In the middle of his Midwest State of Mind tour I had the opportunity to interview Warner Bros. recording artist and Wichita, KS emcee XV. On a cold and snowy Chicago night XV’s mood was positive and upbeat—just like his music.
Since 2006 XV has released countless mixtapes that caught the ear of execs at Warner Bros. Records. The 26-year old emcee signed to the label and is preparing for the 2012 release of his debut album, The Kid with the Green Backpack.
Before XV took the stage for his sold-out performance at Schubas I had the chance to chat with the airy optimistic emcee and asked him about his inspirations in emceeing, working with Just Blaze, and his upcoming album, The Kid with the Green Backpack.
SS: How does it feel to be performing in Chicago?
XV: Aw man, I love Chicago. This is like my fourth or fifth time coming out here performing. It’s awesome being back here. The environment is awesome and I have a great fan-base here. It’s great to be back out here.
SS: How has the tour been so far?
XV: The tour has been good. It’s based in the Midwest so every place that I’m hitting it’s like, my people--people that grew up in small towns where a dream that I’m pursuing doesn’t come true very often. It’s dope to go to these towns like Omaha and Madison, Wisconsin…
SS: Is it really?
XV: Yeah, it really is! You go out there and there’s a kid out there that’s never even been to a rap concert because he’s from Madison, Wisconsin. He looks at me and thinks, “Wow I can do that,” because I’m not from New York or Los Angeles, I’m from Wichita so it’s dope.
SS: What makes artists from the Midwest different than artists from other parts of the country?
XV: I would just say the fact that we’re not regional in a sense that we have a specific sound. In the Midwest we have Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas, and Indiana. None of these places are alike so none of them have the same stories and none of them have the same sound of music. If you’re from New York, whether you’re from the Bronx, Brooklyn, or Harlem you grew up on B.I.G., Big L, and Wu-Tang. The same for L.A., Atlanta, Miami, and even Chicago almost. You grew up Common and Crucial Conflict. I think it gives us a wide range and that’s why you have artists like Kanye West out of the Midwest that could do anything and people allow it—it’s true. If he was a dude from Compton who is to say that he would be able to do and say the things that he’s allowed to say.
SS: Who inspired you to want to emcee?
XV: More than anybody the Notorious B.I.G. Life after Death, that album changed my whole life. I used to take his album and literally rap his lyrics with different words. Those were my raps and it made me want to start doing this seriously.
SS: What’s your favorite song off that album?
XV: I would either say Miss U or Sky’s the Limit. Miss U has such great story telling and that’s what B.I.G. was so great at. Sky’s the Limit reminds me so much of me, “I’m sewing tigers on my shirt, and alligators/You wanna see the inside, ha, I’ll see you later,” it’s like me! I wanted to be so fashionable. I had the fake Levi’s that my mom would buy the actual patch and sew it on some regular denim jeans. I always related to his story even being from the Midwest.
SS: The vibe for the song Awesome was different than a lot of today’s music. What inspired you to write that song?
XV: It was just a good day, man. I played some good video games. I lived my life that day. I heard that beat and it was so feel good. I actually picked out that sample. I’m a big fan of old school R&B. I grew up on soul samples. I grew up on 70’s vinyl so when I heard that sample I didn’t expect it to be so happy. The song we sampled is called Mr. Heartbreak. When we did it, it was so happy it sounded like it would be called Awesome. When you hear me say, “’Cause I feel so awesome,” it goes back to Biggie. The intro of the song I got from Sky’s the Limit. It just felt good. It felt like one of those records that people would be driving around in their cars on a sunny day in Chicago—not a cold, windy, rainy, snowy day. It’s a feel good record.
SS: What was the meaning of the mixtape title Zero Heroes?
XV: As I grow older I continue to lose a lot of the people I looked up to and a lot of the family I looked up to—just the people that were my people growing up. I have a son and I look at it like, I wonder who is gonna be the person to inspire my son? Who is going to do music to change the world? I don’t look out in the music industry and see that often. I feel like we’re losing our heroes. We love the villains, that’s why you’ll go see Dark Knight and everybody will root for the Joker instead of Batman. We love creating the hero to turn them into the villain. That’s why I felt like it was a fitting title for the time. We continue to lose artists like Isaac Hayes, Bernie Mac, and Michael Jackson. Look at people like Dave Chappelle, those were his heroes, too. People that are inspiring now those were their same heroes. It was just a fitting title for the time.
SS: What was it like working with Just Blaze on the song Wichita?
XV: Crazy. I grew up freestyling to Just Blaze records so to be able to be in the studio and watch him not only create a record for me but create a record that had a sample saying my hometown, I never thought you would be able to make a song about where I’m from sound good. He took a Dells sample and made it dope. Sometimes I find myself sitting there and staring at him like a weirdo ‘cause I can’t believe that I’m actually working with Just Blaze but its really cool.
SS: He’s working on the album, right?
XV: Yeah, he’s working on the whole album with me. We’ve actually done about 40% of it. After we finish this tour and another we’re going to go in and complete it for the summer.
SS: Explain the title of your upcoming album?
XV: The Kid with the Green Backpack is the title of the album. The title comes from when I was in middle school, I was actually called that. I was in this program called the IB Program which is like a smart kid’s program. A lot of people didn’t know who I was at lunch or in the hallways because I was in the class with the smart kids. Weirdly enough its segregation ‘cause I didn’t know none of the black kids. When I would go to lunch people would be like, “Who is that dude?” and they’d say, “I don’t know, we just call him the kid with the green backpack.” I used to be all shy and clutching my green backpack. I found this out in high school, a girl told me, “Yeah, we used to call you the kid with the green backpack,” and I said you know what, Im’ma name my debut album The Kid with the Green Backpack. It’s so fitting because when I would do interviews people would call me VX or Fifteen and it was just like being the kid with the green backpack all over again. They didn’t know my name they were like, who is this weird guy? This is going to be the story. The story shows me going from a dude who has no name and no identity and transforming to XV—the person who will soon change the entire world [laughs].
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