Q&A With Phil The Prodigal, Malik & Teddy Stax
Whats up guys, we would like to thank you for your contribution to underground Hip Hop and keeping the culture alive! We really enjoyed your collaborative mixtape “File 48”! Please tell us what exact area code’s you guys represent? How long have you been making music as a trio?
Teddy Stax – I represent the (773/708) area code which is basically Chicago. We just started this trio senior year, but I played football with JP for three years, so the bond was already there. Malik and I had mutual friends, but we didn’t become close until senior year.
Malik – 60411. we’ve been making music as a trio since the 2nd quarter of senior year i think but we didn’t take it seriously until after we released our first track “Mr. Shmnker”. had the senior class gassed so we just kept going.
Phil The Prodigal – I represent the 708 and the 310. Chicago and LA are both a big part of what shaped me as a producer so I have to rep both. We’ve been making music together for less than a year but we’ve been friends for a long time.
We understand that Phil The Prodigal produced this entire project!! Really solid beats right here! How did Teddy Stax & Malik feel about the beats as they were presented to them! Were there any changes to beats, or were they accepted when presented?
Teddy Stax – Phil is the most slept on producer in the mid-west PERIOD. All of his beats are fire even when he thinks they aren’t. His ceiling is too high.
Malik – Everytime Phil made a beat, me personally (Malik) was just amazed because it’s so easy and commonly heard that producers fish for beats on youtube or strictly make sample-based beats, so the fact that I witnessed him just cook it up in front of my face is like “damn, my boy really cookin”. If there were an option to get like 5-10% of the best production, I’d take it because he never finalized a beat without the two cents of both his artist.
Phil The Prodigal – For the most part all of the beats were accepted as they were presented. They were both usually pretty excited. Although I did often times change the beat in some way after they recorded to it. They didn’t hear some of the final versions of the beats until the song was done.
Teddy Stax & Malik, your guys styles and rhyme schemes is super raw, hard-hitting and ORIGINAL. How important is it for your to stay ORIGINAL? How would you guys describe your style? Also for Phil The Prodigal, please describe your production style as well.
Teddy Stax – Originality is key in the rap game. You need to have your own voice to be recognized. My style is very simple, but my flow is complex. I use witty punchlines with an unorthodox flow, which sounds great over Phil’s beats.
Malik – Being original is definitely of the utmost importance, but on the flip side, because we’re so deep in the history of rap, it’s almost hard not for someone to bite or claim one has bitten. someone is always gonna shout copy cat at one point or another but I think that as long as your creative process is natural without any potential influences then by all means you’re lit. I remember watching a video about kendrick lamar and he said during his writing process it’s just him and the beat and drowns every other externality in the world out of his head until he’s complete. that way your brain manifests/expresses its true “flow”. I’d say my style is kind of like conversational, bounce-influenced, animated, and playfully real.
Phil The Prodigal – I feel like my production style is different as I often combine many things. Although there are multiple sample based songs, sampling isn’t my roots. I like to incorporate keys into my beats a lot that I make from scratch as piano is my first instrument and the beginning of my love for music.
Tell us about the creative process behind this new mixtape “File 48”!
Teddy Stax – Whenever we had a beat we made a song. Most days Malik and I would record separately with Phil producing and mastering everything.
Malik – At first there wasn’t really a central theme in mind; we kinda all just rapped about things we can relate, which in turn we all could. We never really finished a project/song and start a new one. We had a bunch of songs and concepts that we’d start and build upon as time went on because we were still in school. We went to Joefreshgoods Beauty Supply Pop Up and some of our friends who are crazy photographers, David Meehan and Eric Hagerman, came with us and we just shot around the city the whole day. We even matched with Chicago rapper Lucki Ecks. A great moment for me personally; I’ve always idolized his character. Being around other chicago creatives definitely has an awe-inspiring, domino effect. We all were on the same page that we’d for real follow through with this. Me personally, had trouble coming up with a cool rap name. I went through like 3 before I decided to just keep my birth name.
Phil The Prodigal – Our creative process for file 48 was always very quick but the way we made songs sometimes changed. The concept of Swerve was created just because me and Teddy were waiting on Malik and I sat down at the piano and played some chords and he started free styling about what he was feeling. High demand became a song after I showed them the track that I had initially intended to be for a short film and they just started free styling. Teddy’s Revenge came to me randomly on a day when the 3 of us decided to take a stroll down memory lane and we pull out the old PS2 games. And so on…
How do you guys feel about the term “MUMBLE RAP”!! Are you guys fans of this…LOL
Teddy Stax – Mumble rap is cool for what is. People look too deep into mumble rap when you are supposed to just turn up to the music.
Malik – Mumble rap….. haha. I mean i guess it’s a thing, and I’m not trippin. I still listen to it so.
Phil The Prodigal – Not really a huge fan of mumble rap. I still enjoy a good portion of the songs but that’s usually due to the production.
Any new projects and videos you guys are working on? Any new solo projects in the works?
Teddy Stax – We have video for Mambo that should be dropping soon, but other than that we have no real projects in the works. Our music comes naturally.
Malik – We have 2 music videos, the one for teddy’s revenge dropped already. Mambo is next. We might do another tape this summer. I might have a few solo collabs in the works with a couple other artists I’ve met and the goal is to introduce all of them to us as a collective.
Phil The Prodigal – We have a new video for Mambo that is coming soon.
How many times have you guys performed as a group?
Teddy Stax – 0 times, I hope we can perform somewhere soon though.
Malik – Zero. At least for any large audience.
Phil The Prodigal – We have never performed as a group.
We want each of you to give us your definitions of “Underground Hip Hop”!!
Teddy Stax – Underground hip-hop is lowkey hip-hop that the masses haven’t heard yet, but the masses will soon here us.
Malik – My definition of underground hip hop is a genre of music that hasn’t hit mainstream media yet. Or it could be hip hop tailored to one specific demographic so that respective fan base will always exist.
Phil The Prodigal – My definition of underground hip hop is what’s out right now that isn’t being done or quite accepted in the “mainstream”.
Drop all your music and social media links! Where can fans find you!
Teddy Stax – Twitter: @teddystax SC: @terris.ammons IG: @txddystxx
Malik – Find us on Soundcloud and Datpiff “File48”! fmot: mcmizzlemac snapchat: mcmizzlemac IG: mxlikthekidd
Phil The Prodigal – PhilTheProdigal on IG, Twitter & FB
Any shout outs?
Teddy Stax – Shout out to all the depressed people. I’m here with you my guys. Shout out to my mama too cause she glowing.
Malik – Shout out all the guys we grew up with, the OG shmnkrs, y’all know wtf going on!
Phil The Prodigal – Shoutout to my sister, Summer Payton for mixing the File 48 project and Eugene Shuford aka Shock at Shockhouse studios for mastering it.
