Citizen

Citizen
By Cee-For

The Bay Area of Western California has always been the quiet achiever of Hip Hop. With artists like E-40, Heiroglyphics crew, Too Short and many others hailing from the area, it’s probably better known today for the Hyphy sounds rather than the classic Hip Hop it has produced. Citizen, an MC/Producer/Radio host is one such artist who keeps the boom-bap history of the Bay alive, along with the Understudies crew. His recent release, Live Hard, Die Free is getting some buzz online and his radio show, The G.O.D. Hour, also continues to attract major names in Hip Hop. GrooveOn chatted with Citizen about his radio spot, his upcoming projects and the water barrier.

Cee: What’s good bro?

Citizen: Things are good, just on the tail end of moving...getting my studio set up again and what not.

Cee: Alright, gimme some background on yourself...

Citizen: Citizen, I’m a producer/MC. I’ve been doing this for like 8 years. I dropped my first “record” earlier this year, a collaboration with MC Livin’ Poetry, called “Live Hard, Die Free”. Somewhat of a mix CD, but it plays like an album.

Cee: First up, you’re an MC. How long have you been spittin’? Are you affiliated with any crew?

Citizen: Well, I’d say that first up I’m a producer, or that I’m more proud of my work as a producer if I had to choose sides. But, anyhow, I really started spitting shortly after I started producing because I didn’t really know any MC’s at the time. I spent about 3 years in Massachusetts, and when I returned to the Bay Area, that’s when my crew, The Understudies, began to form. I met Self Advocate, Fly Cobb and Manifest through recording school in Oakland, and then Livin’ Poetry and I went to the same high school so we linked back up. We all had people we were collaborating with that each seemed to be a different piece to the puzzle. So we assembled the pieces and formed U.S. Its a cool situation because most of us produce, emcee and have our own studios, so there’s a lot of creativity happening all the time, its not just one person running the show.

Cee: Do you have any releases coming up?

Citizen: “Live Hard, Die Free” is out now, FREE for download at http://www.myspace.com/understudiescrew and also available for sale @ Amoeba Music, B-Side Records and Down Home Music. Next up is a record called “R&R” with Self Advocate, produced by J Myers. We’re mixing it now. The music is upbeat, polished and sounds like a hybrid mix of Hip Hop, Electronica, Reggae, Alternative and a lot more, its hard to put a name to the sound! The rhymes from track to track are diverse, which makes it cool cause its not just for the Hip Hop heads, your girlfriend can dance to it too! J Myers and I also have a three volume series paying tribute to the late jazz vocalist/protest singer Nina Simone. We chose to do these records because the music is old fashioned and beautiful, but her lyrics are also relevant to today’s troubled world. We’re also working on an Understudies crew album, tentatively titled ‘U.S.Aint’.

Cee: Tell us about the Bay Area scene, it doesn’t get much coverage Down Under, especially lately. What’s going on there?

Citizen: The Bay....The Bay Area has always had a very diverse music scene, and continues to today, however the Hip Hop scene here is running a little differently now. It’s still heavy on the DIY and independent aspect of things, however the emphasis is kinda on the whole Hyphy movement. You don’t see as much of the traditional Hip Hop as you used to around San Francisco and Oakland, and it’s seemingly harder to break through if your style doesn’t conform to certain sounds or lyrical boundaries. Not to say there’s nothing with substance crackin’ out here anymore, you still have your Zion I’s and Hieroglyphics and Crown City Rockers, but many newer acts have been forced to change their sound in order to make headway.

Cee: You also co-host a radio show on 104.1 FM in Oakland, how did you get into that?

Citizen: The show is called “The G.O.D. Hour”, every Saturday from 4-8. We’re re-locating our studio at the moment, so were temporarily off the air, but a bigger, better G.O.D. Hour is on the way, with some fresh new changes. I do the show with Dems1, a local graffiti writer and long time Hip Hop head. I met him through some friends when I moved to the East Bay area, and we became fast friends. We (Dems, myself and former co host J Fresh) would hang out all the time, just talking Hip Hop, debating this and that, and it would all culminate every Saturday on the show, when we’d bring by all the new albums and singles we’d acquired that week and play and discuss ‘em. One of the main pillars of the show is keeping classic Hip Hop alive. You won’t ever hear an “episode” of The G.O.D. Hour where we’re not taking it back with The Wu, Tribe, KMD, Souls of Mischief, you know, all that. You can also count on us to showcase all the new stuff that deserves exposure, but Clear Channel refuses to support. Look for a G.O.D. Hour compilation album coming soon, produced by myself and Erixin with artwork by Dems to accompany every song. There’s gonna be collaborations with LMNO (of Visionaries), Kev Brown and some more names that I can’t mention quite yet. Australia is a little farther than our antenna broadcasts, lol, but y’all can tune in at http://www.berkeleyliberationradio.org, and stream the show right through iTunes.

Cee: What opportunities has being part of the radio show presented?

Citizen: The G.O.D. Hour has really been a great networking tool, in addition to being a ton of fun. We’ve had the chance to meet lots of dope artists and do our part in helping them get exposed that much more. At the moment we’re planning our own little “mini - Hip Hop - Woodstock”, called GODSTOCK.

Cee: How is the community/college radio scene in the US? I’ve heard its bigger than mainstream in some cities...

Citizen: I dunno if I would quite say that the college radio scene is bigger, but its definitely more reputable and does play an integral role in exposing many independent artists in each of the regional markets. Davey D is an especially important figure in the Bay Area college radio scene, he’s been respected for a long time now.

Cee: Whats the future plans for Citizen?

Citizen: Well, getting The Understudies out there more. I’m mixing an Understudies compilation right now, that’ll be free at shows and later online. Its called Collective Compliments V2.0. Some exclusive crew tracks, some things I’ve produced for other crew members, and some of my other favorites that the homies have done, songs you might see us do at shows. Every few months, we do a new version of Collective Compliments, mixed by a different Understudy each time. Also, I produced a track called “Radio Flyer” for a new group called Heir GorDon, which is A Brother Named George and DonWill (of rap group Tanya Morgan). The song features Abstract Rude and is slated to appear on their upcoming album called ‘Out of Your League’ which hopefully will be coming out soon.

Cee: What do you know about Australian Hip Hop?

Citizen: Livin’ Poetry keeps telling me about Bliss n Eso, and of course I know Cee & Bekah! If I remember correctly there was a pretty dope artist called Muph or Murph or something to that degree that had a joint with The Grouch recently. I remember seeing a lot more interaction between American and Australian hip hop like 8 or 10 years ago. Seeing a lot of indie Hip Hop tours going down out there. It’s time we connect more, it ain’t like the water between us is a barrier!!

Cee: Any message for the folks Down Under?

Citizen: Thanks for taking the time to check into my stuff, as an independent artist I need all the help I can get. Please check out the Understudies on http://www.myspace.com/understudiescrew (you can find my page in the top friends) and be sure to download the FREE Citizen & Livin’ Poetry album “Live Hard, Die Free”. Thanks to GrooveOn for having me…

Cee: Thanks brother!

You can contact Citizen at his MySpace page, http://www.myspace.com/citizenpresents.