How did you first start making records?

I first began recording on a tape recorder as a kid. Then I moved on to my boombox. Then I moved on to a tape deck. Then a four track. Then a reel to reel. Then in my early 20’s I entered my first real recording studio where we recorded onto ADAT. Maybe you didn’t want me to answer that question so literally, but it was fun.

You're overtly political in your raps – the picture we in Europe have of America today is of a very polarised society politically – does that reflect your experience?

I don’t think I know a single Republican or Bush-supporter, so that leads me to believe we live in a highly polarized society.

Who are the musicians who you admire the most – as opposed to musicians who may have directly influenced your music?

I admire Bob Dylan and Neil Young the most, for their large body of work, originality, diversity, ability to overcome random rejection from the public and the fact that they are still active. It’s so strange to me that I am making music in the same era as them.

Poetry and hip-hop: are there structural differences? Would you call hip-hop poetry?

No, hip-hop is hip-hop. Some hip-hop is poetic. There are SOME shared structures, but many that do not overlap at all.

Is there, by definition, an element of elitism in the “Underground”?

Of course there is. There is an element of elitism in every single subculture. That goes from the math team to the crack house.

I'm struck by some of the more” conventional” elements of your songs i.e verse chorus arrangements – it makes for an interesting combination against the hard edged lyrics – is it intentional – a need to have a hook?

I don’t always have a hook, but sometimes I succumb to song structure. The repetition of the hook allows the comfort of familiarity and it also allows some time for the new material presented by the verse to sink in and resonate. I like hooks when they make sense. I like strategic repetition. Shrug.You’ve talked a lot about school and alienation and this is something we see, in Europe, regularly – this image of American High School as a place that actively singles out and punishes people who are different from the norm. Is it something inherent in the system?

Certainly. It is human nature, isn’t it? To reject what is different. To feel comfort in the predictability of what is accepted as normal. Change is hard for some people.

You studied journalism – how does that fit in with your music?

It gave me a greater appreciation for research and an understanding of why it is more effective to present information in a way that lets people make up their own mind rather than just telling them what to think. I guess. (laughs) I’d like to think I got something out of all that money I shoveled into their pockets.

What was it about hip-hop that first drew you? You've been into the music since childhood – which at the time was probably unusual – for a white boy in Rhode Island?

The attitude, the rhymes, the simplicity and hard hitting boombap. It lured me in at a very young age, and I don’t think that there has ever been anything in music that has made me feel the way I did back then. It’s not easy to explain, and not everyone around me felt what I felt, but there was an urgency and freshness that I was tuned into.