TEK
There’s been something missing from my last few interviews: Beer. The idea was to continue marrying this with hip-hop, but it’s been hard to organically ask “So, what’s your favorite drink?” when I’m not actually sharing one with the folks I’m talking to. My latest conversation changed that. It feels like a return to the beginning, a return to the world where beer and hip-hop collide.
Bucktown Haze, inspired by Smif-N-Wessun and canned by TEK himself earlier this month, is the latest installment from Hip Hop Craft and Beer Thug Life. The two have joined forces to curate a series that combines the two cultures in a creative, authentic way. Not only are said beers in the series inspired by hip-hop, but they also come with a free mixtape. It’s a beautiful way to bring heads together, hip-hop and beer enthusiasts alike, although many of us occupy space in both communities.
On the heels of releasing his very first beer, TEK is preparing to drop his latest solo album, PRICELE$$, which is dedicated to the late Sean Price. As TEK explains and we will soon find out for ourselves (album releases March 5), the record has been a way for him to bridge the gap between the different generations in hip-hop, which is not something that’s always been done successfully. Without hearing the album in its entirety, proof of this can been seen in the list of MCs featured on the project. There are contributions from 90’s vets, which includes Steele, and verses from the next wave of rappers to enter the game. On paper, the project reads as a solid body of work and we’ve gotten a taste of what’s in store from the album’s first few singles. I think it’s safe to say that after March 5, we’ll be bumping PRICELE$$ for the rest of the year.
BVB: As I initially said to you when we were in the process of setting up this conversation, one half of Black Vinyl Brews is rooted in my love for homebrewing and beer. So, I am super pressed to try Bucktown Haze, a new beer that you have coming out. Tell me about how that collaboration came about
TEK: Well, Bucktown Haze came about, I gotta give the credit to that to my engineer, Multiple, which is one of the dopest, I don't even want to just box him to hip-hop, he's one of the dopest mixers and engineers in the game, both known and unknown. And he brought it to my attention that the guys were looking for artists to make a dope collab with. And like I said, me and him been working for a while together. And he threw the ball. He threw the alley my way and I just dunked it and added the extra two points to it. And here we go, the 19th of this month is the canning day actually in LA. So, I got to shoot out there soon and we gonna make it happen.
BVB: Bet. Shout out to Hip Hop Craft and Beer Thug Life for doing this series. I think it's dope the way that they combine craft beer and hip-hop. They did similar projects with other folks in the game. So, what's your relationship with beer? Are you somebody that likes to try different styles?
TEK: I wouldn't say I'm a finicky person. I'm a variety person. So, if the vibe of something feels good to me and is right for the culture and for the people, I'm with it. Yeah, I like to try different tastes about things. Cause, you know, you can't just go through life just being one way all the time. I mean, it's good to stand on morals and principals and things of that nature. But when it comes to tasting food and different experiences, like then you have to please the pallet basically. You know with the taste that we came up with, I think it's going to be good and it's good for the culture. You know, you go to the hip-hop, shows all over the world and there's kegs of beer and different types of drinks and food around. So, why not combined Hip Hop Craft, Beer Thug Life, with somebody who knows what they're doing on that side with somebody who knows what they're doing on this side. That's how magic makes it happen.
BVB: Absolutely. That's why those collaborations are so special. And those dudes really believe in what they're doing and they have a passion for both cultures. I really respect that and relate to it.
So, let's talk about the new album, PRICELE$$. The track listing has dropped and so have a few singles and music videos, but what can we expect from the album as a whole? And what does this record mean to you?
TEK: I mean, "priceless" to me is self-explanatory in its meaning of, you know, it's more than something that money can buy. You can't put a dollar value on it. And with PRICELE$$, I added another/second meaning to it because, you know, we lost our brother, rest in peace, Sean Price. For being without Sean Price the world is priceless. But as a dedication, as you can see, if you read the album notes, which is a long-lost art that we used to do, my music team and my coordination team that helped me pick out and choose the music is my son and my best friend, my bestie, so Jahari and Tiana Williams, they helped me choose some dope music along with my partner, Charlie. And PRICELE$$, I think it's a breath of fresh air and something that we need right now. And it's music. I'm not saying it's going to change the world, but I think it's definitely going to change the way people look at TEK from Smif-N-Wessun, as an artist that can stand alone.
BVB: How long did it take to put the project together? You've been working on it for a while, right?
TEK: I mean, yeah, we were doing it for a little while, but what happened was we was actually supposed to drop it before and then of course, boom, the pandemic. That a stopped lot of recording, that stopped a lot of shows and touring and moving around. You couldn't get together and chop things up. So, we had to shelf it for a moment. And that's when we came up with the idea to make Pandemic, which is just, if you want an intro into the album of PRICELE$$. So, it took about all together, I want to say maybe a good, cool year, just getting the music and the features together and deciding on which direction I wanted to go with it, I'd say about a cool year, a cool year and some change maybe.
BVB: I'm excited for it, I heard a couple of singles from the album. I'm in love with Glory. I think that track is genius. The dialogue between Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington is a perfect way to open it because the tie in is brilliant. Wavy definitely did his thing on this.
TEK: That's Glory Pt. 1. We actually have a Glory Pt. 2. It's not going to be on PRICELE$$, it's actually on my man [Nef's album] who rocks with Termanology and the great Statik Selektah. They have a project that's coming out. So, me and Rome, you know, that's like little bro, right there. Can't forget about little bro. And we got some joints up there too, definitely.
BVB: You and Rome are beautiful. He's a dope MC, definitely somebody that I've been rocking with.
TEK: Yeah. And again, it's sorta like bridging the gap is, it's pushing the culture forward. Culture pushers, you know? The up and coming with the right veterans that's been around, I've started seeing more of it. He's (Rome Streetz) been moving around with Muggs, he's been moving around with Griselda (he got some joints with them). So, I think it's super dope. It's a list of names that, you know, can just carry on and keep this form of hip-hop, this form of music alive.
BVB: Speaking of Griselda, how did you and Conway, hookup for The Machine and TEK?
TEK: Aw man, Conway is my brother. You know, we've been rocking way before. You know, he would come out to my crib here in Brooklyn and we just stayed in contact. We made a bond and I introduced him to Prodigy when we was on a road, moving around with the Smif-N-Wessun/Mobb Deep tour. We had a show up there in Niagara Falls and, you know, we just been rocking ever since.
BVB: You and Conway also work well. That was the first thing I heard from PRICELE$$ and I was just like, you got me, I'm ready for the album to drop.
TEK: (Laughs) I appreciate it, you and me both, man. I hope the pre-orders is looking good and I hope the orders that keep coming in after that, because it wasn't nothing overnight that I put together. I really took the time to put it together. And I think the features and the artists that's included into it, I think we really brought the best of something good out of each other on the tracks. The joint with Roc Marci, you know, he was ready on deck with it and production by Joe Milly. He's crazy. So, my brother Sheek, the bonus with Dark Lo, (welcome home Dark) it's just a beautiful thing. It's dope when you can be in the game for over 20 plus years, that's any game music, art, TV, and you still have a love and a passion for it and what you do, and you're still able to create, and you find inspiration and your peers or whatever you do for your day or your daily, it just feels incredible. It feels like rejuvenation for me. I feel reinvented almost. It's a great feeling. I'm waiting. I'm really ready for the people to hear it.
BVB: We're ready to hear it. And I think it's worth mentioning that after 20 plus years, lyrically, you're still on point in every way. It's just exciting for somebody like me who grew up during the Golden Age. It's exciting to see something like this, to see you still in the game.
TEK: Yeah. Thank you, man. I'm excited about it coming, especially in the climate of what's happening and everything. It's a lot of dope music that's being pushed and dropped every day, man. I'm blessed to still, as you say, be point with the vocals, it's just, it's hard work and talent. And then one don't work without the other.
BVB: What did your involvement with the production of PRICELE$$ look like on a larger scale? Did you steer producers toward a specific sound or theme or did they just put in the work?
TEK: It was a mix of both. Like I said, my family really helped me out with that, with choosing a beat. And even my partner Steele, I guess he's seen a change in the way I was coming or writing and he was like, "Yo, you in the zone, like, something is different about you. I don't know what it is, but I love it. It works and you should keep it up." So, he was a major influence in this as well. He played a huge part. And, um, I guess the more I was recording, as I was recording and getting certain joints out, I would invite certain producers to the studio and they would feel the vibe. They could hear the vibe and they would just pick up on it without even me having to say, y'all want to do this type of musical or make this type of joint. So, they would come with a beat pack where you would sit through it, cycle through it, send it out to my team. They'd be like, yo, that's the one right there. And I think it works pretty good. So far, that's the path I've been on, still doing it like that.
BVB: One thing I've always noticed about Smif-N-Wessun is how you and Steele constantly support each other, whether you're working together or you're off doing solo projects. Does that just speak to the growth of your friendship over the years?
TEK: Oh man, we're more than friends, man. That's my brother from another mother. We lived in the same homes and shared homes and beds together. For years like that was the whole backbone of Boot Camp and that's how it came up. So, it was much deeper than rap and just having a friendship. We was brothers before we even made a song together, before it was a group called Smif-N-Wessun. Just because you have a candle and you light another candle, it don't put your light out. And it don't stop your shine. And Smif-N-Wessun, we've always been like that. We always gotta have each other's back. That's what a brotherhood, that's what a teammate [is]. That's how you win championships. You can't make every shot. So, somebody gotta pass the ball, somebody gotta dribble, somebody gotta play defense and I'm just blessed to have a partner and a PNC and a brother, someone I could call my friend and brother as my PNC still like that. And we still alive and it's still Boot Camp.
BVB: We know that in this game, that's not always the case. So, it's good to see that brotherhood shine through and see that you all have a strong relationship. I see you guys on Instagram, supporting each other and repping each other's stuff (Steele just dropped his solo album). It's cool to see that.
TEK: I mean, if you don't do it as a partner, even if that's your natural partner, as a friend, you don't support your friend, like, I mean, you're going to get support from strangers and fans, but it ain't going to be the same. I know to me, that feeling is not there if you don't see certain people that's around you all the time or that you might even speak to on the phone, if you posting or you're doing something, because that's the age we're in with this social media, and you don't see your friend give you a “like”, or a repost here or say something about it, or mention you in a story, it hits different, you know, so you have to keep building each other up. And that's how we get them skyscrapers in the building. You build on top of everything and keep growing. We destroy it enough. So, you gotta keep building.
BVB: Dah Shinin’, your debut, just had a birthday last month. We're still celebrating that 26 years later and it's still making an impact on the culture. When you and Steele we're working on this record, did you realize that you were creating something powerful?
TEK: Not at all. We didn't even know what we was creating. We didn't even know what we was doing. We was just trying to change our lives and our family lives and our friends' lives all at one time, not knowing it can be done like that. You know, when we started as Smif-N-Wessun, we didn't really have any friends or any people in the industry or peers that was ahead of us that was coming back, even giving us any knowledge or know about the industry or even how to make a record or how to do all that. To me, my leader into that was my PNC Steele. Cause you know, he was doing talent shows and everything.
We went to high school with Onyx, and Craig G went to our high school, we would see Rakim, but we didn't really know these guys. I knew Onyx. I would walk around with Onyx mad face [shaved] in my head or Timberland logo, with a ball head. So, we wasn't even talking about music. It was more of a bond or a street bond that we was, you know, putting together that we had with each other. So, once we did get into it, our big brothers became Black Moon. I can recall sleeping in the studio underneath the big, heavy blankets that would cover the pianos that night.
Like we go in 11 o'clock at one night and won't leave till 11 o'clock the next night and working on Enta da Stage, that gave us the footing that we needed to work on to Dah Shinin’. But back when we started working on our album, we didn't have no big studios. We was working out of Da Beatminerz [house], out of the kitchen and the basement, rolling up blunts across the street and in fucking 20 below, zero degrees weather cause you couldn't smoke in the house. So, we came through the trenches. When you say you got it from ground level and learning on-hand experience on a job, that's what it really was.
BVB: Do you think that that's made you stronger in the game?
TEK: Most definitely, adversity builds a man and the character that he bears for life. And those scars, you can cover them up if you never forget what caused them or you heal sometimes right in that same area where the pain came from. So, we had no other choice but to learn or give up. We ain't never been no quitters. It wasn't never naw, we ain't got this. It wasn't no plan B. Failure wasn't an option for us back then the same way as it is today.
BVB: I heard you say in an interview that initially you didn't want to pursue rapping. You were more interested in being behind the boards, possibly as an engineer. Why didn't that happen?
TEK: Because I started rapping (laughs). Actually, you know, Steele wrote my first rap for me. I was into the streets more, to say, man. My mind wasn't on no music, even though I come from a musical background family. My moms, rest in peace, was a minister in the church and my dad played instruments in numerous bands, even filling in for James Brown band sometimes. My uncles was making records. I just never really paid it... it didn't call to me. That's why I say hip-hop chose me. I didn't choose to be an MC or be in hip-hop when I got with Steele. And he was doing the talent shows. I was mainly just like more security than anything. Then when we would go to these little makeshift studios, I would sit at the board and tried to learn the board. That was my interest.
I was fascinated by the flying faders and the colors that light up the board. You gotta do this to turn this stuff and make this sound right. That's what caught my attention of the music part of it. And you know, then again, being in the street, playing hooky in high school, you get turned in to certain things or certain people that you were around. And it just blossomed from there. I'm just blessed that the Most High did choose this for me and choose that path to put me on cause it saved me a lot of trouble.
BVB: I want to go back to Sean Price for a minute. He was somebody who meant a great deal to you, he was your brother, and certainly an MC that the community sorely misses. I know that you all had a long relationship, but how far exactly does it go back?
TEK: There's no date to relationships like that. I mean, you remember when you first meet a person that has an impact on your life like that, but there's no date, there's no timestamp on that. Again, it's priceless. So, you can't they say, oh, I met Sean when I was two years old. No, I didn't meet him at two. I met Sean when we was teenagers. So, him and Steele grew up in the same side of Brownsville, Brooklyn. I'm from Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. So, I didn't get up with Sean and Rock and them until I want to say maybe 15, 16, something like that. Then from there, it was like, we been in the sand lot together. I can remember that call that I got when he wasn't here no more. My whole world stopped. So, he was just walking in suspended time for that. That shit is crazy. And that's why I named the album PRICELE$$.
BVB: How do you think he would feel about the current state of hip-hop?
TEK: Man, Sean Price, he would say the current state of the hip-hop is Atlanta or Georgia or Dakota. He was just that type. He paid attention and kept a pulse on it, but he didn't give a fuck about what nobody else is doing but Sean Price and the music he was making and the people that he fucked with was making. Other than that, his line [was], "At the end of the day is nighttime" and that's how he carried it. And that's true to life. Like I said, he was mindful of what was going on around him, but if it wasn't him, his family, his peoples, he really didn't give a fuck.
BVB: I feel like if you wanted his opinion on anything, all you had to do was listen to the music most of the time.
TEK: Yeah, there you go. He never bit his tongue. He spoke what was on his heart and his mind and it's there in his music.