The beats speak to this dude
By Anisha F. Coleman
For the St. Louis American
Listening to local rapper PURE makes the genuine hip-hop lover nostalgic, yearning for years past when groups like A Tribe Called Quest and Pharcyde ruled the airways, forcing the music industry and fans alike to think beyond the surface.
I caught his latest show at The Spot last weekend. Although the crowd was small, the moment 6’1″ PURE hit the stage, people came to life. It was as if the crowd couldn’t get enough of him, inching closer and closer to the stage as his rhymes flowed on. Even the bouncers nodded their heads, serious faces and all.
“Loud and Clear,” this vintage hip-hop head’s latest single currently being played on 100.3 The Beat, is what the hyped crowd begged for. When he dropped the track, he brought down the house.
After the show, I caught up with PURE for a one-on-one. When talking about his profound love for what he terms “true” hip-hop, his eyes lit up with intensity.
“Rap is as instinctive to me as the air I breathe,” PURE said.
PURE first rhymed back in 1988 in high school, when classmates asked him to rap for an assignment. When he was done, his class was on their toes, for they had never heard rhymes that live coming from the confines of their school. No one saw it coming from this straight-A student.
In his household, a straight-A report card granted him a special trip to a popular record store in River Roads Mall in North County, where he could purchase any musical item he wanted. He would usually buy some music so he could go home and study it.
By 1997, PD Wax Records was putting out records in St. Louis. Through hard work and networking, PURE connected with the label, and out of that relationship came his first record, “Both Sides of the Game,” which he co-engineered and co-produced.
The connection with PD WAX afforded him the opportunity to perform on tour with Twista and the Speed Knot Mobsters and female rap protégé Gangsta Boo. From those experiences, PURE learned invaluable lessons about the hip-hop game.
Now PURE owns Ambull Entertainment, where his producers Papi Florez and Jubei of Black Lion Music supply the beats that bring PURE’s lyrics to life. His crew is notoriously known as D.R.U.G.S., or Dominating Raps on the Underground Scene. These hype-men hit the streets, promoting every single and show.
PURE said his goal is to bring the ever-elusive realness back to hip-hop via the “snare & kick” upon which authentic hip-hop is founded. He works toward this goal by spending long hours in a popular downtown studio from which other St. Louis stars have risen.
“In the studio, I transform into a lyrical perfectionist. Enunciation is key and has to be perfect,” PURE said.
“In the studio, the beats speak to me. It’s where I’m my best and my thoughts are the clearest. You could definitely say the studio is my natural habitat.”
For more information on PURE, visit www.purestl.com or call (314) 335-9305.
