Trash Mutant Interviews (TMI): Blueprint

- by Señor Editor, 22 March 2013

To call Al Shepard AKA Blueprint a well-rounded artist would be a huge understatement. With a deep, unique voice that you instantly recognize and production skills that fathered some of the freshest beats in the last 10 years, he's been putting out record after record and making each one count. And whether he's solo, with RJD2 as Soul Position, or with Illogic as Greenhouse Effect, he's always moving forward. Last year saw the release of his new album, "Deleted Scenes", but he's already got his next moves planned. Today, Señor Editor caught up with Blueprint to ask the man some questions. Check it out.

__________________________

TRASH MUTANT: It's 2013 and it seems the last few years you've been on a brand new creative high. Since the release of your album "Adventures in Counter-Culture" in 2011, you've not only changed your life by kicking bad habits, but you also wrote your first book, got into photography and went deeper into making videos. Do you feel you're in an especially good period in your life right now?

BLUEPRINT: I definitely feel like I'm at my creative peak right now.  It's a feeling that has been growing for the past couple of years since I stopped drinking. I think a lot of my increased productivity has to do with having more time to spend on my art nowadays. A few years ago, I was spending a lot of time hanging out and partying, but now that I don't drink anymore my spare time is dedicated to creative stuff.  Even if it's not music, at least it's creative.  Having all that extra time has had a huge impact on the amount of work I can get done every day.

You're from Columbus, Ohio and you came out around the same time as many other indie rap greats from that region, like MHz and people like RJD2 and Camu Tao that started with that crew, Illogic, DJ PRZM etc. What's the hip-hop scene in Columbus today? Is there a new generation of Columbus talent starting out and waiting to be heard? Anybody we should keep an eye on?

The younger Columbus guys that I like are a guy named P. Blackk, another guy that goes by King Vada, who used to go by L.E. for the Uncool, and Fly.Union is dope as well.  There's still a scene here but it's nowhere near as deep as it was when Przm and Spitball, MHz, and Weightless were at their full force. Those groups had a lot of nationally and internationally known acts, which helped our local scene really explode back then.  Our scene still has a lot of talent, but the pool just isn't quite as deep as it used to be at the moment.

Starting with "Adventures in Counter-Culture" there's been a lot of changes in your music. Did the updated sound and style receive a uniformly positive reaction or did you observe any sort of divide among your fans?

I saw a little bit of everything, to be completely honest. There were people who didn't like the fact that I didn't make a conventional record like 1988 again, but from what I could see it was a small percentage.  I try to keep the right perspective on it because I remembered it happening before, you know?  Like when the Soul Position 8-Million Stories album came out, some people were disappointed that it didn't sound like the Unlimited EP. Then when the 1988 album came out, some people were disappointed it didn't sound like 8-million Stories. It always happens when you evolve or go somewhere different with it.  Fortunately, all those situations ended up working out for me over time. Things with Adventures in Counter-Culture are working out as well because even though it doesn't sound like my previous albums, it doesn't sound like anything else out there. That alone is getting me enough new listeners to offset anybody that I lost during the transition. Plus, people tend to become more open-minded after the hype has died down. So I've been seeing an even stronger reception to Adventures in Counter-Culture as more time has passed.

Contrary to what the name suggests, your latest album "Deleted Scenes" is not just songs that didn't make the cut for "Adventures...", right? You've been tinkering with them and make them into a proper album. Can you tell us more about this record?

Correct, Deleted Scenes is actually a combination of things. The concept came from the way that whenever you buy a movie on DVD, the bonus features always have all these deleted scenes that are so good that you wonder why they weren't in the movie.  I wondered if the concept could be extended into music, but taken even farther where they become the building blocks for a completely new record. There are a good amount of songs that I did during the sessions for Adventures in Counter-Culture, but there are also a good amount of songs that were made after Adventures was finished.  There was a point when I started working on my next solo album that I realized that I had all these pieces of music from both periods that I kept separated because of when I created them.  In my mind they were all separate, but when I actually put them together I could see a similar theme and feel to them. That was when I had the idea to see if I could create a real album out of all these unfinished pieces and spent the next two or three months in the studio bringing them together.

You sometimes do these sort of theme records, where all your production is based on records by a specific artist, like the "Blueprint Who" EP, "Blueprint vs Funkadelic" (both free for download here: "vs Funkadelic" and here: "Who") and "Greenhouse vs Radiohead". Are there any plans for more releases like that? You might not wanna give your ideas away, but are there any super-sampleable artists that you'd like to incorporate into a project like that in the future?

I definitely plan on doing more release like those. I haven't decided what artist I'm going to do yet, but in the past year I've kicked around the idea of Miles Davis, Bjork, and the band Yes. I haven't really sat down and tried anything yet, but I think they've all got music that could make an interesting project. I wanted to sit down and do another one this winter, but I haven't had the time yet. Hopefully I can try to knock out the next one in the next month or so. I'm definitely overdue.

As someone who was heavy into battle rapping and has considerable achievements in freestyle battles, what do you think of the stuff that's been happening with battling in recent years? Have you been following any of it? In the early 2000s, when you and a lot of other underground heavy weights were first making waves, battling was something that mattered, that could put people on the map and advance their careers, if done right. In the last couple years, all these "battling leagues", like Grind Time etc, started showing up, and they were all about dudes performing accapella writtens at each other. These type of leagues are still around, though I think they're far less popular now and I haven't heard of anybody ever using these to establish a musical career. What are your thoughts on the state of the battle circuit and the stuff it's been through in the last decade? Do you think battling is still a vital element of hip-hop?

I'm actually a big fan of the current battle scene. Back when we were coming up, it was like the wild wild west. You didn't know who anybody was so there was this sense of mystery about it. You never knew how a battle was going to turn out because everything was freestyled, so it was left more up to chance. If you had a bad day, then you were going to lose, plain and simple. But now that guys are taking the time to write down their rhymes and really prepare, I feel that the battling artform as a whole is more polished and refined. I really get excited about the technicality involved in battling now. Dudes are saying some amazing stuff and the writing is really inspiring. I'm a fan of Grind Time, Smack/TRL, King of the Dot, and all that stuff because it's so raw. The energy is a little different than when two guys are battling off the top of the head, but I think they're taking it somewhere further and more consistent. The more consistent it is, the easier it is to create more interest.  

I've actually met and become cool with Mad Illz who throws the Grind Time events. The first time I met him he told me that they used the Scribble Jam battles as an inspiration and foundation for what they do, and that they consider guys like myself pioneers. I never really thought about it before he said that, but i guess it's true. We were doing it at a time before youtube and when there wasn't any money really at stake. We were just going for the respect and glory of it. It's different now, but i really love it. I could watch those battles all day.

As far as if it matters, I think it's still a matter of what that battle rapper decides to do with it. There will always be the stigma that battlers can't make good records, and it will be there until one of them smashes through with a classic. It's the same dilemma Supernatural, Juice, and Eyedea faced. I always knew that I needed to develop myself as an artist more, so I was always on top of my recording and song-writing a lot more than my battling. But a lot of guys keep putting off making that transition because there's a lot of pressure there, and the better you are at battling the more skeptical some people are about your recorded stuff. I applaud any guy that actually uses that forum as a way to jumpstart their recording career. That's the smart play: get the attention and use it to build something with more longevity.

You're the rare case of an emcee and producer who is really talented in both of these areas. What hip-hop producers first inspired you to start making beats? Can you name some people that first made you go "Damn, I wanna make beats like that dude" when you heard them?

I think the first producer that really blew my mind early on was Pete Rock. Before him, I don't remember any producer being featured prominently in the group really. The beats he was making on the first Pete Rock & CL Smooth EP and album were incredible. I had no idea how beats were made but I was always blown away by the way he was able to put samples from different sources together and make them work perfectly. Once I started learning how it was done I was still impressed. After Pete Rock I would say that it was The Bomb Squad. To this day, the production on Public Enemy's albums still blow me away; especially "Welcome to The Terrordome."

The Orphanage. For those who don't know, The Orphanage is an indie hip-hop super group that consisted of you, Slug from Atmosphere, Eyedea, Illogic and Aesop Rock. Now I've read some interviews with Slug, where he said you recorded an albums worth of songs, but didn't release it because you weren't happy with the finished product. Over the years some Orphanage songs would show up on the records of the crew's members, but it was just a handful of tracks. How many songs did you guys record together and are there any chances the fans will be able to hear some more of that unreleased stuff any time soon?

I think we recorded 11 or 12 songs together. At the time we recorded it, we were just having fun.  We didn't really understand the pressure and expectations that would come along with it until after we finished.  There were a lot of supergroups coming out at the time and we didn't want to be thrown into that thing, so we all kind of agreed to not release it as an album.  I'm not sure if it will ever be released as an album, but you could see songs leaked out every now and then.

One of the newest of your creative endeavours is producing videos, both music videos for yourselves and videos promoting artists you work with. How did this whole interest in making videos start? What do you enjoy about it and where do you plan on taking it next?

I got into video and film right after I stopped drinking, about three years ago. At the time, I was just looking for a hobby that wasn't music, so I started going to the library checking out all types of books on random topics. I noticed that whenever I would check out four or five books, I would read the ones on video production the fastest. Eventually, I had read ten or fifteen books on all aspects of video and film production and decided to borrow a friends camera. From there it was on. I started taking on projects with my friends that I thought were cool, directed my own music video "Go Hard or Go Home," and my web series "The Adventures of Blueprint." This year I finally reached the point where I've actually got offered money to do some video work, which is always a plus! I just finished a video campaign for Illogic and Blockhead's album that will be released in April, and I'm pretty excited about it. After that I'm trying to dive into the world of documentary. I've always loved documentary and my hope is to start putting in work on making my own this year.  I've got some ideas I'm developing now, but nothing I can announce jus yet.

You've released several records with RJD2 as Soul Position and with the emcee/producer Illogic as Greenhouse Effect. What do you like the most about doing music with each of these guys?

The best part of the Soul Position records is that I don't have to think about production at all! It frees me up to just be a writer, which is a lot easier. Me and RJ have very similar sensibilities as far as music is concerned, so we're almost always on the same page. I may say some things that catch him off guard sometimes, but as far as our execution we're almost always on the same page.
 
With Illogic, I think I've known him so long that he and I are like brothers. We work at a speed that's really fast because we've got such great chemistry. So whether I'm rhyming with Illogic or just doing beats for him, it's always a really comfortable process.

Speaking of Soul Position, RJ's music went through many changes since your last album together, too. It seems like a new Soul Position record could go in many new and interesting directions. Are there any plans for a new album? Do you enjoy RJ's recent music under the Icebird name with Aaron Livingston?

Me and RJ actually started working on a new Soul Position album this past fall. So far we've recorded maybe ten songs for it, but my goal is to record at least another ten to fifteen. After that, we'll see where everything is at and kind of go from there. Our goal is to finish it this year and possibly release it either later this year or early next year.  I'm spending the next couple months working on it. If I can finish writing it by the end of the spring, then we're gonna be on target. Either way, it's definitely coming. I'm a big fan of RJ's work, solo and with Icebird.

This is a question based pretty much entirely on a few brief mentions you made about reading comics in the past. We talk about comics a whole lot on Trash Mutant, so please forgive me for trying to milk these few vague references that I found. Do you still read comics? Any favorites, either from childhood or current ones, that you can tell us about?

I read comics a lot growing up and a still have my collection from back in those days, but once I got to high school and into sports I kind of let it go. I just didn't have the time to keep up anymore, but have always had a lot of love for them. Fortunately, I started picking them back up a few years ago when I stopped drinking. Comics were actually the first thing I really got back into when I got sober. I started going back to all the definitive graphic novels like Batman Year One, The Watchmen, and  The Sandman; things that I missed the first time around. I've got a few fans that bring me comics to my shows and I really appreciate that. 

I'm starting to slowly get back into reading comics right now. When I was growing up, my favorites were The Amazing Spider-Man, The Uncanny X-Men, and the Secret Wars series. Right now, I'm attracted to more of the darker comics with the heroes that aren't so cut-and-dry and stories that are really character driven. I don't remember that being as prevalent when I was collecting them as a kid, but I love it. It feels like the artform has kind of grown up with with it's readers. I missed so much when I wasn't into comics that it all feels new to me. I'm enjoying getting back into it again.

What can we expect from Blueprint in 2013? What can we look forward to?

My goal for 2013 is hopefully a new solo album or EP, a couple new books, and hopefully a short documentary of some sort. I just want to be as creative as possible, and just follow where my pen leads me!

Thanks for the interview!

Thanks for having me!

__________________________

Visit Printmatic.net to get all the Blueprint updates, buy all the Blueprint records, merch and books and read his blog (it's a really fantastic read for anybody, not just hip-hop fans, and you will be glad you checked it out). Follow Print on Twitter, Facebook and check him out on Youtube and Bandcamp!
Also make sure to check out both Weightless Recordings and Rhymesayers Entertainment for more quality music!

And if you're hungry for more interviews, then check out our TM Interviews page!

Tagged: music, TM Interviews.

blog comments powered by Disqus

---

Follow @TrashMutant