Dirtball
Interview by Black Dog Bone
You just dropped a new album, “Nervous System”. What kind of response have you been getting?
Really good! The reviews have been really good, but I never like to focus on that. That fan response has been overwhelmingly good, so I’m pumped on it. It’s hard to release a record and be super stoked.
What are the people saying about this record?
It’s my fourth record and it’s a different sound. It’s more of a straight Rap record, a little more street. I think everybody’s stoked cause, it’s been almost two years since my last solo record. And with all the stuff I’ve been doing with Kottonmouth Kings, I haven’t let anyone down. I think it’s confirming for my actual fans that’s there’s a reason they’ve all been s
taying true to Dirtball as a fan.
Do you feel like you’re coming more into your own style?
What I did with this record is, I like to have a certain style with the fast rapping, but with this record I also wanted to flex different zones, kinda bounce around. There’s definitely the fast rapping scattered throughout, but it’s more about the patterning, the intricate patterning. I focused on different sides of me on this record, it’s not all fast rapping. It was nice to break it down—when I slowed myself down it was interesting to see what kinds of patterns I do rap. But this next record I’m working on is gonna be heavily machine gun fast rap the whole way. I’m going back into it. I just wanted to do this with “Nervous System” so it had an all around appeal as a West Coast Rap record. That was the goal I had, to make it my version of like the “Chronic” album. It summed up a lot of things for me, now I feel like I can move in a different zone more comfortably. Now I can focus more on the fast rapping. The next record is gonna be back in your face with the fast rap.
Sometimes something might happen in your life that changes you and effects your music. Have you had anything like that happen to you ever?
I guess it kind of has in a way. I had “Nervous System” half way done before I was asked to join the Kottonmouth Kings. So I basically put “Nervous System” aside for about a year. So I had a lot of material, I had a lot more songs. I made like 44 songs. I had a bunch more tracks with more of a different focus. Then once I did “Long Live The Kings”, we did a ton of tracks there. And then with X Pistols, firing rhymes for that. When I came back to revisit “Nervous System”, that whole experience had changed me as an artist. I felt a little more broadened. I broadened my scope, so I felt like making “Nervous System” a nice record all around with a lotta different styles. So, yes, that did happen for me.
Working with different artists and being in a different environment probably influenced you. It’s natural that you make a record that is closer to the West Coast style.
Exactly. I was feeling it naturally. Also, as you get more comfortable with the perception of you as an artist, it allows you to try different things. When you don’t have many fans and you’re trying really hard to define yourself as an artist. Once you have a loyal group of fans, you get more comfortable. And this is what came out of me. Now I have the ability with this next album, which I’m well into already now, to just give them what they want, which is the faster action.
When you talk about the patterns you use, are you talking about drum rhythm patters or word phrasing patterns?
I come from a drumming background, that’s how I shaped my rhymes. If you break it down to drums, like a snare drummer has to work on rhythmic patterns and different routines with the sticks. Like a marching band drummer has so many different rudimentary patterns, it’s crazy. That’s kind of what my rap delivery ends up being. I try to switch ‘em up to a 16 bar deal, but that’s pretty much what I follow because I’ve played so much drums and I did the marching band thing back when I was in highschool. So that’s where the patterning comes in. If you are a drummer and a rapper you can take it beyond just normal Rap patterns. A lot of people do fast rapping, but if you really break it down to see how many patterns they’re actually doing—that’s when you can appreciate their skill level. Do they have one horse that can run fast straight down the track or do they have 25 different horses that they can run fast with?
That’s why I got tired of a lot of East Coast Rap, because they were using the same delivery throughout. They were clever with the words, but the rap style is so boring.
That’s exactly how I feel, and I could never voice it because I am a faster rapper. I just keep that in my head. I actually have my drum books out in my studio, doing some of the rhythms and following them with my mouth. That way you can really keep it fresh.
In African music they do that too, they really base their vocal patterns on the drum patterns. It doesn’t have to be exactly the same as the drum pattern, but it’s still in rhythm. There’s so much creative and interesting music happening in other parts of the world, like in England with Grime and Dubstep music. You seem to fit into those movements.
Yeah. I get a lot of response from the UK. Those types of audiences really like my music. I’ve thought about it for years, doing a straight UK Grime CD like that. On “Nervous System” there’s a couple of Techno tracks. And on this next record there’s some more House type tracks, which allow me to really bounce off into some crazy patterns. That’s to me like Grime. So I’m taking a more Grimy approach on this next album. I get people from UK at me all day. There’s this guy named Heaviest Hookups, he does mixtapes over there, he hits me up quite often. There’s some heat coming out of UK.
It would be cool if you would do something really different from the norm, just go crazy and do something creative. I feel like you have the ability to do that.
Thank you very much. Like with Kottonmouth Kings Daddy X has me doing a fair amount of singing in it. I used to sing a lot, and it’s been nice to broaden into that. Then when he had me do the X Pistols record, it was a whole different way of writing for Punk Rock. I never really listened to much Punk music. I feel like I’m just beginning. I’m just getting to the point where I feel like I can put together a really good album. I feel like this next one’s gonna be something. I feel that I’m poised as an artist to produce the best I’ve ever done.
When you’re creating music do you look at the space? When you’re rapping do you ever think of how it would look if you were to put it in a visual format? Would it make a good design?
Exactly! When you see a drum pattern, if you write ‘em out, it almost looks like art. Sometimes I write them out and one line could take like 4 or 5 lines, going downward, so I knew which places to accent. It’s crazy when you see it. It’s something you can’t quite put your finger on. You can see the pattern visibly, how you wrote it out. Even when you’re lookin at waveforms when you’re recording—if you zoom all the way into a 16 bar verse you can really see the different types of patterns there too. It’s almost like a mystical thing. It’s hard to control. It’s like reaching as high as you can to get up there and figure it out.
When you do music do you ever feel like there are other forces that come into you and shape your music?
When I’m actually writing the songs?
Like when you’re creating music sometimes things come into your songs that you would never think of. It’s very mysterious.
Yeah. Those types of issues are things you can’t control. Like with “Nervous System”, now that it’s all done and it’s released when I listen back I’m surprised. Those things just happen. You can’t really try to write them, you can’t. It’s like that part of my life just came across in the music. I want to come up with a word for these things. It’s like the intangible, mystical happenings. It’s like the magic of creating. Those vibes come out. And for the fans those are the things that really latch on and stick, those intangible feelings that are imbedded in the music.
If you look back at your early albums or even this last one you will see things that you never knew were there.
Right. You never even thought about it when you were writing it, and it might mean something totally different than you thought. Basically my whole career—it’s been 18 or 20 years—it’s always been this way. Lyrically as an emcee I’ve had to tread lightly and not write what I really wanted to write. If you listen to my four records with Sub Noize you can probably tell that. I’ve always been freaked out that I’ve written things and manifested things that have actually come true. And they are necessarily the best things. When you look back on it, like we’re talking about the mystical aspects—holy shit! You’ve gotta be careful sometimes, cause what you manifest can become reality. So when I’m puttin lyrics out I usually try to make them as positive as I can. Now my lyrics are turning a little darker, but I still have to be careful about what energy I put out there. I’ve got a song called “Party Parade” on my record, and I’m like, “I’m gonna die young, I’m gonna die young!” Then I’m like, my god I just put that out there? It’s almost like a Juju type of situation.
That’s real. I come from a shamanic background. My people, we don’t just stay certain negative things because we know they can effect you for real. We have something called “Katta Vaha” which means mouth poison, where you can kill someone with just a look or certain words. I’ve seen it where someone would say something and another person would fall off a tree and break a leg. It’s powerful.
I fucking believe you and I’ve seen things about that. We in our society have it too, it’s almost the same thing. If you put it out there it can happen.
You see it in Rap where there’s so much violence and negativity in the lyrics.
A lot of people have gotten shot because of their moves in the Rap game. It can be just simple lyrics. You have to watch what you do. Even if you diss somebody in a rap subliminally, shit can happen. It’s the real deal.
In rap it’s become standard to show a hard outer shell and not show your inner emotions. You can show anger but not sadness. I feel like we need to be able to express other feelings in Rap music.
That’s pretty much what I did with “Nervous System”. I had a lotta people passing away last year, from pills and shit. The parties were getting to people. I’m a party rapper. I like to rap about good times. With this album I did that, but the underlying tone is saying party smart. I’m talking about a lotta people who have passed away in my life, and it’s a darker CD. It’s like, “Haha, party. But don’t fuckin kill yourself.” That’s the message throughout the record. I’m talking about chilling out on a lot of the drug use. But I’m still promoting “party party” at the same time. It is hard to portray those things that you want to tell the public through your music, but you have to find a way to do it.
I’ve noticed that most rappers don’t know how to talk about their emotions. They feel like you can do that with R & B, but not Rap music.
I guess I just don’t subscribe to that type of thought. Maybe I’m so fucking outside the box. I’m not afraid to put in my emotions and stuff. If someone thinks that’s too soft then they don’t need to be my fuckin fans. At the end of the day the really hard dudes, I don’t really want them as fans.
You said that this is a darker record. What do you mean when you say dark?
I was talking about the lyrical side. As far as the sound of the record I used sounds that were more sharps, different tones that create a darker vibe. Not necessarily spooky sounds, though there are a couple of creepy songs. I guess all in all the record’s not super dark sounding. It’s a flavorful album. I meant more the lyrics are dark. Where I’m at in my head is a darker, shadier area.
Can you name some records that have really impressed you over the years? What music are you really into?
Being a drummer really affects these answers. I’ve listened to Rap music an Rock music for so long. Like Red Hot Chili Peppers—that group right there changed my life for real. Jane’s Addiction changed my life for real. I still listen to every single Red Hot album, probably “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” the most. I was a big Boogie Down Productions fan back in the day. The real record that changed my life was “Straight Outta Compton” and “Eazy Duz It”, those two albums changed my life. It wasn’t like I wanted to be like this. I had been doing music my whole life and the way Dr. Dre arranges in pieces, like the two “Chronic” records—that’s some legendary shit. That’s like “Nervous System” was my pathetic attempt at my own “Chronic” album. Also Tribe Called Quest. I listened to a lot of The Fugees. Going way back, like Bob Marley obviously. And Willie Nelson, I’m a huge fan of Willie Nelson. I’m not like a Countrified dude, but I listen to Willie Nelson and some other Country. I listen to it cause I get ideas. Country music is so simply written and it’s relaxing on my mind. I don’t know what it is. I listen to all sorts of stuff. I was super into Metallica, Judas Priest, Megadeth. I know it’s crazy, but I listened to so much. But Rap music has been my main thing forever. I listened to some of my old cassette tapes the other day, it made me feel old. And it always changed because the drumming was so much for me. I was switching off for the next drumming thing that I could put my walkman on and play my drums to. Some of Metallica’s drums are just sick.
Are you strictly a drum kit player or do you play other drums?
I play hand drums too. I’ve got drums all over my house—dumbeks, djembe’s, all sorts of drums. I only bust them out when I’m recording nowadays, like hand drums over hooks and stuff.
