Bronx-based Breeze Embalm’s Brand of ‘Not So Bad’ Hip Hop

Breeze Embalm, winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest for hip hop, talks about about his delayed exposure to rap, his songwriting approach and poking fun at the one percent.

You’ve described yourself as initially detached from the hip hop world. What about the genre eventually won you over? Do you think your later interest in hip hop gave you a fresh perspective on the genre?

Growing up it was pretty easy to not listen to rap. I didn’t really like hanging out with people and I spent most of my time at all kinds of art exhibits and rehearsals for my mom’s shows. A lot of art was around me but no hip hop. Going to high school changed all of that, I went to high school in the Bronx and it was very hip hop-heavy. That’s when I started to look at it very differently as something to be respected. My delayed interested in hip hop definitely has played a big role on my musical take on it. I have two songs on Embalming Fluid that are just rock, that definitely comes from that.

Do you think hip hop makes a better conduit for expression than any other genre?

I don’t know that I agree hip hop is the best conduit for expression. It’s up there, but I think it requires too many words at times where sometimes saying less is the best way to communicate.

https://soundcloud.com/breezeembalm/breeze-embalm-not-so-bad-prod-vytal-lynx

You’ve won the John Lennon Songwriting Award for your debut EP, The Ceremony Of Nadir. Can you elaborate on the writing process for this particular EP? What about the EP, do you think, really spoke to people?

I was caught in a weird space where I realized I was relying on too many people for my career and it has lead to me being at a standstill. That EP was a direct response to wanting to have as much control as I could. I hit up my boy Joey Keaze in a hurry and said something to the extent of “I need like 5 beats with no samples ASAP!”.  The track “My People” that actually won the award, wasn’t supposed to be on the project. I originally used that beat for end credits but one of my boys told me the beat was too good to waste. So on the day the EP was supposed to be released I wrote and recorded the track “My People” and threw it in last minute

Can you describe your creative process? Do you consider yourself a structured songwriter or whimsical one?

If I had to choose I would call [my songwriting approach as] a guided whimsical-ness. I rarely have a full concept before I start a song. I just press play on a beat until a dope flow pops in my head, the first line usually gives me an idea of song topic.

Can you tell us a little bit about your album Embalming Fluid? Would you call it a concept album?

There is a concept, it’s lightly sprinkled. I have a lot of musical story lines and concepts that are also lightly touched on in The Ceremony Of Nadir. I hope to one day dive deep, but for Embalming Fluid I touch on the implications of death and it’s relation to the human psyche.

For your single “Bread whinnerS,” what kind of atmosphere were you trying to create with this track and video? Can you elaborate on the use of the term “whiners”?

“Bread whinnerS” is one of the few exceptions of having the concept before I started writing. When I heard the beat I had a clear mission statement for the song — it’s a sarcastic ode to the one percent. For the video, I wanted to see what someone who wasn’t sarcastic in his ode would act like. I also wanted the title of the track to be sarcastic. I pronounce it ‘whiners’ but I want it to be also read as ‘winners’ cause that seems to be one and the same for the one percent. They’re always winning, yet always complaining about shit.

What projects do you have coming up?

Embalming Fluid is coming this spring. I don’t plan on having a long window of no new music after that. I have like three projects I’m working on, I also want to do a web series in a mockumentary style. Don’t know which would come after. But I’ll be ready.

You can check out Breeze Embalm and his music through any of the following links:

www.facebook.com/breezeembalm
www.twitter.com/breezeembalm
www.youtube.com/breezeembalmmusic
www.soundcloud.com/breezeembalm
www.breezeembalm.com