Interestingly enough, Faction submitted their album to us about the same time I found their video for the My Funk Volume contest on Hopsin’s Facebook page.
I assume the universe just meant for me to know about these guys because that’s never happened before…and I have been blogging since 2007.
If you don’t know about the monster indie label known as Funk Volume or their Don’t Fu[n]k Up Our Beat Contest, then you need to pay closer attention to the independent hip hop game. In fact, your Hip Hop Head pass should be revoked if this is the first time you’ve heard of this label.
Below is Faction’s entry video for the contest followed up by our recent interview with the group.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkI1qPgzkUU
Let’s get this out of the way. State for the readers: who are you? where are you from? what style of music do you make?
We are Faction from a very small town named Caroline County in Virginia, and we make some of the realest hip hop music you’ll ever hear.
Was there an “ah-ha” moment when you guys knew music is what you were going to do?
Well I (Kyele) have been involved with music for a long time. After Taylor’s release from jail, we made a hip hop remix to Fun’s song “We Are Young” just for fun. When we saw the huge response it got we were in shock, and that’s when Faction was born.
Who or what influences you? What producers or other artists are you working with?
Our inspirations are Eminem, Hopsin, and Chris Webby. Those are the main ones. And we don’t work with anyone. I do it all. I record it, I mix and master it. I do our pictures, videos, designs, orders. Literally everything lol.
What is the scene like in your area?
Our hip hop scene is non existent unfortunately. My town is filled with metal heads and “hardcore” kids. So it’s really hard to get shows.
Hip Hop Is Back (video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcSuK-5tkEU
Your bio states that you guys became best friends in middle school but things took a turn for the worse due to drugs, alcohol, girls, depression, and other dark forces of life…has that played into your creativity?
Our past definitely plays into our creativity. Without it I don’t think we’d be rapping. It gives us the uniqueness we have in our music. We can touch people’s lives and show them that they aren’t alone in this life, even when they take a turn for the worse whether it be drugs, depression, or anything bad.
Would you say your long history together contributes to the creative chemistry you two share? Is there a special energy you have as a group that doesn’t exist when each of you go solo?
Most definitely. Taylor can’t touch on the depression factor, and I can’t touch on addiction and incarceration. So I feel like with us together we can hit on all sides of the spectrum. When it comes to downfall, we know every side of it together. We can hit on all walks of life instead of soloing out one specific topic.
How is the Internet/social media helping (or hurting) you and the promotion of your music?
We did pretty well with our music getting plays and people listening to us. But then Hopsin posted our video on his page for the Funk Volume contest. Because of him and Underground On Top all of our networks our blowing up constantly and we attract about 100 fans a day. Things are really crazy right now and we’re so thankful. We even had an order come in from Germany for our album! Lol.
How do you feel about your entry into Funk Volumes Don’t F[u]nk Up Our Beats contest? Will you guys be able to hit the 250 votes mark to get into the Top 25?
We feel good about our entry, even though we rushed it. We posted our video to get exposure, not to win a contest. Because our scene is dead we have to find different ways to get people to find us and this was a perfect opportunity. We didn’t know Hopsin would post it though, and with him being one of our inspirations we definitely fan girled about it lol. I know we can get 250 votes easily so I guess we’ll see what happens. We won’t care if we don’t win though, we just don’t care about money.
What’s in store for 2013?
2013 is all about our new album “Hip Hop is Back” and promoting this album as much as we can. This year is our year and I’m going to make sure of that. My goal is to find a way to grow the fan base to find new kids to reach out to. Music can fix alot of things, and there’s not alot of people out there like us. So that’s definitely our priority.
Where can people find you online? Where can we grab your album?
We our on alot of websites, and we list every one of them on our official website I built not to long ago which is www.factionofficial-com.webs.com.
Any last thoughts or shout-outs?
We just want to thank everyone that supports us, and especially our parents. And a special thanks to Hopsin, and Underground On Top for the promotion!
Cold Soul (video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG63yqI0ZFo
