IS BROOKLYNATI IN DA HOUSE?
Without a Doubt, Rap Group Tanya Morgan's Destined to Resurrect Vinatge Hip Hop.

by DeMarco Williams

Brooklyn has a population of roughly 2.5 million. Cincinnati’s number is right around 332,000. Oddly, when the rapping city planners commonly known as Tanya Morgan put the respected metropolises together, they come up with the fictional town of Brooklynati, a refuge for hip hop fans trying to escape trap houses, tacky chains and tight jeans.

This isn’t the first time MCs Von Pea (from the BK), Ilyas and Donwill (both of Cincy) have taken listeners on a trip. With their ’06 debut, Moonlighting, they guided ears to a place thought long-vacated by the likes of De La Soul and Brand Nubian. Now, with Brooklynati (and the clever multimedia package found at Brooklynati.com), the crew’s taking yet another voyage. INsite just got back from one, in fact, with Von and Donwill as our tour guides. Here are the souvenir quotes we brought back…

Where has Tanya Morgan shown the most growth since Moonlighting?

Donwill: Creatively. We’ve learned about acoustics and actually how to put an album together and how to write a song. One of our biggest growths has been the musical portion of everything, how to make our sound evolve. All the processes that we’ve taken have gotten a lil’ more streamlined a bit. We write songs different now. We make beats different now. We mix the songs different now.

How far do you think you are from being at that spot where you ultimately want to be?

Donwill: That’s a tricky one. You always think you know where you wanna be until you get there. If you’re content with where you want to be, that kinda makes you stop. With the old regime, I feel like it’s a lot of people –I won’t necessarily say they should stop- that have reached a point where they’re so comfortable that sometimes the sound doesn’t evolve anymore. That’s why you get a lot of lackluster albums from people who’ve made incredible albums. It’s not even about pushing the envelope; it’s about pushing yourself. You’re trying to do something you’ve never done. You’re trying to do something to impress yourself. That translates to a new sound or whatever. I definitely don’t think I’m anywhere near where I wanna be.

I wanna hear your sound keep evolving.

Donwill: It’s got to ‘cuz I come from a personality where if I don’t enjoy doing something, I stop. When I was doing visual arts, there are a lot of times where I was drawing a picture or painting something and I could see it before it was done. I would see how the canvas would fill out. I would see the image. When you’re doing something and you can’t necessarily see the final product, you gotta see it through until it’s finished. I don’t know exactly where 10 years I’ll be musically, but I do know 10 years from now I won’t be this person.

What makes Brooklynati special?

Von Pea: They’ll see the time was taken, from the music to everything that surrounds the album. It’s not built off of hype. We didn’t spend our time on hype and trying to fool people; instead, we took the time to turn it into a whole aesthetic. It’s like a movie. It’s a whole production. When they see that, they’ll see the time that went into the website, went into the packaging and the whole campaign of the album. It’s obvious that it wasn’t thrown together. That’s definitely worth their money.

So, is there a way folks can purchase shirts and whatnot with “Brooklynati” on it?

Von Pea: We have a survival kit that comes with the t-shirt. It’s like a package, a box. It’s a collector’s box. It comes with a t-shirt and a lot of different things that are in the “city.” [There are] flyers for certain shows and little things from different stores in the town- as well as the CD.

Donwill: We have Brooklynati fitted caps. Those will be limited. There will only be 600 produced. Maybe a lil’ bit more than that. There are select retailers [selling them] in the coming months. There will be shirts. We’re just trying to work out the logistics with that.

This is your third album. Is the direction and pace of your career going about how you expected?

Von Pea: The direction, yeah. The pace, that’s questionable. I don’t wanna say we’re a victim, but for a lack of a better word, we’re a victim of being in a transitional period of things changing, the way the economy is. I know that people blame everything on the economy now. We’re the “classic era hip hop” kind of group, so there’s space for us. But at the same time, it’s going somewhere weird now. There’s still space for us, but it may not be as much as when we came out the first time. Maybe, if it stayed like that, we’d be further along, but we definitely get that respect almost across the board. It’s just a matter of being on the big tour or whatever. There are things that can be better. We’re satisfied with our status amongst other artists and amongst fans. But there’s always further along we could be. As far as the industry is concerned, there’s room for everybody but there’s more room for that kind music that Kanye did on Graduation. If you’re that kind of artist, there’s more room for you.

Donwill: Nothing usually happens overnight. You kinda want things to happen fast. But when you look at people where things happen fast… Let’s say you look at a Kid Cudi. His meteoric rise to success happened overnight in the public’s eye. But he’s been grinding that “Day & Nite” record for like a year and a half. I remember hearing that record a long time ago on his MySpace page and etcetera. The pace is never what you want it to be. Even when the pace is on par and things are happening fast, maybe you want the pace to slow down a lil’ bit. The pace will never be what you expect it to be. You have to be in it not necessarily for how fast or slow things happen, but just how things happen.

Von Pea: There’s no such thing as having your whole plan mapped out. They’re just asking for it. Step 1: Something will happen and you have to change your whole plan.

Donwill: I was just having a conversation with my homie last night. He was saying, “What’s the best plan of action?” I said, “The best plan of action is action.” Sometimes you can’t plan; you gotta move.

Von Pea: You gotta have your next two or three steps [ready], but you gotta be ready to change those two or three steps. We don’t know what we’re going to be doing two weeks from now. We could be in Spain somewhere. We don’t know. You just gotta be ready.

What are some of your passions beyond making hip hop?

Von Pea: Women. My passion is music, as far as art goes. Other than that, it’s family. As far me expressing myself, I give it all to music.

You have a family?

Von Pea: Not like a wife and kids. I mean, like brothers and sisters and my mom.

Donwill: I would agree. I wouldn’t put it on possessions or belongings or say I love something like gummy bears or gym shoes. Those are like passing fascinations. You’ll love sneakers for two years or some shit, but then you’ll get a job where you can’t wear them anymore. I would definitely say the intangible things that I love like family. I do have hella passion for visual arts, but it’s just art in general. Art and family.

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