I had the privledge of being able to sit down with Parker and Young TH(Nate was unable to make it) from Seattle’s very on State of the Artist to get more of a look into their music and who they are as artists. Through all the laughter and Young TH getting down with his video girl dance moves, it was clear that SOTA knows what their doing and will continue to please their listeners with their raw lyrics and undeniable passion for their music.
Q: Who does SOTA consist of?
Parker: TH, Parker, Nate
Thaddeus: and our manager Freddy. He’s the most unofficial official member of SOTA. He helps us with getting together our merchandise and shit like that.
Q: How did you come up with the name SOTA?
P: When we recorded our first mixtape in the attic of the house we were staying at on 23rd and union with a few homies from high school during the summer.
TH: We were recording the mixtape over two weeks and were trying to think of a name. Nate proposed it and we couldn’t think of anything better so were like ‘this is it’ [Laughs]
Q: How did the group form?
TH: We went to high school together, but we didn’t really kick it that much. Parker and Hyphen8d were making music. I was just trying to rap and voicing to Parker about it. And it kind of just took off from there.
Q: What is the purpose of SOTA/What is the message being sent?
TH: Basically the only reason we rap is because we want babes, to replenish my shoe collection and tonsil tag.
Q: So you guys released a mixtape entitled ‘The Cola’, what’s the story behind the name and the reasoning that you chose to come out with a mixtape first before an album?
TH: It was mainly to have merchandise to be sold at our show and to showcase pervious stuff and the new stuff too. To have something that was physically there opposed to just having downloads. Test out our salability.
Q: When can your fans expect to see you’re album come out? What can be expected from it that we didn’t hear on ‘The Cola’?
P: original production, fresh sound, conceptual records & something you can really feel a lot.
TH: Utilizing the fact that we have three members and trying to find our niche in Hip-Hop.
Q: When I look at Seattle hip-hop, I have to admit that it’s been coming along nicely these past couple years. Although no one has been signed to any major labels yet, a lot of the artists have still gained respect and fame in and around the Seattle area…is SOTA looking for that Diddy fame, local fame or is SOTA even looking for fame at all and just making music for the fun of it?
TH: what we’re looking for is…I just want to be acknowledged for what we’re doing. I’ve always been a fan of music and now I just want to be able to get something out there and be respected for our craft, keep the creative cycle going.
P: We’re trying to touch the west coast and east coast , throw a lot of parties and everything that is attached to having a perception of us and our music.
Q: Who has inspired you to make music and live the current lifestyles that you live as individuals (i.e. artists, people in your lives)?
TH: Ex girlfriends, bay music, everything we listen to.
P: Cool mo de, Jurassic five. Kottonmouth kings
Q: Outside of rapping, what do you plan on doing with your lives?
P: absolutely, a dope food shop.
Th: independent business. Pharmaceuticals and a brothel.
Q: A lot of people that don’t understand the concept of Hip-Hop consider it to all be sounding the same. How is SOTA going to break the traditional mold of Hip-Hop and make it their own?
P: That has been one of our strengths from the beginning. People come up to us and say that they don’t’ know about hip-hop but they love our music.
TH: Those people are traditionally naive anyway and would say some shit like red hot chili peppers sounded like nine inch nails if they only listened to rap. They still think rap is just bitch, motherfuckers, fuck the police, blah etc.
Q: Now that Parker is returning to New York, how is the rest of the group going to cope with that and be able to still produce music as a group. Isn’t it hard to have one of the members all the way across the country?
TH: the first mixtape was recorded in two weeks. It deffinelty makes things harder. Parker and I deffinelty hustle wherever we are to keep things going. Parker has been doing solo shows, I’m going to try and do solo shows got one coming up on the 11th at chop suey.
P: Whatever we do we always try to tie it back to SOTA. Sometimes we do shows at colleges to try and fly everybody there no matter if its just one or two people. Just try to keep it relative.
Q: What current artists do you look up to?
P: Wayne for his hustle.
TH: Messy Marv, Johnny Cash (the rapper) RIP, Cody Chestnut, Fiona Apple, The Jacka and The Mob Figazcurrency.
Q: Aside from the music: Personal life; what do you do when you’re not in the studio or on stage?
P: Go to college, work full time construction. Get destroyed like every night. Write like, journalistic type shit; performance type reviews.
TH: I blog, watch Red tube, keep a scale on me and the freshest vegetables, work at Laced Up, and being a good son to my mother take her out to happy hour shit like that.
Q: As a rap group, what has been your biggest challenge?
TH: Fucking, being together and the distance between parker being at school.
P: Everything has been pretty much coming back to us. Everyone talks about how hard it is to get the recognition from what they do, but for us, everything has come back to us for the work we’ve done. Slowing our minds down, that’s the biggest thing.
TH: Finding someone to mix and master our music to get the quality of the music that is trying to be achieved at. Not that it’s not but just constantly trying to get shit better then the last.
Q: What is the craziest thing a fan/groupie has done to you?
TH: I don’t think I have groupies or fans like that but a girl that may be more motivated by our music. I feel that we have a few secret admirers rather than realistic ones. I haven’t had any breasts flashed at me, but I’m currently taking any and all applications.
P: This one tried to kiss me right as I got off stage.
Q: What is it looking like in the future for SOTA as far as performances?
TH: WAZU this weekend. Sept 11 and Chop Suey, all ages.
P: Sept 1st, bbq at asterisk club in Brooklyn. And college tours already in the works in the west and east coast.
http://www.sota206.blogspot.com
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