INTERVIEW with Maestro Gamin aka MAESTRO GAMIN
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Interview with local San Jose Poet, Maestro Gamin.
Thanks for taking the time for an interview with the crew from
Substance!
SUBSTANCE: What
are the changes that you are seeing in California inside the underground
music environment?
Gamin:
SUBSTANCE: How
would you describe your poetry? Will imaginary lyrics ever overcome real
lyricism?
Gamin:
*i wouldnt say imaginary lyrics will overcome anything, i mean if youre doing it right you would probably try to work in some degree of playful "license" here and there..and your piece may be a "narrative" type of thing, see thats one thing i never understood..why sometimes folks think that all great writing has to come from a real experience . if you are a great writer..i mean a person who has real facility with words, you should be able to write anything..it should be powerful regardless if its a love story or a hard luck cautionary tale, or a story about a kid who had a dream but lived in a fucked up world .. you feel me? its like you could tell me about your drug addictions and think that was really something to go through and maybe drawing from that "well of pity" is a nice comfort zone for your work ..but at some point .. you and everyone else is going to get tired of waiting for you to come up with new ways to express it . thats just what i think. i try to write creatively and truthfully, but i dont tear up papers simply because i havent lived them. that being said, starting from a very "real" place is never easier.
*i wouldnt say imaginary lyrics will overcome anything, i mean if youre doing it right you would probably try to work in some degree of playful "license" here and there..and your piece may be a "narrative" type of thing, see thats one thing i never understood..why sometimes folks think that all great writing has to come from a real experience . if you are a great writer..i mean a person who has real facility with words, you should be able to write anything..it should be powerful regardless if its a love story or a hard luck cautionary tale, or a story about a kid who had a dream but lived in a fucked up world .. you feel me? its like you could tell me about your drug addictions and think that was really something to go through and maybe drawing from that "well of pity" is a nice comfort zone for your work ..but at some point .. you and everyone else is going to get tired of waiting for you to come up with new ways to express it . thats just what i think. i try to write creatively and truthfully, but i dont tear up papers simply because i havent lived them. that being said, starting from a very "real" place is never easier.
SUBSTANCE: What
is it about human nature to want to hide underground media?
Garmin: * hip hop is the most powerful medium in contemporary music. its the most commercially viable, its the most accessible, everyone thinks they can or should do it at some point, and one of the reasons i fell in love with it was it was still something to be "discovered". it wasnt shoved in your face, it had no generic "uniform" yet, you didnt know what an emcee looked or dressed like..you couldnt imagine that one song gone viral on the internet could generate some serious visibility. it just couldnt be imagined..
so, it felt more personal. it was cultivated (when i was young) between friends, playful competition, house parties, college radio battles, and what not. so there was an elitism about it. you wanted to not make it so available to people. you wanted to invalidate those who posed threats to your mojo. it was like not knowing how to make fire and having to protect this small flame from harsh elements. if that shit went out ..what would do?
in turn we generated alot of hip hop snobbery in that time . alot of crabs in the barrel mentality. and when you go some places like san diego, or san jose, or san francisco.. you can still smell it in the air. old ghosts of dead egos, yknow. but thats home..and it always will be home to a certain degree.
so i feel like people who truly treasure what they consider an essential "what its all about-ness" for a form of art, will need to know its still "theirs" and the only way to make sure that beer in the fridge is waiting for you at the end of the party is to hide that mutha fucka behind the shit nobody wants.
so, it felt more personal. it was cultivated (when i was young) between friends, playful competition, house parties, college radio battles, and what not. so there was an elitism about it. you wanted to not make it so available to people. you wanted to invalidate those who posed threats to your mojo. it was like not knowing how to make fire and having to protect this small flame from harsh elements. if that shit went out ..what would do?
in turn we generated alot of hip hop snobbery in that time . alot of crabs in the barrel mentality. and when you go some places like san diego, or san jose, or san francisco.. you can still smell it in the air. old ghosts of dead egos, yknow. but thats home..and it always will be home to a certain degree.
so i feel like people who truly treasure what they consider an essential "what its all about-ness" for a form of art, will need to know its still "theirs" and the only way to make sure that beer in the fridge is waiting for you at the end of the party is to hide that mutha fucka behind the shit nobody wants.
SUBSTANCE: About
4 years ago, San Jose was considered the largest safest city on the block. Have
you ever considered it to really be that safe or just maybe politics weren't
publishing what was really happening out here?
Gamin: *well my folks moved me and my 5 brothers and 3 sisters out of SJ when i was like 3.i had cousins in morgan hill, sunnyvale, mt. view, and SJ. my sister still lived with her mother and went to gunderson and our brother went to mitty, and i had a brother and sister going to fremont..so .as far as the south bay area goes, its hard to only concentrate on one city. i mean every place you go has a lower income cluster or neighborhood folks. in sunnyvale they have a place off homestead that i knew the p.o.'s called "white harlem", most of the homies lived there and right in the middle of that project tenement i went to the child care before and after school. only blacks and indians lived there coincidentally, but families lived there and also alot of young folks before the dot com bubble..
i remember being at work and watching a kid get a few holes in him. it was horrible shit.
but another time i was coming out of a club downtown and it was one of my first times back in the bay and i seen like a gestapo line of pigs with their arms crossed looking at us like daring us to move. i was like " these are the most gangster ass police i've ever seen". so i mean, maybe it is the safest place in the country. i mean west berlin was probably pretty safe too. seems like every time someone gets shot he's black or brown though so i dont who it really safe for. maybe it's safe for the guy trying to get elected.
that being said though .. i remember when downtown SJ was stock full of winos and hoes . it was glorious damage. a drunk white hobo had a 10 minute conversation with my father talking in only swear words but it was a real conversation..in his mind he was probably telling him how his day was going but it came out using only curse words.. it tripped my mind out at 7 years old. my dad kept it up in order to keep it moving ..but it messed me up. i didnt want to leave the theater after that.
i remember being at work and watching a kid get a few holes in him. it was horrible shit.
but another time i was coming out of a club downtown and it was one of my first times back in the bay and i seen like a gestapo line of pigs with their arms crossed looking at us like daring us to move. i was like " these are the most gangster ass police i've ever seen". so i mean, maybe it is the safest place in the country. i mean west berlin was probably pretty safe too. seems like every time someone gets shot he's black or brown though so i dont who it really safe for. maybe it's safe for the guy trying to get elected.
that being said though .. i remember when downtown SJ was stock full of winos and hoes . it was glorious damage. a drunk white hobo had a 10 minute conversation with my father talking in only swear words but it was a real conversation..in his mind he was probably telling him how his day was going but it came out using only curse words.. it tripped my mind out at 7 years old. my dad kept it up in order to keep it moving ..but it messed me up. i didnt want to leave the theater after that.
SUBSTANCE: On a global scale, what do you feel the
progress in social media is becoming on the future of television? Do you feel
cable, dish, and satellite being relevant anymore?
Gamin: * i dont have a t.v. im strictly an internet guy. i dont even have netflix, but i want to try it. my problem is if i do, i know im not going to shit with the rest of my day. im really holding out. but i think i stay pretty well informed with just the internet. so i think it makes sense.
SUBSTANCE: With programs like Soundcloud, Bandcamp
and Youtube, how would you describe the future label of what Indie Artist will
represent? How important is it to keep music unaltered and artist in control of
their art?
Gamin: * i really dont know enough of what the labels do now other than probably market you and distribute your shit..maybe make a video for you and have it look half way decent.. but to "define the future label" ? hmm..
well, if theyre not already doing that , which im sure they are, they'll have to have a staff of folks (it would seem) to handle your twitter/facebook update/ four square, ect. and all other social media sites , because the listening audience (and these are folks who may never get to live shows) are alot more fragmented and plugged in then how older audiences were in the past. so the label of the future is probably doing just that, having (i see in my mind) rows of small laptops and cubicles, i pods, and just updating, updating, updating, and shit like that .. thats what all the people i know do.. and we dont even have the money to have it self perpetuate yet. we just create and rock shows and upload videos.
*the artist having control over their art..its important depending on what type of artist youre talking about. i know folks who only want to make drum loops and samples with no mastering and play their shit at small parties or for their friends and have bandcamp accounts, and i know folks who are borderline singed on indies and have their shit primped and procured to perfection. sometimes an artist will seem to be fine with only doing enough to have it in their hand and say i did it , and others are real frustrated over the angle they need to have a label perceive them so they can get on a tour or some shit..the artist who prefers to be uncompromising might say having his shit sound like crap gives him credibility amongst the group of folks "they" know would check for them, and the cat who wants his shit to be spit polished and whatever would either have the funds to go in or have someone take it from him and put it in some new clothes to dress it up different.
well, if theyre not already doing that , which im sure they are, they'll have to have a staff of folks (it would seem) to handle your twitter/facebook update/ four square, ect. and all other social media sites , because the listening audience (and these are folks who may never get to live shows) are alot more fragmented and plugged in then how older audiences were in the past. so the label of the future is probably doing just that, having (i see in my mind) rows of small laptops and cubicles, i pods, and just updating, updating, updating, and shit like that .. thats what all the people i know do.. and we dont even have the money to have it self perpetuate yet. we just create and rock shows and upload videos.
*the artist having control over their art..its important depending on what type of artist youre talking about. i know folks who only want to make drum loops and samples with no mastering and play their shit at small parties or for their friends and have bandcamp accounts, and i know folks who are borderline singed on indies and have their shit primped and procured to perfection. sometimes an artist will seem to be fine with only doing enough to have it in their hand and say i did it , and others are real frustrated over the angle they need to have a label perceive them so they can get on a tour or some shit..the artist who prefers to be uncompromising might say having his shit sound like crap gives him credibility amongst the group of folks "they" know would check for them, and the cat who wants his shit to be spit polished and whatever would either have the funds to go in or have someone take it from him and put it in some new clothes to dress it up different.
SUBSTANCE: A couple of years ago, websites like
Myspace, Reverbnation and Beatport had a monopoly over Independent labels. How
do you feel about the war happening in cyber space over conflict of interest
for private investors? It seems programmers are wishing to free the Artist,
while capitol moguls are trying to silence them. What are your thoughts on it?
Gamin: i feel like those sites are good in the way that turning the "knobs" on the toaster to make the bread lighter is good. its good to go through the motions of building a network and distributing music, but that site is going to get successful because of people doing that not because its distributing good music or making good music be heard.
i dont use one of those sites specifically cause as soon as you max out its features, it kicks into selling you shit . selling you shit in overdrive. its worse than spam. its computer herpes.its every other day getting hit up from a time slot panhandler telling you that for 150 bucks he can get you onstage with a celebrity rap artist. i dont know, maybe folks get famous from that shit .. or maybe they meet producers. gimme a few racks and i'll let you know.
but there's bad shit on both sides. i mean, we're all familiar with the way labels do you. might agree to pressing some of your stuff but only give you a one time buy out, then collect the small change your record sells over your lifetime. we all KNOW that, yknow..but just because the new media makes it easier and more accessible doesnt mean its a a fast track through the bullshit to musical liberation. its not Tubman's underground railroad. its usually some kind of shilling game nickle and diming you in exchange for another upload, with the promise that somebody will discover you. there's alot of "they'll discover me" way of thinking online i feel. im not exempt, but i'll be damned if im gonna pay them money just have to sift through spam folders.
i dont use one of those sites specifically cause as soon as you max out its features, it kicks into selling you shit . selling you shit in overdrive. its worse than spam. its computer herpes.its every other day getting hit up from a time slot panhandler telling you that for 150 bucks he can get you onstage with a celebrity rap artist. i dont know, maybe folks get famous from that shit .. or maybe they meet producers. gimme a few racks and i'll let you know.
but there's bad shit on both sides. i mean, we're all familiar with the way labels do you. might agree to pressing some of your stuff but only give you a one time buy out, then collect the small change your record sells over your lifetime. we all KNOW that, yknow..but just because the new media makes it easier and more accessible doesnt mean its a a fast track through the bullshit to musical liberation. its not Tubman's underground railroad. its usually some kind of shilling game nickle and diming you in exchange for another upload, with the promise that somebody will discover you. there's alot of "they'll discover me" way of thinking online i feel. im not exempt, but i'll be damned if im gonna pay them money just have to sift through spam folders.
SUBSTANCE: Favorite pig out spot in San Jose?
Gamin: *anyplace that doesnt give me the shits or Erik's Deli.
SUBSTANCE: Any shout outs?
Gamin: *Lurkmusic/AEKS/BARRY BONES/Abomination/Nimrod/
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