michael c. hsiung

Download: Reef The Lost Cauze “Hit ‘Em Up!” (prod. Astronote)

(from The King And The Cauze mixtape available now from Well Done Entertainment)

Philadelphia rapper Reef the Lost Cauze could care less about extemporaneously bruising the egos of opposing rappers—although as an established battle rapper, he’s proven himself rather good at it. In truth, the Philly-born MC just wants to make good music, give props to his mother and maybe have a cheesesteak when he’s finished. This interview by Paul Glanting.

Tell me about Philadelphia.
Philly is one of the last cities that has the makings of a major metropolitan area but still has that working-class spirit. If New York and Pittsburgh had a baby, it would probably be something like Philadelphia. It’s a beautiful place to live and raise a family—it’s gritty and real but it’s peaceful, too. It’s sort of like L.A.—make one turn and you see mansions and another turn it’s the slums. I like that realness. Philadelphia is a great city.
You used to be a fairly active battle rapper. Do you think battle rappers have a hard time making the transition to creating good songs and solid albums?
Songwriting has actually always been my motivation. Where I came from, the battling was really just something all rappers had in their repertoire. So after battling with other dudes, I’d want to give them a CD of actual songs that I’d done. It’s hard sometimes because some of my fans love me for my battling and that’s what they wanna hear. I’m just not interested in that really anymore.
No more battle rapping?
Nope. It’s just become so phony. These battles have given a bunch of guys a place to act immature. Rather than perfecting skills, it’s more like a comedy event. And that’s just not me.
Why the ‘Lost Cauze?’
The Lost Cauze is from a time in my life where I was homeless and I got booted from school—my mom called me a lost cause. I took it as a sign that I wasn’t supposed to succeed. That’s really how I felt being where I’m from. Many of those people in the area I’m from are born not expecting to make anything of themselves. And on a larger scale, I also feel like hip-hop is kind of a lost cause just because of the amount of phoniness in it—compared to, say, indie rock or R&B. People who get love in rock music and R&B get love because what they express seems to be a true reflection of them. Country music, also—when they talk about their wife leaving them and now they’re lonely and sitting at a bar drinking whiskey, that’s real. But in hip-hop, the more persona you create, the more successful you are. In hip-hop, nobody is lonely about their girl leaving them. Life is good because you have 1,000 girls and you’re hanging out drinking champagne in the club. I just try and keep my music as honest as I can. I mean—there was a time when I had to move back home and I really had to reflect on what I was going to do. I was dealing with the heartbreak of an ex-girlfriend and I wanted to share the struggles I faced everyday—the depression I’ve faced and just everyday stuff like that. I try to not be fabricated and so I usually take a while to do a record. And that’s because I need to experience life to write about it—I can’t make up a life I never lived.
Do you feel that as an underground rapper, there are things you can’t talk about—money, women, cars?
Honestly, I used to feel like that when I first came out. I was scared about what I was saying because I wanted to appeal to my demographic. I’d always tell myself that, ‘These people don’t wanna hear about this or that’ but it got to the point where it’s like, ‘Okay—I’m just a man and I’m only human and I do enjoy the company of a female, so why can’t I write a song about that?’ I learned that I can’t be anything but myself. The thing is, if you want to be true to yourself, you need to do things that appeal to you. I enjoy making music that’ll make people move a little bit, so some songs have a party feel. But I can do that without talking about Bentleys or whatever. I’m just real with myself and I do what I think is appealing and have fun with it.
You were also a film major. Does that affect anything about your music?
It’s not something I’ve been doing but I’m trying to get back into it. When I write lyrics, I always get these ideas and they’re very visual. So I feel like they’d work much better as films than music. And I’ll often be laughing with friends and sometimes we come up with stuff that would really work on film. I suppose I’m really focused on music at this point and I’d want to get myself to a more financially comfy position before I really pursued film.
There’s been sort of a trend of fledgling rappers going to college—Kanye, Cudi, etc.—and then deciding to pursue music instead. What is it about college that repels people and pushes them to pursue music?
I think number one, you’re dealing with many new energies and different types of people and tons of freedom. It can end up being too much freedom. I had so much fun in college I forgot to go to class. If you’re into drinking and partying, it can consume you. And if you’re into rhyming you can do that whenever. I was ditching class and I was drinking 40s and going to my homie’s house and just rhyming. In college you begin who you’re going to become, and I don’t think I was crazy about the direction it was taking me.
So how does your mom feel now?
She’s always been supportive of me. She was worried because I was fucking my life up but now I have my shit together. I also think when I really made it clear that rapping was going to be something I was really going to pursue, she was naturally worried—I think it’s every parent’s worry that their kid is going to end up a bum in the street. But she’s always been behind me and she’s my best friend.
What’s in your studio survival kit?
Alright—I smoke quite a bit! So I guess my survival kit is trees, microphone and an engineer—basic stuff. Writing rhymes has really become a work thing—it’s like going to a job—and I miss the days where I could just sit for hours and write freely about nothing all. It all usually starts with a beat. I listen to the beat and write. The process is very simple and organic. Also when I hear a beat I don’t like a lot of people around in the studio. Some rappers like all of their boys to be there hanging out, but I get paranoid about that stuff. For that reason I don’t even like going to big studios—I prefer to work at the home studio.
But if you could do a dream posse cut, who would you get?
My dream cut would have—Nas, Big L, Big Pun, Biggie and then Stevie Wonder singing the hook. Maybe it’s sad but most of the rappers I’d like to do a song with are dead. I really have a thing for dead rappers, I guess.

REEF THE LOST CAUZE WITH JEDI MIND TRICKS ON WED., AUG. 26, AT VELVET JONES, 423 STATE ST., SANTA BARBARA. CONTACT VENUE FOR TIME, COVER AND AGES. VELVET-JONES.COM. REEF THE LOST CAUZE’S KING AND THE CAUZE MIXTAPE IS AVAILABLE NOW FROM WELLDONEENTERTAINMENT.COM. VISIT REEF THE LOST CAUZE AT REEFTHELOSTCAUZE.COM OR MYSPACE.COM/REEFTHELOSTCAUZE.