7 and 7 number two: NASA (of The Presence/Uncommon Records)
The Honorable Paul Loverro A.K.A. Nasa is another dude who wears many, many hats. Coming up as a youth in the truly seminal NYC hip-hop scene of the mid/late 90’s, he was first hand witness and part time architect in some of the east coast’s most important avant-garde rap contributions. From the Institute of Audio Research to Ozone to Def Jux to Uncommon Records and everywhere in between, the dude is a survivor and vet in the game, both on the mic and behind whatever boards you want to reference…. thanks too much to Nasa for lacing me with this amazingly informative interview and DO YOUR RESEARCH.
1. you have seen a LOT in the NYC/east coast hop-hop scene over the last decade. what are some of (if any) your fondest memories that come to mind from 2000-2009?
>Man, in reality, myself and the scene in NYC, go back further then that. It really kicked off in late 1995, and most of my favorite memories of it are from 1995-2000. 2000 is when things started to become over saturated and influenced by outsiders. Things were really pure in the late 90’s. My life back there was really fun, a typical week would include the following:
Stay up all night Thursday Night listening to Stretch & Bobbito, Saturday hit up Fat Beats to try and grab some of the shit that I’d heard and then go digging at all the other record spots in the Village. A Saturday Night maybe we’d go see a show at Nuyorican, Wetlands or Tramps and the whole week I’d be going to Institute of Audio Research which was in the heart of all in the Village learning Audio Engineering and Production. It was a golden era. And it was all brand new, to everyone involved. There weren’t any publicists, the labels that were around didn’t know what the fuck they were doing. It was all about the music and if you got lucky and people liked your shit you’d sell like 10,000 copies of a single on vinyl or something.
Things have changed so rapidly, that it sounds like I’m describing something that was happening 25 years ago, but it really was only about 10 years ago or a little more. I won’t let that time go though, that’s what made me who I am today and where I want things to be today, just suited for today’s times.
2. when cannibal ox’s record first dropped, it seemed like a golden age for new rap and definitive jux was at the center of it. now it looks like NY has other sources to turn to for that and the market has taken a dip, so to speak. while elaborating on as much as you see fit, can you possibly fill in the blanks so people can get an idea of what made uncommon records a necessity in the later part of the 2000’s?
>Let me start it like this. In retrospect, “The Cold Vein” was really a culmination of what I just described. All the energy in NYC that was around in the late 90’s built into that record. You had two dope emcees raised on that shit working with that scenes most influential Producer. They created one of the best records of that era, but that record was promoted in a way that was different then many before it. Somehow they were able to create a true anticipation for that record, it was almost an “Illmatic”-like build up. That helped the record grab enough ears when it dropped that it was truly appreciated for what it was. People forget about that. That was a key line in the sand for NYC indie music, here you had a record that was representative of what was happening, but it was promoted worldwide. It changed the “game”. Man, I hate that term, haha.
As far as why that didn’t strengthen the scene here long term. Hmmm, I’d say initially it did. I remember going to packed Can Ox shows. My theory on NYC Hip-Hop, which has nothing to do with “Cold Vein” at all, is this-
A lot of dudes from the early era picked up and left NYC, a lot of other dudes stopped throwing and doing shows. When you don’t do shows in your city there is no culture. I don’t care if it’s NYC or Wallamazoo. So even in the biggest city in the world that will effect you. The cats that got theirs in the late 90’s and early 2000’s frankly did not pass the torch correctly. You never saw dudes that had that hot 12 inch do a show with some younger cats that was coming up behind them, at least not by the mid-00’s. It at least wasn’t attempted enough. I think that really neutered the scene here. It left NYC victims to the influence of sounds that were foriegn to New York naturally since not much was being developed here anymore.
We at Uncommon Records feel that we are filling that void. We are a New York label. We do shows here, we support young artists here, we support each other here. It’s all love. It’s about showing pride in your damn city, and your damn music scene. I’d rather die broke with my pride in tact. I’m 31 now, prove me wrong, I ain’t never changing and I’ve been saying that shit for like 10 years plus.
3. there was a LOT of wax dropping out of the east coast at the end of the 90’s and turn of the millennium (hah!), what happened to 85% of these artists? why don’t companies like fat beats or amalgam digital, etc reach out to the independent artists in their city? it seemed like all sorts of dudes were poised to drop and all of a sudden, those names were replaced with different ones and while a lot of “normal” (read: boring) music dropped for the masses to some type of response, all of the “exciting” sounds got funneled to the background. I see that uncommon is intent on preserving that sound and the direction that it was going in (thanks!), but straight up, what happened?
>Well, it goes to what we’re talking about mainly. You have 3 factors: You have publicists and promoters invading what we created and neutering it. They went in and took what we were doing that was raw and made it more accessible. Don’t get it twisted, there is a “Mainstream Underground” and PR people service it. Most of these people just want to hear tracks they can dance to, stories about their fucking tours or their fucking backpacks. Music that talks about good music instead of being good music appeals to these people. Fuck that, that’s where you get that “mediocrity” from. Secondly, like I said, people stopped repping in NYC. They left, or did shows elsewhere. A lot of these folks don’t understand something really simple- if you do a show out of town, your gonna get paid more then if you do one in your hood. It’s not a diss, it’s just if your getting in a car, plane or train, you naturally will be hit off. If your not, your getting ripped off. So cats go here or there, get they little 800 dollars and then come back to NYC like “Nah, I get 800 bucks to do shows now”. Haha, really? That’s not how it works dude. So for a while you had iller shows featuring NYC artists happening far from NYC. That’s why you had a lot less shows happening and why the scene here was in critical condition between the years of 2004-2007ish. Straight up, I feel like Uncommon is part of a movement of a few shows and crews that are bringing it back and I’m proud of that. NYC is on the upswing and so is all of the Indie Scene. The third factor is simply the individual. Some of those dudes that we loved from the 90’s either weren’t ready to do this full time and were just having fun, some were just unstable and couldn’t be worked with. You never know. I’ve seen many a self destructive career, especially then, when it was all so new.
4. as a label owner, ex-casualty of the industry (both in and out of the office) and music lover, what is your viewpoint on free downloads and their place in 2010? anyone reading this that knows you, most likely has 1-4 of your free downloads on their HD, so we know that you are supportive of the medium. WHY?
>I think as a business owner I’ve learned quickly that you DO NOT fight technology. EVER. I have been and am still one of the toughest fighters against illegal downloading. I don’t think it helps the artist one iota. I’ve fought against download websites the entire time I’ve had Uncommon. With that said, I think artist provided free projects are a helpful tool. I think it helps you get that fan base for your next record that may be a pay record. It’s almost like what radio did or was supposed to do. We just dropped “Law & Order”, a project with myself and Willie Green. How many people downloaded that that had never heard of either of us? How many people saw it were like, damn, Nasa’s still around?, haha. It’s about awareness. The more people hear those fresh ass beats I did, the more are gonna buy Artist X’s project when I drop a beat on em. The more they’ll check for all the rest of the Uncommon stuff. It works the same way for Willie and his career. You can’t argue with that.
I think the key is to blend the Freemium model with a Pay model. That’s where we are right now. On January 26th, we test this theory with Taiyamo Denku’s release. We’re dropping “Articles of Mind” in all stores online and dropping “Articles of Mind- Bonus Tracks” as a Free release on Bandcamp the same day. The “Bonus Tracks” will have remixes, alternate versions and exclusives on it that aren’t on the record. So now you have it where, someone that buys the full length is like “boom- bonus tracks” and someone that grabs the bonus tracks is like, “I gotta go get the real shit now”. That’s the theory. But, these days you have to experiment like that.
5. in the new decade, what are your goals as a label boss and artist? are your personal goals as an artist opposite to those of a label head?
>No, they fit together. I’ve always prided myself as someone that can wear many hats. My goal in life is to do music full time. I have a lot of confidence in myself and my ideas/visions for the business. I have another business venture that I seriously want to get started this year along with Uncommon. I think between that and Uncommon Records I can get to a point where I’m generating money as a business man and consider THIS my job. I want the artists on Uncommon to be more and more successful. It’s always a proud day when I can send someone on my label a check, even if it’s not a huge amount, for their sales. As an artist, I’ve realized I need to work with as many like minded individuals as possible. Every collaboration I do means two people are talking about it. Me and them. That helps both collaborators. That’s how you spread the word. Plus, creatively it’s more fun to work then not to work, that’s for sure. Fuck getting money for my work right now as a Producer, that will come. Folks have to know who I am first, it takes a while to figure that out, but once you do, you get a lot more busy.
6. in reference to your days at Ozone as an intern, you were around for a lot of music that ended up laying a part of the foundation for how we all work (and in some cases, sound) to this day. what was it like being a young dude around what appears from the outside to be a deluge of creativity? did you take anything from that experience that you would be willing to share?
>That was the cocoon for me right there. That was another golden era for me. I worked with younger versions of Anti-Pop Consortium, Mike Ladd, Saul Williams, Co-Flow, Juggaknots and the list goes on and on. I was meeting all my heroes and learning about new ones at the same time. I was about 19 years old then. I worked my way from intern to assistant engineer really quickly and recorded many classics. All this was around 1999. It was like “Fame” up in there. I think it was an idealistic kind of place for a period of time, and maybe that’s part of where I get my idealistic side from that I’ve held on to. Most likely it just strengthened that part of me being there at that time. I’m glad that I haven’t let go of my experiences being a student at IAR and experiencing the indie scene and then landing at Ozone during that formative time. That’s the foundation for who I am musically and what I do at Uncommon Records today.
7. for the people like myself who are beating their heads against the wall, trying to navigate themselves through this new electronic world as an independent hip-hop artist, do you have any advice for both new jacks and lifers on how to stay afloat and ahead in this game without drowning in the overflow of information being presented every 10 seconds?
>A few things, like I said, resist nothing (practically). As a younger business owner I was on some ‘Fuck Myspace’ shit. That turned out to be counter-productive. So when Twitter and other tools came along I was all over it. It’s resulted in lots of new and amazing opportunities for myself and for Uncommon Records. Use all these tools to promote yourself and be tireless. I’ve left an imprint of some sort on Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Livestream, Soundcloud, Tumblr, Ning, Last.FM, Youtube, Vimeo, Flickr, ReverbNation and more. Plus, we have our own site of course at www.uncommonmusic.net, we have free projects on Bandcamp, I do a podcast called “Uncommon Radio” and more. Of course our digital distro deal gets our music in almost every digital retailer online as well. You just have to push. Every moment I’m not at my day job, seemingly, I’m busy doing something for Uncommon, whether online or just doing music. Everywhere there is a chance to reach people, you should be there.
Let your guard down, don’t let money stop you from achieving your goals. The music business is not like working at a bank. You don’t get paid when you walk through the door. You’ve got to get yourself out there first. That goes for shows too!!!
I think what I’m trying to say is, open your mind. Things are NOTHING like how they were even 5 years ago. Move on and adjust or prepare to be irrelevant. Music is infected by technology and growth. The tech biz has always worked this way, where something new comes along every few weeks. Now music is essentially part of that tech industry. Get used to that, it’s not gonna change. Use it to spread music, spread word, sell music, meet people, meet listeners and to make money where you can. If you don’t, prepare to stop being a musician.
(go get that new Law & Order project available for free, as well as a bunch of other cold, cold material at uncommonmusic.net)
