Thurzday (of U-N-I) Speaks On Dom Kennedy & Solo Project

[MistaNova]

With U-N-I’s “Kings Keep Marching” EP less than a month away, I caught up with one half of the group, Thurzday to discuss the new project, how the group formed, his influences, the New West, his beef with Dom Kennedy, and Thurz makes an announcement about his work as a solo artist…

So going back to the beginning, how did U-N-I form?

Basically me and Yonas (Y-O) met in high school and we played basketball together, at lunchtime there was always these lunchtime ciphers, I was a sophomore he was a freshmen, and there was a few upperclassmen who thought they could rap, who thought they were the shit on campus. So we would always be in the battles, and pretty much try to outwit them and try to come with way more clever lines, and try to kill them in the battles. We just recognized each other’s talents and he had an uncle that was really into music, and his uncle gave us our first studio to record at. So we started this group called Rap-ture Camp and there’s a four person crew, and it was his uncle, you know his uncle was a producer, who also emceed as well, there was Y-O, this chick named Ablaze and myself. So that’s how we started, then in 2001 we just decided to merge out the group, pretty much just to make music that identified with our lifestyle, and that’s how the group U-N-I were formed.

Why did you choose to be part of a group, rather than a solo artist?

It’s not really a preference; it’s just the way it happened, the way it fell together. I always write songs by myself, and do a whole bunch of stuff by myself. My role in U-N-I is pretty much conceptualising most of the songs, then Yonas adds his little elements here and there, but I’ve always been able to operate by myself, the group thing just fell together.


So is a solo project something you’d consider doing?

Yeah definitely, I’m pretty much wrapping up a solo project this month, the release date I’m not going put a lot of information out there, I just want to shock a lot of people, so you’re the first one hearing this, but yeah, solo project is on the way.


Do you have a title for it yet?

Yeah, I got the title, I got everything; I got singles picked out and everything, about to shoot videos and everything. But I can’t release the title yet.


How does your solo music differ from the music you make with Yonas?

Its definitely different. I feel like with U-N-I we built ourselves up to pretty much, we created our own sound. There is no boxed in sound to what U-N-I can do, so with my project its still not boxed in, but I represent what I’m doing. I’m able to say what I want without constricting it to 16 bars or 16 bars and a 8, I can attack a song the way I want to attack the song. (I’m) not saying I wasn’t doing that with U-N-I, but it’s Thurz, like you getting only Thurz perspective in the song. I’m really excited about that it is going be different, and I think a lot of people will really grasp to it.

How about sonically? Does it have a different sound to the sound you created as part of U-N-I?

I’d say its going to be, a lot of the music is more full, a lot of the music kind of falls in line with my voice, its really a situation where you got to just press play man that’s the best way! It’s hard for me to describe what it is, but its dope man I think it’s the best music I’ve made in my career.


So to someone who was unaware, how would you describe the sound that U-N-I created?

I’d say U-N-I sounds definitely unique. We definitely try to bring you rhymes over non-traditional hip-hop beats. That was the main purpose of the “Love Supreme” and Ro (Blvd) doing his whole production side of the project was really to make it non-traditional, and different melodies and different rhymes schemes; and that was a growth album and a breakout album for us in my eyes. So I’d say its hip-hop based, its golden era based, but in space.


Other than a few bonus tracks on “A Love Supreme 2.0” we didn’t really hear much from U-N-I last year. What was 2010 for U-N-I?

In 2010 we toured with (Talib) Kweli, and we went to Japan, and did a whole bunch of little spot dates here and there, so we did do a lot of shows. I’d say 2010 was a year of recreation. I feel like I found myself more as an artist, and I figured out how to use my voice better, on tracks to cut through more, so it was a period to grow as an artist. I’m definitely excited to display a lot of stuff that I’ve been working on and I’m anxious to get it to the people as soon as possible.


You have the “Kings Keep Marching” EP coming up on the 15th of February, how did that project come about, and how would you describe it?

We haven’t really released a lot of music in this past year and a half, only thing that came out was the five bonus songs on “A Love Supreme 2.0,” but we definitely recorded records and we really want people to hear them, so this project is pretty much displaying songs that we recorded here and there, and putting them together, refreshing them, and making them free to the public.


So is it more of a compilation of tracks than a cohesive project?

I’d say it probably, might, be similar to a compilation, because we are doing this project with Brook from J*Davey, and we’re going to finish that later, we are going to continue that, but we’re actually going to have a song from that project on this EP, just to give you a preview of what’s coming in the future. And other records are from the past what you haven’t heard yet, so it’s going be like this is what we’ve done and this is what we are going to do in the future. So it’s that type of compilation just to catch you up, then give you a vision of what we are going be doing.


Who handled the production and features (if any) on the “Kings Keep Marching” EP?

Its very varied (production-wise) with “Kings Keep Marching,” I can’t even think of the features right now, I think its mainly us on there. But the production is from everywhere.


Do you know how many tracks you will be including yet?

I’m shooting for like 8 tracks on there, maybe 8 or 9, just a good amount. We have a lot of tracks, we are just trying to narrow it down to what we want on there that is the most cohesive.


Do you have any idea when we should be expecting the project with Brook (of J*Davey,) that you mentioned?

I don’t want to rush it, so I just want us to finish it first and then, we will plan all that. But it sounds very crazy, I know people are going to really rock with it; it’s an evolving sound for us.

A lot of the media is talking about the “New West” which describes the new generation of hip-hop artists coming from the West Coast. What do you think about that, is it something you see yourself as a part of?

I mean people always consider us part of the “New West”, so we are proud to be part of this new rise of talent from the West Coast. You know, there’s a whole bunch of talent out here you got your J*Davey’s, you got your Blu’s, your Pac Div’s, your TiRon’s, your U-N-I’s, Kendrick Lamar, that’s a whole bunch of talented people out here, so to be part of this class of artists, I’m definitely rolling, there’s a lot of talented people that I like to put my name next to.

The West Coast used to be known primarily for the “Gangsta” genre, but now with the New West it’s looked at very differently, what do you think caused this transition?

I feel like the changes have happened because, you know, people still do gangbang and all that, and there is still a lane for that type of music. But the majority of people are not gangbanging in L.A, the majority of people are trying to hit the club, and have a good time, (the) majority of people are trying to dress and be fly for their female at the club. The majority of people are not worried about just slanging dope, or whatever, just hanging out on the block and repping your hood or whatever. It’s not all about that, the majority of people are not doing that, and that’s why its changed and it’s probably going to continue to change.

With this whole new generation I feel like in the past few years its been like a revival of the golden era hip-hop and people were influenced by the J. Dilla’s and Slum Village, and now its kind of shifting to people like Odd Future, they’re like rebels and they don’t give a fuck, they rock out and they’re like a punk rock hip-hop band. So it’s just continuing to shift, and they all skateboard, and when we was coming up everybody played basketball, and this new generation they are all skateboarding and bike riding and all of that. So L.A. is always just going keep evolving with new trends and new generations, the “Gangsta” genre was the predecessor of what it is now.


How would you say growing up in L.A. influenced you personally, in your music?

I feel like in LA we have some of the most beautiful and multicultural women. So I know in music you always want to try and catch their ear, so we always try to aim to be as clear as possible and to catch that pretty female’s attention. If you got like a females attention, then she’s going to tell her friends, then dudes are going to start paying attention to that song because these females are feeling it. A lot of the music in L.A. is driven by the ear of the female.

And outside of that L.A. has this whole concept or ideology of being cool. So I guess the cool factor plays into a lot of music coming out from here now, like there’s different slang words that people use with different groups they are associated with. Everything from slang to the bass in the beat it all represents L.A., and L.A. influences that type of sound.

So going back a little, what inspired you to want to rap in the first place?

Definitely looking at Rap City with my older brother, we would VHS tape Rap City with Joe Clear; I didn’t really care for it too much with Big Tigger, but when Joe Clear was the host, we would try to videotape all the videos that were coming on. And it would be like the Redman’s, the Tribe Called Quest’s, you know that whole area of like De La Soul. And I tell you that those pioneers really influenced me to want to pick up a pen and pad, and pick up a mic, and rock crowds. So I’d say that was the main influence for me to want to rap and really just figuring out how to get a message across in rhyme. I thought that was really dope.


You talked earlier about starting off battle rapping in the playground. What caused you to change from just battle rapping to actually conceptualising song structures and putting together tracks?

Battle rapping only goes so far man, and it gets boring. You can only go so far man, then it gets boring, there’s only so much you can say about somebody and diss somebody. People don’t really relate to that you need to have songs to really be relevant in music and you’ve got to relate to people. So fuck battle rapping its all about good songs and connecting with the fans.

When I’ve been looking back through stuff in preparation for this interview, something that seems to crop up a lot is your beef with Dom Kennedy a while back, is that squashed now?

I mean, there’s no more beef I guess. It was definitely handled. I’m not really worried about any rappers. There’s too much in life to worry about some dumb beef over rap, so that’s all done and over with and it was handled.


Where did that beef come from?

Really man just when you are succeeding at a pace, and other people aren’t; I’d just say it was jealousy maybe. But we don’t really need to discuss all that, because its already dead; but just like in any business people are going have something to say about what you’re doing, because their not doing it. But he’s succeeding now, so much props to him. But the beef is over with and I’m ready to release some new music.


As well as releasing music you’ve been crossing over a little into fashion, and have had a very successful snapback hat. What made you decide to release things like that?

Just being an independent artist, you really need every type of article that can represent you as an artist. So a lot of those articles are going to be like merchandise, if it’s not a CD it’s going to be a t-shirt or a hat, or some kind of article, whether it’s a shoe or a bracelet. You need something that goes beyond music if you are an independent artist, and merchandise is the biggest way to create revenue for yourself, so that was the main reason that we came up with this hat and that was very successful, all the colorways have sold out, and we are going to keep pushing the idea of merch.


Fashion is a big influence on you, how do you think that this translates to the music?

I feel fashion has always been an integral part of hip hop with acts like Run DMC and Slick Rick, you’ve got to have that image to make people want to listen to you, so there’s always time spent on being unique with your clothing; whether it’s buying an exclusive shoe that somebody may not have, or limited edition sweater, crewneck or something. So I guess the clothing represents the music by being as unique as the music, you want to be like your music you want to be like a fingerprint, nobody has that same fingerprint, and that’s kind of how the fashion represents the music.


At this time of year a lot of people are talking about their favourite releases of the previous year. Was there any releases last year that inspired you at all?

I’d say Kendrick had the best releases of last year, you know with “OD” and I know his EP dropped on the 31st of 2009 but that and “OD” were my favourite releases; those were some joints that I bumped throughout the year, had good replay value, nothing else really held my attention I cant really think of what else was released in 2010…

Oh I like Wiz Khalifa’s mixtape, the “Kush and OJ” one that was good, Terrace Martin’s project was pretty dope, the Rick Ross (“Teflon Don”) was pretty cool; I like his ear for beats, he puts his songs together pretty well. I like the production on Kanye too, he did his thing, it’s not my favourite Kanye album, but I like the production on there a lot.


Do you have anything to add? Anything people reading this should be on the look-out for?

Look out for Ro’s (Blvd) project he’s dropping  it this year, I did a few records that I did with Ro on his project. Look out for my solo, when it’s coming out I’ll let you guys know! And “Kings Keep Marching” next month…



Source: http://hiphopfiend.org/2011/01/thurzday-of-u-n-i-hiphopfiend-interview/