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Keak Da Sneak Continued from Murder Dog vol.15 #2 Were you born in Alabama? When did you move to Oakland? I moved to Oakland when I was six months. I got a lot of family down there so I need to go there and see everybody. My family down there is real cool, and they all look like me and everything. I can’t wait to go back down home and be with them. What do they think of your music? They love it! Everybody is happy to see what I’m doing. They see my videos down there and everything. My family is real supportive of me. When I first started people were doubtful, but now they are all proud of me. Since the “Stackin’ Chips” album what would you say has been your highest level of success? Was it being on the “Tell Me When To Go” single with E-40? No, because before then I was getting 1,000 spins a week with my “Super Hyphy” song. It was just a single. That song is still hot to this day. When I perform that song it’s like it just came out today, and it came out back in 2004. That’s because you are so ahead of your time. Your music doesn’t get outdated. Yeah! All that anger was built up inside of me and I couldn’t blame nobody but me. It is like “Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!” and I put that into my music. That is what Hyphy is. People don’t really know the definition of Hyphy. It’s that “Arrrrrr!” Taking that energy and making a positive out of a negative. Hyphy started as a release of pure energy, but it became a style of music? They turned it into a movement. All of a sudden it was the Hyphy Movement. It was like it was a ritual. They took it and turned it into something. They defined it as a type of music where you had to rap on an up-tempo beat. That don’t have nothing to do with it. It ain’t about hanging out of cars or nothing. That has nothing to do with Hyphy. Another thing they think is you have to be high to be hyphy. Naw! It’s something to let loose with. When you are going through some fucked up shit it’s a way of letting the anger go without having to explode on somebody else. Really it could help a muthafucka from doing something really stupid. It’s just stepping outside and looking at the situation and seeing options instead of losing your mind. When people bite your style, does it make you angry or are you flattered? I’m flattered, but only when you give it up for me. When you don’t even mention me then I don’t feel flattered. When you don’t give it up for me then I’m like, “Go ahead, you can have that!” Then I reinvent it. If you’re Hyphy” then I’m Super Hyphy. If you’re Super Hyphy then I’m Super Duper Hyphy. I’ll keep reinventing it. People need to know where it comes from. People can’t keep biting everything I do. And I feel like people are just trying to exploit it and take what they can from it. They don’t even want to keep it going. I’ll keep it going because I know I can do that. A lot of people have created original shit, and even if a hundred people bite from it, it will always belong to the one who created it first. Does that motivate you to keep it going? That motivates me so much more! I want the people to know what it is all about and why it is what it is. A lot of people don’t even know what Hyphy is. When Hyphy was coming from you it was so original, but then when some artists were doing it, it looked more like a fad. Yeah, and that’s what it looks like all day. It had a feel to it that it was just going to be around for a little while, but really it will never go away. As long as I am doing it, it will live through me. Hyphy is not as strong now as it was a couple of years ago? It went out of style that quick. It did fizzle out, but Hyphy is not gone by any means. It is going to take you to come back and reinforce what you created? Exactly! I will let
people know that Hyphy is here to stay. Yeah, and that is what I wanted to do. I knew nothing else sounded like me and what I was doing. Why would you wanna be like everyone else? Longevity is when you are different and apart from everything else. How do you make your voice sound so crazy? The sounds that come out of you are not quite human. To me that shit is just natural. It’s nothing that I try to do. I don’t actually try to make my voice do that, it just comes out that way. I am different! I am a fan of a lot of icons in music, but I don’t sound like none of them. When you’re natural you stand out. You can’t do me and you can’t learn me. I will switch it up on you and keep coming with some other shit. The shit I was born with they don’t make no more. That’s like Tech N9ne. Other people can’t and won’t sound like him! That’s what I am saying. The shit that he is doing is incredible. Tech N9ne is wild! I think he might be from a different planet! That’s how I feel about me too. Twista is too! I was a Twista fan when they put him in the Guinness Book way back then. That was back in the days of the Fu-Chickens and Leaders of The New School. When you’re different like that you have something nobody can take away from you. People have to respect you for being who you are. You’ve got fans all over the world. Really I don’t know how famous I am. I see it but I don’t know. I stay humble because I know I have been around a lot of muthafuckas that was the hottest shit, but would never sign autographs or shit like that. Where are they at now? I’ll sign autographs and take a million pictures. I have fans who really buy my music and have been following me through out my career, and I love them. I’ll take a picture, sign autographs, and kiss the babies. We live in a day and age of arrogance and cockiness. You might accidentally bump into somebody nad they’ll pull out a gun and shoot you in the face. How did it get to be like this? I think about that a lot. It’s real crazy out here and the times are not good at all. Plus there are a lot of people who will fuck things off for people and not care either. They want to see you suffer and die. That is heartless! How does your new album compare to your previous albums? It’s on some whole new shit. It’s dope! It’s just me on some new shit moving forward. I am moving forward, but at the same time I take it back to that West Coast early-to-mid-90’s shit too. It’s a hard album and I’m very happy with it. It’s some classic shit! I took it back to the land! I got something on here for every region. How many cuts are on the album? I’m giving them like 18 tracks. It’s on my label, All In Da Doe, through Koch. Koch has a lot of good acts. What drew you to Koch? They told me I could have whatever I wanted. At the same time they’re behind me 110%. I don’t think they’re just gonna put this shit out. They are fans and they know who I am. I am in full control of my situation. I own the masters and all of that shit. What do you bump now days? I listen to a lot of the music that comes out. I go on Tuesday and pick up CDs. I listen to some of the major shit, but I’m an underground head. I listen to the underground shit more. It sounds like you got a lot of love for the music. I got a lot of love for the music in general. I am a huge listener and I respect what a lot of cats are doing with the music. I love the music in general and I stay in tune and keep current with everything. I study the music. Otherwise you will be behind in the times. When I came in the game there was different sounds out there, but a lot has changed since then and I have been able to progress and stay with whatever is out. When the sounds change it’s usually because an artist like you or Tech N9ne lead the change. You were one of the main innovators of Rap. How does that make you feel? That made me feel real good that people see that and recognize that. It separates me from a lot of other artists. When people recognize you for what you do it gives you a lot of personal satisfaction. It makes you feel like everything you did was for a purpose and a reason. I’m happy that people can hear that in my music and see what I am trying to do. When you perform does the crowd still demand to hear “Super Hyphy”? That is always the special request. It’s the most requested song I did. On myspace it has over a million views. That right there should solidify a multi-million dollar deal! Yeah, you would think. That’s what I have been trying to show these people who were trying to take advantage of me when I was young with record deals. I could’ve gave these people an album instead of them trying to hold me into a contract. It was frustrating for me. I had to take all of that in and turn it into positive energy. It sounds like the actions of the people that tried to hold you back is what created Hyphy? That’s what I mean and I couldn’t explain that. I couldn’t have just told you that. I couldn’t have made a definition for that. That is what I have been trying to say off top. Have you ever thought of putting your experiences out in the form of a book? Yeah, I am writing it right now. It’s called “Who Taught The World Fishery, Yadadamean!” I’ve got it all mapped out from the intro to the outro. It is just going to be about me from the 3XKrazy to the struggle I went through with music and how I lasted. I walked through fire and I got burned a little bit but I made it out. How did you make it through everything? I don’t know! I cant tell you how. Maybe it is because I am spiritual. I found discipline and I found something that disciplined me. When all else failed instead of me going crazy I found peace with me being spiritual and talking to my ancestors and putting pictures up of them. I asked questions about my Granddaddy because he died when I was nine and I only got to meet him once. My Dad’s Mom died when he was young. I believe that my ancestors have all been watching over me all of this time. Do you believe in the after life? Yeah that is what I mean by spirituality. I think of slavery and all of the pain and stuff that they went through for us so we wouldn’t have to go through it. They didn’t break and they sacrificed their life for us not to go through it. We cant even imagine what that was like. Their spirits are here! You can feel it around you and I found the disciple because of it. A lot of cats experiment with different mind altering drugs to get into other realms but it sounds like you don’t even need none of that shit because it comes natural to you! No I really don’t need that. That shit is natural and it is bigger than me. I don’t take credit for it because it is much bigger than me. I feel like it is a blessing and that is why I am so humble now. I know I got a lot of family and I was the chosen one out of my family to do what I do. I got a lot of spiritual stuff in my house. I got pictures of my Great Granddad and my Mom’s Dad. My Uncle liked to smoke cigars so I got a cigar next to his picture. I pay homage! I never even thought of nothing like that! That is so deep. That is rare as hell because of the way the world is. I even quit drinking this year too! Great! How long were you drinking for? I was drinking heavily since about the age of fifteen. Was it hard to quit? No! Do you smoke at all? I smoke weed. That’s natural! Yeah but I don’t smoke as much as I used to. I don’t need twenty blunts because I am high. What am I trying to do? I just smoke a little to mellow out. Back then we used to just smoke like crazy but I write a lot of songs at four in the morning. It’s beautiful that you stopped drinking because that shit is straight poison! Yeah I am lucky that I stopped when I did. Did you feel the effects that it had on your body? Yeah I used to wake up in different places where I didn’t know where the fuck I was at. It was real bad! It’s just all about living man. That is how you get game. You got to soak up from the older people because they have been through a lot more! Right and I could never disrespect my elders. My elders have lived my life twice or maybe even three times so I got to listen to what they have to say. I can see you rappin’ in fuckin’ 2020! Do you see yourself rappin’ that long? Yeah I do! I wont do it because I have to or anything like that I will do it because I love the game and I want to continue to give to my fans. This music is rooted deeply inside of my and I cant stop it now if I tried to stop it. I will be doing this for a real long time. Is there anything else homie? It’s a blessing for me to be where I am at. I want to give thanks to my maker, my Mother, and Father and all the youngsters trying to get in this game who love it with a passion. Don’t ever let nobody tell you that you cant do it. Go to www.myspace.com/keakdasneak and go to www.itsallndadoe.com
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