Recently, researchers at Harvard discovered the gene that codes for Hip Hop. The breakthrough confirms what many heads have long suspected: if your mom and dad have swag, this greatly increases your chance of inheriting it.
And such is the case with today’s Hip Hop Pops, a Tunnel Rat cat– Rosario Macho Ortega, whose love for the outdoors and work with his prodigous son, Nahoa, proves that the rap apple doesn’t fall far from the rap tree.
We’re under quarantine, so I emailed Macho a few questions. Yes, I was wearing a mask when I sent it. No, I wasn’t wearing any pants. Yes, I was wearing shorts. No, they weren’t Dockers.
1. What’s your first hip hop memory?
I grew up in Boston in a neighborhood called Mission Park. It was essentially a nicer version of the projects because although it was subsidized housing / Section 8 it was a townhome community. (In Boston, when a hospital or university wants to develop land the city requires them to also create affordable housing… just an interesting fact).
In our neighborhood we had an annual block party, and people of all ages would go up and perform. When I was about 6 or 7 years old I heard a guy named “Ant” get on the microphone and just totally murder it. That was the first time I had really seen Hip Hop live and in-person in a way that really made a lasting impression on me.
2. Why did you decide to rhyme?
Those block parties had lots of memorable moments and I remember also hearing La Di Da Di for the first time when I was about 9 years old.
I had the song in my head and just memorized it from the live show. I couldn’t stop repeating the lyrics. It felt so comfortable and natural to me.
Somewhere around that same time, like 1985-1986, I also remember visiting my cousin and seeing some break dancers dance to “Jam On It.” The first time I heard that and saw them spinning on the cardboard boxes I was buggin.
Those were just 2 elements of Hip Hop culture but I wasn’t aware it was even a culture, it was just there all around me. Within at least one year I submitted my name for that local block party and did my first performance.
After that man the rest is history. I formed a group with my sister Elsie and we became New Breed. This is us in the mid 90’s
We later moved to Los Angeles to join the Tunnel Rats and created some pretty cool music for the next 10-12 years individually and collectively.
Here are a couple of classic moments rocking live
I made my last record called “Remember” in 2011 then started my business shortly thereafter and really focused on entrepreneurship and family.
3. Who’s your favorite TV dad?
It’s been a while since I’ve watched any TV shows with a traditional dad… and the most common choice has been eliminated from the running so if I have to think of another one I guess it would be Uncle Phil from The Fresh Prince. Off screen I had tons of great fatherly examples in my real life. That’s one of the reasons why I always loved the idea of marriage and family. Of course I saw my share of broken families but I had great mentors who had healthy relationships and I aspired to have that in my life as well.
4. What’s your favorite family memory as a kid?
I used to love when my dad would take us all to the lake. We lived in the city and we didn’t really get a chance to be around nature too much. We would spend the whole day out there playing frisbee, jumping in the water and just hanging out. It was a very rare occasion but a very unique environment compared to where I grew up. We had a lot of challenges growing up but I always remember those specific days just being a ton of fun.
5. Tell us about your family: names, ages, interests.
I’m Macho ( real name Rosario)
I’m 43 years old.
I own a cleaning agency. And in my free time I like to go camping, hiking, bike riding, I also like to catch a good matinee and watch live music preferably straight-ahead jazz or Latin jazz if possible.
My wife is Jamie. She has a PhD in natural medicine. She owns Oasis Healing Arts in Whittier.
She’s been practicing for about 17 years and she was my original inspiration for starting my own business and being an entrepreneur. She grew up in Hawaii so naturally she loves the beach but she likes to head out to the trails and go camping with us as well. We have been married 18 years. She also homeschools our boys since she’s the smart one 🙂
My oldest son is Nahoa.
He’s 12 years old. He’s a natural talent. Singer-songwriter emcee, piano player, actor.
But when he’s not performing he’s truly a bookworm and a research nerd. The kind of kid that starts every sentence with “Did you know…” He reads anything and everything from apologetics to comics.
My youngest is Keoni. He’s 8 years old. He is a fun-loving, happy-go-lucky kid full of joy and passion. We call him “Tank” sometimes because he’s tough and unstoppable lol. He’s got a talent for cooking and hospitality, which is such a cool expression of his fiery energy. Both of my boys are having a great time with our beagle puppy, Zoe, that we just brought into the family in June. They are really raising and training her. They take that responsibility seriously and they do a great job.
Keoni is also taking up the drums.
6. What’s a movie or TV series you guys like watching together?
We like to do a lot of superhero movies. We’ve gone through the whole Marvel universe and all the DC movies as well. Jamie and I also loved the series “Homeland” and “Alone.”
7.Tell us about your passion for the outdoors. Where did it come from? Why lean into it with the family?
Well I guess based on my previous answer I got a tiny glimpse of it as a kid when my dad would take us to the lake. But for the most part I’m a city boy all the way. My brother-in-law invited us out to a camping trip about 6 years ago. It was your typical car camping but once I was out there in the woods something just clicked and as I explored all of the possibilities and talked to my brother-in-law about some of his other trips I really caught the bug. Soon thereafter we went on a backpacking trip and from that point on it was almost always wilderness camping far removed from civilization. We took the kids with us all the time, we did lots of hikes in between for conditioning and preparation and my boys have gone on 3-8 mile backpacking wilderness camping trips. You know the kind of camping where there’s no toilets, no running water, everything you pack in you have to pack out and leave no trace behind. There’s something really dope about being 10,000 ft above sea level in the middle of the forest with nobody around and as long as you come prepared it can be a great experience. Recently me and a couple of friends hiked the San Gorgonio mountains. It’s the highest peak in southern California at 11,500 ft.
We probably go on maybe six camping trips a year sometimes more and it’s a special time I get to spend with the family. Once this puppy grows up we can add her to the trail with us and she can really become part of the crew.
8. What’s a favorite camping destination?
So far San Gorgonio has been the best for me as far as personal accomplishment. But in terms of family destinations I love going to Big Bear with family. We have a cabin there but we also go camping and it’s literally a second home.
9. Tell us about your son’s music.
Yea man… Nahoa Life (his real middle name) Nahoa means “bold & brave” in Hawaiian.
Like I said before he is a natural talent. We’ve always had a piano in the house and from the time he could sit on the bench he would sit down at the piano and just start playing melodies and singing and creating since he was probably 3 years old. He watched me rap and write when he was younger and he used to spit some funnystyles freestyles as a kid (before he became self aware)
Obviously it wasn’t genius prodigy musicianship but I could tell that it was in his blood. You know I learned there’s a scripture that says “train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” To me this means that it’s my job to observe my children’s inclinations and the things that they lean into naturally. As a father I’m supposed to nurture, guide, teach and encourage those things… so that’s what I’ve been working on with him.
He is so comfortable and natural and professional in the studio it’s pretty crazy people trip out when they’re working with him. I am constantly getting feedback and comments that there’s no way he could write his own stuff just based on his age, but Nahoa is an exceptionally gifted writer. Of course as his father and someone who has written music all my life I’m involved in the process and I write with him but he’s got a lot to say and he’s only getting started.
Being a musician I honestly had mixed feelings about him aspiring to become a professional musician simply because I personally knew the cost and the challenge associated with that. We have lots of good honest discussions within our family and he’s a very smart boy. He’s able to make his own wise decisions so as his talent grew and as his love for music and performance grew, one day when he was just about to be 11 he told me that he wanted to really start pursuing music more seriously and entering contests and that whole world. So within a few months we entered a national singing competition and he won. He was offered a horrible six year 360 deal much like the ones people would get if they win The Voice so I straight-up had to turn it down. We decided from that point that I would personally produce and develop him and that’s when we started writing and recording music.
A little less than a year later in April of 2020 we released his first 3 singles along with music videos and will be releasing new music all throughout the rest of this year and next year on a very regular basis along with music videos.
He’s got an extremely bright future ahead of him. I can very clearly envision him as a mega super star. I really think that he has the potential to affect change in the world by way of people’s hearts and minds through his music. The readers can check him out for themselves and see whether or not they agree.
10. What advice do you have for parents looking to nurture their kids artistic pursuits?
Open honest loving conversation is key. Teaching your children who have musical or entertainment-related aspirations to think for themselves and set their own goals. I think creating their own metrics for success is in my opinion very important. Of course if you’re like me and you have experience with the industry then you should help to set realistic expectations and time frames, but as a parent I try to simply remind Nahoa of his own goals and desires and say if you want to reach this goal within this timeframe then this is what is required… so you decide if you want to watch that next TV show or if you want to go upstairs and practice the piano or write a new song or whatever.
When they see what they can accomplish with your help then they will start to take on more independent responsibility. If you are doing everything for them then I don’t see how it can be a sustainable path to success.
All that being said however, learning an instrument in our house is a non-negotiable. Becoming a mega Superstar is not the goal. Discipline, focus, creativity and expression can all be developed as one learns an instrument. So even when they are being kids and they don’t want to practice… that’s when I will step in and say there’s no choice in the matter. But in our house we don’t force classical music or even traditional theory. During their lessons they can learn to play the music they love. If they’re doing that consistently throughout their entire childhood then they will learn how to read and write music in the process even if it takes longer.
Have you ever met someone and was like, “Damn, if I was a Jewish hip hop lover from California, that’ s some shit I would’ve done?“
That’s what I said to myself some 10 years ago after meeting the homie Josh Heller, who I learned spent time in Mexico City teaching hip hop and English or some such cool shit. Josh does a bunch of dope media stuffs, including his most recent venture, an international record label, Viajes.Cosmicos launched w/ a buddy during quarantine. That buddy is floresflores.
Frankly, I’m afraid to know what the first three dimensions entailed.
The first release is from FLORES FLORES and I had a chance to send FLORES some questions in between doing dad shit like pulling weeds, pulling teeth and pulling a hamstring.
How much money have you blown last year on your music hobby?
I don’t have a music hobby. I reject the notion that this economic system puts forth, that if you don’t monetize on things they are supposed to be hobbies or luxuries. I have been preparing all of my life for this album. Being present and focused on doing things and bringing them to completion is something invaluable. And it’s way more uncomfortable and frustrating than not doing them, but is fulfilling. For me, at least.
Trying to be a better musician/producer has made me want to read more, listen to more records, learn different software, and taught me to stay curious, really. That permeates through all aspects of my life.
What level of hell do you think Mexican Americans who can’t speak Spanish occupy?
None. It’s ok if you don’t know spanish, culture and heritage go way beyond language. I mean, if you want to learn it, that’s fantastic but don’t do it out of guilt.
What’s the first album you played on repeat until your mom told you to turn that shit off because it will make you crazy?
Probably the Space Jam Soundtrack. I don’t remember driving my mother crazy by repetition, she is very musical but I do remember one day that she picked me up from high school and I put Sonic Youth’s Sister album on and she just turned the radio off and said “No.”
But I do get stuck on repetitive listens with some songs from time to time that just hit something in me – I remember the first time that happened was listening to the Miguel Bosé song Como un Lobo, I would rewind that song forever on the cassette, I must have been like 5 years old. Right now I have David Bowie’s Up the Hill Backwards on repeat for some reason. I almost exclusively listen to albums, not singles, not playlists, but some songs just stay in my brain for weeks and I need to feed it constantly and I’ll keep singing them. It can be a pain for people around me to hear me sing the same part of a song forever.
Why did your parents name you Flores twice?
My mother is the biggest José José fan in the world. She could’ve named me José but the 80s were a tricky decade for a lot of people.
If you could move to one city in Mexico, where would it be? One city in the US?
I’ve been living in Huasca the last couple of months with my wife. It’s this beautiful town in Hidalgo, close to where we grew up (Pachuca, capital of the state) and I’d love to move there indefinitely, but it’s hard letting go of commodities of big cities.
In the states, I really like San Diego, and it’s close to TJ, so you can get legit mariscos and tacos al pastor. But I don’t know, maybe a small town in California would be great.
Tell us about your album. How many blunts long is it? That’s to say, how many blunts can you smoke before the run time is through, using the International Metric of 5 minutes and 17 seconds per blunt?
I think it’s like half an hour long so you can squeeze maybe a 6th blunt if you really focus, and break some records/rules.
The album is called Uno, I recorded it in my studio in Mexico City called Números Rojos.
It has nine songs, one of which is Placed, the first single that you can check out right now on all streaming platforms.
If someone broke into your house and threatened you at gunpoint but gave you the chance to play one song off your album to convince them to leave in peace, what song would it be?
Probably Outline, cuz it’s the shortest. You don’t wanna be for too long with a psychopath.
What song should I play with my first cup of coffee? Why?
I’d do Caliber. It has a nice call of the wild/contemplative vibe. Gives room for introspection, even if the lyrics are about being wasted.
Tell us about your transnational label launched during quarantine.
When I was about to finish the album I hit Josh up because he is like the only friend I could think of that would be up to putting a record out with me. He liked the record and he had the idea of Cosmic Journeys for a while and this was a perfect way of taking step one.
I think music has been the driving force for both of us in our lives so this is us riding that wave to something bigger and better, we hope. We are still figuring things out but up until now it has been very fun. We are trying to have a very elastic vision of what an indie label can do or be in 2020. Aside from floresflores there’s also gonna be radio shows, more music projects from different genres, merch, videos.
I love practicing hip hop as a heuristic. It provides entry into a range of important skills for kids, adolescents and adults alike. Off top, I’m talking vocabulary development, literary interpretation, creative writing, engaged listening, choreography, design, performance …and the list goes on, er, can’t stop, won’t stop.
Similar to your favorite religion or political philosophy, an orthodoxy has been established. And the twin pillars of any good orthodoxy are 1) shared history and 2) shared meaning.
I came across Carole Boston Weatherford’sThe Roots of Rap at a bookstore while my kids were picking out a Wimpy this and a Harry that. The illustrations (by Frank Morrison) were arresting. The format, a free flowing rhyme, takes readers down hip hop’s history row.
The book opens
“Folk tales, street rhymes, spiritual–rooted in spoken word. Props to Hughes and Dunbar; published. Ain’t you heard?”
As you can see, Weatherford is playing ZERO games. She roots hip hop history in cosmopolitan folklore, street life, the church and African-American literary pioneers.
I can’t say enough about the artwork. I wonder if they’d publish a poster pack as part of the series, or a limited drop with signed artwork.
Visit Weatherford’s site and you’ll note that she’s written books on The Tuskegee Airmen, Gordon Parks, Harriet Tubman and the Civil Rights movement. And her son Jefferey is an accomplished artist, too. Clearly, the Weatherfords value arts education. Big propers.
And props to Little Bee Books for putting this out. This is a book our family highly recommends.
Yo, we’re throwing this one back back back to the warning track.
No one would choose to live without friends, even if he had all other goods.
— Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics
In 1993 an underground Brooklyn Hip-Hop trio calling themselves Black Moon released their debut album on Wreck Records. The record, aptly titled Enta da Stage, stripped down the then popular airbrushed thump and swagger of East Coast rap to a grease paint scowl of urban New York drama. Enta da Stage was a new direction in Hip- Hop, but perhaps was most significant to the careers of the artists and their fellow associates in rhyme. Rather than focusing the fruits of their newfound success solely on building their own fame, Black Moon instead parleyed their fortunate hand to win recording contracts for a half-dozen of their cohorts. The members of these fledgling groups – Original Gun Clappaz, Smif-N-Wesson, and Heltah Skeltah – joined with Black Moon to create a meta-group of sorts, the Boot Camp Clik. Along the way, Black Moon frontman Buckshot even co-founded his own record label, Duck Down Entaprizes, as a means of navigating his friends’ production efforts in the free market system while maintaining their own interests at heart. Amidst the often unforgiving waters of the record business, the Boot Camp Clik managed to set a precedent for self guidance that has been followed and expanded upon (to the tune of millions of dollars) by the likes of Sean “Puffy” Combs (Bad Boy Records), Suge Knight (the now defunct Death Row Records), and Master P (No Limit Records).
The story of the Boot Camp Clik is indeed an encouraging tale of camaraderie and sound business acumen, but what, you ask, do rappers with stage names like “Louisville Sluggah” and “DJ Evil Dee” really have in common with the robed Grecian philosophers of old, other than a penchant for loose-fitting clothing? Among outsiders to the culture (see sidebar), Hip-Hop is mostly known for its “negative” aspects: strong language; references to criminal activities; dangerously low bass frequencies. But equally integral too is a constant, if sometimes coded, expression of the necessity of community in various manifestations. And thus Aristotle’s musings on the importance of friendship above mere success are echoed in the lyrical philosophies of one Snoop Doggy Dogg: “It ain’t no fun if the homies can’t have none.”
While Hip-Hop culture consists of four main forms of expression, it is the packaged voice and sound of Hip-Hop music that both ascends the Billboard 200 and infiltrates the minds of the wider culture. And if Hip-hop begins in the popular conscience with the music, the music begins with the crew: the basic unit of the Hip-Hop community.
Unlike most other realms of pop music, where entourages become commonplace only when said pop star hits the big time, Hip-Hop groups and individual MC’s often lead an entouraged existence from the start. Even the most individualistic rappers, the self-professed “haters of players” and rhyme-sayers, roll with a crew. To operate solo in the Hip-Hop world is to carry one bullet in a shootout. The importance of one’s crew and/or group is nearly paramount to that of the individual. And when one gets put on, so does the other. An MC’s identity is often synonymous with the group he/she represents: Method Man and the Wu-Tang Clan; Snoop Dogg and the Dogg Pound. As Kurupt, another Dogg Pound member, puts it: “We rise and we fall together, all together / We brawl and we ball together / Doggs forever!”
The ethos of Hip-Hop is a seemingly contradictory amalgam of typical American rugged individualism (where I am what I am) and a more pre-industrial communalism (where it takes the entire village to raise the children). On the one hand is the extended familial network that helps deal with the economic, educational, political and religious disadvantages of being non-white in a country where, by all appearances, ‘white makes right.’ On the other are the well-intentioned voices of self-reliance: Horatio Alger’s ghost blows violently through inner-city high school motivational speeches, and commercials during NCAA basketball tournaments challenge an audience of disproportionately non-white viewers to “be all that you can be.” All this leaves young people of color trying to make sense of what it means to pull themselves up by the bootstraps that their tio and tia bought for them. Hip-Hop culture has evolved, in part, as an expression of that tension.
The introduction of a commercial success shifts balance between individualism and community, though, and an additional, invisible hand joins in the “pound session” (the customary, albeit varied, greeting offered by Hip-Hop mavens). As the popularity of Hip-Hop has increased, one can already make out the marks of capitalist consumer bleaching Hip-Hop’s richly woven textile. While rap videos dominate MTV’s playlists, while MC’s star in Sprite commercials, while Hip-Hop cuts routinely crack Billboard’s Top Ten, it is at the most rudimentary level that the influence of capitalism in the Hip-Hop community is most obvious: the transformation of the posse cut.
What once was an infrequent way to spread love through alliance (MC’s inviting unsigned crew members and affiliates to shine on a song), guest appearances and posse cuts now resemble a celebrity parade of body-movers and booty-shakers. Posse cuts at one time were celebrations of already-existing relationships (as with the LA-based Likwit Crew and the aforementioned Boot Camp Clik) and were considered prized rare gems on an album. Now posse cuts are as ubiquitous as golden crucifixes, and are less about creating a unique collaboration than they are about exploiting the current popularity of all involved. Perfect example: the song “Men of Steel,” an Ice Cube, Shaquille O’Neal, Peter Gunz, KRS-ONE and B-Real collaboration. Produced in the high-gloss R&B/Hip-Pop style, it embodies all that is wrong in Hip-Hop music: a lame song with languid verses from overpaid artists who don’t mesh on a limp soundtrack to a lifeless movie (“Steel”?!?!?).
The recent rap scene is littered with such bland compilation cuts — songs that value style over substance, but deliver neither. While collaborative ventures in music have not always worked, market forces have rendered solo performances the exception, even as they’ve pushed authentic crew collaborations down the path of the coelacanth (yes, quite possible at the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Madagascar with real Rhythm and Blues). While one could argue that the frequency with which these posse cuts are being produced is evidence of the community support in Hip-Hop, the meat thermometer says otherwise. When Talib Kweli and DJ Hi-Tek collaborate on a track under the group name Reflection Eternal, versed Hip-Hop followers aren’t likely to ask, “What soundtrack is that on?” “Who’s in the video?” or “Is that the one they played at the club last night?” Like Juan the Baptist, Reflection Eternal carries their conscientious message far and wide, even while knowing that few have ears to hear. But when a new Ruff Ryders single is out featuring the meteoric (and mediocre?) chart-toppers DMX, Eve, Juvenile, and Ja-Rule, the issue at hand is bloated record sales, not mutual respect or the preservation of artistic vision.
Consolidation and combination for convenience and profit is nothing new to society: Time Warner’s recent merger with AOL only followed in the “join them before they beat you” ideology. It is the disturbing trend of assessing value based on convenience and profit that assaults Hip-Hop and art in all forms. Hip-Hop consumers (every suburban youth with a raised pant leg and mom’s credit card number) outnumber Hip-Hop followers (those who can name ten Hip-Hop MC’s recording before 1988), and while it’s not the buying power that’s the problem, it’s the brain drain and accompanying value system that is disappointing. Ask most 18 year-olds with the latest Jay-Z single who Marley Marl is (a Hip Hop legend) and you’ll get a reaction as if you asked who Gerald Ford’s press secretary was. Valuing the momentarily and monetarily flashy has created a Hip-Hop of today that attempts to please everyone, but in the end sends the newest and most vibrant form of music of the past 20 years towards Pat Boone blandness.
A greater ill is at hand, though: when the sustaining force in hip hop becomes the almighty dollar, the original love and unity of the hip hop community begins to resemble the fraternity of the rich (the old homeboys club) whose primary motivation for maintaining alliances is to make more money. The art, the craft and the culture suffers as the underwriters of co-optation market an existence without substance. Hip-Hop has proven its consumer viability, and no one is so pure in practice or so distant from reality to deny the desire for economic opportunity. Hip-Hop has also proven its durability, contrary to the naysayers who labeled it a passing fad in the mid-eighties. Hip-Hop can sell — records, shoes, images, itself. The invisible hand might deserve a pound, but it’s managed to maneuver most of today’s Hip-Hop into a full-nelson, perhaps at the peril of the culture. Consumerism, me, me, me. Hip-Hop, we, we, we. So to which community will Hip-Hop ultimately pledge a greater allegiance to? Is Hip-HopHHHop selling out or buying in? It is a developing situation that should be watched with real concern and interest as it pits the faith, strength, and identity of a marginalized community against the purchasing power of co-optation and American economics.
The San Gabriel Valley has been a hotbed of hip hop since the early 1880’s.
Aight, 1980s, but you get the drift.
The Hotel Rowland 1880. Do your Googles.
The predominately Mexican-American, blue-collar enclave innovated and perpetuated graffiti, dance, DJ and rhyme styles.
Don’t @ me.
Rather, if you @ me, come with some facts.
Till then, take my claims asprima facietrue…bc, what other hip hop head is dropping prima facie?
Big Brown Dad chopped it up with Alberto Martinez of Flourish & Prosper about the SGV’s first hip hop festival, Kreations, headlined this year by J-Ro from the Alkoholics.
Alberto Martinez
How hip hop is the San Gabriel Valley?
People don’t appreciate the role the SGV has played in hip hop. The 626 has had alot of Hip Hop events and amazing acts come out of it. One of the most old school B-Boy crews was started right here in the SGV, The Goof Troop Breakers. And when you think of all the talent and underground hip hop being made IN the SGV, there is no denying our place.
What’s Flourish and Prosper?
F$P is a marketing and label services agency. We provide digital and traditional marketing for people like you and I, independent DIY’ers that need an extra helping hand. We help get you noticed and heard.
Tell me about Kreations.
Kreations is the love child of F$PMG and WCK Records. We are WCK Records music distribution partner. We needed a way to connect our music partners with live entertainment opportunities. What better way then to create our own. We don’t just want you to come see a boring ass show by some artists that you may never have heard of. Come to our fest and play some video games, rock the open mic, bring your beats and let people freestly over them. Eat some tacos and get your drink & smoke on. Imagine a big party where everything you wanted to do was right there. Music, Games, Weed, Drink and Food! All set to some dope beats. FORMULA!
Why did you decide to put your energy into making this event happen?
We have a number of vendors and partners coming thorugh. Of course this wouldn;t be possible without F$P and WCK collaborating. but we have a few surprises for all those who are coming.
What makes you hyped about J-Ro from the Alkoholics?
I grew up listening to tha Liks. Me and Chop Lui would be driving home from work evryday or from school and just bump the shit out of them. We followed the careers of all the Likwit Crew members, from Tash, to Barbershop MCs, to Defari. The Likwit Crew was it! We recently had the chance to work with King T and DJ Broadway. We practically in the Likwit crew. LOL JK
Which Flourish and Prosper acts are performing? Any songs we should be checking for?
We got Apakalips and MC Random performing form our camp. MC Random just released his “A Better Way” album and that shit is story telling on another dimension. It’s it’s own universe that requires a comic book and audio book just to fill you in on the story.
Where can we buy tickets and stay connected?
Man, check out the website at kreationsfest.com for tickets and lineups! Also use the code BIGBROWNDAD to buy tickets for 50% off your presale tickets.
In 1990, we were Strictly Mental, wearing polka dot rayon and serving up local locos on the regular.
Ring a bell?
No?
Damn.
Ok. Ok. Okurrrrrrrrrr.
In 1991, we flipped the name script and went with 2XDaHype?
Now you remember, right?
C’mon!
Don’t front like you didn’t see me in my airbrushed acid wash Levis at the La Mirada swapmeet copping knock-off Skidz, my G.
Well, I ultimately hung up my silver-tipped patent leather kicks, tucked away the Cavaricci’s and picked up a mic.
But I never gave up my admiration of the boogie.
& On Mommas, the dopest I’ve seen do it is the (909)’s very own, Brother Dvooa.
1. What’s your earliest hip hop memory?
Pomona: 1986, my cousin was showing me how to pop and gave me one of his spike bracelets.
2. What’s your hip hop biography?
Started B-boying in late 80’s were I thought I was Turbo and Lee from Beat Street. I battled everyone in elementary school through Junior high and used to go to Roller City on Friday nights to skate and battle rival crews.
Once that rink got bought out we all started going to skate express where I joined a crew called Junior Lynch Mob. We consider ourselves groovers at the time. This was during the reign of IE legends Roshawn and Rashad who went to Chaffey High School and had a rep for smashing cats all around with sick house routines.
In the 90’s, my B-boying developed and joined the IE legendary crew Swing Kids where we battled at raves, Knotts Scary Farm and keg parties in the deep IE. Shortly after the crew collapsed and I became a part of the Nitwits Bboy crew and started battling in more structure boy events. During this time my freestyle dance passion grew and I was able to start developing my own style at Unity, Elements and Foundation Funk Collective at the Claremont Colleges.
In the 2000’s I created a crew, Kneegrow League, were we made a name for ourselves battling and showcase our unique style. During this time, I was mastering the skills of rhyming and writing poetry and became an alumni of the world famous poetry spot “A Mic A Dim Lights.” After hitting the circuit with poetry in the early 2000’s, I put out my vinyl and full length album independently called “mental Leakage” I had the like of Diabolic aka Dibiase, Flying Lotus, Aloe Blacc, Gabe Real, Triune and Jimetta Rose featured on it.
I have been featured in multiple documentaries about freestyle dance culture in L.A (Battle of LA and Respond to Sound). I made it a point to tell tell conscious stories within the theater using HipHop elements. This was pioneered by my mentor Rickerby Hines (UCR Professor) with giving me a shot in the play “Keep Hedsz Ringin” which we did for a few weeks at CSUN. Shortly, after I wrote my own play “Then and Now” which was featured at the Hip-Hop Theater Festival at UCR in the early 2000’s. I have also been a teacher of the culture, I have taught 100’s of students the art of finding through rhythm with classic Hip-Hop Movements, b-boy basics and freestyle hip hop explorations.
3. How do you think a dancer’s perspective on hip hop is different from a DJs or emcees?
Dancers are the voiceless element of hip hop whose shine comes only by speaking through active movement. We are the ultimate consumer of the culture. We take the beat and put movement to it, we listen to the raps and put emotion within our steps and help tell the story of the emcee. We keep the DJ busy with providing a vibration and direction for an energy filled cypher.
4. Tell me about your family.
I have been married for 10 years to my beautiful Wife Delilah and have two gorgeous daughters, Lyndi and Lailah Clayborne, who are super duper creative.
5. Where did the kids’ names come from?
My initials L.A.C and they sounded pretty.
6. What songs reminds you of your family?
Mos Def “Umi Says”
7. What’s one family tradition you’ve carried on?
Eating Gumbo during the holidays.
8. Old Dirty Bastard or Big Daddy Kane?
Big Daddy Kane, he could rap and dance is ass off!
I thought I’d provide a little annotation for the nation.
:01-6:20 California, Arizona and Texas
About “LATINX”
I rock with the spirit of redefinition but, in this case, not the letter. I find it aesthetically clumsy. First, the definition is unclear. Are you talking trans? Are you using gender neutral language so as to bring down the patriarchy? Are you a marketer selling me a barrio box? Second, its pronunciation is varied, unclear and phonetically harsh. Third, as it stands, using the term unwittingly marries you to a host of other political and philosophical commitments that I don’t rock with.
The Difference between California and Texas Latinos from Flama.
Sammy mentions Foos Gone Wild. Here’s a piece LA Taco recently wrote about them.
Jesus gets heady and mentions how the internets harkend the death of local culture. This was the premise of the Thomas Friedman’s 2005 book, The World is Flat.
6:21-9:34 Bookworm in the Barrio
*I talk a little about Bassett, Ca and its connection to El Paso, Texas.
*During the interview. I put 10 and 2 and mistakenly claimed Bassett’s namesake was the founder of Bassett Furniture. Turns out it was a lumber empire.
The backpack path: TJ, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Leon, Guanajauto, DF, Oaxaca City, San Jose Del Pacifico, Zipolite, San Cristobal de las Casas, Palenque, Peten, Antigua, Lago Atitlan, Cancun, Isla Mujeres and Playa del Carmen.
2004-2009 Latin Rap
Jesus and I met years back when he directed the video for the homies Reazn and Strae.
My paternal side of the family is from Tucson and we’d regularly take trips there as kids.
Yep, that’s 7 hours on the I-10E.
Pro Tip: playing “concentration” for 7 hours can levy an unexpected toll on a young psyche.
Years later, when I got around to murdering mics, I connected with a crew of hip hop artists out of Yuma whose passion for the culture created a regional hip hop outpost where some of the biggest names in indie hip hop rolled through to perform. And at the same time, they developed a cohort of talented emcees and producers. One of my favorite is Legal Alien.
The homie could rhyme, sing, produce and operate heavy machinery. Enjoy this Hip Hop Pops.
1. What’s your first hip hop memory?
Two memories come to mind, “Vapors & You got what I nNeed” by Biz Markie in 88-89 on the radio, back when I lived in Watts, Los Angeles CA.
I remember really liking it a lot, as I sang “YOU… YOU GOT WHAT I NEEEED” at the top of my lungs.
The other was the intro to “Prince of Bel-Air” haha. I was always used to listening to Oldies from artist like Mary Wells, Smokey Robinson, The Delfonics, The Isley Brothers and more. This was all because of my older siblings though. That’s what they were listening to in the 80’s, & I didn’t have much control of what was going to be played at home.
2. What was your parents’ relationship with hip hop? Did they think it was cool? Dangerous?
My parents definitely didn’t think it was cool. I remember my dad always yelling out “apagen ese ruidajo” (turn off that loud noise). Specially when Rob Base & DJ EZ rock “It takes two” would come on.
I wanna rock right now.
3. What are you kids names? What’s the significance?
My kids names, from oldest to youngest…Isaac Anthony Lopez- age: 14. Our firstborn..”he will laugh, he will rejoice” he was the coolest kid I knew at the time.
Eden Daniella Lopez- age: 7. Delight & paradise. And she really is! She’s hilarious, but at the same time very dramatic.
Hadessa Mia Lopez- age: 4. Named after Queen Esther, her people’s savior! We just spelled it a little different. She’s also a very dope freestyle rapper. No joke!
Navi Grace Lopez- age: 1. Navi translates to prophet “Fundamentally, someone who God reveals his secrets to”. And Grace, well…we all need that everyday
4. Do you have any songs that address the issue of fatherhood?
Not specifically about “fatherhood” but,I wrote a song a few years back called “Prettiest” to a J Dilla beat called, “Life”. The original song features Proof of D12 (rip). This is a song about my daughters Eden & Hadessa.
5. If you could give your kids only one hip hop album, which would it be? Why?
Oh man, this one is tough. Hmmmm…I would say it would have to be between an OutKast album like “Atliens or Aquemini” and Gangstar’s “Moment of truth”. OutKast, because that’s always been my favorite 2 man hip hop group, they have that funky, fresh style that no one can replicate and mad BARS! Gangstar, because it’s OG & I loved the way Guru used hip hop to teach & make minds grow.
7. How do you teach your kids about creativity?
I always tell my kids to draw, paint, write (even though some are just learning) but more importantly, READ! Reading makes you think, it expands your thoughts, it helps you understand better! Whether it’s books, articles or blogs, just read something. (I like audio books lol)
8. Which TV character did you have a crush on growing up?
This one was pretty easy, haha. DJ from Full House was a big influence in my taste in women. She was the main reason why I fell in love with white girls lololololol 9. Big Daddy Kane or Ol Dirty Bastard?I would have to go with BDK, just because he was always lyrical and one of the OG battle rappers. I’ve always loved the battling aspect of hip hop. I got love for ODB as well tho, WUTANG IS FOREVER!
10. Whose your favorite TV dad?
Uncle Phil man…he made me laugh & cry multiple times. He was the man that Will needed on the fresh prince show, that spoke volumes to me growing up. I had an uncle that would show me love like that. Shout out to my Tio Cecilio, my momma’s brother. I haven’t seen him in a minute.
Listen to Legal Alien’s latest release, Old Dog, Young Cats, below. And catch him on the gram, here.
Some of my favorite people are poets and today’s Hip Hop Pops is a prime example.
As host of the longest running poetry open mic in the game, A Mic and Dim Lights, Bess Kepp has provided generations of Los Angeles wordsmiths opportunities to hone their craft and launch their careers.
The 19th anniversary of Mic & Dim Lights is going down on October 3rd, 2019
Peep our interview with teacher, coach, husband and Hip Hop Pops, Bess Kepp.
But first, a poem:
1. What’s your first hip hop memory?
Double Dutch Bus around 1982, I was 7 years old. There was a verse , “I miss the bus, I know I’m late, I gotta do something I know I hate I gotta walk to work 15 blocks I already got a hole in my socks…” I thought that was hella funny. I memorized it and would say it like it was mine. Didn’t realize it was hip hop at the time. To me, it was just a middle aged black man telling his story like my uncles would.
2. What was your parents’ relationship with hip hop?
Did they think it was cool? Dangerous?I guess they were cool with it. Like any parents they quick to compare it to what they listened to back in the day. My brother was part of a bboy crew called Soul City Crew. Moms would drive him around to practices and shows. So I guess she was with it. She’d be in the front row cheering lol…Super loud!
3. Tell me about your kids and how you decided on their names.
We just loved how the name Jaelyn sounded. Her middle name is Chantel….we love that too. I wanted to name Elijah, Kane (King Asiatic Nobodies Equal) but his mom wouldn’t let me. I love calling him Eli for short. His middle name is Louis, after my father and brother. Lil Cory, yeah we had to have a junior. I just hope in the future they don’t mix our credit up We named the little one Quinn because we wanted a strong one Syllable name. Her middle name Diane is from her mom and grandma.
4. Do you have any poems that address the issue of fatherhood?
I feel the issue of fatherhood is embedded in my poems. One of my most memorable lines regarding fatherhood was a poem about my late step-dad, Odell Austin. -Never would I put him in the place of my dad But at times he was the only father-figure I had Yes, I know that he made mistakes But now that i’m grown, I can better relate
5 . Whose your kids’ favorite poets?
Chance the Rapper, YBN Cordae, Drake, William Shakespeare, Jhene Aiko and me 🙂 *note-i grouped text them, and these were their responses.
6. How do you teach your kids about creativity? Have they started writing poetry?
I just try to create/provide a space where they can be creative. My oldest daughter journals. The others just write when they have to for class, but when they do, they go in hard. Cause they know
7. Tell me about your poetry teaching project.
I teach poetry to International students in the summer as a way of documenting their experience here in the States. I also have a poetry club at the school I teach at. We meet once a week.
8. Whose your favorite TV dad?
James Evans Sr. from Good Times. He worked hard to support his family. You’d feel the sorrow when he lost a job, and the happiness when he got a new one. He was a no nonsense dad who even punked the pimps and the drug dealers!
While I resisted the urge to name my son after myself (and my Dad and Grandfather), it looks like some of the best parts of me have been passed down to him.
He’s 7, in 2nd grade and recently turned in this report at school.
Homeworked.
That’s right.
I like hip hop and Londn.
Jouqpac
He even has my penchant for frkng words diffrntly.
That’s my little apple.
His 6th birthday party had a hip hop theme, complete with a pop-locker (big ups Mr. Warlock, I still have your glasses at the crib) and tagging on a wall.
When I first heard him rhyme at a bible college in the mid 90’s, I was like ‘GOD DAMN.’
Maybe it was GOSH DARN. I can’t call it.
I was a religious fundamentalist at the time.
When they told me, “Yeah, he’s only 16,” I burned all my notebooks.
What?
I told you I was a fundamentalist.
As a Blowedian and founding member of the Tunnel Rat click, Raphi is no stranger to cyphers and stages, beats, bars and battles. Now, with over 20 years of hip hop hustle and flow to his credit, he’s stepped into fatherhood with his W raised to the heavens.
As he should.
1. What’s your first hip hop memory?
That kinda depends cuz I have a few. Like I remember random flashes of hip-hop or aspects of hip-hop culture in pop culture itself. Like Carlton had a commercial for his book of how to breakdance.
I remember seeing Turbo in the Breakin’ movies.
If you didn’t try to rock with a broom, are you even hip hop, bruh?
Even in the B-boys in that one quick scene in Flashdance.
But as far as Hip-Hop music and like “a moment” it was my older brother bumpin’ the original 1580am KDAY.
My mom worked full time and would give him like $20 or something to watch me after school. He would still go into work though to deliver pizza but would just have me stay in the car. 🤣 He had the boomin’ system in his little tricked out GTI or Golf of whatever it was. But hearing Public Enemy, BDP, NWA, Kane, etc. on that system for the first time at such a young age, I was definitely like “woah what is this?!” and made an impression on me right away.
2. What was your parents’ relationship with hip hop? Did they think it was cool? Dangerous?
My dad died when I was like 5 so I’ve often wondered what his take would’ve been. As far as my mom, she was down! haha. She grew up in Temple City in the 40’s & 50’s. She waited tables her Jr. year of High School and saved up $10k, took her G.E.D. to leave a year early and move to New York City cuz she wanted to study dance. She booked the part of “Terasita” the iconic film ‘West Side Story’. She was a Shark of course. She also was on a show called ‘Shindig’ that was like ‘American Bandstand’ where damn near every big artist at the time performed music. The Beatles, Marvin Gaye, Elvis, Supremes, James Brown, Sam Cooke, Doors, Stones, Ray Charles, Jackie Wilson, Tina Turner etc. Like THAT! One wall in our house growing up was filled with photos from those shows and her performing and/or dancing on stage with legends during their performances.
WEST SIDE STORY, Rita Moreno, 1961
She went on to have a successful career as a Dancer and Choreographer. So she understood the Arts. Specifically having to do with music too, she understood a piece of music can grab you and make you feel something. She understood you can express yourself with or through the music. You can get lost in the a song and let IT guide your movement without thinking about it. It wasn’t just a hobby or job. That was her passion.
I know that that all must’ve helped with her relating to me and my connection to Hip-Hop culture. She listened to her two boys explain it to her. The different elements, creative aspects, positivity, voice of the voiceless and talking about social issues going on in the hood etc. She remembered how it was when Rock n Roll hit the scene, or Elvis’ dancing was so controversial. Whatever was the new “scary” thing the kids were doing that the previous generation didn’t understand or approve of. She quickly saw Hip-Hop as just the next voice/sound to come out of the next generation.
Sports was never really my thing, but Hip-Hop, dancing, djing, rapping, beatmaking etc. became my obsession. She completely “got it”. She was so down that she used to drive me, barely a teenager in Jr. High, to The Goodlife open mic in South Central on a school night ust so I could rap. Sometimes, she’d drop me off, sometimes stay in the car, sometimes even come in to watch. I actually talk about it on a song with Jurny Big (of LPG) and Playdough/Krum talking about our moms.
“…Momma was the dopest she would drive me to the Goodlifedown is South Central…and on a school nightYea I know right? She was down for the culture’I’ma make it Momma watch!’ is what I told herand dedication is what I showed her and I got older.But never could make the bread to pay back some of what I owed her.I planted seeds that’ll grow bigger than me.The impact on a life is something I wish she could see,when you’re broke and all you got is the song.They say ‘work hard enough you can do ANYthing’, but that’s wrong.Am I really an artist if I don’t draw a crowd?I guess I’ll be my son’s dad to make her proud.”
3. What’s your son’s name? What’s the significance? Did you feel some type of way about people expecting you to name your son after yourself or some other patriarch?
West Geronimo Henley! That’s how WEST COAST MC I am!! That’s the significance. jk…but sorta not lol. I’ve been throwing up W’s in photos and wearing some kind Cali/LA/WestCoast hat or short for as long as I can remember. When my wife and I were thinking about names, I threw out “Just straight up WEST” half joking. She paused and started saying it out loud. “West Henley” and I looked at her like “that IS a strong name” I think we may have already decided on the middle name or at least had it between Geronimo and one or two others.
Once we started saying it all together, we looked at each other like “We may have just decided on the name.” Just another reason I knew I married my soulmate when she agreed to name our boy WEST.
My brother has two daughters so when we found out we were having a boy, that was kind of a relief that at least his last name would carry on. No outside pressure was felt one way or the other tho. I joke with my son now when he sees old pics of me throwing up dubs like “See man I loved you even before you existed. I was reppin’ for you long before you even born”
4. Do you have any songs that address the issue of fatherhood?
Now that you mention it, I don’t have any full on “Hey son, I’m your father and this song is for you” like Will Smith or Xzibit. I do however mention fatherhood or having a child several times with just a line or two. Growing up without a father was huge part of my life and childhood so I mention that multiple times too.
Actually there was a song I did for a compilation where I wrote it like a story. I’m the main character talking about how its crucial trying to make money and pay bills. Me & “my lady” are wanting to do good but I start selling drugs to make ends meet and “doing what we gotta do to feed our baby…” It was all made up tho cuz at the time I don’t remember if we were even engaged but we certainly hadn’t gotten pregnant or were even thinking about it.
5. Do you have any songs that mention your son?
The most direct part in a verse about my son is definitely from a song called “Battle Scars” with Abstract Rude and Joaquin Daniels for the ‘Keep The Feel Ent. #NU2B (Next Up To Bat) Label Sampler’. The end of my verse goes… “It’s more corrupt than it’s ever been listen.Can’t trust no Politician but I aint trippin’I’m still instilling a sense of hope into my seed.Young West Geronimo go succeed in anything you wanna do or be.In every single opportunity,better you than me.Your daddy was a lightning rod I wish I brought more unity.
6. Who’s your son’s favorite hip hop artist?
Probably me lol. He already has a broad musical taste. So he’s not listing to any genre all the time. But he gets a little hyped when he hears my voice come on during a song. He tends to tell people he meets at school or camp that “My daddy is Shames Worthy….He raps” lmao.
7. How do you teach your son about creativity?
Sheeeeeiiiiiit nowdays he teaches me! Just like his daddy, he didn’t take to sports right away but was artistic and creative like before he could really talk. He started scribbling and drawing very early. As he continues to grow (6 years old, 1st grade) he’s always creating something. He draws, paints, builds structures, sculpts, dances, sings and improvises his own melodies and songs, invents things (concepts and ideas at least) he makes jewelry at his mom’s mom’s house etc. He’s always making something. Dude’s prolific.
8. Which song of yours does your kid enjoy the most?
As a general rule, he usually likes anything where I’m rapping fast, whether that’s like a chopper where I’m flowing in double time on my Goodlife/Blowed mode. Or just really fast straight forward like one of my Bboy jams. But other than that, he for SURE loves “The Anthem”. The sample, drums, chorus, bars he always gets excited and starts bobbing his head and mouthing along to it whenever it comes on.
The Catalogue Dawg
9. Big Daddy Kane or Ol Dirty Bastard?
Big Daddy Kane easy! Always been a fan since “RAW” and “Smooth Operator”….and actually I’ve never been much of a Wu fan. (quickly ducks) So yea Kane all day.
Signed, Sealed & Smoothly Delivered
10. Who’s your favorite TV dad?
It’s kinda weird to say now, but prolly would have to be Cliff Huxtable. He was successful, in love and faithful to his wife, would play around and have fun and had a good sense of humor…and would give some bars of knowledge. But yea that’s Dr. Cliff Huxtable…not Bill Cosby.
Connect with Big Game Shame here and check out his most recent project, Yeezys, a short film he shot and edited here.
