With an album Dichotomy A that dropped last June and another out in November, Dichotomy B, bouncing around festivals and touring all the way through October, Tennessee’s own Grits are keeping their dog days of summer on a tight leash. I had the chance to sit down with Grits (Coffee and Bonafide) during a recent stop by Seattle.
Your music and songs go in so many vast musical directions. What is your main influence for songs?
Music period. Hip Hop. I mean the direction music is going in man. Everything about music is exciting to me; otherwise I wouldn’t have chosen it as a career. So that’s what I feel gives, especially me, the drive. ‘Cause music is expression and every time you do a song you can do something totally different than last time. It never has to be one dimensional.
It seems now that that expression is finding its way into a lot more mainstream artists such as Outkast, NERD, Black Eyed Peas and more. What is your take on the direction Hip Hop is going?
I think its good for us ‘cause it helps people be more open to what we do ‘cause we’ve always done that so it just creates a larger audience for us to be able to come out and be relevant, you know what I’m sayin, with what we like to do as far as musically doing different things, different musical themes or whatnot. Taking a Spanish vibe and using it here or a rock vibe and using it there. It just makes our audience broader also and it helps a more mass of people to be more open to what we do and what we’ve been doing.
I think it has put more diversity into hip hop and the way it is viewed. It’s not like one dimensional. There was a time that if it wasn’t East coast it wasn’t real hip hop or if it wasn’t dirty underground it wasn’t hip hop. I think groups like NERD and Outkast and people like that have changed that, you know what I’m sayin, it’s like no, it’s not necessarily true. They have helped bring more diversity to it and more attention to groups like ourselves or even to Kayne West of groups the Fugees or Wyclef, what he does, he never does a straight forward album, he’s very diverse. He was one of the forerunners of that.
What is the passion behind your music?
We want to do music that touches people’s lives all over. Make music that’s from the heart and touches the heart. We want to get rid of all the labels ‘cause there is no need for labels. That’s how your music is going to be effective. It’s putting your life in the music.
What’s your take on the war?
You know politics is politics. You have the good with the bad. That’s why in all our lives we need some sort of guidance beyond ourselves to know what to and not to support, and some things aren’t for us to necessarily support or not support. It’s an issue of prayer, an issue of concern and Lord how do I be effective in the light of all this.
And on a more serious note what is your view of American Idol?
It shows you that there is a lot of talent out there, but it also shows you the reality of the business. To me all those people are puppets; they’re in line to be puppets, period. They’re not necessarily artists because they are not given the freedom to be artists. If they win they’ll be the American Idol and they will get puppet masters that will tell them how to dress, what to do, what to sing, here are the lyrics, go into the studio tomorrow vs. what we do. To me it’s not competing with us because its not, that’s not how we roll, not even what we do. It’s all like a big joke. Twenty years down the line we’re not going to be sitting around singing Clay Aiken.
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