#INDIANA: G. Granite “The Lost Seeds of Nibiru” Interview | @greygranite

Last summer G. Granite began a mystical journey when he dropped the first of many to come albums, Rich in the Blood, Book 1: The Eye The Shield. He has created a culture phenomenon with his #SacredGameRap, which has become a rally cry for local hip hop artists in the area.

Now, in 2014, he has jumped to book six in the Rich in the Blood series and has released The Lost Seeds of Nibiru earlier this summer. The album itself is a great stand alone, but when asked why he jumped to the sixth book in the saga Granite said that there were two reasons. “There is an order of importance and what you need to know about to be able to follow through the story. The second, to let people know that I am serious about this Book game.” The series will consist of nine different books all being let loose every June and then, if we are lucky, a second release will come in October.

In fact, he already has recorded two more albums, but decided to let Nibiru loose before those other two. Granite records with Matt Riefler, who recently helped with the J. Brookinz project, The Gateway. The emcee also had to say that he felt more of a purpose with this album and that what the album conveys brought upon its release instead of other albums. “I felt like I may have been searching for a purpose with The Eye The Shield and with this one, it made itself aware and gave me purpose.”

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The books themselves have a life of their own because of the emotions that each brings to the artist. There is also no set-in-stone order for the release of the books due to this fact. This doesn’t mean that he hasn’t thought about the order, just that it is something of a loose schedule and that even though he may have recorded the albums already, the script could change.

Speaking to him about this project, you could sense a change in tone with the artist, especially with the flow. Granite has always been one to get people out of their seats with both beats and lyrics, but with Nibiru he brings a more subtle ebb and flow to the tracks. You can get lost in the beats that are a bit slower paced, but the emcee keeps you on the edge of your seat with his fast paced lyricism. This allows you to either jam on Sunday mornings or get live at the house party. “I feel like, for one of first times, it is finally okay to release some slow rap music.” But there are tracks that he feels can be flipped when performing live that may bring new life to a slower track. “Depending on which tracks the crowd is really feeling depends on how much energy I can put into when performing.”

Bobby Brown was one of his (and mine as well) favorite singles from the project. Granite says that if he could ship one to the radio, this track would be it. Another track from the album would be ERYTHANG. This single features another native to the Naptown hip hop scene, Freddie Bunz. The two have often collaborated in years past and will be on the road again this summer for the Ghost Gun Summer, which kicks off tonight at the General Public Collective at 7:30pm.

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Collaboration is also nothing new to the emcee. You know that whenever a release is coming, Granite is bringing a slew of featured artist and producers that join his fellowship to help complete his ethereal quest into hip-hop. We talked about the process he goes through when deciding who gets on the album and what affects those decisions. “I knew who was going to be on this album because of the way the beats sounded. The topic also helps decide who is on the track.” He mentioned bringing Grxzz on for Project Pegasus due to his real life experience and how that emcee could seriously immerse himself in the track due to those experiences. In turn, this helps breathe life into the track.

I also talked to him about the almost eerie sample that he uses on the third track of Nibiru, which serves as the intro. This sample is provided by Lee Hazelwood, a country musician from the 60s and 70s. It’s definitely not something I would expect to hear on a hip hop album, but his music is actually one of Granite’s biggest influences. “You have got to open your eyes to all genres and Lee is a totally different side of country. He is my favorite artist. I love outlaw music, it is real men making real music, real men doing real shit.” He then explained how using these cross genre tracks can really help other artists grow and bring familiarity to something they never knew existed.

As for which book he will release next? It’s a toss-up between Book 4: The Hollow Earth, which he took on tour this past winter and released online, but hasn’t pressed yet. The other option is Book 3: The Dark Matter Hand. The artist was more excited about the idea of the latter coming first, “Something is telling me to release this one, man!” I guess we will have to wait until October 31st to find out which one wins.

Baby D

I want to be a mailman in the fifties... without the racism.

bdtb