Hardly Novices is the 2005 endeavor from Edmonton’s most reclusive rap stars: rapper Max Prime (Low Budget Affiliates) and beat smith Jonb. With a razor sharp wit, Max Prime remarks on an array of topics from traditional hip hop bravado to a story about a boy with 7 genetic mothers. Max Prime’s sometimes obscure, but always idiosyncratic references combined with Jonb’s jazz and classically infused beats create a contemporary, atypical hip hop album that many fans of mainstream rap will likely despise.As an underground endeavor, Hardly Novices was entirely produced in Jonb’s bedroom studio on Edmonton’s Westside. Beats and verses were exchanged between the two over emails until it came time to take the album to the studio. Recorded almost exclusively in a rather makeshift, but functional spare bedroom clad with bed sheets and Styrofoam freight packaging, the two recorded the album over 10 months.In another, even more foolish endeavor—aside from releasing the record—Max Prime and Jonb pressed the album with their petty change and paychecks without the safety of a distributor, deciding it would be more interesting to take the task on themselves.
Reviews:
Thomas Quinlan
February 10, 2006
Edmonton, AB’s Max Prime and Jonb might be Hardly Novices, but only now are they debuting with a tight little EP of scientific and braggadocio raps. Although the rapid-fire lyrics scattered throughout the album - and most apparent on “Rapper’s Koto” - could have better enunciation, Max Prime has solid flows and interesting concepts. On “Backward Polaroid,” he relates an engaging tale of a boy with seven genetic mothers over a fun, piano-loop beat, and “Get Ripped and Try Dying” not only wins the award for best song title of the year but also serves to criticise thug rappers over a hard drum and violin production; the duo also have success with more drum and violin for “Take a Breather,” a classic flexing of mic skills. “Have at You,” another catchy battle track, continues Jonb’s modus operandi of a simple, catchy loop over slamming drums, this time with an oboe-like woodwind. While the production is minimal and the sound a little lo-fi, Max Prime and Jonb show a lot of raw potential with Hardly Novices.
See Magazine, Rollie Pemberton
A cornerstone of the Edmonton battle scene, Max Prime blasts through the door with the solid, EP-length Hardly Novices. Cover your head though: Max is all about ADD raps, his ideas tumbling over each other in multi-syllabic bursts, his flow staggeringly confrontational throughout. It makes one feel like he’s full of so much ambition that he simply sprays it all over the place with no concern for coherency. The only frame of reference for his style is the battle genius of Eyedea crossed with the nerdish conceptuality of Mac Lethal.
Jonb’s beats aren’t very inspiring, however, accounting for mostly straightforward loop-and-break ‘94 shit that makes one wish for the DJ Nato productions that Prime is clearly more comfortable with. But, with more varied production and more focus on consistent song structure, Max Prime could be a serious force in underground rap.
Interviews:
MAX PRIME & JON B ARE HARDLY NOVICES
Local hip-hop duo prepares to wow audiences with their new EPWith Valentine’s Day only freshly purged from our air, many a happy couple has doubtless spent the last week reminiscing about times gone by, about the fateful romance of their first encounters, about overpriced flowers and sex.
But not all pairs get off to as smooth a beginning as lovestruck couples. For local rap duo Jon B & Max Prime (producer and MC, respectively), their beginnings as an underground rap team were less auspicious even than exchanging glances at the supermarket.
“The first time I saw Max, I had never heard of him before, and I remember thinking, ‘This guy doesn’t look like a rapper,’” explains Jon B, before looking at his partner a little sheepishly and explaining himself with a shrug. “I mean, no offence, but you were just kind of this guy who had a ponytail. Once you started rapping, though, I was like, ‘Oh, he’s really good.’”
It took a couple more gigs, a haircut and a local rap webboard to entirely seal the deal, but eventually the pair ‚ who aren’t, for clarity’s sake, a romantic couple, just a professional one ‚ decided the chemistry was right, and started almost immediately on an EP, Hardly Novices, set to be released this Friday. Of course, just because they started early doesn’t mean the recording was completed all that quickly: the duo has been working on the eight-song disc for about a year and a half, a delay they chalk up to a little inexperience and a little bit of a logistics issue.
“We were basically both doing something we had never really done before, and we were basically doing it by correspondence,” explains Max, the quieter of the two, which is odd considering he built his reputation on flaming rap battles across the city.
“Basically everything we did, we e-mailed or MSNed. As soon as I finished something, I would convert it to MP3 and send it to him over e-mail,” Jon explains. “Then when we were doing rough recording, he’d just record something in his basement, then put it on an MP3 and e-mail it to me, so I could hear what it was like.”
“It was pretty nice to actually get into a studio,” Max adds, with a hint of dry sarcasm.
With their online escapades and the nerves of the first disc behind them, the pair are hoping to complete a full-length recording before the end of the year, in addition to hopefully hitting the road.
Of course, they’d also like to play a part in building the Edmonton hip-hop community, a scene that’s on the verge of busting loose: with local phenomenon Cadence Weapon showing up on national magazine covers, it might only be a matter of time, according to the pair, until we’re as strong a rap centre as, say, Saskatoon.
Uh, wait…Saskatoon?
“Saskatoon is actually a wicked rap scene. You wouldn’t know it if indie rap isn’t your thing, but there’s a lot of really good talent from Saskatoon,” explains Jon, with no trace of irony. “They actually have a few artists that are doing really well in Japan. I’ve seen pictures where people have gone into HMV in Japan, and they go into a listening booth, and here’s this big poster of some guy from Saskatoon.”
“Yeah, I’ve never actually been, but I hear it’s a fantastic place,” agrees Max. “There’s a lot of obscure artists, but they just love their artists over there, and they make totally different music, really great music out there.”
Vue Magazine, David Berry
“Introduce yourself, crew, affiliations etc…
I’m Max Prime, rapper/freestyler, beat maker. I’m part of the Low Budget Affiliates hip hop crew, which belongs to Busshaak Records. I’m on DJ Nato’s Up in Arms Recordings. I recently formed a group with DJ Jon B to create a duo called Hardly Novices.
Who is Max Prime and what makes him tick?
The love of rap to start. Max Prime is a rap alias with calculus connotations. As an MC, he is a person with punchlines in every single song, whether the verse is serious, fun, heartfelt, or a battle rap. That’s what he began as for my first EP and my upcoming up in arms album. In the future however, it will be whatever decides come out my pen. At this point I’m moving toward just writing for the moment.
Are you a long time Edmontonian?
Yeah, born here. Whyte Ave south side area, over by the tip of a river valley vein. Never lived anywhere else yet.
How has growing up in Edmonton helped or hindered you as an MC?
Helped: the MC’s. I currently know some of my favorite MCs in Canada. I’m not joking. At least 7 of them live here. Inspiration basically. Hindered: Love is hard earned here. If you want to rap, you can be an awesome artist, people aren’t necessarily going to automatically flock to you. Also, community isolation. Not too many of us have really worked with anyone from the Canadian or international rap community. Thus, out here, we tend to make the music that we like foremost, and let it take us wherever it takes us. That might be changing soon however.
What inspired you to pick up a mic?
One inspiration was the Wake Up show. Back in its prime, the radio show hosted some of favorite ciphers in hip hop, and it inspired me to start writing and learn delivery. After some time writing and recording on shitty headphones solo, I started ciphering at house parties as well as the old Black Dog hip hop night where I encountered many of today’s Edmonton MCs. They told me to keep it up. There was no turning back after that.
What is your all time favourite rap moment?
One moment was when P.E.A.C.E. nearly won scribble jam. I swear he was one of the few who refused to freestyle in the normal battle cadence that everyone else does, or come up with those normal repetitive jokes. He had this one quote to the effect of “I leave you surprised likeä BOING BOING BOING BOING DING DING DING DING!!!!” with perfect timing.
If you took beer out of the equation of Canadian hip hop what would the result be?
I predict Low Pressure’s business stocks would drop. Most of us would be blazed out of our face. My own crew would have 10 albums out. Half of our community would be rapping like Saul Williams. And sushi would be the new food staple of Canadian hip hop. Rap shows would have more chairs. In fact I have a bunch of old songs from before I was introduced to alcohol, and my pronunciation actually sounds a bit clearer.
You have just teamed up with the relatively unkown producer Jon B to make your debut Hardly Novices, how did this come together.
Through ugsmag. I was ready to make albums long long ago.
We met on the message board, I thought his beats would be really good platform for an EP, an early 90’s aesthetic, and raw loops. His choice of breaks on the drums were also inspiring for me to write to. He was digging my raps and we started working on this grimy project. We did it mostly through correspondence and it took close to 2 years to finish. As we worked on it, he was honing his DJ skills, so we came out as rapper/DJ combination. Thank you ugsmag.
What makes you and Jon B the Wayne and Shuster of Rap?
We’re half Lame and Ðber. Recurring themes in the EP are blatant folly, a hidden professionalism, jokes, and sarcasm that trips over its own shoe laces. I was expecting criticism due to Jon’s lo-fi beats, and my reckless syllable flipping, as well as our tendency to experiment blindly. The lyrics in the album mostly contain wild comedic value. Our own odd-couple shows many a time end up in the Larry David category of performance.
What can people expect when they come to a Max Prime show?
Expect good clear delivery on the raps, and/or for me to completely flip the feck out like tiddlywinks. Me and Jon’s full live set includes working with his MPC, the shittiest song in rap to kick it off, and an amazing set that includes the whole EP right after. And me talking to myself live using 3-4 different personalities for the song “Backwards Polaroid”.
What are you working on in the future?
A for sure is my first solo album on Up In Arms Records, called Minstrel Cycles. It will be out during the summer of 06, it’s already pressed and in my hands. Other than that, a compilation of the LBA’s best underground material is being worked on, the Extremeties project between me, Conspiracy, and Add-Vice, and I will be starting a self produced solo project called the Flowtron Saga. As well as a few planned projects that I haven’t started on yet with various people.
What is your favourite artist, song and album?
Well, that changes often…currently Birdapres, Typical Cats “Thin Red Line”, and the Dangerdoom album.
What is the biggest challenge facing the Prairie rap scene?
Well, I think the biggest challenge for it is deciding what direction it should grow. A lot of artists I know want to work more with more prominent US artists or extend there albums to over-seas countries. There’s no real guideline to getting well-known, selling and stable. I’d say it’s already as far as it will go in its internal development, I know plenty of respectable Canadian albums; it just needs to figure out how it should externally develop, if that’s what today’s artist are aiming for.
My favourite jam on the album is the Bob James loop heavy track “Home Base”, what is yours and why?
“Stealth Mission”. Despite being a short introduction type track, I think it has a great beat and one of my favorite choruses. “We’re obese men hiding behind lamp-posts, tip toeing with tap dance shoes, where preparing take our fans by surprise, so shhhh-don’t tell yourselves.” Classy 1940’s humour.
What does Max Prime do when he is not destroying beats with hot fire lyrics?
Finishing my degree in computer science. Not anything too different from anyone else. Just chilling being normal. Really extremely normal.
What does the future hold?
Money, women, and apocalypse. Then old age, sickness, and death. Then immortality. Hellifiknow. Oh yeah, hopefully more shows coming up in close by areas. Saskatoon, Kamloops, and Vancouver sound ideal to me and Jon right now.
What are your goals as an MC?
My goal is release a certain number of albums in the works during my time. And also to help raise the bar in the art and skill of MC-ing and rap music. As well as to increase its integrity, depth, diversity in attitude, and intelligence.
Any last words, stories shout outs?
Shouts to Slacker Dave, Jon B, the Pat An Idiot On The Back Society, my family, Low Budget Affiliates, SBU, Fameless, DFE, Olive Hour, Epic, Side Road, Clothes Horse, and anybody else that I’ve worked with.
Im talking with Conspiracy at the moment. He says: “LBA is E-Town’s best crew without question and massive respect to Nextraterrestrials , Low Pressure and Supreme Being Unit… Peace to all the MCs that are always making truly original music, too. Conspiracy loves you ALL.”
Underground(s)ound Magazine, DJ Chaps
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