THORTS INTERVIEW

G FORCE (G): Congrats on your recent release Bleeding Heart Muzik. The album is a very personal piece of work, how long was it in the works for and do you think it took you longer because it was on that tip?

THORTS (T): Thanks bro, a few of the tracks on this album were originally Mankind tracks and there are a couple that are actually remixes by different producers. I worked on this album at the same time as I was wrapping up other projects and collabs and then once the music part was done all the other shit took time you know, I wanted to plan it out and make it the best release I could, I didn’t want to rush it and just get it out there like my other releases, I wanted to put everything I had into this release and making sure it got out there and heard.

G: I will admit to following your hip hop development closely as I enjoyed the old radio frees, Field Trip, Mankind and other Hungry Humans projects and I commented once that this is exactly where I thought your debut release would sit. Do you think this was a natural progression in your style as a solo artist?

T: Word! Yeh me and my crew use to always spit live on pbs the formula back in 1999-2001, those were some fun days back then, it’s a shame we never put anything out back then though it would have been fresh! Well actually me and Dan Murphy made a cassette under the name “The Alliance” the tape was called Blak Calix but it would be very hard to find now. I have changed a lot since then though, I was a teenager and on drugs so what I rapped about back then and what I rap about now are 2 totally different things. I progressed as a person first, through life experience, getting my life in order, having a family, working hard, so yeh of coarse this came through into my music as well.

G: From these older days we saw acts such as Lost Souls and yourself in Field Trip yet we have not seen anything new from either duo only solo releases from Raven with Humble Beginnings and now yourself. Why not a full length Field Trip and what made you as a solo artist keep pushing to put out product?

T: Well basically, me and 86 live two separate lives, we recorded the Field Trip ep when I was living in Melbourne, but after moving to Geelong 86 had a family and focused more on being a father than making music and I focused more on solo tracks, we basically went our separate ways, music wise, the last track we did together was in 2007 absolute obselenc which I think is on the Field Trip myspace page. I think also we have different tastes in music and what we wanted to do so I decided to branch out and work with different producers and try different things, where still good friends but just work on our own thing, As for Lost Souls I think it’s pretty much the same story although I’m not sure if Budsa is working on anything at the moment but I know Raven is always hard at work.

G: You are influenced greatly by artists that you enjoy and seem extremely passionate about hip hop. What are your current thoughts on the Aus scene and hip hop in general?

T: Hip Hop is alive and well! Real hip hop is FAR from dead; you just have to know where to look! I am inspired mostly by American artists that I listen to and work with people like Pigeon John, Brother Ali, Atmosphere, Escape Artists, Sontiago, Living Legends etc there is so much good hip hop around but I suppose everyone has there own taste with what they like, I just like real, innovative, creative, blue collar sorta stuff. As for the Australian scene, there’s only a few artists that really interest me, I really like Subsketch, Crixus, Morgan Macmanus, all of my mates of coarse haha but yeh there’s not too much I can relate to really, not really my sound, I really just focus on creating my own music, I guess that’s why I don’t have a similar sound to any other artists in this country.

G: There is a range of production credits on the album yet a similar vibe and sound throughout the whole lot. How did you go about selecting producers, beats and how heavily did having a ‘concise, complete sounding album’ weight into this?

T: The producers I worked with on this album are all friends of mine, which is great, I basically just wrote to beats I dug and beats I dig usually gel together nicely, I am very happy with the way they work together, I dint think they would gel that easy haha.

G: Lyrically throughout the album there is a similar personal vibe. Be it through story telling or a first person perspective there is a heavy dose of honesty and emotion in there. Are these tales closed books now and what will we hear from Thorts in future rhymes?

T: Is life a closed book? Unfortunately I never really learn from all my mistakes haha I write what I feel at the time, there’s no great story really to why I write, it’s just whatever i’m going through at the time, my music is more like a journal entry, so unless I had a crystal ball I couldn’t really tell you exactly what to expect, all I can say is I will be working with some dope international producers and mc’s and my overall sound will just keep getting bigger and better!

G: Does it bother you at all that you may be pigeonholed as an ‘emotional emcee’ or similar tags and people may not peep your music because of this when obviously there is a lot more to it than just that aspect?

T: Well the only bad thing about being pigeonholed is that yeh some people might not check my music, I know that if people at least got to hear my music then they might open up to it but as for being labeled as an emotional mc haha I couldn’t care less, being real to yourself and expressing what you feel is called being a human, people do this day to day so I do it in my music. I’m not gonna be one person in real life then a totally different person on the mic, there are mc’s that do that shit and it’s not for me, It is what it is, I am who I am.

G: Your partner Kadyelle is also an emcee. Are you guys going to release anything together and how much opinions and influence do you have on each others content?

T: Me and Kady have tracks together on her upcoming releases. She has an ep with Fathom (u.s.a) and a full length album titled “silence the piano” they both should be out later in the year. At the moment we have songs together on her stuff and mine but nothing in set in concrete about doing an album together, I think my brother Esvee is first on that list! Basically we listen to the same music and share our lives together so in that aspect we have lots of the same influences but when it comes to writing and recording we do our own thing, don’t sleep on Kadyelle! She is diggity dope!

G: You have moved around a bit the past few years and had some life changes, did this impact on the topics you were writing about and put hip hop to the background a bit?

T: Well I have only had one move in the last 6 years so it hasn’t impacted me greatly creatively but yeh life changes, I have had a huge life change recently with the arrival of our little boy Isaiah Malekai and moving over to Bunbury w.a with my family that has definitely put my music on hold for a little bit, just trying to find myself here and get settled with a good job which I still haven’t done yet but once that is done im sure I will be able to get stuck into my music again.

G: You and Esvee vibe really well on the album and on past works and live shows as well. Any thing in the works with him and why we are on the topic what is next for Thorts?

T: Yeh me and Esvee first met back in 2005 at a show in Geelong, since then we have been best mates and made heaps of dope tracks together. He is a dope mc and a great person in general. His music is much like mine but he still has a distinct feel to his music that makes him heaps different. We gel together nicely and I hope to work on an ep or album with him sometime in the future. At the moment I am working slowly on a free digital ep with the help from Sydney producer Proph 1 who has some amazing beats! The ep is mostly filled with features with artists such as Reach (u.s.a), 1/6 (melbs), 7ravesty & Rival (Brizzy), Kadyelle, Marksman (Perth) & Morgan Macmanus (Canada/Brizzi), I’m just making this for fun and the chance to work with different artists while I’m trying to settle down. After that I have a couple of albums to work on with 2 different producers and some dope international and oz hip hop mc’s which I am really looking forward to, but that’s all I am going to say about those for now, Oh Kadyelle will also have a new clip up very soon and we will also have a clip together, both clips are for tracks off her new album so make sure you peep them once there up and if you haven’t peeped my new clip for my track “into the wind” then go have a look now!

G: A few tracks such as Sleep at Night are predominately made up of singing. I thought at times it was a bit of overload on something that I thought worked well with hooks. Can you tell us more about this style and the importance of these varied styles of hip hop to your music?

T: Well I am influenced by artists who do what they want when they want no matter what people think or say so I do the same. I sing songy hip hop so if that’s the feeling or vibe I get off the beat and that’s what I want to do then I do it. I know I don’t have a great singing voice but I enjoy doing it, that’s it!

G: There are quite a few lines spread across the album that I replay and really think they are poetic, not just a hip hop lyric. Do you explore other facets of art and rhyming such as poetry?

T: I don’t write poems as such but when I write I try to write in a way that’s poetic and not just straight up rhyming, I like to push myself to write differently each track, make it interesting you know, I think it’s most evident in my track “when it’s all been said and done” I really sat down with that one and though about what I was writing and how I was writing it and I will be doing this a lot more in the future with my new music too.

G: Thanks heaps mate. I really enjoyed the album and I think it is a solid piece of work. Any final shout outs, thank yous and the like?

T: No worries bro, glad you enjoy the release! I just want to say that I aint going nowhere! Music is my life and I will be doing this till the day I die! Peace

THORTS SOLO ALBUM – BLEEDING HEART MUZIK Is availble NOW in all good record stores. Featuring Esvee, Crixus, Class A, DJ Bogues, Amber, Mata, Must, JP, 1/6, Urban Monk & J.Waters plus production by Crixus, Saint Surly, Crytearia, Must, Simple Simon & Geko.

http://www.myspace.com/thortsthescorpion

Tags: hip hop, oz hip hop, thorts

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 1st, 2009 at 9:09 pm and is filed under Album Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.