| "JUST ME, MYSELF & I" EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ERK THA JERK |
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| Friday, 30 October 2009 15:52 |
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Throughout the thirty plus years of hip-hop culture, there have been many strong statements of individuality, often times within a song title, such as Me Myself and I, Nobody Can Be You But You, I’m Me, Umma Do Me and so many others. Individuality and originality are both extremely important traits in a hip-hop artist, sadly also, as hip-hop has evolved into a multi-billion dollar corporate business over time, much of the individuality and originality gets lost in the shuffle of the powerful executive shot-callers looking for the next big thing in what has become a revolving door copycat industry.
Today we’ve got something new for you. You may already know him, you may not, but you don’t know him like you will after this, We The West is proud to introduce you to one of the best young talents coming out of the Bay Area, Erk Tha Jerk. Phrases like ‘a breath of fresh air’ get thrown around too easily much of the time, but this exemplifies an artist / producer like Erk who shows absolutely no fear in standing up strong for himself and his beliefs as he wears his individuality proudly each and every day of the week. A native resident of an increasingly violent city that has consistently ranked in the top 10-20 most dangerous in the country in the last few years, Erk has been able to balance his love for his city,
Able to maintain himself as an individual in his surroundings at all times, and also within the not so friendly confines of the music industry, as Erk Tha Jerk prepares his debut album, he may be just on the cusp of striking gold with his single “Right Here,” an addictively catchy sexual escapade tune that is currently the hottest song in the Bay Area, in both clubs and on the radio. And we wouldn’t expect anything less from Erk, the music goes as he goes, it is of course something different with its mix of R&B and Rap, which is what makes it stand out amongst and kill the competition. Not only did the single crack 106 KMEL’s Top 10 of their Rotation Playlist, not just mixshow play, full Rotation, but it has also been the #1 song recently on the station’s nightly countdown of the most popular songs of the day.
Stay tuned and keep reading as we discuss in depth Erk’s outlook on not only himself but the rest of the world and especially the world of hip-hop, a little bit of surrounding controversy, his upcoming highly anticipated debut solo album, the F.N.M. super-group album and much more. This interview will be a needed reality check for some, as Erk is an inspiration in the way that he carries himself and does not hold back his tongue in fear of damaging his image. Please don’t let the glasses fool you, if you see him wearing a sweater, if you see him wearing a tie, if you see him wearing a suit, if you don’t see him in a black hoody, if you don’t see him in a 5X tall white Tee, if you see him in stylish clothes that actually fit, don’t trip, that’s just Erk being Erk.
Early on musically Erk started out taking lyrics of popular songs and switching the words to make it fit while making fun of other people. Hip-Hop was fun to him then, but wasn’t his passion. It wasn’t until high school and his senior year when he received enough positive feedback and pressure that he decided he needed to take music serious and pursue it rather than other avenues he was possibly thinking about.
So music was not your first passion? You came up in an era where there were still other hero’s than rappers and athletes.
I came up when it was more you could be a doctor or teacher or anything else. My senior year in high school was really really instrumental to me seriously taking it there.
You’re a rapper and a producer, which came first?
I started off as a rapper. I was a straight rapper, did nothing else. I’ve always been Erk, I don’t have like a million other old rap names that I used to have, it’s always been that since high school.
Speaking of that, how did you get the name Erk Tha Jerk?
Same crew I ran with in high school, which was a dude, he goes by London now, he’s signed to Universal, he’s a good friend of mine and J Myers who is also signed to Universal under two different entities, we all grew up together. We had a group, and London at the time me and him were just crazy silly dudes or whatever, and he just came up with the name spur of the moment. I was thinking of a rap name, and he was like “Erk Tha Jerk,” and we kinda laughed and I was like “man that’s the wackest name I’ve ever heard in my fuckin’ life,” and he was like “that’s what it’s gone be,” I’m like “that’s not it.” Well by the end of that school year, my whole class was calling me Erk…. Erk, Erk, Erk, Erk. So it just stuck and I was stuck with it regardless if I liked it or not, I didn’t have a choice. So that’s where the name comes from, it doesn’t have a meaning or nothing like that. It was just a bad nickname that stuck. But I’ve used it to my advantage.
The main thing I always hear people say they like about Erk Tha Jerk is that you’re different, and I’ve read where you’ve said you always want to be yourself, what is so different about Erk, what makes you stand out amongst everything else?
That’s probably the best question I’ve ever been asked. The reason being, they say I’m different because I’m myself. I find it funny that people are so scared to be themselves. And by that I mean just really like wake up, don’t try to be a gangsta, don’t try to be conscious, don’t try, just do you. In my opinion I see a lot of people who go a little extra. They push the envelope with “I’m gonna be super conscious rapper,” and then you’ll see them at the strip club doing some crazy shit. Or “I’m gonna be super gangster,” and then you see them snitchin’ on niggas. If you can be comfortable doing you, you cannot go wrong. I’ve always been me, I’ve always been kinda goofy, kinda out there, just do me. I’m not a weirdo, I don’t eat all vegetables, I’m not a vegetarian, you know what I mean I just do me, I’m just comfortable. I don’t have any hang ups with wearing glasses or being called a nerd. I just embrace whatever. I’m just cool with doin’ me.
So your whole persona is not something you came up with, it’s really just you being you?
Yeah, I guess it’s more of embracing what other people are gonna say anyway. Kinda like, growing up, if you wear glasses, you’re a nerd. It doesn’t mean that you can’t see that well, it just means you’re a nerd because you wear glasses. There’s a lot of gangsters and killers that wear glasses. It’s just the way it goes. I just embrace it and let people say what they wanna say. They gone call me nerd anyway so I might as well just rock with that.
Now that we’ve established that your persona is really a complete extension of yourself, and we’ve established that it’s different and may not be the typical of what we see every day, but you still get the utmost respect in the Bay Area and more specifically within your home city of Richmond. Richmond of course is known to be one of the hardest most violent cities in the country, how do you fit in or do you even try to fit the mold at all?
The respect comes from just being comfortable and doing what I feel like is just doing me. Like when you see a dude in the hood and he’s trying to go to college or whatever and he’s not selling crack, people respect that more than the nigga who goes to college but he drops that to sell drugs. They respect you just being comfortable doing you. Especially where I’m coming from, I was a dude who would play hoop while everybody else was doing what they was doing. So it wasn’t a miscommunication of who I was and what they were doing.
They don’t look at you like ‘oh he’s soft’ or ‘he’s a square because he’s not running around doing this and that in the streets?’
Na, exactly, ‘cause they would come play hoop with me, you see what I’m sayin,’ I would mingle with the same cats who would be robbin’ niggas but I wouldn’t go rob nobody. They knew my position, they knew where I stood. So it wasn’t a threat, I wasn’t scared of them and they weren’t trying to pick on me. It was just a mutual respect just being out here. Plus you get to see people grow, maneuver and you get to adapt to the hood.
How do you feel about the music coming out by some of the other artists from Richmond who are kind of hot right now, like Laroo Tha Hard Hitta or The Frontline or Nio Tha Gift, etc?
I respect all of it coming out of Richmond, the artists that you just named, Frontline, Laroo and Nio is definitely something. Of course being from Richmond everybody knows about Laroo, just him being a hustler and grinder; we all know Frontline—Left and Lock, you know Left is a dope artist; Lock is one of them artists who doesn’t probably get as much respect lyrically as he probably should. And Nio is a real close friend of mine and he’s just talented, all around. So for me to be from Richmond and them to be from Richmond and all of us kind of coming up at the same time, I think there’s gonna be a real spotlight on the Rich in the next year or so if not right now. I think the labels should start looking here too, not just Oakland or Frisco. I think we have a lot to offer.
Prior to this new crop of artists that are coming out of Richmond that bring something different to the table, Richmond musically was on some straight Mobb killer shit, with groups like C.I.N. and those type of artists, do you feel Richmond has ever gotten it’s respect or it’s just due on the music side?
Na I don’t because as far as Richmond, people paint it a certain way and they put it into a box because it is a hard neighborhood to grow up in. There’s not too many mansions, ain’t really too much fancy shit out here so they put you in that category where “it’s rough, it’s dangerous, it’s mobb, it’s this and it’s that,” but it’s just different kinds of people out here. If the masses allow different types of music to come out, then you can see the change. You definitely need mobb music, you need the harsh realities of the hood, but you also need the flip side of the dude who’s trying to get out of the hood. You need the flip side of the female singer who grew up in Richmond, who needed to get out of the hood because she’s not a killer or a gangster. We need all of that, and it’s not really fair to put everybody in a box—because you live in the ghetto, you should make ghetto music or to make certain kinds of music. I think Nio is a prime example, I think I’m a prime example, I think Lock is a prime example, Laroo definitely is, where, we from here, but we can make any kind of music.
Let me switch gears a little bit, it’s kind of along the same lines but being that it is one of the most violent cities in the country and has been in a declared State Of Emergency, Richmond is a city that is being talked about nationwide, and a lot of the time it’s not in a good way. Since you are one of the people that are being looked at in the streets and on the music level, with your celebrity are you doing anything on a positive level in the city to help with the current situations to calm things down? Are you reaching out to the schools in the community or anything like that?
Yes, I did a Silence The Violence performance recently, we performed in West Oakland on some love for the kids, definitely got something coming up for the Boys and Girls Club in the city. I’ve got two people who are teachers that work in the Oakland school district, so they let me come up to the school all the time and talk to the kids. Every class, every summer, when they switch classes we go and talk to a new group of kids a couple times a year. They allow us to talk to the kids. They do poetry, they dance and do whatever they do and we get a chance to talk to them. So we let them know that every rapper is not not approachable.
How important is it to get involved in the community and use the voice that you have to try to reach some of these kids, not only in Richmond, but especially in Richmond because of what’s going on right now?
It’s very, very very important ‘cause some kids might not have role models in the household and the whole nine, so when we go up there, we’re probably some of the only strong independent men that some of these kids will probably see for a long time. So when we come up there and we have our demeanor in check and we’re presentable and we’re nice, we give them something to look forward to, something to wanna be when they grow up. They can see that you’re a real person. They’ll ask me what kind of car I’m driving, and if I tell them I’m driving a Honda, but I got my eyes on this Magnum or this Bentley, then they’ll feel like “ok, you start from nothing to something, you can grow into something.” You don’t just come in there flashing all kinds of chains and money in their faces, you have a chance to spend two or three hours with them. They can see you don’t just wake up and be rich one day. You gotta get your game face on when you go in there and talk to them because they really need it.
Back on the music side, let’s go back a little bit and talk about your involvement in the group Kali Fam, how’d that come about?
Mr. Sef was a mastermind behind trying to take Richmond and the Bay to another level. And he had a group called Kali Fam. A couple members were doing other things so there was a couple empty spots for me and another artist to come along and kinda rebuild the group and see if we can go at it again and make it happen.
You weren’t part of the group originally?
No I was just affiliated. I did a bunch of stuff with them until about 2003, then it was like officially “ok I’ll be part of the group.” We dropped the album, hit the road and went on tour, shot a video. It was really probably one of the best experiences I had as far as being on the road and on tour working with other producers. It was definitely crazy, you know, to live that at a young age. I learned about life, the people—the real people the fake people, the being on the road, everything.
You’ve done a lot of solo stuff as far as rapping, when did you get into the Production side?
Around the same time as the Kali Fam thing, maybe 2003-2004. Just around that time I was going through a lot of “I wanna do this music. Is it gonna work out? How does this work?” I bumped into this dude who had a couple music programs. I was always interested in producing. I would always tell people “man I think I could make beats if I just tried.” But everybody says that shit, so I took it upon myself to learn how to do it. It was kind of wack… it was real wack at first. And a year or so later, I kept at it, kept at it, kept at it and it just became a job. It became another extension of the music.
Who are some of the people you’ve worked with on the production side?
When I did the Kali Fam thing, we had Proof from D12 on our album, of course before he died. He was probably one of the first people I worked with, like just doing music with. Out here, B-Legit and Richie Rich, $hort of course, working on his project and my project. You know, Beeda Weeda, Kaz Kyzah, Mistah F.A.B., it’s a lot of people out here in the Bay that I’ve worked with. I think right now I’m probably only missing E-40 on the roster. There’s only a couple more people that I need to get in touch with that I wanna work with.
What was the first solo material you released, did you drop a mixtape or have you released an actual album yet?
I had a mixtape, I’ve never put out a full album yet. I put out a mixtape in 2005-06 called “It Ain’t Gone Jerk Itself” which was just straight mixtape shit you know. Then I put out “The Hood Nerd” mixtape. Then I put out an EP with five songs for iTunes. Then I put out a free album called “U Gotta Luv Me,” which was a free download all digital.
That was around the time when you had the singles “Don’t Need Em,” and “I’m So Dumb” out. Let’s talk about the “I’m So Dumb” record. It was a popular song, but it stirred up a little bit of controversy. Explain the thought process behind that; was it a diss on the hyphy movement?
Alright, on the “It Ain’t Gone Jerk Itself” the first mixtape I had in like ’05 going into ’06, me and DJ Slowpoke, we started off the mixtape by saying “you don’t have to be hyphy all the time.” When I finally dropped the song it was like, I was just personally fed up on people trying to get in the game or get in to rap music from the Bay by doing what they would call ‘Hyphy’ music. It was just my personal opinion, I grew up thinking hyphy was more of an act, it was a like a way of life type thing. You know, you see a chick at the gas station cussin’ out the attendant, you be like “that broad is hyphy.” It wasn’t like a dance move.
ERK THA JERK "DONT NEED EM" MUSIC VIDEO
A lot of these youngsters get it misconstrued, thinking that it just sprung up as this new culture. When we were coming up, hyphy meant something different, it meant like you were amped up or getting ready to fight.
Right, so to me it was kinda like I need to let people know my opinion, once again, take it or leave it. I just felt like the people taking the drugs and taking their clothes off, it was a little beyond me. I don’t understand what part of that has to do with Bay Area culture, we’re from the land of the pimps and players and the cool dudes. That’s the cloth that I thought we was cut from and it just became this big circus of people jumping around and stomping on people’s cars. It just got so outlandish, I felt like “hey, maybe I should say something.” It just felt like nobody else was gonna say anything.
It was kind of a grown man’s point of view.
Yeah and I’ve gotten older, but I used to be at the sideshows so it’s not like I’m high and mighty and I’ve never you know saw a car spin around. It was definitely not a diss at the culture of it, it was a diss at the people who would take it and try to abuse it and make it into something that it’s not. ‘Cause people would say “well F.A.B. makes hyphy, and you’re good with F.A.B.?” And I’m like “yeah I’m good with F.A.B., F.A.B. is a rap artist, he makes music and I’ve heard millions of songs where F.A.B. didn’t say the word hyphy in it. He didn’t make his career off doing what you were doing though; he did what he did to get on. But that’s not a cue for you to ride on his yellow bus. Let him do him.” That’s kinda how I felt so it was really just jabs at people. I was kinda fishing to see who was gone bite, and I didn’t really get too many biters. I got a lot of people attention; I didn’t get too much rapper flack. So I guess it’s a good thing.
You had a highly acclaimed video for “Don’t Need Em,” and the newest video you did was for the single “Plane In The Air” featuring Too $hort. How did that song come about?
I used to have a studio, and in the same building $hort had a studio and I knew a mutual friend who played guitar for Tony Toni Tone. They were doing a group called Town Bizness, he needed some production, he liked what I was doing I liked what they was doing. Of course he is $hort and they are the legendary Tony’s so I was like alright I got some tracks and they did a song to it and me and $hort just kept in touch. So we kicked it and kept in touch and kept in touch and just started doing music together. It turned into I did some songs for him and I asked him to get on this verse for me, not a problem, we just kinda worked like that. Ever since then it’s just been anything I need I just holla at him whether it be just advice or just chillin,’ just whatever it is. I could say he’s definitely more like a friend now, than just “wow damn this is Too $hort.”
ERK THA JERK FEATURING TOO $HORT "PLANE IN THE AIR" MUSIC VIDEO
Let’s talk about your debut solo album that you’re working on called “Nerds Eye View,” which includes the hottest single in the Bay right now, “Right Here,” describe the sound of it, who are you working with and what can we expect from it?
The sound of the album and the direction is real personal even if the track doesn’t sound it. Like I’m taking the approach of being comfortable in your own skin type thing so I have songs about my point of view and how I feel about my family and how I feel about being a rapper, and then trying to balance family and music because you’ve got this facade of like life and the shit you supposed to look like, how you supposed to dress, how you supposed to sound, the clubs you gotta go to when it’s poppin,’ but then you’ve got real family bills and trying to find that middle ground as a person. Trying to put that through the music without boring the audience. I’m trying to find that happy medium, so that’s kinda why it’s ‘hood nerd’ and just shit that don’t really… kind of an oxymoron basically. It’s kind of my approach on the music and the whole thing basically. You hear songs where its two different things like obviously “I’m So Dumb” where it’s hyphy but with a message. I’m trying to put together a project that says that, that sounds like it could come from anywhere not just the Bay, not just, wherever. So Traxamillion’s got a couple joints on there, I think I did about 75-80% of it other than a couple that Trax did. And I’m working with 1500 Or Nothin on there; I’m wrapping up the joints with them. Other than that I did the majority of the album as far as production.
What about as far as collabo’s, is anybody appearing on there?
There are no collabo’s on this album, me and $hort got the only collabo as of right now, and I don’t know why… it’s just, you know…
Na that’s good though, a couple years ago and even now it’s to the point where you can’t buy a “solo” album anymore, most albums are like compilations with all the feature appearances.
Yeah, my inspirations are those old Jay-Z albums or those old maybe like a Lauryn Hill album, where you looked at it and it said Lauryn Hill and that’s who you got when you popped it in. You didn’t get thirty people on every song, it was more about that artist, just how they built it. And personally I’m trying to build a brand of myself so you understand the brand of the person that came from whatever, did whatever and is reachable and obtainable and is struggling like everyone else is struggling. You’re not gonna get that if there’s fifty niggas on a song with you. You’re just not gonna come across as you.
What label is your album going to be released on?
Right now I’m in talks with a few different people. I don’t know if I can really…. I don’t like to jinx it. But I am gonna start my own label; it’s called Red Planet Music Group. So it will definitely be coming out through Red Planet Music Group / whoever else wants to help out an old friend here.
You’ve got another project that you’re working on right now that’s getting a lot of buzz around it. People have already called the F.N.M. a super group, with you, Traxamillion, Willie Joe and Nio Tha Gift. How did the group come together?
F.N.M. was a project Willie Joe and Traxamillion was working on and they saw me and Nio and even a couple other people kind of just grindin’ and pushin,’ and we all kinda be around the same area anyway doing music. But it started off as we wanted to make it a movement, not movement because that’s a cliché term but as you know how Atlanta per se has this Atlanta movement where everybody comes together and they support each other and this that and the third. The Bay doesn’t really seem to have that, even though we all be in the same spots, we don’t all represent the same thing as a unit. So when label execs and all them people come, we wanted this movement of young fly niggas to be able to take over, like no more long ass T-shirts, you know what I’m sayin,’ just on some real presentable, setting a new standard and everybody who’s on that same bus.
You used the long T-shirts as an example, what does the F.N.M. stand for, not literally the name itself, but what is the meaning behind the fly movement, is it a change in style?
It’s not so much a change in style like to pick on a certain kind of wardrobe per se, it’s more of a this is who we are and this is how we wear our, our music almost. When you hear our music you’re not going to want to go and kill a bunch of people. And when you’re in the hood and you’re gonna go do dirt, you’re usually in dark clothes and you usually look a certain way, you act a certain way. We’re acting like we’re trying to attract females to us ‘cause that’s what we do, we like the party life, the clean cut music.
Like you said earlier, people can actually approach you. You’re not gonna walk down the street and look at somebody like “get the fuck away from me!”
Right, very approachable. Exactly, we can hand a CD to anybody. We can be in any club. We can drink champagne and then we can drink Hennessy. Basically just being chameleons, we’re adapting to how life is. Life isn’t all killing and murder and drugs, life is a bunch of different things.
When you four came together for this group, was it because of a similarity in sound and style or was it a mutual respect for each other’s grind and you meshed everything together into the sound and package that it is now, what brought you together?
I think it was more of a, it fit, as far as the sound, the style, the music, for lack of a better word swag I guess, just us being around each other, us seeing each other moving and shaking and hustling and grinding. We all had that, we all came from nothing, it wasn’t silver spoons.
As far as the album itself, what can we expect from the F.N.M.?
The album is gone be diverse as far as the music goes, we got some tracks that’s definitely gonna wake you up to as far as what we’re trying to put out there. But then it’s real cool, it’s real laid back. It’s not really aggressive, it’s not you know slap you in the face. We’re not screaming for attention on the album. You’ll be able to put it in, play it, enjoy it, listen to it and vibe with some girls maybe, just chill with your niggas and smoke, just whatever you do. It’s not gonna be a bunch of shoot ‘em up bang bang on the album, so don’t expect that.
You guys have dropped a few songs on the internet already, is that the vibe we’ll be getting from the rest of the album, or is it going to be different?
Those are the precedent, that’s kinda where it’s at; the bar is like right around there. There’s some songs that are fresher than those songs and songs that are a little darker than those songs, but that’s pretty much the medium right there of where we gone be for the album.
Is the album going to be strictly the group, or are you working with other people?
We’re working on that now; we’re trying to wrap it up real real soon. But for right now there’s not too many features on the album at all, it’s just us four. Our homeboy Shay Sanchez from the city is on there, Clyde Carson came through and did some stuff, but that’s really about it for right now as far as the features.
Is Traxamillion producing the whole album, or are you and him working on it together?
Yeah we split it damn near down the middle; coincidentally it just kind of worked out that way. He had some joints already, I came through and did some joints and we ended up having about seven or eight a piece maybe, on the album.
We’ve talked a lot about your individuality as a person and as an artist; with your persona and style, and your style of music, do you think people will try to compare you to and say you are trying to emulate some of the other new artists coming out across the country who have a different style as well like Kanye or Kid Cudi or Drake?
I definitely think people will think that, but people don’t get paid to think in my opinion. When they say shit like that, it’s kind of like “ehh, you know,” there’s nothing you can really do.
And it’s not even so much that they wanna rock what you rock, but they feel comfortable to rock what they wanna rock.
Yeah either way exactly, but when people say you’re trying to be like someone, there’s only so many styles you can have. Jeans and a T-shirt, you know what I mean, it’s not like niggas are walking around with Astronaut suits on. Men for the most part rock jeans and T-shirts, whether you got a big ass T-shirt on or not.
Who are some of the people you haven’t worked with either local or national that you would like to?
I haven’t worked with Locksmith yet as far as on some music shit, we know each other but we haven’t really rocked yet. I think he’s a talented artist, but like I said earlier, 40, and I like, I’m a Devin The Dude fan. I’m a Redman fan, I like Redman, I like Jay-Z of course, I mean everybody says Jay-Z but you know that’s somebody I would like to work with. I think The Clipse is dope, I like Jeezy, I like T.I., I like Snoop, there’s legends out there I would like to work with one day. As far as production wise, definitely Dre and Timbaland and Neptunes.
Anything else you’re working on besides your solo album and the F.N.M. group album?
Yeah I got this mixtape “Hood Nerd 2: Memoirs Of The Invisible Man,” that’ll be hosted by Big Von. And that’s just the second installment of the series of the “Hood Nerd” mixtape, so this’ll be the second one.
Contrary to what a lot of people may think, the Bay Area ain’t dead yet, there is a great crop of new young talent that is bubbling under and could blow at any moment and Erk Tha Jerk is definitely one of the upcoming bright spots to watch out for. Make sure to request the hit single “Right Here” (**which you can listen to below**) on your local radio station, that song has unlimited potential to really go far, but not without the support of the listeners. Erk is setting a good example for not only people in the hip-hop industry, but for his peers and youngsters as well, never be afraid to be yourself, stand tall and be proud of what and who you are.
Now that you’ve gotten to know him a little better, here’s what to do. Until you can go out and purchase some of the releases from him, there is definitely no shortage of ways you can stay in contact with and up to date on Erk Tha Jerk. Be sure to check out his Youtube channels, www.youtube.com/everybodyhateserk and check out the ‘Erk Says’ segments, check out www.erkthajerk.blogspot.com, www.twitter.com/erkthajerk, www.myspace.com/erkthajerk, www.facebook.com/erkthajerk and www.twitter.com/thefnm.
ERK THA JERK "RIGHT HERE"
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Interview By: C-4
Richmond, California with music and his own personal life, goals and aspirations and managed to always maintain his stance even with so many negative possibilities around him and not get caught in the middle of the ever growing violence, financial problems, bad educational system, poor living conditions and so much more going on in the city.
