Rapzilla.com caught up with Keno Camp members Mars Era, Gabe Taylor and Terrell Sales to learn more about their mixtape H.I.T.S., which they released on Tuesday, as well as more about their group in general.
Keno Camp was featured on Json’s hit song “Love to Do It” in March and Selah the Corner’s celebrated mixtape Hoodie Season 2 last September.
Rapzilla: What is the meaning behind the name Keno Camp?
Terrell Sales: To get the name Keno Camp, we cut the word “Kenosis.” Kenosis is about the incarnation of Christ and how he humbled himself in order to take on flesh and die for us in order that we might live. Kenosis defines what we what to do. We want to be empty, humble and let Christ exalt us.
RZ: What should we expect to hear on H.I.T.S.?
TS: You should expect to hear the heart of a Christian who was a fan of Christian rap, who now transitioned into being an artist. We are the voice of the people on this album, and we’re making it known how we feel about where Christian rap is and how we want to make sure it stays a genre.
RZ: How do you feel about where Christian rap is?
Mars Era: I feel like Christian hip hop is right where it needs to be. It’s in a vulnerable place where it’s giving groups like us the opportunity to provide a voice. I think it could be better, but believing in the sovereignty of God, it has to be right where it needs to be for this moment, our moment and everyone’s moment that’s not satisfied with where it is.
We now get a chance to speak about it, but not just speak about it — we get a chance to contribute to the genre in a way that we couldn’t as fans. We get to make the kind music that we know people want to hear. Hopefully Christian hip hop doesn’t stay where it is. We’re praying that it continues to grow and evolve into a vehicle that God can use to glorify himself and his church.
RZ: What type of production was used on this mixtape?
TS: We embraced the west coast sound. All the beats you hear on this mixtape are from Dav D Beats, him and Christian [Gates] from Spechouse switched off in the mastering. A lot of it is fun, and a lot of it is heavy bass.
RZ: What is the story behind sampling 2Pac’s song “Ambitionz Az a Ridah” on the song “9 to 5?”
Gabe Taylor: “9 to 5” was a collaborative effort from all parts of the Camp. Management kept pushing me to incorporate “Ambitionz” into our live set, but it just didn’t feel right. We met up with Dav D Beats and told him that we wanted to sample Pac’s “Ambitionz,” so he created this dope beat, and we all wrote to it. But even after we wrote to it, it still wasn’t finished.
Dav D Beats then recreated the beat into this crazy breakdown and put his girl Kyra De’Nae on there, and she completely murdered the hook, so we’re like, we can’t just not do anything with this. We continue to argue about whose idea it was to put it on the back end of the track. It doesn’t matter at this point ‘cause it added so much flavor to the track that it was meant to be. We just wanted to address the state of Christian hip hop on this record, and what better way to do something that courageous than to sample “Ambitionz?”
RZ: What do you enjoy about your group’s position in the industry?
TS: I feel like we’re in a wonderful position because we have the luxury of being honest. A lot of people don’t have that luxury. We get responses from people around the globe thanking us for our honesty and it encourages us to keep being real.
Download H.I.T.S. on Rapzilla.com.
