On the 1st, Arizona transplant Aviel dropped his second LP, Chapter One, on HotNewHipHop.com. We’re not going to hold it against him.
I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of the album and had a chance to preview it ahead of the release date. I must say it’s a nice piece of work. It’s fairly rare in this age of disposable music to get a full-length record that stays its course in favor of attempting demonstrate versatility. It’s the sort of album that leaves you interested to hear the next album, rather than just waiting for the next track.
I had a chance to chat with young Avi yesterday about Chapter One as well as his inspirations, successes and, of course, the Northwest.
Mac: The title: Chapter One. What was the thought behind the title?
Aviel: Well my debut was called The Prequel as it set the foundation for my story to to be told. Chapter One was meant to symbolize the first real step in getting my story out to the world through my music.
M: Ahhh… That makes sense. I noticed HG on a track. I always liked his flow. Any chance of a return of The Rareness?
A: Yeah, HG is definitely my favorite artist to work with. We started rapping at the same time, and we’re great friends so we always are bouncing ideas off of each other. We actually have a project in the works right now. We’re looking at a mid-fall release on that.
M: Nice! This album has the feeling of a young man growing up with unanswered questions. How did you decide what topics to take on?
A: My inspiration comes from the life that I live, and lately it has been full of unanswered questions or the harsh realities I’ve had to face just as a young man growing up. Life is hard and I’m trying to give hope to others that are going through similar situations. I feel almost every emotion I have felt in the past 7 months has its own song on the project
M: Let’s talk musical inspiration. Most, if not all, of your production seems to follow a certain trend. What were you looking for in your instrumentation?
A: I’m originally from Phoenix, AZ and Chopped and Screwed music is pretty big over there, so that definitely influenced the artist that I’ve become, but I tried to choose beats that I could still rap about real life on but that had a modern feel to it. There are too many rappers out there who strictly follow trends and that’s the opposite of what I want to do with my music, I want to be a trend setter, and I’m hoping that by using modern “mainstream-esque” beats with real lyrics that we can get hip-hop back on track and bring it back to the MUSIC… A more modernized version of the golden era.
M: OK, I see you. Speaking of, I’ve caught you opening at a few larger concerts. Are there any shows you’re most proud of?
A: A few of the shows that really stood out to me were when I opened up for Chris Webby at the Mt. Tabor Theater alongside my good friends The Stoop Kids. It was a sold out show and the best part was that we sold the majority of the tickets, about 65 – 75 % of the people there came to see us. It really made us realize how strong of a local following we have. Just last week I was honored to be a guest at the Twista show with another Portland standout, Mike Bars. He had a great set and we finished it off with our single, There Will Be Blood, a viral video that we dropped last Halloween. It was amazing to see the crowd going nuts over that song and even more so when they were chanting the lyrics with us. Our whole squad (Treehouse Ent) was on stage and the crowd was so energetic… It was such a great feeling.
M: Dope! Let’s talk local. Are there local artists that you look up to or would like to collab with?
A: First and foremost, Luck-One, he’s definitely been an inspiration and has forced me to step my bars up. Epp, Tre Redeau, Jove’ and Cassow are a few other artist that I’ve been interested in collabing with. It’s been cool because as I’ve grown as an artist, a lot of the artists that inspired me have seen the growth and reached out to me which is an honor because these are the guys that I listened to before I knew I could make it anywhere with music.
On a broader scale, I would like to work with Nacho Picasso, Sam Lachow, Raz Simone and their whole crew. I really like that they are bringing young Seattle together, which is similar to what my team is trying to do here in Portland. As far as local collabs that are in the works, I have some tracks coming out with Milc (of Load B), Matty, Vocab, Miz, Das Leune and more.
M: Swerve. You’re definitely in the scene heavy!
A: Shit, almost forgot about my big homie Mac Smiff! 7’s!
M: Hahaha! Last question: Whether rap related or otherwise, what makes the NW special to you?
A: I love the northwest, I love the culture! I’m a pretty private person which is strange since I chose to rap, but it’s easy to be private here. If you want to go out and turn up you can, AND it’s hippy friendly which is definitely a plus… haha! And just the city, man. It’s beautiful. There’s no city like it.
As far as music I feel that we’re so close to having a breakout artist, and it’s great to see so many people working hard to be that artist. BUT I feel that the downfall of that is that almost everyone is either a rapper, or homies with a rapper, and they only support that rapper instead of recognizing all the talent there is out here. If we can bring the hip-hop community together, I feel that’s when we’ll see even more success.
M: Dope answer. I couldn’t agree more.