BTR Interview with E.A.R.T.H. (Everything Around Revolves Thru Hiphop)
E.A.R.T.H. (Everything Around Revolves Thru Hiphop)
In 1986, when Run DMC dropped “My Adidas” onto the ears of young Americans, sales of the three-striped sneaker brand skyrocketed. 15 years later, Busta Rhymes released “Pass the Courvoisier,” and the makers of the French Cognac saw a rise in liquor sales as a result.
Household hip hop names like Ludacris, The Big Tymers, Lil’ Kim and plenty of others have rapped about the Cadillac Escalade, and now the luxurious SUV is one of the best-selling in its class, with a hefty increase in sales over the past few years. McDonald’s recently gave rappers a blanket offer of $1- $5 for each radio air play of hip hop songs giving props to the Big Mac within their rhymes.
So, perhaps the California hip hop group known as E.A.R.T.H. has it all figured out. The acronym stands for Everything Around Revolves Thru Hiphop, and that surely seems to be the case, especially if the influence of hip hop is so much that it can promote significant changes within our economy.
The group is comprised of NOE, Double Negative, Sinister XL, and Write Words, all of whom take on the duty of MC. Sinister XL also produces, and Write Words contributes as CFO and VP of A&R. They come together like Voltron to create some of that conscious West Coast party hip hop. The four MCs are currently in the studio working on their second album, and BTR thought it would be a good time to get to know them a little better.
How did the group come together?
NOE: I met Sinister XL through battling him in college. I was on a different clique and XL was on another clique.
XL: We just joined cliques and I met Write Words at a hip hop theatre venue at the University of California Riverside.
Write Words: We all met at University of California, Riverside in 2002. I had to battle them before I could even get in.
Double Negative: Yeah, I met XL at a party and this was around 2002. We all met in college.
How did the name E.A.R.T.H. come about?
XL: E.A.R.T.H. stands for Everything Around Revolves Thru Hiphop. Two cliques join together to become E.A.R.T.H. But the word E.A.R.T.H. was too simple, so we thought of an acronym and Everything Around Revolves Thru Hiphop.
Write Words: E.A.R.T.H. reflects us, as a group, from different backgrounds, different ethnicities. We’re E.A.R.T.H., the place you live in.
Who are your influences?
NOE: My father Tony Crump, who was a bassist back in the day. Also, Twista, Old Snoop Dogg, Brotha Lynch Hung, Grouch, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Ice Cube, Nas, Biggie and myself, NOE.
Double Negative: Damn, there’s too many for me, but it would have to be Rakim, Pharoahe Monch, Mos Def, De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, Ice Cube, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Dogg Pound Gangsta, Tupac and DJ Quik.
Write Words: My grandfather influenced me, he was a master musician. He played all instruments and composed notes. He actually teaches people to play instruments. Other than that, my parents, sister and brother influence me to do what I do. As far as artists, it would be Nas, Saul Williams, Ice Cube, Mos Def, Biggie and the Wu-Tang Clan. Plus, I do poetry, so a lot of spoken word artists influence me.
XL: As a producer and emcee, RZA, Madlib, Dre, Just Blaze, DJ Premier, Slim Slimma, David 2.0, Judah, Dan The Automator, Battle Cat, the Wu Tang Clan and a lot more people.
How would you describe your sound?
Noe: Our sound is street hip hop.
Write Words: It’s us. It’s what we went through, and we tellin’ you how it is.
Is it good to be in the studio again working on a new album?
Write Words: It’s real good to be in the studio just working on new materials. It’s fun and it’s hard work, I’m tellin ya.
Can you talk a little about the upcoming album? What can we expect?
XL: The album is called Grass Roots: From The Ground Up. Just taking it back to the basics. You can expect the creativity of what we do and the freedom. There is a wide variety of songs that we’ll hit you with.
Double Negative: We just tellin? you who we are, what we can do, and we ain?t goin? no where.
Do you have a tentative release date for the album?
Noe: You can expect the album to come out around August or September.
Write Words: Grass Roots: From the Ground Up, will be released under Random Beatdown.
How does an E.A.R.T.H. track come together? What is the writing and producing process like for you?
Write Words: On this album, we plan to write Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. We either get the beat first and we write. Or when it’s Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we just listen to the beat and come up with a chorus first, then we start writing.
Noe: I have my own little notebook and it?s just for hooks. I have hooks for songs that we use from our album. But we all pitch in with the hooks.
Double Negative: Some of us, we change our lyrics because we’re perfectionists.
?Feelin’ Good Feelin’ Great? has to be one of my favorite tracks off of your self-titled debut album. Many of your songs have a very positive vibe or theme. Is that something you strive for?
Noe: Feelin’ Good Feelin’ Great is a good track, it’s how we were feelin’.
XL: We just tryin’ to make good music, and there’s a lot of negativity on the radio and television.
Write Words: We try to think outside our box and do what we do and let you know how we feelin’ at that point.
Double Negative: Positivity is what we strive for. We’re good peoples.
What can fans expect if they come see E.A.R.T.H live?
Double Negative: You’d want to come see us again and again. We’re hype on stage. We get too crazy.
What are E.A.R.T.H?s plans for the future?
XL: Maybe solo projects for everybody. We tryin’ to be executives. We want to be the ones signing the checks.
Noe: Just focusing on albums and traveling the E.A.R.T.H., letting people know who we are.
Double Negative: We just takin’ it one by one.
Write Words: Staying focused on what we do, and hopefully, like XL said, we can be executives on our own.
Anything else you want to add or let fans know?
Noe: Cop that E.A.R.T.H. album GRASS ROOTS: FROM THE GROUND UP, when it comes out. Check out our websites, http://www.randomrecordsinc.com and register in our forum. Also check out http://www.beatdownprod.com.
XL: Fo’ sho,’ support that E.A.R.T.H. movement, we don’t even call our fans, fans, we call them “EARTHLINGS.” Be sure to support us ya’ll.
Double Negative: That’s real, without ya’ll, there wouldn?t be us. Thank ya’ll for the support and just cop the album when it comes out. Support that E.A.R.T.H. movement yo!
“Earthlings” can always check out E.A.R.T.H.’s positive sounds right here on BTR.
- Emily Smith