Alchemist and Evidence are eager to get to work on their
project as the newly-formed duo Stepbrothers, but they’ve got other business to
handle first.
In an exclusive interview with HipHopDX, the two emcee/producers
talked about their respective impending projects. Evidence‘s The Layover
Mixtape [click to listen] hit the Internet earlier this month, and the official Layover EP hits
shelves November 25. Alchemist has the Alchemist’s
Cookbook EP, his long-awaited Better Living Through Chemistry album, and a full-length with Stones Throw Records artist Oh No coming
soon.
“We’re basically planting the seed for Stepbrothers with [the
Layover EP]. And with my project and
my EP, Ev is going to be on two
joints as well,” Alchemist said. “So we’re just pushing each others’ shit and
building the buzz.“
Evidence said that Layover
has an expansive guest list, because he wanted to get those records out of the
way and save most of the solo material for his upcoming album. The two songs
with big features were previously solo songs for his solo sophomore disc Cats & Dogs, but he subtracted two
of his verses to tack on cameos. “For Whom The Bell Tolls” [click to listen] which features
Phonte of Little Brother, Blu and will.i.am has already leaked. But another
track, “To Be Determined,” features Elzhi and Aloe Blacc.
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“He bodied me so hard, it’s fucking crazy! … But that’s
exactly what I want,” Evidence said of the Slum Village emcee’s verse on the
song. “Sometimes I’m really hard on myself, but fuck, he’s so good, man.”
“They’re not industry records, they’re just real,” he
continued. “I called these people directly, hooked up with them, and it just
happened naturally.“
Alchemist has been keeping busy as well. What started as
casual music bartering and recording with Oh No became the two forming the duo
of Gangrene and completing an entire album. Alchemist says that the project should
get released by the end of the year.
“The reason why I think that was so dope is because I didn’t
know him really well. We had just thrown together what we had,” Alchemist says.
“I’ve known Madlib for years, not
crazily, be we always respect each other. But (me and Oh No) just clicked. He smokes as much as I do, which is amazing.
[Laughs]“
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He says the Alchemist’s
Cookbook EP is a precursor to Better Living Through Chemistry, and that the former will have several of the same records as the
latter. He also talked about why the
release has been delayed so much.
“I’m in a business, you know? I got down with a company and
broke bread, so when they want to put hot shit out, they can. That’s why I went
and did Gang Green and other things,
because they can’t stop me as an artist,” Alchemist explained. “Look at the
industry; numbers aren’t really what they used to be. We moved 200,000 the last
go-round, on the independent. So they really want to come correct this time.
They feel like they’ve got the records; they just want to time it right.“
To read the rest of DX‘s Producer’s Corner interview with
The Stepbrothers, [click to read].
