Vast
dj., vast·er, vast·est.

1. Very great in size, number, amount, or quantity.
2. Very great in area or extent; immense.
3. Very great in degree or intensity. See synonyms at enormous.

n. Archaic.
Etymology: Latin

An immense space.

photo: ALEXANDER RICHTER

Vast Aire is perhaps the most perfectly named performer I have ever met. He is not only one of the biggest people I have ever shook hands with, he does everything on a scale that is commensurate with his nom de plume. And in conversation he is indeed “very great in degree or intensity”; he thinks big and has no qualms about sharing those thoughts in his aptly booming baritone. Perhaps then it makes sense that he was such a massive presence from his first appearances as a member of the Atoms Family collective in the late nineties New York underground. It goes without saying that Vast is still best remembered as one half of Cannibal Ox, a rap duo whose 2001 debut The Cold Vein, is widely considered one of this millenium’s most important hip-hop records. But that was over seven years ago, and although Vast and Vordul still collaborate and mutually fly the Ox flag, it is clear that Vast has been his own entity from the beginning. His discography as a solo artist is indeed “great in area or extent”…innumerable appearances with artists as varied as Madlib, Dabrye, Bronze Nazareth, MF DOOM and Pete Rock, a series of mixtapes entitled Way of the Fist, a really dope collaborative record with fellow indie-rapper Karniege under the moniker Mighty Joseph and two solo albums. He tours incessantly, and has been making it happen on the road since The Cold Vein, quietly earning his veteran status.

All this work and success has not come without it’s pitfalls however, Vast has drawn his share of criticism over the years, deserved or not. His debut album pleased many but also surprised and alienated some Cannibal Ox fans with it’ lighter tone and sound. His second album; a collaboration with Mighty Mi of the now defunct Eastern Conference label, was maligned by some press and fans as uneven and uninspired. Vast seems both aware of this and remarkably untroubled, it could be just the nature of any professional who has excelled in his field for a long period of time to simply shrug off criticism. Or perhaps he is buoyed by the recent critical success of his work as part of Mighty Joseph. Whatever accounts for his confidence, some small part is surely because of the album banging out of his speakers, a project he describes as his “best work ever”. Dueces Wild, his third solo album, is tight and bombastic, it’s Vast yeah, but it is also unmistakably different from his past work. Well, why not let him tell it…

I gave Dueces Wild a listen. I find it to be a lot different than the first. Can you explain to me what your objectives were when you first started recording?

You mean recording in general or recording this album?

This album, yea.

I feel that hip-hop is missing that fun, that vibe. But still at the same time, educational...dropping jewels. You know what I mean? At the same time! So that's what made it interesting. That was my goal for this project. I pretty much centered it around, like a card game. Just you and your buddies talking life, shooting the shit, talking about what you gonna do. The card game is life really. Dealing with life...with the hand you're dealt. I sorta took that angle and just ran with that.

How does your camaraderie with friends influence this record and what you do in general?

I mean, you know, everyone's growing and learning. Everyone's growing and experiencing. I definitely have a group of friends that I'm close with, that I grew up with. Friends are a huge influence. On books you read, movies you watch, people you date. You could meet a girl just 'cause they know a friend of yours. So that's definitely a huge influence. I have a group of associates that I've [been] cool with for many years, and I have a close circle of close friends. Add all of that and it's a big group of people.

Who would you count among your "associates" from doing music?

Everybody that I've been working with over the years. You know Wu Tang, Brand Nubian, my LSG fam. All that is deeply rooted old fam.

You're considered a formidable solo artist and you do have this extended family that's also great in their own right. How has it been to establish yourself even with those ties to a huge fam? Does their endorsement help you?

Hip-hop is a culture. I'm proud enough to know certain people in this culture that did a lot. I'm proud enough to have them be able to judge, and tell me what I'm doing is hot or, you know, to par. In that respect it's motivation and it's also an elder or teacher. That's a huge influence as well. Sadat X is a close brother of mine. Knowing people like that...Justice or GZA...knowing people like this have helped me grow and become who I am as a person. I'm fortunate to know them, and I'm lucky (on one hand) that their great musicians too. They can teach me about life and music.

You talked about "dropping jewels"...what are the things those people have imparted to you that you see yourself passing on with Dueces Wild?

I feel like on Dueces it's very life oriented. It's very pro-knowledge and pro-culture. That's the best way I can explain it. It's about dealing with what you gotta deal with and being real about it. Life is not gonna give you the Ace. Life isn't gonna give you all the big cards you're gonna need to win games. Sometimes you gotta be straight genius with it...with how you meet goals in life. And I had fun with this album showing a real side of me. We all play joke around and have fun. But at the end of the day, we're real people. Government and church...all that shit affects us. So we can't just sit here and act like nothing affects us. Everyone's playing their role. With this album, I didn't wanna just complain about what's wrong. I didn't wanna just sing about "Be in school. Don't be a fool" either. There's a couple of songs where I touch on topics...and it was purposely done. I think that spirituality, culture and knowledge needs to come back and needs to be at the forefront of hip-hop. We need to be mature about sexuality, about all these things. When the deuce is wild, it's the number one card in the deck. So I'm trying to show dudes 'Get your game up.' The deuce is wild; you can't just play with some joker.



There's a real poetry about your language. You equate one thing to another very well. You substitute ideas that are similar. I wanted to know if there were any literary or musical or film influences that particularly help you to do that.

Definitely, definitely. One of my biggest influences right now is Stanley Kubrick. And everybody loves Blade Runner. But the gem is...you gotta be able to look at Eyes Wide Shut and see the gem he's giving you in that. You gotta able to look at the army jump-off he did. What's that?

Full Metal Jacket?

Yea there's a couple. Just his whole mind. Like 2001: A Space Odyssey...you can't compare none of that to Blade Runner but it's from the same mind. To me, that was a huge influence on me because I'm a director but I do it with music. So the only difference is, this album is Blade Runner , that album is Eyes Wide Shut. But it still comes from the same mind. It's an honest vision. He taught me to basically be creative. You gotta be creative and open-minded. Things will be different as long as it's good. You can't ask a tree to be two-feet tall forever. It's that height at that moment in time, but it's gonna do what it's gonna do. It's natural for me to be influenced by Lost Poets and Gil Scott Heron. Hell yes! But, I'm also influenced by Rakim and KRS-1. So that's what makes Vast. That's [my] uniqueness that I was able to grow up with KRS-1, with Rakim and Lost Poets. I'm able to mesh all of that, and make sense out of all of it. I'm able to respect what Pharoahe Monch was doing. I'm able to respect what Q-Tip was doing...and Rakim was doing. And I'm able to respect what Maya Angelou is doing. It all comes together.

Do you think that the environment in hip-hop is conducive to taking that inclusive approach? Do you think the market supports that?

It's starting to. You know when Jay-Z is doing songs with The Roots, he's going acoustic...it's a sign of that. There's a kid in Marcy Projects who doesn't think a guitar is cool. Doesn't even understand that he made the guitar. But, at the same time, now that Jay-Z is behind it. It'll help open up eyes. It's a beautiful thing, in a way, to admit...I'm not afraid to admit. The public wants something fresh. The public is tired of money talk. The public is tired of basketball games...emcees on the beach. They're tired of that. The public is! Let alone the artists. A lot of artists don't wanna do none of this. They get pressured by their labels to do certain things. So, you know, there's a lot take into consideration.

What do you consider fun? You talk about bringing the fun back? You talk about being honest and educational but also addressing the topic of sex. What part of the fun do you want to bring back?

VA: The fun is about the language. I remember when every other album gave you the new language. Do you remember that?

Definitely.

VA: I may be giving my age away, but who cares. I grew up in a time where BDP...look at how BDP was reggae hip-hop, whereas Tribe Called Quest was jazz hip-hop. I'm talking about everybody that came through had a new style of the music. It was amazing in a way. Run DMC is rock and roll hip-hop. And it keeps going. I wanted to bring that back. That's the fun of it. The fun is Nice N' Smooth doesn't sound like EPMD -- but they're both hot. We were more open-minded about what was considered hot. You understand?

photo: ALEXANDER RICHTER

Do you think there are artists who are popular currently who do have that idea of fun and flexibility? Who do have a different idea of what hip-hop can sound like?

Oh of course! There's a handful of them. But, I wanted to bring it back on MY level. I'm on a level where we only sell about 150,000 records and it takes off. I wanted to just be like look 'This is the truth. This is the bottom line.' I'm here to have fun just like we did back in the day. KRS-1 made you have fun and he made you think. I'm not here to be some crazy militant or whatever else. I'm here to spread truth. But, I'm here to laugh and dance with you too. It goes hand in hand.

I read this recent statistic that the top ten cities that search 'hip-hop' on Google are in places like Poland, New Zealand...only two U.S. cities were in the top ten. I'm wondering how someone like you who has been to many parts of the country and world feels about the receptiveness to the form globally. Are there any places in the world that are your favorites in terms of that?

There are people in the world who are definitely...like I said, everybody in this world is on an equal plane to me. If you're in Harlem, New York, America, India...wherever...we have governments or may claim to have a different god but we're all people. We all have things that we like. At the end of the day, music is art. And music is beautiful but, we gotta bear witness that, at the same time, the fans demand what they want. There's a demand right now for artists that are very open-minded, spiritual. I think I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing for our culture. I don't think what I'm doing is weird. The press labels everything "weird" so they can get out of really looking at what the culture is doing. If anything, Parliament Funkadelic was weird by being on stage with diapers on. I feel like I'm right on time. I feel like I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing. And if these bigger millionaire monopolies open up their minds and sign the Kanye West’s, Cannibal Ox’s, vast Aires. People who would get on what's new. But, what happens is...something works and if it worked, if it was good, they try to copy...even if it's good. Now that The Roots and Common are Grammy-winners and nominees, now you gon' see a bunch of groups that are fake that try to simulate those artists. "Now Erykah Badu is hot, let's sign five wannaba Erykah Badu's." Meanwhile, none of them have half the voice she got. So all they're doing, in essence, is making the way for fluff. A lot of idiotic music is getting million-dollar budgets.

I wanted to ask you about things that are perceived as "weird." Right now, hip-hop music is using the Vocoder device a lot, in terms of what you hear on the radio. But I'm an 80's baby too, and a lot of the music that we got used the Vocoder and other voice effects. Does some of that come from the same tradition?

I think something that's weird just means 'lack of understanding.' People don't understand, you know, different recording techniques...or styles so...I like to have fun. I like to do things like use the Roger Troutman, the keyboard, the synthesizer. I don't think it means something is hot, or something is used correctly. You're gonna try things out, different methods.



What do you think about the fact that rappers are not considered by the press as musical?

VA: I'm very hurt. And that's another thing I did on Dueces. I did all of the arrangement. Dudes would do beats and I'm sitting there doing the beat with them. I'm not just sitting there rhyming. I'm making a bridge. I'm making a hook and an intro and an outro. I come with attitude and energy, and all of that is part of me. So it hurts. Writing a rhyme alone isn't easy. You have to be talented to do this. I can't play the violin, and I would never disrespect someone who plays the violin. Because I know it takes an immense amount of talent to play it. I would want the same thing, to be honest.

If you had a 30-year-old rapper and a 15-year-old rapper in a room together and you could mediate the conversation, what would you want them to talk about?

Shit... I mean, I want the 30-year-old to inform the 15-year-old on certain artists that he might not be up on, or even a certain sound. It's all history. We have history now, and it's all important. The 15-year-old is going to be into some great artists. But he's not gonna know some too. So the [older one] has to say 'Check out some of these artists that you missed. Check out some of the clothing, the lingo...' There's a whole culture. We didn't just pop out in 1992.


photo: ALEXANDER RICHTER

What are your tour plans?

I'm planning a tour with C-Rayz Walz right now. He's got an album dropping soon. I'm definitely going to be on the road hard...all over the country.