INTERVIEW: Rugged Soulz - Terminally Ill

INTERVIEW: Rugged Soulz – Terminally Ill

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Black Knight catches up with independent artist RUGGED SOULZ and discuss various Rugged Hip-Hop Questions. Check out the interview after the jump and also download their latest mixtape “Terminally Ill” with DJ Ykcor.

BLACK KNIGHT: Whats good Mic & Ra, How has everything been going lately?

RUGGED SOULZ: Business as usual…staying in the studio cooking up something real for the streets.

BLACK KNIGHT: For those who have been under a rock and don’t know who Rugged Soulz is yet, Please give us a lil of your resume, and tell us a lil about your style of music.

RUGGED SOULZ: Pretty simple we’re just 2 guys from MoCo, MD who started doing the music thing in the late 90′s. That passion evolved into us getting our own studio in order to further develop our own unique sound. After which, we bombarded the local Open Mic circuits in the DMV to sharpen our swords in expectation of performing at larger venues with a grander audience. So in December 09, we released our debut album The Grand Opening, which was our flagship statement to the mucis industry. All this leading to the creation of our current mixtape Terminally ILL.

Our style of music is what we call Emotional Rap. We touch on subjects that can relate to anbodies particular mood and/or opinion. Basically, if you’ve felt it we’ve probably rapped about it. From the everyday day hustler trying to make a dollar out of 15 cents, to the 9 to 5er who faces the same struggles in their own way.

BLACK KNIGHT: How Long Have You Guys been a group?

RUGGED SOULZ: Late 90′s

BLACK KNIGHT: Rugged Soulz As a individuals, what style do each of you bring to the table to form your team?

RUGGED SOULZ
Mic Lungz: I believe I bring that practical, no nonsense, rap now.. ask questions later bravado.

RA: My style is more of a ear to the street mentality, mixed with a GQ persona.

BLACK KNIGHT: Tell us where the inspiration for your music comes from.

RUGGED SOULZ: Life and expericences

BLACK KNIGHT: Tell us a lil bout your current project with DJ Ykcor…

DOWNLOAD: Rugged Soulz – Terminally Ill (Mixed By DJ Ykcor)

RUGGED SOULZ: Its a 15 original song, mixtape comprised of the local DMV juggernaut producers (Judah, Oddisee, J- Scrilla, and Choppy-Choppe), that has been “ruggedlly” mixed by DJ Ykcor. The project pretty much takes you on a roller coaster ride through our current life experiences, expressed with raw rhymes over ill instrumentals.

BLACK KNIGHT: In this day in age, alot or artist are “below average”, tell us your feelings on the current movement of hiphop and where you stand and what makes Rugged Soulz unique?

RUGGED SOULZ: The current state of Hip Hop is what we call the “Cookie Cutter” era. Meaning, one person sees another record do succesful and everyone decides to mass produce that “Cookie.” Where as we dedided to ask the question.. What happended to originallity? Basically from there it was easy, we continually challenge ourselves to not only write authenticlly but still maintain relevance.

BLACK KNIGHT:
Haaa, mass production…perfect answer..and great question, What did happen to ORIGINALIT? Thats a different covno.. Next question.

Who are some of the artist you currently listen to? And, Who are some of the artist you would like to work with?

RUGGED SOULZ: Due to our high work regime on various uncoming projects we generally only listen to our own music.

We’ll really build with anybody who’s likeminded and is serious about their grind.

BLACK KNIGHT: Being from the DMV area, How do you feel about the DMV movement and the respect(Or lack of) that it gets In the Hip-Hop Game?

RUGGED SOULZ: The Hip Hop is game pretty much what you put into it is what you’ll get out of it. If your creating good music it will get noticed, thats pretty much the motto we live by.

BLACK KNIGHT: What is the next steps in your career to get you to the next level?

RUGGED SOULZ: Just banging out good music, and doing shows..shows..shows baby.

BLACK KNIGHT: Are You guys currently working on any future projects at the moment?

RUGGED SOULZ: We are pretty much always knee deep in projects, so be on the look out for 2 new albums in 2011.

BLACK KNIGHT: Were can your fans and new fans go to find your music and follow your careers?

RUGGED SOULZ: www.ruggedsoulz.com
www.twitter.com/ruggedsoulz
www.ruggedsoulz.bandcamp.com

BLACK KNIGHT: Thanks again for taking your time out to do this interview and always showing Revolt Radio Luv.
“Any last shout outs, or words for the people out there?”

BLACK KNIGHT: First we would like to thank Revolt Radio for recognizing and supporting independent artists. Shout out to all Rugged Soulz supporters, we do this for you and anybody else out there keeping it real.