Interview: Black Resume, pt. 1

August 24, 2010 by Quan Vu 4 Comments

Black Resume has burst onto the scene and in a matter of months, they’ve already garnered enough attention to secure two nominations for San Diego Music Awards in both “Best Hip Hop” and “Best Hip Hop Album” categories. In part 1 of this interview, group members Guilla and Young T speak on their beginnings in hip-hop, Black Power and bow-ties, and getting props from random dudes at McDonald’s for their music. Their mixtape-album, Bar-Barian Music, is available free download here.

SDRaps.com: How did you guys all meet at first?
Guilla: Black Resume is me, [Young] T, T’s younger brother [Tipper], and one of my younger homies [LC]. We all kinda went to the same schools. Me and him [Young T], we’re in the same grade. I’ve been going to school with him since … forever, it seems like. Back in the day, I used to do music and he used to do music. We had some songs together but we weren’t together. We both rapped in different camps. That went on for a few years. I dropped a few projects. He dropped a few projects. We had moved to Arizona together. Then I ended up moving back. He ended up coming back like a year or two later. When I came back, I kinda slowed down my music. I was too busy doing a lot of other shit.

Then when he came back, we just started vibing and started going to the studio. We had a bunch of tracks together. So instead of everybody trying to do their own shit, everybody should just come together and push one thing. Strength in numbers. He had his brother who’s been rapping. And his brother is just like crazy. We were like, “We gotta put his brother on.” Our other homie, Chris, he could spit like a motherfucker. I had been rapping with Chris but he had his own shit too.

But we just formed Black Resume and we’ve been pushing it. We just formed almost a year ago. We started working on tracks like the summer of last year and we put it out like the end of the year. We’ve just been pushing ever since. We all know each other from years back. But then we just put it all together. Read more of this post

Filed under Features, Interviews Tagged with

Digging Into The SDMA’s: Interview: MC Flow and The SDMA’s

August 19, 2010 by Quan Vu 2 Comments

We conclude our chat with MC Flow. Flow’s fiance, Kelly Dorsey, was also present to assist during the interview. Here, Flow directly addresses the San Diego Music Awards, the SDMA nomination process, and her views on its biases. If you missed it, check out part 1 where Flow speaks on her background in hip-hop.

SDRaps.com: In 2007 when you were first nominated for a San Diego Music Award, there was a story in the San Diego Reader. Another local rapper, Ricasshay, his main gripe with you was that you hadn’t paid your dues in the hip-hop community. What’s your response to that?
MC Flow: Again, I think a lot of people don’t know that I actually really did have my birth as an artist in a community of real hip-hop heads. I think a lot of that comes from misconception.

But I don’t know how I feel about the concept of “paying dues.” Read more of this post

Filed under Features, Interviews Tagged with ,

Digging Into The SDMA’s: Interview: MC Flow and Hip-Hop Credibility

August 18, 2010 by Quan Vu 4 Comments

Abby Schwartz, better known as her stage moniker, MC Flow, has been at the focal point of controversy between the San Diego Music Awards and the local hip-hop community for the past few years. We spoke to MC Flow directly to address the controversy and the annual awards themselves. In this first part, MC Flow speaks on her credibility in hip-hop, which has been the main point of criticism from the hip-hop community. After you’re done, continue onto part 2 where Flow speaks on the SDMA’s.

SDRaps.com: You’re not originally from San Diego, right? You’re from Manhattan?
MC Flow: I’m from just north of Manhattan. Westchester County, which is like the suburbs of the city, about 25 minutes north of Manhattan. A city called White Plains.

SDRaps.com: But you’re from New York, which is basically the Mecca of hip-hop. How did you first get into the music?
MC Flow: From being there. From high school. When I was young I went to private Jewish day-school and I was raised in a really religious family. So it wasn’t until I got to high school that I discovered this whole other world. My high school was really diverse. Hip-hop was just part of the culture. At that time, at all of our football games and basketball games, there was Tribe Called Quest playing in the background. That’s how I first got into it: from being there and just experiencing it.

SDRaps.com: And were you already trying stuff out even back then? Rapping, break-dancing … ?
MC Flow: No. I wasn’t rapping back then but I was already writing and I was writing a lot of poetry. I would write–I was thinking about this the other day–I would write poems that were kinda like raps by request for my friends on different topics. So I guess it was kinda like the birth of my writing verse. But back then I think I would’ve just called it writing poetry. Read more of this post

Filed under Features, Interviews Tagged with ,

Interview: ICB of Vicious Beat Posse talks SD Rap History, pt. 4

July 19, 2010 by Quan Vu 5 Comments

We conclude our chat with ICB, former member of DBX and Vicious Beat Posse. He tells us about what he’s been doing since leaving the rap game and how he never really left the rap game anyway. ICB also reveals a bit more on the high school battle rap scene in the 1980s.

If you missed it, check out the rest of the interview: part 1 | part 2 | part 3

SDRaps.com: After you decided to get out of the rap game, what did you end up doing?
ICB: Well, you know, the rap game is a hard thing to leave behind because it had become kind of a safehaven from some of the things that we had gotten ourselve into on the streets. Going to the studio was like a peaceful place. You weren’t going to run into no conflict at the studio. You’re gonna sit back, drink, smoke, and try to come up with a heater. That was a hard thing to divorce from. It had even gotten to the point where I had tried to make a clean separation. I went back to school, got my associate’s degree, I had enrolled to get my undergrad work done.

And one of my patnas from the street, he was like, “What’s it gonna take to get you in the studio?” I was like, “I guess if I had my own studio.” And this dude, he didn’t know that I don’t know how to hook the wires and shit up. He didn’t know that I don’t know how to run no computer with all this shit. He goes out and buys all this shit. And fixes this garage up, did all this shit to this garage. And it’s just like a vortex. It just sucked me back in. So here it is. This is probably like 2000. I’m sucked right back into this shit. I’m in there all day. That’s when Lil Daddy Rich started, he started ramping his game up. B Stone. These dudes were showing up at that studio. Couldn’t put ‘em out. 24 and some mo’. That place was jumping right in the set. Read more of this post

Filed under Features, Interviews Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Interview: ICB of Vicious Beat Posse talks SD Rap History, pt. 3

July 17, 2010 by Quan Vu 4 Comments


In part 3 of our talk with ICB, member of old school San Diego rap groups DBX and Vicious Beat Posse, ICB speaks on his work in the local San Diego scene in the 1990s, working with the likes of Gangsta Ern, Orko Eloheim, Damu and Black Mikey. If you missed either of them, check out part 1 and part 2 of this interview. After you’re done, move onto part 4 to find out what ICB has been up to since.

SDRaps.com: You were doing work behind the scenes. How long did that go on? Are you still doing work now?
ICB: The last work I’d say took place in 1994. And that was pretty much it. I had gotten behind in the scene after the Vicious Beat Posse thing. Local people know this but I was extremely instrumental–one of the key players–in Gangsta Ern’s project. I remember: Ern and them, they were never into the hip-hop. Ern and them was pop-locking, but that was in the early ’80s, ’83, ’82. Because Ern was like 6 years older than myself. So they were pop-locking and whatnot. But when ’88 came or ’89 when we was doing our thing, they saw us and was like, “Check out these little young niggas. Check ‘em out, they trying to be rap stars … ” You know, kinda poking fun at us in a little way. But they were full-fledged out there in the streets. And they came to me asking, “Wassup with the studio?” Because at the time in the late ’80s, we were the only cats in real studios working at the studio. It wasn’t one of those “somebody got an SP-1200 and an 808 and a cassette player with the Record button with the microphone tilted toward the speaker.” None of that stuff, we were in the full-fledged, animated boards, we’re mastering our drums. I mean, we’re doing it big. And they wanted us to bring them to the studio.

And see in my mind, I was like, “Man, it’ll be good to bring the homies to the studio.” But I’m thinking if we bring the homies to the studio, they finna rob the joint. It ain’t gonna be no more studio after that. Read more of this post

Filed under Features, Interviews Tagged with , , , , , ,

Interview: ICB of Vicious Beat Posse talks SD Rap History, pt. 2

July 15, 2010 by Quan Vu 7 Comments


We continue our chat with ICB, member of San Diego rap groups DBX and Vicious Beat Posse from the ’80s. He speaks on the short-lived careers of those groups and how they got bit by Industry Rule #4080. If you missed part 1, check it out here. After you’re done, continue on to part 3, where ICB delves into his work with Gangsta Ern, Orko Eloheim, Damu, and Black Mikey, and part 4, where he talks about what he’s been up to since.

SDRaps.com: So Vicious Beat Posse was four separate acts thrown together, right? Were you guys all from San Diego?
ICB: Marv [Marvee V aka Marvee Vicious] was from New Jersey originally. But he was here. He was also the elder statesman of the group, he was the oldest cat. We were all from there though. Just individual acts that had never ran across each other prior to Darryl Sutton and Delton Dormer bringing us together. So like I said, they had this vision–and really all they did, I’ve come to learn, was a production label deal. And they cut a production label deal. They was gonna get the label to put them up, kinda produce the records. And they was gonna kinda put them out there. I guess the easiest way to segue into that–you know how a record deal goes, they got the option. So if they start out with a compilation, that was the one way to get us an opportunity first. As opposed to saying, “Ok, DBX goes first. Superslim goes second.” What we had was we did the first single ["Legalized Dope"] which was the collabo. Which was everybody.

SDRaps.com: Was that the only song on the album that featured all four acts?
ICB: Yup, the only one to have everybody on it. And the second single was Slim’s “Give The People What They Want.” And then after that, we didn’t push no units. So we were out the door, haha. But like I said, the experiences, the tour. Man, we made some hella connections in that time in the business.

SDRaps.com: You were around the San Diego scene before. Had you heard of any of those acts–Superslim & DJ Candyman, Marvee V, MC Deb B–before you got together?
ICB: I’d never heard of any of them. I knew about the Dam Lab because they had some cats that was into the battle thing. My boy, Icylee. Of LPSD. We used to go at it, we used to battle. I had heard some of the demos that they was doing at the Dam Lab. They had some real nasty sound like some of that Boogie Down Productions’ real hard-hitting drum sounds. And we was kinda on the light, poppy side. I was envious of that sound that they had. Once I found out who that was–I had some run-ins and some work with Frank Z, who was apart of the [Vicious Beat] project as well. But Frank Z was a DJ/producer. He wasn’t a rap act. He was the only person I had any acquaintance with prior to the project. Read more of this post

Filed under Features, Interviews Tagged with , , , , , ,

Interview: ICB of Vicious Beat Posse talks SD Rap History, pt. 1

July 12, 2010 by Quan Vu 4 Comments

For the record, Vicious Beat Posse was the first rap/hip-hop act out of San Diego to ever sign to a major label, MCA Records. Vicious Beat Posse was actually a collective of four smaller SD acts, including Superslim & DJ Candyman, MC Deb B, Marvee V and the duo of DBX. Marcel Branch, aka ICB, of DBX recently came back to San Diego to visit family. He was gracious enough to take some time out on his trip to sit down with SDRaps.com and school us on San Diego rap history. In this first part, ICB speaks on DBX and the formation of Vicious Beat Posse.

When you’re done, continue onto part 2, in which ICB speaks on the short career spans of both DBX and Vicious Beat Posse, part 3, where ICB goes into his work with San Diego legends such as Gangsta Ern, Orko Eloheim, Damu, and Black Mikey, and part 4, where he speaks on his life since leaving the game.

SDRaps.com: Can you tell us how DBX first started?
ICB: The original group was a dude named Bobby Graham. Bobby Graham did the first “Money” song with me and DJ Gill and DJ Desi. And that was in ’88 when we got together and made that. Now, I had kinda made a name for myself locally at the high school rap scene, San Diego City College Boys Club, functions and stuff like that, little park and recreational functions. I made a name for myself. So this DJ Gill and DJ Desi Rae, they was already club DJs and they was military implants so they was here from the military. They’re not originally from here. And one of those guys was dating a girl that went to the high school that I was attending. She kinda put me on.

And she didn’t even really like me. So for her to drop my name … Because he was trying to get into production and move away from DJing. So they dropped my name and we got together. And they asked me to do some freestyle. Back in the days it was one of those talk about the color shirt you got on, the hat to let them know that it was really off the head. There was nothing pre-fabbed or stuff like that. So we hit it. And then they brought this other guy–I didn’t even know this guy from nothing. They were just like “Okay, we’ll put you two together.” It was like a cookie-cutter group, for lack of better descriptions. They already had it in place. They knew what they wanted to do, they just needed bodies to do the songs.

So we got in there and did the songs–we wrote our own parts, of course. And that’s how it happened. And my boy, Bobby, he was already–this is hindsight–he already had musical visions. He was already thinking about the next thing. So he was bigger than DBX at the time, his thinking was bigger. So he’s already progressing in his career in his mind and he’s trying to make moves outside of the group. That made a division. So he went about his own way.

There was a buddy of mine who used to always do the beatbox with me in high school. Back then it was the beatbox, your traveling beatbox, the partner that rolled with you to supply the beats. That was my boy, Dizon. Dizon, I told him what’s going on. He jumped in. Then me and him went along with the DBX from there on in. So it was like the New Edition thing: Bobby Brown left but it was still New Edition even though Johnny Gill came in. So it was DBX irregardless of the pieces. I was the one piece that was the constant with Bobby and then Dizon. Read more of this post

Filed under Features, Interviews Tagged with , , , , ,

Interview: Black Mikey & San Diego Rap History, pt. 2

May 30, 2010 by Quan Vu 9 Comments

In this installment, Black Mikey (aka C-Wax, Kid Loose, Mikey C.K., and Black Michael) continues to speak on the San Diego rap scene as well as his unique role in it. We also hear from both Mikey and Mr. Ridley about their new collaboration album, Killafornia Infection. If you missed it, check out part 1 of this Black Mikey interview here.

SDRaps.com: You’re one of the only rappers in San Diego that can tow the line between the gangsta world and the underground world. How do you do that?
Black Mikey: Because hip-hop has always been in me, homie. Regardless of the neighborhood I was raised in, we were always b-boys first. Even if we were in khakis and stars and gangbanging in our hood, we always met up and congregated at the park where that cardboard was laid down, that box was slapping that 2-3 break by Chuck Chillout or something like that. Everybody was doing the windmills and nickels and the halos and footwork and that uprock and we was all doing it. It’s in us. And it’s in me to be more than just my geographical location. Just like Orko and Anti-Citizens are emcees and griots, so am I. So I can be on both sides because I am both sides. It’s a lot of other emcees out there that won’t say it but they are both sides as well. My boy Damu is both sides. He emcees his ass off. It’s a lot of us that they say is just gangsta. If you listen to the albums, you’ll see we are more than just gangsta rappers. …… Read more of this post

Filed under Features, Interviews Tagged with , , , , ,

Interview: Black Mikey & San Diego Rap History, pt. 1

May 26, 2010 by Quan Vu 18 Comments

Black Mikey is an OG in the San Diego rap game with roots going back before anyone even knew that San Diego rap existed. Having recently gotten out of jail, he’s now risen from the grave and seems as ready as ever to rejuvenate the San Diego rap scene. Thankfully, Black Mikey took some time out first to school us on San Diego rap history. When you’re done, continue on to part 2 of the Black Mikey interview here.

SDRaps.com: How’d you get into hip-hop yourself?
Black Mikey: Honestly, I didn’t get into hip-hop, it got into me. I won’t even actually say what song. It was a number of songs that I could point you to that started me in that direction. But it was music in general that fascinated me from the gate. I didn’t even know anything about rap music until …… Fuck it, if we’re gonna be honest, I’m like a grandaddy in this shit anyway. 1978: “Rapper’s Delight” came out. I was like 8-9 years old. When it came on, I was like, “I could do that shit.” I started doing it and then evolved as it evolved.

But back then, we didn’t give a fuck about no record deals, contracts. All we cared about was fucking a motherfucker up in the hallways who had the hottest 16. Whether you could beat on your chest and spit your verse or if you read it off paper, you had to do away with your foes in the hallways and then it got talked about it and it exploded out into the streets after school. And then we were doing dances like the Jackie Robinson. All the YMCA’s and Boy’s Clubs in the area. A lot of us that are gang members now were breakdancers and pop-lockers and DJs, spray painting on walls and all kinds of shit, first. Everybody’s neighborhood got breakdancers, pop-lockers, DJ’s, beatsmiths, emcees, graffiti artists that’s still from their hoods and reptable. Hip-hop has kinda ingrained itself into the underbelly of Southeast San Diego as well.

SDRaps.com: You’re from San Diego right? Because I think most rappers not from New York got up onto it later.
Black Mikey: In all actuality, a lot of us used to try to say we were from New York. When we were younger, we used to try to watch the “Wildstyle” videos. Prince Whipperwhip used to come through here. It’s a military city. So a lot of dudes from the East Coast was from the military and was related to a lot of dudes that was in the game on the East Coast, from Chicago, from Down South. So with San Diego being a military city, we was open, directly networking with these type of people by nature.

Because we had 4-5 Park. Back in the days, DJ’s used to call my boy, Silky C–a blind DJ–they used to come DJ. They’d have booths, they used to sell food, dance contests, everything used to go on at this park. But by this being the place where a lot of people in the military hung out, it was all walks of life running through here. People from the East Coast, the West Coast, Down South, from outside the United States–it was like a conglomerate. And it circulated. So we got all of the music–the BLS, KIIS 98.7 tapes–from back then with Chuck Chillout, Red Alert, Mr. Magic’s Rap Attack. A lot of that shit was going on, we was getting that shit. When Faizon Love wasn’t Big Worm, when he was just Faizon with the kangol on and the fake “Faizon” name belt, rocking the Lee jeans.

And it was fun! We used to play the game, “Yeah, I’m from New York, son!” A lot of used to do it and we used to emcee like them. And then …… a new dawn came. And we started saying, “Shit, well maybe we can sound like ourselves.” Read more of this post

Filed under Features, Interviews Tagged with , , , , , ,

Interview: Jimmy Powers defines his true currency

April 27, 2010 by Quan Vu 1 Comment


Jimmy Powers “Cali-foreigner“
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Jimmy Powers ft. Blame One “True Currency“
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Jimmy Powers has been making waves in the San Diego music scene in the very short time that he’s been active. After putting in work as one half of Clay Pigeons, Jimmy is now poised to release his solo debut, Califoreigner, which is due out May 4. We spoke to Jimmy about his new album, the many hats he wears, and why he won’t just rap about yachts and beatdowns.

SDRaps.com: How’d you first get into hip-hop?
Jimmy Powers: I’ve always been THAT hip-hop head but I was never in a hip-hop scene or hip-hop community because I bounced around from Boston to Houston to Boston to Chicago to Florida to San Diego. So I never really had a scene that I jumped into. I was always the hip-hop head outside of the hip-hop scene that everyone came to to look for music. I was always spitting. I knew I had some sort of talent. But I really didn’t get into a scene till … I think 2007? 2007 was when I actually started to do stuff.

SDRaps.com: Well, y’know, even as fan …
Jimmy Powers: Oh yeah, since I was a kid. First thing: I got a Paid In Full record on tape when I lived in Houston. And from there, that was pretty much the only thing I listened to.

SDRaps.com: I know you’ve mentioned in your songs that you work for the military and have been in the military. Obviously, hip-hop doesn’t take real kindly to authority figures like the military. Do you feel conflicted at all?
Jimmy Powers: Absolutely not. Because I had the choice to either: get out and go to college–and I couldn’t pay for college–or go to the military. When I was 18, my mother said, “You’re either going to college or the military. As soon as you’re 18, you’re out.” And I had horrible grades. I fucked off all through high school so my only choice pretty much was to go to the military. So I went into the military, did my four years, couldn’t stand it because I can’t stand authority figures and everyone I beat up in high school was in charge of me. So I got out and ended up staying in San Diego because it’s beautiful. Read more of this post

Filed under Features, Interviews Tagged with , , , , ,

Newer posts →