“[He was] a brilliant motherfucker, a supernobreak from the tedium that comes with writing, rehearsing, and recording technically complex va human. Like, you can’t even . . .” fubar begins, hardcore. “[In hip-hop] you write a song, make searching for words. “A hyper-intelligent human a beat, and record it, and you’ve got a track,” being, almost unbelievably so. He was entirely fubar states matter of factly. ThirdEye agrees, integral to BZRK starting at all.” Over the course of the night, I never hear the saying, “Hardcore music is the opposite of that. You practice for weeks, then you record.” “If you name “Dylan” or “BasedGhost,” his nickname, without a string of titles—“genius,” “prophet,” ever even record,” Caveman adds. Unlike their work in the hardcore scene, BZ- “the greatest rapper to ever die,” “modern-day RK’s only goal with hip-hop was to simply “make Dr. Seuss”—following close behind. To BZRK, something hype,” and their primary equipment Dylan is more than a fallen friend. He’s a force was a pirated copy of Fruity Loops 10 Studio of nature, a metaphysical presence, a spiritual Edition that Dylan—who’d been rapping under guide that continues to shape their outlooks the monikers Charlie Onion and Cretin Low— on life. “He’s our martyr-prophet-savior,” Cavehad given them. So, when they finally decided to man says. ThirdEye leans forward in his seat and record their first track, a jokey trap parody they adds, “He’s like our Jesus if we were Christian.” As BZRK remembers Dylan’s life as a musirefuse to disclose the name of, expectations were low. ThirdEye explains, “We went into it cian, artist, and intellectual, there aren’t any thinking, this is going to be hilarious, we’re about wet cheeks or choked-up voices. There’s only to make this hype-ass music that’s going to be funny sheer excitement—excitement for what Dylan . . . The reason it wasn’t a joke was because our did, who he was, and how BZRK plans to preserve his memory. Caveman and fubar proudly verses were too good on that first song.” Though the guys had dabbled in minor rap show off their BasedGhost-inspired tattoos and projects before—fubar and Dylan had been in a tell me about the “pages of his writtens” that duo called Quambis Squad, and ThirdEye con- they’ve saved. Other members sing the praises of Dylan’s tinued to write verses while in hardcore bands— it took a joke song for them to fully transition old noise rock outfit, Cum Dad, and explain that from doing Cookie Monster vocals to rapping the song “Distorted” not only features a Cum Dad sample, but a BasedGhost verse as well. The over ELO samples. “[After recording the parody], we just realized cover of Anesthetic Awareness and Local Anesthetthat we spit hot fire,” Caveman says nonchalant- ic feature the memorial program from Dylan’s ly, as if realizing you spit hot fire is as common- funeral in the background. And later, during the place as realizing your favorite movie has just photoshoot for this article, the guys even put a been put on Netflix. “After that, it got real se- pair of shoes and a can of Steel Reserve in front of them to honor BasedGhost. rious, real fast,” Mac Don says. BZRK was born. “We’re going to get him [Dylan] famous,” Mac Thrilled with their new direction, Caveman and ThirdEye approached Dylan about join- Don says. The statement’s met with a chorus of ing their new hip-hop project. They even made yeps and mmhmms from the rest of the group plans to record at ThirdEye’s house later that and prompts Caveman to declare, “We’ve all month. It should have been a standard night, decided that we’ll know we’ve made it when like hundreds they’d had with him before: old there’s a BasedGhost hologram rapping with us friends, new music, and a house show. I imag- on stage.” fubar interrupts to look me square ine it would have been something like the get- in the eyes: “Now it’s just about putting on for together BZRK’s having at this interview. But BasedGhost.” After hearing about BZRK’s plans for 2015, I’d Dylan never showed. The guys later found out that Dylan—who’d say they’re doing a pretty good job in the “putsuffered from schizophrenia since his late ting on” department. They’re currently planteens—took his own life that night. He was ning to play more local shows—both as solo artists and as BZRK—in the coming months, twenty-one years old.
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