REEL TALK MAGAZINE (J-DUB & SAVAGE BEAST)  (Junes 2007) | Interview By: Noncentz

      

Please note that this interview was conducted by a Dubcnn Community (Dubcc.com) forum member. He and a team of members have been heavily discussing and promoting the work of the Dangerous Crew as a whole. Thanks go out to; Lamont, Raiders, Akcranker, SJ, GP and EazyE for their help and support in bringing the Dangerous Crew back into relevance. There will be more from the Dangerous Crew on dubcnn over the coming weeks.

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Interview was done by phone in June, 2007

Questions Asked By: Noncentz (Guest Contributor)

J-Dub Gave Dubcnn.com A Shoutout! Check That Here

Savage Beast Gave Dubcnn.com A Shoutout! Check That Here
 

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www.myspace.com/reeltalkmagazine

www.myspace.com/thedangerouscrew
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Dubcnn: What’s up J-Dub?

Chad! What’s happening with you?


Dubcnn: Savage Beast what’s up fam? How are you doing today?

What’s up? I’m blessed, man. I’m blessed.


Dubcnn: So, J-Dub & Savage Beast, what’s the concept of Reel Talk and how did this all come together?

J-Dub: Well basically, in a nutshell, me and Savage had a relationship. I had ended up getting in to film, and once I had done that, I came back to Sav. I was around Sav for about a year previously, and we re-connected through another partner of ours. We came together and wanted to make a documentary on the Jordan Downs. It had never been done before, and we wanted to do it. We went around the hood getting crazy footage.

Sav just really being that dude who just really opened up doors to allow me to be there with the camera. Me being the dude with the camera, we just teamed up like that. So we was just there kind of shooting these movies, and as the weeks went by there was like this real hunger for change and this hunger for something to really happen. It was a movie that didn’t seem to big to accomplish, but it just seemed like it might take too long to accomplish for what really needed to happen.

So me and Sav was just really chopping up ideas, and then on the train when we was heading out to get more footage, it just birthed! It was like, we’ll call it Reel Talk, and it’ll be a weekly magazine instead of a movie. It’ll be something we do once a week. And the whole idea was really birthed on the train in L.A., Me & Sav, just boom, and everything sparked off. And it was like ket’s just make it pop. So we just went straight to the hood, and it was like let’s do it. And from there it launched off.

Savage Beast: That’s true cuz especially in Watts, the hood had never experienced anything like that. Cuz couldn’t nobody really go through the hood with cameras becuz of their safety. It just seemed like this was the perfect opportunity. This had never happened, my man James had the resource, I had the connects, and it just seemed like it was all perfect. We started doing this project with the cameras and everybody just accepted it. It was just made to happen. We got the community behind us. All the artists from the community basically got behind me and James and that was all she wrote. It just seemed that it was the perfect thing to do at that time. And I never thought that it would have the response that it has right now.


Dubcnn: What is that response? What kind of feedback have you guys been getting about the Reel Talk project?

Sav: Well, the overall response is seeing a great city like Watts which has never seen itself subjectively on camera. We had never really had a chance to see ourselves like that. And I think that becuz the neighborhood finally started seeing itself the way it’s used to seeing everybody else, it started to change the hood to where on a music level and on a professional level it really opened up. You could say it was like flowers starting to bud and open up. The response from the community is like, “when are y’all coming back?” We got so many good ideas and so many people ready to help, and we’re ready to jump back in for the second season. We’ve been getting a pretty overwhelming response.

J-Dub: And just to jump on that, I feel that the responses have been just phenomenal on different levels becuz it depends on what you’re looking at, at the same time. When you ask about the response, the first response is from the people in the neighborhood and the people that are getting on camera and getting around us doing this. And for every week for us to come back and not only be embraced, but to have even more people turning out. And for every week it just literally got bigger and bigger to where we had the support of everybody in the community.

I mean, this is the same place that they shot Menace II Society, to go back to how people are stuck on images (from our discussion of 2Pac in the ATL.A interview), and even if there’s so much love and family and other positive things going on in the community, people outside the community are stuck on these images portrayed by the Menace II Society film. There’s a lot of crazy talent over there. So the response from the hood aspect has just been incredible! But when we started taking the product outside of the hood is where it’s also been incredible. Not just around here, but in Long Beach, San Bernadino, and the far reaches of L.A., people just started popping up!

Taking it outside of the hood and getting it out to where people can see inside this area that they’ve never seen and can’t get to, they were just blown away! They were fascinated. They were blown away by the talent, and being able to get involved and see into this world and it was just so real and real raw with a beautiful look. We were just blessed to have the equipment to work with and just get it really poppin’ like that. So the response was just stupid! And for the fact that we came out every week! It wasn’t like we did it one week and then didn’t come back for a while. It was every week! We couldn’t supply the demand.


Dubcnn: How would somebody go about getting the CD's and DVD's of the project?

J-Dub: They can holla at us on the myspace. (www.myspace.com/reeltalkmagazine) and they can just holla at us direct, and if they want to order a DVD they can order it, or they can subscribe, and holla at us online. If it’s like that then we can break bread and support these artists from Watts. Support Reel Talk and come holla at us. We can swipe the Paypal or whatever and mail it out to you over night. We got cats in London buzzing off of Reel Talk! It’s for everybody. We want everybody to check it out.


Dubcnn: Savage, tell everybody a little bit about yourself for those who don’t know about Savage Beast.

I was raised in Watts in the Jordan Downs projects all my life. Didn’t have a father. My mother had 6 kids. She always kept me in church and it had a profound effect on my life, but I still managed to get away from moms and run through the streets gangbanging and ding some bad things like that. By the time I was 12 or 13, hip-hop really started manifesting itself inside of me spiritually becuz like I said I was at church all the time, so I was always in a choir and I always around some kind of music; somebody playing drums. And one night I just decided that I was going to make me a rap. And I never stopped. I been in the hood all my life. I been with the Usual Suspects. I been with the Watts City Assassins releasing group albums with them throughout the 90’s. I’m really the first cat from my side of the tracks and in my neighborhood to even drop an album on that level.

J-Dub: This dude got so many posters all through Watts! Posters, CD's and all of that more than anybody else I see out there doing it! I ain’t been out there all my life, but when I was out there I seen his stuff more than anybody else’s.

Sav: That was a blessing though, kid. I really felt that God was putting me in a position to where I was setting the first example of what was to come next for my community. For years, Watts has been fighting to be recognized and noticed in this game, but for some reason, all these powerful artists from these other cities would not back us up. Like a major record label or a major record company would show interest in us, but becuz these guys were major artists already, the distribution companies would ask them how we sound or what they thought of us. But these kids was jealous of us and would tell their record companies that we weren’t trustworthy, or that we’re not this or that, becuz on a gangbanging level they always fell victim to where I came from.

Watts has always been aggressive in everything they do, so on a street level they figure that if they stop Watts from coming up on this game then we can have something that they want: Success and money. I felt that the Lord was putting me out as an example to show my city that it could be done. And did all of that a couple months after heart surgery. And it seems that right when I was struggling through all of this, that’s when James Wade came back into my life. And from there it just seem like things started exploding around the hood. And so many brothers right now like Hydro from Def Jam, and Jay Rock. It was like after we did what we did we made it fashionable and more respectable for them kids to get to where they at right now. And I don’t even think they know this!

J-Dub: Who else from Watts do you know that you can see videos from? It’s a blessing to have been able to have done that.

Sav: One thing I got to give Reel Talk props about, especially James Wade and myself, was that we went through the hood every week and didn’t charge nobody. We did videos for free. Spent thousands of hours editing and everything, every week. None of these brothers got charged. James would work on these cats’ videos as if they was already platinum selling artists! He would spend days & days, and weeks & weeks on these videos. I got to give him love for that becuz to just pick a community and go out there and say I’m going to do videos on every artist in this community…I had never heard of that before! It’s a blessing!

J-Dub: I appreciate you, man. For real!


Dubcnn: Who are some of these artists in Watts that you’re working with?

Sav: D Cokah, he’s been down in the trenches since like ’89. Another brother by the name of Nat Burnah.

J-Dub: Pipe Da Snipe, Keystone, Street Life...

Sav: Who are we not working with? We connected with just about every artist in there!


Dubcnn: And you’re doing videos for their songs..

J-Dub: Right. Reel Talk’s premise was it’s like an open forum and it’s free to where like anybody in the community can get on, but not everybody has a record or a song recorded. So it’s like if you didn’t have a song recorded, then you can come and do it acapella, rap, or just come to speak something. If you had a song, or had it on CD, then it was like first come first serve to where we met at, and then bam! On the spot we’d shoot a video. Put it on a boom box, lip synch it, and then I’ll take the track and edit it the next day.

Just doing 2 or 3 takes just to be able to do a bunch of stuff in one day. Doing these takes and making it simple to give a visual to the artists who never had a visual. Also to be able to create a product that was coming back every week. It’s just another avenue for cats to get out of a life that was holding them back.

Sav: We had so much support, that brothers who sold drugs, wouldn’t sell drugs from Friday night to Sunday because they was preparing for Reel Talk! It was so cool, because brothers were so excited for Reel Talk that they decided they weren’t going to sell drugs for a whole entire weekend.

J-Dub: Talk about crime rate went down! The shooting rate went down while we was doing Reel Talk!

Sav: And I don’t think we ever had a problem. Not one problem!


Dubcnn: What do you want to get out to the readers and fans out here about Reel Talk? What do they need to know?

J-Dub: Don’t sleep on Watts! Don’t forget about Watts! Pay Attention to Watts! Listen to Watts! Cuz Watts got something to say.

Sav: Looking at Reel Talk, is showing you the essence of really what hip-hop is. Really what rap is. Hip-hop is the culture, rap is the profession. And becuz Watts has never been in this position as far as the business, or even have this opportunity I’ll say it’s the essence of it. Becuz it took us so long to even get that kind of exposure, that every artist worked on their skills literally from a literary standpoint, from professional standpoint of performing. I can say they carry the essence. Reel Talk is the true essence of what rap and hip-hop is.


Dubcnn: It’s been a real pleasure to talk with you two about the Reel Talk project. Any closing remarks?

J-Dub: Not only thank you to the Most High for allowing us to be able to do this and put all that spirit through us to be able to do it, but to quote my brother Savage, I got to thank all those who lived, died, and did time right there in Watts. And for those people who gave their lives and are doing time right now for that area. For those who live in that area and love that area. And specifically to the Watts Prophets cuz without them I would never be in Watts, and without Concrete H.O.B. I would never be with the Watts Prophets, and without him I would have never linked back with Savage. It wasn’t just us, so I got to give thanks to all those elements that really made it possible for us to even be able to do this.

Sav: True that.