S1: The Symbolic Strange Fruit

Symbolic One, better known as S1, is one third of the infamous hip-hop trio called Strange Fruit Project, who brought you stimulating tracks like "Luv Is, Eternally Yours" and "Milk." When he's not performing, S1 also serves as a programmer in Erykah Badu's group the Cannabinoids, which specialize in making live music.

Strange Fruit Presents: S1 The Music Box is S1's second solo project, and with it already in stores, we caught up with the rapper to talk about how he mixes hip-hop and soul to create an incomparable sound and an alluring vibe you can groove to, as well as his personal story of how he and his group started.

BallerStatus.com: When and how did you get started producing and performing?

S1: My cousin Myth -- who's also in the group Strange Fruit Project -- we started a group back in 1996. As far as me as a producer, it kind of evolved from that because when we started our group we didn't have anybody to make our beats. We was rhyming over instrumentals and breaking beats over other people's instrumentals, so I just became curious about what went into the production side of actually making original music. Slowly I started buying different pieces of equipment and it just built from there. As I started to mess around with the equipment, I started to grow and observe other producers that I was feeling at the time, observing their sounds and how they did specific things. From there it grew into something that it is today.

BallerStatus.com: How did is feel to rock the stage for the first time?

S1: Man you taking me back. Let's see, the first time I performed man. We're from Waco, Texas a little town about 100 miles south of Dallas, Texas. I remember going to a talent show and it was actually our first performance as a group. I remember being a nervous wreck. Actually my cousin and I both were a nervous wreck, but after we performed the feedback of the show was so good it kind of built our confidence up. We were like "Okay, we can do this." We recorded our performance and watched the tape and as we were looking at it, we critiqued ourselves saying "Okay we need to do this better." We learned what mistakes we made and developed ways to improve on different things.

BallerStatus.com: For those individuals who are unfamiliar with S1, who is S1?

S1: S1 is a producer who loves to make music. I am a pretty quiet individual, I only speak on issues that bother me or things I feel I need to touch on. I'm a real simple dude. You know, I'm not a flashy person, but I'm a low key and humble person.

BallerStatus.com: Who are the Cannabinoids?

S1: The Cannabinoids is actually a group Erykah Badu put together and basically it's a producer/DJ group. Erykah wanted to bring a collective of DJs and programmers together. The whole concept behind it was we would be making beats on stage live, impromptu style. So everything is really like spur of the moment; making beats on stage live and vibing on stage. The group consists of six core members and we also have three more extended members. The core members consist of Jah Born, Picnic, myself (S1) and Free, we're the main producer programmers of the group. Then we also have DJ Big Texas and A.ONE, a DJ by the name of Skin and Sport Izm, Erykah Badu, RC Williams and we also have an emcee by the name of Head Krack.

BallerStatus.com: By the way what is a "cannabinoid?"

Paul Levatino: It's a play on words that Erykah came up with. The molecules in THC I guess when marijuana is smoked, the Cannabinoids attach themselves to the receptors in the brain that make you high. So her whole thing is the Cannabinoids makes the audience higher through music.

The Cannabinoids represent a musical exploration of the science of addiction. It's the sensational reaction created when the synthetic combines with the organic, and The Cannabinoids are the receptors that bind the experience. The project was originally conceived when Erykah Badu sought to manifest live musical improvisation utilizing the tools of studio tracking and hip-hop production.

BallerStatus.com: You've worked with the talented Erykah Badu, what was it like meeting her for the first time, any memorable moments?

S1: I met Erykah before we started working together. Erykah is very active in the community and she came out to one of Strange Fruit Project's shows at what is called Final Friday, which is held once a month in Dallas. I was later introduced to her and we were just talking and I was just telling her who we were and she said her piece or whatever. Years later, we were introduced again and I get a call out of the blue from her and the whole conversation she was mainly telling me about how she had been listening to the group's CD for like months and she was loving it. During that same conversation she, invited us out to her crib. We went out to her house and that whole night was like very memorable because we just chilled with her the whole time in her studio, freestyled and talked about different topics. We had a blast that night and every since that night we kind of got to know each other and we have been working together every since.

BallerStatus.com: Describe your style of music. What do you hope fans get from Strange Fruit Presents: S1 Music Box?

S1: My style of music in a nutshell ... I'm an old school cat, I vibe to a lot of 60s and 70s music. I would definitely say I have a lot of soulful elements in my sound, but at the same time I have a pretty wide range. I listen to a lot of different genres from gospel to hip-hop soul to old classics, and I intertwine that in my sound as well. The main thing I hope people can listen to the album all the way through. I hope when the listener puts this CD in that they can go through song by song without skipping any tracks or anything. That's generally what I judge albums by: can I listen to this album the same way two months later or a year later? I want my album to have some replay value over a period of time.

Ballerstatus.com: How did it feel to work with Speech of Arrested Development? You had to feel good working with a man of his caliber.

S1: Aw man, that was like one of my highlights ... working with Speech. It was real interesting because before I met Speech, I was reading an interview that he did and I read his interview and in his interview they were asking him what are some groups that he listens to and he mentioned our names. He mentioned Strange Fruit Project was one of the groups delivering some positives messages he was loving, so after that I reached out to him on MySpace and he was like "Yo I been a fan of your work so anything you need from me, it's a done deal." When it came time for the album, I shot him some beats and he was loving it and he said "Man whatever you need from me, it's done." So that's basically how that came about and it was pretty interesting. Arrested Development was one of the groups that really gave me the desire to want to do this, so it was an honor to be able to work with him on this project.

BallerStatus.com: Rah Digga appears on your new album on the track called "Life is a Movie," any ideas of when we can expect to hear something new from her?

S1: It changes every time I talk to her. I actually have four songs that I have produced for her. If I'm not mistaken, her album should be released in the fall of this year. I don't know how definite that is, but that is the last I heard. She appears on one track on the album called "Life is a Movie" and it's a pretty banging joint as well. This song is basically about how people act like living life is equivalent to starring in a movie. We got too many movie stars ... or better yet, we have too many people thinking they are movie stars. The crazy thing about the joint is that Rah Digga used about 30+ movie titles to capture the theme and concept of the song.

BallerStatus.com: Some of your music has been licensed for CSI, NCAA College Hoops and "Run's House." How did you land such sweet deals? What songs appear on NCAA College Hoops?

S1: My management. Big ups to B Wells and Vincent, they work with a lot of licensing companies so whenever they are approached for music, I am usually the first person he'll reach out to and say "Hey, do you have any music that we can submit to this person?" They hit us up looking for music for "CSI" and we submitted some stuff and it was a blessing that they liked what we sent them. On the "NCAA 2K8 Sports," we actually did two exclusive joints. I could have easily sent them something, but I was like "Let's go in the studio and do two songs talking about basketball." So we did that and at first they were just going to pick one up, but we did two songs just to give them other options. When we sent the two, they liked both of them so much they was like we want both of them for the game.

BallerStatus.com: What songs appear on the game?

S1: One is called "Thru The Lane" and the other one is called "Underclassmen." It was a pretty exciting moment because I bought the game for my boys on 360 and when we play it and it has our music in the background, so it's cool.

BallerStatus.com: Name some of the artists and producers you worked with on Strange Fruit Presents: S1 Music Box.

S1: Like we mentioned, Speech from Arrested Development, Rapper Pooh and Phonte of Little Brother. The reason I say it like that is because they have their own separate joints on the album, they're not together on the same song. I worked with LifeSavas and Tanya Morgan, Rah Digga like we mentioned before, and of course my group Strange Fruit Project and Supastition.

BallerStatus.com: Do you have a favorite track on the album?

S1: I would have to say as of now probably the Tone Trezure joint. It's an R&B soul type of joint, but it sounds ... I guess I like it so much because it sounds so gritty and dirty. I used a lot of live instrumentation on it as well, so it has a real good feeling to it. Listening to it, I always get a good feeling. It's a real inspirational track, but I would have to say that it's definitely my favorite track.

BallerStatus.com: On the song "Mash," someone I don't recall who, but someone says something along the lines of "Dudes these days are all about mixtapes and never buy the album / all about ad libs..." Can you elaborate on that for me?

S1: It was actually Kay from The Foundation out of Houston and pretty much he was saying on the song people are just into ad libs and people are not into buying albums anymore. What I got from that was that people are just concerned with people's swagger on a track, but basically they're not into supporting them as far as buying albums.

BallerStatus.com: What's next for S1?

S1: Man I've been staying in the studio 10 to 12 hours a day, six to seven days a week, just really trying to crank out as much music as I can. I'm trying to get on a lot of projects. I've been submitting a lot of stuff to what is supposed to be 50's last album entitled Before I Self Destruct. I'm working with a lot of artist around Dallas to major artists like Chamillionaire and Slim Thug.

BallerStatus.com: Tell me about the projects you're working on with Chamillionaire and Slim Thug.

S1: They are both in the pre-stages of finishing their projects. Slim Thug demoed a couple of my joints and Chamillionaire did the same. So hopefully when they start choosing which songs they want to use for their albums, prayfully mines will make the final album cut. This year I'm going full force and put out as much quality music as I can, as I'm allowed to do.

BallerStatus.com: At the end of the day what do you want? Do you have any specific goals you're trying to reach? Do you want to win awards? Do you want money, respect?

S1: I really don't think about awards and stuff like that. I mean if it's presented to me at the time I'm grateful for that, but I guess my main purpose for getting this music out is appreciation. I want appreciation for just putting out good music ... life changing music and music that inspires and moves people to be creative is really all I think about.

BallerStatus.com: How is DJ Wiz T?

S1: Wiz T is doing better. Since the last time I talked to him, which was a couple of days ago, he has been released from the hospital. Everybody just keep Wiz in your prayers and we will continue to try to uplift him. He's being obedient and doing what the doctors told him to do, so hopefully this is just a wake up call for him to do what he needs to do and get better. That's the main thing.

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