Artwork from the MegaBjork release by Moe Pope and Headnodic Download
When I heard this album I HAD to get in touch and have a little chat with the guys. I mean Headnodic is fresh off a great album as 1/3 of the Mighty Underdogs and preparing what has to be a monster album (September 29th release) as 1/5 of the Crown City Rockers. Although I hadn’t heard much about Moe Pope, I know he’s been in the game for a while and I wanted to here more once I listened to these tracks. Everyone say hello to Moe Pope and Headnodic, Bay Area hip hop indies!
Seeing what’s happening to the music industry what do you think is the hardest part of being an independent artist in 2009?
Moe: for me personally its a harsh reality that the younger generation doesnt listen to albums like the past generations evrything is singles,mp3′s,mixtape bangers
,and so fourth…classic albums are hard to come by now …..they exist, there just not easy to find in the climate we live in today…like, taking three years off to make one classic record doesnt happen anymore for example ,Marvin Gayes (whats going on) or BDP’s (criminal minded) ,Michael Jacksons (bad)or Joni Mitchells (court and spark) these records took time ,energy, and thought …the world we live in is a quick turn around society… people want a classic but they dont want to wait to hear that shit …everything is fast food processed bologne bullshit and and i like bologne and everyone loves mcdonalds ,and kfc and jack in the box and all that ….But everyone knows it doesnt compare to a home cooked meal from the heart!!!!! i like the mixxxtape shit ,i like the singles and hits and shit….. but i love a classic record it just doesnt compare
Headnodic: All of it is harder now. Getting the music out there is so easy now, and over-saturation is so rampant (on the internet), that the over-all financial value of a song has dropped to zero. And spending time and effort on a project, is less apparent, now that an artist needs to churn out “anything” to stay relevant. It’s quantity over quality these days… Sorry for the dismal answer, but…
What independent brands, companies, people inspire you?
Moe: Real people inspire me ,understand were im coming from this a world were priviledged kids look poor…. and these fucking rappers are on tv flaunting there money and shit that they either dont have quite yet or are pushing in the faces of poor people….its foolish our economy is in a crises , my people are struggling more than ever and were still with this flashy watered down garbage it makes me sick to my stomach …so basically i walk around my neighborhood ,my bricks and my concrete and i look at these beautiful faces thats what inspires my truth!
oh yeah ……..and white cherry slushies!!!!
Headnodic: a respect of one’s craft inspires me, and in every genre there is moments when a band or MC or producer or all click at the same time and make a great record. It might be that their last album sucked but they’re on fire for a moment. I like moments of inspiration. Mos Def’s new album is amazing, and his jazz band is even better. He’s on fire right now. Star Trek is on fire right now, and shows hope for the future of dopeness, TV on the Radio gives me hope. MGMT gives me hope. Moe Pope gives me hope. Obama gives me hope. As long as I don’t watch reality television I have hope for the future. “Bong Bong”… Oh and big up for the love on Raahsan Ahmad’s “Soul Power” release.
Where are both of you from?
Moe: im from roxbury massachusetts
Headnodic: I’m from Englewood NJ, Ashland Wisconsin, Boston for a few years (where I met Moe), and now Oakland California for over a decade.
What can you do with music today you couldn’t do say in the 90′s or even early 2000′s?
Moe: i dont think there is anything you cant say anymore…except brutal honesty… i dont think you will hear a song about a rapper saying he wet the bed till he was fourteen or a rapper saying they over compinsate cuz they have small penises!!!!
Headnodic: F@#k that, if any MCs out there wanna rap about wetting the bed ’til 14, I will make the track that will make wetting the bed fresh. No, but seriously, The one thing that you CAN do differently now, is whatever the hell you want to do. As in, now a days record companies are (almost) irrelevant as middle men between artists and listeners. There is no need to conform any ideas so that the label will support you, if you put stuff out yourself. So, there are less rules to making music nowadays. I think that means hopefully groups will stray FURTHER from the mainstream and start to extremely original and exciting ideas… hopefully.
Tell us about your immediate future plans.
Moe: i just finished my new record “MOE POPE PRESENTS…LIFE AFTER GOD vol.1″ which features (Rain) a fresh new producer from new jersey,(Headnodic)
(Kat 010)(EDO.G)(Christopher Talkin)and (REKS) ,and currently working on the new “MOE POPE AND HEADNODIC” record
Headnodic: Sep. 29th we drop Crown City Rockers – The Day After Forever, I’m working on stuff with Gift of Gab alot lately, And I’m finishing up my own solo producer focussed record that I keep changing the title of every few days… I got a bunch of the homies on it. Keep an eye out… And I’m gonna buy new curtains, and then go get drunk and play pool with Dave, and complain a lot about stuff
How did you guys decide to do this Bjork project together?
Moe: After a long long night of recording in (Oakland Ca.) we would go drink at this spot “Ye Old Hut” in (Berkeley Ca.)…while drunk , playing pool, and listening to a juke box totally blasting Dave Matthews outrageously fantastic song Sattelite…we bullshitted about making a mash up record with all Radiohead samples….some drunk dude must have been listening and shouted in our direction “NoOh YooH NeEd Tooo uSe BjOrk….ShE RocKS” and there you have it Bjorks undeniable classics and Headnodics Genius making love !!!!
What do you think makes the soundscapes so lush and filled with feeling?
Moe: First Off …no one sounds like Bjork ,absolutely no one. she is a legend, a pure enigma… and her couplings with producers Howie B, and Mark Bell,Matmos,Eumir Deodato,the choirs she has used the orchestras !!!!!
all this was created by someones undieing devotion to music as far as i am concerned ….im so fucking surprised no one else did it before hand…
If you take All that is Bjork ….the harmonies, the erratic cadences, the understated textures and give them to in my eyes one of the greatest pure Hip Hop producers today in Headnod…Wheeew your gonna have something dangerous!!!!!! Please listen to AirBjork on this record ,Listen to my lyrics,listen to that beat…. that shit isnt an accident….. it was meant to happen!
