Lex Starwind: Hip Hop's Weapon-X
R.M. London w/ Lex Starwind
When I first heard Lex Starwind I was immediately warped back to the first time I ever heard the Wu-Tang Clan, when I got my dad to buy me the 'Protect Ya Neck' single on a whim. Even at a young age the raw, hard hitting, lyrical noise that spilled through my speakers took me to another place. I felt that again with Lex Starwind.
With heavy Wu influences, Lex Starwind is an up and coming Pennsylvanian MC that is ready to rip your tweaders and give you that shaolin feeling. Rhymehouse.com had the chance to sit down with Lex to talk about how he got started, his thoughts on current artists, and why Lil Wayne is a straight up actor...
Rhymehouse: For those that might not know-- Can you tell everyone who Lex Starwind is and what your music is about?
Lex Starwind: My name is Weapon-X a.k.a. Lex Starwind. I'm currently a member of the group called Foundation. I'm 27 years old and I've been writing since I was like 12 or 13. I've been recording since I was 17. I would describe my music as a synergy between an early 90's New York style and a late 90's Philly underground style. If I had to give a name to my genre/style/technique of music, I would probably call it a neo-wu-tang style.
I was born in New York in 81 and lived up there with my mom until I was like 10. In 91 I moved to PA to live with my pops. I lived out in Jamaica Queens and started getting into some shit around 89-90. Nothing Crazy, but shoplifting, robbing kids for toys, video games and stupid shit like that. My Mom had just started working for the Department of Corrections and wasn't really home when I got home from school...so I ran wild. She shipped me to PA because she knew the schools were better, and that my father could give my life more structure that she could at the time.
Rhymehouse: You are in a crew called "Foundation"-- Who is in the crew and how did you all come together?
Lex Starwind: The group's been together since like 1999. Our original group names were, Weapon-X, The Hypnotist and Scientific. We have all since taken on different alias. The Hypnotist is now known as Jon Murdock, and Scientific has been flippin the Ricky Fitz alias for sometime now.
We're all from the same town. Phoenixville, PA. It really just started out on some hometown shit, and grew from there. My first producer, DNA samples and I started a group called Quantum Mechanix in like 97 or 98 and kind of grew together. I had been writing, but hadn’t recorded anything before, and he had just started making beats, so it was a good fit. I knew Jon Murdock since 96, but I didn’t know he could rhyme until like 97 or 98. When I found out, I told DNA and we did a track together, but DNA was hating on Murdock. He said that my shit was original and that Murdock sounded like RZA and Eminem. He wouldn't let Murdock get on anymore tracks, no matter how much I told him I was feeling him. The Quantum Mechanix shit fell apart in late 1999 early 2000 and I didn't know what to do. I wanted to keep doing shit, but with no production I was at a loss.
Well, in 2000 Murdock moved across town, closer to me. So one day we were kicking it at his crib and he played me a beat he made in Sony's Acid 2.0. The shit blew my mind, because I didn’t know he was making beats. As it turns out, after DNA samples proved he was a hater, Murdock just asked DNA for a copy of the software he used and kept it moving. Murdock and Scientific recorded a couple of tracks at the crib just messing around and the shit was tight.
When I told them I wasn't fucking with DNA anymore, Murdock was like, fuck it, you might as well fuck with us then. The rest is history.
Rhymehouse: Where did the name Lex Starwind come from?
Lex Starwind: Ever since I saw Ninja Scrolls I've been a big fan of anime. I saw the Outlawstar anime in like 1998 or 1999 and was really feeling that jawn. The main character in that one was named Gene Starwind. I just kind of took it and flipped it from there.
I planned to do maybe 2 or 3 albums with that alias, kind of like a Weapon-X presents type of deal. After that I'll go hard with the Weapon-X name again. The alias kind of give me a way to express a different side of my personality. The shit I did with Quantum Mechanix was a lot different then the shit I do now, so I felt I should change my name. At least for the time being.
Rhymehouse: How long have you been rapping and putting out albums? How has the climb to recognition been for you?
Lex Starwind: I've been rhyming since I was like 12 or 13. My uncle is only like 5 years older than me and is more like my brother, and he had just started rhyming back then. I remember I went up to New York for a couple of weeks in the summer, and he was writing some shit. I asked what he was doing and he told me. I was like I can do that. He challenged me, like go ahead. It took me like 20 mins to come up with 4 bars that were wack as fuck. He clowned me and didn’t think about it again.
When I went back to PA I couldn't let that shit go. I wanted to rhyme just to prove him wrong. And I guess I wanted to be like him too. So I started writing. I kept it to myself for like 6 months. I remember pulling my man aside when I was like 13 and letting him hear this jawn I wrote. I was kind of nervous because none of my boys knew I was trying to write. He like it and told me to stick with it. So I did.
I didn't get to record anything until I was 17. Me and DNA samples did our thing. I had a write up in the Philly City paper 6 months after I recorded my first song. I had to fight with every bouncer at every bar I performed at because I was only 18. I remember one spot wouldn’t even let me in until they realized I was the headline act. Shit was crazy.
Rhymehouse: In your song "Garbage" you said you heard nothing but "Garbage" that year-- What artists do you think are garbage and why?
Lex Starwind: Anybody with the word lil or Young in their name. Minus lil Kim. I still like her! Everyone else is trash. Last year I went on a stretch where I was looking for some new shit, and I wasn't feeling anything I bought, downloaded or heard on the radio.
In 2007 I think I got like 2 or 3 hot albums. The only ones I can remember of the top are, Evidence the Weatherman LP, Lord Jamar The 5% album, and Killah Priest's The Offering. There are a few others, but other then that, shit is wack.
Rhymehouse: What does Lex Starwind bring that is different/fresh to hip hop?
Lex Starwind: I think I bring some new light to an old topic. My style is kind of old school, like early/mid 90's, but I like to keep it fresh by talking about current topics. I think my shit is a lot different that a lot of the mainstream shit most cats hear now-a-days. It's almost like anything different is good. Not anything, but it's nice to hear an artist that doesn’t play follow the leader.
Rhymehouse: On your last record 'The Outlaw Star' you hooked up with Reef the Lost Cauze and Sean Price-- How did you get connected with these two stars, and why did you want to collab with them?
Lex Starwind: Sean Price is a beast, Always has been. Boot Camp was like one of my favorite groups growing up. It's crazy to me to idolize an artist at age 12 or 13 just to do a collabo with the same artist later on down the road. It at lease lets me know I’m making progress. One of my producer, Eric Vanderslice hooked up the 2 collabs. My only regret is that I didn’t get to meet Sean Price in person. We were supposed to go to New York to record the song with him, but because of a miscommunication problem we ended up doing the track over the internet.
As far a Reef is concerned, we went to a studio in Philly to have the Sean Price track mixed by Scott Stallone and Reef was at the studio. Vanderslice had a couple of beats with him that night so we did a song on the spot. I think both songs came out pretty good.
Rhymehouse: You have a very agressive and highly lyrical style-- where did you grab some of your inspiration from?
Lex Starwind: I lot of my inspiration comes from Wu-Tang. Probably the greatest group to ever do it. If it weren't for my uncle and Wu-tang I probably wouldn't even be rhyming. My uncle got me started, but when I was in PA, Wu-Tang was the only group I really had to compare myself to. Them and probably Canibus. I hold my own but, I've never really been a real thugged out cat, I don't really sell drugs, carry guns or any other quote/unquote gangster shit. Wu-Tang, Canibus, and a couple of other cats showed me that you would rap about other kinds of shit and still make it hot.
I wrote a lot of my early stuff to Wu-Tang beats. T2, liquid swords, Cuban linx, Shit like that. As far a recently, I've been listening to a lot of Old Wu, Jedi Mind tricks, Natural Elements, Cannibal Ox, Dialated Peoples, Jean Grae, Thirstin Howl, Sean Price, Canibus, and A lot of Jon Murdock. He’s probably my favorite emcee right now. Funny enough, he says that I’m his favorite emcee. Go figure.
Rhymehouse: In various spots in the record you mention "Lex Starbucks" and a lot about drinking coffee-- Are you that big of a coffee fan?
Lex Starwind: Yeah, I've been kind of addicted to their white chocolate mocha with a shot or raspberry. The shit's banging. As far as the references in the music, It's kind of a style I borrowed from Jon Murdock. On one joint we did, he said some shit like Jon Murdocumentary, or Jon Murdoctor Julius Irving roster. I though the shit was fly so I adapted it to my style. Lex Starbucks, Lex Star-trek, Lex Starsky and Hutch. Shit like That.
Rhymehouse: What is missing from hip hop and why do you think it's missing?
Lex Starwind: I think that the originality is missing from hiphop. I think that emcees in the 90's spent more time building their persona. Nowadays, emcees say that their claim to fame is that their hot. No explanation, No real reason, just that they are "hot." Method man and Raekwon spend a lot of time giving the listener insight into the whole Johnny Blaze, Iron Lung persona, and Rae with the whole Cuban linx thing. I think they had more of a story to tell, or more of a unique life style. Rap was something they did for expression, not something they did to make themselves look cool, or to glorify the street life. It's who they were, not something they did.
Nowadays, the so called hottest Rapper (lil Wayne, Not my opinion, but I’ve heard several people say that. Yeah right!) Didn’t even write his own So called Hottest Album.(The Carter II) Now in my era, finding out that a rapper didn’t write their lyrics would all but ruin that persons career. Nowadays people don’t even care. If someone else writes your material, you go from being an artist to being an actor, and if that’s the case, Lil Wayne should be working with Steven Spielberg and not a music producer.
Rhymehouse: If you had to save just ONE record from your collection from a burning building, which one would it be and why?
Lex Starwind: Wu-Tang Forever, just because I love Wu-Tang to death and because it’s a double CD. If I can only save one album, I might as well make it a double disk and get the most bang for my buck.
Rhymehouse: What is next for Lex Starwind and Foundation? What new projects/collaborations can we look out for?
Lex Starwind: Ricky Fitz is locked up for a couple of month, so while he's out of commission me a Jon Murdock are working with Vanderslice on a new project, new group name and everything. The group will be called the Flying Dutchmen and the Album is called Foul Weather.
I'm also working on my second solo album, Lex StarTrek, Deep Space Rhyme. Jon Murdock is putting the finishing touches on his 4th solo album, Dark City part 3, Skyscraper Ships. I'm all over that album.
Ricky Fitz' first solo album should be out by the end of the year. He had maybe 10 tracks done before he got locked up. He should be out by the summer and hopefully we can finish that up before we start on a third Foundation album.
We've also been working with Rasul Allah from The Lost Children of Babylon. He's got a project he’s been working on with Sunz of Man and other Wu-affiliates. We’ll probably have a track or 2 on that album and hopefully a few more collabs with Rasul, Lost Children and a few others.
Rhymehouse: Why should hip hop heads look out for Lex Starwind and buy/listen to his music?
Lex Starwind: I think that heads should check for the album if they like that classic lyrical shit. My squad is more into the lyrics, beats and word-play then sounding hood or street. We're trying to innovate, not just imitate or recreate. I'd like to think that Foundation has a throw back sound that's been reinvented. A sort of breath of fresh air.
You can check out Lex Starwind at the following places:
http://www.myspace.com/lsoutlaw
