S!LENCE sees being an artist as something you can’t turn on and off. It is a way of life, best lived in concert with those who see the world the same way. While he’s primarily a musician, he’s dabbled in photography and physical art and even spent some time as a rap journalist, whatever the moment calls for. S!LENCE is a consummate team player, all about building the community around his art to help enable him and his friends to further extend their reach. When I asked how he developed such a mentality, S!LENCE said it all goes back to childhood.
From a young age S!LENCE was splitting time between taking shifts at his parent’s Caribbean restaurant in Brooklyn and visiting with CUNY art professor Carlton Ingleton, who ran a small studio down the street. Carlton was a massive figure in helping S!LENCE see himself as an artist all the time, introducing him to mediums of art he was unfamiliar with like sculpture and painting.
He was equally inspired by his creative friends, who helped push him into music. S!LENCE has been running around with the members of TASE GRIP, arguably NYC’s premier underground rap collective, for a decade now. He’d known some members through high school in NYC, but the group truly coalesced with a legendary 2015 cypher at Palisades, the since closed Bushwick music venue. That cypher led to a party which led to a studio session which led to the formation of the collective, solidified with their secret handshake. S!LENCE saw himself as good and his peers as great, and continued to develop his artistry til the time felt right to drop. He helped his TAZE GRIP cohort however he could in the meantime, taking photos and helping put on shows as he honed his craft.
While I am a fan of his collaborative work, especially his collaborative tape with Phiik That Was a Test and with Lungs Catch & Release, S!LECNE leveled up as a performer with his Wavy Bagels’ produced record mutatis mutandis. The best of these tracks have an effortlessness that sets him apart within his TAZE GRIP collective. “Clean Slates” has become a staple of S!LENCE’s live act thanks in no small part to its soaring sing-along chorus, and “Mango Mochi” has similarly become a crowd favorite thanks in no small part to its irresistible chorus. The tape’s cover image sees a man molting his skin, and the title is Latin for “all necessary changes having been made”. While the title is meant to represent S!LENCE’s personal development, it no doubt feels like an artistic molting as well. With mutatis mutandis, S!LENCE showed a comfortability and a confidence on the mic that felt leagues ahead of his previous work. He was always dexterous on the mic, now he’s rapping like he believes it.
While he was in the process of putting together his next record, S!LENCE’s apartment with Wavy Bagels flooded. Being by the water had always meant a lot to S!LENCE and he wanted to try and flip this hardship into joy. That led to the vacation postcard aesthetic of his newest record AGUADURA, where the grim reaper himself appears to be enjoying a relaxing day at the beach. We can’t feel joy if we don’t know sorrow, we can’t experience life without eventually dying. Might as well soak it up while we can.
AGUADURA feels like S!LENCE’s most meticulously curated tape to date. He had a smattering of beat packs from his talented producer friends and tried to find the most tropical beats that’d fit the vibe. The record opens with the triumphant “WHATSGOINGON?” before sliding into the silky smooth “Palm Reader’s Fingers” where S!LENCE keeps his raps steady as singer A.Adrienne leaves her gentle but unforgettable touch on the record. The following track “Patient” feels like the day on vacation where you wake up hungover and not that upset to see it raining. Meanwhile “dark and stormy” feels the closest to a nightmare of a tropical storm that we get on the tape. S!LENCE raps in a dual modulated voice, pitching it up and down slightly and layering the two on top of each other, like the devil and angel on your shoulder are weirdly in agreement. The tape then moves into a back half featuring several of its best and most fun tracks, starting with the bubbly “New Blueprints”. My favorite track has to be the self produced “A Very Emotional Stone Wall”, which features several of my favorite lines on the album. It’s a track that especially pops live where a couple of the lines get the laugh break they deserve. The Roper Williams produced “Cash Tree” is without a doubt the most tropical track on the record though, going as far as featuring seagulls on the ad libs. The tape closes out first with “Rubik’s Cube” featuring two end level bosses in Lungs and Fatboi Sharif bringing dueling energies to the track like Kyogere and Groudon. The final track “TIRING//BOBBY HUTTON” is labeled as a bonus, and S!LENCE described it as the 100% completion version of the ending. It was the last track he recorded before finishing the album and serves as both a look into how S!LENCE is doing after all the tumult described on the record.
S!LENCE does have a lot more music in the chamber that he is excited to see the light of day. Every time any GRIP affiliates get together music is getting made, so he has a treasure trove of collaborations that he’s working on finding the right avenue to release. For the time being though, he is more than happy to ride AUGADURA’s wave. He described the rollout of his Staycation tour, where he played a dozen shows in a month and a half to promote the record, as a Whitney’s Miltank approach. Be relentless and unbothered and eventually the people will see how you’ve been killing it the whole time.
I talked with S!LENCE about growing up in Brooklyn, the origins of TASE GRIP, and putting together his excellent new record.
GSC: Thanks for taking the time, I know you’re fresh outta work.
S!LENCE: Fresh outta the Queens Library. We were working on a big community outreach project which is looking good right now. It’s a bunch of work, but mostly it’s pretty fulfilling.
GSC: I got a lotta love for the NYC Libraries. I worked on a project related to the Brooklyn Public Library TeleStory program where there are video conferencing units in the libraries and in jails and correctional facilities so people could talk with incarcerated loved ones. The libraries in NYC are much more of a community hub than I think people realize.
S!LENCE: For sure. We have a similar outreach program where we’ll bring our mobile library out to Rikers and whatnot so they have new books to read on the regular. We’re doing a Book Bike Summer Tour where we’re setting up shop at the Parks and in Rockaway to meet people where they’re at. We offer English classes and other learning tools for immigrants. It’s a lot more than coming in and renting books.
GSC: Amen to that. Starting at the top, what is your name and your artistry of choice?
S!LENCE: My name is S!LENCE and I’m an interdisciplinary artist. Primarily I’ve been releasing music lately, but I do photography, shoot video, and do other visual arts. I am a bookmaker, photo books specifically. Most of those things are sourced from the same artistic well, it’s about finding the right medium.
GSC: Where did you grow up and what are your earliest music memories? I know your parents were Jamaican immigrants so I am sure they had an influence.
S!LENCE: I grew up in Brooklyn, kinda all over. My parents were in Queens when I was very young, a lot of my mom’s family is out in Queens. My earliest music memories I have are probably listening to reggae or dance hall. My parents ran a Caribbean restaurant, so I was in there pretty young, listening to music all the time. Beres Hammond, Junior Reid, Garnett Silk, Sizzla, any and everybody from Jamaica. Then being in New York you’d hear Hot 97 on the radio, so that became a big influence. The first CD I ripped to my first iPod was Al Green’s Greatest Hits though. So it was a bunch of older stuff and then I got into hip hop as I got older.
GSC: Does your parents’ restaurant still exist?
S!LENCE: No, they closed a while back.
GSC: I’m guessing you probably covered a shift or two there?
S!LENCE: Oh yea, anyone whose parents have a family business knows you are invariably an extra employee, at least always a half employee. A little sweeping, peeling potatoes and carrots and stuff.
GSC: Did you end up a decent chef because of that?
S!LENCE: I cook pretty well. Cooking is like any other art, it’s about tradition and then innovation.
GSC: Were there any friends, family members, or local characters who made music or the arts feel accessible at a young age? Outside of the art of food.
S!LENCE: Very early on nearby my parents restaurant there was an older artist named Carlton Ingleton who had a garden and a storefront. He would make charcoal drawings, sculptures, all kinds of art, all with this garden right next to it. I later found out he was an art professor at Medgar Evers College, but I thought he was just an artistic dude at first. I was always into art, I read a lot about it, but he was the first person I met who was an artist all the time. You know what I mean? Realizing oh this dude is in a different headspace than a lot of the adults that I know. I gravitated towards this guy OD, him and my parents got along really well. A lot of times when I wasn’t at the restaurant I’d be three doors down right there at his studio. His place was the first time I ever saw rubber cement, or drawing on charcoal. We made bow and arrows. He ended up passing in a tragic way, which was so sad, but he was very impactful on me. I have so many fond memories of it being summertime drawing in a notepad or mixing paint. He imparted more wisdom on me than I think I even realize, I am beyond grateful I knew him.
GSC: What a character. I can imagine with your parents being more business minded and whatnot how impactful a guy like that could be.
S!LENCE: I need to give my folks credit too because they were definitely inspiring growing up. We’d be in their restaurant and I’d look around like damn they did all this, everyone is here right now because of them. It filled me with a lot of pride and also recognition that you can make your own thing and carve your own lane.
GSC: I love that, you had that independent spirit running through your veins at a young age.
S!LENCE: No, for real. This one Pueblo tribe I spent time with didn’t really have a word for art. You wouldn’t call someone an artist, but they see that you either live an artful life or you don’t. When you do, the natural byproduct of your life will be seen as art, whatever you create.
GSC: When did you specifically want to start making music yourself?
S!LENCE: You could probably trace everything back to childhood. When we’re kids, we kind of do all of the stuff. You’re going to paint, you’re going to sing, you’re going to do whatever it is that fills you with joy. I always liked music, I just never thought it was a viable thing. I still kind of don’t. **both laugh** There was a period in high school when I was listening to a lot of Wu Tang and reading every blog I could find, reading XXL Magazine, and absorbing it all. I figured I would write about it before I made music but then I also realized I don’t know how viable being an author is.
GSC: You’re telling me! I know that you wrote for a blog yourself early on, and did some writing for HotNewHipHop. Would all of that writing have predated your musical writings?
S!LENCE: I was writing raps sort of before then, but I didn’t record for real until maybe 2017. I was doing tangential stuff. I was writing but I didn’t feel I was ready. All of my close friends are very, very good, and have been very good for a long time. Meanwhile, I’ve been very good for a long time too, but I just didn’t believe it. Finally I worked at it and was happy enough with it when AMUSE BOUCHE dropped.
GSC: How does that tape sound now listening back?
S!LENCE: I am happy with it, I still like some of those tracks. I don’t talk about those early projects a lot but they still mean something. I wanted to come fully formed, I didn’t want there to need to be artistic development but that is inevitable because the shit I am on now is so different from the shit I was on then. That mindset is what I needed at the time though. I love those tracks because they’re completely indicative of the time period they were made in. When people show those tracks love too it always means a lot, it usually means they’ve been with me for a while.
GSC: You mentioned your talented friends. You are a member of the TAZE GRIP collective. How did you first link with everyone in the group?
S!LENCE: It was maybe 2015. AKAI was starting the collective.
GSC: How did you two meet?
S!LENCE: I met him in the basement of Palisades, which a lot of people probably don’t even know about, because they just got here. It was still unfinished. People were doing ciphers and stuff. I met a couple people there who I have gone on to work with or be friends with. I rapped. Amani was there, he’s got footage of that night I have to see. AKAI was rapping at one point and we just tapped in and said what’s up. I think we just hung out for the rest of the night. Then a few months later I was going to a party at Iblss‘ house, I knew him already through friends from high school. Shae Butta brings AKAI and another homie into the party and I’m like, what are the odds. Little did we know how many of us congregated at Iblss’ house would continue to do so for many years. We’ve almost been running around for a decade now.
GSC: It is cool man. I was looking at the producers on Camouflage Cognizance, and it’s Benji Socrates, JayLevinson and DØØF all of whom you’ve continued to work with. All still homies, no major beef.
S!LENCE: I mean things have happened. People have fallen out. There are people who used to be around who are no longer around. But for the most part, it’s been nice. The homies have kept it together. It couldn’t be better collaborating with the guys. I don’t have to go and press nobody extra for no beats or whatnot. I like to work with people who I’ve also spent enough time with that I know that they’re decent people. I might find somebody random. If you send me a cool beat I might use it, but for the most part just send me money. I can make beats, I rap well, I can shoot the photos, I can shoot the video. I am lucky enough to be part of this talented cohort who can do whatever I can’t. At the same time, I make sure to tap in with new people because you get new formations. Even with new people though it’s usually people I can see myself getting along with or I have a connection to them through someone I trust. It’s cool working with your friends who you’ve known for a while though. Most of the art that I make it’s just to justify hanging out with my friends. And I don’t say that to degrade the art, like it’s a sacred process getting to make art with your friends.
GSC: Absolutely, the community is everything.
S!LENCE: I like making money off it too also, don’t get me wrong. I get that my work has value and I hope that I can meet people where they see the value in my work. I didn’t have to make this photobook, but if you’d like it in your house then lets find a way that makes economic sense for us both.
GSC: There’s a beautiful moment after your last show where you, Theravada, Wavy, and NahReally were all passing around your shirts.
S!LENCE: The post show Jersey swap was definitely fire.
GSC: I was like, that’s why you make T shirts, so you can get a free one from your boy. Going back to your early tapes, “Pele, Pele Pillows” off Camoflauge Cognizance was one that really stuck with me.
S!LENCE: “Pelle Pelle Pillows” again the progression. I think Jay and I were living together at that point. We were working a ton together then we did Mushroom Soup and Chryons Were Invented After 9/11. Those tapes we did in a day each, because we were just like, we’re here, let’s lock in. That song “Pelle Pelle Pillows” is so fire, man, I love that song. I’m glad that you like that song. I should do something with that. I’m really happy that I made that tape. I listened to it the other day, and I was like, this is cool. I made this cover. It was a major step in my growth as an artist. I’m looking on BandCamp right now though and I didn’t even credit myself as the cover artist, which is hilarious.
GSC: I love that you recorded those two projects in a day. Were they memorable days?
S!LENCE: We were working within the constraints. It’s only six minutes, I don’t think there are any hooks. A lot of those raps are reflections of conversations that we were having at the time. The Aqua Team samples were because we were watching Aqua Team Hunger Force and I love that show. So again it was about taking the energy of the moment and creating some art with your friends. We tried some funky stuff. We used a performance mic with a sock filter, we were trying to feed the people something different.
GSC: I love the cover. Are you a soup guy?
S!LENCE: Oh yeah, I like soup. I don’t like every soup, but my mom’s chicken soup and my mom’s beef soup are next level good. In general, soup is man fortifying.
GSC: it’s tough in the summer, but I do love soup too.
S!LENCE: You say that but Jamaicans will drink soup in like 98 degrees.
GSC: After those two tapes, you had That Was A Test with Phiik, I loved that tape. What was the test? What does that title mean?
S!LENCE: Everything beforehand. Shout outs to Phiik. That’s my bro. We were just hanging out a bunch. We were both playing this game called Celeste on the Nintendo Switch where you have to climb this mountain, and the only real enemies are the environment and sometimes your doppelganger who will chase after you.
GSC: Hence the cover.
S!LENCE: Exactly. It was fun recording that one. Some of those songs we had made prior. Most of the thought, we were just hanging and went alright, let’s knock it out. It was cool. Like I remember recording “1919 White Sox Scandal”.
GSC: Such a fire track title.
S!LENCE: They really cheated too, look it up. So me, Phiik, and YL are chillin’ in the crib, Benji mighta been there too. NoFace is playing beats and then plays this beat and we’re just sitting in the room listening, no one is saying anything. I think we just are all just writing raps and and then I don’t know who looked up first, but someone was like, so you guys ready or what? Then we just jumped on that shit. That’s how a lot of these joints happened honestly, we’re chillin’, shit talking, and listening to beats, something catches the ear and we go let’s just knock it out. Shoutout everyone on that tape, that was a fun one to put together. TenTen, Benji, Lungs, Wavy, DriveBy.
GSC: The song “Season Four, Episode 14”, what show is that?
S!LENCE: That’s a good question, my friend. It’s Hey Arnold, that episode is called a “Bag of Money”.
GSC: Oh, hell yeah.
S!LENCE: That’s the one where they’re wearing the suits and the guys throw the cash out.
GSC: Every Christmas I watch the Hey Arnold episode where he and Helga reunite Mr. Winn with his long lost daughter that he lost in the midst of the Vietnam War, and Helga doesn’t even take the credit. Always makes me emotional.
S!LENCE: Real community leader, she knew it was bigger than her. That’s storytelling right there.
GSC: I love the Samiratruth assisted “Celestial Nasua” another fire name. Was that similarly collaborative?
S!LENCE: Samira was in town and we were all at Lungs’ house. I think they had just knocked out a verse for Lungs’ tape, it coulda even been for Catch and Release, my memory isn’t perfect. Phiik and I were like, while you’re here we have a project you’d be perfect for, what do you think of this beat? And Samira fucked with it and knocked it out right there and then. They smoked that shit dawg, I was gassed.
GSC: Was “Jody Foster” similarly collaborative?
S!LENCE: I don’t remember specifically why or when we were there but everyone was at Gam‘s crib, as we often are. We’re playing beats and shit and eventually go okay, everybody who’s here we’re all gonna get on this track right now.
GSC: You can feel everyone trying to add something unique to the mix, a little competitive spirit.
S!LENCE: It’s reminiscent of a time when we were doing more of those hangs where we’d all knock music out. A lot of that shit doesn’t come out too for whatever reason, glad that one saw the light of day.
GSC: So moving forward into your next tape, mutatis mutandis, which is Latin for “that which needs to be changed was changed”. What does that name mean in the context of the record?
S!LENCE: I was going through a period of great transformation. “That which needs to be changed” is the key there. You have to evolve. I had some growing to do and that is my acknowledgement of the process, I’ll be a changed man but still the same man. That’s the longest project I’ve made. At first I was going to just make an EP with Wavy, and then we made a chunk of those songs, then a couple more, then a couple more. Then we were like we have to do that side and this side. It grew conceptually as we recorded.
GSC: The Aaron the Great cover is so striking. How did that come about?
S!LENCE: The cover is someone molting, the figure is tearing themselves out of their skin. Aaron’s work is really crazy. He has this intense way of honing in on both the horrific and the comedic in a way that I try to exemplify my own work. It’s been very easy working with him, we seem to get each other. Frequently I’ll be like, here’s the idea, and then he comes back and it’s like 95% of what I was thinking, and then we’ll tighten it from there. He got what I was looking for from the jump but it’s so unmistakably his. Always great working with him.
GSC: “Clean Slates” and “Mango Mochi” are two tracks where I love the recorded version, and I absolutely love the live versions. Are the differences between the two something you’re conscious of or something you discover in the performance?
S!LENCE: Recording and performing are two completely different things. The recorded version, it’s recorded in a sterile environment, so it’s done more matter of factly. I’m hoping you’ll be listening with decent audio quality wherever you are and will get the energy I am bringing to the track. Then when I’m doing it live, it is a show. You gotta be cognizant of how you’re performing affects your body. I might run out of breath on a word that is supposed to continue in a certain way, and then now I’m doing it a little bit differently. When it’s live you’re making it an experience for the crowd. The recorded version should hopefully work anywhere, the crib, the bus, whatever, but live you gotta read the room.
GSC: I love that. Do you remember putting together “Clean Slates”?
S!LENCE: That was in that first batch when we thought we were making an EP. I still had an eBike back then. I had recorded two songs and it was really late. We were not super far from the studio, where we’re living. We ran out of weed or something, so I zip out and come back with the pack. So by the time we made “Clean Slates” it was like the morning. I was immediately like, oh, nah, this is the one. We both knew and that gave us energy to knock out another two or three, that was a hype session. I think Wavy made that beat that night too or was working on it at least.
GSC: So moving forward from there, parts of Catch and Release had been recorded a while back, some tracks as early as 2020. Do you remember why you and Lungs wanted to drop it when you did?
S!LENCE: We both were very busy for a little while, and had this record we’re tightening up. Some of it was recorded on other mics and way back we had to re-record and whatnot. Eventually we were both like, okay we have to drop this thing or we’re going to sit on this for a very long time. I think both of us are very happy with how much we felt like it held up because a lot of that is us dumbing out a ways back. We’ve got some more things planned for Catch and Release as well, stay tuned there.
GSC: Can’t wait to Catch and Re-release. My favorite song on that tape has got to be “Bay Ridge Sleeping Arrangements”. How’d that track come about? Do you guys hang out in Bay Ridge?
S!LENCE: A couple of them are in Sunset Park, yea.
GSC: My uncle runs the Irish Haven in Sunset, funnily enough.
S!LENCE: That’s crazy! The Irish pub right?
GSC: Yea, I love it over there. It’s so nice and peaceful on the water.
S!LENCE: It’s a calm number. But yeah, I think it was just late and I fell asleep on my feet in Bay Ridge. That is really how the name of that track came about, just another late night session that got the best of me.
GSC: Do you have a favorite track on that tape outside of that one?
S!LENCE: “Philip K. Dickhead” is funny as hell. “Up the River, No Paddles” with Phiik, everyone’s verse on that is fire. Honestly though my favorite is probably “Bass Rats”. I remember recording that, and I remember that specifically being like, “Is this what you wanted here? FINE.” Then “Sad Jadakiss Laugh” the back and forth is fire. I like the majority of that tape honestly.
GSC: Moving into AGUADURA, your latest release, it again feels like a different perspective from you. How did the name and tropical concept of the record coalesce?
S!LENCE: So my place flooded. I think about water a lot anyway, but the water took a lot from me at that moment. So it was like, what do we do next? I was making some of these records, and again tried to think how am I gonna bring it different this time. I was trying to be optimistic in the face of this storm, to see the waters testing my patience and enjoy the crashing waves anyway. I speak some Spanish and put those two words together to make it sound tropical. I wasn’t going to make another spooky looking tape as my Mom says. She said my last tape was too scary.
GSC: gotta keep Mom happy.
S!LENCE: Amen, that led to the vacation postcard aesthetic. I’d seen people inspired by the water but not quite like that. Shouts to Aaron for seeing and crystalizing the vision.
GSC: The interview at the beginning of the record is a real tone setter. What interview is that and how did you know that was the right way to lead off?
S!LENCE: That’s Toni Morrison on Charlie Rose. And well, I’m a Black artist, and being an artist comes with a lot of responsibility, especially a Black artist. I think about the power of the word. There’s a lot of people who are making a lot of bullshit. Some people make music without intention, like you’re just trying to hit a lick with their music, saying shit to sound cool or go viral or whatever. That’s not what I’m doing. Not that everything has to be this high minded political thing, but it’s about approaching your craft with intentionality and being cognizant of how it reflects you and the story you are telling. Like I said there is something to be said about just creating art with your friends to remember that moment in time. Even being intentional about how important that is to the craft is helpful because it helps you appreciate the process even more.
GSC: I love the A Adrienne assisted “Palm Readers Fingers”. She has such delicate touch but such an essential touch to that record. How did both the track and the collaborative process come about?
S!LENCE: Shout out her for real, she was also on tracks 1 & 2 of BAVY. I heard her sing and was like, damn, I gotta get her on something. Then I made the joint. To be honest, I don’t even remember where I made that joint, I could not find the stems for the life of us. I hit her up to get on it and she recorded over it and then I re-recorded my verse. I told her to do her own thing and I really like how she did exactly that. Her singing goes from like being in synch, to being a counter rhythm, to feeling like an adlib, where she’s a constant presence in her own unique way. I especially love the end where she goes absolutely nuts.
GSC: I also love the vocal modulations on “Dark and Stormy”. How does that decision to mess around with the vocals come about?
S!LENCE: Just when I feel like it and when it sounds cool. The pocket sounds different when it’s pitched down or up. On Mutatis Mutantis, we did a joint “MTV Paid for the Lawyer” where I was just like has anybody ever alternated between pitching it up and pitching it down throughout the song? I don’t know if I’ve heard anybody else do it, so we did that just to be a dickhead, basically, just to see what it’d sound like.
GSC: I love “A Very Emotional Stone Wall”. It is the only self produced track in the record. How did that track come together?
S!LENCE: I made that beat a while back, and I don’t know why I started listening to it again, but it was in a batch of beats that I had made and I was like this one could be it. I didn’t feel like I needed to get a record on here that I produced, but there was no reason not to. I mean that beat is fire, I am hyped I rediscovered it after all that time.
GSC: “Cash Tree” flows so well from that track too. Peace and Love to your Auntie Maureen.
S!LENCE: God bless her, she’s the best.
GSC: Does she like that track?
S!LENCE: I told her when I made it, but I haven’t sent it to her. I probably should, but I did tell her. I was like, I got a joint where I shout you out and she said hell yeah….. She didn’t actually say hell yeah. **Both laugh**
GSC: I was gonna say that didn’t seem like Auntie Mo.
S!LENCE: We used to watch The Price is Right with Bob Barker OD when I was in Jamaica, she loves The Price is Right. Rest in peace to Bob the legend. When I was a kid I was like, damn man, we got to get you on the show. We had so much fun in Jamaica. My cousins had a PS2 with a ROM with hundreds of games. I remember playing God of War and Shadow of Colossus with them, good times.
GSC: I also love “Rubik’s Cube”. Lungs and Fatboi Sharif almost feel like diametric opposites on the mic and yet the song comes together so well. How did that track come about?
S!LENCE: Another case of us all being in the studio together with Roach Coach. Shout out to Roach Coach. We were at Wavy’s coolin’, Roach Coach making a beat, and I was just like, stop. That’s it, don’t do anything more. I asked if I could get on this, so then I wrote to it and nailed it. Just knocked it out. The three of us have a song that has never come out that is almost like the precursor to this song too funnily enough. So this one was very cool, like, we’re very much trying to outdo the track before I think.
GSC: Then I love closing on a bonus track with “Tiring / Bobby Hutton”. I was talking to an emo band, funnily enough, about how the bonus track is a lost art in the streaming era where you can’t surprise people with it, but I appreciate that dedication to the spirit of it. Why did you specifically want to have that as a bonus, and how did that track come together?
S!LENCE: ctyzn made that beat. I was between putting it on this project or putting it on the next thing. I really like the song, and it fits in that it’s an alternate ending. It’s like the true ending of the game.
GSC: You gotta unlock 100% of everything to get that.
S!LENCE: It’s also one of the newer tracks so it gives you an update on what is really going on at the moment.
GSC: You killed it when I saw you live on the Staycation Tour at Secret Pour, that was a fun one. How has the reception to the record been and how has it been playing these tracks live?
GSC: The Staycation Tour was great. A bunch of shows in Brooklyn, a couple in Jersey, Chicago. Working on getting Baltimore rescheduled but life is getting in the way. The reception has been great. People really resonate with the joints I’ve been doing live. I’m trying to memorize more of them to do live, if anything. “Cash Tree!” goes up crazy. People really dig “A Very Emotional Stone Wall”. People have been fucking with “Dark and Stormy” the Iblss one that nearly didn’t make the tape, which feels good to hear people fucking with it. Sometimes you make a record and, you know this one is this one, where I like how many different songs people have said are their favorite. That’s also the most I performed in the shortest amount of time, twelve shows in a couple months. Going to Chicago was especially great. I love Chicago. I went back to see the Valee & Pink Siifu show. My home girl Bonita was spinning so I was like I gotta come for that. I am doing a show at Public Records this week off the strength of alliances built in Chicago too. I got some more AGUADURA merch on the way too, tryna build some bundles for people.
GSC: I know you’re, you’re constantly working on music, every time you hang out with the fellas you’re working on something. Do you already have an idea of what the next tape might be like? Are you trying to put something else out this year? Or riding the wave and not thinking about that right now?
S!LENCE: I’m going to give you two answers that are slightly contradictory. Currently, we’re riding the wave. We haven’t even pressed it right? We’re like Whitney’s Miltank with the rollout, relentless. There’s more videos to do. I just put out a video yesterday or two days ago for “patient”. You’ll definitely see more on the AGUADURA front. However, on the flip end, there’s a couple of things I have that I’ve been working on. I’ve got some people I’ve wanted to work with who are tapping in. I might put something else out before the year is over but I’m not pressed.
GSC: Before we wrap up we didn’t talk as much about your photo books or some of your other creative projects. Is there anything in the works on that front or anything about that aspect of your artistry you’d like to talk about?
S!LENCE: I’m working on another book of photography. I’m trying to shoot more again. I want to do other kinds of writing and continue to explore other artistic mediums. Maybe make some shorts.
GSC: Like the physical garment or like short films.
S!LENCE: Movies, short movies. I should make some physical shorts too though.
GSC: One last question I like to close on. What is something outside of music that brings you joy that may surprise people or that people generally don’t know?
S!LENCE: I am pretty good at gardening and I am really into plants but I don’t know if that is a surprising fact. I guess friends let me know if you are surprised.
Great interview ! Love the, “Hey Arnold” connection.