“Rain All Day”
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Moka Only and Psy are The Nope. The Nope is an
experience that manifests itself through stellar hip-hop
music. They have created an album entitled Melba.
Though this interview was done in two separate
sessions, the two musicians’ answers confirm
the synergy that shows in their music.
The CK Interview – The Nope.
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∆: How did you gentlemen meet?
Psy: “‘Twas the summer of nineteen eighty-eighteen in Toronto, and Costanzo from LEN was throwin’ this party that Planet Pea & Asicks (from Canada’s Cryptik Souls crew) had invited me to. They both told me I needed to meet these westcoast rappers named Moka Only & Birdapres…and I did…and it worked. We rapped alot during that chip, and talked about rappers, as well as rap. Altogether a very rappy experience.”
∆: How, When and Why did The Nope come to be?
Moka Only: “The nope came to be over time cus we knew each otha and repected the hustle muscle.. too many weird things in common. It just happened without much thought.”
Psy: “I moved out to BC for school, and Moke’s crew the City Planners kinda adopted me. I think there’s alot of us slightly older cats that still have alot of nostalgia for the fun era of hiphop, and it seemed to shine thru when we made cuts. Thing is, we still both try to stay somewhat current on what’s floating around out there, so our music became kind of a mishmash of the old & new. Anyways, one night we had this brainstorming session about what we should call ourselves, and every suggestion one of us made had the other saying ‘nope’, to the point that eventually we weren’t able to say anything other than ‘nope’. At that point, it became obvious to us who we are.”
∆: What is your favorite music duo of any genre and why? What kind of song would you like to make with them?
P: “Jeeeeez….that ain’t easy. I have 4 right now. Simon & Garfunkel, Bobby McFerrin & Chick Corea, Outkast, and Murray Perahia & Radu Lupu. Put me with any of ‘em and we would make the songs that would make the peoples do the backflips.”
M: “hmmm…fave duo.. lennon and mccartney,perhaps..i kno it sounds obvious but they were cholars toether in this music shit.. i would want to go back on some phsycadellic tip with em.”
∆: Who or Where is Melba?
M: “melba is the sound that is made at the end of a track when it lifts off into the cosmos…there is velvet in there somewhere. Its also some kind of freaky food.”
P: “Melba is generally at the end, or on the top…yet at many parties it tends to be at the beginning. There aren’t alot of Melbas running around, but when you encounter one, you tend to remember it.”
∆: In my opinion, your album Melba has a nocturnal feel to it, particularly due to the lurky keyboards and basslines in the production and deep vocal tones you guys rhyme with. Do you agree? If so, is this an intentional aspect of the album?
P: “Thanks! Nighttime is the righttime. I’m not sure anybody really intends to be getting started on the 3rd track in a session at 4am, but as we say, ‘late times happen’. For real tho, the low-end is key, and I’ve always been bass & drum-driven, I think.”
M: “i dont think the sound of the melbum is intended to be nocturnal..thats just what happens when we only have two days at a time to cram work in. A lot of it ends up being all night sesh.”
∆: Imagine a person had the power of invisibility and only used it to spy on studio sessions for the sake of pure music interest. If “Invisible Studio Fanatic Man” was there for the recording of Melba, what would “ISF-Man” have observed?
M: “the invisible guy may spy levitation, a boatload of dumb laughter and me adding odd textures to beats while psy sits in a corner and eats chips while writing. He may also see some of the quickest verses in the world being laid down and a lot of mistakes kept in tracks. ha.”
P: “I think ISF-Man would probably have ended up all over the record. I should meet him…I would have him give me dance lessons. Melba was a product of it’s environment. He woulda been scared into rapping, truss me.”
The Nope – Melba Album Sampler | Download
∆: Are there any particular songs or albums that influenced The Nope’s direction for the album? If so, what are some examples?
P: “Wow….howmanysomany….we listen(ed) to alot of Carpenters, Zappa, Taboo from Black Eyed Peas, Residents, Yaggfu Front, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and self-help cassettes. Also, it should be noted that the Slum Village Trinity album (probably both their most successful and overlooked record all at once) led to meditations worthy of mention. People owe themselves to listen to that record while completely secluded–it’s basically Slum’s ‘Sgt. Pepper’s', and they’ll never match it’s range again. Seriously.”
M: “im gonna just let it be known.. i think if it wasnt for the S.V. album “trinity” then the nope may not have become realized. That album was and is sooo heavy to us as a duo. We were on the brink of starting a ‘trinity album’ support/discussion group. That album got some werid,strange shit going on. Some other dimension energy. The cadence experiments,the existential content,…man.. I could go on.. i will let psy add to it tho.. also the world of frank zappa has been pretty instrumental to us both.”
∆: What part of your creative repertoire do you take advantage of to aid The Nope‘s chemistry?
P: “Not part, whole. It’s all in there. It really is…just fragmented. If you’re at all familiar with my catalogue, then you’ll see snippets of everything I’ve been on other records. The collective sound of the Nope record is really it’s own thing tho, I’d like to believe. I’m a backseat producer, meaning, I let Moke handle most of it, but throw my two cents at it alot. I rap. I pretend to sing. I use different voices. I play the theramin. I strum the whaletooth banjo. Simply put, I just love recording.”
M: “i think i would say Psy’s rapping styles and his many vocal textures.. that is prolly one of the main things that we take advantage of. I am in charge of the beats.. thats my area but as for raps it really it psy that sets the tone.. everything i do in the nope stems from observing psy,really. So i step up after and try to do raps with as many variations as his.. lyrically tho im just along for the ride. I got my hands full making the beats. Real talk.”
∆: Why should Sally listen to The Nope?
P: “Cuz she sells seashells and got a one-track mind.”
M: “sally wont listen to the nope… she has a one track mind. She dont care if its yours or mine”
∆: Should Sally listen to The Nope?
M: “sally should!”
P: “Nope!”
∆: How is the tour scene in Canada? You guys seem to stay active with the shows.
M: “canada? its cool.. just so ya know tho, psy is american..from st louis and ive spent half my life back n forth between cali and bc so i think we are more universal as opposed to only reppin one place. Its kind of like me asking “what is the scene like in america?” You would look at me sideways and say ” dude, america is a big place—there is tons of different scenes depending on what actual region”..see? same goes for canada.. In the future i would want an interviewer asking “whats the scene like in Vancouver?” because i find it difficult to imagine repping an entire country that is vast and yet im only in one city. Not raggin on ya, just maing a point,ya dig? oh, one more thing.. weve never done a nope show yet.. so i hope someone books us.”
P: “Moke’s more active than I am. I play shows sporadically with random mandem. You might see me rock it here ‘n there with various Oddities members, W.O.T.I., Jeff Spec, etc. There’s plenty of touring to be done in Canada–it’s just a matter of budgeting right, and holding these promoters to their word. Lotsa fools are scared of ink on paper, man, but it can definitely be done. Moke’s doin’ shows all the damn time. We’d love to hit stateside more though!!”
∆: What does the name “The Nope” mean?
P: “Ummm, it doesn’t. If it did, it wouldn’t be what it is, which it most definitely is. Absolutely.”
M: “the nope is named as such because we dont like anything…at all. so if you come to us with somethin, we are just gon be like ‘nope’.. ”
∆: Track 8 is called “Let’s Do Lunch”. If that occurred, what would The Nope have for lunch today?
P: “Haha!! A side note, that might be my favorite verse of mine of the record–this week, at least. Well, I probably wouldn’t be eating what I was talking about eating in that song at a restaurant, but then again, you never know. We eat good and bad. Vegetarian joints and McDonalds. Not proud of the latter, but it’s fast and close to the studio, and open late. Plus it provides some of the filth from which our wisdom spews.”
M: “the nope seem to go veggie on the food tip..tho neither of us is truly veg.. it makes weird sense of non-ness. and the number twelve.”
∆: When’s the last time you were impressed or delighted by something that happened on a social networking site such as Twitter, whether it involved you particularly or not? what was it, if it’s not too intrusive to speak on?
M: “thats not too intrusive.. im impressed often on twitter as of late because im finally seeing a forum that is bringin a lot of hiphop cats of new and older generations together for collabs and whatnot.. plus twitter is simple. zombies know.”
P: “I’m not really the guy to ask. I mean, myspace was great for a second, then I got tired of all the spam. Twitter’s pretty cool, just because it’s led to so many collaborations that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. I must confess, I don’t use mine nearly enough…”
∆: Melba exhibits very interesting concepts and ideas, such as food, wood, and telling the listener where the song’s chorus is supposed to be while it’s happening. In my opinion modern songwriters usually focus on a more limited and redundant gamut of topics. How do you think of these concepts, and do they arrive as the verses are written or before you begin?
M: “heres the funny thing.. we dont really ever have any concept ideas laid out before or after..it really does just all happen on autopilot…in fact, if you really take it apart we are not actually saying anything of merrit! thats what makes it beautiful! we are the boredom-masters. we rap and also we rap. We sense a void in the rapmosphere and we fill it up with nonsense. All these so called serious niggas out there..wow..im not that kind of nigga.. I just go. Psy just goes.. We go to japan or wherever.. it just goes. Youknow what im sayin? ima say this..there are SOME hidden things thrown in amidst the ramdoms so i hope poeple catch it.”
P: “We don’t think. We rap. It’s better that way. I just say what sounds right over the beat as Moke’s making it, and we build the track around that….or, he’ll do it when he’s done. I don’t think either of us could make an album entirely about the same 4 or 5 topics that are usually out there. There’s too many other things in life.”
∆: What are some things you can picture listeners doing Melba while is playing, in effect using it as their “theme music”?
P: “Dancing with kittens, armwrestling, beachcombing, weaving tapestries, and bobsledding.”
M: “i want to picture fans starting a ‘melba support/discussion group’ and sit around with candles burning in a dark room and dissect the album and trip on the big ITs that we put forth. Can you see what i mean? I want people to stop what they doing and sit down and bug out to it. I will allow cooking during listening tho.”
∆: What does the future hold for The Nope, collectively and individually?
P: “Moke’s a machine. Seriously, if you don’t have at least one of his albums by now, then you just simply don’t support independent music–I mean, the guy’s got roughly 50 to choose from, and that’s NOT an exaggeration!! More Nope music will happen. If any label out there is interested in putting some out, let us know!! As for me, I’ve got a solo joint that I’m finishing up (keep posted on Oddities news at Oddlyenough.com), and I’m all over my brother Freeze’s record “Flight Plan” (listenclosemg.com), which will be out later this year.”
M: “we have no idea what the future..wel, i dont.. and i like it like that. There is only now.. So enjoy the melbum and help us make it popular enuff to warrant a second one. Peacers.–moke.”
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Melba by The Nope can be acquired at your favorite online retailers. Visit
Domination Recordings for more information. Big Up and Thank You to The Nope!
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