No Jumper - Danny Myers on Going From Homeless to Battle Rap Fame

Episode Date: June 7, 2022

Danny Myers is the epitome of never giving up and sacrificing everything to make it! He shares the wildest stories about his journey to success! https://www.instagram.com/dannythebar... https://www.instagram.com/mrdizaster/ https://www.instagram.com/lushoneca/ ----- 00:00 Intro 2:30 Started battling in 1992, Lush says he might be the first one 5:35 Danny heard Ras Kass and fell in love with rap and took it seriously 6:25 Moved to NY to get more into the battle scene, no plans, just a couple luggage 10:32 Danny slept in Central Park, went to battles, the struggle was real 11:40 Couch surfing, meeting Ruff Ryders and battling Drag-On 13:02 Rapping for Papoose on the street, Papoose also spit, literally, his song called "I Spit Your Head Off" 14:26 "Vagabond battler", doing anything to make it, meeting all the right people grinding 16:00 Doing MTV2 Battle Rap tournament 18:36 Lush recaps Danny's break out moment 30:28 Getting all the accolades possible right now after all these years of grinding 31:00 Danny has 10 kids!!! 46:07 People downplaying the pure battle rappers by the ones making records using battle rap as a stepping stone 49:05 Reconnecting with his twins after several years of no contact, his daughter saw him on BET ----- Shout to our Partners at Gamer Supps! ORDER YOUR FREE SAMPLE TODAY with our Promo Code NoJumper https://youtu.be/UUwcj1YC-NE Gamer Supps offers esports athletes, gamers, and podcasters the most effective and healthy energy choice to help them perform at the highest potential especially during their most crucial moments. Try it today 100% Free with our Promo Code NoJumper https://gamersupps.gg/ ----- NO JUMPER PATREON http://www.patreon.com/nojumper CHECK OUT OUR NEW SPOTIFY PLAYLIST https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5te... FOLLOW US ON SNAPCHAT FOR THE LATEST NEWS & UPDATES https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_... CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE STORE!!! http://www.nojumper.com/ SUBSCRIBE for new interviews (and more) weekly: http://bit.ly/nastymondayz  Follow us on SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ENxb4B... iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/n... Follow us on Social Media: https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_... http://www.twitter.com/nojumper http://www.instagram.com/nojumper https://www.facebook.com/NOJUMPEROFFI... http://www.reddit.com/r/nojumper JOIN THE DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Q3XPfBm Follow Adam22: https://www.tiktok.com/@adam22 http://www.twitter.com/adam22 http://www.instagram.com/adam22 adam22hoe on Snapchat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

God Tier podcast, the coolest battle rap podcast in the world, live on No Jumper with my co-host. You feel, I'm trying to party hard until the next Mardi Gras. If you run up in your spot without 10 Samoan bodyguards, you play a partner, Uno, baby. Who do we have today, man? Man, we got the Bar God himself. Absolutely. The figure of Figaroa. Go figure it out.

Come on. Yikes. Yikes. Yikes. My brother. Yikes. the most which one of y'all too

is the most passionate about this battle rat? This is probably the only other person I'll let argue with me about it. Yeah. Yeah, there we go. That's fair. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, I don't know. Like, yeah, it's, Danny's displayed definitely a crazy amount of it. Like, it just, you're, your passion for the shit, I can say besides me, man, it's unmatched. Thank you, brother.

Thank you, brother. I can say the same thing about you. Yeah, right, right? We already off to this mirror match start. Yeah, man, it's crazy. And our battle was a crazy battle that reflected. Yeah, man.

I'm my first million of you battle. Thanks to you. And that's crazy. Come on. Bring it over here, man. And that's crazy considering, like, the insane amount of accolades you have in your career. Yeah.

You got to be up there both of y'all as well as far as the most frequently battled. You know, like, you're up there with Dre Dennis. You've not too many people have done as many battles. Yeah, man. It's just constant work, man. I think it just comes from the work ethic of when I was just battling at Crenshaw High. It was like, we had to battle every day. Okay, that's interesting.

You went to Crenshaw. It's so interesting you brought that up because as transparent of a person as you are, I feel like there's a lot of mystery around Danny Myers and the origin of Danny Myers and all that. See, I've known you were from L.A. this whole time. Never knew where you went to high school. Oh, yeah, yeah, Crenshaw, man.

You know, came from growing up in Watts, moved to the Pueblo Halls, moved to South Central. You a project, baby, for real, for real, for me. Straight up. Straight up. You know what I'm saying? I was in Watts before active in them. You know what I'm saying? I'm older. Right. Yeah, clearly you were there before them. Hell yeah. So, yeah, I just grew up in South Central, man, and went to Chris Shaw High, and it was like a lot of battle rap groups. And in Los Angeles at that time, it was like,

it was like a new scene, so to speak, you know what I mean? Because it was a lot of smack DVD shit going on back in those days. What you're just to clarify. This was 95. 96, 97, 98. It was like predate SmackDivore. Well, yeah, I mean, right. I started battling in 92. Wow.

Okay. I go back that far. You might be the first. Because I did my first battle. I was like in 96. Wow. Right around the, you were like 97 around that time. No, I didn't even battle in 97.

Nope, I didn't do my first battle to like 99. I was a battle rapper in 98, but I was. I wasn't out there battling people. I was just writing punchlines, you know, practicing all my friends, battling them. But I wasn't a battle route. I never had battled an actual MC back then. I mean, I was in Lebanon in 98. You battle rapping when like Rob Bass was popping and shit.

Man, start looking, man. I'm not that old. I mean, it was 98 for me. Look, I lived in Lebanon in 98, so there's no way I could have battled out there. It wasn't a thing. My first couple of months in America in 99, I just immediately just started coming out. Anybody I would see, I would start at Parthenia Park and I just was just battling people in cafeterias and shit like that. School shit, fucking parking lots, parties. And then it just kept

on going to like shoe stores, record stores, then bong shops, you know, bubbles type of shit and then the basement and all that. And it just, you know, we hear. Is that what a pit came? Is that what the pit came later on. You know, the pit came, you know, 2005 and there was already Project Bloat and there was a lot of scenes. But like in West L.A., there was this like void again. And it was just more of a it was more of a because the pit encompassed like industry people too

and like rappers that you know K dot was up there there was a lot of people that were up there Tiga Tyrese was hosting Redman used to come through that bitch there's a lot of people that used to be up there AC alone for some fellowship I mean they're mainly bloatings but they they showed up too

but I think that's what it was the pit was just a culmination of just all them you know just everybody from around LA in the different areas and, you know, from Compton to Watts to Englewood, like the best people from every area showed up over there. So it was like the hub more like, you know, I mean, at one point, it didn't really have its own identity, but it was for the whole entire city.

So, I mean, at the time, obviously, early 90s, gangster rap is the most prominent thing in LA. And, you know, gang banging culture is super prevalent. Big facts. And I assume that affected your upbringing. Absolutely, man. You know, my whole family was, you know, gangbangers. You know, so that's, I had the choice of doing what they was doing.

My dad, his uncle, I mean, his brothers, or I could rap and get out of that, you know, find an alternative because I was seeing the results of, you know, all my uncles getting shot, drive-bys, my dad 20 years in prison. It was just like, damn, man, I can do this what they're doing, but I'm seeing like, this ain't working, you know what I mean? So I think rap kind of basically saved my life. Interesting. And when did how early on in the inception of your hip hop journey to battling come into play?

92, man. I think, you know, it really, once I heard a solo nice, you know, once I heard RASCats. Yeah, it kind of gave me the hope that, you know, somebody from the West Coast can make it by being lyrical, so to speak, you know, because West Coast, Red Hip Hop was no more for the G-Funk and the layback and the gangster rap. But it was like the lyricism that, you know, I was listening to like Koogee rap and Redman and Chino Excel. And I'm like listening to all these metaphors and punch lines. So when I hear RASCats, it was like, damn, it's, yo, you can, you actually can be from. Then I heard crooked eye.

And I'm like, yo, I can do this coming from here. You know what I mean? I didn't think there was many outlets in terms of coming from Los Angeles to getting seen. You know, to getting seen outside of like going to. Project blowed and things of that nature to pick. LA was slow on the battle rap thing compared to the rest of the country, bro. So were you aware of like the pit? Oh, so you moved.

So I moved to New York City. Really? That's what he said. I brought that up in the battle. I was like, you moved out there to battle rap? I was like, what? Yeah, I moved in 2000. I just laughed.

I moved in 2000 to I didn't know what the hell I was going to do. I didn't know anybody out there. I'm trying to find Smack, Jay Mills. whoever, I just jumped on a greyhound and went with my... Insane. Bag of clothes, bag of shoes.

It's so crazy how similar his story He trips me the fuck out this guy, man. Like, I have such a similar story. Chicago, but yeah. Yeah, so I'm about to say, I believe you went to Chicago. Yeah, yeah, no, similar thing. Yeah, yeah, you remind me of my...

Same shit, bro. That's crazy. You know what's up. I went to New York, slept on park benches, And right when I got off the Greyhound, I was at the, what's it called? The Port Authority. Port Authority. You get to the Port Authority.

I get off the bus. The roughest toilet paper in the entire world is like made from human skull fragments. So, you know, here I am, New York City, first from L.A., not knowing nobody out here. I asked this guy, a kid walking by, say, yo, where they be rapping that out here? He said, yo, just walk a couple streets down. down a 42nd, go in front of the Virgin Megastore. They're going to be out there. I walked a couple blocks down with my bags and shit.

There, here goes this cipher. Big-ass cipher. So there's shells. Y'all know you. Of course. Shels is out there. S-A-S from London. The Dipset affiliates.

They was there. Lady Luck was there. Shouts out. Everybody's ciphering and battling. You got up at the right bus. It was a destiny. So I jump in the cyber. I start spitting.

And after the battle, I mean, after the cipher, they're like, yo, yo, where are you from? You don't even sound like you're from out here. I say, y'all I'm from L.A. He's like, what? Like, L.A. niggas can rap like that. And it was just, they, I can vouch for this being a thing because, because I also went out to New York in my early days, too.

And being out there, a common thing that was said to us is y'all rap like that in L.A. like because I'm just so I think it's because we're both influenced by the cool G raps that you know what I'm saying like the big ls we right we like that type of just syllabic patterning you know what I mean and they thought everyone was like a bendic codis in my father right right oh yeah we got to like undermine that because that is Los Angeles and West Coast culture but what people didn't have was the idea that how eclectic the right rap scene is even if you look at just California rap in general we got the Bay Area Sound you got the San Diego sound you got the sac you know Sacramento Hieroglyphs all these people right plenty Asia right it's so it's brass cast all way from too short to ice cube to ice tea and it just goes on South Central Cartel just goes on and let's be clear though one of them is a natural style and another in the other thing requires skill mm so you get what I'm saying

That's a good taste. One is a natural style, and we like natural style. You might be gifted with a natural style and ability to just sound crispy when you're rapping and how you look and everything. Have a cool voice. You might be born. You know what I'm saying?

You ain't going to sound cooler than Snoop no matter what you do. Nobody. But the other thing requires. Yeah. Yeah. And I was heavily influenced by, like you said. I mean, these guys are tattooed on my arm. You know, I got a big pun, big L here.

Biggie's there. Box there. I was listening to the. that and just blending it with just natural West Coast sound and you just get now you get Danny Myers like yeah melting pot of style so that's like that cipher ends and you have no money you're asked out essentially I'm sleeping uh Central Park I'm sleeping at Central Park man with with my bags and I'm just walking back and forth from Central Park to the Virgin Megastore who's right there in the heart of Times Square how I don't even know if it's there anymore yeah it's a good

I think the mega store is the virgin mehastore? I don't know if it is. It was a two level. Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, I don't even know if it's there, but I would just go back and forth from and, man, it was crazy because I, my struggle was real, man, like I'm, like, living at the park and then coming, spending the best rap ever in the hopes of, and then somebody's like, yo, man, there's this dude named Jay Mills. I think you and him, y'all need that battle, and there's this guy named T. Rex, and, yo, man, who are you out here with? Like, where do you live at? And I'm like, I'm kind of just in the wind right now, bro.

I don't really. So, you know, SAS was trying to look out for me, shells. And everybody's like, wait, we're going to get you in front of the right people. So did you start couch surfing then and things like that? Yeah, yeah, I started couch surfing and shit like that. And I wound up moving to Brooklyn. You know, shout out to my dude, Danny. He, his name is Danny, too.

Danny and Danny? Yeah, no, he hooked me up. I got to stay with him and started meeting, uh, I met D and Y and why ended up battling Drag-on. Wow. Yeah, I heard you talk about this before. I was going to ask you about this. You go ahead and tell us.

And I did what I did. First of all, how do you battle? Was it over a beat? No, we was in the street. Okay. He was in the street. So, like, his vocal projection is that. His vocal projection is zero.

Well, he has a bad stutter is his thing. Like, I just feel like, how did he battle you? Like, he has bars. He has bars. He has bars. He has bars. He has bars. I'm saying his, I want to know what his, like, how did he come at you?

Is he aggressive like that? He's like, drag on. I come with the fire. It was like that. Yeah, it wasn't really a battle. He's a dope lyricist though. Yeah, he is. Man, he's nice as fuck.

I win, you know. Drag on. Nice as hell, man. And so he's like, he went to D&W. I was like, yo, we, we should, y'all should work with this dude. Y'all should sign this dude. Meanwhile, their sister, Chavon, like, Chavon Dean, she was trying to start her own label. And she was like, you know, I want to get you involved with this label.

I'm trying to get off the ground. and from you know from I I wound up anyway I want to meet papoose and uh williams work projects one one 99 stag walk if I'm not mistaken you know what I mean and I'm sitting out there I'm living with the security dude Danny I'm on the bench I see papoose and I know it's papoos I just seen him in the damn magazine I'm like wait but that's papoose I've run up on him I'm like yo man like you're papoose I just heard you on G rap's project you know what I'm saying he's like what who are you and how do you wait you're from LA and I'm like, yeah, bro, like, he's like, I didn't even know people from LA knew who I was.

I'm like, nah, bro, like people that listen to the bars. We, you know what I'm saying? That's super early days. That's crazy. Yeah, man. And he spit his rap called, I spit your head off, you know? And he had like a chorus to it. Like, ah, he'd do like this flim, spitting flim.

He got, I spit your head off. Something, dut, da, da, da, da, d'all. So he spits that. That's a sick ass. Can we say pause? Can we say pause? Can we say pause? No, no, there's no, no, there's no.

Don't pause. I like the concept. It made me uncomfortable. But anyway, I like the concept of that. No, spitting your head off. Pat pool,

he'll know. But I told him when I'm For New Yorkers. Yeah, no, we got to be mindful of them. Yo, pause, son. But you'll continue.

Shout out. The Papp. So, you know, I spake my round and he wrapped his shit and it was like, yo, I felt like I was coming

into my own. I'm like, yo, I'm really, I'm like, I'm waiting. I'm not out here for nothing. Something's going to happen from this shit. You know what I'm saying?

Like, I'm going to get. Because you like living a dream. You out there kind of, you kind of stumbled. You took yourself out there. You put yourself on the plane. Just a kid from Cali. And then you stumble across the people and it leads you from one person. And it all started from what?

The one guy that you came up to. Right. Where do they battle at? You see how this all. It's all started from that guy. So you're like living it. You in a movie right now. I get it.

Yeah, man. Yeah. And all that, you know, I wound up meeting so many different people and, you know, here we are. How long is this time period? From 2000 to 2006. So you're in New York for six years. Yeah, back and forth. From there, between there and Indiana, Kentucky, Detroit, I'm just bouncing all the chasing a dream.

And it makes sense why you could relate and you go to so many states, you battle on all the leagues because you're already comfortable. You are vagabond a battle at. Yeah, so to speak. You know what I mean? You're a vagabond battler. That's fire, man. So, you know, I wound up moving to Las Vegas, 2006. Okay.

And that's right. So in 2006, are you seeing, like, the jump off WRCs, like, The Soros and MoMAQ? Yeah, I'm watching all that, Blaze battles. Blaze battles. Well, Blaze was before that, though, but, yeah. Yeah, but from some of the 90s, from that, we think that was on. That's 99. HBO and BT.

But it was on HBO first, I think, right? I think it was Showtime. No, no, it was HBO. But I think it was BT first or second. They switched channels on it. Right before I moved to Vegas, I was part of this MTV 2 battle rap tournament. Yeah, I remember that shit too. And I beat my first opponent and my very next opponent was Quest McCode.

And it was like, you got this guy named Quest McCode coming up. Wow. And I just, I ran out of money. It was like week. The battle was weeks away. I didn't have a choice. I had to leave. I left and I never in they never even aired any of those battles and that I don't think

was it that was it part of that making a about a rap battle not making a man not making a no no no no so what happened was something like that what happened was quest wound up getting his own ship yeah from yeah he did he became a coach on that or wow he wanted battling Apollo on uh making a battle rapper no it's um it was true life i want to be a battle rapper Something like that he was. See, I told you. I know what I'm talking about. I was there.

I did all this. You feel? So anyway, I moved to Vegas. And one of my homeboys knows that I'm a battle rapper. He knows I rap and all this. He's like, yo, man, this dude named OD out here. And he does this thing called Ahad. And he's like, man, he used to try it out.

I went and tried out. I battled some guy. OD never dropped the battle. Never dropped it. Never came out. What year is this? Like, 08? 2006.

So A hat was popping in 06. Yeah, man. It took out and sad. And that's the crazy thing is people think that grind time was like literally the first. But it really was just like there was a bunch of little insular scenes that were doing their own thing that people weren't even aware of. A hat was pumping the whole time that grind time was. Yeah, man. It just kind of the two scenes never.

Shout out to Interstate Fats. Yeah, he was nice. Dom's. Fats. Yeah. Dombs. Doms. Gage.

Donnie Meneis. Artisan, Nove. Artisan and Nove, man. They was the first viral boys right there. Yeah, man. Shout out to OV, R&B for the A hat thing. And so from there, so anyway, he vaulted the first battle.

And I didn't go back. I didn't go back. I was like, I ain't doing it no more. So I battled. They didn't drop the battle. I'm cool. I'm done with it. And so Interstate Fats calls me.

He's like, yo, I remember you from that first tryout night. Man, listen, got another card coming up. I really need you to do it for me, man. Just do this for me. I went and did it. And from there, At that point were you a little bit over it? Like, you know what?

This shit ain't going nowhere. I was kind of over with A-Hat. Not in terms of battle rap, but just A-Hat. What is this? Yeah, this is 2006-7-8 around that time. I got to look at the date of the battle. But anyway, I didn't, you know, so I did the next battle, and then I took off from there. Took off from there, man.

And it's crazy because you wound up, you were on A-Hat for like four or five years straight essentially. Because in 2013. Let's go. In 2013, Here we go. Let's go. Through Aspect One and I

watching you and realizing that you were a big problem and really just hadn't gotten the light you deserved. We're like, let's give him a king of the dot tryout battle or ground zero. And here's a crazy story

that people don't know. And we were trying to figure out who your opponent was going to be. So this is an octoberer. October of 2013, and disaster was headlining the main card against Averb, you know, pass was on the card. Charlie Clips versus Dirtback Dan. There's a whole bunch of dope. That's Big K versus Ilmac was on that card as well.

And we were trying to figure out the day one card, which is like, and it was like, and you had a big buzz. So we're like, Danny can headline this tryout card. And we kind of had the feeling like, yeah, this would have wind up graduating a real quick. We didn't know how quick, but we knew quick. And your opponent were the original opponent, do you remember it was supposed to be Freedo algebra? You were supposed to battle with Frato. And Frato was like, I don't really know who this Danny Myers guy is.

Like, I'm not really sure. I'm a little bit confused. I don't know if I want to make this. I don't know if I want to do it. Let's talk about it. I'm like bribing him. I'm like, fuck it will give you $400. Just do the battle.

He's like, I'll let you know. And I was like, you need to let me know by this specific date. at this time. Yeah. And he wound up not letting me know by the deadline, and we already had Rum Nitty as the backup battle. And I had first seen Rum in 2009. I hosted a battle in Arizona called the Sandtrap,

and I recognized him. And I was like, this dude's going to be popping. My boy Keith Wright put me on to him. I was like, but nothing really made sense. I had booked him earlier in the year against conscious pilot, and he had a dope back and forth. Yeah. But he wound up, like, choking in his third round.

Yeah. So, like, the momentum kind of died. So we're like, but then Frato didn't hit me back. Rum was the next in line. We're like, all right, let's do Rum v. Rum Nitty versus Danny Myers. And then Frato winds up calling me back 15 minutes later, but it was already booked. But thank God he pumped faked on that. Yeah.

Because that battle set off both of y'all careers. I want to say. Now, y'all are two the biggest. A reoccurring theme. Uh-huh. gotta give lush's flowers man it seems like no matter who we interview and we're not doing this on purpose it's just work what work looks like right it's this reoccurring theme of and not to say you wasn't doing what you

was doing but you wasn't you didn't get that look that you necessarily deserved and it seems like lush always is right there he sees that and it's crazy because who the fuck would have known like really how crazy you would have turned out to be. I didn't. And I was there for the first one. And I was, I was actually super impressed by you. And you could tell on fucking camera.

People said that I was overreacting. But it was because I understood the gravity of the moment that I was witnessing. And you've always, and like, look, but we were just talking to dumbfounded about this. It's not one person that puts somebody on. It takes a village to create a star. And you've always given me my flowers and respect for what I've contributed.

to not just your legacy, but you know, everybody's the legacy. The world of battle rap in general. Yeah, I said they need to make a statue of lush one, you know, one of these days, man. And like he's saying, and it's a humble thing, like there's a lot of people that play in the house, and you made yourself. Nobody started you or created you, but it's always that, like,

influence and that right guidance, I feel like in people. That's why the right people should be in the culture at the forefront that understand that and can see at a time, because that takes like a fucking whole visionary mind. Like we knew you was going to be dope, but we didn't knew you were going to be like the fucking craziest battle rapper ever. And Aspect really believed in you. I appreciate that. Aspect was a big, aspect was a big supporter of you.

And like, what did it feel like at that moment? Like, were you like, okay, I'm about to be on now? This, all this grinding is getting to a new light. When you got, when you, when you, when you watch disaster and you see him one of the biggest battles in the world and he's right there next to you. and you're fresh on the scene. It's like it's a dream come true. It's like if somebody's trying to come get it in the music business and like you got Jay-Z right here and Nas is over here

and you're going crazy on the mic and then they're behind. That's amazing. They're reacting to your bars. So when you got daylight and then we got you and we got you and we got disaster, I'm looking at this whole moment like, yo, this is, everybody there knew it. They knew like this. is a moment in the culture.

It felt like it. It just felt like it. But it's good to know your perspective. It wasn't even planned. It wasn't necessarily planned to be a classic. It was like, let's put these two dope newcomers together and let's see what happens. And that's how that shit happened. Well, because it's difficult to, to premeditate chemistry.

Yeah. And like, you know, I don't even know if you, know of you and rum had ever been in the same room prior to that. Man, never. I never seen them. I never spoke with them. Never. Didn't even, I saw the conscious pilot battle. and I was like, yeah, he's got bars.

That's all I knew about him. And even when he, like, even when he walked into the building, his eyes were bloodshot red. He's got the scully down. He's like, yeah, now Rom had the look that day. He looks dangerous.

Like, he looks like he comes to those. He was just missing the pair of black forces. Right. That went with the whole site for complete. Even during the battle, I accidentally, you know, I'm wilding. I touch his chain. He's like, hey, don't touch my chain.

Yep. So now it's like, shit. Like, what kind of? shit we're going to be in. So now, when the bars are flying and now it's like the ice is broken, the tension is broken. Now we're clapping fives.

Now we're reacting to each other's bars. Now it's fun. It's not such of that dark feel. You feel me? So that's how... It was crazy how that battle happened because I didn't know him. He didn't know me.

And he was like, he's a no-nonsense type of fella. You know what I'm saying? So am I. So neither one of us is with the bullshit. You know what I mean? and we wind up becoming friends from that battle. And fast forward nine years. Nine years later.

And here we are. By the time people see this, the rematch will have already occurred. But it's about to happen this weekend. Yeah. And y'all have both had astronomical success. Man. Two of the most beloved battle rappers in history,

and it's incredible. I just want to shout out, like, the two of y'all, and then, you know, add disaster. Ghii B.D. Day, like all these, the way, the fact that there's all these people from L.A., from the West Coast, pass from the Bay Area, all these Californians in this conversation. Like, never was the case back in the day. Never. You know, and the West Coast has really come up so much. And here's one of the four founders. But you know what's crazy, though, Danny? You know what's crazy is that I always wanted something like this.

Like, I always felt like in the beginning, like, I just felt like there needed to be more. reinforcements and like now standing here 10 12 years later and it's it's like there's there's like 10 of us that could just start right now is just a beautiful thing and we all contributed into building those people because you battled a lot of these people bro yeah absolutely you battled everyone so you're part of like we're part of the push of how we all brought each other up to this fucking point and where we're at right now bro this this battle that you're going to have with rum it's going to be another west coast legendary classic for the books and it's something that we're going to remember forever we're going to you know and it's a part two which is even

crazy right right you could probably do a trilogy off yeah I mean who knows are you even trying to live up to it or is it like this is a whole new this is this is this is his own thing because you know you know you like if you get a movie like scarface and you can't remake it yeah no matter who's the director who's it who's going to start and you're not going to remake brian de palma and yeah i'm not doing it so I feel like what me because me and rum have both progress in life both as emcees and as men it can't be the same battle in love like we're rapping totally different we're better you know we're just you know and if it's the same battle for the last time then it doesn't show any progress right it's almost like a failure even though even though

it'd be a classic is dope if it's the same battle's the last one there's nine years I think there's there's no there's no way they're not going to outdo it in my and that's how I feel skill wise absolutely I believe they're so developed just an every, like even their image, the way they look, the way they move, the way they sound, the content, the delivery, the control. They're both in just, if anything, that battle was a teaspoon, a small percentage of what we're going to get from what's going to happen. Watching the Danny that battled Tayrock a few months ago, that's a different Danny.

Watching the rum that battled Iron Solomon. This is crazy. It's a different room. Yeah. So after that initial battle, you wind up going on a. a crazy run. You're not only battling on King of the Dot, but every other local league under the sun

as much as possible. Yeah, yeah, fit that he... I brought up all that in our battle. Shut up. But you always had, like, you came out to New York several years before that with the ambition of gracing platforms like smack and being in that.

So when you finally had your URL debut, because at a certain point, I felt like there was only, there wasn't any more you could do on King of the Dot. It seemed like you needed, like, I don't want to say a graduation. It just seemed like you'd hit your ceiling over there. And it was like, what could I do next? And then you made the transition to smack.

How did that finally feel to get that acceptance from that audience? You know, it felt like validation in a way. You know, we battled my first PG was J-Rail, Black Bear, you know what I'm saying? Or Black Star Video. And it was like, damn, I'm here. You know what I'm saying? and Mickey Fax is here, DNA's right there, jazz and rappers right there. And I'm like, wow, I'm like really here in New York City on URL coming from L.A.

I was the first L.A. And they gave me a hotel, I'm not sleeping on the fucking bench. Not going on front. They have a beautiful vibe out there. They really do. Like when you, like, when I battled T-Rex, it was just like that. Rex, like the Rex battle, it was just, they have a warm, cultural, just, it just feels like. New York just has a, it's, everybody wraps in New York and you feel it when you're there, you know what I'm saying?

It's a little bit more VIP out here, you know what I mean? Because, and even not so much more of a personal mission, but it was more about a broad, there was a broader vision for me to go over the URL. It was like, let me break the barriers. Let me break the door then for acceptance for the West Coast. Right. Like, you know what I'm saying? We got street, we got street guys over here that can rap. Let's give us a chance.

That's all we need it. And fast forward, look at Gichi Ghi Gidey. Look at Rum Nitty. Yeah. Look at Emerson Kennedy. Look at all the domination. You, Gigi and Rum are arguably the best on there. That's it.

Like, it's hard for people to argue that. You're the reason why people would say the West is running the shit. And you're on a crazy run. Like all these years later, having this career, like, potentially champion of the year season. And I feel like. Yes. I feel like... Clearly.

Well, you could have... Oh, God. I feel like you could have accomplished that several times over, but the biggest criticism people have of you because the fact is you take too many battles and oversaturate yourself. And is it difficult to find that balance between the... Because I know, like, there's passion,

but there's also... Mm-hmm. You have, like, nine kids, right? Or, like, 10 kids. Well, disaster said, like, 11 or something. I didn't say anything. Shut up. What are you talking about?

I never even mentioned that in our battle. So you have 10 kids and I never even mentioned that to your battle or your wife. No, actually that was wrong battle. Yeah. Wrong battle. Yeah, you know, I stayed away. Just so everybody knows. Every battle he goes and people bring up his kids and wife and it's the only thing people use against him that they're able to get on him.

And when we battled, I made sure that I wanted Danny to know that, A, I respect him. B, I don't need to go low You know what I'm saying? And C You better worry about the bars Which is the mark of A great MC And that's why that battle

Between you and I Was it so legendary And so You know, I respected it Because it was like You didn't have to I'm not gonna go here To try to win

I'm gonna beat them with the With the mind Yeah Not gossip and drama And all that shit Well we don't have beef like that And it's not like a situation Where I hate you

And in the past I've said fucked up shit To Battlers But I grew out of that And I grew out of that I feel like I've learned how to, you know, there's a classy way around the shit if you're really skilled enough, you know, and just, I kind of displayed that versus all your fucking opponents. And it's not something that you, like, shy away from. You've been very open with the fact that, you know, you have a lot of kids and all that. So it's a lot and some of them are grown now and stuff, but it's still like a lot of mouths to feed.

Yeah, yeah. So, you know, you balance, you know, just work, being a dad, being a husband. And so the oversaturation part is like, well, for one, I was this, I kind of just came from that from battling. I battled every day, like literally. Like, I mean, that's how I kind of hone my skills. And when I, when I started, it wasn't no leagues. It wasn't no organization. Right. No YouTube, no internet.

Come on tell them. It was this about going block to block, skill for skill, didn't know who, didn't know what this guy had, didn't know. what he was going to do. And then, especially growing up in L.A., it's like, it wasn't even safe to be a battle right. Because when people were betting money and people are, you might say the wrong things. Oh, he said tripping. And all these, yeah, and all these guys are behind his entourage.

You were in the wronghood. You know what I'm saying? You got to be careful the colors you got on. And it's just so many dangerous factors that I came from that. And I still carry that style or that raw battle rap style to this very day. Like, I didn't start when it was leagues and organized. I started in the blocks. We was just talking about some shit similar.

It's why I don't respect certain battlers because they just watch the shit on YouTube and they're like, I could do it now. But it's like, dog, before all this YouTube shit, before all the leagues, this is what it was. You risked your life. Yeah, absolutely. Guns is getting pulled out. You sacrificed comfort. You sacrificed money.

You sacrificed time. You sacrificed shit with your family. Like, you were on your own. and it was basically investing in yourself into a dream rather than just doing it as a hobby where you pick up the phone and you're like, book me. You know, I mean, we really had to book ourselves somehow. And you have to not only book yourself, find where the shit was happening. That was like part of the fucking deal.

Like there was no, you know, a text message or a battle. Yeah, you didn't get no like blasted text message with a bunch of people like there or a flyer sent to your phone. Like it wasn't like that back in a day. You had to know, figure out, find this shit in time and show up and hope to God. There ain't no crazy motherfuckers there that are going to, that are more ready than you are. Right. And you don't know who the fuck they are.

Right. And, well, with the guys that just kind of came up in this era or like the era before where they was basically YouTube babies and Internet babies. YouTube babies. It's really not their fault that they, you know, that they were born in that time. It's really not their fault. but I feel like at least... It's just bloody-ass parents' fault. Do your research.

You know what I'm saying? Like, like you were saying, it seems like anybody can just watch it and say, oh, I can do that. And then they just jump in and do it. And it doesn't feel authentic. It doesn't like, especially the guys like you and I who really slept on park benches and shit like that.

This is what I'm trying to say is that ultimately there should be an understanding of the difference. That's all. I'm not saying you can't do it or you shouldn't. Right. Or I'm necessarily not talking down on you. I'm talking myself up on you. Like, I'm letting you know that we belong to a different cloth kind of.

Right. Rather than, you know, obviously you're not going to be able to be part of that cloth no more because it's gone. It doesn't exist no more. You know what I mean? We're literally like the last of. We was just talking about this with dumbfounded. We feel like the digital world and the digital age destroyed that. It pulled everyone off the street and put them online.

Everyone's in Twitter spaces and, you know, battling on. and sending videos and shit like that. Right, right. But we had to really, nobody even filmed when we were doing this. That's what, really, really, that's the fact. The reason why he doesn't have a lot of his early footage is for that to happen, somebody had to actually be the guy that carried a big ass bulky camera. And nobody wanted to fucking do that.

You wasn't about to care. I wasn't about to show up to no video part. Oh no, I mean, somebody was snass that shit anywhere. Like, holding a camera looking like a dumb ass. In the sections that these battles were taking place, you will get fucking got on that. You get licked of the quickness. Yeah, man, yeah. We really are like the last of that generation.

Well, since y'all are both here, let's talk about the battle, the disaster versus Danny Myers battle. How like leading up to that or before, was Diz on your hit list? Yes and no, because for one, I always looked like, you know, he was the, he's up here. He's that guy. Right. You know what I'm saying? In terms of the respect level I have for him and what he's done.

and a foundation that he laid for for me to lay for other guys for guys Ramidi and and Gichi and BDOT and it was him you know it was him the source Ilmac that's how that's how I look at it right but so it's like what bad can you say about him you know I mean but at the at the same time this is like the pinnacle of testing your skill if you're a battle rapper this standing in front of disaster was like pretty much I know a lot of people say MOOC and Lux those are names get brought up Hallow Don things of that nature. But disaster name is like, has to be in there in that same conversation.

And then also the stylistically, with your aggression that you have and just the what your energy, there's not anyone else that I feel like can match that. To match the energy. That's why excited me about the matchup. The prospect of the matchup for me first, I was like, all right, well, I was looking at it like a Dragon Ball character. I was like, all right, well, this saying right here has a lot of energy. And he has a lot of power.

And I was just like, I feel like this battle would make it to where the shit that I'm screaming at him won't be overbearing to the people. Because that's the problem is contrasts in battles. So when you battle somebody who's more laid back and they're not feeding you enough, they ruin the fucking the balance of the energy. You know what I'm saying? They ruin it. You know what I mean? They ruin the flow of the energy and it could go in their direction because of it. You know what I mean?

So I don't really like battling people that don't share that type of energy anymore. want to battle high energy people, you know what I'm saying? I feel like that was a big prospect for me. I was like, yeah, man, this this would be an explosive battle. It's a no-brainer for me, you know what I mean? And then then comes a lot of this shit that I said to you, you know? Well, I said a lot of shit to you too. No, but I wanted, like, I wanted to get off a lot of that shit on my chest.

I think it was just kind of more like I wanted to know more because we never spoke about. Like me, I got to know you more today. If I knew a lot of the stuff that you explained to me, my content would it be different against you? I was more trying to figure out who the fuck you were. I think a lot of people don't know. A lot of the things you shared today. This is exclusive. And if I knew that before, I feel like it would have been a different approach.

For me, I wanted to get off my chest why I never ran into you. And it bothered me that I never ran into you. I'm like, why? I was like, I'm out everywhere. I'm like in every fucking hood, like everywhere. Like, how did I not find Danny? You know what I mean? But like you were just in different areas.

And it just so happened if I was here, you were in New York or like the way I hear it now is you were in a different pocket but doing the same shit as me. You know what I mean? Here's the good thing. Here's a good thing about that. Imagine Danny Myers and disaster battled on a California street corner somewhere. Right. There's no footage of it.

Facts. Because we battle and there's no video of it. It's just a legendary tale. That's all you get. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, it obviously wouldn't have the same gravity. So it was probably not met for us to run into each other back. What if we did and we both forgot?

Which is in a parallel universe, we probably, it might have happened. You know how many people I've battled and they've told me later on? I battled tantrum in 2002. I beat him in front of a college crowd in Santa. You would remember Danny Myers. I would remember disaster. You'd remember disaster I remember disaster

With that being said So you just I'm glad you brought it up Parallel Universe You have all these different concepts That you introduced To battle rap

Yeah What was the origins What's the thought process Behind that Is that just creativity? It was a fluke It was just a bar You know what I'm saying

I battled Jonee Right Battle John I Was that after I battled him Before It was before you battled So anyway, I had a bar and it was like, do you believe in a parallel universe? I do.

This shit is insane. Well, my father was in prison playing spades while I was working on my pen game. So I looked at the contrast. Like, damn. And it was true. So I'm like, damn, my dad done so many years in prison while he's in there. I'm out here working on a pen while he's in the pen. I was like, look at how our lives just went in different directions.

Right. You know, we're from, I'm from him. So it was like, that's a good. I thought just that concept of just ironic situations and different paths one can take in life. I say, yo, that was a dope concept. So I battled Young Cannon and I brought it back. You know what I mean? So it just became its own thing.

And when I said it again, like, do you believe in a parallel universe? Now people start to say it. I do. That's how I came up with the, you know what rhymes with. I did it one time. It hit really hard. and then I'm like, I'm going to do it again. And once I did it the second time, that's when it stuck.

So it started with the A-Class Rhymes with train tracks. How it rates that. Right? You know what rhymes with A-class train tracks. Wow. Then when I battled HFK, I was like, you know what rhymes with A-Rab? Plane Crash. Oh.

So then after that, I started every single fucking person I, battled I would take their name like I battled unanimous who was like a fan of who's a big fan of mine you know what I'm saying like you know what I mean like people see his style and like they they see the influence of unanimous in my shit he's from England you know I mean um I when I bow was like y'all know what rhymes is unanimous and I told the crowd there in England I was like huge fan of dis you know what I mean god just gives you that and it started happening in a way where every person I was battling it would it would be a punch to to their fucking name or something about them like where it would be a one-liner about them so i just it's

stuck and now i do it in every battle wow right yeah well the thing about you though like i've never seen somebody that bears their soul as much as you do in battles and like you use it as your personal diary and you put a lot of your real life out there which is admirable but also really risky because But the thing about you, I notice, is you don't really seem to let anything anyone says affect you in the slightest. Yeah, I never care. It all rolls off your back. Absolutely. I don't.

Because I always tell people, I feel like this, before you have bars and delivery and presents, you need composure. Before you become a battle rapper. Message. Message. Yeah, because if you don't have composure, you shouldn't even be a bad rapper because somebody like this is going to say crazy shit. And then you, if it might throw you off your game and now you're, you're, you're a defense game. You're choking and stumbling and you're angry. Your game plan isn't going to go the way you thought was going to go because you got upset.

And that's part of the game with battle rap. I got to say some shit to get under your skin. Right. And I got to play defense against what you're trying to say to me. We're both trying to, it's a mind game. You know what I mean? And if you don't have composure, that's the first thing you need first. Before you even know how to rap, you need composer.

And if you don't have that, don't even do it. Because somebody's going to fuck you up. That's like almost a part of rebuttaling. And he's really good at rebuttaling, but that goes hand in hand with it because it's almost like, it's like phase one of rebuttaling is your composure and how you take the shots from the person delivering to you. Then phase two is you responding. I got to respond to that one. Right.

And like you, and I could attest to that. Actually, when I was battling you, I knew I was fucking you up with certain words and you were just looking at me. Like, and I could just see it in your fucking eye. and I knew nobody else did. Right. He really is really fucking good at that. It was really hard to make Danny look visibly affected. You have to really, really go above and beyond,

or he's not even, he is a really good poker face. The source is good at that. It's not going to work. Like with him, it's next level. Yeah, no, it is. It's pretty crazy. Because I feel like I really don't care. I don't give him a fuck.

you're talking about because in my mind i'm like i don't give a fuck because now i get a chance to rap too and when i when i when i rap i'm going to say better shit than you yeah that's what you based more fucked up shit to you're saying and besides whatever you're saying is not it don't affect my real life this is like this is like this theater it's acting but what's so strange is you're putting so much of your real life in it and that's like that that's kind of part of the the therapeutic process too. You know, a lot of people that write, they'll tell you, like, I put my pain, my heart into

this, into what I do. I'm not hide nothing. I'm not, no fake, you can't dig up nothing on me. This is it. This is me. I don't see anyone that really, besides, like literally the two of y'all and there's a few other examples are the people that because it's your primary

outlet, you know, you haven't made a lot of music that people have heard like that. You know what I mean? Like, that's what y'all do, is battle rap. Well, I take pride. He takes pride in being a battle rapper, too. Like, you know, there was that wave of, of battlers for a while. And it kind of was like an epidemic almost.

Like, they all started saying shit. Like, I make songs, though. Like, you know, like, this is just like a stepping stone. You know what I mean? Like, no, but, but I'm a real rapper. But, but I'm in a studio. I got a record here, though. Like, you know what I'm saying?

You battle. You put your full creativity in battling. It's like you a rapper. I look at it like this. Your expression. They look at it like you a battler I look at it like You're a rapper

You understand like for me I take pride in the shit There's no way you're going to make me feel like Being a battler is less than what you do When I already know what we do is the most raw form And it's the real form I'm not really chasing after the other shit I want we're chasing after the same shit

We really just want to advance the rhyme We want it to just change And constantly get better every time So you got to push the peasant We're pen pushers. And that's exactly what that was been my, my, my, my, that's been my crusade since the start. It's just to, just to challenge myself and just really just to be one of the best rappers. You know what I mean?

Just period. Even with, you know, you get, think about me and Dizz's battle. Like, there was a lot of rapping going on. Oh, so it's not, it's not a lot of, you got punch lines and all these hate makers and all that stuff. But in between that, it's a lot of dope rapping between what we was doing. we did a lot of rap. And that's the art of it, the beauty of it. People that are fans of Danny Myers or just have watched your trajectory from the jump.

They've seen, they've seen like all these things happen. They've seen the passion that you put into it. And like some people, it might, just the level of rawness and lack of affectation that you put into your shit might be off putting to certain people because they're like, because it makes them feel uncomfortable because they're not comfortable in their own skin, but they see how comfortable you are, good, bad, and ugly, and it makes them feel insecure because you're so secure. And then there's others that are attracted to that and inspired by that

and see this dude put up his own money in a battle. And then, you know, like, this dude did all this, had all this crazy shit happen to him. But then it endears you. And, like, there's this whole, like, cult fan base that's, like, rooting for you, the, you know, the Yikes Children's. Like, Yikes. Shout off the Yikes on.

Yikers Island. And it's, it's really interesting just like to see like how much of your real life intersects with battle rap to the point where like you reunited with one of your kids or two of your kids, right? Yeah, that's right. That's the crazy shit ever, man. Because before we all thought you had eight kids and then it became ten. Yeah, listen, man. Tell that story. You know, I had twins, Malik and Dominique when I was 18 at twins.

she, you know, their mom wound up getting it with another guy and she moved to Compton and then from there she moved the kids to Atlanta and just cut off all communication with me or whatever. Did you know you had them? Yeah, yeah.

We were staying together. We were staying together. And for up until they were like one and a half, you know, we were living together. And then she's like, I don't want to be with you. Just out of nowhere. It wasn't like it was a domestic situation. We're fighting.

It was none of that. That was the most confusing part. So she just moves them to Atlanta. And she disappears off the map. I've got private eyes. I'm paying people to look for her. I'm doing internet searches. Nothing.

And out of the blue, 17, 19 years later, I get a message from my daughter. And she's like, yo, I just saw you, are you my dad? I just saw you on BET. Are you my dad? And I'm like, oh, my God, Dominique. Like, what? Malik, where's your brother?

Like, call me right now. And reunited because they saw me on BET. And then reunited at a battle, right? And then we reunited. That's amazing. At a battle. In Atlanta. You're going to make me cry, man.

Yeah, man. It was the crazy. It's like battle rap helped me find my kids. man we need a doc on you man facts uh battlewhip my children my children man that's that's real shit i feel like without

me being you know famous and all that semi-famous whatever you want to call it i would have never found them again ever that's crazy and that's dope that that they even sought you out and didn't feel no type of way about the because kids don't know like right they don't know

they don't know and it was That you still wanted to be in their life. Facts, man. And their mom had lied to him. Their mom had told him I was dead and all kind of stupid, crazy stories. And they never believed that shit. They never believed that shit. They kept seeking me out.

But the other thing is not that you don't look unique as fuck, that people would be like, okay, this guy. But your battle rap name is your government name. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It's crazy because people are you thinking like, hey, your name, Daniel. Hey, what's your real name? Leagues be trying to book me flights.

And they're like, it's Danny Myers, motherfucker. That's right, exactly. They'll be like, yo, hey, we're trying to book you to come out to New York City or come to Florida. We need your government name. I'm like, it's actually Danny. Daniel. The funniest guy ever. It's actually Daniel Myers.

In the third. Yeah, yeah, something like that. And that's, and I came about because, like, I had a bunch of stupid rap names. I had spontaneous combustion back in 90s. Oh, that is. So you. Yeah. That is so you.

You are spontaneous combustion. That's what I call you from now. That's fucking spontaneous. Spontaneous combustion. Man, that's such a name you would come up with too. From South Central. But that, you know, back in the 90s, you know, I had D-Flow. Yeah.

Why do I need a character? Why do I need to hide? Like, what do I need this for? I was like, and then I was like, you know what? I'm just going to be myself. I'm going to be Danny Martin. You know what I'm saying? I see him.

I see Joe Button. I'm like, that's though. That's his actual name. So you can use your name? So you gave up on naming yourself. Yeah. So I'm like, when I first heard it was some guy on Twitter name.

We both were given our name. So it makes sense that like, you know what I'm saying? Wow. Yeah. Yeah, we were given our names. I didn't choose my name. Me neither. Me neither.

My shit was at a fucking like a house party. I used to go by Bobby Bigblunts. Yeah, it was pretty bad. So I pretty much was at a house party. And I destroyed probably like 10 battlers in a row. Okay. And it was like one of those house parties that I showed up to. And I used my talent to make friends.

You know what I'm saying? And pretty much like there were just people asking me like, what do you go by? And I'm like, I don't really fucking have a rap name like that. You know what I'm saying? And they're like, you're like a disaster. You're like fucking just wrecked everything. I'm like, yeah, disaster.

Yeah. Like, yeah. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. So it's always a disaster stuck. It clicked. It did. I used it right away.

Wow. And I just became it. That's amazing. Yeah, around like 16 years old, I would say, or 15 or like, yeah, like late 15. Wow, that's amazing, man. And my shit was literally from a T-shirt that said lush on it. And I just got expelled from school and went to Jubey, started a new school. my shirt said lush.

People didn't know my name, started calling me lush. You know, from graffiti, added the one, boom-de-woom-de-moop-de-moor. Fire. Fire.

Fire. Ain't no real-hood names you're selecting for yourself. It's a moniker that's going to be bestowed upon you. There you go. Man, you know, I just went by Danny.

I'm like, I'm, you know, that's the only other way out. Well, just, I think the lesson here that everybody could gleam

amongst the several gems that were dropped through. about this discussion. Absolutely. It's just, you know, be yourself and follow your heart and your dream. And, like, there's no limits of what you can achieve. No master P. Absolutely.

No master P. Any final thoughts for the people before we sky up out this motherfucker? Yo, man, Danny Myers, man. Follow me on Instagram. Danny LaBar guy. I want to shout out my brother. So you deleted your, you got a hack. Okay.

My old Instagram got hacked, man. His password is like one, two, three, four, Danny. Nah, man. Danny, one, two, three, four. I want to shout out my brother, Tyrant. You know what I mean? Y'all look out for him. He's on Ransom's newest album.

Fire. No rest for the wicked. You know, so y'all stay tuned for him. And, you know, appreciate y'all for having me on here. You know, I got to go get in his pit with the man Rum Nitty and create another, another battle rap classic. That's for the West Coast Bible right there. You know we threw that hole.

We threw there. Oh, yeah, for sure. For sure. But it wouldn't be right. Wouldn't be right if you wasn't there, man. That's a fact. With that being said, the legendary Bargod himself, disaster, and lusuno. We about this biotch.

Out this biage. Peace.