Veggies, Whiskey, and "Blah, blah, blah."

He said "Right across from White Castle," and there it was: Merlins, what seemed to be a shabby hole-in-the-wall bar in South Minneapolis.
Crista and I were on a mission: to consume cold beverages and to get to know a musician that has recently appeared on the radar locally, and since this summer's release, Recession Music, nation-wide.

We sat and Prof spotted the pair of out-of-place girls in a booth and he kindly joined us for a little chat. Soon into the interview, a woman approached our table
and offered our guest a paper bag of...vegetables? "Home grown!", she yelled over the boisterous live band and pub chatter, "Get some fiber in your diet, get your ass pumpin out that poop!"

Suddenly humored and well into our first round, we started the interview inquiring about the relationship between Interlock and Stophouse (Interlock was a well-known Indie label
with such artists as Kanser/New MC, Twisted Linguistics, Prof & Rahzwell, St. Paul Slim, Acoustic Beatdown, and More Than Lights whose artists abruptly dispersed into other projects).

Jamee &Crista: "SO what's the deal with Interlock and Stophouse?"

Prof: "Big Zach met Dylan Parker, who was the head of Interlock...with Mike Campbell. And you know me, Slim, Rahzwell got together. I met all those dudes and I was a part of Interlock and blah, blah blah. I think 3 years ago?"

C: So you were a part of Interlock, which desintigrated, and now you're in Stophouse.

P: "Stophouse is a different label with a different focus."

C: Who is officially a part of Stophouse?

P: "Myself and Slim, Rahz comes with me, and helps me do the live shows."

J: "Is the label looking to sign anymore acts?"

P: "We're looking to get new artists, but...no one's really good right now. We want really, really good ones."

We all laughed.


The conversation rolled off our tongues easily. Then I thought of my Lethalville friends and asked:

J: "So how did you get associated with Black Clover?"

P: "Soulcrate had invited me to do a show in Sioux Falls and we had a really good time," he said, grabbing a tomato from his bag, "They were just really, really nice and that hospitality stuck with me."

As he took a bite, his tomato exploded.

As he attempted to clean up the mess, he contined, "They were doing sold out shows, I was definitely fuckin' with 'em. Definitely planning on doing more with them."

J: So are there any more projects coming up with Black Clover?

P: "Actually myself and Slim just made a song with Mac." Crista cooed over Mac "Aww I love him!" As we all giggled he contined, "It's over a mainstream beat. Mac texted me sayin "DUDE! HOW FAST CAN YOU WRITE A VERSE!?" And I was like "Pretty fuckin fast, since most of my verses take around 15 minutes to write. I said 'Why the hurry?' he said: "ONE WORD: NIKE!" I'm not sure he was serious, but yeah."

We chatted about studio renovations, the niceness of Black Clover, and the bacon guys at Beerfest.

J: What is your story until now?

P: "It's like a lot of people's. South Side Minneapolis, sorta hood, not a lot different than anybody else. I don't go outta my way to call myself "underground".

J: Do you find the over-saturation of rappers in Minneapolis a way to step your game up, or is it frustrating?

P: "I'm not sayin 'Yo, I'm another white rapper. It's a good pedigree of people coming out of Minneapolis, I just want people to remember my music. Not my story. Blah blah blah."

J: I've noticed a bit of playful aggression toward women, epecially in Recession Music, and I wanted to know if being raised by all women affects you.

P: When I'm with my people I'm myself. I've got black friends, I've got white friends, and when I'm with my girl friends I might slap 'em in the ass and call 'em sluts. It's funny that comedians can play on all sorts of racist and sexist issues, but when an artist contradicts himself or says something degrading, he's in trouble. I'll say shit about guys, I'll tell rappers "I'll murder you." If a dude is a douche bag I'll let him know. I almost think it's sexist if you don't hold women to the same level. Once I try to be politically correct here, then someone will pounce on the time I said something different there. When I'm on the dancefloor, sometimes I want ten of the best models, a bottle of champagne, and a blunt." He continued: "Sometimes when I feel like partying, it'll be like that. Other times my girl is the only thing in the world."

C: I've noticed there's a lot of party music, and a lot of songs about your mother. I haven't seen "this is my story" or typical hip hop songs about your past.

P: "Uuuhhh I dunno. I got a song called Baby Jacob about me being a little kid and being on welfare and my parents split. "

C: Yeah there usually is one serious song and the rest are rowdy

P: I've seen a bunch of fucked up shit, but sometimes I just laugh. When someones pissed at me, especially my girlfriend, I'll just laugh cuz the whole thing is funny. It's gotten me in some trouble, but if you take life too seriously then fuck.

C: What's Gampo??

P: Gampo is a person, gampo is a way of life. Deep in South Side, Richfield," he was interrupted by drunken singing from our favorite Irishman(who is on Recession Music) , "when we were kids, one of my best friends. A friend in LA right now, he was CRAZY. He'd make people cry. This dude Gampo was just crazy. He would do he craziest shit I've ever seen in my life. To be pretty Gampo, I'd just eat someone else's food, take someone's drink here, climb trees when you're drunk.

C: How did you meet Rahzwell and Fundo?

P: I met rahzwell when we had the same class when 9/11 happened and we were all watching the tv. I turned to him and said "This is pretty fucked up" and he said "yeah man" and we just started talking about stuff. And he evenually started making beats and I rapped to 'em. We had a setup at my hosue- keyboard, computer, mpc. We got in a big fight and he went to Chicago for 8 months, we never talked. Then he came back and we..." The Irish man interrupts again, and we just can't help but listen to him speak.

P: " I met fundo through the scene, and Slim through Dylan Parker. There was a million people in Interlock and money everywhere, and Dylan helped us focus up."

C: I NEVER knew who you were before now.

J: I remember seeing you and Rahz back like 3-4 years ago opening for Golden.

P: "We used to be the one's getting in fights. Halloween one year there was a fight outside Dinkytowner at a show. Everyone's all dressed-up fighting in the middle of the street, I was swingin and there were hockey players and everyone had costumes and whatnot. I didn't know if I was hittin someone I knew. It was crazy. These days fighting in or around shows is real fucking stupid. Me and Rahz constantly find ourselves liking to on the road... you'll get someone coming up to you after shows sayin you aint shit, your a fag, or something stupid. That's when you got to check your situation, take a step back and realize that your in a very lucky position, your in a public position, and you got to let that slide. I cant tour the country on some crusade mission. When you think about it, the more people who know you, like you, love your music, the more people would like to fight you, or at least try to get you angry. You'll always get those one in a hundred. You just got to keep your eyes on the other ninety nine who are very happy to see you, and focus on those relationships."

J: What should we expect in the next year?

P: "We're calling the project Gampo 2 but it's gonna change. Really good rap, singing, good shit."

C: Everyone is saying Recession Music is one of the best projects of the year. What do you think of that?

P: I expected it. We worked really hard. We put in a lot of work.
We breezed through his CalSurf sponsorship, his sold-out show at Fine Line (CD Release Party) and his plans "To sell out First Ave. That's my goal." We explained Lovefest and our goals to expose our favorite bands/artwork/and interests through awesome blogging. Apparently he was a little intimidated:

P: Were you hurt when I called a woman a chickenhead?

We laughed, and Crista explained: I respect what you do, and I think "you know, he's doing something totally different."

J: I see a lot of insecurity in hip hop, where some people are afraid to touch the issue, and others like to slap the bitches up. Your music finds the middle ground."

Prof explained that in a previous interview, a woman mentioned that "A Month From Now" really hurt her. P:When you get someone who's telling the truth, whether it's good or it's "Fuck that bitch" people are shocked by that, but it's real. Know what? That's a good thing. I'm a painter. I like movies, and sometimes I like being scared, some things make me hurt. It's real. I don't wanna be politically correct all the time."

My inner artist geeked out. "So do you do art anymore?" P: "I love painting. I did the artwork for Recession Music, I'm the creative director of Stophouse." We talked about paints and methods and art history, and the conversation began winding down.

The rest of the night included Jameson, an interesting horseshoe-like game called Quoits, and erotic vegetable photography. One reading this might feel there is no shortage of ego with Prof, but even if that's true, it's well-deserved. Living by a work-hard-play-hard ethic has payed off for Prof and Rhazwell (as well as his Minneapolis peers), and in typical Midwest fashion: if nothing else, Prof can drink you under the table. Don't make him bring out the Gampo side...

Catch Prof & Slim at First Avenue with P.O.S this Saturday (10.24.09) ALL AGES!!

To download Recession Music Click here!

THE FAMOUS IRISH MAN!

Lovefest's "Disposable Camera Tour" Series Presents....

"HELLO BIG MAMA" TOUR

Fall '09

"PUT A BULLET THROUGH THE RADIO,
A MISSILE THROUGH THE TV;
IT'S OUR TIME TO EDUCATED CONSUME."

This fall sure was a great time for the Educated Consumers to do what they do best. In anticipation of their fourth full length album, "Hello Big Mama", the guys hit the road and had a few friends along side-- Dezmatic, Cubbie Bear, and Prolyphic -- to share the experience.

These fellas joined forces with Hiphoplovefest to bring you the very first tour of our "Disposible Camera Tour" Series. For the last half of the tour, they captured their behind scenes experiences on good old-fashion disposable film. From as far North as Portland, Maine, all the way down to our Nation's Capital, the east coast had the opportunity to catch an earful of some new tunes from the duo and experience a few of my favorite live acts out there!

Whether or not you were fortunate enough to have caught them this time around, have a listen to "Fake Limbs" (Free Dowload)-Cubbie Bear, Seezmics of Educated Consumers, Prolyphic and Dj Addikt- while they take you on a journey through the north east..

Needless to say, the Educated Consumers had yet another successful headlining tour.
To all involved, Seezmics is very thankful!

You can find the album

"Hello Big Mama" from Educated Consumers available now at their website.
They are also the current feature artists on Strange Famous Records.

Thin Ice

There are 52 days until the Copenhagen Climate Conference and this planet is on very thin ice with a very small window of opportunity closing at a rapid rate. We risk raising our planet by two degrees Celsius in our lifetime if we continue on this course. At that point we will be faced with catastrophic, runaway climate change. We will lose up to 70% of all species within our lifetimes. We will see sea levels rise 6 feet putting many costal cities from Miami and Manhattan to San Diego and Seattle under water. To avoid this, countries MUST enact treaties that legally bind us to reducing global warming pollution.

The Kyoto Protocol is expiring soon. Every industrialized nation signed onto this treaty . . . except the United States. The world is desperate for the United States to lead this time around and what better chance to make it up to the world than at the Copenhagen Climate Conference, but we cannot do it alone. We need the power of the people behind us.

When you look back through time people power has done some amazing things for the sake of humankind. Because of people power in the United States alone, I, as a woman, can vote for a black President, that believes in Global Warming. Once again it is up to the people to raise their voices so that we are heard as Global citizens. Our world leaders MUST hear us as this is the single most important fight that we are facing within our lifetimes.

Cuts have got to be made in the industrialized world. At the same time, however, we cannot demand change from industrializing countries without helping them. Wealthier nations must help poorer countries develop clean energy such as solar and wind instead of coal and oil. On top of this, most importantly, we have to address the deforestation of what is left of our ancient forests. The clear cutting of these habitats and oxygen sources are releasing more CO2 into our atmosphere than all the planes, trains, and automobiles in the world combined.

President Obama MUST go to the Copenhagen Climate Conference and he MUST start behaving like a leader, not a politician. A treaty based on appearing reasonable to lobbyists and industry is not going to cut it. Science has got to be listened to.

Those of us that work on these issues don’t work on these issues because we think we’re going to stop Global Warming. We can’t. We work on these issues for the sake of the fight, for the hope that we can stop the worst case scenario from happening and at least give future generations a better shot. I don’t know about you but my friends, my family, and my home are too precious to lose to Global Warming. This is the only planet we have.

Please join the international community in a Global Day of Action on October 24th. To find an event near you, please go to http://www.350.org/map

For more ways to get involved and take a stand please visit one of these sites or the site of an environmental organization of your choosing

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/
http://www.350.org/
http://en.cop15.dk/


(art courtesy of the lovely lovfest lady miss jamee.)

Dear Friends...

There are few things better than lazing around on a Sunday afternoon after a jam packed weekend of amazing people, music and food (shouts to my folks for hooking up the home cooking for a post bday meal last night.) I kicked the weekend off a little early by heading down to EQPT for the PRC fall release party featuring hot dogs, the PG boys and Sol. It was a beautiful sunshiney day on the Ave and it felt more like a mid summer barbecue than a fall clothing release outside EQPT. A little after 3 we crammed and squished ourselves inside for the PG boys followed by Sol on the mic. It was hot and cramped but the crowd was loving it as can be witnessed in the video below.

For those not in the know Sol will be dropping a free ep this week (10/14) entitled the "Dear Friends," ep so keep an eye on his website because you don't want to miss that. Grab "Cash Rules" leaked earlier today by Sol, here and Sol's debut release "The Ride" on iTunes now. Peep more video from the EQPT in store on our youtube page (as well as clips from the Graymaker album release show.)and subscribe to keep up with our most recent video uploads.

p.s. And that limited edition Sol shirt you saw featured in the Kubiview last month? You can still cop that via Sol's myspace before it's too late. ;) Enjoy your Monday kids.

Zombies are taking over!

With Halloween around the corner and the surge in Zombie related things, it would be appropriate that an album titled "Shopping Mall Zombie Music" would find its way to the public this month.

A friend to us ladies, Sleep Close Death, is releasing his "mixtape that doesn't want to be called a mixtape." This album, "Sleep Close Death Ray," is a compilation of older work that didn't make the cut on his forthcoming album(out later this month).

Sleep's birthday is Saturday, so everyone head on over to twitter or facebook and wish him a "Happy Birthday!" Oh, and download the album, free:


DEATH RAY!

We all have a Man Crush on him

A good friend to Lovefest, Type (of The Let Go) has given Lovefest permission to post a free download of his EP "Amateur Hour." This is limited, kids, so get on it!

DON'T SLEEP ON THIS