Lancecape on The Undergods EP

A couple of months ago Keith Murray and Canibus put out The Undergods self-titled debut EP. I’m a really big fan of Keith Murray so I was stoked for new material and had the iTunes pumping it for about a week. Around this time, my friend and I are chilling at the crib when the second last track (Rise of the Machine) comes on and I’m like, “are you hearing this dirty beat?!” We’re feeling it for a couple seconds when my friend announces that he’s old high school crew with the dude that produced it. Obviously I had to get in touch and do an interview.

Lancecape is the producer, he’s straight out of Scarborough and the interview is right here after the jump.

image: courtesy of Lancescape

HHR: What up Lance! How are things in Scarborough?

LC: Things aren’t too bad at all. Keeping busy, working hard, living life. That’s really about it.

HHR: You repping Johnny Burger these days?

LC: To be honest? I haven’t repped Johnny’s in a minute! I remember it being way better back in the days. Lately I have been repping Adobo.

HHR: Tell us about yourself. How did you get started in the beat business?

LC: Well…Back in the days and I mean public school days, my boy Nish Raawks and I use to make Pause Tapes. We would just record a song off of the radio to cassette. We would find a spot in the song that we could loop. Most of the dopest songs had vocals on them already. So we would continuously record from tape to tape till we had a loop long enough that we could record a song over. Before anything else, I started rapping. I’m not one for public speaking, so I took up Djing. I started scratching and beat juggling (making beats using two records). One day my boys Korry Deez and Black Cat (IRS) showed up to my house with a sampler. That was back in 1995. So I guess it all started from there.

HHR: Why are your beats so dirty and raw?

LC: HAHA! I always loved that “I don’t give a fuck” attitude about Hip Hop. There is nothing better then hearing an MC killing some wicked lyrics over a raw beat, but not just any beat. It has to be one of those beats that just make your face cringe. Like if someone walked by you and didn’t warn you that they were gonna’ “crop dust” as they passed by. You smell that shit and it screws you’re face (haha). That’s the beats I love and create. They have to be dirty and stinkin’. I honestly can’t explain why my beats turn out the way they do.

HHR: What’s happening with the Mighty Monolith crew these days?

LC: Everyone is good and busy. A lot of music is about to drop REAL soon.

HHR: How did you get involved with Keith Murray and Canibus for this Undergods album?

LC: To be honest, I wasn’t really involved. I sent some beats out to a connection I had in The States at the time. I didn’t think anything was going to come out of it. Then one day I get a phone call, and dude tells me they (Canibus & Keith Murray) recorded a song over one of my beats, pretty sweet phone call to get. So months passed and I haven’t heard anything about a release date. Then all of a sudden one day my phone starts blowing up again. This time it was just people letting me know it was out. Nothing happened for so long that I didn’t even think the song made the album.

HHR: What’s next for Lancecape? Who are you working with currently?

LC: Networking is next for me. I have always just focused on working with people on their projects. Now it’s time to work on mine. Currently I’m working with Nish Raawks, Grimace Love, Korry Deez (we are cookin’ up something crazy for you all), Rishaard and my boy Darker Peter Parker. I’m also working and recording a lot of music with this dude out of Cali (Ophrap) and his crew. I have a bunch of remixes done for people, enough to keep me busy.

HHR: Any shout-outs? Rep some Scarborough slang.

LC: Differently, I wanna’ shout out my Monolith fam, you, Megan Fox, Jeneveve Jolle, Eva Angelina, my haters, my fans, the person who came up with the recipe for Cinnamon Toast Crunch, the Philippines for inventing Adobo, Twix chocolate bars, deep fried mars bars (anything deep fried for that matter), Guiness, Corona, Heiniken, Stella, Labatt’s, Molson, Rye, Appleton’s Spiced Rum,Tim Horton’s extra large triple triples, good weed, Rockstar AKA Cream Of Beats (Insomnia family v.i.a Detroit). Anyone and everything that motivates me to make something better than I did the last time. Don’t ever expect me to make it knee. I’m too buck for that.

Check out Lancecape’s jam, Rise of the Machine off The Undergods EP here.