Typical Cats


In the final years of the last millenium, two native New Yorkers added a page to Chicago's hip hop history with the advent of the WHPK Wednesday Night Rap Show. Although short-lived and never formally christened, the Show had heads from Roosevelt to the Hundreds stuck on 88.5 FM midweek. In the show's aftermath, from the ashes of countless vinyl crates and echoes of chaotic show-closing freestyle sessions, Typical Cats was born.

Featuring MCs Qwazaar, Qwel and Denizen Kane, producer/dj Natural and media assassin Kid Knish, Typical dropped a self-titled full-length on Galapagos4 Records and began a relentless campaign to restore a fallen hip hop world to its former promise and glory. The talent assembled was unmistakable, the sound created was formidable. Firmly planted in tradition, unorthodox in invention and possessed of a strength only earned in the furnace of experience, their Sound is the Future that hip hop's Past would have had if its Present weren't held hostage by the uninspired and unrepentant. A flurry of solo projects later, Chicago's prodigal sons return. Hip hoppers rejoice. Suckers duck and cover. Typical Cats come to conquer. Battle champs, hotline legends, poetry circuit kings.

Tuck Your Pride In 'Cause All Lyrics Connect At The Soul. And it's on and it's on and it's on.

QWAZAAR - A native of Chicago's gritty Low End, Qwazaar strikes from hip hop's essence. Whether the subject matter is inner city or interplanetary, the flow remains untouchable - a percussive yet fluid attack that evokes South Side rain and helicopter blades in a single breath. The content is heavy-a holdover from days when this veteran MC (No Pity/Outerlimitz) had to lyrically slay rivals to earn his sterling rep. "After the dust settles, witness the blood puddles..." Lights out, kids. The Q-W-A is here.

QWEL - You first seen his name dangling a quarter mile up on a suspension bridge from your scratch-bombed window on the Orange line. You first heard that distinctive melodic/abrasive storm of syllables on old Nacro and Scam Artist tapes with inserts printed at the Kinko's. Now the heat's been perfected-and this nasty North Side revelation music rebel is out to wake the sleepers. From Ted Turner's devil ass to the so-called competition-everyone and their mama gets dealt with when the kid laces up his boots.

DENIZEN KANE - From the rum and coke rumble of Chicago's North Side flow spots to the celluloid veneer of Def Poetry Jam's main stage, Denizen Kane rips the party with a poet's heart and an outsider's eye. Journalistic, impressionistic, real-life and drastic, young Kane's late night Red Line revelations turn into heathen hymns on tape, capturing the moody face of the metropolis in color. How long can a lost one roam until he finds his way home? Listen to your city fall apart through the muddy mouth of an immigrant

MEMBERS
Qwel, Qwazar, Denizen Kane, Natural, and Kid Knish

HOME
Chicago, IL

G4 CONTRIBUTIONS
Self Titled, DJ Whitelightning exposes White on White Crime

How did you all come together?

Qwel: HPK, man. WHPK. I met Qwa a long time ago - last Christmas eve and shit, the first time I ever recorded. We met up and shit, I knew he was on somethin'. We saw each other again up at the station, me and Qwa were just like, 'Yea, we're gonna get together and do some shit.' My brother Mike heard him rhyme, and was just like, 'Yo we really gotta do something with this guy.'

Also I met Dennis when I was up at HPK, I read this poem that I was working on at the time, it's on White on White Crime.. I read it and Dan - Dennis' roommate - was like, 'yo you gotta spit that for Dennis'. And then Dennis spit me this poem, and I was like, 'okay, I've got another partner now.' Then Nat was just like, 'Yo, I make beats - and got herb!'

Dennis: Before I met these mutherfuckers, they had already met. I couldn't make it to the HPK sessions every night, but whenever I could, I would try to make it. This was the winter of last year, I think. Nat kept telling me, 'You've got to meet this kid Qwazaar, this kid is dope as fuck.' The legend of Qwazaar preceded him, I finally met him. I heard him spit on the air, it was just ridiculous And Pugs actually told me about you (Qwel). He tried to downplay how dope you were.' He was like, 'yea, this kid Qwel, you'll like him 'cause he's a poet like you.'

Qwel: I'm not a poet and shit, I just get high and rhyme. Everyone on the outside was real skeptical about how everyone was going to match up, but I was like, 'fuck it, why not?'. I mean, all three of us are dope, and Nat's got dope beats, and cuts. I didn't really believe in it until we wrote 'Reinventing the Wheel'. That's the first song we wrote and shit. And we were just sitting around smoking, and we ran through it the first time.. and we were just like, 'yea. definitely. this is hot.' So we just stuck with it.

How long have you guys been working on the album?

Qwel: About three and a half months or some shit.

Qwazaar: About four ounces worth of time.

Qwel: Yo, we smoked at least a half pound of herb. At least.

Denizen: All summer, Nat had fucked with beats, and even before that, we were having 'once-in-a-while' sessions. These cats would come over, we would kick it and try to do a little writing. So in the summer, man, it always felt like we were living together.

Qwel: And we actually just got a new apartment. We're all gonna live together.

Where?

Denizen: Right near the station - 54th and Woodlawn.

Word. How do you feel about the way the album came out?

Qwel: Oh, man. Above my expectations, dude. Fucking amazing. I mean, I knew they were dope, I just didn't know whether all of us together were gonna mesh. Yo, we did. We did.

Denizen: These cats are my favorite rappers, for real. My list of favorite rappers are these two motherfuckers, you (Offwhyte) and Pacifics. Then after that, people are aiight. (laughs)

Qwel: Yea, they rhyme a lot. They're consistent and shit, whatever.

Qwazaar: Well, I"m not even gonna be modest. I know I'm the greatest and shit. I've been great for a while now..

Qwel: Yea, next year me and you are gonna be the finalists in the Blaze battle.

Yea, I wanted to ask you about that - how did it feel to finally battle Eyedea?

Oh, man. I wanted it bad. I mean, he's good. Everyone was like, 'yo man, this guy Eyedea is so dope,' and I seen him and I was like, 'what the fuck? he's so rippable.' We were chillin' in the green room before the battle, and he was doing this false modest thing that battlers do to try and size you up and shit. So we got on stage and I was like, 'well, fuck it'. and just went for it. It was cool, he didn't take it wrong. I wouldn't have done that to anyone else - I know he can handle it. It's still cool. I fucking love him, man. He's fuckin' dope. He's one of the dopest battlers I've ever seen. He battles on his own terms. He doesn't come with a fascade or whatever.

So, do you feel you were cheated in the battle?

Oh, hell no, man. How could I be? The crowd voted..

Did he really take you out?

Yea, he won it. It was fun. Yo, you know what mattered? You know what the Blaze battle did for me? Yo, Doug E. Fresh told me personally that I was amazing, dude. Nothing gets better than.. I mean, what the fuck?

I wasn't even supposed to be in the battle. I found out I was gonna be in the Battle the day of. Months ago, anyone could get in as long as they sent demos of their shit, and I didn't even know about it. Then, a day before the battle, Meaty Ogre called me up and was like, 'yo dude, at Guitar Center they're having tryouts, they're accepting two more battlers'. Me and Dan went down there like bummin' it,dude. We just tried out and we snapped.

After the prelims, the head of the whole magazine, the CEO was standin' there, and he was like, 'this muhfukker - the car mechanic-lookin' muhfukker. Who woulda knew he was dope just by lookin' at him?' and I was like, 'dude, you've gotta stop listenin' with your eyes and shit..' And everybody was like, 'oh shit, he's on something,' you know. And I dissed his crew from Bollingbrook..

DJ White Lightning (in the background): Hey, what was the Slug deal?

Yea, he came up to me and he was like, 'hey, you look like a fuckin' Gumo.'

What?

Yea, he was like, 'how many times did you say my fuckin' name?' And I was like, 'apparently not enough, just get off it, dude.' This girl was talking to me trying to give me her number and shit. And he just knocked me bad, dude.

How'd you say his name in the battle?

I was like, 'you can't come to Chicago and run shit, Eyedea you're rhymin' all the way over there but I can still smell Slug's dick.' All kinds of shit. I was like, 'I'll put a slug in your atmosphere. Fuckin' with Qwel, dumb way to end your rap career.

So he was pissed?

Eyedea was cool with it but Slug just took it bad.