"OUR SURVIVAL IS BASED OFF OUR ABILITY TO GROW WITH CHANGE." - MICHAEL YARDE.

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KING LIF:

Off to Boston and marching on to the spirit of healthy political opinion and debate, DX chops it up with Mr. Lif, who finds time to take a break from studio in order to introduce his new album, I Heard it Today, and explain its relevance to the current political environment. And one can count on Mr. Lif to stay creative and remain relevant as he uses his album to convey a message about the prevalent problems and issues the U.S. of A. is up against – just in time for elections. Best known for his membership in the group The Perceptionists (with Akrobatik and DJ Fakts One), Mr. Lif sheds light on his recent European tour, the peculiar support of Republicans and their policies, and of course, sexy Sarah Palin.

HipHopDX: You recently came back from your European tour; how was it?
Mr. Lif: It was a lot of fun. It was actually a more casual type of tour than I’m used to doing. If I go someplace for 20, 25 days, I’m used to having to do 17, 18 shows. But due to the fact that I’m recording this project, my shows were a little bit more spread out and it gave me some time to be in the studio in Berlin and hang out with some of my friends – I have a lot of friends in Berlin. It was actually very enjoyable. We traveled to Holland, Switzerland, several parts of Germany. We wrapped up the show in Estonia; it was my first time in Estonia.

DX: How do the fans in Europe differ from those in North America?
Mr. Lif: They just don’t get to see you as often. So there’s just an appreciation, especially for “Hip Hop Camp” which is a show we did in the Czech Republic. You get the sense that some of these kids have listened for a long time to the music, but never had a chance to actually come out and see the show…maybe if they caught a show before, they’re appreciative. It’s not an everyday thing; it’s not even necessarily an every-year thing. I don’t go to the same cities every time. I feel that the appreciation is very high, they’re very unashamed that they love Hip Hop and are very true school in that they love more of the golden era style of Hip Hop and it’s just good to see that.

DX: What’s up with The Perceptionists?
Mr. Lif: Both Akrobatik and I are focused on our solo careers, and that’s the way it has to be right now. I think I called Ak about three-and-a-half months ago and said, “Look I’m ready to start writing a Perceptionists record,” ‘cause my attitude at the time was the more projects, the merrier. I can work on a Mr. Lif record right now if you will and also work on a Perceptionists record and choose what aura I want. Then once I got into the idea of doing my project, I got so lost in the process – I can’t express how much this record and this project has revitalized me in terms of reconnecting with my passion about my making music and just feeling a sense of purpose. It’s not like I’m just making songs to hear my own voice, or to flex a couple of styles so people would think I’m one of the best. This is me trying to stay with current events and offer a view that’s a little bit more liberal, or a view that’s alternative to what’s being offered in mainstream media. Just gives me an incredible sense of purpose – it’s the last thing I think about when I close my eyes at night and first thing I think about when I wake up. And during the hours I’m awake, most of them by far are spent in the studio while I’m working on this material.

DX: This is a good time to introduce that new material.
Mr. Lif: The new album is called I Heard it Today [click to listen] and it’s a political…basically what’s going on in the United States right now in such a unique moment in American history that I figured it would be a good moment to document it. We have a black man running for president; we have the energy crisis, housing crisis and of course the huge economic crises that has not only hit us but is affecting other markets around the world. So once a month I release a song that covers a political issue. And in September I released a song that was about the housing crisis. And for October, the song is called “The Sun” and the “The Sun” is a song of inspiration for all the people out there that are disenfranchised right now, and feeling cheated on. A lot of people lost their retirement funds, people are losing their homes – it’s tough for people to survive in America right now.

DX: Many of these subjects covered have been prevalent in the U.S. for at least the past couple of years. Why do you think they haven’t been brought to attention before this complete economic and political crash?
Mr. Lif: I think because people were getting paid. A lot of the big…they had to keep silent so they can finish making their billions or multi-millions, and no one wanted to say anything until shit absolutely hit the fan. And I also think the fact that this election coming up has created an arena for the issues being discussed as the American people are gonna want to know what each of these candidates is gonna do about the problems that affect them on daily basis. When the people that are truly in power of the nation are making money hand over fist, I think they’re gonna keep pretty quiet about that until they have to talk about it. [Laughing]

DX: Why are the republicans continuing to receive significant support after such detrimental policies, fiscal, foreign and domestic?
Mr. Lif: The cold and harsh reality […] the center of this nation seems to be extremely conservative. And when you get into the so-called “Bible belt,” I think you just have people – it’s a broad sweeping generalization here – but I think the majority of the people just like the good-old America. If we’re involved in the war, let’s win the war.

DX: I understand the conservatism. But when the policies are not beneficial to individuals, when they are bad economic and domestic policies, why does support continue for the Republicans?
Mr. Lif: It baffles me. Maybe people just aren’t that informed or maybe people see that the black man is on the opposite side of the building and they’re just like “Hell no.” I think that’s a lot of what’s going on, the Republicans are just like “This black dude?” A lot of people in the heartland are just like, “Yo man, we have no chance in hell that this black man is gonna run this country.” The progressives are not necessarily the majority in America.

DX: With the rising gas prices, the lay-offs and with the collapse of the stock market, do you think that people are still looking at Obama’s skin color?
Mr. Lif: I’m not trying to throw a big importance on race as it seemed like I was; I think that’s just one aspect of what’s going on. No matter what, there’s a contingent of people that are going to look at his skin color, whether you want to believe that or not. It’s tough for me - I don’t know what people think. I literally cannot even come up with anything to explain really why someone could have lived through the last eight years in America where we had two planes knock down the towers, 2,000 people die in New York, where we have the energy crisis and to top it all off, the drop of the economy. I can’t even believe that 20% of the people in this country will even consider McCain, let alone vote for him but that’s what we’re up against. We’re also up against an extremely skewed electronic voting system that people have figured out how to exploit the flaws of. Maybe we shouldn’t be focusing so much on these candidates right about now; we should put maybe an equal amount of attention on people who are counting the votes.

DX: A pensive point. Why do you think there’s such a pre-occupation with Sarah Palin? She’s no less educated or experienced than George Bush was so why is this much focus on her?
Mr. Lif: First of all, I just think it offensive that the McCain camp presented her. Now they’re basically just not letting her speak to the public unless it’s in like an extremely controlled environment where they have to program her on everything she has to say because she’s failed so intensely - like in the interviews with Katie Couric. Every time she’s asked a question that she’s not scripted and ready for, she’s just a complete buffoon. And Republicans, I guess just thought, "Hey Hillary Clinton was popular with the Democrats, so let’s just get a woman out there, and let’s just disenfranchise female voters,” but really, they’ve just made a mockery about the whole system. The question about Palin is “Is she intelligent?” and “Does she even know politics?” And when those are the questions you’re asking about the potential Vice President, who’s gonna be vice president for a guy that’s 72 years old and has had four cancer surgeries – it shouldn’t be a factor. I just don’t see why she’s not completely disregarded.

DX: Where is responsibility within the American population?
Mr. Lif: First of all, find a common ground upon which we can join together. Here’s the problem: they still have us divided, whether it’s Democrats or Republicans. We’re divided into - and I’m guilty of feeding into this too - progressive people on the coast and the people in the heartland. The American people need to figure something out that is going to hit the wealthy in the pocket because that’s all they’re going to understand. They’ve found several ways to see our cash flow – they tax us on every dollar we make, on every cent we make; they create conditions in which they can gain an ordinate wealth and we can go broke and bankrupt and our lives can be ruined. I just think that there’s gotta be some way the American people can brand together and be like, “Look, we’re not gonna be a part of this anymore.” And I don’t know what that is. Sometimes I think maybe not give as much value to the things that we care so much about now, our possessions and that paper…

There has to be a point where we have to put our foot down. The protests of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the protest of this bill – they’ve already run us over. They snuck a president into office and kept him there for 8 years…

DX: You mentioned “capitalism rap” before. Elaborate?
Mr. Lif: It’s not any level of a breakthrough. Hip Hop was a form of music created by people in low-income areas. It was a means of their own escapism, creativity; as a means for them to try to hopefully earn some recognition and some money so they can improve their own living conditions. Once it became clear to corporate America - or just corporations around the globe - that Hip Hop was an extremely marketable commodity, what happened at that point was the corporate vision and the dumbing down of the music. And I think that you can’t talk about this issue without recognizing the fact that there is an all-out assault, especially in this country, on the young black male. There are tons of young black men in prison. In my opinion, the view of people worldwide of us continues to suffer. The African-American has definitely been seen in a very negative light at least in my opinion, what I’ve gathered through the media, my own experience, what I experienced first-hand…

Hip Hop is a corporate vision that shifted from an instrument from which the black community told their youth stay in school, become educated. This is where the truth lies, in the knowledge that you hold and what you’re able to do with that knowledge. And now, the majority of what you see is cats driving big flashy cars, with a lot of women dancing around them and they’re throwing money at the camera. And ultimately, it killed the movement in the black community toward intelligence, respect, pride. And it moved toward “Man, get some money,” period. And it’s okay to sell crack; in fact, it’ll help your rap career if you sold crack or shot some black people. That’s what the music has disintegrated to. You have a better chance of having a good rap career if you have good street cred: if you sold poison to your own people and it’s on your records that you have threatened to kill your own people; and of course, using the “n” word incisively, helps.

I FUCKING LOVE HIPHOPDX.COM INTERVIEWS.

AND DEFINITIVE JUX.

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SPEAKING OF...



WORD TO MURS!

BUY HIS NEW ALBUM, 'MURS FOR PRESIDENT'!!

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RAP IS FUCKIN OUTTA CONTROL FOR REAL NOW:

Though heralded as one of Hip Hop’s most acclaimed artists, MF DOOM has been a mystery behind the mask. In recent times, it has gotten to the point that fans are questioning the validity of DOOM shows, unsure if the man on stage is in fact the real MF DOOM. Speaking in the recent issue of Wax Poetics magazine, DOOM confronted the question of impostor performances, vying for a new perception. Putting his explanation into context, MF DOOM recapped a show from last year.

"I did some show, wrecked it, girls climbing up onstage and shit," recounts DOOM. "That was the first time that happened--but we was rocking, right? Somebody from the label was going to be there. I was like, 'Cool, he saw the show, and it was wrecked.'" Continuing on DOOM stated, "Next couple of days, I speak to him, and he was like, 'Good show, but a lot of people are saying it wasn't you!'"

Receiving the disconcerting news, DOOM was amazed to hear his character continues to fool people. "I lost fifty-nine pounds last year on some healthy shit, and I'm out there busting my ass, and niggas is still saying that shit? Niggas is caught up in the character part."

However, instead of killing off the impostor noise, MF DOOM stressed his shows are for the music, first and foremost. "Looking at it has nothing to do with what it sounds like," says DOOM. "A blind person could be at the show and feel it clearly, but don't see nothing of it. Don't matter what the shit look like. Look, was niggas rockin' or was niggas rockin'?"

For the full interview with MF DOOM, be sure to pick up the newest Wax Poetics, on sale now.

WWW.HIPHOPDX.COM

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EMINEM SAYS SOME SHIT THAT WE BEEN WAITING TO HEAR, FINALLY:

Eminem, the most commercially successful rapper alive, no longer seeks the massive success which has been a constant in his career.

"There's no desire to be that big again. Whatever happens, I'll take it, but that's definitely not what I'll be recording the songs for," said Em in a recent BBC interview with Zane Lowe.

Em's reason for releasing his next album? He wants "to remind people how I rap."

"[I feel] pretty good about what I've done," said the rapper, whose accolades include multiple Grammy awards and the first Oscar ever to be award to a Hip Hop artist. "I've accomplished enough with the music that I haven't had to go out there and do other things to over-saturate. ... That's probably what I take pride in most."

The veteran emcee also took the time to speak on the Hip Hop game, which he deemed garbage - but not all of it. Em gave props to Ludacris, among other artists, saying "I don't mean everything about rap is crap. I just mean the majority of it. Actually I think T.I.'s new album is great and I've been pumping that for the last two weeks every day in my car aside from my own stuff as I record it. Andre 3000 is also incredible. So I just mean rap in general."

Eminem is currently in the studio working on his upcoming album, The Relapse, with Eminem focused on the writing, and Dr. Dre on the production.

WWW.HIPHOPDX.COM

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HE AIN'T THE ONLY ONE:

Shortly after Kanye West launched his Web site, KanyeUniversecity.com, he expressed his distaste for being misquoted in interviews via his blog.

"SIIIIIIGGGHHHH! [sic]" he wrote. "I told the media you can't make up lies about me because I have a media outlet myself. Oh and sidebar I don't know if everyone has realized this yet but I don't do interviews if there's anything I wanna say I'll say right here on my own blog."

True to his word, there was very little, if any, written press done. Aside from live performances and the occasional talk show appearance, there were even fewer television and radio appearances. All details about his upcoming 808s And Heartbreak album have either come via his blog or from friends and collaborators, such as Common and Kid Cudi. On Monday, West appeared on Big Boy's Radio Show [WQHT 97.5 "Hot 97," KPWR 105.9 "Power 106"] and explained the reasoning behind his Auto-Tune and melody-heavy new album.

"I wanted people to take my words into their soul, and have it embedded it their life, spirit and energy," explains Kanye. "When I was a shorty, they taught us stuff with a melody, like the ABC's. So I'm about to express my stuff with melody. It's a fine line, where you don't know if it's rapping or what it is. It's just what's necessary at the time--what it feels like [and] what the beat makes me do."

West also addressed rumors that he was just being experimental and hoping critics would recognize his upcoming album as an Avant-garde work.

"People heard 'Heartless' and thought it was safe," says Kanye. "They were like, 'Kanye's over here. It's all good now.' As you see, nobody's safe. I'm coming for the spot. It's a lot of people with number one spots right now, and I'm coming back for my spot. I'm not really playing right now. I think people might have thought I was playing games or just doing something real Avant-garde. But I'm coming to make the best music I can possibly make."

808s And Heartbreak will be in stores Nov. 25.

SAME SPOT AS THE LAST ONE. LINK THAT WEBSITE, IT'S TIGHT! WWW.HIPHOPDX.COM

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HI, MY NAME IS MARSHALL MATHERS, AND I'M A NORMAL HUMAN BEING NOW.

Eminem, the most commercially successful rapper alive, no longer seeks the massive success which has been a constant in his career.

"There's no desire to be that big again. Whatever happens, I'll take it, but that's definitely not what I'll be recording the songs for," said Em in a recent BBC interview with Zane Lowe [click to listen].

Em's reason for releasing his next album? He wants "to remind people how I rap."

"[I feel] pretty good about what I've done," said the rapper, whose accolades include multiple Grammy awards and the first Oscar ever to be award to a Hip Hop artist. "I've accomplished enough with the music that I haven't had to go out there and do other things to over-saturate. ... That's probably what I take pride in most."

The veteran emcee also took the time to speak on the Hip Hop game, which he deemed garbage - but not all of it. Em gave props to Ludacris, among other artists, saying "I don't mean everything about rap is crap. I just mean the majority of it. Actually I think T.I.'s new album is great and I've been pumping that for the last two weeks every day in my car aside from my own stuff as I record it. Andre 3000 is also incredible. So I just mean rap in general."

Eminem is currently in the studio working on his upcoming album, The Relapse, with Eminem focused on the writing, and Dr. Dre on the production.

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SINCE EVERYONE'S GONNA BE TALKING ABOUT IT...



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I'LL NEVER STOP POURING THAT 40 WATER!



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KOOL KEITH!



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JIGGAMAYNE. OBAMA. SUCCESS!



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I'M READY FOR CHANGE.
LOVE, ADHIMUSIC