MUSIC TEACHER

It’s enough to make even the most hardened hip hop head drool with unabashed pleasure - De La Soul celebrating their 20th anniversary by touring Australia as a 13-piece band.

But when you add turntablist freak Cut Chemist to the mix, you just know urban folklore is waiting to happen.

“It’s kinda a big deal right? (De La Soul in 13-piece band mode),” questions Lucas MacFadden, aka Cut Chemist, from his Californian home. “I mean it’s their 20-year anniversary. (So) I’m planning a multimedia presentation. It’s me DJing and visuals and I’ll have my rapper with me (Hymnal) so it’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s going to be educational.”

It seems teaching has always played a major role in Cut’s musical career. Aiding in the development of hip hop throughout the 90s, with his roles in seminal urban act Jurassic 5 and Latin-rock outfit Ozomatli, MacFadden is always on the lookout for new techniques and technologies to further his own musical career; and that of his fans.

“Absolutely. I try to learn something new with every show or every time I come back from a tour, I don’t want to have to do the same thing every time. So there’s always some new type of medium or new type of music to learn. I always try and keep it very skillful (as well), so lots of scratching and lots of manipulation of music live, so people know what I’m doing and know how I make my music; that is really important to me.”

First springing to prominence as the DJ/producer for Unity Committee, the rap posse who would later become J5, Cut Chemist says time has passed by faster than most would imagine since the early days of the Good Life Cafe - a Health Food Center in South Central Los Angeles that played host to an open-mic night, where the likes of Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube and The Pharcyde honed their skills.

“It’s funny you should ask ‘cause it really doesn’t (feel that long ago). We’d gotten together to do a (J5) reunion not too long ago and I was telling Charli 2na - I was like ‘wow, it feels like the 18 years that happened in between never happened’. Almost like all this shit happened yesterday and mentally y’know, I still look at music with the same kinda intent, although the type of music I like and the approach I use to present it is different (now).”

One aspect of his craft that seems to have suffered over the years has been the excitement factor at finding new records no one else knows about.

“I don’t know if I have the same passion; I don’t think so, especially with what I used to have. I guess I have a passion for different things. Like when I find a great record that I don’t think anybody else knows about I get really excited. I think the problem is that happens a lot less now than it used to. I feel like if I find a record and I know everybody knows about it, it’s like ‘mmmn, I don’t care’. Everybody knows about everything because of the damn internet!”

Although a lifer when it comes to music, MacFadden does admit to seeking out new challenges within the arts world. A larger role within Hollywood could soon be on the cards, after Cut’s appearance in the 2007 film ‘Juno’.

“That was fun. I’m going to do another one too when I get back (from the De La Soul tour). It’s different, it’s totally different from performing music. It’s cool, I’m not really an actor but I just had fun with it and smiled and did my part and raided the catering!

“I’d like to do more cause I find it easy. It’s really rewarding to have people know about you - I’ve been doing music for what, 15 years and I’m on the screen for four seconds and it’s like I’ve gotten more notice doing one little, small part in a movie than like doing all this music. So (acting) is certainly rewarding in that respect.”

Cut Chemist joins De La Soul - in 13-piece band mode- at The Tivoli Sunday May 3. Please note the venue change.