Michael Bakalis

Interesting hip hop artist whose music might remind the listener of top rap icons like Ice Cube, 3rd Base, and Eminem. Michael's style packages all these great performers in one very good rap album - giving him a unique method of delivery with excellent samples and beats backing his mix. His video (which can be seen below . .) "Let Go" looked like it was filmed with a lot of financing. We're looking forward to seeing more videos and music from Michael Bakalis. He'll be in our first issue . . .

(Click a title to watch a video . .)

Let Go

I sat down with a new artist in the Washington, DC area, Michael Bakalis . . .about his up coming album, Vain Capitol. The album reminded me of several other influences . . .I heard 3rd Bass, Ice Cube . . .a little Eminem . . .but all in all . . .the project was unique, gifted, and a professional sound for todays radio format. Again, I was lucky to find Michael and interview him about his latest album . . .Here's what he had to say . . . Azur Mag: Ok . . basically . . .in the very beginning of Vain Capitol . . what female is talking? Michael: It's Lauren Hill. . . Azur Mag: Oh . . man . .That's Lauren Hill? Michael: It's Lauren Hill . . .It's a clip that I found from a youtube video . . it's maybe a five minute interview . . .and .you know . .I pulled the audio off the youtube video . . it's made from an interview around 2001 . . .around that time . . . Azur MAg: Wow . .thats' nice . . Michael: Yeah. . . Azur Mag: Yeah . .I had no idea who that was . . . Michael: She's one of my inspirations . . .She's an artist that I admire and look up to . . .so . . . you know . ..when she gave that interview and she gave that answer . .. I was like . .man. . . that's how i feel, too. . .I don't wanna make music just for something that sounds good . . I don't want to put it out if it doesn't mean something to me . .so when she said that . . it really resonated with me . . .and you know . . me looking up to her. . .you know . .artistically . .I was like . . man . . .I want to use this in some way. . .so . .I thought it was a good way to put on my very first tape . . .very first song . . . and that's kind of the first message I'm giving people . . .this is . .you know . .this is my heart is to do something with meaning . . . not just something meaningless. . .or just soemthing for the sake of it to sound good . . .I thought that was a good little message to put there . . . Azur Mag: Right . . .Alright . .that sounds excellent . . . Did you style Vain Capitol to sound like a popular rapper . .I mean . . were you trying to sound like anyone in particular or were you going after your own kind of style? Michael: Just the . . you're saying just the sound of the album . . .in general? Azur Mag: No . .your vocal influctions . . .are you mimicing another rapper . . or are you creating your own sound. . .? Michael: Yes . .to be honest . .if I am . .it's not intentional . . .you know . .I mean . .I'm sure anyone who's an artist is influenced by others. . .whether subliminally or slightly . . .I think some of my influences probably do come out. . . in it. . .but it's . .there's never a point when I'm like I'm gonna sound like this guy, right now. . . .I'm never doing that intentionally . . .so . . .I'm tryign to do my own thing . . .that's for sure . . . Azur Mag: Ok . . .was "Ain't A Break Up Song" . . was that meant to be some kind of an athem that you created . .or was it just another rap song that happens to have a catchy lyric? Michael: Well . .that's a good point . . .I didn't sit down to write it. . to sit down and say . .let's write an anthem . .per se . . .a lot of times I just skip the hook . . .becaue . . hooks aren't necessarily my strong point . . but that just sort of came to me . . .and . you know . .break up songs are kind of . . you know . .most of the time it's kind of sad . . .and then. . .I could put some kind of twist on it . . and make it more of . .not a happy thing. .but more of like an optimistic, positive thing . . .cause even the sound of the beat . .and everything . . it's talking about a break up . .but it's kind of like. . . I wanted to put more of a positive spin on it . . I thought it was an interesting way to do it . .but I didn't sit down to write an anthem, or anything . . Azur Mag: Right . . ok. . . What song did you sample in "Definition"? . . .that piano sample . . . Michael: Definition . . it's ahh . . .It is a sample by ahh . .It's not a song . .as much as it's a beat by the Japanese producer . . .Nujabees . . and it's a Japanese producer . . . and what happened was . . .he had died recently . . . and he was kind of a popular producer. .so a lot of other producers would take his beats and do re-mixes to them . . .so . .there's a producer named Bugseed that made that beat . . . and . . it was a tribute from him . .to the producer Nujabees . . .and I really like the beat . . .so I'm pretty sure. . .I don't know if Nujabees sampled that piano . .from something else . . but I know that it was from part of his original beats . . .and somebody sort of re-mixed that . . . and then I used that for the song . . . Does that make sense? Azur Mag: Yeah . . this is excellent information . . .I had no idea who Nujabees was . . . Michael: Yeah . .I wasn't sure if I had explained it the right way. . .but. . . Azur Mag: No, no, no . . .you did . . .I had no idea who he was. . .or what the point was . . and it's actually a lot deeper thatn I thought . . .but yeah . .that's an excellent answer . .. but . .how do you produce in the studio . . .? What kind of equipment do you use? Michael: To be honest . .I don't know too much about equipment . . .I don't have any equipment of my own . . . All I have is a computer . . a cell phone . . .kind of . .stuff like that . . I never had the . . money to be able to go out and buy that stuff . . .So . .what I've really been doing is paying for studio time. . .That's not something that I'd loved to do . . .forever in the future . . .I'm really looking to get connected with people who have equipment of their own. . . or producers who want to do music on a production side. . . that I could link up with . . .but for now . .I've mainly been paying for time . . Azur Mag: Right . . . Ok . .so . .what kind of equipment is in the studios you record in . . .is it like Pro Tools or something similar . . .? Michael: Yeah . . I know as far as the software I've been working with . .Pro-Tools . . .at least the producer were [using this software] sic. . . .and the two producers I've been working with .. . one was a guy out in California . . .There's this church called Bethel in Californa . . .and they produce a lot. . . of albums . .and he worked on their media team . ..so he had access to their studio . . .so . .we could go in there . .and they have . .a multi-million dollar studio . . .but he wasn't a professional . . .but definitely helped . . .and then another producer. . .You know . . .I was in Boston for 6 months. . .and I workd with a student there . . .who's been going there for audio productions . . .so . . we would use their sound rooms .. . I can't say I know the names. . . you know. . .the names of the mics we're using. . . but I know we were using Pro-Tools . . . Azur Mag: OK . . .That tends to be what every body is using. . . . .I mean . . everybody, so far, has said Pro-Tools. . . except Blackmarket Democracy. . .but everyone else is using Pro-Tools . . .Can you tell us how you made the video, "Let Go"? We discussed it, before . . I just wanted to put it in the interview . . . Michael: Yeah . . .yeah . . .ahh . .what was the question about it? . . You said? Azur Mag: How did you make the video "Let Go"? Michael: Yeah . . .will . .a lot of times when I write a song . . . I'll have . . . you know . ..when you imagine how something's going to be . . you'll have the video in your head . . .and when I was writing that song . .I just kind of saw . . .what came out in the video . . .I saw myself . .like under a bridge . . I saw . .like the rain . .I even saw . . .what I was wearing . .and I have all that visualized in my mind. . .. and I've decided . . you know . . .there are a lot of people willing to shoot a video for $300 - $400 . . . .but I want as much creative control as I can get . . .so I can express myself the most accurately . .. .so I figure . . I might as well invest . . .I spent $1500 on a camera . . .about $300 on the editing . . .then I just went out with my little sister and girlfriend and went to this bridge that I had in my mind . . and . .luckily enough it started raining . . .you know . .that night . .so it was almost like it was meant to be . . .You know . .I told them the shots I wanted . . .and you know . .we got it all done in one night. . . Azur Mag: It's an excellent video . . .(laughs. . .) Michael: Thank you . . .I appreciate it . . Azur Mag: . . .Yeah . . .Let's see . . what kinds of music labels are you looking for, right now? Michael: To be honest . . I can't say that I am . . .Right now, I don't feel like I'm at the point where . . . I think I'm still discovering what I want to do . . .and how I want to do it. . . .I don't know if I'd be interested in somebody coming up . . .I'd love to link up with other people in the business and learn. . . .or maybe to collaborate . .things like that . .but I don't think I want to sign onto anything . .just yet. . . Azur Mag: Oh . . .ok . . . .What made you start rapping? What brought you into rapping? Michael: Honestly . . .I've always loved rap . . .you know . .but growing up . . you just rap along with the song . .similar to singing along with the song . . .and . .I didn't start rapping till I was about 20 . . . 21 years old . . .I'm 25, now. . . I think at 20 . . that was about five years ago . . .I was in college . . .and just for fun, I joined a rap group in college. . . .I was just thinking. . the year's almost over . . I'll just do this for fun . . .and . .you know . .I'm actually good at this . . .and people would tell me . . .oh wow . .you're actually good at this . . .I never thought of it as an option . . I just thought I'd rap along with the songs . . . .and then I'd start writing on my own, and everything. . . and it . .kind of went from there . . .I guess I've rapped all my like . . in a sense . . .but maybe . .not seriously for the last four or five years . . . Azur Mag: Great . . .Alright . . .How did you prmote your video, Let Go? Michael: As far as promotion . . .I can't say I've been doing that very well . . . Azur Mag: You have over 400 visits on that video . . .alone . . Michael: That's true . . .I know one of the main things is . . .I use facebook . . ahh . . .you know on facebook . . .before I put it out . .I message about thirty - forty people. . .privately on facebook . . . you know . . .my own friends . . .and I told them to . . hey . .I'm about to put this out in the next hour or so. . will you please share it . . .and . .they were all people I knew from college or high school . . .things like that. . and of course . . .they're more than happy to . .So I got maybe thirty . . .thirty-five shares . . .in that first night I put it out . .and the next morning . . .I had over 250 views . . . so . .that's why I said . .I'm not sure how my promotions are going . . .I have 250 views in a day . . and maybe about. . .200 in the month, since then . . so . . .I'm not really sure about the different avenues to go . .but that's how I started it off . . .mainly on facebook . . .maybe on twitter Azur Mag: That's an awesome story . . .Just understanding that facebook was able to reach out that much . . . Michael: Yeah . . yeah . . Azur Mag: That's excellent . . . So . . .we'll feature Michael Bakalis on the blog as well as this magazine and we'll try to get you the url for the video - which you can see from our web site in Micahael Bakalis' name. He has a soundcloud encompassing all the top songs from his latest album, Vain Capitol . . .so he offers resources on youtube, soundcloud, and possibly one more social network . . .you can find him on facebook. . .I'll list the links at the top of the article . . .

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