5 In The Chamber With Frank Spiff
What is a “5 In The Chamber”?: A short, but effective 5 question interview with artists/creatives, providing the audience with insight into their process of creativity. For a more expansive dialogue, listen to the Audio interview (below).
Audio Interview:
1. What was the concept behind & what were you trying to convey with “Therapy”? Therapy came about unintentionally. I was just creating songs about my life and what I was going through. Music is how I escape a lot of the stress in life. When I am creating, nothing else phases or concerns me – its just me and the music. Every song is me venting about a different subject in or around my life – as if I was talking to a therapist. I decided to make it an album because my friends were really vibing with the sound. They could relate to a lot that I was saying and it was therapeutic to them as well. I was trying to get people to understand who i am as a person while also giving them positive sonic vibes.
2. What part of Chicago are you from and how is it there vs other parts of the city? I’m originally from the north side of Chicago. Rogers Park to be exact. At one point or another, even if for a short time, I’ve lived all around Chicago(East side, South side, west side, north side.) I lived in a southwest suburb for a good amount of time as well. The north side of the city is probably the “best side” in terms of safety but it still has it’s dangerous areas. Rogers park in particular has a couple of shady spots despite it being up north. The south side and west side are definitely the most violent. I live on the West side right now, and despite the attempts at gentrification I can still hear gunshots every now and again from my deck. A lot of people are distrusting in the city because you can “get it” anywhere.
3. How would you describe your sound/style? My style is definitely different. I would describe simply as smooth. I have a lot of different sides to me so I make a lot of different sounding music. You can catch me spitting something conscious on one track and on the next track I could be very ignorant. It all depends on how I’m feeling. I don’t try to sound one way or another; I just make music based on whatever vibe/mood I’m in.
4. How does being a producer & engineer, affect your approach to music? Having different talents in my arsenal is a gift and curse at times. With the ability to produce and engineer, I can essentially get my sound exactly how I want it. But on the flip side, it also makes it more difficult to make other tracks. Its easy to get used to how you sound with complete creative control. Naturally, everything else starts to sound “off” when you allow other engineers to craft your sound. I never want to become stale so I m very open to different producers and engineers. Despite thins sounding different, I love the collaboration among other musical minds.
5. What is the follow-up to “Therapy”? I have a few projects (mixtapes, singles) I am working on but the official follow up to Therapy is “S.I.N.” which stands for Smooth ignorant Nigga. therapy was simply a taste. S.I.N. will be a full course meal.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Twitter/fb: @frankspiff / IG: @franklynnspiff
5 In The Chamber With Frank Spiff was originally published on Street Khemistry - Hip Hop's Secret Formula.
