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Communication, and the Lack Thereof by Nico del Castillo

The initial bleeps, bloops, and ambience of MC Thurst’s single, "Communicate," shouldn’t fool you, his music is definitely hip-hop that’s filled with enough lyrical bombast and solid conviction to hold its own on the dance floor. The ambience, usually taking the form of a choral ensemble, is a nice accent in the world of hip-hop that definitely does not get enough credit for what it’s worth. Most popular artists tend to rely on annoying samples that fill up way too much presence in the foreground—a good example is Ludacris's "No. 1 Spot." He abuses that poor sample from Quincy Jones's "Soul Bossa Nova," known now from the Austin Powers theme, in almost every measure. You won’t need to worry about this with MC Thurst; an important lesson he has learned, as evident in this track, is that although background beats and samples are important, you must draw all attention to your lyrics.

MC Thurst’s lyrics actually took me by surprise. Admittedly, I expected party-oriented verses and an inane refrain (bling, bitches, booze, etc.). Thurst’s lyrics, even in the catchy chorus, are not only complex and riddled with internal rhymes and subtle enjambment, but they are also surprisingly positive. And I’m not saying "positive" in the sunshine-happiness-Prozac bullshit sense, I’m saying they are uniquely profound and pragmatic without seeming pretentious or over the top.

You advertise as drum & bass, but all I have of you is the single "Communicate," which sounds kind of like dub to me. Is the D&B distinction different in hip-hop than in electronica?
Well, let me clear up your confusion... You see "Drum & Bass" is a completely different style of music which is derived from the electonic world of drum machines, synthesizers, and a melody with lots of pounding thumps of dark bass. Normally, drum and bass is set at a tempo which is double the speed of hip-hop. Being as it is, a hip-hop MC like myself can apply the same rhyme scheme to it and still be on beat. Drum and bass is more of an underground scene which is slowly becoming more known by mass society, but has only been around since '91 or '92, I believe. I am also a hip-hop MC, and will be doing an album for each style because I want to be known for both styles of music. At the moment, I am only performing at drum and bass parties because it's more of a freestyle vibe, as well as keeping the crowd hyped and the energy flowin' in the room.

Who are the other artists you work with? Who helps to produce you (or are you self-produced?)?
Hopefully soon, I will have the capability to self produce my own tracks; but as of right now, I've been working with a friend of mine who is a very well known MC in the drum and bass scene, by the name of MC Dino. He has a company called Urban Aborigonee. They are a crew of DJs and MCs who play at numerous shows and parties all over the country, and even in the U.K. He and I have a track together called "robbin' the mint" which was a spontaneous idea that Dino's brother came up with when he saw a bank robbery on the news while we were hangin' out one night. Relyt, Dino's Brother, said, "Let's write a track about robbing a mint," which is a Federal Reserve. Now, obviously this isn't really my style, but it was fun to do it on the spot and it was good experience...

What and who are your lyrical influences?

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Communication, and the Lack Thereof by Nico del Castillo