For this installment of #Hometeam month, we travel to one of hip hop’s most fertile grounds: Upstate New York. You already know a ton of names from the region, but it’s Deuce’s year to shine. He just dropped Moving Parts, an EP with his Hometeam brother Chuck Chan fully produced by Don Carrera. He is prepping his official debut, but in the meantime has a number of offerings to get listeners warmed up. Bar-Polar, fully produced by Chuck, is a prime example of what these two can accomplish.
Deuce is a fairly no-nonsense individual, and hype doesn’t faze him, my man has had it with the same old in the hip hop world. He’s here to present his bars, and to build with his brothers. His latest single is The Way It Goes produced by the legendary Farma Beats, and that’s just a taste of what he has in the works.
RD: What’s the science behind your name?
DH: Well, that goes back a ways, to a time when my life was filled wit a lot of OE’s, Billy D’s, and Hennessey.
RD: You rep upstate NY, there has been an explosion of talent making noise from out your way. Was that something you saw coming?
DH: Honestly, I always knew what was here, but at the same time, we used to being completely overlooked. So you kinda stop thinking about it and just do you. WNY is a unique place to grow up. I do remember telling Chan 10+ years ago that Benny would be mentioned with names like The Lox, if he ever just got a real chance. Now look.
RD: Do you consider Bar-Polar your debut project?
DH: If not, what is? I don’t know. I don’t think I even have what I would consider a debut project out yet. There are a lot of elements that should go into an official debut, and I definitely haven’t had a project like that so far. Right now, we’re just putting out as much quality music as we can, so that people hear our shit and start to get familiar. A real debut is coming soon tho.
RD: Let’s talk Hometeam. How did you enter into the equation?
DH: I’m not even sure I recall all the shit that led up to all of us coming together. Chan and I been doing this music shit together since we were teenagers. As far as the fam growing into Hometeam, it all started on Twitter for me, which I had never even entertained until this past summer. Onaje actually reached out to me, after hearing some of my stuff, so him and I kicked it first. He sent me some beats, I literally layed them both down the very same day that he sent them to me. After that, shit started to grow. He sort of linked Killy and I up, and once that happened, it just snowballed from there. General Back Pain and Killy had already known each other, so that connection was already there. Same with Propha C, he and Killy had known each other from working on some shit together previously. So all these ties started coming together, and Hometeam just formed organically.
RD: There seems to be a mutual respect between the members. Do you feel it’s important to build with someone personally before getting into recording?
DH: Definitely. I don’t fuck with people generally, so having Hometeam develop isn’t something I would have ever saw coming, for me personally. Once I had the chance to build with these brothers on some personal levels it was undeniable that we were all cut from the same cloth. It’s hard to explain, but I know it doesn’t just happen like this everyday. The like-mindedness that we all share is special, and it’s deeper than music at this point.
RD: Listening to your music, it’s pretty clear you’ve had it with the redundant sound in the mainstream. In this boom-bap renaissance who are some of your favs at the moment?
DH: Is it that clear? It’s actually dope for me, cause I don’t have to go very far to hear cats that I wanna hear. WNY got all I really need honestly, but there are a few others. ETO, Benny, Spesh, Conway, Rigz, Pounds, and the local list goes on. Outside of my own backyard tho, Brown Bag Money – Daniel Son, Saipher Soze, Asun Eastwood, that whole movement is tough.
RD: Who are some talents outside HT you’d like to collab with in 2019?
DH: There are some collabs already in the works for 2019, for sure. Like you mentioned earlier tho, being able to build with someone before you work together is important for me. Way too many cornballs out here masquerading as “artists” in this boom bap shit. So, personally, I can’t just jump on tracks with anyone. Got something with Magno Garcia, Toney Boi, Norm Reg, Lupus Dei, and a couple others that I don’t wanna throw out quite yet. As far as production, Chan, Onaje, and Propha all hold me down, but I got some things cooking up wit Don Carerra too. Just put out a track with The Working Man as well, and the OG from Philly, Kil, blessed my latest project with half the production. 2019 looking bountiful.
RD: What do you want listeners to feel when they bump a Deuce project?
DH: I make music for people like me, that think like me, and that move like me. The specifics of all that are hard to articulate though. So, just connecting with like-minded people on any level is something I think is dope. Especially through music. Sometimes I feel like a member of an ancient lost tribe, so finding out that there are others that think/feel/act like me is crazy.
RD: Plans for the rest of 2019?
DH: A Hometeam takeover.
Cop Bar-Polar here https://charliechan2.bandcamp.com/album/bar-polar-by-deuce-hennessy
The Way It Goes single https://farmabeats.bandcamp.com/track/the-way-that-it-goes
Follow Deuce Hennessy at @DeuceHennessy on IG & @20belowent
Respect Due Podcast 