Words by Nathaniel Denver Photos by Estevan Oriol
Seven years ago Pedro Moreno Duran a.k.a. Lil’ Pete and his dad were driving through Bell Gardens when they came to the intersection of Gage and Bell, home of the famed Azteca Boxing Club. Curious, they parked and stepped inside and Lil’ Pete was hooked. The trainers immediately saw a natural talent and were delighted to find that Lil’ Pete had the work ethic needed to be a champion.
Lil’ Pete
Currently a sophomore in high school, Lil’ Pete’s boxing career is keeping him out of the streets and in the gym. He’s earned numerous national titles and will compete in the Silver Gloves tournament in November, which he has already won three times. Lil’ Pete’s dad, Pedro, is Pete’s biggest supporter, taking him to the gym and to tournaments and offering advice and guidance as only a father can. ’ Pete’s boxing has kept his father Pedro out of the streets as well, Pedro had just come home from a three year bid when they first walked into Azteca seven years ago. Tell me a bit about yourself? Lil Pete: My name is Pedro Moreno Duran, I was born in Sarges Suburban Hospital in Claremont California and I’m 14 years old. I’ve been boxing for about 7 years. What do you like about boxing? Just traveling, meeting people, competing against other people where after the fight you become friends and all that, it’s cool. Have you set any goals for yourself in boxing? LP: All I really wanna do is when I get older I wanna make the Olympics. How does boxing compare to MMA fighting and other martial arts? LP: They’re all contact sports and in all three of them you get to meet different people and you get to travel around the world to places you’ve never seen before. Have you named any of your punches? Yeah, I have one, I call it the “sneak right.” You feint the right, so they think you’re going to throw the right hand an
then you take a step in and thrown a real right hand, because he thought you were going to throw the right on the first one so he backs up and he flinches and so you just catch him off guard. We learned that from Felix Trinidad, he used to do that a lot. What kind of influence has your dad had on you in regards to boxing? LP: He takes all the time on me, after work, he drives me to the gym, he’s helped me out a lot. He teaches me tricks and all that. It’s really cool. Has boxing been a positive in your life, has it kept you out of trouble? Oh yeah, a lot. It kept me out of the streets. It kept me from danger. It kept me out of harm’s way. Sometimes I go to the park, I go jogging over there and there’s a lot of people and something can happen just right away, real fast, so I try to stay away from that. What kind of music do you like to train to? I like a lot of music. Mostly I like hip hop, but I also like older and a little bit of rock, but the most I like Hip Hop. Do you ever run into bullies who messed with you before you boxed? LP. No, because everybody’s known that I boxed, I never really had problems with bullies, but everybody knows that I’m a boxer, so they try not to get into fights with me.
Big Pete, Lil’ Pete’s Father How’d you get Lil Pete into boxing? PS: Right here, we’re going by Azteca Boxing Club, we was just driving by and I had gotten out of prison and my wife
had moved out here to Bell while I was in there. So when I got out there was a boxing gym right there and we were just driving by because my father, he was a boxer and he used to train me. It was me, one of my partners and my son and we just went in there and checked it out, just to check it out because Chavez and all them used to go there and make stops at that gym. There was a kid there training and Lil Pete was checking him and he said he wanted to try it so I was like, whatever, you know, we’ll go. So we started going and the people there were really cool... and he caught on so fast. Pete says boxing keeps him out of trouble and you’ve had some trouble in your life right? PS: Yeah that’s true. Every day after work I come home and, cause I live in my neighborhood you know, so I seen my homies right now before I left, but I say, “Hey dog, I gotta go I gotta take this fool to the gym you know. So it keeps me out of trouble big time. It keeps him out of trouble. He knows what’s up. He sees me and what I go through and then we’re in the gym and ain’t got time for nothin’. Do you have any goals or hopes for Lil’ Pete in boxing? Right now the goals are to stay with it. Because there are a lot of kids who are very good with a lot of talent and you see them come and then they get to like 16, 17 and then you just don’t see them anymore. They go to jail or they get a girlfriend and they get ‘em pregnant and they gotta work, get into drugs, whatever it is. The reality is, most of these
boxers come from families that are like my family you know? It’s easy to fall into that. Our first goal is to keep him in the gym past these hard years and then the major goals is to make the Olympics and win a gold medal for sure, that’s without speaking really you know Is there a sense of security knowing that your boy knows how to protect himself if someone messes with him? PS: Oh, of course. He’s a little guy. Yeah, you gotta know if somebody pushes him too far they’re probably gonna get beat up. But naturally he doesn’t carry himself that way, this fool, he carries himself...you would no think he’s a boxer. If you seen him or met him without knowing, you would not know he’s a boxer. But yeah, it’s comfort knowing that he can fight. What’s next for you? PS: November is the Silver Gloves and the Silver Gloves is a tournament for kids 10 to 15 and it’s the best tournament for that. It’s a four month tournament. You fight your district, then your state then your region then you go to the nationals. This is his last one. He’s won that tournament three times. We been there four times, won it three. Congratulations to you and Pete on all your success. PS: Oh, he’s got 12 national titles. Three national silver glove titles, four Ringside World Titles. Those are the top. those are the best titles for a kid. He’s got one National PALS, he’s got three Desert Showdowns. He’s got numerous State Championships. He’s never lost in a state championships.
Justene_Jarro
WHAT’S YOUR PHONE NUMBER? Photos_by_EstevanOriol.com
MURS
THE PRESIDENT WILL TAKE HIS DONUT NOW Words by James Dunn Photos by Gregory Bojorquez
After 15 years, indie emcee extraordinaire Murs has paid his dues. And now he wants what’s coming to him.
“Rap music is killing the world right now. We’re influencing kids in Egypt to sell crack right now”.
“Can we get a chocolate donut from Starbucks across the street?” The intern’s eyes tighten behind the notepad she’s holding, presumably filled with the specifics of all the donut requests from the many artists on the Warner Brothers roster. Sprinkles. Nuts. Buttermilk. “I don’t think Starbucks has it. But I’m gonna run to another donut shop. Is that okay?” It’s obviously a lie, but being a nice guy, Murs gives her an easy out and plays dumb. “They usually have it. Are they sold out?” “I can check, but I think so,” the intern replies, with the look of someone who just farted and is hoping it won’t smell too much. “Oh, that sucks.” “But if they don’t have it, do you want me to run somewhere else that has it?” “A chocolate donut, pink donut, white donut, whatever. Something like that. Please. Thank you.” A moment later the conference door has slammed shut with her on the other side of it, leaving the question of how she knew Starbucks was out of chocolate donuts to hang in the air until the A/C moves it along. “A lot of interns, they just wanna get out of the building,” Murs says. “They don’t wanna just run across the street and get it. She wanted to drive out with her homegirl, talk on the phone.” He’s chuffed that he even asked for a donut in the first place. “I’ve never done it before, man,” he says in an almost apologetic tone. “Because
they’ll get you in here, and I’ll be like ‘I’m cool, thanks, I’m about to leave.’ And they’ll be like ‘are you sure you don’t want anything?’ And I’ll say no, and then they’ll send me off to meet with a bunch of different people, and later on I get hungry and I think ‘damn, I should have taken the donut.’ This is my first time [asking for anything], after two years here.” The irony is poetic. The average major record label today can still afford to subsidize donuts. Just don’t count on icing. In the days when Rick James was spending twenty grand on leather boots, an album had to push somewhere in the neighborhood of 600,000 units to break Billboard’s top ten. Today, you can lop a zero off that figure and still land somewhere in the top five. And twenty grand isn’t even enough to get Diddy’s private plane off the airstrip. In an environment like this, Murs is golden. He’s one of the few people at his label, from the artists to the staff, who has actually earned his position in dollar value. As a member of California underground collective Living Legends he sold tens of thousands of albums, toured the world multiple times and amassed a rabid fanbase before ever hiring a manager. Collaborative releases with Def Jux, Atmosphere and 9th Wonder were all profitable, just like Paid Dues, the annual underground hip-hop festival he masterminded. His leap from the California underground scene to a major label brings to mind the career trajectory of Casual, Del and Souls Of Mischief of the Hieroglyphics crew – except with more net profit. “There’s nobody like us that started from the ground up,” Murs says,
deadpan. “When you look at [Hiero’s] Soundscans, none of them scanned over 150,000, except for ‘93 Til Infinity. So me and Atmosphere are doing what they did, with nothing.” It’s also a perfect time for Murs’ rap style, which recalls his business style – no frills. He sounds like an average guy who just happens to know how to rap. He’s never been particularly ground breaking lyrically or stylistically, but his lyrics are straightforward, down-to-earth, and honest, qualities that are extremely appealing to an increasing number of hip-hop listeners who are growing less and less interested in listening to parades of I’mso-rich brags that become emptier by the day as sales of mainstream rap continue to drop. In sum, there has never been a better time to be Murs. So why does it seem like he’s the only person who doesn’t know that? He spends at least half of almost every interview issuing exhaustive, exhausting explanations of what kind of rapper he is and isn’t, as if he’s being cross-examined by the world. Which, actually, isn’t too far from his current situation – one he says he’s been in for as long as he can remember. The music industry and the streets of Los Angeles are two environments where everyone just wants a simple box to put you in, which makes a strange bird like Murs the odd one out on both fronts. “I think I’ve been misunderstood my whole life,” he says. “I’m just a nerd, man. I’ve always walked different, dressed different. Always getting on the bus and hearing “ay cuz, ay blood, what’s wrong with your hair?” So I guess that’s naturally why I’m always explaining myself. Because you’re always used
to being attacked. I think there’s more people like me in LA too, that aren’t either extreme. So I think that’s why I spend a lot of time explaining it.” Ironically, at the point where one might have assumed that having a major label media machine working for you would mean you could take finally give up the job of constantly explaining your position, Murs now has to explain himself to the mainstream crowd, a demographic known to be leery of the unfamiliar. “I opened for Snoop Dogg, and I came out onstage and everyone was kinda like “…” then by the end of my set, people were like “oh shit! I feel you. When you were saying blablabla, that was real…” I can’t let the music speak for itself, because most people aren’t even open to listening to it. And my music’s not on the radio. If I had a song on the radio then I wouldn’t have to explain who I am. I’m just trying to let people know what the product is, because if you judge it by the package, you might miss out on the contents.” But most disheartening for Murs is the uncomfortable, but not unprecedented dilemma of having to justify his recent business maneuver to many of his core fans, most of whom he acquired during his Living Legend days when ‘independent as fuck’ was their credo. “We just had a free show at Fat Beats. I spent all day doing that, shooting shit with the fans and hanging out. Then I wake up after four hours of sleep and get ready to go do more shit, and I’m checking my Myspace for a second, and some motherfucker’s like “you’re a bitch, you sold out…” And you’re not supposed to let that shit get to you, but it’s like, goddamn! And I try explaining it to people: really, I took a loss [signing with Warner]. Keeping it real like you think, clearing
“I’m just trying to let people know what the product is, because if you judge it by the package, you might miss out on the contents”.
MURS no samples, putting a record out, selling 50, 60,000 units? That’s money. That to me would have been selling out. That would have been the easiest thing to do. I could have just done a new Felt record and sold that to everybody. Do you think with all the Paid Dues shows, I couldn’t have sold a thousand of my own records at each one of those? But instead I did the harder thing. Rap music is killing the world right now. We’re influencing kids in Egypt to sell crack right now. I felt like I have a responsibility to hip-hop, to my community, as a black person, as a human being on this planet.” An hour prior, E-40 is perched on a small chair in Warner’s photo op room, being interviewed by a writer as a photographer sets up his shoot in the background. E40 is so big that from certain angles, the chair he’s sitting on can hardly be seen. The huge glass jug of Carlo Rossi wine he walked in with is becoming lighter by the minute as ‘Earl Breadandbutter’, as he is referring to himself today, chuckles his way through the conversation. A gargantuan medallion hangs from his neck like a platinum-plated hubcap. A heavyset black guy who came with 40 is laid back on a couch, having an animated cellphone conversation. On a long table running along the wall sit several take-out boxes of ribs, their contents congealing. One wall is covered with handwritten picket-style signs with slogans such as “MURS FOR PRESIDENT” and “GO MURS”, leftover props from his photo shoot earlier. 40’s friend finishes his phone call then asks, “Who’s Murs? What is he, a pop nigga?”
“He a rapper,” 40 says. “Underground.” “Underground? Never heard of him,” he says with what sounds like relish. “What, like a backpack rapper? A Will.i.am rapper?” “Like old school Will.i.am,” 40 replies. “That ain’t underground in my hood. That’s backpack. Backpack rappers don’t talk about shooting people at all. All them cats that be on the Wake Up Show.” “You talking about that soil rap,” 40 says with a smile. “The underground you talking about is that Rated X. That UGK.” “Right! Right. You know, no diss to them [backpackers] or nothing. That’s just what I thought they were called. I never messed with that stuff.” 40 shrugs a hair, wearing the smile of a man who knows better than to argue. Minutes later, the door swings open and a slightly grizzled, youngish black guy in jeans and shelltoes breezes in, followed by a black woman dressed in her business best, hugging a folder. He has an angular jawline and slightly Oriental eyes. One by one he shakes hands with everyone in the room, including 40’s buddy, who has doubtless deduced the fact that this man is Murs, thanks to his one thick, matted dreadlock like a third arm shooting out of his head. 40 greets him warmly, even putting his cup down to give him both hands. “That song we did was ahead of its time, man. Ahead of its time.”
Earl of Vallejo part II
Words by Joe Walker Photos by Gregory Bojorquez
Getting to know someone better is like going to school. You have to want to learn more. You have to make the effort: ask questions, take tests and all that. Getting to know E40 is a masters-level task, but a much needed experience if you plan on sticking around a while.
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We all know he’s a self-made millionaire who reinvented the slang dictionary while simultaneously hustling his music to radio and the top of charts. Ask any Hip Hop fan, “Who is E40?” and they’re sure to mention his albums, accolades or variations of the English language that he formulated. But what would they say if you asked about Earl Stevens of Vallejo, CA? I sat quietly waiting to interview E40. I’d done my homework, my questions were written, and I couldn’t wait to raise my hand to what most should know him as a pioneer in the game. The room itself had a lot to learn. With plain white walls and dull gray floors this setting was ignorant of personality. E40 entered through the door with energy and excitement, his personality ringing like the day’s first school bell. He held the door for a few followers, two young men transporting promotional items and a slightly older woman carrying E40’s itinerary. “Ma’am,” he said as she entered. He let the door close turned to me and shouted, “What’s up, Pimpin!” E40 immediately taught this room everything it needed to know about being colorful, he then he sat beside me and began to paint. “What we doin?” he asked playfully, peering at me from over his signature glasses. He was dressed in an outfit similar to what he wore in his video for “Wake It Up”, the first single from The Ball Street Journal. “I stay wrinkle free,” he said to me before turning to address one of the young men. “See if you can get some water or something for ya’ll back here, ya smell me?” Contrary to what some might believe, success and money doesn’t change ev-
erybody. Not every artist will let them self become inflated. If that were the case this room wouldn’t have held E40, his ego and four additional people. After 19 lucrative years in the game E40 stereotypically should have made this room a tight fit. But it couldn’t have been more comfortable. E40 was seeing to that, and in a natural way. As we were in the room, he could have called for his own beverage, yet didn’t. 40 was concerned with looking out for everyone else. His Hip Hop pedigree had nothing to do with it either. This was simply E40, a gracious descendent of a southern family, being Earl Stevens himself. “It’s embroidered in me; I come from good people,” he said. “I’m just a good person; I’ve got manners. If I’m at a club – or wherever I’m at – and I accidentally step on your toe walking through the crowd or something, I say excuse me,” he said. “I, actually, don’t even have to step on your toe. I say excuse if I walk in front of your view. That’s just how I was raised. And that’s what a lot of people are lacking nowadays, ya smell me? We’re the last of the Mohicans. Rare like a steak.” Rare is an artist not losing their creative desires and character after two, maybe three albums. E40 has twelve LPs and somehow hasn’t lost his hunger. Living in the Bay area -aka the Yay area - contributed to his appetite, but his eating habits came from home. “I got my know-how, way of living, the hustle in blood from the Yay area,” he said, “but me having that fire in my heart to want to go out there and get it, I got that from my momma and my daddy.”
Long before Earl Stevens began calling himself E40 he was just a child rapping to the rhythms of life. Having a complete family was music to his ears. That tune changed when he was eight-years-old. In the years that followed his parent’s separation, his mother worked three jobs. E40 admitted it was hard watching her struggle. “We went through it, now I feel like everyday is a holiday for me. Cats ain’t grateful enough nowadays. Everybody is spoiled, man, a whole bunch of crybabies. I’m happy to be here.” Family is an important thing to 40, taking the streets of Vallejo, CA by storm along with his sister Suga T, brother D-Shot, and cousin B-Legit as rap group The Click. “My immediate family and cousins and all of them, we’re close knit,” he said. Not every family member is closely rooted to the tree though. “You got a couple bad apples that’s gonna always be in the family. They’ll never be satisfied no matter if you give them $100,000 right now, they’d go fuck it off tomorrow, you smell me? But then you have those family members who really appreciate it no matter what you give them – a wooden nickel or a paper penny. That’s being cut from the right cloth.” “Some cats is cut from polyester. Me, personally, I’m cut from leather,” he said. “I preach that to my family. We’re good. Communication is big part of that also.” Communication is a must. Whether between 40 and family or 40 and fans. His previous album, My Ghetto Report Card, he encouraged listeners to “Tell Me When To Go”. Where he went was platinum and to #1 on Billboard’s Hip Hop chart. Though this good also came
with some weight. “Once you climb up the ladder, you’re going to get everybody with their hands out, that comes with the package,” he said. “They say, ‘Dude I aint never asked you for nothing. Let me borrow two Gs.’ Cats don’t ask for twenty dollars or a hundred dollars no more, they want Gs!” Watching his mother work herself tired didn’t teach E40 to be selfish. Yes, he’s dressed nice, has a wealth of chart-topping singles and profitable business transactions. Investing in people is what helped him accrue longevity. “I make more withdrawals than deposits, and that’s probably why I stay getting blessed and my career has been here all these years,” he said. “Today these cats got cavities, their feelings be hurt all the time. They don’t want to be number 2, 3, 4, or 5; they want to be number 1. And they’ll do anything to get to the top.” I learned something talking to E40. I learned you can’t worry about being on top of anything but your own life. This includes looking out for family and people that deserve it. E40’s success as a Cali-grown yet global Hip Hop artist has nothing to do with it either. This is simply E40 a.k.a. 40 Water, a gracious descendent of a southern family, being Earl Stevens, himself. “If I stepped outside of myself and looked at me, I would love me, I’m a good solid dude, aint nothing about me arrogant, and I’m humble and hungry. I know if I cut my finger I’ll bleed the same kind of blood as anybody else. I’m human.”
“Cats don’t ask for twenty dollars or a
hundred dollars no more, they want Gs!”
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photos by Hilkiah Browne make up by Robert Antonio Wilson
Longevity and graffiti go hand in hand. Paradoxically, writers whose careers span decades are few and far between. Cab is one of those writers. Getting the itch in 1986, Cab continues to blast all surfaces with his signature letters exploding with style and color. Read the script and say it loud. By Eyeone SH | eyelost.com
Photos: Cab LOD | myspace.com/cabwear
BLOCKEDZ
Blokhedz, an action packed comic series based around Hip Hop and the fight for ‘Empire City’, was created by the Madtwiins (Mark and Mike Davis). Blockhedz has released two volumes with a third on its way as well as a full length animation movie. A great read with full color pages and over 100 pages of action packed Hip Hop. http://www.blokhedz.tv
HOLIDAY GAMING Reviews by Anthony Kennedy
The holiday season comes quick and goes quick and a lot of things comeand go with it, but Rime’s got your back, bringing you the video game titles you’re gonna want to take the time to peep this year.
Resistance 2
Resistance 2 (PS3)
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw ‘09
The original PS3 launch title showcased the power of Sony’s Blu Ray machine. Thankfully the sequel promises more aliens, sick weapons, harder missions, and killer boss battles.
November 2008 // THQ
November 2008 // Sony
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS) November 2008 // Rockstar
Finally, Nintendo’s all grown up as a GTA game makes it way to the House of Mario, debuting Rockstar’s killer franchise on its touch-screen enabled DS system.
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (Xbox 360/PS3) November 2008 // Midway
The killer fighters of Mortal Kombat wage war against the combined might of the DC Universe, as Superman, Batman, the Joker, and Wonder Woman highlight the latest fighting game vs comics mash-up.
Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) November 2008 //Microsoft
If you and the homies going through Halo 3 withdrawals, prep yourself and get strapped as the unrivaled 360 shoot ‘em returns to do battle with new horde aliens and killers, and weapons to blew them up.
(Xbox360/PS3/PS2/PSP/Wii/DS)
HHH, Batista, and John Cena return with a refined controlled system, bug free online play and the addition of the long asked for create-a-finisher option, as tag team play gets to shine on the ’09 edition of Smackdown.
Saint’s Row 2 (PS3/Xbox 360/PC) November ‘08 // THQ
The sequel to the online gangsta game offers you the thug life with an expanded city, fresh new rides, and an online co-op and new competitive multiplayer game.
Wheelman (PS3/Xbox 360/PC) November 2008 // Midway
Vin Diesel was made for video gaming, and thankfully Midway’s racer succeeds with a dope cinematic feel and crazy car combat giving the film star’s return to consoles a vibe of its own.
Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo) Winter ‘09 // Wii
The follow-up to the addictive Wii launch titles will include unconventional beach games (Dog Frisbee) and some extreme sports-esque racers (jet skiing, etc.) Packaged with one MotionPlus that enhances the Wii-motes control interface.