SOLACE ZETA INTERVIEW
[originally featured in HipHopInsiders Promo (HIPP)],
April 2019
Give us your Bio:
Solace Zeta (government name Robert Acker), was born in the mid-1980s to a middle-class family in Englewood, Colorado. When he was 7, his family moved to Lakewood, Colorado, on the westside of Metro Denver. He got his first taste and influence from hip hop from his cousins in Chicago, who he visited for several summers. By the time he reached high school, he began a scholastic pursuit and intrigue with the history and aesthetic of hip hop culture and music. He began hunting and searching out for the classics; the best, most important, and culturally significant albums in hip hop’s history. Eventually he possessed an incredible collection of hip hop gems unrivaled by seemingly any of his peers, and establishing him as a “hip hop scholar” among his friends, a distinction made certain by his scholastic approach to researching and studying hip hop.
Zeta began writing rhymes in high school, and began recording his first songs in Sid Madrid’s Mad Scientist Lab. In college, he began devoting himself wholeheartedly to his artistry, and started performing shows and joining freestyle competitions. He lost his first two battles in the first round of two competitions, held once per year, before finally winning the entire competition during his third year of entering, defeating three rounds of opponents. He also started a live hip hop band called REIFY in 2008 with a guitarist/keyboardist, drummer/accordionist, and bassist/producer. Later the band would split before reforming again as WRECKREATE in 2017. With help and guidance from underground hip hop producers and veterans Sid Madrid and 787, he expanded his repertoire, and began planning to make his debut album.
While history remained an important pursuit in his studies, by the time he successfully entered master’s school at CU Denver, he established and ran the campus’s Buddhist Club. As club president and founder, he coordinated various activities with other student organizations, notably an interfaith dialogue with the Muslim Student Alliance, the Art of Social Justice Conferences with the Collective for Social Change, and the Sankofa Lecture Series and Conferences with Hip Hop Congress and other affiliates. He not only participated in scholastic presentations and organized conferences for hip hop, but eventually wrote his Master’s Thesis on The Crystallization of Hip Hop in Corporate and Mainstream America, 1995-1998, passing his thesis defense and graduating with a masters of history degree in 2012. During this time, he also went on a study abroad to Beijing, China in the summer of 2011, which profoundly influenced his life.
In 2013, he was finally able to release his debut album after four years of work. The album was a double-disc, titled Stranger in the Strange Land. The first disc has since been re-released as The Blue Prototype and the second disc as The Red Prototype. This was released only a few weeks after his father died in April of pancreatic cancer, a devastating blow for Zeta. After working at an English school in Lakewood for nine months, he moved on and went to China again, where he signed on for a two-year stint as a visiting university professor. Unfortunately, before leaving in February of 2014, he had to put his dog Tory to sleep due to old age. The following year, tragedy struck again as his mother succumbed to breast cancer in May of 2015. In just three years, he watched helplessly as three family members died before his eyes.
Despite the terribleness of his loses, Zeta preoccupied himself with working through his grief and suffering by pouring himself into his creative pursuits and outlets in order to maintain a healthy state of mind. After returning from China in January of 2016, he began rebuilding his music projects and pursuits. He and producer NACHR formed the duo Epic Vertex; he reformed REIFY as WRECKREATE by the summer; and helped found Snow Monk (with Drrty Pussie, Thainy Spyce, Frosty G, and NACHR). Within 12 whirlwind months, he and his groups ended up performing more than 12 shows at various venues including The Lower Octave, Herman’s Hideaway, The Speakeasy Vape Lounge (Colorado Springs), Lion’s Lair, Brik on York, The Goods, and at the 2017 and soon 2018 Colorado Dragon Boat Festivals.
Epic Vertex has been described as, “Indie electronic hip hop,” and “sounds like boom bap ate a computer chip covered in acid.” Moreover, WRECKREATE has been described as somewhere between The Roots and Rage Against the Machine. Snow Monk meanwhile is a talented and diverse collective with drummer Frosty G (also in WRECKREATE), NACHR (also in Epic Vertex), Drrty Pussie (an MC, violist, model, writer, entrepreneur, and activist), Thainy Spyce (a phenomenal female vocalist and model hailing from Thailand), and of course Solace Zeta.
Who are your top 5 influences:
1. Nas/Eminem/Jay-Z
To me, those three are the titans of hip hop artistry and rapping ability. Between the three, I believe they form the greatest trifecta of 1990s artists, and personally find them to be my choice for best living hip hop artists. Nas to me is the best overall lyricist of the three, and is my personal favorite because of his ability to really say meaningful and spiritual things that have actually changed my life: changed who I wanted to become, and changed how I thought and perceived life. Next, Eminem of course is an incredible MC, obviously the most ferocious and arguably the most gifted in terms of raw emotion and feelings being conveyed among the three. While he doesn’t have the spirituality and meaningfulness of Nas, he’s every bit as committed to formulating the dopest verse he’s capable of delivering. His energy and passion is titanic, and his ability to convey and relate feelings (often untouched by other artists) is second to none. Then, of course, there’s Jay-Z, whose influence and contributions to hip hop simply cannot be overlooked even by his most vehement critics. His work ethic and business sense is what really sets him apart from everyone else. When he was releasing an album a year and doing tours every summer for nearly 8 years in a row, and making quality releases, it’s a testament to how dedicated he was to his craft and how hard he worked. While not nearly as spiritually meaningful for me as Nas, nor as boldly emotional, unapologetic, or mercurial as Eminem, Jay’s consistency, work ethic, and genuine ability merit close study and evaluation. He’s a master of collaborations, he studies what’s hot and makes sure he’s a part of it, and remains relevant in either setting trends or participating in them, and his sensibilities when it comes to music or business are always spot on. I hope someday they all three release a full album together.
2. 2pac/Notorious B.I.G./Big Pun/Big L
Of course, there are always numerous rappers who have since died and made music that we still cherish to this day. Clearly 2pac and Biggie are still giants in hip hop to this day, and I really honestly believe that there will never be “gansta rappers” as real as those two, and showcase the ability they had. So much has been said about both of them, and my thesis I wrote for graduate school spends a decent amount of time talking about their meaning to hip hop. I really look at their deaths as being a transition point for hip hop, signifying how hip hop couldn’t continue to be as real as those two were while simultaneously becoming commercialized, commoditized, and coopted by mainstream corporate America. The two worlds simply couldn’t coexist without some sort of horrible sacrifices. Sadly, 2pac and Biggie died (in my mind) as martyrs to what “real” mainstream hip hop was, and I feel it died with them. Anyway, it can’t be overstated that their contributions to hip hop artistry remain as great today, if not greater, than it was in their day. They brought hip hop to new heights and places and every MC owes them a debt of gratitude regardless.
When it comes to Big L and Big Pun, those two are arguably the most talented of the rappers who have died, second only to BIG and 2pac. Big L unfortunately died before reaching his climax, unlike Pun, Biggie, or 2pac, and maybe that’s one reason why he’s the least well known of the four. He really only had one album completed before he died compared to Biggie and Pun who had at least two each, and 2pac who had numerous. There’s some real gems on Lifestyles of the Poor and Dangerous, including a few special guest appearances, such as Jay-Z before he even dropped his debut Reasonable Doubt (side note: you can also catch him and ODB together with Big Daddy Kane on the song “Show and Prove,” from BDK’s ’94 album Daddy’s Home, just FYI). L’s posthumous release The Big Picture also has a huge list of legendary MCs who helped complete his unfinished sophomore project. L was a master of the double word end-line rhyme, and an incredible freestyler, who also ran with DITC (Diggin’ in the Crates), who included other talented artists like Diamond D, Showbiz & AG, Fat Joe, and O.C. (who did lots of work with Organized Konfusion, which was the group with Pharaohe Monch).
Big Pun on the other hand was also an incredibly gifted rapper. The dude was simply incredible with his lyrics, and even was the first Latino rapper to go platinum. He ran with Fat Joe and founded the Terror Squad, and had two albums (I prefer his debut Capital Punishment) and he put in all kinds of work with Fat Joe. As Nas said in “Book of Rhymes,” “since Pun passed he was the last shining sun I could feel.” If you’re a true lyricist and student of the game, you’ve gotta check him out and his verses. When it comes to both him and Big L, I really feel if they just had the chance to make four or five albums they’d probably be remembered the same way that 2pac and Biggie are today.
3. Wu Tang Clan
RIP ODB. There’s so much to say about Wu Tang and how much they’ve influenced me. Every MC in the clan is above average, and their top ones are often in people’s top ten lists. They’ve just made so many classics and influenced hip hop in so many ways I just can’t describe how important they were and are to hip hop’s development. When it comes to them, I kind of group them into threes since there’s nine members. Raekwon the Chef, Ghostface Killah, and Method Man are the first group of three I’d put down because they’re just my favorites, especially when Rae and Ghost collaborate, they’re probably my favorite duo of MCs in hip hop. Method Man started out being my favorite in the group, and he’s still really underrated in my book. You could also throw Cappadonna in the mix because he collaborates so frequently with Rae and Ghost, but he isn’t technically a member of Wu Tang, he’s an affiliate. Still though, those three, especially Ghostface are in most people’s 25 greatest rappers of all time (Ghostface is in my top ten for sure).
Next, I group RZA, GZA, and ODB together, not just because they’re family, but also because they were the original founding members of the Clan. With RZA I keep elevating my respect for him when I really consider how hard it must have been to get 9 of the most volatile personalities you can imagine and make that work! It’s crazy! His idea too, of having them release projects as a group, and still have the ability to sign as solo artists to different companies is legendary. Not to mention, overseeing usually the debut and sophomore albums of almost every member on top of the group albums, is crazy too. Add to it the fact he also produces movie soundtracks now and you have to admit, he’s one of the greatest producers ever in hip hop. He’s definitely in my top five producers ever, and probably in my top three. ODB is also incredibly underrated for his charisma, feeling, and emotion he brought to the game, in addition to so much else. Some people diss him and say he’s not a good MC, but they’re totally off base. His energy really can’t be matched by hardly anyone. The only ones I could really compare his energy to and give him a run for his money is Eminem, M.O.P., Sticky Fingaz (from Onyx), TechN9ne, and Busta Rhymes, but that’s about it. And, of course, GZA is incredible and often considered the best MC in the whole Clan. Without question, he’s an incredible MC and there was a time I considered him and Nas the two best lyricists in hip hop.
The final grouping is the unsung ones from the Clan, who are also fantastic in their own right, but are often overshadowed by the others. First, Inspectah Deck is amazing. He’s honestly on the level of Rae and even sometimes GZA. I love him so much and feel he is the most underrated in the whole Clan. He also produced his entire debut album by himself without help from RZA, which is a special feat because everyone else needed RZA’s help to make their albums. Deck is just fantastic and I’ve always felt he’s a lot like Black Thought in the sense that their style is hard hitting and marked by an unusual attention (almost bordering on obsession) to high quality lyricism. Then there’s U-God, who has a very distinctive voice and is a very solid presence on virtually every track he’s on. Because his voice is so low, I’d love for him to get together with Lord Have Mercy from Flipmode Squad and Chali 2na from Jurassic 5 (Killer Mike from Run the Jewels) and make an album. I think it’d be fire! Last but not least, there’s Masta Killah. Masta Killah isn’t my favorite MC, but he is highly calculating with his verses, and very methodical with the way he writes and delivers his bars, and while I didn’t appreciate his style as much back in the day, these days I’m very appreciative and I’m glad he’s there. The Clan wouldn’t be complete if any of them were missing.
4. Kool G Rap/Big Daddy Kane/Rakim
To me, these three form the trifecta of 80s lyricists in hip hop. Rakim created and fathered this style of hip hop that to me, still is the greatest form of lyricism, that being complex, profound, dynamic, and skillful. Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap were probably Rakim’s greatest contemporaries. Ra gets respect from most hip hop heads as being the beginning of that purist style of hip hop with multiple rhymes per line, compound and internal rhymes, and a lyrical complexity and reward rivaled only by poetry and the greatest of songwriters. Rakim’s influence is all over Nas and Eminem, so it’s only fitting his protégé’s are among the greatest of all time.
BDK was just another titan of emceeing. He ghostwrote a lot of verses and songs for Biz Markie, he took Jay-Z under his wing and tutored him before he moved on to Biggie. BDK could rhyme with a vocabulary like Rakim. He wasn’t quite as laser-precise as Ra could be, but his punchlines and other techniques were among the best, and he could rhyme crazy fast and skillful (see “Wrath of Kane” for example).
Kool G Rap usually got the least amount of attention among the 80s trifecta, at least among the pundits and critics, but among the fans, especially those who were influenced by hip hop music in the 80s and then became artists in the 90s, Kool G Rap likewise influenced a number of high-profile and much-lauded artists, such as Big Pun, Big L, Jay-Z, Nas, Raekwon (and practically everyone) from Wu-Tang, R.A. the Rugged Man, and so many more. He pretty much founded the Gambino east-coast mafioso, organized crime style, embraced to a great extent by mid 90s east coast artists, like Raekwon, Nas, Mobb Deep, and Jay-Z. Not to mention he’s just simply one of the best from all time.
Finally, if I could add two more to this list (can I add 10 please?) I’d probably choose Kool Keith from Ultramagnetic MCs and Chuck D from Public Enemy, but there’s so many others who also need the recognition. Without question though, Kool G, BDK, and Ra are the ones who influenced me the most out of the 1980s artists.
5. Scarface/Outkast/Guru (Gangstarr)/Black Thought (the Roots)
There’s so many artists who have influenced me and what I try to do with music and life. There’s too many to name, but these four to me are representative of some of the most creative and artistic works in hip hop history while maintaining high aesthetic sensibility, taste, and value.
Scarface is a legend, pure and simple, and probably my favorite southern artist ever. There’s some great lyricists from the South, such as Ludacris, Outkast, Cee-Lo, UGK, and so many more, but Scarface will probably go down for me as one of the greatest of all time, and in my mind he is the greatest artist the South has ever seen. First of all, even living up to the name of Scarface is a remarkable achievement, as both Al Capone and Tony Montana (from the movie of the same name) have huge influences on hip hop. Second, he was an integral member of the Geto Boys, the South’s answer to the calls of groups like Public Enemy from New York, or NWA from California, and that group really put Texas on the map with albums like Grip It! On that Other Level and We Can’t Be Stopped. Third he has several masterpieces on his solo collections, such as Mr. Scarface is Back, The Diary, and The Fix, and even after having listened to those albums countless times, they still sound fresh, provocative, original, and solid, from beginning to end. Fourth he’s the best-selling artist of all-time in his home state of Texas, which is rather impressive when you consider all the Texas artists out there, not only in hip hop but all genres. Finally, the guy is just real, as real as they come.
Outkast is another group that’s been hugely influential, and their albums always seemed to be just outstanding. My favorites are Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik and Aquemini, but Stankonia and ATLiens aren’t far behind. They’re one of the most acclaimed groups ever, highly consistent, unique, spiritual, funky, relevant, dope, fresh, flavorful, all-that and more. My favorites are when they collaborate with Organized Noize; and the Dungeon Family had some other great groups and artists like Witchdoctor and Goodie Mob. Andre 3000 is one of the favorites in terms of great emcees all-time, but as often happens when one is considered the better of the two lyricists, people forget just how good the other pieces in the duos or trios can be, because Big Boi, Havoc, Phife Dawg, Prince Po, and a host of others helped make those groups (Outkast, Mobb Deep, A Tribe Called Quest, Organized Konfusion) special too.
Next, Guru is such an undervalued and underrated emcee, it’s a crime to me he doesn’t get more respect in the musical realm, especially in hip hop. He was half of the duo Gangstarr with DJ Premier, arguably the greatest hip hop producer of all time. Guru came from the late 80s, with that 1988 kind of crowd of MCs that were just scary good. All his albums with Gangstarr are awesome, and all of them worth buying, from Step into the Arena through The Ownerz, and he just sounds so great on a Premier beat. He’s really saying important things, a great hip hop pioneer and lyricist, and incredible creativity and ability. Him and Black Thought have contributed more to Jazz rap than I think any other two-person pairing, at least when it comes to lyrics and what they did with live Jazz music and hip hop. His three Jazzmatazz albums are so great, and he even put together his own special album, one of the most hidden gems in all of hip hop albums, with Bald Head Slick and Da Clique. I cried a few years ago when I got the news he had passed away from cancer. He definitely deserves recognition as a truly great emcee.
Lastly, Black Thought was the lead emcee for the Roots ever since its inception. Him and Malik B. did most of the lyrical work on the Roots’ first several albums, before Malik B. left to pursue solo interests, and other emcees stepped into the forefront like Dice Raw. In any case, you had to respect the Roots approach to hip hop, using live instrumentation in ways that other groups never really did, or if so, not nearly as successfully. Black Thought is a lot like Inspectah Deck from Wu-Tang for me. Highly underrated, strikes hard, vigorously, and relentlessly, and is just solid from beginning to end of their verses. Just a really solid artist who kept doing it forever. Other live instrument hip hop groups at this time were more rap/rock groups like Korn, Limp Bizkit, Body Count, or Rage Against the Machine (and later some groups like Linkin Park), but the Roots were more like a Jazz, dark, gritty, 90s boom bap, hard East Coast kind of sound, that was really different and unique. Their work ethic was insane too! At one point the Roots were doing 300 live shows a year. That’s insane, I’d never heard of a touring schedule that grueling! But Black Thought just really evolved as an emcee and it’s been a pleasure to see. Him in Do You Want More?! hasn’t hit his stride yet like he did on Illadelph Half-life or Things Fall Apart, and going through other periods of reinvention, up through his veteran style locked-in on How I Got Over and Undun, it’s really an incredible growth and expansion, and really a pleasure to bear witness. He’s put in so much work on so many projects and collaborated with so many other artists, it’s just really an awesome career and artist to get into if you never have before.
When are your new projects coming out?:
New Singles from Epic Vertex
· Machinations (out now)
· The Creative Mind (out now)
· Universe Soul (coming soon)
Solo Singles:
· Trans World Express (ft. Baddogsbite and Thainy Spyce)
· Just Chillin’
Never Idle
Albums:
· Epic Vertex – The Apogee LP (Summer 2021)
· WRECKREATE – Recreate vol. 1 (2023 Tentative)
· Solace Zeta – The Green Prototype (2022 Tentative)
· Solace Zeta – The Yellow Prototype (Summer 2022 Tentative)
Books:
· The Crystallization of Hip Hop Music and Culture in Corporate and Mainstream America, 1995-1998 (published December 2012)
· Meditations Journeying in China (published January 2016, 2022)
What helped you get into music?:
First of all, the hip hop artists I’ve mentioned above as well as friends and family. When I was younger, going to Chicago for summers and other holidays was like really eye-opening. Of course, going to live shows, listening to my friends’ music, the radio, tv shows, movies, all kinds of things like that contributed. My first encounter with playing music as an instrument was in fifth grade playing the trombone. Eventually I quit on the trombone, but as I got deeper into poetry and writing, rapping seemed to be a logical endgame. I remember being in 10th-11th grade, reading Shakespeare’s sonnets in class and just like, arrogantly, thinking, “I can do better than he did…” Obviously, I don’t quite feel quite as arrogant as that anymore, but even so I think I was compelled to want to add something special to the history of poetry and hip hop.
Sid Madrid and 787 was also really instrumental in encouraging and kind of overseeing my development as a hip hop artist. My first song recorded ever was “Dark Asylum.” I’m still proud of that track, and enough so that I think I might try to revive that track with a new hook and beat and see how it goes. Sid was doing stuff really early on, like while we were still in high school and he was playing shows with his band DJ Slammy Jammy 1-2 skee, doing battle of the bands, and doing shows with Dode City, and later Good Grime Sound System and Midknight Run. 787 and I ended up forming a deep friendship following our first encounter at my first show where Calebkai put me on for a track called “Roll Call.” Our bonds got real strong as he helped make a lot of songs for Stranger in the Strange Land’s double-disc album. We both went through some insane times, but having each other’s support and friendship counts as so much then and forever. Apart from that, however, another cool thing was that my cousin Nick in Chicago had a punk band that was really cool called The Impala Fuelers, and other bands like Vee Dee and the Chicago Stone Lightning Band. I remember getting his album and seeing it all wrapped up in the plastic and cool, it seemed so attainable; but at the same time, having known them personally made me think that maybe if they did it, I might be able to do it too. Having the support of family and friends means so much more than I think most people even realize.
What is one thing you would tell your fans?:
Two things. First, find a mentor, or have mentors in your life. Draw strength and purpose from the examples of their lives. Some of mine, for example, are Mohandas Gandhi, Daisaku Ikeda, and Nelson Mandela. A mentor can be someone you know personally, all the way to someone in history who’s been dead for thousands of years, just make sure you choose someone who’s life inspires you to become all that you can be.
Second, listen to my words, please, really listen. I poured my soul into my music, tapped depths of my heart and mind I didn’t even know existed, endured so much, did so much, and all so that I could share it with you. I want to give back to hip hop and people the same way they gave to me: inspiring me in healthy and positive ways, changing my life, opening my eyes, awakening me, just so much. My fans are the best people in the world, and I seek to respect and cherish them as much as they do me. There’s so much I want to say to you, but listen to my words in my albums, and you’ll see the things I want to tell you.
What are your biggest goals for 2019?:
Really getting those projects named above out and released, building my bands and social media, record songs to the best of my ability every time, get healthier, happier, and feel better overall, get the business aspects of everything in great position whether for Ultimate Academy or NewType Music. Enjoy life and share my happiness with good people.
