Fresh off the success of “Veteranz Day” with more than 3,000 total downloads, the hip hop duo from Long Island, NY has secured a nice distribution deal with Redline and is ready to drop their next album, “Fresh 2 Def“. I was lucky enough to catch up with them via e-mail to pick their brains a little and find out more about this up-and-coming hip hop gem that is Fresh Vetz.
What’s up Fresh Vetz?! For the people who are not hip to it, tell us who Fresh Vetz is.
Pause: Fresh Vetz consist of two members: Dashah (MC) and DJ Pause (DJ/Producer).
Where did you guys meet? How long have you two been on this grind together?
Pause: We first met each other in high school. We’ve been working together since 1999.
Dashah: I remember being at Pause’s house, in his room recording joints, making mad noise, those were the days; it was fun.
What was the moment when both of you realized, “we need to form a group together”?
Pause: In 08′, Dashah started doing a bunch of shows and had me DJ for him. At that time I was doing a lot of production for him and recording most of his joints. Our chemistry on stage was so good that we decided to form a group.
Dashah: Also around that time, I had “Rap Burglar 2″ out, a project that was hosted by the X-ecutioners. It started getting a lot of buzz on the internet which led to me getting a lot of those shows with them. I would just call Pause like, “Yo, come DJ for me tomorrow,” after a few times of doing that and just banging out tracks together, it was just bound to happen.
You dropped Veteranz Day in late 2010 and now you have a new project coming up. Tell me about how it differs and goals that were set out in putting together this new project.
D: With VDAY, we wanted to basically themed the project out with army-related samples and stuff like that to really give it that camouflage feel. A lot of the production on there was hard and direct but effective, which why we pulled it off. With Fresh 2 Def we want to get back to the essence of hip hop, and just make music dope and fresh again while maintaining our artistic integrity. It’s gonna be a lot of performance-style songs on this one. From a lyrical standpoint, I’m just killing everything that Pause gives me.
P: The new project is called Fresh 2 Def; this project has its own direction, just as Veteranz Day did. Fresh 2 Def is just dope beats and fresh rhymes. It’s our same style, just with a fresh twist to it.
What made you guys feel you had to go back to the essence of hip hop to figure out where you were headed as a group?
P: Basically Fresh Vetz represents the new with the old. We have a deep appreciation for old school hip hop and 90’s hip hop. You can hear it in our music we just add a new twist to it and carry on tradition.
D: To kind of segway on that, if you look at our name Fresh Vetz, it literally translates to old and new. I always tell people Fresh is the lifestyle, the constant evolution and growth, and Vetz is the music and our way of always reminding ourselves of where we came from and how long we’ve been at this. You always have to pay homage to the past to understand the future.
Pause, how did you approach the production with this album?
P: At first it was a challenge because instead of just grabbing a hot sample, I had to really dig hard to find what I was looking for. It’s a lot of funk and chopped up drum breaks. Plus I started using some old school tactics by sampling from multiple records, not just one.
Tell me about a notable artist you’ve shared the stage with in the past?
D: We did a show with the X-Ecutioners at the Knitting Factory in 08, that was crazy! R.I.P. Roc Raida.
P: We recently shared the stage with Large Professor. That was dope to see him rock, you can just see that he still has a lot of love for the game. I’m a big fan of his production.
What are some advice you can give to up-and-coming artists who are starting out in the game?
D: Stay true to your craft, love what you do and be passionate about it. most importantly, work hard!!!!!!!
P: To new artists, just be yourself and stay consistent. But also know there’s a whole lot more to this then just making a few songs.
In a day and age when hip hop is not anymore defined by one sound, do you find it hard to stay relevant?
P: I don’t find it hard to stay relevant. If you compared us to most of the music on the radio right now, then I would say yes, but for the fans that like that real hip hop, we’re relevant to them.
D: Not at all. Its tons of dope hip hop out right now. It [just] may not be all over the radio but its there. We’ll always be relevant as long as the word hip hop exists.
What artists are in your personal music rotation right now?
D: Money Makin Jam Boys, Nas, Wu, I like Adele, Beastie Boys, Pac Div, that new Rae album, and of course Fresh Vetz!
P: Camp Lo and Pete Rock, Ghostface’s Apollo Kidz, Raekwon’s Shaolin vs Wu Tang, Money Makin Jam Boys, and Diamond District.
Being from NY, what can Fresh Vetz offer to put NY back on the hip hop map?
P: Fresh Vetz can give that authentic hip hop sound with an Fresh twist.
D: I believe we can offer hip hop in its purest form. we’re not trying to be southern, west coast, mid west, etc. We’re just some cats from Long Island that’s gonna keep hitting people with that dope music! It’s been a while since NY has seen a group like us, so the lane is there, we just have to capitalize on it, and we most definitely will!
And lastly, who are some notable artists featured on Fresh 2 Def?
P: We got cuts by DJ Total Eclipse, Dynasty and Trugoy from De La Soul.
Thanks for talking with us.
P: Thanks for having us!
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