729 is the Birmingham duo of emcee Ozu and producer Erthling. They made their debut back in April with the EP Greetings. Since that time, we’ve gotten five more EPs as they begin to build their world. We were able to sit down with them to talk about their origins, how they work together, and the process of their world building.

Scratched Vinyl: Let’s start with the basics. How did y’all first meet each other?

Erthling.: I put on a hip hop festival in Tuscaloosa actually. Wait, did I meet you before that?

Ozu: Prior.

Ertling.: I met him through Rashid, doing Lobotomix shows.

Ozu: Both of us shows.

Erthling.: He was doing a Lobotomix show, I saw him, and I was like, “Man, I want to work with him.” Saw him at the festival, talked, chopped it up, then we kicked it.

SV: When did you move from talking about collaborating to officially being a group?

Erthling.: The next day. Maybe not officially the next day, but we were like, “Oh, this is it right here.”

Ozu: July 29th. That’s why 729, that’s the day we started.

SV: So that’s where the name comes from?

Ozu: I had a show July 28th, and we linked up the next day. I went over to his house, he played one beat, and I was like, “Yep, let me have that, if you don’t mind.” Then he played another beat, and I was like, “Wow! That’s fucking amazing too!” And then he made a beat, and I was like, “Shit! This is for real!” Then he started scrolling through beats, and I was like, “Stop playing beats off the Internet.” He just had a boatload of dope, and I was like, “Dude! We can really do some shit, for real, for real, with all you got and everything that I got, we can put it together and make something.”

SV: Erthling., you not only produce, but you rhyme as well. What was it about working with Ozu that made you “Oh, he can have my stuff?”

Erthling.: When I make beats, I don’t really think about it like, “I’m going to rap to this,” or whatever, but I mean, dude is just a monster. Listen to him, and you’re like, “Where did you even…” Here’s the thing – when I first saw him at the Lobotomix show, I was like, “Bro, he’s so weird,” but in a connected kind of way. He just thinks different than everyone else I’ve seen up here tonight. He’s got a different vibe, so I was like, I want to work with this dude. I would love to produce for him. It was just as simple as that. Giving him beats was a no brainer.

SV: Now that you’ve been working together for a little while, do you find yourself making “729” beats, or do you just pull them out of the process of making beats in general?

Erthling.: I think a lot of it was “This is stuff that I have, let’s work with this,” but then ideas kind of evolve. Let me tweak this, or do something new entirely, or just build on a concept. So yes and no, I guess.

SV: You started officially releasing music earlier this year as a series of EPs. Was this always the plan? How did you come up with this idea?

Erthling.: [Ozu’’s the brain behind that.

Ozu: Initially, 7⁄29, I left his house with like 40 beats and just started making shit. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I just knew he had some dope shit. I just felt like we could make some cult following-type shit. And I just started making shit, and then the concept, like he was saying earlier, it was never a solidified idea.

Erthling.: Random shit be happening, we call it coincidences.

Ozu: That’s a line. But it’s never intellectualized like, “Oh, we’re going to do this.” Shit just happens and then random events come together as divine intervention.

SV: So you kind of find the story line after you’ve been working…

Ozu: Exactly. It’s like, “Oh! This makes sense!” And then it becomes a jigsaw [puzzle].

SV: Because you’ve kind of laid out the EPs as a storyline…

Ozu: A saga, yeah.

Erthling.: It’s kind of like an audio comic book, to a degree.

SV: But you didn’t sit down and were like, “This is what we’re doing.”

Ozu: Nah, nah. It was just thoughts on beats, and then it just came together like, “Oh, this is a fucking story.” Because it’s my life, right? So it pans out to be a real life story. But there was no intention on either part, that we were going to make a story out of it.

SV: So when you’re writing, because you touch on Sci-fi elements, and you talk about religion, are you ever like, “These are things that will fit the story?”

Ozu: Actually, no. There’s no catering. The same way you’d have a conversation with your friend, sitting around in the living room…I make conversational music. It’s just my thoughts. Hey man, I thought about some weird shit today, like why is it sunny on Friday and it’s a fucking Monsoon on Saturday, but it’s 70 degrees – you don’t think that shit is weird? And it just happens like that. Thoughts, and then elaborate on thoughts, and just making sense of it. For me, music is like real therapeutic. It’s an outlet for me. When I don’t necessarily have someone to talk to, I can talk to the beat. That’s how it happens. There’s never a vain of like, “I don’t have a song talking about domestic violence – I should make that!” I don’t have a song about politics. It’s just like his beats put me in spaces. I would liken it to a movie set. It’s like you walk in on set and you get into character of whatever the set is. Like I don’t really think about it like – I only did it for one song, and it’s yet to be released. Whatever comes, I usually just go with the first thing, because that’s where the magic is. Just whatever the feeling or emotion is. When I hear a beat, I like to write to it right away to capture the feeling, ‘cause I don’t like to think about it too much. Even if I don’t finish it, as long as I get a thought, I can kind of trigger that thought when I go back to it.

SV: You’ve released six volumes of EPs so far. Do you see yourself continuing down this path, or do you have ideas for something different going forward?

Erthling.: That’s a good question…

Ozu: I want to tell you, but that kind of takes away from the element of surprise. I would say…just stay tuned.

SV: Is something big coming around the corner?

Ozu: Just stay tuned, and thoughts have been had about things, and things are kind of like in motion to be momentous. Just stay tuned?

SV: Any general timeline? Next spring, maybe?

Erthling.: Whenever it feels right. That’s what it comes down to.

SV: Are there any other shows or projects that you can talk about?

Erthling.: As far as shows, not really. I’m busy working on solo stuff. It’s wrapping up right now. That’s about it for me, really.

SV: Does the solo stuff have anything concrete yet?

Erthling.: Oh, my album is finished. It’s just waiting to rear it’s head.

SV: Do you have a release date yet?

Erthling.: Not a concrete one. Probably in January. I keep pushing it back, because I keep adding things to promote it. I’m kind of waiting to start that train off.

Ozu: The most important thing you need to know is that we’re creating. Daily. Daily creations. We rest on the seventh, though.

SV: Where’s the best place for people to check for announcements, going forward?

Ozu: Announcements, @729ne on Instagram, and if you want music you can go to Hivemuzik.com. All the credentials are there.

SV: Finally, if you could work with three people that you haven’t, who would that be?

Erthling.: I’ll start this off. I’ve got two right now, that are random as hell. Low key, Swizz Beats, ‘cause he makes some weird stuff. He’ll be in a dark room with candles, just going off for no reason. Tame Impala, actually, because I think he would produce some dope hip hop, because his drums sound crazy. And for the third one, probably Knxwledge, to be honest with you. He’s a dope producer.

Ozu: I would love to work with Cee-Lo Green. As far as people in the city, I want to work with Paper Nolastname. I think that will yield great results. And for a third…Suaze.

Erthling.: Oh man, I haven’t worked with him yet. I want to work with Cuttdog, too. Just to be honest with you.

Ozu: I got a track with Cutt. Anyway. That’s my three.

For more information, visit: https://hivemuzik.bandcamp.com/