John "Vereencorp" Vereen

originally published September 5, 2007

Though he has only been making music for two years, John Vereen has immersed himself heavily into the local hip-hop scene, becoming a permanent fixture both onstage at producer battles and in the crowd elsewhere. Last week, he released the album Tangible Content, a 14-track disc featuring collaborations with numerous local artists.

Vereen - who occasionally uses the Vereencorp moniker and spent some time away from Athens in the U.S. Navy - is a producer in love with classic sounds. Like Nolan Terrebone, the local hip-hop producer from the T-Nebula crew, he's eager to draw from older traditions. "The reason why I got into music is because I wasn't getting anything out of what was being played," says Vereen. "I had this hankering to make my own music in September of '05. Since then, I've been working on composition and studying some theory. My thing is, you want to say something? Say it. But get people's brains thinking."

Tangible Content, more of a chill-out collection than a passel of club bangers, kicks off with the ethereal "I Hardly Know You," which features rapper Travis Williams and silky-voiced singer Ben Stevens. It also spotlights some out-of-town artists - W. Ellington Felton and Laurie Webb - on the minimal, precise track "Clever." Athens avant-garde musician Killick (formerly Erik Hinds) shows up on an instrumental track, and in keeping with Vereen's retro-leaning aesthetic, one of Tangible Content's unnamed "bonus" tracks heavily samples Billie Holiday's 1941 version of "Gloomy Sunday."

"Most definitely I'm happy with the album," says Vereen, "but I'm looking forward to moving forward and doing more collaborations with local folks."

Flagpole

What's the main idea behind Tangible Content? Is it to showcase you? The artists?

John Vereen

Basically, I wanted to do something, anything. I wanted to start recording, and so I got with a bunch of people, some of them didn't make the album. In putting everything together, I pretty much had a couple of ground rules.  I wanted everyone involved to do things in an interesting way.

Flagpole

What does that mean?

John Vereen

Just taking what's already been done but doing it better. People talk about rides, women, whatever, that's fine, but do it clever. Put it in a way where people think "hey that's pretty clever." A lot of people came through with it… Everybody that's on that album rose from it. I'm trying to establish myself as a producer and this is a great way to get my name out there. I love music, and there's nothing in the world I'd rather do.

Flagpole

Did you create the tracks with specific artists in mind, or did you take their vocals and build songs around them?

John Vereen

When I had a sound, I would just go with it and do that first. But sometimes I heard a sound when I was walking down the street… that's what happened with Killick. I heard him playing at that place right by Clocked and asked him to come on and embellish what I already had, to really get the song.

Flagpole

There's a lot of potential for local crossover between hip-hop and other scenes. Are there any other local bands you're looking to work with?

John Vereen

The lead singer of The Pendletons, Adam [Saunders], I'd love to get him in the studio and just get him to sing a song for me. I'd love to put something together with Tin Cup Prophette, or corner some of the jazz guys who are over at Farm 255 some time.

Flagpole

How are you planning on getting the word out about the album?

John Vereen

A lot of work online, obviously. Listening parties in Atlanta, one in Dallas in September. Maybe one in Washington, DC, and Charlotte. Hopefully in November, we can get all the artists who are on the album on one stage in Athens and get a series kind of going on. I'd like to get artists from all over Athens - and anywhere else in the world - to contribute to get something regular happening.

Flagpole

How did you decide who to work with?

John Vereen

It was just one of those, "I like the way you rhyme, you like the sounds I make, let's do something together." But I wanted to give 'em a choice, let people hearing the album have a choice on different sounds. That why I call it hip-hop soul music with R&B. I like some soul music and some hard rock, so basically anything with that melodic flow that touches the soul.

Chris Hassiotis

Spotlight is a biweekly feature looking at newer or emerging local acts.