The History of Totally Insane part 2 as written by Ad Kapone
The fall of 1988 was rough, Doc had gotten into trouble and moved back to Texas, me and Chunk continued doing music together. The next coming school year we was starting high school and me and Chunk couldnt attend the same school because of the areas we lived in. I lived in Midtown so I had to go to Carlmont High, Chunk lived in Menlo Park so he had to go to Menlo Atherton. The school year had started and I had to take the long bus ride to school. Carlmont is a predominantly white school so we had some problems, we couldnt wear Buckwheat or Doing Da Butt shirts, we couldnt wear EPA is Kickin It shirts, nothing that they thought was offensive, but the white dudes could wear Megadeth shirts with skeletons and shit on them, I knew this was gonna be fucked up. One day Im sitting at home and theres a knock on the door, it was the summer of 89, when I opened it it was Ten. He said that he had moved back to his grandmothers and he would be going to Carlmont in the fall. Aw shit, it was on, we started kickin it like we use to, we even did the Juneteenth festival that year and turned it out. One day Im walkin g home from summer school, Im walkin down Westminister St. when my homie Mike D called me over to his 1979 cocaine white Cadillac Broham with the 14 inch 75 spoke Zeniths and Vogues - see Mike was one of ( if not the biggest ) hustlas in our neighborhood. Along with both of his brothers Ray ( Burger ) and Chris ( C-Dub ) may all 3 of them rest in peace. He said "Yeah Lil Ad ( Lil Ad was the name I grew up with, my father Big Adam was a well known hustla in my city ) I saw all y'all at the Juneteenth, y'all was tight". I said "Thank you" and he said "have y'all ever thought about recording songs"? I said "we did a few" and he said "no, Im talking about at a professional studio, maybe cutting a single or an album". I said "yeah, but we dont have the money to do it, its expensive". He pulled a wad of hundreds out of his pockets, he said "nigga, the money aint shit, I got that, you find out how much the studio cost and let me know". I ran home top speed and jumped on the phone, called Ten and told him what Mike said. He said he knew this dude named Zero Lark ( Andre Gibson ) that got a demo, he said he recorded in San Francisco at Bank Roll Studios, and a dude named TC ( TC Witherspoon ) produce the tracks, the studio is owned by Nate Banks. Its the same studio that Cougnut and IMP ( Ill Mannered Posse ) records at. My boy Gayland had put me on to IMP a while back and I was a big fan so I said "cool, get the number for me". He called me back and gave me the number, I called and talked to TC, he gave me a quote for 100 hours of studio time. As soon as I got off the phone I ran around the corner to Mike and told him, he pulled out 2 bundles of money and said "is this enough"? I had never seen that much money in my life, he put it in a grocery bag. Nervous and scared, I ran home. When I reached home my mom was pulling into the driveway, I ran in the house and threw the bag on my bed, my mom busted in my room and asked "what the hell is your problem Adam"? I sat her down and told her everything. I could tell by the look on her face she was kinda leary but she saw how excited I was, plus she knew how serious I was about rapping, she knew Mike all his life and knew his mother, so she helped me count all the money he gave me, even went and bought me a reciept book and showed me how to fill out reciepts and keep records. The first time we went to Bankroll Studios there was all kind of flipped gangsta cars in front, Cougars, Mustangs, Suzuki Samaris, Cadillacs and Cutlasses, even a few Mercedes, everything had rims on it. When we entered it was beat shaking the windows - I heard a familiar voice comin from the speakers, it was Cougnut. He was recording "Merciless" which would become a Bay Area classic. We booked the studio time but we had a problem - me and Ten was only 14, we didnt have a car, so at first we started ridin with Zero in his tan 64 Impala. One day he had brought a female named MC Silk to do a song with us ( LaTrice Brown ). She was so tight we immediately made her a part of the group. We were called 10 Thousand Maniacs, then NGC ( Niggaz Gone Crazy ). By early 1990, Mike and Zero had a fall out and Mike kicked him out the group. Me and Ten had broke a rule that Mike had laid in stone, we both started hustlin, we both bought cars and stayed in the studio, we was hustlin behind Mike's back. Well at least we thought until one night Im outside my house making money, I got a friend named Dirty Harry serving for me. I had just got off the phone with Ten, Silk and Mike, we had discussed how NGC sounded too much like NWA who was the shit, so just off the top of my head I said "fuck it, Totally Insane", I got it from a verse I had used in one of our songs "2 Stoges". Everybody loved it so it was official. A white RX-7 hit the block, I gave the head nod to Harry, he signaled the car down to the corner. I have Harry 2 rocks and followed him half-way to the corner which was like a house and a vacant lot away from my house, as Harry ran up to the car all I saw was bright lights from every direction. Luckily I threw my sack on my neighbor's roof before they drew their guns and yelled "freeze"! See Harry had served the undercover 20 mins before, and brought me the money. So when they checked all the bills in my pocket, they found the marked money, so I went to Juvenile Hall where I stayed for 3 months during the holidays. Then I was sentenced to a 90 day revue at Glenwood Boys Ranch. I was at Glenwood for 30 days before I got my first visit, it was a Saturday, my mom and my nephew Pooter came to see me. They had my favorite KFC - hot wings, cheesecake, strawberry Welch's, a radio, Chunks album "Menace To The Game" ( Chunk had signed to Tandem Records, he hooked up with C-Funk and Sean T and made a Bay Area classic ). I was sprung. Especially when I heard the skit they had did in my honor, "Dont bring Adam and them cause they dont know how to act. Who? Adam and them!". And I heard Ten and Silk was doing a show that night with DJ Quik. I laid in my bunk all night staring at the ceiling. The next day I wrote 2 songs, "From A to D" and "Trouble Man". I was released April 24th 1990. April 25th I recorded both songs, 2 days later I redid a song I had "What You Know". Before we released the 10 song album which included a song called "Mike D Speaks", the only song Mike ever spoke on, Silk and Mike had a falling out and Silk moved to Florida. So we was back in the studio working on a new album, just me and Ten. The album was called "Crazy Shit" and wouldve been a bomb ass album but was cut short by the tragic murder of Mike D in late 1990.
Part 3 coming soon.
The fall of 1988 was rough, Doc had gotten into trouble and moved back to Texas, me and Chunk continued doing music together. The next coming school year we was starting high school and me and Chunk couldnt attend the same school because of the areas we lived in. I lived in Midtown so I had to go to Carlmont High, Chunk lived in Menlo Park so he had to go to Menlo Atherton. The school year had started and I had to take the long bus ride to school. Carlmont is a predominantly white school so we had some problems, we couldnt wear Buckwheat or Doing Da Butt shirts, we couldnt wear EPA is Kickin It shirts, nothing that they thought was offensive, but the white dudes could wear Megadeth shirts with skeletons and shit on them, I knew this was gonna be fucked up. One day Im sitting at home and theres a knock on the door, it was the summer of 89, when I opened it it was Ten. He said that he had moved back to his grandmothers and he would be going to Carlmont in the fall. Aw shit, it was on, we started kickin it like we use to, we even did the Juneteenth festival that year and turned it out. One day Im walkin g home from summer school, Im walkin down Westminister St. when my homie Mike D called me over to his 1979 cocaine white Cadillac Broham with the 14 inch 75 spoke Zeniths and Vogues - see Mike was one of ( if not the biggest ) hustlas in our neighborhood. Along with both of his brothers Ray ( Burger ) and Chris ( C-Dub ) may all 3 of them rest in peace. He said "Yeah Lil Ad ( Lil Ad was the name I grew up with, my father Big Adam was a well known hustla in my city ) I saw all y'all at the Juneteenth, y'all was tight". I said "Thank you" and he said "have y'all ever thought about recording songs"? I said "we did a few" and he said "no, Im talking about at a professional studio, maybe cutting a single or an album". I said "yeah, but we dont have the money to do it, its expensive". He pulled a wad of hundreds out of his pockets, he said "nigga, the money aint shit, I got that, you find out how much the studio cost and let me know". I ran home top speed and jumped on the phone, called Ten and told him what Mike said. He said he knew this dude named Zero Lark ( Andre Gibson ) that got a demo, he said he recorded in San Francisco at Bank Roll Studios, and a dude named TC ( TC Witherspoon ) produce the tracks, the studio is owned by Nate Banks. Its the same studio that Cougnut and IMP ( Ill Mannered Posse ) records at. My boy Gayland had put me on to IMP a while back and I was a big fan so I said "cool, get the number for me". He called me back and gave me the number, I called and talked to TC, he gave me a quote for 100 hours of studio time. As soon as I got off the phone I ran around the corner to Mike and told him, he pulled out 2 bundles of money and said "is this enough"? I had never seen that much money in my life, he put it in a grocery bag. Nervous and scared, I ran home. When I reached home my mom was pulling into the driveway, I ran in the house and threw the bag on my bed, my mom busted in my room and asked "what the hell is your problem Adam"? I sat her down and told her everything. I could tell by the look on her face she was kinda leary but she saw how excited I was, plus she knew how serious I was about rapping, she knew Mike all his life and knew his mother, so she helped me count all the money he gave me, even went and bought me a reciept book and showed me how to fill out reciepts and keep records. The first time we went to Bankroll Studios there was all kind of flipped gangsta cars in front, Cougars, Mustangs, Suzuki Samaris, Cadillacs and Cutlasses, even a few Mercedes, everything had rims on it. When we entered it was beat shaking the windows - I heard a familiar voice comin from the speakers, it was Cougnut. He was recording "Merciless" which would become a Bay Area classic. We booked the studio time but we had a problem - me and Ten was only 14, we didnt have a car, so at first we started ridin with Zero in his tan 64 Impala. One day he had brought a female named MC Silk to do a song with us ( LaTrice Brown ). She was so tight we immediately made her a part of the group. We were called 10 Thousand Maniacs, then NGC ( Niggaz Gone Crazy ). By early 1990, Mike and Zero had a fall out and Mike kicked him out the group. Me and Ten had broke a rule that Mike had laid in stone, we both started hustlin, we both bought cars and stayed in the studio, we was hustlin behind Mike's back. Well at least we thought until one night Im outside my house making money, I got a friend named Dirty Harry serving for me. I had just got off the phone with Ten, Silk and Mike, we had discussed how NGC sounded too much like NWA who was the shit, so just off the top of my head I said "fuck it, Totally Insane", I got it from a verse I had used in one of our songs "2 Stoges". Everybody loved it so it was official. A white RX-7 hit the block, I gave the head nod to Harry, he signaled the car down to the corner. I have Harry 2 rocks and followed him half-way to the corner which was like a house and a vacant lot away from my house, as Harry ran up to the car all I saw was bright lights from every direction. Luckily I threw my sack on my neighbor's roof before they drew their guns and yelled "freeze"! See Harry had served the undercover 20 mins before, and brought me the money. So when they checked all the bills in my pocket, they found the marked money, so I went to Juvenile Hall where I stayed for 3 months during the holidays. Then I was sentenced to a 90 day revue at Glenwood Boys Ranch. I was at Glenwood for 30 days before I got my first visit, it was a Saturday, my mom and my nephew Pooter came to see me. They had my favorite KFC - hot wings, cheesecake, strawberry Welch's, a radio, Chunks album "Menace To The Game" ( Chunk had signed to Tandem Records, he hooked up with C-Funk and Sean T and made a Bay Area classic ). I was sprung. Especially when I heard the skit they had did in my honor, "Dont bring Adam and them cause they dont know how to act. Who? Adam and them!". And I heard Ten and Silk was doing a show that night with DJ Quik. I laid in my bunk all night staring at the ceiling. The next day I wrote 2 songs, "From A to D" and "Trouble Man". I was released April 24th 1990. April 25th I recorded both songs, 2 days later I redid a song I had "What You Know". Before we released the 10 song album which included a song called "Mike D Speaks", the only song Mike ever spoke on, Silk and Mike had a falling out and Silk moved to Florida. So we was back in the studio working on a new album, just me and Ten. The album was called "Crazy Shit" and wouldve been a bomb ass album but was cut short by the tragic murder of Mike D in late 1990.
Part 3 coming soon.
