interview with GDP as seen in TheThrowAwayDays issue #2

In most publications it would be pretty uncouth to tell the reader this, but considering I'm printing less than 100 copies of this issue and I don't give a fuck about being PC or keeping it posi for the kiddies I'll let you know that GDP ate some mushrooms right before this interview. Another reason some "journalists" might not inform the reader that is because it could be damaging to the artists reputation, but if you're reading this chances are you already know GDP has dabbled in his fair share of recreational drugs. I don't think the drugs affected the answers, although we did occasionally get off course. But more than likely that was because of me talking like a drunk yinzer.



TTAD: When you were a kid would you rather have been a pro skater or a pro rapper?
GDP: Up to a certain point it was a toss up. And then I probably realized like late middle school, my buddies brother opened up a skate shop called Division East. Which ties into what we were doing if you've been paying attention some shit that we were working with earlier. About then I started meeting some really really good skaters and I realized skateboarding is gonna be something i always did but i accepted that it would be a hobby. just rock with it. I was better at making music, so I thought. So I still think.

It's almost nicer now. Like I know some people, so many friends of mine are trying to get on. And it becomes this fucking chore where like "now I have to get a trick." It just looses it's taste. Music to some degree it's like, now I can't just make the songs. It has to get out there to people. I have to tour on it. Make a stab at paying the bills with it. Where skateboarding we still have the beautiful relationship where it's only fun. When i'm on my skateboard it's no pressure except to enjoy myself. It's good, it's like therapy. In that regard I'm almost glad I chose music. Skateboarding to me is almost more sacred, I haven't had to lean on it like I have with music. There's sort of expectations I have with music where skateboarding is strictly skateboarding.

TTAD: What did you go to college for and are you ever gonna work in that field?
GDP: English, creative writing, and music. And I think it's safe to say yes. Not in a traditional sense, but certainly.

TTAD: Does have a college degree get you a higher guarantee?
GDP: Definitely (laughs) and student loans will also up your guarantees. Take your student loans, try to defer them, and you'll definitely getter a better leg up in the rap field.

TTAD: What is the last real job you ever had? not even like real big boy job, like just a job.
GDP: Yeah, like a joe job. Waiting tables. Like literally I quit when we were moving to the Bronx to record useless eaters. So the last real job I had I dropped that in June of 2010. I've have odd jobs, wild shit like that definitely kept me afloat. Like, that was the last time I literally had a time card. I'm not above that that. I know one day I might have to do that shit again. I'm just striving to not have to, cause I feel like I have more important things to be worrying about. I respect anyone doing that to get by, but try to use that money to get your leg up. So many of my friends are gonna be a bartender forever, not that there is anything wrong with that, but if you have aspirations use that as a stepping stone to go wherever you need to go. No disrespect but it's like I took that money and got my ass to New York to record a record and I've been trying to tread water ever since.

TTAD: Here's a stab at your new record. Who finally taught you how to count bars?
GDP: I've always known, I just don't care. And I still don't. In the future you'll be even more aware of that.

TTAD: Your new stuff is mad depressing, are you pretty much over the braggadocio?
GDP: Hell no. I haven't even tipped the ice berg of my braggadocio this is just like another record I wanted to make. I'll get away from the braggadocio again. You know what I mean. I just wanna be able to write whatever. I'm like an octopus, More than that though. Every tentacle being another octopus.

TTAD: With how depressing your last record was do you ever feel like through all your touring shit you were just running from something? Instead of you graduated from college and were like, "now I'm a rapper."
GDP: The answer is yes. I had been trying to be a rapper. But like it just came to a point where things were shaky in my life, pretty much the whole time I was in college every weekend I was outta town playing shows.

My parents are fucking cool. They really scrimped and scrapped their whole lives to save enough to put me through college. When I was 17 and said I didn't wanna go to college. They weren't mad but they were heart broken. You know what I mean? They weren't trying to guilt trip me or anything they were just legitimately upset. I had never seen my dad cry before. At his fathers funeral and when I told him I didn't wanna go to college. I was just like ok what are they asking me to do, give it a shot, and then it was just like whatever. I just saw the shit through. I got out and start touring and going hard I'm like, "oh wait, maybe no one gives a fuck, maybe the whole time i was in college i could have actually gotten an education instead of worrying about being a rapper and putting all my eggs in this basket." Around then in my love life things started falling apart. Holla was actually super cathartic for me. It's not depressing, it's the least depressing thing I've ever done. Its like my next lease on life. And when #$ (Hash Money) comes out in a  few months, you'll see Holla is like half a bridge so to speak. You'll see the whole picture when the #$ (Hash Money) record come out.

The Wrong Address: You were thinking about stopping rapping before, right?
GDP: Yeah, when we (GDP & The Wrong Address) started hanging out I was over rapping. When Useless Eaters came out I cancelled a Europe tour I cancelled like so many fucking shows. My girl and I were breaking up. I was just like I've put everything in my life to put GDP in front of my personal life and for what? I'm 23 years old and I'm barely getting by and I've just put all this negative energy out there in the world. There's music videos of me fucking girls and shooting cops. And what has it done but like fuck up everything I actually cared about as a person. Like where does this lead me. Like I'll google my name now let me try to get a real job. At this point I'm like, fuck. And then we (The Wrong Address) started hanging out more and he was also going through the same thing. You wanna talk about it?


The Wrong Address: Same type of shit you know what I mean.
GDP: The opposite actually. You had some sick fucking job and making a ton of money.
The Wrong Address: But I hated it, and the girl shit too.
 GDP: Yeah we won't go into it. Sorry girls, I love ya. But you understand, and girls go through guy shit.  It's just like I'm a guy, I don't experience the world as a woman. I'm a feminist at heart.

TTAD: What Europe tour did you drop off of?
GDP: I was gonna go out there with my friends AOI and Mr. DNA. They threw me like $1,000 on my ticket and I was gonna cover the other half. It was also kinda cause like the money was seeming like I was gonna come out of pocket. They ended up killing it and it was a great tour, so I was like fuck whoops. But I was just going through so much shit, dude, I was just like not showing up for shows. There was a bunch of shows I was supposed to play on Useless Eaters and I literally just didn't feel like calling them. I was just like in bed. Not some faggot like I'm so depressed artist thing. It was just like I don't care, but I got off that.

TTAD: When you were depressed and not gonna make music anymore, what did you want from your life instead?
GDP: Some finical stability, cause I was traveling around, and at that point I was kinda staying at my parents house. I was living with a girl for free, not that that was why I was with her, but I fucked that right up because I just broke up with her. And then I was like bouncing around, staying with friends. I almost moved to Oakland with my bud Jake. I did a Cali run and ate an edible and just lost it and I stopped smoking weed for almost a year and a half. I just wanted some sort of stability. I loved nothing in my life. Like my music shit that was suppose to hold me down, it was like I don't have a booking agent everyone that is reaching out to me doesn't understand what the fuck to do with me. Like they're offering me tours that suck, my friends are like "Why don't you just do it?" Cause I work too hard to go on some shit tour where I don't fit in the lineup. I don't wanna do that bull shit. If it's not putting my best foot forward career-wise and finically, it's like my integrity is worth more than that. But it's gonna be a real fun year for me I promise.

TTAD: What's the rest of the year got going on for you? Or beyond that if you know?
GDP: I'm launching a record label called Smokers Cough. (www.SmokersCough.net) It's gonna be myself, The Wrong Address, Shape, The Man From Somewhere Else, AOI, DOS4GW, #$, Schlang, the Slangcorp camp kinda redistributed/repurposed and a bunch of other people you haven't heard of before. Maybe you have but didn't realize we were friends. I'm also working with some other labels. I've just been given a really nice plateau to get me and my friends music out and that's what I'm doing this year. And play a bunch of shows. I just release a record with The Wrong Address called Holla,  I'm releasing an ep with Space Jesus in February under the group name #$ (Hash Money), then I'm doing a solo record called Permanent Vocation. Smokerscaough.net, that's what I'm doing this year. Go there and you'll find out all about it.

GDP

https://www.facebook.com/g6d6p6
http://g6d6p6.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/g6d6p6
http://smokerscough.net/
@g6d6p6


interview by Cody Jones/Stillborn Identity

https://www.facebook.com/stillcody
stillbornidentity.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/stillborn-identity
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stillborn-Identity/154438521280723
https://www.youtube.com/user/stillcodentity
@CodyJonesSTLBRN

Emily Rugburn - I Wish I Could Grow A Beard

                Typically I don’t do reviews. I hate them. I hate reading some has-been-who-never-was-rappers jaded opinion on someone’s release that got more shine than theirs. I never wanted to be the dude bashing someone else’s art, giving praise is alright I guess, but saying something is garbage because the person reviewing it doesn’t like it is totally bananas.

                However, all this week I’ll be at some temp job that the first 6 hours of my work day each day is supposed to be spent writing. That’s it; all I have to do is write. I guess they’re scanning like 10 peoples writing style each week and see if you can identify them just by the way they type. The speed, the words they use, amount of times they use back space, all that shit.

                So I figured whatever, I’ll plug some of the stuff I’ve been listening to lately that is available for free online. Maybe it will make this painstakingly slow work week go faster. Plus technically I’m getting paid a pretty penny for this, and I can guarantee I’ll never get paid this handsomely again for writing about underground rap. So here it is, the worst excuse for a review you’ll ever come across.

 

                First off Emily Rugburn is T.M.F.S.E. (The Man From Somewhere Else, formerly known as abc-def) and Junkwaffel of Slangcorp. TMFSE is known for his slow delivery, unique cadence, bizarre vocabulary, intricate internal rhyme schemes, clever puns, and songs about drugs.  I think ‘I Wish I Could Grow a Beard’ came out in early 2010.

1.)    Imaginary Friend

The cd starts off with a soliloquy from an ‘imaginary friend’ and Junkwaffel drops some soft jazzy samples in the background that set the pace for the ep. For the longest time I thought this quote was from a movie, and I was determined to see it. However, after google searching direct quotes from it more times than I'd like to admit I came to the conclusion that it’s not a movie. I guess a movie about an imaginary friend wouldn’t be that visually stimulating anyway.

 

 "...skate dude who shaves pubes, blaze doobes, and pays dues on credit...”

2.)    Slam Dancing with the Stars

Yep, this song is pretty cool. I don’t really know what to say. Starts and ends with another quote I don’t know the origin of, but I tried to find the movie for a while. As TMFSE said he rocked the posse cut solo… and he laced it. I think this track came out when rappers saying “no homo” was the thing to say, kind of like swag is now. So TMFSE drops the line “fuck homo” in there, but I really doubt a vegan (self-proclaimed) junkie is homophobic. Or maybe he meant literally fuck homos and he’s down? Either way people take the shit rappers say to seriously sometimes.

3.)    Perms, Sperm, and Sherm feat. GDP

Starts off with another quote I don’t know what it’s from. In case you can’t read, this song features fellow Slangcorp alumni, GDP. GDP did a good job rapping at TMFSE’s super slow bpm.  Yep, this is another cool song by Emily Rugburn. And it ends with a relevant Bill Hicks quote about drugs, hell yeah finally something I can pin point.

4.)    Watermelon Lemonade

Arm Arm Leg Head. I don’t get it but sure, why not. TMFSE does 8 bar verses in this song instead of the standard 16. I’m always into different structures, but sometimes I wonder how incredibly short his already short tracks would be is he rapped at an average pace. “…Smack your ass no homo,” there it is, the token ‘no homo’ line of the time.

5.)    Pumpernickle

I have no idea who the girl who dubs her vocals behind TMFSE’s vocal track is, but I’ve heard her on a few Emily Rugburn tracks. I think you have to be from Jersey to be able to rap anything about pumpernickle.

6.)    One More Bag feat. Pistol

Another Slangcorp affiliate featured on this release, this time it’s Pistol. Pistol is only featured on the hooks though. Tracks like this always make me wonder how these dudes on heroin are able to be so prolific with their music, when there are so many clean people out there that can’t get anything done. It’s like, “Hey look what these people did while heavily addicted to such a deadly drug. What’s you’re excuse for not getting anything done again?” Remind me to never to work in a rehab center.

7.)    The Girl with the Thorn in her Arm

For the longest time this was my favorite track on the release. Everything about it, from the title being a pun on The Smiths song ‘The Boy with the Thorn in his side’ to the guitar (I think that’s a guitar) loop that TMFSE raps over with no drums, to how the drums kick in and he does the “refrain” or whatever a real critic would call that. Is it bad to like songs about someone else’s struggle drug addiction? I like this song so much I used a line with it to try and pick up a girl before. We didn’t have anything to do, so I suggested “let’s get high and drive all night.” I don’t think it worked, but that’s alright because I can use it again on another girl out there because chances are she doesn’t read this blog or listen to Emily Rugburn.

8.)    Star-Belly Sneech

This is another good jam to finish off this ep. At the end Junkwaffel drops the beat and lets you get a better listen to TMFSE’s unique style.

     Bonus track)

But wait, there’s more! This song became my favorite over ‘The Girl with the Thorn in her Side’ once I discovered it. I feel like for the most part bonus tracks are fading away because so much stuff is only digital, but they were always my favorite part of a cd when I was younger. I really dig beat boxing drums and the sample and am pretty curious of the origin. “Just cause my name on the flyer don’t mean I’m gonna show up,” was an awesome line, then I heard it was true. On the ‘Only Rule: Eyes Out’ tour with HW, ESH, and DJ Halo I saw according to their dates a few days before they played in Pittsburgh, those guys were playing Trenton, NJ with Raymond Strife and TMFSE. I told HW that was pretty rad they were getting to play with TMFSE. A few days later when I met played with those guys in Pittsburgh they told me he showed up so late he didn’t even get to play. On one hand that really sucks, but on the other I think it adds to his “enigma” if you will. But then again, I can’t stand when I book something and people don’t show up. “TMFSE the black Heath Ledger.”


Get 'I Wish I Could Grow a Beard' for free.