Interview With name (ft. Slim Fiasco)
01. I think this is a good time to start our interview man. So your thread about bringing TR down is now in full effect, do you think something will change? This forum does need a radical update as far as visuals go. We need notifications and more advanced design.
name: Nah, I don't think anything will change tbh. TRShady looks like the type of guy who's arrogant, he literally does nothing to this site, it's one of his many side-projects, and then he refuses to sell it for reasons that make no sense. When you Google "Eminem forum" this is the first forum to pop up, and seeing that Eminem is the rapper with the biggest amount of fans, that is pretty wasted potential. And the forum isn't empty because of no reason, Kanye West's forum (Who has a fanbase a lot less than Eminem's) is more active than Eminem's, that's just because it's properly handled. That's why I started the whole #TRdown thingy, the "#1 Eminem forum" deserves more effort.
And if TRShady is broke and busy as he is he would realize that a small investment in this can earn him a huge amount of money for reasons I explained/took from FreeSpeech earlier.
Slim Fiasco: Yeah, I mean, I don’t know much about him and I appreciate the fact that he’s created the site but the guy is nowhere to be found. And if he’s busy, that’s cool, but either deal with this forum or sell it. As it is, nobody is gaining anything and the site is stuck in the past. The “just wait for Em to release something” is a fucking bad cop-out and as you mentioned KTT (don’t classify this as advertising, mods), over there, people are far from waiting for a Kanye album. In fact, most people are probably not even Kanye fans to begin with, and the discussions are all over the place. Now, as I often say the preference for this forum is that the people feel like family of some sorts, and I really like most of the members I come across, but the family is getting smaller and smaller. TR is apparently holding to some weird sentimental values, like this site being his baby, well sir you don’t make a baby and throw it in a dumpster. You either care for it, or if you can’t raise him there’s always an option for adoption. And when that baby gets to a certain age, you send it to school and support it. Right now your baby is 15 years old and has failed the 3rd grade 6 times.
02. You’ve been here some time longer than me, and I remember that by June 2011 things were kinda better as far as discussions and presence of members go. I don’t know if me being a new member had anything to do with that, but some of that arrogance that you could sense is now missing, and I think some bad stuff need to happen in order for things to stay interesting. There was more trolling then but it was cooler in a way.
name: Indeed, it's like, everybody on this forum agrees with each other, being Eminem fans, they are attracted to the same type of music, if slightly different, but everybody can respect what others listen to. That's again due to the small amount of members, I think the forum needs some balance, like what Menzo said on the "Ban Ye fans" case, "Nah man, they can get on nerves sometimes but they play an integral role in the current forum", it's healthy to be on a member to disagree with everyone, that'll stimulate discussion. And it's also healthy to troll, because it's hilarious and it'll give others something to talk about, and it's also healthy to troll, it adds some fun to the forum. Now the discussions is just by the same 5 members and that's why people aren't so encouraged, cause they had the same debate before.
Slim Fiasco: Absolutely, one the most exciting things about being in a forum is when you go back and forth debating someone. The best outcome is obviously to agree to disagree, so there’s always the option of people being close-minded and the discussion going nowhere, but as you said, a healthy debate is fun and both sides can “win”. I think that the members reading this should be more open to new ideas and realize that our intentions are good. If I thought that you or dR3 are the only cool members in here (or vice versa from your pov) then I would’ve left this place a long time ago. Many members are awesome motherfuckers, and should keep in mind that avoiding some rules here and there, and making radical changes as far as changing visuals i.e. going against the mister TR himself, will be beneficial to everybody. Think about school, if you always respect the rules, nobody would skip classes or make fun of professors, and where’s the fun in that? Or if you always follow what your parents say. Never doing anything wrong kills the fun in things.
03. I was initially planning to start this interview with some bashing of members and the site, and I believe many people will take it more seriously than they should. Since you started the #TRDown thread, my idea can work I guess. Let’s bitch about something, you start and then I’ll add my thousand dollars (fuck 2 cents).
name: Well I have plenty to bitch about, TRShady's lack of a creative mind and how if there were elections no one would vote for him. Aftermathers' immortal presence on this site and how he has an infinite series of rhymes. Non-memorable posters. How the "Internet is your life" so-called "insult" is so irrelevant now and everybody stopped using it cause they all realized how stupid and how effect-lacking it is. But since #TRdown is intact, I'll leave it at that:
Remember when we requested the Fashion section? Everybody agreed, TR won't do it. Merging music/HHD sections? Everybody agreed, TR didn't do it because he "doesn't think it'll have an effect" to the site that he doesn't give a fuck about. Remember when we requested merging the Shady and Aftermath sections? Everybody agreed, TR won't do it. Life & Advice-esque section? Everybody agreed INCLUDING TR, he still didn't do it.
Such a lazy admin must be eliminated.
Slim Fiasco: To be honest my brother, I don’t remember half of those things, but my ignorance on the matter isn’t really an ignorance because I understand that TR has fucked a lot of things up. I did enough bitching in my previous points, but again, here’s another proof that confirms my claims. TR has consciously DISMISSED the members’ general opinions, and you guys feel like defending him? Where was TR when YOU needed something, he’s rarely stood up for you, and he deserves to be dealt the same way. #TRDownASAP
04. Ignorant/close-minded posters are so laughable, aren’t they? I remember the times when I was like that, lol. Some stupid shit I would say. I was way past that when I joined TR though, but anyway, do you remember your period of ignorance. I think such a background gives you even more advantages when you’re on an “ethering” mission.
name: Definitely, I joined here young as fuck and admittedly my period of ignorance was one of the most ignorant tbh. You know these people chanting "real hip hop"? I was one of them, but thankfully I've evolved into a solo and solid open-minded thinker, my taste of music changed drastically over the past few years, I've learned how unimportant rhyming is and I realized how stupid was my perspective of listening to music was. That changed a lot of things in my personality as well, that changed the way I do verses in CW (and made me rarely do it tbh), that changed my top 10 list drastically. So many rappers I used to listen to I don't know, and so many rappers I used to dislike I love now. Let's just hope the rest follows.
I always loved Kanye though. Gawd.
Slim Fiasco: You’re a smart ass motherfucker, and honestly it’s a joy to witness your open-mindness and growth (and same goes for everybody out there, online or real life that is always trying to become a better person). We’ve all been through the phase of ignorance, and the most important thing is to get over it, and many people never do. I did so later in life, you did so earlier, but at the end of day, it’s all good now. Keep it up man.
05. We’ll shift through bunch of topics. Let me bring the everlasting Kanye vs. Eminem discussion up. You know I love Em but his stuff from ’04 till present is generally horrible (in comparison to his earlier stuff). On the other hand, Kanye has been killing it for about the same time as Em’s been shitty. Do you think some people will ever learn that artistry and songwriting is very important? All these Kanye haters don’t even give him a chance, and they’re so butt-hurt it ain’t even funny (though it actually is).
name: I think artistry and songwriting is the most important aspect of rap music, and music overall, except the term "songwriting" might have different aesthetics in different genres. It's still the same result, great music. I like Kanye far more than I like Eminem in terms of rapping, because Kanye is a better songwriter than Eminem is, and in terms of how passionate he sounds, and his personality leaves a bigger impact than Em's. Plus his lyrics are more relatable to me. And most of the people who think Kanye is not a good "lyricist" are the ones who're looking for rhyme schemes. The same people will probably think Lupe Fiasco is a below-average lyricist as well. I might post the "drop a bar" line in Failure and people will say it's a bad line cause it doesn't rhyme more than 4 syllables.
It's about how you say things, it's more like poetry, when the words connect with each other and connects with the listener, that's lyricism. I don't care about how many words can you rhyme, I care about the words you use to form that line, make it interesting and present me something interesting to hear. That's all I care about. But of course you must sound good as well, chose a dope beat and have a great flow, and make your personality visible on the mic. You can be a good lyricist and spit the deepest shit ever but even I can say you're whack cause you don't sound good.
06. I wholeheartedly agree with your last point so I’ll just continue with another question. Do you think that all these Lil Wayne haters (and I’m picking Wayne as a random example) would actually go ape and hypocrisy shit if they ever met him and had the chance to have a discussion with him? It’s like, he’s a famous person, and I kinda think that most people would kiss his ass in real life.
name: I definitely think so, mostly because most of the offenders don't have the guts to direct it to his hate personally. Most just find freedom in the internet or real life but once they meet the person, and mostly if they like that person's personality, they will kiss his ass. I can't say the same if Lil Wayne turned out to be a shit person in real life, some people would get out of their way and tell him he's whack lol. But it's all respect when they first meet, no one would dare actually.
Slim Fiasco: Haha, yeah, that’s definitely correct. And I think it’s the reason why all these “credible” MCs such as Em and Tech are cool with him. They probably hate him as a rapper, but there’s always the chance that the guy may be a cool/good person. I know that Wayne had called Tech to visit him in prison, and how do you say no to that? If you say “nah man, fuck off” you’d turn out as a douche, and I don’t think that is hypocrisy but rather politeness and good manners. Though on the other hand, there are always some people that I wouldn’t give a fuck about. Like, if the cast of Jersey Shore was in prison, and they called me, I’d just say fuck off. Probably
07. Can you school me a bit on some of the history of TR (and therefore some other members/guests as well)? I don’t really know how that Canibus picture came about, all I know is dR3 had something to do with it, and who’s that Robot guy that people bring up. Was he some troll or something?
name:] Ahaha, that's cool. I wasn't around when the Canibus thing started, all I know is that he just posted the picture on a thread titled "HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK??!?!?!?!?!?!" (different number of question/exclamation marks of course) and it blew up into what locals call a "classic thread".
I wasn't around when the Robot incident happened too, he seemed to have hacked the forum at someway, he knew the password to some mods' account and started... doing things, lol, I don't really know the details. But I've got to know Robot in person when I was a member in StudioLeaks, he's actually a nice guy tbh.
08. Another shift in themes. Around the time we “met” on TR, we used to discuss basketball. How is that ish going for you? I know you were saying that you are fairly skilled, but often complained about courts being far away from your place (or something like that).
name: Yeah, I love basketball, it's my first love actually, I was fairly skilled (lowkey brag) and I'm only getting better when the time passes. Thankfully I'm not suffering from the courts being far away problem at the moment, it was a pain in the ass. So now I can practice everyday, and I'm trying to find some ways to step my game up even more, I got to know some better players and I'm trying to learn some more stuff, maybe even sign up for teams and shit. I'm always looking to improve, even if I'm good at the moment, I try to become better and better.
It's the GOAT sport afterall, and admittedly one of the few sports I'm good at lol, I don't know how to play (association) football, I don't know how to play volleyball etc, but that's mostly because I never was into them, I never like these sports to consider improving on. Not as much as Basketball.
Slim Fiasco: That’s cool then, good lookin’ out! Basketball is my first love as well, but unfortunately I never got to practice it professionally and everything I know, I know from watching stuff and simply playing. With that in mind, I think I’m great, but if you compare me to some players who have been trained, then I guess I suck, haha. But yeah, it is the GOAT sport. There’s always something going on, but I have to admit that its greatness comes from the NBA greats. If it weren’t for them, the sport would’ve never reached these highs.
09. You mentioned having changed your mind regarding musical acts that you like/dislike. What about movies and video games. Any new favorites or some movies that you used to love but having re-seen them, you now cringe or something? Also, what are some of the films/video games that you most look forward to? And on what platform do you play video games?
name: Not really tbh, I don't remember a movie that I changed my mind completely about, even comedy films, and video games as well. Even if some games are for younger people like Crash and Rayman, it's always good to restore some nostalgia by playing them, which makes them pretty enjoyable to me. Same with movies, sometimes it isn't because I like a movie, it's because of the time I was in when I was watching that movie, brings me good memories.
10. One of the things that we both like, and that we like a lot, is Lupe Fiasco the god himself. Give me your personal history with Lupe, and later I’ll add mine. Let us know what was the first song you heard, how does his music make you feel, favorite pieces of his music, when did you really start understanding how good he actually is i.e. when did you start grasping his real strength – complexity? You may also speak on Lupe the person, and what do you think of him outside the music.
name: Aww, Lupe. The first time I've seen Lupe was in 2006-2007, I was watching Wild 'n Out, in the Talib Kweli episode (I still remember every bit from it, he ether'd everybody out there). At the end of that episode, came Lupe Fiasco to perform a song, that was Kick, Push, I instantly downloaded Food & Liquor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex_bPuRhYws
That's how I got to know Lupe. He's now my 2nd favorite rapper. His music connects with me on a level that's so deep with songs like Letting Go and The Coolest. Some songs are just thought-driven and interesting as fuck like All Black Everything and Double Burger with Cheese (Which made me watch about 6 old movies JUST to fully understand it, that's a big effect).
And then you have the complex Lupe the Killer tracks, which I grasped just about last year, my first one was when I watched the Dumb It Down video on TimesNuRoman's great ass channel where he breaksdown some insane Lupe tracks. Now every time I listen to a Lupe song I search for hidden signs of genius. But I don't neglect what Lupe says, in my opinion he's the most well-rounded rapper, he's the most versatile and he's the one who connects with me the most. Jay-Z is my favorite rapper, but it's only a small distance between him and Lupe. I can't wait for Food & Liquor 2.
If I met Lupe I'll probably shower him with questions, how did you manage such will power to stay clean while you was raised in the ghetto, how did you become a Muslim, what's the secret behind the F&L2 all-black cover, his opinion on some rappers and singers. Lupe is such a nice guy who truly cares, you can see it in his interviews and hear it in his music. He might come off a little 2preachy to some, but that's only because he cares. He's a great human being.
Slim Fiasco: Talib is dope, and that’s the first time I’m seeing that video, shit is dope as fuck. He killed it, lol.
The first time I heard Lupe was back in ’05 on the Most Wanted soundtrack but I only thought that this guy sounds cool. I didn’t even know how he looked like or something. I must have seen Touch The Sky video at the time but wasn’t aware of the fact that that’s Lupe. Thing is, I didn’t have internet at home by ’08 and I was missing on A LOT of stuff in-between. I’m actually surprised about how much I knew, given that I didn’t even have cable tv which meant no MTV/Vh1 so the music I knew was from video games and friends passing me shit.
Long story longer, I really got into Lupe in ’08 and have been a stan ever since. I discovered about his complexity in late 2010 and it was through that same channel, hahah. The guy has dope videos. It was very refreshing to know that I loved Lupe so much without even knowing how good he really was. Then there’s RapGenius (I even became an editor there) which helped me to understand those aspects of lyricism even better.
The list of favorite MCs is a bitch. I always want to consider the times when I was stanning a rapper in order to make an “objective” list. In that regard I have Lupe behind Eminem and Big L, but to be honest I often find myself listening to his music more than that of the other two. I guess it depends on the periods.
Yeah, Lupe is a great person. Not that I agree with everything he says, he can be annoying at times but I’ll always be thankful for his input in my life. When it comes to my favorites, I always explore beyond the music and am interested in interviews, concerts and ish like that.
11. Any place(s) in the world that you really want to visit?
name: Hmm, difficult question as there are a lot of places I want to visit. But mostly I want to visit Italy, I'm like 25% Italian therefore it's definitely a priority to visit the country that I have roots from that I haven't been to yet.
Other than that, Canada, France (Mostly cause of the Lovre museum and Eiffel Tower), and Pakistan.
Slim Fiasco: I’m not a fan of Italy tbh, but the destinations sound cool. I’m a USA fan boy so it’s L.A., NY, Las Vegas, Chicago, and Miami for me.
12. What’s your favorite TV show and why?
name: In terms of TV shows I was always a fan of those investigation series' like NCIS, so if I had to pick my favorite TV show I'll choose The Mentalist, the personality of Patrick Jane is interesting as fuck and the show has its good amount of comedy to match it's other dark side, it's an amazing show. After that, probably Scrubz, and after that NCIS and other detective series. Honorable mention goes to House.
Slim Fiasco: Awesome! My favorite show is The O.C.. It may look like a generic MTV bs from afar but it’s actually a dope show. At least the first 2 seasons, season 3 and 4 kinda sucked. Reasons I love it is Adam Brody and the character he plays, he’s one of my favorite actors and I feel like I’m the Hip-Hop version of Seth. The chemistry among the actors was great as well, especially the Seth-Ryan friendship and Sandy and Kirsten as parents (excuse me for naming characters @ those who aren’t familiar with the show). The show aired in my country a bit later than in the US but it worked well for me because I was basically the same age as the characters, and some of the shit was relatable. I also love the setting, since California is like my favorite place on earth and of course, the hot chicks were nice to look at. And the music was alternative which made the whole show a mockery of popularity, in the sense that the main characters were put in a lame surrounding but they themselves were real. People who wouldn’t give the show a chance don’t realize that the show is on the same side as them.
13. There’s this phenomenon regarding rating rappers. Some people may not like (but not necessarily dislike) a certain MC but in a surrounding where other people do they seem to find the x artist overrated and say ish that is borderline hating. I’ll bring up Kanye again. I’m not asking all the members to love him as much as #teamyeezy does but to say that he sucks is outrages. You can elaborate on this, and then I’ll add more observations and arguments.
name: I think people who are liked are talented in their different way, and when people drop the term "talentless" most of the time they acknowledge the talent, the just don't care about it. I think people calling any rapper "overrated" is ridiculous cause obviously a lot of people are into him, you may not like him or maybe you like him but don't see all the hype but to others he's worthy of the praise, not to sound like I'm obsessed with semantics cause it's mostly used as a language and I used it a lot. But I'm speaking if someone is meaning the term.
Such as Kanye, people say he's overrated as a rapper because he's not "technically good", since when is "technically good" is describing a specific skill in rap? To others technically good might mean rhyming big syllables, to me "technically good" is making interesting shit, to you "technically good" is about the artistry of songwriting and poetic-ness of it's phrasing (For example). You can't really criticize anything on a technical level just because you don't like it.
Maybe I sound like a hypocrite, cause most people just ignore this to spark a discussion, I mean, if I kept following what I actually believe in, there will be no point in debating anything, I'll say something sucks just to stir some discussion, so maybe all I'm saying is be considerate, you can often see why people and what kind of people like something, so instead of plain hating, respect, and start a discussion instead of blindly hating on everything that's liked, accusing it's fans of stupidity while they're laughing at your close-minded stupidity.
Slim Fiasco: Yeah, I just think that people need to respect rappers they don’t like. Or whatever it may be. Kanye is obviously talented and saying that he sucks is a wrong statement. A rapper who sucks is Soulja Boy not Kanye. I’m not a Tech fan yet I am able to recognize his skills and even if I think some people “overrate” him, you’ll never see me bashing him. People should also realize that the personality of an artist shouldn’t be swapped with the artist’s music, and if the guy is a douche he can still be a good artist. Also, you always have to remember what that artist does for the culture and how he tries to contribute. Kanye has been pushing boundaries, experimenting with his sound and obviously has love for his work. The fact that he did 80 early mixes of Stronger says enough. I’ll end this with a video from the awesome guys @deadendhiphop - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boL1iuqnAms
14. Females. I discussed this in the previous issue so I’ll leave all the space to you. Tell us something about how you perceive the female’s psychology, and say something that you dislike about their tendencies.
name: I'm not gonna act like the wise guy here cause I'm not, a female is too difficult to understand. No matter how hard we try we'll probably never understand them. Every time I try to come up with a full-plan of attack I'm countered with something completely unexpected. That's how complex they are.
The thing I hate the most that girls do though is how they deal with mixed feelings, they'll give you signs and the minute you face them they back out. Hmm, did I just got into the friend-zone-trap? I tried to do the same trick on a girl once for humor and she lashed out on me, lmao. Females, man, I got a lot of different stories and rants. It's still better than going solo though tbh.
15. You’re known for the one line ethers (as coined by dR3) and shit can be really funny. I think your best one is the latest one, about Mona Lisa and Boston Celtics caps, I was literally laughing out loud the first couple of times I read that. Do you take pride in these ethers/one-liners, and what’s your favorite one?
name: Hell yes, tbh. Instead of writing a long page of "ether" with different insults and shit, the one-liner is the best method, it's hilarious and it's hard-hitting. Something I learned from the forbidden forum. It's fun, it takes no effort, it's no serious, all it takes it creativity.
I still laugh at those I directed at *****.
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:hah:
16. Any fashion advices for the TR community?
name: I'm the most fashionate ***** breathing on this site if Trimss/Rev/Alm/Blu hold their breath.
I don't have anything tbh. Perhaps I'll advice people to experiment with different styles, try different things, have some versatility, I know it sounds like a CW feedback but I'm serious, maybe it's because I don't have anything though. Oh and avoid them baggy ass clothes.
17. As I always ask, let me know how you like this magazine, this interview, and do you have any suggestions for improving it?
name: The magazine is perfect at it is imo. But I think the best advice to present right now is to do more "special editions" like this one. You're creative as fuck so you'll know what I mean. Maybe introduce some new things, too. I have nothing in mind though.
Keep up the good work bruh, you're the GOAT member.
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Thanks a lot bro, it was great having you in this issue, you're the GOAT as well, and I'll have your advice in mind
