Issue 37
Whoa. So no sooner had we wrapped the mind-melting Spring Style special (#36 in your collection) than we turned around and it was time to huddle up and get cranking on issue #37-the one month later issue. No worries though, because you know all of us here in FADERland have a) infinite amounts of time on our hands and b) story ideas coming out of our ears. Yes, we know that's a lot of physical metaphor for just one magazine staff but seriously folks, we couldn't be more excited to have Ghostface Killah and Love Is All gracing the covers of the little magazine we call home. Ghost has been in the game for a trillion light years now but somehow manages to keep making the fire-and coming up with lyrics that involve jellyfish sharks with aqua blue pocketbooks and mermaids wearing Gucci belts. We couldn't resist-and so we locked Eric Ducker in Ghost's SUV to plumb the mind of a Killah. Meanwhile, Sweden's Love Is All got us twisted-up and geeked-out when we heard the first couple notes from their ridiculous (in a really good way) LP, Nine Times That Same Song. It would have been fine by us if it actually was the same song nine times over—because it really was that good—but (bonus) it was actually ten wildly different and wildly awesome tracks that spun us into the stratosphere. We think these kids are gonna be big, and not just in that weirdly imagined FADER way.
That's not all the honey the little FADER bees have been making, though: this issue brings back the now-annual Artists At Work feature, wherein we extract some of the most interesting, dynamic artists out there from the lab, their homes and/or the greenroom to find out what, precisely, happens in their creative processes. And that means no bandmates, roadies or gofers: just them. You'll see that we roped in Mira Bilotte from White Magic, Kyp Malone from TV on the Radio, Eightball (no MGJ), Mike Skinner from The Streets and Akon from, well, the Many Provinces of Akon (you'll get it when you read the story). What with all the in-depth reportage on the hows and whys of the musical mind, there's a lot of mental gymnastics in this issue, friends, but if you stretch right and stay focused, we're sure you'll be doing cartwheels in no time.
ALEX WAGNER
Cover 1: Ghostface Killah
The Balladeer
"I don't want hear everybody [talking about] how many kids they've done killed. Why you ain't locked up? I watch Forensic Files on Court TV almost every night and them niggas be solving the craziest murders in fucking life, and you're still a killer walking the streets?"
Cover 2: Love Is All
Rebel Yell
"You have this responsibility, you have these tough questions about peoples' lives. And you have to be aware of that all the. And then you come home and have kids and take care of them, and so when you go to practice you just need to work it out. It's very therapeutic."
Feature 1: Kyp Malone
Body Politic
"There was a nostalgia for the time when we were all working on music and not having it be that connected to the world of commerce, and not having to worry about anything to do with money—you didn't have any, you weren't going to make any, you were doing music because you had to do it."
Feature 2: Mira Billote
Becoming Familiar With An Illusion
"I feel like when I write it's a different state I'm trying to conjure. I try to put myself in a state other than regular reality and I go where that takes me."
Feature 3: Akon
Connect The Dots
"I was collecting records like a chick would write in her diary every day. I'm not the type to really talk about my problems, to this day I write about situations I go through, thinking, 'You know what? That'd make a fly-ass record.'"
Feature 4: Mike Skinner
Signs Of Life
"It was an honest and awesome moment, kind of like, Who let this kid have a microphone?"
Feature 5: Eight Ball
Heavy Rhyme Experience
"You can't get caught up in labels, being the king of some shit or whatever, because at the end of the day there's somebody working twice as hard to get your spot. I'm just an ingredient in the gumbo, man. I'm just a carrot."
+ GEN F:
Rick Ross / Alice Smith / Polow Da Don / Sparks / Mistah FAB / Ricky Rankin / Field Music / Bruza / Growing
+ FASHION:
After Sunset
+ VINYL ARCHEOLOGY:
Keep On Chooglin'
Boogie Rock, Selected by Chris Ryan and Brad Truax
