Cadence

wichita eagle article from sunday december 10
Current mood: artistic


Long-distance relationships can be fraught with miscommunication, but the beatmaster and the rhyme-spitter have developed a system.

There was a time when they traveled across the neighborhood to record their music. Now, they collaborate through the postal service. But over a span of a thousand miles, their connection remains strong.

Back in 2002 the beatmaster, DJ/producer David "Cadence" Holifield, and the rhyme-spitter, rapper Antwan "Twansac" Richardson, built a following in Wichita -- and caught the eye of major labels -- with Twansac's single "Cadillac Love." Together, they spent hours at the library researching the music business in preparation for launching an independent label, Profitcy Records.

Twan, as Cadence calls him, now lives in Phoenix. He left Wichita in 2004, hoping for wider recognition. He's earning it for himself, and for his creative partner.

"I'm on the West Coast and people are asking me where I get my (album) graphics and who makes my beats," he says. "I thought it would be the other way around."

Building contacts

While Twansac works the clubs out west, Cadence puts together beats in a local studio. He's an accomplished MC, too, but he prefers mixing tracks. Once Cadence finishes a cut, he mails it to Phoenix, where Twansac listens and suggests his changes.

"One of the things I like about Twan leaving Wichita is he gets exposure to artists you wouldn't get to know in Wichita," Cadence says. "His music has grown tenfold from his first album to now."

While Cadence is the studio magician, Twansac is the business mind, says Arizona-based promoter Rob Buswell, who has booked him for radio festivals including the Freaknic Jam series in Wichita.

"Twansac understands the business side of the industry and business principles better than folks in most businesses," Buswell says.

He has a knack for getting contact info from established artists and following up in a way that would intimidate other up-and-comers, the promoter adds.

In Phoenix, Twansac has networked with MCs like DMX, who lives in the area, and touring acts including San Francisco's E-40 and Kansas City's Tech N9ne, whom he'd opened for in Wichita and reconnected with on the concert circuit.

Most days he writes rhymes in the morning, peddles his CDs at the mall in the afternoon and hits the clubs from late in the evening till 3 a.m.

"It's been tough because I had success out the gate in Wichita," he says.

Last month Twansac returned to his old neighborhood for a few weeks, giving him a chance to work face-to-face with Cadence on the follow-up to his 2005 album, "The Ghetto Scholar."

"It's therapy for me to come home and clear my mind," he says.

Making music

Thanks to his West Coast connections, Twansac isn't depending solely on Cadence for production on the new disc.

Seven, a producer who has worked with Mary J. Blige and Fabolous, and Trax A Million, who produces for Keak Da Sneak, both added their touches to the album.

With luck, the new CD should drop in February. In the meantime, Twansac is out "grinding" -- promoting his 27-track mixtape, "What U Know About Sac," which features Houston phenomenon Chamillionaire and the late Proof, of Eminem's D-12 posse.

"Mixtapes use industry beats, so people are familiar with them," Twansac says. "If you can take industry beats and do it better than the label artist who did it, labels will pay attention."

The disc also includes Wichita MCs Sir Corts and Komplex, as well as one of Twansac's former rivals, Scott "Bilistic" Al-Tall.

Their beef was legendary, Bilistic and Twansac say (they blamed each other when a fellow musician sold them each the same beat, claiming it was original), but they found common ground when Bilistic moved to Phoenix this summer, hoping to broaden his fan base.

"We just put the past behind us and decided to go for the money together," Bilistic says.

"We have pretty different styles and it comes together pretty well," he adds. "(Twansac is) more laid-back, with a slow, smooth-type flow. I usually come faster, with more rapid stuff."

Coming together

They had a good run for about three months, before Bilistic returned to Wichita to be close to his family. He says the experience taught him that your street address and the place you represent don't have to be the same.

"When I lived in Phoenix, I'm still from Wichita. I'm still from the Midwest. I may get other flavors in my music, but the root is always going to be the Midwest. That's the beauty of it -- we're in the middle and we take from everywhere. That's why we can go anywhere and still maintain our original style."

In hip-hop, if you don't rep your hood, you're not doing your job, adds Cadence.

"Atlanta didn't get to be Atlanta until Ludacris stopped being about Luda and Jeezy stopped being about Jeezy," he says.

That's why, when it comes to their ho - Wichita Eagle- Jill Cohan-