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The emergence of I.M AD.U.
On-campus musicians burst onto the scene.
Maroon Tiger: What and
who is I.M.A.D.U.?
Graft: First of all, it
stands for Intellectual Minds
Acquiring Divine
Understanding. It's two
parts. One is the group. And
the group is myself, Sarcastic
and Halifax; and the record
label part is mostly ran (sic)
by me, Trek and Billy. It's like
a group and a label.
MT: How would you
categorize your music? Or
would you?
* Jason: I actually
wouldn't put a category on
the music, because all
categories do is try to group
and classify. Why do that
when you can be so much
more? [The music] is just a
whole spectrum.
Anon: We end up doing
just about everything
anyway -
Craft: Yeah, yeah. That's
the whole thing behind
Sporadic Signals, you know?
We're just like all over the
place. I mean, it's like from
R&B to Hip-Hop to Drum
n'Bass to ambient, all types
of stuff.
Felix: It's a musical
gumbo.
Anon: With no pig in it!
Craft: Yeah, no swine or
beef.
MT: Who are your
influences?
Felix: When you get into
Hip-Hop, like Tribe Called
Quest. Musically, Jimi
Hendrix, The Doors, Bob
Marley...
Anon: I'm more inspired
anti-technology song
that utilizes that
technology, kind of
ironic.
Felix:
Yeah...you can
check my
metaphors; check
my rhymes. I did
research on it, cause
I didn't want to spit
no shit that people
would say "big
word that don't
mean anything"-
Craft: The
regular shallow
listener, they won't
get it.
Anon: It
bumps though, so
they'll like it...
Craft: But I'm
surprised that a lot
of people that I
wouldn't expect to
like it, really like it.
That song and
"Peanuts", track
#1, get so many
compliments on.
was like, 'this sounds like
energy movin'. All these
sounds move between the
ASR's, the speakers, the 8-
track, the computer .. .these are
all devices that we use to make
music. The concept is me and
Mr. Richter are electrons
moving throughout all this
equipment.
MT: It's an interesting
concept. It struck me as being an
What the hell
are you talkin'
about on
00111?
Craft: Okay, that's the
question. We recently got a
review on the Internet, and it
was labeled "big word that
wasn't sayin' much". But it's
not. Felix brought the concept.
Felix: It's like, I was
listenin' to the track, and I was
just like really feelin' the
energy, so I was lookin' at all
the equipment and the
intensity of the music and I
MT: How did
you all come
together?
Craft: Divine
Minds really started from a
split with my old production
partner. It really didn't form
until I got out here and met
Lemar, Trek, and Quino and
we basically became the four
execs of the label. And we
started meetin' each other in
classes and were like "Anon's
tight, Felix is tight, Mic Chek's
tight.
Moon: It's funny that
Divine hit the campus and
The myriad of individuals who make up ... Divine
Minds.
by the people
that I know,
cause before
I got here I
listened to
crap. I knew
some of the
people who
were good,
but I was the
type of cat
who'd be
bumpin'
SWV and H-
Town and
shit. I'm
more
inspired by
the cats that I
meet who
help me
understand...
Moon:
Yo, we
actually
don't
frequent
record stores
we just go to
each other's
house.
revitalized the cyphers,
freestylin'. I saw them
everywhere at the end of 97'
rhymin'. I'd see Anon, I'd see
Mic Chek and Felix. And they
raised the stakes cause the
older cats, we were getting' a
little rusty.
MT: Where was the album
recorded and mixed?
Craft: A lot of it was
recorded here, in Atlanta.
"Live from the Chi" was
recorded in Chicago. And a
couple of tracks, the tracks that
Halifax did, were recorded in
Houston.
MT: So they're just scattered
tracks that you put together?
Craft: Yep; sporadic.
MT: What would you like to
accomplish as a group?
Anon: We want to dance
like 'Harlem World'! We
wanna be coonin'! I can really
say that the name Divine Mind
is not a moniker. It's not just
something cool that we like to
say. It just so happened that
thought was present in his
(Chris's) mind. And the
connection of the thoughts
brought us all together. So it's
more than just makin' music
and it's more than just makin'
money, cause for each of us
this is a part of our soul, this is
a part of our self. So we're
sharing quality music. We're
sharing quality thoughts. And,
you know, if we get a couple
of groupies, and make a little
money in the process, you
can't fault us for it! But I mean,
I think we try to maintain
quality, regardless.