Left Leberra is an up-and-coming rapper based in New Haven, Connecticut. Along with his sister, the rapper Stash Marina, and the 3-man Northern Lights group (made up of rapper Rod Fuego and producers/rappers New 9 Gs and Don D) Left is a part of a crew called AREB.

I found out about Left and AREB from one of Zach G’s “High Tide” posts last month and found their stuff quite awesome. I got in touch with Left and he, Northern Lights and Stash were kind enough to let me go to their New Haven studio so I could interview all 5 of them. It was a good time.

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How did you guys all get started making music? How did you meet up?

Left: They’ve been making music since they were like teenagers.

Don: We started back when we were 15. 15 or 16.

Rod: We all grew up together. We met Left last year. Daryl’s [a.k.a New 9Gs] coworker Dave hooked us up because we needed a graphic artist. We needed music and art.

Left: Stash is my sister. We’ve been rapping since 2005 or 6.

Left, you mainly work with Norhern Lights but you’ve collaborated with some other people recently, some pretty big producers. We were talking about ASAP earlier and I guess Beautiful Lou is most famous for producing for Rocky now. I mentioned Zach G earlier, too and you worked with him on your most recent mixtape. Has it been hard to connect with producers and collaborate?

Left: Nah, it’s been pretty easy. People send shit to me.

That’s cool. So, producers just discovered your music on your Bandcamp and sent you stuff?

Left: Yeah.

Have you guys [Northern Lights] been producing for anyone outside of AREB?

Rod: Yeah we did some stuff with Nemo Achida (not sure if you’re familiar with him) he’s out of Kentucky. He’s a pretty good artist. He came up here and worked with us. We produced about 35% of his last project. We did some joints for Trademark Da Skydiver.

Oh yeah, from Curren$y’s Jet team.

9Gs: Yeah…what else…That’s the big ones…

Rod: We’ve got some other stuff in the works.

Don: Yeah we’re working with Wesern Tink.  And Shadow Runners.

Oh yeah. I keep hearing more and more about Shadow Runners.

Don: Yeah, they’re talented. We like them a lot.

I like how many nerdy references they make in their stuff. Like in that “Slimewave” video they talk about Power Rangers in the beginning.

9Gs: Yeah.

Don: Yeah we connected through nerdy stuff too. I’ve been talking to them about WWF. I was in love with WWF growing up.

Yeah. I feel like WWF or Superheroes or other “nerdy” things are a big, meaningful thing for our generation. I mean, I see that stuff come up a lot in music (in hip hop especially) but there’s something about it we all relate to. We had a lot of cool things to watch as little kids.

9Gs: Yeah it’s common ground. We all connect.

Speaking of that, I wore my Ninja Turtles shirt today because they come up in your songs, Left. You have a song “Oroku Saki” and you have album art that’s Shredder.

Left: Oh yeah. I just moved and when I was moving I noticed I still got my Michealangelo toy from when I was a little kid.

I have to shout out Northampton, MA because it’s where I was born and that’s where they created Ninja Turtles. When I was little I met the creators actually. So, Turtles are always gonna be meaningful for me.  Switching gears kinda:  Left, A lot of your music is kind of introspective. Like it’s slow-paced and well thought out. And the Northern Lights beats sound that way, too. The production is almost like we’re in space looking down on things.

9Gs: That’s the same way we think about it! That’s us, man! When we make our music We want you to feel like you’re in space. In a galaxy. And Left really complements that.

Don: He does take his time with everything. Not project-wise. He’ll drop a project every two weeks. But, Rhyme-wise. He always keeps the same pace basically. Even if he does speed it up a little Left keeps on that same metronome and always hits the same points. I think he stands out from everyone else by doing that.

Some of the Northern Lights beats are so different they seem almost un-rappable. I remember hearing one of Left’s songs where the drums are really bizarre and really all you do, Left, is repeat the hook on it. But, I think it’s cool you did that, that you figured out that way to be on that beat. Your work with Northern Lights is great because you’re able to rap over some weird, nontraditional stuff.

Don: That’s how we want everybody to look at us. We want to separate ourselves from other producers. We’ve been making beats like that for a long time. We’ve been making stuff we feel like “Nobody’s gonna rap on this. Nobody CAN rap on this.”

Left: They never think I’m gonna like the beats I pick.

Don: It’s always like “you sure you want this?”

He’ll pick like the most ambient, weird thing?

Don: Yeah. And it’ll come out great.

We were talking about producer collaborations earlier. And, on your newest mixtape you’ve worked with rappers outside of your team on there. You’ve got Tiffany from Dark Sister on their and Supa from Sortahuman. How did those collaborations come about?

Left: Through Producers. Party Trash put me in touch with Supa. This producer named Blown from Tenessee got me in touch with Tiffany.

I love that beat for “Left Hand” with Tiffany. It’s like a little kid keyboard trap beat. It’s goofy in a good way. Left, you and Stash released a mixtape of freestyles “Volcano Pyramid” Was there any reason for that in particular?

Left: I always wanted to freestyle. And I always felt like I couldn’t do it. But, the more I’ve been rapping and the more I’ve been fucking with these guys [Northern Lights] I thought I could. We took beats from oldschool stuff. We had an idea for a type of theme: like old thug shit.

Yeah I think you nailed the “Old Thug Shit.” I was listening to the mixtape and my roommate walked by. He was like “What is this? It sounds like old Ice Cube.”  I think the freestyle project is good because it brings out some different flows from you and Stash. Do you think it helped you get into a different creative place?

Left: Yeah it helps you say things you might not normally say.

On the Mary Saves album I really love the song “Last Man Alive” where a Martian woman comes from space and you have sex with her. That’s a great story, Left. I think the imagination  and the creativity on that song are excellent. There are so many people rapping that I feel like you have to be unique now and I think having songs is really what makes you stand out.

Left: That song was actually Stash’s idea.

Oh cool. So, Stash, how did that idea come about?

Stash: Well, Left’s always talks about how  “girls ain’t shit” basically. So I told him he should do something different and was like “maybe this should be about like a bitch from Mars who can take over.” I went somewhere and when I came back he had finished the song I was like “Hell yeah.”

It’s pretty awesome. Left’s able to subdue this monster by having sex with it. It reminds me of those old pulp book covers (and I don’t know if you guys have seen those) like “Last man On Earth!” I can envision the cover actually where Left’s like the hero facing off against this martian woman.

Left: Yeah totally.

Okay. As a final thing: What projects are you all working on now? And that question is for everybody.

Left: Stash’s shit just needs to be mixed that’s “Black Master” and Northern Lights are putting out their shit on the 30^th.

And there’s more Left on the way soon, too?

Left: Yeah.

Nice. Well, thank you guys. Is there anything else you want to say?

Left: Thanks for fucking with us.

Rod: Yeah. Love to Mishka.

9Gs: Love to Mishka and love to Zach G.

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After our chat we hung out for a bit and watched Rod’s old VHS tapes of ’90s TV. It was Mostly All That, Weird Al Videos and the 90s X-Men Cartoon.

We all agreed that Cyclops is the worst member of the X-Men.

The Mr. Chips of OFWGKTA, Frank Ocean, recently sat down with BBC to talk about his work, his life, his new album, “topical anesthetics,” and doing yoga (monkey pose, he says, is a favorite) on the beach. Ocean was one of the breakout stars of 2011 and also one of the most interesting, as proven by this video. The dude comes off as pretty damn smart, and certainly infinitely more mannered than the rest of his OF crew. Makes me wonder what the hell it’s like when they hang out.

Most importantly though, he talks about his as yet untitled debut album, which will be out in the spring and is almost guaranteed to be great. He may be trying to hide it a little, but Ocean seems supremely confident in this video, and I assume it’s because he knows he’s about to sell a boatload of records. Then he’ll be able to use the money to re-up his cardigan game.

That would actually be pretty sick, huh? I used to do a lot of field recordings, but I never got the chance to record a burning wave. I’m sure it would sound nothing like DJ Burn One though. You know, the sound of Yelawolf, ASAP Rocky, Pill, Starlito, and countless other notable hip hop releases of recent memory. Earlier this year Burn One dropped the much-slept on The Ashtray, which is just one amongst a slew of releases, but it also served as the singular marker for a very clear transition point. The Ashtray is Burn One’s first instrumental release, and after talking with him it’s clear that it’s a very calculated release that has involved much more than the music on it might suggest.

Burn One isn’t just a guy making beats. He’s a tireless hustler who’s first instrumental album is just one small piece of a very involved puzzle that has grown out of the space where his life and hip hop meet. Like many of us who grew up in the South, hip hop connected with him as much as he connected with it. And Burn One’s story highlights the difficulty in finding a distinction between how hip hop sounds as music, and what hip hop does as music:

“I think I had a unique experience growing up. I was raised in a city just south of downtown atlanta called Hapeville until I was 10. my family was one of a handful of white families in the area. after that we moved to the suburbs where there were just a handful of black families. it was pretty crazy because you would have these die hard rednecks with rebel flags hanging off their jacked up trucks banging pac to the fullest extent. it made no sense to me at the time but I realize now that music is one of the few things that translates to everybody, regardless of race or beliefs.”

And it would seem that the eponymous characteristics of hip hop not only informed, but also defined Burn One’s experience with this music, this culture, this vernacular of our nation. He got his start—you ready for this?—burning mix CDs in high school. He was THAT dude. The one who knew how to use a computer before everyone was rocking iTunes. But apparently he was one of the #Rarest versions of that dude type, because he also had great taste in music. And of course that led to working at a mom and pop, which lead to releasing his own proper mixtapes, which then led to making all kinds of connections, which then lead to projects of his own with various folks, which then lead to doin his own tunes and starting BLVD ST, which eventually blossomed into his label Five Points:

“I started my label Five Points Music Group about a year ago after I got together with my current team. Walt Live, Ricky Fontaine & The Professor play most of the live music you hear on my beats now. With them I can pretty much get out any sounds that I hear in my head. We work a lot of placement records and side projects with artists I believe have a chance to make it like Scotty & P. Watts. Ricky & Walt are also the first act I’m putting out on the label. they produce, write, sing, rap, record and mix all their own stuff. We just dropped a record with them and LE$ as the first single off the Cowbell Gang tape I’m doing with Taylor Gang producer Cardo. That’s going to be a double disc and hopefully it’ll be out by February. I’m also working on the soundtrack to an independent film that was shot here in ATL called Snow On Tha Bluff. We created the theme music for the trailer and have a few other songs in the actual movie as well.”

And running his label is exactly what he’s doing. From the top to the bottom Five Points is a brand under the care of a man with impeccable taste, a meticulous ear, and a connection to hip hop that is so intertwined with his life that you cannot separate the two. Burn One is in that unique transition point that comes between being part of the Wave, and being a self-sustaining enterprise. He exhibits everything that the Wave cultivates (honesty, humility, dedication to the craft, wisdom, tough tunes…), but he has outgrown the Wave. He has started his own sequel to the Wave, he’s a cloud, and he’s about to rain down an excellent example:

“at this point I’m the only one handling the administrative side of things on the daily. I have a very distinct vision with what I want to accomplish and until I find the right people to bring in that see my vision I’d rather just handle it all myself.”

And so, through Five Points DJ Burn One is not onyl able to release music, but also realize his relationship with hip hop on an even grander scheme. At this point he is undoubtedly a regional force, and unarguably an internet staple, but he has never released music as we commonly think of it. Burn One’s role in contemporary hip hop has led to the release of a lot of music, but all he’s ever done is live and breathe everything that this art stands for. He’s an artist in the purest form to quote Squadda B, and you can believe he is not only a name that we’ll be watching next year, but also a potent mind that we’ll be paying close attention to, and most likely looking to for inspiration.

Here at the Bloglin I assume you are all very familiar with the Insane Clown Posse and Juggalos in general by now, but you might not know the man who should very well be ICP’s third member. The man which who I am speaking of is none other than Mike E. Clark. Clark has been ICP’s producer from the moment they changed from “Inner City Posse” to “Insane Clown Posse”. He was also in the studio producing for the likes of Esham, Kid Rock, Twiztid, and George Clinton to name a few. M.E.C. is THE sound we know and love when it comes to I.C.P., he laid it down for every album they did from 1992-1999 and is continuing on with the last few albums put out by the clowns.

I could go on about this stuff for days, but that’s not why I’m here. The reason I am here is to bring you this interview our buddy Nick Gazin did with the man himself. Some people might or might not know that Nick is an old fan of I.C.P. from years back, so I guess it’s fitting he was granted this interview for Vice. It’s a good read especially if you’re a juggalo because you then know M.E.C. is almost like an enigma and has been in the shadows for years and years. As a bonus it has I.C.P.’s brand new video for “It’s All Over” for your viewing pleasure. I salute you for this one Gazin, I might even share one of my last Rock & Rye Faygos with you now…

Photo by Adam Ross

Queens, New York Hip Hop group Children Of The Night began as just two guys: the art school friends Nasty Nigel (f.k.a Versa) and Lanksy doing joke raps. Later, they got more serious and linked with friend-of-a-friend Remy Banks as well as five other vocalists to form the original, eight person COTN. The group has since slimmed down to just Nigel, Lanksy and Remy although they are still a member of the larger Worlds Fair family along with fellow Queens rappers Cody B. Ware, Prince SAMO and Jeff Donna.

After two mixtapes (“100%” and “Where The Wild Things Are”) and the EP Yes/No COTN are prepping their first official album Queens Revisited.

A few weeks ago I met with Nasty Nigel for pizza in Corona Plaza, Queens, the neighborhood where he grew up. Over some slices at Dream Pizzeria, Nigel and I talked about his and Children Of The Night’s connection to Queens, storytelling, the group’s upcoming album, Blade comics, being “DIY” and more…

I feel like the Children Of The Night is kind of “oldschool” and I would actually use the word “hip hop” to describe your music. It has that classic sound to me. Is that something you guys really try to go for?

Nasty Nigel: It’s something that we’re familiar with so we can easily go to that. But, it’s definitely hip hop and then we just try to give it a fresh sound to it so the way we go about our lyrics and the whole delivery is really new. If you tell somebody else about it and you compare it to other shit I mean it doesn’t really go hand in hand with anything that we’ve come across. It has its own weird sound to it.

Speaking of beats, how have you been getting them? Do you guys produce your own music?

NN: The first two projects, 100% and Where The Wild Things Are, were completely jacked beats. We came across a couple Madlib tapes and we used one J Dilla Beat. A lot of Flying Lotus some RZA beats. Some Q-Tip. We were trying to show other people what we want and what we sound really good on. Once we got to Yes/No that was produced by our friend Johnny GoFigure.

He’s on Yes/No a bunch, too.

NN: Yeah he sings all over it. He produced that whole tape.

Yes/No is a really interesting project. It’s kinda daring for 3 dudes rapping to make an entire love album. What I think is cool about it is how Yes/No isn’t corny, though. How did you guys decide to make that?

NN: It was a time when we were being recognized. People would always say “it’s cool you have these mixtapes but we need original shit.” I was like “yo, let’s do a fucking Valentine’s Day album. Let’s make it us at the same time. So we’re not coping out like ‘oh these guys turned soft.’” If you listen to it we’re talking about drinking in school and having sex with these girls. It’s very realistic. It’s not like “Oh, I looooove you and all this shit.”

After Yes/No we dropped a couple of singles. We put some on Bandcamp. That was like the doors opening toward having original material that we could do whatever we want with. As opposed to some stuff we can’t even sell because it’s not our beat.

Speaking of “realistic” lyrics. I think all three of you having great storytelling. Especially on the Wild Things track which is kinda focused on you: “Versa’s Ransom.“

NN: Yeah. Versa used to be my rap name.

Right. Is storytelling something you guys focus on a lot in songwriting?

NN: It started off in 100% where we did this song called “Virgin” over a Raekwon beat. Raekwon and Ghostface are always telling weird fucking stories. We were like “yo, let’s do a song about me having sex with a virgin who happens to be somebody’s girlfriend and it’ll make a whole drama.” So, “Versa’s Ransom” is like a continuation of that story.

I think the details in “Versa’s Ransom” are excellent. I love when Remy and Lanksy are talking about their burnt burger. I think you guys really nailed that song, that story.

NN: Thank you. And our boy D-Black is the guy who kidnaps me. He has this really deep, sinister voice. It’s perfect.

Do you think storytelling is dead in hip hop now? I don’t think that Wu-Tang style storytelling is around really anymore.

NN: It’s a lost form. A couple people can do it. It’s so easy to jump from topic to topic like “Yo, I’m eating pizza I got a fly ass jacket” and that’s cool but maybe tell a fucking story about how you came across the pizza and how you obtained the jacket. I’m not saying it’s easy for us to tell stories. I think Versa’s ransom took me like 3 days to completely nail down. I wanted to point out these random things. Storytelling is kind of about randomly describing this one thing. Like describing a smell. It’s definitely something that people don’t do as much nowadays.

(more…)

I trust that you’ve been bumping A$AP Rocky. If you haven’t, then you must not care about Hip Hop and the salvation of the New York scene and therefore I can no longer trust you, Reader. But don’t take it too hard, just start listening to him, and in the meantime, take a look at the above video. It’s an interview by No Sleep Pro of the greater A$AP Mob, the crew behind Rocky. Dig on it.

So everyone’s favorite hypeman, Ashok Kondabolu AKA Dapwell from Das Racist has launched his own web show called Chillin Island. Chillin Island is kinda like when we did The Creepy Touch but obviously waaaay chiller ’cause Daps isn’t a creep like Nick Gazin. But anwyay…

Episode one features Slice Harvester, who’s made it his life’s mission to sample a slice from everyone of New York City’s gaziilion pizza joints. In addition to his blog he even publishes a little zine about his cheese and tomato sauce filled exploits. What a life! This episode also features the DR crew chillin’ in Hawaii and New Orleans; Dap getting a haircut while drunk; A trip to Home Depot and a visit with Big Baby Gandhi.

Main Attrakionz are steady peddlin’ to the top! Here they stop by iHipHop to shed some light on their origins and on Town Business. And they discuss, slightly, their feelings on being labeled as “Cloud Rap”. Also, you may notice, they are decked out in our new Fall gear, which can be yours too if you head over to our web store! Download Main Attrakionz’ latest effort, 808s & Dark Grapes II for free courtesy of us! Yeah!

Here it is. Or perhaps I should say, here they are. That’s right, today we’ve got three brand new interviews with Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire! The Brooklyn emcee’s been on a promo storm since dropping Lost In Translation last weekend and he’s not letting up. First stop, eXquire sits down with itstheBino to talk about the flavor of bootie-raspberry.

Up next, Mr. eX stops by LAstereoTV and discusses being from Brooklyn and the legacy of Biggie. He also gives some props to Fabolous. Shout out to Fab! For the third interview you’ll have to head over to MTVHive, which I don’t know what that is, but it’s probably the most interesting interview of the three. Check out all of these and download Lost In Translation for free here on the Bloglin if you have not yet, or if you already have, download it again. I mean, why not?

The Smoking Jacket is Playboy’s way of giving you a SFW outlet to keep up with the comings and goings of the Playboy universe. Since I shot with Playboy TV’s Badass last year and this year (commercial above) they wanted to interview me about what it’s like to shoot hot naked women.  They asked me to have sapphic undertones to my interview to make all the readers want more — which is funny to me — but I give Playboy what they wanted.

I talk about which model has my favorite boobs, butt, who surprised me with their red pubes, and all those other questions you may have wanted to ask me but were afraid to. Read the whole interview here and enjoy a huge gallery of my SFW photos of Justine Joli, Jelena Jensen, Shay Laren, Masuimi Max, Mosh, Heather Vandeven, Brianna Jordan, Courtney Cruz, Darenzia, Aria Giovanni, Justene Jaro, Renee Perez, Asa Akira, Adriana Sage and Krista Ayne.