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Below Tha Surface
Below the Surface Podcast
The Blueprint of Midwest Culture, Undiluted and Underground.
Before the algorithms and the streaming platforms, there was public access. Below the Surface Podcast is the direct evolution of The 411: Your Underground Connection, which originally hit the airwaves on Public Access Channel 16 in East Chicago, Indiana. Born from the raw, community-driven era of cable access television, the platform has spent decades documenting the architects of Midwest street and electronic music culture.
Now operating as a fully independent media network and LLC, Below the Surface continues its original mission: digging beneath the mainstream noise to preserve the true history of regional hip-hop, house music, and DJ culture. Through deep-dive artist interviews, vinyl archaeology, and unfiltered commentary, the podcast serves as a living archive for the innovators, the record collectors, and the independent collectives who built the Midwest sound from the ground up.
From Channel 16 to the digital landscape, we don't just cover the culture—we are a part of its lineage.
Below Tha Surface
Everybody Eats!!
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Smorgasbord / new album / hip hop / the culture / local talent
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Hello, hello, hello.
SPEAKER_00Hello.
SPEAKER_10Below the surface. Below the surface. Deep down below, down below, underwater, underwater. Thousands of meters down below. The underground underground. Flies, lies, lies. Underground, underground. Hip high, hip hop. Below the surface. Below the surface.
SPEAKER_06Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo. What it do, what it do? Yo. Back at it again, below the surface. This is season number eight. No, I think it's seven. It don't matter. We're still doing it. We're moving. We've been doing it since 2020, this motherfucker. We're back at it again.
SPEAKER_03Hell yeah. I gotta turn my headphones down just a little bit. Uh well, let's get it kicked off, man. I'm your boy Dirtbag Johnny in the place to be. I'm DJ Rick Rock.
SPEAKER_04It's your boy T Dub.
SPEAKER_03We got special guests to kick the season off. Smorgusborg in the building here. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_07Smorgusborg.
SPEAKER_16Thank y'all for having us. We're back again. Uh it's been it's been a minute since we've been on here. And I don't think we even came when we did the the intro, but you know, we had to whole season with y'all's intro. Technically, we were on it every episode. So, I mean true, true.
SPEAKER_02Matter of fact, you don't run that intro back again.
SPEAKER_16Thank y'all for having us, man. It's been a minute. Uh it's always a pleasure catching up with y'all and you know, chopping it up.
SPEAKER_03Hell yeah. Yeah. Glad to have you back. Yeah, Smorgusborg did the last season's uh intro music, and we rocked that for damn near all year, I think. That was a long time. Yes, we did. That was the longest season running that we've had. Oh, snap. With the most guests. So, like people we didn't even meet before heard your music.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's what's cool. We had everybody shook. They were like, oh, we can't make an intro. How are we gonna make another intro?
SPEAKER_16I'm glad you guys liked it, and I hope everybody else did too.
SPEAKER_03Hell yeah. Hell yeah, hell yeah. Um, with that being said, man, we gotta give it up for Yuri Bosho Lane with this season's Steam music The Beatbox Champion.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, that's gonna say hip hop and sushi. Hip hop and sushi. I like that. I like that. That sounds like a Jay Dylan tape.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, man. So what's been up, y'all? What y'all been working on? Well, the new album, of course. Yeah, we just dropped a new album.
SPEAKER_16Uh Everyone's Eaten Volume One. Volume One. Uh something we worked on for, you know, quite a long time. Uh and uh I'm happy that it's out now. I'm happy that people get to to uh experience it. Hey man, listen, it's one of those things that like I think I talked about it last time that that perfectionism that wouldn't let me you know put put stuff out, but you know, I I I feel like I got I'm happy with the product that came out. Uh and I think it was the right time to put it out. I think I think we've uh expanded as as as artists, as you know, creatives. And I think it was the right time to kick it off for a a wave of new work, you know. Hell yeah. That we got on uh loaded up.
SPEAKER_03I'm excited to hear it, man. I don't think I've heard it yet.
SPEAKER_16I don't think I've heard it yet. It's it's short. I don't even know what it's considered. If it's considered an EP, LP, whatever the hell it is, but it's like it's for sure LP. Is it close to 30 minutes? Okay, yeah. But if if we think it's short. But if you think it's short, spin it back. Run it back. Put that bitch on replay.
SPEAKER_03Exactly.
SPEAKER_02Random numbers. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03No, I I kept asking like every time I'd be over your album, like, when's when's the album coming out? When's the album?
SPEAKER_16You were you were one of many, man. You were one of many. We're on the album. We were asking him, yo, when's the album coming out? And and I think it came out, I think it was I knew it was time when we started recording, uh, we started recording more stuff. They just like it it definitely sounds more mature. Uh, and then I was like, okay, we this can't be like either we put this out or it, you know, in order to make it longer, it's just gonna be too convoluted. So I was like, this this is a perfect, you know, example of everything we've been working on, and then uh the new one, uh, which hopefully it should be out by fall. It shows you where we're at now. So okay, okay. Yeah, we're gonna just you know, I think Rod came up with an idea of let's just start, you know, dropping little packs. And that's something you worked on quite a uh for a minute back in the day. You were doing like little six packs. Six packers.
SPEAKER_05Right.
SPEAKER_07Sixers.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some you know, just a quick pack to try to, you know, and make push yourself out.
SPEAKER_13Makes things easier. You ain't gotta mix entire projects and wait so long, just keep consistent, stay in people's faces.
SPEAKER_03There you go. Or dropping like single, like almost like a single every month. Yeah, right. Just consistency is key, you know.
SPEAKER_16And I think on top of that, like to that extent, I uh I'm I'm a guy that like I get the single mindset, right? Constantly pushing out, but uh sometimes it might feel like it takes away from the art. And I like to I want to have each one of our projects to kind of have some kind of theme. Alright, so this one was completely produced by me and we have features. Uh the features that we have on there have been guys that have been with us from the beginning, right? Uh CO, uh Young Indy and Syndrome have been some of our you know bigger, biggest, you know, this just rappers that just put us on, helped us, you know, get on shows, uh, gave us mad features throughout the years. Uh so it was something I felt like we had to include them. And then the next one, uh, which maybe I don't I don't want to delete too much of it, but uh it's gonna instead of features, we got producers. Okay, okay. You know, well uh a lot of people that you know that really rock with us.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Just uh change up the vibe because I I definitely feel like volume two is gonna be a different vibe from volume one. Um you know, producer-wise and just the way we sound wise too. The way we approach records, right?
SPEAKER_13Like, yeah, it's more like I say it's more songs than more rapping.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I would I would agree. A lot of the material I heard from you guys is got like it'll have the song title and the hook. And it'll think you'll think it's about this situation, but no, you guys flip it. That's what I like about that shit.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, I think that's why we I think that's why it took so long to get this one out, just because it's like it was stuff that I was, you know, that I held close to the heart. Uh uh, just the stuff that we created. And I didn't want to just put it out without it, you know, sounding the way that I pictured it, you know what I mean? Like I needed i I needed my skills when I'm not saying they're they're great or they're good, but I needed my my ma my mixing skills to match the level of uh the the lyrics that these guys brought. So I think that was one of the hold of why it took so long. But even then, like I still think these songs hold the test of time.
SPEAKER_03Yes, sir. I can't wait, man.
SPEAKER_04So going back to the whole between singles and and projects, um on the flip side, I'm more of a single person because I feel with the attention span of people nowadays, it is uh really hard to keep people to not keep enough attention to listen to a whole project and then things are gonna get great songs, yeah, are gonna get skipped over and missed. Yeah. So I mean what just given a flip side to what you guys said as far as how do you keep the attention of today's audience nowadays with the you know one minute, one minute 30 second songs and things like that.
SPEAKER_13I think it depends on what type of artist you are. It's no right or wrong answer. If uh if you're like more of a single artist and that's what you like, then go that way and take that approach. But if you like your art, if your artist usually like say if you're going like storytelling throughout the album, then you have an album, uh, you know, that's how you release it, and then maybe you just market a few singles off of there or whatever the case may be. But I really think there's no incorrect approach. It just depends on your style of art. What you're trying to put out at the time. Exactly.
SPEAKER_16Because it's like it and that I'm kind of maybe on the uh on the by myself on the mindset of you know, I'd rather have a a whole complete project because P dropped how many singles last year? I dropped eight singles last year. Yeah, at one point him and Family were going, you know, single for single every month. It was dope to see. It was cool to see because it's like you had two different artists, you know, coming uh coming out with two different sounds and doing doing stuff at a at a dope level, and then Rye dropping uh uh the uh you know the score volume one and two. So like we you know, we've been working, it's kind of this is just like the the I guess the main event at this point right now. So right now we're kind of focusing on really showcasing what us as a crew, you know, we're able to put out because like Johnny always asked us, you know, when's this album coming out? And plenty of the people did too. You know, you guys have been a crew for X amount of time, you guys don't have a body of work together, you guys have songs all over the place. So I think that was one of the mentalities that was like, yo, this has to be uh a full-on project. And I think with the volume one and volume two, when you put them together, uh hopefully by this time next year, it you know, the full effect of it, you know, just pulls everything together. Exactly. Okay. Very true, sir. Very true.
SPEAKER_02You know, some people just don't like sequels, but hopefully we do Terminator 2 and not the Godfather 3.
SPEAKER_16So fingers crossed on that.
SPEAKER_03That's right.
SPEAKER_07Uh-oh.
SPEAKER_03Fat finger something. So we can get into some music, man, get into one of the songs, man. Let's check it out.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, so uh so uh I'm gonna play actually what I was playing. Uh it's actually uh called Don't Make a Sound uh featuring syndrome. Uh it kind of I don't even know really where this came from. I think we just kind of got together, did the first verse, laid it down, and just had like an idea just this idea with just no real uh picture of what it I wanted to be. I just had a verse that I really wanted to get out. Uh and everybody kind of just followed suit. And when syndrome came through and just did this hook, tied it all together. And uh yeah, it's called Don't Make a Sound.
SPEAKER_02I kind of feel like, hold on, my bad. I kind of feel like whenever we do whenever we do music, like we'll like you know, we'll always line up all the beats for whatever we're gonna be working on and everything, and then like right away, I kind of feel like we all just know each other so well that we could just listen to a beat and we're just like, alright, we know what we're gonna say on this. You know, like we've always been kind of in sync like that. So it's just been kind of easier, easy for us to like actually, you know, like if I was writing out one song, they would be writing out a different song, and then you know, we didn't even show each other what we wrote, but then we were like, alright, just just write to this, write to that, and then we would just come up with each other and same wavelength and yeah, yeah, it just that's that's just how we were.
SPEAKER_16And even if the the verses don't necessarily match the the essence in the the maybe it's almost like a double entangre where you can take one verse, one person's verse would be about a different topic than the next person's, but they all kind of uh in sync tie in together. So I think this is one of the examples of that. So uh it's called Don't Make It Sound, uh featuring syndrome. Here we go.
SPEAKER_06So below the surface, right here.
SPEAKER_14Smoke is bored. Uh-huh. You know what it is. Hey yo, everybody see that's what's up for gather. Went through the stomach, hurt for the lick the minute you got him.
unknownThe taste is still to your battery, go straight up, stick it up.
SPEAKER_14Just up and told me, I just look at the pistol, cut with the chip when you take the bullet focus, stick in the cook, look at the child, we get to the country, the focus and chest, but the focus is a very good thing.
SPEAKER_01We got plenty of thoughts watching the village divide.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, that was don't make it so.
SPEAKER_11Okay, okay. Be quiet.
SPEAKER_05Know what you know in your mind.
SPEAKER_16He came through with that that griminess and tied it all together. So Rom. Yeah, shout out to Syndrome, Kingsman.
SPEAKER_06Oh yeah. That shit was fire. Yup. When it's got that he, baby.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, dude, I I like Roman life. He's dope as hell. Yeah.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, he's one of those dudes that's like mad, mad, humble too. You know, he didn't jump on the track with anybody and he's just, you know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, he I think he's gonna bless the trap, uh me and Josh again. Yeah, sure.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, that that's a dope ass track too. I can't wait for people to hear that too.
SPEAKER_03I know, man, I gotta get back in the booth soon. Knock that shit out.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, you know, you can't you can't rush when uh everything you know we were working on. I know we we're here to talk about that, but what we're working on too over there, you know, you can't rush that type of you know, that type of roast. Divine timing. Divine timing. Can't rush the cooking on that on that on that lechon, you know, you gotta let that succeed.
SPEAKER_03That's true, true, true.
SPEAKER_06Take your time, take your time.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, man. Um, so you said you you're working on the second volume too, or it's already ready.
SPEAKER_16It it's uh I would say about this time, it's probably fifty. Fifty percent. It uh writing and recording is probably seventy-five percent done. The rest of it is gonna be mixing and you know getting everything kind of squared away. Um but yeah, it's it's it's very far along. I would say.
SPEAKER_03Um so like uh as a collective, because I know I remember you telling us the last interview we had I think we had you and uh CEO on the first time we had joined. I know you said a lot of like Vinny Paz and like Jedi Mind tricks and influence. What are some of the other influences Morgusborg as a whole?
SPEAKER_16Man, I I'll let I'm sorry, 'cause I think it's it's so wildly.
SPEAKER_02I feel like I feel like over the years, like it's definitely like a lot of things have changed over the years, you know, listening to different rappers that I didn't even uh like know back then, you know, like that I do now. Like uh my commune for one. Um you know, I he you know, he's been around for a minute and I just didn't understand him like that and I didn't really rock with him and then I don't know what happened, but you know, I just started listening to him and you know, just realizing how dope he was. Same with like uh Rock Marciano. Rock Marciano's dope as hell, you know, and it was j like I said, it was just like I feel like as you get older, you know, like throughout the years, you know, you just start listening to you like newer stuff, you know, you just want to just open up and listen to stuff that you ain't never listened to before. And that was like there's two some of the two that are like certainly one of the ones that you know open my eyes to different things.
SPEAKER_13I feel like uh Alchemist is like our through line through everything. Like we like all three of us like him for sure, the same amount.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, and I think uh another thing that kind of makes this uniquely work is that we all have obviously artists that bring us together, like Alchemist or Griselda, or you know, the locks and stuff like that, the classic shit that you know that really groups people together. But I think the wonderful thing of it is that we all go off, you know, our separate ways with like, you know, Mac Miller, LaRussell, you know. I'm starting to get into a lot of other like underground stuff, or maybe even like going back to rediscovering, you know, industry stuff that I wasn't previewed to during high school and stuff like that. So that really molds our our our sound as well, because um just throughout the the you know this project and the one that we we worked before, or even Compa or Rod Zombie, you can hear like just the stylistically changes of uh of just everything we try to put together. So we try to you know round everything out where it's uh you know double time, super grimy, guttural, you know, stuff like that. Try to try to blend it all in together.
SPEAKER_04Just the different influences, yeah, right, right.
SPEAKER_13And it comes like like I be thinking a lot about the hooks now. So I like I'll listen to a lot of DMX and 50 Cent because I feel like they like mastered making songs and hooks, like the verses, like everybody's gonna do their 16 to that, but like the hook to like catch somebody, that's like a tough part.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you know, it was great with Akon was great with those hooks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I recently watched an old interview of his and he said he basically wrote songs to make ringtones out of them because that's where all the money was coming from. So that just says it right there. That's just all the catchiness of what a hook's supposed to be.
SPEAKER_16And I think like uh to balance that out, I always try to like format like I don't know. We'll we'll start working on a song or something, and we'll have like uh it, you know, Rod will come up with the hook or some kind of structure, and I'll just be like, Well, what if we only did the hook once and then we just slap two people together and maybe do do a give and go in the last thing? And I'm I'm always trying to think of like different song structures that aren't necessarily your your standard. You know, uh sixteen hook, sixteen hook or whatever.
SPEAKER_04I I I feel like the standard's not really there anymore. Yeah. When I listen to a lot of music, it's like back in the day, it used to be you had your you know your three, four verses and your eights and your sixteens, and now songs are anywhere from 45 seconds to three minutes, and it's just exactly it could be 24 bar verses and a four-bar hook. People just don't really follow song structure anymore.
SPEAKER_16And I think I I I I tried doing that too with like other people that I produced for, like uh uh Indy Uchiha. We got uh a song that came out, Sun You I forget I butcher the name, but it's a song that we worked on, and he had I believe he had like a 16 or a 24. And a 24 he had no hook, and he he like really wanted this song to like structure some kind of way. And I was like, right? I was like, dude, that's that's your hook right there. That eight, like, but it's not catchy, it's like it doesn't matter. The the the concept of the song doesn't need this. So like you hit it with a 12 hook and then a four-bar interlude at the end, swing it around with that same hook, and it's just that's just it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so that's what I try to do a lot when I'm working with other people. Like, just try to if I keep doing the same thing over and over again, it's gonna get stale. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Always try to find a a different way to kind of like make everything come out unique.
SPEAKER_02But but I also feel like like in order for you to be creative, you gotta step out of your comfort zone. You know, if you're just staying safe the whole time, you're not really creating, you're not really imagining or thinking or something. You're just duplicating what you've already done over and over again. Exactly. You know, like I feel like a lot of people, like a lot of the new generation, they say they hate older music because it just sounds the same, like because we all, you know, they had the same structure. Hook, verse, hook, verse, and that was it, you know. But nowadays it's not like that. You know, like rap is grown. It's different now. And uh you know, like we definitely felt like we never even had to explain it to each other. Like we just all felt the same way. It was like, all right, well, what if we did this or did that, you know, instead of just doing like the normal, you know, hook verse, hook verse. Yeah. So it wasn't it was something that we understood right away. And I feel like a lot of people are just like that now.
SPEAKER_13Like somebody who mastered that is Kendrick Lamar. When you listen, like on Damn, who have like humble where it's like hook verse, hook, verse, but then who have like fear where he's just rapping like three different verses, just going crazy and stuff like that. He's like really good at mastering that. A lot of it has to do with with what the beat tells you to do. The beat will speak to you, and then you just go off the filling.
SPEAKER_04And then I've even noticed with uh some of the producers I work with when they're creating beats now, they're not even really thinking as far as in bars. Like it's when he gets done, like DK, for instance. One time he got done and he was like, dude, that's a 24-bar verse. I didn't wasn't even what what the fuck's wrong with me? He was like, it's supposed to be 16, but the beat to me, he's like, I just felt like it needed to go this far before, and it was like, well, roll with it. If that's how you feel the beat should be, just roll with it.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, I I I've come across that a couple of times where uh I've had artists be like, Well, where's the hook? The hook can be whatever the hell you want it to be, honestly. You know, it's all about what you create with the song and what what you put out, you know. It real is gonna stand the test of time. Real is gonna stand out. Um so it regardless uh of what the structure or what you even do with the song about, well when you when you're speaking from the heart, it's gonna relate to people. And I feel like that's what we're trying to do. You know, we're going for that now. Like we're not we ain't spring chickens, right? We're we're we're talking about, you know, the real shit, the people depressing from paying bills, you know, life. Just life and life. That's what we try to focus on nowadays.
SPEAKER_02So it's like but it's from our eyes, yeah, our minds. So different perspective from every gas. So when you hear it and you're like, yeah, these guys are kind of fucked up in the head, just yeah, that's uh I'm okay with that.
SPEAKER_04That's some of the best stuff, like some of the stuff that you could really relate to, I feel is some of the some of the best music. Like even when I was younger and everything was all grimy and gangster and hard, like I really gravitated toward like Rick Jills for what it's worth, or uh Busy Bones. Um, I can't think of the name of the song, but he's got another song where he's basically just talking about life, and he's on a he basically says he understands if his people leave him because of how he acted. The more emotional songs always tend to grab to me more. Don't get me wrong, I still loved One Life to Live by CCA, you know. But it's like some of those more emotional songs are the ones that always stood out to me more. So that's what I tend to look for in when I'm listening to music. And even my kids turn me on to stuff that I thought I would never listen to, like growing up and the stuff I was like, I'll never forget this, and now my daughter's got me listening to Halsey and shit like that. I'm like, that shit's kind of banging though, right?
SPEAKER_16Yeah, and it and all that all that is uh uh you know inspiration. Like you can take you can take like a Halsey bridge and just like yo, how how can you add a 4-4 boom bab thing to that and slow it down and you know, tweak it, maybe swap out some words. Like, that's just songwriting, you know what I mean? Like exploring all that, even like I don't really listen to the country, but you can you can find gems in just every single genre.
SPEAKER_04There's there's stuff out there, and that's the thing with the country nowadays, too. It it's like pop. Yeah, it's it's not the old country that my dog ran away, my car broke down, my wife cheated. It's you know, it's it's it's different, it's more pop sounding.
SPEAKER_16That was my Jeep, it has 22-inch rooms.
SPEAKER_04You know, it's like I find myself listening to some Morgan Wallen, and the first time my wife heard me listening to it, she stopped in her track, she was like, The hell is that? I'm like, I don't know, it's something about this song, just it grabbed my attention.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I mean music's definitely changed.
SPEAKER_03It's definitely man, just like everything else, it's just evolving, didn't and hip-hop, like they say, hip hop didn't create nothing, it reinvented everything. Oh, yeah. It's still reinventing itself every day.
SPEAKER_13It's kind of like mimicking the internet. Like the internet had before the internet, there were like sections like all right, East Coast sounds like this, West Coast this. The internet united everyone. So now all sling is like all across everything and sound. And now they're trying to, now they're taking genres and like, okay, this is a country song, but then there's like a hip-hop drum loop, and and like halfway through the song, then it goes back and stuff. So it's really all starting to be blended together.
SPEAKER_04Well, yeah, then you got so many country song and rappers on it now.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, yeah, and it's like or or metal, they don't have like a like a uh double time hi-hat. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04It's like wow when you look when you really dig into it and listen to it, you're like, wow, this shit's crazy. It's really coming out now.
SPEAKER_02Especially with producers too. Like you get a lot of different producers, like even back I like I even feel like back then because uh Christina Aguilera dropped a whole album that was produced by DJ Premier. Yeah, and not even a lot of people even knew about that, you know? Fire is still like to this day where you get like hip-hop producers producing for country artists, or country artists producing for you know hip hop artists, like there's really no limit to what you know what can happen.
SPEAKER_04And you know who really I believe it's I think personally from what I read and see an unknown fact about this, is Easy E actually started when he was doing Ruthless before everything went bad for him. He was signing everybody, like he had black IP signed, I believe, if I remember correctly. So like even back in the day, I feel if Easy didn't meet his demise when he did, a lot of what's going on would have happened a lot sooner because he would have had all these different genres of music and people at that label working together, you know, and it would have been ruthless would have been ruthless. Oh, yeah, it would have been insane.
SPEAKER_03But I think I think hip hop's been doing that since even back in the day, because there's there's I was listening to like old episodes of our podcast and shit. And me and Rick talked about it how the punk scene was mixing with the hip-hop scene and then Blondie was coming out with shit, like they came out with that one song, The Rapture, and then the Beastie Boys came out, which they were came out first as a punk band. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Well then like even nowadays, then talking about punk and rap. Uh I don't know if you guys know who Reddy Red is, but he he's got like a ska punk kind of sound to his music, but it's it's a lot of hip hop production. Yeah, it's like he's a really I mean I if you if you don't know who he is, check him out. I re he's got some really good songs. It's when you listen to it, like first time when I play it to people, they're like, ska, wait, rap. Wait, punk.
SPEAKER_16It's like wait, wait, it's it's it's a good mixture of it. I think that's the economy of a uh of a good artist is being able to uh just find inspiration uh everywhere outside of your comfort zone, right? Yep. Like we wouldn't get some of the classic records without somebody going out and sampling some wild shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You might have never thought about flipping or you know, looping up. So uh I think that's uh that's one of the the the main driving things that we try to do is where what can we do to up the annie on the next time around, right?
SPEAKER_02Yep. Um but don't get us wrong, you you still get the whole you know, craft beer sesh. Yeah, that's that's that's you know that's still always us.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, you know, even in dry January, we're rapping about craft beer. Stay humble to your roots. That's funny. Oh man, stay wet.
SPEAKER_04Hold on now. Let's get into music.
SPEAKER_02This is gonna turn into a different type of podcast at a minute.
SPEAKER_06It's more entertainment.
SPEAKER_16We gonna uh I'm gonna play Colin. Isn't that cool? Yeah, but uh so this is Colin. Uh this is one of the earlier songs, like I said, when we started kind of just bringing stuff up that was, you know, kind of in the hard drive that I felt was is you know really spoke to us. It's one of like the very first songs that we started make that we made for the album. I think we might have made it for somebody's album that didn't make it.
SPEAKER_13Yeah, it was supposed to be or I wanted it to be off the dust, and then you were like, nah gee, this is ours. This is going here.
SPEAKER_16I got so we had a yeah, we had a song that we did over a beat that uh was over was you know uh we couldn't clear it. We couldn't clear it. It was off a danger beat. Yeah, yeah. So he he wanted me to slap the verses on it. I was like, I I when I made this beat, I I I clearly remember finding the sample. I did it all in one night, and it was just like I think I just played it for a week. I didn't show it to anybody. And this was one of those beats that I was just like instantly fell in love with just making it. So when he when I showed it to him and he produced, you know, he's he brought this up. I was like, no. I was like, there's no way I'm just putting a you know a random verse over this. So it's uh calling. The the name is a little weird because you know it's it's it it has to do with just um just the mindset. Uh the way that I wrote my verse was more like a self-reflection letter talking to me. Uh, and then everybody else kind of followed it, and it it expanded into something a little bit bigger. So uh calling by Smogers Board. Here we go.
SPEAKER_02Below the surface, below the surface streaming now on all platforms. That's right.
SPEAKER_14You think your birth is reflected by how much you paid, but you can only take respect your word into the grave. I'm not afraid of any of the mistakes I made.
SPEAKER_13That's not the Ferdinand Brack. That's all that we've got for the World of Hard of War the Gardecks! I'm not missing that we'll let them have a summer Word of the Scottish! This of the video Warner Walls! You give me two other fucking life! Let's not finally all the books that you tell them, but the truth they don't tell it.
SPEAKER_11Oh you fold the buttons.
SPEAKER_13It's worth it to be free if you track the side of my It's worth it to be free if you trap the side of mine. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. It's worth it to be free if you track the side of mine. It's worth it to be free if you trap the side of mine.
SPEAKER_06Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_03So Smokey Sports Entertainment. I think that song was feature on the first blow surface message. You're right. Oh, Rick said it, and I'm like, Rick said it, and I'm like, I don't know. I don't know. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_15Did they have the hook on there though? I don't think so.
SPEAKER_06I didn't play the whole song. Yeah.
SPEAKER_15I know that for sure.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, yeah. You're right. Yeah. You're right, it was on it. Ah.
SPEAKER_06Phone won't work. Oh, look, I'm gonna say shouts out to my daughter watching us live right now. Yeah, shout out. Shout out to Rick Rock's daughter. Yes, sir. Shout out to my man Rudy. He's checking us out too.
SPEAKER_13What up, Rudy?
SPEAKER_03Shout out.
SPEAKER_04His wife was checking in on us too. She just sent me a text watching it on Facebook. Oh shit. Shout out to TDF music.
SPEAKER_03You gotta wait till the episode's out and listen to the music. Yeah, yeah, you gotta catch it on streaming platform for that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you're right. It wasn't.
SPEAKER_16I know I forgot about it.
SPEAKER_02Because there was a couple songs that we had dropped as singles, I want to say a few years ago, and it was off it was off of those that we were basically like, okay, well, we need to build off of this and you know do something with it, because we didn't, you know, we didn't really have anything out. We had dropped Saturdays. What was it? Saturdays one or two? I can't remember.
SPEAKER_16Volume two, because Saturdays one is in the in SoundCloud somewhere. So the Saturdays two. Can't release it because we can't we ain't got clearance for them beats. But it is SoundCloud. You can find it. Saturday's volume one.
SPEAKER_04There's a lot of songs out there sitting on SoundCloud stuff because we can't get the clearances. 100%. We got a Bon Jovi sample for one that's a great song, but it can't go nowhere besides SoundCloud.
SPEAKER_03There's an episode two where if you listen to it, I want to say it's called He's the DJ on the Rapper, the Below the Surface episodes, like the first season. If you go on there, I have a bunch of unreleased tracks that I played on there that you can't even find that shit, dude. Oh wow. And they're fucking banging. I think one had a Jay Dilla beat and Righteous engineered it and all that, man. But that's the shit. And like you were showing me the SoundCloud. There's like so much Smorgusborg on a SoundCloud, dude. It's ridiculous. Our first album is on SoundCloud.
SPEAKER_16I didn't put it anywhere else but SoundCloud. For some reason, I was like, yeah, this is gonna draw people to my page and my page only. Yeah, my first album was on Sakala 2. Fear for I was I had a like a like an epiphany, like one of these days I'm gonna just get really drunk and just remaster this and upload it. I ain't got no time.
SPEAKER_02Like I mean, I still feel like sold. Yeah, they do. Cause like we even recorded uh we re-recorded Eagle. That was off my first album, and we were I bought the beat, we recorded it, and you know, we had I dropped it as a single. And like I feel like there's still a couple songs on there on that album that are that are dope that I you know like we've always I feel like even in Saturdays, uh volume one, like there was a lot there was a lot of stuff that was a lot of dope stuff in there.
SPEAKER_04There's a lot of good stuff and old stuff that was released. We even went through and uh took on old all the best of certain vibes from LFP albums and created whole new albums out of it. Kind of like a best of type, but not a best of it and re-released it under default keys, presents, the lowful players, whatever it is, and put it back on the streamings, and then all of a sudden it grabbed a lot more attention to stuff that we've had from 15 years ago. That's a good thing.
SPEAKER_03Find a way to download it, and just give you a shit.
SPEAKER_16I mean I got I got the files. Call it below the circle. I got the files. Hell yeah.
SPEAKER_05Wanna do a mixtape? Yeah, hell yeah. All right. I got hella shit, dude. I know that.
SPEAKER_02That'd be dope though. You know, you just like if you were to pick an artist, you know, you probably play like three songs from that artist. Yeah, yeah, and you know, just go down, you know, because each artist contribute three of their old hidden tracks. Exactly.
SPEAKER_06That'd be taking ass mixtapes. Not only that, I want to go on live on um MixCloud. And play them. And uh play them. No, we'll promote it and then play tracks, you know. Okay. We got the mixtape, but then you'll hear it live like nothing like ever before. You know what I mean? Like a listening party. Yeah.
SPEAKER_16Oh, when you get three terabytes from me, don't don't don't get back. I got a lot to work with. So, I mean, that's another thing that can be talked about too.
SPEAKER_03A smorgasborg below the surface mixtape. That could be talked about too.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, we just finished uh the the Yoda Rock mixtape. It was all Yoda's uh pictures.
SPEAKER_02Shout out to Yoda Rock Rock to Yoda Rock created uh uh Mumble Cube rap. Oh yeah. I forgot about that. Yeah, this that's the new slogan. Yoda Rock created Mumble Rap.
SPEAKER_03He actually we'll start working on that soon, but he recorded recorded a I mean made a beat called Mumblin'. And I got a song for that. So yeah, I gotta redo that. I gotta get I gotta maybe May. I gotta get in the booth with you and knock out that whole album in like one week, dude. I could do it. I got all the verses ready.
SPEAKER_16Go. You just bring the beer and you know, yeah, I got the Mickeys. Oh shit.
SPEAKER_15Yeah, I'll engineered to like pass out. Just put the work in, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, shout out to Yoda Rock. Shout out to the greats. The greats. Yeah, we just we just did uh Midwest Desk. That was last week. Yeah, we just last week we just did Midwest Desk, so we got uh three videos coming from there.
SPEAKER_16Actually, the songs that we just played. So bro, can you just do that? See us performing it on there.
SPEAKER_03Hell yeah, dude. Man, Midwest Desk is such a good time. It's if you're there, it's it's such a blast, dude. We seen Yuri Bosho Lane do a set. I was just watching it this morning. Fucking amazing in person, dude.
SPEAKER_16I I gotta get in there and do a beat set one of these days. I gotta figure out how to finesse uh you know the the Serato. Tell them I'm gonna I'm gonna buy them Serato just for my session in Caso. 14-day free trial. Sorrado might be free, you know?
SPEAKER_06Or you still gotta pay for it. No, you still gotta pay for it. You gotta pay for it. Yeah, for the good shit, you're gonna have to pay. Unless you're good at hacking fee, that's it.
SPEAKER_16We sell the pirate waters over here, baby.
SPEAKER_06I'm sure somebody will sell you a copy of it.
SPEAKER_04Somebody's got the key. Reddit got it all, baby. Oh, there's a whole nother site too that uh that we use that. He's got all the native instruments stuff from there. Sounds like PyCon. Literally at the studio and then the green, we probably got, I would say, half a million dollars worth of software on that thing easily. Like backups of backups of different cubase versions and just that. Oh man. And all the native instruments and the it's man, it's it's
SPEAKER_03Gonna get us kicked off as Spotify. Fuck Spotify. Fuck Spotify. I can't stand it. What I wanted to talk to you about too is we didn't really chime in on a lot. Like the couple times you guys run this. I know that's like Hyrule's side project, but the the uh Thirsty Nerds podcast. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah like dude, you gotta go check that shit out, man. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, if you want to see hilarious, man.
SPEAKER_16If you want to see uh four drunken guys just talk shit about nerd stuff, that's the way to get a guess.
SPEAKER_03Here's the thing that gets me, dude, about the podcast. Hyro It's Hyro, and he got what is it, four other dudes right now? Three other guys. Three other guys. Clarence. These other three guys look like straight thugs, dude. Like straight thugging and bugging. And it's straight nerdism going on, dude. I love it, man. Shit, I didn't even I listened to it because I'm like, I didn't know about that. I didn't know about this. I'm not talking to dudes at work about you. Know about this? Yeah, I know about that. Damn, I'm off the loop, man.
SPEAKER_16And we we got our ears in the internet. Deep deep seated. We're internet babies, dog.
SPEAKER_03Comic books that I never even knew were out. Uh movie reviews. Um you guys do video games too?
SPEAKER_16Uh we talk about video games and stuff like releases and mainly uh we we focus on movies, movies, video games, and uh uh comics.
SPEAKER_03And IPAs are craft beers, too. So that's what's good.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, so like they started originally, they brought me in. Oh, okay. Uh so they had started originally, them three. Uh they were doing it when they were living together. And for some reason, like they invited me to come through and just do like a chop it up episode, and they just came in as a guest. And shortly right after that, they approached me to be the full-time, full-time host. And it, you know, we've been rocking ever since. We got equipment, we do it out of uh the home based studio uh every other Sunday. We get get up, knock out like two, three episodes uh all in one day. By the third episode, you can tell that my PAs is hitting. But we get reckless. We we say some shit, dude.
SPEAKER_13I I love it, man. We should call the home-based studio the kitchen because there's a lot of cooking up going on. Let's go.
SPEAKER_16He got a new name. There we go.
SPEAKER_03Right off the bat. And high well, just one. I'm gonna say Hyro is governor. I know you might give me anyway. Last name Sanchez. This dude's had a lot of people in the studio. He's even had the legendary Pony Boy recording. Yeah, shout out to Pony Boy.
SPEAKER_06Pretty dope. No, somebody watched it.
SPEAKER_03And in this basement, there's been a lot of legendary people down here, man. Uh Freddie Gibbs was down here before. Um, Alex Ortiz, the famous comedian, was down here before.
SPEAKER_06Yep.
SPEAKER_03Uh Outfit.
SPEAKER_06All fit. We had Outfit Radio.
SPEAKER_03Used to sleep down here, and they used to wake me up because it was party time. Legend.
SPEAKER_06If the walls could speak, oh my god. Yeah, no, let's not talk about that anymore.
SPEAKER_16About to make a ditty dog. What are we talking about? It wasn't like there is no ditty oil. We didn't use oil, we use fucking bog waters.
SPEAKER_03Beer and debauchery down here, dude. Good times, though, man.
SPEAKER_06It'd be nice. My daughter's watching us. Sorry. Let's play some music.
SPEAKER_03No, but there was a lot of great moments down here, dude. And this room, it feels small now. It used to feel so much bigger. It used to feel so much bigger. But we gained weight. But I mean, we we had like straight get downs down here, man. Somebody always spinning. There'd be about six, eight of us down here recording. Straight cameras going.
SPEAKER_04Um El Calion teaching people how to make gel house burritos. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I remember that.
SPEAKER_03Um freestyle sets that just are fucking amazing, dude. The radio station going on down here, dude. Fucking amazing shit, dude.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, we used to feel like eight, nine, ten motherfuckers. I don't know how we did it, but we gotta trim out with you.
SPEAKER_16You see how big my my studio is. We we had sessions where we just I would call it uh we took going back to the Alchemist, we took like uh rap camps. Rap camps. So we would take that that uh that that prep is of just like, hey, I got vacation for X amount of days. It's just a revolving door, and it just be fucking 12 hours of just like people coming in. Yo, you got a verse? Boom, what you gotta work on? Boom, boom, boom, pop this in. Yo, you got uh people in the kitchen making food in and out of the studio, and it was just like and you know that that was uh those were the days, man. We got some we we did a lot of work in those.
SPEAKER_03Shout out to your wife, man, because she puts up with fucking that's what I'm saying. Like she's gonna the shit we be recording to, like, she's gotta be like, what the fuck is going on in there?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, shout out.
SPEAKER_16She just she's just happy with you know her dogs in the in her in her movies, man. Yeah, she she lets us do way too much.
SPEAKER_02I know this there was there was a few times, I think it would be either CO or it'd be Ronnie just recording or whatever. And I'll I'll just I'll just get a text from Tyron, like, what the hell is he talking about? No, no, it's like oh you can hear him? She'll text me, she'll text me like Cap. Yo, his wife is like steady, just like she just comes with like she'll just come with like a one-hit, just like, what? Like, where does that come from?
SPEAKER_16You know, that'd be funny. We'll be doing the podcast, and you're here in the background sneezing like 27 times. She's just a random sound effect now, and it just pops up in the middle of the pocket.
SPEAKER_03I had my wife one time, she was like, I'm gonna make a diss track. I'm like, damn! Gangster, dude.
SPEAKER_16The stories the wives could tell, man. Man, hey, your mama's watching, Jay.
SPEAKER_07She's like mama. Say hi to your mama. So she slaps.
SPEAKER_06Shout out to moms. But she slaps you through the goddamn phone.
SPEAKER_03Me and her month is coming up. It's Gemini season coming soon. Okay. Me and Rick rock.
SPEAKER_06God help us. I know, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I was watching, uh, I don't know if you guys are wrestling fans watching. Oh no, yeah, WrestleMania. And um Roman Reigns won. Who cares? And I was like, I was I know, that's what I said. My wife was real pissed. I'm like, you gonna acknowledge him now? And I was like, I was like, what is Witness's birthday? Oh, I knew it. He's a fucking Gemini. No wonder. That makes sense. That makes sense. Gemini energy. Fuck Roman Reigns, man.
SPEAKER_15I used to be the we used to be the biggest. I'm with you, bro. I'm with you. I used to be the biggest hater.
SPEAKER_16I used to love him, but now I'm like, I'm tired of this dude.
SPEAKER_03His facial expressions, like nobody ain't shit to him. Boring. I love boring. Okay.
SPEAKER_02He's just boring. The same three set moves he has. Played out, played out.
SPEAKER_04Two albums on the clock, probably.
SPEAKER_03We've had wrestlers on the podcast. We had two indie wrestlers. Oh, that's dope.
SPEAKER_02CM Punk should have won that shit.
SPEAKER_03Yep. Yep. I don't know. T for his old ass to sit down, I say. He's got a little bit a little bit a little bit longer left. I don't know.
SPEAKER_16I don't think we came to talk about Punk uh Kumpa that one time, but you know, as wrestling fans, we did an album not too long ago. Yeah, Kumpa album. Kumpa.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah. Here's the thing about Kumpa. Fucking dope listen. But if you weren't there for the fucking release party, I could never listen to that album again the same unless I just remember the mask coming out. Yeah. Coming out of the Lucha Mask. I don't know how you guys did the whole set in Lucha Mask.
SPEAKER_02Ridiculous. No, we didn't we did well, we did half the set in Lucha Mask. But I did a 30-minute set. That was the longest set you ever did. Yeah. It was 30 minutes and and I literally I can I can't I can recall only messing up like two times. I couldn't even tell you. Out of all the songs that I did, I can only recall like two times I actually messed up. Fucking flawless dude. And I give you props for that shit.
SPEAKER_03That was yeah.
SPEAKER_02But it was motivation though, because I didn't know we had we had a show there, that we had a show there like uh I want to say like a month or two before that. And uh you know, like I don't know what was going on with me. Like I was being too tipsy or something, but I screwed up big time. It was just like you know, songs that we were like we would normally do, and uh I messed up big time, you know. I was just like we were just going through the verse and they're both looking at me like yo, what the hell's your problem? And uh, you know, so after that I was like four bars, yeah. So I knew coming into you know into the compass show, I was like, yo, like I gotta make it out. Then we started a bet.
SPEAKER_16We had like a bet to see what songs it was gonna mess up in. We had me and Rad Zombie.
SPEAKER_03The whole album dude performed the whole album and it was fucking a movie, dude. It was dope.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, it that's that's that and Rod Zombie are one of the the things that I'm most proud of uh working on as like as a producer, because you know, I've I I've had beats and placements uh with you know people that I love and respect. But something about taking and going back to you know the single mentality, both of those are full on from start to finish concept albums. Yep. Uh you know, that that we sat together and we plotted out, and that I don't feel those songs, you know, as as singles, cool, they're they're great, but like that as a package. Both of those uh projects as a package, uh you know, they belong together.
SPEAKER_02They all tied in so well.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. It was like uh a Quentin Tarantino movie where it was like the what is it? The Grindhouse.
SPEAKER_16That's exactly what it's like. We we talked about releasing them that way some some way, somehow. He's just you know, we couldn't we couldn't finalize that, but that was that was literally the concept that you know that we kind of came up with. And uh shout out to uh DJ Roshna, uh Rest in Peace. He took uh uh the main title of Compa and he spent he spun it in his uh in his playlist in France, yeah. In France for about three months. We were we were in the middle of Benny the Butcher and Saz P. That's okay. Yeah, shout out to that. How did he get how did he acquire your music? I have no idea. Uh somehow through he heard of us through the greats, because I think he picked up their stuff too.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because when we came out with Nostalgia Brothers, me and Yoda were being played in some fucking place out in between like Germany and somewhere else, dude. And they were like, No, from Chicago, Illinois. I'm sounding like a Mexican. I am Mexican. But they were like, This is Nostalgia Brothers, and I was like, Oh shit, what the f and we were on the list with like big names too.
SPEAKER_16It's probably the same person. Like, he I randomly got a uh message on Instagram from them, and it was like, yo, tell P the villain to add me, and you know, this is the link, this is what's gonna happen. I was like, I thought it was scam. You know how they hit you over, like, yo, we get you this many plays, yeah, yeah. I was like, I didn't even listen to I didn't even worry about it. I like deleted the message and they hit me up again. He was like, Hey man, I need your contact info. And I was like, and I looked him up and I was like, yo, this motherfucker's legit. Like shit was dope as hell. So um unfortunately he ended up passing uh not too long after that.
SPEAKER_02Uh uh, but you know, just even getting that look was yeah, they they text and you know, they rolled me on Instagram too, and they they played us uh a few times. Yeah, we were on a playlist for three weeks. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I think what's dope about this podcast too is I I check out like the statistics and shit, and a lot of people from overseas listen to it. So it's like kind of dope because we play local music, but to them it's like United States underground, which is dope as fuck, and now they're hearing a new album that you know they probably ain't even can't even get access to. They they eat it up. Now they can if they search it and shit.
SPEAKER_04So they eat it up overseas. They love it.
SPEAKER_02If you can't get access to it, hit us up, we'll give it to you. That's right.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, well I'll I'll I'll drop the fucking, I'll drop the the Dropbox masters throw it up on YouTube, you know, it's there.
SPEAKER_03Whatever it gets, whatever, whatever works, you know what I mean? Some more music, man. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05You guys got a preference of what you like? Uh play.
unknownWhatever you want to say.
SPEAKER_02Just to change up, like just to change up, you know, like the the whole thing. Oh uh Christian on my bartender. You know, it's like it's one of those songs where, you know, we because like I said, you know, we still do our drinking, you know, we still do our uh drinking songs and everything. And I feel like this anybody can relate to this.
SPEAKER_16I had to fight to get this on the album, by the way. No, you had to fight to get this on the album.
SPEAKER_02I always wanted to get this on the album. I always wanted to push this out so much because we recorded this a few years ago. Yeah, yeah, and uh, you know, it was just originally it was just me and uh Rod, but then we ended up getting CO.
SPEAKER_16So when we did the song, it was like you came up with the concept, I believe. Uh recursion of my bartender, and we recorded it, and I was like, yo, CO would be perfect on this. CO would be perfect on this. Uh so this is Crushing on my Bartender. Uh the beat, by the way, would you coming up with the concept for Crushing of a Bartender on this type of beat? I never I never would have pictured it. Uh so this is Crusher and Bartender featuring uh CO, Mr. Pink Skies himself.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, below surface.
SPEAKER_16CO bleed. Check it out.
SPEAKER_13This brewery is below average. Uh but the bartender is texty. Fuck it. I guess I'll come back here again next week. Give her my number and hopefully she texts me. Check please, let me get out of here before I have too much. I gotta do it. Don't wanna turn into a lunch, plus I gotta record a bunch of stuff. Don't wanna be flirting over the tracks, fucking it up. I was twisting it, but not paid attention. I was there, she was glistening. You probably didn't notice it was hard for me to focus. I just lens, I just my fanic captain that's woman. Cause I'll be crushing on my bartenders, I be crushing on my bartenders. Cause I be crushing on my parts and this, I be crushing on my parts and this, I can't fart. I be crushing on my parts and I'll be crushing on my parts and I be crushing on my part and I can apologize if I go on the parts.
SPEAKER_11I don't think the place I get a case on the place, but in the skate find the place, open up the camp and a fish. I gotta escape with the start, which is the fan, that's the left. I need to help the headers on the stairs. I need a liquid cover like a thing of light. I think I need a duty, think I think I need a tuck, think I think I need a pick and what I think I think I think that go, but I really like a face.
SPEAKER_13I be crushing on my part and I be crushing on my part and I be crushing on my part and I be crushing on my part and I take the parts I be crushing on my parts and I be crushing on my parts and I be crushing on my parts and I be crushing on my parts and I take the parts on my crush just turning as a bar.
SPEAKER_09Ain't every drink by star with a bigger tip than a four star. You make me feel better than the drink dust. Oh chip, I feel in a deep bud. Wanna say something to make her blood in the drinks they look strawberry crystal like this liquor to make me wanna go hard. Like a point card. I'm pulling out the car like damn it. My fist on drop, I still have it. Oh, oh can't do that shit. When it comes to ordering on the traffic, I'm going to round like an NFL traffic. So I can't chill with the plastic.
SPEAKER_13Cause I be crushing on my bartenders, I be crushing on my bartenders. Cause I be crushing on my bartenders, I be crushing on my bartenders, I can't help myself. Cause I be crushing on my bartenders, I be crushing on my bartenders. Cause I be crushing on my bartenders, I be crushing on my bartenders, I can't help myself.
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay. Shout out to all my drinkers out there. Crushing on your bartenders right now. Leave them a tip.
SPEAKER_16I feel like that's like mad uh uh uh just relatable when everybody's been at the bar is like exactly you know like who hasn't gone to a bar now and just like yo, the bartender looks dope right now.
SPEAKER_02No, is it creepy? That's how they have no tips, man. That's how you gave them broke. That's right. Oh yeah. Just don't be like waiting until she gets out of work and then you know. Yeah, yeah. You have respect. Respect, you fucking heathens.
SPEAKER_15I like the way you serve the beer. Yeah, you can you can crush on them, just have respect. Right, right.
SPEAKER_02Hell no. You gotta turn into the intro of Rod Zombie. Right.
SPEAKER_16But that's what I'm saying. Like we you know, uh Rod usually comes up with all the uh the the concepts for the songs, uh, and then we kind of just like jump on board and figure out the and like you said earlier, he's been focusing a lot on you know, hook-wise, right? Like how can how can we make these these hooks jump and bounce? The same thing with calling, the calling was just supposed to ride through. There wasn't supposed to be a hook on that. Uh and then he came out and that's like a really dope. I feel like it's a really dope, you know, uh back and forth uh computer reaction. Yeah. We did it at the Pink Skies on the last one, and it it it went great. You know, I had the crowd repeating it by the end of the first hook.
SPEAKER_02And then we also apparently I offended people, but who cares?
SPEAKER_04So people are too easily offended nowadays, they could all just find out.
SPEAKER_03May 23rd, we're gonna be throwing uh Below the Surface Live in Region Records. Yeah. Shout out to Josh. You guys are invited. What do you guys want to perform? Uh the one in Highland? In Highland, okay.
SPEAKER_13Okay. Um, not the one where we uh not the previous one?
SPEAKER_02Not the one in whiting. Not the whiting. No, we you guys performed at the one in whiting, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03We're gonna take it back to the roots, man, and go back to the road.
SPEAKER_06Region records Highway Avenue in Highland, Indiana, May 23rd.
SPEAKER_03It's a lot, it's a lot closer, I think, for me and Rick Rock and for all the artists we're gonna have. I think it's parking.
SPEAKER_06That'd be dope.
SPEAKER_03Lots of parking, lots of parking, uh bathroom in the park. You can just go use the free bathroom. Um it's it's a little bit more, there's not a lot of space like the whiting one, but there's a lot of more nostalgia in that place, I think. Um it's the same owner. Same owner. Jacob, he runs the one in Whiting, and Josh owns both stores. Okay. Josh is the first one. Shout out to that.
SPEAKER_16You know, we were the first ones to bless the Whiting. We were the first ones to bless the Whiting spot.
SPEAKER_03And they've had some other shows there too, yeah, since then, so that's super dope. We didn't get the invite back. Not us. They did. Okay. Um, that was a dope set because it was you, it was like was it three or four artists that were like totally different? Yeah, it was all completely different. Oh, it's Carol's E Dot Battle. Yeah. E dot battle. Um then uh It was well rounded, that was for sure. It was well rounded.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Forgive me if I can't remember the. I think that was it. It was those those three artists. Yeah. Super dope, man. It was like it was dope. Hell yeah, we gotta do it again, man.
SPEAKER_06Can't wait, can't wait. More music.
SPEAKER_02Rest in peace to the to the uh where we used to do the uh the pop-ups. Oh yeah, yeah. The creative sky pop-ups, yeah. Rest in peace creative space.
SPEAKER_16I'm working on something behind the scenes. It might be a little of a drive, but you know, we'll see what it w what works out.
SPEAKER_04What I'm what I miss, what happened? We need to find a Mexican bar. Oh, yeah, they're closing down. We need to find an Arctic bar.
SPEAKER_16Creative Space is closing down. It's closed down, that was actually the last event. He he booked he booked it to the last event.
SPEAKER_02So the from what we were told, the people who own the place, they sold it, and they're just looking to get something more bigger. Uh as far as where and when they will have anything, we don't know. Um it was. It definitely was. Yeah. Look at this cutting me off every time.
SPEAKER_03Wrap it up, B.
SPEAKER_15It's time, dog. I mean I think it's it's time for a new phone. This phone is this phone is dying. It's time for a new phone.
SPEAKER_16Galaxy S10.
SPEAKER_02No, it's it's messed up because I got the iPhone 10. And my Apple music isn't loading like any new albums. I can't look, I can't search anything.
SPEAKER_16I'm telling you, that they send a virus to kill your phone. This phone was perfectly fine. Right.
SPEAKER_02Literally yesterday.
SPEAKER_16It is what it is.
SPEAKER_02I don't know. I just figured if we were back in the studio and he was just like, cut it off. He cuts me off all the time. Like, you know, do it again. Like I just recorded a whole verse and a new phone.
SPEAKER_16Capitalism strikes again. They get me.
SPEAKER_04I always gotta get the newest one like a dumbass upgrade every time.
SPEAKER_16I've been I I I I used to be like that, but some something happened with this phone where somebody was like, bro, just get a new phone, and it like drove me to I was like, fuck it, I'm gonna write this up. This has been more of a hard-headed situation where I'm just like, we're gonna ride this till this motherfucker dies, and I think it's about to die.
SPEAKER_04I I always go, I'm good. My phone's straight still. Right. And out of nowhere, out of nowhere, one day I see a commercial or something, and I'm like, nah, I gotta get that motherfucker. And then I don't ever use it for what the feature was. I never touch that feature.
SPEAKER_03Oh, look at this.
SPEAKER_16I've been having to pad charge this for the past like three years because the C plug don't work. So I've been grinding. I mean, you know, I've been holding shot.
SPEAKER_13This might be the breaking point. You're gonna get that new phone and be like, why was I even doing all this, man? This wasn't even necessary.
SPEAKER_16I should have just my wife is gonna cry when I tell her I'm gonna get a new phone.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I gotta get a new phone basically, and I just bought a house. So now you ain't getting more. You ain't getting a new phone. It's a lot of work, man.
SPEAKER_15Everybody's gonna have to stending the lawnmower, my guy.
SPEAKER_03No, if we market by me, you can get a lawnmower. And it's still expensive. I'm thinking I'm like, yeah, 75 bucks, dude, it's like 300 bucks. I'm like, fuck! Hold on, let me get the cash.
SPEAKER_04I buy the throwaways. I go up marketplace, buy that bitch for 50, 60 bucks. If it lasts that year, cool, I'll get another one next year.
SPEAKER_16You know what you gotta do, low-key. The the the trick is go to St. John and there's like rich neighborhoods and go to the hit the cigar sales. Cigar sales there. Swear to God, I got mine for 120 bucks. That thing was used like two times.
SPEAKER_13As long as you got a way to move it, they don't they don't be tripping.
SPEAKER_16That's it. That's the move.
SPEAKER_03Take from the rich and give to the poor. Out in Indiana, it is fucking well, Northwest Indiana, Chicagoland area. It's mowier. You gotta compete with your neighbor. You see them mowing, you gotta get out there and fucking mow too, or else the whole block.
SPEAKER_04Be pissing me off, dude. I'll pull up and be like, damn. Yeah, nothing.
SPEAKER_02Man, my my nephew's five years old. I'm like, yo, you need to start managing it. You need to start learning. I like it.
SPEAKER_16Does it want does it want 15 bucks? You can hit mine too.
SPEAKER_03My kid, dude, he's been making $60 a yard, bro. $60 a yard. He's been getting it though, man. He did like he did the whole block.
SPEAKER_15He got a career.
SPEAKER_02Man, he might as well make him some business cards.
SPEAKER_04I'm a trenchman that I don't even make that much. $60 a yard. I'll be out there with a weed whacker if I have to extend paying that shit. I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_03Hell yeah. He's been banking on that shit, dude. It's all about the hustle, man. That's dope. Hustle man, hustle man. Hell yeah. You guys want to ride out with one more song, man? Sure.
SPEAKER_13Yeah. Rod, you ain't picked a song yet. No. Well, then let's just play uh Chef's Kiss. Keep it class. There you go. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_16What you call the breadmaker. It was basically the anthem. Yeah, yeah. It's the one that we, you know, we're perfor we've been performing a minute. Like they we got this down packed. You know, this is this is our our bread and butter. There you go. Uh Chef's Kiss.
SPEAKER_03Let's get into it. Let's go.
SPEAKER_13Yeah. Another Friday. Back at it again. Pull up, pull up. Let's go. The point guard of hip hop. Yes, I is that, sir. Watch me hop, slam, dunk, the sick pack. Yump here is trash. How could you tip that? Never been a snitch, but I am a gym rat. Leave me open and I bet I hit that. This whole matchup is a mismatch. I got it back. Like a rip back. Everyone's eating. That's how I get back. Discipline is boring. That's a big fact. But it's a path of greatness. So I live back. You have four bro. You don't wanna miss that. Favor, favorites, observing a tic-tac. I do what it takes. But double rip deck. I won't be satisfied. Oh, I'm a big deck. If I happen to break that, I know my bro got me with the tick back. Yeah. Just to respect this. Just one beat of villain and blacklist. We ain't got it to the best lip. Just it. Come on. Just to expect this. Just one beat of villain and black list. We ain't got it to the best.
SPEAKER_11Just like that. Just give the fucking two. Step away the boys for me. When it's not the next book, board not the fleminose. I'm the building with the sex on my genetic dolls.
SPEAKER_13Yeah. Just to expect this. Just one beat of filling that back list. We ain't got it. Just back with it. Just to expect this. Just one beat of filling and black list. We ain't got it.
SPEAKER_14Just test. Yeah.
SPEAKER_13Just one Peter villain and reckless. Ha. We ain't nothing to mess with. Smorgus board. Watch just kiss. Come on. Y'all should expect this. Just one Peter villain and reckless. Ha. We ain't nothing to mess with. Smorgus board. Watch just kiss.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Below the surface. Hey, okay.
SPEAKER_16Always love. Thank y'all for always having us in here and recording. Uh you know, this is uh one of the last bastions I feel like for uh uh independent music around here. Uh there's a you know, there's a lot of places that you know prop up and you know give up shots, but you know, the way the thing you guys do, you know, like to a lot of us, we're gonna keep doing it, man.
SPEAKER_03We got probably a lot of returning guests, and we're gonna be reaching out to some more people um you know, across the nation and shit.
SPEAKER_06We're gonna be having default keys soon on needed.
SPEAKER_03Long awaited. Hell yeah. Um there's a lot of new projects coming out too, so I'm excited for all that to be played. EDot Battle just dropped a new album.
SPEAKER_02Damn.
SPEAKER_03I think we're gonna try to get the greats back down here and shit to talk about. I think we're gonna do a collab with the Midwest desk below the surface. Oh, that'd be dope. That'd be dope.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, that's long-awaited. Yes, sir, yeah. Like an all-star game.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, if y'all if y'all are doing it over there, let me know. I'd like to come and swing through. Yeah, sit in the corner. Sit in the corner and just talk my shit.
SPEAKER_04We've been talking about doing it since they started it, so it's just a matter of cooling it together.
SPEAKER_16Yeah. That's a problem with uh middle age, is trying to find me. Life, bro. Fucking life.
SPEAKER_04Shit, I had to change my whole sleep schedule today just to be able to do this because of work tonight. Like I literally I worked overnight, I went out at 12 30 last night, worked, stayed up until about 11 30, then went to sleep and got up and came here so I can go out and work.
SPEAKER_16That's how it is nowadays, right? Gotta find a way to make it work. It's like when I get people trying to get in the studio, I'm like, yo, you got seven to nine o'clock. Don't be late. You better come in one take Jake this motherfucker. We're getting to work.
SPEAKER_04Ain't no how you're doing, and no catching up. We just you better come in here and act like you spend your last three dollars to get this done and get it done now.
SPEAKER_16The record the record is hitting the tunes, the doors open.
SPEAKER_02Your voice better be warmed up already. You should have been doing your verse on the way here. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03The flow at your studio goes pretty good, though, man.
SPEAKER_16It's it's a pretty quick process. Yeah, I I try to I try to one thing that I learned coming back to Alchemist, one thing that he said in an interview was like the best sound engineers and sound engineers do what they're told.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_16Well, yeah.
SPEAKER_03And then you do, I mean, you do drive us in the right direction too. So that's a good thing.
SPEAKER_16But I try to produce everybody that comes to record in my house, I try to produce a a little bit somehow. Uh gotta, you know.
SPEAKER_02It's always funny when when we get new people to come over to the studio to watch us record and how he records us and you know, mixes and everything. Like everybody tells us, like, oh, you guys got it good. We don't really you know, we've recorded with FAML, we've recorded with uh I don't want to say critical, but uh over there at Vincent. Um it was uh it was Rob Dillon that was uh recording. Oh, over at faculty back in the day. Yeah. Yeah. That's not speaking. Like we've recorded with a couple, we've recorded with a couple people, but you know, it's just like whenever we record, you know, like he's our engineer, you know, he's everything for us. So then when people come in, they see us, like our whole process of what us recording, and they just look at us like yo, I didn't know you guys got it easy.
SPEAKER_16I didn't know people didn't record with 17 plugins already on. The setup's ready to go. It's already mixed.
SPEAKER_04When would you have your regular people? It's easy to go, okay, I mean float up their shit here and presets.
SPEAKER_16I record everybody, I record everybody the same way with the same plate presets. When I mix, I may change some stuff out, but everybody gets the same treatment and everybody sound quality sounds the same. You know, you your your reference is gonna be and one thing that I didn't know people didn't do, I I mix while you're recording. Yep. That's how Fingerroll used to do it too.
SPEAKER_04Yes, when we used to record over Fingerroll Studio, because he'd be like, all right, it's gonna take us this long to record and this long to mix, so we gotta come up with this amount of money. And then when you first sat down with them, I'm sitting in the booth watching them as they're he's like, yeah, oh, I'm liking this.
SPEAKER_16Oh I've always I always thought that was just the that was just the the norm. We're so used to it, it's always don't do this?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, dead bodies used to do that too in his studio. Yeah, him and I got lucky, I guess. Wherever we recorded, they used to do that.
SPEAKER_16So your EQs, I'm swapping EQs, compressing at the same time as you're recording. I've had a couple people that kind of like get set back, and then they kind of like you get the flow. Like I said, when when you come through, it it's always it's oh it's a home. Uh so that's why I rarely let I I don't let a lot of people but when you come through it it's a home. You you you you're welcomed, and you know, I make everybody feel comfortable, and they you know I've had people get kind of thrown back as I'm doing it, and then they get like, oh shit, like yo, this is a process, like we're we're working, right? So uh that's you know, I've been lucky I got taught um I learned a lot from my cousin uh C's the prophet. Shout out to him. I just watching him work and kind of putting stuff together and just you know, my life has just been around, you know, live music. My father had a band and just seeing them work and they did the same thing. They they didn't do mic checks, they showed up to the King's Yana and you gotta you gotta plug and play, right? So you you're mixing on the go and you ain't got no schooling on this, you just going off a year. So uh I take a lot of a a lot of uh just implemented that throughout my life wherever I go. You gotta you gotta be able to flip on the sweat on the fly. Yep.
SPEAKER_03Fix it on the fly. Hell yeah, man. Dope episode, dope catching up with you guys.
SPEAKER_05Oh yes, sir. For sure.
SPEAKER_03We'll catch up a little bit more after the show. Um yeah, man. When uh you guys come out with volume two, let us know. Come back on the show.
SPEAKER_04Hell yeah. I really think we need to do that mix that uh they were talking about too, man. I think that'll be dope. That'll be dope.
SPEAKER_16I'm gonna go home. I ain't gotta work tomorrow. I'm gonna go home and get a little bit more. Oh, Rick Rock, get ready, bro. Get ready, Rick Rock. We should be blown up.
SPEAKER_06This is perfect timing.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, this is gonna be great. It's gonna be dope. Appreciate it. Love every time we come through. For sure, for sure. You know, you gotta show uh treat us like uh like family, and you know, we appreciate that very much.
SPEAKER_04Yes, sir. Thank y'all for coming through. We appreciate it, man.
SPEAKER_03I'm I think we're gonna keep it short on shout outs, man. I just want to shout out all the listeners, man. Yeah and uh welcome to the new season Below the Surface, man. Hell yeah. Check it out, yeah. I'm your boy uh dirtbag Johnny and the place to be. I'm DJ Rick Rock, it's your boy T Doug. And we have Smorgus Boy. Appreciate y'all.
SPEAKER_04Y'all be safe out there.
SPEAKER_05Thank y'all.