Extracted from the AOR Vault: 2008
What’s up Invincible? How are you doing?
Invincible: I’m doing well. I got all my errands out the way. I’m getting ready to head out to California and do some shows out there.
Nice. Obviously that’s for the big push you’re doing. You were just down in Philadelphia for the Black Lily Music Festival correct?
Invincible: Yeah, I just did Black Lily in Philly. Is that where you’re based?
Allentown, but you can essentially say I’m our satellite in Philly. So how was the reception in Philly?
Invincible: Philly was great; Black Lily Festival is an incredible event. I opened up the Festival on Thursday night with DJ Ultra Violet. She does an event in Philly called Ladies Love Hip Hop and it was real dope. Sunday I screened the docu-music video for the song “Locusts.” That was my first time screening on a big screen so that was dope. As far as the other shows we did; there was the New York release party and the Detroit release party last Saturday which was crazy. I’m about to do this ridiculous Detroit line up called “The Detroit Takeover”. It’s Myself, Finale, Elzhi, Phat Kat, Black Milk, Guilty Simpson and House Shoes in Long Beach.
You’re no stranger to the scene. Can you give us a brief background of yourself, where you’re from and how you got started?
Invincible: My name is Invincible. I’m based in Detroit and I’m part of an all female crew called the ANOMOLIES. I’m also down with bling47.com. I just released my first solo record ShapeShifters on my own label called Emergence. It’s been years in the making. I started rhyming when I was like nine years old. I basically learned english through Hip Hop by writing down the lyrics to my favorite songs. I moved to the United States in 1988 and got immediately addicted to Hip Hop and started writing down the lyrics. That’s how I gained my vocabulary and I started writing my own rhymes since then. I’ve been doing shows since around 1996 in the Detroit area. I lived in New York for a few years and worked for the Lyricist Lounge show writing lyrical sketches. I did a lot of shows and had a lot of guest appearances on other artists records. Finally this is my chance to present myself as a solo artist and tell my own story on my own record. I’m amped for it to come out finally.
You mentioned working for the Lyricist Lounge. What was it like working with so many talented artists in that stage of your career?
Invincible: It was a great experience for me as an MC. Wordsworth is someone I met on my first trip to New York. I met him at an open mic in the Wetlands back when that used to be open. We instantly clicked and when he started doing the Lyricist Lounge show, he and I were working together with the youth in Harlem. I initially moved to New York a few months earlier to work with my crew the ANOMOLIES. While he and I were working at the Youth Center they were auditioning people for the Lyricist Lounge and he let me know about it. I went and checked it out and it opened up a whole other world. While we were in L.A. working on the show it was the type of thing where we would be writing for 23 hours a day to meet the deadline. There would be like a group of ten people with me being the main female. It was myself and like ten dudes living in a crib in Korea town in L.A.
We would just stay up day and night writing these lyrical sketches. It would be a nonstop freestyle cypha trying to come up with new concepts for the show. As far as the show itself there were a lot of politics. MTV is obviously not the most Hip Hop station in the world. They did a lot of things that kept the show from reaching its full potential. They would say things sometimes like, “This sketch is too black or this scene is too Hip Hop” haha. Pretty much taking out the cream of the crop of the stuff we have written. It only lasted a couple of seasons but everyone that I had wrote with on that show have basically been allies for me ever since.
So what’s the whole concept behind the title Shape Shifters? Why did you decide to use that title for your first solo endeavor?
Invincible: With this album I’m presenting myself as an artist. I wanted to represent a wide spectrum of styles on this album. It isn’t something you can pigeonhole and say it’s one style or another style. I have an array of flows, styles, topics, beats, etc. I represent the versatility so that’s the first meaning of the album. The second meaning is showing how Hip Hop has the power to make change in ourselves, all of us who love Hip Hop have been shaped by it. We have the ability to change what’s going on in society as a whole through Hip Hop as well.
The chemistry you have with Black Milk set’s the album off nicely. Who else do you have as far production on the album?
Invincible: Black Milk did the intro as well as “Recognize” featuring Finale. Of course Waajeed who I work with extensively from bling47, as well as LabTechs. I also have tracks from Belief, my man Apex from D.C., Jayhask and Djimon, and a younger cat from Philly named Knowledge. House Shoes did the production for “Locusts.”
Your crew the ANOMOLIES make their presence known on “Ransom Notes”. Who’s all in the crew?
Invincible: Well the ANOMOLIES first started out with like forty to fifty people haha. There are really five core members now which are myself, Pri the Honey Dark, Helixx and Big Tara who are the ones that appear on the song. Then you have DJ Kuttin Kandi who was initially going to do the cuts. Belief ended up doing the cuts because of time constraints but Dj Kuttin Kandi is definitely part of the ANOMOLIES foundation.
Is there going to be an ANOMOLIES album to properly introduce the whole crew?
Invincible: Absolutely. We’re working on something called “Meet the ANOMOLIES”. It’s definitely a work in progress. The ANOMOLIES isn’t as much of a group as it is a collective though. Right now we are supporting each other’s solo ventures and continue to perform together. Meet the ANOMOLIES probably wont come out for at least another year. We want to make sure we can get it right since that record has been in the making even longer than my album.
So why do you think you’re the first to come out the chute?
Invincible: I think that’s why I waited so long, I wanted the crew to come out first. After a while I had to make that hard decision that I wanted to go all out and do it. It was a now or never type thing. We all have things on our plate not just music but family responsibilities and things of that nature. Basically by me doing it I hope it will inspire them to complete their solo projects. You will be hearing from them soon as well.
You mentioned competing in the Blaze Battle was an important part of your evolution. Can you give us some insight as to why?
Invincible: You know battle shit isn’t the end all be all but I think its important in the process of being an MC. Knowing how to battle, to have punch lines and be in that competitive environment. The point is not getting stuck with it. The average battle MC isn’t going to make the dopest album. It’s important to me because it’s taught me a lot of things. The Blaze Battle was one of my first official battles. Other than that I had battled in cyphas and things of that nature. Obviously I was nervous since I was there with a whole slew of incredible MC’s. Sub-Conscious was there and that’s where he and I met. Slang Ton who actually won but also passed away a month after that. I was lucky enough to have the honor of meeting and connecting with him. Bugz was in the battle and Proof was there as well (rest in peace to both of them). They had my back the whole time. Proof was one of the most incredible battle MC’s that ever lived.
He had an event called Battle Proof and he had a line of like fifty MC’s waiting to battle him. One by one he would take them out. That’s the kind of environment Detroit used to have with constant battling and constant competition. So I’m glad I went through that era in my development, but I’m at the point having the dopest album is my battle now.
You covered a lot of ground on your project. Are there any songs you hold closer than others?
Invincible: Wow that’s hard to say. That’s like asking to choose your favorite child or something. Were there any that stood out to you?
“No Easy Answers” and “Spacious Skies” I liked. “In the Mourning”; I have quite a few. I enjoyed the whole album front to back. That’s why I’m so curious to know if you had any favorites yourself as the creator.
Invincible: For me I put a lot of energy and time in each song. But the song I worked on the longest is “Locusts.” That’s the bonus song on the project and it features Finale with House Shoes producing it. The CD is an enhanced CD and it has a Docu-music video. That song is so deep that it needed a whole other layer to it, so we added a media piece to go along with it. Its something Finale and I have been working on for five years. We took time to research and interview people, we asked them about the history of the city they felt has been forgotten. We took it upon ourselves to preserve it through the song and put out a vision of how the city can move forward.
So what type of direction and concepts did you take to create your vision in the Docu-music video?
Invincible: “Locusts” is a two part song, so part one is showing the abandonment in the city. A lot of people might not be familiar visually with Detroit. It’s a city that has been abandoned, disinvested in; it has a long history of racism which is also called white flight. In the 1960’s the highways were built and most white people moved out to the suburbs. There was legal segregation and things of that nature.
That makes the intro to “Locusts” have that much more meaning.
Invincible: The intro to the audio version has Gwen Mingo explaining something that happened from 1997 to 1999. She’s from a historical black neighborhood in Detroit called Paradise Valley. There was a lot of community owned businesses. What happened in the 50’s is the first freeway in the country was built in Detroit. It was built right through that neighborhood. In the 90’s, city developers decided to once again push for urban renewal. This time urban renewal meant building a stadium downtown. This was built in that neighborhood as well, along with the building of lofts which displaced many people. The difference with her neighborhood since it’s a historic part of town is there’s certain laws against demolishing buildings with historical markings.
She was speaking in the interview about how the developers hired the homeless to arson these historical landmarks in order to be able to demolish them so they can build condos. More than anything I wanted her to speak firsthand how gentrification is affecting her and tearing her community apart, and taking a deeper look when we talk about development in our community. When we develop we have to keep in mind people live there already. You have to keep them in the loop, ask their opinion and be accountable to them. Ideally put them in leadership of the development so that it reflects what they want their community to become.
You don’t only rhyme about it you actually get involved. Can you tell us some of the organizations you’re with and their mission?
Invincible: I’m involved in Detroit Summer. Detroit Summer is a community group that focuses on supporting youth leadership and we do a lot of it through Hip Hop. Finale and I are artist mentors for this group called L.A.M.P. (Live Art Media Project). L.A.M.P. is a program through Detroit Summer where they learn how to create media, interviews, make songs and write poems. We give them an outlet to express their vision for solutions about issues they feel affect their city and themselves. It focuses on the group that’s being affected the most by the issues of the city, which is the youth of Detroit. Particularly with the issues on the schools and they are in the best position to come up with solutions for the problems because they deal with them on a daily basis. What we do is support them and teach them how to facilitate workshops, develop surveys, create and release music, how to perform, and organize all ages shows. We mix Hip Hop and the community in a way that’s going to reach more people than a speech or an essay.
You’re debuting the “Locusts” video in the next few days. Are you shooting others?
Invincible: I’m shooting one for “Sledgehammer” and we’re supposed to do one for “Spacious Skies.” I’m hoping to do one for “People not Places.” Videos are a big piece for me. My label isn’t Emergence Music, its actually Emergence Media. I use any medium needed to convey my vision and the message I’m trying to get across.
So what prompted you to start Emergence?
Invincible: That’s a long story. I don’t know where to start haha. Basically when I was fifteen I started doing shows. Obviously I was young and impressionable. All these labels were coming to me trying to sell me dreams. I was able to see through it because I was around some people that were independent. I came up with an independent emcee who’s on my album named S.U.N. He had a label (Black Soul on Vinyl) so I already knew what was up, but I didn’t know how to approach putting it out myself. I kept looking into those deals and when I moved to New York I had even more people pursuing me. It got to the point I turned down so many deals that XXL called me every A&R’S worst nightmare or something to that affect. It was a whole feature piece on how I was ungrateful for not signing all these wack deals that were coming my way. It was a compliment for me because these A&R’s sell people short on a regular basis.
After I moved back to Detroit I connected with Waajeed of bling47 and Underground Resistance. I learned from bling47 and Underground Resistance how to approach being an independent artist. That’s what kind of helped me start Emergence up. Waajeed basically sat me down and was like I’m going to pay you for this record we recorded, but I really want you to spend the money getting your own studio set up. I went and got that laptop pro tools setup and started recording the album from that point. I got together with some friends and just brainstormed how I could put it out. The concept wasn’t just to put myself out, but to put out a model for other artists to put himself or herself out. I’m not out to make Emergence the Detroit Def Jam. I’m trying to create a model cats can sign themselves.
Do you teach that aspect in your workshop also? How to create an independent label?
Invincible: Not yet. I’m still taking that workshop. haha!
Hahaha!
Is there anything you’d like to add?
Invincible: Thanks for the interview and much respect to Art of Rhyme for supporting the lost art of lyricism! Look out for albums this fall from my fam Finale, PPP, Miz Korona and Buff1. They’re all gonna be ridiculous!