Hi K Rino!
Jai Boo.....what's going down!?
I'm fine how are you?
I'm good, I'm good!
You've been in the game for like over 20 years why did you decide to start rapping?
Just love of the art form, when I first heard the O.G's back in the day like Sugar Hill Gang, Grand Master Flash, Kurtis Blow up until the Run DMC era you know those cats were the people who motivated me. It was something I decided to do for fun but then you start getting kind good at it and I took it a little more seriously after that.
You used to rap with Preppy Jay and G.T under the name "Real Chill"?
Well yeah they came along a little later I started writing in like 83, I couldn't have been no more than maybe 13 years old. I met G.T probably a year later when I was like 14 at middle school and we just got cool after that, then he was cool with Jay. So I met Jay through him and you know we just formed a group in like 85/86. We became you know, like one of the first groups in the city to actually put a record out in the city of Houston.
What was the response like after being one of the first groups to put a track out and still being a pupil at school?
Well yeah it was cool for a minute it was like I said it was stuff that was unheard of at the time. Nobody was putting out records I was just somebody that everybody just knew that you could see right in school. This guy got a record out and he's sitting right next to you in Math class! You know? So that was something new, people took to it good, the record was a cool record for the time and we a got good response from it. But, it was a learning process because we didn't know anything about the music industry we didn't know much about recording, structuring songs and all that so we went through a lot of growing pains as far as the industry is concerned. We dealt with a bunch of record labels, deals that didn't go through, what almost went through, went bad, so it was really a good training ground for all of us. You know to really just get our feet wet in the game, and got our first introduction as far as how hard the industry was.
Whilst still being a member of "Real Chill" you founded "South Park Coalition". How did S.P.C come about and what was the main aim for the organization?
The S.P.C was really started because I was just wanted to have a unified squad of MC's. When I was at school I can remember the day! I was just sitting up in one of my classes just writing down the names of the rappers I was cool with on a list. At the time it might not have been no more than maybe 9 or 10 of ‘em, but I was like, "Yeah, that's The South Park Coalition" they didn't even know that they was being put into my clique! I told them! I'm like, "Hey man we the South Park Coalition!" So really at the beginning it just consisted of the MC's that I was cool with at my school. Then it branched out once I started getting in a lot more talent shows, getting round the city, meeting other rappers and getting cool with other rappers, anybody I got cool with it's like, "You in" you know? That's how it went!
And now S.P.C is worldwide!!
To date you've released about 20 albums with the newest release being Triple Darkness, can you tell us about the concept of each of the CDs?
The Triple Darkness series is what it's called and what I wanted to do was just drop 3 CDs, something that I hadn't done in my career. I‘ve always been consistent in terms of dropping at least 1 or 2 albums a year separately but I wanted to come with 3 back to back, with 3 different themes and 3 different concepts to each album. Triple Darkness is in representation of the womb of the Universe, that God created himself out of the womb of Triple Darkness and that's how I was trying to correspond it with the creation of this album, like, you know, just out of nothing to create something that gets a spark of light from my mind and put out 3 good projects. A lot of people, they'll say they coming with a triple or quadruple album and it's really not that, it's really an album and then it's a slowed and chopped version of the same album, then it's a DVD, you know it's not really a true 3 CD set that consists of all new songs on every CD and that's what I was able to do. Each album has its own personality and its own identity to it
What are the 3 different personalities?
The first one volume 1 was entitled, "Wreck Time" that's moulded in the traditional mould of all my other albums, where it's a diverse mixture of concepts and topics and just relatable songs that people can relate to, street topics, political topics, lyrics, all that. So it's just built in the same vain as my other projects.
Volume 2 is called "The Lyrics" and that album consists of just 110% lyrical songs. It's for all the cats who really are into hearing just a display of lyrical skills, that's what that album consists of. There's no street concepts none of that type of stuff its straight ripping on that album. Metaphysical, scientifical, lyrical, metaphorical, punch lines! whatever, anything that constitutes lyrics. That's volume 2.
Volume 3 is the family album it's called "Coalition Ambush" where I just brought in the clique and bought in a lot of the guys from The S.P.C and they either spit on songs with me or they contributed songs, you know solo cuts to the album that gave it that family feel. So, that's what it is.
Why did you decide to release them separately?
Well what it was, was a decision that was made at the last minute. Initially I was gonna release ‘em all at the same time but then I was like, well you know what? Not to be arrogant, but I just wanted to give everybody a chance to digest each one before releasing the next one. So, I dropped Wreck Time first and waited about a month, then dropped the next, then waited a little while and dropped the third one just to give everybody time to digest and basically respect people's financial situations too. Because with money being tight if I was to drop all those at one time it's gonna cost you $40 or $50 so I give everybody chance to regroup financially.
You're a very versatile rapper who always has good concepts and subject matters, what keeps you motivated and inspired to write?
Well it's hard these days! (Laughs) Back in the days the things that would keep me motivated was several things like, my competitive spirit, just the drive that I had internally to want to get better and want to strive to be the best I could be at it; was the initial motivation. And that fuelled me, you know for years and years. Then, when you start developing a fan base the motivation shifts because the fans start critiquing and they start judging and they start putting you in categories and they start saying, "Well, this album was good, can he out do it? Can he make one better than he made?" and such and such. So, then that becomes motivation to out do your own work! Then also just the fact that, you know you listen to what's out in the industry today and you want to be contrary to that because there's a lot of dissatisfaction in the game from the fans stand point because nobody is putting out any good music you know? For the most part there's still a lot of artists that are, but, for the most part it's about 85% garbage that's put out, so that's motivation! So, all those things mixed in with the fact that you do this for a living. (Laughs)
You've toured Europe and Australia and you're still an independent artist! That proves that you don't really need to be on a major label to achieve those goals. What has been your most memorable show outside of the States?
Definitely the ones you mentioned the Australian show and the show that we did in Helsinki, Finland you know? those were probably 2 of my greatest shows! If not THE 2 greatest, because the reception that you get from the people out there and the support that they give. It's rare for an artist from a major label to really come to some of those spots that I went to, so it's even rarer for an independent artist who is operating on a smaller scale to come out there. The appreciation and the admiration was at such a level when I came out there, because a lot of those people felt like we get the music, we order the music, we buy the records, but they would never in life get a chance to actually, you know, see come out there. That was really probably some of my biggest shows but I can't discredit some of the shows I've done in the States because I get the same type of appreciation from anybody that's a supporter of mine. I get the same type of appreciation and admiration and I appreciate it equally.
Every September you put on your own show called "The S.P.C Weekend" can you tell us about that?
Every September you put on your own show called "The S.P.C Weekend" can you tell us about that?
Oh the S.P.C Weekend was something we started it started by accident! I guess about 5 or 6 years ago some guys came down that were from the S.P.C website, just members of our message board and were dedicated supporters of the S.P.C. They just came down to Houston basically at the same time you know? D Nuts, my boy Johnny and those guys from Memphis they came down to Houston and just by chance while they were down here AC Chill was like, "Man, lets get the barbeque pit out man, get some food go to Macgregor Park and plug some music up and just have like a little picnic." And that's basically how it happened it was a spur of the moment thing and it ended up getting to the point where a lot of people showed up and everybody had a good time, we stood out there and performed and did it like that. So the next year we decided to do it again and we set a date for it and we added a concert to it where we would do a show that Saturday night and just represent at Macgregor Park that Sunday. I think it's like the 5th or 6th year we been doing it and it actually got bigger every year. Last year was probably the biggest and best year it ever was.
Yeah it was a 20 year celebration.
Yeah it was our 20 year anniversary and we really put a lot of effort into it and God blessed it to be a real special event. It was the biggest venue we ever rented out we packed it, it was full and people literally came from all over the country and all over the world just to be a part of it. You know it was really a blessing man, people came from just 10 or 15 different States and couple of countries, it was amazing we were blessed man.
You've got your SPCUK affiliate LATE, who you just did a collaboration with for his new album, would you guys be working on an album together in the near future?
Yeah we definitely been talking about it, me and Tricksta have been talking about getting down and doing a LATE, K Rino album and you know so it's gone definitely happen. It's a situation where all the work that y'all have been putting in for myself and for the whole South Park Coalition over in the UK you know I appreciate it so, without a doubt. Wolftown have been strong representatives of South Park Coalition over in the UK so yeah; look for that LATE, K Rino collaboration real soon.
With a lot of focus on the South and Houston what is the situations like out there at the moment? Do you think it's becoming a saturated market?
Well the market is saturated, but it's not that much that the market is saturated it's what it's saturated with. It's saturated with a lot of trash to be honest with you. You know you're sifting through a bunch of garbage and trying to find a diamond, and there's not many diamonds in the trash can. It's a lot of people out here doing music but it's a lot of followers in Houston, not just in Houston in the industry period. There's a lot of people that's followers that's just keeping their eyes and ears focused on the radio and the video shows and that's dictating what type of songs they make and dictating what type of image they trying to portray in their own careers instead of just waking up in the morning and saying, "Ok this is who I am and my music will be a reflection of that." I think that's what's killing the game because it's got to the point now where you hear one rap record and you done heard them all. You know I don't know how it is out there but if you at a club or you at the mall or just out in the streets or you go to a car show people put 10 or 15 CDs in your hand. Let me give you an example, if I go to a car show I might run in to 50 rappers out of those 50, 10 or 15 of them might put a CD in my hand, like, "Hey man check out my CD or check out my mixtape" and it's the same! It all sounds the same.
So, that's the problem you know? It's something where nobody is doing anything that tries to stand out or differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack. That's what made music special, when we was coming up you had a whole roster of artists that were out but they were all different, everybody sounded different. You know that when you got the Big Daddy Kane album it wasn't gonna sound like the Too $hort album. You know? So that was the beauty of it. But know everybody started doing the same thing, as soon as the beat comes on everybody, "Woow, hey, yeah!!" (Laughs) you know what I mean? It's like come on man! All the beats sound the same everybody rapping on the same beat! It's hard enough to sell a CD now it's to the point where, man I don't even want your CD for free! You can't even give away your CD because you've stagnated the game you've stagnated the growth of the game by not being original.
A lot of people have been saying that "Hip Hop is Dead" what is your take on that phrase?
I don't think Hip Hop dead I think that the people who are still representing Hip Hop in its true form are not being given the platform or given the opportunity to express it on a wide scale to where it can be exposed to the audience and to the masses. Because, there's a lot of people that are still going strong their still spitting real topics, their spitting hot lyrics and coming up with strong concepts, so Hip Hop is not dead in that sense. But, from an industry stand point, the industry put its hand in the game, and from an industry stand point it's on life support! Because, the type of things that the record companies are putting out, the type of stuff that the radio stations are playing, it's nothing that contributes to the growth and is nothing that contributes to the perpetual forward movement of Hip Hop, so in that light people look at it and say, "Well, Hip Hop is dead." But nah it's not dead! Then, on the same token the people who are saying that, you know? You have to make sure that number 1, you still representing it to the fullest and number 2, that you're not saying it because you've got hatred or you got jealousy or envy in your heart for another coast or another set of individuals who are profiting from it at a time when you might not be profiting from it.
With more people having websites and the networking sites like sites like Myspace, Face Book and Bebo etc, do you think it's got easier for an independent artist to get heard and promote their music?
Well it's easier because the power is in your hands now more so. It's taken a lot of power away from the industry people because, yeah you can set up a myspace page or website and just set up shop and sell your CDs on-line and expose yourself and promote yourself on-line to millions and millions of people. So, in that regard yeah it's easier but on the flip side you still dealing with the saturation factor. Because just like it's a rat race in the streets it's a rat race online too, because everybody still doing the same thing on-line that they doing on the streets! They just hustle in the streets by day and then by night they hop on the computer do the same thing. So the principles don't change the rules don't change you still have to have a strong sense of originality about yourself in order to stand out, but the internet and the on-line hustle have given artists a lot of power to take things into their own hands.
Tell us about your website http://www.southparkcoalition.com/
Tell us about your website http://www.southparkcoalition.com/
South Park Coalition.com that's the website that's the home base. Basically you know its home to every artist in The S.P.C. Any information that the fans might want to receive or know about any of the artists in the clique they can go to http://www.southparkcoaliton.com/ . The individual members have their own myspace pages of course but the home base is the website. We got a message board so any of the fans that want to come on and just comment and about SPC music or any music we got all different types of categories you can speak on. You can read about us, read about the history, we got bio's we got pictures, SPC radio it's one of the most extensive websites on the net so you get a full thorough understanding of what we all about if you just scan through our site.
So what next for K Rino and The SPC?
Urhhh I don't know, lately I just been chillin,' I've noticed a lot of people say they been seeing my on-line light on myspace a lot! I just been really taking a break just been chillin, 'maxin' and relaxin' not doing too much, a little recording here and there. I've been working with Rapper K trying to help him finish up his album and any features that I end up doing I do those and any shows here and there. Nothing in the works as far as an album right now, you know? anything could change but right now I'm just chillin' right now! (Laughs)
Well K Rino that wraps up the interview I'm gonna let you go back and chill!
I appreciate y'all keep doing ya thing tell the family I said what's up!
Peace
Peace
