"We saw Hip Hop as it was first introduced into the mainstream. Bands were dressed like the Village People".
What up Full Circle. For those unfamiliar with Full Circle, you are Money J and DJ Triple D, two Perth Hip Hop pioneers. Thank you for your time.
Hey here and thank you very much for the interview it really means a lot to us.
First off, why Full Circle as a name?
Full Circle means, “When something comes Full Circle, It completes a cycle, returns to its beginnings”, which for us made sense as we’ve come together 30 years later so completed a cycle and taking our music style back to the foundations of Hip Hop.
You’ve recently released Beat, Rhymes and Basslines, which despite being 30+ years in the game, is really your debut. What inspired you both to make the album?
Triple Dee: A couple of present day Hip Hop types asked me why I wore fat shoe laces. They were basically asking me to show them my Hip Hop. Even though I felt offended I also understood the fact that my decision to quit hip hop in 1993 meant that this generation won’t know that we even existed. That’s our own fault. We can whinge and whine all day long about what we did back then, the history is important don’t get me wrong. Today we’re more interested in what’s happening now in the present. So the inspiration is that we’re getting older but we still want to represent.
Money J: Well for me I just needed to do something creative I guess. I’ve always listened to Hip Hop and have DJ'd for a long time too and I just needed to do something a little more. I also feel our style of Hip Hop has pretty much gone and I just wanted to bring it back again as the new era Hip Hop sound just doesn’t do it for me.
Hey here and thank you very much for the interview it really means a lot to us.
First off, why Full Circle as a name?
Full Circle means, “When something comes Full Circle, It completes a cycle, returns to its beginnings”, which for us made sense as we’ve come together 30 years later so completed a cycle and taking our music style back to the foundations of Hip Hop.
You’ve recently released Beat, Rhymes and Basslines, which despite being 30+ years in the game, is really your debut. What inspired you both to make the album?
Triple Dee: A couple of present day Hip Hop types asked me why I wore fat shoe laces. They were basically asking me to show them my Hip Hop. Even though I felt offended I also understood the fact that my decision to quit hip hop in 1993 meant that this generation won’t know that we even existed. That’s our own fault. We can whinge and whine all day long about what we did back then, the history is important don’t get me wrong. Today we’re more interested in what’s happening now in the present. So the inspiration is that we’re getting older but we still want to represent.
Money J: Well for me I just needed to do something creative I guess. I’ve always listened to Hip Hop and have DJ'd for a long time too and I just needed to do something a little more. I also feel our style of Hip Hop has pretty much gone and I just wanted to bring it back again as the new era Hip Hop sound just doesn’t do it for me.
You are both essentially solo acts who formed Full Circle, as mentioned on your website, “to make the music we want to hear”, tell me about the moment when you both decided to join together and make this album.
Triple Dee: Justin DJ'd at my book launch for “The Streets Of Perth Past & Present” in 2008 . After the launch we had a chat about making some music. Prior to that the last time we produced together was in Rock Always Productions around 1990/91. So then last year in 2018 - Money J sent me a text. He said “Trip, you in Perth?” I replied “Yep. You still rhyming?”
We got together and had a chat about what we wanted to hear. We talked about history and doing a track about it. So we started searching and chopping up samples for History Lesson immediately.
Money J: Exactly as Triple Dee just described it. I was needing to do more than just making mixtapes all the time. This wasn’t filling that void of needing to be more creative so I just sent him a text like “Yooo what you up too?” “You want to make some tunes” a week or so later we sat down and devised a plan. Now you have Beats, Rhymes & Basslines, which to us sums up Hip Hop.
The album has a definitely got an old school vibe, more 80s then 90s, which is what people tend to think of when you say old school Hip Hop. What was the process make the album?
Money J: We had a general idea of what we wanted to achieve and that 80’s 90’s Boom Bap feel I think is lost in today’s music. We both grew up on this style so it just made sense to go down that path. We really just concentrated on doing one song at a time and once a song was complete it just rolled into doing another and another. We had a great working relationship back in 1988 and as soon as we hit the studio this fell straight back into place. Now that we are accustomed to the studio equipment we have we can branch out and explore more variety.
Triple Dee: We’re both still getting accustomed to using the Maschine. Justin really leaned towards Boom Bap style beats and I wanted to add bassline grooves which complimented those beats. I like to chop up a few samples and see where a groove ends up taking me. Ultimately that 80s old school sound was always going to be there. It’s what we grew up listening to. I think the music you listen to at the end of high school is the music that stays with you.
Hip Hop has changed A LOT over the years and has also become a cultural phenomenon where it has become a part of mainstream culture – the style, the vernacular. How have you been Hip Hop seen evolve of the years? And what’s your thoughts on the state of Hip Hop today?
Money J: Hip Hop has become over saturated with artists these days as anyone with a computer and WIFI can put out a song. The appreciation for the culture and craft has been lost due to the media and the younger generation trying to chase that dollar. Back in my days you had to be original with everything you did and as part of this was to look, dress and be fly. To many weirdos out there just trying to get attention to make up for their lack of skill which the youth don’t know any better.
Triple Dee: We saw Hip Hop as it was first introduced into the mainstream. Bands were dressed like the Village People. In its infancy it was so experimental it felt like anything could happen. I really like that time because in my opinion - to see the birth of Hip Hop was the best time in Hip Hop. But after some years pass, everything has become perfected and formulaic. There are expectations of what is good and what is not. The other thing that seems to have happened - Most music is just all programmed, so there’s no room for humanness. I’m talking about the imperfection of being human. Some people may refer to it as sloppy production, I consider it to be the thing which gave Hip Hop character. Hank Shocklee from the BombSquad talks about how the truncation of their early samples weren’t quite right and Dilla didn’t like quantising his beats. Why? It’s the imperfection of those early recordings which contributed to it being funky. That’s what I like. That’s what I think is missing. I can’t really judge the state of Hip Hop today. I don’t listen to enough of it to sound like I know what I’m talking about.
Triple Dee: Justin DJ'd at my book launch for “The Streets Of Perth Past & Present” in 2008 . After the launch we had a chat about making some music. Prior to that the last time we produced together was in Rock Always Productions around 1990/91. So then last year in 2018 - Money J sent me a text. He said “Trip, you in Perth?” I replied “Yep. You still rhyming?”
We got together and had a chat about what we wanted to hear. We talked about history and doing a track about it. So we started searching and chopping up samples for History Lesson immediately.
Money J: Exactly as Triple Dee just described it. I was needing to do more than just making mixtapes all the time. This wasn’t filling that void of needing to be more creative so I just sent him a text like “Yooo what you up too?” “You want to make some tunes” a week or so later we sat down and devised a plan. Now you have Beats, Rhymes & Basslines, which to us sums up Hip Hop.
The album has a definitely got an old school vibe, more 80s then 90s, which is what people tend to think of when you say old school Hip Hop. What was the process make the album?
Money J: We had a general idea of what we wanted to achieve and that 80’s 90’s Boom Bap feel I think is lost in today’s music. We both grew up on this style so it just made sense to go down that path. We really just concentrated on doing one song at a time and once a song was complete it just rolled into doing another and another. We had a great working relationship back in 1988 and as soon as we hit the studio this fell straight back into place. Now that we are accustomed to the studio equipment we have we can branch out and explore more variety.
Triple Dee: We’re both still getting accustomed to using the Maschine. Justin really leaned towards Boom Bap style beats and I wanted to add bassline grooves which complimented those beats. I like to chop up a few samples and see where a groove ends up taking me. Ultimately that 80s old school sound was always going to be there. It’s what we grew up listening to. I think the music you listen to at the end of high school is the music that stays with you.
Hip Hop has changed A LOT over the years and has also become a cultural phenomenon where it has become a part of mainstream culture – the style, the vernacular. How have you been Hip Hop seen evolve of the years? And what’s your thoughts on the state of Hip Hop today?
Money J: Hip Hop has become over saturated with artists these days as anyone with a computer and WIFI can put out a song. The appreciation for the culture and craft has been lost due to the media and the younger generation trying to chase that dollar. Back in my days you had to be original with everything you did and as part of this was to look, dress and be fly. To many weirdos out there just trying to get attention to make up for their lack of skill which the youth don’t know any better.
Triple Dee: We saw Hip Hop as it was first introduced into the mainstream. Bands were dressed like the Village People. In its infancy it was so experimental it felt like anything could happen. I really like that time because in my opinion - to see the birth of Hip Hop was the best time in Hip Hop. But after some years pass, everything has become perfected and formulaic. There are expectations of what is good and what is not. The other thing that seems to have happened - Most music is just all programmed, so there’s no room for humanness. I’m talking about the imperfection of being human. Some people may refer to it as sloppy production, I consider it to be the thing which gave Hip Hop character. Hank Shocklee from the BombSquad talks about how the truncation of their early samples weren’t quite right and Dilla didn’t like quantising his beats. Why? It’s the imperfection of those early recordings which contributed to it being funky. That’s what I like. That’s what I think is missing. I can’t really judge the state of Hip Hop today. I don’t listen to enough of it to sound like I know what I’m talking about.
You’ve both had successful careers, Triple D winning the 1st WA title in the DMC Championships and Money J sharing the stage with iconic rapper Tone Loc, what would you say is the highlight of your career thus far?
Triple Dee: That’s polite to say we’ve had successful careers, thank you. My highlight is winning the West Australian State DMC title in 1993.
Money J: Hahaha thanks for that I’ve had multiple highlights for example Doing mixtapes for members of Tha Dogg Pound, doing a track with WC from Westside Connection, doing mixtapes with Nu Jerzey Devil, Knoc Turnal, WC, King Tee and old school artists Dana Dane, TLA Rock, Just Ice, and loads more.
So you’ve released the album and done the release party, what’s next for Full Circle as well as Money J and Triple D? You mentioned you’re making so new music which is different to Beat, Rhymes and Basslines..
Triple Dee: We’re always working on new music. Right now we’re both chopping samples and making beats. We want to be productive. You may not see us live, as we don’t have plans to play live but we do plan to be productive.
Money J: We want to try out some new styles of beats but still try to capture a touch of the Boom Bap era which we both love. We love bass in our songs so we’re experimenting a lot to see what we can come up with. We have a couple of new songs pretty much finished so we will be putting these out soon too.
Thanks again for your time.
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