Conscience Interviewed on Dharma of Dope
March 15, 2012 If you haven’t heard the name Conscience when talking about Hip Hop before, I suggest you do a bit of web-surfing and get familiar, because acts like these guys are the future of Hip Hop. Having seen them open for KRS ONE last year and Raekwon this year, there’s no mistaking their hard work when compared to some of the other underground acts around right now. These guys are fucking DOPE. They know how to command a stage, they utilize their strengths and know how to downplay their weaknesses. They’ve studied and continue to evolve their craft. They’re also just really dope people. The group consisting of killer emcees Noetic and Stokes, and the intimidatingly beautiful and talented singer Lyndsay Johnston, mix infectious and soulful sounds with lyrics that contain substance and meaning, forming a true Hip Hop powerhouse. Still creating buzz with the release of their album Under Promise Over Deliver, last week they rolled through town with Raekwon and were nice enough to sit down with me and talk about Hip Hop and their journey. While emcee Noetic was busy taking care of things backstage and participating in on-stage shenanigans with LA the Darkman and Rakewon, Stokes and Lyndsay invited me to their tour van to have a post-performance smoke and chat. Check the full interview down south:
DoD: I know that last year you were touring with KRS ONE and now you’re touring with Raekwon, what’s it like to be touring with these legends of Hip Hop? Are you learning a lot about your craft and the history of Hip Hop along the way?
Lyndsay: Absolutely, it’s been INSANE. It kind of feels like you’re beside yourself when you’re sitting there shooting the shit with like, the Wu Tang crew and they’re just talking about stuff and you’re like “ok what?”. How did we come from like – this time last year we were trying to figure out how to do our own small shows in Vancouver and now we’re going across the country with Raekwon and KRS ONE, and it’s crazy! It’s insane!
Stokes: You start to realize that the whole hip hop community especially south of the border is a very small network of people and you just start to respect how tiny it is, and you know, that the impression that you give to these people, that speaks volumes and that’s really what’s gonna get you somewhere and so you learn a lot when you’re on tour with them. So you just try to be a sponge and absorb everything they say. Like, you know this tour LA the Darkman, he’s rollin’ with us and just a few days with him and it’s a lesson in the business every time you do it, and the more you do it the more you learn and the better you get at it so the more you get the next time.
DoD: That’s so dope. Now Lyndsay, I read the other day that the Wu Tang crew gave you a nickname?
Lyndsay: Yeah, LCA. Well, John their manager told me that last night he was like “We’re calling you LCA” and I was like “What does that mean?” and he said “Little Christina Aguilera”, [laughs] because I’m small and I’m loud so I will take that!
DoD: Yeah, she did alright!
Lyndsay: [Laughs] Right? I’ll take it!
DoD: Who are some of your main influences? Are there any newer rappers that you feel are on the same wavelength as you or that you feel are dope, that inspire you?
Stokes: When I was growing up I didn’t listen to a lot of rap. I always saw mainstream rap and I really disliked it for its exploitation of so many different things so when I was in high school I started getting more into underground conscious music like Atmosphere, or Classified… just people that were doing something that wasn’t mainstream and weren’t talking about drugs, money and all that kind of bullshit that’s all wrapped up in the mainstream. So once I got a hold of that kind of stuff, like The Roots – Black Thought- Immortal Technique, you started to see a whole other side of it, and that’s really what drew me into it. Anyone that has content in their music, that’s the bottom line for me. As long as you’re keepin’ it real and you’re always working on your craft, it could be nobody or somebody and I still get inspiration from that. I get inspiration from the biggest names in Hip Hop and people that you wouldn’t even know.
DoD: Do you feel that hip hop or music in general is playing part in the shift in consciousness that’s happening to us as humans? Is hip hop or music in general the catalyst we need to change how we think and interact?
Lyndsay: Definitely. I think that hip hop more than any other genre is a form of (obviously) poetry, and just telling your story and the awareness of the things that are going on and the more you fall into conscious hip hop you don’t hear shit about bitches and, you know “fuck bitches get money”, you don’t hear that. You hear real struggles that everybody goes through and I think that if you want to hear it you will. I think it totally depends on the listener with the music, because that person that’s making that music that wants to change people is only going to change the people that want to change, or want to be inspired by that. Because there’s a lot of people that listen to our music and they’re like “Fuck that, I don’t want to get on this happy bullshit”. So yeah, some people really want “fuck bitches get money” and I feel some people have a huge fear of themselves and looking at problems and they like to stick their head in the sand so they don’t want to change, they don’t want to look at the problems, they don’t want to hear music that makes them look at the problems.
DoD: It’s like an escape.
Lyndsay: Exactly! Like somebody who really likes gangster shit isn’t going to listen to Immortal Technique and be like, “This guy is dope; he’s talking about the government!”
Stokes: You can have a drug dealer that has one mentality or a drug dealer that has this mentality. Both do the same thing but they both look at it differently. And people that have gone through the same thing, you’re gonna hear a differrent side of them when they start to write verses. One’s gonna be from one perspective about, ya know, “Yeah I did that, but was it right?” We’ve all made mistakes and we’ve all done that stupid shit, but how do you look at it? How do you reflect on it now? Do you look at it like “Yeah that was dope… I love selling drugs and shooting people”. How do you look at it? You could have gone through the same things but what are you pullin’ from it? It’s the same thing with the listener, like what do you want to get from it?
DoD: Do you have any specific goals in your music career? Like something you wanted from the start like “I want that!”
Lyndsay: To pay my rent [laughs]. No, for me, all I’ve wanted to do since I was a very small child was sing. I’m a writer as well, so I just have always wanted to have a good medium. I love singing the music that I’m making and writing and having fun, and with people that I love, and I’m doing that now and it’s really cool, and I don’t even give a shit that I can’t pay my rent with it, that I can’t buy groceries, that I’ve lost I don’t know, like two pants sizes from pursuing this [laughs]. I don’t care because that’s the only goal I wanted was to sing and be happy. So I feel like we’re getting there.
Stokes: Just to be absorbed into it, to make it your life. To have it be your career and pay your bills with it, and yet still maintain humility when you do it, still stay grounded. That’s what really gets you somewhere. Just not cheating yourself and not being a fake.
DoD: Are you familiar with Tech N9ne from Kansas City? He’s a great example of that.
Stokes: Yeah! Our DJ just got off tour with him on his last Canadian tour, he was DJ’ing for the scale breakers, Noah B. Noah B just left our tour last night and another guy flew in to take over.
Lyndsay: Yeah, just hearing from Noah about meeting him and all the things that he does on his tour and that he’s able to do, and what he’s gotten from just being an independent artist and not selling out or anything like that and just doing what he knows and having full control over it, it’s really really fucking cool. It’s really inspiring.
Stokes: It gives you hope!
DoD: So that’s the dream?
Lyndsay: Yeah, and I know [Stokes] and Noah B also look at people like Atmosphere and Rhymesayers as a huge influence as well.
Stokes: Yeah, anyone that’s taken it upon themselves and done it on their own terms until someone else came to them. They didn’t go begging for anything they just did it themselves, and that’s really the mentality you gotta have, unless you want to be controlled by someone else. Tech N9ne, he’s just, I dunno…yeah, we all aspire to be something like that and as far as handling our business, we all own the label we’re signed under, I own the recording studio. Lyndsay and I both graduated from music production and audio engineering school. So we went and we got our tools sharpened to do this so that after we graduated we could execute, so we’re really into trying to do that and build that team and handle all angles of it because if you don’t you lose that control. So we’re self managed, self produced, self recorded, you name it. We manage everything. That’s how you learn, and the truth is no one else is gonna do it for you. Who else would be doing it? You’re always thinking you need these certain things, “Do I need a manger, do I need this person or this person?” and it’s like how long are you gonna sit around waiting? Just learn it and get out there and do it, and fuck it up and figure out! Make the mistake, because the faster you get that mistake out of your system the faster you learn. Just get out and do it, don’t think about it, just go for it. The people that are successful have tried and failed the most times. You can’t be afraid of goin’ after it and screwing it up.
DoD: How do you feel about the Canadian Hip Hop scene? I know Raekwon recently started a Canadian Hip Hop label (Ice H20 Canada), he’s got JD Era and such so I know that he sees a lot of talent up here. Do you guys agree? Do you think that Canada has been overlooked for a while and that Hip Hop in its purest form is kind of taking refuge up here?
Lyndsay: Oh yeah! We were discussing this one day with LA the Darkman when he was driving with us because he was just kind of asking “It seems like there’s a lot of Hip Hop up here, why is nobody getting signed? Why is Drake the only huge person to come out of Canada?” And it’s mainly because Canada is conservative as FUCK, and all the labels want is another form of Nickelback or Hedley or Jan Arden, shit like that. Stuff that’s watered down, it’s got a formula; they know it sells that’s all they want. They just seem like a bunch of old fogeys and they don’t know what to do with Hip Hop. Like I’m from New Brunswick, and there and most everywhere I’ve been in Canada most people really dig country music. And if you like country music whatever, it’s all good, but that’s the main thing that I feel like the record labels up here focus on, and they completely overlook Hip Hop in Canada, and Raekwon is a fucking genius for bringing that label up here and putting JD Era on there and tapping into that because obviously he sees what’s going on. I think we’ve been overlooked but I think that will change and I think that Ice H20 is going to help.
Stokes: And because there is no support structure really from any labels in Canada, no one’s getting signed or anything, and some of these emcees are the hardest workin motherfuckers. They work their balls off to get where they are. You look at like Evil Ebeneezer, Snack the Ripper, a lot of guys from Vancouver… Winnipeg’s Most, Classified…all these guys. You know how many years and how much time it takes to get to that level without that help? I think that shows a lot on itss own, that the emcees in Canada that are really talented and have that work ethic, they’re not sitting around waiting, they’re going to get it however they can and I think that shows a lot. But yeah there’s definitely a lack of support as far as labels go, they keep regurgitating the same bullshit every year. How many times is Nickelback going to get awarded the Juno? I don’t care anymore, I just don’t care! No one actually listens to this shit! Who listens to this shit? We need some new A&R’s. Where’s the young A&R’s looking at the actual industry? Cause look at us, look at what we’re doing and we’re self managed, we’re 6 deep and that’s our team ya know?
DoD: Exactly! Well, anything else you want to say?
Stokes: Yeah we’d like to give some shout outs to Random Humans, DJ Golden, Standstill Music, and DJ Noah B! Also keep an eye out for some new music coming soon!