Hip Hop On Deck New Exclusive Interview With Smitty Khiry
1. Smitty Khiry, how long have you been doing music?
I have been rapping since I was about 15 years old. Ive always been into narrative writing and poetry, so rap felt like a fun thing to try out. People kept saying I was dope, so I stuck with it. Trying to find beats was always a difficult thing, alot of producers want to charge you 100 bucks to lease hot garbage. So around 2010, I started experimenting with Fl Studio and producing my own stuff at the Arizona Super Stars studio (Shouts to the OG C Balla). Now I cant go a day without making a beat on the drum machine or piano.
2. Smitty Khiry, what made you want to start creating music?
Ive always been a wierdo kid that's been a "little off", so people older than me started telling me to write it out. The poetry became music and the whole process became cathartic. Once I caught people really listening and vibing with the ideas I was throwing out there, I was like "Fuck it, I may not change the world but I can help someone out feeling like I do, and the people are finally going to get what the fuck Im talking about when I get all philosophical and shit." So really, it was a mixture of finding something therapeutic and connecting with my people who shared my world view and feelings. I also feel, that at the end of the day, hip hop is a friendly competition of skill and I want to be one of those rappers you just can't deny is dope.
3. Smitty Khiry, what do you feel you bring different to the music industry?
Being from Phoenix is a start, I think that offers a really unique perspective. Alot of places have really established music scenes and kind of typical sounds you'd here comming out of that region. You never hear of a rapper that really changed the game coming out of the Southwest, and alot of people around here have a bad habitat of copying flows,styles and production sounds that's hot on the radio and internet. In my opinion, it really detracts from the individuals that's really putting own with their own flavor. I couldn't copy a nigga if I put my heart and soul in it, I always end up sounding like me. So that's what I bring, something you haven't heard before that's musically hot, with lyrics that really challenge a listener and hopefully evokes contemplation and change.
4. Smitty Khiry, breakdown you style and sound?
I'll sample, I'll play keys, ill glitch stuff. I'll write melodies or freestyle something ill with a click track, so the sound is always evolving and changing with every track. Lyrically, Im just honest. People have told me the flow sounds like everything from Method Man to Busdriver, so I just say I sound like Smitty Khiry.
5. Smitty Khiry, you just dropped the Mix Tape "Vitriolic" what is the concept behind this project?
I treated this album as my own "Human all to Human" by Frederich Nietzsche. The concept behind the album and the name was to give listeners my social critique in the form of lyrical aphorisms, creating my own philosophical text in the process. My close friends and I adhere to "neo-cynicism", a rehashing and continuation of the ideas of the Philosopher Diogenes of Sinope of living in accordance with the natural state of man, unadulterated by societal conditions created by institutions. So in short, care about people and carry altruism for your fellow man and the arts, but dont give a fuck about the trends that shape the common opinion, because they are all crafted for control of your mind and actions.
6. Smitty Khiry, how long did it take you to record, mix and master this project?
Honestly, the whole process took about 2 weeks. Working with Brian at Handkrafted Studios here in PHX made for a very cohesive and fun recording experience. That man is a wizard on the boards
7. Smitty Khiry, what did you learn about yourself in the process of recording this project?
Give it your all, and even when it seems its not going anywhere, keep pushing. You can never create gold if you give up, so don't let the situation of your local scene ruin your drive.
8. Smitty Khiry, where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
Running for a political office, working on my doctorates, leading a social movement, opening a business or a all of those things. I'll always be creating music until the day I pass on, but I dont want to be a 30 something year old rapper, that shit's corny. I dont rap to eat, I rap because I love it.