Hip-hop and rock and roll are like the worst on-again, off-again couple you’ve ever met. When they’re on, sparks fly and two of the 20th century’s greatest artistic movements collide and transcend. When they’re off — Limp Bizkit, Korn, Woodstock ’99 — well, you get the picture.
Recall when Run-D.M.C. dusted off Aerosmith‘s corpse for a rendition of “Walk This Way” in 1986, in the process reigniting the Boston rock band’s career. Eyebrows were raised, and pearls were clutched. How could the two possibly be reconciled?! Would this be the start of a new, hybrid genre that rules all?
Mmm, not quite. By and large, when rock and rap meet in the studio, the results are pretty mixed. For every success like the 2004 collaboration of Jay-Z and Linkin Park, Collision Course, there are pairings no one asked for, such as Big Pun and Incubus or the so-bad-you-forgot-it-was-on-a-Godzilla-soundtrack duet between Diddy and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, “Come With Me.” (Also possibly the worst “Saturday Night Live” performance of all time.)
Almost 40 years after “Walk This Way,” the debate over whether rock and rap belong together persists. Burlington rapper Real Ova Deceit, aka R.O.D., doesn’t understand why.
“Style isn’t everything,” R.O.D., real name Rod Senter, told me in a phone call last week. “I don’t care if they just make beats or they’re playing a guitar. If you’re versatile — and I am — you can make it work.”
He added: “And if the song is good, it’s good, and I’m going to spit some poetry over it.”
R.O.D. should know. Last fall, he enlisted the help of St. Albans producer and guitarist André Maquera to create Hip Rock, an eight-song collection fusing Maquera’s guitar wizardry and studio nous with R.O.D.’s multifaceted flow. The result is an eclectic record that leaps effortlessly from funk to blues to rock to pop and brings out the best in both artists.
The two connected in 2020 after local producer David Cooper (A2VT) recommended Maquera’s St. Albans studio, West Street Digital, to R.O.D., who moved to Vermont from Tampa, Fla., in 2014. They hit it off and worked together on many of R.O.D.’s projects and mixtapes, but Hip Rock represents a deeper collaboration.
“I had so many Oh, fuck! moments with Rod where he would come in, listen to the track I put together and just start rapping,” said Maquera, who performed under the moniker Doctor A. “In all of our previous work, it was just rapping. But he’s singing a lot on this record, too. He really came into his own with the melodies.”
For R.O.D., the time was right to try something different.
“Hip-hop right now is real stagnant,” he said. “Everyone is gravitating towards the algorithm, trying to get views and streams. So much talent gets suppressed and demonetized if you don’t play the game.”
R.O.D. has no interest in appeasing an algorithm. Even as he hired Maquera to mix and master his work, he was aware of the producer’s background as a rock musician. Maquera is the lead guitarist for 8084, a New England band that formed in 1982 and toured for the better part of 25 years, releasing five records along the way.
As for producing hip-hop, Maquera had worked with R.O.D. and Winooski’s A2VT before, but he’d never attempted something as expansive as Hip Rock. He started building the tracks, cycling through different styles and genres to build a diverse musical world for R.O.D. to explore.
Maquera channeled pop and West Coast funk in opening track “Mercedes,” leaving room for R.O.D. to lay down a swaggering set of verses in which he moves seamlessly between rapping and singing. “Go Funk Yourself” follows with a Red Hot Chili Peppers-like funk-rock sound. “Watch Out” has a bluesy stomp that brings out R.O.D.’s southern twang. The album’s lead single, “Going for It,” could play on modern rock radio, riding a groove of crunchy, chugging guitar and R.O.D.’s in-the-pocket flow. The single’s music video features the pair jamming in Maquera’s studio.
“It was definitely a little out of my comfort zone, but as a rapper, I feel I can do anything,” R.O.D. said. “And you gotta feel like that. You gotta hustle.”
And there’s no sign of R.O.D.’s hustle slowing. He’s working on a new record with Memphis rapper Black Smurf, as well as recording tracks with Vermont producer SkySplitterInk. The live 802 hip-hop scene is picking back up, as well.
“There was a really nice underground hip-hop scene here a few years ago,” R.O.D. said. “COVID kind of killed it off, but things are finally starting to come back, and the scene is being revitalized — we’re building it back up, especially on the live front.”
This Friday, January 10, the rapper returns to St. Albans as part of GreenOut, a hip-hop showcase at the Depot featuring Elias Green, Juni the Wiccan and DJ David Chief. Then R.O.D. will hop a ferry to play his first Plattsburgh, N.Y., show, on February 8 at the West Side Ballroom as part of the Champlain Valley Amateur Arts Festival.
“The hustle is real,” R.O.D. said. “Hustle and guidance: That’s what you need. You work hard, figure out how to be efficient and always prioritize quality, and it will come back to you.”
Hip Rock by Real Ova Deceit is available now on major streaming services.
This article appears in Jan 8-14, 2025.
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