There is no better gauge to determine if the hype of an Asian athlete in the U.S. has reached critical mass than my mother-in-law, who is all Thai and maybe a little bit crazy (love you, Annie!). She keeps up with sports just enough to grasp the big headlines, and Jeremy Lin has been stealing them all lately.
“Linsanity” is all the rage. It doesn’t matter that my in-laws are from Thailand and the Knicks point guard is of Taiwanese descent. My mother-in-law proudly wears his success – 136 points in his first five starts – as a badge of honor, much in the same way she’s done for Tiger Woods and Ichiro Suzuki.
Chances are, she might have even heard Phoenix rapper Mega Ran’s “Jeremy Lin Rap,” an ode not just to the player himself but to the fruits of hard work and dedication, the very tenets that Ran no doubt emphasized in his days as a teacher.
Ran dropped the SEO-friendly track before Linsanity really took off, and it was picked up for a segment on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” and mentioned in an New York Times article. Slate also just ranked it as the best Lin-related tribute: “The repetitive synth beat and skittering drums aren’t going to win Ran five mics from The Source, but they set an appropriately triumphal score for what’s generally an uplifting rap about Lin’s biography and work ethic.”
The fourth installment of 110 Percent, a series in which I talk to musicians about sports, features Canadian MC Buck 65 (born Richard Terfry), who’s playing a rescheduled date at Chaser’s in Scottsdale on Feb. 24 in support of his 2011 release 20 Odd Years, a title that reflects his lengthy music career.
But Buck 65 nearly spent his life pursuing his first love: baseball. Injuries derailed a possible pro career, and Buck was cool enough to hold a lengthy chat with me (through a dying phone) about that, his song about Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista and life as a hard-core baseball nerd.
So, you’re a Blue Jays fan, right?
Well, no. … I live in Toronto and it’s the team I’m exposed to the most. I kind of follow them by default. When I was growing up (in Nova Scotia), I definitely was an Expos fan. They would have been closer geographically to where I was growing up. They also had some great and exciting teams.
Where I grew up, you were either a Red Sox fan or an Expos fan. I don’t think you could be both. I grew up hating the Red Sox and always loving the Expos and not really being much of a Blue Jays fan, even though by the mid-’80s it became more rewarding to be Blue Jays fan because they actually started to win divisions.
I always, and to this day, follow really closely everything around the league. I take interest in individual story threads that develop during the season and follow my favorite players as they get traded. I’ve become a big fan of the Reds because a bunch of players that I like or became invested in ended up landing there.
Who are some of your favorites? Brandon Phillips. I think he started his career in Expos organization (drafted by Montreal in 1999). A couple years ago Orlando Cabrera was playing shortstop there, and he used to be in the Expos organization. I’ve always been a big Scott Rolen fan. For my money — and I wasn’t around to see Brooks Robinson play third — but Rolen’s the best I’ve ever seen in person.
Of course, you’ve got Canadian superstar Joey Votto playing first. And I’ve always been a big Jonny Gomes fan. He’s such a fun player to watch and seems like such a maniac on the field. Of all the crazy batter’s box routines we’ve seen through the year, like Nomar Garciaparra, I just think Jonny Gomes takes the cake. I really like his whole backstory.
How many games do you get to each season?
I would say that if Toronto is at home I go down twice a week, if I’m around. You stretch that out for a season, figuring about 80 home games, I probably go to 30 or 40. The ushers know who I am.
You’re not the infamous “man in the white shirt†stealing signs, are you?
(Laughs.) No, it’s not me. Whoever that guy is is sitting in some pretty crappy seats. I try to get better seats than that through one scam or another.
That was such a weird story. It’s really hard to be a Blue Jays fan because, first of all, they’re stuck in American League East, where you’re perennially going to be dealing with Boston and New York. It’s a long time ago that I remember either of those teams being totally lousy. Now you have the Rays having shaped up in these last few years as kind of a powerhouse. I think the last four seasons in a row the Blue Jays have finished in fourth place. They’ve never had chance in hell, and still they just get picked on with every little thing. Whether it’s Jose Bautista getting a hard time over everything or stealing signs and God knows what else. … It’s really tough and frustrating when you already feel so bullied in first place by other teams, but then they’re getting it from all angles.
Speaking of Jose Bautista, you put out the song “Joey Bats” last year, right?
Yeah. Jose Bautista mania seemed to be at its peak. Granted it was pretty exciting. When you have so little to be excited about here, when a real superstar like that comes along, sometimes that’s reason enough to see games. There’s been a few moments in circumstances where he came through and hit some monstrous home run, and it’s unbelievably thrilling. Even if team loses 8-2 but he hits a 450-foot homer run off some team’s ace, you can walk away saying, “That was amazing.”
Just plain and simple I was feeling kind of inspired by this one small thing that was giving me some joy in my life. Right around that time I had been complaining to my wife how this thing — this pastime I had devoted my entire life to — had given me more agony than joy. How do I do something about this? I guess it was part of that effort. The more I’ve had a chance to see the guy play and hear stories about him, the more impressed I am. I guess I was in a mood to just write a song that was really simple. It’s just right there on the surface. You don’t have to guess. I wanted to write a song that is very clearly about something, and bam, there it is.
So many sports songs can come off as sort of kitschy or corny. Is it difficult to write one that doesn’t have that vibe?
To be honest, not really. I’ve made the same observation, and I don’t really know what the problem is and why that has been so difficult for so many people. First of all, there was something very specific musically that I wanted to try to establish, a tone that I was going for and a certain amount of aggression. Beyond that, I guess the problem with a lot of them is they’re too earnest or take themselves too seriously. It’s a tenuous smarriage at best, trying to marry sports and art — it’s super tricky to do. So the more serious you take yourself, the more likely you are to blow it and do something terribly embarrassing. I had fun with it and allowed it to be as cartoonish as it needed to be. I wasn’t gonna make some seminal folk ballad.
Do you have any idea if the Blue Jays or Bautista are aware of the song? I don’t really know. I didn’t think about that. I wasn’t thinking, “Here’s a great way for me to find this audience.” But once it was done, I kinda stepped back and thought, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if even Jose himself became aware that it existed?” I’m unabashedly a dork when it comes to my baseball fandom, so I’m not above that.
I know it kind of fell into hands of baseball writers around this town. I thought that was a step in the right direction. … One day I walking home after a game and waiting at a light and this guy approached me and said, “Hey, you’re Buck 65.” He explained that he was the guy putting Blue Jays promo videos together. I said, “I just made this song about Jose Bautista … I’ll send it to you.” Here’s a guy who’s on the inside. I sent it to him and didn’t really hear anything. I still haven’t received any definitive word that may have happened, which in a way seems hard to believe because I know it’s circulated. If I had to guess, someone must know, but nobody has indicated it to me.
You were a player yourself, right?
When I was a kid, I was super serious about it. I was determined to make the big leagues. The opportunities just didn’t exist. There was little organized baseball, let alone attention, where I grew up. I grew up not far from where Matt Stairs is from. I played against him once as a kid. But there was just nothing and nobody paying attention. One year there was this camp organized where there’d be a bunch of college coaches and scouts wandering around. There was this guy, Stan Sanders. He worked in a bunch of different capacities throughout his career. He had a World Series ring for the year he was a coach with the Yankees. He scouted for them. His claim to fame was that he scouted Mike Schmidt.
So I went to this camp for a few years working hard to impress this guy. I had some injury that was holding me back. But when I was 16 and healthy, I just went bananas, working hard to get his attention. He gave me this speech, “You’re gonna go real far, but you gotta finish high school first.” I still had a year to go. In that time in between, he had a heart attack. When camp came, he wasn’t around my last year. That was my ticket. After that, I’m thinking, “What the hell am I gonna do?” It’s not like I had other opportunities waiting. So I was determined. The only thing I thought to do was work quadruple hard, but I had real lousy coaches. The combination of that and pushing myself too hard blew out my shoulder and knee. It felt to me like the ship had kind of sailed. I had this one golden opportunity. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about that. He (Sanders) had told me in no uncertain terms … “I wouldn’t be wasting my time in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere if I didn’t think you’re gonna be superstar.”
I was confident enough that I really believed it. I still do, too. … I know this sounds absurd, but I feel like I know I could have had a great career. It’s often felt in my life like the thing I was meant to do. It was the only thing that came at all naturally to me. Music has never been a natural fit. It’s been a real source of heartbreak for, well, half my life.
How would you describe yourself in your playing days?
I played shortstop. I had a very strong arm, which is why it ended up being blown out by my coaches. They tried to make me pitch because I was the one kid that could throw 90 mph. I really prided myself on defense and worked really hard on that but could also hit with power. When I was 16, I guess that toward the end of the ’80s, that idea of the power-hitting shortstop was kind of a novel idea. It wasn’t the position it’s become now where usually a shortstop is a good hitter and often someone that can hit with some power. I fit that new mold that was beginning to develop. I could hit with power. I hit a lot of doubles. I usually hit for a pretty good average as well. I was “toolsy,” as they say. I could run with decent speed. I would never set any stolen-base records, but I could swipe a few. I think that’s what the Stan guy liked, that I played the position well.
I still work super hard and practice all the time. It’s important to keep my arm in shape and swing and to be able to hit well and everything. One of the items on my to-do list to get down to a game and weasel my way into batting practice.
You still play recreationally?
I do. I’ve been playing the last few years in a pretty easygoing league. I’m thinking this summer I might play in league a little more competitive.
Check the baseball-themed video for Buck’s song “463” below:
It was a collaboration that was likely bound to happen, but if bringing Philly’s Zilla Rocca and Los Angeles’ Open Mike Eagle together for a show I put on last February in Phoenix helped hasten the process, then I’m proud to have played some (very) small part in the birth of this jam.
“Full Spectrum 2” is, as its name suggests, a sequel to the original that appears on Zilla Rocca’s Nights and Weekends EP. Zilla and Has-Lo are back for leftovers, and they’ve brought Open Mike Eagle, shortening the gap between coasts with a return engagement from producer Dr. Quandary.
Stream via SoundCloud below:
Peep the video for the original “Full Spectrum,” shot Super 8 – giving it an appropriately vibrant look – in Asbury Park, N.J.:
Serengeti is true-blue Windy City, epitomized by his alter ego Kenny Dennis – the O’Douls-chugging, softball-playing relative anyone from Chicago has (trust me, I know). Kenny loves brats, Brian Dennehy, Ditka and Da Bears. Not necessarily in that order. Check the video for “Dennehy” and I strongly encourage you to check out the powerful and deeply personal Family & Friends, produced by Yoni Wolf of WHY? and Owen Ashworth (formerly known as Casiotone for the Painfully Alone).
Like life in Chicago, sports references are an integral part of Serengeti’s raps (check the song “Ozzie Guillen” for an example).
You grew up in Chicago. Are you a South Sider? I grew up on the South Side. But I lived on the North Side since I was, like, 17, so I’ve been in both places.
Are your allegiances to the White Sox? I grew up watching the Cubs because we didn’t have cable and the Cubs were on WGN, so I really fell in love with those ’87 Cubs – Hawk Dawson, Sandberg, that whole era. I’m a really big Cubs fan. But I was never one of those people that liked the Cubs, so you have to hate the Sox. It’s silly. Why not pull for both teams? Is it that much of a pain to do that? It seems like a waste of energy.
Will the Cubs ever win a World Series in our lifetime? Yeah, I mean, we got like 50 years left in our life. Odds are that it is gonna happen. Everybody wins. They have to win. They have to. They got Theo (Epstein, president of baseball operations), the boy genius. He’s gonna turn it around. It has to happen.
But I guess if it doesn’t happen, that would be really cool. Like, one team hasn’t one a world series in 400 years. It would be, like, 600 years and counting … (laughs)
I was gonna try to count the number of sports references in your songs, but that seemed like an impossible task. Do you feel like your fans get most of them? Or do you even care? I don’t really care. To me, it makes it one of those things where you listen to it and one day you’re watching a TV show or something and, “Oh, they talked about (Alonzo) Spellman or about Mike Singletary calming down Spellman.” They might just catch that and be like, “Oh, man, that was real.” I like it to be subtle like that. It’s funny to me.
You’ve lived in Los Angeles for the past year or so. Do you feel like sports define a city like Chicago more so than L.A.? I don’t really know that much about L.A. sports culture. It seems like people really love the Dodgers. But I don’t know much about L.A. sports, aside from watching sports on TV. … I don’t know the whole culture. But Chicago is extreme sports. It’s so cold, and it’s like when spring comes and baseball is here – what a feeling. All this hope and everything is changing.
What’s your greatest moment as a Chicago sports fan? When Jordan hit that shot over Bryon Russell to win the championship in ’98. That was a great thing.
Did Jordan push off? Yeah, he did. But it wasn’t called, so he didn’t.
Man, I still have my original pair of Air Jordans I had the Jordan 5s back when I was in junior high or something like that. My sister got ’em for me. It was the greatest gift ever and I was so proud of them. I never had all the shoes like all the kids had. Some kids had every shoe whenever it came out.
But for some reason, I didn’t wear the Jordans to school that day. And my cousin was staying at our house – I don’t know why because it was a school day. And my damn cousin took my damn Jordans. They were size 9. He didn’t even fit the shoes. To this day I still harbor this resentment. You went in my closet and packed ’em up in your bag?
It was crushing. Shit’s gone … fucking Jordans. My life could have gone differently for a period of a month. I’d be the dude with the new Jordans. It was special. I really missed out. I could have had some confidence and that confidence could have led to something else – a whole chain reaction. But my cousin foiled me. It was a good lesson learned.
Never not wear your Jordans. (Laughs) That’s right. That’s gonna be a Kenny Dennis rap.
I moved from Chicago to Arizona when I was 8, so I witnessed the Jordan dynasty from afar. What was it like in Chicago during the Jordan years? It was so great, them winning … it was almost boring. “The Bulls are gonna win again.” Why even watch? They were so dominant. For me, I didn’t really appreciate them until the second three-peat (1996-98). The 72-win season (in 1995-96) was incredible. I wish they would have went 73-9, but they lost the final game to Seattle or something like that. … It was incredible.
What about the most disappointing moment as a Chicago sports fan? That 2003 Cubs season. They were so close. Then they just sorta choked. That was pretty brutal. I remember watching that, thinking ‘They’re about to really do this.’ To watch that thing collapse, that was pretty rough.
And last season with the Bulls losing to bastardly Heat. That was a tough, tough thing to see. These damn Heat. I really don’t like those guys. They made me pull for the Lakers. I didn’t really like Lakers, but I thought that the only team that could beat them is the Lakers.
What do you think about the Bulls this year? They started out a little shaky and it was like, ‘Was last year lightning in a bottle?’ They turned on the defense. They looked a little slow initially. Carlos Boozer lost all that weight, but didn’t seem like he got any better. He looks very thin now, but didn’t serve him very well.
Who’s your favorite Chicago athlete of all-time? Hawk. Something about Hawk Dawson and his curl. I loved it, man. I love the Hawk, man.
I’m trying to think of a Bears player … sort of. I was really into the Lions because I loved Barry Sanders. I’d always root for those damn Lions teams. They would have one terrible season and then get the soft schedule and be, like, 12-4 and you just know they’re not gonna beat the Redskins or someone like that in the playoffs. It was a smokescreen … you just know they’re not gonna win. But I really loved Barry Sanders, man.
You gotta respect him and how he went out on top. It wasn’t all about football. But all-time it’s the Hawk. Those games on WGN, it was great. It really drew me into baseball. I, too, played baseball all my life. But just those games, man. Being in my room by myself late at night, those 9:30 p.m. games … that was just beautiful, man. I was up so late watching the Cubs games. I never liked to go to games. I’m not into that. I’d much rather watch stuff at home.
You’re a video-game guy, right? Just the Black Ops. The Call of Duty game.
So you’re not into the sports games? I can’t really do all that stuff. I don’t enjoy playing the Madden too much. It doesn’t float my boat. They had this Madden tournament on ESPN, like a documentary sorta deal. Man, these guys are really serious. They know all the defenses.
My favorite sports is boxing. And I can’t even get into those games because it’s hard.
You’re a boxing guy? Oh, man. I love boxing and combat sports – the MMA stuff. It’s my guilty pleasure.
So you’re not buying into the whole “boxing is dying” line of thinking? Those guys are fools. Boxing is not dying. When a boxing match happens, it captivates the nation in a way that MMA never will because MMA lacks the elegance and history that boxing has. There’s just way too many variables.
I love boxing, but I do like MMA. What they do in MMA is when a fight is supposed to happen, it happens. There’s not all these mega-purses involved.
I don’t mean to change subjects abruptly, but I heard you on the Knocksteady podcast and you had some thoughts on how to save the WNBA, like lowering the height on the rims?
That was just a fleeting thought. Men’s basketball was really boring and it wasn’t viewed that much until people started dunking. The average height of a male ballplayer is like 6-7 and women is like 5-11. It would make more watchable if a point guard could dribble down, feed the ball in the low post and power forward does a pump fake and goes for a two-handed dunk. Or some little guard gets a fast break and gets a nice dunk. There could be a women’s slam-dunk contest. I don’t know if that’s sexist. College women fans say it’s like art to watch that style of basketball. But in women’s golf, tees are moved up. The basketball in women’s hoops is already smaller, too. It would make it a more vibrant sport. But I don’t know anything about the WNBA. I’m just pullin’ shit outta my ass.
Last month, Phoenix’s Djentrification held a benefit at his 602’sdays night at Bikini Lounge for longtime local MC Puma, who has been battling a cancerous tumor (retroperitoneal seminoma). Puma told me recently he had his last chemotherapy treatment, but the bills likely won’t stop anytime soon.
That’s why more of Puma’s peers, friends and fans are coming together on Christmas night at Crescent Ballroom for Merry X-Ray, a benefit show headlined by the homecoming of DJ Z-Trip, who used to run with Puma back in the Bombshelter DJs days. Fellow Bombshelter turntable ace Radar is also on the bill, along with Tricky-T, Fashen (also returning from L.A.) and Mantis Claw (formerly of local hip-hop group Supermarket).
Anyone who has spent any time in the scene knows this type of support is hardly a surprise. We take care of our own. But perhaps the most important name on the Merry X-Ray bill is The Gentlemen Ether, a new-ish two-man project that features none other than Mr. Puma and Lynx Kinetic. I haven’t been able to see them yet, so I’m pretty excited that the first time will happen on what figures to be a special night with Puma’s return to the stage.
Tickets for Merry X-Ray, which is a 21-and-over show, are $15 and available here.
More on this show – with possible interviews – as the date approaches.
Hopefully, you already know where to download all sorts of free Z-Trip goodies – download ’em all, but especially Uneasy Listening under “mixes” – and you can get your hands on a Gentlemen Ether track, “Whoompsh,” at Bandcamp (or below).
Born and raised in Chicago (and now based in L.A.), Open Mike Eagle took time to talk about his love of the Bears and Bulls and why he doesn’t follow athletes on Twitter.
I know you’re a Bears and Bulls fan. Do you follow baseball at all?
I’m White Sox more than the Cubs. I’m more bandwagon when it comes to Cubs. I grew up by old Comiskey Park.
When did you move to L.A.?
2004.
Have you adopted any of the L.A. teams or would you ever?
No. … [laughs] … I absolutely hate the Lakers but that’s because I don’t like Kobe. I’m not into baseball enough to be rooting for the Dodgers or Angels. And L.A. doesn’t have much else going on. But my thought with them getting a football team: If they got somebody else’s franchise, I wouldn’t care for it too much. If they were able to expand and start a new team, it might be interesting.
Let’s get to the NBA. What are your thoughts on the lockout? Are you pro-anybody in this?
I tend to be pro-player. But that’s only because I really especially in this case felt the owners were set to bully the players from the very beginning. They weren’t going to negotiate and weren’t going to budge because they thought they could break the players. I tend to be pro-player anyway. I guess that’s my general thought. But I don’t necessarily like what the players association is doing in that they’ve waited this long to talk about (union) decertification when they could have done this months ago.
Not that you need a good reason to sample Rush’s “Tom Sawyer,” but El-P has a couple. For starters and most important, this remix of “Drones Over Bklyn” – a song that was released as part of Adult Swim’s Singles Program over the summer – serves as a benefit for fellow (uninsured) producer Mr. Dibbs, who has been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. All proceeds of the sales of the song will go to a fund set up for Dibbs.
Second, El-P is using a new technology from Legitmix that allows producers/remixers/DJs to legally bypass the hell of sample clearing. I guess it goes something like this (per the press release): “Legitmix provides an alternative by enabling consumers to recreate on the binary level a sample-based track using their copy of the original music.” I think, from what I can tell, as long as you already own the song, you can remix it via Legitmix, which also offers a way to buy the original song. Read more at the site.
Stream “Rush Over Bklyn” (and “Drones Over Bklyn”) below and buy it here.
I’ve spent time waxing nostalgic on this site about the Bombshelter DJs, the three-man collective (Z-Trip, Radar and Emile) that I was fortunate enough to see perform regularly in the Tempe/Phoenix area during the mid to late ’90s. They are, without a doubt, some of my fondest live music memories. Those guys were open-minded and forward-thinking, proving you didn’t have to be one one coast or the other to start – and sustain – a movement.
But the weekly gigs and one-off shows weren’t just about turntablism. There were b-boys (props to the Furious Styles Crew) and live art (usually courtesy of Jim Mahfood), but the glue to it all was Mr. Puma, the unflappable emcee with a kind smile and killer verse.
Big-name guests came and went at the various Bombshelter nights, but for me, just a college kid and aspiring newspaper reporter/writer who devoured all things hip-hop, guys like Puma made a huge impression – not only on me, but on the scene he represents.
Without sounding overly dramatic about it, it’s time for the scene to pick up one of its own. I’ve been able to reconnect with Puma via Facebook, where he’s opened up his fight with cancer. Phoenix’s Djentrification is dedicating his 602’sdays night at Bikini Lounge to help raise money to defray Puma’s medical costs. I messaged Puma, asking him if he’d mind if I posted about what he’s going through, and he was (as expected) in good spirits and very forthright about his condition. With his permission, here’s what he said: “I found out that I had a retroperitoneal seminoma tumor, the size of a softball, surrounding my aorta, renal and messanteric arteries, about 9 weeks ago. I have been in chemotherapy for six weeks, have another six to go.”
Guests on Tuesday include M2, Robby Rob, Tricky T, Smite, Rani G and more.
Puma’s been working on a new two-man project called The Gentlemen Ether, which, from the small bit I’ve heard, pushes far beyond the constraints of traditional hip-hop (but that doesn’t surprise me because he’s always shown an eclectic ear for music). Check out the Gentlemen Ether’s “Whoompsh” below, and do what you can to show up to the Bikini Lounge on Tuesday or at least help spread the word.
I’d say the last thing the world needs is another homage to weed in song form. But what I’m reminded of here is that we can never get enough Casual, a founding member of the Hieroglyphics crew, which is headed for a three-city spin through Arizona in January (via Universatile Music).
Less celebrated than his Hiero cohort Del the Funky Homosapien, Casual nonetheless has been a force since his 1994 debut Fear Itself. (Side note: Fear Itself was one of Hiero’s early releases on Jive before the label dropped the group, which then went on to form its own successful label, Hiero Imperium. As recently reported, Jive won’t last nearly as long.)
For “Spliff,” Casual teams with L.A.-based electronic musician Deru for the A-side of a new 7-inch Mini-Mini-Me (Gift of Gab guests on “Bad Bad Man” for the flip). This is Deru’s first collaboration with rappers, and he couldn’t have picked a better duo, with Casual easily navigating the bleeps and bloops a more non-traditional hip-hop beat.
“Border Crossing” – off his new album The Less You Know, The Better – is DJ Shadow’s entry into the immigration debate, with Arizona’s controversial SB 1070 law the obvious inspiration.
The song’s aggro metal riff certainly suggests Rage Against the Machine-like political fury, but the sepia-toned, seizure-inducing visuals complete the picture for the instrumental’s theme.
I definitely applaud DJ Shadow for taking a stand (Sheriff Joe Arpaio should be tied to a chair and forced to watch this video on loop). That said, I don’t see Shadow’s name on the list of Sound Strike artists boycotting Arizona, so I certainly hope he’d feel compelled to come to our state to perform and help educate the masses.
I don’t really know. I didn’t think about that. I wasn’t thinking, “Here’s a great way for me to find this audience.” But once it was done, I kinda stepped back and thought, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if even Jose himself became aware that it existed?” I’m unabashedly a dork when it comes to my baseball fandom, so I’m not above that. 
