By Cheryl Thompson
Jason Hollowell (J Holla) and Mario Jackson (3rd Deggree) hail from East Lansing, Michigan, but their hip-hop is much bigger than that. SoulMatters spoke to J Holla and 3rd Deggree about the duo’s album, The Patdown, and their unique brand of raw storytelling.
SoulMatters: Thanks for giving SoulMatters the chance to feature you guys. First question, the album is called "The Patdown". Tell me a bit about how that title "represents" you? What I mean is, what are you trying to say with that title?
J Holla: The title to me is based around a theory that we're patting the industry down so to speak, like we are filtering out all the good from the bad in the music world.
3rd Deggree: And, setting a standard for a new sound which is our music.
SMM: The mid-west doesn't get the same kind of worldwide press like NY or LA or Florida hip-hop, how do you feel about that? Would you agree?
3rd: I agree on a commercial level, but not on a general scale meaning several mid-west artists influence and work with tons of mainstream successful talent.
JH: The mid-west is the melting pot for the free world in our opinion and some of the greatest talent in the world historically has come from there such as Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna, J Dilla, and the whole MOTOWN movement just to name a few.
SMM: "Trenches" is my jam. Do you have a particular song that means a little bit more to you than the others?
3rd: “If I Get Ya Name Right” has special meaning to me because it's the first time in 13 years of knowing HOLLA that he has ever rapped on a recording, so it was sort of a big deal for us as a duo. It also took considerable convincing for me to get him to do it.
JH: LOL........For me it would have to be “Sexy Time” ‘cause no matter what kinda mood I'm in, it always makes me feel good.
SMM: Your bio says you're ushering a “new school” sound that is a mix of raw, urban hip-hop story telling with the emotion of class R&B. Would you say that also reflects a general change in hip-hop? I know it's hard to generalize an entire genre of music, but I'm always curious to know if artists feel the shift in music as much as fans might feel that shift.
JH: We feel like for the first time we are bringing an all natural and organic combination of the actual best of both worlds, not something manufactured or forced, we're the solution to blending Hip-Hop, R&B, and Pop, without compromising ourselves or being cheesy.
3rd: What he said.......Lol!
SMM: I know as a group you've experienced a lot of turmoil and struggle, is that partly why you chose the name "Co-Defendants"? What's behind your name?
3rd: In a sense you could say that our combined hardships in our journey in the music industry have given us a CO mentality. Being friends for over a decade has given us a chance to go by a few different names, officially and non-officially.
JH: And the fact that we function as brothers now through highs and lows, we got each others back music or no music.
SMM: What do you hope people think or feel when they listen to your music?
JH: I hope that it will remind people of a time when music was fun and people could just have a good time listening to really good music.
3rd: I hope people feel a sense of realism when they listen to our music and know that we just did what we felt when we recorded this album and hopefully more artists will be inspired to do the same.
SMM: Any plans to tour with this album? If so, when do you expect to get on the road? 3rd: Yeah, we're already doing a couple spot dates and the label is in the process of putting together our tour right now.
JH: Yeah.... we're really looking forward to hitting the road and giving the people a breath of fresh air.
SMM: Finally, the website is called SoulMatters, so we always like to ask artists, what does "soul" mean to you?
JH: To me, soul means inspiration, creativity and honesty, and being able to portray them through your art.
3rd: To me, soul means having a powerful core within that can evoke feeling in others through expression no matter what that expression may be.
