Dubcnn What's up Dubcnn, this is Jose and I'm here with Gold Chain Military, what's up guys?
Gold Chain Military: What up?
Dubcnn: Alright, so first off, everyone go around and introduce yourself.
(Top Right): I go by the name of Planet Asia and Medallions.
(Top Left): Montage 1 Firearms.
(Bottom Left): Sav Kills.
(Bottom Middle): Tri State AKA Merit Palms.
(Bottom Right): Ben Euford AKA Killa Ben.
Dubcnn: Alright guys so you just dropped the album what like a week ago?
Montage: Yeah Chain Of Command. Gold Chain Military right there for you, pick it up. Best Buy all that.
Dubcnn: Dope. So tell us how this whole process has been with you guys. You got people from 3 different places, some dudes from New York, you got some dudes from L.A., and you got some dudes from Fresno? So how did you guys decide to come together and work on this?
Tri: Actually first before we continue, we just wanna say free Killa Cali.
Group: Yeah, free Killa Cali.
Tri: Shouts out to Turban who couldn't be here with us today.
Asia: We came together, well I think you got that story Killa.
Killa: Yeah, basically we've all known each other for a long time and just felt the same way about the state of Hip Hop. We come from that era, where we really respected the golden era of Hip Hop thus the name Gold Chain Music. me and my brother here (points to Tri State) done various projects me and Planet Asia i've known him when I did projects for Dr. Dre when he was livin' next door to me. We just start talking about doing a record that would be crazy like real Hip Hop, not caring about where they tellin' you what not to do, not really concerning ourselves with gettin' record spins or anything like that just really giving it back to the art form of Hip Hop.
Montage: That got the best verse.
Killa: Yeah. You know lyricism, and I'm not talking about the backpack rap that sometimes gets confused with street Hip Hop, because Hip Hop is from the street. So we just got together, and decided we're gonna put it together so (points to Tri) you wanna go on that?
Tri: Yeah, I mean basically our pasts come together naturally, Sav knew Planet Asia, they done worked before previously, like Ben said to reiterate, we were in a group put together by the legendary King T from Compton, called Buford State and during that time is when he sort of introduced me to Planet Asia and they was already screaming Gold Chain. So thanks to King T and that group Connection, we was able to bring us soldiers like Montage 1.
Asia: And we all knew Montage individually.
Tri: The guy's from Fresno obviously. You understand Planet Asia is from Fresno.
Asia: Me and Turban, repped it to the schoolyard, a lot of y'all out here on the West Coast know what's up with that. So I kept Turban with me, and we been runnin' ever since the beginning of Gold Chain Music.
Dubcnn: Alright so you got this album that just dropped, tell us musically, you were talking about the golden era of Hip Hop, Gold Chain Music, what's the concept behind the album? As a whole, unified?
Sav: Well you see the signifigance of the gold chain and that era, you see what it stood for. When you see a rapper with a gold chain, you knew that, that was something that represented that point in time, it was fresh to have gold chains so it was some time listening to Hip Hop, the chain is strong you know what I mean? So that's basically what we represent.
Montage: Also dude, I wanna say that it just stands for a comeptition era, like everything I came from, it was all competition, it don't always have have to be bad. But that's how you keep your blade sharp.
Sav: It was about styles, it was about originality.
Asia: It was about courtesy, cause you couldn't just walk down the street with a gold chain at that time. You had to have respect. It's lyrics first, everything else is secondary, we MC's, all of us. We put it at work to a chain of command, a chain of command that rep the MC's of the golden era. If you notice, we rhyme a certain way, we don't really rhyme the 1,2, 1,2 that everybody else is doing, ours, we got a swirl to ours.
Sav: It's more feelin', it's more passion, it's an aura to it, you know what I'm sayin'?
Asia: Flavor. Tha's why when you get the album, you get the beats from Large Professor, and Alchemist, Babu, Master Craftsman, Jazzy Bodo, Dirty Biggs, Thayat Sar, Architect, Universal Subjective, Jake Drill, Evidence, it's just real Hip Hop.
Montage: This no an album pro, ain't no charity yes man beats, ain't no all ya'll the homies, either you good, good enough to rock on our shit or you ain't. We got songs about us, so what does that say?
Dubcnn: Alright so there's 5 of you guys, everybody's got their own style coming to the mic.
Sav: There's 7.
Killa: Yeah 7.
Dubcnn: What do each of you guys bring individually that makes the Gold Chain Military? What's everyone's style and angle?
Montage: I fuck with machine gun rap, you know what I'm sayin'? The clip gets hot.
Asia: I'm the colorful dude, color.
Killa: I'm Ben Grimm, I'm knockin' walls down. I'm goin in.
Tri: I'm the 22 of this whole thing. I'm more of the diplomat, the silent assassin type.
Sav: I'm more aggressive like some animal rap, I can bring some. I can bring both ways.
Montage: He got the chocolate honeys right here.
Asia: That's the sound of the album.
Dubcnn: So you guys are hookin up RBC for this one? How did you guys link up with them? there giving you some obviously major distribution, getting to Best Buy and all those places, why don't you tell us about it?
Asia: Well due to the fact that the cat that actually managed me before all this, Walt 247, he already had a relationship with Bryan Shafton and Ben and everybody over there. From back in the day working with Mystikal, and I put out an album with RBC The Jukebox Sessions album. We just cool man, those guys over there, they understand what it is, they understand where music is at like now. So that was a smart move for them to do that. They not just jumpin' at what's hot right now that's not gonna be out tomorrow, they here for the long term, so I can respect that. We started from a grass roots level and a grass roots label.
Dubcnn: Exactly, so that's the thing, now you've got people like RBC who are letting people put out records and you got the internet, and you got all this shit, you don't need to go to Interscope or WB or whatever. So what do you think about that? What's your guys' take on that?
Tri: Actually, that is a wonderful thing for artists like us because of this culture. We come from where the culture is created from. We started at the beginning, it's the golden era, its the gold chain, so for artists like us who the "industry" part of the game has kind of killed the presence of those artists. So we kind of like reviving that, that's what the chain of command is, we're restoring tha whole enegry it was a void. Well it wasn't really like a void, yeah it was a void but the kinda tried to slow down the artists who are creative, and that's why there's a lot of clones basically. there's tons of clones in the game now cause that's what the industry wants us to program.
Montage: Best thing is, though, we can actually say as a group is that, we wrote this song, this song, that song, this son, that's why I'm in, I don't give a fuck about nothin' else. This is why I'm fuckin with them right now, because we have control, we didn't have control in the 90's.
Asia: Real talk. We do what we want, that's why we get different projects, different artists, we ain't gonna get no stagnition with this, you gonna get the music you deserve. Major labels mess artists up, they fuck up the creative aspect of the music and everything. They actually stop tours you know what I mean? Your favorite artist gets signed to a major label and you won't even see him on the road no more. We about that road cause we artists first, we eat off this music so we want ya'll fans to have our music. It ain't that we ain't workin hard enough, we want ya'll to have our music. But due to the, how would you say it, lyricism thing critized by the critics, you know what I mean? That era's over with now, you lookin crazy if you can't rhyme, you gonna have to get out the way now, back in the day they wasn't in the way cause they was payin' their way, now they in the way cause you can't pay your way no more. Get out the way for Gold Chain Military cause we ain't playin' this rap. If you not a rapper or not an MC and you not about that then OK, get out of our sport, cause this is our sprot right here.
Dubcnn: So with the album coming out just recently, what are a couple of tracks you guys are pushing hard to really get the word out and on the streets? I know you shot a video recently, what other tracks? Any one in particular you wanna shout out?
Asia: we got Pleasure and Pain out there, that becomes my favorite at times, we got the Alchemist joint.
Tri: ALC, GCM and ALC.
Asia: Yeah there we go, we shot a video for Chocolate Honey's today, Saddam's Matchup will be at ya'll next week so.
Tri: It's, you know what it is? As artists we're so happy that we had an opportunity to come together with the production, the producers we had a chance to work with. We are blessed and we love everything that we came together to create, it's hard to pick one song, it's like when you have children, you can't just say, well I love my daughter more than I love my son you know what I mean? So that's what this album is like to us. All the songs are our babies.
Asia: Pushin' the movement, it's a brand you know what I'm sayin'? Gold Chain, it's a brand, and it's a military group within that brand that keeps everything in order. 'Cause it's gonna be more attachments to Gold Chain Music, this is the military though, this is the school, this is the certain cloth. This group right here is a cloth, a certain cloth, you have to be a student of Hip Hop for a certain amount of years to even rhyme our rhyme or conduct yourself the way we conduct ourself.
Montage: We're very fuckin' gifted.
Dubcnn: Alright so tell us about the movement, tell us about the album. It's in best Buy, it's online, tell us all the info.
Tri: goldchainmusic.com first and foremost, you can stay linked to the chain, always make sure you stay linked to the chain. goldchainmusic.com, like you said Best Buy. RBC is a wonderful distrubutor.
Sav: Underground, underground hip hop. ughh.com.
Asia: Dubcnn!
Montage: If you wanna hear some phat beats then pick it up you know what I'm sayin'? Phat beats.
Sav: Phat Beats L.A.
Tri: FYE, Aviva, Amazon, it's everywhere.
Asia: But if you can't get it, go to itunes, you know how it is find us off of itunes, we need those sales because, that's what keeps Hip Hop goin' man. We can't keep bootleggin' our own coast you know what I mean? We the only coast that does that, you not gonna find no Garth Brooks burnt up out there know what I'm sayin'?
Montage: Or them Talkin Heads know what I'm sayin'? What's them fools' name? They actually released an album on purpose and said, "Ok just donate." motherfuckas still donated a gang of money.
Dubcnn: Radiohead.
Montage: Radiohead! So I'm like c'mon man you can do that here, I know they aren't the brokest genre but damn man.
Asia: Support the fuckin' music man. Get these albums you know what I mean? Gold Chain Military. I mean when's the last time you had an album with that many producers, and that many MC's?
Killa: Yeah man, time will show, that records gonna live.
Asia: Forever.
Killa: Be a part of that.
Asia: Straight up. I'll say that this is the first record that I actually listen to by myself all the time and it stays in mine. I don't listen to myself that much, but this is the album that I listen to all the time. I listen to that album like I don't even know us.
Montage: Nigga you don't know us.
(Group Laughs)
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Related Media & Links
Gold Chain Military - Pleasure & Pain
Gold Chain Military - GCM Meets ALC
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Gold Chain Military // Video Interview // Dubcnn
Download The Video Interview Windows Media
Download The Dubcnn Drop Windows Media
Press Play to stream footage (Fast Connections Recommended)
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