Aight here is an interview with the Mystik Journeymen (BFAP & PSC) and CMA (Grouch & PSC). These cats along with the rest of the Living Legend crew will be making a lot of noise in 2000 so here's your chance to learn more bout this dope independent crew!
Whats up, so how did yall hook up to form Mystik Journeymen?
Well after the LA riots, I took a trip up to Oakland to visit this girl who was going to CAL berkeley. When I got there her best friend at school had her boyfriend over there kickin it and that ended up being BFAP. We all went to this wack ass party and me and Bfap were freestyling back and fourth for a couple hours and we clicked. So next thing you know he asked me if I wanted to be in this group he had called the Mystik Journeymen... I moved to the bay the next week to begin a year long couch tour and was in the group.. the other dudes in the group could't grasp the vision so the Journeymen ended up being a duo and the rest is history. We started to live up to the name.
And how did CMA come together?
The C M A was a joke. Murs invented that shit as a bag on us saying we were too cool ie. "cool man association"! Mainly cause me grouch had the same views on things, and liked the same types of food,clothes,and women. So this name was attached to us..Bizarro too.This was when we all lived in Outhouse village and around this time Murs and Asop were suposed to be making their "foundation" album and we used speak on doin a CMA project to respond but they never did it and we did.The final decision to do it came in Japan on the first full legends tour, we came back to the O and started working on a album that would satisfy our "coolman" tastes. The result was one of the most digestable Legends albums available to date, if I don't say myself!!!
Who were some of yall influences back in the day?
I can't speak for everyone but Micheal Jackson was my favorite back in the day! I went to see the Jackson 5 perform at Dodger stadium when I was little and he ripped it sooooo hard! I think that show subliminaly made me wanna be rippin crowds of people into a frenzy. Hip hop wise its people like LLcoolJ,Freestyle Fellowship,KRS one,Leaders of the New School and the old Black Sheep... oh yeah.. Kwame too!!!
So where are yall from in Cali and whats the scene like?
Me(PSC),Murs,Eligh,Scarub and Basik are from L.A. Sunspot and Grouch are from Oakland and Bizarro is from San louisObisbo heehee and Asop is from Fresno heehee!! The L.A. scene is vast and seperated from Jiggy to wakeupshow/fatbeats popular underground to Project Blowed under under ground and then a million other people who call themselves vip's or rap muthafuckas.We run through all of them to see what is what and the same things exsist in all of them,such as politics and "in" cliqes and bullshit. We have fun down here cause we do what we want to do and witness shit that the bay dosen't have..Stars n shit ....we have been going to the shows scouting out the competion...and now its time to dominate.
How long have yall been making records?
Well...actual viynl pieces emerged in 95. 4001 was the first wax we could afford... before that we were strickly hand dubbed tapes.
Tell us bout some of your newest releases?
Well the newest release to date is murs's "yeah" tape, he did this tape and none of us knew about it. It's fuckin dope though and i like the cover! Next newest is Eligh's album Gasdream which is ridiculously dope, Nobody can fade eligh and that album deserves alot attention that it probably wont receive but.. thas our story.(westcoast underground mc's who don't show nyc influence get shitted on...period) next is Grouch's single "simple man" which is wonderful a teaser for his dec. 31st album release "Making Perfect Sense". which is......DOPE... next newest is the CMA album "OVERALL". thas self explanatory! The next up to bat is the SunSpots "Child of the Storm" album. after that its various projects..with the LEGENDS CREW ALBUM being the big dog due July 4th 2000.
Yall do a lot of touring around the world, what has it been like so far?
Man...its a blessing. 4eurotours,4japantours, 2austrailian, 2canadian and across the USA minus Florida!(i hella want to go there!) we have gotten lots of love everywhere we have gone (except for Cleavland!) and the people we retained as friends make it all worth the while. The road trips make us who we are and define our uniqueness because we have had the oppurtunity to see beyond our surroundings. Most of our tours were month long ventures were we saw more aspects of life than than the average instore/soundcheck/performance then bounce. We lived with the people, in their homes, around they kids, with families.
Also, yall move a lot of product overseas, do you put it in the stores or sell them at the shows?
Our independent distributors get alot of our product into the stores around the world... but when we are there we smuggle a shit load of product into the country and get it off by hand to stores and consumers.
So how did the Living Legends come together?
Man...thas a long ass story!!!! The LLcrew was a accident..jigsaw puzzle formation... well you know how me and sunpot hooked up... so here's a quick Legends version... We met grouch when we came back from a eurotour homeless and we moved in with him at his grandmothers house in Alameda. Sunspot met Arata on telegraph and they started kickin it(weed homies)! We met Murs at UC santa cruz radio and he was up there goin to school. Found out he was the funny lookin kid who used to be walking around my street in LA..plus he used to kick it with my little brother who passed away so Murs was instantly invited to roll.Eligh met grouch at his cousins house...then eligh brought his couch tour to the basement we all stayed in...Asop blew in with the wind from Fresno and we all was clickin and kickin it.. we were making songs in grouches basement and thats was the Local talent era.. one of the first legends projects(unofficaly). Bizarro met us in Humbolt at a show and we were on the same vibe..so when he had his move to Oakland planned we got hooked up with a new base of operations "OuthouseVillage".. Scarub went to high school with Murs and Eligh..junior high with Eligh and they were already a group 3mG and used to be in Log cabin....bASIK is elighs cousin...blah blah blah........whew! Nothing was planned or set up..we kicked it because we were friends,not to start a rap crew.
In my opinion, yall have the tightest crew and it appears that everyone shows love for everyone, unlike other crews. How do yall keep it together so tight?
We love each other like brothers..and we learned to give each other space cuz everyone in our crew has differnt views. We have a democracy within and decisions are made by a vote..majority rules! We know that you don't have to agree all the time cuz thas impossible but you must respect your folks opinion or views..we are working on that one!!!
So whats coming in 2000 for the Living Legends?
Success IS destiny.
Do yall ever look for new cats to join the crew or do you just want to keep it like it is?
hmmmmmmmmmm. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... Its hard enough with as many members we have now..but..I would let Fat lip in if he wanted to..(i already told him..he declined!) he's on his own shit though.. Pep Love could be in but that might be a little controversial!! Otherwise would be good as a Legend..cuz i miss the feeling of watching a crew member embarass a rapper who thinks he is dope at battling...I wish Murs would come out retirement.. but otherwise...yeah Im seriously thinking about that one.
Yall were out in NYC a few months ago right, how was your experience out there?
NYC NYC...I love new york... I went out there and Sunspot missed all his flights..first time wasn't his fault OPD was behind that..but I was out there doing interviews and instores by myself! I was gettin ready to have to do a solo Journeymen show but Murs flew out and had my back!!! I was so glad to see that nigga i could of shit my drawlz!!! We did that shit an ripped it down!!! Foolz was juiced and After the show Big Juss brought out a cake and SOB's sang happy birthday to me!!! The rap guys was cool and Fatbeats bought our shit at the instore we had there!...sniff..sniff.. It was a moment...Murs stayed extra and went on Bobbito's show with Elpee but i had to vamp to a MJ show in Stockton.
Tell us bout some of the projects yall have coming out next?
Oh yeah.. Asop has a beat tape comming out... As well as Bizarro and Eligh..G&E pt.2 is ready and I (PSC) have a solo project in the works feat. Some special guest mc's..and CMA pt.2 comming soon.
How long has the website been up for and how do yall do with selling product on the net?
The website has been real since 95 when Access took over operations...and the net has boomed so much we actually need help now cause the work is overwhelming for access..he has his real job then after that the Legends shit...which is growing...we are looking for good help...email me with resumes!
So who yall feelin in Hip Hop right now?
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....I like Slug's raps right now..he's pretty dope to me. There is a dude out of texas named Bavu who is sick right now. We will be working with him.. I like Jay-z, he is very smart about his presentation and word play..plus he writes hits for other artists and shit like that qualifys you as the best. I don't like the ethics behind all his raps but I reconize the skill... Miicah 9's new one is dope... i like one of choclaires songs and # 11 on Qtips cd is pretty hard. CVE is dope and I like the CUF. Oh yeah...the new Sunspot Jonez is bangin also...
Yall seem to do really well on the indy tip, would yall ever hook up with a major in the future or what?
We look foward to that chapter in our careers...cuz even when we go there we will still maintain the indy duties. MJ's, Grouch, Eligh, MURS, ASOP, Bizarro, Scarub...will continue our independant ventures while Legends gets blown up on a level we could never take it given our finacial situations... look at Rawkus...give us that kind of start up money and we will change some minds of whats the freshest shit.
Aight, any final comments or shout outs?
Peace 2 everyone we know...thanks to Fiona and Subversive for the NYC excursion and all tight crews UNITE!!!! Outeee...see ya in 2000 Mystik Journeymen in Austrailia!!! Y2Kickin it.
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