’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.