Post by Adam B on Jan 11, 2006 18:37:24 GMT -5
Ill Tarzan Interview
By Adam Bernard
UVInk / Ope Entertainment has brought the Hip-Hop world quite a few of it's brightest up and coming stars, names like Substantial and Insanate quickly come to mind. The growing label recently added another member to its roster, signing Ill Tarzan to be a part of the team. Last week Ill Tarzan sat down with Adam B on The Adam B Experience and talked about the career path he's been on that's led him to UVInk / Ope Entertainment, how he met up with the team, and the affect it's had on his career.
Adam Bernard: You are the newest member of the UVInk / Ope Ent team. How did you end up linking up with them?
Ill Tarzan: Actually what happened was they used to have an open mic at Bowery and I had seen Stan at a couple other places and we always linked up and checked out each other's music. He invited me to the open mic. I came to his and the same day he came to mine, he brought the whole squad through. It was good vibes all around, all together, great vibes. After a couple more of these, Cooper Union, Pyramid, all these collaborative efforts we were like yo, why don't we just link up? It came together really well and the rest is history.
AB: Is that when ya'll met for the first time, at the open mic, or did ya'll know each other beforehand?
IT: We were in the same circuit, the same Hip-Hop scene, doing a lot of the same things, and we shared a lot of mutual friends and we just kept bumping into each other like "yo, I'm a fan of your stuff," "yo, I'm a fan of your stuff." All that back and forth and we were like yo, we should make this happen.
AB: It seems your styles mesh very well.
IT: Yeah and that's the other thing. You know how in a team there's always like one member that's like eeeeh, there'll be a Pras, there's always a weak link in the chain and with UV there are no weak links so it seemed only right to join a winning team.
AB: What part of New York are you from?
IT: Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York. Me and super manager OPE are the only real Brooklyn heads, everybody else is from Maryland.
AB: Tell us a little bit about your history.
IT: The way I came up in Hip-Hop was real real sheltered because of the way I was raised, but then I started going to a whole bunch of open mics and what have you. If you were to guess, who would you say is my earliest influence?
AB: You have a laid back vibe, I'd have to say someone like Black Sheep.
IT: Arrested Development, believe it or not. It went from Arrested Development and the next thing I heard after that, because I wasn't allowed to listen to secular Hip-Hop in my house because my mom was Pentecostal, so like the next joint after that was The Fugees The Score. I heard things in-between there, but not full albums. After The Score that just solidified yeah I want to do this for real for real. Shout outs to Conquest who started draggin me to all these open mics around the city and just tryin to get my feet wet.
AB: How was it doing all the open mics?
IT: At first I was real timid and then I just got into it, since '97 / '98, and after people telling me I should take this serious, bang the rest is history. I think the first real real thing was EOW, End Of The Weak, they were at this spot called Baby Jupiter in the lower east side, and I was around people like Sub-Conscious, Substantial, C-Rayz Walz, Breeze Evaflowin, and these are like the people I was lookin up to comin up. That kinda opened up my eyes on a whole different level. From then till now it's just been growth. Then I put out in 2003 I put out a really dope album called Life Music. It went really well, it did a lot better than I thought it would. It was really laid back, it was really on some Tribe vibe. Immediately after that I hooked up with UV and now it's about to be the takeover, yo.
AB: Since joining UVInk how has your life changed?
IT: With the release of the first one, Life Music, no matter how much press and no matter how far the album got it was ultimately me doing everything, me being the manager, me being the booking agent, wearing all these hats and I was playing all these roles and at the end of the day only one person was getting paid, me, but it was very stressful to do all that and be the artist. It was really weighing a lot on me and I think it was detracting from the music. Being with UV and being with a team with no weak links in the chain, it allows me to just be the artist and focus on my craft. I think if you listen to the new material as opposed to the older stuff you can hear the change in the music by leaps and bounds and it's mainly due to the fact that a lot of the other hats I had to wear are now being worn by the correct people. That's priceless. And just the camaraderie, just being able to have other people to talk to and bounce ideas off, that plays a huge part in the music whether it's immediate or down the line. When you're happy you make better music.
For more info on Ill Tarzan please go to his websites
www.illtarzan.com
www.myspace.com/illtarzan
By Adam Bernard
UVInk / Ope Entertainment has brought the Hip-Hop world quite a few of it's brightest up and coming stars, names like Substantial and Insanate quickly come to mind. The growing label recently added another member to its roster, signing Ill Tarzan to be a part of the team. Last week Ill Tarzan sat down with Adam B on The Adam B Experience and talked about the career path he's been on that's led him to UVInk / Ope Entertainment, how he met up with the team, and the affect it's had on his career.
Adam Bernard: You are the newest member of the UVInk / Ope Ent team. How did you end up linking up with them?
Ill Tarzan: Actually what happened was they used to have an open mic at Bowery and I had seen Stan at a couple other places and we always linked up and checked out each other's music. He invited me to the open mic. I came to his and the same day he came to mine, he brought the whole squad through. It was good vibes all around, all together, great vibes. After a couple more of these, Cooper Union, Pyramid, all these collaborative efforts we were like yo, why don't we just link up? It came together really well and the rest is history.
AB: Is that when ya'll met for the first time, at the open mic, or did ya'll know each other beforehand?
IT: We were in the same circuit, the same Hip-Hop scene, doing a lot of the same things, and we shared a lot of mutual friends and we just kept bumping into each other like "yo, I'm a fan of your stuff," "yo, I'm a fan of your stuff." All that back and forth and we were like yo, we should make this happen.
AB: It seems your styles mesh very well.
IT: Yeah and that's the other thing. You know how in a team there's always like one member that's like eeeeh, there'll be a Pras, there's always a weak link in the chain and with UV there are no weak links so it seemed only right to join a winning team.
AB: What part of New York are you from?
IT: Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York. Me and super manager OPE are the only real Brooklyn heads, everybody else is from Maryland.
AB: Tell us a little bit about your history.
IT: The way I came up in Hip-Hop was real real sheltered because of the way I was raised, but then I started going to a whole bunch of open mics and what have you. If you were to guess, who would you say is my earliest influence?
AB: You have a laid back vibe, I'd have to say someone like Black Sheep.
IT: Arrested Development, believe it or not. It went from Arrested Development and the next thing I heard after that, because I wasn't allowed to listen to secular Hip-Hop in my house because my mom was Pentecostal, so like the next joint after that was The Fugees The Score. I heard things in-between there, but not full albums. After The Score that just solidified yeah I want to do this for real for real. Shout outs to Conquest who started draggin me to all these open mics around the city and just tryin to get my feet wet.
AB: How was it doing all the open mics?
IT: At first I was real timid and then I just got into it, since '97 / '98, and after people telling me I should take this serious, bang the rest is history. I think the first real real thing was EOW, End Of The Weak, they were at this spot called Baby Jupiter in the lower east side, and I was around people like Sub-Conscious, Substantial, C-Rayz Walz, Breeze Evaflowin, and these are like the people I was lookin up to comin up. That kinda opened up my eyes on a whole different level. From then till now it's just been growth. Then I put out in 2003 I put out a really dope album called Life Music. It went really well, it did a lot better than I thought it would. It was really laid back, it was really on some Tribe vibe. Immediately after that I hooked up with UV and now it's about to be the takeover, yo.
AB: Since joining UVInk how has your life changed?
IT: With the release of the first one, Life Music, no matter how much press and no matter how far the album got it was ultimately me doing everything, me being the manager, me being the booking agent, wearing all these hats and I was playing all these roles and at the end of the day only one person was getting paid, me, but it was very stressful to do all that and be the artist. It was really weighing a lot on me and I think it was detracting from the music. Being with UV and being with a team with no weak links in the chain, it allows me to just be the artist and focus on my craft. I think if you listen to the new material as opposed to the older stuff you can hear the change in the music by leaps and bounds and it's mainly due to the fact that a lot of the other hats I had to wear are now being worn by the correct people. That's priceless. And just the camaraderie, just being able to have other people to talk to and bounce ideas off, that plays a huge part in the music whether it's immediate or down the line. When you're happy you make better music.
For more info on Ill Tarzan please go to his websites
www.illtarzan.com
www.myspace.com/illtarzan