’Sup Headquarters, Brooklyn, NY
Thursday, July 17, 2003
Interview by James Friedman & Marisa Brickman
Intro by Marisa Brickman


Terrence Tessora was nicknamed Tes by his moms and it’s stuck as his lifelong nickname, as well as his professional MC name.
A rapper of the underground persuasion, Tes was raised between Brooklyn and Queens by his single mom who had a taste for late ‘70s groove. An avid rollerskater as a young pre-teen, Tes was introduced to a lot of his favorite jams (and honeys) on the rink.. After growing tired of hip-hop and it’s tired old formulas in the early ‘80s, Tes got down with the Latin electro. It took Public Enemy to bring him back to hip-hop.

In the early ‘90s Tes was partying down at warehouses and raves, surrounded by club kids, graf writers, b-boys tired of the same old shit, and lots of dancing. During these fucked up introspective times, Tes retreated to writing and rhyming. He eventually self-released some 12-inches, including “Take Home Tes” and “Sound Investment” under an imprint called VF Productions, run by Tes’ long-time friend Ron Morelli.

Tes’ rhyming style and delivery can be compared to Dose One or Madlib’s nasaly Quasimoto alter-ego. His production and beats are reminiscent of early, spooky Wu-Tang stuff that was dominated by the RZA’s production. Tes isn’t as street as most underground cats and he didn’t come up in the MC Battle or mix-tape circuits, but his introspective bedroom take on music-making and ability to self release has definitely found it’s place among NYC’s indie hip-hop community.

While he’s down with Def Jux and calls Aesop, Anti-pop and Can Ox close acquaintances, he doesn’t fit into anyone prescribed faction of NYC’s underground. He’s usually hanging out with lots of graf kids and skaters – or his girlfriend. He’s played plenty of shows with his other local buds, LoDeck, BARR and Babbletron, and recently got on stage with German electro duo Funkstorung.
Tes’ debut full-length, x2, was released earlier this year on UK label Warp’s hip-hop spin-off Lex. Tes plays rapper and producer and the album retains the spookiness, but throws in added sound effects, minimal electro, guitar samples and clanking pianos.

Most of x2 has that linear head-bob vibe characteristic of most indie hip-hop records, but tracks like New York New York makes his mom proud with its disco flavor and bootyshake effect. Tes is at his beat when he’s getting a little silly and really letting himself get loose.

My friend James and I invited Tes over for brunch one day at my place. James was on banana pancake duty and I took care of the smoothies. James, a hip-hop head himself, and Tes were a good match – talking candidly about wack rappers, obscure records, the NYC scene and musical tastes. Tes came off as super relaxed, relatively shy and well-versed in all genres of music (Black Dice just remixed “Trigger”).

Below is an exerpt of our conversation. James and Tes were vibing and I was trying to throw in the occasional professional journalistic questions as we listened to the new Fannypack Record (So Stylistic, Tommy Boy).


James: Yeah, I think it’s crazy that dude Matt Goias calls himself a member of the band.
He did those Indie 5000 parties for a while. I couldn’t get in the one time I tried because there were all of these models that had to get in first. You know what’s funny? This is basically electroclash.

James: It’s electroclash for hip-hop kids.
It’s freestyle a little bit, too.

James: I think Goias has good marketing sense.
Marisa: What about Northern State?

James: These girls are younger and willing to be trashy.
I’ve seen press on Northern State, but I haven’t heard them.

James: Yeah, they get a lot of press. I don’t know what the hype is all about. At least Fannypack is hot. They’re all about attitude.
It [“Hey Mami”] reminds me of that song “Do I Look Like a Slut?”

James: How about “Pump Me Full of Come”. Have you heard that Avenue D song?
No, but that sounds like some crazy shit.

Marisa: Yeah, they also have a song called “Donkey Punch.”
James: “Pump Me Full of Come” is really the worst name ever for a song.

Have you guys ever heard of this guy Dizzee Rascal?

James: Yeah, his album is so good.
He’s nuts man. I have the original “I Love You”. There’s a clean version where he’s mellow and he gets all amped, but there’s a hard two-step mix that I really like a lot.

James: The whole album is fucking crazy.
Wylo Kennan is the producer. Flex was trying to sign Dizzee Rascal before he blew up six months ago. I didn’t know anyone was really into him. Everyone that’s heard it has gone nuts over it.

James: It’s some Dirty South shit.
Marisa: Tes, where are you from?

Brooklyn, I lived in Queens for a long time. I spent my teen years in Ridgewood. I was born over near Park Slope and I’ve lived in Greenpoint now for six years.

Marisa: When did you start rapping?
I was beat-boxing as a young child, but I really started rapping in ’92 or ’93. I would just rhyme a lot, do drugs, get all fucked up and rap. In ’97 I bought myself a sampler because I couldn’t really hook up with a good producer, so I just started to make my own music. I’ve been doing it since then – making my own beats and stuff.

James (handing Tes his iPod headphones after finding a Dizzee Rascal song): Here’s the original.
I love that mix. That’s my favorite one.

James: Yeah, this shit is bananas.
I don’t know the other one.

James: I have the other one on here somewhere.
It is like Dirty South shit, but it’s also kind of Memphis Bleak. It’s the same kind of vibe with that girl, “Ain’t that so freaky now.”

James: Bleak is not my favorite.
But Bleak always raps over the more experimental tracks.

James: This whole album is awesome. It’s off the hook.
Yeah, it’s sick.

James: As far as British MC shit goes, this does the trick.
The trick is that it has a little patois kind of flavor, even though it’s a little more African. I think the cat is probably from South Africa.

James: I like that it’s nowhere near dancehall, but it has this yardy vibe.
It’s definitely two-step. That’s what they’re classifying it as. Even on pirate radio stations I heard the most popped out two-step stuff, like anti-drug songs and stuff. So what do you think of the Streets?

James: I think he’s a good MC, but his beats suck.
He’s definitely a really good MC, but if you hear the instrumental tracks you’re like, “What the fuck?”
James (looking at the mangoes Marisa’s slicing): What are you going to do with that?

Marisa: Put it in the smoothies. Tes, you like smoothies, right?
Totally.

Marisa: What else do we have?
James: I was going to put bananas in the pancakes, but you can put some in the smoothies if you want. I’m so fuckin’ domestic over here.
Marisa: Yeah, we were talking about this last night all wasted.

I got wasted too last night. I went out to this show. I wasn’t on the bill, but I was going to try to jump up and do 15 minutes or so. It was Kool Herc and El Da Sensi from Artifacts and this group Babbletron. I didn’t get to go on because this one group came on called Dusted Dons and they were the worst thing ever. They were dusted out white boys probably into techno, but also hip-hop and metal too. People were leaving after these kids fucked up the shit, so I wasn’t even going to try to go on at that point.

James: Where was the show?
Downtime. I hate that venue. It’s just uncomfortable. I don’t know what it is about that place.

James: Tramps was the spot.
That was the best. When that place was done a whole scene died.

James: That was the end of me going to hip-hop shows.
There isn’t a good venue for hip-hop shows anymore. Maybe there is, but I’m not finding it yet.

Marisa: Yeah, S.O.B.s has a lot, but the sound sucks and the drinks are mad expensive.
Yeah, I thought Northsix would have that potential, but it doesn’t really. It’s too big. I did one show there on a Sunday that was really good and we got a lot of people out. It was with Aesop Rock and BARR, this kid Brendan Fowler who’s a graf writer and did a book for Alife. This other guy CEX played. Lo-Deck also played.

Marisa: That’s a crazy line-up.
I had Lo-deck and Aesop come out and BARR brought himself and CEX. There was definitely a crowd clash, but it was actually a really good show.

James: CEX is pretty fuckin’ hilarious live.
Marisa: I’m not sure what CEX is doing.

It’s kind of like he’s making fun of rap. That might be what he’s doing, but I don’t think he’s doing that. It might be one thing if he was mocking it, but that’s not what he’s doing.

Marisa: How was the show with Funkstorung at Pianos?
That was strange. The beats I really wanted to rap on already had raps on them already. Like Mobb Deep was on one and the other ones were more danceable. I was struggling a little bit, not like I couldn’t do it, but I wasn’t like, “Oh man, I really want to rip this beat.” I did like their stuff, so I’m going to send them some acappellas, and they might do a remix. I can definitely feel that. I did a release party at Pianos last month with this guy ESE, Babbletron, Lo-deck and Afra. Afra’s this Japanese beat-boxer.

James: He’s on your record, right?
Yeah, you can also find him on that video Skratch and Breath Control. Joey Garfield did Breath Control, and Afra had a little thing in there talking about beat-boxing.

Marisa: I rarely ever go to hip-hop shows. I’d love to know what’s going on that’s more underground, but the only stuff that ever seems to get any hype or exposure is Def Jux.
To tell you the truth, I don’t really consider myself a part of any scenes in New York. I go out to more stuff affiliated with skateboarding or art shows or whatever. I’m not really into the underground scene in New York as far as going out. It’s mostly all boys and I’m bored by it. If there’s a chance I can play, I’ll definitely go. Def Jux shows are definitely the biggest one. Those are all guys when you go to those.

Marisa: Yeah, and they’re all really young kids. Last time I went to a Def Jux show I was smoking out with some NYU freshman boys up front. Me and my girl Emily were there and we felt like old ladies.
I went to the one at Irving Plaza. The best thing was when Camp Lo came out. Aesop has a song with Camp Lo. After they did that, they did “Luchini”.

Marisa: Oh shit, “let’s get rich, what?”
They stole the show. The crowd didn’t get it though. If you’re into rap, you know they stole the show. One of the kids was wearing a tight-tight shirt like he was hanging down on Christopher Street or something. I think that threw the kids off.

James: They kind of sucked when I saw them on the Wrath of the Math tour with Jeru and DJ Shadow.
Maybe they were really hungry or maybe they were inspired that night.

James: I think they were real green when I saw them.
I can see that. Maybe in comparison to what I was hearing the whole night, that just sounded the best. Cannibal Ox seemed to get the biggest reaction that night. No one’s really seen them play live together in over a year or so. Everybody who liked their new album was really down on their show because they forget their lyrics a lot. I don’t think they forgot their lyrics, but you know what happened? I cut my finger on the bathroom door somehow and winded up hanging out in the guest room. I was just back there drinking beers and shit, so I missed a lot of the show. I think Cage kind of got up and ripped it. You like 50?

James: I’m kind of sittin’ on the fence.
I’m kind of over it, but did you have any attraction to his flow at all?

James: I was listening to some song on the radio and there was this one line that was something like, “Don’t throw stones if you live in a glass house, if you’ve got a glass jaw, watch your mouth.” I liked that word play, but the fact that’s it really muffled and shady didn’t really attract me very much.
That took me a while to get used to. The first six or seven songs I heard from 50, I was like, “This sucks. This is too muffled.” It took me a while to like it, but after repeated listens I sort of got brainwashed by it. Someone on the Internet wrote that 50 Cent is like Young Bleed. I saw a tape for a dollar and bought it. Young Bleed’s more poetic than 50, but it’s actually a similar drawl.

Marisa: So the artwork on your album is really incredible.
Funny story. The first time I saw it, I turned it down. I saw a black and white version of it and I was pissed off about the fact that they were basically like, “Okay this is the artwork” without me actually approving it. They put all this time into it and they showed us a black and white sketch and I was like, “Uhhhh, I don’t know.” The guy was almost fired from the job because he was slacking and we actually tried to get ESPO to do it, but he was too busy. We were a little stressed out because it was getting down to the wire. You would have turned it down if you saw it. It was just a black and white copy sent to us in a JPEG. We really couldn’t see the details – the color or the embossing or anything. I gave the label stress about it at first and they got all stressed about it. After I thought it over though, I finally realized it was sticking in my head and it was dope.

James: He does a lot of the stuff for Warp, right?
Yeah, he’s done all of their stuff. It’s not just him though – EH? It’s his team. He has guys that do the hand styles.

James: Yeah, it’s really sick. I saw it for the first time at the DFA office last week.
We’re doing some work with them, kind of. Black Dice did a remix of a song for another record coming out. It’s the most fucked up song on the album. They took that song “Trigger” and they made it more fucked up. It’s my strangest song on the album and they totally cut it in half and made it more fucked up. They’re definitely really cool guys. I’m into it. It’s definitely a little heady, but it’s good because it’s a remix single.