Deepvision Interview with Swamburger
by Scott Pausal aka Rubox

Deepvision: Your guys name is very unique. How did you guys come up with the name?

Swam: Soliloquist derives from the word soliloquy, which is used from Shakespeare. What it means is that if we were in a play and we were talking, the talking escalates to talking. It comes to the point in the play where I have a thought while we’re fighting. In the play you see the fight break but you’re not supposed to think that, because this is my soliloquy point. This is where I come to the front, spotlight is on me and I showcase my thoughts not necessarily towards the crowd even though that is what the play is doing, but it supposed to be reflecting the thoughts about myself and the oratory of myself. These are just the insides of what I am thinking. Once I am done with that soliloquy, I come back to the original matter at hand and we never stopped fighting. So soliloquy is like talking to yourself.

Deepvision: How would Sol.illoquist of sound be put in that context?

Swam: The sounds that you speak towards yourself, the reasons and their purpose. They kind of implement towards the self, towards other people. This is the ideal kind of sound. This is not the sound representing just music, but its sound as in sound mind or something that is calming or refreshing.

Deepvision: How would you guys define your sound?

Swam: I’d say this is straight up Hip-hop. I am 30 years old. Afrika Bambaataa dropping infinity lessons, me break dancing. I was picking up all the education aspects of it as well as the fun aspects of it. I can dance and learn at the same time. That was probably why school wasn’t hitting me as well. I was learning and learning and learning but it wasn’t showing me how to implement those things in my lifestyle. But to me this is straight up hip-hop. I don’t want to say that this is experimental I don’t want to say what other people say this is going to be. To me, this is straight Hip-hop. I think that this picks up where a lot of people left off…a lot of the greats left off because we pay homage to the masters and to those originators that originated different styles. Different sounds and this and that. Straight up hip-hop.

Deepvision: As far as you guys first getting together, it started with you and Divinci?

Swam: It started with Divinci, Charles Wilson III and myself. First it was going to start as a production team. Was originally Divinci and Charles. Then it grew to Divinci, Charles, and me. We did a couple of songs and put up our first album. Then Alex came around. Alex came through and then we recorded a couple of songs together. Then when she moved down from Chicago, that was the group, that was Sol.illaquists of Sound. Tonya then came through.

Deepvision: How many albums you guys have out?

Swam: As Sol.illaquists, we have the Live album, Tour de Solilla, Alex has an album, Divinci solo album, and 4 Student Counsel and I have my album called Roots of Ten.

Deepvision: So you are from Chicago?

Swam: Yes. Born and raised came out here in 93 because my dad worked for AT& T. In 98 I was here definite. I have been here strong since 98.

Deepvision: You have touched almost every element of Hip hop. I’ve seen that you graff, you emcee, b-boy, production, I heard you beat box and you can DJ, right?

Swam: Yes, I learned from this cat named Mezo. I am also an entrepreneur. Slang is a given as well as dress.

Deepvision: You’ve known Alexandrah for a long time, right?

Swam: Ever since I was a junior or senior in college, which was 96-97.

Deepvision: And right now you guys are on Epitaph Records?

Swam: Haven‘t signed anything just yet, but it’s a done deal. That is what we are making the next album for. We are in constant communication with Andy from Epitaph. I told him when would be most feasible to put up the album. We were looking at June. He okayed that. We are talking to each other. But nothing has been signed just yet. We have revised what we needed to revise. Now we have to sign.

Deepvision: You have a name of the album yet?

Swam: Yes, it’s going to be called As if we Existed?

Deepvision: Can you describe how you came up with that?

Swam: Well, Divinci and I came up with the idea. The way I came up with it is…well here I am, 30 years old and I’ve been pushing not only myself but the preservation of Hip-hop in general forever since I’ve known what Hip-hop was. It is funny how when you get into the industry that is when people A) want to judge you B) already know who you are because they were your friends. The majority of the people don’t know who the hell you are and probably don’t care. So I wanted to hint towards that and give these cats a choice to diss us. First hand. Like we are sitting here in front of you …as if we existed, yeah, whatever. Whatever you think we should be, that is probably who we are. But then, if we change our mind about who it is that you thought that we were, don’t front. Allow us to grow. Allow us to fulfill that part of your mind that you weren’t utilizing when you first saw us. Because a lot of cats that are “from the other side of the hip-hop generation” say that our stuff isn’t hip-hop, it is too experimental and I just look back at Afrika Bambaataa, the last poets, and even KRS. And these people still front on that. They still front on Herbie Hancock. You know what I mean? The thing is now, these people are taking all of these break beats. All these old school beats like Kraftwerk’s Tour de France and they are putting them in their new songs today. But it’s funny that our shit isn’t getting any credit. It’s like they say, “oh…that is a dope dance beat?” But that is a beat that’s been around 40 years ago!! So it’s wild to me how everything has molded itself to a different vibe of what we call hip-hop. All though I have seen the preservation of it, I have not seen it in the forefront. I wanted to call the album “as if we existed” to let these little kids know that we’ve been here. We’ve been doing what you are trying to bob to, what you are trying to make. I am the oldest one in the crew, so to me it just reflects me. But the people in the crew understand it because of the music that we are making together sounds like we picked up where the creators left off.

Deepvision: As far as the hip-hop scene here in Orlando, what is your take on it?

Swam: It seems that the growth of hip-hop in Orlando seems to be centralized on those who are hungry for it. I’m not saying that no one else has that hunger. What I haven’t seen is that hunger externalized. It’s mostly been kept in. For example, I will go to a Critical Madness show and buy whatever they got. When I see us doing our shows, I don’t see those cats. I would love to see those cats. To me there is love that is there, but it’s just that the support is just scarce. Just hurts me inside when I think about that. That’s f*cked up to me cuz I’m not really from this B#tch, know what I mean? I don’t know how many are but to me, if you aren’t from it, and you come from a big city, and you know ‘what’s the problem?’ We should be running this sh*t, but we’re not. The scene could be much stronger if we supported everyone else and the hip hop scene in Orlando in general. Like the punk scene is running it. To me, they coincide saying to why we feel Epitaph records so much. I don’t know, I just feel that the support is just lacking. It’s like, we could blow up and be on Epitaph and Tzar and Critical Madness can be on a major label, or whatever. Then you do a show in Orlando and no one has ever heard of you. Like what the f*ck? Can’t get no love in Orlando. For the most part, I’ve hung around with jazz heads and blues musicians out here. A lot of older cats that have been there and done that and know how to support. You see them at hip-hop shows and you would never know who they are. I’ve seen Sam Rivers come to hip-hop shows, more than hip-hop heads come to hip-hop shows. It’s crazy! Sam Rivers would show up at Phat-n-jazzy on Hip-hop night, just chilling in the back bobbing his head! That’s what’s up!