by Jake Espinoza
Huge thanks to Libretto for taking the time to chat with We Out Here and dropping some knowledge on the constantly evolving art of grinding.
It’s probably hard to imagine a world where Blogs and social media weren’t the main (and usually) source of promotion for an up-and-coming artist, but things were a lot better for most artists back then.
Go get the The Kokanut Brown Remixes now at www.slumfunk.com/kokanutbrown
(Scroll to the bottom to download/stream a free track)
#OutHereDroppingKnowledge
How’s life?
I’ve been good, just working. Everything has been a long time coming man. Last record I dropped was in 2004, and then I did the original Kokanut Brown over the Dilla Beats in 2007. I’ve just been grinding away ever since.
I didn’t want to release my 12″ with Guilty (Simpson), the Ride to Dat joint, until I had someone who wanted to press it up on vinyl. So, it took awhile for that to happen. My man Matt came through on Liquid Beat Records and pressed it up. Fat Beats ended up picking up the 12″, which was a beautiful thing.
Everything’s been good man, I’m just a workaholic. I have like five albums that I’m just waiting to release.
How long had Ride to Dat been done before you released it?
Ride to Dat was done in late 2009. The song as whole took about a year to wrap up, because he was on the road and everything, but we had it all wrapped up in 2009.
What was the process like from getting it done to getting it to Fat Beats.
Back when the stores were open, they were selling my 12″ at their stores. So they know about me, and they know about Lifesavas. So we pitched it to them, they sat on it, and then hit us back and said they’d take it.
It was a blessing. The dude was actually pretty excited. He said cats thought I quit rapping or something–because it had been so long. So when they saw that I had something new out AND it was with Guilty, and they were just like, ‘we’ll take it.’
You’ve been in the Northwest Scene for awhile. I remember the first time I saw you perform was at the WOW Hall with C-Rayz Walz and Raekwon back in 2003. So you were a part of the scene when the whole “Internet Rapper” phase kind of got started. How has that change things since you’ve been a part of it and how have you seen it progress?
You’re asking some serious questions now (laughs). This is what I wake up with every morning. The whole internet thing is a gift and a curse because it cuts out the whole grind out of an artist’s head. Because now all you have to do is get on the internet, and get on a blog, and get you some plays, and all of a sudden you’re what’s crackin’.
You don’t have to get out there and earn your rep at the shows, or battling on the corner, or really grinding out with the people pumping your name. Hitting the poles with posters and flyers is really out the window now. So its dope because it gives the independent artist more muscle to flex around, but at the same time its making the game terrible because nobody buys music anymore out of the stores. They say vinyl’s making a comeback but nobody buys CDs anymore. And nobody’s downloading for money. They find some way to stream it, or someone will put it up to download for free. Once you put your music on digital anything can happen to it.
This is something we talk about all the time. Vursatyl and I talk about this all the time. I had to change my whole game. When I was coming up we had MySpace, and I barely got on MySpace. Now it’s like all of these other things are popping off, and its mandatory for me to be a part if I want to get some recognition. It’s crazy.
So being a vet in the game I have to adjust, but at the same time I wish we were back in the day where you had dope 12″, dope album, tour, pump yourself, have a merch booth to sell your material, and just grind. Now cats are making albums in their bedrooms and just throw it up without even mixing it, and their saying they have the dopest stuff.
I’m all with progression but don’t let it deteriorate the formula of what’s dope. We have a lot of cats who solidify what’s dope, but who are (they) to tell me what’s dope? What have they done? I’ve never seen any of them DJ, rap, or produce, but they’re a critic out of nowhere because they put a blog up?
It’s ill man. I don’t knock cats hustle, I respect what cats thing is dope, but at the same time I’m from the streets bro. I don’t know if you did your research on me. I’m from Watts, California. I grew up in the project. I’ve been all of the world in every hood.
I remember when the street use to say what’s dope. Now you have some kid somewhere saying what’s dope and it’s the end all, be all. I’m not feeling that part of it too much, but guess what, I’m adapting to it.
Is it tough essentially relearning the business? You were doing it a certain way for such a long time, and then over the last five years everything changed.
You have to do mass production now. Before you could sit around and master a product and get things exactly the way you wanted before you put it out. Now it turns into “This is it, let’s go, next. This is it, let’s go, next..” Because of my next five albums, two or three of them are going to be free downloads. I’m talking about blood, sweat and ink. When I rhyme I put my soul into it.
And I still use two-inch tape. I record digital and then mix with two-inch.
But now, knowing that I have to give it up for free, you even have cats like me who are like, ‘skip the two inch. We’ll just mix it in pro-tools because it’s going to be free anyway.’
That’s what’s going to mess up the game, and I’m guilty of that myself. I don’t even mix, but I’m mixing my stuff right now because it’s gonna be free anyway, and I’m not going to put out something wack. I’m still going to run it through my filters–Jumbo will hear it, (DJ) Shine’s gonna hear it–so I know it’s going to be cool.
I love this music to death. This is how I eat, I don’t work a nine-to-five, but it can get frustrating sometimes.
Look out for Libretto’s sophomore album “Captain Crooks, Snatching Crumbs and All” coming out before Thanksgiving.
“Gimme What Ya Got (S.V. Mix)” – Libretto by We Out Here Magazine