Appendix D - Selections from Artist Interviews
Q: What makes an emcee dope?
Ab-Original: You got heads who will break it down and just be like ‘yeah, his flow is tight’ or ‘his lyrics are tight’ or ‘his metaphors are tight’ or you know ‘his voice is just perfect’ right. And, yeah, it’s a combination of all those elements, but at the same time, when you put in that CD, you hear it, like you just know. ‘That emcee right there – that emcee is dope.’
Aceyalone: It’s several things, to me, that make a dope emcee. Me, personally, I believe that not only as an emcee but also as a person, to be well rounded. As an emcee, I would say ‘be a good writer. Be a good freestyler.’ As much as you can, flavor – be original as much as you can. Some people don’t have it like that and they just have to use the qualities that they have to work with to make what they doin' work. There are several qualities. Those are a few of the qualities that I see and respect and understand… Every new emcee that’s good, that’s distinctive to what they doin', original, and when they introduce they self to the world, they become a good emcee – only because you’ve never heard that. It takes time to digest, it takes time for you to understand it… Of course there’s nothin' new under the sun, but sometimes when an emcee puts something in a way, you’re like ‘okay, I understand it when you put it like that. You touched my heart. I feel you. I feel that. I understand that idea.’
Asheru: What makes an emcee dope is having something to say, and having something to say entails life experience. If your life experience is well-rounded and you are able to synthesize information from books and conversations and everyday experience and the news – it’s basically taking every part of your human experience and puttin it into your song. And not just being single minded and going after one particular theme or pattern when you speak. To me, that’s what makes a dope emcee. Charisma, showmanship, and bein' able to do improv and freestyle and all of that, that comes as part of it too, but at the bottom of it, a real emcee, a dope emcee, a true emcee, to me, is somebody that can take their experience and put it into a form that other people can relate to.
B-girl Mia: Presence. Is the emcee giving 100% or are they holding back? Delivery. Does their style make sense for them? Are they what they claim in their raps? Hooks. Catchy little hip hop anthems and enthusiastic jingles help sell records. Consciousness. Do they have their third eye open with positive intent? Do they demonstrate respect for themselves and others? Are they raising the bar for the entertainment industry or for the growth of a culture as a whole, or are they just wasting their time in the limelight? Reinvention and Evolution. Are they using words as tools of power towards positive social change on a larger scale?
Blockhead: the first thing is originality... but not just in content -- in how you use your flow and voice. there are plenty of dope MC's who talk about drugs and womanizing. it's how they kick it that sets them apart. a good flow is a must. MC's with no flow should ghostwrite. Lastly, a good voice. there are way to many half rate rappers out there and it's cause they can't admit to themselves that they have a weak voice. I used to rhyme and that's why I stopped.
Braille: Being dope and being the best are two different things. I think if an MC has something to say, knows how to say it and how to make it sound right over the beat... that makes them dope. That doesn't mean I'm going to like all their music, but I don't think there is a huge guideline you need to meet. Someone being "dope" is a personal opinion.
Cam-One: Confidence, without being too arrogant; of course you must have skills, stage presence, ability to freestyle, rhymes that have relevance to everyone, but at the same time, have elements that only make sense to the emcee himself. Also an emcee who can rip a whole song with no hooks.
Ceschi: Technical vocal skills, unique style, and potent lyrics are all elements that make an emcee dope. There are many dope emcees that have one or two of these characteristics, but a truly great emcee has all of these qualities along with a charismatic persona that can capture a listener and force people to pay attention.
DJ Eurok: An emcee’s dopeness is really judged by the collective response from the people they’re performing in front of… Cause one person in a room of 100 could say ‘oh, so and so is the dopest emcee,’ but when you put people in a room together and they perform, that kind of stuff is self-evident. It’s the response that they elicit, whether that’s one of, sort of, amazement at what they do, or just the impact of their lyrics, or any other number of things, but how the crowd responds, how people respond…
DJ Southpaw: To me, a whack emcee is an emcee comin' in soundin' just like Jay-Z or soundin' like a Nas, no particular style to himself. If he’s lookin' or imitatin' somebody, that’s a whack emcee.
DJ Swift: I think an emcee should just be real, be themself, and be about what they say, you know, cause we all role models.
Dice-Raw: You gotta have lyrics, you gotta have skill, you gotta be able to move the crowd, you gotta have somethin' to say…
Dooley-o: What makes an emcee dope is that he can be very versatile in freestylin', battlin', and also, he can get nice when it’s time to make songs for the public. That what makes an emcee dope. He’s very versatile, he doesn’t stick to one format, all his songs sound different from the next. All his styles of rhymin' is different from the next person, he’s original, his flow is correct. Everything is smooth, and everything is comin' out aggressively, correct.
Head-Roc: What makes an emcee dope is the ability to connect into the collective rhythm. Period. And there’s varying degrees of connecting into the collective rhythm. You have to be able to use that basic rhythm to show them your individual rhythm or expression. It’s a skilled craft. You can’t be an emcee in your basement - you’re a social agent. You have to be out and around people. Some cats really penetrate, some cats go a little bit. Some cats, everybody loves. They might not be the most popular cats, but everybody loves 'em when they open their mouths. That’s a great emcee. There’s only a few of us—oh! A few of them. Haha.
iCON The Mic King: They gotta understand how to ride the beat—the flow. The flow is real important because if you can’t flow, you can have the best lyrics in the world and no one will want to hear you. You have to be able to tackle any topic, the subject matter has to be very diverse, you gotta know how to pick beats, you gotta know how to make songs, you gotta know how to freestyle, you gotta know how to battle, gotta know how to rock a show, you have to have presence on the microphone... There’s emcees that have a real good feel for the technical aspect of things, and then have a real good feel for being very creative with their content. You have to master every aspect to be a good emcee to me.
Jade Foxx: There are various things that could make an emcee dope. First and foremost is Originality. If you sound like everyone else, what really separates you from them? Also, Lyrics, Subject matter, Wordplay, and Delivery are all very important to me. An emcee is dope when they stand out from the norm. You don't have to be famous. A lot of dope emcees are overlooked for others who fall into the "cliché" category.
Jean Grae: Someone who can move the crowd. You gotta be able to move the crowd. People don’t remember how to do that.
K.U.: What I think makes an emcee dope is consistency. Not compromising your artistic integrity to try to put out a record to make more money. But I don’t think an emcee stops being dope just because all of the sudden they sell hella records.
Opio: See, a lot of people say a lot of different shit like lyrics, presentation, dadada, but I really don’t look at the whole spectrum, cause there are some people that only have one part of bein an emcee. You know, there’s freestylin, there’s songs, there’s like stories—that kinda shit, there’s just attacking people—clownin' em. So, different people that have their little niche mastered, they are considered a dope emcee, but they’re not necessarily the full spectrum of what makes the greatest. My whole thing is I love albums. Records. Not necessarily just a battle. A record. Like what can you do once you finally get into the studio? You’ve proved yourself here, here, here. And you’ve proved yourself as a dope emcee, but can you take it to the next level, and actually make an album that’s ground-breaking, that introduces new styles not necessarily to the listening public, but to your peers as well?
NuSonRize: Dope rhymes. By dope rhymes, I mean rhymes that are about something, rhymes that make people wanna sing along in a show. If you’re a dope emcee, you gotta be able to get the audience involved, be able to get them to relate to you.
Sagacity: In my opinion what makes an emcee dope is skills. Skills is the type of thing that no matter where you’re from and no matter what you do or listen to, if somebody is talented in something, you have to give it up to them. Regardless of what they’re talkin' about or whatever. If somebody does something with talent, then you have to say ‘yo, that’s wassup. That’s dope.’ That’s what makes an emcee dope – when, hands down, they’re just good at what they do.
Self-Suffice: The emcee themselves - nothing else. A dope emcee can talk about the same thing as anyone else - but it's dope. A dope emcee can make a story seem real. A dope emcee can make reality seem interesting. A dope emcee can make selling crack seem like playing a game. But you can tell when a dope emcee is truly a dope emcee, because they're confident and you can tell they are doing what they want to do with the language at that moment. As for me personally, I like to pass on information that I would want passed on to me or my children by a dope emcee. So even though I could say things for shock value that elevate me and degrade the next person, I think I’m a dope emcee when I can shock people by making them feel like they have a friend or brother in me, and that they are more powerful than they ever thought. Sex, drugs, and violence can make anything seem dope for the moment - that's simple marketing. But what's really fresh is when it's dope in the long run. When I realized that I could rhyme in front of anyone, that my lyrics entertain and educate everyone, and that I am saying the same thing rhyming that I would say in a good conversation - I think that's when I became a dope emcee.
Skillz: Versatility, crowd control, being an all around entertainer, and being able to interact with the audience. That’s what makes an emcee to me, and movin' the crowd.
Tazzo: Basically, you gotta be sayin somethin. Not necessarily a preaching message or positive things so to speak. Give somethin to the people that’s listenin—somethin to take with them and carry through life. Not only that, but confidence in delivery. I feel like if you lack confidence, then you already not hot. You have to first believe in yourself before other people can believe. Also, I think consistency—especially in Hip-hop culture—cause it’s under this microscope and the smallest thing gets judged and people are already so against it and are tryin to end it for us… So that confidence and your delivery and your presence when you speak and when you spit, you gotta have that presence. You gotta become a god, so to speak, to the people that’s listenin, you gotta get em in awe about you, you have to get them intrigued about you and what you’re sayin. That right here is power and that’s what hip-hop is all about.
Young Dame: What I think makes an emcee dope is having your own perspective, or any perspective for that matter. I feel like, as long as you can come—that’s if it’s from a social standpoint, a partyin' standpoint—just so long as it’s your own, original perspective and how you look at life, because I feel like emcees are the looking glass into the community. And it used to be just the urban community, but now I think it’s just the looking glass into the young life—the life of young kids period, you know, no matter what race, creed or color.
Zion: For me, it’s the ability to touch me, and stir something inside me emotionally – more even so than mentally – somethin' that’s gonna make me look at life a different way, even for a split second. That’s what I look for in emcees, even if it’s just a different mode of thought.
Q: What makes an emcee whack?
DJ Southpaw: To me, a whack emcee is an emcee comin in soundin just like Jay-Z or soundin like a Nas, no particular style to himself. If he’s lookin or imitatin somebody, that’s a whack emcee.
Dooley-o: What makes an emcee whack is that he follows the trends of other emcees.
Young Dame: What makes a whack emcee to me is somebody who lacks perspective, lacks vision, and who is just doing cookie cutter type rhymes. They feel like ‘this is what’s makin' money. This is what everybody else is doin, cause the ones that everyone bites are the ones that had that first perspective that nobody had in the first place, which is the thing that made them dope.
Q: Do you think background matters – race or class or upbringing – as far as what we define as a real emcee?
Blockhead: It can and can't...it's harder for a suburban white kid to be as authentic as a black kid from the ghetto. that's just how it is. the music started there, it thrived there and all it's influences come from there. I think if a suburban white kids want to be authentic, they have to know their place. Eminem knew his place when he came up...he was an underground mc that always bowed to the innovators. it's when these suburban MC's start thinking that the urban hip hop is beneath them, when problems arise. but, I think being from an urban area certainly lends credibility to emceeing...
DJ Eurok: And so there’s this basic thing in Hip-Hop, which is sort of like the philosophy, that ‘it’s not where you’re from it’s where you’re at.’ So, that was like the suburban Hiphoppa’s first response back [to street credibility]. But, you know, there’s a difference between Long Island and Peoria, you know whamean? Or Malibu. But I understand how people feel that, cause it’s true. I can’t say to you ‘oh, well you’re a Yale college student. You shouldn’t be a hip-hop emcee.’ Why not? You know, you’re being authentic… when you go to other countries and you see mu’fuckas rappin and shit, what do you say to them? ‘Oh, well you can’t be Hip-Hop – you’re from Sarajevo.’ So, it’s not where you’re from, it’s where you’re at…
Self-Suffice: So to bring it back to emcees, when there is a prejudice against a black golfer, it usually means people just think the person can't do it because of their race, or they don't deserve to be able to do it because of their race. But when there is a prejudice against a white rapper, it usually means people think the person can't do it because of their race, but also that they have had more access to language training, musical instruments, albums, resources, live shows, etc., and has a lot of other opportunities whereas a black rapper, may have had very few opportunities to even survive, so it's not just about talent, it's about ‘is your talent worth all the barriers that the black person had to overcome to display equal talent?’ So to the true talent lovers, like myself, talent is talent, and talent defines who it is and what it looks like. But when you look at why talent is talent, and how talent became talent, you see that some people will be more burdened in displaying their talent than others, consequently some people will discredit the talent of others, because they feel someone's identity or struggle outweighs someone else's talent. Talent defines talent for the moment, background effects the growth of talent, and in the long run Talent brings pride to it's background, regardless of whether that background was deemed talented or not in the past. That's it. That is an important question by the way, because it is still America's biggest struggle.
Head-Roc: Hip-hop is soul music, homie. Let’s hope more people tap into the soul. And that comprises more than just Hip-hop. Rhythm music, that drum. That steady, steady rhythm… that holds you down, opens you up, takes ya mind off your thoughts, where you ain’t thinkin' about livin, you just livin’ – breathin’, appreciatin’, gettin’ the full value of life. … That’s an ideology... which opens you up to all ideologies. All different things. Opens you up to a discussion. It unifies, brings people together. … The world don’t have that ideology. Consumers. …
Q: Underground vs. Mainstream?
Jade Foxx: Personally, I don't feel there is balance. The underground artists are very talented, but overlooked because their material doesn't fit into the mainstream market. Some don't care about advancing to the mainstream status because they are in it for the love of hip hop and don't care about the money. The mainstream artists have a job to do. They must deliver to the general population what they want to hear. This is why a lot of what is on the radio sounds weak and repetitive. The people want to party, they don't want to hear about conscious topics, unfortunately. Not to take anything away from the mainstream artists, but we need more balance. How many different ways can artists talk about getting drunk and hitting the club, shooting and killing, or spending stacks of money. It's all been done so many times before. Underground artists don't want to "sell out" or switch up their styles, and the mainstream artists are mostly looking to get paid. Nothing wrong with getting paid, but there has to be some love there also.
Q: Where do you think the music industry needs to go?
Zion: Where I think it needs to go – I don’t think it’s gonna go there – but, it needs to go back to the art, cause like, this formula of putting things together in certain—ideas and messages to sell somebody, like, it’s killin' the art. It’s suckin' the life force dry. And, you know, we don’t wanna be in a colorless world, where everything resonates with Starbucks and fuckin' McDonald’s and there’s no anomalies in the system. Everything’s kinda a mono-message, from the news to the fuckin' TV to film, it’s like, I rarely go to major movies anymore, cause they’re all the fuckin' same. It’s a conservative environment in our country right now and I think the music’s being affected. I would like to see more diversity in the styles and messages of hip-hop. Whatever! Independent cats are gonna do their thing, but it would be nice to see more people on a higher platform, able to reach more people, doing different shit. Cause it’s the same message: ‘I got money. I shot fifteen muthafuckas before I got here.’ C’mon – that’s stupid man. After a while, it’s like, who can live on that, man? That’s basically all I gotta say. One love, man.
Miscellaneous Selections
DJ Kinsley: And sometimes we have the righteous hip hop which doesn’t really make it anywhere, so that can make a person wanna jump on the bandwagon. Everyone’s clapping guns and showing booties in the videos and what not. That’s the direction they’ve gotta take in order to win. You can’t blame them for it. That’s what the leaders of the game, as far as the media and what not--that’s what they want in order to make you win, so people just following the bandwagon. You might see 50-cent dancing in videos now… I remember when Mobb Deep did a song with 112 – it was a shock… but it’s part of working your way towards mainstream, trying to increase your listeners, trying to crossover cause you can’t be underground forever. Underground don’t pay the bills.
Rob Swift: Basically, I would just like to say that hip hop started out with the DJ, man, and if it wasn’t for DJs like Cool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grand Masta Flash, Grand Wizard Theodore, there would be no Jay-Z, no Nas, no 50-Cent. And as an artist, it’s just important to be true to the art, and know your history. Peace!
Sagacity: I think that we should always have events where cats are bboyin and where a DJ is just tearin' down the turntables and where an emcee is just spittin' real skills. Let the poppers pop, the breakers break, yaknowhamsayin? Let cats tag on walls forever. Let’s stay true minded. Let’s do this thing because we really want to express ourselves. Because there’s somethin inside of you that, if you keep it inside, you’re just gonna die. That’s what Hip-hop is. For cats who be like ‘Wow, you cats rap really nice! I could send you to Japan and I bet you we could make a million dollars.’ No no no. It should be ‘You guys spit. You guys got somethin to say and I know there’s a lot of cats in Japan who are feelin' that type of music. Let’s bring you over to Japan because these are the cats who will really appreciate what you’re doin.’ You see what I’m sayin? The whole drive has to be different. |