Sitdown w/Dregs-One

Host-Fillmoe Mike
Interviewee - Dregs-One
Media coverage provided by E. Mcgee Photography and Christian
Filmed and recorded live inside 106kmel Studios @ Iheart Radio San Francisco

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, it's to Wash your backpodcast film on Mica of one or six
point one can be Yale got avery very very special guest in the Villain
Man Drags One's film. Hey,Man, what's up? Man? What's
up? Baby? Bro? Youco bro? Man, I'm happy to
have you here. Man. It'sa pleasure. You know, you been

(00:21):
doing your thing. You've been interviewingeverybody, man, and so I had
to have you down here. I'mhappy that you rocket with me, you
know what I'm saying. And it'smuch love, bro, because you've been
putting their work. Brother. Ohthank you man. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, it's all good. I'malways a phone call or a DM away
though he be accessible, so thatgoud you really DM me, I mean
I really DM drom Like, Man, I need you on my podcast.

(00:43):
You hit me back maybe like noteven a day later, Like it's all
good. Let's let me know win. Hey man, I love it.
I love it, man. Um. One of the things I wanted to
get into you, man, becauseyou know you're a rapper again. I
was telling you in the we couldcall it the cafeteria, the green room,
that when I first heard about you, you was rocking with Nicotina.

(01:04):
So can you like just tell peoplelike freshen people up with your with your
story. Uh, you don't.Just just do the artistry stuff. You
ain't got to go into. Youknow, the background as far as you
know you're putting on with your yourinterviews and then you know the history of
the bay type stuff. Just dothe artistry that the graffiti, the music.
Let me know connected. You know, I grew up in Friscoard.

(01:26):
I grew up in Lakeview, yes, the Avenue and Randolph, and I
was immersed in the culture. Istarted freestyling and that's how I got my
bars up, got my reputation upas a kid rocking house parties with my
crew. From there, we jumpedinto the independent game around the time of
the HiFi era. We was HiFikids, and we just soaked up all

(01:49):
that independent game, slinging CDs onthe streets, going to the stores,
um, getting everything rocking that way. And then from there we just decided
to do our own thing, haveour own studio, have our own throw
our own shows. And so I'vebeen building an underground following around the world

(02:10):
like since since the Hi Fi era, and my music has taken different different
forms. I'm still pushing. I'mstill not where I want to be,
but I've been able to link withlegends like Nicotina, like saying Quinn Berner,
many others rest in Pieces of Jackgot to rock out with the Jack
a few times, and then onthe graffiti tip too. It was like

(02:32):
all those worlds were always intertwined.So I was always I was either rapping
or I was doing graffiti, andI soaked up all that culture just being
outside in Frisco and just all thestuff I talk about in my music and
my content is stuff that I experiencedfirsthand, and we like for youngsters,

(02:57):
they may not understand, like hiphop, it's not just rap music,
you know what I'm saying, Likeit's a way of life. You feel
me like we like I'm a millennial, so like I kind of like just
grew up in the hip hop youknow what I'm saying. But at the
the late eighties, I was whatfour or five years old, right,
So when you when you when youlearn caress one teach you know, to

(03:20):
teach you to rule or whatever.He he was like, man, we
got these five commandments of hip hop? How much did graffiti shape just your
upbringing how you think about life,because you know, I'll be seeing like
I said, Joe, your yourTikTok videos and you talk about graffiti life
and I you know, growing upin the city, you see it and

(03:43):
then you you kind of understand it, but you was in it. You
feel me talk about that, brother, It's an underground society, yeah,
own her culture and it's very organicin Frisco. Like growing up right,
My partner was a DJ. Myother homies is taggers. Some of my
homies are skaters, some of usas rappers, some of us as be

(04:05):
makers, some casts do to dancingand all that. We didn't see it
all as like, oh this isa hip hop right. It was just
like this is what we did andwhat we saw like the older homies doing.
So it was like kind of thatgame being passed down to us.
And the graffiti thing is like,you know, I never claimed to be

(04:26):
like the king of style or theking of the city, but I was.
I was. I was out therelike every day, tagging on the
buses. That was a big thing, meeting people. I met some of
my best friends just riding Muni andbeing like, oh you're right, yeah,
what you right? What you right, like that type of thing,
and some of us have gone onto become you know, muralists, graphic
designers, um fashion designers, allstarting from this community that like only we

(04:53):
belonged to was always like the secretthing and the name of the game and
graffiti is style and getting up.So that's what I try to bring on
everything I do. I try totry to put some style to it,
and then in terms of getting up, getting your name out there. That's
how I m when it comes tothe music too, Like I go out
of my way to promote wherever Ican. I still do old school stickers,

(05:16):
posters. I go around the BayArea, and not just to see
that, I go around the world. Really. I've then walked around Japan
in Paris, France, old schoolstyle, like let me slap a sticker
up, come back to Japan acouple of years later, that same sticker
is still there. So that's kindof my mentality, is like when you're
a graffiti writer, you're always scopingfor spots to get up. So that's

(05:38):
how I'm always looking. Let meget That's why I came here right through
pull up and I appreciate you man, it's to wash It Back podcast Filmo
Mike. I'm sitting here with Dragsone and I really do appreciate because sometimes
you know, I do work forCameo. This is going to be on
an iHeart Radio app. It ison the iHeart Radio app. But sometimes

(05:58):
people can always me all you feelme in it. I appreciate you just
to understand, like, man,it's a podcast, you feel me,
It's gonna be everywhere. I'm gonnapush it, you know what I'm saying.
But I'm just getting my my feetwet as I can say exactly right,
this is a podcast. I gothere right. Nah. But you

(06:20):
were saying that you looked up topeople and you learn from people that came
before you. Who are some ofthem people that like you know, came
before you, or who did youlook up to when it came to rather
it be raped or uh? Youryour artistry with graffiti, okay, so
attacking. So so in the graffitigame, you have people like Twist,

(06:43):
you have Doug One, you haveCrayon, you have MSK Crew that's originally
from La but they rocked it outhere. There's probably a million more writers
I can name, right, Butlike I said, this is just organic
what I'm seeing at thirteen fourteen steppingout the house. Now here's another tweak,
fully loaded John Torriano, Big RichardBailey. They have stickers everywhere.

(07:08):
They had stickers in the laundry maton Randolph Street, they had stickers on
the bus Cityside Crew. They havestands everywhere. Uh Selski, you know,
just hearing the street I live onin a song who Nut I m
p bald hair Rick. These areunderground names, but you know, in

(07:30):
the city, like at this timeit was legendary sad this well, I
mean relatively two thousand, You'm mixtapeKing Keiths walking down the street and chick
Chicken Wings and be like, ohkill the Keiths, like little kid,
you know what I'm saying, Likekind of yeah, but like like oh

(07:51):
these castes represent And then not onlythat, like it showed me like you
don't have to be on BT,you don't have to be like huge international
star like these dudes was hood superstars, right but in the and then mac
Dre I was around when like theMac Drake blew up, because I remember
it was a point when it wasjust me and my friends at school listening

(08:13):
to Mac dre and then the nextthing, I know, it's like this
dances on the radio and feeling myselfand all that, and so just seeing
like, oh, okay, canyou talk about that just real quick?
And I don't like I'm kind ofweird. So I like you just said,
Mac Drake and like you just said, in San Francisco, we didn't

(08:33):
get a lot of stuff or shipfrom Richmond and Valeo. So like when
Mac dre star, Like I rememberwhen I first heard Thistle Dance, right,
I'm literally it's like I think itwas two thousand or two thousand and
one. It's New Year's Eve andI heard it and my cousin was like
this slap yeah, I'm like,this is trash, right, it looks

(08:56):
different to me, but then youknow, obviously it grew on me.
I'm not saying it was feel me. I hate it now. What I'm
saying back then, a lot ofnot a lot of people in San Francisco
I can say, was really bumpingMac drape early or late nineties, early
two thousands, that's true. Canyou speak about that, like, well,
y'all just was on it. Wewas on it. So like like

(09:16):
albums like stupid dude who dumb,it's rapper gune bad. It's not what
you say is how you said popilationsand stuff. Yeah. A matter of
fact, the first time I heardof mac drey was when Davy d did
a newscast announcing his arrest or thebank robbery accusations. This was me being
a little last kid listening to theradio, like, what like a rapper

(09:39):
robbed the back, like mac Drey, who is that? And then years
later I see I'm in border CDsand I see a CD of a dude
on a toilet with with with thegirl holding the toilet paper roll. I
was like, that's the bank robberdude, like and then so what Then
when I heard them music, Iwas like I kind of got it just

(10:01):
off the sense, like, oh, this is like this dude's like kind
of weird and funny and out there, but it's also like that cutthoat like
yeah, gangster stuff. And thenif you see how like mac dre rocked
with Nicotina and Nicotina is also veryunorthodox dude wrapping about peanut butter and caterpillars
and stuff whales and yeah, butlike just yeah, like consota and all

(10:28):
right, but then it just spoketo me because like Frisco is a is
a weird city. But yeah,see a lot of weird stuff. It's
a lot of weird people. Youjust said you weird. Yeah, I'm
weird too, but I'm crazy forshow and in the times was even crazier.
So I think those kind of bridgeshelped me like understand the music.
And then I think when Trill TVdropped and people got to see, oh,

(10:52):
this dude is saucy, this dudeis ill, right, like whoa
Like he got paper, he gotwhips, girls, he got he got
he's a rock star. He's arock star, right, So that kind
of just like amplified the movement.Then on, you know the pill hypes
too, like that I was influentialfor better or for worse. Right,

(11:13):
there's a lot of fun back then, though a lot of money to some
people still be popping Molly Christian.Now I'm drunking, let me die buzzing
out. Nah, but you rapgraffiti. All of a sudden, it's
two thousand and twenty, the pandemic. We just start seeing drags one to

(11:35):
talk about this guy and this rapperor this era of hip hop or this
city of that what this city broughtto the culture. I don't want to
like rush this interview, like justget to that. But it's so crazy.
How how can I say this?Sometimes you're trying to get known and
what you're trying to get known forit don't get you there, but you
may get there from another direction oranother play get what I'm saying. So

(12:01):
like, I'm pretty sure he wasn'tlike, man, I'm gonna start doing
a history of it to get onon my rap. Shit, do you
do you use it to well?Yes, obviously, okay, yes,
And though because today in twenty twentythree, with social media, it's less
about having music and more like theperson behind them and content. Yeah,

(12:22):
content just to show who you areas a person, right to feature.
Yeah, there's thousands of songs thatget uploaded every day. Why do I
need to stop my day and listento you? Once she showed people who
it is, right and now,I wasn't gonna do any goofy stuff.
I wasn't gonna do any weird viralyou know, try to go viral thirsty.

(12:46):
I was like, let me bemyself and talk about the things that
interest me and just see what happens. That's it's really that simple. But
I knew I had to. LikeI was looking at where my music well,
I was like, all right,it's cool, but I need to
turn it up a little bit.I need to just have a voice.
Once you have a voice, onceyou have a platform, you could promote
anything. Look at all the rapperswho pivot into fashion or they pivot it.

(13:09):
There's a lot of rappers going intopodcasting and stuff like that now with
Drink Champs and Joe Budding, likethe pot sports, whatever you want to
do. Like music is just onepart of it, and then it's like
one hand washes the other. Themusic promotes today, the history of the
Bay promotes Dreg's one. Now Ifeel like I can I got a platform.

(13:31):
I could speak on whatever I wantto speak on your platform because it's
like I would. We were justtalking to street soldiers just in here.
So we're talking about like mental healthand like sometimes like when you don't feel
like you're getting that attention, likehow do you like not like deal with

(13:54):
like because you got more attention more, it's more eyes on you. Now,
how do you deal with that?And what do you try to do?
Like how do you use it ina positive sense, like you know
what I'm saying, because it's alot of people that's probably get at you,
like what's up, drags like can'tyou do this? Can't you do
that? How do you funnel itto work for you? Well? I
think what people need to remember,Bro, we're just talking about numbers on

(14:18):
the screen. Bro, you gota million views. That's great. You
got a hundred views, awesome,you got a hundred followers, cool,
you got a hundred thousand followers.Turn the phone off and go look at
some birds in the tree and seehow much that matters, right at the
end of the day, just keepingit real. The positive side of that

(14:39):
is I get a lot of lovearound the city, around the Bay when
I show up somewhere and people seeme like that's cool. I try to
focus on the supporters. I geta lot of negative attention as well,
a lot of complaints, a lotof criticism. I just look at that.
It's like great, cool, becauseif I wasn't doing nothing, wouldn't

(15:00):
nothing to exactly, So I justfeel so I leave a lot of people
on red I delete, I blockpeople like maton bo if you have your
comments coming crazy just from my own. I don't need to see this.
No no, no, no,yeah nah, I don't need I don't.
I don't. I don't need toum like cater to like what people
might want or what they expect towhat. I'm just doing this because it's

(15:22):
fun, right. I'm not thinking, oh yeah, this is gonna give
me viral, Oh yeah this.It's just straight up like what do I
feel like doing today? Sometimes Idon't feel like doing nothing, and I
ain't gonna do nothing, you knowwhat I mean. I'm not chasing anything.
So yes, I feel like aslong as I just stay grounded and
have fun with it. And youknow, it's the best cure for resentment,

(15:43):
whether it's in a resentment or outerresument that you received from other people.
The best cure is gratitude. SoI show gratitude towards my supporters.
People know they dm me on somepositive just to say, hey, what's
up bright, Like what you're doing, I'm gonna say thanks, appreciate you.
You know what I'm saying. Ifocus on the show gratitude for the
people who support me, and Ithink they know that. Like a lot

(16:07):
of people come up to me,like, man, he just seemed Hello,
cool, Hello Jenny. And I'mlike I appreciate that, Like,
yes I am. You know whatI'm saying, Like, not no,
out an asshole. I'm not anasshole, bron you feel me Like,
I don't go around thinking I'm likeI'm better than anybody, Like I said
Instagram, shut us off tomorrow,TikTok, shut us off tomorrow. Then
what right? You know what I'msaying, I don't. This is this

(16:30):
is just one thing that I doout of many that we've already discussed tonight.
Right now. That's real because it'slike one thing about this being in
radio, you realize like people arepeople. Oh yeah, so like you
may be like, uh like backin the day when I first got in
radio twenties eighteen nineteen years ago,I was like, man, did he

(16:52):
did? He sucks like that he'strash, like he get wrapped, But
you gotta meet this person. Sohe made he maybe whack, but he
also could be a real person.Hella cool, hella down on earth.
And I've had that happened so manytimes. So it's just a trip when
you kind of like just really meetsomebody, you know what I'm saying,

(17:12):
meet real people. You gotta justlike. That's the difference between just not
being a hater bro, Like,there's no problem. I don't need nobody
to like me. If you likethat, awesome. If you don't care
for what I'm doing, no problem. I see plenty of stuff I don't
like. I don't agree with whatever, whatever. I never go out of
my way to like every r bro. And then and then at the end

(17:36):
of the day, I don't carelike you said, how dope you are,
how trash you are. If you'recool and you're cool, that's all
that matters. That's all that,man, That's all that matters. Talk.
Yeah, So, um, who'syour who's your hip hop? Who's
your rap heroes? I listened toa lot of East Coast music, so
like Woutan Clan, Big Punt,Big Daddy, Came Rock Cam nahs Uh

(18:00):
Mob Deep, like grimy New Yorkhip hop, and also like fun positive
hip hop like tripe Can Quests,Day La Soul. Of course, being
from the West Coast, you know, far side, far side type of
stuff, Yeah, hieroglyphics, souziermischief. Um, but I like all

(18:21):
the Bay, like really grimy GangsterRapped two even though I'm not that kind
of dude. I like to relateto that just in the heat line,
y'all. He's six five, yeaheard dunking on fools. He'll be like,
bitch, where about body that commonskitty like bitch come over here comment.
I thought you were a positive publicizedkeeping my field though. You know

(18:45):
what I mean, got you,got you? You do the history of
the Bay. The concert a weekago, two weeks ago, the energy
and that motherfucker bro was amazing.I came, I see, like I
said, I've seen y kick didsome songs. I seen, I seen
you do your thing for a second. I've seen Selsky I start doing a

(19:07):
get low. When I heard Selskyliving by the Bay, he was hitting
those ad libs man for real,for real. I love that song with
Selsky and the Jack of recipes tothe jack Man Um, how did that
come about? Shout out to Seanji, Yes, shout out to d O
Yes, even Odds. Also gottashout out my homegirl, Christine. She's
an event planner, so that's reallythe catalyst that she hit me up,

(19:33):
like, I like what you're doing. I'm an event planner. Let me
know if you have any ideas.I'm like, as a matter of fact,
I got an idea. I'm gonnathrow a big ass concert. I'm
gonna get some live graffiti. I'mgonna put up live graffiti art. I
want to have a live podcast.I want to have a discussion panel with
women in hip hop. I wantto have vendors. I want to do
it. It's just like a crazyidea I had, because you gotta strike

(19:56):
while the iron is hot. Soit's like, if all I'm doing are
these TikTok Instagram clips, I don'twant to just be the Instagram guy.
No, you know, I wantto see where I can take this platform
and take it further. So wegot a podcast. Now, now we
have basically a festival. It's gonnawe are already booking the next one.

(20:21):
So that was kind of where itwas, and just like a way to
kind of celebrate the progress that I'vemade and celebrate the Bay Area. And
that's I think when you talk aboutthe energy, that's what it was.
It wasn't just like, oh,let me go watch some guys wrap.
It was like, this is acelebration of the bay This is a way
to like give back to the batMan it was a beautiful event. I

(20:41):
mean, like I said, uh, who else did I see? I
seen someone else? Macmaul quinn wasthereof Defaraoh Bro. Yeah, he's he's
he's a great when it come toperforming. Absolutely, he's up there.
Who's some of your favorite performers tosee and then we'll go bayar because everybody

(21:06):
like you know Bear, but who'syour performers? Because I know you like
a lot of hip hop, Sotell me some of your favorite performers.
And you were doing your thing too, thank you. You was freestyling and
ship. Yeah yeah, yeah,I learned from and learn from. I'm
a student off Bro. I donBro one of the I'll ask you a
question, but you just reminded melike one of the illest experiences in my

(21:26):
hip hop life. I'm in ZuluNation. Okay. So I went to
the fortieth anniversary of Zulu Nation inNew York and it was a concert with
Ice Cube, Iced Tea Public Enemy, Naughty by Nature, Q Tip and
like Laura Finesse, what a bill. It was insane. It was only
like three hundred people there, Zuluchilling, and I got to to you

(21:52):
know, it's old school New York. A lot of times I've seen New
York rappers, they'll be like,all right, once any one out here
on a freestyle. Anytime you getthat call, you better, you better
pume, you better get to thestage. So I got to go up
there and like rocket in front oflike DJ read alert. You know what
I'm saying, Like to me,that's like, that's huge. Yeah,

(22:15):
that's fucking world market off the topof the dome. So I kind of
got that from cash Like Caress one. If you see you see carrass one
he puts on the show. Yousee Big Daddy came. Oh man,
he came dance, he got dancers, he got you know what I mean?
He does call in response with thecrowd. When you're on the stage.
You got to be a stand upcomedian, a singer, a preacher,

(22:37):
a politician. What do you callthat? What do you call that?
That's being an m oh yeah,that nigga he had he wasn't.
It was a dope question that MClet him know, man talk about like
I host, by the way,so if you need a hole next year,
let me know. Shout the Lordday, Yeah, get you on

(22:59):
the One of the things that Itell rappers, who the fuck are you
niggas just get on the stage andstart rapping, like niggas know like that,
we know that that's big Daddy kakenigga. Who are you? Slow
down? Introduce yourself? Hey man, my name Filmo Mike. I'm from
San Francisco. And then when yougo out of town, it's so much

(23:19):
more needed to do that. Yeah, And it's like, bro, I'll
be like I'll be trying to tellI'll be trying to give them like my
little bit of home training about becauselike like I'm trying to give them showmanship.
Yeah. So it's like, bro, like do y'all like slow down?
Like do y'all call a response?Do y'all say what's up? Y'all?
Like do y'all do y'all make funof nobody listening to me? Right?

(23:42):
Like anything? You know what I'msaying, Like I don't understand why
more rappers don't know how to bean MC. And then just one more
thing they rap with the music overthe lyrics. Can't you just expound on
that room quick? I mean Idon't Yeah, no, no, this

(24:02):
is no. This is a goodgame though, Like this is a good
game. Like okay, let's sayyou have your lyrics because it is difficult.
I can do it. I gotbreath control, I got my control,
I got memorization. It's difficult torock a show by yourself. Back
in the days, cast will havea show version, so they would turn
their vocals down, Just turn themdown a little bit, right. Sometimes

(24:26):
I'll just leave my ad libs onthere, or leave the hook on there
so I can take a little bitof a break. But see that the
game has changed where I think becauseof social media, it's about to look
more than it's about the sound.So I think a lot of casts are
coming up thinking if you just looklike the biggest, baddest gangster. You

(24:48):
got a bunch of guns in yourvideo. You you're slapping girls on the
ass with one hundred dollars bills andyou got strippers twerking in your face.
You know now me and you know, okay, you paid you paid them
girls to do that. Bro,They're not doing that on the strength for
like you just showed up in yourcloud or their clothes off. Some cats

(25:10):
dude gotta like that. Not verymany, right, So it's about the
look. It's about like, letme get all these dudes to stand behind
me, which I don't understand either. If I'm gonna be on stage with
a bunch of people, it's like, would litter at least be some women
or some people that can dance motivatethe crowd. I don't want a bunch
of stak ass dudes and stand outthere looking tough. Wash it back.

(25:33):
Yeah, come on, a bunchof bad breath motherfuckers. So it's about
the look. And then I thinka lot of young rap cats they think
what they get, the wave theygot right now is gonna last forever,
that the phone, the booking isgonna keep coming because you got a hot

(25:55):
song for two years, three years, four years. The difference is you
look at a cat that like knowshow to tour, knows how to perform,
knows how to give people an experiencethat they can't get anywhere else.
If I just want to see you, if you're just gonna wrap over your
lyrics, I could just play therecord you know what I'm saying, Or

(26:15):
you could just walk through it.I can say say they cheated, y'all.
You could be listened to the Applemusic Yeah yeah, yeah, no
facts facts. But then when yougot somebody that's like like you said talking
to people like oh wait, holdon, look at you over there,
you're singing everywhord like come up hereand sing the song with mee, or
like Yo, I'm here in thiscity and I know that this happened,

(26:37):
and I don't know that they representthis over here, Like make some noise
for that. Anything to just belike or like you know, like a
freestyle or like an acapella or justanything to be like dad to your show.
Yeah it's a show, bro,We're entertaining. Yeah, bro,
you feel me like it's like anythinglike the NBA or the circuit sort or

(27:00):
a play or a Broadway musical broadlike you want to you want to speed
to go there and have an experience? Right? Are you not entertained?
Come on? Man? Nah?But I got hellic questions. How have
you survived this long independently on somereal shit? The realist ever has always

(27:22):
had a backup plan. So Ialways I always uh. I was around
some uh, some people who weremaking their money by non legal means,
allegedly that allegedly financed some of myearly projects. Got so some base shit
got you, But I knew Ihad to have a plan B So I

(27:44):
always kept me a jobby job.I worked with the young people. I
went to school on and off.Eventually I sucked around and got a law
degree, which a lot of peopledon't know. Wow, practice as an
attorney for a couple of years.You esquire off. This motherfucker drags one
esquire. Yeah, yeah, Igotta start talking about that a little more.

(28:06):
For real. I didn't like it. I didn't like practicing. I
didn't like law school. But I'mglad I did it. But that turned
my brain onto like organizing and likeprofessor, that's what I was trying to
get to. Yeah. So sonow I kind of look at what I've
been doing for the last ten years, like what hasn't been working? What

(28:26):
do I gotta do? Bro?Like the more you looked on, hold
on, hold on, you saidyou didn't look at what was working.
You looked at what did not work. Yeah, wow, continue my bad.
Ya. No, that's big rightthere. Because I had some accolades,
I had some you know, littletrophies I had to. I have
an international fan base. I don'trun around like bragging, like look at

(28:47):
me, but it's real talk.I've been selling CDs around the world since
I was nineteen years old. Butwhat's not working, like, what's not
making it go and do what itneeds to do? And a lot of
that is just a business. Idon't have a silver spoon type of background
where somebody was just going to wavea magic microphone and hand me a check.
I had to figure out, allright. The more little screws and

(29:11):
nuts and boltsy tightened up in youroperation, the more you see the rewards
so little, like you're you know, having your LLC have, paying your
taxes, getting your publishing straight.Like, what are the sources of income
that I can make as a guy? I all I want to do,
Mike, I just want to eitherI just want to be around wrap and

(29:36):
art all day, whether I'm talkingabout it, doing it or you know,
that's all I want to That's allI want to see, Right,
So how do I make money?It sounds kind of crazy, but it's
not that hard when you think about, all Right, I can get this
much from streaming. I can getthis much from YouTube, I can get
this much from shows. I canget this much from merchandise. I can

(29:59):
get this much from fee. Istill do commission art projects. I still
paint with kids and go to schoolsand you know what I'm saying, and
teach them how to do it.So yeah, that's basically how Now,
Like my hustle is like three sixtybro. Like, wow, I'm three
sixty five or three hundred sixty degrees. Bro, you're getting hosted rapid days.

(30:22):
Yeah. I get up every dayand I work. Bro. I
don't I work more than I didat the nine to five, you know
what I mean. I don't takedays off. I get up every morning
and I bust plays from the timeI wake up to the time I go
to bed. But yeah, it'smore so like I have a clear vision
of how does this work? Andthe cool thing about it. I don't
need to be like the biggest,the biggest fish in the pond, right,

(30:45):
I could just be me. Ijust know how to tap into my
supporters, do my thing, getmy paper, pay my bills, put
the food in my friends. Youwere talking about your first show and you
was like, yeah, man,we had a little we had our little
click. I feel we thought wewas we thought we was the ship and
he really we had a little tickets. Just talk about like when you first

(31:06):
started rapping versus now and like thebiggest difference because you said something. You
just said something, and I wasjust going to ask you basically, is
that from maturity? Like do youget that grind from maturity or is it
just goes back to what you said. I'm doing what I didn't do,
Like if I if I did thisand it didn't work, I'm not doing

(31:26):
it anymore. It's hard to say. I mean, So I started with
a crew called gas Mask Calling.It was four of us, and we
were like, we're curring some wildboys, bro like you alls, like
the alcoholics or something. Yeah,you already sensed it. Yeah, we're
like forty. But this is howwe started at house parties, drinking forties,

(31:48):
busting freestyles and the house party wouldturn into a show wow and people
we were show up at a partyand people like, oh, it's them,
they're here, Like you guys aregonna wrap tonight, Like that's sick.
And that's how it started. Sowe saw early like we had talent.
We definitely got sidetracked by um,you know, whether it's street stuff

(32:09):
or drinking too much. Small youknow, were some wild boys, and
but I always was the one.I was like the rizza of this clam
Okay, let me know, Iwas I was like nigga, I was
like, we're gonna do that,dirty bastard. I was not. We

(32:37):
had an ODB. We probably hada couple of odbs. But now I
was the one that's like, I'mgonna learn how to do pro tools,
I'm gonna learn how to do graphics, I'm gonna learn how to do videos
like and then no disrespect to mybrothers. They'll say it themselves though,
like they couldn't really keep up withthat, and the distractions was a little
heavier on their side, So it'swe all. I always had to drive.

(32:57):
It was just more like trial andarea. I didn't know what I
was doing, Bro, I didn'thave anybody to show me we was getting
money from from like Frisco Street Showwould buy some CDs man and then instead
of pushing yeah, shout out showTime, shout out Marv, instead of
putting that money to the side andreinvest in this, like cool, let's
buy eights, right, you knowwhat I'm saying, Let's buy some purple

(33:17):
like they got grapes. Yeah,it was that kind of air. Now,
I'm like, bro, everything Itouched goes into the business savings account.
You feel what I'm saying. Idon't. I try not to pack.
How long did it take? Thenot like how long? But when
did you? When did you likestart noticing that was that early on?

(33:38):
Was that? Like, No,it took a long time about you.
It's really the last three or fouryears got you. I was just like,
I can't, Like I thought Iwas gonna quit all I did it,
I didn't really work out. I'mgonna just be a lawyer now and
then, but all my as,it's just like things just started happening.
My song started picking up, Istarted getting better and started making better music,

(34:01):
Like I got more opportunities. Ilinked back up with Nicotina, Like
just cool stuff started happening. It'slike, all right, I can't quit.
But now this is real because nowI'm making lawyer money. So it's
like to put that as to aside. It's just gotta be real,
Brott. No more like just smokingblunts and having fun. And it's like,

(34:22):
no, this is a business,bro So last three four years,
I've just been turning up my grind. I've been working harder and it's paying
off. And I'm older. I'mthirty six, but I feel like i'm
in my prime, bro, andI feel like I got so much more
to do, and I still feellike I got plenty of time to do
it. There's rappers that are likeblowing up in their thirties even cost to

(34:44):
their forties, and casts who arein their forties and fifties who are still
relevant. So I feel like thegame is wide open. I feel like
I'm a kid again to be honest, like born again, and now I'm
gonna do this correctly. What you'reyou're international rapper Drags one Wash your Back
podcast filmal micat host. Who gotErica McGee photography here? We got Christian

(35:07):
doing some shit. I don't knowwhat Christian doing. He helped me out.
We got set in here taking pictures. What's your favorite place to perform?
Japan? Japan? Is you saidthat quick too? I've done three
shows out there, Bro, it'sa tweak, bro, Like, tell
me something about Japan. It's becauseI've heard it's like kind of like New

(35:31):
York. Yeah, a little bit, okay, a little bits very metropolitan
like Tokyo. Especially Tokyo is likethe big city. Tokyo is probably the
size of like too New York.Oh wow, it's big it's a lot
of people, but the culture isdope. It still has like some of
that ancient Japanese flavor to it,Like it's what they call homogeneous society,

(35:55):
like just Japanese. It's not likeRisco or you got Someones, you got
this, you got black, yougot Latino. It's like over there,
it's just Japanese. So when theyfind something that's different, they like latch
onto it. Whether it's like,oh that's sick rock music or Low Riders
or whatever, the comic books,whatever it is, like, they go

(36:16):
hard. So I basically found thatI have a fan base of people who
love Frisco. Wow, not theBay, not just the Bay, like
Frisco specifically. So when I wentout there and rocked the show and his
cat showing up with still book onBlack Niner, I'm sorry. When was

(36:37):
the first time you went to Japanum as a as a. I went
there on a school trip. Iwent to ICA International Academy. They was
like, let's take these kids fromthe hood and show them something. I
say, had a good girls basketballteam. That's ICA or you thinking ICR
International Studies. Yeah, yeah,they probably had a girl's basketball team.

(36:59):
Actually, a matter of fact,yes, because they're every other team had
like a completely losing record, right, I think the girls softball team and
the girls basketball teams off. No, no, no, it's all get
so. Yeah. I went outthere at oh four, like two week
trip. I wasn't really rapping inand then I went back in twenty nineteen

(37:22):
Rock my first show out there,and yeah, it was like it was
crazy. Bro. So they justlove Frisco culture. Yeah, they love
They identified with it, they relateto it. There's like there's like certain
neighborhoods that have like a Frisco feelto them, and it's like like like
it's some ill shit, Like ifyou got a giant's hat, They're like,
oh, like you got a giantlike bro when you get that.

(37:43):
Like so they know like all ourrappers they know, like they knew my
lyrics. It was crazy, bro. My Connie and I was talking about
like that was big over there.They're like, oh gos was calling in.
It was sick bro. So whatwould you tell people like you in
Japan? So how would you telllike an up and coming rapper, Like,

(38:07):
what would you tell them, likebroke, get out go to Japan
or what would your message be anywhere, right, go to Alabama, go
to North Carolina, go to Seattle, go anywhere. Like this is game.
I soak game, Mike, Like, this is not new. I
didn't invent this. What you thinkforty and the Click was doing back in
the day. I got a showin Pive Blunt Arkansas. Man, what

(38:28):
the fuck is that? You?Come on? Man? You don't think
RBN was going out to Detroit anddrey Dog was going up to Portland?
And do you follow that? Doyou just follow the chilling circle with that
blueprint? Where where was nicotine?That You're just gonna campaign nothing that suit
the same spots. It's just thesame mentality. So I don't really take

(38:51):
vacations. If I go travel somewherewith my girl and my family, I'm
like, hold on, baby,I need to go check out these record
stores too while we're out here offtime. Because you just show, you
just show up and you set upshop and you just campaign. It's the
same as being from Frisco. Okay, Let's say you from lake View,
you gotta go to film O.If you're from film O, you gotta
go to HP got to And ifyou're from Frisco, you gotta cross the

(39:13):
bridge and go to Oakland, andthen you start seeing, oh, it's
a big world out here. NowI can go to San Jose, Now
I can go to Stockton, Sacramento. And you take that same approach where
you'd be like, where's the hiphop at right, where's the rap fans
at, where's the stores at,where's the party's at, who's the DJ
out here, who's rapping out here, who's got to show out here?

(39:34):
Who's at the college radio? Andyou just go on campaign man, and
you make your presence felt. Andthen and then but from doing that,
like in all these different places,I still have followers that I picked up
over the years. And then yougo back, you go back in the
year or two, and it growsand it grows, and you just keep
just just repeat, right, Petethe cycle. I'm gonna name a city.

(39:58):
You gotta tell me your favor arapper from that city. Okay,
EPA, Oh totally insane. Justcan't say too, is that of course?
You say? Okay? Uh?Philadelphia? Oh Philadelphia? Uh school
e d wow old school school ed Uh? Oakland too, short VALEO,

(40:24):
max Jo, Miami Trick Daddy.Favorite place to visit outside of Japan,
Paris. Where is always? Ialways Eric could tell you, I
always ask this question, where's yourlike, because we already talked about Japan.
Tell me a fan base or likea group of section or a sector

(40:45):
of fans you like, Damn,I never knew that I got fucking fans
in Iceland. I mean yeah,Iceland. Like name it. Like I'm
not trying to be brack nah hellnah, bro, Like it should be
real. Bro, I really dothis. I've really been nineteen twenty years

(41:07):
old going to the post office,Like how many stamps do I need to
send this to Germany? You knowwhat I'm saying? Mexico? Then they
love me in Mexico. I checkmy Shazam's you know what. I go
to check your shazams, my Applemusic for artists. That's some good game
too. Like it's like it's everycountry on the map. Bro. That's

(41:28):
beautiful, bro. But I meanit's the biggest, Like yeah, I
mean I could just keep going Canada. I mean it's it's a blessing.
Bro. When's the next time you'redoing a tour? When the next time
you you're gonna be outside? I'mworking on that right now. I'm putting
together some dates. I'm putting togethersome options, and it's all in house.
You're doing it yourself. Like asfar as putting together the dates,

(41:52):
you would say, I have ateam. I have a team. Got
you have some other people I'm consideringbringing in, But I'm also looking into
making them more of an experience.So combining the graffiti, combining the podcast,
combining everything into the live experience.So I want to make it to
worry because there's still plain people whodon't know about my music, which is
cool. They know about me forthis' so just come out and just come

(42:16):
rock with me. That's kind ofhow I'm putting it together. You know
what I was mad about. It'sa washerback podcast. We were dregs one
film on Mike here. I wasmad I didn't get to check out the
the Lady the Women, the Womenin hip Hop panel. Can you tell

(42:36):
people that weren't there just a quickyou know, two minute whatever? What
that was? Yeah, because that'sgonna actually air this week. We're gonna
put that up on YouTube. Thatwas a discussion panel moderated by Nastia.
She's a journalist from KQEED and itfeatured CMG from conscious Daughters, d Ray
the famous band photographer, and myhomegirl dime Feed the artists from Oakland.

(43:00):
And it was basically, these threevery powerful women all excuse me, these
four powerful women, all sharing theirstories, their experiences, the ups and
downs of what women deal with inthe industry, and um, that's what
I wanted to include in the lineupbecause hip hop is I'm not a I'm
not a sausage party kind of guy. You know what I'm saying. I

(43:22):
appreciate you feel me. I don'tlike being around a bunch of dudes right,
straight upright. And then on topof that, the women just don't
get enough shine, right, enoughrespect and credibility. So I was gonna
ask, like, what made youjust because when you told me, like
man the history of the Bake Show, he was like, I got it.

(43:44):
I want this, I want thewoman panel. Besides you not just
want hell of dudes there. Whatwas the inspiration behind that? Like it
was just you just wanted to showcasewomen? Was it de Ray? Was
it just something? Yeah? Yeah, something like like it's like there's just
not enough of that. We wantedmore women performers. We had some opening

(44:06):
shout out to TYSF and the BabyMama Mafia and so Vicious. There's other
artists that we wanted to include.It didn't work out for whatever reason,
but um, yeah, I justwanted I wanted that space. I wanted
them to know, like what that'sbeautiful an artist or in the audience,
like we're providing this for y'all here, like we want y'all to be included.

(44:28):
We want you to be part ofthis. Off top. Me and
d Ray actually got the same birthday. We both love same birthday August thirteen.
I loved right. Yeah, she'sthe best couple. More questions,
I'm gonna let you go. We'vebeen here a while five minutes. I
could tell you chilling, but you'recomfortable. I love it. Um,
we didn't really get into how itkind of came together as far as with

(44:52):
you said old girl she worked atthe Midway, No Should she's an event
playing My home Girl Christine. Shehas a company called the Suwerte and they
do She's more like on the corporateevent side, right, and she just
reached out to me because she likedwhat I was doing. Got you and
then how did you hook up withDerby? Derby and San Francisco. U

(45:12):
was theyre a sponsor? Or?Did have you always been rocking with the
Derby they started? I just rocked. I just caught a couple of Derby's
a few years ago, and thenthey just they showed me love and like
reposted me when I was wearing themand then over because they were a sponsor
for that for the show. Iwas since a relationship with them because I

(45:32):
did a history video on them.Oh wow, because Derby's an important yes,
and the history video did really wellfor them, and I got great
feedback that they got a lot offollowers and a lot of orders after I
did that, which I was happyto do. And so I decided to
reach out to them when we werelooking to partner with the sponsor because their

(45:54):
brand just fits man history of theBay. They're like super homegrown Frisco locals,
you know, um, And soI'm really glad to have that connection
with them. No, that's that'sthat's sick. You just build connections,
Mike, like you just network.Yeah, said earlier, You just be

(46:15):
cool and then everything else kind offalls into place. That's real shit.
When y'all do the podcast right,your podcast, Hitter the Bay podcasts,
y'all not out of Meba? Right? No, okay we did do yeah,
okay, got you. Yeah,that was one special event that we
did. And then I mean,you've been you've been probably rocking with Amiba

(46:37):
for just as many years as you'vebeen rapping, right, So it was
just like, hey, dregs,like I used to go, I'm gonna
keep it real. We used toget records, right, I mean,
I'm just keeping it real. AndI was broke, like I'm an intern
type shit you feel, I wouldgo Volma has some sick records with the
pictures and all the ship. I'mtaking them to MEBA, so I know

(46:59):
the with the dreads. Yeah,I know, the whole staff out of
me. But they're like, what'sup, dude. I'm like, oh
man, what's up with y'all?But I used to go there to take
back CDs and records that shi toget some money. Oh yeah, So
I know you've been rocking with themfor forever. So when they seen you,
did they know that you were tryingto do it or did it just
like did you just say like hey, bro, like I forgot I forgot

(47:20):
the owner name, he got glasses? Uh? But yeah, did you
just did you get out? I'mlike, hey, man, I want
to do this or wow, Iseen Yeah they got in me. I
mean I've been selling my music therefor a long I know, and I
grew up in those aisles, sothat's always a big deal. But yeah,
once I put the word out thatthe podcast was coming together, and

(47:44):
they were like the first people tohit me up, like want to be
involved, and they've been hell andsupportive. That's it, and it's like
the perfect fit, you know.So y'all just got the little poster in
the background. I said, yeah, we got the post spare, we
got um. There's like history ofthe Bay pics if you go into me,
but if you go to the hiphop section, you can find like
certain titles under the history of Debatepicks. They spread the word through their

(48:07):
newsletter. We did the live podcastwith pl at the Store and I love
you. Got a lot of shitgoing on, man, man, tell
me about it. You got rollingpapers coming out, you got like a
like Jay stalling, you got likea sparkling wine. You're giving me some
ideas. Yeah, but that's whyI said earlier, right, I said

(48:29):
it right, Like being a rapper, it's just like you have all these
other avenues. Yeah, and it'slike this is what I love about Independent
Area rap Cast. It's like wejust bust plays, bro, man,
we just do stuff. We justdo stuff. It's whether it's a pop
up, whether it's an event,whether it's a merchandise, whether it's an
album, Like we're not afraid tothrow shit out there and if it pops,

(48:52):
dope, if it don't work out, onto the next but like it's
all the success just doing it.It's just like that's being a hustler too.
Is like you just you have tobe in love with the hustle.
You don't just got to look forthe results. I want to be this,
I want to change. I wantto do a song with this guy.
Bro, you just do shit andyou just make shit happen. And

(49:15):
as soon as one's done, youdon't patch yourself on them back for too
long. It's like, get upand get back to work, man.
Real talk words spoken by drags one. You're doing a really good job,
by the way, a good conversation. Some interviews it's like the same basic
ask questions. What do they beasking just the same what are your top

(49:37):
five albums all time? What areyour top five? O? Can I
ask you a question? Let meask you a question because I just seen
this on Instagram. This is justa conversational piece. Biggie album Life after
Death in All Eyes on Me?In your opinion, Tupac All Eyes on
Me? Which is that better album? Um? Just your opinion. I'm

(49:58):
not judging anybody. Well, Iforgot to say this surly when he asked
me about like rappers, like Tupacis actually my favorite rapper of all time.
Okay, so there's no way I'mnot gonna pick All Eyes on Me?
Got you? Life After Death isa masterpiece as well. It's just
that whole beef makes me sad lookingback in any years later because it was
so like the media and all theseother people kind of forced it to happen.

(50:22):
But yeah, bro, I meanI don't think he can really fuck
with like California Love And what's yourfavorite POC album? Me against the World.
That's my favorite album. That's agreat album. Yeah, slept On.
I gotta listen to that album likeevery couple of months, like front
to back. That album is agreat album. Yeah, it's amazing.

(50:44):
That's a great album. Um,every time I forget like I had a
question, right, and then Iasked another question, and then I remember
the question. Then I forget thefucking question that I was gonna ask a
fucking suck. Well, we're justtalking, man, all right, we
were just talking. I'm just I'mhappy you here, man. What do

(51:07):
you have in store for the people? What can they see you? Where
can they see you? Let themlet them know everything, give them your
whole rundown. Okay. So Historyof Debate podcast new episodes dropping every week
on YouTube, Spotify, every otherevery other podcast outlet, social media content.
We're gonna be doing more and morestuff History of Debate, Barry rap,

(51:28):
baiero, graffiti, food, alldifferent types of content. History of
Debay. Day Party will return intwenty twenty four. In the meantime,
I just announced this here, we'regonna be working on History of Debate concert
series. So between the day Party, which I hope to make a full
scale festival by next year, we'llbe doing concerts. So instead of the

(51:50):
daytime thing, it's like a nighttimething kind of in the same vein in
different cities around the Bay, notjust Frisco. Have you thought about taking
it, like, yes, furtherthan Callie or Chico. Yeah yeah,
yeah, yeah. Well you knowyou know how Iced Tea has the arter
rapp Yeah, or like rock LakoJazz rocked the bell right kind of see

(52:14):
history of the Bay being like that. At some point I told you in
the cafeteria, I talked to DJA Man and he told me he was
like he was like, he waslike, you gotta you gotta real thing
going, bro, keep it up, he said that, But I remember
I was like, Bro, thiskind of reminds me of your super high
fies that you used to sell outthe Phoenix. If y'all don't know for

(52:35):
reference, DJ A Man used towork at a camelle. He first got
his start. He was in SantaRosa, just doing his thing, just
doing him you feel me, NorthBay out there, yep, all the
stuff, and he just created ateam. Uh it's a guy by the
name of Static John that was rock. Yeah, Cad was here, all

(52:55):
them. They was rocking and theyused to do the super hiphies. You're
even kind of remind me of likea grown super hypie. Yeah. I
was inspired by that. I meanit was my first show, bro.
Wow show was Super Hyphy nineteen atthe Phoenix Stard with Nicotina and yuck Mouth
drew down San Quinn and the jacket. Wow, how historic is that?
Bro? I was nineteen years old. I probably was there too, Probably

(53:16):
was. I used to I usedto be Quinn hype man. And I
remember Quinn was he was on likeshit, he was on fire. No,
he was, he was on likeshit, he was so fire.
Alright, I got bad like Quinnis one of my favorite people to see
performing for real, but that nightI think he was. He had a

(53:38):
little bit too much, too toomuch rimmy. But uh uh that's crazy,
bro. Yes, so I wasinspired by that. But then I
also wanted to add the interactive componentsto the graffiti and then the panels.
So yeah, I'm not gonna I'mnot gonna take my foot off the gas.
That's beautiful, brother. So ifyou if you want to shout out,

(53:59):
anybody could do that right now wefinning, get up out of here
and watch your back podcast drags.I want to thank you, I appreciate
you, want I want people tocheck you out, fuck with you.
Yeah, and you feel me keeppushing a moving. Anybody want to shout
out? My shout out to everybodythat supports me. Man, y'all know
who you are. Brod like realtalk. Anybody that that fucks me on

(54:20):
social media or my music or sendsyou message or comes up to me on
the street like it's a genuine connection. It's genuinely appreciated. Everybody that I
work with. I have some reallycool people around me. I'm blessed and
shout out to all the pioneers ofthe Bay Area for paving away, because
I got love for every rap catthat ever put something on the shelves.

(54:40):
So I don't if whoever picked upa mic, I don't care how big,
how small. If you whack nigga, fuck that. I ain't got
love for your whackcasts. Now I'mjunking goat back to point you're putting out
that garbage. I mean, Istill I expect what it takes. Now
you're right, right, no,right, but yeah for some of yours,

(55:02):
stay on the show. Off themicrophone down, Oh real quick,
last question, we're gonna let we'regonna get up out of here. Your
favorite If there's anybody producer you couldwork with, who would that be?
Oh Man, producers like people who'sout make beats. They could have whoever,
it could have been rest in Peacetracks a million. Oh yeah,

(55:25):
I would have been tight uh DJquick, Oh that would be dope tonight,
Yeah, doctor of course, rightRock Pete Rock. I thought you
was gonna say Pete Rocks too theshow bro. But there's a lot of
you know, like I am Suesbeats or like Peel's beats, or like

(55:46):
the mechanics beats, I beats,I am su He's he's talented. Yeah,
you should have him at the historyof it. I think you can't
out write the history of the Baywithout I am so we we we.
He wasn't available. He tried toget him, but I still, I
still, I'm still in touch withsuit. So it's all he's doing a
show a Great America. Yeah,I might try to pull up, right,

(56:07):
we should pull up to that.Oh one last question? Who's your
next? I mean spoiler alert?Who who's the most requested history other Bay
person that you get? Is itDre? Is it Nicotina? But he
doesn't do interviews and he's pretty muchretiring from raps. Who Nicotina? Yeah?
Oh so not mac dre Andre?Yeah? To interview? No,

(56:30):
not interview, to make a videosaying yeah, okay, got you because
I haven't done one of him.Yeah. I asked him like, hey,
bro, can I I'm doing thisthing. He's like, I don't
need people in my business, bro, I see what a guy a quick
story about Nicotina. We gonna getup out of here. I was like,
uh, I'm like, nicky,bro, I'm trying to do a

(56:50):
show. Bro, I got you. It's gonna be in the town.
He's like, fuck that, I'mnot doing in the town. What you
mean in the town. I'm like, nothing gets over. But he was
like, I ain't doing it.I'm like, brother's right by the police
station. He was like, I'mreally not doing that shit. We about
here fig shout the drakeson. Thankyou Erica, thank you Christian. I

(57:12):
appreciate you, said, I appreciateyou as well. You'll have a nice
one to wash your back. Washyour Back podcast with film or Mike Peace.