I was shocked when I first heard the news of Pro Era's Capital STEEZ death on Sunday. An eerie tweet "The End" is the last thing we will forever hear from the young, talented, Brooklyn artist, but we can all help keep his memory and music alive! Guest writer Dharmic X recently reached out to me with a piece he had written as a tribute to Jamal Dewar aka Capital STEEZ. He also included two interviews with STEEZ and Joey Bada$$ that he had conducted on his radio show, and an acapella that ended up turning into a verse on STEEZ's "AmeriKKKan Koruption" project. Check below for the acapella and the incredibly written piece by Dharmic X. Rest In Peace Capital STEEZ.
Jamal Dewar was one of those
people you never forget.
Less than a week after Jamal
(known to the world as Capital STEEZ) and his partner-in-rhyme Joey Bada$$ took
the world by storm with their viral video for “Survival Tactics,” I was
introduced to both of them at the radio station. I had watched the video over
and over again, enjoying the rhyme calisthenics and, perhaps more importantly,
the youthful energy that was feeding the performance from the posse surrounding
the two MCs.
Having seen the video, I don’t
know why I anticipated meeting only Joey, Jamal, and Jesse (their manager at
the time), and yet I was totally blindsided by the crew of kids who came to
radio station: CJ Fly, Chuck Strangers, Kirk Knight, Dirty Sanchez, and
possibly a few others. To be honest, I was totally blindsided by the numbers
initially and was unable to pick out faces and people until much later. But
Steez (and Joey too) was always about putting on his “Prodies,” and so their
mobbing to the radio station was fitting.
Even more fitting was the fact
that within thirty seconds of stepping inside the station, the crew started an
impromptu cypher. These kids have always
been passionate about spitting, and Steez was definitely a part of that. I wish
I remembered the verses or had the footage from it.
We sat down for the interview. It
was probably the first time Joey and Steez had ever been interviewed, and it
was clear that Joey preferred to be low-key. Not Steelo. “Why’re you being shy,
bro?” he asked in the first minute, continuing to drive the conversation
throughout the next hour. It’s a very sloppy interview; in listening to it over
the course of the last twenty-four hours, I’m appalled at how inexperienced and
stupid I sounded back then. But it was an incredible experience to watch the
two youngsters show uncanny amounts of chemistry in answering the questions,
and at the same time, I learned about things such as “tunnel perception” and a
website known as Rap Genius.
I stayed in touch with the Pros on
social media (Steez was late to Twitter), and bumped into a couple of them at
the Big K.R.I.T show the following month. With each passing day, the popularity
of the group (especially Joey) was becoming meteoric. The next time I hung out
with them was April 6th. It was the day before Steez was to release
his debut mixtape, AmeriKKKan Korruption, taking advantage of numerology. I
called Jesse on my way back to my dorm, and he happened to be with the crew in
Union Square, across the street from me.
They were cyphering and promoting Steez’s project with his 47 stickers,
which were certainly causing controversy, looking similar to the swastika.
From Union Square, we walked down
to a small clothing store in SoHo, which ended up hosting his release party the
following day. I spent a lot of time talking to Steez. He was frustrated with
the education he was receiving in Community College, and was on his way out of
the school. He was anxious about the release, and was worried that he was being
heavily slept on (part of the reason why he likely re-released the mixtape six
months later). More importantly, he was worried about the future of Pro Era; he
saw himself as a leader of the fledgling collective and did not want to see the
movement crumble. We started talking
about other movements going on, and I tried to give him some advice myself,
mainly trying to stay positive.
The moment that night that
encapsulates Steez in my mind came as we were closing in on the store. As Steez
and I continued to talk, Joey decided to turn around to say something in
response. Suddenly, he was interrupted. “I’m talkin to Dharmic,” Steez said emphatically,
repeating it several seconds later. It wasn’t said out of spite or anger
towards Joey; they were back to cyphering and cracking jokes inside the store,
as if the crack had never happened. It was more of a sign of respect that Jamal
showed to me, something very rare in an industry notorious for hierarchy. It’s
something I can’t forget.
One listen through the Pro Era
catalog, and it’s evident that Jamal was a big brother for everyone. His goal was never to speak down to anyone,
but rather, to help uplift everyone around him. That was evident in the second
interview I did with Steez, approximately one week after the release of
AmeriKKKan Korruption. It was less of an interview and more of an excuse to
hang out with Jamal and his friend (not a member of Pro Era), and the gems he
was dropping this go-around were priceless.
Days before Ab-Soul released the song, he broke down the pineal gland
and explained “Sacred Geometry” referring to a school in Arizona where he
wanted to go eventually.
That was the last time I ever had
a full-length conversation with Jamal. From then on, I went to DC for the
summer and then returned to New York City. Meanwhile, Jamal went on tour, first
across the country and eventually across the pond, finally bringing the show
back home for a sold-out concert at the historic Sons of Brazil in Lower
Manhattan. That was the last time I saw Jamal in person; granted, amidst the
crowd and the jostling around, I wasn’t able to say anything to him directly
that night. Instead, I stood next to J. Cole in the back of the venue, so proud
as Joey Bada$$ and Capital Steez performed “Survival Tactics” to much fanfare,
doing an encore.
I had stayed in touch, however,
using the same social networking connections that Steez seemed to despise at
points, yet continued to use to build the fan base that was exponentially
growing. I congratulated him on the re-release of AmeriKKKan Korruption. I
invited him once again to the station for an interview to promote it; an
invitation I assumed would eventually be cashed in, never to happen. And I had
planned to congratulate him about the release of PEEP: The aPROcalypse, the
culmination of hard work, raw skill, and good fortune that had brought the
entire collective attention from top-to-bottom. Pro Era had cemented itself as
the crew to watch out for moving into 2013, and they had done so utilizing
original production for the first time; the beat selection was excellent.
I don’t know the reason why Jamal
Dewar chose to take his life on the night of December 23rd, 2012 (12
+ 23 + 12 = 47); I don’t know why he saw the release of the project as the
final leg of his physical journey, a final chapter for the story of a group of
teenagers from Brooklyn who seized the attention of the entire world with just
pure rhyming ability and energy. I don’t know the personal demons that were
troubling him, weighing down on his mind as he saw a society that he wanted to
personally mold into his own image almost instantly.
All I know is that on Sunday
night, hip-hop lost one of its most sage ambassadors. A tight-knit crew lost
one of its founding architects. A family lost its son and brother. On Sunday
night, I lost a friend, someone whom I wish I could have been closer to before
he passed. Someone I wish I could have met just one more time, simply to
congratulate him on how far he had come as a person and as a movement, to make
him believe that the results he had produced so far were simply a sign of
future potential.
All I can do now is reminisce on
these beautiful memories I have of his presence, and pray for those who are
hurting far more than I ever could because of the amount of time they spent
with him. My thoughts are with his family and with his Pros during this
difficult time.
All I can offer are these files I
have. The first two are the audio files of the interviews I did with Steez; I
apologize for the terrible quality and seeming awkwardness. I’ve grown a lot,
even from the conversation back in April, and so I apologize to anyone who
could feel offended from the tone and words of the conversation (particularly
Rob Markman, a well-respected journalist to many and a big brother to me now).
The cypher recording from the second interview, as I mentioned earlier, is
almost unlistenable and certainly indecipherable.
Meanwhile, the third file is
extracted from the first interview; it is part of the acapella cypher towards
the end of the interview. This verse ended up being the second verse on a song
called “47 Elements” that is on the original AmeriKKKan Korruption mixtape. It
will now serve as the intro to my radio show.
Beautiful post. God bless. R.I.P STEEZ
ReplyDeleteR.i.p Steelo... and Dharmic, dont be so hard on yourself dude! Great job on the interviews. Just take it as a blessing to have ever met such an amazing human-being. 47. ... til infinity.
ReplyDeleteMuch respect to you Dharmic X for writing this article. Much respect to dopemusicblog for putting it up. This story is still so incredibly sad for me. Now I never knew him personally, but I live and grew up in flatbush Brooklyn so to see someone have so much promise and potential and almost make it successful in something and then take there own life is incredibly sad. I truly wish his family well and can't imagine the pain they had to go through.
ReplyDeleteR.I.P Steelo