Photo courtesy of Tyrone Wilkens
UllNevaNo is a fan of 90s hoops. So much so that the majority of his projects are basketball inspired, either by their artwork or titles. On past releases he’s paid homage to players like Gary Payton, God Shammgod, and late Boston Celtics players Reggie Lewis and Len Bias. This time around the Baltimore emcee highlights former NBA All-Star and Olympian, Stephon Marbury on an album called “Stephon Barbury.”
Stephon Barbury is an 11-track album produced entirely by Philth Spector of TRIPLEDOLLAR$IGN. The project comes to us courtesy of MGNTK and features appearances by L.I.F.E. LONG and DJ illMEASURED.
The Real Hip-Hop spoke to UllNevaNo about Stephon Marbury, how being a husband is reflected in his music, working with Philth Spector, and his new album, Stephon Barbury.
TRHH: Why’d you call the new album Stephon Barbury?
UllNevaNo: It was just like a play on words, man. I wanted to keep the theme and the aesthetic going of my projects with 90s basketball infused with traditional boom bap Hip-Hop. And yeah, it was just a play on words, man. I just wanted to focus on just basically bars. So, I just wordplay flipped and changed the M-A-R to bars, yo. And it was catchy so, I stuck with it. But then really the main aesthetic was just sticking to just traditional good rapping.
TRHH: How’d you hook up with Philth Spector to make this album?
UllNevaNo: Me and Philth, man, I kept running into the dude when I was doing a few shows in Philly. This dude named Dell-P, he was doing the WordSmith Experience showcases. I did two of them maybe a few years back. With Filth, him being on the Philadelphia Flip a Beat Club scene, he was just always out there always supporting me. And then what was icing on the cake was we both featured on Top Shelf Premium. Top Shelf Premium was doing beat showcases, also they was doing the freestyles or whatever. So, once we seen each other on the same platform, it was just like, “OK, let’s try to make something happen.” In our paths crossing, with me pulling up to Philly, we always mentioned like, “Yo, we need to do something.” But then when we both did the Top Shelf Premium Joint, it was like, “OK, we on the same wavelength, let’s do something.”
TRHH: What was the process like making Stephon Barbury?
UllNevaNo: It was an easy process. It was just on the lines of him being in Philly and me being in Maryland. He would shoot emails and we would exchange ideas. But he actually introduced me to different type of platforms where you could share music when you’re collabing. Me, I’m so used to using WeTransfer or WhatsApp, whatever, but we was using Untitled. So, whenever I recorded I would just shoot it to him and he would just tell me what he thought about it, what would be changed, or what we could do better for the project. Which was humbling too, because working with this dude, out of everybody I’ve worked with, he’s the most critical. I’m saying that on a soundscape platform. He was just really concerned about just how the snare sounded, just how everything on the producer’s standpoint sounded. So, that was probably a challenge working with Philth.
TRHH: Where do you rank Stephon Marbury among the all-time greatest point guards?
UllNevaNo: Oh, man! What’s funny is I remember him being in that class, this is me personally. I think he was part of the illest draft class ever. Like he was with Kobe, Allen Iverson, Marcus Camby, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Kerry Kittles. That class resonated with me growing up, man, because I just remember being a child and everybody was talking about that draft class. They was just unstoppable, man, but to answer your question, he’s definitely in the top 10.
TRHH: Really?
UllNevaNo: I think he’s definitely in the top 10. Definitely. And I’m just speaking on not only because of his skill-set, but also the hype around him. You know what I mean? Just the hype around this kid from Coney Island with the part in the middle of his head, I’d never seen that before. It was more so of the cultural impact and then him having that deal with And1 at such a young age. Having that sneaker contract before he even actually played with the Timberwolves, yo! It was just a good time, But he’s definitely up there, man.
TRHH: My favorite joint on the album is “I Got Time Today.” It seemed like you were trying to send a message with that song. At the end you say “and that’s how you rap.” Who or what was the inspiration behind that song?
UllNevaNo: [Laughs] Man, you know what’s crazy, yo? You’re the fifth person that told me that that’s one of their favorite records off the album. And surprisingly, that was really fun writing that record, but I wouldn’t necessarily personally say, “Oh, yo, that’s one of my favorite records off the album.” It was just something that I enjoyed writing. And it was just something that I just wanted to put out there. The experience on that was, yeah, man, I got time today, man. I’m competitive when it comes to emceeing. I’m a competitive writer. I’m always trying to push myself. I don’t know, I just feel like in today’s boom bap Renaissance, everybody’s rapping the same. There’s a very select few.
But how I feel is that everybody is trying to take the shortcut and the quick way out to put music out. Yeah, you can put music out, but now it’s like people are putting music out at, such a crazy fast paced level. It’s like, yo, are you even caring? Or are you just putting music out to stay relevant in the algorithm? Because some of your best emcees, I’m like, “Yo, you wrote that?” [Laughs] You know what saying? Like, yo, you really wrote that? That was basically the whole standpoint of I Got Time Today. And towards the end of that, when I say “that’s how you rap” it was so many layers of wordplay. It was like a triple entendre of the last four bars towards the end. I feel like that’s one of my best types of writing, as far as elite writing.
TRHH: On the hook to the song “Flowers Given” you say, “For this transition, I switched my position/Had to stop speaking, then listen/Feel my spirit shifting, and giving up is forbidden.” Explain those lyrics.
UllNevaNo: That record was one of them personal records. I was basically paying homage to people that have watched my journey from high school ‘till now. I love Hip-Hop and I love this music so much that I’m at an age where I’m getting older, I’m a husband, soon to be father, Lord willing. And it’s just like, when people get to that age, they stick to this ageism, they expect you to stop doing what you love because of responsibilities or whatever the case may be. And the purpose of them lyrics, man, was just like, yo, even though I’m changing, I’m growing as a person individually, whether it be job wise, whatever, but I can’t change who I am. I can grow, but I can’t change who I am. And I devoted time to this craft that I can’t. I feel like I’ll be doing a disservice, man. I can’t quit doing something that I love. And also, it keeps me sane. So, if I stop, what else do I have? Straight up, that’s how I feel.
And I’m glad that I have a partner that supports me. That’s important too. Because I’ve had relationships in the past where they ain’t get it. They’re so consumed in like, “OK, you rap, you rhyme, where’s the money? What are you doing? You’re at this age, why are you rapping? You’re 30, why are you doing this? Shouldn’t you be like the Migos? Shouldn’t you be getting money?” That was kind of annoying, man. It got to the point where when I was dating, I didn’t even like to tell people that I was rhyming. Not because I was ashamed, but because of the fact that I already know where this is going. As soon as they find out that you rhyme their mind immediately goes to the money. Are you making money off of this? Luckily, God has graced me and blessed me with a woman that is just supportive. “Go for your dreams. Who cares about how old you are? Do it.” The same way with people who are going back to college, going back to school at 50. Get that degree. And I think it goes hand in hand with doing something that you love.
TRHH: No doubt. I think people have the wrong idea about what being an artist means. The average artist has a day job. To be a multimillionaire or whatever, that ain’t the norm. Those people slip through the cracks.
UllNevaNo: Right, right, right. And I tell people all the time, the music is a side hustle. Again, I’m blessed and I’m grateful to be able to pay for bills off of this music. I’m able to fund certain things with merch, just off a day job. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without a day job. Say if I get booked for a show and the promoter may not be able to provide me with my travel, but he’s still going to pay me for my time, I can book a flight with a day job. I know I’m guaranteed to get paid for the show, you just have to meet people halfway. But I think people are failing to realize, especially now, there’s so many rappers, like, there’s so many rappers, yo [laughs]. Where do you have the budget and the time to fund this? This ain’t like the nineties where these labels had a budget that they could just throw away. We’re living in different times, and I think people need to step into reality. Like, for real.
TRHH: “Newlyweds” is a different song for you. Why’d you decide to get vulnerable on this song?
UllNevaNo: You know what? That was like one of the last records I wrote. Everything that happened, everything I wrote, there was no filler, everything I spoke about in that record actually happened. Every detail. And it was madness [laughs]. Getting married, that whole weekend I still remember, it was madness, man. I vow now with every album that I’m working on I have to do a record that’s showcasing my growth as a husband, that showcases something. I look at it like, yo, my album now, as a married man, is my journal. I can rap all day. I’m good at it. I completed that task, but now I want to make songs that’s relatable to people, to everyday life, to everyday people who are husbands.
Newlyweds was just one of the records, first of all, when I heard the beat I immediately was like, “OK, that’s what I want to write about.” It wasn’t no ifs, ands, or buts. As soon as I heard the instrumental I was like, “Yo, I want to write about this particular day. I want people to come into my world of how I’m feeling as a husband right now. And it’s hard work, it’s hard work. I’m happy, but it’s hard work.” And I just wanted to share that, yo. I definitely wanted to share that experience with everybody.
TRHH: What did your wife think about the song?
UllNevaNo: Oh, she cried [laughs]. She cried, man. She cried. And my wife is very, very hard on me when it comes to whenever I release music. Like there’ll be times, man, I’ll write and when I’m about to go into the studio, before I go to the studio and I’m working on it, she hearing me in the other room reciting, she could be downstairs and I’d be upstairs in the room writing or whatever, and she’ll come upstairs and be like, “Nah, I don’t like that. Do that again. You’re rushing. Take that word out.” It’s crazy, bro [laughs]. It’s dope and it’s needed, yo. It’s needed.
In the beginning, at first, I’m like, “Man, what? I do this! You don’t know what you’re talking about!” But I had to like step outside of the box of like, “OK, she’s being a listener right now. She’s not being a wife, she’s being a person. So, whatever she’s hearing, I gotta take in consideration of how the average listener is gonna take it.” Now it’s like, before I even go to the studio, I rehearse the rhymes for her. Like, “Yo, bae, hear this. What you think about this?” And she’ll be very critical. Like, “Yo, you’re rushing. Take this word out. I think that sounds dope, but I think you could change it up a little bit.” And it’s wonderful, man.
TRHH: What do you hope to achieve with Stephon Barbury?
UllNevaNo: Of course, more listeners, man. This is just another trophy into my basketball themed projects. I’m hoping new listeners can dive and go back into my catalog, yo. We got the Yellow Jackets music video, more content. We got the tape cassettes. We got the CDs out right now. I’m hoping to press up some vinyl for it. Shout out to Craig Dyer. He’s from out there in the UK who contributed to the artwork, man. So, shout outs to him. But yeah, just like any other project, I just want to get more listeners, man.
Purchase: UllNevaNo – Stephon Barbury