Hip hop's hidden gem www.earwaks.com MINDBENDER - Beautiful Mutant Reported by: Giles Monnette & Che Kothari Toronto's Mindbender sat down with Earwaks with his new album "Beautiful Mutant" hot off the press. Covering two CDs, he juxtaposes 'lovely' & 'ugly' on 21 tracks showcasing a gang of producers. Check out the 20min stream of his new joints and mixtape treats, and don't miss the Jesus Talks written exclusive. Can you explain the premises behind your new album? Did you divide it into what you thought was positive and what you thought was negative, or was it like a ying and yang thing? The album is called "Beautiful Mutant". I didn't want it to come across as a straight up black & white, left & right thing, but still wanted to emphasize the juxtaposition of beautiful & ugly. I wanted to try to get across that beauty is in the eye of the beholder by downplaying visual stigmas. Also, the double album thing was so that I'd go down in the history books -- Nas, Jay-z, 2Pac, Biggie - the real great MCs have double albums. (laughs) On this album you make apparent how the culture is out of control in the money making market. Where do you think the culture is going? Where's it going? Its going to explode, North America is based on credit, credit cards, loans and such. I don't think any system can live on something that doesn't exist. I read recently that the average person has six or seven credit cards all in debt, and at some point capitalism gonna bust. How can America run when its three trillion dollars in debt? Drug trade, haha. Ya exactly, for real. This is way higher then Hip Hop. The system has to change, either we make it change or it explodes and we pick up the pieces. Where would you like the culture to go? Bartering socialism sharing & trading mix tapes. People are aware of the mentality that we're all together in one world, but it's a dog-eat-dog world - "I come first" individualism, especially in North America. What if there were fifty homeless people in a row, could you walk past all of them? At some point people are going to have to start sharing. Do you think that all people can relate to what you have to say? (Grits his teeth) The old albums were like another language, fuckin Mindbender word play shit. I love it, but you got to be a true hip hop head to appreciate every line. At first in my career I was naive thinking if some body hears interesting music or lyrics they will gravitate to it and maybe try to figure it out. At some point I realized that music is a huge web and it touches everybody in different ways.I'm trying to get to a balance where the beats grab as many people as possible and my words are as clear without wordplay. I want people to understand my messages. A lot of the songs on the first disc are very sexually oriented. What's up with that? Word, word, you noticed. What's up with that is that, I'm a motherfuckin freak yo! (laughs all around) Sex is a good thing man, I'm trying to redefine sex in hip hop. Alot of MCs think that women are property and a woman only has a certain place in the world. I present it in a different way. Sex is a topic I like to speak about. Consensual, fantasy, both partners enjoying a sexual situation -- sex is great. I'm not all Christian saying sex is dirty or sex is a sin, yo I'm here because of sex. We are all animals, everybody's fuckin every day, don't front. (chuckle) I also have a poetry album that's all love songs already written, called Praise to the Goddess. When I get more comfortable and people like me more, I'll release it. I'm gonna try to get a real big female fan base! (thumbs up, laughs) You did the graphic on the cover of Beautiful Mutant right? Yes I did, I used to draw a lot and hope to get back into it now that I'm not such a hardcore pothead. (snicker) In the one song on your album about addiction, were you trying to take the Public Enemy standpoint of "don't be a bass head"? I tried not to be judgmental. Instead of saying "you", I'm gonna say "me" because these are my problems too, or say it neutrally like,"I hear these drugs calling my name, I can find my way to my next high like a moth to a flame". I'm not really projecting my problems on anybody, but anybody who knows it can relate. What are the themes of the album, and why did you choose too emphasize at this point in your life? On this album I wanted to be really clear and connect to people. I was really proud of my last album "Fantasy Land" but it was too much for a lot of people, the themes were too complex. This new stuff is just raw, with real simple themes of sex, addiction, music. Some of the best timeless songs focus on one thought and all the emotions that go with it. I can't be going all Mindbender and put all of life's experiences into one song anymore. Cats like Bob Marley were mad simple in conveying emotion and meaning, and produced some powerful shit that touched a lot of people. Describe a little bit more what you meant by saying "going all Mindbender", can you describe the name Mindbender for me? "Mindbender" is hardcore lyrics with multiple meanings. I have some verses that are hardcore, and it's a mind-bending experience to try and understand. I try and play upon every single aspect of language, my vocabulary, my own rhythms and patterns, metaphors and imagery, it's a whole jumble of experience. A friend of mine said it best -- "listening to your shit is like listening to a puzzle". I was like what! that's ill. Some people don't have the patience to put all the pieces together and see the bigger picture, they say "fuck this puzzle". What's the most positive constructive criticism you've ever received? People have told me to slow down. I used to rap pretty fast, I had so many ideas. I'd look at a song and put sixty four thoughts in sixteen bars. Some people would catch all sixty four but the average person would catch five and get scared. I gotta learn how to change that. What's the most negative criticism you've ever received? I try to let go of any negativity, but I've never been booed off stage or told YOU SUCK! On the Internet some little punks talk shit, like "stop rapping now!" but it doesn't amount to shit. If they saw me face to face or if they saw me perform they wouldn't say that. They wouldn't have the cahonnas. For real. I don't get criticized negatively a lot, I just get misunderstood. I'd rather get criticized then misunderstood because that means somebody's actually listening. Opinions are like assholes, they're all full of shit. Where's your brother, what's he up to? He's in Edmonton right now just chillin. He got frustrated with Toronto a bit, but I'm sticking it out hanging on by the skin of my ass! We made a new Supreme Being Unit album, 17 songs. We're on every single song together doing crazy hardcore heavy spiritual political insanely powerful music. We're gonna drop it soon, it's in the chamber. We got a legacy going! You do interviews for Pound and such, do you enjoy that? I love it, I'm a magazine junky. How long have you been doing it now? Maybe two years now. The Kanye West story was the biggest one. I did a couple of really big stories that never got published, like Little Brother, Kool G Rap, Young Buck from G unit, I had some pretty good experiences. Who are your influences right now? If you had asked me this a year ago I would have said Nas, Pharoah Monch, El-P, or something like that. This year my influences are Dame Dash, Puffy, Russell Simmons, businessmen because my label is official. I'm really about becoming a good Toronto hip hop businessman and establishing a good independent label. I know lots of great MCs who deserve careers and albums. Labels aren't signing anyone, maybe one or two a year while the scene is bursting with fresh talent, so kids give up doing music. Living in Canada is hell. So, I've been reading up on business and businessmen to stay on point. I honestly want to do things like Madchild, I respect what he's done with Battle Axe, and would love to do east cost shit like that. I know you just dropped this new album and you've got the poetry album and the new SB album, but what's next for Mindbender? My next album is going to be so powerful that anyone who hears it is going to be blown away. There's going to be no fuckin duality. They're going to know exactly what I'm saying, what I mean, what I see, what hip hop means to me. My social commentary my criticisms on religion, politics, and government are going to be super clear. No more fuckin cryptic shit. The worlds fucked up and people need education, and music can be enlightening. I want my music to be there to help people get a little clearer mind. If you could work with any producer who would it be? In the underground, I'd work with El-P. In the mainstream, I'd work with Kanye West. That's funny considering your feelings about religion. Yeah, I know. I just recently rewrote the words to "Jesus Walks", it's going to be some controversial shit. Any hardcore Christian that hears it is not going to like it. I wonder how Kanye will feel about that considering .. I've been thinking about that because I know some of his people and I want to send it to them, but I don't want to offend them. Religion is good, but not good. (chuckles) If I had one producer to make music for me outside of hip hop, Stevie Wonder would be it. Fuck hip hop, if anybody out there can introduce me to Stevie Wonder, please do so. Any closing words of wisdom? Ah word, I'll give you a bit of that Jesus Talks. This is an Earwaks exclusive. Jesus Talks (The World Premiere Exclusive Mindbender Lyricism Reading Session for Earwaks.com) You know where Toronto is/ Where a hundred cultures want to live/ And oppressive Whiteys! will tax your paystubs/ And dreadhead Whiteys! bun trees with screwface thugs/ Somebody tell Whitey! We can't live on fake love/ I fly with my mind to see where The Holy Story came from/ But had to land because of my cancer stained lungs/ *HUUH!* Wait to exhale some/ *WHEW* It's really hard to learn how they made a Babylon creation, and NOT hate em/ Those who made guns and spoke with a forked lie stained tongue/ Started takin ancient Artifacts, and the slave was the Tame One/ Now we're on the wrong side of the tracks/ Savage Atlantic traveling happened, despite those hiding the facts/ My family has many faiths, prayers don't all go to the same one/ My Aunty used to say "only Jesus could save us"/ Well, Aunty, I see PAST the pastor's truth/ Got absolute freedom and they didn't teach me that at school/ I know Jesus talks God's home is your brain, you gotta know it AIN'T in the clouds… Jesus TALKS The only thing that I pray is that the people hear me out… Stay tuned: MINDBENDER IS THE TRUTH! Check out more at . Look out for the Mindbender Mixtape Vol.1, the new Supreme Being Unit album, and other upcoming projects and releases. Interview by Giles Monnette & Che Kothari of Earwaks.com Transcribed & Edited by Giles Monnette and Marmalade of Earwaks.com All photography by Che Kothari of Earwaks.com (Thursday August 5, 2004)