Bishop Nehru Is Already Moving Past ‘NehruvianDOOM’

It's been 14 months since Bishop Nehru and DOOM first announced their collaborative project, NehruvianDOOM, and today the patient public finally has it in its hands. The album, completed over the intervening months at DOOM's London studio, combines the masked MC's well-worn production and free-flowing rhymes with the 18-year-old Nehru's freshly dusted approach to crafting narratives, and had fans of the underground the world over happily bumping along.

But not everything is right in the ever-evolving world of Bishop Nehru. For an artist so young, he's been on the radar for hip-hop heads since he dropped his very first mixtape, Nehruvia, at the age of 15, and though he's been praised for a lyrical style beyond his years he's also a teenager still figuring out the world. The DOOM project was initially announced when Nehru was 16 years old; all this time later, he's much further along in his development as an MC than the LP might suggest. Not that he's upset with it, necessarily.

"I mean, I'm happy with it, obviously, because it's a project with one of my influences," he says during a stop by the XXL offices, his headphones an ever-present crown atop his head. "I feel like with that, a lot of it is my 16-year-old, 17-year-old lyrics, and I've grown a lot since 16 and 17. My perspective on things. My poetry's gotten better, I've gotten better at describing certain things."

So while Nehru is still going to ride out the success of NehruvianDOOM, he's looking at the project as more of a springboard than a mountaintop. Minutes after he left the XXL offices yesterday, news broke that Nas would be the executive producer of Nehru's debut album, a project the rhymer from just north of New York City is determined to produce in its entirety. And he's looking to break out of the box that it seems like his young career has already been painted in to, as another up-and-coming rapper trying to resurrect the glory days of East Coast boom bap.

"I feel like I'm already into everything now, you know what I mean? I just haven't shown the world that I'm into it, but I'm into everything," he says. "I feel like that's the only problem, I just gotta make more stuff, put more content out. I have the resources to do it, so I'm probably gonna begin with that."

With NehruvianDOOM in stores now, XXL spoke to Bishop Nehru about the LP, his relatively new home at Mass Appeal Records, and the next steps on the horizon for him from here. —Dan Rys

XXL: NehruvianDOOM is finally out. You nervous at all?
Bishop Nehru: Not really. I'm just looking to put out more stuff with it. Different music.

"I just wanna show the current writing, and I haven't really done that yet."

You gonna follow up quick with something else?
Probably. More than likely. Not a completely different direction, but it'll probably sound different. I feel like I'm already into everything now, you know what I mean? I just haven't shown the world that I'm into it, but I'm into everything. Everything. I just gotta make more... I feel like that's the only problem, I just gotta make more stuff, put more content out. I have the resources to do it, so I'm probably gonna begin with that.

By having the resources, you mean you're already working on it, or it's just something you know you have to do?
A little bit of both. I'm always making stuff, and I just have to put it into action, pretty much. I always have ideas come into my head, but I just leave them there, I don't really act on them right away. I just feel like I gotta start acting on them a little more.

After this album drops, will you have time to start doing that then?
Yeah yeah. Like, I've been doing it, but fuckin' management and stuff, they don't like putting too much shit out because they like to make money off of it themselves. So it's just like, they were like, for that project, let's wait until the DOOM project calms down, since that's coming out on the label. And then after that I'm gonna pretty much do whatever the fuck I want. Put out whatever I want. Probably gonna put out, like... 'Cause I don't wanna put out too much shit, but I have so much that I need to show.

And I feel like with the DOOM project, that was supposed to be out for a while now. It was just whatever happened with manufacturing and things like that pushed the day back a bit. I feel like with that, a lot of it is my 16-year-old, 17-year-old lyrics, and I've grown a lot since 16 and 17. My perspective on things. My poetry's gotten better, I've gotten better at describing certain things. I just wanna show the current writing, and I haven't really done that yet. The closest to that is probably "Caskets," which is the last verse I put on the album. I had an older verse on that one, too, which I took off and re-wrote because I felt something different at the time. Something in life happened and I was like, "Nah, fuck it, I'm gonna put this on there."

So when you look at NehruvianDOOM, are you happy with it?
Oh, yeah, of course, of course. I mean, I'm happy with it, obviously, because it's a project with one of my influences. But, um, when we were making it, it was an amazing experience. But now afterwards as I'm looking back on it, not that I'm... I just wanna put more shit out, you know what I mean? I feel like I have, through mixtapes and things like that, people have an idea of what my sound sounds like, and I feel like no one should. 'Cause I haven't put anything out solo, you know what I mean?

So I feel like I haven't given enough me to people, but I've been giving them content. It's just been mixtapes, rapping over other people's beats, rapping over beats artists I've already rapped to. I kinda just want to start putting out projects where it's just complete content, fresh new content, fresh new beats, fresh lyrics, you know? I just want to write something right now, for my right now. Eighteen years old, if I was to sit down and write a project out. I just wanna be able to say that, and not have it be like 16, 17 and I'm 18 right now, you know what I mean? It's like looking back at your old... I don't know. I don't really know how to explain it, it's a weird situation.

Like you feel like you're more advanced now and you feel like you're better at what you do, but you're still putting out things you recorded and wrote when you were 16.
Yeah, yeah. Exactly.

Let's change it up a little bit. How's life at Mass Appeal Records?
It's pretty cool. Mass Appeal is pretty cool.

"There's certain times where, like on the NehruvianDOOM project, at that time that was the most that I felt I could do. But now looking back it's like, woah, I wish I had that opportunity again."

Have you been in the studio with Nas?
Not yet. I saw him last week at the Time Is Illmatic screening, got invited to that. It was at the Museum of Modern Art. Q-Tip was there, Busta Rhymes. I was walking, headed out afterwards, he called my name, "Yo Bishop!" I turned around and he was there, dapped him up, he had me walk out with him. And we went to the after party, and I wasn't supposed to be there because I'm 18 and shit, not supposed to be in bars. And I saw him there and he was like, "Yo, Bishop, whatchu doin' here? You're not supposed to be in here." [Laughs] But yeah. That was like last week.

Are you gonna be touring soon?
Probably just festivals. I don't want to start off my own tour until I have my own project out, you know what I mean? Really I just want to wait until I put out my next project with Mass Appeal, and then start touring.

Will that be your full solo album?
Yeah. That's gonna be the first project that I produce fully. I already know the direction I'm taking it; I've known for like two years now. [Laughs] Every project that I make I've kind of pulled myself back on the concept, just sit and it kinda comes to life after a while. Things around me start to morph into the concept. And when things like that start to happen that's when I know it's time to act on it, like, alright, now it's time to go. That's why I want to put out more content, because I feel like certain concepts I can just take and put it out, like as a side project, and then I could have a main project of the bigger concept.

So you're thinking of the whole world of Bishop Nehru, with different offshoots and everything—
Yeah. Nehruvia. Yeah, pretty much. Ultimately, I have a Nehruvian flag now. And I feel like with that flag, I have to be true to it. And that's pretty much what making the music has to be. That's the number one rule to being true to anything, is to be. I feel like I hold myself back, I ask other people too much. Like, I tell people what I'm gonna do before I do it, and that's the ultimate fuck up. You know what I mean? If you wanna do something, do it first and then ask afterwards. You can't get in trouble if you didn't know. [Laughs] Even if you did know.

What are some of your favorite songs that you've put out? You keep saying, "Ah, I could do better now, I could do better." But are there any where you feel like you really captured something that you're still proud of?
"Caskets." "Caskets" verse, but that was more reason. That verse, when I wrote it, I wrote it pretty quickly too. That's what surprised me. "Her Ballad," I really like. Whole lotta pride in [that one]. Amazing song. People tell me that as well. Not to like... But people say, "Yo, you did a good job with that song."

What is a "good job" to you? Is it the feedback, or is it you yourself knowing that you did something you're proud of?
It's pretty much me knowing, you know what I mean? Feedback is what everybody else thinks of it; ultimately, I have to be comfortable with it. To me, I know if I [gave] my all on something. There's certain times where, like on the NehruvianDOOM project, at that time that was the most that I felt I could do. But now looking back it's like, woah, I wish I had that opportunity again, because I would have done this. But it's just like, if that happens, the project never gets done.

Have you recorded for the Mass Appeal compilation?
Yeah, I had one track on it that I produced, but it fit more for the NehruvianDOOM project anyway. It was supposed to go on NehruvianDOOM, but I put it on the Mass Appeal project, and I ended up taking it back and putting it on the iTunes edition of NehruvianDOOM, so it's like a bonus track that I produced and wrote or whatever. But the Mass Appeal comp, I'll probably end up recording a new track if anything, but I believe that I'm gonna be on it.

"Ultimately, I want to be like a neo-soul rapper. Like a rap Maxwell, or a rap D'Angelo. When I say that everyone laughs, but that's the only way I can really put a nail on it."

How do you feel about some of your labelmates? Fashawn, Boldy James, they just signed Dave East, too.
They're cool; I met Dave East, he actually came to my listening party, and I met him at the after party with Nas [for Time Is Illmatic]. I've met Dave East a couple times. Fashawn's cool, met him at SXSW, Boldy too, met him at SXSW as well. I think it was the Nas show, actually, the first time I met him. They were cool.

You guys all have different sounds; there's a lot of variety to the label.
I listen to everything as long as it's good. There's only two types of music: good music and bad music, you know what I mean? I listen to everything. Look at my shirt; I got on a Bring Me The Horizon tee. And people would be like, "Bishop listens to Bring Me The Horizon?" Yes. They're like a metalcore, they call them metalcore, but I see it as rock. Rock, metal, same thing—not really the same thing, 'cause a rock dude would get mad at me for saying that—but to me it's all just one category of music. They're all just instruments, you just play them a different way.

I listen to synth-pop, jazz, pop, R&B, neo-soul. Ultimately, I want to be like a neo-soul rapper. I don't know if that's the most possible thing in the neo-soul world. [Laughs] Like a rap Maxwell, or a rap D'Angelo. When I say that everyone laughs, but that's the only way I can really put a nail on it. Like, D'Angelo's sound cannot be duplicated; it's so neo-soul, you know what I mean? I don't know. But at the same time I wanna have a mosh pit. Rock was my shit for a little while, since I was a kid. I started listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers and Korn and shit. So I wanna have moments at my shows where it's like mosh pits, but then you can have those moments of like neo-soul, real intimate and you can really feel everything, like an Erykah Badu show or a D'Angelo show or a Maxwell show. But then I wanna be able to have times where it's like a Chief Keef show, where everybody's just turnt up, you know what I mean? I don't know how to explain it; it's not one type of person, it's just an artist as a whole. And ultimately, I feel like I can do that. And that's why I need to put out more content, again.

You feel like you can have it all?
Yeah, definitely. Definitely.

So what comes next in the next six months or so?
Next six months? Well, probably more videos for the DOOM project, that's something I gotta get done. For these videos, I wanna get more stuff done, videos. They''ll come. I have a bunch of ideas for them already, it's just a matter of funding, bullshit. Videos is mostly me, to be honest. But DOOM told me already he's open to anything for videos; he knows I direct, so he was like, yeah. Doesn't mind.

Is there any one thing that he said to you along the way that stuck out for you?
Pretty much to just keep doing me, and that's what everyone's really been telling me. Don't listen to anyone else. And that's been my main fault that I've been having so far, just listening to everybody else. So it's pretty much that staple right there. Don't listen to anyone, just be and do you. So that's what I'm gonna do.

Who do you make music for? Yourself and the fans?
Yeah, pretty much. I feel like, jazz artists, when they wanna make something they don't not make it or not put it out; they do it, because that's what they feel at the time. I feel like with the way that I make my music, they feel like it's sort of like every other rapper and that it won't be quality each time. But I know that I have that in me to make something that's quality each time, 'cause I'm not gonna put something out that's not quality. I'm my own worst critic, if anything. So when I make shit, if I hear that it sounds bad, I'll stop and delete it right there.

But you're not worried about that creativity ever—
Nah, never never never ever. At the end of the day, everybody's creativity is them. It's an expression of them. So like, at the end of the day, I can't stop being me.

Filed Under: Bishop Nehru, DOOM, Feature, featured, Mass Appeal Records, Nas, NehruvianDOOM

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