OFFICIAL INTERVIEW: The Buzz ‘Bout B-Cide

Published – Tuesday – May 11, 2010

GW: What’s been goin’ on in your life?
B-CIDE: I been really pushin’ my album that I released, like about two summers ago, called Free Agent. I went on, about, three tours in like two years across the states tryin’ to promote this thing with this group called Project Born. We toured the country. The CD, Free Agent’s, actually in Best Buy nationwide. I got a feature on it from my boy, Cognito, he just recently signed to Strange Music, Tech N9ne’s label.

GW: Your musical influences appear to be a fusion of rock and rap. Did one grab you before the other?
B-CIDE: I’ll tell ya, punk rock, like, Green Day, that was my first love, honestly. Then it just kinda evolved to more, rap. I could express myself in that. To me, it’s the ultimate form of expression. I could say whatever I want to whoever I want, whenever I want. It’s kinda like punk rock mentality, actually. I see the old underground punk scene the way that the underground rap scene is; not the mainstream, ‘cause the mainstream sucks right now. The comparisons between the scenes are very similar: rebellion.

GW: In your music, it seems like you don’t give a fuck.
B-CIDE: I don’t give a fuck. I have message behind all my music, you know, if you really listen to the shit. It’s not just words. Some people like to spit words, I like to put a lot of meaning and feeling behind my songs. This is my life. My life does not imitate my music, my music is more my life than anything.

GW: Your song “When You Hear the Sound,” sounds like it has hidden meaning to it.
B-CIDE: The whole song is kinda like, talking about pop culture; all the shootings and bullshit like that. Basically, I’m runnin’ through the town and they kill me at the end. I’m really sick of all this manufactured, bull shit music. It doesn’t get any worse than it is today. Auto-Tune is the fuckin’ worst thing in the world! It’s played out. People are usin’ it ‘cause they really can’t sing. The reason they made the thing was to enhance your voice, you know what I’m sayin’? If you can sing, it’s cool. Kid Rock used it, Cher has used it. It’s not tasteful the way they’re using these things. Then, you look inside album credits and see five people writing songs. What? What am I doin’, payin’ to listen to the artist or payin’ for everybody else who contributed to the fuckin’ song? I’m tryin’ to bring the realness back to this craft, you know?

GW: Are you an artist who wants to keep things as is or an artist who wants to change the game?
B-CIDE: I definitely wanna change it, I mean, I think my style’s different than a lot of people’s. I really do think I have somethin’ to say. It’s not like the shit that’s comin’ out now, people tell me that. I’m goin’ in the right direction. I haven’t changed what I’ve done; you can look back in my catalogue. I’m lettin’ people download all my albums. I’m givin’ away free versions of all my albums on my website. If you feel it and it’s real, you’re gonna grab onto that product, you know?

GW: How long have you been rapping and making music?
B-CIDE: Since 1998.

GW: How old were you then?
B-CIDE: 15, 16.

GW: Have you always been in Utica, NY, upstate?
B-CIDE: Yeah, I mean, I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to travel and get my CD’s out and I got the whole digital thing with the iTunes. Like I said, I have Free Agent in Best Buy now. I like to try and do tours, get out to the people, just the whole poudin’ the pavement you know? Grassroots marketing.

GW: Where do you go when you tour?
B-CIDE: I’ve been from Pennsylvania to Connecticut, as far as Seattle, Washington. Los Angeles, all over the place: Texas; Kentucky; Michigan; Mississippi; New Orleans. I try and get my shit out there as much as possible. I just love pursuing my dream, that’s really what it’s all about, you know?

GW: When was your first show?
B-CIDE: My first show was in 2000, probably.

GW: It seems like this is something you’re passionate about and not stopping.
B-CIDE: Yeah, this is real. This means a lot to me, this is life.

GW: You have tattoos. Would you describe them?
B-CIDE: I got 315 for my area. I got my B-Cide logo on my arm. I got a clown tattooed on the inside of my arm with B-Cide on it. I got a microphone with music notes comin’ off it and shit.

GW: Do you work a 9 to 5?
B-CIDE: Not anymore. I was able to leave. I had to go out and do some touring and I had to stop doin’ that to keep doin’ this. That’s where my priorities are. I worked at Subway, man, for six years. I was the manager at that motherfucker.

GW: Is it hard pursuing music? Are you making ends?
B-CIDE: It’s here and there, the economy’s not great right now but we’re just on this promotional push tryin’ to get as much done as possible: magazines, pushin’ the CDs out to people, shit like that.

GW: Is Eastside Productions Web Store your business?
B-CIDE: Yup, that’s us [B-Cide and Shysty]. That’s all me. We been doin’ Eastside Productions since 2002. It’s just been a little local thing and then we just been droppin’ albums and gettin’ ‘em out through there and through the internet. Any means of distribution.

GW: How profitable is it? Have you increased in business over the years?
B-CIDE: Definitely. That’s why I know I got somethin’. I’m just like, OK; it’s time to really take it up a notch. This whole thing with Best Buy, with the album, just did something for me personally.

GW: Do you have any kids, baby mamas?
B-CIDE: No, hell no. Not in my plans right now; not until everything is ultra successful and I’m able to have a great life for my child. I come from a home where my father wasn’t really around. Just recently my parents just got back together.

GW: What’s a typical day like for you in Utica?
B-CIDE: Wake up, you know, hit up the computer, see what’s goin’ on with messages and anybody wantin’ to do collaborations. Then we get up and talk about what we wanna get goin’ for the week. Sometimes is might just be plannin’ out an episode of what we wanna do for B TV. We’re actually doin’ that right now, to tell you the truth. That is a little internet show that kinda started and compiled and I put it up on Youtube. I actually just did a video for this other song, “Independent.” We just try and get as much shit done as possible. Some days, we might not do nothin’.

GW: Where are people most likely to find you? Where do you spend most of your time?
B-CIDE: I would say in the studio and my office.

GW: What’s the last artist you listened to?
B-CIDE: In the car, when I was comin’ in, C-Murder.

GW: Do you want to put Utica on the map in terms of mainstream music?
B-CIDE: I wanna put Utica on the map, period, you know what I’m sayin’? I don’t know about necessarily mainstream. Once more than 100 people know what the fuck it is (chuckles) then we’ll go from there.

GW: What will you do to put Utica on the map, to put upstate on?
B-CIDE: If there were people in Utica itself that actually cared about the craft and not hatin’ on everybody and there was more unity, then I would actually give a shit about Utica and the scene and itself. But, everybody is out to get everybody. At one time, everybody was dissin’ Shysty and myself. There was a song called, “Fuck Shysty and B-Cide.” I’m laughin’ at it, ‘cause I just kinda stuck to my grind. I had my blinders on and went forward. I wasn’t goin’ any other way to try to get away from what I was doin’. It helps when the city supports you. This city, it’s like, “Oh, I know Bob. I know Tom. They ain’t rappers.” These small communities, they just don’t know what the fuck is goin’ on. I’ll leave here and go other places, there’ll be bitches on my dick and shit like that.

GW: Have you ever been locked up?
B-CIDE: That ain’t me. I hang out with people that have been locked up but I can’t waste time.

GW: Did I miss anything?
B-CIDE: We’re workin’ on a few new projects, actually. I’m workin’ on a new solo album; it’s called, Utica: The Mob Files. I’m Italian. I touch on that in my song “2008 BC.” That’s pretty much like my life story. That’s on Free Agent. Utica was a mob town back in the ‘40s and ‘50s. I wanted to do a throwback to that. The music itself is not gonna be themed like that. I’m not gonna do Godfather samples. The whole mafia shit’s played out with rappers. There aren’t a lot of rappers that are Italian; they shouldn’t even be doin’ that shit. I like to do shit differently. I’m workin’ on some songs for that [Mob Files]. I got my main producer, GreenRoom Productions. Then, me and Shysty, we’re workin’ on a new Shysty and B-Cide album. We’re tryin’ to get a lot of shit in the works.

www.b-cide.com
www.myspace.com/bcide

By: Ness