MORE FOR PRINCESS FOR CONCERNS CE CARTOONS CAN CONTROLLERS SEE MORE
SONNY CHEEBA
DJ TECHNICIAN
With a lyrical punch like Cassius Clay, a flow like the Nile,
GEECHI SUEDE
and a flare like Liberace, Camp Lo comes to the table with a marked
deck, ready to hustle any and all players of the game we call rap. The Bronx's, Geechi
Suede and Sonny Cheeba, get loose over beats and basslines that are funkier than George Clinton's medicine cabinet, with
rhymes centered around '70s blaxploitation flicks, sippin' wine, and havin' a good time. Uptown Saturday Night has blown
up every house speaker and boom box from New York to Moscow, Tokyo to Ontario due to its free-flowin' party style and
lack of hard-edge rhymes. Sonny Cheeba and Camp Lo's DJ Technician break it down.
How did y'all meet and come to
form Camp Lo?
Sonny Cheeba: I met your man,
Suede, through this girl we both knew. I
was listening to Sal's demo, that's
Suede's real name, same as mine, and I
was checkin' out his demo-checkin' it
out, checkin' it out-and I was diggin' it.
I told her what I thought of it, broke the
whole shit down, critiqued every nook
and cranny. She told him, and he really
dug my criticisms. So, we hooked up,
and he was like, "Yo, I don't wanna
rhyme by myself, 'cause it's too hard, so
me and you gonna rhyme together,"
blahzay boom, so he pulled me in, and
we started rhyming together. But I
never rhymed before, so I tried it out,
saw what was up, the response was
okay, so we kept rockin' on, and that's
how we got on. Then we met up with
your man, DJ Technician, through man-
agement and other friends.
DJ Technician: I always came to they
shows, so I knew they deal. I used to be
like, "Y'all need to change this, you
need to do that." One day they said,
"Yo, why don't you do that shit then?"
So I did. And we just clicked from there.
See, 'cause they never had a DJ up till
then. They used to pull everything off
DAT. So, me comin' in, they finally had
a DJ, and shit came together lovely. It's
been about a year, like Pam Grier, that
we been together.
You cats are all about the '70s
black-action references, what are
some favorite flicks?
What's up, no love for Shaft?
DJ Technician: Shaft is the joint.
Shaft better than Superfly, to me.
Sonny Cheeba: Man, I'm talking
about what cats had on in the movie.
They gear, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout.
DJ Technician: I'm talking about the
movie, man. The plot, not the clothes.
Good clothes don't always make a
movie good.
Sonny Cheeba: My personal joints
are like Cooley High #1, The Mack,
Shaft... hold up, did I just say Shaft? I
meant Superfly.
92 THRASHER
Sonny Cheeba: Shaff? I don't know...
Shaft is not one of my personal joints.
Sparkle, that's another one you need to
check, and Uptown Saturday Night with
Sidney Poitier. That's, of course, where
we got the album title from.
The whole album, lyrics aside,
has this classic, funky, get-down
tempo, what music did you
grow up on?
Sonny Cheeba: Earth, Wind & Fire,
Stevie Wonder, Commodores. When I
got older, I started gettin' into The Four
Tops, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye.
Have cats ever tried to label you
or peg you as this or that?
Sonny Cheeba: Man, cats tried to
Digable Planets us on "Coolie High."
With "Luchini," they couldn't do it,
'cause the whole shit is different,
sounds different, my man's tone is dif-
ferent. Everything changed. So, they
couldn't nothing about "Luchini,"
't say
'cause we on our own shit. We Camp
Lo, nobody else.
What do you think about the direc-
tion hip-hop is heading in?
DJ Technician: To me, hip-hop is all
about partyin'. All the joints we make or
made are so you can party to 'em.
Sonny Cheeba: But you gotta be hard
now, but just bein' hard is played out, so
now you gotta be hard and flashy. If you
can lie about how much 'chini you got,
and how many cars you got, and how
many cats you blast up, and if you use a
beat that's already been used twelve
times, you gonna win it.
How many cars you got, Sonny?
Sonny Cheeba: I don't know about
shit right now. Ain't too many abstract
cats out there. I guess it's just gonna
keep doin' what it's doin'. What's com-
mercial will remain commercial.
Sonny Cheeba: Twelve. And they all
fit in my underground garage in the
Bronx. But usually I just be using my
helicopter that I keep up on the roof.
Nah, I'm playin', no need for cars.
Have you been out to Europe yet?
Sonny Cheeba: Nah, but soon. We
just need to get us some passports, and
we'll be straight.
Well, before you get out there, you
need to buy yourself a skateboard
with Grind King trucks on it.
Sonny Cheeba: Oh, word?
See, Grind Kings have hallowed-
out baseplates, a perfect spot to
stash your hash to smuggle it into
the country. Sure, it'll go off at the
metal detector, but what? It's just
your skateboard.
there. That was like two months ago.
Oh, so you're just on a short leave
of absence then.
Sonny Cheeba: Well, yeah. I used to
Amaretto it down, that was till Earl the
Pearl came up. Word, it had me earlin'
in a hotel room, man. But I still get with
the Ammy, but not so hard. That night I
was mixin' it up with Ammy and Henny,
shit splashed me that night. That was
the first time I earled the pearl.
Ever, ever?
Sonny Cheeba: That's good. I like
that, but I don't smoke anymore. I ran
into some bad altercations with the
herbs. I got the nervousness, the heart
racing, everything. I felt like someone
splashed me with somethin'. That did it
for me, though. That's all it took.
Did you have to go to the hospital?
Sonny Cheeba: I did! But they said
there was nothing wrong. Shit wore off
after twenty minutes of being up in
Sonny Cheeba: Word.
You never drunken threw up before
two months ago?
Sonny Cheeba: I'm tellin' you,
never. I am not the Pearl-man. On
the other hand, Suede is. You see
him, you call him Earl the Pearl.
He's the one.
How would you best describe
Camp Lo?
Sonny Cheeba: Some brand new
Hollywood, outta the way cats.
Original-ish cats that you wouldn't
expect to see in the rap game. Camp
Lo be like characters straight out the
movies, but in real life, though.
And what does the future hold?
Sonny Cheeba: The future is film
and production. I already got the char-
acters for the film thought out and
written up. I can't tell you what the
shit's gonna be about, but I'll say it's
gonna be somethin' new, somethin'
different. I won't be the star or nothin',
I'll probably be one of the side cats,
the side-order dudes. I'll be layin' in
the cut, givin' it some direction,
makin' some shit look right, makin'
sure cats do it like I pictured it. It's
gonna be some shit. -Chris Nieratko
FTC team difer & REAL pro
JOHNNY FONSECA
SKATEBOAR
は
SAN FRANCISCO
GLOBAL MAIL ORDER/PRO SHOP
send for free summer catalog
622 Shrader (at Haight) S.F. CA. 94117
Phone 415-386-6693 Fax 415-386-0536
www.fte skateboarding.com