Access Sez So: Genghis Khan – Night Gallery
On the second installment of Access Sez So, Wes speaks with Infinity Gauntlet about working with the enigmatic Genghis Khan on Genghis’ latest album, Night Gallery.
Historians believe that not a single accurate depiction actually exists of the great Mongolian Emperor, Genghis Khan, who ruled in Ancient China over 700 years ago. Information about him over the centuries has been passed down in folklore and tales of legend. In contrast, with today’s technology, we have all kinds of public data collecting. Yet you’d still be hard pressed to find any pictures or footage of San Diego’s Genghis Khan, one of the most elusive emcees in the SD underground hip hop scene. And no, that Facebook profile you found is not the real Genghis Khan of the legendary Masters of The Universe crew.
First, a little history on the crew: formed as far back as 1993, Masters of The Universe was one of the first well-renowned SD hip hop groups. With members like Orko Eloheim (fka Orko The Sycotik Alien), Odessa Kane, Shaman12, Sumach (bka Gonjasufi), Eclipse, Autopsy and Johaz (of Deep Rooted), they helped give SD’s hip hop scene a voice. I actually grew up in the East Coast, but in high school in the late 90′s, even I had heard of Masters of The Universe. Going on five years as a member of the Access family, I can tell you that we have sent online orders for their material all over the world thanks to Orko. He hooks us up with mere CDR’s of masters copied from cassettes and they don’t sit for long before they’re sold.
Never having spoken with Genghis Khan myself, I can only give you a few accounts from Infinity Gauntlet, younger brother to Odessa Kane, who produced Night Gallery. Infinity grew up around these guys at the peak of their popularity and now follows in their footsteps with his own music.
Infinity explains that Genghis “is a real enigmatic character.” He hadn’t seen him for years, “it was like he just disappeared.” Then one day back in 2007, walking down the street in Paradise Hills: “I had just had a conversation about him the night before and there he was walking down the other side of the street and I was like ‘Genghis?!’ and he came and said what’s up.” They started to talk about music and immediately Genghis started rifling off at least five different projects he was working on (or had in mind). When he mentioned Night Gallery, Infinity jumped at the opportunity to work together.
Not sure if it was official, Infinity felt that time was of the essence, that if he didn’t bang one out while the idea was fresh, he might not get another chance. A few days later, he was surprised with a knock on the door. “Genghis showed up wearing a hockey mask … It tripped me the fuck out,” he laughed. That day, they recorded the album opener “Friday The 13th.”
Genghis Khan “Friday The 13th”
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During the recording process, Genghis apparently had a backpack full of notebooks, binders, and stacks of papers with lyrics. After a beat was chosen–often a selection that caught Infinity Gauntlet off-guard–he would run through one of them and start spittin. Infinity would then push him to record immediately. But when it came time to record, “he would do a completely different song.” Even when Genghis messed up on a take, “he wouldn’t redo the same verse just to fix a word he tripped over. He’d do a different verse he hadn’t even recited.”
After several months of recording, cutting and constructing, the album was complete. “I went to this crib he was staying at and the people who lived there answered the door and said he was gone.” Determined to get the album out, Infinity Gauntlet continued to work on it without Genghis. But he didn’t want to release it until he was able to get some word from Khan himself. Finally, out of the blue several months later, “Genghis called me up and I drove out to meet him in La Mesa where we worked on some different shit.” When Infinity asked Genghis about Night Gallery and what he wanted to do with it, “he was like ‘Oh that? Yeah do whatever you want with it. Go ahead and put it out.’” With Genghis’s blessing, it finally dropped last December.
Without any backstory at the time, I was a little hesitant. After all, this was like the sixth project Infinity Gauntlet had hooked us up with in 2010 alone. Having made all the beats on his MPC2000XL, Infinity’s usual jazz sampling is present, also heavy with psychedelia, 1950′s movie scores, and sci-fi sound effects. The drums of the ghosts who once played them are looped and chopped up with the soul of their sounds still intact and transformed into haunting hip hop instrumentals. But very smartly, I feel as though Infinity reserved his desire to go heavier and tamper with the beats after the recording process so that the focus could be on the lyrics.
Every track is filled with a with a chain-link fence style of connecting words and random thoughts that create visuals to rival the classic opening title sequence of the Twilight Zone. I am blown away by the complexity of Genghis Khan’s structure and style. His pauses are like mandatory moments for the mind to soak in and decipher the words. And when he wants to pick up the pace, he does so on tracks like “Cool Out.”
Genghis Khan “Cool Out”
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The final track on the album, “The Theatre,” was one of the last that was recorded. This down-tempo, melancholy beat features continuous, hypnotic guitar plucking, while Genghis goes so slow it could be considered spoken word.
Genghis Khan “The Theatre”
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Rumor has it, even Project Blowedians from Freestyle Fellowship and CVE once fell to his brilliance during battle. That’s the stuff of legend, and the few who witnessed this and know him personally, talk about it to this day. But gone are the days of the warrior Genghis Khan, a lyricist who once served some of the most formidable opponents and performed with fellow soldiers of the now disbanded Masters of the Universe crew. Because if you listen closely, Genghis Khan provides parting words as an artist moving on, putting another chapter in his life behind him as he presents final paintings to a faceless audience in his own personal ‘night gallery,’ if you will.
You may not find photos or video of him, but at least we have his music, and we are meant to hear this rare poet’s wizardry and his last incantations before he takes off again, astral traveling to the next dimension … wherever in his mind that may exist.
-Wes
Reading be fun though:
