5 Questions with Rags #52b - Illvis Freshly (Jesus and Danimal)

If you've been paying attention to West Coast music at all in the last couple years, you've probably seen the Illvis Freshly around. Legit: They're pretty inescapable and it's easy to see why. Their heavy-hitting, ultra-fun, partyrific electronic rap songs are sure-fire ear-crushers, made for those days and nights with all the friends. As the summer finally taken hold of us all, Illvis Freshly's music is even more relevant, assured to keep you moving in time with all this glorious weather. And as we are now in the midst Festival Season, they're bound to show up in your face and plug your ear holes up with funky rap goodness – having already smashed up audiences at Victoria Ska & Reggae Fest, Tall Tree, KAMP Festival with more to come, including a stop at Legend's Valley in August. In part B of the first ever 2-part entry into the live questions, we get down with the charismatic MC duo Danimal and Jesus.

Check Part A with Doyle and Phil here!

1. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?

Danimal: It was basically my own money because I facilitated it happening and got my mom to pay my friend. I got Jam by Michael Jackson. He had a Columbia House CD thing and I wanted one.

Do you still listen to it?

D: Not routinely. But there are times. You can't go out and not hear Michael Jackson, so, sort of.

Jesus: This is pretty tough because when I first started getting music I'd listen to the radio with my tape player and tape songs. I was sneaky like that. In terms of tapes, the first tape I can remember buying and having in my hand is Beastie Boys' License to Ill. It's the first one I can think of that I went out and bought because I wanted to hear all of the tracks.

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Let's all take a few minutes to appreciate Chali 2na. (And listen to some of his finest guest spots.)

Chali 2na makes his near-annual Victoria appearance this Friday (June 30) and an appearance from the Verbal Herman Munster is always a reason to look back at why and how this giant of hip-hop has remained such an unmissable act wherever he appears. Ask me on any given day for my top 3 Mcs and Chali 2na will be somewhere on that list. Obviously the beginning is Jurassic 5, but it's his never-ending stream of consistently great, inventive solo work and guest appearances that has made him such a mainstay on the headphones and stereos in my life. As much as any MC on the planet, 2na has kept up with modern sounds in the ever-shifting hip-hop landscape, never hollowly imitating them but always taking the pieces that suit his sound and style, making them his own. More impressive than almost anything he's done, is his willingness to embrace EDM, in all of its forms. His ubiquitous presence in electronic music has kept him at the forefront of the genre and his status as a hip-hop legend has helped introduced new music fans to the roots of the music that helped spawn all of this. It's a logical progression and one that I'm shocked more rappers haven't leaned into. But luckily for everyone who likes those real goods, Chali 2na remains everywhere, smothering everything he touches with that good, classic hip-hop flavour. Now I'll take a look back at a dozen of the homies best, most diverse tracks and appearances (Or at least my favourites) to present a mere glimpse of the versatility of one of the GOATs.

“I listen to the whole of Hip-Hop. I don’t segregate between it because I know and understand where it all was spawned and I give everybody their space to be an artist, where a lot of fans are probably like “What?! You listen to Snoop Dogg?!” But yeah, I listen to it all...I feel like I’ve done a lot Hip-Hop wise and now it’s a journey through music more than it is just Hip-Hop. Changing the band and all that, I’m just trying to tap into music. If it’s good music, I’m just trying to be a part of it.” - Chali 2na, interview with Rags Music, 2014

N.A.S.A – There's a Party feat. George Clinton and Chali 2na

This might be an odd one to start this list off, but it made its way onto a lot of my playlists after Chali explained to me the significance of the song. “You know, to be perfectly honest, it’s not one of my best guest appearances, but the fact that he is who is… I did a song called ‘There’s a Party' on the NASA album, ‘Spirit of Apollo’, a song with George Clinton and I’m so proud of that. Just the experience of doing that song with him is just priceless, you can’t trade that for the world. Like I said, it may not be one of my best songs but it’s definitely a milestone for me.”

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5 Questions with Rags #52a - Illvis Freshly (Phil and Doyle)

If you've been paying attention to West Coast music at all in the last couple years, you've probably seen the Illvis Freshly around. Legit: They're pretty inescapable and it's easy to see why. Their heavy-hitting, ultra-fun, partyrific electronic rap songs are sure-fire ear-crushers, made for those days and nights with all the friends. As the summer finally takes hold of us all, Illvis Freshly's music is even more relevant, assured to keep you moving in time with all this glorious weather. And as we enter Festival Season, they're bound to show up in your face and plug your ear holes up with funky rap goodness, including summer kick-off shows at two of BC's premier festivals, Victoria Ska & Reggae Fest and Tall Tree. We got a lot to cover here, in fact so much to cover that this interview is TWO PARTS, so let's get after it and get this thing started. In part one of this monstrous 5 Questions we get down with Phil and Doyle, the non-verbal duo that gives Illvis Freshly their distinct live-electronic hip-hop sound.

1. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?

Doyle: Oh yeah, Bush – Sixteen Stone.

Favourite song?

D: “Come Down.”

When's the last time you listened to the album?

D: I heard “Machinehead” on the radio the other day and thought, “This is the first fucking CD I ever bought.” Apparently it was a hit 20 years ago, like '96. Gavin Rossdale, he's a handsome man.

Phil: My first album was Sum 41 – All Killer No Filler.

And the last time you listened to it?

P: I listen to it once a week. It's on my phone.

What's your favourite track?

P: “Handle This.” I'm younger than these guys so when I was 10 buying my first album, that was the album for a kid like me.

D: That was a little later than Bush, yeah.

P: They had to change their name to Bush X after awhile right?

D: It was Bush X actually when I bought it.

(Danimal): There was another band called Bush so they had to add the X. The other band stopped being a band so they got to drop the X then. They were still called Bush overseas.

I think I remember listening to Bush with you in Grade 7, Doyle. Didn't you do a project on one of those songs?

D: Yeah, I did “Glycerine.”

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DJ Premier & The Badder Band, Wed. May 31, 2017 @ Distrikt Nightclub, Victoria - A Masterclass in hip-hop

I don't think anyone knew exactly what to expect entering Distrikt Nightclub last night for DJ Premier & The Badder Band. The first stop on their inaugural tour, Victoria came ready to party with a legend on a Wednesday night, no matter where he was planning to take us. And goodness gracious, flanked by the four-piece Badder Band, DJ Premier delivered more than any of us could have hoped for.

Victoria's Deejay Anger opened up with the proceedings with an incredible set of hip-hop, flexing his immense musical knowledge and taste, as well as his considerable DJ talent. Legit, I've seen this homie play numerous sets but I don't think I ever realized how great of a scratcher he is. If you like deep bass, slathered with hip-hop, Anger is your man.

Don't worry, Anger got ya.

Don't worry, Anger got ya.

The light dropped and out came a dude in a Larry Bird jersey. Now, my dislike for the Celtics runs pretty deep ('Cept for Bill Russell. Guy's a straight G.), so I wasn't super excited, but woowee, the man Brady Watt brought the heat. The bass player for the Badder Band, Watt opened up with a few of his own choice cuts, brought to fantastically bouncy life with his bass and relentless energy. Celtics jersey or no, Watt is making some incredible, massive-sounding beats. Definitely check his stuff out. Watt's was a short set, but he had the crowd jumping and becoming rabid by the time Preemo and the rest of the Badder Band took the stage.

Brady Watt, drawing everyone in with his passion. 

Brady Watt, drawing everyone in with his passion. 

DJ Premier is inarguably one of the GOATs when it comes to production and Djing, a titan of hip-hop culture. And while this show was definitely one for the real heads in the audience, Preemo declared off the top, “This is a celebration of ALL music,” and he was not lying. Preemo & The Badder Band was “So funky, so funky, so funky!” as they put on a musical clinic, taking the audience on a journey through hip-hop. You know you're dealing with men of talent and taste when they lay down just the tiniest bit of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' “I Put A Spell On You” on the end of an all-out hip-hop assault. When the band left the stage Preemo, left to his own devices, dazzled the crowd with some incredible turntable gymnastics, including an amazing bit of ultra-slow scratching that melted my brain a little bit. The show moved at a relentless, breakneck speed with the Premier keeping the audience hyped on the mic the whole time, the band ripping through hip-hop classic after classic, including a fantastically interpreted remix of “Classic (Air Force 1)” and a downright blistering version of the Gangstarr classic “Moment of Truth.” It's pointless to list everything the band played here, because it's goddamned DJ Premier...you know it's going to be chock-full of everything that makes hip-hop great. If you tell me you love hip-hop and tell me you missed DJ Premier and The Badder Band when they passed through your town, I straight up won't believe you.

The gawd, DJ PREEMO, holding court and dropping that hip-hop knowledge.

The gawd, DJ PREEMO, holding court and dropping that hip-hop knowledge.

This is how you watch Preemo when you're short as hell.

This is how you watch Preemo when you're short as hell.

HORNS! Oh, the horns!

HORNS! Oh, the horns!

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5 Questions with Rags #51 - Craig Northey of The Odds

The Odds have been a staple of Canadian for music for as long as I can remember. (At the time of this writing, I'm nearly 33, so take my memory for what you will.) If you grew up with any kind Canadian radio in the last 20 years you know the Odds, I promise. (This one, or This one, or perhaps This one, or maybe This one.) And if you don't know the Odds, you need to open your ears more because they are fucking awesome. They write witty, silly, intelligent, sometimes bizarre and always absurdly catchy rock tunes. As my life has slowly been draining itself of the more straight-ahead rock parts of my listening diet, the Odds have remained on rotation because they just make good, quality music. In anticipation of the band's return to my beloved Victoria on May 18, I caught up with vocalist and guitar player Craig Northey from Toronto as he prepared to tour, as a dummer (!), with Canadian supergroup The Transcanada Highwaymen to talk about funky ghosts, Bret 'The Hitman' Hart and Davey Jones' weight.

1. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?

I remember the first album that I got that was mine, and that was the Beatles' Hey Jude. The first album I bought with my own money could have been The Monkees' one with “99 Pounds” on it, but I can't remember the name. (Upon research, the album Craig is referring to is Changes.) “She was 99 pounds, some kinda dynamite,” which would be an eating disorder now. Davey Jones was a really little guy, so maybe that makes sense. Maybe he was 101 pounds.

2. If you could spend the day with anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?

Oh my, that's a hard one. I think it would be driving around Toronto with Steven Page. Oh wait, I'm doing that! My life is fucking awesome! We're going to get tacos, and that's part of the day.

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