Wrex Mason

Wrex Mason and JG link up for this new release from the Cold Blooded representatives. Remember to stop sleeping on CT’s talented hip-hop scene. Beat produced by $arkah C. - Straight Fresh

I first met Wrex Mason back in January, following his jaw-dropping DJ/emcee set at THESIS NIGHT in Hartford, CT. Straight Fresh had posted the Cold Blooded cypher and Wrex was quick to express his gratitude, while all I could do was thank him for the music his crew and himself were creating. Fast forward to today and I’ve not only had the pleasure of watching Wrex perform a handful of times but I have been lucky enough to build with him and get to know the man behind the music (he even gave my bum ass a ride home following a show in Canton at the end of May).

Now, I’m honored to present the latest #SFDotNet interview to you all. One of my favorite artists out of CT linked with Straight Fresh recently to discuss a number of topics including his upcoming TV Rots Your Brain project, the Cold Blooded crew, CT’s hip-hop scene, and a lot more. Enjoy the interview and keep your eyes out for upcoming performances from Wrex Mason, his Cold Blooded family, and more of CT’s talented emcees and producers. Check out the full interview
below.

Straight Fresh: To start things off, what is the origin of your name, Wrex Mason?

Wrex Mason: One day, I happened to be at a comic store with a friend to kill sometime between classes. I stumbled upon an old Justice League comic that featured this character named Metamorpho: The Element Man. His real name happened to be Rex Mason. That name stuck with me, it just sounded cool. In class, I wrote it down on paper to see how it looked in “autograph format”. I added a W at the beginning – citing Wreckx n Effects for reference – and stuck with it.

Straight Fresh: And what brought about the Tequila Yuen alias?

Wrex Mason: I was looking for a rap name to separate myself from the Wrex Mason persona. It sounds weird but I like that they exist as 2 separate entities. I guess that’s just me channeling Madlib (Quasimoto), FlyLo (Captain Murphy) and MF DOOM and all his aliases. One day, I was watching this foreign action flick called Hard Boiled and the main character’s name was Inspector “Tequila” Yuen. He was a detective, a stellar marksman, and a jazz clarinet player with an overwhelming love for tequila. It just sounded cool to me. But it’s merely a placeholder until I find another name to rap under.

Straight Fresh: Can you tell us about Cold Blooded – who is part of the crew, when did you guys form, etc.?

Wrex Mason: Cold Blooded consists of 10 rappers/singers/producers: myself, JG, CBx1, Ryan Jones, Huey, J Rose, Bugsy, Rosean, James Ringrose, and Sarkah C. Also we have 2 photographers/videographers: Raheem & Aro. It originally started with JG, Rosean, CBx1 & J Rose back in 2010/11. Most of the other guys joined in 2012. Me & Bugsy joined in early-mid 2013. Most of those guys went to school together. They’re all between 16-20 years old. I’m the oldest of the crew (23). I joined the group through JG after he hit me up on Soundcloud & Facebook and I started helping him out with various techniques for producing and mixing his own music.

Straight Fresh: Any plans for a group project from Cold Blooded?

Wrex Mason: We already have one out right now entitled In Cold Blood. It was released last summer. But we got a few things in the works for this summer. You’ll see them soon.

Straight Fresh: The recent Cold Blooded cypher has been well received and continues to gain more views daily. What’s it like for you to see such positive reception of the cypher?

Wrex Mason: It was an amazing thing to see. When you’re an independent/unknown artist or group, you tend to have high expectations for yourself. But at the same time, you try to remain realistic and just get what you can out of a song or video that you post. In all honesty, I would’ve been happy if the cypher video maxed out at 1,500 views. When JG called me and said we were about to hit 6,000 views, I thought he was joking. And month by month, the numbers kept climbing. We reached 10,000 and I felt like we won the lotto. I just checked the numbers today, we’re at 22,000 views. We’re super proud of the reception that we’ve gotten on this video. Hopefully we’ll have similar success with the things we have cooking up right now. So to all of those who watched, re-watched, and shared the cypher with their friends: words can’t really describe how grateful we are for your support and positive comments on the video. On behalf of the crew and in the words of 3 Stacks: STANK YOU SMELLY MUCH! (laughs).

Straight Fresh: JG just graduated from high school – which is dope, but what amazes me is the amount of talent he has at such a young age. What’s your relationship like with him outside of music?

Wrex Mason: Yeah, he’s like a child prodigy. He’s like a little brother. He’s a lot more talented and purpose-driven than I was at his age. We teach each other a lot of stuff. And we have the same humor. We’re both goofy as fuck, him more so than me (laughs). But really, there is no “outside of music” with us. We eat, sleep, shit and breathe music. It’s truly what we live for. We’re always hipping each other to new music & equipment. His graduation present to himself was an AKG C414, which I advised him to get because it’s one of the best condenser mics on the market, in my opinion.

Straight Fresh: You’ll be releasing TV Rots Your Brain soon. What should listeners expect from that project? And do you have a release date set yet?

Wrex Mason: Hmmm…I’m not exactly sure how to properly answer this. I typically go into new music with hardly any expectations. I feel like if you’re not expecting anything positive or negative in particular, you enjoy the music more. I encourage anyone with intentions of listening to the project to follow suit. But for those that can’t shake their expectations, expect a project with some raw, murky, bass heavy beats that follows the same “no hook” approach as Madvillainy. There’s no exact release date yet, but I’m shooting for the 1st or 2nd week of July.

Straight Fresh: Do any of your previous releases – either individuals tracks or full projects – stand out to you as a personal favorite or most meaningful?

Wrex Mason: Yeah. I have this one song called “So Everybody Sees U” that’s up on my SoundCloud. It was originally meant for this project I did called Memory Card 2, but I didn’t finish it until a year or so later. I just think production and aesthetic wise, it’s the closest to “perfect” that I’ve ever gotten. I also feel the same way about this track I did called “Generator Shit” which was actually on MC2. “Generator Shit” is more meaningful because it actually sampled one of my first tracks that I ever produced with a cousin of mine who taught me how to make beats. I typically don’t like to revisit really old tracks, but the song I sampled was one of the few that I wasn’t embarrassed by (laughs). Listening to that track makes me realize how far I’ve come as a producer – I’m finally making the music I’ve always wanted to make.

Straight Fresh: When it comes to producing and being an emcee, do you prefer one over the other?

Wrex Mason: I prefer producing, even though I started as a rapper. In normal conversations and even certain songs, I tend to have trouble expressing my emotions. Making music is my way to do that. Chords can say more about a song than a singer/rapper can.

Straight Fresh: What are your goals with your music? Outside of fame, etc., what are you trying to accomplish?

Wrex Mason: Outside of the fame & money, I just wanna make my mark on the world. I want to inspire the new jacks to dig deep within themselves and make the music they really want to make.

Straight Fresh: There’s a lot going on lately in Connecticut – frequent shows featuring so many of CT’s talented artists. It definitely feels like something special is taking place in this state and we’ve witnessed first hand more and more people waking up to the amount of talent that exists in CT. When you look at the hip-hop scene in CT what do you like that you see? And what would you like to see changed?

Wrex Mason: I love love LOVE the comradery. Actual friendships are growing between different CT artists. That’s never really happened before. CT artists have a history of throwing salt and stepping on each other in order to get radio play or time slots at venues. Me and the group of kids that I’ve met in this past year (ASF, ClaSick, 86F, AceMo, etc.) share the same outlook on the music scene here. Local radio isn’t going to define our success. We don’t need any shady ass concert promoter to charge us a shit ton of money for a 10 minute slot with nothing in return but “more exposure”. We can do this shit ourselves if we work together. So far so good.

Wrex Mason: The only thing I would like to change is better participation from show goers. Give CT artists a chance. If you’re a person who’s going to a show to support your friend that’s performing, try and stay after they go off. It’s something that I’ve noticed at almost every local show I’ve been to so far. It’s good that people come out and support their homies, but they’re cheating themselves by leaving after their friends are done. There are a lot of talented kids making waves, y’all don’t wanna miss out. Mark my words.

Straight Fresh: Are there any artists in CT that you’d like to work with that you haven’t already?

Wrex Mason: AceMo, MiC Kurb, Romil, The Voyagers and Tru Fam. All those dudes are beasts.

Straight Fresh: And then what do you like and dislike about hip-hop in general, both on an underground and mainstream level?

Wrex Mason: I like the level of confidence and independence that artists have these days. Underground cats are no longer relying on labels. It’s pretty much the other way around. And now mainstream cats are starting to take more creative liberties. People are no longer afraid to be themselves. It’s a beautiful thing.
I mainly dislike the attitudes that some rappers/rap enthusiasts have. The old-heads and elitists in Hip-Hop who try to determine what “Real Hip-Hop” is and why they are more deserving of something than a fellow rapper. Fuck that. The rap game is like Golden Corral or Hometown Buffet. There’s no need to knock someone out of the line, bitch because someone got the last slice of meatloaf or complain to the manager because someone isn’t wearing socks. There’s more than enough room for everybody to eat – separately if you choose – and there’s always some more meatloaf in the back.

Straight Fresh: Who are some of your biggest musical influences?

Wrex Mason: I have a lot of influences, but the biggest ones would have to be Madlib, Flying Lotus and Roy Ayers.

Straight Fresh: If you could work with any artist, who would you want to collab with?

Wrex Mason: Flying Lotus is at the top of my list! Then DOOM, Madlib, Kanye, Jeremiah Jae, Vince Staples, Action Bronson, Mac Miller, Kilo Kish & Lil’ B.

Straight Fresh: And if you could have any producer make a beat for you, who would you choose? And what type of song would it be?

Wrex Mason: This is a very tough question. But right now, it’s between Madlib & Jeremiah Jae. It would be something very dusty, blunted & funky. Much like the bulk of their work, it would strictly be bars, no hook whatsoever.

Straight Fresh: Other than TV Rots Your Brains, what should we be looking forward to from you throughout the rest of this year?

Wrex Mason: In addition to more collabs, you guys can expect some dope merch, more videos and more appearances around the state at shows.

Straight Fresh: Anything else you’d like to add or leave the Straight Fresh visitors with?

Wrex Mason: STAY 9000+ - Straight Fresh