Article 31 > This is our style

By Claudio “Sid” Brignole
AL 8. October 1993

Introduction by Sid written about 30 years after this interview.

I have no memory of this interview other than the fact that I had known Jad for a long time and considered him, yesterday and still today, a true Hip Hop head. JAx, on the other hand, I had only known him for a short time but I liked his enthusiasm. I also remember being in the car with them when they discussed whether to use the name Article 31 or not. Initially they were not so sure about it. The interview is at times visionary of a tomorrow that was not yet clear in 1993. Jad and JAx were not sure how their first album “City Streets” would be received. One senses, however, a clarity of purpose that is unusual even today, let alone nearly 30 years ago. Time and facts have shown that this album was among the milestones that opened rap to the general public, something that then primarily benefited that underground that then hastened to dismiss them as commercial. Other times, but already from JAx's words one could feel the tension of not feeling accepted by a Hip Hop scene that at the time looked down on everyone and if you went outside the canons you were a sucker. Also present is the annoyance toward the Social Centers that were considered by the b-boys to be evil on par with Jovanotti. Rereading the interview I then found a disproportionate amount of grammatical errors, I admit that I was not really a polished writer and in 1993 there were no automatic proofreaders in addition to having no one to proofread what I was writing because I practically did everything myself. In this version the errors have been corrected but not the repetitions or wonky grammatical constructions. I also point out the ending, which, in its naivete, makes it clear how everything used to be more good. Aelle in 1993 was still sold only by subscription and in Footlooker stores. Issue 8, where the interview was published, was the first to also be distributed in this chain of sneaker stores then just arriving in Italy.

ARTICLE 31, from now on you will hear about them, freedom of speech in the media this is the meaning of the name, taken from the Irish constitution, DJ JAD and J. AX from Milan, this is their style:

JAD: For those who don't know you, would you like to say how long have you been in hip hop, how did your passion for this culture come about, and what was the spark that ignited it?
In ’78 when I heard the first things rap and funky, at that time there was only that, I was little I was ten years old I was at the beach and my sister took me to the disco and at that time they only put this kind of music then the records could not be found, I was little and I didn't understand shit however this music got inside me. We arrive in the 80s when the first things were starting to be found and I started breakdancing at the wall, in 86 I got the cymbals, they were not the 1200s but fucking cymbals and from there I started DJing. Then I went to the military, when I finished the military I had a little bit heavy accident, I was losing my leg and there I gave up everything for 1 year, 1 and a half years though every now and then I would get some records bought, I was in bad shape... crutches and things like that, then I went back to the wall, I met again old and new friends that I still hang out with now. My passion has been in me since I was a kid.

JAX, same question:
For me it all started by hearing a piece on the radio that now I don't even remember what it was, I must have been 12, 13 years old and because I didn't live in Milan but in a place where there were a total of 300 people near San Donato I didn't have any contact until three years ago when I moved here, however when I felt like writing something I would come up with a rap piece, I was never able to do anything else, although I always wanted to do music, so I had a very personal experience and by coming here I made up for it quickly by getting to know JAD, the others, and I had to catch up by listening to a lot of bands that I had never heard because they never made it to the little lame store in the little town near where I lived. However, as much as I matured my own conception of hip hop that is now evolving with my people, I saw that it wasn't that much different from other people's.”

J.AX I know you did commercial things in the beginning.... 
I am aware of the things I did but, while for others it was a choice and they did it after they already knew everything, I did it when I was still a dick who didn't know shit, I thought that was the only way to do something and express myself even if it was something I didn't like, for the Italian lyrics I was convinced I was the only one writing them because I hadn't heard anything. This is for the two house records I made that fortunately didn't sell shit, things I wasn't feeling and made in the first three months I was here in Milan shamelessly for money. Then whoever criticizes me for the Uno rap commercial means they didn't understand shit, for me hip hop is family and if I break a glass in my family I'm going to tell my family, whatever shit I do I tell my family so I said it on Tribe on purpose because anyway they have to judge you for what you do now and what you're going to do in the future. If I didn't do that thing I wouldn't be able to do Article 31, no album and shit in fact, I would have had to get into certain schemes that I absolutely don't want to get into, since self-productions for us are out of the question because we mean it in the sense of doing what's on our mind and just not having to invest and then not even having channels to be able to win more people outside of our circle, I told my family, I'm not going to do any more because I don't need to anymore.

JAD: You are, as you said before, from the old school, what do you think is different between then and now? 
Before it was real, now it's not real at all, you know? Everything now is not real, it's not true, it has nothing to do with what we do. We used to get together, we were more united, there was no community centers, it was street, because hip hop is street not community centers...”
J.AX: Not only that, interrupting JAD who is categorical, I am not saying that everything that has come out of there is to be thrown away, positive things have also come out of there however I would like to point out that the legitimate philosophy is the philosophy of the street that if then two realities have developed here it is not the second one, that is theirs, to question ours is if anything the opposite, only that our reality has always been so superior that it does not question anyone, they apparently are too haughty, they think they are superior to be able to understand that they are not the legitimate ones, that they are not subaltern products that have developed only here. I have read of people saying that hip hop can only be born in social centers that, those who do not make political lyrics should not be considered, these things are bullshit! And it's pissing me off that these, let's call them politically correct, have to question others who maybe are pure and have a right philosophy, but not for me, but right for those who really know what the fuck hip hop is.”.

JAD: How do you think that right now, in Italy we can give the right image, for those who see it from the outside, of hip hop? 
It's hard to give the right image right now because the press is full of people who don't understand shit and always write the same things, posse, the posse, social centers that have nothing to do with anything.”.
J.AX It's now in the hands of all of us to become so good that these guys won't have shit to say and no space, competitiveness is the only way.”.

J.AX: Do you think there is an audience in Italy that can listen to, understand, hip hop rap? 
A portion is already there and a portion has to be made, there is neither, pulling in new people. Maybe some people think I am saying heresies however since we made a record, we want it to reach everyone and like it because we still make music anyway, because elite communication is not communication.

JAD: How did “Article 31” come about, how did your collaboration begin ?
J.AX was my brother's rapper (also a DJ n.d.r.), I always had someone to repp for me, they would do gigs and I had noticed him however I said, mah! Then one day he comes to my house to rehearse with my brother and I said, -well! you can do something, pull him in- and so we got to know each other better and in the end he preferred to work with me, not because my brother was not good, just because I have more experience. With J.AX I immediately got along well on everything, on the choice of samples, on the topics, and I knew it was time to do something serious.
J.AX: We used to be rappers and DJs first and then became friends, to make it clear that it was the musical side that brought us together.”.
JAD: I when I met him he was good and he amazes me because the more he goes on the more he becomes a monster.”

J.AX: Do you feel like you have also had a maturation in the way you write the pieces? 
I write them now the same way I wrote them then, I stand there and do them when I'm inspired, a lyric I mature in my head for a couple of months, I don't stand there and do 8 pieces in a month because maybe I have to make an album, I fortunately had the chance to get my products out in historical order in the sense that “Nato per Rappare” is the first piece I ever wrote in Italian and there are people who may think it's seasoned rhyme because it's old but for me it's beautiful and it will always be beautiful because it puts in all the enthusiasm of a last-minute b-boy. Hearing all the tracks on the album you can see the evolution of a person because they were made one after the other, sure a few things I discarded from what I wrote however my style is evolving on its own, I can't do shit with it, I just stand there and I see in writing that I get different things. I in my rap I say what the fuck I want that is, in my opinion, patterns are being created where you can't think in a certain way you can't talk about certain things, this is too castrating, you don't necessarily have to be pissed off, you have to talk about what you want, it's communication and that's it, that's how I see it, that's my opinion.

Some people say rap is also politics, see Public Enemy and others.... 
J.AX Here we are in lItaly, our situation in which hip hop was born is different from the American situation, those in Italy who are making these speeches are trying to ape it, it is not necessarily the case that the way hip hop will evolve from us will be the same as the way it will evolve in America or other nations, everyone has their own style, we have ours. Many rappers if they haven't got there yet, they are getting there to a style of metrics and Italian way of repping, in my opinion who will have to work their asses off, but the real ass will be the DJs and all those who take care of the musical part because as far as metrics are concerned one gets there personally with the head, however as far as music is concerned getting to an Italian style is really difficult.

JAD, what is your way of working like, who has influenced you the most? 
On the samples I tried to find something Italian like loops and already I tried to create our own style, it is difficult as J. AX said before to create an Italian style, I was lucky to find Italian samples that were good with everything. For scratches I have 4 or 5 that inspired me the most starting with Red Alert, DJ Aladin, DJ Scratch, Joe Cooley, Battle Cat, Rich Rich, king Teach, Premiere, I got a lot of inspiration from these DJs, I admit it because tell me who didn't start from at least one of them. I tried to create something of my own, then you will hear from them.

J.AX and who inspired you the most, even Italian?
In Italy I really appreciate Zippo from Comitato, the last things I heard from Sangue Misto, ESA from OTR and also the others, Chief, TK but no one so far in Italy is a source of inspiration for me. I really like American West Coast rappers because they are close in everything to my way of understanding rap however I can't tell you how they influence me because when I write I never think of anyone in particular.

Let's talk again about the IP which is titled “City Streets,” how long did it take you to make it and how did you manage to do it?
J.AX It took us exactly one year from the single to now, the way we managed to do it all starts from Uno Rap: I was supposed to go to the theater one night, when I was not yet together with Jad, and they called me and told me that there was an advertising and record producer who was looking for one for this fucking Uno rap, I didn't want to go however the one who called me told me that probably if I went and let him hear my work he would let me do something else as well. So I went, they took me at the audition and I met him who is Franco Gori who then after hearing also Jad became our producer, he is a wonderful person who did not change us one comma, who invested a lot of money for a production like ours, for Italy unthinkable figures in the order of tens of millions.

J.AX don't you think that we run the risk of speaking in codes, that those outside the environment say-what are these people here talking about?
There are some of my pieces that can be called code, like the “Pied Piper” and “This is our style” however the majority are for everyone and many even explain, running the risk, in this case of sounding like those who want to be the bosses and explain to others, we explain to people, in fact in the lp it says that the product is usually bought by those outside of it, - our lp is meant for ordinary people who by first hearing us and then hearing others have to get into it. Lp has to become first of all a commodity of consumption because good or bad here there is to live with this thing, I feel in life to do only this, since I don't want to be a bum or self-employed, I want to live from this thing, I am not a sellout, I have to sell.

Now you put all your eggs in this Ip.... 
JAD Yes but now we'll have to start thinking about the next one, let the summer pass and then we'll get to work on the new one which will be something completely different from the first one on the musical side.

You of course hope that the album will be well received by the public, however, in Italy when you say good you are talking about 5,000 copies sold...
J.AX We don't rely on that, we have good production support and we hope to get into unusual channels for rap products, the fact that it is not selling is because there are not people with the balls to invest money, because here you have to impose the product on people and then automatically the feedback will come.
JAD If nothing moves with the release of our lp and the other things that are supposed to come out at this time, nothing more will be done in Italy.
J.AX You can do the greatest thing in the world, but if someone before you hasn't sold, they won't let you do anything else.

What is it that you hope for the future of you and Italian hip hop? 
JAD I'm very calm, I'm not gassed or anything, I'm a little afraid for certain things but I don't want to hope, but if everything goes well I'll help a lot of people make records, the record will also go abroad and it will be the first Italian rap LP to go there, a new challenge.
J.AX We have everything we need, we have a good product, we have the respect of our brothers, I don't give a shit about the rest.
JAD I respect everybody, even those who have nothing to do with hip hop, I don't want to talk bad about anybody. J.AX I respect him who respects me.

Do you want to say something you haven't said yet ? 
W the pussy, W the mom.