Balance: Sick Rhymes & Sideshows
By Adisa Banjoko
Many know about the “New Bay” sound emerging from the West Coast. At the helm of this new movement is an MC by the name of Balance. He is known as the “Bay Area Mixtape King.”
Beyond the mic though, he seems to have some real leadership skills. Balance seems to have embodied the Japanese saying that “None of us, are as smart as all of us.” So his team is strong, like his lyrics. His website www.balanceskillz.com gets blown up by the hour from people all over the planet. It seems everybody is lookin’ for that “ill Bay s**t”. His latest mixtape features, Frontline, Sean T and Planet Asia, among others.
In this interview, we talk about his journey from mauling mics on mixtapes to being the leader of the “New Bay” sound. He also talks about how he came to build with EA-Ski, DJ Vlad and thoughts as to why they should legalize sideshows in the ‘town .
AllHipHop.com: You, Frontline and The Federation are really running things as far as “The New Bay.” People are really respecting your music, and your business mind. Tell me about your journey over the last year?
Balance: A year ago we created a movement. I study the politics, and The Black Panthers- being from Oakland. I learned quickly that there is strength in numbers. You gotta have a movement to make change. A year ago, I felt like we were in a depression. There were not many outlets for a Bay artist on the radio or in a magazine. Magazines, videos, just seeing your product in a store- it was just tough. I felt like there was a dire need …Not just for myself, but any artist after me…Like “It has to end now. We don’t wanna wait for the next generation [to change things]. We wanna make it easier for them now .”
Luckily, a lot of cats had the same ideas as us. They just did not have a name or title for it. We came up with the idea of a “New Bay”. New- not meaning better than the old, but just, rejuvenating the idea of the Bay Area. So, welcome into the millennium with a whole new outlook. Like “It ain’t gonna go down like this no more. We gotta make good music. We gotta be more than just hustlers tryin’ to make money. We gotta preserve our Hip-Hop.” Otherwise, it’ll fall apart.
AllHipHop.com: I first heard about you from DJ Vlad. He used to tell me about you being raw. I was like ‘Okay, okay, he’s dope”…Then like, a year passes, and you are everywhere. I gotta give Vlad props on identifying you as like, one of the next big hitters in the Bay. He knows how to pick ‘em!! How did you guys meet and the kind of relationship you guys have.
Balance: I met him about two or three years ago. I worked in retail. He came in with his mix CD’s. He was doing blends. I’d been in retail for three years prior to meeting Vlad. So, I knew a little bit about marketing and stuff. I took some. His covers were real dark at the time. Like, have some toxic dude on the front…I was like “You gotta step your cover game up.”
AllHipHop.com: Now that’s what he’s known for.
Balance: In turn he helped me out. I had been doing freestyles on mixtapes for about a year before I met him. He had heard me on Mad Idiot CD…T-ski….I felt kinda cocky at that time like “Who is this Vlad dude coming to me for something?”…It just goes to show you that you can’t be cocky…So, I did it…Anyway, the freestyle ended up being on the beginning of the CD…A year later, he moved to New York and held down the whole New York fort. He put me on a lot of CD’s and it gave me a chance to be heard by a lot of DJ’s.
The whole Rap industry is on some groupie s**t. So if you are on one guys mix CD, and it’s hot….It’s NOTHIN’ to get on another guys. So I went to DJ Rondevu, then I went to Absolute and just started swellin’. But that’s how I met Vlad and me and Vlad is good friends. He just came out here and gave me his new DVD and he’s really helped me out.
AllHipHop.com: Tell me about how you hooked up with EA-Ski. If you really from the Bay, you know EA-Ski is a living legend. Tell me how you hooked that.
Balance: At the time I was doing the mix CD’s I was also doing drops on the radio. I was doing jingles, like a one minute rap about a DJ and his show. I did one for DJ Mind Motion on KMEL. EA-Ski heard it and liked it- Mind Motion told me. This was at the time he came out with “Manuscript.” We was at a club and Mind Motion was like “EA-Ski is here, I want you to meet him.” When I met him I was like “I already know who you are. You’re a legend. Your beats is fire.” He said, “The drop you got over that beat is hot.” It was cool because before we did music we kicked it. He’s from the old school. It’s not just, “You hot, let’s get in the studio.” He took me around The Town, we kicked it. We listened to music. He picked my brain. He saw that I was about my business and that I was a nice guy. I was not out to get him or bring bulls**t. He did a track on my first mix CD and he did a track on my new one with me and him together. We been folks ever since then. His ability make songs…From the production to the concepts to the mix- it’s ridiculous. I’ve never met a producer that thorough. And the final product….You can play an EA-Ski song, right after a Dre or Quik song, because of the quality and the professionalism.
AllHipHop.com: Let’s get into a very local issue. A lot of cats talk about sideshows now. I used to check out side shows way back, not far from Eastmont Mall…It was cool back then…Cats used to wash their car, start dippin’ and do a doughnut or something and that was it. Now, it’s huge and getting dangerous. Cats are getting shot all the time, getting run over. But it’s real viral now. But I think that it should be legalized. Billy Jam actually mentioned the idea to me first. I think they should find spaces to let people get their dip and doughnut on…Like lowriding…Cops hated that to back in the day- now it’s an industry. I think the sideshows have a similar potential. I think Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown should work to legalize it. Instead he does the weak move and criminalizes kids who don’t have anything to do. What are your thoughts on that?
Balance: I think one of the reasons is because they [the politicians] cut so much s**t outta The Town…There’s no where to really kick it. You got all these kids filled with testosterone, and they have nowhere to gather. They need to set up some rules for it, give the kids some space and legalize the sideshows!!
Adisa Banjoko is author of the new book “Lyrical Swords Vol. 1: Hip Hop and Politics in the Mix.” Buy one today at www.lyricalswords.com