or sign in with email

Exclusive: Planet Asia Breaks Down The Construction Of 'Black Belt Theatre'

 

Planet Asia is an award-winning emcee who has set the standard since the early 90s with his lyrical prowess and multifaceted brand of hip-hop. He has gathered multiple awards over the years, including The Source’s Independent Album of the Year for his LP How the West Was Won, as well as The Grand Opening. He’ll be releasing his 10th album studio, Black Belt Theatre, on February 28.

Q: What’s the story behind the marriage of blaxploitation and kung-fu themes in Black Belt Theatre?

A: I’m a fan of that movie Black Dynamite. I had it on DVD. I was falling asleep watching it all the time, and was like ‘Yo I really like what they did with that film because it’s kind of cheap.’ It wasn’t super-acting, and you could tell the clips were just going from one clip to the next, and I was thinking ‘We need an abundance of that,’ so I was just into that mode. I got the concept for Black Belt Theatre not only from martial arts, but from being a black man, of course, so I’m thinking ‘Black Belt’ and, like in Utah how they have the Bible Belt area, I was thinking like that, like Black Belt areas. That’s really what the core essence of what Black Belt Theatre was really about. It’s basically a little black continent mixed with a little bit of blaxploitation and martial arts. I have to give RZA credit for that on Bobby Digital. He had the black exploitation type thing going on with that.

Q: You’ve got over 20 emcees and seven different producers on the album. What was the process behind putting these tracks together and organizing who would be on what song?

A: It’s kind of mathematical and organic because, [for example] the song with Ras Kass and Torea [“Classical”] was a Religion track that was already done, and he wanted to me add a verse, so that was just an add-on. [I went solo] on “Whirlwind Patterns” because we were at DJ Quickie Mart’s crib and I felt like I didn’t have enough Religion joints on the album. He’s the one that kind of set this whole thing up, so I wanted to do a solo joint on one of his songs, so while they were out here in L.A., we went to my man’s crib and got busy.

Q: Since there are so many people, how did you go about saying ‘Hey, Talib, I want you for this track,’ ‘Paul Wall, I want you for this track,’ ‘Fashawn, I want you for this track,’ and know what you wanted to put them on?

A: When I do these songs I listen to the beat and I listen to see who I hear on the beat. As far as the Raekwon joint [“No Apologies”], I had all these Oh No beat CDs, and when I had the opportunity to do a song with Raekwon, those are the beats I had. I was like ‘This is perfect. An Oh No track with Planet Asia and Raekwon, the idea of that sounds perfect,’ so I picked a joint, put my verse on it, and I sent it to Rae, and when Rae got to L.A., I took him to the studio to record his verse. I was there when he did his verse, and we both did the hook together, so that’s how that came together organically. Rae’s one of my favorites, so I kind of know the vibe of music he likes, the soulful music, so that was kind of easy for me.

I’ve known [Talib] Kweli over a certain amount of years; when I did that [song] with him, I took Dirtydiggs to his studio and we just went through beats. We ran across the beat for “Grown Folks Talkin” and we just started pinning it up right there. I dropped my verse, he came in and dropped his--he even wrote the hook--and it just came together.

As far as Camp Lo, I met Camp Lo in the Czech Republic. We did a couple shows out there. We had so much fun that I was like ‘Yo, we gotta do something just for the fact of how much fun we’ve been having. Next time y’all come to Cali, let me know,’ and while I was working on my album, they happened to be out here with Doodlebug from Digable Planets, and I was like ‘Yo, we should record,’ and they ended up staying for a week. I took them to the studio, we did a joint, and we had a lot of fun. We was really having a party during that time. It was bottle popping. Exactly what you hear on that song is exactly what was happening.

Willie the Kid is one of my favorite young dudes, and Fashawn is too. I already had the verse for Willie the Kid, and it just came to my mind that I should have Fashawn on the song [“F*ck Rappers”] too. Paul Wall’s always been one of my favorite rappers too. He’s a lyrical dude, and I don’t think he gets the credit as an emcee, so I was like ‘Let me put him on a hardcore joint with me that’s up-tempo,’ because you’re used to hearing him on kind of slower, mellow beats. Every time I play that song for people, they’re like ‘Yo, Paul Wall is murdering that sh*t.’ That’s the reaction I wanted, because I always felt he could be on some harder sh*t.

Q: You’ve found a lot of success as an independent artist, and have been through the industry gauntlet over the years. What advice would you give to all of the independent emcees?

A: The best thing I could say, and it’s real from the heart: just be yourself, because no one can be better than you but you. That’s the best advice I could ever give to anyone. Be yourself, stick to your guns, because you might not be popping right now, but your wave might come back. Two, three, four years ago, nobody wanted to hear the kind of music I make, or the kind of music that’s popping now, but there was such a void from this music that there became a demand for it. Kind of like vinyl. When I came into the game, vinyl was very lucrative. Then they took vinyl away, but now vinyl is more lucrative again because they took it away, so I say stick to your guns, because you never know when your train might roll down, and you’ve got to meet opportunity with preparation. I’ve never seen anyone lose doing that.

Q: Having been through much over the industry landscape over the years, how do you feel about the industry as a whole right now?

A: The picture’s great. At this point it’s just about promotion. They have that 360 deal, I don’t think that’s a great thing to sign into if you’re an artists just coming out, but as far as being independent, it’s the Internet. You have all these websites that support hip-hop, and it’s really hard to find a contract with a big label. You can get at a subsidiary label and market yourself properly and make some noise and keep your money, so when you do these shows you can collect your money and nobody’s in your pocket. That’s really where the money comes from, from publishing and shows. And trying to get to others things outside of CDs, like movie soundtracks, product placement and branding yourself.

Q: Do you think going through a smaller label is going to get Black Belt Theatre to the audience you’re looking for?

A: That’s like saying ‘Do you think all of your shows are going to be packed.’ Honestly, I can’t really even tell you. I’ve been on labels with all kinds of money that couldn’t sell a record to save their life, and I’ve been with guys that didn’t have too much money and sold records, so you just never know. It could be the timing, the air [laughs]. I don’t know, man. I’ve seen records do good out of the blue, like how we [Strong Arm Steady] did on the In Search of Stoney Jackson Stones Throw album with Madlib. We hadn’t planned on the album making as much noise as it did, and it did, and we were being nonchalant about it, and that’s how I am about my music. I just make my music and put it out there for people to listen to. I can accept the fact that I might never be that big superstar. As long as people know I’m ill, I’m cool with that. When I die, I just want you to know I was an ill cat who didn’t do no whack sh*t, like ‘Man, I loved when he was around.’

Hit up Planet Asia on Twitter at @PlanetAsia, hit up his Facebook, and pre-order Black Belt Theatre on vinyl and CD at Wandering Worx Entertainment.

---

 

Pick up the new ology.com iPhone app for free over at iTunes.

Want to connect more with fellow Hip-Hop Ologists? Join the discussion over on My.Ology.

Follow JT Langley on Twitter: @GlantonSlang

Recommended Ologies: