Interversity: Educated Consumers

College Park, Maryland duo Educated Consumers are our featured artist for this week's Interversity. Released in July, Write/Hear is a back-to-basics approach to hip-hop that MC Seezmics and DJ t.E.C.K! have been working to create since they first formed in 1999. Their third and most accomplished work to date, Educated Consumers are holding it down in the shadows of the nation's capital. Seezmics took the questions for us.











Educated Consumers - Catch a Glimpse - Write/Hear (VeriZum 2007)

1. Just to be clear: What was the story behind the release of Write/Hear? You guys were saying it was pretty much set in mid-'05 on your blog...

Write/Hear had been completed from a music standpoint since ‘05, but we kept waiting for the right business situation to present itself. We had already done the "cd-r self release" thing with our first album, Educated Consumers. Our second album, Aisle 2, was released by a small label with limited resources. We'd learned from those releases and wanted to wait for something better, if not perfect. We were also getting some feelers for tours with bigger acts, and were hoping that would lead to signing with a bigger label.

Basically, we were hoping someone else would do the hard work so we could sit back and eat sandwiches made of diamonds. Big mistake.

I eventually got tired of hoping/waiting/wishing for better days, so I decided to start making them. We put the finishing touches on Write/Hear and I planned a release party in DC for July of ‘07. Next thing you know, we’re getting interviewed by Audiversity and performing at the Grammy’s. What a life.

2. How did you guys acquire your stage names, and what does the " t.E.C.K!" acronym stand for?

My little tag used to be “sieze,” which obviously evolved to seezmics when I started rapping for the masses. “t.E.C.K!” stands for The East Coast Kid and was born during the era of boom-bap beats representing the east coast style of production.

3. I'm loving the beats on this record, and I'm not the first to point out an early-90s influence. Is there any one album in particular that you'd say united you two and helped define the sound you're pursuing now?

The most obvious comparison is Gang Starr because my voice is similar to Guru’s and DJ Premier has been t.E.C.K!’s biggest influence. Hard To Earn is an incredibly complete album, both technically and conceptually, so I’d say that’s the best middle ground for us both.

However, we aren’t the next anyone. We are the first and only Educated Consumers. If it sounds like I’m being assertive, it’s because I am.

4. The vibe I get from interviews, shows and your site is that you have a great sense of humor. Whose sense of humor would you say you most admire? Why?

I like the quirky, self-deprecating style of Conan O'Brien blended with the razor-sharp semantics of George Carlin. Anne Coulter is also one funny broad. The whole "it's wrong when you do it but great when I do it" routine never gets old.

I admire these people because they can get the crowd open with a good fart joke, then bring down the house with an intellectually stimulating look at life and whether or not it has meaning. Then end things with another fart joke.

5. Educated Consumers are now nearly eight years old. What sorts of changes have you seen in the hip-hop scenes of College Park, DC and Baltimore during that time, and where do you think it's going?

I’ll use our release party as an example. I promoted the show in DC for over 2 months using Myspace, flyering local shows, word of mouth, threats of violence/financial ruin, calling radio shows, and T-shirts with the flyers printed on them real fancy like.

Essentially, I had all the bases covered: the heads who would come as long as they knew about the show, the heads who would come after they checked the website and fell in love with our sound, the heads who never come to shows because we have so many but knew this one was important, the heads who owed me money and figured showing up would make us even, and the local heads who we’ve supported through the years.

The show was on a Sunday, which was obviously problematic in terms of getting a maximum draw. However, since the venue owners also own several larger venues in the area, my plan was to get a large draw for a Sunday and use that momentum to convince the venue owners that DC hip hop acts are worth working with.

Several of the DC acts I spoke with while promoting wanted to be on the release party bill. I told them while that bill was already full, my plan was to impress the venue owners with the solidarity among DC artists and use this show as a tipping point for locking down the city. Several of these artists supported the idea and said they’d be there, both to show love for the release and to help us help them.

I spent a lot of money on promoting the show, and I can live with taking a loss on my own release party. I can even live with taking a minor loss helping other local acts, which was the plan going forward. However, of the 75+ people at the show not including the acts, 3 were DC artists. That is not a typo. Three. One. Two. Three.

This would not have happened when I first started getting involved in the scene. Heads supported each other, and not just out of some artificially benevolent hippie bullshit. They supported each other because they knew it would come back to help everyone. Apparently, people are too shortsighted or lazy to see that now.

Audiversinquiry (10 questions we ask everyone)

1. What did you specifically remember listening to as children that triggered a notable response?

I used to dig all the hair metal bands and their cookie-cutter song structures. Gotta have a snare-free intro. Gotta have tinny vocals. Gotta have a guitar solo. Then I got into Cypress Hill and moved on.

I’ve also always been a big sports geek, and I used to imitate the speech patterns of the guys calling/analyzing games. Steve Buckhantz is currently my favorite play-by-play guy. Howdayalikethat.

2. You are heading across town this moment and will have time to listen to one complete album during the trip, what would you all collectively listen to?

I would force t.E.C.K! to listen to the Modest Mouse’s Lonesome Crowded West. He would bludgeon me with a shoe and throw on Smif N Wessun’s Da Shinin.

3. Are there any other media that you draw inspiration from? Books, authors, painters, actors, movies, celebrities, etc?

I read a lot. Vonnegut, Orwell, Palahniuk for novels. Bill Simmons, Bethlehem Soals, DJ Gallo for sports. I recently started using netflix and it's become my codependent lover. I like checking out the groundbreakers like Peeping Tom and All The President's Men, but I keep it simple stoopid with Beerfest and Grandma's Boy. People, I implore you: check out Alien Vs. Predator. The contained explanation of mankind's evolution makes more sense than you'd expect. Celebrities... but aren't we all?

4. Where do you go to discover new music and sounds?

I ask my girlfriend what she thinks is cool, then I say "That sounds so lame!" but then I go check it out and inevitably like it. My sister also has ill taste in music and literature, so I pick her brain for new stuff. I've read a couple of the books being peddled on The Daily Show, and they have been hit or miss.

5. What question do you get most often as a band that you hate answering?

"Did you really turn down a max deal to sign with Wizards?" I'm like, yeah, I decided to forgo a Hall Of Fame career in the NBA so I could rap in front of strangers for pennies on the dollar. I've learned to live with it, and it's time all these interviewers just let it go.

6. Favorite instruments or specific sounds?

I love the crunchy sound from an SP1200, especially what it does to snares. t.E.C.K! does a great job of layering drum kits and gets a great sound from his MPC. I prefer groove samples to trumped up keyboard samples. I like recording using sports broadcaster mics because they isolate the better parts of my voice. I hate crying babies, bragging men, and nagging women.

7. The record store is closing in ten minutes and you are hell-bent on buying something before they close, what section do you each head immediately towards?

Soundtracks or comedy.

8. What is the last notable daydream you guys had and where did it take place?

N/A.

9. What is the perfect album to you? Are there any? Is it possible?

To me, the perfect album is Aceyalone's "A Book of Human Language." Concise, tangible, entertaining, and challenging. I don't think a perfect album is possible for more than one listener. Life is like a box of... what's that saying... oh yeah, condoms.

10. Do you keep up with blogs? Which if so?

Again, I'm a sports geek so here's the list: freedarko.com, kissmesuzy.blogspot.com, wizznutzz.com, Aol's NBA fanhouse, and of course audiversity.com. I also write a basketball blog, postgrotto.com (Incidentally, Kelly Tripucka was a golden god. - Ed.)