Photo courtesy of Silent Funk + 1
Rhinoceros Funk (emcee), Silent Someone (producer), DJ JS-1 (DJ) are Silent Funk + 1. Originally a duo consisting of Silent and Funk, DJ JS-1 was brought into the fold prior to their 2025 release, “Silence B4 Da Funk.” The group’s second release as a trio is a hard-hitting effort boldly titled “U Ain’t Special.”
U Ain’t Special is a 16-track album produced entirely by Silent Someone. The project comes courtesy of Bronx Sonics Records and features appearances by Mike Titan, Paranormal, and Yahzeed Divine.
Silent Funk + 1 talked to The Real Hip-Hop about racism outside of the United States, why Hip-Hop culture has become comedic, and their new album, U Ain’t Special.
TRHH: Why’d you call the new album U Ain’t Special?
Rhinoceros Funk: I know for a fact I ain’t special. If I aint special, you ain’t special. Nobody’s special.
DJ JS-1: No one is special.
Rhinoceros Funk: No one is special. If you don’t understand that in life, man, you have problems. You out here living like a little prom queen. Nobody’s special. We all go through it, we all hurt, we all bleed. You ain’t special.
DJ JS-1: Yeah, I look at it as, like, everybody thinks they’re their own full-time media outlet, so everybody thinks they’re special nowadays. Every DJ’s got their own thing, every emcee is like 24 hours a day filming everything they do, every graffiti writer has got a tripod with them now, and seven different effects, and three people filming them, and that shit ain’t special. It’s oversaturated, so nothing is special.
Rhinoceros Funk: I’ve been sending JS videos of DJ’s who sit down, and they have their little equipment, and they’re just, like, dropping bombs. They’re just sitting there with their friends, not moving at all!
DJ JS-1: DJ Sit & Spin.
Rhinoceros Funk: Yeah, just sitting down, and I find that to be hilarious, man.
TRHH: On the single “Say Less” you say, “culture evolved into an odyssey of comedy.” Explain that line.
Rhinoceros Funk: It’s comedic out there. I mean, it’s extremely comedic. I ran by a YouTube short where they were like, “rappers who have bought gaudy chains.” I mean, do yourself a favor and go down that wormhole of people who have bought chains that can feed thousands of people. I mean, it’s ridiculous. When you walk around with stacks of money in your hands, and you live a lifestyle that is like Scrooge McDuck, but without the duck, man, you’re a duck too, you’re a duck, how about that, how is it not comedic? It’s hilarious.
DJ JS-1: I love that line. I love that you listened that much, that you picked out a line like that. That’s pretty crazy. I love that.
Rhinoceros Funk: Yes, thank you very much.
DJ JS-1: Yeah, man, that’s dope. I mean, to me, me personally, I didn’t write that, but to me, I always tell everybody, in this world it’s better to be the cat that falls off the couch than to be talented. It’s like a circus, a popularity contest, basically, instead of showcasing talent more than anything. So, it’s comedic. If I threw myself down the stairs I’d get more views than if I showed you the dopest scratch or the dopest graph piece.
Rhinoceros Funk: I mean, it made Jackass millionaires, right?
DJ JS-1: That’s right. That’s right. Jackass.
TRHH: On the song “It’s Real Out Here” you tell a vivid story about a girl. Was that story based on a real person?
Rhinoceros Funk: Yeah! I mean, a few. You know, growing up in the Heights in the early 80s and seeing people that you figured out a little later that person’s being abused at home. In the Heights we have the George Washington Bridge, and there’s this whole system of tunnels to get down there. Very intricate. I actually saw my first crackhead threesome there. Was not expecting it. Too young! Too young! Too young! I was way too young for that!
TRHH: You’ve seen more than one crackhead threesome?
Rhinoceros Funk: Oh, I mean, it’s the Heights in the 80s. Yes, yes, they were frequent. Yeah, especially when you had burned cars and the cars would be there for mad long. I remember this crackhead who lived on the roof, he was Flash, and Flash used to take shorty’s in there and bone them. I’m like, “Yo, my man, we’re all here watching.” But the point of the story is there were a lot of women, guys as well, that were abused, that had horrible parents. Horrible parents.
In the song, I say, “What you gonna do when there is no God?” Because I was born in Catholic school, and I’m like, where’s God for these people? I mean, you question that shit when you see that kind of violence and that kind of neglect in people. There was a story, man. There was a shorty who was found in a box under a bridge, like in a fridge box. I remember that vividly. I remember that. So, I’ve grown up with crazy hood stories.
Silent Someone: Mike Titan.
Rhinoceros Funk: Titan’s Joint was, was dope, but Titan’s joint was on mental illness, and how the police perceive someone of color who has mental illness, and still would use violence.
TRHH: What’s your writing process like?
Rhinoceros Funk: Damn, it’s whatever I hear. Whatever I hear. I mean, right now I just heard somebody say Lubbock. I was like, “Yeah, man, I love it. I’m in a club of curmudgeons.” So, it’s gonna be our next album title, “A Club of Curmudgeons.” Things like that, I play with them, and I jot them down. But I can’t stop listening. I’m never going to stop listening to things, whether it be, having “Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins” in the background, or the Met game listening to Gary Cohen use his wonderful vocabulary. Things come to the head.
DJ JS-1: That’s right.
TRHH: This album seems very guitar-heavy. Silent, did you go into U Ain’t Special saying you wanted a certain sound or is it just what you were cooking up came out?
Silent Someone: It kind of like just came out that way. I was kind of going for like an aggressive sound. It wasn’t intentional, but then it just like kind of played out that way. Aggressive and live.
TRHH: The bass on the song “The Funk Craze” is crazy.
Silent Someone: Oh, thank you for that.
TRHH: You’re welcome. Is that sampled or played?
Silent Someone: No, no, that’s a sample that I just cut up, and then I just played around with it.
TRHH: What genre do you dig in the most?
Silent Someone: It’d probably be, like, prog rock, progressive jazz, stuff like that. I’m heavy into overseas stuff, too. I like a lot of Italian records and Polish records. I’ve been messing with a lot of that lately.
TRHH: What’s in your production workstation?
Silent Someone: I use an MPC One basically right now. I have an SP-404, and I have my 2000XL, too. But I mostly use my MPC One now.
TRHH: Rhino, on “Greed N Glamour” you say, “What’s a nation without greed and hatred/scant history, blatantly racist.” A lot of people on the right believe that America isn’t racist or greedy. What do you say to those folks?
Rhinoceros Funk: I mean, not even the right side. I mean, in general Because you’re programmed to believe that shit. It’s a Universal myth, right? What we do is that we myth build. Nations myth build. They build these myths so that people create an allegiance to that brand, and that’s called nationalism, right? You got this shit with the 250, and I would hear people that consider themselves liberal, whatever and they’re like, “Oh, 250.” I’m like, what? You understand that there’s never been a year that there hasn’t been strikes, there’s never been a year that there hasn’t been racism, there’s never been a year that there hasn’t been exploitation, there’s never been a year that hasn’t been struggle? You go behind the celebration, and even Jewish comedians, and people of color, I’m like, what are you pumping your fist for? There’s been evidence of systemic design to destroy you. However, you gotta get that barbecue in, B! You gotta barbecue, B! So, go and barbecue. I’m going to tell you the truth.
DJ JS-1: I like that you picked out another line. I love that. Yeah, ’cause you listen, like, you really listen. That’s really dope.
TRHH: Oh yeah, definitely. Thank you, man, I want to go deeper into that.
DJ JS-1: Can I say something that’s totally a little bit to the left of that?
TRHH: Go ‘head.
DJ JS-1: So, I did a lot of traveling, like a lot. I’m not bragging, but, like, dozens and dozens of countries. I don’t even know the count, but it’s around 60. In hundreds of cities. And damn near everywhere is racist. Everywhere. And some places is way crazier than here. It shocked me, because I didn’t know until I went there. And it’s crazy to see how people hate other people based off of the stupidest stuff. It’s wild. People here, you would look at a group of people and think they’re the same group of people, and in another country, within that group of people, they’re racist against each other. Totally crazy.
And although this country is nuts, and there’s a massive amount of racism, I mean, you could just step out of your house and find it real quick, but for the amount of different people that we have here, I mean, without everybody just killing each other, when you go to other places, they’re more homogeneous than here. Not every place, I mean, other places are mixed like it is here, but in some places the whole country is kind of the same group of people. And it can get real racist in some of those places, like, real quick.
Rhinoceros Funk: Yo, so let me tell you a quick story, dude. I’m fuckin’ Dominican, but I don’t like going to DR because of the racism. And my mom is like, “Yo, what the hell?” I’m like, “Yo, dude, you guys have normalized that racism. I can’t stand it.” Right? I’m talking about people that are Black, and they’re like, “Oh, that Black motherfucker!” I’m like, “Whoa, whoa, what are you talking about?” “nah, but I’m a good Black.” I’m like, “What?” Things like that, right?
Here’s a fun story about things like that, right? So, the United States invades the Dominican Republic in 1916. They also take over Haiti and Cuba. Here’s a great thing they did, in order to extract a lot of wealth from the ground and large agricultural businesses, they start paying shit wages. And the only people that were taking it were Haitians. They started creating this narrative around work that Dominican was better than Haitian. And then to make it even worse, the US, within that time, they installed Jim Crow laws in the Dominican Republic. So, when we think about these things, you’re like, oh, shit, what is your history? Who put these laws into place that you think that you’re better than somebody else? You ain’t special! Came back to it!
DJ JS-1: No, that’s right. It’s a class thing everywhere. You know, like you can go to Asian countries and the people are running around with the umbrellas to keep their skin as light as possible hate the other darker Asians because they feel they’re field workers and like lower class than them. It’s the same reason that you have the people with four or five teeth that stick up for people that are worth five million dollars. Everybody wants to feel like they’re moving up in the class system, and everybody else is beneath them. It’s sad, and it’s crazy. It’s hard to combat that. You do what you can in your own life, teach your kids, and just try to live a good life.
Rhinoceros Funk: And write rhymes about it. You know what I’m saying? That’s really it.
DJ JS-1: Yep. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Point it out.
Rhinoceros Funk: Make music about it. Make good music about it. You know what I’m saying? Because it’s not like I’m beating you in the head. I’m not preaching. I’m not doing that. Like I said, “Free your thoughts, or don’t/Still blast with some grass, but most won’t.” Go ahead, do you, but I’m letting you know that there’s something else. Something else is going on. And I think we do that eloquently.
TRHH: What do you hope to achieve with U Ain’t Special?
DJ JS-1: Silent, don’t be silent. Brag a little bit. Come on, say something.
Silent Someone: A diamond plaque.
DJ JS-1: [Laughs] Right, it’s on its way.
Silent Someone: Absolutely. I just want people to hear it and to enjoy it, you know what I mean? Because we put a lot of us into it, and it was fun. I just want people to enjoy it, and to see that real Hip-Hop still exists, you know what I mean? Like, traditional, rooted in the cornerstone of it.
DJ JS-1: Yeah, I agree, yep.
Rhinoceros Funk: I’m gonna go Wu-Tang on ‘em. Global domination!
DJ JS-1: Yeah, I agree with that. You know, we just want people to hear it. And another part of it is that we made all of it. Silent put in a ton of work, Rhino put the lyrics, I added the little sprinkles of the cuts and stuff, but that’s all us. It’s coming from us. And so, we just want people to feel how we feel, and see where we’re coming from with the music.
You know, a lot of stuff today is made in a weird, kind of mish-mashed way of people buying samples, and buying drums, and getting a DJ they don’t know to put parts in. So, this is actually from us, and it’s just how we feel about Hip-Hop, coming from New York and growing up in it, and we just want people to hear. We know there’s people that love the same type of stuff as us, so we’re just trying to get it out there and get people to hear it, that’s all.
Rhinoceros Funk: Yeah, and there’s a lot of creativity, right? The sound. The words, I mean, I just saw some dude from like, I don’t care, I’ll say it, from like D12, talking about shooting people in the head. I’m like, “Aren’t you in your 50s? Did Eminem not give you a pension? Why are you still shooting people in the head?”
DJ JS-1: Right, at least shoot him in the foot.
Rhinoceros Funk: Yeah, B, the guy’ll half step to you! What I think it is, is a true fuckin’ odyssey. It really is. It’s a true odyssey. The way we use JS, not just the sprinkle shit that we laughed about earlier, but I wanna make that shit clear that to me, JS is like the second rapper. He’s like the second rapper because his scratches are live. They’re not cloned. They’re not standard. They’re not boring and we do that. We give him space to be that second rapper.
DJ JS-1: I like that.
Rhinoceros Funk: I like that too, J. Let’s get tattoos together. On the neck!
DJ JS-1: Right on my neck.
Rhinoceros Funk: But yeah, that’s how I see it. Listen, I’ve been pumping the album, right? Just, you know, taking a shit, being human and I hear it like that. It’s like fucking Spliff Star or something.
DJ JS-1: I think we’re all fans of each other’s work, which kind of makes it dope. I love that Rhino is not the same as other people that I listen to. He’s unique and does his own thing. It’s super dope. And I know Silent’s gonna hate me for this shit, but I love Silent’s beats, man. I love what he does, I love the changes, the breaks, I love what he digs for, the way he puts it together, the basslines. I’m a miserable old dude, so I don’t like that much stuff, but I’m a fan of both of their work, and I think they like what I do as well, and so that kind of makes it fun and interesting that we’re all kind of fans of what each other do, and we love to see it kind of come together like the A-Team, you know?
Silent Someone: For sure.
Purchase: Silent Funk + 1 – U Ain’t Special