Domino Speaks on The Hiero Family Album

EXPOSED!

Domino Comes Out & Talks 
About The Forthcoming 
Hiero Family Album

It is one, if not the most anticipated Hiero albums of all time. No one knows what to expect as Hiero has kept close guard of their pre-studio copies for the album, assuring that no tracks are leaked into the public. Many fans are wondering whether the Hiero Family Album (Tentative Title) will follow along the lines of "No Mans Land"; an album that was not too well received by many Hiero fans.

A couple of weeks ago, I approached Domino (the manager and main producer of Hieroglyphics) over a phone conversation, & questioned him of a great many things about the Hiero Album. The following editorial are compiled of his replies.

Perhaps the biggest question on the minds of Hiero fans is wheter or not the Family Album will fall into the "No Man's Land" syndrome. Although the album was tighter than damn near anything available at the time of its release, it still rated low in comaprison to other Hiero albums, especially Souls of Mischief's debut effort, 93 til Infinity. Production seemed weak, and fans were quick to claim Souls of wanting to be "Oakland gangsters", or "hard" among other things.

"NML wasn't really where the crew wanted to go", stated Domino in our interview. He went on to state that problems with the label and release information hindered Souls and the production of "No Man's Land". My next question for Domino was: "Can the production on the Family Album be compared to any former Hiero sound, or is it something entirely new?" Domino replied by stating that the beats on the Family Album will be more towards '93 til' in the sense that they will be "more melodic; more musical". Domino concluded: "Expect what people love from Hiero: Just rippin' shit. . .[We] want to blow people's minds with [this Family Album]. . .We're coming more like the old flavor. . .Going back to rippin' it totally." Whether this in fact is true will have to wait until the release of the Family Album, which is tentatively scheduled around January 97'. So now the next big question I'm sure everyone is asking is: "Just what will be on this album?"

As of August 20th, the Hiero Crew has 16 full songs recorded. Domino told me that the crew will be recording an additional 10 songs and some shorts/interludes within the next couple of months. So in the end, there will be approx. 30 songs and some shorts to chose from. The plan is to have approx. 13-15 songs on the Family Album. All additional songs that do not make the album cut will be sold in some form here at Hieroglyphics Dot Com.

The Family Album itself will be published independently by the Hiero Crew themselves. To many I am sure this comes as good news, judging by posts on the Hiero Bulletin Board. However, One has to question if this is such a smart idea.

We all know how crooked and shadey labels have been to all artists, especially Hiero. JIVE/ZOMBA especially took 3 Hiero groups for a highly unscrupulous ride. However, these labels provided their groups with 2 important things: Distribution, and funding. Hiero is confident that funding isn't a problem with the Family Album. Expect advertisements, videos, etc. However, distribution was my main concern. Will this album be available out in Bumblefuck, USA, or even closer-- stores such as "The Wall" or "Tower"? Domino's reply: "The Family Album will be published on an independent label with major distribution." Reportedly, there are numerous big-time distributors currently interested in the Hiero project. Distribution should not be a problem. So what kind of songs will be on the Family Album?

I was told by Tajai of Souls of Mischief that there will be one or two tracks in the vein of "Burnt", in that every single member of the crew rips shit in the same song. But for the majority of the album, various members of the crew will be dividing themselves up into all new groups for the Family Album. One such example of this is "The Prose": A group consiting of Snupe of Extra Prolific and Pep Love of Pep Love & JBiz. In Addition songs from Del's now-canceled album, "Future Developement" have been altered in various ways, and will now make appearances on the Family Album. For example, one song originally scheduled for Future Developement, "No Nuts" had Del rhyming for 3 verses by himself. The new, altered "No Nuts" for the family album will also consist of accompanying verses by Pep Love and Snupe. So for all those Del fans who thought they were going to miss-out on those lost cuts from his now-canceled third album, will find reassurance that they will see light after dark on the family album, as well as an upcoming Hiero Online exclusive project, to be announced in the future.

This album is hip-hop history in the making. There are but a coup of hip-hop families currently publishing albums. It has been many-a-Hiero-Fan's dream for the entire crew to come together and drop an album, and it is finally going to happen. Judging from the information provided to us here at Hiero Online via Domino and the other members of the Hiero Imperium, we have much to look forward to.

If you have any other questions regarding the Hiero Family Album, please direct them to our Online Bulletin Board. We'll try to answer as many as possible. Peace!

-StinkE

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