DCist Music Interview: RPM (Restoring Poetry in Music)
(Interview by DCist contributor Justin Kielsgard)
In the late 70s, through forces still unknown, six different mothers on the East coast gave birth to six different babies, all somehow imbued in the womb with the influences of Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, the Beatles, and Dave Brubeck. The children, all boys, were raised on Voodoo Economics, Marvel Comics, RUN DMC records, and the public school system of the 1980s. Later on in their lives, they somehow managed to find one another and create a musical sound that was completely their own. Incorporating elements of hip-hop, soul, jazz, funk, rock and classical music, Restoring Poetry in Music, RPM, has become a vibrant and unique part of the D.C. music scene.
RPM were the 2005 Emergenza International Battle of the Bands Regional champions and have recently opened for Ozomatli and Rahzel. RPM’s next show is July 25th with The Bonapartes and Greenland at Iota Club & Café in Arlington, VA.
DCist sat down with RPM co-founder and MC Raw Poetic to discuss superheroes, Pink Floyd, and the meaning of Hip-Hop.
DCist: How did RPM (Restoring Poetry In Music) Form?
RAW POETIC: Me and my cousin Marlon formed the group about 5 years ago. It started out just the two of us, but then we decided we needed to put a full band together to expand our sound, to make it more dynamic. I mean, loops are cool and everything, but expanding the sound with live instruments is something different. Also, having a band allows you to blend different musical styles and ideas and it definitely makes for a better live show.
DCist: How would you label your music? In what genre would you include it?
RAW POETIC: We don’t like getting labeled as Hip-Hop or Rock and especially not Jam Band. We aren’t trying to fit into any scene, you know. I feel we can mix with a lot of different types of groups, be it Hip-Hop, Indie-rock, Euro-rock, whatever, and that makes me proud. I feel like we’re jumping into something new.
Personally, I would label us Progressive Hip-Hop, which is a term being thrown around a lot lately. But really, we’re a Hip-Hop Band. Everyone mislabels us.
DCist: What do you consider Hip-Hop?
RAW POETIC: Hip-Hop is a culture. If I was to look at every player in my band and say, “Is this a Hip-Hop thing going on here?” I couldn’t do that. But because we bring different backgrounds and races together, I think that makes us more Hip-Hop than a lot of other music out right now.
DCist: Does the aesthetic of the group determine whether or not it can be considered Hip-Hop?
RAW POETIC: Not all of us have a culturally Hip-Hop upbringing, but musically we are all Hip-Hop. I mean Pat (the RPM guitarist) is white. He’s unassuming, always dresses neatly. But, when he plays, Pat is untouchable. He’s inventive, in tune with everything around him, spontaneous. He epitomizes the Hip-Hop attitude in his music. I mean this is a guy who used to sneak into Blues clubs when he was little. Then he went to college and studied classical music. So, he isn’t culturally grounded in Hip-Hop, but he understands the music. He’s a musician. We all are.
On stage, at the live show, when we’re recording, race, past, day-to-day stuff, it all disappears. In the end, we are just a bunch of guys who have studied our craft, studied our society, and studied our relationships. We are trying to connect with everyone. I think we are Hip-Hop even if we clash the majority of people’s preconceptions about what Hip-Hop should look like and sound like.
DCist: Who are your musical influences?
RAW POETIC: To narrow it down, Hendrix, Radiohead, Tribe Called Quest, and for me, and a lot of people don’t know this, Public Enemy and Pink Floyd. Public Enemy taught me to be educated with what your saying in your songs. They made me look at lyrics differently. Pink Floyd, I listened to them a lot from 17 to 19. I’d start rhyming to their beats just because they were just so psychedelic, you know. And that idea of being psychedelic and at the same time being social and political conscious really hit me. I wanted to be like that: experimental, but meaningful.
DCist: Do you feel your music is social and politically conscious?
RAW POETIC: Yes. In our first album, Dream Awake, there were politically and socially charged songs. The title track is about Christianity and Islam and how that’s a source of conflict in the world today. It’s also personal, though. I mean, in my family there was a constant war between Islam and Christianity.
Another song on that album, "Pockets and Change," is about the absence of the father in the black community. And the thing is, having this many white boys in the group I don’t really say the absence of the black father anymore, but the absence of the Father in American society. There are just a lot of women raising men nowadays. And there’s nothing wrong with that. And there’s something wrong with that.
DCist: Has this “Absence of the Father” affected the group’s sound?
RAW POETIC: When you hear Public Enemy, that’s like your pops up there. Like, “Get It Together,” you know, how Chuck D talks. And with us it's just a little more laid back. We’re easing people into the music and the message instead of smacking them in the face with it. I think our awareness, and especially me having a strong woman raise me, I mean my mother was a Black Panther. It’s just made the way I write and the groups approach smoother, not so hard edged. We know both sides.
DCist: In your songs you make several references to superheroes, which is a relatively common occurrence in Hip-Hop. Do you feel that as an African-American you need to possess superpowers to make it in society, or do you just think Spiderman is a cool dude?
RAW POETIC: That’s funny, because I grew up reading comic books and I still do. I’m definitely influenced by the idea of superheroes as a form of expression and rebellion.
I think a black man’s voice in America has to be powerful. In a group like ours that is so multiracial, I know I have to be confident about what I’m saying or else it will get manipulated. I mean, you know American history and you know how black people have been portrayed. I’m not even talking about slavery, since a lot of people are saying get over slavery nowadays. This history is everywhere. I mean you watched Loony Toons when you were a kid, right? Well, Bugs Bunny used to come out sometimes with big red lips and black face, you know. We’ve been portrayed as clowns and coons. And even today black people are being exploited and in some cases they are exploiting themselves. I mean you’ve got rappers on TV with diamonds in their teeth, you know. I want to tell them, “You’re doing the same thing they were doing to us 50 years ago.”
Superheroes are a metaphor for the history we as African-Americans have to overcome.
DCist: What do you think separates RPM from the rest of the DC music scene and the music scene in general?
We love DC. It’s where we lay our heads and we appreciate our fans so much. They give us a lot of support. But, I think we are very different from most of the groups in the area. I think our music is very life-based. True to what each one of us goes through. It’s the product of our experiences and our influences. I can’t say our music is positive. I have my perversions, like everyone, but our songs are what naturally come out of us. We make honest music.
As my brother Mohammad would say when he was locked down, “No Tenderdickin’” the situation. Our music aims straight. We aren’t pulling any punches. We are serious musicians.