Photo courtesy of Dice One
One of the founding members of Hieroglyphics, Casual, teamed up with producer DEAD PERRY for a new album called “The Art of Reanimation.” The Art of Reanimation contains brand new songs in addition to songs that were previously released on Casual’s Big Head Science album that were remixed by PERRY.
The Art of Reanimation comes courtesy of Below System Records and is produced entirely by DEAD PERRY. The 18-track album features appearances by Ghostface Killah, Killah Priest, Planet Asia, Phesto, Tristate, MC Wicks, Izrell, P-Dirt, Crimeapple, ETO, Rockness Monsta, Rame Royal, Tajai, Dice One, J-Spliff, Sally Green, Daniel Son, DJ Jason D, DJ TMB, Celph Titled, and Ras Kass.
Casual talks to The Real Hip-Hop about starting Hierocoin, why he’s a rapper’s rapper, working with DEAD PERRY, and their new album, The Art of Reanimation.
TRHH: How did you hook up with DEAD PERRY to remix songs from Big Head Science?
Casual: Great, great, great question. Actually, DEAD PERRY has been around for a while. I had a remix campaign for the album. He was the winner. He stepped forward, put everything together, and got all of the cameo features. It was really through the internet.
TRHH: Why’d you call the new album The Art of Reanimation?
Casual: Because that’s exactly what it is. We have some previously released cuts that have been remixed and we’re just calling that a reanimation just to bring it forward. It’s like 10-11 remixed joints on there as well as 5-6 new original cuts. We don’t want to be like “The Art of Remixing” so it’s “The Art of Reanimation.” Reanimating the art.
TRHH: One of the new song’s “Raw” features Rockness Monsta and P-Dirt. How’d that collab come about?
Casual: That was a lot of my man’s DEAD PERRY’s doing. He was like, “I have this track, I want to get Rockness Monstah on it and have P hit the hook.” It really turned out wonderful, but I gotta give all the credit for that to DEAD PERRY.
TRHH: On the song “When I Ain’t Around” you say, “I rap over your head, back to back quotables.” Have you ever felt like being too lyrical and rapping over people’s heads hurt you in your career?
Casual: No, because that’s the type of rapper I wanted to be. I’m a rapper’s rapper. You know the difference between an engineer and a mechanic is the engineer designs the car and the mechanic knows how to put it together. I’m more of an engineer when it comes to rapping. Most people go to a mechanic to fix their car. They’re not going to go to an engineer. But highly specialized people in that field will indeed look towards my music. Rappers who want to hear bars to inspire them to say more lyrical rhymes, I hope I inspire those type of people with my art. That’s what I always wanted to do.
TRHH: You’re coming up on 30 years in the game, what would you say is the biggest lesson you’ve learned in your career?
Casual: Honestly, if I had a younger me I would tell him to participate. If I met another young black man who got signed to a corporate major label deal at 17 like I did, I would tell him to participate before he tries to do everything his own way. I always wanted to do everything my own way, and later in life I’m starting to realize that some people that tried to do everything their own way laid out the template that everyone is using now. I would just tell a younger me to try to participate or cooperate before just trying to do it my own way.
TRHH: Participate and cooperate with the labels?
Casual: Yeah, definitely. With whatever I was trying to do with my career before I tried to go indie or whatever. Because I never participated or cooperated.
TRHH: You were on Everlast’s big album.
Casual: Yep.
TRHH: What did being on Whitey Ford do for your career?
Casual: It did a lot for my career. I got paid healthy and on top of that, that was my only opportunity to be invited on something that over three million heard. It went triple-platinum, so with three million record sales I got that exposure. That was one of the biggest things it did for me. It is what it is. That was just a wonderful experience in general to be able to rock with an artist of that caliber. I also looked up to Everlast for a long ass period of my life, so that also meant a lot to me, too.
TRHH: How’d you get involved in Hierocoin?
Casual: Hierocoin is actually my brainchild. Our symbol is B-A-R. Hierocoin $BAR is basically being built to bring Defi technology to Hip-Hop. Trying to show artists how to fund their projects with the blockchain basically.
TRHH: How can people get involved with that?
Casual: Yeah, we definitely need them to look into that. The first place you’ll find us is hieroglyphics.com. You’ll find all the information there, but really our coin BAR trades through BNB on pancakeswap. BNB is Binance coin. Anybody who knows how to buy Binance coin can go on pancakeswap and buy BAR. Holding BAR supports the build for the first Hip-Hop DAO for the arts where we will have a decentralized organization for funding the arts. It would be good to look into holding and buying BAR right on pancakeswap.
TRHH: What’s your most memorable Hiero moment?
Casual: Probably our first earlier tours. Touring in Japan when I was a very young man and seeing people halfway across the world going crazy for our music. That was one of the most impactful and memorable things out of all of this.
TRHH: Who is The Art of Reanimation made for?
Casual: Good question. Honestly, the traditional, hardcore boom bap lover. The people who love lyrics, the people who love wordplay, people who like nice good beats. It’s made for Hip-Hop lovers in general.
Purchase: Casual & DEAD PERRY – The Art of Reanimation