Latest / Coconut Justice / CJP #82: Vice

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CJP #82: Vice · Coconut Justice

• Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Hey, what's good? Vice is an MC and songwriter coming out of Chicago. With a gift for words, some say he's a Jedi Master swordsman with a pen. That's why you'll see him running in circles that include people like Tony Baines and Lid Law, Slum Village and David Banner. He was a member of the Dream Team and the historic Stew Pot Stowaways. C4 Explosives joins me in this conversation with Vice. Before we get into it, Remember to go to coconut justice dot com to get you some clothes that I think would look good on you. Let's go. Hey everybody, like I said in the intro, my man Vice is here. What's up Vice? Vice: What's going on, fellas? What's the bill? What's the deal? What's happening? Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yes, sir, said Vice: Finally, finally able to get on here with you guys. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah, we've been we're excited. And by we I mean C four explosive. Hey, get up here, son. Yeah. Vice: Yes, sir. Cefore X. Plosives: What is good, man? I'm excited for this, man. Vice legend, man. I I'm I'm so I'm so proud, man. So proud of you, brother. Vice: Appreciate it, man. Appreciate it, man. Appreciate it. Much love. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): And it was it was perfect timing too, cause if you're watching this video, you you need to go check out Vice on Instagram 'cause my guy is out here like dropping knowledge for real, for real. Not just bars. He's like dropping knowledge. So one of the first things that I wanted to talk to you about was one of your recent videos where you're talking about how music is an inspiration and it can Vice: Uh-huh. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): inspire you to do different things. You want to elaborate on that a little bit? Vice: Yeah, yeah. yeah, most definitely. you know, you recently you had the the song by the young Miami girl who it caused a riff because a lot of people were tripping about the lyrics and you had certain people that were saying, Well, you know, lyrics don't lyrics can't make you do anything and lyrics these type of you know, songs can't make you can't control your mind and make you do something and I'm trying to explain to people that since the beginning of time music has been used to communicate. So since Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: the that's how the blues came apart. It wasn't just somebody just started singing. He was he the blues he was singing because he was feeling something. It was something that he was feeling. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Right. Vice: And when he when he sang that song, other people could understand what he was saying because they were going through the same things. You know what Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: I'm saying? You have people who they put music on before they go into the club. You know, they put music on be when they're on their way to work. to calm down. You have people as soon as they get off work, they put music on to relax them. So music can in in in fact inspire you. It can inspire you to do good. It can inspire you to do bad. You have guys back in even here in Chicago, New York, L L A, you've had villains and I would say the word you know criminals use Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Cefore X. Plosives: Mm-hmm. Vice: In the car playing certain music to hype them up to do certain things. You know what Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: I'm saying? Even Jeffrey Dahmer said when he was doing what he was doing, he was watching the Exorcist. You know what I'm saying? So certain things can inspire you, and music can most definitely inspire you. I have a song, Lifelines, on my new album, and so many people have called me and told me that that song has made them cry. You know, that's touched them in a place to make them cry. So Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: That's what a as a artist we're going for. So to say that music doesn't inspire, especially young kids who don't understand it, you know, it's it's it's it's a total it's a total misleading statement because music can in fact inspire. If you if you have a child that's two years old and he's listening to like when I was growing up, you I'm a I'm a seventies baby, so in the nineties, eighties we had in WA, you know, we had Cefore X. Plosives: I don't know. Vice: it's Public Enemy. You know now, I listened to all the hip hop when I was a teenager. But I didn't let my little cousins listen to NWA. I didn't play N WA Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Ha ha ha. Cefore X. Plosives: Right. Yeah, facts. Vice: around them. I played special ed. They got to hear my special air tape. They got to hear MC Light. They got to hear Chub Rock. They got to hear Heavy D Rock Him. They didn't get to hear N WA. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: I didn't play Ghetto Boys for them. You know, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. For Vice: I didn't I didn't play C Choice around them. You know, I didn't play I didn't play Killer Mike around them. I didn't do that. So I understood that you couldn't you can't do place certain music around children and do certain things around children 'cause they're sponges, but yeah, man, music most definitely inspires and so for people to say that it doesn't is such a misleading statement. Cefore X. Plosives: think like, you know, we're we're living movies, right? So like it's the soundtrack for your life, right? So we're all navigating through Vice: Well Cefore X. Plosives: life and we all have these this this music playing in our head. And we we walk we Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: walk with a we walk with a heartbeat. So right right right there is your instrument. And I Vice: Yes. That doesn't Cefore X. Plosives: I just had this conversation, Carlos and I, about this video that Graph put out with 38 Special. Right. And the video is called Rush it's called Rock, Paper Scissors. And Vice: Yes, yes. Cefore X. Plosives: And and the video he's putting a gun to his head. And I got Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: a lot of flack because I commented, I was like, the last thing I want to see is some kids in imitating what they see. And and they're on they're on the front page of the paper because they shot they shot themselves Vice: Right. Cefore X. Plosives: on some Tide Pod challenge shit. And I got a lot of heat, man. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: And it's like, well, don't listen to it. Well, why are you having it? As artists, we gotta be responsible. We're we're on a platform whether we like it or not. And Vice: Exactly. Cefore X. Plosives: And I know when I make music, if my my kid can't my kids can't listen to it or my grandparents can't listen to it, I probably won't make it. Vice: That's that's real. That's real, that's Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: real because it's that's and you're right, we all have a responsibility as artists, you know what I'm saying? You're gonna what are you gonna what are you gonna say with the three minutes that you have with with with with the artistry that you're doing, what are you saying? You know what I mean? If you're gonna talk Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: about something negative, make a make it a point. What are you talking about it for? You know what I mean? It's it's it's that's one thing I loved about Scarface. Who was the artist that made me start rapping was that Scarface told you a story. They Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: were true stories. But he at the end of that story, it was the truth and it was real. You probably didn't live throughout the story. You know what I'm saying? So that was something that it it touched me. So I was like, Yeah, you have to be careful. I remember when we was kids, man, in high school in Tupac, remember Tupac got in trouble because Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: he had to go to court because there was a kid who killed the sheriff. on the express when he was listening to Tupac's song. I think he was listening to Soldier Story. And Tupac had to go to court for that 'cause it was like he was your Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: song inspired him to kill this police officer. You know what I'm saying? So, yeah, you have to be very careful, man. like when you think about it, when we when when in the eighties and you just look at the the state of hip hop during that time, you had artists like Chuck D and Public Enemy saying fight the power. We had X Clan. We had Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yep. Mm-hmm. Vice: Righteous Teachers. We had KRS One. You know what I'm saying? You had all of these artists who were teaching. And Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yep. Vice: then all of a sudden, there's no more teaching. It's more killing. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: It's more killing. It's more sh it's more violence. It's more sex. It's more misogyny than there is teaching. But you still have these artists that's out here teaching. But you push that to the background to push forth this negative music that you know. that can affect young w young minds. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: Yes, I'm that's true. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Yeah. And and if you think about it, the powers that be, the people that make money, the or the people that have the money to make your project. They've been leveraging that on the dumb hood stuff. Because like you said, in the seventies and eighties, it was about learning about what was happening. Even NWA. For as for Vice: Even in the UA. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): as for as tough as it was to listen, they were telling you what was happening in the hood and they were coming up with solutions. And Vice: Mm-hmm. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): everybody everybody was like, Yeah, that's happening in my hood too. And everyone over there. And then all of Vice: Yeah. Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): a sudden, like when we were preaching and we were teaching and we're and we were showing what was happening in our neighborhoods. Then all of a sudden the folks with the money were like, hey, we can't we can't have these folks like collaborating and getting together. Cause that's Vice: Yeah. Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): that threatens that threatens their power. That threatens what gets made. They don't want folks Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): to learn listen to KRS1 and Public Enemy. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): They want you listening to dumbass booty music and Vice: Mm-hmm. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): not that there's not a place. Cefore X. Plosives: Time and a place. Vice: Right. Right. Right, man. Yeah, it's the it's a it's the truth, it's the it's it's most definitely the powers that be. I'm a I said in one of my songs I lo I love watching documentaries and I look at how things were in the forties and the fifties and the sixties, especially the four especially twenty, thirties and forties with racism. And Cefore X. Plosives: Mm-hmm. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: then you look at the offspring of those races. And who were born in the fifties, who and now they're or the forties, and now they're in the sixties, and they don't think like their parents. So at the end of the sixties, you had Bob Dylan singing about what's blowing in the wind. You had Curtis Mayfield Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: singing, singing about things. You had James Brown singing Black and I'm proud. You had Slider Family Stone talking about, you know, of of togetherness. And then you have what Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: they call hippies. You had these young black kids and young white kids come together and fight against the powers that be. That was that was those were those are white, black, Mexican, Asian, all type of kids that were screaming, the whole world is watching. The whole world Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: is watching. You know what I'm saying? They don't want that. So when Cefore X. Plosives: Mm-hmm. Vice: you have that the end of the sixties of us coming together to fight this war, now here comes this thing called hip hop. And at Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: first it's just it's just touched the the the powers that be don't know that this has touched all hoods. It's like it's it's in the white neighborhoods, it's in the Mexican neighborhoods. So the Puerto Rican neighborhoods. It's in isn't anything. You Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: know what I'm saying? They don't understand this. So when they see it, they're like, wait a minute. We gotta Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: we gotta stop this again. This Cefore X. Plosives: This is a disruption here. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: is a disruption. We can't have them coming together again and and speaking Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: and and and and speaking about what's right and what's and what's positive. We can't have that. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Right. Vice: So now you take out take the The KRS ones and the and the Chuck D's and the X clans, you take them off the radio. And you put Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: on music that has nothing to do with hip hop. You know, you put on all this stuff that's that's terrible music. You know what I'm saying? It's and it's that's you know, it's it's brain control, it's a mind control thing, man. It's virus, it's very deep. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: And and they Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: they and y if you like if you fast forward it to now, like they they realize that with the internet w we can get these messages out. So because they have Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Cefore X. Plosives: the money and the they ha they they got all the chips on their table, right? So they have all the control over the internet. So then they're like Vice: Mm-hmm. Cefore X. Plosives: they're like, Okay, let's accelerate as much as we can and grab all the money that we can, suppress everybody that we can that doesn't sit at our table. And we'll push out we'll push out the music. That won't better benefit anybody. Right? So now we got these platforms like this. We have musicians like yourself, and we have an opportunity and and an obligation to teach. Cause we are the OGs. Vice: No. Cefore X. Plosives: We do got we earn these gray h gray hairs, right? So now we gotta go out there and Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Hell yeah, we did. Vice: Yeah, yeah, for facts. Cefore X. Plosives: we are the conduit between the generation before us and the generation after us, like w without internet, with internet, rotary phone, cell phone, like. You know, we we we we understand how this all connects. Man, you ain't lying. So Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Neighbor's phone. Vice: Yeah, yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: we gotta get out here and educate, man, and be responsible. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: We have to, man. We have to. It's like you said, man, it's it's it's our responsibility, man, as as artists. And like you said, we gr we and and that's one thing I hate about when I hear people talking about ageism and hip hop, is like we grew up with hip hop. Hip hop Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: is was fifty one, fifty-two years old. We were we saw this. We watched it from the its inception. So Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: it's like We know Ebb the all the ins and outs, all the tricks and the trades. So it's like we know, you know what I'm saying, the the when you get your best point across, man, is when you're painting a picture and helping out the culture. You know, and a lot of it is not helping her p hel her it's not helping the culture because we've allowed the wrong people to get involved in it. You know, they think they didn't think hip hop was gonna make money. They thought hip hop was gonna be like disco, in and out. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): They thought it was a flash in the pan. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: They thought it was a flash in the pan, man, and all of a Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: sudden now when Run D C is saying my Ditis and and now they're saying walk this way Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: You know what I'm saying? And then you have Cefore X. Plosives: And they're reaching those audiences, the Aerosmith audiences, right? Vice: They're reaching the Aerosmith audiences and then then Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Yep. Vice: you drop the Beastie Boys. Come Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: on. Now you Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: have now you have now you have the little white kid saying, What's this? What's what's Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: what's this? What's this? What's this music right here? The Beastie Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: Boys now, they're finding a run D C now they're finding this and now as I'm a kid, when we go break dance, you got all races of kids out there pop locking and break dancing. You know what I'm saying? Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Ha ha ha Vice: They had to they had to find a way to stop that. Cause even think about it. When we got to a certain part in the nineties, they even stopped the dancing part. They even quit, you know, the they stopped showing the dancing part of of the culture. The breakdancing Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: and the because the last break dancing Olympics that was they that was that could have been that Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Man Vice: could have been a way a lot better, but because we Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): It's so much better. Vice: so much better, but because we dropped the ball, it's like Man, we a lot of things we allowed them to take away from us and we didn't pick back up on our own, which is terrible. And and break dancing and pop locking was one of them I feel. And griffin. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Well. I spec up a little bit 'cause I only see like your chin and your nose. Vice: Okay. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Tilt the tilt the camera up a little bit too. I just want people to know who to look for on the album cover. Vice: All right, cool. I did I did get close Cefore X. Plosives: There there there he is. He's Vice: one. Is this better? Cefore X. Plosives: all Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): You're excited, that's all. Cefore X. Plosives: up in the mouth. Vice: Is it better? Is this cool? Cool. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's way better, yeah. Yeah. I my come up was that. My my come up was well, I I I kinda listened to hip hop, But it was like it was hard. It was I was trying to get into Force MCs and and I think our first small record, the forty five, was Beastie Boys and stuff like that. And and then when I went to the military, I was in Germany and that's when like the New Jack thing took over and son, that was that was it Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): It was hip hop and dancing and then you know, you go to the club, you come out, you close all your circles on your watch. Like Cefore X. Plosives: Hey. Vice: Ha ha. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): you had to be athletic, son. Vice: Sweating man. Sweating. Yeah, that's that's it surprises people when they hear me rap, but that's it's kind of the beginning of minds too in the hip hop loss. Like, my family, my household that was full of music. So Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: I I liked what my parents like and my parents my mother and father both collected records, so they had a we had a very big, vast record collection. So Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: I listened to jazz. I listened to r R and B, you know, that's what I was listening to. And so I was a prince head. I loved Prince and I love Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): hell yeah. Vice: I loved house music. I Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: loved James Brown, you know what I'm saying? So I remember the hip hop I listened to was the hip hop that my mother bought. My mother bought the Grandmaster Flash and Furious Fi Five songs. Yeah, she bought the message. She because she would hear Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): What Cefore X. Plosives: A Vice: him when she went out with her friends. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): That's dope. Vice: So that's what I listened to but I wasn't I I really a hip hop head until I was sixteen years old, man. And Cefore X. Plosives: Same Vice: I was looking at b found B T Rap City and it was Big Daddy Kane and and and his raw and Biz Markey's The Vapors. And I was like Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: I was like, yo, what is what is this? Cefore X. Plosives: What is this? Vice: What is this? And then I get into Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): And and how much of that how much of that was was damn, they look like me. Vice: Yeah, it was it it and it it blew my mind because but like you said tholos, I because I've grew up trying to be like Prince and and new edition, I'm paying attention. I'm paying Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Ha ha ha. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: attention to the dancers. So I hear Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: him. I hear Big Daddy King, but I'm looking at leg one and leg two. I'm looking at I'm looking at Scoob and Scrap. You know what I'm saying? I'm Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: looking at these dudes Cefore X. Plosives: A Vice: dancers and I'm like, wow. So when New Jack Swain came And we out there dancing and doing all that. I was that's what I wanted to be, man. But I loved hip hop. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): You know what I'm saying? Vice: Yeah, that's what I want to be. But I loved hip hop. I loved Rakim. I l like my first Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: my first introduction to her really, I'll never forget I was in we we moved from the city to the suburbs. And we was at one Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: of my friends' house playing basketball, and my homegirl Toya, she would she would put her boom box in the window. And she would play Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: play records, play, play tapes. And so we playing basketball, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Hell yeah. Vice: man, and she's playing this music. And I'm like, yo, what is that? Let me get that tape. She's like, nah, I'm not giving you my tapes. You got to give me some tapes and I'll dub them. And the first four tapes she dubbed for me was Big Daddy Kane's Long Live the Kane album. EPD, strictly business, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Well. Vice: newer public enemy takes a nation a million to hold us back. And the color soundtrack. Dole Ruck 4. Cefore X. Plosives: Hey Outman, there you go. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): So Vice: And when I tell you, I was hooked. That was it for me. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: I was like, this is it. This is it right here. This is what I'm gonna listen to. But it wasn't Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: until I heard Scarface and Money and the Power, and that's when I wanted to be a rapper. I was like, I think Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: I should do this. I just played around with it, but I took it seriously when I heard that. Cefore X. Plosives: I I think one of the most important I was gonna say I think one of the most important things as like I guess an eclectic MC, right? A an MC that's actually, you know, got some got some salt to him, you know what saying? is someone that grew up on listening to everything. I grew up Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: like I grew up on my mom, she was white, so I listened to country music, but then she pulled out the records and and she she was in the disco, Earth When it fires, she she threw all the way back, you know, Marvin Gay, like it was like This new it was like my ears of like just like was like what what is this? And then Vice: Right. Cefore X. Plosives: you know as in I I was born in 80, so not till 92, I got I think it was digital underground sex packets. My homie handed Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: it to me. He was like, yo, check this out. I'm like, Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: I didn't give him the CD back, man. I was waiting for graduation because I was like, bro, you can't get this back, homie. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: I don't know where to get this. I didn't know and I Vice: Right. Cefore X. Plosives: didn't know. I gr I grew up in Lincoln Square, but at the time, it w that's you know, that's what it was was not what I was listening to un until that happened. And then and then everything Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: happened. And then the storytellers, you know, you hear you hear Slick Rick, you hear Scarface, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Slick wreck is Cefore X. Plosives: you you you guys hear these you these these people pen in movies. I'm like, man, this Vice: Yeah, man. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: painting it painting portraits in their verses. I'm like, this is how you do it. Vice: Yeah, man. And and that's I was the same way. My parents listen to everything, and then my uncle Jack Rabbit was a DJ. So I'm getting introduced to Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): hell yeah. Vice: Gino Vinelli, Chicago, Earth Wind and Fire, you know, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yep. Vice: L Loggins and forgot the guy's name, Loggins and War, everything man, cool Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: in the gang, like this is what Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: I grew up on, and then my parents bought me a record player. So I'm a little kid playing records at the house. Then we go off we go to my auntie's house on the west side while they're playing Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): You gotta practice scratching. Vice: while they're playing cards. I get the DJ and play the records for them. So it was like I was really, really I was one of those guys that was sub just submerged in music, man. So Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: everybody knew I was going to do something with music. So it was like yeah man, hip-hop and the hip hop just grabbed me. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: you know, grab me and it was something I could do. Like I said, I wanted to be Prince. I wanted to be Ralph Translat, but I couldn't sing. You know I couldn't sing. But I could Cefore X. Plosives: It's a good thing you could have sing too, man, 'cause we'd be missing out, bro. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): That's Vice: I could write poetry. And I when I learned this rap thing, I was like, I can do this. And my friends, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: like we would start it like it started for me in high school. We would just play around to write battles in between Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: to do in between class. So We got five minutes to get to class. We gonna see each other, do our little battle and see who won and go back to class. And I was the one that was winning and everybody was like, Man, you really good And I was just playing. So I said, Still I'm start Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: writing raps, man, for real. And I would and I've I would start this I started freestyling 'cause I was a lot of my songs I freestyled because I didn't remember my lyrics. So I would just start freestyling and my friends were like, Man, you're really good at this. You should really Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: You should really stick with this and that trans you know, that kept me going until I went to college at Jackson State and met a bunch of rappers just like me. And it and it grew from there. Grew from there. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): What'd you go to Jackson State for? Vice: first journalism. I wanted to be Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): shit. Vice: out yeah, I wanted to do something in the news, something writing, you know, newspapers or something Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: that I wanted to do something writing. And I went the first year. And didn't do what I was supposed to do. I had to leave to come home, you know, back. Then not only was I doing the rap and I was modeling. I w I was modeling too. So I went to Jackson Cefore X. Plosives: Shift. Vice: State and joined the modeling squad and I'm just I'm this and do I'm doing the hip hop dancing. So I'm this popular dude that's not studying, you know, and I gotta come home and go to South Suburban community college to bring my GP up. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Okay. Vice: And then that's when I went back. But when I came here, that's when I when I came back here, that's when I really, really got serious. with the hip hop and that was in like ninety two when I Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: really got serious and we started trying to make beats and going to the studio with it. And so when I went back to Jackson State in ninety three, that's when I met the a group of artists who was calling themselves the Stupa Storways. And they heard me rapping on this hill. I was on this hill and they had a little cipher and I went up in the cipher and just spit. And they was like, because my nickname is Chico. They were like, Chico Domato can rap. Chico Domato can rap. Cefore X. Plosives: Ha ha. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Ha ha ha. Vice: So this rapper, this guy kamikaze, he asked me to come to another rapper's house the next day they were gonna meet up. And that's when I went over there and met all these different rappers, and I didn't you know, they they knew me as Chico, but they didn't know how to rap. And so that night they took me over to David Banner's house, 'cause David Banner was Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): snap. Vice: He he's from Jackson, Mississippi, and he was part of the stew pot. And they was like, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: Yeah, we gotta meet this dude, David Banner. So I go over to Banner's crib, he's doing beats. I have my tape with me. Now remember I told you my parents collected Dusty's, they collected records. So as I get older and I'm falling in love with hip hop, my dad, being the type of guy he is, he's listening to these songs. He's like, man, that ain't nothing but they just they sample this song from that person. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah, yeah, yeah. Vice: You they sample that song downstairs. That song downstairs. That song downstairs. So I would make tapes with all of these different samples on it. So I pull Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: out my I pull out my sample tapes and Banner's like, his eyes get big. He's like, You gotta let me see some of these. So we got super cool man and that that summer of ninety-three was probably the summer that taught me how to be a MC. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: You know, it taught me how to be an MC. We would all we would do, you know, back then was all we did was rap. Get in ciphers. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: There was this one guy that rest in peace of my brother P Dope. P Dope wa was from here. He's from Chicago also. Because the Stupa store was full of it was full of of different rappers. You had people from Chicago, Jackson, Mississippi, Detroit, Michigan, Nigeria, LA, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): yeah. Vice: one person from New York. so it was people from from different places, you know what I'm saying? And Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): And pay attention to how hip hop brought all those people together. And then you wonder and then you wonder Vice: Product. yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): why some folks are trying to shit in that punch, Vice: Yeah. Yeah, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): right? Vice: they don't want that, you know what I'm saying? So that we just Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): No. look at all these kids from different all from different places, all different colors, and they're all dancing and having a good time and they're all singing and rapping at the same time. Vice: And we were not rapping no, you know, gangsterism stuff. You know, we were we were we Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: were lyric we were lyricist guys. But P Dope, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: P Dope, P Dope, I knew him in high school because he was he used to he was always better than me and everything. It was crazy. But we would we had Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: to battle dancing. I was one of the best dancers out in the South Suburbs. I would always have to battle him and I would lose. So when we get to college He was his freestyle, man. He could freestyle and it sounded like it was written. Like Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: it was a written round. And for a minute we didn't believe he was freestyling. I'm like, man, you're not freestyling that. So me and David Banner were asking, like, how do you do that? And he was like, You gotta just practice. And I swear, man, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: every day in the summer of ninety-three, Dave me and Dave, me and David Banner was with P Dope every single day, trying to learn how to do this. How to cause d and and Banner was right. He was like, Vice, if we practice every day, by the time school starts in August, we're gonna be cold. And that's exactly what we did, man. So it was like Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Yeah. Vice: I would go on stage and freestyle. I wouldn't even spit my lyrics, it would just be freestyle. You know, so yeah, man, we that that taught me how to be an MC, man. Taught me how to, I would say, yeah, be an MC and it it it it got me ready for coming to Chicago because I needed Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: that. Cefore X. Plosives: Isn't it isn't it crazy how like you think a setback is like, man, I I got I had to go back to Chicago and go back to school, get my GPA up. Now I'm back over here. You you you think of all the the the setbacks gave you the tools that you needed. You know what I'm saying? Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Along that way. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Cefore X. Plosives: And all these stumbles are are testimonies, you know what I'm saying? And they build you, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Cefore X. Plosives: man. I was telling my boy, I was like, Man, just because it's not the way you want it to be, doesn't mean you're not gaining the tools and putting them in your toolbox. So when you're ready to work, It's gold time. Vice: It's go time. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): And that's and that's just it. You have to trust not necessarily the process, but this is why I feel this is why I'm spiritual. I know for a fact that I'm being put through things because it's I'm gonna need these skills later. Vice: Mm-hmm. I'm gonna need him later. That's real. Cefore X. Plosives: pa my my pastor says don't trust don't trust the command, trust the commander. Right? Vice: Facts. That's great. That's a great. That's great. Cefore X. Plosives: And like you you gotta trust in the fact that you're gonna you're gonna be where you want you to be. And he's not gonna put you in a place where you're not supposed to be. And I I Vice: Mm-hmm. Cefore X. Plosives: I wholeheartedly believe there's guardrails that he'll put up and you he's gonna you're gonna sway left and right, you're gonna fall out. But you're not gonna fall in the gutter. And you're gonna you're gonna you're gonna get Yeah. Vice: Right. It makes the story Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): And it makes the story better. Vice: better. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): I did like that's how I live my life now. Like when I was younger, I was like, fuck, everything is tough. Everything is hard. I have to fight for everything. And now that I'm older, I'm like, boy, this story, this story is different. Right? Cefore X. Plosives: Ja, ajá Vice: Right. Right. That's real. That's real, man. That's real. That's real. That's real. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Like coming coming from Chicago alone. surviving going going to high school and having to walk through the streets just to get to high school and then having to walk to Kmart to after high school 'cause you have to go to work and then you have to walk back 'cause there ain't no more buses. You know what I mean? Vice: And people don't understand that a and we lived in a time we grew up in a time where they were gang banging. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): It was yes, it was a profession. They were good at it. Vice: They were gang. It was a perfection. They were good at it, man. I tell Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: people all the times and never and there was a there was black gangs, white gangs, Mexican gangs, Puerto Rican gangs, Asian gangs, Russian gangs. It w Chicago's mixed games. And it builds Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mixed gangs Vice: character. It builds care. If you learn from those those setbacks and Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: You know what I'm saying? 'Cause I d I did. You know, I went when I had to come back home I learned from it, but I also went deeper in into the hip hop hole and and it was Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Uh-huh. Vice: it was it was on after that, man. We opened it up for people and it's like, yeah, I've we dropped a single. I'm like, yeah, I've this is I've I've made it. This this is it right here. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Talk to me talk to me about that. Talk to me about your first studio day and Vice: Mm. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): then the first time you were up on stage. Vice: Wow, okay, so the first studio day. I bel yeah, man, the first studio day was that was man, I was super amped. I was super amped. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): How amped were you? Vice: I was this was was it in Chicago or was it here? Was it Chicago or was it in Jackson, Mississippi? I'm trying to think. but I remember us being supercharged. Yeah, I remember Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: being super charged, super charged, but my real f my first show we opened up as a as a group, the Stupa Storways opened up for Mint Condition. Came to Jackson State. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): What? Vice: Came to Jackson State, man, and they let us do our little single and we opened up for Mint Condition. We did it twice, as a matter of fact, we did it twice. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): And if you guys don't know who Mint Condition is, boy, that's that's lovemaking music. Pretty brown eyes. Vice: Yeah, we opened up we opened Yeah, we opened up for the the Cefore X. Plosives: Stokely was Vice: youngsters. We opened up for the youngsters when they came there too. So it was like yeah, it was that was and and at that time the Wu Tang had just come out. So Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): damn. Vice: we looked like the Jackson State version of Wu Tang. It was Cefore X. Plosives: You were deep. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): How many members? Vice: Me, you had the network was three members, David Banner for Prism. It was about eleven ten, eleven of us. Cefore X. Plosives: Prism as in Puerto Rican prism? Vice: Not Puerto Ricanism. It was a guy in in Jackson. His name was Prism. They as a matter of fact, they him, Copper Top, and my boy DJ Fingerprint, we had couple of DJs too. We just didn't have rappers, you had DJs and we had breakdancers in the in the crew. Cefore X. Plosives: There you go. Vice: And DJ Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): yeah. Vice: Fingerprint, they made it to Teen Summit. If you remember that TV show on BT and they got a chance to perform the song called Crooked Letters. It was a song called Crooked Letters, Mississippi. And hey, we were so happy, man. We were like, that's the crew. You know what I'm saying? So yeah, we it was dope, man. We had a I had a fun time there, man. And it taught me it I I say all the time, it's it sharpened my sword because when I left Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: Chicago to go to Jackson, I could freestyle what I could just freestyle okay. You know, I said Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: a lot of curse words and miggety miggities to connect my words. When I went to Jackson, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: when I went back to Jackson And 'cause I came back home. I went back just for a year and a half and I came back home 'cause now I'm hip hop. I don't even want to finish college. And to come back home in ninety four and at that time my rap partner, Clutch Cargo was his name, he was still still in Chicago, so he would let me hear all this sh this stuff. And he let me hear this tape. This is me coming back from Jackson, you know, I'm I haven't heard about the Chicago hip hop scene. I just know about what I hear on Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: Saturday night the the hip hop show that they would a disco mic they would play on. That's what that's that's what I heard from Chicago hip hop. And he let me hear this tape called Talent Fest. I don't know if you guys up on this tape called Talent Fest. Talent Fest came out of like ninety-three, ninety-four, and it it featured Ants 13, it had Juice. It had th he who walks through three ways. the figure which was King James Extreme, Extreme who's product produced for Kanye's King James Extreme LTD. They had the Spillanys, who was Tony Bangs, cool out Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): yeah. Vice: Chris, you know what I'm saying? So I heard this man that blew my mind. Like I it blew my mind because this is the type of hip hop that I love. And Clutch cook took me to the double door. No, not the double door, my Cefore X. Plosives: Mm-hmm. Vice: thought. The elbow room. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): yeah. Vice: The elbow room on Monday night with Jesse De La Pena spinning and the rubber room and spolnemo hosting it. And the first night I went, fat it was Common and Fat Joe were there. And they were up on stage passing the mic, and they let Juice get up on stage and juice dissed Common and Fat Joe. Like I was like, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: I was meant. I saw but I was I was that was it for me. I was like, this is it. So to come Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: home man and to be to to be thrown into that and to go to these open mics and see these type of MCs, I was like, Yeah. But I was ready because I have been in Jackson with the likes of David Banner, kamikaze, and P Dope, you know what I'm saying? So I was Cefore X. Plosives: You know, you know how I felt like l when I I thought I was like I was dope was when I was at the Funky Buddha Lounge with Jesse Della Pena and Dirty MF was hosting those open mics, right? And I and Vice: Yes, yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: I and that An Ange was up there, she would ho she would do her thing, and I was out on the side, we were we were off stage and we were ciphering. And I get this arm around me. And I f you know when you you know you feel somebody's head nodding, right? And I turned to Vice: Right. Cefore X. Plosives: the left I turned to the left of me, it juice. And we were and we were just Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Okay. Cefore X. Plosives: we were just freestyling for for man, it felt like forever, you know what I'm saying? It just felt like you were Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: in that moment and everything was a punchline. Like, man. Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: So it it gave me that. And I I I know exactly what you're talking about. Going to go to Blue Note, you go to Elbow Room. We went to Wild Hair. We went we went everywhere, man. That everywhere there was a mic, I'm on the bus. I'm pushing. Vice: You were there. I'm all that. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: You know what I'm saying? Vice: That's the truth. And it was and it and it was so dope because we had so many open mics, man. When I was when I first got here you had the elbow room on Monday, and then you had the spot, which was on Randolph on Thursday night, hosted by Lil'Ray. And then you had the hip hop barber shop that was on the south side of Chicago. D Row had his spot, and then I left to go to Atlanta when I came back. That's when you had the double door, and you had the sub T. Cefore X. Plosives: Mm-hmm. Vice: And the blue note. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm. Vice: And so it was like these open mics, man, were very useful for MCs. Teaches you teaches you stage Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Training camp. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: presence. It teaches you, you know what I'm saying, confidence and how to hold the microphone and how to count sixteen bars, 'cause you know you can't rap for a long time, so you gotta get this mic up in sixteen, or you might have to give it up at eight. It Cefore X. Plosives: Yep. Vice: teaches you how to count bars. So like you said, like you said before, it was you you Wherever there was a microphone, we were there, man. We were there. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. I w I was Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): No vice, but he what what he's not Cefore X. Plosives: I was just yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): telling you is like we knew I knew this kid when he was like young, young. We've been friends for like Vice: Well. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): twenty-six, twenty-seven years. Vice: So Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): And one time like I bumped into him and I was like, yo, why you all sad? He's all long face, all sad and shit. Like, what's going on? He's like, there's an open mic and I I don't have gas money. I was like, bitch, get in the car, let's go. Took his ass over Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): there. Cefore X. Plosives: Facts. Vice: Hey, C hey, C4, that's hilarious because I don't think I ever missed an open mic. And when I did miss them, I did miss a few. You were you were depressed, man. You were sulking. Cefore X. Plosives: Salty man. You were man all all to the Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah he was all long face. Cefore X. Plosives: next one, you were like, it was bad, man. And then and you know what? I was broke I was broke as hell. So you know, like at at the at the at the Funky Buddha, you had to know Bruno at the door. If you didn't know Bruno, you weren't getting in the door. Right? So Vice: True. Cefore X. Plosives: so once you knew Bruno, you didn't have to pay at the door. I I allegedly. You know what I'm saying? But they but Vice: Piece of brute Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Unless you were trash then you have to pay twice as much. Vice: I just saw your place. Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Right. And then you learn you started learning the the politics of the game. You know what Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: I'm saying? You started figuring out how the how the game works. And then you're like, okay, I can I know I could go here on Monday. My guys working the door. I don't really have to pay nothing. I slide him something when I get him something, you know, and then and that's it, man. And it was fun. I found myself over on East of the Rhine, you know, doing shows. Vice: You put a Ryan? Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: You know what I'm saying? The cotton club. Like I was everywhere, man. And I didn't care. Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: And you know what's beautiful about hip hop is that it didn't matter what you look like. Vice: Mm-hmm. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): It didn't it never did. It never did. Well Cefore X. Plosives: I go to the south side and and get nothing but love. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): actually let me say it like this. It never mattered, but you needed to understand where it came from. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah, for sure. Vice: Uh-huh. Cefore X. Plosives: Respect the coach. Respect the game. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Who made it? Once you understand that and you respect where it came from, then then everybody's cool. Vice: I said this in the in the midway documentary. I think that I think that the aldermen and who stopped the open mics really contributed contributed a lot to Chicago gang violence Cefore X. Plosives: Hmm. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm. Vice: because when we were going to those open mics, there were so many different gangs underneath that roof. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: But you were connected by hip hop. Cefore X. Plosives: Yes. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: So because I'm a four-corner hustler, I can go kick it where the Latin disciples are that my boy live over in that lab in that neighborhood because he's hip hop. And I dress like him. So when I come in the neighborhood, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Mm-hmm. Vice: they like, he cool. He could he just going to CC four. He he ain't no game banger dude. And now I'm in now I'm in your neighborhood kicking it with your guys and they and nobody's messing with us because we're the rappers. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: You know I'm Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Right. Vice: saying? We w we the rapper. We didn't dress like the game banger, so we were rapping it's like and and you I was able to go to so many different hoods, man, where if I just went regularly, I might have been killed or robbed. But but Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Yeah. Vice: hip hop, you being friends with people that's in different gangs in different areas of the city. And when they stopped their open mics, it would have been great to have those open mics when drill was going on, 'cause it probably wouldn't been so much violence. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: You know. when there's no open mic and they just have nothing to go and nowhere to go and it's nothing to do, I think that really contributed a lot to that, man. I think that would it really messed it up 'cause that helped us. Cefore X. Plosives: So as Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: much as music inspires without those outlets, it it takes that inspiration away. You know what I'm saying? we gotcha. Yeah. So I was gonna say without those open without those spots, it it's it's taking that inspiration away from from a d pretty much a whole generation of people, right? And Vice: Right. Cefore X. Plosives: and they didn't have those outlets. And and you look at it now, they don't they don't have outlets to be artists. But Vice: Not at all. Cefore X. Plosives: for people like Puggs out there in Englewood doing his thing and and the Inglewood Collective and doing all all these things out there with Prime, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Shout out Janelle. Cefore X. Plosives: yeah. Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: With Prime doing his thing, you know, trying to bring hip hop back and being relevant and being positive, you know, it's the o Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah, you're just talking about an alderman that cut that that cut out all the all the freestyle open mics and stuff like that. Now we got a rapper as a alderman. Now Yeah. Yeah. Vice: That's that's crazy. That's crazy. It in in that area too. In that area, yeah. Can you guys hear me now? Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: Okay, yeah, because now it just came through on my headphones. I don't know. I forgot to put I think I somebody called me. I forgot to put on Do Not Disturb, my fault, damn. But Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah, it's clear and Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): good. good. Vice: but that's true, man. We now we have Alderman and now he's rapping again. You see that he's prisoner is back rapping again. Cefore X. Plosives: Yep. I I I I and I'm not gonna Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah yeah Cefore X. Plosives: say it's 'cause I called out or anything. Hadri I won't say we won't go there, but Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah well what show was that? Who were we talking to? Cefore X. Plosives: We were talking with Pugs. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Pugs, yeah. As C4 told us a story about how he's up on stage and Prime kinda ate his lunch a little bit. You know, you know. Cefore X. Plosives: No no no no no no no no no that's that's not what happened, man. W we politics. Politics. We're gonna go politics, all right? When you Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's it. And that I you know, that's part of that inside baseball that you were talking about, C4, is like Pugs told us like if you go to open mic, you gotta roll deep. Otherwise you're nobody's gonna be making noise for you. Vice: That's true. That's true. When we went to the open mics, well, yeah, with with us, I didn't it was just me and my boy Clutch. We went in there, man, and and it's funny, the first open mic I went to was Elbow Room and Spoke gave me the microphone. And whenever I went back the next week, he didn't give me the mic. And then the next week after that I didn't get the mic. And there's so many rappers that's in the audience. And I'm like, man, I don't wanna come back here. I ain't getting the microphone and this girl we know told us about the spot on Randolph. So we go there and Lil Ray gave me the microphone, man, and I'll never forget this, man. It was It was like towards the end because you have all of these rappers that's been there. So I've I've learned cause I hosted, so now you you ha you can't just give it to anybody. You know, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: so so you gotta give it to the people you know that's gonna rip, and then you gotta give it to a couple of new guys. And he gave it to me, and I will never forget, man. I'm telling, but I snapped. Like Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: I really snapped to the point where I I I got so excited I th I was about to pass out, man. I had to go sit down and I sit down and everybody's all around me, like, that right there was the was the open door for me, man. Where that's a Bruno was the door at the door at the spot. So I met Bruno that night. And that was the open door for me, man. I got the mic every Thursday. So Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Hell yeah. Vice: I was like, I don't have to go to this elbow room because I get the mic every Thursday here. And Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: B my my friends at that time with the to do the DJs, DJ Ram and DJ Spin, who would also DJ on WHPK once a month. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Let's go. Vice: So we w we would go to WHPK with them, now they letting us freestyle on the air. You know, now we rapping over the air and I remember when I found W H B K that was a great thing too in high school to find Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: WHBK. But this like now I'm I'm I really think I made it in Chicago now 'cause I'm getting it all the spots for free. When the DJs see me they like g give him the microphone, you know what I'm saying? Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: And and and and this is just all freestyling. We wasn't really doing shows, shows. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Hey, and this is a city that's not just gonna give it to you either. You gotta work. Vice: Hey. I tell people all the time, you don't if you s if you're a rapper in Chicago, you don't need A and R. Cefore X. Plosives: Nope. Vice: our our audience is the AR. If they'll let you know if you're not good, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): They'll let you know. Vice: they will let you know. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: Immediately. And and and what that was the dope the dope thing too because both of you can remember this is totally different now. But when we were going to those open mics, not only was it a bunch of different MCs from different races, it was a bunch of women in there too. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: It was women at the Funky Buddha. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: For sure. Vice: It was women Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: there to come see those open mics. Now it's not too many women there, but we also we had a real audience. Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): And you better let them know. You better let them know. It's all fun and games until Ansch thirteen shows up and cuts your head off. Vice: and c shows up. Man, I remember y you Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Yeah really you ain't lying. Vice: had Ange comes through, you got back then you had Angie, you had App G. my girl, it was just so many dope female MCs, man, that like I said, it's just a bunch of dope female just i MCs dope in Chicago, man. Chicago is is a great place. Cefore X. Plosives: S so so let's Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: so now that you're bringing up d dope MCs, let's talk about this list. Vice: yeah. It's got some people mad, man. And you know what's yeah, and you know what's crazy? Cefore X. Plosives: 'Cause everybody everybody's ruffle. You know how it goes. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): you out here ruffling feathers. Vice: And you know what's crazy? I didn't even in my mind I didn't even think of it tr doing that because there's so many lists that come out. You know, I'm Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: on some and I'm not on some and it's cool, you know, but I just felt like because I've been coming I I moved from Chicago in twenty fourteen. I was doing as you know I've I've worked with Slum before that. We'll talk about that. But I was come back home in twenty fourteen, so I was doing A and R work. I was sitting in the background of hip hop. So I'm coming Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm. Vice: back and forth to Chicago and I'm hearing these Fillmore Greens. I'm hearing, because Rashid Hadid is like my little brother. He went to Jackson State. So he Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm. Vice: let hear this rapper Phil McGreen. I'm like, okay. I'm hearing these Sinatra, these these rappers. This was in 2014. So now it's 2026, and I'm looking at where hip hop is in in Chicago right now, and it's in a very good place. And I just started writing down these names. And there was a lot of names that I that I forgot. That that I forgot I had to put them in. But it it it touched me to say From the thirty plus people that I put on that list and the OGs, Chicago Kid, if they came t if if a if a label signed, they could sign at least fifty MCs that could be superstars and that are dope. And because they started and are seasoned here. Cefore X. Plosives: So Vice: You know, season here. And there's a lot of people that say, Man, I don't know. I'm not on the list. Okay. And I go to your page and I'm not tripping on followers because with my resume, it's crazy that only have three thousand, three thirty six hundred followers on Instagram. So Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: followers cool. I I understand that. But your type of music If it hasn't gotten up to me, and I'm not saying I'm this big Quincy Jones type guy, but I keep my ear to the ground. Yeah, I'm Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): But you're in it. Yeah. Vice: in it. I'm in it, man. So I'm listening to what's going on. And whatever it is, I'm gonna listen to it. If somebody Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: tells me it's dope, I'm gonna listen to it. And I listen to all genres of this hip hop, even the drill, I'ma listening. I'ma Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: if if it's if it's whack, I'ma turn it off, but I'm gonna listen to it. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah, yeah, Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah, with a shot. Vice: I'ma give it Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): yeah. Vice: a shot. You know what I'm saying? So that list was just me giving telling those MCs I see you. You know what I'm saying? Cefore X. Plosives: Is there is there is there anybody that Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Cefore X. Plosives: that isn't on the list that you thought about afterwards that that should have been on the list? Vice: Y yeah man, Tyree Hakim, his brother Golden Child, Backwoods Jones, Nicholas Kane, I forgot my guy D two G. it was a couple of guys that I forgot to put on there. Cefore X. Plosives: C four explosives. Vice: C4 explosives, you know what I'm saying? it's it's it's it was it was a couple Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): G los. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: of guys that I f that I forgot to put on because I was just at first it was 20, it was 20. And then as I put it on Facebook, I'm like, I forgot this person, it was 25, and then it became 30. And easy on here was like, before us over Vice is gonna be 80 on here. I was like, nah. I said I'm gonna I'm gonna stop it because this isn't a free-for-all, it's really those people that it that are making noise, and if they're making noise Enough noise where I can see it, then they're Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: making some noise. And I just wanted to introduce them to my people, you know. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: I would add one one that an OG that that's still doing things. He's actually just doing a movie. Yeah, just put out a movie actually as a young buck. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Cefore X. Plosives: Bug from psychodrama. So Vice: Yeah. Buck Buck is co yeah, Buck Buck, I did put Buck on the I put him on the OG list. I had to read on my on my Facebook. I put him on there and Scooter Chows. I put Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: both of them on the on the on there because Buck is and Direc. They're still killing, man. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah, correct. Vice: They still Buck is just you know, let me tell you something about Buck. Cefore X. Plosives: That's that delivery, man. That delivery is so cold though. Vice: To me, Buck is our Andre three thousand. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Hm. Vice: He Chicago's Andre three thousand. His delivery with his voice, psh, like Guru said, is those through the voice, man. That boy that dude is cold, man. Cefore X. Plosives: Him him and Shalet Tuna, man. Tuna fish. Like Vice: I just saw Charlie Tuna. Cefore X. Plosives: Did you? Vice: Yeah, he was at Shadow's birthday party. This Sunday. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): snop. Vice: Can't he was with Ange thirteen. Shadow had a birthday party. You talk about from the Cefore X. Plosives: J from J Five. Vice: J J five, yeah, Jurassic Five. Yeah, he was just at Shadow's birthday party. He's cold too, man. Cefore X. Plosives: Those th those two voices right there, man, like that's it, man. You put them on a joint. Vice: Super cold, man. Super cold man. So yeah, that list got people mad, but I wasn't trying to make nobody mad. And I've and and this was crazy. I like the fact that I did it now because I'm meeting and learning about so many other lyri lyrists rappers from Chicago. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: You know, like it was one guy that came on there and list, someone s tagged his name, he was like, No, this must be a some favoritism or some shit like that and I was like, No, it's not. If I just haven't heard of your music, quite like you've probably never heard of my music. So I saw I'm gonna check you out. So I went to his page and he was a Drill rapper, but he was cool. He said some nice little clever shit. And I and I put it on his page, like I heard that line, and he was like, OG, you good with me. I just love the fact to get respect for my pen. So, you know, he wasn't mad. It was like I said, the next list I make, I'm gonna keep my attention on you. So the next list I make, you'll be on the list now. And it's not that my list is a, you know, a go to, which is so surprised. I didn't know that, you know. But then for once I Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): But still it is it is a s it is a shortcut though. Vice: Yeah, and and I and and I've put and I put that together when people start getting mad and people's hitting me up like, Well Vice, that means you know, your your your your what you f say means something and I was like, Okay. And then people start getting mad and I said to myself, Yeah. People forget who the fuck I am, I can make a goddamn list. Did y'all Cefore X. Plosives: This is my list, damn it. Vice: f did did y'all forget what I've done and who I've worked with? I can do this, goddammit. Shit, don't play with me, because I've worked with some some who in Chicago has has done what I've done other than common. So it's like I can do that. I've worked they've worked with Slum Village and and been on Jay Dillard songs. Like, come on, man. So Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): How'd that how'd that Slum Village thing come out? How'd that happen? Vice: man, That's a deep one right there, man. I can say it's two things. I'm tell y'all the story, 'cause I know we got time 'cause y'all said we could just we just talking. So if we tell y'all something it's gonna Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): We just talking. Vice: Blow y'all mind with this, because I I put this up as a video bunch on Instagram. I'ma first say me working with Slum Village was manifested. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: I manifested that. That was Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah, yeah. Vice: something I manifested. When I first heard Fantastic Volume 2, I took that home and I was like, who the fuck? Well, first it was when I heard Jay Diller on The trap called Quest album and he Get a Hold. I was like, who is this dude? So when Slum came out, now I'm like, I gotta work with them. And this is when the drunk uncles started. Me, Tony Baines, and Leah Law were the drunk uncles. And I'm like, I'm yeah, thanks, man. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): I love that name by the way. Vice: I used to hate that name. But I I so I'm every time we record, I'm like I'm gonna work with this dudes. I'm gonna work with these dudes. Then my d my cousin DJ Scrap Dirty starts to work with this record company called Barack. Slum Village is on Barack Records. So he starts working with this young rap a young producer named Young RJ, who was part of B.R. Gunner at that time, which was Young RJ, Black Milk, and Fat Ray. So he they let him AR a Dirty District. Slum Village would do this offset compilation called Dirty District. And they did a Dirty District 1 and 2 and 3. And they let Scrap do this do the Dirty District 3. And he asked the drunk uncles to do a song. And the story goes that when they played the song in the studio, everybody was in the studio proof. They was all talking. And when I came on, everybody shut up. And they was like, Who was that? And Scrap's like, That's my cousin Vice. That's my cousin. And the next thing I know, man, I'm going to Detroit to work with Young RJ. He was gonna do some beats for me. And that Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Yeah. Vice: first song I recorded was with Fat Cat. I did a song with Fat Cat. And so I hadn't met Slum yet. I go back, I come home, I go back, and then I meet T three and I meet byn I meet El Zye. You know, they just like I don't even they're looking at me like, who is this dude that's with Young RJ? Cefore X. Plosives: Mm-hmm. Vice: You know, that's what they're trying to w they're trying to figure me out. Like, who is this guy that's with young RJ? Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: So, RJ calls me and he says, Some of the beats I gave you, man, we gotta we gotta I gotta take those, man, and give the slum. I was like, What? What you mean? Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: He like T three and L Z I was in the studio and they saw your folder and went through your folder. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: So they heard you rapping. They heard the songs. It was like, man, no, we need those songs. We need those. But but but when Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): hell no. Vice: I but when I got to Detroit, T3 was like, hey man, you cold. I'm sorry we had to get them songs from you, bro. But what's what we gonna do? We're gonna put you on our album, and that was the Villa Manifesto album. Him and Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): yeah. Hell yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: El Za him and El Zah was like, cool. So they put me on a song called Schemin'. Where it's Slum Village, the original Slum Village, Jay Dillard, Batim, T three, Fife is on this song, Paz Dinus is on this song, and at the end of the song I do a poem. Cause that was my beat. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm. Vice: So they let me do a poem on the song, and then on another one of the songs, they're telling a story, and El Zy has me inside of in his verse. And that's when they they found out I could rap, man. And so now they when I come to Detroit, you know, I'm cool. I'm one of the guys and I'm I'm cool. I'm with them now. And I'm working with young RJ. And it's like so and my cousin Scrap was there. So and they just embraced me, man. So like I said, I got to meet Proof. I got to meet what's my guy Cefore X. Plosives: Please proof. Vice: name? So yeah, rest in peace to proof. What's my guy's name that was on Shady? Damn, what's his name? He came up with young RJ's house a bunch of times. But Dwelly, all of those guys, man, Black Milk, they like embraced me like family, man. And so we when they did, me and RJ started working together and we worked on this project called Seven Sun. And the the thing was he was gonna do all the beats, I was gonna write all the rhymes and he had just started rhyming. And this we dropped this and this had De LaSole on it, Early Mac, Ono, Frank Knit, Pas de Nus from De La Sole, like I said, and Batin. And that blew. And that's what started the Dirty Slums and you know, and we now we that's that's my family, man. We put out the Dirty Slums mixtapes and I've been on the s tour with him and been on the albums, man. Like, so it's like it's not just a you know, music thing. Those are my brothers. Yeah, those are my brothers, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: man. I have I have a whole I have a whole album, EP with T3. It's called V3, it's on all streaming platforms. He produced the whole thing. It's only five songs, eleven minutes, and it's cold. I like, it's cold, Cefore X. Plosives: But Vice: man. It's cold. I mu I have one on the online, V files that young RJ did most of that production. So yeah, man, that's my family, man. Those guys are my family. Like I said, and it was all I felt it was manifested because I said that I was gonna work with Cefore X. Plosives: Speak into existence. Vice: And I finally got a chance. I spoke into existence, man. I remember Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): yeah. Vice: asking asking my Dukes when we they put me on the Yancey Boys album. And the Yancey Boys album was an album full of Jay Diller beats. I don't know if you guys heard the story about the guy who on Storage Wars, he bought these two storages and they they were they were Diller's storage units. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): jeez. Vice: And it was full of all of these beats that no one had heard before. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): damn. Vice: So my dukes my Dukes wanted to put an album out with those beats. And I I did a hook on the song called Fisherman. And I when it came out and sh we were in the car and I asked, I said, My duke, my Dukes, you think you think your son would have wanted to work with me? And this is 'cause that's who I want to work with. But she turned around, she said, Yes, he would have. Your voice. She said, Your voice. You have a very distinct voice. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah, you do. Vice: Vice. He would have he would have loved to work with you. When I heard that, man, I was like, yeah. And that's that was my thing. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: So that was half the battle because I said I was gonna work with Slum Village. I'm working with I'd opened up for him twice. The drunk uncles opened up for him at the sub T once. And I opened up for them once by myself at Isaac Hayes when it was on Clark Street. So Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: I'd already come close to meeting him, man. So Cefore X. Plosives: Got a box. Vice: yeah, that's that's my family, man. That's that's the fam right there, man. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): But to but to clear up for some of the younger folks that think that, you know, that believe in the secret and believe in just saying it, you had to you had to put work behind it. Vice: to put work behind it man. I had to, like I said, every time I recorded, you know, it wasn't just me saying it. Every time I Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: went in that booth to record, I said, Jay Diller gonna hear this. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: There's a chance. I wasn't even thinking about Jay-Z and Nas at that time. It was Diller and Slum Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: Village. They're gonna hear this. And they're gonna work, they're gonna wanna work with me. I was even the so selfish thing. I wasn't even thinking about my brothers and the drunk uncles. I was like me. They're going to work with me. I will spit these around. They're going to work with me, man. So when it came when it came time for them and I'm in Detroit hanging with them, I said, I actually manifested this. This is something that I actually manifested, man. It showed Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: me that you can you put your mind to it. You can do whatever you want to, man. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): For real, for real. For real, for real. Vice: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): And it's not and it's not sitting on the couch thinking that you're dope. You have to go out and Vice: No. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): prove that you're dope. Vice: You have to go out and prove what you do, man. And and that's one thing too that learned being around these guys, man, the young RJs and DJ Scrap and Twilight Tone, these guys kept it real with me. Like when I would write something and it wasn't dope, that shit ain't dope, Vice. That shit ain't dope. D what are you saying? You know, it's been a couple of Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: times T T three T three had told me, no, Vice, I think you can go harder. I think it can go hard on that verse, man. I don't I don't think a couple of lines and I go back and be like, Okay, you know, that's hard. That was a time when nobody could tell me that. You know, Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: I thought I was a shit. What? My my Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: rhyme ain't dope. What the what man, you crazy. I'm Vice. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Well, Vice: But then I had to I ha I had to get in the studio with guys that Twilight Tone. I knew Twilight Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: Tone when he was why not. I'm seeing him on TV with comment. He telling me something. I'm listening. You know, Terry Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: Hunter. He Terry Hunter in has has recorded me. Terry giving me f because of how my voice was, he was giving me secrets on how to say certain words or say certain things. I'm listening. You know, I'm soaking it all in, I'm listening, man. So I I I Yeah, you have to work on that shit, man. You have to work on it. Cefore X. Plosives: And it's it it's so important too to like to surround yourself or to be amongst people that are gonna tell you honestly Vice: Truth. Cefore X. Plosives: that that's lit that Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: whether that's whack or not. And Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: and come back and say, come back with it. You know what I'm saying? Cause 'cause Vice: Come back with it. Cefore X. Plosives: a lot of times they're like, that's whack, just get up. But they saw something. Vice: Mm-hmm. Cefore X. Plosives: They're like, okay, let's let's run with this. And they didn't let you fall on Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: your face. Vice: Right. Then you let you fall on your face, man. It was that's real. It's like so it's I've I'm I'm glad that I've been surrounded by those guys. And that's why I try to help others, you know, because I was helped, you know. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: Mark Mark Fuller Flavor, DJ Scrap. I've always had a great relationship with DJs. So I can get in all the parties for free. So I got a like got great relationship with DJs. Cefore X. Plosives: Ha ha. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): You're literally I'm with the DJ Vice: Man, I was I was that guy that was grabbing, I I had a crate of records in my hand. I'm coming in with a crate, like, yeah, you know what I'm saying? I'm I'm helping Cefore X. Plosives: You need help with that, homie? I gotcha, I gotcha. Vice: the home. I got you, man. So Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Ha ha. Vice: I was that guy, you know what I'm saying? So and I and I made sure that I was around dope DJs. And another reason I want to be around those DJs was that after I recorded something, I want to give it to them so they could play it. Cefore X. Plosives: Yep. Vice: And Mark Fuller Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): I mean Vice: would play my music at the Buddha. Tim Buck too, rest in peace to Timmy. Timmy would play our music, man. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: You know? So it was like and and Twilight Tone is teaching me. Like Twilight Tone was the one that taught me, he heard me he heard me freestyling at the double door and like put a all points bulletin out on me. Get me in touch with Vice. So I get in touch with him, I go to his house. We have a we have a writing session, just me and him. And he has me write to this song. And when I got done writing, I remember he was like, Who are you talking to? Why are you talking to rappers? Cause that's what I do. I'm an MC. You Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm. Vice: know, I'm a MC. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: I'm I'll do this and I then I'm the best MC and I take this and I'm the my lyric. He was like, Rappers are not listening to you, Vice. You have to talk to the world. And I had Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm. Vice: to understand what he meant. You know what I'm saying? Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah, yeah, yeah. Vice: And now my pen, when I start to be and then my cousin Scrap was listening because he was my cousin Scrap man he started the technicians, DJ Scrap dirt, he's the president of the Violator All-Star DJs from the west side of Chicago. Cefore X. Plosives: Thank you. Vice: So he started the technicians group, the the the DJ group, and then he's working with Chris Lighty. You know, and he's working with all these people. He's been on Rap City three, four times. And I'm like, cuz, look out for me. He always be like, You're not ready yet. You're not ready. I'm gonna tell you when you're ready. So now I'm sitting down with Twilight. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: I'm working with Twilight Cuz. He said, You'll be ready in the minute you're working with Tone. You'll be cool. Then I start being part of the drunk uncles. And he called me one day, he said, You ready? I hear you I hear you you with the drunk uncles you have your own sound, even though it's three of you, you doing hooks, you have you have your Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: character and your voice, you ready now. Now, you know, so he's introducing me to these people and letting different people hear me and it was like, okay. And I love and and and that's so great to have that. So I try to be that to other artists. That was my reason for the for the list. You know, a lot of those artists on that list I'm friends with, like Brittany Carter. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm. Vice: That's like my little sister, man. I send Brittany, Rufus Sims, I sits I just send them songs, samples. I just send it to They just wake up and be three emails full of Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Ha ha ha. Vice: samples. And they like, shit, Vice, thank you. Like those are my like I I I that's that's you know what I'm saying with music 'cause and I give them advice, you know, the same advice that people gave me, you know what I'm saying? Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: Cause so they don't have to take the the the the wild steps, you know what I'm saying? Most people most people in my time have to take twenty five to thirty steps. But but who Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: I was cool with, I just had to take ten. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: And and I try to bring my friends in and help them with that the same way. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Young folks gotta understand Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): that. We fought fights that you don't need to fight anymore. Vice: We fought fights and you don't need to fight anymore, man. Like I was, you know, earlier it's funny that you said that you bringing up Doug Imf to this to this. Doug Imf was one of the guys I met on my journey, being home from college and going to a studio. He had a studio on 95th called J. Chill Records. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm. Vice: And him and I think no ID was up in there, man, and I brought my tapes Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Probably. Vice: in. I brought my tapes in with all these samples. And they was like, Man, where you getting these samples from? Like, my dad. My dad got these records. I remember they gave me a list of songs to give to my father. And my father Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: of my father was like, Yeah, I can see them where it is. They gotta give me some money though. I ain't just finna tell where it is, man. But yeah, I've been knowing Doug. Doug is like a big brother. He's another one that, you know, helped me along my way, man, you know, and and and and was a DJ at that time, so Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: You know, and a producer, so it's like I I try to be that to the other artists and that's my thing about the list. I was just trying to inspire. You know, a lot of those artists look up to me, they call me OG. And so that's to be like, Okay, vice see me, you know. Even OGs too. Cefore X. Plosives: And you you are you earned that 'cause you you took those steps. You and you created, you you c you compiled it and like like we always talk about the shortcut, right? Vice: Mm-hmm. Cefore X. Plosives: We we give we give we give the up and comers the shortcut, but they gotta learn the steps the long way. If they don't if they if Vice: Gotta learn the steps. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Cefore X. Plosives: they don't under they don't understand the process, it's gonna it's like AI, right? If you're gonna create a song through AI, when you get put on the spot to create a song, you're gonna have no idea how to make it. Vice: Exactly. That's Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): It's that simple. Vice: facts. It's just that simple. That's fair. That's true. You have to have it, man. You have to have it. And it's like, and I'd be on them, you know, the guys I I did treat them the same way that they treated me. If they s let me hear something, they a lot of them let me hear their music before it comes out. You know what I'm saying? So and I tell the truth, you know, like, yeah, it's cool. You know, do this and make me a little bit more. The hook might need this or you I think your second verse should be your first verse. And they don't get mad about it. You know what I'm saying? It's like and they they like Vice, know what he's talking about. And sometimes and I and and my cousins like and I'll always say this 'cause my cousin Scrap is a a week older than me and we're just alike with Tauruses. And so sometimes he tells me I'm be I'm little Vice, you little too humble. You know, you've done a lot, man. You know, you've worked with Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: a lot of people and you have to start l you know, put your chest out a little bit more and let people know, you know what I'm saying, who you are. So, but I try to help as much, man, and I and I and I'm glad the fact that they respect what I've done to even listen. You Cefore X. Plosives: Mm-hmm. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: know, 'cause a lot of people don't even want to listen. You know, they won't even listen to you, so especially as a being an C. You know, they like, who who who who are you? You ain't nobody, you know what I'm saying? Cefore X. Plosives: yeah. You ain't nobody. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. And they're comparing you to everyone they know and especially if they're an MC, they're comparing you to them. Vice: Exactly. Especially if they have more followers than you. They're like, you just Cefore X. Plosives: Right. Vice: got three thousand. I got seven thousand followers. You ain't better than me. Right. Unk, exactly. Cefore X. Plosives: Come on, Unk. Come on, Unk. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Ha Vice: Exactly. But you know, I just like my boy Johnny Small says, I let the work show. So I've I've I've come across a lot of younger artists that be hit me with the come on Unk and then they hear Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: my music and be like, yo Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Okay. Hey you ever see you ever s you ever see the Vice: Wait a minute, okay. You rap rap. Cefore X. Plosives: You rap, rap, yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): you ever see the video where Kat D let Draymond Green listen to his music? Vice: Yes, another one of my brothers, Cap D, man. I'm so proud of Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: him. The Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: only the only rapper in Chicago with two NBA rings. Ain't that crazy? Or does he have three? I Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: th I think he might have three. Cap D is another one, man, that he's part of the Stu Pot's doorways. The Cefore X. Plosives: shit. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): yeah? Vice: crew that I meant, he's part of the Stu Pots. He's one of the him and Twilight Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): hell yeah. Vice: Tone. Not my Twilight Tone, Tom B. Nimble. Tony Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: B. Nimble. Tony B. Nimble's the first DJ to put me on the radio in Chicago when he was in one six. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): yeah. Vice: one six point three and so that's how I met Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): yeah. Vice: Cap D. And I w I was fans of these guys. Like I said, I I'm a hip hop head, you know, and I I I felt like I was here. I just come into the game in Chicago and those guys were here. You Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Yeah. Vice: know, all all natural to me. I'm I'm trying not to fan out when I was standing next to Cap D back then. It he'd he'll laugh at that now. He'll laugh at that now but Cap D, Tony Baines, cool out Chris, Ange 13, I was fans because I heard their Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: music first. And so the fact that when I first came around them, they don't none of them know how nervous I was. I was like, I'm that Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Ha ha ha. Vice: that's Ange 13. You know what I'm saying? Wait a minute, that's Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: juice. That's the dude juice. Wait a minute. Cause you didn't know hip hop was so new. We didn't know if anybody was gonna blow up and be a superstar. Cefore X. Plosives: Mm-hmm. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: You know, you being around these people, you didn't know if Spillaney was gonna be the n Rubber Room was gonna be the next black moon. You know, or Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: 'cause gr and Gravity was our friend. Gravity blew up and dropped an album. So it was like Rhyme Fest was doing his thing. He was part of my crew. So it was like we were yeah, man, it was it was that was a great time, man. And Cap D was there too. And I and those guys was Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): All those names are just Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. And I I kind I kinda that's how I felt Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): All those names are just fucking killers. Cefore X. Plosives: that's how I felt when we had panic on the show from the moment. Like it was just like I was like, man, the rolodex of all the music that I grew up on in in Chicago, all the instrumental albums I listened to on the subway, like it was all coming to me and I like, man, I was I was geeking out man. I was I was like I was like that I was I was that Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Ha ha. Cefore X. Plosives: dude with the backpack and the notepad, you know what I'm saying, and the and the bus card. Vice: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Hey, I will I will cosign to what he just said. That mug always had a notebook. Vice: Hey, you you had to have you had to have your notebook with you, man. Panic panic panic was cool with it was one more guy with the Mo Man. But they were cool with my guy DJ Ram. And that was how I met that was how I met Dre, Prime. That's how I met Vakil. I met Vakil Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Vice: through them. That that's how I met those guys, through panic name 'cause I was like the Mo man. They had their own sound, man. I love that about Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: them. They had their own sound. sh yeah, Chicago has have have has birthed some some dope shit, man. Real dope. Real dope. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. When when we released the panic video, there was so much love coming from everywhere. yo, panic of the moment. And especially out here by the in the bay. Folks Vice: Mm-hmm. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): in the bay lost their mind when they saw that panic was on the on was on the channel. Vice: you out in the bay? Yeah, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Hello so Vice: yeah, yeah. is it is Doug, is Doug Inf out there, right? Is Doug Inf and still out there? Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I go see h he he he spins at this place that's got if they still have it, they have such good chicken and waffles. Little Skillet is called. Yeah. I go and hang Vice: Okay, okay. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): out with him every once in a while. Vice: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, man, because like C4 said, Mo men had instrumental tapes out. They Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: would like they were like Dilla. They had people they had instrumental tapes out. I remember Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: getting my hand on some of those tapes. I stole a few of those. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Right. Right. Vice: 'Cause we would all hang we all hang out, we'd meet up at somebody's house, we got the beer, we got the weed, and everybody got their instrumental tapes, and that's all we do, a cipher. yeah, at the end of the night, 'cause I a couple of my shit got got. So I was getting people tapes Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: back, man. Somebody got my somebody stole a Jay Diller instrumental tape from me. I had a Jay Diller instrumental tape from college that I stole from a guy Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: that was from Detroit. One of my hoys from Detroit had it. I stole it from him because I was like, man, who is this? And then somebody stole it from me. So I was like, so that's what we're doing? So yeah, I had a couple of my old man tapes, man. Boys was cold, man. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah man, they they were everywhere, man. And they were the first ones that I knew that was like Planet Asia, Ryan you know what I'm saying, Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Cali agents, like I was like, Man, I was like panic did that too. I was like, shit, like all of these bangers, man. All of these bangers. Yeah. Vice: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pacifics too. The Pacifics too. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: Pacifics was with my family too, man. Chicago has been, you know, and and those and those of those groups have all been a part of my my come up in Chicago, man. If they've all been an inspiration to me in some way or or another, you know. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): It seems like a lot of Chicago rap, a lot of Chicago hip hop is is still somewhat underground. Like what Vice: Yes. Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): in your opinion, since you're deep deep, like what Vice: Mm-hmm. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): is it about our music coming out of Chicago that it just doesn't seem to I mean we got our you know, we got our handful, but it's not like New York, they were they're just everybody came out with an album. And then LA, everybody came out with an album. And then is everybody's all that. But like folks from Chicago, like not a lot of people know that Jesus Walks is a Rhyme Fest written Rhyme Fest song. What Vice: Rhyme, right, right. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): is it? What is it about our messaging from Chicago that is just not penetrating? Vice: I think it has a lot to do with the powers that be here, and the music that they let me see I can the word this right. Because you there's there is there there's no record labels here. We have no record labels and Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Yeah. Vice: the DJs play it's like they don't play these The artist that they should be playing. You know what I'm saying? we didn't know about Rampfest. We should have heard about Rampfest before Jesus Walks came out. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: You know, same thing with Kanye. Kanye was doing things before he got with with the with Rockefeller. Cefore X. Plosives: Rock Rockefeller. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: So it's just I think our radio and the radio programmers here, man, all we have for to help us is WHPK. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: That's it. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): And so for and and for folks to understand Vice: And that's a un and that that's an underground radio station. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): and for folks to understand, HPK was a college radio station. It wasn't even like Vice: It's it's still yeah. Still is a college radio station. You know what I'm saying? It still is. And WNUR. To a point Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: And and and and W N U R for it to a to a point. Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: and then and then the newest one that I j I fell in love with, but then they shut that down was Vocalo, Vocalo. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Bocolo, yeah. Vice: Love that station, man. That they played beat. They had me on their rotation all the time. Love that station. That's all we have. So the the 106.3s and the night 107.5s. need to get on board and start playing this and then our that message that we have can saturate a and get out there but they Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: won't play that. They'll play they'll say, put the guns down and then the next three songs is about guns and they gotta beep Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Ha ha Vice: out every you gotta beep out every word instead of playing a Britney Carter. Or instead Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah, well Vice: of playing a Mike Terror, or instead of playing Rufus Sims or or or or Freddie Old Soul. You know what I'm saying? Play those songs and then we can get that message out there. But it's Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: New York has so many great radio stations that help. You Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: know, Atlanta, Atlanta has great radio stations that help. New New York, I mean LA, same thing. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: You know, even even Texas. They have radio stations that help the artists here. All we have is one hundred six and one one six point three and one seven point five and it's and ninety nine ninety two point three and Cefore X. Plosives: There they're Yeah. Vice: they're not they're not gonna play the what what what we consider underground and that's why it's underground. Cefore X. Plosives: Imagine Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: if Chicago had a wake up show when we were when we were coming up. You know what I'm saying? Or now. Vice: Man. Or just now, like if you guys are at the wake up show, that would help so many of the 30 artists that I put on that list. They should be on the radio. Thus who should be on the radio. You know what I'm saying? Even Buck. Buck don't cuss a lot. That's he should be on the radio. Not what we hear on the radio. That should not be on the radio, like for the kids to hear, you know what I'm saying? So I think that and that's why When people come and grab artists from Chicago, we already seasoned, man. We didn't have to go through the trials and tribulations of of having to leave the city. You know, I had to go like to go to Detroit to really get my name out there for them to even and think about playing it 'cause I'm on the slum village record. You know what I'm saying? So it's like we Cefore X. Plosives: Right. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: have to one thing about Chicago, Chicago has to understand, the radio has to understand, is that they f do a lot of following. But Chicago has been the leader Of shit that goes on in the hip hop culture for a long time. From the slang, some of Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: the words that are saying, when no ID produced resurrection, that changed the sound of hip hop and what they were doing with samples. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: The sped up samples, that changed that. Then Kanye came in and and and and and made that. He he g he improved on it and made it perfect. He made that sound perfect. And then even drill music that started here in Chicago. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: You know, we changed so e and everybody's doing drill. They even doing a drill in Japan. It started right here in Chicago. So when Chicago understands that we are actually at one of the top of the leaders of this game and stop being followers, Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: then Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: a lot of our artists looks will will be like heard on the radio, like they're supposed to be heard. You know what I'm saying? And that's what we have Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: to change that. That's one thing that has to change here. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. We are the trendsetter. Chicago is a trendsetter. And if Vice: The radio suck. W with Yes. Cefore X. Plosives: if we can't if we can't we're so in in in the same token we're chasing ghosts 'cause we always wanna follow the next man, but we are the man that we should be chasing, right? Vice: Ex Exactly. Ain't that crazy? That's crazy. That is the that Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: is the total truth. We are the man that we should be tasting. Like, there's no reason that we shouldn't be when artists come here we shouldn't be open more f like when when you have certain artists come to the city, those artists that I put on that list should be opening up for them. That's who be sh that's who should be opening up when they come to the town. And they pick Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. That's the pipeline. Vice: up That's the pipeline, man. And you you pick these whack ass artists that they have to pay you to go on stage. And it's and once Lucy once we understand that everybody's looking at Chicago. And they've always Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: looked at Chicago. You know what I'm saying? And so it's Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yo, this is what I've been this is what I've been saying. When the world falls apart, everybody calls someone from Chicago. Two thousand eight, Cefore X. Plosives: Hell yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): the world economy was falling apart, they call Barack. Vice: Uhhuh. Sure did. Sure did. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Just what, two a year, two years ago, the world was falling apart, ev nobody believed in Jesus, they went and got the Pope from Chicago. Cefore X. Plosives: The the the Pope. Vice: They went and got the poll from Chicago. Yeah, man. We are the, we are the we are Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: the we are the conduit. I've always said that for years. Chicago is the conduit, man, for everything. Even RB, you know, the best singer. The best singers Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): How about it? How about it? Cefore X. Plosives: come on. Vice: come from here. Some of the best comedians come from here. The Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah Yes. Vice: the best food comes from here. You know what I'm saying? It's so much Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Here is cause nobody matches. Cefore X. Plosives: Yes, sir. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Nobody matches and they nobody's got time. If you're if you're boring rapper, if you a busted ass DJ, if you j if you're just whack. Again, it's Chicago's a place that they're not just gonna give it to you just 'cause you're from there. Vice: You have to work for it here, man. You Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: got to work for it. You get lost in the sauce real fast. Real fast, man. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Me Cefore X. Plosives: Real fast. Vice: And you and and if you really want it, you have to stick to it. You have to be tenacious. You have to be persistent. when I when I came at Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Right. Right. You can't be lazy. Vice: you can't be lazy, man. I came into the game in ninety-four-95 here. There's not too many rappers that's still doing it, still with me. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: And I can and I can go and look at every ten years. So from ninety-five, I met Pugs in Two thousand and one, maybe two thousand. So Pugs is looking at, you know, twenty sixty and he's probably was doing it long before I met him. You know what I'm saying? So and he's still doing it. You know, so that's what I tell some of these younger artists Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): He's he's so goddamn creative. Vice: Man, he's creative as hell, man. When it comes to the pen drawing Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Everything, everything. That kid does everything. Vice: Yeah, man, the clothes. And he's always been a cool guy, man. I've always liked Pugs, man. Their whole crew, Taiwan Davis Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Yeah. Vice: and Acrobats, always was a fan of those guys. Kenny Keyes, someone was a fan Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: of those guys, man. Those Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: like inst inspirational people, man. Like it's Chicago's always been full of people that inspire me. You Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: know, and and that's I love that, man. I got a show tonight. I got an actual show of Pugs. It's Pugs Adams, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): hell yeah, tell them we said what's up. Vice: For sure, man. It's Pugs Adams, Nuisance, Phenom, Crystal Lajune, Sam I Am Urbanized Music, Shadow Master Nana. We're at the Epiphany or 201 South to sure will, man. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Hell yeah. Tell Shadow we said what's up too. We have to I have to reach out to him. Vice: 201 South Laughing, man, for the for the wrap-up of the Chicago Hip Hop Heritage Month. So Cefore X. Plosives: That's what's up. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Hell yeah. Vice: Yeah, and when y'all come back, man. When you come back to Shy and see for I can have you been to see for have you had you been to the hip hop museum yet? Cefore X. Plosives: Every time I go to Chicago it's for the wrong reasons, man, unfortunately. I'm in f I'm Vice: So where where are you at now? Where are you? Cefore X. Plosives: in Florida right now. Vice: Okay, so when you guys come back, cause they closed it down. So the Hip Hop Heritage Museum was on 45th of Indiana. It was just two floors. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: The the city gave them some money. And they're about to move into a old high school. And they go it's yeah, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): hell yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: yeah. Vice: it's gonna be super duper big. So Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Hell yeah. Vice: You guys have got to get me some shit. If you still have any if you have any flyers, you have any pictures from back in the day, you have any pluggers. They need that 'cause I had Nimes send them Nemes came in town and gave them one of her towel coats. they got the J Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Nice. Vice: Boogie coats. Like it's like 'cause it's like a real museum, man. And and and they and and they really give shouts to everybody in the industry. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: Not just the north side. It's everybody. Even the little guys that you didn't even that you wouldn't think that they give shouts to. So the museum Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Vice: should be back open in twenty twenty seven. April of twenty twenty seven. So yeah, when you guys come back, yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): dope. Yeah, we've been trying to we've been trying to get artistic on he's been busy. Or or C4's Vice: Yeah, yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): been busy, one of the two, but yeah. Artistic is one of those dudes. He don't ever sit still either. He's always he's always working Vice: Yeah, artistic. what's artisti Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): on a book, he's always working on a he's always working on something. On a museum. Vice: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's artistic and and and he's yeah, you have to get artistic on there, man. Him or Kingdom or or or or Brian, be Brian Gorman, but yeah, artistic I tell you man, he they've they've had me help I've been helping curate it, so I'm very excited about it, man. Like the When they showed me how it was gonna look, they're gonna have it's for the community. Eight basketball courts. And I'm telling people like Tego ones gave the whole WHPK console to them. So this looks Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm. Vice: like a yeah, yeah, man, it's like a real museum. And so and people were coming all over the world just for the one that was on Indiana, the small one, so I cannot wait till this one go up, man. I could take my granddaughter there and be like, You see your see your granddad? So you guys got to Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah, the hall of fame. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): yeah. Vice: You guys got to cause you guys have have been a part of the culture too, man. So you gotta take something up there, you know what I'm saying? Even if it's a a picture of the podcast, man, you know what I'm saying? It's gotta be something 'cause it's beautiful, man. And and and that's and that hopefully that will teach the Chicago artists coming up that we don't have to be followers and we are trendsetters. Let's Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: do something to make our music be heard because everybody is actually following us and we have to, you know. Come together so we can Cefore X. Plosives: So much Vice: be heard, man. Cefore X. Plosives: so much history and s so much culture. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): If nothing else, holding up the homies. If nothing else, hopin' Vice: For the homies, man. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): holding up the homies. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Cause I love I love talking Vice: That's real. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): shit. I love talking shit. And when I go somewhere and people know that I'm into hip hop and people know that I used to work on the dock and all that stuff, blah blah blah blah blah. And then they start asking me questions and I'm like, you motherfuckers have never heard of Vice. Let me go get my boy Vice. You know how you know knowing you guys, it's like giving a machine a shit talking machine gun unlimited rounds. Vice: Right. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: Hey, that's dope, man. And it's the truth though, because it is it's it's so many unlimited rounds here in Chicago. I say Chicago's one of the talented most talented places I've been to. You know, Jacks Jackson, Mississippi had a shitload of MCs too, but Chicago has some some talent, man. And then and a lot of us are still doing it. You know what I'm saying? Season talent, man. I love it. I love it, man. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: It it's like Chicago is a skillet, right? You never watch the skillet. You know what I'm saying? You never watch a skillet. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): No, that's just season. That Vice: Never watched a skillet. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): shit is season to profession. Vice: It's seasoned. A season, Cefore X. Plosives: That's it. Everything everything you cook on that bitch is is beautiful. R Vice: man. Yes. It's seasoned, man, and that's exactly what we are here. Seasoned, man. Like we can rock a stage and you know what I'm saying, do this or do that. It's it's dope, you know what I'm saying. Cefore X. Plosives: Do you follow do you follow Job, the the guy that ran every city, every street in the city of Chicago? He just he just set the record. We had him on this show. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Joe Barbosa. Vice: no. He from Chicago? Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah, he Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): He's the cat that was running through all the streets with the Chicago flag wrapped over him or around his neck with like a Vice: yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): cape. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Vice: Yeah. he just finished, right? I I just saw yeah, I saw Cefore X. Plosives: So yeah, he just finished last month. And Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Yeah. Vice: a video. Cefore X. Plosives: so like the stuff that he he did to spotlight Chicago, the every every corner of the city he found beauty in. You know what I'm saying? Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: And just like the culture, the diversity, the love, the humanity, the empathy, the compassion, like all of it. You know what I'm saying? That's that's what Chicago is. That is that that is that that is that skillet. You know what I'm saying? Vice: That's what it is. Yeah, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm. Mm-hmm. But if you get out of line you will get smacked in the teeth. Cefore X. Plosives: And every a and and you'll get hit with the skillet too. Vice: yeah. Mm-hmm. Cefore X. Plosives: You will get hit with the skillet. Vice: You will get hit with the skillet too, man. Cefore X. Plosives: But I think I think everybody needs a a a a dish from the skillet to really appreciate it. You know what I'm saying? In Vice: Yes. Yes. Cefore X. Plosives: their lifetime. Come through and just just have a dish. Break bread. You know what I'm saying? Vice: Break bread, man. That's it. That's it. That's it. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: That's it, man. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Man, I'm so happy that they got that building for the hip hop museum. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah, that's love. Vice: Man, when he when they showed me the layout of it, man, I was like it's like the it's it's a old it's a grade school on Shields, 54th and Shields is huge. They have the whole block. So that's going Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): damn. Vice: to be a real museum for us. Like that's gonna be our Obama Center. Cefore X. Plosives: That's a that's the mecca right there. Vice: That's the Mecca right there. And like I said, they give love to everybody, man. It's just not the North Side hip hoppers. They s they gave love to soldiers at war and and and rappers that I didn't even think that they would give love to. And I tell people all the time, whoever you are, if you have something, give it to Artistic. Cefore X. Plosives: Man, they hustle so hard. Vice: Give it to Artistic because he's gonna use it. He said it. Whatever you give me is hip-hop history. If you have old school tapes from Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. It's going and now that we have a space Vice: Now that we have the more space, he's like, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah, yeah, yeah. Vice: if you have the old WHP capes. WHP K takes, bring He go digitize You know what I'm saying? But if you whatever you have, they're gonna put it up and I'm like, you can always contribute to our own history, man, and that shit is so dope to me, man. Cefore X. Plosives: It's cool that you mentioned Soldiers at War, man. They were everywhere, bro. They were they were the Vice: Everywhere. Cefore X. Plosives: guerrilla team on Mad Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: I saw on Madison. I saw them on North Avenue. I see them like everywhere wearing the orange. Man. I was I was like this I Vice: everywhere. You saw that orange and black, man. You saw everywhere. Guerrilla warfare. It was beautiful. Cefore X. Plosives: was like, this is the no limit of Chicago. You know what I'm saying? Vice: Of Chicago. Cefore X. Plosives: Man, there was Vice: That was in Mo Limit. And and they're in the and they're in the in the they give them love in the in the museum as well. So it's like this is dope, man. It's it's beautiful. In Chicago, people don't st and I learned I I didn't know all the history. Artistic Nym taught me a lot of history of Chicago. I didn't know 'cause like Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: I said, I wasn't I wasn't in the hip hop like that. I'm listening to Prince and house music and, you know, R and B and different things. I wasn't into I didn't know about all of this. I didn't know about G two and Tintray. You know what I'm saying? Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: I didn't know about those guys, you know what I'm saying? So Cefore X. Plosives: Brother G two, yeah. Vice: Yeah. Yeah man, I didn't know about those guys. Cefore X. Plosives: that's love man. This is a good conversation, man. This is so good. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): For real. And just how everyone Vice: Yeah, man. That's the level cent. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): everyone is connected to each other. And it seems like in the hip hop scene, the Chicago hip hop scene, it seems like I mean, you might have beef here and there, but for the most part, everyone is like holding each other up. You know? Vice: Yeah, most definitely. Everybody's holding each other up. It's a lot people don't see that. They don't think that they would we come together, but we actually do. You know, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: even if even if it is a little clickish, we still actually come together. You know what I'm saying? Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: But Yeah, it's a lot of it's a lot of people that there's a lot of hate here though. There's a lot of hate here, a lot of people that you wanna say want to bring other people down, but for the most part, Chicago sticks sticks together. Yeah, it's everywhere, but Chicago sticks together, man. And that's Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): That's everywhere though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Vice: that was another reason for my list was to bring to show people like I listen to all of you guys, you know. Everybody that's out there, I'm listening. You know what I mean? Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. What do you see what do you see the future of music? 'Cause like AI is acting a fool, some folks leveraging AI are acting a fool. Like where is music going? Vice: I hope away from AI. The only thing I like Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: about the AI is cool is the is the instrumentation of it, but the voices and that I don't really like that. You know, 'cause d drum machines can be a f a part of a p a form of AI. Different drum machine, different drum sounds, but I think it's just how they use it, if they use it in a in a dope way. You know, some of the stuff has been Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: corny But if they use it in a dope way, I think it'd be dope. I think the way the hip hop is going is I think that we're start we have to start labeling music for what it is, 'cause a lot of this shit that comes out isn't hip hop. And we have to stop naming everything hip hop. Because that's cause they're rapping. Or because right, or because they're rapping. That's that's that Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Just 'cause it's coming from the inner city don't mean that it's it's hilva. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Is it is this the Is is this a is this like the s the the steroid era of hip hop right now? You know what I'm saying? Kinda Vice: yeah, 'cause every yeah, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Actually Vice: yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): I saw I saw a Will I Am interview and they said so wait you're using AI? He said yeah but no I'm I'm I'm saying the words and then I use AI to manipulate it. So it's more of a instead of AI taking over his voice, it's more like his voice is getting a facelift. Cefore X. Plosives: Auto Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): And he's doing like Vice: Mm-hmm. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): lady lady voices with his voice. And I'm like, all right, Vice: Mm-hmm. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): well that's kinda that's kinda cheating because you could very easily just go get a lady. Vice: Yeah, you could. Like I th I think I I heard Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: that they're gonna use AI for for DOC. That would be dope. He's gonna use it for his voice. That would be dope for DLC. Or for or for somebody like Benny Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): That would be dope. Yeah. Vice: Siegel that couldn't talk anymore. I think that's dope. Or like DMC who has a problem with his voice. I think it could be used dope like Cefore X. Plosives: Right. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: that, but with the way that they're using it, some of them is like I'm good on it. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. And for folks that don't know, DOC Cefore X. Plosives: And and then Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): was like they came up with with through the Easy E crew and Vice: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): he had he had bars, he had a beautiful rapping voice, but he got in a car accident and crushes, Vice: Yeah. Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Lernicks, all the things, all the things. So we lost access to what literally what he was saying. But what they Vice: Yeah. Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. And an Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): I I can see that I can see that. I can see that. Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: I mean another thing too they gotta realize is that if they wanna monetize now, you you can't you can't really get paid off of AI. Like they're you're gonna all those sh Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: all those checks you're gonna make are gonna go to AI. They're not gonna go to you. De dead Vice: Yes, all of are gonna go to not gonna go to you. Cefore X. Plosives: dead man peeped Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: us a game on that and you know, all these people that are trying to create music make they're gonna realize that they're not getting anything in the bank. Vice: not get anything in the bank, man. That's real. That's real right there. That's real. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): If you thought you were getting ripped off the floor, 'cause we always heard those stories about what's it, TLC and how they went bankrupt because they didn't understand the game and the percentages. Vice: Well, they're ripping us off right now, man. Streaming is a rip-off. Like, it's Cefore X. Plosives: yeah. Vice: terrible. And I tell I tell people Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: all the time to just just if if you have an artist that they put their music on Bandcamp, go to Band Camp and buy it, 'cause with streaming, it sucks, man. You get a million streams, you're only making twenty, ten eleven, fifteen thousand dollars or something like that. Like, eleven thousand dollars. Like, that's nothing. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: And you had a Cefore X. Plosives: No. Vice: million streams, like how am I getting eleven thousand dollars eleven thousand dollars on a million streams? It's crazy. So yeah, it's not you can't live off that. You know what Cefore X. Plosives: No Vice: I'm saying? So it's very they've really cornered the market. Two short, Master P, Prints, all these artists that took control of their their their Cefore X. Plosives: Mm, no master. Vice: their artistry, they make sure that we're not doing that no more. So yeah, they've taken Cefore X. Plosives: yeah, for sure. Vice: over, man. They've taken over terribly. It's I hate that. I hate Cefore X. Plosives: And that and that Vice: the streaming. Cefore X. Plosives: and and it it's part of the education process, right? Like we gotta let let Vice: Vex. Cefore X. Plosives: let young artists know, and even OGs, because they don't really know. You know, you gotta let them know that there is opportunity to make bread. Real money, Vice: Mm-hmm. Cefore X. Plosives: real money. But you gotta do it the right way. You gotta make sure every Vice: And you have to. Cefore X. Plosives: everything is dotted and crossed. Otherwise, again, somebody's gonna eat off of you. Vice: You lost. Somebody's gonna eat off you, man. That's real. That's real. That's real, man. Cefore X. Plosives: So I'm trying to think, man. What what was your moment? All right. You y you called yourself the John Jones of the with a pencil, right? Vice: Yeah. Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: So when it when it when is that like when you wrote when you write that, when you write a line like that. Vice: huh. Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Like I know I know when I write a line like that, it's like I ate a lemon and I got this look in my face. Right? Vice: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Like how what what's what's that what's that process like after you pen the gem like that? Vice: Man, after I've pinned that, that's like that's like you said, man. I know it's like in my mind I'm like, This is gonna kill him right here. This line right here, man. This is and I put it together because it's you know, I gotta take this word and move this and and say it right. And I'm like, yeah, this is gonna be one. And that is one of them lines I was like, yeah. This is gonna fuck some people up. When they when they catch on, John, you know Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah. Vice: what I'm saying, straight from the middle, simple. John Joel's with a pencil, they tapping out. It was like, okay. That's it and that so I I was I was looking for my my my hip hop aficionados, my wordplay smith. To catch on to that man. So that whole song was something that I wrote trying to be on some Pete Rock. I was trying to say my rhyme like Pete Rock is Ty Hill did the beat and it sounded so Pete Rockish to me. I like, Let me see if I could Pete Rock this but yeah, that's one of my favorite songs, man. It it give me gave me room to do what I do best and play with the words and and cadence, things I learned working with slum and using my voice and my inflection of words and my accent. Like Cefore X. Plosives: Uh-huh. Vice: t to Twilight Tone taught me how use my accent to make words rhyme. So yeah, that's one of my favorite joints right there. I'm performing that tonight, man. Rock on performing that joint tonight. Appreciate it, man. Appreciate Cefore X. Plosives: That's a banger, dog. That's a banger, dog. I'm listening, dog. You Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: one of the things that I had to learn when I got on the mic or when I write is that I need to un I need to appreciate the breath, like the pause. I don't have to fill every second with a word. Vice: Yes, the pause. You don't have you don't have to. That's and and and and and it k and it and helps you with the pause helps you stay in the pocket more. You Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: know, like Slum taught me how to rap in the pocket. Like you can say whatever the hell you want, but if it's in the pocket, it's you straight. You know what I'm saying? As long as you're in the pocket, you cool. And so yeah, man, that's like I don't like to I like to give songs breath and certain instruments of their b their own breath 'cause your voice is an instrument. Like so you don't have to everybody don't have to tally a qualit and say a Cefore X. Plosives: Right. Vice: hundred words and every that's not it was like you know, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Ha ha ha Vice: put a bunch of words there. You don't have Cefore X. Plosives: My thing is I did Vice: to Cefore X. Plosives: I used to do a I used to take when I did shows, I I remember doing the Abbey pub and I took Scar the Beat Scary movie with Royce and Eminem and Vice: Mm-hmm. Cefore X. Plosives: four and a half minutes straight. Like no no break. It's just straight, straight bars. And after I'm done I'm dead. Right? But I'm Vice: Mm. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Ha ha ha. Cefore X. Plosives: dead but it it's dope. But I now realize I can't do that all the time because then I'm hoar. Like you you know what I'm saying? Like Vice: Right. Then you yeah. Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Yeah. Vice: Yeah. Yeah, learn Yeah, learn Cefore X. Plosives: You gotta let it marinate a little bit. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Work smarter, not harder. Vice: that and and and learn the breath control. And a lot of that that breath control and shit like that comes from these open mics, man. And being at open mics it teaches you a lot of things and breath control is another thing that you get taught at these open mics. Most definitely, man. Most definitely. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Who was it who Vice: Most definitely, man. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): was it that That kinda the the first person that kinda like take you and be like, Look, you got all the skills, you got everything that you need. You need to focus. You need to do like this, like this. So was there one person that kinda grabbed you and was like, This is the path? Vice: Yes, my cousin Scrap. Scrap was the one that told me, he gave me a lot of insight, a lot of lot of a lot of advice, you know what I'm saying, it and and and how I was supposed to move in the game and the rest of it was just me learning, tripping and bumping my head, you know what I'm saying, and you know, finding things out myself and just being the person that I am also I'm I'm a very personal person. I don't have any enemies, so I'm cool with a lot of people. And Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: so, Yeah, I really when it li didn't have to tell me to focus 'cause I was focused on this. I'm focused on my music game, but Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Yeah. Vice: just focus more and discipline more on getting your library together and Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Vice: you know, write writing good songs and, you know, getting keep yourself together so you can perform well. Yeah, those type of things. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Read the contracts. Vice: Yeah, read the contracts for sure, man, and the pay attention to all of that stuff, that's real. So yeah, he taught me Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah, yeah, yeah. Vice: all of that. That was that was a great, great lesson to learn. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: Yeah, 'cause you could be f you could Vice: 'Cause you have to read those contracts. Cefore X. Plosives: be focused. You could be as focused as you want, but if you're focused on the wrong thing, then Vice: Fucked up. Yeah, it's it's over. And I Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): That's true too. Vice: had to be and I and I stayed focused on my music, man. It's like I'm it's always always on my mind. I'm always thinking about it. Always thinking about lyrics. You know, like the like Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): How many albums do you have out right now? Vice: let's see. I have V Files, V smoking mirrors, V three, Lifelines. The last one I put out was Lifelines. Which I think is like my magnum opus of of music. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Hmm. Vice: I have the Twilight of Tony Nimble, not Tom B. Nimble, t Tony Bangs on Beats, Ty Hill, Beats by JT, I have Audacity, SC, Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): hell yeah. Vice: on the and T three from Slum Village on there. it features Juice, I got Toine Gabs, rest in peace to Antoine Mohammed, I have Bob Chin, Lid Law, Rashid Hadith, Phil Moore Green, guy from Jackson and Coke Boumaye, Dope C as a feature. So yeah, it's like my Magnum Opus man. I w and I put that that was the last one I put out. And I have a new work on a new one right now with Tony Baines. We're working on one. I'm working on E P with DJ Allo. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: working on something with Frank Knitt. there's a rapper from Ohio named Vice Soletric. We're working on one together. So I'm I'm working right now, man. I'm I'm in the I'm in the lab cooking, baby. So I'm gonna be sending y'all some things. That's Yes, he is. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah yeah yeah. Hey real quick shout out to Tony Baines too man that dude is entertaining Cefore X. Plosives: Hey, I'm ready. Vice: That's that's that's one you guys should have on here. He's that Tony Tony is very entertaining, man. He's cold on the beats though, man. Tony Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: is cold in it. Him and that NPC is cold, man. He's cold. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): yeah. No, I was watching him on I was watching him on Instagram back a couple of years ago when he was doing this what was it? It was a hood cooking show. Vice: yeah, I remember that. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: I remember that at Decca Durst at Decadirst studio. I remember that. Yeah, I remember that. That's hilarious you said that. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Man, I'm telling you, that dude's hilarious. Vice: That's the last you said that man. Mm-hmm. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Are you working with any c up and comers that we need to keep an eye out for? Vice: yeah, Saya, a guy named Saya, but he's not really uppercomer. Just people don't really know about his music, but he's been making music. He had a a group with his brother named Brown Audio. And Saya's dope, man. Dope ass C Il Gordon, another dope ass MC I work with, Andres Haley, Mr. Misfit, Stone Flacco R and Races, Racesa. Yes, a couple of them man, that those are my guys that though uppercomers I'll be working with. Landon, my little cousin Landon Battles. Of course Rufus Sims, yeah, all of those guys. You'll hear some Vic Spencer. I have something coming out with all of them very, very, very soon, man. Like working on it right now. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Vic is another one. Vic Vic Vic Spencer probably has what a hundred and thirty albums out? Vice: Yeah, man. He constantly is putting out he constantly putting out he constantly putting out joints, man. He constantly putting out joints. He's a that's a hard working that's a hard working MC right there, man. He's a hard working MC, man. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. He's got the perfect voice for shit talking too. Vice: Perfect shit talking voice. He has Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: the perfect shit talking voice. Yes he does. Yes he does, man. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): you got anything else, C4? Cefore X. Plosives: Nah man, you know, everything, everything that's been said ties into staying true to who you are. You know what I'm saying? Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: If if if that and that's what I tell upcoming artists too, like if if you're if you're if you're doing music and it's not who you are, about who you are, then it's gonna get exposed pretty quick. And then you're not gonna have any fun making that music. Right? Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Vice: Yeah. Cefore X. Plosives: It's not gonna be, it's not gonna be something where you could one day create your opus, right? And you're not traveling a journey that's your own. So if if you stay if you stay in with who you are, then you could be like Vice and do and do everything that you love to do on the mic and and help people come up and do all the things that the OGs did for him. And you know, and Vice: Yeah, man. Cefore X. Plosives: and and that's that's the thread. And that's that's what Chicago is. That's that's the skillet. That's that's everything that embodies what we do. So and Vice: That's it, man. Cefore X. Plosives: that's and that's that's that's what that's what I gotta say, man. I appreciate it being Vice: Man. Cefore X. Plosives: on this one, man. Vice: Man, I appreciate it, man. I appreciate you guys, man. I'm looking at my I got like my my battery started to Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Vice: hit the red on me. I was like, shit, okay. But yeah, man, I appreciate this, man. I appreciate it, man. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah, that's why I was saying that's what I was saying. I know I know you got a show going on and stuff. But to finish up the the thought that C four was talking about when we were talking to panic. He said if I wake up in the morning and all of this is gone, I'm still gonna be making beats. Vice: Yes, that's that's the same thing with me. I'm still gonna be writing songs. Still gonna be recording. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah. Have you written have you gotten into writing like films or anything like that? Or you just poems and and rap? Vice: I've been thinking about I I've been thinking about writing a book. You know what I'm saying? There's been so much shit that's happened in my life. I've been thinking about writing a book or writing a film. I want I want my music and films, but I've been thinking about writing a book real seriously. Like first a memoir, just some things to happen. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): I'll I'll reach back out because here's a here's my subtle flex. I did a little short film. I got rubber room on there and Rita J on there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I tell everybody, I tell everybody Vice: that's dope. Okay, okay, for sure. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): when I'm working on something, I've c I first go to all my Chicago people. Hey, anybody got some new things that we wanna play with? Anyone wanna rubber room jumped in? Vice: That's dope. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): shout out to Sean Doe, he's the one that that made it happen. That's the brother right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shon Doe is that dude. I love that kid. Vice: It's another one of my families right there. Another one of my families. Peace Sean. Peace Sean Doe. You probably know you're gonna watch this too. Peace to my fam. Yeah. Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): yeah, so I did a little f film y film and then I have them in there. And then when I released that film, Doug said, Hey. Doug Influ was like, hey. Vice: Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): You're not gonna call me? I was like, all right, alright, I Cefore X. Plosives: Was a love it. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): got the sequel coming, you'll be in it. Vice: Right. Well, I'm I'm I'm glad I got a chance to you know, be sit down with you and let you know I want to be a part of the next one, man. So I'll reach Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Hell yeah, man. Vice: out. I'm gonna send you guys everything, man. I'm send you the the the info with the my f my my YouTube page as well. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): well you well you might as well toss it in there right now. Let the people know where they can find you. Vice: Vice versia dig on Instagram. I'm on I'm Vice on Facebook and Kevin Perk is my real name. Vice Verse on Twitter and on YouTube I believe it's verse vice. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Mm. Vice: I believe that's my page, verse vice with a big ass V. So Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Yeah, yeah, yeah. Vice: yeah, yeah, yeah, it has all my videos on it and then this'll be on there too. This'll be on there too, for sure. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Hell yeah. Yeah, and we'll Cefore X. Plosives: Hell yeah. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): we'll put all the links on the description of this video so you guys can follow up with Chicago Legend. Yes sir. Yes sir. Vice: Appreciate you, man. Appreciate you, man. Cefore X. Plosives: And they they they they can't say peace without that V, right? Vice: Can't say peace without the V. They think they they they Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Ha ha Vice: they think they saying peace. They think they say peace, but those V's, baby, they rapping me. Yes sir, C4 Appreciate Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Those bars Cefore X. Plosives: No, it's out of the Vice: you man, appreciate ya man. Most definitely. Carlos Gomez (Coconut Justice): Alright everybody. And with that we out. Look at the V. Look at the V Vice: Peace. Yes Cefore X. Plosives: Peace. Vice: sir, yes sir, peace.