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10/19/2006 What's up? I'm feeling great. I got a lot on my plate today. I just got done working on some beats and now I'm getting ready for a little gig tonight. What's the Distrakt 101? I'm the dude that's trying to keep it concrete. There's no artificial flavors. Just straight up, real hip-hop. That's what I'm about. I just want to keep it real. I'm not doing what everybody else is doing. I'm just doing me. What's the scene like in Colorado Springs? It's starving and cats are all trying to find their position. When we do get something, we get it last. Cats out here have skills because they have to entertain themselves. There's really not too much to do out here. What's the hardest part about trying to come up being based in Colorado Springs? The exposure. On the East or the West, there's always people around and there's always an event to get into. It's not really like that out here. How would you describe your style? I strive to be different. I strive to be expressive and bring feeling. I don't put myself in a box at all. I don't do anything hard or anything soft. I just let the lyrics flow. I just let everything come. When I got words, I just let it come. I'm the same way with my beats. I like to mold things like clay. I grab as many sounds as I can and just mold them. I do the same with my rhymes. I grab as many words as I can and just put them on the paper. Are you happy with your debut album Distraktions? I'm impressed with it. If I'm not impressed with it, nobody is going to get it. I have to be impressed with it. I made this record for me. People told me I had to make it for what's hot now, but I said, Nah. I have to feel good about it. It has to be something that's natural and organic. It's not something that I'm doing because someone else is doing it. I'm pretty happy with my project. How's it doing so far? I can't complain. It's an every day grind. You have to work even harder after every little success. I got a deal through Fat Beats and that was great to get noticed all the way out in New York, but I can't stop. I have to keep doing these shows and recording. I see progress and I see higher heights with every step. You did everything on this album from the producing, writing to mixing. Why did you go that route? I look at my project like a newborn baby. When you bring something into the world, you want to make sure it has the proper nourishment. You want to have your hands on everything. You understand that you have molded something that is truly an expression. I tried to grasp the form of expressing myself and that's why I handled everything from the album cover to the engineering of it. I can get in a million dollar studio, but that may not be the sound that I'm going for. It's like cooking. I put all my own ingredients in and some of my ingredients are ancient family secrets that you can't share with anybody. I had to do it, especially being out here in Colorado. If I wanted to get something done, especially with being out in Colorado and not having a lot of people that do what I do, I realized I had to do it myself. That's why I was wearing so many hats on this record. Did wearing all the hats take away from the project? Not at all. I'm almost done with the next record. It's a way of life for me. It's like therapy for me. It's like an escape for me. I'm able to sit down after I make some beats and write some scripts up. I enjoy that. It's natural for me. What was your inspiration for "Fish Grease"? A lot of my songs come from experiences. "Fish Grease" came from when I was frying some fish and I got popped with some grease. I was watching C-SPAN and I was rubbing the burn from the grease and I see the war and all the foulness going on in the world. It seemed like every time I blinked there was something else burning people up in the world. I was inspired through that whole element from when I got splashed with the fish grease to when I was watching TV and seeing the crazy things going on in the world. You addressed a lot of issues on "Stereotypes." "Stereotypes" was a song I felt I had to do. I have zero tolerance for racism. I love all people. I've experienced some things that were real harsh and some people don't understand it. You can't force them to drink but you can lead them to the lake. I thought it would be a good thing to reverse the concept and show "what if this was you?" It wasn't me blaming anybody. I was just saying, Stop it. I'm trying to do my part to end racism on all levels. I love everybody. I just felt it was my duty to give people something to think about. If you're going to distract somebody, you might as well give them food for thought. I wanted to give cats a vision and give them some food for thought. A lot of the songs on Distraktions are short. Why is that? I like to get in and get out. Another thing is people's attention spans is like a finger snap. The beats are straightforward and grimy. I'm banging out the drums and the basslines and they make people want to rock when they hear it. It's like going to a race track and as soon as that gun shoots off, the horses are right out the stables. That's how I wanted to approach this instead of massaging people. I want this to be an edgy jumpoff. What do you use to make your beats? I work off an SP1200. I record my stuff into Cubase and that's pretty much it. I tinker around with a couple of instruments like the bass guitar and a Wurlitzer electric piano. I mess with the ASR10 sometimes. I try to mess with all different types of machines to get all different kinds of sounds because I believe each machine has its own sound. Are you looking to do outside production? I'm in the process of building a couple of projects with some up-and-coming groups. My first love is production and right now I'm just producing me because I have to get that off my chest. I love to share the visions I have that I can't use for myself. I would rather use that for somebody else that would be a better fit. How's your next album coming? It's coming great. I'm just sitting here absorbing everything. I'm doing a lot more shows and meeting a lot more people. The sounds and colors that I'm envisioning and splashing together now is different. It's always going to be something different. That's always my attitude when I approach records. I really want people to catch on that Distraktions is a great record, but my next record is going to be another record that's different but it's going to have that same great quality. I don't want to have sequels. I just want everything to be great. It's like thrillers or horror movies. They're both movies, but they're different genres. I think when people hear my next record, it's going to be a different genre than Distraktions. It may not even have a title for the genre yet. I always want to come different and I don't want to bore people. I don't want people to get used to me. People have their signature sound. I want my signature sound to be something you never get used to. When are you looking to drop the next album? Next year. I'm striving to get some nice features on the next one. I've been building with Prince Po from Organized Konfusion. I've also been building with POS from Rhymesayers. You'll never see me saturate my record with all these features. I want everybody to realize I am about the beats and the rhymes and I'm not dependent on anybody else. Back in the day the game was about you representing you and holding down your square. That's how I am. I'm also approaching this as a fun record. That's how everybody should approach their albums. This is history and you're documenting your state of mind. What's your focus going to be for the next couple of months? I'm hitting the road and I'm still striving to push this record. I'm still working on introducing new songs from the record and getting people familiar. I need to generate more awareness around the map and get out there hard. Hopefully now when the next phase comes around, more people will know what I come with and I'll have new ideas based on my travels. I just want to get out there and grow, meet people and do these shows. What do you want to say to everybody? I hope they can be inspired by Distraktions. Have no fear. There are people out here representing real hip-hop. I don't let anything dictate my creativity and you should never let anybody else dictate your creativity. Suggestions and advice are cool, but just do you and you'll be a lot more happier, I believe. http://distrakt.com http://myspace.com/distrakt

By Brian Kayser

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