Unlike most groups and duos from the past and in the present, Conceptz brings a whole new package to the industry that will revolutionize the way people listen and heed to music. Using their conceptual word play and unorthodox rhyme schemes, Conceptz are changing the game and has paved the way for a new era of Rap/Hip-Hop while taking the Genre back to it’s roots.
ShaQuille Brown also known as Highrowglyphfix; is a Hip-Hop/Rap artist that hails from Goshen, New York. He began writing music at the age of 13 after years of inspiration from his older brother. After much practice and repetition, Highrowglyphfix recorded and released his first mixtape on October 28, 2011 entitled “T.H.C (The Hangover Cure)”. Highrowglyphfix proceeded to put out more material to keep him relevant. Three months after T.H.C, he followed up with his sophomore mixtape entitled “Beyond The Limits”. Two months after that, he had recorded a third mixtape called “Y.E.W.B (Your Ears Will Bleed)”. All three mixtapes received decent exposure on popular websites such as: DatPiff, YouTube and HD Mix tapes. After completing his third mix tape, he became more involved with Conceptz and started to write more music with his brother.
LeRoy C. Brown, III a.k.a. Short Fuze is a Hip-hop artist that hails from The Bronx, New York. He began writing music at the age of 17 and can play multiple instruments such as piano, violin, drums, and tenor saxophone. He formed a group in 2003 called Tha Council and released three mixtapes entitled “The Bronx is Back”, “Gutta’s Revenge”, and “Death Before Dishonor”. Fuze later did a collaboration mixtape in 2004 entitled “Costa Nostra: The Official Mob” with various artists including former members of Sporty Theivz. After receiving much publicity from the Costa Nostra project, Short Fuze recorded several single projects both in the US and Europe. His most popular European collaboration was with Alexander Perls, which experienced much success internationally.
Highrowglyphfix eventually presented his mixtape to his older brother and mentor Short Fuze. Impressed with his work, Short Fuze and Highrowglyphfix; decided to form a Rap duo called Conceptz. Their first single “Roll It Up” was released in early November 2011 and gained a lot of attention on YouTube.
After long hours of writing and time in the studio, the duo finally came up with enough material to release their first project. On May 21, 2012 the duo released their first mixtape entitled “Euphoria”. Surprisingly the mix tape gained a lot of credibility from a variety of sites such as: DatPiff, YouTube, Last.fm, iTunes and more. After long promotions and taking a hiatus, the duo returned to writing and recording music, they have since released, “The Album”, “Ex-Girlfriends”, “Speakers Loud” and their latest CD release “Marble Floors & Gold Ceilings”. When you listen to their music, you are able to visualize or envision what they are trying to get across in the title or concept of their songs. “As their style continues to modify, so does their craft.” Delivering distinguished singles and classic mixtapes/albums is an effortless task for Short Fuze and Highrowglyphfix. With collaborations with Rick Ross, Gucci Mane, Wiz Khalifa, Tony Toni Tone, King Los, MelodiQ, Afir and many others to their credit, Conceptz have been travelling and performing throughout the U.S. and U.K. including performances at the BET Awards, in San Diego with Tony Toni Tone, as well as opening for Earl Sweatshirt and Lil Durk.
The start of 2015 brought about a strong effort from Conceptz to begin releasing videos for their music. Conceptz videos “The Purest One”, “Love Jones” and their latest release “Funky 5” have been featured or aired on MTV, VH1, Aspire, Fuse, Centric, BBC, WorldStarHipHop, Video City TV, BongoBoyTV, Vlad TV, Vevo, and additional video networks in Italy and Asia! Conceptz latest single release “Funky 5” featuring MelodiQ is currently being featured in both Foot Locker and Sheik Retail Stores. “Love Jones” debuted at #17 on the Billboard Hot Singles Chart and “Funky 5” reached # 14 on the Billboard Hot Singles Chart. It is unprecedented for an Indy Artist to have two straight singles chart on Billboard. Conceptz are poised for greatness and the buzz they have created is a testimony to that fact!
1. Whats good Conceptz? Lets get down to the basics. How did you guys up with your group name?
Short Fuze: All of the songs we write have a concept. We both enjoy story telling and we felt Conceptz would be a good fit for the group.
2. Just to be clear, you guys are brothers, right?
Short Fuze: Yes, we are brothers 10 years apart.
3. How has that family dynamic impacted your group? Does it help or hurt the situation?
Highrowglyphfix: There’s always up’s and down’s in the music business. However, we’ve been fortunate and never had any serious issues between us. It definitely helps being related because there’s no secrets, hidden agenda’s, and we work well as a team.
4. What are your ages?
Highrowglyphfix is 24 and Short Fuze 34.
5. Fuze we know you about a decade ago you were running with your former group, The Council. How did long did you guys have a run and what exactly happened to the group?
The group started in 2003 and ended in 2007. One of the members was incarcerated and since 2010 I’ve been writing on my own.
6. You guys have done a lot of shows and opened up for some great established acts. Which show comes to mind for you guys that was the memorable and why?
Highrowglyphfix: It was the BET awards after party with Nick Cannon, Nicki Minaj & DJ Drama at the Belasco Theater. This was our first show we’ve ever done together as a group and quite frankly we were shocked that this opportunity was given to us this earlier in our music career.
7. Your new music video for “Funky 5”, which features Melodiq, was dope! Not only that, the track caught us off guard when it went from that lower bpm melodic beat into the up tempo bouncy record. Which project is that record off of and how did the concept come about?
Highrowglyphfix: Funky 5 is just a random single we decided to put out after “Love Jones”. Short Fuze found the beat and wrote to it instantly. The name of the beat was called Funky 5 so we ran with it.
8. Your sound is very current but you also keep most of the basics intact. The bars, beats, flow, etc. Do you feel that is missing in today’s mainstream hiphop?
Short Fuze: Music changes all the time whether it’s good or bad. We’ve lost some very talented artist over the years and I think that’s why it’s changed so much. If the industry were to be missing anything, I would say originality.
9. Do you think being so conceptual and lyrical would black ball you in todays climate of mother goose rap?
Short Fuze: No, not all of our songs sound the same. In fact everything we do as a whole is diverse. We challenge ourselves every chance we get and staying relevant is not a problem for us.
10. So lets talk what’s next! Word is you guys just knocked out a music video with industry heavyweights, Monstar Films. Can you shed any light on that and which track its for?
Highrowglyphfix: We’ve released quite a few projects and we decided it would be best to put out singles for now. Our next single after Funky 5 is Multiply. It was a pleasure being on set with Monstar Films. We’ve learned a lot and we’re actually working on another video together called Grandpa’s Whiskey which will be released towards the end of the year.
11. Any official albums or mixtapes on the way? If so, can you shed some light on them?
Short Fuze: Just recently we’ve talked about doing an EP. There’s no official release date, but it will feature other groups such as N.O.M.A.D.S, Lucid, & Children of the Bong.
12. Your record for “Purest One” had that vintage Wutang/Ghostface type of feel to it. You guys really blacked out on that one. One of the lines that stuck with us was “nothing is the same, new artists starting to bore me/ only thing improving now is better beats and better vids/”. With that said would you say these artists are getting by with their lack of substance and lyrics because of a dope visual and beat?
Short Fuze: Before you had to be good as a whole to get signed. Today anyone can get signed by simply having a catchy hook and a really good video. The industry is definitely lacking substance and lyrics. I’m not saying all artist fall under this category, but majority of them do.
13. With that said, tell us some artists who come to mind you cant stand to hear!? (laughs)
Short Fuze: No comment!!
14. How would you say you guys evolved from the “Euphoria” days into what you have cooking now?
Short Fuze: When we created Euphoria we didn’t know what to expect. In the beginning it was merely fun. As artist we’re still learning, but one thing I can say for certain is that our quality of music is outstanding.
15. We saw some of your music was charting in the top 20 on Billboard! That’s a big deal for indy artists, espoecially with all the competition out there. Have you guys got any major label attention from that?
Short Fuze: No labels have contacted us yet, but it has opened up doors for us.
16. Last but not least, what’s the 5 year plan for Conceptz?!
Conceptz: Two New Single releases and videos thru the end of 2015. More single releases abd videos into 2016. Next CD/MixTape Release late 2016. Shows/Touring the entire year of 2016 as openers and headliners with Major Artist. Conceptz World Tour in 2017. That is as far as we can plan or project because the goals for the future is dependent upon the success of the present.
17. The floor is yours fellas. Great chopping it up with you. Give any plugs, shout outs, whatevers clever.
Conceptz: We appreciate you taking the time to interview us. For all the new listeners and viewers, you can find our music at Conceptzmusic.net. On there you will find all our sub-links such as YouTube, Reverbnation, Twitter, Instagram, music videos & soundcloud.