So what the hell is ‘abstract rap’? Sounds like another one of those lame buzzwords that artists seem to hate, but LA’s Busdriver doesn’t mind it tooooo much, as long as you’re digging his unconventional take on the hip hop sound. He’s been a big name in underground scene for a number of years, but he stepped it up a notch in 2007 with the release of RoadKillOvercoat, which featured the Triple J favourite Casting Agents And Cowgirls. He’s in Australia now for his first ever tour, and ITM’s Angus Paterson had a chance to chat before he finished up his sojourn.
How are you feeling at the moment faced with a new year?
Frightened, uncertain… yet ultimately determined to keep carving out this serpentine highway before me. My new songs are terrifying me.
You’ve had a strong presence in underground hip hop for a couple of years, but it really seems like you’ve stepped it up a notch this year with the release of RoadKillOvercoat. Do you feel like you’ve been elevated to a new level of exposure, perhaps stretching out beyond what’s been your traditional audience?
Tradition is what my tiny niche is supposed to be in the business of defying. Yet in that, our circuit does not necessarily include the normal pockets for underground hip-hop acts that aspire to do just that. To my dismay, I’ve entered a larger playing field were the relevance of my output is that much more negligible… But there’s a freedom in that, of course.
In Australia you’ve had a bit of an underground hit with Casting Agents and Cowgirls. Do you see this as your crossover single, in one sense?
No. I enjoy the song, as far as Busdriver songs go, but had not thought to credit it as a ‘crossover’ anything. I just hope that its marginal appeal brings out whatever modest assembly of people out to see us perform renditions of it and a dozen other senseless ditties.
For years we’ve been hearing people going on about how ‘hip hop is dead,’ but what I’ve noticed this year is a growing hunger and demand for the underground sounds which exists outside the flashy bling that we see in the mainstream. You’d certainly fit into this category, do you see yourself as a trailblazer taking hip hop in new directions?
No. Hip-hop comfortably lives in the housing that I have in mind for it. The listening public has to take it in their own hands to find those clusters of artists who are doing things outside of the conventional scope.
Have you always been happy to exist outside of what would normally be termed ‘hip hop’?
‘Hip-hop’ doesn’t matter as much as the conditions that give it credence. The root impetus for this music is found in young people, ideas and social-economical pressures. Those elements and the bi-products of them are what spawned hip-hop, as well as they did blues, jazz and rock before them. So any world that is fueled by these concepts is ample for whatever I intend to do with music.
Doing a quick search around I see that your very unique style of rapping has led to you being labeled on many occasions as an ‘abstract rapper’, linked in with the experimental genre of abstract hip hop. With labels like these I know that artists either laughingly embrace them or instead absolutely loathe them and see them as a curse. How do you feel about that; is it something that pisses you off or do you see it as something that helps set you apart from the rest?
Terms that writers use to organise trends in music seldom have anything to do with what is actually happening, I find. I always had an inkling for doing somewhat jarring stuff in vein with what my older homies were doing, but never came into rhyming thinking that I was an ‘abstract’ rapper. But whatever people want to call it is fine by me.
RoadKillOvercoat was your debut release on the Epitaph label, owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz, This definitely seems like a different choice of places to release your music, have you found yourself a natural fit with this crew?
As far as the actual artist roster, I definitely share an affinity for a handful of the artist that the label works with. But the whole idea of fitting with any business entity that aids my ventures is somewhat of an unsettling concept. The staff is unparalleled in their willingness to work my little records, but I never feel comfy anywhere. My outsider disposition is no longer cute yet is still hard to suppress. That in itself may make me a keener fit for the label.
You’re here smack in the middle of the Australian summer festival season, and there’s been a whole bunch of international talent over here at the same time. What were you expecting, and what have you heard about Australian audiences?
I hear nothing but positive things about the country, Sydney especially. Good shows and wacky on-goings most follow this praise, I guess. I just feel lucky to be touring a broad new market. Thanks for having me.
Busdriver concludes his Australian tour over the coming weekends, don’t miss out!
Jan 11 – Mojo’s, Fremantle
Jan 12 – The Bakery, Perth
Jan 18 – Beck’s Festival Bar, Sydney
Check out the film clip for Busdriver’s track Casting Agents And Cowgirls:
