Novem Life, Yo!

Puttin’ in work on the Chicago hip-hop scene for about a decade, Robust has consistently come with thought-provoking lyrics and a smooth rhyme flow. My introduction to his work was on the old Sage Francis album, Urine Trouble :still sick, in which a clever verse at a Milwaukee live show landed him a guest appearance on Sage’s disc, under the moniker The Short-Necked Giraffe. Now, as a key artist on local hip-hop label, Galapagos 4, Robust continues to rock shows and drop albums with a quality flow. Recently, Robust, aka Ro-Bigga, stopped by the Novem HQ for a quick chat as we made him some t-shirts to take on the ‘El Foto Grande’ tour.
When’d you start rappin?
Probably around high-school

Where’d the name Robust come from?
Just the flavor.

How’d you first hook-up with the G4 family?
Well I met most of them through Qwel. Qwel and I were in a crew together, back in the day, along with Prime, Pugslee, Verbal, and a few other Chicago emcees, called Scam Artists. So, Qwel let me know when he had started recording with the G4 guys- they had a studio. He brought me over there a few times to record, and everything went well. So, I started going over there to record more and just got down with the label.

Do you prefer working in the studio or doing the live shows here and on tour?
I can’t say I have a preference; I like both equally. Recording is cool because I like the process and what goes into creating the finished product.  Live shows are just fun, rockin the party.

Tell us about El Foto Grande.
Everyone should check out the album… the music is pretty self-explanatory. A lot of the tracks have been a part of my live set for a few months now, and my favorite track is called Time & Work. You can pick it up at Best Buy, but come to a show and get it from me.

Visit myspace.com/robustchicago for more

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– R. Pepin