??? Speaks on Why He Wears The Mask
WORDS WITH WORD$ INTERVIEW #2: '???' aka The Hidden Character
A MESSAGE FROM ???:
“Product Potent” - ???:
Yo, it’s the Pope, 1000WORD$.
“Lynn Lynn, the City of Sin / Never come out the way you came in.”
That shit got a spooky ring to it, right? Lynn, MA has a unique culture that I have become familiar with over the past couple years. Such artists as Estee Nack, al.divino, CodeN9ne, and Paranom and many more hail from this city ten miles north of Boston.
The Hidden Character – who chooses to remain anonymous – is an individual born from the infinite darkness and the true grit and griminess that is Lynn.
We’re gonna take a closer look at the story of The Hidden Character. What you’re about to read is a conversation between myself and ???. We spoke about his early life in NY; transitioning into Lynn; and his history with music.
THIS IS WORDS WITH WORD$.
“Hip-hop is a lifeline. Without it, I don't feel normal. It's not a hobby because it's not something that I just pick up and drop. It's culture. It's a way of life. It gets applied to my everyday life.”
- ???
1000WORD$: Yo, I go by 1000WORD$. I'm here with The Hidden Character.
???: You already fucking know son. You with the motherfucking Hidden Character. 23 Incredible, all that.
1000WORD$: Hidden Character, where are you from my brother?
???: Yo, dawg, come on, you know, I'm from everywhere, son. I be everywhere.
1000WORD$: Haha, I hear that. So, it feels funny [for me to ask you where you're from] because I met you randomly. And I met you masked up for the first time too. I don't think I've ever seen your face, my bro.
???: Nah nah, ain't nobody seen my face, bro. I wear this shit to sleep. I shower with this shit. I fuck my bitch with this shit. I always got a mask on.
1000WORD$: Yo, I met this motherfucker, bro. You couldn't even see his face. I'm like, "Yo, what's up with this n***a?" So, what they explained to me was you just can't see this motherfucker. This motherfucker, you know, he stays hidden. I asked [Estee Nack] one time like, "Yo, where's Hidden?" "N***a he's hidden!"
???: I'm always hiding out, you feel me? I pop out here and there when n****s got events and shit like that.
1000WORD$: You gotta be summoned.
???: I don't really fuck with these n****s bro, you feel me? I don't really fuck with these n****s, bro.
1000WORD$: So what made you fall in love with hip-hop?
???: Hip-hop, bro. Honestly, yo, the first time that I ever really fell in love with hip-hop, bro was in like the sixth grade. But even before that, I was listening to hip-hop cause my pops would play that shit in the crib even if he didn't understand the shit. Cause my pop's is 100% Dominican hick fucking bachata ass n***a, you feel me? So, he would play that shit sometimes and I'd get hip. But, I really really got hip to Bobby and Stretch, fucking Big L, bro. That was the highlight of my hip-hop, as far as I can remember.
1000WORD$: So essentially, where you grew up at it was mainly bachata music at first, right?
???: Yeah, bro. Bachata, salsa, all them genres of Spanish music flowing through the crib. While Mom's was cooking, even when we [were] in the car cause we'd drive a lot. When my father was bringing us up, we'd be in the streets a lot and that's all I would hear in the car, ZacarÍa FerreÍra, Antony Santos, Grupo Niche, all types of shit. I could name you a thousand fucking, you know what I mean?
1000WORD$: Who was the person that introduced you to hip hop? What was the first song you remember like, "Oh, que eso. What's this?"
???: This is back when I was in the Dominican Republic, I was like seven [or] eight. It's crazy that I was in the Dominican Republic. And you remember them [old CD holders back in the day that people would keep in their car] and shit. [My uncle had one so] I popped it open and I'm just looking through it to see what I could find in there. I found one of 2Pac's albums, I can't remember which one it was. I think it was "2pacalypse." One of them albums bro. I remember listening to this song: "When I get free, motherfuckers better watch they ass / Soon as I get released, I'ma clock some cash / Did some time locked down but I'm back on the street / There’ll be trouble when they see me / When I get free, motherfuckers better —" you know what I mean? I was just like, "Yo, what the fuck is this, bro?" I remember throwing that shit in the little CD player I had. I played that shit out till the CD was no more, bro. That's when I remember actually [understanding] like, "yo, hip hop is a thing," you feel me? And once I came back to the US and I was back in Lynn, which is my hometown, sin city love Y, there used to be a record store on Union Street back in the days and that's where you would go to get your mixtapes. They would have all types of mixtapes and fucking cassettes and all types of shit like that, bro. I would go in there and I'd pay $5 for DJ Clue mixtapes and shit like that.
1000WORD$: Fire.
???: This was in the early 2000s, like 2002 to 2003.
1000WORD$: What was the name of the spot?
???: It was Central Sounds on Union Street. They had a Central Sounds and then they had another joint right across the street from me where everything was hip-hop driven, you feel me? You go in there, you'd see all the latest styles and drip. When n****s was wearing the big jerseys and shit, baseball jerseys to match the hats, the 50 Cent tank tops and shit, your Girbauds and shit, all types of shit like that. They had all that shit in there. That's where I'd go to get my CDs and all that.
1000WORD$: What birthed The Hidden Character?
???: What birthed The Hidden Character, bro? Yo honestly, the infinite black mind. The darkness. Not feeling like I fit in with everybody else. The Hidden Character is an entity by itself. It's the triple black darkness of the mind. The flyest shit you could think of. The sludge on the street.
1000WORD$: Why is it important to keep you hidden?
???: Why, bro? Cause I might just fucking rob one of these n****s. [I] might have to fucking pop somebody or some shit and I'd rather not be seen.
1000WORD$: Haha. Yo, I picture you at a picnic with your mask on and your kids, you know what I'm saying?
???: Even when I go outside, everywhere I go, bro, I do not take this off. It's a part of me. It's stitched onto me, bro. If you rip this one off there might be another one under it.
1000WORD$: Yo that's crazy. See, I've been in Lynn probably for like two and a half years, right? You've been in Lynn your whole life, right?
???: Pretty much.
1000WORD$: I had never even heard of Lynn when I came to Lynn. And I saw that like, this shit is really not that different from certain parts of New York, yo. You got your fiends, you got your hip hop, you got your n****s getting robbed, n****s getting killed on the news. I'm like, "Man this shit's really wild out here, Lynn is really wild." It's really wild and you grew up out here. How was it growing up in Lynn?
???: Man, it was different bro. I was born in New York and I was raised there until I was nine. Then I came here after I turned 10-years-old and bro, this shit is different, bro. Once you come here no matter how much you try to leave, you end up right back here, bro. The culture, the people, it's a very diverse city, bro. You'll find all types of people, all types of food, all types of art, as you can see. In the time that you've been here you've probably met all types of weird shit that goes on here in Lynn. I always felt different. It wasn't like in New York. In New York, I felt like there was a norm for kids growing up. Out here, you felt different, you knew you were different, you know what I mean? Even from the other people here, it was just different, bro. Unfortunately my pop's ended up getting deported after I moved here so I grew up with a single mom. I mainly was in the streets. I grew up gangbanging, doing shit I wasn't supposed to do as a kid. And yeah bro, Lynn taught me that.
1000WORD$: So that's probably one of the main reasons you stay hidden too, right?
???: Yeah absolutely, bro. You never know what might come back to n****s. I ain't tryna have n****s knowing who the fuck I am, bro.
1000WORD$: What do you want people to experience when they listen to your music?
???: Man, I want you to fucking… wanna punch someone in the face. I wanna get that feeling out of you, make you wanna punch someone in the fucking face, bro. Fucking knock him out and fucking piss on him bro, you feel me? I just wanna make n****s feel like they can fuck anybody up. On some shit, bro?
1000WORD$: That's amazing, bro. When I hear your music I be like, "Damn, somebody's about to get robbed."
???: Yo deadass bro, some ominous shit. Bout to go stick up a bank my n***a. Deadass, gonna get masked up and get crazy bro, for real.
1000WORD$: Can you name what projects you have dropped because I know that [the people] can't get this shit anywhere but from you.
???: Right, right. Either straight through my Bandcamp or come directly to the source.
1000WORD$: Can you name me your albums?
???: So the very first album that I debuted on, which wasn't really my album, this was a [Estee Nack and al.divino] album.
1000WORD$: Yeah but you were introduced in that motherfucker.
???: Yeah, which was "Immortal Kombat.”
1000WORD$: It turned into "The Hidden Character" album though, right?
???: Right, subliminally. It was like, "Yo we introducing this character through here." But as you can see, there were no names, no nothing on the whole tape, back to front bro. It was just like, "Yo, who the fuck is this that keeps popping up bro?" Motherfuckers just kept questioning that. We threw in the three question marks because The Hidden Character is not the name, bro. The Hidden Character just describes three question marks. We not tryna give me a name or a face, you feel me? I’m just…
1000WORD$: …in the tuck.
???: That's it bro. After "Immortal Kombat" came "The Hidden Character," which was the first album produced by Vinyl Villain. After that, I dumped "Rap Money" with Starker. After that I did "Who is The Hidden Character," produced by Mr. Rose. Then I did "The Hidden Mask Theory," produced by The Mellos and my other boy. He changes his name so many times but he's a fire producer and it's hard to find him but he just be popping out and dumping fucking [beat] packs on me. Then I did "Face to Face" with The Mellos too. Then my last album that I just dropped was…
1000WORD$: …"Triple H."
???: Oh yeah, "Henry Hidden Heckler." I did that one too, and then the last one I dumped off was "God in the Ghetto" with my boy, Supreme Elevation, also known as Nikola.
1000WORD$: What wrestling character would you be if you were to pick a wrestling character?
???: I got a couple bro, I got a couple. I would interchange. You know In Mortal Kombat where you click that random shit, and it just chooses a random character? As a wrestler, I'd wanna be something like that, but it's like a mix of fucking X-Pac, Ray Mysterio, and Scott Steiner. Those were like my favorite wrestlers coming up
1000WORD$: Legendary, Big Poppa Pump.
???: Yeah.
1000WORD$: So you know, the whole purpose of this interview is to let the readers know a little more about you. And me, as a person that has decided to document The Renaissance Era that we're going through right now in hip hop, I know for your first album, we used one of the images that I took of you. Why did you decide to use that image as your cover?
???: Man, that shit was just too fly, bro. Yeah it was just super fly bro, and it happened so organically.
1000WORD$: Facts. It was a moment in time.
???: Right. It was just something that I felt like it said a lot without words. Crazy. Yo, like your name 1000WORD$, bro. That [polaroid] gave it one thousand words. It added on to the aesthetic of who and what The Hidden Character is.
1000WORD$: Appreciate that, my brother. What does The Renaissance mean to you?
???: It's just simply the rebirth of something new and fresh but still has a foundation of something original. We give it that originality but it's fresh, and new, and reminds you of the greats with a special twist, you know what I mean? It's a beautiful thing, bro. I'm really happy that I'm a part of this. I've loved Hip Hop all my life. Never in a million years did I ever think that I'd be a part of something so great. I just know how great this is. Yeah, that's my definition.
1000WORD$: What's hip hop mean to you?
???: Hip-hop is like a lifeline bro. Without it, I don't feel normal. It's not a hobby because it's not something that I just pick up and drop. It's culture. It's a way of life. It gets applied to my everyday life.
1000WORD$: Facts. What song would you pick out of your archive that best describes you for somebody that wants to listen to you?
???: Man, I think my favorite track, even now, would be "Product Potent" off my first album.
1000WORD$: Fire. Yo, Hidden Character, man. It's an honor. It's a pleasure to have been there to witness you create greatness. I'm honored to have been a part of your introduction into this whole Renaissance. Because that image, when I was kicking it with you, we was randomly just chopping it up, you know what I mean? I didn't know what the fuck I was looking at because your face was covered and I was like, "Man, let me just take a picture of this shit." And it came out pitch black and I remember Nack pulling up and he was like, "That shit look ominous, man. That shit look demonic." It went with the music bro. It was an amazing experience so thank you for this opportunity, my brother.
???: Likewise bro I really appreciate you, my brother.
Great piece 1000, this was Peace