Scripts 'N Screwz: Hardest Working Men In St. Louis Hip-Hop?
East St. Louis' finest (and perhaps only) underground hip-hop duo, Scripts 'N Screwz, will take the stage tonight at SIUE's Morris University Center but the performance is barely a blip on the radar in comparison to all the moves the pair has been making lately.
To recap just a few of the multi-talented crew's latest and greatest exploits:
- A new mixtape, Sound Cinema, that dropped last week, and is available for free download over on their blog.
- The upcoming premiere of Borrowed Time (July 16), the second episode of The Color of Justice, a documentary film series about Reggie Clemons, a death-row inmate who may have been wrongfully imprisoned. The pair co-produced and directed the film with stellar local director Ronnell "Falaq" Bennett, and contributed to the soundtrack.
- Pre-production on a Purple Rain-style, full-length, hip-hop film called The Hunger, which stars the duo and is loosely based on the career of famed local group Bits 'N Pieces.
- A no-holds-barred marketing campaign for their album The New Noise, which originally dropped last April but has only recently started to get some love from the blogosphere.
- And finally, the release of this kick-ass video for their single from New Noise, "Big City Lights."
I caught up with the pair last night at Skybox on the Landing to find out if they ever sleep -- and get the details on a few of the aforementioned projects. A few choice quotes are after the jump.
Screwz on the musical influences on New Noise: "I listen to a lot of classic rock -- Led Zeppelin, Iggy Pop and the Stooges and some indie rock like the Yeah Yeah Yeah's, and this one group Man Man, they're like some circus music."
Scripts on the music behind New Noise: "[Outkast]. I don't want to compare us to them because there's two of us and two of them, but they definitely a big, big influence
On the mixtape: "People hear New Noise and hear some freaky shit and say we don't know how to rhyme," says Scripts. "That's why we did the mixtape, to show we can still go hard."
On the state of local hip-hop: "Nobody's an artist anymore -- they don't tell a story or paint a picture -- they just entertainers," says Scripts. "People just focus on singles like 'This gon' get me paid.' An album takes time and thought, and that thought process is largely gone."
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On their new film The Hunger: "It opens up and we have nothing. We get selected to go on some American Idol sort of bullshit, next thing you know we've got money, cars, girls-- it's a basic rock and roll story," says Screwz. "But at the same time it's a strange, surreal story. We'll have subliminal jumps, back and forth with the editing. It's like Requiem for Dream or Fear and Loathing. Some drug shit."
"It all goes on in the dude's mind," adds Scripts. "It's not your average rap movie."
On pushing their new album: "We worked too long and too hard and spent too much money on it for it to fall on deaf ears," says Screwz. "The production, the lyrics, the cover art--everything you see and hear we did ourselves."
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