Interview CunninLynguists (Throwback)

March 08

WANJA: It’s been 7 years since you released "Will rap for food". How much has your lifestyle changed since the "starving artists" days?
KNO: Besides being filthy fucking rich, not much (laughs).
WANJA: So could you still come out with an album with that title?
KNO: It would probably be "Rap for caviar". We’ll rap for really expensive sandwiches (laughs). Nah, I guess we could. It’s all the same. Money is money. We’re not rich or nothing.
WANJA: How much more money do u make with "Dirty Acres" than with "Will rap for food"?
DEACON: Each of our albums outsold the previous one.
KNO: Yeah, every album we put out sells more than the last, which not many rap groups can say that now, even independent, major, whoever. And we own pretty much all of our masters which allows us to make money off of digital sales, like iTunes, iTunes Europe, anywhere where you can buy digital, a lot of people buy digital music. So we get a check every month from those sales.
DEACON: When we had done "Will rap for food" we toured the whole nation and came home with about 200 $ to split. Now we split a whole lot more than 200 $..
WANJA: So what do you expect from "Dirty Acres" now? Not just money wise..
DEACON: I think it will please our old fans, especially the fans who stuck with us past "A piece of strange". From "Southernunderground" to "A piece of strange" it was a dramatic change as far as what we were presenting. But from "A piece of strange" to "Dirty Acres" we feel that the chemistry is still kind of the same, it’s like we found our groove.
KNO: A lot of people who got past "A piece of strange" will like "Dirty Acres", but it will also gain a lot of new fans. Like I said, every album has outsold the previous one. We’ve also been here in Europe a lot because I find that, for whatever reason, people just seem to be more open minded about what we are doing, they are just like "If it’s good, it’s good. If it’s bad, it’s bad" and all they hear is good music. Like in the US we’ll get a lot more people saying "Will rap for food, man! You should do the old shit!" It’s not that people don’t like it that album out here, but people here appreciate "A piece of strange" just as much. The US is real divisive; it’s either commercial, or underground. So if you’re trying to do just good music and it sounds a certain way to them, then they’re not going to like it because they don’t listen to it for musical purposes, they listen for status purposes. If it doesn’t fit their criteria of what underground rap is to them, even if it’s good, they’re not as open, as I found, as people in Europe.
WANJA: How do you feel about that comparison? Not just the comparison with other groups, but also of your old records to your new records?
KNO: I mean, I always say that rap fans are the biggest critics out there. As soon as something new drops they’ll say "This isn’t better than the old shit!" They didn’t even listen to it, they just skipped through it and say "You should make the old shit!". Go listen to the old shit then! That’s why we made those records. Music is forever! If that’s what you want to hear, go and listen it. It’s that simple. Music is a moment in time, so take it for what it is. That moment is what we’re feeling, that’s what we’re going through. You can never recreate that; you shouldn’t expect an artist to recreate that. People got into us because we were honest. People listened to "Will rap for food" because it was honest music. If "A piece of strange" and "Dirty Acres" is honest music, then keep listening. Or don’t, if you don’t actually like it. That’s the problem with a lot of these people. It’s not that it’s bad music, it just isn’t what they want to hear. They want us to do battle rap, they want us to do Jedi Mind Tricks.. And we don’t do that too much anymore, because we’re getting old. I don’t want to be 38, talking about "I’m better than you..i’m the sickest.." You’re 35, talking about ripping peoples spines out. People change, so if you make honest music, and not just making music for the sake of it, or making a type of music, then as you change, your music will change.
DEACON: And not to say, that we don’t respect what they want us to do. We might come out any given time with exactly what they want to hear, if that’s what we feel like making.
KNO: We don’t make music for fans, and some fans don’t like to hear that. People got into us because we were honest to ourselves. We made music we wanted to hear and other people happened to like it. And the best artists, that’s what they do. If you pander, you might as well be selling out. If I’m going to pander to people, if I’m going to make what you want to hear I might as well (starting to do the "Soulja Boy" dance). I might as well do that and get paid. I’m not going to pander to a bunch of underground heads that aren’t going to buy the record anyway. It just so happens that they like the earlier stuff. We’re going to make whatever we feel like making, and if they like it, they like it. If they don’t, they don’t. But we happen to make good music and I don’t think we’ll ever make a bad record because we have that talent, so I’m not really concerned with that.
WANJA: Let’s talk about the new record. Who did most of the production on there, was that all you, Kno?
KNO: I did all of it.
WANJA: For some reason, your beats reminded me a lot of Quentin Tarantino movies.
DEACON: That’s because Samuel Jackson was doing all of our adlibs in the back (laughs).
WANJA: (laughs) So what influences you, when you pick samples and put your beats together?
KNO: Quentin Tarantino films (laughs). Nah, I mean, honestly, it just totally depends on where we decide to go with the record to begin with. "A piece of strange" was definitely different from this record. We wanted to encapsulate the southern portion of the United States onto an album, at least from their view (pointing at Deacon and Natti), because they rap the most. I mean, I’m from the south, technically but I don’t really rap like that, I mostly do beats. I don’t really think I draw inspiration from anywhere, I draw inspiration from them (Deacon & Natti). I just listen to them talk, I listen to what their stories are. Until 2004, I didn’t live around them. I met Deacon when I lived around him, but he moved away soon after, like in 2001/2002. I was around him for like 6 – 8 months, we didn’t even finish "Will rap for food" when he moved back to Kentucky, so we had to commute back and forth to finish that record. And when you’re working like that, when you’re not around a person, you don’t know them.
DEACON: Basically, we had just met back then.
KNO: Yeah. So the first two records it’s not Natti, it’s not Deacon, it was just rap. I didn’t know how they lived, what their family life was like or anything like that. And you can’t cater a sound to somebody unless you know them. So I think with "Dirty Acres", musically, I’m just inspired by them because I’m able to see how they live and make a sound for them. That’s not to say that the next record is going to sound the same, because it’s not, the next record is going to be on some totally other shit.
DEACON: I feel like it’ll be more us than any other record before.
WANJA: You’ll know each other even better than now..
KNO: And the new record that we’re doing is a concept record. Everything we’ve always said about what Kentucky Hip Hop is what we’re going to do. But it’s not going to be a southern record. It’s going to be like our influences on the record.
WANJA: Back to your current album. The first track on "Dirty Acres", you’re speaking about how Hip Hop is immortal. Did you feel like you had to respond to the whole "Hip Hop is dead" phrase?
DEACON: No, it was more addressing to how people specifically try to act sometimes like the south is what’s killing Hip Hop. We’re like, "No!". Hip Hop is the most alive in the south, even if it’s just through us.
KNO: There’s wack music coming out of everywhere. Don’t act like Kid-N-Play wouldn’t have done the Soulja Boy. So why is it not ok now when a 17 year old kid is dancing? I don’t like Souljah Boy like that though..
WANJA: I think the problem is more that it’s so over saturated right now..
KNO: Oh, too much of it, yeah. Actually, that’s my problem, there’s no balance.
DEACON: But at the same time, there was a time in the early 90s when everything in the charts was shit like "The tootsie roll", people were doing the Bart Simpson, MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice. Rappers Delight, Sugar Hill Gang, they started at a party. I mean, that’s how Hip Hop started.
KNO: People like to have fun and people will always like to dance. So that has nothing to do with killing Hip Hop. So for GZA to go on stage and be complaining about Soulja Boy, that’s stupid. I like GZA, I respect GZA..
WANJA: He did that?
KNO: Yeah, it was all over YouTube. I just feel like you should make your music, and not be concerned with other shit. If you make quality music, you will shine, the cream will rise to the top. It’s a cliché, but it’s true. If you make good music, people will listen to it. So don’t be mad because Soulja Boy is dancing all around. Let the motherfucker dance all around. It doesn’t affect me.
DEACON: He probably wont be dancing next year..
KNO: Yeah, exactly. And that’s his problem, not ours. But he’ll probably still be richer than us (laughs)..
WANJA: Since we’re talking about the music that’s coming out of the south, with people like him being very popular now, I’m wondering what does your fan base in the south look like, what kind of fans do you have there?
KNO: It’s different (laughs).. I mean, honestly, it’s even tough for us to get a show in the south, not just for us. But basically, if you’re not famous or you’re not doing something on that level and you’re not making snap records and stuff..
DEACON: Besides that, the south is like the poorest area of the nation. So when we can go to Colorado and get like 2000 – 3000 $ a show, there’s no way for somebody in the south to be able to afford to pay that.
KNO: Don’t get it twisted. We can do a show in the south, but we’re not going to get paid for it, so we’re not going to do it.
DEACON: They would have to charge 7 $ at the door versus 25 $.
KNO: We do free shows in our area. Like we’ll do area stuff for real low, but I’m not going to go down to Miami for a door split. When we can go to Colorado and get 3000 guaranteed. I mean, we have fans over there and I like and respect them. Thank you Miami for listening to our music (laughs)! But if the promoters are bullshitting we’re not going to come there. You can’t expect us to come out of pocket to go there. People always ask us "Why don’t you come to Canada more often?" Tell the promoters to get on their job, know what I mean?
WANJA: There’s still a high racial tension in the south, I think more than in the rest of the US, right?
KNO: Yes, there is. But I put it like this; latent racism in the US is a much bigger problem now than blatant racism. Which means, because there’s such an emphasis of being politically correct, that people are latently racists. So we have a situation where we might miss out on the first black president because of Ohio, not because of Georgia, you see what I’m saying? It’s the steal belt not the bible belt that’s fucking it up. It’s racist white people in Pennsylvania and Ohio and stuff like that, the latent racism that they don’t really talk about. Things have changed. There aren’t motherfuckers running around with white sheets anymore in the south but there’s still plenty of racism, it’s just different now than it used to be.
WANJA: Kno, how was it for you to grow up in the south as a white kid that’s loving Hip Hop?
KNO: You know what? I would never complain, because whatever I had to go through was something I had to go through. I didn’t feel like "Poor me, I listen to Hip Hop and every once in a while white guys beat me up because of it".
DEACON: It’s probably no worse than for Eminem in Detroit.
KNO: One of the most annoying things to me is white rappers talking about reversed racism. I feel like, shut the fuck up and go make some rock music! I’m not going to say no names, he knows exactly who I’m talking about too (laughs). "I’m a white rapper, people don’t like me because I’m white.." Shut the fuck up and go make some punk rock.
WANJA: Maybe you can tell me after the interview who you are talking about (laughs)..
KNO: Yeah, off the record. And no offence to the person. But I feel like, it’s Hip Hop! And this person is old, older than me, he’s in his 30s..
WANJA: You have a lot of political or thought provoking tracks on your album, like the title song "Dirty Acres". If you could put a bunch of people in a room and make them listen to those tracks, who would it be?
DEACON: The thought provoking ones? Everybody, Oprah, Imus…
KNO: I don’t think that the people who need to hear it can follow rap music. A lot of people would really need to…George Bush. But he would probably be like "What the hell you talking about? It’s too fast, I cant understand. Condoleezza, can you tell me what they’re saying?" (laughs). They cant follow rap music, so fuck it.
WANJA: Do you feel like the lack of thought provoking music in the charts is a reflection of the lack of intellect of the youth?
DEACON: Definitely!
KNO: Yes.
WANJA: And do you think that will ever change?
KNO: Hell no. We’re getting dumber and dumber.
DEACON: Idiocracy!
KNO: Have you seen that movie, Idiocracy? Basically, everybody’s getting more and more stupid because only stupid people are having kids. Because the smart people are working really hard (laughs).
WANJA: So who do you think can relate to your music? Only the smart people and grown folks?
DEACON: We’re just getting to a point where people who really like our music are just true music lovers. People who aren’t necessarily Hip Hop or rap fans. They might go hear us play one week and then the next week go and hear BB King, Norah Jones or somebody. They are just music lovers in general. They’ll go from Gnarls Barkley straight to Depeche Mode.
KNO: We got a "one out of five" for "A piece of strange" in a Swedish rap magazine because it wasn’t "boom bapy" enough. We weren’t getting our Boot Camp Clik on anymore. That shit was "Boombap.com" or some shit. They were just like "They need to go back to the old stuff, this is horrible!".. I feel like, eat a dick! I’m not concerned with it..
DEACON: We’re quick to get a "one out of five" in a rap magazine and then a "five out of five" in a music magazine like Rolling Stone.
KNO: We got As in Spin Magazine and stuff like that. But rap magazines don’t really cover us too much. We’ve been in the Source once or twice, but that’s just from favours, hook ups. We might know a writer up there. Its like, we don’t really get respect from our peers, we have a huge fan base world wide, but when it comes to "rap-rappers", they don’t really fuck with us like that. Because we just make music, we don’t make rap or hip hop, we make music!
WANJA: I’ve seen you perform live a couple times last year and I was impressed with your show because I think you put a lot of thought into it, you have concept shows, where a lot of rap artists just go on stage and rap. How important is that to you?
DEACON: We don’t love performing. We love making music. But we take performance serious. We know that people want to see that presentation, they want to connect with us as people in front of their faces. Nobody wants to come to a show and just hear the CD live. It’d be different if we had a whole live band but if you’re just three guys on stage with a CD Player, how exciting is that?
KNO: We at least just try to connect. Because at the end of the day people won’t really buy music anymore, people come to shows but they don’t come to shows to see you standing there. You got to do something outstanding. Believe me, there’s a million things we’d like to do but we just can’t afford it. If we were on Kanyes level then we’d be doing some crazy shit with our shows, because we have great ideas. We have excellent ideas, just not the doe.
WANJA: Kno, do you plan on making a producers album?
KNO: Hell no!
WANJA: Why not?
KNO: Because I hate rappers (laughs). Again, we don’t get respect from our peers like that. There are very few people who reach out to us.
DEACON: You reach out to somebody and tell them "Hey, I’d like to give you a free beat" and they r like "2000 $ and I’ll send you a 16".
KNO: 2000 $ for a 16 bar verse! I’m like, who the fuck are you? I sold more records than you, I toured the whole world and you’re over here in Michigan, chilling, making mix tapes and take care of your 4 kids (laughs)..
WANJA: But you’ve produced for quite a lot of people, right?
KNO: Well, how many rappers are there? The people we worked with is the small amount of people who were cool when we met them. We always approach who we respect, we always try to be cool with them.
DEACON: Some of those people we produced for, they might pop up on some of our own stuff. Like Devin, we got a beat to him and then he jumped on our project. Same with Witchdoctor. We’ve done a lot of shows with Little Brother, they got on our project. We produced for Lil Scrappy, KRS-One, artists like that are on a whole different level, it’s not easy to reach them..
KNO: Here’s the thing. Underground rappers are assholes. Mainstream rappers are pretty cool. I don’t know if they are broke and mad. I don’t know what it is. So we only have access to rappers to a certain extend. I can’t just go to someone like Ludacris and ask him to jump on one of our tracks.
DEACON: Even if Kno was to do a producers album. Let’s say he produced a track for Lil Scrappy, Ludacris, Lil Wayne, KRS-One. We’d rather have those songs on their albums; they would have more impact on their projects with their budget. Look at Timbaland. He had to push the hell out of his singles for "Shock volume" to sell. And that’s Timbaland! That’s his third producers’ album. Most people can’t even name the ones before. We can’t even name them.
WANJA: Kno and Deacon, you two also have a production group together. How often do you produce songs together?
DEACON: We work every day.
WANJA: But why didn’t you make beats for "Dirty Acres" together?
DEACON: The CunninLynguists sound to me is in that man (pointing at Kno). When I met Kno he was like "I got beats, you got rhymes. Lets put them together." And that’s what started the CunninLynguists sound. Here and there I’ll play some keys on something but he’s going to be the one to chop it up and choose where to place them. He’s going to produce it. I’m just another studio musician in his studio when it comes to CunninLynguists.
WANJA: What are you working on now? You mentioned the new album, a concept album. What can we expect from that?
KNO: Can’t expect anything. It’s a concept record but we’re not ready to announce anything. We got probably like 5 beats and a couple songs. It’ll probably come out by the end of the year or the beginning of the next year.
WANJA: Are yall working on anything else besides that? Any solo stuff?
KNO: Yeah, Natti is working on some solo stuff that we’re producing. And we have a manager that works for Warner Bros music who shops our beats. To be honest with you, the only time we’re really working on CunninLynguists stuff is when we’re on tour or when we’re working on an album specifically. Other than that, CunninLynguists isn’t our job really. We don’t have day jobs but when we work on music we’re trying to get songs on video games or commercials and we’re trying to make money. This is the creative side to us. When that’s more the job side. You got to have a backup plan. You cant be a rapper until you’re 40. I’m not trying to be a 40-year-old touring rapper (laughs).

The full article about my show & interview with me

This article and interview appeared on www.myspace.com/plex24 and was written by Fireflyy. Please check her out at www.myspace.com/fireflyy24

Thanks to her for giving me the oppurtunity to talk about these subjects :-)



"I Still Love Her' The Show

Now remember guys and girls before the visual transmission in the form of a television became available to the masses there was a radio. A way of interacting over invisible sound waves.
Radio has always been a very personal way of getting your view across, giving your own opinion and being able to listen to quality music has always been the main one!!
Radio broadcasting has progressed over the years in many ways, beginning in the 1920s with the wireless and in 1954 the transistor radio meant that you could listen to your favourite show in many mobile situations.

Although many people consider pirate radio stations to be one of the downfalls of radio broadcasting with an estimated 150 illegal radio stations in the UK alone, the introduction of such freedom of speech also contributed highly to the progression of the radio as a media component.
Pirate radio stations were formed when we realised not ALL good music could be found on air. There was no guarantee of hearing your favourite tracks on a licensed radio station, the introduction of censored play listing narrowed down being able to listen to anything other than the mainstream causing frustration to us quality music lovers.
Due to the technology boom of the millennium using the internet as a source of research, communication, advertising etc soon became the norm and Radio also picked up on this.
The first internet radio station was launched in 1993 and the notable differences between broadcasting on the internet and traditional methods soon became clear. Traditional radio broadcasts have always been limited by two key factors; The power of a stations transmitter and the availiabity of the broadcast frequency, we all know what it is like trying to tune into a station and getting either nothing but static or a combination of music played all over each other!!

Internet radio had no geographic limitations, listeners are therefore able to hear online shows from all over the globe and visa versa the broadcasters will gain listeners from countries they may have never even visited. Internet radio also costs less than the traditional methods with many people being able to start up their own station from their own homes simply having the access and recording equipment.
Internet radio broadcasts can be accompanied by photos, graphics, message boards, you are able to actively take part and comment on the track playing as you hear it and interact with others who are listening to the same show as you.
We decided to take the time to hit you up with one internet radio show that plays nothing but the realness...
Plex24 brings you a profile and interview with the creator of the "I Still Love H.E.R" internet radio show....

The "I Still Love H.E.R" show broadcasting on Conspiracy radio and hosted by Wanja is another one of those gems for all hip hop lovers not to miss. Nowadays this Fireflyy will admit that it is becoming increasingly hard to find a radio show that plays that quality sound that I want to hear.
"I Still Love H.E.R" all hip hop lovers know where the influence for this captivating title came from. Common Sense hit "I Used To Love H.E.R" critized the direction hip hop was taking during the mid 90's commenting on the fall of afrocentric rap and the rising popularity of west coast hip hop and G-funk. It is now classed as one of his greatest tracks, this is then obviously a perfect title for a show which brings you all things hip hop, inspiring music both old and new, interviews with all those artists we, hip hop lovers, would just love to get to meet and vibe with and of course a host who has her very own charismatic methods of getting us the information we need to know.

The show consists of a flow of tracks personally selected by Wanja herself, tracks that always have the ability to spark a reaction from the listener, whether you start to relive the moment you fell for hip hop or that night in the club when you lost your voice spitting out verse after verse. Each tune manages to connect you to it and over the two hours if she wants you to take a long journey through the decades of the music we love so much then best believe you brought that plane ticket.

The vast amount of artists the host Wanja has interviewed is more than impressive considering her first show was only aired four months ago in July of this year. The journalism bug caught Wanja before that however and now in her archives are the likes of Jazzy Jeff and Rhymefest, Aloe Blacc, Slum Village, Phat Kat, Kev Brown, Buff1, Motive from the Demigodz to name but a few...and I mean a FEW. The rapport she holds with each willing subject comes across in her interviews and the skill she has developed over her short time now puts her up there, in my opinion, as a credited hip hop journalist.

Catch Wanja every sunday on www.conspiracyuk.com.
US 3-5pm
Central Europe 9-11pm
UK 8-10pm

Also check out her myspace at www.myspace.com/istilllovehertheshow

Plex24 would like to thank Wanja for her taking the time out to answer our questions!!



Plex24: Has radio presenting always been an interest of yours?


Wanja: Actually, no. I never really thought about doing that. But I always loved doing special mix tapes for my friends, and I knew that putting music together was something I was good at. But since I had never been a big radio listener myself, the idea of hosting my own show never crossed my mind. I started doing the interviews for an online magazine and one day my boyfriend said I should send the audio material to this independent radio station because they would like to include them in one of their shows. While we were talking about that the idea occurred of just doing a whole show myself. I love putting music together so it made perfect sense.



Plex24:Do you think internet radio now reigns supreme over traditional broadcasting?


Wanja: It depends. One problem of internet radio is that it is not as accessible. You can only tune in while you're on the computer. You can't tune in while you're in the car or running around in the house or whatever. Another disadvantage is that there are so many internet radio stations that it's hard to get a lot of listeners for your show, also because with internet radio you don't make any money, so you have no budget for promotion. On the other hand, the internet has become so important and big, that it gives a lot of people the chance to start their own thing. You don't need a budget to start something like that on the internet; you basically just need a good idea and the passion to invest time in it.

Plex24: Do you specialize in interviewing hip hop artists?


Wanja: Yes, definitely. Since Hip Hop is my first love and has always been my biggest interest it came natural for me to interview artists who make that kind of music. I also wouldn't mind interviewing Neo-Soul artists, it just hasn't happened yet.

Plex24: What do you think of the statement "Real hip hop is not played on the radio?"


Wanja: I do understand where that statement came from. And I agree to an extend. I think the people who say this are talking about commercial radio. That's actually one of the reasons why you will never catch me turning on a traditional radio. Especially over here in Germany I haven't found any station that played Hip Hop. The closest it got was the latest 50 Cent track that climbed to the top of the Billboard Charts. Well, you get the picture. The problem with traditional radio is that it's commercial, it's controlled by an industry that is interested in making money. You have people from record labels paying for airplay. I actually had an interesting conversation about this with a German radio host. I was visiting the radio station that he works for and had the chance to ask him a couple of questions. The outcome was that I had to realize that the concept of my show will probably NEVER work on real radio. Radio hosts do not pick any of the songs that are being played, and that's something I can't allow on my show. I have to be in control of the music myself and make sure that it always represents me and my love for Hip Hop. Also, the reason why they play the same songs 30 times a day is a simple marketing strategy. They do surveys with random people and ask them about different songs, from the answers they create a hit list and those songs they play over and over again. That's why new talent doesn't get a chance, unless it's blown up by the media and backed up with stacks of money by their record label. That's what this business is about, money! Of course I will never get as many listeners as a commercial radio station with the type of music I play. Because it's not that popular. Also, one thing I don't want to forget to mention is that (and this is my personal thoughts on this) I believe that a lot of the Hip Hop I love is too real for the media. When artists talk about real issues about what's going on in this world they will not get the airplay they deserve. Sometimes I feel like the government is trying to keep the people dumb, trying to make them think it's all about partying. Especially in Hip Hop, I've been getting the feeling that the government wants to portray a bad image of hip hop to society, they want the average Joe to think that Hip Hop is all about violence, jewellery and degrading women. Although it's about so much more..

Plex24: While conducting your first interview were you more nervous or excited?


Wanja: The first Interview I did was an E-mail interview. I sent the questions and got the answers back. So there wasn't much to be nervous about. Of course I was worried if my questions were any good but it turned out fine. Then the first interview I did in person, I was more nervous than excited. I got excited afterwards. Actually, my nervousness faded a little bit when I had to wait for the artists to show up for the interview for almost 2 hours, I was more mad than nervous, that actually helped..lol

Plex24: Describe your interview technique. Is it formal or informal?


Wanja: It used to be very formal in the beginning. Because you want to do everything right, you want to ask all the questions you prepared and you think that if you don't have the sheet with the questions in front of you, you will mess up somehow. But as I got more comfortable with it, it became more and more informal. Now I usually don't look at that sheet anymore and just have a conversation with the artist. I do ask most of the questions I had prepared but usually a lot of questions also just come up during the conversation. It's more like talking to a friend about music, which is something that I love to do and I think that makes the outcome a lot better.

Plex24: Do you find it easier to interview people who you already have an appreciation for?


Wanja: Yes, definitely. Because when you have an appreciation for an artist, or have even been a fan of for a long time, you definitely know more about them than if you only heard their music a couple of times. And with the knowledge that you have from being a fan you can ask a lot more and better questions, it makes you more confident too.

Plex24: Over the time you have been interviewing such talented artists have you ever been star struck?


Wanja: Maybe a little bit when I interviewed DJ Jazzy Jeff. Because he's such a legend and great musician to me. But other than that, not really. Talking to all these artists shows you that they are just regular people like you and me. Some of them are cool, some of them are not, but there's really nothing to go crazy about.

Plex24: Do you select your own playlist?


Wanja: Yes, I do and I always will. That's very important to me because I want to be able to stand 100% behind my show.

Plex24: Person you'd most like to interview and why?


Wanja: Definitely J.Dilla if that wasn't impossible. He's been one of my biggest inspirations and one of the reasons why I kept on fighting for my dream. If it wasn't for him I think I wouldn't be doing my radio show now. I would love to ask him about his unbreakable love for music, how he started and what kept inspiring him.


Plex24: Female rapper you'd most love to interview and why?


Wanja: Tough question. I know a lot of people aren't gonna like it when I say this. But unfortunately I'm not a big fan of female rap, although I even used to rap myself. There have only been a few that I liked listening too and right now I can't name any who dropped a recent album .I think what bothers me is that most female MCs either try to sound like men or represent themselves only as sex objects. Of course there are exceptions. I guess if I had to choose one, it would be Lauryn Hill, I always loved her style and she is an incredible MC as well as singer.

Plex24: Which interview has left you feeling proud that you do what you do?


Wanja: I'd have to name two. One was the Jazzy Jeff & Rhymefest interview. Just because I never expected it to happen and it was a real spontaneous thing. The other one was Slum Village. I thought it came out great and also that's one of my all-time favourite groups so it was a pleasure interviewing them.

Plex24: What's real hip hop to you?


Wanja: First off, I want to say that this is only my own perception of what real hip hop is. I think every person has their own definition and it will always stay that way. To me, real Hip Hop comes from the heart. I'm not saying every Hip Hop track needs to be conscious and talk about the deepest topics. Hip Hop can be party, battle, conscious, a great beat or just simply fun. But one thing Hip Hop should never be is only made for the money. Since Rap has became such a trend the music industry took on to it and turned it into this commercial thing, they take people off the streets, shape them into whatever they need and make them their money makers. Sounds like prostitution, don't it? So if you only do it for the money, that's not Hip Hop to me. But if you have love for the culture, if Hip Hop is in your heart and soul and that also displays in your music, then that's real Hip Hop. I might not like it because it's doesn't fit my taste, but it's still Hip Hop.

Plex24: Why do you think hip hop is often referred to as being a female?


Wanja: I think it's because the majority of Hip Hop artists are guys. And you will never hear a guy say "I love him" lol. Imagine if people referred to Hip Hop as a male, Commons "I still love H.E.R." would've never been possible. I think it's much easier for men to express their love for Hip Hop this way. And it's much more beautiful too. It expresses how deep ones feelings for the culture can go. But maybe a man should answer this question..lol

Plex24: Being a hip hop lover where do you stand on the "hip hop just died this mornin', and she's dead, she's dead" Nas lyric?


Wanja: Hip Hop isn't dead. It never died, and it never will. I actually did an episode of my show once, called "Hip Hop is dead?" and touched on that subject, check that out sometime.. I've always said, Hip Hop lives is the hearts of the fans and artists. As long as there is one person out there that genuinely loves this culture, it can't die. It all depends on how you define that phrase. I think to someone who doesn't really follow Hip Hop music and only gets to hear and see what MTV plays, yeah it might seem like the culture has died. But if you dig there is still as much good music as ever. I love Hip Hop right now. I find great new music every day. It's just that you can't swallow everything the media feeds you; you have to go out and look for it yourself.

Plex24: I was reading an interesting article that touched on "Is Hip Hop Dead'? the opinion constructed from this was that the hip hop artists of today are not willing to take chances and that was an essential charactistic adopted by many hip hop artists of the 80's early 90s. Do you agree with this statement?


Wanja: A lot of artists don't take chances because it's just easier to follow something that has worked for others. If you do something new, individual there's always a 50% chance that you will not succeed. So a lot of artists or people in general, prefer to stay on the safe side. I think especially in Hip Hop the fans often can't accept something that sounds different and new. They are so stuck in their mind state of what hip hop is supposed to sound like. Look at people like Common, Andre 3000 or Cee-Lo, when they stepped out of the regular Rap music sound, they got dissed for it by a lot of Hip Hop fans. A lot of them just aren't open minded enough.

Plex24: Artists such as Common, Talib Kweli, Mos Def etc have often been referred to as more "conscious" rappers or "back pack rappers" do you believe that sometimes they become overshadowed by other mainstrem artists because they are focusing more on providing diverse lyrical content than actually the track having a beat to hit the club with?


Wanja: That's definitely true. Like I stated before, Rap music with a message will never have as much commercial success as the ones with catchy hooks and beats to dance to. Mainstream Record labels work with concepts. It's like they have a formula for hit records, they know exactly what they need to put in there to reach the masses. But what they don't do is creating timeless music. They do not serve longevity. You will not see anyone putting a "Souljah Boy" single in his stereo in 5 years, but there will still be a lot of people listening to classics like Mos Def and Talib Kwelis "Black Star". I guess the question is, what do you want as an artist, that one hit that is going to make you a couple millions or timeless music that is going to stay in peoples list of favourites and marks a certain period in music? People like Kweli or Mos Def may be overshadowed as far as popularity and media but never in the quality of their music.

Plex24: Album you're feeling at the moment?


Wanja: The new Little Brother album, Median, I'm still loving Pharoahe Monchs joint. I'm always listening to a lot of older records too, I just put Camp Los "Uptown Saturday Night" back on my iPod. Dilla is always in rotation of course. And I can't wait for the new Slum Village to drop. Oh and I can't forget about the Blu & Exile album, that is one of the highlights of 2007 to me. A real proof that Hip Hop is alive and well.

Plex24: Collaboration or reunion that you would like to see happen?

Wanja: I would love to hear another Common album produced by J.Dilla. Common is really at a great point in his career right now and I would love to hear what they would create. But as we all know, that will never happen. So as far as possible collaborations or reunions, I think I would love for the Soulquarians to get together again and make music or even go on tour. I think that would fulfil the needs of a lot of hip hop fans right now. A new album by A tribe called quest is something I would definitely love to hear also.