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extrem geiles Interview ! lest und geniesst es:

: So where are you from originally?

Khule: Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles.

What was it like growing up there?

(laugh) It was wild man. I've been through so much crazy stuff growing up in the inner city of LA. It's the wildest. I wouldn't have changed nothing though, that made the person that I am. I went through a lot of crazy ass @#%$. I was shot at when I was eight years old. You know, drive bye's, robbing cars at ten. I mean, @#%$, I was going through possibly everything you can think of growing up in the ghetto. That @#%$ was wild thought. It's one of the wildest places on earth, man. I mean you saw the 92' riots right? Yeah, we started that (laugh).

So, how did you get into music and how long have you been doing it for?

My family is mostly all musicians you know. It was just a natural progression for me to get into too. I've been rapping personally since like 84? Maybe like two years after that I started getting a little bit more serious about it. My first two years was just freestyling and @#%$-clowning and bag rappin'.

Who were some of your earlier influences?

In hip-hop my earlier infuences would have to be:
RUN-DMC, Fat Boys, LL Cool J, UTFO, Whodini, Melly Mell, Kool Mo D, Chill Rock G. Just Ice and Kool G Rap.

So how did you get the name "Rifleman"?

Well, that actually has like three stories to it (laugh). There's a tame version to it and a wild version to it.

Pterra: Yeah, he ain't lying.

It really derived from the 92' riots, I'ma keep it real. The 92' riots, we was @#%$ @#%$ up in LA and doing our thing and my sister came across on some artillery. Then she gave it to my homeboy and I took it from him like, "Naw, this is my @#%$. This is my family, so I'm taking it." It ended up being a 30 eye six. I started carrying it in the back of my trunk. All through LA, like carrying a loaded 30 eye in the trunk. So we were going to little hip-hop places and the homies was in the van bagging on me saying, "This is the only fool that carry a 30 eye six in his trunk. And he got that dimple in his chin and he kinda' looks like Chuck Conners." They were like, "This muh' fucka' thinks he's the Rifleman." I thought that @#%$ sounded kinda' tight. So I was like, I'm gonna change it on ya'll; ya'll baggin' and roasting on me and then from there on I just kept that name. It actually started off as a joke and then a title. Then it blew up bigger than anything else.

So, you used to just roll around with a loaded rifle in your trunk?

Yup. Yup.

Pterra: (laugh) He had it in a pool stick case. You would of thought he was a pool player.

I would be bringing it up at the Good Life and pulling it out in the parking lot.

JXL: How's that muh' fucka' sound?

That @#%$ sounded like a cannon.

JXL: BOOM! (laugh).

The first time I shot it I had to lean up against the wall, cuz' people were telling me, "That shits got a hell of a kick" and I was like, "ok-ok." I leaned up against the wall in the backyard...BOOOOM (laugh). I was like, "Oh, @#%$!"

So, you go by both Ellay Khule and Rifleman then?

Yeah, see really it's like two different entities. Rifleman he's like a wild boy. He rides around about it, bout-it, bout-it. He's ready to kick up some dirt. Ellay Khule he's really on the more creative and innovated style of it, you know. Progressive. I break their music into two separate categories. My album, "Riflemania" is more on the Rifleman tip whereas before, the upitty stuff is more Ellay Khule on that level. Rifleman will make some @#%$ for the gangsers, for your sister, for your mom, you know what I mean? Then Ellay Khule he's more into musicians and the hip-hop kids asking, "When are you going to do some more of that furious fast @#%$?"

I know a lot of people who are reading this probably know about the Project Blowed, but how did it come about and who started it?

Yeah, we all started the "Blowed", but actually the "Blowed" was a spin off of the Goodlife. The Goodlife was the first spot and that started in 89'-90'. We picked up on it in late 1990. I was going there, but I wasn't really telling all of my homies about the spot, because it really wasn't all of that yet. I would only go like one in every four Thursday's.

What was it like back then?

At first you would see somebody on the stage and they would have all kinds of tables and stuff. There would be about ten or fifteen people there just rapping; rapping frivolously I would say, you know (laugh). But then, progressively every Thursday it got another two people... and then another two people... and another two people. Then once I saw that there was a small crowd, I was like, "Yeah, I'm going to come up here every Thursday now." When I got there the only groups were CVE, which was at the time: Fish, Ridd, Tray and JB Smooth. Mika9 and Acealone were there, but this is before the Freestyle Fellowship had formed. There were a couple of groups, but primarily once it got started groups shifted and it did end up being: CVE, HipHopKlan, Freestyle Fellowship, Urban Props and Unity Committee. These were some of the main groups that really kicked everything off at the spot and maintained throughout time.
From 90'-94' we had the Goodlife. We ended up having problems with the organizer of the event, so as a collective we all left. We told the person that was organizing the spot, "It's not you that the people are coming to see, it's us."
We could leave and still have the same energy and that same activity, so that therefore bridged the "Project Blowed." We left the Goodlife and made Project Blowed in 94'.

How many people are in Project Blowed?

There is A LOT. There's allot of groups, man. At least... officially there is about 25 groups.

Are you tight with all of them?

Not really. What do you say when somebody let's you in, but it's not official? (pause). I would call them more "honorary" Project Blowed, because they didn't go through the thick and thin of what the real groups went through. We would all battle each other everyday. We would get teams up like, me and Ac vs. Mike9 and Ridd. We would battle each other solo, groups, teams and all of that stuff. A lot of people didn't go through that. Like Acid Rain, I'm gonna' call them out.

Pterra: A lot of those new groups from that generation are honorary.

There was another group called, Log Cabin. Some of them are now in Living Legends.

Pterra: They denounced their crew name when we asked them what was up.

We came with a crew called the Lumber Jacks and dismembered those muh' fucka's. We were actually going up to them individually, ridin' at them, you know? People always take this rap @#%$ for just rap. We were the hard grain of the Goodlife and the Project Blowed and still are. We were the muh' fucka's that didn't take no @#%$. Like if you talked @#%$ we was gonna' fight, @#%$ it. Almost every time something happened we were in it.

So, a lot of those guys in Log Cabin actually ended up leaving LA, right?

Yeah, we gonna call them out.

You all just pretty much kicked them out of LA?

We just made them break up that group and we didn't get care if they went, because we would never come around anyways. They had a mix of so and so's style mixed in with someone else's style, but they never came through. They never battled. We never saw them, so whenever we would see them we would sweat them and be like, "What's up? Ya'll some biting muh' fucka's." We were like, forget rapping at the time, we were gonna' beat them up, really. That's why they broke their little crew up. But now, I'm cool with a couple of them. Some of them got their own style now. It took them a couple of years to actually break off and get something original.

Obviously, I know that it bothers you that people bite your style and all, but do you take it as a compliment sometimes?

It depends on who, what, when and where. I've got a couple of homies that did a little of nibblization here and there and that's flattering to me, you know. But the whole thing that sets me off is when a muh' fucka' try to do my style and then battle me with it. You know, you better give homage and bow down...That's the whole thing that really tripped me out, is when you're in a circle with someone and they start rapping a certain way and then you start rapping a certain way and then they come back trying to rap like that. It's like, how are you going to battle me with that style? If these people that were doing it would actually say I listen to so and so and I like so and so then that would be cool; but their out there big uppin' themselves. But then, if their in our group, or our area, or our little section and their actually riding with us on a day to day, weekly basis then sometimes that's alright; but they have to still bring out their own character in it. It can't just be a total bite. You can't just bite off one chunk and then just leave it. You have to take that and be influenced by it. You know, you can be influenced by somebody without taking that exact thing. I mean, how are you going to be me? How are you going to be MY character? You can't. But you can come out with your own personality within that, but a lot of people don't do that.

Pterra: Yeah, that's how I learned how to rap, being around this nigga' and @#%$. I heard him rap and I wanted to @#%$ it up too. I was young, trying to write chopping ass raps. My big homie, DJ Troo, I came at the nigga with a chop rap when I was 12 and he was like, "Yeah, that's cool, but you're getting older now. You need to start rappin' like you're an older person" (laugh).

So who's all in the HipHopKlan?

That would be DJ Troo, myself, Ellay Khule, JXL and Terradactyl. Those are the active working members, but we got some younger family in it too. My nephew Daronik, he's on that new "Thomakazi" album. My niece, Princess Neika, she's on that CD, but they have their own group, Minor Leauge. Their a part of our group, but they are also are doing their own thing.

So what other groups or crews are you affiliated with?

I'm affiliated with a lot of muh' fucka's, but mostly Project Blowed: Freestyle Fellowship, CVE, OMD, Legion, Cypher 7, ATU (Abstract Rude and Tribe Unique), Bus Driver, Easty Boys, Rumble pack, I'm cool with the visionaries, Jurassic 5, Volume 10, Urban Props, Medusa, Solo, Feline Science, The Five Footers, Super Nat, Phoenix Orion. We even had affiliations back in the day with Korrupt. Who else? Um, Hobo Junction, The Living Legends, I'm cool with my homies the Mystic Journeymen- Those are my folks right there. That's basically it, all West Coast. There's a lot of heads though.

Pterra: Regular street gangster rappers (laugh).

Actually, you said that you're into CMW (Compton's Most Wanted). I don't know if you know that Fat Jack was involved in their production with DJ Slip.

Do you know all of those CMW cats?

I don't know them, but I know DJ Slip though, because he still comes around Fat Jack's spot. They got old pictures of them together in Adidas fits and old hats from the early 80's. Fat Jack goes back with a lot of early LA hip-hop.

What about the Pharcyde?

JXL: We punked the Pharcyde.

Pterra: Yeah, we beat them up.

JXL: It was all bullshit.

That was Wreccless. Wreccless was in HipHopKlan when he beat up Fat Lip.

When was this?

This was a few years back.

JXL: There was two of them though. We beat that nigga' out of his shirt and shoes. I socked him so hard that his sweater came off.

We did a lot of wild stuff, you know. We're actually living that real true LA hip-hop life.

JXL: We gangsta's who rap you know what I mean?

I wouldn't say that we were thugs, because thugs don't give a @#%$, they just do whatever and we actually have all been through the street mill of that LA gang stuff, so we know the street life, but we chose to go get ourselves out of that element, so that we can do better things. At the same time though, we did a lot of crazy stuff. We weren't doing it just to be like, "I can do this" it was just a way of life for us. We weren't promoting @#%$; I'm speaking from what my eyes have seen and what I have done and what I've been through in my life.

Pterra: You ain't just talking about guns nigga', you roll around with a God Damn rifle in your trunk, mutha' fucka'.

Yeah, but I ain't trying to glorify it like, yeah I got a gun and I use it. You know, so what? If I'm gonna talk about it it's gonna be like how I wrote the song, "Rifleman." I try to talk about it in an illustrative way where you can actually get into the story of a gunman. Not any glorification or nothing, but more like we're the gunman of the wildwest, lyrically. Sort of like how you see all those cowboy movies, that's how the "Rifleman" song was written, like a cowboy flick. You know, where they go into bars, take the bottle and slap somebody upside the head with it and then everybody starts brawling and then PAP-PAP-PAP with the double shooters. It's like a lyrical movie.

Pterra: When I'm out there pitching the cd's to a new customer or a new fan base I always tell them, he's the Rifleman and he spits raps like bullets.

The fastest gun on the west (laugh). That's my new phrase.

I know you guys do everything yourself from start to finish.

Yeah. Especially on our new album, I produced mostly the whole thing. We really work inside our circle. Ridd from CVE did some beats. We might use a beat from Fat Jack. OD and Nobody used to do a lot of stuff for me on my "Riflemanz Kclassixx 2"; they had some production on there. I used to work with them from like, 93' to 96'.

That was a mix of old stuff, right?

Yeah, old @#%$. A lot of the tracks were popular songs that people just knew and the rest were just songs I thought the people should have. I was going around on tour doing shows and people would be yelling in the crowd, " o this song" and "Whatever happened to that song?" So I got all the old @#%$ together and put that @#%$ out. We got another one coming out too, "Rifleman Kcassixx 3" and we got HipHopKlan, "Klandestine 2" coming out and we got, "Illegal Bootlegs" coming out.

And you guys do everything from put the cover in the cd's to seal it, right?

Yeah exactly, everything from conceptualize to putting on the plastic rap.

So, then you take them to the stores?

Yeah, we hit all the stores up. Some of them already got some @#%$ and some of them we might have to pitch it to them.

Do you actually go out on the street and sell them?

Yeah, we do that too. Like Terra and JXL they sell mix tapes on the street, clocking like a note a day off that. For the most part, we sell our stuff at shoes and @#%$ like that. You can get off the Curbserver sight. Basically, you can get it all over.

Have you done shows coast to coast?

I've done shows all over the United States. All over. I'm about to go abroad soon. We got a show next month in Germany, 14 shows actually. Then I'm supposed to go to Japan after that, but I don't know if I'm going to go yet. I'm still a little scared to fly with everything going on right now.

What's in the future for the HipHopKlan and you personally?

We're just trying to expand on the creative side of the music and just getting out to as many people as we can, that's the goal right there. We want to reach as many ears as possible, however we got to do it. If we have to go major, we'll go major. But at the same time, we're always going to have our independent ties and do independent things. Even if I get on a major label, I'll still put out underground @#%$ under ghost names, so I can still keep it real with the underground side if I ever flip major. That's the whole deal you know? Reach as many people worldwide as you can.

I know you guys have a lot of mainstream artists that bite your styles too, right?

The whole thing right now is that our music is so circulated that you can get that @#%$ anywhere if you're really a hip-hopper. You can find it in a mom and pops store in every city.

Pterra: Rifleman is platinum (laugh).

The mainstream knows what's up with Freestyle Fellowship. I've heard so many rappers giving props to them from RUN DMC to Busta' Rhymes. You already know that they know what's going on with us. So many people be giving us props on their albums.

As a musician you pay attention to everything out there, so I'm sure that other artists know what you all are up to, right?

JXL: Yeah, they scared of the HipHopKlan.

Have any mainstream artists ever come up to you before and said that they are really feeling your music?

Actually you know who is a big fan of ours, is Brotha' J from the X-Clan. He's always around, but he's a real mutha' fucka' though. Most of these people though, their not going to say @#%$, especially if they're biting. It's actually a good thing in one way, because they actually give the mainstream listener a little bit of what's to come. They actually like open it up a little bit, cuz' our @#%$ is way deeper as far as style wise and content wise, compared to what they actually come out with. Like I said about them fools that kick it up at the Blowed. They only take one little part and then after a while, that one little part you can't really do much with it. You see all they got is eggs, but no flower or no sugar. The whole @#%$ rap industry right now is on that @#%$ and we've been doing it for like ten years plus now. Eminem bit it too after we served him.

Yeah, you served him at the Goodlife right?

No, he came to Project Blowed. They were out here for a battle in LA. We served them. It was Thurston Howell, Wordsworth, a cat named Juice, Eminem and Quest the Mad Lab. They were battling against me, P.E.A.C.E, Othawize, Ridd and Acealone. We fuct em' up. We fuct them up bad. It was short and quick. They were begging us just to stop saying, "It wasn't supposed to be like this.." This was right after Othawize served up Eminem on a head up battle. We've influenced a lot of mutha' fucka's.

Who else have you served?

Damn, there's a lot of people. @#%$, everybody we've came across. Collectively from the Blowed, we've probably served at least half of the industry. I remember when Abstract Rude served Ghostface Killa' on the radio.

Yeah, I got that.

(Laugh) Ha, clowing him. It was either Ghostface or Capadona, one of the two. I think it was Capadona.

Wasn't Killa Priest in it too?

Reggg akaTHESFMASHER
Guest
Re: RIFLEMAN INTERVIEW AS SEEN IN VAPORS MAGAZINE
« Reply #9 on: Oct 2nd, 2002, 1:31pm »


Killa Priest was probably in there. That was when the whole East Coast West Coast thing was going on. I remember one thing we did, though. We pulled Mobb Deep from up off the stage.

JXL: OH MY GOD! We took the mic's right out of their hands, nigga'.

We took their Moet too (laugh). They were trying to do that song LA LA and we weren't having that @#%$. We had the whole crowd yelling, "WEST COAST! @#%$ MOBB DEEP!" (laugh).

You pulled them off the stage at their own show?

We were on the edge of the stage and pulling on them mutha' fucka's grabbing the mic's and taking their Moet, cuz' their only like this tall (motions their height with his hands.)

JXL: I had that nigga by his shirt and was pulling on him and he was like, "AHHH!" We'll bang on who ever the @#%$ wants to try and @#%$ with us, end of story.

Did you guys ever get caught up in gang banging?

JXL: I did.

Not really banging, more personal @#%$. The problems we have are more on some personal @#%$. We got into it at the Blowed too. I've had to knock some people out, but that was on some personal rap @#%$. You know, battling, that @#%$ gets serious. A lot of people don't realize how serious it is. They snatch the mic out of your hand and hit the top of your cap or some @#%$.

Pterra: I don't care what the @#%$ you call me, but when nigga's start touching me then I'm going to touch em' back (laugh).

JXL: We @#%$ with everybody, homie. We fight with the police. We don't give a @#%$. We fought the police at the Blowed.

Yeah, that @#%$ was funny. See what is was, is that for a while the police were watching the Blowed and they had some people coming in there looking like hip-hoppers to see what was going on.

Pterra: They said we were communists.

Anything they could get us on to start @#%$ with us. They had there little infiltrators coming in, but we were kind of hip at the time to what was going on. Then they started coming in to see if we were taking money, because it's supposed to be donations and then they would confiscate the money and little @#%$ like that.

Pterra: Then one week they came in with a blow horn and told us to go home.

And then everybody was like, "we ain't going know where." There was like fifty officers there with their little gear on and they told us to walk down the street towards Crinshaw, but we kept saying we weren't going to move.

How many people were there?

There were about fifty people in the action, but a lot of people kept talking and talking, but when the police got closer they were gone. It just came down to it and we started swinging, throwing chairs a bottles.

So it was like 50 on 50?

No, it was like 25 of us and 50 police officers. There were a lot of kids out there at first talking all that @#%$, but when it came down to it there wasn't that many.

So you guys were right there on the front lines?

Yeah, were front lining it like, "yeah, what's up?"
The closer they got we just started throwing bottles and picking up chairs and tables. They were grabbing people and dragging people, all of that @#%$.

Did you get arrested for that @#%$?

I didn't, but my homeboy Fat Drew did.

Is there any last words that you want to say to the people out there reading this?

Pick up on that HipHopKlan, Rifleman, Ellay Khule, Project Blowed, AfterLife Affiliations, pick up on it. It's big man and we're doing things that have not been done. We're the innovators of the fast, rodeo, chop, flip, twist or whatever you want to call it we pioneered that. We're worldwide, get it before it gets you.

So where can people get your music at?

Depending on where they're at, they can get it online at _ HYPERLINK "www.curbserver.com" __www.curbserver.com_ and directly from me at _ HYPERLINK "mailto:riflemania@yahoo.com" __riflemania@yahoo.com_. You can also get it at Aarons, Amoeba in Berkeley and San Francisco, or at Project Blowed-we sell our stuff out of there too.

Any shout outs?

Shout out's to all the hip-hoppers and my family, my blood family and my hip-hop family. All the listeners and all the people that don't listen, start listening-I'm giving them a shout out too. All the rockers and all the choppers, and all the hip-hoppin', graffiti writing, Djin’, spinning on their heads, scratch masters, all of ya'll, one love from the fastest gun in the west.

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s t i l l b r a y n f u q t

wo hast du das her? gib mal bitte die quelle an!

also eins muss man diesen typen lassen, die haben verdammt abgefahrene namen...pterradacto, xolonxanxino...sind das irgendwelche aztekischen götter?

check meine signatur,,,,dann weisst du wo ich's her hab !!!

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s t i l l b r a y n f u q t

lol, götter bestimmt nicht...würd halt sagen die sind kreativer in ihrer namensfindung wie die meisten anderen rapper...

xololanxinxo (sprich: tschololanxinko )

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s t i l l b r a y n f u q t

Pterradacto ist doch irgendein Saurier, oder? Ein aggressives Battle-Reptil eben

ich will die frage mal schnell in den raum stellen und wissen was ihr dazu meint...aber kann es sein das (tounge) twista einige afterlife artists versucht zu kopieren? habe die frage mal bei mzee in den raum gestellt und wurde derbe angepisst von irgendwelchen twista-verehrern die sich auf den schlips getreten fühlten.

ich weiß twista macht auch schon ewig musik, aber das neue video klingt verdammt nach ellay khule oder so...

lol ich glaube kaum dass twista jemals auch nur den namen eines afterlife artists gehört hat

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UGRAP YOUTUBE ++UGRAP DISCOGS

wie ellay unlängst sagte
"schnell rappen ist kein style"

schnell rappen kann jeder (also könnte jeder)

@chainsnatcha...so hab ich das noch garnicht gesehen, ich glaube du hast recht...

da wär ich mir nicht so sicher. im goodlife und project blowed haben verflucht viele rapper vorbei geschaut, darunter auch so mancher mainstream mc von heute.


interview is glaubich ausm clout magazine.

Man könnte die Frage genauso umdrehen und fragen, ob die Afterlife
Leute Twistas Style kopieren...sein erstes Album ist glaube ich von 90-91,
oder?
Und bevor er das aufgenommen hat, wird er sicherlich auch schon ne
Weile aktiv gewesen sein...

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FB: https://www.facebook.com/puddahstore
Shop: https://www.rapmazon.com/
Email: info@rapmazon.com

hier is ein bericht entnommen aus der PZM ( Punchzeilenmagazin ) !!!
das mag bekommt man z.b. bei www.royalbunker.de für die die es nochnich kennen....

PROJECT BLOWED
Einfach nur die besten Rapper der Welt?

Über die Project Blowed MCs noch große Worte zu verlieren, kommt eigentlich der berühmten Eulenlieferung nach Athen gleich, wenn man mal davon ausgeht, dass das Magazin, das ihr in den Händen haltet, fast ausschließlich von Rapkennern und –Kennerinnen gelesen wird. Project Blowed, das bedeutetMCs vom Kaliber eines Rifleman Ellay Khule, eines Busdrivers, eines Ngafish, eines Mikah 9, eines Aceyalone, eines…doch wir wollen uns hier nicht mit bloßem Namedropping aufhalten. Komplettisten checken bitte die ausführliche Discographie der Blowdians.
Fest steht, dass diese Gruppe von Rappern, deren Ursprünge im Good Life Cafe in South Central, LA liegen, für jeden Raphörer, der etwas mehr erwartet als die neue DMX oder einen Fabolous- Freestyle das perfekte Ohrenfutter darstellen. Der legendäre Ruf des PB ist längst über die Grenzen Amerikas hinaus vorgedrungen. Überall in Europa gibt es Anhänger, die innovative Rapstile und unabhängiges Handling der Geschäft zu schätzen wissen.
In Deutschland konzentrieren sich die Anhänger vor allem in Berlin, was wohl einerseits daran liegt, dass hier musikalische Strömungen von außerhalb zuerst wahrgenommen werden, andererseits aber auch sehr stark daran, dass Berlin als erste deutsche Stadt Zeuge eines Live Eindrucks von den ungewöhnlichen Skills der Kalifornier werden durfte. Anlässlich der ansonsten eher fehlgeschlagenen Hip Hop Sommerschule in der Volksbühne 2001 schauten Ngafish, Busdriver und Riddlore? auf Betreiben von Herrn Marcus Staiger vorbei und entzündeten die Flamme der Begeisterung für den LA-Underground Shit endgültig. Für viele Hip Hop Hörer ein einschneidendes Erlebnis.
Ein knappes Jahr später holte Staiger erneut Blowed-MCs nach Deutschland, dieses mal als Support für die MOR Abschlusstournee. Als Ersatz für Ngafish, der seinen Pflichten als Lehrer nachkommen musste, war Rifleman am Start. Dazu kam Freestyle Fellowship- Veteran Aceyalone, der auch weniger tief im Untergrund wühlenden Heads ein Begriff ist, da er trotz Independent Status einfach Werke von entscheidender Durchschlagskraft geschaffen hat. Somit chillten sage und schreibe vier ausgewachsene Raplegenden in Berlin, die ich mir alle zum Interviewtermin vorknöpfen wollte. Leichter gesagt als getan. Im Bunker herrscht totales Chaos. Sämtliche Rapper aus Berlin scheinen sich in die Schlange der Wartenden einzureihen. Alle wollen die Gelegenheit nutzen, mit den Amis einen Track aufzunehmen. Doch das kann mich nicht aufhalten. Zuerst schnappe ich mir Rifleman Ellay Khule vom HipHop Kclan, dessen Highspeed Rapstil auf dem am Sonntag zuvor gewesenen Konzert im Casino die heftigsten Reaktionen beim Puplikum ausgelöst hatte. Rifle ist sehr umgänglich, ein echter Kumpeltyp.: „Sieht so aus, als ob ihr ein Parkplatzproblem in Deutschland hättet.“, meint er auf dem Weg zum Park mit Blick auf die eng geparkten Autos am Straßenrand. In der Tat. Wir wollen jedoch die Verkehrsprobleme nicht eingehender behandeln, sondern uns gleich entscheidenden Dingen zuwenden. Rifle blinzelt in die Sonne und erinnert sich an die Anfänge im Good Life Cafe, den alldonnerstaglichen Freestylesessions. „Ich kam 1990 ins Good Life. Es war zu dieser Zeit nicht der beste MC Spot der Welt, nur ein Ort, an dem sich Rapper trafen, nicht groß bekannt. 25 Leute passten rein. Es war nicht übermäßig spannend. Am Anfang fand es auch nur alle drei Monate statt. Dann kamen auf einmal viel mehr Leute und es war jeden Donnerstag. Niemand wollte einen Abend verpassen, es war der Höhepunkt der Woche. Im Nachhinein betrachtet war es damals die Zeit unseres Lebens, wir waren alle wie wild am Üben, denn wenn z.B. Mikah 9 mit einem Hammervers ankam und alle schrieen und brüllten, dacht sich jeder „Oh Mann, nächste Woche muss ich noch besser sein als er!“. Es war ein Wettbewerb im guten Sinn, wir battleten uns alle gegenseitig, aber nie auf negative Art, sondern eher so, wie du mit einem Freund Tennis spielst.“
Die goldenen Zeiten im Good Life dauerten etwa vier, fünf Jahre an, bis 1994 Probleme mit den Veranstaltern aufkamen. Eine Frau, die weder mit den Rappern direkt etwas zu tun hatte noch das Good Life besaß, spielte sich immer mehr in den Mittelpunkt und besaß im Endeffekt mehr Macht als alle anderen Beteiligten.
Ironischerweise mussten die MCs bezahlen, um in das Cafe zu kommen, das sie mit ihrer Performance letztlich ausmachten. „Es wurde kritisch. Wir waren keine Teenager mehr, die nur freestylen wollten. Die Leute kamen, um uns zu sehn und wir mussten bezahlen. Diese Lady meinte ,Es geht nicht um euch, sondern um das Cafe’ und solchen Blödsinn.“
Die verschiedenen MCs schlossen sich zum Afterlife-Komitee zusammen, um ihren Interessen Nachdruck zu verleihen. Es war der Grundstein für das spätere Label Afterlife Records. Abstract Rude und Aceyalone machten schließlich eine neue Location klar. Benannt wurde sie nach einem zuvor erschienenen Sampler, Project Blowed.
„Project Blowed ist keine Gruppe, keine Posse, kein Gebäude. Du kannst nicht genau definieren was es ist. Es ist ein musikalisches Movement.“
Eine Bewegung also.
Eine solche wird ja stets durch bestimmte Werte, eine Grundidee, eine gemeinsame Basis verbunden. Welche ist das im Fall des Blowed?
„Unser Glaube ist es, musikalisch innovativ zu sein. Wir wollen nicht wie jeder andere sein. Wenn jemand sagt „ So muss man rappen! So macht man Beats!“ dann stimmen wir dem nicht zu. Meine Onkel sind Musiker aus den Sechzigern, wenn sie meine Beats hören sagen sie „Das ist musikalisch falsch. Man darf dieses nicht mit jenem kombiniere“. Keinen von uns interessiert so etwas. Project Blowed ist eine kreative Vereinigung mit dem Ziel, die Musik zu erschüttern anstatt zu stagnieren“.
Folglich kann man auch gar nicht von einem bestimmten Style sprechen, da jeder Blowed MC seinen eigenen hat. So kann man beispielsweise wenig Gemeinsamkeiten zwischen Riddlore?s und Busdrivers Art zu rappen feststellen. Trotzdem meinen anscheinend viele Leute, so etwas wie den Project Blowed- Sound ausgemacht zu haben.
„Sie versuchen, die Geschwindigkeit als Style abzustempeln. Aber Too $hort zum Beispiel rappt langsam. Ma$e auch. Sie klingen aber absolut nicht gleich. Geschwindigkeit ist kein Style. Die Leute wollen eben alles kategorisieren.“, schließt Rifle seine Ausführung zu diesem Thema. Zumal man die Blowedianer heute garnichtmehr auf schnelles Rappen festlegen kann. „Früher wollten wir immer so schnell wie möglich rappen. Wir nennen das Chopping. Jeder Song, egal wie der Beat war, choppen, choppen , choppen. Jetzt sind wir Hip Hop Chamäleons, wir geben dem Beat, was er verlangt. Ich sehe das auch bei sehr vielen deutschen Rappern, dass es ihnen nur darum geht, schnell zu rappen. Das ist das Kindheitsstadium. Als Taktloss uns in L.A. besucht hat, wollte er auf jeden Beat schnell rappen. Ich habe ihm gesagt, dass es nicht nur darum geht. Man muss auf die Musik hören, nicht gegen sie kämpfen, denn sonst verliert man meistens.“
Eine andere Sache, was den Style angeht, ist die Tatsache, dass ihn zahlreiche Rapper, von den Bone Thugs bis hin zu Mr. Jigga mehr oder weniger schamlos kopiert haben. Wie das Royce Da 5’9“ Interview in der letzten PZ zeigte, interessiert es die meisten noch nicht einmal, wo sie sich da bedienen. Rifle nimmt das Ganze gelassen. „Es ist ja auch eine Ehre, so viele MCs hörbar beeinflusst zu haben. Ich sehe das so: Sie haben die Welt auf unseren Style vorbereitet. Jetzt können wir kommen und den Leuten den wahren Project Blowed-Style zeigen, ohne dass sie zu sehr geschockt sind.“
So manche Dinge haben sich mit dem Älterwerden verändert. Inzwischen sind die Blowdians sich im Klaren, dass man nicht nur ein Freestyle Rapper sein kann, schlicht deshalb, weil man zum Leben Kohle braucht. Als Jugendlicher kann man bei Mami wohnen und alles ist egal. Später häufen sich die Rechnungen und man hat andere Sorgen als das nächste Battle. Dazu kommt die gesteigerte Verantwortung, etwa für eventuelle Kinder.
„Manchmal muss man Kompromisse machen. Viele verlieren dadurch ihr Feuer. Wenn du ein Bild malst und dir ständig von anderen reinreden lässt, stehst du nachher vor dem Bild und sagst dir ,Das wollte ich nicht zeichnen!’. Aber wir haben immer noch das gleiche Feuer wie früher. Wir können immer noch mit 250 Stundenkilometern über den Beat abgehen.“
Spricht´s und rappt zur Bekräftigung ein paar Bars aus dem Track „Rifleman“.
Auch die Erfahrung, auf einem anderen Kontinent zu touren, hat ihn neu geprägt.
„Deutschland hat mir viel beigebracht. Es hat mir klargemacht, dass ich viel härter arbeiten und viel größer werden kann. Ich könnte wie Miles Davis sein. Die Jazzmusiker mussten damals auch den Umweg über Europa in Kauf nehmen, um Anerkennung in den Staaten zu bekommen. Ich sehe ganz klar die Parallele zum Bebop: Die Musik ist innovativ, kommt aus dem Untergrund und zu ihren Lebzeiten bekamen sie nicht den fälligen Respekt. Der Grund, warum die Leute Bebop gefrontet haben, ist derselbe: Weil es kein Easy Listening ist. Man muss nachdenken. Vielen ist das zu anstrengend.“
Rifle ist es definitiv nicht zu anstrengend. Wie er seine Texte schreibt oder freestylet, kann er nicht genau erklären. „Ich bin in der ,zone´, Mann, keine Ahnung was ich da tue. Aber es funktioniert, das ist gut. Hip Hop ist gut!“
Soviel zu Ellay Khule. Natürlich hat der gute Mann noch einiges mehr erzählt, aber seine Freunde Riddlore? und Busdriver wollen schließlich auch zu Wort kommen.
Rid steuert auch noch ein paar Good Life- Erinnerungen bei. „Viele Styles wurden entwickelt, ohne die Industrie verbreitet, wurden gestohlen. Es war ein Ort, an dem wir uns frei ausdrücken konnten, ein Trainingsplatz für einen Rapstyle, der sich von allem unterschied, was uns umgab. Fat Joe kam vorbei, Biz Markie, MC Search, Die Hieros, Skee-Lo, Snoop – Kurupt und Rage waren Stammgäste, bevor sie mit Death Row hookten. Was anders war als bei vielen Open Mics, war die Tatsache das die Crowd nicht nur aus Rappern bestand. Viele Leute kamen einfach zum Chillen, brachten ihre Kinder mit und alles. Es war ein heller, freundlicher Ort. Die Nation Of Islam stellte die Security, es war ein Healthfood Cafe. Die Betreiber hielten sehr viel von Spiritualität und Bewusstsein. Das färbte auch auf die Raps ab, obwohl sie viele brutale Battlepasagen enthielten, hatten sie trotzdem einen Bezug zu Consciousness.
Verschiedene Ideologien wie Christen, Moslems, 5%ers trafen aufeinander, alle hatten dope Styles und kamen zusammen. Das Blowed war dann eher auf der dunklen Seite und ist es heute noch. Es ist eine Gladiatorenschule, die meisten sind strikt im Battlemode. Und immer noch kommen viele, um zu klauen!“
Dem kleine Riddlore?, der eine sehr softe Stimme hat und öfter ein bekifftes Lachen ausstößt, sieht man nicht unbedingt auf den ersten Blick an, ein Gangmember gewesen zu sein.
In seinen Texten berichtet er unter anderem von diesen Erfahrungen, die er jede Nacht auf der Straße hatte. „Nun bin ich wieder jeden Abend auf der Straße. Um zu rappen, natürlich!
Musik bietet mir die einzigartige Möglichkeit, dieser Welt zu entfliehen und zu entspannen. Sie hat mein Leben gerettet!“
Busdriver hatte beim Auftritt in Berlin - nach Rifleman – die wohl euphorischsten Reaktionen. Die Crowed tickte bei seinem synkopischen Highspeed Flows völlig aus und raste vor Begeisterung. Mit seinem extremen Style kam er allerdings nicht immer so gut an: Im Good Life flog er von der Bühne, weil er die Grundregel, nicht zu fluchen missachtete. Im Blowed wiederum wurde er von Crowd, die seinen Style nicht diggen wollte oder konnte, von der Stage gebuht. Wer „This Machine Kills Fascists“, eine Zusammenstellung älterer Songs von Bus kennt, hat keine Probleme, sie die Verwirrung in der Menge auszumalen. Rid dazu: „Sie waren noch nicht so weit.
Normalerweise bin ich einer Meinung mit der Crowd, aber bei Bus spürte ich, dass er sehr talentiert war. Er brauchte nur ein wenig Anleitung von erfahreneren Leuten.“
„Ich weiß selbst nicht mehr genau, was ich gemacht habe, wahrscheinlich irgendwas verrücktes. In meinem damaligen Jahren war ich sehr abgehoben, mit beiden Beinen in der Luft. Mit zunehmendem Alter wurde ich mellow. Mein nächstes Album wird noch mehr ,grounded’ sein.“ Brummelt Busdriver, bei dem man auch aufgrund seiner undurchsichtigen Sonnenbrille, nie so recht weiß, ob er dem Gespräch lauscht oder gerade an etwas völlig anderes denkt. Nach ihren Vorbildern befragt, nennt Bus Jimi Hendrix und Kurt Cobain, Riddlore? legt sch schweren Herzens auf Bob Marley („Vor allem wegen den Texten.“ Und einige mir unbekannte Jazzmusiker fest. Er gibt ausdrücklich noch einmal ein ,Big Up’ an Staiger, für die Möglichkeit in Deutschland zu Touren.
Bleibt abschließend die Hoffnung, dass die Releases der Reimfamilie hoffentlich auch in Deutschland bald einfacher zu haben sein werden. Laut Riddlore? ist man in ernsthaften Verhandlungen wegen eines Vertriebs. Bisher konnte man die Musik nur auf der Webseite www.curbserver.com kaufen. Doch das Project BLowed will growen. Allemal wünschenswert, bedenkt man den unglaublichen Output an uninspirierten Rappern, ideenlosen Produktionen und seelenlosen Beats, denen innovative Rapper wie C.V.E. , HipHop Kclan, Cipher 7 , Legion , Busdriver, Abstract Rude und und und gegenüberstehen.
In diesem Sinne: Pleeeeeaaaaaase pass da mic to da Afterlife

echt schickes interview...kenn ich noch garnicht...danke