Holy fucking wow.

We all have our heroes, idols and those people that come into our lives and change our very chemistry. For those of you who’ve followed my work throughout the years, you’ll know that I have no bigger musical inspiration than singer/songwriter Tori Amos, (I would consider Common my main mentor on the lyricism side). Her music literally changed my life from top to bottom and I’ve never made any bones about it.

Some of you may know this already, but I was a 100% HIP HOP OR DIE! head till I was about 17/18. At some point, after hearing a dubbed cassette-tape left in my car (remember those?), my entire perception of music changed. Here on this cassette, was the most stunningly eloquent, deeply passionate and pitch-perfect female voice I had ever heard bleeding her soul out over these beautiful neo-classical piano compositions. Each song was completely different from the next, in style, in composition, in theme and story. This wasn’t the bullshit pop and R&B that was being shoved down my throat on the radio… this was REAL music and it blew my fucking mind in a way that would reverberate throughout my life and my work. This album was Tori Amos’ Under The Pink.

Filtered Through Hip Hop

As a High School graduation gift, my mother & father put a low-end model casio keyboard on layaway from Service Merchandise (are those even around anymore?). I took to it like a fish to water. I can’t really explain it…The songs just started to come to me. Something just clicked in my head and over the countless hours I spent trying to emulate what I was hearing, I taught myself how to play the piano in the process. Songs like “Homecoming King”, “Morethanthis”, “Fast”, and more recently, “Gathered” are obviously direct results of this newfound means of self-expression.

And while those are fully sung songs, this influence even manifested itself in my straight up Hip Hop work. Soon, songs like “Masochist”, “Optimist” and of course, “Porcelain” are all indirectly spawned by all the things intrinsic in her music – the brutal honesty, the distinct haunting melodies, the dynamic compositions, the self-produced nature of it all. Basically, Archetype as a whole – my vision for a New Hip Hop – all stems from the seed her music planted in my head. For that I will be forever grateful.

Channeling Energies Cross-Genre

I think it’s safe to say, I’m BEYOND a fan of this woman’s work. So, when I got the opportunity to interview her last month, my heart dropped faster than my jaw. Needless to say, I was nervous but upon speaking with her, I felt like we had a real positive energy happening between us and I think she did too. She’s just as vulgar as I am…which is impressive! Also, I came to find out that there’s similarities in the way we work…we both “collect” ideas over long periods of time and build with pieces.

When she hit me with that admonition that Public Enemy’s Fear of A Black Planet inspired Little Earthquakes, I was floored. It makes 100% sense now. And I never quite understood why all of it happened so fast. See, I was able to connect with this new music because of the energy of it. The style and the genre and the form had absolutely nothing to do with it. I was connecting to her music because she was channeling the same energy Chuck D. was projecting on those Bomb Squad-produced PE tracks. It was Hip Hop…just in another form.

And here I am, a musician still pushing the boundaries for myself, working to create music that resonates from the inside out…still learning lessons from the same certified genius that spurred the most developmental portion of my musical development.

Throughout the interview, her tone was very warm, as if speaking to a trusted friend. She was interesting in hearing my work (which of course I sent), and invited me to her next show in NYC, so I’ll definitely be at Madison Square Garden for my twelfth (yes, 12th), Tori show on 10.12.07. I don’t know if she will have had the chance to hear what I sent her, or how she’ll react to it… but regardless this is more than I can ever ask for. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to shake her hand in person and thank her again for all that she’s inspired in me. If not, I’m still humbled by the experience of speaking with her and learning something new.

Read The Interview Here @ AllHipHop.com:

Hollerate!
Tone.

P.S. Also, I’d like to publicly say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to Kathy Iandoli for thinking of me when this opportunity arose. I’ll never forget it.