Since being blown away by hip-hop supergroup Idle Warship last month at the Roxy, we’ve been keeping tabs on the frontwomen and man; Res, Graph Nobel, and Talib Kweli.
All three are interesting to us for several reasons. We’ve been into Res since her remarkable 2001 debut How I Do flashed onto the scene- but that was her one and only major label release and she’s been indie & underground since.
Genre-hopping Graph Nobel is a formidable rapper and singer, and has worked with everyone from alternative rockers Hawksley Workman and G. Love, to trip-hoppers Esthero. She considers her music something in between hip-hop and punk rock, and cites a larger and more eclectic pool of influences than M.I.A., leaving nothing unturned.
As for Talib Kweli, he first rocked our radar with 2004’s Beautiful Struggle, and secured his spot on our wall of fame after following the behemoth that is Nine Inch Nails, with Mos Def as Black Star, to close out Coachella 2005 with a bang. He’s a force to be reckoned with, and is making some big waves with his familial label / blog / culture meter Year Of The Blacksmith site.
When Idle Warship agreed to do an interview with Antiquiet, we decided to attack it like they attack their live shows. And thanks to VIMBY, we can show you exactly what we mean with this video they shot at the Roxy show:
As we reported last month, it’s an energetic shell game, in which all three MCs constantly crisscross each other, taking solos, joining harmonies, blending their own unique personalities together into an artistic charge.
Antiquiet: Kweli, tell us about Year Of The Blacksmith. Did you put that all together yourself?
Talib Kweli: Year Of The Blacksmith is intended to get you to focus on what we are doing, by showing you how what we do fits into the overall culture. That is why I participate so much and that is why we don’t just cover Blacksmith artists. I have put it together with the help of Damon at Ning, Tunji Balogun and the Blacksmith office.
Antiquiet: How connected is Idle Warship? Glued to Blackberrys / iPhones? Mac or PC?
Res: I got a Mac but I hate that computers are running the world. And I got a regular cheap cell phone that only calls, texts, and takes pictures.
Graph Nobel: I love my Mac!! I love Apple!! I respect that they’ve garnered attention / profit for a lot of creative projects, products, music arts and entertainment. My Blackberry I like, but am not in love with.
I am a person who enjoys real life and living, I enjoy the smile on a child’s face, a joke being told by a stranger, two lovebirds kissing, the smell and temperature of fresh air, and my own private thoughts (imagination), so I don’t like to be glued to technology.
Talib Kweli: I have a Blackberry. iPhones get lost or stolen too quickly. [Via Twitter:] I’m a PC.
Antiquiet: Have you ever caught yourself Twittering at an inappropriate time?
Talib Kweli: Not yet.
Antiquiet: J Dilla passed three years ago [last] week. Have you got a favorite Dilla story?
Talib Kweli: I was at Dilla’s crib going through tracks for Quality the first year he had songs nominated for Grammys. While I was watching the ceremony, impressed by The Roots, Common, and Badu, Dilla didn’t care whether he won a Grammy or not. He was downstairs making beats the whole time. RIP Jay Dee.
Antiquiet: Graph, what’s your favorite non rap / hip-hop album right now?
Graph Nobel: Lykke Li’s Youth Diaries.
Antiquiet: Have there been any artists or genres you resisted digging into until it was too late?
Graph Nobel: Never. I have always done and liked it all.
Antiquiet: Are there any genres you’re dying to tackle that you haven’t gotten around to yet?
Graph Nobel: Nope, I’ve written and recorded all genres. I would like to be able to sing in different languages though… I’ll start with French.
Antiquiet: Kweli, what’s the status on your new solo album, the new Reflection Eternal, and the Idle Warship album? All three were rumored to be coming in 2008.
Talib Kweli: Reflection Eternal with Hi Tek is on track and on schedule to come out this summer. Idle Warship is still independent, our next release will be a mixtape with Mick Boogie, and no solo album on the horizon yet.
Antiquiet: Res, I’ve been dying to hear your label story. How I Do was a great album. You had a hit single. Then we lost you. What went wrong?
Res: Well, I was signed to a label that had loads of great people working there [Geffen], and most of them believed in my project. But the head honcho [Jimmy Iovine, we assume] thought it would be too hard to convince the world that a black girl from Philly was anything more than a rapper or a ghetto R&B singer.
Antiquiet: Any regrets?
Res: Not one in life.
Antiquiet: What would a label do for an artist in a perfect world?
Talib Kweli: Being supported by a major gets you on the field. You get to compete. With major label support, a superior product cannot lose.
Res: Pay for their artists to tour as much as they wanted to, and pay for their artists’ rent, car, music equipment, and anything that they felt they needed to produce their art.
Talib Kweli: Major labels are at a huge disadvantage because the music is free now. They become increasingly desperate in their search for new streams of revenue, and now they have to fire whole departments because they no longer have anything to do.
Antiquiet: Res, I went to get your second album from MySpace / SnoCap, but it tries to charge me $1.99 per song, like $35 total. Are you unable to get it onto iTunes or Rhapsody?
Res: Actually, I’m not into the computer thing, and SnoCap was the easiest way for me to post the songs for sale. iTunes has too much paperwork and takes too long. SnoCap was much faster and less work. And I set the price.
[Note: To be clear, we don't think Res meant to set the price for her album at $35. It seems that for most artists, a collection of $1.99 tracks can be grouped together as a $9.99 album. But Res' seem to just not be grouped. Bad programming further complicates things, as searching for Res on SnoCap throws system errors.]
Antiquiet: Kweli, what Blacksmith artist are you most excited about right now? That Anjulie track Boom just grabbed me this morning, we’re going to give her a closer look.
Talib Kweli: I am excited about everyone I am in business with.
Antiquiet: Graph, besides Tribe’s Bonita Applebum (thanks Wikipedia), what songs / records inspired you to start making music?
Graph Nobel: Nas’ Illmatc, Raekwon’s Only Built For Cuban Lynx…, Souls Of Mishchief’s 93 ‘Til, Never No More Remix, undisputed champs- Pep Love, Q-Tip, Del. Wu-Tang- all their hits- Ghostface- one of my favorite rappers all ’round. Mobb Deep’s Infamous. No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom. Ella Fitzgerald- anything and everything. Group Home’s Superstar. Pharcyde’s Runnin’, Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt album, Sade, Garbage’s Version 2.0, The Roots’ Do You Want More, Illadelph Halflife, Things Fall Apart. Portishead’s Dummy encouraged / pushed me to be experimental.
I know I was one of the first people to like OutKast (Southern Playalistic!!!) I had to defend them every day at my high school lunch table! OutKast’s Me And U blew my fuckin’ mind. Rosa Parks blew my fuckin’ mind. The Art Of Storytelling, B.O.B., [all blew my fuckin' mind.]
Goodie Mob’ Soulfood, Dirty South, Thought Process. Dr. Dre’s The Chronic. All Tears For Fears. Metric’s Old World Underground. All Red Hot Chili Peppers. All Radiohead. The Pretenders. Duran Duran. The Cardigans. Billy Joel! Burt Bacharach. Astrud Gilberto. Antônio Carlos Jobim.
Antiquiet: [Via Twitter] You’re in the studio with Pharrell Williams today. What are you guys up to?
Graph Nobel: He called and wanted to try my voice on something.
Antiquiet: Res & Graph, will there ever be a Fleetwood Black album?
Graph Nobel: Yes, a few songs are done already.
Res: Of course, in a year or two.
Antiquiet: Res, what do you love most about Philadelphia?
Res: My family, mango water ice, and soft pretzels.
Idle Warship will be returning to Southern California for a show at UCLA this Saturday. Check them out there, or at myspace.com/idlewarship.
[...] Since being blown away by hip-hop supergroup Idle Warship last month at the Roxy, Antiquiet been keeping tabs on the frontwomen and man; Res, Graph Nobel, and Talib Kweli. Here’s there interview [Antiquiet] [...]
As much as I dig Res’s first record, and would probably like to bang er, she really comes off like a lazy, spoiled bitch. First she wants a record label to do everything imaginable for her short of wiping her ass, and then the whole “I’m not into the computer thing” comment. I’ve had albums on iTunes for years, so I know for a fact that it takes minimal effort, a very few bucks, and ZERO paperwork to make that happen. Why make a record if you aren’t going to make any effort to have fans hear it (for a reasonable price). If you don’t respect yourself as an artist in these modern times, I don’t think I should respect you either. Ho.
it takes you minimal effort, very few bucks, and zero paperwork, because geffen doesn’t own your music.
First off if you respect your music and you believe in it then why would you sell it for a low price, alot of the mixtapes they do is free already so you already get free music but when its label related you gotta pay something cause these artisat are paying mad dollars for recording time, promotion and distribution publishing excetera….Why would you give all your music out for free in the first place unless you’re a newbie trying to get in the known industry.Myself as an artist I do mixtapes for free because I like to give back but if a label is believing in my craft enough to give me a bonus or something to sign, then i’m gonna make hit albums. and i’m not gonna give my joints out for free because the label gotta eat and so do I if they don’t eat I don’t eat simple mathematics. And specially with people using u torrents and bearshare and all those p2p programs artists are losing. Actually some of the music out needs to be pirated cause its garbage. But you make music first because of your love for it then the money and all comes second is what i’ve always lived by.If i can’t make a living off of my music I have other exits…
Quit bitching.If U know anything about artists is that at heart they R just that artist and more often than not extremely lousy business people!The comment that not being into computers make you ah ‘lazy’ is also an ignorant statement because I know a lot of hard working people ,some who have done work for me who dont even own a computer.
If Ya think about it part of the problem with music today is that its so computerized it doesnt even sound real anymore and people hide away in the studio behind remixing and reediting until when they come out live you dont even recognize them.
About /Res being lazy Ive never met her personally but if you know her music and you did say you have the first album, she is one of the hardest, Ive gotta be ON TIME for my fans that you will ever meet giving 100% to her fans everytime.
Now my dear Joseph even your avatar is a broken heart, stop being so mean, then your heart will heal, then you may find love, and fans that actually will find your music.As it is I never heard of you but you can follow me on twitter @eleganslummer. Im not mean and no need to call anyone a ho, thats just low class.<3
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