact that hip-hop is not only music, but also the physical art of graffiti and breakdancing. Divino got his start in graffiti before he even began rapping. His background in graffiti has evolved into him becoming a painter, and his artwork pairs with his music to create a one of a kind experience with every new release that comes out. Divino is putting the artist back into hip-hop, and representing the culture both old and new, paving the way for artists in the next 50 years.

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What’s good man? Ever since I’ve become a fan of yours I’ve been so impressed by how you move. You move in secret. Anyone who knows about you has had to do the work to catch up to your catalog, and if they don’t know you then it’s not for them. Is that intentional or is that just your default?

“It’s both, it’s a default intention. I always wanted my shit to be organic. Cuz it’s all one to me, all this culture and art shit is all homogenized in my mind. I’ve always been into fashion, streetwear, and sneakers. Being up on that shit before it was cool, it was like a secret. Ain’t nobody knows about this except us. It’s like being up on somebody super early, that was always me. Not to stunt on anybody else, it was just like catching Pokemon as a kid. There’s just something about it, it’s a chase.

So I always created from that vantage point, as a collector. I don’t try to be elusive, we live in a time where everybody’s in your face 24 fucking 7, you know what everybody’s doing all the time. It’s definitely something that I learned from my elders as well, that ‘Secrets are Sacred.’ There’s something sacred about keeping a secret. Running down on front street with a megaphone screaming your plans before you do anything ain’t gonna work.”

I feel like hip-hop has become so single minded too. It seems like everybody’s moving the same way and making the same types of art. I can tell that originality is very important to you and the people that you work with. What does originality mean to you personally?

“I couldn’t agree more as far as how algorithmic and homogenized shit can get. It all kind of gets blended into the same shit. It’s all cookie cutter. I appreciate you highlighting that because that’s always been real integral to me as an artist, you know. Originality is identity. Me being not from the main city in Massachusetts, identity is something that’s real important to us. If we’re gonna be in the game with the Mortal Kombat and Tekken shit then we need some signature shits. ‘What makes you you?’ That’s always how we look at it. It’s not even a thought out technical thing, it all comes back to knowldge of self.”

I feel like most people are chasing a wave, but you kind of created your own wave, so

your identity is front and center.

“I let other people tell it man.”

Hey man, that’s what I’m here to do.

“RIP Yams, I remember Yams say on a joint you either ride the wave or provide the wave, so we just out here trying to provide.”

You mentioned being from Massachusetts a minute ago. Can you describe the current Massachusetts underground scene for any readers who aren’t from the area?

“I’ve been around the local hip-hop scene since I was 17 and we in a better time now than we ever been. We got these alliances between Lynn [where Divino resides] and Boston. It becomes an amalgamation, it homogenized in a good way. I’m a greyhound legend so I planted a lot of flags down outside of here. We share like a different type of understanding even though I’m not from Boston,

it’s all Massachusetts so we all in the same pot. Ain’t nothing better than Voltronic formations, you feel me? Like how we did the other night in Lynn.”

I saw your videos from that night, that looked awesome. That was the release show for Estee Nack’s new project, NACKSAW JIM DUGGAN which was executive produced by Westside Gunn right?

“Yeah. Shoutout to Flygod man. Doin what he do best. He shine bright and he makes all of us shine brighter.”

Can you talk a little bit about VNGRD Records?

“Absolutely. That’s me. There’s no middle man, you are not dealing with no third party. I’m still getting that shit off the ground for real. We only did one real release, we re-pressed Divino Edition 1, we just put in the order for the second one yesterday. I’m basically about to re-rock my whole catalog front to 11 DEF MAGAZINE ISSUE #2

back. Hunnid runs, limited runs like just 100 copies.

Get it straight from me. I went on a wild run in 2020, I did eight different drops of vinyl in a year and they all sold out. I just feel like the best way to do it is by myself, I’m on some real DIY shit right now. It took me a minute to get my operation running smoothly but now I got that shit in a headlock.”

dynamic. It’s like the two sides of the magnet that can’t touch. Making art and thinking about money is a weird dynamic, let alone how much art actually sells for in the bigger macroscopic lens and shit.

Somehow I look at this shit like trapping bro, I’m cooking work and I’m selling work. Trapping art, art money.”

You are essentially an artist and a business.

Is it hard having to wear two different hats like that?

“Man I got so many fucking hats on it’s bugged out. You’d think I’d at least have a manager or an assistant but nah I do this shit damn near for dolo.

Other than Nack, when we do projects he be mixing that shit, as Mr. Rose. Other than that I’m recording myself, I’m mixing my shit, chances are I’m probably doing the cover, I’m definitely doing the flyer when I do a show. People be having the wackest fucking flyers ever. I just started editing my videos a lot

Would you ever put out other artists’ releases on VNGRD? “It just comes down to working capital, how much money I have to play with. I would imagine after I re-rock my whole catalog I will have more money to play with. It’s like real life Monopoly man, I would love to break bread with somebody in Europe that I never met before. Or put shit on vinyl that you might think wouldn’t get a vinyl. I might fuck around and put Shawny Binladen on vinyl. Anything’s possible, I just wanna get my shit and Nack’s shit out here first.

I just spoke to him the other day and after Divino

more. I package all my shit up, I mail that shit out myself. It’s a real one man army. There’s other shit too but I’m blanking right now. To me it’s interesting because art and money have a very funny particular

Edition 2 we gonna put out Destiny and Maleficis Artibus so we gonna run through the whole catalog front to back just like retro Jordans, except these shits are gonna be better than the original.”

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It’s now been a couple years since you launched your alias CVV.Vino. I know a lot of your die hard fans were thrown off by this change, can you tell me a little bit about what this persona means to you and why you made this shift?

“I could talk all day about that CVV shit, my heart is definitely in two places. For the last two years or so that type of music has occupied a lot more of my time than the al.divino shit. Just mastering my styles when it comes to that type of music. It’s just the wave man. The al.divino shit is like a gold brick or a Rolex cuz it’s tangible. You can hold it in your hand and know that it will increase in value over time. The CVV shit is more intangible, its like crypto. It’s the future man. It’s where shit is moving.

It was a big thing for me around the time that it was incepted. I was around 25 or 26 and was having a mid 20’s crisis. Everybody on the internet thought I was in my mid 30’s cuz of my voice and the type of music I make, and Nack is ten years older than me. It was bugging me out, I took a gel tab at Graymatter’s crib in Richmond and my whole shit just hit reset and I realized that everyone thought I was fucking 30, so I had to get on some wavy shit immediately.

Cuz this is the shit that I be listening to. It’s more palatable to people, people my age and around my way. It’s more translatable. To me it feels like a perfect moment, a meeting in the middle cuz it’s new drums but we still flipping samples. It’s still hip-hop. It’s not like I’m making Jack Harlow music. It might pop off in a party but I’m not making mainstream bullshit. This shit is just wavy. It’s for people who know how to put an outfit together. A lot of my al.divino fans, we don’t live the same. I get fresh. This music is for people who know how to put a fit together, get money, and fuck bitches.

Simple as that. It’s multidimensional too, because it’s really the shows. Some of these rap rap shows aren’t enough for me. I want people going crazy. I

want people mosh pitting and short circuiting in the crowd. A CVV show I threw about 4-5 months ago was insane. My man Starker said it looked like the end of the world. High energy shit. I could go on all day about this shit. It’s not Michael Jordan playing baseball.”

What is your process like when you create music under the CVV name?

“I don’t write at all for CVV. It’s all vibes. I just punch in. It’s the most uncontrived shit in the world. It’s not when you sit there and rack your brain mixing chemicals trying to fucking stay up til the sun come up for 300,000 hours trying to reinvent the wheel with technicality. Pushing the pen as far as you can take it. For me it’s like therapy bro. It’s like finger painting after doing realism. Letting go.”

I’m glad you brought up painting, because that’s one thing that seperates you from a lot of your peers. What is your relationship like with painting and how did you first get introduced to it?

“Honestly I just started within the last couple years. I don’t come from a formal art background or education at all. My foundation was graffiti. I started writing graffiti before I even heard hip-hop.

My pops left a Led Zeppelin box set and that’s the shit I started writing graffiti to, in the third grade.

I was on graffiti forums cuz I was a graffiti nerd, that’s where I get my hand from. I can’t miss cuz of repetition. I tried to draw when I was young and it used to upset me as a child looking at something and not being able to draw it exactly how it looked.

I’m 8 years old looking at this fucking lamp trying to draw it and getting emotional. Like why don’t this look like how it looks in real life, and it turned me off. So when I found graffiti a couple years later, I was in middle school, I was able to see what my favorite graffiti writers on the forums were doing it like. And I looked at it like if I keep doing it then I can be better than my favorite writers. That’s how I looked at this shit. But how I started painting was through psychedelics. On some appreciating art shit. Understanding what art is without an art class.

Realizing that art is a lens on life, it’s not anything else. That’s the only thing that validated me as an artist is my lens on life, how I look at things. First time I took LSD I started drawing faces. I was never into graffiti characters, I was more into letters. So then I started drawing faces and I showed it to my

mans and he said “that looks like Roc Marciano!”

And another one of my homies said he’d get one of the faces tattooed on him so I kept going with it.

In Philly once, the second time I met AA Rashid. I showed him and he said “yeah that’s cool but you not gonna be a legend until you get big pieces.”

When I got back to Lynn I copped three big ass canvases, all three of them got shits got done by the end of the night. It was like a crackhead sitting in front of a crack rock. I couldn’t just stare at this blank canvas across the room. The big jawns are like when I do graffiti and hit a whole block. I use my whole body not just my hand so ever since I started

with big canvases I can’t do the little ones anymore.

That shit also developed into me and Westside Gunn having more of an art relationship than a rap relationship.

Thats so awesome that you guys are able to connect on that art level because I feel like you are both artists who give just as much thought in the visual presentation of your music as you do the music itself. I always say that your paintings look how your music feels so it’s one piece of art to me.

“Man, that’s one of the best compliments that someone can give me. That it’s water. Water is water no matter what. Whether it’s Kool-Aid or its boiling crack or at the beach, it’s still water. So I appreciate that. I hope this shit’s unsynthesized.”

a historical photo or art piece, or sometimes it’s a piece that you made yourself. What is your process like for picking the cover for each album?

“I’ve made albums to a cover and I’ve found the cover after finishing and hearing the album done.

For Monumentality I found the image first. It was around my mushroom era. Drinking a lot of mushroom tea, I made that album in two days back to back. 48 hours straight. I took a three and a half at the mini mansion. I knew everything I wanted to watch. I knew where to go on Youtube. I was watching archival footage from the 40s through the ‘60s and ‘70s of like Egypt, Morocco, Israel, Jerusalem. All this worldly archival film footage on mute while I listen to Sun Ra records mad slowed down. Nack wasn’t on Mushrooms but he felt high from what I was doing. Whatever that was it was magic, cuz I can’t find none of those samples again.

It was in that moment. That’s where me and Nack found the splash. The formlessness. That’s where everything went off the grid and our styles became unquantized. With the album covers the intention is to have it look how it sound and sound how it looks.

A lot of that shit comes from my experience with psychedelics. I still use that shit as a study drug. I use it for picking shit apart, analyzing. Listening to Ghostface’s Ironman front to back no skips while watching the 1967 Iron Man cartoons while high as shit. Off two grams of mushrooms just staring at this shit saying “this shit really look like how it sounds.”

So I’m always making music from that vantage point.

Listening to DOOM’s catalog front to back watching the old Fantastic Four cartoon. And listening to it, that’s where they got their skits from so they were watching this shit. So I really try to put my eyes in their sockets and my feet in their shoes. These

Now let’s get into your album covers. They are what originally drew me in to check out your music back in the day and they are some of the best I have seen. Sometimes it’s 13 DEF MAGAZINE ISSUE #2

people whose music really influenced me. There’s no difference than a painter studying another painter.”

Did you go back and study art just like you did with music?

“Absolutely. I don’t go into anything without doing the knowledge for real. And what psychedelics did for me was that it removed the separation in my mind. As a graffiti artist I used to look at art as like corny. I’d rather light this whole strip up than paint on a canvas. It’s kind of that rebellious youth mindset. Drugs like that will slow you down.

It’ll humble you. People like AA Rashid, Westside Gunn, Mach-Hommy, they definitely made art more palatable to me when I was younger. It shifted my lens and made me ask myself why don’t I know shit about art? If life imitates art and art imitates life then why do we know everything about life but nothing about art? I tell my little homies now. “You are art! You are designing your cartoon character.”

Motherfuckers get fresh like “I could die in this fit.”

That’s art. Don’t let the yuppies control the narrative.

The only thing that validated an artist is their lens on life.”

Who are some of your biggest inspirations musically?

“People forget that I started making beats before I started rapping. So for me it’s really Lord Finesse, J Dilla, Pete Rock type. I’m a producer/rapper really.”

Do you DJ too?

“I just started DJing yo. That’s for where I’m from. If nobody’s gonna play this ill ass music then I’ll play it. Making money while partying. Why shouldn’t I DJ?” What got you into producing originally?

“I was in seventh grade and my man who was a couple years older than me showed me how to crack FL Studio. I cracked it through pirate bay through torrents. By the end of the year I filled up my iPod with 8000 songs bro. Whole discographies. By 8th grade I had all of Dilla’s shit. Everything. Every beat.

If Limewire was high school then Torrents was my college. A lot of my influences early was Redman.

Muddy Waters was one of my favorite albums. Dilla’s The Shining. DOOM. I had the Mm..Food jawn from Best Buy in the Pop Tart wrapper in middle school.

I had been listening to the Wu since middle school but once I got introduced to knowledge of self when I was 17 it made me realize that I didn’t know 14 DEF MAGAZINE ISSUE #2

anything they were talking about. It’s like knowing that you don’t know. People like Rae and Ghost is like rhyming without rhyming. I been listening to Roc Marci since before Reloaded came out. So when we talk about me producing whole albums and shit, a lot of that comes from Roc. To me he’s one of the best at scoring an album, it’s like him scoring a movie. Making that shit an experience. People like RZA, people like DOOM, Madlib, making that shit a real experience.”

You’ve released so much music in such a short time, are you the type of artist who has a lot in the vault or do you just release it as it gets made?

“I don’t really hold on to music. I got these two CVV projects that I’ve been holding onto for a couple months cuz I got a really dope idea for the photoshoot for the album, with as many models as I can get a hold of. Other than that it’s kind of too hot to hold onto. The cure for that has been to kind of turn the stove off and make some other shit. Instead of making music, making clothes or art. Cuz I spent years really making so much so it’s good to take a

moment. We in Nack’s moment right now and he’s about to take it to a whole nother level.”

I‘m glad you brought up Nack because your collaborations together are some of the best music I’ve ever heard. What is it like having an artist like that to bounce ideas off of and have such amazing chemistry?

Aw man it’s the best. Nack is the best. I couldn’t have asked for a better rap partner, I hit the fucking lottery man. That’s a fact. I got the golden ticket.

Shit’s just mad fun, even if it sounds serious, trust me it wasn’t that serious, we be having mad fun.

That shit’s like going to Six Flags man. Nack’s my brother. I know his family, I’ve known him for over ten years. That shit is just natural, it’s like breathing to us.

What’s your favorite of your own projects?

“That’s like asking who’s your favorite kid. I love ‘em all for different reasons not to sound cliche.

Monumentality was one of the highest I’ve ever been in my life. That Maleficis Artibus, Destiny moment was super ill. I love Self Phone. To me, that might

be one of my most perfect albums. Quite a few of them joints I held onto and they sat in the cut for at least a year and got better with time. Abrakadabra is crazy. It’s hard. At the same time, nothing’s fucking with Glitch and Triple Black Diamonds 2. Even The Door which is one of my favorites. To me, that’s when me and Nack started going toe to toe. Cuz I felt like before that I was trying to keep up with the master, with the sensei. On The Door I started bending shit a little crazy. Bending time and space. Splitting the time continuum. You could see the hours in the hyperbolic time chamber. That shit got a little anti gravity. With the CVV shit too, Spinizm got some of my favorites. That album transports me to that time.

Shroom chocolates and Casamigos. And working in a studio with big speakers. Shit was in the attic of a two floor antique store in Lawrence.”

I know you love making clothes too, what makes you gravitate towards that hustle?

“I make clothes because I buy clothes. I feel like clothes is different than rap merch. I wanna make a brand. I’ve yet to give my clothes a name but I’m still at the drawing board. I really do that shit for around my way more than anything. Ain’t nothing better than seeing someone wearing your clothes in person. Sometimes that shit feel better than the music. I just love making clothes man, it’s the shit I wanted to do when I was a kid. That’s what all this shit is, a dream come true.”

As we wrap up here I wanted to look at the bigger picture a little bit. Is your legacy something that you think about?

“Hell yeah. I could sit here and front but yeah that’s the main thing I’m thinking about. Just in life as a man. Being appreciated. The possibility of having a life after my life. Living longer than my physical expiration date. That’s what this shit is all about.”

At this moment, are you content with where you are in your career? Or are you always striving for that next step?

“I still got my head down. It’s really just maintaining momentum. Get with it or get ran over by it. None of it is a surprise to us, we predict this shit in advance.

Every day that ceiling they try to put over us that gets turned into glass gets broken over and over.”

What’s next for al.divino?

“World domination”

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Bruiser Brigade

Inside the world OF

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by Savage Shy, Photos by Ryan Heinz

The new era of Detroit music being put on the forefront of hip-hop culture has introduced new faces here to represent the heartbeat of Motor City. Since their debut release in January of 2021, Bruiser Brigade Records turns traditional hip-hop 180° for a breath of fresh air.

There’s no doubt that you have heard the voice of Bruiser Wolf. His raspy yet high pitched tone of voice and impressive comedic punchlines establish Wolf as one of the most unique artists to come out of the new decade. But how did his “unlike-no-other” style originate? From a series of radio cyphers and singles when he went under the moniker “Big Wolf.” Wolf’s comedic timing and flow is derived from the environment of waiting for responses to each line in cyphers.

However, the tone of voice many have described as sick (in both ways) comes from the studio session for a 2016 track titled “God Bless How I Chew This.”

Wolf was genuinely sick that night, but powered through and established the raspy voice we know him for today. After featuring with Fat Ray for the second time on Ray’s track “Old Faithful”, Wolf was brought on to perform the track and “Dog Food” at the Bruiser Thanksgiving 8 where he met Danny Brown.

Dope Game $tupid was recorded shortly after, pushing Wolf into the spotlight for everything that makes his style unique. Which is exactly why listeners should stay tuned for My $tories Got $tories. The album maintains all of Bruiser Brigade Producer Raphy’s iconic instrumentation and sample flips, but also a few throwbacks to the trap sound he originally performed under Big Wolf.

From the rapper behind the mixing for a one of experimental hip hop’s most highly celebrated albums, Danny Brown’s Atrocity Exhibition; o having a double release in one year on the label as an artist. J.U.S has made an impressive and smooth transition into his return to rap today. Before he had all hands on deck as an engineer, for a number of years J.U.S defined himself as a rapper, you can even hear a couple of dope verses on an old mixtape by fellow artist, Fat Ray on The Lunch Room. But after he showed preference behind the scenes, J.U.S has done a majority of Danny Brown’s engineering ever since the release of XXX in 2011. But some good things can get even better, and being in the studio with thousands of beats crossing your ears can get to you. In a studio session with producer Black Noi$e, J.U.S freestyled six songs for his album God, Goku, Jay-Z, a moment Danny Brown has correctly dubbed as lighting in the bottle. With the release of GoFundMe Corvette, J.U.S’s almost spoken-word like tone and impressive wordplay introduces only more anticipation for his latest album, Lord of the Streams, releasing later in the year as his third project to date.

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If you’re familiar with groups like Armand Hammer, you may have heard Fat Ray’s distinctive voice on “Schism” off Billy Wood’s 2022 album, Church.

However, Ray’s roots as a rapper go far into the history of Detroit and 7 Mile with legendary producers and artists such as Proof, J Dilla, and Black Milk. Completing the trio of B.R. Gunna back in the early 2000’s, Ray can be heard on a wide variety of projects by Elzhi, Guilty Simpson, Phat Kat, and more. After working together on a remix of Elzhi’s 2008 track “Fire”, Fat Ray and Danny Brown’s collaboration together that night would later lead to his induction into the Brigade only a couple years down the road. Another one of the first albums from Bruiser Brigade Records, Santa Barbara is Fat Ray’s gift to Detroit, with even the name being a reference to the street he met D12’s very own Proof as well as many other dope artists in the scene.

If you want to keep up with Ray today, a newly launched clothing brand called “Lord’s Allowed” offers some dope designs for your wear. Fans are staying tuned for music yet to be announced by Ray this year as well.

Despite being the newest member to join the scene, Quentin Ahmad DaGod has been around since you first heard J.U.S’s production on Brown’s debut.

Originally under the title of “Keys Kane” Ahmad’s music would take a turn as the focus had shifted on making a long lasting impression with the release of Chewable Glass in 2017, which featured vocals by Fat Ray and engineering from J.U.S. However, during the making of the first project from J.U.S, God, Goku, Jay-Z It was insisted that Quentin would make an appearance somewhere on the album, which spawned his feature on the melodically produced “PPP” by Black Noi$e. Since then, Quentin has been a staple member of the Brigade landing his own project N.O.A.H. The album was a challenge recording due to the change of familiar beats by Raphy. With Quentin’s unique delivery, along with his storytelling, and seemless ability to ride over beats, it’s safe to say future projects from the artist will be exciting.

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If you yourself have heard any of the projects released under the label, you’ve surely seen the work of avant-garde painter, stylist, and artist ZelooperZ. He has done the cover art for almost all of his albums, and for the Bruisers as well. Reaching far back into his history you’ll find his very first mixtape at just seventeen, Coon N The Room. Some of these tracks were introduced to Danny Brown, who was still experiencing the notoriety from releasing his Fool’s Gold debut XXX. Brown, who enjoyed the project so much, would go on to admit ZelooperZ into the Bruiser Brigade, and feature him on his 2013 project Old, as the hook for Kush Coma, featuring A$AP Rocky. A number of impressive projects, demonstrating ZelooperZ’s iconically extensive range whether it be style, tone, flow, or his own instrumentation would soon follow, which brings us to this year. Microphone Fiend released in late March followed by his Traptastic tour only adds onto the rare portfolio that can only be found with an artist like ZelooperZ. If you would like to support the artist or have a dope piece unlike no other hanging up in your house, you can contact him on any social for a quote on your very own painted piece.

Quarantine has changed some people for better or worse. Just like it lead J.U.S to go from rapper to engineer, it similarly has done the same to Danny Brown, the founder of the Bruiser Brigade and current executive producer of all albums. From its original start early in the 2010’s, Brown has always had an impressive ear for artists and the ability to bring the absolute best out of them. This includes an additional feature on every member’s project for good measure. While the group has had projects released prior to the newer era such as Reign Supreme. Brown’s position, along with Raphy’s intense ability to bring new life from a vintage vinyl ripped sample, has brought upon a permanent imprint on the game we know it as today. Bruiser Brigade Records holds an impressive discography unlike no other, where no matter what project you choose to click on when visiting the Bandcamp page, you’re always listening to something you’ve never had the chance to hear before.

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Scarface

Scarface is the sort of movie that has permeated American culture so deeply that any passerby might be capable of coming up with a reasonably accurate synopsis of the film. While hip-hop has simultaneously influenced mainstream music, fashion, and culture over the last 50 years, the genre is not without its own influences, and Scarface is one of its strongest. It’s clear that hip-hop artists have been taking pages out of the titular Tony Montana’s playbook for years. This is perhaps most clearly evidenced in its samples, as Scarface is the most sampled film of all time, according to the ever popular online sample database, Whosampled.com While sample snitching is often condemned by the underground’s production community, it may be worth indulging this metric to fully explore the vast relationship between this single film and an entire culture, and thereby gain an even deeper appreciation for both.

This relationship is no secret. Def Jam went so far as to release a retrospective short documentary about it, featuring interviews with the likes of Nas, Andre 3000, and several members of the Wu-Tang Clan. On the surface, it might seem as though the only things Scarface and hip-hop share are their narratives of capitalistic hustlers seeking to live large by any means necessary, or in Tony’s case, by way of selling coke and killing anything that stands in his way. However, just like hip-hop, there are truly prolific themes that director Brian De Palma and screenwriter Oliver Stone ensured were present in the film.

Scarface tackles what the American dream and humanity’s greed can look like at their worst. These themes resonate so strongly with audiences largely thanks to the portrayal of Tony as a lonely, Napoleonic machine and the geopolitical forces that created his traumatic circumstances. Yes, hip-hop artists who came of age through lifestyles similar to the ones they saw in Scarface reported seeing themselves in Tony’s shoes. His humble beginnings, his vicious confidence, his drive, the drug lord persona, and his aspirations of money, power, and respect have been influential to the likes of Biggie, Freddie Gibbs, Tommy Wright III, Scarface (naturally), and many more. What truly allows these themes to resonate with wider audiences though, is the sad irony that these aspirations are desperate, unconscious attempts by an insecure individual to resolve issues that weren’t his in the first place, but were born from societal marginalization, misogyny, and aggressive capitalism. These motivations and the circumstances they’re birthed from have historically been driving forces in the lives of many hip-hop artists, and it’s long been evident within the music.

Considering the abundance of street rap rhymes about the turbulent, sometimes violent spaces they were born into, it’s not difficult to see how artists from this sort of background might resonate with the short statured Tony Montana as he relentlessly fights his way to better means. ‘Coke Rap’ is its own sub genre of hip-hop. Rappers like Stove God Cooks, Pusha T, UGK, and Reasonable Doubt-era Jay-Z embody the coke dealer persona, often centering their music and lyrics around the perils of the coke game, and both the glory and loss that come with it.

Takeaways from Tony’s tale do vary a bit within the hip-hop community, though. While some saw him as a type of street-life super hero, others, like Diddy or Raekwon, saw his as a cautionary tale, depicting dangers of the dope game that would lead to Tony’s bloody demise. This crowd likely places emphasis on the latter third of the movie, when the true cost of Tony’s meteoric rise to the top of the Miami coke game is unraveled.

Tony won all of the spoils he ever wanted, but he could not escape the mindset that required him to brutalize anything that obstructed him from getting them. Before the bloodshed came back his way, he was left a grumbling, paranoid grouch incapable of enjoying the trophies of his conquest. Certain conversations and reactions, like when Tony defends himself from Elvira belittlling him for supposedly coming to America on a “banana boat,” indicate that Tony’s actions are driven by the narcissistic tendency to demonstrate his might to those around him. When one embarks on a warpath with this as their primary motivation, they are liable to meet Tony’s same grisly fate.

What better way is there to further explore this connection between hip-hop and Tony’s story than to humor a small case study using some music inspired by the movie? On Nas’ Illmatic, he’s got one of the most legendary three-song runs in the genre’s history. “N.Y. State of Mind,” followed by “Life’s a Bitch,” and finally “The World is Yours” can actually serve as a road map to exploring the depths of this relationship.

On “N.Y. State of Mind,” Nas paints a chilling picture of the crime ridden New York City he knows all too well.

When conquering through means of destruction and violence is the normalized means of survival, it can be difficult for any individual to escape this destructive mindset. Heading into the hook of “N.Y. State of Mind,” Nas proclaims: “I never sleep, ‘cause sleep is the cousin of death Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined I think of crime when I’m in a New York State of Mind” Here, Nas is explaining that he, like Tony, has been hardened by the unforgiving environment he’s come from.

In Tony’s case, his past isn’t completely exposed. The origins of the scar on his face aren’t revealed. The scar isn’t just a tough-looking wound to make him seem all the more vicious. It’s a visual cue, signaling that he’s been through the wringer in life. He’s scarred, not just physically, but socially and emotionally.

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Tony’s oppression was born of a communist regime, not American capitalism, but he, AZ, and Nas share their victimhood of corrupt societies systemically abusing them. AZ and Nas may demonstrate a greater degree of self awareness here, which makes for an eloquently articulated piece of music, but likewise, it’s Tony’s ignorance that makes Scarface so compelling. He perceives himself to be the master of his own destiny, when in actuality, he was a victim and a pawn in an international chess game at the close of the Cold War. As Tony went straight from the frying pan into the fryer, from communism to late-stage capitalism, he stood no chance against the same pitfalls that AZ and Nas have narrowly avoided. Endless greed in the name of money, power and women, driven by an insecurity created by regimes who made him feel small; these were the ingredients of Tony’s gruesome death. Although perhaps Tony did come to know on some level that there was no true end in sight for him. After all, during the dinner scene where he drunkenly called his wife a useless junkie and chastised the other patrons of the high-end restaurant for perpetrating the torturous scapegoating of people like himself, he did so after questioning whether the kingly juice had been worth the murderous squeeze: “Is this it? This what it’s all about, man?

Eating... drinking... fucking... sucking...snoring... then what?”

This tragic cycle of oppression, violence, and desperate attempts at class mobilization that sadly still occurs today across the globe is masterfully illustrated in both Scarface and Illmatic. AZ captures it well at the end of his verse: “Even though we know, somehow we all gotta go But as long as we leavin’ thievin’ We’ll be leavin’ with some kind of dough So, until that day we expire and turn to vapors Me and my capers will be somewhere stackin’ plenty papers Keepin’ it real, packin’ steel, gettin’ high ‘Cause life’s a bitch and then you die” To round up this three song journey through the quantum entanglement of hip-hop and Scarface, “The World is Yours” borrows its title and chorus straight from the film’s iconic maxim. The phrase is hardly ever explicitly spoken in the movie, and only seen a handful of times, but its haunting sentiment with sinful undertones permeates every scene. It’s first shown as Tony stares up at a blimp in the sky, flashing the phrase on its screen. After he accrues his fortune, Tony erects a sculpture atop the fountain in his foyer of a gaudy golden globe with bright neon letters reading, “The World is Yours.” In the film’s thrilling finale, after Tony has consumed hoards of cocaine and bullets in equal measure, he falls off the balcony into the fountain under the globe, dying, as his ironic death at the cathedral of his endless greed brings a horrific end to his conquest.

Nas is borrowing the ideology that became Tony’s downfall, but employing a more optimistic perspective to derive its meaning. “The World Is Yours” serves as an inspiring response to the first two tracks of this triad. This classic finds Nas taking life into his own hands. The song’s music video has some direct visual references to Scarface. Much of Nas’ first verse is accompanied by visuals of him watching television while lounging in a luxurious hot tub inside a bathroom fit for a king, as his girl freshens up in the mirror behind him. This is the exact setup of one of Scarface’s most contemplative scenes. Tony is just beginning to grow jaded as he sits back in the tub, complains about the news, and insults his wife. Nas puts a more hopeful spin on the song’s namesake in the video by featuring shots of a young child watching Nas rapping on TV, telling him that the world is his. Nas means to spread hope and inspire others to overcome their own adversities, like he and Tony have fought so hard to do.

The Go-To Film in Hip-Hop’s Utility Belt

It is perhaps the opening verse from featured rapper AZ that best articulates the theme of the following track, “Life’s a Bitch.” On this enchanting rumination on mortality and how one spends their brief time on Earth, the self aware Nas and AZ are capable of identifying the cyclical, violent state of mind that they previously shared with their peers, and pivot from it, now centering financial security as the deliverance from their plight. This capitalistic school of thought birthed the very system that marginalized him to begin with, but AZ is aware of this irony to some degree, positing in the chorus that life’s cruel chains have not allowed him to lead a morally sound, healthy lifestyle: “Life’s a bitch and then you die, that’s why we get high ‘Cause you never know when you’re gonna go”

by Nolan Kelly

From Biggie to Future, the Scarface samples from rap’s most legendary heavyweights have all been reported on to death, so here are a few lesser known samples and interpolations from the underground: “Real” by Freddie Gibbs and Madlib “Me Against Da World” by Tommy Wright iii “Gold Bb’s” by Conway The Machine and the Alchemist “Stolen Moments, Pt. 3” by Common feat. Q-Tip “The Cause of Death” by Immortal Technique “Bad Mood” by The Bad Seed and Nottz

It’s not only in the plight of marginalized peoples that Scarface is paralleled by hip-hop. The genre was originated by another Caribbean immigrant, Clive Campbell, aka DJ Kool Herc. Herc grew up in Kingston, Jamaica, in a music scene centered around DJ’s pitting their sound systems against each other, battling for attention as they spun records. After moving to New York City, Herc invented the looped breakbeat at a Bronx back to school party back in 1973, but it wasn’t until the mid-late 80’s that Gangsta Rap, with lyrics and a sound that resembled the mayhem in Scarface, entered the scene. Though his past may be different from Tony’s, Herc took his prior experience and ingenuity from the islands to an urban American city, and made his mark on the world, just like Tony. Hip-hop may have been originated a full decade before Scarface’s release, but it seems that the two were destined to intertwine.

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eech BOLD

ARTISTS ON THE RISE Every few years a new group pops up who is able to occupy a space in the hip-hop sweet spot. Balancing the line of making accessible music without being mainstream, and keeping their artistry first, introducing critics and fans alike to many of the artists who are next up. From Odd Future, to A$AP Mob, to Brockhampton, to Van Buren Records, a group who is set up to be one of the most important acts in hip-hop this decade.

With over a dozen members it won’t be shocking when some of the future biggest artists in the genre come from this crew. The group first made a name for themselves in 2021 with the release of their album Bad for Press, and after following it up with DSM the following year they are showing no signs of stopping. Hip-hop should be keeping their eye on all of the Van Buren artists, but today we are highlighting one who has incredible potential, Meech BOLD. Meech has been with Van Buren from the beginning, bringing his unique style and flair to the collective. Although he has many of my favorite moments on each Van Buren record, it is his solo projects where he has really perfected his artistic personality. His solo career began officially in 2019 with his EP ‘NineFour. Meech’s style is all encompassing of what hip-hop is, from his modern melodic singing to his introspective and innovative lyricism, he never keeps himself in a box artistically. He is able to bring a respect for lyricism that is usually reserved for the grittiest of underground MCs, and combine it with vibes that would feel at home with the latest Spotify playlist.

His 2020 EP Barriers to Knowing served as a chance for him to perfect his style before making his first full length project. Being a part of a large group such as Van Buren, his cohorts keep him pushing his artistry forward, evolving his sound with each outing. When he did release SPEED : THE MIXTAPE, he went with a harder and more lyrical approach than on his wavier EPs. Meech is able to show a wide

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range in his skill sets, while still having each of the varying styles he tackles feel like they are within one cohesive unit.

This all came together perfectly on his album 28 which came out earlier this year. This album mirrors his first EP ‘NineFour as two projects that chronicle his life and growth as an artist and as a man. The single “United States v.

Meech BOLD” might be the lyrical peak of his career so far, it’s a statement, showing hip-hop and the whole country what is coming for them in the form of Meech BOLD. And that is exactly what makes Meech so special, he is BOLD. His style is unapologetically honest. Not catering to what the masses think they want, but instead giving hip-hop what it needs.

Similar to this issue’s cover artist al.divino, Van Buren Records is striving to put Massachusetts back on the map, showing how much talent is

coming out of the state right now. Hip-hop is in a bit of a transition stage at the moment, in between the era of the Kendrick’s, Cole’s, and Drake’s, and waiting for what’s next, and Meech is in a similar point of change. After five years of working on their craft and rising, Meech BOLD and Van Buren Records are ready to take that next step to become something bigger to hip-hop.

- by Def Goldbloom

Lord Sko

At the age of 19 Lord Sko has proven he is both up next & up right now at the same time.

Hailing from Upper Manhattan, Lord Sko has a certain level of authenticity that goes along with his music. He is from Washington Heights to be specific, which he describes as “one of the last neighborhoods in NYC that feels very authentic to New York,” and it exposed him to hip-hop at a young age, deepening his understanding of New York culture and giving him an edge that most white kids his age didn’t have.

Lord Sko has always been a student of the culture, crediting Madvillany, Good Kid Maad City, Tha Carter IV, Man on the Moon, and Ready to Die, as the albums that molded him into the man he is today. At the age of 10 he listened to Notorious B.I.G’s classic debut Ready to Die, and he started writing raps of his own two years later. A few other artists who influenced him early on in his life are Eminem, DMX, J.Cole, Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi, Jay-Z, and Childish Gambino but when he found the MF DOOM & Madlib collaboration Madvillany he knew the direction he was headed for artistically.

The more he studied; the more he got the itch to want to release his own music and be heard.

At age 15 he knew he was spiraling in every other aspect of life and decided he could just do music. Lord Sko felt like he didn’t have any other choice, he was really struggling with his mental health and didn’t see a future doing anything else. At a certain pont he decided he was going to do what makes him happiest.

Sko had gotten arrested and was doing a lot of psychedelics, gave up playing sports, and his mom was not happy with him. Lord Sko started getting money on his own and trying to make a name for himself. Eventually, Lord Sko found music to be what gave him balance to all of that.

All of this pain, all the experiences, and all the influences led to one of the best independent hip-hop debuts in the past decade; Museum.

The first single he dropped for the project was “Quills.” Produced by his main producer Arlo Walker and with a strong feature from Dre Wave$. It was the first song Sko and Walker had together. Sko knew after this song that this was the beginning of a domino effect in the best

way possible. Sko has set out to put Washington Heights on the map, make sure he doesn’t spit any filler, and to set himself apart from most rappers in the industry right now. Since “Museum” has dropped he’s released several music videos, several freestyles including on Top Shelf Premium & the On The Radar podcast, and has performed at S.O.B’s & at Brooklyn Zoo. Lord Sko has been co-signed by numerous artists including Marlon Craft, Fly Anakin, Remy Banks, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Questlove, Your Old Droog, & Roc Marciano. Lord Sko is also under the mentorship of one of hip-hop’s greatest A&R’s Dante Ross. When I asked him what the future looks like for him he said “festivals, big shows, collaborations with the people he grew up bumping, and maybe a movie. At least an ill movie cameo.” Lord Sko wants to combine his forward thinking mindset and love for hip-hop in a way that blows people’s minds. Sko also said a goal of his is to drop a project with a live band. When I asked the direction he would take he said “just spazzing & rapping my ass off on psychedelic progressive jazz if that’s a thing. Break some boundaries but do it in a way that is still familiar to the ear.” UNITED PALACE is what Lord Sko has his fans waiting for next and it’s being highly anticipated. If listening to his music and talking to him has taught me anything it’s that Lord Sko is here to make a cultural impact; not cater to an image. Whether you called him Lord Sko, the Newport Lord, or Young Jeff Hardy just know that one day we’ll all have to call him a legend.

-by The Rap Revolution

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Streetwear Showcase

“As long as I’m having fun with it, everything will fall in place the way it should.”

As he traverses the underbelly of the fashion industry, Brooklyn based stylist Walter Prince speaks on the challenges and rewards of persistence and staying ten toes down.

Hip-Hop and fashion have been intertwined since the early days of the boom bap. Starting with Puma, Chuck Taylors, and Pro-Keds dominating the sneaker scene, the baggy clothing adorned on many hip-hop legends from back in the day was a good indicator that self-expression in the form of fashion was something to be taken seriously. Once the 21st century began, notable names like Diddy, Pharrell, and Kanye West elevated the idea of fashion being a form of creative expression just as well as music, so the venn diagram became closer to a circle as hip-hop grew. Nowadays, it’s hard to find a rapper that doesn’t have their hands in the cookie jar of the fashion industry. Whether that be from Travis Scott’s collaborations with Jordan and Dior, to Pharrell’s current tenure as creative director of Luis Vuitton. The amalgamation continues to grow into a beautiful relationship on both sides of the coin.

I wanted to learn more about how this venn diagram plays out in the underworld of fashion as well as hip-hop, so I got with Walter Prince to help answer some questions I had. Walter is currently a stylist in Brooklyn, easily one of the hot zones of hip-hop culture. He has worked in the fashion industry for about six years now, 26 DEF MAGAZINE ISSUE #2

and I would say he has a solid concept of what it means to be progressive in the fashion space.

With multiple shoots under his belt, he has a good beginner understanding of the ins and outs of the fashion industry, although he’s just getting started.

Can you define fashion for me? What does it mean to you in your own words?

He takes a deep breath, and I can almost hear the gears turning in his head. After a short pause, he clarifies: “It’s...the purest form of self expression. It highlights everyone’s individuality. It tells a story. To me, fashion is wearable art. Since it serves a purpose, it’s also art with its highest utility.” Nail on the head with this statement. Fashion has evolved for not only utility purposes, but the ability to express one’s self. The term “wearable art” is a perfect example of this, especially when you start getting into more avant-garde pieces like the Raf Simons 2003 mesh sweater, that almost only serves as a “see-through” piece for layering and showing off the clothing that’s underneath.

Of course, pieces like this are not without their fair share of creatives adorning it just for the name, which of course hip-hop-heads would call: Hypebeasts. “Are you really rocking with

your fit? Or you’re just wearing it just because?”

This is one of Walter’s many questions after seeing the waves of people going from Goyard, to Supreme, to Billionaire Boy’s Club just for the name. “I found that, telling people I was into fashion, a lot of people didn’t take it serious at first. I don’t want to be put into a box or grouped in to a bunch of people that rock shit for the name. I really do this.”

How did you get into this industry? For any readers that may feel inspired to do the same?

“I mean, it definitely started out pretty slow.

Working at the office, especially casual Fridays I was always the guy you could count on to wear something ridiculous that broke necks.”

He laughs. “Then it started evolving as my love for it grew. I started getting more sought after pieces. Shit that nobody else had at the time.

Shit that people would be afraid to put on” He chuckles again. “The clothes don’t work unless you think they do, that’s my favorite phrase: I could never rock that, because it’s like, did you even try? Once I got in my zone, I started having people approach ME. Whether it was from word of mouth, or someone asking me to model, I recognized I do better when I’m on the back end. I just love clothing so so much, that if there was a way for me to make money off that shit? I HAD to find it.”

The hustle is something that all hip-hop-heads know and appreciate, and that’s something that has bled into Walter’s daily life. By any means necessary is Walter’s motto. “Once I started getting shoots I had people asking me, you’re not a real stylist right? Like the fuck does that mean?” He laughs. “I told everyone I’m a REAL stylist because I do the work. I see the fit in my head, I make it happen. Don’t let anyone

talk you out of a room because you’re just starting. Own that shit. Everything else starts falling into place after. Also, don’t use the word “networking”. Find people in the space that you like, and build with them.”

What’s the average creative process behind a shoot from start to finish?

“For me, I’m definitely not the best person when it comes to having an organized thought process. I usually think about what I’m trying to show. Is it a fit? Is it just a piece? What silhouette am I going for? Is there someone that can shoot this piece well? Is there someone I know that can model this piece well? Those are all really the main moving parts of it, and sometimes they’re out of order, but if I check all those boxes, it’s a good start.”

How is everything once you’re actually AT a shoot?

“The main thing to understand is there’s usually a lot of egos on set when you’re working with models, photographers, etc. The shoots I’ve had the most fun at, I was pretty much creative directing as well. Being able to know where everybody needs to be and when, is a big part of making sure each shoot goes smoothly. Just keep the vibes flowing. Once everything comes together it’s the most rewarding experience.”

Walter has been pushing out some very memorable shoots in the last few years, and he ensures that he’s going to maintain that momentum and just continue to grow. For underground hip-hop artists, it’s wake up, go to the studio, figure out marketing, rinse and repeat. For Walter, it’s the same vein but different lanes. Constantly creating has been something that he has strived for since starting in the fashion industry, and his work can attest to that. “I don’t care as much about how people perceive it. If something’s dope, it’s dope to me.”

You started your journey a bit more than 5 years ago, and now you’re in rooms that most people would dream of. Any advice you would give to others?

He takes a deep breath and contemplates a bit, before speaking.

“Just understand...with anything that you like, the timeline is arbitrary. You can’t be worried about when you’re going to blow up. If you like what you’re doing, someone’s going to see it.

You hear stories all the time of people blowing up 10-15 years after they start something, THAT’S inspiring to me. As long as you don’t give up, it can happen at any moment. If you believe what you’re doing is fire, you’re going to get what you’re looking for.” I turn off the recording and talk to Walter alone. He talks about his inspirations in Martine Rose, Bottega Veneta...he speaks about his friends and how they save him from falling too much into the deep end of his work. He talks a lot about how grateful he is to be in the space that he is, and that he’s excited to keep going.

thing for me, I have a keen eye for it, so learning the more technical side of shit will be huge. Honestly man? As long as I’m having fun with it, everything will fall into place the way it should.”

Dedication, determination, and the love for your craft is what Walter Prince is bringing to the table this year. If that’s not hip-hop? I don’t know what is.

-by Seher Ahmed

Of course, I had to ask, what’s next?

What do you hope to see change not only in fashion, but in your work?

“It seems we’re getting closer and closer to gender neutrality in clothing, and I love that.

There’s so many new dope trends out right now too, like footwear is going to an interesting space right now, jewelry is making a large wave lately, more form fitting clothes for men so we can play with different silhouettes....we’re in a VERY interesting time right now for fashion, I can’t wait to see it grow. As for me? I want to have a shoot at least once a month to expand the portfolio, I’ve been doing good with that so far. I’d love to become a household name for editorial styling, wardrobe styling...if I continue to apply pressure, it’ll hit. I also want to grow my knowledge.

Styling has always been an intuition

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YOUR FAVOURITE RAPPER’S FAVOURITE ARTIST

AN INTERVIEW & DISCUSSION WITH EMILY CATHERINE

-by Oliver Hogg

“I’m not classically trained, and I’ve seen the real division of “high and low art” in the art world. Like, keep these people to one side, let these other people exhibit in large galleries, and when you have that same treatment of music, which too has the idea of “high and low forms”, album covers are not even given a second thought. When you give power to album covers in hip-hop, you are giving power to art forms which are traditionally stereotyped and ignored.”

Hip-hop is art. This is not a subjective statement, but a tautology. Hip-hop, and ultimately rap, was defined under five pillars: MCing, DJing, breakdancing, graffiti, and knowledge. Each of these elements are synecdochic, as in, they each represent a larger, more general asset of hip-hop, but, for the sake of today, I want to focus in on just one, graffiti: the visual aspect of rap. And I want to do that with the help of one the greatest visual artists rap has today, the virtuoso behind so many great album 28 DEF MAGAZINE ISSUE #2

covers from Your Old Droog, Tha God Fahim, Micall Parknsun, CLBRKS, and Juga-Naut: Emily Catherine.

In the streaming era, we have sadly washed away any great importance that was once placed on the album cover. When music was nothing but physical, unless you already knew the artist, it was the art, the visuals, the album cover, that was doing the sales pitch. Nowadays, most of this art is compressed into pixilated obscurity as you flick by it on Spotify.

People like Emily Catherine want to change that. I had the pleasure and the honour to talk with Emily to discuss her immense passion and respect for hiphop, and how she uses her skills to keep the visual pillar of rap strong in a time of its dilapidation.

OH: Trying to build off something which I heard you say on a mini-documentary about hip-hop album covers you have on your YouTube channel, you talked about “reading the visual aesthetic” of renaissance paintings, which are more

traditionally looked at in regard to art criticism, but you want to try and push that towards album covers, and specifically, hip-hop album covers.

How do you keep that sentiment of “reading the visual aesthetic” of a cover in mind when you are creating one? How do you string together the many ideas and themes that may come with a cover without giving too much away?

EC: What’s fascinating about allegorical, visual, storytelling, in the way that the populous know about, is these kinds of prosaic, renaissance paintings, which were largely commissioned by big rich families with loads of power, and they commissioned classically trained artists who had read all of the classics, we’re talking in the 1600s, we’re talking Biblical stuff and mythology and what not, and they try and tell a story with a new imagining to try and get the point across. That’s because people during those times were trying to use art as a type of spiritual awakening, they needed allegory, or storytelling, within a picture because they didn’t have loads of people around them in folklore, or other mediums to tell them these stories. So, the comparison is having a beautifully constructed rap, filled with storytelling and nuance, and saying to an artist, “do you think you can represent that on a very small thumbnail people will just flick past on Spotify?”

For The Iceberg Theory by CLBRKS and Vagrant

Real Estate, Emily pulled together elements of The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch and The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger, blending two very different styles, aesthetics and palettes into one piece that encapsulates so much of what the music within aims to pull on. Crimson and oscillating blues mingle in the sky, descending onto icy mountains that cover the deep background, drawing from the shades of blue that work so well in The Garden of Earthly Delights and the dark reds that appear on clothing and cloth in The Ambassadors.

The landscape’s form is shared between The Iceberg Theory and The Garden…, yet Emily enhances it, draping the rolling hills with a much brighter and more flourishing green, almost matching the curtains that descend in the background of The Ambassadors. Knives, bread, cacti, palm trees, a fiery haired woman wearing a mirror, a rawchicken-swan, a ballet-Spore-world and a train set: Emily Catherine manages to capture Bosch’s most eccentric qualities within the cover.

The Garden… is a triptych, meaning, it is a three panelled piece that can either be unfolded, creating the full scene which The Iceberg Theory is inspired by, or, it can be folded close, revealing Earth on the third day. If you know Genesis, then you know that on the third day, humans have not yet been created, never mind introduced sin into the world. So, when we open up The Garden…, and we see humans on Earth, what is our reaction? Bosch’s intention may be shrouded in post-medieval mystery, but two options of how we interpret The Garden… have prevailed: is The Garden… a utopia, or is it a dystopia? Is it the greatness of God in action, or more so a moral warning of where sin takes humanity? The second seems much more likely due to the right-most panel of the triptych, as with sin and freedom, humanity has fallen into hell. They were given this gift by God, they abused it, and they flew too close to the sun.

‘Icarus’ is the opening track to The Iceberg Theory.

Following the introductory instrumental and vocal collage, ‘Preface’, ‘Icarus’ gives us our first shot of

CL and Vagrant working their magic: a cycling guitar passage immediately jumps at you when the track starts, cutting in and out, often being manipulated to accommodate for the other pieces to this stunning puzzle of a beat. A vocal sample seemingly screaming “Icarus!” punctuates every four bars, punching through the ascending strings (or maybe synths, or maybe even some manipulated keys, either way, it’s a crazy sound) and drum pattern, to give great emphasis to CLBRKS at every revelation.

“SOMETIMES I FLY CLOSE TO THE SUN, FELT THE FEATHERS COMING LOOSE, STARTED FALLING FOR FUN” At this point, Emily’s work with Droog is legendary: It Wasn’t Even Close, Space Bar, YOD Presents: The Shining, Tha YOD Fahim, and all the art for the singles for TIME and Dump YOD: Krutoy Edition come together to form a behemoth of a collaborative catalogue.

“If you’re a Droog fan, you know he’ll have an astonishing rhyme pattern, and he’s hilarious, so often what will happen is, you’ll end up laughing at the punch line rather than realising that he said something at the beginning of the next line which connects forward and backwards to things throughout the song. If you like Droog and love his work… then you sort of know there is always going to be easter eggs. The Droog paintings are more collaborative than any other work I do with

musicians because he has strong opinions on what should be highlighted, and I do too, so we’ll argue a lot about what should be focused upon and what should be included visually. This is why the paintings are physically fucking huge, we don’t care about scale on that level, even if it is going to end up a thumb nail, it’s always worth it, because at some point, someone is going to pick up on these details.”

The devil is in the details and the witch is in the kitchen. It Wasn’t Even Close stands as the case study of the peaks of sonic and visual collaboration in the modern day, and I say that with supreme confidence.

Even the shallowest of listens to It Wasn’t Even Close will reveal a depth of references that are found on its cover. Why is the late great A$AP Yams on the wall?

Coming to America? I love that film! (See ‘Bubble Hill’) A bottle of BBQ sauce? (See ‘World’s About To End’) And what’s that hidden in the shadows of the TV stand? (See an album that came out three years later) I could play this game of I spy for days, but I think Emily sums it up best with this description: “a Where’s Wally? of lyricism.”

“Loads of people ask me, why did you paint this particular thing on Droog’s cover? My answer is always the same, I’m not going to tell you… It is up to the people to find all the easter eggs, and lord knows, we worked really hard to put them in. Isn’t the mystery this: you listen to the album and go, holy fuck, I know the reason that there are that many Matryoshka dolls now. Figure it out yourself!”

The talent of Emily Catherine is undeniable. We are blessed to co-exist with the great artists of our time, and I think that sentiment is felt and expressed frequently with our favourite albums. But without the artwork, would you have ever taken the chance?

I know that for many of my favourite albums, I wouldn’t have. I have Emily Catherine to thank for those experiences, and I’m sure you too may share that feeling. We are blessed to have Emily Catherine, so laude her for the marvel she is.

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DEF CREDITS DEF Magazine was created and published by Def Goldbloom aka Brandon Mariano Designed by Chase Simmons Pages 3, 10-15, and 24 written by Def Goldbloom aka Brandon Mariano Pages 4 and 5 written by Ian Mcbride Pages 6, 28, and 29 written by Oliver Hogg Page 7 written by Connor Dobson Pages 8 and 9 written by OG Nick Marsh Collages on pages 16 and 17 by Chase Simmons Pages 18-21 written by Savage Shy Photos on pages 18-21 by Ryan Heinz Pages 22 and 23 written by Nolan Kelly Page 25 written by The Rap Revolution Pages 26 and 27 written by Seher Ahmed Art on page 30 by Henry Foster

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