352 : What up Celph ?
Celph Titled : What's really good, Sham... We down here enjoying this weather while everybody up north dealin' with snowstorms and shit. Gotta love F-L-A, playa.
352 : Well we usually like to give the readers alittle background on who we interview for those who have been living under a rock somewhere and don't know what's what , so can u let the readers know how you came into Hip Hop ?
Celph Titled : I'm mostly known on the underground hip hop scene. I'm a leading member of the Demigodz crew (www.demigodz.com), which consists of myself, Apathy, Rise, Esoteric, Styles of Beyond, Lord Digga and many others. I'm also part of another clique called Army of the Pharaohs alongside Jedi Mind Tricks, Outerspace, 7L & Esoteric, Chief Kamachi, King Syze & Apathy as well. I came on the scene in '98 near the end of the indie hip hop golden era, releasing various 12" vinyl singles beginning with my first group, Equilibrium and another group I was working with called Walkmen. Equilibrium was me, DutchMassive, Majik Most and our DJ, Kramtronix. Since then I've been steady releasing records... worked with a lot of different artists, some legends, some just really talented.
352 : Would you consider yourself a better producer or emcee ?
Celph Titled : I'd say I'm pretty well balanced in both fields. I've been doing both since about 1992 or so. When I first started getting my name on records, people mainly only noticed the production credit, since on my first few records I was part of a couple different groups and I was rhyming on those records, but if I didn't say my name in the verse, they might not have known. Then in late '99 and all through 2000 I was getting a lot of production work so people knew me as a producer, even though I was making a lot of guest appearances on the records. Now, in the past couple of years, I haven't produced as many beats for people as I have rhymed on records, so a lot of the newer fans coming into the game don't even know I make beats! The tables turn back and forth. It's all love though, if you like a beat I did or you like a verse I did, at least you like something I did.
352 : What is your view on the art of sampling , do you think there will be a time where it will be no longer be usefull in hip hop production , or do u feel it is something that should always remain to give Hip Hop that gritty sound ?
Celph Titled : I wouldn't really want to have hip hop music any other way if there wasn't any sampling. I think eventually sampling will phase out on a major level due to the constant increase of money and publishing percentages you have to fork over to make it happen. It won't happen anytime real soon, but I can't see it lasting forever. There will always be an underground circle of people who will continue to sample and in an underground arena, you're not having to clear anything or worry about anyone coming after you. There are a lot of beats I still enjoy that aren't sample based, like a lot of dirty south records and West Coast gangsta shit where they got gritty with the synths, I fuck with shit like that too, but sample-based joints will always rock harder with me.
352 : What producers inspire u to progress with your skillz and why ?
Celph Titled : The ones that inspire me to progress would be the new school leaders like Just Blaze, J-Zone and a few others. Mainly because a lot of times I will listen to their beats and not really be able to figure out how they did it. Even if I had the same records they did, it'd be almost impossible to re-create the beat to match theirs. That's when you know a beat is crazy. With Just, a lot of it has to do with his real clean sound and a lot of the instrumentation he plays on top of the samples he's fuckin' with. Also his programming is real crazy, percussion sounds are off the hook. With my man Zone, he's just so wild with the samples, the chops, the basslines, the synths he's playing on top of everything.... it's nuts. He'll take 3 or 4 different records, chop them up all together and make it sound like they were all meant to be together, in the right key and arrangement, everything. Those guys keep me on top of my game.
352 : Do you feel Hip Hop will ever bring conciousness and culture back to the forefront of its promotion ?
Celph Titled : Maybe. Everything goes in circles. I'm not a fan of new conscious hip hop at all. I can't stand it. I respect it highly, don't get it twisted, but everybody has their own tastes. While I do come from an era of hip hop growing up on a lot of socially conscious artists like Public Enemy, Brand Nubian, BDP, early Ice Cube, and X-Clan, I feel like the artists that are now making conscious records or trying to get messages across are doing it too softly. I'm a fan of hardcore hip hop... in your face... aggressive... powerful.... raw hip hop. The legends that I mentioned already, were masters at making you feel their message and also entertaining you greatly, but those days are gone. The new school of conscious rappers are just making boring music. Bland beats.... lazy voices and flows... preachy rhymes... just lacking in entertainment value. I don't feel their message and to be honest, I'm not interested in hearing any messages or really having to think at all when I listen to a record. Hip hop is an escape to me. I don't want to listen to a song about something I can watch on the news or something that's going on down the street or something I already know about, I want an escape from that. I want to hear somebody having fun or somebody really hype. I want to hear somebody talking shit, I want to laugh, I want to hear crazy flows, I want to hear somebody say the most outrageous shit as possible. That's just me though, that's what I like to hear. Just like I have no interest in watching some boring epic drama movie that's won Academy Awards and instead I'd rather watch Die Hard or Commando. I want excitement in my music, I could give a fuck about meaning or substance, but that's just my taste. Artists that make conscious music or hip hop with meaning, get my full support to do what they do whether I like it or not and if they are against what I do, I respect their opinion. If everyone was trying to do what I do, it wouldn't be very fun in this game.
352 : What's next for Dutchmassive , Majik Most and yourself as a collective ?
Celph Titled : As a collective, nothing really. Dutch & Majik are like younger brothers to me, we talk regularly, argue every now and then, but always at the end of the day support each other and consider each other friends no matter how upset we get at each other. We can't seem to shake each other, so we'll always be family. Over the years we all changed and we all have different musical goals than each other and we all have our own hardheaded ways of doing things and we don't like to compromise. I'd say musically, myself and Majik Most are more on the same page as far as what we listen to and the type of joints we're willing to make and DutchMassive has grown into a different approach to writing and making and selecting beats. But we still all like each others' music. When we first started as a group, we were all very young, I was still in my senior year of high school and they were in like 9th or 10th grade and we just wanted to say the illest rhymes possible. We were all on that complex crazy shit, just trying to rip it everytime and we had a lot of off the wall concepts that we did on a bunch of songs that never came out, but we worked well together. If we really wanted to focus hard enough, we could make a bunch more records together as a group, but I think we're all at the point now where we're just trying to focus on our own music as solo artists. There's a couple recent Equilibrium joints in the vaults that will surface on my album or Majik's album and we're always doing collaborations with each other here and there. I'm working on getting my EP put together this year, along with a compilation of unreleased material. Majik has a mixtape & DVD dropping as early as April. Dutch is working on his 2nd project to follow-up his first album "Junk Planet" and he also has a mix compilation he's working on.
352 : You know the locals in the Tampa area talk alot about 2005 is there year to blow , but it seems to me that people tend to say that when they wanna believe it more so than it being actual. What do you think it will take for the world to take notice to Tampa HipHop ?
Celph Titled : It's going to take a huge surge of motivation. All it takes is for one artist or one collective who really want things to happen and make it happen. You have to look at an example like Nelly. Nobody ever predicted that St. Louis would be on the hip hop map, but since he blew up, he's made way for a whole bunch of successful artists to get noticed like the rest of his St. Lunatics crew, Chingy and J-Kwon. All it takes is one artist really. Major labels are not going to just all of a sudden out of nowhere start scavenging Tampa for their next platinum artist. But if somebody from here goes platinum, best believe the majors will be coming here scooping up everybody to try and get more pieces of it. I'm only speaking on a commercial level. The local artists that want that type of success need to get on that grind and there are already a handful here moving towards that goal. For those that aren't on the grind or don't know what I'm talking about.... get in the lab, man... make some catchy ass bangin' records... Don't settle for some wack shit... Make yourself or find yourself a banger... learn how to make a hook, learn how to structure a record for the club, come with an original sound, a Tampa sound. Get it in the club, get it to everybody on the streets, if it's hot, it will catch on, trust me.... from there it will get the support of radio, that's the last step. Get yourself enough BDS spins and labels will notice. Back your radio song up with a quality album, something the people can feel and you've got a plan. Either that or get your independent hustle up so strong regionally, that you're soundscanning over 15,000 units in South & Central Florida alone and you'll get meetings, man... Soundscan is important, labels need that proof, they're not taking gambles. They don't believe you if you said you sold 10,000 out the trunk, they need proof.
But beyond the club music and crunk type music, I think Tampa has a pretty strong grass roots underground hip hop circle of artists. Outside of NY, LA, SF Bay, Philly, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, and Minneapolis on the underground scene, Tampa, as an odd-ball city in that list has made a lot of noise independently with the underground MC's & producers here. Think of a lot of other cities no on that list and you can't say the same. If we keep on that route, enough people in the world will recognize Tampa's talents. We may not become the next Atlanta or St. Louis, but we will still get our respect.
352 : When can we expect a full length release from Celph Titled ?
Celph Titled : Hopefully by the end of this year, but more than likely 2006 will be the year I finally get a proper deal situated. The EP I talked about earlier will surface this year, though. In the meantime, I've got a lot of collaborative albums coming out, an Apathy & Celph Titled album, a J-Zone & Celph Titled album, Army of the Pharaohs album and I've been working with my fam S.O.B. (Styles of Beyond) on their album for Linkin Park's label, Machine Shop, and I've also done some stuff with Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park for his solo album, so we'll see what makes it to the surface this year.
352 : How much of your personnal life is exposed in your music ?
Celph Titled : I like to keep my personal life separate from my records, I don't really make many personal songs. Anyone who listens to my lyrics should sense a huge sense of exaggeration and cartoonish pictures. Obviously I'm not walking around town with rocket launchers and plotting out landmines, but for the most part the aggressiveness that comes through in my music is real. I'm trying to make outlandish sounding shit but at the same time I'm still the same dude that'll snuff you if you disrespect, but that's how any grown man should be about his business. Some things come through in my music, like my obsession with firearms, or the fact I like big girls, or getting drunk and acting wild, or that I got a good sense of humor. Rarely do I ever make a song about anything serious or personal, but I do have songs like that written but I just haven't recorded them yet. People will get a chance to hear those soon.
352 : How do you feel about the war in Iraq and president bush , or do you not feel one way or the other ?
Celph Titled : Without sounding ignorant, I don't care. I feel for the troops, I know that shit is no joke, I have a lot of respect for them and wish them well. I stay out of politics. I don't care who is president, I live my life day to day and I've got way too many things in my own life to be concerned with than worrying about politics and most people will say I sound stupid saying that because they'll tell me that if I let the politics go to hell, it will affect my own life, but there's just too many other people out there who spend their whole lives fighting for what's right and wrong in the political world. I leave that shit up to them. There's enough good people out there fighting to keep shit in order, there's only so much we can do. They don't need me. If I spent too much time looking into it, I'd have a lot less music done. Selfish, apathetic, ignorant or not, that's just me. I'll deal with life and it's consequences as they come.
352 : If you knew the world would come to an end 24 hours from now , how would u spend it ?
Celph Titled : Find as many good looking females as possible and hit 'em raw dog... Who cares what they got at that point, right? You don't even gotta wake up the next morning and worry about razor blade piss. Nah, but for real, to give a boring real answer, I'd probably just spend it with friends and family that are close to me.
352 : Aight man , thanks for the interview ... Keep 352elements.com posted ...
Celph Titled : No doubt, thanks for the spotlight. Peace to all artists in the Tampa Bay area, you've got my support and respect.
352 : Peace
Sursa: www.352elements.com
Word up to the Demigodz family!
