Seez Mics

This week marks the release of rapper Seez Mics' new album Cruel Fuel. You may recognize Seez as part of Educated Consumers or his years on the high profile freestyle rap battle circuits. Seez's new album, released on the late underground rap icon Eyedea's Crushkill Recordings, features as much traditionally sharps lyricism as it does innovative genre bending over production that's almost entirely beatbox based by producer Max Bent.

We're premiering Cruel Fuel's newest video "Serotonin Sweepstakes" and spoke to Seez about the making of the video as well as how he first met Eyedea and the bonds that underground hip-hop forms.

Where did the concept for the "Serotonin Sweepstakes" come from?

Well, the song's concept came from walking around, coming up with a clever rhyme scheme and thinking "no-one's used that." I would just write until I felt like I was done with an idea. I felt the rhyme "manifestations of obsessive compulsive behavior misinterpreted as intelligent" and, for whatever reason, couldn't come up with a rhyme scheme for it. I thought to myself "Why make this any clearer than it already is?" I love that line, it doesn't rhyme with anything, but I love the cadence of it. It's interesting because when I got the first beats from Max Bent two years ago, they all clicked into something I already had going, and as I wrote that song, it became really clear to me that depression, anxiety, all of those things are genetic like anything else: weight problems, alcoholism, addiction or height. I think that's something scientists are coming to understand. As I hashed out the song, I definitely have my issues with chemical imbalance, I came up with the concept of "Serotonin Sweepstakes," you sort of get what you get. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't.

The album Cruel Fuel is coming out on the late Eyedea's Crushkill Recordings. Do you recall your first time meeting him?

Yeah, I was going to college at the University of Maryland and was the biggest Atmosphere fan on the planet. A kid booked Atmosphere to play at the University of Maryland and I was the opening act. Eyedea and Abilities were touring with [Atmosphere rapper] Slug. I knew Eyedea had won [prestigious freestyle rap battle championship] Scribble Jam the year before, and, since the Internet hadn't happened yet, I wanted to know what happened at Scribble Jam. We hit it off, and when I asked him, he said "I got served by Brother Ali, it was great." He was very cool about it, wasn't salty. We hit it off there and a couple years later, there was an MC battle in Seattle called Brainstorm. Eyedea and I were staying in the same place and for four days we shot the shit and became friends. A few years later we started to tour when them when I was in Educated Consumers, and Crushkill Recordings put out the last Educated Consumers record. They're all really good people.


How much of Eyedea's influence would you say is on this record?

I'd say a lot just in the sense of, I always had the desire to make an album that didn't necessarily have to rhyme, but I didn't want it to be some "the sky is orange" bullshit. I wanted it to be genuine. But, if I started to do something I thought maybe people might thing would be weird, not to let that fear prevent me from pursuing that angle of writing. That's something I got from Eyedea. I got inspired by Eyedea to not let fear prevent me from making good choices.

That in mind, when writing Cruel Fuel, was there ever any hesitation before diving into certain subject matter?

It's funny, there's a song on the album called "What Your Head Will Hold." Everybody's had bad stuff happen, that song was like a trash can for me to throw all the bad things I've never talked about in a song into, in hopes getting it off my chest and draining the wound would allow me to deal with it better in my personal life. I think, throughout this album, I realized how cathartic and genuine not being to embarrassed or ashamed to discuss something is a great reason to write a song about it.

Putting this new album out, do you ever have people still commenting on your battle history?

Yeah, I battled Rhymefest at one of the Scribble Jams. There, I thought it was pretty clear that he won. I thought it was close, but I thought that he won. People comment on it and say I did better. But, that's the thing, for me to even be able to say I went head-to-head with that guy and held my own, that's a great experience. I know he's involved heavily in politics now and he's ghostwritten for some people.

Where did the title Cruel Fuel come from?

Sometimes you just start saying shit, you're having a conversation with a friend of yours and a clever sentence comes out. I honestly couldn't tell you the first time I thought of it, but when it popped in my head, to me it means when you look at all the problems that are going on in the world, a lot of people have external reasons for why they should be happy but they're not. Like, "I have a car" or "I have a house" or "I'm not starving." For whatever reason, people are hesitant to look inwards.

When I started to reflect on why I wasn't happy or why things weren't going so well like Eyedea's passing or bad relationships or having a ton of debt, even when those things weren't happening and the coin was flipped, I just wasn't feeling right. I had a very fucked up childhood and I became addicted to the headspace of being stressed out or being angry in a relationship. What I realized was, when you're abused as you're growing up and you get fueled by things not going well, there's a cruelty in that. You internalize that external cruelty and that becomes what fuels your engine. I wanted to make a record where I explored how that happened to me in hopes other people realize "Yeah, when I was 12, something fucked up happened and that's really shaped my outlook and caused me to react certain ways in social environments and I need to stop doing that and have a healthier fuel coming into me and driving me to do good things." - OC Weekly

On Cruel Fuel's second cut, Seez Mics chants, as a sort of Yeoman's mantra: "THE BEAUTY OF BEING A CHILD IS FEELING THE SAME WAY PRETTY MUCH ALL THE TIME." Does anyone else feel weird after reading that? Do you think you'd feel weirder if you'd heard it shouted in the general direction of your brain? Cruel Fuel is a weird album: It's a bit Workman, a sprinkle savage, a touch tough, an afternoon aloof, and, doubtlessly unintentionally, the antithesis of Robin Thicke's legacy (whatever that is and/or means to you). The way it's weird, though, is where and what counts on Cruel Fuel; it's like one of the weird Rap tapes I'd buy off a random merch table.

In what is possibly the sleeper hit of fall , and the climax of a surreal trilogy, "Human Farm" showcases Seez Mics in all of his Reality Bites glory. shit is weird, b. Seez Mics channels Beck, Me Phi Me, Animal Collective, Why?, and The Shins in one fell swoop. "I wanna see that smile of yours...two legs back...let's get down on all fours...We are animals...WHO LEARN TO KEEP SCORE..." Seez Mics, his is a rather superb song about who humans actually are; what we do to each other, both in action and thought. If I'm being honest, and I rarely am, "Human Farm" could get along with the soundtrack to recent films as disparate as Neighbors and Philomena.

But let me not forget: "Human Farm" is one grand part of a three-bricked pyramid. Filling it out are the sublime, slathered-in-slime, sickly-sweet "That's Not How It Works" and the bizarre, brief, bitingly beautiful "Things Change." During "That's Not How It Works" Seez Mics spills his guts with six words: "I miss my good friend Eyedea..."; these nuggets of truth abound and are scattered heartily on Cruel Fuel's field. Its beat and morose songstress sample slapping the stretched sonics. "That's Not How It Works" is arguably the album's apex in terms of immolation of both self and foe; this is not to mention its concussive audio punch. Following it with the funky casual sex jam "Animal Farm" is Seez Mics rebirthing his own glorious rebirth.

Cruel Fuel has one cameo: Kristoff Krane. Truth be typed I was a virgin (also in body) to the majestic stylings of Kristoff Krane and he basically Kristoff'd my Krane. What a stunner of a verse: "TIP TOE TO THE WINDOW - BOOM PISTOL - 'TIL IT RIPS THROUGH the other side when something dies...something is born..." HARDCORE EJAC, yo; don't misunderstand me now: Seez Mics comes correct. But his selection of Kristoff Krane as his lone guest is a delightful twist. What has Seez Mics done here, to me, the listener? I will tell you: He has shown me that he is capable (more than) of carrying a solo album (that is weird) and that he has the testicular fortitude of a shirtless guy in the movie 300 to cede the floor to a rapper as rambunctious and radical as Kristoff Krane.

I think you should buy when it drops next Tuesday, September 23rd, on Crushkill Recordings. - SYFFAL

Seez Mics, a talented veteran MC from the DMV who underground heads may know best as one-half of his former group Educated Consumers, just dropped a new solo album today titled Cruel Fuel. The project is produced entirely by Baltimore’s own beatbox extraordinaire Max B, who used nothing but vocal sounds from top to bottom to construct the tracks for Seez to rap over. It’s an impressive body of work for sure.

Check out the lyric video for “Post Pathic Profiteers” above to get a feel for what Seez and Max are serving up. Then go cop the album, available now on iTunes via the late great Eyedea’s label Crushkill Recordings, here: http://tinyurl.com/SeezMicsCruelFuel - Nah Right

Seez Mics // Cruel Fuel Review

Article & Photography by Andrew Mangum

Welcome to the first edition of The Early Tapes – an edgy take on independent music journalism with a focus on true photo-journalistic coverage. Sit back and enjoy as we travel with our first guest, Seez Mics, from a day of rehearsal to a night of true hip-hop performance.

Nostalgia. That’s one word coming to mind as I ride into downtown Kensington, Maryland. Rows and rows of storefronts, offering antiques and artisan coffee, whiz by the passenger’s side window, as Nicholas Policy, better known as Seez Mics, drives down to the Old Town Market.

Serotonin. That’s the second word coming to mind while I wait patiently for Seez Mics to fuel up with coffee and herbal tea from the local market. Person after person passes by, offering ear to ear smiles and a delightfully toned “Good Morning”.

With herbal tea and coffee in hand, we’re on our way to Gigs Guitar Studio on Howard Avenue where Max Bent, producer, and beat box extraordinaire, finishes setting up speakers for their rehearsal space. Seez and Max will be joining artists Drew Scott, Butch Dawson, and Ceschi as part of the opening acts for the well established hip-hop artist, Cage during his stop at the Baltimore Soundstage.

Max’s iPhone is loaded with the show set list, pulling all of the performance tracks from the ”Cruel Fuel” album he produced for Seez. Quickly jumping into performance mode, Seez Mics stops after each track to reflect on how to transition into the next song.
Max and Seez have over 20+ years of experience making music together and it truly shows as we transition from the rehearsal of their set to the actual night of their performance. Arranging music with his mouth, Max sets the tone for Seez to conquer the stage with his lyrics. As a pair, they create a high energy performance weaving their styles together to portray a unique hip-hop performance.

In a hip-hop culture where most artists are performing to their pre-recorded track with a DJ, Seez Mics brings more flavor and spontaneity working with Max, who lays down a crowd pleasing beat box solo, fresh with vocal scratches and melodic hums reminiscent of a Koyaanisqatsi film.

Here is what Seez Mics had to say in an interview prior to his performance:

When did you first get into music?

I learned to read and write much earlier than most of my peers, but I never had any inclination towards instruments. I remember scribbling (what I assumed to be) clever phrases a lot as a kid but didn’t get into actually making music until I was around people who could play instruments or make beats. I met my homey Max (producer on “Cruel Fuel”) when we were 14. He is an amazing beat-boxer, so it was easy to freestyle with him and we spent pretty much our entire teenage years working together in one group or another. So to answer your question, I was an accomplished scribbler as a toddler but didn’t get into actually making music until my late teens.

You have a great storytelling approach in your music, what comes 1st – the story or the beat/production?

Thanks for the kind words! I’m open to whatever process yields a good song. My preference is to wait until I get a beat that suits a vibe I’m already constructing so I usually have a phrase or two chambered in preparation for the right beat, but some of my best stuff was unplanned and completely in the moment.

Why make narrative music?

The human brain eventually processes every experience as a story, whether that story is actually true or not. I tend to write about things several moons after they’ve actually happened, so my brain has already formed the narrative about my experience and thus why my music has a narrative tilt.

Where do you get your inspiration?

My inspiration comes from coping with my mental and emotional issues in a constructive way. And appearing to be so unapproachable that everyone leaves me alone so I can watch TV in peace. But mostly the coping part.

Any significance to the title Cruel Fuel?

“Cruel Fuel” explains why humans have historically been on a downward spiral towards self-destruction: we are generally fueled by negativity and that tendency has been exploited by manipulative monsters. Also, I have bad eating habits so maybe I came up with the phrase “Cruel Fuel” after eating country fried steak at a Denny’s near BWI.

Not many people make songs about rape or dealing w/ rape. I read that this album was about being honest & facing fear. Can you elaborate at all?

Rape is less about the physical act than the mental exertion of power. I was involved in a few relationships with mentally abusive women; I ended them but a lot of guilt ensued which made me feel weak since I knew ending them was the strong thing to do. From what I read about rape victims, I was experiencing some of the same PTSD symptoms so I made “Never Apologize To Your Rapist” in order to deal with the guilt. It worked; they’re terrible people and I’ve found peace with having ended things.

What was your vision w/ the project?

My vision was to cut the shit I had created for myself as “Seez Mics” and start figuring out why I am a generally unhappy person. Stop subconsciously seeking out dysfunctional relationships and start having a better relationship with myself. Stop saying or doing what I thought people wanted me to say or do and start using spoken word lyrics when I grew bored trying to rhyme something with “panhandler.” Stop making so much money from my music and start burying myself under crippling debt just so I can complain about capitalism in front of 7 people in Pittsburgh. So far, so good.
Also, and more importantly than my individual goals, my vision was to keep a light shining from and on Crushkill Recordings. Crushkill Recordings was started by my friend Eyedea (rEYEp) before he passed and it’s the label that put out “Cruel Fuel.”

What do you hope the listener walks away w/?

I genuinely hope the listener walks away with the understanding that life is very hard for everyone, regardless of what they look like or where they’re from. Stop looking around and thinking, “I feel bad and they look like they feel better, so I’ll make them feel worse.” I’m a white male from the suburbs and I guarantee 90% of the people reading this wouldn’t trade places with me if they knew what my life has actually been like beyond what you’d assume from my skin color or childhood zip code. I don’t want (or at least no longer want) a pity party, I want you to know I’ve had it rough and so have you so let’s accept we all come from stars and can become them again if we set aside the petty finger pointing.

However, I know the smart money is on humans destroying everything including ourselves.

My favorite track is “What Your Head Will Hold”. The production is unique but classic & your words seem uplifting. I would classify this song as an essential track for new listeners to your music. I think it gives people a great overall view of you as an artist. If you could make an essential listening Album from your own work, what would be your top 5 songs on that Album?

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many people on a wide spectrum of personalities chose “What Your Head Will Hold” as their favorite song from “Cruel Fuel.” It’s far and away the most personal song I’ve ever made, so I was worried that it’d cross into TMI territory and turn people off; however, Max and I did a great job of creating a Blues song that is specific to my story while remaining relatable to all. My personal favorites from “Cruel Fuel” are M.O.M., Becomes A Ghost, Human Farm, Cruel Fuel, and Post Pathic Profiteers feat. DJ Abilities.

And likewise, if our world was going to end, what 5 songs from any time period or artist would you want future generations to hear?
I have an existential melt down when trying to narrow down a list of my favorite artists to a list of their essential songs, so I’m going to pull a diva move and answer your question on my own terms:

1. TV On The Radio “Dear Science”
2. Aceyalone “A Book Of Human Language”
3. Beck “Morning Phase”
4. Diamond District “March On Washington”
5. Anything Seez Mics ever said/did/thought/felt

What is next for you in 2015? Any goals you hope to reach?
Seez’s 2015 Goals:

1. Get everyone on the planet to listen to “Chrome Bills.” I co-host a podcast called “Chrome Bills” with my friends Chuck and Steve. I know that while my music is incredibly impressive on a technical level, it isn’t for everyone. Listen, everyone: Chrome Bills IS for everyone. It’s hysterical. It’s insightful. It’s intoxicated. Did I mean to say intoxicating? Download an episode and listen to find out! Check out Chrome Bills on iTunes and/or SoundCloud.

2. I’ve been working on an album with Cubbiebear. He and I work well together, plus he’s very popular, so I plan to hang on to his coat tails for dear life.

3. I was the MC in a group called Educated Consumers from 1999 – 2013. I’ll be releasing a best of Educated Consumers in the summer of 2015. We made 5 LPs and 3 EPs, so there’s a ton of material and I’m currently having a panic attack just thinking about which songs to choose.

4a – 4f. Get a new back, definitively prove that god is a man-made construct much like the circus or a cubicle, convince Dan Snyder to sell the team, nod approvingly as the Wizards championship parade rolls by, be a good friend to my friends but a better enemy to my enemies, and give a copy of “Cruel Fuel” to Riley Reid who will find my brooding nature charming.

Please check out SeezMics.com and find “Seez Mics” on all the social media outlets that you use to stalk exes. Peace!

http://seezmics.com/ - The Early Tapes for Spins And Blends

Learning that Seez Mics has a background in spoken word poetry made perfect sense to me after listening to his latest release, “Cruel Fuel.”

Seez Mics, known for being one-half of his former group Educated Consumers and for his time as an American Battle MC, has been in the game for a long time, and I’m intrigued that this particular album was our first introduction, as I discovered it’s quite a different direction from some of his past work.

The album was released last month on the label Crushkill Recordings, which was started by Eyedea shortly before his passing. Seez Mics speaks sincerely and humbly of their longtime friendship on the record, as well as touches on other friends he’s lost, perhaps even touching upon these subjects of death (and life after grieving) in this personal capacity for the first time in his work.

“Cruel Fuel” is appropriately titled as such, with many of his lyrics and patterns being spit like fast and furious mantras. That being said, this album isn’t for everyone – it’s definitely different. And that’s what it makes it awesome.

It’s the type of album I want to listen to when I’m pissed off, working out or walking somewhere maybe a little too far in the cold ass upstate NY weather, but then certain tracks are pensive and poetic and therefore the album rounds itself out well. It’s a very clear point of view with honest innovation, and its clear he took some serious risks with this project. It’s progressive and polished, while still featuring a nice variety of moods, tempos and dark truths. Each time I’ve listened, I’ve discovered a new favorite line I didn’t catch the first time.

Several of the tracks read like whimsical and modern folklore, while others are as real as real can be. The album is reflective and touches on topics of religion, cynicism, optimism, music, questioning society and relationships, as well as an internal battle of figuring out what one believes in and stands for, especially how to bounce back when shit happens.

Stand-out tracks for me included “Serotonin Sweepstakes,” “That’s Not How It Works,” “Human Farm” (this track was a surprise, and pushes the album into other genres besides hip hop), “What Your Head Will Hold,” and “Torn.” The instrumental “Angel In The Engine” is also quite pleasant and breaks up the gritty experimental hip hop feel of the album. Overall, I was quite impressed by the artistry of this album, although I admittedly didn’t love, love it at first. The tracks just seem to build and build and have since found a secure slot on my regular listening rotation.

Seez Mics said it best himself, describing his music as “a mirror looking back at you.” I love that. Get to know Seez Mics through “Cruel Fuel” available on Bandcamp and iTunes. - Keep Albany Boring

Verbal Ham Radio is a podcast based out of San Diego. They were kind enough to invite Seez Mics to discuss his new album "Cruel Fuel" as well as his role as torchbearer for Crushkill Recordings, the label started by Eyedea before his passing. - Verbal Ham Radio

Write/Hear" is like a crash-course in underground hip-hop. The Maryland duo -- Seez Mics on vocals and t.e.c.k. on beats -- are clearly students of the genre and have taken the best bits and pieces to craft an album that never outstays its welcome, even at 17 tracks and nearly an hour. The beats are mostly pretty simple. That shouldn't be construed as a criticism: The simplicity keeps things from getting cluttered. Instead of the stark, sinister beats favored by the likes or GZA or the icy minimalism of the Neptunes, the Consumers opt for straightforward beats with some slightly jazzy samples -- a little flute here, some horns there -- that channel the underground scene of the '90s more than today. Lyrically the group also avoids extremes, nowhere near nerdcore but without any hard gangsta fronting either. Seez Mics fills the songs with clever wordplay -- "1 Hit Wonder" finds him getting far more mileage out of a number theme than he has any right to -- and there's a down-to-earth honesty throughout that is one of the album's strongest assets. - Washington Post

Le emcee Seez Mics et le label en passe de devenir culte pour l’équipe d’IRM, j’ai nommé I Had an Accident Records étaient faits pour se rencontrer, d’abord géographiquement le Maryland, et puis culturellement en mettant en avant les mêmes valeurs faites d’un esthétisme polymorphe à la Anticon et d’une façon de faire DIY à la Peanuts & Corn. En attendant, Cruel Fuel est une des plus belles sorties hip-hop de cet automne.

Après avoir traîné plus de dix ans du côté du boom-bap avec Jay Bombbeat au sein des excellents Educated Consumers puis avec First Name Basis en s’alliant à la fine fleur de l’underground du Maryland (DJ Cam-One et K-Cromozone), après avoir réussi l’essai de l’opus plus spoken word et plus noir avec Broken Clock : Skeleton Key, Seez Mics vient de sortir son premier vrai album solo.

Un album ou plutôt une plongée dans le cœur et l’âme du emcee. Le résultat est sombre par les textes et lumineux par l’harmonie, intimiste et grand, honnête et personnel, humain et presque mystique à travers les influences chamaniques présentes tout au long de l’album. Cruel Fuel est un exercice d’introspection avec ses chœurs lancinants récitant des mantras (Angel In The Engine ou Cruel Fuel où l’on entend presque le bourdon d’un chant diphonique mongol) ou ses beats tribaux sublimes (Social Insecurity ou Things Change). Un bouillonnement d’influences philosophiquement très Anticon avec du hip-hop bien sûr, speed sur Serotonin Sweepstakes, contemplatif sur Torn avec Kristoff Krane, plus pop presque à la Beck ou Yoni Wolf (Human Farm ou What Your Head Will Hold) ou alors plus post-rap sur Post Pathic Profiteers avec l’excellent DJ Abilities (Seez Mics pleure d’ailleurs leur pote commun, le regretté Eyedea sur That’s Not How It Works).

Mais Cruel Fuel est aussi un sacré album de hip-hop au sens culturel du terme, car ici quasiment tout est fait main ! Ou fait bouche, car tendez bien l’oreille, oui, c’est dingue mais une grande partie de l’album est beatboxé ! C’est Max Bent qui signe la production intégrale de Cruel Fuel, et Max Bent a voué sa vie au beatbox, courant d’albums en écoles primaires pour prêcher la bonne parole et redorer la blason d’une discipline en manque de visibilité. Son travail sur Cruel Fuel est extraordinaire, précis et original et le simple fait que l’album soit beatboxé rajoute encore un supplément d’âme à son rendu global qui en regorgeait déjà. Bravo ! - IndieRockMag.com