Xperience (aka XP) is using crowdfunding as a way to help produce his new music video, and it just might be your chance to have Macklemore leave you a personalized voicemail OR even jump on a conference call with XP and The King of Thrift Shops. Don’t expect these luxuries to come cheap though. The personalized voicemail will cost you $1,000 and the conference call will cost you $5,000 – that’s $1,000 per minute for those of you who struggle with math. (On the value side, think of all the savings you’ll get after picking Mack’s brain on the secrets of thrifting!)
XP is an extremely versatile emcee and member of the groups Oldominion, Th3rdz and Step Cousins. He spent the end of last year touring the country with Macklemore (who makes up the other half of Step Cousins) on The Heist Tour.
We caught up via FB Chat. #OutHere
How’s life?
Life is good, just been busy with this new project.
What can we expect from it?
Well, it’s produced by MTK, it’s way more hype than anything I’ve done. It’s called The Revelations EP. Some of my best work in my opinion. I focus on violence among youth on this a lot album.
Are you working with an independent label? Or putting it out yourself?
I’m in the middle of figuring that out. I might shop the EP as a package with the LP, or I might release the EP independent and use that to shop the LP.
I feel like Th3rdz might be the most slept on group in the Northwest. Is that frustrating? Or is it just part of the lifestyle at this point?
The NW sleeps on everybody, until they do something so crazy that [their success is] undeniable. But you can’t even really blame them because everybody raps now. But when we travel outside of the NW, we get mad love from everywhere. I’m creating a universal sound now, you have to make the NW want to hop on that train that’s already pullin’ off.
Any guest features on the new project?
Yeah. Macklemore, Dee1, Casual, Ashley Dubose from minneapolis, Open Mic Eagle…
How has it been watching the other half of your group Step Cousins, Macklemore, explode into the biggest star in Hip Hop these last 18 months?
Inspirational and educational actually. I’ve learned a lot by touring with him. I was actually the stage manager for The Heist tour.
What were a few of your biggest takeaways from the tour?
The thousands of new friends and fans I met, and the new opportunities that arose out of it. My stage presence is twenty times better because of it. I had to master how to control a crowd with just myself on stage, hard to do in front of 2,000 people. I also saw a lot of the business side of it, how to attack the market, how to brand yourself, how to make your name a package.
All things Macklemore has become a master of. I saw you have him included on a few of your high end Kickstarter rewards. How did those ideas come about?
I thought of them just being funny, then we were like, ‘that shit might just work!’
Haha. Yeah, a couple of Macklemore retweets shouldn’t hurt! Any last thoughts?
The Revelations EP will blow peoples mind, with this Kickstarter they have a chance to be involved! Let’s get the word out!