Interview: Clear Soul Forces

Clear Soul Forces, a Detroit-born hip-hop group, is one of the headliners at Saturday's Vanguards event.

Fighting Obstacles Knowing Ultimate Success (F.O.K.U.S.) is an arts advocacy organization whose mission is to create a diverse community using the arts as a common medium. F.O.K.U.S. views the arts as a universal passion as well as a unifying vehicle for people to rise above the divides of society. We work to create a strong collection of artists, audiences and environments that yield many benefits to individuals who think artistically and creatively. F.O.K.U.S. provides the platform for people to freely express themselves, which in turn allows them to create an identity and meet their personal missions.

Vanguards is F.O.K.U.S.’s flagship event: an annual block party celebrating the University’s artistic community as well as the close of the academic year. By combining live musical performance with inter-active art projects and old-fashioned block party games, Vanguards creates a unique space for people of diverse backgrounds to celebrate art together. In past years F.O.K.U.S has introduced the University to artists such as The Macpodz, Belikos, and Slum Village, as well as some of U of M’s most talented dance groups and poets.

Scheduled for Saturday, April 17 on the Diag, this event will show that artistic expression has the power to bring diverse groups together on common grounds, one of the main priorities of F.O.K.U.S. Vanguards has an atmosphere similar to a traditional block party with the difference being that, instead of a culturally analogous neighborhood, Vanguards takes place at the center of a culturally diverse campus.

One of Vanguards’s headline performers is Clear Soul Forces (CSF), which is comprised of four talented big dreamers from Detroit with a knack for converting feeling and thought into sound via hip-hop music.

As a group, CSF aims to make music that average people can relate to, and bring light to the fun side of hip-hop. As a preview of Vanguards 2010, F.O.K.U.S. Vice President Bryan Davila interviewed CSF member Kortez Marion.

Bryan: Who is CSF? Where are you guys from and how did you all come together to start making music?

Kortez: CSF is a four-man hip-hop group with a dream to spread good music as far as we can. Wimpy is from Colorado Springs, J.RoC was born in Detroit and moved to Rochester at youth, E-Fav was born and raised in Detroit, and I was born in Pontiac, but mostly raised in Detroit.

We all started making music together in the summer of ‘09. We started out by just doing performances and that’s how we came together, then eventually we started going to performances together. Then one night we all put together all the money we had, which had to be all of $75, to go record in a studio around Detroit, and that’s when we ran into Royce Da 5’9. He was recording in a different room than us, but I remember I thought he was leaving so I jumped on the only opportunity I had and asked him to check out some of our music before he left. At the time we were all still solo artists. [...] He just kept telling us how dope we were individually and how much further we would get if we came together. Thus, Clear Soul Forces was born.

Bryan: Tell us about Clear Soul Radio? Is this the first project you’ve all recorded together?

Kortez: Clear Soul Radio was released on Feb. 27. It’s hosted by DJ Mo Beatz and features nothing but us and some production from none other than me. On the project you will find the perfect balance of strictly hard rhymes and beats, humorous skits, and chill and laid-back tracks that you just wanna roll out to. At that time we really realized how much mainstream radio sucked and how hip-hop artists never got a chance to debut on the radio so we said, let’s just hit ‘em with dope music that should be played on the radio. Like, if we had a chance to host our on radio station, this is how it would be.

Bryan: What’s your relationship with Ann Arbor like? Have you all ever performed here? What are you expecting from Vanguards?

Kortez: I think it’s safe to say none of us have ever performed in Ann Arbor before, but I have a connection with the people there simply because Ann Arbor holds the most amount of true hip-hop heads than any other city in Michigan, and for that I can’t wait for Vanguards. I don’t know what to expect just yet, but off top I can honestly say this will be the biggest performance from Clear Soul Forces yet.

Bryan: Where do you see CSF going in 2010? 2011? What are your plans for the future of the group?

Kortez: Honestly, I see CSF taking over the world...in due time. But in 2010, we’re just trying to establish the most connections possible before we start on our next project. We’ve put our project in so many hands ranging from Royce Da 59, Kidz in the Hall, 88 Keys, Black Milk, Daru Jones, Pac Div, Brother Ali, 14KT, Fashawn, the list goes on. Just based on the reviews we’ve gotten from websites, I feel like once we get this project in the right set of hands, our next one will set the world on fire.

We all have a plan to move out to New York by this time next year. For this year, we just want to spread our mu- sic as far as we can by ourselves before we start to make bigger moves. We’re talking about releasing another project entitled “The Yellow Tape” later this year, sort of fall-ish. So be on the lookout for that and our debut EP “The Force Is With You” coming in 2011.

Bryan: How has Detroit shaped your artistic style? What’s the scene like and how has CSF benefited from it or been hurt by it?

Kortez: Detroit has shaped our artistic style greatly. By drawing influences by Slum Village, Royce, J Dilla, Black Milk, and even our peers Cold Men Young, Detroit CYDI, and Phresh Heir help us figure out what and where we want to go next musically.

Just listening to others helps us stay in our lane and rise up to the challenge by trying to make music as powerful and as heart-felt as the rest of the people I just named. It’s a gift and a curse having talented peers, it’s like, on one hand, it’s really cool to have all of us in one place at one time, shutting crowds down, and then, on the other hand, one of those groups can release a song that makes us go back to the drawing board.

The scene in Detroit in our opinion isn’t what it should be, or what we want it to be. We just feel like the support group isn’t as large as it should be and staying here wouldn’t help our career get to where we want it, which hurts so bad because this is home for us. But we see a benefit in the long run because once we get to where we want to be, it definitely will be worth it, and we have a goal to bring Detroit’s scene back to where it should be.

For more information about Clear Soul Forces, visit clearsoulforces.bandcamp.com or twitter.com/clearsoulforces.

To learn more about Vanguards and F.O.K.U.S., check out their website at onefokus.org.