Part Time Cooks is an international Hip-Hop collective currently based in Seoul, South Korea. Saul Goode (North Carolina, U.S.A) and Black Moss (Durban, South Africa)have teamed up to create one of the most powerful rap duos in years.
Accompanied by beautiful melodies from R&B singer Joe Rollins, every track on their debut release Midnight Snack feels like an instant classic. In the past two years PTC have released a number of well received tracks and music videos, which has made them a household name in the Korean Hip hop scene.
When asked about the direction they hope to take in 2016, the group has their sights on global expansion and growing their international fan base by collaborating with artists such as Soul Chef (NZ) and Uefoh (JPN).
1) How long have you been doing what you’re doing and how did you get started in the first place?
Saul: Well, both of us ( Saul Goode & Black Moss ) have been rapping for upwards of 15 years. We met on Black Moss’s first weekend in Seoul and one of the first things I remember doing was literally bust a cypher in the street.
About a year later, we started off just being one another’s hype man for live shows, and then Moss had the idea to start making tracks together on the weekends, because at that time, he was living outside of the city and had to commute to Seoul on Friday nights for shows.
Since we were weekend warriors of sorts, Moss had the idea of calling the crew ‘Part Time Cooks.’ After the success of our first EP, we decided to make it a full time thang and have been working together ever since!
2) What sort of hurdles and obstacles did you face to get to where you are now?
Saul: Time. We do almost everything in house. Booking shows, organizing parties and other events, promoting music, interviews, hiring photographers and videographers, booking studio time, etc.
Moss is even making flyers for most of our parties these days. All of that on top of trying to make the best music possible is a lot sometimes.
3) What’s the hardest thing about being an independent artist?
Black Moss: Being taken seriously as an emerging independent artist, both by fans and hip hop media is difficult. It’s sad that we live in a society where you have to be “popping” first for people to think you are worth listening to, especially music blogs.
Having to invest money in making high quality audio and visuals and then having a blog site tell you that they like your music but, you have to pay to have your EP posted on their site makes it even harder to get out there.
That’s why it’s really encouraging when a site such as Stop The Breaks recognises what we are doing and approaches us to do an interview. Salute to you for the work you are doing.
4) Are there any independent hip-hop artists out there who inspire and motivate you?
Saul: Anybody who is willing to make the sacrifices or put in the work to follow their dreams is inspiring. I’m really interested in the crowdfunding stuff that guys like De La and Elzhi are doing right now. It’s really great to see artists like that with such loyal fans. They deserve it.
Black Moss: Saul Goode, Hopsin, Lil Dicky and anyone else making music that isn’t influenced by the stat quo. I definitely get inspired by a lot of South African rappers since most of them are independent and are able to obtain mainstream success.
5) Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Saul: I don’t know where we will be in 5 MONTHS honestly. Things are moving hella fast right now. What seemed like was going to be a couple of off months to focus on working in the studio has turned into a March and April full of events. Big events at that. It’s about the journey for me right now. I’m not so stressed about the end goal these days as long as we are putting in solid work and making dope tunes.
6) Who were the first influences on your music and style?
Saul: My pops, Pharaoh, Em, Slum Village, Biggie, Busta, Outkast, Nas, Jay, Aesop Rock, El-P.. Those names came to me the quickest, but the list is endless. Spectac who is also a really dope emcee was my principal in high school. He taught me a lot about the game as well.
Black Moss: Coming up I would say Busta Rhymes, Mos Def and Talib Kweli but being a student of rap you really learn something from every dope emcee you listen to so my list is also endless.
7) If you could choose to collaborate with 3 other artists on the same track – who would they be?
Saul: Yo, imagine a joint with PTC, Andre 3000, Kendrick, and Anderson Paak. What!?!?
Black Moss: Part Time Cooks X Mac Miller X Schoolboy Q because people always say we look like them and we definitely are fans of their music. Nucksal from Vis Major here in South Korea, kid is fire!
8) What makes your music different to other artists?
Saul: What makes our music different is that we are different.. It’s not hard to make your music stand out when you’re writing things as personal as we are.
There are only a couple versions of me out there depending on mood or chemical intake, but as long as I stay true to them when I’m writing, being unique shouldn’t be too difficult to pull off.
Black Moss: I agree. We are also based in south Korea and I have always felt that this gives us a lot more creative freedom to be ourselves in the music instead of following trends.
9) What are you hoping to achieve with your music?
Saul: I want to be happy. I want to improve all the time… Just keep on getting better every time we hit the studio. It would also be nice to pay the bills, pay the family’s bills, and maybe even all the homies’ bar tabs all off of the raps. Haha
Black Moss: To never work at another job again, that isn’t related to music.
