Grand Architect of the Universe: 2010

The Autonomous Heartbeat is an Emcee, Lyricist, Artist, Poet, Bmxer and an overall iconoclast. Autonomous hails from Ocean County, New Jersey-the land which can look like nothing more then strip malls, cultural void-ism and a bunch of cookie cutter mass consumers. But believe it or not this area can also spawn some people who defy the so-called "cultural" norm of suburban "sleep" and walk the narrow path.
Soon he will be dropping his debut CD The Autonomous Heartbeat "Bi Polar Bear" on G.A.O.T.U. Records. This is Part 1 of an interview to help those who don't know...Know. Peace.

What was the initial impetus and inspiration for you to get into writing Rhymes and Emcee-ing?

Well my whole life I always wrote shit and drew pictures... since a kid I was "designin" somethin... 10 years old with notebooks filled with clothing designs accompanied with doodles of monsters and poetry. I have racing thoughts I want people to hear. I always stood out. I wanted to be the front man in a band. Ya know? The guitar player or somethin.. the "emcee". I guess you'd say. I grew up on punk rock music. I felt like it was speakin to me.. the pain, homelessness, the angst, all the shit I was goin through. At the same time they were playin Wu-tang and stuff like that at the skatepark, I was like "no shit. its like the same thing wit a better groove." But yeah, I "sang" in a punk band in Tennessee for a lil while.. We did some shows and shit, it was cool but I think the rest of the band was just in it cause thats whats' up. I was in it to own it. To me it was reality, for them like a hobby to get a blow job. It didn't work and it's all good. Then in 2003 I started this experimental noise project with my boy Steve called The Heartbeats.. it was just beats with static and whispers and minimal lyrics. It was very experimental.. like bugged out erie sounds.. I think I was still holdin onto the idea of forming into a band though, ha! Just couldn't. Some time passed, in and out of shit, then in like 06 an ex girly kidnapped me and brought me to stay with her in Tennessee. Suicide girl, sick chick. I think it was her way of makin up for all the times I caught her cheatin, gettin doped up, coked up, all that shit, but she took care of me for like 2 months after I got out of mental hospital. She'd buy me weed, beer, and cigs everyday before she went to work, then leave me in her old rickity house with her pitbulls all day... that was when I started The Autonomous Heartbeat. I had time to chill no worries. I was writing all day, then we would just go to all the punk rock bars all night... needless to say when I finally dipped and came back to Jersey I hit Steve up asap. We started workin on recording and stuff when I was not in IOP and shiz.. then I met this dude Sectacide from TR... he passed me some beats and its been on from then! Everything before this just made me hungrier.

So you were initially doing Punk music. Then made a transition into doing Hip Hop. Some people see the two as different worlds but personally they have always had some type of connection, at least in my life. Do you see a common thread between Punk and Hip Hop?

Yeah, always been into punk rock. I wasn't "doing" punk music as much as I was "livin" it. I was on the streets straight up homeless in the gutter since 14 when I left the bullshit I was born into... then my family moved back to Jersey and left me there in Tennessee. My friends became the dudes in the projects I would rob, steal and fight with, the old bums that slept under the bridge and ate at the pantry, the skaters and bmxers at the skatepark, and the local punk bands. I just lived on the streets, straight up.. this one punk flop house sorta took me in.. I was a lot younger and just very different.. they called me "Punk Rock Trav". I would steal them food and shit and they would let me sleep in the band room. I was never settled enough to ever focus on something. It was just wild! I don't see there ever bein a "transition from this to that". I just don't see it.. its all just one big mess called life... this is my life. I always been a poet, lyricist, punk, whatever the title is. Whatever people wanna call it. I write rhymes to beats. Real raw shit. In your face shit. The truth as I see it. To me it's all just the same thing. I don't see it as just music.. its my lifestyle.

Well that is some real shit. I have said many times that this is a lifestyle, it is more then music-the music is reflecting the life and creating it at the same time. But it is much deeper for those who really feel it or are "it". From my point of view music is more powerful and valuable then simple mind numbing entertainment.
Many times that is met with people saying "No man, it's just for fun. It's just music. It's just entertainment" and I can't help but think... "Well man you don't fucking get it or you are just not it." Music has always been so much more then entertainment to me, I believe it has the power to elevate us out of negative situations we find ourselves in.
Do you personally see music as a way to build a better life for yourself. A way to elevate yourself out of hardship?

I'm really lovin all this grimey shit I'm goin thru, I ask myself "Did I make this life or did it make you?" Part of some shit I just wrote.... its' like.. I do this regardless, the art the music... its' for my soul. Its' very selfish but you can have it for you if you want. If you can relate or take somethin from it.. or if you got the cash. I do sell my paintings and I'm finishin up the "Bi Polar Bear" album right now, and I'm workin on my next album "Schizoid". Some things in the works, ya know, t-shirts and shit. Workin on a video soon and a cartoon I'm drawing for on the side. It's all merch. It's all money. I'm building something greater than all I've ever known, so yeah, I guess it does "elevate me outta hardships". but you can't do this and have a "normal" life. It's not happening. If you wanna be an artist or a rapper you best be prepared to lose some friendships, loose your "normality". Normal= Average. The average person today ain't an artist or poet or whatever at heart. It cant just be somethin someone "wants" to do or itll just be wack. I HAVE to do this. I have a vision, I see clearly that unfolds as I move closer. I've predicted every stage of my life thus far and there's not a doubt in my mind that I will survive off this. It's survival of the fittest, I WILL EAT.