Serge Fleury
New York City has always been a place rich with talent. Regardless of what it is, chances are that you can find someone in the Big Apple who’s already mastered it.
With that said, the art of MC’ing is a skill that’s been honed in the realm that harbors over 8 million people since the beginning, and sometimes; it can be a little difficult to keep your name above water.
But one such MC that’s been able to figure out his own lane is New York-bred Bisco Smith, (formerly Bisc1).
From his first record, The Basics right down to When Electric Night Falls; the man who doubles as a graphic design artist; (that’s designed cover art for people like Aesop Rock, MURS, and El-P) has discovered the formula of being original.
Right now, as his newest project The Broadcast circulates all around a city that inspires nothing but aptitude and creativity, the man himself drops in to further break down his train of thought.
iHipHop.com: Right now you have your latest album, The Broadcast making the rounds… So for the people who haven’t heard it yet, what can they expect from it?
Bisco Smith: Well, first of all they’re going to get good music… It’s all real life material, and it’s like therapy too…
iHipHop.com: Did you pretty much keep this project in the same vein as all of your previous work, or did you try something different this time around?
Bisco Smith: When I did Electric Night Falls, J. Vegus pretty tracked the whole album for me, and he engineered it, but he didn’t have all the production. When we came off tour, we discussed what we wanted to get out of the new project, and we just started by creating track-by-track…
So this time around, we both set expectations for each other… We wanted to get a full record, instead of just a few tracks… This project was more of a focused and thought out effort I would say…
iHipHop.com: Was it a conscious effort on your part to go with one producer the whole way, as opposed to trying to get a lot of different sounds?
Bisco Smith: That was one hundred percent conscious… The continuity of the sound is important… During the golden era of Hip-Hop, my favorite group was Gang Starr, because they had this consistent sound… Then Hip-Hop became this multi-producer rock star sh*t. So we definitely sat back, and did this project together, you know?
iHipHop.com: So why the name change? Did you just want to start the year off completely fresh?
Bisco Smith: The other name was created through my graffiti, and I created it when I was really young… I felt like it was a new record, new energy, and new growth… Right now I’m more serious, and I’m more focused…
iHipHop.com: For the people who aren’t too familiar with your work, but wanted to get know your material, how would you describe your music to them?
Bisco Smith: I’m just a fan of some straight up good Hip-Hop music… I’m think I’m paying tribute to classic Hip-Hop music, but I’m not trying to do what they were doing…I would describe my sound as the futuristic B-Boy sh*t, you know? I’m on that 2020 sh*t, I’m trying to think ten years ahead…
iHipHop.com: You also have a little bit of battle history behind you, so with that said, do you feel as if MC’s have to go the battle route in order to get recognized?
Bisco Smith: Definitely not, I’d say no… I mean; who has really ever made it out of circuit besides Eminem? A lot of people say they’re MC’s but they don’t record records… As for me, I’d rather write songs that reflect me as a person…
Why would I want to battle another MC, what is that going to do for me? I don’t care about that at this point… I did that back in the day, and it was fun… But actually, the battles I won all had themes and topics, and it tested your skill more than it tested your wit…
I think battling is probably the way that you’re not going to get a music career… You might get some recognition, because other rappers might like what you’re rapping about, but on a musical career level, it wouldn’t stand…
iHipHop.com: With so many other artists in New York trying to get their own movement off the ground, do you ever find it hard to standout?
Bisco Smith: New York is a good place, but there’s like 10,000 dope rappers… So yes in a sense, but I also think there are few and far between that can f*ck with my skill set; you know what I mean?
I can hit the crowd with some next level sh*t, and there are a lot of skills that I have, but I think people get fixated on the craft… In New York, everybody you see raps, but there are so many that have accomplished so many dope things…