CUSTOM MADE  (September 2006) | Interview By:

   

..........................................................................................

Interview was done in September 2006

Questions Asked By: Rud

Scoobs of Custom Made Gave Dubcnn A Shoutout, check that Here
 

..........................................................................................
 

Dubcnn: Scoobs, firstly thank you for taking some time out with dubcnn, always a pleasure to talk to you. For those that don't know yourself and the Custom Made collective, can you give them your background?

Custom Made is a five member collective from all over the Los Angeles area. Custom Made is composed of me, Bluff, Element, Six and Aneek but we also have an extended camp including Paradox, Lexus, Finesse, DJ Cass and Struc. We also got cats in the camp that don’t rap, but handle promotions and marketing. We got a large camp and we’re not just giving you a perspective of one area of LA. We’ve lived everywhere from the South Bay to South Central to Downtown to the Valley so when we speak on LA we’re talking all city.

Dubcnn: How was it coming up in underground L.A. where there is a steady base of artists?

Coming up in the L.A. underground was a straight grind. Especially since we took the mixtape route and it isn’t really a mixtape circuit out here. We had to do everything ourselves. People showed love along the way, but we had to build this shit from the bottom up. We were hitting the streets everyday, doing shows and trying to utilize the internet marketing as much as possible. This shit was a straight grind. There were times when it seemed impossible, but we don’t accept no as an answer. Giving up is the easy way out.


Dubcnn: Did you feel restricted in any way?

Yeah, it’s a lot of hate out here. Some people aren’t supportive of seeing other L.A. acts succeed. People in the streets have always showed us love, but when it comes down to cats in the industry, a lotta muthafuckas act like bitches. We got websites like dubcnn that have always showed love, but then you got other west coast websites, publications and artists that were acting like they didn’t believe in the type of music we make because it doesn’t sound like everybody else’s shit. Too many people try to pigeonhole L.A. hip-hop as only being gangsta rap. We’re making moves out here and some cats wanna act like Custom Made doesn’t exist. Fuck that! It’s too much politics out here. People need to open their eyes and stop hating. Let’s get this money. Fuck the bullshit. A lot of the mentality from the streets carries over into the industry and the way people do business out here. It’s all good because if people don’t wanna fuck with us then we ain’t fuckin with ya’ll either. We’ve always had the do-it-yourself independent mentality. This is the new era of L.A. hip-hop.


Dubcnn: What’s the feeling within the group about the underground/mainstream divide in L.A?

The underground/mainstream divide in the L.A. hip-hop scene is bullshit. It’s two scenes too L.A. hip-hop. You got the super underground/Project Blowed/backpack scene and you got the gangsta rap/pre-mainstream shit. We fuck with both sides of the spectrum. We don’t do that backpack rap bullshit, but we ain’t bangin on wax either. We do hip-hop for the streets, talking about our experiences and perspective of Los Angeles street life, but at the same time we’re real emcees so the music we make is a reflection of our skill level. You can find us at the open mic spots, cats seen us at Rehab Records catching ciphers, you can find Element battling dudes at Project Blowed. There ain’t nothing wrong with being mainstream, but we ain’t gonna make commercial records so we can become mainstream. We’re staying true to ourselves 100%.


Dubcnn: Do you foresee Custom Made unifying that gap by making the transition?

Custom Made is the best of both worlds. Our music isn’t super underground, but it isn’t commercial. It’s borderline both so our music appeals to a lot of people. We just make music and have fun with it. Our shit is authentic. It’s natural. We’re not setting out trying to make the next club hit or trying to sell a million records. We make music for us, we make music for the streets and we make music for the culture. This is real hip-hop at it’s finest. No gimmicks, no bullshit stories; its just music.


Dubcnn: Can you talk a little about your previous projects, their success and the feeling within the group on how they came about and were received?

Well we dropped our first CD, LA State Of Mind when we were in high school. It was only 10 tracks and we were only 15-16 years old when we recorded the album. We put it out independently and people loved it. LA State Of Mind is a critically acclaimed album and we were only kids. That’s where everything started. We were coming straight from high school to the studio and just making music. From there we started doing the mixtapes. Aneek dropped his solo mixtape of tracks recorded during the time frame of LA State Of Mind and then we started doing the Custom Made mixtapes hard. In 2005 we dropped Pillow Talk, Street Cinema: Live From Los Angeles and Street Cinema 2: Sin City. The Street Cinema mixtapes really opened the door for us. LA State Of Mind started everything off and showed people our potential, but when we dropped the first Street Cinema mixtape people really started paying attention to what we were doing out here.

The music was something different. We were rhyming on these super gutter grimy east coast beats, but we were coming hard and we were reppin LA hard. It was something different and people were feeling it. During the beginning of this year we dropped Street Cinema 3: The Blackboard Jungle. That was the mixtape that took it over the top. We worked with a lot of different producers from all over the world so it had a different feel. The Blackboard Jungle mixtape kicked the door in for us. It let people know that we weren’t going anywhere, that we weren’t taking this rap shit as a joke. Every project we ever dropped is like a photo album on CD. You can hear our whole life in the music we make. You can here the progression we made as artists and human beings.


Dubcnn: Apart of the underground scene is doing shows to keep the buzz going, how important are they to you and Custom Made really?

Shows are always an important part of the underground scene especially out here in Los Angeles. We try to do shows as much as we can, but we took a different route. A lot of L.A. artists do more shows than they do recording. It’s always good to do shows, but at the end of the day the only people that are going to remember your show are the people that were actually there watching it. We took more to the mixtapes because we felt it would put us in a better situation to have more product. Our product will last forever. Shows will only last for that night. When you have CDs in the streets, stores and on the internet you never know who will hear your music. The possibilities are endless. I have people hitting me up from all over the world showing love because they heard our mixtapes. Don’t get me wrong though, we love doing shows. We definitely have some upcoming shows planned and we’re in the process of trying to set up this tour so keep an eye out for that. I’ve seen a lot of artists like Stamina and The Crux get strong fan bases from doing live shows. We got nothing but respect for that because a lot of artists don’t have good stage presence, but their putting it down.


Dubcnn: Congratulations on inking with BabyGrande Records, a fantastic move by yourselves and thoroughly deserved...how did it come about?

Thanks. Well, like I said before The Blackboard Jungle mixtape is the tape that kicked in the door for us. People really started to take notice when we put that shit out. Babygrande heard The Blackboard tape and then they went back and did some research on us, listened to our other tapes and they were feeling what we were doing. They got at us on some business shit and we decided it would be a good move for both parties. They showed interest and they believed in what we were trying to do. It’s the perfect situation for us. Babygrande is a true hip-hop label. They know our music and they know how to market our music. Their hands on with the product and they allow us full creative control over our music. It was only right that we linked up with Babygrande.


Dubcnn: What was the reason that took you to them ahead of others, what have they offered?

They offered us a chance to make history. It’s as simple as that. They understand our music and they understand what we’re trying to accomplish. We sat down with people from Def Jam months before the Babygrande deal and they were talking bullshit. The A&R from Def Jam was a fucking joke. It was some cat that didn’t even understand hip-hop. He went to college to get that job and now he thinks he’s a hip-hop genius. Babygrande is hip-hop. We’re not trying to fuck with a major corporation who doesn’t give a fuck about us. Babygrande is hands on with everything they take part in. Most artists in L.A. don’t go the independent route. Too many cats out here have a Hollywood mindset. They rather wait around for a major label deal and then when they do get their major label deal their still waiting for their album to drop. Fuck waiting around, we’re trying to make moves now. We’ll have double or triple amount of product out before most of the cats out here even drop their first album. We’re trying to show people that you can grind independent in L.A. and make money just like how they do it in the Bay or down South. Babygrande is an east coast label so we looked at that as a plus too. Being on an NY label allows us to spread our market to the east coast instead of just staying in Cali. We’re not trying to be another hip-hop crew that’s only recognized in the Los Angeles area. We’re trying to take this shit worldwide.


Dubcnn: So the new mixtape Sidewalk Mindtalk is out next week, tell us about the release, was it ready before the deal or is it just been recorded over thepast few months?

Sidewalk Mindtalk is basically a compilation of all the best tracks from all the mixtapes we have done over the past five years. Some tracks couldn’t make the cut because of clearance issues, but the most important ones made the album. We also recorded seven new tracks and the album comes with a DVD too. The DVD breaks the history of Custom Made down and gives people a closer look at what we’re actually doing out here. It also shows people the real side of LA. LA isn’t just movie stars and palm trees. Sidewalk Mindtalk is a street classic.


Dubcnn: Can you explain the recording process for the group? Do you work together in the studio all the time?

We work in the studio together all the time. We aren’t one of those groups where everyone comes in and lays down their verses separately. When we hit the lab everyone is there. This is a creative process and we do it together. Our music is just natural. It’s authentic hip-hop music. A lot of the shit we record is just spontaneous. A lot of ideas just happen right on the spot. We don’t do a lot of planning. We do some basic planning concerning concepts, but for the most part everything we do just comes natural. When we go in the studio we get to work, but at the same time we have a lot of fun. The chemistry we have as a group is crazy. We have the illest chemistry because when it comes down to it we’re all friends first. Before the rap shit we were all friends. Custom Made is like one big family. If this rap shit ended today we would still be fam. We kick it together everyday, we went to high school together, and we’ve known each other since we were kids. This isn’t some label putting together five unknown dudes trying to make a hit rap group. This is the definition of a true hip-hop story. This is the story of five kids who love hip-hop, got focused and are trying to make shit happen. So much shit has happened over the years we could make a movie.


Dubcnn: How is it within the group when recording the project? What’s the feel and the vibe?

When we record it’s just about having fun. We’re perfectionists so we always make sure it comes out how we want it to sound, but we don’t let this rap shit get in the way of our friendship. In high school we just used to cipher and catch battles everyday for hours. When we should have been at school we were either rapping or running the streets so musically we built the chemistry together at a young age. We feed off each other musically. We never question each other’s verses because we know that when we get to the lab to lay shit down it’s gonna be hot. Most of the time we don’t write rhymes together, we’ll just throw on a beat in the lab and everyone will just spit what they got. Everyone in Custom Made is expected to come with the best shit they have because that is the standard we set for ourselves.


Dubcnn: BabyGrande are home to some fine acts, have you or do you intend to work with your label mates? Perhaps on a BabyGrande compilation?

Babygrande has an ill roster right now. We haven’t worked with any of the artists on the label, but we have a tremendous amount of respect for the other acts and would love to work them. We would love to work with GZA, Canibus, Purple City, Jedi Mind Tricks, Immortal Tech and Hi-Tek. Hopefully some of those collaborations could happen in the future. A Babygrande compilation would be sick, like how Rawkus used to do the Soundbombing albums. If Babygrande was to do a compilation everyone would have to be on the same page and committed to making it happen. I think that shit would be a dope project.


Dubcnn: The internet is immerging as a vital source for music promotion and I am aware the group has been readers of ourselves for sometime; is that correct and how do you feel about the part the internet has to play in the industry?

The internet is a vital source for music promotion because nowadays everyone has access to the internet. The internet allows you to reach people all over the world that you might have never been able to reach before. This is the new millennium and the internet plays a humongous role in society nowadays. Just look at websites like MySpace. Everyone and they moms is on that website so you’d only be hindering yourself too not use it as a promotional tool. You can never have too much promotion whether you get it from the internet or the streets. Dubcnn has always showed us love and we appreciate it. We need more sites like dubcnn that support all types of west coast hip-hop because people like ya’ll help encourage the growth of the culture by bringing new shit to people’s attention.


Dubcnn: What are your hopes for this latest project?

We’re just trying to grind and really show people a different perspective of LA hip-hop. This project is like an introduction to people who haven’t heard of us before and at the same time something nice for the fans we already have. We’re out to set new standards and break stereotypes out here. Musically the album is solid. This isn’t an album full of singles; it’s a complete album from front to back.


Dubcnn: What’s next for Custom Made? Future release, the album?

September 19th, Sidewalk Mindtalk drops in stores everywhere so that’s the next move. We’re also working on our official debut album, Fresh Out. It’s gonna be a concept album, almost like a movie on wax and of course we got some more mixtapes planned. We’re gonna be doing a mixtape with DJ Rokz from NY and you know we fuck with DJ Strong and DJ Warrior. Paradox is also working on an album called, Blessed by the Gods. We have a lot of shit in the works; we never stop working so expect a gang of Custom Made product coming. We’re about to flood the game.

Dubcnn: Can you divulge and production credits or appearances yet to be seen from the Custom Made group?

We’re down to fuck with anyone that’s on some real shit. We like to fuck with real emcees because that’s the type of music we make. Producer wise we fuck with a lot of young hungry dudes because their supplying the heat we need. Kayy from Australia is like the official Custom Made producer. We’re actually in the process of working on an album produced completely by him. He’s basically like what Alchemist is too Mobb Deep. He mastered the Custom Made sound. Just listen to the track Dawn he produced from Sidewalk Mindtalk. That’s classic Custom Made right there. We’re also fuckin with THX, Finesse, Infamous KATs, First Child, Charlie Brown, Tommi Law, Mic Entity, Battle Skars, Epic and a gang of other low key producers. If you got that crack just get us. We’ll fuck with anyone that’s on the same page.


Dubcnn: Who are you feeling on the coast right now in terms of new and old talent?

Right now from the west coast we’re feeling Bad Lucc, Damani, S-Mak, Watts City, The Crux, Stamina, G. Malone, Crooked I, Ras Kass, Yukmouth, Mitchy Slick, Cream Team Mobstaz, Dynamic Certified, Joe Styles, Planet Asia, Customer Service, Medusa, The Young Hoggs, Spice 1, MC Eiht, Kurupt, C-Bo, Scipio and Above Y’all Entertainment. It’s too many artists to name. We’re supportive of anybody from the west coast making moves. The talent out here is ridiculous. It’s too much shit going on out here for people too not take notice.


Dubcnn: Indeed it is, the talent pool is ever growing! Thank you for your time, we wish you all the very best for this release and for any future projects.

No problem. Thanks for all the support you’ve shown us and shout outs to the whole Custom Made Crew holding it down on both coasts especially Sen Six who’s serving a one year bid right now. This shit is for you homie!