Peace to DJ3D for giving Rasheed Chappell’s song “Building 8″ a spin on Underground Railroad. It’s dark, Golden Era, Tri-State soundscape matches Chappell’s political and Five Percenter references. I got the chance to chop it up with it’s creator who explained “Building 8″ isn’t a place at all. Download below the jump.

The word “art” appears in your bio a number of times and you speak of it often. Give us your definition of art.
Art to me is expression of life, life in all it’s glory, lows, faults, fantasy and everything else that shapes our lives. That’s the reason art draws such reactions from people whether they embrace or reject it, it’s because it struck a chord in them and the beauty of art is that what one person finds repulsive another can call beautiful…I’m just blessed to be in a position to share mine with the world.

Who produced “Building 8″ and what’s the backstory for it?

“Building 8″ was produced by Kenny Dope THE LEGEND!!!! Shameless plug I know haha. Most of the music I do with Kenny is us just being creative we have a general idea of where we want the music to go and he has a clear definition of the sound he wants.

I actually started putting the pattern of the song together in the shower…I know it sounds crazy but that’s where the cadence came from. I may have come up with a line or 2, I then went through a few beats Kenny gave me and when I found that one the song came to life…I began writing it.

The title Building 8 is simply an homage to some of the teachings of I have learned. 8 means to Build & Destroy you can’t have one without the other and each line is a thought and contrast…

Kenny really showed off with the beat though. He REALLY provided the canvas to bring my words to life.

Tell us about Future Before Nostalgia, the title, the project and how people can get their hands on it.

Future Before Nostalgia started out as a mixtape that has evolved into an album. The concept comes from Nostalgia which is the album Kenny and I are working on. It’s the prequel to Nostalgia to show everyone how we got to Nostalgia and where we plan on going with it musically.

We are presently putting the finishing touches on it now. “Building 8″ was just a sample of what we have in store for the world. It will be available through iTunes, as well as a few free downloads on kevinnottingham.com, who have graciously agreed to be one of the sponsors for this project along with singlesecond.com. It will also be available for purchase through kennydopepresents.com. Not only will there be digital copies but hard copies as well. So I’m looking forward to finishing the project and releasing it to the world…no definite date but I’d say late summer early fall.

Recently Thom Yorke, of the band Radiohead said, it “only a matter of months” until the collapse of the mainstream music business. [1] Your thoughts?

Has Thom Yorke heard “Building 8″??? Haha that’s a statement that is more fact than fiction with the prevalence of youtube, myspace, facebook, twitter, ustream, blogs, online radio, iTunes and other multimedia outlets.

The current design of mainstream music companies can’t compete. As artists we no longer need major label backing to shoot a video or create an image. The fact that we’re conducting this interview and I have no major or independent release out is a testament to that.

The consumers control the marketplace and when they start putting their dollars behind the artist they believe in, whether major or independent, it speaks volumes. I wish I had the capital to market & promote myself like some major labels do their artists but in the same breath I wouldn’t wanna be fiscally responsible for all that overhead…haha. I mean when money is the motivator for anyone I feel the art gets lost in the mix somehow. So yeah I think Thom is onto something.

In part 2 we discuss Chappell’s future projects, the environment, twitter and BP’s Oil spill.

In the meantime connect with us on twitter
Rasheed Chappell’s twitter: twitter.com/rasheedchappell
Kenny Dope’s twitter: twitter.com/Kdope50
Kevin Nottingham’s twitter: twitter.com/KevinNottingham
So Fresh And So Green’s twitter: twitter.com/sofreshsogreen
Madam Toussaint’s twitter: twitter.com/madamtoussaint

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