Besatree & Kserious

When was the last time you heard a new artist/band/group and got excited? Think about it. When was the last time you heard something so mind-blowingly good you wanted to shout it from the rooftops? You tell your friends, strangers, anyone who will listen because when you find something worth sharing you share it. It’s a civil duty. The point to this little rambling is to share the music that got me excited and inspired. This is me shouting from the rooftops.

Jon May and Kevin Allen Bicknell are Besatree and Kerious, a hip/hop duo out of California. Their most recent release, Eating Crow feels like a homage to old-school hip/hop and oozes with positivity. Their chemistry is undeniable, while their love for the music is felt with every word spoken. This album features fresh beats, creative and skillful flows and yes, your new favorite song.

What is so fantastic about these guys is not only their talent, but their need to spread good vibes and the message to always look for a silver lining. This feel good mentality is so refreshing and is definitely infectious.

I had the supreme honor of talking with Besatree and Kserious, and what follows is the end result. Read on, listen, support and love!

KC: Introduce yourselves to the readers of WORDKRAPHT and tell us how long you two have been working together.

Besatree: We’re Besatree & Kserious, an independent hip-hop duo from Southern California.

Kserious: We both function as emcees as well as producers and have been rocking together, as a collective unit, since 2009.

Besatree: We are also a part of a crew called The Cloudmakers, as well as a collective of artists called Rising Sons Independent.

Kserious: Thanks so much for having us. We’re glad to be here!



KC: We are glad to have you! Now, Eating Crow, your latest release has quickly become a favorite of mine. How was the process of recording it? It seems like you two had a lot of fun during the creation of the album.

Besatree: Thanks, that’s so nice! We definitely had a great time recording the album and we’re thrilled that other people are enjoying it as well.

Kserious: Yeah, it was a huge learning experience for both of us and I think that encouraged us to have fun with it while at the same time challenging ourselves to find the sound that we wanted to create.

Besatree: Definitely, we came into this project pretty green and there was a huge learning curve that we had to overcome; from things as basic as vocal treatment and compression to the more complex task of mixing and mastering a final product.

Kserious: Not to mention the fun we had with the photo shoots, artwork design and in the end just seeing the whole thing come together.



KC: I’m sure each song on the album is important and special to you in its own way, but is there a particular song that stands out as a favorite?

Besatree: “Can Do, Know How” will probably always stand out to me. Not only is it one of my favorite songs to perform live, but it’s also the one that went through the most changes and variations from start to finish.

Kserious: Yeah, I definitely love that track too, but my personal favorite has to be “Temperatures Rising” because of its bouncy stream of consciousness and the process that went into writing it, bar for bar, with Besa.



KC: If I may say so, “Awkward Personalities” and “The Road” and “In the Spot” are favorites of mine.

Kserious: Oh awesome! “Awkward personalities” is one of my favorite to perform because, well, we’re a little awkward and it always gives me a chance to do a Chaplin shuffle.

Besatree: Yeah and I like “In the Spot” too because it was one of the first collaborations that we did with fellow Cloudmakers Thesis and Joe Mas, and I’m really excited about new projects that we have underway with both of them.



KC: The album closes out on a high note with the song, “The Road.” After a first listen to the song, it felt like the perfect ending to the album, and the listener too could almost picture the two of you walking off into the sunset, the heroes of the story as the credits roll. Was that your intention when placing that song as the closer?

Kserious: Absolutely, it was one of the last songs we recorded and so we were more in tune with where the album stood and how we wanted to wrap it up.

Besatree: We wanted to leave the album feeling as though there was room for a follow up or at least leave listeners with a satisfying close.



KC: As mentioned earlier, you guys also collaborate with some other artists around your area called CloudMakers. How did that come about?

Besatree: After rocking shows with so many dope artists we found a group of like-minded emcees, producers, friends and creative people that were all working towards a similar goal.

Kserious: It was really organic the way it all came about. There has always been a mutual appreciation for and from everyone in the crew and now we are all really pumped to be collabor - WordKrapht

Besatree and Kserious are an independent hip hop duo that have been performing and recording throughout Southern California since 2009.
Noted for their positive and energetic performances, the two remain committed to a ‘do-it-yourself’ style of promotion and distribution that is intimately linked to their mutual upbringing in and around the punk rock music scene.

Hi Besatree & Kserious, can you introduce yourselves and tell us a little about how you got started as a duo
Cheers, Greetings, Salutations! We are an independent hip-hop duo from Southern California operating, as you stated, under the combined moniker of Besatree & Kserious.
We are originally from the Inland Empire (currently residing in Long Beach and Los Angeles respectively) and we’ve been best friends and musical cohorts through various genres and scenes for nearly 13 years.
We officially formed as a duo late in 2009 with hopes of bringing a creative, fun-loving, and jovial style into the greater hip-hop community.
This approach is born from our long lasting friendship, our mutual love of the written word and instrumentation, as well as from our collective desire to professionalise creative endeavors and to prove that dreams are for more than just dreaming.
What music did you both listen to whilst growing up, and how does it differ from the music you are creating?
We really run the gamut when it comes to musical influences. We both grew up in the broader Punk Rock scene with tastes in various sub-genres.
While Besatree was primarily listening to Pop-Punk, Grind Core and numerous forms of Indie Rock, Kserious was taken by Peace-Punk, Folk, Jazz and Blues.
Collectively our influences range from The Queers to Crass, from Acid Reign to Tom waits, Nasum to Brother Ali.
We believe that music is in everything around us and we like to think that our influences, as well as our contributions, are all a part of a greater dialogue within the arts and hopefully progressive towards a fusion of varying lyrical and instrumental styles.
What would you say has been your most memorable experience so far?
Our most memorable experiences are definitely an amalgamation of a whole slew of memories. From time spent in the studio, as friends, working diligently and producing tracks, to the amazing shows that we have been fortunate enough to rock, with great audiences and amazing talents, we cherish all the opportunities that allow us to laugh, bounce, sing and dance through the bonding of musical creation and experience!
Your sound is quite unique, what made you go for this style of music?
There really wasn’t a conscious effort or direction that we set forth for ourselves in regards to style. We both love to make beats and thus we engage in a collaborative effort to design instrumentation that makes our own heads bop and that inspire our personal lyrical abilities; that’s always top priority.
The mere fact that other people dig what we are doing is a bonus and a further affirmation to continue along our path.
As musicians we have to make music that we love. Without that how can we expect anyone else to dig it?!?

Where did you find the inspiration when writing your tracks for your new album ‘Eating Crow’?
Most often our inspirations would come from the original track itself. We would sit down and listen to the beat and say ‘You know, this has a good summertime feeling’ or ‘this has a darker, colder vibe’ and from there we would begin to construct our narratives.
Most of the time, whether it be a ‘dark vibe’ or a ‘summertime smile’ we always try to put a positive slant on it and try to find a way to either make the goods times greater or the bad times a bit more palatable. Viva la silver linings!

What can your fans expect from Besatree & Kserious in the next few months?
Fans can expect a cavalcade of shows and collaborations coming their way! We are members of a collective known as the CLOUDMAKERS and through this collective, as well with our partners in crime over at RISING SONS INDEPENDENT, we are brewing up a whirlwind of events and tracks with other talented emcees and producers.
We are already forging the early stages of a second album and are continuing to push/promote EATING CROW through performances both locally and globally. We honor the fans request (within reason) and hope to be rocking a show near you soon!
Which artists would you like to perform with if the opportunity arose?
With so many great artists currently working this list could easily run longer than both of our arms combined (and you know that Besatree has some serious stems!) We would love to share the stage with artists ranging from Josh Martinez, Intuition, and Kristoff Krane…Why? Pigeon John and Elvis Costello (ha, ha.). Basically when it comes down to it, we are excited to share the stage with anyone who is excited to ROCK the stage.
Passion over profession in every regard.

Who inspires you in the current music business and why?
We are inspired by everyone th - Niji Magazine

Besatree & Kserious are completely new names to me, but new discoveries are always nice. Their album Eating Crow is a really pleasant listen. These guys sure know what they're doing, both lyrically and musically. I get a feeling of Kristoff Krane at times when I'm listening to the album, and that's a good thing. I also like the live music vibe of it all. There is really only one downside to this album, and it's a quite common problem nowadays. Albums are too long. As competent as Besatreee & Kserious are, they can't really make the album interesting for 18 tracks. After a while my attention drifts a bit, which is a shame. They deserve better than that, but at the same time I feel that they would have benefited by shortening the record to perhaps 10 tracks. But all in all a good listen, and I will keep track of these guys in the future. - Beats, Breaks & Big Smiles