WEBVTT 00:00:13.380 --> 00:00:15.520 Good morning, Tromaville. 00:00:15.740 --> 00:00:17.500 Drop the needle because we're back with 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:22.600 another exciting episode of Talkin' Troma with your host me, Zack Beins. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:25.160 On today's episode, I have a returning guest. 00:00:25.680 --> 00:00:28.600 You may remember him from my Def by Temptation episode, 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:35.400 but his legacy goes back further than that. Today's guest is Chaz Kangas. If you live in 00:00:35.660 --> 00:00:40.900 Minnesota, you may have heard him on the public radio, The Current. If you're a hip-hop fan, 00:00:40.970 --> 00:00:46.700 you may remember Chaz as a fixture of the NYC freestyle scene. Chaz has several albums out, 00:00:47.180 --> 00:00:52.500 featuring such topics as movies, wrestling, struggles with depression, going on dates, 00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:56.580 A Recipe for Your Next Meal, the TV show The Critic, just to name a few. 00:00:57.080 --> 00:01:03.700 Chaz is a scholar in many things. One such topic is Troma films. I met Chaz on the old 00:01:03.960 --> 00:01:10.200 Troma message boards back in the mid-90s, when the internet was the wild west, and always admired 00:01:10.300 --> 00:01:14.920 his wealth of knowledge. We would talk music and Troma back and forth for many years, and then 00:01:14.920 --> 00:01:20.060 when I started this show, I would run thoughts past him and have him fact check me on the subject 00:01:20.160 --> 00:01:27.060 at hand. Later, Chaz started working on a new album and sent producer Chris and I some of the 00:01:27.060 --> 00:01:30.900 That same music you can hear at the intro and outro of this very show. 00:01:32.200 --> 00:01:36.560 About that time we also asked him if he would like to come on as a producer, as he was already 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:37.920 bringing a lot to the table. 00:01:38.680 --> 00:01:43.660 With such a gift of hip hop and troma, Chaz has unleashed to the world his newest album, 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:49.980 The Troma Project, 50 years of real fan toxic hip hop from Four Finger Distro. 00:01:50.660 --> 00:01:53.380 Check the description for links on how to purchase his album. 00:01:54.180 --> 00:01:55.640 That brings us to today's episode. 00:01:56.460 --> 00:02:01.880 Join us as we chat about Troma, the making of his new album, hip hop, and even listen 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:03.240 to a few tracks from him. 00:02:04.380 --> 00:02:05.000 Enjoy everybody! 00:02:06.460 --> 00:02:10.080 Chris, roll the tape. 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:19.780 Cut it over to the- don't cut me off mid-sentence. 00:02:19.780 --> 00:02:21.600 The show where parents just don't 00:02:21.600 --> 00:02:24.120 understand because there's a nightmare on my street. 00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:28.040 I'm here with hip-hop performer, 00:02:28.580 --> 00:02:31.300 extraordinaire, and producer, Chaz Kangas. 00:02:31.300 --> 00:02:32.620 How are you doing, buddy? 00:02:32.620 --> 00:02:34.400 I am fantastic. 00:02:34.540 --> 00:02:35.120 Greetings from Tro-Minneapolis. 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:37.340 so happy to return here after, 00:02:37.640 --> 00:02:39.740 was it four years ago when we did my last visit 00:02:39.820 --> 00:02:40.740 to Talkin' Troubleville? 00:02:41.040 --> 00:02:43.500 Yeah, with Def by Temptation. 00:02:44.040 --> 00:02:46.820 Yeah, which is gonna be screening in Minneapolis 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:50.000 for our Midnight Mayhem, the first Saturday of every month 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:52.000 at 10 p.m. at the Main Cinema. 00:02:52.230 --> 00:02:53.480 We have that playing in February 00:02:53.660 --> 00:02:56.000 for both Black History Month and Valentine's Day. 00:02:56.080 --> 00:02:57.880 Can't wait to see the latest transfer 00:02:58.000 --> 00:02:59.580 of Def by Temptation on the big screen. 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:00.940 That'll be fun. 00:03:01.060 --> 00:03:02.560 I've never seen that movie in the theater, 00:03:02.700 --> 00:03:05.280 but now I kind of need to. 00:03:06.330 --> 00:03:08.580 Road trip, Minnesota in February. 00:03:08.920 --> 00:03:09.560 Come on out. 00:03:10.220 --> 00:03:14.260 I'll swing by the biggest ball of twine in Darwin, and then I'll 00:03:14.330 --> 00:03:16.460 come see Def by Temptation. 00:03:17.740 --> 00:03:17.820 Nice. 00:03:17.900 --> 00:03:18.620 That's a travel hub. 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:22.600 So just see that and then ride a replica purple Prince motorcycle 00:03:23.100 --> 00:03:28.400 into uptown Minneapolis, you know, go, go through Brainerd, see the tool master 00:03:28.500 --> 00:03:31.920 there, and then, uh, you know, pass in front of first Avenue and yeah, uh, 00:03:31.920 --> 00:03:37.080 The main cinema is actually just across from where one of the scenes from Jingle All the 00:03:37.080 --> 00:03:37.760 Way was shot. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:41.000 So, you're full Minnesota fill. 00:03:41.580 --> 00:03:46.380 And then while I'm there, I'll swing into the Electric Fetus Record Store to pick up 00:03:46.740 --> 00:03:49.580 the new Chaz Kangas album, The Troma Project. 00:03:50.340 --> 00:03:52.680 30 years of pro-toxic hip-hop. 00:03:52.940 --> 00:03:55.900 First off, I have to ask about the name The Troma Project. 00:03:56.520 --> 00:04:02.160 Is this a reference to the CD-ROM video game that Troma put out in the 2000s? 00:04:02.420 --> 00:04:05.840 It is a shot-for-shot remake of Every Sound from that video game. 00:04:06.060 --> 00:04:10.000 We took the Gus Van Sant psycho approach to that video game's score. 00:04:10.820 --> 00:04:13.000 So it's a tribute to that album. 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:19.280 No, it's funny you mention that because I knew about that, the Troma Project video game's 00:04:19.400 --> 00:04:25.920 existence and I'd never seen a copy in person until at a local used CD store out here in 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:33.840 It was erroneously put into the CD section for music and it was put into just randomly one of them. I'm sure 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:38.960 Unless the person who works there has a great sense of humor, which they might it was in one of the 00:04:39.820 --> 00:04:45.280 Recommend staff recommendations just a CD-ROM video game when every CD around it is music 00:04:46.300 --> 00:04:53.360 and I purchased it and I have it and then the Troma project was what myself and the producers j57 and 00:04:53.760 --> 00:04:56.840 balled half with it. We're just like been calling it internally and 00:04:58.640 --> 00:05:01.280 It just it stuck to it and I kind of had like 00:05:02.040 --> 00:05:07.260 Forgotten and thought that the that the Troma projects name was toxic mayhem because on some of the promo material for it 00:05:07.640 --> 00:05:13.600 It had just toxic mayhem written forgetting that. Oh, no, that was just the promise of what was contained within the Troma project and 00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:17.860 But then I figured while you're making it. Oh, yeah, that's 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:20.200 There's gonna be no confusion in the marketplace 00:05:21.080 --> 00:05:26.140 But unaware that the Troma project video game is now available on Steam and is very Google 00:05:27.160 --> 00:05:29.620 So we attached on it and then for a while 00:05:29.620 --> 00:05:37.000 It was the Troma project 50 years of real toxic hip-hop and then like often the president of Troma studios and creative a toxic Avenger 00:05:37.880 --> 00:05:40.320 his one note on the album was 00:05:40.980 --> 00:05:46.980 B flat no his one note on the album was to change it to fan toxic and I was like, yeah 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:54.500 That's actually a really good note because then you're not describing the toxic discourse, toxic masculinity, and people know there's like, you know, a fun level to it. 00:05:54.640 --> 00:06:00.220 It's not just the the toxic fandom on Reddit, which we are courting. 00:06:00.410 --> 00:06:09.760 I think it's pretty cool because back when we did Def by Temptation, the episode right after that, I also did with another hip hop artist, Extra Cool. 00:06:10.080 --> 00:06:18.060 And we all just kind of started talking around then about like I had a dream that you and extra cool did a song together. 00:06:18.840 --> 00:06:24.760 And I just threw that out there in the ether. I was like, you guys need to talk. You're both Troma fans. 00:06:25.380 --> 00:06:33.320 And that song, Lloyd K, parentheses, a tribute to Lloyd Kaufman, the president of Troma Studios and creator of the Toxic Avenger, end parentheses, 00:06:34.360 --> 00:06:37.620 was really the event horizon for this album, 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:40.460 the Troma Project 50 years of real toxic hip hop. 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:44.180 It's really, and I haven't told this to you yet, 00:06:44.200 --> 00:06:45.600 I was waiting for us to have this moment captured. 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:47.540 It's really because of you Zach, this album exists. 00:06:48.380 --> 00:06:50.760 That's why the very first track on the album is named 00:06:50.930 --> 00:06:54.000 Good Morning Tromaville as a tribute specifically to you 00:06:54.340 --> 00:06:58.060 and to this podcast as that's how you open every episode of that. 00:06:58.900 --> 00:07:03.680 Thank you for allowing this dream come true and this thing to exist that could 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:08.700 really only exists through the stars aligning and me reading that Twitter DM after coming 00:07:08.780 --> 00:07:13.880 back from my first COVID booster shot that hey you I had this dream last night. So you 00:07:13.880 --> 00:07:20.060 know dreams can mutate into hideously deformed dreams of superhuman size and strength and 00:07:20.140 --> 00:07:23.900 come true and become full Troma album. So thank you for that Zach. Oh that's that's 00:07:23.940 --> 00:07:30.460 really touching. I had no idea I I noticed the the name on there but that's really touching. 00:07:30.520 --> 00:07:35.060 I don't, I don't actually think I've ever talked on this show, why I start 00:07:35.180 --> 00:07:37.680 every episode with good morning Tromaville. 00:07:38.260 --> 00:07:43.140 But, uh, back when I worked on poultry Geist, when we would all show up to set, 00:07:43.760 --> 00:07:48.520 um, when the security was checking in with everybody, uh, one of the security 00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:53.020 guys, every single morning on the microphone would, would yell good morning 00:07:53.180 --> 00:07:57.040 Tromaville and you'd hear that all around the chicken bunker. 00:07:57.420 --> 00:08:01.820 And we all knew we were getting ready for another day, you know, in the Troma 00:08:01.940 --> 00:08:08.040 trenches and, and that's always just kind of been my way of, of honoring my time. 00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:14.120 In Buffalo, New York in a hundred degree weather heat with chicken zombies 00:08:14.460 --> 00:08:18.900 and a manic depressive filmmaker, uh, squirting blood and no showers. 00:08:18.980 --> 00:08:22.280 It's just, you know, I always want to remember my roots on the show. 00:08:22.420 --> 00:08:27.240 So me honoring that, then you doing that as a tribute is really means a lot. 00:08:27.320 --> 00:08:28.460 So I appreciate that. 00:08:28.780 --> 00:08:30.380 Well, you know, and for those who don't know, 00:08:30.520 --> 00:08:31.600 good morning Tromaville, 00:08:31.700 --> 00:08:32.620 the phrase is a reference 00:08:32.620 --> 00:08:34.140 to the classic Robin Williams film, 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:34.940 One Hour Photo. 00:08:35.760 --> 00:08:39.460 Of course, I I always was thinking 00:08:39.460 --> 00:08:41.240 it was more of a death to smoochy thing, 00:08:41.419 --> 00:08:42.659 but but you're right. 00:08:43.779 --> 00:08:45.460 Yeah, 'cause one hour photo 00:08:45.540 --> 00:08:47.320 the scenery is always going to the photos 00:08:47.380 --> 00:08:48.760 and saying good morning Vietnam. 00:08:49.220 --> 00:08:50.220 Like it's it's wild. 00:08:50.420 --> 00:08:52.920 So that that Robin rest in peace. 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:55.200 So toys. 00:08:55.280 --> 00:08:55.980 (laughs) 00:08:59.580 --> 00:09:02.740 Also, one thing that I like about the album, 00:09:02.840 --> 00:09:05.360 before we even really start talking about the tracks, 00:09:05.900 --> 00:09:09.400 is the cover art for the album. 00:09:09.700 --> 00:09:13.100 It's you holding the Troma logo, just dripping with slime, 00:09:13.760 --> 00:09:19.600 but the artist is also a nod to the Troma legacy. 00:09:20.200 --> 00:09:23.199 Yeah, I really wanted something to be a full-on 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:26.660 Troma album with how deep Troma runs in this and to stay authentic to it. 00:09:26.680 --> 00:09:28.680 Cause for the core of the album, 00:09:28.680 --> 00:09:32.720 for those who may not know is every sound you hear on the album in the production 00:09:32.900 --> 00:09:37.200 was put together solely from the samples within 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:39.600 50 years of Troma. 00:09:40.740 --> 00:09:45.140 Lloyd, when Lloyd heard the song that I did with extra cool and he heard it, 00:09:45.800 --> 00:09:48.820 I think about several months later after we had like put it out, 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:51.340 He reached out to me and said how much he liked it. 00:09:51.760 --> 00:09:57.820 And he pitched the idea of Troma pressing and putting out a vinyl of that song. 00:09:57.880 --> 00:10:01.380 And then some of my other songs and some of my artists who I really like song 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:04.740 that I get ahold of and that Troma would press it and put it out, which 00:10:04.800 --> 00:10:06.320 is very generous and very cool. 00:10:06.900 --> 00:10:12.460 But I was thinking while I had his ear and, you know, as I got the DIY things 00:10:12.520 --> 00:10:19.580 and having this deep fiery passion for Troma and also knowledge of how great 00:10:19.580 --> 00:10:25.880 the music and Troma is from Curse of the Cannibal Confederates to Demented Death Farm Massacre 00:10:26.440 --> 00:10:35.640 to Redneck Zombies. There's so much great music within the Troma films themselves and a lot of 00:10:35.660 --> 00:10:41.280 times the scores don't really get the attention. Even the Troma films that had official soundtracks 00:10:41.340 --> 00:10:49.100 like Decampitated and Def by Temptation and Terror Firmer, it gets overlooked just how great the 00:10:48.700 --> 00:10:50.660 the music is in a lot of them and I think with 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:55.440 Troma directors who every Troma film is such a passion project 00:10:55.620 --> 00:10:59.940 and they put what they love into these movies as well as 00:11:00.640 --> 00:11:04.080 Troma movies take you to so many different parts around the world and part of 00:11:04.360 --> 00:11:07.380 this postcard, this time capsule you're getting of 00:11:07.580 --> 00:11:09.540 these different parts of the world as you're getting the music in there. 00:11:11.100 --> 00:11:14.100 Knowing how deep and largely untouched 00:11:14.100 --> 00:11:22.840 the troma soundscape has been in the realm of hip hop specifically like outside of prince paul and 00:11:22.980 --> 00:11:27.280 necro and a handful of others who've gone into the sampling of it it just seemed like there was this 00:11:27.560 --> 00:11:36.700 massive treasure trove so i pitched to lloyd the idea of doing a full-on troma themed album sampling 00:11:37.480 --> 00:11:42.720 the troma song he said yeah yeah that's not a good idea and that was about three three and a half 00:11:42.500 --> 00:11:49.640 years ago and I've been working since with I've known Jay 57 the producer since for 21 years. 00:11:50.340 --> 00:11:55.100 He used to work at this record store in New York that was called Fat Beats that was essentially the 00:11:55.380 --> 00:12:00.420 mothership for all hip-hop happening in New York City not just for the music they'd carry but for 00:12:00.520 --> 00:12:05.220 the flyers you'd go to see what's happening every show the badge of honor would be if the discerning 00:12:05.220 --> 00:12:10.660 tastes of Bap beats would carry an album or music that you were putting out. 00:12:11.720 --> 00:12:16.540 And Jay was part of a group then, and we just really hit it off 00:12:16.700 --> 00:12:18.460 just as friends who love hip hop and love music. 00:12:19.060 --> 00:12:22.540 And then further, he he gave me some beats that was on 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:25.560 an album I put out in 2008 called Need Your Reaction. 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:29.260 And even like with us, like moving to different parts of the country, 00:12:29.290 --> 00:12:30.120 we all stayed in touch. 00:12:30.360 --> 00:12:32.600 He wanted to be part of a group called Brown Bag All Stars. 00:12:33.180 --> 00:12:36.580 and now he runs five seven music. 00:12:36.810 --> 00:12:38.140 He also like every year, 00:12:38.620 --> 00:12:40.060 like every year since 2006, 00:12:40.180 --> 00:12:43.640 I've put out a original Christmas song with the proceeds going to, 00:12:43.880 --> 00:12:44.520 we run to the proceeds, 00:12:44.800 --> 00:12:49.300 every cent given to it goes to rain the rape abuse incest national network 00:12:49.560 --> 00:12:51.280 and to wigs for kids. 00:12:51.680 --> 00:12:52.540 And since 2017, 00:12:52.850 --> 00:12:55.900 he has exclusively been the person to offer the production for that. 00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:57.360 And we call ourselves the bad boys Christmas. 00:12:57.980 --> 00:12:58.740 Quick side note, 00:12:58.930 --> 00:13:00.080 other than Troma movies, 00:13:00.300 --> 00:13:10.580 Christmas music is like kind of my next like really big deep dive nerdy thing that I super get into and I really love that you put out Christmas songs every year. 00:13:10.640 --> 00:13:15.640 It's like one of my favorite things to look forward to, like all the time. 00:13:15.820 --> 00:13:23.760 So I I love going back and revisit them and and even just like throughout the year, I'll listen to your Christmas Christmas stuff. 00:13:23.820 --> 00:13:29.640 I even have a playlist made, you know, private of every Christmas song of yours that I have. 00:13:29.640 --> 00:13:33.640 What's awesome? Thank you. Yeah, it's and those are always fun to do. 00:13:33.940 --> 00:13:39.280 And that stemmed from there was a band in Minnesota called Lip, 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:40.720 who's also in Troma's terra firma. 00:13:40.760 --> 00:13:42.120 So there's a Troma connection right there. 00:13:42.680 --> 00:13:45.860 And they had the flip fan club and every Christmas they would put out 00:13:46.300 --> 00:13:49.080 either a cover of a Christmas classic or an original Christmas song. 00:13:49.800 --> 00:13:51.800 And then that's just something that I love. 00:13:51.800 --> 00:13:55.220 And then they took a hiatus in late 2003, early 2004. 00:13:55.460 --> 00:13:58.540 And so I picked up the I didn't pick up the mantle. 00:13:58.560 --> 00:14:03.180 I guess I hung my own stocking by the chimney in 2006. 00:14:04.319 --> 00:14:07.520 I love doing it. Christmas is my second favorite genre of music behind hip-hop. 00:14:08.300 --> 00:14:11.560 It's always so much fun to do and JVG7 loves doing that too. 00:14:12.600 --> 00:14:13.580 During the course of the year, 00:14:13.680 --> 00:14:16.600 I'll find, I'll hunt for Christmas music and I'll send them 00:14:16.680 --> 00:14:18.720 the Christmas songs and he'll throw one together 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:21.840 and or he'll throw together a few options and then, 00:14:22.160 --> 00:14:24.640 well, just the right one will hit and then that'll be the one for that year. 00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:30.420 I do want to say like I remember on the Troma message boards back in the day, 00:14:30.500 --> 00:14:38.880 how I found out you were doing the Troma songs was take yourself all back to the early 2000s. 00:14:39.180 --> 00:14:43.320 And there was a certain viral video going around and your song, 00:14:43.380 --> 00:14:44.440 Two Girls, One Christmas. 00:14:45.140 --> 00:14:46.780 I thought the title was so funny. 00:14:47.020 --> 00:14:50.580 And one of those, after I saw that you did that, I'm like, oh man, 00:14:50.780 --> 00:14:54.180 this is a tradition for me to listen to this song every year. 00:14:54.260 --> 00:14:58.300 It's funny because the first one I made the year before, 00:14:58.380 --> 00:14:59.420 that was The Trask King is Christmas. 00:14:59.960 --> 00:15:01.640 That was one where I thought this might be 00:15:02.040 --> 00:15:04.120 the only one I ever do but then it can live forever. 00:15:04.200 --> 00:15:05.380 Because I think artists, 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:07.440 when you're putting out Christmas music, 00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:11.620 it's the type of thing where no matter who you are, 00:15:12.560 --> 00:15:15.500 at least 60 percent of your audience is not going to want to hear it. 00:15:15.560 --> 00:15:17.080 Because not just like people who don't celebrate Christmas, 00:15:17.260 --> 00:15:19.520 but people actively hate Christmas. 00:15:19.560 --> 00:15:19.780 Yeah. 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:22.380 Which I get, not just saying they hate Christmas, 00:15:22.420 --> 00:15:25.740 but they hate, there's a study done about a decade ago 00:15:25.940 --> 00:15:27.640 about the things people hate most in music. 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:30.680 And one was synthesizers, one was children singing, 00:15:30.820 --> 00:15:32.160 one was crass commercialism. 00:15:32.699 --> 00:15:35.580 And those three elements are in like so many Christmas songs. 00:15:35.700 --> 00:15:37.660 So I get why people hate it. 00:15:37.760 --> 00:15:40.700 So some people, you know, they'll put out a Christmas thing 00:15:40.760 --> 00:15:42.380 and like, and they'll be disappointed with the results. 00:15:42.500 --> 00:15:43.720 But on the flip side of that, 00:15:43.720 --> 00:15:46.540 you have a song that will always be fresh every year. 00:15:46.660 --> 00:15:48.680 It'll hit an immediate audience who wouldn't otherwise get. 00:15:49.300 --> 00:15:50.960 And you have essentially a perennial. 00:15:51.580 --> 00:15:52.920 just holiday songs in general. 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:56.920 Like I think, you know, the 90s both gave us the Mariah Carey Christmas song and 00:15:56.940 --> 00:16:01.100 the Adam Sandler Hanukkah song, and both of those are going to live forever. 00:16:01.980 --> 00:16:04.880 So yeah, just some people, there's a certain, you know, Christmas is 00:16:04.890 --> 00:16:06.120 going to happen every single year. 00:16:06.500 --> 00:16:09.880 So having something to just, you know, push out, bring forward and, you know, 00:16:09.920 --> 00:16:12.660 it's fun to have something to look forward to, to make for a Christmas 00:16:13.140 --> 00:16:19.220 tradition every year, and I remember, yeah, I think Jay, uh, 57 was the first 00:16:19.220 --> 00:16:22.620 person to have heard the completed Christmas song. 00:16:22.620 --> 00:16:28.420 'cause I think I brought it to him the night before it had its radio premiere on Adam Bernard's 00:16:28.420 --> 00:16:29.460 the Adam B radio show. 00:16:29.460 --> 00:16:33.660 I remember playing it after Fat Beats had closed and just always having a love for that. 00:16:33.660 --> 00:16:38.160 And then yeah, so then the next year, Two Girls, One Christmas, that came together 'cause 00:16:38.860 --> 00:16:45.720 my buddy Neil, who I went to NYU with, who's a fabulous musician, and I had this sample 00:16:45.720 --> 00:16:47.720 from the song that I really wanted to use. 00:16:47.780 --> 00:16:49.680 It had just kind of like a Christmasy vibe to it. 00:16:50.200 --> 00:16:52.020 And so he put that together and made it. 00:16:52.160 --> 00:16:54.520 And it's him playing the drums on an MPC 00:16:55.380 --> 00:16:58.840 for the drums on two girls, one Christmas and two girls, one cup 00:16:58.900 --> 00:17:01.360 had just come out and which to this day I still haven't seen. 00:17:01.980 --> 00:17:05.100 But I for the phenomenon of it and just figuring, OK, 00:17:05.100 --> 00:17:07.380 if I'm putting out a second Christmas song, because, you know, 00:17:07.439 --> 00:17:09.939 I was going to call it another jazz gang of Christmas, but that would have, 00:17:09.980 --> 00:17:14.160 you know, kind of limited the appeal to those who, A, know who I am and B, 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:16.300 know that I released a Christmas song the previous year, 00:17:16.920 --> 00:17:18.480 which is an audience I love, but it's an audience 00:17:18.520 --> 00:17:20.620 I think was going to check for what I'm doing already. 00:17:21.120 --> 00:17:23.660 And then calling it two girls, one Christmas 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:28.220 was something that was going to just if people are going to recognize 00:17:28.280 --> 00:17:30.560 the name alone and have like my name attached to it. 00:17:31.120 --> 00:17:34.760 And so that holiday season going around to different hip hop shows in New York 00:17:34.820 --> 00:17:39.300 and like top indie rap artists in New York who at the time 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:42.880 the level above like the underground, the battle circuits 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:44.140 where I was making my name for myself. 00:17:44.580 --> 00:17:45.980 That was the time when they were pointing me 00:17:46.060 --> 00:17:48.080 from the state, jazz gang is this year, 00:17:48.260 --> 00:17:49.140 two girls, one Christmas. 00:17:50.120 --> 00:17:51.620 And so that was kind of the yep, 00:17:51.760 --> 00:17:54.060 this is the way to put it in. 00:17:54.360 --> 00:17:56.180 So I think now the official title is 00:17:56.260 --> 00:17:57.560 two girls, one Christmas parentheses, 00:17:57.820 --> 00:17:58.880 another jazz gang is Christmas. 00:17:59.400 --> 00:18:02.040 I think that title might've been too long for my space, 00:18:02.140 --> 00:18:03.340 but I think that's how it wound up being 00:18:03.400 --> 00:18:04.860 in circulation of the places. 00:18:05.660 --> 00:18:08.900 But yeah, J57, I sent him the toxic tunes 00:18:08.900 --> 00:18:12.060 of Tromaville CD and the Poultry Guys soundtrack. 00:18:13.380 --> 00:18:18.600 He sent me a handful of beats made from just putting all those together. 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:22.380 I started writing to those. 00:18:22.700 --> 00:18:24.180 Then JP7's Proje, 00:18:24.560 --> 00:18:27.140 bold Halfwood who has a passion for Troma as well. 00:18:27.140 --> 00:18:30.020 He started getting involved and Lloyd started 00:18:30.020 --> 00:18:32.760 being happy with what we were putting together so far. 00:18:32.760 --> 00:18:34.780 He started talking with the potential of 00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:37.460 with other filmmakers Troma was working with about 00:18:37.460 --> 00:18:39.160 sharing some of the music with them. 00:18:39.740 --> 00:18:42.060 And I was talking with Lloyd about the project going further, 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:44.400 and there were some songs from some Troma films. 00:18:44.940 --> 00:18:48.940 I wasn't sure whether or not Troma had the music rights to do. 00:18:49.140 --> 00:18:53.680 And with one exception sampled, we later got cleared. 00:18:54.820 --> 00:18:57.740 The other ones, according to Lloyd, Lloyd said, 00:18:58.060 --> 00:19:01.800 put the agreements that because of the nature of this project, 00:19:02.100 --> 00:19:03.940 it counts that we would be able to use them 00:19:04.120 --> 00:19:07.440 because the fact that it's an album promoting Troma 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:11.360 films in the Troma library that accounts as promotion for these film. 00:19:12.360 --> 00:19:18.580 Lloyd who I trust his legal guidance to the ends of the earth that opened up a 00:19:18.580 --> 00:19:22.320 whole new door for us so that allowed me to just go further and being able to 00:19:22.340 --> 00:19:26.240 pull and a lot of the things you hear in the production on this album things you 00:19:26.360 --> 00:19:30.260 wouldn't expect to be samples from Troma movies because they've been 00:19:30.420 --> 00:19:33.519 manipulated past the point of recognization you you'll hear things 00:19:33.520 --> 00:19:38.300 that sound like you like a drum or a hi-hat or a bass thump and that's. 00:19:39.120 --> 00:19:43.160 Kabuki man chopping something or toxi punching through something 00:19:43.700 --> 00:19:45.840 or something exploding, just all manipulated. 00:19:45.840 --> 00:19:48.660 So every sound that you hear on the production on this 00:19:49.140 --> 00:19:52.920 comes from something in the Troma library. 00:19:53.600 --> 00:19:56.020 And some of it you may recognize immediately from watching 00:19:56.020 --> 00:19:57.120 the more known Troma films. 00:19:57.500 --> 00:19:59.860 Some of it may be things that pop out at you from like a movie 00:19:59.900 --> 00:20:01.520 you maybe haven't watched it and you'll catch it later. 00:20:01.720 --> 00:20:03.180 Some maybe movie you watch and they'll 00:20:03.280 --> 00:20:05.800 subconsciously resonate with you and then you'll put it together later. 00:20:06.180 --> 00:20:08.000 With the idea of like a lot of Troma movies, 00:20:08.200 --> 00:20:10.960 having that replay value that you can get more and more out of 00:20:11.140 --> 00:20:16.200 every thing you get from it every time you listen to it, 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:19.680 and having that level of 00:20:20.120 --> 00:20:22.880 replay value because these Troma movies are going to live forever and having 00:20:22.920 --> 00:20:27.880 that same passion with bringing to this album and doing the Troma name proud. 00:20:28.130 --> 00:20:31.000 It was definitely something that took me by surprise when I heard it. 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:33.300 I just didn't quite know what to expect. 00:20:33.600 --> 00:20:37.900 In my head, I'm thinking we're going to hear a sample of 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:41.240 "Newcomb High" and that type of sample. 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:45.400 But like you said, it's a lot of deep cuts in random things. 00:20:45.500 --> 00:20:48.900 There's also some more known samples in there, 00:20:49.080 --> 00:20:54.720 but it was really clever how just across the board of samples that you got. 00:20:55.100 --> 00:20:58.880 Thanks. Yeah. It's the beauty of just the brilliance of J57 and 00:20:58.840 --> 00:21:02.140 bald halfwit is here in the first single Girl School Screamers, 00:21:02.140 --> 00:21:03.980 which pulls from the Girl School Screamers trailer, 00:21:04.580 --> 00:21:12.760 but then also uses the very brief sound of the Kabuki man 00:21:13.580 --> 00:21:17.740 interstitial score, like a scene transfer score. And having that 00:21:17.900 --> 00:21:20.380 pressed against, you know, the different base from a different 00:21:20.460 --> 00:21:24.140 Troma film and the other elements within there, it is 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:27.799 once being a full celebration of it. And it would have been cool 00:21:27.800 --> 00:21:30.540 to do and maybe there was sort of my mind, 00:21:30.600 --> 00:21:32.100 it would have been something where we're just 00:21:32.300 --> 00:21:33.680 taking one song at a time, 00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:37.120 one movie at a time, but I love how everything came out. 00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:41.840 It's just so cool to have this pastiche. 00:21:41.880 --> 00:21:45.120 Because as someone who loves sampling in hip-hop and for 00:21:45.280 --> 00:21:47.460 a lot of reasons it's harder than ever to sample now, 00:21:47.620 --> 00:21:49.280 and for good reason too. 00:21:49.960 --> 00:21:54.280 But to have something that has just this public enemy bomb squad, 00:21:54.620 --> 00:21:56.140 Beastie Boys, Dust Brothers, 00:21:57.080 --> 00:22:01.020 Ultra Magnetic MC's style of sample and a sample and a sample, 00:22:01.120 --> 00:22:02.500 giving a lot of that unpredictability, 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:05.560 a lot of that buried and layered replay value. 00:22:06.140 --> 00:22:07.260 If you play the album in your car, 00:22:07.340 --> 00:22:09.840 you're going to hear some different things jump out than if you were 00:22:09.960 --> 00:22:13.500 to play it on Spotify or play it on vinyl. 00:22:13.840 --> 00:22:19.720 Just the level of the pastiche just lends itself to different things popping up. 00:22:20.360 --> 00:22:21.700 On that note there, 00:22:22.020 --> 00:22:24.600 everybody out there is like, 00:22:24.920 --> 00:22:29.020 you guys have been talking an awful lot about this music album, 00:22:29.919 --> 00:22:32.180 but they probably want to hear a song. 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:38.480 Do you have a tune that we can enjoy and would you set that up for us? 00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:40.820 I'd say the best place to start would be what's going to 00:22:40.920 --> 00:22:43.540 be the first song that people are going to hear from the project, 00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:45.780 the first single, Girl's School Screamers, 00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:47.320 which we've just mentioned a bit about 00:22:47.520 --> 00:22:49.720 the sample pastiche of that song coming together. 00:22:50.420 --> 00:22:55.420 With this album, I wanted to capture a lot of the aura, 00:22:55.580 --> 00:22:58.420 the vibes, the spirit, the aroma do Troma. 00:23:00.100 --> 00:23:04.440 Part of that is knowing how going back to the days of Squeeze Flay and 00:23:04.440 --> 00:23:07.600 the girl who returned the Tromas always had strong women characters. 00:23:08.759 --> 00:23:13.040 Knowing how many great women in rap I know from all around the world and knowing 00:23:13.240 --> 00:23:16.760 Troma's worldwide reach I wanted to use 00:23:16.760 --> 00:23:20.320 this Troma platform I've been blessed with to highlight a lot of these artists 00:23:20.340 --> 00:23:24.320 from around the world. So I reached out to three of the best women in ramp that 00:23:24.320 --> 00:23:29.220 I know, and a Diorio who longtime New York underground fans may know by the 00:23:29.380 --> 00:23:33.520 former name should use happy accident multi time freestyle Mondays rap battle 00:23:33.620 --> 00:23:39.440 champion. I got Minneapolis legend Desdemona on the track and I got rhyme 00:23:39.560 --> 00:23:44.840 style troop who had been a fan of through her work with J 57. So to have 00:23:44.840 --> 00:23:51.040 them all on one track and have San Diego, the Twin Cities, and Arizona by way of New 00:23:51.040 --> 00:23:55.940 York all represented all in the name of Troma and then myself rapping at the end of it. 00:23:56.380 --> 00:24:03.800 It felt great to do. And it's also something where it didn't feel right being a guy by 00:24:03.860 --> 00:24:07.900 myself rapping what would be a song called Girl School Screamers or, you know, having 00:24:07.980 --> 00:24:14.820 like other guys on there about it. And I figured the best way to do this would be have a all 00:24:14.820 --> 00:24:20.100 woman guest posse cut joining me, and the result is some real Tro-magic. 00:26:18.020 --> 00:26:19.560 Dude, that song's awesome. 00:26:20.680 --> 00:26:20.940 Thank you. 00:26:21.020 --> 00:26:22.600 I am very proud of that. 00:26:23.080 --> 00:26:27.920 And I love all the songs on this, but knowing the platform with Troma and 00:26:28.200 --> 00:26:31.680 capturing the spirit of Troma when you were deciding what was going to be the 00:26:31.720 --> 00:26:33.860 first single, that one had to be it. 00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:37.400 Another female voice on the album. 00:26:38.260 --> 00:26:41.020 That was a surprise to see pop up in the notes. 00:26:41.120 --> 00:26:44.400 and on their Troma royalty. 00:26:45.380 --> 00:26:46.060