Urban Vault caught up with Los Angeles-based Hip Hop duo Substance Abuse, to ask them some questions about their recent release BRIDGES, featuring Aceyalone of Freestyle Fellowship, and more…

Eso Tre and Subz make the Hip Hop duo Substance Abuse, presenting the RCKLSS ABNDN-directed music video for the Waes One and Philm One-produced single ‘Bridges’, featuring Aceyalone of Freestyle Fellowship. Former URB Next 100 picks, their 2006 album ‘Overproof‘ featured MF Doom, Saafir, P.E.A.C.E., Kool Keith, Motion Man, Kutmasta Kurt and Rasco, while 2012’s ‘Background Music,’ featured Tash of Tha Alkaholiks, KRS-One, MC Eiht as well as Myka Nyne and Percee P for the track ‘Paper Tigers.’

Aceyalone is a founding member of Freestyle Fellowship, a collective that brought an improvisational focus to the Los Angeles underground Hip Hop scene in the 1990’s.

“Subz came up with the idea for ‘Bridges’ because he felt we needed to do a song about unity in these increasingly divisive times we’re in,” Eso says. “We couldn’t think of a better emcee than Aceyalone to bring on board, as he has a special talent for creating dope songs built off of a single metaphor. Our goal was to create something in the tradition of our heroes The Native Tongues, a track that was jazzy, positive, and upbeat but with a message that the modern audiences could relate to”.

How did the song come together with Aceyalone? What’s your collaborative process?

ESO: Subz brought up the idea of doing a song called “Bridges” when we were chillin’ at this Nas show in L.A. We wanted to do a song about the times we’re in without sounding trite, which can sometimes be a difficult task. Subz and I don’t generally sit in a room together and write rhymes. Either he or I will come up with a concept, and the other person just runs with it. As far as Aceyalone, when you grew up in Los Angeles around the time we did and you were a Hip Hop head, it’s kind of hard not to consider him one of the greatest of all time. When “All Ball Don’t Bounce” came out he was really repping our city, and I think it gave you confidence as an emcee from L.A. that you could put out stuff with really profound lyrical content and be embraced. He’s an emcee of many facets, but one of his greatest talents is stringing together a song with a single metaphor. When we approached him about doing “Bridges,” the idea was to have him do a verse in the vein of A Book of Human Language, where one metaphor was being explored throughout the song. When I heard his verse over the phone I was definitely awestruck. It was exactly what we wanted. Having worked with Myka 9 and P.E.A.C.E. from Freestyle Fellowship already, we knew a lot of the same people, which made it easier for us to reach out to him about doing a track.

SUBZ: It’s about uniting not dividing. One of the best parts of life is learning about the unknown and you can’t do that without breaking through to the other side. It was Eso’s idea to bring Acey on “Bridges”, and it came out nice. Although LA is a big city, the Hip Hop scene is tight-knit and very supportive of each other, and we are fortunate to have Acey feel the vision and deliver an amazing verse as usual.

What do you think the future holds for the underground true school west coast emcee? How do artists like you gain a foothold in today’s Hip Hop climate?

ESO: I think dudes like Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, and YG illustrated you can be a real lyricist from the West Coast and still have currency. I think they showed that the term “underground” shouldn’t just be loosely applied to anyone who has clever raps, because those dudes can rhyme their asses off and they still sell records. Subz and I follow what’s going on in the industry, but we’re not the type to be easily swayed one way or another by whatever the passing fad is, because we’ve seen them come and go. We’ve seen true lyricists endure because skill was at the heart of their expression, not spectacle. It’s an uphill climb if you’re trying to do something with substance, but there are avenues if you have a tenacity and you are clever about how you market yourself. We play the industry game just like everyone else, but we do it to advance substance, which is part of the meaning behind our name.

SUBZ: I think the future is bright. West Coast MCs have always managed to push boundaries by staying true and not conforming. The older I get the less I’m concerned with “blowing up” and I’m back to the adolescent energy that got me to this point. We do this because we have to, we’re artists, and so we create regardless if people search us out…

What’s your favorite album of the last year and why?

ESO: Not sure if I got any new albums last year, but this year I recently purchased the re-release of Main Source’s classic album “Breaking Atoms.” It had “Fakin’ the Funk,” which I consider being one of the greatest tracks ever, as well a song called “Time,” a song that presumably came from that era but I had never heard before. In terms of producers who can also rhyme I don’t think there are too many dudes who can fuck with Large Professor. Everything on that album was and still is impeccably dope. I think hearing the beats off that album as youngsters definitely influenced the kind of sound that we wanted to have when we came out.

SUBZ: E-40 and B-Legit’s Connected and Respected and Black Thought’s Streams of Thought, because they are both solid projects that met my expectations.

What has kept you guys motivated to stay in the game for so long?

ESO: We love the music, plain and simple. We love hip hop culture and have never left it. It gives us our energy. Looking forward to doing music is something that fills us with optimism, and knowing that our music has stood the test of time and that people still bump it encourages us to keep going. There are throes of people out there who really want that kind of Hip Hop that gave them that excited feeling back in the day but have stopped looking for it because they think it doesn’t exist anymore. They get hyped when they hear our shit and realize that the rich Hip Hop sound they long for is still out there. But it’s a challenge to find those people sometimes because although they’re abundant, they’re not actively seeking the kind of music we do. They think it no longer exists and has given up. Hopefully this new single and all of our music will remind them that the dope shit is still out there.

SUBZ: Our standards will never change, but that doesn’t mean trying new things are out the window. Creativity and experimentation never mean losing the essence. Self-confidence is key.

What upcoming projects are you working on?

ESO: A new album, hopefully with a title that’s easy to Google. Subz is better at coming up with catchy names for stuff so I will leave it up to him. But know regardless of what the name is, it’s going to be off the hook and like nothing you’ve ever seen from us before.

Thank you for your time and may you carry on making dope, fresh music….

Substance Abuse ft. Aceyalone – Bridges via iTunes/Spotify

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