You don't need us to remind you that temperatures are rising fast in the Valley, but lucky for us, local musicians like Arizona rapper Savant, have responded with some hotness that is actually music to our ears. (Soak up the cheese, people, I'm here all week.)
In all seriousness, though, the MC's latest dish, "Bar Enrichment," is a super-cool headbanger driven by a catchy piano loop and lyrics that give some insight into why music is this man's medium of choice for expression.
Savant talks to us about how fellow local rappers MedafOracle and Mr. Miranda of the Writer's Guild, helped him do something on this track that he normally doesn't do with his music; share himself with his listeners.
Follow the jump for Savant's explanation of "Bar Enrichment."
Up on the Sun: What's the story behind "Bar Enrichment?"
Savant: Well for starters, I received the beat from a producer from Illinois who goes by the name of i2k. I believe he's actually an MC by trade but he also makes beats on the side. He sent me about four beats, and the instrumental for "Bar Enrichment" was the one that stood out to me . . . It had a really dusty feel to it, but [it was something] I could appreciate; something that I really wasn't used to working with. And I kind of sat on it for a while because I had a hook, the hook pretty much hit me right away, but the verse for some strange reason took a little bit longer for me to write.
I had a couple of options but I wasn't really crazy about any of them; eventually, though, I met an MC out in Phoenix, by the name of MedafOracle. Shortly thereafter, I met an MC by the name of Mr. Miranda of the Writer's Guild, and I was a fan of their stuff. I got a chance to listen to them, and one thing that I noticed about the music that they both make is that it's extremely personal. Both of them are extremely adept as writers, at giving listeners a bird's-eye view of their lives, on wax. And that's what I wanted for "Bar Enrichment." That's never really been my forte. I've always had a difficult time kind of giving listeners an avenue directly into my life. For whatever reason it's just not something I excel at.
So I figured if I surrounded myself with the requisite MCs and the requisite talent, it might be able to elevate that for me. And that's exactly what they did. MedafOracle's verse is extremely personal, extremely heartfelt, but isn't lacking in skill. Mr. Miranda's verse is rock solid from start to finish.
From that point, it made it easy for me to open up a little bit more and helped to bare my soul a little bit on the record. Together the three of us explained why MCing is so important, why we don't just do spoken word, why we don't do R&B, why we don't just write in a journal, why MCing is specifically what's important for us. That's why the ultimate title became "Bar Enrichment."
One of my peers described me as an MC's MC; a rapper's rapper. A kind of person that makes a lot of things that his peers can appreciate or admire.--MC Savant
You mentioned opening up like this hasn't been your forte, what would you say is your forte as an MC?
That's a good question . . . Left to my own devices, I would probably say writing about what I see around me. I think that's something that I'm pretty good at doing. One of my peers described me as an MC's MC; a rapper's rapper. A kind of person that makes a lot of things that his peers can appreciate or admire. So I think that's something that I, "excel at." Just being able to touch the people that have influenced me the most. I mean, I'm influenced the most by other MCs, and then secondly I'm influenced by what goes on in my daily life. But I've always had a difficult time bridging the gap between touching the people that admire me most, and getting them to come with me to see what goes on in my life day in and day out.
"Bar Enrichment" is kind of helping to bridge that gap.
And the track is available for free download at Kristian Eliz's website:
Yeah, she's always been a huge supporter of my music and I've always been a huge supporter of her endeavors, so we kind of wanted to bring it together to kind of announce her arrival. This is her first time actually having her own website. She's done a lot of work with other websites but she wanted something for herself.
Do you have any shows coming up? What's on the immediate horizon for you?
I actually just had a show. For now, I'm kind of falling back because I'm working on some studio material that I have. The next release that I have is coming out on August 20 and then an EP that I'm releasing in October. After that, I'm going to be starting a series of three four-track EPs. There's going to be about four of five of them that I am going to release over the course of the year. So I'm taking a step back from shows so I can knock out that material.
