What up Kmass, how's it going man?

Hey man you know I'm just cooling out trying to maintain.

Compare and contrast the difference in scenes between Europe and America?

Well I've been there 4 times in the past 3 years. And I've always said that it was like the nineties. It's pretty much like the late nineties now. They have a lot of local hip hop groups releative to their region, speaking their languages that are starting to build up their respective scenes. The most striking thing is that their are more fans over there it seems. When you go out to a show there, there aren't 50 million people pushing flyers and cdrs in your face about their shows or groups. There seems to be more fans of the music on a basic level vs. here where I feel like we have a lot of artist primarily and fans secondary.

Speaking of which, what happened with Maylay Sparks on tour in Germany, if you care to divulge?

Nothing really. Maylay is my man. He's the primary reason I've been out there the past couple years. He's someone who I looked up to coming up and he has certified classics. Touring is rough for independents. Nothing happened on this tour that hasn't happen and will not probably happen again. It was all good and mos def a learning experience. When it's all said and done? I'd do it again and again and again.

How the hell did you come up with such a dope name? Shit sounds like a name a business agent or some shit.

I tried to keep it a secret for so long, but some clever kids have figured it out. Plus I got cats trying to bite my style. Like some cat I heard about in N.Y. super group the Reavers. Calling himself Keith Masters. For the record that shit is corny money. But it's from Street Fighter II Alpha. The video game. I used to always play as him. And I wanted a really normal/simple "rapper" name so I went with that.

It's a shame the mix on "...Products of Gravity" was so low because that shit had some choice cuts on there, "Theories of Isolation" is my track. Is there any plans to re-release any of those tracks?

Hahahaha! A lot of people say that. Theories of Isolation was actually a track from my Independent as Fu*k! Ep. But what a lot of people fail to realize is that, that jawn is only a collection of a lot of stuff I had laying around from my previous European tours, some cuts from my last 2 Eps and some demo stuff. We didn't master it and it kind of was what it was. Right now I don't have any plans to re-release any of that stuff. But that could change in the future who knows?

Hot Dog City Records is home to some quality punk influenced bands, considering you are a hip hop artist how did you hook up with them?

I used to be a bike messenger with the owner and CEO Rod Bins. He would always throw cool parties for his bands and had a great group of friends in bands he was associated with. I'd played shows with numerous bands on the label. So when things fell apart with my former label (Arrakis Records) and my manager pretty much left me stranded with an incomplete vision of getting me on a larger "independent" label. I approached Rod about getting down with his label. I just wanted to put out records and I still do. And he and that label are doing it in a manner I respect and can get down with. There's a movement right now in Philly. And I believe this label is at the forefront of it. I'm riding for Hot Dog City Record Co. For reals!

Even with the Internet and plenty of varying mediums to get a hold of new music, people still opt to buy popular artists or just burn the albums, especially in the rap and hip hop circles. Why do you think this is?

Well because it's "popular" I guess. Seriously. No jokes. People like trendy things. There's always going to be a market for that. I can't hate the players, just the game. Hahahahaha.

Philly has a lot of quality artists in the hip hop scene (Reef The Lost Cauze, JMT, Adam 12, Side Effect, Digs Darklighter, etc,.) Lots of producers (Happ G, Stress, Eyegodirect, etc,.) and great sites like PhillyHipHop.com, from an outsider perspective it would seem things are peachy keen in Philly, but how would you say the Philly scene is doing?

The Philly scene as a whole in general is great. There's a lot of great things going down. But even though it pains me to say it. I think the Philly hip hop scene is fucking hurting man. Outside of the big tier names (The Roots, Beanie Siegal, etc.) and the middle tier names (JMT, Reef, etc.) and the general underground. Moves just seem stagnant. It's not even an issue of unity. While there are a ton of new groups coming up. It's just the same shit different venue ya dig? And although it's always been cliquish here. It's just out of hand now. I know a ton of unknown djs that have approached certain peeps in the scene to get down on shows, do shows, etc. And have been turned away for whatever reason. It's like unless you're down with so and so. Or on some lightning in a bottle hipster shit. Why try? I give props to those that endure and keep it pushing though.

What are some your timeless records that you will be listening to till the day you die?

Damn there's so many. But right off the top of my head? Smashing Pumpkins-Siamese Dream, Every Ghostface record, Madvilliany, The Strokes-Is This It?, both RjD2 records, Brother Ali-Shadows on the Sun, anything by S-dot-Carter, Beastie Boys-License to Ill/Ill Communications, both Digable Planet records, Souls Of Mischief-93 'til infinity, Del-No Need for Alarm, the first 3 Ice Cube records, Redman-Docs Da Name 2000, Company Flow-Funcrusher Plus, The Shins-Oh Introverted World, Sonic Youth-Goo, Radiohead-Pablo Honey, Cage-Movies for the Blind, all the Roots records, Das Efx the first jawn and on and on and on and on.

You have a very unique style. Did you just fall into it or were you influenced by anyone or anything?

The very specific rappers that influenced my style were first Del tha Funkeehomosapien, Butterfly from Digable Planets, Black Thought, Company Flow, and The Pharcyde. The lone non-rapper that influenced me was Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols.

I know you're involved with various side projects. When can we expect some of them to see the light of day?

Well I wouldn't call them side project really...Hahahahah. they are pretty much the next albums I'm working on ya dig? The most definite and Next up for me is the" JET SET STEREO EP" which is going to be a primer for my solo album THE SCIENCE OF: STYLE & SUBSTANCE. From there it's a toss up. It's either going to be the Casanova Black project or another Premium Underground record. I have some other stuff with some other people in the works. But it's all just loose change at this point.

How did you hook up with Cramske?

We were both busted in a drug raid at this party. We ended up being in the same holding cell. And started talking to each other about our shared interest. Upon our release we got together and started doing some live stuff.