Unsung and outspoken. That describes the Ugly Heroes in a nutshell.
When Detroit-bred producer Apollo Brown brought Chi-town MC Verbal Kent and his fellow 313 spitter Red Pill together to form the group back in 2013, he had a vision: to give the country’s hardworking people a relatable package. A group that could come with lyrics worthy of multiple flame emojis and beats to keep their heads nodding in their whips, even if it’s not a Beamer, Benz or Bentley.
Their eponymous debut LP did just that; it garnered a healthy underground following while generating a strong enough buzz that the Midwestern triage has reassembled to do it all again with Everything in Between, set to be released on the always credible indie Hip Hop label Mello Music Group. For Red Pill and Verbal Kent, convening in the studio can be difficult as both maintain regular day jobs. Red spends his days driving a grocery delivery truck for his father and Verbal Kent owns and operates ten coffee shops in Chicago.
“It’s a constant jostling of work versus music versus family, but for the most part I’ve done a pretty good job of making all three things work out,” Verbal Kent tells HipHopDX. “At this point I’ve sort of made my life revolve around being able to always be a writer, recording artist and a performer first without sacrificing quality of life and with the knowledge the whole time that the level this goes to in terms of success is not measured by anything other than my own personal happiness within it.”
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“We worked on this in a much shorter period of time than the last one. It was only five or six weeks that we were working on this one which is really unusual for me and I think with Verbal and Apollo as well. Working on a project usually takes longer but we had a specific timeframe we wanted to knock it out, which I think made it really cool,” Red Pill added.
The Heroes may go against everything the mainstream champions but as acclaimed producer and UH architect Apollo Brown notes, their success is anything but unlikely.
“You got a lot of opposite ends of the spectrum going on in hip hop. You got those at one end that it’s all about money, money, money, bitches, hoes, cars, jewelry, diamonds, blah blah blah all that good stuff and you got the other end where it’s rob, shoot, kill. This is the middle,” Apollo pointed out. “We’re the people that everyone can relate to; the people that make the world go round. The mechanics and the mailmen, the family people who go grocery shopping on Sunday and wake up and go to work on Monday. That’s us and that’s what we represent.”
The group’s first album was received well by fans both in the US and internationally, and while the midwest triumvirate have enjoyed the spoils that come with a successful album they haven’t strayed from the formula that got them here.
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The last [album] was a little darker, not that this wasn’t but this one is more optimistic. I think at the end of the day Everything in Between is more about family and finding yourself and who you are and learning to appreciate things you take for granted. Overall I’d say this one was more complete and a little bit more reflective in that sense,” said Red Pill.
Photo: Jeremy Deputat
“We’re the people that everyone can relate to; the people that make the world go round. — Apollo Brown
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“I don’t know if other MCs are catching on but it’s kind of a lane we’re in right now and people tend to like it. We’re gritty individuals that do whatever it takes to make it. We live in rustic, blue collar cities and I think the down and outs of our cities help provide the landscape of the music,” added Apollo.
With three uniquely hectic schedules a second Ugly Heroes album was not something that Red Pill, Verbal and Apollo were sure was even going to happen but the chemistry was too good to ignore.
“We weren’t even sure we were going to do another album, so for us to do a sophomore record is really cool and we’re really happy about it,” exclaimed Red Pill. “We’re gonna tour the hell out of it, maybe we’ll do another one if the timing is right but for now we’re focused on this project and I’ve got a solo project, I know Apollo’s got one coming out, Verbal put out a few different projects over the last year and a half or so we’re staying busy.“
Hip Hop has experienced a superfluity of changes since its birth but one thing that hasn’t changed is the value of authenticity and that is something the three Ugly Heroes from the midwest haven’t forgotten.
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“If you think about Ugly Heroes we’re certainly a brand based on the kind of music we put out. You could put a stamp on us but we’re not a gimmick by any means,” noted Verbal Kent. “While in some capacity I definitely think you can have an advantage if you’re more of a spectacle, with me and Apollo Brown and Red Pill we really are who we are and that’s something people can relate to.”
Everything in Between is currently available for pre-order on Apollo Brown Bandcamp page as well as iTunes.
