Indeed, being original was always Celph Titled’s raison d’être. Now the self–titled (pardon the pun) landmine lieutenant is in the house! And as he explains, the name Celph Titled is just that – self-titled because no words can describe him. “I can only describe myself, I’m self explanatory. You see me, you hear my voice, you talk to me you know where I come from. I had to spell my name differently because otherwise it’d look pretty fucking generic. There are a lot of imposters out there now who decided to spell the word ‘self’ such as I did, but I am the original.”
Regardless, for Celph Titled, it was always about getting his name known. His Jedi Mind Tricks outfit – a posse with numerous members, immense lyrical prowess and awesome production talent – was a standalone hit. “They were like my main partners in rhyme,” he says. He admits a lot of older cats were down with them around the late 1990s and 2000s and that helped their success.
Today, the Jedi Mind Tricks posse and Vinnie Paz remain focal points in hip hop no doubt – though it was the new Army of the Pharaohs crew that Celph Titled next penned his name to – that really made waves. “Man, once Vinnie rounded everybody up we were like an extended family.”
So after relocating from Tampa, Florida to New York City, his work in the studio stepped up a notch. “Right now, we have the Demigodz album almost finished – Esoteric, myself, Motive and all the crew, the list is long. The album is almost done and that will probably be the next thing that people hear from me. There are a couple of cool artists on there featuring and a few production surprises. I’m also helping a few artists on other things as well, and there are lots of cats with new things coming out and more stuff in the future. I want to spend a fair bit of time touring too so the work in the studio this year will allow me the time off.”
Next of course, we chew the fat on the state of the union in hip hop. A situation Celph accepts as it is on face value. “Before – like back in the day – it used to be pop rap versus real rap. People are leaning one-way or the other. Nowadays there are so many generations involved in hip hop. I’ve got people in my age group that have kids and there are so many different styles, generations and all that.”
“You have Flo-rida and Kanye and Jay Z; and then the underground raw stuff like us and then you got the throw back hip hop – kids wearing tight jeans. Basically, it just got accepted and it just exists and it has grown to this level. It’s based on the age group and level and what you feel. In the future, radio will see new and classic stations and blow again. It’s blowing out of control now. There’s all kinds of music out there its grown outta control – it is a good thing.”
“Even if you look at the long-standing, successful artists in hiphop, even if they’re not critically acclaimed, guys like E-40 and Too Short never changed their formulas. They might have changed up their production to go with the times, but they’ve always given fans what they want.” Doubtless, Celph created his own brand and you can hear and see the passion in everything he does.
“It’s all about image. There ain’t no-one going to tell me I have to change my image to sell records. That’s why I like being independent – it’s because we don’t have to worry so much about mainstream marketing. We can be ourselves and do the music we want. We represent ourselves how we want without the politics. Business wise, we as Latinos are making a lot of money right now off of the whole reggae explosion and I’m happy to see that but I’d like to see more of us in the hip hop game like Pun was.”
So with all of that, Celph Titled is on his way back to Australia for a second time after having been out here in 2005. He’s coming with Action Bronson and local boy Brad Strut from Lyrical Commission. “We’re just going to tear it down. A lot of energy and a lot of ammo – I’m going to run thought the jazzy stuff but also the hardcore shit – it’s going to be wild. I know the crowds out there are wild so I ain’t even worried about the energy levels. They know how to party so shit’s gonna be cool.”
And who’s going to argue with that?
BY REZO
