From Albany , NY , his home town, to internationally known, Sev Statik aka Stu Dent has been heard everywhere. He reps for both of the underground super crews Deepspace 5 and Tunnel Rats . With two aliases Sev Statik pumps out twice as many records as your other favorite rapper and also has time to rap on dozens of collaborations. Even with all this you can never get enough of Sev Statik The Point Man.

So your latest LP will is called "Slow Burn", what can we expect on that release?

The title Slow Burn basically describes how I look at my grind and the time I've put into this rap game. I'm not making "fast food" music for the masses to consume. I'd rather be in this game on a slow burn to push quality art than a product that's meaningless. A lot of fools that call themselves artists turn into a flash in the pan and become "has beens". So when heads see me on a release I want them to know off that bat that what's being put forth by  Sev Statik is something I've put my heart into. I have only one emcee guest and her name is Explicit (from Mass Reality). I got production from Shawn J. Period (Mos Def, Kweli) , Joey Beats (Sage Francis, Nobs), Dert , Relic, JB, Tony S tone, Gershom and The Hobbyist. This record is solid. I have a hard time vouching for my own art when it comes to the sound, but this record is tight. Heads will definitely be investing time into this album. Kop it at www.sevstatik.com.

Originally, you signed to Domination Recordings to put out Slow Burn and now it's coming out through Pitch Control Music. Why the switch?

At first, I was going through Day By Day Recordings w/ DJ Fisher, but he left DBD and started his own label, Domination, so I agreed to deal with him in his new venture. This was early in '04 so we agreed to put it later in the year while he set up his lineup of artists. Slow Burn was slated for a November '04 release, but didn't make that date. So, as it kept getting pushed back from week to week I thought it was in my best interest to pull the album and go through my own company Pitch Control Music. PCM was started by me and my homie Dezinated in 2000. My man Fisher was cool with that so we just deaded it and hopefully later on we can get up and do something at a better time for the both of us. And as I travel back around this 360 I'll be going through DBD for distribution for Slow Burn so… it all goes back to the beginning.

How did you feel when your previous record label, which put out the Speak Life LP, Uprok Records went under and you were left without the backing of a label?

Well, I wasn't signed to Uprok as a solo artist so them going under didn't effect me at all. Tunnel Rats got a production deal to do 13 records and never had  plans on re-signing with Uprok. My opinion is they didn't have the right people to push records anyway. Josh worked his butt off, but his hands were tied most of the time. I know what he wanted to do with the records, but couldn't because of the agenda at Uprok. We have to remember labels are not designed for what's best for the artist. A label is a business . A bank. A pimp. So, they want their bottom line met and more. Them going under had nothing to do with “losing” money on their artists (TR's, KJ, CM or DS5).

How come you came out with the " Altered State " and "Nephilim" LPs with the alias Stu Dent?

I was in a limbo state between projects and couldn't put out anything with the name Sev Statik so I went under the alias Stu Dent. I always wanted to an alias project, but I wanted to do something really different with a deeper concept behind it. And in my opinion most artists are putting out projects that sound the same from the music to the rhymes and that gets stale after a while. So I got with some up and coming producers and did some songs that attract peculiar listeners. The Stu Dent projects are more obscure and abstract in their definition as each album comes out. The fictional story of Stu Dent is from the real story of Genesis 6 where the sons of God (fallen Angels) found earthly women to be "fair" and "they came in unto the daughters of men and bare children with them". Stu Dent is one of the children that were born from that cross breeding and this is where the Stu Dent story begins. God sent the flood, spared Noah and his family and everything was destroyed, but Stu Dent stowed away on the ark with the help of Noah's sons Shem, Ham and Japheth. I insert that God has a divine plan for this breed of spirit and flesh in this world and others in the universe starting with hip hop culture.

As Stu Dent, how did the deal with Illect come about?

The first Stu Dent record " Altered State " came out off of Sphere of Hip Hop in 2001. Josh from Sphere started Illect Records after leaving Uprok as head A&R and asked to work with me again so we decided to push Stu Dent through Illect. Josh and I have had a relationship for a while so it was natural to go with Illect with the Stu Dent projects.

Why did you pick the name "Stu Dent" as your alter-ego?

I got the name off of my writing notebook it was in all caps as one word “STUDENT”. Obviously, the name is a play on words from the word "student". I'm a student of life so what better name than one that totally describes what I am?

Do you plan more records as your alter-ego alias Stu Dent again?

Yes. Right now I'm working on the Act of God lp's which is a 3 album series. The first of that series is "Nephilim" AOG:1 on Illect Records Oct. 2003 which received rave reviews and some called it a classic album. The next lp "The Battle for Hebron " AOG:2 is almost done and will introduce Stu Dent the character and “his” origins later in 2005.

Tell me about the "Word Format" collaboration with Realistikk.

She's going to kill me! Haha... I love Realistikk. She and I have an album together and we call ourselves Word Format. We have the beats. We have the songs. We have the energy. We just don't have the time to get it recorded. Actually, she came to Albany NY and I recorded everything she had for this project and was going to lay my vocals after she left, but I decided that we should do it again and record together at the same time... song to song. I didn't want it to sound pieced together. I want that connection to be felt when heads are listening to it. You know? We still plan on getting it done and it's just a question of our schedules opening up a bit.

You are part of both super crews Tunnel Rats and Deepspace 5, how did you become part of both groups?

I became Tunnel Rat in 1996 when Dax asked me to be down after hearing my music at the 1996 Cru-Vention hip hop summit. Earlier that year Listener, Manchild and I started DS5 so I've been a part of both crews for about 8 years now. Time is flying.

Are there any Tunnel Rats or Deepspace 5 releases in the works?

2005 will be a packed year for both crews. Gotee is putting out the next official Deepspace5 record in May '05 along with a DVD. Dust's brother Vaughn had the camera in the booth, at the store, in the restaurant and the shows. We got some cool footage. Beat Rabbi is also putting out a DS5 record thru Illect to showcase his production skills with all DS5 emcees. With TR's we have no official TR crew album coming out, but we have the 7 EP series coming out all this year in ‘05. TR's also just signed KRS-1 to a deal with all production being handled by the TR producers. The Foot Soldiers 2 dvd is also coming out this year so there's a lot of serious projects along with a grip of solo efforts being planned for ‘05.

How did you decide to form RedFlagUnit (with Mars Ill ), and are there any upcoming releases from the group ?

Manchild and I have been collaborating on songs for a while. Our plates just stay full of work, praise God, and him and I have a great connection so it's easy to work together. The fact that Dust is so dope on the beats just makes us both sound that much better. Manchild and I have a song "Downtown" on the new Beat Rabbi "DeepSpaceSoul" LP. We collab on certain projects as R.F.U. as they come along . We've talked about the lp idea for a few years and have agreed to do it when the time is right. We know we're going to do one, but can't lock down the date. As of right now Dust and I have started an album called Back To Dust and should be out in 2005. This one is personal so fools better duck.

Interviewer- Caleb Kinney (Hip Hop For The Soul)