Brotha Lynch Hung
Interview by Eagle Split Point
On the last album the production and the whole feeling was very different. It was not even like a Brotha Lynch Hung album; it was like a whole new artist, which I really liked. I like how you switch up your style.
That’s good and I would love to keep capturing that. The only same feeling that you will get from this new album is that I am still with Strange and that I am continuing the story from “Dinner and a Movie”. As far as the Rap style it is going to be totally different.
What makes you keep changing when most people keep trying to do the same style? You are taking risks. What makes you keep exploring different directions?
For one, I hate a rapper who clings onto something that is hot. I don’t want to ever in my whole career cling on to anybody’s shit. I want to be known as a rapper who always stayed unique because to me that is what lasts long and that is what makes a deeper impression. I love music so much that I want to top everything else, even though I may not get the commercial success. I want to top it because I want people to say that I was the most creative and maybe the most lyrical rapper who never went commercial.
When you say that you keep trying to change your styles do you mean how you write your lyrics, or your sound, or the way you rap?
I mess with my word play. I do my words differently and I never try to use the same words that I have in the past. Every once in a while I do bring back something familiar since fans like that, but I try to change up all my word play. Sometimes I will flip it like the Tech N9ne’s and the Twista’s, and sometimes I will slow it down. I grew up in the Hip Hop era, so I can do that too. I don’t try to use too many of the same words unless it has to do with my Ripgut style, which is the crazy stuff.
How is the lyrical content of this album different from your last album?
It is more Hip Hop than it is gangster. It is a little more Hip Hop orientated but I do some flippin. I do a lot of word play that is way different from “Dinner And a Movie”.
When you say “Hip Hop” what do you mean exactly? Break it down for me?
Like connecting the end of a two syllable word to the next syllable word type of thing. Instead of saying “Cat, hat”, you say “Big cat, sit back” and it is that type of thing. It goes from two syllables to four syllables and so on, but also staying with in the same subject of this rapper who turns serial killer.
You are taking the words and making them more descriptive?
Yeah more descriptive!
As far as the beats are they similar to “Dinner and a Movie” or different?
Seven did a good job of making beats that didn’t sound anything like “Dinner And a Movie.” He is doing the same thing with this new “Hannibal Lecture” thing that I am doing for Strange also. Seven is a producer that has been working for Tech N9ne for a while and he is a creative ass dude. Everything sounds different with Seven.
How was it for you going to school as a child?
I remember that I use to hang out by myself. I never really had no friends because I was kind of shy. I just hung out by myself, wrote poems, and was just staring at the kids and wondering what was on the other kids’ minds. I never was into playing kick ball and all that stuff. I was just basically hanging around by myself because I felt more comfortable that way.
I always wondered why you went that road and never went along with the crowd. Why did you go out on your own?
I am an only child so I was already used to growing up alone. I am my mom’s only child so I was already used to it and I never really developed no social skills.
When you were in school you were on your own and not playing with the other kids?
No, I didn’t play with other kids. I am not really that type of guy.
I do see that, listening to your music. You are so different and unique as a rapper because you never were part of the crowd.
I guess I just felt more comfortable myself.
I have interviewed thousands of rappers, but I haven’t come across another Brotha Lynch Hung. You’re just one of a kind.
Thank you man, I appreciate that! I didn’t do that on purpose; that is just the way it happened.
That’s why you stand apart from the rest of the rappers, because you’re so different because you grew up different. There are too many rappers who are all alike, like carbon copies of each other.
Definitely! A lot of rappers tend to cling onto what is happening because they want to do it just for the money. I have been doing it for so long that I can’t get with whatever everybody else is doing, and I was never attempting to try. I only do what I know and that is what I’d rather do.
When you were in school hanging out by yourself what did you feel about the other kids?
I felt like I didn’t want to even approach any of them and if they didn’t come up to me. I was satisfied because I was already use to it. There was no reason for me to go up to them. They might’ve thought it was a little weird and they might have been a little intimidated because I don’t approach anybody. Even now I don’t approach anybody and I kind of stay on my own. I do have a group of friends now that I have known for over twenty years, and it’s easy to approach them versus approaching a stranger.
When you were in school were you a tough kid, a skinny kid? How do you see yourself?
I was mostly the shortest one and I have always been the skinny guy. I was just always to myself and in the corner. Even in my classroom I would always pick the last desk in the row so nobody could look at me from behind. I was never part of the crowd. I walked home from school by myself and all that.
When you were growing up were you into poetry? What were you interested in when you were 7 or 8?
I use to draw pictures, but I didn’t start writing poetry until I was about 13 years old. I use to draw a lot of pictures of Spider Man because he is my favorite character, and I even call myself Spider Man until this day. I would draw the actions on multiple pages like about 100 pages and when you would flip the pages the guy would fall splat on the ground. I use to pretend I was driving a diesel even though I was walking. I don’t know where that came from, but I would pretend I was driving a diesel all around my apartment. I use to do a whole bunch of stuff by myself. I didn’t know at the time but I was being creative. I was stopping myself from being bored and entertaining myself.
I never knew you were doing drawings. Do you still do drawings ever?
Every once in a while I do some stuff. A couple years ago I did a self portrait of me but my ex girlfriend stole it. Every once in a while I will do it. About six months ago I drew an Incredible Hulk for my son so he could hang it up in his room. I still dip into drawing. I use to write little stories when I was younger, and I am kind of bringing that back now because I write screenplays.
Even when you write your raps you are a storyteller. Storytelling is such a tribal tradition in Africa and other parts of the world.
I love telling stories. When I was younger I wrote a story called “The Door” about a door that every time I walk through that door it is different scenery. It starts off in my house with my mom and dad drinking with their friends and I get frustrated because I don’t like that. Then I walk through a door and I am at a park and I am playing at the park. When I get tired of that I walk through a door again and I am at the mall and then I go to another place. At the end I walk through the door and at the last place I am at my room again.
It sounds like you didn’t like the surroundings you were growing up in with your home life and you were finding ways to deal with it. Didn’t you have anyone to talk to, like in your neighborhood?
No, I would see the kids in the neighborhood, but I would stand there and see what they were doing for a while and then just walk off.
What kind of kids were in your neighborhood? Were they White kids, Black kids, Mexican kids? I was just wondering why you wouldn’t be fitting in?
I grew up around a lot of Mexican kids. I grew up in downtown Sacramento where there were a lot of broke people. I was there until I was about 7 or 8 until I moved back to the Southside. There were a lot of Mexicans where I grew up. A lot of them talked Spanish and I don’t know Spanish, so I just kind of kept to myself.
You kept to yourself because there was this whole other culture going on?
They had Black people out there too and White people, but I didn’t know how to approach anybody and I definitely wasn’t gonna approach the Spanish-speaking kids.
It was in the downtown area where you grew up?
Definitely! But it wasn’t even like a city because downtown Sacramento was like the smallest city in the world. They only have a couple of tall buildings. The rest of it was just broken down apartments and then the county jail. I could walk to the county jail from the circle. At that time where I lived it seemed like the whole world to me and there was nothing outside of it, so I thought that is how my life would always be, in those little apartments back there. I wouldn’t dare go outside of those apartments at that time.
What was your home life like? What were your parents doing?
My mom was doing drugs and so was her husband, which is my step dad. They use to have all kinds of bad stuff in the house. She was a good hider because she would hide it for a lot of years, but I would wake up in the middle of the night and smell that same smell which was not normal. I kind of caught onto it. My mom is a real docile person and her husband was a real strong person. I felt like she was just doing it to keep him and I was always unhappy about it. I would tell her, “Please stop doing it!” She would always deny it and say she was not doing anything, but I knew she was.
Do you think that a lot of those things shaped your music and the style of lyrics that you are writing right now?
I suppose so. I always talked about it in my music too and hoped that one day she would hear it and try to stop, but she never really listened to my music because she was just happy that I was doing good.
Your family never listened to the music you were doing?
Not until the later Black Market days when my uncle was at work and his friend said, “My son loves your son’s rap.” He didn’t even know what he was talking about. My uncle came home and asked me, “Do you have records out? A friend of mine at work said that he likes your stuff.” I didn’t really mention it to them because they are like Christian people.
When you came out with your music you were the only rapper with the whole serial killer theme. You never fit into any established genre of Rap.
I guess that taught me to stand on my own, because today it helps me to not cling onto these new trends. Some of these new styles are just ridiculous!
What do you mean by the new styles, Lynch?
I mean by all this stuff that’s on BET. Like with Murder Dog you do it your way and you are not gonna change it to something else so something commercial can catch onto your name. That is what I love about you guys because you are Murder Dog. A lot of people are not going to release a magazine and call it “Murder Dog!” I love that about you and that is why I love doing interviews with you.
So many people have told us that we can get you distributed in all the conservative corporate stores like Safeway if you change the name to “M-Dog” take the word Murder out.
Ha ha! I know you got approached like that. I knew you had to because you are like the biggest magazine to me. I love XXL and all that and they are doing what they have to do, but they are glorifying Rap that is so commercial it’s ridiculous. To me that ain’t where real Hip Hop came from. It came from the grind and it came from battling. I grew up as a battle rapper. All this stuff that is on TV right now is one hitter quitter. They are all getting used by their record companies to make money on the spot. Then they get P.Diddy and he will take an artist and blow them up and then leave them alone. I am not into that. I have already been in it for twenty years and I am not trying to get used like that.
You are on the right track, Lynch. Artists like E-40, you, Tech N9ne and certain other rappers are in your own worlds, doing your own thing. I really look up to people like you. I can see you in another 20 years still doing music!
I’ve got another 10-15 years ahead of me before I retire. You know I have been going through a lot with these record companies, but right now I am in a good situation with Strange Music. I feel I am starting at the beginning except with a silver spoon because I already have a name.
For a while there I was wondering what was up with you. I would call and leave messages with your manager and he would never call me back.
That manager didn’t work out. I had to fire him. When I did fire him I kind of went into the dungeon for about three years and nothing was really happening. What I did during that time was just sharpening up my craft. I said until another company picks me up I am going to do a bunch of writing and work on some new styles. If you notice, I never have done the same style on any album. I am the rapper that has 100 styles, I always try to make up a new style. This new style that I have on the “Coat Hanger Stangla” which I am releasing on April 5th will be a different from “Dinner and a Movie”. I have been doing this since I was young with trying to be creative and being by myself.
When you write lyrics do you keep thinking about what you’re going to write? Or does the story just come all of a sudden?
I work like building a house! I build my rhymes. I don’t just write it and go in the booth., I will write it and rearrange it, change sentences, and change words. I am not the type of rapper to just write a rap and go in there and just keep it. With my raps a lot of work goes into it. I want to be known for that quality. You will never get a simple rap out of me unless it is meant to be simple.
Do you write your lyrics in a book and rework them to make them better?
Yeah. It also has a lot of words scratched out from words that I have changed. It looks like a blueprint when you are trying to build a house.
It sounds like you have a great time writing lyrics.
The best thing for me when I get out of the studio after I took all that time in writing it is to jump outside of myself and listen to it. I enjoy that because I am a fan of me also and when I finally get to listen to it I am like, “This is what I need to be doing!” I can only get outside of myself a couple times because after you work on an album for six months it’s hard to hear it like that. If I am at the point where I ain’t a fan of me then that is when I will quit.
You’ve got to be a fan of yourself, right?
Definitely, because if you are not a fan of yourself then why are you rapping, singing, or acting? Why do it?
When you are writing your raps do you have an idea what sounds you want with the lyrics?
Yeah, and producers kind of get mad at me because I turn down a lot of stuff. I hate to do it because producers get hurt over it, but for me it has to be something that has never been done. It can’t be something that is on the radio because I can’t rap to it. I mean I can but it is something that I prefer not to.
Do you try to get the producers to come up with what is in your head?
What I do is tell them what I want. I basically break down the album to them that I am going to make at the time. If I say I want a “High” and I want an album about smoking weed then I tell them that. If they hear something on the radio and a drum beat that other producers want, I don’t want that. I let the beats determine the style of that song!
Do you go for fast beats or slow beats?
It depends because “Season of da Siccness” was a lot of slow flippin’ beats and “Loaded” was sort of high, low, and fast. Then “Lynch by Inch” was sort of all fast. “Coat Hanger Strangla”, I just told Seven what I wanted to do with “Dinner and a Movie” and it was about a murderer and he basically just sent me shit that connected with it. The same with the “Coat Hanger Stangla” album. He produced most of it because he came with so many tight beats. He did all but about three beats on the new album, and none of them sound like the beats he does for Tech because Tech switches his gears and does what Tech likes. Seven can switch his gears and do what I like.
You being with Tech N9ne and Strange Music is like a lucky break for you and for all of your fans too.
Yeah, and me hooking up with Strange alone is beautiful because my music has been strange for years. It was good in two ways because: for one my music has always been strange, and for two I can’t do what Strange can do as a label yet. I can’t do it yet, what they are doing for the industry now. Having the team that they have is ridiculous!
Strange Music is one of the most interesting and successful labels right now.
I want to be with a company that knows what they are doing because they know how to get the music out there to where your fans can hear it. What is the use doing an album if you fans can’t hear it?
And Tech N9ne loves your music, which is really important.
He told me that he has been a fan of mine for so long and he was happy to have me on his label. That made me feel good.
You and Tech are probably the strangest people in Rap. For you and Tech to be on a label together is so amazing.
It has been a rough road for me, but Strange Music is where it’s at. They’re taking care of me.
Do you like going on the long tours with Tech N9ne and other Strange Music artists? Is that a lot of work for you?
That is the fun part! You rarely get to interact with your fans. With all this new internet technology you can interact with your fans, but once a fan meets you in person he or she feel they know you and they will always support what you are doing.
When I met you the first time I said, “This dude is fucking weird.” You came to my house in South Vallejo, the original Murder Dog house where we first started the magazine. We took photos by the railroad tracks. When I met Tech N9ne it was like when I met you, it was magical. It’s very different from seeing a photo when you meet a great artist like you in person.
It’s easy for me because I just be me. There is a lot of rappers out there and it always comes out in their music and it always will. When they are in it for the money it will come out in their music. I love Snoop, but he is in it for the money! I love the grimy Snoop even more and he still has it in him and at least once on an album he will drop that grimy Snoop and I will be so juiced. There ain’t nothing wrong with doing it for the money because that was their side of the fence, but with me I am gonna stick right here doing what I do whether I make a lot of money or not.
I feel like when we talk about you writing as a kid growing up it was a world that you loved going into and you still love going into that world!
Right!
When you look at your kids do you see the world differently through their eyes?
Yeah. With my son I get a lot of advice from him about what kids like. It is mostly commercial but he tells me. He is into the Juggalos so he is into that crowd too. I stay in touch with my son, he is the only one living with me right now and he is fifteen years old. I also let him get on the album with me and he does skits and stuff like that too. He knows that his dad is not a bad person, so I can basically still say what I want to say. He likes to listen to my music too.
In those last 3 years when you started writing and doing your own thing how did you survive? Where was the money coming from?
I never really had a line of money! The best money I had was when Is signed with Dave Wiener at Priority because they were real professional. I kind of still lived off of that and doing shows and I also produce beats. I produced the entire “Season of da Siccness” album and that is the only Gold album that I have. “Loaded” is almost there and “Season” is certified Gold. I am a producer and I do beats for other people too. I kind of survive like that. I am not really that type of guy to go out to sell drugs or anything.
Do you still live in Sacramento?
Yeah, on the outskirts of Sacramento. I couldn’t picture myself leaving because this is all I know. When I was young I couldn’t leave the outside of the apartments and that’s how I feel about Sacramento.
Are you a person who is into nature? Do you go out into the forest and to the mountains?
I have been recently in the last 5 or 6 years. I went camping for the first time I like that. When I want to get loose footage for my videos and stuff I will go out into the woods by myself.
I was listening to your record and I was thinking it would be amazing if Lynch made a video in the forest!
That’s a really good idea. That would be pretty scary for the fans to make a video in the forest.
You have that kind of otherness in your music. It’s very dark and mysterious. Do you feel like that?
I just know what I like rappin’ about and I know that I am open to anything that is creative and different. I might steal your idea and you might see something surface in a couple months. I just bought me a Sony Handy Cam and it cost me a couple racks. If you go to youtube.com/siccteevee you can see a whole bunch of crazy videos my label put up.
Is your son really into the whole internet scene?
He definitely is and he gives me a lot of ideas. He is also in a lot of the sick videos we have. He is more of a Rocker/Skater kid, but he also makes beats himself. He listens to a lot of different music, and he loves me and Tech N9ne. We are his favorite rappers.
I think a lot of people get the wrong idea of who Brotha Lynch is. You are one of the nicest people I’ve talked to. A lot of people think of you to be something else.
Oh yeah, and especially the police! Every time I have an encounter with a cop it’s like they are so nervous around me. I am like, “Come on now.” I have been in music for over 20 years so there is no need to think that I am going to do anything wrong.
As soon as they see a Black man who does Rap music, automatically they think he is a killer or gangster. I have found rappers to be the most sensitive people.
Definitely! They treat me like that all the time out here in Sacramento. But shout out to Sac-PD because they are trying to do their thing. At the same time you can look at my record and see that I don’t have nothing faulty on my record. They should treat me accordingly!
What is the next thing coming up from the Strange Music camp?
I am at the studio right now working on my verses for Tech N9ne’s album, “6’s and 7’s”. About a month after my album comes out Tech’s will drop and he has some big hitters on there like T-Pain, Yelawolf, and artists like that. He got me on there on a dark song.
What do your overseas fans think about Brotha Lynch Hung?
They love me and they always ask me to come out there, but I don’t fly. We will figure out how to get out there one day.
Why don’t you fly?
I flew all throughout the 90’s and I feel that I am lucky to be alive. I don’t trust plane mechanics. I did fly over 200 times during the “Season of da Siccness” days and throughout the 90’s, but I am only gonna fly now if I get a million dollars when I land.
I know people all over the world would just love your music.
I gotta get over there. Me and my girl talk about going to France and Italy and tackling some of those places. If she is gonna go then I am gonna go.
What about in the States? Where are some of the places here that you get a big response?
Different states love me differently. Places like Seattle, Oregon, Minnesota, Texas, Colorado is a big market for me. I have done some shows in Chicago and they support a lot too. I was trying to hit places like Florida and Atlanta.
I wouldn’t even worry about the South because they’ve got their own thing going and it is hard to break that!
What’s funny is I hooked up with Master P back in the day, and that’s how I get the little bit of sales that I do Down South because of Master P. I do get sales Down South, but I do me and I don’t target any place and hopefully they will catch on later.
When you were growing up did things change as you became a teenager or did you continue to spend time alone?
When I first started meeting other rappers it was a little more easier to approach them because they rapped too. All I had to say was, “Let me hear you rap.” I would let them hear my rap and all of a sudden we were semi friends.
Who were some of the rappers that you met?
The first rapper that I clinged on who I really became good friends with was a rapped named Sicx, who is locked up now. He’s doing life right now. He is a rapper who is similar to a style to what I did and we clicked up pretty quick. He has helped me do a lot of my Siccness because he was sick in the head to. We hooked up together and put out a couple albums on consignment in Tower Records when it was open. That was my first relationship to a rapper and he kind of schooled me on how to make friends a little bit.
Is that your real brother?
Everybody thought that because we always use to call each other brothers. That was how close that we got. In high school they use to say that we looked alike because we use to wear our hair the same and dress the same and our whole mentality was the same. People thought that we were really brothers and to me we really are. It ain’t always blood sometimes!
From there did other people come into your life?
After we started releasing our tapes into the stores a lot of people started clinging onto us and we became semi Sacramento celebrities. That’s how I met X-Raided. He had already been a fan of mine just from that little mixtape that we had put in the record stores in Sacramento. I hooked up with him and he had the same kind of mind as us, so we picked him up and we were in with him. He is an intelligent guy. I know he is locked up too but he will be out soon. He knew how to have a business and he would say anything that he wanted. It ended up being me, Sicx, and X-Raided, and we started doing music together. Then over the years I would run into old Hip Hop cats and I would do music with them and stuff. Also over the years I would run into old family and I am still with them from when I was younger.
I always think about X-Raided and how he has been locked up for so long. He still keeps doing music. He is an incredible person. We always get his music and it is amazing!
Yeah, he is still doing it! I would rather it be me still doing his music but unfortunately it is not happening.
Is X-Raided coming out soon?
He has parole in a couple months, so hopefully something will go good. He has been doing good in there so hopefully he will finally be released.
http://www.murderdog.com/april_2009/brothalynchhung.html
Interview by Eagle Split Point
On the last album the production and the whole feeling was very different. It was not even like a Brotha Lynch Hung album; it was like a whole new artist, which I really liked. I like how you switch up your style.
That’s good and I would love to keep capturing that. The only same feeling that you will get from this new album is that I am still with Strange and that I am continuing the story from “Dinner and a Movie”. As far as the Rap style it is going to be totally different.
What makes you keep changing when most people keep trying to do the same style? You are taking risks. What makes you keep exploring different directions?
For one, I hate a rapper who clings onto something that is hot. I don’t want to ever in my whole career cling on to anybody’s shit. I want to be known as a rapper who always stayed unique because to me that is what lasts long and that is what makes a deeper impression. I love music so much that I want to top everything else, even though I may not get the commercial success. I want to top it because I want people to say that I was the most creative and maybe the most lyrical rapper who never went commercial.
When you say that you keep trying to change your styles do you mean how you write your lyrics, or your sound, or the way you rap?
I mess with my word play. I do my words differently and I never try to use the same words that I have in the past. Every once in a while I do bring back something familiar since fans like that, but I try to change up all my word play. Sometimes I will flip it like the Tech N9ne’s and the Twista’s, and sometimes I will slow it down. I grew up in the Hip Hop era, so I can do that too. I don’t try to use too many of the same words unless it has to do with my Ripgut style, which is the crazy stuff.
How is the lyrical content of this album different from your last album?
It is more Hip Hop than it is gangster. It is a little more Hip Hop orientated but I do some flippin. I do a lot of word play that is way different from “Dinner And a Movie”.
When you say “Hip Hop” what do you mean exactly? Break it down for me?
Like connecting the end of a two syllable word to the next syllable word type of thing. Instead of saying “Cat, hat”, you say “Big cat, sit back” and it is that type of thing. It goes from two syllables to four syllables and so on, but also staying with in the same subject of this rapper who turns serial killer.
You are taking the words and making them more descriptive?
Yeah more descriptive!
As far as the beats are they similar to “Dinner and a Movie” or different?
Seven did a good job of making beats that didn’t sound anything like “Dinner And a Movie.” He is doing the same thing with this new “Hannibal Lecture” thing that I am doing for Strange also. Seven is a producer that has been working for Tech N9ne for a while and he is a creative ass dude. Everything sounds different with Seven.
How was it for you going to school as a child?
I remember that I use to hang out by myself. I never really had no friends because I was kind of shy. I just hung out by myself, wrote poems, and was just staring at the kids and wondering what was on the other kids’ minds. I never was into playing kick ball and all that stuff. I was just basically hanging around by myself because I felt more comfortable that way.
I always wondered why you went that road and never went along with the crowd. Why did you go out on your own?
I am an only child so I was already used to growing up alone. I am my mom’s only child so I was already used to it and I never really developed no social skills.
When you were in school you were on your own and not playing with the other kids?
No, I didn’t play with other kids. I am not really that type of guy.
I do see that, listening to your music. You are so different and unique as a rapper because you never were part of the crowd.
I guess I just felt more comfortable myself.
I have interviewed thousands of rappers, but I haven’t come across another Brotha Lynch Hung. You’re just one of a kind.
Thank you man, I appreciate that! I didn’t do that on purpose; that is just the way it happened.
That’s why you stand apart from the rest of the rappers, because you’re so different because you grew up different. There are too many rappers who are all alike, like carbon copies of each other.
Definitely! A lot of rappers tend to cling onto what is happening because they want to do it just for the money. I have been doing it for so long that I can’t get with whatever everybody else is doing, and I was never attempting to try. I only do what I know and that is what I’d rather do.
When you were in school hanging out by yourself what did you feel about the other kids?
I felt like I didn’t want to even approach any of them and if they didn’t come up to me. I was satisfied because I was already use to it. There was no reason for me to go up to them. They might’ve thought it was a little weird and they might have been a little intimidated because I don’t approach anybody. Even now I don’t approach anybody and I kind of stay on my own. I do have a group of friends now that I have known for over twenty years, and it’s easy to approach them versus approaching a stranger.
When you were in school were you a tough kid, a skinny kid? How do you see yourself?
I was mostly the shortest one and I have always been the skinny guy. I was just always to myself and in the corner. Even in my classroom I would always pick the last desk in the row so nobody could look at me from behind. I was never part of the crowd. I walked home from school by myself and all that.
When you were growing up were you into poetry? What were you interested in when you were 7 or 8?
I use to draw pictures, but I didn’t start writing poetry until I was about 13 years old. I use to draw a lot of pictures of Spider Man because he is my favorite character, and I even call myself Spider Man until this day. I would draw the actions on multiple pages like about 100 pages and when you would flip the pages the guy would fall splat on the ground. I use to pretend I was driving a diesel even though I was walking. I don’t know where that came from, but I would pretend I was driving a diesel all around my apartment. I use to do a whole bunch of stuff by myself. I didn’t know at the time but I was being creative. I was stopping myself from being bored and entertaining myself.
I never knew you were doing drawings. Do you still do drawings ever?
Every once in a while I do some stuff. A couple years ago I did a self portrait of me but my ex girlfriend stole it. Every once in a while I will do it. About six months ago I drew an Incredible Hulk for my son so he could hang it up in his room. I still dip into drawing. I use to write little stories when I was younger, and I am kind of bringing that back now because I write screenplays.
Even when you write your raps you are a storyteller. Storytelling is such a tribal tradition in Africa and other parts of the world.
I love telling stories. When I was younger I wrote a story called “The Door” about a door that every time I walk through that door it is different scenery. It starts off in my house with my mom and dad drinking with their friends and I get frustrated because I don’t like that. Then I walk through a door and I am at a park and I am playing at the park. When I get tired of that I walk through a door again and I am at the mall and then I go to another place. At the end I walk through the door and at the last place I am at my room again.
It sounds like you didn’t like the surroundings you were growing up in with your home life and you were finding ways to deal with it. Didn’t you have anyone to talk to, like in your neighborhood?
No, I would see the kids in the neighborhood, but I would stand there and see what they were doing for a while and then just walk off.
What kind of kids were in your neighborhood? Were they White kids, Black kids, Mexican kids? I was just wondering why you wouldn’t be fitting in?
I grew up around a lot of Mexican kids. I grew up in downtown Sacramento where there were a lot of broke people. I was there until I was about 7 or 8 until I moved back to the Southside. There were a lot of Mexicans where I grew up. A lot of them talked Spanish and I don’t know Spanish, so I just kind of kept to myself.
You kept to yourself because there was this whole other culture going on?
They had Black people out there too and White people, but I didn’t know how to approach anybody and I definitely wasn’t gonna approach the Spanish-speaking kids.
It was in the downtown area where you grew up?
Definitely! But it wasn’t even like a city because downtown Sacramento was like the smallest city in the world. They only have a couple of tall buildings. The rest of it was just broken down apartments and then the county jail. I could walk to the county jail from the circle. At that time where I lived it seemed like the whole world to me and there was nothing outside of it, so I thought that is how my life would always be, in those little apartments back there. I wouldn’t dare go outside of those apartments at that time.
What was your home life like? What were your parents doing?
My mom was doing drugs and so was her husband, which is my step dad. They use to have all kinds of bad stuff in the house. She was a good hider because she would hide it for a lot of years, but I would wake up in the middle of the night and smell that same smell which was not normal. I kind of caught onto it. My mom is a real docile person and her husband was a real strong person. I felt like she was just doing it to keep him and I was always unhappy about it. I would tell her, “Please stop doing it!” She would always deny it and say she was not doing anything, but I knew she was.
Do you think that a lot of those things shaped your music and the style of lyrics that you are writing right now?
I suppose so. I always talked about it in my music too and hoped that one day she would hear it and try to stop, but she never really listened to my music because she was just happy that I was doing good.
Your family never listened to the music you were doing?
Not until the later Black Market days when my uncle was at work and his friend said, “My son loves your son’s rap.” He didn’t even know what he was talking about. My uncle came home and asked me, “Do you have records out? A friend of mine at work said that he likes your stuff.” I didn’t really mention it to them because they are like Christian people.
When you came out with your music you were the only rapper with the whole serial killer theme. You never fit into any established genre of Rap.
I guess that taught me to stand on my own, because today it helps me to not cling onto these new trends. Some of these new styles are just ridiculous!
What do you mean by the new styles, Lynch?
I mean by all this stuff that’s on BET. Like with Murder Dog you do it your way and you are not gonna change it to something else so something commercial can catch onto your name. That is what I love about you guys because you are Murder Dog. A lot of people are not going to release a magazine and call it “Murder Dog!” I love that about you and that is why I love doing interviews with you.
So many people have told us that we can get you distributed in all the conservative corporate stores like Safeway if you change the name to “M-Dog” take the word Murder out.
Ha ha! I know you got approached like that. I knew you had to because you are like the biggest magazine to me. I love XXL and all that and they are doing what they have to do, but they are glorifying Rap that is so commercial it’s ridiculous. To me that ain’t where real Hip Hop came from. It came from the grind and it came from battling. I grew up as a battle rapper. All this stuff that is on TV right now is one hitter quitter. They are all getting used by their record companies to make money on the spot. Then they get P.Diddy and he will take an artist and blow them up and then leave them alone. I am not into that. I have already been in it for twenty years and I am not trying to get used like that.
You are on the right track, Lynch. Artists like E-40, you, Tech N9ne and certain other rappers are in your own worlds, doing your own thing. I really look up to people like you. I can see you in another 20 years still doing music!
I’ve got another 10-15 years ahead of me before I retire. You know I have been going through a lot with these record companies, but right now I am in a good situation with Strange Music. I feel I am starting at the beginning except with a silver spoon because I already have a name.
For a while there I was wondering what was up with you. I would call and leave messages with your manager and he would never call me back.
That manager didn’t work out. I had to fire him. When I did fire him I kind of went into the dungeon for about three years and nothing was really happening. What I did during that time was just sharpening up my craft. I said until another company picks me up I am going to do a bunch of writing and work on some new styles. If you notice, I never have done the same style on any album. I am the rapper that has 100 styles, I always try to make up a new style. This new style that I have on the “Coat Hanger Stangla” which I am releasing on April 5th will be a different from “Dinner and a Movie”. I have been doing this since I was young with trying to be creative and being by myself.
When you write lyrics do you keep thinking about what you’re going to write? Or does the story just come all of a sudden?
I work like building a house! I build my rhymes. I don’t just write it and go in the booth., I will write it and rearrange it, change sentences, and change words. I am not the type of rapper to just write a rap and go in there and just keep it. With my raps a lot of work goes into it. I want to be known for that quality. You will never get a simple rap out of me unless it is meant to be simple.
Do you write your lyrics in a book and rework them to make them better?
Yeah. It also has a lot of words scratched out from words that I have changed. It looks like a blueprint when you are trying to build a house.
It sounds like you have a great time writing lyrics.
The best thing for me when I get out of the studio after I took all that time in writing it is to jump outside of myself and listen to it. I enjoy that because I am a fan of me also and when I finally get to listen to it I am like, “This is what I need to be doing!” I can only get outside of myself a couple times because after you work on an album for six months it’s hard to hear it like that. If I am at the point where I ain’t a fan of me then that is when I will quit.
You’ve got to be a fan of yourself, right?
Definitely, because if you are not a fan of yourself then why are you rapping, singing, or acting? Why do it?
When you are writing your raps do you have an idea what sounds you want with the lyrics?
Yeah, and producers kind of get mad at me because I turn down a lot of stuff. I hate to do it because producers get hurt over it, but for me it has to be something that has never been done. It can’t be something that is on the radio because I can’t rap to it. I mean I can but it is something that I prefer not to.
Do you try to get the producers to come up with what is in your head?
What I do is tell them what I want. I basically break down the album to them that I am going to make at the time. If I say I want a “High” and I want an album about smoking weed then I tell them that. If they hear something on the radio and a drum beat that other producers want, I don’t want that. I let the beats determine the style of that song!
Do you go for fast beats or slow beats?
It depends because “Season of da Siccness” was a lot of slow flippin’ beats and “Loaded” was sort of high, low, and fast. Then “Lynch by Inch” was sort of all fast. “Coat Hanger Strangla”, I just told Seven what I wanted to do with “Dinner and a Movie” and it was about a murderer and he basically just sent me shit that connected with it. The same with the “Coat Hanger Stangla” album. He produced most of it because he came with so many tight beats. He did all but about three beats on the new album, and none of them sound like the beats he does for Tech because Tech switches his gears and does what Tech likes. Seven can switch his gears and do what I like.
You being with Tech N9ne and Strange Music is like a lucky break for you and for all of your fans too.
Yeah, and me hooking up with Strange alone is beautiful because my music has been strange for years. It was good in two ways because: for one my music has always been strange, and for two I can’t do what Strange can do as a label yet. I can’t do it yet, what they are doing for the industry now. Having the team that they have is ridiculous!
Strange Music is one of the most interesting and successful labels right now.
I want to be with a company that knows what they are doing because they know how to get the music out there to where your fans can hear it. What is the use doing an album if you fans can’t hear it?
And Tech N9ne loves your music, which is really important.
He told me that he has been a fan of mine for so long and he was happy to have me on his label. That made me feel good.
You and Tech are probably the strangest people in Rap. For you and Tech to be on a label together is so amazing.
It has been a rough road for me, but Strange Music is where it’s at. They’re taking care of me.
Do you like going on the long tours with Tech N9ne and other Strange Music artists? Is that a lot of work for you?
That is the fun part! You rarely get to interact with your fans. With all this new internet technology you can interact with your fans, but once a fan meets you in person he or she feel they know you and they will always support what you are doing.
When I met you the first time I said, “This dude is fucking weird.” You came to my house in South Vallejo, the original Murder Dog house where we first started the magazine. We took photos by the railroad tracks. When I met Tech N9ne it was like when I met you, it was magical. It’s very different from seeing a photo when you meet a great artist like you in person.
It’s easy for me because I just be me. There is a lot of rappers out there and it always comes out in their music and it always will. When they are in it for the money it will come out in their music. I love Snoop, but he is in it for the money! I love the grimy Snoop even more and he still has it in him and at least once on an album he will drop that grimy Snoop and I will be so juiced. There ain’t nothing wrong with doing it for the money because that was their side of the fence, but with me I am gonna stick right here doing what I do whether I make a lot of money or not.
I feel like when we talk about you writing as a kid growing up it was a world that you loved going into and you still love going into that world!
Right!
When you look at your kids do you see the world differently through their eyes?
Yeah. With my son I get a lot of advice from him about what kids like. It is mostly commercial but he tells me. He is into the Juggalos so he is into that crowd too. I stay in touch with my son, he is the only one living with me right now and he is fifteen years old. I also let him get on the album with me and he does skits and stuff like that too. He knows that his dad is not a bad person, so I can basically still say what I want to say. He likes to listen to my music too.
In those last 3 years when you started writing and doing your own thing how did you survive? Where was the money coming from?
I never really had a line of money! The best money I had was when Is signed with Dave Wiener at Priority because they were real professional. I kind of still lived off of that and doing shows and I also produce beats. I produced the entire “Season of da Siccness” album and that is the only Gold album that I have. “Loaded” is almost there and “Season” is certified Gold. I am a producer and I do beats for other people too. I kind of survive like that. I am not really that type of guy to go out to sell drugs or anything.
Do you still live in Sacramento?
Yeah, on the outskirts of Sacramento. I couldn’t picture myself leaving because this is all I know. When I was young I couldn’t leave the outside of the apartments and that’s how I feel about Sacramento.
Are you a person who is into nature? Do you go out into the forest and to the mountains?
I have been recently in the last 5 or 6 years. I went camping for the first time I like that. When I want to get loose footage for my videos and stuff I will go out into the woods by myself.
I was listening to your record and I was thinking it would be amazing if Lynch made a video in the forest!
That’s a really good idea. That would be pretty scary for the fans to make a video in the forest.
You have that kind of otherness in your music. It’s very dark and mysterious. Do you feel like that?
I just know what I like rappin’ about and I know that I am open to anything that is creative and different. I might steal your idea and you might see something surface in a couple months. I just bought me a Sony Handy Cam and it cost me a couple racks. If you go to youtube.com/siccteevee you can see a whole bunch of crazy videos my label put up.
Is your son really into the whole internet scene?
He definitely is and he gives me a lot of ideas. He is also in a lot of the sick videos we have. He is more of a Rocker/Skater kid, but he also makes beats himself. He listens to a lot of different music, and he loves me and Tech N9ne. We are his favorite rappers.
I think a lot of people get the wrong idea of who Brotha Lynch is. You are one of the nicest people I’ve talked to. A lot of people think of you to be something else.
Oh yeah, and especially the police! Every time I have an encounter with a cop it’s like they are so nervous around me. I am like, “Come on now.” I have been in music for over 20 years so there is no need to think that I am going to do anything wrong.
As soon as they see a Black man who does Rap music, automatically they think he is a killer or gangster. I have found rappers to be the most sensitive people.
Definitely! They treat me like that all the time out here in Sacramento. But shout out to Sac-PD because they are trying to do their thing. At the same time you can look at my record and see that I don’t have nothing faulty on my record. They should treat me accordingly!
What is the next thing coming up from the Strange Music camp?
I am at the studio right now working on my verses for Tech N9ne’s album, “6’s and 7’s”. About a month after my album comes out Tech’s will drop and he has some big hitters on there like T-Pain, Yelawolf, and artists like that. He got me on there on a dark song.
What do your overseas fans think about Brotha Lynch Hung?
They love me and they always ask me to come out there, but I don’t fly. We will figure out how to get out there one day.
Why don’t you fly?
I flew all throughout the 90’s and I feel that I am lucky to be alive. I don’t trust plane mechanics. I did fly over 200 times during the “Season of da Siccness” days and throughout the 90’s, but I am only gonna fly now if I get a million dollars when I land.
I know people all over the world would just love your music.
I gotta get over there. Me and my girl talk about going to France and Italy and tackling some of those places. If she is gonna go then I am gonna go.
What about in the States? Where are some of the places here that you get a big response?
Different states love me differently. Places like Seattle, Oregon, Minnesota, Texas, Colorado is a big market for me. I have done some shows in Chicago and they support a lot too. I was trying to hit places like Florida and Atlanta.
I wouldn’t even worry about the South because they’ve got their own thing going and it is hard to break that!
What’s funny is I hooked up with Master P back in the day, and that’s how I get the little bit of sales that I do Down South because of Master P. I do get sales Down South, but I do me and I don’t target any place and hopefully they will catch on later.
When you were growing up did things change as you became a teenager or did you continue to spend time alone?
When I first started meeting other rappers it was a little more easier to approach them because they rapped too. All I had to say was, “Let me hear you rap.” I would let them hear my rap and all of a sudden we were semi friends.
Who were some of the rappers that you met?
The first rapper that I clinged on who I really became good friends with was a rapped named Sicx, who is locked up now. He’s doing life right now. He is a rapper who is similar to a style to what I did and we clicked up pretty quick. He has helped me do a lot of my Siccness because he was sick in the head to. We hooked up together and put out a couple albums on consignment in Tower Records when it was open. That was my first relationship to a rapper and he kind of schooled me on how to make friends a little bit.
Is that your real brother?
Everybody thought that because we always use to call each other brothers. That was how close that we got. In high school they use to say that we looked alike because we use to wear our hair the same and dress the same and our whole mentality was the same. People thought that we were really brothers and to me we really are. It ain’t always blood sometimes!
From there did other people come into your life?
After we started releasing our tapes into the stores a lot of people started clinging onto us and we became semi Sacramento celebrities. That’s how I met X-Raided. He had already been a fan of mine just from that little mixtape that we had put in the record stores in Sacramento. I hooked up with him and he had the same kind of mind as us, so we picked him up and we were in with him. He is an intelligent guy. I know he is locked up too but he will be out soon. He knew how to have a business and he would say anything that he wanted. It ended up being me, Sicx, and X-Raided, and we started doing music together. Then over the years I would run into old Hip Hop cats and I would do music with them and stuff. Also over the years I would run into old family and I am still with them from when I was younger.
I always think about X-Raided and how he has been locked up for so long. He still keeps doing music. He is an incredible person. We always get his music and it is amazing!
Yeah, he is still doing it! I would rather it be me still doing his music but unfortunately it is not happening.
Is X-Raided coming out soon?
He has parole in a couple months, so hopefully something will go good. He has been doing good in there so hopefully he will finally be released.
http://www.murderdog.com/april_2009/brothalynchhung.html
