Charles Aaron and Kris Ex write about hip-hop for mainstream titles SPIN and The Source, respectively. Here are their words about blazing through the haze to document the genre’s cast of characters.
Badger Herald: How did you get into writing about hip hop?
Kris Ex: I love hip hop, I love writing, [so it] just made sense. I felt like I could do a better job than many of the writers that were out at the time, so I went for it.
I intended to hang around the hip-hop thing for two years or so, then break into novel writing. Eight years later I’m still hanging around. Go figure. Besides, I still feel I’m better than most of the writers out there.
Charles Aaron: I was living in NYC in the mid-late ’80s, and listening to mix shows on the radio, and going out dancing, and buying 12-inches when I could afford them, and not that many people were writing well about the music from an excitable fan’s point of view. Not many people were writing well, period–except Nelson George, Greg Tate, Barry Michael Cooper [and] a few others.
BH: What title published your first hip-hop piece?
KE: Ego Trip published my first short story. But One Nut published my first artist profile–Gravediggaz cover story. Just thought I’d toot my own horn.
CA: I went to a Doug E. Fresh show at the Apollo and bugged out and wanted to write something, so I got a review into the Village Voice in ’87, and it was the most fun I’d ever had writing–about anything. Because, as you know, at that time Doug E. was the “World’s Greatest Entertainer.”
BH: Who do you write for now?
KE: God, myself and the kids. It’s all about the kids.
CA: SPIN Magazine, where I’m the music editor.
BH: What is your most memorable interview?
KE: A few come to mind. Wyclef for the cover of Vibe, ’cause we hung out forever and a day. Sh*t, we’re still hanging out. Suge Knight, because, well it’s Suge Knight. Xzibit, cause we was on the Up In Smoke Tour–’nuff said.
My three or four Jermaine Dupri interviews come to mind because he’s such a cool little nigga. The world don’t get him, but he’s one of the coolest motherf*ckers in the game once you get to vibe with him for a minute or two. I love the whole Dungeon Family and have spoken to them more than a couple of times. They’re cool as f*ck. And that motherf*ckin’ Big Boi will keep you high. Must be that Southern Hospitality.
F*ck, Ludacris was cool as hell, too. He even offered to buy me some Air Ones when we went shopping. Too bad I have some sort of integrity. Ghostface is always a thrill, as is the Cash Money family. Jay-Z I’ve talked to a few times and he’s just the f*ckin’ greatest. The world truly doesn’t get who Shawn Carter is. And his interviews are hotter.
CA: Hanging out with Snoop Dogg while he was recording Doggystyle. It was both a tense and absurd situation. Everybody was stoned to the gills, everybody had guns, security was lockdown tight, I was a geeky white kid with glasses trying to be cool. Then Snoop mooned me during an interview with Dre, and I finally broke down, loosened up. Daz sliding me some choco-chronic didn’t hurt.
BH: What is your favorite hip-hop album?
KE: F*ck you. Take a few: Public Enemy, Nation of Millions; Mobb Deep, The Infamous; Slick Rick, Greatest Adventure of Slick Rick; Fugees, The Score; Wyclef, The Carnival; Outkast, Southernplayisticadillamuzik; Ice Cube, Death Certificate; Raekwon, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx; Wu-Tang, Wu-Tang Forever; Outkast, Big Boi and Dre Present?Outkast; Juvenile, 400 Degreez; Redman, Muddy Waters; Nas, Illmatic; Ghostface Killah, Iron Man; dead prez, Let’s Get Free; MC Eiht, We Come Strapped; Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP. And there’s more where those came from . . .
CA: It’s a tie. Big Daddy Kane, Long Live the Kane; Outkast, Stankonia.
