Interview with A-Class
As the Skype call began, I felt a little nervous. This interview would be with someone I had never spoken with before and had gotten to know solely through his music and rap battles. The ringing cut out, and onto my screen appeared A-Class clad in a hoodie and a snapback hat. We said our "what's ups" and got acquainted with another. After talking about general introductory topics for a while, our conversation's focus shifted toward music.
Andrew: “Bro, what draws you to the culture of hip-hop and makes you identify with the art?”
A-Class: “First time I heard rap was on a Boyz II Men remix tape with Method Man, and I started listening to Wu Tang. I think a big part of it was my tendency to rebel. Also, my friends were b-boys, and the culture was prevalent at the time, so I just went along with it.” A: “When did you start rapping?” AC: “I would say around freshman year of high school. A bunch of friends and I would be rapping at parties and stuff, and it took off from there. At some point later, I made my first album just for fun, but I started to take it seriously a couple years ago.” |
A: “Can you tell me more about your writing and delivery styles and how you got there?”
AC: “All I want is to be original, and it’s tough to be original with so many rappers in here, so I try to mix old school styles with progressive styles. I like to put some wordplay in there and do punchlines. As far as my music goes, I’ll put on a beat, get a little cadence going in my head, and just roll with it. Honestly, it just depends on the beat. For my newer stuff, I’m trying to be more versatile because my earlier music kind of had the same flow for everything.” A: “Really? Would you say that your approach to rap has changed?” AC: “Yeah, like for Motive Response, I was just trying to impress myself and be abstract. But now that I’m taking it more seriously, I want to put out more of what the fans want, you know?” |
A: “So if a record company were to offer you a song to rap on but you thought it was wack, how would you react?”
AC: “I would try to come to some sort of agreement because I’m definitely not gonna be turing down any paper. It’s real life, man. If I can get some money that’s gonna help me and my people eat, I’ll take it. But I’m definitely not going to sell out to the point where I’m spitting stuff that I don’t believe in or marketing products that I don’t think are good for humanity.” |