Artist Of The Week – Bisc1

Those who have a keen eye, and equally keen memory, may recall seeing Bisc203 tags on various bridges, fences and overpasses back in the day. Those graffiti tags were the work of a man who now goes by the name Bisc1. Bisc1 grew up in Massachusetts and Connecticut and was a graffer until, as he puts it, "I got snagged." Now living in New York, Bisc1 is a member of the Embedded Music team and late in 2005 he released his debut EP, The Basics. On May 4th Bisc1 leaves for China, where he will be performing at various hot spots for three weeks. With his star obviously on the rise it’s time to get to know Bisc1.

Adam Bernard: Late in 2005 you released your debut EP, The Basics. The title has to have quite a few layers of meaning, break it down for everyone.
Bisc1: The title is a saying I use a lot. It’s also used in terms of the foundation, without the basics, what good are the details? It was my first real project and I felt like that was just fitting, it will now stand as the first block in whatever path the music walks me on, it's the basic most important piece, the groundwork.

Adam Bernard: The Basics is on Embedded Music, tell me how you hooked up with them and why you felt they were the right label for you to work with.
Bisc1: Embedded was my fam before any thought of putting out something with them was even born. I met DJ Ese, the founder / owner, at Def Jux in 2002 when I was there on a design internship and he was the label manager. He let me get busy on the design on one of him and Hipsta’s Mixtapes, #8, I did the art then did #9 and #10, and on #10 Ese slipped me in for half a joint. Ese and I made tracks to make tracks and I have friends who know their stuff and make good beats and we just built to build until we looked back and realized we had a lot of tracks on stash. We opted for an EP at the time. If you feed them everything all at once they won’t be hungry when the real meal comes.

Adam Bernard: I’ve seen you freestyle, both at your own shows and in freestyle competitions. You’re becoming fairly well known for your freestyle skills. What makes an MC a dope freestyler?
Bisc1: Freestyle is the art of meditation to me. I am not a punch line cat, I spit what’s on my head, no premeditated set ups and what not, free in every sense of the word. Flow, delivery, and consistency are key. Concepts are not as important. To stay on topic, though, is a skill. Cats say wild things in frees, but as long as it's free and captivating you’ll get props. If you spit it strong, with confidence, then you're already killing it. To be fresh is the goal. It's style, it's respect, it's wordplay. I think in the end its how much life you put in.

Adam Bernard: How’d you come up with the name Bisc1? And what’s the difference between Bisc1 and Bisc203?
Bisc1: Back to the markers and stock tips. I wrote mad different shit when I was young. Bisc formed out of its letter structure more than anything. I did the alphabet breakdown looking for certain forms. I think I started rocking Bisc in '95 or '96 and it just stuck since. The "1" is on some classic graff shit. When I started everyone was ending there name with a one, I never stopped. 203 is my crew, my roots, the cats that really helped and drove me to do what I do. Where I went to middle school and high school in Connecticut is area code 203, that’s where for me all this hip hop, these extracurricular activities, got super serious, so we push 203 when we paint and now I have out lived my 203 by 718, but 203 will always be the root, so in long terms, it's Bisc1 203.

Adam Bernard: Finally, what keeps Bisc1 motivated?
Bisc1: I got that creative, don’t stop, drive which doesn’t allow me to relax and just be normal, or settle for the everyday and be satisfied. I must work, work hard, accomplish and set and seek out goals. I don’t want to be like the next man, I like to shine and I learned whatever I want to do I can do it, its all in time. I don’t see the ceiling, there is no end, only greater.

For more on Bisc1 please visit his websites and MySpace page.

Official Websites: www.embeddedmusic.net / www.bisc1.com / www.iveestudios.com
MySpace Page: www.myspace.com/bisc1