Basilisk
I'm a 20-year-old emcee (21 in March) from the UK. I'm cynical bastard with no real discernable future - therefore I take out my anger and fury on the things I truly hate: religion, Tony Blair, George Bush, Ariel Sharon, dishonest people and lots more.
All-in-all I'm an opinionated cunt with too much time on his hands.
Tell me about your history? How did you get where you are now?
I started writing in 2002/2003 after a psychiatrist recommended it for venting anger. It ended up that I just used paper to ridicule everything I saw as immoral (cult-like religions such as Christianity, Judaism and extremist Muslims; Governments, etc).
After a while I started a transition from just writing to putting short poems together which then became verses. Partnered with my love for hip-hop, I started turning them into songs... it was all very shitty.
I then came across a web forum which let people share text verses (textceeing) and audios. I learnt there how to structure verses properly, how to properly match syllable counts to different tempos, etc.
In the end I sought after actually making my verses into music because it felt foney to keep them as text. So my first attempt at music was a battle verse which was dire - I mean dire! Suffice to say I lost the battle.
I didn't let it get me down though. I kept practicing until I wrote a collaborative song with Sheflows (we were in a group called "Heavens' Demons"). It got good feedback. But I still needed a hell of a lot of improvement.
Verse after verse poured from my fingers and I kept recording "dummy" takes of them over beats and getting feedback from fellow emcees over the net until I felt ready for my next release. It came - "Mark of Cain" - a short 1 verse song about Werewolves. Again, good feedback came in but I felt I needed improvement.
Now I'm back again ready to drop more verses with a slightly changed flow, better lyrics and more confidence behind a microphone.
Have you performed live in front of an audience? Any special memories?
One time I played a Christian music festival and said, "Jesus died for all of your sins - you're scum. God let Jesus die - his own son; think about what is in store for the rest of you."
Your musical influences
Rage Against The Machine, System Of A Down, Big L, Chino XL, Killah Priest, Canibus, Black Sabbath, Shadows Fall, Unearth, Trivium, Immortal Technique, Necro, DZK, Rheotaxis
What equipment do you use?
A computer, a mic and some vocal chords.
Anything else?
I hate Mondays
