Canadian hip-hop stars Duane “DO” Gibson and Byram “Slakah the Beatchild” Joseph, aka Art of Fresh, touch down in Taiwan for a string of gigs beginning tonight. Some call the duo’s music hip-hop, others call it hip-house. Semantics aside, let’s just say it’s quality music that nicely combines the essence of both new and old-school hip-hop, is fresh and very addictive. The Vinyl Word spoke with the pair by phone last week.
Vinyl Word: Please introduce yourselves.
Defy the Odds: I go by the name DO aka Defy the Odds and I’m a Guinness World Record-setting rapper from Toronto, Canada ...
Slakah: Hello, my name is Slakah the Beatchild, you can call me Beatchild. And together we have been making the Buttafat Boombap [tour] with my man for the last few years ...
VW: What’s it like to see Art of Fresh in action?
DO: You better have some comfortable shoes that you can dance in ’cause we make sure you hit the dance floor. We bring a lot of energy to the show to make sure that everyone has a good time.
Beatchild: Exactly, the majority of our music is break beat and house influenced, so it’s upbeat and fun.
VW: Have you been to Asia before?
DO: This is our first time to Asia and [we’re] loving it so far. We’re in Tokyo right now. Just rocked a crazy show a couple of nights ago. What better way to see the world then touring your music?
VW: What’s your favorite song to play?
Beatchild: We really enjoy doing our big single Out This World because it’s one of our songs that has reached the world and people love singing along to it.
VW: You’ve signed to Universal, a major record label. Did that change your life?
DO: Being signed has been great because it brings your music to a whole new audience. But we’ve always done it independent, so it’s good having that experience. You can’t wait on anyone to do it for you.
VW: Your hit singles Get Free and Out This World are great hip-house tunes. Have you always been into house music?
Beatchild: As the producer of the group, I am such a huge fan of upbeat music but with jazz influences. So whether it is house, break beat or garage, I am a fan. But my roots are hip-hop and soul music. So we make a conscious effort to blend true school lyrics on top of soulful grooves and upbeat breaks.
VW: DO, you’ve set the Guinness World Record for freestlying by rapping for eight hours and 45 minutes. How did you do it? Didn’t you get hungry and thirsty?
DO: Hungry and thirsty. But for real, after the first 20 minutes I blacked out ... I got into the zone and was only focused on rhyming. Got to love that Red Bull though, that helped out a lot ...
VW: A final word?
Art of Fresh: If you want some of that fresh flava you’ve never experienced before, come out to our show. Dates and info are on our MySpace page www.myspace.com/artoffresh. We also have an album out that you can purchase online through iTunes or at cdbaby.com.
Art of Fresh
■ Tomorrow at 10pm, Roxy Roots, 90, Songren Rd, Taipei City (台北市松仁路90號). With Dr Reniculous Lipz. Admission is free
■ Sunday at 7pm, DC Stage, 138-1 Ciouchang Rd, Niaosong Township, Kaohsiung County (高雄縣鳥松鄉球場路138-1號). Admission is NT$250
■ Dec. 18 at 10pm, Light Lounge, B1, 85, Huamei W St Sec 1, Taichung City (台中市華美西街一段85號 B1). Admission is NT$300
■ Dec. 19 at 10pm, Brickyard, 507, Jhongshan 2nd Rd, Cianjin Dist, Kaohsiung City (高雄市前金區中山二路507號). Admission is NT$350
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