Lateef The Truth Speaker: New Noise Interview
By: Jason Fullerton
Back in 1995, Bay Area rap was at the big-ballin’ peak of the mobb music craze, LA was chronically gripped in a G-funk indo smoke haze, Atlanta was enjoying its Southernplayalistic days, and NYC was entering a shiny-suit phase. There was no frame of reference for two lyrical emcees experimenting with the tonality and resonance of rhyme patterns. This was uncharted territory.
“Latyrx” was a syllabic tour de force which began with two dissonant voices, one gruff and bassy, the other higher-pitched and treble, both hella fluid. It transformed into a harmonic convergence of doubled verses simultaneously assaulting eardrums. Undeniably, it was great albeit different. Latyrx’ first and thusfar, only, full-length, 1997′s Latyrx: The Album, while 1998′s Muzappers Re-Mixes EP spawned one of the only feminist-affirming club bangers in Hip-Hop history, “Lady Don’t Tek No.”
Though Latyrx never officially broke up, after Muzappers, both members followed their chosen paths to considerable solo success. Yet no matter how much acclaim each attained individually, the notion of someday making another Latyrx record was always present.
16 years after the release of Latyrx: the Album, LB and Lateef have finally answered the prayers of long-starved fans who have begged, pleaded and, by now, tweeted about the possibilities of a reunion. Featuring a long list of producers and special guests, The Second Album credits read like a modern day music festival. Artists and friends from groups and collectives ranging from tUnE yArDs, Anticon and Future People to Blackalicious, The Decemberists and Living Colour have all jumped on board to help create one of the most highly anticipated independent records of all time.
What Latyrx brings to the table is a technical difficulty level rare these days in Hip-Hop and matched only by a few groups in the genre’s entire history: Run-DMC, Jurassic 5, Blackstar, Freestyle Fellowship. Their challenging, intricate back-and forth arrangements evoke a lyrical version of bebop, with layer upon layer of rhythmic syncopation and vocal patterning constantly pushing the envelope.
Check out what Lateef had to say below.
Who were some of your major musical influences growing up in the Bay Area?
Well from an early age I would have to say it would be Stevie Wonder, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, I would say Prince, Michael Jackson. I would say Herbie Hancock, Afrika Bambaataa, early Mix Master Spade stuff, yeah, I mean tons of people.
Am I correct in saying your mother and father were involved in the Black Panther movement?
Yes they were! My mother was a medic and my father was a security guy.
So did this have a significant impact on you as an artist? Was it influential in your decision to create music?
The first kinda musical memory I have is at a Black Panther Rally that I went to with my parents and I was listening to the music and I was like “Daddy the music is so great” and my Dad was like “Yeah but you got to listen to the message son! It’s the message that’s important.” So for the next four years I would just listen intently to the lyrics of songs so ever since then I’ve been able to memorise songs like really really fast. In that sense yeah, definitely in terms of political consciousness. I think that most of the groups that come out of the Bay Area… The Bay Area doesn’t frown on political content, so I think a lot of the groups that come out of the Bay Area don’t have a problem being political if they feel like it or want to. Even some of the more gangster-ish stuff like Too Short, E-40, they don’t mind talking about political stuff if they want to talk about it, so I think that kind of mentality comes out of the Bay Area in general, not just the Black Panther folks like Tupac or whoever.
Your debut in the music industry was Blackalicious’ “Deep In The Jungle” from their Melodica LP, in 1994 if I’m correct.
Wow, it was [Lateef laughs].
Yeah? So how did you come to make the connection with Gift of Gab and Chief Xcel?
That’s hilarious. I think your the first person that’s asked me that on this whole press release. I went to high school in Oakland, CA, with pretty much all of the Hiero guys, a lot of the Living Legends guys too and when I went to college I was 17 years old. I went to UC Davis and while I was there I went down to the radio station a guy named Jeff Chang was down there and Jazbo, Jeff Chang would go on to write what is probably the definitive Hip-Hop history book.
“Can’t Stop Won’t Stop”, is a fantastic book, I couldn’t recommend it enough to any Hip-Hop fan.
Exactly and Jazbo was a guy over at MTV, he had some influence over there. Anyway, they were down there and doing the radio show and they linked me up with Gift of Gab and we went and freestyled for the whole of the first night we met, for like an un-godly amount of hours. I also met Lyrcis Born down there and DJ Shadow was running around down there from time-to-time, Chief Xcel as well, so Jeff Chang was kind of the one who pulled us together, like hey this is a crew here, these are the bones of a crew. So he got us together and we did the hit, done the bank job, na I’m kidding [Lateef laughs jokingly]. So we just kind of got together and we just started making music together and everybody was just on the same page and we really started to craft our own sound from really early on. Shadow already done a bunch of work, not a bunch but a good amount and I think both the working ethos and digging for records and that kind of tenacity for the tenants of Hip-Hop, being very good at what you did, being professional about it and being meticulous and technical about what it was your were doing wether is was lyrically or music wise influenced us greatly. We didn’t have a lot of money so getting into the studio you had to have your lyrics down because we didn’t have a lot of hours [Lateef laughs as he continues to speak] to record to. So that’s how it was, we all met up and we just did it.
So was it from this initial meeting that yourself and Lyrics Born came together which eventually lead to Latyrx and your critically acclaimed debut The Album in 1997?
At first both Lyrics Born and I were doing solo stuff which is some of the reason why that first [Latyrx]album has a couple of solo songs on it. Those songs were generally recorded prior to us deciding to do the Latryx album. Blackalicious was already pretty deep off into their first Melodica EP. At that time it was much more organic in terms of we would just do songs. Hey I got the beat, I thought you’d be good on it, here’s the beat, write to it, record it, ah that was great, we’ll just keep that song, on to the next song. It was a lot more organic and then at some point after I put out my single me and I think Jeff Chang also again and Chief Xcel suggested me and Lyrics Born do a record together, especially after the song “Latyrx”. All of them, DJ Shadow, Gab, Jazbo, Xcel, Jeff, everybody thought that song was unlike anything else they had ever heard and that that chemistry was special and we should do a record together. So me and LB thought okay, well let’s see what happens, we started working on stuff and it turned out that it worked. From that I think we really did develop a unique chemistry that has stood the test of time in terms of how it is we write and create songs as well. - Continue the interview below at the source -
SOURCE
By: Jason Fullerton
Back in 1995, Bay Area rap was at the big-ballin’ peak of the mobb music craze, LA was chronically gripped in a G-funk indo smoke haze, Atlanta was enjoying its Southernplayalistic days, and NYC was entering a shiny-suit phase. There was no frame of reference for two lyrical emcees experimenting with the tonality and resonance of rhyme patterns. This was uncharted territory.
“Latyrx” was a syllabic tour de force which began with two dissonant voices, one gruff and bassy, the other higher-pitched and treble, both hella fluid. It transformed into a harmonic convergence of doubled verses simultaneously assaulting eardrums. Undeniably, it was great albeit different. Latyrx’ first and thusfar, only, full-length, 1997′s Latyrx: The Album, while 1998′s Muzappers Re-Mixes EP spawned one of the only feminist-affirming club bangers in Hip-Hop history, “Lady Don’t Tek No.”
Though Latyrx never officially broke up, after Muzappers, both members followed their chosen paths to considerable solo success. Yet no matter how much acclaim each attained individually, the notion of someday making another Latyrx record was always present.
16 years after the release of Latyrx: the Album, LB and Lateef have finally answered the prayers of long-starved fans who have begged, pleaded and, by now, tweeted about the possibilities of a reunion. Featuring a long list of producers and special guests, The Second Album credits read like a modern day music festival. Artists and friends from groups and collectives ranging from tUnE yArDs, Anticon and Future People to Blackalicious, The Decemberists and Living Colour have all jumped on board to help create one of the most highly anticipated independent records of all time.
What Latyrx brings to the table is a technical difficulty level rare these days in Hip-Hop and matched only by a few groups in the genre’s entire history: Run-DMC, Jurassic 5, Blackstar, Freestyle Fellowship. Their challenging, intricate back-and forth arrangements evoke a lyrical version of bebop, with layer upon layer of rhythmic syncopation and vocal patterning constantly pushing the envelope.
Check out what Lateef had to say below.
Who were some of your major musical influences growing up in the Bay Area?
Well from an early age I would have to say it would be Stevie Wonder, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, I would say Prince, Michael Jackson. I would say Herbie Hancock, Afrika Bambaataa, early Mix Master Spade stuff, yeah, I mean tons of people.
Am I correct in saying your mother and father were involved in the Black Panther movement?
Yes they were! My mother was a medic and my father was a security guy.
So did this have a significant impact on you as an artist? Was it influential in your decision to create music?
The first kinda musical memory I have is at a Black Panther Rally that I went to with my parents and I was listening to the music and I was like “Daddy the music is so great” and my Dad was like “Yeah but you got to listen to the message son! It’s the message that’s important.” So for the next four years I would just listen intently to the lyrics of songs so ever since then I’ve been able to memorise songs like really really fast. In that sense yeah, definitely in terms of political consciousness. I think that most of the groups that come out of the Bay Area… The Bay Area doesn’t frown on political content, so I think a lot of the groups that come out of the Bay Area don’t have a problem being political if they feel like it or want to. Even some of the more gangster-ish stuff like Too Short, E-40, they don’t mind talking about political stuff if they want to talk about it, so I think that kind of mentality comes out of the Bay Area in general, not just the Black Panther folks like Tupac or whoever.
Your debut in the music industry was Blackalicious’ “Deep In The Jungle” from their Melodica LP, in 1994 if I’m correct.
Wow, it was [Lateef laughs].
Yeah? So how did you come to make the connection with Gift of Gab and Chief Xcel?
That’s hilarious. I think your the first person that’s asked me that on this whole press release. I went to high school in Oakland, CA, with pretty much all of the Hiero guys, a lot of the Living Legends guys too and when I went to college I was 17 years old. I went to UC Davis and while I was there I went down to the radio station a guy named Jeff Chang was down there and Jazbo, Jeff Chang would go on to write what is probably the definitive Hip-Hop history book.
“Can’t Stop Won’t Stop”, is a fantastic book, I couldn’t recommend it enough to any Hip-Hop fan.
Exactly and Jazbo was a guy over at MTV, he had some influence over there. Anyway, they were down there and doing the radio show and they linked me up with Gift of Gab and we went and freestyled for the whole of the first night we met, for like an un-godly amount of hours. I also met Lyrcis Born down there and DJ Shadow was running around down there from time-to-time, Chief Xcel as well, so Jeff Chang was kind of the one who pulled us together, like hey this is a crew here, these are the bones of a crew. So he got us together and we did the hit, done the bank job, na I’m kidding [Lateef laughs jokingly]. So we just kind of got together and we just started making music together and everybody was just on the same page and we really started to craft our own sound from really early on. Shadow already done a bunch of work, not a bunch but a good amount and I think both the working ethos and digging for records and that kind of tenacity for the tenants of Hip-Hop, being very good at what you did, being professional about it and being meticulous and technical about what it was your were doing wether is was lyrically or music wise influenced us greatly. We didn’t have a lot of money so getting into the studio you had to have your lyrics down because we didn’t have a lot of hours [Lateef laughs as he continues to speak] to record to. So that’s how it was, we all met up and we just did it.
So was it from this initial meeting that yourself and Lyrics Born came together which eventually lead to Latyrx and your critically acclaimed debut The Album in 1997?
At first both Lyrics Born and I were doing solo stuff which is some of the reason why that first [Latyrx]album has a couple of solo songs on it. Those songs were generally recorded prior to us deciding to do the Latryx album. Blackalicious was already pretty deep off into their first Melodica EP. At that time it was much more organic in terms of we would just do songs. Hey I got the beat, I thought you’d be good on it, here’s the beat, write to it, record it, ah that was great, we’ll just keep that song, on to the next song. It was a lot more organic and then at some point after I put out my single me and I think Jeff Chang also again and Chief Xcel suggested me and Lyrics Born do a record together, especially after the song “Latyrx”. All of them, DJ Shadow, Gab, Jazbo, Xcel, Jeff, everybody thought that song was unlike anything else they had ever heard and that that chemistry was special and we should do a record together. So me and LB thought okay, well let’s see what happens, we started working on stuff and it turned out that it worked. From that I think we really did develop a unique chemistry that has stood the test of time in terms of how it is we write and create songs as well. - Continue the interview below at the source -
SOURCE