We were introduced to Jason “ECID” McKenzie by Minneapolis artist Chuck U, who’s one of our favorite local talents. Jason rocks the mic with songs about bikes, like the rollicking “Fuck a Car We Teleport,” and he’s planning to lead a group bike ride to his headlining gig at 7th St. Entry on Thursday, June 4. He took a few minutes away from being all-around awesome to talk music, the Twin Cities creative community, and of course, bikes.
You’ve got 30 seconds on an elevator to describe your music to someone who’s never heard you before. What do you tell them?
My songs are social commentary on modern society. They are anthems for personal triumph, and sometimes failure. I am always trying to re-think what a rap song can and should sound like. So if this is the first time you’re hearing me, the next time you hear me I will be on a whole new trip. Am I at 30 seconds yet?!?! Well, before the elevator blows up, just know that my songs are the spinach to your brain that will help you be the ruler of your universe.
What do you remember about your first bike?
I got my first bike when I was pretty young. All really remember about that bike is riding around in a circle after getting the training wheels off and being super stoked. The childhood bike I really remember is my Schwinn Phantom, which I rode from like 10 years until sometime in my teens. I loved that bike.
When I was young and moved “far away” from where I had been growing up to that point I remember biking the eight miles back to my childhood neighborhood because I was so homesick. I had two other friends biking with me and they both turned around and went home because it wasn’t as close as I made it seem. So to answer your question I’ve always loved biking and always had torn feelings about cars.
Bikes pop up as a subject in a number of your songs. Is riding part of your songwriting process?
I would say over the past couple years biking has become a part of the process. I’ll load up new beats on my iPod and ride around. Or listen to a batch of new songs while riding around town and get that “light bulb” in my head for what song I should write next
We always ask our poster artists what they think the connection between bikes and art is. What’s your take on the connection between bikes and music?
For me it’s about feeling free. I think the reason I love biking so much is because I feel very free while doing it. I can take whatever path I want as long as there isn’t a fence or a bear in my way. I feel the same way about music. When you find an artist you connect with everything suddenly feels alright in the world. As an artist I can do whatever I put my mind to as long as there isn’t a bear hiding in the headphones.
On a broader level, creativity thrives in the Twin Cities in every form, from music to architecture to art to food. Why do you think that’s the case?
Y’know, I’m not sure how that happened here. But I would be willing to bet it’s the five or six months of being kinda trapped in doors. Because by the time April, May hits there are tons of things to do and all your friends want to be social again. I really think that all that wintertime reflection breeds creativity. I know it does for me. It’s almost like we all go hide for half the year and work on new stuff and then spend the other part of the year sharing it. Then we take the input we get, hide some more and the cycle continues. I think the coolest thing is just seeing the growth in support for local art, food, beer, music, etc.
What’s the biggest non-musical influence on your music?
Growing up I was really into movies, so I’d say that in my early song writing days I was really inspired to write songs that had movie-like depth. But now I am a little more influenced and inspired by my yoga practice, which really keeps my mind fresh and open to new ideas. Aside from that, I get a ton of influence from my neighborhood and the people around me. I get tons of song ideas from conversations. So many songs have been written from things I’ve taken out of conversations.
Minneapolis artist Chuck U did the artwork for your latest album, Pheromone Heavy, as well as your album Werewolf Hologram. How did you get connected with him?
Oh man. I met Chuck in I think 2003 through the music scene. He had done some artwork for some of my very first projects, back when he would tell me I wasn’t good yet. (Laughs.) We have been friends ever sense. He’s definitely another inspiring figure in my life and just a good friend. We have a mutual respect and adoration for each other’s work and always look out for each other.
Was the idea for the Pheromone Heavy album art something you talked through with Chuck? Or did he just take it and run with it?
Funny thing is, he had originally wanted to make the cover have a metal-ish look with the art revolving around an insect. But I just couldn’t have that. I mean, I dig the esthetic of modern metal and punk art, but I just couldn’t have the bugs. So when he showed me the initial bug thing, he also mentioned having another idea.
In my head the whole time I wanted to have this intimate picture of a body or linked bodies and somehow he came up with something really close what was in my head. For the most part he just ran with it though. I like to let me friends doing for my stuff do what they do and take it from there.
You’ve got three albums under your belt. From the first to the latest, what do you think has changed about your sound? Your rhymes? Your creative process?
Crazy thing is actually have like five, six, seven albums under my belt, but some are more side projects and experiments so I like going with three.
On Werewolf Hologram I was experimenting with telling narratives through metaphor. Using imagery and abstraction to hopefully create songs with multiple meanings for multiple people. On Post Euphoria I was coming out of a break-up and basically detailing the exploits of my life in the post. Lyrically it was very direct and I was just having an insane amount of fun experimenting.
Pheromone Heavy is the focused result of those experiments. It has covers a broad spectrum of topics and themes. It’s as ambitious as Werewolf Hologram, lyrically, but less focused on abstract imagery and more about telling a bigger story with a more direct and true to life approach. I put a ton of references to all kinds of moments my life in the record.
Over the course of these projects I think the thing that has kept evolving for me is that my own trust in my artistic voice is starting to really shine through. I’m not worried about doing some magical rap pattern that’s going to change hiphop forever. I’m just trying write the best damn songs I know I can write and take it from there.
I’m definitely pushing myself but I feel more and more comfortable in my skin, which in turn I think is helping me make better music. Through all of this I’d say my beat-making process has changed the most. I just keep adding new tools to my set-up and have been working with more live musicians.
What’s one thing that people are surprised to learn about you?
I feel like people are always surprised that I do yoga. They think it’s a joke or something. I can see why and never take offense to it. Another funny thing I encounter is people always think I’m a vegetarian. Just because I’m a weirdo doesn’t mean I’m a vegetarian! Ha! I think all the references on the new album to chicken wings and General Tso’s chicken should help kill that false assumption soon.
Rumor has it you’re planning a massive group bike ride to your 7th St. Entry show on Thursday, June 4. How can people get in on that?
Oh, man! This show is going to fricking rule. The plan is to meet on the middle of the Stone Arch Bridge at 6:00pm. Then from there we will venture up to Dangerous Man for a quick beer at 7:00pm then after we’ll make our way up to the 7th St Entry just in-time for 8:00pm doors!
