Aceyalone

As a member of South Central L.A.'s Freestyle Fellowship, rapper Aceyalone was front and center in the late-'80s/early-'90s open-mic scene centered around the Good Life Café. There, M.C.s defied the gangsta image that had come to define their neighborhood's hip-hop style to the world, offering inspired and often improvisational raps that rested securely within the African-American oral tradition.
After the Fellowship's acclaimed 1993 album, Innercity Griots, Aceyalone and his circle of like-minded rap poets formed Project Blowed, at once an M.C. workshop, live venue, hip-hop collective and recording company that continues to stretch the possibilities of rap light years beyond what generally passes for hip-hop on urban radio. While his later solo recordings and side projects such as Haiku De'tat and the A-Team have earned him a devoted cult of fans, Aceyalone remains firmly in the L.A. underground even while younger acts influenced by him — including Jurassic 5 and Dilated Peoples — have reached national audiences.
With a new album, Accepted Eclectic, on the way next month and his first national tour in six years coming through Atlanta, Aceyalone spoke to us from the offices of Project Blowed.
CL: Is there an overall theme to the new record?
ACEYALONE: It's Accepted Eclectic. My way of saying, 'This is what I do, from every angle.' Just diversity.
How has your style evolved over the years?
I just apply what I learn in the world. Maturity and everything else comes with that. It's all about what you know, mastering how you're going to present yourself. A lot of wise men and wise women go unheard because there isn't a proper translation. So you gotta put it the right away to get the right thing across.
Is the Freestyle Fellowship getting back together?
Yeah, we did it already. We got a record coming out this year. I don't know how people are going to take it because it's a different day and a different mindstate for us as artists and men. People hold a certain thing in their head about records they love. Then when they realize people grow and change, they sort of lose the connection.
In the early days of the Good Life, did you feel you were furthering hip-hop?
Yeah, I did. I tried my hardest not to do the same thing as what everyone else is doing. There was a competitive nature. We did stumble on something new, in the way each person came and was trying to take it to new heights as far as art.
Were you conscious about trying to offer an alternative to gansta stuff?
Nah, I'm just me on the mic and that's all I can be. There's no "What should I be?" or "Why am I?" [Gangsta] stuff didn't represent me — maybe a little bit, but not fully. It's just a natural thing, I didn't set out to be anti-gangsta rap, this is just how I come off.
Do you think you get your due as an innovator today?
What is my due? You tell me, then give it to me! I don't know what it is. I don't put no judgment on that. I do what I do the best way I can to reap the best benefits. There's no bitterness about where I am or how I fit into this whole hip-hop puzzle. I'm grateful for the position I have and the ability to be somewhat responsible for what I spit and how I do things. I take pride for having integrity in the music. So, I don't know. Start a petition and see where you think I deserve to be, because I have no idea.
Does one ever get too old to rap?
It's all about the respect you have for it. If you think every rapper has to be 21, 22, then that's what it'll be in your mind. If the vision is some "on the corner with your hat turned to the side" type of shit, that's not what hip-hop is. The people who listen to hip-hop grow along with the artists. There's maturity and there are levels they still haven't got to. When my voice starts sounding like I'm an old man — still I don't know. Can you say that about poets, singers, anybody who does any spoken word art? I know there are people who think it's a young sport, but I don't think so.
Do you think hip-hop is in a healthy state right now?
Yeah, I think it's cool. I'm at a point where I feel "to each his own." Do what you do, you're responsible for it. You're going to have a whole variety of things and, depending on the society, they're going to like what they like. I can't say it's in a bad state, it's in the state it's in. It's good for some people and bad for others. It's just going through the same things as anything that develops, trials and tribulations and downfalls. It's just its natural order.
Aceyalone performs Tues., Feb. 27, at MJQ Concourse.