Keep it cool kid. People usually show hate.

That was my mentality when I first started making music in highschool, growing up in Pontiac Michigan. 20 years later, that motto holds a different position in the career of One Be Lo.

K.I.C.K. P.U.S.H. was birthed in the wee hours of the night, while most people were resting and preparing for the next workday. After spending long days recording and mixing the LABOR album, it felt like going to Widetrax studio afterwards was more like taking a break from the actual job. The LABOR project is very conceptual. There are many layers in that project, and I expect people to take a while to get all of it. This K.I.C.K. P.U.S.H. is a fun record. Recording it was fun because there was no pressure to do it, but we still maintain the same work ethic. At one point, Pontiac was known for manufacturing cars, that moved people all over the world. Now that the auto industry is a ghost in our town, we carry on the tradition of manufacturing music that will move people all over the globe, whether you have a car or not.

K.I.C.K.(keep it cool kid) P.U.S.H. (people usually show hate) represents the raw energy that inspired me to make music over 20 years ago. We were always self motivated because most people around us didn’t understand what we were doing, or had the crab in the bucket mentality. In some instances we had to KICK down doors and PUSH our way in. For everybody that understands, sounds of Nahshid originate good rhymes and music. Something to interest Lo listeners beyond original recorded networkings. Real emcee’s bring intelligent rhymes to HipHop. Language arts based on Reality. Keep it cool kid. People usually show hate. That’s the motto.

One Be Lo – “K.I.C.K. P.U.S.H.”

In 2000, One Be Lo, along with Senim Silla, released Masters of the Universe as Binary Star.  Arguably an underground classic this was the only full album they released.  As One Be Lo struck out on his own he put out his solo release Project F.E.T.U.S. in 2002 and dropped S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M. in 2005.  He’s back after what’s been far too long with The R.E.B.I.R.T.H. and has also reunited with Senim Silla.

The album is cohesive at only 12 tracks, cutting the filler, making it pure focus.  It’s 10 less tracks than his sophomore effort, but it’s a solid straight listen.  It kicks off with a great title track that is fire for 3 solid minutes.  Mixed with kung fu film samples like a Wu-Tang track, it also has a solid East Coast bounce that makes head nodding downright mandatory.  “Born and Raised” is a solid track with a little soul loop that recalls his life growing up in Pontiac, Michigan.  “Keep It Rollin’” is one of the albums few missteps, as the track has a soul sample that’s being sung over by guest Marvin Scruggs, while digital effects persist in the background and drums move the track along.  It’s not bad, but it just turns out to be too much at once and detracts from the momentum of the album.

When he gets to “Headlines”, he drops a political song that’s not just about Bush, but the world at large.  One Be Lo sums up the entire Iraq effort in just a few lines dropping “He said they technology and they got democracy but oilocracy is chaos monopoly robbery mockery hippocracy debauchery.”  Moving through the middle of the album One Be Lo continues to drop solid rhymes over competent production, even if it doesn’t match some of the Trackezoids creativity on his previous album, it does manage to be a little more upbeat which with One Be Lo’s steady delivery is a good thing.

Normally when you get to the end of albums it seems like a lot of times some tracks are buried at the back ends in the hopes that they won’t be noticed as much.  But The R.E.B.I.R.T.H. closes the album out with three of its best.  “The G Gap” is a laid back track, but it has hard hitting drums and a other worldly feel, from what sounds like a bubbling pond of lasers.  Meanwhile, “The Gray” has a smooth sax loop, meshed with cool background vocals, giving it a vibe similar to Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth’s “Mecca and the Soul Brother”.  Closing it out is “Hip Hop Heaven”, as One Be Lo details his passion over making music.  This is a song that will resonate with anyone; whether your hobby is hip hop or cooking.

For One Be Lo it’s about the music, this man is dedicated and here’s hoping another in the Midwest will get his due. – Dane Johnson

Lo: With this project, I gotta be on top of my game because Magestik Legend is on top of his. Because of that we bringing the best out of each other. As producers, our production is getting better so overall I think the sound is better than anything I’ve ever put out. Binary Star was me & Senim Silla rhyming over beats that me & Decompoze produced, so that would make this sound completely different.

HHS: Is it hard to do a whole project with a co-MC after having worked on solely solo material for release lately?

Lo: Not really because working with another artist brings a different side of creativity out of me that I wouldn’t necessarily get working alone. So I look forward to working in all types of different situations in order to develop my creative skills in all types of different ways.

HHS: Will this release be with Fat Beats as well or are you still looking around?

Lo: Its all up in the air right now, we’re just trying to concentrate on making this the best album we can before we get too deep into the business stuff because sometimes that can affect the way you go into the project.

HHS: I don’t imagine the stage show being any harder working with Majestik considering he’s performed at many a show with you already…any comment on that? Any changes in the live performances expected yet…

Lo: Obviously we’ll be performing new material, and because we feel confident about the material, the confidence has inspired us to take it to another level on stage.

HHS: Is all of the production being handled solely in the Subterraneous crew?

Lo: Yes. Trackezoids is holding down the production. Because we’re still recording at the moment, we don’t know how many beats are going to be on the album, at least 95% of the production is done by myself & Magestik Legend and we want to emphasize that with this project we ain’t just emcees, but also producers.

HHS: There have been a lot of collaboration rumours swirling around lately regarding you and a gang of folks…any of those you can confirm or squash?

Lo: There’s a few collabs in the works that I’m excited about and I think people would be excited about, but right now, I’m trying to focus on finishing the Security project, which is taking a lot of my creative time & energy. We’re trying to set the standard for this record, so everything I do after this will only motivate me to raise the bar even higher.

HHS: Did you meet all your own personal expectations for SONOGRAM? Did the fans and critics embrace it the way you hoped…was its content even grasped in the manner you’d intended it?

Lo: The only expectations I had for SONOGRAM was to make a record that I could listen to every day and I did that as well as build expectations for my next project and I think there’s a few people that are looking forward to what the future has in store. I got a lot of good feedback from the record, I think its pretty easy to listen to this record and walk away with a pretty good understanding of who I am and what I’m about.

HHS: Cuz I know there were a few issues about specific racial references in one of your songs…

Lo: Oh word, I wasn’t even aware of that.

HHS: What keeps Lo ticking? What keeps you constantly touring and recording?

Lo: Whatever is ticking, it wouldn’t be ticking if it wasn’t for Allah. Now what keeps me touring is the desire to pay my bills and spread this music to people who haven’t heard it yet as well as the people who want to see us bring it live and get the full experience. What keeps me recording is just the desire to express myself and make an impact.

HHS: Speaking of touring, what were your intentions with doing spots on the Warped Tour? I always wonder what exactly hip-hop acts are aiming for being on a rock tour…expanding the fan base? Exposing fans to something new?

Lo: The statement I was trying to make on the Warped tour wasn’t towards the fans it was towards the booking agents and the record labels. Showing my willingness to go out on the road and support an album. You would be surprised how many artists don’t tour at all, so me doing 70+ shows in 75 days makes a huge statement. Plus I had to prove to myself that I could do it. I went out there by myself. I drove around the country by myself. Performed sometimes 2 shows in one day, but I did it. To me that was more than music and hiphop. It was like a purification. I definitely didn’t want to give the impression that after signing to Fat Beats and dropping my record I didn’t have to do those kind of things. I experienced some things that I never experienced before on the road, like car accidents, etc. etc. but that didn’t stop me from doing what I had to do. It was a humbling experience. A lot of those places on the warped tour were places I never been before and I seen an opportunity to go to some of those places, so I went.

HHS: With three kids waiting for you at home, do touring and other artist duties ever seem more like chores than realized dreams?

Lo: For me, being an artist is no different than being a father, a man. Its just a part of my nature, so I do what I gotta do. Some people work, some people go to school. I do those same things, I just do them in the form of a music career. My social life is hiphop. My job is hip-hop. Its my way of life and my family is affected by it, but its all one in the same for me. At least for now.

HHS: Can we expect any releases from the rest of the Subterraneous roster any time soon? I recall Majestik Legend mentioning something about solo album, I think, in his “Mic Check” freestyle…

Lo: We’re all solo artists, and everybody in the crew is constantly working on material. I’m not aware of any release dates, but you can expect to hear something coming from everybody in the future.

HHS: Any particular reason that you tend to keep everythin within the family for all your releases (with the exception of the dope Pete Rock
remix to “Decepticons”)?

Lo: Well as a fan, I like what we do. As an artist, we inspire me to do what I do. As a business person, we’re trying to stamp our brand out on the world, so why sidetrack that mission by working with somebody else when we ain’t got our name out there yet. I don’t have a problem with working with other producers I just never thought about it, just like I never thought about somebody else writing my rhymes, but I do have a problem with that.

Five years later, One Be Lo has become Fat Beats Records’ first officially signed solo artist.  With his new album, S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M. (Sounds of Nashid Originate Good Rhymes And Music), he plans to expound on his reputation of bringing quality hip-hop.  In a candid interview with HipHopSite.com, One Be Lo talks about his new project, being his label’s franchise player, and the difference between an MC and a recording artist.

HipHopSite.com: First off, tell me about the new album, S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M.

One Be Lo: This is the official introduction to who One Be Lo is and what he’s about.  I put out records before, but as a solo artist, this is me debuting.  My intentions with this album are the give the listeners, or the fans, the consumers—whatever you want to call ‘em—an understanding of who I am as an artist, and what they can look forward to, as well as (give an understanding to) MCs, producers, record labels, distributors, whatever.  I’m just trying to bring this type of hip-hop to the table; these types of rhymes, these types of beats, this type of vibe to the table.  That’s what I grew up on, and that’s what I’m about.

HipHopSite.com: How do you think this new album differs from your first solo project, Project F.E.T.U.S.?

One Be Lo: Using the whole analogy of a fetus, (the new album) is just more developed.  The first album was just like, “I’ll never put out these records, they’re just laying around, and if I drop S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M. first, I can never put this record out.  So let me drop this one first to get it off my chest.”  Originally, I was only going to press 1,000 copies and give them to the hardcore cats on the web site; but after selling 1,000 CDs that week—and I didn’t even announce it, I was “Boom! I’ve got a CD out!”—we kept pressing them.  But now I’m a more developed, more mature artist.  I’m not where I want to be at yet on S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M. either, but I just want people to see the growth.

HipHopSite.com: Let’s get into your past a little bit.  You earned a reputation through Binary Star, a group which consisted of you and Senim Silla, but you two split before the release of Masters of the Universe, the re-packaged version of your first full-length album.  What’s the story behind that?

One Be Lo: What it all boils down to with that—and there’s two sides to every story…but my side, to sum it up in the smallest words possible, is that we were making good music together, but being an artist, you want to be in a creative atmosphere.  You want to work with people that inspire you to be creative to the best of your ability.  And, just because you can work with a cat in the field of art doesn’t mean you can do business together.  Up until that point, we always rhymed together, but we never really did business together.

I would just say it boiled down to creative differences.  I don’t want to quote nobody or misquote nobody, but I just didn’t agree with some of the concepts, I didn’t agree with some of the decisions he was trying to make.  And he didn’t agree with some of my stuff.  So I’m like, “Instead of me telling you how to do your thing, just go ahead and do your thing, because you aren’t going to tell me how to do my thing.  If I think it’s live, I’m going to do it.  I just thought it’d be better if we went our separate ways.”  And he’s like, “Maybe it is.”  He went his way, and I went mine.  He’s doing whatever he’s doing, and I’m doing whatever I’m doing.

HipHopSite.com: There was a bidding war amongst several independent labels for your next album.  What made you decide to go with Fat Beats Records?

One Be Lo: As far as the bidding war, I personally didn’t know nothing about that.  And from Binary Star to now, I’ve never been a record shopper, shopping my album.  My whole philosophy is, I could knock on the door saying, “Hey let me in,” or I could make noise on my own and have them at my door saying, “Yo, let us in.”  When I sent the record to my man who worked at Fat Beats, they were talking about doing a 12-inch.  So I said, “I’ll send you the whole album, just pick whatever you’re feeling.”  They heard it, and they were like, “Forget the 12-inch, let’s do the whole album.”  I put the stop on what I was doing just to see what they were talking about.

I felt like instead of me going to a huge label where I could just be another fish in the ocean, I’d rather go to a small label where I can actually be a priority.  There’s not a whole lot of money involved, but at least I can be a bigger priority; I’m not looking for somebody to save my life, I’m just looking for somebody to compliment what I’m doing.  I’m not going to lay down and let Fat Beats do it, I’m going to do what I’ve got to do to push myself, and hopefully these cats can just come in and add to that push.

HipHopSite.com: Why did you change your name from OneManArmy to One Be Lo?

One Be Lo: I would go on tour, and I would get to a venue where I had never been before, and I would see OneManArmy posters all over the wall.  Or I would get calls from people like, “Yo I heard you were in Salt Lake City this week;” I’m like, “What are you talking about?”  Well, there’s a punk-rock group out there called OneManArmy.  There’s no legal issues right now, but we just thought it’d be better to avoid that whole tug-of-war thing about who can use this name, take the album off the shelf, etc.  We just figured, before the OneManArmy name gets any bigger, lets take the fans right now and make the transition to One Be Lo.  And then everybody else, the new people, they’ll just see me as One Be Lo, so we can avoid the whole potential legal fiasco.  So that’s how the whole thing came about.  It’s not something where I’d rather be that name, but the reason that we did it was all legalities, we wanted to avoid something that was totally avoidable.  I’ll always say “OneManArmy,” and that’s what I represent, but just for marketing purposes, it’s One Be Lo.

HipHopSite.com: You’re really known for your live shows; you tour a whole lot, and you really know how to move the crowd.  First of all, tell me about the preparation you put into your shows.

One Be Lo: It’s funny, because my whole life, I don’t think I’ve ever practiced for a show.  We don’t rehearse routines, or go through songs we’re going to do.  Maybe I can afford to do this because I have a little catalog, but I’ll just go to the venue that night, and I’ll just look at the crowd and feel the vibe.  If it’s 90 percent females, I’m going to do this tonight; if I’m in the hood, and it’s all hard rocks there, I’m going to do this; and if I’m going to an elementary school, I’ve got something for them too.  I’m an artist, and I interpret my own music, but because my music is versatile, it’s like a menu.  Everybody don’t eat chicken, and everybody don’t eat meat, so if it’s a vegan crowd, I’ve got something delicious for them cats; if you eat meat, I’ve got something delicious for them cats; if you like junk food, I’ve got some of that too.  I try to feel the vibe of the night, and who I’m performing with will affect what I’m doing, whether I’m going first or if I’m going last, how big the venue is, and that’s just all from experience.  It’s nothing that I can put in a book and explain, I just go with what I’m feeling.  Whatever feels good, that’s what I’m going to do.  I might put together a set list and change it on stage because it doesn’t feel right.  When you know, you just know what the crowd wants; even if they don’t know it, you know.

HipHopSite.com: In hip-hop, a lot of cats can make great records, but they can’t put on a live show that well.  Why do you take live shows so seriously?

One Be Lo: First of all, a recording artist and an MC can be the same thing, but they aren’t always one in the same.  A person who can go in the booth and drop a classic verse, he’s a good recording artist, but is he a dope MC?  Then you’ve got cats that can go on stage and kill it, but they can’t go in the booth and kill it; he’s not a good recording artist, but he’s a good MC.  Then you’ve got people that can do it onstage, and can do it in the booth, he’s an MC/recording artist.  I know cats who have lyrics, but they can’t put it together in the booth; I don’t know if they get nervous and start sweating or what, but everybody can’t do it in the booth, the same way everybody can’t do it on stage.

On stage, it’s the best way to say, “This is who I am.  This is what I look like, this is what I sound like, this is my wit, this is my personality, this is how I perform, this is my presentation.”  You can see how a person looks on a poster, but what do they sound like?  You can see a person’s personality in an interview, but what do they look like?  In the video you can see certain things, but on stage, do you replicate the album, or do you interact with the crowd?  Onstage, you can win a person, and have a horrible CD sitting on the table over there, but you just won them with your personality.  Is (the artist) real, is he accessible, is he an asshole?  You can tell that when you meet a person, and you see the vibe that you get from them.  So that’s what the stage show is about; if you’ve got that, I don’t care what you sound like in the booth, you can go anywhere and kill it.

HipHopSite.com: You’re from Pontiac, which is right outside of Detroit.  A lot of people see Eminem as the face of Detroit hip-hop, but Detroit’s hip-hop scene is deeper than his commercial success.  Who else is making noise in Detroit “both locally and nationally”and how do you think that the Detroit hip-hop scene differs from others?

One Be Lo: When you say “making noise,” you’ve got different levels of noise.  You’ve got the mainstream level, the internet buzz, and the “everybody in Detroit knows who this cat is” (type of buzz).  Nobody’s making the noise that Eminem’s making (on the mainstream level), but a lot of people would argue that technically he isn’t even from Detroit; I’m from Pontiac, but I don’t represent Pontiac.  I don’t represent no city; I do what I do, and I don’t have a choice of where I was born from.  I represent Detroit more than a whole lot of people from Detroit do, but if I say that, (skeptics say), “That nigga’s not from Detroit.”

If we’re talking about strictly Detroit hip-hop, I’m going to have to exclude myself; but if we’re talking about the Detroit hip-hop scene and all the cats in Michigan that rock Detroit, form the scene and make it what it is—such as myself, AML, Invincible, and others—then you have a very diverse scene of very talented people on all spectrums of the rainbow.  Everybody ain’t on the same thing, but you’ve got a lot of people doing their thing.  I think that Motown has a big contribution to that.  By Motown, I mean the Midwest; growing up, I was on A Tribe Called Quest and N.W.A. and Geto Boys.  I wasn’t West Coast this or East Coast that; we’re in the middle, so we’re getting all of it.  I think cats on the East Coast—I don’t know, ‘cause I ain’t from there—but I think they’re going to be a little more biased towards the East Coast, ‘cause that’s where they’re from and that’s what they’re all around.  I never realized how beautiful it is to go record shopping and digging in Michigan until I started going other places.  We’re in Motown; do you know the history and record collections that come out of this place?  You go in record stores (in Michigan) and you see this big melting merge of music, and you go somewhere else and they’ve got some of this and some of that, but I think that the Midwest is the melting pot of music.  That’s why I think some of the biggest artists, whether it’s Michigan, Chicago, or whatever, come out of the Midwest.  There’s a lot of soul in Detroit, there’s a lot of history in Detroit, and we were influenced by East Coast, West Coast, South, all of them.  I was at least; I think that’s the big difference.

HipHopSite.com: Your album comes out February 8, and you have a multi-album deal with Fat Beats Records.  What’s next?

One Be Lo: I couldn’t even tell you man.  I would like to believe that whatever’s next is going to be hot.  The reason I say that I can’t tell you what’s next is because 90 percent of the songs I wrote just came out of nowhere.  Every album that I put out was an accident; from Binary Star to F.E.T.U.S. to Waterworld Too, it was never planned that way, but as an artist, inspiration can just come at any different time.  So because of the past, I can tell you that my next album is going to be called this, but at the last minute it might change.  So just look out for One Be Lo music.  Who am I going to collab with?  I can’t even tell you; I might do an album with DJ Premier, or I might do an acapella album, but it’s going to be the true essence of hip-hop, whatever it is.  I want to make music that’s going to be here like Enter the 36 Chambers and Illmatic; I don’t know if I can achieve that, but I just want to put a smile on somebody’s face, and get cats to think about something they don’t normally think about.

      After captivating the Midwest as part of Binary Star in the late 1990′s touring alongside once-partner Senim Silla,  with releases of the New Hip-Hop EP and their first LP titled, Waterworld, One Be Lo’s post-Binary Star releases of Waterworld Too in 2001 and F.E.T.U.S. in 2002, both on his own independent label, Subterraneous Records, all groomed the underground circuit in anticipation for his best work yet. With the excellent production handled by One Be Lo himself and Decompoze (collectively known as the Trackezoids), S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M. drives a youthful energy - with just the right level of maturity - unable to be duplicated by veteran emcees who deliver past experiences with the utmost finesse. Read the song title to “enecS eht no kcaB” backwards, don’t get giddy, and try to keep up to the nibble dexterity of his flow, while soaking in this laid-back jazzy piano loop that makes you wish your ride had autopilot. As Lo’s fury starts to unfold, but this time away from his display of lyrical skill, focusing this time more on his gifted insight, he calls out the irresponsible hypocrisy of the controlling media on “Propaganda,” then spills a grim and detailed picture of inner-city chaos, depression and hopelessness on “The Ghetto” where the eerie violin blows a cold and heartless wind across your ear. While many emcees have time and time again touched on the very same subject of ghetto strife, Lo freshly articulates it. Making the edutainment of witty rhymes and hip-hop productions something you look forward to, the LP’s solid jazz foundation and Lo’s venomous quotes on “Axis” blast the ignorant with flows bringing to light the shame so many of us are guilty of: “It don’t take a professor, to see the oppressor got the whole treasure/Now how many Africans slain for one platinum chain on your dresser – I know better just because I know better. Tell me who you trust when you in your new truck/some of us dying over a few bucks, killers old enough to ride in a school bus/with brothers like these who needs the Klu Klux.” “Sleepwalking” featuring singer Ka Di adds to the damage, again exemplifying the knowledge and awareness One Be Lo is willing to share, even when it points a finger at the ‘flyest emcees being the biggest pagans’.

      As the hardcore onslaught of concrete jungle stories continue on “Deceptacons” and “Can’t Get Enough” featuring Magestik Legend,” the jazzy loops pound away in perfect timing, fulfilling the cycle of Lo’s crack-infested life tales. Although he’s a little one-dimensional, harboring on replicating the life experiences of hardship, Lo intertwines creative personification via “Evil of Self” featuring Abdus Salaam, much like Jeru’s classic “You Can’t Stop The Prophet”. And his ability to consciously search the spiritual meaning behind “The Future,” or rock the mic over the butt-shaking, soulful groove on “Unparalleled” is reassuring that there’s always solid evidence of hopefuls elevating hip-hop, outside of the mainstream themes. This just makes you wish the rest of the industry would follow suit.

Waterworld Too isn’t the “classic” that Masters Of The Universe was argued to be, but it does a good job of expanding on the blueprint of “average guy rap” found on the debut. One thing that separates this release from its unofficial predecessor is the fact that it’s no longer a binary duo, but instead a self-appointed “magnificent seven” emcees on wax. Like many crew albums, this does take away from the tightly packaged, natural cohesion between the tracks and the emcees, because the listener is being bombarded with so many styles at once. And as usual, out of the lucky seven, their leader One Man Army (aka Lo), is the strongest member, with an incredibly likable voice, clever wordplay, and true emcee charisma - just listen to him rip through “Double Essay’s (S.S.A)”, with the sole purpose of pointing out emcees are ass-backwards.

But as a crew, they are at their best when picking on hip-hop’s opposite sects on “Word Em Up” or shady cats eyeing the women in their life on “Player Haters”. They also use several extended metaphors, some which work, some which don’t. “Monsters” and “Subterraneous”, which compare industry and society’s evils to creatures of the night seems a bit cliche while the terrorist hijacking of your “Mental Planes” is a somewhat tasteless metaphor that hits a little too close to home after September 11th. On the same token, the traffic metaphor for “Life In The Fast Lane” works just fine.

Fans of Binary Star will undoubtedly enjoy this album, as will those who take interest in Middle American, bedroom based, homemade hip-hop from groups like K-Otix and All Natural. While not as consistent as Masters Of The Universe, it still works as a nice introduction to Lo and his crew, and perhaps the starting point for a new legacy of Midwestern emcees.