Monday, September 24, 2007

New Interview: ClaAs

By Erin Rice

Local underground rapper ClaAs stopped by the Pegasus News offices recently to talk about his upcoming full-length album, how he got started in the industry, the DFW rap scene, and more.

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ClaAs

Pegasus News: How did you get started making music; what brought you into this industry?

ClaAs: I have always liked music. We used to mess around in high school. You know like old school stuff like playing pencils on desks, and just freestyling. We would sit in basketball, during study halls, not doing study hall stuff. Over time, people would tell me, “wow, you’re good at this… you’re good at that.” But you never really think about it.

Later on down the road, I started working for a website that dealt with music, doing write-ups for them. On one side they were a website for music, on the other side it was a guy trying to get a record label started, so I met a dude named McNasty from Oklahoma, and he rapped, and so one day we just kinda got together and I showed him some stuff I had done, and from there, that’s where it got started. He came down here, and I was going to North Texas, and we just set up in my dorm room and did this group thing called Full Scale Riot. So that’s how I got started. But that wasn’t until 2001. I ahven’t been doing it for too long.

PN: What did you study at UNT?

ClaAs: Marketing and advertising. I think I’m getting pretty good at it.

PN: That’s good for the business side.

ClaAs: It’s very good. It’s allowed me to advance myself through different ways that I learned out there, different ways of promoting myself, with some little gimmicks here and there, like releasing CDs for free and stuff like that.

PN: That is one of the criticisms that you often hear of the Dallas rap and hip-hop scene, that the artists just don’t know how to promote themselves, they don’t know the business side.

ClaAs: I would say yes. I know a bunch of people out here that, I just think have way more talent that I do. I’m good at promoting myself and I think that there is a certain fan base for my music that happens to be gripping on to what I do. I think these guys, some of the guys out here, have a good shot to be national. They’re just not business minded, but they are musically minded. I guess they are just waiting for it to come to them, when really you have to go out there and get it.

PN: With the saturation in the market…

ClaAs: Yes, very oversaturated.

PN: Tell me about signing up with Seventh Seal Entertainment. What has this done for you and your career so far?

ClaAs: A lot more fans. They had their own following and it was just kind of a good mix. I have known the guys for a while, and the label I was on previously – they were cool people – I just didn’t feel like they did enough for me to get my name out there. I felt like I was doing more on my own, so there really was no reason for me to be there. But with Seventh Seal it’s the exact opposite. They are all about promotion, and all the artists on there, in my opinion, are really good artists. Everybody has their own style and everybody has a pretty large fan base that they are bringing to the label. I just thought it was a good fit. So far it’s been good. I’ve gotten a lot more fans and a lot more opportunities in the one or two months that I have been on there so far.

PN: Where are they based?

ClaAs: Iowa, right now. Two of the main guys are in Iowa, and then there’s me here. That’s pretty much it. It’s cool though, even though we’re far away, everything is still pretty tight. It’s not lie most people think, you know, it’s not like a normal internet [label]. There are a lot of internet labels and nothing gets done. But on our end, a lot is getting done, a lot behind the scenes to make it more of a major thing.

PN: How does this jive with your status – I know that you, in previous blog posts and whatnot, really stick to that underground artist image. Do you still consider yourself an underground artist? Do you think this changes that at all?

ClaAs: No, no. They’re underground, too, the whole label is pretty much an underground FTI. There was a movement started for a while like the Cottonmouth Kings and Tech 9 started in on it - and the Cottonmouth Kings are actually who I think started it – it’s the Fuck The Industry movement. So we’re still all underground. I still consider myself underground. I’m not on radio, I’m not on TV. Besides stuff like this, I’m not on magazines, there’s not very much print. At least not that’s been good, it’s a lot of hater stuff. I would say I’m underground, just underground with a little bigger fan base. There’s underground and then there’s that midstream where people like Cage, Tech 9, Cottonmouth Kings are. Then there’s major TI and Mike Jones and all of them.

PN: You are releasing your first album under the Seventh Seal Label soon called The Experiment. Can tell me a little bit about the album and what influences we’ll hear on it. And of course you’ve had some delays [releasing it] as well…

ClaAs: I delayed it myself. It was going to be an EP. I recorded some and I just didn’t like some of the stuff that came out. So I decided to hold off and do a mix tape instead to just hold people over. It will be a full album, probably December - end of the year. It’s still me, just some more changing. Each album I like to change stuff up. So this one’s a little more wordy, you know, I like to play around with words, see what I can do. The overall sound is great. It’s got something for everyone. There is some solemn stuff, some party stuff. Just my norm, I don’t want to keep it in just one area.

PN: For people who aren’t familiar with you yet, how exactly would you describe the music that you make.

ClaAs: It sucks. It’s the worst music that – if you don’t know who I am, don’t try to find out. Nah, but for real, I don’t know how to categorize it. I don’t know. That’s a good question, because if I were to base my music off of stuff that I’ve done, then, you know, I’ve played rock shows and real rap shows, and shows with groups like ICP, and it ranges, vastly. I’ve been told it’s hardcore. And I’ve been called a mix between Ice Cube and DMX. I would just say it’s rap. If you like rap there’s bound to be something you’ll like. Or not.

That’s a question I get a lot of the time and I just don’t know that I could put myself into one little heading and hope for the best. I would just say it’s a lot, it’s rap; whatever you think rap is.

PN: In your opinion, how is the Dallas and overall DFW music for coming up as an artist, as a rapper in this area?

ClaAs: [Cringes] I love this city. I love living here. I’ve moved around all my life, so this is where I consider home, but when it comes to rap it’s tough. Rock is a completely different story. You can start rock here and there are hundreds of clubs. Not rap. There are not many clubs out there and a lot of the clubs are not open to all types of rap. There are a lot of open mic nights and stuff like that.

The worst thing about it is there’s a motto out here that a lot of people know, that goes ‘if you want to be famous in Dallas leave.’ If you can leave and be famous anywhere else, you can come back to Dallas and you’ll be famous here. There’s more love for Houston and other [places] than there is for here. It’s the same artists – and nothing against those artists, because I love a lot of them like Steve Austin and Money Waters – but there are only a few people that have gotten out of here and done something with it, and there’s no push for anybody else. In my opinion, like I said I love this city, but it’s hard to be rap and to be here.

PN: What are you thoughts on the direction of mainstream rap and hip-hop culture? Several people that I get in here are pretty against it and the top 10, the top 40 stations, and whatnot.

ClaAs: I guess I’m in that mix then. I give credit where credit’s due and there are a lot of good people out there. The music is great, the music. Everything being put on top of that music isn’t that great. Unfortunately, the radio stations out here, that’s all they play. I’ve gone to other places around the country and there is a lot of local love on their radio stations, on their top 40 hip-hop stations. But the mainstream, it’s something that needs to change. We’re kind of stuck in a rut and everybody sounds the same and everybody is doing the same thing. It’s like a fraternity, the only way you get to be in there is if you knew somebody else who made it in there and they bring you along. Other than that it’s a long road.

PN: It also seems that a lot of the music played on your basic rap stations could be played on KISS stations as well…

ClaAs: There is! I will be in my car at times and be on 97.9 and think that song’s good, but I really don’t want to hear it. Then I’ll flip to 104 and it’s a little further along in that song, then 106.7, it’s the same song. Then you think, the only thing I got left is maybe to hear a little Justin Timberlake or something on 106.1, but they’re playing that same song. I’m just waiting for The Edge to jump in there; we’re all screwed at that point.

PN: So where in town do you play? Where can people see you live here? You have a show in Houston and another outside the state…

ClaAs: You know I play at Tomcats now and then. I played at The Door actually.

PN: Really?

ClaAs: I have done some weird shows. What’s it called that used to be open… the Galaxy Club. I played with Rehab there. They got shut down like right after the Rehab show. The feds came in clearing things out; it was bad. I have been trying to jump on some shows with friends of mine at Curtain [Club[, but it’s hard to get in… but they have a long-standing history. It’s one up, so I’ve been trying to get in there with them. So we’ll see.

Honestly, I haven’t done many shows around here, even though I’m from here. It’s bad because I can get shows in Houston and everywhere else, more than I can get shows here. Not many bookers and promoters that are looking to do a wide range of music. You go in there, watch a lot of shows, and you really can’t tell from the first group to the last group whether there has ever been a change or if it’s just one big record label.

PN: Thank you very much for taking the time to come down here and best of luck with the record release. Hopefully we’ll get to see you perform sometime around here soon.

ClaAs: Thank you. I’m here all the time!

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