Scripts 'N Screwz

When asked about their musical influences, Loose Screwz and Scripts "The Nature Boy" of the East St. Louis rap duo Scripts 'n Screwz respond, "OutKast!" without hesitation. Unsurprisingly, the production style on The New Noise is moderately reminiscent of the Atlanta supergroup's experimental efforts of the late '90s. The title track sets the tone for the album, with its smooth vocal performances and energetic distortion, although the pair takes a more laid-back approach on "Fairy Tale" and first single "Big City Lights," both of which are more accessible to casual rap fans. "Hands High" is akin to Kanye West's more recent efforts, laying heavy synths over melodic drum patterns, while "The War Outside" and "Eastwood" deliver a grittier sound with a hard rock edge, and the bass-heavy "Like This" is the closest thing you'll find to the Southern/crunk style of rap currently dominating St. Louis' nightclubs and airwaves.

Lyrically, Noise tends to avoid most of the biggest clichés associated with the genre; its songs thoughtfully touch on subjects like war, poverty and crazy women. One of the strongest tracks, "My First Rhyme," is an emotional dedication to Scripts' grandmother and Screwz's sister, both recently departed. Although Noise can lack polish at times, the album is ambitious and well-executed, providing listeners an impressive amount of variety — while offering an intelligent alternative to commercial rap. 7 p.m. Friday, May 2. Vintage Vinyl, 6610 Delmar Boulevard, University City. Free. 314-721-4096. Want your CD to be considered for a review in this space? Send music c/o The Riverfront Times, Attn: Homespun, 6358 Delmar Boulevard, Suite 200, St. Louis, MO 63130. E-mail music@riverfronttimes.com for more information. - The Riverfront Times

Scripts 'N Screwz: Hardest Working Men In St. Louis Hip-Hop?

By Keegan Hamilton in Music

Tonight, Tonight, Videodrone
Thursday, Mar. 19 2009 @ 3:23PM
East St. Louis' finest (and perhaps only) underground hip-hop duo, Scripts 'N Screwz, will take the stage tonight at SIUE's Morris University Center but the performance is barely a blip on the radar in comparison to all the moves the pair has been making lately.

To recap just a few of the multi-talented crew's latest and greatest exploits:

* A new mixtape, Sound Cinema, that dropped last week, and is available for free download over on their blog.

* The upcoming premiere of Borrowed Time (July 16), the second episode of The Color of Justice, a documentary film series about Reggie Clemons, a death-row inmate who may have been wrongfully imprisoned. The pair co-produced and directed the film with stellar local director Ronnell "Falaq" Bennett, and contributed to the soundtrack.

* Pre-production on a Purple Rain-style, full-length, hip-hop film called The Hunger, which stars the duo and is loosely based on the career of famed local group Bits 'N Pieces.

* A no-holds-barred marketing campaign for their album The New Noise, which originally dropped last April but has only recently started to get some love from the blogosphere.

* And finally, the release of this kick-ass video for their single from New Noise, "Big City Lights."




I caught up with the pair last night at Skybox on the Landing to find out if they ever sleep -- and get the details on a few of the aforementioned projects. A few choice quotes are after the jump.

Screwz on the musical influences on New Noise: "I listen to a lot of classic rock -- Led Zeppelin, Iggy Pop and the Stooges and some indie rock like the Yeah Yeah Yeah's, and this one group Man Man, they're like some circus music."

Scripts on the music behind New Noise: "[Outkast]. I don't want to compare us to them because there's two of us and two of them, but they definitely a big, big influence

On the mixtape: "People hear New Noise and hear some freaky shit and say we don't know how to rhyme," says Scripts. "That's why we did the mixtape, to show we can still go hard."

On the state of local hip-hop: "Nobody's an artist anymore -- they don't tell a story or paint a picture -- they just entertainers," says Scripts. "People just focus on singles like 'This gon' get me paid.' An album takes time and thought, and that thought process is largely gone."

On their new film The Hunger: "It opens up and we have nothing. We get selected to go on some American Idol sort of bullshit, next thing you know we've got money, cars, girls-- it's a basic rock and roll story," says Screwz. "But at the same time it's a strange, surreal story. We'll have subliminal jumps, back and forth with the editing. It's like Requiem for Dream or Fear and Loathing. Some drug shit."

"It all goes on in the dude's mind," adds Scripts. "It's not your average rap movie."

On pushing their new album: "We worked too long and too hard and spent too much money on it for it to fall on deaf ears," says Screwz. "The production, the lyrics, the cover art--everything you see and hear we did ourselves." - The Riverfront Time

July 17, 2009 – St. Louis, United States

Despite producing a distinct sound that bears little resemblance to what's currently coming out of their home in East St. Louis, hip-hop duo Scripts 'N Screwz have little interest in breaking convention for the sake of it.

"We are indeed very different from anything going on in this region, but we try not to focus on being different and rather on making good, quality music," says Screwz via e-mail, whose alias alludes to his role in creating the nuts and bolts of the music, while Scripts' main role is as a wordsmith.

The duo has been slowly gaining momentum over the past little while, with their debut LP, The New Noise, receiving positive reviews from whichever humble outlet chose to review it. And for them, that's fine for now.

"We don't get caught up in the idea of 'the more sales, the better'," says Screwz. "We just love the honest criticism and the rave reviews."

On The New Noise, they admit to taking influence from luminaries like Outkast and the Wu-Tang Clan, but say there were other forces at work as well.

"The New Noise is definitely a concept piece," says Screwz.. "We tried to put our thoughts into chronological order to create a story . . . everyone just wants a hot single and [to] fill the rest of the album with bullshit. We want to do something in the vein of a Pink Floyd, in the idea of an album being one complete thought.

"The next album will tell a story, too. We really think that aspect of music has been lost or overlooked."

That next album, tentatively entitled Weirdo, is said by the duo to be even more ambitious than the first, while still sticking strictly to the core principles of storytelling.

In addition, the duo let tell that they also have a feature film in the works. They're mum on the details, though they reveal the title—The Hunger—and mention it will start shooting this fall. Regardless of the outcome, though, rest assured it will not be a project for the masses:

"What we do comes from the heart. Our dreams, our fears, our lives."
- Soundproof Magazine

After releasing new single "Brick" and breaking into CMJ’s hip-hop charts with their album The New Noise, St. Louis-based experimental hip-hop duo Scripts 'N Screws are no longer content with revitalizing just the music scene. The pair is currently working on a feature-length film, titled Sound Cinema, and have created a mixtape soundtrack, which is out now, for the project. The movie is intended to highlight Scripts 'N Screws' unconventional blend of hip-hop, unpredictable wordplay and the cinematic structure of their tracks. The movie is still in the beginning stages of production, but with writer/director Ronnell Bennett (the writer and co-director of hip-hop AIDS film Ruzzian Roulette) at the helm and all of St. Louis at their fingertips, Scripts 'N Screws will probably treat film as they first treated music a decade ago: like new territory aching to be pushed past the breaking point.
- College Music Journal

Hip hop engages with good electronic music shock. Normally, modern hip hop has such lazy backing tracks that I can't listen. But I got sent a track by Scripts N' Screwz and its really good; wouldn't sound out of place on Warp's Big Dada label.

The PR blurb says: "While many M.C.’s recycle the same cliche subject matter, these two perfer to explore a rage of different musical possibilities. The group’s resident producer, Loose Screwz, has spent years perfecting his trademark eccentric sound. His lyrics have an almost cinematic, story-telling quality, and his versatile production makes it hard to predict his next musical move. Meanwhile, diehard wordsmith Scripts adds an edgier element to the equation. His vivid wordplay and crushing punchlines keep your attention, while his wide ranging of subject matter can appeal to almost any Hip Hop fan."

My heart sank when I saw that I'd been sent a hip hop track. I imagined big fat unimaginative beats. Wrong. The remix of "Bricks" from album "The New Noise" sounds like someone who has heard of Detroit House and electro. But since Scripts 'N Screwz are an experimental/electro hip hop group based out of E. St. Louis, IL, I guess that isn't so surprising. Ignore all the commercial hip hop nonsense, this is worth your attention: - Acid Ted

Local hip-hop duo Scripts 'N Screwz debut album, "The New Noise," is a breath of fresh air into a mundane hip-hop market.

To hear a 16-track hip-hop record void of the cliché "money, cars and hos" and filled with original concepts and clever lyricism is extremely refreshing. Originality sets Scripts and Screwz apart from many of their peers. "The New Noise" is riddled with experimental instrumentals and creative song concepts, breaking the mold of traditional hip-hop.

One of the highlights is the album's closing track, "My First Rhyme," a dedication to Script's grandmother and Screwz' sister, both of whom passed away as the duo was finishing the album, laid over a live heavy guitar riff.

The track puts an interesting spin on the grieving process in the chorus: "I wish I never wrote my first rhyme / then it wouldn't be so hard putting this pen down." Their verses go on to further explain, as Scripts rhymes: "With my options I chose to be a rapper rather than a doctor, now I can't help you the way I need to," with an obvious agony in his voice.

On "Big City Lights," the album's first single, Scripts and Screwz take turns vividly recalling a lavish award show fantasy that ends with them waking up to reality right before they accept their award.

The psychedelic track "Brick" compares their struggles with music, money and life in general to trying to swim with a brick tied to their leg. The song lays their descriptive lyrics over the top of a trippy beat with a distorted voice screaming the chorus, "I can't keep my head above water," as though he were calling to shore for help.

"The New Noise" never runs short of creativity with songs that deal with addiction ("Addiction"), troubled relationships ("Help!"), poverty ("What's a Man To Do"), politics ("The War Outside") and police brutality ("Eastwood"). It is a perpetual blend of classic hip-hop displaying a pair of extremely talented young men that will someday be a force to be reckoned with in the hip-hop community.

"The New Noise" is available on iTunes, eMusic.com and most music Web sites. It is available locally at area "Vintage Vinyls" and "The Grind" in Edwardsville. The music is also available to be heard at www.myspace.com/scriptsandscrewz.
- alestlelive.com (Southern Illinois Univ.)

If there’s one thing you’d expect from an East St. Louis rap duo, it’s the ability to convincingly go dark, and on their full-length debut, The New Noise, Scripts ‘N Screwz deliver: for nearly an hour, the album envelops the listener in a grim, seedy wall of unforgiving sound that effectively frames their stark, socio-politically oriented rhymes. It’s distinctly inner-city stuff, with anger to spare, but it’s also a work of deep thought – and the probing lyrics are well matched by the steadily shifting production, which shifts from the dense, flashy barrage of tracks like “Brick” to the pared-down menace of “Eyes Wide Shut.” Scripts ‘N Screwz claim OutKast as a major influence, but don’t go into The New Noise expecting the freewheeling, genre-hopscotching whimsy that typifies OutKast’s albums; where releases like Aquameni and Stankonia tried to bring the street to the FM dial, Noise sits on the stoop and dares you to come to it. It isn’t always a happy journey, but it’s an unmistakably worthwhile one – if you like your hip-hop lyrically conscious and a little off the beaten path, this is Noise you need to hear. (The V.E. Company 2009) - esdmusic.com

Scripts and Screwz is a rap group coming from East Saint Louis, Illinois. Listening to their record called “The New Noise”, I felt I was drawn to their unique sound and flows. Unlike most artists who just talk about what is popular like street life and, well, just a lot of nonsense, rapper Scripts and Loose Screwz talk about the real world, and stuff that everybody can relate too.

This frankness gives them an air of realness which doesn’t need any kind of hype. The group just lets the music do the talking. What I like the most about the group are the tracks and the subjects that they talk about in their music. Songs such as “Bright City Lights”, “Hands High” and “My First Rhyme” have that common theme of their wanting to be successful artists, dreaming about doing it and being successful at it and getting fame. The good and bad side of love and relationships is a common theme in “Fairy Tale” and “Help” which are about falling in love and the drama of relationships.

The groups got its politics but it is related to its affects on people in the real world in “The War Outside”, a bangin rock track that deals with the question of if its really worth fighting in wars for lying politicians. Most interesting is the groups emphasis on addiction and death in such songs as “Brick”, “Eastwood”, “Lonely” “Eyes Wide Shut” and “Addiction”. Rather than glorify the darker realities of the streets and the city, they tell you like it is based on what realities they have experienced.

The songs have substance, but does the music bump? Scripts and Screwz got hot beats on all the songs. Though at times the mood of the music is a little dark, it is the type of music that will sound good in any car. They got songs that you can nod your head to (like “Proceed”), and some songs (like “Brick” and “Like This”) that you can dance to. This is a breath of fresh air and an alternative to all the crap that they got playing on the radio these days. If you want some serious head music you can rock to, check out Scripts and Screwz. - Hip Hop Politics