Audio Push's new  EP, The Stone Junction, features Price and Oktane stretching their creative boundaries as the follow-up to Inside the Vibe. To accompany the project, the duo dropped the new video for their single "Vamanos"  with Kap G; a visual sequel to their "Servin'" video. In a conversation with The Boombox, Audio Push discussed their musical maturity since "Teach Me How to Jerk" and the close-mindedness of haters.

Q: How do you feel about the stigma against rappers who dance? 

Price: Its crazy how when we came out dancing and being kids--making great music, n----s really tried to s--- on us and make it as if we were less than hip-hop. As if dancing wasn’t an element of hip-hop. Breakdancing is an element of hip-hop.

Oktane: I don’t really have a lot to say to critics. I just address it with the music and I let that music speak. People forgot that one of the greatest rappers--if you ask: “Who was one of the most thugged-out rappers on the planet?” They’re gonna say 2Pac--who was someone else’s backup dancer! We ain't never been nobody’s backup dancers! S---, we did danced to our own hits. We don’t care about y'all talking about how we wear skinny pants--N.W.A. wore skinny pants, y'all n----s ain't say nothing to them?! It’s 2016. You got Chance the Rapper--who just dropped a whole video dancing with choreography-type s--- and being praised. It’s beautiful. And you got half these rappers nowadays, these n----s is in leggings almost. I don’t get mad at it, I use it as fuel to know that we’re innovative and we always have been. 

Q: How would you describe the social/political undertones in the first track on Stone Junction, ‘BBQ Spot?'

Oktane: The whole project is all anthems. It’s all real subjects and all high energy. We wanted to jump it off with just the real things going on in the world letting you know; we ain’t gonna be on no BS. We are really talking about a lot of stuff so open up your eyes, open up your ears and open up your vibes because its coming. And that’s what "BBQ Spot" [is] to me. It’s the slap in the face that lets you know off the rip: we ain't playing no games.

Price: Its like; [the line] "they wanna put me in a box." That line alone hits so many areas because like--having [the label] trying to tell you what to do with the music, police killing kids, brutality and murders and all this crazy s--- with the police trying to lock us up; that’s another way of them trying to put is in a box. I own a BBQ restaurant in our city in the IE (Inland Empire, CA.) and one of the health inspectors from my restaurant was one of the shooters in the San Bernardino massacre. That’s how close we are to a lot of the s--- that’s going on. And we just wanted to touch on it.

Q: What do you think of resistance to your musical growth?

Oktane:. A lot of people don’t wanna see anything grow. Like, if you’re one thing that they saw off a first impression, that’s the box you’re in and people hate to see you get out of that or be any greater than that. I feel like our entire career is a testimony to “F--- that!”

Price: "Teach Me How To Jerk" -- which we put out when we were 17, 18 years old. I’m 25 now, he’s 26. If we haven’t grown, that’s a problem.

Q: Have you focused on your artistry and topical subject matter as a way to counter critics?

Oktane: I don’t really think there’s a strategy to it, we just try to get better, talk about newer things. Talk about them in different ways and use growth in different pockets. I’m not content with doing the same thing over and over.

Price: I’m a studio rat. Like, every time I wake up I’m in the studio. I’m in there all day long just trying to get better and develop the sound, and talk about different things. We both know we can rap our asses off and we’re probably like the top ten--dead or alive--rappers to ever do it.

 

 

 

 

 

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