Interview With Rhyme Asylum

Rhyme Asylum Interview - By Edd Bundy, Jodie, Jim Reaper, Flyin' Moose.



To start off, for all of those who may not know you as well as we do, what is Rhyme Asylum all about and who are the 'members' so to speak?

What's good? Rhyme Asylum is a raw lyrical hip-hop group consisting of 3 artists from London, UK. We're trying push the boundaries of lyricism, taking it where it's never been taken before, whilst maintaining tight all round music. The crew is represented exclusively by: Psiklone, Possessed & Skirmish.

When did you first start writing/recording? and what attracted you to do so? Who were your main influences?

We've all been bumpin hip-hop (amongst many other genres) since we were kids... Possessed and Skirmish started writing bars when they were about 15 and Psiklone aged 16... In terms of hip-hop our main influences are really old Eminem, old Canibus, Big Pun, Big L in terms of lyricism and Wu-Tang Clan, CNN, Mobb Deep, Jedi Mind Tricks in terms of bangin beats and general vibe!

Many people see you as underground music, another word used is lyricism which is a good break from commercial stuff, do you think your style will ever change?

Our style is already evolving in some areas, although we will NEVER depart our fundemental philosophy of superlyricism, banging boom bap beats and a tight all round musical package!

One person that springs to mind when Rhyme Asylum comes up, and that is Possessed, do you think the WRC he featured in helped Rhyme Asylum get their name out more?

Fuck Possessed! nah Haha... the hype from Jump Off definitely has added to our noteriety, it was certainly a good look in terms of promo!... Having said that, we mainly really attract people from other promotional avenues, namely through word of mouth and the internet. There's only so far you can really go in the battling scene until it becomes repetitive and boring, so Possessed's contribution was just right - jumped in for a minute, burnt (almost) everybody, then jumped off!

Would you say Possessed is your focus point? As in he's the one battlers and Jumpoff fans seem to look for. Or does everyone bring in the same amount of views?

Who's this Possessed guy you keep mentioning?! Haha nah it's almost definitely the case that initally Possessed was a bit more known but as time's progressed its seems to have evened out...

State Of Lunacy was a brilliant debut for Rhyme Asylum being held in high regard as one of the most lyrical UK albums to ever drop, is anything in the pipeline to come out soon? Or are you waiting for people to practically be on the edge of their seats?

Thank you! The album has been very well received, which no doubt we're extremely pleased about (thanks for the love everyone by the way! Keep it comin, it helps with the motivation - belee dat!)...

We're currently at work on our second album and surrounding material.. Some of us are busy cats with a lot on our plates both in and out of rap so its madness at the moment, but this summer we're planning to get it all wrapped up! As for putting it out, there are obviously inevitably going to be problems; the scene and the music industry as a whole are not in a good place right now! But just hold on, its coming... and we can outright promise you it'll be well worth the wait!

On your blog on Myspace a while back, you mentioned how difficulties with Babygrande Records meant a collab with Vinnie Paz would not appear on State of Lunacy. Did you actually complete the track? If so will it be released at a later date, and if not will you make one with him?

The track got completely finished mixed and mastered... However it will never be released! We'd be up for working with Vinnie again if the opportunity should arise!

What UK producers and emcees, do you rate at the moment and if you could collab with any producer and artist, who would it be?

Probably Harry Love and Lewis Parker... I suppose it doesn't count if we name artists from our own crew right?

Do you think grime has had a good or bad effect on UK music? A lot of people think the popularity grime has had recently has taken focus away from what they see to be more talented lyricists in the UKHH scene, would you agree?

Grime seems to have maybe clouded UKHH from the public eye in a certain sense... But to be honest there probably aren't thaaat many people who otherwise would have been into UK Hip-Hop that are really into Grime... There's still room to like both anyway! Grime is a much more commercially viable music as its more uptempo and can therefore be played in more commercial circumstances, so its inevitably going to get more popular. If it was the 90s again hip-hop in this country might have stood a better chance...

Have any of you ever thought about quitting the game because of the state it is declining to?

We don't really watch the scene too tuff because its comprised of a lot of crap... we obviously want it to grow at least back to what it was, as in terms of events and shops almost everything has dissappeared! (Big up Rarekind!) Most of the shows put on nowawadays are pretty pathetic.. We're not gonna quit this shit because we're here to get our music heard and get what we feel we deserve! (Watch the f*ck out, we're comin!)...

Too many people talking about 'reppin the UK', but for us although we would love more exposure in this country its actually all about good music regardless of where your from.

Finally, for those who do not know you, where can people find some music of yours to listen to? and also where can they buy State Of Lunacy?

You can cop State Of Lunacy from our myspace and iTunes...

Check out our music on:
http://www.myspace.com/rhymeasylum

There's music and free download and all that good stuff on there! ...and tell every muthaf*cka you know!

Thank you for your time!

1Luv!

Thanks and much respect.