Slamxhype

Slamxhype (stylized in all caps) was a news website founded in 2003 by Adam Bryce. It began as a blog, "bringing together his perspective on streetwear, fashion, and art.""Slamxhype | About" In 2010, contributor Anthony Hull interviewed American rapper Lupe Fiasco during the Steppin' Laser Tour,"Exclusive! Lupe Fiasco Interview with Slamxhype.com". cityofsavages.blogspot.com. May 18, 2010. followed by Anthony Coleman interviewing Japanese Cartoon the same year in August.Coleman, Anthony (August 10, 2010). "Japanese Cartoon Interview". Slamxhype. Archived from the original on August 17, 2010.
== Interviews ==
=== May 2010 ===
Title 	Date 	Video
"Slamxhype Interviews Lupe Fiasco" 	May 18, 2010 	
In this interview with Lupe Fiasco he talks about his journey as part of the S.O.T.S. team and climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, touring, the upcoming album and working with The Neptunes. Lupe let a bit of himself show and provides an in-depth look into his past and future as an artist.	In this interview with Lupe Fiasco he talks about his journey as part of the S.O.T.S. team and climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, touring, the upcoming album and working with The Neptunes. Lupe let a bit of himself show and provides an in-depth look into his past and future as an artist.	In this interview with Lupe Fiasco he talks about his journey as part of the S.O.T.S. team and climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, touring, the upcoming album and working with The Neptunes. Lupe let a bit of himself show and provides an in-depth look into his past and future as an artist.
 	
Anthony Hull	I'm sitting here with Lupe Fiasco. One, it's good to see you again, man.
Lupe Fiasco 	How's things, brother?
Anthony Hull	Doing well, man, and I know it's been a good 2010. But the first thing I want to talk about is something that I think is bigger than music, man. What you did with Kenna, um, Kilimanjaro. I-I've had the chance to interview Kenna and I know one thing about him is, he exudes a lot of passion. So I know, I'm sure when he came up to you, the passion that you've heard from him and talking about the issue, um, was it easy to say yes to that?
Lupe Fiasco 	Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know. I consider Kenna a good friend, beyond music, um, beyond the industry. So when he, when he bought it to me, he bought it to me as a, as a friend. There was some professional kind of attachments to it and what have you. But, um, it was moreso just for the experience and what it was really about. It was a personal, it was moreso a personal thing for him than it was a professional or anything like that. Um, with it being so close to his family and actually having people in his family that have died and was drinking with waterborne diseases. So for him it was even way bigger than any of us, you know, because it was like he was marching for his family, climbing for his family supposed to be. So right off the bat I was like, yeah I'm down, you know. I'm down, let's do it.
Anthony Hull	And you know one thing, we only got to see as an audience on TV. Uh, you really went through seven days, with, you know, 40-some people. Once you went up and got down, um. Talk about the perspective you had because it has to be a very, uh, life-changing experience man.
Lupe Fiasco 	Yeah, it's definitely, um. You definitely. It-it reboots how you think about the world, you know what I'm saying? The necessities, you know, and the unnecessary things kind of really, become really super defined, you know. When you, when you're up on the mountain you can't run you know because you contract pulmonary edema, you know. Um, which is basically, you drown, you know. Everything is a pace, everything that is at its own pace, at its own time, you have to travel light. You know what I'm saying? Like it's just bare necessity, it's bare necessities with some luxuries here and there in the midst, you know. It wasn't like a bare bone, just run up the mountain with a pack on your back, um. But even with that, coming from a place of such excess and wealth and everything else. To be there and for it to be all stripped away, you know. All your fame, everything is just kind of like gone. And then to come down from that, you totally kind of reassess. Start to repurpose things in your life, and you place importance on certain things, and you strip away importance from things that were once important. You know, it's very revolutionary, you know. It's very—spiritual revolution that took place for me anyway coming down and fully digesting it and, you know, every peace and power from just going to Africa to doing something as massive as climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, you know. It was a fulfilling spiritual experience.
Anthony Hull	And I gotta say, man as a viewer I applaud all of you because you guys have a platform and you know you guys used it in a positive way you know so. A big congrats to you, Kenna, and everybody who who did that for that cause.
Lupe Fiasco 	Thanks, appreciate it.
Anthony Hull	Of course, of course. Three years, man, since about three years since the last album The Cool. And it's funny because three years, but you're still always touring, man. You know, off an album three years ago. I-I think it's a very incredible, but now it's time for this album. How are you different from three years ago?
Lupe Fiasco 	Um.
Anthony Hull	Musically.
Lupe Fiasco 	I don't know. Within that, you know, three years. It was a lot of touring, yeah. It took place, I got an opportunity to tour multiple times with different groups and individuals from completely different genres of music. Like completely different stratospheres of music. And being in front of their audiences, and being in front of mixed audiences and I'm talking like six, seven, eight, nine, ten world tours, you know. Find yourself in different places and, you know, some places that you thought was super exotic turned out to be super, super duper normal. And other places they start would be normal, would be kind of off the chain crazy. So it's just that learning process, learning different things, seeing different things, becoming aware of, you know, what it's all about. Because there's a certain ignorance when you come into the game. Even, you know, two albums deep. Even three albums deep, you know. Unfortunately some people seven, eight, nine, ten out. Um, that you don't really get like. You lose the point, you lose the purpose of what you're here for. And I think over the past three years, since The Cool, you know. Having all these different experiences, just kind of fine tune and sharpen what I want, you know. I know exactly what I want. Music, you know, it's like I want to make punk rock music, so I'm gonna make a punk rock band. And then I want all my hip hop music to be super positive and in the light of everything right now, it's—everything is like super negative, you know. Making super positive music is immediately radical. I want to be radical and revolutionary in everything that I do. So it's like, just it. Just focused me on what I really want to do, and being able to articulate it, you know, and spell it out and do it. Because to have the idea and then I have to tool with people, like the Prodigy. And, you know, being in different places, in Tokyo, being different places in Canada, or whatever. And then you start to understand how you can bring your ideas to real, to reality you know? And so that's what happened between there and now.
Anthony Hull	Absolutely, man. I mean, that's a lot of growth right there.
 	
Anthony Hull	"I'm Beamin'," the video, uh Illusive Media did an amazing job on it, man. An amazing job on that. Now The Neptunes, you worked with The Neptunes on that, uh. I know you've worked with Chad and Pharrell before. There has to be a level of, you know, familiarity. And comfort in working with those two.
Lupe Fiasco 	Yeah, you know. I always look at those guys, Chad and Pharrell, and even Shay. Just that whole movement, the whole Star Trek movement. I always look at that as an inspiration, you know. Especially for Pharrell, I think everybody can kind of trace some part of their DNA fashion wise back to something that you know Pharrell did, you know. So for me it's like an honor, you just want some on some fan straight fairness to just like "yo, I'm with The Neptunes," you know. And then just on a, just on a professional kind of level, you know, the expertise that they have with music amongst themselves, you know what I'm saying? And together as a unit, it's just out the roof they can come up with 90 different kind of tracks right there in your face, you know. Walk away from it like it's nothing, and then you think like they do this every day, you know. So, just the depth that they have in music and the music that they create and the music they create for other people. So, you know, it was it was a blessing to make with the big homies. We toured together, everything together, so we're like a big family.
Anthony Hull	I'm looking forward to it.
 	
Anthony Hull	Now you talk about tour but you're on tour, you know, for this album. How's the uh, you know. I mean, this is a very highly anticipated album, so people want to hear the music. How have the fans responded, man?
Lupe Fiasco 	Oh man, lovely. We started the tour—it's the Steppin' Laser Tour. We started it in Australia and New Zealand, to be specific, different countries, New Zealand, and then Australia, and then the US. And it was crazy, you know. The first, the first inception of when we first. With the first performance in New Zealand, was on Māori tribal land and they did a whole ceremony welcoming us to the land as warriors and everything. And then we went and did the show, you know. And every song was just like an immediate reaction with the fans, was like wow. [?]—you never heard that before, but it was just blown away and we kind of had that same experience touring through Australia, you know. Doing different songs off the new album. Different versions, live versions and different stuff like that. And little teasers off the record, off Lasers, and kids liked it, you know. And when we got back to the States, you know, a lot of that enthusiasm I guess they've seen it—YouTube and all that stuff. And they've seen the enthusiasm, people's charged up so we'll go to certain cities like Houston and we'll be like yo, okay we're gonna do this new song, gonna do "State Run Radio" and kids will know the song, you know what I'm saying? And they only heard it on YouTube, watched it live, you know. You had six or seven kids, like "you must be..." you know, so it's like.
Anthony Hull	That's gotta be a crazy feeling for you.
Lupe Fiasco 	Yeah, yeah. To know that there's kids out there who follow me like that who stay on, who stay on trail with me like that, is pretty ill. So people have been vibin' with it live, that was the purpose of this tour. It wasn't nothing to come and like beat make a ton of mad noise and sell out arenas and stuff like that. It was just kind of like a comeback, introduce kids to the new music. Light, soft, you know. This is what it, now wait till the album comes out.
Anthony Hull	Absolutely.
 	
Anthony Hull	Lupe, I think a lot of people look up to you man, you're doing great things. You're very versatile and uh, is there anything you want to say to to—so many people love you out there. Your fans who love your music, man, before we, you know.
Lupe Fiasco 	Um, you know I appreciate the love thus far. You know everybody that does that came out on the stepping Laser tour you know um who I think next we like and trying to do the UK, I'm just going to go hit the rest of the world so be able to look out for that um. Album's coming soon, look out for that. Um, you know. And I guess the only lesson would be to just like, you know. That's a real, concrete kind of thing to carry with you. Is know what you want you know. If you know what you want trust me your life will become so much easier, so much simpler, you know. All of all the stuff all the extra stuff would just kind of fade to the background because you know exactly what you want so you know know what you want.
Anthony Hull	Wise words from my man, Lupe Fiasco. Anthony, Lupe Fiasco, Slamxhype. Get out of here, man. Peace.
 	
=== August 2010 ===
Anthony Coleman 	So tell us who's in the groundbreaking Japanese Cartoon ensemble?
Wasalu Jaco 	Graham Burris, Matt Nelson, Le Messie and myself… Percival Fats pops in and out every now and then…
Anthony Coleman 	With such a cast of creative minds involved with the project how has the band's musical direction been driven?
Le Messie 	The idea is more to ditch that car we driving and just run, let the journey take its course on things…
Anthony Coleman 	Could you describe the sound and feel of Japanese Cartoon we can expect to hear on subsequent releases from the band?
Japanese Cartoon	No comment.
Anthony Coleman 	Now that the first project has been released what has been the collective response received by its heavy punk highly political overly brash sound?
Le Messie 	It's kind of a modern revival of the 70's rebellious punk mindset. People are looking at it the same way but with a modern take on things. The new generation is learning for the first time how to make their own movement.
Wasalu Jaco 	Yea…
Anthony Coleman 	The first project being released completely independent was that intentional, and will this be the route taken for following releases?
Wasalu Jaco 	Yes and for now everything is gonna be independent… there's too much dependency in the world son…
Anthony Coleman 	Speaking on the creative whole of the group in what other mediums will we see Japanese Cartoon represented?
Le Messie 	The idea is to break the concept of mediums down… not to say whether we're gonna do something or not do something… it's about organic growth and whatever makes sense at that time, if it happens it happens and as of present it's happening!
Wasalu Jaco 	Yea, this table's really bassy son!! [Taps JC beats on the interview table.]
Anthony Coleman 	Has work been started on any other material for the band?
Wasalu Jaco 	We're constantly brainstorming and coming up with new and old things, the like, constantly working. It's a constant battle against the evil forces son. We won't stop till the evil stops!
Anthony Coleman 	Wasalu's involvement with the band was from the beginning remained a mystery until recently. Why was this strategy considered for such seemingly off kiltered project from the bands members?
Percival Fats 	No Comment.
Anthony Coleman 	Was there ever any concern for alienating the masses who were accustomed to a certain sound and direction coming from a person like Lupe?
Wasalu Jaco 	I always seeded leftism in my music anyway, so I always seeded different genres, mutations of genres of music so I think JC is a fuller, singular manifestation of that. Even in JC, you see different forms of music. Different genres of music within the music, metal, trip hop, punk, electro so JC's just an extension of that.
Anthony Coleman 	With streetwear and fashion being such a large component in the other passions what can we expect to see arise from that direction?
Wasalu Jaco 	I think we'll have really good merch. Me and Messie (!) between us and what I like and how deep we are in streetwear, we'll just have some damn good merch. Streetwear loves to rip off bands… now we get to make something dope for a real band. It's gonna be dope as fuck. Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck.
Le Messie 	you can expect physical manifestations of the JC sound in functional form.
Wasalu Jaco 	Dao lao tsu du lao ah (preparing for his Macau trip..)
Anthony Coleman 	What is the ultimate goal of Japanese Cartoon?
Wasalu Jaco 	To make really awesome……………………………… MUSIC.
Le Messie 	To systematically alter reality from the point of view of the masses.
Wasalu Jaco 	Oh yea, that too.
== References ==
Category:2010 interviews
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