Dynamic. Duo. Blue Sky Black Death. BSBD consist of Kingston and Young God, a Seattle- based producer team who are slowly, but progressively, altering the face of hip-hop. Methodically implementing and pioneering the use of ambient sound and melodic tones, BSBD are peaking the interests of not only a growing fan base, but artists alike. Their collective drive and ambition for creating a new approach to hip-hop should serve as an inspiration to aspiring producers. In an art form where drums and bass are imperative, these two are breaking it's normal structure and proving that obscure is the new normal, while still maintaining originality in an often rigidly confined "genre" label. It's A Rap had the privilege of picking the brains of the forging, innovative producers, and one thing is eminently clear, for BSBD, only sky is the limit.
IAR: What/Who are your major influences?
BSBD: "When we started making beats our influences were RZA, Premo, Organized Noize, and then bands like Slowdive, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and just everything we listened to. So many different bands and artists. We've always been influenced by stuff outside of hip- hop too, but these days I wouldn't say we have as many influences. We're kind of insulated a little more these days, even though we still check for all the new stuff. "
IAR: Since you guys are located in Seattle, what was the experience like working with Nacho Picasso?
BSBD: "It's just like working with family now. We're all homies so it's just really fun and easy. Nacho is actually the easiest rapper we've ever worked with. He's really open minded as far as how the production sounds and with concepts, and despite his on record ego, he's totally humble and open to constructive criticism. He's at our studio almost every day, so we just play him beats and he writes to them. It's been one of the most fun experiences working with him. He's as funny as he is on his songs, so that helps too."
IAR: Who are some artists you want to work with?
BSBD: "Let's see. One of my favorite "new" rappers is definitely Danny Brown. We've been wanting to work with him for a while. Also, I like Main Attrakionz a lot. You can really hear their emotion on track and I like that they seem open minded when it comes to beats. We just did a remix for Mondre Man by the way, so check that out. We like Chuuwee from Sacramento, Frankenstein from LA, and that kid Perrion from NYC is really dope too. Been talking to G-side for a while and are definitely trying to put in work with them. There's plenty of people we'd be down to work with, it's just a matter of making it happen. Sometimes it's hard to get commitments though."
IAR: What inspired the concept for Blue Sky Black Death?
BSBD: "The name was a title of one of our songs before it was our name. Kingston introduced me to that concept which is a skydiving term. He skydives and his dad is a pro skydiver and base jumper. Musically, the concept was always just to make whatever we wanted to make and not be constricted by just hip- hop. So we've always made music outside of hip- hop too, and it's hard to tell whether it's been to our benefit or not, because it's hard for people to categorize us."
IAR: Future plans/projects for BSBD?
BSBD: "More instrumental albums, more work with Nacho, and definitely trying to spread our production to more rappers and singers if possible. Also we have shows coming up with Nacho Picasso."
IAR: What distinguishes your sound from other producers in hip-hop?
BSBD: "I think it's more common these days but when we started we didn't know of many other hip- hop producers that had the same influences and the same interests in music and I think it shows in our music. The ambient sound in hip- hop has become a lot more popular recently, and we've been doing it for a long time but it was mostly relegated to our instrumental or "dream pop" music, but now we're seeing rappers who are really open to that sound, so I think that's good for us. One thing that you can almost always expect from us that sets us apart is that our stuff is really big sounding. And we just dropped a straight up 13 minute ambient track with no drums. I don't know any other hip-hop producers that do that. So we have that going!" (Laughs)
IAR: What's been the most fulfilling project in hip-hop, or music to date?
BSBD: "Working with Nacho has been the most fun, and the fact that we've done everything ourselves (videos, production, recording, PR, artwork, etc.) makes it more fulfilling. "Slow Burning Lights" was cool too because that was the first time we introduced the world to our music that wasn't hip-hop at all."
http://bsbdmusic.com
Follow on Twitter @BSBDmusic
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