As some of you may remember, I did a 6-song album breakdown/interview a few months ago with Reyn from Potholesinmyblog (click to preview). Well, This time I had a chance to do a full album breakdown (song by song) for Splitting Image with my homie L-Rox (of Red Secta Mastering) who did the mastering for my album. Being that he had to spend countless hours mastering it and he was one of the first people to hear the album in its entirety, who better to discuss this with. This will give you a better idea of what I had in mind when writing and recording this album. Since the interview was rather long, I’m going to post this as a 2-part series. Enjoy!

link swiped from: http://www.redsecta.com/KamMoye.html

This year (2009) was one of the best years I’ve had so far for mixing and mastering projects and I’m not talking money wise. I have to make that clear because these days people are primarily money driven; what I mean is that this year, I’ve had the pleasure of working with a lot of talented individuals and it’s made the work I do highly enjoyable. It’s great to be able to work on projects that are genuinely Hip Hop and on many levels, Kam Moye’s new album “Splitting Image” is important for a genre that is too cluttered with “noise” these days, because this album does what I remember my favorite Hip Hop albums used to do: connect with you.

This album talks to those of us who have grown up with Hip Hop and are now dealing with grown issues, and I thought a lot about what questions I might ask Kam for this spotlight. After listening to the album at various stages while mastering it, I wanted to get more background info on all the songs on the album and I’m glad he agreed. So here’s the last of the Redsecta Spotlights for 2009; I sincerely wish those of you reading this right now pick this album up (if you haven’t done so already) and head into 2010 with it. I for one appreciate artists like Kam Moye taking Hip Hop to that desperately needed “next level”. As a major plus, being able to work on this has definitely been a highlight for me.

No introduction needed, heads should know by now who Supastition is, but please talk about why you are going with your real name, Kam Moye on this album.

The main reason I opted to use my real name was because I felt that I wanted to make music that was more reflective of who I am now as a person. I got tired of trying to be a persona rather than a person. You reach a certain point in life where you are comfortable just being who you are. With the name Supastition, I was known as the hungry emcee with a chip on his shoulder and anger in his heart. That’s how I was 10 years ago but I’m no longer that kind of person. It’s hilarious of how people treat me and the Supastition persona like it’s two different people. It’s ridiculous because the same person literally wrote and recorded every song. My main focus isn’t to be considered to be one of the illest anymore. I’m more concerned with telling my life experiences and giving the people some substance and honesty. Hip hop has a set of standards that I choose not to live by anymore. That’s what my label, Reform School, is all about. Making your (own) rules and doing what you feel in your heart.

Have you retired the Supastition name or will you be credited as Supastition on any future releases?

Supastition will always be a nickname to me. I still like to get on songs every now & then just to spit some crazy verses so I’ll do a guest feature as Supastition when someone requests it. But don’t expect any more albums of new music under that name. Honestly, nobody was buying the Supastition albums anyway for the most part so it’s not a big deal to me anymore. I was never in it just for the money but when people who applaud you don’t support you then why continue catering to that audience? I guess, it’s just the nature of people to not notice or pay attention to something until it’s either changed or no longer there.

I wanted to go through each of the songs on the project, sort of as a behind the scenes thing for heads as they listen to the project from beginning to end…

1. RE:Born – The album’s first words are “This is the biggest moment of my life, maybe the last one I’ll ever get.” This track really sets the tone for the whole album; please talk a little bit as to why you’ve decided to make such a personal album this time.

Well, this situation with MYX is one of the biggest opportunities that I’ve had out of all of the labels that I’ve worked with. I’ve never had a recording or production budget for any of the past projects that I’ve done. I mean, not a single a dime was given to me by a label before to buy beats or pay for studio time. It was me hustling up beats and using the barter system. Sometimes I even paid out of my own pocket. So with MYX, I actually had a budget to hire producers, shoot videos, etc…. I’m very grateful for that because not too many labels are cutting checks right now.

I wanted RE:Born to show that I’ve found that balance between lyricism and substance without sacrificing either one. This is the musical rebirth so I wanted to start off the album differently than before. I didn’t see the need for an intro on the album because every hip hop album has one. I think I switched up my cadence every 8 bars or so just to have fun with it.

2. Reality Check – This track talks about how far you’ve come in the game, and how you’re managed to stay true to yourself and not fallen for the “shiny suit”. Two of my favorite lines from this track are “in this day and age, rappers want dollars for their penny thoughts” and “I spit the ugly truth the way drunken uncles do” – too real; how can things change so that young cats don’t feel the need to rhyme about fake bullsh*t?

I think there just needs to be more emphasis on the reality of the music business. Despite of how bad the economy is, you still have artists boasting about how much money they have. Not to point fingers but you have someone like Baby from Cash Money basically pledging allegiance to money and living the high life because he’s rich. There’s a difference between being rich and wealthy. When you started with nothing and you’re now sitting on a million dollars then you feel rich. The reality of it is that there are wealthy people out there who laugh at rappers and musicians because our income isn’t guaranteed or holds no weight in the long run. When your children and grandchildren can live off of your money long after you’re gone then I’ll respect you for rapping about how much money you have.

You’ve got rappers throwing around money in videos but don’t even own their own music and publishing. The one thing that they should own doesn’t even belong to them. It’s all smoke and mirrors. I will never try to sell someone a dream or a bullsh*t fantasy. I’ll leave that for all of the celebrities. I just want to be the voice of reason in the music industry. That’s why I say on the song that I’m taking them to Sunday school.

3. Stars feat. John Robinson – I want to say that this track inspires everyone to find their “inner Star”, is that the message?

Yes indeed. Like I stated before, not everyone should get caught up in the bright lights and Hollywood mentality. If you can make the same amount of money doing your passion that you can at a day job then why not follow your heart? My verse on the song talks about how there are talented people working 9 to 5 jobs that they hate because they are scared to take risks. They’re always wondering “what if this doesn’t work out?”

4. Splitting Image – This one talks about a lot of things some people might refer to as “inner conflicts”. At the end, you talk about how you’re not pleased with the way the music industry works, but you’re not mad about it as much anymore. Why aren’t you as mad about it anymore?

I’ve accepted that this music industry is and will always be exactly what it is. Before I was a young, rebellious man who wanted to change the negative things in the game. On the other hand, there are 10 times as many people who are fine with the way things are because it works for them. I was one of those people who used to be angry that the radio never gave our kind of hip hop a chance and never supported it. Then I saw how our generation of hip hop heads don’t even support their own heralded musicians. J Dilla had millions of listeners worldwide but he never sold anywhere close to that. If De La Soul can tour around the U.S. and do sold out shows night after night then why can’t their records sales reflect it? That’s when I realized that although I don’t listen to Souljah Boy, there are millions of people who go out to buy his music rather than complaining about how bad it is. Traditional hip hop will never win as long as fans keep turning their nose up at Common and other genuine artists who have become successful. We want good music but we don’t want the responsibility of supporting it. I’ve just accepted what the music industry is now for better or worse.

5. Imani - I’ve never been with a girl that was already pregnant when I first met her, sounds like a real tricky situation to be in and honestly don’t know what I would do in that situation, that’s a good question to ask though, because on one one hand, like you talk about on the song, pretty much everyone around you would consider you a fool to take a woman in like that, but on the other hand, you would be a much better man than the piece of garbage that left her pregnant and bounced. What inspired this song that has such an “against the grain” factor?

I wanted ‘Imani’ to be a song that ends with an open-ended question that let’s the listener decide on the ending. The whole point is that different people will have different perspectives on the same situation. There is no correct answer. Outside of being pregnant by someone who abandoned her, Imani was the perfect woman. The most common answer would be to leave her because she was pregnant. Yet some guy could meet her 2 months after the child’s born and it would be perfectly fine to date her. It’s a fictional story but I love storytelling tracks so this was pleasure to write.

6. Hello Karma feat. Phonte and Ayah – Nearly everyone I know believes in it, you see it mentioned on TV, movies, etc. Have you ever stopped yourself from doing something because you thought that Karma might come back and bite you in the ass?

I’m a firm believer in karma. It keeps me from making some mistakes. The thing with karma is that it doesn’t always come back to you in the same form of your wrongdoing. It’s like if you’ve cheated on your girlfriend or wife before. Karma didn’t let you slide because your girlfriend never cheated on you in return to pay you back. Maybe that’s not in her nature or how she is as a person. But the day that something crucial happens to you then that’s karma coming back around. I’ve experienced it on so many levels and that was one of the reasons why I chose to clean up my act. I’ve said and done some foul things to people when I was younger and it came back to knock me on my ass later.

7. No Substitute – As you say in the intro to this joint, you’re just “gonna let loose and have a little fun with it” and have a real sick line in here “I ain’t sell my soul to the Devil, I just stepped it up a level.” You also mentioned Myx as being a label that keeps it official (and they are), talk a little about labels like Myx who are keeping it official and still looking out for hip hop; how can the rest of the industry learn from this?

Well in the song I said that “Myx knows that they gotta keep it official and do this album justus, trust, word to Big Dho”. Big Dho is my manager and he also runs Hall of Justus. I was just saying that we all have a lot riding on this album so Myx knows that they have to handle business with this record. I feel like it’s an important moment and possibly my final shot to make a lasting impression on the world. I recorded probably my most marketable album to date so the expectations are much different than before from everyone including myself.

8. Let’s Be Honest – I really dig this joint because of the many honest things you say about a grip of things; I particularly dig all the stuff you talk about how cats stack up on material things and aren’t happy with more modest and simpler things. Is this how a lot of people got in trouble recently in the economic meltdown we just had and are still trying to get out of?

I’ve been a victim of living outside of my means and I’ve suffered from it. Some of us are just raised to constantly want better than what we have even when we have it good. The problem is that you never get to appreciate anything as long as you feel like you don’t have everything that you need. Who says that just because I’m a rapper than I can’t drive a Toyota? I know doctors and lawyers who drive Hondas because they are fuel efficient and require low maintenance. But there are low income families who are out driving Yukons (while) living in a two bedroom apartment. At the end of the day, it’s your money so by all means buy what you like. I just choose not to follow that same path nowadays.