If you’ve never heard of the Mountain Brothers, as unfortunate that is for you, it’s sadly understandable. As the first Asian American Hip-Hop group to be signed to a major (Ruffhouse Records), they released two greatly underrated albums (Self Vol. 1 & Triple Crown) and even got love on MTV for their “Galaxies” music video. Since they disbanded, one of the members, producer and emcee CHOPS, has gone on to add to his impressive career. To get an idea of who he’s worked with: produced “The Creep” with The Lonely Island and Nicki Minaj, Bun B & Lil Wayne’s “Damn I’m Cold,” and Young Jeezy’s “National Anthem.” Those are beside the fact that he’s produced for ODB, Hieroglyphics, DJ Clue?, Paul Wall, and even a young Kanye West. Needless to say, CHOPS has earned his place in Hip-Hop’s spotlight.
But one thing that has never changed is his dedication to promoting rising talent, particularly other Asian Americans. After a few years of planning and a successful Kickstarter campaign, CHOPS finally completed a compilation project featuring Asian American artists from all over the world. He’s done pretty much everything on his own, with a little help from his friends, in promoting the album, creating all the music, and making sure it turned out the way he wanted. You may recognize some names and not be able to pronounce others. But the important thing is that you give the music a shot.
So with great pride, we present the official premiere of CHOPS’ Strength In NUMBERS project which can be bought online at Amazon or iTunes. And be sure to head to his website for exclusive interviews and more info on the project. You can stream a preview of the project below and read the interview we did with CHOPS after.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/13284666″ params=”color=ff0000&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
What’s the differences and similarities of working with the Mountain Brothers and then such a wide variety of different artists for Strength In NUMBERS?
Working with Mountain Brothers was more of a slow natural process, we had certain shared goals musically & in life. With the Strength In NUMBERS project there’s a ton of people, lots of moving parts, and individuals all with different plans. What everybody has in common is being talented, being underrated, and being supportive of others who’ve been through some of the same things, faced similar obstacles.
How did you go about picking the artists featured on Strength In NUMBERS?
Some I met a long time ago, like Prometheus Brown or Dumbfoundead, or worked with before like Mountain Brothers or Verbal from M-Flo. Others I met on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, or met through the others. One of the best things about the project is people recommended each other, like Ann One introduced me to Tiger JK and Tasha, Bambu linked up a ton of West Coast artists, including a lot of the Beatrock Music roster, and Joanlee connected Nikko Dator, Erika David, and Lil Crazed. The project started with a small wishlist but grew over time.
Was there a song in particular that meant a lot to you or was a challenge to put together?
Every song had its challenges. For instance we recorded Dumbfoundead and Paul Kim when Dumb was sick. Some artists would have just postponed, but the dedication shows. A lot of people with busy schedules took the time to contribute and made the effort to help, which is a great thing. On a personal level it was a lot of fun getting back together with the guys from Mountain Brothers, and good connecting with people I’d like to work with more.
Is there a significance to the album artwork?
Definitely, the artist Hoya (who rhymes on the project too) made it visually like a weaving of everybody together. Usually a producer project will just have a picture of the producer, or the producer’s name, but the intent here is to showcase everybody, and the potential impact people can make if they join up a little.
