DIRTY BIRDY  (September 2008) | Interview By: Javon Adams

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Interview was done in August 2008

Questions Asked By: Javon Adams

Dirty Birdy Interview Audio: Listen Here

Dirty Birdy Gave Dubcnn A Shoutout: Listen Here

 

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Dubcnn: Dubcnn.com with Dirty Birdy, how are you doing this evening man?

I’m good man


Dubcnn: Well I appreciate you taking some time out of your schedule to chop it up with us for a little bit. I wanted to kind of dive right into it. I used to live in San Bernardino myself for a few years when I was growing up. I didn’t get to experience how hip hop has grown in the Inland Empire but can you tell the folks about the hip hop scene in your area?

The hip hop scene in my area…to be honest with you (pause) it’s growing.


Dubcnn: You’ve been doing it for a minute and in terms of the artists coming up such as Lunch, who is from the Inland Empire and obviously yourself from San Bernardino/Inland Empire. Are you seeing more artists and producers coming about from that area?

Let me just say this, from the time I was a youngster there has always been a hip hop scene in the Inland Empire. There has always been a plethora of artists, producers and so on and so forth from the Inland Empire. I mean going back to JJ Fad and Rodney O being from Moreno Valley there has always been aspiring kids who have been trying to do something. Now whether or not we are getting the recognition…obviously of course we weren’t and its every time they think about the West Coast they think of L.A. or the Bay Area immediately. And understandably so because that’s where the West Coast gets it’s stamp from. We get our stamp from L.A. and from the Bay Area but just to answer your question, from where I’m from…I guess the reason why I say it’s growing is because of the quality of hip hop that’s coming out of the Inland Empire. A lot of aspiring artists, producers and emcees both male and female that are in my opinion are very very decent.


Dubcnn: Now your style, when you talk about the different artists in the area coming up your style is so unique. From the first time I ever heard you it was very attention grabbing. You have flow and that goes without saying. Has that always been the way that you flowed or has it been an evolution in terms of getting to what you felt was comfortable for you?

First of all thanks man but to be honest with you because of the way I speak and the way I write I have always written that way. Whether or not I have always executed it in the way I am doing now, obviously I haven’t because it’s been growing. I didn’t just get on the mic but long story short I have always rhymed in a way that was very articulate and clear and very precise. That’s just my sh*t. I’m just big on that but it hasn’t always been in the Dirty Birdy style.


Dubcnn: I got you. Because I’m an emcee myself and I think, ‘Man’. The process of you creating a song must be very interesting in terms of your vocabulary and the way you put your words together. Like I said, I definitely respect what you do.

Thank you man


Dubcnn: So who are some of your influences?

Some of my influences…to be honest I am an absolute music fanatic, right? I’m a music fanatic and it extends far beyond hip hop, however; I’ve been listening to hip hop since about ’79 when I was a little guy. So I have always been into it. The real though! The real, real though. So consequently anything that was original and real has served as a form of inspiration for me in an artistic sense. I draw inspiration from originality and from undeniable dopeness and I don’t care who it is. It could be a child that shows me, ‘Hey, check out this verse Dirty.’ Anybody that hits me up on myspace or that I have come across on my life travel and has shown me something that I thought was dope it served as inspiration for me.

So that made me want to continue doing what I was doing and expound on what I had already solidified in my opinion that was my style. I can’t really say it was just Kool G. Rap or just Chino XL or just Masta Ace or just Father Dom, you know what I’m sayin’? It wasn’t just those kind of people. Although those people made the reality of me possibly becoming somebody that everybody had the chance to hear. They made that reality that much more tangible. But it’s the people like my personal homeboy, who used to go by the name Lyrix from back in the day that was just bananas. I remember in ’87 him showing me a 100 bar rap without stopping. That was in ’87 and it was bananas with a plethora of metaphors and ridiculous sh*t that served as a form of inspiration for me.


Dubcnn: Nothing wrong with that. And plus those artists that you mentioned are not a bad group to talk about in terms of listening to coming up. Now you talked about drawing inspiration from a lot of different sources. I mentioned before that you have been in the game for a minute. You had a deal with a group that you used to be in called the Black Spooks. You’ve had ups and downs in terms of label stuff. Have you ever come close to saying that you’re throwing in the towel and this is it? Have you ever come close to that?

Man, hell yeah! Because at the end of the day I’m always going to be Kharee. That’s my name. I’m always going to be able to bust. I’m always going to be able to spit. I’m always going to appreciate quality hip hop. The game has gotten so utterly fuc*ed. It’s really kinda hard to get paid. It’s so saturated, you know what I mean? It’s really a lot harder than it used to be and just with the direction that the industry has gone in with what is considered hot…nobody is keeping with tradition. Traditional hip hop is like nobody really wants to hear it and I’m a traditional hip hopper. I like traditional hip hop. I respect the stuff that these other cats are doing like the younger cats and everybody taking it back to 1995 and ’96 for of production. I respect it because it’s them showcasing their interpretation of hip hop and you can’t sh*t on someone’s interpretation of hip hop. It is to them what it is to them but what fu*ks me off is that their elders and their peers that are five or ten years older than them that no better ain’t showing these ni*gas enough in order to help them keep the tradition.

They don’t have to sound exactly like or even close to the old stuff we grew up on but ain’t nobody keeping with tradition. With the exception of your Kanye’s and Lil’ Wayne is trying to… A lot of people love Lil’ Wayne and some people kind of say, ‘He ain’t all that. He’s too much this. He’s too much that.’ But personally I’m not mad at the little ni*ga. *laughs* Because he is spittin’! The little ni*ga is spittin’. Somebody told him when he was a youngsta because there is no way in hell he’d be rapping like that if they didn’t. I respect that he…for the most part that’s as much tradition as you’re getting in the game right now as far as people with a lot of exposure. So, I ain’t mad at the little ni*ga at all. I tip my hat to the brother and anybody that is doing it an able to make it in this game with that way this game is right now.


Dubcnn: It is definitely super saturated right now out there.

Yeah man, it’s fu*ked off but that’s how I feel about that.


Dubcnn: Now from listening to your music and getting more of the back story into the dues that you have paid, the words passion and perseverance come to mind. What word or words would you use to describe Dirty Birdy?

Entertaining. I would say that listening to my sh*t will make you say ‘Ugghh’ or you’ll say ‘that was funny’ or you will say ‘That was dope’ or say ‘That ni*ga is retarded!’ It’s going to be something but you’re not going to go, ‘That ni*ga sounds like he just started rapping.’ You’re not going to say that because it’s definitely going to be some sh*t that will garnish your attention.


Dubcnn: I think you have a high rewind factor in your stuff. You rewind and say, ‘Damn, for real?’ and you listen to certain songs and you pick up on stuff on the 5th or 6th listen that you missed on the first couple. That’s definitely a good quality.

Thank you man.


Dubcnn: On your bio you describe yourself as being just a 16 bar verse away from being a household name. That speaks again to that perseverance and that focus. Now at this point in that game what does success mean to you.

At this point in the game there is different forms. For me personally Dirty Birdy success was not having any cheese and making a record, putting it out on my label, getting distribution and having it drop around the world whether I sold one copy or 10,000 copies and looking at my son and saying you can do whatever you want to do.


Dubcnn: I like that.

Because I have sons and daughters so it was like a lot of times with black children people want to make their path more difficult by showing them images that might make them feel like it’s ok for them to act retarded. Or give them the idea that it’s ok for me to only give a fu*k about this or that. And the school system right now really dogs the black kids.


Dubcnn: It’s funny because when you have kids you start to pay more attention to the education system. I have two kids myself and it’s amazing how certain neighborhoods just don’t have up to date books and all that stuff.

You see what I’m sayin’! That’s what I mean so I just wanted to…it’s one thing to tell a kid, ‘You can be the President if you want.’ Or ‘You can be an Astronaut.’ And all this sh*t. I am it’s true because anything a person puts their mind to they can do but it’s another thing to be the parent of a child and for them to witness you not going to a 9 to 5 job every day. They witness you sitting in a room playing a beat over on repeat for like an hour and you’re just jotting down random sh*t. Then uttering it repetitiously and then coming home with a song of that sh*t that you were jotting down that they heard you doing over and over again. And to have one of their peers at school turnaround and say, ‘Your’re daddy is Dirty Birdy?’ That’s a big deal when you building it from nothing and it started as a thought in your head.

When you just got a beat from the homie and you sat down and started writing. So I can look at my son and say, ‘See? Anything you want to do you can do it.’ And for my son to call me from another place and say, ‘Daddy, so and so just bought your record at the store.’ That right there says to them that they can do it. ‘My pops did that and I can do anything!’ That was success for me.


Dubcnn: I like that. So what’s the latest with Dirty Birdy? Any projects we should be on the lookout for? What’s going on?

Me and my dude Dr. Stank are working on something real serious right now. Shout out to Dr. Stank, the Homeless Nation and me and my cousin Sly Boogie. We’re working on this PBG sh*t right now. I’m working on my Dirty Birdy Volume 5 mixtape. I gotta keep that raw sh*t coming. I’m really considering doing another Dirty Birdy album. For a while I was saying that I wasn’t going to do another album.


Dubcnn: Nah, you gotta do it man. You gotta do it.

I went through saying, ‘Fu*k these ni*gas they don’t appreciate real hip hop. Don’t nobody care about real hip hop anymore.’ But I’m gonna go ahead and take my thumb out of my mouth and quit crying and do that sh*t


Dubcnn: Any last words for dubcnn.com man? Let them know how to keep in touch with you via your myspace and all that good stuff.

Get at me on MySpace. Shoot a ni*ga your thoughts and let a ni*ga know what’s good. I’m looking for beats right now. I’m looking for like minded individuals that are trying to do what I’m doing in terms of looking to expand this thing. And I’m looking for a label home right now. I’m really…don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to seek out Def Jam but if Russell said tomorrow ‘Here’s a deal’ then I’d say, ‘Ni*ga yeah!’ *laughs* I’m saying that I would love to get a digital download deal and parlay the sh*t that I’ve done. And also be on the look out for this website I’m having built. I’m putting a website together and I’m going to more than likely put my entire catalog on there. About three albums and four mixtapes and probably 20-30 retarded joints. I’m gonna do that sh*t with y’all (dubcnn.com) and put some unreleased sh*t and fu*k with y’all on that too.


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