Ryan-O'Neil in Scheme MagazineSchool really does play an important role as long as you use it for your benefit and don't allow your tuition to go to waste because you left without a degree in hand. Ryan O'Neil the other half of Ryan O'Neil and 100dbs wants to be known as a musician. For a 23 year old equally the same age as his counterpart DBS that's rare to have that as an aspiration. His present goal is to present audiences and fans with music not necessarily hip hop but good music. Raised by the intricate sounds of Paul Simon, Neil Diamond and Anita Baker, O'Neil has range and that mixed with the ear of producer Dan Brenner the foundation is set, and in the words of Sa-Ra these cats are attempting to freak it. So don't get to comfortable with their current album because if I heard them right that album was then and they are already in their now.
Scheme: What motivated you to become an emcee?
Ryan O'Neil: I went to high school for music, I was a vocal major doing the whole classical music thing and my best friend whose been rapping for a while. I never really tried it in high school and I thought I was wack. I went back to college and came back my freshmen year and started writing. Literally it was my best friend and eventually I started liking it enough to record an album.
Scheme: Who were some of the emcees that you admired and looked up too growing up and currently?
Ryan O'Neil: Definitely (old) Busta Rhymes when it comes to performance and energy. I didn't really grow up listening to hip hop but one of the first rap songs I learned all the words to was Hit'em High of the Space Jam soundtrack. I was 11 years old and I still don't know the Busta Rhymes part, I know what he's trying to say and I know a couple of words but I was like this guys is crazy! As I got older I got really into Nas. I really didn't get on to B.I.G. until college but I'm definitely influenced by B.I.G, his flow never gets boring. He's the only person I know that could make kidnapping and murder sound cool. I give who can do that credit, I'm not a big fan of it but if you can do that and make it sound interesting I'm definitely going to listen to it.
Scheme: So from your perspective how did you meet Dan Brenner aka 100dBs?
Ryan O'Neil: When I was in college there was a kid in my choir and he worked at a Christian camp and I told him I needed a job for the summer. He got me an application and got me in. So Matt's best friend from camp was this kid Tucker and Tucker's best friend from high school was Dan. So Tucker was like I heard you rap, and at that time everyone produces and everyone raps so I was like whatever. He told Dan about me and at that time he was working on his remix album. I took the china bus down to Maryland, we recorded four songs for his mixtape Brenner's Breaks and these were beats and verses we had before we met. He said he liked the way I worked and asked me if we wanted to record an album together and I wasn't doing anything else so we went ahead and recorded an album and a year and a half later we came out with the Adventures.
Scheme: Who came up with the idea for the title the Adventures of the One Hand Bandit and the Computer Wizard?
Ryan O'Neil: It's funny because we did a show at this club Niagara and Dan's girlfriend Meg, posted a picture of me and him on my Myspace and I've always called myself the One-Hand Bandit, ever since I saw the Mask when he said, " It wasn't me it was the one armed man." I was like yeah the one hand bandit that's me. That was really never my rap name, my rap name is Ryan O'Neil. For 100dBs there was a Ghostface Killah song where he said something about slum computer wizard and under my picture he wrote one-hand bandit and under his he wrote slum computer wizard. So we started joking around that that was going to be the title and we tried to come up with other stuff but that honestly was the best name we could come up with.
Scheme: I asked Dan this and so I will do the same with you. What did you gain from this year and a half experience and do you see yourself pursuing this as a career?
Ryan O'Neil: It takes a lot of money, a lot of patience and a lot of weed (laughs) to get through making an album, because there were so many ups and downs. There were moments where we were on highs like we can't be stopped and there were other times where we're disagreeing and bumping heads. There's this one song called home where we had a three hour argument about what beat that song was going to go over and I won in the end and he realized I was right. I definitely want to continue and we talked about where we want to take it next. I'm writing stuff and he said he had a couple of beats he wanted to play me. I learned just how much how work it takes and that no one can motivate you but yourself and in this case it was my partner. Everyone else was like how many albums are you gonna sell and asking us why we're even doing this.
Scheme: Which leads me to the question, why are you doing this?
Ryan O'Neil: I don't know it's fun, it's more fun than it isn't. The moment it becomes more painful to make music I'll say it's not worth it. Like I was just saying the other day whenever a musician says they're going to retire I laugh at them because I'm like how do you retire as a musician, you make music. You don't go to work sit at a desk and start writing it just comes to you. When I'm at and sit down and try to write it never comes to me, but when I'm on the train or I'm about to fall asleep I'm like damn I gotta pick up the pen and start writing. So I'm going to keep doing it until it stops coming to me and when I can't afford it anymore I don't know I really can't answer that question.
"When we set out to make this we really weren't trying to make songs we're trying to make an album that connected and flowed from track to track and didn't really tell a story but their was a linear feel to it and I hope people think of it as good music."
Scheme: What were some of your favorite tracks on the album?
Ryan O'Neil: New York City burning simply because I wrote the first and the third verse months ago and I thought they were kind of corny so I deaded the song, but Dan was like, "I love that you gotta do something to it." but I didn't like that song. He forced me and I wrote the second verse last and it's actually my favorite verse on the whole album and I was like this song is kind of beasty. Dan is a master in the studio and when it comes to affects and not just a master beatmaker. 100 Emcees is like my sistine chapel, I literally started that song my sophomore year of college and wrote three lines and thought it would be really cool to write a song that always start with the word m and c. I went back to my book and just kept adding to it to the point where it became a labor of love. Get Down is my party song, I love that song and love performing it.
Scheme: How would Ryan O'Neil describe himself as an emcee?
Ryan O'Neil: My biggest dream is to be looked at as a musician and that stems from high school. I was singing in a gospel choir and my director always called the singers singers and the band members musicians. I have a bachelors in music and I kept thinking why can't I be a musician and now I'm a rapper and I'm like damn why am I just a rapper I want to be a musician! When I think about how I want to be looked at, I want to looked at as that guy that could put together songs and put together words that rhymed, make sense, tell a story and also write a hook. Whether that hook is put your hands up or singing on a hook. DBS is trying to teach me more about production so I can get more into that because I want to be well-rounded in the game.
Scheme: What a part of production do you like so far?
Ryan O'Neil: I was never a fan of sampling until I met Dan because when I hear a sample I'm like you ripped eight seconds from a song and put your own drums under it. When I met this dude he literally takes two seconds of a track, slows it down so much that you have no idea where it comes from. He'll cut up a drum break and make his own drum sound out of it. If there was one criticism about him is that he could use more original composition in his production. I've taken a lot of theory classes and songwriting classes and I want to be able to add sampling on top of original composition.
Scheme: If there was one constructive criticism he could give about you what do you think it would be?
Ryan O'Neil: I'm sounding real cocky by not being able to come up with one…
Scheme: Well it's interesting and I guess you guys just look at it differently. When it comes to writing lyrics you really take your time and I think maybe Dan sees that as sometimes hom having to push you a little bit. So in his eyes he needs to push you but in your eyes that's just your process.
Ryan O'Neil: I really can think of a criticism for Dan, he's the man.
Scheme: What do you want people to take away from this album?
Ryan O'Neil: I want people to look at and say two cats, one born in Israel and the other in Jamaica coming together to make a real cohesive piece of art. When we set out to make this we really weren't trying to make songs we're trying to make an album that connected and flowed from track to track and didn't really tell a story but their was a linear feel to it and I hope people think of it as good music. I don't feel that there is a producer that can produce the way DBS does and I honestly believe there aren't many rappers who can lyrically put down what I put down. I hope without hate people actually see that.
Scheme: How was that transition for you coming from Jamaica to hear?
Ryan O'Neil: My mom was real strict and they weren't to into the reggae music and my mom loved soca and I hated it but my aunts were obsessed with Neil Diamond, Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin and Anita Baker and that's what I grew up listening to. So when I came to the U.S. and everyone was talking about B.I.G. and Pac I was like who are these dudes I don't even listen to rap. So that was the biggest thing for me was people seeing me and expecting me to know things that couldn't be farther from the truth, but I gets down to my man Paul Simon all day!