Soulstice Interview Conclusion

Here is the wrap up of the interview I did with Chicago native and talented MC SoulStice. Make sure you check out Part 1, 2, and 3 and be sure to download the podcast for free.

We had a lot of fun doing this interview. Without further ado, here is the conclusion.

CHASE: I wanted to talk about a few of the lyrics there. We’ve already talked a bit about community, but in that last song we just played you got a lyric that says ‘I’m still looking out for my neighbour / team player / ‘cause I know we all part of something greater.’ And I’m kind of tying that in with ‘Book of Days’ which we played earlier where you talk about life as a story and your life is being a page-turner.

And I kind of have this philosophy that we’re all in a story and that the people in our story are our supporting cast so we really should strive to be more of a team player in life than we are. And it’s kind of nice to see how you’ve said that in those two songs.

SOULSTICE: “Thanks, man. For ‘Book of Days’ Oddisee just gave me a really dope beat and I was just trying to be as dope as the beat was. But book of my life as a page-turner is actually a lyric that comes from an earlier verse. And I just wanted to talk about, like you said, in terms of my life as being a story that I express through my music. And then, in the last verse, I really talk about the cyclical part of the whole thing.

And the sample that that song comes from, the song is called ‘Going in Circles.’ – you got me going in circles. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the actual song but I actually tied that into the theme. Where in my last verse I’m talking about just the progression, you know how the young cats come up and they’re the sh*t for a decade or two, or whatever it is, and then eventually you become dated and the next cats come up. And so it’s all going in circles. It’s the whole cyclical thing. Same story but different chapters.

For ‘Closer’ when I talk about being a team player, obviously I’m from Chicago. I’m from the US, a capitalist country and I am a capitalist individually. Ya know, I’m trying to make as much money as I can before my ability to make money is up., before my time is up. So I really am trying to do that. But at the same time, that lyric really reflects my personal philosophy.

I consider myself to be a progressive and sometimes that means I’m a liberal in terms of political philosophies. But I really do believe in things like education for everybody, health care for everybody, and things like that. So even though we do compete with each other, I do believe we should all have some minimum standard of living. And so I do try to be a team player in the way I manifest my personal politics and all that.”

CHASE: “Yeah, ‘cause there’s no reason we shouldn’t. So definitely good points made there. But it must be hard because you are balancing a full-time job, a young family, and hip-hop, so that must be a little bit hard to do, eh?”

SOULSTICE: “Yeah, it’s a challenge but if it wasn’t a challenge, it wouldn’t be fun and worthwhile. And I’m lucky enough that I’ve had many years to get good at doing what I do and get efficient at doing what I do.

Ya know, I’ve been writing rhymes, like we talked about, since the early 90’s, I’ve been releasing albums since the early 2000’s, and you know, you get better at it. If I had the job and the family and it was me back in ’97, I probably wouldn’t be able to do it. But with the experience that I have, I can sit down a write a verse, I can sit down and write a song or conduct a business deal with all the experience I have and make it all work together. And when I go on tour, I take my wife and we make it a vacation. You find ways to make things work together.”

CHASE: “That’s what it’s all about. I think we’re gonna wrap things up now. I just want to hammer home the fact that intelligent music is commercially viable and that you’re able to show us that with your music. And that it’s important for us to shoot for our dreams. So I think that it’s fitting that we close out with ‘Dreamer’

SOULSTICE: “Alright. Well said.”

CHASE: “Thank a lot for being with us SoulStice. We really appreciate it. It’s been a honour and a privilege having you on the program. So hopefully today we’ve introduced some more of our listeners to you so they’ll actually go to iTunes or your myspace. Do you want to give that information out if they want to find out more about you?”

SOULSTICE: “Yeah, yeah. Well first of all, thanks for having me. It’s been a pleasure. And in terms of people looking me up people can definitely catch me on myspace or you can find any of my music on iTunes. I have a website I created just for the Beyond Borders project that talks about my experience with all the different artists and some behind the scenes information on all the songs at thinkbeyondborders.com

CHASE: “How did I miss that when I was doing my research for this interview? Man, I’m gonna have to check that site out for sure. Awesome! Well, thanks for being with us. Once again, we’re going to close off with ‘Dreamer’ off of your 2007 album Dead Letter Perfect. I just wanted to play this track because the lyrics are really nice in it and it talks about how you need to follow through with your dreams, keep your eyes open, and ‘what’s a dream if you die hoping?’

So here’s the track. Thanks a lot. Stay tuned because, once again, Dope fm, we’re here all night long, playing the best music for you and having great interviews and this has been one more for the canon.”

GAMMA KRUSH: “Yeah, thanks again SoulStice. Yeah, keep it locked ‘cause once again, ‘We are never stale in Westdale.’”

SOULSTICE: “Thanks.”

That’s it. If you are an artist that would like to be profiled or interviewed for Dope FM or Silent Cacophony, please hit me up either here with a comment or on Twitter.