“You still workin’ it out like you ain’t heard the announcement.”
Sapient continues to grind his hardest. Snuggled up in between the creative Tusks! campaign and the highly anticipated rock album Slump, we have Gunwings—premiering today and available for free download. Gunwings is a re-visitation of 2010’s Barrels for Feathers featuring all new beats, updated hooks, and a few added treats. It’s an album that showcases what we’ve come to love from this prolific DIYer: hard hitting, multi-layered beats, honest, witty lyrics, and the ability to integrate the two into some of the dopest, most progressive hip hop out there. Barrels for Feathers is arguably Sapient’s best work, and considering his unwavering work ethic and commitment to improvement, Gunwings is sure to be a classic.
We’re on some 60 Minutes shit and ask the questions that matter..
How are the wife and kids?
They are good, thanks! Attilie is like two years and eight months, and Theo is nine months, so as you can imagine it’s crazy around here trying to balance my musical and financial responsibilities with the need to be a present father. It’s definitely more work than I ever imagined, but my wife is a huge credit to my career’s success, she’s a stay at home mom and really is the best mother and wife I could ever wish for. Having small children is rigorous though, I often joke about how we’ll have post-traumatic stress disorder from these times, lol, but my kids are golden. My family gives me a reason to push so hard.
Tell me about Gunwings.
Gunwings is a revisit of my 2010 release Barrels For Feathers. I am bringing back this album and presenting it with a new flavor by creating new beats for all the songs, singing all of the hooks and melodies differently, adding new verses, features and other content. I am very proud of the original album, but due to many circumstances, like a publicist scamming us and various timing issues, Barrels For Feathers never got the proper campaign that I feel the music deserved, as a result it is very slept on. I’ve wanted to do this Gunwings album for a while and with my release schedule being full, I haven’t really had the opportunity till now, and I’m very proud of the result.
Why free?
I made the album in a way that I haven’t made music in a while, which is just sampling whatever I want, however I want, transforming, adding to, and twisting it how I see fit. I paid no attention to copyright laws with this record. Things could potentially become complicated if I licensed the album or set it up with the major online retailers. Plus, I figure Gunwings will be most significant to those who have heard Barrels For Feathers, and since most of my fans already have purchased the record, I thought it would be a nice gift. #ikeepfansinmydebt
Who is your favorite emcee presently and of all time?
Xperience (“XP”)
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Would you rather have a bubble butt or have to write all of your rhymes in bubble letters?
I do write all my rhymes in bubble letters… with spray paint… and I fill them all in and do outlines. It takes me like two weeks to bomb out a verse, and costs like $200. I don’t know what a bubble butt is. Is that like what the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man had?
Do you still skate?
Shit, not much really, but I still got a few thangz. Haven’t you seen my slow-mo 360 flip in “Blissless Yield Remix” music video? We out here.
Will you ever make any of your art pieces available for purchase?
Yes I will, and I have with my last album Eaters Volume One: Tusks! there was a limited pre-order package that include an original 2′ x 2′ mixed media canvas. I hand made each one, and sold quite a few of those. Ballin’.
Are there any artists you’d love an opportunity to work with?
There are a lot of artists that musically I’d love the opportunity to work with, but the way rap politics are, everyone is trying to climb, nobody who is a larger or more well known artist will fux with you or will even listen to your music unless it benefits them publicity-wise or you pay for a feature. This is 100% true, no exceptions (except maybe the Christian version of the genre). Since I won’t pay for features and I am CRUUUUSHING most of the cats that I’d even want to work with, I don’t really care about them. They can get the bozack. I am blessed to be part of the sickest crews in existence, Sandpeople, Debaser, The Prime, so I get my fill of gratifying collaborations (shout out to LMNO as well).
We were born on the exact same day, why haven’t we had a birthday party yet?
Cuz I’m a grown ass man.
I know you’re usually working on multiple projects, what can Sapient fans expect after Gunwings?
The next project will be the long-awaited “indie-rock” (for lack of a better term) album titled Slump. It has been described as sounding like “The Neptunes meets Bjork mixed with a chamber orchestra”. If you are familiar with my music, Slump will be something new yet expected. Songs like “Gladys” and “The Dapper Mob” are the vibe. You will hear much more about this in the coming month or two. After that I have a sophomore album with Luckyiam called Fade. Sandpeople are also putting together multiple releases right now including a European tour.
Immeasurable thanks to Sapient for his time and help. His catalog is probably two beats short because of the time he set aside for the interview… Enjoy the album, follow Sapient on Twitter, and check him out on Facebook. #wewayouthere