Perseverance is an underrated quality. Following your passions despite numerous obstacles is one of the hardest undertaking a person can face. In fact when most encounter adversity they let their dreams be deferred. Rapper/Producer Omega Johnson has had more than his fair share of set backs. As one-half of group the Mhorlocks and a member of 90's underground crew Critical Mass whose membership included Da Bush Babees, Urban Thermo Dynamics, and Natural Resource, Omega seemed poised on the cusp of New York's resurgent underground wave. Unfortunately, as more often than not, things fell apart. The dissipation of Critical Mass, bad label deals, opposing viewpoints on the direction the that The Mhorlocks should take, caused a split between Omega & partner Pokaface and threatened to place Johnson as one of the many rappers turned to straight 9-to-5er's who have left their true love behind. While the end of the Mhorlocks had left a bad taste in his mouth, with the encouragement of longtime friend/fellow rapper Mr. Man (Da Bush Babees), OJ worked diligently on releasing his first album independently on his own Nunayufake label. With The Blackbird (a.k.a. Issue 1) receiving critical praise Omega Johnson is looking forward to a bright solo career. What does the future hold for OJ, read on….
SK: What up fam? For those who aren't familiar with you or your work introduce yourself...
Omega Johnson: What up my dude! Heads tend to know me as OJ from that Bronco, short for Omega Johnson... in my past I was more recognized as Mr. Omega, or Dok Who of the Mhorlocks.
SK: How did you come up with the name Omega Johnson?
OJ: I believe in the cycles of life... each death brings about a new life, each end a new beginning. 'Omega' signifies "The Last', that brings about the newness, that push that moves the cycle of music along. I've stuck by that for a long time now, and Johnson's my family name so I wear that with a shiny badge.
SK: The Blackbird is your first release right? But you have been in the game a long time... How come you haven't released an album up until now?
OJ: Yeah, The Blackbird is my first that made it to sunlight... I've been in and out of studios recording material since about '88, as part of various groups. Most of the time, my groups were unsigned and working on demos that we would shop to labels, but looking back we were unpolished, even though we always had our own fans and following. The Mhorlocks were a part of Makin' Records, along with Natural Resource (Jean Grae's old group), Pumpkinhead, Bad Seed, O.B.S., and others. We easily had enough material for multiple albums, but aside from what I can only diplomatically call 'things going haywire', the Mhorlock unit eventually parted ways, which always puts a cramp in an album. For The Blackbird, I took a long break before I even decided to get back in and put the CD out. I was urged on by Mr. Man, that's my fam... He basically told me there was no way, reason, or excuse as to why I COULDN'T do it. So I got over my bad attitude about the state of hip-hop and put together a collection of what was in my heart at the time.
SK: You still represent your crew The Mhorlocks. Is it that just you at this point or are there others involved?
OJ: Nah I ain't slammin' Poka like that, our split didn't have beef, at least not on the surface. That split, like a few other alliances, came as a result of heads lettin' others get in their ears. Poka didn't hate me, but those who did couldn't help but say what they wanted, and when haters talk shit in your ear, you have a choice to do you, or listen and follow the direction of others. The Mhorlock split was like icing on the cake when leveled with the way things ended up with Makin' Records, but it's all relative, ya know? Mhorlocks is really more of a collective at the moment than a music group. Poka and I still speak, and he's still got love for the Mhorlock name. Then you got others that are foundation family like Steel Dreams, Ruck Da Archangel, and Mr. Man. Each has their role to play but except for Mr. Man, the others aren't active with the art like that right now.
SK: You mentioned that it was Mr. Man who helped push you. Wasn't The Blackbird originally supposed to come out through his label Monster Truck Audio?
OJ: Yeah, it was, but MTA wasn't really ready to run with it due to its own situations, so that's what I consider the nature of the business. It was actually meant to be a joint release between MTA and my own company, The Nunayufake Project. I've only heard a chosen few say it right the first time, so for the record, it's "None Of Your Fake" as if you said it in Jamaican Patois in one heavy burst... Don't forget! (laughs) Mr. Man also advised me on pushing forth with TNP because ownership is that good shit. Our arrangement is of a publishing nature, as opposed to me signing under the MTA banner, so I still rep for that team even though I'm not a formal artist on that roster.
SK: Have you been happy with the response to the album so far? I mean both critically and commercially?
OJ: Good question... Critically, it's been what I expected, if not better. Being my own worst critic, I always finish a project thinking I can surpass it no matter what, so I try not to compare the people against myself. What I got from the people was that The Blackbird was a true example of classic hip-hop, without all the frills, glitter, and nonsense, which is what I wanted to hit people with. Commercially it's been almost exactly what I expected. You have a number of dynamics that an Indie artist comes up against... some get past it, some don't. One is the numbers game. Out of all the people that listen and sincerely dig your material, only a small percentage will say that they'll buy it. Out of that, a small percentage will actually visit the store for your shit, and of that, a small percentage will pull the trigger to actually buy it. Without getting into the other dynamics, combined they add up to a lack of commercial fanfare if you don't have the dollars to make it bang like that... you'll always run the risk.
SK: A lot of independent artists I've talked to have emphasized the importance of the world market as opposed to the US market. Take DITC for instance they are relatively unknown here but have a huge market in Japan. Have you thought about concentrating the continued marketing of The Blackbird and your future projects in the international marketplace instead of domestically?
OJ: Definitely! You'd be as ignorant as George Bush to think that the U.S. should be your only concern. Aside from the fact that your potential fan base increases, you stand a much better chance of having your music recognized to begin with. Sad to say, but the majority of listeners in the U.S. don't have open minds. If it's not on your major mainstream radio station or spun by your absolute favorite turntablist, chances are you haven't even heard of the artist, much less tried to listen. We've heard the stories of DJs and Station Managers takin' payola... it can't ALL be just accusations if you're hearing it so often, can it? Don't fool yourself. Almost anyone in this industry can be bought and sold like Alex Haley's ancestors.
SK: Why do you think that the overseas markets are more open to listening to music?
OJ: American Hip-Hop is used to treating yesterday's classics like old news. You have kids in the US that are under 17 and barely recognize Erick Sermon, and look at the Strictly Business or Business Never Personal albums and say "EPM-who?" Overseas, they're less hesitant to look at older artists as has-beens, because if it rocks, it rocks. Das EFX never really got garbage, they just fell out of the scope of the majority of American ears. We still have yet to find another genre that does this. A Jazz artist that doesn't recognize the works of Coltrane or Gillespie is damn near an outcast. Rock; and you don't see the genius of Hendrix? Don't even touch the guitar. We burn through our artists like wayward comets, and one day the same will happen to many of those that are selling now. Maybe to surpass that we need to die violent deaths like B.I.G, Tupac, and Big L. Internationally, the people simply aren't quite as subjected to the distinct programming tactics of the labels and media, if anything it's more about what's marketable to them, but any artist can stand a chance as long as they actually have that marketability.
SK: I've always noticed that. I think it's even got worst in the recent years. You have these people saying "I'm not a rapper, I'm a hustler" or "I don't know anything about Hip-Hop, I'm just hustling." I think Hip-Hop is the only art where you can get away with that and it is acceptable. No Jazz artist is denying that they actually appreciate the art of the music. Is the fact that your music may not be truly appreciated here discouraging?
OJ: It used to be. Hip-Hop is so built on images in America that even the fans act funny at times, and it appears to affect Black people the most. When the Mhrolocks ran through the underground show circuit in NYC, you noticed a dynamic... non-Blacks had an open appreciation of the music, while Blacks would act rather emotionless in public, but give you mad props as you left. Either way is good, but why hide the fact that you enjoyed something that wasn't mainstream? It's like the Civil Rights Era all over again, and I feel like Malcolm, tellin' heads about how our conditioning has been conditioned. The people decide what they're told to decide... it's a sad state of affairs. Sure, it'd be great to be openly appreciated for my works by my American Black people, but Marcus Garvey went through the same trials and tribulations for his words... he wasn't appreciated until people saw what was really good, and it was too late to do anything. Through all that, Marcus kept his convictions in his heart, so how can I not do the same? By the time I founded TNP and started on The Blackbird, I was well past the point of seeking appreciation on the level I wanted when I was younger. Now it's more of looking to put words out there to be heard and absorbed. You can love it or hate it, but you'll recognize it no matter what, and that's what counts.
SK: I'm glad you haven't got frustrated to the point where you were ready to give up. That happens to a lot of people. Let's talk about the concept of N-Free music for a minute. Explain what N-Free is to our readers and why you felt it was necessary to take that stance?
OJ: N-Free was created so that the N-Word is only used in its original definition and intent. What that means is, if my song is callin' you "my nigga", it's not N-Free. If my song talks about how Blacks were treated as niggers and had their fathers and husbands killed in front of them to induce fear, it's still N-Free. Being N-Free is a choice and not a regulation. Music still has space for damn near everybody, so that's not an issue. I've used the word a lot in past songs and projects. If I decide to release any early Mhorlocks work you'll hear that up in it. Thing is this... no matter how heads want to say that they're looking to put a positive spin on 'nigga', it's canceled out the minute you use the word in a negative light again... then what's the difference? The original meaning is never going to go away; it's instinctive within us to use that word with malice. You've taken away nothing at all. More importantly for me, I don't want my future kids to learn using that word from the start like so many have. It shouldn't be such a part of their lives. There are those that don't prefer to hear the word at all from an artist, yet might be diggin' everything else they hear. By carrying the N-Free mark on music, the listener is given a choice they can make for themselves... they take back the power to listen to what THEY wanna listen to, and who says they want to hear that word in everything they hear? It's not like the word 'nigga' is some sort of special spice that makes a track bang... if you took it out of a song, and the song was rendered trash, then guess what? That artist was trash too, and you just found out.
SK: The interesting thing is I didn't notice the absence of the word from the CD. It didn't detract or distract me from the CD. I know there are other artists who refuse to use the word "nigga" in a positive sense. Incarnate and Mario Dones come to mind, have you thought of extending your N-Free brand to other artists?
OJ: The N-Free mark is free for any artist to use, so long as it meets those guidelines. There's a list of FAQs and usage guidelines, as well as the mark itself for download, at http://www.nunayufake.com/nfree. I've gotten a number of messages from record companies and artists that support and intend to follow the guidelines of the mark. Of course, most of them are international entities; which just goes back to what I said earlier about American Hip-Hop.
SK: Outside of a remix by Cenzi, you produced the entire Blackbird album yourself. When did you start producing? And are you looking to produce artists other than yourself?
OJ: I guess you can say I've been producing since mid-year '89, but those first three joints I did... WOOOO... I'd let you hear some but I might hafta kill ya! (laughs)... I swear it was just hard drums, vocal samples, and laid vocals, with a touch of the turntablist. No other instruments at all. That's great for some classic Run-DMC jumpoff, but 1989?? Not when you had Marley Marl out there causin' a fuckin' PROBLEM over them speakers. Wild shit is, when I performed one of those songs at Brooklyn Tech High School that May, the people showed me extra love and I didn't look back. I did some gradual improvements, with my own beats and with one or two joints for one of my old pre-Mhorlocks fam, BMAD... then I really started makin' some fuller production in '90, for myself and another old fam named Craze... both those dudes were nasty with it in triplicate. Yeah, I did The Blackbird on my own, and Cenzi hit me with somethin' in about the 9th hour that I went with, "Rock of Ages," which he also remixed for the bonus cut. Aside from Mr. Man (who don't count as a real guest since he's Mhorlocks) I decided that this album, and possibly the next one or two would be pretty much all me lyrically, except for maybe a true choice guest appearance... because I don't see enough solo rap artists that hold down their own album anymore, not without multiple guest appearances scattered over it like fixins an' shit. That's all good, but I like to hear albums and know that the artist can be listened to over the course of the album holdin' it steady... it's more of a sign of longevity to me. If you got an album of 10-14 songs, I shouldn't hear guest MCs on more than maybe 3 songs max. Remember Long Live The Kane? Illmatic? Lyte As A Rock? Follow The Leader? The Great Adventures of Slick Rick? Every EPMD album? To me, that's one of the reasons these kats deserved the honors they get. Great albums of stand up MCs. Down the line, I may use more and more producers, but I know me... I'm a picky bastard (laughs)... If I don't feel a track is for me, I don't go with it... and sometimes I come across a track that I dig hard but don't get to really do with it what I want, or that I feel matches the potential of the track, like with m'man 5XL. I do plan to produce for other artists in times to come, especially when I have my new setup fully arranged.
SK: I agree on the number of guest appearances on albums. Some artists get outta control with the number of people that appear on their albums. Listening to your album, a lot of the texturing in your beats reminds me of early Bomb Squad production, you even remade "Black Steel In The Hour of Chaos" ("Rap Real in the Hour of Chaos"). Would you say they are big influences on you?
OJ: HUGE influence. The Bomb Squad was one of Hip-Hop's production dream teams, in my opinion... I would listen to them, Pete Rock, Premier, and I would listen to how they made their instrumental tracks, whether by samples or live instruments, and with the Bomb Squad in particular, how they might pick out pick out particular sounds that were overlaid into tracks. On top of that, I was a big Public Enemy fan for years, right from Yo! Bum Rush The Show, for the way Chuck would push his statements out there and try to bring real messages to the people, and deal with the aftereffects when they happened. I've had this idea to pay homage to different groups I've had respect for, one per CD. I did PE first because it happened to come natural to me, and doing a take on "Black Steel..." would be one that others haven't done, and I like being different and abnormal.
SK: You have a lot of social commentary in your music like PE too. That is something that isn't found on urban radio anymore. Why do you think that is? I mean I find it funny that a country group like the Dixie Chicks has more balls than most of the popular MC's.
OJ: There's a bunch of reasons for that. One is that the people don't demand to hear songs of that kind. They allow the labels to feed them instead of pickin' up their own forks. Variety radio used to be a multilevel venture--at one point you had Doug E. Fresh, Whodini, A-Ha, and Hall & Oates play on the same station during a day. That got turned into stations separated by genre, but at least you had BDP, Big Daddy Kane, De La, Black Moon, and Tone Loc on in the same couple of hours, and that was your scaled-down variety radio. The labels realized that an ignorant crowd will spend their money blindly... so they pushed to have more of your base emotions expressed on heavy rotation, rather than your rational thought, your stimulators, your knowledge. Same thing ends up applying to video channels as well... we all heard about the infamous list of artists that VH1 claimed they would no longer play, such as Native Tongues and BCC families... which was amusing because they then placed their videos on another channel; VH1 Soul, which isn't available for everyone because they don't push for the cable/satellite companies to pick it up, and who knows how many people even know this. Any thug MCs with political views ain't gonna really say 'em because they wanna keep their ignorant listeners, and they're afraid of losing any ground towards mainstream play. Jadakiss says one line on George DumbOfYou Bush in "Why?" and heads got up like it was a huge compelling line, but c'mon fam... He asked a question... is that all you can handle? What if Jada made a full-on statement as a verse? Will the radio let it play? Nah. Don't hold your breath.
SK: Do you have any other future plans? Have you started on your next album?
OJ: I've been working things really slow, but yeah, the new album is in the works. I'm sittin' on new levels of being picky, so I may even piss off some (more) people in getting this done. Issue #2 is still supposed to be titled Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, but I can't guarantee that that's the album that'll come out of me. I have a particular thought in mind for that issue, and some songs are already written, but what's coming out of me now seems a little different as well. So what may happen is that Issue #3 will be released first, depending upon how things turn out, with Issue #2 released as a back story, similar to Masta Ace putting out The Long Hot Summer after Disposable Arts. I'm really trying to work on churning out the ideas in my head and seeing where it all fits, which may not even be with me, but maybe another artist who fits the track better. I definitely plan to make more joints for remixes of other artists. Mr. Man and I have resolved to work on more tracks like "Dark Matter". A Brother Named George and I are destined to get some nice collabos in. The rugged part of it is funding yourself while trying to do this. It ain't like you have heads hittin' you with angel money. You're a true indie, and you're funding your business with funds you earned elsewhere. When shit don't sell, regardless of the reason, it can be frustrating and draining, but you keep pushin', because... fuck it, it's what you do. I'm in the process of upgrading my studio setup, which is more money spent, but for better results, so it's gonna get done. When that's complete, I'll feel more ready to lay vocals in a certain comfort, real or illusionary.
SK: I noticed the cover of The Blackbird looked like that of a comic book, it sounds like you are planning to continue that with future albums... What made you come up with that concept?
OJ: I've always been into comics, sci-fi, animation, action flicks... even now I watch a lot of anime and study the way characters are drawn, plots are written, personalities, and how much gets reflected from reality. To me, putting together my albums is placing me, as a person, into this adventure that I'm giving the people. I can't say that I'm the hero of the adventure, more like a protagonist anti-hero... I tend to be considered a complex person that has some moral center, but gets hated on by a lotta people. I'm definitely planning to keep the comic book layout for each album... it's like EPMD making every album title about Business. Depending on how far the albums go, there will eventually be a certain string of issues that I want to merge into a banner or poster when put together. I may start with these next albums, but I'm not sure yet.
SK: You've been in and around the music industry for over a decade, what is the most important lesson you've learned?
OJ: I think my answer to that may change or rotate over time, because there's always more to be learned... but at this point in my experience, I think it's that the power you get in this industry is the power you take within yourself... the music business has never been for the success of weak souls, but for the cultivation and control of them. That's the lesson that convinced me to begin TNP and put the OJ material out there for myself.
SK: OK...I could probably go on with more questions but I think it's best to end here. Any final words, shout outs, etc.?
OJ: True, this could go right into 2008, it's all tip of the iceberg. My advice to the readers... be about it. Don't just listen and dig an artist that ain't the popular shit, support that muhfucka and MAKE him or her the popular shit. My advice to the artist... be about YOU. Stop fuckin' with just some image some dude told you was hot for someone else. My advice to everybody... stay tuned. The Blackbird is out there, the next issue of Spitkickboxer adventures are comin', my man A Brother Named George is comin', Dub Rock All-Stars, formerly Bush Babees, are comin'... if me and my cousin Taj Mahal connect, he's comin' too. Acknowledge to my Mhorlocks, Spitkickers, Okayplayers, family, and special loves... no names (laughs).
