Elijah The Poet & Omaure (Lonely Soldiers) – Q&A Interview
Tell us a little about yourself. Where you are from? How long have you been making Hip Hop?
Elijah: What up though I was born and raised in Oakland, CA I been into music for the last ten years it started with me writing comic book storylines and poetry and that kind of developed into me being a deadly MC.
Omaure: Im from Göttingen/Germany and I’m currently living in Cologne. I’ve been making Hip-Hop music for about 10 years now. I started making beats in school when I was about 14/15 and started rapping a little later. The common story.
What influences you in making Hip Hop?
Omaure: I get Inspiration from everyday-situations. I dont believe you have to stand on the peak of a moutain and look at the moon to get the energy or stories from life to create music. In the past few years I have made most of my music in times when I was really busy with other stuff and stressed out. It is a way for me to relax and get my thoughts straight.
Elijah: Everything at this point in my life im kind of like a sponge soaking up everything taking notes and putting them into songs esp. when im going through a lot of shit it’s my Therapy.
Describe your music, and what separates you from other MCs?
Elijah: What separates me from other artists is that I try to be weird and different as possible I think that just comes from me being into creative writing before I was even rappin, but then you still get that natural hood element that I got from just growing up in Oakland it’s like you either get me or you don’t must people get me though lol
Omaure: Firstly of course I would say I make Hip-Hop and I like my songs to have a jazzy touch to them. Many of my tracks don’t follow a strict pattern and don’t have a hook but sometimes i just feel they interrupt my story. What separates me, is that I’m me and I tell my stories.
Who have you collaborated with? Who would you like to collab with in the near future?
Elijah: way 2 many folks to list but besides Lonely soldiers I’m part of a crew called Alien Art Gang with Bicasso from the Living Legends and his brother Ghost digga so be on the look out for us 2.
Omaure: On the “Purple Heart therapy” we collaborated with Bicasso of Living Legends, K.E.V, 21 Styles and Young Lean. I also did Tracks with german artists like Karate Andi, VansBeats, John Borno and of course Atvanz.
Your definition of “Underground Hip Hop”?
Omaure: To me underground Hip-Hop is an Ideal. It’s a lifestyle. It’s an art form first and then a business. It’s music from the heart but that doesn’t mean all mainstream artists are crap of course.
Elijah: Live from the basement dungeon type shit lol
Production wise, who are your influences? Who does your production?
Omaure: I have mostly produced myself. I listen to a lot of different Hip-hop Styles but I like that raw LP sound and dirty drum breaks. Lately I have been listening to Madlib a lot. I like the crazy vibe he can create. A few years ago I was really inspired by Kno and no need to talk about Dilla.
Elijah: Of course my boy Omaure. dilla,rza shit – really anybody making that classic boom bap jazzyy rainy day type sound.
Just the people I been making music with. I’m a fan of the music first before anything so I guess it’s like I rather just stay a fan instead of mixing business with collabs unless of course it just happened natural and the universe want’s me to do it or if artists have a phat check for me to get on their song lol
And who would you like to work with?
Omaure: There are so many I could imagine working with. I’ll see how things go and maybe something will develope.I am planing a project with some German rappers but would also love to try Hip-Hop in other languages apart from German and English. I want to travel the world with my music.
Any current or future projects you are promoting?
Omaure: We are working on a new LS project. Besides that I am looking forward to working with a local artist here from germany. I will post the details to our FB page.
Elijah: Yeah man expect another project from us real soon and also “Alien Art Gang” we have a EP we are gonna put out sometime this year.
Can you give us a brief description of the creative process of “The Purple Heart Therapy”? Also/ what was the idea or concept description about your Album Art Cover.
Elijah: kkkrrraaazzzyyy but it all came together. maybe I will write a book on it one day.
Omaure: We wanted to deliver a message of peace and decided to package the dreamy calm vibe with aggressive sounding titles and stories. We are Soldiers fighting enemies from within. We use lots of metaphors like in “The Way of the Warrior” where I try to take the role of a Samurai that is caught in his role as warrior and is completely aware of his questionable position. In the end it’s also supposed to sound cool.
The cover was drawn by Tokio Aoyama. When we saw his style we immediately knew it was just what we were looking for. We wanted to show how all our different backgrounds have merged in this project. We have the American Cupcakes and the African Masai Warriors.
Where can we find your music and info?
Omaure: Check out our Facebook page we are constantly updating News about our Projects and Posting new Stuff. We are just getting started. We are really happy with all the support we have received in the past few weeks and are glad that so many people are enjoying our music we created. You can also check out “omaure.bandcamp.com” for some other projects I have made.
Elijah: google me lol naw I’m just joking hit up Lonely Soldiers on facebook like our page and while you’re at it check out Alien Art Gang as well,but for real if you google me a bunch of shit will pop up though #boom
Any shout outs?
Omaure: I wanna thank all my friends in Germany, South-Africa and Kenia for their support and feedback. Without them the music would have never reached anyone.
Elijah: shouts out to my mama and papa,Eastside Art Alliance where most of the album was created,spirithouse home of the Aliens,my sisters,Ghost-D my best friend who got me into rappin,shit everybody already know I love them lol,niggas from old crews dudes i done cyphered with and will probally never see again Hip-Hop nation.
https://www.facebook.com/Lonelysoldiershut
https://www.facebook.com/ElijahThePoet
http://elijahthepoet.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/atvanz
