So, the hip hop public is just starting to see more of you from the “A Request” single to your full-length release “The Find”. Tell us what you’ve been up to before the Ubiquity deal?

I worked on numerous different projects with people… closely Braille, Soul Plasma, and Othello. Worked with Othello and Braille on the 1st Lightheaded album, which was all produced by: Muneshine, a producer from Canada and part of a production collective named ‘Wax Reform’ which includes Illmind, M-Phazes, D-Minor, Presto, and Muneshine of course. Other than that, just graphic design work, including CD design for the 1st lightheaded, a 12″ for Pigeon John when he put out his LP on Basement Records, and designing my crews merch and what not.

Your music has a lot of old school elements from the scratches to the grainy samples. How do you keep your art sounding fresh and current?

I grew up on the warmth of analog and it’s just an organic likeness I have for sound. I have to have my music sound warm and thick. So I dig for original breaks, layer my drums, and do my own little tricks I’ve acquired along my production path to keep things sounding up to date but with the elements that have been lost in most underground and almost anything mainstream. With technology, people seemed to make sound too glossy, I like it dirty one take, in the pocket on the groove drums, and thick bass. To
each his own though, this is one of my loves.

What should one expect when they pop an Ohmega Watts album in the deck?

Something a lot different than most hiphop they hear now-a-days as well as something musical and not just MC or DJ based. More actual production and actual musical value in the tracks. As for if they’ll like it or not, that’s each person’s taste. I can’t say everyone will or should. I don’t like everything, so I expect each listener to have a different view, and it’s all good.

“A Request” appears to have opened doors for you. What about the song do you think is so appealing?

Not sure. I just make what I love and it has elements of bboy flavor…I’m into the bboy culture a lot, as well as it has a lot of little change up’s that keep it interesting from what most people have told me.

You’re originally from Brooklyn but now in the Oregon hip hop scene. School the non-believers on the merits of the Northwest and how you would characterize the sound up there.

The scene is dope. People support good music and the community stays busy. Any place with a hiphop scene can get saturated and stale but there are cats doing their things well out here. You’ve got Lifesavas on Quannum, Boom Bap Project on Rhymesayers, Sleep on Up Above, other members of Old Dominion which the last two come from, Sirens Echo as well, Soul Plasma, Sand People, Libretto, Cool Nutz. Everyone’s got their style but overall things are moving out here. Numerous DJ venues from top 40 to old school classics and bboy, and venues that represent it all. So it’s GOOD I guess [is what] I’m trying to say.

The music is obviously thick with references to hip hop legends such as Rakim and A Tribe Called Quest. But what artist or group is hip hop’s biggest secret or has been unfairly overlooked?

Hmm…that’s hard to say. There’s numerous cats I know getting out and doing their thing in the public spectrum but it all depends on who they’re being overlooked by. Most cats I really respect are doing it…there were few I thought were waiting to be un-earthed but then they pulled a silly move and the music style changed and I lost respect for their work, so no one I can name at the moment.

With plenty design credits to your name, do you enjoy music more than the visual arts or do you feel they go hand in hand?

They go hand in hand for me. It’s MCing I’m trying to slow down on. I only write (outside of the lightheaded albums) when I really have something to say with a solid and bold meaning. Aside from that, it’s diggin,’ spinning time to time and primarily graphic design, and production.

Are you obsessed with anything else as much as music?

Not really obsessed with anything, or any one. I hold my relationship with Christ higher than anything, then it’s family and close friends. Other than that music is the prime time…work or play.

The dub influence on tracks like “Treasure Hunt” and “You Are Now Tuned In” nicely breaks up the album and your people hail from Jamaica. Who are some of your favorite Caribbean artists?

Hmmm… Peter Tosh, Dennis Brown, Barrington Levy, Junior Reid, Bob Marley (for key songs, but he’s everyone’s favorite worldwide) Bumps Jackson. Used to love Supa Cat back in the day, Ini Kamozi (forget how to spell his name) but those are some of them.

Your crate digging skills are apparent on the “The Find”. What is a release that you’ve been searching for but just haven’t got your hands on yet?

Well, once was Marlena Shaw’s ‘The Spice of Life’ with ‘California Soul’ on it, but it’s pretty spendy at some places and I just got the re-issue much cheaper anyway. I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone to have originals of some joints, it’s more important that I know the GOOD music anyway and have access to it to spin it. For sampling though, I take samples from low key places not your average spot. A record I’d been wanting to get though for a while is by Archie Whitewater and it’s self titled, but not
easy to find, goes for around $50 bucks, there’s this one song on there I want, and I stopped the hunt for a while, but I may find it soon.

Hip hop is now largely a producer’s game. Since you both MC and produce, do you feel you will eventually start to focus on one skill versus the other?

Yeah, production. I like MCing, and don’t think I’ll stop completely. Just won’t be my main focus.

A lot of the tracks have a danceable groove but are not necessarily “club” joints. Do you think hip hop is now missing a much needed dance element?

There’s a lot missing in now hiphop, social involvement, role models and yes there are a lot of tracks that not just lost the danceable elements but soul as well.

Everyone has beef with mainstream hip hop such as it’s too commercial, the spirit is gone, it’s fake etc. What are some issues you think the independent or underground hip hop community needs to address?

It’s all the same elements, just different battlefields. Some indie cats need to be schooled on where it all came from, as well as just learning about the music it was inspired from. Even though ice and triggers aren’t the focus, the battle rap and clone producers need to expand the art and originate using other things as influences hinting back at learning the music.

What other music or design projects are you working on right now?

On the music tip collabs with Quantic, Steady Diggin Workshop Crew (London), some remix works, and a new 12″ on Ubiquity. As far as design work for Braille’s ‘Hiphop is Music’ label and some works coming this year, 1773 a crew out in chicago, my homeboys Just J and Wisdm O.N.E. and a logo for a multimedia company and numerous others works and t-shirts for ‘The Find’ finally.

Have a Kanye moment and tell us the absolute greatest thing about you. And don’t say modesty.

Hahaha…I’m not hard to get along with, and I like long walks down some vinyl isles as well as the beach with a lovely lady…and the rest of this is going nowhere. I’ll leave the rest of any compliments on me to the listeners, supporters, magazines and fans.