New Artist Spotlight Interview with HUMILITY's HAND
Friday, June 5, 2009 at 12:32AM 
Foreword by Humpty/OutHipHop.com, Interview by SOCE
He's a construction worker by day, gay rapper by night. Like most of us in this scene, he needs his day job to feed his passion, his occupation as a gay rapper, collaborator, and supporter of the out hip hop movement. He hasn't released a full length CD of original material, but he's already had to change his name from Smokey Da Bandit to Humility's Hand (chosen because of his desire t be thought provoking, but in a manner of humility at the same time). He has not performed live yet, but he has been involved in two of the more high profile collaborations in the scene (QFam's "A Lil Something Like Diss" and the Tim'm West coordinated "We All In"). In addition, he is the creator of HomoHop Radio, a task that has been bigger than initially envisioned. Here is an artist who is not just another gay rapper, but an artist who longs to see the movement do well. Here is our New Artist Spotlight interview with Humility's Hand:
Where did you grow up, and how did you end up in Denver?
I was born in Hobbs, NM... Grew up in Plainview, TX... Went to college for a minute in Amarillo, TX... Lived in Lubbock, TX for 5 years... Ended up moving to Midland, TX with an ex-boyfriend for 3 years. So most my life I have lived all over West Texas.
When I was in Midland I finally got fed up with West Texas. Half the cars have bumper stickers saying “man + women = marriage.“ There were KKK rallies in front of the courthouse building, and I was sick of living in George W Bush’s hometown. I was just done with the bible belt conservative way of living so I broke away and made my way to Denver. My life in Midland before I came to Denver was the basis for my lyrics in “We All In.”
How many gay rappers have you collabo'd with, and how did you first start working with them?
Man... I honestly don’t even know how many hehe. I have way more collaboration tracks than any solo tracks mainly because the door is always open with me to work with other artists.
I have been doing collab tracks from the start. The first track I ever recorded was with Mister Maker. It started off with me posting raps on gayhiphop.com back and forth with Maker, Illform, Chaser, Q-Boy ect ect but it was Maker who helped me start recording and I just kept going with it. I began collaborating with other artists and have never wanted to stop. (Shout out to Maker for getting me started and sticking with me all these years. BTW I have seen a preview of the new gayhiphop.com and its looking sick... everyone needs to check it out when it drops).
What are the new themes you prefer to rap about?
I really don’t have set topics I write about. Working with so many other artist everyone has different opinion/style/bravado they like to convey. I try to lean to the artist I’m working with on the track. A track that works for one artist might not work for another. It’s interesting seeing the eclectic styles in the collaboration music. Some tracks like “We All In” or “A Lil Sumfin Like Diss” are exciting for me cause I don’t think you would think to ever see these artist on the same tracks together.
There are some tracks I been putting off doing cause they are more personal and not collab material. They’re tracks that are specifically about my life and I do intend on making more personal tracks about my life in the future. I really don’t feel like I know a lot of artist through their music and I want to give people insight into who I am. I think that’s where “Robbie‘s Revenge“ and “Veritas” will be a worthwhile project for me on a personal level.
You have a very unique voice when you spit on the mic. Please discuss.
Awww... yeah hehe I’ve heard it all. The main thing I get a lot is that I’m trying to sound too black. I think what people are picking up is that I am from the south. I’ve heard positive and negative about the way I sound. One thing I do like is that people know it’s me on the track. I can rap in different styles. I switched it up a bit on “To The Point”... who knows maybe it’d be fun just to do a track were I’m just messing around rapping in different styles. We’ll see. But the way I rap is definitely the way I feel comfortable and more natural. Some people really do hate the way I sound and that is fine. There are plenty of us that have very different styles for them to vibe with. I’m not mad about that. I def don’t expect people that like Aaron Carl or Soce for instance, to really get down with how I sound or the subject matter that I talk about. However we did do “Like Diss (When We All In)” together and I personally love the track.
Have you done any live shows yet? If so, how often? If not, then when are you going to make that happen?
I have not done any live shows and really don’t have any plans on it at this point. I’m not saying I never will but it’s just not really practical for me on one hand. I work 10 hour days 6 days a week doing construction... I really don’t know how most the other guys do it hehe. On the other hand I just don’t think I’m motivated to be out there like that. I’m really not the type to entertain people. I’d rather be in the background just helping promote the genre, doing the collabs, and making music cause I love to rap.
Knymac will be performing at Denver gay pride this year. I’m doing some things to help him get ready but I really don’t have much desire to be on the stage myself.
What do you think you bring to the gay hip hop community?
Good question... I’m not really sure to be honest. The rapping I do is for me and for the love of doing it. If everyone voted tomorrow that I was the worst rapper ever I’d stop putting out songs... but I’d still make them for me. Some people knock me for who I am and what I do but I think it’s been remarkable that I have been able to get out there and have so many people know who I am. I’m one guy learning most everything on my own. I know so many people but at the end of the day I’m here alone doing what I do on my own. With that being said I have been fortunate enough to have people like Mister Maker, Aaron Carl, Tim’m West ect ect ect give me the time of day and try to point me in the right direction. I think Homo Hop Radio is a great idea and I’m proud I’m a part of it to help promote the genre. I can think of so many people that probably have the resources to really pull it off with out a second thought. For me it was really hard work trying to pull it together.
I guess for me the biggest contribution is just helping to promote the genre and pull artists together. “We All In” was not a song about representing me, its about representing all of us. I wanted it to stand out as “Our” track and redirect the bullshit to where it really needs to go.
What is your plan to start making money from the music?
Yeah right hehe... I’ve already put way more money into this than I’ll ever get back. I expect to keep spending money on it just cause I love it. I was paying for server time for Homo Hop Radio while I was sleeping on an air mattress LOL. It’s not gonna be about money for me. To be honest that’s another thing about doing shows... I don’t wanna deal with money and booking and who’s gonna pay who. If Deadlee likes doing that, I give the man props, but that is too much headache for me. I’ll just keep doing my thing and take it slow. I’m in no rush to get “there” cause I’m already doing what I want to do.
“If you can hand me a check that ensures my daughters future/ If you can make me believe my mom will be secure/ I’ll be your show pony flip pop and commercial/ Dance like MJ to JT for sure/ But until then my friend my pens ink is blood/ I’m getting back to me and my mirrors mean mug” (Lyrics from “What You Gotta Say”)
Where do you record your tracks? Do you work on your own, or do you have a Denver hip hop scene?
I record at home. One mic and a 400 dollar computer and some headphones. So anyone that wants to give rapping a shot... All you need is desire beyond that. I know my stuff is not the cleanest in the world. I’m steady working on my mixing abilities and such. But... if Soce, Mister Maker, Aaron Carl, Mister Night, ect ect ect can do what they do from home... I’m like fuck the studio... my only limit is my desire... well that and maybe the time I have to figure all this shit out hehe. I started on Hiphop E Jay 4. (HA!!! What up Cat-Eyez!!!)
Me and Knymac is all I know here in Denver... well we can’t forget about Kalil Amani.
What's the next step? Do you have albums, music downloads, how do you take yourself to the next level?
Well... I threw out “inception” (A collection of b-sides and old songs)... got some mix tapes planned. A collab EP has been talked about but not confirmed. Mainly my focus is going to be “Robbie’s Revenge“ and “Veritas“. “Robbie’s Revenge” will be a very personal mix tape. “Veritas” will be the first official album. Not planning on promoting it or touring with it. Just gonna throw out the truth as I know it from my life and what I’ve seen. I’m making both of them for me.
Do you feel gay hip hop music should be more about sexy dudes or political "give us our rights" action? Which do you prefer to do?
I can vibe either way. I feel that you should just do what you do and be yourself. I will say I hate an album that is 20 songs about the same thing. I think a lot of people don’t get artist like Soce or The Qure. When Soce won the Shade 45 gayest MC thing... Some people we’re like what? Shit I’ll tell you right now that man can rap any rapper gay or str8 under the table with pure skill. That is one rapper I’d never want beef with. You might look at that mans video and think “Oh... That’s cute”. Just cause he does his own thing true to himself... don’t write him off. He does not need to be a thug to embarrass you on the mic. At the same time Melange is awesome... that girl kills me with her heart. Last kills me with his energy... Bry’nt kills me with his demeanor... Tim’m kills me with his demeanor in a different way... ect ect ect... everyone brings something to the table and I try to steal a bit from everyone and make it my own. Again... that’s why I love the collab tracks.
How have you actively worked on improving your flow and delivery? What strategies do you use when you practice?
Another good question... Well.. I have always been afraid of sounding monotonous. I do think I am falling into that. It might be the time for me to switch up my style a bit if for any reason but to shake off conformity and do something different. I don’t want to put myself in a box. I can’t say I practice or intentionally try to do anything other than find the mood of the beat and spit appropriately. I do try and change up the pacing of my rhymes through the track but not as obvious as say someone like Last will. It’s more mathematical than emotional for me when I do it.
What has been your favorite part of the gay hip hop scene over the last few years? Your favorite aspect overall?
Def the explosion of new rappers. I’m glad I am around to see this and be apart of it. When I started getting into this there was DDC, Rainbow Flav, Deadlee, and Qfam ect ect ect... There was only like 10 artist I knew of and it stayed like that for a long time. Now it’s like BLAM!!! There is a gay rapper representing most every state in some kinda way and I am seeing the number of artists grow quickly. Maybe not all have their game on point... a lot of them are just like me trying to do what they can on their own... But they def all have a different perspective and swagger. I been around a minute but I kinda pace myself and move about things in a slow way. I’m kinda happy with that. Every once in awhile I think things would have been a lot different had I rushed into everything. What if I had just picked up everything and moved to London early on? Things would have been totally different for me. I don’t know how things would have turned out but
I’m ok with how they have turned out.
How do you feel the gay hip hop scene has changed? Do you think it's gotten more political, more pop, more masculine, more something else? Do you think these changes are good or bad?
The shock value is gone. You can’t rely on that anymore. If a lot of these new cats had been out 10 years ago doing the same thing... WOW. “Fight tha power... Fight tha powers that be“... But here we are 10 years later. Rappers in general are a dime a dozen now days. Your not just fighting to be the best gay rapper... that might pay your bills but how far is that going to get you? You now have to be the best rapper with the best promo with the best Photoshop and the best production. It’s getting more commercial. I think more so with Logo coming about. I’m not saying I could be anything like Immortal Technique or KRS but I’d rather try to be that and say something than to fight the Photoshop game.
I would say it’s all for the good... for you guys that really really wanna make money and shine... you def are gonna have to step your game up. Your going to have to be something special for mainstream rap to take notice. All I can say is I don’t want that stress... But if you want it and you wanna hit billboard hard... I’ll hand out flyers for you on the streets. Whatever it takes... I’ll do what I can.
How do you think the gay hip hop scene can improve itself over the next few years?
I don’t really know. I been trying in my own way. Some peeps have got mad at me but I promise it’s just because I love you that I expect so much of you (Yeah copping a Eminem line there). I really don’t think my opinion matters much. My actions do me justice. I do think this internal beef we got going on is BS. It’s not even like the friendly battle raps we would have on gayhiphop.com back in the day... it was still love then... like “Oh fuck... you got me son... good rap.” You call it a day and move on. “I’ll get you next week... LOL“. Everyone takes it personal now... Like they really hate you. I laugh cause I’m like... if you really hate me and wanna fight we can... but I’m not gonna be the one falling to the floor. It’s silly to me.
If/When you do shows with mostly straight rappers, would you come out to them or stay closeted?
As a general rule... I come out when it comes up in conversation. If I have a new str8 friend and he points out a str8 girl and says... “Damn I wouldn’t mind fucking her”... I’ll be like... “alright... I’ll take her BF”. The world I live in now is not like my life in West Texas. Most the gay guys here go to the straight dance club and everyone gets along. I just had some straight folks come over the other night and this girls bf started getting all drunk emotional talking about how he needed a hug... I was like... hey... hey... I’m gay and all... but I’m not about all this hugging shit. I think it’s a way different world now. Not just me coming to Denver but more people in general have been exposed to Homosexual ideas and realize we don’t rape children... that’s just a mentally deficient individual. We’re not out to ruin your marriage... that would be your husbands fault... LOL
Do you feel any sexual tension toward any fellow gay rappers, or is it all business?
Yeah... I think some of them are cute. Another reason I don’t believe the beef. I’m like lets have hateful sex not hateful raps. LOL. Whatever... this is the one question everyone sidesteps just in case someone is gonna be mad.
I’ll say I have been with most every type of guy you can think of. It does more depend on your demeanor more than looks. I can go for Mr.Nice guy or go for Mr.Smack-Me-Around. I don’t break so run with it... but sometimes I like a slow hand too. Sometimes I like a dorky guy and sometimes I’m in the mood for thug. I love a dominate personality. If you’re confidant in who you are... that’s a def turn on for me. Your def not gonna catch me with a Bi or Questioning guy. And yes with that I’m vers... I think it’s selfish not to be.
What aspect of the gay hip hop world is the most annoying, and how would you go about fixing it?
I would say the peeps with big egos. I will also say people think I’m a jack ass and I have an ego. It’s not that I have an ego I just don’t have time to BS. If you wanna cut a track... I’ll have my vocals back to you ASAP... Usually 2 to 3 days. I can seem very dry on an e-mail cause I’m sending out so many. I do get very to the point and I do apologize for that. At the same time I want the same thing in return. If my vocals are not good enough just tell me. If your not vibing with the track don’t be nice... Tell me the truth. I have worked with so many people and I have been cut from tracks before. I might send someone 10 tracks before they finally find one they want to rap on. That is fine with me. Just some guys need to let the ego go. You can write me off... Just don’t knock my effort.
The people I respect the most treat me so well. I’m very grateful for that.
You have been involved in a few of the more high profile collaborations (The QFam's A Lil Sumfin Like Diss, We All In etc), how do these come about? Are you approached, or do you come up with the ideas?
“A Little Something Like Diss” was Mister Makers project. He sent me the instrumental with the general idea and I spit. I didn’t have a clue what anyone else was gonna say so it was a bit intimidating hehe I didn’t even know exactly who was going to be on the track. I was very proud to be included in the project and I love doing anything with Maker. He is so talented and passionate about what he does. He is the nicest guy ever if you really take the time to get to know him. I don’t think many people know how hard he works to promote the genre. He’s not making bank doing what he does. He does it for the love of doing it. There is a little more back story to the track that I won’t get into. In short for me, it was an exercise in working together. To be included on a track with so many people that I consider “The Greats”... It was such an honor.
“We All In” was actually one of the first tracks I ever recorded. The main idea of the song was just about discrimination and working together against mainstream hip hop instead of fighting with each other. I sent it to Chewy years ago and he spit his verse. I spun it around to so many people that slept on the track. So I just sat on the track throwing it out now and again to other artists. I think Last Tim’m and J.A.P.A.N. all jumped on around the same time. I definitely give Tim’m credit for reviving the track. He jumped on and gave me guidance and really inspired me to get the track completed. At this point I’m really spinning the track around to a lot of peeps. If it was up to me the track would have been an hour long with everyone of us on it hehe. Tim’m guidance came threw in the end and I finally listened. It was Tim’m that suggested Tori on the track. Bry’nt was quick with it. I actually played the track in my apartment for Soce one day when he was visiting Denver. I told him I was having problems getting the last verse because people had time constraints or quality issues. He said he’d jump on if things didn’t work out. Someone backed out and Soce came through ASAP when I hit him up. Weather it was quality or time constraints a lot of people just couldn’t be on the track.
Tell us about Homo Hop Radio, that was quite a task to take on. What motivated you to do it and how is it coming along?
Homo Hop Radio is in development for Ver.3
Ver.1 was just to get it going and collect a library of material to play. Ver.2 took it to the next level by 1000% but it missed the target. Ver.2 was just not user friendly. Mac users had a terrible time accessing the station even with Mister Maker coming up with a tutorial. Windows users were not much better off unless they were Win Amp users.
The resolution is creating a player that will play from any web site by adding a simple cut and paste code. The challenge with this is to keep the artists music safe from being freely downloaded when they are trying to make money selling their music.
Without going into any technical boring crap... The player is nearly complete and will be out soon. It will display the artist name and song title as the song is playing.
One issue I do need to point out... from now on any artist submitting tracks to the station must include the artist name and song title or it will not be accepted. I spent so much time researching who sent me “Track 5” cause there was no artist info or song title.
I have been asked about song quality issues such as mix tape material being played. Yes... Mix tape material will be played on the station. However, I will be in talks soon to come up with an unbiased way of weeding out the tracks people do not like... unbiased being the hard part. Doing top 10 requested countdown. Short news breaks to play every so often ect ect The main obstacle in doing this is networking to allow people some access to the station as I can not do this all by myself and I can not be here 24/7 to control the station. Still... there are no plans to play commercials on the station. You might here plugs promoting the latest album releases or concert dates... but no commercials.
As a final note I would like to thank outhiphop.com, gayhiphop.com, DJ Doo Dirty and all the artist that have contributed material, for all there help and support. The love and support is forever appreciated.
Reader Comments (12)
Great interview mayn it's been a honer to know you all these years, keep grinding homie xx maker xx
THATS WHATS UP!!!
Wassup Smokey!!!
I am a 53 year old gay Swiss psychiatrist visiting outhiphop.com quite regularly. Congratulations for the interview and congratulations for Humility's Hand and what he is achieving. I am very impressed. This is a very positive USA. Keep on!
Hey Darling,that was an AWESOME interview!! We really enjoyed reading thisKeep up the excellent work! May God Continue To Bless You In Every Aspect Of Your Life! I Love Ya!!
LOL Boy I'ma whoop you (j.k.)
Alright for putting my previous production software on blast. LOL
Great interview though, sincerely.
You got a lot going on and I can't wait to see what you do next.
Meow!
Very good interview. (Handsome guy too.)
Would appreciate live links being here for the various songs (+ artists, sites) so I could easily, quickly listen, especially to the historic tracks mentioned.
quite lovely <3
Yo, you knocked it out the ballpark with this one, son! Thanks for the props. Yo man reading this interview, you definitely live up to the name Humility. Keep on grindin, cuz you got a good thing going on.
For those who would like to hear his tracks, there's a link in the intro of this very interview to his myspace page, which I'll put right here as well:
http://www.myspace.com/saintjustice
We've created hyperlinks to We All In, A Lil Sumfin Like Diss and as Soce indicated there is also one to HH's MySpace site in the Foreword. We did also add a link to the "inception" download in the section where he talks about it in the interview.
Hey yo…
Thanks to everyone for all their love and support. It really inspires me to keep doing what I’m doing.
One thing I did forget to mention is the "We All In" the mixtape. It’s nearly complete... I’m working on it as much as time permits. Waiting on some vocals to get back to me and trying to find time to mix the vocals I do have. It’s 100% calab tracks. The Fixx Mixx of "We All In" will be on there as well.
I’ll be sending it to OHH for to release as a free download as soon as it’s completed. I hope it will be a good way to cross sell artist and get everyone greater exposure.
To everyone... Stay safe and have fun.. Much love... Smoke
Ha! Guess I'm not the only ambassador in Denver. You were chattin' us up real nice my man! On the real tho, good interview and I'm bout to send you some new shit!!!