It’s not beef, it’s a statement! 16 16: The Mix Tape

By Tendy Kay

D1: Well, basically it’s 16 16 bar verses, it’s a mix tape of beats already used by international artists, we just wanted to explore and show our diversity because we have never done a mix tape where we didn’t use my production. It is also the hip hop that influenced us and so we are paying homage to the greats in the game.

Let’s take it lyrical:

"I just don’t make beats I write rhymes"

D1: On this one, I just wanted to specify a little bit, because a lot people get confused about which side I really fall on, I don’t really have a side, I produce, I write rhymes so I am a bit of both. I am not the type of producer who hides behind the production and has that as my monument. But I am also a versatile emcee and a hyped up performer. So that statement basically explains that about me.

"Deep generations fooled by shallow beats, so what’s 3rd doing to keep it on level"

3rd Eye: We are just on our certain type of music that inspires these generations (pointing at the kids around him) to move things, people can’t stay in the same situations forever. Of course, it’s different types and parts of this generation, because some are struggling with poverty and others are well to do. So it’s about what you do for the whole nation, music-wise, that trickles down and inspires. And that’s exactly what we are trying to do.

The Lyrics on the mix tape are hard, you’ve got tracks like 16th Truimph, Deep crank Invisible, Lala, World war, Storm, I hate, Hit em high, practically everything on there is not sparing anyone… you mention names like Tay Grin, Maj beats and that you’re poaching rhino’s, what’s really going down?

3rd Eye: We on a cleaning exercise. We have been in the game for a long, long time. We are now at a place where we doing better internationally than locally. It’s not like we don’t try here but there certain barriers that stop real music getting its play. Most cats don’t know that working in this industry is about respect, getting things done and everything about it is humbling. And so those are the couple of people, we feel do not understand and are in the way of that, you know progress and everything. And so basically it’s a clean-up exercise, nothing much!

D1: no beef, no nothing. We are just separating the authentic to the counterfeit (3rd Eye: Operation Kill the Wackness!). That’s all there is to it really, right now the Malawian hip hop game has become competitive. Even in business, man, you have to shut down your competitor so basically that’s what we doing. We are just shutting them down!

Invisible:

You said people are paying for airtime on radio, is this one of the reasons why you think hip hop is dead in Malawi?

D1: Ever since I started doing hip hop professionally, I have never paid any body to play my music, I 100% survive off my talent, and people recognize me. I don’t go to nobody kissing a** and all that type of thing for play. I am just humble and I do my thing, I don’t take my fans for granted and I give them good music. The problem with ‘these’ other people is like my brother 3rd says, they are half stepping and taking their fans for granted and not giving them their money’s worth. This is exactly what the people we mention in 16 16 are doing and what we are trying to deal with.  The thing is, they are monopolizing the industry in a shady way, and not in a way that we can all benefit on a business level, and that’s wack.

So what now, you still need deejay’s, don’t u?

3rd Eye: We do, that’s real, we get play, since we were sixteen, seventeen, we’ve been dropping sixteen’s that get played by d j’s and we are still it keeping it real.

One Tay Grin a week, am on a strict diet, so don’t try me!

I am phat emcee but I aint tryna be a fat emcee, you catch my drift?    One Tay Grin a week man, that’s enough for me!

Dolla Mdubz style:


D1: We are conscious emcees, we spit the truth but we wanna get paid because it’s our job, it’s our career. Everyone wants to get paid in whatever they do. Recently, we’ve been eating, not on a very big level, but we’ve been eating. And we just want a bigger piece of the cake which we actually deserve, you know, because of the hard work we put in. We don’t do no publicity stunts, like, I don’t know cell phone company (3rd Eye: surround yourself with some washed up artist from Kenya or South Africa and all that!). We don’t have any exposed guest appearances, basically we started from scratch and we’ve built ourselves to a level where the whole of Malawi recognizes us. We need to be eating bigger because of our level. We are critically acclaimed artists.

The people: You are representing Lilongwe  in the mix tape, in terms of hip hop how do you think Lilongwe is maintaining?   

 D1: The thing about Lilongwe hip hop is that we control our own music. We don’t switch on MTV and hear some stupid song like ‘turn ma swag on’ and want to do that. What we do is, we keep it creative and we don’t follow the trend, we make people like the trend we’re putting out,  and just when it’s about to go sour, we switch up again and give something new for the people to listen to, you follow?

South-Central beef?

3rd Eye: Well, not the way I see it. Basically, what goes on is; it’s very territorial which is understandable and it’s just not in hip hop. It’s about am from BT and you’re from LL kind of thing. But most of the rappers I know from BT am cool with, am cool with alota cats (D1: yeah we are all cool with them) you know what I mean. It’s just different locations and different people at the end of the day. A lot of Malawians make good hip hop today, it just so happens that we might have problems with certain people who stay in BT, but that’s them, it’s not even a personal issue. For me it’s all good.

D1: You have to realize that everybody is a product of their environment. Lilongwe is about getting that money no matter who you are. While in Blantyre, they’re club scene is on a hype level that L’s doesn’t have yet. So, you can’t compare the two, you can’t find deserts in Russia.

One

3rd Eye: We pride ourselves for being able to make positive moves by the end of the day. We didn’t do this album to try to get at anybody by the way. Even though it is a cleanup exercise, we are aiming at just showing off some lyrical strength, throwing some weight around and being competitive

Tell me about your growth so far, I know u guys are indivisible

3rd Eye: The next planet!

D1: I was about to say the same thing, Mars, man! (3rd Eye: We writing Mar’s bars). It’s just that the level of elevation and the capacity for creativity is just infinite. Sometimes, I feel it’s so unfair when I categorize it, am not even going to blow my own horn, but, I think cats are just sleeping. I am not easily impressed anyway because of my level of understanding of music and hip hop especially; I mean cat’s aint just bringing it, they just not bringing it! So what we are doing is setting a standard, so that, when we come out, cats should go home and revise their albums. Not to make them look stupid, but what it does is, it becomes a catalyst that makes their music better, in the bigger picture makes the industry better and makes it grow bigger. And when the industry grows bigger, we are going to get that money for all of you and so we are doing this for all y’all by the end of the day. Straight up!

World War 16: So what’s the final word to the baby apes and their Soulja boy friends?

3rd Eye: World War 16 aint nothing to play with. I think WW3 by Ruff Riderz was one of the monumental tracks with a lot of artists on it that a lot guys respect. So basically it was about trying to get that energy and bring it to a local level. There is not too many ill intentions when you think about it, I mean it’s quite general, there has always been that issue of wack music and tight music, but it’s not even about beef. It’s a basic statement saying, ‘you know these streets that we are in? Come to this level, before you say something or leave it alone.’ Work on your music man! We worked on our music; it wasn’t just tight in day. We put in a lot of work for years to get to that (D1: that’s real)!

3rd Eye and D1 16 16 Exclusive Afro Shout Out!

3rd Eye and D1 Exclusive 1616 Live Interview!

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