E! True Hollywood Stories: The Rap Game
...and to conclude this hour long special we are going to have a once in a lifetime interview. So in your own words can you explain what kind of influence rap has had on your life?
Well the rap game has made me famous, made me who I am. I'm saying at the different times of rap I changed who I was and what I was spitting, rapping I mean. I was first exposed to it at a party, two kids rapping to out do each other. I was addicted on the spot. I knew I had to get in that game so I decided to get into it. I choose that name because I was just all about taking it easy and speaking my mind. Hence Speek.E.Z.
...I feel the liquor circulate through my body, as the beat drops
All the chatter stops, as I grab the mic, and my feet stomps
Get the feeling for the flow, and let the crowd get ready
As my flow starts, just making sure everything stays steady
Because I can’t miss a beat or two, because that leads to boos
Even if it’s in front of friends with booze, this emcee can’t lose
I must take this as a stepping block, a way to learn to flow
And if I keep up, Hip Hop will be the teacher of everything I know
So as my heart beats faster, I close my eyes and picture the outcome
That this young MC, will emerge a star from the status of no one...
Oh yes, you have been known for having so many name changes. What made you make the transition to doing battles and stepping away from party rhymes?
Well at a party some cat stepped to me and was talking this blah blah about being better than me and that I was just a copy of him. He picked up the mic, told the party DJ to put on an instrumental. He called himself something like Door Wise or some sh*t. I ripped him when I called myself Emerge. After that I took on every challenger and kept the name Emerge
Growing up there was different ways, of earning your respect
Sell coke and meth nights and days...or burning all them vets
Had enough drama with my mama so I didn't wanna attain more
Plus my spits were lava & I saw a lot-a old same metaphors
So I brought the fresh wit, and dropped all that death shit
And I left with The Best kids, asking for me to rep with
Them, became the spoken leader chosen speaker and set the plane
As high as Maine cuz, I'da been damned to hear we were plain
I have to say that battles were a parallel to my struggles
At points seeming rattled but then I broke through the troubles
Those battles of you were very well documented. I saw that after a while you mentioned something of a greater cause, care to explain?
During the time I spent battling I was that there were a lot of racism punches, punch lines or jokes as we call them. Granted alls fair in love and war but this was just getting out of hand. I knew that I should spend my time and rhymes on something better than just making others look bad, on something positive. So I began to get really into the Afro Centric movement that was going on at the time. I didn’t want to be known as a battle head so I changed persona again. This time I wanted to teach people but be wicked about it, you know. No holds barred type sh*t. So I named myself MenTiLL
...Politics, poverty, power and protection
Opposites, overly organize oppression
Suggestions, sold, separation, no security
Collections, un-conservative, captivating our currency
Nurturing, negative, nigga-like, notorious
Burning, bare bodies, beliefs-boisterous
Moisture-ness, mother-Africa, momentarily missing mammy
Futureless, fearful, non-freedom, failed families
Landing, life, loyalty, love, lullaby-ful lines
I used to love h.e.r. but we broke up
........................this is my new state of mind...
You did speak with a powerful voice and passion during those times. What made you change yet again?
I just felt I wasn’t getting through to people with my words. So I flipped it, rather than show them what we can become I showed them how bad we are and how we need to get better. I wanted to scare the f*ck out of people and get them too see what they have been in denial for, for a long time. The name this time stemmed from how I felt. It was like I was always held down, oppressed if you will by my words. So I embraced my ideals and became Trapt Wit
...Aight bitch stop frontin, best get ya head straight and act right
And one slight mishap and ya bound to experience a hearse tonight
See I don’t start fights, I'm just dumb quick to end shit
Runnin up on ya clique with a 45 and tech gripped
Watch how quick ya slip. And laugh at how ya crews wet
Cause this is how we do it, when fake thugs throw up the wrong set
So now show respect, cause my niggas and me be some real OG's
We aim to please, laser scoped straight at the back of yo knees
Still movin keys, and ya know that pigs can’t touch this
We run shit! Even the DA's just another paid off bitch...
Those rhyme of your at the time definitely showed the anger you, and the rap community had at the time. Many have pondered why you made your next move. You were at the height of your fame and then you seem to have just dropped off the face of the earth.
The money! It’s all about the money. Up until then I loved what I did and the pay was second but then, somewhere along the line it became about the money. Not to me, though. I just saw a lot of new talent being signed for the gimmick they had rather than the rhymes they were able to make. So when my contract was up I went underground with my stuff. There you are embraced for your lyrical prowess rather than your bank account. Due to record contracts I had to change my name, I actually liked Trapt. So I was going to stick with the underground and use all my previous influences to make my music better, or as the name was: Diverse
...This underground's my pathway for an emcee on the come up
I can't hitchhike through my whole life just walking with my thumb up
Be myself, not a poser, exposure will come to me in certain time
No gimmicks, no bullshit, just express the truest lyrics when I rhyme
As long as the crowd relates, the mic check's all that really matters
Fuck the fortune and the fame, don't need service with silver platters
I'm hungry to become known, guess you could say I’m a starving artist
I won't stop until I'm full blown, underground MC's rock the mic hardest
Listen to my position, it's my full time job to convey these words
It's not for money or for riches, it's the love and the way I work...
Oh yes, I did remember hearing about that, just didn’t know it was you. So after such a hate for the commercial aspect of rap why have you decided to finally come back to the mainstream? And as always, what’s the name now?
Ha ha, you read me like a book. With all the success I have had I was able to make my own label and release my own records without the need to please anyone else. Acro Nim records is doing pretty well, we recently have been signing some nice underground heads in efforts to give them mainstream exposure. As for the name, its pretty much the way I'm thinking now, at times I was pissed at the game, always a pessimist. Back at the beginning I had nothing but love, the game could never do me wrong. So I have been a pessimist and an optimist, I have transcended that and have become The Realist
...The games been through changes and too many phases
I adapted styles with the turning stages, feeling sedated
When can I settle with a single, original style of whining
Games been tweaked so the beat overshadows rhyming
I can’t complain, getting paid for a reworded freestyle
Meanwhile the soul of the game is taking the green mile
I can’t leave until I breath life back into the greatest game
Fuck the fame, id rather explain laws of stress to the insane
These faces keep smiling all the while thinking I'm playing
Yet he embraces rhyming styles but not what I'm saying...
This has been Gabriel Lendof for E! True Hollywood Stories. Thank you and good night.
