BSM INTERVIEW WITH CROOKED de DARKROOM FAMILIA
BROWN SOUND MAGAZINE: It's firme to have this tiempo to interview you. I remember back in 1993 when i bought my first Darkroom CD, "From the Barrio with Love." Can you give us a quick history about Darkroom?
CROOKED: Darkroom Familia was started by Duke, Dyno and Crooked. The only other homeboys that were there in the beginning was Oso and Dee-Roll. In 1988 Duke and me were doing tapes and selling them out of a gym bag at every local independent record store in the Bay Area. We would take buses and B.A.R.T. trains (that's our subway in the Bay Area) all over the Bay. We'd go to Oakland and San Francisco and San Jose and every mom & pop store that would sell rap. At the same time, Dyno was in the Central Valley doing the exact same thing. We used to run into each other when we would all happen to be performing at the same shows and clubs and lowrider carshows. When we started, there was NO ONE doing this Latino/Chicano rap s---, especially up here in Northern California. So, Duke and me took a ride out to the Central Valley, in Tracy and hooked up with Dyno. Duke brought up the idea of doing s--- together, since we are all after the same thing, why not hook up and make a sick-ass group? So we did, and the rest is history.
BSM: You been releasing cuts since 1988, thats a lot of tracks. Do you have a personnal favorite, one that sticks out for one reason or another?
CROOKED: Me, personally, I really have always liked "Connected By Honor." But I DO like a few other tracks as well. Like, "Northern Killa Cali," "Ballin' In The Valley Of Cali," "Hood Life," "El Mero, Mero," "Men Of Honor," "A Bitch In A Vato Suit," "Cholo Life" and a few others.
BSM: Have you noticed any change in the chicano/latino rap scene since you first came on the scene?
CROOKED: Yes. The fact that there IS a Latino/Chicano rap scene. Rap/hip-hop was created by Blacks and Latinos in the Bronx. There's always been Latinos involved in the rap/hip-hop scene. From Tito of The Fearless Four, to Charlie Chase of The Cold Crush Brothers, to Prince Markie Dee of The Fat Boys. But they were all Puerto Ricans and from New York. Out here in Cali, there was no one. There really were no other Latino rappers to look up to, so we said "f--- it, we'll represent and put it down where we're from." Nowadays, there's LOTS of Latino rappers out. But when we first started doing s---, there was nothing but Black rappers. We all grew up and were inspired to rap by old school rappers like Too $hort (he came out in 1985 here in the Bay Area before anyone else heard of him), Ice-T, NWA, Run-DMC, LL COOL J, Eric B & Rakim, Scarface, MC SHAN, etc. So, those are the ones who inspired us to rap, especially Too $hort, 'cause that homie was a local rapper 5 minutes away from where me and Duke grew up. Nowadays, all the youngsters coming up have inspiration and influence from the growing Latino/Chicano rap scene as opposed to when we were coming up, we WERE the scene. We had to make our own scene. That's the biggest changes I see.
BSM: What about the respect factor? Do you feel you get the credit or respect you deserve from your peers?
CROOKED: Honestly, I don't give a f--- what anyone thinks. There's no denying what we've accomplished in this game. There's no denying what we've done to kick open doors for this game. No matter what anyone says, those facts cannot be denied. Game recognizes game, you feel me? Muthaf------ KNOW who's original and who's a trendsetter and who are the followers. So we definitely earned our respect in this game.
BSM: How has the movie business been treating you guys? How many movies have you guys done now?
CROOKED: We've made 12, but the last 6 have come out in video stores across the country. The latest one, "Dope Game 2" is f------ amazing. Absolutely the BEST one. Go rent that s--- now at all your local video stores on DVD and video. The movie business is GREAT. We've continued and will continue making our movies. It is a very good and profitable business. S---, we've made more with our movies than with our music 'cause the movies are f------ everywhere. We've even had them on pay-per-view. The next step is at the movie theaters.
BSM: It seems with each new flick that you guys release the production improves. What have you learned since your first release to your latest?
CROOKED: We constantly learn s--- when we make movies. Sometimes it's using different camera shots or sometimes it's different music or a different type of action we could've used that might've made it better. Ya know what I mean? So, yeah, we're always learning s---. But we definitely improve with every movie.
BSM: Is there a movie currently in the works? Can you give us a sneak preview and tell us a little about that?
CROOKED: Yeah, there's always new movies in the works. We're working on two scripts right now. One is a dope action-crime gangster-type movie and the other is a dark-ass horror movie. We haven't decided which one we're doing next because we love them both. Hell, we might decide to do them both back-to-back.
BSM: Whats your take on some of the major entertainment media outlets (MTV, VH1, radio stations, etc) who relucantly give air play to our gente?
CROOKED: Radio and TV don't support our gente at all. There's SOME homies getting exposure, but hardly any at all. It's gonna take something major for the corporations to take notice. We'll have to wait and see where the future takes us.
BSM: What about some of the music on the radio nowadays? What do you think of it? Is there any that you feel?
CROOKED: Me, personally, I don't really feel any at all. We're old-school. When we were youngsters, rap was a hell of a lot more hardcore. It was raw. It was underground, you feel me? It was only in the streets. Rappers got noticed by word of mouth. We used to have to physically go to the store and look for the latest underground rap release. It wasn't all over radio and t.v. like it is nowadays. All MTV played was rock videos and Michael Jackson. When we were comin' up, only the hood bumped rap music. The suburbs were listening to rock and radio s---. Now, it's mostly all watered-down and formulated. Really f------ fake and commercialized. Almost everyone sounds the same. Same ol rappers, same ol producers. It's like everyone's afraid to use different producers. How many times can you hear a f------ Neptunes beat? Or a Timbaland beat? Or a Dr. Dre beat? Don't get me wrong, I ain't knockin anyone's hustle. Do your thing. But it's just really gotten ridiculous. I still listen to all the old rappers I used to listen to, like: Scarface, Too $hort, Mac Dre, E-40, Andre Nickatina and as far as new rappers, I'd say: The Clipse, Rosco P. Coldchain. But that's really it.
BSM: There have been numerous rumors circulating about you guys, everything from you guys all getting locked up to some of you being killed. Can you clear this all up once and for all for everyone out there.
CROOKED: Ain't nothing killed us yet....only made us stronger. We're all still alive and kickin. We all got houses and s---, just staying on our hustle, constantly working with the music and movies.
BSM: So whats up with all the legal masa surrounding you guys? Is that something your able to talk about?
CROOKED: Cops love us. They're our biggest fans. They buy all of our albums and rent all of our movies. I think they all want Darkroom tats. HAHAHAHA!
BSM: With all that out of the way now, what can we expect from Darkroom Familia in the near future?
CROOKED: Dope ass music and movies. New Duke album-"Nasty Latins," new Crooked-Duke-&-Dyno album-"Return Of The Living Vets," brand new Darkroom Familia album, brand new solo albums from all of us, brand new movies all the time. Several movies a year. Check your local video stores for our DVDs and videos.
BSM: Any plans of a tour? I know you have a strong following in Chicago and Alburquerque, anything planned for your fans?
CROOKED: I doubt it. We're REALLY busy with the movies and music plus we all got families as well. So I don't know. If the money is right, then maybe....
BSM: Any famous last words from you?
CROOKED: Yeah, much love for the support over the many years that we've been spittin this rap s---. Much love to all the gente out there for bumpin our jams. All the homies and homegirls that love our music and movies. All the raza out there, much love, we do this s--- for you and without you, we'd be nowhere. Oh and to all the police and feds out there, thanks for buying all of our albums and movies and for memorizing all of our lyrics and transcribing them for the courts. Thanks for the phone taps and the video footage you've taken of us, we didn't know you all loved our music that much. You fools are our biggest fans. If you wanna get a Darkroom tat, just hit us up, I KNOW you know the number. Check out
www.brownpowerrecords.com and go rent "Dope Game 2" out now on DVD and VIDEO at all your local video stores across the country!
www.brownpowerrecords.com 
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