HIP HOP VIP: Shawn Elliot

SHAWN ELLIOT: The Mentor

Shawn Elliot and his friend and collaborator Lamar Jones run programs to introduce middle school children to hip hop. They use the music to draw them in. The students usually open up and start talking about their troubled lives after writing lyrics. Elliot helps them through all this and teaches them confidence. With all that, it's easy to ignore Elliot's own rapping and producing prowess. He's one of the most polished-sounding musicians in the Valley.

• LISTEN TO HIS MUSIC

Real Name: Shawn Elliot Russell

Hometown: McAllen native, but moved to South Florida at 6, returned to the Valley in February

What he does: MC, rapper, producer, coordinator of youth hip hop programs

Listen to: "Ordinary Love," Elliot's a polished professional and it shows on the tight rhymes and feel of this deep track. 

What's the best rumor you've heard about yourself?

That I'm already famous. Especially on MySpace. For some reason, and I know I'm not the only person to experience it, people see your pictures and your music and they automatically assume you hang out with 50 Cent every day. It's like "hello, I'm living in South Texas and barely getting by." I wish that rumor was true but it's not.

Who would you collaborate with if you could work with anyone?

I would have collaborated with the Beatles. They made so many massive hit records. I would have loved to just have been able to sit there, collaborate with them, pick their brain and learn how they managed to do all that with one microphone in the room.

What's the biggest stereotype you hear about people in hip hop?

That they're stupid, misogynistic, violent.

Describe your flow and your beats...

I hear, I'm not sure because I'm too close to it, but I hear I'm a mix between Jay Z and Talib Kweli. And my beats, my beats I guess they would be categorized as conscious hip hop. A lot of them have soul samples. I veer off and I try to experiment with other stuff. I have a song called beautiful angel that doesn't sound hip hop at all.

Do you think hip hop is dead? Why or why not?

I don't think it's dead. I just don't think the right people are getting exposure. You can go to any area and you can find people that are quote, unquote authentic hip hop. They're usually struggling to be heard. I don't think it's dead. I just think it's being suppressed a little bit. If we could somehow switch the funding that's being given to these people that are out now, and give it to people like myself or other artists that are here in the Valley or all over the country, that have authentic lyrics and messages behind their songs, hip hop being dead would definitely change.

If you have a conflict would you fight or walk away?

It depends on the conflict, because I'm definitely one to stand up for myself. I'd rather work it out. I'm not going to walk away from it, and I'm not going to go right to violence. But if there's a problem, and I can work it out in a civilized manner, I'd rather do that.

If you were producing a video what would the girls look like?

If it's not a song having to do with a relationship there probably wouldn't be any girls in the video. There was one song I did called When You Touch Me. It's on You Tube, the video, and it's got a girl in it but it's a song about being with one girl...I really don't put sex into the videos just to make it sell. I'd rather do something artistic or something funny.

Describe the hip hop scene in the Valley...

I think it's good. I just think more meaningful artists need to have more exposure down here. What I'm coming across is there's a lot of artists that really put a lot of thoughts into their lyrics and their really trying to convey a message. They feel down here like they're suppressed, because mostly what's popular from what I've found is that gangsta, glamorizing drug dealing, glamorizing violence, that's what's popular down here. But people like myself, Alex Montana, Cal Casta, C-Styles, and a bunch of others, they all write meaningful lyrics and we've all said it's harder down here for us because the people aren't used to that. But we're finding little spots with people in it that are craving more music with more substance. I think the scene is good, but I think there needs to be a little bit of a shift because it's starting to go toward something that's going to have a negative impact. I don't know if people are going to be mad at me for that answer but whatever.

Any essential clothes or shoes you always have to wear?

I always have to have on some type of comfortable skater shoes, and I don't even skate. The shoes are so freaking padded and comfortable that I don't want to wear anything else. It's a comfort thing. Myself, I'm not very stylish. I usually have someone else pick out something for me to wear on stage. Those shoes are like big pillows.

Dream car?

I used to have this Mitsubishi 3000 GT back in 98. It was white and had leather. That car was awesome and I had to sell it. That car was awesome and I'd go see if I could find another one.