Who’s that group with the video for the winter Olympics? Who’s that group that performed on the Soul Train Awards? Who’s that on tour with the Black Eyed Peas? Who was that on tour with Snoop Dogg? Their name is Flipsyde. They’re a group bringing more creativity to Rock n’ Roll. Oops, I mean Pop. Okay, that’s twice; Flipsyde is Hip-Hop. Or did I have right the first time?

That’s exactly what the world wants to know. Flipsyde is a blend of every genre of music on your Ipod. Using instruments that rarely travel outside the likes of country music or rock, vocals from a cypher, and sounds from a true DJ, Flipsyde originates a brand new sound that works and demands listening attention like Jay-Z and Lincoln Park’s album. But, the very thing that makes them different and fresh, hurts their opportunities in the same breathe. Nobody wants to play them, either that or radio request re-edits of their eccentric music. Once reading about a group this diverse you can’t help but be drawn in and forced to want to listen.

They have a Brazilian rapping, Piper, a country boy singing, Steve, a rocker, Dave, and a DJ, D-Sharp. That’s confusing right? Exactly, no one really knows what to do with them. Hip-Hop tell them they have too much rock, pop stations tell them they take out the Hip-Hop, and alternative radio don’t just look at them crazy. However, from touring they have a base. Flipsyde is relying on that base to put them over the top. Knowing that one day music fans will get the message, they never think to stop. D-Sharp took a moment to spread the word about his squad.

Jay: How did you get together?

Sharp: “Me and Dave (Lopez) was real good friends before the group. I used to practice with other groups at Soundwave Studios and Dave was a manager. Dave would play his guitar and I was the only DJ that came through practicing with all these groups. Then one day I was working and I saw him chilling and he was like, “We got signed to Interscope.” And he mentioned then that they might need a DJ. The next time I saw him (Dave) had Piper wit him and played some of they records and I was like “wow”. That’s when they said we need a DJ. We set-up a practice and I met Steve and it all meshed well.

Jay: Where does a group so different draw inspiration?

Sharp: “My inspiration is straight Hip-Hop. Beat Street, Run-DMC, Gangstar, Tribe Called Quest, Too Short, NWA, stuff like that. But, the group it’s so wide and open. Steve is from Alabama, bred in that country, songwriting, Dave is a ridiculous metal head and he used to break-dance to heavy metal back when he was a kid; Piper, being Brazilian, he influenced by that Hip-Hop and he grew up in the Motown era along with Hip-Hop. In the studio, I’d program the beat, Dave will start playing with his guitar, Steve does a hook, and Piper starts writing. The next thing you know it comes together. Sometimes it’ll come from conversation, Piper will write a verse and we’ll be like what you talking about. Like “Happy Birthday,” we was talking about abortion and it would’ve been the kid’s birthday and Piper just happened to write the song. We just grab the feeling in the studio.”

Jay: Given your musical differences, what type of audience do you want to target? Is it Black Eyed Peas or The Roots and OutKast?

Sharp: “When we go to radio with this and they say, “Whoa, we don’t know what to call this or how to categorize it.” We call it “Slash Music.” Its rap/ blues/ rock/ soul/ and that’s what’s dope about it. We hit everybody. When we perform it in front of people, they get it. But, radios don’t know what to do with it because they can’t compare it to anything. We’ve on tour with Black Eyed Peas and the fans got it. We been on tour with Snoop and Game and that’s some straight gangsta shit. That worked out for us.

Jay: How do you guys go about politicking for airplay when you take rock to a Hip-Hop station and vice-versa to a rock station?

Sharp: “I can’t front man, it’s difficult. Because people don’t get it right off top. We take (our music) to an Urban stations and they tell us too many guitars; we go to rock and we got too much rap. I mean we trying to fit. But, it’s just hard.”

Jay: Do you give re-edit your music to get more airplay?

Sharp: “Yeah, we going through it right now. Alternative was like, “we need a mix without the rap;” okay, give them a mix without the rap; Urban was like, “it got too many guitars and the hook is kind of “rockish,” so we gave them a new hook. We trying to work with them to placed.

Jay: “Now when you say something like that, you could have three or four remixes to one song; so do you plan on doing that on everything you release?

Sharp: “Naw, we just trying to break as a group right now. Once the people catch on they’ll find another group with Flipsyde’s make-up. I don’t think we’ll have to do that as soon we break.”

Jay: “As far as the Olympic spot, how did you guys get that?

Sharp: “That’s was just a blessing, the song was submitted with 800 plus songs and ours got picked. I guess it just fit. You watch the commercial and (the athlete’s) doing their thing and you would think it was written for them and it wasn’t. Steve wrote “Someday” at a time where he was struggling. He didn’t have a pot to piss in, he was struggling, and he wrote that song to say someday he’s going to rise. He was struggling trying to get signed and athletes go through that, having to train 4-6 hours a day. Its like they train and we train. Music is universal and they train to music to get pumped.”

Jay: “What’s it like being in the group?”

Sharp: “It’s split-up four ways. (Laughs) We compromise. Like, “I’m really not feeling that,” we go through it and talk about how it’ll benefit the group and take it for what it is.”

Jay: “How do you choose singles, speaking of compromise?

Sharp: “It’s a collaborative effort between us and the label. But, the label is cool, they let us do what we wanna do. We work it out; the label isn’t like, “yo, that’s go be the single.”

Jay: “How do your visuals come out?”

Sharp: “That’s Piper; he’s a beast. He done wrote like four movies. He just be writing. He bring his vision to us and we’ll go with it.”

Jay: “Do you feel pressure to conform in order to get exposure?”

Sharp: “We just ourselves. When you breakdown the physical make-up of the group it’s different.” Jay: “What’s absent from music at this time?”

Sharp: “I don’t think Hip-Hop is missing; I just wish guys will stop listening to the radio and try to copy that. Being original is how you get on. People need to stop judging who they listen to based on images.”

Jay: “How did you get the Soul Train spot?

Sharp: “I really don’t know. (Laughs) But, I think it was Don Cornelius that got it. We were just being ourshelves.”

–By Joseph “JayRich” Robinson

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