Too Short on Mess Head wit this 1
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OLD MESSY MARV INTERVIEW TALKS ABOUT WHERE HE GREW UP
Your single “Hypnotiq” is all over the radio right now. When did that start to take off?
Actually they banned me from the radio before. When I put out Still Explosive and I had the single “Makin Crack”. They were playin that on the radio and somehow it got back to the program director that I was payin everybody to play my album. So they banned me from the radio. This album here, I went down to the station and sat down with the people and I was real sincere about what happened. We squashed that shit and they couldn’t deny it because it was heat. Rick Rock on the track and me just blazin that bitch. They had to play it, it was heat. Plus the streets love me. Once you got the streets behind you, they gotta support it.messy marv
How did you come up with the name for your new album Disobayish?
Actually E-40 gave me that name. Me and E-40, we real cool and we tryin to look out for each other. He put me on his new album that just came out, Breakin News. That album did real good. I’m also on Rick Rock’s Federation album that’s comin out on Virgin.
If this album really breaks you through what kind of plans do you have for your next step?
Everybody has major plans for once they hit the mainstream. But it’s gonna be the same shit. I’ma stay smashin. I’ma stay real to the streets. I’m not gonna let the money make me nervous. I’ma be able to park my Ferrari’s and shit in front of the projects.
I heard you had a real bad accident about a year and a half ago. What happened?
I broke both my legs. What happened was I was outa town and I was in a hotel room. All I can say is “Just say no to drugs!” I was real high and shit was goin on and I had to jump out of a five story window.
You jumped five stories down? What was below?
Concrete.
When you fell did you go unconscious?
Hell no. I fell and people outside started screamin and shit. Whatever was goin on in the hotel room had stopped goin on. A helicopter had to come get me. I almost died. I lost so much blood and I broke both of my legs.
They were badly broken?
My bones were stickin outa my fuckin leg. After that accident I was in a wheelchair for like eight months.
You would say the drugs influenced you to do that?
Yep. It was just a bad situation. It was either the window or something else. I chose the window.
Where were you staying when you were healing from that?
I was in San Francisco. I was recuperating. I went to physical therapy every day, learnin how to walk all over again. I had to learn how to walk all over again. You know how hard that is? They told me that I probably would never walk again. I got out that wheelchair in like 7-8 months, and I got up on my crutches as started walkin again. I was determined.
How did you get through that period? You didn’t have any family to help you?
No. And I was still dedicated to my Rap thing. I was showin up to shows in my wheelchair. I was doin shows in my wheelchair. I love this.
Now you’re all good? You’re not in pain?
Actually, no. Everything’s healed good. I just got screws and bars and stuff in my legs. Other than that I’m pretty good.
I heard that recently you had another accident?
Shit, on my motorcycle. I was tryin to pop a wheelie and I hit a speed bump. I broke my arm and my wrist.
When you first started putting out tapes what was going on in San Francisco and the Bay?
It was like ’94. I was still stayin in the projects. At that time JT the Bigga Figga, the Delinquents, Too Short, Master P stayin in Richmond. E-40, Rappin 4-Tay, RBL Posse, 3 X Krazy and the Luniz. Those were the people for the Bay Area that had the major label deals at that time. What I was doin was I was in and outa jail, doin the street thing, hustlin, tryin to get my money game up.
In 1994 you released Messy Situations, was that your first album?
I had one album out just before that, beginning of 1994, called Game To Be Sold. Me and a coupla homies from the block put together some money and we put that out. It was a four-song EP.
Where were you living at that time?
I was in San Francisco on Eddy Street. First I was just hustlin. Rap wasn’t really that serious to me because I felt like I needed to be on the block hustlin to get that new pair of Stan Smiths or them new Lotto’s. I needed a troop jacket and a double goose. I felt that was more important than doin that Rap shit. But I started experimenting, doin talent shows. I was gettin a good response with it so I went on ahead and went full force with it.
Were there other rappers coming out around Eddy Street?
The only other rapper at that time comin off Eddy Street was a cat called Huey MC. He was from lower Eddy and I was from upper Eddy. It was me and a cat called Ice Low. He was my partner.
You put the money and did the first tape. After that did you work with a record label?
Game To Be Sold, me and my homies put that out, we didn’t have no distribution or nothing. We pressed out like 2,000 copies and sold them out the trunk. After that I hooked up with some more of my homies that was ballin a little harder and they put out my first album. That was Trigga Life Records.
How did Messy Situations do?
It did real good. I sold like 15,000 on that first album in ’94.
Who were you working with for your production back then?
I was workin with some cats outa Oakland. They did all my production, called the Secret Service—my boy James and a cat John Orr. They did all of my tracks.
Where did you go to school?
Actually I had dropped outa school. Before that I was at John Adams.
When you were on Eddy Street were you living with your parents?
I was livin with my aunt and my uncle. My mom passed away and my dad was a part-time dad. I love him to death, but he never was really there. I looked to the streets for my family support. Joined a gang.
How old were you when your mom died?
I was a young nigga, maybe like 5 years old.
That probably effected you a lot?
It effected me a whole lot. Growin up in the hood without no mom and no parental guidance, you veer the other way. I was stayin with my grandmother until I was 12-13 years old, then I moved to San Francisco. My grandma stayed in East Oakland.
Was there a lot of music around you when you were growing up?
In Oakland it was Too Short, man. We listened to Too Short. But at 13 I was really just bein hella bad. Runnin over my grandma. Stayin out all night at 13. I was just runnin wild.
What was your first connection to Rap music?
A dude named Greg Valentine, he was from West Oakland, and he was the big DJ. I joined a breaking group with Greg Valentine at 12. So we was doin that. I did that for a year and then I moved to San Francisco. Back in the eighties it was about breakin. All the kids in the projects, we would go down to Pier 39 and we would break dance for money to go to The Fun Center. If anybody remember, The Fun Center was an arcade that was on Market Street. When I first moved to Eddy we would all get together, go down to Pier 39, put out our cardboard, bring our radio and shit, and we would break dance every weekend.
Were you thinking about becoming a rapper?
No, at that time it was all about Afrika Bambaataa and Run DMC, Dougie Fresh, Slick Rick. It was about break dancin. We wasn’t really trippin off rhymin until like the late eighties.
Looking back at your childhood do you remember happy times? Sad times?
I look at it as a learnin experience. They say what don’t kill you make you stronger. Me growin up in that shit made me strong. I remember us not havin too much of nothing and me havin to go down to the grocery store and put bags in the cars and shit, help people with their bags and then pushin the carts back into the basket place to get 25 cents. I remember doin shit like that, just hustlin. It was good times and it was bad times, but it was a beautiful learnin experience. I learned how to appreciate everything. Cause when you ain’t got nothing, everything you get you appreciate. I learned how to appreciate.
After a while you didn’t want to stay with your grandmother so you moved to Eddy?
No, I was a little too bad for my grandmother, so they made me move to San Francisco with my dad. My dad been in San Francisco all his life. He used to cook for the mob back in the days. He started out as a janitor at one of the Italian restaurants and they taught him how to cook. Every time I used to come through to the restaurant they used to pinch me on my cheeks and give me money and shit. But then at night when I come home and I had my little money, my dad would steal my shit. He would steal my money and go smoke and shit. So I moved with my aunt and uncle.
That was the beginning of your life on Eddy Street?
I was born in San Francisco. My grandma stayed in Oakland and my dad couldn’t take care of me, so I moved from San Francisco to Oakland. Then when I was 13 I moved back. I was goin to Benjamin Franklin Middle School.
Around that time did you ever meet rappers like San Quinn or JT the Bigga Figga?
I met San Quinn and JT, but I never was in the GLP. I had to set a name for myself. I loved them dudes, but they was doin they thing at the time. I was tryin to come up myself.
How did you get the name Messy Marv?
They used to call me that when I was little. I always stayed in trouble, man. You remember the Garbage Pail Kids cards? They had cards called Garbage Pail Kids, and Messy Marv was one of the Garbage Pail Kids. They used to tease me with that. I was a real small kid, everybody used to pick on me.
Probably all that made you strong.
It did make me strong. It made me pick up shit and beat the shit outa people. It made me do shit like that. I made me spit and run and cuss you and pick up shit and try to fuck you up, cause I was real small.
What was it that made you want to really start rapping?
Me and my boy Ice Low, we had a group. Ice Low was one of the older cats on Eddy Street that was in the game, that really introduced me to the game. We had a Rap group. We used to do the talent shows around the hood.
Where is Ice Low now?
He’s still on Eddy. He’s part of my clique, The Koalition.
What happened after Messy Situations came out?
After that first album came out with Trigga Life Records, that put me out there but I didn’t see no money. I was still on the fuckin block hustlin. The tape did good and everything, but everybody really didn’t give me my props cause I wasn’t with the GLP. I was from Filmore, but I wasn’t with the GLP, so the eyes wasn’t really on Mess. My first album came out, it was a good album, I had San Quinn on it, I had JT on it, but I didn’t see no money. I didn’t see shit. So I just stayed hustlin, I was like “Fuck this Rap shit.” I hustled for about 2 or 3 more years. I didn’t put out another album until 1997 with San Quinn.
Explosive Mode. That was a hot album. Everybody was talking about that one.
We sold like 30,000 units. I was just hustlin and me and San Quinn hooked up. I got kicked outa my aunt’s house cause I was runnin the streets so tough. San Quinn’s mom let me come live with them. I moved in with San Quinn and we hooked up with a cat from Filmore that was ballin and put out that album. I stayed with San Quinn and his family for about a year. Before I moved in with Quinn I was out on the streets—me and Lucci Seigal. We was just livin in the streets, livin in the projects, livin in cars and goin from hotel to hotel.
Why were you in the streets?
Cause we was doin real bad. We was sleepin in the parkin lot of the projects. Just tryin to sell enough dope to get us some money to eat that night and get us a room in a hotel. After that I moved in with San Quinn.
Who put Explosive Mode out?
Presidential Records. It was a cat named Herm from Filmore.
Who made your beats for that album?
We had Mike Mosley who did a lotta stuff for Tupac and E-40; Ton Capone who did “Five On It”; we had Dwayne Wiggins from Tony Tony Tony; we had DJ Daryl, he did a lotta Tupac and Master P shit. We had everything that we needed for that album. That’s why the album was a classic and it sold so much.
Do you think you will ever make another album with San Quinn?
We workin on our group album right now. It’s called Explosive As Usual.
Is the first Explosive Mode album still available?
It’s still available. I put out all my catalog, I re-released everything. I got all of it. I never seen a dollar outa none of that work. That was the second deal that I did that I never seen no money out of. After I stayed with San Quinn it was a big raid in my projects on Eddy Street. It made a coupla headlines, it made the Source Magazine. It was called “Casualties of War”. They took two hundred police officers to raid my building to kick in 13 spots. The heat was on, so I moved to Atlanta. They was lookin for the game and my name was crossed up in a lotta that shit, but I deny all affiliation with anything. This is for the record.
Did you have any connections in Atlanta or you just moved there?
I just moved there. From Atlanta I moved to Little Rock, Arkansas. I was workin on some music in Atlanta. I was doin a little hustlin, so I hooked up with some cats from Little Rock when I was in Atlanta. So I moved to Little Rock.
What was going on in Little Rock?
They was bangin in Little Rock. It was wild. I was doin a little hustlin, same shit.
Did you rap on any albums when you were in Little Rock?
Yeah, I hooked up with my boy Playboy Shane. We was out there tearin the city up. I was there about a year. After that I moved to Kansas City.
Moving from place to place probably broadened your outlook. What made you move to Kansas City?
In Little Rock I wasn’t doin too good, so I went and moved with my boy Rich the Factor. I knew Rich for years, and Rich told me it was cool for me to come down. So I moved with Rich the Factor. Kansas City, same shit, out hustlin. I featured on a few different CD’s when I was in Kansas City, but mainly I worked with Rich.
Rich the Factor had been in San Francisco working with JT earlier.
Yeah, like back in ’94. Rich the Factor is the main reason why Kansas City is up on this West Coast Bay Area game to this day. He was the one that brought us out there and put everybody up on us.
At that time were you thinking of getting serious with the music?
Actually I was. Me and Rich hooked up and started workin on our group album. We still have a group album that we haven’t put out yet. It’s big, it’s called World Wide Hustlin. It’s a double disk. We got nice beautiful material on it.
Who made the beats for that album?
The beats vary. We had Freshtrated, Don Juan, and a couple more producers.
You’re probably well known in Kansas City?
I’m known over Kansas City because of Rich. I stayed with Rich for about a year and we was ballin. We’d pull up to the club in Benz’s and Lexus’s and Porsche’s. That’s what put me up to Kansas City.
Then you decided to come back to the Bay?
I came back to San Francisco cause I wanted to start my own label. So I hooked up with this cat and put out Still Explosive. That was the third fucked up deal that I did that I didn’t see no money from. That sold like 30,000 units. I got nothing. This dude really sucked me. He sucked me for all my hook-ups and my contacts. And he liked to run his mouth. He was more mouth than he was action. He fucked a lotta things up for me in the industry. The album was good. It was a beautiful album. I put all my heart into that. At the time when I came home I was doin a little bad, so we hooked up, we went half on the label and went through City Hall for distribution. We sold like 30,000 units and this dude kept everything.
It seems like you had a hard road.
That wasn’t nothing for me but a learnin experience. It helped me to because it rekindled the flame and put me back out there. That’s when I decided to get my own label. I got my own label, Scalene Music Incorporated, that was 2001.
Who were you working with for production on Still Explosive?
I had Sean T and I had Harm from 3 X Krazy.
When that album came out I thought you might get signed.
I had a coupla deals on the table—MCA, Capitol, Priority—but the person that I was doin business with fucked everything up. He ran his mouth too much. The deals ended up bein squashed because of how selfish the dude was. That’s why I decided to do my own label.
When you were in the South and in Kansas was Master P real big?
Master P was real big at that time. I was tellin everybody: I know that dude! That dude is from the Bay Area. That dude watched us and took all that game to New Orleans and fuckin got rich. Master P was real big at that time.
When you were moving around were you listening to a lot of music?
When I was in Atlanta I was listenin to TI. Even back then that dude was hard. And Lil Jon & the Eastside Boys. It was different music, but it was the same hustle so it was real familiar to me. When I was in Kansas City I didn’t play nothing but Rich the Factor.
What motivates you to do music?
What motivates me is situations and life experiences. Hell yeah, I’m motivated. I write every day. I eat, sleep and shit Rap. This is my full time thing now. I ain’t doin no more hustlin. I’m the CEO of my own label, and we’re doin real good now. What motivates me is countin this money and wakin up every day goin through something different.
You feel like everything is better now?
No. I feel like everything is at a start. I’m doin better than I was last year. That’s good. But no, with my career I got a lot more to accomplish. I got much more people to see, much more money to count.
You’ve been doing it all these years, but to people on the national level you’re still a new artist.
Right. I been doin this shit for ten years, but I will be a new artist. That’s a beautiful thing. I don’t have no problem with bein no new artist.
Once you formed Scalene Music what did you release?
I put out my album Turf Politics. On that album I had George Clinton, I had Daz, I had E-40, I had Soul Child, C-Bo. It was a real big album and it was the first time I got to see and count my money. That album sold 20,000 units. That was 2002. That was a classic too. In spite of my financial situations my spirit was never broken to make a classic record. Every one of my records was a classic. Then in 2003 I put out Bonnie & Clyde, Messy Marv and Marvaless. That was real successful.
How did you and Marvaless connect for that project?
You know Marvaless, she’s been at it a long time just like me. She’s up outa C-Bo’s camp. Marvaless is a real talented sister up outa Sacramento. And nobody from the Bay has really done anything like that as far as a male/female duo. I’m a trendsetter, so I figured that I would be the first one to do that. She was the perfect one to work with. I called her up, we negotiated everything. She’s got her own label, so we went halves with everything. We made it a joint venture.
Did you record the album in Sacramento or in Frisco?
We made the album in Sacramento. My man Tron Treec produced the whole album.
How long have you been working on this new record?
For about a year now. I been workin on it the whole of 2003. On this one I got Tony Tony Tony, E-40, Too Short, Nate Dogg, Rich the Factor, my clique The Koalition, Billy Cook outa Houston, Mississippi singin on a lotta that hooks. With production from Tony Tony Tony, Rick Rock. And I signed two cats named the Clean Team and they been doin a lotta my production. I did a production deal with them dudes. That’s Tron Treec and P Platinum, they form the Clean Team.
When is your new album dropping?
March 9. Disobayish. It’s Messy Marv like you have never seen him before. The album has a DVD with it. The DVD is The Diary of Messy Marv and video footage never been seen before. It’s videos from all my albums.
Your single “Hypnotiq” is all over the radio right now. When did that start to take off?
Actually they banned me from the radio before. When I put out Still Explosive and I had the single “Makin Crack”. They were playin that on the radio and somehow it got back to the program director that I was payin everybody to play my album. So they banned me from the radio. This album here, I went down to the station and sat down with the people and I was real sincere about what happened. We squashed that shit and they couldn’t deny it because it was heat. Rick Rock on the track and me just blazin that bitch. They had to play it, it was heat. Plus the streets love me. Once you got the streets behind you, they gotta support it.messy marv
How did you come up with the name for your new album Disobayish?
Actually E-40 gave me that name. Me and E-40, we real cool and we tryin to look out for each other. He put me on his new album that just came out, Breakin News. That album did real good. I’m also on Rick Rock’s Federation album that’s comin out on Virgin.
If this album really breaks you through what kind of plans do you have for your next step?
Everybody has major plans for once they hit the mainstream. But it’s gonna be the same shit. I’ma stay smashin. I’ma stay real to the streets. I’m not gonna let the money make me nervous. I’ma be able to park my Ferrari’s and shit in front of the projects.
I heard you had a real bad accident about a year and a half ago. What happened?
I broke both my legs. What happened was I was outa town and I was in a hotel room. All I can say is “Just say no to drugs!” I was real high and shit was goin on and I had to jump out of a five story window.
You jumped five stories down? What was below?
Concrete.
When you fell did you go unconscious?
Hell no. I fell and people outside started screamin and shit. Whatever was goin on in the hotel room had stopped goin on. A helicopter had to come get me. I almost died. I lost so much blood and I broke both of my legs.
They were badly broken?
My bones were stickin outa my fuckin leg. After that accident I was in a wheelchair for like eight months.
You would say the drugs influenced you to do that?
Yep. It was just a bad situation. It was either the window or something else. I chose the window.
Where were you staying when you were healing from that?
I was in San Francisco. I was recuperating. I went to physical therapy every day, learnin how to walk all over again. I had to learn how to walk all over again. You know how hard that is? They told me that I probably would never walk again. I got out that wheelchair in like 7-8 months, and I got up on my crutches as started walkin again. I was determined.
How did you get through that period? You didn’t have any family to help you?
No. And I was still dedicated to my Rap thing. I was showin up to shows in my wheelchair. I was doin shows in my wheelchair. I love this.
Now you’re all good? You’re not in pain?
Actually, no. Everything’s healed good. I just got screws and bars and stuff in my legs. Other than that I’m pretty good.
I heard that recently you had another accident?
Shit, on my motorcycle. I was tryin to pop a wheelie and I hit a speed bump. I broke my arm and my wrist.
When you first started putting out tapes what was going on in San Francisco and the Bay?
It was like ’94. I was still stayin in the projects. At that time JT the Bigga Figga, the Delinquents, Too Short, Master P stayin in Richmond. E-40, Rappin 4-Tay, RBL Posse, 3 X Krazy and the Luniz. Those were the people for the Bay Area that had the major label deals at that time. What I was doin was I was in and outa jail, doin the street thing, hustlin, tryin to get my money game up.
In 1994 you released Messy Situations, was that your first album?
I had one album out just before that, beginning of 1994, called Game To Be Sold. Me and a coupla homies from the block put together some money and we put that out. It was a four-song EP.
Where were you living at that time?
I was in San Francisco on Eddy Street. First I was just hustlin. Rap wasn’t really that serious to me because I felt like I needed to be on the block hustlin to get that new pair of Stan Smiths or them new Lotto’s. I needed a troop jacket and a double goose. I felt that was more important than doin that Rap shit. But I started experimenting, doin talent shows. I was gettin a good response with it so I went on ahead and went full force with it.
Were there other rappers coming out around Eddy Street?
The only other rapper at that time comin off Eddy Street was a cat called Huey MC. He was from lower Eddy and I was from upper Eddy. It was me and a cat called Ice Low. He was my partner.
You put the money and did the first tape. After that did you work with a record label?
Game To Be Sold, me and my homies put that out, we didn’t have no distribution or nothing. We pressed out like 2,000 copies and sold them out the trunk. After that I hooked up with some more of my homies that was ballin a little harder and they put out my first album. That was Trigga Life Records.
How did Messy Situations do?
It did real good. I sold like 15,000 on that first album in ’94.
Who were you working with for your production back then?
I was workin with some cats outa Oakland. They did all my production, called the Secret Service—my boy James and a cat John Orr. They did all of my tracks.
Where did you go to school?
Actually I had dropped outa school. Before that I was at John Adams.
When you were on Eddy Street were you living with your parents?
I was livin with my aunt and my uncle. My mom passed away and my dad was a part-time dad. I love him to death, but he never was really there. I looked to the streets for my family support. Joined a gang.
How old were you when your mom died?
I was a young nigga, maybe like 5 years old.
That probably effected you a lot?
It effected me a whole lot. Growin up in the hood without no mom and no parental guidance, you veer the other way. I was stayin with my grandmother until I was 12-13 years old, then I moved to San Francisco. My grandma stayed in East Oakland.
Was there a lot of music around you when you were growing up?
In Oakland it was Too Short, man. We listened to Too Short. But at 13 I was really just bein hella bad. Runnin over my grandma. Stayin out all night at 13. I was just runnin wild.
What was your first connection to Rap music?
A dude named Greg Valentine, he was from West Oakland, and he was the big DJ. I joined a breaking group with Greg Valentine at 12. So we was doin that. I did that for a year and then I moved to San Francisco. Back in the eighties it was about breakin. All the kids in the projects, we would go down to Pier 39 and we would break dance for money to go to The Fun Center. If anybody remember, The Fun Center was an arcade that was on Market Street. When I first moved to Eddy we would all get together, go down to Pier 39, put out our cardboard, bring our radio and shit, and we would break dance every weekend.
Were you thinking about becoming a rapper?
No, at that time it was all about Afrika Bambaataa and Run DMC, Dougie Fresh, Slick Rick. It was about break dancin. We wasn’t really trippin off rhymin until like the late eighties.
Looking back at your childhood do you remember happy times? Sad times?
I look at it as a learnin experience. They say what don’t kill you make you stronger. Me growin up in that shit made me strong. I remember us not havin too much of nothing and me havin to go down to the grocery store and put bags in the cars and shit, help people with their bags and then pushin the carts back into the basket place to get 25 cents. I remember doin shit like that, just hustlin. It was good times and it was bad times, but it was a beautiful learnin experience. I learned how to appreciate everything. Cause when you ain’t got nothing, everything you get you appreciate. I learned how to appreciate.
After a while you didn’t want to stay with your grandmother so you moved to Eddy?
No, I was a little too bad for my grandmother, so they made me move to San Francisco with my dad. My dad been in San Francisco all his life. He used to cook for the mob back in the days. He started out as a janitor at one of the Italian restaurants and they taught him how to cook. Every time I used to come through to the restaurant they used to pinch me on my cheeks and give me money and shit. But then at night when I come home and I had my little money, my dad would steal my shit. He would steal my money and go smoke and shit. So I moved with my aunt and uncle.
That was the beginning of your life on Eddy Street?
I was born in San Francisco. My grandma stayed in Oakland and my dad couldn’t take care of me, so I moved from San Francisco to Oakland. Then when I was 13 I moved back. I was goin to Benjamin Franklin Middle School.
Around that time did you ever meet rappers like San Quinn or JT the Bigga Figga?
I met San Quinn and JT, but I never was in the GLP. I had to set a name for myself. I loved them dudes, but they was doin they thing at the time. I was tryin to come up myself.
How did you get the name Messy Marv?
They used to call me that when I was little. I always stayed in trouble, man. You remember the Garbage Pail Kids cards? They had cards called Garbage Pail Kids, and Messy Marv was one of the Garbage Pail Kids. They used to tease me with that. I was a real small kid, everybody used to pick on me.
Probably all that made you strong.
It did make me strong. It made me pick up shit and beat the shit outa people. It made me do shit like that. I made me spit and run and cuss you and pick up shit and try to fuck you up, cause I was real small.
What was it that made you want to really start rapping?
Me and my boy Ice Low, we had a group. Ice Low was one of the older cats on Eddy Street that was in the game, that really introduced me to the game. We had a Rap group. We used to do the talent shows around the hood.
Where is Ice Low now?
He’s still on Eddy. He’s part of my clique, The Koalition.
What happened after Messy Situations came out?
After that first album came out with Trigga Life Records, that put me out there but I didn’t see no money. I was still on the fuckin block hustlin. The tape did good and everything, but everybody really didn’t give me my props cause I wasn’t with the GLP. I was from Filmore, but I wasn’t with the GLP, so the eyes wasn’t really on Mess. My first album came out, it was a good album, I had San Quinn on it, I had JT on it, but I didn’t see no money. I didn’t see shit. So I just stayed hustlin, I was like “Fuck this Rap shit.” I hustled for about 2 or 3 more years. I didn’t put out another album until 1997 with San Quinn.
Explosive Mode. That was a hot album. Everybody was talking about that one.
We sold like 30,000 units. I was just hustlin and me and San Quinn hooked up. I got kicked outa my aunt’s house cause I was runnin the streets so tough. San Quinn’s mom let me come live with them. I moved in with San Quinn and we hooked up with a cat from Filmore that was ballin and put out that album. I stayed with San Quinn and his family for about a year. Before I moved in with Quinn I was out on the streets—me and Lucci Seigal. We was just livin in the streets, livin in the projects, livin in cars and goin from hotel to hotel.
Why were you in the streets?
Cause we was doin real bad. We was sleepin in the parkin lot of the projects. Just tryin to sell enough dope to get us some money to eat that night and get us a room in a hotel. After that I moved in with San Quinn.
Who put Explosive Mode out?
Presidential Records. It was a cat named Herm from Filmore.
Who made your beats for that album?
We had Mike Mosley who did a lotta stuff for Tupac and E-40; Ton Capone who did “Five On It”; we had Dwayne Wiggins from Tony Tony Tony; we had DJ Daryl, he did a lotta Tupac and Master P shit. We had everything that we needed for that album. That’s why the album was a classic and it sold so much.
Do you think you will ever make another album with San Quinn?
We workin on our group album right now. It’s called Explosive As Usual.
Is the first Explosive Mode album still available?
It’s still available. I put out all my catalog, I re-released everything. I got all of it. I never seen a dollar outa none of that work. That was the second deal that I did that I never seen no money out of. After I stayed with San Quinn it was a big raid in my projects on Eddy Street. It made a coupla headlines, it made the Source Magazine. It was called “Casualties of War”. They took two hundred police officers to raid my building to kick in 13 spots. The heat was on, so I moved to Atlanta. They was lookin for the game and my name was crossed up in a lotta that shit, but I deny all affiliation with anything. This is for the record.
Did you have any connections in Atlanta or you just moved there?
I just moved there. From Atlanta I moved to Little Rock, Arkansas. I was workin on some music in Atlanta. I was doin a little hustlin, so I hooked up with some cats from Little Rock when I was in Atlanta. So I moved to Little Rock.
What was going on in Little Rock?
They was bangin in Little Rock. It was wild. I was doin a little hustlin, same shit.
Did you rap on any albums when you were in Little Rock?
Yeah, I hooked up with my boy Playboy Shane. We was out there tearin the city up. I was there about a year. After that I moved to Kansas City.
Moving from place to place probably broadened your outlook. What made you move to Kansas City?
In Little Rock I wasn’t doin too good, so I went and moved with my boy Rich the Factor. I knew Rich for years, and Rich told me it was cool for me to come down. So I moved with Rich the Factor. Kansas City, same shit, out hustlin. I featured on a few different CD’s when I was in Kansas City, but mainly I worked with Rich.
Rich the Factor had been in San Francisco working with JT earlier.
Yeah, like back in ’94. Rich the Factor is the main reason why Kansas City is up on this West Coast Bay Area game to this day. He was the one that brought us out there and put everybody up on us.
At that time were you thinking of getting serious with the music?
Actually I was. Me and Rich hooked up and started workin on our group album. We still have a group album that we haven’t put out yet. It’s big, it’s called World Wide Hustlin. It’s a double disk. We got nice beautiful material on it.
Who made the beats for that album?
The beats vary. We had Freshtrated, Don Juan, and a couple more producers.
You’re probably well known in Kansas City?
I’m known over Kansas City because of Rich. I stayed with Rich for about a year and we was ballin. We’d pull up to the club in Benz’s and Lexus’s and Porsche’s. That’s what put me up to Kansas City.
Then you decided to come back to the Bay?
I came back to San Francisco cause I wanted to start my own label. So I hooked up with this cat and put out Still Explosive. That was the third fucked up deal that I did that I didn’t see no money from. That sold like 30,000 units. I got nothing. This dude really sucked me. He sucked me for all my hook-ups and my contacts. And he liked to run his mouth. He was more mouth than he was action. He fucked a lotta things up for me in the industry. The album was good. It was a beautiful album. I put all my heart into that. At the time when I came home I was doin a little bad, so we hooked up, we went half on the label and went through City Hall for distribution. We sold like 30,000 units and this dude kept everything.
It seems like you had a hard road.
That wasn’t nothing for me but a learnin experience. It helped me to because it rekindled the flame and put me back out there. That’s when I decided to get my own label. I got my own label, Scalene Music Incorporated, that was 2001.
Who were you working with for production on Still Explosive?
I had Sean T and I had Harm from 3 X Krazy.
When that album came out I thought you might get signed.
I had a coupla deals on the table—MCA, Capitol, Priority—but the person that I was doin business with fucked everything up. He ran his mouth too much. The deals ended up bein squashed because of how selfish the dude was. That’s why I decided to do my own label.
When you were in the South and in Kansas was Master P real big?
Master P was real big at that time. I was tellin everybody: I know that dude! That dude is from the Bay Area. That dude watched us and took all that game to New Orleans and fuckin got rich. Master P was real big at that time.
When you were moving around were you listening to a lot of music?
When I was in Atlanta I was listenin to TI. Even back then that dude was hard. And Lil Jon & the Eastside Boys. It was different music, but it was the same hustle so it was real familiar to me. When I was in Kansas City I didn’t play nothing but Rich the Factor.
What motivates you to do music?
What motivates me is situations and life experiences. Hell yeah, I’m motivated. I write every day. I eat, sleep and shit Rap. This is my full time thing now. I ain’t doin no more hustlin. I’m the CEO of my own label, and we’re doin real good now. What motivates me is countin this money and wakin up every day goin through something different.
You feel like everything is better now?
No. I feel like everything is at a start. I’m doin better than I was last year. That’s good. But no, with my career I got a lot more to accomplish. I got much more people to see, much more money to count.
You’ve been doing it all these years, but to people on the national level you’re still a new artist.
Right. I been doin this shit for ten years, but I will be a new artist. That’s a beautiful thing. I don’t have no problem with bein no new artist.
Once you formed Scalene Music what did you release?
I put out my album Turf Politics. On that album I had George Clinton, I had Daz, I had E-40, I had Soul Child, C-Bo. It was a real big album and it was the first time I got to see and count my money. That album sold 20,000 units. That was 2002. That was a classic too. In spite of my financial situations my spirit was never broken to make a classic record. Every one of my records was a classic. Then in 2003 I put out Bonnie & Clyde, Messy Marv and Marvaless. That was real successful.
How did you and Marvaless connect for that project?
You know Marvaless, she’s been at it a long time just like me. She’s up outa C-Bo’s camp. Marvaless is a real talented sister up outa Sacramento. And nobody from the Bay has really done anything like that as far as a male/female duo. I’m a trendsetter, so I figured that I would be the first one to do that. She was the perfect one to work with. I called her up, we negotiated everything. She’s got her own label, so we went halves with everything. We made it a joint venture.
Did you record the album in Sacramento or in Frisco?
We made the album in Sacramento. My man Tron Treec produced the whole album.
How long have you been working on this new record?
For about a year now. I been workin on it the whole of 2003. On this one I got Tony Tony Tony, E-40, Too Short, Nate Dogg, Rich the Factor, my clique The Koalition, Billy Cook outa Houston, Mississippi singin on a lotta that hooks. With production from Tony Tony Tony, Rick Rock. And I signed two cats named the Clean Team and they been doin a lotta my production. I did a production deal with them dudes. That’s Tron Treec and P Platinum, they form the Clean Team.
When is your new album dropping?
March 9. Disobayish. It’s Messy Marv like you have never seen him before. The album has a DVD with it. The DVD is The Diary of Messy Marv and video footage never been seen before. It’s videos from all my albums.
No he ain't obligated. N my opinion he only came back cuz he new he could get money jumping on Mac Dre's hyphy movement. But that's my opinion. It's funny cuz he leave n forget about the bay n it's good but yuk or who ever leave there city and they get crucified for not living in the bay. Oh yeah ask dru down n da luniz how much love he had for other Oakland cats.
i was born 1980 in frisco i lived all over the bay , no one gives a fuck what tooshort does ,mess should of dissed short 10 years ago and maybe the fans would of rolled wit it ,but no one following mess i stoped fuckin wit mess when he did "playn wit my knose" i dont do cocaine nore do i sale it theres other ways in the bay to get money ,this shit he doin is false hope , you hear young boo and breed and everyone else from eddy they wouldent make that shit up they was riden for mess real tuff ,you aint in the bay if u didnt see the ccg wit they free mess shirts on ,he became a industry blood and turned his back on his real friends ,how u support that? the bay area rap scene bad enough right now we dont need niggas like mess maken us look bad , bad enough we got yukmouth and lil b and ect.. and u no one ran short out of oakland , let me recall it was summer jam 96 97 ? luniz on stage diss short , they go to walk off stage and they got beat the fuck up by short and his people " i was like 13 - 15 living in the bay area when this happen where was u ? get your facts right nobody ever ran short out of oakland
LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! @ how this thread has become an argument of fans over why Too Short moved to ATL and what not HAHAHAHAA!!!!!!!!
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!
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That's respectable yet, irrelevant to this thread. I personally think this whole beef shit amongst these respectable artist is senseless bullshit. They should be focused on making good music. This is the most attention they've all been getting around these forums in years & it's seriously a sad thing.
Is this seriously what this has come to? Okay, granted I understand beef & disses come with the territory, but the Bay can't afford this shit right now. It may seem like artist etc. are doing it big, but the harsh reality is, it's falling on deaf ears outside the region.
They also look at the Siccness as the media (a bitch) knowing damn well fools are gonna feed into the negativity and take sides. It's a story that's been told 100 fold & fools still don't get it. Controversy sells? Maybe if it was still 2000, but today it's not worth beefing when the region is being slept on by the rest of the world. Unless you truly have a big name & following... and even then, people don't give a shit about your issues within your bitch ass sewing circle. Just give the people good music and keep your dirty laundry at your house!
Just my view! Fuck it!
Is this seriously what this has come to? Okay, granted I understand beef & disses come with the territory, but the Bay can't afford this shit right now. It may seem like artist etc. are doing it big, but the harsh reality is, it's falling on deaf ears outside the region.
They also look at the Siccness as the media (a bitch) knowing damn well fools are gonna feed into the negativity and take sides. It's a story that's been told 100 fold & fools still don't get it. Controversy sells? Maybe if it was still 2000, but today it's not worth beefing when the region is being slept on by the rest of the world. Unless you truly have a big name & following... and even then, people don't give a shit about your issues within your bitch ass sewing circle. Just give the people good music and keep your dirty laundry at your house!
Just my view! Fuck it!