NONEEDZ INTERVIEW

Solo MC NoNeedz is about to drop his new album, Feel Good Musik. The Pier sent him some questions to try and obtain a personal insight into one of Southern California’s more talented underground MCs.

The Pier: So what got you into being an MC? Do you remember the first rhymes you ever put to paper?

NoNeedz: Actually, I was a screw up in High School and got kicked out of a class (can't remember which). Recording arts was open and I thought it would teach me about a new Camcorder I got. It was a musik class! The final involved writing a song. So I wrote some lyrics (much borrowed from the Fugees HAHA) and that's how I got roped into this mess.

The Pier: What are some of your main inspirations for your songwriting?

NoNeedz: LIFE inspires me. Well, forces me to write. I'm a passionate person. That's why I record so freaking loud! I've just seen too many bad things in my lifetime and Musik keeps me from thinking too much about the past.

The Pier: You have songs on your forthcoming album titled, Who I Am and Git 2 Know Me. So in a nutshell who is NoNeedz?

NoNeedz: The name came from too many bad days and always saying..."Mayne I don't need this ****!" Along those lines. Who I Am is about trying to escape all the things that try to bring me down. Git 2 No Me is about trying to find peace within myself and how that is impossible in this terribly egotistical musik world. But I haven't answered the question...WOOPS!

Ok. NoNeedz is a jokester personality. The lesser serious side of myself. Most of my tracks poke fun at things I hate, instead of most rap which just yells..."I'm the ****** man!" I've cleaned up my act a bunch, and part of that is because I've read the Bible a lot and actually try to apply it, though I no longer go to church. That's why you hear statements about Christ in a lot of songs. I'm a huge advocate of common sense, do good and good will come to you. Duh! So really, practicality is NoNeedz in a nutshell.

The Pier: How was the recording process for the album? Do you enjoy working in the studio and the creative process?

NoNeedz: I LOVE the studio. I've been independent for years, recording on Radio Shack junk to thousands of dollars of equipment. In fact, I practice my lyrics recording into the back of a headphone lol, which I picked up from Recording Arts: See response to Question One!

JustKeyz from the band I’m in, Close Enough, is fun to work with—given our moods are on the up and up. Many of the good sounds from the album are actually his doing. Git 2 No Me was his beat and Who I Am was mine, but I knew to ask him for some killer bass and piano…I think the reggae crowd will be blown away when they hear some of the stuff we got brewin’ with the band.

Fact is, I did so many collaborations with groups like High Tide and songs for the Sense Boardwear Compilations that by the time my solo album was ready to record I was also ready for the occasion. Still, we must’ve recorded over 30 tracks in the last two years and I only kept 15. They are, in my opinion, the best of all of them.

The Pier: You worked with Javier Contender from Chapter 11 on a few songs. What was he like to work with?

NoNeedz: Javier Contender is pretty much the only other person beside myself who had a background in hip-hop for this album. I think he sent me a total of three beats and two of them were FIRE. That’s an amazing ratio. Feel Good Musik needed some rawer hip-hop and he dropped the beat for the Examination. Not only that, but in remixing it with new instruments he knew what I meant when I said, “It needs some of that Dre-like instrumentation…some flutes or something…lol” And actually came out better than I could’ve ever expected. This album wouldn’t be anything without all the musical minds behind it. He is certainly one of those musically gifted professionals. He kept that same echelon of performance when he designed the graphix as well.

The Pier: Your lyrics certainly seem to be on the positive tip and with an album name like Feel Good Musik, is it important for you to have a good message?

NoNeedz: Like I said, there are just too many depressing things out there. Musik and movies are the only mood stabilizers I’ve got sometimes, so those things can make me feel good. A good message and a good beat can change me from a murderous rage to a butterfly of contemplation. LOL.

The Pier: What are some of your favorite tracks on the album? Or do you have any interesting stories behind their origins?

NoNeedz: Be Somebody is one of my favorites. I actually re-wrote that track twice because I wanted to get my thoughts perfect. I was at JustKeyz studio (spent the night) and because they don’t have cable I was watching the only available channel. A show about children of crack addicts was on, and how they wanted to be actors and entertainers. It just had me thinking about how amazing it was that they didn’t turn out like their parents, as so many people do. Since our jobs (careers) are our identities I just tried to write down all the different possibilities, and realized nothing really fits me. It kind of ends on that note, sort of sad, but not really haha.

The Pier: What other MCs do you like? As you said before you have guested on other people's tracks like High Tide and Clear Conscience. Who would you love to do a track with?

NoNeedz: You know, I really don’t listen to too much new-age hip-hop. Even the MC’s I used to listen to regularly (Slim, Rhymesayers, Aesop, Binary Star, Nas, Jay z, Biggie etc, all the greats of the underground and mainstream) I just listen to their old stuff. When I was younger I used to like all that cursing…actually, I didn’t even notice it…but now a days it’s hard to listen to a lot of musik. Truthfully, I just listen to Ray Charles and reggae.

The Pier: Well tell us about this new reggae band Close Enough you have been working with. How did that come about and what can you tell us about the project?

NoNeedz: JustKeyz runs the studio where I recorded for the Sense Boardwear Compilations. He also played bass in a cover band called Close Enough. They wanted to start recording some original stuff and thought a great MC would be cool to have. Not finding one, they asked me. LOL.

The Pier: There is quite a large reggae scene developing down there in SoCal, and you working with Sense Boardwear, I imagine it was it kind of hard to avoid incorporating reggae in your own music and playing with Close Enough?

NoNeedz: Performing and practicing with live instruments is tough. Hip-hop is somewhat of a standard-pacing type of musik. Hip-hop lyrics are written to a specific speed. It’s disastrous when sped up or slowed down. Hip-hop is not like singing where one can just omit words or extend a note haha. Also, instruments can be Super LOUD. Still, when everything is hitting and at a good level the live band mixed with any kind of musik always gets the crowd hyped.

The Pier: Are you going to play any live shows in support of the album?

NoNeedz: I just don’t have, at least for now, time or a DJ. So I’ll be performing and selling CDs at our Close Enough shows.

The Pier: Nice. Do you enjoying playing live?

NoNeedz:I think it’s funny that I can enter the club and be a nobody, but once the band is performing and our songs are done, people suddenly KNOW me. I guess I enjoy the rush of the stage, but I’m really a shy person. I enjoy the private studio way more.

Well thanks to Noneedz for giving The Pier the chance to get to know him a little better. To find even more out about NoNeedz and preorder his new album check out (click the pic):

NoNeedz is also featured on four tracks on this Sense Boardwear compilation, click the pic to check it out.