Cambridge man on the mic

>> Business as usual for Virtuoso, except for the girls singin'

by SCOTT C

 For a guy who rips a super-scientifical rhyme style, dropping lyrics in the blink of an eye on his underground hit "Incinerator," Virtuoso (aka Miguel Blackmer Hart) seems to be a man of few words. Never at a loss on record, Virtuoso first started bobbing heads after his appearance on Brick Records' Rebel Alliance compilation back in 1997. Hanging with the likes of Mr. Lif and Seven L and Esoteric can't hurt his case either. I spoke to him on the phone from his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
 
 Mirror: What the heck goes on in Boston?
 Virtuoso: There's big hip hop shows and small ones, basically the same kind of shit that goes on anywhere else.
 M: Do you like playing at home?
 V: Of course. Boston is where we get love, Cambridge especially. I was well received by the small audience that knew my first single.
 M: How long have you been doing this? You look pretty young in them pictures, dude.
 V: As far as doing it seriously, about three years. Ever since that Rebel Alliance stuff came out.
 M: How'd you hook that up?
 V: This radio DJ from here heard me and well... I ended up meeting Seven L and Esoteric and Mr. Lif at this show where we freestyled together. They said I was real nice and wanted to do some stuff.
 M: So from there you ended up on a few of their records...
 V: Yeah, until it was time to do my own stuff. Now, I run my own label with my partner. It's called Omnipotent Records. I stopped working other jobs to do that full-time.
 M: So what's the deal?
 V: I've got a new single coming out in July and an album coming out in August.
 M: What about this Montreal show?
 V: I don't think people up there have heard a lot of me, so I'm bringin' a bunch of new stuff. I think they've only heard that one single and think that I only kick that scientific kind of shit, but I have some more mellow stuff, girls singin' an' everything.
 M: Girls singin'?
 V: Some people say it's not hardcore or it's not real, but I like R&B as much as I like hip hop. I'm just trying to expand people's minds.
 M: Yo man, was that picture on the back of the single really taken at Stonehenge?
 V: Yep. That's when I was on tour with Del the Funky Homosapien and Casual. We went all over.
 M: You look like a totally different person in that photo, compared to the one we have here.
 V: I'm always changin'. Weight fluctuating and shit. I go up and down. I'm about 35 pounds heavier on the back of the record.
 M: What about those eyes--coloured contacts?
 V: The eyes are naturally blue.
 M: Naturally. :
 
 

With Mr. Lif, 40th Dimension, Blurum 13, Manchilde, Chilan, Shadowboxerz, Fakts-One, Mana and Killa Jewel, at Shift at L'X on Thursday, May 25, 7pm, $10