Ohmega Watts

I call Ohmega Watts (Milton Campbell) in the late evening. There’s something in the immediacy of talking on the phone that you can’t bring about in email. Milton’s forthrightness is apparent from the outset. He talks to me as if we’re old friends, saying, “Hold on, I have to tell ‘em to hold this record while I talk to you.” A muffled conversation with the record shop worker ensues, and I ask him, “So what were you listening to?” meaning at the record shop, but he misunderstands my question as “What do you listen to” in general, and sounds a little baffled as he struggles to say, “You know… soul, hip-hop…” When I tell him I was only asking what record he had held, he reels off fine selects: he’s purchased the Morcheeba LP “Antidote” and put David Clayton-Thomas and an ATCO Beegees album on hold for later listening. During our conversation, I grow to understand that Milton truly understands rhythm without pretension. Despite the relative briefness of our talk, I come away with an idea of Milton’s absolute rarity.

Rare bird. He’s an affable hip-hop guru who doesn’t seem to be all-consumed in tits, ass, or vanity. He’s god-fearing. He’s got great taste in production equipment. He’s funny and without pretension. He’s a graphic designer who’s done work for Lollapalooza. He’s a producer and a photographer. He’s been MCing since 1993. He’s done work with fellow Portland heads and Quannum artists The Lifesavas. He’s both released albums on and designed for a label known for gourmet curation, Ubiquity.

Milton’s productions themselves are timeless. His records are reserved for the precious crates of longevity; those crates that include thick plastic slipcover-ed People Under the Stairs, Pete Rock, Rick James, the rare Cymande, and De La Soul. The crates reserved for records that withstand trends and dust.

Why do you think Shock G / Humpty-Hump wore those horn-rimmed glasses with the beak nose and furry moustache?

It was part of his guise. He appeared to be Humpty, this bugged-out cat, but was actually an alter-ego. Creative marketing... ha ha.

What do you make of people comparing you to Digital Underground?

I never thought about Digital Underground anywhere in the equation, but I guess it's cool and everyone's opinion is subjective to the individual a lot of the time. Some are good speculations, where others are way off target. I don't think this is way off… I just never thought of it, personally.

In some of your interviews I've read, you mention your strong spirituality. Can you comment about how this is pretty uncommon in hip-hop musicians?

Well, in the general market of hip-hop, there aren't many people honestly professing their faith and talking it out at the same time. There's a lot of contradiction in hip-hop, as people can be contradictory oftentimes as well. I personally came to a point of really getting my spiritual life on track, after trying so many other things and just living, but not having a solid direction. I prayed and sought out something concrete, but it ended up coming and finding me when I least expected it.

You've claimed that you don't really listen to much music that's popular today. Do you feel your beats are fresh because your musical palette isn't informed by other common trends? Do you find it trite that most interviewers ask musicians who their influences are?

Yes to the first answer. At the same time, I do listen to a good amount of new music, but stuff like Quantic, Breakestra, Morcheeba, Coldplay and Stereolab. And then my record collection of Brazillian, funk, soul, rock and jazz. I do find it kind of repetitive, concerning your second question, but for a newcomer it's good to get that out the way, I suppose.

What equipment and software do you use? Have you ever thought about producing live in front of an audience with your laptop and mic?

I use an Akai MPC 2000, Roland VS-840EX Digital 8-track Recorder (just for effects), a Motif 6 keyboard, and a MicroKorg analog synth. I use Pro-tools LE on my computer to do the final sequencing of my live editions of sounds and keys to the sequences of drums and samples I run out of my MPC. I have thought about something live, and actually implemented a little something into my set for when a DJ is with me. For now, it's just going to be me MCing and a little MPC vs. my DJ's table battle.

Let's say Atlantic wanted you to collaborate on a Pretty Ricky record called "T&A: Tubetops and ASSets." Would you do it?

Probably not, and no amount of money can change that. I never even heard Pretty Ricky before. I've heard the name, but I'm out of the loop.

Tell me about your first time MCing.

Well, I wrote a rap, and me and my boy would battle in the hallways in high school around 10th grade, I think it was. We would just write a quick rhyme in a class and come out, battle more and more, and then freestyle battle. It was fun but amateur... I kind of always had a style once I figured out how to rhyme to a beat. I never had much trouble staying on beat and I rapped my favorite MC's verses for a long time, so it was easy when I started writing.

What's the best thing you've designed?

Hmm... gotta think about that. I dig the idea I came up with for my crew Lightheaded's “Never Square” 12" cover. Other than that, I did a design for the Adidas-sponsored Lollapalooza this year and the graphics were used and printed in a whole slew of mediums.

Ohmega Watts Myspace
Ohmega Watts on Ubiquity Records