DON'T MISS TODAY:

Back to Artist Profiles

8/24/2006   What's up? I've been good, man. I've been working hard doing this album Dirt Hustlin'. It's online at a few spots now like UndergroundHipHop and CD Baby. It's been a couple years since your last effort The Rocking Chair Theory. Yeah. I had a big layover but it's finally out. I spent the time working on new material. I had a lot of songs that didn't make the cut. I did some shows here and there. I was just trying to get myself back in order and figure out my next move. I was relying on some cats and wasn't making the moves I should have been making. Now I'm back in the driver's seat. It's hard doing everything yourself. Oh man, it's hard to be an artist. Like Masta Ace said, I'm the writer, the producer, the road manager, the booking agent…It's hard wearing all those hats. I don't mind it. I'm not going to let the music fall to the side. I can maintain it for now. How long did it take you to make Dirt Hustlin'? Wow. (laughs) Some of the songs are two and a half years old. I don't want to say which ones. It's been a two and a half year process just picking and choosing which songs I like best. Why the title Dirt Hustlin'? Because I had to get dirty with the hands to get this album done! The last album I had done with Stress from Krush Unit. That's my family but he's been pushing his beats on commercial records. I don't think he wanted to wait any longer so I decided to do it myself. It's just a lot of hard work. I did everything from the pictures to getting the artwork designed to getting the mastering to talking with the duplicators. The majority of my sales are hand-to-hand sales. Other than the producers contributing, I did just about everything. That's why it's called Dirt Hustlin'. You have to get your hands dirty! You handled your own production here a lot more than the last one. How was that for you? That's easy. That's the easiest thing for me because I know how I want it to sound, where I want it to drop out, where I want the scratching to be and how I want it to sound and how loud I want the bass to be. I've been producing for myself since junior high school but I let other producers produce because I like working with other people. A lot of people tell me they like the songs I do myself. I guess the songs I do for myself are more personal sounding because it's crafted to exactly what I want. There's also songs like "Boom Chop" where you're cutting yourself. How important is that to you? I'm not a DJ, but I can do a few zigga-zigga's. It's just to get the idea across. It seemed like you had a lot to get off your chest on "Chop Shop." Yeah. It's personal. I was asking myself how much longer I'm going to do this, if I've already reached my prime and things like that. That's where I'm at right now. I feel like I'm most comfortable right now as a writer. Finally at this point where I'm at now I feel most comfortable where I don't have to spit punchlines and all that. I don't have to go overboard with it. I can show my personality instead of doing the punchlines and trying to shock people. I did that back in the "Spitacular" days. What was your inspiration for "Grown Folks Rap"? The cats that I came up with are 25 and older and there's no real market for them no more. They're forced to listen to the oldie's station now. I wanted to make a song for cats that's 25 and older and still like that boom-bap sound that's out there. It's still out there. What keeps you in the game right now? I just love hip-hop, man. I love writing, I love making beats, I love listening to other cat's stuff. It inspires me to write every time I feel like I don't want to do this anymore. Even people who aren't affiliated with hip-hop inspire me to rhyme. We're all blessed with a talent. I'm not nice with a basketball. The nine-to-five thing isn't my thing even though I'm doing it now. I don't know when it's going to stop. I know it's going to stop eventually but it will just lead into something else in the entertainment industry. How do you think kids raised on today's popular rap will turn out? I would love to know what that hip-hop will sound like when the kids get to my age! That's going to be old-school rap and they're going to be like, I came up off that 2006 shit the same way we say, We came up off that '95 shit! Hopefully it will make a full circle and get back to the lyrics and the beats. Even if it doesn't, it's still out there. You just have to dig deeper. To me, the hip-hop isn't the same. You just have to have a love for your art and do your art as best as you can. You've ripped a lot of songs. Are your mic skills appreciated? I feel like they are. I've never come off a show were somebody said, I didn't feel you. I'm confident. I'm not just out there like other cats are. I don't have that visibility, but when people hear me I'm always told I'm nice. I'm not the best rapper but I'm confident in my skills. I feel like it's a process of people hearing me. I've seen you on the Warped Tour a couple years ago. It's a dope stage show. Thanks. It's a lot of energy, hand movements and voice projection. When I'm on stage you can tell I'm not some new jack dude who doesn't know what to do. I entertain the crowd and know how to get personal with them. I'm not turning away from people on stage. I'm constantly making contact with the crowd and you can just tell I know what I'm doing when I'm up there. What happened to you at Rocksteady this year? Me and Cimer Amor, a producer on the album, were riding up there. We made a pitstop in his '94 Caddy. The tire shredded and we were riding on a thin-ass tire like a bike tire. We had to get towed off the Turnpike. It turned out to be a long day. I didn't make it out. It's all good. I'll be there next year. How did The Rocking Chair Theory do for you? It did good. I sold the ones I pressed up. It didn't do as good as it could have done. I was just happy to have a product. I didn't know the avenues I had to hit up. I was dependent on a lot of people and I didn't know a lot of stuff. I've been reading a lot of books on the music industry and looking for avenues to put my music out that the average artist might not know about. Even with this album being out so far, I've been selling more of The Rocking Chair Theory because they liked Dirt Hustlin'. What do you think of Philly hip-hop right now? I hear this a lot of times, but it's true. You have your street cats and your backpack crowds. I got respect for all that stuff. I don't care if you're a DVD rapper or whatever. I like it all. If it's good it's good, I don't care what you're talking about. A lot of cats do bite off of Beans and Free. I just feel like cats need to be a lot more original. When I was coming up it was all about being original. It's crazy. Nobody's really original no more. How would you say your support is in Philly right now? Anybody I reach out to who hears my music, I always get good feedback from them. I can't say I'm on a level of the elite cats. I'm in the underground but hopefully that will change. I have my album release party coming up and I'm doing as many shows as I can. I plan on my stock going up. What's the next move for Side Effect? To get on as many shows as I can, get this CD in as many stores as I can and get as many reviews as I can. I'm just doing anything and everything I can to get it out there. You might not like everything but you're going to like something. Have you thought about the next album yet? Yeah. The next album is inside of my head right now. I might do a mixtape with J. Famous in between albums to be honest. I have a lot of material that people from my shows so I might do a mix-CD between albums. My man J-Eigo, who is on the album, wants to do an EP. We might be doing that too. As far as this album, I'm already mapping out things in my head. I might do more production on this album and anybody new that I come across, I'll probably bring them in too. What do you want to say to everybody? I just want to say thank you to everybody who supports me. If you've never heard of me, go to my MySpace page and check out the songs. Go to my website and check the songs. Cop the album Dirt Hustlin'. I really appreciate the support. http://sideeffectonline.com http://myspace.com/sideeffect88

By Brian Kayser

[1] REACT TO THIS INTERVIEW