For an emcee who has a single that features him nudging labels for not giving him a chance, Termanology is awfully spoiled. The young, Puerto Rican emcee’s upcoming debut album, Politics As Usual, seems like anything but its namesake with its line-up of legendary producers and guest emcees: DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Hi-Tek and other heavyweights all contribute some of their best beats, while the likes of Prodigy and Freeway tack on cameo verses.

Yet if anyone deserves the love, it’s Term: the Lawrence, Massachusetts-bred emcee has the relentless flow, multi-syllabic rhyme schemes and lyrical tenacity that harkens back to the era of rap that he based his album around, and he’s humble enough to know his role. In an interview with HipHopDX, Termanology talks about the process behind crafting a back-to-the-basics classic.

HipHopDX: Take me back to what you were thinking when you first heard the beat to “Watch How It Go Down.”
Termanology: I was just so happy, because my whole life, I’ve always wanted a [DJ] Premier beat. So to get one like that, that was so dark and grimy and shit, I was like, “Oh man, this is right up my alley.” So when I heard it, it took like a month before I actually wrote the song; I just marinated on the beat. I just knew I had to kill it, so I took my time with it. But that shit was the best feeling ever. … It was crazy, because it’s like 80 bars straight. There’s no hook, it’s just 80 bars of madness…I’ve never counted it, but I know it’s something like that. So I know he was like, “Whoa.”

He liked my shit before that, he played some songs I had did on the radio and whatnot. But I don’t think anyone knew I could really spit like that, so it made me sound real crazy. When it was done, he was like, “Yeah man, sounds dope.” I could tell he liked it. We ended up doing the remix, and he liked that a lot too. So for him to do the remix, I know he was really pleased with it.

DX: The first line of that song is, “I see myself as the holy resurrection of Pun.” And that’s one of the first songs where I’ve actually heard something like that at the beginning of the song, and I wasn’t pissed at the rapper for saying it. What made you decide to put it on the line like that offtop? Do you still feel that way?
Termanology: [Laughs] I just felt like, at the time, that I was the most lyrical cat doing it. Not only that, but the most lyrical Puerto Rican cat. I figured that that was a good way to attack it. I’m like, “All right, this is my first real single, and it’s my Premier shit, and this might be the last song I ever do, so I might as well get it off my chest the way I feel.” So I was like, “I see myself as the holy resurrection of Pun/if I ain’t that, then you name one/rapper that’s lyrical slash Latin, political past rappin’/with visuals past Malcolm, and finna’ go past platinum.” Because I feel like there’s a lot of other cats that’s nice too that are Spanish, but I didn’t feel like they all had what I had. I’m really confident in myself, and I believe in my sound, and I believe in my vision. I just kind of looked like it was, to me, similar to what Pun was doing. I’m not trying to say that I’m as good as Pun or better, or any crazy shit like that, but that’s how I felt at the moment. I really look up to him. Him and [Fat] Joe [click to read] were pretty much all we had as kids growing up. Those were the Puerto Rican dudes, they spoke for us: our grandfathers, and our uncles, our ancestors, and people from the islands, and shit that was going on from the ghetto Puerto Rican mind. So it’s ill for me to be the new dude coming out, and a lot of dudes respect me. It feels great.

DX: On another song, “So Amazing” [click to view] you gave a rundown of different labels and why you should work with them. How many of those places hit you back?
Termanology: That was sort of just a fun song. I was just trying to be an asshole, be real exaggerated, on some Eminem shit. “I’ll write the whole Detox in one week.” Know what I mean? Fuck it, I’ll say it; see what happens. Obviously, Dr. Dre didn’t call me to write the Detox.

I’ve met with a lot of labels, dog. I’ve met with every label almost, and everybody pretty much had the same thing to say. “Oh, we like you, you’re dope, but we’re not doing that shit over here. We can’t sign you because if you’re talking about killing cops and rapping over Premier beats, and we want you to make a corny jingle and work with whoever’s the producer of the week.” Plus, I think they didn’t know what to do with me. Like, “What is this guy? Is he white, or Puerto Rican? What the fuck?” Nobody looks like me, and nobody raps like me in 2008, so it’s like, “You want to be this fast, lyrical underground rapper looking like that? That’s not going to work buddy.” So I started my own label, and Nature Sounds is behind me; they decided to put up their bread, and get shit crackin’. So it’s all good. At the end of the day, it worked out; I’m my own boss now. Continued on page 2 »