Cannibal Ox brings its art aboveground

Biz3 Publicity Underground hip-hop group Cannibal Ox will be
playing in Ackerman Grand Ballroom on Saturday.

By Mary Williams
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Cannibal Ox may be just from New York, but the underground
hip-hop scene to which it belongs could just as well be another
world ““ one where everyone knows one another, and groups are
factions of larger collections of artists.

“Basically, some of us are able to perform at most of the
same venues, some of us just knew each other through all types of
things, cause all of (us) use the same studio. So, “˜I know
you from blah blah blah studio downtown. Oh, we use the same
mastering session,'” said Vast Aire, a member of
Cannibal Ox, in a phone interview from New York.

“Just doing gigs period, you’re going to meet
people. I’m tight with a lot of people from doing a lot of
the same gigs. I used to do gigs with people back in ’94, and
we still know each other, and we’re still putting out records
and that builds a relationship,” Vast continued.

Vast and partner Vordul Megilah formed Cannibal Ox in 1998,
although they have been performing together since 1992.

The group’s first full-length album, “The Cold
Vein,” was met with buzz and critical success.

Vast is not modest about the album, which was a collaboration
between Cannibal Ox and producer El-P.

“We said, “˜Look. We already know we’re
talented. That’s not why we’re in this room.
We’re in this room to put something down. And we want to look
at this in five years and smile,'” Vast said.

While they were originally going to bring in guests to do beats
on some tracks, as well as more guest rappers, they chose to
minimize appearances of non-members after creating an EP and single
autonomously, and being happy with the results.

“By the time we got to six songs, we all looked at each
other like, “˜Yo, this vibe is too ill. We’ve got to
keep going.’ We honestly feel like we made a
masterpiece,” Vast said.

The group focuses on a non-commercial style that avoids the
materialistic themes of much modern popular hip-hop.

“Everyone has an image; our image comes naturally,”
Vast said. “We work our hardest to get our point across. Now
in three years, our points will change, but at all times we feel
it’s our duty just to get our point across, to push ourselves
as artists. And art doesn’t stretch if someone doesn’t
push themselves,” he continued.

Being part of the underground scene, the members of Cannibal Ox
frequently work on other projects and solo albums.

They belong to the larger group “The Atoms Family,”
with the members working together in different respects.

“I used to be in a group with the kid that did my album
cover. You’d think our album would’ve come out first,
but life does life and he’s more into the art, and he ends up
drawing the album cover,” Vast said.

Visual art is also of interest to the members of the group.

They create comic book-style drawings, which is something that
Vast compares to the hip-hop scene.

“Because of my personality, I have a solo album coming.
We’re artists. We’re also visual artists, so even
though I would pencil something and he would ink it, and then a
friend of ours would put the dialogue, even though that went down,
we all still drew on our own,” Vast said.

Vast said that even though he is likely to work with other
artists in the future, and is currently doing so, it doesn’t
mean that Cannibal Ox, with only one full-length album so far, has
broken up.

“Always, at the end of the day, the bird flies back to his
nest, and my nest is Cannibal Ox,” Vast said.