AKEOVER
ther H-Town representers await their chance at the limelight. // Photos and words by Matt Sonzala Log onto www.ozonemag.com or houstonsoreal.blogspot.com to read the complete interview
G.R.i.T. BOYS
Your name stands for Ghetto Reality in Texas. What exactly is your reality these days? Scooby: Well, the G.R.i.T. Boys reality is the things we go through in life. My struggles, Unique’s struggles, Poppy’s struggles, and we just present it to the world as a whole. It’s what we go through, and if you can relate to it then, get ahold of our music. It’ll probably help you get through a day. It’s really grindin’ music. A lot of people that hustle that we known in the hood be like, “Man, I need some CDs to grind with.” It’s reality rap. Do you hear much other reality rap out there these days? I hear it. It’s a lot of talent that ain’t been heard that I feel been on the same caliber as us. But there’s legends before us that’s been reality rap. Hawk, Z-Ro, and the Geto Boys fa sho set that example. It’s reality out there, but as a whole the music game is just at a different point right now. There’s a lot of shining going on right now, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Cause we down here ridin’ swangers and fo’s. But doesn’t that shit kinda get old at times? As much as I love some of these artists, I don’t want to hear any more about “paint drippin’.” It’s just recycled Screw freestyles over and over and over. Yeah, it is, but some people are late on the style of it and they take a liking to it just like I took a liking to it ten years ago. I don’t fault them, but myself personally and the rest of the G.R.i.T. Boys, we’re on a whole other level. We about bringin’ the real, what’s goin’ on. I ain’t ridin’ swangers, but you know, I got potnas that’s ridin’ swangas. So if I made a record about that, it’d be for them. But you’ve got a point, though. Do you have to do that in Houston? Do you have to? Well, a lot of people wanna hear about swangers and drank. If you’ve got that right beat and that catchy hook, it’s gonna go. The Geto Boys made it through all that, but the candy paint and the syrup kind of came after that era. But, I don’t think it’s hard. I feel like we gon’ shine regardless because you can’t deny good talent. I don’t feel like our records can be denied just by the content.
Log onto www.ozonemag.com or houstonsoreal.blogspot.com to read the complete interview When did you first start out doing music? Man, I started out doing music when I was twelve. My first time being heard on wax was in 1997 with ZRo’s “Look What You Did to Me” and G-Rapp the General. That’s Lil Flea’s brother from Street Military. How old were you when the Z-Ro record came out? I was sixteen or seventeen, somewhere around there. So it wasn’t too long after that you started doing the Guerilla Maab project, right? Yeah, Rise came out in 1999, right when I got out of jail. That was 1999. How long were you in jail? Not really long, man. I had caught an aggravated robbery case by being young and crazy. I was on the streets. It was a blessing. I didn’t do nothing but probably some weeks in jail, but I was on paper for like two years for aggravated robbery. They tried to give me close to forty years. But it was a blessing, man, the D.A. knew my lawyer and they felt that they could give me another chance to not mess my life up. I had been doing music, so I was already known for that. They ended up doing it where I only got two years deferred, but if I had messed up on that deferred probation then I’d have done the max that I could do on that case.
TRAE
How do y’all stay so consistent with the projects? How do you guys get to put out so much music? I don’t know, man, that’s what we do. People always wonder why we be so serious, and I just sit back and let ‘em know that we keep a lot of shit we go through inside our chests. We ain’t the type to go talk about our problems to nobody, so that’s what makes us good at what we do in this music shit. We go through shit on a day-to-day basis. I hate that it be how we go through it, but it’s good that we do go through it because without that, shit, what would we have? We go through so much shit, dog, it’s like retarded. If one of us ain’t in jail or one of us ain’t in a shootout or one of us ain’t fighting, I mean, it just be so much shit and there’s always something negative. Half the tiem we don’t even want to answer our phone because we don’t know what it is on the other line telling us.
OZONE MAR 2005
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