"there is no way that would have been possible in the past without the evolution of the genre." -Trigger 🇮🇪
Trigger 🇮🇪: What's the craic? As we say in Ireland..meaning 'what's good or what's happening or what's the news. First off thanks for having me. Well I'm an Irish artist named Trigger, just a nickname I got in the streets as a teen. I'm from The Northside of Cork City which has a stigma for antisocial behavior, car joyriding, drugs, crime the usual of any inner city area with problems but has some beauty to the untrained eye. I started off writing rhymes in copybooks as a kid and ended up shooting music videos in Los Angeles with some of my idols present day...but I'll try to fill in what happened in-between throughout this interview haha..
Mistah Wilson: We met you thru King Leez when he came thru tha Projects for tha exclusive interview. How did you and Leez link up?
Trigger 🇮🇪: So Leez was my guy Jonathan [from Seattle's] homie, it was my first time meeting him on this trip out to LA and we ended up hitting the studio and shooting a video while we were there...it's crazy how things end up happening! Leez is an animal and majorly underrated..
Mistah Wilson: Now, let's talk music! We saw your video for "Where It All Began" that looks like it was shot in New York. What was your inspiration to Hip Hop and what led you to start rapping?
Trigger 🇮🇪: I think what initially started me rapping was listening to artists like Pac, Big, Wu-Tang, Nas, Big pun, Eazy-E, Snoop, Nate Dogg and the more I started listening the more I researched and the more I studied it and it became a huge part of my life and craft. From there my Hip Hop encyclopedia of knowledge grew and I branched out to hundreds of different artists. As far as inspiration, it was simple. I loved Hip Hop so much I wanted to be a part of it, I wanted to tell my story, and my people's story..living in some of the situations I've lived with I could relate to a lot of what I was listening to through my headphones as a 13/14 year old. I thought if they can do it why can't I? Of course it wasn't as widely accepted as it is now to be a rapper from Ireland, you were looked upon as a wannabe American, but I always said 'I'm telling my story, in my accent, and talking about things that either I've seen, lived or heard going on in my own environment'. Hip Hop is an art form; why shouldn't I be able to paint my picture or canvas like those who I so idolized growing up, those who I had listened to with the passion and articulation that I admired so much. It was an outlet, I always say if you can tell a story and its flows so freely as if it just happens to sound like the words rhyme as a coincidence is that not a great poetic narrative?
Mistah Wilson: How has tha Hip Hop genre developed in Ireland today?
Trigger 🇮🇪: When I started out in Ireland it was happening but not being documented very much, not being recorded very much etc..it was rare you would have ever heard of an Irish rapper. I'm doing this Just 10 years as of 2023 and I believe I'm one of the firs to ever release a music video or a full length album as a Hip Hop artist in my city thus becoming remembered as a pioneer from that point of view, and I don't say that with an ego. Of course there was a live scene and some artists releasing music but it was very hard for those before me in Ireland to find a platform to be heard. The likes of RiRa, GMC, Lunatic, B-wonder, before the days of social media were getting radio play and well respected but nowadays there's a stream of artists from Ireland doing it, some better than others but that's a conversation for another day haha. I mean even if you see my latest release 'how its spose to be' shot in a Beverly Hills mansion with LA's Pacman Da Gunman, there is no way that would have been possible in the past without the evolution of the genre. I'm lucky to be the first to branch out to such places and getting so many great opportunities.
Trigger 🇮🇪: Well as far as American artists? 2pac's Group The Outlawz, Lil Eazy-E, Pacman Da Gunman, MC Eiht, the late great Slim 400, and a good deal more. Some of which are recorded but haven't been released yet and will be on my album 'The Irish Connect ' due later this year. There's too many to list that I'd like to work with , the sky is the limit..Xzibit, Daz, any of the Wu-Tang would be up there, doh!
Mistah Wilson: In your own words, what would you say are some of Hip Hop's biggest challenges in terms of global viability?
Trigger 🇮🇪: That's a tough one..I guess from my point of view the accent, the slang etc..some people from Cali or New York might not understand exactly what I'm saying at first listen but when they keep listening they'll learn what I'm saying is authentic and true and hopefully have enough interest to listen it out and know there's a deeper message that you can understand whether your from Dubai, America, China or anywhere really...
Mistah Wilson: We peeped your debut album TRIGGERNOMETRY. What sounds like a well balanced masterpiece has a track list of 15 healthy cuts. What was tha experience like putting this piece of work together?
Trigger 🇮🇪: That was a great experience, I feel its aged well, whether the topic be 'Garda Harrasment' - where I'm talking about police harassment, 'Top Gear'-where I'm taking about living in an apartment block with neighbors who are all addicted to heroine and trying to live amongst the chaos as a 19/20 year old or 'Back To Basics' where I'm taking about my close friendship with fellow Irish rapper 'Basic' AKA Corey O'Callaghan who died the month before his 21st birthday. 'Street-wide' is an underrated song off that album I think which talks about the poverty and homelessness I experienced at just 19. Looking back 'Triggernometry' was where I was just finding my feet as a recording artist but is like an autobiography and although the topics are controversial and shouldn't have been played on radio I had a lot of media roll with it and oversee that the message was strong even if it was explicit.
Mistah Wilson: Ok, because we're from Los Angeles, we just have to ask. Are you a Celtics fan or naw? Tread carefully lol
Trigger 🇮🇪: I'm not really into sports, never have been. I'll leave it at that haha!
Mistah Wilson: In your own words, what would you say are some of Hip Hop's biggest challenges in terms of global viability?
Trigger 🇮🇪: That's a tough one..I guess from my point of view the accent, the slang etc..some people from Cali or New York might not understand exactly what I'm saying at first listen but when they keep listening they'll learn what I'm saying is authentic and true and hopefully have enough interest to listen it out and know there's a deeper message that you can understand whether your from Dubai, America, China or anywhere really...
Mistah Wilson: We peeped your debut album TRIGGERNOMETRY. What sounds like a well balanced masterpiece has a track list of 15 healthy cuts. What was tha experience like putting this piece of work together?
Trigger 🇮🇪: That was a great experience, I feel its aged well, whether the topic be 'Garda Harrasment' - where I'm talking about police harassment, 'Top Gear'-where I'm taking about living in an apartment block with neighbors who are all addicted to heroine and trying to live amongst the chaos as a 19/20 year old or 'Back To Basics' where I'm taking about my close friendship with fellow Irish rapper 'Basic' AKA Corey O'Callaghan who died the month before his 21st birthday. 'Street-wide' is an underrated song off that album I think which talks about the poverty and homelessness I experienced at just 19. Looking back 'Triggernometry' was where I was just finding my feet as a recording artist but is like an autobiography and although the topics are controversial and shouldn't have been played on radio I had a lot of media roll with it and oversee that the message was strong even if it was explicit.
Mistah Wilson: Ok, because we're from Los Angeles, we just have to ask. Are you a Celtics fan or naw? Tread carefully lol
Trigger 🇮🇪: I'm not really into sports, never have been. I'll leave it at that haha!
Trigger 🇮🇪: The Irish fighting thing is a stereotype but comes from a deep story of our peoples history. The English colonized Ireland For more than 700 years, the Irish lived under and alongside the English, and later British, Empire against our will. Being the first colony, Ireland was where the British imperial project and its racist policies were formulated and then exported to other parts of the accumulating empire. When the Irish left in shiploads to escape the Great Irish famine- where over 1 million Irish died and a further 1 million were forced to flea the country they where met in England with great racism, signs hung in windows of businesses saying 'No Black's and No Irish Need Apply'. The English's goal was to make the Irish look sub-human, a lesser and dumber version of what would be an average human being, thus where the leprechaun comes from-a drunken smaller man who drinks and fights. But Irish people never gave up and continued to fight and still continue to fight to this day. We have not forgot what the British have done coming to our country all those years ago- raping the woman, killing the men, burning their houses and businesses. Its still a very touchy subject in parts of Ireland today. Its the reason we lost our fluent language 'Gaelic' and speak English as our first language today. There's a lot more I could say as far as our history but as this is a Hip Hop related interview and not a Irish history interview I'll leave it as that haha, as you can see I'm passionate about my country's ancestry fight to survive.
Mistah Wilson: If you could recommend just one song from your catalog to a new potential fan, which one would it be and why?
Trigger 🇮🇪: That's a very hard but very good question...I guess I could point you to an oldie and 1 of my 1st releases: 'Let Em Know'. It got worldwide exposure and talks about a great deal of inner city traumas as an Irish young person growing up. The music video on YouTube shows you some of the Urban Ghetto areas in my city from a bird's-eye view with myself being a tour guide through poetry.
Mistah Wilson: If you could change one thing about the music business, what would it be and why?
Trigger 🇮🇪: It's all about who you know and not what you know! I know for a fact if my music was heard by the right person it would be after taking over 10X more then it already has because I'm speaking for the ones who don't have a platform to speak from. But I'm very fortunate and grateful for how far iv come thus far. For a kid from Cork City Ireland to even be doing interviews in California, New York, etc that's unheard of where I come from! I've performed as a headline act in New York and Boston in the last 12 months at my own shows and have plans to do California shows this year.
Mistah Wilson: What are your thoughts on political governance in America compared to Ireland or other European countries?
Trigger 🇮🇪: That's a complicated question, one I won't dive too far into here but wherever you go in the world there is governments, policy's and those that fight against the system. If everyone was honest, understanding treat each other like we should we wouldn't need all the bullsh*t that comes with it, but unfortunately that's not the world we live in. Seems we're destined to be controlled and told what to do to some extent. That doesn't mean we can't put up a fight along the way, doh.
Trigger 🇮🇪: My main goal is to reach the people who need to receive and be touched by my message, my story's, my lyrics and the hope that you can make it through anything, because my story's are one of struggle, survival, and proof that dark times don't last, see life as an experience, a journey and one that has meaning no matter how much it may seem like right now it you think it don't. Awareness is the weapon of this atmosphere.
Mistah Wilson: What positive, encouraging words do you have for other aspiring artists that want to make a career out of rapping?
Trigger 🇮🇪: Anything is possible if you truly believe. Anything! Don't leave anyone tell you different. Your journey chooses your destination don't leave your destination choose you! Choose the path less chosen, walk around the snakes not amongst them, thread carefully. As the poet Robert Frost said "Two Roads Diverged in a wood, I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference."
Mistah Wilson: Yo, Trigger! It's been awesome, fam! Thanks for coming thru for this exclusive interview with ThaWilsonBlock Magazine! If you got any shout outs, let's hear it!
Trigger 🇮🇪: On the music tip- Shout out to my producers back in Ireland-both Kreo Ghost and Buachaill Dana. My film producer Darragh. My fans/supporters/followers whatever you wanna call them without you I wouldn't be still doing this. And on a personal tip, shout out to my mam and dad who gave me the morals, honesty and beliefs I live by every day. Shout out to the small people in my life Jayden, Sophie and my nephew Jacob for making me want to keep going every day when sometimes I want to give up. And thanks to whoever is reading this and leaving an Irish kid live his dream and spread his message in Los Angeles and the whole of California. Till next time...Keep your ear to the streets like an alley cat!- Trigger
Comments
Post a Comment