You lived in the Czech Republic for several months. What was your best and worst experience out here?
The best experience I had was getting into the day to day flow of the city. It is a beautiful place with beautiful people. The worst experience I had was getting mugged getting on a tram. I got drunk and let my guard down and some cats knew I was vulnerable. They binked me over the head with a bottle, broke my glasses and took all my shit. It was no good.
When I say Prague what´s the first thing that pops onto your mind?
You said you didin´t want your albums sound like compilations. How would you decribe WYLA?
WYLA? is my attempt to create an album that is brought together by a central theme not neccessarily reflected in the lyrics of the rappers but rather the mood of the music. I think it works, for me anyway. And honestly, I made it for me so i am happy.
Why WYLA?
WYLA? Stands for „what’re you looking at?“ I get stage fright and anxiety so I made this album to help me deal with that.
Rapreviews.com stated in their review on WYLA that almost all of the MC´s complain in their lyrics about not getting played on the radio. What´s your opinion on the radio policy?
The radio policy in the US is effed up. It is deejays playing what they are told to by program directors who are told what their deejays can play by corporate managers who are told what to play by corporations trying to peddle goods on the american (and world) population. No pay, no play. Not on commercial radio anyway, college radio is a good forum, but the listenership pales in comparison.
How did you try to prevent from doing the same album just with different MC´s?
Make different beats with different emotions, sounds, and inspiration.
Truth Enola and Psalm One rapped on the album. What have they been up to? I haven´t heard of them since their last solo albums.
Psalm is touring, supporting Brother Ali. Truth, I am not sure. Grinding out on Long Island I suppose. It is so hard to keep track of people these days, even with the internet and mobile phones.
You are going to record a full-length with KRS-One. Can you tell us everything about your collabo with the Teacher?
That project acutally got scrapped. I am not sure exactly why, business I suppose.
You´ve already worked with KRS-One so you can answer this question. The rumour goes that he is little cocky and cares about nobody´s opinion. Any truth to this?
What´s going on in Chicago? It seems that the Windy City has been quiet for a while. Just Molemen and Galapgos4 release a record from time to time, but what´s up with Birthwrite, Gravel and All Natural?
All Natural is doing well, putting out soem Iomos stuff, a Rita J album is on the way I think. Birthwrite kind of moved out of Chicago, Overflo is on the west coast now (congrats on the baby bro!), Gravel is gearing up for a Matlock album. How come you didn’t ask me about my label, EV? (laughs). We just put out a compilation Everything and WYLA? drops on August 7th, 2007. I think people are trying to get the business right in Chicago. I hope they are anyway. I think thats it. Thanks! Check out www.copperpot.cc, www.evrecords.com, myspace.com/jonnybarnacle, and myspace.com/evproductions.
