LUNCH  (May 2008) | Interview By: Javon Adams

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Interview was done in May 2008

Questions Asked By: Javon Adams

Lunch Interview Audio: Part 1

Lunch Interview Audio: Part 2

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Dubcnn: Alright man so what’s up? We sitting down with Lunch Dubcnn here we go. So tell me a little bit about yourself man?

Lunch man you know I’m the General. My crew is Homeless Nation. I’m from the I.E., Inland Empire the city of Moreno Valley, you know what I mean? I’ve been doing this hip hop thing for awhile man trying to benefit off of it, you know what I mean?


Dubcnn: Yeah

But little things and keep pushin from there man. Throughout the West Coast

Dubcnn: You said you reppin’ the Inland Empire Moreno Valley. So I know there has got to be some folks trying to put it down in your area so what makes you stand out from those other folks?

Well you know, um I believe in consistency also the material the music material you know what I mean? And the angle I approach the game at is a little slightly different you know what I mean like I’m a hustler. I’m a grinder, I hit the street hard the way I look at the situation is totally different probably from the average cat rappin cat. You know I put the blueprint out here in the I.E. we don’t have nobody successful from the Inland Empire from this area and you know especially not Moreno Valley that has been successful on the music side.

You know I’ve been out for awhile I sold over 100,000 units independently, you know what I’m saying? Out the streets you know different ways over the course of the years. Songs on the radio and all that good stuff. So, you know just that, my stats alone separate myself from everybody else. But, you know it’s more like I’m setting the blueprint for cats in my area about how they should do it and the best way to do it so they can be successful.


Dubcnn: Ok ok, now I read somewhere where you said that, “In order for the west coast to have success that we have to support our own.” Like, right now are you feeling the support with what’s going on with your music right now?

Um a little support but no not, not 100 percent like support. Like the cats that I know, my homies that’s in the game, we supporting each other but we support each other its from afar type of situation.


Dubcnn: Right

But I believe it’s not our fault. I believe it’s the cat that came before us fault, you know what I mean? Because we trying to figure it out as we go along. So we don’t have no blueprint so now we have to set up a whole new blueprint on how to do it, what it is going to take to do it, and then do it. So, you know what I mean so we got to take like ten steps back to even get going you know what I’m sayin’ to even be a level game. So like we have to take ten steps to be even and ten more steps to get ahead, you know what I’m sayin? So its like hard work


Dubcnn: Yeah

I feel like from the artists to DJ’s to managers to A&R’s to labels and all that we need more hometown support, support each other. That’s the only way to get our sh-t back going.


Dubcnn: Now, now do you think that this is an accurate statement? That there is a lot of folks that you know. For example, say one emcee is tight, another emcee is tight ,like yourself and all of a sudden you start to get a little more notoriety. And instead of just saying, “Good job! You doing a great job, continue doing what you’re doing” they just refuse to give you, or acknowledge you or give you your props. Is that what you think is going on a lot too?

Yeah, that’s definitely what’s going on. Especially on the west coast because we got the mentality like everybody wants to be that n-gga, you know what I’m sayin? But the reality is everybody ain’t that n-gga.

Like people look at the Lakers. Everybody can’t be Kobe. Somebody gotta pass it to Kobe so Kobe can shoot the ball, you know what I mean? But on the West Coast everybody is trying to take that shot. Even if they don’t have no good jump shot. Like, people, we all need to look in the mirror and be honest with ourselves. What position do we really play in the role of West Coast hip hop and team up and go from there. But it also takes a sense of security within yourself to be able to do that. The average n-gga can’t do that. He can’t be honest to himself, you know what I’m sayin?


Dubcnn: Yeah, I got you.

Out here I get the little negativity from the I.E. but that’s because they all want to be Lunch. You know what I’m saying? They hear Lunch on the radio [and say], “Well, why Lunch is the only artist, IE artist on the radio?” They think somebody picked me out of everybody. Not knowing the channels I went through to get there, you know what I’m saying?


Dubcnn: Yeah. Those overnight successes are sometimes five years in the making.

Exactly. Exactly. So, that’s the problem, that’s the West Coast mentality and that’s where it’s all messed up at. Only the strong survive. And the real gonna eat. And Lunch is gonna eat. By any means necessary. Ain’t nobody gonna stop me from eating.


Dubcnn: *laughs* Ok, Ok. Tell me a little bit about your Homeless Nation movement. I was looking on your website and I saw, it looks cool. Tell dubcnn a little bit about Homeless Nation.

Homeless Nation, man, it’s a crew from the I.E. Also Watts. We been grindin’ for awhile man. Different members. I’m the General. It’s like a West Coast Wu-Tang type of thing. And, you know what I mean, you got different artists: The Gambit, The Bump, Dirty Birdy, Big Steele, Diamonique, Yung A. We’ve been putting things together man. We’re like solo artists and group artists and we come together like a Wu-Tang thing and make Homeless Nation.


Dubcnn: Right. And that’s your label right?

Yeah, that’s my crew and that’s my label.


Dubcnn: Ok

No different from Ludacris and DTP, Jay-Z and Rocafella, 50 and G-Unit. Same type of situation.


Dubcnn: Right. I got you. So, a lot of people, especially on the east coast you hear “This is a movement.” What does “Movement” mean to you?

A movment, to me. 1st you have to come together in numbers. Everybody on the same page and going for the same goals and bring something to the table that hasn’t been brought before. And the reason I say it’s a movement is because, there’s a couple of reasons. One, from the Inland Empire we don’t have anyone that’s successful at a high skill being from the Inland Empire. So that’s one step. We bring a whole ‘nother market, another situation to the table to the hip hop world coming from the Inland Empire. Two is, me I’m not no gangsta rapper. I ain’t never gangbanged before in my life. Like me, growing up if you wanted to be a gangster you either claiming red or blue then you a gangsta. You know what I’m saying?


Dubcnn: Yeah

I ain’t never claimed red or blue. Do I have family members? Yeah, plenty of them. Family members that claim red and blue. My homeboys, all day. Some of them I hang out with, them my n-ggas. But I ain’t never claimed it. So I’m not no gangster so gangsta rap ain’t coming from me. Am I influenced by it? Heavily influenced by gangsta rap, but I’m not no gangsta so you can’t call my music gangsta rap. You know what I’m sayin’? So that’s another part of the movement.

Being from the West Coast you either got you either got your gangsta rap or your underground rap like Pharcyde. I’m neither one of those. I’m not deep underground either. I fall somewhere right in between both of those. You see what I’m Sayin’?


Dubcnn: Right

There’s a big skill between those two. And that’s Lunch right there.


*Temporary operator error that required a 15 minute intermission)


Dubcnn: Alright, we back after user error. So, I wanted to ask you real quick how did the Ray J song come about?

The Ray J track? How that came about was the original version of “Get ‘em Girl” was kickin’ up a lot of dust and we were doing our thang. Then it came to like a plateau. So I was looking for a feature to add something to or a new single, whatever. And I ran into Ray J. We ran into each other at a convention in the Bay Area. We were just small talking like, “We gotta hook up and do something!” Ray was like, “Fa sho!” We exchanged numbers and all that.

So I was just trying to think, like let me see and get Ray on this new verse of “Get ‘em Girl”. And it was perfect timing because he was just getting into the single, the “Sexy Can I” single. It hadn’t even really hit radio yet. Ray was in New York like, “Yeah, let’s make it happen. Let’s do it as soon as possible cuz this single about to take off!” So I was like, “Ok, fa sho!”

I was trying to get T-Pain on it or Akon also. But with Akon it wouldn’t be able to get released until next year because of all the singles he’s already on. So it was going to be more red tape but I was dealing with Ray J hands on. Know what I’m saying? Also, he’s from the West Coast too. I hit Ray J and he hit me back so I’m like, “I’m going with Ray.”

Ray came down, he came back from New York and came down to the I.E. and we made it happen man. And it’s a wrap.


Dubcnn: So I see the song getting momentum. You’re getting spins on a lot of station. Did you ever envision that, you know, when you first wrote the track? Did you envision this kind of success?

Uh, yeah. Yeah, I did that’s why I didn’t leave the single like I was saying from the original version. I didn’t think it had maxed out to the point that its supposed to max out to. That’s why I went back and put the Ray on it and tried to give them the visual with the video. Cuz you know a lot of cats are doing songs and they got the hook on it. But the fact you saw how Ray was with me and we were making it happen you know? They see the chemistry of the song and I think that was very important as far as the video thing.

I believe this is a Summer banger. This is going to be that Summer banger. The females, that’s going to be their song like “Get ‘em Girl!” We hustlas we going out to get it. You know what I’m saying?


Dubcnn: Yeah. Speaking of that, I read where you called “Get ‘em Girl” a breath of fresh air for the West Coast. Why did you say that?

The reason why I said that, man like I said it goes back to something new. A whole new flavor. A new sound. A new face. A new voice. Everything. Just something new. We hittin’ like Pac with KC and JoJo with “How Do You Want It?” Know what I’m saying? That’s the feel. Know what I’m sayin?


Dubcnn: Gotcha

We ridin’ like this some type of new West Coast stuff. It’s West Coast but, man a new sound. It’s the evolution and that’s why I consider myself the evolution of West Coast hip hop. I’m where West Coast supposed to been at, know what I’m sayin? Like back in the days when the s#it was jumpin’ off. Somewhere along the line we slowed up, know what I’m sayin’?


Dubcnn: *laughs* Yeah. So if “Get ‘em Girl” is for the clubs what can we expect when your album drops, Heart of a Lion?

Heart of a Lion? What you expect is the struggles of life and also trying to make it in this music industry and different things of me. Young Lunch coming up and just trying to survive in this world you know what I’m sayin’? That’s why it’s called Heart of a Lion, you know? You’ll hear about my situation and how I almost died three times. But I’m still alive, I’m still here. About the music industry and cats act like I can’t rap and I ain’t no superstar. But I’m still here killing the streets you know? So you gonna get a diverse, a full course meal when you dealing with Lunch. A full course meal.


Dubcnn: And that’s coming in August right?

Yeah, August yup.


Dubcnn: So know when you, I don’t want to say repackage but when you made the “Get ‘em Girl” single get a renewed life with Ray J are you going to ride that until the album is released? Or are you going to come with another track?

It just depends on the actual momentum and what the people ask for. When they wanna hear some more music than I’ll give ‘em some more music. I got a lot of mixtapes. I’m going to drop another mixtape. I’m going to drop the Reheated, Vol. 3 and then I’m going to keep up the momentum. And then they’ll hear that music. So, it just depends on the people. What they ask for at the time.


Dubcnn: Ok, ok. So, producers? Features? Obviously you got Ray J on “Get ‘em Girl”. Anything to look forward to in terms of producers or features?

Well, I got this joint with Sean Kingston. We trying to make this happen. Trying to get J.R. to produce the track. Just trying to make that happen right now. But for the most part Fingazz did 75% of the album. There’s some more producers that I’m in the works of making things happen. But we still working it out right now.


Dubcnn: Ok. Now I read on your bio that you described yourself as having the business sense of Russell Simmons. How does being business minded benefit you on the independent side of things?

Well, as far as independent, I believe even if you’re on a major you gotta think independent. Independent means depending upon yourself so no matter what situation you’re in you depend on yourself to be successful in that situation. Like, for instance, I’m still moving as a record label and I’m independent, know what I mean? On the back end of that the mentality. Well on the front end people aren’t getting as much and they get caught up in the front end money. The back end money is where you’re getting paid the most.

So, as an independent artist and independent CEO I know that. That is the only thing I do know. It pays out more on the back end. And I feel more comfortable in that situation of getting my money like that because I’m getting more on the back end.


Dubcnn: Do you see your business mind set, that business savvy as your greatest strength?

Yeah, it is my greatest strength because where someone, another artist, say we approach the same situation. Same thing, same material. The feed back from one artist to me is a totally different because I’m looking at it from a business perspective as far as why aren’t they dealing with me on this side of the game. Another person might take it personal and mess up that whole connection and whole relationship because they take things personal. Because a person ain’t playing they song or said they weren’t feeling their song they might take that perspective personally.

With me I’m coming at it business minded and I’m going to adjust to what they believe they can sell because I know at the end of the day it’s a service. You got product and people got to want to buy the product. They gotta sell the product to the people. So you have to do what you have to do to adjust that to get the people to buy the product. And for the people that are willing to invest some money into the product. And a lot of artists just don’t feel like that. They feel like, “My music is hot! I’m me, whoop whoop. Everybody in the hood feel me, you should feel me.”

These white cats, old white cats ain’t from the hood and don’t know about street s#it. They up in they big ass buildings getting paid and they don’t know nothin’ about that s#it. So you have to be business savvy enough to be able to explain it to them so they can feel they can make money off the situation. So they gonna profit off of it. A lot of cats just don’t understand that concept


Dubcnn: Now if we catch up a few months after Heart of a Lion drops finish this statement: Heart of a Lion was successful because….

Heart of a lion was successful because Lunch brought a new element to hip hop. I’m not just gonna put myself in a box. To hip hop, it was a whole new flavor covered from the area we was used to but came from a whole different perspective. And also the reality of the music was so real people attached themselves to it, know what I mean?

What I mean by that is, like you got a lot of rappers rappin’ before they even made it about they got this and that but they ain’t made it yet. So I’m like, why are you rappin’ if already got it?

*laughs*

Know what I’m sayin’? I’m rappin’ from the perspective that I don’t got it but I’m trying to get it. See what I’m saying? So that alone, and the title is called, Heart of a Lion. That says it all right there. When a person has the heart of a lion that means they aren’t going to give up. Period. On life, period.

Rappers trying to rap like Jay-Z or whoever, 50 where they’re at successfully already. They haven’t even been successful yet. I’m rappin’ from a perspective like I’m trying to get to where they at and this is how I’m doin’ it. And this is what I went through to do it. So I’m givin’ it from a whole ‘nother perspective of the hip hop game. And I believe that’s what people are gonna appreciate it from the heart of a lion.


Dubcnn: Alright, so along the same lines now we are 3 years down the line. What do you hope to have accomplished in the next three years?

In the next three years? Ok, Lunch is of course set as an artist but I also have my artists on Homeless Records, my label. The next biggest independent label. We’re moving strong and my artists on the label are moving strongly and we are very successful. Know what I mean? We venture off into different avenues of making money. Marketing plans and doing endorsements with companies and things like that. That’s where I expect to be at. A mogul. Did I pronounce that right, mogul?


Dubcnn: Yeah

Ok, yeah that’s right.


Dubcnn: Before we go what do you want to let the Dubcnn Nation know? It’s all yours before we head out.

Let ‘em know this is Lunch the General, man. Homeless Nation is a force to be reckoned with. I’m coming by any means necessary. I’m that new problem. The evolution of West Coast hip hop. Evolution of hip hop period. And I’m gonna get mine one way or another, know what I’m sayin’?

So watch out for Lunch. We all gotta eat!


Dubcnn: Fa sho. Thanks for your time dog.