What’s crackin’ people. I had a great weekend doing shows for the people of NYC, Philly and RIchmond. Thanks to all those of you who came out (especially those of you who read this blog and told me so at the shows. I love that.). I got Shows in Portland, Seattle and SF next weekend. More info HERE.
Anyway, two weeks in a row…STILL NOT SICK. Trying to set a record up in here.
So, as you probably know, this is that thing where I answer questions sent into me by my readers. I can always use more. If you have an itch that needs scratching in the form of a question, send it my way. Either leave it int he comment section below or email it to me at phatfriendblog@gmail.com
Yay!

What do you think is behind the “white rap voice”? Do you think it’s just guys who don’t speak with any sort of street in their voices who all of a sudden find rap and decide to try it? Obviously the essence of it is over-pronunciation of all syllables and a general higher voice/whine, but why do you think this happens so much and with such consistency?

I think the “White voice” is deeper than that. I think that, while it’s a mixture of the things you listed (Over pronunciation and lack of street authenticity) what REALLY makes a white voice white is the whininess. A successful rap voice usually requires presence, command and something about it that sounds cool (the kids call it swagger). Think of dudes like Big Daddy Kane or Rakim. Chuck D. Even a dude with a lisp can sound cool if his voice happens to hit those buttons in your brain. Also, part of rappers sounding good is effortlessness. Whenever I hear someone trying really hard, it’s obvious. A lot of white dudes don’t have any of those qualities and , on top of that, sound like they’re struggling just to stay on beat. The same could be said about someone like Kweli. His voice is fairly weak and his flow has never sounded natural to me. So, if you’re feeling like I’m picking on just white guys, rest easy cracker. It does go both ways. But let’s not fool ourselves, it’s called “white voice” for a reason.
I think a large portion of white guys are just predisposed to having voices that don’t sound good in the context of rapping. We may be better suited for singing over quietly strummed guitars. Take a dude like John Darnielle from the Mountain goats. He’s got a serious white voice but he finds a way to use it in music so it sounds cool.
But, really, when it’s all said and done, it’s all genetics and DNA. Whites be white, yo.

This is kinda off topic but it’s tour related. So you are going to play a festival called “Lightning in a Bottle” in Temecula California in July. That’s the closest you have come to San Diego (about 30 min) that you have come in a long time. This is definitely one of those hippie rave type festivals that you mention you get billed on from time to time. Don’t get me wrong. I definitely don’t blame you for playing when and where you can and for having an eclectic fan base. I would be down to wade through the sea of tie die & glow sticks to see your live show in a minute but, this being a pretty large festival, even a day pass is almost $200. Now, I dig your music and have been a fan for a while but that’s pretty steep especially considering I can almost guarantee that your performance would be the only thing I would be in to.(Except maybe scoring some shrooms or some Molly! Hehe)Seriously though I can’t think of anyone I’d pay $200 to see except like a Doom/Aesop/Wu-Tang/Billy Woods/90′s ATCQ fantasy line up thing. Has anyone ever mentioned this to you before? OR do some harcore Blockhead fans( that aren’t of the Patchouli wearing-fuzzy pant-rocking variety) really shell out over a hundo to come see the god? I imagine playing these types of shows are good for you. Getting paid, getting exposed to new fans, and the rest but do you ever resent it? Do you wish you could be maybe opening up on a tour with a rapper you know? I just ask mostly because youve said that these shows really aren’t your thing as far as a scene goes. Or does it not matter and a show is a show?

I can’t say I spend much time thinking about it. As far as festivals go, I’ve gotten to the point where I just suck it up and do them and end up having a good time. The thing is, while that’s not my scene, the people are generally very nice and the promoters are accommodating (except this one TIME.
While i’m sure there is a decent proportion of my fan base that is in the same boat as you, there are also others who love to go to festivals and relate my music much less to rap than someone who’s been listening to me since the early 2000’s. What I’m saying is, I do have a decent sized burner/electronic festival type following. While this surprises me as I think of my music as very much rooted in hip hop, I’m not about to be a dick about it and try and pick and choose fans. Everyone is welcome.
As for the hip hop festival idea, I don’t think it would work. My set , at the end of the day, plays better to people who are trying to dance or bug out. Hip hop crowds that stand and stare, while occasionally pumping a fist are not who I wanna play for. That may be more my personal scene (though, going to rap shows in 2013 is a fucking nightmare for me) but my fan base is something totally different, in general.

Did you ever bump into Eyedea or meet him? He’s an incredibly dope freestyler and I know he’s done some sessions/tracks with Aesop, Illogic, and that whole crew. Ever been present for a Rhymesayers freestyle?

I chilled with Eyedea around 2000. He and slug came to NYC for the Rock steady rap festival and we hung out and recorded some songs together. This is one of them:

The original version of “Bent Life” featured slug and Eyedea is another we did

Here’s a pic of him at my old crib kicking a rhyme to my inflatable doll/beer cozy

I think after that weekend, I saw him maybe once or twice again but he was a really good dude and one of the craziest freestylers I’ve ever witnessed. RIP

I know you’ve talked about not wanting to grow older and dying while you’re still young (young in the relative sense that you’re not some mentally/physically deteriorating mess with all sorts of old people problems). What do you think is the sweet spot age-wise for death? Don’t you think that you’re always going to have that self-preservation where in the moment, you won’t want to die?

I think it depends on a lot of factors. Do i have a family that needs me? Am I bored? Do i have plans for the future? In my mind, how long I’d want to live is directly related to how functional I am. If I’m ever at the point where I can’t wipe my own ass ever again, put me in a wheelchair and roll my ass off a bridge. Once that’s gone, so if your soul. But, seeing as that could happen tomorrow or in 50 years, I really can’t call it. I basically only want to live if I’m relatively physically functional. I don’t need to be doing wind sprints when I’m 70 but I’d like to be able to walk up some stairs if I need to. I’d like to not be the age that, if I trip, I might paralyze myself.
I often thought that I’d rather live a full life that ends the age of 40 than live a lame life to the ago of 80 but, as I’m nearing in on 40, I dunno if I agree with that anymore. I think a happy medium works for me. I have no interest in being an old, decrepit burden on anyone. So, if I live till 60 in generally good health and die mid-orgasm or something, I’m fine with that. Much better that than dying of starvation, half cocked off a toilet seat with a half wiped asshole cause my back gave out and I live alone.

do you say pop or soda? i think saying soda is weird, like calling kids children or cars automobiles. i hear some people in the south call all soda pop “coke” which seems ignorant as fuck. anyway pop or soda?

Pop is some midwest shit. I hear someone call soda “Pop” and , much like the words “hella” or “wicked”, I basically know where they’re from. Me and everyone I’ve ever met on the east coast call it “soda”.
The funny thing about your reasoning about why it’s weird to you that people would call it “soda” is that you’re saying that the full name of it is supposed to be “Soda pop”. Perhaps that might have been the case in the era of “Happy days” but who on this planet has called anything a “soda pop” in the last 30 years? It’s “soda” because that’s what it is…literally. Carbonation and flavored water. While “Pop” has a nice ring to it, it also sounds like something only a child should say. us grown folks though? Soda, bro. All day, every day.

Oh, side note…I wanna give a special shout out to a kid that came to my show in Richmond. He was the first through the door and walked right up to me and asked me to sign something for him. I agreed and he pulled out this:

(That’s what it looked like after I signed it)
But, yeah…Wow. In case you’re confused, that’s a pic of my that I posted on my instagram (@blockheadnyc) a few months ago for a #throwbackthursday. I was 15 in that pic…Killing it. This dude wins the grand prize for life. Props to you , guy. That made my night.

What up. Back again…Mark this day down cause I’m actually not sick! Feels good, man.
My back is fucked up though so, you know, life goes on.
Btw, I got shows in NYC, Philly and RIchmond this week. for more info, peep HERE. I’d love to see you.
Hey bro. Hey gurlll. You got any questions you wanna ask me? Well, this is your chance. Either email them to me at phatfriendblog@gmail.com or leave them in the comments below. I’m game for almost anything so feel free to get weird.
Now, on to this weeks questions…

What do you think about the gun control situation in America? Cause there’s some people making guns using 3D printers. To me that just sounds absolutely ludicrous. Any dimwit who can get there hands on a 3D printer can now potential access a gun regardless of their criminal history.

Wait…what? Who’s making guns out of 3d printers? and it’s such a widespread thing that it somehow enters the conversation about gun control? If that’s true than just abandon all hope and hide in your basement until you die of starvation. I’m not up on much but that sounds kinda farfetched. It sounds like it’s as much a problem as, say, people making Macgyver-like bombs out of gum and a toilet paper roll.
As for gun control, I’m the first to admit that I’m not very schooled on the issue. All I know is that a bunch of crazy people have been going crazy lately. Does that mean all guns should be banned? I don’t think that’s realistic. The best thing we can do is to make guns extremely hard to get. Like an adoption. Then it might cut down on the crazies going nuts. But, even then, people will find a way. This is one of those problems that, while it could be helped by a new plan, is never going to just go away. When people are motivated , they can achieve a lot. Unfortunately, that goes for people who want to do bad things just as much as people with good intentions.
I’ve always liked the Chris Rock Idea of making Bullets ridiculously expensive.

So I have been playing guitar for a long time now. I got into production trying to record my guitar sounds over a MIDI drum track. Gradually over the years, I got to enjoy the process and I started to become more ambitious about music production. I spent a lot of time developing my skills in Ableton and other DAWs and VSTs. However, I feel I have forgotten the kind of musician i started out to be. With so many different production tricks to learn and so many new genres to incorporate into my production style, my shit has turned too technical. I can’t feel the groove in my music anymore. My production ambition seems to be going nowhere. I don’t make any money from my music. I am almost 27 and there is family pressure on me to start thinking about my “real” career (I have a bachelors in engineering). I don’t wanna be the 30 year old guy who is pretending to make music (Thats how I assume other people will think of me). But there is this little voice inside of me that says that I cannot quit after coming so far and so close. There are days when spending hours on my laptop producing music seems so worthless. Yet, sometimes a song will gradually develop over months into something that even surprises me in a nice way.

I have thought about DJing for quick money. Sadly, I hate DJing that is popular in my part of the world. DJing here means mixing a few local language songs with a stupid little European house beat that drunk people like to shake their asses to. It has the perfect formuliac build up, the drop and what not. It makes me wanna puke when I am not drunk. Rarely, I end up dancing to this stupid shit when I get shit faced. Then, it makes me wanna cry the next morning. I don’t know what is wrong with me. Why am I so hung up on making good music or what I think is good music. Should I lower my standards and sell out? Should I quit music altogether and just make it a thing of my past (like my dad’s long hair phase from the 70s)? Should I take the risk and try to make “good” music even though most people don’t give a shit about it? In that case, I will probably be broke eternally for the sake of not selling out as an asshole DJ. Help.

I don’t know why everything has to be so black and white. You could get a job and still make music. Whenever people ask me for advice about being a musician for their career, I always tell them to not bother.While that seems grim, the reality is it’s simply to much of a dice roll. I’m existing doing what I do for a living because of lucky circumstances and good timing. My “talent” is completely secondary. There are plenty of people out there that are far more talented than I am that will never release anything simply because they never got that break. Or their timing was wrong.
So, I’d say keep making music if that’s what you like doing. Having a creative outlet is crucial to keeping sane. But don’t put much stock in it ever becoming a thing you can live off. It’s one of those things that, if it happens, accept it with open arms but never expect it…especially at your age. That said, I was 26/27 when I quit my last job to do music full time so it’s not impossible…just HIGHLY unlikely.
As for the DJing, I’d say if you value your sanity and you desire to not kill people, avoid it. DJing is the fucking worst for any with original thoughts towards music. Unless you’re just spinning stuff you like in a tiny lounge or something, it’s a nightmare that will make you question humanity on a nightly basis. For more on that, read this:
https://phatfriend.com/2012/02/01/no-requests/

Do you remember the stuff you dream at night ?
Are your dreams visual or are there sounds/music in your dreams as well ? what about movements and smell or taste ?
what is the most bizarre thing that ever happened in your dreams ?

I almost never remember my dreams. I don’t know if it’s cause i sleep so lightly or cause I just ignore them. When I de recall dreams, they tend to be both realistic and boring. Like I’ve literally dreamt I did my laundry. I woke up thinking “Oh cool, I don’t have to do laundry today” only to find that I hadn’t done my laundry. Mind bending stuff , I know. I’ve also dreamt of hearing some salacious gossip about a friend and woken up thinking it was real for like 5 hours. Shit like that. I certainly never have crazy, out of the ordinary things happen in my dreams. Which is too bad cause that kinda sounds like fun. Like an acid trip in your sleep.

Do you maintain a library of samples to use for songs or do you just keep it in your head and pull out records when you need them?

Over the last few years I’ve been sampling way more mp3’s (cause buying the records I’d need to sample would cost way too much so I download from rare music sites). Because of this, I’ve been able to come up with a highly organized system for possible samples I might use. Everything is in I-tunes. I organize them by type of sample (drum, something I’d use as a layer, or a main part ) and by what instrument they are. But that I mean I mark off the sample as “Piano” or , if it’s got multiple sounds I’d write “Horn/percussion/bass”. That way, when I’m making a beat, if i need a certain sound, I can just go through that section of my files and hopefully find something that works. This also helps with keep track of what I’ve sampled in the past so I don’t resample the same thing.
Before I did this whole I-tunes thing, I used to stick post it notes on records saying what songs on the record were good and what instruments they were. This is just a much more organized and upgraded version of that.

Seeing how women have decided to own the word “Bitch” (“I’m the baddest bitch in the room”), and calling someone a “Ho” doesn’t quite have the same impact it did 20 years ago (I blame this entirely on the Rap music), what is the most offensive word you could call a female in 2013?

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate gay people either… but those last two are hard to give up if you’ve used them once. (no homo?)

“Cunt” is clearly the winner of the offensive woman word(unless you’re in the UK where they use it like we use “Jerk”). I’d imagine they don’t wanna be called “twat” either. But, really, it’s more how you say it than what you say. I could playfully call a girl a cunt and get away with it but if I stress the word “Bitch” right , it will cut deep. Honestly, I think, more than any of those words, calling a girl “fat” will get the biggest rise out of them. Even worse “Fat cunt”. Hell, some girls lose their shits over being called “thick” and that’s typically a compliment. Any time you attack someones insecurities, that’s what’s gonna set them off. I do think it’s funny to call a really skinny girl a “fat bitch” though cause it’s such a curveball. Same with calling a group of guys “dykes”.

As for dudes, it’s the same thing. If someone calls me a “fag” or a “cock sucker” or “asshole” I can’t really say it’ll get much anger out of me. It’s just a word. It’s all about context and what the person is saying. I’m a straight white male so it’s basically impossible to offend me. I’m only offended by some shit where the persons attack either has merit or is so off base it’s makes me think the person is slow. But no single word is gonna set me off ever.

So what great rappers do you think have fallen the farthest from grace? Either from making one great album and never matching it or having a reign of greatness and then just slowly becoming a pathetic shell of their former self.

I mean, it’s gotta be KRS-One , right? In a world full of formerly great old school rappers who are now totally mediocre, he seems to take the cake. Not only did his rapping wear thin but he just seems like a crazy old cult leader now. Anytime I see a current interview with him he’s just rambling on about some bullshit that only norwegian break dancers would ever care about.
The thing is, old school rap dudes love to talk. They have some crazy stories and,if you’re a fan, that kinda shit is awesome to listen to. But once the stories end and the life lessons begin, you realize that lots of these dudes are just bitter old assholes trying to stay relevant. I con’t even blame them as the nature of life as a musician can be pretty brutal. But, the fact of the matter is, we all fall off eventually.