Deep Thinkers’ Brother Of Moses shares his process
with mym, his thoughts on social responsibility and
how to Stand Strong!

mym: Listening to Stand Strong is like breathing deeply- it is both energetic and smooth. The message is just as powerful. How did this track evolve? Where did you find the inspiration?
Brother of Moses: Stand strong was heavily influenced by the beat. When dstroy feels good on a track I usually follow the lead. Stand Strong is a daily reminder to myself and others to "keep our heads up and get it moving on ."

mym: Your sound stands out as unique and genuine in a world of cookie stamp hip hop beats and lyrics. How do you resist the pressure to make your sound mainstream?
BOM: I look into the eyes of my son.

mym: How do you collaborate with each other? Do the lyrics come first, the music, the message?
BOM: Leonard usually gives me a beat then I create a topic off the vibe. Sometimes I 'll spit a verse and he'll have a beat on the same feel as the poem I just read. Our songs attitude and format evolves from both of our creative contributions.

mym: How has your music changed you as people? Do you believe your music can change human behaviour?
BOM: Realizing that people actually listen changed my attitude about my self and my music. It feels good when someone tells you their favorite song and why they like it. In my case that song must be significant to that person on a deeper level. We all get frustrated with the day to day struggle and forget that millions of others are going through the same thing or worse. Talking (rhyming) about some of the societal ills and ways in which to overcome them can change human attitudes and behavior because we’re products of our environment and influences.

mym: Any messages for young people who are struggling with finding the will to Stand Strong?
BOM: All the youth gotta remember is that they're up next, and the world will one day be in there hands. The system doesn't care about the youth- they keep them from being children with medications and fill their heads with violence and fast food. Ageism is also a problem- the elders must pay attention to the youth for they have ideas and opinions that can shape the world in ways we could never imagine. What goes around comes around and even when it's cloudy the sun is still shining.

For more Deep Thinkers go to www.myspace.com/deepthinkers.

About Deep Thinkers and Necks Move
— by Christopher Hickman (hickatz at mindspring dot com)

Hip-hop act Deep Thinkers makes it a point of pride to call Kansas City, Mo., its unlikely home base. On its debut album, Necks Move, MC Brother of Moses tells us he's "in the house all day because there's nothing to do, rent some movies, play a game, load a bowl, drink a brew." For Brother of Moses, a dialed-down home life signifies a rich interior life; he has effectively avoided the glut of consumerism available in larger metropolises, and his persona is clean of empty consumer signifiers. He tells us he doesn't drive a monster truck, he'll pass up a rack of ribs, he doesn't have any gold teeth and he doesn't roll the streets with heat.

In calling out the posturing in hip-hop, Brother of Moses is not guilty himself of posturing. He does not, on "Rock the Beat," rap "fuck Vibe, fuck Source, fuck XXL, those pretty fashion magazines are stupid as hell" to land the cover of Vibe, Source or XXL, leaning coolly against an Escalade, above the cover line "Brother of Moses Is Really Very Sorry." Necks Move, on which Brother of Moses raps and his partner, Leonard D. Stroy, is the DJ, is a hip-hop album of striking vigor and purpose. It eschews boasts about bitches, killings and bling-bling, turns away from tales of paranoia and violence, and concentrates its energies on the ravages of poverty, personal empowerment, the sickness of domestic abuse and the scourge of war. Necks Move is scored with a jeweler's precision. If it's not the best hip-hop album of 2005, then it will have been a great, great year for the genre.

It bears repeating that Brother of Moses doesn't stroll the grounds of the album like Francis of Assisi, sprinkling beneficence and canned wisdom as he angles for a bit of high-end tribute from the record industry. Necks Move considers a return of hip-hop, from its commodified perch in the white middle-class community to its beginnings, when it existed as a dialogue between creators and audiences in minority and underprivileged communities. It considers music to be provocative and dangerous because of the power and political import of its ideas, not because its lyricists craft the most disturbing, Grand Guignol thug fantasies available.

"Here We Are" pretty much sums up the artists' intentions, expressing distress over the opiate that is television, the perils of drug addiction, the folly of war, class divisions, police harassment and, conversely, the beauty of a multicultural society that rises up in resistance to these problems. "Suggestions," a heartfelt poem to women in abusive relationships, counsels them to summon the courage to leave unworthy men, even if it's not financially advisable. "I'm not the one to tell you how you should be livin'," raps Brother of Moses, "Just want you ladies with a man that's strong and giving, makes you his queen... asks you for his children." This is a necessary corrective to the usual depiction of women in rap as sex objects. Necks Move wants to agitate for change, in the country, in the music industry and in your own backyard.

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