by Ted Baxter
Artist: Willie Evans Jr/Mr. Lif/Akrobatik
Album: Black Mega (The Remixes)
Willie Evans, Jr. is one of Jacksonville’s most well-known and well-documented hip-hop artists. As a co-founder of the groups Deep Rooted and The ABs (which is short for Alias Brothers), Evans’ vocals have long been his stock in trade, but recent years have shown clearly that his skills are hardly limited to the microphone alone. A new CD finds Ev in peak form, abetted by two of the nation’s top underground MCs.
Black Mega (The Remixes) offers a preview, of sorts, of Evans’ forthcoming solo album, his first since the seminal turn-of-century release Underground Utilities. It would be silly to question why the wait was so long, because Evans has been all over the map, literally. His ABs colleague, the Boston-bred Therapy, brought their group into league with regional powerhouses Perceptionists; Therapy toured extensively as Perceptionists’ DJ last year, while both groups have toured, traveled and recorded together numerous times over the past two years. Mr. Lif and Akrobatik, the MCs behind Perceptionists, boast two of the most distinctive flows in the business, bringing significant sociopolitical know-how to bear in their lyrics and lifestyles. We need more like them.
Evans has already played a major role in shaping their sound, having produced or engineered several songs on their debut CD, Black Dialogue (Def Jux), including the title track. As he puts it in the notes: “Black Mega is really a physical manifestation of what I would imagine every beat maker says to themselves at one point or another: ‘Man I could of did something funky with that.’” Ev’s production style emphasizes layers of sound and spacy harmonics; the specter of Metal Face Doom lingers.
Unlike many hip-hop albums, which start strong and taper down to twaddle, Black Mega gets stronger as it goes along. Standout tracks include ‘Wreck Dem,’ ‘Looking In,’ ‘Brothaz,’ ‘The Fries’ and ‘Party Hard.’ ‘Memorial Day’ (the best anti-war song) is a far superior version than the original, from Black Dialogue, while ‘Away’ is the song to play loud while driving fast. Fans of Lif or Akrobatik will recognize these songs, built around a capellas from previous releases, but Evans’ beats render them fresh anew. Check them out at myspace.com/willieev.
by christina wagner
I met Niam through Rob Roy. Always colorful, always busy and I swear he is a petite blonde trapped in a large black man’s body. One of these days I swear we’ll make some tracks together, but the problem is the overwhelming mass of projects I’m involved with, he has twenty times that himself. It was a fun interview, all in all, although I must apologize to Therapy for, “Wasting his time entirely.” He did give me some great advice and prompted me to, “Do my interviews in the nude.” Hmm, maybe then people will start treating me like a professional.
EU: You were born Niam, but musically go by Willie Evans Jr. What’s up with that?
Niam: Hahah Well, I was in a project before Asamov and the Alias Brothers (the ABs) called Deep Rooted. We were working on stuff and it got to a point where being in a group is like being in a family and sometimes you fall out, and I just wanted to make music. So I recorded this project and I needed a name other than the one I was using at the time. And I read comics and I found this character. I don’t want the same thing that happened with Asamov to happen to my name. At any rate, I’ve had that name for a long time and it’s a reference to an obscure character in a story and it just kinda stuck.
EU: You’re a busy dude. How many projects are you currently working on?
Niam: I do have two projects that are coming out right now. I did a remix of a collection of songs with this guy, Mr Lif, which I’m extremely excited about. It’s gotten a lot of positive response. On the heels of that, my second actual album and really my first official, I don’t know if you would call it a national release, because it’s all digital, but it will be my first official solo release. So I’m doing that and I’m also working on a project with Christina Wagner.
EU: Haha.
Niam: It’s going to be a thing where I’m going to handle a lot of the music, and we’re going to work on the songs together. She completely admitted to it, and now that it’s in print, she’s going to look like a jerk if she doesn’t do it. I’m very excited about that. Oh, and also I have a friend, Flat Foot, that’s working on this stuff with this cat, Jesus Brown, and I’m doing some of the production on that. So be on the look out for that.
EU: What are some of your influences?
Niam: I’m sure that I could go on for days. Major influences like, DJ Premiere, James Brown, and honestly, the portion of the music that sounds most like me is influenced by the people that I work around that I consider to be cats that I artistically look up to. Like Liquid Man was in the first group I was in, and literally one of the funkiest human beings I’ve met personally. Therapy, I really feel. Like lyrically, with rhymes. It’s not even a matter about being on top of your game, that’s what he does. You know what I’m saying? That’s how he gets down.
EU: Who is your least favorite hip-hop artist, national or local?
Niam: Oh man. (Laughing) Wow. There was this guy that we opened for in Seattle, and if he’s still there and a major part of the scene I’ll take all of this back, but I just really didn’t like what he was doing. I can’t remember his name though. Very convenient for me. (Laughing) Very convenient for me, I know, but I honestly don’t remember his name.
EU: Your name popped up on Wikipedia. You produced some tracks for the hip-hop group, The Perceptionists. how did you get hooked up with that gig?
Niam: Yes! Wow, are you serious? I’m fixing to look that up as soon as I go home. The two guys in The Perceptionists, Akrobatik and Mr Lif, are both from Boston, and it so happens that Therapy is also from Boston. As far hooking up with them, through Therapy, they got beats of mine in their hands. They were feeling it and we started contacting each other.
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