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Sometimes the best thing about an interview is the stuff that goes on when the tape is off.
"Freestyle for me," I ask Adhimu Stewart, also known as Mindbender on the underground hip-hop circuit, before he even has a chance to sit down. (I realize that I can be very demanding)
He graciously obliges, throwing out a verse or two before breaking out into an infectious grin. The rhymes come effortlessly, gracefully, dancing on the air in a rhythmic trance. Words that would have taken me five days to string together come naturally to him, and that's what sets him apart from the rest. Mindbender is what Canadian rap desperately needs.
Growing up in Toronto, Ottawa and Edmonton has given him a wisdom beyond his years, shaping his journey from a thirteen-year-old kid writing out lyrics of Public Enemy albums in his bedroom to a young man breaking out onto the international scene.
Mindbender gets a little excited when I ask him about the origin of his moniker. "Some people think it's from Dr. Mindbender from G. I. Joe," he laughs, drawing a blank stare from me. He ignores it and continues. "Actually, the Mindbender is the world's biggest indoor roller coaster at West Edmonton Mall. In '86 or '87, they had the triple loop in there and there's a bridge and the roller coaster would
go around. There was an accident and something came off the roller coaster and chopped off three people's heads. It was crazy. So it's like, the Mindbender's deadly. That's like the inside of your mind - my lyrics are riding around inside your brain. Smashing your skull off."
(Although Mindbender exudes a comforting, quiet charm, I still can't help but be traumatized by this story.)
Despite the growth of Mindbender's notoriety, his message is still clear. "Every single person should learn how to think for themselves. There's a lot of unlearning I think we all have. We get built a lot of stuff from our parents and society and school. That's good and all, and gives a foundation, but to really be happy in life, I think you have to learn to think for yourself. So I'm like, think for yourself, use your own mind, do what you dream."
And that's exactly what Mindbender did when he formed Supreme Being Unit with twin brother Conspiracy and Ottawa friend Kelron. The trio wrote and practiced for a couple of years before releasing their 1996 debut, The First Great Pyramid LP, which sold 1000 copies through hand-to-hand distribution. After 1997's Mental Reverse/Spiritual Rebirth album and 3000 CD sales later, Mindbender embarked on a solo journey with 2001's In Another Universe EP. Still, it seemed like everyone but Canadians were listening. "I really think Toronto's got hundred of MCs that are just as good - if not better - than American and international artists. Canada's got great music," Mindbender says earnestly. "But there's no support here by the people. Canadians don't really have the mentality that, 'Oh, this guy standing in front of me is great, let me buy his CD right here and now.' In America, it's so cash driven; money, money, money, hustle, hustle, hustle. Canadians are nonchalant, they're hard people to get on the bandwagon on support. The indie scene is slowly growing, but really slowly growing. But it is growing.
"The media portrays rap in only a few dimensions, even though there are MCs of all kinds speaking about all subjects under the sun," he continues. "Oh, rap's so bad because all we see if 50 Cent and Nelly and Puffy, and it's like, oh yeah, sure, 50 Cent is out there but there's thousands of rappers. You're just not paying attention to them. Some artists could learn how to speak on different things - more
diversity. Some people make albums like there's only three things about life: money, cars and women."
And so begins the conundrum of the Canadian hip hop and rap scene. Because the industry is primarily driven by American artists, any hope of crossing over means doing everything short of selling your soul to the devil. Canadian artists strive to find a unique voice, and yet become trapped in a cookie-cutter cycle that sees no room fro growth in this genre. Even music videos have become stale; a rip-off of
whatever shiny video has a current monopoly on MTV, but with half the budget.
"A lot of artists make hits and then they're like, 'Oh, I made a hit. My next album's gotta sound kinda like that hit just so I don't lose the fans that I got from that hit,'" Mindbender concurs. "But real artists are like, 'Fuck it, I'm going back to the drawing board, I have a totally brand new idea, I'm going to evolve and try this,' and they take a left turn. And if you're truly creative, I think, and you know, if you have really good fans, they should go along with you for the ride."
Which brings us along to Beautiful Mutant, Mindbender's latest offering to new and old fans alike. The idea for the double CD, Beautiful and Mutant, was influenced by legendary MCs like Nas, Tupac, and The Notorious B.I.G. "Beautiful Mutant is you, me, and everyone in the world. Everyone, I think, in their own way is a beautiful mutant. People have aspects of beauty and aspects of ugly in them. It's ying
and yang on another level, " he explains of the concept. Beautiful plays like an energetic rump, all at once vigorous and playful, while Mutant is the more psychedelic, experimental of the two. To sit through the two CDs is to hear someone take a chance. To hear them is to experience raw passion in its finest form.
When I ask him about his favourite track off Beautiful Mutant, Mindbender hems and haws. "Don't be wishy washy," I chide him, and instead of throwing a chair at me, he indulges my personal inquisition by choosing The Next Big Thing from Mutant, a flowing track laid against smooth, heavy beats. The tracks on Beautiful Mutant are infused with consciousness, but never preachy. Minbender possesses an
awareness that most artists misplace or simply don't have.
So what's next for the 26-year-old writer/MC? Well, the new Supreme Being Unit album, In Space No One Can Hear You Rhyme, was recorded over a two-week period in Edmonton, where Conspiracy currently resides, and produced by friend Weez-l. Mindbender's eyes light up when we discuss the return of Supreme Being Unit. "[The album] should be out next year, if not late this year, and I can't believe it. But it's recorded, it's done. My brother and I on every song for the first time ever. The last two albums we did were mostly solo tracks, and he had his side and I had my side. We've got love songs; we've got crazy space concept songs- its pure SBU music. Political theory songs, spiritual songs, imagination songs, it's out there. It was really good going through that. We'd force each other to write it. Whenever I'd be lazy, he'd be like, 'Write your verse, come on, you're only here for two weeks. We have 17 songs to do, write, write, write.' So we really forced each other to do it, and it was a good thing."
You never quite grasp what ambition is until it's sitting across from you. In addition to promoting and selling Beautiful Mutant, performing at various venues throughout Toronto, meeting Talib Kweli and Kanye West, Mindbender still fits in a hosting gig at The Hooch (815 Queen W, above Gypsy Co-op) every Thursday night. In Divine Style showcases up and coming MCs and DJs hoping to get their music across to the masses. Oh, and he also hopes to break into acting. As for now, he's back to writing new material. "I realized that the best songwriters in the world were really simple songwriters, like Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone. They had very basic songs, but the meaning is timeless. The emotion is so powerful. My next step is going to be very clear. There's gonna be less word play, less dual meanings. The next album is going to be straightforward. Pretty plain, but the meaning very, very powerful. I don't care if anyone's like, 'Oh, Mindbender's trying to sell out!' I don't care about people's small opinions. You listen to the meanings of the song, and you're going to know why I'm saying it 'cause I want every single person in the audience to understand it right now. I'm just choosing to take a different approach to songwriting.
"I don't think people can get a good sense of who I am as a person, because I've realized this year that most of my music is about my thoughts and my imagination, and I don't rap about my real life and my experiences. And that's what I want to go to next. I don't want to go overboard, but I gotta learn to balance it. I don't want to put too much out there - I want to be honest, but not like, expose too much,
and have people start judging me, misunderstand me…or embarrass myself," he quickly adds with a self-conscious smile.
But are the follies of fame worth all this?
"I don't think you've made it far ahead if somebody doesn't hate you," Mindbender concludes thoughtfully. Luckily, he's going places, and the hate has yet to come.
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