Revolutionary
Bay blood surges through the arteries of Locksmith. If he’s rhyming
alongside Left, the other half of his group, Frontline; or, if he’s
surgically euthanizing MCs in battle, Lock is Dr. Kevorkian. This Grind
Time grime reaper snatches souls, sending them to the dead poet’s
society in the sky. Locksmith is devoting himself to Hip-Hop. Although
he didn’t create the Hip-Hop helix, his impending solo, Frank The
Rabbit,
will help unlock its secrets. In his AllHipHop.com debut,Locksmith clarifies his thoughts on everything from regional Hip-Hop
to religion.
AllHipHop.com: For the
folks outside of the Bay, what differentiates The Frontline and Locksmith
from other regional talent?
Locksmith: As far as
the Bay area, I think that everybody is unique. If you’re not unique
then you’re following a pattern; or, you’re following a specific
type of gimmick or something to that degree to that extent. We just
wanted to find our own niche. Even before the notoriety, we always wanted
to be our own artists. We didn’t want to follow E-40 and Too Short.
We’ve always respected those dudes as artists; but, we wanted to set
our own trend. The Bay is a very diverse area; so, our music and as
artists we reflect that. We never followed just one specific trend or
localized ourselves to one area. We always wanted to internalize everything
that was going on in the whole country and put that into our music.
We’re very aware of what’s going on in the nation and internationally,
too. So, we put that in our music and it fits our personalities. It’s
reflected in our music.
AllHipHop.com:
Sometimes emerging MCs striving to break into the mainstream may sacrifice
their lyrical integrity in order become more commercially appealing.
What motivates you to remain steadfast to your lyrical ideals?
Locksmith: It’s not
even a question; I just do what I feel. Whenever you start consciously
saying, I want to appeal to this [it] can be deadly to your career.
I don’t consider myself an underground artist or a commercial artist.
I just do what I do. Sometimes, I’m in a mood to where I have thoughts
that may appeal to a wide range of people. I may have s*** that’s
going on internally; I don’t know if people will identify with it.
But, I know that I’m going to do it. My producer, E-A-Ski recorded
this track, “Rare Form.” I just had some s*** on my chest. Lyrically,
I just wanted to go in and do what I do. He was like, ‘Yo, this s***
is hot. We gotta shoot a video.’ I’m like, “Yo, are you serious?”
He’s like, ‘Man, I think this is dope. This needs to get out there.’
So, we did it—not thinking that this was something that was going
to get a lot of notoriety. This is some intense type of s***; right
now everything is real soft in a sense. Hip-Hop has become more like,
you know, easier to swallow—as far as the mainstream goes.
So, putting out something like
“Rare Form” I didn’t expect this to do anything except provide
a visual for people online. The s*** ended up getting added to
MTV and spun in regular rotation. It’s big on the radio stations
out here in Northern California. I’m like, ‘Wow!’ You have a song
with no hook with a long verse for like two something minutes, and it’s
getting played on the radio. I’m going to shows and people are knowing
the words. So, that’s not something that you can plan for, you just
do what you do…
AllHipHop.com:
In respect to the four main principles of Hip-Hop: the emceeing; the
deejaying; the B-Boying and the art of graffiti, how would you describe
Hip-Hop’s current state? Are we experiencing a Hip-Hop depression
or a Hip-Hop reformation?
Locksmith: Some days
I feel like Hip-Hop is being revitalized and some days I’ll see something
and it kinda gets me like, ‘Ugh!’ If I can still make an impact
and I can still do what I do, [and] if I still have that passion inside
of me to keep going, then I feel like it’s very much alive. I’ve
noticed that when I see people appreciate what I’m doing—and I appreciate
what the other dope artists are doing—I feel like Hip-Hop is very
much alive and that the principles and the essence of it is very much
still alive.
The problem is that it’s
become—with capitalism—and what’s going on in Western society,
we’re able to market that and [it’s become] watered down to a certain
degree. It’s going through all this commercial rigmarole, and then
it gets kinda watered down. And you’re like, okay, you’re
sick of being fed these same images over and over again. That’s just
the companies and their marketing that’s making it that way. But,
Hip-Hop and its essence is very much alive. Every time that I walk somewhere
in The Bay area, I meet tons of young kids and people of all ages telling
me, ‘I love what you’re doing!’ It’s incredible; they show me
love. That lets me know that Hip-Hop and the passion for Hip-Hop is
still very much alive and those principles are still present.
Locksmith: “Rare Form”
Locksmith – Rare Form / NEWUploaded by PeteRock. – Explore more music videos.
AllHipHop.com: How do
you approach a lyrical battle, is it always pure spontaneous flow? Is
it okay to come with prepared verses?
Locksmith: I fell into
battling when I first started emceeing… Battling is such a critical
part of Hip-Hop itself; I’ve seen its progression. It started off
as being this total freestyle, off-the-dome kind of thing, to progressing
to people having lines, to people having something prepared for somebody
that you know [you’re going to battle] ahead of time. I go into a
battle preparing for anything to happen… You don’t know what you’re
going to get…You can’t come into a battle so prepared that where
you have it all written down and you don’t know what this guy is going
to say. At the same time if he’s preparing for you then you have to
be somewhat prepared for him. He may come with something that’s totally
written and then you’re stuck trying to freestyle off the dome. So,
you just have to be ready for whatever.
Within this last year, I’ve
been back on the battle circuit doing some damage. I’ve learned that
I have to watch every opponent… I’ve had some MCs that have Googled
me and have come back with some totally false information. They’ve
seen it on the internet so they felt they could attack me. I have to
be mentally prepared for that and know what’s going on…
AllHipHop.com:
On November 5th, Maj. Nidal Malik Hassan, is alleged to have
murdered 13 soldiers at Fort Hood military base. It’s been reported
that before he began shooting he bellowed, ‘Allah Akbar [God is great]!’
What do you think of those who are so willing to try to establish a
correlation between his actions and his faith?
Locksmith: I don’t
know what was going through that person’s head… It’s like what
Malcolm X said, ‘The chickens coming home to roost.’ I don’t know
what was in that brother’s heart and what he was doing. I know that
don’t believe the media most of the time. The media is controlled
by sponsors and corporations that are promoting a certain thing. So,
I can’t really go by that. All I know is supposedly what happened.
I’m a Muslim. Islam does
not preach violence on innocent people. The only time that you can use
physical action is when somebody is threatening you directly and you
fight back against that; or, when you have to stop oppression. If you
see somebody else killing or unjustly doing something to someone else,
then it’s your obligation to step up and stop that. But, I don’t
really know all the details on that. I don’t know what went on with
that particular person. I can only speak on that part; that’s how
we deal with it.
AllHipHop.com:
Lock, I want to thank you for your time. Is there anything else that
you’d like to express?
Locksmith: Just go to www.iamlock.com or www.IMGMITV.com. Shout out to E-A-Ski and shout out
to my brother, Left!