WEBVTT - Open Mike Eagle Details The Good Life 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:04.000 Quest Love Show is a production of iHeart Radio. 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:21.200 Another Quest Love Mini here Me and Opened My Eagle. Okay, 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:25.000 so I have a question. Now, I'm very familiar with 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:28.639 the sort of reputation or the lure of the Good 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:33.880 Life Cafe movement, of which you sort of come into 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:35.760 the picture doing the second phase of. 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:38.680 It after the after life period. 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:43.479 One, can you explain to me the difference between the 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:47.720 two events and just start there? 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:49.960 Okay, I didn't go to the Good Life, but I 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:52.600 know all about it because it was like, you know, 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:55.600 it's the Housyon days of the rap family that I 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:59.880 belonged to. So the Good Life Cafe was a literal 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:03.200 place called the Good Life Cafe on Exposition in Crenshaw 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:06.120 that was a health food store and they did an 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.360 open mic on Thursday nights that all of the rappers all. 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:09.880 Around the city. 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:15.360 It's very I'm sure that word was said very many nights, 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:17.800 right right many. I'm sure that place smelled like incense. 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:22.119 B Hall who ran it, and I forgot the young 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:25.040 man's name who ran it with her, and you know, 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:29.960 everybody from Freestyle Fellowship sort of started there. The Unity Committee, 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:36.160 which ended up becoming Jurassic five volume chilling villain Empire 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:39.640 like far Side. I never saw video of Farside on 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:42.360 the stage, but I'm sure they were there because some 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:46.160 of what was happening at Farside Manor was musicians and 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:48.280 rappers who were at the Good Life, So I'm sure 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:50.280 they were there and part of that as well. 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:52.160 Would the alcoholics also be missed. 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:55.280 I don't know about the alcoholics connection. I think Exhibit 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:57.800 was around there. Okay, I'm not sure if the alcoholics 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:01.640 were so, but definitely the Living Legends uh so Mers 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:04.760 and and uh and Eli and the Grouch and all 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.080 of them were around there to the l A component, 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:08.880 because the other component of the Liver Legends came from 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:10.160 the Bay with the Mister Journeyman. 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:12.480 And this is a gathering every week every week. 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:15.400 It was where they established the sort of rules of 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:18.839 the La open mic, which was please pass the mic. 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:21.480 If you weren't rocking it right, the crowd would direct 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:23.919 you to get off stage, like the Apollo kind of situation. 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:25.760 But yeah, if you didn't come with it, if you 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:27.840 didn't come with it, because these were this was high 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:31.680 level rapping. This is high level rapping people coming off 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:35.359 the head with the craziest styles you could ever imagine 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:41.240 my lyrical styles and they and they were establishing like 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:44.000 a new sort of technical language of rap. Like one 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:46.840 of their rules was like no digities. So you know 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.320 how dos Effects was doing, they would do you off 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:53.480 stage for doing You had to say real words in 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:57.639 your in your in your topping of syllables, broth inside 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:01.000 of the cheap You couldn't cheat. So you know, famously, 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:03.079 other rappers would come from all around the country to 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:05.600 stop through because it was the place where rap was 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:07.720 happening and a lot of cast was getting signed out 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:11.320 of there. Okay, so you know, Fat Joe famously got 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:12.079 booed off the. 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:13.480 Stage of the Good Life he did. 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:18.880 He did why famously because he wasn't rapping good likes. 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:23.000 That's why that would happen. The Grave Diggers were there 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:26.679 early on, like there's a there's a great they did great. 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:29.359 I mean you can hear it Grim Reaper to poetic 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:32.280 rest in Peace, you can hear it in his style. 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:36.240 He picked up something there with the way, Yeah, that's 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.040 a very good lifestyle like that volume ten. The way 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.040 ice Cube started rapping when he was doing the was 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:44.000 it Gorilla's in the Midst or whatever. 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:45.880 He's doing. 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:49.800 That's Volume ten style from a Good Life. 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:53.480 Can you what is the legend of Volume tim My. 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:57.160 I'm only familiar with Volume ten because he got the 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:02.120 lead review in the Source magazine for his album, and 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:04.960 that's how I heard of Allington. I know he's legendary, 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:07.960 but he was one of the early guys who got 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:09.400 signed out of the Good Life. And he had that 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:12.400 song Pistol Grip Pump that was huge. Pistol grip pump 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:13.920 on my lap at all times. 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:17.240 Like it was like outside of Doctor Dre's circle, it. 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:21.800 Was like the g Funk Joint, see Okay, coming from 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:26.479 Philly in New York, they were extremely. 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:30.159 Like unless it was like Doctor Dre level of g 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:31.799 funk like that. 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:34.400 It's sort of like when the Class Wars were starting 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:36.960 with the East Coast and West Coast sound. Yea, So 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:40.000 I wish like there's a whole bunch of like I 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:42.800 was a major above the Law fan and all that stuff. 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:46.120 And really didn't get that. I mean, this is a 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:48.919 big share of that because there were people getting signed 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:50.839 out of the Good Life, but the Good Life really 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:55.440 wasn't underground spot like, so a lot of the luminarias 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:57.800 that were out of there were more underground heads and 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.240 hiss that were signed right, and so the way to 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:02.280 underground work back then. And this is what I learned 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:05.359 after I moved here from Chicago. A lot of that 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:08.440 stuff literally because of touring and how hard it is 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:12.680 to tour east of Colorado, a lot of that stuff 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:15.440 didn't make it to the East coast, you know what 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:17.200 I'm saying. So like I had to, I had to 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:19.920 sort of get my own education and reframe a lot 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:21.839 of men own understanding when I moved out here. 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:23.520 All right, let me let me car jack a little 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:26.320 bit because you said something I always wanted to know about. 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:30.680 So for the roots in my mind, the way that 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:34.160 the second hand rolls across the United States. 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:38.120 You know, we have the Northeast. 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:43.520 On lockdown, yep, from Maine to about DC, Virginia because 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:44.760 we were a college. 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:46.840 Bed, right, But North Carolina too, I would imagine, right. 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:50.440 Yeah, some parts of Carolina's we would hit like a 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:55.400 territory is hitting it three to five times a year. 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:57.240 And that's a very hard thing to do. 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:00.440 Like, once you do a show in a city, you're 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.760 pretty much supposed to be on at least an eight 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:06.560 month freeze, like when you come to Chicago and do 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:09.400 your show, if you want that same response in that 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:11.920 same audience, come back of meat scarcity. 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:13.920 Marketing, right, because the more you keep doing it. 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:16.800 So we got lucky because we were able to hide, 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:19.719 like the same group of people come to see the 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:23.679 roots of the fujis aren't coming to see the roots 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:27.400 open up for beck or rage against the machine. So 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:31.880 there was always you were able to overlap in the market. Yeah, 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.040 at least four times with a real hip hop group, 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:39.120 a weirdo white act of the beck ilk and then 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:41.880 a rage against the machine or system of a down 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.920 and college gigs don't count because they're in their uncontained world. 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:49.760 But my whole point is that we have that on lockdown. 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:52.600 Some places down south. 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:57.200 We can go to Atlanta, the Carolinas, maybe an occasional 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:01.640 city in Florida once every other year. We could never 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:06.080 penetrate the Florida section, some parts of Texas and it. 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:09.080 Gets a little weird. In the Midwest. Yeah, like we 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:12.600 could basically just do Seattle down to California, the west coast, 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:13.440 run yep. 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:18.120 Oregon, maybe a Utah and kind of of a Vegas. 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:20.880 But there's a giant gap in the Midwest, huge gap. 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.200 So our routing was more like the Wu Tang W. 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:30.240 But for someone from California, what are the markets that 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:30.720 you know? 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:33.320 So we received you do La, you do San Diego, 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:36.960 you do Phoenix, you do you can do Tucson, you 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:39.239 can do Albuquerque, Santa Fe. 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:42.400 See New Mexico, and Arizona. 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:45.520 But if you're able to do this loop, you can 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.480 establish those two or one or the other. You probably 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:51.240 can't do both of them every time. But the thing 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:53.720 about Albuquerque and Santa Fe, they're on a twenty five 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:57.280 north south so you go straight up to Denver from there. 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:00.679 Yeah, Denver's tricky because it's hard. 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:02.080 To get in and out. If we go to Chicago 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:04.720 the next stop that we can do ism and that's 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:06.880 a huge drive, sixteen hours. 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:07.840 Yeah, it's a huge drive. 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:10.520 And that's what I'm saying, Like there's this gulf between 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:13.920 like the Western region and like the Midwest. If you 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:17.560 if you're doing the longitude from like Chicago down, so 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:20.320 a lot of music just didn't make it. Could you 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:24.680 do Milwaukee? Milwaukee's tough. I mean, if you're big enough, 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:27.360 you could do Milwaukee, but it's so close to Chicago. 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:27.880 It's rough. 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:31.840 I'm realizing now and I gotta get Caro Lewis on 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:32.320 the show. 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:33.480 Do you know Caro Lewis? 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:33.600 Is? 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:36.160 I know that name? So in Payton Full, you know, 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:37.280 Norby Walker's our agent. 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:41.280 Yeah, Caro Lewis is Okay, Yeah, So Carol Lewis was basically, 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:44.840 I think in her twenties and she was the youngest 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:49.680 at Norby Walker. I believe that agency, and I think 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:53.880 one of her first big projects was The Fresh Best. 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.679 So she's the one that was very instrumental in getting 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:58.160 hip hop into stadiums. 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:02.120 I see, she's basically the gold standard. Now. 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:07.240 She was so powerful that I know that she bullied 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:13.240 promoters into accepting the Roots because again, we had no 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:17.000 party jam, we had no She would basically say, I'll 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:20.560 give an example whoever her promoters are in New York, 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:24.320 so say, I'm gonna give data to jay Z if 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:28.360 you don't find me ten roots gigs, ten Roots gigs. 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:30.440 No, No, I don't want to hear you. 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:30.720 No. 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:30.920 No. 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:34.120 So literally the first two years she just had to 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:39.320 play hardball and force us to be there. But because 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:43.200 the show was bulletproof, you know, afterwards, it's like, oh 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:45.600 my god, you're right, I love those guys. But she 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:51.480 only had to do that once. I'll say from ninety 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:57.080 three to about after the Fujis Goodie Mob the Score tour. 0:09:57.240 --> 0:09:59.600 Then suddenly it was like you could take the training 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.560 wheels off. But yeah, a lot of our beginning was 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:05.280 either if and you know I joke about it, it's 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:08.559 very true if a member of Wu Tang would more 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:11.720 than likely cancel a gig. We were always the second 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:15.760 call to take the gig. That was how we got gigs. 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:19.240 And then she just played hardball. And you can't even 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:22.160 touch her big acts unless you show her some love 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:23.880 and the money better be right too. 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:25.679 I've learned. I've learned the hard way. That's how a 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:26.880 lot of this business works. 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:33.160 Yeah, so she like forced us into wherever big college, 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:38.920 any any of those spots are, that's where we would go. 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:42.800 So Chicago and Milwaukee almost worn in the. 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:44.680 Same Yeah, it's like an hour and a half north. 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:49.079 It's not far enough to really warrant a huge another show. 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:50.400 Now, I'm Sam. 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:53.720 It's from the perspective of I've always been a tour bus, 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:55.400 lived in a tour bus. 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:59.199 But for you, you're driving these damn a minivan. 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:00.920 Guy, I've been on like four tours and a tour 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:03.760 bus where I'm opening for somebody else but my typical 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:06.360 headlining show, or like most of my peers went into it. 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:09.160 We're in a minivan and you're driving. I drive a lot. 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:10.400 I like driving, though. 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:13.080 I love driving to I don't have the experience of 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:16.160 driving from gig to gig, but I can imagine that 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:22.000 after rocking one night and settling and packing cleaning, I 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:25.600 got that much to pack compared to right, But I 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:30.559 mean just and then you're facing a ten hour drive 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:31.520 to the next city. 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:34.160 Is this a thing where you switch off with someone 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:37.360 after five hours or you know, occasionally it's like that. 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:39.200 Sometimes I just do the whole thing. A lot of 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:41.160 times I just do it all. But I'm crazy. Have 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:43.440 you ever been in an accident. I've not been an 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:46.520 accidental I was thinking about that today. As many times 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:49.040 as I have driven all around this country, I've never 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:50.480 been in an accidental row. 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:51.280 Wow. 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:55.719 We've had three major accidents, and believe it or not, 0:11:56.240 --> 0:12:02.040 they were all based on sober drivers. This is what 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:04.520 I learned a lot of those trucks. So be careful 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:08.760 when you're like playing uh spy hunter with you. See, 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:10.520 I don't do none of that. Like, that's the thing. 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:13.720 I keep it real easy. Like, you know, I don't 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:18.040 do the cruise control. I don't do the cruise control 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:20.480 like because you can fall asleep to that. It's not 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:24.640 even fall asleep. It's just like being engaged, being constantly engaged. 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:30.920 Yeah yeah, But I drive, and and that's when I 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:32.960 think of playing Denver. That's why I don't play Denver 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:35.000 as much as I want to, because typically I'm driving. 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:38.199 And that's the most treacherous drive to me is driving 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:42.280 west out of Denver. The scariest driver I ever had 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:45.840 in mind. The weather, Yeah yeah, weather, Yeah, it's just bad. 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:49.400 It could be really rough. But all of this was 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:52.640 me talking about the good life back to the project. 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:57.400 Were driving back home. 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:12.240 So the good life had a lot of rules. You 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:16.120 couldn't curse. You could not curse because this is the 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:19.480 if that's that was too short, wasn't it. 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:21.240 That's debate. 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:26.800 But if you rapped whack the rappers and people in 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:29.160 the crowd would please, you know, please pass the mic. 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:32.320 If you cursed, be Hauled would kick you off stage. 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:33.840 She was the lady that random play. 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:35.679 So there was a lot of rules, a lot of 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:38.160 structure she had a lot of values that she was 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:40.800 instilling in the in the event, and people enforced these 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:44.120 things and respect it. Yeah, and they just wrapped. And 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:46.360 you know when people freestyled outside and filled up the 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:48.720 parking lot and it was ciphers everywhere like it was 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:51.640 and out there was like you know, straight street rules 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:52.679 or whatever, and. 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:55.679 Was it Crenshaw? Yeah, Crenshaw. So you know there was 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:59.080 ask you was it Crenshaw? It was Crenshaw. It's Crenshaw. 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:02.080 And now I'll take it in the Project Blow, which 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:03.680 started after the Good Life closed. 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:05.040 So how does that? 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:08.600 Ac Alone an abstract route. Ac Alone is signed through 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:10.760 the Freestyle Fellowship, and I believe he's got his solo 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:12.839 deal at that point, and Abstract Rute, I think is 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:16.240 signed to Grand Royal at this time as well. When 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:19.600 the Good Life closes, it shuts down, they start a 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:22.120 new spot with Ben Caldwell who runs this place called 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:26.120 the Chaos Network here in Lambert Park, and they start 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:31.920 the new outpost there same night, but no rules. So 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.880 all the styling gets pushed further, the battling gets pushed further. 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:40.280 It's more Crenshaw because the street rappers are in there 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:42.520 doing eight thing too, because there's no be haul to 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:46.120 cut the music if somebody curses. So the Project Blowed 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:50.120 is the more rugged, intense version of the good Life, 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:52.600 a lot more street infused into. 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:57.280 The So how enthusiastic are you to go on stage 0:14:57.400 --> 0:14:58.400 to see what you got? 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:02.400 I mean, I think if you loved rap, especially if 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:05.280 you loved freestyling, you just couldn't wait. Like and my 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:07.560 first time I went because the first time I heard 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:10.120 the Project Blowed it was mentioned in the Ac Alone album, 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:13.160 his album All Balls Don't Bounce. I was in Chicago 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:16.840 playing this album and they mentioned the Project Blowed. And 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:19.040 there's Mic and nine on this album piece and all 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:22.120 of these people, And to me, the Project Blowed is 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:27.240 sounding like some idyllic, artistic wonderland of rap music. And 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:28.720 I get there and it's like, oh, this is a 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:30.840 bunch of angry. Because I saw the video. 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:33.240 They were like doing count aesthetics and all those things, 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:35.600 and I was like, oh, okay, it was happy, go lucky. 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:38.600 It was not not to It was not happy or 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:40.720 lucky all. 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:44.320 It had a lot of street energy. 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:47.120 Like the place where the Project Blowed is it's on 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:49.960 the boundary between a few different gangs too. So like 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:52.040 there was a sort of tension in the air, and 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:56.040 it's the nineties, so like that sort of street tension 0:15:56.280 --> 0:16:00.800 and everybody being hyper vigilant for violence is just everywhere. 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:05.240 So when I came, I wasn't received with open arms. 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:08.040 I was not I got booed off stage my first 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:11.080 time rapping at the Project Blob Damn, even when I 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:14.520 established myself, because I mostly established myself on the corner 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:18.320 until I sort of figured out the difference between my 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:22.240 Chicago rap values and what they were valuing. 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:23.480 Out here, and what's the difference. 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:26.000 I came up on the South Side of Chicago in 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:29.520 the nineties, where the value was punchlines, and the hip 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:32.120 hop in general was different that way because I was 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:34.920 a breakdancer too. The value in the breakdancing in Chicago 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:38.720 was power moves. Right when you came to La, the 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:43.240 value in dancing it was grooving and styling. The value 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:47.120 in rap is also styling. It's not about you doing 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:51.080 a setup and a punchline. It's about how many ways 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:56.040 you can approach cadence m okay. Like if you listen 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:59.080 to the freestyle Fellowship and Peace and La Cool and 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:02.840 Mike and nine, they are wizards of cadence and freestyling 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:06.240 in ways where it's just straight flow state and you're 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:10.879 just being musical. I had to learn to appreciate the 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:14.800 percussive element of rap music because in Chicago that was 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:17.679 strictly a West Side thing that the gangsters did the 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:20.199 double time and like Twister and do or Die in 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:23.960 Crucial Conflict. Wein't rapped like that. We had this little 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:27.679 weird value adjustment about this type of shit. But I 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:29.359 came out here It's like, oh so this was like 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:32.800 my rap graduate school where I sort of had to learn, 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:34.879 Oh no, like this is a whole different way to 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:39.520 approach it. So do you go up and sign on Sinalist? 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:41.840 They still got they have I think they have scans 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:42.840 of lists somewhere. 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:45.399 I have to all right, I can only imagine was 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:48.359 like shook Ones everyone's backdrop or like what would they 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:49.040 rhyme over? 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:54.159 No, not shook Ones. I struggled to remember the beats. 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:56.840 I don't feel like there was a predominant beat style. 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:58.520 That's part that was part of the problem of the 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:00.959 blow though. In the problem in La hip was that 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:03.880 it was too MC centric, and if you look at 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:06.119 the LA beat scene, part of how that happens is 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:10.080 the beat makers got pushed out. They went and started 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:13.800 doing their own night call Sketchbook also on Thursdays, because 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:16.320 they wasn't getting enough respect at places like the Blow. 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:18.919 Oh so people weren't bringing their drum machines there to 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:19.400 try to. 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.000 A couple like, you know, if you know dB C, Like, 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:23.720 so I came up with him and he used to 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:26.240 bring his boombox and we'd be outside wrapping to his beats. 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:28.439 But like, it just wasn't a place where if you 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.520 had fire beats, they were making room for you to 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:33.760 come be a part of the night really on stage. 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:34.800 They like, so if you were. 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:36.479 A rapper, you could come do your song and if 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:38.040 you you know, whatever beat was fine. 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:39.160 It's just that they. 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:43.800 Didn't respect the producers enough. They didn't like the the 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:49.040 the ethos of the place wasn't given the producers the 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:51.840 proper amount of reverence. So they would and did their 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:55.240 own things, and Sketchbook ultimately became low in theory. 0:18:56.119 --> 0:19:00.720 Oh damn, okay, I mean I've sprung lowering a few times. 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:01.760 Yeah, I think I saw you there. 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:05.240 And then if you look at the la rapping around 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:07.360 at the same time, all of the battling started being 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:10.080 a cappella and that was the great divide. 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:12.120 What are your thoughts on that? 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:17.720 Like I'm asking probably in light of j Electronica's actions. 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:21.879 Of late he loves an a cappella guy Electronic. 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:27.199 I got so triggered because you know, the last days 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:30.879 of so kind of the our version of good life 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:36.119 that goes into Project Blode was initially the Roots Jam 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:39.359 sessions before things fall apart, and then we had to 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:40.760 go on tour and it's like, well what do they 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:42.959 do now? And then the women took it over and 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:45.240 then it was Black Lily st s m mc and 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:48.520 in it. But I remember many a night where like 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:52.200 cannabis would come and he was starter. 0:19:52.119 --> 0:20:00.199 Vers cursed and rehearsing the the. 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:08.840 Phenomena and I'm there like, okay, where's the one? Like 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:12.520 and so then I started doing the high half things. 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:15.480 It's almost like if you've seen what up with that? 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:19.879 Like like that like trying to trying to build out, 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:21.840 to figure out when to jump back. Yeah, and he 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:23.480 would never no no no no no no no, and 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:27.040 so acapella free style. 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:29.200 I mean, I'm you know, I'm a rappers rapper, but 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:33.119 I know that some things in rap are just for us, 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:35.919 they're not really for people. And that a cappella thing, 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:37.560 I've never really got down with that because I mean, 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:42.760 that's like one of them kind of wrap self congratulatory things. Yeah, 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:44.240 if you're a room full of rappers, cool, do you 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:45.800 a cappella? If you're a room full of people who 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:48.280 pay for a show, let him he a little bit, 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:51.239 give a little beat a little bit. 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:53.879 Next time we talk, I want to talk about I 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:57.760 have ideas for your show. 0:20:57.960 --> 0:21:03.320 What was weird for someone that's not senior show to 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:07.320