We briefly interviewed Medderick about his recent project, Neddih Modsiw: Part 2. As the New York streets have been talking it was only right to get the scoop on this ourselves. Read below all about it below and stream it!
- How did this project come together?
The team behind this album is actually very small and did in fact work on the album front to back, I wrote all of the lyrics on Love Life & helped my homie Nomad with his part on the first verse after my first 8 bars. This was the only song I wrote anything on – all of the rest of the lyrics I improvised off the top of my head. I also single handedly produced the beats for 6 of the songs on the album, those songs are; Love Life, Enki, DRVIBES, The Alchemist, Versartile, & Spirit Guide. I also mixed & mastered 8 out of the 11 songs on the album.
One of my best friends & an incredible engineer/musical genius mixed & mastered the other 3 songs. His name is Snell.
Funny story actually, I was out in Los Angeles on a one way flight – pockets down to almost nothing & through straight will power/determination to get this album done I waited outside of Snell’s crib for 2 hours after calling him at least 30 times because he had just gotten back from Dubai DJing for Danileigh & he was exhausted. Luckily one of his room mates pulled up into the drive way and recognized me, he let me inside, Snell woke up and we got to work.
Snell really came through for me and I am forever grateful for him. If you ever read this I love you bro! He mixed & mastered, Love Life (Mastering + Added the Dolla & a dream outro), The Alchemist & Spirit Guide.
The only three beats that I outsourced were the beats for “StarstrucK”, “Pondering” & “Come To Far” – However I did lots of changes (drops/reverses, etc) to the beats on Come To Far & Pondering so I consider my self having co-production on those. I got the beats for “Starstruck” & “Come To Far” from YouTube. I got the beat for “Pondering” in Toronto with another one of my homies & a great producer who goes by the name B1ack Bandito. I was sleeping in a tent in his backyard with a couple of my brothers (Ko Flows & Jah Will) and I over heard B1ack playing the beat one rising (I prefer to say rising instead of morning) and I was like yo bro I gotta record on this. The beat wasn’t complete yet, so I added some touches to it and eventually through time & tweaks I got to the finished product.
The intro Gnosis was produced by Me & my homie Bled.
The outro Misster Slave was produced by Snell & I.
2. What is the back story behind it?
There is a story to this album for sure. It’s a very subtle story but it is a story of waking up to the reality of the life that I was living & how our true origins have been hidden from us. The theme of the album is a cross between redemption, love, existential depression & striving for success. The meaning & the wisdom is hidden within the ear catching melodies & the lyrics. Thats why the name of the album is Neddih Modsiw, if you flip Neddih Modsiw backwards it says Hidden Wisdom. Which is also my brand. I would say the overall tone/vibe of the project put simply is just Hidden Wisdom. Theres song that people would be able to bop on repeat & theres songs that are made for introspective reflection but each song has hints of hidden knowledge in them.
3. How would you describe your sense of music?
As a kid my range of music was very diverse & versatile. I grew up on merengue, bachata, reggaeton & hip-hop. As I got a little older I started playing rhythm based video games like Guitar Hero & Rock Band. Particularly Guitar Hero 3 & Rock Band 2. I used to play these games day in & day out while in elementary & middle school. These games in particular expanded my musical awareness to genres like metal, alternative, heavy metal, classic rock, etc.
4. How did you come up with the format and structure of the album?
The sequencing of the songs came very intuitively to me, I just put them together in the order that felt right. The first song I started working on for the album was Love Life and I began that in Feb. of 2018. I knew for a fact that that song was going to be the first song to play on the album. Once Misster Slave was done I knew that was going to be the outro. Everything else in between was just intuitive. Its what felt right to me. I actually didn’t even have the order for the album until the day of release. As a matter of fact, the album wasn’t even done the day that I set out to put it out! December 25, 2018! I rose up at 8 Am, in pasadena while staying with one of my supporters who is now my fam. I had my portable speaker, and I knew I had to mix & master Versartile off of that speaker and finish up that album right then and there. I made it work and then went to a starbucks to upload the album to all streaming services because the wifi at my homegirls crib was acting up. Shoutout to you L! I love you so much thank you for opening up your space to me in those times. Once that happened I felt so accomplished & it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. Keep in mind I was hella popped at the time and had barely any bread to my name. Literally like no more than $200.
5. What inspired the theme?
The theme of the album from my personal lens is transmutation and elevation. Thats why the cover art is a reversed & enhanced version of the cover for Neddih Modsiw. I feel like in the journey of the past year I gained musical super powers after cutting out so many things that did not serve me in life anymore, things like nothing eating healthy (I’m 100% plantbased now) and not giving my self the proper self love. Thank you so much to everyone who has read through this & to everyone who has supported me in my journeys. I am eternally grateful.