Interview w/El Da Sensei
By: Justin Rizzio

We caught up with El before the Boom Box Showcase to discuss the Artifacts,
his new album, and most importantly, Philly hip hop. See what “The Unusual” had
to say.

Some people refer to the early 90’s as the Golden Era of hip hop. Some call it
the True School. But no matter what you call it, don’t refer to El Da Sensei as
“Old School”. Yes, it’s been 12 years since the release of the classic “Between
A Rock And A Hard Place”. But after seeing the former Artifact (along with Reef
the Lost Cauze and The Last Emperor) at the debut for Philly’s new Boom Box
showcase, there is no doubt that El still fits in very nicely with todays
finest lyricists. I caught up with El before the show to discuss the Artifacts,
his new album, and most importantly, Philly hip hop. See what “The Unusual” had
to say.

215hiphop.com: So what do you think of the Philly scene?

El Da Sensei: Anything out of New Jersey and New York is different for me. I look at Philly like Brooklyn or the west coast. Everyone seems to have a similar style that came out of here. A style all their own. Coming here through the early 90’s, me and O.C, Boot Camp, everyone we came through here with had the same reputation. So it was good to get the love cause when you go out of town, you never know who’s gonna like you or who’s not. Philly always showed me love.

215: Any Philly artists you’re feeling or would ever want to work with?

El: Black Thought. Dope mc, always. My man Reef. Last Emperor, we’re gonna do something tomorrow. I’m definitely trying to get the notches in the belt as far as working with Philly artists. And as far as D.J.’s, I remember hearing about Cash and Miz. Everybody was dope, even when I came out to the clubs. Everybody had a different style, but Philly’s always known for good D.J.’s.

215: We’ve all read different reasons of why the Artifacts broke up. What were the real reasons for the breakup?

El: We were pretty much burned out. We were trying to make sure the fire wasn’t burning away. Once we got off tour and knew we were getting off the label, we were like ” Let’s just chill for a minute”. I didn’t think chill meant you go your way, I’ll go my way. Other things played a part. I had to get my shit together as far as my family. And as you get older, you want certain things. And Tame wanted to do his own thing. I didn’t choose to go solo as a career move. No beef. No fights. I haven’t talked to him in years.

215: How did you feel about Tame’s diss record toward you?

El: When I heard it, I was like “only one verse”? There’s really nothing to beef about. I just think, me knowing Tame, that’s just some shit he does. maybe he wanted to spark some attention. But I don’t think we were that much of a group where the beef would be that big. If they never heard something from the beginning, why try to spark something up? I never touched on that subject as far as him. When I heard it, I was laughing. I’m like “yeah, whatever”.

215: You released two Artifacts albums and now you just released your second solo effort. What are some differences since going solo?

El: My first solo album, I consider to be like the first Artifact’s record. When you first start off, you don’t know what people are gonna think. I tried to touch on certain topics and bring a different flare to the songs rather than just straight battle rhymes. I thought that was a good direction at the time, but what I learned is that people don’t want to hear that from me. It went over people’s heads. I learned from it. This round it was no topics, no talking about anything, just go press the button. Everyone’s talking about the same things anyway. Just write some rhymes and blackout. A straight action movie on wax. No plot, just all climax all day.

215: What do you think has changed more in the past 10 years, the audience or the music?

El: The audience. Even to this day, we’ll see different reviews on certain cats, and the people that we like always get the 3 1/2.
I don’t think the audience really knows what they want. Everyone knows good music, but somehow we tend to date our music in hip hop. If it’s five years old, it’s old school. I feel if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. It’s what it is.

215: Would you consider yourself “old school”?

El: Nope. I would consider myself the age of what hip hop is right now. I don’t think hip hop should date its artists. The best artists can’t get heard because people put them in a category. Now they call the 90’s the “Golden Era” of hip hop. What the hell was Melle Mel, a dinosaur? That’s the problem with hip hop. Just because the kids are young, it doesn’t mean that most people don’t listen to it. We don’t have an outlet because all the artists that we like don’t make records right now or don’t have a deal. That’s a big problem.

215: Do you think that today’s audience doesn’t fully understand or respect hip hop culture?

El: I just don’t think we get enough of it. Now, when you hear it, its backpack music. I don’t know where that came from. When we came out, we just wanted to be dope mc’s. That’s what’s wrong too. Not enough cats put that out there that they wanna be a dope mc. Mc-ing is being creative. Being original. Make people want to buy you because you have something going on that people are attracted to. Stay true to what you really are, rather than just doing something that you think will sell.

215: I always considered you a purist as far as music is concerned. What would be your perfect hip hop world?

El: Everybody would have rules. You would have to follow guidelines of what is considered good music. And if you just want to sell out, there’s really no room for it. You would have to practice the laws of being dope. Not to bite or use the same beat. Don’t get on a mix cd and use the same beat, but make your song sound like that song. It would be some kind of leadership. And everybody gets a chance to be heard. And have a fair playing ground so that every artist can at least get a chance to taste it. Some kind of balance has to be made. Allot of young dudes are making records and it’s cluttering up the whole damn thing.

215: Do you push your kids toward music?

El: I don’t even have to. They’re doing it already. My youngest son knows all the words to this new album. He puts on my hat in front of the mirror like “yo,yo”. I’m like, you aren’t even 3 yet talking about “yo 1,2″. If I did push them, I would push them towards production. Be a producer, you can always make beats. be a DJ, someone will always ask you to do something.

215: Do you ever worry about your kids comparing you to the rappers on t.v.?

El: Not really, because I play everything. When we’re in the car, that’s my world, so they hear everything that I like. They’re like “I’m hearing daddy, I’m hearing Dilla, and I’m hearing Ghost” All the good stuff. Not too many curses, not too wild, no guns.

215: Artifacts were big on exposing the graffiti culture. Do you think graffiti is still as relevant in hip hop today?

El: Honestly, I see allot more pieces around my way now than before. Overseas, it’s still big. And now it’s a video game thanks to
Mr. Ecko man. They got miniature toys out. The clothing is still big. There’s always gonna be an outlet for graffiti. Just like hip hop, it took a life of itself. I think now it’s just much smarter and way more lucrative than just trying to get into a gallery. I was in Croatia and dude was telling me about a graffiti school. Not a class, a school. Damn.

215: Describe the new album and why the person reading this should buy it.

El: The new album is something unusual because for the type of record it is, you don’t hear it enough. I’m not on a mission for myself. The album is topic free. It’s a straight free record. You got Illmind, you got Fusion, K-Def, J Rawls, Saukrates, DJ Revolution, Frequency, Jake One, you got O.C, Sean Price. Revolution does the cuts on his joint, which is sick. I feel like he gave me too much. I didn’t expect all that. It’s a record for today that is rare and I hope people will enjoy it. It stands for true hip hop. It stands for what people really want to hear. I would hope.

215: Last words?

El: Get ready for the new project this fall with me and K-Def. The title is “Ghetto Man meets Mean Johnny Barrows - Theme Music”.
Get ready for that, it’s the next one coming.

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