Exile Talks "4 Track Mind", The Difference Between Working With Blu and Fashawn

Exile crafted the sound bed behind two of the 2000s most critically acclaimed rap albums, now he’s releasing his own.

The Southern California producer arguably best known for his work with Blu on Below The Heavens and Fashawn on Boy Meets World -- and to a lesser degree, as one-half of Emanon with Aloe Blacc -- prepares for the release of his solo debut, 4 Track Mind coming in October. Following his performance at the 2011 Rock The Bells on New York City’s Governor’s Island, BrooklynBodega.com asked Exile about the difference between working with Blu and Fashawn, his transition to stepping behind the mic, and his view on the producer-turned-rapper stigma.

Brooklyn Bodega: It’s gotta feel kind of cool after rocking with two of the artists you always sound the most seamless with then coming off stage and getting mobbed by people. You guys have a very strong fan base. You guys are resonating with a generation. How does that feel to you?

Exile: Yeah man. It feels good. I’m definitely doing what I set out to do -- manifest destiny, so to speak. That’s all I ever wanted to do was just connect with people and be able to have them enjoy my art form.

Brooklyn Bodega: What’s the difference between working with Fashawn in the studio and Blu in the studio?

Exile: Well it depends on which Blu you’re talking about. If you’re talking about the Below The Heavens Blu, the difference is that we live closer together so we got a little more building time. But Fashawn actually just moved to [Los Angeles] so we’re working on The Ecology. Really it’s the same shit. We just build and try to make the best music possible. We just keep on creating until we have a little pile of songs to choose from. Actually, they’re both pretty similar. They’ve both put out records and have gotten to shine. Now we’re both on our second ventures working together, even me and Blu. It’s the same shit. We’re just trying to make music that, first of all, we’ll enjoy and, second of all, the people will enjoy.

Brooklyn Bodega: You’ve got 4 Track Mind on the way. You rhymed on Below The Heavens. You rhymed on Boy Meets World. What made you decide to put together a full project?

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Fashawn Talks Working With 9th Wonder, Fatherhood, Reuniting With Exile

It’s almost as if Fashawn can hit the switch gears whenever he chooses.

Minutes removed from unleashing his microphone melting kerosene flow live and direct for the Rock The Bells’ masses, the Fresno, California native down shifts from rap star raucousness to his regular guy humility in milliseconds. He’s signing autographs. He’s taking pictures with the swarm of fans circling him. He’s smiling. He’s simply, Santiago.

BrooklynBodega.com caught up with Fashawn briefly and discussed reuniting with Exile exclusively for his follow up full-length, The Ecology, collaborating with 9th Wonder on the highly anticipated, The Wonder Years, fatherhood, and what surprises him about Hip-Hop.

Brooklyn Bodega: This is the first time I’ve seen you, Blu and Exile all rock together.

Fashawn: Word. That’s the fam. We all get to travel separately, but it’s rare that we get to travel together and people get to see the whole package. We even brought Johaz out, Evidence, Alchemist -- the whole camp; the whole fam. That’s my fam.

Brooklyn Bodega: The last time we spoke was at the 2010 Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival. We talked quite a bit about your background and your perspective and how you didn’t rhyme like anyone your age. You don’t rhyme like anybody, from a perspective stand point. You’re mad nice with it.

Fashawn: [Laughs] Word. Thank you.

Brooklyn Bodega: You also talked about [your upcoming project], The Ecology. How’s that coming along?

Fashawn: It’s coming together great, man. I’m working on it with Exile. I’m doing my second album with Exile and that’s it. I know I did Higher Learning 2, I did Grizzly City 3, Ode To Illmatic and I kind of threw niggas off track like, “Yo, what is he going to do next?” I’m going back home to my nigga Exile and we’re already in the midst of making a classic. I can’t wait until people hear The Ecology. But right now, I just barely moved back to [Los Angeles] from Fresno, California. I had a daughter right when [Boy Meets World] dropped so I was busy being a father and a rap star at the same time. I had to take some time off and be a man. I gotta handle my business. I handled business at home and now I’m back on the road, back in the studio and just grinding. Getting it in.

Brooklyn Bodega: Do you feel pressure following up Boy Meets World? That’s a phenomenal album.

Fashawn: Nah, it actually feels like a relief, man. I’ve been doing all this other shit trying to find a sound and it’s been successful to a degree. But there’s nothing like that first person you worked with that gave you your sound. I think Exile, he gave me my sound that I was looking for when I was 20 or 21 years old and that kind of epitomized everything I wanted to do. I think it’s only right that I’m connecting with my brother again.



Brooklyn Bodega: Your slated to be on 9th Wonder’s, The Wonder Years coming up. How was it working with 9th?

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Samsonite Man - Fashawn Interview

Fashawn reps Cali hard body.

You see it across the front of his Fresno baseball jersey or in the dozens of photos world wide web wide of him pointing to his “CAL” tat on the back of his left hand. You hear it when you hear him kick lines like “gotta adapt to the slang that’s spoke / a West Coast thang / out of town n***** get took out the frame” on “Our Way” or “To live and die in CA / from the home of PA (Planet Asia) / guaranteed to make it pop like a f*cking briefcase” on “Sunny CA” or on just about every other track on his critically acclaimed debut album, Boy Meets World. All California love. All the time.

And it makes sense.

Representing where you’re from is nothing new to Hip-Hop and is not at all what separates him from other highly anticipated “Freshmen” Emcees. For Fashawn, his environment growing up provides the lyrical fuel to his microphone melting delivery and visceral introspection. It’s the reason “Ecology” hits like a Barry Bonds swing and the imagery of “When She Calls” is immediately ingrained after first listen. It’s the reason he released arguably the ballsiest mixtape of the last ten years, Ode to Illmatic, where he courageously unleashes his personal trials and certified mic skills over the instrumentals to one of the most revered albums in Hip-Hop history: Illmatic.

Brooklynbodega.com spoke to Fashawn about the thought behind Ode To Illmatic, his sophomore endeavor, Ecology, West Coast Hip-Hop and a potential full length collaboration with BHF08 alums and fellow Cali “evolutionaries”, Blu and Exile.

BB: The first time I saw you was at a Roots Jam in 2009. I didn’t know a lot about you then. I thought you kicked it that night…

Fashawn: I tried man. It’s hard to come after Black Thought. When Black Thought passes you the mic, you just know that you’ve got to bring it.

BB: It’s an honor to have him pass you the mic, because he doesn’t just pass mics to anyone.

Fashawn: Right, he doesn’t pass the mic to “Joe Blow” from around the corner so, it was an honor to [rock with him].

BB: When I was researching you for a lead up article about you for BrooklynBodega.com so that our readers are more informed — because I think a lot of people are not aware of who you are even if they hear your name or hear about [Boy Meets World] — [the first thing I realized] is that you’re real humble.

Fashawn: Why not, man? I come from nothing. What the f*ck I’m going to be flamboyant and boastful for? I come from nothing. I’m just really happy to be here. If I wasn’t here, I’d literally be in jail or f*cking dead or some shit. I’m happy to be here and that my fans keep giving me the opportunity to come back to New York. This is my fifth…sixth time in New York in a year! It gets better every time. The crowds get bigger every time. It’s just a progression and I think I’m paying my dues. A lot of n***** are just paying cash. I’m paying my dues and getting the respect first. That’s how it should be done.

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WORLD MEET FASHAWN

“The strong move silent, the weak get devoured / Too many fake hustlers, the drug game is sour / Rather live like an animal than die like a coward. / Writing lyrics in the midst of / my n***** sniffin’ powder / Lines like it’s 1989 / Just tryna survive in these days and times…”– Fashawn: “Ecology”

Calm, wise demeanor in interviews. Unbridled lyricism on wax. Controlled aggression on stage.

Nothing about the Emcee known as Fashawn indicates that he’s only 21 years old. Born to a broken home in Fresno, California — one where his mother was a drug addict and numerous father figures moved in and of the picture to the point where the city placed him in a group home at the age of 12 — no doubt he was forced to mature quickly. Using rhyme javeling as his escape from life’s harsh realities, Fashawn unloads his angst injected, imagery laced lyrics in every syllable spit on his uplifting life story and critically acclaimed 2009 debut album, Boy Meets World.

Produced entirely by Exile (the same sonic genius behind BHF08 Alumni and fellow California Emcee, Blu’s masterpiece Below The Heavens), Boy Meets World chronicles Fashawn’s journey from youthful trepidation to triumphant lyricist. BMW is concise and distinct, discussing wide ranging topics such as urban strife in his hometown, his disjointed life growing up in Fresno, male suicide due to female infidelity all wrapped around kerosene laced cypher rhymes over a shifting soulful, yet neck snapping boom-bap sound scape. It’s packed with replay value and perspective normally harnessed by someone ten years his senior. It’s less like an album and more like an opus — enough to inspire a generation of bourgeoning Emcees after him. It’s enough to spark an impromptu internet search to discover more about the “kid” drawing Nas comparisons.

And thats exactly what we did.

The following quotations are taken from several Fashawn interviews over the past two years (conducted by various publications), describing his life, his emergence, his influences, his style — all in his own words at different points in his rapidly rising career.

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