How Dead Eye Got His Name

Document your own era

Carlos Aguilar: No, that's why you got to document your own shit. That's why I was like, yo, I could have picked any city, any era — document my era, the people that I knew, so people see what the fuck's there. There's something there.

Sean Henderson: The era we came from, that was the golden era of hip-hop in terms of battle rap and just lyricism, bro. It just was different. You had the Good Life, you had Project Blowed, you had Elements, you had Foundation, you had Unseen Underworld. And so you had a lot of stuff, bro, that brought out a lot of these MCs that are still doing it, which is dope.

Dead Eye, two words

Carlos Aguilar: That's crazy. So let's jump into the name shit, bro. What is your MC name? How do you spell it? And where did it come from?

Sean Henderson: Yeah, so my name's Dead Eye. It's basically D-E-A-D, E-Y-E. Is that two words or one word? Two words — two words, Dead Eye. People, you know, put it together. It don't matter how you say it. I feel like Talib Kweli — it don't matter how you say it, you know. But it's crazy. So how I got that name was — I'm originally from Long Beach. I was born in Long Beach, California. I grew up in Long Beach around the Snoop era, when everybody was on the east side of Long Beach. I played football at Poly, Poly Pop Warner. Growing up in Long Beach, I had family from Compton, family from pretty much that whole little area. And so...

Leaving before it popped off

Sean Henderson: We used to go to rough parties, bro. We would go to parties, and this was when Badass was rolling around with the LBC crew and Technique and a lot of the mainstream underground hip-hop rappers or whatever. And then there were a bunch of all-age clubs — there's one in Lakewood called High Top. Everybody used to go to this spot and freestyle in the parking lot. It's way before I met you guys. This is probably like '92-ish, '93-ish. And so we would get to these spots, man, and I would have this uneasy feeling, bro. Like, man, we probably shouldn't be at this spot. Let's dip. "Ah, man, we trying to have fun and hang out." I'm like, nah, we need to dip. I could feel the vibe was off. I'm like, yo, let's bounce. So then we would bounce from these spots, dude. And then the next day you'd be like, yo, man, that spot we left from got shot up. Or it got raided, or a huge-ass fight broke out and all pandemonium broke loose. And I had an older homie of mine named T-Boo — we were from this crew called Vietnam. So of course, I'm the light-skinned cat, you know, in the hood. And, you know, Martin had the episode where he had his arch nemesis, Pretty Ricky. So they used to call me Pretty Ricky. They'd be like, oh, that's Pretty Ricky. So that was my MC name for like—

Pretty Ricky

Sean Henderson: You're Pretty Ricky from the Vietnam crew. So someone gave me that—

Carlos Aguilar: Name. The crew kind of gave you that name.

Sean: Kind of just gave me that name, like Pretty Ricky. Because before that, I was calling myself Question Mark Assassin.

Carlos: Before that, you had a name called Question Mark—

Sean: Assassin. Yeah, it was Question Mark Assassin. And before that, it was Shawnee Mac. So I've been performing — doing hip-hop, rapping, writing my rhymes — since I was probably about seven years old. Quick sidebar: my step-pop, basically, him and his brother were managing a lot of hip-hop artists. They had Ras Kass — at one point my uncle had Ras Kass when he was early on in his career — and my step-pop kind of started dabbling in it. And my uncle, a cat by the name of Squeaky G, was part of a group called the College Boys, and they had that hit single back in the 90s, "Victim of the Ghetto."

Carlos: Yeah, didn't they also, like, do the whole step? Did they really step into their music videos and shit?

Sean: College Boys? They did. They had a bunch of different shit, but they were on tour with Digital Underground. They were like the first Black hip-hop group signed to Virgin Records. So I was hanging around all these cats. We had this apartment in Long Beach. And I used to always hear people come through and record. My step-pop at the time was working with my Uncle Squeak from the College Boys, and he had an MPC-1000, bro, and an SP-1200, I believe. And he was recording off a digital DAT, way, way back when, just doing crazy shit. And Chali 2na and the cats from Jurassic 5 were coming through to my apartment — this is way before they were even like — it's probably like '91, '92. Okay. So they were coming through to my—

Hip-hop in the house

Carlos Aguilar: Apartment. You're a kid. You're serious.

Sean Henderson: Baby, dude. Baby, right. And he would come through, he would record, he would do some stuff. Then we had a couple other cats that would come through that my step-pop would manage as a group. And so, of course, I'm like, hey, man, I want to rap. I hear what's going on. I'm listening to shit. I'm rapping. I've been in hip-hop forever, as a youngster listening to music. And yeah, he was just basically like, yo, if you want to rap, we'll put together a little group, get a couple of your little homies together, and we'll make a group. So we had a group that we started, and my original MC name was Shawnee Mac. That was like...

Carlos: So that was basically your first name?

Sean: First, Shawnee, and then Mac. Mac was popular — yeah, like I'm a Mac daddy, right? Like the whole thing. Pretty boy Mac daddy, kind of put together one by one, so...

Carlos: You called yourself that, or they gave you that name because you were a—

Given the name

Sean Henderson: Young fella. They gave me that name. Yeah. They gave me that name, and it was like, yo, this is your name. And we went and did — remember when they were doing, like, talent show pop-ups? Yep. So we would do, like, showcases, Talent show pop-ups or whatever. And I was writing my music and started getting more serious about it. And then, you know, transitioned from Long Beach to, like, the Compton area, borderline. Met these cats — the homie T-Boo and them — they were from a little gang that they had in the area. And I don't want to call nobody out on them. They was from a little gang; I was hanging out with them. And then they'd be like, oh yeah, that's that little rapper — that's Shawnee Mac. Like, but you more like a pretty nigga — you like Pretty Ricky. I'm like, man, don't call me that shit. They're like, nah, we just gonna call— You Pretty Ricky, and it stuck. OK. So I started battling. At all these different clubs.

Sleeping on Pretty Ricky

Carlos Aguilar: So did you think that name was an advantage? Motherfuckers would sleep on Pretty Ricky soundin' like that.

Sean Henderson: I think it was an advantage in terms of people didn't know I could rap, but it was a disadvantage because everybody in the street had hardcore gang member names. And here I am with Pretty Ricky. And I'm light skinned, which that don't line up. And I'm hanging out in areas I probably shouldn't be in.

Carlos: Wait, so you wore that name a little uncomfortably? But you were so young, you were just like, fuck it, I'ma—

Sean: Me, I'ma do it? Yeah. At first, I was like, man, I don't really want to be called that. Like, nah, man, Pretty Ricky fits, bro. And it just caught on. It just caught on.

Carlos: Got it, okay. You kinda reclaimed and redefined what a Pretty Ricky would be and shit — like, this was your shit or whatever. Pretty much. Okay. Because that whole Martin—

Sean: Episode, like, lined up. It was a running joke, but then when I'm battling, they'd be like, okay, yeah, this nigga, he got—

Carlos: Soft. Right. So what was the assassin name that you had after that?

Question Mark Assassin

Sean Henderson: Yeah, so basically, I was going from parking lot to parking lot, like Club Hightop. We would go to all these different little spots out here in Long Beach, Compton, and we would battle. And then one of the homies — my homie Robbie Mack — was like, bro, every time somebody raps in a cypher, you're a fucking assassin. And nobody sees you coming. They don't even know you. I'm like, yeah, that's kind of hard. I'm like, damn, you know what? Why don't I call myself Assassin? Like, Question Mark Assassin, because they don't really know me. I'm like, yeah, that's a hard-ass name. Question Mark Assassin. Yeah, yeah. OK. So then I, like, transitioned— Out of Pretty Ricky to, like, Question Mark Assassin, like— I'd say about two years, three years. And I just ran with it. OK.

Everybody had an AKA

Carlos Aguilar: So let's go back to Question Mark Assassin. A couple of things. Changing your name ain't easy. It's not an easy decision. It's like: should I do it? Should I do it? Fuck it, I'm going to do it. Or what was that process like? Yeah. Well, you—

Sean Henderson: You know, back then, everybody had an AKA. Oh, so multiple names was cool anyway. Oh, That's Shawnee Mac, AKA Pretty Ricky, AKA Question Mark Assassin. So you were holding them all. Oh, you would, like, hold them all and use them when you were around. That's that Wu-Tang influence, bro. OK. Right? Because you've got to remember, we on the West Coast, So people weren't really — I was one of the first early adopters to listen— To Wu-Tang. OK. So that whole—

Carlos: Like, so, multiple identity type— Identity couldn't hold you.

Sean: It couldn't, because it would transform. The vibe I had when I was doing the showcases was more like a showcase, laid— Pretty Ricky rapping about, you know, hanging out in the streets with bitches and cars and all the things that came along with living in the city at the time, right? To where it was like, all right, I'm kind of moving into more like — I like the underground hip-hop shit. And then, you know, when Method Man was first starting to come out and all that, I was kind of transforming into that Question Mark Assassin, right around that timeline.

Why “assassin”

Carlos Aguilar: Now, some people are like, I'm an MC, so I see why "assassin" is an appropriate name and shit. Because you're trying to do what? You're trying to murder people. Why an assassin and not a chef or whatever the fuck? I don't know. Why an—

Sean Henderson: Because assassins are very skilled at being able to take somebody out, and that was the whole theory behind it. Nobody knows you. They don't see you coming, and you're very skilled when you take somebody out, so you're like an assassin on the mic, and that's where it came from.

Carlos: And taking somebody out is like just shitting—

Sean: On them. Yeah, just battle rapping, shitting on them. You know, actually, me and Tron — you can laugh about this — I tell this story: I don't want to say no MCs' names, but there were some pretty known MCs in that area at the time, mainstream, that would come through. And I actually tried to battle one of them in a parking lot, and he pulled out a burner and put it in my face. Oh, word. We're, like, mid-battle, bro, just going back and forth. I was getting the best of him. He got—

Carlos: Mad, bro. How old were you when that happened?

Sean: Dude, I was probably like 14, bro. Yeah, 13 or 14 years old. He put the burner right in my face, bro. So I'm gonna say it like this.

Carlos: If I knew my 13-year-old son was walking around with the nickname calling himself Assassin, Like, what the fuck is going on here, bro?

Sean: Man, I'm from a single-mother household, man. Mom's just working. You know, I'm out in the street hanging out with a bunch of older knuckleheads. I was the young cat, hanging out with the dudes who were, like, seniors in high school and graduated, you know what I'm saying? I had a very good upbringing with older cats, where I was probably a little more mature beyond my years at that point.

The switch to Dead Eye

Carlos Aguilar: So, okay, so when'd you go from Question Mark Assassin to Dead Eye, and what was the—

Sean Henderson: Toward the end of my streak in Long Beach, you know, I was getting in trouble, doing a bunch of wild, reckless shit, as we all do as youngsters with single mothers. And I started getting into a lot of trouble — police showing up at my crib, fights and all that. And starting to get a little more immersed in probably a culture I should have, like, gotten away from. But that shit, you know, you're in the rap shit and it gravitates. It all comes into one. You know, we would start going to these parties, man. And I'd get into the party, I look around, I'm like, man, I'm not really feeling this vibe, bro. Like, we should dip. "Oh, no, it's cool, man." I'm like, nah, man, we got to bounce. And a couple of times we leave, shit got shot up. Like, multiple people died. You know, spots got raided that I was at. And I just always would be out of there in the nick of time. And so the same cats was like, yo, bro, you just got this fucking Dead Eye for seeing shit. Like, not only are you an assassin, but you got a Dead Eye for knowing what's going on. And I'm like, yeah, that's a Dead Eye. I was like, damn, that shit sounds hard as fuck. I was like, man, you know what? I'm gonna switch my name to Dead Eye. They're like, yeah. I'm like, I like that shit. That shit sounds hard. So that was probably like '95, maybe? Yeah, probably like '95, '96. I just took on that whole persona, man, of like, all right, I'm going to roll with this name, and it's just, like, hardcore bully rap, cypher — that's all I want to be involved in. And then that name just stuck with me, man. In '97—

Out to the IE

Sean Henderson: '98, I moved from Long Beach out here to the IE, and I linked up with Triune. I first went to Chaffey High School, and then was rapping there with a bunch of cats who are probably — I think they're actually all locked up now, man, which is crazy. But I was rapping there, got in a shit ton of trouble rapping as Dead Eye.

“What's wrong with your eyes?”

Carlos Aguilar: How do people react to your name?

Sean Henderson: You know, it was just kind of like — dude, it's an intimidating name, but the first thing they're thinking is like, bro, what's wrong with your eye? Like, that's — oh, shit. People will be like, yeah, why they call you Dead Eye? Like, what's wrong with your eyes? I'm like, nah, bro, there's a whole theory behind that. They'd be like, oh, we just thought your eye was fucked up.

Carlos: Wait, so what would you give them? Because I wasn't up on Dead Eye as a way of describing somebody who — what kind— Of explanation would you give 'Cause y'all would never even ask. See, that's what's crazy. Like, unless we had this conversation, I'd probably never ask an MC why they call you this or whatever. Some motherfuckers would never get a chance to tell me or whatever. A lot of people ask—

How's Dead Eye doing?

Sean Henderson: You? Like, what's your name about? They do, man. And it's funny because, you know, at first, I was all about telling people, man. And it's funny — as you get older, you get a little more, like, wouldn't say secretive. You become more— About your name? Yeah, people be like, yo, why they call you Dead Eye? I don't even know you. I'm like, yo, man, don't worry about—

Carlos Aguilar: Interesting. So there was a time in your life where it was like, I'm Dead Eye — Dead Eye everything, all Dead Eye, everything. When did you start being like — what did your family think of the name? Was there anything like, yo, why do you call yourself—

Sean: That? A lot of people — family — they asked me. My mom was like, why do they call you Dead Eye? Which is funny, because in high school, everybody's parents — that's how they were introducing me to their parents. Like, oh, this is my friend, Dead Eye. So, like, I got people's moms, bro, that still call me Dead Eye to this day. Like, we've been out of high school for— Decades, bro. And they're like, oh, how's Dead Eye doing? And it just, everybody called me Dead Eye, man. Like, nobody called me by my government name for a long time. To this day — I have a coworker of mine that, two days or three days ago, was like, hey, she transferred stores, and she's like, hey, I have a dude who knows you. He asked me who my general sales manager was, and I said— Was like, Sean Henderson? Yeah, Sean Henderson. Oh, you mean Dead Eye? And it's like, immediately, everybody automatically thought of that name, bro. Like, 25, 27 years later, it's crazy.

Battling for a crew name

Carlos Aguilar: Wait, did you ever meet somebody with the same name?

Sean Henderson: I have not, but I've seen on, like, YouTube, there's a couple cats out there with that same name, or whatever, that have posted some YouTube videos. But I personally haven't run into anybody with that. Because, you know, in our era, if you ran into somebody with the same name, you had to battle for that name.

Carlos: And you never ran into anybody with the same name. You ever battle for names otherwise? Because that was more like B-Boy shit, but motherfuckers would try to battle you for your name even if you didn't have the same name. Take your name type shit.

Sean: Never for a name. Before, it was the name of a crew. I have battled for the name of a crew. I have done that.

Carlos: What was the name of the crew? What was that about? Vietnam.

Sean: One of the homies was like, yo, man, there's this group called Vietnam, bro. And I'm like, nah, bro, they can't have the same name. So, like, all right, let's meet up with them. So we met up and we battled for the name. It's funny — it was crazy, because you got to think about this: in that era, in the 90s-ish, early 90s, late 80s, bro, people were just getting shot. It was crazy violence. I always explain that time in my life where it was very tumultuous. I had a lot of bad shit happen to me from a street perspective — getting stabbed and all types of shit. But hip-hop was like this. It was like this neutral ground that pulled everybody out of that, right? It's like, we could go to Elements or Leimert Park, and you would be with a bunch of rival gangs, and they all got along, because hip-hop was that neutralizing factor in what everybody did. So when I look back on the day, I'm like, damn, bro, I done been through some crazy-ass fucking things. But hip-hop neutralized a lot of that activity. Because we walked through some tough areas, and people would be like, oh, yeah, leave them alone. That's that rapper. That's maybe Pretty Ricky. Right, right. The rapper. So it— Was, yeah, dude. So it's been interesting, man. You know, definitely battled for a name — or battled for the name of a crew — but never battled for the name of Dead Eye.

Carlos: How would you describe what was going on when you guys were battling for the name of a crew? What was actually happening there? When you're battling for a name, what was going—

Sean: Much like how we did it in the cyphers. It was, like, five cats all battling, and you picking who you're battling against — I jump in and battle him, he be going back and forth, and they jump in. It was like a WWE wrestling match, where a gang of fools is just, like, all in this thing, like a Survivor Series match— Bro, that's what it was. But why do that for a name?

A pride thing

Sean Henderson: Man, because you know, bro, like your name is everything. That's the respect that you have. Like, this is our name. We created it. Well, if you feel like you created it better, then you need to fight for that name. It's almost like how gangs fight over blocks. You don't really technically own the block, but it's a pride thing. Right? And you don't—

Carlos Aguilar: Technically own the name — it's a pride thing, right? A pride thing. A motherfucker somewhere else who calls themselves Vietnam tomorrow, no one's stopping them, you know what I'm saying? You don't own it in that way. It's just — but you'll fight for it. Yeah, you fight—

Sean: It's a pride thing, man. It's a pride and ego thing that's ingrained into hip-hop as a competitive sport.

Carlos: Is it unique? Like, are other motherfuckers — like, are rockers showing up battling for names and shit, or they're just like, nah, we're going to sue you? Like, why? What is it? I'm trying to get at, like, what is it about—

Sean: It's a name. It's a pride and ego thing, man. Like, hip-hop has always been a competitive sport to where, like, if somebody had something that you are staking claim to — like, hey, I'm the dopest freestyle rapper in the city — well, you're going to have to prove that. Right. This is my group, and we named our group this. Well, now my name is this, and this is what our group is. OK, we got to figure out who's the best.

Carlos: Can't have two people with the same name.

Sean: Two people can't occupy the same space, bro. Not in hip-hop.

Carlos: That's what's crazy. That's what's dope about hip-hop. It's interesting like that. So your name has helped you early on in your career because it was reputational. But now, as you're—

Not everybody needs to know

Carlos Aguilar: You're suggesting maybe not everybody needs to know your name. There was a time everybody should know your name. And now you're saying, nah, motherfuckers don't even know my name.

Sean Henderson: Yeah, nah. And of course, man, as you get older, you get into your professional life, man. It's like, thank God the internet wasn't around when we were here, because I don't know what would be floating around out there. You know, kinds of crazy shit. On YouTube, Man, but, you know, I've definitely become more private. I actually had a lady the other day ask me that, because I got it tattooed on my arm, and she was like, why do they call you Dead Eye? And I'm like, oh — and she was like, you don't want to tell me? I'm like, nah, it's not important. In the overall scheme of what we're doing right now, it has no relevance to this right now.

The homies named me

Carlos Aguilar: Dead Eye, in some way you were given that name, but it sounds like when you're younger — you're so young, they gave you the name, you had to run with it. At this stage, they're like, Dead Eye, you're a Dead Eye motherfucker. You're like, yeah. It kind of came from the community — in some ways a crew — but you had to own it on your own. Yeah, yeah. So would you say, like, you named yourself, or did the homies name you?

Sean Henderson: The homies named me. Like, I feel like I didn't pick that. They gave me that name. I just grabbed it and owned it, man. You know what I'm saying?

Carlos: I think we'll have to double back, 'cause I only set aside 30 minutes. We'll talk to some other cats, but I think there's gonna be more to talk about with you regarding names and shit. Yeah, absolutely. What names in hip-hop do you like? Like, oh, that's a hard name. And maybe what are some wack names that you're always like, man, that's wack? Or what type of name is wack, or whatever?

No wack names

Sean Henderson: Because I'm older and a little more experienced and not as reckless as I used to be, I would say all types of stuff if you would call me about shit. Now, in the best interest of not creating any type of unnecessary drama, honestly, I feel like I don't think there's a good or a wack name. I think, you know, your name is based off the era of whatever you came up in and what you've experienced. Right? Because you got a lot of guys who say, oh, well, that name's wack, and this particular genre of hip-hop is wack. Or, you know, what you guys did was super wack because, you know, you guys were rapping about this, that, and the third. But the reality of it is, everybody is using their circumstances to explain what they're doing at that time frame in the culture. So, like, the "Lil" seems to be, like, a big thing, right? Like, oh, Lil this, Lil that. He's a mumble rapper, whatever the case may be. Honestly, man, a name doesn't really define whether or not the music is good or the lyrics are good. There's a reason why they named them that. I probably would have named myself something other than Dead Eye, but a lot of the guys took these names from probably the community because most people give them those names and they ran with it. So like, it's really no bad or wack name. I just feel like, you know, you're picking up what you're living in at that time, what you're experiencing, you know. It's always— To have your own choice. If I could have gone back and kept the names that I thought were dope, that'd be cool. Everybody, I think, in those communities, views you differently than you do yourself. So I think it's dope when the community names you because they have a vision of you that you don't necessarily see in yourself.

Carlos Aguilar: That's crazy, because it's not like motherfuckers can walk up and be like, hey, I need a rap name and shit. Like, what should it be? Like, well, maybe some people do that. Who knows?

Sean: Right. If I had seen you reading books, I'd have been like, man, this cat is dope. He's a Bookworm. Right. Like, I'm always in the books, you know? Oh, shit, OK, yeah, man. Hey, and it just kind of grows on you, but that would also insinuate intelligence. Right. And many other things, right? Right. Verbal weaponry, all those things that— Come with being a bookworm, you know what I'm saying? Right.

Naming yourself

Carlos Aguilar: In my case, I had to name myself. Motherfuckers wouldn't. I had to write a name before that, but I also named myself, too. So I came from a self-naming...

Sean Henderson: C4 and Triune named himself, and— Didn't grow up in the IE with a lot of the guys, and you guys have a few years on me, too. I was hanging around with y'all when I was young. That's why the OGs were like, yo, this name would be dope. You should be that name. Right. I'm like, right.

Carlos: You guys have a few years on me, too.