Ahmi, Me and Chopstix - Release Interview

So for anyone planning a hang-out session this week, do I have the fucking gift-of-all-time for you today :)

The one and only Nenjah Nycist, lead vocalist for the shaolin hip-hop group Rising Sun All-Stars, has teamed up with the reclusive trip-hop warrior Ahmi and brought us a fierce exploration of a record; it's called Ahmi, Me and Chopstix and as a collaborative work this EP brings quite a satchel of diversity along with it's switched up beats and solid lyricism; you can download the record below the interview for free (or be really cool and throw them some bread for it...) To be honest we were sort of blown away as this record seemed to have come out of nowhere, so we went off into the wild to find Ahmi and have him explain some of the background as to how this record came about:

Sup Ahmi! So how long have you guys been making music together?

Hey what's up, I met Nenjah around last February during an intermission at one of the Rising Sun performances at Rhythm and Brews. My cousin Rah Zah Ade (dope lyrical emcee) and I had been drinking so we came up with the idea to meet the band, some more drinks, some conversations on music, calling my cousin on stage to spit and a beat-listening session later we decided we'd try to work together.

So, what's up with Chopstix? Is it a pseudonym or a tag, or what?

The name and theme of the EP came about while Nenjah and I were actually hanging out and eating sushi one night. We had some tracks laying around that we recorded over some of my older and very new beats and started thinking well we might have something here. Some re-recording and editing later Chopstix was born.

You ever spin a set together?

Nenjah and I have yet to spin a set but that's definitely in the plans. Still have other stuff no one's heard yet.

A lot of these tracks seem to be pulling influences from vastly different directions; which artists did you guys find yourselves listening to the most when you were making this record?

I can't speak for Nenjah but I remember were both diggin the new Big Kritt that had just dropped over the summer during, and I was listening to a lot of xxyyxx, Joey Badass, Giraffage, and Kendrick Lamar.

If you had to pick a track that "sounded like stuff you guys used to make" the most and a track that sounds completely new for you guys, which would those two be?

A track that sounds like our older stuff would definitely be No Country...I was way more of a traditional hip hop beat maker back then when I made that beat and the theme of the song is familiar...REVOLUTION!!! From all the absurd norms of current society, greed, robotic group-think, and the other abuses we're gifted with from society. A song that I'd say was very new for both of us was Mona Lisa...I actually hadn't been making trip-hop beats before the summer, but once I started it felt right and luckily I had recently ran into a rapper that was down to rap over stuff like that.

Alright, time for the dirt, what's an annoying habit one of you guys would have during recording?

It's funny he's called Nenjah but I know I would disappear a lot during the making of this...it's a classic bad habit of an introvert and I know I can be a huge bit of a recluse at times, but shout to him for putting up with it.

So say it's a lazy afternoon and you guys are gonna go chill; Northshore? or South?

Definitely Northshore...that goes without saying, we just need to decide on what spot.

So, real talk...
Say the earth would enter some sort of nuclear apocalypse, and between the symbolic Chopstix, Nenjah and yourself one of you would be absolutely in the wrong place at the wrong time and get obliterated, one of you would mutate into a ferocious pile of slime and radiation, and one of you would escape on the last shuttle with the remnants of humanity... So, whose which?

I have shit for luck so I can definitely see myself being in the absolute wrong place at all the wrong times. I'm assuming Nenjah would then try to escape the city in Gaiden fashion but the irradiated fog I imagine would be a bit much for anyone so he'd probably go out the mutated way, and I'd pray to the Universe that Chopstix made it; I think other worldly and dimensionally beings have been waiting on such a thing for a while...they told me that one time over a 5th of Haitian Barbancourt rum...I think...

JTTG - Jazz

When it comes to atmosphere in this scene, one rarely has to look past JTTG and his fellow producers from the Temple; the clear attention to detail and mood setting put into almost all of his beats are enough to explain the widespread respect he has garnered from his peers as of late. For whether your tastes stray from the straight ambient Cashmere Cat devotees or over to the more crunk-oriented hip-hop side of the outer boroughs these days, you'd be hard pressed not to find at least a single beat from this kid on any given bass-head's ipod.

Personally, I might consider killing people in order to get access to his and The SHRNK's wide array of formulated pads and sample library. This beat in particular doesn't announce it's arrival in any bombastic way; it glides into existence of waves of metallic vocal cuts and rolling hi-hats and then fades as quickly as it came. Another trill puzzle piece to the ever growing cacophony of sound that is JTTG's lonely journey through the misty hills and lonely mountains of the ancient land known to the few as shaolin.

Think I'm getting way too poetic, huh? Well, how about this; give this track a listen and see if you still think so. Because honestly, when reviewing this kid's work, I'm starting to think you really can't get poetic enough. 

Morrison - Something For The Day

A unique voice is a clever trademark in rap music; I'm not an expert or anything, but with the recent drop of Danny Brown's album "Old" this has become clearly apparent to me. Because over the last week or so I've been dragged into a lot of conversations (which more often then not soon turned into arguments) over whether originality was a favorable characteristic in it's own right, whether be apart from the general pack of rap artists was a sign that you were ahead of said general pack; if an artist's work clearly differentiates itself from the standard of the day does this immediately that's it's better then the standard? My personal opinion is somewhat skeptic, because it's easy to take any track and say "OMG that's soooo different; it must be the fucking future." But this can't be 100% true can it?

What's more likely is that being unique in one's style allows his product to be heard above the rest; whether or not it is genuinely above the rest is completely up tot eh listener, but it does allow the opportunity for their music to be heard in a vacuum, without critics debating who produces that style better, because there are few if any to compare it to. Case in point is this freestyle from Morrison: this kid has a style to his flow (and consequentially a vocal structure) that's pretty unlike many others I've heard from this scene recently, he lackadaisical attitude about his skills and lifestyle tend not to focus too heavily on any one area, which is the sign of an artist who can gravitate fans to his story without overselling it. Top all of this off with a weird funky, tribal sort of beat and we get a pretty dope refreshing tune that should be getting people excited to hear more from this kid.

Ahmi - Find

When a lot of people are stuck somewhere without their music (your job, school, internship, w.e) we tend to start developing playlists in our head for when we're finally left alone with our ipod; all the songs we feel we just haven't gotten enough of lately begin to burn onto our brain until we're able to listen to them in peace.

For me lately, one of Ahmi's new beats has been consistently on that list; for the past few days on my way home from work I've been bumping this track at least a few times on the commute, and I'll be honest, it seemed kind of weird to me that I've been having loop-mode jam sessions to this quick two-minute arrangement of soul sampling and skipping snare patterns.

But if we delve into it a bit it's quick to see that this is what most of Ahmi's work has comprised of so far; smooth, if not slightly simplistic beats that jump in and out of existence without any dramatic openings or endings, and while for me this has been partially part of the charm of this artist's beat-tapes, it would be exciting to see him delve into some more creative song structure.

But for now he seems content to keep rolling these little gems of trip-hop oriented, old-school tinged trillness; and I'm perfectly okay with this; as long as no one bothers me on the way home :)