15-plus years into his career and internationally known producer/selector DJ Vadim is still finding new sounds to tap into while keeping his true school hip-hop foundation in tact. A large part of the multi-hued Vadim experience derives from the vast selection of artists he winds up working with—those who aren’t always the most known but who undeniably click with Vadim sonically. While touring his last solo album, U Can’t Lurn Imaginashun, in 2009, Vadim brought along two then up-and-coming artists who were featured on that very project: UK singer Sabira Jade and Chicago MC Pugs Atomz.

While rocking stages the artists didn’t just stick to set lists—they began playing with their chemistry live and cooked up songs that would soon become the inception of the new group The Electric—songs like the soulful, laidback, and multi-layered “Beautiful.” The trio embraced messing with everything from minimalist down tempo to synthy funk. As Vadim recalls via e-mail, “Whilst on tour we started to record, trying songs out at sound check, in the back of the car, and before you know it, we had like 40 songs.”

Sabira, who had never worked closely with an MC previously enjoyed the back-and-forth writing process with Pugs alongside Vadim on stage and in studio. With none of this being planned, she agrees that the formation of The Electric was a natural progression of the on-tour kinship. “We were thrown together for like nine months and spent almost every day and night together traveling in the car all day, then hanging out backstage, then we’d do the shows and then partying afterward or hanging out in each others hotel rooms making new music!” she says. “We had a lot of time to get to know each other and luckily it just worked.”

Living in Chicago, I caught up with The Electric’s Chi connection Pugs Atomz in his new neighborhood of Rogers Park to take some photos amongst the artist-friendly area and to get his take on the formation of The Electric. After watching a slew of classic hip-hop videos by the likes of Organized Konfusion and Mobb Deep we discuss his history as a road warrior, the making of The Electric’s debut album Life Is Moving (due out March 14^th on Organically Ground Sounds), and how touring with Vadim and Sabira has completely changed the way he writes music.

Can you talk about the first time you went on the road to perform?

Pugs Atomz: It was probably when I was 18. It was an NAACP art competition. They flew us out to Minnesota and they gave us money for everyday. And then I met Kanye for the first time and I met this guy Damon Lamar and this other guy Dinky. They were all Chicago residents or people that just moved to Chicago. But we all were there for our art. I was like, ‘okay, if I could get this to happen and I didn’t really try for this, there’s gotta be other things.’ Further down the line being with The Molemen and Prime—more so being with Prime and him bringing me to do shows I started going to New York, going to Philly, going to Boston. And then with the Nacrobats, us doing the Midwest run of Minnesota, Detroit, St. Louis and then really doing the college scene heavy— hitting Bloomington, hitting all those little places but coming back and seeing more people then being like, ‘well if we could do it at these schools, why can’t we do it at further schools?’ And then the first time the Nacrobats did a month tour in L.A., it was the first three weeks with me and Thaione and we came back two-three weeks later with Psalm (One) and Infinito and Cosmo (Galactus) and it was like, ‘wow, this is really possible. This is feasible.’

What were some of the experiences like as far as the artists you opened for back then and did you interact with those artists before you went on stage?

Pugs Atomz: The bigger shows like House of Blues it would be really random. Somebody like Rakim you would actually get to kick the shit with him, talk to him a little bit. And at the time, I was designing for the company Afro Wear so I had some gear to give him so it was more a camaraderie kind of thing. Other people, you might not notice who they are. Like I remember when I opened for Cypress Hill, I didn’t’ really know who what Muggs looked like and I get off the stage and this guy’s back there like, ‘Yo, man, I really liked it, you were really good.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, thanks.’ And I kept going and I got a little further and [people] are like, ‘yo, you know who that was?’ And I’m like, ‘no, who’s that?’ They’re like, ‘Muggs!’ It was that kind of thing where you don’t really know what people look like. But then people like Atmosphere are very hands-on. You knew them. They were almost like your friends to a point when you do a show with them. They showed a lot of love. I remember one show where me and Prime and Mad Crates had drove up to Minnesota and we went to the wrong city. And by the time we got to the right city, it was 2 a.m., show’s over so no money at the door, promoters like, ‘Ayyy.’ So Prime called Slug, like ‘Aye, we don’t’ have no place to stay, do you think you could help us out?’ And he’s like, ‘yeah, come to my house.’ And he put us up at 3 in the morning.

What relationships have lasted between different artists that formed back then?

Pugs Atomz: Everybody from the late-90s. If they’re still in music, we’re still cool. But I think it’s a little different in the sense that if we don’t see each other, that’s pretty much the extent of it for the most part just because everybody’s into their lives now. Most of the people are between 27 and almost 40. So everybody has families and that kind of thing and it’s become a job now so it’s a different kind of thing. But when everybody sees each other it’s definitely like old friends catching up and shootin’ the shit and comparing notes. I think the last time I talked to Brother Ali on the phone was probably a year and some change but we were on the phone for a minute and it wasn’t really about a song, it was just chewing the fat.

You had just mentioned this has become more of a job so probably in the earlier days it was more about the battle element, rapping about rapping. How has your approach to writing changed?

Pugs Atomz: Now I write where people that don’t speak English could kind of follow what I’m saying just ‘cause we’re doing a lot of shows with The Electric and Vadim where nobody speaks English—not nobody, but it’s a vague sense of the English language. So that definitely is one thing I try to keep and count: how to articulate well so you could get the gist. And then also doing songs for stage. For me now, there’s really no point to just do a song to do a song—it’s gotta be something that I could actually perform to maximize it.

So you’re always thinking about the possible reaction?

Pugs Atomz: Yeah, yeah.

Can you talk more about how you’re changing the accessibility of your flow so people that speak different languages can understand?

Pugs Atomz: I just try to keep it clear. We all have our drawls and stuff but I try not to over do it and really just focus in on the letters and the end sounds so you hit every word. It’s a rough one if you’re performing and nobody has a clue at all—they can’t even guess what you mean. So you really have to figure it out.

On the Electric album your flow has slowed down a little bit, and like you said, it’s a little more clear. Would you say that was a conscious effort for the whole group?

Pugs Atomz: Nah, I think it’s one of these things that just happened cause with The Electric stuff, everything we were doing, we were performing first and then we recorded it. It’s kind of like freestyling and just riding the beats. So that’s just naturally what happened. But as I look at it, I’m like, ‘overall, this is what’s really happening—my brain is writing to the live audience as opposed to writing to people who go home and study.’

So you guys were really trying stuff out on the stage, on the road?

Pugs Atomz: Yeah, every song, man. For instance, “Beautiful,” I was going to a radio interview and [they] had played Flying Lotus and then I was like, ‘ ah, that was really dope!’ And Vadim was like, ‘ okay, I think I can play around with it and make something like that as well.’ And then we had some live instrumentation come in, they did the thing, and then went for the verse, it was real random, but I think at the radio station I spit the verse. Everything was in those kind of ways—right before the show, I’m like, ‘well, I got this idea—play the beat and we’ll see what happens.’ And some of the remixes are very opposite of the original songs. Like “So Now You Know.” I mean me and Sabira were just on stage playing around with it and she had sang a couple different riffs and I’m like, ‘Ah, man, yeah yeah, that’s it, that’s it!’ [It’s] just moving stuff around and not being where it has to be locked in one way. On the other side, the similes and metaphors are still there—just the way it sounds is clearer.

You originally opened for Vadim’s group One Self, but how did you get to the point where you were actually collaborating with him on stage to where he said, ‘okay, I wanna work with you.’

Pugs Atomz: Well the last show that we did on tour in 2007, we did like 40-50 shows, we were in Canada—in Montreal—and the night there they opened it up and we just all rocked out. It was me, Abstract Rude, Awdacate, Yarah, and it was fun. I think after that show, he gave me a beat CD that day. And from there, I just wrote a couple songs, sent him some songs, and he sent me some more beats, and then wrote a couple more songs. And then it was after I did “Saturday” and “Always Lady,” that when it was like, ‘okay, we’re really building a relationship at this point.’ And then when he was doing the tour for You Can’t Lurn Imaginashun trying to figure out he was gonna do it. He was going through the thing with his eye [cancer] and it’s a possibility, maybe that it’s gonna happen. From what I hear now, Yarah was doing her thing as well so he was like, ‘you want to come out and do a few shows and see how it goes?’ Because with him, his whole thing is always [take] a different group of people each tour from the album—so from Deuce Eclipse and everybody on Soundcatcher. After we practice, I pulled up a bunch of my old songs like “Tear In Your Eye” and he had this kind of reggae beat and I was like, ‘aw, that’ll work’—that kind of thing. And then just the chemistry on stage was really dope. After we did that, he had me host a few shows for him through the West Coast so it became more of a friendship and a bond. And we recorded so many songs in the short year-and-a-half period.

And at what point did Sabira Jade come around and the idea for The Electric really formulate?

Pugs Atomz: I think he met Sabira at a Hexstatic concert that Yarah was the opener. And I guess from that point they started to communicate back and forth. Sabira told me something about MySpace as well because he was looking for singers. But my first day for the You Can’t Lurn Imaginashun Tour ’09 she walked in the door and [Vadim] was like, “Pugs, Sabira, Pugs, Sabira’ and we just practiced. And I think it was more towards the end of that first little tour where I was like, ‘yo, we need to make a group or something.’ That’s usually my way of everything—if it’s working with The Gent$, Nacrobats or whatever—we should capitalize. And then Vadim, he was definitely about it, but we didn’t have a name per se. We were going back and forth on e-mail after I came back—he gave me a list of names and I gave him a couple names and then he had The Electric as one of ‘em and I was like, ‘yeah, I like that one!’

It was really just the You Can’t Lurn Imaginashun Tour so the luck of the draw.

At what point did you guys know that you wanted to make it really official?

Pugs Atomz: That was the thing though. With me, I record every week so when I was out there, I was trying to record records; Sabira was recording records as well so then from the same conversation it was like, ‘oh, those songs are Electric songs now’—just smash ‘em all together.

So there was a certain feel that you know right away that they belonged as Electric songs?

Pugs Atomz: Yeah, well that’s the cool thing about The Electric: there’s no one sound. It’s just really what we’re into and what Vadim is making and what influences us. And even though I’m sure you could find something similar in all of the music, overall it’s just whatever the beats are. Some of the remixes are totally different from the originals—more glitchier, more electro—that kind of stuff. But that’s still The Electric. And that’s the one reason I really like the name that I felt that I wouldn’t be stuck in this sound. It could be whatever it wants to be.

Since you guys pretty much formulated in Europe doing all the shows over there, can you talk about that experience playing in front of that audience compared to performing in the States?

Pugs Atomz: Well, to me, I relate Europe to Cali—Cali is just a lot of fun people, looser, ready to have a good time. And Europe is pretty much that. There’s some areas that are a little more hardcore like when you’re in Germany where there’s more of a tough scene so that’s more super rapper, battle mode kind of shit. But I think the one thing is it’s the real party vibe that we bring to the stage. Some people will be like, ‘to see you guys live is just a whole different experience than the CD. The music is good, but live there is an extra umph. For me, I love to perform. That’s like one of my favorite things. Vadim is a very animated character and he has his controller and a bunch of blinking lights and he’s cutting and scratching, and there’s a bunch of different instruments on stage and Sabira’s a very solid vocalist. She could just stand there and sing and it’s the same feeling. It’s really a party vibe. Vadim, he’s done a lot. The people of Poland are like, ‘this is one of the first people to bring hip-hop here.’ Having that behind you makes it a very nice intro. People are gonna treat you a lot different than if it’s just you kicking it.

Since you have collaborated with so many people, what advice would you give to younger artists as far as working with other people? What should they be looking for in collaborations?

Pugs Atomz: Well one, you should really want to do the collaboration. Don’t just do it because of the name kinda thing. Obviously if it’s a big name, it’ll help in terms of getting it out but if you guys don’t really like each other’s music then you don’t really care what it’s gonna sound like. And then also, just your goals. When you’re working with somebody, you really have to set an idea of what you’re trying to accomplish and try to stick to that so that it doesn’t go awry. With most groups, there’s always that awry part that happens. Everybody wasn’t on the same page. And it’s hard. I’ve had my ups and downs with people just because communication is a hard thing and everybody’s not really that great at it. Some people assume you get what they’re saying and vice versa.

So do you feel like you’ve reached a really good level of communication with Vadim and Sabira?

Pugs Atomz: I think so far we’ve been pretty good, but I think it’s a different dynamic just cause most groups you wouldn’t spend this much time together before the record even begins. Usually the tour is after you did this great record. Then you hit the road and realize, ‘wow, I don’t know if I could hang out with this person all the time.’ For us, it’s more of a family kind of thing. When I’m in London, I stay at Vadim’s house you know what I mean?

A lot of times people become family. Like the Vadim tour with Abstract Rude and Yarah—they definitely became my family by the end of those 50-some days. And you just go through so much with people where you appreciate each other and also you start to listen more to each other’s music. That was the funny thing when they were like, ‘Yeah, we listened to your whole album.’ And they really knew the records.

Was that when Conversations with a Chamelion came out?

Pugs Atomz: Yeah, Conversations. They had their favorite songs. And Vadim, when he gave me the first beat CD, he tried to give me beats in that vein. He was like, ‘I know what kind of beats.’ And then touring with Large Professor—he was really, really cool and I learned a lot just watching him with his equipment and his approach. And then also having music that’s timeless. That’s a really big thing that he can still do a record from ’89 and people act like it just came out. That’s a really big thing. And that’s something that I hope [will happen] with a lot of my music.

http://www.electricsoundcompany.com/

Download The Electric’s new mixtape, Hey You Guys here!

Words and photos by Max Herman