Making Individual Collectivism Work: The Grave Yard Shift Wants To Show Us How
Saturday, March 13th, 2010
An Interview by Nikki D. Bosompem.
When you hear the words “Grave Yard Shift” the first thing that probably comes to mind is that late night stretch dreaded by most employees. In some sense that’s the concept behind the six member hip hop clique, who call themselves Grave Yard Shift. I recently caught up with a few of “The Yard” members to talk about their concept of “individual collectivism.”
Just like the groups’ name, the day was dark and the sky threatened rain. When I walked inside of The Landmark, I spotted The Yard members, Skitz, Anonymous, and Noonie holed up at a table near the rear of the eatery. As I reached the table I waved casually at the trio and made a remark about not wanting to get caught in the rain. The slim, dark skinned man, who calls himself Anonymous, cracked a joke that was a bit too off color for me to include in this interview. Now, with the ice broken, I smirked and took a seat to begin my round of questions, still concerned about the rain.
TRA: So how did you guys come up with the name Grave Yard Shift?
Skitz: The name Grave Yard Shift was a result of the hours and time we put into our craft as a collective. When everyone else is asleep we’re making the world spin.
TRA: I understand the Grave Yard Shift is a collective of six individual artists. How does that work out in terms of projects and releasing your material?
Anonymous: We are made up of six members, but like you said, we’re individual artists. So we base projects on individual productivity. Your own personal work effort dictates your progress. Then there are certain projects where we might work together for chemistry purposes. Like Skitz and Noonie pair well together. Me and Skitz pair well together, too. It depends on the music we’re working on at the time. Plus we are in different locations, too so that plays a part sometimes.
TRA: What do you mean by different locations?
Anonymous: Well the other three members you don’t see here today, actually live in upstate New York.
TRA: So how does that work with the three of you here in Atlanta and the other members in New York?
Skitz: Well actually, we have H.B. in South Florida and we got Pretty M Dot and Squad in New York. It works well; it gives us an opportunity to be omnipresent. We can be many places at once as a brand. If H.B. is performing in Miami, it’s Grave Yard, ya dig? It’s the same with us and Pretty M Dot and Squad. Where ever we are, we are under the umbrella of Grave Yard Shift. This is a brand and a movement.
TRA: O.K., I feel you. So what can listeners and consumers expect to hear music-wise from Grave Yard Shift?
Skitz: We are a collective of greatness. The people can expect to hear art combined with dedication to hip hop, the old and new school. We are artists, not rappers. Make sure you print that. We respect all artists in the game. Our music is such a diverse collective of talent because we all come from different walks in life or different generations of the music. I was born in Florida and raised in New York so I am a combination of both of those elements. Noonie is from Long Beach and you’ll notice right out the gate his swag is different from the other members as far as appearance. Pretty M Dot is just that new age sickness. His flow is crazy. Basically we got it sewed across the board. We got every genre of hip hop covered.
TRA: That is really awesome! So what’s your latest project?
Skitz: We about to drop That Old Thing Back which is a mix-tape. We got the Eye On the Prize video out right now. Pretty M Dot is about to drop the Pretty Please album. Noonie is finishing up his mix-tape and Anonymous is wearing a lot of hats right now (laughs)… We got a lot coming for the people. I don’t want to be long winded trying to explain everything, but just look for the name Grave Yard Shift to be making an impact in 2010 on many levels.
TRA: So are you guys signed to a label?
Skitz: No, at this point we are doing everything independently. Like I said earlier, we are spread out which helps out with our distribution. But we are looking for major distribution. We have a good following already. We are just looking to get a good distributor that can get us into the areas where we have a demand but no outlet. With the stream of ring tones flooding the market right now it got everybody trying to be single. Nobody has a relationship with the art or the music anymore. That’s why we are about to put out That Old Thing Back, so the hip hop community can remember it’s roots and see that the growth in hip hop doesn’t have to be limited to one style or one type of music. Hip hop was and still is the voice of the people who need a format for unique or abstract expression.
TRA: I like where you are going with your focus. And I agree with the fact that you say people need to be reminded of where and why hip hop originated. So, how often do you perform and where can people see you live?
Skitz: We perform as often as possible. We hit up showcases for open mics around Atlanta all the time. The best way to find out where we are going to be or what we got going on is to go to our website at www.gysnation.com. The next big show we are doing is actually going to be in upstate New York in March.
TRA: Is there anything else you want the people to know?
Noonie: Yeah…we ‘bout to make the world spin backwards…
As I closed out this interview Anonymous continued to flirt with our waitress. I saw the sky had cleared up outside. If the day is any indication to the group’s future, it looks like the dark hours they work into the night will eventually shine through.
Tags: Atlanta, hip-hop, Nikki D. Bosompem
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I THINK THEY WILL BE THE HOTTEST THING SMOKING, THEY GOT IT TOGETHER
Wonderful article. Grave Yard Shift are doing the smart thing. I love that they are united and supportive of each others individual works. I can’t wait to buy your work!