THE Hip-Hop Nerd Exclusive Interview: Torae

If you head over to my MySpace page and scroll down to my comments, you'll notice that a dude named Torae - Daily Conversation in stores now!!! left a nice lil' comment. Turns out, that's actually Torae...like the real Torae. The guy I said was an Artist to Watch. I was too happy about that and decided to hit him up and ask for an interview...and last Tuesday I called up Torae, who was in the studio working on some new material, and got the opportunity to conduct this blog's first (of many...hopefully) interviews. Check it out...

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THE Hip-Hop Nerd: Have you been pleased with the response to Daily Conversation?

Torae: Yeah, yeah definitely. You know, the reviews from the actual reviewers online so far have been good. The bloggers seem to be pleased with it. I definitely think the response has been good thus far. You know there's always one or two people out there that you're not gonna please, but I'm moreso looking at the vast majority and the majority of the people who heard it say that they dig it so I'm definitely pleased with the response.

THHN: You released the album in a non-traditional way, offering it online before there was physical product available. Amanda Diva did the same thing with her EP. How important was the internet in establishing your buzz?

Torae: Well you know if there was no internet buzz there wouldn't be any buzz, know what I'm saying? Like umm, I've pretty much made my mark and got started via the internet...just people getting familiar with me with mp3s that were available online and MySpace and things of that nature. The internet is a powerful tool whereas the music can travel across the globe in a matter of seconds so I definitely thought it was important to have it on the net before it was actually in physical copy for many reasons. Of course, if we get into the leaks, the leak thing is always a concern of the artist, but I wanted the people who supported it online to get it first and get it as soon as they wanted it because initially I had a couple of release dates and I got pushed back for various reasons, so once it was ready to go I said let's give it to the people thats been supporting and following from day one. Let's make sure they get it.

THHN: Why do you think more artists aren't adopting new ways of marketing?

Torae: Its a new day, its a new age. We went from the analog era to the digital era and now moreso than ever everything is online, everything is real speedy...instant gratificatiion. And if you're gonna still try to use old practices you're gonna fall by the wayside. In the new era, new times call for new measures and new approaches. People that are kind of stuck in that dinosaur day are gonna find themselves out of jobs, out of the loop and out of contention real shortly if they don't try to adapt and make the necessary changes. The younger people are thinking with a younger mind, fresh mind. We move a little quicker and we know that you gotta adapt to the internet. My parents bought 45s and 8-tracks, but I'm sure my daughter will never probably buy a CD when she becomes purchasing age. Its just that things have changed and you gotta adapt. I definitely think that artists, the smarter artists and the newer artists are definitely looking at being more internet friendly, internet savvy and embrace the digital era 'cause it's here.

THHN: Just listening to Daily Conversation, you get a sense that you're a true student of the game. When were you first introduced to Hip-Hop?

Torae: I was fortunate. I grew up right in it. There wasn't a time where there was a transition in music for me. I grew up turning on the radio hearing Big Daddy Kane and EPMD and Eric B. & Rakim, Dana Dane and Slick Rick...all these acts and I didn't even realize that this was a new genre or a new form of music. It just felt right. The vibe was dope. It felt good. It felt like the youth. Itwas energetic and I could relate to it 110%. I was just one of the people that was fortunate. So, it just became part of my everyday conversation, my everday lingo, my swag...everything that kinda embodies the person I am who came to Hip-Hop just because I grew up in it. It wasn't until I was older I realized yo, me and Hip-Hop are neck-and-neck and it wasn't new to me, it was there.

When I create music, I create it from that same standpoint of how I felt when I used to turn on the radio. As a consumer, I'm still a consumer and a fan, as a consumer, the music I like to purchase and like to listen to when I'm in my spare time, in my down time, that's the type of music I like to create. I want to evoke that same feeling from other people.

THHN: When did you start taking rhyming seriously? Like, you decided that you really wanted to be a rapper?

Torae: I was always rapping, but I think I started to pursue it umm, I guess in the early 90s, believe it or not. Maybe around '93 or '94...maybe even earlier than that. The early 90s I really started to pursue it as a career because it was just right before the golden era of Hip-Hop, or what people dub as the golden era of Hip-Hop, and I just felt like after being a student of Hip-Hop and listening and studying it that I was ready to try to pursue it. I felt that althought I could do many things and there was a lot of opportunities before me, Hip-Hop was something that just came real easy and natural to me and I wanted it. I definitely couldn't see myself doing anything else just because I felt like Hip-Hop was a part of me. Like I said, again, I just grew up in it and it always felt right. So, before there was any big money and big homes and Bentley coups and all that, just the music and my love for the music, the fact that it made me feel good to be a part of it...just like it made me feel good to listen to it. I just wanted to try to give the same emotion to the people so I really started to pursue it in the 90s and tried to make a career of it.

THHN: You've described yourself as "the new breed of raw." What does that mean to you?

Torae: You know...just the new breed of the raw. I'm one of the newer cats and cats that people aren't familiar with that much thus far and just that raw, that energy, that hunger, that excitement, that love...all the things that made the forefathers get into it and do it for the expression and all of that I feel like I'm the new breed of that. Because there was a time in Hip-Hop when people jumped in and did it for the money or the girls and outside influence and things like that. But I'm one of the dudes that reminds you fo the older people, the pioneers and the originators who just did it for the love of running up in the park, bringing out the equipment, with no money, plugging it into the light, just rocking it...doing it for the love. Just that raw feeling, that essence. I feel like I'm the new bread of that...just the 2000 version.

THHN: You've got production from Khrysis and 9th Wonder, as well as drops from Phonte and Big Pooh on Daily Conversation. There's been a lot of collaboration between the New York underground and North Caroloina artists here lately. Is this just a case of real-recognize-real?

Torae: Most definitely. The whole Justus League. I saw Phonte just over the weekend at the Dilla party. I spoke to Pooh over the email just a couple days ago. I just saw Chaundon flying into town. His album release is today, so he him me at 7:30 this morning when he touched down. That's just the love I got with the League. All real people, like you said, real recognize real...the passion that they put into their releases I feel, 'cause again it takes me back to that time I used to listen to music and it gave me chills, it gave me goosebumps, it made want to go and write something. I'm in the booth like...anytime artists give me that feeling I always reach out, we always end up connecting, embracing one another for the mutual respect for what we do. These like my distant cousins man. I live in New York, they down south, but we still family. We still get up and go to the cookout and the family reunion and all that. Just the beautiful music that we make is our family reunion.

THHN: Its like your country cousins, like Kweli and UGK said...

Torae: [laughs] Yeah, yeah, yeah. those my country cousins.

THHN: Are you on the new Chaundon record?

Torae: Yeah. I'm actually on two joints. One being the "3 Kings" with Skyzoo...people may be familiar with it. It hit the net sometime duruing last year and it got a great response everytime we performed it. I'm also on the joint called..umm, I think its called "You heard of that" or "Heard of that"...its produced by Khrysis. Its just me and Chaundon going back and forth trading braggdocious Hip-Hop bars [laughs]. It's called "Told You That." That's the name of it.

THHN: Who are you looking forward to working with that you haven't gotten a chance to yet?

Torae: You know, it's real cliche, but anybody making dope music. Although I'm a Hip-Hop artist, I listen to all genres of music....with that being said, Mos Def is definitely one my favorite artists. I would love to...love for him to just know that I create music and acknowledge it. That would definitely be more than enough for me, but to seriously, really get in there and cut something up with him would be dope. I'm also a big fan of Bilal, Common...there's a whole list of people, Patti Labelle...just people I listen to and I keep in rotation. I would love to vibe out and see what they energy is like in the studio and possibly create something that's gonna become timeless. I wouldn't limit myself to even listing too many people because there's so many people I wanna work with.

THHN: I would love to hear you rhyme with Mos Def 'cause you know that's my favorite emcee right there...

Torae: Yeah, yeah. My tag on the Sidekick was like Young Mos for a while. He's brilliant. He's brilliant. He's always been a real good dude, real genuine. Just recently as last summer during the Rock the Bells tour I had a chance to kick it with him. He's a real cool dude. It comes across in his music. It comes across in his presentation on the screen. Mos Def is just dope. He's definitely somebody I aspire to have that same type of vibe or get the people to feel that same type of way. He's definitely one of my favorites. Shout out to Black Dante!

THHN: Another one my favorites, Black Milk, my favorite producer right now, ya'll did a track for Daily Conversation. Any chance I can talk ya'll into doing an album or mixtape or EP or something together?

Torae: [laughs] You know Black has a lot on his plate right now. He got a lot of prior obligations, but we definitely gonna work together. We actually been kickin' it. He's gonna be out here next week so we gonna kick it when he gets out here next week for the show. But we actually got something in the works right now with two other emcees. I'll give you a hint, one is from Detroit, the others from Brooklyn, along with Black and myself, and that's probably gonna appear on the b-side from the next 12-inch from Daily Conversation...You definitely go that coming! You wanna hear anything else, we gonna work on it. He's definitely dope, one of my favorite producers. I met him throught Skyzzo. They real good friends and anytime he's in New York we catch up and kick it. He's a real good dude. It's just another one of the new cats, the younger cats that get it. Some young cats that don't get it and some do. Black is one of the dudes that get it. One of my favorite people to kick it with and work with. Definitely looking forward to the new collab coming real soon.

THHN: Can I take a guess? Is it the Guilty Simpson/Sean P joint that you're talking about?

Torae: I can't disclose any of that information. But it's definitely gonna be another Brooklynite on it and another Detroitian spittin' on it. We actually working out the concepts right now. We don't want to just do regular rhymes, even though we all get busy, we kinda wanna give the people a little bit something more. So we working on the concept right now. But I definitely think its gonna be somethin the people gonna enjoy.

THHN: And since you've read the blog, you know I'm a champion of a Skyzoo/Torae/Preemo album. Am I just dreaming on that one?

Torae: [laughs] You know what? As easy as it sounds is as hard as its gonna be. And that just means that we definitely have a dope chemistry...first of all, DJ Premier is a legend. Hip-Hop grew up with him. I got a gang of his cassette tapes in my room of Gangstarr albums. I grew up always loving Premier as a producer and as a DJ, and now I've grown to know him as just as a person and an individual and he's just as dope as he was before I met him. Same with Sky. That's like my brother from another. We vibe, we click. We definitely always on the same page as far as our thought process goes.

It wouldn't be hard for us to get in there and dig something out. But of course it would be the hardest thing in the world due to everybody's scheduling and timing. It would really just have to be something that we all sat down and agreed to and committed to and then just made it happen. So I wouldn't say its out of the question, but I couldn't see it happening anytie in the near future.

THHN: That's kinda disappointing..

Torae: [laughs]

THHN: But I'll live with it at the moment. Enough of my dreaming. What upcoming projects are in the works? Any guests spots we should be checking for?

Torae: Yea, umm, I was fortunate that people caught wind of my buzz early and I was able to get on a gang of records that I thought would be out by now. But I guess '08 is the year for all these records. So you can catch me on DJ Babu's new album, got a couple joints on there. Did some skit work on the EMC album, that recently leaked, I did some stuff on there. And I guess right right now I'm in the studio working on this new project with Marco Polo. Good friend of mine, one of the dopest new producers out there, really catching people off-guard for a dude from Canada. Just really banging out that boom-bap. Me and Marco, we kicked it, we caught up, we bonded, and we in the lab feverishly everyday working on the album together. That'll definitely be out sometime this year. Just the initial reaction from the people and the labels has been real overwhelming. We got more offers on the table than we got songs right now, so its dope that people are checking for it. He definitely earned a lot of respect when he dropped Port Authority, and people have been checking for me since hearing me on The Coalescence or on "Get it Done" or wherever they got wind of me at. I guess that's a collaboration that people look forward to hearing. So me and Marco are in the studio as we speak, just to deliver the best type of album we can, you know?

THHN: I read in an interview you did that you used to be a teacher...

Torae: Yeah, you know, I started as a substitute. I turned professional in New York around 2000 or 2001. I just recently resigned from that position just due to the fact that even though the schedule, it definitely allowed me to do music moreso than a regular 9 to 5, it just came a point where I had to be all-in or all-out with the music and I just decided to take the plunge. But I"m still, it's still a form of teaching. I just got a whole world of students as opposed to one classroom.

THHN: Is that something you would do or continue to do if you weren't rapping?

Torae: Yeah, I definitely wanna continue to take my education further, rack up some more degrees and still, if possible, if I could mix the two. I know 9th teaches a course at [North Carolina] Central [University]. A couple other emcees...J-Live and some of the Juggaknots, I know they're teachers as well. So if the opportunity affords me, I can juggle both and do it legitimately...I don't wanna half-ass anything. But if I can do both legitimately that that's something I"m into doing. I love the connection I have with my kids and just being an influence on their life and tha kinda trickles down into my music. Becaue I see so much of the impact that music has on the students in my school, the good and the bad. So as an artist, I always try to be more conscious of what I'm putting out there because I know that just like music shaped my life and kinda helped develop me into the person that I am, I know even moreso what single-parent homes, kids being raised by their grandparents or how the parents are on drugs or just working hard not being there, and entertainers even moreso are teaching and molding and shaping the kids. I always try to take the responsibility as to what I'm putting out there 'cause I know that somewhere soembody is listening and they're gonna make decisions based of some of the things or all of the things I say.

THHN: A lot of artists don't take that position...

Torae: And you know what? I mean, I understand that as well. As an artist you're like, I'm an artist, this is my job, this what I do, this is how I display my art. But again, like I said, being in the school system and just seeing the kids walking around with the du-rags and the headphones on...and when 50-mania was big, every kid wanted to be 50 Cent in my school. It's no knock on anybody, but just me kinda having a more hands-on experience or it hitting closer to home...I just kinda connect to it a little bit moreso than someone who's distant from and doesn't see the direct effects that the lyrics have on some of the kids out there. These are young impressionable minds and these are the times in their lives that are gonna determine whether they sink or swim. And I definitely wanna be one of the people that help the kids swim.

THHN: On your album you've got a track dedicated to and featuring your daughter. How hard is it, with all the time that's required for a career in Hip-Hop, to balance that with being a father?

Torae: It's definitely difficult just being a parent without doing anything else is difficult, but just like everything else in life it just takes hard work to attain it and maintain it. My daughter is a wonderful person...her mom is too. She definitely helps. Not even helps. If it wasn't for her I wouldnt' be able to do half the stuff I do. It's good to have a system around. They say it takes a village to raise a child. I definitely couldn't...I won't say couldn't do it, but I know it'd be that much harder to do it by myself. So you definitely gotta have your rock with you, your family to kinda hold you down when you need to make moves and things of that nature. Being a single dad, it would definitely be a lot harder for me to do Hip-Hop. I probably wouldn't have gotten as far as I've gotten without the help of my girl.

THHN: A lot of Hip-Hop artists have gotten political as of late and thrown their support behind Barack Obama. Are you following the race at all?

Torae: Yeah, I'm definitely following the race. I'm definitely following the candidates and really getting a good guage of what everybody stands for and not get too caught up in anyone's hype. And by saying that, at the end of the day, politicians are politicians. Their job is to sell you a belief and as long as you have something to believe in, your faith is gonna put ou in that realm where you kinda follow behind it.

I definitely think the inner-city neighborhoods need to take a look at ourselves individually and start to police ourself. Start with yourself. Be self-critical. What am I doing? How can I help the community? How can I make my neighborhood a better place? How can I make myself, my apartment, my bedroom a better place? And just start to build a community. There are other races you don't necessarily see them portrayed in a negative light, and that's because they do everything themselves. they have their own police, their own hospital, their own jobs...there's a lot of nepotism in those communities where evrybody works together and that's how it was back home, back in the Motherland. When we got out here, when we got shipped out here, it definitely broke us down confidence-wise, pride-wise, and mental strength. With being sadi, people definitely need to start looking unto themselves, figuring out how I can better myself, 'cause if I'm a better me and you a better you, then togeher we gonna be a better we. And that goes for everybody in the community and then we can start fixing some of these things. Like, don't think for a second that people that didn't grow up necessarily in the inner-city over even more directly in the projects or in the 'hood know...I mean, you can kinda look from the outside and look in, but unless you have a sibling in jail or a parent on drugs, there's no way for you to fully fully relate to that, with that type of mentality. But us being the people that are here dealing with it, who better to deal with it than us?

That's why I had such a great rapport with my students and such a positive and good influence and effect on them. Some of my other colleagues would always ask me "How do you get so-and-so to listen?" I'm like, yo we come from the same place. I know how to talk to him in his language whereas you don't and come in a little more harsh or as judgmental or you just can't look in his eyes and see him for the person he is. I understand. I'm from the 'hood. I'm from the block. I know what it's about. And coming to politics, how many politicians really came out the 'hood or came out the slums, or really really can understand what we dealing with? With that being said, you always wanna vote for the best possible candidate, the person you feel is gonna get it the most. But we gotta stop looking outside of ourselves for answers and for help and start to build up our own communities and build up ourselves and things'll definitely start to get better that way.

THHN: You recently attended the 2nd Annual Donuts are Forever tribute to J Dilla. What did Dilla mean to Hip-Hop?

Torae: Wow. Dilla was...I hear people say "yo, the Neptunes changed the sound of music...yo, Timbaland changed the sound of music..." Yo, Dilla changed teh sound of music. And when guys like Pharrell get on 106 & Park and say how much of an influence dilla was just shows you even though he way not have been a star or famous to the world, the people who are stars and are famous to the world, they defintely were influenced by Dilla. Kanye, Just Blaze...the list goes on, Pete Rock, who I've been kickin' it with, just talks about Dilla all the time, how much an influence he was. Just me as an emcee, how I listen to beats, the way I started to critique tracks. Like, "that snare not hitting hard, yo listen to how Dilla's snare hit hard." And I wasn't telling nobody to be like Dilla, but I was saying like really get into your craft and know it and perfect it.

Anything I can do in an effort to help his family or help the cause or help with research for lupus or anything, I'm always there. I went. I wasn't on no guest list or nothing like it. I wanna pay my money just like everybody else. I wanna donate, I wanna buy some donuts...I wanna do whatever I can to help. You know, people wear t-shirts, some fo them say "Dilla changed my life" and things like that, and if that's real to you then you should be real about it. If Dilla really changed your life, if he meant somethign to you then its our responsibility to go out there and support anyway we can. We lost a legend, we lost a hero, somebody who probably didn't even reach his full potential or do all the wonderful things he could because his tiem was cut short by this disease we need to research and know more about.

I had the pleasure of meeting his mom last year. She's a great lady, real cool, real down-to-earth, real nice, real soft-spoken. And you can see how Dilla was the way he was because of the type of parenting he had. I didn't have the pleasure of meeting Dilla, but anytime I ever heard anybody speak about him or see him in interviews, see him on video or anything like that, he just seemed like he was real humble and about his work. You hear people saying "yo, Dilla wouldcome to the clubs and the parties like that...he was always in the lab creating" and that's just his dedication that he had that a lot of people lack. That will and decidation, always trying to strive to make yourself better and push the envelope. I'll definitely be at the next Dilla party, and the one after that, and the one after that, and the one after that, and anything else I can do.

THHN: What do you want Torae to mean to Hip-Hop?

Torae: Umm, I'm hoping one day I'm looked at as one of the ones. Everyday I do things to better myself as an emcee, better myself as a performer, better myself as a person, as a black male...Of course, I don't wanna say I wanna be legendary, but I would like to be looked at as one of the dudes who came in and was dope at it. Like I sad, I'm a student of Hip-Hop. I remember listening to Common Can I Borrow a Dollar? album or when I bout the "Take it EZ" cassette single, I was like "Yo, he's dope. I like his style. He's from the Chi, something different." But never in my wildest dreams did I think he'd become the artist that he is today. Or the first time I heard Jay on the Big Daddy Kane joint or "Can I Get Open." Never did I think he would become Jay-Z, the person and the artist that he is today. So, with that being said, Torae and Daily Conversation is not gonna be the same dude in the next 5, 10 years. So hopefully when it's all said and done, I'll leave a strong enough makr that I was able to carve out my own niche in this game and when people think about dope lyrics they mention me.

THHN: Any final thoughts?

Torae: Yo, thank you. I'm grateful for the kind words. I definitely caught the blog, and you was out with your lady at the Lupe joint and all that. I appreciate the kind words. I appreciate the people that have been listening. Like I said, I read every blog, every article printed. I'm heavy on the internet...I'm definitely checking anything that's new, that's not highlighted. I wanna read it. I wanna know what people think and what they feel...good, bad, or indiffferent. I just wanna be in touch with the people. If you heard Daily Conversation and you like it, you wanna support it, I appreciate that. If you didn't like it, I appreciate that 'cause at least you listened and it evoked some type of emotion out of you. If you dig it, come out to a show. You might like that. My live Hip-Hop is different from my recorded Hip-Hop. You know, stay black stay strong. When I say "stay black" that don't necessarily mean just black people, but as a black man I'ma say stay black stay strong. But whoever you are, staty strong, stay true to yourself and your people. Keep representing for good music! Keep making good music if you an artist. And everybody in-between do what you do. Torae. Peace.

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Big shout out to Torae for the THE Hip-Hop Nerd's first interview. Please, go out and support Torae. Go cop the album. Go to a show. Spin his records, if you're a DJ (shout out to the DJs...b-boys...b-girls...graf writers...Hip-Hop stand up!). Keep supporting the real and all the bullshit will fall by the wayside.

And stay black and stay strong.

Aight? Peace.

P.S. NameTag is up next! Holla!