Name: Robert Stewart aka Beans
Occupation: Vocalist, Songwriter, Producer
Nationality: American
Recent release: Beans's new full-length album ZWAARD, produced and mixed by Vladislav Delay, is out via Tygr Rawwk.
Recommendations: Evening Colours, Galaxies, La Petite Fenetre, and Les Soleils de la Vie by Laurence Vanay are 4 VERY excellent albums from a VERY excellent musician.
The Confessions of Matthew Strong by Ousmane K. Power-Greene (written by M.Sayyid’s brother, an excellent read)

[Read our Vladislav Delay interview]

If you enjoyed this Beans interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit him on Instagram, and Facebook.

For a deeper dive, we recommend a conversation with his Anti Pop Consortium colleague in our Hprizm / High Priest interview.



Do you think that some of your earliest musical experiences planted a seed for your interest in writing lyrics or poetry? How and when did you start writing?

When I first got interested in wanting to make music, I had no inclination to start writing rhymes or ever touching a microphone. I got into music in the hopes of becoming a DJ. I can remember going to Black Expo at the Jacob Javits Center with my mom and my brother in the mid 80s and entering a raffle to win a VCR cassette of DJ Red Alert and Spinderella’s How to Scratch. I won and my brother was like, ”it’s a sign!!”



I found someone 3 blocks away from my house named Harold Johnson, who not only had equipment, but was willing to show me how to use it. After a month or so of going to Harold’s house, he was like, ”you could keep coming over to my house every day but you won’t get better at this until you get your own mixer and turntable and practice, practice, practice.” Discouraged, I knew that I couldn’t afford making the purchases I needed to get better.  So I sorta gave up on the idea of doing music.

It wasn’t until my man, Al, who was also a DJ, pulled my coat and was like, ”yo, you're way more creative to just being a DJ. Why don’t you think about rhyming. I think that might be a better fit for you.”  So here we are.

Around the time PE dropped Nation of Millions, I kept going to Harold’s house everyday to practise as an MC. Harold used to spin back to back on Biz Markie’s “Pickin Boogers” beat.



Eventually, we started doing basement parties for my cousins in Connecticut with Harold and his friend, John, DJ’ing while I MC’d.

A few years later, I was in a local rap group called Treadin’ Measures when I got introduced to the poetry scene by a poet named 99. She was the one who first started taking me to the Nuyorican Poets Cafe then later Rap Meets Poetry at the Fez underneath the Time Cafe.

It was at The Fez, a monthly mingling spot hosted by Bob Kaufman and Def Jam publicist Bill Adler for industry folks, poets, and rappers, where I witnessed Freestyle Fellowship do Tolerate for the first time, saw Mos Def do an amazing freestyle at the end of the night, Meshell Ndegeocello did a showcase with Madonna in the audience, rubbed elbows with other prominent musicians and poets awaiting to embrace their destinies. It’s where I first crossed paths with the members of what would later become the Anti-Pop Consortium. It was through that introduction to poetry that I started thinking of different ways to approach words.

A year or 2 after parting ways with Treadin’ Measures and going more into the poetry direction, the brother of the DJ in Treadin’ Measures, his cousin and older brother of rapper Top Quality, who had only been home for a month prior to serving a 6 year jail sentence, along with another mutual friend of ours decided that it was a good idea to rob a few check cashing places. Fortunately for me, I left at the right time.

A few of my earlier pieces performing poetry included painting the words of a poem on the back of a sock and imitating the movement of a snake like a puppet while shaking a handheld merengue to a piece called, ”The Serpent.” I did things like ride a bike on stage, going in cycles reciting lyrics. I also drew a 24 x 30 picture and held it in my hands, putting the mic placement to the picture. I pre recorded the vocals to the piece along with the music and hit play while remaining completely motionless.

During the Bad Boy shiny suit era of Hip Hop, I turned off the radio and got engrossed in Black Classical Music or Jazz. I started seeing the parallels of what I was trying to do with my cadence to a saxophone. The book, As Serious As Your Life by Val Wilmer, given to me as a gift by the late Greg Tate, remains a big influence on me to this day.



I was having fun trying new things out back then. Being in poetry freed me up to try different things with my writing with how it was expressed and performed because you didn’t have the crutch of a beat to mask any inadequacies in your writing you may be hiding. The lyrics had to be so on point or the results of falling short publicly were brutal. I’ve seen some really devastating reactions from an audience when someone’s work was sub par. They were merciless.

It was truly get better or break, for real.

It is sometimes said that “music begins where words end.” What do you make of that?

I don’t know about that. In my first forays into production for my earlier releases, my main intent with production was to keep the music minimal so that less emphasis was placed on the beats and more on what was being said.

My focus with production at that time was created only to help place more emphasis on the words. I believe this is why I was told that a lot of folks didn’t like my early production approach and thought that I needed a producer for better beats for me to rhyme over.

Back when I was producing my own material, there weren’t many producers doing what I was hearing in my head. I produced my earlier work mostly out of neccessity. I personally don’t enjoy producing but I know what I want to hear and what I enjoy listening for me to write to a joint.

That approach to focusing more on the lyrics than the music is more readily accepted currently with drumless tracks like what Lungs and Phiink or Roc Marciano would put out.

Entering new worlds and escapism through music and literature have always exerted a very strong pull on me. What do you think you are drawn to most when it comes to writing?

Growing up, my father expressed his love for science fiction by reading a book a night. So I grew up looking at his collection of books neatly displayed on shelves around the house.

I myself have followed that tradition by also surrounding myself with books. I have to always be reading something because it feels weird if I don’t have a book to read. I read comics, mysteries mostly, and I walk to the library often. If I’m a guest at someone’s house and they don’t have books, I’m openly judging you. First thing that I’m going to ask is, ”where’s your books?” Books are Magic!

Reading makes me want to write. Strong writers make me want to be a better writer. For me, both are in tandem. There’s not one without the other.

What were some of the artists and albums which inspired you early on purely on the strength of their lyrics? What moves you in the lyrics of other artists?

I’m lucky, VERY lucky, that I was fortunate enough to have grown up when Public Enemy, De La, Kane, Kool G. Rap, Audio Two, Salt n Pepa, The B-Boys, Dismasters, JVC Force, Just Ice, Mantronix, Special Ed, Ultramagnetics, Queen Latifah, UTFO, Stetsasonic, Beastie Boys, Kool Mo Dee, LL Cool J, Eric B and Rakim, The Jungle Brothers, EpMD, Slick Rick, KRS/BDP, and MC Lyte were first coming out.

That, to me, is the Golden Era of Hip Hop. When every act was extremely individual and diverse, when the music was still outlaw and could only be heard on the weekends. When turning on Chuck Chillout and DJ Red Alert on KISS fm, or Mr. Magic on WBLS every Friday or Saturday, when EVERY SONG was a,” what the fuck is that?” moment.



As a youth, that time in my life was when I fell in love with the music. I didn’t know at that time that I would be making my own contributions to the music. With every stroke of the pen, I strive to encapsulate that same feeling that I was given with my own, ”what the fuck is that?” moments.

I have always considered many forms of music to be a form of poetry as well. Where do you personally see similarities? What can music express which may be out of reach for poetry?

Back in the day, I would’ve said the distinction is your delivery and/or cadence. But now, I’ve blurred those lines in many different instances that I can comfortably choose whether a particular approach works best for me with a particular piece or not.

To me, that’s where the fun comes in. Writing and conceptualising direction and ideas, and exploring all the boundless possibilities of what can be done with this medium.

My issue with Hip Hop is that people have gotten comfortable with what that means, Hip Hop. When you say the word Hip Hop, you expect to hear the music already set up with certain expectations of what it’s supposed to sound like even before you hear it. Since Hip Hop can be sample sourced from various sources, it doesn’t have to be any set way specifically.

To me, for my own work, it’s Hip Hop because I say it is.

The relationship between words and music has always intrigued me. How do you see it?

Symbionic

When working on music, when do the lyrics enter the picture? Where do they come from? Do lyrics need to grow together with the music or can they emerge from a place of their own?

I usually start with the title.  Everything stems for me from the title of the track or the album before I start writing.

The title sets up the direction and the conception of what I’m about to talk about.

Do you feel like the music triggers specific words inside you? Or is more of a feeling or a memory? Would you say there is instantly an entire idea in front of you or does the story grow as you keep listening to the music?

Nothing happens for me writing or lyrically until I have a title. It dictates everything.

Listening to a piece of music that I might be working on may inspire a title but I usually look for the music that fits a title to create a body of work.

More generally, in how far can music take you to places with your writing you would possibly not have visited without it?

The World. I wasn’t much of a physical traveller until I started touring. The world is a beautiful place that most people will never get a chance to see. I’ve been fortunate to have had the chance to travel and experience some things. Most people do not.

Different interactions with different people in strange places opens you up creatively. Most of my friends or people that I’ve met and hold dearly were mostly a direct result of our interactions via the creation of music.
With the writing, the possibilities are boundless.

When you're writing song lyrics, do you sense or see a connection between your voice and the text? Does it need to feel and sound “good” or “right” to sing certain words? What's your perspective in this regard of singing someone else's songs versus your own?

I’ve never done a cover of a song before. But if I did, it would probably be a KISS song, most likely. The Destroyer album was a big influence on me as a kid.

I used to get my family together in our living room in full makeup, wearing my moms giant rubber boots and offkey perform the Peter Criss ballad, “Beth,” heard on Destroyer.



I consider those performances as my very first live shows.

In how far are you consciously aware of the meaning of the lyrics you're writing during the creative process? Do you need to have a concrete concept or can the words take the lead?

It all stems from the title.

For me, a title is not an afterthought. The title of a track, for me, dictates the writing and sets the tone and direction of what I’m about to say.  

What is the value of song lyrics or hip hop bars outside of the music?

It is of the utmost importance. Some people like a song when they first hear it because of the beat. I gravitate more towards what’s being said. If you not saying shit, I tend not to check for you.

KRS said, “People died so I can rhyme. You think I’m gonna grab the mic and waste my nation's time? Step off with that weak shit!!”

When KRS said that, putting the emphasis on having lyrics that will hold up beyond you in a historical context, I seriously took that shit to heart.

How do you see the relationship between harmony, rhythm and melody? Do you feel that honing your sense of rhythm and groove has an effect on your lyrics-writing skills?

I think mostly about how the rhythm of the words work together while I’m writing something. If a particular rhythm fits the pattern for what I’m trying to say.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of poetry is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

I wouldn’t know. I don’t drink coffee.