Also this issue:

Back to the Future
Cracker hasn't crumbled, but David Lowery says Camper Van Beethoven makes sense right now.
-Collin Keefe

Going Somewhere
Intercultural Journeys finds harmony in the music of enemies.
-Mary Armstrong

Watching It Happen
-Patrick Rapa

Cherrywine
-A.D. Amorosi

The Caribbean
-Sam Adams

Eighth Blackbird
-Peter Burwasser

Greater Philadelphia Hip Hop Alliance Showcase
-Ainé Ardron-Doley

Sticks and Stones
-A.D. Amorosi

January 23-29, 2003

music

Critical Mass

Masters of reality: K-Mass and DJ Cramski are<i>

Independent as F*ck</i>.

Masters of reality: K-Mass and DJ Cramski are Independent as F*ck.

Local MC Kenneth Masters makes a declaration of independence.

by Ainé Ardron-Doley

"It's like this weird Spider-Man/Peter Parker secret identity thing," says local MC Kenneth Masters of his hip-hop star by night/bike messenger by day lifestyle. Unrecognized in a crowded, noisy South Street coffee shop, K-Mass the

a.n.o.n.y.m.o.u.s. is anonymous indeed. That's fine; he's comfortable in his own skin.

"When I was working other jobs that I hated, there was this angst. My job now makes it so easy to be an artist," says Masters. "That adversity of having my rich boss looking over my shoulder and telling me I can't use the bathroom [is gone]."

Gone also are the days of street ciphering and open mics for Masters. After several successful tracks on national college radio and the mixtape circuit, the MC is getting his own gigs and making a name for himself. His latest EP, Independent As F*ck, is set to drop this week on Arrakis Records.

"Everything on my record is my personal truth. The shit that I say in my song about my car breaking down, trying to go to work and being sick of this and sick of that -- that's all real," says Masters. "It ain't me talking about Yeah I'm so great,' it's just my plight as an artist."

It's a less cushy picture than you'll see on Rap City or MTV Cribs. For many artists, the glitz and glam are miles away. The title track on Independent As F*ck stings in all the right places:

"You feeling salty cuz you got a nine to five and with a car that's gonna break like every time you drive it/ Just you and your roommates in a studio apartment but y'all can't afford the heat because the lights is more important."

(Still,

Masters shrugs off Eminem's never-ending hard-luck story: "It's getting on my nerves. We've heard for the last three records about your mom and your wife and how fucked up it is.")

With lyrics spit fast and furious over bare-bones basement beats, the tracks on

Independent As F*ck

reveal an artist whose authenticity is his trademark.

"Theories of Isolation" -- which teams Masters with fellow Philadelphian Rasheed, a.k.a. Maylay Sparks -- cuttingly examines a music industry that churns out records like there's no tomorrow. Following Rasheed's lead, K-Mass documents a struggling artist overcoming all the bullshit. It's a story close to his heart.

"I like to build relationships with people. I'd rather just work with one or two producers, or three, and that's it," says the MC. "When you have a track from this guy, who I might have never met, and this guy and that guy -- there's no cohesiveness."

On "2 Part Harmony," he couples with Boston MC Mic Stylz. While holed up in the studio, they selected a beat, and then made a song about nothing around it. It was an experiment, and a chance to showcase their contrasting rhyme patterns.

But for Masters it's not all about the studio. A few weeks back at a secret Jay-Z show, he lamented the reduced role of the DJ. "Why do you have this dude up there with two turntables, no needles or nothing on it, just playing a CD?"

The slick approach is not Masters' style. "We really make it musical. We take different beats and flip 'em up," says Masters of his collaborations with DJ Cramski. "He'll be playing one thing over top of something else, then put on another record and play it backwards. No one [else] really utilizes the DJ anymore."

Masters says he's still waiting for Mom and Pop to drop in for a show, but he knows they respect his craft. "My mom was always supportive," he says. And his dad figured out it was for real when his son starting popping up in magazines. "[He realized] it's not him just rocking house parties and playing loud-ass music in his room at all hours," says Masters.

Just as he pedals through the city streets by day, Masters speeds and swerves to deliver his message on stage at night. Watch out now, he just might get ahead of the pack.

Adam12, Reef The Lost Cause and Mic Stylz will join Kenneth Masters for his release party, Sat., Jan. 25, 9 p.m., $5, Silk City, Fifth and Spring Garden sts., 215-592-8838.