LaiF’s blog

Spitkicker Interview: Laif

I Got A Story To Tell

The world of independent Hip-Hop is like a labyrinth. It is an intricate maze sifting through the mass amount of wack artists, playstation beatsmiths, & unpolished artists to find that rare gem, a finely tuned artist. Laif (pronounced Lah-eef), is one such artist. By the first time I heard Laif, he already had crafted a name for himself on the internet as one of Hip-Hop's best storyteller, much in the vein of his favorite emcee Slick Rick, by .pinning tales on abuse ("Julie's Piano") to sci-fi fantasy ("Invisble"), even taking on the role of a sleazy photographer ("Make Ya Famous").  I recently got a chance to talk to the Laif about his upcoming debut album, Natural Selection, his decision to forgo the "n-word," and the state of Hip-Hop.  Read On….

SK: For those not familiar with you, can you introduce yourself?

Laif: My name is Laif, which stands for "Love for the Art Is Fundamental". I'm an under the underground rap artist from Baltimore.

SK: Were you born & raised in Baltimore because I've heard you talk about some stuff only a person from Philly would know...

L: Yea...I was born in Philly, and I spent maybe a quarter of my life there on some back & forth shit. Like, I spent the first 8 or 9 summers of my life there, then a couple summers during my teens. I did half my freshman year in high school there, then came back a couple years for college. My Dad's side of the family lives there. I don't know if you'd consider that "from Baltimore" but that's what they call me every time I go, - "cousin from Baltimore," so it stuck (laughs). I'm a West Baltimore boy to the core, though. Everything about me is Harm City.

SK: Whenever I talk to someone DC/Maryland area I always ask them about Go-Go. I'm gonna try to avoid that this time but were there any local Baltimore MC's you looked up to coming up or were most of your influences from other regions?

L: I can't say I really looked up to any Baltimore artists. I used to hear about Vital Signs, Twice As Nice, and Labtekwon when I started out - but other than that everybody around me were into the Club music scene. Vital Signs actually put out some vinyl when we were in high school, so I was inspired by that. When I was in Philly in college, I worked with a dude named Maestro from Long Island for a little while whose talent was so incredible, I did look up to him. As far as influence, I think you pick up a little influence from every artist you come in contact with. The bulk of mine came from the stuff I bought from stores though - K-Solo, Slick Rick, LL, etc.

SK: I know Slick Rick is a huge influence on you. What is it about Slick Rick that inspired you?

L: The way Slick Rick tells a story, the way he spit his rhymes it's like an experience listening to it. He'll have a story set in medieval times, snatch a story from the bible and do a song about it, street tales. You can't help but to be completely surrounded by the scenery. At the same time, all the b-boy swag was there - the fronts, the chains, the brand names, the ego. Plus he had party joints, plus he had regular rhymes, plus he had love songs, positive joints…his style is original. He's the consummate rap artist, that's what inspires me about him. There are still not a whole lot of artists who can rhyme on the level of "LaDi DaDi."  I'm telling you - when I hear the word "astronaut" I picture a dude in a space suit with a bubble helmet on his head. When I hear the word "rapper" I picture Slick Rick. (laughs)

SK: (laughs) I'm not sure what the first song I heard by you was but two
stick out in mind; "Invisible" and "Julie's Piano." Both of those songs were well-crafted stories, much like Slick Rick. Do you want to be looked at in the same vein, as a storyteller?

L: Thanks, fam...It's funny because I never really thought about it until I kept getting that type of feedback. I was just making songs. Then I had this thing where I didn't want to be boxed in, but now I don't mind. I've pretty much accepted it and embrace the designation now. I figure since so many people want to bring you "real" rap, everybody's on that street reporter shit, the news from the streets...I'll step up and give you a sit-com, or a sci-fi flick, or a prime time drama. It really doesn't matter what they call me because at any time I can put down the storybook and get loose just as easily.

SK: You also produced "Chaotic" one of my favorite jawns off of Mercury Waters album Destiny:Or:Destination. What got you into production?

L: The dude Maestro got me into producing. In like '93 I was one half of a duo called Mad Science. My partner was already working with people so I just I just fell in line. Maestro was already his producer, so he became mine. During that time Maestro started showing me how to work the ASR-10. Before he showed me the ASR-10, I was just looping other people's beats on a double tape deck or rhyming off instrumentals from 12" and breakbeat records.

SK: I know that you have consciously removed the word nigger from your vocabulary and using it in songs. Why?

L: Well I had a talk with my grandmother about it. She pretty much told me to pay attention to how we use it and compare it to how it's been historically used. I did that and didn't notice a difference.  The nail in the coffin was when I was watching Alex Hailey's Roots, and Fiddler asked Kunta "When is you gon stop being an African and just be a NIGGA?". All through the movie, there's the pattern of slaves calling each other nigger specifically to indicate inferiority to the masters. It creepy the way we maintained all that conditioning. I'm all about going against that conditioning from slavery where ever I recognize it in my life, because it's definitely still in us as a culture.

SK: Interesting... How did you feel about Nas proposing to title his album Nigger?

L: He says he was taking power from the word to make it as benign as the word "cracker" is to Caucasians. Now if Black people went to Europe today and started kidnapping Whites to work for free, cutting out their tongues to keep them from passing down their history, then telling all their children "You have no history. You are my crackers.", then in about 450 years Nas would have had a point. But right now? No. The word "cracker" is benign for reasons the N-bomb could never be.

SK: I agree. That statement by Nas was ridiculous. You're album has a far less controversial album title in Natural Selection. Why did you pick that title for you album?

L: It's another way of saying "survival of the fittest". I'm saying my music is the product of the evolution of rap music. I'm sure you've seen the diagram with the monkey morphing into a human being. That's how I see my own development as an artist. I'm mad nervous about my album though...

SK: Why are you nervous?

L: Believe or not I've never sold any of my music. When I started out I was running off tapes and giving them away. Then it was CD's. Now I post everything online. Natural Selection will be the first project I try to sell so I'm all the way neurotic about it. I've finished and restarted it like 4 times already. (laughs)

SK: (laughs) It has been close to 3 years since I first heard about the project. I'm surprised you're so nervous considering I've seen you get nothing but positive feedback on your music. Have you gotten past your fear to the point where you're really setting forth a plan to release the album?

L: Yea man. Finally. (laughs) I'm still tightening up the last 4 songs and I'ma go ahead and put it out early next year. I feel pretty good because a lot of really good producers had faith in me and pitched in. In the meantime I've been putting out free albums and I should dropping another one  before the year is out.

SK: What's the name of the free album you're dropping?

L: It's called How To Screw For Hours In Your New Bowtie. (laughs) I named it that
because its going to be experimental for the most part.

SK: (laughs) That sounds like a Prince Paul record. Back to Natural Selection. How many tracks will be on the album?

L: Thirteen.

SK: Thirteen. The number of change. What producers worked with you on the album?

L: I did two joints. I got Sole Vibe on two. DGAF Productions did two. Chedda,
N1 Illa, Edge, Obsidian Blue, King E, Nick The 1da, and Tylerhipnosis each did one.

SK: What is your favorite song off of the album?

L: Ah man...um...It's hard to pick one, but if I had to do it at gunpoint...I'd probably pick "S.Ha.Me", or "Me & My Brother"…..or "1st Thing." I'd probably just get shot. (laughs)

SK:  (laughs) "S.Ha.Me" is one of my favorite songs. Can you explain to readers what the song is about?

L: "S.Ha.Me (She Hates Me)" is about a relationship that ends because it's based on the wrong things. She's the woman who really doesn't love and accept herself, and I'm the dude that realizes it too far into the relationship. The theme of the song is I'm fed up with it, she knows that, but has too much pride to try and make it work. So I bounce after trying to hold it down by myself for so long, and she resents me for it.

SK: Is that song based on personal experience?

L: Yea

SK: Are a lot of the songs on the album pulled from your life experiences?

L:  There are a few. The song "Fish Outta Water" is based on when I moved to New York to "become a star". Its like a country mouse, city mouse. "Me & My Brother" talks about how my homeboy and I started out and developed over time. I think that's it. I have a few stories on the album but they are mostly parables. I didn't get too personal this go round.

SK: On "Magick," you talk about a shorty that was giving men HIV on purpose. Which brings up something I talked to Saigon about recently, considering the rate of HIV in the Black community why don't we see more rappers addressing the issue of STD?

L: Lump it in with all the other issues in our community that aren't being addressed by rappers. The creativity it takes to deliver these types of messages doesn't fit this tuff guy hip hop caricature everybody is trying to peddle now. It's sad because a handful of classic records had safe sex themes like BDP's "Jimmy," which everybody knew and Kool Moe Dee "Go See The Doctoooorrrrrrrrrrr."  If you look at them, or even on a more mainstream level - TLC, Coolio, and Salt-n-Pepa, who all addressed the STD issue on wax, it's clear to see it can work. But nah...rappers' heads are where the money is, the formulaic package. The get-rich-quick scheme. Rich like Eazy E. (laughs)

SK: (laughs) Chris Rock recently said that artists nowadays are focused on things besides music, like every artist has a record label, a stable of artist, a clothing line, a cologne & an acting career, and the overall artistry of music has suffered because of it. Do you agree with that statement?

L: Not really. If you look at it, artists don't really get all that stuff until they reach a certain level. So the artists that can't afford those things can't use that excuse. As for the acting, I'm not mad at that. I don't think any of that is related to the quality of the music.

SK: So do you consider the quality of music coming out in 2007 parallel to those in earlier decades?

L: Yes! The quality of the music this year has been outstanding. If we have another couple of years like this one, I think we can chalk it up as another golden era. I'm very happy with '06 - '07.

SK: I've personally been happy with Hip-Hop since '04, however you find a number of people who lament about how Hip-Hop sucks now. Why do you think that is and who are some artists you'd recommend people to check out?

L: Well I'm not gonna front like I didn't have some good stuff to listen to on a consistent basis, but the last 2 years have just been crazy. As far as the complaining, that really depends on which peer group you hear from. If you are talking about the average high school kid, he's really not complaining about the state of the music. Of course, if you were that age when a lot of today's legends were new artists, you can feel how the music is lightweight now in comparison to back then. At least what we get from all the major outlets. A good handful of artists are bringing some intensity and creativity back to it – off the top of my head, Joe Budden, The Coup, Young Buck, Little Brother, Talib Kweli, Prodigy. As far as under the radar, there way too many names I could rattle off. It depends on what you like.

SK: Where do you see your album fitting in with the current Hip-Hop scene?

L: It should be a refreshing tangent. Not so far off the beaten path that it turns people off, but enough for people to be able to point me out in the proverbial crowd. I don't take myself as seriously as rappers seem to lately which reflects on this album and makes it a viable alternative. I deal with a lot of elements from the past, and evolve them - more science behind the title. When people listen to my music, I want them to feel like I felt when I really fell in love with rap music.

SK: In I'm Gonna Gitcha Sucka there's a line that say "every hero has to have a theme song." What's you theme song and why?

L: If I was a hero, my theme song would probably be "Zanzibar" by Earth, Wind, & Fire. It's not much vocally, but the music is powerful. That's like how I am...I'm a soft spoken dude but my presence is intense. Plus, if I had to have music following me this would help me get my strut right as I step in to save the day. Then if I had to chase a scum bag down, it would change to "Goldenrod" by Roy Ayers.