Back in 1997, an N.C. State student would sit in class making beats on his drum machine. Now, Edgar Allen Floe hits the stage as part of critically-acclaimed Justus League crew. His first release was True Links EP back in 2005. Yamil Camacho sat down with Floe to talk about his new projects.

Technician: Tell me a little bit about your alter ego, SliceMysta?

Floe: When I first started doing music around 1996, that was my first rap name, SliceMysta. Mainly, I would always use that name. Then one of my homeboys gave me the name Edgar Allen Floe in 1997. So I basically use both since I do production and rap as well. I could use each one to show the different hats I wear. You know as far as making beats, managing, engineering, mixing tracks and all that, pretty much the rap name is Floe. The production, engineering, managing side of me is SliceMysta.

Technician: Why did you name your new LP, The Streetwise?

Floe: Streetwise basically in a nutshell means be true to your self, be wise to the street. Everybody in the “street” is not doing negative things. Some people have their own circumstances that they are dealing with. They may not have wanted to be in the situation but they’re doing what they have to do to feed their family. It’s being honest to your self, being true to yourself and learning to deal with society as a whole.

Technician: I heard one song called “Arrest the President (Cypher God)” off The Streetwise LP. It instantly reminded me of Tragedy Khadafi’s “Arrest the President”.

Floe: That’s the one I really want people to pay attention to in the album, The Streetwise LP. Basically, when I wrote it says “Arrest the President” next to it says “Cypher God.” In Supreme Mathematics, Cypher stands for the number zero and God stands for seven. So it’s “Arrest the President ’07”; I wrote it in 2007. It just so happens that George W. Bush is our president and back when the original “Arrest the President” came out by Tragedy Khadafi in 1990, George [H. Bush] was in office. The same things were going on. It was challenging because the track was very up tempo, well over 105 beats per minute. A lot of rap dudes can’t really rap at that speed, so I challenged myself and wrote it in a couple hours. Cesar Comanche heard it and he loved it. I feel it will be one of the highlights of the album.

Technician: Who is The Undefined?

Floe: The Undefined is me and my homeboy, Mal Demolish. He’s my partner in rhyme.  We actually formed the group in 1996, during my senior year in high school. Actually, a year before that, back in 1995, it was called The Undefined Cypher. It was Mal Demolish and this other cat named Sequel. They basically were a crew doing shows in the area, I’m originally from Jacksonville. They did shows in the area before I even thought of doing music. Things didn’t work out between the both of them. When Sequel left, it was basically Mal and I, so we took of the “cipher” portion and called it the Undefined. All of my projects have at least one track with Mal Demolish.  We’re going to put out a project next year.

The Streetwise LP and all Edgar Allen Floe projects are available on Itunes. Edgar Allen Floe will be having a album release party this Friday, Nov. 14 at the Brewery.