“Constant Energy Struggles” 3.26.13
Though they ain’t to proud to brag, long before signing to Strange Music you could find C.E.S. Cru covering the walls anywhere in the vicinity that you found Godemis and Ubiquitous. Godemis whose former vigilante name began as Sket, expresses how much fun graffiti was compared to rap. ” You wear a mask, you go out at night, its like you’re a super hero.” Ask fans today and some will probably argue that the duo is stil a set of super hero’s. Ubiquitous formulated the name Craft, but it never officially stuck. It was all about C.E.S. CRU! They both look back on the good ol’ days with smirks and head shakes, once upon a time when they sprawled their neighborhood with C.E.S. Cru stickers and stencils. Not realizing that their landlord owned all of the surrounding 2 blocks. They let the maintenance man in for a quick repair, when he noticed the symbol. Ubiquitous was called into the leasing office only to be told that if he didn’t get out there and clean everything he damaged they would press charges. He proceeded to go clean all the walls he had thoroughly saturated with C.E.S. CRU with hoping that when he was done, the landlord didn’t kick him out anyway. That may have been the turning point when he realized there had to be a better way to represent his crew and decided to leave Craft behind. They found making music a better way to express themselves and in 2004 came together as rap duo using words as the weapon of mass destruction instead of spray paint.
While in biology class in college Ubi came across “Ubiquitous”. A word that’s quite relative to what C.E.S. Cru represents. If you look at what Strange has accomplished, he fits right in. “It’s just a word in the dictionary, that means: 1.To be ever present. 2. To be in all places at one time. It’s not omniscience and it’s not omnipotence. Some people confuse it with it being a god thing. It’s omnipresence. Just to be everywhere at once.” Ubiquitous explains
Godemis on the other hand came across his name while watching an old Ani-Ma movie. Not knowing if he was sure about it. He brought it up to some friends “I was hanging around some 5% Muslim guys at the time. I let them know that I had been throwing that name around. They were kinda like, that’s perfect for you and it just stuck.” Don’t get comfortable with that name though. Godi has a list of alias’s that would fool any law enforcement officer if approached. “I’m that guy with seven names anyway. There’s also Jason Dean, Godemis Ish, Jason Hasselhoff, If You Nasty, with the latest installation being the title of his solo mixtape “The Deevil”. And you know what? A year from now I’ll probably think of something else to call myself.”
When they first came up with the meaning to C.E.S. Cru, it originated as “Conglomerate Elements of Self-Consciousness.” Ubiquitous assures “The purpose of C.E.S. Cru is… It’s to be re-invented.” As they searched for different meanings, they came up with the idea that every album would be titled a different acronym for C.E.S. Cru. So with the first album completed the title came to life as “Capture Enemy Soldiers”. Thinking they were going to continue changing the acronym album by album. They decided to fall back on the original plan not wanting to be boxed in. So in 2009 named their second independent LP “The Playground” which is available on itunes.
Heading for success they were discovered by Tech N9ne while opening for Devin The Dude in 08′. Having to be patient, it wasn’t until 2012 that they were actually signed and became part of the biggest independent label in the world. The first project was an EP released only digitally titled “13”. This quickly climbed to itunes Top 5. This was just a brief warm up to prepare them for what Strange Music had in store for them. After joining the Hostile Takeover Tour breaking records with the team for the most shows in the least amount of time. It was time to begin their first LP.
The way the creative process works at Strange is, first you come up with a title… Then you conceptualize your album around it. Ass backwards to their usual routine, they pondered titles of the LP. It was only then they decided to search their roots and reconsider what they once had set as their master plan. They remembered before they threw out the idea to recreate the title of C.E.S. on every album, the title of their second album was going to be “Constant Energy Struggles”. Thinking of some of situations they encountered and the levels of energy they vibe on, sticking to their roots turned out to be a no brainer. So that it was, they were back on the path they once set out for… except this time with a record label to back them. “Lotus” was the first song they created visuals for and within a month of its release generated over 100,000 views on YouTube. The promotional campaign began and on March 15th of this year they set off for the second tour with the fast moving label “The Independent Powerhouse Tour” with their album scheduled to drop while into the second week of tour. Another video off the LP “When Worlds Collide” was released weeks after, which is now on mtvU‘s “You Pick The Video That Gets On Air”! This Week’s Best Freshmen Video. Click the link to vote for them now!
Deciding on which song to turn into the next video. Godi and Ubi agreed “Meditate” was at the top of the list as a favorite to both of them. Taking the opportunity to capture footage during their performance at The Filmore in Denver, CO. Ubiquitous explains how it relates to the theme of the album. “It sticks to the message of metaphysics and our title ‘Constant Energy Struggles’, but it’s also digestible. It’s not super lofty in its thinking to where it’s like talking down to you. Its real grounded. We were really focused mentally.”
Godemis leans towards “Day Dream” as one of his favorites. “It’s easier listening, one of the softer songs on the album. He and I were speaking on real life experiences since signing to Strange Music. How life has changed and I think fans are really going to connect to it. It pairs really well with “Time Is Now” off our EP “13”. It’s in the same vein and fans love that song. I knew they would.”
The two both relate to the subjects of the album in many different ways. Some of the content recycled from comic books they use to read to their examination into the curiosity of life and the different energies that surround us. Ubiquitous referred to the album as their canvas and the subject matter of their songs as their paintbrushes. You can even find Godemis quoting Bruce Lee on “Lotus”. They were both familiar enough with the theme of the album, they were able to play with it but not be constrained to it completely. To clean off their paint palettes and enter the doors of Strange with a fresh start they simultaneously released pre-recorded solo albums on April 6th of 2012 for free download. Hadn’t they been signed to Strange they admit they would of pressed them up and sold them themselves. Godemis as earlier explained used his newest alias “The Deevil” and Ubiquitous came with “Matter Don’t Money”. You can find both albums at www.cescru.com. Oh yeah if your wondering why you haven’t seen Godemis with his white eyes, it’s probably because he lent them to Hopsin. “He can have em’, I got weird shit all day!” Godi laughs.