Eternia, I know you’ve been emceeing for a long time, but at what point did it become a career?
Eternia: I started taking it seriously full-time when I was about 15 years old, because I moved out of the house [at that age]. I was not going to high school at the time, and I wasn’t working because I was moving around every two months, so because there was so much in my life that was up in the air, the only thing that wasn’t was hip hop. From that point on I took it seriously, but [eventually] I went back to school. But even while I was at trường đại học I was doing it full-time. That’s when I was working on my first project in Toronto, performing on the scene there and doing that tour circuit. So I think I’ve been attacking it like a full-time job since I was 15.
So were bạn actually supporting yourself with your music?
Eternia: bạn know what, I feel like I’m a contract worker. There’s months when the money comes in, and there’s months where there’s no work and bạn have to make that money stretch. Even to this day, there’s times when I’m living off it and there’s times when I’m a starving artist.
I like to ask people about the inner-workings of the industry, for some reason that really fascinates me.
Eternia: (laughs) Yea, its like, “how do bạn survive”! The answer is, bạn keep your monthly overhead really really low.
When I hear bạn perform live, and even when I hear bạn on record, bạn remind me of a battle MC. Did bạn battle at all?
Eternia: It’s funny that bạn say that because one of the sonic themes of our album is my live intensity. But basically no, I don’t consider myself a battle MC. I was raised in the 90s era of hip hop — which generally I find that energy had to be dynamic and aggressive. If bạn think about Onyx hoặc Busta Rhymes, hoặc people I was listening to like Shabazz the Disciple – I don’t know, everybody to me was intense and aggressive and it was kinda how bạn got noticed in a cipher. It didn’t matter what bạn were saying, it was how bạn đã đưa ý kiến it. bạn couldn’t rap bored. There was no such thing as bored rappers in the 90s. They were more, they were larger than life, they were animated. That’s the era that I was raised in — Organized Konfusion and all that kinda stuff. That’s where bạn get that sound from. I’m very east-coast based in a sense that what I listen to hip-hop-wise was thêm of the aggressive acts out of New York. So that’s probably what bạn hear when bạn hear my style.
MoSS: When I saw her perform, that’s what I wanted to capture in the studio. I basically approached her and asked if that was possible and that [became] the focus of the album. We wanted to have that live intensity captured on an album on every song. I didn’t want her to run out hoặc fall back on any song. I wanted to approach every song the same way. She was open to the idea, and she killed it.
Eternia: Every time I recorded in the studio, in the booth I was thinking to myself “I’m on stage in front of 1000 people.” So every verse bạn hear on there I’m trying to get that vibe out.
So was MoSS giving direction during the recording process?
MoSS: I don’t wanna say I gave direction. It takes away from what Eternia did. I mean, she wrote everything, she went in the booth and basically did her thing.
Eternia: No, he definitely gave direction. He doesn’t rap obviously, but he was doing it thêm from the perspective of “do I like the way this came off? do I like that line? Could bạn say this better?” He produced me in the sense that if he didn’t like something he’d say “do that again” hoặc “I think bạn could’ve done better.” He definitely was a director and a guiding force. Minus one verse, he was there for every single thing we tracked on that album.
As far as the beats go, was it a pick and choose type thing? hoặc Eternia, did bạn have ideas to give to MoSS as far as sound direction?
Eternia: I would say this; he would send me beats to pick from, but there was always (if not all the ones he’d send) at least one out of say a batch of 3 that I would pick. So basically he batted pretty well when it came to the beats he picked for me to rhyme on. I think only once hoặc twice did I come to him and say “this is a concept I have for a track, can bạn get me a beat that fits that concept?” Like for example, “Dear Mr. Bacardi.” I ended up picking something different than what he heard for that concept anyway, but the point is that most of the time I didn’t even know what I was going to rap about. So his beats dictated to me what I wrote. They gave me the soundscape for my subject, and [for most of the songs] I wouldn’t even know what the subject was until I heard the beat.
MoSS: When we were close to finishing the album it changed a bit though. I think near the end of the album there were some things she wanted to make sure she voiced on the record and that’s when she started being very personal and saying “I wanna do this kind of idea”. I tried my best to do what I thought would sound right, and she actually went in a different direction a couple of times, but I’m glad she did. It worked out.
It’s funny that bạn mention “Dear Mr. Bacardi”, I think that’s my yêu thích song on the album.
Eternia: Wow! bạn know what I love? Everybody has a different yêu thích and it doesn’t bother me one bit. It’s actually kinda cool.
It’s bluesy and it has a nice pocket so it stood out to me. On hàng đầu, đầu trang of that, the subject matter was kinda something that I can personally relate to.
Eternia: (laughs) bạn know what’s cool? That’s my sister’s yêu thích song on the album, and I think the reason why is that my delivery and flow is different because the beat is different. I really adapt to beats. It’s very much like Biggie’s “Warning” — “who the fuck is this/paging me at 5:46” – the beat reminds me of that. It really made me flip it a different way when it came to the way I đã đưa ý kiến what I said. I knew I was going to write that song. Originally we just called it “Rum & Coke.” It was gonna be the “rum and coke” song and I just changed it to “Dear Mr. Bacardi.”
What was the original production that bạn had in mind for it?
MoSS: Well at first, she had an idea. This was probably one out of maybe two times in my life where someone asked me to use a sample – where someone’s được trao me something and đã đưa ý kiến “here try to flip this.” She’d được trao me a sample but I forget what it was.
Eternia: I can tell you, it was some 50s hoặc 60s [sample] – The Andrew Sisters. They wrote a song called “Rum & Coca-Cola”.
MoSS: Yea, I remember. I sat with it for a bit. Then I called her and đã đưa ý kiến “this is not happening.” The reality was, when she picked [the final] beat for “Mr. Bacardi” I doubted it at first. But when she spit I was fine with it.
Eternia: I think that happened on a couple tracks.
MoSS: Well I know the other one. For “At Last” I was kinda like, “are bạn sure?” And bạn đã đưa ý kiến “yea” and I đã đưa ý kiến “alright, let’s go.” I think those were the only two that I really wasn’t sure about in terms of the beat.
Eternia: Well bạn đã đưa ý kiến “The Half” bạn weren’t sure about the beat, remember?
MoSS: Well “The Half” I loved. But yea, you’re right. When I made that beat I wasn’t sure if it fit the record. But when bạn spit I was like “we can’t get rid of these vocals.”
What I notice about the album is that the first 4 tracks are straight up MC tracks. So when I listened to it I was thinking “this is dope, but I wish she would get a little thêm personal.” Then immediately afterward there are these extremely personal songs. Was it a conscious decision to sequence the album that way?
MoSS: I believe it was. We both had our ideas of what we wanted, but what I had hoped for was that I wanted the album to start off with a bang. I wanted the album to start off and go hard and then kinda cool down… not really cool down, but sort of get into thêm introspective-type sounds. I believe it was thêm so driven bởi the âm nhạc than it was the content. If she would have done something a little thêm introspective on the “32 Bars” beat, we probably would have kept it in the same position. We wanted to come out the gate strong, and we just felt that those songs kind of showed that she could come with it, and then once bạn heard that, we brought bạn into the depth that she can offer.
Eternia: It’s sort of like going fishing — like reeling people in. But now when I think about it, I don’t think about why we did it, I think about my live shows and how I find they work. bạn don’t get personal right away, bạn hit them over the head, like with a “Deep Cover” cover hoặc something — a really hard track — and bạn just spit and bạn go in, get the crowd involved with some crowd response stuff. Then halfway through my set, I’ll do like a personal acapella hoặc a personal song. So it’s somewhat similar. I think what we wanted to do is come in strong, give them the personal, and then go out with a bang, which is kinda what “At Last” and “Goodbye” are.
I guess it wasn’t so much the sequence that hit me as much as the depth that bạn went into lyrically — that fact that bạn basically bare your soul on record. Was it hard for bạn to get that personal?
Eternia: No… well, the only one that was hard was “To the Future.” But other than that, no. I’ve released stuff that [wasn’t released] in the States, but for the people that know my âm nhạc I’ve always been personal. I guess bạn could say that’s like a trademark of Eternia.
Are bạn guys a group now? hoặc are bạn gonna part ways and maybe collaborate on various things in the future?
MoSS: It’s hard to say. I think we both have things that we’re working on above and beyond this project, but we’re both really happy with the end product. If we were to do another album — and she’d agree with me when I say this — we’d probably take a different approach in terms of the recording process to turn it around in a quicker manner. But I guess time will tell. Hopefully people take to the record. I don’t forsee any reason why it wouldn’t happen
Eternia: I think for MoSS and myself I if the doors were opened we would both be eager to walk through them. We’re not planning the tiếp theo project right now. It’s been really challenging just getting this album out on the shelves. That’s a big deal for us, and once we’re past that hurdle then whatever opportunities arise we’ll take them.
Why do bạn say it was challenging?
MoSS: We have similar personality types. I don’t know if this is the best way to describe it, but the simplest way to describe it might be like a love/hate relationship.
Eternia: Yeah no, he’s right. (laughs). We have the ultimate respect for each other though.
MoSS: At the end of the day, we always respect each other, we always push each other, and we always stand up for one another; but we also disagree a lot. It’s because we want what’s best for one another. In the end it comes together. I’d appreciate if that turnaround was shorter and there were some things we could have avoided, but we’re good right now and we always will be good.
Eternia: I think everything in terms of recording, mixing, mastering, the label side of things — marketing and promotion — all those things took longer than they traditionally do for a project. Some of that had nothing to do with me hoặc him, it’s just the way it happened — I live in New York, he lives in Toronto. But it’s been a really big chunk out of our lives
The media tends to play the female MC card a lot. Eternia, if bạn could tell the people one thing, what would it be?
Eternia: I’d just say ‘get to know me’ — before there’s any sort of pre-conceived [notions] based on anything other than music. Get to know me through the âm nhạc first, and then please feel free to decide what bạn think about me hoặc my craft, hoặc me and MoSS and our music. I think the scariest thing is that somebody would potentially write-off this record based on either what I look like, hoặc one single. I mean, I stand up for my singles, I tình yêu what we release. The point is, it’s scary that people might not give this record a listen. What I do know is that when people do give this record a listen, I think they’ll be sold. Let the âm nhạc speak for itself before bạn let anything else pass through your head in terms of criticism and doubt, because let’s be honest, it’s a very difficult world out there, especially for hip hop. One of the elements of hip-hop is criticism — everyone go out and tear everyone down. All I’m saying is yo, listen to the music. Forget everything else. And as bạn said, I do bare my soul in my music, so if bạn listen to my âm nhạc you’ll probably get to know me better than if bạn sat down and had coffee with me.
(Source: URB.com)
