Animate Objects - The New Hot Sauce
The Lyrical Lounge gets an exclusive peek into the minds and personalities that represent Animate Objects, a crew that sets out to call attention to questioning accepted social norms of work (music), love and life. Their name and music is an active social commentary, and Angelica LeMinh gets to the sum of their hearts:
ALM: What is your take on hip hop love songs? While “Beautiful” channels The Roots’ “Silent Treatment,” “Slow” reminds me of BEP (before Fergie) “Feel.”
Wondur: If you look at all music, there is probably no other topic covered more than love. Nowadays, cats are so caught up with being thugs they forget about love.
Artur: Love is timeless, universal. No matter what the genre of music, love will always be floating around. I need to look into death metal love songs, shit should be interesting (smiles)
Prashant: I personally liken “Beautiful” to the remix of “the Hypnotic” by the Roots feat. D’Angelo (Men in Black Soundtrack). And it’s ironic that you bring up “Feel” by golden-era BEP. That song was one of the main inspirations for writing “Slow.” You’re extremely good at this!
DJ Mabbo: “The Light” is one of my top 10 of all time. A great hip hop song is a great hip hop regardless of the subject.
ALM (sidebars with CZAR): I just had to say that I love the part when you say, “what a beautiful scene, (she) walked in with such a beautiful weave.” But can you speak on what beauty is to you?
CZAR Absolute: (chuckling) Just a heads up, that’s “beautiful lean” not “beautiful weave.”
ALM: Shucks, you caught me joking, but seriously though, how do you walk in with a lean? Is that some pimp limp shit?
CZAR Absolute: (laughs) With a swagger, not necessarily limping, but with a little swing in the hips, a little sway, you dig? I guess it’s possible to lean a little bit if your weave is heavy. ) Beauty is the ability to make a positive transformation from our innate beauty to that which surrounds us. We all have the potential to better ourselves, and we become that beauty when we become that change.
Wondur: Beauty to me is a rolled blunt on a summer night, or when you are in a moment so hard that you feel it everywhere, anything that makes your senses feel good.
Brian: Beauty is an amorphous concept in our society today because so many people are trying to rebrand it or turn it into the latest hot button issue. Since so many things in our society “must” be dumbed down to black-or-white issues, there are rare occasions for grey area, interpretation, or personal taste. It’s like the state of radio today, but don’t even get me started on that.
Artur: Beauty is unconditional acceptance, non judgmental and always forgiving.
Prashant: Anyone who has soul and passion is beautiful to me. Freedom is beautiful. Yams are beautiful. Black licorice? Not so beautiful. Aesthetic beauty is only a fraction of the package and depends completely on the product.
ALM: What do you think of the Barbershop movies? Content-wise, Ice Cube as the protagonist, were they an accurate portrayal of South Side Chicago?
Prashant: I’ll defer to CZAR. My barbershop was John’s Barbershop in Oak Park, IL. Wood paneling on walls adorned by baseball cards featuring the Chicago Cubs of the 1980’s and 1990’s. Man, I miss Domingo Ramos and Doug Dascenzo.
CZAR Absolute: I’ve only seen the first one and it was cool, but I’m from the West Side anyway, (laughs).
Wondur: I love them movies. The characters needed to be exaggerated a bit for a good story, but cats is really like that. Obviously they weren’t sayin’ the whole South Side is like that block, but there are plenty of similarities with a lot of streets and people you might see. Ice Cube’s character was an honest man trying to make something of himself, and I think they got how hard that really is.
DJ Mabbo: I liked them and I didn’t really think much deeper than that. Ice Cube’s cool but his recent movie roles have been pretty weak.
Brian: I grew up in the Southwest SUBURBS, so I couldn’t say. It wasn’t a soul-shaking film like Hotel Rwanda, but I enjoyed it.
ALM: Were you disappointed when you saw Common modeling waffle shirts for the Gap? Favorite album by Lonnie, and do you prefer the pre or post Badu model?
Artur: Common GAP, why not?
Wondur: It was disturbing, but honestly he has laid so many bricks in this hip hop game as the definition of a real MC that I feel like he has amnesty from callouts of sellin’ out, I just hope he got paid as much as the other artist they’ve featured. Can I borrow a dollar is my favorite and I hate to hate, but I didn’t like any of the stuff he was doing when him and Badu were clickin’, but I still got nuthin’ but respect for the man.
CZAR Absolute: Like Water for Chocolate
Brian: Disappointed? Not really, who am I to judge his career decisions? Anyone who can put his name on Like Water For Chocolate could model zebra thongs if he wants.
DJ Mabbo: Can’t really hate on Common for getting that money ‘cuz we all gotta eat! And at least it wasn’t Old Navy cargo shorts (laughs). It’s a tough choice for favorite album between Like Water For Chocolate and Be.
Prashant: I was a little surprised, but if he is making money that he puts towards making that music, it’s all good. I’d much rather see him hawking clothing as opposed to some wannabe thug. He has made dope albums before and after the Badu-izm, but Resurrection is his best. I hope this new joint makes me reconsider that choice.
ALM: Where do you see yourself in the middle of the Chicago music scene that never seems to stop flourishing?
Brian: There are a bunch of live hip hop groups working hard to carve out their own niche in Chicago, which is heavily rock, blues, jazz and classical. The city has historically not been very friendly to music, but with The Police performing in Wrigley Field, Lollapalooza going on it’s third consecutive year, and the tide changing in support of good music, we are finding a lot of local support and love for our unique sound.
Wondur: As far as Animate goes, we’re the new hot sauce, we represent the cats that want hip hop to be more then the shit they spoon feed us on the radio. As far as heart and spirit goes, there isn’t even a close second for a city with that. The underground scene is were the city truly shines, as I still feel like without help from LA and NY Twista, Common and Kanye wouldn’t have been able to be where they are now.
DJ Mabbo: I have no idea where we fit in, ask Czar.
CZAR Absolute: Chicago is the birthplace of gospel, the city where Sam Cooke invented soul music, the place where house music originates. Chicago has been a center for the blues, for jazz, and most recently a crossroads of hip hop where elements of east/west coast and dirty south can be found. Chicago is a natural breeding ground for music experimentalism, growth, and evolution. I believe that Animate Objects represents this “Center City,” which embodies change in musical sound and culture.
Prashant: In the Chi, there is a commotion in the underground. We are just waiting for the first artist to break out and set us all free. If anything, hanging on to past Chi legends is like placing extra rocks on Sisyphus’ collar. We cannot be compared to any past artists outside of Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr., although, I would certainly welcome any comparisons to Gil Scott Heron.
ALM: (sidebars about Chitown’s Peed Piper) I dare you to talk about R.Kelly.
Prashant: I dare anyone to talk about R.Kelly
Wondur: R. Kelly, that mafuka’s voice is so good he can tap lil’ girls, pee on em, film that shit and I still be in the car singing’ along to his shit, what can I say? He lucky he’s a musical genius.
ALM: Whose mama are y’all riding in cars with?
Prashant: I dunno. Need a ride?
Brian: YOURS
Artur: Yo momma for sure J
DJ Mabbo: I wouldn’t know, they put me in the trunk with the gear.
Steve: I am not at liberty to say due to pending litigation.
Wondur: Prolly some 3 year old kid who calls his Gramma “mom” and his mamma “Stacy”
ALM: Ludacris’ “Runaway Love” vs. “The Battle of Now”? What do think of Oprah’s stance on hip hop? Have you ever been in the live studio audience?
DJ Mabbo: We had “Battle of Now” written way before we heard Luda’s track. I want Oprah to adopt me.
Art: I do not know about Oprah’s stance on anything.
Prashant: “Runaway Love” came out maybe two years after we recorded ”the Battle of Now.” I wrote the music 5 years ago when I was in a period of heartbreak. I can’t speak to CZAR’s lyrics, and I have not heard the Luda track from beginning to end. However, we are certainly aware of the similarities between the two joints. Luda was born in Champaign, IL. The original AO lineup was formed in Champaign. Maybe he heard us at a practice? Haha, you can tell him I said that (laughs).
Oprah needs to cool out. Has she ever listened to ATCQ? De La? Common? She has a freakish crush on John Legend, shouldn’t that link her to some dope artists? I think she will be giving away hip hop cds as studio gifts in no time.
Wondur: Man when I heard that song on the radio, I was floored. Dat shit is dopski 100% on all levels; musically, lyrically, and storywise. I was just plain proud of hip hop, which is sadly a hard thing to do with half the bullshit they put out now.
Brian: I think Oprah would love our music, and we could walk over to her show anytime, the studio is practically in our back alley. I’ve never been in the live studio audience (missed out on my chance for that G6).
ALM: Being a former diehard fan of Scottie Pippen, (Rodman never did apologize to him in front of everyone after they won that championship like he promised) humor me for a hot minute by using hip hop as a metaphor or basketball, a team sport that only celebrates individual merit. Why does nobody want to be the 6 th man?
Prashant: Former diehard fan? I have two Pip jerseys in my closet that I rock before any Jordan one. Hip-hop in the band context is a team sport. CZAR and Wondur can’t run as far without our instrumentation and we can’t run as far without them. We play off each other and definitely have to run some set plays during our live shows. I guess if we were the embodiment of those Bulls teams, I would be Jack Haley. I kinda sit in the corner in my own little world and then after the set, I go sit in another corner. When I get playing time, I’m certain to pick up 3 hard fouls in 25 seconds. However, all that matters is that 72-10 record. We are shooting for a straight 82.
Artur: AO is the only player and the individual merit doesn’t come first.
Brian: We each bring different things to the group and the interplay of different concepts keeps us growing.
ALM: You say you rep for the “real hip hop.” What does that mean to you? (I know that
you “don’t make music, you make change”, but tell the peoples)
DJ Mabbo: It’s real ‘cuz it’s what we feel and enjoy.
Wondur: To me, the real hip hop cats do it to actually express something and not just look cool, I’m pretty against cats out there simply so they can tell mafuckas “I’ma rapper.”
CZAR Absolute: I got my start performing through grassroots organizing and being part of a movement that embraced hip hop as not only an art form and a culture, but a vehicle of social change. I’m talking about a culture of visual arts (graf writing), audio arts (dj-ing), literary arts (Emceeing), and kinetic arts (breaking). Hip hop is the child of ALL people. However, I’m aware that all children must grow and as hip hop does so, those of us who represent it must embrace not only its beauty but its faults as well.
Steve: To me, real hip hop comes from individuals trying to make art with what they are doing, and that means drawing on the full range of experience, lyrically and musically. That means going beyond the old, rehashed subject matter that pop lyrics have fallen into to actually say something different that expresses who you are.
Brian: I feel that the media should stop using Rap and Hip Hop interchangeably or recognize Live Hip Hop as different from Hip-Hop/Rap; Hip Hop and distinguish that Live Hip Hop (like ours) is more instrumental, soul, jazz influenced music from Rap the clubby, cash/money/cars/clothes/hos radio fare.
Prashant: There was a time when poets were emcees. That was when hip-hop was real. Poignant social commentary sparked by real-life experiences. There are not too many “real” emcees out there. We happen to have two in our group.
ALM: Go on and plug anything you think is important.
CZAR Absolute: Unity, Peace, Love
Prashant:Life.
Brian: Vote for us in the iGo Audio Emissions contest: http://www.igocars.org/igoaudioemissions/vote. No more Bush.
Art: GO POLAND 2012!!!
Wondur: I’m Wondur the bastard son of Animate Objects, which started as a side project to me ‘cuz I’m full-time with my other hip hop group Dynamic Vibrations, (album coming soon) but we’re all family, so if you see Animate goin’ somewhere, DV will most likely be a part of it. I like to think that DV’s my wife and Animate is my mistress and in my house, that’s cool with both of ‘em, so that’s about it…
If you’re lookin’ for plugs for Chicago peeps doin’ it right: Treologic, Pacifics, Garden Music, Phillip Morris, Idris Goodwin, Maker, DJ Intel, DJ Pickel, Qadraphonics, Chi Sky, Network, Trump Tight, Ben Official, Verbal Kent, etc.
So, that’s that! Straight from the mouths of humans. The guys are in almost complete consensus in choosing Lisa Bonet over Janet Jackson (in both categories of child actresses on The Cosby Show and Diffr’nt Strokes respectively and inspiration of Lenny Kravitz and O-town songs, though one-I’ll let you guess who-said “fuck O-town and fuck Lenny”) and range from doing all to none of their grocery shopping from Trader Joe’s. Soul music most certainly has its place in hip hop, bitches. But don’t just take my word for it, check for yourself at: www.myspace.com/animateobjects
