Ep.003 - Killah Priest | "We're Already In Space"

Killah Priest doesn't do small talk. He does octopuses, UAPs, simulation theory, and the kind of conversation that makes you pull over and write something down.

Priest is a Brooklyn-born lyricist, Wu-Tang affiliate, and founding member of Sunz of Man. His 1998 debut Heavy Mental is considered a classic. J. Cole called his song NASA Case "like a book" and listened to it nine times. Flea walked through his garden alone just to tell him the album was great.

We've known each other since the pandemic — I directed his music video for Heavier Mental and somehow ended up naming his album Rocket to Nebula at a bar one night. This conversation is the reunion.

We talk about Wu-Tang's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, what it felt like to be in the room when Cream was being made, why retirement isn't a word that belongs in a creative's vocabulary, and what a mimic octopus can teach you about making art for thirty years.

Oh, and we're already in space. He'll explain.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Welcome to In the Static. I'm your host, Brandon Keith Osborne. This is our third episode here at In the Static. We talk about uh creating things without asking for permission, um, kind of DIY projects and everything in between. Uh today, my guest is Killa Priest. Yo, what's up, my man? He is I I'd call you family, man. You're a good family, man. No doubt. No doubt. No doubt. He is uh affiliate of Wu-Tang clan, uh founding member of uh Sons of Man, among other things, the horseman. Horseman, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

So it's a pleasure to have you on here, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Yep, yep. Royal Priesthood. Yeah, thanks, man. Thanks for having me uh come through. Man, it's been a it's been a while, man. It's been a while. You got a lot to catch up on.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

I I was just thinking, you know, I was like, Priest is like one of those deep minds, you know. You every time I have a conversation with you, it's not like, did you catch the game last night? It's like, if you could travel at the speed of light, where where would you go?

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Yeah, man, it's it's a lot, it's a lot out there, it's a lot to take in, you know. And um it's it's random that you, you know, meet like minds, you know, me like yourself. And um, it's good to have a conversation that's you know, just different, different type of topics and stuff like that. That's what keep me going.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

Yeah, we we got a chance to meet, um, and I actually filmed a music video for you. Yes. Yes, we could talk about that. It's gonna be good. It's for your track Heavier Mental.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

And uh take what was that experience like?

SPEAKER_01 2:07

You man, that was crazy. Um it was the time, it was uh during the COVID, uh the pandemic, pandemic, I like to say Yeah, man. It was it everything came together just right. Everybody was feeling down. And um, I was just like, man, that that just gave me the motivation to start creating. And um, I was like, you know, I just feel like doing something that that'd be good for the fans. Just like I was holding it off on doing another Heavy Mentu. So I just I just said, well, let's do a song called Heavier Mentu. And um working with Sean, we both know. And Sean, uh, we got a a crew together, and I just started uh working inside the crib inside the house in the studio. So I, you know, I just invested in my own equipment going in, and I just started creating. Boom, boom, every day, every day, every day. And um, yeah, so it came up there, and I didn't have a lot of producers, so I had to learn myself. I had to I started rewinding, started making beats right then and there. So it's it had a genuine sound that came up out of it, you know. And then I would talk to some DJs here and there, and then boom, you came. Then you came through, and how everything was ironic. I want to spoil a moment, but you know, you you was a big part of this, you know what I'm saying? So, you know, it's like um, you know, even coming up with the title of the album was crazy, man. You yeah, talk because I I kind of remember.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

We were we were just we were having one of our like little rap one-on-one sessions, yeah. And you say that I named it Rocket to Nebula.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Yeah, we were talking about, I remember good. We was talking about um the speakers, the rocket, the rocket, and I was trying to think of I was I was like, maybe I could call it heavier mental or something like this. He was like, you put it together, you just said, yo, man, Rocket to Nebula. You just said, you just said, that's it. And I said, That's it, perfect. And we was we was going back through, you just um What you said was uh you said, Well, why don't you make it the Rocket? You you kind of got at the whole thing. You said, why don't you just go all the way there? Just make it all the way Rocket to Nebula. And I was like, that's it. And when you hear it the first time, you know it when it you know when it is, and you came up with that. And I was like, ran with it. And now my podcast was named after that, the whole thing. And um you shot the first video, man, put it together and everything. It's it's legacy now. Legacy, man, legacy. You get we gotta play it. Yeah, yeah. You gotta play it, you know. The the song, you mean? Yeah, the video. The video.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

Well, for listeners, uh you can go check out Kill the Priest on YouTube and just type in Heavier Mental, and you'll see the video that we made together.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

Crazy the the way you put together the dark ambient, the snake, all of that stuff. It was great. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:09

I shot that with uh buddy of mine, Nick Alfaro. Nick and Jacob. Yes. Those are two of the homies, and and I remember that. That was that was a really fun project. So Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

And Riza Rizen Brother came, remember? Uh yeah, Matt Knife Prince came through. So Rizga, and I I was he was trying to get all of them to, you know, as much as we could, but you know, knife came, he he we shot him. He was in a video, that was dope. That's uh Rizda's youngest brother, you know, man. Shout out to Killer Army. So that was it was it was it was great. It was great, man. It was like, yo, and it was a good vibe because we just like all family, we all we right up the block. So we and so that's how it sounded, the way it sounded, and it looked the way it looked. It was real good.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

Yeah, it was it was very like personal and kind of intimate because I think it was were we on lockdown or it was like we were locked down, nothing was open, nothing was, yeah, that was nothing was open.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

And um, every day stuff was happening. It wasn't like completely locked down, but it was like every day was like, this is shut, this is shut, this is shut.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

And then yeah, so we kind of had to like just do our own thing and be be careful, you know. Yeah, we gorilla it. Social distancing social distance and um and but strange, strangely, you know, like that kind of opens opened us up to some creativity, you know, and some heavier conversations for us right now.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

So yeah, man. We shot that in in um Sean's crib, right? Yeah, yeah. In his apartment downtown. Yeah, yeah. And how you made the whole thing look dark. I was like, oh yeah, you dope. So yeah, that was that was special, that was a special um time. And um talking deep, it was it was just deep stuff we was talking about at that time.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

Yeah, man. Yeah. Um so let's rewind a little bit to to young priests. Okay. You grew up in Brooklyn, New York?

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Yeah. BK, BK. Um, when you say Brooklyn, sometimes well, I was born in uh Best Eye. I was born in Bushwick. Bushwick. Yeah. But when we say uh Brooklyn, so it's like every part. Yeah. So Brooklyn's bigger. Yeah, Best Eye. Best eye is where I grew up in Brownsville. So I started moving around. And then um, you know, I got I I I I came up in Best Stuy, and then I moved to Brownsville shortly afterwards. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

I actually stayed in Bedsty because when I graduated college, I thought I was gonna move to New York because everybody's thought my photography style, like, oh, you should be in New York. Yeah. And a buddy of mine had an apartment in in bed style. So I've I'm actually familiar with that place. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Yes, I can see that. Yeah, I can see that in his style. It's very new new stylish, dope, you know what I mean? Fashion. Yeah, so I yeah, I can see that. Yeah. Um, yeah, it was just it was just dope. Um, moved around, and that's where I got my my start at.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

This all started in Brooklyn. Did you uh you know in Spider-Man how he gets bit by a spider and all of a sudden he's Spider-Man? Did you have that you have that hip-hop moment where you're like, this is what I want to do?

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Yeah, yeah, I could say it was the Wu Emblem. It was it was a a group called um, it was a group called Um All It Together. All the all All It Together Now. Um the Together Brothers, right? Right. So it was Jisla. It was the name was Jess Alajaz, and um he had uh old Dirty. Which is his cousin and Rizza. We never saw Riza though, we just saw Dirty, and I knew J uh the Genius at that time, so-called the Genius, and the All In Together brothers. And so we I would say their rhymes uh at the at my school. I would go there, say their rhymes because we had a group called the Coolin' 3MCs. So I would say some of their rhymes, and it was like, oh, because I had no routine. But we just write with my group, uh called the Coolin' 3MCs, and we would battle there, and then um it got back to the genius that somebody was saying it was me. I would let them know that. Yeah, I would say it's rhymes at the at the uh I would do their routine all at once. So it was three different rappers, but I would say each other line because I remember each part. Yeah. And then I started developing my own my own after that. Yeah. So just a um it all started in in uh battling, going back and forth. And uh yeah, I was bit by the by um hip-hop very early right there. And also I gotta give it to Sun C too. Sun C from the Onyx, he grew up with us, and uh he was actually more closer to my age. And so we was we grew up like cousins. And uh before he moved to Queens, he was from Brooklyn, and uh he would he his his name turned from Tyrone to T Ski. And I was like, You're T Ski now? Everybody was changing their name. I couldn't believe it because I have my mother took me down south. And so when I came back, everybody had different names. There were breakdancers, so I had to change my name. Yeah. Uh yeah, ready, ready. What was your first name? My first name um is it was uh Walter the Water of Love. Walter the Water of Love. All right. That was like a singing name for rap. But I I didn't know, you know, you had to have ski or D. I didn't know. I just said I want to be different than Walter the Water of Love. And uh I guess I I don't know what was going through my mind. I was thinking of a singer or something like that. And that that's what it was, though. It was it was the 90s. Yeah, 90s, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

Speaking of Jiza in the 90s, uh I believe that uh the 30 30 year of liquid sores just happened.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

Yeah, yeah. So yeah, that's that's great. So Jizza just called me like at uh around four in the morning. And I I know when there's something like that, he goes, Wow, you still up? I go, yeah. And he goes, Um I have this show in Santa Cruz. Uh yeah, what's was what's good. He says, Man, just meet could you meet me there? And I said, Well, you're gonna fly me? I said, I I can't get there that quick. He said, Um, I said, but I'll tell you what, I can drive, I can rent a car and stuff like that. So um he was like, meet me there. Um and then we'll talk because we want to do a couple of things. You know what, you know what this month is, is uh liquid swords. And I said, Man, I'm there, bro. I'm there. So I went and I met him in Santa Cruz, and then um we drove out there to Santa Cruz, and then he was like, now we got another show in Reno. So I was like, wait a minute, I was only prepared for one, and I knew it was a tour. But they had to put me on that was the Liquid Swords, and uh he he's doing it with a live band, and we did Bible, so that that's how all that stuff started. It was a trip.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

And Bible is uh basic instructions before leaving Earth. Yes, yeah, yeah. Which is is probably one of your more known appearances. Take me back to when you first recorded that, to like performing it 30 years later.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

That's just a trip, man. It was it was just a rhyme, right? And uh it only had one verse, and I credit Jizz for making me make it into a song. Because I only had one verse and I had the title, but he said, yo, in order to put that, to use it, you should make it a song, because it was just a rhyme. And I would just say the first verse and I would stop. And he goes, yo, if you add another verse to it, and then maybe a hook, then it's a song. And I didn't know how to make a song. So I was like, okay, I'll just make another verse. And I listened to um, you know, just songs that I heard in the studio. Oh, okay, just repeating the hook. And I had to come up with a hook and things like that. And um basic construction before leaving Earth. Um, Life is a Test, maybe quest the universe. It's just a thing I was going through at that time. Because it was real, it was real to me. And so he put it on. He said, When you finish the song, I'll put it on my album. And I was like, What? I was like, Watch, you gonna have a song? Uh I went to visit the house and we recorded there. Fourth Disciple finding a beat for it was crazy too, because it was a different type of song until I found that beat. Yeah. It made it, it used to be more like a rock him, like, now it's just whiz dumb. This goes back when I was 12. But that beat, when I heard uh Fourth Disciple beat, it made me slow down and like, oh man, because it's the woo was coming with a whole new different sound. And I was like, I like the sounds with the with the voice sampling and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

Yeah, yeah, that was the kind of the right. I mean, that time with Wu Tang and everything coming out, it was like uh they took hip-hop in a totally different direction, you know. And it it wasn't I'm I'm struggling to find the words, but like it it was a step away from like the commercial hip-hop, and it was more, it was more lyrical, it was more pros, you know, more in a closet, telling stories, you know.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Yeah, yeah. In in a closet with the microphone in the pop closet, which is what the show's all about.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

Like, you know, it's just like we're we're just gonna go make stuff because we love it. Yeah, so I can that's dope. I can totally see myself. Oh man, you come on, man. There seeing it happen, you know.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

But uh that's the thing. If you think of things, you and you uh you heard of that? Like if you can if you can write it down, you can kind of predict your future if you think it it will happen. Manifestation. Manifestation, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I believe in that.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

Yeah, yeah. Well, so you're very known for being a spiritual guy. Um, and I just read online, you know, Jay Cole, what he said about you.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

Oh man, that was crazy. Yeah. So he he says he discovered your song, uh NASA Case. And it's like a nine and a half second or nine and a half minute song, and he listened to it like nine times. And he says, the more I listened to it, the the more clearer it got. Yeah. Because you're kind of like, like I said before, you're like a deep thinking mind, you know. Like, so you bring that sort of thought pattern into your rhymes, and is like, what's that process like for you?

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Man, it's just thinking outside the box. It was, it was uh that was a plan I was building with uh a couple of my brothers, and we always try to um push the envelope, just like when we built and you would rock it nebula, and um like it's like uh like one person don't do it, it's just inspiration comes from everybody. So I get inspired just by talking to brothers, and I was like, how can I implement that in a hip hop? I always wanted to talk about UFOs, they call them UA UAPs now, and I was like, well, what about a story? And I always try to get I wanted to just rhyme with no hook, just go and and push myself and see how far it can go, and that's exactly what I did at the time now by investing into the studio. I just sit there and just go. I just go. And it didn't happen in a day. I would I would just, when I stop, I just stop and I come back to it. Fresh ears, I just go, okay, I'll pick it up from here. You know what I mean? Just keep going.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Yeah, I think Jay Cole even said he's like, this guy's an alien, man.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Alien coming back. Yeah. I think I'm crazy some sometimes, man. I think I I I am a little off.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

Yeah, I mean, I'd I'd argue that everybody who creates something has to have a level of insanity a little bit, you know. Like if it was normal, nobody would care.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Right, right. Bob and gay, think about that, Nirvana. Just taking diff different things and let Zeppelin, you know what I'm saying? Just like uh creating things and pushing the envelope because it there's more than just 24 tracks. And I was like, we're in a studio and you got 48 tracks, we're only using three, why not just push it and push it to another level and see see what happens. Who cares? It's just music at the end of the day, that's how I felt.

SPEAKER_02 17:41

Yeah, because like nine and a half minutes of a rap song is unheard of. Like, I mean, right. There there's a story of Queen, right? And they wrote Bohemian Rhapsody, and all the studio execs were like, this is too long, you need a radio hit, like it needs to be three minutes or whatever. Yeah, Freddie Mercury's like, no, I'm I'm making this song, and so I you know, big ups for you for going after something like that.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Yeah, man. Shout out to Queens, too. I mean, Queen. You heard that story? Yeah, man. I saw the movie and everything. Um he was on another level. Yeah, he's on another level. He's up there with Mike, you know what I'm saying? Like, and his voice and how they did it. That was crazy. And I'm a big fan of that movie too. The Bohemian.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

Yeah. So you you have this you know, long-storied uh hip-hop career. And then so take me into now. You have the podcraft, you call it the podcraft, not podcast. Yeah. Uh, and you've become become like this public figure. Like, talk to me about that kind of transition of uh streaming and and how you got into it and what you love about it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Right. So it's the same process, it was all during a pandemic. The pandemic rocket launched me into another orbit and it was cheap. Yeah, it's a nebula, man. Rocket to nebula. So all of that was based off just the podcast, and everything started from the um the pandemic. I would say plan, and from there, I was like, yo, let's talk because I just want to express myself. And I went to my boy AD and I said, I wish you would have I would have known, you know, at that time we could have all put stuff together because we were talking about some stuff, me and Sean. And it was Ghosts who gave me the idea. I would talk to Ghost every day on the phone. And he said Ghostface? Yeah, Ghostface Killer, man. Shout out to him. And we would talk about doing a podcast. I said, yo, let's do a podcast because Ghost is funny, and a lot of people don't know that. He's hilarious. And he had um, he had uh I and um I can't think real quick, but uh funny as a mug. Um and so I was like, yo, we can just take this to the role, I mean to the streaming. And so when I went up to do it, I said, I'm gonna get the guys. Uh I know my man who I work with when I'm doing music, his name is A D. So I was working with him in OC. I went to him and said, let's do a podcast. He's like, What podcast? Blah, blah. Yeah, he's like, podcast, and he his mind works like that. And he's like, okay, I gotta figure this out. He'll just jump on it and figure it. He just figured out, I gotta figure out how to need a mic, boom, boom, boom. And he just set it up.

SPEAKER_02 20:27

And then we just in 2020 podcasts weren't new, but I think I think that's like when people started paying attention because they're like, oh, I need more content and whatever. So that's kind of when, you know, I I remember a time starting to look for shows and and things to listen to, but I hadn't really known what it was. So you're kind of ahead of the curve again in that respect, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:48

So yeah. Yeah. Um yeah, uh like I said, pandemic, man. Uh yeah. Just jump. But I mean, you got Joe Buttons, and that's crazy. You he he started with his girlfriend. But mine was authentic, like, yo, I'm gonna just go out there and we're gonna talk about. We didn't know the first show we did was called Fear, right? Was the acronym of FEAR? And I just came up with that. We just was sitting up there and he turned it on and was like, okay, so we're here now. And it was just like, whatever. And then people started saying, yo, it looks like you're just having fun. You're just sitting there conversating and just going, and then it just popped off and started rolling. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

It started rolling. And so now you have guests like Flea. Like, what was it like talking to Flea from Red Hall Chili Peppers?

SPEAKER_01 21:35

Shout out to Flea, man. That was amazing. Um, again, man, I gotta give you props, man, for giving me the Rocket the Nebula. That's why this is a special I don't as soon as you uh uh call me, I think I'm on that. I gotta get on this shit on this show, man, in the static. Um that flea wouldn't have had happened if I wouldn't have done Rocket the Nebula. Really? Yeah, man. So there you go again. Thank you again. So Rocket the Nebula, he he contact me through Instagram. And I was like, wait a minute, what's this? And then uh shout out to Rocky.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

It was fake or something.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

Yeah, I was tripping. Because I would do, I would do a live, you know, and then I was, you know, doing my exercise and stuff. I get back to it. But uh doing my exercise, so I would get on Instagram every morning and I would play music and just sounds and stuff like that. And I would uh do Building with Priest in the morning. And I saw Flea. And I go, what's this? What's this? And he told me, yo, I love the album. And then and then I got a um in the DM, it said, This is Flea, yo, this is the best album. Then he he did what J. Cole did. He started talk talking about it. And everybody started hitting me, going, Flea is uh bigging up your album. And um and he's he he contacted me and and um he said, yo, I said he said, I love the album. And I said, Would you be on the podcast? He said, Of course I would. He came by himself. Yeah, he came by himself, flea, walking through, just walking out. I had to go down to uh meet him. He's just walking through the garden, boom, boom. And uh that was it. I was I was shocked, man. It was it was great. And um he loved the whole concept of uh rock, rock at the nebula, and um he broke out the guitar, we just had fun. That was something different, man. Yeah, it was something different for artists like that. And I think what happened was it was the authentic because you were there, you know what I'm saying? My man Sean, shout out to Sean. So we we was we was downtown LA, man, and we was just living our life, just doing it up, and we didn't have nothing. You you know you was there, and we was just all putting stuff together and and and brainstorming. And I think that brought out a lot out of us, you know what I'm saying? So I think that kind of spiraled and it started rolling from there.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

Yeah, well, I mean, I gotta credit you too, because I I think I was in sort of like a pause moment in my filmmaking career. Uh-huh. You know, I was just kind of like living day-to-day, and so it was so refreshing to, you know, meet you and have those conversations and be like, oh, we're creating now. Yeah. And like kind of like the Peter Parker spider bite is like, oh, I I got my juice back. There you go. And uh and I I didn't really stop from there. Like I've been trying to build my filmmaking career from there, and I think we got to make a new video, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Like, let's do it. Yeah, but look at this right here, man. Yeah, exactly. You got you got it going with the um podcast. That's dope. And of course we got to make another video, man. That's great. Because that spark imagine what it sparks next.

SPEAKER_02 24:44

Yeah, do we have to come up with a a new concept or do you have stuff you're working on? I could yeah, definitely. Always we want to save it or share anything.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Yeah, I'll give it to you. I I'll let you hear it. You know, so I'll I'll give you two. You could choose to do two of them to kind of the but I never did it, one for um well, I did a cartoon version for not NASA case, but I got some stuff that's that's out there that you probably like. Yeah, the weirder the better, right? Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 25:12

I think I think the weird is our lane. Yeah. We should stick to that.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Rocket the nebula. Yeah, keep it in.

SPEAKER_02 25:21

If Flea thinks it's cool, if J. Cole thinks it's cool, then we're doing something right.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

Yeah. Yeah. I can't wait for him to, he's on tour, so my people's reaching out to J. Cole, trying to get him on the podcast. And um, I'm gonna do something, you know, push, push that, kind of like ride that wave a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

You know, see he said some some really cool stuff. I just have it here. I'll I'll read his quote. Because for our listeners, this is Jay Cole. He's talking. They asked him uh who he's listening to or who his favorite artists were. Um you know, outside like the Biggie Tupac or whatever, and he's he said, like, this is gonna come from left field, this killer priest. Wow. Um he said, I played this song and shit. It's crazy. I don't know what the fuck to expect. I just clicked on it. It's nine and a half minutes, it's not the style that's normally the one I gravitate to. It's super dense, it's super, I'm not even gonna say poetic, it's probes, it's like a book down there. And he's telling this story. So I mean, that's that's high praise coming from a lyrical uh genius like himself. Yeah, so you can imagine him like kind of dissecting your rhymes and stuff like that. Like, what how does that make you kind of go, Whoa, I I did something that's touching people, you know.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

Yeah, that definitely there's no greater feeling than the artist feeling um what you put into it. Because I felt that way, and it's like you never know how it's gonna uh go out. You just put it out, and I think it's the thing of pushing it out, and it made me feel like incredible, like, oh man, it caught just like putting, I don't want to say put the bait on the hook and just fish it out there. But it's just like, yo, man, that's a that's a good that tells me that he's a real artist, you know, because um a lot of people could have said, yo, he's crazy. What is he talking about? You know, and it and that's how it was. Like, yeah, I am crazy.

unknown 27:25

What is he talking about?

SPEAKER_01 27:26

But some but it attracted A likes and he went into it. And I said, Well, that's the that's a real artist for you. And that make me feel great. Make me feel great, inspired.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

Yeah, and I think that's kind of the thesis of this podcast is like making stuff and putting it out there, and you know, like I I don't want to say like not doing it for money or not doing it for fame or something like that, but I'm saying like it's gonna hit somebody in a way that's powerful, and and we want to inspire people to keep creating, you know, especially times like now when things are kind of uncertain, you know, um, about where the industry's going, where the technology is going, and things like that. Um, and when things are uncertain, uh it's it's refreshing to know that people are looking back and going, Did you hear that? Because I heard it.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

Right. Right, yeah. Yeah, yeah, man. Uh you you you're saying it right. And then you have um artists like yourself and me, and we still here, we're still doing it. I think that's the inspiration. The inspiration is if it's getting recognized, then why stop? Keep going and um see where this thing, where this uh craft ends. We try to get to nebula, now we're looking beyond nebula. Yeah, we're traumatic.

SPEAKER_02 28:48

Yeah, we're going from footsteps to light speed. There you go. There you go. How far can we go? There you go. I was just telling you in the car on the ride over here, you know, it's like retirement is not a word that's in my vocabulary. Yeah, because you just keep going, right? Because can't you can't exist without the creation, you know?

SPEAKER_01 29:10

Yeah. Um, that's right. And there's an old saying, there's no um business like show business. That's because there's so many, we just keep creating and keep creating photography, rap, it's all the same thing. It's it's poetry in motion. So how could you put mo uh poetry in motion as the mind, you know what I'm saying? Getting with the people, and um that's like a pod in itself, putting out so they can see the art inside their mind and it travels, you know. Right.

SPEAKER_02 29:45

Yeah, and you you talked about, you know, like feeding off of each other, right? Because there's there's visual language, there's auditory language, and there's movement language, you know. And so like you and I represent two different sort of legs to that chair, you know. And if you pull one of those legs out, the chair falls over.

SPEAKER_01 30:05

Right. Like when you like, yeah, like look at the video Heavier Mental. You came up with the concept, and that you're supposed to, you know what I'm saying? And it's like, oh my, you you saw everything in it, and it's the the whole vibe of it, and the whole look that's how it comes. The beast comes. It's like the Trojan horse. We all put parts to it, and that's what it makes it, what it makes it, you know, it becomes life. It's uh behold, it's just a body, and then we breathe the breath of life into it. And so it became a living thing, and then it walks, people listen to it, and then to it expires. Who cares? It just keeps going. The spirit of that thing keeps going and it keeps in the change.

SPEAKER_02 30:49

So let me when you're writing, do you are you writing for yourself? Are you writing for a version of yourself?

SPEAKER_01 30:55

Like Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think I'm I think I'm writing for, yeah, to push a version of myself to a limit. And it's like we split up in the personalities, and it's like, okay, what if nobody uh attacked this subject and um It's hard to explain because we just Well I wake up at three in the morning and if it's a thought and it's clear, I just record. Because I start learning how to record and I don't have to wait on going to a studio. I think it gets distorted sometimes when you on a timeline and when you just when you're just going and you can just go and record, I just do it spontaneously, like now is the time. And so when I get a thought, I may it doesn't happen like that all the time. I could just jot down an idea and then go ahead and go with it.

SPEAKER_02 31:47

Yeah, like it that's kind of like the the thought gets degraded, and that's why they encourage you to journal and write. And then you're it's a completely different thing, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:03

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Um, I learned to get out of my own way. That's what I say. I said I move out the way so it can work. You know what I mean? So I don't even um no sound, no nothing, just don't block the the movement of the creation. And then just go ahead, let it be what it is. And I I don't critique it or you know, after later I may edit it, but it's not too much critique because it came out just the way it's supposed to. Where it's up to the people now, you know.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

So what inspires you? Like writings, are you reading stuff a lot? Are you listening to stuff?

SPEAKER_01 32:39

Yeah, the pod, the podcast, I have a lot of interesting guests that come on, and and um I was always a fan of people like uh Jordan Maxwell before he passed away, and they speak on like astrophysics and and putting things together. Um this world is crazy that we live in. It's like a simulation, like uh, you know, um the simulation.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

Like the Matrix. Yeah, it's like a matrix. You had that guest on Sophia uh Sophia Stewart. Stewart, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

Yes. She's very deep, man. She's very deep. And um yeah, her mind is just they go there. And I I like to think outside the box, and I think those people live outside the box. So, you know, and I was always wondering, what if we get mostly great minds thinking together like that, all on one panel? And we just dab thoughts, you know. Yeah. My next thing is to travel with everybody. Imagine that, go to Egypt or somewhere. A whole bunch of us. Egypt?

SPEAKER_02 33:38

I'll go to Egypt with that.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Yeah, man, that'd be dope, man. Just like, you know, yeah, it could be like four or five days, and we just all figure it out. We come back and we say, what did you see? I saw this by the way. It could be Mexico, yeah. Pyramids.

SPEAKER_02 33:52

Pyram pyramids. Yeah, yeah. Some crazy space that just all of a sudden your mind opens up, right? Like, yeah. I like how you say like outside the box thinkers, and and I think that what attracts me to outside the box thinkers, because it's much more interesting than inside the box, right? Like, no shade to people who are comfortable inside the box, but um, it's just far more fulfilling. Yeah. It's it's scarier for sure, right? Right. Like, because you just won't find us in it.

SPEAKER_03 34:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:25

In in the box, right? It's good. I mean, respect for the in the box, but we're just outside of it. And um we're uncaged animals, right? Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. It's the will within the will. So there's a will outside, there's a um counterclockwise, you know. Counterclockwise. Let's go this way. And that's what makes it work. That's what makes the whole thing to the the um the UAP fly. The UAP. Yeah, UAP. They changed the name. I don't know. I wonder why.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

Do you get all excited? Because the government just released a bunch of that stuff. Did you get into that?

SPEAKER_01 35:04

Man, I can't wait to see disclosure. Yeah, I can't wait to see it. I knew it. I knew it. Can't wait to see it, man. Yeah, that's the things are real. Um I used to I used to doubt, but I was like, well, I doubt. It's all here. You know what I'm saying? And and if you look at it, like AD, he's into um you heard the rec Mercury retrograde and all that? Yeah. So yeah. So I started getting into that. Yes, I started getting into that. Because we live on the planet, and then traveling like those places, like going to um Seattle and and and seeing those big glaciers over there in Alaska and the water. You go, wow, even going through Cali, you go, Mountains. We live on a planet. And a planet that's out there. We already out there. I said that people say, yo, let's go to space. The earth is in space. Yeah, we're already in space. I said, yeah, it's like it's like we're going out there to be, we're going out there because we're out there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:05

So you're you're not like saying like aliens exist. You're like, we are the aliens. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 36:10

Exactly, exactly. Look at it like that. You got you got, oh man, we have octopus. Mimic octopus. You ever seen that? Oh yeah. The mimic octopus is crazy. It can change into like 15 other creatures. But what's nuts about it is that the octopus knows it turns into like a poisonous snake, right? But it knows that other creatures are scared of it. So it's thinking like, oh, you don't like this. But how did the octopus find out the fear of any other fish or or or human? Like, that's crazy. That'd be tripping me out. Like, um, I think I was watching one something on YouTube where the octopus again looked at the guy. He was uh um diving, he's a deep diver, and he he said the octopus came up to him and looked around, observing him, and said, Oh, it's breathing through that, and went straight for the mouthpiece. Nothing else. Just to pull it out because it knew the guy was breathing for that.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

That's crazy. He's like, I know how to get you out of my home.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

Yeah, out of my home, yeah. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 37:18

Yeah, exactly. Did you see that documentary, The My Octopus Teacher? No, that's how dope. Dude, you gotta check that out. Yeah, there's a documentary, it won an Oscar, I think. It's called like My Octopus Teacher. And this an octopus in the wild. And it's about this dude, this, and he like befriends this octopus. I'm not, you gotta see it.

SPEAKER_01 37:40

Wow, yeah, I would love to see that. I'm gonna check that out. Yeah, I'm gonna check that out.

SPEAKER_02 37:43

You're talking about octopus. I thought for sure that's where you're going with that. Yeah, yeah, no, I'm I'm with the octopus, man. Dude, that's one of the teachers. If you're if you're getting excited about it, you you'll like that shit.

SPEAKER_01 37:55

Okay. Cuttlefish, octopus, all of those guys are like turning colors. Like, and it's not like they how they turn, it's how they turn colors. They just whoop, they can touch what they can look at it and turn into like half of their body is this color, and look the shape of this mic, and the others like that, like they mimic to the top to the T. That's what's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

Well, what will really, you know, is mind melting about that is like they didn't learn how to do that in a day. Right. Wow. They've they've been in under the ocean for millions of years, and it took that long to learn that trait. Right.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

And pass it in their DNA. Yeah. Unless they live that long.

SPEAKER_02 38:37

No, they don't live that long. No, it's it's it's yeah, and we very, very slow change over millions of millennia, right? And so if you think about that, like uh if you're in a place where you're like, I'm not where I'm supposed to be, it's like you're you're not gonna change color in a day, you know. Yeah, you gotta keep working at it and and keep writing that DNA so that you change later, you know. Right. Right. And then the the the offspring would just get it because there's like one Yeah, because they they learned how to change colors because they kept getting eaten, right? Yeah. So they're like how do we stop getting eaten? Right. I'll look like this rock and then they won't see me anymore, right? So that makes sense, but it takes however long to get that going, right? So I mean, you talk about space and you know, UAPs and and all that stuff, but we know more about space than we do the deep ocean. So Shh. Yo, you said it right there, man. You said it right there. For the listener, this is what I'm talking about when we get all deep. Yeah, it's the static, in the static, man.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

I like that name, man. How did you come up with that? Because I'm I'm thinking static is a dope name you don't hear a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 39:53

In the static came from, you know, child of the 90s, and you're watching television shows, and like I don't, you know, for the older listeners, you'd wake up and your TV would just be static. There'd be no clear image there, you know. Uh, and so I just thought of that image of like there's nothing there, but there could be, there's a signal there, you just can't see it, you know. Wow. So as artists and creators, it's like, how do we take that static and create you know the visual frequency so that other people can see what we see, you know? Right, right. Because I think that most of creation is like in in your head, in my head, the vision's there. Right. And it's our job to translate that to other people and be like, you gotta see what I'm seeing because it's beautiful, you know. Right.

SPEAKER_01 40:43

Right. You know, that's crazy. Uh at one time TV went off, yeah. Like they don't even know about that. Yeah, now it's like going straight through it, straight through. But you know, the I don't know, generation was generation X, what is it? What's this generation there? Uh Gen Z. Yeah, Gen Z, yes. I would forget the name. But now it's like 24 because all right, so what's that's telling us that we must be becoming on an even higher frequency, like you said about the octopus? Well, now it's satellite, right? Yeah, satellite.

SPEAKER_02 41:15

It used to be cable through the ground. Wow. From a television station, you know, and now it's all you know, radio waves, beams from space. So I don't I remember when there was only three channels, you know. Right. It was like whatever was on, you watched it. Right, right, right. Now you'll spend an hour scrolling through Netflix trying to find something to watch. It's like yeah, so in in in the 30 years since you know Bible came out, yeah, yeah, we the abundance of information and and art that's out there has just multiplied like like the the fish changing color, right? Yeah, like it started out from here, and but it's just moving at like a rapid speed that we can't even comprehend.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

Imagine that. That's the science. That's the science right there. You said 30 years before. I didn't realize that Bible was that old, man.

SPEAKER_02 42:15

I didn't mean to make you feel yeah, that's dope. No, that's dope. That's but sometimes I don't think so either, you know. Like the the 90s, uh, you know, especially because it's kind of like making a comeback now. Yeah, uh, you hear like Jay-Z's coming to SoFi because his first album is his 30-year mark too. So like everybody's having their 30-year moment, you know. Um and I just think the number 30 sounds so big, but it doesn't feel that long ago. You know, like to me at least, I don't know how it feels for you, but same, yeah. 30 is yeah but what you you were in your 20s back then, right?

SPEAKER_01 42:54

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's uh that's wow. Uh hip-hop has been rolling at that pace, you know, and it's like uh it's a treat to be uh a part of that. Um sometimes you gotta step out of yourself to look at it and observe it, like have an out-of-body experience, like hover above yourself a little bit. And that's why the shamans was telling us that the whole time. It's like um, or the Buddha, how he taught, like, uh separate yourself from mindfulness. So all of those is like one big book, and um it's all part of it's all part of the great plan. And we live on a plan it, and I like to, you know, we play with words. Plan it. I do. Someone plan it, and they have E T at the at the end of the planet. So it was just crazy. We the extraterrestrial. Go all day, bro.

SPEAKER_02 43:47

You know, uh well, we do um I can see you like in the morning shower and you're just like plan it. Yeah. Yeah, it's all a plan, man. All the plan. Well. I mean, yeah, we we talked about how far hip hop's come in the last thirty years and everything. And uh how does it feel to be like you are arguably on that like you're in in the written text of hip hop and like how it got shaped and and your name comes up in in all facets of like this is this is where it went, this is how it evolved. I mean, like even from Jay Cole himself and and artists like Flea are saying, Man, this guy got it going on, that's gotta feel pretty good, right?

SPEAKER_01 44:34

Great, yeah, it feels great. Um, I try not to so I can kit continue. I try I try to forget it. It's there, it's there, but it's like a landmarks that you just keep on going. And um, because I I don't feel like in my mind that I I've reached to where I want to reach of what song is still there. You know what I'm saying? So and I think that's a good thing that keeps me going. And it's like um I it just keeps me creating like and and now I learn to slow it down a little bit. So I don't rush and I just let it come to me a little bit more now. And um try not to look at the compliments in front of me. I just try to keep going. And that's what keeps it. I mean, I acknowledge it, and that's great. I mean, for for those artists that I look up to, Flea is a is a is a god in my in my oh yeah. My work, you know, he come on, that's flea. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 45:29

Yeah, he's he's got his mark on the the Hall of Oh, the Hall of Fame. So Wu is gonna be in the Hall of Fame coming up.

SPEAKER_01 45:35

Yeah, man. Yeah, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 45:37

That that's that's crazy, man. Um sorry for for the listener, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is conducting Wu Tank line. Yeah, and you're you're very much a part of that. You want to share about that guy?

SPEAKER_01 45:47

Yeah, that feeling is um, yeah, but I was there from the whole beginning. Um I was in the studio and um there's footage online of of them cre you know creating cream. I was right there and we was doing cream and um it's it's dope because you saw the plan unfolding it. But never would I thought like in our minds that I knew it was something that would be that was that's gonna be around. But when you look at it like man, we rubbing up elbows with the likes of like I don't even want to say like I don't want to put Michael Jackson in, but we up there with, you know, I'm just saying to be in a room with Shaka Khan and just people. Game changers. Yeah, yeah. My moms and they love those those artists from back then, James Brown and and uh Marvin Gaye, and to be just to be mentioned in the rock and roll hall of fame, like the Beatles, they in there, they've been abducted. I never thought we'd be mentioned around that, you know what I'm saying? So it's like, man, that's that's that's mind blowing, bro. Uh can't I still don't want to think about it. It's like I've I've run from it. Yeah. But I'm glad I was there, though. I'm just glad I was there.

SPEAKER_02 47:03

But it it's it's groundbreaking, right? Like I don't know. I mean, like hip-hop for a while was like not considered uh like we're not gonna put that in the rock and roll hall of fame. I don't think it's been too long since the first hip-hop. I don't know, I'd have to look it up.

SPEAKER_01 47:18

But Run DMC pop. Run DMC, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:21

So and you know, I personally know like friends and stuff, they like Wu-Tang is like a religion to some people, you know. And so that's a lot of tattoos. Yeah, lots of tattoos. I mean, like the the W is iconic, you know. Um any even people who don't listen to hip hop or know anything about it would recognize that symbol. And so I think it's well deserved that they're getting in the Hall of Fame and that recognition is is really respect, you know.

SPEAKER_01 47:51

Right, right, man. Thank you. Thank you so much, man. Um I just uh sit and I think about it. It it's great, but always be motivated, you know what I'm saying? So that's for the audience, you know, never compromise your style or never compromise yourself from anyone, and always strive to push the best part of you. Even, you know, when people recognize you, you just keep going. You just keep going. And um, you have the right mind state. We was talking about it on our way here. It's like there is no retirement in what we do. And keep if you if you don't compromise yourself and you you keep a clear head of what you do and don't let substance or anything catch catch you up or mess up what you're what you're out set out to do, you're on the right, because anything you put in your mind, if you can see it, you can perceive it. If you if you can perceive it, it can happen. It all can happen. And that's the part of the magic. That's the part of, you know, that's what makes everything work. It's just like, this is how we're gonna do it. This is how I'm gonna put it there, and then and I'm not gonna stop. Every star, every uh obstacle is uh use it as a catapult. Push you to the it's like a balloon. Put a balloon under the ocean and it will float to the top. If it has air in it, it's gonna keep moving up, and that's how it is. You take those concepts and look at us, man. We just humans, we just spiritual beings having a human experience, and we just here to keep making things our landmarks, passing our DNA, like you said, uh that octopus, with that octopus experience, that's the teacher passing it on to each other. So those who who who came before us, we just keeping the legacy to go on to make better artists, to make greater music, to make greater photography, and just keep it going. Never stop. Man, that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 49:44

That's beautiful. So uh tell us where we can find your stuff, like on YouTube or you want to promote your show.

SPEAKER_01 49:52

Yeah, um, yeah, so Killer Priest Podcraft comes on twice a week now, Thursdays and Sundays. Uh we we have we have a uh special version, so it's three times. So we have a special version on Wednesday, but that's ran by Knowledge Born, so you can catch it, catch it there, and um catch new music on all platforms. I have a new album called uh Braxis 2 that's out now, but I'm working on some new stuff. You know what I mean? Braxis 2. Yeah, Braxis, yeah, yeah. So Braxis 2 is out now on all platforms, and uh you can watch me at Killer Priest on Instagram. The no Real Killer Priest on Instagram. Real Killer Priest, yeah. All right. Real Killer Priest on Instagram.

SPEAKER_02 50:39

And you can find these episodes of In the Static on YouTube as well. Just search In the Static, and it's been a pleasure having you, man. Man, this is great.

SPEAKER_01 50:47

Man, I love the vibe, and you know, kicking it with you, man, is it's always dope. So it's a pleasure making it.

SPEAKER_02 50:53

And we're gonna make a new video, so keep an eye out for that. We'll get it in the works.

SPEAKER_01 50:58

Yeah, it's gonna be exciting. It's gonna be crazy.

SPEAKER_02 51:00

Yeah, oh man. All right. Well, that's that's the show for In the Static This Week. I'm Brandon Osborne. You can find me on you can DM me on Instagram. It's Ozzyphoto, O Z Z I E P H O T O. Send me a DM, tell me what's good, what's bad, what you like, what you don't like, or just to say hi. And um, we'll see you on the next one. Thanks. Peace.

SPEAKER_00 51:26

That's in the static. If this conversation meant something to you, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Subscribe wherever you listen. New episodes whenever the signal comes through.