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Baltimore rapper Viktor Rasiia presents “36 Chamberz”, featuring Hartford, CT rapper Gov Mag and produced by Chicago producer Cartier Jones. “Chamberz” will appear on Lightning Flashes Thunder Crashes, Viktor’s forthcoming album also featuring his sister, vocalist Evon Rasiia. His previous full-lengths include The Viktor Rasiia Show (listen) and The Legend of Natty Bohnz (listen). “I wrote ’36 Chamberz’ as a tribute to my biggest musical influence,The Wu-Tang Clan,” says Viktor. “I was blessed enough to spend a substantial amount of time around them and in particular Inspectah Deck, Who gave me jewel after jewel of Wu wisdom. No matter how many questions I had he always had an insightful answer. I remember when I got my first beat machine, it was an ASR-X – the black and purple one. He got up from in front of his and showed me step by step how to work it, then left me with it for two days! I now know how rare it is for a kid to get the opportunity to sit at the feet of masters and learn. ’36 Chamberz’ is my small way of saying much appreciated, your words didn’t fall on deaf ears.”
How are you adjusting musically and personally since the release of LFTC?
Musically nothing’s changed much, just one more brick in the house I’m building. I’ve got a bunch of hooks and concepts written down, but no serious studio work since the project came out. Personally. I’ve been spending a lot more time with my family, my babies appreciate daddy taking a brief break from studio life. Bout to get back to work though, new EP coming soon!!
How do you feel this album differs from your previous releases?
More depth, more emotion, both musically and lyrically. #LFTC was by far my most personal project to date. Can’t say why for sure but I could feel the emotions draining from me the closer I got to finishing it. The song about my brother was pure therapy for me, I took all that emotion and poured it into the record.
Who do you think is the most underrated rapper in hip hop and why?
Me!! It may sound arrogant but I listen to other artists all day and I can’t say Ive heard anyone who I consider out of my league when it comes to wordplay, flow and songwriting. I get on a track with anybody and hold my own. Don’t ask for a feature if u not spitting flames or I might embarrass you, word!
What do you think are the pros and cons of hiphop as it is today?
The pros is definitely the economics. Seeing young blacks who may have never made it out of the hood get rich and travel the world is a beautiful thing. Jay-Z said it best when he said “I made em relate to your struggle, told em bout your hustle. Went on MTV with do-rags, I made them love you.” Without hip hop there would be a lot more of us caught up in the struggle. I don’t think hip hop gets enough credit for the amount of young black lives it saved.
The cons gotta be the lack of artistic credibility. Could you imagine just anybody picking up a guitar and trying to be the next Eddie Vedder? Hip Hop has to raise its standards of what it considers art and make music worthy of media coverage. We got people outside of the culture thinking hip hop isn’t even a real music genre and honestly with most of the shit on the radio who can blame em?
What line of yours do you think you should go down in history for and why?
“I’ve been to the best and the worst places / mama from where they shoot dope and catch cases / papa from where they hunt and have boat races / guess that’s why I see things in 20/20 – no Lasik”. That’s where my sound comes from, those opposite extremes made me who I am. My moms grew up a few blocks from where Freddie Gray was murdered and my pops is from a small island off the eastern shore. They didnt get street lights down there til I was like 13…lol. That balance between the bricks and the sticks gave me a unique view of the world. Some would say I’m a walking contradiction, but I’m just a multi-faceted dude.
