Q&A with Soul Khan

Fueled by his job at Fat Beats in Brooklyn and his nation-wide rap battle reputation, Soul Khan produces a no-gimmicks style of rap as part of the underground hip hop group the Brown Bag AllStars. He released his first album, which has been downloaded over 50,000 times, “Soul Like Khan” in November 2010.

Soul Khan took the time to talk to staff writer Alex Dixon about his work ethic, his singing ability, and his Internet fame.

DIVERSIONS: You released your first album online for free. Do you think that has made you more successful as opposed to selling it?

SOUL KHAN: In terms of exposure it certainly endowed it with a lot more momentum from the beginning as opposed to a sold project. And I think that, all things equal, a free project will have more mileage than a project that gets sold. Just in terms of how much a record is pirated or bootlegged on the Internet versus how much it’s purchased.

DIVE: What’s your background in music?

SK: I’ve been rapping for 14 years. I’ve been rapping well for about five. I grew up on a lot of good music.

DIVE: Apparently you’re popular on the Internet for rap battles.

SK: It was a very fun thing to do for a couple of years.

Unfortunately it’s a thick barrier to access musical success or the musical success that I consider enduring in America. It helped get my name out there, but that’s about as much as I could do in it.

DIVE: How do you feel that your Internet fame translates into getting a crowd at a show?

SK: Sometimes it lines up and sometimes it doesn’t line up at all. It’s because the Internet is one space where you can consolidate everyone on a material plane. Whereas when you’re in the material world, those people are scattered.

If you have a million fans but those people are scattered in pockets of 20 across the planet, it’s real tough to get a show in a location. You just have to do the groundwork and know where your fans are and build up your presence from there.

DIVE: What happens if you mess up or miss a word at a live show?

SK: It happens occasionally. I don’t have a hype man, so you know it’s just all me on that. I’ve seen recently people who are supposed to be professional rappers and people who have a decade on me just forget all their words, so I’m doing all right.

When I first moved to New York and I started working with Brown Bag AllStars, I rehearsed my material everyday. So I think my work ethic and my rehearsal ethic is in the top percentile.

DIVE: You said you’ve been rapping well for five years. Would you attribute that to your strong work ethic?

SK: I think I’ve been rapping well because I’m taken more seriously since I moved to New York and started working with Brown Bag AllStars. I think that I had the facility and talent for rap prior to that, but I don’t think it was very developed until I started working with Brown Bag.

DIVE: How do you keep your flows going?

SK: I sing a lot to myself. I scat a lot. A lot of my flows perceive the formation of any words. The flow often dictates the words, often not the other way around. I do have my style, but I try to diversify how I rap.

DIVE: What’s your background in singing? Did you sing before you started rapping or have you recently started singing?

SK: I sang way before I rapped. Growing up in school, I was in the choir and that fell to the wayside pretty early on, but my sister was a pretty well-trained singer. My dad was an aspiring rock musician early on in his life, though I sing way better than he does.

DIVE: What’s your stage presence like?

SK: I would say it’s pretty assertive. It’s a mix of dominance and conversation because I do like having a rapport with the audience and I do like trying to capture their attention. I don’t jump all over the place. I don’t dance. People pay to see me rap. I try to do justice to the audience’s intentions; they’re buying the tickets.

DIVE: Have you performed in the Triangle region before?

SK: I’ve never performed in North Carolina period. I’ve heard wonderful things and I know there’s a vibrant musical and hip-hop scene in North Carolina and in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, so I’m excited.

DIVE: What should the audience expect at the Local 506?

SK: Great singing and great rhymes, all the stuff they want in a rap show. I promise something that will astound and satisfy them when I come there in February. I do a hip-hop show. I don’t dress it up.