In the protean world of hip-hop music, Chicago based group The Primeridian crafts quality tracks firmly rooted in the earliest fundamentalsof the genre. Drawing on jazz, soul, and gospel, the Primeridian, composed of emcees Simeon “See-me-on” Viltz, Darshon“Race” Gibbs and DJ Jamal “Jaytoo” Jeffries, delivers a sophisticated style of hip hop with lyrics that touch on political and social issues. Although commercial success has eluded the Primeridian, they have shared the stage with some of hip-hop’s biggest names including Rakim and Common. The group was originally founded as a duo in 2002 by See-me-on and emcee Jaime “Tree” Roundtree who has since left Chicago to pursue other interests. Race has since stepped in as the second emcee, rhyming on almost every track on “Da Mornin Afta”, the group’s most recent LP. As lyricists, much of the group’s work deals with the harsh realities of life in Chicago. Both emcees are also committed members of their communities and teach audio production classes to Chicago’s youth. While their lyrical content is often serious, it can also be humorous and witty. In concert, The Primeridian are anything but predictable, with the ability to transform seamlessly into a jazz trio with See-me-on on trumpet, Jaytoo on the sax, and Race on the keyboard.

We recently sat down with Race and See-me-on as they prepared for shows in New York to discuss music, their work with Chicago’s youth, and what it truly means to be a “Count.”

Describe your sound for someone who has never heard you before.

SEE-ME-ON: Beautifully melodic, soulfully hypnotic funked out for your listening pleasure.

RACE: Shamalamading-dong, buy it on the ring tone.

What was the transition like integrating a new emcee to the group?

S: It was real natural ‘cause Race was already in the fold. We was already real cool with him and the group he was in was Highruallahz/PCP and we was all together as High Noon. With Race in particular we had already did several songs all collectively, him and Tree did some songs as well and I did the production on them. There was already this synergy with us, so when Tree was trying to focus on other things, like school and family, he gave Race his blessing. We agreed that it was a natural progression.

How has Race’s style influenced the Primeridian sound?

S: His style has definitely brought some more grit and edge to it. It’s also brought some humor and helped us expand and bring in more people that are feeling the edgier stuff rather than just the funk vibe. Race used to always call me the conglomerate of funk, the conglomerate of stank, if you will.

You guys work closely with Chicago youth. What role does today’s hip-hop play in their life and how is it different from the hip-hop that was coming out when you were growing up?

R: It plays the same role it played in our life. Lucky for us when we were coming up, hip-hop was a lot younger than it is now. When we were coming up it was more of a balance we did have a NWA, but we also had Chuck D, KRS-One, Rakim even a De La Soul, and Tribe. It was just a different mix. Now hip-hop’s become much more cookie cutter. It moves a lot faster because of technology and other things and it’s like a microwave type of thing. Some records used to go for years. Somebody would put out a record and years later you would anticipate their next album, now if you don’t put out a record in six months people will forget about you. It’s a different type of thing. I think what it does for the youth is it makes them kind of want everything at that pace. They’re looking for instant gratification whereas they don’t see how putting in hard work in and dedication is what builds it up and ends up paying off in the long run.

Chicago’s problem with youth violence has been in the national spotlight recently. How do you see hip hop affecting young people’s reality?

R: Music is just very influential to children. Simeon helped me out and pulled me into teaching youth music production. I’ve grown to like it because it’s a way to influence youth and to get them to think in a more critical state of mind and also be a mentor to them. To guide them in a direction and make them see things in a different light than maybe they actually see them and hopefully circumvent some of the circumstances like a Derrion Albert or any other type of youth that gets caught up in a situation like that. We can just maybe catch that through music, through the teaching of how to make music, or just being in a day to day interaction with the youth.

Do the young people you work with respond to the kind of hip hop you guys are putting out?

S: Sometimes when we do the workshops with the youth they’ll become fans because they will get wind of some of the stuff that we doin’, or they may because of that mentorship pay attention if they hear it on the radio or see something happenin’ online. Right now I can’t say that the youth are naturally gravitating to what we’re putting out. I should say there is a contingency of youth listening to a lot of the stuff that we came up on and some have knowledge of hip hop. There is a demographic of that goin’ on, but it’s small. Now the mainstream is definitely, like Race said,the cookie cutter, the microwaves, where they just want it fast and easy, dumbed down to one syllable. That’s what’s being pushed to them so naturally that’s what a lot of them associate with. They hear us and say oh that’s old school, whereas some of the youth that are into the underground or stuff that isn’t on the radio, they do gravitate towards our music.

Where is the line drawn between representing reality and glorifying violence that could exacerbate that reality? Does an emcee have a responsibility not to cross that line?

R: As long as you are honest to who you are it doesn’t matter what you’re really talking about. To say that hip hop is what causes violence…what about Hollywood? What about the US government within itself? They’ve stolen plenty of land all over the world. The world is violent, you know? Man is violent. So until we all look at ourselves and ask ourselves why we are this way and try to change those things, it will be like that. But first you got to be honest with yourself. A rap song for me never made me want to go out and beat up anybody or jump on anybody or anything like that. I will say though if you are a good artist you are selling a vibe. As long as you are honest about it then it’s ok. Everybody has a different existence that they grew up in.

Learn the language of the primeridian…. BY LAURENT VARLET AND THE FINEPRINT CHICAGO

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