KB Jones & The Kontraband – Q&A Interview

Tell us a little about yourselves. How did the group get together? How long have you been making music collectively?

KB: I met both Mike DeConzo and Steve Gornic while we were all attending college in SUNY Oneonta in upstate NY. I was in a band with Steve and Mike was one of my roommates. After college, I started to take music more seriously. I was looking to put a band together and these guys were it. Andrew is a lifelong friend of Steve’s and so the creative four that is The Kontraband was formed.

What influences you in adding Hip Hop sounds and rhymes into your guy’s music?

KB: Well, I think Hip-Hop is and has always been our core sound. I started writing music and making beats without a band and the sound was very much Rap music. I think we are influenced due to our eclectic upbringings to add other genres or styles outside of Hip-Hop into our music.

Describe your music, and what separates you from other Music Groups?

KB: From a writing standpoint I only write about what I know and see. I think that separates us from many acts out today because what we make is real on many levels.

Who have you collaborated with? Who would you like to collab with in the near future?

As far as musically we have collaborated with manypeople within our social circles like Creature of Rebelmatic, Undeniable, Laurie Anne Cruz, Nicole, Steve Larocca and the list goes on. In the future, no specific names really come to mind, but I hope to meet more artists that share our passion for originality and collaborate with them. We are looking to release a track talking about New York City women that will feature a different MC from each borough.

Your definition of “Underground Hip Hop”?

“Underground Hip Hop” to me is the overlooked gems and the independently minded. It is the entrepreneurs like Atmosphere, Immortal Technique, and Hieroglyphics. It is the music that for one reason or another does not get the credit it deserves. To me, I don’t believe that you can have the conversation “greatest of all time”, without saying names like Mos Def, Black Thought, Big L, The WU, Mobb Deep, Big Pun, Gangstarr or TalibKweli; and although they have had some kind of mainstream success, when I was growing up this is what I saw as underrated or “Underground” emcees.

Production wise, who are your influences? Who does your production? And who would you like to work with?

We do all of our own production and then bring in engineers to mix/master and clean things up. As far as Hip-Hop goes, producers like Rza, Premier, Dilla, Ant, D’Aneglo, D.I.T.C, Mathematics, Easy Mo Bee, Q-Tip, and ?love really influenced me. I don’t think we can leave out Rick Rubin because he produced some of my favorite bands whether it was Hip-Hop of Rock music.

Any current or future projects you are promoting?

We are currently promoting all of the “Hot Soup!” EP’s that we have or have yet to release. So far we have released “Hot Soup! Vol. 1” and “Vol. 2”, with “Vol. 3” to be released very soon. We are also promoting an event called “The Hot Soup NYC” that takes place at Pianos in NYC and showcases some of the best up and coming acts in New York. The next show is Saturday January 17th.

Can you give us a brief description of the creative process of the “Hot Soup Vol.2”? Also/ tell us a little bit about the concept and idea behind your project Cover Art.

The creative process varies from song to song really. Some songs came from a bass line, a guitar line, or key line that we wanted to use. While “Vacation” was an old song made by Sketch Artist, a producer from Long Island, that we revamped with live instrumentation. That song is also different because I wrote the lyrics with Undeniable, a Rap duo from Corona Queens. Whatever the case, we would take these ideas into the studio and jam on them. That’s where the song gains character and comes to fruition.

Where can we find your music and info?

You can find our music on Soundcloud, Bandcamp, and soon it will be on Itunes and Spotify.
https://soundcloud.com/kbjonesmusic
http://kbjones.bandcamp.com/

Any Shout Outs?

Shout out to Dan Mullins who works with us on the “Hot Soup NYC” events.