Fade
The Beat Strangler
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illest o.g.
When I first got word of Ethnic Descent, I had never heard of him nor did I know what to expect when listening to a few of his singles. After checking out "Lover's Rock", this Filipino rapper from LA has some serious heat! Set to release his new album "Tragedy of a Mind" in January 2010, Ethnic Descent is ready to sit down with IllMuzik and give us some insight on his music.
Wow! I'll be honest, I had never heard your music before but I'm very impressed. Where do you get your style from?
First off, thank you for taking the time to take a listen, I did not expect to be asked for an interview, but I'm very thankful for it. Hmm as far as style is concerned, I guess everything that moved me as a youth influenced the music I put out now. A lot of it had to do with growing up in the tape deck era, haha I actually had the opportunity to listen to hip hop in its rawest form aside from vinyl so it brought to me that classic sound. I mean I had no clue that I would be rhyming at that time, so I figured If I'm going to, then I guess with all the influence from the music I was listening to, I wanted it to be a classic just like those before me. As a kid, the music that got introduced by my parents was a trip. My mom and dad were these heads that came out of the disco/classic rock era, who met and got married, so when I was born, I was always listening to remnants of The Bee Gees, Donna Summer, Beatles, Crosby Stills & Nash, Doobie Brothers, Eagles, Simon & Garfunkel to James Brown, Al Green, Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross... I mean at first I never understood what was behind all of it, until later.
Haha what a crazy mix to begin with right?? Inching a little taller, I also had some cousins that were leaving out of the New Wave era and moving into the Electro Funk era with groups like Afrikaa Bambataa, Cybertron, Al-Nyafish, Egyptian Lover and Trinere, so being exposed at a young age, gave me a large insight on a handful of genres. Haha believe it or not, I also had this phase were I was banging on everyone, so I had a lot of Bloods & Crips, Ice Cube, Eazy E and the rest of N.W.A bumping on a tape deck. It wasn't until high school that the Golden Age hit, and man that was it for me... you had all these emcees just getting creative with their cadence and delivery, and even if none of the tracks had an in depth point to it, but haha it was fun to listen anyway. I can say though, the golden era molded me the most.
So where are you from? What's your background?
Ahh it feels like you're hitting me up homie... haha naw but originally I was born in Solano, Philippines, then at like 1 came over to America. When we got here, I think my family first stayed in West Covina, then we moved to Gardena, then moved to Palmdale for a while, and then moved back to Gardena... so currently I'm in Gardena. My background is Filipino, although I don't look like one... but that remains to be seen.
What I like about your music is that it just seems "real" - in a way that it's just "you". How do you accomplish this?
Thanks again for noticing that. I really appreciate the deep analysis on the music and yes I can do is talk about my trials and tribulations. The way I accomplish this is by not looking at what I want, but what I have. I mean I can only emphasize the type of life that I am living. If I were to talk about all these other things, then you might as well put a platinum grill in my mouth also. I figure everyone has a different story, but only few heads are really willing to put the truth out there, regardless if it means putting themselves on blast. I learned that when you lift everything, meaning putting it all out there, you feel calmness, from all the burdens being taken off your shoulders. So the more stress and disappointments I have, you can expect to hear that released on track. Rhyming is my therapy, and with each track I make, one less reason to worry.
"Lover's Rock" has gotten some very positive feedback, what's the story behind that song?
Lover's Rock is me being a dreamer. I know I'm not the only one, but yeah I was in a relationship with this girl for about 8 years, give or take, and as much as someone would like to think everything is ok, it's not. Now I'm not going to get into intricate details with my past relationship, but it didn't work out. I'll be honest I had somewhat of a depressed mood for a while, and buried myself in drinks and everything, I shouldn't have, but I didn't know any better. So during Christmas of 2004, I spent some time with my fam in Danville, and came across their record collection. I asked my cousin if I can take a listen, then bam came across this sample from an artist, who I always forget... but I promise if it comes to mind, I can always let you know haha, but yeah after coming back, I brought that record to the homie DJ Kram and he just flipped it, and next thing you know I'm getting all sentimental trying to dream of how good of a person I would be with whoever decided to trust in me.
I'll be honest I did not like the track at first, cause it just sounded sappy, but everyone was digging on it... then next I get this homegirl June wanting to help out on the chorus, cause it lacked one for the longest, so she bust vocals over it, then there you go... upload it on MySpace, people dug on it, then this dude takes the track and flips it again to put it on YouTube, and it starts going off even more. It even had these kids opening up an artist page on MySpace saying it's them and all that, but all of sudden it's getting hits, so I mean I guess the kids were relating to it, being that it had that whole Slick Rick - Teenage Love concept and all, but hey whatever works right?
When did you get into hip hop? Do you do other forms like DJ'ing, Breaking, etc?
1993 to be exact... my cousins who got into the Electro Funk scene, saw 2 young kids eager to be in that scene, but could not get into clubs, so they invested in 2 Technics turntables and a Gemini PMX 200 mixer. Haha next thing you know, me and my cousin were digging for vinyl, doing house parties starting up our own party crew called Renaissance (RNS)... Good Times!!! I did that probably until I graduated from high school, then had this homie DJ Ever-ED from Head Hunters who introduced me to sniping. We actually worked alongside a promotion company called Geto Street... and it just brought me into a whole new realm. Next thing you know we're at all these spots getting in for free, cause we had mix tapes, CDs, stickers posters and all that to give a way. Sniping up on the streets... really being involved with the scene, and that right there showed me the true meaning of Grassroots Promotion.
Who does the production on your songs?
I have a handful of people that always offer, but the ones I would like to mention are DJ Kram, Kalamari, P1 Productions, Mike Phantastic, Oda Beats, Janky Gram, G1, iLL Subliminal, Your Average Crew & Yung Sosa. These cats are ones to be on the look out for. If they can make beats that cater to me, then they can definitely make beats that cater to anyone.
You released an album in 2004, how well did it do?
Releasing an album in 2004 was a blessing for reals. It was titled Simply Kept, and at the time I released it, I wasn't sure what to expect. I mean the budget wasn't really there to begin with. My aunt, actually was the financing person back then, but I was able to put out 1200+ copies on CD. Keep in mind I did not know much about the business side until recently, so I was sitting on these copies. When we started to do shows, I would just bring a box, just in case we were able to sell maybe a few here or there, then promoting to heads who I felt might take it to another level. I probably didn't know about consignment until I first put the cds into a store called Stacks in Cerritos owned by DJ Icy Ice. It was Ice and the store manager C-Los who actually schooled me on the whole consignment thing, but I mean for an independent project with least amount of promotional budget, I pushed out about 5-600 copies give or take, and was able to get it up on iTunes and all the other online retailers. I don't know if it's good, but to me, it was.
Compare that album to your new one "Tragedy of a Mind".
Tragedy of a Mind is everything after reality settles in. Simply Kept was more of a "if you keep it peace, there should be no need for anything wrong to happen", while Tragedy was the wake up call. Regardless if you keep it peace, something can still happen, which it did. This album is supposed to mark the first steps of transformation. It also was a way of indicating how a great mind can work. There was always this fascination with intelligent people of the world, and what their personal life was like. Come to find out that those intellectual people were a tragedy to themselves, whether they distanced themselves away from others because of their IQ, or just went crazy because they had too much information running through their head. In any case, this album was dealt with the same way. I had all these thoughts running through my mind, so instead of it taking the best of me, I released all the pain, anger, suffering etc... in the form of music.
Who/what are some of your musical influences?
You ready??? No order of course... Al Green, Isley Brothers, Joey Bataan, Brenton Woods, Elvis Presley,The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Gregory Isaacs, Don Carlos, UB40, Katchafire, New Edition, Debbie Deb, Trinere, Connie, Bad Brains, Circle Jerks, Sublime, Rage Against the Machine, Smashing Pumpkins, The Roots, The Fugees, Leaders of The New School, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Masta Ace, Pharcyde, Dilated Peoples, Hieroglyphics, Boot Camp Click, Davina, Erykah Badu, Common, Wu-Tang, Visionaries, Jurassic 5, Dr Dre, NWA, 2Pac, Snoop, Luniz, Color Me Bad, lol Brotherhood Creed, BBD, Toni Tone Tony, Kid N Play, Heltah Skeltah, Coldplay, Portishead, The Liks, Defari, Lootpack, Buju Banton, Roots Manuva, this is what I can think of right now.
If you had one word to describe your music, what would it be?
Progressive.
Are you doing any live shows soon?
Since I'm working on the Tragedy of a Mind, I'm waiting to start the shows, but once I get word that everything looks like its set to start pressing, you should see something real soon.
Thanks for doing the interview, any shoutouts you'd like to give?
Thanks for requesting the interview give thanks!!!... yeah shout outs to GOD first, my wife Charmaine Jane, daughter Jahnay I., my mom and dad and mom and dad in-laws, my brothers Jonathan and Jayson R.I.P my other sister and brother Joy and Chris., my grandparents, aunts and uncles...the whole Bartikada FAMBAM cousins, nieces and nephews, The Sanchez Clan, the family at F.A.C.C in Carson...my Pastor Joel Biangco & Family, The Jarmin Family, My Thursday Cell Group, My Toyota Family, OG Sound Proof Crew, Kalamari (One of the sickest untapped producers), DJ Kram, Ran-DOE (Keep an eye out for him), 50/50, Jumakae, CKU, Wave, Oda Beats, Jai Classics, Judy, Multidivers (Watch out for this dude too), P1 Productions (This cat is the business), iLL Subliminal, Renaissance Crew, Your Average Crew, Janky Gram, Mike Phantastic, all the homies that made Palmdale what it is. G1 and The Session A homies, Crooks & Castles, R.A.D, The Knowname Show, FILAMARTS FPAC, Bambu, Kiwi, Rosco Umali, The Simple Citizens, Earthbound Radio, DJ Ever-ED, DJ Joey Slick, DJ Frantik, DJ Concise, DJ Analog & Roselynn & the original 3rd Floor Radio, BP & Odds, Tatak Na Apat Alam Tribe, Siick Tattoos, DJ Icy Ice and Original Stacks, Aziatik Rhythms 90.7 FM, all the heads that ever came out to listen to the music, and all those that continue to support.
Wow! I'll be honest, I had never heard your music before but I'm very impressed. Where do you get your style from?
First off, thank you for taking the time to take a listen, I did not expect to be asked for an interview, but I'm very thankful for it. Hmm as far as style is concerned, I guess everything that moved me as a youth influenced the music I put out now. A lot of it had to do with growing up in the tape deck era, haha I actually had the opportunity to listen to hip hop in its rawest form aside from vinyl so it brought to me that classic sound. I mean I had no clue that I would be rhyming at that time, so I figured If I'm going to, then I guess with all the influence from the music I was listening to, I wanted it to be a classic just like those before me. As a kid, the music that got introduced by my parents was a trip. My mom and dad were these heads that came out of the disco/classic rock era, who met and got married, so when I was born, I was always listening to remnants of The Bee Gees, Donna Summer, Beatles, Crosby Stills & Nash, Doobie Brothers, Eagles, Simon & Garfunkel to James Brown, Al Green, Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross... I mean at first I never understood what was behind all of it, until later.
Haha what a crazy mix to begin with right?? Inching a little taller, I also had some cousins that were leaving out of the New Wave era and moving into the Electro Funk era with groups like Afrikaa Bambataa, Cybertron, Al-Nyafish, Egyptian Lover and Trinere, so being exposed at a young age, gave me a large insight on a handful of genres. Haha believe it or not, I also had this phase were I was banging on everyone, so I had a lot of Bloods & Crips, Ice Cube, Eazy E and the rest of N.W.A bumping on a tape deck. It wasn't until high school that the Golden Age hit, and man that was it for me... you had all these emcees just getting creative with their cadence and delivery, and even if none of the tracks had an in depth point to it, but haha it was fun to listen anyway. I can say though, the golden era molded me the most.
So where are you from? What's your background?
Ahh it feels like you're hitting me up homie... haha naw but originally I was born in Solano, Philippines, then at like 1 came over to America. When we got here, I think my family first stayed in West Covina, then we moved to Gardena, then moved to Palmdale for a while, and then moved back to Gardena... so currently I'm in Gardena. My background is Filipino, although I don't look like one... but that remains to be seen.
What I like about your music is that it just seems "real" - in a way that it's just "you". How do you accomplish this?
Thanks again for noticing that. I really appreciate the deep analysis on the music and yes I can do is talk about my trials and tribulations. The way I accomplish this is by not looking at what I want, but what I have. I mean I can only emphasize the type of life that I am living. If I were to talk about all these other things, then you might as well put a platinum grill in my mouth also. I figure everyone has a different story, but only few heads are really willing to put the truth out there, regardless if it means putting themselves on blast. I learned that when you lift everything, meaning putting it all out there, you feel calmness, from all the burdens being taken off your shoulders. So the more stress and disappointments I have, you can expect to hear that released on track. Rhyming is my therapy, and with each track I make, one less reason to worry.
"Lover's Rock" has gotten some very positive feedback, what's the story behind that song?
Lover's Rock is me being a dreamer. I know I'm not the only one, but yeah I was in a relationship with this girl for about 8 years, give or take, and as much as someone would like to think everything is ok, it's not. Now I'm not going to get into intricate details with my past relationship, but it didn't work out. I'll be honest I had somewhat of a depressed mood for a while, and buried myself in drinks and everything, I shouldn't have, but I didn't know any better. So during Christmas of 2004, I spent some time with my fam in Danville, and came across their record collection. I asked my cousin if I can take a listen, then bam came across this sample from an artist, who I always forget... but I promise if it comes to mind, I can always let you know haha, but yeah after coming back, I brought that record to the homie DJ Kram and he just flipped it, and next thing you know I'm getting all sentimental trying to dream of how good of a person I would be with whoever decided to trust in me.
I'll be honest I did not like the track at first, cause it just sounded sappy, but everyone was digging on it... then next I get this homegirl June wanting to help out on the chorus, cause it lacked one for the longest, so she bust vocals over it, then there you go... upload it on MySpace, people dug on it, then this dude takes the track and flips it again to put it on YouTube, and it starts going off even more. It even had these kids opening up an artist page on MySpace saying it's them and all that, but all of sudden it's getting hits, so I mean I guess the kids were relating to it, being that it had that whole Slick Rick - Teenage Love concept and all, but hey whatever works right?
When did you get into hip hop? Do you do other forms like DJ'ing, Breaking, etc?
1993 to be exact... my cousins who got into the Electro Funk scene, saw 2 young kids eager to be in that scene, but could not get into clubs, so they invested in 2 Technics turntables and a Gemini PMX 200 mixer. Haha next thing you know, me and my cousin were digging for vinyl, doing house parties starting up our own party crew called Renaissance (RNS)... Good Times!!! I did that probably until I graduated from high school, then had this homie DJ Ever-ED from Head Hunters who introduced me to sniping. We actually worked alongside a promotion company called Geto Street... and it just brought me into a whole new realm. Next thing you know we're at all these spots getting in for free, cause we had mix tapes, CDs, stickers posters and all that to give a way. Sniping up on the streets... really being involved with the scene, and that right there showed me the true meaning of Grassroots Promotion.
Who does the production on your songs?
I have a handful of people that always offer, but the ones I would like to mention are DJ Kram, Kalamari, P1 Productions, Mike Phantastic, Oda Beats, Janky Gram, G1, iLL Subliminal, Your Average Crew & Yung Sosa. These cats are ones to be on the look out for. If they can make beats that cater to me, then they can definitely make beats that cater to anyone.
You released an album in 2004, how well did it do?
Releasing an album in 2004 was a blessing for reals. It was titled Simply Kept, and at the time I released it, I wasn't sure what to expect. I mean the budget wasn't really there to begin with. My aunt, actually was the financing person back then, but I was able to put out 1200+ copies on CD. Keep in mind I did not know much about the business side until recently, so I was sitting on these copies. When we started to do shows, I would just bring a box, just in case we were able to sell maybe a few here or there, then promoting to heads who I felt might take it to another level. I probably didn't know about consignment until I first put the cds into a store called Stacks in Cerritos owned by DJ Icy Ice. It was Ice and the store manager C-Los who actually schooled me on the whole consignment thing, but I mean for an independent project with least amount of promotional budget, I pushed out about 5-600 copies give or take, and was able to get it up on iTunes and all the other online retailers. I don't know if it's good, but to me, it was.
Compare that album to your new one "Tragedy of a Mind".
Tragedy of a Mind is everything after reality settles in. Simply Kept was more of a "if you keep it peace, there should be no need for anything wrong to happen", while Tragedy was the wake up call. Regardless if you keep it peace, something can still happen, which it did. This album is supposed to mark the first steps of transformation. It also was a way of indicating how a great mind can work. There was always this fascination with intelligent people of the world, and what their personal life was like. Come to find out that those intellectual people were a tragedy to themselves, whether they distanced themselves away from others because of their IQ, or just went crazy because they had too much information running through their head. In any case, this album was dealt with the same way. I had all these thoughts running through my mind, so instead of it taking the best of me, I released all the pain, anger, suffering etc... in the form of music.
Who/what are some of your musical influences?
You ready??? No order of course... Al Green, Isley Brothers, Joey Bataan, Brenton Woods, Elvis Presley,The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Gregory Isaacs, Don Carlos, UB40, Katchafire, New Edition, Debbie Deb, Trinere, Connie, Bad Brains, Circle Jerks, Sublime, Rage Against the Machine, Smashing Pumpkins, The Roots, The Fugees, Leaders of The New School, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Masta Ace, Pharcyde, Dilated Peoples, Hieroglyphics, Boot Camp Click, Davina, Erykah Badu, Common, Wu-Tang, Visionaries, Jurassic 5, Dr Dre, NWA, 2Pac, Snoop, Luniz, Color Me Bad, lol Brotherhood Creed, BBD, Toni Tone Tony, Kid N Play, Heltah Skeltah, Coldplay, Portishead, The Liks, Defari, Lootpack, Buju Banton, Roots Manuva, this is what I can think of right now.
If you had one word to describe your music, what would it be?
Progressive.
Are you doing any live shows soon?
Since I'm working on the Tragedy of a Mind, I'm waiting to start the shows, but once I get word that everything looks like its set to start pressing, you should see something real soon.
Thanks for doing the interview, any shoutouts you'd like to give?
Thanks for requesting the interview give thanks!!!... yeah shout outs to GOD first, my wife Charmaine Jane, daughter Jahnay I., my mom and dad and mom and dad in-laws, my brothers Jonathan and Jayson R.I.P my other sister and brother Joy and Chris., my grandparents, aunts and uncles...the whole Bartikada FAMBAM cousins, nieces and nephews, The Sanchez Clan, the family at F.A.C.C in Carson...my Pastor Joel Biangco & Family, The Jarmin Family, My Thursday Cell Group, My Toyota Family, OG Sound Proof Crew, Kalamari (One of the sickest untapped producers), DJ Kram, Ran-DOE (Keep an eye out for him), 50/50, Jumakae, CKU, Wave, Oda Beats, Jai Classics, Judy, Multidivers (Watch out for this dude too), P1 Productions (This cat is the business), iLL Subliminal, Renaissance Crew, Your Average Crew, Janky Gram, Mike Phantastic, all the homies that made Palmdale what it is. G1 and The Session A homies, Crooks & Castles, R.A.D, The Knowname Show, FILAMARTS FPAC, Bambu, Kiwi, Rosco Umali, The Simple Citizens, Earthbound Radio, DJ Ever-ED, DJ Joey Slick, DJ Frantik, DJ Concise, DJ Analog & Roselynn & the original 3rd Floor Radio, BP & Odds, Tatak Na Apat Alam Tribe, Siick Tattoos, DJ Icy Ice and Original Stacks, Aziatik Rhythms 90.7 FM, all the heads that ever came out to listen to the music, and all those that continue to support.