WHYSOSIRIUS? Is a personal testament for every test that was sent to Ron Obasi. The mixtape reverberates as a compilation of epiphanies and manifestations expressed through a philosophical poetry with a free jazz frequency. Although his sentiments and expressions derived from present-day experiences and reflections it’s fair to say that those same expressions and sentiments have been endured as rights to ancient traditions.
The interview below is an inner view of Ron Obasi’s craft, artistic process and paradigms that aided in the creation of his latest work, WHYSOSIRIUS? As the conversation has many thoughtful, knowledgeable and fun moments the overall theme seems to rely heavily upon elevation and alignment. To take heed of your mission at hand and the energy and guidance the Universe grants you each day. To be grateful for your cards and the gifts bestowed in them.
This one is for the spiritually minded and guided.
Jameka: Do you feel like being out in Dallas has changed your creative process or anything like that?
Ron Obasi: Mane, yes. That’s really the crazy part. It’s changed really how I channel a bunch of things. Creative processes, inspiration, like all of it. It didn’t come with just movin’ here. As a grown ass man this is like the first home. This is the first thing I’ve been a part of that’s like my family unit, you know. My daughter, my lady, you know what I mean.
That’s beautiful shit.
Man, crazy right. So, naturally all that shit came with parts of yourself dying and parts of yourself growin’ and shit. Naturally, that affected the creative process. And it’s crazy because I sent you the album and you heard it and everything and once I was gettin’ situated in Dallas I didn’t feel connected to the album no more. And that’s really where it really started. I thought that would be my next thing to build around and all type of shit. I didn’t feel connected to nothing as far as writing or anything like that. It was like two and half months of shit like that bro and it was because I was just transforming my whole perspective on what it really was. It wasn’t just a momentary thing it was the whole thing. Enabling the whole, being a scribe, letting the music be what it is. I was just really caught up in the opportunities I had gotten. The music had brought me to the opportunities. A lot of new shit was goin’ on, partnerships and all that shit or whatever. Kind of got caught up in what that race was. It wasn’t fulfilling. I was just really thinking about switching it, you know what I mean. Just letting it all be what it is.
You know, when you sent me WHYSOSIRIUS? at first I thought you were sending the mastered version of CASHVILLE ALIEN B.C. So, I listened to it and I’m thinkin’ to myself, “I don’t think any of the tracks are the same on here.” I thought you just changed the name and shit. And then, I was like, “ahh nah, this is a completely different project.” It feels like a precursor to CASHVILLE ALIEN B.C. Like I said before over text you can feel your freedom in it. That’s why I had to ask if it changed your creative process out there because it’s like - I don’t know, tell me if I’m wrong tho. Many people can perceive you as like this very serious person just because intention is important to you. So, you’re making sure everything is intentional which can be perceived as serious or stoic. It’s interesting you have that play on it (SIRIUS/SERIOUS) and the play towards the star but it’s also like you letting go of that and breaking through those perceptions... and really just allowing yourself create. It sets it right up to go into CASHVILLE ALIEN B.C. There’s different kind of grooves on there. It’s you but it’s still a little more different. More expansive. And I don’t know, you said the Creator done moved shit around for you and it only makes sense that They did.
You know, this is why I’m glad that we really really havin’ this conversation. I tried to make that as transparent as possible. You know, that I’m really blessed and the Creator gave me that and to have that right of passage myself. Those were moments of realization of coming into myself. Why I grasped so much onto what my message is and what my intention was or what my mission is. Or even what I perceive of myself. At first it kind of just started as just observant about how it could come off but even where it comes from. I was really diggin’. This uncomfortableness or whatever that I was kinda goin’ through was definitely internal for the most part. Before the parts died, you know, had to identify where they came from and where you have to develop. Like I said, the music was kinda just givin’ it all up. Once I started writing the songs or whatever it wasn’t all easiness like you can hear the depths in there in some of the songs. You know, I feel like I haven’t been diggin’ deep enough.
I had lost the connection to CASHVILLE ALIEN and everything else creative. I don’t know if “personal” is the word because I don’t know how much of that is really a representation of the growth or how important it is to grow. What’s really important? What’s my values? It just felt like a crossroad. WHYSOSIRIUS? I can see why you feel like it was a precursor because it felt like that for me. That’s why I’m glad we’re talkin’ about it. The music is one thing man but just havin’ a conversation all out but being able to say it, you know, was kinda where a nigga was gettin’ stuck at.
So, what was your consumption, your intake while creating this? You know, what were you reading, watching, hearing?
A little bit of a lot of stuff. I’ve always been a stargazer, you know what I mean. Like, I’ve always been someone that likes to look up. More so recently, I’ve kinda just had an inclination of like rather than just lookin’ up I wanted to know what I was lookin’ at. So, that kinda led me to the history of how we’ve always been attached to them. I mean we because our people - for as long as writtens have been written they have always been talkin’ bout the stars. They’ve always been talkin’ bout the sky. And then just knowing what Sirius is and how our Sirius is the center of our Sun. A lot of the time people don’t know that. But also, there’s a spiritual aspect once you know it and you dive in deep to it. What’s my connectivity to it? Why do I keep findin’ this information? Why does it keep poppin’ up in my face? As that was happenin’ I wasn’t really readin’ a lot I’m not gonna hold ya. I was listenin’ to a lot of Roy Ayers. I was listenin’ to a lot of Jazzgroupiez. Oh, something that was very very inspirational through it - you seen the Summer of Soul documentary?
Nah, but you’re the second person recently that told me to watch that.
Man… man, and it’s so crazy because it came out last summer and me and my lady sat down and watched it. It was very much inspiration, you know, they were very intentional with what they did that summer and the people that watched it they definitely get what was goin’ on. A lot of those songs I had just kept spinnin’. I was listenin’ to The 5th Dimension, Nina Simone. I was listenin’ to Sly & The Family Stone after watchin’, you feel me. Just really seein’ where these people head was and that was another thing that kinda dawned on me about what my intention or what my art is and this whole journey of embracing what a scribe is. Because again, like you said, people can listen to my shit and they can hear me speak and they know I’m intentional. But it was also embracing and letting go that like and havin’ to remember nothin’ is new under the Sun. I didn’t create these messages, I didn’t create these energies. In this lifetime I’m a channel just like they were. Embrace it but also, you know, have fun with it and really lettin’ it flow like in my veins or whatever. That’s really what I was doin’ I had watched Summer of Soul and was listenin’ to a lot of older older older cats. There’s obviously music you can find in it’s purest form nowadays or whatever there wasn’t so much to compare to what I was listenin’ to and it was really helpin’ for sure. You know, I had re-read a couple stuff too. I had re-read Warrior of The Light by Paulo Coelho, that really really helped. Just was kinda flowin’ through the process man. Even without all those things man I feel like this writing process came more so from once I was less resistant to what created it, you know what I mean, my Gods and then it really started flowin’ and it started pourin’ out. [Laughs,] man me and Coleman were in there for two 8 hour days once I came back. Two 8 hour days.
What?! Y’all, always on some wild shit.
[Laughs shared]
There was a moment like this the last time we spoke too.
[Laughs,] that’s what we were talkin’ about too. We had a cool ass laugh about it because this process that’s goin’ on, this breakthrough isn’t new for us. SUN Tapes happened the same way. Like I said, just making WHYSOSIRIUS? Even Notes on a Scale II happened like that too - it was a whole big ass 12 hour recording and mixing/mastering session. And that’s literally what we did and again, shoutout to Coleman. At first I was just tellin’ him, ‘bro, this is on my heart, this is what I wanna do,’ and I was like no ties to it because at this point I’m very very aware of what my situation is. I am in a situation where I have a partner and we’re good partners and with Virgin Music my shit can get on Vevo and all of this stuff or whatever.
And that shit is great but it’s so crazy because I’m really realizing that that shit don’t matter. It was affecting all the other creative processes. So, once we had a break I was just like, ‘Coleman, I’mma do a mixtape man and I just wanna be able to drop this on SoundCloud, Audiomack and the people that really wanna hear what I got to say they’ll go find it, they’ll go look for it. They will have no problem with clickin’ on these free apps and goin’ to go hear this shit. Then once Coleman started mixing that shit and I’m like, ‘bro, you don’t have to go crazy on them,’ [laughs,] bro he fell in love with it as if it was his own songs. He just started goin’ crazy so that’s how that shit came out.
That shit wild.
It’s wild every time.
That’s what I was gonna ask - why you made it a mixtape but that makes sense. You did a similar thing with FREE THINKERS and WARRIOR SPIRITS - does it feel better to you when you release them like that?
You know, it’s crazy - it does. And I try not to make it a compare and contrast situation from when I’m droppin’ a single and video or whatever but it has. I think it’s only because it’s served as a mirror for me. Like, why has it felt so different? It’s been internal battles. Through this whole process it’s been reassessing the value, the intention and what this gift is really for. It should be less about, (it’s not to talk crazy about artist process or what our culture is now) ...instead of sittin’ down to think about a rollout, sittin’ down and thinkin’ bout a video to shoot or so much other shit that kinda goes through an artist’s or creative mind once they have the resources to do all that shit. Pen it, voice it and be a scribe, you know what I mean. Let the stories tell itself. Let the energies carry itself. I said very very loosely that I was inspired by how we grew up on Wayne and all them droppin’ the mixtapes but I can’t say that that was the intention was but then at the same time not everybody has access and that’s the shit that was goin’ through my mind. Every time I’ve done that like you said droppin’ the shit over SoundCloud or Audiomack it’s always felt better because I always felt like the people that are goin’ to listen to that there’s no promotional dollars behind. I said the rollout to the music of WHYSOSIRIUS? was the music. Just like, ‘hey, I’m droppin’ a mixtape today,’ you know, if you fuck with me then this shit is definitely for you. It’s self fulfilling and that’s what I mean by feeling better. There’s been other times where music has dropped and it felt good but fulfilling is just a different thing. All those moments fosho felt fulfilling.
And just being able to have freedom to drop shit whenever you want to.
Yeah, man, and it’s crazy because there are ways I tried to explain it to myself but I really can’t because it’s like the way that algorithms and then having to submit music 4 weeks before it actually comes out, pick a date and all that shit. All that shit has really served as a mirror to me because that is okay but it wasn’t okay because for a brief moment I felt that my values and my intention had really taken a backseat to that. I just started havin’ a whole aversion from all this and started feeling like all of it was fucked. I just had to take a step back. You know, I had started the top of the year droppin’ like that. I was just like I didn’t feel like I wanted to submit or ask nobody to speak to the people. To speak to my people. You know what I mean? That shit is silly to me. So, gettin’ off that way and even droppin’ the mixtape now - no matter what people say you always learn that people silently still go by the structures of everything. No matter what people tell you. They can tell you about freedom, they can tell you all type of things but people silently go by structures and a lot of us don’t want to acknowledge it or we can’t see. Even with WHYSOSIRIUS? was my way of sayin’ again, FUCK THE STRUCTURE. FUCK ALL THE STRUCTURES. I don’t have to continuously do it the way anybody expects me, you know. I don’t want nobody or myself to get used to abiding by anything except for spiritual insight, inspiration, letting the gift do what it do and keep goin’ - that’s what I have trust in. That’s what I’m supposed to develop trust in. Rather than everything else. That’s what I’ve learned through this whole process.
That’s where a lot of the inspiration is coming from bruh. Really just allowing the transformation to happen again. You know, once again. At this point, whatever the representation is or perspective is, I’m okay with it. That was another thing too. I’m okay with the stoic, the seriousness or whatever and it was like I don’t even wanna battle that or change that. But what I did want to change was that you can’t be like that with yourself ‘cause then the gift don’t flow. And I mean the gift don’t come naturally, the message don’t come naturally, the feeling don’t come naturally. That type shit and it’s so crazy bro because the title of the mixtape came 2 days before it came out.
How did you come up with it?
I was sitting on the couch with my lady and I was readin’ more of the excerpts from this guy… like an elderly African brother his name is Credo. Someone can correct me on that but there’s probably an accent or whatever. It’s kinda crazy because a lot of other artists kinda stuck him inside their music or whatever more so a lot of African artists from African roots - but, the brother has a lot of powerful messages. Anyway, I was listenin’ to him talk and [at this point I’m already aware of what the Sirius star is and that we have a whole tribe of people called Dog Star people who found the star in the sky way before any Western civilization… scientists say they found it and named it Sirius.
You know, they were already aware of a 2nd Sun out there that affects this planet.] It all just bridged right there on the couch with my lady. I was gonna name the mixtape, Only On Earth for a Sec. And that was inspiration from the UFO track on CASHVILLE ALIEN B.C. Again, like you said - that’s why it’s crazy that you said it felt like a precursor… because the intention of it was. It wasn’t like I wasn’t trying not to connect the two or make a bridge. That’s what the title, Only On Earth for a Sec would say - but - WHYSOSIRIUS? popped in my mind and I asked my lady and she was like, “yeah, WHYSOSIRIUS?” [Laughs.]
I love the play on words even like you said, the title and an expression of having fun for sure.
Yeah, and it’s like - it’s so interesting because through your titles you tellin’ a narrative thru them alone. I had to map it back out. We can even just go to S.U.N. Tapes and what that project was about and then movin’ back into FREE THINKERS and WARRIOR SPIRITS and what that was about, you know. Now, WHYSOSIRIUS? - we literally went from the Sun, to Sirius and then when CASHVILLE ALIEN B.C. come out that’s really tellin’ the story. Yo, we here but we part of somethin’ else out there too. Our Source, you know what I’m sayin’? Just thru those titles and then people listen to the music and hear the themes from project to project. The synchronicity is cool and alluring (to me,) I’m an intellectual tho. That type of shit is interesting.
[Laughs.] Just embracing that part because I was ready to take a step back from that because I started havin’ questions within myself. Am I forcing the synchronicity or is it really there for me to channel? You know what I mean. I can stand on what I say and what I put in the music. Obviously, there’s versions of my own interpretation but standin’ on exactly what I’m sayin’ and what I’m connected to… why it goes so deep, why we go so deep and why you can’t have no fear to speak on that kind of shit. But it’s like I had my questions; am I forcin’ the timeline to be what it is? I had that moment of like tracin’ back to where I began to be open to the story being told. Or when the synchronicity began - even down to Notes on a Scale or even down to those titles. You know, I’m not just sayin’ shit in that title. The title itself was where I was and where I was comin’ into the realization and where my epiphany was comin’ from.
It just really feel like your ancestors tellin’ you to trace some shit, for real. And the process of you havin’ to trace that shit to just understand if you are forcing it or I don’t feel like that’s what it is at all. I feel like that’s an honest question to ask yourself but I don’t know I’m not you. It’s like you said, you’ve acknowledged that you’re a scribe for all these different energies and people that are tryin’ to talk thru you. It only seems right that your light would attract somethin’ that would propel your journey like this.
And it’s like, man, the most beautiful part of it like you said of what my Ancestors and Guides have given me is the reassurance that is not just my voice or my ego. All of those things are important. This conversation itself is important. So, in Dallas - I had an oracle readin’ here. It was not planned you know what I mean. Shit, so crazy. I’m with my lady or whatever and it’s so funny because I had on this Ne-Yo shirt that day [laughs.] And you know it’s someone who is very near and dear to her and they’re a very respected oracle here in Dallas. 100s, 1000s of people have seen her for her oracle reading for guidance. That day it just happened to be in the path and at this point I’m relishing in the whole journey aspect and I do need direction. I’ve prayed for it at this point. I was havin’ like hectic ass dreams and the whole reading was about helpin’ me with that. In the reading, in the pullings and in all the confirmation all of it doubled down on me bein’ a scribe. All of it doubled down on me tryin’ to achieve balance in this life. All of it doubled down on havin’ to answer the call from my Ancestors, bro. Just speak their stories. To speak my stories and to connect it all back. You know, I said that on, “U, ME & EARTH,” the oracle told me I was a scribe. You know, ever since then it’s been like, okay, now that you’ve had that confirmation you really can’t play with it.
It’s like that once you know somethin’; once you aware you can’t play dumb to it anymore. For the cause and effect come back tenfold. Whether it’s a fruit you for workin’ it or it’s a crazy karma from misusing the gift. All of that happened in the same big ass moment, all of it. All of it happened where there was clarity and what I had to say at this point, what it is I had to connect back to. I just feel blessed to be one of those many people who get to link it all back. I feel like a lot of people or a lot of us if they haven’t gained awareness then we’re workin’ towards what this prophesied time really is. What types of times we’re really standin’ in right now and how important it is - to tell these stories, to tell our stories and link those back past the mundane shit. Take the falsehoods that is really here and really really break them into pieces.
It’s crazy because SUN Tapes can happen and all music in between ‘n all of shit but still in my mind and my heart knew I lacked the confidence to bare that torch. No matter what an outsider perspective is, you know what I mean. But now, now the freedom comes ‘cause it’s like now you’ve ran the lap, now it’s experience, now you really are open to the channel. And it’s not just lettin’ it come to me. I had to really really change a lot of my own internal, mental and physical behaviors to tap into it more frequently. To really act on it more frequently. I was well supported around. I was gettin’ all the love that I really needed and understandin’ and shit and all that. And it just came how it came. WHYSOSIRIUS?, I can really say on wax - it’s the most fulfilling moment of it all because it’s not just a representation it’s a man really turnin’ a corner in his life. In his personal life, in his eternal life at 28 years old and turnin’ 29 this year, whatever. Elders, men elders, woman elders they’ll tell you this is a prime turnin’ point, this is a crazy turnin’ point. Whether you’re into other teachings, astrology - all of it - say this is a major turnin’ point. It’s all learnin’ and encapsulating all that that is.
I can feel it. Like I said, you let loose. You even got a track on there, “HOMESICK” where you singing lightly.
[Laughs,] yeah.
That shit was cool tho. That’s what put me in the mind state of when I first told you it sounded like a free jazz. It was really you using your instruments however you wanted and doin’ it in ways that was unsuspecting at moments too and “HOMESICK” was definitely one of those.
Yeah, “HOMESICK” is, I really really love that song. You know, when you write it - I’m at home I’m singin’ and all of that shit and then goin’ to record it, it worked. It was an affirmation of the creative process, [laughs,] it’s a beautiful tune man. Wrote that shit 3AM just lookin’ up at the stars, like homesick. We here and I love it especially once you embrace Earth, it’s cool. The experience can be beautiful. But just lookin’ up out there as long as I’ve been lookin’ up since I was a kid I always had a homesick feelin’.
You know, connected to somethin’ out there. You know, you don’t always want to speak for everyone so I’ll say - I know I’m connected. I know somethin’ has always spoke to me from out there. You know, even down to the CASHVILLE ALIEN titles.
Yeah, some type of ultimate belonging out there.
Our ancestors called them primordial waters. It’s crazy, it’s crazy man. But yeah, “HOMESICK” is a tight tune and I’m glad I did that shit. Once it flowed thru it also let me know that the freeness is the confidence. The fun is the confidence, you know, tryin’ somethin’ new.
I gotta say too it’s beautiful hearin’ you’re in love man. I loved hearin’ that you had a couple moments in CASHVILLE ALIEN B.C. where you’re mentioning her and y’alls connection. You know, there’s a couple moments in WHYSOSIRIUS? It’s a beautiful thing to hear and to hear that your love is flourishing.
It is man, it really is. Honestly, it’s so crazy because everybody says nothin’ is a coincidence and all that shit and not even to be cliché. But, the relationship in itself really really has been so much a part of this spiritual growth and for both of us. Being able to take it and bring it to the music is somethin’ totally different. It’s so crazy because - I wouldn’t say it was easy but I got used to tellin’ the underdog story. I got used to the overcomin’ story. Playin’ with the wordplay and braggadocious and all that. And all the relationships and relationship experiences up to this point served what they served but this is really ordained. To even talk about it out loud. When I talk about the love I share with this woman I’m not talkin’ bout somethin’ that - it’s really from a understanding of my higher self to understand what it is we really share. There really is an energy between us that’s beautiful and I’m grateful that I can translate it into music. I can put it in the tunes and again it’s an affirmation that it is different. People can talk about a lot of the things that they share but you know, turnin’ it into art or translation or being transparent with it is something totally different.
Completely.
Yeah, completely different. You know, just bein’ able to do that and get her blessing. I am talkin’ about us. I’m talkin about her. But yeah, just bein’ able to really have that there. I probably said enough words to really say what I was sayin’ but the love in itself is also a part of the opening, a part of the journey and help me with less resistance and all that other shit. The love doesn’t keep flourishing or not even just with her but the love for my daughter and the love that they share with each other. It’s been really enlightening and an epiphany in itself. The art itself is a feeling because I’m not tellin’ the story that I had to or forced to.
Right.
And I never had to. I don’t think I’ve ever been that with my art. I always gotta be completely honest. WHYSOSIRIUS? doesn’t feel like a prophecy of some sort. It was really a reflection of what the hell I got goin’ on. Right now.
Yeah, it very much felt present.
[Laughs,] that’s the word for it. It was very very present.
Literally for both meanings. You also had some new features on this one. New artists I haven’t heard of like - SHOWMESTATE, he a DJ?
Yeah, that’s the homie. He’s a couple other people DJ but he’s a part of the $upreme Radicalz team. He’s my DJ for sure.
Okay, and then was it Nise, the Nymph?
Nise, the Nymph, shoutout to her. Hey man, I’m very high on her as a person and an artist - she got a crazy aura. She knows what it is she wants outta this shit. She’s 19, from Kentucky and she just tryin’ to find her way in everything or whatever. Is it cool to get a backstory on that?
Hell yeah.
So, we put together the very first Supreme Radicalz show and we booked our first show and she had to come all the way from Kentucky. The show didn't happen because right before there was a crazy storm that we had been watchin' all day.
Ohhh, it was that day.
It was that day. The show was outside and it just ruined everything. It was an L, it was really an L. It was hard, you know, because niggas move with intention and it was like that happened and it was like it was back to the drawin’ board. Anyway, she had came from Kentucky and I was like damn we don’t wanna just let the night go to waste. I called Coleman or whatever and asked Coleman because he was gonna come to the show. Change of plans, pivot or whatever. Just tryna get to studio and record somethin’ and Nise is here. Shoutout to bro because he was like, “yeah.” We get to the studio and SHOWMESTATE started playin’ beats. Well, Coleman was playin’ beats and SHOWMESTATE also make beats - he produced that beat. He made the beat man and me and Nise just went crazy on that. I love that song and I’m glad that song was one of the songs that made WHYSOSIRIUS? You know, because from my own backstory I know that that was somethin’ that was channeled from an L.
You know, took a moment of disparity and ended up turnin’ out really really cool. Even just to talk about more of the features man, DEMO. He goin’ crazy, I’m really really high on those 2 artists, you know. They move diligently in what they do. Their confidence is very very inspiring to me and they younger than me. DEMO is 24 years old, type shit. I’m glad it was those 2 that were features fosho.
And then you had Jack.
Yeah, Jack was the vocals that was on “555.”
Ohhh, okay, that make more sense now.
He made that beat and he just sampled his own vocals. He just looped his own vocals.
Ohh man…
Yeah, Jack is crazy because he made, “MIDAS TOUCH” too.
What?
Yeah bruh, he’s crazy.
Mannn... you got these wild ass white boys on these beats.
[Laughs,] bro, it’s so crazy because comin’ into it really really knowin’ them it has broken even a lot of my preconceived conceptions - the Soul don’t got no face man.
That’s beautiful and nah it don’t.
Those 2 brothers specifically and even talkin’ about this transparently it ain’t like niggas ain’t ever met nice white people.
Nah, they for sure out there.
Nah, for real. Facts, but those 2 brothers are really different. They’re really selfless and they thank me for opportunities. But I’m like, bro, there is no opportunity for me if y’all don’t do what y’all do. There is none of it bro. Man, Jack made “MIDAS TOUCH” and I watched him make that from scratch. This nigga did the drums, he did the bass, he’s ridiculous - there’s no sample flip in that. That is him. That’s all him. That’s why it sounds so funky because it’s all him. [Laughs,] and then he took “555,” he had laid some vocals (I didn’t get to see him make that beat.) He can sing too, he writes his own music and he laid the vocals and flipped that shit. I really wrote “555” in the passenger seat drivin’ thru Dallas.
That’s pretty beautiful though that Hip Hop and music are able to change our perceptions of shit sometimes.
Nah, for real. That’s another thing to double down on with any frequency that we put out. Any frequency that we’ve created. Music has always had the ability to heal, spread the message, reflective of times and share our story. Niggas can’t tip toe around that anymore and we also gotta be open to the other people we come in contact with throughout this whole shit or whatever. I mean our people, our tribe. Really learnin’ that that has no face. It’s just been a beautiful thing to really create more with those 2. They just really get the shit on a Soul level so there are no barriers on the other shit that surrounds what’s goin’ on. We don’t duck and dodge the shit that goes on in the world. Everything we do that’s on the Soul level and everything we do with the music… it’s really tight.
That’s so beautiful.
Shoutout to them dudes.
I don’t know, sometimes that feels like the reason we do what we do. The soul connection, genuine soul connections and the lessons that come with that shit.
You can really miss ‘em bro, you can really miss ‘em if you’re wrapped up in your own shit, like I was. I said that the day I dropped the mixtape that I really had been wrapped up in my own fucking world and battling my own ego of what I think the world should be. Or what I think my world should be like.
It’s an everyday thing. With creating WHYSOSIRIUS? what was your favorite moment of the mixtape?
You know, the best moment I had with recording it of anything of any song - of the whole project was, “OHHHOWLOVELY.”
I love that one.
If I could have that on video, if I could’ve kept that moment and how exciting it was for me to hear it back. Or even writing that track. Coleman made the beat and him flippin’ that sample or whatever and to just what the sample is saying. About the stars and God watchin’ us - all of it. Really, what I said on that record really stated a lot of shit of where I was. It was so self reflective. You know, we talked about it at the beginning of the conversation and what the “perception” was or what one of the perceptions. Vibes make up for shit that I couldn’t say / time make up for shit that I shouldn’t say. You know, I let people know that whatever your perception of me is, enjoy that. For real, because I really feel like if it was the other way around I don’t think you’d be able to handle. I’m not sayin’ that nobody doesn’t have their weight. The channeling, the scribe, the tellin’ stories that are a million years old - I think it would break a lot of people mentally. It would break a lot of people spiritually. I think a lot of people they (I don’t want to say awarded,) but I like to say they have baby souls here. Like, they’re new to Earth’s truths and a lot of the truths that are here they still haven’t tapped into it. Like, everything is still mundane to them. It’s still structure to them. You know, and in the songs me really really expressing I’ve never had that luxury like even from a fuckin’ kid. I never got the smoke in mirror - I’ve always seen straight thru. I’ve always had premonitions. I’ve always had these deep dreams. I’ve always had the weight of havin’ to be the shaman in my community, in my family. Takin’ negative energies and then breakin’ them, you know, I’ve always had that. Anybody’s perception is fine to have but you can’t really amount to or know just how much has been to me and for me.
I say all that to say, “OHHHOWLOVELY” and “U, ME & EARTH” are my favorites. They are so personal to me and so out-pouring. No matter what the vibe is no matter what the Sun gives they are sayin’ very fuckin’ clearly what I have realized. “U, ME & EARTH” is just me usin’ my weapon to turn around; I used to want the houses on the hill, realizing all my desires and shit was all rooted in bullshit, for real for real. None of that shit is real and I know what’s real now.
Yeah, you did a hell of a job on this project Ron. Music is always so interesting to me because clearly this mixtape is a pivotal moment. It serves as a pivotal moment as it represents the present for you right now. As a listener and as a supporter of your artistry a lot of those things that you were grappling with about ego but the mixtape felt like being able to find gratefulness as well. Being grateful for you cards.
Absolutely.
And you know, I was goin’ thru some things, some growth for real and this project really got me like, “oh shit, I’m not the only one goin’ thru these things.” I’m not the only one carrying all these different types of weights and lights from all my different types of lineages. It’s a beautiful moment when it’s personal but findin’ the universal in the personal as well.
Everytime bro, everytime.
I wanna thank you for putting it out.
I really appreciate it man. The listener aspect, the supportive aspect but more so I’m always knowin’ that like if you hear what I’m sayin’ and you hear what I’m talkin’ about and relate to that - it’s always a reverence. Shit, is not easy. It’s not, and it’s not meant to be but I do feel like we should find more of the gratefulness. And we should find more of us relating in that aspect. When we think it’s just us wrapped up in our own world and then we do put it out there and we find out there’s someone on that same frequency. Somebody with those same realizations. That part is priceless.
I was researching the Sirius star after you put this out, you know - they were sayin’ that that star is the reason there be mid-summer droughts.
Yeah, its aligned with the Sun right now.
Yeaaah, I thought that shit was real fuckin’ interesting. We just got some rain today. It’s crazy because this alignment is part of a prophecy. A lot of people are talkin’ about it at a very cliché and surface level but this summer is not a 1of1. This summer solstice is a pivotal turning point; for weather, for our frequencies, mental levels.
It’s alignment in all aspects.
In ALL aspects bro. Really really in all aspects. The Universe and it’s creation and the Creator and it’s creation. Alignment and synchronicity it was always there. It’s so crazy, because even in the understanding of what we’re talking about with the Sirius star. I don’t want people to... even what we do when we speak on these things - it’s not to tell people to give more or less of a reverence to what they do have their beliefs in. It’s really a reverence, we give so much reverence that’s based off the lack of knowing, that’s the thing.
Or that we think that the Sun is the only Sun that’s heating us and giving energy. Or that it’s the only star in the sky. We should have a basic understanding on the Solar level of what the science of it really really is. There’s no way that you think that you think that Sun is the only thing giving us light or feeding us or feeding this planet. There’s a million stars up and out there everyday - so, if our star is operating like that then every star out there is operating. Every star out there.
That was also the intention. Like what you said somethings are meant to be channeled thru the frequency. That shit say more. Obviously, I’m rappin’ on the shit or whatever, I’m sayin’ shit but the frequency is comin’ thru different. It’s hittin’ the cells different. I want people to be like, what is Sirius? What is that?
Yeah, not just some Harry Potter shit or some Batman [laughs.]
[Laughs,] Nah, for real because that’s what they take and that’s what they do… they play with it. They make it cliché.
Exactly, man - I remember some years back Joey Bada$$ done said some shit like, “the internet is the new history” or somethin’ like that. That shit be annoying because I’ll go to Google some shit. For example, when I went to research Sirius star the shit that popped up was Batman and Harry Potter. I had to go thru like 2 pages - whereas, that should be the #1 thing that pops up.
Facts.
Like you said, they play with important shit and make it surface level.
They play with it. But once you, you know, that’s where you take accountability and responsibility of discovery and goin’ deeper. Meeting the knowledge with the desire to want know it. Meeting the power with the desire to want to know it. As far as translation and putin’ this shit in basic english and to be talkin’ to people that shit ain’t always clear, cut and dry like that. I feel like we all, (whatever our instrument is and how we tell our stories,) I feel like it’s imperative… well, I can’t speak for everybody but it’s been imperative for me to put it in there. It’s not everyday that I get to sit down and tell somebody, “hey man, the Sirius star is out there aligned with the Sun. It’s very important that you get out there and get some Sun right now - if you’re us. It’s an evolution goin’ on. There’s DNA evolution goin’ on right now… so you need that.”
You know, muthafuckas look at you not like you’re crazy…but that. I don’t understand why a majority of the masses has a lack of understanding in that. No matter how much the masses like to portray like they know what’s goin’ on right now.
It’s so crazy though - to me, if somebody comes up to me with a real serious tone that’s on an ancestral/indigenous type plane of language, you know… I’mma stop and listen to that shit. That’s a Divine message whether I wanna hear the shit or not.
Absolutely, [laughs,] that’s where the pricelessness or the ancestral or presence of the warrior reveals itself because not everyone is supposed to hear it. It ain’t supposed to be for everybody. I had to come into that realization with my heart as well. How do you even know you’re tellin’ the story for the people right now?
Sometimes that realization - that shit can make you feel lonely.
For real, because I’m not separated from, “bro, I want as many people in the world to hear this shit. Right. Now,” because my intention is to help, tell my story and have fun and all that shit. As I’m goin’ around this summer listenin’ to Roy Ayres, Roy Ayres is not aware of me at least personally. He didn’t know Ron was goin’ to be drivin’ thru Dallas at some of his lowest points playin’ Roy Ayres, you know what I mean, gettin’ the medicine that he needs. So, just havin’ that realization with the art, with the message and with things that I want - just be a channel bro. It really is okay, there’s force and there’s flow. You know, just flow with it.
Force and flow… and sometimes finesse.
[Laughs,] that’s cold, I need that on a t-shirt. Force, flow and sometimes finesse - that’s true though. Like I said, I appreciate, you know, more than the outline or what the conversation is, where we goin’ or what we doin’ - I distinctly remember from the S.U.N. Tapes conversation you’re really 1 of them 1’s in a rare fashion that understands what I’m sayin’. People interpret it and I hear any words that people put on it but this is different because it’s conversational. Even in the conversation there’s an understanding in real time… like work being put in that’s goin’ to serve for the now and the forever. There’s and individual understanding like you said as an example of somebody that would come up to you and be like, “yo” or start putin’ some game on you and not bein’ closed off to that. And that in itself makes a difference between the shit that I say and how somebody interprets it. It’s easy to say this shit is good, my nigga. You know, thank you, it’s easy to say that. It’s easy to say, “you can rap nigga.” But did you feel the shit tho? Did you hear where I was at? Did it make you figure out what the fuck I was talkin’ about?
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF RON OBASI