WAXED OUT: An Interview with Dusty Fox

WAXED OUT delivers new music to keep your record collection fresh & stacked to the ceiling

words by @Evan_Gabriel

Sitting at his dining room table in southeast Portland, Dusty Fox, one half of the Northwest hip-hop crew Research & Development, is having a serendipitous Saturday. The MC just opened a fortune cookie that told him to look for the color purple.“Earlier today I saw three people crossing the street separately, all of them wearing purple,” Dusty smiles, as if he has just connected with some small corner of the universe.And while munching the stale fortune cookie in my hand, I wonder if he’s right.How did you get into music?“I’ve been writing a long time. I’ve been living hip-hop a long time, ever since I was a really little kid. I can remember I had this Donald Duck book with all these different sounds, like a saw and a hammer. And I would sit there and mash shit. My Dad, who plays keys, would come in and make little beats and shit. He would do this MC Hammer impression, 'Each day we pray...each day we pray,' with the little saw and hammer!”When did you link up with your partner in crime, Rufus Smalltownz?“Cypher status? “We probably started rapping together back in 2008. Really attacking it? We’ve been at it a year.”

How Did the first Research & Development mixtape come together?

“The track “Minds Overflowin’ was the first track we tried to record in my old house. We called it ‘Stoner Studios’ and it fell apart on us, literally there were egg cartons on the walls falling off. But we knew we had to record,” Dusty laughs.

What do you think about rap in general?

“In the 60’s people played a guitar, and everyone was looking up to Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles. It was so universal. To an extent, it’s the same with rapping. A lof of people rap but that’ a beautiful thing because it’s a beautiful art form.”

Dusty Fox's new EP, “Saturn Daze” will be released on May 1st. From a first listen you can hear growth in sound, with the beats from Los Angeles producer Causes tightly accenting the verses on standout tracks like “Outer Limits,” “Burgundy Loveseat” and my personal favorite, “All the Kings Men:"

“Ain’t no rushin’ this, ain’t no rushin’ this, out in Moscow man where the Russians live, ride around on public transit with some ruffians, ain’t no rushin’ this.”