Artist Spotlight: Wax & EOM

Wax & EOM have caught my eye as of late. I felt that it was extremely necessary to interview them due in large part to Wax’s skills on the mic and EOM’s very diverse style of production. Frankly, it was Wax’s popularity on YouTube that really caught my attention and he seems to be building a bigger fan base day by day, but this time, he’s bringing EOM (Elements of Music) along with him. Wax, out of San Diego and EOM, out of VA, have collaborated for the upcoming album: Liquid Courage due out (hopefully) sometime in October. For your reading pleasure, Wax and EOM (or WaxEOM as I like to call them) have been interviewed by your man, Sean Deez, for this Kevin Nottingham/This Is Hip Hop exclusive.

Sean Deez: What’s up guys, I really don’t want to beat around the bush, so let’s get right to the point. Who are you and what the hell are you doing here?

Wax: My name is Wax and I’m a musician. I rap, sing, write songs, make beats and play various instruments. I’m from Maryland now I live in California. I’m here to rock.

EOM: Elements of Music from Manassas Virginia by way of PG County, Maryland. I actually don’t know how to answer the second question since I am here, you are there and Wax is in California.

Sean Deez: Right on. Well, I’m going to talk to guys individually and of course as WaxEOM, but to start things off, Wax, your style is really unique and you seem to blend cutting punchlines with a lot of braggadocio. Do you feel that you can confidently cover a wide variety of topics and subjects and still remain in your comfort zone (whatever it may be)?

Wax: I didn’t know we were called WaxEOM but that’s actually kinda cool. Regardless, I love spitting punchlines and rapping about how good of a rapper I am and all that. There’s plenty of that on the album and there’s also alot of other topics covered: God, love, sex, politics, drugs, alcohol, and just life in general man. I don’t really have a comfort zone. The battle rap type shit just happens to be my most popular stuff on youtube.

Sean Deez: Funny that you mention YouTube, how much do you attribute YouTube for your success? You undoubtedly have a fan base that follows any video you do and you have plenty of video hits, how much do you value that network as an outlet. At the same time, do you want to move away from any labeling of being a “YouTube Rapper”?

Wax: Youtube has been helpful as shit for me. I love Youtube. People can call me whatever they want.

Sean Deez: Even with your unique style, I’m sure comparisons have come your way. Who have you been compared to?

Wax: Eminem more than anyone. I’m not shocked at all by that even though I don’t think my flow sounds like his at all. I am white, I often rhyme a lot of syllables, and I have a high pitched voice. You do the math. Recently everybody compares me to Lil Wayne. Cats that know me personally compare me to Clint Eastwood.

Sean Deez: Moving on to the production, EOM, a lot of producers scroll the board, tell us about the equipment you use. Furthermore, tell us about your daily routine to making and mastering a beat.

EOM: I come up with ideas by beat boxing and playing this old Casio keyboard for the non sampled beats. For sampled beats, I just listen to as much music as I can and take whatever sounds nice. Then I try and manipulate it in Audacity. Lastly, I save the manipulated wave files in FL Studio and mess around in there until something dope comes out. I stay away from looping and try to chop the sample up so I can create something new. I will try Pro Tools one of these days.

Sean Deez: You mentioned non-sampling production, it evident that NS production is very popular these days.Do you find it more or less challenging to create an original beat considering that most of your (best) work involves sampling?

EOM: I cannot do what I want by trying to play piano on a computer keyboard. I do not like it but I will try to be the best computer keyboard piano player in the world if I have to. Luckily, people are pulling Rick Rubin’s by reducing instead of producing meaning less work for me when I make beats. I am providing a service so if someone wants a non sample beat – that’s what they will get. Everyone would make beats if the venture was challenge-less.

Sean Deez: You are still relatively new to the production game, how do you intend on learning new tricks, mastering your craft, and stepping your game up? Who have been influences to your sound?

EOM: All I can do is expand my knowledge on music and try new software to manipulate my music. I bought an Ibanez electric guitar last year and as of now…I can’t even emulate Lil Wanye’s “Lollipop” guitar solo that was on SNL awhile ago. There are loads of Youtube videos on everything in the known universe that I can use to step up my beat making capabilities. Verizon FIOS…that’s another one that can help me step my game up. It takes me a whole day to upload a beat tape to send out. Anyway, I frequently listen to J Dilla, Preemo, Pete Rock, Q Tip, ?uestlove, Dr. Dre, et cetera- you know, the typical east coast producer’s top 25 list. Guess who influences me musically though? You, that’s who.

Sean Deez: Let’s get to know you guys as a happy couple. Explain how you guys met because, for those who don’t know, this began as an internet relationship, but it certainly has its unique qualities.

Wax: I met him on Eharmony.com. It was love at first click. No seriously he sent me a beat on Myspace and it was pretty tight. I think I sent him back something like “yeah that shit’s hot but i make my own beats” or something like that. You see I get tons of people sending me beats on the internet. Like TONS. If I rapped over every decent beat someone sent me or especially if I collaborated with every decent rapper that sent me a myspace message trying to collab…I would have no time for anything else Plus when he sent me that first beat I was planning on doing an album with my own production. Then he sent me a message that was like “yo check this beat out man, I spent alot of time on this one”, and it was the beat for “The Adventures ofLarry and Tina”. Within thirty seconds of listening to the beat I was humming the chorus melody. I wrote that song and we both liked it. We decided maybe we could do another song together so this fool sends me like 35 beats. I listened and I was like “fuck it man, you wanna do a whole album?”. He was like “yeah”. We planned on doing like 7 or 8 songs and ended up doing 17. I’m really glad we did it.

EOM: I heard about him in this Facebook group called Hip Hop Lovers Delight 4 Life where I saw his Youtube
videos. I saw that 6 minute freestyle and the New Crack video and was like “DAMN! He has 200,000 hits on this video! How can I scheme to mooch off Wax and build my producing resume?” So I hit him up on Myspace and he turned my offer down twice. So I made the Larry and Tina beat and sent him that as my last message before I gave up on him. Now we are making a cd. We actually met a few weeks ago in San Diego and did an open mic show at Portugalia. We did a “photoshoot” courtesy of Herbal T. They were very hospitable.

Sean Deez: That seems cute. In all seriousness, we are all very glad you guys hooked up, the result seems beautiful. Moreover, the original title of the album was “For All I Know, He’s An Asshole”, very Atmosphere like, but why did you guys change it?

EOM: Wax came up with it. We thought we could play on the fact that we did not know each other but realized that over-the-net collaborations are very common. I got the idea for Liquid Courage after my 7th viewing of The Dark Knight. Alfred Pennyworth offers Harvey Dent some wine while asking, “A little liquid courage?”

Wax: Yeah, I thought that was a cool title at first but the album became much more than just some internet collaboration. EOM randomly came up with the Liquid Courage title and its borderline scary how well it works with the lyrical content of the album.

Sean Deez: So the chemistry was automatic and it seems dead on; explain the process of how you guys made the album.

EOM: Honestly, I Winrared 3 large beat tapes and sent it to him. He picked the ones he liked the most and wrote to them. We kept in contact through Myspace and Gmail on how everything was going and all – tweaking things here and there. I felt that as soon as he told me about his domestic condiment dispenser idea…we were well on our way to a healthy friendship.

Wax: Haha. It was a healthy friendship until just now. Don’t be talking about my idea until after i get the patent. Anyway (rolls eyes), I like EOM’s beats because they re more than just “beats”. ‘ A Millie’ is a beat. You “spit fire” over it and its fucking perfect for that. Sorry to sound corny but EOM’s shit brings out emotions and stories and shit like that that enable me to write songs to them. Not just lyrics but melodies and moods as well. ” Larry and Tina” is a perfect example of that. Without that beat that story would not exist. There are songs on the album of the “spit fire” variety too though don’t get me wrong. Still, even with the more battle type songs and the topical songs all there; there is a sense of cohesiveness about the album throughout the whole thing. I think that’s just because it’s basically me and EOM the whole time. A couple guest rappers are there including my twin brother Herbal T, but still EOM ties the whole thing together.

Sean Deez: As the hype builds, what can we look forward to on this upcoming album, “Liquid Courage”? Any particular tracks stand out? Singles?

Wax: The first single is “The Adventures of Larry and Tina” and there’s gonna be a DOPE ASS video along with it. My favorite track on the album is different every day.

EOM: I want the element of surprise to be enabled here. I can tell you what you won’t hear though. This is not a straight battle rap cd. That would make a terribly boring, repetitive album. There is no auto-tune. Everyone cannot be T-Pain this year. My favorite track on the album is “Music and Liquor”. The whole album should stand out though, right? Yes, it should.

Sean Deez: Wax, WHO is the girl in the video? The people want to know.

EOM: Yes, Wax, who is she? I knew I should’ve gone to the video shoot.

Wax: Her name is Jessica. She’s a dancer from Orlando, Florida (that’s where the video was shot).

Sean Deez: Word, EOM missed out. Lastly, does the album have any concept or anything to it or is it just straight forward hard hitting soulful beats and vicious rhymes from the side of the mouth type stuff?

EOM: We have a little of everything. Did you see Big Pooh talking about his Rapper’s Delight being delayed? Remember how he was describing the cd – buffets and such? That’s how I feel about the wait to release this album.

Wax: My life consists of drinking alcohol and writing music. This album reflects that.

Sean Deez: Any last words?

Wax: To anyone reading this, please buy the album.

EOM: We appreciate this interview, man. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Do not forget to register to vote. Also, excuse my sarcasm – I was asked to not be boring.

• Wax on Myspace
• EOM on MySpace
• Wax/EOM Collaborative MySpace