Yoooo. I’m bringing everybody somethin’ we hope y’all been waitin for… the FIFTH Hip Hop Speakeasy Interview. This interview I asked to have a word with Fresh Sly.. if you remember him for winning the Hip Hop Album of the Week for his album Quiet Storm. Well, after listening to that album on repeat for a few hours, I just had to talk to the guy. So I connected with him on Facebook and we talked. I was just so impressed with the jazzy feel of the whole album, it’s how more hip hop should be! Like I said in the post about his album, it’s like a modern day Digable Planets kinda style. So if you haven’t peeped Fresh Sly yet, GET TO IT! Check out the interview below, peace:
Q: Who was your musical idol growin up?
A: “I was listening to a lot of golden age hip-hop, but I think the group who actually caught my attention with their unique style was Wu-Tang Clan. We didn’t have too much good hip-hop music up in here, everything was on tape, hip-hop compilations and a lot of mainstream rap. But even before Wu-Tang it was Dr.Dre’s The Chronic, and N.W.A.. Later I got into Black Moon, Eric B. & Rakim, Nas, and the list goes on & on ’til the break of dawn. The first US hip-hop that caught my ear was 2pac, so if I played his CD for like 6 months 24/7 I suppose he was definitely an idol.“
Q: Why did you decide to become a musician?
A: “I decided to become a musician in my 4th grade when I went to learn musical theory, violin, choir, and piano at school. I studied for 4 years, and then I went on to breakdance with the kids from my block. During this time I actually thought I got to make something useful with the 5 copybooks I already wrote rhymes in, so I left breakdancing for MC-ing. But I’m still B-BOY.“
Q: Who’s your favorite music artist of all time?
A: “I never really thought about this one. Can I name four? John Coltrane, George Clinton, James Brown, Marvin Gaye.“
Q: What is your inspiration for writing songs (in general and/or specifically)?
A: “Everything around inspires me: people, sounds, stories, a bottle of good beer, funk-jazz-hip hop, it depends on the mood I have, but I think the main inspiration is Kenny G! (Kidding)“
Q: How did you get signed to Digi Crates
A: “It was Hus. He heard some of my previous work, including the Fresh Sly Jazz Experience project, and came up with an idea to remix the Tha Connection – Connect 101 album, which I had entirely remixed. In the meantime I was working on my two albums: Quiet Storm & Sly In France (I was in France when the Connection album dropped – entitled Connect 102), so that’s how I got my first record deal.“
Q: Who are your musical inspirations?
A: There are too many to name, besides be-bop jazz artists, 70’s funk artists and golden age hip-hop, I’m listening to the new wave of hip-hop music: Tha Connection, Sci-Fi Stu, Damu The Fudgemunk, Y Society, Moka Only, DTMD, Oddisee, Thomas Prime, I like everything Madlib has done, Nebz Supreme, Blu & Exile, they all inspire me.
Q: When did you start making music? Do you remember the first song you made?
A: “I started to make music in 2002. The first song I made was recorded in 2003 (I was 15 at the time), it was called “Nobody”, it had some simple lyrics, braggin’ about how fresh & kool we are and nobody is doper! Sounds ridiculous tho, I’ll try to search it in my old demo CD crates.“
Q: How did the name Fresh Sly come to Being?
A: “I guess I wanted people to associate my name with something “old-school”, and the word fresh was so en-vogue during the 80s hip-hop, 90s wasn’t really that fresh, it was more like “fancy”. Sly came to being when a friend of mine replied to some remark I made “Oh really?? Damn, you’re Sly…”.“
Q: What was your inspiration for Quiet Storm?
A: “It was definitely The Crusaders, and me. The Crusaders contributed to the overall sound on the album, “me” was the inspiration for the title – I am sometimes quietness, sometimes a storm, sometimes I’m quiet even tho I’m furious inside, I’m more of a calm type of guy, I like smoothness, I like meditating in silence, and many other things even tho I have my wild and crazy moments. I was listening to the Crusaders discography during the recording and composing this album. And then one night sitting at the balcony at the studio having a beer and a cigarette I thought about the title over an hour, already kinda drunk, whispering Quiet Storm all the time, I think I whispered it for 10.000 times, I was sure I’m gonna pick this title. The song I sampled in the interlude at the end of “Lemonade Love” had a huge contribution!“
Q: What was your favorite song to record on Quiet Storm?
A: “Well, I think it was “Lands” with Hus, and “Troubles”. “Troubles” was the first song recorded for this album, so it was dope from the simple fact it was a starting point. Also “Driftaway”, cuz I recorded the “check it out y’all, ya don’t stop, to the beat y’all, ya don’t stop” and so on in ONE TAKE all the song long, 3 minutes of incontinous talking. To be honest I wasn’t sure about “Driftaway” on this album, I felt like it’s not good enough to reach the final playlist. A friend of mine changed my mind, and I’m glad I always ask for other cats’ opinions whenever I doubt.“
Q: What do you want people to get from your music?
A: “New positive visions and vibes, I think music generally speaking will change the world. I want them to drift away from the materialistic rap and crappy music.“
Q: How do you see the state of hip hop now compared to in the past? What do you hope for the future?
A: “That’s what I was saying. Hip-Hop needs creativity, Hip-Hop needs to teach the children what’s right and what’s wrong, remember Grandmaster Flash & Afrika Bambaataa and many others. They had a reason. Everything happens for a reason. Mainstream doesn’t really handle this job. Alternatives and conscious hip-hop do. It needs to go back to its roots.“
Q: Whats on Fresh Sly’s iPod?
A: “Let me look. Quasimoto, Parliament, Funkadelic, Fresh Sly – the new album I’ve done 10 songs so far, The Roots, Afu-Ra, Nas, Boogiemonsters, Eric B. & Rakim, Smoovth, Lamb, The MOOoD, Damu The Fudgemunk.“
Aight y’all I hope you enjoyed that cause I definitely appreciated gettin a word in with such a creative artist. If you haven’t checked them out already, go visit the Digi Crates Records‘ website and check out Fresh Sly and other great hip hop artists there!
