CashUsKing

Cashusking: Co$$ aka CashUsKing, representing my town, Leimert Park.

*photo by KyLA

How did the name CashUsKing come about?

Cashusking: It started off in High School, I was actually Holocaust. I was what you call a Tech-C, an internet MC.

Oh yeah?

Cashusking: Yeah, I’d post rhymes on the internet and I was Holocaust, like I burn MC’s. Didn’t really have anything to do with Jews, I have all the respect in the world for Jewish people. I dropped the ‘Holo,’ but Co$$ really represents something, it represents change and constant evolution. It really doesn’t have anything to do with money, so the dollar signs [in the name], I don’t want people to get that impression. It’s really about change and evolving, everyday life is a little different. Blu actually gave me the CashUsKing alias, that’s like my heart. That’s my name, but they have a Cashis on Shady Records and I don’t like the confusion so that’s why I run with Co$$. Even my mom, everyone calls me Co$$.

When did you first interested in hip hop?

Cashusking: 8th grade. I always loved hip hop and I was always into writing poetry and had a natural knack for rhyming. I had a friend named Treyvon in 8th grade who had been rapping since like 5th grade and he suggested that we start a rap group. So we started out just freestyling, my first few rhymes I didn’t even write them I just freestyled them. We would freestyle in his garage into his tape recorder and that’s when I decided that I wanted to be a rapper.

What happened next?

Cashusking: I didn’t really have Internet access till 9th grade, till freshman year. I keep bringing up the Internet because that’s really what got me into hip hop heavily. In 9th grade I started getting on the internet and that’s when I got my holocaust alias. I started posting verses, with no concept of flow, delivery, and rhyme schemes. I didn’t know anything, it was more like lyrical poems, ghetto poems or something like that. I was calling myself a rapper at that point. It just kind of evolved from there; the audio battle section of message boards is what helped me form myself as an actual spitter. This progressed through high school and then I met Blu about a year out of High School actually at the weed store. Well, not the weed store, the weed spot, I met Blu’s rhyming partner at the time named Black, they had a crew called Black & Blu and they were the Bruise Brothers. He introduced me to Blu so that’s how our relationship began.

When did you realize this rap shit is what you wanted to dedicate yourself to?

Cashusking: Straight out of high school, coming out and realizing the whole college thing wasn’t working out for me, my grades weren’t where I wanted them to be. I always had a passion for hip hop and I just realized this was something I wanted to pursue. But when I really, really realized I wanted to do this is when I met Black and he introduced me to Blu and I saw how serious they were. I realized that with a crew like this it’s really possible, especially with the people I’m around. That’s when I realized, I don’t’ want to go to college I don’t wanna do none of that, I just want to MC. Everything you’re parents told you not to do, basically.

What kind of rapper where you at first? How would you describe yourself back then?

Cashusking: When I first met Blu I was more into the street, like 2pac, being the greatest, latest commercial rapper. But I also went to private school and had morals and ethics instilled in me and I wasn’t really feeling what I was saying on records, all the gangster shit. So now I’m in between street and conscious. I’m socially street, that’s what I say. There’s a maturity to it that wasn’t present in the past.

Do you ever question what you say or do you not ever censor yourself?

Cashusking: I remember watching the Resurrection documentary where 2pac said he used to write rhymes and would scratch out some stuff and be like, nah I can’t say that, but then he got to a point where you realize you just gotta go with it. If your pen drives something onto the paper, you can’t fight it, especially if it’s natural. I pretty much say what comes, but if I feel like I’m forcing it or if I’m trying to say something for the sake of saying it, then that’s when I take it out of a rhyme. I definitely don’t take something out because I feel it’s too controversial or too raw. This is my motto, if you’re a gangsta, if you’re a thug, then that’s what you should be rapping about. The balance should come from who you are, if that’s who you are and that’s how you live then that is your balance, selling dope and busting guns. But me, I come from the hood but I’m not a gangster. I just try to keep it balanced and give a whole representation of Co$$, I feel like some rappers, their aliases are like super-versions of them.

Yeah, yeah. Like an alter ego, Bruce Banner and the Hulk and all them.

Cashusking: Co$$ is me, Co$$ is Troy Johnston. Co$$ is not an animated or exaggerated version of myself. It is me, that’s what I try to do on the mic, give people myself 100%.

How would you describe yourself then? Because that’s how you would describe your music by your definition.

Cashusking: Definitely conflicted. Like if you think about a lot of MC’s it’ll be like, on this joint he’s talking about peace and another joint he’s talking about war. It’s not necessarily a contradiction as much it’s being conflicted. That’s a part of life. As much as I love my people at times I’m like ‘fuck these niggas.’ I’m a very volatile person but at the same time I love my people. I’m very socially concerned about what’s going on in my community, but …fuck these niggas at the same time. I’m a complex individual…laugh. I got love for the west coast; I got love for LA, love for the bay, love for California in general. Love for hip hop in general, everywhere; new York, the south, the Midwest. I’m a very reclusive person; I like to stick to myself. Besides shows and things that concern music I’m not in the public eye like that. I’m very to myself.

Tell us about your album, Church of the Tainted Saint.

Cashusking: It’s called Church of the Tainted Saint, my first solo debut. It’s actually a concept I have and I’m also gonna working on an album with Exile called Church of the Good Thief. So Tainted Saint, Good Thief, they’re all in the same vein. I feel like none of us are naturally evil. A lot of times environment and circumstances dictate who you become, so I feel like a lot of us are tainted. Just from growing up in the hood, what we experience, what we see, from being involved with gangs, to prostitutes to pimps to hustlers, those are the tainted saints. Those are the ones that are considered outcasts of society. Everybody, the whole word is tainted, nobody’s pure, and that’s the whole Tainted Saint concept.

Are any of the Myspace songs from that?

Cashusking: Yeah, yeah, I got a joint named Cheesin that’s actually gonna be on the Tainted release. That’s kinda like my street single, people will see me performing that at shows. I’m working heavily with a producer named Alphabet (aka World), who’s closely connected to Exile, he’s pretty much handling the body and he did that one. It’s a real rough, kinda spacey type of beat and I just kicked two raw, free verse sixteen. Just on some chill, you know, spittin…

Who made this beat? (One Day is playing in the background)

Cashusking: This is actually Blu. Right now I’m working on a ten song project, Co$$ sings the Blu’s. I know a lot of people value Blu for being an MC but this nigga’s getting kinda beastly with the beats. He’s getting a little beastly with the beats. Blu always said he wanted to produce and now that he’s saying he’s gonna make movies, you already know when Blu says he’s gonna do something.

He’s gonna make movies?

Cashusking: He says he wants to make a movie out of the project he’s working on now, I don’t wanna give out too much info. Yeah, that dude is just incredible not just musically, Blu is creatively inclined. But anyways, Co$$ sings the Blu’s, it’s a project I’m working on with Blu. The material that I get the best response from comes from Blu so that shows the chemistry that we have just from rhyming together for years.

Yeah, that World Gone Blind is crazy.

Cashusking: Yeah, yeah, I don’t get props on anything more than World Gone Blind, that’s like my treasure. I really appreciate that track from Blu. The feature version is gonna be a three part version with me and Blu and we’re working on getting Sumash. It’s gonna be a journey when it’s done, it’s gonna be a classic, but fucking with Blu anything is.

Yeah, Blu is doing his thing right now but even he says one of his main lyrical inspirations is you.

Cashusking: It’s mutual. I think it’s kinda like a synergy with the crew, Ta’raach, Blu and all of us. Pac Division, shouts to Pac. Sene, shouts to Sene. We all build off of each other, we all consider each other equals no matter who has the exposure first. Actually, we all kinda look up to Ta’Raach…laughs.

Well Ta’Raach is historically the veteran out of everyone.

Cashusking: Especially being in the presence of the greats. We don’t even have to mention who that is, J Dilla, rest in peace. i feel like my maturity lyrically has come from being around people like Blu and Jack Spade, people who really helped me grow and taught me a lot. I learned so much from Blu, not just in music but business in general, it keeps me grounded definitely.

Would you say there is a community between y’all?

Cashusking: Yeah, yeah. We’re developing our own…almost like genre. We’re not underground we don’t’ fall in with like the Murs and we definitely don’t’ fall in with the surface level music. No disrespect to anyone because I love what everyone’s doing on the west coast, but we’re our own little thing here. I call it like almost like an underground-commercial type of flavor, you know. We got that presentation and that whole vibe to the music where it’s almost like what you would expect from a major, especially production wise. It’s like we just make beats, we don’t worry about whether it’s gonna be, whether on MTV or the smallest, grimiest hip hop club. It’s definitely a community with Ta’Raach from Detroit, Pac Division from LA, Blu, Me, Tiron, a solo artists affiliated with Pac Division, Sumash. I’m forgetting people, it’s too many to name, there’s so many people in the entourage that deserve respect.

Yeah, but what you were saying underground commercial I think part of the appeal is that its fun music, its music you can have fun to.

Cashusking: Yeah, artists are too concerned with image. A big part of hip-hop started in the park, it started with people just having fun and gathering, it was a social event. Not just dope and coke and ho’s and guns, you know. That’s what the underground brings, cats that’s not necessarily grabbing for that image. It’s kind of like being in the in crowd and then doing you and sometimes doing you is a lot more fun that trying to fit in you know.

What are you listening to?

Cashusking: Jay Electronica. I’m a big Midwest head, of course Elzhi, Dilla, Slum, always gonna be bumpin that. I love everything but I kinda go through phases, right now I’m in my Muddy Waters phase. I keep telling Blu, I’m bumpin nothing but Muddy Waters, last month it was Me Against the World. Like I said I’m big into Jay Electronica, a newer artist who dropped that Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind that just blew my mind. I like a lot of the up and coming cats from New York, I like Stimuli, I like Saigon. I’m a big Radiohead addict, Coldplay of course. Blu puts me onto something every week.

Dope shit. Anything else you wanna say before we cut this?

Cashusking: Look out for that Tainted Saint, look out for Co$$ Sings the Blu’s, and definitely, in late ’08, look out for that Exile and Co$$, that’s been a long time coming. That was actually supposed to be my first solo debut. We’re really working hard on that one, Exile’s really gonna put his hands in and produce, kinda like a Dre type thing. I’m excited about that project.

CashUsKing aka Co$$ – Cheesin

CashUsKing aka Co$$ - Dopamine

CashUsKing aka Co$$ – Madness

CashUsKing aka Co$$ – Get Cho Paper

now, I don’t normally do this…

…but if this Pharcyde reunion comes through as everyone’s hyping it to …

(though realistically, it probably won’t)

game over.

Labcabincalifornia is on CDR’s top 10 albums of all time

Pharcyde – Emerald Butterfly

Pharcyde – Splattitorium

Pharcyde – She Said (Dilla remix)

Pharcyde – The E.N.D.

CRAC (blu)

*photo by Kyla

Blu: What do you need me to say?

What’s up?

Blu: Nothing much, what’s going on with you Andres?

Nothing much

Blu: You out there in San Diego? How’s the weather there?

It’s aight, it’s sunny and it’s cool. How is LA?

Blu: Los Angeles is very beautiful at this time of year.

You and this guy named Ta’Raach have made music together right?

Blu: Definitely, me and Raach City always make music together.

How did you guys initially start making music?

Blu: First of all we knew a mutual friend named Aloe Blacc. He called me over for a song and he told me to come through to record this song with this producer named Ta’Raach. I said, I’m down. Came through did the song in one take, Ta’Raach said, no, you gotta do it again. Second take, boom, took it in the second take. He said, that’s marvelous, we should work together sometime. So a few months later we hooked up there. We hooked up for a week and actually, in one week we did the entire first version of the CRAC record there,

Oh really?

Blu: … then we were evicted and I went the Europe and I came back and we became great friends after which we began to be lunatics together, and that’s about all I can say.

What made you want to work with each other?

Blu: I guess Ta’Raach thought I was a pretty cool artist here. He was coming out to California working with many different artists at the time and I linked up with him thought ht song with Aloe Blacc. I admired his work a lot, hey was my favorite song at the time. I was like, wow, this is very awesome here. I used to express it to him all the time, make jokes about the lines in the song. Like when he said he took a part time throwing the moon across the night, that was very, very interesting there that he would think like that as a person. I wanted to know who he was therefore he said, come over for a week we should do a lock out. I said I’m defiantly down to do a lock out, I’ve never done that before. Did a lock out for seven days, and it was pretty crazy there.

So you guys made that first version, what’s the deal with the Piece Talks?

Blu: The piece talks, the one that’s coming out in April, is a more updated version of the same record. Like how Radiohead gave out the download version of the record then they put it back out a little different, newer songs and I believe better quality also. We’re doing the same thing it’s just a three year gap.

How would you describe the music you guys make as CRAC compared to the music you guys make individually?

Blu: Much more fun, much more focused on the energy than getting a particular message across. I would say we both focus more on our lyricism separately and when we’re together we focus more on the chemistry and having fun and creating great songs that amuse ourselves I would say.

Did Raach handle all the production on the record?

Blu: Ta’Raach did do all the production on the record, from A-Z.

Raach has some beats.

Blu: Oh yes, Raach has very, very good beats, you should hear what he is working on now. His solo should be a blast, it should destroy the whole industry.

Can you expand on what CRAC is? I know CRAC is an acronym

Blu: Yes, it stands for Collect Respect Anna Check, but it’s also a mind state and an attitude with which we approach this industry here. They try to give us that fat dick everywhere we go and we say fuck that. That’s basically how we approach the music. we do everything we want to do just like they try to do anything they want to do to us. Some people think we have a very crass approach about it and I guess that’s what it means. The acronym is what we really stand for, respect first and then a check also.

What would you want people to take from the CRAC LP?

Blu: I personally would like motherfuckers to have a lot more fun and loosen the fuck up with their music. they’re either too serious, shooting the fuck outta somebody, doing drugs, selling drugs or selling their bodies or something very lunatic on their records. Just get in the studio and have fun; it’s not that serious. Have a good time and make music, if you’re talented it’ll show, don’t’ stress yourself out, breaking your neck about it. Just do it.

Now is this CRAC thing planned to be just a one-time thing or ongoing?

Blu: We plan on working together forever in many different ways. Ta’Raach is going to be definitely executive producing another record of mine, my next solo album. We always create songs together and I believe at some point, I’m sure we’ll get together and do another CRAC record, we’ve always planned on it. Before, we plan on CRAC expanding with different members and giving them to have an outlet and to be the majority of the focus on the records.

So CRAC isn’t just the two of you?

Blu: Well, we’re expanding on it more now. We want to get it down pat before we say that.

Moving on a little bit, just to update people on your own situation right now. I’ve heard that you’re working on like, thirty-seven different projects right now…

Blu: Me here? Me?

Yeah

Blu: Oh no, definitely not. Not thirty-seven.

Well, maybe not thirty-seven exactly, but a pretty sizeable amount of projects.

Blu: Well we’ve got a handful for 2008. After that it’s a little more relaxed there. I’m working on a major record, a soundtrack, I’m producing two EP’s, I have the CRAC record coming out and the Johnson & Jonson record coming out. Hopefully all those will be out by fall.

So the Johnson and Johnson is the joint with you and Mainframe. That joint’s been getting a little notoriety due to its availability.

Blu: Laughs

Can you talk a little bit more about the other projects you were talking about, the EP’s…

Blu: I’m producing a EP for this fellow from Brooklyn named Sene. To me it’s like Tribe Called Quest again or something along those sort of lines. Feel-good fun music you know, Sene is from a different coast so he brings a different perspective. I’m just on the production end so I’m focusing on trying to make his lyrics stand out, something a little different than what the public is used to hearing and what he is used to rapping on. That is called a Day Late and a Dollar Short, we’ll have that EP out very soon. I should have some production on his solo record also. I’m also putting out a digital release of CashUsKing very soon, maybe in a month or so. That’s just to get things going on his behalf. He has a lot, a lot of very dope music he’s going to put out. He did some music with me about a year back so we want to just put that out, see what people think of it. I’m also doing a soundtrack with those artists featured and other artists like Mike Holden and other LA artists. I want to keep it California based. I also got some singers I’m working with as well.

Now you said you were working on a soundtrack. For what film?

Blu: It’s a film there called God is Good. That’s all I can really say about it right now.

Ok. Can I ask if you’re involved with the film as well?

Blu: Yes, I am. I’m the co-writer.

Oh, crazy.

Blu: Don’t tell anyone that.

Ok. Allright.

Blu: That’s a joke, I know whatever I tell you gets out.

Everything? Not everything.

Blu: I’m just playing.

Allright. Yo, when did you start producing?

Blu: In the middle of 2006 I would say. I started out on my own; I’m always learning little techniques from Exile. I was looping a lot with Johnson & Jonson, then I began to layer loops, some call that producing but I just think I’m a beat maker. I’m also producing projects but I’m not a producer per se, you know what I mean.

What inspired you to start? Did you always want to go into producing?

Blu: No, actually Exile always used to tell me I should produce. I used to say no, I would never produce, I remember clearly saying that to him more than one time. It was funny because when I started to work with John I got into ProTools and started to learn ProTools a lot, even recording myself for Below The Heavens I started learning ProTools a lot. With Johnson & Jonson we began to just loop up records to rap on them, mixtape style. I learned how to loop and sequence and everything, chopping and things of the sort. So I started being creative and just playing around with the chops just to freak something in the loop. I made a couple beats one night being bored, high and intoxicated and all those good things that make you want to be creative. I said fuck it, I’m just gonna make some beats, started rapping over a few and played them for a few friends, they liked them, I said do whatever the fuck you wanna do with them, I don’t mind, it’s just a little break a little beat there.

What’s your favorite beat so far?

Blu: My favorite beat that I’ve made so far? I don’t’ really have one there. I like my beats, how they feel, but I don’t think they’re the greatest beats or anything. I like the songs that are created from the beats moreso. They bring out a different style and attitude and approach in a person.

How do you find time for everything you do?

Blu: I do have my hand in a lot of things, that’s how I like to stay but everything doesn’t work out how you plan on it working out. You just have to do it. I try to focus on what I want to do in life moreso than anything, and I try to do those things, even if someone is there to back it or put it out or support it or buy it or listen to it or whatever. I don’t give a fuck. I did a rock album a few years ago that will probably never come out, called Bob Smiles, if somebody finds that, that’ll be pretty funny.

Laughs

Blu: It’s just different things. You gotta do what you wanna do, it’s your life.

Most definitely

CRAC – The Piece Talks — INVEST IN THIS.

i roll em up so big and fat they look like ball bats

Bling 47 Radio: Go Ladies!

hosted & mixed by Wajeed.

1. PPP featuring MonicaBlaire – Funkin’ For Jamaica*
2. Ayah – Believe
3. Estelle – Had To Be You*
4. Neco Redd – No Discipline
5. Invincible – No Easy Answers
6. Waajeed Interlude*
7. Invincible – ShapeShifters*
8. Invincible featuring Wordsworth & Indeed – Keep Goin’*
9. Waajeed Interlude*
10. Little Dragon – After The Rain
11. Little Dragon – Forever
12. Platinum Village (Slum Village vs. Waajeed) – Go Ladies*
13. Jazmine Sullivan – Without You*
14. PPP featuring Tiombe Lockhart – Stay With Me (Marc Mac Remix)
15. Tiombe Lockhart – Renegade & The Lady Devil Moon
16. Tiombe Lockhart – Twisted
17. Rozzi Daime featuring SA-RA – White Cloud
18. Waajeed Outro*

fuck with this.

Knowledge – Rendezvous

the homie from Philly stays on his grind. mufucker putting new music up on his page like everyday.

UGK – Supposed To Bubble

the loop is dope as hell and the young Port Arthur duo do it justice

Invincible – Sledgehammer!

first single off her upcoming album ShapeShifters. the song is produced by the Lab Techs out of Ann Arbor, a producer collective that is theee truth. oh yeah, Invincible’s album is re-tar-ded.

Royce Da 5′9 – Snatchies (prod. Dilla)

you might have heard this beat around before, but Royce just attacks it in a completely unexpected way (for me anyways) and the results are some dope, hilarious shit. D-I-L-L-A.

Elzhi

*photos by Kyla

Whattup tho, this your boy Elzhi. I rap with the crew SV, right now you rocking with the best, Detroit’s finest. I run with the Dreadnaughtz, run with Hex Murda, my man House Shoes and it’s like that.

What would you say were your earliest memories of hip hop?

Being over at my grandma’s crib, on the block, looking at my cousins break dance and making their own little rap records. My cousin Chris Bud he was rapping over a Milky Dee record, a little instrumental, and made a cassette tape and everyone was kind of tripping off of that. I got memories of my auntie playing back jack the ripper and trying to memorize the words by writing the words down and constantly playing the record back. So I’ve been listening to hip hop for years, it’s just a love of mine forreal.

Do you remember transition from just being a spectator to actually making your own?

That’s when I was listening to Rakim a lot, and just listening to him and unconsciously breaking down what he did. I knew it was a great thing as far as like the patterns and all that, I knew he was doing his thing. I honestly didn’t know until I was sitting by the speaker listening to it everyday and constantly breaking it down, the syllables, the patterns, the wordplay, the metaphors, the smilies, the whole nine.

What was your first project you released?

I did a project with House Shoes in 98 called Out of Focus. We didn’t actually release it, it kinda leaked out on the internet and a lot of people liked it and gave me a lot of respect for it. To this day people talk about songs like “Boomerang Slang”…

Yeah

You know “Horny,” on the internet they might call it “Passion Fruit,” or something about passion fruit..

This Out of Focus joint, it’s the one on cassette?

Yeah, yeah, cassette. Shoes and me did that, and from that point on I was doing my solo thing until I ran into T3 and got in a group with them.

How did that transition into the group happen?

Me and Wajeed was cool. Wajeed is actually a childhood friend of T3, Jay Dee and Baatin. He was one of the reasons they came together as a whole and put a record out and I think he also made up the name Slum Village…

I think he also did the photo for Fantastic Vol. 1, no?

Yup. Wajeed was basically producing tracks for me and I guess T3 was looking to manage an artist and at the time me and Wajeed was working together so he was like, yo, why don’t you try to hook up with Elzhi? So we hooked up a meeting, everybody was on the same page and he started managing me. Btu once they did the Trinity album, he just decided to put me in the group full fledged after we did like five songs, one of them songs was Tainted actually. After they heard what I could do with the group, I guess Baatin, T3 and the label had a meeting, a sit down, discussing whether they should bring me in the group. Once they came to me I was like, hell yeah. I mean I’ve been listening to SV for year, from “Fall N Love,’ to “Look of Love,” to “Chilling on a Mountaintop,” stuff that cats probably ain’t even heard

Damn, “Chillin on a Mountaintop,” I haven’t heard of that shit…
Yeah, “Gold Shoes.” I’ve been listening ot them for years, so for them to even ask me, an open mic cat who just battle and just loves this to the fullest, to even be a part of this, how could you turn that down, forreal?

How would you compare Slum from back then to Slum now?

Back then, wasn’t nobody tainted with the industry. It was just all love and experimentation. Especially in that era, that era was just so classic. You didn’t worry about putting nothing on the radio, you was just trying to rap. Slum Village now, as far as the style from Slum Village back then, it was more style-oriented, experimentation, creative ways to say things and make your voice into an instrument. It was just trying to break through and do some innovative things, Slum Village now is the same except we try to put a little bit more wordplay, a little bit more structure and patterns in the rhymes so we can write quotables for people to think is classic for years on. We still haven’t lost that experimentation, I mean we always try to flip and bounce. Even when we branched off to do solo things, you see Dilla and Dilla never kept the same kinda style, he always flipped and bounced it. That’s just the essence of Slum, just to bring a new innovative way to affect hip hop’s culture.

Now going from that, what was Witness My Growth about?

It was like a mixtape and reason why I called it witness my growth is because I have on there that date back to like ‘97. It’s just stuff that if I didn’t do that, wouldn’t nobody ever hear it. It was stuff from cassette tapes, old CD’s. it was basically material that was sitting in my closet. One day my boy came through and said, you I gotta put this all on CD. That’s how it was, let’s do a mixtape.

How was the response?

Form what I know, everybody was loving it. I’ve gotten a lot of props for it, which I was happy about just because a lot of that stuff on there was old and the quality wasn’t where I would have wanted it to be because it was old and it wasn’t in the computer like that. Form the response that I got I really loved it like, wow they still feeling it even though they’re listening to something I did from ‘98.

In that vein, is the solo still in the works?

Yes, yes. I got so many tracks man. My whole thing is I’m just tyring to make classic records. I have a bunch of songs but I don’t want it to be too long, I don’t’ want it to be too short, I don’t want it to be too dark I don’t’ want it to be too light. I want to make sure I’m giving you the best of me. I’m still cutting, I just did a cut with Guilty Simpson and my man Fat Ray. I just did a cut with Royce for my joint already, which you may hear on the internet soon.

Oh yeah?

Yeah, we might leak that out. I’m still working man, I’m still working but the new album’s coming.

Speaking of new albums, what’s up with SV? I know there’s been talks about two albums…

Yeah. One of the albums is just gonna be, you know, the new SV album. What SV do but to a whole nother level, as far as lyrics and music, creative direction, the whole nine. The other album we are supposed to be doing with Nature Sounds. Ms Yancey and the label Nature Sounds set up a situaion where they wanted to come out with a collective of records where an artist or a group of artsist rap over all Dilla tracks. They talked about us, they talked about MF DOOM, they talked about Ghostface doing it, but were gonna be the first one’s to do it. Taking it back to where it was.

Now, realistically, what’s the timeline for these projects to see the light of day?

To be honest with you it’ll probably be in the middle of the year or late in the year. Slum has got to do a lot of things low-key to make sure veryithing if right and everything is moving at a right pace. But till then you’re gonna hear a bunch of stuff form us, wether it be little mixtapes or us leaking five songs, you’re gonna hear stuff before the album.

Do you feel the D has been getting more exposure as of late?

I think people have been recognizing Detroit. It’s a few people that have came out to the D like Freeway, you know, B.G., they know what the D is about. Little Brother done came through Detroit, messing with Denaun Porter. Straight up and down I feel like more than ever, we’re really starting to get our shine. With cats like Proof and Dilla, without them who knows how long it would have took, they played a huge role in making people notice what Detroit is about. It’s getting there, it’s not there yet, forreal, forreal. You got Black Milk busting through, he’s still busting through, to me he’s like Detroit’s Dre. He got so many projects coming out too, I’m on a project with him and Fat Ray, Caltroit, I’m on that as well, as well as the new Black album, as well as the Guilt album, as well as my joint. But with all that, he’s still busting through, it’s coming though.

Damn, to me that like there is a community in the D musically, would you say that’s true?

Yeah, I feel like more than ever we done really came together and became family. I work at the same studio as Guilt, Guilt work out the same studio as Black, Fat Ray, Royce. It’s crazy, it feel like an open mic in the studio, but it’s not, we recording records. I recently did a song for my man Jake One, a song called “Glow.” I had two verses already laid down, I was supposed to go do my third but I go in and they tell me Royce put a verse on it. I’m like, forreal, they play it for me and I’m loving it. It’s crazy, it really feel like an open mic but it’s the studio. It’s almost like, I dunno man, it really feel like some super hero ish, the top MC’s is together now. That’s why I feel we bout to move like a force, like a meteorite forreal.

What kinda shit are you checkin for, what are you listening to?

I’m a big fan of MF DOOM. My people putting me up on Jay Electronica. Shout out to my man Blu, that album is crazy. I dunno, I’m just looking for some innovative stuff, whatever’s innovative, it don’t’ even matter, the new Radiohead album is crazy. Hip hop, rock, jazz, blues, whatever, I’m on it.

What to you makes…I guess, nah, easier question, what makes the other shit so wack?

…What you mean?

I’m tryna rephrase that question…damn, nevermind. Fuck that.

laughs

You’ve been out here in Cali for a couple days now right?

Yeah I got out here a few days ago, I’ve been hrere for a minute. I did a couple songs, I did a song for a Jay Dee mixtape by my man Dave NY. I also did another cut for his other mixtape and I’m supposed to do something with Bishop Lamont. I’m just trying to work, whoever’s trying to work let’s do it and get this hip hop up.

Anything else you’d like to say before we wrap this up?

I’d like to say this, as long as you got cats like me, my man Blu, my man Guilty, shout out to my man Kweli, Common, shout out to my man Big Pooh, Phonte. As long as you got cats like us trying to do this forreal, hip hop ain’t going nowhere , forreal. Its’ actually gonna be put on a bigger scale than it has been for a few years, we about to bring 96 back. Straight up, Elzhi the magnificent, peace.

Snowman

Snowman, from the crew Jack Sample Pros, that’s Ty, Be, Chordz and myself. I grew up in Metro Detroit and moved out to LA in 2000. Started making beats two years ago and DJing since ’98.

Did you always wanna make that transition from DJing to beat making?

Nah, when I started I just wanted to learn how to DJ so badly. Eventually after learning how to beat match, I wanted to learn how to scratch and do those sorts of things and be a full DJ, be able to rock parties and scratch and all that good stuff. I didn’t really wanna make beats until I moved to LA and started listening ot a lot of different stuff the Beat Junkies had put me onto. What I noticed was that Detroit got a lot of love out here in LA, they were playing nothing but Slum Village and Dilla. It really was like a home away from home and that really inspired me to want to make beats.

What kind of shit were the Beat Junkies putting you onto?

They were playing all sorts of old Slum Village stuff, Fantastic Vol.1, which I wasn’t up on until ’99. That was right before fantastic vol.2 came out and I come out here and J. Rocc is playing all kinds of originals and this that and the other. That really made me want to start making beats and not having my turntables when I moved out here was even more like… you know what I mean?

Yeah. After you started making beats, how soon did you hook up with Ty and them?

Ty actually lent me his MPC and taught me how to sample and sequence and basically run the machine. Dude put me through like a boot camp and I’m very, very thankful because he taught me how to sample then came back 2 weeks later and then taught me how to sequence. So I had 2 weeks worth of samples on the MPC and didn’t know how to sequence. I got real good at choppin and shit like that, once I learned how to sequence, it was kinda like it was over. I’m very thankful for Ty and Chordz and B, the whole Jack Sample crew really taught me how to do what I do.

How does the collective thing work? Do you get together and work on shit?

Yah we’ll get together. A lot of times I’ll bring over a gang of records, Ty will have a bunch of records and Chordz will have a bunch of records. We’ll sample a bunch of shit then someone will start the drums, someone will start the chops then someone will play on the motif or the moog and go from there. We start from the samples then go beyond that and create something that’s our own.

Now some of the Jack Sample crew has had some releases right?

Yeah, Ty and Chords did Prescription and that came out on a Fat City Producer One series. I didn’t have anything to do with that beat, but those dudes killed it on there.

Fast forward to now, can you tell us about the record you got coming out with All City?

Yep, All City Records, out of Dublin Ireland. Shouts to my man Olen out there, he’s putting together a beatstrumental series. 7 producers and 7 45’s, it’s a collectors edition with artwork and basically it’s going to be ridiculous. You should collect all of them, Hudson Mohawke, Mike Slott, it’s gonna be dope.

How did that come about?

I met Olen actually at the Root Down out here. It was random; he was visiting my man Newman from Giant Panda. He was out here just buying a bunch of records and happened to be at the Root Down. Me and Shoes went up there and dude just happened to be there. I know this cat Colin from Ireland and Colin happens to be on his label so it was a really small world. He asked me to do the 45 that night.

Dope, so this is your first actual release?

Yeah, this is gonna be my first record.

Good shit man, congratulations. Still, you’ve also worked with other cats like Guilty Simpson and Ta’raach.

Yeah, I mean Guilt and Ta’raach, that’s family right there. I’ve got a couple of joints with Guilt, I got one with Ta’raach and a bunch more planned down the road. I want to get in the studio with Elzhi, already been in with Sean Jackson for a bunch of joints. I’m working with Magestik Legend and NowOn, that’s all family right there so I’m just thankful to know all these cats.

Do you have any plans for a full LP of your own?

Well I’ve got an instrumental LP coming out on Walkman Flavor.

Oh yeah, Illa Jay has a joint on that.

Yeah, Illa Jay has got an instrumental joint coming out real soon on their label and mine’s coming out summertime. It’s gonna be like one release for one album, then 2 weeks or a month later, the next release. Just hit em back to back.

Now you’re here in LA and you mentioned the connection you saw between Detroit and LA. How do you feel that that’s grown since you’ve been out here?

Just being able to hang out with cats like Rhettmatic. He’s a genuine LA cat and he’s got nothing but love and nothing but humility, and that’s basically what I’m used to. That’s like people I used to hang with at the crib and that just right there makes you feel at home. Cats treat you like family.

Anything else you wanna talk about?

Shit man, I dunno. I’m just thankful for the opportunity, thankful for you brother, for what you doing. Classic Drug References, the dopest blog name out there guaranteed. Your blog is not dope; it does not have a name like Classic Drug References. Yeah man, I’m just thankful to be here, doing music.

* you can get Snowman’s 7″ on All City records through Rush Hour. oh wait, nevermind. it’s sold out.

Snowman – Vibrations

Snowman – Late Night Drive w/ Guilty Simpson and DJ Rhettmatic

Snowman – Get Some w/ Richard Pryor

Snowman – Keys III

Classic Drug References presents…

SamiYam

*flicks were taken from Sam’s instore over at Poo-Bah Records in Pasadena. he’s making his Rap Beats Vol.1 beattape personally. i suggest you go over to his page and consider investing in this dope ass mix.

Wassup, my name is Samiyam, from Michigan, just moved out here to sunny LA. Enjoying the weather out here as my homies back home freeze their ass off.

When did you first develop a vested interest in music?

I dunno, I’ve been listening to music forever. I used to play instruments, like the piano and the clarinet for a while. I really started thinking of making my own music in high school, listening to hip hop and wondering how the fuck people make this shit.

What music most intrigued you back then?

Michael Jackson.

Oh whaat? So this is way back then?

That’s probably the shit that really got me into making beats, secretly. Michael Jackson shit, like dancing in the mirror as a little kid. I used to trip on DJ Premiere, like wow that’s crazy. That’s the shit that got me into sampling, shit where people took old records and chopped it up and re-arranged it into some crazy shit.

When did you first actually start making beats?

Uh…in like 2002.

How would you describe your first beats?

Wack. Not very good. I guess some of that shit is all right but the mixes would be super fucked up. I started off with the MP first off. I don’t think I was that great on it at first.

When did you first notice a sound developing in your shit?

I guess at one point when I was using the MP I was doing some shit that had a little sound to it, sampling records and I had bought a little synth and I was playing bass lines. Shit was coming out with a little sound to it. I made some shit maybe a year or so after I started making shit and thought, ah, that sounds allright. Even after listening to it after a couple of months, I was just kind of making shit and having fun before that, making stupid shit.

Well you’ve come some ways from that. you have a few things out and you got your own record coming out right?

Yeah, yeah. I’m finishing up the record right now.

Is it gonna be a 12” or is it gonna be a full LP?

10 inch man.

Oh yeah?

Who’s putting that out?

Pooh Bah is.

Is it part of the Poo Bah ten inch series?

Yeah it’s supposed to be part of it. It’s in the early stages now, I mean I guess that shit can be in the interview but it’s not exactly done. I still haven’t gone in for mastering and putting it together.

When did you get more involved in beat scene here in LA?

I came out here to do this shit, I had done … I think we did a show out here before I moved out here. The Low End Theory, opening up for Sage Francis. Laughs.

Sage Francis?

That mothafucka Sage Francis who brought out all the people with lumberjack shirts and all that shit, it was a different crowd. It was cool.

I agree, Sage Francis brings a certain crowd.

He brought a lot of people though.

How was the response that show?

It was dope man. You know how it is, they have it super loud there. People were trippin.

Yeah the Low End Theory has a really good soundsystem. Since that, you plan on doing more showcases

Yeah, I mean I’ve done a couple of those. I’ll probably do more now that the records gonna be coming out and all that. But yeah I’ve done some beat showcases. It’s been cool, there’s always people that come out and appreciate and give me their good words and shit.

How do you see your shit, or do you not even see it in a certain way and it’s just something you do?

I don’t really see it in in a certain way, it’s just some shit I do. I got the machine I like to make music on, just turn it on and do some shit. I mean I guess the shit sounds a certain way sometimes when it’s done but I don’t think of shit in any special way, that question’s kinda weird.

yeah, it is.

Careful with the tea on the floor, might wanna put it on the fridge.

Ah. I didn’t even notice it down there, thanks. So what are the things you have had out so far?

Well there’s the shit on the Fat City Producer One compilation. Me and Lotus had Green tea Power, FlyamSam shit, on Rush Hour on Beat Dimensions, the homie Hudson Mohawke was on there, there was a lot of dope shit on there.

What is up with that FlyamSam thing with you and Lotus?

It’s just a bunch of tracks. I’m not sure in what forms you’re gonna see them in, but you’re gonna see them.

So is that something you guys have done, are doing or will do?

We have a lot of tracks that were done before I moved out there, since then we’ve collaborated on a lot of blunts, just getting drunk and shit. Playing videogames and shit. We’ve been talking about getting the band back together though. But a lot of the shit has been from before I even moved out here.

How’d you two meet?

On some myspace shit like, oh man I like your beats, check out my shit, oh yeah that’s pretty cool. Then we started sending each other sounds, like synth-sounds and shit.

Now who else would you say is around you beatwise?

Shit, there’s a lot of people out here. Obviously Lotus, Ras G out here, the crazy space ship shit, Diabolic, Knowledge from Philly, Hudson Mohawke from Scotland, he’s about to come out on Warp in a minute. I dunno, it’s a lot of people, I’m forgetting everybody. It’s a good time. Musinah, definitely be sure check out for her. She came through and did Low End Theory at a beat invitational. She didn’t play last but she was later in the line up and it was kind of a little competition thing, and it seemed like she pretty much won. I mean she got the crowd response, she’s dope.

It seems like there’s a sense of community in LA, would you agree?

Yeah, yeah. It’s a lot of people out here all out the shows and all cool. It’s dope, everybody’s kind of on the same side, there might be a little competition but people are supportive of someone like me who doesn’t have shit out.

What influences you?

Like musically? Like what music influences me or just what influences me to make music?

Uh, we’ll do both.

Just everything, Life. I’m heavily influenced by…I watch a lot of old Italian movies with dope soundtracks and that definitely plays a big part. When I was a little kid I used to play Nintendo all the time, I’m definitely influenced by those little beats, they had some dope loops on there.

Yeah, speaking of which, Dibiase’s EP was crazy.

Yeah yeah. I have a couple of those type beats coming out, it’s gonna be on the EP. Just a couple of Nintendo tracks. That is all cool but I don’t really want anyone to know me as Nintendo face or anything, it’s just kind of fun to chop up those sounds.

What would you say influences sound musically?

As far as music I listen to?

Yeah.

I dunno, I listen to anything really. All kinds of shit.

Yo …*pausing to listen* this remix you’re playing is mean…my bad.

Yeah you can get this on the stones throw website I think.

I have this mix but I never noticed that track.

Yeah, that shits crazy man.

What sounds stick out to you, what catches your ear?

Depends on how I feel, any sound can catch my ear when I’m listening to records. Right now, I don’t’ really have a record player now, I was using one of my neighbors so I’m on the keyboard now. But when I’m listening to records anything can stick out to me. I usually just put on something I want to listen to, just look at the cover art and pick it up.

Do you make beats, something you work on, just do, chip away?

It depends. Sometimes I take time on it. Sometimes it’s some shit that I start one day and come back to it later. Maybe I just do something in a half hour and record it and do some other shit. Really depends how I feel or what it is I’m working on.

Is there anything else you wanna talk about? I don’t really have anything else.

I dunno. Maybe talk about rolling another blunt?

Samiyam – quesadilla