Pitchfork: For instance, though, how about the songs that are about sex. "Dr. Hellno and the Praying Mantus" from Fantastic Damage is really explicit and detailed. But "The Overly Dramatic Truth" is much more vague. It doesn't work the same way.
El-P: Well, "Dr. Hellno" was a story about fucking one girl, one night. And "Overly Dramatic Truth" was a story about a relationship that went wrong because I was way older than the girl, and there were just inherent problems in the way that we dealt with each other. It's more of a conversation between me and this girl. Those two songs are completely different type of songs, so I guess "Dr. Hell No" is very specific because it's trying to describe a moment. "Overly Dramatic Truth" is kind of trying to describe a longer moment.
Pitchfork: With those songs, you really have to put yourself out there. "The Overly Dramatic Truth" is big on blogs right now, for instance, and it's about this bad thing. Do you think about that, kind of living this break-up in public?
El-P: I don't think about it. I am glad that I did the song because it's a song that was scary to do. And those songs are the songs that you do and you look at them and you think, "Jesus Christ, am I really going to put this out there? Am I going to fucking expose myself like this?" And I always choose to do it. And when I do that, it seems like those songs really strike a nerve with fans of my music because those are the songs that are impossible to predict, but they're the closest you're going to get to me, to something really pure and genuine.
Pitchfork: For instance, though, how about the songs that are about sex. "Dr. Hellno and the Praying Mantus" from Fantastic Damage is really explicit and detailed. But "The Overly Dramatic Truth" is much more vague. It doesn't work the same way.
El-P: Well, "Dr. Hellno" was a story about fucking one girl, one night. And "Overly Dramatic Truth" was a story about a relationship that went wrong because I was way older than the girl, and there were just inherent problems in the way that we dealt with each other. It's more of a conversation between me and this girl. Those two songs are completely different type of songs, so I guess "Dr. Hell No" is very specific because it's trying to describe a moment. "Overly Dramatic Truth" is kind of trying to describe a longer moment.
Pitchfork: With those songs, you really have to put yourself out there. "The Overly Dramatic Truth" is big on blogs right now, for instance, and it's about this bad thing. Do you think about that, kind of living this break-up in public?
El-P: I don't think about it. I am glad that I did the song because it's a song that was scary to do. And those songs are the songs that you do and you look at them and you think, "Jesus Christ, am I really going to put this out there? Am I going to fucking expose myself like this?" And I always choose to do it. And when I do that, it seems like those songs really strike a nerve with fans of my music because those are the songs that are impossible to predict, but they're the closest you're going to get to me, to something really pure and genuine.
pitchfork.com/features/interviews/6603-el-p/
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El-P is OP. Fantastic musician and fantastic lyricist. Normally people only have one or the other.