If you’ve ever woken from a dream with the feeling that something is incredibly wrong or seen occult-like scratchings engraved into a tree in the woods near your house, you likely have some idea how the new Babe Rainbow “Screwed” mixtape sounds. Saying it gets in your head and stays there is somewhat of an understatement.
I talked to Babe Rainbow (aka Cameron Reed) about what influenced him to make this creepy-as-hell chopped & screwed magnus opus. Plus, download the entire Screwed Mixtape and a bonus Freddie Gibbs cut after the jump.
Interview by Brendan Arnott, my text in bold.
“Screwed” takes on rappers from a lot of different sides of hip hop. Seeing a Gravediggaz track chopped & screwed might not come as a surprise to a lot of people because of their connection to pioneering creepy hip hop, whereas the same can’t really be said about Soulja Boy. What factors determined who you remixed?
I just picked a handful of songs by artists I had been listening to lately, plus one request (Soulja Boy). I’ve been going back into old Lil Wayne tapes and the new Big Boi got me hyped on re-listening to early Outkast. I consciously chose to have a mix between the classic and the new. It would be pretty lame if I just screwed up the XXL Freshmen 10, right? I mean, I’m listening to all that Wiz Khalifa and Freddie Gibbs and all that but it would feel weird if I didn’t pay my respects to what I grew up listening to.
This mixtape comes at a time where you could say there’s a kind of “horrocore” renaissance going on, or at least that young kids making rap music are rejecting glitzy hip hop to make something that feels a lot darker (Lil B and Tyler the Creator as two examples ). Any thoughts on why this is happening now?
I don’t know, maybe it’s that the idea of making a ‘career’ in popular music has become even more out of reach. For instance, I see the numbers on the Neilsen SoundScan for artists I think are huge or have gained a lot of hype and they’re only selling 7,000 records. That’s crazy. Maybe these kids are like, “Fuck it, I’m not going to be Kanye so I’m going to say what I want.” I like that. I grew up listening to rap but making punk and noise music. The DIY just-fucking-do-it attitude is the best.
What do you keep in mind when chopping & screwing a track, production wise?
I don’t want people to see that chop coming. And, don’t screw up. I’ve only got one take and this song is 6 minutes long so if I mess up once I’ve got to do it again.
I’ve heard some hesitation from fans of hip hop when it comes to employing chopped & screwed these days. Is there a line between tribute and appropriation when it comes to using the style?
Man, I just love the music. I swear to God, of all the genres, Rap fans are the biggest whiners and purist about this sort of shit. Heads want to keep rap so insular and talk about stuff like “real hip hop.” No one can just say, “I love this music. I grew up on this music. I don’t care where it comes from.” I understand why, the roots of hip hop and all that. But in a time where one of the games biggest names is a lying prison guard you can’t really complain about some white kid from Canada screwing up some tracks. It’s probably sending dudes into rants on message boards as we speak. Everyone just needs to chill and like what they like. I come from a very DIY background in music, so someone saying that I can’t do something because of some bizarre ‘rules’ is bullshit. It’s both a tribute and an appropriation.
Or, alternately- do you think chopped & screwed is undergoing some form of “goth reappropriation”, and is this either a good or bad thing?
Yeah, there are some people making “dark” music that’s utilizing Screw’s technique, but that’s all it is if you’re not slowing down and chopping up specifically rap music, a technique. I think it’s great though, there are some artists like Salem employing the technique really well. They call it Drag.
I read a while back that there was some talk of a Lil B collaboration. Will that ever see the light of day?
Ha. Yeah, he’s got a couple of my tracks and judging by his tweets it might happen. We’ll see, I’d be pretty stoked. I would really love to work with more emcees. Clova of G-Side got on a track of mine and we’re still figuring out what to do with it.
What’s the creepiest rap/horrorcore verse you can remember?
Oh, so many to pick from but Bushwick Bill’s second verse on ‘Mind Of A Lunatic’ is particularly dark. The line, “She begged me to kill her, I gave her a rose/ Then I slit her throat and watched her shake ’til her eyes closed” is kind of a stand out. I gave her a rose? That’s twisted. I got turned on to these Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All crew and they’ve got some insanely dark lyrics.
And finally, what’s next for Babe Rainbow?
Playing more shows. I’ve got some festival dates lined up. Working on a new EP. The beats on the new tracks are more traditional hip hop but very slow and warped. I’m not Screwing™ the tracks but you can definitely hear the influence.
Download the “Screwed” Mixtape
Tracklisting:
- Wake Up, Mr. Flowers – Lil B
- Hit U Up – Lil Wayne feat Hot Boyz
- Return of the G – Outkast
- Life’s A Bitch – Nas
- Ready To Die – Notorious BIG
- Not A Stain – Jhi-Ali
- S.O.D. Money Gang – Soulja Boy
- Silence – Company Flow
- Paradise – G-Side
- Mommy, What’s a Gravedigga – Gravediggaz
- Up – Tyler, the Creator with Domo Genesis & Hodgy Beats
Bonus:
Freddie Gibbs – National Anthem (Fuck The World) – Babe Rainbow Chopped and Screwed Edit
Thanks to Babe Rainbow for the interview. You can (and should) order the 7-song ‘Shaved EP’ out now on Warp Records.
