If hip hop would be chanted through hollow tubes somewhere in space, it probably would sound like Divine Styler. Or to borrow from the name of two of his people: his style's of beyond. Meet the ex-Rhyme Syndicate, the often misunderstood, now with the help of Mo Wax, but mostly on his own strength revamped ex-Scheme Teamer.

What's today's math God?

Are you serious?

Dead Ass Serious.

What's Today's date?

The 28th, wisdom what?

Wisdom Build. You're a funny motherfucker.

Just fucking with you. Do you feel any pressure as a five percent artist to incorporate your spirituality into your music or is it a natural progression?

Well I'm not five percent anymore. I'm Orthodox Muslim, the five percent thing was a phase that black men go through in their quest for truth, and a lot of them don't make it through that. And those who make it, the other side of that quest is Orthodox Islam. People ask me about my spirituality, but you never hear me on a record saying that you should do this or that. Never. You will never hear me point a finger. I only describe conflicts within myself. Conflicts of good and evil. I can only talk about what I know I don't sell dope, I don't chase women, I don't carry guns, I don't get high, because I cleaned my life up. So, what am I going to talk about if I 'm Orthodox and complete my five pillars of Islam? I can't get on record and talk about gun totting and bitches and shit its just not….unfortunately, hypocrisy runs America, and if I did (talk about guns, etc.) I would be rich. But my fans would never hear about that. They are gonna hear about Mecca because that's what I'm about.

I feel comfortable saying that 99.9% of the people who listen to hip-hop have no real understanding of the Nation of Gods and Earths or Islam for that matter. As a result, there are thousands of fans who have terrible misconceptions about the nation. They just figure that the gods hate white people and let their imaginations run wild. Do you feel that ends up affecting you negatively in terms of sales or just getting your message across?

Yeah and no. The part that interferes with record sales is that hip hop has gotten so negative. There was a time when you could be over-positive and it was a fad to do that. Then gangster rappers started putting away consciousness and went from one extreme to another. If anyone says 'God', they say, "this is hip-hop, that shit is garbage. I don't want to hear that shit son." All of the brotherhood went out the window. That is the downside of it. The upside of it is, it's an alternative to the madness that we are in right now. The elders in hip hop have to own up to their responsibility. Children are listening and buying hip-hop and we cant prevent our children to have access to it.
When you have children, and you hear hip-hop jingles on the Travel Channel, everything you touch is hip-hop, (even) cartoons. It's just a mainstream thing in America. There is a responsibility that comes into play. Part of that responsibility is taking out the profanity, and that's what I represent. I was on a mission for God and I found it. Now I'm on a fulfillment mission and trying to fulfill my obligation to the planet, and I can not contradict that mission. I will always make this kind of music whether or not people in America like it or not someone somewhere is gonna like it. I don't need America to buy it. I gotta keep doing it and God is gonna bless me and America will come back around eventually whether it's on a fad tip.
Its out of control I was born and raised in this thing called hip hop. It wasn't called hip hop and breaking wasn't called break dancing growing up in Brooklyn. It's changed so much.

Back in the day, I guess you were probably the Black Sheep of the Rhyme Syndicate Family. What was it like working amongst Ice T?

It was dope they were real brothers. They was real niggas. They wasn't boogie negro Hollywood dudes and shit. These were real cats from the ghetto and they respected what I did and they didn't step on it. They didn't feel that it was threatening to them . Plus that was a time in LA when hip hop wasn't Sunset Blvd. And it wasn't politics. It was the most important time for hip-hop in LA. It was still being developed with Hollywood Live and other clubs trying to get the music going. There was no foundation yet. It was still wide open for anything to come through and it was always positive. Even though it looks like I was the sore thumb I was still accepted.

Do you keep in touch with the Syndicate members?

Nah. That was never a relationship. It was just business. Bronx Style Bob, I see. I see Ice (T) every now and again, but…

What about Everlast?

Oh yeah, I keep in touch with him. I was on that track on his last record.

"Wordpower 2": What is the concept of the album?

It was unfinished business. When I say that, I did that album in three sessions. There were things I never got a chance to do and I got it off my chest. I did some alternative stuff; some retro stuff; and spiritual stuff. There were three sections and I combined and mixed it up I named it "Directrix" which means the median line in the trajectory of fire, which to me is the balance it was a balance on a lot of different levels. Balance of my conflicts and for me ending a cycle to something. It was a completion to me. I felt incomplete with the first record and never got to fully do what I wanted to do musically. So basically it wasn't a record of new material, just unfinished business. The record I'm about to make is a very different record a very mature record. It won't be like anything you've ever heard from me before.

Listening to the album, the whole sound and style of the album is consistent. It was very warm and sounded like you built it up with a lot of old analog synths and what not. Most albums today are done with more than one producer so it ends up sounding like a collection of songs rather than a cohesive album. How did you accomplish making something so consistent?

What I was using was an MPC 3000, and I just was just in a state of keeping things real dirty. I would put things on cassette, and sample from that to keep that dirt. Which emphasizes the noise and hiss and I would try and EQ out as much as I could. It was hell trying to mix that stuff.

How did you hook up with Mo Wax?

I winded up doing this song with DJ Shadow. He asked me to guest appear on the Quannum record. James (head of Mo Wax) heard the album and was really interested. We talked one day and one thing lead to another, and it kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. No American politics. They're really into the art and they support me 100% and that's more important than going platinum. It would be nice to go platinum, but they don't interfere with my message. That is very important to me.

Will the next project going to be on Mo Wax?

Yeah. I'm ready to do an EP which will out in September. After the EP, I should start the next record.

Any last remarks you'd like to make to your fans?

One thing I like to express to people, to artists in general: Never sacrifice what you do. If you rap about, I don't know, greenbeans and sticks and want to make beats about the lion king and it means that much to you, hold on to your vision. Hold on. Let people know that you believe deeply in something. Don't let the world convince you that you're a fool. This is how Thelonious Monk's come about. The Coltranes James Browns, Sly Stones and Mozarts come about when people deeply follow their heartbeat, and they don't know where it's coming from, but they follow it. That's what pushes the creative envelope. If black people in NYC in the 70s didn't do it, there would be no hip-hop. And the funny thing is, now hip-hop doesn't allow that same creative force to happen.