Back in the early 90’s, Hip-Hop packed its bags and took a trip over to the West Coast (as documented in Common’s song, ‘I Used To Love H.E.R.’). It traded the cold climate for palm trees, sunshine, and a great view of the Pacific Ocean.

On the music side of things, fans of Hip-Hop were treated to a local group with a peculiar name. The band dressed in all black and donned sports apparel by the LA Raiders (as they were known back then before moving to Oakland).

The name of the group was N.W.A., and they painted vivid pictures of street life and the struggles of African-Americans in the urban community. But they weren’t the only group making headway during that time. A four man collective known as the Souls Of Mischief also hit the scene consisting of sharp lyricism and chemistry that was rarely matched in those days.

Their breakout single was a song called ‘’93 Til Infinity’ and it crossed the 3,000-mile boarder back East. Present day Oakland is now the forefront of the hyphy movement, but the lyrical dexterity that Souls Of Mischief helped to usher in is still alive to this day and is being practiced by Opio Lindsey. One fourth of the collective, Opio has sprouted out on his own to venture into the solo realm with his new project Vulture’s Wisdom Vol. 1. A career that started back in 1993 sti ll above the radar 15 years later—just like the song he aided in making entailed it would be. 

What have you been up to lately?

Nothing much, just trying to work on this album.

What can people expect to hear from Vulture’s Wisdom Vol.1?

It’s more about the beats, lyrics, and concepts rather than the energy, persona, and all of that. With this record we really wanted to focus on the music, instead of getting caught up in ‘this person’ and ‘that person’— like who dresses like what, and who drinks this type of alcohol. All that stuff went out the window, and it’s really about the music. It’s about the philosophy of life, and trying to come across by touching people.   

Is there any meaning behind the name of the album?

Architect and me actually sat back from a far, and watched a lot of cats come in the game and eat at it. And in a lot of people’s eyes, they felt like there wasn’t anything left. So we were going to swoop down with the vulture’s wisdom and come with that real sh*t.

Coming from a group setting, was it difficult to do solo projects at first?

Not really because even though I’m in a group, I’m by myself a lot and I make a lot of beats. I’m always exploring my own creative zone. On this album Architect produced the whole record, so I was more focused on the lyrics.

What made you want to pursue solo endeavors?

I love being creative with my group, but there always cats telling me that I should do a solo project. I always thought about it, but I never really took it serious; you know what I’m saying? After Tajai dropped his solo project, I knew it was a possibility. And after I heard it, it was really dope, so that’s what set it off for me. That kind of inspired me to do it.    

What did you think about Kidz In The Hall remaking to ‘93 ‘Til Infinity’ with ‘Wheelz Fall Off (’06 ‘Til…)'?

Yeah, I think it was pretty tight. A lot of cats first came up to me and was like, “Yo, they’re biting y’alls song!” Out here in the Bay Area, that song is kind of like an anthem, and it’s kind of hard to do something and win people over with it. But I thought it was tight. 

Speaking of them and yourself/Souls Of Mischief, what do you think are some of the biggest changes between Hip-Hop in the 90’s compared to today’s Hip-Hop?

I definitely like the fact that you can step around the record companies and promote yourself, instead of people telling you how to do your music. Trading your art form is one thing, and making money is a whole separate thing. All these record companies have a standard of what music they think should come out, but I’m more of a creative person, so I’m into the whole art form of it all without the interference. And with the Internet and YouTube, you can put yourself out there, so I love to see that. It started in the 90’s though, with them trying to market the kind of Hip-Hop that I do. Like calling it “underground-backpack,” or trying to market people to dress in a certain kind of way; when it should just be about the music. I like Jay-Z, but that doesn’t mean I have to drink hella Cristal; you know what I’m saying?  

Speaking of the music, you’ve kept your sound the same over the years while other veteran acts usually conform to keep up with the times. Did you ever think that could’ve stopped you from gaining new fans?

Well we were one of the first people that started using the Internet to put ourselves out there, so our presences has always been there from the beginning. So for a lot of cats that are searching for music online, there’s a big chance that you’re going to come across some Hieroglyphics music. We have a lot of young fans; fans from our older music right up to our newer music. They’ve been listening to it for over a period of 15 years, or they’re been listening to it for the last 3 or 4 years, so basically our fan base has stayed the same age. Even though we’ve been around for a long time, we have a lot of OG cats that have been down with us since ’93 and they’re all grown up now. 

So do you think lyrics still matter in Hip-Hop?

It’s hard to say. A lot of people think it doesn’t matter, but of course it does. Hell yeah it matters! But does it matter if you’re trying to the richest billionaire rapper? That’s hard to say. In my opinion if you stay true to yourself, then you’ll be rewarded in the end. I’m a lyricist, so it definitely matters, but I know that there are people in the world that just enjoy music and they just want to go out and have fun. Tupac was a great lyricist, and the most famous rapper of all time, and he was about the lyrics. 

When you first started in 1993, did you imagine that you’d still be around to this day?

Nah. I didn’t really grasp the concept of like; a 15-year period of time, I was only 17-years-old at the time anyway. So I wasn’t thinking that far ahead, even though we always thought about the future, I didn’t think in my mind that I would still be doing music right now.

Throughout your entire career solo or group, did you ever consider yourself an underground artist?

I’m not going to lie; at first I didn’t like it because it was reserved for cornballs. If you were “backpack” you were corny. But as for being labeled, people are always going to label you. [Laughs] Especially from the beginning because we were from the West Coast, so they just wanted to put [us] into a box. But if there is a genre of “backpack rappers,” you would have to say that Hieroglyphics is at the forefront of that in terms of being underground independent artists—we’re like the kings of that sh*t.