Lately, America’s rap scene hasn’t been the best nor the most creative form of expressionism the once proud culture has been known to produce. And within the last half decade, Philadelphia’s hip-hop scene has nearly fizzled in the eyes of America. The hard streets of Philly have produced no-name rappers or the similar breed of gritty, drug-rap spittas that have pushed an consistent, stereotypical negativity within rap.
But there is always the lone, homegrown heroes that occasionally pop up and find national spotlight. Consider OCD: Moosh & Twist, that brand of aboriginal lyricism.
The duo, composed of Oliver “Twist” Feighan and DeQuincy “Moosh” Coleman-McRae, are Philly’s newest sound, though they’ve been combining their talents since junior high and attracting an audience since high school.
Now 21 and on the cusp of a 21-city, country-wide tour (The Living Out Loud Tour), the combo has more than one million hits on almost every one of their singles on YouTube. Their fame has grown from a high school clique to a country-wide sound.
Dime sat down with Philly’s newest brand of rhymesters to understand more about their sound, what they like for footwear, how they’ve dealt with their new fame and some likes and dislikes around the current rap game.
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Dime: So how did this all happen? How did you guys meet and start making some dope tracks?
Moosh: We were boys in first grade when we were six and we’ve been best friends since, playing sports and everything. Around age 12-13 we started making music. In high school it started getting serious, [Twist] started spreading the word and so did I and it kind of worked out.
Dime: What’s the thought process for the videos that you guys do? You’ve worked with a big time videographer, Rex Arrow, that’s done videos for Kid Ink, Mac Miller and did YC‘s “Racks” video, how do you visualize the product from your tracks?
Twist: When we make our music we want to have a good time. When we decide on the singles it’s the songs that make us feel the best. You know how the east coast is: it’s cold as hell. Maybe we are waiting for the summer, we just want to make people happy with our music. It’s going to be the tracks that get more emotional than others but we just try to have a good time, man, that’s it, honestly.
Dime: Moosh, you’ve been seen wearing some iconic sneakers (specifically a crispy pair of Jordan 5s in your newest video) in a lot of the videos you’ve been in. Are you a big sneakerhead? Do you have a favorite pair of sneakers or do you just throw on what you feel like?
Moosh: I’m not a huge sneakerhead honestly, but what I do like is Janowskis and Vans honestly. I love the 5s, I love the classic 3s, they are my favorites. I have a lot of homies that are into it, but Vans and Janowskis are my go-to, something that can get dirty or could be my go-to.
Dime: Twist, on the song “Take Me Back,” what was the overall feeling around your verse on the song? What’s the connection between you and your father? And what was the general tone of the piece?
Twist: We made that song right around the time that we were graduating high school and we had internships and senior projects. It was a touchy time. Everyone we knew was graduating and reminiscing from when we were younger and everything, and I talk about my dad a little bit and when we are in the studio we try to get as real as possible. The hook is legit: “take me back to the days when the sun wouldn’t shine but the birds still fly like they use to/and the chick that I love is making me go nuts in my ear screaming ‘I don’t wanna lose you’/ I gotta get her to go, I gotta get her to go, I gotta get her to go, I gotta get her to go/C’mon take me back to the days I know, take me back to the days I know”
We never thought about it, but it’s not as upbeat as people would think and it was just a nostalgic time.
Dime: What was really the first song to get hype for you guys?
Moosh: I would think “City Kids.” It was three songs in my opinion, “Possibilities,” “City Kids” and “Live It Up.” And it separated us from the different sounds in Philly and it catapulted to all the opportunities we have now.
Dime: What high schools did you guys go to in the city? Was it the same school or no?
Moosh & Twist: Haverford & Friends Select.
Dime: This may sound really weird, but has it been hard–in the recent amount of success–to keep your genuine sound and to really just be yourselves as artists? A lot of rappers change their sound once they start receiving a big load of fame.
Twist: When we were starting out, we were rapping over classic hip-hop beats but the flow is the same, but we did get a lot of inspiration from Philly’s grimy, battle-rap flow. It hasn’t been hard keeping the same sound, but it has been hard with people accepting it. People want the Meek Mill sound or the boom-bap Rittenhouse sound. But we never did drugs when we were younger. We never had guns. We talk about what we know. People accept it but it’s going to take time.
Moosh: You always gonna win when you make stuff that sounds right to you. You have to be an innovator at the end of the day. I hear kids making songs like how we make songs and it’s dope. It’s like you’re making a mold for kids to stand by.
Dime: Moosh, we grew up in similar neighborhoods in Philly. And I could probably answer this myself, but you know how it goes, so what was it like growing up in a gritty part of Philly and then going to one of the better private high schools in the metropolitan area?
Moosh: It was no transition at all. All my life I’ve been in situations when I went to private school and it’s better in that benefit. I come from two different worlds. Being from “the bottom” (a predominant neighborhood in West Philly known to be where the “bottom of society lives”) and going to private school it’s about being diverse. You know how to hold yourself in both situations, and I use that to my benefit more than anything.
Dime: What are some material things you guys have bough since you got your fame? Don’t front, everybody buys something.
Twist: There have been a couple things we bought. We both got an all right watch. Most of the money I spent on was on good, quality tattoos, besides that nothing too crazy.
Moosh: We put a lot of money back into our [sound] and when people get our music, they like what they hear. When you produce with a bad engineer for $15 an hour that’s the sound you get, it’s the music that speaks to people.
Dime: Though it’s hard to really compare you guys to anybody else in the rap game, who do you think you sound like, if anybody at all?
Twist: It might sound cliché, but we don’t really sound like anybody. The biggest influence recording and writing is probably from dudes like Drake. You might not be able to hear it, but that’s one of our favorite dudes right now. We always try to go with some inspiration from someone but it doesn’t really sound like anybody. We take inspiration from Lil Wayne and Kendrick Lamar, but we don’t really sound like them, we just try to stay unique.
Dime: Being from Philly, not many rappers always stay local. How frequently are you in or stay in the city? And what do you give back to the culture?
Moosh: We are still based out of Philly and we just bounce around. We go where demand is and where different situations are. We spend time in Philly, L.A. and New York. Regarding the Philly slant, I don’t care about the Philly scene. It’s one place. I want to be in the world scene. There’s no money in Philly and no exposure in Philly so I don’t look at it as a great thing.
Dime: Who do you prefer? Kendrick Lamar or J. Cole?
Twist: I’d rather listen to Kendrick but that’s tough man.
Moosh: I’d have to go Cole.
Dime: Jay Z or Kanye West?
Twist: Yeezy.
Moosh: Ye’ not Jay (laughs).
Dime: Favorite morning drink?
Twist: Cold glass of water.
Moosh: I gotta have my coffee or I’m not going anywhere.
Dime: Favorite thing to do when you’re not doing music?
Twist: Playing ball or listening to music.
Moosh: Just hanging out spending time with the fam or watching movies.
Dime: Favorite basketball team?
Twist: The Sixers are real hot right now (laughs). I wanna see Kevin Durant get a ring but I don’t know if it’ll happen soon.
Moosh: I love LeBron, man.
Dime: Guys, how did your family–if at all–influence any of your music? Do they play a big part in your lives?
Twist: Not really at all, for real. It’s not that my parents listened to rap, so it’s not really my blood family but my group of friends that make an influence. My actual family will just play regular music. Nothing that I rap about.
Moosh: My family nonchalantly influences me, and my values to the music industry, that’s just kind of our thing. I have family that makes music and our stuff doesn’t sound like theirs.
Dime: If you could tell younger rappers or anyone looking to get into the music industry that would read this anything or you wanted leave a lesson or advice to the younger breed, what would it be?
Twist: A couple things. Overall, we’ve been through a lot of crap with labels and management and making decisions with the business side more than music. You have to trust your gut. If something doesn’t feel right about making music or a deal, you have to make sure it feels right and have an overall vision. If we just wanted to be in this rap game for a few years, we would have switched up the sound. You have to stick through it.
Moosh: Surround yourself with good people. You don’t really come into the game with a partner or someone you can trust. Just surround yourself with good people. Choose wisely whom you surround yourself with.
Dime: Lastly, what’s the feeling like when you step onto a stage and rock a crowd? Take me through the experience of seeing your music take effect on people first hand.
Twist: It’s true happiness. When you’re on the stage whether it’s ten or a thousand, it’s euphoria. We’re just performing and letting people know that everything is okay for 45 minutes. We have a great time on stage and other people do. It’s a natural high. It’s the best ever.
Moosh: It’s like a drug. I’ve done it before when I’ve gone on stage pissed about something, and when you’re on stage you get in a zone. It just happens like that.
Dime will recap OCD: Moosh & Twist’s country-wide tour in May when it’s complete with live interviews, photos and video from their show. You can find Moosh and Twist on Twitter at @TwistOCD and @MooshOCD.
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