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8/9/2005 Having laid the groundwork with their three critically acclaimed 12"'s, Lawless Element drop their debut album "Soundvision: In Stereo" on September 20th on Raw Material/Babygrande Records. Collaborating with the likes of J. Dilla, Diverse, Melanie Rutherford, Phat Kat & more, and featuring production by J. Dilla, Madlib and Lawless' own rising superstar Magnif, Griot and Magnif took some time off from perfecting "Soundvision" to talk about their debut album, their new home at Babygrande as well as their continually evolving sound. What's good man? Griot: I'm doing pretty good. Magnif: I'm good. I'm working on finishing up these clean versions right now for the album. You guys just signed to Babygrande, what's coming up for you with them? Griot: We're putting out our debut album "Soundvision" through them. What made you want to sign to Babygrande? Griot: They saw what we were trying to do with our music, and that's real when you're getting a deal. It's not often that people see exactly where it is that you're trying to go. So we had to jump on it. Magnif: They believe in our talent and our sound, and what we bring to the table. The new sound we bring to the table is like nothing that's been out here before. It's a mixture of a lot of different sounds. They recognized and they have a strong belief in us, and the way they feel about the project has me even more excited to deal with them. It's always better when you've got someone who is 200% behind you instead of second-guessing you. They knew what was up when they heard us. Where exactly are you trying to go? Griot: We're trying to go all the way with the music. We're trying to put out our own music with our own flavor and style to it. A lot of people are trying to keep you in a box with your music, and they just let us be creative. How can you describe the music of Lawless Element? Griot: It's got a lot of flavor to it. I'm trying to think of the best way to describe the music. It's just against the rules. Magnif: We've got so many different sounds. I can't explain it in one word. There's influences from Pete Rock, Nas, Mobb Deep shit, the Slum Village and Jay Dee sound, Tribe Called Quest, De La, just music. Donald Byrd, Roy Ayers, and the records I sample, even that is an influence in my sound. It's a mixture of everything. Music is what I do. And what I listen to is going to come out through me. Music is me. How did you guys meet? Griot: That's my cousin, so we've been together for a pretty long time. What role do you play in Lawless Element? Griot: Mag is the producer and MC, and me, I'm an MC. That's pretty much the roles of the crew. How do you guys work together? Magnif: Me and G are two different people, so when I come up with beats, I have to make sure that it fits both of our personalities. You get a different mixture of shit. You get the hard-hitting shit, where we murder a track with the punchlines. That's more G's flavor. Then you have the more laid-back, soulful vibe, and that's the sound I'd rather do. We both switch the styles up. Every song has a different delivery than the one before. We're so versatile, whatever I come up with, and it's all good. Griot: Yeah, he'll make up some beats and I'll write to it, or he'll give me a couple of beats and I'll select which beat we're going to use, and we'll write to it. Magnif, let's talk about the production for a minute, what do you use? Magnif: I use the MPC-60, the first MPC. I don't use the MPC-60 Version 2. That's the main piece. I've got a couple boards, I've been playing on those lately. And crates. Do you ever see yourself branching out and doing a production compilation album? Magnif: Oh yeah, of course. That's most definitely what I'm aiming for. I want to produce for anyone in the game that's feeling my music. I got to work with Diverse in Chicago, I did some beats on his album coming out. I'm definitely trying to get out there and be known as one of the great producers. You worked with Madlib, how was that? Magnif: Working with Madlib was a blessing. It was crazy. He's one of the dopest cats out. We got to do a joint and it was just crazy. We had to go through so many phases. We had to holler at all the cats at Stones Throw. Peanut Butter Wolf and Egon were really feeling the music. I got a lot of love for Stones Throw. Griot: Aw man, that was crazy. Madlib is a musical genius. It was crazy. He gave us a beat CD, and I think every beat on that CD was used or sold. How was it working with Jay Dee? Griot: Working with Dilla! That right there, that's kind of hard to describe right there. That was a great feeling too. Dilla's the man! What are you guys trying to do with the new album? Griot: We're trying to take it all the way, you know. As far as we can go, that's where we're trying to take it. We're not trying to settle for anything. We're going to work hard until we can't work anymore. Musically, we just kept on coming up with ideas. There's a lot of hunger in the verses. The styles switch up so crazy. It's kind of hard to categorize the music, and that's the good thing about it because we hit you with all different types of styles. There's no label you can give it because we switch it up so much. Every time we hear a track, we approach it more differently, and we keep on getting better. At first, I'd get the beat and vibe with it a little bit, and then I'd write a 16, but now, I'll get a beat and the verse is right there. It's a lot easier and it's a lot more natural. Magnif: You've just got two great artists. A great MC in G, and a great MC and producer in me. This is only the beginning. The album is ridiculous. That's why it took us so long. The shit is crazy right now, and it's not going to do anything but get better. How do you feel about the way "Soundvision" came out? Magnif: I'm loving the album. It took three years for us to do this album. Our growth that we've had has happened so fast. You can hear it as we keep recording, so it's been a constant motion. Do you feel comfortable putting out this album right now? Griot: Yeah, we feel comfortable. We came out and dropped the single "The Shining" with J. Dilla. A lot of people heard the single, people were asking J about that single, everybody wanted to know who we were. We dropped a joint with Madlib, cats out there were loving it. We did a performance in New York, and they were saying that they had downloaded our music off of Kazaa earlier that day! Word got around, I feel pretty comfortable putting "Soundvision" out. What is your live show like? Magnif: You just get raw energy, it's crazy. You get a great performance. That's what you get. We've shared the stage with some of the greatest, and we know what it's about. Whenever you come out to an LE show, you're going to get an amazing performance. Coming from Detroit, do you ever worry about any Slum Village comparisons? Griot: Not really. I'm not really worried about the Slum Village comparisons. Slum is great at what they do, and they're a great group, but at the same time, we're a lot different. We might have gotten some of the comparisons before, but now, I don't think we'd get a Slum comparison. Even if we do get a Slum comparison, that's a great group, and that's a compliment in itself. Where does Lawless Element fit in the Detroit scene? Griot: We give it the edge, the rawness, and the smoothness. We give it that edge too that no one else is bringing out right now. It's a different sound, definitely. I don't think anybody else is coming out with anything that we're doing right now. Where could people have heard you in the past? Griot: "Mic Check" was the first vinyl we ever did, that was our first single. When we did that, man, I think I was 16 when we first did "Mic Check" and Mag did that beat in about 15 minutes in the studio, because we lost the first beat we had. We had a crazy buzz off that, even in China, people couldn't get enough of that. I remember seeing your vinyl two years ago, how hard was it pushing your records back then? Magnif: That was a real hard job right there. A lot of the time, when you first come out, cats don't know who you are and you don't have anyone famous with you. But we kept grinding and shit is beautiful now. I mean, I had the opportunity to work with my favorite artist this early in my career, and that's a blessing. Looking back, is there anything you would change? Magnif: No. there's nothing I would change back. We kind of came to where we're at real quick, and there's a lot of people that have been in the game way longer than me and aren't in the position I'm in. We've had our hard times, but we dealt with it and got through the shit and everything is good right now. Why should we check for Lawless Element? Magnif: There's nothing like it. And I'm not saying it because it's me, which is the same shit that everyone else says. But there really is none like it. Just listen to the music, that's my whole shit. It's like some brand new shit for real, it's hard to put it in words. It's not made for underground fans and it's not made for commercial fans. It's just real music that everyone can feel. It's music for everybody. What's next for you after "Soundvision?" Magnif: Working, working like you. That's what I do. We're gonna get a tour popping off. An LE show is real crazy. The tour will definitely be something the Hip Hop Heads are gonna want to check out for real. What do you want to say to your fans? Griot: I just want to say thanks for supporting us. We're very appreciative to that. Please go out and purchase "Soundvision." Thank you to everybody that believes. It's never been easy, and for everybody that's been down from day one, and even the new fans, much love. Magnif: Get familiar. Just listen. That's all I want to tell people, is listen to the music. The music is real. Everything I've been through and the places I've grown up and my environment, it's all there. When you listen to Lawless Element, you get the real, nothing else. It's 100% real. No fiction, none of that shit. Straight raw music.

By Brian Kayser

Check out lawlesselement.com for more info.

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