Death Chamberz Music Presents Interview of PHZ-Sicks
Death Chamberz Music Presents Interview of PHZ-Sicks
1. How did you get your name?
As every MC experiences, your first rap name is always horrible, so you have to come up with something new. I believe I was in middle school and I just had the idea that I was going to grab my science book, go to glossary, and whatever my finger lands on will be name. Fate was going to decide the rap name. Good thing it didn't land on opposable thumbs or amoeba. Physics can explain everything about life. It’s essential to it and I feel like that’s my role when it comes to music. The spelling and hyphen were all done just for aesthetic purposes.
2. What inspired you to become a rap artist?
It was a natural progression from the love of writing and just the love of flow. I can say in 5th grade listening to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's E. 1999 Eternal, I would just mimic their flow. I wouldn't be saying jack shit but I enjoyed being able to copy their patterns. As my writing went from stories to poems, it eventually led to writing rap songs. That led to battling that led to getting better at song writing and so on and so on. It's a great challenge to try to be a part of every aspect of being an MC and it never gets stagnant for me.
3. When did you start? Tell me about your discography, specifically your most recent full-length.
The start is in the eye of the beholder. I started really rhyming and battling around 14 years old. Around 16, I was putting out my own mixtape with mixes from all the great New York DJs at the time (Clue, Funk Flex, Kay Slay), that featured a song or two from me. It was a great hustle to have in school. From there, I put out a few full length projects but for most people, they will say my start began during my college years. In 2008, I had an idea for a somewhat connected trilogy. The first project was The Feature Presentation which had me over industry beats hence the word feature as also included the artist who's beat I rhymed over. The last song on that project was the first song on the next full project, Less Than Zero, which was a concept mixtape about an artist starting from the bottom of the grind, getting to the top, having success go to his head, people leave, depression and the resurrection of the new person he became. The triumphant. That theme continued onto "The Laws of PHZ-Sicks" in 2011. And now here we are, 2 years later, looks like a ripe time for a new project.
4. What’s your favorite thing to do when you aren't writing/producing/
Film and TV. If you listening to any of my music, you can hear the countless references to film and TV characters, themes, and etc. I'm the guy that listens to the director's commentary on a blu-ray. Each year, I head to Austin, Texas for a film festival called Fantastic Fest. This expansive knowledge of film has also allowed me to have a huge hands in my videos and co-directing my videos.
5. Who are your musical inspirations?
I will say it would have to be Prince, Jay Z, and Kanye West. Prince is the ultimate artist to me as he is daring, doing the music he wants to do, and his songwriting ability to me is amazing. When you put out a song like I Will Die 4 U and it could be a pop love song or a gospel song, you've hit something. Also bringing the emotion to music is important to me. Kanye runs into this gamut of an artist on his own plane. He brings that I'm going to do the music I want to and emotion to his track which is missing in Hip Hop, especially the mainstream. Jay Z is like the golden snitch every hip hop artist strives for. Lyrical, mainstream, and making a crazy amount of money doing what you love to do. At the end of the day, doing what you love to do is what's important.
6. What kind of music do you listen to today?
I rarely listen to music when I'm working on a project. I usually keep it to podcast like Spill.com, OneOfUs.net, and Rage Select. Other than that, a lot of soul from the 60s and 70s, and I have been bumping some of the new Pusha T, Justin Timberlake, and Diplo.
7. What surprises would we find in your music collection?
I guess the tons of disco that's in my collection. I'm talking about disco when it was all live instrumentation and before the synths came in and basically turned it into a one-note song. Bass grooves, catchy hooks, and beautiful, lush sounds. How can you not like disco if you have taste?
8. Today's music is about collaborations what "hot" rapper out now, you would love to work with on a project?
I would have to say Jay Z, Kanye, Kendrick Lamar, and Nas is probably it.
9. What do you think your listeners will get out of your music?
I hope every range of emotion. All I want is to connect with the listener through my music. That's what makes music timeless to someone. I want them to hear my music 10 years from now and be transported to a certain event. Happiness. Sad. Joy. Want to dance. All I want to do is be the music to the soul of someone.
10. What do you hope to do with your music?
Simple. I want to make a living off of this. This is what I love to do. If I can support my family with it, I've done everything I needed to do cause that would lead to me to use the same music and the same luxuries I get from it, to maybe change and better the lives of someone else with giving back.
11. Where do you see the generation heading?
It's really hard to tell cause musically speaking everything repeats itself, just in a different way. There is a gluttony of artist these days with how simple it is to become an artist or rapper. This is common to in the 50s, there were doo wop groups everywhere, people were jump into bands in the 60s and etc. I think the fat will be trimmed and the cream will rise to the top and all other random food metaphors I can use. Quality over quantity will reign supreme and music will be in good hands.
12. Is there any advice you'd like to give to young aspiring rappers?
Are you doing this cause you can't see yourself doing anything else in the world or do you just want money? That's the first question you should ask yourself. Once you figure that out, learn and practice. Learn about the business, the people and industry you're going to get involved with. Practice performing, be ready for anything, and take this shit serious cause if you don't the dude that does will be taking your spot.
13. What projects should we be on the lookout for in the near future?
My next project "The Moment" will be dropping November 26th of this year. I've already released two singles off of it,Coming Down and Black Women, and the videos will be dropping before the project comes out.
14. Any shoutouts
Much love to my friends and family, .the fans, Seanny Greggs, Scolla, Alison Carney, Mr. Wise, Lyriciss and the #HVNTS, James Dunn and Dunn Deal PR, and everybody that hast helped in this process
Woodbridge, VA rap artist PHZ-Sicks (pronounced ‘physics’) presents “Black Women”, the new single from his forthcoming album The Moment, dropping November. “Black Women” is produced by D.C. duo Best Kept Secret, who also produced The Moment‘s last single “Coming Down” (click here to listen). His last full-length was 2011′s The Laws Of PHZ-Sicks featuring the “Success/Failure” single (watch the video here). PHZ’s first release was The Feature Presentation, a mixtape of exclusives and songs featuring him with Top 40 songs and songs from the past, present, and future. Next was the 2009 conceptual mixtape Less Than Zero. He was a 2011 DMV Best VA Male Rap Artist nominee and has opened for Wale, J. Cole and more. ”The song was created because I wanted to take the whole trap beat style and turn it on its head for something powerful and something I believe,” says PHZ. “It’s nice to be i n the club and when you hear this, you can feel the love and power that’s behind it.”
Click here to watch a video documenting the making of The Moment.
Comments
Post a Comment