Interview I did with the homies @ Railroadmag.com

A Visual Perception

In a day and age when painting a vivid picture with your rhyme scheme has faded, or has been put on the back burner; due to a greater number of “gimmick” rap songs, North side rapper, Visual, has stayed true to himself and the definition of what a lyricist is. This artist prides his extensive knowledge of hip hop and its’ history simply on his passion and affinity for hip hop and its’ culture; which subsequently gives him the ability and awareness to help his listeners visualize the scene in which the words of his rhymes lays down the story being told.
Dialogue between Visual and the RailRoad Magazine

The RailRoad: So this is a very common question, but a very important one. What was the inspiration behind you starting to rap and record on a serious note?

Visual: Man, it was a lot. I grew up all my life listening to music. My moms and pops always listened to music. But the main thing that got me wanting to record music was my brother. He would bring home music and it was hip hop records and back in the day that was just music, it wasn’t like we were like, “Oh yeah, this is hip hop” or “this is rap”, it was just music to us. It was like, “Oh yeah, this shit is pretty tight”, and that’s when I was 5 or 6 years old. As I got to be a teenager I was still listening to rap and then I started picking up albums. I was listening to a lot of KRS-1, Slick Rick, Gang Starr, Coogi Rap, Big Daddy Kane….shit like that. I heard them albums and it hit me like, “Damn, I want to rap”! Then when Common’s “Resurrection” came out, I was like, “Man, this dude is from here, he’s one of the coldest dudes I ever heard…I think I want to start writing”. And so from there I’d just start writing things down.

The RailRoad: If you could say, what would your style of rap be classified as?

Visual: I would definitely say that it’s conscious rap. But I don’t know, because I’m more like how a regular person feels on a weekly basis, man. They may go through 10 different emotions; you might have had a great day, you might have had a bad day, your girl pissed you off, your job pissed you off…whatever. A lot of different things could’ve happened in that one week and that’s what I feel my music is like. I don’t make just one type of song…but yeah definitely conscious, man. I grew on hip hop, so I guess you could even call it what some people call “backpacker [hip hop]”, I’ll say it’s a little bit of that. I’m such a big hip hop fan that it’s almost nerdy. I know who made what beat, quotes, dates, all of that. So it’s conscious hip hop, life rap…that’s my style!

The RailRoad: How old were you when you chose hip hop and rapping as a career path you wanted to go down?

Visual: The first time I recorded I was 16, it was cool and something that I liked doing. But when I got older is when I said, “Yo! You know what? I probably could get something out of this”. So I started booking the gigs, sorting out actual music. I would say that I was in my early 20s and felt that I was going to be a little more serious about my music.

The RailRoad: What is it about music itself that helps you continue to do what you do?

Visual: Music is life, it brings out so much! It helps you be creative, it helps you express yourself…just the music itself, and it’s the sounds. Sounds say so much about a person about a feeling, or they bring a feeling out. Music is everything…to me at least! I was just talking to a friend the other day and a lot of people don’t understand that when you’re passionate about something, whether it be rapping, making beats, or even painting or whatever you do, that’s something you need to do! You need to do it! It ain’t something like, “man I like doing this”, “this is a hobby”, its that you have to do it or you don’t even feel right. It’s like your soul, music is like my soul! Its like if you don’t have music you don’t have a soul {laughter}! I’ve talked to a lot of people who’ve told me that they don’t listen to music or not into music, and that is CRAZZZY to me! That’s like the craziest thing I could think of. I’m like, “What! You don’t listen to music? That’s just crazy, because music is everything.

The RailRoad: How long have you been doing your thing, musically?

Visual: I would say about 10 years. It’s been off and on, some years real heavy and some years a little slower.

The RailRoad: How did the name, Visual, come about?

Visual: Well it first started out being N-D-Visual. I played with the spelling a little bit. And it was like, “In what you see” that’s what it meant. Like what I was doing with my type of music was that it was giving you a visual aspect. What I was spitting about, you were going to see it…that’s what I wanted to do with it. With people butchering the name and misspelling it, I was just like, “Man, you know what? It’s just going to be Visual” {laughter}! So it pretty much means the same thing. People say, “What you see ain’t always what you get” and that’s true. So I think I can see change in the world and differences going on in the world and I think I can make my listeners see what I’m saying through my music.

The RailRoad: Do you frequent the studio or how often do you go?

Visual: The last time I was in the studio was about a month ago. With me personally, it ain’t like I’m there everyday or every week, It’s whenever I can. I have so many other things going on. But when I can…I’m sick…I’m sick with it! I’m just like a whole different person…you don’t want to bother me, you don’t want to call me, you don’t want to say, “hey let’s go and do this” or start joking. Man, I’m so focused…you might start hating me after that {laughter}! I mean I might start snapping on people if they start joking around too much, I mean I’m just a serious person when I’m in the studio.

The RailRoad: So is there anything you want to say to the people out there? A shameless plug…anything {laughter}?

Visual: I always got a shameless plug {laughter}. You guys can definitely go to my Myspace page, myspace.com/visual. Go to the YouTube page, which is YouTube.com/visualcs. Also the site ‘I see It all.com’ is coming real soon, it’s going to be more of a blog site, I’m going to be posting some stuff up, some opinions so I got some things going on there. And just be looking out for me. I’ve got some things coming. “Working Class Legend” the album will be out real soon, definitely look out for that. And if you are an artist, fan, anything, don’t hesitate to hit me up; I’m not the type of dude that’s going to act funny with you. Get at me aight?!

Original interview over @ Railroadmag.com :

http://railroadmag.com/thetalent.html

until the next thought I see ...

Peace, Visual