WESTURN UNION (April 2008) | Interview By: Nima Etminan

       Dubcnn connected with one of the freshest groups to emerge from the West Coast, the Westurn Union. Consisting of Long Beach's Soopafly, Inglewood's Damani and the "Watts Riot" Bad Lucc, the trio is ready to unfold its potential. We talk to the group about their new mixtape "House Shoe Musik Vol. 1" with DJ Crazy Toones, their relationship with Snoop Dogg, the state of the West Coast, their upcoming album, future plans and much much more. DJ Crazy Toones even makes a special appearance in the interview to talk about his work with the group, so check it out!
 

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

 

Interview was done by phone in April 2008

Questions Asked By : Nima Etminan

Westurn Union Gave Dubcnn.com A Shoutout! Click Here

Full Interview In Audio : Here

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Related Media:

Westurn Union - All Night (ft. BJ)
Westurn Union - Ain't Gonna Happen
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Dubcnn: We're right here with Soopafly, Damani & Bad Lucc, aka the Westurn Union. Go ahead and introduce yourselves real quick.

Soopafly: I'm Soopafly, with a root canal and a pulled wooden tooth, but I'm still Soopafly baby! *laughs*

Damani: Yo this Damani, aka "Girl, there he go!" *laughs*

Bad Lucc: Yeah this is Bad Lucc aka the Watts Riot, you already know what it is!


Dubcnn: We're here to talk about your brand new mixtape "House Shoe Musik Vol. 1", why did you decide to go with that title?

Soopafly: We appealing to the niggas that wear house shoes, those niggas know who they is! That's really a lot of West Coast niggas, niggas that sit on their front porch, with their blunts, their 40's or their drink or something, with their house shoes on. Saturday morning hood shit. That's who we made this for, them type of niggas.


Dubcnn: Now for those that don't know, let's rewind back a little, how did you three meet and decide to create a group called the Westurn Union?

Damani: We all had a scrap and made up at the end and decided to do music! *laughs* Nah, what happened was, I had an idea for group, but I had no members. I met Bad Lucc at a studio one time, I thought he was one of the hardest dudes I had ever heard in the history of rap music...

Bad Lucc: Thank you my brother!

Damani: So I made that connection official, we made a mixtape about 2-3 years ago, it did pretty good in the streets. Then Fly was the glue to the whole puzzle, once Fly got in it just made us official. That's basically the history of it in a nutshell.

Bad Lucc: We stepped our groupie game up too, that's pretty much through the roof right now! *laughs* It's cracking!


Dubcnn: You were announced as a Snoop Dogg group originally, what role does he play when it comes to Westurn Union?

Soopafly: The face! He plays that face role, we need that big name behind us, and we need that big face behind us. With us three, that's really all we need. That's no diss to him, he's the first one that said that! We got our entity, in-between us three we can make a whole record. That was proven through this "House Shoe Musik". We strategically tried to come out and do something, even more so than just coming out and then being forgotten. We know that we always need that push though, we're not a big group, we're not well known or worldwide yet, so we need that push and that big face behind us to really solidify our movement.

Bad Lucc: This nigga just a root canal and he said the word "strategically". That's boss!

Soopafly: I got cotton in my mouth, nigga! *laughs*


Dubcnn: How come Snoop wasn't featured on "House Shoe Musik"?

Soopafly: Cause the Westurn Union is Damani, Bad Lucc and Soopafly. Period. Next question!

Bad Lucc: *laughs* And to add on to that, we're just trying to show the people that we weren't necessarily needing features. We hella dope by ourselves, we're just showing people that. Snoop got our back, we got songs with him and people will hear those, but we're just showing ya'll that we're dope on our own too. Snoop loved the fact that we didn't need to put him on there just to sell the mixtapes.

Soopafly: Don't get it twisted, we ain't trying to move without him, we're just trying to move. Ya'll know how Snoop raps, ya'll know how Snoop sings, he's gonna come with some tight shit. He just got an album out, "Ego Trippin", so he did that, we're just trying to get ya'll affiliated with Westurn Union. Either you're gonna like us, or you're not gonna like us, that's your opinion. That's up to you.

But our job is to give you us, not to give you us and somebody else. We'll do that in time, but ya'll gotta get to know us first. That's our whole thing. Get to know Damani, get to know Bad Lucc, get to know Soopafly again. Then we can go branch out and start helping everybody else. That's what we're going to do, we're gonna start helping niggas, but we need the help right now. That's why we did this mixtape, so ya'll can get affiliated with us three. That's what Snoop wants too.


Dubcnn: You hooked up with DJ Crazy Toones for the mixtape, what made ya'll want to get with him instead of other DJ's?

Damani: Cause he's the best one!


Dubcnn: Why?

Soopafly: Cause he knows that West Coast gangsta shit, that's why! Them other niggas don't really know it like he does. They might be in it, but that nigga is the epidemy of West Coast gangsta shit. Shit that I like to hear.

Bad Lucc: And on top of that, he's a certified veteran that we fuck with. He fucks with our music, so why not hook up with a certified vet, his name is reputable in Hip-Hop in general. So why not go with Crazy Toones? He's incredible! People heard the "CT Experience" and he was hella dope with that. So why not go with him, he's number one!

Soopafly: Just like how muthafuckas use Drama. Drama is the shit out there with that South sound! He's the guy to go to out there, because he knows that sound. It's the same thing with Toones on the West Coast, he knows that sound. He's been there!

Bad Lucc: Plus, Toones has personality. Other DJ's drop their drops all over your CD, but they ain't really got no personality! When you hear them talking, ain't no personality! Toones got a lot of personality, the nigga is funny, he's just a dope dude and he's entertaining as well. We clicked right.

Damani: Last but not least, he's really from L.A.! *laughs* He's really a reputable from L.A., he's been doing it before I even thought about doing it, with Cube and WC. To be affiliated with a reputable is the best thing going anyway.

Soopafly: Then the icing on the cake is the "CT Experience". If ya'll heard that mixtape, then ya'll know why we picked him! He constructed that whole thing, I'm just trying to follow suit with him. West Coast niggas gotta start coming together, I'm tired of preaching the same shit! Everybody knows what the West Coast needs, it's just about doing it now. Stop all that talking, just get together and do it! Talking about it ain't shit.


Dubcnn: What would you say makes the Westurn Union stand out as a group?

Damani: Besides the fact that we all rap completely different, that we got way different styles of rapping, but it's all cohesive at the end of the day! On top of that, it's all the different types of bitches that we attract! *laughs* Lucc has the Eastside bitches on lock, I got all the actress bitches right now on lock, and Fly got all the bitches period on lock.

*everybody laughs*

Soopafly: That's why come together so good as a group!

Damani: But we don't run into each other, we don't run into each other at all, everybody got their own thing! *laughs* Besides that, we can rap better than anybody out here! Oh my bad, did I just say that?

Bad Lucc: The thing is, I hear a lot of dudes, it's a lot of mixtape shit, and for the most part, these dudes can't make songs! We're making real records!

Soopafly: Hold on, we got DJ Crazy Toones on the line! Crazy Toones!

DJ Crazy Toones: What up!

Bad Lucc: How West is that?

Soopafly: We was just talking about you and how you the dopest DJ out here on the West Coast! We're doing an interview with Nima right now!

DJ Crazy Toones: What up Nima!


Dubcnn: What up with you Toones?

DJ Crazy Toones: Oh man, just sitting here at the studio, waiting on Bad Lucc! It's all good! We're having fun!

Soopafly: Yeah we are, it's fun again!


Dubcnn: So Toones, what made you want to take on this Westurn Union mixtape as your project?

DJ Crazy Toones: First thing, they're my homeboys. Second, them niggas is hard, each one of them can rap, they can hold their own. They can walk into the radio station and not be shy about getting on the mic. They ain't gonna be in the corner trying to fix some coffee or something, all of them is real homie. That's why I wanted to do it. I don't really mess with too many people, but I got love for the Westurn Union for real!


Dubcnn: I heard that little shot at Flo Rida's song on the mixtape, what made you want to adress that on the mixtape?

DJ Crazy Toones: It's garbage! It gets at least about 80 something spins a week on the radio, and it's cool, but...

Soopafly: No it ain't cool, when I don't hear no West Cast shit on the West Coast!

DJ Crazy Toones: Exactly. And we make good records. You can see it for your own, MTV gave Dr. Dre the number 1 video ever for "G Thang", so it's just a lot of hating on us, but it's all good. I'm tired of everybody, whoever want it can get it. That ain't no real record man.

Soopafly: When I'm on the West Coast, I wanna hear West Coast shit. When I'm out there in the South, I wanna hear South shit! I wanna see why they're doing the bouncing and banging, and I can understand that cause they out there, but when I'm on the West Coast, I wanna hear West Coast music, bottom line! Ya'll can slip that in sometimes, but the majority should be West Coast music. We don't even fuck with the radio no more!

DJ Crazy Toones: They got something called "West Coast Wednesdays" out here. I ain't never heard of a "East Coast Thursday" out there!

Soopafly: On the East Coast!

Bad Lucc: I was just gonna speak on that man, how the hell do we got a "West Coast Wednesday". they give us one day for us, on our coast?

Damani: That's like having Black History Month in Africa! *laughs*

DJ Crazy Toones: But look! On West Coast Wednesday, they don't play West Coast music all day!

Soopafly: It's like a mix show, they play a 2-hour mix and that's it!

Damani: Not even 2 hours, you probably get an hour. I'd say about 20 minutes! *laughs*

DJ Crazy Toones: The radio stations show the Westurn Union love, we get our records played, but a lot of the people trying to come up ain't got a chance homie! They don't just get a look, but if you're from somewhere else, you get a look! That's foul!


Dubcnn: But I feel like I've been having his conversation for the last 5-6 years, and nothing has changes. So, what's gotta happen?

Bad Lucc: Let me say this. It actually is changing a little bit. I'm not gonna sit up here and shit on it. I hate the shit too, but it is changing. One of the top joints on the radio is "Certified" with Glasses Malone, and Jay Rock's single is on the radio all the time, Hot Dollar got his record going, niggas got a lot of records blowing up right now. What happens is, it's niggas getting their business right. It's hard enough just to make a hit record or a record that's considered hot, but you gotta build good relations with people, get in good with the DJ's, be cool with niggas and get that record out.

Niggas stay on the internet and wonder why the record ain't picking up off the internet. You gotta holla at people, let them hear the record, and get your business together! We got records that are getting played now, but a lot of niggas gotta learn how to make records first. You gotta be a reputable nigga that makes good records, and then start considering why your records ain't getting played. It's starting to change, we just need niggas making dope records, not just Glasses, Jay Rock and so on.

We need more people making these hit records, but it's all coming together. I feel good about it actually, it's about damn time! We in a good spot right now, we're real good. Westurn Union is pushed by all the reputable vets all the way to the youngest niggas on the coast. Who got more love than that? Who's vouching for ya'll? That's how I look at it. We're in a good spot right now, and I'm comfortable, I'm loving it!


Dubcnn: So what's next for ya'll after this mixtape? What's up with the album?

Soopafly: The album is dropping July 8th. July the 8th, we're mixing it right now, coming up with the last pieces we need. We got a single dropped this week, it's self titled, "Westurn Union", we're gonna see how that plays on the radio out here. Then we're gonna be able to back up our comments! Hopefully we get some spins. But even if we don't, ya'll still support that shit, cause the radio is not a real avenue for us West Coast niggas to make it right now. Our avenue is really on the avenue, on the boulevards, we gotta be in the streets with our shit! That's what young niggas to old niggas on the West Coast gotta realize.

We can't just act like the game is spoiling us like it did for Snoop Dogg or maybe Ice Cube back then. It ain't gonna be like that. Niggas gotta start at the bottom and work their way up to the top. Niggas gotta be hungry for this shit. You ain't never heard of me doing a mixtape, ever! I would've never did one, I don't agree with that shit. But now I do, because times have changed. The old way of making a lot of money might not be the new way. Niggas gotta convert to the new way of making money, bottom line! That's if you wanna stay on top.

Bad Lucc: I'd like to say that our single is incredible. Not only is it incredible, but it's purely West Coast! When I say that, let me know scare niggas, cause people acting like they don't undestand that. First of all, I take pride in making West Coast music. A lot of niggas are embarassed to even say it. I take pride in that. But that doesn't necessarily mean that you're gonna get a 1980-something sound. That's all I'm saying.

It's West Coast, because the niggas who made it are die hard true West Coast niggas. It's just a dope record, it's us, it's our sound. You're about to get the New Age West Coast shit, real music, Soopafly on the production, it's incredible! You niggas gonna be fucked up when you hear it, I ain't gotta double sell the shit, I'll just let you hear it. Like I said I don't wanna scare niggas when I say that it's a West Coast sound, but you should feel comfortable to make West Coast music and to say that. I take pride in that shit.


Dubcnn: You said the single is dropping this week?

Soopafly: Yeah it will be serviced to the radio stations this week, it's self titled, "Westurn Union". That's not for the mixtape, that's for our real album.


Dubcnn: Soopafly, you've been under Snoop Dogg's umbrella for a decade, what would you say is the most important thing that you've learned in your time with Snoop?

Soopafly: That everybody ain't gonna make it. Everybody isn't gonna be way up there where he is. Bottom line. But within that whole organisation, if you're close, there's always a way in Hip-Hop to make money. If you're good at it, there's always a way to make a lot of money, without rapping, without being on stage, without being on BET. So a nigga gotta find his niche within this Hip-Hop game.

If you're not the best rapper, it ain't gonna about like that, you need to go do the best you can at what you can do, and stop trying to be like the next man. Hustle within your own means and get what you can. That's the most important thing I learned. Everybody ain't gonna be a Snoop Dogg, everybody ain't gonna be a Ice Cube, Dr. Dre or WC. Everybody can't be that. But you can hustle within yourself to be your own person.


Dubcnn: I know ya'll got solo projects in the works as well, what's the status on those?

Bad Lucc: *laughs* This is Bad Lucc talking! Right now we're trying to stay 100% focused on the group. Everybody knows we're solo artists also, but the group is what it is. Westurn Union. We're not gonna get our focus off that with people asking "When Damani's solo or Bad Lucc's solo coming", or "What's up with Fly's shit?" Westurn Union! When the solo shit pops, it will pop, but right now it's Westurn Union to the fullest. When that album comes out, that's all it is. Even in my interview, you can ask me about Fly's shit and Damani's shit, that's how we're doing it. It's Westurn Union right now, Westurn Union or nothing, that's what it is.


Dubcnn: Before we go, go ahead and promote that "House Shoe Musik Vol. 1" again!

Soopafly: Go get that muthafucka!

Damani: And if you can't buy it, steal it! That's all.

Soopafly: I know ya'll muthafuckas are gonna download it after a couple days anyway, go on and download the shit.

Bad Lucc: When you get it, get it, do whatever you gotta do, buy it, steal it, just don't steal it from me! I feel like Kimbo right now in these streets man! I'm Kimbo! I'm finna change my rap name to Kimbo! *everybody laughs*

Damani: And for everybody that ain't never heard a real mixtape before, ya'll gotta go get this, cause DJ Crazy Toones really did his thang on it. It's really a treat to hear the cohesiveness, I wanna use that word again, the cohesiveness!

DJ Crazy Toones: And I'ma say this: Go use your Serato. I ain't even gonna say use your turntables, use your seratos! *everybody laughs*

Bad Lucc: And Nima when you get back out here I got a project bitch for you, she's ready man!


Dubcnn: *laughs*

Bad Lucc: I got a pure East Side project bitch for you Nima! I got something for you!

Soopafly: A bitch that's gonna wanna braid your hair! *laughs*


Dubcnn: I cut my hair, I ain't got no hair!

Soopafly: Oh you fucked up then!

Damani: Nigga lookin' like a terrorist! *laughs*

Soopafly: Shouts out to all these West Coast niggas out here. I ain't personally with all that New West and Old West shit. I'm not talking to Glasses personally, that's my dude, but I'm with the West Coast, the whole West Coast. I say shout out to everybody. It ain't gonna be Westurn Union that brings the West Coast back, it's not gonna be one group. It's gonna take everybody to bring it back, so niggas just gotta get together, old and young, and bring it back together. Until then, we're gonna keep doing like we're doing, bottom line.

Bad Lucc: Shouts out to Watts, Long Beach and Inglewood. Special shout out to Inglewood cause they got the most bitches! Myspace is cracking! Make sure you get that in there! *laughs*


Dubcnn: Ya'll crazy...

Damani: Why ya'll think I be smiling everyday? I'm always in a good mood!