since nineteen eight to the O I've been takin' control...

Interview with Medium Seen



I caught up with Sean Young (Medium Seen) recently and was able to ask him a few questions on his passion for splitting mic's and slaying silly half-stepping MC's. He just finished school and is ready to focus on music full-time. You can check him on MySpace here


Invincible Bully: What made you decide to start MC'ing?

Medium Seen: My buddy Knox was freestyling all the time and I figured I could do it better. I never had a good enough voice to sing, and I figured this is the only way naive 16 year old girls would smoke my pole.

IB: What is the hip-hop scene like in Calgary?

MS: Pretty bunk. There is no unity, it's mostly cokeheads and cockblockers. If they see you trying to do something there is always a comment about how their friend does it better, and how he/she talks about "realer shit" in his/her raps. Too many people have this idea of what the calgary's hip-hop scene should be or that it should be like down south sounding or bay area sounding or some shit. It will become what it should be on its own, it doesn't need an individual to carry it. The only people who should be rapping about legitimate gang-banging is the asian kids out here. Seeing honkies rap about DUBS is kinda lame. There is some cool dudes trying to put some shit together (HiFi Club, Giant 45, Fameless, Beatroute, etc.). But you gotta break outta the frame of the town you come from if you wanna grow.

IB: Who has been the most influential MC on you and what makes him so special?

MS: There's alot, but if I had to chose just one it would be Ice-T. If you go back and listen to T's classic shit he is saying just as much or more socially conscious shit as any emcee doing it today. People say Kayne West is controversial, but compared to copkiller (for the time) shit doesn't stack up at all. Production by Aladdin and those cats is crazy too, I love the old Bomb Squad shit too, like when they did Cube's album Amerikkka's most wanted, you don't hear drums like that no more, nothing as loud and dirty.

IB: What was your most memorable show to date?

MS: We played a show in Grand Prairie once, it was dope. People don't get shows out there and they were really supportive. We played a show in Edmonton the night before and it was cricket city, and we almost got jumped like 4 times, all they had was OV on tap, I'm not kidding when I say only OV. So I figured when we got further up north it would be even worse. When we played our first song we blew the breakers and all the lights went out, and then like we had to wait like 10 mins to play. We had everyones attention then and just rocked it. We opened for a band but killed it better than they ever could. It was dope. The chicks out there were hot and horny. I member one of the waitresses was wearing those lululemon pants before they became popular (this was like 5 or 6 years ago) and I can still close my eyes and picture it, it was like a moment of zen that comes back to me all the time. So juicy, so round, so boner inducing.

IB: What's the hottest track of the year?

MS: Truth Is by Brother Ali, or Uncle Sam Goddamn.

IB: What's your favourite microphone?

MS: Shure 58 ("I never rock a cordless or stand for non-sense" if I can quote the immortal Black thought).

IB: Do you prefer live instruments or pre-recorded music?

MS: I like samples. Even if I have a song with like instruments (Well I only have one) I record em in and when I play it live I just rock the DAT or whatever we got. I like 2 turntables and a mic for hip hop, but if your going to experiment like El-P or Slug and play with a live band, you gotta be tight like them. I'm not musically inclined enough or that pretentious to get on stage with a 6 peice funk band and act like I am fucking cool enough to pull it off.

IB: What makes Ghostface Killah so ill?

MS: Mostly because he is an Iconoclast, Ghost does whatever the fuck he wants it seems but it always comes out fresh and not like he's trying hard. He's the perfect mixture of wise poet, gucci wearing pimp, street hustler, brawler extraordinary, and father. His vocab is sick. And he's not afraid to just let his fucking voice fly off and crack and go high and raspy. His new shit is produced with that underground edge that complements his sound so well (MF Doom, Madlib, Etc.). And he appears everywhere you don't think he will (Swollen Members new one for example). There's really an infinite amount of reasons, but really Wu4life is the best I can think of.

IB: What is your most prized possession?

MS: I'm going through a Buddhist transformation where I'm trying not to see possessions as mine, more as God's and I'm just holding em' till she wants em' back. But until that becomes complete, I would probably say my G4 PowerBook.


IB: Break down your song writing progress.

MS: I used to write like 150 to 200 verses a year and just pick the best shit, I got like 12 books full of rhymes, but then I realized how lame that is. And how much time I was wasting. Then I read how C-Rayz Walz burnt all his rhyme books to make his new album. I thought that was cool and just what I was thinking about alot at the time. So now I don't even look at my old shit. Now I just carry around a piece of paper so I can write like a couple lines I think of on the spot. I wait until I get a beat and I sit with it and write as much shit as I can. I scratch off more lines than I keep most times. It helps to have a concept before I start writing (whether it be a hook or whatever). Then I re-record the verse like 25-30 times. I don't do punch ins cuz that's cheating I think. So I have to get the breathing right. Takes longer, but it sounds realer if you do it like that, and the shit you wrote will transform more naturally to the beat that way I think.











Lord Finesse - Hip 2 Da Game / Brainstorm


Tracklist:
A1 Hip 2 Da Game (Main)
A2 Hip 2 Da Game (Instrumental)
A3 Hip 2 Da Game (Acapella)
B1 Brainstorm / P.S.K. (Main)
Featuring - KRS-One , O.C.
B2 Brainstorm / P.S.K. (Instrumental)
B3 Brainstorm / P.S.K. (Acapella)
Featuring - KRS-One , O.C.
B4 99' Tony Touch Freestyle
download



Babu - Duck Season Left Overs


Tracklist:
A1 Live From Master Control
Rap [Featuring] - Akil , Chace Infinite , Chali 2NA , Evidence (2) , Krondon , Phil Da Agony , Planet Asia , Iriscience*
A2 Live From Master Control (Instrumental)
B1 Hunter Style (Vocal)
Rap [Featuring] - Sparky Arbuckle
B2 Hunter Style (Instrumental)
B3 Live From Master Control (Acapella)
Rap [Featuring] - Akil , Chace Infinite , Chali 2NA , Evidence (2) , Krondon , Phil Da Agony , Planet Asia , Iriscience*
download


Jersey of the Day
Ray Lewis
$80 + shipping
Size 56