Twelve mixtapes in 12 months isn’t something that many rappers can accomplish. It takes a little swagger, a little confidence, and most of all, the skills to make it happen. To make a tough task seem even more arduous, DX blogger [click to read] and artist Sha Stimuli and DJ Victorious haven’t just thrown out random songs and freestyles together, they have used concepts to bring it all together.

Even if the name doesn’t strike you as familiar, Sha Stimuli and DJ Victorious are no strangers to the rap scene. To further cement that point, Sha recalled freestyling in The Source offices and going to meetings to get the demo across, and Victorious remembers hating the transition to CD. These are veterans in this rap game.

In celebration of their March on Washington [click to listen] and The Secret [click to listen], the duo speaks to HipHopDX about a little of everything, ranging from their mixtape grind, switching labels, and how they see the game for new cats.

HipHopDX: Three mixtapes down, and nine to go. How has the mixtape grind changed your process?
Sha Stimuli: It feels like I got a job right now, rapping is a job because I got an opportunity every month to drop these CDs. [The] funny thing is that I can’t really call it mixtapes because a mixtape to me is a collection of freestyles or haphazard records to get you hot. These are more one single made into a whole CD; these are concept records we put together and real songs. The only difference is these aren’t full productions.
DJ Victorious: This has been a healthy process, because there is a deadline with the music but there is still quality.
Sha Stimuli: This has definitely been fun and exciting because there are times where everything isn’t done. The artwork isn’t ready and some songs aren’t done. We know its going to happen. It’s definitely been an interesting ride.

DX: You said on a Super Tuesday blog on your Myspace that you were not political. Has Barack Obama’s front-runner status and March on Washington stepped up your political Awareness?
Sha Stimuli: I read a little more and see what’s going on. I am still the same old guy. I am more likely to talk about things I hear people talk about instead of the status of the election and things like that.
DJ Victorious: I really wouldn’t call March on Washington a political CD. We hear something and we talk about is through our own personal perspective. We’re not talking about it through a political perspective. Even dealing with the song "Black President," it hasn’t dealing with Barack Obama, it's talking about if Sha were president. [We rap about] stuff that people see and live through everyday.

DX: Speaking of March on Washington, how has the response been for the mixtape?
DJ Victorious: People have been saying it’s the best mixtape they have heard all year, everyone loves it.
Sha Stimuli: It's been pretty strong, I think it’s a whole new idea, people aren’t really expecting an artist such as myself who is still deemed up and coming to put together something that is talking about politics and social issues, even a record or the title says something. It’s the things that I’m talking about which touches a lot of people. At the same time, it doesn’t sound like I am preaching of the things that are out there, because half the time I am not aware. I really think people identify with that.
DJ Victorious: I think a lot of the topics we use on March on Washington, they have been done before, but Sha makes you feel liked your apart if it by not alienating you while entertaining you.

DX: So you’re touching everything without being on a high horse?
Sha Stimuli: That’s the main thing, sometimes I beat up myself to get a point across. I talk about online blogging and what they say on my CDs, because they talk about how I can talk about violence in one song and nonviolence on something else. I think we all as human beings hold emotion for many different scenarios, and were never really one way. I think it's okay for me to say it on record. Artists themselves get caught into a box where you got to be tough or get marketed a certain way.
DJ Victorious: Watching firsthand I think Sha is growing with each CD as a writer and an artist. When we finish one mixtape, we have to go to the next title and the next concept we have 30 days to get it done from scratch. And even The March On Washington, fresh from Love Jones, there are things that we wanted to do he would research and bang heads to come out with a song, and I got to watch him elevate like that. By the time we hit the 12th one, it should be crazy.
Sha Stimuli: I was recently talking to J. Period [click here to read], talking about [how] mixtapes-made artists get hot. What were doing is masking an album in mixtape form. There are no freestyles, just songs, and we really put it out there to people and let them know that I define the word grind. I am showing that what I do isn’t bullshit. It’s definitely hard work but its showing people growth.
DJ Victorious: Some people don’t put out that much music their entire career. Continued on page 2 »