Union:
So tell us a little bit of your journey through music and what inspired you early.
Mibbs:
Boot Camp Clik. I guess I must have been at the perfect age to take it in. They reminded me of like the G.I. Joes of rap if they had action figures I would have bought every single one. Wu Tang were like that too, not to take anything away from Wu Tang I got into Wu Tang like after Boot Camp Clik. I hold them in the highest regard but it started with BCC. That was the first time I looked at rappers like video game characters with skill. I even bought chew sticks, rocked Tims, and cargo shorts and had a backpack on on the weekends when there was no school. When I used to watch Rap City and they had BCC on there and they talked about how they regimented themselves, like if someone was late to a meeting they had to do push ups, you had to have songs recorded by a certain date and if not you had to run and do laps around the block or some shit. It was a mentality. Holding yourself accountable for your own fuck ups is the best thing ever.
Union:
Popular music is always changing, but its seemingly a recycling of ideas, like every decade celebrates a decade and draws inspiration from it. We see it in fashion, music, and sometimes general attitude. You agree?
Mibbs:
Whats interesting is the most successful hip hop artist is doing that. Right now. Low key that’s whats really happening. Niggas are exploring electronic dance music.
I was so anti EDM, but now I understand it. I have my people who are into house, and have exposed me to the OG’s like Moodymann and Theo Parrish. Being from Cali, we were never really into house. It sounds beautiful, I can understand how people can have an out of body experience. But to see EDM, its like it’s the children of house music, and now its trying to become a lifestyle. Its so drug induced. It should be about enjoying the experience. I feel a lot of hip hop fans are going away from enjoying the experience because they are trying to live it so much. You trying to live up to something that’s not real, just be you, life isn’t always glamorous that’s what hip hop is all about. That’s what I’m trying to evoke in my music the most, high energy. Its about active listening.
Union:
Whats your thoughts on other hip hop communities in Cali ? What is an example of one that works in unison with itself?
Mibbs:
Bay Area. Man. I feel like they are… the epitome of independence, and belief in yourself, they don’t care what nobody thinks, and they’re self sustained and they love each other. And everybody shows love up there. The Bay Hip Hop scene has been self sustained for years, and will always be! Because of the love.
Union:
The Bay Area has had some unique characters, one of the most influential would be Mac Dre (RIP).
Mibbs:
Man. I tell you man there are a certain amount of artists, just influential people in general who aren’t alive today but if they were alive today: they wouldn’t be alive today. Mac Dre is one of those people.
He was a pioneer. He had intelligent lyrics mixed with an ignorant disposition. Pac was the same way to me but Pac was more serious. Mac Dre was silly. But he still said real shit! Just like Suga Free the Pimp is one of my favorite rappers of all time because he was just no-hold-barred the truth.
Union:
Guess with Mac Dre it would have thizz magically appearing out of nowhere then.
Mibbs:
Exactly. But that’s the Bay.
L.A. … L.A. is so…Hollywood yo…
We can be innovative at times. I mean there was a time when I thought things were going to be great for L.A. hip hop. More united, but its not. You have a few new lanes now, its not enough though, the record labels make EVERYTHING go out here and there’s not enough community love. We had more unity for a small amount of time between 2006-2010 maybe, and then things just broke off. The landscape changed drastically with the emergence of Odd Future, but we (Pac Div) helped lay a foundation for groups like them, because things were more political before them it was harder to be wild and unique and we were always like “fuck the politics” , do our own thing and go hang out on Fairfax and make that scene. I don’t know why, but we were always hanging out on Fairfax.
Union:
Its like a little tourist attraction. Its almost like strolling through Venice in some ways. You guys were part of the reason Fairfax became what it is today, or rather you guys helped opened that door just based off your presence there.
Mibbs:
Now its so commercial, you got people in other countries that know about Fairfax. We were eating over there the other week and saw all these parents dropping off their teenagers and leave ‘em there for like 8 hours. I’m like “well its something to do”.
Union: You have a new record coming out titled Killer of Sheep. Great title, and one of our favorite films about L.A. Tell us about it without giving away too much of the goodies. What are some themes?
Mibbs:
Vulnerability, honesty, being real. I asked the producer for a dark tone I wanted the record to have an end of the world feeling, but not necessarily present that feeling as a bad thing. Everything is going to end. The world in its current state has to end which is why life is about being in the moment and preserving positive energy.
Union: The world has been covered in slime and is a grotesque state, what with shit like Isis, and all the propaganda we get from major corporations and the government. The world needs to change.
Mibbs:
There’s beauty too though. The world needs to change, cops ordering tanks and shit, I mean they can barely handle a taser. And people are confused about what they’re rights are, and what’s right. But back to the album:
Frustration, happiness, embarrassment, all this stuff rolled into one. I talk about the things I would rather be doing in life. But this album has more sonic continuity than anything I have worked on before it’s the most consistent sounding record I been involved with.
Union: Traditionally rappers don’t discuss what they would RATHER be doing as opposed to what they are doing. Even the so-called blue collar mc’s like Curren$y still do a lot of gloating on some level.
Union: What is your current listening diet? What have your conversations with close friends been about? Like what direction?
Mibbs:
Been listening to a lot of Disclosure. Good driving music. I love a road trip where we’re playing our own playlists, its like the best feeling ever. I like James Blake a lot too. I like what he does vocally with limited sounds, he does that on purpose, sonically he’s great.
We always talk about mental health. I feel like out of all the problems in the world, especially in the United States, they talk about the guns, and at this point now, I feel like they should take away all the guns. A nine year old girl just had an accident at the gun range. Who takes a 9 year old to a gun range? Now she’s scarred forever. Just her holding a gun she shouldn’t even have that consciousness. Imagine what that does to her mind.
l need therapy for the rest of her life.
Mibbs:
Organized religion is so confusing, it confuses so many people. I don’t push religion, if anything I would push mental health. Which is why I’m going to start going to therapy. I used to shun it, but now I’m open to it. Its good just to be able to talk about things in your life. I’d rather spend the money to talk to someone who’s job is to analyze the human mind as opposed to a guy with a congregation of people who gives him money just to tell them how to live. I would rather pay someone who’s focus is me. And spiritually there’s different ways to express yourself: meditation, prayer, whatever. At the end of the day be whatever you want to be just know what comes with that, find your center, and think for yourself.
Union: Racism is some crazy shit too. All in the mind, all fear based. Its so complex.
Mibbs:
Racism has got to go away. Its so complex. It feels like 90 percent of the world that is racist doesn’t even know they’re racist. At one point every culture in America was discriminated against heavily, but black culture is the only one to not make any real moves to knowingly assimilate into white culture which still keeps us on the outside.
Union:
That’s an interesting point. Even with the advent of black owned business or one time black owned businesses like BET there is still a certain amount of cooning. Oh that Tyler Perry and his movies giving the world the wrong idea about black America.
Mibbs:
BET used to be the shit when they had Teen Summit and Rap City when they stopped doing that it just became coon central. I love when Odd Future came on 106 and Park wearing all these chains, trolling the shit out of BET, they all came on there dressed as Future wearing all these chains, they all wore dread wigs, drew fake mustaches and no one knew what was going on.
Union:
How do you feel about the graveyard? Hanging out with the wolfman, Frankenstein, and Dracula?
Mibbs:
I like scary movies. I want to be scared. I do. It takes a lot to scare me. But out of my group I’m the guy that likes to be scared. Doing daredevil shit, jumping off cliffs, and into rivers. I like to get my heart rate going. I was never stupid about it.
But seriously though. I date a beautiful vampire, I love her. She loves me.
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