I was able to catch up with the homie, Termanology. I'm stupid late on posting this but he's dope, the CD's dope, and he's on tour in Japan promoting this now so why not, right?
Essince: How’re you doing, man? Everything good?
Termanology: Chillin’, man. Everything’s cool, man.
Essince: What were some of your expectations for your project with Statik, “1982”.
Termanology: I just wanted people to like it and see what people would think about a CD that sounds like that in 2010. The feedback’s been really good so I feel like we accomplished what we’re trying to do.
Essince: Yea, I saw you got an “XL” rating in XXL.
Termanology: Yea, yea. I was quite happy about that.
Ess: Why did you guys decide to do a project together?
Term: We were working together a lot. Especially in like, ’07. ’06-’08 and the fans were pretty much asking for it so we figured, a’ight. We were all chillin’ together every day anyway, in the studio. Why don’t we just whip up an album and see what it sounds like.
E: How did you guys meet?
T: I met Stat when we were 16, doin’ house parties in Lawrence, MA, that’s where I’m from and he was throwing shows in New Hampshire. You know what I’m sayin’? Then he moved on to Hot97 in Boston and then eventually moved to New York. And you know I just followed him and the rest is history, man. We’re family.
E: What’s the scene like in Boston? I knew some Boston rappers coming up, but unfortunately it’s not always remembered when people think of eastern hip hop cities.
T: Yea, Boston is crazy, man. Like, it went through different scenes. I remember when I was coming up Boston had one of the most vibrant independent scenes; Army of the Pharaohs, Mr. Lif, Akrobatik, Esoteric, you know Benzino was still doing his thing, Edo G and the bulldogs, Krumb Snatcha, there was a big scene. A lot of cats popping but I feel like that scene was [gone] away with the new cats that came in, you know? I ain’t sayin’ that them cats ain’t doin’ their thing, I’m sure they are, but I’m talking like when you drop a 12” vinyl and you would sell like 10,000-20,000 copies on the single and those days are gone, you know what I’m saying? That’s the era I came up on. And it’s so funny because now it’s like, “Oh…we’re dropping a new song. Yo, we’re leaking it to the internet Tuesday. I can’t wait.” It used to be like, “yo, we’re dropping a new single. We gotta take it to the vinyl plant so we can press it. We’ll have it back in 2 months then we can sell it. Let’s see how many copies we can sell.” You know what I’m sayin’? Those days are gone.
E: I notice you’ve also been getting a lot of love overseas. I was able to go on tour in Asia this past summer. How’s the response been for your stuff overseas?
T: Oh, they love us, man. You know, especially me being down with [DJ] Premier. They love our shit and Premier out there. When I dropped I gained a lot of fans in Europe and they love that shit. And Stat’s really doing his thing and with ’82 coming out I can’t wait to go over there and see what the response it like off this album.
E: I know both you and Statik get a lot of comparisons of your style to other artists, how do you feel about being compared to other people?
T: Well, it’s usually an honor because it’s usually Gangstarr. And people say, ”oh you guys sound like Gangstarr.” And that’s on honor to us. To me, I mean, Gangstarr is like the most pure hiphop group of all time, if not the dopest hiphop group of all time. You know what I mean? I never wanna say that we are the Gangstarr or none of that crazy shit. I can say that, with music the way it is now and the way it sounds, we are the closest thing to Gangstarr. With me being an MC from Boston, moved to New York and Statik making the boom-bap beats and scratches. Preemo being like a big brother to both of us. I’m happy we can keep that alive.
E: I got one last question for you, if you and Statik could work with any two artists, if you could have a day in the studio and have Statik produce and you work with any artist, any genre alive or dead, who are two people you’d like to work with?
T: Wow. Well, I can’t answer for Statik, but I’d wanna work with Big Pun [R.I.P.] if I could work with anybody. That’s just me, dude. I wanna work with him. But there are so many others, man, you know? I mean, shit. I’d wanna work with Biggie, too [R.I.P.]. I’d wanna work with Michael Jackson [R.I.P.]. There like millions of ‘em, you know? James Brown [R.I.P.]. So many ill people. I’d just say Pun for me, though, because I’m Puerto Rican. You know Pun’s the god.
Essince: Oh, yea, man. Pun’s the reason I really got focused on my stuff, too. Pun is like my favorite ever.
Termanology: Word up, yea. Then you already know.
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