Monthly Archives: July 2014

Interview: Ice Rocks

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1. For those who aren’t familiar with you, what is your name & where are you from?
 
I’m Ice Rocks and I am from NYC.

2. How’d you get into production?
Well my homies Brian and HB used to make beats and I would watch them and then a dude from my crew DXA named Dface was like “yo you always had a ear for music and you been collecting records for a while so why don’t you produce for the crew” so I went to town.
3. You really have a grimey NYC sound. What equipment are you using?
I use a SP1200 and a s950, some outboard gear and pro tools mostly.
4. First vinyl you ever bought?
Damn! the first vinyl I ever bought, shit.  I’m not sure it gets blurry after I reached a few thousand.  I wish I could tell you though cause I would prob frame it and put it up on the wall for inspiration.
5. Favorite new MC?
There are a few but if I had to choose one I would say Droog.  He is doing the damn thing right now.
6. Greatest producer of all time?
I have to pick 1?  It is way to hard to narrow it down to one.  I have a list of at least 10 for hip hop alone, haha.  I listen and love way too much music to pick one producer.
7. Best place to eat in the city?
I have spots for days but a place that I have probably frequented the most in the past 10 years is Pita Hot in Astoria.
8. If you could work with any artist in the game who would it be?
That’s a hard one, freeze but it would have to be Slick Rick and we would do a album that told a story all the way through with skits and all.
9. Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
“In mansions and benz’s givin ends to my friends and it feels stupendous tremendous cream…”  Haha na hopefully traveling the world doing what I love on someone else’s dime.

 

10. Any last shout outs?
Gotta give a shout out to my whole DXA and Those Guyz families(way to many people to name), my homie Meyhem Lauren and the whole Outdoorsman squad, my FTV family, my actual family (Pops, Ma Dukes, my little sister Simone) and everyone I’ve meet along the way that has believed in what I do and kept me from quitting.

Interview: Ras Ceylon

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Photo: Majtabah Walai

1. Peace! For those not familiar with who you are, state your name & location.

Greetings in the Spirit of Liberation! I am Ras Ceylon, eMCee x educator x organizer based in Oakland, CA by way of the island of Sri Lanka!

 2. Indeed. When did you first start creating music?

I used to write poetry in elementary/junior high and eventually formed a DJ crew with some homies around 1995. At our parties, I would take over host/MC duties and eventually that turned my poetry into raps/bars/rhymes.  My first time recording original music was around 1997/1998 when I was still in High School. By spring of 1999 I released my first album which was called “Ceylon – The First Lesson” EP and it was an 8 song red cassette tape with production from June22 and even featured DJ Exile (of Emanon/DagSavage) rapping and scratching on it. We ended up moving over 500 units of the tape, slinging them everywhere from Melrose Ave. in L.A. to Telegraph in Berkeley. Since 1999, I have released a bunch of music, a few 12″ singles, mp3s, videos, mixtapes and one official label release in 2008 on Throwback Records called “Scientific-Non/Fiction.” When I was living in Sri Lanka, I found out that prior to 1999 no other Rapper of Sri Lankan descent had ever released an album, which technically made me the 1st Sri Lanka rapper!

3. That is pretty dope fam, must be a great feeling. If you could work with anybody in music, who would it be and why?

I must say I am humbled by the fact that I have worked with some of the people that I grew up listening to, including Tragedy Khadafi, Askari X and even traveling around Jamaica with Sizzla Kalonji. In fact, my new single that is out right now is called “Mind Control” and is the 1st release from a collaboration album I am doing with Tragedy called “Full Medal Jacket” produced by Dawit Justice for Medal Gear available @ www.fullmedaljacket.bandcamp.com. Working with Hiphop legends like Trag, who goes back to Juice Crew era as Intelligent Hoodlum, is definitely inspiring and there are many other artists out there in Hip-Hop and Reggae I would love to work with. Also a lot of the new producers in Hip-Hop are coming with some dope new sounds so I would be into collaborating with them too.

4. I know you are involved in many conscious efforts and stand for Freedom, Justice, & Equality. What is your stance on the Israel-Palestinian conflict?

#FreePalestine oh no wait that hashtag was an accident, I apologize if that offended anyone! Nah, real talk though..I’m not Dwight Howard or Rihanna and I think that it is pretty obvious the injustice that the people of occupied Palestine have to face is madness. As a student of history I know that colonial type of occupations always have adverse impacts on the colonized people that have to deal with their land and resources being stripped from them. The horrific, genocidal ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza right now is deplorable and as a U.S. citizen it is upsetting that my hard earned tax money is going to support the state of Israel because of this government’s foreign policy / politics. Traveling around north and east Sri Lanka during the civil war also showed me a bit about what war really looks and feels like first hand. Prayers up for Gaza right now and I hope the world wakes up and we can do something to stop all the killing and destruction that is going on over there.

5. What inspires you to do what you do?

I am inspired to do what I do by my Creator, my family and the People in general. Life itself is the greatest inspiration and I recognize that this life is a test and we will all return to the Essence so it is crucial to life with Love, Truth, Peace, Freedom and Justice as the guiding forces in every thing we do. I have been working with youth in different capacities for the past 15 yrs here in Oakland and they definitely inspire me to keep doing positive works out here & maintain a righteous lifestyle.

6. Top 5 producers?

My personal top 5 would probably be (in no particular order):

1) Bomb Squad 2) DJ Premier 3) RZA 4) J-Dilla/Soulquarians 5) Organized Noise

7. Favorite MC to ever come out of California? & why?

My favorite rapper of all time is 2Pac, for mostly revolutionary political reasons while he repped the westside though he was from the east coast originally so, I will say my big comrade         Ansar El Muhammed s/c Askari X!  Not a lot of people outside of Oakland know much about this West Coast legend who is currently on lock down in these California concentration camps         i.e. prison industrial complex..so it’s Free Askari X, Free’em all! He had some of the most Revolutionary music to ever come out of the Bay & it was his crew RBG (Righteous Black Guerrillas) that used the term “RBG” before it became popular nationwide, in fact Dead Prez had to come to Oakland & ask permission to use “RBG” for their “Revolutionary But Gangsta” album. Everyone reading this go look up Askari X and soak up game from my OG! Uhuru!

8. Anything you’d like to promote to the world right now?

The People should know about our monthly event Zulu Nation Thursdays, which takes place every first Friday of the month at One Fam in historic lower bottoms of West Oakland. The new video “Here&Now” features some scenes from Zulu Nation Thursdays.

Also check out www.chairmanfredjr.blogspot.com to support some real revolutionary work going on.

Finally, you can download my music at

www.rasceylon.bandcamp.com

www.soundcloud.com/gideonforce

AND, check out www.AliaSharrief.com

Alia is an amazing artist coming out with some very important music &she [also] directed my last two music videos.

9. How can the people out there reach you?

Twitter/IG @RasCeylon

Facebook

YouTube

10. Thank you for doing this interview family. Any last shout outs?

Give thanks to Liberation Live for doing this & I wanna big up all my Calafia Zulus & UZN fam around the world, Revolutionary Love to Chairman Fred Hampton Jr & the POCC/Black Panther Cubs, peace and blessings to all workers of righteousness on this planet..the struggle of good over evil will be won inshAllah so hold the faith and keep it movement!