Vid Pick: Megaciph – Log One

By now it’s been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that artists can make socially conscious, thought provoking hip-hop that’s also enjoyable to listen to. Megaciph has been doing this for years.

His latest project, CodeSwitching, was released earlier this month, and it’s a collaborative effort with producer James Data where the two artists created short, quick hitting, songs with a wide variety of flows and beats.

The latest single from CodeSwitching is “Log One,” and I caught up with Megaciph to find out more about the song, the trippy video he made for it, and the concept of power.

First let’s talk about the visual you created, because the video for “Log One” gets trippy in some places. How’d you come up with the concept, and in what ways do you feel the video represents the song?

The video was shot in a park on one of those spinning carousel rides. I stood in the middle of it, and held the camera myself, while my wife spun me around.

The song is about the rat race, and getting free from it. It’s a dizzying, confusing struggle for most of us.

All the different faces and filters were chosen to add on to the "spinning out of control" effect I was going for.

We also played with this song in the mixing stage and have three different lead vocal tracks bouncing around to create a spinning effect in the audio, (this is) another way the video and audio play off each other. 

The phrase, “The power of the media” is repeated somewhere around half a dozen times in “Log One.” What are you hoping to get across with this?

This phrase is repeated four times to end lyrically similar phrases, and reinforce the idea that the media is not only powerful, but also controlled by, and a product of, people's wishes and dreams.

The four bars are

I influence times people power and the media
with relevant rhyme for people power and the media
because I'm a product of people power and the media
I'm here to free the people with the power of the media

I think when looked at in context of the stanza the lines make a very clear statement about the view I have of the power within my own rhymes to influence and make positive change. The repetition is to make this statement stand out and really drive the point home that our words have great power, and therefore we as the deliverers of these words have great responsibility. 

Another potent line is “Barack kept us calm for eight, time for revolution.” Do you think being calm for eight years the masses ignored some things that were under their noses the entire time?

Certainly, we all are guilty of this. Yet, Black Lives Matter came up while Obama was president. The number of registered hate groups tracked by the FBI and the SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center) grew exponentially under Obama, as well. Likewise, cops were killing Black and Brown people with immunity under Obama, as well. Yet, because we had such a well spoken intelligent man in office the official conversation was always about peace and reconciliation.

Now, however, the official word coming from the top is confusion and/or outright hate.

These problems we are dealing with were caused by decades of unjust sentencing laws, redlining, poor schools, and institutionalized racism, to name just a few of the problems. These problems go back further than Trump or Obama, and cannot be fixed with anything short of revolution. I don't think it needs to be a bloody revolution, but I do think the system needs to be completely overhauled.

“Log One” off of your latest project, Code Switching. Why is this single the perfect introduction to Code Switching, and what else can we expect from the album?

Well, "Log One" is the second single off the album. The first was "Baby Ooh,” which dropped back in August, and highlighted the plight of former 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick. That single got a few spins in the UK, and lots of shares among my Veterans For Peace community. I guess it didn't get too much play otherwise because folks are scared to touch the politics in the NFL issue. I released "Baby Ooh" first because stylistically it is out the box from the majority of my work. 

"Log One" also captures that out of the box feel the album is designed to give the listener. This song is fast paced, and high intensity, yet it leaves the listener feeling empowered, rather than drained. It makes you want to hear more, and that is what listeners can expect from the entire project. 

For more Megaciph, check out his music on Bandcamp.