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The Visionaries Interview

The Visionaries

Contributed by Kevin Lu on 6/15/07

Los Angeles-based hip hop group The Visionaries are an independent sextet comprised of emcees 2Mex, Key Kool, Dannu, Lord Zen, LMNO and DJ Rhettmatic. Key Kool co-founded the Up Above record label which the group has been under since 1998. Visionaries has released 4 albums: Galleris in 1998 Jinx in 2000, Pangaea in 2004 and most recently, We Are the Ones (We’ve Been Waiting For) in the fall of 2006.

The group’s music has been featured on the MTV feature-film “Volcano High,” the Warner Bros. blockbuster film “Ocean’s Twelve” and one of the highest selling video games of 2005, “Blitz: The League.” They have also graced the stage with industry heavyweights Wu-Tang Clan, Mos Def, Talib Kweli and others on one of hip hop’s largest events, the 2006 Rock the Bells tour. In addition, the Visionaries performed at the 2nd annual Paid Dues Festival in San Bernardino, CA with independent favorites Sage Francis, Blackalicious, Atmosphere among others.

Drop Magazine caught up with The Visionaries (minus 2Mex, who was feeling under the weather that day) to answer a couple questions after an in-store at Access Hip-Hop in Pacific Beach, CA.

Drop Magazine: How did you guys come together?
DJ Rhettmatic: Basically, everybody came from different parts of California. Most of us came from L.A., obviously Dannu’s from San Diego” (Dannu is from nearby Spring Valley, Calif. and it was established in the beginning that the show would lack many of the curse words found in typical hip hop shows when “Uncle Rhett” forced Dannu’s young nieces and nephews to go earmuffs and was called out for it). It’s kind of like six degrees of separation. Zen was working with Key, Key and LMNO used to be in a group together, I met 2Mex through Rakaa Irish Science and Dialated Peoples. Zen and Dannu had their own crew with another person who was also from San Diego. I met Key through a common friend who happens to be the president of Up Above now. It just happened when I first met Key, that’s when it was just like a domino effect and I started meeting everybody. I actually know Zen too, we didn’t know each other, we’d seen each other at the clubs. There was also a dancer we knew also. It’s just kind of like six degrees of separation, especially when you’re in hip hop, even though it’s big, it’s small. I was just doing my thing, DJing and all that crap.

DM: Where did you guys find the inspiration for Ones?
Lord Zen: Man, we had a lot of… Mike the Poet sent us a Hopi tradition.

Rhett: This guy named Mike the Poet, a spoken word artist, it’s something like Key… he had a thing that said “we are the ones,” basically. And if you would read the poem, it was like, basically, it was up to us, saying finish what you need to do.

Zen: We’re looking for something outside ourselves, all you’re doing is discovering yourselves in the process and that’s pretty much what we did. Through us coming together, it just seemed like the right thing. There’s this email, we get this email and it just spearheaded the whole thing.

Key Kool: And basically taking the blame out of pointing fingers and putting it back on us as the hip hop culture altogether to keep on doing it,

DM: Ones is now your fourth album, where are you looking for it to take you? Is there a certain level you’re trying to reach?
Key: Always. We just live right, live healthy. Pretty much, we want to be on the point where we’re just on the road and doing this our whole lives.

Rhett: We just want a chance to put on good music the way we want it and be lucky enough to do it, period.

DM: What do you have to say about the rumors that J-Dilla sold you his last beat before his passing?
LMNO: You said the key word, rumor. (Pointing at Rhett) this man sprung for Dilla.

Rhett: I guess I’ll clear it up. Basically, I was the last one to go on the road with J-Dilla. He asked me to DJ for him on his last tour in Europe, Dilla, Frank and Dank, Fat Cat and myself. I’ve always known Dilla for a while, but usually he brings J. Rocc to DJ. J. Rocc’s the tour DJ ’cause he’s part of Jaylib also. Basically through the tour I was able to get close to him and Mrs. Yancy, who was his mother. And when the crew found out I was going to go to Europe with Dilla they said, “yo, you better get a beat from Dilla.” And you know, this was Dilla, so towards the end of the tour, I actually go “yo, Dilla, I got a group called The Visionaries, and I don’t want to insult you or anything, but I would like to get a beat from you,” and he goes, “it’s all good, man.” And in all honesty, we were one of the few people that were able to record with him even when he was sick. He was actually able to listen to our song before he passed away. I mean, he was finishing up other stuff, too. Like he was really finishing up The Shining, he was still working even while he was sick, even when he got back home from Europe. We got approval from him, after we recorded it, played it for him, and he gave the thumbs up. I know some people might not like it, what we did with it. To me, personally, if Dilla gave me the thumbs up, I don’t care what anybody else says.

DM: You guys planning on staying at Up Above for the near future?
Rhett: If it’s right, you’ll never know. You don’t know what the future holds, but Up Above has been with us for awhile. Who knows? We’ll see.”

DM: Where was Ones recorded?
Rhett: Back home, home studios. We’ve got a studio at Up Above, I’ve got a studio at my place, places here and there, and we just mix it down. We have an engineer to mix it down, and then have it mastered.