We tend to study our musical tastes like we study our friends. We study the clothes they wear. We listen to the things they say they do. We even assume the social groups we think they most likely associate with. But most importantly, we study the words they use, and how they use them. Words tell us about their intelligence, where they’re from, how they spend their time, what subcultural groups they associate with, etc. They make conversation a nice reminder of how we go about our day to day.
A conversation with Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire only slightly enters the realm of his persona. Sitting in the chair across from me, he seems relaxed; slouching slightly, but attentive. His SHHO sweatshirt represents those who dedicated their time to sharing his story. He holds his poise, while articulating the comprehensive thoughts of an individual in his responses. And although his mass of assorted necklaces draped across his chest might imply that his taste in jewelry is for show, he assures me it’s truly his daily style. Quite simply, eX is eX.
On its most practical level, eX’s music reflects himself as much as it does his fans. He enjoys Mario Party Vol. 1-3, Streets of Rage, Three's Company, John Ritter, and superheroes, and seems to look to it all for inspiration as well. His lyrics range from stories of trips to his corner chicken spot to classic literary themes cleverly tucked into humorous, pornographic lyrics (“Still lost as Holden Caufield in Catcher in the Rye/Until I skull fuck a smut bitch and try to catch her in the eye”).
His performance at Strange Matter on January 23rd made clear that his music is shared with his fans, rather than preached to them. Perhaps it was the right time, place or energy, but he managed to put on one of the most energetic Hip-Hop shows I’ve ever seen. The crowd moved like a cohesive amoeba, constantly pushing and changing direction based on his reaction. He truly made himself one with the audience, and the result was a true love affair.
Part of being a good character on stage comes with a good stage presence and audience involvement, how do you like to capture that?
Well, I’ve got to correct you, because I’m not a character. Before y’all ever saw me on the internet, I dressed the way I dress. So it ain’t like I get into character mode. I always was weird, I always was on some other shit. So even when nobody knew me, I was like this.
What was the moment when you decided to start focusing yourself more as an individual in doing what you please?
It was kind of a gradual process for me. You have to get over people’s opinion. You’ve got to learn to not give a fuck about what people think about you or what they perceive you to be. You’ve got to have that bravery, that courage to say “You know what? I’m going to go against the grain and deal with the consequences.”
Your YouTube hit came with "Huzzah," a song about your enjoyment of alcohol. If you could drink any historical figure under the table, who would it be and why?
I don’t know if I could drink anybody under the table. I drink in moderation, not in abundance. But if I could drink with anyone from history? I would probably drink with Jimi Hendrix, or Eddie Hazel, someone like that. It would probably be one of them 70’s rockers… Eldridge Cleaver, some wild black militant nigga, tell me some crazy shit. Or Iceberg Slim, I’d probably drink with Iceberg Slim.
Are you big into a lot of 70’s rock?
Yeah, actually I am.
A lot of the culture back then was big on what you were discussing earlier, focusing more on being an individual and doing whatever you feel. Do you think Hip-Hop will reintroduce a culture like that?
I think Hip-Hop may be there now. Its starting. You have Lil B having an album called I’m Gay. Five years ago we couldn’t have had that. Ten years ago that wouldn’t have happened. Now we have an album called Nigger [aka Untitled, by Nas]. So the progression is definitely happening.
When discussing individuality in Hip-Hop though, there seems to be a lot of carbon copies of each other amongst the fans…
Well, you know what? Also, you’ve got to realize that that’s the capitalization of Hip-Hop. That’s when it turns into a mass product, so you’re going to have a mass group of people thinking and doing the same thing. That’s the effect of marketing. That’s what that shit does to culture. That’s the whole purpose of mass capitalization on rap. Rap is still living in the Bronx right now, technically speaking. It’s just a culture. But then someone decides to commodify it. And once you have commodification of something within a culture, you’re going to have 50,000 people who dress the same.
Do you think the commodification and marketing of Hip-Hop is corrupting a relatively new genre?
I mean, I think [the genre] is kind of old now. It’s about time for a new genre. Because, think about it like this: I almost think Hip-Hop is branching out into subgenres. Like you have classic rock, grunge rock, folk-rock... Rap is getting to that point. You’ve got crunk, you’ve got trap music, electronic... Dubstep is poppin’ right now. I think Hip-Hop is old. What, it started in ’79? It’s old. Older than me. Disco ain’t last ten [years].
What do you think the subgenres will become?
I think they’re already here, I just don’t think we [identify them]. Like, Classic Rap…if Kool G. Rap puts out an album right now, it’s not really relevant to today’s youth, but it’s a classic album in the sense that he was one of the pioneers. It’s classic rap. It’s just all how you think about it.
How did you start working with El-P?
This is what happened. He sees “Huzzah” and hit me to say, “Yo, I liked that song you did. I loved that record.” And I’m like, “Yo, El-P just talked to me, that’s wild.” But the remix for "Huzzah" was not originally what it came out to be. It was [originally] supposed to be me and Das Racist. That was the song. But then Heems hit me and was like, “Yo, could we get Despot on it?” I’m like, "Fuck it, I fuck with Despot," because I know him from just some regular shit. But then I’m like “Damn, Despot's on it, why don’t I call Danny [Brown]?” I call Danny, and Danny got [on] it. So then it was me, Danny, Despot and Das Racist. I was mad nervous to ask [El-P] because El don’t really do shit like that, he just do his shit. He doesn’t feature on tracks. He don’t do videos. I was like, “Would you be down to rhyme on my remix.” And he was like, “Hell yeah.” And that’s how the song came together. I remember writing that verse in front of him. I always hate that verse, because I feel like I could’ve rapped so much better. I just remember my hand shaking while I was writing the verse. The whole time I wrote the verse, I was so nervous, because I was in front of El-P. I’m a big fan of him too.
If Def Jux was still around, would you…
I would be on Def Jux. Just bad timing.
How did you know Danny Brown?
Danny saw the original “Huzzah” video and tweeted me, “Yo, I like your video, hit me up,” and DMed me his number. And that’s how we started doing songs together.
XXX was a great concept album.
Definitely. And now we’re all doing an album together.
And how do you approach writing an album?
I go through the shit, and then I write about it. I can’t rap about nothing I never went through. I can’t rap about nothing I don’t do. And I don’t rap about shit I’m going to do. So, I only rap about shit I’ve been through. I write based on inspiration, whatever is going on at the time, or whatever I’m feeling at the time, is what I make music about. I really don’t worry about how people are going to feel about the record, I just do it. I get it out of my system.
If you could work with anyone right now, who would it be?
I’ve worked with pretty much everyone I’ve wanted to work with, except for Nas. I really want to work with Nas. Producer-wise, Black Milk I like, I’m probably going to have him on my next album. I’ve never met Black Milk. I was supposed to do a show with him but I got double booked. But I want to meet him. I want to work with him really bad.
He’s a great composer. Really brings live instrumentation back to Hip-Hop.
Yeah, he does, but you know what? Hip-hop only exists because we didn’t have instruments. So, the oxymoron of having instruments in Hip-Hop is kind of weird, because they made it because they didn’t have shit to play. They were just like, “We're poor, we’re going to put two turntables together and start rapping.” That’s why I think rap shunned instruments, because we were made out of the fact that we didn’t have them, period. That’s why I really don’t rap with a live band. It's like, "Damn, I’m a rapper, my whole craft is built on the fact that I don’t have that shit.”
Have you ever considered having a live band with you?
I want to have one just because I think that shit would sound ill. Sound-wise, I think it sounds crazy to rap over instruments. I want to work with musicians, real musicians.
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Download Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire's Lost In Translation here
Words by Joseph Genest
Images by Ryan Dix