Streets Connect: Brian James 'Life On Mute' Interview Pt. 1

Before he drops his EP, Life On Mute, later tonight, Brian James sits down with Streets Connect to talk about the EP, how he got started in music, some of the stories behind the songs, his view on Hip Hop culture, and more. Check out part of the interview below and click the link that follows to read the entire interview.

A three part series, we got the download on everything from the recording process to the inspiration behind each of the tracks on the project. In part one, Brian reveals how his poetry led to rapping, his passion for battle rapping, why he decided to change the direction of his music and more. Part one after the jump, and stay tuned for part two

Brian, thanks for taking time to speak with us while you are gearing up for the Life on Mute EP. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got involved with music?

Basically, I’ve been doing music since 2005. I actually, started out doing poetry in High School and moved into spoken word. From there it transformed into actual rapping and I started doing beats. But I’ve always been a poet first, and then that led to me wanting to construct verses and songs.

So how long have you been putting out music for? What led to the Life on Mute EP?

It started in 2005 with Eat or Be Eaten Vol. 1, but at that time I was recording under the name Wing – that was my first name. At that point, I had been working with a lot of different producers and independent labels, and I ended up releasing Eat or Be Eaten with Galaxy West Entertainment. It was actually their first release.

At the same time though, I was also continuing to battle because I’ve always been a good freestyle artist. So everywhere I went I was freestyling and battling, and I started getting a buzz off that which led to a lot of interest in what I was doing.

But its important for me to point out how my music has transformed since those early days. At the beginning, I was into real street Hip Hop, but as my life changed so did my music, I wanted my music to reflect me as a whole person and I wanted to really push the positive. One of my best friends caught a bid around 2007 and that really had me thinking. Then when I had my son, I really decided to shift how I was approaching my music.

Continue reading the full interview...