Hip hop music had a universal fiber when it was-in the spirit of MTV-brand-spanking new. Hip hop was sung and chanted. Hip hop was more than just music. It was a style: a life style, a spirit, a feeling. Today's hip hop has lost a little of its elegance and originality mainly because artists exaggerate the "money, hoes and power" stereotype. There are a select few who remember hip hop's roots and its intentions. There are a select few who are still accepted when they remove their headphones and backpacks and don the pink fur, ice the grill and jump in the Range.
2NR: What influences did you take from the Bay to Los Angeles?
KMK: I think the people in the Bay are pretty open-minded about stuff. I think they have more of a kick-back vibe. It's a more eclectic scene.
2NR: What's good about commercial hip hop?
KMK: I think it's fun. You can go to the club and party. The videos are pretty funny. It has become a big parody in a way-a parody of itself.
2NR: What's good with less-commercial music?
KMK: It presents something in a different way. In general, but not all the time, it's truer to the original form of hip hop that came out in the '80s. That's what I grew up on and that's probably my strongest influence.
2NR: Who is a commercial hip hop artist that made it from from the underground?
KMK: Xzibit.
2NR: Dilated Peoples?
KMK: They're trying to. They haven't quite done it yet. If you've gone gold or platinum, then you've broken out-like The Roots, Mos Def, Talib. There are groups who keep to that style and eventually break out and reach a bigger audience.
2NR: Anything good or bad about that?
KMK: It's bad when you alter your style in a way you don't like. If you don't mind so-and-so singing on your hook and you like the way the song comes out, then that's fine. But if you're doing it just to sell records and you're not happy with what you've made, then it's a problem. It's a personal thing for the artist. They have to live with themselves, what they're doing, and what they're representing to the world.
2NR: What have you done that our readers might not know?
KMK: "Work the Angeles" by Dilated Peoples. They probably blew up from that song. It put them on the map. Kool Keith and I toured with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I did some remixes for The Beastie Boys. I did a remix of "In the End" for Linkin Park that was basically the most-played off the Re-Animation album.
2NR: How did it feel to be involved with the success of those projects?
KMK: I thought it was cool. First of all there are a lot of popular and successful artists who are fans of my work, but there aren't too many who have reached out to me and asked me to work with them. So I feel good that Dilated and Linkin Park reached out. You never know, Britney Spears might be a big Kool Keith fan, but she'd never admit it and never ask us to do anything.
2NR: The relationship between you and Kool Keith was strained at one time. Now you've released Diesel Truckers together.
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