FATLIP & TRE (THE PHARCYDE) (October 2007) | Interview By: Peter Relic

       Dubcnn recently caught up with Fatlip & Tre, formally of iconic group The Pharcyde, for a brief interview to disucss their current "The Over 30 Dirty Old Man Tour" that has been ongoing during October. This feature is being provided by Guest Writer, Peter Relic having linked up with the duo beneath the skylight in the Delicious Vinyl boardroom to discuss the tour, the power of dreadlocks, and their memories of the late great Jay Dee.
 

As always we have the transcript for you to check and please feel free to send any feedback regarding the interview to: contact@dubcnn.com

 

Interview was done in October 2007.

Questions Asked By : Peter Relic

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TOGETHER AGAIN: FATLIP AND TRE OF THE PHARCYDE
by Peter Relic

Fatlip and Tre, the Ruffin and Kendricks of Delicious Vinyl's beloved group The Pharcyde, are together again. This fall, between studio sessions recording new tracks with original Pharcyde producer J-Swift, Fatlip and Tre are heading out on a barnstorming tour of the Western U.S.A. It kicked off on October 12th in Eureka, California, and raps up with a special Halloween's Eve show on October 30th at the House of Blues in Hollywood, "The Over 30 Dirty Old Man Tour" will feature performances of songs from The Pharcyde's immortal debut album Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde, its follow-up Labcabincalifornia, as well as Fatlip's The Loneliest Punk and Tre Hardson's Slimkid3's Cafe.

"Our performance is going to be off the cuff," adds Tre. "You never know what to expect. Fatlip is like Andy Kaufman, he might just read a story to the crowd, hand out glasses of milk." Fatlip nods and adds: "I've got about an hour of Richard Pryor routines I've memorized, so I might just do that." While anything is possible, the pair promises to perform a selection of the songs that made the Pharcyde famous: "Passin' Me By," "Runnin'," "Yo Mama," "Otha Fish" and "Bullsh*t." It's sure to be a dynamite night -- as Fatlip says: "We're arguably the two dopest MCs from the Pharcyde."

In preparation for the tour, Fatlip & Tre sat down beneath the skylight in the Delicious Vinyl boardroom to talk about the upcoming tour, the power of dreadlocks, and their memories of the late great Jay Dee.


Dubcnn: You're both looking healthy. Are you ready to rock this tour?

Fatlip: I love being on stage. To me it's second nature, because that's what I was born do. I was born to do this shit, I wait for this shit to happen. I'm either hanging out with a woman or I'm drunk or I'm on stage, otherwise I'm unhappy. But this is the two dopes cats from the Pharcyde getting together to do this.


Dubcnn:  So how's the stage show gonna work? Who's going to go first?

Tre: Fatlip's gonna start it, then we're gonna interlace the shit, he'll do a couple songs, I'll do a few. I just want to party. If we make it a party, we can fuck up and it's excusable. Our performance is going to be off the cuff. You never know what to expect. Fatlip is like Andy Kaufman, he might just read a story to the crowd, hand out glasses of milk.

Fatlip: I've got about an hour of Richard Pryor routines I've memorized, so I might just do that.

Dubcnn: You've got a Pryor streak in you. People might thing you're jiving, but you're not laughing even if they might be.

Fatlip: I listed to Pryor as a child, it just caught my attention, but the older I got I realized all things he was saying was the truth. Make people laugh to break 'em down to hit 'em with the truth. That's what makes something you say funny, right, is that it's true? Laughter is the soul screaming out, the soul acknowledging the truth. Give Quincy Jones credit for saying that first.

Dubcnn: Do you promise you'll do some Pharcyde songs?

Tre: We promise!

Dubcnn: So who's going to do the other verses when you do Pharcyde songs?

Tre: We gotta pull somebody outta the crowd to do some Pharcyde lyrics. Nowadays the crowd is so young that they know part of a verse, but it's all in fun, we can make it feel like a cipher.

Falip: To get hyper, I decipher I am the wiper of the diaper I kill you like a sniper! I get hyphy, I might be hanging tough with my wifey, I got a white t, a v-neck, I got three checks... [pulls checks from his pocket and waves it in the air]

Tre: Nothing makes Fatlip happier than a check!

Dubcnn: Fatlip what's your favourite Tre verse?

Fatlip: "Yo Mama" just the way he's coming out, he was killing it on that shit!

Dubcnn: Tre, what's your favourite Fatlip verse?

Tre: I don't even like Fatlip! [laughter] For me it's "The Story Of Us", that's a great song. Talking about the mother of his children.

Fatlip: Babymama stuff.

Tre: We got to stop saying "babymama." She's a mother. Not a babydaddy, a father.

Dubcnn: The new Compilation "Jay Deelicious: The Delicious Vinyl Years" has just come out, featuring Jay Dee's classic productions for The Pharcyde.
 
Fatlip: I was always cool with Jay Dee but I was envious of him, because he came along and produced 80 percent of the Pharcyde record when I was trying to be a producer, and I didn't have the skills like that. I had talent, but not like that. I'd play stuff for him and he gave me encouragement, he liked some of the stuff I did more than anyone in the Pharcyde or anyone else who was hanging around.

Dubcnn: Any other Jay Dee memories?

Fatlip; One time when me and Tre got into a fight in the studio over which sampler we were gonna use. It was the ASR or the Akai S-950, so we had a loop that we wanted to sample and I felt like we should use the ASR, Tre wanted to use the 950 cos that's what Jay Dee used, so we had a physical fight over it, we scuffled for five seconds, Tre was on top of me, I had the opportunity to kick him in the face but I didn't want to do that.

Tre: And that's how we made "Runnin'."

Dubcnn: Fatlip, how has having dreadlocks changed the way people act towards you?

Fatlip: People treat me like I'm deep. Like I took the time to grow dreads, I must be deep. Of course I am deep, it's just that other people didn't know it until I had dreads. I'm glad I grew dreads. The other thing I was going to do was cut my ear off.

Dubcnn: You what?

Fatlip: It was during the time that 50 Cent was blowing up, right, and he'd just got shot nine times, and that was the key to his success you could say, it was a big part of his story. And I was like damn man, I'm not hood, I gotta think of some gangsta shit, but I'm not gangsta. I wrote "Writer's Block" about that. So I was going to cut off my ear.

Tre: What, and say you got in a knife fight?

Fatlip: Naw I was going to do it not to be gangsta, I was gonna cut off my ear because that's what it takes to be a successful artist.

Tre: Fatlip Van Gogh?

Fatlip: Yes, as a sacrifice for my art. You have to have some personal trauma, it's essential in hip-hop. See, I could've been like 50 Cent but instead I'm sitting here at Delicious Vinyl still.

 

You can catch Fatlip & Tre wrapping up this tour on 10.30.07 at The Knitting Factory (main stage) in Hollywood CA