The Profiler: Conquest sits down with Armond

CONQUEST: By the time this piece is published, on May 21st 2013, after about a year of recording, countless tweets, video blogs, and what must have felt like a ‘million’ tweaks, you would’ve released your second album “Kairos”. From it’s title to what inspired the theme of this album, break down the story behind both, briefly in your own words.

ARMOND: January 2012 I was working on a follow up to The Havilland Savage Theory & was set to release it on Valentine’s Day. I was about 80% done when God & my spiritual leaders began challenging the motives behind my music. You can scream Jesus all day, even lead folks to salvation but like Paul said you can preach the Gospel & still be a castaway. I was exhausted & I believe if God calls you to do something, He also equips you; & if you rest in Him you won’t get tired.  But I was spent. I spent way more time doing music than anything else, my priorities were out of wack. I realized that the notoriety & the fanfare & the money was really the motivation; it was masquerading as fulfillment of a deep gaping void that I had for most of my life.  So I stopped rapping like 3 weeks before the mixtape dropped. I mean pre-orders were made & everything…. Prior to, I was working 2 jobs & performing 2-3 shows a week, now I’m not rapping, no shows & I quit my side gig so I have all this free time. I used it to further develop my personal relationship with God, as well as really dedicate myself to serving at the church I’m helping to plant in Ohio, “The Way Columbus”. We have small cell groups that meet biweekly & there I was introduced to the concept of Kairos. A moment in time that presents an opportunity for change.  God doesn’t only work in the big bang.  God desires our intricacies.  And it’s up to us to submit ourselves to recognize them & allow God to capitalize off of them. It was a concept that challenged everything I had believed about anything up to that point & my passion to learn it, apply it & introduce it began to grow. I knew pretty soon after that, I would focus my next project around that concept… Sorry you said briefly, lol. 

CQ: (Laughs) Nah, it’s fine, I should’ve known a question like that would get a lengthy answer & that makes sense. Moving on, ‘change’ seems to be an underlying theme throughout this recording, even your hiatus came from a need for change. I’m curious about your involvement at your church, I actually watched a sermon from your Pastor that you posted online which really ministered to me a while back, how did “The Way Columbus” influenced your changes?

AM: Yeah, The Way Columbus. We’ve been operating in the city for about 5 years.  Started in my pastor’s basement, I believe I was the 3rd member there & the 1st who wasn’t related to either of the pastors. It’s affected every aspect of my life, from servanthood, to relationships, I mean…it really is a lifestyle. It’s not something we do twice a week, it’s one of the many works of the Lord, & since everything we do bleeds into each other its become part of who I am.  I’m a “leader” there, but that doesn’t at all mean I get to relish in the “spotlight”. I clean toilets, take out trash, I don’t get to kick it Friday nights, it’s a total commitment. It’s not something we can fake, or put on & take our hats off for. We live it everyday. 

CQ: How cool was it to have your version of  a ‘December 4th’ moment with your dad’s appearance on ‘Father‘s Day’? (Ed. note: ‘December 4th’ – Jay-Z track off 2003’s ‘The Black Album’)

AM: I actually had the concept for Father’s Day around Dreaming Out Loud. I sat on it for 3 years. To finally see it complete was so dope. I grew up very afraid of my dad; he ruled with an iron fist, but I still had such a reverence for him, one that even border lined on idolatry up until very recently. The transition where your parents become your friends is so dope to me. So to put on his “Asics” & walk in his footsteps with my own kids, I wanted to honor that.  Our culture has such an interesting relationship with our dads. You see how Father’s Day gets on social media.  So I wanted to challenge that concept. All of the men in my life are responsible fathers & husbands. Everybody has a relationship with their father, even if there wasn’t one. Women become promiscuous chasing the love they longed for from their dad. Men place value in their conquest’s…sorry (Laughs)…because dad didn’t show them how to love one woman a million times. My dad wasn’t perfect, there were some things he just didn’t have that I needed & he couldn’t give me. That doesn’t change the fact he’s dad. God filled those voids, so I can’t blame him or my mom, I love them. I wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for them. I’ve heard that song a million times & I still get choked up when I hear his part at the end.

CQ: There’s a song on my 2012 album where I go “You never support, but my girl’s page you go to / hit her up on Skype, she’s like ‘Do I know you?!!!’, so I immediately related when you said “Besides, my business is mine / I ask ‘Was I supposed to…wait, DO I KNOW YOU?!!!’ to the random girl investigating your love life on ‘Genesis Revelation’. When I wrote my song ‘Cross That Line’, I was aware, even irritated, by people that seemed to be more invested in who I was dating rather than the music I was making. Is that something you face too & if so, how do you protect your ‘inner sanctum’?

AM: I’m still learning that. I’ve had women get my phone number from flyers & send thirsty text messages. People have seen me come out of my apartment complex & asked where I lived.  People see my kids on Instagram & ask about them. You have to control your privacy & you also have to realize that your life is your ministry. That your music is merely what you do, it isn’t who you are. You are your habits. You notice how the biggest thing in hip-hop is living what you rap about, we can’t rely on grace from people to excuse our behavior, ’cause man’s grace only goes so far. So your life is a verse, your life is a hook, your life is a song.   

CQ: Considering the question I just posed, this next one may be somewhat intrusive. You address the ups & downs of intimate relationships frequently in your music, a fact that’s very apparent on “Ketchup Too”. Without forcing you to expose too much, how do you think most women view you on & offline, and what type of woman do you think could ‘hang’ with Armond, the servant of God, the father & the artist in a relationship?

AM: I don’t know. Honestly I don’t want to know. I have dope women around me that challenge all of my ideologies of what I thought I wanted in a woman & what my type is. I’m so picky, I’m sure my wife is going to destroy all of my hang ups. 

CQ: Someone very close to me interviewed you earlier this year & in listening to “Ketchup Too”, she stumbled across ‘So Help Me God’ & your lines dealing with forgiveness spoke to her deeply. How rewarding is it to know that God can use you that effectively?

AM: I’m just happy that what God allowed me to go through wasn’t in vain. Its taken me years to master forgiveness & I’m still a novice at it. But that’s dope that God graces my attempt for someone else’s gain.

CQ: I don’t know if you remember this, but when his group signed to Shady/Aftermath, one of your favorite emcees Joe Budden tweeted not only about the joy of getting his new deal on a major label, but he also touched on the joy of being able to freely see his kids through a reconciliation with their mother. You recently experienced somewhat of a similar thing, you even spoke about being able to comfortably joke around with the mother of your child after so much tension between you two on “Marathon”. How has that life change informed your music’s message?

AM: I no longer write from a bitter place. Writing from the place of “how I feel” is VERY picky. Imagine if your pastor got up & used his platform to air out his grievances…and then left.  You probably wouldn’t go back to that church right?  So now when I write from “how I feel”, I have to give the whole picture. I have to present the solution, otherwise I allow my audience to wallow. I always use Mary J. Blige in this scenario. Her fans loved it when she sang from that hurtful place. She gets happy, switches her music & loses her fan base. Why? Because she unknowingly taught her audience that it was OK to be bitter & stay there.  So they’re like “Happy?  Nah son, you over here in the dark corner with us, get back here”. That’s why “My Life 2’’ didn’t do so well, it was insincere. She’s not there anymore. You have to teach your audience to grow with you. So I had records where I addressed my son’s mother in a…’not nice’ way. And since that has been reconciled, I’d be irresponsible to not show the full circle.  A lot of men deal with “baby mama drama”, I wanted to show that God can restore that too.

 

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CQ: You got to trade verses with another favorite rapper of yours in KamBINO on the aforementioned “Marathon”. You guys definitely made a dynamic duo in the booth. That ‘Tracie Ellis Ross’ line? Whoa (Laughs). What was that experience like to work with someone you respect so highly?

AM: I’m sure Kam’ gets weirded out everytime we see each other ’cause I turn into a fan & start rapping his stuff & all that, pathetic I know. But dude is extremely easy to work with in the studio; people say he’s a bully & his raps are very confrontational, but he’s like the nicest guy in the world.

CQ: Since we’re on the topic of collaborations. You have…in total…EIGHTEEN GUEST APPEARANCES…over the course of 18 TRACKS on the ‘Director’s cut’ version of “Kairos”. Yet, your presence still commands the album which I must applaud you for. How did you pull that off?

AM: RELATIONSHIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Up & coming artists please don’t spam your favorite artists. They don’t listen. I’m always more concerned with somebody’s life way before the music. Sans maybe 2 people, every artist that I worked with on the album I already had a rapport with, so it was easy. You can tell when somebody phones in a verse as opposed to somebody you actually ‘break bread’ with. I ‘break bread’ with these cats, so it was easy. I never sought out that “this song is gonna get Wit’s attention” or “maybe if I do this, then Sean C Johnson will do a song with me”, I kept my head down & tilled the section of the field that I was given; the relationships came from a totally different place.

CQ: What was the easiest & hardest collaboration to lock down for “Kairos”…and why?

AM: They were all easy actually. Some took longer than others, but everybody was excited & wanted to contribute.  J Givens, Jae Mitch & Bumps INF probably turned around stuff the quickest. Only feature I didn’t get, & that was only because I couldn’t find a song that fit his style was Alex of The Goodfellas. Dude is incredible.

CQ: Okay so, I’m a major rock fan, so I was stoked to hear Hayley Williams’ vocals blaring through my headphones because Pizzie had the good sense to not only sample PARAMORE’S “CRUSHCRUSHCRUSH” but grab the ‘live version’ of it, which I think brought out the emotion in “Makes No Sense” even more. It honestly sounded like an actual duet rather than you rhyming over a sample. I also loved your performance, right down to the ‘shouts of joy’ you did on there. “Makes So Sense” may be my early favorite sir, a powerful joint indeed. Tell me about that moment.

AM: “Makes No Sense” was originally on my “Condiments” EP that dropped back in September 2011. I knew when my break was over that I wanted to revisit some records that I had written prior to the hiatus & this was the 1st one. My man Pizzie is incredible, he’s my little brother, known him since he was like 14. He knows a lot about me personally, so when he creates for me, he’s able to tap into that personal space & bring out something that other producers can’t.  I wanted to expound on the grace of God, because it’s such a struggle for me. I was always taught to give & receive conditionally. So when you serve a God who isn’t like that at all, it’s hard to believe. It makes no sense at all.

CQ: You have this ‘mean’ groove courtesy of Wes Pendleton for “Dusty Rhodes’’ & you decide to get RAGING MOSES on it, you eventually get his verse that makes the cut. What’s going through your mind when you hear it?

AM: He did exactly what I wanted him to. He & I have had conversations about that song’s topic, its why we did “Hell on Earth 2K12’’ (Off ‘Ketchup Too’) & its why we did “Dusty Rhodes’’. Nobody else I know could’ve hit the target the way he did and it was drenched in love & concern, he pointed out truths without coming off holier than thou. Everybody on the album did a great job of that.

CQ: Your writing on “Dusty Rhodes” is really excellent, particularly the 2nd & 3rd verse where you address, separation of church & state, our reaction to national tragedy, pop culture idolatry & our contradictions, plus the hook & bridge are so well done. It’s an incredible song that shows the ‘social consciousness of Armond’. What inspired it?

AM: My sister preached a series on the enemy’s deceit in our culture. The Lord is very visual in how He gives me stuff, so in worship (which is how I got A LOT of “Kairos”) I would see things, I would hear lyrics. I know it sounds spooky to some, but I need it to not be.  The same spiritual realm that mediums & all these other entities use illegally, we have been granted access to through Christ. It’s funny we’ll believe in a séance or something but we won’t believe that the Holy Spirit can move through a sea of people & speak, inspire, heal, cast out, etc. Anyway, I wanted to challenge the ideology of our culture, this smug, pompous attitude that America operates in. We are not a Christian nation, our history is filled with manipulation, lies & deceit. It would be easy to say it’s the rapper’s fault, it’s the President’s fault…but they’re merely pawns in a chess game that was started generations ago.  Let’s not look at who & what we’re taught, but why it’s being taught. And let’s challenge it.

CQ: This next question might get you ‘killed’ depending on how you answer it (Laughs). On your “Clock Radio Speakers” podcast with Doc, you guys have done retrospectives on producers like Kanye West to DJ Premier, and you guys have saluted newcomers like Mike Will Made It. With that said, how would you honestly rate DOC in comparison as a producer & more, in terms of ability alone?

AM: Doc has his own style, which I love. You get a lot of different variations of Doc on this album, he’ll get into a groove where he’ll make a batch of beats that sounds like “Walking Contradiction”, another that sounds like “This Is Kairos”. I think this album stretched him far more than he thought it would, because he really didn’t get hands on until the 2nd half. And it brought out the best in him, a side that I don’t believe he knew existed prior to, which is dope.

 

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CQ: Sticking with “Clock Radio Speakers” for minute, I know being a fan of that show made me even more anal about my album’s sound quality & the way my drums ‘knocked’ while recording it over the course of a year. Now over 100 shows in, do you recognize your podcast’s influence?

AM: Definitely. People will tweet me, call me, text me, I’ve even been approached in public over episodes. We’ve had “celebrities” start trending topics over opinions we’ve given on the show, so yeah, I recognize that it’s not just this little thing that me & Doc do ’cause we’re ‘nerds’. People really hang their hats on our opinions, which convicts me to make sure that I’m coming from a sincere place.

CQ: Now must I say, sometimes a ‘CRS’ podcast could get a little tense, especially when one party strongly doesn’t agree with the other. The A$AP ROCKY episode was a prime example. Doc really liked the album. You? Not so much. It was glaringly obvious, even awkward to listen to & yet, kind of funny. Has your friendship with Doc ever been endangered by you guys being both musical nerds.

AM: Never. Doc & I have been arguing about music for over 10 years, at this point our anger in disagreement is humorous. The more social episodes, primarily the ones that dealt with religion got a little tense, but that’s my guy.  Our relationship goes well beyond that.

CQ: Something I’ve been meaning to ask bro’, what’s up with the whole ‘DO NOT FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM!!!” thing you say to start the podcasts? Like, isn’t that point of having it? To be followed? (Laughs) Now, I don’t have instagram as of yet, so maybe I’m missing something, please break that down. (Laughs)

AM: Nah, it’s a little inside joke Doc & I have. Whenever we complete that CRS glossary we’ll explain it. Maybe, lol.

CQ: Let’s talk “Kairos” once more. It’s obvious with songs like “Frosbit” (which is a beautifully rhythmic declaration of God’s transformative power) along with “Love Is” & the transparent ‘roller coaster’ that is “Walking Contradiction” that you have a true affinity for soulful music, I know you’re heavily into R&B, and I think you found a way to make it a major component of the ‘Armond’ sound. Was that a conscious choice?

AM: I’ve been doing music since I was 7. I’ve been my own A&R, producer, stylist, booking agent, all that.  Over time, you learn what you like & what works for you. I always make sure that I’m pleased first, & that often goes against whatever the hot trend is, plus I’m getting older so I think my wheelhouse is a little more set in. I just know what works for me, I know when to take risks & when to do what I do. I don’t ever wanna be that “hip hop is dead” guy, I went through that phase very young & even then I was listening to Sage Francis, Paul Barman & Wordsmith along with Ludacris, The LOX & Lil Jon. You’d be surprised that the most lyrical of rappers often listen to ignorant music, your OJ Da Juiceman’s & Gunplay’s teach me a lot about emceeing as a craft.

CQ: Finally, I have to confess to the ‘Kairos’ moment I had while listening your album & it came with “Inside”, another favorite of mine. Again, an extremely well written song, but this line stuck out to me: “Never seen examples of consistence in my existence / in my desire to be close, I created distance”. You rhyming about keeping God at ‘arms length’ per se, spoke to a battle I’ve recently acknowledged for myself. How have you worked on improving your intimacy with Christ?

AM: Knowing that Father knows best. I don’t even know what’s gonna happen after I finish this interview, why not trust the One who holds tomorrow?  Also, recognizing that God really does care about everything, the relationship I’ve built with Him has been extremely honest, it’s not pretty but it’s honest, and I think He respects that more than anything. Lavoisier said he used to roll up & read the Bible & God would meet him there, that attitude doesn’t stop.  Whether you pray immediately after you sin or whatever. That’s what He wants & that’s so dope to rest in.

CQ: Any last words, as you would say….‘For The People’?

AM: Thank you all…For waiting…For your support. I appreciate it more than you know. Let’s shock the world. This is Kairos.

Purchase ARMOND’S “KAIROS” now at https://armondwakeup.bandcamp.com/album/kairos-directors-cut

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