InterviewZ - Brotha Lynch & Sicx

John Cardiel:

At least you guys aren't in jail.

Sicx: Not to sound cliched, but the music saved us. We had our crazy times, bangin' and stuff, but we had our talent. We didn't need to do that stuff.

John: What kind of shit's going to be on this tape? Is it going to be different, or is it going to be the same?

Lynch: It's going to be a lot different. I was still in a lot of bangin' and stuff on my last few tapes. I don't think that's the life I should be living, so I do a lot of deep and mature subjects. I still do my old type of rap. Got some more messages on the new tape, some women messages. I'm showing more maturity in the new stuff. It should be a treat too. I brought in some more people on this new album. People like E-40, Cocaine, First Degree, Swartzaniggaz, Loki, a lot of different talents. Phonk Beta got with me on the music so it took a lot of stress off of me.

John: A lot of the people who follow your shit, are they mostly from Sacramento or Nor Cal?

I got a coast fan base in Seattle, Kansas City where we're going on tour June 6th. LA is starting to get big. Phoenix is real big. The south is real big on my stuff. Hopefully I can capture the East Coast now.

John: That's cool. I always though the East Coast would be pysched on your shit.

Lynch: Yeah, you know, this West Coast, East Coast thing would be really good. I've never really been into that whole coast fued, because I like Biggie, he's from the East Coast.

John: I think that's your shit's so sicc .

Lynch: The thing is a lot of rappers are coming out the same all the time. It's fucking up rap. People aren't buying as much rap these days as they used to. So, my objective with this new album is to come up with some new stuff. A lot of my stuff is rapping, pausing, singing, but it's like funk stuff. It's not going to be your average gangsta rap album. Rap is going to have do something else. Like bringing in a live band. That's my goal, to maybe play in a live band later on. Playing the piano in a live band, I think that's the shit.

Sicx: Yeah, because it's real.

Lynch: It lasts forever too. I would love to do thrash.

John: Like Body Count thrash?

Lynch: Yeah, like Body Count, Funky Blue Velvet; I always liked them. They opened my mind up. The Cattle Club and performing with Funky Blue Velvet. It opened my mind to stage performance and everything.

John: People getting crazed up in the crowd?

Lynch: Yeah. I jumped in the crowd and everything.

Sicx: It seems like that's safe crazy. It always seems like something crazier would happen at our regular shows. It seems with that type of crowd they get wild but maintained; they're there to have fun.

Lynch: I take a lot of stuff I do at Cattle Club shows on the road. I probably won't be able to jump into the crowd. As far as laying down, spinning, rolling on the stage, I will be doing all the freestyle stuff on the stage. Also the Beastie Boys taught me that. I used to go to the Beastie Boys shows and they'd be spilling 40s on stage, they were nonchalant with it. They were having fun when they were on stage.

John: Get the people all pysched and throw some raps at 'em.

Lynch: I'm going to doing a medieval album. Like classical. No funky beats or nothing.

John: Kind of like that Ghost Face Killas?

Lynch: Not even like that. I'll have live everything.

Sicx: We've always been into movies and scores, Silence of The Lambs, shit like that.

John: I love that sicc shit.

Sicx: Actually to be honest with you, he's not as sicc as he used to be years ago.

Lynch: It's just that this music business altered my mind a little bit. You have to make it to a certain point before you can do what you really want to do. Hopefully that time will come soon. I'm feeling it in my heart right now, but I kinda' got to hold back.

John: Do you think if you promote that crazy wicked shit it will come back to you?

Lynch: Well, a lot of people don't understand that. They take it to seriously. They said the difference between me and the Geto Boys was that they didn't sound serious when they talked about the crazy shit. They say it seems like I'm serious, and I'm already less serious than them.

John: Maybe that's what people got to understand. It's all about making money, so fuck it. Just have fun with it.

Lynch: See after you get into your career for a long time it's not really about making money anymore. I mean you need to get your money, but after awhile you treat it like I want it to come out tight because I don't want my career to be over.

Sicx: That's the job. It's like trying to get from the mailroom to the top.

Lynch: It's stressful. A lot of people don't realize how hard it is.

Sicx: It's way harder than a 9 to 5. Always trying to top your old shit. Trying to make it as good as it already is out there in the industry right now. That shit ain't no joke. It's about staying up on it.

Lynch: All these rappers coming in with new styles. You've got to stay up on it.

Sicx: We've always been about competition, ever since we went to high school.

John: Is it sick still living in Sacramento?

Lynch: I'll probably stay here for the rest of my life. I'll probably visit a lot of other places but I'll stay here.

John: Where are you guys from?

Sicx: South Sac.

John: So, do you guys like skateboarding?

Lynch: Yep. I really like to watch skateboarding.

John: I always think that skateboarding and rap are a lot alike.

Sicx: Yeah, it's the underground shit.

John: People living their lives and trying to give a little bit of themselves away.

Lynch: I want to snowboard hella bad. I never heard too much about it until I started buying Heckler magazines.

Sicx: I like skateboarding, BMXing, stuff like that. It's always cool to watch that shit on ESPN.

John: You guys seen those X-Games at all?

Lynch: Yeah, extreme we be on that shit. We've got the game of it for PlayStation. I like reading about skateboarders and them talking about what they've been through. It's not real different then what I've gone through.

Sicx: I just recently found out all the shit you guys go through. All that commercial and underground shit.

John: Yeah, they always try and blow out the hyped shit. It's kind of fucked up because people out there are just trying to skate and keep it real, and have fun and big companies are fucking it up.

Lynch: What do you do about it? You guys ever have conflicts like the West Coast/East Coast thing?

John: Yeah, we all try and get along. I go out to the East Coast and hang with my friends, skate, and drink beers. We don't really trip on all the stuff. We skate. That's what we do.

Lynch: So do you guys have distribution?

John: Yeah, I work for a company called Deluxe Distribution and they have skateboards distributed all over the world.

Sicx: That's tight.

John: I love it.

Lynch: Is skateboarding different from the 80's to now?

John: Yeah, everyday people do new shit.

Lynch: Yeah, people always doing shit. We used to be into stuff like that, like break dancing and stuff, but we got too old and drank too much beer. You know how it is banging your whole body up. Growing up watching all the skateboarding stuff I always thought it was so technical. Now reading all the interviews and stuff I find out it's just regular shit. I like reading other peoples views and opinions.

John: Yeah, skateboarding is kind of underground in a sense. Skateboarding is banned in most cities in America.

Lynch: Why is that?

John: Because they think we destroy everything. They look at it like it's different and they don't do it.

Lynch: That's what I mean! They're always tripping on the shit we do. What do they trip on that you guys do?

John: You know, just the paint off the rails. Stuff like staircases.

Lynch: The underground is going to have to fight all the time to keep their shit going. Have you been making money with skating?

John: We make decent money.

Lynch: A lot of endorsments?

John: Yeah.

Lynch: That's you in those pictures?

John: Yeah. You've just got to promote yourself and it just gets kind of hard. If you promote yourself and get all big people will look at you as kind of being different.

Lynch: You guys actually make a living at it?

John: Yeah, it's hard but you can do it. It's tough though. It's easy to get hurt. I just cracked my fucking head open the other day and my neck hurts. I've been trying to get some acupuncture going.

Lynch: Is it cool not to skate with protective gear on?

John: I dunno.

Lynch: Like people wearing knee pads and helmets. You don't really get down with them?

John: I think those guys are just trying to be safe. I never had the money to buy pads and shit like that.

Lynch: There's no like code or anything like that?

John: No, not really. As long as everybody is skating it's cool.

Lynch: Say for instance you keep doing the same ramp style stuff, do people get tired of the same old stale shit?

John:Yeah, things get stale and shit, you've got to keep up with it. I'm sure it's the same way in rap. I no from my point of view seeing you and Sicx rap is the siccest shit, I would love it always. That's what I like. Maybe other skaters can see it to. Shit, I like his style, he does the siccest shit.

Lynch: See now if we could get that attitude in rap. Does music afect your performance? Do you guys listen to music when you skate?

John: Yeah, mostly heavy metal because it gets you hyped. I just like crazy shit. Demented shit.

Lynch: You will always hear that on my albums. You will always hear crazy shit. On this album I'm really trying to do my break through album. Sicc shit. Like medieval. This album will be the album with the most break through type of stuff. After this album, I'm going back to the sicc shit.

John: Yeah. Just like get a little bit of this, get a little bit of that.

Lynch: Because you never know what's going to happen with rap.

Sicx: It's fucked up. Because a lot of shit we've being doing for a long time people are doing now and getting away with it.

Lynch: Me and Sicx have been recording this stuff for years and we were sending it to Priority and they would always tell us it was too hard for them. Nowadays everyone is picking it up. It's just a trip. I think we were ahead of our time.

John: I see what you're saying. You don't want to fucc up what you've got so you balance it out to keep it going.

Lynch: We're comfortable with our shit and would never do something just because someone told us to do it. You will always hear the sicc shit in what ever we do.