What track first got you into Hip Hop?

Wow great question. I wish I could answer that question but I can’t because it wasn’t a song that got me into hip hop, it was the culture. Me and my brothers grew up as athletes. My parents always loved music in general so we were exposed to a lot of radio and singing in church and school. I just knew that I liked sports and music (and drawing too but mostly cartoon characters). Then my neighborhood brothers introduced me to rap music, dancing, and freestyle flowing. We would hoop in the drive way with mad random kids and blast any hip hop cassette tape we had. Not always in our drive way but if it wasn’t ours it was another kid within a 3 block radius. I just remember the culture taking over our neighborhood like the plague…lol. We all were sharing tapes, working on dance moves (actually I was watching cuz a white boy needed to learn he had rhythm), trying to get the freshest kicks, spitting freestyles raps, or hooping in the drive way while blasting our boombox. I loved everything about hip hop. I became hip hop and have never looked back.

When did you first pick up a mic or a turntable, what was it?

At about 14 or 15 I acquired one of those small but decent karaoke machines with a 2 mic hook up and dual tape deck. Me and my boy Shawn would record songs to instrumentals we got off cassette singles. I think I was 18 when me and my crew the Swollen Headz first hit the stage at Maxi’s in downtown Grand Rapids, MI. Straight ghetto club. They weren’t ready for a multicultural hip hop group. In fact, G-Rap in general wasn’t ready for that.

How did you come up with the name Organic Flow?

Well, the Swollen Headz broke up on good terms due to the fact that we all had different life situations that limited our ability to commit to a group. So me an my brother Dave (White Fang) decided to start a new movement. We simply wanted to encompass life into our flow, name, etc… Life comes from organic material and the message comes from the flow so we just combined the 2 to create “Organic Flow”.

Who are the members of Organic Flow?

Man it’s a long list. We have a motto, “once a part of Organic Flow, always a part of Organic Flow”. All the members of Swollen Headz as well as numerous cats in Miami: Choppy Blades, White Fang, Color Com, Everest, Doom, Mumra, Mean Malo, Leaf, G-Funk, Mimi, Spaz, DJ V, Viper aka Emerg, Disco D, & Fane. I hope I didn’t forget anybody!

What is the goal of Organic Flow?

We just want to stay true to hip hop culture. I could rant for hours about how hip hop has been pimped for every possible cent by an industry that cares nothing about it’s cultural significance or it’s potential social impact but it’s probably just best if we move on.

How does your music communicate with others?

I hope through emotion. Every rhyme that we spit has been written from an emotional perspective. The beats are made the same way. Whether it’s anger, joy, disgust, fear, anticipation, trust, pity, or shame, we just communicate what we are feeling. We know that our lyrics may be somewhat unorthodox, politically incorrect, offensive, or just plain weird. One thing you can always count on with us is that we don’t conform to anyone else’s vision of what we should be or even what hip hop should be. We try and stay honest with ourselves and sometimes that means offending pop rap lover. It’s not intentional but it is honest. You can’t please everyone and we know that very well

You are involved with PATH (Preserving Archiving and Teaching Hip Hop) why is this important to you?

Because of hip hop’s future. I can simply say that I am blessed to be able to volunteer for PATH. Brimstone127 and his beautiful wife Natty have made hip hop’s cultural preservation a priority in their lives and I wish to do the same. By teaching the elements of hip hop culture while instilling social responsibility, civic duty, and the importance of education to youth, they are making a difference not just in individual lives but in the way an entire culture is perceived. So many great people are a part of PATH too. Sekajipo Genes, The BrassKing, Trek 6, Supreme Aaron King, New Cre, and so many more are involved in PATH. I am just blessed to have worked with some of them. I appreciate you linking me with PATH but my contributions are miniscule compared to the people I just mentioned.

You also run the website Hip Hop News Miami, can you tell us a little about it?

Yes. Hiphopnewsmiami.com is a community hip hop site that was designed to be an exclusive social networking tool for Miami hip hop artists as well as promote authentic hip hop culture while cutting off the fat of commercial pop rap. The site consists of an area wide event calendar that only showcases local events that won’t be confused with pop rap shows. There are blogs written about various topics pertaining to hip hop including event reviews and previews. There is a page dedicated to area artists videos and don’t sleep on the “knockouts” page where you can see me either getting knocked out or knocking some Miami hip hop player out. Hilarious. Also the legendary Miami hip hop crew PLAN BEATS has an exclusive page so everyone can stay current with what they are up to.

Where can we listen to your tracks online, and find out the latest on Organic Flow? 

You can find us at www.organicflow.com and download our album “Get Down Syndrome” for FREE at www.soundcloud.com/organic-flow. Also you can read my blogs on www.hiphopnewsmiami.com

Choppy Blades thank you so much for taking time to tell the Lucid Communication family about Organic Flow and where the real hip hop is at.