Hip-Hop, Rap Interviews : Kool Keith

Nonchalantly shattering conventional boundaries in rap music for two decades, Kool Keith continues to prevail as one of Hip-Hop's most enduring on the mic personalities. Part of the legendary Bronx rap group, the Ultramagnetic MCs, in 1995 Keith would embark on a storied solo career, releasing albums under a variety of colorful aliases including Dr. Octagon, Dr. Dooom and Black Elvis. Captivating some and perhaps puzzling others with his mad scientist flow, Keith is widely recognized as one of Hip-Hop's all-time most outrageous and unpredictable artists. When other MCs say they are “in the lab”, it's just an expression; with Kool Keith it becomes a phrase far more open to interpretation. For all we know Keith could be “in the lab” at this very moment with a white apron on, pouring an acidic mixture into a beaker.

For his latest creation, Nogatco Rd., Keith teams with esteemed Bronx producer Iz-Real, delving deep into the unexplained as the sinister, scientific Hip-Hop genius known as Mr. Nogatco. Exploring the mysteries of extraterrestrial life and detailing UFO conspiracy theories, Nogatco Rd. promises to be one of Keith's most inventive and highly anticipated efforts to date. Set to be released as an enhanced CD, the new album will also feature a digital comic book as well as a 1950's style sci-fi mini-movie staring Kool Keith aka Mr. Nogatco. Recently we caught up with the man behind the madness. Welcome to the world of Kool Keith.

RIOTSOUND.COM: What's Nogatco Rd. all about, what are you bringing to the fans on this record?

KOOL KEITH: My sci-fi experiences, the real reality and visuals of extraterrestrial and alien product.

RIOTSOUND.COM: Would you say the album is your version of a sci-fi fantasy or does it go deeper than that?

KOOL KEITH: Well, I did research. I went out to Phoenix, Arizona and I've looked at specimens and picked up rocks and took some stuff back to a hotel in Oklahoma where we examined it. Then I flew back to Florida and from there we [looked at the history] and went through a process and came up with a lot of ideas that there are other life forms in existence that have landed on this earth planet.

RIOTSOUND.COM: What was the process like as far as taking what you learned and then expressing that through music?

KOOL KEITH: I took what I discovered and I stretched it out and then took it to more of an extreme status. I took a survey one time and there was no channels on television or public access or nowhere else, all the leading cable stations wasn't doing nothing; so I figured I had keepers that I kept from humane services, I mean as far as the government, the FBI, just documentation of things that I've collected. And trust me, [this was] a voyage. I walked through places with different chemical suits on and I've administered scientific research. I love everything that I've discovered, I didn't want to say too much about it but I took my sci-fi game to another level as definitely you will see [with the album]. Tte visuals and stuff match.

RIOTSOUND.COM: From the time you began engaging in research, at what point did you decide to record the album?

KOOL KEITH: I recorded the album on a base factor of what I was feeling. I flew out to Florida [so I could] take myself to a very different place. I wrote the album under seclusion, [I was] thinking of different things and how I was going to piece it together. But I was doing this way before I got to Florida. I've put a lot of documentation together and I [felt the need] to offer a service to the public so I put that all together in a whole different nutshell. Then me and Iz-Real got together and filmed a lot of stuff. I want to tell the world of unexisted species.

RIOTSOUND.COM: How did you and Iz-Real originally get together to work on Nogatco Rd?

KOOL KEITH: Iz-Real was always a friend of mine from way back, before he was a producer. We always hung out. He's from the Bronx and I'm from the Bronx, we definitely had the same wavelength of things. So we've been friends way before we were music affiliates. He just happened to be on the same waveform that I was on as far [doing] more serious investigation.

RIOTSOUND.COM: A lot of people when they talk or write about Ultramagnetic MCs, they seem to focus on how “different” you were as far as maybe style or lyrical content or instrumentation, or whatever it may be. But back then it never felt like that, nobody was saying Ultramagnetic was “different”. At that time every group or artist was different and unique and had their own style. But now since mainstream rap may have gone in a particular direction it seems like they look back and try to peg you as not fitting into some sort of box; how do you see that?

KOOL KEITH: To me, Ultramagnetic was one of the biggest urban groups, one of the top urban groups out. Way before many rappers was on the shelves in the stores. We were the first group with the leather coats, the jackets and the furs and the diamonds and the four finger rings and the jewelry hanging off our chests and then some. We had everything possible as a street sci-fi, street scientific group. I had the birds on my chest and chains with the hawk wings sticking out. We had basically everything but we were urban living. We came from the projects, you know; urban growth, crack heads, New York City Housing Authority, elevators in buildings, the Police Department. Everything that you see that people are trying to put in videos right now, we were doing naturally.

We wasn't up across the bridge rapping. We wasn't in the Hamptons. We didn't live in any of the suburban areas, we were rapping straight from New York City inner city life. That was Ultramagnetic. So with me doing this and going my way, I'm still from the essence of what I began doing. I don't know nobody that can be more realer than what I portrayed in the beginning. It's not like I'm turning. Some people do something and then they turn hard. I was already originally street. Some people gotta turn street. They gotta move from a neighborhood and let the press make them street. I was already street from the beginning, naturally street.

RIOTSOUND.COM: For those who might not know, how did Ultramagnetic originally come together?

KOOL KEITH: Ultra was founded by me and Ced Gee and then Moe Love came. It was a part of history. We started the group in the Bronx. We went around the world with Ultramagnetic. We went to Paris, France, Germany, London and traveled and toured all over. Then I moved to California and it evolved from there, Sex Styles to Dr. Octagon and it kept on going, Dr. Doom and so on.

RIOTSOUND.COM: In the Street Credentials DVD you said if you had to do it all over again, you wouldn't have done Black Elvis; can you elaborate on that?

KOOL KEITH: I wanted to do Black Elvis my way but I think what happened when I was with Sony [Records], the company got too much into the record. [The way I had it] was the guy was going to wear the wig and be street with a lot of jewelry on. They took it to more of another level. My whole thing has Black Elvis wearing Enyce and Akademiks but they wanted to try to take it to Black Elvis wearing a company like Fresh Jive or some skateboard wear. I had no idea I was in a big constant battle with that situation. And if I knew it was gonna go that route I wouldn't have directed it that way.

RIOTSOUND.COM: Do you think originality is missing in rap, where do you see things going?

KOOL KEITH: I think everything has its turn. I mean it's not like you really got rap out there that's not original. You got people like Common and you got people that are doing some things different. I guess a lot of rappers want to explore different channels but right now rap is competitive. It's a sport of who could rap the best and we can all get to that level of who could rap the best, but as far as rap having a direction it's kinda hard right now because you got a lot of people in the same field looking for the same shit.

RIOTSOUND.COM: You got Nogatco Rd. dropping, what else should the fans be checking for?

KOOL KEITH: All different types of things. We just record. You got Nogatco Rd. and [also] the Ultramagntic album is coming late in the Summer, so there's a couple of things.

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