Sethro in the 'Beginning'

by Sounni de Fontenay (Beats E-Zine)

Sethro, hailing from Washington State, is striving to redefine Hip Hop by bringing intelligence and meaning to an otherwise declining (quality, that is) scene. With a very unique style, this lyricist, producer, and performer creates a vibe that is not to be missed. Read for yourself!

INTERVIEW

> What is your background in Hip Hop? When and how did you get started?

I don't know what would constitute as what you consider a background. I mean I really didn't grow up in any hip hop scene or have any major influences in the music. Basically, I just always loved rap. I think my brother bought a Run D.M.C. tape when I was about in kindergarten. That was probably my first exposure to rap. And from then on I just loved it. It was pretty much all I listened to until I broadened my musical appreciation later in highschool. As for how I got started, I had this one friend who rapped, nothing special, just him and another friend having fun. One day he told me that if I wrote lyrics and he liked them, he'd use them and give me credit. So I wrote a couple first drafts, gave him a couple, kept a couple. Then on one boring Saturday, I wanted to see what I could do, busted out my mom's kareoke machine, put in an instrumental and recited some of the lyrics I wrote for my friend. So that's pretty much it. I started writing for myself, kept at it, kept adding equipment, kept advancing.

> How would you describe your style?

Well, I'm still young in my development and haven't formulated a specific, personal style, but I would call my flow mellow, deliberate, and focused. I know that sounds kind of indescriptive, but I can't come up with much more. It's kind of more like story telling or poem reciting to a beat. I mean there are influctuations in how I drop the words, on some tracks more than others, but it's pretty mellow.

> Do your rhymes have a certain message? Directed to which audiences?

Well they definitely have a message. To me it's all about the message. That is the foremost thing in my music. I strive to be intelligent, positive, and come up with things that, in my opinion, need to be said. There's so much rap out there today that says nothing. I mean you can go buy an album, one hour in length, and not one thing will be said. Sure it'll have metaphors, insults, claims of grandure, etc..., but what is it saying? I don't waste any lines, every sentence that comes out of my mouth means something and is a piece of the completed thought. I think we as musicians, especially rap artists who are speaking to a large number of lost, disillusioned, and angry people, need to basically be preachers. That's what I try to do, preach. Preach about what's right, what's wrong. And I put some personal shit in there too, but that still carries a message that I hope people can relate to. In terms of audience, I don't try to direct it anywhere. I know that my music will appeal to those who focus on what is being said, to those who like intelligent lyrics, to those who like positive music, but I really wish everyone would listen. I'm in this for two reasons. One is my personal expression. The other is to make a difference. And when you are trying to enlighten people or give them something to look at, you can't limit yourself in who you are trying to reach.

> Which musicians or events influenced you and your music most?

No specific musical influences really. I mean, the more I listen to different kinds of music, the more I appreciate musical form and try to put that in my music. I listen to everything, rap, rock, oldies, jazz, classical, you name it. You find those little sequences, that in no matter what form, are quality music. That's what I want to create those universally quality pieces. One person or group that I might say influences me is The Coup, a not so well known group out of Oakland, California. Their lead lyricist, Boots, always says something, whether it's political, or his view on this or that, he says something intelligent that people need to listen to. I think that helped me see the way it can be done and the way to do it.

One event that made a difference is Jerry Garcia dying. Now, I never liked the Grateful Dead, never ever listened to them, but the day after he died I was looking through the newspaper and saw articles and pictures of what this one man and his music meant to people. That was the day I realized that music really reached people in a way other shit didn't. I realized that I could hit home with alot of people through my music, and after that day I just turned it up a notch.