MMIM had the opportunity to interview an up and upcoming hip hop group called “True 2 Life Music.”
*True 2 Life Music is a rap crew composed of emcees Concise, K.Words, and Slangston Hughes. Musically, the sound is hip hop, influenced by everything including Soul, R&B, Funk, Punk, Rock and Reggae. Mostly produced by Jackie Rob, the “True 2 Life Sound” has always been based on being fresh to death. Whether the feeling is more soulful, smooth, fun or edgy, the artists bring a level of realness that allows them to tip-toe on the line between larger than life personalities and down to earth people.
MMIM: Tell us about True 2 Life Music. Who are you guys?
Slangston Hughes: True 2 Life Music is a three man hip hop group that is comprised of Concise, K.Words, and Slangston Hughes. We are all emcees/producers/songwriters. Our music represents the collective experiences & passions of us as individuals as well as the extended crew/family that is the True 2 Life Fam in addition to True 2 Lifers worldwide. We are a musical group, independent company & an unstoppable entity.
MMIM: How did you all meet?
K.Words: We met at school. KG aka Concise and I met early on and bonded on a mutual love for hip-hop and just been cool people. Slang and KG met on the track team, and soon enough we were recording songs and freestyles b4 parties and making beats instead of going to class.
MMIM: What inspired you to make music? Have you always been into the music business?
K.Words: I’ve always been involved in music. I was always in my school bands… jazz band, concert band, marching band. My skills on the bass drum were unparalleled. I originally had plans to form and be the musical director/drummer for a “Roots” type hip-hop band… once I met KG and he taught me how to make beats on computer software, I switched my plans up.
Slangston Hughes: I grew up in a very musical household where my parents had an extraordinarily extensive and eclectic collection of vinyl records, as well as cassettes, and even reel to reels that I had access to. When my parents would throw parties, the music would be West African, Caribbean, Soul, Funk, R&B, Disco, everything you could imagine and it made a lasting impression on me. I was raised to appreciate all types of music. My mother also had original vinyl for “Rapper’s Delight” along with Kurtis Blow’s “The Breaks” & World Class Wrecking Crew “Turn Out The Lights” among several others which were among some of the first hip hop records that were made, and I was enamored with those songs as a small child before I even had my own tapes & CD’s. I was always a fan & listener of music and would love to sit, read and digest the liner notes and production credits of albums while I would listen to them. I was captivated by the “Produced by” credit, so I researched what it meant to produce records and decided that’s what I wanted to do, produce records. I would tape music off of the radio, and that developed into an early form of sampling/making beats by using pause tapes around 12 years old. I also played drums as a preteen, which led to me getting my first drum machine at 13, which I would use in conjunction with my keyboard synthesizer and also I started DJ’ing at the same time. I was drawn to the culture and musicality of hip hop from a young age because my oldest brother would have all the latest rap albums along with tons of mixtapes which were then cassettes from cats like Ron G, S&S, Clue, Hollywood and more. My oldest brother was a hip hop head who represented the b-boy attitude and aesthetic to the fullest, down to his love and consumption of everything rap related in addition to the style with the huge boomboxes, the jewels, the haircuts, everything. He was pretty much the epitome of cool to me as a little kid and the embodiment of hip hop & that helped provide the spark. The energy, the sound, the style and expression of the music drew me in. I started making beats and producing music when I was 12 or 13 and that progressed to more production, songwriting, and eventually emceeing as a result of the strong desire to express myself & my worldview. As a teenager I had a crew and we would make our music and sell & give away tapes in the neighborhood & in school. Things greatly progressed to the next level when I clicked up with my partners in True 2 Life Music.
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