Crown Emcees

The problem

The Problem

Nick, Chris and Andrew Cleaver are three brothers raised in a house with one rule that stuck: hip hop first. It shows in all three of them, just not the same way twice. Nick goes by Nic Cleav now. Back in Victoria's early 2000s underground scene he ran as Nikateen, then 250, and he still writes and freestyles with an accent that lands somewhere between BC and LA. Spliff Chief is the brother who defined the crew, and he writes East Coast: dense bars, flows that don't sit where you'd expect them to land. Andrew, AC Breeze, is the laid back one, but laid back doesn't mean soft. His delivery comes straight at the beat, unhurried, low in the pocket. Nic and Spliff also host 90 Proof, a podcast that's pulled in guests most local shows never get near: Spice 1, Danny Boy, Q Bosilini, Mr. Serv-On, hip hop royalty who don't sit down with just anybody. That room already existed before this record did.

The approach

I produced every track but one and mixed all of them. Nothing was pulled off a shelf. Every beat was built from the ground up for these three brothers. After sending initial clips of what I had started, beats were customized to the song structure. After a pass that gave them the base instrumental to record over, I would do another pass adding FX or intricacies that reflected the lyrics and timing. I interpolated sample ideas and outperformed expectations on sonic landscape of this album. Boom bap with West Coast G-funk underneath, arranged so each one lands in a pocket that's his alone, so the record never splits into three different EPs. Mastered by Big Heat. The lead single is "Life is a Game", featuring West Coast veteran Spice 1.