Interview by Jenkin Au and Alan Ng
Words by Amie Nguyen
Photography by Christine Tang
The justalilhype! Crew had a chance to meet up with Kyprios, Marmalade, Itchy Ron, Metty, Mos Eisley, Dusty Melo, and Conscience, the full Sweatshop Union at Fortune Sound Club just before their hometown reunion party. Despite of their long experienced music careers and their successes as seen at the Junos, they tell us about their true thoughts on their unsatisfying views upon management labels and music videos that they have produced in the past. What doesn’t stop this crew is their passion and dedication towards the love of making music and the urge to constantly challenge themselves to create the best song they can while also finding time in their lives to work on various solo projects. The full-fueled team has definitely learned a lesson when they were younglings in the scene, but as they rejoin forces for newer projects, it’s going to sound better than ever before without all the bullshit that they all agreeably confessed collectively.
Tell us a bit more about Sweatshop Union.
Dusty: Basically, there are 7 of us. Based out of Vancouver, we’ve been touring and releasing albums for the last 10 years. We are made up of four separate groups: Creative Minds, Dirty Circus, Innocent Bystanders and Kyprios.
Who and where did the name of the group originate from?
Conscience: Well, it was more like the whole entire world working towards nothing, basically the idea of a global sweatshop. Not so much like sweatshop in the common sense of the term, as terrible as that is, but we are talking more about the struggles of every single person in the world that is working in a similar environment.
Why did Sweatshop Union feel the need to join forces? What could have only been done through the union of four hip-hop artists that couldn’t have been done individually?
Conscience: We were all friends before all this. We all had the same ambition with our music. We were making similar music. We decided to put all our money together and get the album made. We joined forces like that. We didn’t expect it to expand too fast. We all got along really well and it kept on going.
Metty: There were many big groups back then. 15 years ago, that’s what we really liked. Wu Tang and guys like that were doing big shows. They had a lot of different voices on one album. That influenced us as well.
Conscience: When you watch our show and there are all of us on stage performing, it’s a lot easier to get at somebody with that many of us; it’s a lot more powerful.
How did the rest join up?
Conscience: Pretty much everybody joined up at the same time.
Mos Eisley: It’s natural because we were basically making music together already.
Making money in this game is what stops a large percentage of the cats that are trying to make it. This is a good way to weed out the weaker cats, but even for those that are good, it’s still definitely a hard process. With a group of seven, the funds are going to be even more diluted. Has money ever been a problem for this group?
Marmalade: Yea, it’s still a problem to this date but we all make enough to keep ourselves going. We make enough to keep making albums and touring.
Dusty: When you are making music, you can’t really care about the money. The bottom line is, you love making music and that’s what drives you and there’s nothing that’s going to stop you from doing it. We’ve been fortunate enough to be able to make a living doing that and that’s just the icing on the cake.
Conscience: I don’t think that any of us was under the impression that one day we were going to be a huge pop icon or something like that. We’re just happy to say what we want to say and have people involved with us.
It seems like the integrity of your music is one of the most important things to this group. Can you tell our readers why this is so important?
Dusty: I mean, you never want to walk away feeling like you have compromised yourself as an artist. That’s the worse thing you can do. That’s horrible. Integrity is basically what I think has fueled this group and allowed us to stay close and keep people interested in us.
Conscience: That being said, there are obviously times when things come up that we disagree upon. We made decisions in the past on things that we think don’t represent us well. Not with the music, but more like television, media and things like that. That was 10 years ago.
Marmalade: We started off pretty young. We didn’t have a clue on what radio playback means; we did whatever to get on.
Mos Eisley: I mean, that’s the thing. As much as we don’t work together, we are very well connected. Anything I do has to be reviewed by all my peers immediately. Not judgmentally but everything is filtered. It’s almost like sonar; you can go with that and know it’s going to work out because everyone is critical in a positive way.
Marmalade: Everyone’s idea of integrity is totally different. When I make music, I just do what I like. I fuck around on whatever I am working on at that time and if I like it, I don’t think about integrity that much. I don’t care; I just make music that I enjoy.
Conscience: There’s not much thought put into it, it’s more about our instincts.
You mentioned in the past there was some sort of bad decision; can you tell us a bit more about that?
Conscience: I am not going to get specific, but we’ve got nine or ten videos and there are only a few of them that I like. Actually, I can get specific. Every video that we have ever done, I don’t like it, there!
Marmalade: Through our production of music videos, there were many opinions being watered down. You got people to tell you do this, do that. Back then, we didn’t know shit.
Dusty: We didn’t even get to pick which fucking video to shoot.
Conscience: I think everyone that stands behind us, stands behind our album. When it comes to everything outside of that, it’s all questionable. When you get a video made, the director and the label gets so much say, and you get so much say. There’s so much compromising that by the end of it, nobody is really happy. We’re really happy what we are doing on records and at live shows, that’s all us.
Mos Eisley: I think we definitely got the hold of it. Now, we know how to represent ourselves better because we are way freer and more focused on what we are trying to do now.
Conscience: And more experienced. We know when people are trying to pull one over on us. That being said, we made a bad video last year.
Marmalade: I think it just boils down to: we don’t give a shit about videos.
Conscience: Or radio singles!
What was your expectation of the hip-hop scene before entering and contributing to it?
Dusty: The hip-hop scene is so open to so many different interpretations.
Metty: When I heard my first song, I couldn’t believe I was doing it.
Conscience: We looked up to people that were working above us and eventually we got to work with them. We didn’t really have that many expectations when coming into the scene.
How has the widespread use of music sharing and technology affected this group?
Conscience: It happened so fast for us. Honestly, we owe so much of the crowd we get to the internet because of all the people that downloaded our shit. First time we go to the suburbs to perform, we sold out our shows. How did that happen? The internet.
Marmalade: Love the internet.
Conscience: As long as they come to our shows and they are having a good time. Buy a t-shirt to support us; I think the internet is a really good tool for promotion for musicians.
Metty: It’s also like back to the roots, there’s not much fake start ups anymore. You have to prove to them that you are worth it.
With success at the Juno’s and well across North America, do you feel a necessity to compete with your past selves? Many artists feel a large necessity to outdo their past selves in order to advance, whereas other artists dismiss this attitude and focus on just their music.
Marmalade: My mom would love to see me win the Juno’s again.
Dusty: Moving forward and competing with yourself is like the same thing. I always challenge myself to do something different and to better myself. Every song I make, I want it to be the best song I can possibly make. That’s how we all are.
Metty: Pleasing yourself than your friends first.
Mos Eisley: People listen to your music because they want to get in your veins. You have to represent yourself and the people that you hang with without being too exclusive.
Do your solo careers help in filling in areas that the collective seem to miss?
Metty: Just recently, we’ve been focusing a lot on our personal developments. We’ll see how that goes.
Conscience: I think it’s all apple and oranges. Sweatshop. None of our individual projects will be anything like a project that we are working in unison. There’s just something that happens when we each know that it’s a song that will be on a Sweatshop Record. I think everything that ends up in a Sweatshop album has that Sweatshop Union feel. The solo things are different representations of us.
Dusty: Well, what does Roney think?
Metty: He’s zoned out.
(Everyone laughs)
Itchy Ron: All the new projects are good and everything is going to have their own sound and it’s not going to be a Sweatshop Union sound. You got to watch out for the new projects, it’s definitely going to be really cool.
Now that hip-hop is becoming more and more widespread, it is much easier to make a living off of it compared to before. In one of our past interviews, the person was telling us about how hip-hop was kind of a whole class on its own and people were treated like aliens. How do you feel about it being spread out and accepted so much?
Conscience: I think the only reason was that it wasn’t the rappers being alienated. They were being alienated by the business side of things. They didn’t know what the fuck to do with it.
Dusty: There was a weird transition period. When all of us got into hip-hop, we were treated as outsiders for liking it, and then all of a sudden, we see it coming into pop culture. At first, it’s like your girlfriend’s cheating on you but you know, it’s become normal and we’ve adjusted to it. You just have to embrace it.
Conscience: That being said, there’s a lot more people making it and it sucks. There’s a lot of bad hip-hop out there. Even though it’s everywhere, it’s like litter. People look at you and they wonder if you are that garbage.
Metty: What I like about the internet is that it’s kind of like survival of the fittest. You got so many rappers out there. It’s crazy. Only the best can rise to the top. Especially with the internet, you can get your music out to anybody in the world by posting it.
Conscience: Shit will never shine.
Mos Eisley: When we were coming up, hip-hop was just proving itself to be commercial buyable only to like, the big names. Then people started to pay attention to hip-hop through pop culture, which was the most misbalanced time of hip-hop.
Conscience: There’s this McDonald’s side that blew up and it’s everywhere but there’s still that good home-cooked good meal out there.
Mos Eisley: The more the artificial comes out, the more it contrasts with the organic shit. It just kind of strengthens you almost because when they taste that, it’s obviously different.
Conscience: It’s almost not even a competition because the people that like the McDonald shit aren’t going to like my shit anyways. I am not trying to make my shit like that anyways.
Throughout the years of working with various labels and managements, how have they supported your growth?
Conscience: Yet to happen, next!
Marmarlade: That’s a big next.
Have there been any negative consequences through labels and management companies?
Marmarlade: Yes.
Conscience: The answer is yes. Whenever you are dealing with someone that’s trying to make money off you, you are definitely going to deal with negative aspects with that.
Mos Eisley: To temper that, we also weren’t as up on our business game as much as we should have been. We didn’t know what we were getting into and when that happens, people can easily take advantage of you
What do you think is the biggest lesson, being involved with hop-hop and being as a union, you guys have learned?
Conscience: I think for me, if you like what you are doing and you are working with people that you like, then you are good to go. You don’t need to get that second job at the coffee shop and focus on your business ideas.
Mos Eisley: That’s the thing, because there’s the fame aspect to it, even though we weren’t inspired from that. We didn’t see it as a real business. Anytime we performed for our friends, we didn’t think we were going to make money until a certain point. People that are coming in the game now see it differently.
Dusty: You are only disappointed by your expectations of yourself. If you just want to make dope shit and get respect from people that know what good shit is, everything beyond that, it’s nothing. If you are expecting it, you are going to be disappointed. Make some good shit and make yourself feel good.
Metty: That’s the one thing about being part of a union: If you are being surrounded by people that are excited, you are making music that you are excited about and you are excited about what people around you are making, you are encouraging each other. A lot of people don’t have that.
Is there a goal that you guys would like to achieve as a collective?
Marmarlade: Worldwide!
Conscience: I think we are thinking about Europe. A place like Europe is perfect; I think we would do very well down there. We are coming in again with 10 years of experience so we are definitely ready to take it to the next level.
Dusty: We are going to kill things.
What is HYPE?
Conscience: HYPE? Bullshit.
Dusty: Excitement.
Itchy Ron: Jumping
Marmarlade: I am going to say how people feel like what you are putting out.
Conscience: Everyone is making a bunch of HYPE and it’s usually bullshit. It’s bullshit most of the time. Sometimes a person can be very talented and get many people involved and that’s legitimate.