Baltimore, Maryland has been portrayed as a hub of grittiness. But
it serves to frame a rich tapestry of soul that emanates from it, and
the musical talent that calls the city home is a testament to that.
With the work of Sean Toure’, you see that soul issue forth in a deep
and compelling way. He has already built an impressive career as
a producer and MC, being regarded as one of the best independent
artists in hip-hop today by SPIN Magazine and The Source. His talents
as a producer that can create for all genres have also been received
with great acclaim through “The Sean-Toure’ Remix Project”, an LP
with his own spin on hits from 50 Cent, Michael Jackson, and others.
Sean’s 2011 album released through Fat Beats/Foundation Media,
“Sound Channeler, The Invisible Man” has been widely regarded as
one of the great releases of that year. Manifesto Magazine got the
chance to talk with Sean about his music and his creativity.
Manifesto: How do you view hip-hop culture today as a whole, in
your eyes?
Sean: I think the culture right now…I think the culutre itself
is pretty strong, I think the culture itself is actually
expanding. I think the element of being an entrepreneur
has actually created some sustainability for hip-hop. So
I think there’s aspects of the culture that are continuing
to grow, I think that’s one of the pros of it. One of the
cons though is that, in any capitalist society where
entreprenurialism comes into play, money comes into
play, then there’s a watering down of the culture that
comes into play, you know? So I think at the end of the
day, there’s a dualism that comes with it in terms of the
state of the culture itself. But I think as a whole, the
culture is going strong. But there is a difference between
the culture and the business parts of hip-hop, you know
what I mean? I think the lines get crossed and you get
a degree of ambiguity when it comes to hip-hop culture
and hip-hop business. So I think the culture itself, is still
sustaining itself.
Manifesto: I hear that. So as far as your music, do you think about
how the music you’ve created has become part of the
fabric of the muslc culture, not just in Baltimore but the
world?
Sean: Yeah, I do. I do, and I think that was a part of the plan
from the onset. I think ultimately my mindset was to create
something that first of all, had to come from my soul. It
had to be something that I genuinely and authentically
wanted to express in my work. But then the other thing
was that I knew that what I was doing was something
that the global market really wanted. And I really felt like,
I felt like I would’ve basically created a situation for failure
if I had limited what I was doing in terms of my releases
and just regulated it just to one area, one district. And
that was proven once I had released a couple of projects.
And I saw that the global response was very strong…you
tend to get more respect outside of your city than in your
city sometimes. I think you can get it in your city first
sometimes, but most artists, their evolution and growth,
they can hit a glass ceiling. And I think they can do one
of two things. They can stay trapped in that fishbowl if
you will, (laughs) or they can expand outside of that
fishbowl and tap into other areas. I had reached that point
some time ago, when I hit a glass ceiling. And if I wanted
to do what I really wanted to do how I wanted to do it, it
was imperative that I got my work out to the people and
not just my city. And it paid off, you know, it definitely
paid off. 
Album artwork, ‘Sound Channeler: The Invisible Man’
Manifesto: I’ve heard some of your music beforehand but what
you’ve put forth as of late, especially with this recent
album, ‘The Soundchanneler’…very potent, very vibrant.
And that kind of leads me into the next question that I
have, with regards to your innate spirituality. You’ve
mentioned that you’ve put your soul into it. How much
of your spirituality, your spiritual perspective, how much
does that inform your music? I ask this because I took
notice of the ‘Om’ symbol on the cover of the album.
Detail a little of that for me if you will.
Sean: Sure, sure. I think that any person, including myself,
anything that is a part of your spiritual foundation, it’s
gotta come through some sort of way in your art. I say
this because I think spirituality is another form of creativity.
When your’e creating things, the fabric of who you are is
going to come out in your art. Throughout the years, I’ve
studied different philosophies and religions and stuff like
that, and I think it’s an ongoing process. At this stage,
10 years from now, God willing if I’m still here, it might
be something else. But I definitely have been studying
metaphysics strongly for like, the last ten years. And I
didn’t really want to beat people over the head with it,
you know what I mean? Because ultimately, what I think
ends up happening is, the philosophy or the belief system
goes in the forefront and people forget about the music.
And I’ve seen groups do that. And my goal; yeah I practice
metaphysics and I think that definitely will come through
in my music but the first thing is always the music. People
want good music. If they want to have their spiritual beliefs
enhanced, well then they can do that on their own time.
But in terms of how I express my work, it’s always going
to be the music first, then you might hear elements of
other things. It’s the balance of humanity. Some days I’m
a good person, some days I’m not a good person. I’m a
human being. I certainly don’t want to promote this message
of a holy man, some devout dude. I’m not knocking anybody
that does that, that’s just not how I wanted to sell my brand.
I put the Om symbol on the album because I felt like the
album was a way, a beacon. A calling out to people to show
them that hip-hop itself can be intertwined with metaphysics
in some kind of way. And the Om, since the album was called
‘The Sound Channeler’, I felt like since the Om is the original
sound, it’d be a good idea to send that vibration out there. I
think that intention, energy, ideas, things of that nature
definitely influence people and putting that symbol on the
album cover itself would definitely translate to people what I
was trying to translate you know?
Manifesto: For now, what new projects do you have now that you are
working on, have conceptualized? What’s next for you?
Sean: Well, right now, we’ve got quite a few projects. Everything
that is coming out is on my label called Rosachi, and our
distribution is through Fat Beats out of New York and Los
Angeles and another company, Foundation Media. They’ve
been really supportive. So with those connections we have
with those distributors, there’ll be at least three or four projects
we’ll be putting out this year. One I do know for sure we’ll
be putting out is the second solo album from me. It’ll be
called ‘The Dreamer’s Passion.’ I’m producing the whole
album, I’ll probably have some guest beats, probably have
a couple cats who I’m working with do some stuff. We’ve
got features from Sadat X of Brand Nubian, we’ve got
DJ Roddy Rod of the Lo-Budget on it, and quite a few other
features on it as well. And that album should be out sometime
around the fall of this year. I’m gonna mention it now, we
have something under wraps but I’m going to mention it
now, but there’s a legendary MC that’s very well-known
from the Baltimore area, Silhouette, a female MC. She and
I are working together on an album as well. We’re not sure
when that’s going to come out, probably in a couple of months.
There’s a couple instrumental projects I plan on releasing
as well, and another remix project as well. I did a remix
project a couple of years ago and I’m going to release one
this year as well. Those are pretty much the projects we
have on deck coming soon.
Manifesto: Cool! With regards to your creative process, what’s your
personal manifesto in regards to your creative process?
How do you get into your ‘zone’ to create the music that
you create?
Sean: You know what man, it’s funny…I thought about that
myself, that’s a great question. I think what I really do
is, I just have to block everything out, you know what I
mean? There’s no mantra, there’s no chant (laughs), you
know? At this point in my career as an artist, it’s just
really about sitting down in front of my piano or my drum
machine and if I feel inspired, I just go ahead and get to
work man. I could be having a good day, and some days
I can make music and some days I can’t. And some days
I can have a jacked-up day and some days I can’t. So I
can’t really say that it’s based on my mood, it just goes
back to why I named the album ‘The Sound Channeler’.
I feel like I’m a conduit of sound. And when the creator
of all things is ready to give me music and I’m open to it,
then that’s when it comes, you know what I’m saying?
I’m not ready to make music then he gave it to somebody
else that day or she gave it to somebody else that day.
There’s no process to it, it’s just about sitting there and
being blessed and humble enough to say, ‘Man this aint
even coming from me. It’s coming through me.’ If I could
do this every day, it would be coming out like this every,
you know what I’m saying? (laughs)
Manifesto: For the most part, whenever you collaborate with different
people, for the most part it’s always something special. For
you, how energizing is it to create new music with various
artists that you’ve worked with in the past and even now?
Sean: Man, that’s a great question. Honestly, that’s one of the
reasons why I do it. Because I’m an MC and a producer
so for me, as a producer and MC, to work with the artists,
it’s like a dream come true you know? To be able to work
with a Kev Brown, or a Substantial, or a yU, whomever.
It’s an honor man. I feel it’s one of the more exciting
things you can do because for me, it pushes me towards
a different direction and mindset I have to have when working
with an artist. Because one of the things I promised myself
I wouldn’t do is get stuck or put myself in a box in terms
of what my creative process would be. With every artist
comes a different mindset, a different consciousness in
terms of how I might write a rhyme or how I might
produce a beat. Yeah, it’s an honor, it’s a pleasure man.
Because growing up, as artists we all imagine about working
with certain people one day. And to be able to manifest my
dreams and work with a Kev Brown, or a Jaysun, or whoever…
man, it’s like that’s part of the reward for doing this you
know? Sometimes, the music business is crazy, you don’t
always get paid a lot, you don’t always get paid what your
worth is. But the biggest payment you can get is working
with somebody and creating something that the people
like. It’s awesome. It’s one of the greatest honors and
pleasures that I’ve had or that any artist can have when
you’re working and perfoming man. That’s what it’s all
about. It’s all about getting better, and not getting stuck.
Manifesto: I hear you man, that’s beautiful. So we’ve come to the
last question. Lastly, what would be your advice to those
looking to create and produce music?
Sean: I would say that anybody that produces music, be it using
a drum machine or playing music, I would say, perfect your
instrument. Get an instrument and stick with it. Don’t move
around from one thing to another. So for an example, if
you’re a hip-hop producer and you use a drum machine, it
wouldn’t be in your best interest to get like, nine different
machines because you haven’t mastered the first one you
bought. And when I say musicians, I think hip-hop producers
are musicians because they’re musicians using a different
kind of instrument. I think traditionally, musicians they get
an instrument - when you have kids whose parents made
them s
it down and play the piano everyday? That kid will
turn into that teenager who’ll turn into a young adult, they’ve
mastered that instrument. They’ve earned their stripes.
Then, in earning those stripes they can move on to the other
things. And I just think that perfecting your craft, perfecting
your instrument is very important man. That’s how we get
quality. That’s how we get a connection with our instruments.
Imagine B.B. King without Lucille. Maybe he could probably
play other instruments, but he mastered the guitar. Yeah,
man. Perfect your instrument. If you’re an MC, perfect the mic.
But yeah, perfect your instrument then move on to the next
thing. Never get stuck.
‘Sound Channeler, The Invisible Man’ by Sean Toure’ is available
now via iTunes!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/sean-toure/id417685737
Sean-Toure’ can also be found at the following social stops:
http://www.seantoure.bandcamp.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/seantourethames
http://www.myspace.com/stoure
http://twitter.com/#!/SeanToure