Miss Controversy recently returned from New York and had the privilege of meeting loads of heads and got the chance to interview Metaphysic.  In case you don’t know he has produced for Jay Z, Dead Prez and many others.  In this interview he talks a bit about the New York scene, inspirations, thoughts on the hip hop culture, touches a bit on sampling in Hip Hop productions plus he talks about his upcoming projects.  Read on to check out the entire interview…

The joint or cut that introduced you to hip-hop and did u know it would affect the rest of your life?

I would have to say that it was Sucker MC’s by Run DMC. I must have been about 4 years old and I remember my cousin always playing that song.

The current state of hip-hop – Elevate and Move on or Resurrect Hip-hop?  What are your feelings about this statement?

People say its dead…I don’t think so. I think it’s just growing. The only thing that is constant is change. How could we say we love hip-hop if we don’t accept its growth? As in all forms of art, music goes through changes. When these changes come to pass the art/music etc. breaks down in to many different categories and sub-genres. Today there is a hip-hop genre or sub-genre for everybody. Ol’school, 80’s, 90’s, crunk, dirty south, golden era, trip, garage, underground, commercial, dnb, reggaeton, alternative, conscious, and so on. In fact every nation every culture has their own version of hip-hop in their own language. This makes hip-hop universal. As long as it remains to be an outlet for the youth and disenfranchised it will never die.

You produced tracks for the likes of Dead Prez and Jay-Z…how was it working with artists of that caliber?

Shit to this day I still look back on it like “damn how the hell did that happen?”.  It was an honor to work with DP’Z they showed me mad love and taught me a lot. Jay-Z’s vocals had already been laid down so I never got to meet him.

New York hip-hop always seem to set trends that the rest of the world seem to follow but I get the impression that the culture down there seems to be a bit on low tones at the moment? Rectify me with this one?

I think right now the “trend” is to follow the “trends” going on down south so NYC’s hip-hop is headed in that direction. As far as indie hip-hop in NYC I feel it’s getting bigger and setting standards by the minute, especially with the help of cheap production/duplication/recording software and myspace.

Who in your opinion is the artist to watch that’s making mad impressions down there in New York?

Immortal Technique, Akir, P.O.W’S, Soul Dean, Golden Child, L.I.F.E long, Karniege, sky-zoo, Crayz, Pumpkin head, Jean Grae, J-zone, Hassan Salaam The Colessence…man there’s so many.

Future artists you will be collaborating with and those who you would love to work with?

M1, GoldenChild, Akir, The Co.   I would love to work with Nas, Ghostface, K-os, Doom, Del, the Roots, Wale, Kweli, De La, Mos, Nick Cannon (just playing)…

Tell me more about Beat Battles?

Well Beat Battles run more or less like Mc battles or DJ battles. You get up there and do what you do and try to win the crowd over by showing that you are “better” than your opponent. I think some one thought it would be a good way to make money off of us so they ran with it…lol.   I think it was a great way to get exposure and I loved doing them.

So, on the production side do you feel that hip-hop tracks are laced with too much samples what are your feelings on this?

Hip-hop is based on sampling. Even before there were samplers and drum machines.  Hiphop’s root music like funk, soul even afro beat. Listen to it and it’s the same melody playing over and over again like a loop. Listen to James Brown. Listen to Fela Kuti. They were singing and even rappin (if you really listen) to loops. I think as long as respect is given to the originators, and if the sample is flipped well it will never be too much. I like beats that are all played out by musicians too though. I just don’t feel that people should say we are not musicians because we sample.

Have we, the Hip-hop movement, lost our way? So now we rely on the old stuff as a crutch?

Not a crutch, just a blueprint. What makes it bad is when the blueprint gets photo copied over and over again.

What are your thoughts on the hypocrisy of artists who spread words of postivity then turn around and do the opposite of what they preach?

I learned the hard way that no matter what artists spit, they are still humans. This means they will make ill judgments and do the opposite of what they portray to the public from time to time. At the end of the day every artist is not a Bob Marley. Sometimes you just have to enjoy the message and not focus on the messenger.

Back here in Souh Africa our kids are being brainwashed by MTV (naked girls and gangsta rap),what are ya’ll doin down there in NYC to lessen the impact the negative has on the youth?

We make music from our hearts and do our best to FREE THE PEOPLE WITH MUSIC. I throw an open mic event with my comrades from the UHURU movement and A.P.S.P. (African Peoples Socialist Party) to raise funds and awareness.

So whats on the cards for Meta in 2006?

Finishing Golden Child’s project. Then Akir, maybe get some work on Technique’s project, and a few mix tapes before the album drops in summer 2007.  I may get back into the battle scene because it’s been awhile.

Any message for the youth in South Africa?

Turn off your radios. Throw away your televisions. READ READ READ because there are many paths to seek the TRUTH.  Cool…Much luv to empress Cons

Interview by Miss Controversy

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