Case in point is this track, The BBQ Remix featuring Jean Gray and Ty Pheonix from the album “At Last” by Eternia and MoSS.
Listen to this track, download the podcast of the interview, read the story, and follow us on Twitter – Eternia, Chase March, DOPEfm. Thanks!
Chase: “Okay, we’re back with Eternia and we just heard The BBQ. Nice track there. So. you’ve been pretty busy lately. You’ve been all over the place this week.”
Eternia: “This week? This week? My whole life! I’ve been all over the place my whole life. Ya know what’s funny? When I blank out I’ll say, ‘Oh. man it’s been a long week,’ but then I’ll be like, ‘I mean month, I mean year, I mean life.’ It’s been a long life what can I say.”
Chase: “You’ve been doing a lot of shows.”
Eternia: “Yeah, we’ve been doing a lot of one-offs. We’re about to hit Europe in July. We’re doing four shows in Toronto in a period of two weeks, which to me isn’t a lot. I like to do a show every night, ya know what I mean? But in between that we’re doing press and we’re doing a music video shoot and I’m visiting family and doing a whole bunch of other stuff, so yeah, it gets busy.”
Chase: “I follow you on Twitter and I saw that you were really excited about having your first 12” out.”
Eternia: “Oh my goodness! Yes, it’s with me right now. I’m really excited! I’ve had a 7” out of Australia with ‘Evidence’ and ‘Bang’ on it. It’s an exclusive collectors edition of Evidence / Bang.”
Chase: “Yeah too bad I don’t have that. I wish I had that.”
Eternia: “All I have is numbers 0 to 10. They’re numbered all of them. There were 250 made and I have zero to ten and they’re mine. One day they will be worth something magical.”
Chase: “I’m sure they will.”
Eternia: “We’re doing a double album on record as well, on wax. Fat Beats is the place to go, It’s fits our sound to a T and they cater to our audience and so I’m really honoured and really blessed to be on that label.”
Chase: “You have a ton of releases. I was looking at your discography-”
Eternia: “And I guarantee you that’s not even an updated discography because I personally put that up on the web and I have not updated it for a year or two. So I promise you , there is way more than that.”
Chase: “Yeah, I got that off your Sonic Bids.”
Eternia: “Yeah, that’s not even updated. There’s been at least 10 or 20 more since then.”
Chase: “You’ve worked with a lot of different people. The SoulStice tracks I really love. You’ve also done some work with Wordsworth, EMC.”
Eternia: “A couple times, before he was EMC and was Punch and Words.”
Chase: “I love EMC! I think they performed here, at this venue.”
Eternia: “They were. They’ve done Opera House more than once and they kill a show. They’re inspirational to me when it comes to what they do live. Really, I can see EMC five times and I never get sick of seeing them live. They are one of the best acts live. I can’t say that enough.”
Chase: “Yeah, I remember seeing them too. They traded off so smoothly. There was a Masta Ace song, there was a Punch and Words song, there was an EMC song with all four of them, and it was just seamless. It was amazing.”
Eternia: “Yeah, I can’t promise my set’s like that but that’s because there’s not four of me.”
Chase: “So when does the new album drop?”
Eternia: “Tuesday June 29th. We’re doing an in-store at Fat Beats that day. Whatever happens, happens. I’m just gonna breathe a sigh of relief and say, ‘At Last.’ when June 29th comes”
Chase: “We will air this before then but it won’t be on my blog till it’s already out. So anyone reading this or listening to this in July, you need to go to the store and support.”
Eternia: “And you know what? It’s an independent release so you go to your mom-and-pop-shop and if they don’t have it, you ask them to order it. It’s that simple. If it’s not somewhere that just means the store decided not to pick it up .so you go in and tell them, ‘I want you to order this record.’”
Chase: “That’s cool because I don’t think too many people would actually do that.”
Eternia: “Yeah, you need to know that because oftentimes stores, especially when they’re independent stores, they might not know but their fans do and they want to cater to the people that are coming in and buying music.”
Chase: “I wanted to talk to you about your name. How did you get that moniker?”
Eternia: “Honestly. It’s from He-man in the 80’s. It was the planet, centre of the universe. And obviously I was very full of myself when I was a teenager and I thought I was the centre of the universe so I called myself Eternia. That’s the story.”
Chase: “Too bad there’s another Eternia on Twitter.”
Eternia: “I am The Real Eternia on Twitter, okay? Don’t get it confused with the fake guy.”
Chase: “So you have two full-length albums and recently you’ve put out a mixtape.”
Eternia: “Technically, there have been four releases all together. It’s debatable what were full-length albums and what were mixtapes. There has been ‘The Collection’, ‘Its Called Life’, ‘The Set-Up’, and then ‘Get Caught Up.’ Those were all previous to ‘At Last.’ I view them all as albums but no, not all of them had barcodes. They were all albums in my eyes because they all had original content on them.”
Chase: “One of my favourite songs that you’ve done is off of Classified’s album with DL Incognito and Maestro. There’s a dope video to that one too.”
Eternia: “That was really good. That was the first time I jumped on a track with Maestro Fresh Wes. He was in my music video for ‘Sorrow Song’ way before that but then we actually recorded together for the Classified record. I love DL, I love Class, I think we all look up to Maestro. Maestro is so humble and doing the video for that was kind of like icing on the cake and I think it’s one of the most memorable tracks in Canadian hip-hop.”
Chase; “Definitely. We gotta play that one right now.”
Eternia: “Let’s do it. So, it’s myself, Classified, DL Incognito, Maestro Fresh Wes, if you don’t know who Maestro Fresh Wes is, you should not be listening to this radio show. Just turn around, look yourself in the mirror, and slap yourself in he face, now listen to this song.”
Chase: “Alright, we’re back with Eternia. I love that track right there. You start it off and just kill it with how fast you’re going and all the multi-syllables. You’ve got some great videos and YouTube stuff where you are just killing it. If anybody sees those and is not instantly a fan, there’s something wrong with them, I think.”
Eternia: “I think when look at me and talk to me, they get confused because I’m super-smiley and they see me rap and they’re like, ‘I don’t understand.’ But ya know? we all have different sides to us and I think the side you’re referring to is my work-out-some-aggression side, that’s what that is.”
Chase: “I’m an elementary school teacher and when you’re in front of the class, it’s like you’re on stage. And when you’re on stage, you’re a little bit different and maybe when I even on radio or my blog, I’m a little bit different that I would be in real life too. So, it’s not a unique things or weird that you’re like that or anything.”
Eternia: “It’s showmanship. Absolutely. When I was raised, rapping in the 90’s, it was really about coming in and standing out in a cypher. In order to stand out, you had to have a strong voice, strong delivery, strong presence. You had to be intense and you had to be confident, otherwise you just get sideswiped.”
Chase: “That’s what captures people. I remember seeing The Fugees before they got big and they looked a bit nervous or sacred on the stage. Like Pras was looking at his feet all the time instead of engaging the crowd. Lauryn Hill really shined in that show but the two guys looked like they didn’t have that stage presence. But that was early on in their careers. I don’t wan’t to bash The Fugees.”
Eternia: “But it tells a lot. In terms of talent, let’s just say this, the people who were nervous and they people who were not had a reason to be. That’s all I’m going to say about The Fugees.”
Chase: “Where is Lauryn Hill these days?”
Eternia: “Lauryn Hill is about to jump on Rock the Bells. They were getting complaints that they didn’t have any female MCs on their tour so they went and booked the best female MC of all time. That was the best response ever. Now they can book me, but they did book Lauryn Hill which is a big deal.”
Chase: “She needs to start rapping again.”
Eternia: “Everyone says that. But if you just listen to what she’s dropped, you know she’s ridiculous. It’s not about quantity to be, it’s about quality and she’s superceded that time and time again.”
Chase: “Do you have any other favourite female MCs?”
Eternia: “I never listen to people based on their gender. It’s just if I can rock out to the record. But some of them who happen to be women; I love Latifah. I was really young when Salt N Pepa came out and I love them but I kind of feel funny saying that now but in my day and age, they were amazing. MC Lyte, of course, Bahamadia, Rah Digga, Rage. And there is newer ladies post 2000 killing the game, Anomalies, Invincable. There are a lot of women I work with so I get in trouble when people as me this question but these are people I’m fans of for sure.”
Chase: “I know Shad says in his new lyric that there is not enough women in hip-hop. I feel the same way and when I hear a new name that sounds feminine, I want to check it a little bit more just to see what it’s like.”
Eternia: “I feel like you’re the minority. Like most people wouldn’t want to check it if they think it’s a chick.”
Chase: “That’s weird to me. I don’t understand that mentality at all. I want to hear the other side. Like Shad says, we’re only hear half the story and we’re not hearing the better half.”
Eternia: “I should sample that. Shad, I might sample that line. That’s really dope.”
Chase: “We need to hear more female MCs. That’s my thing right there.”
Eternia: “I don’t want my gender to not be acknowledged at all, because my stories are going to be different being that I am a woman because my life experiences are different.
But I look forward to the day where it doesn’t have to be about female and male MCs, where we are literally viewed based on our abilities. I compare that to a corporate workplace and I understand that there is still gender discrimination but not generally as much as there is in hip-hop. So when you interview someone to hire them for a position, you’re not saying, ‘Well, she’s alright for a chick,’ or hopefully it’s not ‘Well, we need more women in the office.’ Hopefully it’s about who’s the best candidate for the job.
I hope one day we’re rated the same way. When it comes to booking cross-country tours, when it comes to press, when it comes to record labels picking up artists, all that, it won’t be a matter of gender. It’ll just be, ‘Man, this is some really good music.’ I think hip-hop is a couple years behind, like 20 years behind when it comes to that mentality. Other areas of business, other areas of occupation are a little more forward thinking, ya know?”
Chase: “Wouldn’t it be awesome if people start saying their Top 10 rappers and there’s a female in there.”
Eternia: “Absolutely because we get compared to other girls. I’d loved to be compared to my favourite male MCs even if they say I’m not as good as them. Like they can say. ‘Yo, she does this like this person’ because I actually do learn from a lot of dudes that rap so I might sound like some dudes out there, probably more than girls because I knew a lot more male rappers growing up.
But people just don’t do that. They’ve got their Top 5 or Top 10 MCs off all time and they’ve got their favourite female rapper. And by the way, you can only have one. It’s like they can only pick one. It’s like only Jean Gray or Eternia. But why not both for different reasons? Just like human beings.”
Chase: “But that’s a problem for society it general. I mean, why do we have actor and actress when the –or suffix means ‘one who.’ We should just all be actors.”
Eternia: “Right, just like I’m an MC. I’m a rapper. I happen to be a woman, get over it.”
Chase: “I pulled this off your website. It’s quoted, ‘Perhaps for a moment, you can do as all of Eternia’s peers have done and put aside race, gender, nationality, close you eyes and just listen. We guarantee you’ll believe.’”
Eternia: “I wrote that, probably shouldn’t say that but I did.”
Chase: “No, you should. That’s beautiful!”
Eternia: “I went to school for journalism. I have to write my own bio sometimes. What that basically means is that the music is the most important thing. Good music is music that makes you feel and I think that no matter what race, what country, what gender, we can all make music that touches someone else, even if they don’t understand our language let alone if they’re not a woman and I’m a woman, ya know? So music that makes you feel is what I’d describe as dope music and so I just want people to listen and if they don’t feel anything, then move on. But if you feel something, than I did my job.”
Chase: “I think we should close on that note because that’s a perfect ending. I’d love to talk to you some more and there’s a couple other things I’d like to ask you but, man, that wraps it up nicely right there, doesn’t it?”
Eternia: “I’m not mad at that. Sometimes those just come out. I don’t know how it happens. They just come out of my mouth.”
I tell ya, it was so awesome meeting and talking with Eternia. I loved her before but I love her even more now. She was such a cool down-to-earth person. Go out there are support the great music she makes. “At Last” is in stores now and is a great album. I picked it up and I encourage you to do the same, You won’t be disappointed.
You can download the interview or stream it with the player below because I didn’t stop the interview here. I wanted to continue talking with her so I did. I hope you have enjoyed this coverage. I know I sure enjoyed bringing it to you. We’ll rap this all up tomorrow with the conclusion of this transcript. See you then!
Thanks to Thom Payson of Total Productions for the great photography you've seen here all week.
Music Playlist at MixPod.com
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