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 Cymarshall Law

What's up Cy?

Cymarshall Law: Peace!

For people that don't know you, can you give a brief background of your Hip Hop career?

Cymarshall Law: Sure. The first time I hit the stage was the Knitting Factory in New York in like 1999. My brother was in a group called Everliven Sound that was on the Subverse Music label that was started by Big Jus. I was just coming out of high school. I had graduated in 2000 and he let me join the group. So I was rocking with Everliven sound all over the place then my brother moved to England and I started going solo. Then I got down with Pumpkinhead because he moved to Jersey and he happened to live right down the street from me. We saw each other kicking lyrics and we felt each other. We we're like I'm nice and you're nice so I started to doing a lot of shows with him. You know, just rhyming and trying to get my name out. Things have been working well most recently and I've been on the Vans Warped Tour. I toured Europe a couple of times and I went to Canada. That's it pretty much.

What projects do you have out there to check for anyone that's interested?

Cymarshall Law: Hip Hop in the Flesh, that just came out. That's my first album that I put out on Freedom Entertainment. That's a label my brother and I started a couple years back. I had put out a Vinyl EP in 2000 featuring Pumpkinhead. We did that on our own. We got the money and pressed it up. Hip Hop in the Flesh came out last year so they can get that. I also have several mix CD's. I have Cyology 1 and 2. I have an Everliven sound album which is my brother and I. We have like three mix CD's together. I have Hip Hop in the Soul coming out soon which is the follow up to Hip Hop in the Flesh. That's the joint that features Krs-One. You can actually buy the Krs-One single on Itunes. It's called "Control". I also have a single with Pace Won that is out right now, it's on the Everliven Sound album and it's called "Dying Breed". They can get that soon on Itunes. I just dropped a joint with Wordsworth.

That must have been a huge boost of confidence to get to work with a legend like Krs.

Cymarshall Law: It was a divine thing that happened to me. I went to Fat Beats one day and he was doing an in-store. I ended up giving him a CD and my man Aubrey is on his management team. He said like two days later they were coming back from a show and they put in my CD and he told me Krs loved that shit. This one song called "Addiction", he said he rewound it like 10 times. When he told me that I was like "Oh shit!" I told my man Aubrey that if it's like that, tell him I want to do a joint. He asked him and he said it was all good and the next time he was in town it happened.

Wow. That must've felt good.

Cymarshall Law:Yeah. It's like the Hip Hop stamp of approval it so it definitely feels good.

You were born in the United Kingdom? How did that affect your musical influences growing up?

Cymarshall Law: My parents are Jamaican, so that's been my musical influence since I was a little kid growing up. American people have Soul and Jazz. For example a young kid my age growing up may have heard Miles Davis, but being I was from England and my parents are Jamaican I heard Jamaican Dub Plates all around the house when I was like five and six. So that's a lot of my influence, Reggae and Jamaican Artists.

You appear on Pace Won and Mr. Green's new album. Pace and the Outsidaz have to be considered some of Jersey's finest.

Cymarshall Law: Yes definitely. I'm happy to be a part of it.

Who's your all-time favorite Jersey MC?

Cymarshall Law: My favorite Jersey MC? I would have to say it's Pace Won.

Tell us about your group Everliven Sound. It's you and your brother Skit Slam?

Cymarshall Law: Yeah, Skit Slam. Like I said earlier he started the group before me. When I was just coming out of high school he let me join the group. So my brother Skit Slam and I, we are partner MC's. He's my brother so I used to go and visit him in England a lot and we made this album. To be honest this is our first album about to be released. We had the EP back in the day but this is an album. We also ended up doing it with a production team from Sweden called The Beatnikz. They made the whole album. I never had done an album with anyone else as far as beats, so that's a testament to what these guys are capable of when it comes to production. That album is coming out with me and Skit Slam and we're going to be touring a lot overseas. We are about to open up for Das Efx on March 1st. We're trying to get some more shows at the end of February. I know we are going to Sweden for the Everliven Sound release party for the album "Freedom". That's the album with Wordsworth and Pace Won which should be out in a month on Itunes

Who was into Hip Hop first, you or your brother? Do you guys have a natural competition like most siblings?

Cymarshall Law: It's easily him since he's older than me. If it wasn't for him I probably wouldn't be rhyming. He's my big brother. When I was growing up I was stealing his tapes and listening to him rap. When I first started rapping people would say, "Yo, you sound like your brother". On top of him being my brother we have like the same voice. You know how in families you might look a like? Well we have the same voice. [Laughs] Yeah he was definitely into hip hop first. As far as us being competitive? Oh hell yeah! That's what we do! That's what keeps us on our toes. He knows when I go on the track I'm going in and he better be going in - and he is. That's what we do. It's not about one of us being nicer than the other one, it wouldn't make any sense like that. I'm going in so I know he's going in. [laughs] It's good.

You mention going to Sweden for a release party for your album "Freedom". Can you give us a more detailed look at it?

Cymarshall Law: The album is called "Freedom" and the reason it's called that is because all of my music speaks about freedom to you. The whole concept of the album is about stop telling us what to do. There are always people making rules and they are always the first to break them. So our thing is as far as record labels telling us "You got to do it like this" or "You got to have sixteen bars and an eight bar hook", you know what I'm saying? Fuck all that shit! It's about freedom. Do what the fuck you want. My dad had a sound in England and that's where Everliven Sound comes from. My dad had a sound and that's like when Reggae Artists would go to a club and sound clash. Have you ever heard of that?

Yeah, the man with the bigger set wins.

Cymarshall Law: Alright. So my dad had a sound and it was called Freedom Sound. Freedom Sound was around before I was around. So our shit is Everliven Sound. That's my way of thinking. Like I was saying I was from England so that's what I saw. I saw Sound Clashes. American kids know of that shit but I was right there, so it's not like some gimmick that I just made up. I've been on some "Freedom" shit my whole life with everything I do. It's my first album so it's called Freedom. Everybody is scrambling right now and they don't know what to do and we're like, "Yo, we're nice. We can put out our own stuff, what are you talking about? Why can't I do it?" That's what the album is about.

Can you tell us more of how you hooked up with the The Beatnikz?

Cymarshall Law: On Myspace pretty much. They came to my page and they said they had heard a song on there called "Kids with Guns" and they tried to get at me. I guess I didn't reply [laughs]. They also sent an e-mail to the Everliven sound page and I went to their page and listened to their shit and I was like "Oh Shit!" I don't know what I was thinking that day but maybe that shit just affected me but I said lets do an album together right then. They e-mailed me back and we did it. We've been rolling together ever since. I've been to Sweden a few times since then and we are about to go back. Those boys got some beats and Sweden is a cool place too. Stockholm is one of the most beautiful cities I've seen.

Do you have a strong connection overseas, considering you were born there and you're working with international producers?

Cymarshall Law: Yes, definitely. It's a good time when you go over there and I definitely have a strong connection with everything going on over there.

Obviously there are advantages when you have Freedom to do your own projects and be in charge of your own grind. Is it tough when you have so much on your plate?

Cymarshall Law: I mean, if you don't have a lot on your plate then what are you doing? If you have a lot on your plate it's not like things are going bad. It means you have a purpose. You have a lot on your plate for a reason and you're not just fucking around. You know it might be tough but I don't like thinking of it like that. This is what I love to do, people who have a 9-5 they think it's tough. Me? I'm on some Freedom shit and that's what's good about it. I'm putting out my album when I say it's coming out. When I say my stuff is coming out in March the good thing about it is - my project is coming out in March. There are a lot of rappers that I'm not going to name right now, but where's their album at? Where is their album? Mine is coming out. I came out with one last year, I'm about to come out with another one this year. Freedom Entertainment. That's the advantage.

I know right now you're focused on your own album. But sometime down the line would you put out any other artist?

Cymarshall Law: That is going to happen. It is happening already actually. We have this female artist named Mary Lou. The The Beatnikz are on Freedom and their album is almost half done, plus Skit Slam is coming out. The Beatnikz beats are so hot we we're like fuck that, we'll put ya'll shit out. I guess I'm on some Freedom shit because getting signed and handing your work over to someone else to critique? Its like shut the fuck up! I'm putting my shit out!

You're a member of the Rawkus 50. Do you feel like that has helped your career thus far?

Cymarshall Law: Definitely. People already saw my name but when they came it was good. It didn't harm it.

It says your album Hip Hop In the Soul is coming out Spring 2008, what can you tell us about that?

Cymarshall Law: That's actually the second album I'm going to have produced by a whole other person for the first time. This dude is from Hungary and his name is Mr. Joeker and he is serious. He made "Addiction" off my last album. A lot of people liked that. So I decided to do a whole album with him front to back, Cymarshall Law and Mr. Joeker. That's an extension of my album that came out last year called Hip Hop in the Soul. It's deeper than flesh so that's the difference. I go in talking about more things I wanted to talk about. I go further into who I am and how I feel about hip hop.

You worked with a team of producers and a solo producer Mr. Joeker. Do you prefer to work with just one or two producers for a project and do you think it adds to the cohesiveness?

Cymarshall Law: I don't think it matters really as long as the beats are hot. It's always better when the line of communication is smaller. But as long as the beats are hot it's on me to do the rest.

You've rocked a lot of big events. Do you prefer when you're performing to a group of your own fans or a group that may not know you and you have to win them over?

Cymarshall Law: That's a good question. I never thought of that before. My fans - I mean it's cool both ways. To see that mean mug turn into a smile makes you feel funny inside. It's like ok I did what I was supposed to do.

Anything else you'd like to add?

Cymarshall Law: Nah I think we covered everything pretty much. The albums are coming out and Freedom Entertainment is here. We are going to keep being free. Things are good and improving also. Thank you for the interview.


Drew & Andy