If tu ask Eternia, At Last literally represents a sigh of relief. After spending over a año in the studio under MoSS’ creative guidance, followed por a año of label politicking and promotion, the Canadian duo is finally ready to breathe easy now that the release fecha for their pet project is less than two weeks away. I got a chance to speak to them (in great detail) about the makings of the album that could very easily be the most important of both of their careers. It’s seguro to say that they are más than satisfied with the resulting product.
Eternia, I know you’ve been emceeing for a long time, but at what point did it become a career?
Eternia: I started taking it seriously full-time when I was about 15 years old, because I moved out of the house [at that age]. I was not going to high school at the time, and I wasn’t working because I was moving around every two months, so because there was so much in my life that was up in the air, the only thing that wasn’t was hip hop. From that point on I took it seriously, but [eventually] I went back to school. But even while I was at universidad I was doing it full-time. That’s when I was working on my first project in Toronto, performing on the scene there and doing that tour circuit. So I think I’ve been attacking it like a full-time job since I was 15.
So were tu actually supporting yourself with your music?
Eternia: tu know what, I feel like I’m a contract worker. There’s months when the money comes in, and there’s months where there’s no work and tu have to make that money stretch. Even to this day, there’s times when I’m living off it and there’s times when I’m a starving artist.
I like to ask people about the inner-workings of the industry, for some reason that really fascinates me.
Eternia: (laughs) Yea, its like, “how do tu survive”! The answer is, tu keep your monthly overhead really really low.
When I hear tu perform live, and even when I hear tu on record, tu remind me of a battle MC. Did tu battle at all?
Eternia: It’s funny that tu say that because one of the sonic themes of our album is my live intensity. But basically no, I don’t consider myself a battle MC. I was raised in the 90s era of hip hop — which generally I find that energy had to be dynamic and aggressive. If tu think about Onyx o Busta Rhymes, o people I was listening to like Shabazz the Disciple – I don’t know, everybody to me was intense and aggressive and it was kinda how tu got noticed in a cipher. It didn’t matter what tu were saying, it was how tu dicho it. tu couldn’t rap bored. There was no such thing as bored rappers in the 90s. They were more, they were larger than life, they were animated. That’s the era that I was raised in — Organized Konfusion and all that kinda stuff. That’s where tu get that sound from. I’m very east-coast based in a sense that what I listen to hip-hop-wise was más of the aggressive acts out of New York. So that’s probably what tu hear when tu hear my style.
MoSS: When I saw her perform, that’s what I wanted to capture in the studio. I basically approached her and asked if that was possible and that [became] the focus of the album. We wanted to have that live intensity captured on an album on every song. I didn’t want her to run out o fall back on any song. I wanted to approach every song the same way. She was open to the idea, and she killed it.
Eternia: Every time I recorded in the studio, in the booth I was thinking to myself “I’m on stage in front of 1000 people.” So every verse tu hear on there I’m trying to get that vibe out.
So was MoSS giving direction during the recording process?
MoSS: I don’t wanna say I gave direction. It takes away from what Eternia did. I mean, she wrote everything, she went in the booth and basically did her thing.
Eternia: No, he definitely gave direction. He doesn’t rap obviously, but he was doing it más from the perspective of “do I like the way this came off? do I like that line? Could tu say this better?” He produced me in the sense that if he didn’t like something he’d say “do that again” o “I think tu could’ve done better.” He definitely was a director and a guiding force. Minus one verse, he was there for every single thing we tracked on that album.
As far as the beats go, was it a pick and choose type thing? o Eternia, did tu have ideas to give to MoSS as far as sound direction?
Eternia: I would say this; he would send me beats to pick from, but there was always (if not all the ones he’d send) at least one out of say a batch of 3 that I would pick. So basically he batted pretty well when it came to the beats he picked for me to rhyme on. I think only once o twice did I come to him and say “this is a concept I have for a track, can tu get me a beat that fits that concept?” Like for example, “Dear Mr. Bacardi.” I ended up picking something different than what he heard for that concept anyway, but the point is that most of the time I didn’t even know what I was going to rap about. So his beats dictated to me what I wrote. They gave me the soundscape for my subject, and [for most of the songs] I wouldn’t even know what the subject was until I heard the beat.
MoSS: When we were close to finishing the album it changed a bit though. I think near the end of the album there were some things she wanted to make sure she voiced on the record and that’s when she started being very personal and saying “I wanna do this kind of idea”. I tried my best to do what I thought would sound right, and she actually went in a different direction a couple of times, but I’m glad she did. It worked out.
It’s funny that tu mention “Dear Mr. Bacardi”, I think that’s my favorito! song on the album.
Eternia: Wow! tu know what I love? Everybody has a different favorito! and it doesn’t bother me one bit. It’s actually kinda cool.
It’s bluesy and it has a nice pocket so it stood out to me. On parte superior, arriba of that, the subject matter was kinda something that I can personally relate to.
Eternia: (laughs) tu know what’s cool? That’s my sister’s favorito! song on the album, and I think the reason why is that my delivery and flow is different because the beat is different. I really adapt to beats. It’s very much like Biggie’s “Warning” — “who the fuck is this/paging me at 5:46” – the beat reminds me of that. It really made me flip it a different way when it came to the way I dicho what I said. I knew I was going to write that song. Originally we just called it “Rum & Coke.” It was gonna be the “rum and coke” song and I just changed it to “Dear Mr. Bacardi.”
What was the original production that tu had in mind for it?
MoSS: Well at first, she had an idea. This was probably one out of maybe two times in my life where someone asked me to use a sample – where someone’s dado me something and dicho “here try to flip this.” She’d dado me a sample but I forget what it was.
Eternia: I can tell you, it was some 50s o 60s [sample] – The Andrew Sisters. They wrote a song called “Rum & Coca-Cola”.
MoSS: Yea, I remember. I sat with it for a bit. Then I called her and dicho “this is not happening.” The reality was, when she picked [the final] beat for “Mr. Bacardi” I doubted it at first. But when she spit I was fine with it.
Eternia: I think that happened on a couple tracks.
MoSS: Well I know the other one. For “At Last” I was kinda like, “are tu sure?” And tu dicho “yea” and I dicho “alright, let’s go.” I think those were the only two that I really wasn’t sure about in terms of the beat.
Eternia: Well tu dicho “The Half” tu weren’t sure about the beat, remember?
MoSS: Well “The Half” I loved. But yea, you’re right. When I made that beat I wasn’t sure if it fit the record. But when tu spit I was like “we can’t get rid of these vocals.”
What I notice about the album is that the first 4 tracks are straight up MC tracks. So when I listened to it I was thinking “this is dope, but I wish she would get a little más personal.” Then immediately afterward there are these extremely personal songs. Was it a conscious decision to sequence the album that way?
MoSS: I believe it was. We both had our ideas of what we wanted, but what I had hoped for was that I wanted the album to start off with a bang. I wanted the album to start off and go hard and then kinda cool down… not really cool down, but sort of get into más introspective-type sounds. I believe it was más so driven por the música than it was the content. If she would have done something a little más introspective on the “32 Bars” beat, we probably would have kept it in the same position. We wanted to come out the gate strong, and we just felt that those songs kind of showed that she could come with it, and then once tu heard that, we brought tu into the depth that she can offer.
Eternia: It’s sort of like going fishing — like reeling people in. But now when I think about it, I don’t think about why we did it, I think about my live shows and how I find they work. tu don’t get personal right away, tu hit them over the head, like with a “Deep Cover” cover o something — a really hard track — and tu just spit and tu go in, get the crowd involved with some crowd response stuff. Then halfway through my set, I’ll do like a personal acapella o a personal song. So it’s somewhat similar. I think what we wanted to do is come in strong, give them the personal, and then go out with a bang, which is kinda what “At Last” and “Goodbye” are.
I guess it wasn’t so much the sequence that hit me as much as the depth that tu went into lyrically — that fact that tu basically bare your soul on record. Was it hard for tu to get that personal?
Eternia: No… well, the only one that was hard was “To the Future.” But other than that, no. I’ve released stuff that [wasn’t released] in the States, but for the people that know my música I’ve always been personal. I guess tu could say that’s like a trademark of Eternia.
Are tu guys a group now? o are tu gonna part ways and maybe collaborate on various things in the future?
MoSS: It’s hard to say. I think we both have things that we’re working on above and beyond this project, but we’re both really happy with the end product. If we were to do another album — and she’d agree with me when I say this — we’d probably take a different approach in terms of the recording process to turn it around in a quicker manner. But I guess time will tell. Hopefully people take to the record. I don’t forsee any reason why it wouldn’t happen
Eternia: I think for MoSS and myself I if the doors were opened we would both be eager to walk through them. We’re not planning the siguiente project right now. It’s been really challenging just getting this album out on the shelves. That’s a big deal for us, and once we’re past that hurdle then whatever opportunities arise we’ll take them.
Why do tu say it was challenging?
MoSS: We have similar personality types. I don’t know if this is the best way to describe it, but the simplest way to describe it might be like a love/hate relationship.
Eternia: Yeah no, he’s right. (laughs). We have the ultimate respect for each other though.
MoSS: At the end of the day, we always respect each other, we always push each other, and we always stand up for one another; but we also disagree a lot. It’s because we want what’s best for one another. In the end it comes together. I’d appreciate if that turnaround was shorter and there were some things we could have avoided, but we’re good right now and we always will be good.
Eternia: I think everything in terms of recording, mixing, mastering, the label side of things — marketing and promotion — all those things took longer than they traditionally do for a project. Some of that had nothing to do with me o him, it’s just the way it happened — I live in New York, he lives in Toronto. But it’s been a really big chunk out of our lives
The media tends to play the female MC card a lot. Eternia, if tu could tell the people one thing, what would it be?
Eternia: I’d just say ‘get to know me’ — before there’s any sort of pre-conceived [notions] based on anything other than music. Get to know me through the música first, and then please feel free to decide what tu think about me o my craft, o me and MoSS and our music. I think the scariest thing is that somebody would potentially write-off this record based on either what I look like, o one single. I mean, I stand up for my singles, I amor what we release. The point is, it’s scary that people might not give this record a listen. What I do know is that when people do give this record a listen, I think they’ll be sold. Let the música speak for itself before tu let anything else pass through your head in terms of criticism and doubt, because let’s be honest, it’s a very difficult world out there, especially for hip hop. One of the elements of hip-hop is criticism — everyone go out and tear everyone down. All I’m saying is yo, listen to the music. Forget everything else. And as tu said, I do bare my soul in my music, so if tu listen to my música you’ll probably get to know me better than if tu sat down and had coffee with me.
(Source: URB.com)
Eternia, I know you’ve been emceeing for a long time, but at what point did it become a career?
Eternia: I started taking it seriously full-time when I was about 15 years old, because I moved out of the house [at that age]. I was not going to high school at the time, and I wasn’t working because I was moving around every two months, so because there was so much in my life that was up in the air, the only thing that wasn’t was hip hop. From that point on I took it seriously, but [eventually] I went back to school. But even while I was at universidad I was doing it full-time. That’s when I was working on my first project in Toronto, performing on the scene there and doing that tour circuit. So I think I’ve been attacking it like a full-time job since I was 15.
So were tu actually supporting yourself with your music?
Eternia: tu know what, I feel like I’m a contract worker. There’s months when the money comes in, and there’s months where there’s no work and tu have to make that money stretch. Even to this day, there’s times when I’m living off it and there’s times when I’m a starving artist.
I like to ask people about the inner-workings of the industry, for some reason that really fascinates me.
Eternia: (laughs) Yea, its like, “how do tu survive”! The answer is, tu keep your monthly overhead really really low.
When I hear tu perform live, and even when I hear tu on record, tu remind me of a battle MC. Did tu battle at all?
Eternia: It’s funny that tu say that because one of the sonic themes of our album is my live intensity. But basically no, I don’t consider myself a battle MC. I was raised in the 90s era of hip hop — which generally I find that energy had to be dynamic and aggressive. If tu think about Onyx o Busta Rhymes, o people I was listening to like Shabazz the Disciple – I don’t know, everybody to me was intense and aggressive and it was kinda how tu got noticed in a cipher. It didn’t matter what tu were saying, it was how tu dicho it. tu couldn’t rap bored. There was no such thing as bored rappers in the 90s. They were more, they were larger than life, they were animated. That’s the era that I was raised in — Organized Konfusion and all that kinda stuff. That’s where tu get that sound from. I’m very east-coast based in a sense that what I listen to hip-hop-wise was más of the aggressive acts out of New York. So that’s probably what tu hear when tu hear my style.
MoSS: When I saw her perform, that’s what I wanted to capture in the studio. I basically approached her and asked if that was possible and that [became] the focus of the album. We wanted to have that live intensity captured on an album on every song. I didn’t want her to run out o fall back on any song. I wanted to approach every song the same way. She was open to the idea, and she killed it.
Eternia: Every time I recorded in the studio, in the booth I was thinking to myself “I’m on stage in front of 1000 people.” So every verse tu hear on there I’m trying to get that vibe out.
So was MoSS giving direction during the recording process?
MoSS: I don’t wanna say I gave direction. It takes away from what Eternia did. I mean, she wrote everything, she went in the booth and basically did her thing.
Eternia: No, he definitely gave direction. He doesn’t rap obviously, but he was doing it más from the perspective of “do I like the way this came off? do I like that line? Could tu say this better?” He produced me in the sense that if he didn’t like something he’d say “do that again” o “I think tu could’ve done better.” He definitely was a director and a guiding force. Minus one verse, he was there for every single thing we tracked on that album.
As far as the beats go, was it a pick and choose type thing? o Eternia, did tu have ideas to give to MoSS as far as sound direction?
Eternia: I would say this; he would send me beats to pick from, but there was always (if not all the ones he’d send) at least one out of say a batch of 3 that I would pick. So basically he batted pretty well when it came to the beats he picked for me to rhyme on. I think only once o twice did I come to him and say “this is a concept I have for a track, can tu get me a beat that fits that concept?” Like for example, “Dear Mr. Bacardi.” I ended up picking something different than what he heard for that concept anyway, but the point is that most of the time I didn’t even know what I was going to rap about. So his beats dictated to me what I wrote. They gave me the soundscape for my subject, and [for most of the songs] I wouldn’t even know what the subject was until I heard the beat.
MoSS: When we were close to finishing the album it changed a bit though. I think near the end of the album there were some things she wanted to make sure she voiced on the record and that’s when she started being very personal and saying “I wanna do this kind of idea”. I tried my best to do what I thought would sound right, and she actually went in a different direction a couple of times, but I’m glad she did. It worked out.
It’s funny that tu mention “Dear Mr. Bacardi”, I think that’s my favorito! song on the album.
Eternia: Wow! tu know what I love? Everybody has a different favorito! and it doesn’t bother me one bit. It’s actually kinda cool.
It’s bluesy and it has a nice pocket so it stood out to me. On parte superior, arriba of that, the subject matter was kinda something that I can personally relate to.
Eternia: (laughs) tu know what’s cool? That’s my sister’s favorito! song on the album, and I think the reason why is that my delivery and flow is different because the beat is different. I really adapt to beats. It’s very much like Biggie’s “Warning” — “who the fuck is this/paging me at 5:46” – the beat reminds me of that. It really made me flip it a different way when it came to the way I dicho what I said. I knew I was going to write that song. Originally we just called it “Rum & Coke.” It was gonna be the “rum and coke” song and I just changed it to “Dear Mr. Bacardi.”
What was the original production that tu had in mind for it?
MoSS: Well at first, she had an idea. This was probably one out of maybe two times in my life where someone asked me to use a sample – where someone’s dado me something and dicho “here try to flip this.” She’d dado me a sample but I forget what it was.
Eternia: I can tell you, it was some 50s o 60s [sample] – The Andrew Sisters. They wrote a song called “Rum & Coca-Cola”.
MoSS: Yea, I remember. I sat with it for a bit. Then I called her and dicho “this is not happening.” The reality was, when she picked [the final] beat for “Mr. Bacardi” I doubted it at first. But when she spit I was fine with it.
Eternia: I think that happened on a couple tracks.
MoSS: Well I know the other one. For “At Last” I was kinda like, “are tu sure?” And tu dicho “yea” and I dicho “alright, let’s go.” I think those were the only two that I really wasn’t sure about in terms of the beat.
Eternia: Well tu dicho “The Half” tu weren’t sure about the beat, remember?
MoSS: Well “The Half” I loved. But yea, you’re right. When I made that beat I wasn’t sure if it fit the record. But when tu spit I was like “we can’t get rid of these vocals.”
What I notice about the album is that the first 4 tracks are straight up MC tracks. So when I listened to it I was thinking “this is dope, but I wish she would get a little más personal.” Then immediately afterward there are these extremely personal songs. Was it a conscious decision to sequence the album that way?
MoSS: I believe it was. We both had our ideas of what we wanted, but what I had hoped for was that I wanted the album to start off with a bang. I wanted the album to start off and go hard and then kinda cool down… not really cool down, but sort of get into más introspective-type sounds. I believe it was más so driven por the música than it was the content. If she would have done something a little más introspective on the “32 Bars” beat, we probably would have kept it in the same position. We wanted to come out the gate strong, and we just felt that those songs kind of showed that she could come with it, and then once tu heard that, we brought tu into the depth that she can offer.
Eternia: It’s sort of like going fishing — like reeling people in. But now when I think about it, I don’t think about why we did it, I think about my live shows and how I find they work. tu don’t get personal right away, tu hit them over the head, like with a “Deep Cover” cover o something — a really hard track — and tu just spit and tu go in, get the crowd involved with some crowd response stuff. Then halfway through my set, I’ll do like a personal acapella o a personal song. So it’s somewhat similar. I think what we wanted to do is come in strong, give them the personal, and then go out with a bang, which is kinda what “At Last” and “Goodbye” are.
I guess it wasn’t so much the sequence that hit me as much as the depth that tu went into lyrically — that fact that tu basically bare your soul on record. Was it hard for tu to get that personal?
Eternia: No… well, the only one that was hard was “To the Future.” But other than that, no. I’ve released stuff that [wasn’t released] in the States, but for the people that know my música I’ve always been personal. I guess tu could say that’s like a trademark of Eternia.
Are tu guys a group now? o are tu gonna part ways and maybe collaborate on various things in the future?
MoSS: It’s hard to say. I think we both have things that we’re working on above and beyond this project, but we’re both really happy with the end product. If we were to do another album — and she’d agree with me when I say this — we’d probably take a different approach in terms of the recording process to turn it around in a quicker manner. But I guess time will tell. Hopefully people take to the record. I don’t forsee any reason why it wouldn’t happen
Eternia: I think for MoSS and myself I if the doors were opened we would both be eager to walk through them. We’re not planning the siguiente project right now. It’s been really challenging just getting this album out on the shelves. That’s a big deal for us, and once we’re past that hurdle then whatever opportunities arise we’ll take them.
Why do tu say it was challenging?
MoSS: We have similar personality types. I don’t know if this is the best way to describe it, but the simplest way to describe it might be like a love/hate relationship.
Eternia: Yeah no, he’s right. (laughs). We have the ultimate respect for each other though.
MoSS: At the end of the day, we always respect each other, we always push each other, and we always stand up for one another; but we also disagree a lot. It’s because we want what’s best for one another. In the end it comes together. I’d appreciate if that turnaround was shorter and there were some things we could have avoided, but we’re good right now and we always will be good.
Eternia: I think everything in terms of recording, mixing, mastering, the label side of things — marketing and promotion — all those things took longer than they traditionally do for a project. Some of that had nothing to do with me o him, it’s just the way it happened — I live in New York, he lives in Toronto. But it’s been a really big chunk out of our lives
The media tends to play the female MC card a lot. Eternia, if tu could tell the people one thing, what would it be?
Eternia: I’d just say ‘get to know me’ — before there’s any sort of pre-conceived [notions] based on anything other than music. Get to know me through the música first, and then please feel free to decide what tu think about me o my craft, o me and MoSS and our music. I think the scariest thing is that somebody would potentially write-off this record based on either what I look like, o one single. I mean, I stand up for my singles, I amor what we release. The point is, it’s scary that people might not give this record a listen. What I do know is that when people do give this record a listen, I think they’ll be sold. Let the música speak for itself before tu let anything else pass through your head in terms of criticism and doubt, because let’s be honest, it’s a very difficult world out there, especially for hip hop. One of the elements of hip-hop is criticism — everyone go out and tear everyone down. All I’m saying is yo, listen to the music. Forget everything else. And as tu said, I do bare my soul in my music, so if tu listen to my música you’ll probably get to know me better than if tu sat down and had coffee with me.
(Source: URB.com)