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In the middle of touring in support of the collaborative album ‘The Army of Pharaohs’, Reef talked with The Situation about his career, the state of hip hop, and why he’s thinking of leaving the city of brotherly love.
When
hipsters started listening to hip hop, there was no turning back. While
some emcees self-consciously tried to create “art”, others
were spitting it raw. American hip hop became as divided as the cities
that nourish it.
Reef The Lost Cauze, a veteran underground emcee from Philadelphia, is out to bridge that divide and bring back true emceeing, but he doesn’t like his odds. In the middle of touring in support of the collaborative album ‘The Army of Pharaohs’, Reef talked with The Situation about his career, the state of hip hop, and why he’s thinking of leaving the city of brotherly love.
Let's start basic. What does your moniker mean and how did you
come to acquire it?
Lost Cauze came about because my life at the time was sort of a lost cause.
I had just been kicked out of film school - out of college – and
I was having a lot of personal things going on as far as relationships,
a lot of rough stuff. My mum said to me, ‘You acting like a lost
cause’, and it stuck with me.
Over the years it’s come to mean a lot of things. The ‘Lost Cauze’ for me now represents hip hop in the sense that it’s a lost cause to try to be a true emcee. You need to be some kind of a character or have connections. You're not just a dope emcee; in so many words, you're a lost cause. [My moniker] evolves every year, but as of right now, it definitely reflects my feelings on this rap sh*t.
What
projects are you working on now?
‘The Army of the Pharaohs’ album just came out. It features
Jedi Mind Tricks, my man
Chief Kamachi and others.
I’m about to drop a mixtape next week called ‘One with the
Cauze’, and I have a new album in the works for next year called
‘The Vicious Cycle’. I’m just trying to keep busy.
Was
it a challenge to work in a collaborative effort like ‘The Army
of the Pharaohs’?
Nah man, not at all. When you’re at the stage that most of these
guys are in their careers, all the attitude and ego goes out the window
– everyone is just trying to make damn good music. There was none
of that petty sh*t you hear about with other groups. Everyone came together
with the idea, ‘Yo like, underground hip hop fans have been waiting
for this for a long time, and if you were blessed enough to be asked to
be a part of it, the goal is to bring the best to the table.’
You
have said that you are in the middle of a divide in the Philadelphia hip
hop scene, where there is one side with neo-soul singers and The
Roots, and another side with a harder “street” sound
anchored by people like Beanie Sigel and
Cassidy. Can you tell us about that divide,
how it works and where you fit in?
Philadelphia is a very divided city. There is really no unity. For me,
I had connections in both of those worlds. It’s true that I'm known
more in the underground sense, but there are "street" scene
fans that know my name and like my music. I feel like with most people,
they have to do one of the two. There are very few emcees in Philly that
are just trying to be themselves. They are just doing the street thing,
the straight "backpacker", or some experimental far-out weirdo
sh*t. No one is trying to be themselves. You know from the flyer what
kind of crowd is going to be at an event. A lot of people are going to
deny it, but you look at it and you know.
Does
that affect who works with who?
Yes, absolutely. You have incredible emcees in this city, cats like Chico
Raw or Eddie Morris;
these are cats that are on some street sh*t. Their live shows are known
throughout the circuit, but I know some kids that because of their race,
or total lack of willingness to come up out of their bubble, would never
go to their shows or try to collab with those people. I had to make the
effort to say that I'm not afraid to be in certain shows or work with
certain people. My whole thing is that it's still hip hop; it’s
still music – it's supposed to break down barriers. Unfortunately,
that's not something I really saw here.
In
your song ‘Sound of Philadelphia’ you say the city is the
shadow of New York. Are you thinking of moving?
I've been thinking about it man. I'm thinking about rolling soon because
I'm older, and I've done pretty much all I can do here as far as making
a name for myself. I think that hometown recognition is important, but
at some point you gotta open your eyes and look around you, and for me
personally I just don't see much here in the way of expanding. In Houston,
they managed to create there own scene and blow up from it, but I don’t
see that happening in Philly now. I feel like any artist from Philadelphia
has got to go to Los Angeles or New York in this game at some point, or
at least have connections there.
Your
Philly fans can’t be happy to hear that.
I'm sure there are people that from Philly that will read this and cast
stones, but if they really think about what I'm saying, they know I'm
not lying at all. I'm speaking the absolute truth. They know what it is
around here as far as the hatred and the “crabs in a barrel”
mentality. This is a city where “almost” always happens and
I just don't want to be another almost man. I really don't. I love this
city; it will always be my home. But as far as business, sometimes you
gotta take your business elsewhere, and I'm thinking about it. I'm really
thinking about it.
On
your last solo album, ‘Feast or Famine’, there was a song
entitled ‘Coltrain Ft. Slate’ in which you talked about the
jazz legend, Nina Simone, and several other
icons in African-American music. It’s often been said that hip hop
is losing its memory. Do you agree, and where did you get your sense of
history?
I would absolutely agree with the idea that hip hop is losing its memory.
I feel like the people that grew up with it are either completely done
with it or they have just accepted what has come to be known as hip hop
music.
How I get my sense of history? I remember sitting in front of my dad's vinyl collection and starring in awe at the album covers. I remember the Doug E. Fresh video for ‘All the Way to Heaven’. I just was listing to the Big Daddy Kane album two days ago. ‘Illmatic’, ‘Ready to Die’, these are the albums that I listen to. I'm peeping some Bill Withers and Stevie Wonder. I just love the music that came from that era. Nothing like it has compared to it since. You know, I don't mind a jam every now and then when I'm at a club, but when I wanna feel something to stir my soul, I have to refer to these old records.
You
praised both your mother and grandmother on your last album. What influence
did they have on your career?
My mum is like my best friend. I know a lot of people say that, but I
literally feel that. My mum was always playing the classic soul joints.
My grandmother, she’s a James Brown
fan. Man, I can’t even describe her - she’s the picture of
my family, her and my grandfather. She’s like a sparkplug and was
an entertainer herself, so I get a lot of that; a lot of my personality
[comes] from her.
A
lot of battle emcees have flopped when trying to make the transition to
full albums. What made you different?
I trained for this sh*t. An emcee can’t just rhyme – they
have to be able to freestyle, flow, battle, control the crowd… These
are all the aspects that I developed. I came up with battling and I was
good at it, but I was also good at all the other aspects. It always comes
as a shock to me that people use that as an excuse, ‘Ah, he's just
a battle emcee so he can't write songs’. That's bullsh*t! So what
if someone was a battle emcee? That’s just the past; they should
be able to do something other then that.
If you are an emcee today then you are a songwriter. If you wanna just be a dude who battles because you like to insult people and sh*t, hey, knock yourself out, but don't be thinking that you're a real artist. There's gotta be more than that.
Reef The Lost Cauze’s new single, ‘Sound of Philadellphia’ is out soon. For more information about Reef or to purchase his new mixtape, 'Long Live The Cauze’, please visit www.myspace.com/reefthelostcauze.
