Interviewed by Darin Gloe

It’s been a long time coming for this man and this interview.  I have been a fan for nearly 5 years and it was my pleasure to sit down with one of the dopest underground emcees out in 2007.  Supastition hailing from the land of the Justus League and the Little Brother has made quite a name for himself over the last 5 years.   He is consistent lyrically, production is always on point, and has yet to disappoint hip-hop fans worldwide.  While he hasn’t blown up in the states as much as overseas, his time is coming.  With the new EP available digitally through Reform School Music on August 28th and continually working on his next full length, Supastition has been very busy.   He is on tour constantly but we did get a chance to sit down and talk about the upcoming EP, his forthcoming album and the digital vs. terrestrial way of doing things.  Get to know Supastition, you won’t be disappointed.

HHS: I’ve been a fan since “7 Years of Bad Luck” EP and I’m glad we finally are getting to sit down, how are things?

Everything is good; everything is on the up and up.  Definitely trying to push the new record, stay touring and stay grinding.

Since this is your first interview with HipHopSite.com, do a short introduction to the readers.

I’m Supastition repping North Caroline and Reform School Music.  My first album dropped “7 Years of Bad Luck” dropped in 2002.  Then I got on the Okayplayer Compilation which ?uestlove and Okay Player Records put out. I did some work with Krs-One, Little Brother, and a lot of other cats.  I stay on the grind.

The “Leave of Absence” EP is being released digitally only.  What are you feelings on the digital vs. vinyl argument?

It came down to me because I decided I was going to do this on my own and on my own label.  A lot of record labels now won’t touch and “EP”, they want you to add songs and make it an album.  But to me it’s a whole different concept than creating an album.  With the EP I can make 8 cohesive songs, but it’s not a full album.  I have moved more units digitally than CD sales here in the U.S.  So being my own label I felt financially it made much more sense to do it digitally at first.  Originally “Leave of Absence” was going to be a Limited Edition EP and I was only going to press up a couple of thousand until my album came out.  The EP seems to be picking up a lot of steam and there is a lot of anticipation, so that’s a good thing.

How can the public grab the album on August 28th since its digital only for now?

You can get it from ITunes of course and the other digital online stores.  If you want more information head over to supastion.com and my myspace page, myspace/Supastition.

The last album “Chain Letters” was originally released on Soul Spazm and then again with Rawkus, why didn’t you sign with Rawkus at that time?

To be honest, it all comes down to the business paperwork.  I’ve never been a type of person to sign with a label just because they are hot right now.  I know too many artists that have signed to big majors and when you speak with them you see they are locked down for so many albums, they don’t own their masters and all of that.  I am all about controlling my music, every album I have put out I own my masters and my publishing.

Exactly, look at your people Little Brother?

Exactly, Phonte is one of my closest homies in the music industry and I can tell you everything isn’t always what it seems.

The first single “Word Has It” is produced by Khrysis, is this also going to be only available for download or is vinyl coming for us old school heads?

I’m going to definitely do vinyl for the single; the buzz is crazy on it right now.  It will probably come out here in October.  Like my other releases it will come out in Europe or Japan first, but we are definitely going to vinyl on the single.

With that said, do you think that putting out something on vinyl versus putting out digital only singles, not albums the response is better from the DJs?

When it comes to singles I think the response is better with vinyl.  People take vinyl a little more serious.  But, as far as business is concerned it’s one of the worst investments.  It costs so much to press and yet you don’t see any loot off of it.  I still want to press up the vinyl, because there are still a lot of collectors out there that appreciate it for what it is.

You’re talking to one right here.  I still buy a lot of things I like, granted I don’t like much but what I like I buy.  If we don’t support the artists we love, they won’t be there anymore and we will be stuck with the “A Bay Bay”‘s of the world.

(Laughs)  We definitely need some balance.

Khrysis did the single, does he lend any other production to the EP?

He just did “Word Has It” on the EP, but he has two confirmed joints on the upcoming album.  I consider Khrysis part of the team along with Illmind and M-Phazes.

Who else lends production to the EP?

M-Phazes does production on this, my man Marco Polo and Anthony Accurate who is out of Atlanta and is real dope.  Another producer named Analogic who is out of New Jersey and my boy Mad Wreck who did production on “The Deadline” and “Chain Letters”, he also engineered all my past projects. On my EP’s I like to work with up and coming hungry producers.

What makes this EP different from your past efforts?

I have a little more freedom on this one. This one is also a little more aggressive.  On “7 Years” and “The Deadline” a lot of people associated me being bitter at the industry and rapping about how broke I am.

(Laughs)

If you listen to “Chain Letters” there was only one song on the vibe, and I haven’t been doing songs like that in a while.  Lyrically I’m really stepping it up.

Early in your career you were characterized as a battle rapper, any songs about taking out emcees this time around?

Not really, I may have one or two joints but that’s about it.  Between the ages of 18 and 21 that was my entire life.  Now I’m married with 2 children and I’ve moved on from battle rhyming, I have other things to say.  Plus, there are some real sharp hungry emcees on the come up, so they can hold down the battle circuit.

Everything you have done has received critical acclaim, have any of the majors been knocking?

I have been approached by two majors but what they offered wasn’t what I was looking for.  They liked my music but they wanted to put me with this producer or that producer and I couldn’t work with the people that helped me get there.  You have people like Illmind and M-Phazes who have really looked out for me.  A lot of people don’t know on “Chain Letters” and on “The Deadline” we didn’t have much of a production budget so what we did was on the strength of the music and I won’t turn my back on those people.  Plus, how majors are set up a person who makes the type of music I make it’s a lose-lose situation.  Even if you get offers from big labels, if you make music that doesn’t appeal to mainstream fans, it’s a losing situation.

In the past most independent’s artists goal was to sign with a major label, is that the direction you are heading?

Not really.  If it comes and the paperwork is right and they give me the freedom and let me own my music, then I would sign with a major.  It’s not something I’m interested in, I set up 4 tours on my own and I have been able to survive on this music thing.  If I can do that and live, why do I need a major?  I’m not ever trying to be a star I just want to be heard and to take care of my family.

If picked up will this EP turn into and LP?

No, the LP is all new music.   The LP is on a completely different vibe.  It’s all still Supastition but I try to grow with each release.  I don’t want any of my albums to sound the same.  I think a lot of people got it confused after they heard “The Deadline” they associated me with jazzy boom bap production and automatically put me in that category.  I’m always trying to flip it up and do something different.

Anything you can tell us about the upcoming album?

We don’t have a title yet, I was going to name it “Hell or High Water” but found out that was being used by somebody else, so we scrapped that.  As far as production, M-Phazes and I have about 5 tracks and then we have 2 from Illmind and some stuff from Khrysis.  We are sticking with the family but we are out there looking for a big name to lend some production, maybe Primo or somebody like that.

You’ll have to holler at Torae, they just dropped a double 12″ with Premier

Actually, I just finished up a track with Torae for his mixtape; I have a lot of respect for him.  We run in the same circles, plus I know Preme played the joint I did on Marco’s album on his Sirius Show and put it on his mixtape, so we’ll see what happens.

What’s next for Supastition?

Right now we are concentrating on the EP and we have the Reform School Music which is the label and we are working on making that the brand.  I’m also setting up a production tour for Europe with Illmind, Marco Polo, and J-Zone.  We hope to have a producer from each country we go to up on stage with me hosting.  The European market has shown me a lot of love so I’m trying to give back.

Last Words?

That’s about it; make sure to pick up “Leave of Absence” EP on August 28th.  Check out my myspace and supastition.com.  I’m not going anywhere; I’m going to keep doing more joints.