The Hip Hop Chronicle

Most college graduates will use their degrees to make their ways into the working force, but the four members of ‘The Camp’ have dedicated themselves to their craft and their love of Hip Hop.

They may not be sitting behind corporate desks, pretending that the numbers they crunch actually matter, DJ Hevan, Excetera, Dese and Grime Tha MC work just as hard, constantly tweaking and perfecting their craft to the best of their abilities.

Their first mixtape ‘Make Room was very well received in the Boston area and was followed shortly thereafter by their second smash mixtape Bottoms Up. The response they recieved from fans and radio stations showed the group it was the right time to do it big and begin work on their first LP.

With the release of their new album ‘The Campaign’, The Hip Hop Chronicle exclusively caught up with Dese, Excetera & Grime Tha MC, for their thoughts on Hip Hop, their album and the love they’ve recieved from the UK.

Who is The Camp?

Dese : Camp is DJ Hevan, Excetera, Grime, and Dese

Tell us about the genesis of the group?

Excetera : Excetera, Dese, and DJ Hevan formerly were in a group called E3 for a couple years during college, After E3 dispersed, the group began making music with long time friend and battle mate Grime tha mc, the rest is what you say right now, three years in the making.

Dese : Group started out at Umass Amherst, we all met on the battle circuit, and decided to join forces.

How would you guys describe your sound?

Dese : Some Boom Bap stuff

Grime Tha MC : Loud, aggressive, party, lyrical, old school with a new school twist.

Excetera : Our sound is reminiscent of hip hop when it was really hip hop, we got intelligent punchlines, rhyme schemes, breath control, we can touch on topics, any concept you put in front of us, we make it magic. Ill put it like this, Def Squad meets the Alkaholics, with a twist of the Beastie Boys, its real hip hop.

The Camp - Walk On By

Tell us about your musical influences because the sample’s you use are rich in sound?

Grime Tha MC : I mean, we dont make the beats…the heavy sample sound comes from our main producer Teddy Roxpin…he has a crazy ear for samples….as far as my influences…my favorite is Big Pun…but there are two many emcees for me to list that influence me

Dese : Big L, Redman, Eminem, Dj Premier, Jay z, Wu tang, Biggie.

Excetera :To me, the influence is strictly from the hip hop years of 90 - 96, I grew up inspired by Das Efx, Pete Rock and CL Smooth, Gangstarr, Nas, Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes, Wu Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, and the list goes on, cant forget about Dre and the West Coast movement during that time, but you get the idea, its that old boom bap, heavy drum kicks, something that you could actually beat box and turn into a beat, that old street cypher rap, that’s the type of beats I select to rhyme over, Pete Rock/Premier with a twist of Dre to make it simple.

You’ve opened for some big acts like Kanye West, KRS-One, Kool G Rap, Immortal Technique and Gang Starr. What did you get from that?

Dese : Any time u open up for bigger acts its great exposure, and you hope you gain a couple new fans with every performance.

Grime Tha MC : Our old manager TD3 was a beast when it came to getting us shows…his networking game was sick, most of the shows came from him

Excetera : I got an actual feeling that i was blessed with part of dream coming true, when I was younger, I could only dream to perform with the likes of the above artists, I feel alive when I get on stage, a rush almost, and the fact that i was in the presence of such real hip hop artists, makes me feel accomplished and established, its the utmost respect to get on stage anywhere, nevermind with KRS, ill never forget the first show we did with him, he called everyone up on stage and passed the mic around on some YO mtv raps cypher, it was a memorable moment I will never forget, its as real as it gets.

The Camp - Why (Video)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN45wyqRwsc]

You guys are battle rappers, your conscious to mention on your myspace that your not back-packers or you don’t skateboard, what are your thoughts on the state of hip hop right now?

Grime Tha MC : The popular music they lable hip-hop, really isnt hip-hop by my standards…its more pop, or even eletronic techno these days….is it good music? I cant front, I like it, I’ll dance to it, I like 808 drums and techno synths…but is it real hip-hop..naw

Excetera : It is what it is, state of hip hop is in jeopardy, i mean, when an MC like Nas makes an album called, “HIP HOP is Dead”, you gotta think to yourself, this is someone who embodies hip hop as a culture and he is claiming its dead, i dont think its dead persay, i just believe that the rest of the world is not exposed to the REAL culture of HIP HOP, growing up, we were in the essence of the culture, we know what it is, nowadays kids are growing up classifying Soulja Boy hip hop, and dont get me wrong, im not hating, music is music, do your thang, but i dislike the fact that a lot of the material out on the radio is being classified as hip hop, its pop music, its garbage rap, Das EFX is real hip hop, that’s who fits the description for the genre, its tough, but real hip hop heads need to keep it alive and hopefully bring it back as a culture.

Dese : It is what it is. The south is definetely winning right now, I think the golden era of hip hop was definetely mid to late 90’s. I would like to see it get back to more of the lyricism, and keep the finger snapping and dancing to a minimum.

Who are your top 5 MC’s dead or alive?

Dese : 1.) Big L  2.) Biggie  3.) Redman  4.) Jay-Z  5.) Eminem

Grime Tha MC : Pun, Big L, Biggie, Jay - Z, Redman, Andre 3000

Excetera : In no particular order, and Im probably going to change my mind ten times after this, Rakim, Redman, Jayz, Eminem, Das EFX, Big L, Nas, man that’s such a tough question I got more MC’s blasting through my head right now….Big Daddy Kane, Kool G, and even Kweli in his prime, aight im done!

You’re getting a lot of love from the UK, appearing every Saturday on Radio 1, how did that come about?

Grime Tha MC : Dj Jaquar Skillz decided to download our mixtape just by luck, he was feeling our shit.

Excetera : It was a blessing, basically it happened from networking on myspace, and luckily Jaguar was into the music, he contacted DJ Hevan and he started giving us opportunities to be on the radio, so we snatched up every one we could get.

Grime Tha MC : ..then he started asking us to do these intro 16s to his mix show…rest is history…he holds us down like crazy our there

Dese - …and the rest is history.

What can we look forward to from your upcoming album, The Campaign?

Dese : The Campaign is a breath of fresh air to the true hip hop headz, that like that classic sound of the boom bap era. Mad punchlines, rhyscemes, multis, wordplay, topics, and banging beats.

Grime Tha MC : Versatility…party tracks, conscious tracks, battle tracks, club tracks, reggie….we try not to box ourselves in to a style…

Excetera : You can look for something for every feeling that you get, we got some good topics, so humor, some serious talk in “calm down”, got something for the boom bap, something for the lazy heads, soemthing for the weed heads and those who party, and especially someone who likes the good ole hip hop, new york style, like Grime said, we try to mix it up and keep yall listening..

What is the group’s favorite track from ‘The Campaign’

Grime Tha MC : My favorite track is “Like it or Not” ft. Sha Stimuli

Dese : Gentleman Needs

Excetera : Return of the Boom Bap

Finish this sentence. The Camp is…?

Dese : The Camp is the truth

Excetera : Hip Hop

Myspace

Youtube

If you havent already, head over to The Camp’s myspace to purchase their cool t-shirts (they have both female and male tees)

The Art Of Rhyme Video

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DThmAW0iq7g]