JTH: Just to provide some better perspective, how exactly did you three decide to come together to form “Red Coalescence?”
Madik: Basically, as I said, we were all doing individual things. I was doing stuff with a group called The Alumni. We all were in the same circle, and we all had a tremendous amount of respect for one another. I always felt that as a musician, we need to do things in excellence. Let’s not give into being mediocre because we are believers as Christians. I feel the need to be better than what the world does. I feel the need to work harder than the world. So, I have dedicated myself in my own business and career. It’s easy to talk about God and be so humble to where your product is suffering, but I feel like God requires us to be excellent. So, we were all doing our thing, and I noticed Omit and Illusent. I told them I have a local studio here in Albuquerque. It was put on my heart that we needed to unite together, and somehow, someway, I felt strongly that it could happen. We soon had about 7-8 artists in my studio. I pitched to them the idea and logos and everything that was put onto my heart. What do you guys think? Right then, everyone was down to do it. I told them I want to be patient and do this the right way instead of throwing a couple songs together and calling it a day. A lot of people fell off the wagon early on, and us three seemed to stick together through all of the adversity. If we stayed the course, we knew that God had something special planned for us. When you do something for God for real and you’re doing it on a level where you could really make a difference, things come against you. So basically, God put it on our hearts to collaborate and be creative together.
JTH: You guys formed the group called “Red Coalescence.” Is there a specific meaning of that name or a reason on why you came up with it?
Madik: It’s pretty simple actually. A coalescence is basically used in meteorology, and it is when water molecules in the air, when a storm is developing, begin to attach to one another. When enough of them come together, they are formed into rain. There are only three of us. I think we make a very effective coalescence. The coalescence signifies us raining down, and the red shows we are bought with the blood of Christ.
JTH: Individually, or as a group, do you guys have any other musical influences, or inspirations, whether it’s Christian hip-hop or any other genre for that matter?
Illusent: Dude, honestly musically, my range is so wide. It ranges from Stevie Wonder to the Beatles. Of course, with that, a lot of it is strongly rooted in Hip-Hop. I grew up on NAS and Wu-Tang, which was very popular at the time. After coming to knowledge of my faith in Christ, that kind of changed. I am a fan to an extent of some “Christian Artists,” but during this whole last span of time that we’ve been forming together as a group, I haven’t been listening to anything other than what we are trying to accomplish, due to the fact that I don’t want our sound to be tainted by anything. I want our music and sound to be unique and built from nothing.
Omit: Yeah, I’m kind of right there with Illusent. I grew up listening to mostly Hip-Hop and R&B. Even after I got saved, I began to listen to some of the Christian hip-hop artists of the day like T-Bone, Gospel Gangstas, and even some of the secular artists like Busta Rhymes and NAS. I was always impressed with lyricism. The artists I was drawn into were the artists who were big into lyricism. Even nowadays, I listen to artists like Braille and things similar that have the lyrical element to it. I feel like that’s where my roots come from, with a focus developed more towards lyricism and word play. I also try to like to have fun with it so that’s my own me; I guess that comes along with it. That sums it up for me as far as influences.
Madik: When I got into hip-hop, I became a producer and rapper at the same time. I had an idea that I wanted to produce, and I didn’t even know how to. I just knew I wanted to do be a producer. I became a rapper and producer the exact same day. I didn’t listen to a lot of stuff; I kind of made my own stuff on Casio’s and junk. I was trying to find cool sounds and make a beat even if it was whack and put it on tape and get a recorder so I can add my voice on the beat. I took a while to reach my peak, or professionalism as an emcee, because I took more time trying to develop two things at once. There was times I thought my production was exceeding my artist side. I really didn’t have a lot of influences as far as artists. I have always had this weird thing, where I don’t like to listen to stuff. I literally woke up one day and said I want to rap and produce, as I feel God put it on my heart. As I progressed as a producer, I didn’t want to be one-sided. I wanted to be able to make them sound how they wanted to sound. As of the last five years, I put my work into my artist craft as well as my production. I try to find my inspiration in God, and it sounds like a Holy way to say it, but there were times where I was writing a song, and I felt God in the room inspiring me. Some of my best material happened within an hour and just came out of nowhere. All the best stuff, I mean Omit can even attest to some of it. Even Illusent as well. We were sitting in the studio, we just busted out a song, and it was like there it is. It was nothing, and all of the sudden, it was something. That’s inspiration in God.
