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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Lauryn Hill -- Buyer Beware

In retrospect, it was my fault.

All the signs were there, loitering for the better part of the aughts, screaming out like nicotine warnings from the Surgeon General.

“Hazardous For Money Holder”

“May Complicate Checking Account”

“Purchase At Your Own Risk”

I should’ve seen this coming from satellite distances. I should’ve mentally prepared myself for another craptastic outing from one of the most important, yet consistently most disappointing performing artists in recent Hip Hop history.

I should’ve predicted that Lauryn Hill would shit the proverbial bed -- again -- during her highly anticipated set at the 2010 Rock The Bells Festival.

But I didn’t.

Instead, I trekked to New York City’s Governor’s Island packing a pocket full of unqualified expectations, impatiently awaiting my first live show from the Illest Femcee Ever.

And to say Lauryn Hill is anything short of the Illest Femcee Ever is asinine. It’s more than just the indelible nature of The Score and her solo, seminal offering, The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill. It’s more than her pristine delivery and ridiculous word play and Mike Tyson-type power punchlines like “even after all my logic and my theories / I’ll add a mutherfucker so you ignant n***** hear me” that seamlessly ooze into the air like lyrical incense yet remain potent enough to floor the most elite of emcees. It’s more than her world class vocals and her ability to touch heavenly octaves, stirring souls and shaking asses simultaneously, through every syllable sung.

It’s more than that.

Lauryn Hill’s resolute standing in Hip Hop is cemented in what her music represents. At a time when females in rap subjected themselves to extreme sexual exploitation (some more willingly than others) as a means to progress in a male dominated and rapidly commercializing industry, L Boogie sold over twelve million copies of her 1998 solo album by embodying an image overtly contra to the status quo.

She wasn’t boasting about how she can “make a Sprite can disappear into her mouth”. She was imploring women everywhere to “watch out [because] some guys are only about that thing”.

Through her uplifting hymns, visceral rhymes and the rare creative trifecta of singer/songwriter/producer, Hill defied industry pigeon holing, crafted timeless music that connected with people worldwide, sold millions of records and earned millions of dollars. She graced Time Magazine and Newsweek and landed on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. She broke all kinds of Grammy records for nominations and awards. She became an international sensation while staying true to herself and the integrity of women everywhere. She kept it real.

She kept it Hip Hop.

But a funny thing happened on the way to ubiquity.

Before Lauryn’s stardom swept the globe, her own personal sideshow crept into the rumor mill. Reports of a torrid love triangle between fellow Fugee, Wyclef Jean -- whom she “clandestinely dated” for years while in the group -- and former University of Miami linebacker, Rohan Marley, raised eyebrows across the industry. When word of Hill’s pregnancy spread -- as this 2003 Rolling Stone investigation describes -- “the Fugee camp wondered whether the baby was Marley’s or Jean’s”.

At the same time, a rift formed within the group. Following the success of The Score, Pras and Lauryn supported Clef’s solo project, The Carnival, “emotionally and creatively”, with both members making guest appearances. But when Lauryn began working on a project of her own, Clef failed to return the same support. Not only did Clef’s disinterest frustrate Lauryn, but reportedly, it drove her to stamp an end on the creative battle the two maintained since first teaming up by crafting the ultimate album, free and clear of her bandmate’s assistance. That album was The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and not so ironically, it settled the score.

But where Lauryn Hill of the 1990s was exalted for her timeless talent and trend bucking bravado while her personal demons remained on the fringe of her reputation, "Ms. Hill" of the 2000s has pulled a complete image 180. Her otherworldly talent is now on the outskirts of her career, supplanted by a completely puzzling void of new music, a perplexing array of enigmatic (re: poor) showings and enough speculation into her personal life to render her timeless music almost an afterthought.

Her 2001 MTV Unplugged No.2 “performance”, for example, offered less of the empowered individual who exuded confidence in every bar previously and more of a broken spirit embattled by the confines of extreme success. Not only was her unhinged performance released as a twenty-two track double disk that, to this day, remains a commercial failure (moving less than 600k units in eight years); not only was it contextually lathered in self-loathing and industry resentment and depressing enough to invoke thoughts of suicide from the listener -- but from a talent perspective, Ms. Hill appeared to be a fraction of her former self. Her voice was excessively raspy, if not broken throughout, and her acoustic guitar playing was overtly amateurish, seemingly relying on the same three chords for the duration of the album.

And that was just the beginning.

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ROCK THE BELLS CONCERT REVIEW

The 2010 Rock The Bells Festival rocked Governors Island’s South Island Field in remarkable fashion, igniting New York City through a slew of epic performances by Hip Hop legends past, present and future.

The seventh annual festival series boasted a two-stage format and a loaded lineup featuring Snoop Dogg performing Doggystyle, Wu-Tang Clan performing Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), A Tribe Called Quest performing Midnight Marauders, Lauryn Hill, KRS-One, Rakim, Slick Rick, Murs, Brother Ali and more.

Headliner Snoop Dogg embraced the classic album concept most earnestly, as his Doggystyle rendition not only included every track from his seminal offering, but also showcased G Funk luminaries Lady Of Rage, Daz and Kurupt of The Dogg Pound, Warren G and several detailed video montages of the album’s interludes. He also performed fan favorites “Deep Cover”, “The Next Episode”, “Nuthin‘ But A G Thang” and The Neptunes produced, “Drop It Like It’s Hot”.

Wu-Tang Clan brought the ruckus as all eight original members along with Cappadonna and the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s son, Boy Jones (“Young Dirty Bastard”) eerie impersonation of his father’s savage on-stage gyrations and ubiquitous cornrows, controlled the thousands in attendance. Clearly the crowd favorites, the entire festival grounds were littered with Wu-Tang T-shirts and tattoos, signifying the impenetrable fan base the iconic clan has amassed over it’s seventeen year career. “Ws” were held high throughout the set as the Wu rocked through most of it’s culture changing debut album, “Triumph”, Raekwon’s “Ice Cream”, ODB’s “Got Your Money” and others. The raucous set concluded with Method Man kicking his verse from “Rockwilder” then crowd surfing through a sea of adoration. Rza also noted that upcoming Wu-Tang movies are currently in the works.

A Tribe Called Quest left it’s indelible impression all over Rock The Bells. The Queens quartet ripped through a number of songs from Midnight Marauders and Low End Theory, leading the masses through it’s timeless grooves. Large Professor and Main Source joined Tribe on stage, as well as Busta Rhymes and Swiss Beatz.

If there was a low point to Rock The Bells 2010, it was undoubtedly Lauryn Hill’s unfortunate sixty minute performance.

READ FULL REVIEW @ WWW.BROOKLYNBODEGA.COM