Features
music
Necro
Man/Monster/Money-maker
"I can do things Dicaprio can’t do, he can’t get on stage and murder a live hip-hop crowd of drunk sickos. That’s a realm I rule." Necro
Ron Braunstein, AKA Necro, has his fingers in a lot of different pies
(and other things too by the sounds of things) as a rapper, record
producer, business owner and now actor. The outspoken death-rap icon
has secured a devoted following of a mish-mash of hip-hop kids, metal
heads, those angry at the world and those who just like being angry
with groupies to boot. While not the kinda tunes to drop on a car trip
to the old’s with your parents, Necro does introduce an interesting
voice to the censorship debate.
As Necro gees up for his upcoming Australian tour, ACCLAIM took the time to drop him an email and get to the man “behind the controversy”. And clearly he had a lot to talk about. We listened. We spell-checked (a bit, we kept a smiley in there). And here dear readers, is the final product. Necro according to Necro…
As Necro gees up for his upcoming Australian tour, ACCLAIM took the time to drop him an email and get to the man “behind the controversy”. And clearly he had a lot to talk about. We listened. We spell-checked (a bit, we kept a smiley in there). And here dear readers, is the final product. Necro according to Necro…
In the past you’ve said that you’re not interested in pursuing the film industry over your music although you have more recently been studying acting. Has your focus shifted at all?
Yeah that is true, I did say I didn’t wanna actually make movies as far as directing them yet, cuz it’s so much work but acting is being in the movie itself, and it’s a whole different beast when we rap, we are the actor, director, editor, all in one. With movies you really can’t do it all that easy, cuz each area is a full time job, I just felt it was now or never, and I was analysing the careers of Pacino, Deniro, Hackman, Morgan freeman, etc. and I felt I can do it, I’m thinking long range, like in 10 years. So if I start now, in 10 years I will have those 10 years under my belt and won’t regret not starting.
So far I enrolled in The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute and completed one semester with legendary actor/teacher Paul Calderon, so that was cool. He taught me a lot, and that class helped me become very comfortable with any audition now. I also landed three TV gigs, small things, a student film lead role and I did 2 monologue slams. It’s good cuz it got me into the game, I see a lot of how the business works now. My first year will be one I remember forever because it’s been a cool experience at the same time. Hip-hop is where I am the most known and the most talented, so music is #1 I just feel like with rappers like 50, Rza, Xzibit, Common, TI, etc. doing movies, it would be smart for me to learn how to act for real. Matter of fact the first acting coach I hired was the guy that coached 50 for his audition for Righteous Kill, that was my first move. I googled who taught 50, cuz I wondered if he was getting lessons.
I think in the end it all coincides with one another, and one will help the other. I can do things Dicaprio can’t do, he can’t get on stage and murder a live hip-hop crowd of drunk sickos. That’s a realm I rule. Pretty soon I will be able to hold it down on the screen, so that will make me even iller than just an actor, cuz I can take all my experiences as Necro and me as a street kid and put it into my roles
In terms of your live show, do you prefer working with a band or the traditional hip-hop emcee/DJ combination?
I don’t hate live bands. All music comes from playing instruments, but I prefer to rap over my beats that I made, not do them live even though I am live. But if I had a band that could do it, I would for fun. I play instruments, but I don’t need to have a touring band that would eat up all the money, I’d have to tour for free, and touring is work. It’s fun and awesome, but it’s what I do for a living, that’s why I take it so serious, because people are paying to see you murder it. I try to do my shit live as good as the actual record, but with a twist so you know it’s live, but being live is no excuse to be sloppy.
Freud once said "You can tell the true nature of a person's soul when they are having sex"…or something along those lines. What do you make of that?
I don’t know all about that shit. I can tell the true nature of people when I deal with them. I’m very good at reading people and within a few minutes of interaction I know what kind of person I'm dealing with, that’s a talent I have, reading people. I can see bullshit a mile away, and I can see a good heart when it’s in my cipher. As for sex, I love it. I’m a pervert, but when it comes to sex, lust comes into play, and a lot of times you are just thinking with ya dick, so you don’t care about a woman's soul, unless its her ASSoul :)
How would you describe your fan base? Is it mostly hip-hop kids or more of a metal crowd?
It’s a mix of open-minded kids that love extreme shit, they migrate to Necro because I give them the musical fix they seek, not what others do. They want more than what the radio has to offer, they don’t want their music censored. Movies aren’t censored, you can have gore flicks with people getting raped and fucked and killed and it’s in the mainstream media world, but if you make brutal music it’s shunned. So these kids are smart enough to think for themselves and that means they are intelligent and therefore recognize talent, so they will go with the rapper like Necro that has iller beats, more real hip-hop than the new watered down keyboard shit and they want deeper lyrics or more complex thought out shit.
It’s kinda hard, cuz I have to constantly raise the bar for myself and maintain with my own bar, because of the bar I set. So people expect me to be super ill, but hey it keeps me on my toes and lets me remember why I got into this, not just for money, but for hip-hop, for the art, the love, and what it does to you in your heart when you feel something that’s amazing.
Being a pretty successful business person in the music industry, how do you propose to tackle things like illegal downloads, and now, the recession?
Well, because of all the investments I have made in myself for the last ten years the recession is not affecting me at all. I am living the same way I have been, and now I am even getting more tours booked, and that’s big money for me. I can do a week of shows and get paid profit what a cop works all year for, that’s because I decided a long time ago I was gonna work under my terms.
I set out to follow and create goals, and my goals slowly and surely are coming to fruition. So while everyone else is all fucked up I can relax. I’m not financially free at all, not by far, but I am close to reaching that by a very young age, and that’s what happens when you choose to be part of the 5% in the world that controls 95% of the money. I’m part of the 5%, and that’s because I was willing to sacrifice a lot. Downloading sucks but I still sell a good amount of records physically, and I do great with merchandise and people wanna see me live. I sell out gigs all over the world, so for me it’s only up. I can only move up higher on the ladder.
For people all fucked up with shit, they need to examine their lives and moves and see the results they are getting, and if they aren’t happy they might need to make a change in their game plan, maybe take some risks in life. I have taken so many risks in my life in the streets, in business, I never play it safe. I live life dangerous, but I’m smart, so I think before I do shit and then I make the decision to back up my choices to the fullest.
Shout out to all my fans in Australia!!
Love ya.
See ya on tour,
One
Necro
For more info on Necro's upcoming Australian tour check out illusive.com to keep "a breast" (figured Necro would dig that pun) of what the martyr of horror rap is up to make sure you hit his site.
Back
Yeah that is true, I did say I didn’t wanna actually make movies as far as directing them yet, cuz it’s so much work but acting is being in the movie itself, and it’s a whole different beast when we rap, we are the actor, director, editor, all in one. With movies you really can’t do it all that easy, cuz each area is a full time job, I just felt it was now or never, and I was analysing the careers of Pacino, Deniro, Hackman, Morgan freeman, etc. and I felt I can do it, I’m thinking long range, like in 10 years. So if I start now, in 10 years I will have those 10 years under my belt and won’t regret not starting.
So far I enrolled in The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute and completed one semester with legendary actor/teacher Paul Calderon, so that was cool. He taught me a lot, and that class helped me become very comfortable with any audition now. I also landed three TV gigs, small things, a student film lead role and I did 2 monologue slams. It’s good cuz it got me into the game, I see a lot of how the business works now. My first year will be one I remember forever because it’s been a cool experience at the same time. Hip-hop is where I am the most known and the most talented, so music is #1 I just feel like with rappers like 50, Rza, Xzibit, Common, TI, etc. doing movies, it would be smart for me to learn how to act for real. Matter of fact the first acting coach I hired was the guy that coached 50 for his audition for Righteous Kill, that was my first move. I googled who taught 50, cuz I wondered if he was getting lessons.
I think in the end it all coincides with one another, and one will help the other. I can do things Dicaprio can’t do, he can’t get on stage and murder a live hip-hop crowd of drunk sickos. That’s a realm I rule. Pretty soon I will be able to hold it down on the screen, so that will make me even iller than just an actor, cuz I can take all my experiences as Necro and me as a street kid and put it into my roles
In terms of your live show, do you prefer working with a band or the traditional hip-hop emcee/DJ combination?
I don’t hate live bands. All music comes from playing instruments, but I prefer to rap over my beats that I made, not do them live even though I am live. But if I had a band that could do it, I would for fun. I play instruments, but I don’t need to have a touring band that would eat up all the money, I’d have to tour for free, and touring is work. It’s fun and awesome, but it’s what I do for a living, that’s why I take it so serious, because people are paying to see you murder it. I try to do my shit live as good as the actual record, but with a twist so you know it’s live, but being live is no excuse to be sloppy.
Freud once said "You can tell the true nature of a person's soul when they are having sex"…or something along those lines. What do you make of that?
I don’t know all about that shit. I can tell the true nature of people when I deal with them. I’m very good at reading people and within a few minutes of interaction I know what kind of person I'm dealing with, that’s a talent I have, reading people. I can see bullshit a mile away, and I can see a good heart when it’s in my cipher. As for sex, I love it. I’m a pervert, but when it comes to sex, lust comes into play, and a lot of times you are just thinking with ya dick, so you don’t care about a woman's soul, unless its her ASSoul :)
How would you describe your fan base? Is it mostly hip-hop kids or more of a metal crowd?
It’s a mix of open-minded kids that love extreme shit, they migrate to Necro because I give them the musical fix they seek, not what others do. They want more than what the radio has to offer, they don’t want their music censored. Movies aren’t censored, you can have gore flicks with people getting raped and fucked and killed and it’s in the mainstream media world, but if you make brutal music it’s shunned. So these kids are smart enough to think for themselves and that means they are intelligent and therefore recognize talent, so they will go with the rapper like Necro that has iller beats, more real hip-hop than the new watered down keyboard shit and they want deeper lyrics or more complex thought out shit.
It’s kinda hard, cuz I have to constantly raise the bar for myself and maintain with my own bar, because of the bar I set. So people expect me to be super ill, but hey it keeps me on my toes and lets me remember why I got into this, not just for money, but for hip-hop, for the art, the love, and what it does to you in your heart when you feel something that’s amazing.
Being a pretty successful business person in the music industry, how do you propose to tackle things like illegal downloads, and now, the recession?
Well, because of all the investments I have made in myself for the last ten years the recession is not affecting me at all. I am living the same way I have been, and now I am even getting more tours booked, and that’s big money for me. I can do a week of shows and get paid profit what a cop works all year for, that’s because I decided a long time ago I was gonna work under my terms.
I set out to follow and create goals, and my goals slowly and surely are coming to fruition. So while everyone else is all fucked up I can relax. I’m not financially free at all, not by far, but I am close to reaching that by a very young age, and that’s what happens when you choose to be part of the 5% in the world that controls 95% of the money. I’m part of the 5%, and that’s because I was willing to sacrifice a lot. Downloading sucks but I still sell a good amount of records physically, and I do great with merchandise and people wanna see me live. I sell out gigs all over the world, so for me it’s only up. I can only move up higher on the ladder.
For people all fucked up with shit, they need to examine their lives and moves and see the results they are getting, and if they aren’t happy they might need to make a change in their game plan, maybe take some risks in life. I have taken so many risks in my life in the streets, in business, I never play it safe. I live life dangerous, but I’m smart, so I think before I do shit and then I make the decision to back up my choices to the fullest.
Shout out to all my fans in Australia!!
Love ya.
See ya on tour,
One
Necro
For more info on Necro's upcoming Australian tour check out illusive.com to keep "a breast" (figured Necro would dig that pun) of what the martyr of horror rap is up to make sure you hit his site.
Back
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