Steddy P bottles local culture in Dear Columbia... p.s.

Steddy P will go on tour for his new release in mid-September.

By Carolina Astrain

Published Sept. 4, 2008

Modesty, reliability and obsessive compulsiveness are three components of Steddy P's celestial make-up. The astrological sign Virgo encircles the theme of the local rapper's birthday next Friday. Steddy P wants to know what your sign is.

Steddy P, whose birth name is Ray Pierce, released his latest album Dear Columbia... p.s. this summer and is set to go on tour across the Midwest starting in mid-September. The album is framed as a letter he's writing to Columbia from his hometown, Kansas City.

"I tried to bottle up the culture here in town, but I wasn't trying to be totally focused on things like 'Mizzou! Go, Tigers!'" Steddy P said. "I'm talking about things that only people in the scene will understand. Like being up at 5 a.m. for no apparent reason with a whole bunch of kids eating at the diner. Or, you know, for anyone's that ever smoked a joint and driven down Rock Quarry Road."

"Rain Falls from the Clouds," one of the smoother tracks on his latest album, is a strong contrast against Steddy's second album, Last Man Standing.

"In 'Rain Falls from the Clouds,' I'm talking about Kansas City," Steddy said. "I'm talking about when I was growing up and when I was in middle school - just trying to grow up and become a man and be something that someone's really going to be proud of."

With Dear Columbia, Steddy P progressed toward more of what he's heading for in the world of rap outside of the Midwest. He said he and his label have matured since Last Man Standing.

"I try to keep it funky," he said. "No one wants to hear the repetitive trash you hear on television. But if you think about the hip-hop shows that come to this town and do well, it's never a mainstream artist. The Ja Rule show at The Blue Note, I think they lost money on that. It's like you might as well pay attention to us and let us do the booking."

Comfort and familiarity are what Steddy P said make him excited to perform outside the area.

"To me, to grow, to progress, you've got to change," he said. "And you know, I'm comfortable. I can walk down the street here, and it's like 'Cheers.' I can go out and get drunk for free, but that's easy. It'll be that second that I get too comfortable, that I'll started coming out with wack-ass music."

On Aug. 16, Steddy P won the preliminary rounds at the Scribble Jam competition in St. Louis.

"I won that shit for IndyGround and Columbia, and we were represented at the biggest hip-hop festival in the country this year, which is headlined by Atmosphere, KRS-One, Blueprint," he said. "We're pretty happy about that at the label, and we're just trying to get that out."

Steddy P said he's moving back to open up a market in his hometown, but that he's also booked here every month.

"So, really, I try not to be like, 'Aw, I'm moving away, and you're not going to see me,'" Steddy said. "I'll be back. And it's like I'm on the road so much, it really doesn't matter where I live, because I'm always going to be gone. Like I'm always gone from here, but you know, people have more of an opportunity to maybe catch me walking down the street."