Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 103: Chali 2na (Jurassic 5 & Ozomatli)

Episode Date: October 27, 2020

Andy and the boys just finished up a two week, socially distant tour and what a bizarre feeling it is to work again for the first time in MONTHS. AFUN ends this run in Charleston wherein, Andy gets into it with the LEGENDARY, Chali 2na! They talk about how he got started, how live performances are looking thru this pandemic, and much more. Chris shares his thoughts on lizard people conspiracies. Happy Halloween, y'all. This is EP 103. Follow us on Instagram @worldsavingpodcast For more information on Andy Frasco, the band and/or the blog, go to: AndyFrasco.com Check out Andy's new album, "Keep On Keepin' On" on iTunes Spotify  Keep up with the LEGENDARY Chali 2na, at chali2na.com Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Ahri Findling Chris Lorentz Arno Bakker

Hey, this is Scott Emerson. I wanted you to go through the run of show for the Charleston show. I assume that you got this in your email last month. I'll go through it one more time. It's going to be a four o'clock load-in with a mic check at 530. And the weather looks pretty good. It looks about 75 and overcast, which is just going to be a primo, primo show. And I assume that everybody tells you, but most of the audience is going to be the Charleston Needles colony. So you're going to see a lot of bushes and dongs hanging around during your

set. I assume that's okay. Otherwise you wouldn going to see a lot of bushes and doms hanging around during your set. I assume that's okay, otherwise you wouldn't affect the show. But I just want to give you another heads up that there will be a significant amount of naked people at your show, and we encourage you guys to get as naked as you want. God knows we'd love to see

any naked. So call me back if you have any questions. Otherwise, I'll see you at the show. There won't be any rain, so you don't have to worry about any kind of shrinkage. So call me soon. Excited to see you. Bye. All right. And we're back. Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast. I'm Andy Frasco. How we doing today? How's our hearts? How's our minds? We're following our dreams through this COVID, through this 2020 bullshit. You better be. Don't stop. Don't think that just because there's some

hardships doesn't mean we can't be the people we want to fucking be. Do I got to play the fucking music to pump you up right now Because it's Tuesday god damn it You know what time it is It's time to find ourselves Through all that madness in the world And be exactly who the fuck we want to be Yeah that's what's up

Oh man how we doing I am in Charleston, South Carolina On the last day of our tour I'm here for a week, actually. The boys went home, drove the van. Shout out to the boys for driving the van. I stayed and got a beach house in Folly Beach. I'm here all week.

I've never been to Charleston longer than a couple days. I'm going to go check out the hood. It's been fun. We did this nudist party. It was a bunch of naked people, and we played music for a bunch of naked people. It was just mass titties and dicks everywhere. It was insane. We got to play with Charlie Tuna and Rebirth Brass Band. Super fun private party. Thanks for having us, Skinful. Really means a lot. Man, this tour's been amazing. This second week, man, we were running around the Southeast.

We did Atlanta, which was fucking crazy. All our fans out there knew all the songs. Shout out to the Southeast. Shout out to Nashville. We did two shows in Nashville. That was dope.

Got to see my homies from Nashville, Richard Slovin, Paige. Thanks for letting us stay and hang out. Hang out in Nashville, Richard Slovin, Paige, thanks for letting us stay and hang out. And hang out in Nashville, socially distant. It was fun. We had Lexington, which is badass. Just been a fun week.

I mean, to see the response we're getting from the songs and, you know, I get to, you know, try something different. I've been, you know, my shows before, it's, you know, a lot of in the crowd, getting there, fucking dancing and running around. And you're forced to not do that. So you have to rethink the sound. Like, we're just going to play songs and play a bunch of songs, all our songs.

And it was awesome to see the response. Everyone's singing along and singing through the chantings, all the group chants we do. And it was badass. So shout out to all the group chants we do. It was badass. So shout out to all the fro-heads out there. Let's go. You're my number one. You're my number one. But yeah, tour's been great.

Charles sent a trip. On Friday, our boys, Brendan Bayless and Ryan Stasek, were playing an acoustic gig. So we drove in early to play with them. We sang that song. Give me the beat, boy, to free my soul. It was just fun to see them. Kind of felt normal, you know? You realize how much you miss interaction with people

when you get stuck in your house and stuff. So thanks for having us. Ryan, stay sick. You're a fucking gem and a scholar. We were singing our asses off till five in the morning. His new house is dope. His wife just got a killer show on HGTV. So we were celebrating.

Bayless was playing the fucking piano all night. We were having a good time. So shout out to the boys for inviting us. Now we're hanging. I'm learning how to surf. That's having a good time. So shout out to the boys for inviting us. And now we're hanging. I'm learning how to surf. That's my goal this week. I got that beach house. I'm like, fuck it. I'm going to learn how to surf. I'm going to work on the beach and just try to enjoy life and try to enjoy 2020. Even with all the curve balls, you know, we still got to, we still got to take care of ourselves, whatever it is. If you like to travel, if you need to get out, get the fuck out.

You know, shout out. I'm feeling for Colorado right now. Colorado is burning like a motherfucker. And all my friends out there are like, we're getting out, we're getting out. We got to go take a break. So everyone, shout out to everyone getting out there and safely and, you know, getting out there and uh safely and you know traveling social distancing not trying to spread the virus and just go out and go on an adventure you know you don't have to be around people you could still go out and go fucking see some trees or some new sites and you know just

be respectful to you know the older people although All the old people are the people who have a sickness. What do they call that? Autoimmune deficiencies. The people who this virus could fuck up. So just be cautious about that. It's been great to see all the venues taking the social distancing seriously and just changing. Everyone's different.

I told you this last week. No one knows what the fuck's going on no one's given us advice on how to approach this a pandemic I've never been in a fucking pandemic have you I don't think so it's fucking wild wild west up in this bitch

and you know so shout out to all these states just trying to figure out how we can get music back in there I mean that's the most important thing you know you don't realize how much music heals until you get back out there get back and um see the crowd smiling and fucking rejoicing and celebrating i mean music powerful and that was one thing i forgot on this quarantine was how powerful music is and how much I need it in my life. You know, I get on stage and I'm smiling again. I'm loving again.

I'm trying to be a better person because I'm filling up that gap that I had. So whatever gap you have, whatever weird dream you want to do that you stopped doing or puzzle or fucking painting, go fucking paint, go fill up those holes in your basket. Because unless you do, unless you, if you don't, then it's going to drip and you're, it's going to be a mess. And, uh, you just got to follow it. You got to repair, take care of yourselves so we could try to be happy for 2021. Because this bitch is almost over. 2020 is almost over. Survive in advance.

We made it this far. Shout out to you for making this far. We did it, guys. We fucking did it. Surviving a pandemic. Let's go. We can tell our grandkids about this. The great 2020.

We did live streams and survived pandemics. That's what we do. Like I was saying, we can't live in fear. It's scary. We got to live. We got to live cautiously. We also got to do things we want to do and be with people we want to be with appropriately.

That's the most important thing. We got to still live. We got to still be alive and be optimistic even when we're rolling through shit the whole time. So pretty crazy stuff. I'm excited to hang out in Charleston with the homies. I got a show on the 30th in Denver. All my homies in Denver, I'm playing with the Sweet Lilies.

Frasco, Jewgrass, baby. I'm playing piano with these awesome girls. They're called the Sweet Lilies. So if you don't, we're playing at Cervantes. I think the first show, the night show sold out, but there's still tickets for the 30th show. And then I'm doing the Relics Dance party on the 31st yo we're doing the the season finale on motherfucking halloween saturday night halloween dance party go on fans

dot live where i got an outfit our whole our whole dance crew's got an outfit it's dope so everyone wear your outfits let's have a good fucking time we got a great great interview for you. I'm pumped up for you to hear this one. This is legendary. Legendary dude, legendary place. Are you ready to fuck shit up? And I'll leave you with this. Like I said, be patient with yourself. Be gentle. We take what we do so much harder than how we treat everyone else. So give yourself the respect you deserve. You're a fucking legend. You're a fucking badass.

I'll play the fucking music again because I'm serious. We work too hard. We forget about ourselves sometimes. So don't forget about yourself. Fucking fall in love with the person you want to be again. I know it's hard fucking with your relationships and you just lost yourself. I get it. I've lost myself too. I lost myself in this quarantine right before I went on tour. I was going through a mental fucking breakdown. I had nothing to do besides think about what's going on. And when I overthought, I got depressed. So stop overthinking

life and just be present. Stay focused on the now. Stay focused on your breath, whatever that hippie shit is. Just be here because we never know when it's our turn to leave the party. So promise me to be there. promise me to be present, promise me to fucking smile, because that's the most important thing, trying to laugh through this bullshit, 20, I mean, they're gonna get us down, we're gonna be broke as fuck, whatever, but they can't take away our laughter, they can't take away our jokes, our smiles, you know, that's, it's Halloween, baby, We're going to do a socially safe Halloween because COVID's rising again. And we're just going to keep playing it safe. Guys, you ready for the

interview? I am. I love you. Tour's been a blast. I'll let you know what's going on in Folly Beach. I'll keep you updated with my surfing obstacles because I've always wanted to surf. And shout out to the band. We did 14 shows in 11 days. I'm super proud of us. We've worked hard. People needed laughter and we brought it to them through these weird circumstances. So I gotta give it up for my boys one more time.

Fuck yeah. Give it up for the boys. Let's go, boys. Let's go. Alright. Let's go watch the interview. Listen to the interview. Another Tuesday with Frasco. I love y'all. Let's go Alright Let's go watch the interview Listen to the interview Another Tuesday with Frasco I love y'all Let's get it Alright

Next up on the interview hour We have Charlie motherfucking Tuna Jurassic 5 Legend Yo Chris Play some Charlie Tuna for me, please. This guy's the best. One of the best voices, I think,

in the game. One of the best lyricists in the game. Jurassic 5's sick and he's doing his solo thing. He's paining now. He's getting through quarantine how he can, like all of us musicians. Great, great fucking guy. I think you're gonna love this interview. He's the Buddha

I call him Uncle Charlie because he gives me advice and wisdom every time we got to open for him on Saturday well not open for him but he played first and then we backed him up and then we played and it was badass

and then we did that again where we me and Charlie tried to outsmoke each other it was like hot wing challenge but with like 100% THC fucking dabs and joints

it was a blast I got to get to know him this interview I got to get to know him even more so ladies and gentlemen please enjoy Charlie Tuna Thank you. You can't pass it by This how you spell it, man? Charlie 2-8-8 Live on the west, but I'm coming straight for shot

Old me when I say that I'm much more than just some backpack crap Intelligent, bright black, or militant blackjack Ah, chillin' in them is platinum blackbacks But Elvis the irrelevant fax in that stack And how you play the game is how the game plays you Way true, natives is wild style like Phase 2 Without press, blessed, must go on slates With titanium plates To pass metal detection

Yeah Instant vintage Deep in the trenches Of inches If you're least Biggest defense list Peaking through fences Is speaking bigger

Than Memphis Peaking your inches With heat Seeking the jet Hey Now ladies and gentlemen One more time Please make some noise

Here comes the day Come and just listen You've got work to do Tuna Fisher Call me Charlie 2A And when I bring it up, it bring it straight to you Two-time champ, coming through today, the man fit the energy, you can't pass it by This how you style it, man, Charlie 2-A-A, live on the west, but I'm coming straight for a shot All day, yeah, coming through today, from the city where they, you got it

Mary Al Capone, house music was born? Robert Kelly performed Heavy Styles the show, made Hitler and settled miles from home Coast to coast, LA from Chicago With the apostles, they're in this pretty gospel Kendo diplomat, apocalyptic rap I'm getting to grips with that fact, yo You're learning about the turntable turning But people should know me voting for just the verbal Herman

Monster Now one more time, everybody please make some noise Coming through today Yeah, competition, listen, you got work to do Tune up, it's your comic Charlie 2 A And when I bring it up, it bring it straight to you Three times, yeah

Coming through today The main thing being that you can't pass it by That's how you spell it, man Charlie 2 A Yeah, live on the west, but I'm coming straight for shot Okay, yeah, everybody, one more time, put your hands high If you're loving what we're doing, put your hands high Put your hands to the ceiling, put your hands high

If you got that fucking feeling, put your hands high We're with Andy Frasco, put your hands high We're here with the fiasco, put your hands high Do the fish in the place, everybody in place Cause it goes like this in your face. It goes coming through today. Yeah, coming through today. I said coming through today.

One time it's coming through today. Yeah. Charlie Tuna. Hello. How's it going? It's cool. It's cool. A little salty because I videotaped Dave today talking about some of the history of this land.

And I just tried to post it. And I pressed post and I walked outside and came back in. And shit didn't post. I don't know. We're in the forest. I know. It doesn't feel good. I want to talk about the history of this land.

We're in Charleston, South Carolina. This is the first time really I'm playing with another band on this tour and it's the last day of the tour and we're playing with mr charlie tunis so i appreciate it what how do you feel about being back on the road i mean it feels good to you know we musicians man this is what we do for a living so you know it feels good to be able to uh do what we do at a level that's that we can deem normal yeah right but still you know to to have to be cautious about all this is a trip to me you know what i mean it's like certain things that i took for granted like what like uh not bringing my own mic to every gig or some like that you know what i mean it's things like that now that you got to be like whoa i got to rethink

all this you know what i mean so like you never really thought about that no and i should have for the longest time because i i've always been susceptible to like strep throat you know so it's like it's one of those things where it's like i should have been doing that a long time ago and now i'm being it now it's like i gotta do it you know it's just crazy it's crazy man i mean to be out here it's like what my thing is like it. You know what I mean? It's just crazy. It's crazy, man. I mean, to be out here, it's like, my thing is like, what do you think the future of live music is going to be? I don't know, man. I don't know. I mean, I guess fear is the driving force of it all.

I guess fear is the driving force of it all. So everybody's like, if the majority of the people who are in charge of giving the order to say, yay or nay, we can do these live gigs again, are afraid to do it, you know what I'm saying, due to things with that, you know, you rightfully should be afraid, I guess, you know what I'm saying? If you don't know the full extent, like we don't know the full extent of what this COVID thing totally is. We don't know totally exactly, in my opinion, what to actually do. I mean, it's obvious. Wash your hands, cover your face, things like that. But like, they don't got this science all the way down.

You know, they're going to try to shove a cure in our face, but they ain't got the science of what this shit is all the way down yet. So I'm a little a little leery about a lot of the information and misinformation that's coming in and out and i think that alone is going to contribute to the fear that it would take for somebody to say yeah what do you think the hardest part is about fear what's up guys the hardest part about fear yeah well you know that's the true enemy to be perfectly honest man with anything it ain't got nothing to do with music or you know i'm saying it's you against fear so to speak you know what i mean like it's healthy to be afraid of stuff you know i'm saying fear sometimes drives you to do things that you thought were impossible but at the same time It could be something that

It's an invisible force that that is like almost an immovable object. So to speak. Yeah, I mean it's there You know you can do about it, but fight against it, you know and either win or lose against it And a lot of times when you're dealing with another invisible enemy like a virus or something like that It'd be a losing battle for people who don't know. You know, the masses of us don't have the full information. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And how can we, like, make sound decisions on what we should or what we shouldn't do

if we don't know what we're dealing with? Yeah. You know what I mean? It's true. But, like, what about, like, the early career? Like, you didn't know what you were dealing with when you were touring, when you were first starting music. The idea of the unknown is the reason why maybe we started playing.

Why did you start playing music? Well, I mean, I feel like we did have a blueprint. Even if it didn't seem probable to us, we did have something to look forward to. Like, I want to tour, and I want to do it like how they did it. We had those blueprints in front of us but but uh what made me start wanting to do music man uh i my life took its own like course i'm i'm a painter really that's where you started oh through and through hip-hop came to me through graffiti art

tell me about that uh okay um i was uh Tell me about that. Okay. I was 10, 9 or 10 when I first met this guy from New York who moved to our neighborhood. And he just had all of the cool shit and all of the cool shit to say. And just in the third, he was different than everybody else. You know what I'm saying? I'm from Chicago, and he was nothing like all of the gangbangers and the thugs and everybody that was around and all that stuff. You know what I'm saying?

He was telling me about gangs that fought with dancing and you could paint on. She showed me pictures of trains being painted. I was all this cool shit that I was just like, dance. That's ill, you know, but that couldn't happen here. You know what I mean? Chicago was saturated house music. It was a gang of gangs around. Ain't nobody tripping on that shit.

It's true. But there was a TV show back around ain't nobody tripping on that shit it's true uh but um there was a tv show back in those days called that's incredible they did a report on the bronx and how there were gangs that fought with dancing and i was like watching this program like oh that's what he was talking about oh shit so after i finished watching the program and they like kind of like loosely put all the elements together of what hip-hop was. So the idea of graffiti was freedom to express how you felt on public places? Yeah.

Simply. You know what I mean? For real. I could do what I want within the confines and context of this art. Did you ever feel like you couldn't do what you want growing up? Of course. What kind of tribulations? I still feel like I can't do what I want as a black man in America.

Let's be real. Yeah, let's talk about that. You know, I grew up in the south side of Chicago, man. I grew up where, you know, in the footsteps and where like Fred Hampton and all those dudes, you know what I'm saying, walked the streets, you know what I'm saying, from Chairman Hampton to, you know what I'm saying, would walk the streets, you know what I'm saying, from Chairman Hampton to, you know what I'm saying, Larry Hoover and Jeff Ford and all these different, you know, cats who were influential in positive and negative ways in Chicago, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. What were they doing negatively?

Two of the dudes I just named were the leaders of the two most prominent street gangs in chicago really and fred was just trying to just liberate his people period that's what's up big up to his son still to this day you know i'm saying fred hampton jr yeah but uh yeah i think still all three of them had an influence on the young around them that uh depending on what those kids did with that, I'd say it was either positive or negative. That's what I mean. Yeah, totally. What's the idea of why do you think people join gangs?

Why do you think people join communities? Why do you think people join music? Is it because they're lonely? Well, I won't say lonely, but definitely we as human beings have a sense of wanting to relate to the next human being, companionship and things of that nature. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's an inner, it's inside of us.

You know what I mean? So I think that that's why we want to belong, you know, to a tribe, a clique, you know what I'm saying? A group of people who think just like you do. You know what I mean? Because in the end, nobody sees anything the exact same way you know what i mean but it's cool to be able to belong i guess you know i mean and we all i think are born with that in us some of us have it in us more than others but i think this it's a human trait i think yeah did you have a good family

uh upbringing did how was that uh yeah i mean for the most part it wasn't nothing really like extremely traumatic uh per se directly related to me from my parents other than shit that was happening in the 70s man you know i'm saying my parents was you know into the streets you know i'm saying like a motherfucker from drugs to gangs and shit like that it was a lot of shit that they grew up with that that was just residual so it was in your life your whole life my life all right so i was able to see it too from a from a perspective of okay i see the effect of it the long-term effect yeah what it did to my mama or what it did to my dad

yeah so i kind of like it was easier for me to be like i'm cool you know yeah looking like in retrospect what do you think it did to them to them yeah wow uh took a real real real heavy toll on their health that's for sure um my pops been gone for eight years now my mom's got sickle cell and all kind of serious health problems and things of that nature. What's sickle cell? A lot of their friends are dead. You know what I mean? What's sickle cell? It's an incurable blood disease where, is it the white blood cells?

I think it's the white blood cells. I might be wrong, but I think it's the white blood cells. There's no fact check in here. We're fine. Yeah. Fact check me. But they sickle when an attack happens. Instead of them staying circular and continuing to flow through the veins, they sickle and they hook together and they stay still

and it obstructs the flow of blood and causes extreme pain. It can cause all kinds of other things all the way up to death. I mean, heart attacks, blood clots, all kind of other things all the way up to death i mean from heart attacks blood clots all kind of things do you get it from is it genetic or is it yeah it can be hereditary so having all this in your life at 10 years old you went to graffiti or you went to art instead of going into violence or what tell me about that um yeah yeah i did i i guess that's just who i was as a person i wasn't wired you know to dive directly into what the crowd was doing in that sense i was a slight loner you know what i mean and uh like i said seeing the effects of in that sense i was a slight loner you know what i mean and uh like i said seeing the effects of

what a lot of my peers was getting into uh you know tens and twenties of years down the line by just looking at my parents and my uncles you know older cousins and stuff i kind of had a crystal ball in front of me so to speak and i was like i'm not if that you know of taking this kind of drug did that to my mom or if this, you know. Yeah. It's a wrap. Yeah. So I was, I tried to find ways to escape. You know, you got them super cold winters in Chicago. So comic books and, you know, adventures and drawing and painting and things like that became my escape like a bug.

And when the graffiti was introduced to me, it was a real wrap after that. So tell me about that. did you ever get in trouble doing it yeah like jail yeah what happened give me the story a couple times man one time i was a lookout he's paying the freight train it's like six of us i still i was really young um 12 13 12 or 13 yeah but i was look out i didn't really do too much. I was just there looking. I called, I screamed for the, you know, I seen the police coming. Yeah. Gave a little signal.

Everybody ran. But I was on the top of the train, so I just kind of hid. And they didn't leave fast. Police was just roaming around that car, picking up shit and just looking around. Finally, somebody see me up there but i was young so they took me to the police station in my neighborhood which was the craziest part oh my god my grandmother came picked me up she's pissed off at me cussed me out whole shit i don't know if i get something to drink yeah go ahead man so tell me about so was

uh your grandmother like kind of the muse in your life does she always give you the good advice uh my grandma's a six foot um half native american woman from chicago um that had six kids when she was 16 years old and was a mom and one of the strongest women strongest people i've known throughout my whole life. Straight up. Really? Simple as that. She raised not only her kids, but she used to take on strays in my lifetime, in my generation.

When I came, I was her grandson. She took on strays. It made her just my grandma. Everybody loved my grandma. Miss Timber she was just, everybody loved my grandma. Miss Timberlake. Miss Timberlake. What was the biggest thing Miss Timberlake taught you as a kid that you've learned now as a man? A lot of spiritual lessons, man.

She's a devout Christian. My father's Muslim. So it was, like, cool to be able to have both perspectives on on deck at all times. And she just. Through conventional and unconventional means, kind of put the fear got me. You know, I mean, it was like also, you know, it gave me a cool little sense of values on what to put first and how to maneuver in life as far as things that I wanted to come back to me. You know, one of the biggest lessons is, you know, give what you would want. You know what I'm saying? Want for your brother what you would want for yourself. You know what I mean?

These type of things are like mantras in my life, and they really, really keep me in balance. You know, and also I see the rewards from being this person so i stay that way and you know i gotta attribute that to my granny and my pops and my mom too i ain't taking it from my moms but definitely them too that's great i mean like so what this what did your grandma teach you this lesson she taught you when she's picking you up from the fucking police station for graffiti that was just one man i mean you know that wasn't that was just one, man. That was like kind of like minor compared to like

just watching the way she handled shit. She was a single mom. She was 16 years old and had six kids. Holy shit. Born 33, so she was like an old schooler. You know what I mean and and was a strong

lady man she just handled shit you know she handled shit i watched her work you know eight nine ten hours a day come home cook food clean for a multitude of people not like just for herself and never looked like she was tired doing it never was exhausted about the shit never was like she just was a great role model through action not necessarily a lot of the things that she said you know you can watch her in certain situations i've seen her deal with death in ways that i'm just like, how so? Whoa. Just, you know, she lost her first son, her first son.

She lost all her sons are gone now, but first son, she lost, he was 26 years old and the circumstances, you know, gang related, crazy shit. And just how she endured that.

It's crazy, man. It's a lot. It's a lot to that, but yeah to explain but yeah so she's basically taught you work ethic as well because you're a hard worker charlie you're you're you've been everywhere man that work got to come from my mama from my grandma and from my dad always no matter what if they had to hustle if they was working it was income coming in somehow they figured this shit out you know i mean and they was working, it was income coming in somehow. They figured this shit out.

You know what I mean? And that was something that I was like always watching. Because there's been times I had to go to the bed without, you know, dinner and shit like that. So, yeah. To be able to... Just looking for my... My jizzle. Oh, here we go.

And smoke it up, bud. So, to be able to see that was was was great so you grew up really poor oh yeah oh yeah damn oh yeah like what what what do you can you tell me the poorest time you felt like it really hurt your insides i mean we've been evicted you know i'm saying a couple times i mean not like just one time twice in my lifetime you know i mean it's that is the lowest point of all in my that i've felt having to sit on my couch outside of my building all my homies is out there clowning it you know just in the third and you know so-called homie so to speak yeah you know but just the embarrassment you feel you know and the helplessness you feel

this is like what am i gonna do you know what can i do you know what i mean not how old were you when you first got evicted oh man there's a lot of this stuff i like pushed to the back of my head. You know what I mean? Just be like breathing, like living for my son. But, I wanna say that I can remember, cause I think it happened more than twice in our life, in our lifetime with our family or whatever. But that I can remember once when we was like

around, I was like around seven and then another time when I was about 10, 12, something like that, about 12. You remember the eviction at seven years old? Fuck yeah, man. You're outside. It's cold. Cold as Chicago. Hell yes, you remember that shit. Hell yeah. One of them happened in the summertime, though, but

the other one was like fall. It was cold outside. So where'd you go? From family members to storage, all that. You have to just scramble and hustle and figure it out. These are the times where you see the strongest people in your family and the weakest people in your family. And my grandma was definitely one of the strongest people in the family. I mean, she figured this shit out. She figured it out.

And from that, that's how you found art, in a sense. Was it an escape, or what? No, well, see, here's another thing that I didn't say. My grandmother's brother was an actor. He was an actor and a painter. My grandmother's first son was a poet he could play the flute he was a pianist and he was a painter on my dad's side my grandfather was a painter my uh father could draw but he was like yeah i could do it but whatever um i had a cousin who could draw just as good as I could, but he stopped because he got into that thug shit.

I have an aunt who could draw her ass off on my mom's side, but she didn't do it because she, it was one of those things where I could do that. You know what I mean? And I knew she could get out because it'd be times where I was like doing homework and needed something drawn. Auntie, you think you could do this for me, mom? Yeah.

It was one time I remember I asked her to draw a wolf. She's like, you know how to draw a wolf? She's like, I can draw a wolf. Let me see. And I was shocked. I was like, holy shit, Auntie, you can get out. I'm like, wow. You know what I mean?

That kind of thing. But yeah, so it's a lot of art in my family. Right now, in my immediate peer group, I have a cousin named uh richard uh ingram his uh painting name is born rich he paints uh i paint um we have little cousins uh my my my sisters my niece one of my nieces paint and in the same age group another one of my because it's all in our family man i'm just basically saying that it's a lot of us it's like about 10 of us throughout the family that can actually get out and really have a passion for it i mean so was it intimidating to have all these

people so much better than you or did it drive you like are you competitive like that no um no and i thank god that i'm not competitive like that i never really was because i was taught about art early like from my uncle detmer he was a real like eclectic motherfucker man and i was i looked up to this guy he honestly i probably wouldn't have been open-minded enough to embrace music without watching him being able to do all of the things he could do. But he taught me a long time ago that art is all about perspective. There is no good art or no bad art because something that you might deem bad, somebody will look at it and love it. You can't be better than another artist because it's perspective.

Yeah. And so he used to go on these rants after telling me about it. Like, look at the Grammys and shit like that. How are you going to put that guy up against that guy and give him a statue for the shit? Like, what is that? I don't understand that back then, but now I do, like a mug. You know what I mean? So I never competed.

He told me, he he said your biggest competition is you so make whatever you do better than the last thing and then you'll be competing and i'm like i get that that's cool yeah you know i mean so like you had a lot of artists out there who was all about it, who was trying to be the best, you know. I don't know if this worked to my, you know, benefit or my detriment. But I never really competed. I never was out there like, I'm. You're doing art for the real reason.

I just love it. That's all. Yeah, I mean, once egoless art, that's where we make the full authentic art of who we are. You know, so you being a painter, growing up as a painter, doing street graffiti, that was what you were born to do, you think? Yeah, I guess so. It's one of those things where it's like, I mean, how many of us can rewind and go back to the point of origin where we say, we took that turn in our life?

We can't. So it's like, I guess, yeah, I was born to do this thing, you know what I mean? I don't know the path that I've taken through my life and the things that were affected because of the choices I made and all that stuff, you know what i mean it's uh i guess i was meant to do it you know so i don't know you know but i do get some of the

most enjoyment that i get out of creating from painting for sure like more than the music it's weird but it's true yeah i i do that with entertaining sometimes like sometimes i get high more high entertaining than actually writing the song. So with that being said, do you think art is just energy that can be passed to whatever you want to be artistic? Like say you're a painter and that energy was all about painting until you could hand it off into another area, which is being a lyricist. Yeah, I will say yes to that. That's real. I really agree with what you just said, because within my lyricism, the attention to detail and the patience that it would take to make a painting it's the same thing i put into what i do any anything that i do artistic include the music so yeah that's yeah i approach the music the exact same way that i would approach a painting how would you approach it like i said like i i you

know i i try to meticulously map it out sometimes it's about feel sometimes it's like i just slap some words on the page and then move them around next to you know i got a nice beautiful painting sometimes i know exactly what i want you know what i mean yeah but yeah either way it goes like the same process like i'm looking at the page or i'm i'm a pain on that tv so i'm staring at it for a minute just sizing it up it's awesome you know i mean that's what i do i was you know even if it's my phone i'm like looking at this blank screen. You know, it just comes to me. And it's the same when someone sends you a song, right?

Yeah. I try to catch the feeling. The song talks to you. You know, that's how it does to me in any way. It talks to you. It tells you what to say. You just got to say it. That's all.

And you got to be able to hear it telling you what to do. Yeah. What was the easiest song that came to you? song i got called the righteous way i'm about to re-release this song too as a matter of fact as a uh um and a added attraction to promote the 10-year anniversary of my first solo album to fish out of water yeah it's called the righteous way and it's about it's a babushka doll so to speak is what is what the song is. It's like, you know, those Russian dolls you open up and then it's a smaller one and then it's a smaller one like that. So the song is about my father through the eyes of me, through the eyes of my son.

It's like that. And I always wanted to see if I could pull this song off and it feel like that. What does that idea of passing the torch to the next generation make you feel i mean that's the way that man lives forever so to speak your memories and your lessons and your actions live on beyond your physical flesh so it's like it's cool to be able to have a namesake or have somebody that's gonna carry on those ideals Whether you know great or small or build on those ideas and create more, you know better things from you know Their perspective and things like that man want me and my son's relationship I wouldn't trade that shit for the world because it's yeah

He just grew up to be a great human being and that's the type of stuff that I like, you know I mean, so I'm I I think that uh You know being able to share these things generation to generation is an amazing thing. And some of it goes without saying. Just through genes. I got a cousin who his father was the one I was telling you about who passed when he was 26. My cousin grew up. Basically know basically pops wasn't there but his father used to live with me in our house with

me and my mom and to watch my cousin is the most scariest thing in the world because it's like you didn't learn that watching your dad your voice don't sound like that from you watching your dad your movements and how you talk and how you handle shit that didn't that from you watching your dad. Your movements and how you talk and how you handle shit, that didn't come from you watching your dad. But you know what? You are the fucking mirror. He's a mirror. I'm talking about even how he looks.

He decided to grow dreadlocks past his shoulders. His father, when his father was alive, his hair was longer than... It's the crazy shit like that where he looks when you he said he went back home and they went to like a little family reunion and people was walking up to him like you know in tears and in shock like man you look like your pops you know it's just one of those things man it's cool like the information just travels fast yeah you know it's like how i've never had a kid so I don't know how to do that. But like, how do you teach a kid morals and values that you want to pass down when you're always away on the road?

Live what you want to teach them. I can hear that. Sorry. Say it again. You have to live them. You have to live what you want to teach them. You can't just tell them, you know what I mean, for real. I've had family members and mama's boyfriends and shit like that who are trying to tell me what to do but not show me what to do. You understand what I'm saying? Yeah, totally. I mean, like, just off the subject, if schools would have put a priority on teaching us how to do our taxes. Yeah.

For real. You're totally right. You're totally right. So that's what I mean, like, you know, going back to, like, living it with your parents, you know, as a parent, if you really want your child to learn something, then you got to kind of live that every day and let them see it so it becomes automatic that they do it talk to them about it too but let them see the process in action yeah and that to me all of the lessons that i taught my son like that lasted so what about when you're moving from your energy of a painter to when you started being a lyricist like how did you know

that this was working out did someone tell you did you have a great conversation with something like dude those words are great or you got a great voice or what was that what was that handoff like explain that to me well you know i don't know to tell you the absolute truth to be honest it was just like i had a love for hip-hop yeah you know and i've i i stumbled on the fact that i could write raps and rhymes from having to defend myself in a little battle uh so that i wouldn't look like a punk in front of the girl that i liked when you started battling it battling. And it wasn't really a battle. I was like 11, 12, all this shit happened around the same time. But I liked this girl, but I was scared to talk to her.

I was one of them dudes, you know, introverted little. Were you shy? About that, yeah. But at that time, I just liked her so much. And it was just so many dudes around me that was just like mad fast. And I just was like, I know she was so, I don't know. I was weird. I don't know. I was weird. I don't know.

You're a romance. Yeah, bingo, bingo. And I really was like trying to treat her like a flower more than like a little object of just like, oh, I get to feel her little booty and all that. Yeah. I didn't really like that. You loved her. I guess.

I mean, you know, my first, I just, I really, really, she was really pretty to me. And I just, you know, it hurt to get embarrassed in front of her. So that's how you started playing? Was doing these battles for her? It was these two dudes who could freestyle. And they were rapping. And they were doing it like a joke. Kind of like clowning.

Yeah. And I was the object of their clown one night in front of them. In front of her and her sister. and it embarrassed the shit out of me. And I went home hurt, mad as hell. And wrote a rap that filled up two sides of a page and memorized that shit. Two weeks later, I got a chance to spit that shit to them in the same circumstance. But they thought it was like me coming off the top of my dome and I caught the fever there. There's a lot of people around

and every line that I said, that was a punchline. Do you remember the- No, I wish I did. That was a long time ago. I've tried to remember some of that shit too, but no, I don't. So you got good, you got it. Once I saw the reaction,

that's when I was just like, damn. I started trying to write other little raps and every once in a while I would like spit something with the fellas. I mean, we all in the neighborhood kind of took our turn at rewriting Rapper's Delight when it first came out to make it pertain to us. So that, I got

an inkling that I could do it. But then to actually do that and then after that try to write other little rhymes and then get known. Oh, Charlie can rap. You can't say something. Bustle the rap. Oh, that was dope.

You know, that kind of thing. Still, it didn't take pressing over my, my painting and drawing and stuff. I wasn't even tripping. It wasn't until I moved to Los Angeles that I met a couple dudes at my school that really took that shit serious. And I was like, I can rap too. How old were you when you moved to Los Angeles? I was 16. Why can rap too. How old were you when you moved to Los Angeles? I was 16. Why'd you move there?

A couple decisions that I was like, basically, it was either. Did you get kicked out of school? No, no, no, no. It was like, be coaxed into standing on the corner with a vest and a Glock. Or, you know... You thought you were going to be engaged. Move to California with the rest of my flock. Yeah.

I shook the spot. So it was. It is halftime at the Andy Fresco interview hour. Welcome back, true believers, to another installment of a segment we like to call Conspiracy Theory Chris. Is it a bird or is it a plane or is it he's just fucking insane? Conspiracy Theory Chris. Huh? Gravity is a fictitious force.

Scientific fact, people. Be aware that space informs matter on how to come together, just as matter informs space on how to bend and warp, thus creating the perception that we are being pulled toward Earth, but we aren't pulled toward Earth so much instead that the Earth and ourselves are colliding together in an internally spiraling chaotic mess along the arrow of time through an indifferent universe. Such is the feeling of driving through Kentucky after popping some Adderall and white-knuckling down the I-70.

Long nights pulled along the arrow of the band itinerary eternally compelled toward the band's destination of the great city of Denver, Colorado, land of the kind bud, and of a chameleon by the name of Uncle Larry, a lizard recently purchased wholesale to perform duties as the mascot of an emergent cannabis company that shall remain nameless

for now. But we know better. We know that this isn't some mere lizard purchased by our tour manager, who is also the manager of this nameless cannabis company. Is Uncle Larry really who we were led to believe he is? Or are we being lied to by the same indifferent universe that makes us think that gravity is a real force? Wake up, sheeple.

That's crazy. So you moved to L.A. I don't know. What part of L.A. did you live in? Silver Lake. Really? In the city? Hey, man.

I moved to Silver Lake. Dropped straight down into... By yourself? No, no, no. My grandmother, my little brother, and my little sister, and me. It wasn't gentrified back then. That's original gentrification. Silver Lake, man.

I honestly believe they got the model from Silver Lake. I honestly think that, man, because when we dropped into Silver Lake, it was a lot of actors, a lot of musicians, and a lot of different people like that, artsy type of people that lived in the neighborhoods, that lived in these buildings. It was always like that.

When I first moved into Silver Lake right went to the grocery store it was safe way back there i think that was yeah yeah walking safe way i'm going to the store for my grandmother to get some sugar or something i walk down the aisle turn up turn a corner and i look who's standing there anita baker oh my god i'm like she's in the grocery store it's her anita baker oh my god i'm like she's in the fucking grocery store it's her right you say hi to her no i was a kid you know like oh shit like tripping but that idea like that you know uncle phil from the first festival that lived uh the building over from where we lived it was a whole bunch of little comedians and all these different actors on tv a bunch of musicians i see nas and kalis that when they were together moved bought a house around there i've seen them in the store you know i mean it's things like that did you like that kind of

stuff what you mean like did you like the idea that you're surrounded with successful people um in the sense that i was told as a kid try to be around people that's better than you so that it ain't gonna do no but make you up your ante you know kind of thing in that sense but at the same time i wasn't really tripping once again it's like that shit falls under the whole little compete for the you know fame and success type of thing yeah so tell me about so you're 16 you said you met two people that um you get you good yes it's more more white yeah she something she made it all right cool so you're 16 you moved to la who are the first two people that you met that you're like who took it seriously took rap serious yeah uh were you

graffiting too in la yeah oh that was Oh, yeah. Was that where you really found your... No, it just continued. That's fucking tight. It got super serious because nobody knew me. So I could really be Robin Hood today. I could really go and do anonymous shit. I got a lot of shit and was around dudes who wanted my head because they thought I crossed them out or that I bit their name I was

a part of a group well I was trying to be a part of a group in Chicago called all city writers I was trying to like run under them a couple of they really big writers you know to try to get into the click so that their initials is ACW when I moved to California there's a famous painting crew called West Coast artists their initials is WCA so ACW WC ice attack you know my name ACW and they was like who is this bite not shit so they was crossed me out and it was like this wow shit I'd be in the midst of them they wouldn't know who I was who I was listening to them plotting against me like a motherfucker like you know that kind of shit you know no shit yeah it was crazy so what's the idea of like so I get the idea of like slashing through but is it like jealousy runs in the game oh it's a disrespect it's all kind of things that that could cause you to get crossed out maybe you went over my piece man my maybe you know it's just

all these little people uh cross people out uh i went on a little small cross out thing i ain't gonna get into that that person who i was going back and forth with is now a rap dude and i only want to you know we could we could so you're so you're doing your you feel like you're getting you're finding your stride as an artist as a painter now tell me about what how did how did it all start to where you really wanted to take uh being a lyricist more seriously going on tour doing that whole thing or was it always parallel it was always parallel um because i didn't know where it was gonna go you know i was trying to go into college for for art and stuff like that but at the same time um

you know i had a son you know i'm saying i was 20 and uh accidentally no i mean we it wasn't planned like we're gonna have a baby but you know we went through a couple of situations before he came so you know it was inevitable you know i mean uh and uh so that put another twist in the game for me as far as my life. It's like, okay, cool. You got the potential to do all of this stuff, but you have a mouth to feed. And that person's counting on you more than yourself. Did that drive you more? Yeah, like I'm up.

That was the driving force behind a lot. Still to this day. Maybe that was the most important thing in your life. God knows man i feel i feel like it is you know for real but you know those those things put that it put that fire under me um to do to try my hardest to do as much as i possibly could with the talents that i had to see what would happen you know i mean so just running into a couple of talented friends and trying different things here and there. By the time my son was born, we had already been like, I had a rap group called the Unity Committee.

It was me, Mark Seven, Cut Chemist. And it was a lot of little, a lot of other pieces to the puzzle within our group, but they would like would come and go, you know, here and there. But we was, you know, we had already ran the gambit of doing the good life which was this cafe that was in south central los angeles where all the rappers would come who wasn't gangster rappers and shit at the time what gangster rap was the largest you know i mean we would go down there perform and it was like my college time and things like that so we had

already done all of that stuff yeah um what was like the game plan for like like what was like your idea of making it back then getting signed because we thought that getting a record deal was the end all be all you know how that go you're i'm sure you had that idea you chased the rabbits yeah you chased the tail so crazy and being from chicago is a city full of talent but no outlet yeah when you get to california you see the outlet so you see the end of the the tunnel yeah so you're really trying to go hard to get there did you get a label deal with that first band uh no no we got uh like demo deals a couple of times in there but no we got a production deal but no actual label deal what it took i'm a big believer in chemistry so certain elements have to come together in order for the food to taste good

you know yeah totally and so it took us to team up with another group which added the flavors needed for that pot of stew to work yeah the pot of stew is jurassic five so we met another group called the rebels of rhythm while we were going to that uh open mic cafe called the good life and loved their style they loved our style we eventually decided to do a song together um because that was like the spirit of going to that cafe was like collaboration and shit so we decided to do a song together songs called song's called Unified Revolution. So they were called the Rebels of Rhythm. We were called Unity Committee.

So we was like, let's push it together. Unified Revolution. And he was like, all right, cool. And what was the song about? It was just an old school throwback. It felt like Cold Crush Brothers slash Run DMC kind of vibe. Just something that was not what was going on at the time.

We were trying to go to the extreme right of what was going on at the time. When you finally figured out that it started clicking, what was your next step? Once we did that and did the song,

both groups were trying to shop demo deals and shop deals for labels and stuff. But once we did that song, we both had to face the fact that that song was better than anything we both had on any of our demos. So we was like, all right, look, man, put that song on your demo. We'll put that song on our demo. Whoever gets signed, it'll go that on our album and then we'll pull y'all in or vice versa whatever we can do let's just do it but we're gonna try to build like a native tongue type of thing or what have you know yeah um so who got the deal so we start we performed the song at the Good Life. The crowd went stupid. We was like, that's ill. We should probably put a show together or something to, so we can perform.

When, you know, when we get together to perform, when we on the same bill or whatever, we should put a show together. Then we was like, ah, let's press this record up, man. Let's put a hundred dollars a piece together and press this up, get like 500 copies, man, and get it to as many people as we possibly can. One of us was working at Interscope, I mean, at Loud Records at the time. Mixshow, calling Mixshow DJs and breaking other people's records and stuff. So he knew how to do that type of thing. So he was

calling for your records well yeah so it was cool once we you know pieced up and got the got the uh the wax we sold a few and we tried to put the wax in as many people's hands as we could that were influential you know what i mean like i got it to maceo from de la soul i got it to uh you know just all these different all of the djs got it all you know so it was cool we didn't know the effect of what that would do um because the record got overseas we didn't know how i did that but it got overseas and when it got overseas it blew up like we didn't know we did not you didn't know that it was huge? We did not know. It's like finding Sugarman. Have you seen that documentary?

Yes. That's why I love that documentary, because I was like, that reminds me of us. So what happened? Were you pissed off when you found out you were that big and couldn't take advantage of it? No, hell no. See, this is the thing. So this is 94 when we put that record out. Yeah.

Got it to different places. This is 94 when we put that record out. Yeah. Right? Got it to different places. We got a call at the end of 94 from a record label, right? TVT Records had a little implant called Blunt Records. And they heard them. They got their hands on a 12-inch and was like, we want to put this 12-inch out. Can we do that?

We'll do a label. We'll do a deal with you guys and this and that. He was like we want to put this 12 inch out can we do that we'll do a label we'll do a deal with you guys in this down the 30s like yeah fuck it let's do it right was it a good record deal or is it no it was one of those things where we was about to put out a single and a record label called us to do it so you got excited so we got excited yeah but it wasn't like we got jerked we didn't get jerked it was just a record it was a novelty thing that's how they took it we thought it was like gonna lead to a big ass record deal yeah but they took it as some type of little novelty thing but we was like either way go we're gonna have a record being pushed by a record label that's gonna be in places that we couldn't get it ourselves yeah so you know we was cool with. So they came back to us and was like, OK, y'all got a name?

Like, y'all Unified Revolution? Is that the name of the group? We was like, let us get back to you. You didn't have a band name yet? No. That's fucking sick. So I played the song to my son's mom. You like?

I got one. Played the song to my son's mom. And she got a dry ass sense of humor she was like y'all think y'all sound like the fantastic five but y'all sound more like the jurassic five and she started laughing and walked out the room and i was like that's it called everybody fellas got the name what is it y'all ready jurassic five everybody was like that's dope but it's six of us and i was like that's it that's the selling point when we get big and famous the interviewers go ask this question so it's jurassic five but it's six of you and everybody was like hell yeah that's what's up and we adapted it and plus it

it spoke to what we were doing we took four mcs made them sound like one we took the old school ethic and sound and brought it to a new time like how jurassic park took the old yeah so we were like yeah it just worked it just made sense and it's amazing like you didn't have to overthink it you just were present one time that they were talking shit and you're like yeah that actually works perfectly so when did you start when does it start moving for y'all oh we did that 12 inch and we were getting little shows here and there um we met this one of these it was a girl girl excuse me it was a woman who was a part of a rap group called urban prop that went to the good life with us her name is t love yeah big up to t love because she uh at the time was one of our friends you know girl

one of the dudes in the group she was this girl and she also was a a hell an emcee and had a career. She was a businesswoman, too. So she was able to procure a distribution deal with New Groove Alliance. So it was just a distro deal, and you started a label? Right. So her deal was two EPs and two singles. All she had was one EP and a single. So she talked to Newmark and was like, hey, so with you and that Jurassic 5, why don't y'all, let's do a joint thing together,

create a label, put out my EP, put out y'all EP, let's make it happen. He was like, okay, cool, let's do it. So we put together a little imprint called, her imprint was called Pickaninny, and ours was called Rumble. So it was called Rumble Pickaninny Presents. Put her shit out and our shit out. We a jurassic 5 ep the original one with the denim

label and all that yeah was that sick right yeah now we put that out still working jobs still doing what the hell we got to do still going in a good life every once in a while we get a little show here and there but we was you know we still doing what we had to do then we got a call from a dude in england named mick blue eyes and he was throwing a festival called fresh 97 this is a 97 right yeah i would love to bring you guys out man i'm a big fan of of of your record and really that's dope. For real? You heard about us? That's crazy. Bring y'all out. Do this festival. It's a hip-hop festival. It has all of the arts, everything.

All of the elements, blah, blah, blah. We was like, alright, let's go. So we went out there. I don't think Kimmich could go though. He was stuck because he was doing his midterms to graduate from college. He was going to UCLA atms to graduate from college. He was going to UCLA at the time.

I'm not mistaken. Where'd you go to school? I didn't go to college. Oh, you didn't. Hard knocks, baby. There it goes. USC. But yeah, so five of us went.

Newmark went with us. And we worked out a cool little show routine with all with the four or five songs that we put out yeah you know and the people liked the the show they was like loving it and we would always do the unified revolution song last because it wasn't on nothing it was its own single well we did that song it's like 3 000 people in there the place went fucking stupid and we were like oh because we gets off the stage and get rushed by crowd everybody says the same thing we did not know that that record was you guys we did not know no shit we was like holy shit not too long after that we got approached by another distribution deal from there from a group from a distribution group called play it again sam ps they liked our

shit so much they wanted to re-put out the ep with a couple of little extra things on it all right so we get a couple of little extra things put it on that and re-release the ep through their distribution. Were they a bigger distribution? Yeah. They gave us money like a fucking record deal. Gave us money for video, for Concrete Schoolyard. We released Concrete Schoolyard over there, and to this day, if people hear anywhere in England,

the crowd goes stupid because of that. That song went big. We got awards of that. Like, if that song went big, we got awards for that. Like, I was tripping. Meanwhile, you come home, I'm in the grocery store, motherfuckers don't know, dude, you don't got two cents? Well, you can't buy this then. Next, you know, like, nobody gives a fuck. You know what I mean?

So I was kind of loving that shit, but I had some other shit going on, too. What? I was fucking around with a old school friend of mine whose brother i used to do graffiti with this friend of mine became a a great base player and through a big a a a whole bunch of circumstances created this band that personified los angeles and i eventually started the gig with them too, while Jurassic was happening. So you're doing, was Jurassic ever have full band on stuff

or was it all? All electronics, all elements of hip hop, but I was fucking with Ozo Motley, just because I had so much excess shit in me and I was just like, yeah, I could do both things. So I thought, I didn't know i was gonna piss a bunch of people off but so oh why why do you think it pissed a lot of people off not fans no band members band members yeah well i mean you know we all young we all coming up

i don't know how it look i'm gonna speak real candid about race here don't know how it is for white people when it comes to i mean jealousy is jealousy envy is envy circumstance is circumstance rich poor whatever yeah you grow up without opportunities you know i'm saying especially like what what biggie said either you slinging crack rock or you got a wicked jump shot and those are the ways that you people are getting out of the ghetto right now you got four front men of a band that is a multicultural band but the two dudes in the back got the complexion for the connection if you're feeling what i'm saying right the four the four dudes in the front all come from poverty conditions you understand what i'm saying?

So when we get these opportunities, each one of us want to hold on to these opportunities. And, you know, we're all not totally versed in the business. So we don't know what will happen if we try different things or do other side projects. We don't know none of that shit everybody's frightened that if i do if you do something wrong to fuck this up for me i got problems yeah understand what i'm saying i totally understand and that's and that's that's that's understandable surviving it's survival it really is you know i'm saying yeah it's total survival yeah i'm telling you so it's understandable man and that and that was you know that i understood that

i still love my brothers to this day but we went through some shit with jurassic five and with dudes in oz and waltley you know i'm saying because a lot of things were happening at the same time and me and cut chemist were part of both bands all right now i should have been watching cut chemist because cut i was watching cut chemist but i just my my nature was to be so friendly with her because it's like hey business business man look i'm gonna i do what i do over here i do what i do it over here y'all don't get mad if you want to this is what i do and it was cool because people respected that i respected it too yeah me though i'm just a personable person i want to make sure you straight you good man come on man? Come on now. What you mad at, man?

Why you mad, man? Come on. You know I'm here. Look at me. You know, these things, I'm trying to make sure everybody all right. And it wasn't necessarily successful. Is it hard to make everyone happy? It's not right to try to make everybody happy because you're not going to be able to do it.

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? You stress yourself out doing that. You know what I mean? Ultimately, without being selfish, you know know i ain't trying to hurt nobody with my happiness yeah i'm not trying to do that yeah me either but you have to take care of yourself first so you know how they say put your mask on before you put your child's mask on yeah it's true though but how did what were you happier doing painting yeah really were you not making enough money to do it wasn't even the money man i was getting paid to rap are you kidding me yeah

pretty sick i didn't have to be a security guard or go to college or i was dick was one of my jobs when i was you know out there i was a security guard i done worked a bunch of odd things but you know what i'm saying like yeah i don't have to sit in the office I don't have to do what I don't really want to do to get a check I could actually just be me and get paid to be me the dream there's no that's the definition of success and I ain't rich so success is being yourself man success is being happy with who you are what you are what you do and how you do it it's so true man the minute i the minute i always feel unsuccessful is when i try to judge my life and my you know my process to fame or whatever it is i'm trying to do the next person or yeah for sure sure

and you never had that i don't i now i'm not perfect i'm not saying that it's not in me to envy you know because it'd be times i'll be like damn how you get that i've been in situations where i ain't't going to even bring that up because I love my brother, so I'm going to just leave that alone. But I will say that I've been in situations where I've been like, dude, I put in all that work and you got that?

Wow. Yeah. But... Is that ego? Yeah. Yeah. Because easily I'm like... You know, if I'm looking at it

from a higher power perspective, maybe I wasn't supposed to have that. Maybe I was supposed to be the conduit to that for that person yeah who the fuck am i to be that you know and that's how i beat myself up like that and i'm like yeah you're right dude chill out what the fuck is you tripping on whatever you know i'm saying be happy for that person once again want for your brother what you would want for yourself yeah and that's, oh man. So was it heartbreaking when you had to leave? When I had to leave? Yeah.

What, Jurassic? Yeah. Ozo? Yeah, both. Well, yeah. Yeah, it was heartbreaking for sure. Because these are, that's the thing. It wasn't like I was in a band with a bunch of dudes that were strangers. Yeah. These is all friends. Your brothers.

Yeah, like lifelong dudes who you met when you was young, like Will Dawg from Ozo Motley, bass player. I've known him since he was 12 years old. I've known Cut Kimmins since he was 14, 15, something like that. You see what I'm saying? So it's like these are like- It's deeper. It's deeper than just, hey, Andy, what's up, man? We're going to do a song? Okay, cool. How much am I- what's the percentages? No, this is brotherhood. It's deeper than that. For me, especially, I can't speak for everybody because everybody cool how much am i what's the percentages and no this is i mean this is brotherhood for me

especially i can't speak for everybody because everybody had a different perspective on it how important than family is everything to you yes all types of family yeah holy put god first and family before business because life without friends is death without a witness it's so when did you. So maybe this quarantine is the perfect thing for you, Charlie. Because you said you're doing all these paintings. And you're really diving back into what you were derailed from. What you wanted to do in the first place.

I didn't want to call it derailed. Because I feel bad about that too. You know what I mean? I'm so grateful. God, I know I'm grateful for this shit, man. You know what I mean, though, Charlie. I know what you mean. I know what you mean i know what you mean but yeah it'd be times where i say that i'm sorry i don't mean that you know i mean yeah i know what you mean yeah for sure and it's you know it must be tough because i was like that too like i got i got into the jam scene i'm not a

fucking soloer or fucking you know just like shredding up a motherfucker. I just got put in here because we make people happy and we make people smile and they understand and enjoy what we bring to the community. Yeah. Because it's happiness. It's optimism. Have you always been optimistic like this? Yeah, I believe so. I believe I have.

As far as I can think back, I believe I have been. When it comes to matters of just day-to-day life, yeah. Just because I've seen such lows. I've been to a point where there ain't no other way but up. You understand what I've been to a point where ain't no other way but up. You understand what I'm saying? And then, like, to be able to get to where I am at this age, some people would look at this as, dude, I got some peers who look at me like, Tony, you washed up, son. Your shit is done. Seriously, though. Really?

Yeah, man. Because I may not be relating to a certain aspect of the hip hop community or it's all kind of weird shit that go with that. And me, I'll be like this when I'll be doing a word. This is anyway, you know, because I know the ultimate truth of what we do is this. You cannot pick your audience. Your audience chooses you. You cannot. You can cater to as much as you want and this and the third, but eventually that's like false shit that won't pan out.

I've noticed a lot of people try to direct. Where they want to take the career? Yeah, and then it goes for a certain point and it burns. Even if they make massive money, it goes for a certain point then it burns out whereas i'm tripping that i used to say i want to make songs like earth, wind, and fire and like like uh you know steely dan and all these dudes who made songs that will last 45 years from this point it's gonna be 45 years from this point. It's going to be 45 years from now somebody going to listen to fucking Key of Life. Yeah, Deacon Blues

or something like that and be like, yo, Dem Dudes was awesome. Shit, this is an amazing song. That's what I wanted to do, make songs that lasted longer than me. You think you did it? I think I trip out, man. I'm going to go out there tonight and play some songs that are older than a lot of the kids that might be in the crowd.

That's beautiful. And just rock out. You know what I mean? Even if they hadn't heard it. That's beautiful. They rock out. And that's what I'm saying. I trip on that shit.

So like I say, you know, some people could look at it as, dog, your career went up. Or then some people could look at it like, dude, that shit moving a thousand miles an hour. You know what I mean? But it goes back to that song you wrote about the generations the you know that's so beautiful man that is your whole thing is passing the torch of your legacy yeah and now i'm on some i'm looking for somebody i got a head full of knowledge about all this shit i'd love to like mentor somebody you know and pass this down to where they could take the shit that i love to like mentor somebody you know and pass this down

to where they could take the shit that i know and win with it you know i mean for real because i can't take it to the grave you know or past the grave put it that way you know i mean so let's put a podcast out i'm with it i'm with it i'll produce it dude let's do it whatever you want to do dude that would be amazing you have so knowledge. You've been through so much. And to still be optimistic when people say you're washed up and you're fucking, yeah, fuck those guys. You ain't washed up, Charlie. You just begun, dog. You just fucking just started, bro.

But that's the beauty of life, though. When we know there's a limit, not a limit, but like an expiration date, death. Right. What are we going to do before that expiration date? Exactly. Exactly. I mean, if life is a gift, what are you going to do with it until it's gone?

Yeah. That's the truth. For real. It's unbelievable. Dude, Charlie, this has been amazing. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you, man. Yeah, I got one last question.

Yeah. What do you want to be remembered by? Thank you, man. Yeah, I got one last question. Yeah. What do you want to be remembered by? I wrote this song was slightly stupid. I said, I said, Verbal Hurt and Monsters, Thirsty. And I'm concert worthy with no controversy.

My mind states beyond what you formed about me. And my music will live on without me. That's what I want. Well, you're doing it. I mean, 16-year-old kids are singing, coming through. So let's go, big guy. Charlie, thanks for being on the show. No problem.

Thank you for having me, man. Thanks for being my friend. Respect, Xavier and Dougie. Thanks for getting high with me at the G-Pen thing, dog. Oh, man, that was amazing. We had to do this Hot Wing Challenge, but with weed. I felt like. And they had different THC levels.

Yeah, duh. There was the higher, the higher. But I was tripping on because of how they had all of the different ways to smoke. So it was like the vapor, then we had the different little pipe packs and all that. It was was crazy i was like this is nuts but i was by the time i walked away i was stuck dude and we we backed you up and we knew that we were scared shitless because you're a fucking legend oh man shit respect keep going and i can't wait to see what what kind of art you bring in the next 50 years thank you fam i appreciate that man same here love you too man respect attention music lovers you're gonna love streaming it with amazon music out of all the amazing stuff amazon offers it's a go-to for me here's why i love it amazon music has millions

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yourself some music come podcast amazon music unlimited all right and there you have it what a great interview right fucking badass dude shout out to the charlieuna, the legend. I love getting to see him, hanging out. But that's it, guys. I hope you had a great day. Be safe out there. Shout out to Fourteener for always giving us the hottest weed. Still have some on my trip, just rolling, rolling through the country, getting high on that non-psychoactive amazingness that is Fourteener.

So go, if you're in the Denver, Boulder area, go get it. Go get yourself some 14er because they're great guys. They support the podcast. And Evan's just a great dude. We talk about life. He hits me up,

shoots me messages, what he's grateful for, what I'm grateful for. So, you know, Evo, next time I'm in Denver, I think in a week or two, we're going back to Angelo's, getting oysters and talking about life because I love talking to you. So go out there,

14er. Give him the love and yeah, support the local boys. But like I was saying, that's it, guys. And I'll leave you with this. Don't be afraid to speak up for yourself. Don't be afraid to be misunderstood because we don't know if we're misunderstood unless we're vocal about it. So get out there. Be authentic. Be genuine. Fuck this week up because I know you will.

I know you will. I got my boys sleeping in the background. You hear the snoring. My boy Matt Sanders is sleeping in the background. You hear the snoring. My boy, my boy, Matt Sanders is sleeping in the background. Hear that breathing. Love it. Pug. This is real life.

We're in a hotel room in Charleston. Real life shit here. You guys are, the boys are about to drive like 20 hours back to, back to Denver. So, um, they're getting as much sleep as they can before,

um, they start the trek. But like I was saying before, be gentle with your mind. Don't go into these rabbit holes. Hope you guys have an amazing and safe Halloween. Be the people you want to be. And on Halloween, be whoever the fuck you want to be.

You want to be a Chucky doll? You want to fucking be a large dildo? Fucking do it 2020's weird get weird with it Okay alright I love ya Um vote oh also It's gonna be election so vote Or shut the fuck up you know this one

You gotta vote Vote or shut the fuck up Alright I love ya be safe out there And I will catch you next week Because that's what we do every Tuesday Every week I love ya Arno safe out there. And I will catch you next week. Because that's what we do. Every Tuesday. Every week. I love you.

Arno. Give me something nice and sweet. And I will catch you next week guys. Love you. Bye. You tuned in to the third season of Blissful Blah. At Andy Fresco's world saving podcast. Produced by Andy Fresco, Joe Angel, I'm Chris Lawrence.

Please subscribe, rate the show on iTunes and Spotify so we can make this a worldwide phenomenon. For more info on the show, please head to Instagram at worldfamouspodcast. For more info on blog or tour dates, head to andyfresco.com. Check out the new album, Keep On Keepin' On. Or let Andy entertain you at a Thursday night online shit show. Or at this crazy Saturday night wanna dance with somebody dance parties. Oh, right.

Summer season is here. No festivals, no music. So instead of trying to keep the lip going and hoping to find some shitty patron boner tuba gigs this summer, I decided to reroute. Build in closets and wardrobes, build a tiny summer house and do some painting. It will be October in no time.

And yes, I sort of hate it compared to the wonderful life I live. But I'm also thankful that people trust my skills or my good looks or whatever. They have my back and I managed to make some money. The big danger in this line of work, actually, it pays a lot better than being a musician. All right, how are you doing? Making ends meet? Worried? No work? Putting on a virtual dance party every week? Let's make sure to carry each other, get one another's backs, keep each other safe, keep each other sane, keep each other healthy. Let's unite, for it will be a long road ahead.

See you next week.