March 28, 2024
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Æquitas and AdotWAKE

Aequitas - "Luck of the Irish (Feat. AdotWAKE)" AdotWAKE - "Lies on Lies (Feat. Aequitas)" Aequitas - "Krampusnacht (Feat. Duhmonic aka The Diearchy)"

What up, Fam? It’s Johnny O. and I’m back once again with a brand new edition FLH’s Underground Spotlight. This time around we get a chance to check out two underground horrorcore artists that recently released a collaboration album entitled, “Lies & Vengeance.” Both Æquitas & AdotWAKE originate from the North East and have now teamed up with their own label, based out of the Philadelphia area.

Check out the tracks here, but if you like what you hear be sure to hit up the links below. Well, I guess this is the part where I could ramble or we could just get into the damn interview. Okay, welcome back everyone…. Here we go again…

Aequitas

Johnny O: So, for those out there who may have not heard of you, can both tell us a little bit about yourselves?

Æquitas: Well let’s see, I am from NJ originally but now live outside the Philly area and pretty much spend all my free time outside of work either making music or boxing/practicing martial arts of some sort, although ironically enough despite my violent lyrics and love for punching things, I’m not really an aggressive or angry person…anymore at least haha

AdotWAKE: In short, my name is AdotWAKE and I make music… Been creating some sort of music for as long as I can remember.  Born and raised in NY, but I’m now based out of Philadelphia PA for just over the past 6 years. In no particular order; Rap practitioner, MC, official Battle Axe Warrior, ninja, activist, father, husband, friend, enemy, freestyle rap artist, conscious hip hop artist, and Artist of many other mediums.

JO: I know that Æquitas has interesting meaning, could you explain it and what it means to you?

Æquitas: “Aequitas” actually has a lot of meaning both in itself and to me personally.  To start, “Aequitas” is Latin for “Justice,” If any of you have seen the movie “Boondock Saints” you might of noticed it was tattooed on one of the brother’s hands (Veritas ‘Truth’ was on the other brother’s hand)… Aequitas was already also conveniently tatted across my shoulder blades before I started rapping so it just made sense to make it my rap name.   Now the movie Boondock Saints in itself had a huge impact on my life, not only did it instill a sense of Irish pride (me being ½ Irish myself) it explored the concept of vigilantism and pursuing the course of justice.  Having done martial arts all my life, Confucian and samurai codes of conduct have shaped a great deal of my personality, a major principle of which is to pursue the course of righteousness and justice, but that in itself begs the question, what is justice?  Now with my music I seek to use horror & Horrorcore to paint a picture of the horrors of reality and the injustices around the world in order to help answer that question.  You see I consider rap to be a form of poetry and I believe Confucius when talking about poetry captured the true nature of what my name “Aequitas” is all about when he said, “Poetry calls out sentiment. It stimulates observation. It enlarges the sympathies and moderates the resentment felt against injustice.”  Overall it’s hard to say exactly what justice is, but perhaps in showing you what injustice is, you can become one step closer in figuring it out.

JO: AdotWAKE will you give us some insight into your name as well?

AdotWAKE: The short answer is, I STAY UP!  Digging deeper, when I make music, I get to express my fully awakened, crazy self.  I also strive to provide thought provoking concepts in an attempt to bring some sort of similar awakening to the listener… The dot came from getting sick of people calling me “UH-wake” when my name is A.WAKE, so I started spelling out the dot. So many reasons behind my name though. Some of the inspirations and meanings are too difficult for me to explain quickly…

Lies

JO: Now, before we really get into this thing, can you tell us how you two actually came to work together?

AdotWAKE:  We met through Reverbnation, which is a great resource for artists of all levels and genres, especially underground artists.  Aequitas came out to a show I was promoting and once we met, we started working together almost immediately.

Æquitas:  Pretty much what Adot just said sums it up…

JO: How would each of you describe your own individual styles? Would you describe you combined sound differently?

Æquitas: As to my overall style the simple answer is that I do Horrorcore, but I believe that is way too general because of how I define Horrorcore.  You see I believe anything that would be considered dark, horror, thriller, supernatural, violent, in content all falls under a giant umbrella for Horrorcore; it’s like the horror genre for movies in my opinion, you can get a slasher film, you can get a supernatural movie, you can get a twisted thriller, suspenseful mystery, an ultra-violent shoot em up type movie, its just so broad.  Basically, I cover and have covered all these themes at some point in my music, but my true passion is shoot em up type tracks, that falls somewhere in between Horrorcore and Gangsta rap, which I like to call Gunslinger Rap, because of vigilante rather than criminal undertones present with Gangsta Rap.

Now when Adot and I come together you get something completely different.  We cover much more political orientated topics, but I tend to put a horror twist to it, because what it really comes down to is, what is more horrifying than the true horrors of the world perpetuated by corruption and the pursuit of greed?  Poverty, warfare, crime and misery are all a result.

AdotWAKE:  I call my style “Movement Music” because it’s music to get people moving in some way, and it can hopefully be the soundtrack to fuel movements of change.  Not into standard labels but if I had to pick 1 style I tend to identify with most, it’s Conscious hip hop.  I also love to spit freestlye rap, and dabble with horrorcore, especially when working with Aequitas and our other label mate Duhmonic.  With my outspoken faith in God, some A&R’s have even attempted to label me as Christian rap…  Bottom line, I’m an artist who uses many diverse styles and mediums to express myself.  When Aequitas and I work together, we create a very unique sound that is not 100% like mine, or 100% like his.  We use lost fusion art forms to bring a very unique sound, which is why we continue to frequently work together.

G-Dub

JO: G-DUB Records is actually your own independent label, how has this been for you?

AdotWAKE: It’s been AWESOME owning our own label and not having to bend or conform to what major labels demand!  We create and release music that we love, made by artists that each brings something different to the table.  One thing we vow to deliver with G-DUB Records is something different every time.  Change is the only constant in life, and we like to cast a wide net so we have a little something for everyone whether it be horrorcore, acid rap, conscious hip hop, music in different languages, singing, rock infusions, gunslinger rap, movement music, and probably any other style you can think of too!

Æquitas: I gotta agree with Adot on all of that it is awesome, we pretty much just do our own thing and come together to help build each other it’s a good business and support structure we got going with a lot of freedom.

JO: Not too long ago you both released a joint effort titled, “Lies & Vengeance;” how has the response been so far?

AdotWAKE:  The response so far has been really positive.  We took a different approach on this album and included a bunch of skits.  The album could even be considered a dark comedy album in some ways, but it still definitely has the powerful messages, and lyrics we’re known for.

JO: Is this something you plan to continue working on, or are you both focused on your individual projects at the moment?

AdotWAKE: We don’t have another exclusive collab album like “Truth & Justice”, or “Lies & Vengeance”, planned at the moment, since we have so many other projects in the works.  We’re both very focused on our own solo projects right now and continuing our solo careers.  However, we’ll both be featured on each other’s upcoming releases as we continue to work together all the time.

Æquitas:  While we don’t have anything planned now, we kinda do both simultaneously.  We are always working on music, and so generally we’ll be working on our solo stuff on our own, but then when we meet up we tend to come up with some real cool ideas for collab tracks then we end up with so many cool ideas that we ultimately decide to put them together into an album.  The way its been going and it seems to be continuing is that we’ve been alternating between solo releases and collab releases; it’s a lot more fun to keep changing things up and doing something different.

JO: Speaking of current projects, is there anything in the works that either of you could let us in on?

Æquitas: Haha I’m always working on like a million projects, but as far as the immediate future, the biggest and next to come album I am working on is “Gunslinger II: Vendetta,” coming out November 11th this year.  This one is gunna be much darker than my original Gunslinger and has some solid underground features on it such as GrewSum, Playboy the Beast, BlackWaltz, Spitz, D-RaNGD and more.  Following that however, in the works is another solo project “Devil Will Cry II: Tears of Blood”, also a joint project with our other label mate Duhmonic called, “Crown of Bones,” and lastly a super-group project with me, Adot and Duhmonic that will be released under the group name “Dogs of God.”

AdotWAKE: I have an upcoming joint release with a German label (Splattershot ent.), as well as my highly anticipated written album titled “Struggle Strength” coming really soon.  Can’t say much more right now but details will be announced in the near future!  We also have a large group project that we’re working on that will PEEL FACES OFF once it’s released!  Have to Stay Up with us so you don’t miss the latest announcements about our upcoming releases and shows

AdotWAKE

JO: If fans want to check out more of either of you, where can they find you?

AdotWAKE:  We constantly do shows in Philly and the surrounding areas, so check our schedules and come say whut up to us at a show sometime!

All the albums mentioned along with lots of other fresh projects, can be found @ www.AdotWAKE.bandcamp.com or www.G-DUBrecords.bandcamp.com.  My main site is www.reverbnation.com/AdotWAKE .  On Twitter & Instagram you can find me @AdotWAKE.  My Facebook Artist page is www.Facebook.com/AdotWAKE, and you can link up with me directly on Facebook @ www.Facebook.com/TheAdotWAKE

All of our videos can be found @ www.YouTube.com/GodsWillrecords

Æquitas:  You can connect with me and find all my music at:

www.facebook.com/AequitasHorrorCore

www.twitter.com/AequitasHorrorCore

www.reverbnation.com/AequitasHorrorCore

www.AequitasDemonicDieArchy.Bandcamp.com

JO: Both of you have had the chance to work with some great underground artists, but if you could reach out to anyone for a collaboration who would it be?

Æquitas: Aside from the obvious of either Twiztid or Tech N9ne, since I don’t really know a lot of artists in the underground who wouldn’t want to work with those guys, I’d have to say Celph Titled from AOTP, dude is funny as hell and I think his flow and style would mesh real well on track with me.

AdotWAKE:  Hard choice to make…. Zach de la Rocha, Nas, RZA, GZA, Tom Morello, Damien Marley, Twiztid, ICP, Jumpsteady, Vinne Paz, Paul McCartney???  Such a hard call to pick but I’ve really been listening to a lot of Flobots lately so I would have to say them.  Between our unique sounds, and hard-hitting messages, I think we would make some high levels of Musical magic!

JO: Who would you say have been your inspirations?

Æquitas:  While the entire underground like Tech N9ne, Twiztid and ICP as well as countless Horrorcore rappers influenced me and my music over the years, surprisingly enough D12 has been hands down my #1 biggest inspiration.  The whole shoot em type style, like with their track Pistol Pistol, instantly got my attention and you’ll see elements of their style in my music more than anything else.

AdotWAKE: I obviously pull inspiration from lots of different places, and generes.  Some specific ones are; all of Psychopathic over the years, Biggie, WU-TANG, Nas, Bob Marley, RATM, AOTP, Necro, Jedi Mind Tricks, Sublime, The Beatles, and a boatload of Underground Music!  That list goes on for quite a while though so I’ll stop there…

JO: Currently, who or what are you listening to?

Æquitas:  Recently both AdotWAKE & Duhmonic got me hooked on AOTP & Vinnie Paz; I don’t know how the hell I had been sleeping on their music for all these years, but that’s some real ill music right there.

AdotWAKE: Mostly beats I’m contemplating or upcoming G-DUB releases, and a rotation of the inspirations mentioned above.  Besides that a lot of underground hip hop, mostly from Philly. Adlib, Wildcard, iAlive, and Kavorkian to name a few.

JO: Of course, before we go how about a few Shout outs?

Æquitas:  Gotta shout out our homie and label mate Duhmonic, also big shout out to my German homies Segad de Sade & Mental who I’m on the German label Splattershot with.  Also big shout out to D-RaNGD who’s been awesome and inviting me and Adot to hop on shows with him.  S/O to Mal Havok from 7th Layer and Nineiron who brought both me and AdotWAKE into BAXWAR, and s/o to our BAXWAR fam, Mike, Juggs, Clockwork & Adlib.  And also s/o to Mike Henry with the Wolfpac crew and lastly s/o to my homie Politicize!

AdotWAKE: BIG S/O to ALL our fans coming to shows & picking up our albums, or anyone that supports the movement, we can’t do it without yall! Everyone Æquitas just mentioned plus all our homies at Splattershot Ent. in Germany, and last but not least All my Warriors out there workin hard, AXES UP! STAY UP!  -A.

Adot

Okay, that will just about wrap up another interview here on the Underground Spotlight. I want to thank Æquitas, AdotWAKE and the entire G-DUB records family for taking the time out for this interview. Remember, if you enjoyed what you heard make sure to go download a copy of, “Lies & Vengeance,” and be sure to check out the rest of the G-DUB records catalog.

As always I want to give a big THANK YOU to all of you that stopped in to check out the latest Underground Spotlight.

So to all of you artists out there, if you would like to be featured right here on the Faygoluvers’ Underground Spotlight just hit me up at [email protected]. Make sure to include a short bio, why you want to/should be featured, a pic or two and a couple tracks. Of course don’t forget to include UGS or something similar in the subject line. So, until next time…

Peace,

Johnny O.

 

WEBSITES:

Aequitas Facebook

Aequitas Twitter

Aequitas Reverbnation

Aequitas Bandcamp

AdotWAKE Facebook

AdotWAKE Reverbnation

AdotWAKE Bandcamp

G-DUB Records Bandcamp

G-DUB YouTube

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