[FEATURE] VIPER PRESENTS: STATIK SELEKTAH

Following the release of his tenth studio album, ‘Round Trip’, iconic Hip Hop producer Statik Selektah gives us the 101…

What five words define your sound?
Raw, Soulful, Hard, Grimey and Dusty.

Tell me something unique about your creative process
It starts with vinyl most of the time. The music starts with records. I still buy a lot of records and none of it is YouTube or anything like that. I get inspired by the vinyl and the process.

Which song of yours would you like people to hear first?
Probably the first track ‘Round Trip’ with Posdnous from De La Soul. It’s a real serious record and he has a lot of quotables on there. It’s a record appreciating not only De La Soul and Dave, but this whole thing we got going on.

What inspired you to make that song?
Dave had just passed and I knew that was the beat I wanted for the intro to the album. I was torn with what I wanted to do with it. I sent it to Posdnous not sure if he was in the mood to make music because Dave just passed. He heard it and was like “man lets do it. Let’s go.”

What’s the most vulnerable you’ve allowed yourself to be when writing/making
music? 

I would say being on the radio as a teenager/kid and taking criticism from kids around the way. Definitely taking criticism.

What’s the best/worst experience you’ve had on stage?
I haven’t had too many bad experiences on stage. If anything, it was technology based. I remember my first show in Japan with Keithan and the Serato crashed right before we were about to set it off, but that’s not something that can be controlled.

What is your favourite song to perform?
My favourite song to perform is definitely ‘For the City’, this record I got with Jadakiss and M.O.P. No matter where I go in the world, people always react to that record. It’s one of the best songs I ever did in my opinion.

Which artist/song/album made you want to make music?

Thats a hard one, but probably A Tribe Called Quest, ‘Midnight Marauders’.

What’s the meaning behind your name?
I was DJ Statik for a while, then I added Selektah. When you think about selective static, that’s what I do on the record. Putting the needle to the groove.

If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing instead?
Probably something computer based.

What’s success to you?
Doing what you wanna do, when everyone else is doing what they can. Having the freedom to do what you want in life, and chasing your passion. When you’re in your passion and you love what you do, it doesn’t even feel like work.

What moment in your life/career forced you to change direction?
I think my daughter being born, definitely. I stopped touring as much and started focusing more on the music.

Where can people keep in touch with you?
Instagram @statikselekt, Shade45 and my Twitch (Twitch.tv/statikselekt) where I host “Soul Food Sundays” at least twice a month. It’s always on a Sunday and I play a lot of R&B and soul.