Ace One Covers Nuvo
The Rap Monster, also known as ACE ONE, is featured on the cover of Indianapolis’ Nuvo this week. The Cut Camp representative goes into detail on many things, and the interview comes in support of his recent BDTB sponsored Rap Monster: Remixed and Remastered album. Check a snippet of the article below, but head over to our friends at Nuvo to get the full story. Congrats to Ace!
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It’s well past midnight on a snowy Tuesday night when Ace One pulls up to Sam Ash, a music megastore on Indy’s Northside. Music shops like Sam Ash can be a sort of repository for unfulfilled dreams. Nearly every customer who walks through the door has some desire to achieve fame and fortune in the music business — and very few will ever come close.
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Ace One is a bit different, though. The MC has achieved an impressive level of success in Indianapolis music. But Ace isn’t at Sam Ash on this night to pick out a new piece of expensive music gear.
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He’s there to clean the carpets.
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Over the years I’ve often heard the charismatic rap veteran, born Michael Cobbs, referred to as the “the hardest working man in Indianapolis hip-hop.” I always assumed the title was a nod to his energy-fueled stage presence and rigorous live performance schedule, or perhaps even his large and tangled lineage of group affiliations and artistic collaborations. That’s all definitely part of it. However, while writing this story I would learn of another, entirely different dimension to that designation.
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It’s an irony I can’t help but notice as I observe Ace preparing for our interview, his first major cover story, while simultaneously readying himself for a night of hard manual labor. After several days of negotiation, this was the only time Ace could find to fit an interview into his relentless schedule of band practices, live performances and work obligations.
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“I work for a company doing carpet care. I’m the chief crew technician. I’m really good at what I do.” Ace says this with a tone of pride. “I try to be good at everything I do. I don’t believe in wasting my time or anybody else’s.”
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“It’s a physically draining job,” he admits, as I strain to hear him over the noise of his carpet vacuum. I’m asking how he balances his intense work routine with his even more intense artistic life.
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“It’s not about balance. It’s the realization that it has to be done. The music has gotta get done and it’s gonna get done no matter how tired I am. You take a shot and you keep going. You smoke a joint and you get busy.”
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Spending time with Ace, one gets the sense that he’s ready for anything at any moment. In fact, that’s how he earned his name.
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“Ace is an acronym. It stands for Always Come Equipped,” he says. “That name came around 1999 when I started doing music with Justice League and Wormusic. We would get together and do all night sessions — meet each other around noon and not leave until the next day type of shit. Whenever we would get together I would always have a backpack. The amount of stuff I would carry in my backpack was ridiculous; it was almost like a suitcase. So if somebody cut their finger, I’d literally have Neosporin and a Band-Aid.”