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The Table of ELements is comprised of various types of elements from Alkaline to Noble Gases, just like Hip-Hop ,rather we like to believe it or not, is comprised of several stable and unstable elements. We scientifically broke down the Black ELement to find out how many protons and neutrons it actually was comprised of and found out a few other interesting facts. Enter Black EL.......illRoots.com: First off thanks for sitting down with us today. Why Major Minority?
Black ELement: Its got a few different meanings, first and most obvious one would be that I myself am a minority and I believe that the nation forgets that we as black people have had a major impact building this country. I'm not making a political album though persay like Dead Prez or Immortal Tech, but I can go there but I can also be the guy who starts the party off right. Not a lot of MCs now a days can switch styles on a dime and A Major Minority has a great variety of different emotions blended on a beautiful pallete. I'm not a preacher, nor am I the overly drunk brother at the party. I'm the dude who just got off the dancefloor, chilling with a Stella who you can have a funny convo with or chat politics. I am a Major Minority.
iR: If you could change one thing about this record what would it be?
BE: Organization. This was my first release and I've learned a lot from it, a lot of shit happens in life and it seemed to all go bad as soon as i started my online campaign. My engineer got evicted had to move to Florida, one of my producers got put in jail and couldn't finish the project until recently and I've had to re-record some songs due to harddrive trouble. I can do without the headaches, but it comes with the territory of being a artist and I expect more in the future.
iR: So a plan b if this doesn't work out?
BE: What doesn't work out?
iR: Rap
BE: Oh what would i do if spitting doesn't work out?
iR: Ding,We have a winner, winner, chicken dinner.
BE: [Laughs] Why does it got to be chicken?
iR: Maybe a salad then, because I like chicken.
BE: "If you don't like chicken somethings wrong with you" (c) Dave Chapelle. Anyway, I don't think there will ever be a point where I stop spitting because it "didn't work out", It might not be my main source of income but I will never stop doing what I love. I love making music and as long as I'm alive I will make it, whether I'm a 65 disgruntled viagra popping old man or a 24 year old aspiring artist its something that I will always have a love for.
iR: Very well put, One Emcee that inspires you that is on the radio right now?BE: The radio? Whats that? Does it have to be a MC?
iR: Yes
BE: I dunno man, truthfully I don't listen to Hip Hop on the radio anymore like that. If I'm listenin to the radio its usually Reggae, Electro, or Rock, I've been through with Urban Radio for years. But if I had to pick one I guess I would go with Ye cause he constantly keeps you guessing, I wasn't expecting Love Lockdown and I still don't know how I feel about it either. But really I'm on urban radio as much as a reverand watches BET.
iR: What is a Black ELement?
BE: Well there are 4 elements of hip hop as we all know, and i feel like there is one missing. The Black ELement is music relating directly towards the people who created the music, and reaching across those borders to everyone. Hip Hop started in black communities and is a culture which we started ourselves and eventually when corperate america got its hands on it we lost the "Black ELement" in our music and I use it as a reminder and homage to the past, present and future of hip hop.
iR: Why the color Black? I mean what about Light skinned brothers too. I mean....
BE: [Laughs] I am a light skinned brother. People actually think I'm Puerto Rican before black
iR: How about "Caramel ELement"?...nah...that sounds like a stripper name [Laughs]"Next on stage....Caramel Element"
BE: Sounds like a hooker whose going to teach me chemistry
iR: Hey! Shout out to all the hookers....keep working..the economy is rough nowadays.[Laughs] Anyway, A noun that describes you?
BE: Work.
iR: So your work is you?
BE: The work is a representation of my inner being, yes. Its all relative.
iR: Considering your organization problems, how long do you say this project took?
BE: It took a year, I officially started writin the project last September. I was never sure about where I was going to take it, but it over time it evolved and turned into A Major Minority. However a bulk of the recording/writing I did over the first few months of this summer. Truthfully it would of taken a lesser amount of time, I was in and out of the hospital this last year
iR: Favorite Cut?
BE: My favorite changes all the time, Quiet Nights is my current favorite due to the fact that me and Jelani recorded it two months ago and its one of the newer tracks on the album. But its my favorite because I've had that beat since '06 and just never knew what to write to it and we finally just went in this year 2 years later. The fact that I was even listening to that instrumental after 2 years told me it was special, and the lyrics just complemented the mood so well. To me that track is on some Respiration shit, which is off of one of my favorite LPs of all time but we made it ours while paying homage to one of the best Hip Hop groups in our generation.
iR: You have referred to you move to Harlem as what kept this project alive, give me what Harlem means to you ?
BE: Well unfortunately I moved back home to Boston temporarily. But y summer in Harlem was very refreshing to me, New York has a great energy to it and being there really forced me to stay focused at all hours in my day. I was meeting people, and I felt more apart of the culture than I have ever been living there, because New York was the basis of all things Hip Hop. Big L is one of the MCs who gave me a lot of inspiration and to be where he and so many other MCs resided on a daily basis was amazing by itself. Not to mention Louis Armstrong, W.E.B DuBois, Duke Ellington, X and many more important figures of Black culture.
iR: Lastly, the most important question anyone will ever ask another person is?
BE: doggystyle, missionary, or reverse cowgirl?
iR: Wow, for more Black ELement please check out his myspace and if you haven't already downloaded his mixtape and album that we brought to you earlier this month.
