K-Murdock, one-half of DC's own, Panacea was nice enough to take a few minutes and discuss the past, present, and future, of one of the area's most respected duo's...
Panacea is based out of the Washington DC area where producer K-Murdock, a Maryland native, has provided his fantasy hip-hop soundscapes for soul singers such as Raheem DeVaughn and Wes Felton (aka "The Crossrhodes").
Emcee Raw Poetic, a long time resident of Northern Virginia who originally hails from Philadelphia, has been rhyming since the age of 14. His natural, almost conversational flow and signature storytelling lyrics fit perfectly with K-Murdock's soulful and sometimes spacey compositions.
Their obvious chemistry is incredibly rare, and favors such accomplished duos as Gangstarr and Pete Rock & CL Smooth. Whether they're in the studio composing music or on stage performing live, Panacea has all musical bases covered!
1.) - Peace peace, thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions for me...I actually, originally tracked you all down a few years ago, when I was working on an unreleased DC hip hop documentary, called Metrospective...With that out of the way, are you guys working with anyone from the area still? I remember seeing you all with RPM a couple of times, w/ Damu on the wheels, s**t was bananas...
All good man, our pleasure, we seldom do interviews so its always nice to convey what we got cookin in the kitchen, lol! U mentioned Damu, he's like the 3rd secret member of Panacea as he does ALL the cuts and scratches on r stuff and i gotta make sure he gets his shine as he helps make the albums more dope! Outside of him, locally we have have features on our record from close friends of mine like Wes Felton and Raheem Devaughn who all very locally known and revered. plus ,r band who featured heavy on the Scenic Route was from all over the area, mostly Va but thats still the DMV!
2.) - Besides the artists you just mentioned, who from around the DMV are you watching right now?
The cats i really have taken a liking too are also from VA, they go by the name of the Five One Band, go google them NOW (or after u read this, lol). Those 4 guys have so much energy on stage and a unique sound that remind sme of the eclecticism in the RPM guys as they fuse hip-hop with reggae, electro pop, rock and can even jazz it out... very talented and they will be makign cameos on the next Panacea record as well... and actually we just did a few shows with them that got good feedback so we'll see how that works out in the future! Other than that, im just waiting to hear more from Wale and see if he;s the great hope people r anticipating from the DMV.
3.) - I feel that artists like Panacea, Low Budget Crew(Oddisee, Kaimbr, Kev Brown, Cy Young, Roddy Rod, etc.), Educated Consumers, Guns N Butter, Wale, Tabi, etc. are the reason a lot of people are starting to pay more attention to DC, how do you feel about that?
I hope so, cuz this generation got a lot of consistentcy comign out of it as far as artist go, EC been puttign it down since the early part of the decade, i remember Seezmics back from when i was in college at Howard Univ and i woul go over to UMD to see my boy, and listen to UMUC and hear him Seezmics, Haysoos, Kev Brown all on my man PMD aka Peter Rosenburg's show, From Dusk till Dawn! i miss those days... but i digress, yeah, lol, all that to say is that we been doing it for awhile so im glad its gettin some shine finally... and for su to be part of the movement is a blessing!
4.) - There has been a huge surge of go-go influenced, and dance influenced hip hop being produced now, within the past 5 years...Baltimore club music is on the rise, and so are a lot of their artists, both of these phenomenons can be linked in a way, to Wale...Do you think this is true? What do you think about the electronic/dance hip hop music being created?
Personally, i think its bigger than Wale, i think if anything he has brought attention to it because he's very buzz heavy right now and uses it in his music, but its the guys who produce him that have jus tas much as an influence n that as him too, but like i wrote above im glad its gettin shine. its like once a decade go-go appears on a mainstream level that captures radio across america... in the 80s/90s in was EU doin the butt or kid n play's song! then even Jill Scott had the go-go pocket break in her hit"Its Love" off her first album and now we got an actual DC hip-hoppper with go-go rhythms, it only took 20 years, lol! i have neevr been one to use it in Panacea's sound, but i def find my stuff getting more electro fused! and i love it, but i also love incorporating samples into it too,!
5.) - Would you try your hand at this style, or are you strictly set in your ways?
As for Panacea, the style sonically is usually based on whatever im listening too or sampling, so it varies.... the last album i was heavy into c-jazz and 80s electro pop like Scritti Politti but this next record i have been all over the place and found my beats having a worldly feel, we'll see... thats part of the fun of creation.
6.) - Getting back to the city, does DC have a sound? Is it go-go? Jazz/Soul/R&B/Blues samples? Is it biting NY?
DC is most known endemically for the go-go sound but we have famous singers, songwriters, musicians, and hopefully soon t be hiphop artist :) emanate from here too! Its funny the level of talent hat is here but sometimes the homegrowns have to venture out to be exposed... for us, r plans for Panacea were neevr to be on some we want to be known as DC artists, we wanna be known across the globe and universe as progressive hiphop artist foremost who happened to be from the DMV, and by all means i will always call DC home, cuz thats what it is, even beyond music.
And i def dont think we r biting NY, or the south, or wherever! We, like them, have are own identity, its just that people outside of the city are seeing it revealed and the dope thing is, being as mixed as the city is becoming, the music is reflected thus the DMV will prolly be known for being a launchpad of lotsa dope music, not just "this genre" or "that" (hopefully).
7.) - Either way, Panacea is gonna keep it movin', what's next for you two? Touring? New records? Solo joints? More beat battles?(I was at the Red Bull amalagamation)...
Touring is crucial, so if u wanna see us, lets make it work, lol... and always count on an album EVERY YEAR, the one we got on deck is shaping up to be amazing! plus, i got a boatload of solo projects that i'll be releasing this year, and most of it is FREE, the plan is to expand and catch more ears so we can use the music to take us around the world and spread that good vibe!
OH! i'll def be at the next Red Bull Big Tune, i wish i had gone further but it is what it was, lol!
8.) - Shouts?!
To my partner in rhyme, Raw P whose busy writing more verses as well as Damu, al the guys from al lthe bands that have backed us... RPM to the Five One! And shouts to the fans for always supporting us and showing love! Peace!
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