Musik G

Not too many people may have heard of Musik G. Could you please introduce yourself?

Aight, Musik G stands for The Musik Generator. You spell Musik with a ‘K’ not with a ‘C’. I’ve been rockin’ since 1985, I got in the game in 1992 on the “H.E.A.L.”-LP, a legendary record. They had Shabba Ranks, LL, Queen Latifah, alot of people on that. I’ve had a track called “O Freedom”. You know, the first time that I was out that was 1991, then in 1992 I did a Reggae Album in Kingston/Jamaica, called “Mau Mau Jungle” on Sky High Records. Tony Rebel and Mad Cobra and alot of the Reggae legends was on that album. Then I dropped a 12″ single on Sky High Records with …, he’s from the legendary crew called The Meditations in Jamaica. I was on that, and after that I was doing radio in New York for a while. I did a show that was called “Original B-Side”. Then in 1998 I dropped a single called “Rock On b/w No Games”, and I was on UGA Recordings. Then in 2000 we dropped another single – “Tear It Down b/w Live On The Box” on UGA Recordings. And now we here with the new EP “The Underground Can’t Be Stopped”. And we dropped the single for that in 2003, early 2003 we hit the US radio and some radio overseas. “UGA Throwdown”, that was the single.

Could you give us some further information on your crew The Underground Army?

Well, Underground Army is a collective. It’s made up of MCs, DJs, graffiti writers, bass players, drummers. We got WHY D Original, we got Danjah Stand Clear, he’s a MC, we got Royal Rich, we got Zulu Jeff, we got myself Musik G, of course (laughs). Then we got DJ Mor, he’s the main DJ of the crew. We got DJ Crime Cuts in Holland, we got DJ Graph he raps us out in Norway and we got DJ Tito in Brazil. We got Mike Eder on bass, Ralph White he does some percussion. And of course you can’t forget the vocals – we got El Rae and Duches. Most of us are from Queens, but some of us are from Brooklyn, too.

You told me that you recorded “O Freedom” back in 1991 for the “H.E.A.L.”-LP. You worked with legendary HipHop acts like KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane and others…

Yeah, they all were on that record, that record was amazing. We haven’t ever seen a thing like that since. It was a cool experience, because although alot of these guys were in the same room doin’ it, because they were on different songs, we still were able to connect when there were different shows. I got shows with Brand Nubian, Jamalski… It was a good time there in that time. HipHop was really dope in 1991.

Do you consider this as a high point of your career?

Then – it was a high point, definately. Now – I’m starting to feel that love again, so… Then, I used to get alot of autographs and stuff, because people were on the hype of that album, it was crazy. But now I’m starting to get that love again with this new project.

Do you feel like there’s a lack of respect towards the HipHop legends of the old days?

Yeah, I gotta agree with you on that. Especially in the US anyway. In the United States I feel like it’s a disposable society over here. It’s like out with the old, in with the new. You forget about what came before you and why you’re doin’ it in the first place. It’s, you know, who’s the flavor of the month. And whatever’s the flavour of the month, that’s what you run behind. But you can’t forget where you came from! The reason why you doin’ this is because of these guys, you know what I mean? That’s a problem to me, in the US anyway that’s a problem. That’s why I respect Europe so much, because they respect the roots of where it came from.

Let’s talk about your new EP, you mentioned it, “The Underground Can’t Be Stopped”. What do you think, what’s the message of this album?

The message of this album is to tell all the cats who is in the underground, who’s in the grind to remember that you can’t be stopped. Regardless of what you see on MTV and all the big artists that shut up all the other artists. This is just to enlighten everybody who’s doin’ it for the love and to tell them: look, the Underground Army is with you and we makin’ it! We puttin’ the flag in the ground, saying ‘The Underground Can’t Be Stopped’. Regardless of what happen, they cannot stop the underground.

How are your experiences as an underground MC – are they more negative or positive?

Well you know, within the underground it’s alot of love. So as far as that, within the underground scene it’s really positive. I’m doin’ interviews with cats like you and alot of people overseas. Even in the US in the undeground scene everybody got alot of love for each other. But when it comes to the commercial outlet, that’s where the negativity comes. Cause, you know, if you’re not sellin’ a certain amount of units, you could be sellin’ 10-20.000 units, but for them that’s nothing. So they look at you as you’re secondary or a third class citizen, whatever, they’re not checkin’ for your videos, none of that. That’s the problem – the negative comes when they look at you, they look down on you because you’re not sellin’ 10 million records the first week out.

Is this the reason why it took you so long to release this EP?

You know why? Because it’s all of the timing, everything is timing. Maybe five years ago it wouldn’t have worked. Maybe ten years ago it wouldn’t have worked. But now is the time that I feel that it’s needed. And I’m seeing the reception from it, they like ‘yeah, you brought it back Mus, you brought it back, I’m feeling you on that’! I think everything comes in the right time.

I think it might be interesting to get some addititional info to each track on the EP. Could you just drop some short comments to the single tracks:

“Worldwide”
Okay, “Worldwide” was something that we put together because altough we’re all underground, this particular group and alot of other groups – a whole lot of other groups – are really worldwide groups. We’re known in New York, LA, in Norway, Japan, Germany, you know, all over the place. Altough tough we’re not known in the mainstream Top 40. This is a weird situation where you could be know in many different countries but at the same time you’re not in the Top 40. That was just a track to let it be known: alright, we’re underground but we’re not local.

“I Do That”
That track is a educational track. The main conept of that track is “if you talk it – live it”. (starts rapping) Grab the microphon and rip MCs – I do that/ elevate this to a higher degree – I do that/ rock the stage to the block party – I do that! You get it? You say it, you answer it.

“Got U”
That track is a personal experience about what we have to do when it’s time to do a show. That’s basically about the checklist – do we have everything before we ready to do the show?

“Not Really”
That’s a concept song. We came together, we said let’s do it like a little philosophical song. Because alot of people say things like ‘All this HipHop is sounding the same’! And we was like ‘Yo it doesn’t really sound the same’! So we came with a concept song flipping it like that.

“UGA Throwdown”
That’s just our party joint here. As far as what we do when it’s time for us to get down. That’s what it’s about!

“All Rights Reserved”
“All Rights Reserved” is a track where you need to think. It’s all about a choice. If you listen to the lyrics everything is either ‘this’ or ‘that’. And I leave it up to you to decide what you want to choose.

“Can’t Be Stopped”
That’s the title track and it’s all about the concept of ‘doing it for yourself’. It’s an enlightening and encouraging song for all those who’s in the trenches – all these MCs, these producers, these graf writers. When you get down and you’re out and you think this ain’t worth it no more, you’re doing a track like that.

Is it possible to make a living of your music?

Yeah, definately! When it comes to making a living of your music it depends on how you do your business. How you conduct your business is gonna determine wether you get paid or you don’t. And when you do get paid you gotta watch what you do with your money. You can’t run out there and start buying cars like that. Because your money ain’t the same kind of money like a 50 Cent money. You can live off it, but it’s the way you live that’s gonna determine wether you broke or not.

You have a video out right now – do local tv stations give you any airplay or is this strictly for the internet?

Oh no, definately – we’re on Underground Ruff House here in New York, it’s getting played out in LA, on some video shows in Miami. In Switzerland, Norway, London. And hopefully in Germany soon, too.

I think we have alot of negativity in rapmusic today – what’s your opinion about this trend?

I think that ignorance breeds more ignorance. That’s why I come in the game. You know, I want to enlighten, I want to bring something else to the table. What’s the sense of having a hundred MCs talking about negativity? How much money they be payed – what’s that to be negative about, man? You probably gettin’ payed 50.000-60.000$ a show, what are you mad about? There’s nothing for these guys to be mad about! (laughs)

Do you believe in ideals – like the ideals of the old school or the ideals of HipHop like it was 10 years ago?

Oh yeah, definately! I even put this whole project together with that in mind. The production is that way, the rhyme style is that way – I believe in that so much that I actually live it.

What do you think of the internet – is it curse or blessing?

I think that the underground would not be where it is today without the internet. If it wasn’t for the internet we wouldn’t be talking right now (laughs). It would be too expensive and we wouldn’t be able to communicate with each other if it wasn’t for the internet. That’s what opened the doors in my opinion for the real underground scene to get worldwide – all because of the internet.

Are you content with the reaction on the EP?

Yeah, I’m astonished. Because when we were doing it, we said this is a risk! (laughs) We’re taking a risk, because you not gonna do it like everybody else! People could consider it oldschool, say this, say that. But I’m really suprised how many people really enjoying this.

Are you already working on a new album?

Yes, we are. We was in the lab last night, matter of fact. It’s coming, it’s not titled yet, but it’s coming! Right now we’re in the process of just selecting tracks, checking a couple of crews out in Long Island, some peeps in Holland. We got to bring it to more producers for the album. You’ll probably see more of other UGA MCs on this, too.

What about a tour in Europe? When will you be on stage over here?

Well, we’re working on that now. We trying to get a couple of ???? and stuff like that. We haven’t been over to Europe for a little while, I shall go to London next in a week and a half thou.

Ok, thank you, that was our short interview – do you have any shoutouts?

Oh yeah, I definately wanna shout out Chain from ugrap.de, of course I gotta shout y’all out! I gotta shout out ??? ???, DJ Illegal, DJ Chilly E at Big FM, The Wonder Twinz here in New York, Fat Nappa, the whole Underground Army worldwide! And oh, make sure you go to the website: www.undergroundarmy.com! Buy the EP! You can buy it all over the place, you can buy it at www.undergroundhiphop.com, www.amazon.com and our website – check it out!