M9 - Knowledge and Overstanding (ONLINE VERSION)

An affiliate of Terra Firma's Skribblah Dan Gogh, rapper M9's debut album High Fidelity is a dizzying information-burst, combining the brooding atmosphere of Chemo and Beat Butcha's fearsomely underground productions with the breathless, apocalyptic wisdom of M9's verses, covering everything from granite-hard street reality, to the end of the Mayan Calendar's Long Count on December 21, 2012, to David Icke's theories about pyramids. He has a lot to say, so here, we let him say it in his own words.

M9 on his name...

"M9 stands for Melanin Nine, which is what I have in my body as a black person. It's the colour that I am. So the nine is the number that represents me, and my people. That's one thing that I need to change – people are mistaking me for some ignorant dude who only spits about guns or some shit, so I need to change that, and let everyone know I'm Melanin 9. I'm here to represent what I stand for as a person in my music. To represent what my people stand for, and our trials and tribulations, our struggle."

M9 on Supreme Mathematics...

"Supreme mathematics is in the Qur'an – it's a scientific doctrine that represents black people. It's facet. It's not a code. If you want to go deep into it, if you look under a microscope at a black person's hair, you see the way it grows – it coils into a 9 shape from the roots. That's one of the reasons why we are that number. It's one of our representations. What really got me onto it (Supreme Mathematics) was just other artists and music, like Wu-Tang, other artists from Queensbridge like Nas, rappers like that put me onto it through certain things they would put in their rhymes, which I didn't quite understand or 'overstand' (a Five Percent Nation term), and I wanted to find out what they meant when they were talking about these codes.

"I got put on to it by a friend who was already going to the Five Percent Nation and doing classes, studying the doctrine. From that, I was asking him questions, and all of a sudden he put me onto the same doctrine that he was studying. He introduced me to books by doctors like Malachi of New York, the master teachers of the doctrine that the rappers were talking about. I started buying books; reading about lunar astrology and solar biology; started learning about society today, and what they know about these things – how they are using it against us. It was hip hop that put me on that path, and now I've gone on to my own path. I'm walking my own path with this sacred knowledge, taking it to another level. We're in a position where we are all thinking the same things, all going through the same things, but no-one thinks beyond those things. No-one thinks about the reasons behind certain situations. We have questions but we don't know the answers, or we have something inside us that wants to spark, but we don't know how to spark it. Through these teachings, you can learn. You've got to be patient, you've got to be able to listen to what they're saying, do what they're saying for you to be a new person, for you to be able to overstand everything. With this knowledge comes everything – you will overstand everything that applies in life. It's a key. You use the key and it opens the door to a new path, you see things differently."

M9 on knowledge...

"I try to apply it in the simplest way possible. Everything I read about, it's not like I read about it and then think, okay I'm going to take that sentence into a rhyme. It takes wisdom to overstand something – when you're reading doctrine, you have to apply it to yourself, see it from your own perspective. That's wisdom. From there, you remember it, and its part of you, it becomes a part of your life. Because of that, you write it in your rhymes, just like you rhyme about stuff like your friends, betrayal, love. Knowledge is a part of that. When you apply it, that's it. You write it down. It's part of you. It's not like I want people to think that I'm deep – the knowledge is a part of me, and I want to spread it. It will help people to see things in a different way."

M9 on religion...

"There's a lot of strong beliefs. People will die for religion, you know? I'm not here to knock anyone's beliefs, all I'm saying is – religion, to me, is like segregation. There are so many different beliefs, coming off one story. It's like someone takes the story and makes it their own story, makes a crowd of people follow them and believe that story. Then another person takes another part of the story and turns it into something else. It all originates from the first story, but the people are separated. No-one's connected any more. Everyone wants to beef each other over the same belief, so it turns into a division. That's why I don't believe. For me, it's about who is pervading these divisions - who is trying to divide us as people. From each other. Especially my people – who's trying to divide us? What's their purpose? Why are these stories from Roman Catholic and Greek origins taught to us? To keep us apart? I believe there are a whole lot of answers within yourself. You don't have to believe, or turn to some sort of external force that you can't see for answers. It's already within you. There are a lot of hidden keys to self that they've kept from us. That's my opinion on this, and that's why I don't follow religions. There's much more to it than that."

M9 on the Elohim...

"Elohim is known as the angelic messenger, someone who was sent from the Most High to this planet, to send a message to the percentage of his people, which is black people. The message is about how to live your life, what to do, how to change your ways, get rid of negativity, and reverse it. Elohim is a so-called 'angel', like Michael, who was sent down to convey a message to the people."

M9 on the production of High Fidelity...

"I met Chemo through Skribblah Dan Gough (of Terra Firma), who I used to live with for a while. He told me about this producer he knew called Chemo. Skribblah felt that he wouldn't want to bring anyone to Chemo that he didn't feel was on a high level, in terms of rhymes and flow and what-not. He introduced Chemo to me because he thought that I was worthy enough to work with him, because his beats are so nice. Butcha was the same thing, Skribblah introduced me. Butcha came down to Skribblah's house one time, and I was there, Skribblah introduced me and that was that."

M9 on grime...

"I don't dabble in grime, I don't really like grime at all. It's not really my thing. There's a lot of profanity, it can be very ignorant. The sound of it, I just can't feel, I can't relate to. I just can't relate. Double-time rapping isn't really my thing either. There's one track on my mixtape called Cremation, which was more of an interlude. I did double-time rapping on that track because I liked the beat, and just to show people that I can do it if I want to. You gotta be versatile, innit? People may say, 'He's a good rapper, but can he do this?'"

M9 on his flow...

"I came from writing. I've always freestyled, too. I would never go into the studio and freestyle off the top of my head, and put it in a track though, I always make sure I write and carefully,+ go over my rhymes, make sure everything's in place. I'm like a forensics expert; I have to go over it before I lay it down. It takes me a while to finish a rhyme because I'm passionate about what I write. It's my life that I'm trying to portray, and I want it to be as clear as possible. Freestyling is something I do for fun, when I'm high or whatever. Inspiration is whatever is to hand."

M9 on his crew, Triple Darkness...

"Triple Darkness were originally known as the Phalanx Heresy, they had two members – Nasheron and Cyrus Malachi. They were working with Chemo on their album, Anathema. Skribblah came in, I met them through Skribblah. We met one day and we ciphered, I liked them, and they wanted me on a track for Anathema. I ended up on one track, Politickin' and then another one, Children of the Matrix, and then another called Pyramid Power. After that they decided they wanted me to be a part of their movement, they asked me to be down with them. I was more on a solo artist thing, and I wasn't down with it. But after a while I thought why not, they're portraying the same message as me, so why not try and consolidate this thing. They were known by the public as Phalanx Heresy. When I came, I decided that we had to give them a new name to represent three members. I decided on Triple Darkness. In solar biology, it has to do with the elements."

M9 on his influences...

"I'm very influenced by Malachi of New York. He's written over 300 books, which is unbelievable. A lot of my knowledge comes from him. I listen to David Icke now and again. He's more for the Masonic side of things – what they know, what they're studying – and also the Luciferian agenda. Icke was the first person I ever encountered who was teaching higher knowledge. Before I encountered Malachi of New York, I read his book The Biggest Secret, and that was incredible. He showed me things that were going on right in front of my face that I hadn't even seen. After reading that, I became more aware of the higher levels of what is going on in life. For more on who I am as a person, where I originally came from – the Egyptian order, and what's behind Ancient Egypt, I go to Malachi of New York for that. William Cooper is another author I've read, his work showed me a lot of things. In terms of my lyrics, and how that influences me, it's all fact. Never fictional, never romanticised. Not adventure. I talk about things which may seem like a dream, but it's all straight fact. It's oppressed knowledge. That's what I based my philosophy on – opening up, revealing suppressed knowledge. I mean, my whole rhyme aura isn't about that – it's about my life. You'll hear about murders, robberies. I put everything in there. But there's another side to life."

M9 on hip-hop as a tool for disseminating knowledge...

"It's very good; it's the best tool. I could go into this for days - examples of power that hip hop holds, and even in the UK, grime is very powerful. But it's holding power in the wrong ways. It's passing the wrong messages to people. But hip hop, for as long as it has been around, is one of the musical forms with the most powerful message. For one, if you can make someone's head bop to your track, they will catch on to your message much faster than if you were just talking to them. They're embraced by the track: they listen to it over and over again, taking in the message subconsciously and consciously. It's the strongest way I have to send a message to the public."