Interview Defari

vrijdag 19 maart 2004
Heinie en Basic
3320 keer gelezen (gemiddeld 1,4 keer per dag)

Yo Defari, to start of, how is the Tour going?

We’ve been out here since eehm...march 12th. We did 4 shows in Germany, this is our second show in Holland, The Netherlands. We did Prague and Switserland, Bazel.

Are there any major differences, you’ve noticed between US and European crowds?

Not really, I pretty much noticed that everybody loves HipHop around the world.

Does your name, Defari, and also Herut have a meaning?

Defari means The Kingly One or savagely put Def Are I, I’m Def. And then Herut means Divine Son. So the name means the Kingly One’s Divine Son. That’s what my name means.

Let’s take it back a bit: I’ve read you did a Demo in the early nineties while living in Harlem & studying at Columbia University. Do you feel that doing music in New York early on influenced the sound you’ve had ever since the first single?

I guess cause I didn’t have Roger beats, like beats done from Zapp and shit like that, that I didn’t have a “Westcoast” sound. But I don’t understand that when I have songs like ‘Lowlands’, ‘405 Fridays’ and songs like that. So I don’t think that really had nothing to do with that, I just did the music that I liked.

The first we heard of you were the ABB-singles. Do you feel satisfied with how that went? Was there ever a plan to release ‘Focused Daily’ on ABB?

Yeah but due to limited capital and resources, I couldn’t do it.

So did you feel you could get a better deal at Tommy Boy?

I didn’t feel it I knew it.

Was it a one-album-deal you did?

No I was singed to Tommy Boy for, I think, 5 Albums.

How did the whole Tommy Boy situation come to an end?

Well I left right before they were officially outta there. They did De La’s next album and they were outta there.

Was the Tommy Boy situation the reason why you went back to ABB for The Billy the Kidd album?

Well I never left ABB, I was still doing work with ‘em. Dilated’s “Third Degree”-single. I brought Beni people like Krondon and Major. A bunch of people outta L.A. was fucking with Ben because of me. And uh, I just did the Billy the Kidd as sort of a project, that was sort of a Theme Project. It was supposed to be a Western Movie, literally. Starring myself as the first star of the movie. But than the next ones I was gonna do were to star other Likwit mc’s, you know. So they were like Wild West chapters. It was just a project thing that we did at the time. I just thought it would be interesting for the fans. We didn’t advertise it, we just put it in the stores. It was really a real underground project in it’s true artform. What I’m trying to say is, it wasn’t a Defari album. It was just starring me, and it was a conceptual thing we had going on. Well the Billy the Kidd album had “Say It twice” on it. And then it’s a collector’s item ‘cause it had my first single. And the instrumental as well. So “Big Up” is on there and also the instrumental.

I’ve read an interview from 2002 when you were still talking to a few different labels about releasing “Odds & Evens’. What made you decide to do business with the High Times label? Did the expierence of doing the Bomb Tree 12” on their label made you decide in their favor?

I had an opportunity, and I just took advantage of the opportunity. Devin really liked my stuff over there and it was Devin who believed in me. And so we entered into a one album (-deal), a one-off with High Times. And “Odds & Evens” is an album I’m really proud of, it’s my best album today. Well I only got 2 albums, but to me “Odds & Evens” blows “Focused Dialy” out the water. Sonically, the songs are better. And the beats are better. So I did it with High Times because that was a situation I had at the time to jump on. A pretty decent situation, so we did it. It was a one-off, I wouldn’t do no more records with them.

Are you happy with the way they’re handling your album? Seeing that it has been out a while and still it’s hard to get out here.

I know it sells out quick. They need to restock it. You know whut I mean? Am I happy with the fact that it’s not stocked all the time? No, Hell No I’m not happy with that! Cause the most important thing to me is my fans’ accessabillity to the music. But everybody out there if you can’t find it, you can still go to Amazon.com or Hiphopsite.com. Or my website, you can listen to it or watch the video, at Defari.net. There’s a lot of places you can still go and buy the album.

Are there any new artists you listen to?

The last album I bought was Kanye West. I just bought that, been bumping that. I listen to Black Moon’s newest album. Bumping that too. I’ve been bumping a lot of Strong Arm Steady Gang Mixtapes. A lotta my new stuff, I’ve been bumping a lotta Likwit Junkies. Me and DJ Babu, we’ve got a group called Likwit Junkies. We coming out in the summer. And I stay Bumping HipHop. I play a lot of Soul, Reggae, and a lot of Dancehall.

On that note, I know you’ve been dj-ing since 1982, and are a vinyl-collector. What are some of your most prized possesions? Some of the records that are most dear to you?

There’s a lot of ‘em. Probably Norman Connor’s Starship, which is one of my real valuable records. Uhm, the Delfonics, ‘The Best of the Delfonics’-record. The ‘Best of Sizzla’. I’ve got a ‘Best of Sizzla’-cd that I put together myself, which is extremely valuable to me. And them I’ve like an oldies cd I made, called “Key Sundays”, which has got a lotta stuf from, that’s a valuable record, Continental Four “Dream World” on it.

What’s going on with the Likwit crew? Is King Tee coming out with some new stuff?

I don’t know what King Tee’s doing. Alkaholiks is coming with a new album called “Firewater”, I got a song on that. Tash is coming out with another solo album “Rap Life 2”.

Any chance of Phil da Agony coming over to Europe with “Smokefest”?

No, not with “Smokefest”, but with new stuff. He’s got new stuff with Strong Arm Steady Gang, and he got a new album coming out.

And Xzibit?

He’s doing his new album. So...

I know you probably get asked a lot about this nowadays: but have your views towards artists such as Aesop Rock, Atmosphere & even L.A.’s Ugly Duckling changed? Do you still feel like they’re taking food out of your mouth?

No I don’t think they’re taking away anything from me actually. I just use them as an example to demonstrate where the game had gone to. I’m a Vet. I’ve been in this game. Way longer than them dudes. And I’ve commented on the game in years prior. And I’ve used bigger groups as my examples. Bigger black groups even. And nobody ever said anything, you know. But when I use those groups, now everybody comes out and wanna say something. But it’s