BrA'Zine: "Please introduce yourself and your role in Brain Trauma." Kasket Kyle: "My name is Kasket Kyle, and I am one half of Brain Trauma, as well as the executive producer. The other half of the group is Toxik Flow." BZ: "For those who might not be familiar with Brain Trauma, could you offer up a brief history of how you came to be?" KK: "A few years back I was doing my very first show as a solo artist on Halloween. At that time I was going by relliK laireS, and my music fucking sucked; I'll be the first to tell you it was garbage. Anyway, my brother Toxik Flow who has been hanging with me since pretty much the beggining got the job of hype-man for the night. For those that aren't familiar with what a hype-man is, he was pretty much doing my backup vocals. That night I got ourselves and any other rap group banned from ever performing at that club again. But fuck 'em because they shut down a few months later anyways. But, back to the story. We started working on tracks together, and we were hanging out every weekend drinking and working on music, fine tuning our music skill. And we, somewhere along the line, decided to start doing it as a group, and Brain Trauma was born." BZ: "I am to understand you are dropping a new album in May. How was the songwriting process like for you guys while working on this new release?" KK: "The song writing process for us is pretty strange really. We both have full time jobs of course, and can at times find it hard to get together and write. So usually we will get a beat together, send it to the other person, and we will decide what the song should be about. Then we will write our verses for it, and compare them to make sure we dont repeat ourselves in the song, and then come up with a hook (chorus) that we think fits it. Then, of course, once all of that is done we record it and usually come up with some stuff off the top of our head to throw into the song to give it that extra flavor. But of course when we do have time to get together we usually just write our verses and spit it." BZ: "You guys have been around for quite some time. I've definitely noticed some 'crossing over' in your style over the years. Do you ever get new fans who think your new album 'The Budd Dwyer Effect' is your first release and that Brain Trauma is a new act?" KK: "Not really, actually. The majority of people just ask if we have an album out, where they can pick it up, how much it is, when we are going to come to do a show in their city... Things like that." BZ: "That's cool. Looks like you guys have a pretty supportive fan base. Were there any other artists you guys worked with while recording for this new album?" KK: "Yes, of course for starters we did a song with someone in our own camp, Burna. A cat named The Green Blob produced the beat for that track. We also did a song with underground rappers ClaAs [who is] from Texas, and Fury [who is] from Connecticut. We, of course, kept it local and did a song with one of my favorite rappers, and a good friend of ours, D.O.Ceasar called "Mountain Kingz". We also stretched it as far as the Bay Area California for a 'collab' track with Mars. You may have read about him on CNN.com and MTV.com in relation to that school shooting last year. Anyways, we did a song with him, and my girl Panda G did the hook on that track. As far as guest production, we had tracks with local producers 95 and AKshun." BZ: "Although you have some guest producers on your new album, you are the executive producer of all your releases. Were there any notable challenges you ran into while producing this one?" KK: "In all honesty, no not really." BZ: "Smooth sailing, can't argue with that. When you guys are touring outside of your home state of West Virginia, do you have any personal favorites you have shared the stage with?" KK: "Of course, we always like sharing the stage with our boys Psych Ward from Cleveland OH. But some of the other notables that we have enjoyed sharing the stage with are: Tech N9ne, Wolf Pac, Project Deadman, Marz, Zug Izland, Shy One, ADR Lavey, Ca$hroll Criminalz, McNastee, T Spoon, and Profits Down Below." BZ: "Awesome. So just to wrap things up, when are we to expect the new album out and where should we go to buy a copy?" KK: "The album will be on sale on may 30th. You can, of course, pick it up in all the local record stores in the Charleston, WV area and eventually in: Huntington; Morgantown; Cleveland, OH; and Cincinatti, OH; and and you will be able to get it at www.kasketrecords.com." BZ: "Lastly, is there anything you wanted to add or something we haven't covered?" KK: "Yes, visit: www.braintraumahiphop.com , www.kasketrecords.com , and www.itsburna.com." BZ: "Fair enough. Thanks a lot for your time, Kyle." KK: "No problem." BZ: "You guys take care, and good luck on your upcoming release!"