A couple of months ago I had a conversation with Massdosage who happens to be out in Amsterdam and he was telling me about these two Dutch masters who turned out to be Pete Philly and Perquisite. So to find out more about who they are I got in touch with them and had a discussion…

Hoe gaan dit Pieter? The Netherlands is definitely a place I would love to check out can you give me a breakdown of the Hip Hop movement’s history out there and when you became involved in the culture?

Pete: The Dutch have always been quick to adapt other cultures. Whether it’s the use of Indonesian herbes, French words, or being the first country outside of the States to have fastfood franchises. We love adapting certain cultures and making it our own. This is also true when it comes to hiphop, which has been a part of Dutch street culture since the early eighties. It was normal for MC’s to rap in English. This trend stopped a while back though and now the movement of Dutch spoken hiphop is enormous.

Interesting discussions have been going on about the use of home grown languages and artists who prefers to switch to English what would your response be regarding the use of English over Dutch for example?

Pete: Well, I think it’s best to express yourself in the language that is closest to you. That way you can express your emotions in the best and realest way possible. I grew up speaking several languages. I was born and partly grew up on the Carribean island Aruba, where I spoke English in school, Dutch with my moms and Spanish with my grandma. Expressing myself creatively is something I’ve always done in English so it’s what I feel most comfortable with, even though I also speak Dutch fluently.

The debut album Mindstate is one of the best I have heard this year, truly a fresh album. When did you get started on that album and how long was the creative process putting that one together?

Pete: We’ve recorded the album within a period of about eighteen months. It didn’t take us eighteen months to create the album though. Initially we only planned on releasing an EP, which we did in 2004. After we released it though we felt that we wanted to make a whole album together wich we released about a year later.

Perq: It also took quiet a while because we choose to make a concept-record instead of making an album with a collection of tracks. Each track on the album had to fit in to the concept we agreed on and because the mindstates are pretty autobiographical from Pete’s point of view we sometimes had to wait before we could finish certain tracks. We couldn’t record a track like Paranoid for instance when Pete was in a really up and happy mood.

Last year a unknown producer laced Little Brother with some beautiful sounds (the collabo between Nicolay and Little Brother hence the Foreign Exchange) and it seems the Dutchmasters are really cooking up a storm. Prequisite laced your beats so what’s his musical background cos the beats man I can chill with a honey and just appreciate hip hop without switching to R&B?

Pete: Hahaha I guess. Perq wants to make music that’s melodic and has layers, not just build loops. Just trying to take it to that other level. People need to hear that, you know?

I just mentioned the musical side in the previous question and Talib Kweli said “Musically, these boys are light years ahead of the game”. Did you record together before this project?

Pete: We hadn’t met each other before we went into the studio together. It was a blast though. Talib is as intelligent as he is poetic. Perq and I have always been a huge fan of him. Basically he wrote his verse in the London studio where we recorded the track. We hung out for a while and then Perq and I flew back to Amsterdam. After that I’ve performed with him in Amsterdam, opening for Kanye West.

Pete what does your topics dwell on? I listened to the album a number of times and you seem like a pretty mellow dude like just hopping on a train and writing some lyrics…

Pete: Actually I’m not that mellow (You’ll see if you ever get a chance to catch me live). Overall I’m energetic, open and focused. When it comes to lyrics one of my main skills, as far as rapping goes, is that I’ve always been able to freestyle at any given moment. So, yeah, I would be able to write a song during a trainride.

You were performing at the North Sea Jazz festival in Cape Town. What was that experience like and can we expect to see you back in South Africa in the near future?

Pete: I love Capetown. Beautiful people (beautiful women!) and a genuine hunger for new music. We’re working on a proper South African release, so we can do a proper tour and connect some more with all the peeps over there. I really hope it’ll be possible within the near future.

Perq: Yeah, the Cape Town Jazz Festival was great. We also went out one night and it’s really cool to see all these different cultures connecting, especially when you figure out that it’s only about 10 years ago that you got rid of that crazy ‘apartheid’.

Perq is just blowing up the beats man what is your formula?

Perq: I’m just doing what feels good to do. The only thing I can say to upcoming producers is to always be open-minded and listen to everything… and by that I mean EVERYTHING. There’s so much good music made and being made, in all different genre’s… I think it’s really a loss to only listen to Hiphop. Especially when you’re making hiphop yourself, the risk of making stuff that’s already been made is big when you don’t open yourself up to other musical influences.

What would your response be to “Red-light district” and “Marijuana”?

Pete: I don’t fuck with neither of them. I’m too focused to mess with that ish. Perq doesn’t mess with Mary Jane or the ‘red light’ either. We both used to smoke MJ back in the day, but really, that’s for kids. When it comes to building your shit you shouldn’t smoke or do drugs of any sort, it truly kills your ambition.

So where do we go from here? Any new projects in the pipeline?

Pete: Well Perq and I are going to do another album together. Perq’s gonna release a solo album as well. I’m also part of a group together with soulsinger Senna (who also features on the album) and DJ PCM who’s also the DJ for the Pete Philly & Perquisite show so….we aint finished by a long shot!

Thank you for blessing us hopefully you guys can come out and rock South Africa for all your new listeners what would you like to say in conclusion?

Pete: Bless y’all for the support and love. For those who don’t know our music, check our website and your local recordstore.

Perq: Stay positive and support good music! We’d love to return to your beautiful country soon.

Buy the Album

“I sometimes wonder why/A song can get me high/This music can make me cry/Yet images of war desensitise/Corruption and poverty/Can only capture the part of me that turns it into poetry/I stay amazed by the race I chase lies/I find them then I walk away/I’m passified by the maze and I hate lies/But I’ll find my way/Through rhythm and rhyme or I’ll just sing” – Amazed

www.ourmindstate.com

Interview by Rush: rush@africasgateway.com

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