SOS (Nate G. & Ben Kenobe) – Q&A Interview

-Tell us a little about yourselves. Where are you guys from? How long have you been making Hip Hop as a group?

Ben Kenobe: Originally we’re from DC. I grew up in North East DC.

Nate G.: I grew up in South East. Even though we grew up on different sides of the city we practically grew up together.

Ben Kenobe: Yea we’ve been rapping together now for about 7 or 8 years.

-How did you guys come up with the name SOS?

Nate G.: Well it actually came from our line name. We pledged Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. in college and our “ship” or line name was SOS, which stands for Soldiers of Serapis, Serapis being an Egyptian god.

Ben Kenobe: Yea and we thought SOS fit our music really well. A lot of our songs are stories that often convey messages of struggle. So SOS being a cry for help seemed to fit.

-Describe your music, and what separates you from other MCs & Producers?

Ben Kenobe: Our music is versatile, relatable, and intelligent at times. It often contains traces of what we saw growing up. Growing up in Washington, DC isn’t a cake walk by any means so as we mentioned our music sometimes speak to that struggle.

Nate G. I think what separates us is our story telling ability and our versatility. I mean we’re writers so we can literally craft a dong to fit any genre. And we’ve carved a niche for storytelling in our music. That’s something that more mainstream artist seldom do.

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

Nate G.: We’ve worked with Tony Williams from G.O.O.D Music. Obviously he’s worked with Kanye on every album. We’ve worked with Duney Kush out of Dallas, Texas. Jacob Avis, a phenomenal singer and songwriter and most recently Jean Michaels, a dope artist out of Atlanta, Georgia. A few other people too.

Ben Kenobe: I think in the future we would want to work with Schoolboy Q. I like Childish Gambino. Jay Electronica and probably Big Sean.

-Your definition of “Underground Hip Hop”?

Ben Kenobe: Man. I think to us underground hip hop is simply defined as non-mainstream rap music. I think what it represents is more powerful. It represents the real culture. It represents untapped potential, hopes, dreams. It represents a larger piece of who we are.

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

Nate G.: We are definitely more attracted to soulful sounds. Like J Dilla, 9th, Q-tip. Those sounds

really influenced our beat selection. I think in the future we would want to work with RZA, DJ

Premiere, Pharell, Q-tip, 9th, Kanye, Timberland and Dr. Dre. All the greats lol

-If there is 1 MC and 1 Producer (Dead or Alive) you guys would want to work with, who would it be?

Ben Kenobe: Probably RZA as the producer and the “It’s Dark and Hell is Hot” DMX.

-Can you give us a brief description of the creative process of Se7en?  Also/ tell us a little bit about the concept and idea behind your Mixtape Cover Art.

Ben Kenobe: Well to give some context, we named this project SE7EN because it’s actually our 7th project together. I’d say it’s our best project to date and it’s one that we think will launch to the next level of our career. But basically this project introduces SOS. We were sure to show our range on this project and all the different things we can do. The deep lyricism, the storytelling, the struggle music, concept rap, and even the more commercial stuff. It’s a mix of things and we’re hoping the people enjoy it.

Nate G.: As far as the cover art goes, it’s pretty multilayered. Initially you see the storm trooper on the front which is a big aspect of a brand we’re pushing which is the Jedi. In our music there are constant themes of the battle between good and evil. We feel those same themes play out with the Jedi. It’s about choosing your side, your path and letting either that positive force or negative force guide you. Then within that you can see a slight glimpse of the Capitol which is of course an instant signifier of Washington, DC. Then lastly in the cracks of the cover are different 7s hidden throughout. Some are just the number others roman numerals others tally marks. And we’re actually thinking of doing a contest and seeing who can find all the 7s in the cover and probably give them a cash prize.

-Where can we find your music and info?

Nate G.: You can find everything on thesosmusicgroup.com! On there we have links to all our stuff.

-Any shout outs?

Ben Kenobe: We’d like to shout out Jacob Avis and Ameer Dyson, two vocalists on the project. Everybody who did a collab with us on the project. Jeff “Echo” Reyes who shot some visuals for the project. Shawn Cotton over at Say Cheese TV, he’s definitely been a huge support. Oysm Beats, Johnny Juliano and Bang Bang for production and last but definitely not least, Underground Hip Hop Blog for this amazing opportunity.