Interview
with Skatterman and Snug Brim
By Black Dog Bone
How is your new record doing?
The record is doing real well. We’re spread out across the United States. This is our first nationwide album. It’s beautiful. It’s coming from where we’re coming from. March 27th was the release date.
Did you have another album out before?
We had a previous album, me and Skat, Worth a Million. That came out in 2001. I also have a solo project that came out in ’99—Snug Brim Centerpiece of the Puzzle. He had an album out too called Southside Rollers.
Before you became the group, were both of you solo artists? What made you come together as a group?
We knew each other from school. We just clicked. We liked each other’s music and style. From there on we got together and it was a good business plan. We’ve been together for four years now.
How did you start working with your new label?
Tech N9ne was a friend of mine back in the day. He was a featured artist on my first album. I was known around the city and hooked up with him, and everything fell in place. He came and got us once he got signed. He came and picked us up. We did a fifty-two city tour last year and we’re trying to do a hundred shows this year.
You and Skatterman don’t sound anything like Tech N9ne.
We got a whole different style, a whole different way of thinking.
Do people expect you to sound like Tech N9ne since you’re on his label?
No. I think they can tell from our appearance that we are totally different. When they see us they know where we’re coming from.
Who else plays with you on your shows?
We got Kutt Calhoun. We got BG Bulabu. We’re part of the Deuce Click. We got an album coming. And Krizz Kaliko. We’re all family. We was all together before this rap stuff.
Are the shows helping to sell your records?
Yeah. Street promotion and we got a little radio play with this album. it was nice to get that but for the most part the streets is where it’s at.
Are you working on a new record now?
Not right now. We’re just trying to squeeze this album to the last drop. We feel this one is going to take us there with the right promotions. Regardless of whatever, if the label is frustrating or whatever, we’re going to stick with it. We’re not going to give up because we feel that our music is more advanced than a lot of this industry music that people are selling two and three million copies of it and it’s bullshit. We coming with the reality music. You can’t turn it away once you hear it. It hits the heart. That’s where we wrote from. We came from the heart with this album.
What do you think of the underground acts coming out right now?
All the Messy Marvs, the San Quinns, JT the Bigga Figga. It’s love on the underground scene but it’s hard because of the music we make. I respect everybody coming from the underground because that’s where the all the tenacity is, and that’s where all the heart is. That’s where all the power is. That’s where all the hunger is. The underground is where niggas is still hungry. It’s not where they already got a lot of money so they put out some bullshit record. I love underground.
A lot of people say that Kansas has a big influence from the Bay, but I believe that Kansas has it’s own sound.
We have our own sound. It’s a mix. People from the West migrate from the middle and people of the East migrate from the middle. We are learning both sides and turning it into our style. A lot of the Bay come down here but I still say we got our own way because we are the Midwest. We learn from them and then we turn it into our own style. I definitely feel what you are saying. This is a whole different style. I don’t feel this is the same as the Bay. It’s so different. It’s more. We got an advantage because we got both sides. We got East and West and South. Midwest has it’s own sound. The Twistas and the Tech N9nes. It’s like that. We got it.
Who does most of your production?
We got these guys out of Kansas City called Bubonics, the Tecnicko Brothers. They did a lot of work for Tech. Lil Ronnie, he’s from Kansas City and he’s been working with Jermaine Dupri. We have a lot of in-house producers. Icy Rock is a producer. He’s a legend in Kansas City. He’s been with Tech since Tech started. We got heat. We all come from Kansas City. We’re trying to stick together and blow as a whole.
Do you think there is a lot of talent in Kansas City?
There’s a lot of talent in Kansas City. The thing about Kansas City is that we are going to stick together as a whole. If everybody would stick together and blow this thing like Nelly and Chingy did in St. Louis. If we stick together like that and get behind our local artists then we’ll blow. Our radio stations are kind of shaky because they don’t really give local artists a chance. If you’re not Jay-Z or 50 Cent they aren’t going to play your music. We were just one of the fortunate ones to have a semi-big label behind us to get that push.
Do you get radio play in Kansas City?
We just got radio play here but it was hard. Because our radio stations are not really into local artists, per se.
Are you on rotation?
We’re on regular rotation. We were fortunate. "Block Party", the first single off the album, it’s really taking it off for us. The album is doing good.
What would you say gave you and Skatterman your big break? Was there one incident that opened some doors?
We recorded an album and we were going to put the album out ourselves. It just so happened we were in the studio and Tech came down and heard it. He let Travis hear it and they were like, "Fuck, we got to sign, ya’ll." They wanted to push the music nationwide just from hearing the music. That happened the beginning of last year before we went on tour with Tech.
What type of music do you listen to right now?
Right now, I’m on Twista. I’ve always been a Twista fan. E-40, Messy Marv. I love the new up coming artists. Like Juvenile. He’s big but he’s from the streets. I’m on that street hood shit. That’s what I’m on. Skatter’s favorite rapper is Scarface. He loves the emotional type rappers that’ll make you cry. He’s into that right now. He’s into the more serious type rap.
Are you two very different from each other?
We’re as different as night and day. Like oil and water. But it works out.
Do you do a lot of shows in Kansas City?
No. We are always gone. It’s not a big market here. It’s kind of crazy. Not too many people want to mess with no rap groups right now down here.
Where do you go?
Denver. Denver is in love with us. Oklahoma City and Tulsa is in love with us right now. And the Bay. San Jose, Oakland, San Fran. They are all over us right now.
Is Oklahoma is a good place?
Oklahoma is a beautiful market down there. And you wouldn’t even think there’s a big market down there but it is. Thousands come see us.
What kind of response do you get in the South?
We’re doing pretty good Down South. Southwest, that’s where we’re concentrating on. We really haven’t gotten to big in the Southeast yet. We really haven’t traveled to the Atlantas and the Carolinas and the Floridas yet. We’re still waiting on that.
How was it for you growing up in Kansas City?
It was hard. It was a typical single parent mother. You got to go through what you got to go through. I’m the oldest of four kids. I got in the streets at thirteen. I’m not going to say it’s hard but I made it like that. My mom was always there but I made it hard from decisions that I made.
What about Skatterman?
Skatterman was the same way. Single parent mom.
Did he grow up around you?
Yeah, he was like five minutes away from me. 68th Street and KC. I’m from 54th. It was a gang infested neighborhood but Skatter and I are from the same side.
Were you going to the same school?
He’s like a year older than I am. We went to the same junior high, then ended up going to the same high school for a year.
Were you rapping at the time?
I was rapping. He didn’t start rapping until maybe ‘97. I’ve been rappinjg since ’90. I’ve been writing and in the studio since then.
When did you start to really take your career seriously and start putting out records?
In junior year in high school I started getting real serious. I started getting a little money and I was trying to invest instead of blowing all my cash. I got real serious and I came with an album and put it out there. It sold a couple thousand units from nowhere. No one knew who I was. They who knew who I was around the city but they didn’t know I rapped. I out it out there and made a couple dollars. I’m like, shit! I can do this it’s in me. I got the gift so I took it seriously from then on. I always knew I had it. My pops is a deejay.
Do you have more of a street or a club sound?
I would say there is something on my album you are going to like. You are never going to get the same emotion. You got shit on there that’ll make you cry. You got shit on there that you can kick it to. You can sit back and smoke weed or whatever you are going to do to. For somebody that’s never heard it, I say get the album. It’s guaranteed that there’s something on there you’re going to like. There’s something on there for the chicks. It’s a well put together album.
Do you have songs that are hot in the clubs?
Oh man! "Block Party" is hot in the clubs. That’s our single. It’s hot in the clubs. We got a song coming out called "Tired." It’s for the women. It’s hot to death. They’re bangin’ it right now. We got "Murder By Numbers" on the Beef Soundtrack. Kansas City is really getting behind us right now. We’re thanking them for their support as far as the deejays in the clubs.
Is there a lot of club action in Kansas City?
A lot of club action. Every night there’s something to do here.
Do people go out to clubs every night?
Every night. Monday night, Tuesday night. We got two dollar Tuesdays. It’s a real party town. It’s only a half a million people here but there is still something to do every single night, and it’s big. The only thing you have to do is watch yourself because it’s crazy too down here.
Do DJ’s spin records or do people perform in the clubs?
DJ’s spin the records. Up there they have little DJ meetings. Sixty DJ’s from all over the surrounding cities meet and they go over the new artists. If some one from Kansas City has a new album, and they shoot their single to them, they all have to agree to play your single to get you more recognized in the club. If they like it then they’re going to bump it. If they don’t then they are going to tell you they’re not going to mess with it. It’s a deejay coalition.
The rappers don’t perform in the clubs?
That’s a given. Some people down here don’t really mess with the Rap scene because it brings the wrong crowd sometimes. We’re already stereotyped. It’s all crazy down here. Police run Kansas City.
