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Giving The Anvils Their Independence
While the entire country was worried about the Cape Town – J-sec hip-hop situation, trying to find out where the “real” Hip-hop lives areas like P.E and PTA were busy building their scene, and damn its sounding too nice. Anvils are one of the products of Cap City Rap City – that’s Pretoria-the city where hip-hop meets jazz and poetry meets rap music its all about making cla**ics. Their EP Independence Day is out and features Pro-Verb and Black Lez, we go through some tracks in this interview and also post them on the streaming page, so don’t be shy take a listen. The Anvils made up of N’veigh and Mycbeth had a little Hip-hop “heart to heart session” where we gave them the a**ignment of interviewing one another, and of course we threw a question or two in, but here is the outcome of that. Oh but first we had to give them of a quick quiz.
What’s with the names, N’veigh, Mycbeth and The Anvils?
Anvils: The name Mycbeth is derived from the Shakespearean character Macbeth. To sum it briefly, this guy was an army general was ultra ambitious, infact so much so that his ambition in striving for greatness resulted in his death. So I'm like a Macbeth of the Mycrophones and then the word N’veigh means a vicious verbal or written attack, so that's pretty self-explanatory. An Anvil is that big slab of metal that black smiths use to shape swords and horse shoes etc. The thing about an anvil is that it is black and heavy, and the same goes for our muzik.
Coming from PTA you guys know that there is always beef about how J-sec cats get media love. But in all honesty at times it feels like there’s a love hate relationship where PTA cats do want media support but you also get the feeling at times that you cats want to keep it exclusive to PTA. Where do the Anvils stand in this regard?
Anvils: The primary objective was to lock down our own city first and make sure that they've got our backs, which we've pretty much done now. So now we wanna move it out to the rest of the country, so the answer to your question is yes. As matter of fact we were pushing in Jsec for large portions of December. But Jsec is just one of many markets we trynna tap into.
What do you feel is the Cancer of SA Hip-hop, what is killing the game slowly so to speak?
Anvils: Conformists! Stereotypes who believe that Hip-hop is all about parties, money, sex...ect. Sure enuff that's part of it but there are more facets to this here art. Then you get these kwaito cats jumping on the bandwagon and we like 'damn isn't a hip-hop beat supposed to have a snare?', but they go ahead and call it hip-hop anyway. What's wack about it is that people end up getting confused and not quite sure what real Hip-hop is.
Mycbeth: Here are some facts to consider. Last year (2006) the only MC who went platinum was T.I, which is pretty weak considering how many MC's there are out there. But an interesting point though, is that Hip-hop is currently the highest selling genre right now. So my question to you is, do you or don't you agree with Nas's title for his new album "Hip hop is dead"? Speak on it.
N’veigh: Yeah I feel dat Hip-hop is watered down but not necessarily dead. Crunk which is in right now, is a temporary sound, its only a matter of time till peeps realise that hip hop is more than to Lean with it and Flossin' Grillz.
Mycbeth: When did you last battle in a cipher? Do you still do it? If not, why?
N’veigh: No I don't battle no more, I feel dat I've done enuff of collecting street cred. I'm focusing on being an MC who brings out cla**ics cos I feel like dat stuff on wax lasts longer than a 45sec freestyle.
Mycbeth: I know you've getting mad love since winning the Nik-Naks thing, but for every positive change there must be a negative, hence the haterz. How do you deal with the hate?
N’veigh: I focus more on people that show me love! Haterz are the least of my priorities.
N’veigh: Hip-hop has become very territorial, and everywhere you go people will swear that the type of hip-hop that they do in their area is the truth. What do you think sets Cap City apart?
Mycbeth:I think, no, infact I know that Cap City will get its competitive advantage from its diversity. Look at us, then look at Damola, then Ras, then the Fro-Pick cats example. Our styles are all very different and can easily be told apart, be there is one similarity... MAD FLAVA
N’veigh: Considering indie artists, what do you think should be done in order to eat on the same table as the signed dudes?
Mycbeth: I seriously think niggas need to put some serious work as far as pushing they stuff, cos there's a lot of cats (even those that I respect as musically) who are sleeping on they're own shit and dudes also need to dead that silly beef shit that seems to be cropping everywhere these days and start putting together resources and insight in order to build something that can compete on a national or even international level. This game is big enuff for all of us, so lets all eat.
N’veigh: Do you think that the sound in the U.S has an influence on our (South African) sound or do you think we are the ones that dictate which direction our music is going in and what it sounds like?
Mycbeth: Look, I think there are definitely some cats out there that try and make their music according to MTV's idea of what's hot. But for the greater part I think S.A. MC's have a very original flava, which could eventually dominate the f***ing world. Call me an optimist, but I actually see this place becoming like a Mecca for Hip-hop headz worldwide!!!
Source:VTN
