Interview with The Grind Family

By Matt Sonzala and Black Dog Bone

Is the new Grind Family album very different from your previous releases?

C.O.B.: It’s way different. It’s growth. It’s showin our maturity. Lettin everybody know that it’s still real out here. We’re still goin through problems and pain, that’s why we put that out in So Many Problems…So Much Pain. It ain’t as hardcore at the previous albums. We just want people to listen and learn from this one. We weren’t tryin to get too hardcore. We were goin through a lotta problems and pain at the time, so that’s what we gave ‘em. That’s the mood that we was in.

A lot of rappers are talking about cars and jewelry and not about problems and pain.

C.O.B.: We will never talk about jewelry, cars and money, because where we come from people are dying and they’re goin to jail every day. Everybody want good things in life, but we would never throw it back in nobody’s face. As far as I’m concerned, I could never be happy. I could get what some people would consider the world, but I’d never be happy, cause I still got homies that’s locked up, homies that are dead and so on. I’ll never be able to celebrate. They could give me 50 million dollars, I’ll never celebrate cause I’m still sad on the inside. And that’s all I could talk about in my music. Even if I do go out and buy me some diamonds or something–everybody likes nice things out of life–but I’d never go throw it in nobody’s face and brag about it. My people are still dyin, they’re still goin to jail, still can’t pay their rent. They still can’t get work. That’s what I’m here for, I’m here for them type people. I ain’t here for people that’s gonna show off rims and all that. I’m here for the people that’s strugglin, that’s sufferin and that’s sacrificing for they loved ones.

I feel like that’s what is missing in Rap right now–we are not talking enough about the struggle.

C.O.B.: We just go through so much. It’s so hard to get people to notice us, so we just be mad every day. And it ain’t no fake. This is what we go through every day, every day. It ain’t a day don’t go by that we don’t think about dyin or goin to jail, or hearin about somebody got shot and paralyzed. It’s just real out here.

Is this the way it’s been in Gary all your life?

C.O.B.: Yeah. It’s been like that since day one, ever since I been comin outside. It’s just so hard, ain’t no jobs. It’s just poverty. It’s terrible out here.

Why is it so bad?

C.O.B.: It's wild out here. You ain't gonna find too many clubs out here. Ain't no dancin', ain't no laughin', ain't none of that here in Gary man. It's dark. They done shot up all the clubs out here. At one point they had this club called The Savoy which had Twista coming through there, Lil Kim, 112, they was gonna start bringing all the national acts. As soon as they started getting all the national acts they shot the club up and that was the end of it right there.

When you were growing up what was going on in Gary?

C.O.B.: It was pretty much the same, but when we was growin up it was a lotta fightin. It’s always been drugs since I can remember. I always knew people that sold drugs, sold weed. But it was more fightin. Now it escalated to pistol play. Now everybody got pistols and AK-47’s and 9 millimeters, semi-automatics. Back in the days if you get into it with somebody it was fist fightin. Now everybody got a gun out here.

Were you involved in the streets or were you just doing music?

C.O.B.: I was involved in the streets and doing music at the same time. When I really got serious about the music I kinda left that alone so I could concentrate on my music.

When did you really get serious about music?

C.O.B.: I been messing with it, listening to music ever since I can remember, but I started getting real serious around ’95. Tryin to put something together, it took me like 4 years to put something together. and I came out with the group in ’99.

What inspired you to start doing music when all these other things were going on around you?

C.O.B.: I had took some people to the studio in ’95, I put together a demo package for ‘em. I was organizing it, tellin people "you gonna rap right here, you rap right here." I brought it back to the neighborhood and everybody was like "You did a nice job on that." So I knew that I was good at coordinating, and I was listening to a lot of people that were tight. I knew if I put a team together it would be untouchable.

You’re one of the founding members of the Grind Family?

C.O.B.: Right, I’m a member as well as the owner at the same time. I came up with the name of the group, the name of the company (No Guts No Glory Records) and I brought all the members together.

Since you started the group is it the same members or different members?

C.O.B.: It’s three members who was here from the beginning and we added two more. It was six at the beginning. We released two and we brought two on. It started out in the group with me, Soope, and C-Ghetto, and then I met Scrilla, and then I met Phil-Mo. And there's six of us all together. So that's how it was.

A lot of people recognize you as pioneers on the Gary Rap scene, When the Grind Family first started was there other Rap going on in Gary?

C.O.B.: Yeah, Concord Affiliated was real big out here at the time. When we first came on they was the number one group in the area. CCA started the underground thug scene. And we came along and we just came with some hot shit and it just overwhelmed people how we was coming on the mic. How our beats was sounding, it just overwhelmed them and that's why they give it to us like we the pioneers now. Cause we just came and put it down and wasn't playin' when it came down to business.

What happened to Concord Affiliated?

C.O.B.: They got caught up on some allegations of drug charges. They ain’t been charged yet, just allegations. That stopped their whole music career, just shut it down. They aren’t together now. They started a coupla years before we came. Then we were the top two groups in the area.

Did Concord Affiliated influence your music?

C.O.B.: Yeah, just to know that everybody was buyin their music. So we know they’ll let somebody else to shine if we come up with some tight music. Everybody gonna start playin our music too, just gotta make the music real and make the music right.

How were CCA different from Grind Family?

C.O.B.: They were different cause they were just comin with the straight Gangsta. Everything about them was Gangsta. And we was Gangsta, we was soul, we was radio, we was mixin ours up. We was just doin what came from the heart, and they was doin what came from they heart. It was a different sound.

Who does the production for Grind Family?

C.O.B.: In the beginning it was these two lil cats, we don’t mess with them no more. Myke Diesel did a lot of the music on our first two albums. He engineered all the songs, produced a coupla songs. Now he’s workin with No Limit. You know Lil Romeo, Myke Diesel produced that whole album. He did all the music.

How did that come together?

C.O.B.: My guy Tony Aris, he used to play basketball with P and he used to model P’s sports clothes and stuff. He from my neighborhood. Every time he used to travel back and forth from New Orleans or Texas he used to always stop off in the studio. He heard Myke Diesel and he was like, "P will love you." He was like "When he get in the game he’ll be able to hook y’all up." I’m like, "Cool. Take him down there and see how they’re feelin him." He been goin back and forth, now I only see him like once every blue moon, but he’s still my man. He’s the one that’s holdin the whole No Limit thing together right now.

Myke Diesel used to be part of the Grind Family?

C.O.B.: Yeah, he did a lot of the music on our first two albums. He engineered all the songs, produced a coupla songs. You’ll see his name on our CD’s and on No Limit CD’s, but he was with us first. Myke Diesel behind all that. He don’t really like making the kinda beats he’s makin right now, he more dirty and grimy like the typa beats that we be rappin on. Those are the typa beats that he really like to make, he’s makin beats to suit No Limit, he’s makin beats that suit their flavor.

Who did the beats on the new one?

C.O.B.: A guy by the name of LOS Written and the Invisible Man. Those are the main two that did the beats. They was responsible for makin the beats on the album.

Are they in-house producers or outsiders?

C.O.B.: They’re our producers. We’re gonna continue workin with each other. They ain’t goin nowhere, we love each other. They here forever.

I heard your studio got raided by the police?

C.O.B.: Yeah. One of my partners–he’s in jail right now–he got accused of murdering another cat from Hammond, Indiana. They said they was lookin for narcotics, which they didn’t find none. But I figured they was really lookin for some more stuff so they could get him convicted of murder. They took my camcorder, but ain’t nothing on that. Some females and live footage of the Grind Family in concert with Ja Rule, Kid Capri, Coo Coo Cal.

Soope: Yeah we had the door kicked down. They thought you know, whatever they think every black male is doing. They see some positive shit, they think there's drug selling going on in there. But nothing but legal shit, they didn't find nothing. We fixed the door up and continued with our music.

Who is Will Scrilla?

C.O.B.: Will Scrilla, he the underground king of this whole Lake County, Gary, Indiana, Hammond, Indiana, East Chicago, Indiana, he the whole underground king of this shit. He the one that started this whole Grind Family shit. That’s my guy that’s locked up. He was part of the group. He’s a rapper. He was like Michael Jordan to the team. We had so many good players that we still maintained through the turmoil, but at the time he was the number one rapper and we was all playin a role around him. He was the main focal point in the beginning.

When did he get locked up?

C.O.B.: September of ’99. Now they dropped it from murder to manslaughter, so we’re thinking he’ll have to do another 2 years.

Who writes most of the lyrics for the Grind Family?

C.O.B.: Everybody writes they own lyrics. We just put all our heads together on each song, depending on how far this or that person came along with the song already. Everybody always put their input into every song. But everybody write their own lyrics. I won’t even let ‘em spit it if they didn’t write it. It’s gotta come from your own heart. You can’t have nobody else write for you. Some people do that in the industry, but we don’t believe in that.

How does Chicago accept The Grind Family?

C.O.B.: Chicago don't even accept they own artists. You got some people over there, real music listeners, they like us. But if you ain't on the radio, if you ain't on the videos, if you ain't on 106 and Park, The Bassment, none of that, they ain't really trying to hear you until you. But we find some people everywhere that just like music no matter if you on TV or not, and those the ones that we concentrate on.

Soope: I feel it's love. Every rapper I ever see that I meet from Chicago, female, nigga or whatever. They feelin' that shit. I feel they feelin' the Grind.

What's some of your best markets outside of Gary?

C.O.B.: Indianapolis, South Bend, Michigan City. We go down south too, but we roll out the trunk with it down south. They love us. We get good response wherever we put out material. So we got it in Texas, Minnesota, Detroit, but it's all out of the trunk.

I always hear about shows out here in Indiana. The local groups out here seem to stay busy.

C.O.B.: Yeah cause we be performing like, we opened up for Ja Rule, we opened up for Kid Capri, we opened up for Coo Coo Cal. But the Ja Rule show was in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Kid Capri show was in Indianapolis, and the Coo Coo Cal show was in Terre Haute, Indiana. We ain't opened up for no nationwide act around here. When we do shows around here we be the headliners cause we got the fan base.

Gary has a big Black population?

C.O.B.: Gary is like 80-85% Black. Mexicans and Puerto Ricans, they out here too, but most of them in the East Chicago part of town, that’s where our studio’s at. But in Gary it’s mostly straight Black people.

Do a lot of people still work in the steel mills?

C.O.B.: That’s what they do, steel mills. It’s mostly the older people that’s been workin there for a long time. For the new people it ain’t really too much to do. That’s why they go so crazy. It’s terrible. It’s rough out there, but ain’t nobody know about it. We gonna let them know about it.

What do people do in Gary just to chill?

C.O.B.: Ain't nothing to do but get in trouble man. See, what we do to chill is go to the studio now. What the police don't understand is the studio keeping you out of trouble. Not getting you in trouble. The studio is occupying your time. No longer is people on the street selling drugs. They trying to go in the studio and make they money like that. So what do the police rather you do? Sell drugs or sell CD's and tapes? They on us for selling CD's and Tapes, so they must want us to sell drugs. We be in the studio 24 hours and 7 days a week. Try to keep my boys out of trouble and we try to get this music thang right. Keep our heads right and I know one day we gonna be a force in this rap game.

Soope: I mean there's a few positive places. Me personally though I like to hoop. That's my getaway. If I ain't in no studio booth, I'm on the court.

What makes the situation so hard in Gary right now? Is it the unemployment? The drugs?

C.O.B.: People just feel like they ain’t got no hope for themselves, they ain’t got no outlet. So what if I go to jail, I ain’t doin nothing myself anyway. That’s just how they feel–some people, not everybody, but the majority of the youth. They feel like they ain’t got nothing to live for no way, so they just act wild. It’s like that. We ain’t got no youth programs, nothing. They ain’t tryin to help nobody. Either you kill yourself or we lock you up, and that’s that. We can forget about you.

All of us experience the struggle, but a lot of people don’t want to talk about it. Why do you think that is?

C.O.B.: They’re scared to. They wanna say it, but they feel like they’re gonna be preachin to somebody if they say it. We care about the youth, the grown people, teenagers, we care about all that. As long as I’m here in the company I’m gonna make ‘em say it. I tell ‘em to say what you feel. Don’t say what you think somebody gonna like. Just what you feelin at that time, that’s what you say. No matter how they take it, if they think you’re preachin to ‘em, just show ‘em. If that’s what you feel in your heart, just say it. A lotta people just make music to make money. We make music for the soul. That’s all we know–problems, pain, and we should talk about it. We need to let the world know how hard it is out here. It’s not all about cars, jewelry, it’s real. When they had that bling bling and all that goin on in Hip Hop, people were still goin to jail, people were still dyin. People were still havin problems payin their rent and people were getting kicked outta their houses. That’s all we know. We had cars and all that, but at the same time our people were still struggling. Our homies were still getting shot, and goin to jail. That out-weighed all the other stuff, the jewelry and cars. That out-weighed it by 100 to 1.

For more info: http://www.grindfamily.com and http://www.garyrap.com

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