Godamus Rhyme Interview
By: Jason Gloss
Philaflava.com: Before we get to your new project, let’s take it back and let the readers know a little
bit about Godamus Rhyme. Originally you’re from Maryland and later on moved to Florida to attend the
infamous Full Sail Media Arts Institute in Orlando. At what age did you decide you’d be an employee of hip-hop?
Godamus Rhyme: I started messing around with rhymes when I was 13. Right at the end of 8th grade.
At first I wanted to be a singer, but one day I started messing around wit some lyrics and just
got hooked. It became an everyday thing. I hooked up with a dude in my math class who was rhyming
and by the time I finished 9th grade I was serious. It was all I thought about.
PF: What do you enjoy more, producing what you believe is the perfect record or appearing on what
you believe is the perfect record?
GR: I think I get more satisfaction from producing and mixing a great record because I really have
to work at it. At this point, I've been rapping for going on 12 years. Verses don't always come easy,
but I know that when they do come they'll be dope. I've always had a gift with words. Writing music
is hard. It's a challenge. Every time I sit down to make a beat I'm trying to step it up and be on
par or better than all your beatmaking heroes. And I never feel like I've done enough. As soon as I
feel I've reached that point, I hear another dope beat I wish I did, and it's like, "Damn. I gotta
hit the studio again."
PF: You’ve been rappin’ for a minute but you also have a pretty lengthy touring record. Who are some
of the artists that you’ve performed with throughout the years?
GR: I've performed with Bootcamp Clik, Jean Grae, the Weathermen, some of the cats from the Justus
League, CunninLynguists, Deepspace5, Mars Ill, Poison Pen, Diabolic, Immortal Technique, End of the
Weak, Iron Solomon & Vangaurd, Sol illaquists of Sound, iCON the Mic King, Supastition, Murs... Alot
of solid emcees and performers that I respect. It's been a blessing.
PF: Who was the most helpful artist you’ve been able to build with on the road?
GR: I don't really know. Some of the cats who have really become homies are L.E.G.A.C.Y., iCON,
the Sol. illaquists, and Kenn Starr. Swam (from Sol. illa) & iCON are always on the lookout
and trying to help me and give suggestions. Iron Solomon, Vanguard, and Webbafied from the
EOW are all madd cool too. We're trying to see if we can put together a tour with them right now.
PF: Who put on the best show? Any memorable tour stories?
GR: Sol. illaquists of Sound has hands down one of the best live shows you'll ever see. I think
the craziest show we ever rocked was the Bootcamp joint. That was when they were touring to
support The Last Stand. It was just crazy seeing all them dudes I wanted to rap like in middle
school and highschool up on stage and knowing that I got to open up for them. One of the best
tour memories was me getting fall out drunk at a show in NY and battling. We had the whole
crowd changting "Drunk Goddy! Drunk Goddy! Hey!" and cheering me on. One of the most rediculous
things I've ever been a part of.
PF: Your new group Caveman Theory consists of 4 members, three emcees and one DJ. How did the group form?
GR: The other two emcees in the group are Kap and Redd Simpkins. Our DJ's name is Dolo. The whole
thing came together kind of as an accident. I met Redd right after i moved to FL to go to school.
We started hangin out and rockin shows together. Then Redd met Kap through one of his college
buddies and they started hanging out and doing tracks. When I'd snatch up Redd to do a show, he'd
bring Kap. Eventually we just got in the habit and started makin tracks with all three of us. Dolo
came in about 6 months to a year after we had been rocking around Orlando as a group officially and
offered to be our DJ after doing cuts for some tracks on a solo EP Kap did.
PF: The group’s debut album “The Stone Quartet” recently dropped, what should the average hip-hop
listener expect from this album and why should they cop it?
GR: Our music is traditional east coast hiphop, but we're not caught up in trying to make shit sound
like it's still '95 or '96. We respect the era, but it's 2007. We make modern music and everybody holds
their own. Too many groups got one dude that outshines everybody else or everybody in the group raps
exactly the same. That's not us. We all have our own styles and our own approach. It keeps shit interesting.
And we dont preach to you. We're not trying to convert you to our hip-hop or life viewpoint, we're just
trying to let you know what ours is. Too many cats on this level are crying about how wack the game is
and trying to make converts. We just want to make fans.
PF: For a few months now you guys have been making some noise on the rap charts with tracks like
“The Misses,” “Funk Box” and “Don’t Violate,” how’s it feel to get support from many college,
mixshow and internet DJ’s?
GR: It's been great. We really didn't know what to expect at all. Nobody pays attention to the shit
that comes from our area unless it's crunk or dirtysouth shit. Even the people who live here. I
never expected to be charting with Brother Ali, El-P, and Sage Francis our first time out. We
knew the music was good enough, but wether or not people would pay attention was up in the
air. Now we're on the CMJ HipHop top 10 and getting bootlegged in other countries. We don't
even have an official label behind us. It's great.
PF: How difficult is it for a hip-hop group based in Central Florida to break in hip-hop
game? There is only so much the internet and touring can do in order to put you in the
same rat race, so what do you believe the group must to do to get the proper exposure
in today’s rap world?
GR: It's very tough. No one believes in this area. The same way no one believed in NC before
Little Brother. Right now we're just trying to grind it out and spread the word as much as
possible. We're starting to plan our next tour and starting to collect beats for the next
record. But touring is actually the most important thing for us. We gotta remind people we
exist and the only way to do that is to get in front of them cause we don't have any more
money for an advertising budget or radio promo.
PF: I'd like you to rank the following 10 rappers you’ve toured with from best to
worst. Cage, iCON the Mic King, Immortal Technique, Jean Grae, Poison Pen,
Supastition, Talib Kweli, Pharoah Monch, PackFM & Murs.
GR: This is a tough one. I hope nobody gets offended.
1. Murs
2. Pharoah
3. iCON
4. Jean Grae
5. Poison Pen
6. Talib
7. Technique
8. Supastition
9. PackFM
10. Cage
I ranked em cause of who I enjoyed watching most. I'd give some of em equal numbers
if I could. Only reason Talib was so low is cause he lost his voice the last time I
saw him perform and I only knew what he was saying cause I knew the songs. He still rocked it though.
PF: Did iCON the Mic King end Copywrites career?
GR: I think Copywrite ended his own career. But the thing wit iCON didn't help any. I've heard alot of
things about that dude, but I'm kinda biased on that situation so I don't really wanna speak on it
since I'm not directly involved.
PF: If you could play hip-hop God for one day, name a few things you’d eliminate from the culture
that you feel would make the music better today?
GR: Fairweather fans. The disenchantment of American hiphop with vinyl. Sampling laws. Payola. Clear
Channel. Radio One. Viacom. The coporate consolidation of record labels. Oprah.
PF: What was the album hip-hop album you purchased? What was the last hip-hop album you were disappointed with?
GR: I think the very last one I bought was Army of the Pharoahs while I was on tour. I
bought like $200 worth of CDs I'd been wanting to pick up when I was on the road. Havent
bought any others since I got back. I been broke. I think the last one I was dissapointed
with was The Procussions. I also bought that while I was on the road. They had done a show
in Orlando recently that I missed and I was curious as to what the buzz was all about. A few
songs were real dope, but overall it didn't grab me like I was hoping.
PF: The “Good Die Young” appeared on our last compilation “ A League of Our Own Vol. 2.” When
submitting it did you know it would not only make the cut, but be one of the lead singles to the album?
GR: Truthfully I had no idea. We finished that song the day before the original sumbission
deadline and it was done to a beat that I made like a year and a half before, but never
really liked. I almost erased that beat, but people kept telling me it was hot so I held on to it.
PF: Whatever happened to Young Siah?
GR: He changed his rap name to Jon Connor. He's from Flint, MI originally and is part of a crew called
Avie Squad. He's probably the biggest unsigned rapper in Flint right now. He's done an album and a
mixtape since then that made a big buzz in Flint and I think he's supposed to appear in the Source
Unsigned Hype soon. He's even gotten calls from some industry cats like DJ Whoo Kid and has a bunch
of connections he's workin in Miami and California. You should hear from him on the major label scene
in the next year or two. He's also featured on one of the most popular tracks from the
Caveman album called "Step Right."
PF: Will there be a Godamus Rhyme solo album in the near future?
GR: I've actually got plans for 2 or 3 different solo projects in various stages. My second
mixtape Cocky Bastard 2: Chicken Scratch, a solo EP called Dusted which is produced using
nothing but old samples and drum breaks (no keyboard sounds or original drum programming),
and a full length called Unbreakable that I'm doing some writing for. I have a bunch of
material partially finished. I'm trying to decide what I wanna keep and what I wanna throw
out so i can solidify the direction of the projects. But don't expect me to actually drop
one of the solo joints till next year. I'm too busy working on touring and making beats
right now to finish any of them before then.
PF: What’s on deck for Caveman Theory in the 2nd half of ’07?
GR: Just trying to get back on the road, make some loot, and become more known outside
of our city. We're trying to build a brand and a fanbase. The only way to do it is to
get out there and in the people's faces.
PF: Any last words for your fans, haters and of course the wonderful people at Philaflava.com?
GR: Yeah. This is our life people. If you like what we do, please support it. If you bought the
album or if you bootlegged it, just keep telling people about it. Spread the word. It's the
only way we can afford to keep doing this. I've been on records in the US, Canada, Europe,
and Japan and i still gotta work a day job. If you can make money off your dream, why can't I?
And to everybody in Russia who bootlegged it, you owe me a bottle of vodka. Hit us up online
at
http://www.myspace.com/cavemantheory. You can listen to some of the music and order the album if you
feel generous. We got t-shirts and posters and all that good stuff too, but the most important
thing is the music.