Moorish God Body: Vast Aire

From film to Comic Books, Gotham City proves to be the perfect epitome of a concrete jungle and never lacks lustre. Whether for the positive attributes or the macabre of things, The Big Apple sets itself apart from any region on a global scale. Some of the greatest rappers and word-smiths hail from The City so Nice that they named it Twice.

Just north of The Bronx, one of the five boroughs that form the New York Metropolitan Region is the City of Mount Vernon. Home to Theodore Arrington III, the enigmatic musical genius better known as Vast Aire. During the late 90s, underground hip hop saw the emergence of the group Atoms Family, which was the commencement of Vast’s illustrious career prior to forming part of the duo Cannibal Ox with peer Vordul Megilah in 2001. While having a chat, like literally a chat via a social media platform, Vast was kind enough to divulge some details owing to his work as of late.

From the formidable underground Hip Hop stable Definitive Jux also known as Def Jux, which has been consequentially canned due to a copyright complication with Def Jam. In its rudiment Definitive Jux was comprised of El-P & Cannibal Ox, prior to the addition of legendary producer RJD2, Mr Lif and Aesop Rock. The well rounded music creator and avid listener claims influences from Blues, Reggae to his own apparent genre Hip Hop. Evidently, the production that brought the magnum opus, The Cold Vein to fruition, a debut album released in 2001 as the Cannibal Ox collective. The multi faceted style was further elaborated by its successor the 2005 album Return of the Ox.

Vast Aire’s solo career commenced with the independently distributed mix tape Dirty Magazine, subsequently in 2004 the official solo project Look Mom… No Hands dropped and made waves of sizable margins, featuring underground Hip Hop royalty such as MF DOOM, the aforementioned Vidal Megilah and Aesop Rock and the likes of sought after Emcee and producer Madlib. By a sudden twist of fate, Def Jux got disbanded due to the passing of stable member Camu Tao of The Weatherman and Megahertz or MHZ affiliation.

Beyond the music, Vast has a book in its final editing process and is to culminate in the near future. He maintains that The Most Honorable Muhammad constitutes much towards his personal beliefs, as a student of Islam and other eastern philosophical ideals. With a staunch inclination to Martial Arts namely Shorinji Kempo and Aikido, Vast also has a discernment of Judo and other forms of Kung Fu. His disposition towards quarrels amongst Hip Hop artists denotes some key components, mostly attributed to the way of martial arts, as he emphatically infers “Some Battles Are Personal... There is a new Real Beef. On the other hand, some Times in Battles Two Artist Can Actually Respect Each Other! Like Ken & Ryu from Street Fighter. They Respect What Each Other Knows About The Style”.

By virtue of hypothesis, pursuit in alternative career, according(s) to Vast Aire would have been Visual Arts, Architecture, probably gravitation towards the disciplines of Philosophy and Science. With so much lofty dreams, let alone the impressive achievements, Vast stays grounded.

“I'm a man first before I was anything else. I work hard for everything I have received over the years. Respect is given to those who show & prove their said abilities. Music is everything to me and you can hear it in my work”.

Vast Aire has since formed his own record label called I.G.C. Records, and amongst the various projects from his own imprint the second version of his first compilation titled Dirty Magazine Vol. 2 “The Second Clip”. Judging from the former, one can deduce that Vast Aire’s journey has come full circle, as the saying goes… The Beat Goes On

Click here to see Vast Aire's Discography.