Humble Among: The outsider from Vermont raps with ROX-TV about his music, background and much more
We’d like to thank Humble Among for speaking with ROX-TV tonight. I was recently digging on his “Halloween Tape III” album and reached out to him for an interview. We like to give independent artists a platform at ROX-TV and we were thrilled when he agreed to speak with us. So without further to do, lets get to it…
First off homie, can you tell us a little about yourself and where you come from. What area or city are you representing?
HA: Hi, my name is Humble Among. Or Kandy Offman. I’m an outsider-weirdo-rap-artist who lives in the beautiful green mountains of Vermont. More specifically, a small village called Bellows Falls. I’m not like the others.
Can you talk to us about how you first got involved in making music? What led you into going from a fan of music, to wanting to create it?
HA: I started making music after I got my first PC in the 8th grade. This was in the 90’s and Eminem had just came out with the “Slim Shady LP”. It was a game changing moment for crazy white boys everywhere. “Brain Damage” was the first song I heard that made me want to write a rap of my own. Once I discovered horrorcore.com and underground rap, I realized I could make my own songs using free software.
What was your first recording experiences like?
HA: I have always recorded myself. I’ve never been in a “real” studio or had an engineer. I remember back in the day we would be recording with a Walmart chat mic. Making silly parody songs and skits. Then I upgraded to a RadioShack dynamic mic. I didn’t have any money or experience to know better. I remember using two adapters so that it would plug into the 1/8” mic input on the back of the computer tower. We had no idea what we were doing. It was all trial and error.
I’m still getting familiar with your work. Since the first album I came across was “Halloween Tape III: Season of the bitch” why don’t you talk about that release. What was the inspiration behind the album? How long did you work on it? What were you trying to accomplish with that recording? (I think its great by the way, I’m a Halloween Junkie)
HA: Thank you. The Halloween Tape series came about from my admiration of the Insane Clown Posse and their Hallowicked singles. And just Halloween in general. My birthday is very close to Halloween and it’s always been my favorite holiday. My homie Andybeatz and I wanted to make a project in that spirit. Go full horror. This is the third in that series. These Tapes typically have themes and a loose, overarching story. The theme for HT3 is the youth rising up to kill their wack ass parents. A kind of homage to Halloween 3. It was a fun project to make and I got to work with a lot artists I have been wanting to work with for a minute now.
I understand you have a song on “Halloween Tape III: Season of the bitch” called “Bleed” with the Sin City mad man, Psychopathic Records own Ouija Macc. How did that all come together? Can you talk a little bit about the experience of working with Ouija and your thoughts on how “Bleed” turned out?
HA: I’m a huge fan of Ouija’s work. So when I had the opportunity to get him on a track, I had to do it. “Bleed” was the first song recorded for “HT3” and almost ended up on another project, “Fear Of A Wack Planet” but I felt that the vibe didn’t fit so it found it’s way to “Season of the Bitch”. Shout out to Ouija Macc. He killed that verse and gave me more bars than he had to. It came out really fresh.
That particular song was produced by Devereaux? What was the experience like?
HA: Yes. Devereaux made the beat for that one. I’ve worked with Dev on a couple of projects now. I love his production style. He is definitely one of my go-to producers when I’m looking to start building a project. Shout out to my producer homies; THEN WHAt, Bad Mind, Andybeatz, and Kasuke. I couldn’t do it without them.
Of course, while researching your “Halloween Tape III” album, I found “Halloween Tape 2” on bandcamp for ten bucks. I was very excited to see that a physical copy is available for purchase. It’s really great that you are bringing out physical albums for collectors and old wild cats like me, that prefer yesterday’s technology sometimes. Can you talk about “Halloween Tape 2” briefly and tell the first time readers at ROX-TV what your favorite tracks on are the album?
HA: I love CDs. I think they are the superior musical format. Streaming never sounds as good to me. I’m a huge proponent of physical media in general.
“Halloween Tape 2” is the second installment in the Halloween Tape series and more of a full realization of what I was trying to accomplish with “HT1”. I wanted to make a more old school sounding wicked shit album. Bad Mind produced that whole project. He really nailed the sound I was going for.
I was in a very dark place while recording those songs and you can hear it. My favorites are the more personal songs like “Self Help”, “Paranoia”, and “Nature or Nurture”.
When did you first start to notice music, not just as something that was around or on the radio, but that moment when you were like “damn, that song is dope”? Who was the group or what was that first song that sent you into the rap world?
HA: My parents told me that I have always responded to music. I remember one time watching a VHS tape of old home movies with my Dad, and there was this one part where I am getting in the car with him to go somewhere. I hold up a cassette tape and I’m saying to play this one. He puts it in and The Beastie Boys – “No Sleep Til Brooklyn” starts playing. That really flipped my wig. I hope I can find that tape again someday.
Besides the “Halloween” releases can you tell the ROX-TV readers who are just getting hip to your music what else you have available and where they can find it?
HA: Last year I dropped 3 projects; “Fear Of A Wack Planet” (a sci-fi dystopian horror album) “HT3”, and “Xmas Tape 2: Wack Xmas” (my second Xmas project) This year I have already dropped “Valentine Tape”. I have a thing for holidays. The original “Xmas Tape” seems to be a favorite. Check them all out on your favorite streaming service or you can cop the physicals from my bandcamp: https://humbleamong.bandcamp.com
The last year has totally sucked because of the pandemic shit. How has it affected you personally in the music game?
HA: Man, it has affected me a lot. Not all of it bad, necessarily. I lost a couple great opportunities and gigs because of it. But I also used the time to get sober from alcohol (coming up on a year clean), work on my variety of mental health issues, and record a lot of music. I think the good far outweighs the bad, in my situation.
Are you planning on doing any shows when the world starts to open back up? Things in Michigan finally seem to be easing into it, with more stuff being announced each week. What is in the cards for Humble Among going forward?
HA: I am definitely interested in doing shows again. Nothing is booked as of now but I expect that to change as more things (hopefully) start to open up. In the meantime, expect more music from me. My new project “Wonderland” is in production now.
Any news or information you’d like to tease out to your fans and the readers at ROX-TV?
HA: My next project, “Wonderland”, has been taking up most of my attention. It’s a positive, psychedelic, wicked shit album for kids. I’m only partially joking. That should be out pretty soon. Recording for “Halloween Tape 4” has begun, as well.
I am always curious about the people that make music and what they are listening to? What’s in your stereo tonight homie?
HA: I listen to a lot of podcasts. Currently listening to one about UFOs called “Somewhere In The Skies”. As for music, I’ve been listening to a lot of nu metal. Korn, Slipknot, Limp Bizkit. Shit like that. Expect a nu metal album from me at some point.
Last but not least, the shout outs section. I’m old school and believe in shout outs. They were one of my favorite parts growing up. Who are you shouting out tonight?
HA: Shout out to the Juggalos. Shout out to my fans. Shout out to my close collaborators; THEN WHAt, Doc C, Bad Mind, Kasuke, Andybeatz, Devereaux and Jay Birdface. Shout out to the Vermont Hip Hop scene. Shout out to the old horrorcore.com forum heads. Shout out to all the lonely weirdos out there. You are not alone.
Well, that about does it tonight. Thanks to the homie Humble Among for chopping it up with us at ROX-TV. Please keep coming back for unusual content and shit that isn’t on the beaten path. We enjoy providing a platform to indie artists to reach new listeners and showcase their material. Until next time….
Signing Off,
Mike Shepard
ROX-TV Head Writer
shepard2909@hotmail.com
kidvicious810 on IG
