Prefix Magazine
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You will never confuse Vast
Aire with any other emcee in hip-hop -- he doesn’t look or
sound like any other. In 2001, under the tutelage of Definitive
Jux’s proprietor and experimental hip-hop guru El-P, Vast
Aire Kramer and his Harlem cohort Vordul Megilah dropped The Cold
Vein, their now-legendary debut as Cannibal Ox. The album confronted
late-‘90s commercialized rap, valuing craft over bling, and
gave underground hip-hop a new voice.
And he keeps surprising fans of hip-hop, whether it’s rhyming
over commercial beats on the Dirty Magazine mixtape or putting out
an album on a label other than Def Jux. Said album, Look Mom ...
No Hands -- Vast’s debut solo album, put out by Chocolate
Industries -- came amidst rumors that Can Ox had called it quits
and features Madlib, MF Doom, Blueprint, Juggaknots, S.A. Smash
and Sadat X, among others. Prefix sat down with the Mount Vernon
native, who cleared the air on Cannibal Ox and talked about the
importance of word play and his dislike of big words, his new blue
Nikes, and living with El-P.
Prefix Magazine: I tried to get information about your background,
but didn’t find too much.
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So
let’s start from the beginning. Where were you born?
Vast Aire : I was born in Mount Vernon, which is in Westchester,
New York, which is considered to be uptown.
PM:
Heavy D was from there, right?
Vast Aire : Yes, money-earning Mount Vernon. I was up there for
a while and then just naturally migrated to the Bronx, and from
the Bronx I went to Queens. That’s where I started rhyming.
PM: In Queens?
Vast Aire : In Queens in 1988. I was in Jamaica, Queens. That’s
the year I started picking up the pen. Then from Queens we went
back to Harlem. That’s where I ended up hooking up with Vordul
and going to high school. My first high school was Jamaica High.
I went to Jamaica High for my first year, and then I transferred
to Washington Irving High School, which is in Manhattan. I met a
bunch of knuckleheads who loved doing what they do. I loved it too,
and it just became a long process of perfecting what we do, which
is make music.
PM:
What’s your fondest memory growing up?
Vast Aire : I have a few. We used to hop on to the back of the bus
and hold on to the little window. Everyone thought we were crazy
for doing that, but it was something we did. We’d try to ride
for as many blocks as possible. There’d be cars behind you
that were afraid to hit you. We used to do that a lot. You know,
graffiti and just growing up. If you want to know about memories,
check “Why's da Sky Blue?,” which is on the album. That’s
pretty much my memory-lane gift to my fans.
PM:
What did you aspire to be as a kid growing up?
Vast Aire : Man, I was supposed to be a football player. I was supposed
to be an architect. I ended up falling in love with making music,
and it shunned everything else out. I’m a decent artist. That
was my first love. I evolved from drawing, and I still draw every
now and then. But I’m just caught up in rapping. I’m
just caught up in shooting the shit on the mike. I love creating
songs, so it just took over my life. Right now, I’m 26 and
it’s 2004, and I love life. I love growth. I love learning
and growth, and that’s the area I’m in right now. The
album reflects that.
PM:
I’m 26 too, and I see people like you and I think that’s
the way to live.
Vast Aire : It’s the only way to live. I don’t want
to come home cranky. If you do come home cranky, that’s just
life, but at least come home cranky from something you love. At
least.
PM: The release
of Look Mom got pushed up and back and all over. Was that because
it leaked on the Internet?
Vast Aire : Actually, we wanted the album to come out in April,
and possibility was the April 27. But we thought the album would
be better for the April 20, because it’s coming from a group
of people who thought the album was gonna be out in February.
PM: A lot of people are
wondering why the album came out on Chocolate and not Def Jux. What
was the reason you went with Chocolate?
Vast Aire : It was a bidding war. I was in a bidding war. A couple
of labels knew I was working on the album and they wanted to get
their hands on it, and Chocolate ended up winning. It’s nothing
too deep.
PM: What’s
with Vordul? I just saw him about five minutes ago. What’s
up with Cannibal Ox?
Vast Aire : Yeah man. Cannibal Ox is still in effect. We have an
EP coming out called “Cypher Unknown.” Vordul’s
doing a solo album right now. People misunderstood us. We’re
just musicians who make music. People expect us to make everything
together all the time. We’re just honest and raw. If I drop
a solo or he drops a solo and we come back together, it’s
just good music. Expect to just see a lot of good music. But Cannibal
Ox has not broken up. There is no breaking up of Can Ox. We’ve
known each other for twelve years. Our relationship is fine. And
you just saw him.
PM:
You definitely can’t believe everything you read.
Vast Aire : And it’s iller for you, ‘cause you could
be like, “Vordul was right there.”
PM:
Yeah. I saw y’all talking and you guys were cool. You and
Jean Grae were on the tour that was cancelled. Fans were obviously
upset. Did you speak with Jean about that?
Vast Aire : Yes I did. Jean and I are good. We just did SXSW. We’re
mad cool. There was a management disagreement, and that got turned
into all types of other things. Cannibal Ox is still together, we
do not have beef with Jean Grae. People have to remember there are
communities. There are artists, and there are people who work for
the artists. And people who work for you can fuck up. That’s
basically what happened in that situation, and it’s behind
us. Everything is cool man.
PM:
You work with a ton of producers on your solo album. How’d
you link up with Madlib?
Vast Aire : We hooked up a few years ago at UCLA. I was doing shows
and he was doing shows. Basically he was like, “I like your
shit,” and I was like, “I like your shit.” It
just worked from there. I basically said, “Yo, I’m gonna
contact you when I get serious about finishing up a project.”
PM: What about the
Atoms Family? Does that project still exist?
Vast Aire : We’re working on a full-length album right now.
Hangar 18 is dropped an album on Def Jux. Cryptic is dropping an
album soon. Jestone is too. So we’re all coming.
PM: What about the Weathermen?
Vast Aire : Yes. We all have crazy schedules and careers, but that
is real and in effect.
PM:
You did a mixtape for Dirty Magazine, where you’re rhyming
over more commercial beats and bigger songs that were out on the
radio. You received a mix reaction. Why do you think that is?
Vast Aire : Because they don’t like the beats. It’s
not my fault that you don’t like a beat that you think is
commercial. That’s not my fault.
PM:
Breez Evahflowin: The blue and whites are killer. [Commenting
on Vast’s new Nikes]
Vast Aire : The canvy canvy. I’m gonna be blingin’ on
stage tonight. Anyway, it’s not my fault that you don’t
like a beat in particular -- you being the audience or the fans.
I just create, I just vent off. I got up with a bunch of friends,
I was six-fuckin’-teen again in a basement making an album.
But it’s not a real album, it was just having fun. We’re
all drunk, just bullshitting. Doing that project I felt 15 again.
That’s how you did an album when you didn’t have a producer.
You went to the ninety-nine-cent bin and grabbed mad instrumentals
and you rocked. So that’s what I did. I care less about a
couple of kids who are like, “Oh, he’s on a Neptunes
beat.” I like the Neptunes.
PM:
It’s kinda funny how some kids are still so caught up on not
liking something ‘cause it’s mainstream or loving something
‘cause it’s underground.
Vast Aire : ‘Cause what? C’mon. I like music. I would’ve
liked Nirvana in a fuckin’ garage and I loved them on MTV.
See what I mean. C’mon. Get out of here with that bullshit
man. You either like something or you don’t.
Underground is a position. It’s not a style. Tomorrow I’ll
be all over VH1. Now I’m commercial? Okay. But does that mean
my music is bad? You could be underground all day. I don’t
care, if your music is trash. It’s all about good music and
bad music and okay music. It always comes back to those. |
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Prefix
Magazine: How does living in New York City influence you?
Vast Aire : It’s a Mecca. It’s the birthplace. You’ve
got to respect New York in that aspect, and I grew up here, seeing
it constantly change and evolve. At three in the afternoon, I was
listening to NWA. At seven in the evening, I was listening to A
Tribe Called Quest. Hip-hop was still raw and new and everything
was considered new. You just got to find something you’re
connected to, and if it makes sense, it makes sense. I love Audio
Two, Milk and Gizmo, MC Lyte’s brother. I love them to death
with that powerful simplicity and straightforwardness. I love Rakim.
It’s a different love. I love “Rapper’s Delight.”
I think it’s an incredible song. If you can’t put your
drink down and shake your hips to that, you’re an asshole.
That’s the ultimate club song, created by the Sugarhill Gang.
It’s a beautiful song and it don’t have anything to
do with government or killing your man on the block. None of that.
It’s about having some fun today, damn it. And if I have something
to say about government, that’s truth. And if I do have something
to say about a relationship or a sucka emcee, I’m only gonna
do what I think is real. That doesn’t make me Luther Campbell.
It doesn’t make me Public Enemy. That’s just me.
PM: How important is word-play,
how do you come up with new words, uses, language? Where does your
vocabulary come from?
Vast Aire : I don’t really use many big words. I think the
greatest part to poetry is word play, so that’s a part I focus
on a lot. You could have sworn I said nothing, but in three days,
you’re going to know what I said. It sounds all plain. You’re
frowning and shit, you’re like, “Huh?” But while
you’re brushing your teeth two weeks from now, it’s
just going to hit you, and you’ll be like, “He’s
an asshole.”
I try to do that. I try to throw little sneaky things in, and you’re
only going to get it if you’re a martial artist. You’re
only going to get it if you’re a hip-hopper; you’re
only going to get it if you wrote graf in ’88. I do little
things like that.
I’m not into rhyming deoxyribonucleic acid and all that. I
was when I was younger, but who wasn’t? You were amped if
you could say DNA, the real word, in a verse. As you get older,
though, I learned that I can make “potato chips” sound
hot. That’s a real master. Remember in Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon when she tried to hem him in the forest? And he grabbed a
twig. He ain’t even have a sword. He was hemming her with
a twig, showing her that if this was a sword she’d have already
been dead. I like to do that with my rhymes. I like to grab a twig.
I’ll grab a piece of wheat and you got a blade and we’ll
go at it. I just like to vent off. It’s a comic-book world;
it’s a video game. I’m just trying to have fun. That
doesn’t always require a big word. Sometimes to get a complicated
thought off you just need a bunch of little words. I left that a
long time ago. I left that on Vein. I’m not really big on
huge words. If I can say “big” instead of “enormous,”
I’m gonna say “big.” You best believe that.
PM: Going back to the production.
You used a lot of different guys: Madlib, RJD2, Beatminerz, Cryptic,
Ayatollah. Why did you decide to go with a bunch of different guys
instead of one or two?
Vast Aire : I already did an album with one dude, so I wanted to
do the polar opposite. Over time, the list ended up accumulating.
I was vibing with it; it was just natural. A lot of those guys wanted
to work with me for years, and now we had the opportunity to work
together.
PM: Do you
feel pressure to step out of the shadow of El-P and Can Ox on your
solo debut?
Vast Aire : Not really. Any project I do, I just vent off and do
me. Cold Vein could have flopped but it didn’t. We busted
our asses on that album and we toured and toured. Eventually we
got an incredible response. I love that album; it’s incredible.
But I still don’t think people understand it. But that’s
that. Look Mom is a new realm; it’s a new time, so there’s
no pressure. I’m a perfectionist. As long as I’m vibing
with you, I really don’t second-guess anything. I’m
not waking up at night thinking, “This has to beat Cold Vein.”
PM: A lot has been
said of your wide range of music influences outside of hip-hop.
Vast Aire : Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Nirvana, Pearl Jam.
PM: What do you like about
music outside of hip-hop?
Vast Aire : I learned the secret to life, which is everything is
connected. Everything is relative. So, I can see things and get
the hidden meanings and the tones out. It doesn’t have to
be hip-hop, but they’re still coming with a hip-hop vibe.
They’re still coming with real life. You call god Jah, you
could call god Budda, Allah. No matter what name you give it, it
still means the power of all. I practice Aikido. In class before
we practice, my sansei clashes the wood to protect us, asking the
divine to watch over everyone in the class.
Basically that’s the secret to life: It’s all relative.
So Pearl Jam is saying the something that Chuck D is saying. If
it gets to you, it gets to you. You might like the message, but
might not love the song. That’s why I listened to everything
growing up. If I like it, if it moves me, I wanted it. I didn’t
care if it was hip-hop, rock or whatever.
PM:
At most underground hip-hop shows, the crowd is predominantly white
males. Do you ever wonder why?
Vast Aire : Off the bat? There are more white people in the country.
I don’t look in awe when most of my crowd is white. ‘Cause
when I’m on MTV, most of my crowd is white. It’s all
these illusions that people are making. You’re in America.
There are more white people. White people came here and dominated
the country, and anyone else that’s here is a minority. So
if I’m a minority, what should I expect? Half my crowd should
be white. And I don’t mind. I have white friends and I love
people.
PM: You lived
with El-P for a while, right? What was that like? Any annoying habits?
Vast Aire : Back in the day, a couple of years ago. The dishes man:
the dishes were out of control. The dishes are like to the ceiling,
just piled. I would constantly get on him about that. Like, “Yo
man, clean these dishes.”
PM:
Is he the type of dude that will eat out or buy new dishes instead
of clean the ones he has?
Vast Aire : Yes, yes [Laughs]
PM:
Plans for the year?
Vast Aire : We just dropped a new single, “Elixir,”
with Sadat X and the Beatminerz. Look for a new single, which will
be “Viewtiful Flow,” and an extra joint that isn’t
recorded yet. It’s in the works. We’re going to do a
revised version of a song with Ayatollah. We loved the song so much
we decided to do like a remix. Expect an Atoms Family record soon.
Weathermen is working hard. Mighty Joseph is me and my man Carnage.
Look out for new Cannibal Ox. A lot of touring man. Just a lot of
touring. This is my life. Always busy.
By: Steve Bittrand
Photos: Saye Farrokhtala |
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