May, 2001

Looking back on the history of the art-form of emceeing a few choice qualities stand out in those who are considered to be the “greats;” the ability to paint a distinct visual picture with your words, creative structure in your cadence and rhyme flow, being able to deliver your words in a honest and convincing manner and of course, the voice. If it is as history suggests and those are the key characteristics for emcee excellence, then ENCORE has it made. First, he tested the waters with several well received singles on Stonesthrow, certified, and 75 ARK. Then followed up with an excellent LP entitled Self Preservation. That should have done it…right? The LP was well written and delivered. The production, done almost exclusively by Architect (one bonus CD track by Joey Chavez) is solid. Many different topics, moods, and situations were covered. It seems as that should be the formula for success. However, I get the impression that the hip hop community still hasn't become fully aware of Encore. Perhaps with a deeper insight into his history, thought process, and future plans we can open some eyes and more importantly…ears…

Formless: Thinking back, what do you first remember about hip hop?
Encore: It may sound corny, but Kurtis Blow and (the song) “The Breaks.”..“Basketball.” That whole Kurtis Blow era.

Then from there, when and why did you let it become a part of your life?
Then I didn't realize it was going to be a part of my life. Probably around the time of the movies (such as) Breakin', Beat Street and all that. When that was jumping off I was taking tapes and pause mixing and all kinds of crazy stuff with tape decks. The whole Roxanne sage and all that…

Have you ever done any other elements besides emceeing?
When I was young I tried to do a lil' graf…but it was wack. It's one thing to say you deal all the elements in hip hop, but there's talents involved in everything. If you don't have it…I dabbled in everything. I used to break and pop (and from there) I actually graduated into emceeing.

Why the name ENCORE?
I don't know…that's a good question…I think I (just) wanted a name that started with an “E” for some reason. (Also), I had this idea of cats actually asking for an “encore” while I was on stage. You don't really hear that in hip hop. That's more (what you would associate with) classical or what's perceived as more sophisticated music.

What's the significance of the tag name “the essence”?
I really didn't go by “Encore the essence” until about a year after that single came out. At that time I just felt like what I was putting down was like the essence of what hip hop was all about; good solid lyrics that actually mean something to the person that's putting them down…making solid hip hop music. That's what hip hop is all about, being true to yourself and being true to the art-form.

How did growing up in the Bay Area inspire and affect your perception of hip hop? As for me, being an outsider, in the beginning it seemed as what was/ is known as gangster rap was the prominent sound from there. It wasn't until about ‘93 or so with Heiro and Hobo Junction that I heard…I guess you would call it “traditional” hip hop music. What’s your take on that?
It was crazy cause when you had the TOO SHORTS, 415, and all the other Bay emcees out here we were listening to that, but we were still listening to GANG STARR, MAIN SOURCE, TRIBE and all that stuff. At that time it was cool because it wasn't as sectioned off like it is now. A lil' bit after ‘92, ’93-ish it started getting more specific categories of what hip hop is. “This is hip hop,” “This is rap.”..it got caught up in this whole big thing. Back then what we had for representation of the Bay was TOO SHORT and 415, but I didn't look at it any different then the East Coast artist. They just had a different angle. To this day it's still the same way to me. I couldn't really differentiate between the two. Either they were just dope or not dope.

Were then any particular emcees that inspired or influenced you?
Most people would like to say “you can tell he was influenced by RAKIM.” Of course, that “Paid In Full” was a big influence, but that wasn't really (it). The big influence was Main Source “Breakin' Atoms.” That album right there for some reason, I don't know what it is. I already knew I could rap. I was rapping before. That album just triggered me and I was like ‘Yeah, that’s what I want to do.' It was something about the way Large Professor put his lyrics down. It wasn't like I was (thinking) he was the dopest ever. It was just something about that formula with the two DJs. Something about “Snake Eyes” or “Just Hangin' Out.” I can't really describe it…it's just that shit. He's like, “the fun will never end” and then he has this background talking and laughing then he comes back “but I like to hang out and hustle with my friends.” That's what I was doing. It was like a documentary for what the average hip hop person is all about.

Your first vinyl release was on the Peanut Butter Wolf EP. How did the connection with him come about?
I want to school with Charizma, r.i.p., and (at that time) he was the only one really doing things (as far as) working with a label. He was on a whole other level before I was even really trying to do anything. That's when he was working with Hollywood Basic and they put his album on hold for a hella long time…they kept having them redo everything. Wolf was basically doing all the production for him. Then Charizma died and maybe a year or two later I hooked up with (Peanutbutter Wolf) through Architect. Architect had moved kind of far from me. We didn't lose contact, but he was doing his own thing for a minute so I was working with other producers. That's when Peanutbutter started working with me, Grand the Visitor, and some other cats from around the way.

Besides the song on the EP (“Think Twice”) and “The Undercover” have you ever done any other work with Peanutbutter Wolf?
Funny thing is that is the only things we put down. That's weird, but back then it took me a long time to put songs together. I don't normally write my lyrics down. I can count on one hand how many songs I've actually written on paper so back then it was really hard for me to put together solid music that I was actually feeling. When I did “Think Twice” I think I was pretty influenced by NAS and I think I kind of knew it so I was trying to avoid sounding like him so I was super critical of what I recorded back then.

The bulk of all your material was produced by Architect so what's the history behind your partnership?
We went to High School together. When I first started getting serious about rapping, after the whole Main Source realization, Architect was the first person I went to. We had the same type of vibe. It was me, him, and Grand the Visitor.

Have you ever done any other songs with Grand (besides on the LP)?
Yeah, my first song I did was with Grand. There's a few things, but they never came out.

After the couple Stones Throws releases the next time I saw your name was in a magazine and they said you had signed with Automator to Bulk records. This was not to far after the Dr. Octagon release and you were slated to be the next release on Bulk. How did that come about?
I went over to (Automator's) house with Wolf to record…I think it was “Think Twice.” He had played me some of the beats from Dr. Octagon and I wasn't feeling ‘em. I was like this is way out. I didn’t know who the Automator was at the time. I was just thinking ‘This is not dope to me.’ He asked me (what I thought) and you know I lied, ‘Yeah, that’s cool' (laughter). I guess Automator liked what I was recording and he was like, “If you come up Friday (Kool) Keith will be coming to record.”..he said something to the effect about talking to Keith about getting on the album. Basically, I slept and that's history. Then again Kool Keith might have thought I was weird and wouldn't have wanted to do it with me…

From that experience how did you get back with Automator to get with Bulk and eventually 75 ARK?
It was either do something on Stonesthrow or 75 Ark. After that I had recorded a couple more songs with Architect in the (Automator's) studio. Architect had talked to Automator on a few occasions and (Architect told me) that Automator was really feeling me. Back then Peanutbutter Wolf wasn't established…he knew what he wanted, but he was fresh into this at that time so I just moved over to Bulk/75 Ark cause (Automator) had a little more knowledge of what was going on. It was like I had two choices and I just wanted to get my music out.

When I listen to you there's two things that really stand out. That's your story telling ability and your cadence and rhyme schemes are structured really well. Do you think those are your strong points too?
Encore: hmm….wow…thanks, first of all. I don't think I'm as great of a story teller as some people might think. I had two stories that were pretty good (editors note: he's too modest…), but they were actual events (ex: “Think Twice” and .“084”). I take it as a compliment, but I think I have a lot more to prove as far as that is concerned.

What other aspects of emceeing are important to you?
I'm big on vocabulary, but not to the point were I'm just using big words for the sake of being wordy. I do my best to balance the two. I try to…I don't want to say rap like I talk but…a lot of people have dope flows and say a lot of different things, but if you talk to them you're like damn you've been looking in the dictionary cause you don't talk like you rap. When I'm rapping to somebody and when they hear it they can actually (envision) me saying something in the same form or fashion in conversation.

You had a article in the URB about internet emcees battles. That got me thinking, on record you seem to be a well balanced emcee. The only aspect I haven't heard from you is battling or freestyling. How important is that to you? Do you do either of the two?
For me I like to freestyle, but only when I want to freestyle. I don't think it's a complete measure of what an emcee is all about. I don't knock an emcee who I think is dope on CD cause he doesn't freestyle. I think that's ridiculous. A lot of cats who can freestyle can't put good music together, but that doesn't make them wack. I think everybody has their strong points. With me, if I want to freestyle or I'm in a good mood I can come off… sometimes I come wack. It's not that serious to me. For awhile in the Bay area it was like a big thing if you didn't freestyle everytime you got on stage…it was a weird vibe.

You speak a lot in your rhymes on self improvement and things of that nature. Is that just based on your own life lessons, spirituality, religious beliefs and so forth? What's the base for that tone in your music?
I think it's a little bit of everything. You have to deal with self first that's the primary. The first step to being able to survive is (knowing) what are you boundaries mentally, physically, and spiritually then get a good understanding. A lot of people don't know themselves. When I make music I go off what I'm feeling at that time and I try to express that to the fullest.

How much different is the imagery you display on record from how you live your life. In other words, from listening to your records could the listener get a good understanding of you as a person?
Yeah, pretty much. Not completely, of course you gotta big up yourself as an emcee. If you get something out of the ordinary you're pretty much gonna know it's out of the ordinary. If I do something that's not me then you'll know it's not me and if it's not me then it's not me for a reason. I don't stray to far from myself without notifying the listener.

On the LP (Self Preservation, 2000, 75 Ark) my pick songs are .“084,” “Love and Hate,” and “Esoteric.” Those are the main ones other people usually mention also. From your perspective, is there a song(s) that you feel got overlooked or are your personal favorites?
One of my Favorites is “Considadis” (w/Grand the Visitor). Me and Grand have this thing we call “simple-simpletico.”..it doesn't mean anything if you try to figure it out. It's just basically like “keep it simple stupid.” That's just how we used to do our thing, back-n-forth type stuff. Something about that song is very simple, but nostalgic for me, Architect, and Grand. “Love and Hate” is one of my favorites too. The whole concept with that song is that I wanted to change the vibe of the music (to match the lyrics). (On one part of the track) it's the love tone and when the music changes that's the hate tone.

What are some of your upcoming projects?
The Exec Lounge LP. I'm working on my (2nd) LP right now. Me and Joey Chavez are doing a EP. Together we're D.C., Dirt Class…dirty classical music. I did something for D-tensions ep (out of Boston).

Any final words or shout outs?
Let me give a shout out to the Spicy Pimps. That's a music club out there (in Chicago). Besides that, just look out for the new album.



Encore Discography

PEANUT BUTTER WOLF W/ENCORE-THINK TWICE ('96)

ENCORE-THE ESSENCE B/W DEFINED BY THE DOLLAR [ARCHITECT] ('97)

PEANUT BUTTER WOLF W/ENCORE-THE UNDERCOVER ('97)

ENCORE-ICE AGE B/W DIRTY [ARCHITECT] ('98)

ENCORE-FILTHY [EV] B/W SPECTACULAR [FINGAZ] ('99)

ENCORE-SPORADIC B/W WATERWORLD (2000)

ENCORE-SELF PRESERVATION LP (2000)

ENCORE-LOVE/HATE, LOVE/HATE [NEXTMEN RMX], CONSIDADIS (2000)

ENCORE-FILTHY [RMX] B/W ICE AGE [RMX] [JAKE ONE] (2000)

ENCORE-FOR YOU [W/SWAMP RMX] B/W LIVE WIRE [ARCHITECT],

CONSIDADIS [KING TECH RMX & UNSUNG HEROS RMX] ('2000)

-MISC. APPEARANCES

RASCO-TIME WAITS FOR NO MAN

HANDSOMEBOY MODELING SCHOOL: WATERWORLD

ALWAYS BIGGER AND BETTER VOL. 1: IT'S GOIN DOWN

ELEPHANT TRACKS: DEFINED BY THE DOLLAR

20,000 LEAGUES BELOW THE STREET: LIVEWIRE

EXECUTIVE LOUNGE SINGLE: BIG TYME

-Upcoming

JOEY CHAVEZ EP-THE ILLEST (ABB)

D.C. (DIRT CLASS): ENCORE & JOEY CHAVEZ

D TENSION COMPILATION

EXECUTIVE LOUNGE LP (one solo & one verse on “big time”)

ENCORE 2ND LP