Vyle
By Eric Gentz

Chicago has a long tradition of hip-hop, but for decades it has stood in the national shadow cast by rap epicenters such as New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston and Atlanta. There are a number of theories about why this happened─among them the primacy of House music in the South Side clubs and the lack of record labels and recording studios devoted to hip-hop. Theories aside, in recent years, we have seen the emergence of acts such as The Cool Kids, Kid Sister, Flosstradamus, and the man we are talking to today─producer and MC, Vyle. Vyle puts a new spin on hip-hop and electro-music by merging booty-shaking beats with galactic rhymes.

I caught up with Vyle to talk about where he's from and where he's going, and this is what was said:


StopBeingFamous: Vyle, what is your birth name?

Vyle: Albert Johnson III

SBF: You grew up on the South Side of Chicago?

V: Yes I did.

SBF: Culturally, what would you say is the difference between the North Side and South Side of Chicago? 

V: The differences in the sides are general and subtle─it would take forever to explain. The South Side has a diverse collection of white, black and Latinos, some affluent, some poor. I am from Hyde Park [on the South Side], which is a very integrated. The North Side kind of reminds me of Hyde Park, except the North Side has more yuppies, especially Lincoln Park. 

SBF: What is the craziest situation you experienced as a teenager?

V:  I was coming from choir practice─yes, choir practice─and my friend and I heard some guy yelling, "Yo fellas! Yo fellas!" behind us. We turned around to look, and it was a guy in a van with a shotgun pointed at us. That was the fastest I have ever ran in my life. Other than that, being chased by cops on some graffiti shit in high school, or running from girls' parents. There is much more, but I cannot think of it all right now. 

SBF: What is something about you that people wouldn't know by simply looking at you?

V: That I make electronic rap music.

SBF: Growing up, who were some of your biggest musical influences?

V: Michael Jackson and Jan Hammer mostly. I used to listen to a lot of movie soundtracks, the soundtracks to Back to the Future 2,  Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey,  New Jack City  and Wild Style, which inspired me to start making music.

SBF: Do you work with any analog equipment for production or is it strictly digital?

V: I use a Yahama DX-7 [synthesizer], Juno 106 [synthesizer], TR-909 [sampler], TR-808 [drum machine], and a computer program called Amiga Pro Tracker. 

SBF: You are part of a movement which is known as The New Chicago, which consists of The Cool Kids, Hollywood Holt, Million Dollar Mano, Mic Terror and slew of others. What does New Chicago mean to you and where would you say is its place in hip-hop history?

V: The New Chicago is a term Million Dollar Mano and I came up with up back in the day. Back then, Flosstradamus was playing parties at Town Hall Pub, and Million Dollar Mano, Hollywood Holt, Mic Terror, The Cool Kids, Kid Sister and myself were making music that older heads doubted, until it actually started to blow up. I feel like that emotion helped everyone's name get out of Chicago─before us there was a lot of hate in Chicago, but we stuck together. Do I consider myself part of The New Chicago? Absolutely. The Floss dudes are like my brothers; Million Dollar Mano and Mic Terror are my dudes; Kid Sister and I have been hanging out way before music became an option. It's beautiful how Chicago has a name for itself now─a lot of people try to label it as hipster rap, but hipsters only follow a trend for a given amount of time, but we will be around after the trends. The people I have mentioned make classic music to me.

SBF: Not many artists have been as daring as you, pertaining to experimentation. Where would you like to see music go? 

V: There are a lot of daring artists out there. I don't wanna give too much away, but I want to see music going the way it is─evoking nostalgia without being unoriginal.

SBF: What projects are you currently working on and what can we expect from Vyle in 2009? 

V: My album, Oh I Think Dey Like Hoodtronics Vol.2, which has production by Tepr, Daedelus, Chuck Inglish [of the The Cool Kids], Million Dollar Mano and vocal appearances by Mestizo and High Priest from Anti-Pop Consortium. My single "Second City (Thru The Arc)" was remixed by a lot of good people─I won't let out the bag yet. I have a video in the coming month, and more tapes and tapes.