Footage of Sick Jacken in the studio recording a track titled “Metal Rain” which is produced by Big Duke. Word.

Peace to Sick Symphonies

Psycho Realm & Co. have launched an official blog á la Soul Assassins. Check SickSymphonies.com/blog for your regular dose of politicallly dark and sometimes conspiratorial hip-hop with a tinge of apocalyptic spirituality and counter culture materialism. Being from New York I remember how hard it was to get copies of their unreleased cd comps about 10 years ago or so. Even Napster was weak on Pyscho Realm from my memory. But what I do remember is that they were one of the first “underground” groups to have an official site. I think it might have been one of my first online mail-order purchases actually. I look forward to the direct access to their world perspective and more nuggets like this one. Peace & respect to Big Duke.

Sample Clearance

I used a break in this Queen song for “All Along The Watchtower”, which you can find on the Unreleased EP that’s been floating around the underground for about a decade now. It didn’t make the first album because Queen wouldn’t clear the sample. The reason being Duke’s line “they want me lifeless I might just/kill everyone of those faggots like a virus”. They took it personal because of what happened to their lead singer Freddie Mercury, who died of bronchopneumonia induced by HIV back in ‘91, one day after publicly announcing that he had the disease. We didn’t mean no disrespect Freddie.

Queen – Jealousy

Psycho Realm – All Along The Watchtower

Visit them at divineforces.org

Hosted by Divine Forces Radio’s Fidel Rodriguez, various artists drop some knowledge on issues the community is facing. Appearances by KRS-One, Supernatural, Brother J, M1 of Dead Prez, Psycho Realm, Dilated Peoples, Asia One, Jurassic 5 & Immortal Technique.

Really interesting interview with Cypress Hill frontman B-Real. He talks about a new Cypress album, working with Psycho Realm and being a Babalawo for the past eight years or so. That basically means he’s a priest. Go figure. More power to him though. Link

I have a relative that’s a priest of Santeria, I remember reading an article on you in the 90′s that said you were considering to become a Babalawo.

Oh no, I am. It probably said that I considered, but I was already a Babalawo when that came out.

Is that still an active part of your lifestyle?

Yeah, pretty much. When you get involved in that, it’s the responsibility you take on. It’s hard, especially when you’re an entertainer or in this business, you don’t have a lot of time to do a lot of the practices. But yeah, I’ve been a priest for eight years now, seven, eight years. Something like that. It’s a part of a culture as a Cuban, being a Cuban, my family in Cuba was into it. I wasn’t that into it coming up as a kid, I didn’t know that much about it as a kid, I would only see through other people what it was. When I got older and started seeing and hearing different things, people would pass on knowledge to me about things. Then eventually it called to me. When it called to me, I had a choice to either ignore it and keep doing what I was doing, or to embrace it and go forward. I decided to embrace it, and I’ve been practicing ever since.

So that’s from the Afro-Cubans in your family.

It’s from my mother’s side of the family, my father was Mexican. They weren’t…. (laughs) that side of the family wasn’t too into that kind of stuff. Mostly Catholic and some Christian. My mother didn’t even really get into it until after I did. One of those things.

Some people can’t get over that I have relatives who sacrifice animals.

Yeah, its something that not a lot of people would understand or get the gist of. Most religions, whether they’re organized or however they categorize it, they do some sort of sacrifice at some point in the year. That’s most religions, you just don’t hear about it because they don’t speak on it. Obviously there’s politics involved. But with the Yoruba, with Santeria or Ifa, however people are calling it because everyone has a different name for it, it’s not necessarily considered an organized religion. Its makeup, I don’t know if it offends people, but it scares people, they make a big deal more about what we do than what anyone else does. That’s kind of unfair, but it is what it is and you deal with it. But we have laws to protect us, because its not like no animal cruelty. The animals are being taken care of, the way they are sacrificed is in a humane way. Its for a spiritual purpose, people can think what they want. It took me a minute to get over that part of it. It’s just something that some people are gonna understand and some people will never understand because they don’t want to. We just gotta keep it moving and do what’s best for you.

Brownpride.com hooks us up with another cool interview. Link

You are the mysterious one of the clique? Why do you always wear a mask during performances and photo shoots?

DJFM: I never knew or cared whether we would be famous or not, but I knew I never wanted to be a celebrity. When I’m off the stage I like my privacy and being able to chill with my family in a safe and peaceful environment. Plus, although we don’t preach revolution in our music or claim to be righteous, we do have a soldier mentality so it seemed only right to rock the gasmask, or the ski mask.

see also:
Legend Of The Mask and The Assassin [trailer]
Dj FM, Big Duke, Sick Jacken In-Store
ThaFormula Interviews DJ FM Of Psycho Realm/Sick Symphonies

Really glad to hear Big Duke is doing well and that he’s staying busy with several projects, most notably a Spanish album by Sick Jacken. He’s also thinking about rapping again, which I would most definitely look forward to. Interview Part One, Interview Part Two (via)

When you got shot back in 1998 it left you paralyzed. What went through your head when you were told the devastating news?

Actually, when they told me that I wasn’t gonna be able to walk and talk anymore, they had me on so many drugs that it didn’t register in my head right away. They tell me that there’s a big possibility that I might regain movement someday, but they didn’t know when. They don’t understand how someone that caught a bullet to the neck and had their main artery severed can still be alive today. There was literally a fountain of blood shooting out of my fucken neck. They also told us that I wouldn’t make it past that night, but I’m still here.

Family and friends kept me from feeling down when this first happened. When I had the strength and I was able to think clearly, being involved with our music helped keep me occupied and not get stuck thinking about the situation that I’m in. Right now, I’m looking out for my girls and making sure that they’re good keeps me strong and motivated to do everything that I’m doing. Our fans and soldiers also keep me strong and focused. I don’t have time to feel down and depressed, they won’t let me. And I also would never do that to them. People in my situation should find something to do: a job, write a book, travel, to keep themselves occupied. If they just sit there thinking about their physical condition and get all sad and depressed, they’ll start contemplating suicide. I know it’s hard but, get over it and keep living life.

see also:
DJ Muggs Scoring Movies, Sick Jacken Releasing Album In Spanish
Psycho Realm – Psycho City Blocks / Stone Garden [videos]

Tell us about a typical recording session for you guys in the studio…
DJ Muggs: I’m not a beatmaker. I don’t make beats and try to sell them – I collaborate. I have artists come in, play them an idea, and if they like the idea, then I finish it. I take it to where it needs to go, I’ll get it to about a half-way point, and then he’ll rhyme on it, and then I’ll finish the beat. I’m a collaborator – I make albums. I come from a time where all the best groups were self-contained. Public Enemy made their own music, EPMD did their own shit, Gangstarr did their own shit, Dre did his own shit. So, I’ll sit down with Jacken, I’ll play him an idea, and he’ll go “I like that!.” So then he’ll start writing to the idea, and I’ll finish it up a little bit, get it about halfway done. Then he’ll rhyme on it, and he’ll leave and I’ll finish the beat up after I tailor made the beat to what he wrote. So we’re not just throwing a beat together, we’re vibing. Everything flowed really fucking good man.

What are you working on after this project?
Sick Jacken: I’ve got to do a Spanish record after this. I’m doing a 100 percent Spanish album. I’ve got two Spanish cuts on this record just to kind of set up my Spanish album. But I’ve got a full Spanish album coming. The fans have been asking for it. Both of these albums are coming out through my label. I’ve got a label through Universal called RMG, Rebel Music Group.

What’s going on with Angeles Records?
DJ Muggs: I don’t know what I’m doing with that at this point. I put that on pause for right now. It’s too much work for me to market, promote, direct and do all that shit. I’m doing an album with Planet Asia right now. Me and Planet Asia got about 8 or 9 songs done. “DJ Muggs vs. King Medallions.” So I might put that on Angeles, [or] I might find another home for it. Right now I’m scoring this new movie, this movie called “Nightwatchmen.” It stars Keanu Reeves and Forrest Whitaker and it’s from the creators of “Training Day.” That should be out in February. David Ayer wrote and directed “Harsh Times.” I did about five or six scenes for that. He liked the way it went, so he called me up to do this with an actual composer to work together in the same room. Dave’s cool, he just says “Go ahead, do what you want.” There’s a lot of tempo changes. If there’s a scene happening, and the car speeds up and shit happens, you don’t realize the tempos will change 20 times in 35 seconds. I’m humbling myself – I’m coming into the game brand new. I’m just keeping my ears open and my mouth shut. I just absorb it and it’s fun to me.

see also:
Legend Of The Mask and The Assassin [trailer]
GRANDGOOD Audiocast Volume 091107