Beltway Bounce

The DMV hip-hop landscape has its power players and usual suspects. A few artists have been able to blaze their own trails to success, without cliquing up or following the trends. Music artist Born I is a Silver Spring-raised, first generation American of Ghanaian descent. After years of underground success as one-half of the group Shambhala, Born I is tearing down genre walls with his international boss swag and universal sound. On the verge of his new EP King of Kings dropping late fall/early winter, we rapped with him about life, liberty and the pursuit of righteous wealth.

BI: Yeah, I was born in DC…Grew up right outside of DC in the Silver Spring area. Bel Pre Road…Layhill, that part of Silver Spring. If anyone knows about that area in the 80s, they know it was crazy. But yeah, that’s where I grew up. Then I went to high school in DC, went to college in DC, lived in DC for a while and now I’m in VA for the moment.

BB: Ok, cool. We just did a piece on celebs from the DMV and which local high schools they attended. You’ll be in that category immediately after this interview hits the web [laughs], so which high school and college did you actually attend?

BI: I went to St. Johns [College High School], the military school. I was somewhat of an interesting kid, so I ended up going to the military school off of Military Road. I attended American University after that.

BB: You’re definitely representing our home region very well. One of the really interesting things that I’ve seen with you is that you’re in this hip-hop industry, where it’s more cool and accepted to be a wild, misogynistic player. You listen to the radio and most of the songs are about sex without commitment, poppin’ bottles in the club and all that stuff. Then, I see you in your photoshoots and videos with your wedding band on, clearly not trying to hide anything and give off this false image of who you are…You must have a very incredible and supportive woman with you. Tell me what it’s like trying to balance marriage and hip-hop business.

BI: [laughing] Hold on…[speaking in shock to Mrs. Born I] Hey babe! First question of the interview…how do you balance marriage and this hip-hop lifestyle?!

[speaking back to BB] Oh my God! This has been the theme of my life. This question continues to come up over and over again. Not with interviews, but with life in general. I’ll be the first to say that it is really, really hard. It’s hard for a number of reasons. Number one is just time – time spent away. I’m here right now packing up my stuff and going through all of the old love letters and old pictures…we’ve been together since almost right out of high school. It’s been a little bit now and that part really helps because she’s seen me from when rap was something I was just dabbling in, to it becoming my career. It’s difficult because the more my profile raises, the less people say no to me…for whatever I ask for. And people offer stuff, specifically women. [As my profile raises] The more they offer their time, the more they offer themselves period. You’re dealing with models, you’re dealing with all that other type of stuff. As a man, the temptation is there but I have a really, really, really understanding wife who’s also a little bit of a freak. [laughing] So, we can actually both admire the ladies together sometimes. That definitely helps. You gotta have an adventurous lady if you’re gonna be in this business, otherwise it’s not gonna fly. But yeah, it’s really hard. I was just in Thailand, then I got back and I went right off to Canada. Touring out of the country comes with it’s own stuff, you know what I’m saying? But I do my BEST to keep it real with my wife. I’m not always 100% on my greatest behavior, admittedly, because that’s just how the game goes. But I think one of the things that has kept us together is that I try not to shy away from being honest. She’s just super understanding and it’s definitely not easy, but we find a way to make it work. 

BI: [laughing] See that’s the thing, I try to pick ladies that I know my lady would be like “Ok, she’s fine, I see why you picked her.” Then we could sit back and admire her together as opposed to picking some type of off-brand. I try to pick women of different shapes, sizes and ethnicities. My wife lets me know what women like to see because women like to see women too, whether they admit it or not. While a dude may want some ridiculously super-thick, like ultra voluptuous type female, some ladies might prefer to see a woman who looks a little slimmer, more elegant and vice versa. My wife keeps me in check there. So, I’m lucky. I’m super, super, super lucky.

BB: That’s what’s up! Wedding planners all over the DMV will be very happy to hear this. [laughs] Now that we’ve discussed the serious stuff, let’s get more into the music.

BI: Yeah man.

BB: J. Scrilla produced the joint Limelight featuring the legendary Mobb Deep. Who put that entire thing together? Have you known Scrilla for a while and have you two worked together previously?

BI: Well, I’ve known Scrilla for a while, just from going to the beat battles and just checking out the young talent in our area. I was in a group called Shambhala for a while and we had our own crew of in-house producers, so there was never any real intentions for us to branch out from the folks that we were working with. But, when I went solo about two years ago, I wanted to do something completely different from what I had been doing with Shambhala and I wanted to reach to different producers, etc. I had my mind and my eye on Scrilla for a while in terms of beats, but I just never really got around to making it happen. Then I ended up getting a sponsorship deal with Heyday Footwear out of Boston (shout out to Darin Hager, CEO of Heyday Footwear for giving me the look) and I pitched the idea to them, of putting together a mixtape to promote the release of their Summer line. A close friend of mine, Jules Renae, (who’s head of promo for New England Hip Hop.com and actually made a cameo in the Time video, she’s the one riding in the Porsche with me, counting the money and stuff) we were just going back and forth and she knew that at the time I was wearing a lot of exotic high tops. She’s from Boston so she introduced Heyday Footwear and I over Twitter. Long story short, we had a good conversation, I landed the deal and we started talking to them about doing the mixtape. I thought Jules would be a good person to work with because she’s such a great networker. Since Heyday is also Boston-based I thought we’d work with Jules to get some Boston artists on there. So we ended up with Ed O.G., YV & Hollywood and some other really great Boston artists not to mention The Game, Lights Over Paris, Asia Bryant and more.

So Jules and I were talking and we thought it would be really dope if we got some cats that we’ve really respected (over the years) on the tape. So we just started reaching out to people. The beautiful thing about Twitter is that everybody is touchable. You just send a tweet out to somebody and they can respond. We sent a tweet out to Twista, we sent a tweet out to Havoc and others just letting them know that we’re doing this tape, we really respect them and we’d love to work with them. Jules sent Havoc the tweet and Hav responded back. We sent him a pair of kicks and then I sent him the record. Next thing I know, I was up in New york and he was sitting on my DJ’s couch playing me the record with his vocals on it.

BB: Wow.

BI: Yeah it kinda happened boom, boom, boom like that. We weren’t really holding our breath but we know that sending him a gift with some kicks would be a decent look. But the real kicker would be whether or not he was feeling the music. I had already talked to Scrilla about doing the mixtape, so he had already sent me a bunch of tracks. So what I ended up doing was laying down a bunch of verses and hooks and shooting them out to people that I wanted to do records with. I had that track Limelight with my first verse on it already and I shot it out to Havoc with two other joints. Havoc said he was really feeling the Limelight track and that he’d get back to us. Two weeks went by and we didn’t hear anything, then all of a sudden, I was on my way to New York and my DJ, AB Logic called me and said “you’ll never guess who’s in my apartment – Havoc. Come straight here.” So I came up and Havoc was right there in my DJ’s living room. Jules had come to NY that weekend too. She and Hav were scheduled to meet about business, the mixtape etc. and it just happened that he had finished his verse for Limelight. So, it was great. The atmosphere was celebratory, we knew this was gonna be a great record.  To me, it’s one of Havoc’s dopest verses and I’m a big Mobb Deep fan. He’s definitely had some real crazy verses, but that verse to me was a stand out.

BI: Anyone who knows me from before, remembers my days with the group Shambhala. Shout out to my brother Agua. Together, we had a lot of underground success here in the city. It’s not hard to say that in the early 2000s we were probably….not even probably, we WERE one of the great underground groups coming out of DC. We started traveling and doing a lot of stuff overseas…out in Asia. Then we came back and after being a duo for several years and it was time to make a change. But one of the hallmarks of our style was the big, flowing African garbs and me with that gigantic hat, wearing the long Chinese beads. That was pretty much our standard uniform, constantly. We got to the point where we were wearing samuri swords out in the streets, broad day…just crazy shit. We just brought the show with us everywhere. When I went solo, there was like a transitional period where I had to decide if I wanted to carry that same style over to my solo work, or did I wanna switch it up a little bit? Because, in my day life I’m a lot more dynamic than just one type of uniform. So, you still might see me in those types of things, but I’ve been gettin my streetwear/high fashion swag on for a while now. So, I haven’t been wearing the big hat as much but that’s still part of my fashion repertoire.

BI: My family is from Ghana, West Africa and I’m a first generation American. I’ve just been exposed to so many different types of music and ways and my father is like a crazy music head. He just listens to every style and dimension of music there is. So versatility and dynamism is just a part of how I grew up. So, I’d watch my parents go from traditional, fly, West African clothing to Armani suits, getting completely dapper on some New York fashion shit. So, I’ve seen that type of transition and that influences my style. It also influences my music to where I don’t feel comfortable doing just one thing. That carries over to my lifestyle. Groing up on Bel Pre Rd. in the mid-80s made me completely comfortable in the streets, I’m completely comfortable around hustlers, I’m completely comfortable around crackheads. At the same time, I went to a private school so I’m completely comfortable operating at that level, too. Then, there’s also the international element to how I grew up, so I’m comfortable with pretty much all types of people from all walks of life. So, I can make a street record, I can make a pop record, I can make a conscious record and all of it is authentic. None of it is pretend, all of it is an expression of my background and my lifestyle. Versatility is the hallmark of who I am as an artist – dynamic. What I want to show is that man is not just one thing. A man can be several things and still be true to his core principles. I teach Buddhist meditation to kids and their parents but I’m also in the clubs out in Bangkok poppin’ unbelievable amounts of bottles. [laughs] But it’s all me. I don’t feel hypocritical or contradictory at all. I might be a special case, but I feel like everybody can be whatever they wanna be. Know what I’m sayin? As long as they understand what the heart of the matter really is: nothing lasts.

BI: [laughs] Thanks man. That’s what I work for. You listen to me and it’s doesn’t sound like “oh, now he’s trying this and now he’s trying that.” It’s just who I am; I do what I want. Whatever mood is in that moment or whatever the music calls for out of me, that’s what I’m gonna do.

BI: One of my producers, Godfather Sage sent me the track a few months back and said “dude you really need to jump on this track, He’s asking people to jump on it.” It was something that Girl Unit said he wanted people to do, and I haven’t heard anyone do it like I did it. Some of the cats in the UK have responded very well to it. I performed that record out in Canada and the response was unbelievable. I might actually be going out to the UK to pick up from the steam of that record – I wanna give a big shout out to Big Laced and that whole crew and hopefully we can do some work. Shout out to Girl Unit for not telling me that I couldn’t do the record and for not shutting me down. [laughs]

BB: [laughs] You’re clearly doing you’re thing all over the globe but how do you feel you’ve been supported in your hometown? Not just the fans, but the radio stations as well? I just feel like a song such as Conga Drum featuring Deborah Bond, who’s an incredible artist by herself should have been burning up the radio. It’s a shame that I had to find you on Twitter to find that record.

BI: You’re telling me! I’ve had some frustrations in this game and in this city. For me, it only makes me stronger, intensifies the hunger and strengthens the records. The records that I’m working on right now are so huge. Partly because [laughs] I refuse to not be heard, especially in my own town. But I have to say that public radio in DC – shout out to 89.3 [WPFW] - has always supported me. On the pop radio station in Bangkok, Seed FM, Conga Drum is in rotation. Thailand is like 23 hours away on a plane, but I couldn’t get that record on the air right here at home on a Clear Channel station. I performed it live in DC - EZ Street was there, said the record was awesome, but for whatever reason, it didn’t get on the air. And you’re right, Deborah Bond is on the hook. It’s a no-brainer; you play that song in the club and people go ape shit.

BB: Surely.

BI: What are you gonna do? But, I’ve always gotten a lot of love from the people in the city, as far back as before I was with Shambhala. When I went solo and I adopted a sound that was a little more universal, people were kinda scratching their heads for a second. The first record I came out with was Conga Drum and people were like “what the hell is this?”, but the shit was kinda undeniable so what could they do? I’ve always gotten support from the artist community and from the people. But from radio, not so much. We have a lot of great, successful artists here. You’ve got The Cornel West Theory, Tabi, you’ve got Wale who you actually get to hear, you’ve got Phil Ade, Kingpen Slim, the list goes on. There’s so many good artists and then you’ve also got the fantastic singers like Deborah Bond. Her album just dropped and I would say that Deborah Bond could be nominated, if not win a Grammy. But at the same time I’m not hearing her on the radio here, she’s all over VH1 and VH1 Soul. She’s not even on the adult contemporary stations here yet. I don’t know what the deal is with radio here, but I’m not gonna pop shit about them. You know, sometimes people are just slow to catch up. For whatever reason, it could be corporate politics or something. DC radio is traditionally slow to open up to their own artists, but that’s starting to change. And thanks to the internet and other means, we don’t have to worry about that too, too much.

BI: I can’t call it. There’s also some people that are so called in line ahead of me, but I feel as though I make better records than them so it’s whatever. Radio is still catching up [laughs] It’s all good.

BI: It’s nothing. Shout out to Boo Man. I did a record called Memory Lane. It’s like a Baltimore house/club record and he said he’d get that in rotation at some point. Even just him saying that he’d do it is bigger than not getting any response from DC radio at all. So shout out to Lazerbitch, shout out to Libby Picken. I got another gigantically huge record with Libby coming out soon. Baltimore has always shown me a lot of love. Shout out to the whole B-More. Shout out to Jonathan Mack, Imani Beats, shout out to Godfather Sage, shout out to all the clubs, etc., etc.

BI: It’s interesting. Yes, it does inform my music. It’s funny because I’m packing right now and I’m finding all of these old lyrics. It’s just amazing to me to see how much I’ve written. I’ve got books worth of rhymes and I can see my progression as an artist in all of those old rhymes. Earlier in my music, when I was just discovering Buddhism, my writings were very, very idealistic. All about sprituality and enlightenmment. That’s mostly what people knew me for. They identified me with that. What people don’t know is that while I was writing from the perspective of someone that was already spiritually realized, I was still going to strip clubs, hustling a little bit, still running around with girls. Keeping all that stuff secret. I was putting forth an image of someone who was spiritually advanced and not really touching on the human things….that spritually advanced people still do. They just do it from an advanced place. [laughs] I think that’s what the disconnect was with Shambhala and the people sometimes. I once read an article reviewing Shambhala in a European magazine and one of their comments was “we love their music, but we never get to experience who they are as people.” That really stuck with me. At the end of the day, Buddhism is not about statues, it’s not about beads, it’s not about clothes and it’s not about monks. It’s basically about a way of living that keeps you aware of what’s happening in your mind and what’s happening in your body. Then it asks you to make decisions based on that awareness. You know what I’m saying? You see what state of mind you have, you see how your body is feeling right now…how are you gonna act based on that? It’s like a moment by moment analysis of who you are and what you do. So yes, there are guidelines and stuff like that but there’s no like, 10 Commandments. It’s basically, try your best not to do any harm to yourself and others, and try to be aware of yourself from moment to moment. Also, letting yourself reveal itself to yourself and see where you find yourself [laughs]. But as long as you’re living, you’re gonna get your feet dirty and we’re in the rap game…this is the music industry, there’s almost no way of not getting your feet dirty in this. Through meditation I’m learning to balance getting my feet dirty enough to keep walking, without falling all the way in the mud. For me, all I’m concerned with is being a full human. The full expression of being a human. If you dont know what you are, how can you transcend it? So, I want to have my champagne, and I want to have my Porsche, and I want to have my Lamborghini, I want to wear my Heyday Footwear and I want to wear my Kennett Watches. I want all of those things. But, when I’m in my Lamborghini, I want to make a pit stop to the local food bank and make a donation. When I’m in my Porsche, I want to stop by a homeless shelter to drop off some clothes. If I get $100k for some show, I want to break off half of that to some foundation to help end hunger or provide clean water to people in need. I want to be wealthy so I can be a service to others. That’s what Jay-Z said, “I can’t help the poor if I’m one of them.” So to me, it’s the pursuit of righteous wealth, and sometimes it’s not righteous how you come up on it, but it’s what you do with it when you get it that matters, ultimately. So you’ll hear that spirituality in my music, but you’ll also hear wreckless materialism and that’s a good snapshot of where my mind and life is right now. I have a yearning towards the good, but I also have the yearning for the basic things that most humans want. I just try to do it with awareness and keep it balanced.

BI: I’m just not concerned with splashing myself all over the scene, wasting my energy. I’d rather hold my cards and my energy and make power moves when it’s time. Rest assured, I’ve got some gigantic moves on deck. Everybody will hear about them soon enough. My next record is a club remix with the pop group Hot Chelle Rae.  Its bananas. Shouts to Nash Overstreet and the click.

BI: Yeah definitely. My EP “KING of KINGS” is dropping at the end of fall. Probably some of the most incredible free music you’ll ever get. I wanna salute my whole crew G&D-New Sinatra, all of the artists under my production company. That’s my brother Waze, that’s the boy MacGuyver, the amazing Sugar S.P., our dancer Adriana Milan, and my DJ and co-CEO DJ AB Logic. I wanna shout out all of my sponsors, Heyday Footwear, Kennett Watches, Industry Made streetwear, Jimmy Swagg eyewear, Spilled Milk/Reven streetwear and hats out of Bangkok. My assistant Ambre who keeps my brain together. Biggups to One Love Massive and One vs Many. And of course my wife and my seeds. And all of the fans who have taken care of me and are waiting for this new project that’s coming soon. King of Kings.

BI: Thanks man, same to you. Let’s get it. Stamp that.

- Los 9.5.2011

Born I is an international rap artists whose EP King of Kings drops late fall/early winter.

Los is local dude who is trying to figure out if Hyattsville and Seven Corners are technically international destinations.