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December 9, 2024 64 mins

Meet Suffice, an emerging hip-hop artist from Kaneohe, Hawaii.  This episode we explore his journey through the local rap scene.  We reminisce about cherished traditions like our annual KapunsGiving event and the unique experience of working together during the pandemic. This episode is a vibrant testament to the  exciting potential of a young artist’s promising career.

Step into Hawaii’s thriving skate community, where passion and creativity collide at the Honolulu Skate Film Festival. Suffice shares the electrifying experience of collaborating with renowned crews like Genesis from Seattle and the thrill of seeing our films showcased on platforms like Thrasher. The tight-knit skateboarding community offers a unique blend of technical discussions and creative expression, capturing the essence of adventure and the potential for growth in this dynamic scene.

From dissecting rap writing theory to navigating the intricacies of the music industry, this episode covers the universal language of music and the dedication required to succeed. We discuss the creative process behind impactful verses and the vital role of collaboration with talented producers and artists. Inspired by legendary MCs and modern influences, the journey underscores the importance of perseverance and embracing risks, drawing parallels between skateboarding and music as we celebrate the pursuit of passion and artistic freedom.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:08):
okay, welcome to another edition of the above the
bridge podcast.
I'm your host, thaddeus park.
For anyone just tuning in.
Um, please like, subscribe toour content.
You can find us on instagram.
You can also get our podcast onany platform that you can get
your podcast on also our youtubechannel.

(00:30):
So subscribe, like, listen.
Thank you guys for all yoursupport.
Uh, first thing I want to do isshout out our sponsors first.
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(02:16):
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(02:38):
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It's medicinal mushroom Hawaii.

(02:59):
Their um website is medmushroom highcom Aloha, okay.
Website is men mushroom highcomaloha, okay.
This week is, uh, my nephew'son on my show today.
He's one of my best friend'ssons and he's a local
up-and-coming rapper I would sayhip-hop artist, but he's he's a
little bit more deeper thanthat.
Suffice.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
What's up, man, how you been I'm doing good, how you
doing, uncle, how's it?

Speaker 1 (03:25):
I am doing great, bro .
I'm stoked to have you on myshow.
I always wanted to have you ononce.
You did something cool and yougot some shit cooking right now.
That's pretty cool and I wantto throw some shine at you.
First off, thank you for comingto Kapoon's Giving.
We all got fucked up.
Yeah, that was cool, that wascool, yeah, that was cool I fuck
it up yeah, when we were yourage, we would do that every

(03:49):
single thanksgiving we'd all goup to kapunahala and drink beers
and and cruise and um.
We're trying to keep thattradition going.
We've been doing it for like acouple decades already, so it's
cool that the next gen is comingout now you fucking, yeah, you
fucking is crazy bro.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, I love you guys .

Speaker 1 (04:10):
You guys is nuts yeah , you got to spar with your dad
and uncle mark, so that's alwaysfun yeah, that was.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yeah, that was fun bro.
Yeah, that was out of nowhere.
I was like, oh, I was on busand me and dad were just fucking
around and uncle mark hop and Iwas like, okay, raj, fuck him,
I'll throw yeah it was good itwas good to just test too,
because, like, what is it?
you know that get, we all getdifferent reaches, everyone get
different.
I always said about that right,so there's different agendas

(04:36):
and shit.
So you gotta remember that too.
Right, like I, I get range, youknow, you know.
So it's like opposite he gonnarush you, he gonna don't close
off distance.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
But well, your dad's a hammer, so you can't do shit
he's nuts?

Speaker 2 (04:49):
yeah, he's not.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
There's nothing you can do mark, I can teach you how
to fuck up.
That would be easy.
But yeah, thanks again forcoming, bro.
It was cool.
That was a fun night, kind ofchill.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
No, it's cool to be here it's cool to, yeah, just
even be on what podcast andcapoons, just everything in
general kicking with you hasjust been fun, right?

Speaker 1 (05:13):
you're a cool ass guy I try to be bra, I gotta keep
it real and I think I got lookmore.
I well I knew you and of yousince you were born and yeah,
I've known your dad for yearsand, like I said, he's one of my
closest friends, one of the fewpeople on this whole fucking
planet that I actually trust andI actually respect.

(05:37):
And, yeah, your dad issomething special, bro, special
to me also.
But I got close to you the mostis when we were swabbing
people's noses for the doogie,so much fun bro.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Oh my fucking god.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yeah, you guys are the best co-workers I've ever
had in my life oh yeah, theycan't put me and your dad
together on a job site, that'sjust or even just like also
Kayone Steph, just everybody.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
That was just a fun group of people to be around.
Everyone was just fucking goodfun, Talk shit, get the job done
.
I just best my kind of peopleto be around, bro.
I love productive, smart people.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
And it was a cruise job, we got to mess with a bunch
of celebrities.
Like what's so random, like howdid we end up there when I was
super weird?

Speaker 2 (06:32):
it was so fucking random.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yep, yep, yeah, good times we're trying to get you to
hit on the fucking, the meanactress I remember that shit.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, that was.
Yeah, that was fucking fun, bro, that was fun, good, fun, good
money, too good money, fuck.
Oh, yeah, yeah, food, food wasnice, but I had to do some
bullshit here and there.
It was fun, whatever, oh yeah,we taxed that.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah, yeah, oh, your dad would freaking come home
with all kinds of stuff.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
Anti-mercy too.
Yeah, fuck.
All the Filipinos say, askingfor everything.
We go over there.
Oh my God, yeah, I laugh, thatwas fun.
That was fun, bro, fuck.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah, did you watch that show?

Speaker 2 (07:19):
Fuck no, fuck no.
It's funny too, my homeboy.
He was like a stunt double Onthat shit.
Oh really, yeah, he like he didsome of the skating.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
That's fucking cool.
Yeah, that was a random Jobduring COVID.
That Random job.
It was super cool, like yeah,we were making good money and To
be low key.
But I'm putting it out there Meand your dad was kind of like
working two jobs at the sametime.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
No it was working in the ER.
That's how it was fucking out.
That's how much that is.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
Good fun.
Good fun, but from from gettingto hang out with you on a rig
was at least a couple of times aweek.
From getting to hang out withyou on a reg was that at least a
couple of times a week?
I got to know more of yourpersonality, more of who you
were, not just my nephew, likeJaren's son.
I got to see your capabilitiesand your potential and you had

(08:21):
this passion for rap.
And I meet a lot of people,especially the industry I'm in
in the nightclub industry.
I meet a lot of up-and-comingartists, wannabes, basically
scrubs, and when you come up tome like, oh, I like to rap, it's
kind of like ah I heard thisbefore I got to be cool.

(08:44):
You got to stand out because Ican't do it, but I was kind of
impressed For one.
You wrote down your stuff andyou were kind of a little bit
more serious than what I've seenother people do.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
And when you started to flow, I remember we were at
some house in Waimanalo.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
We were under the tent and you spit some of your
stuff and I was like, oh wow,this guy, this guy might have
something here.
And we kind of lined up one ofmy friends, sage, he's a rapper
and he brought you to Hoku'sstudio.
Hoku's pretty big time, youknow, like Hoku produced.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
I see him he be out there.
Yeah, I see his resume.
Yeah, you're doing shit.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
Yeah, you're hoku if you're watching this yeah, he's
supposed to come on too, but hegot.
He got a chance to bring you totheir studio and and mess around
a little bit and yeah, wedidn't want to stick around yeah
, we didn't want to stick aroundto let you kind of do your
thing, and I know your daddidn't want want you to feel
like he was um infringing, so helet you do your thing.

(09:49):
Yeah, well, it was cool thatyou got that opportunity, but
then you kind of didn't do muchin that genre until recently and
oh yeah, I skating bro, yeahhe's pretty much a skater, right
?

Speaker 2 (10:05):
yeah, bro.
So like I was just running withmy homies just because, like I
think, just out of nowhere, Igot into skateboarding around
high school and then I just metsome people at a skate park.
It was cool, and it was like itwas cool for me because they
were younger than me at the time, but they were like they were
mad gifted, so super humbling,right.
So you just like you likeseeing how they, how they learn

(10:26):
shit.
Like when you see kids howquick they learn shit, that's
what I was fascinated by.
I was like, fuck bro, thesekids get it.
And then I kept meeting morepeople that were like that and
then I was just like, oh, it'scool, skating is some of the
fucking most interesting peopleyou'll ever meet.
Like even the way I talk isweird and it's because of
skating, because there's so muchdialects and shit going on.
Like you thought pigeon cameabout weird from that.

(10:47):
Like I speak weird street slang, what mixed with like pigeon,
because of just how I like talkbut also like write my raps and
shit.
So it's all incorporated.
Yeah, fuck, skate.
Yeah, skating took over.
I didn't really make music fora minute but I had a good sm.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
You did tap into your creativity when you were
fucking with those skater boysBecause you were filming.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
You're making videos, so I was running my brand.
So every Sunday we were runningout streets all over the island
.
I mean we was in ditches andfucking Y&I in Keolu Ditch.
We'd be on rooftops of schools,fucking almost every high
school we probably hit.
Like I can't I can't evendescribe to you like I have hard

(11:30):
drives full of shit from placesI've been at.
We're just fucking runningaround because, like that's how
everybody was, that's how 808skate was, that's how apb was,
like I'm just the nextgeneration of fuckers.
I was doing it, but it wasfuckers long before me that I
was running up.
So it's cool to see like theOGs was fucking with me, like to
see like you know what I'mputting up and they're like, oh
your shit's tight To see all mycrew come together the way that

(11:53):
they did.
And like a lot of them haveshoe sponsors and shit.
Now you know they have boardsponsors and shit.
So that's all thanks to all theshit we did going out on the
streets and sending it to peoplefrom adidas and nike because we
had the connection through a808 skate shout out, fucking
joshua rubes and uh chuck,they're the people that put us
on with those connections isthey know everybody your local

(12:15):
skate shop knows everybodythat's.
You get put on, you get goodwith them and you're nice with
it as you get put on.
So that I did.
I got my homies put on and thenI did my shit.
Now I'm kind of doing music.
I'm going to try merging tooeventually.

Speaker 1 (12:27):
Well, that's cool and I think because you gave so
much shine to your friends andtried to prop your boys up,
they're kind of going to do thesame for you.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
Bro, yeah, they're good.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
Did you have something at the Honolulu
Academy of Arts or somethinglike that?

Speaker 2 (12:45):
Two years, bro, two years.
First year, yeah, I can'tremember Like 2020, I think I
thought something.
No, 2021, 2022.
Fuck, I forget the years now,but I've had two different years
in which I put out a video andI got played at that Honolulu
Skate Film Festival, shit overthere.
So that was super sick to haveit played in a theater with
everybody from like all theskate parks and shit.

(13:06):
You know, I mean people you'veseen who just skate around the
island, like the community, likeeverybody recognize each other
because, like you know,instagram and shit, social media
, so to see everybody in thesame theater, that's crazy.
Like everyone drinking, youknow, I mean talking, have a
good, like you come off becauseit's smoking, doing whatever,
like it was just good, fuckingfun.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
So that was sick that's super cool and what the
um?
The skate community here inhawaii is getting big.
Are they got you guys?
Got guys that can actually gopro and make a name?

Speaker 2 (13:35):
get plenty fuckers.
I don't know if you knowcypress blanco is, but he's from
here.
He's fucking nuts.
Uh, when a lot, usually whathappens is people get big here
but, like you go out there toskate and have your fun, do a
little trip, but then come backbecause a lot of fuckers come
here to come skate shit too.
Oh yeah, that's how people cometo us, you know, I mean.
People come here and they'relike, oh, where should we go for
like street spots and shit.

(13:56):
We're like, oh, check out thisthis.
You know, I mean, so I had, uh,this skate crew from seattle.
They're pretty big, they'recalled Genesis.
They're doing the same shit wewere doing, but they're doing it
on a way larger scale.
The filmer, the organizer's name, is Ian Ostrowski.
I think they contacted my homieand then that's how we all got
connected.
So then when they were here, Iwas filming shit for them.

(14:16):
So then I think their video gotput up on Thrasher.
So some of the shit that Ifilmed for them got thrown up on
thrasher as well.
So that was fucking sick.
I think it happened twicealready, I'm pretty sure.
So I've been in.
Yeah, I just got to assist in alot of cool shit because, like
my friend, also rides for thisthis other brand called fuck the
population and uh, I gottasubmit some shit that I filmed

(14:37):
with him to them.
So that was cool to see my shiton their stuff and getting some
free boards, some free shirtsbecause of it.
Like I'm cool with the teammanagers.
Name is chris rising superfucking tight guy.
Yeah, ftp is fucking sick.
They're like what.
They're wild as fuck.
I love how they film shit,their brand image, marketing,
creative direction.
Dude, they're killing a fuckinggame like if I got they also

(14:59):
have records too.
Right, they have like a recordlabel.
I think chief keef is fuckingsigned, signed to them.
If they ever wanted to sign meI'd be so fucking game for it.
I just fuck with their brand.
I already know their teammanager.
My homie writes for them.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
It's like fuck it'd be sick, perfect fit.
What do you use to film?

Speaker 2 (15:19):
Right here, this is my HPX 170.
This right now has my fisheyelens on it just has that
distorted shit.
If you turn the stem viewfinderaround like, yeah, I'll be out
fucking doing follow lines, longlens, shit, whatever, oh yeah
this is I use?

(15:40):
Yeah, just usually shit likethis Fucking.
It's pretty big.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
That's cool.
It's not like you're using yourphone and shit.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah, no, I got to like take this shit off of here
Because those are recorded to SD.
It records to these fucking P2cards.
See, like this shit's kind ofbust because I had a skateboard
flying to the back of it, butfucking this shit's all.
Yeah, so it's P2, so you haveto transfer it off the P2.
It's fucking stupid man.
Sometimes it's tedious.
I want to get a differentcamera, but I'm focusing more on
music right now, so I'll dothat later.

(16:09):
This camera is still good, butI have more goals to elevate my
filming as well as my music.
And how do I do shit?

Speaker 1 (16:17):
Well, everything's a process.
You got to go one step at atime.
I think you're stepping biggerinto your music and I kind of
been waiting for you to do this,bro.
I was kind of hoping you wouldcome on, pull the fucking
trigger like oh, yeah, just goabout it be about it.
You know, I mean, and yeah,right, you, you're coming hard

(16:41):
and you're coming quick, bro,like since there's a backstory,
but since you put it out there,it's coming in fast and quick
and you're getting.
You're getting spotted becausemy friends who are ogs in the
game started talking about you.
Um, chris styles hit me up andhe's angry locals like one of

(17:03):
the og rappers.
Um, ai, yeah, or I I all yeah,they're.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
They're big in the hawaii rap scene and yeah, it
was cool to get props toeverybody.
That happened real fast.
That was crazy too.
I didn't expect that to happenso quick because I have my
scheme right, but like I didn'tthink I was gonna get noticed
that quickly, I thought I wasgonna gain more of an audience
outside of hawaii and then Igained the audience here.
That was always my plan,because I didn't think people

(17:33):
here listened to like rap orcared about it as much.
So I started going to likealoha got soul and I was like,
oh shit, motherfuckers actuallycare.
I think the more and more Istarted going out and like
seeing what was there, then Iwas like, okay, word, I can put
this out, because when you'rejust around a bunch of kids my
age who don't fucking listen tothe shit, you do, you know, I
mean like I'm listening to likemusic so old that like you can

(17:54):
hear the tape hissing in thefucking background.
You know, I mean I love thatshit, like I love that old grimy
, like shit from like stretchingbobito freestyles, like all of
that shit's ill.
But like so once I figured thatout, I was like, oh, I have a
market now.
So then I just started likeactually writing and taking it
seriously.
I didn't think I could takethis seriously.
That was my whole thing.
I didn't think it was possibleto be like, oh, I could be a

(18:15):
rapper, you know, I mean becausethere was so many fuckers who
were like mcs, but you ain'treally.
You know, you don't impress me.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yeah, exactly, and trust that I don't get impressed
easily.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
I told many a friend, bro, don't quit your day job,
because this ain't it, bro.
They play me their stuff andI'm just like yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:40):
But first off.

Speaker 1 (18:41):
I want to hear about how you came about with your
name, suffice.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
Okay.
So suffice is is interestingCause I so I go by three
different like stage names, inthe same way that, uh, this
rapper, mf doom does, and I havemy reasons for this.
I'm not going to reveal why,but essentially, uh, suffice is
the main ego kind of the mainperson, and suffice is the main

(19:07):
ego kind of the main person, andsuffice just as a word.
It means to be enough.
So, in key, suffice wants to beenough for the game.
And far as like pop, I want to.
My biggest goal isn't reallylike fame or nothing.
It'd be cool.
Like if naz heard my shit, Iwas like yo, that's tight.
Or like if m heard my shit andwas like that's, that's, that's
the main thing.
Like if the people who I fuckwith, who inspired me to write
this way, like actually fuckedwith me.
I was like that's enough for me, like that's my impact.

(19:29):
You know what I mean.
Now I'm acknowledged, I'm inthat hall of fame for me, so
that's all I really want.
So that's what Sufais was.
It's just my urge to kind ofalmost be acknowledged and that
becomes like my up and down hereand there.
Uh, sincere is actually was myoriginal stage name.
I was gonna go by sincere, andsincere comes from that movie,

(19:49):
belly with naz and dmx, okay,and I just really fuck with naz.
So naz is playing a character bythe name of sincere, so that's
where I got the name from, butyou can tell it's sincere
because sincere doesn't cuss.
So he's also my creative limit.
That's how I test myselfcreatively if I can write bars
without cussing.
So if I have a song sincere onit, he's also my creative limit.
That's how I test myselfcreatively if I can write bars
without cussing.
So if I have a song sincere onit, he's not cussing.
So that's basically how I doradio plays and how I do other

(20:11):
things when the time comes.
So you got to find ways tofinesse things.
And then, uh, pawn was a reallya character that exists solely
off of the chess piece, and Ikind of wanted his girl to be
symbolic, because I want pawn toeventually become a queen when
he gets to the other side andthe board is life.
You know, I mean, yeah, thatwas the, the metaphor I had.
So I have a.

(20:31):
The current two songs I have areabout sincere and pawn.
Uh, the story with pawn is he'sa part of this gang.
He gets set up.
Basically he gets uh assignedto kill somebody, kills the
person and kills a bystander inthe process and then finds out
it's like his brother and thenthe song ends there and there's
a mob beat reference at the veryend that I sampled and that

(20:53):
song kind of comes from likemixing elements of naz's phone
tap and immortal techniques.
Uh fucking, what was that onesong?
I can't think that's pianodance with the devil.
There it is.
Yeah, I'm just mixing differentelements from the songs I like
and then sincerely sincere ismore or less a letter from
sincere to suffice, talkingabout what life is like back at

(21:15):
home, because for some reason,suffice is mia and the idea of
me, the idea of me returning, isme dropping this ep I like that
.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
I like that um pawn analogy because I'm a I'm a fan
of the, the piece I play chess,all I play it now I'm just on my
chest all the time so one thingabout a pawn what I like and um
, something one of my friendstold me, is that the pawns.
Pawn is the only chess piecethat can get leveled up no

(21:46):
matter what you do.

Speaker 2 (21:47):
No, matter what, it's the only one that can.

Speaker 1 (21:50):
And the pawn also can only move forward, it can never
move backwards.
Never back, yeah, that's why Ilike that piece you ever watch
the Wire.
No, I don't think I have.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
Dude, there's a Fuck.
That show's really good.
They use a lot of chessmetaphors and they'll do it like
, sometimes literally, orthey'll like do it visually and
how they convey it throughstorytelling.
And one of the things I noticedfrom a critic and their
observation was that this onecharacter was getting gunned
down by two different opposinggunmen, and the gunman moved in

(22:25):
a diagonal from the right, likethe bishop and the knight would,
yeah, and the pawn that was onthe corner didn't back down from
the fight, even though he had achance to, in the same way that
a pawn can only move forward.
I was like yo.
So once I realized that, I waslike okay, there's numerous ways
you can convey anything, sothat's why, like, symbolism

(22:46):
became so important.
And then, like, I had a deeperunderstanding of like, I think
film and then art from all ofthat.
Then I was like, oh fuck, youneed to understand everything
now.
There's so much you could missif you don't pay attention yeah,
well, just like eminem.

Speaker 1 (22:59):
Right, he has two alter egos.
Right, he's eminem, he's alsoslim shady, that's two different
two different uh types of stylethat he raps and his six boys
have the same kind of situation.
His whole crew.
D12, right.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
All six of them have two different alter egos, right?

Speaker 1 (23:21):
So that's why they're D12, the dirty 12, or whatever
the fuck they were called oh,they have numerous.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
I heard that because also they had this freestyle on
Tim Westwood in 98.
I bumped that for like fuckinghours.
But I think they also saidstill like you go by d12,
because when you get stumpedit's it's not d6, it's 12 of us,
sneak licks or some shit likethat.
That was sick.
That's crazy.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
I never heard it from that point of view yeah, it's
six of them, but each one ofthem have two eagles.
That's crazy, I never.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
Yeah, I never heard that one.
That's cool.

Speaker 1 (23:55):
I love learning shit, yeah yeah, but I I trip because
you are inspired from artiststhat that me and your dad grew
up with and, yeah, this day andage, I am super disappointed
with how rap is, and that's itcould be because I'm older.
It could be, it's just it's not.

(24:16):
There's no heart in it.
I grew up with yeah, I grew upwith real yeah, yeah, music like
poetry, you know, I mean andone thing that I got from my
friends that listen to yourstuff through um instagram was
like brah ia hit me out.
Oh, he got that 90s hip-hop.
Feel cristal is like oh, he hasthat hunger it's.

(24:38):
They think that you you'recoming across with that old
school vibe, that poetry.
It's different than what thenew guys are doing and it could
be just me hating because Idon't fuck with it, but I like
the old stuff better because ithas more heart, more soul.
It puts people in tune withtheir culture.

(25:03):
Now it's like big booties andfucking.
That's really not fucking.
There's no depth to it.
You know what I mean?
I totally agree.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
Well, it's more or less like it's like the media,
right, it's whatever, whateverit sells, because you also
remember there's like, there'sparty music and then there's
shit you play in your house orlike shit, yeah, playing your
car.
A lot of people confuse likeparty music, which is more or
less pop, with opposed to likehip-hop, which is more or less
your soul and like what you putyour ends up into.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
So I think people get the the terms confused, I feel
so if you were to categorizeyour style of music, what would
you categorize it?

Speaker 2 (25:45):
as hip-hop more or less.
But there's also, like I have asong that I or an instrumental
that I rap on in this ep.
That's very r&b like and I kindof want to do more r&b soul
things, because that's kind ofwhat hip-hop is.
It kind of merges a lot ofthings because you can sample a
certain record and incorporatesamples from a different genre

(26:06):
and maybe that'll influence theway your beat sounds.
So it gives a certaindistinction to it, because you
have like boom bap, which ismore like aggressive sounding
instrumentals, which is kind oflike that eminem sounding
snippet I have currently outlive now, die later.
I rhyme greater.
And then you have like uh, thatother song with the bibidubi
sample I have, for example, ismore like modern, because I'm

(26:26):
taking a sample that's kind ofreminiscent of like uh, shiloh's
dynasty I'm closing my eyes,but I'm using it in a similar
manner to how Jocelyn Flores isflipped into it.
So there's all different sortof styles.
So I guess for me it's like I'mmixing shit.
I'll be at some R&B shit, but Imight be on some boom bap beat
and I might be on some chillshit, but more or less like rap

(26:48):
essentially.
But I do dabble into like R&Band other things here and there.

Speaker 1 (26:52):
So you're not I like switching hands, certain,
certain kind of yeah, you can'tyou can't commit to nothing.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
If you stuck, then it's just like you're stuck, you
know.
I mean like if you threw meover anything that just has some
drums over it, I could probablyspit to it because there's a
bar line I can follow.
So it don't matter.
Like I'd be in public hearinglike some live shit and I'm like
yo, can I spit to this for fun,just to like have fun with it,
because, like it sucks, I'll bein public, bro, and I, me and my
girl be like at a dinner and Ihear some song and I'm like,

(27:19):
damn, I gotta shazam this shit,like I want to sample this or
like I need.
And she'd be getting mad at mebecause I'm I'm so caught up in
like my daydreams and shit, likeI daydream a lot when it comes
to this music.
So I try not to be in one thing.
I like to be a sponge andabsorb everything.
So there's a weird mixture ofshit.

Speaker 1 (27:36):
But that's one thing.
I always that's one thing.
What you just touched on Ialways thought was cool and it's
something I don't have,unfortunately.
Like my best friend, like oneof my best friends, dj Hoppa Boy
, like he's so in tune to music,or when I meet artists that
that sing, like I I know commonkings and stuff like that, like

(28:00):
when they hear music they don'thear it, like how I hear it.
When you hear music, you don'thear it how I hear it.
You can break it down yeah, soit's good and bad, you know I
mean.
But yeah, you guys willappreciate the music as art a
lot more than I will.
I would be like, oh, this iscool.

(28:20):
Like you guys will pick up, ohshit, that's a cool beat.
I liked how he faded this in,or like I don't have a year for
that, you know.
I mean, it's something thatcertain people have that I
always was jealous about.
I always.
I always tell dj hopper boy, Iwas like brah, I wish I could
hear music through your, yourears, or how you hear it, like

(28:41):
one time, just to know what'sgoing through.
But, um, what is your processwhen you start trying?

Speaker 2 (28:48):
to make a song that's so fucking hard.
Uh, firstly, I need to fall inlove with the fucking
instrumental I'm rapping on like, because I'll hear something
and if it's inspiring enough, Ialready know what I'm going to
say.
Within the first four seconds Iknow the flow of it.
Uh, the words don't matter asmuch.

(29:10):
The cadence is the mostimportant part, because with
time you can always switch thewords out and strengthen a
scheme better.
So, firstly, find aninstrumental and then the lyrics
in which you put onto thisinstrumental.
You have two choices you caneither go with it and be in
harmony with it, or you cancontrast it and create something

(29:30):
to look at here.
Create something to look athere.
So, for example, you could takereally raw sounding lyrics from
like some gritty, likefreestyle shit, like how I
mentioned with these meek milltapes, and then put it over some
like soulful beats and throw ittogether and you have this nice
, weird boiling passion of likeanger and aggression mixed with
this calming, soothing harmonies.
So there's a lot of, there's alot of things to obviously

(29:53):
consider.
So I guess for for me in mycase, firstly, fall in love with
that beat.
Secondly, depending on what thebeat is and what the tone of
the notes feel and what theatmosphere is created from that
instrument.
So your lyrics can either onecontrast it or go along with it.
And then, from that point onyour writing, I don't know.
I have a, I have a theory ofwriting.

(30:15):
I wrote this whole theory and Ihave all these notes and so
forth.
I don't even know if I want todiscuss these here, because at
some point in my life I wouldlove to do what Lupe Fiasco is
doing and do an assistant repcourse at some university.
But the theory comes from whatI got from watching this

(30:37):
documentary.
The theory is a use of bothsubconscious behavior, aka
freestyling, and consciousbehavior, aka writing, can yield
more significant verses.
Because people have a tendencywhen it comes to rapping is that
you're either really good atfreestyling, you're good at
writing, and you can't be both.
So it's almost like a left handand a right hand and your left

(30:57):
hand is controlled by the rightside of your brain and vice
versa.
So if you want to be a goodartist, you have to be able to
get your hands dirty and keywordis hands.
So you got to use both.
So I was very good, I think.
Naturally I was always good atfreestyling back then because
when I was getting into rapping,I was just listening to beats
for a while and then I justdeveloped a tone of rhythm and

(31:19):
just listening to freestyles andfucking around and practicing
whatever.
I got into the habit of it whenI was around like 14, 15.
But even like when I was ingrade school, middle school, I
remember writing shit for fun,but I remember like in high
school, I remember I was likeembarrassing fools.
Everyone was like, oh, I'm asoundcloud rapper or whatever.
Everyone's like calling himselfa rapper around this time.

(31:40):
Like 2016 is 2020, which was,truthfully, that soundcloud era
which I totally get.
But yeah, I wasn't fucking withit because it's like you can't
freestyle, then why are youcalling yourself a rapper?
yeah that was my thing.
Right, it was always if youcan't freestyle, you can't be a
rapper.
That's one thing.
But I think, uh, freestyling ismore or less correlated to the
battle.
Rap and writing is correlatedto actual artistry, because if

(32:02):
you can't think about whatyou're going to do in a long run
, then you're not reallythinking, you're just moving one
step at a time yeah so, yeah,that's why, uh, I'll freestyle
first and I'll write shit downand then I'll switch it around.
But that's kind of my theory ofwriting.
Right, if you combine the twoit works.
But I have a flow chart of howit's done.
I I take notes of a lot ofthings like, uh, additional

(32:27):
thoughts on writing, or I canshare these.
My additional thoughts onwriting are as follows uh, if
you're writing, write withconcepts in mind.
Don't limit yourself to peopleor ideas.
Try to always think broadpicture.
Subject matter is important.
You can choose to eitheroverwhelm the listener with a
plethora of references or stickto a set theme.
This is for me, and it may varyin the situation, but every

(32:50):
verse you write should have somesense of progression.
You should lead with a hookthat catches the attention.
I just realized that rhyme,progression and attention.
That's funny.
Uh, lose them with complexschemes.
Find them again with simpleone-liner gems.
That that was another internal.
Yeah, find them again withsimple one-liner gems.
What the fuck?

Speaker 1 (33:10):
that's another internal rhyme yeah what the
hell yeah, I didn't.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
Yeah, what the fuck?
I just realized that, uh, Iain't done yet.
Oh, writing backwards is key.
Uh, find a punchline first andbuild to the punchlines.
I actually learned that fromwatching dave chappelle yeah,
because dave chappelle does thatwith his jokes.
He had this fucking skit.
Dude, I love it.
Shit.
I'll be smoking with my dad,I'm watching that shit.
But, like bro, dave chappelleis a shit.
But he has this fucking skit.
Dude, I love his shit.
I'll be smoking with my dad andwatching his shit.

(33:35):
But, like bro, dave Chappelleis the shit.
But he has this one skit wherehe's talking about I'm so good
at writing jokes, I start frommy shit, from the end, and I
tell a whole story leading tothe joke, and then he does that.
So I was like you're a fuckinggenius.
So I was like hold on, you'rejust writing.
Same concept of a narrative,but it's a different thematic
language of expressing it.
For me, rap is a coded languagethat's rhythmatic, so his jokes

(33:58):
are more or less just likerelying on the narrative aspect
and just talking to you, I haveto be clever with the rhythm and
to do the same thing.
So it's the same concept,really.
So, yeah, that's how I got theidea of writing backwards.
Uh, I learned this one from nazI think naz talked about this.
Uh, when storytelling, youshould keep things quick and
moderate.
No, no, sorry, doom talkedabout this.
My apologies.
And storytelling.

(34:19):
Keep things quick and moderate,be unpredictable, but enough
for people to follow.
Misdirection is crucial, so I Ido that a lot with my verses as
well.
I try to make it that I'moverwhelming you with either a
punch line or I'll set upsomething that you're not aware
of ice.
I try to overwhelm the listeneras much as possible in most
cases in the in the purposes ofbeing aggressive and
establishing myself as likelyrically gifted.

(34:42):
If I'm trying to tell a story,I'll take it at a more calm pace
and the flow will be morecommon, but the rhyme will be
less condensed, so there's lessfor you to catch on to yeah uh,
fuck, where else?
I'm sorry.
I've often heard the phraseconsider the audience slash,
which to me means you got toconsider the art or, sorry, the
artist first, then the audiencesecond, as art cannot exist

(35:03):
without these two and withoutart you're failing to be an
artist.
And then this last thing is aquote from william farrell that
I thought was really fucking.
It blew my mind when I firstheard it uh, make something
undeniable but equally asinfectious.
Those are just things that Ihave, but I keep it goes.
Yeah, this fucking notepad goeson and fucking on like it does

(35:24):
it.
Good, bro.
It was like I have samplechoices possible versus like I
have verses in the stash, right,but then I also have possible
punch lines or ideas for punchlines that I return to, possible
choices for samples.
I try to think about everythinglike these are just like some
of the punch lines are possibleverses I might use, but not
really official.

(35:45):
And then, like my actual versesI have in here for like
features if somebody wants a 16or 32 or whatever.
I try to have as much materialas possible so I can still make
more.
I don't want to lose this, andI feel like I've.
I've been recently hitting apoint where I haven't law
ability to write anything bad.

(36:05):
There hasn't been a momentwhere I've had rivers block and
I don't think writer's blockexists.
I refuse to allow myself anysort of doubt within my
subconscious.
So therefore, if I don't on mysubconscious, I would never fail
, because really, this whole rapdeveloped out of nowhere.
I had nobody teaching me.
You know, yeah, I'm justlistening to beats and I'm

(36:27):
listening to how people rap andhow they talk about it.
I'm listening or I'm watchingtheir rhymes get highlighted in
verses.
I do that too.
There's an app called rhymesblock, I think, and I like the
rhymers block or whatever, andif you put a verse in there
it'll highlight all the rhymingsections, and there's videos on
youtube that do this as well, aswell as sample breakdowns and
shit.
But I analyze so much because ifyou don't have it in your

(36:48):
subconscious, you won't be awareof it when you're consciously
doing it.
So what's the fucking point?
yeah yeah, going back to thequestion what the fuck do I do?
There's a lot, there's amillion fucking things you have
to consider, but I take it onestep at a time, based on step
one how the beat goes, whatyou're going to write, depending
on the beat and then critiquingyour point of view, your
narrative, and just you have toknow when to call it.
It's really a very subjectivething for the artist.

(37:10):
Well, I think knowledge of selfis important.
Sorry, what?

Speaker 1 (37:15):
that that definitely is true, and um you're speaking
as someone who's taking thiscraft very seriously and for me
what I like about it the most isthat you found your passion,
and I know it was something thatyou could have been struggling
with um prior, because everybodyhas a passion and nobody knows

(37:40):
how to find it.
And once it, once you lock intoit, then it's like, okay, this
is what I'm gonna stand on andit's been a minute for you to
figure it out.
But, brad, it's last couplemonths.
I'm like, okay, he found hispassion and what you just spoke
to me right now shows me thatyou found your passion because
you're you never took anythingthat serious before you know, I

(38:02):
mean, and because you're takingthis seriously, that means
you're putting it in front ofyou now.
You got goals.
Now you got ways to achieveyour goals.
Now you got fucking means to tomake moves.
And it's the tip of the iceberg, bro, and that's what I know I

(38:24):
know your dad is waiting for youto, um, find your passion.
Just like him, he loves to dive.
That's his passion.
You tell him anything aboutdiving and he'll go deep, you
know, I mean, and he's he'spassionate.
But what you have that your dadalso has is your dad was always
a hustler.
Since we were young, we'rehustling all kind of shit and

(38:45):
schemes and and your dad workshard, and that that's how you
gotta be.
So if you're gonna take thisserious, bro, you, you seem to
be got to.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
I don't got no other choice.
Man, if this raps you don'twork out, fuck, am I gonna do?
You know what I mean?
Like I don't fuck.
Ain't no such thing as plan b,so I'm fucking plan b.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
I got a plan a and I'm not going to follow plan b
but what you're, what you'redoing in your plan A, is you're
also creating an avenue to learn, and when you're learning, you
can apply that for whatever youdo in life, even if it's not rap
.
What you're doing is creatinglife lessons.
This is your college right now.

(39:25):
You're learning what you justspit at me.
You learned that and youcreated that.
So somewhere in life you candraw upon that and use it.
So what you're doing if you'regoing to be huge in rap, that
could be your calling.
If you're not, whatever you'redoing now is going to create
learning experiences for you touse in something else who's to

(39:50):
say?
But I think you're passionateenough to not fail.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
Yeah, that's what I'm hoping for, bro.
For it, bro hoping.
Passion and talent overcomeseverything I know that's not all
the game demands of me.
No, it's also like connection,and I know this and I know so
and so, and you?
know, there's a lot of stringsthat get pulled.
There's weird.
The shit moves weird behind thesmoke and mirrors.
There's some weird shit.
So I just, you know, I mean,it's just like on some cap
williams shit, what do youconsider rich?

(40:19):
Yeah, either money or what.
What party you're gonna sellfor that money?
You know, I mean yeah likethere's some weird shit going.
Look at p diddy, bro.
Bad boys for life, you know whatI mean, like I, but exactly I
don't know what the fuck we'regonna be having it there and I'm
a newbie coming into this shit.
My dad ain't a freak.
He don't know what the fuckgoing on.
I don't fucking know what'sgoing on.
You know what I mean?
Like I got to play this shitright, because I'm trying to get

(40:41):
played.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
But what's universal is music.
You can listen to musicanywhere on this planet.
It's a universal language, yeahand you can fuck with it.
Like you listen to some hip-hopfrom africa and you start
moving your head.
It's it.
It transcends um cultural gaps,so you just got to figure it

(41:04):
out.
What I want to ask you is howare you getting your beats like?
Are you creating your own beats?
Or like how?

Speaker 2 (41:09):
you get your your music I'm gonna I going to make
my own beats in the future.
That's always a goal of mine.
I'm trying to do what Jay Dilladid at some point and I'm
trying to make my owninstrumental album using a
variety of different samples.
That I think would be veryinteresting.
But as far as beats, currently,I've been very, very fucking

(41:32):
grateful for the amount ofpeople that have been reaching
out to me who've been wanting tosend me shit, because I was
just running out free, silentand shit, just in public doing
whatever before I was makingmusic.
And then I got motivated by thefolks from Aloha Got Soda to
actually record and actuallytake this shit seriously.
If the people from the recordshop are like, yo, you should

(41:53):
actually record and take thisseriously, then I'm like, oh
fuck, okay, I guess I gottaactually record and take this.
Yeah, you know.
So that's when I started, youknow, doing that shit.
And here I am now.
So I've had, uh, only in mind,eric cruz.
He's been super sick.
Uh, shout out sean as well.
There's also this guy from maui,I believe.
Hey, jai, I think I've callinghim Jai.

(42:14):
I don't know what the correctpronunciation is, because we've
never met face to face.
He's you know we've onlycommunicated over Instagram, but
I was actually able to featureon a mixtape of his called, I
believe, bum Bat Music and I wasjust featuring a bunch of
different Hawaii artists hereand over his instrumentals that
he's made.
So I have a beat of his that Iwrapped over.

(42:36):
That's featured on his shitthat I currently have out.
I think it's called 32 kilos I.
I thought my verse was prettyfucking good, definitely coming
out the gate swinging nice whereare you?
where are you?
recording your stuff currently,uh, there's this guy in
chinatown.
I know his name is, uh, obi-wanjacobi.
I think it's his instagram,what he goes by and shit.

(42:56):
Yeah, he's cool, super cool guyhe's been.
I've been recording with him.
He mixes my shit too because,yeah, fuck, I'm not trying to
reach it.
Yeah, it was hard reaching in,like sometimes, man, like
reaching out and shit,motherfuckers, be like charging
you too much and it's just likedamn, I didn't know it was like
that.
I mean, then you like hear fromlike your homeboy.
you know what I mean.
It's like it's like coughinglike an eight for like 125, but

(43:19):
then learning from your homeboyit's like actually 45 bucks, you
know what I mean for.
And you're like, oh, what thefuck?
You're like, that's what it waslike.
So I was like, damn like.
So I'm glad I knew people.
When I got to ask some rightpeople like I was blessed enough
to at least know some peoplewho were making music so I had
some connections and I couldtraverse my way around.
Because, yeah, it really is awho do you know?
Game, because there's alwayssome, there's fucking weird

(43:40):
hurdles and shit you gotta jumpover.
So I had to play, play thisshit, right.
I'm lucky that I already had anaudience from my brand, you
know, I mean before coming intomusic, so that I already have a
base out of these people whofucked me before I did this, so
that way I can merge it to whenthe time comes.
You know, yeah, less with that.
Yeah, jacoby, super cool, andthat's what I recorded.
That's what I engineer withbeats wise, eric Cruz, sean and

(44:03):
hijai and whoever else wants tosend me shit If I fuck with
their beat, I'll, I'll let youknow.
Oh, kwan Lee is another dopedude.
He's a guy off the internetthat I've been fucking with for
a minute and what he does is hedoes what knowledge does.
They will take freestyles andshit that don't have a beat, or
maybe have their own beat overit, take the vocals from it and
then make their own really goodbeat and then throw it on there

(44:25):
and it almost sounds better thanthe original.
So I fucking love what they do,but Kwan Lee had a sick beat,
so I'm having that on my EP.
That beat's crazy.
That's like some Kanye soulfulshit.
I really love the sound that hehas going on over there.
I want to dabble more into that.
I feel like this project, everysong is in a certain direction.
Yeah, but I want to do moreKanye sounding shit, cause I

(44:47):
want more of that, cause I thinkeveryone's very much on some
bullshit.
I want more soul, soul, schoollike some Kanye Cole shit.
But I could.
I'd also love that East coastchill, not shit too Like I.
I fucking love East coast.
As far as my influences go, itwas shit.

Speaker 1 (45:04):
So what you've been doing some live shows too.
How's it been being on stage?

Speaker 2 (45:10):
Just like.
So what?
You've been doing some liveshows too.
How's it been being on stagejust like as it is in the booth?
Oh man, nothing changes, fuck,I just gotta.
Now those muggers want to hearme spit.
This time, you know, it's likeoh, this is cool, like I'm
spitting for motherfuckers.
That isn't my friends.
Because even when I wasfreestyling and shit back with
my friends, they were alwayslike oh, why don't you like take
music seriously?
and I was just like I mean, Ijust didn't think, I didn't
think it was like I was in thatright time because, like you

(45:32):
know, mumble rap was so present,you know yeah so, like there
wasn't, I'm like what place do Ihave to sit here and like I can
do some of those modern 808production, like rust sounding
stuff, but it's not really myforte, but I also listened to a
lot of rust growing up.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
So I don't mind it either.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
I mean, if I got to write hooks and spit six scenes,
that's cool.
But like naturally when I write, it's 32 bars, which is like a
minute and a half.
A six is like 45 seconds, 30seconds, maybe you know so it
just it is what it is.
But everyone has their own gameand how they play it.
But I'm just going to switchhands with every project.

(46:09):
I do because I want to havemore styles.
But I don't intend to be inthis music shit long.
Hopefully I get signed for theresources that I can make and
then I put out a great amount offucking so-and-so projects like
four or five good albums.
You know I mean shit.
You wouldn't skip shit enough Iget my royalties off of.
Hopefully I own my, my master's, my publishing, my admin.

(46:31):
I'm not getting fucking norecord deal.
No labels taking a fee, none ofmy shit's getting reposed, no
bullshit copyright, none of thatshit.
We good, my dad good, hey, thisbitch, I don't gotta do nothing
.
You good, we can fucking chill,go to capone's.
Whatever the whatever the fuckI want.

Speaker 1 (46:49):
If I play this.

Speaker 2 (46:49):
Right, I'm set, so I'm just trying to not fuck this
up.
This is the only thing I gotreally going for me as far as
music-wise and shit.
Other than that, I can go tocollege and do whatever, but
since I already have a prettygood base level, just fucking
around and figuring this shitout here?

Speaker 1 (47:12):
I got to keep going.
Now like fuck, I came this far,yep stage, the same shit, I
gotta go.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
So when you're on stage, do you get nervous, or is
like fucking butter I don'thave, I don't have time.
Like half the time I'm buzzed,you know.
I mean I don't have, I can'thave time, to be afraid, like.
So that's what skateboardingtaught me, and I think that a
lot of people are afraid ofeating because you will fall
almost every fucking time.
So you tell me, you don't tripthe whole time, you don't fall.
Like bro, I'm watching myfriends literally break their
fucking noses and then get thefuck back up and do it.

(47:36):
Like what the fuck are y'alldoing?
You know, I mean like y'allthink you have a drive.
You ever seen a skateboarder dosome fucking ridiculous shit
that we're probably gonna getthe cops calling us for I might
get a fucking court case forthis bullshit, you know.
I mean like and we'd be atspots.
We shouldn't always be at bro,like I'm being straight up.
Skateboarding is dickheadculture, but I fucking love it
because it's the coolestdickhead culture, in the most

(47:58):
sincere way possible, becauseyou can be confident and doing
the most fucking craziest shitand it works.
I've seen shit I didn't thinkwas fucking possible, like every
fucking Sunday thesemotherfuckers were blowing my
mind.
So just like, fuck, I have to.
You know what I mean.
Fuck, I'm going to be afraidfor it.
I have that same mentality.
What am I going to think aboutfalling?
I can't do that shit.
Like I got to fucking go.

(48:19):
Like I can worry about thatshit when I'm fucking broke or
when shit's falling, but I don'tgot time right now.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
All right, I got, I like that.
That's true.
Like skaters, I mean, you cancatch a cool video, but for each
trick that you catch on filmthey probably eat shit about
seven times.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
I see my homie literally.
Wait your arm got broken fromthat shit too.
My arm got my arm got brokenhill bombing and I fucking
broken, you know what I mean?
Like my homie literally brokehis nose and he still drove us
that day and we didn't evenfucking know it.
Like my homie literally got acar shit.
There was so much fucking wildshit that's happened and we're
just like fuck it, we ball andwe did it.

(48:59):
So I was like fuck, samementality well, that's good.

Speaker 1 (49:10):
Yeah, bro, what about battle rap you?
You ever try that like live in?

Speaker 2 (49:12):
I know osna is coming out with some shows that that's
gonna have battle raps if youwanna oh sorry, I don't care for
it too much because even likewhat is it?
People think that battlerapping is like, well, I'm
assuming traditional battle rap,I'm assuming you mean acapella,
no beat, yeah.
Yeah, see, I don't care forthat too much because battle

(49:32):
rappers are interesting for thebars that they do, but then they
they're, they're, they're kindof a what is it?
Battle rappers are like boxers.
It's a poor man's sport, does?
that make sense, yeah who am Ito fight with somebody else?
When I could, I'll be trying towrite time in the studio
talking about shit that isn'tyou doing, shit that could get
my family you know yeah you know, doing shit, they're gonna earn

(49:53):
me some plaques.
I just gotta make money.
But I'm also having fun whileI'm making money, that's what
I'm trying to do here.
I'm trying to make this a careerthat I could like if I could
live my life and only work onmusic.
That's pretty much what I do atwork, you know.
I mean I'm writing verses.
So battle rap school, because Ifucking I study a lot of the
battle rappers.
Actually, like, my favoritebattle rapper of all time is
probably old solo, and that'sbecause of how fucking funny his

(50:14):
bars are.
Like I love battle rappers forthe, but it's also to me it's
very repetitive because it'sit's also illusionary.
Your, your enemy, isn'texistent.
I don't like thinking that Ihave to be better than somebody
else to be considered great,because if I'm only better than
you, then that's just putting mebetter than you.
I want to be better than this.

(50:35):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (50:35):
fuck being here better than your own self fuck
that, I always thought likeputting other people down
doesn't put you up.

Speaker 2 (50:44):
You know what I mean yeah, because originally it's
too like.
So I was going to come out intothis dissing fucking everybody
that I didn't agree with fromtheir creative standpoint, and
then I was like no, that'sstupid, because you know exactly
what I just told you.
If I think I just have to bebetter than them to be
successful, then you're notreally being successful yeah
you're just trying to be betterthan somebody else.

(51:06):
You just want to do it for yourego.
You're fixated on you.
Why would you live by that?
There's yeah, there's a lot ofshit.
This manga taught me, calledvagabond, and it's a fictional
tale of miyamoto muzashi's life.
He's that japanese philosopherand swordsman guy, but there's a
lot of shit from that book,those themes and those messages
and shit from those narrativesthat I learned and that applied

(51:26):
to, applied to how I view myselfas a rapper, because I think as
a rapper, there's that quotefrom Giza your tongue is your
sword, and that's why I kind ofsee myself, if you notice the
art I put out and the shit Italk about.
There's a lot of swordsmen inanime and shit and I see myself
as them, because a swordsman isdevoted and they live solely by
the sword, and that's how an mcshould be.

(51:47):
So you have the choice toeither live righteously and
protect those who need it orjust kill and do whatever yeah
so that that's the way I view it.
So I gotta, I gotta follow theway my mcs did it.
That's how.
That's how wu-tang was.
You know what I mean?
Shaolin island.
So I'm following that footstepand I'm trying to be because I
don't see it too much too likeI'm.
I'm part of that dying breed,especially for me.

(52:08):
From my age most people don'tfuck like if I throw in a 90s
beat and we're just freestylingover it like over time they're
gonna want to hear some modernshit yeah so I'm, I'm really in
my.
It sucks because I've alwayswanted to have like a group or
like a homie of mine, but likethat never really happened.
Like even when, like I hit thepeople for like verses, people

(52:29):
don't get back to me and that'skind of like it is what it is.
I'm not trying to get mad, youknow I mean, but it just sucks.
I'm like I shouldn't have tochase you down for a verse yeah,
especially if you agree to theproject.
But I'm not about to like belike yo, I need this, you know.
I mean, like, if you just don'twant to be on the project,
that's cool.
Like I'm not trying to forceyou to do some shit you're not
good at.
I just don't know why you'd belike, oh, I'm game, and then

(52:50):
fucking leave me on the liver.
So I'm like it is what it is.

Speaker 1 (52:53):
That's what happens in life.
And then when you blow up,you'll be all about it and it's
like, bro, if you don't fuckwith me now when I'm coming up,
then why would I fuck with youwhen I'm up it?
I have a lot of people that Iwould hit up to come on my show
and they'll ghost me.
But then as I got bigger, asI'm growing, then they'll be

(53:13):
like oh, I'll come on your show.
It's like, oh, now that Iestablished, something.

Speaker 2 (53:17):
Yeah, now it's a big thing.

Speaker 1 (53:18):
Yeah, now you want to be on.
And it's like it is what it is,bro.
Exactly.
But, like you said, you don'thave to be better than them.
You just got to be, better thanyourself yesterday.

Speaker 2 (53:30):
That's all you got to do.
Yeah, I was too fixated on theidea of having an opponent.
If you think that there'ssomebody else in the way of
where you should be, then you'refucking thinking wrong.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
Yep, exactly, you should always just try to be
better than yourself the daybefore.
But you have an old school feel.
So I kind of wanted to ask youmentioned a couple names, but
who are the guys and um artiststhat inspired you to to do this
kind of?

Speaker 2 (53:59):
stuff.
Oh, uh, I think.
So going off, jump mf doom.
I don't know if you know whothat is, but he's probably my
favorite mc of all time.
I, I love this, know who thatis, but he's probably my
favorite MC of all time.
I love his shit so much that Icombined two of my favorite
things.
There's this manga panel andit's from Vagabond, the same
Miyamoto Miyazaki I was talkingabout earlier.
But I had somebody draw art.

(54:21):
His name is 658, if I'mcorrectly.
I'm hoping I'm saying thiscorrectly.
If those fucking order is wrong, I'm sorry, but he's a gifted
artist and he drew this.
Fuck, I don't know if you'regoing to see it, but my fucking
lock screen here.
But it's literally just mestanding next to Doom with two
swords.
I think Doom did a fascinatingjob of treating the English

(54:43):
language like it was a piece oftoilet paper.
He used words in suchmannerisms that were filthy,
that like when, when I heardsome of the shit he said, I had
to like pause it and put myfucking phone down because I
didn't think he was gonna rhymethat I remember.
He said a line that like reallyfucking spitting like a bionic

(55:03):
sneeze that frees vodka just toclear the air like the ionic
breeze quadra.
Everything he said.
I didn't fucking understandwhat he said till I had to
google it.
So spitting like a bionicsneeze superpower, cybernetic
superpower that frees vodka.
To freeze vodka is at negative30 degrees celsius, so you're
spitting so cold at that levelof that's how deep you're going,

(55:25):
you know, I mean just to clearthe air like the ionic breeze
quadra, not a fucking ionicbreeze quadra is.
I think it's like a ceiling fanor some air filter, so like
that's the fucking shit he wasdoing.
But like also to have that muchdepth with like multi-syllable
rhyming and say the mostoutrageous shit ever.
But uh, like it almostdisgusted me.

(55:46):
He had such a masterful levelof the pen that I couldn't, I
don't think I could ever do whathe does, and that's what
inspired me to do what I do.
And I mean doom is sick.
I think him and black thoughtwere probably the strongest mcs
to ever roam this earth.
And like, if you don't know whoeither of those are, to put put
it into scale of power level,you know who method man is

(56:08):
correct.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (56:10):
Method man was in a room with Black Thought and
they're all cool.
Everyone in hip-hop is coolwith each other, as far as I'm
aware.
Seems like a big fucking familycookout.
Looks sick as fuck.
I'm trying to join that tableone day.
But Black Thought and Method manwere on, I think, shade 45 and
then they were just doinginterviewing shit and then they
threw on a beat and they werelike they were freestyle and
shit and black thought is free.
As far as I'm aware he'sfreestyle.

(56:31):
I've never seen this man readshit.
Uh, he's already done a 10minute freestyle on funk flex
first take.
That fucking killed everything.
And I had so much knowledgethat like I could never that's
old man shit.
I have to live 45 years tounderstand what the fuck he just
said because I I would never beable to get there.
But going back to method man,method man literally said
because black thoughts in theroom, I'm gonna read my shit and

(56:55):
nobody held it against himbecause fucking black thought is
that good.
So I think those two mcs some ofthe strongest ever roam this
earth, definitely some of mybiggest influences.
But I've studied a lot of catsbut just those two I think are
like, are like top.
I think Black Thought iscurrently the only living MC.
Doom passed away, but BlackThought is currently the
strongest ever on this earth.
Everyone else has influenced meas well, but those fuckers I

(57:17):
regard.
I've listened to Wu-Tang.
I've listened to Black Thought,doom, nas, big L, big Pun,
eminem, fucking Big Jay-Z.
I've listened to battle rappers, rappers, random soundcloud
rappers.
I've listened to modern shit,old shit.
I've listened to it all.
I just have my, my definite uhpreferences for what I like and

(57:38):
where I get my influences from.
That makes sense that's cool,yeah, and I'll channel certain
people for certain songs.
Yeah, yeah, I almost understandhow certain people write, or at
least like because I studied alot of like early Slim Shady
rhyme schemes.
There are certain rhymes thatI've written that almost like

(57:59):
sound very reminiscent of likeEminem shit, like even that one
sample or that one thing I haveright Live now, die later.
I rhyme greater.
That's a Biggie line, that's aflip, a biggie line.
Biggie's line on a long kissgood night is laugh now, cry
later.

Speaker 1 (58:14):
But live now, die later I rhyme greater.

Speaker 2 (58:16):
I'm trying to get a bud, just like a woman's vibe
writer.
But fuck that.
I'm gonna take hismotherfucking nut sack, string
it up instead, but with a bunchof fucking thumbtacks.
That same piece up is how mwould do it.
But then also, the concept isfrom method man's intro right,
smacking the guy in the nutswith a spike bat.
Yeah, so like I have myinfluences so they'll get it on

(58:37):
me.
But like that song particularlyis called thin ice and that's
kind of like what I think amodern slim shady would feel
like, at least my rendition ofit, because you know, we all
play a role differently.
It's like an actor, would youknow yeah this is just my
perspective.
So, like if this was like slimshady modernized, this is how I
would feel, like he'd bemodernized.

(58:57):
You know, I mean, this is mefucking around doing what m
would do that makes sense sothat's, that's what that song is
.
But then the other one I haveout is more reminiscent of xxx
andacion, who I also really like, because I think he does what I
do and I think he does a greatjob of spitting on modern 808s
but then spitting on that oldschool drum kit that you guys

(59:17):
fuck with, and I love both andhe loved both and I thought that
was sick.
He did a great job with that.
So that's kind of where myideas come from, and more or
less my lyrics were dependentoff of the tone of the sample
and I've written my entire likeverses, everything around the
sample, but I I just love thatsample for a while.
Oh, that's a b-b-doobie,unreleased song.

Speaker 1 (59:38):
Yeah I I'm going on anything.

Speaker 2 (59:41):
I'll look for any unreleased shit.
I love raw iphone footage likeI have things I'm going to
sample one day when I learn howto make beats.
Or sometimes I'll just feed myproducer samples and then we get
shit off of there.
But I got mad shit in the stash.

Speaker 1 (59:55):
I can't wait for this so what is, what is your um
future goals like where?
Where do you want to take thisin the future?

Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
uh, so I I'm gonna drop my ep soon.
That's going to come.
I have two.
My next two projects arewritten out conceptually.
I already know what theconcepts are going to be and how
I'm going to execute them.
It's just more or less gettingeverything together and
executing them and then layingmy shit down, so I have enough

(01:00:24):
material to do like two albums,essentially.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
Nice.
Take it one step at a time, man, like don't, don't go at a pace
that you're not gonna be ableto do exactly how you want it
done.
You know what?

Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
I mean drive, slow drive slow brad.

Speaker 1 (01:00:44):
That's super dope.
Your ep is coming out.
I know you don't want torelease the date.

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
It's just gonna happen one day soon, yeah it'll
pop out it's gonna fucking wakeup and it's gonna be there like
christmas.
That's about it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:57):
That's about it right on and you've been sharing some
stuff with me and I've beentripping bro.
You got action um social mediawise, and where can people find
you on instagram?
Also, um, where can peoplelisten to your music?

Speaker 2 (01:01:14):
uh, yeah.
So let's go to my instagram.
That's at sounds by suffice.
I have two.
I only have two tracks out.
You can listen to it either onspotify or soundcloud.
I do have a youtube channelthat has some shit there.
If you want to go look at it, Imight put out the ep there with
like official visuals on therein the future.

(01:01:36):
I'm not sure I have.
I have some schemes.
There's a lot of digitalartists I want to work with and
people to do 3d things.
I'm definitely gonna have a lotof fun with it.
So when the time comes, mything is I ain't got.
I ain't got the resources justyet.
I'm definitely gonna have a lotof fun with it.
So when the time comes, mything is I got, I got the
resources just yet.
I'm literally there's a bunkbed in the fucking background.
I ain't gotta say much.
You know, hey, humblebeginnings bro.

(01:01:58):
Yeah.
So when the time comes, timescome, yeah, instagram, find all
my shit.
Spotify is there.
Suffice.
I have two tracks out.
Yeah, just go to my instagram.
You'll find everything.
Shit's there bro right on.

Speaker 1 (01:02:10):
And for us, you can find us at above the bridge
podcast on instagram, youtube.
Our website is atb pod and myinstagram is thaddy daddy hi.
Well, man, I am super stokedfor you.
We've been going for an hour.
I'm proud of you and yourpassion and your drive.
I'm stoked to see you I'mstoked to see you fucking

(01:02:32):
dedicating yourself to somethingand brah, like I said, your dad
is one of my closest friendsand he's someone that I know
sacrificed for you and yourbrother for years.
And you, I know the back stories, you may know the front stories
, but I know what your dad hasdone to to provide for you kids

(01:02:54):
and give everything for you kidsand, um, all he wanted ever for
you guys is to see you guyssucceed at something you're
passionate about.
So I know he's probably talkingshit and like trying for see
you do some action, but I knowhe's proud and I think he'll see
exactly what you got going onand bro your dad is somebody is

(01:03:16):
um, real, your dad ain't.
ain't somebody that um, you canbullshit.
So if he'll see, he'll see thetruth.
Bro, and and um, talking to younow, I know that this isn't
just a gimmick or some kind offlash in a pan scheme that
you're running this.
This is something you'repassionate about and you're

(01:03:37):
putting the work behind it.
So keep doing your thing, man,and yeah, uncle's proud of you,
your dad's proud of you and keepfucking going hard, bro, go
hard in the paint and like yousaid, bro, you ain't got time to
fear nothing.
I like that we ball, fearnothing, yep right on.
Well, shockers for the camerasuh, fuck yeah right on, we're

(01:04:04):
out.
Shout out to the artist groupnetwork aloha.
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