iconAclass: "We didn't invent poverty and violence"

For 13 years, Dälek have been destroying minds and ears with their marrying of traditional hip-hop values with walls of noise; their sensory overload equally appealing to nodding baseball capped heads and chin stroking shoegazers.

MC Will Brooks steps out with a new project, iconAclass this month, retaining many of Dälek’s same elements but stripped down to its absolute core: blistering hip-hop. Its dark and brooding beats coupled with incisive lyrics mark their debut For the Ones out as an instant underground classic, unpretentious and pure. We asked Will about its genesis.

iconAclass sounds very similar to Dälek in many respects, other than the obvious difference that the production is very stripped down. Was this a conscious decision to return to a more traditional hip-hop format, or perhaps more of a desire to bring your lyrics to the forefront?
I think it was a bit of both. There was definitely a desire to make the lyrics the focal point of this project after 13 years of Dälek's wall of sound. I also wanted to present the essence of what I am. I am hip-hop, and of course there are similarities to the Dälek project because at its core it was hip-hop as well. I think it's always been hard for some people to grasp the concept that I was not only the EMCEE in Dälek, but I also co-produced the music with my brother Oktopus.

It is admirable that after so long in "the game," such as it exists, you retain the hunger and drive of a struggling MC. Do you still feel that you have something to prove?
I don't know if it's "something to prove" exactly. This is just what I am. It's what I do. I'm an EMCEE. I truly love making music and writing lyrics. I feel blessed that I get to do it professionally, and that I have been able to do so for the past 10+ years. And as I have often said, this is my therapy. It allows me to function as a human being. Making beats and rhyming is what I do, even in my time off.

What would you hope audiences take away from your music? Are those objectives any different with this release?
I've always viewed music as very personal, and I like that it can be interpreted in a million different ways by a million people. Obviously it has a specific meaning to me, but I like to leave room for people to come to their own conclusions. I really appreciate it and am humbled when people are affected in any way by my music. Good or bad. Love it or hate it. I want my music to move people. Make people think. I am always amazed by the power of music. More than anything, this album, like all my previous work, paints a picture of who I am at this moment. I am especially proud of the iconAclass project because it is solely my production, my lyrics, even my mixing of the album. It was a lot of work, but it is very gratifying to see the final product come to fruition. I hope all that work and dedication translates to the listeners.

Dälek was a new spelling of a word, as is iconAclass; it has often been a criticism of hip-hop that it doesn't spell things 'properly'. Can you tell me a little about why this kind of wordplay is important to you and why this new project specifically is 'iconoclastic'?
Yeah, maybe it lies somewhere in the need to make words our own, and our desire to do things our own way. Remember, before hip hop was pre-packaged for mass consumption by corporate America, it was a fringe culture, and within that culture originality was praised. It was all about expressing your individual ideas.
As far as why iconAclass? Well for those that don't know the definition of Iconoclast is:
1: a person who destroys religious images or opposes their veneration
2: a person who attacks settled beliefs or institutions
Pretty much describes me and my lyrics.

In the recent London riots, rap music was proposed by supposed experts as a factor in inciting the unrest. I don't think anyone needs to point out how ridiculous this notion is, but hip-hop is a very powerful and often misunderstood medium which commands tremendous devotion. You say on the album you are "going back to your roots, back to the truth" – can you please elaborate on what hip-hop is at its purest? And where you might fit into that picture?
Yeah, that really is laughable; as if hip-hop created the world's problems. Hip-hop, as all art and music, is the artist's voice to reinterpret what they see and experience in the world around them. We didn't invent poverty and violence. Hip-hop at its purest is original self expression. It is, at its core, that fringe culture that questions the world at large. At its base level hip-hop is the voice of my people. As to where I fit in? Again, to quote KRS-One, "I AM HIP HOP!”