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Kung fu Vampire is an underground champion when it comes to creative innovative hip-hop that has no set boundaries or limits. No one can match his style of originality! If you're in Canada when he tours the country in June, mark it on your calendars! You will be beyond pissed at yourself for not attending! How has San Jose influenced who you are as a recording artist today? Kung Fu Vampire: I've always been against the grain! This city definitely doesn't harvest that and it's a really big mixed culture. So many different cultures (skateboarding, punk rock, Latin) that have rose from that area. It's definitely played a part in me wanting to always do my own thing, but sometimes this city wasn't supportive of that. I like the uphill battle. I like the idea of doing some of this shit uphill and doing my own weird brand of industrial chopper style hip-hop. What brand of wine would best describe your personality the most and why? Kung Fu Vampire: Shit man, I'm a blend of everything! So, I would go with Chianti. A nice deep red wine blended with an OP taste. Like some type of red table wine with a blend of different grapes, because we're a whole blend of styles! For the unfamiliar where did you come up with Kung Fu Vampire? Kung Fu Vampire: The name stems from some cultural beliefs and backgrounds that I have and my love for the Asian culture and the art of Kung Fu. And what Kung Fu actually represents! The term means time and effort spent towards enlightenment. Which in latent terms it means someone who works his or her ass off to obtain one goal. I love that and I love the balance of it; Kung Fu being the yen energy and vampire being the yang. I've also always looked really young for my age when I was a teenager and I looked like a little kid. When I was twenty-one I looked like a teenager. I would sleep until noon and wouldn't leave the house until the night and would be up all night; and with my big search for immortality and longevity of health from the Vampire inside of me, there is a little bit of monster there, but mainly it's about being seductive and healthy. That's really that side of it. The way I got named that was from some friends of mine and I were in the back of my backyard talking about a Kung Fu movie and we discussed a vampire movie and then we were kind of like, "Oh! A Kung Fu and a Vampire movie!" and then talked about doing a project called "The Kung Fu Vampire Satire" and by the time I got around to working on that, it turning into, "Oh! That's just my name! This really works. This is who I am!" It represents my Yen and Yang and the balance. In the realm of fictional vampires what vampire based book or movie influenced your creativity the most? Kung Fu Vampire: I was never really influenced by any of those. I've always thought I've been really innovative and I can't just name myself something that doesn't really exist, otherwise I would've probably been like one of those dude's with a name that doesn't really mean anything. So, I had to make it something tangible. Kung Fu and vampire fit the most. But after we started that there were things that I was instantly attracted to and Marvel's Blade would be the one that I like the most. That's the storyline that I relate to. I would actually jokingly say that's he's the only other Kung Fu Vampire. I love Blade, man! I need to go back and read everything that I can! What inspired you to write the song "Slice of Life" and how does it reflect your own personal life? July 2016 - VandalaMagazine.Com 43