Onry Ozzborn

Produced by Smoke M2D6 and directed by Tim Slusarczyk, “Flee the Colony” is the perfect visual representation of the mood he’s trying to evoke.

“Nathan and I created this video regarding the evolution of the world and it’s effect on mankind,” Ozzborn explains. “The video shows a husband and wife duo, played by the indie rock band Themes, enjoying some of the simple things in life while Nate and I play the voices in their head that they try to ignore and/or ‘flee’ from—like we all do on a day-to-day basis.”

Ozzborn is producing some of the most intriguing work of his solo career. duo plays like several close friends getting together to create a handful of organic compositions that just happen to be flawless. With appearances by artists such as Aesop Rock, folk singer Kimya Dawson and Homeboy Sandman, duo offers a glimpse into Ozzborn’s prodigious indie rap world while painting a vivid picture of who Ozzborn is beneath the surface.

Ozzborn is currently on the road promoting the album. The nationwide tour wraps up May 21 at The Shakedown in Bellingham, Washington. For more information, visit www.fakefourinc.com/artist/onry-ozzborn.

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The post RESPECT. Premiere: Onry Ozzborn Reveals Visuals For “Flee the Colony” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Rhymesayers, the nearly-twenty year-old independent Minnesota record label, is home to many great talents. Artists such as Atmosphere, MF DOOM, Brother Ali, Evidence and more call it home, and have released plenty of music through the label. That may be, at least in part, because the label shows some passion when it comes to releasing product. It’s important, as an artist, to know your art matters to people, and there’s no better way to show support than by pumping some cold hard dollars into those shiny circle things.

While the rise in digital sales continues, there is still a market for physical editions of albums, and perhaps none understand this market better than Rhymesayers. Throughout the years, the house Atmosphere, Musab and Brent Sayers built has released some extremely inspired pieces of art (that also house some pretty good music). Here are the five coolest album designs Rhymesayers has ever put on the shelf.

P.O.S. – Never Better
P.O.S.’s follow-up to 2006’s Audition found the rapper in pieces — at least in the album packaging. Never Better includes six transparent inserts, ranging from a skull to a snake to the SMPTE color bars. In addition to those, there are 16 solid inserts that come stitched together, and can be pulled apart and laid under the transparent inserts, making for some crazy images (as well as alternate album covers when re-inserted into the case). Think of this as a cooler version of your grade school arts and crafts projects.

Grieves – Together/Apart
Grieves’ Rhymesayers debut comes housed in a folded digipak that, when pulled apart, showcases some pretty great graffiti art. Unfolding the next two panels reveals the “Together” portion, which holds the CD, while the bottom grid (“Apart”) houses a bonus biographical DVD titled “Present/Tense.” While this may not be the most visually-striking album on the list, it gains points on the concept alone. The listener is finally “together” with Grieves on the CD, while being “apart” from him his whole life on the DVD.

Atmosphere – The Family Sign
Think of the packaging for Atmosphere’s sixth studio album as a classier version of Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. You get seven inserts emblazoned with lyrics written in silver foil and the digipak itself doubles as an actual picture frame so you can house each of the panels, giving you the option of seven different covers. Nothing classes up that empty mantel above your fireplace more than some smiling rappers. Also notable is Atmosphere’s previous album, When Life Gives You Lemons…, which includes a children’s story written by Slug.

MF DOOM – MM..FOOD?
MF DOOM has always been one of the most enigmatic figures in hip-hop, so it was only appropriate that the Rhymesayers re-issue of his long-awaited follow-up to Operation Doomsday would come in nothing but a plain foil wrapper. Playing off the “Food” title, the packaging is reminiscent of pop tarts and other food sold in microwave hazardous material. The nutritional information-themed label not only gives buyers a small hint as to the contents — but it is also a scratch and sniff sticker that smells like hamburgers (yes, really). As if that wasn’t enough of a novelty for every Williamsborough-residing hipster to scour eBay for a remaining copy, the inside of the album also includes a vintage diner poster, as well as an MM..FOOD? coaster.

Freeway & Jake One – Stimulus Package
Designed by the legendary Brent Rollins, Freeway and Jake One’s Stimulus Package is a crowning achievement in album design from any label, in any genre. The album features four Freeway dollar bills, along with four Jake One dollar bills, housed in a wallet. The wallet also has a slot for a digital download, in the form of a credit card. The whole thing is wrapped in a currency strap, featuring the album title. This may be the only album to make your wallet heavier.

The post The 5 Coolest Rhymesayers Album Designs appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

It’s been a long, tough winter for many parts of the country, and Minnesota has been no different. But, instead of staying inside and complaining about having to do more shovelling, Atmosphere and friends decided to hold a giant snowball fight. If that wasn’t cool enough, they filmed the whole thing and turned it into the video for their latest single, “Bitter,” off their upcoming album, Southsiders, due May 6. Watch below.

The post New Video: Atmosphere – “Bitter” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

In an interview with probably two of the most slyly funniest guys ever, we were able to chat with Alchemist and Evidence about this new chapter of their careers, how Lord Steppington really came to be, and their favorite projects of 2013. There’s a lot of sarcasm in this interview, so read closely.

RESPECT: You guys are childhood friends and you’ve worked together many times in the past. How did you guys first meet?

Alchemist: Well Evidence used to work at the Swedish Auto Clinic on Lincoln Boulevard. Ev used to work there, he was a mechanic and it all started from there.

So this being you guys’ first album together, what was it like not really having any creative restriction on Lord Steppington?

Evidence: Well, Brother Ali pretty much told Alchemist how to do the shit.

Alchemist: We owe a lot to Ali. He handed us a manuscript with some mad cadences and Ev transcribed them. He had a whole new cache of rhyme patterns once he came back from Europe.

Evidence: I’m into how the brain correlates with the voice. You can like rap left-footed or left-handed and it can really make a difference on your performance. Like if you rap with your left hand versus your right. Or with your right foot first or your left foot first. It’s basically like, if you use your left hand first you’re sharper, like you’re on the beat more. But if you use your right hand, more emotion comes out. So you gotta choose, do I want to be tighter on the rhythm or do I want to be a little sloppier but have more emotion with the right hand? The same applies to the feet.

So what would you say you guys’ style is then? What to do you tend to do when you’re rapping?

Evidence: I don’t know, like I’ve re-done tapes and been like man, I need to go re-do that left -handed because  it was tight with the emotion, but then I didn’t hit the beat right. On the stage, I switch.

For Lord Steppington, did you both work on the beats or maybe one of you worked more on the lyrics? How did you divide everything up?

Alchemist: Brother Ali did most of it, I just controlled the machine so it was basically his input. He did the beats as well as the rhymes when you break it down.

Evidence: Slug did the hooks.

Alchemist: So the whole family did it, it’s like Rhymesayers across the map.

So when did you two really decide to create the album? Had you been thinking about doing it for a while?

Alchemist: I looked at Brother Ali to the left and he just gave me this nod. It was like a mafia nod. Like you know when they make the nods for a hit? And I just knew it was a sign that we had to make an album.

Do you think your work with say Dilated Peoples or any of your other past projects influenced the sound of Lord Steppington? Did you guys try to go for something totally different?

Evidence: I think it was different. The apartment in Amsterdam, when we did a lot of it there, it just didn’t feel like L.A. The Netherlands is different from L.A. The sun’s not out all day, it gets dark early, we were looking at red light shit everyday. It was just a different vibe.

So you released “Step Masters” as the first single back in November. What made you pick Step Masters as the single?

Evidence: It’s the only track that doesn’t have drums. We just wanted something different. Because everyone’s beats are always crashing, so it was more of check us out and you’ll get to the bangers when you get the record.

Alchemist: The track was co-produced by Twiz the Beat Pro. He’s the human version of a skeleton. He’s crazy skinny but he makes funky beats. He’s ill.            

Evidence: Terrible name, great producer.

Alchemist: Great producer, great guy, on the come-up. Looks malnourished but funky.

Are you planning on releasing another single anytime soon?

Evidence: I think we are going to perform, go to Europe in these next two weeks and perform the album and see which songs react the best. I think we’ll be able to judge it off of that.

Alchemist: Did you hear the album? What should be the single?

“Mums In The Garage” with Action Bronson is an awesome track.

Alchemist: We are going to do incentives with every single from now on. Like this next single comes with a piece of gefilte fish. No ones ever done that. We’re going to make that possible. Free pickled tomatoes with the album.

Where did the title Lord Steppington come from?

Alchemist: He’s Evidence’s old au pair. He’s his old house sitter. You know, Evidence grew up in an English breakfast setting so we just wanted to dedicate it to the guy that used to look out for his house.

This is kind of a difficult question but now that 2013 is over, if you had to pick, what was the best mixtape or album of the year?

Evidence: 2013, my favorite album was Kanye West interviews.

Alchemist: Hmmm, Blue Chips 2, Action Bronson. Best mixtape of the year.

Evidence: And Ready to Die by Biggie Smalls. If you revisit it. Alchemist is a big Yeezus supporter.

Alchemist: Yeezus like shaped me in a way. I was going one direction and when I heard Yeezus, I just had to pump the breaks. Praise Yeezus. It was a brilliant work of art. It was a moment that he captured in all its splendor in electronified brilliance.

So what can listeners expect to see from Step Brothers in the near future? Any tours planned?

Evidence: No, we are doing the no promotion, less is greater thing.

Oh, kind of like the whole Beyonce secret album thing?

Evidence: No we are literally trying to see how many records we can’t sell.

Alchemist: Be completely non-existent. We book the shows we just don’t show up.

Evidence: We were like platinum before we even came out. We’re kind of some ill.

Alchemist: I sold a million props last year. My props went platinum last year. You wouldn’t believe how many prop units I moved. 

The regular and deluxe version with bonus tracks and a digital booklet is available for download on iTunes. Or check out a stream of the entire album below.

The post Step in the Name of Rap: A Comical Interview with Step Brothers (Alchemist & Evidence) appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

In our inbox this morning, we found the humble proposition to feature Rhymesayers’ newest up-and-coming artist, gaVen heVy, here on RESPECT-mag.com. Pressing play, we were happy to find a crisp Jake One beat that made good use of a killer soul sample, and a nimble, wise MC in the form of gaVen. Spitting all types of philosophies, gaVen weaves through the stomp clap with worldly, soothing verses and voice reminiscent of Jay Electronica. Though the hook is a little sleepy, it’s more than compensated for by the clever and imaginative rhyming and sweet, sweet, instrumental.

The post New Music: gaVen heVy – “Crab Legs” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

In typical Rhymesayers fashion, with just over a week to go before Brother Ali’s album hits stores, we get a look at the packaging. Rhymesayers remains one of the few labels dedicated to maintaing high quality physical copy releases, which is becoming more admirable over time as buyers shift to digital.

Take a look at the packaging below, which includes a huge 80-panel fold out booklet of the American flag on one side and the liner notes on the other. Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color hits stores September 18th.

BONUS: Take a look at Ali’s recent visit to Sway in the Morning as he dismantles the 5 Fingers of Death freestyle challenge.

The post Video: Unpackaging Brother Ali’s New Album appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Aesop’s new album, Skelethon, is dropping on July 10th. Rhymesayers has been putting together some featurettes on each song for their YouTube channel. Watch Aesop talk about the first seven songs on the album and hear a little preview of each record below. You can pre-order Skelethon here.

“Leisureforce”

“ZZZ Top”

“Cycles to Gehenna”

“Zero Dark Thirty”

“Fryerstarter”

“Crows 1”

“Rube ’81”

The post Watch Aesop Rock Break Down <em>Skelethon</em> Song by Song appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.