one. It’s our first album and it’s going to be a classic for us, so we’re pretty excited about it. The summer had to be ridiculous for you with the success of “Teach Me How to Dougie.” Oh yeah, last year was crazy. I think 2010 was the year of the Dougie. How did the song “Teach Me How to Dougie” come about? It all started from one of our friends that grew up where we grew up. He went off to college in Texas where the dance originated, and when he came back out here on his break, he suggested we do a song about the dougie. We just took the idea and it turned into something bigger than we thought. It took off from there. “Teach Me How to Dougie” was the first song we recorded as a group. It felt good once the song started blowing up. We heard that more people were doing the dougie around the world. It was breathtaking. We didn’t know what to think. It’s crazy. Justin Bieber was on Ellen teaching her how to do it. What are some of the best stories you’ve heard about the song? They had a little segment on ESPN; they brought Doug E. Fresh in and were showing all the clips of the NFL and NBA players doing the dougie. We got to teach Kim Kardashian how to do the dougie, so that was cool. We went to one of her parties. That’s hot! Yeah, it was! She was hot too! (laughs) Did any of y’all try to get at Kim Kardashian? Nah, we were only there for business. But we got her Twitter, so if one of the homies is tryin’ to talk to her they’re probably doing it low-key. (laughs) At the car and bike show in Atlanta we taught Ne-Yo’s mom, T-Pain’s mom, and Lil Wayne’s momma how to do the dougie, so that was a good look too. They already knew how to do it, so it’s crazy! What was your favorite moment last year? Shoot, performing at the [BET] Hip Hop Awards! I remembered being at home watching the show, so for me to finally be on there, that’s crazy. I used to be like, “I wanna be on there one day,” and it actually came true. It was crazy! Are there any negative aspects to having a huge hit single like “Teach Me How to Dougie” before you have a nationwide fan base? Yeah, because people think that we can only make songs like that. “Teach Me How
to Dougie” is a bubblegum song. It’s simple and it’s catchy, but it blew up. So there could be a negative side to that because people think we’re just one-hit wonders, but that’s not what it is. When the album drops they’re gonna know. For people who haven’t heard the other songs, what kind of music do you do in addition to radio hits? It’s kinda hard to pinpoint, because we don’t have a certain sound. Our sound doesn’t sound too West Coast or too East Coast. It’s just our own Cali swag. It’s kinda hard to explain. We’ve got our own flavor. The name Cali Swag District is pretty selfexplanatory, but what made you settle on that for your name? Our visionary came up with the name; he’s the one that put the group together. He had the name before the faces. When we first heard the name, we were like, “I don’t know, it’s kinda corny,” but we just ran with it anyway. It’s different. Nobody has a name like ours, and it means something to us. So we all got it tatted on us. Who is your visionary and how did he select y’all to be a part of Cali Swag District? Did he hold auditions or something? No, our visionary is Big Wy, he used to be a part of The Relatives, which was a rap group in the 90s. He was signed to Death Row a long time ago. I guess he wanted to start fresh and do something new, so he decided to put a group together. He knew Yung through Yung’s manager, because Yung has been rappin’ since he was 14 years old. Yung was doing his solo thing and he needed a DJ, so that’s where C-Smoove came in. He was a DJ for the city of Inglewood; that’s where he grew up. So once they brought him in and did a song together, Big Wy started thinking they could be the two dudes to start the group. M-Bone was there already because he used to hang with Yung most of the time. C-Smoove brought me in, and once Big Wy saw us all together, he was like, “I think I got something here.” [In our group] there’s a tall dude, a short dude that looks Asian, a dark skinned dude, and a dude that looks almost white. It’s kinda crazy, but it works. What else do you have coming up? Is there anything else you’d like to plug? We’re trying to do more TV. Maybe a reality show or some movies. I think 2011 is gonna be a big year for us, besides just the tour and the album dropping. // OZONE MAG // 17