Since 1999, F. David Norris, a.k.a. Vigatron, has been shattering boundaries in the world of underground hip-hop. You might question the quality of his music, but you can’t accuse this journeyman rhyme-slinger of being ordinary. A Vigatron show is not your run-of-the mill experience.
“They love it when I wear the wings,” says Norris with an impish
twinkle in his eye. With his third release, Pleasure, Norris adds another dark chapter to the story of his Vigattron persona,
a dark warrior/slave in the service of the listening public. The cover
of Pleasure features a strikingly brilliant image of the
artist’s musical avatar: a warrior dressed in black, clutching a
medieval broadsword, obediently hunched down on his knees with black
wings sprouting out of his back.
“That’s me as the gimp, the man-whore that you’re paying to come do
all these things and give it to you like you like it,” says Norris, who
has the shoulders of a linebacker, the frame of a longshoreman and a
shaven head. This menacing image is something he actively cultivates.
He certainly cuts a distinctive figure onstage in full regalia.
“I like to give ’em a show,” he says, insisting that hip-hop —
the music he has loved since he was a kid growing up on the
hardscrabble streets of East Cleveland — has grown complacent.
While the album features throwback Bomb Squad-style beats and solid
lyricism, Pleasure is a mixed effort that succeeds in telling
Vigatron’s story. In the world of hip-hop, few artists choose to
navigate the treacherous terrain of the concept album. Norris has taken
up this task with verve.
“That album is very conceptual,” says Norris. “It’s basically broken
up into chapters. I see myself as a comedian. I think it helps people
digest what’s going on a lot easier.”
Norris always attempts to add showmanship to his performances. For
some shows, he’s brought out a device known as the “debauchery
box.”
“They stop the show and roll out the debauchery box, and out I come
in my gimp mask and a leash,” he says. “I am huge Prince fan, and I
wanted to bring back to hip-hop some of those theatrics.”
Despite using these dramatic devices, Norris doesn’t want to be
defined by gimmicks.
“It’s funny,” he says. “I wanna give them something different than
‘I’m just standing here rapping,’ but I try to be more than the guy
with the wings or the gimp mask.”
Norris also sees himself as more of a writer than a pure
freestyler.
“I am bit too meticulous about what comes out of my mouth,” he says,
adding that his musical compatriots, the local Nappyhead Entertainment
crew, are known as lyrically strong battle rappers and hardcore
spit-boxers. Norris will join DJ Wild Kyle, BamBam Smith, Nov.HoTel,
Navy Blu and Astrovans at Nappyhead Entertainment’s King of Beats:
Battle of the Beats event taking place Friday.
“I don’t think that I’ve earned the right to be called a headliner,”
he says. “The beat battle is headliner. There are no real headliners.
I’m part of the team. This is our first beat battle that we have
hosted. We get a bunch of local producers from Cleveland or from
wherever. We have a few rounds of beats with a cash prize.”
Norris believes that such events are the last true bastion of live
hip-hop.
“It’s a kinda different vibe,” he says. “Beat battles are different
from your average showcase. I think it’s really for those who wanna
hear some really good live music. These guys are putting themselves on
the line.”
Hear new music from Vigatron on our
new online streaming jukebox: clevescene.com/kickingandstreaming
This article appears in Sep 9-15, 2009.