The journey of an artist can be one of struggle, doubt, and obstacles. The journey can also be full of success, happiness, creativity, and joy. Almost all artists will say that they had to keep strong throughout their trials and errors and steadfastly adhere to their goal of attaining musical success. Some have to learn on their own and some have needed help along the way. Here at PULP we want to give back to our readers that are on their path to living their love and passion for sharing their music with others. This entertainment page will focus on how artists have come to their musical success and the process they took to get there.

Let us know how these artist have inspired you, send me an email at sherene@pulpmag.net


Bio

Jurassic 5 MCs Chali 2na, Zaakir (Soup), Akil and Marc 7 and DJs Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark conjure an energy that recalls a throwback era in hip-hop, when the only thing that seemed to matter was the music and having fun. The time of park jams and block parties, of willful braggadocio and stylish wordplay, of crafty disc jockeys and handclap beats. J5 have always displayed characteristics of those back-in-the-day jams, like their powerful vocal harmonizing and amplified funk beats, but what the group embody more than stylistic flourishes is that era's spirit: making good music that connects with the people...

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Pulp Exclusive
Click below to hear Part One of an audio interview with Jurassic 5







Click below to hear Part Two of an audio interview with Jurassic 5

JURASSIC 5
The crew of Jurassic 5 has come along way since 1993 after combining forces in Los Angeles, California. They have accomplished a record deal with Interscope, four kick ass albums, various collaborations with many talented artists, and hundreds of live shows. I have had the privilege of being apart of their audience many times and I have to say that I’ve never met such earth people then the musicians in J5. Their beats are phat and their lyrics are positive and full of interesting stories about real life. They are excited to announce the release of their forth album “Feedback,” which will be out in stores July 25th! This is my new favorite album and has evolved into a newer sound from their previous work. They have opened up to collaborating with other producers such as Salaam Remi (worked with Nas and the Fugees) and other artists such as Dave Mathews. Dj Nu Mark and Marc7 from J5 have given you, our readers, some inspiring words and advice for your journey through life and music.


Sherene and J5 on the tour bus.


Sherene: How did J5 come together as a group?

Nu-Mark: We met at this place called the Good Life Café in L.A. This Café was set up for MC’s to show their skills. They could go up and rhyme but if you cursed on the Mic you got kicked off the stage and if you were whack then every body would chant please pass the Mic. It was a place that really honed in on vocabulary because a lot of people curse on the Mic you know, so in that respect it was really like a genuine art form. It honed in on people using the words correctly. In the beginning there were actually two groups, The Unity Committee and Rebels of Rhythm and then myself. The Unity Community included Cut Chemist, Charli 2na, and Marc 7even and Rebels and Rhythm was Akil, Zaakir, and another guy who passed away named Africa. Then I was the last person to enter. I met them at Rat Race, which was a club where a live band would play and MC’s would bust over the live band and I was the DJ for the night and that’s how I met everybody. So we did a song together and it went well, so we stayed together and if it wasn’t broke we didn’t try to fix it.

Sherene: How did the process come together with you and Cut Chemist with two DJ’s in the group?

Nu-Mark: Well, we were hanging out so much at the time that we just thought it would be kinda cool. The last time we saw that was when Dougie Fresh’s DJs were doing it and Barry B and Chill Will; they used to do it on stage. It had been a long time and a lot of people don’t remember that; so we decided that it would be really cool on stage to combine forces.

Sherene: So what was your main role in the beginning?

Nu-Mark: Cut and I roles were pretty much the same. We just pretty much produced, and we would go on the road and Deejayed for the group. We had the beat machine to present to the group and would try to come up with things that were innovative. We would mix everything at Cut’s house and on the road would just bring our own gear and would try to survive as long as we could on the road.

Sherene: What were your main obstacles throughout the years and how did you over come them?

Nu-Mark: Well, our biggest one was really at the very beginning and was based on mainly my elders, and my parents and everybody around me was saying don’t put all your eggs in one basket. They would say that the music thing wasn’t reliable enough to make enough money at it. At that time I was studying to be an X-Ray tech and was my quote unquote back up plan. So in that I dropped out about three or four months before I was suppose to graduate and right when I dropped out that’s when the record went gold in Europe and that’s when we sort of started touring so it’s a weird thing; it’s a fine line to walk. With some people it works and sometimes it doesn’t. But I think that I was really meant to be a musician. I’ve been playing drums since I was 6 and rhythm is just in me. My mother was a dancer; it’s just in me. I felt like I was betraying myself while I was in the hospital thinking about music and I’d be betraying the patients.

Marc7: The main obstacle would be maintaining livelihood. Working together as a group was the easy part; it was just making the ends meet. It was too the point for a while where I kept a job for a while and I always told myself until the music is so demanding and takes over our lives, then I could quit my job and it got to that point when we got our deal. We’re so blessed to be a touring group because we haven’t had a record out in almost three and half years. We got so many calls to tour for Power in Numbers that we had to literally turn down shows. We have definitely decided not to ever wait three years to make another record.

Sherene: Can you briefly explain your process of putting a track together?

Nu-Mark: Well, it’s changed over the years but basically speaking I start with drums. Its different every time and it can be just getting a good rhythm section going and then getting the drums together, making sure the chemistry is clean, adding a snare and a hat and whatever I’m trying to achieve to make sure I get the textures right. Then I start adding in base or a loop or whatever it is and then I just let the music take me where it wants to take me because usually at that point the beat or the sequence will say where it wants to go. Hearing a sample is mostly the source of my inspiration lately, especially since there is a whole lot of music that I’m listening to right now besides Brazilian that is driving me to make beats. Yeah, but if I listen to a record and there’s something cool on it, I‘ll grab it and try to remake it or loop it do something different with it or something just as simple as one hit on the record and try to turn it into something completely different.

Marc7: I think our process is pretty uncommon and there isn’t really any formula to it. It’s really about the vibe at that time and anything can start the idea process. It maybe someone coming in with a chorus or it maybe somebody that has one line then come up with four bars, and then someone will add another four bars onto that. So, it was a joint process.

Sherene: Is the instrumental of a track produced first before the rhymes or is it a joint process by all the members?

Nu-Mark: Well, usually it starts with a beat and the guys will say it makes me wanna rhyme like this. So I think the beat nine times out of ten would dictate how the songs gonna sound basically. There is no major structural things that go down. They need the beat to be the backbone so I just do things to enhance that and bring it to life.

Sherene: Where did you get the idea to use children’s toys in you live shows?

Nu-Mark: Honestly, I just kinda got bored with DJing. Not to knock on any DJ’s but I still love it. I would do this thing where I would play the rubber bands on the turn table and I would do all this other stuff with the turntables. I would look at the turntable as an instrument and I actually kinda got tired with that and I was kinda bored, and out of boredom I wanted to do something differently.

Sherene: What can we expect from the upcoming album?

Nu-Mark: Well, this is the album of letting go and being resilient and opening up the J5 creative process to other people. It goes clear across the board to the business side as well, cause it is also the album where besides us opening up to using other producers and other vocalists we also opened up to our record label, and ask “ what do you guys think” for the first time. In the previous albums we’ve been like, well here’s the album, put it out. We just kind of boasted our 100% creative control. There was more of a dialogue between us and Jimmy at Interscope. We worked with Salaam Remmi, who’s worked with Nas and The Fugees. Our first single is with Dave Mathews and even Mos Def came in a little on the song called “where we at”. So it’s all over the place that we can jump from that gambit of people from one person to the next like that, yeah we had a good time and opening up was fun. This is essentially our Fourth project release, so going into it we knew we wanted to open up completely, get some fresh blood in there and you know start moving with the times.

Marc7: Well, I’m not really big on expectations but I think that every Jurassic 5 record has been different from the last one. In this one we’ve experimented with sounds we’ve never used before. For every previous record we’ve primarily had just Cut Chemist and Nu Mark produce. On our new record we wanted to do something different and break away from that so we’ve worked with Salaam Remi who’s worked with Nas and The Fugees, and Scott Storch that has done like every big radio hit in the world. Also, a brother named Exile, Dean Warren and Dave Mathews Band. You know as an artist you really can’t get caught up in doing the same thing. We didn’t want to hear the same J5 stuff so we just wanted to break out of the norm.

Cut Chemist(Luke) Dj Nu-Mark and DJ Killmore (Incubus) & Sherene at Lollapalooza in Detroit, MI 2003.

Sherene: Any inspirational words for growing artists?

Nu-Mark: Well, first of all, if you know that this is what you want to do for a living, like you know that in your bones that this is what your suppose to do then never give up. You know that is the thing that everybody says, but it is really true and it really comes down to that. Another thing is that I found really important is never believe it when people tell you your dope. But also never believe it when they tell you your whack. It’s all a mirage, the whole thing about perspective in how people think you are or how to validate you as a musician or if your going to be around in ten years, whatever it is. It doesn’t even matter what they think. We respect our fans but we don’t let them dictate where we’re going to go next or how we’re going to come out. Just take the compliment or the non-compliment and just take it on the chin and just go with what you do best because it doesn’t matter what they think. You’re still going to make the music that you feel. Even if you’re going to sell out it’s still you. It’s your hands touching the key board or the drum machine or the Mic. The last thing I would say is be resilient that’s the hardest lesson I had to learn recently in the last four years. I’ve had the worst struggle with it but this album is evidence of that. Letting go is okay. Just play with it and be limber. Just roll with the punches. It kind of goes hand in hand with the last thing I said but this one is really tough because if things don’t go your way you got to learn how to move in the way that they are going. Like, sometimes you can’t have a video, or be on the radio, or can’t go into the country you want to go to, you can’t clear a certain sample, or a song doesn’t get picked for the album if your in a group. There are all sorts of little obstacles and you need to just be really resilient and make the best of those situations

Marc7: Right now, you have to take advantage of the technology. You know, I wish we had the internet where you can take advantage of getting your music out there and have a window to the world. With the internet, you can get your records heard by anyone. It’s such a great outlet. The days of searching for a record deal is almost over, these days you can almost do it on your own.

Jurassic 5 “Feedback” comes out July 25!

Get more info on Jurassic 5:
www.jurassic5.com