Monthly Archives: July 2007

dB Magazine, Interview, Music, Writing

Vents

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Vents is the latest signing to Obsese records, the home of Aussie hiphop and label for Pegz, Bias B, Funkoars and of course, The Hilltop Hoods. His musical style is pretty unique in Aussie hiphop, being brash, aggressive, and more in your face than most of the other Aussie hiphop which tends to be a little more laid back. And this is a deliberate move by Vents.

“I’m not really ‘starting out’”, when I ask him about his first album ‘Hard To Kill’, “because I’ve been rhyming for close to ten years maybe, and it was only when I started taking it seriously that an album actually got done. Theoretically I should have had an album out by now with the amount I’ve written over the years,” he chuckles.

“I used to do the same old shit, but then I started getting more lyrical and creative and thought I could go somewhere with that. I think I started writing better rhymes when I put my self in the state of mind that I wanted to be the best at the type of thing I was doing. Not necessarily the best at battle rap or whatever, but carve a niche for myself, and make sure nobody can beat that, not yet anyway,” he grins. “I don’t try and follow a formula which most new guys seem to do, and to me good music transcends genres so I try to appeal to outside the hiphop realm without selling out, if you know what I mean.”

Our talk shifts to other hiphop in Adelaide – mainly the Hilltop Hoods, whose influence has spread far and wide, and the Funkoars, who seem to be on the threshold of crossing over. Both groups have had input into ‘Hard to Kill’, with Suffa rapping on one track, Sesta and Trials on a couple more, with Trials producing the album. “I might throw Trials some beats and samples and see if he can do anything with them, and I give them to him and watch him destroy them,” Vents laughs. “But usually he has a heap of beats and asks me if I can use them and I’ll write something and go and record it, and when he gets it back he does his magic with it, makes it sound real good.”

I find it interesting that Adelaide has such a diverse range of really good rappers, and Vents agrees. “It’s weird. You’d expect, because they’ve got such big populations, bigger populations of better MCs in from Sydney or Melbourne, I guess,” He ponders. “I remember someone asked the Hoods a similar question back in the day and I think they said it was the water supply,” he chuckles. “But I think it’s the vanguard – The Hoods, Certified Wise, Funkoars, they never sold out. A lot of people take shots at the Hoods because they’ve blown up, but they’re super lyrical and I expect that’s had a big impact on the rest of us”.

I wondered if it was a class thing – all these crews grew up in poorer areas around Adelaide’s south. “I think hiphop is definitely a working class type of music, but it’s the same with anything. You look at any great group like Black Sabbath, they’re working class. Maybe it’s a desire to get out of that routine. I dunno though, I’m working class and I’ve never been hard up, never gone hungry before, you know”.

Vents album tackles subjects such as media manipulation, corrupt police and politicians and war. It’s pretty ferocious, and it’s clear how Vents got his name. “I make it a point to be anti-war; I’m not just against Iraq. Because it’s always poor walking class people going to fight for rich people and maintain their world. And I’m anti-State to be honest with you – they just rob the working class – those who make everything… There’s some commie propaganda for you, put that down” he laughs.

Vents is about to embark on an album launch tour, and is looking forward to getting on the road again after the successful Block Party Tour. “I was trying to take it easy, pretty much,” he says of his first time on the road. “In Tasmania on the first weekend we got fucked up, I can’t remember anything! I remember wandering around the city and rocking up to the hotel at 5:30 the next morning,” he laughs, “But after that I got serious.”

You can see Vents get serious at the official launch party for Hard To Kill on Fri 24Aug at HQ with the Funkoars.

dB Magazine, Interview, Music, Writing

Guru

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Sometimes interviews can be a bit hairy. Timezones, telephone lines, traffic and schedules can all conspire to make things difficult for all involved. Such was my interview with Guru. Instead of the 15 minute chat from a hotel room, I had a 5 minute chat about Jazzmatazz 4 with both Guru and his new partner in crime Solar as they travelled in a taxi on the way to another interview. Not the most ideal situation to ask someone you’ve been a fan of you years everything you wanted to know.

So, I concentrated on Jazzmatazz volume 4. The Jazmatazz series was launched 14 years ago as Guru (which stands for Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal) teamed up with jazz greats Lonnie Liston Smith, Branford Marsalis, Ronny Jordan, Donald Byrd and Roy Ayers to produce the one of the first fusions of jazz and hiphop. Also featured on the album was French rapper MC Solaar and N’Dea Davenport of the Brand New Heavies, and it broke new ground in the hiphop scene. It crossed boundaries and introduced jazz to hiphoppers and hiphop to jazz listeners.

However, it’s been a number of years since the last iteration. “This has been an ongoing project,” Guru states, “but I wanted to put it on the back burner for a minute, finish up some other projects from my previous works, then hook up with Solar and get things up and running.” The Solar he is referring isn’t the French MC Solaar, but a New York producer who has stepped in the hard to fill shoes of DJ Premier, Guru’s ex partner in the now defunct Gangstarr.

Unlike previous releases in the series, there aren’t as many big names from either the jazz scene or the hiphop world. “We wanted a balance with the legends and contemporary, and of course the new up and coming artists,” Guru explains. “We wanted to balance it out and give something for everybody.” This is partly because the influence of the Jazzmatazz series is so wide reaching, being if not the father of many music genres like Acid Jazz and Neo Soul, then certainly a big fatherly figure in their lives. These styles can be seen as old and stale, where as Guru says “with us, we’re the originators so we can push ourselves and do our own thing, we decide the direction, because Jazzmatazz defines itself.”

Guru has been praised so much for his lyrical flow and delivery. “It’s all about taking experiences and making them universal through my writing,” he explains. “So my repertoire as Guru I filter my experiences – whether I’m talking about my rap skills or society or the industry or romance, it’s the thing I do, and now I’ve partnered with Solar he’s pushed me to new heights. It’s the tracks he makes that influence me to do what I do, and he hit me with some of the greatest music I’ve heard so it pushed me to new heights.”

He continues to lavish praise on Solar. “This work I feel is a lot more cohesive,” Guru continues. “I’ve teamed up with one of the hottest producers from New York and he’s brought a huge musical knowledge to the Jazzmatazz odyssey and taken it further in the sonic landscape, and conceptually with the song writing. He has a lot of ideas that he brings to the table song writing wise, so allows me to concentrate on lyrics and concepts and pushes me and the other artists to do the best work they’ve ever done.”

I quickly get a chance to ask Solar one question, so I ask if he thinks it’s fair that he’s compared to DJ Premier. “As a black man coming from America fairness isn’t something we see a whole lot of,” he says. “As far as my talent is concerned I feel my talent speaks for itself. I think Premier is a genius and one of the greatest talents to ever touch a drum machine, but then there’s all these people who buy the album and come to the shows and see me do what I do, and like it.” And I guess no one can argue with that.