Entertainment
Keepin’ it Moving with KnowMads
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]S[/dropcap]eattle hip-hop duo KnowMads, made up of Tom Pepe and Tom Wilson, has been part of the Pacific Northwest music scene for nearly a decade. In addition to sharing a first name and almost sharing a birthday (they’re born a day apart from each other), the Seattle natives share a deep love of hip-hop. In their years together, the two have put out a prolific discography, including several mixtapes and full-length albums. The duo’s latest album, Complex Animals, was released in late-2018.
Pepe and Wilson took a break from the studio to chat with CULTURE about their history, their music and how cannabis plays into it all.
Where in Seattle are you guys from?
Pepe: I grew up in Ravenna.
Wilson: I’m from Wallingford.
How did KnowMads come to be?
Pepe: Wilson and I met at a football game our freshman year of high school. We had couple mutual friends who wanted to see us battle, so that’s how we met . . . We used to have tons of people watching these battles at Memorial Stadium during halftime, sometimes during the game. Wilson got me most of the time. Then he invited me and Jesse [Judd] to come record with him at his little home studio. I remember I won this citywide rap battle when I was 16, I won the crowd over, and felt like I was in 8 Mile or some shit. Anyways, I used the winnings from that to buy the mic and we recorded “Saturdayzed,” “The Rooftop” and SEATTLE on. We really just taught ourselves how to do it; Wilson and I have been making music for 13 years together now.
Who are your musical influences?
Pepe: When we first started making music there were a few underground artists that had a profound effect on what we were making. Wilson put me on to Brother Ali, letting me borrow his copies of Shadows on the Sun and Champion (EP). These changed our concept of how you could write poetry and imagery and put your emotion and story on a track—his style had a huge influence on us. Another underground artist I bumped non-stop was One Be Lo of Binary Star. He just talked about regular shit but did it in such an effortless and wise way. Blue Scholars had just come out with their debut album in Seattle, too. Their sound was like Common and Black Star but from Seattle. Speaking about real social issues and giving you that feeling that Geo was really letting you into his life. Blue Scholars showed us that you could be from Seattle and talk about the community, be political, be thoughtful and get on and get heard. Sabzi was also one of our favorite producers from the scene along with Budo who was producing on Macklemore’s first record back then.
“Cannabis opened a lot of windows for us in terms of how we thought and how we created art.”
Has cannabis influenced your sound or creative process?
Pepe: Yeah man. I remember the first time I smoked weed thinking to myself, what the fuck are we all working towards? What is this capitalist system we’re all a part of? It kind of made me reflect on society as a whole, question my conditioning and my place in the world. We used to smoke too much weed—our homie clowned us ‘cause we got kicked out of our own benefit show for sneaking a bong into this YMCA and smoking in the stairwell. Cannabis opened a lot of windows for us in terms of how we thought and how we created art. I had this line on the SEATTLE album that went, “Every time I smoke like I’m speaking to God . . .” I really felt like that too, but you never know sometimes you’re just too high and start taking your inner dialogue too seriously.
Wilson: It also made everything take longer. The KnewBook was delayed two years ‘cause we discovered hash oil.
What’s your favorite album/song/artist to listen to when consuming cannabis?
Pepe: Some of my all times favorites are Acid Raindrops by People Under the Stairs and 93 ‘til Infinity by Souls of Mischief. Something about that sample just felt warm to the brain. Recently I’ve been listening to this band called Khruangbin a lot. I don’t smoke anymore, but I imagine it would sound even better stoned.
Wilson: Lot of music by Devin The Dude sounds better high. Spent a lot of time high as fuck listening to Devin. He came by the studio we were recording at on Aurora back in the day; he hit the gravity bong with us. These days I’m listening to this guy called Maxo Kream from Houston a lot, he’s dope, kinda sounds like Killer Mike but goofier.
See KnowMads live at the duo’s album release party on Dec. 23 at Neumos in Seattle.
