Interview by Tim "Styles" Sanchez

I first heard about you a few years back with a group called The Frontlinerz. Weren’t you guys running with DPG Recordz at one time?

Bangloose: Yeah, we were messing with this dude named Bigg A. He works with The Dogg Pound. I don’t know how he heard us, but he sort of popped out of nowhere and hit us up like, “I want to fuck with y’all on some independent shit. You are going to come out under DPG Recordz.” We met Daz and started doing shows with them - but that kind of wore out.   

Were there any problems between you all?

Bangloose: Naw, there were no problems. We were like the new kids on the block – and nothing happened with us – we were just sitting around. We kept waiting for something to happen. We were supposed to be doing this record with Daz. We showed up to a few studio sessions but Daz never came through. So we were sitting around waiting for him and were like, “Fuck it”, and just moved on.

The Frontlinerz were a dope group. Why did you all put an end to it? 

Bangloose: As time passed on we started to get our buzz in the street. We dropped the Gangstream Mixtape and then we put out a Volume 2. That mixtape [Volume 2] didn’t really float anywhere. Big Saccs a.k.a. Dazzie D stepped in to the picture because he saw my grind. He told me that he wanted to snatch me up. He liked the group, but he liked my grind. He saw me on the streets and at the shows and just kept hearing about me but he wasn’t hearing about the whole group. He gave me an opportunity and signed me to his independent label which is Geed Up Records – and it’s been poppin’ since then.

How did the group take that news?

Bangloose: At first the reaction was like, “Damn! Bang is leaving the group.” The hood was saying it and all. But I wasn’t really leaving the group – I felt like I was helping it. My motive was to step out of it and do something and then come back and pull my dudes up. Which I did – but we are all grown men and it’s up to them to step up to the plate.

Is everything cool between you all?

Bangloose: Oh yeah. Everything is cool. Dolapint the Pimp, that’s my brother – that’s my blood brother – same mom and same dad. He is with me 100 percent. Then the other member Assass D. Hazard is my best friend from childhood, so it’s the same thing with him. Everybody is pushing behind me.

The Frontlinerz music was very heavy in to Gangbangin’. Now that you are solo, you’ve been bangin’ out radio jams with Grey Goose and other songs. What brought about that change?    

Bangloose: The first record that I recorded with Geed Up Records was a song called Geed Up. I put that out as a street single and leaked it on all of the sites. It got a good response. However, I tried to go to radio with it and I was on some, “Fuck that. This is West Coast and I am making my own kind of music” type of thinking. So I went to radio with it and Big Syphe from Power 106 gave me like 12 spins. He called me to the station one day and was like, “My Program Director says that this is not a radio record. It’s not a club record or even a fun record. Much respect to what you do and to your Coast and how you feel but the radio still has its rules.” So they pulled that record off of Power 106. He further told me, “Your name is Bangloose. Rap about something fun, like a drink. You can use Bangloose with Grey Goose, the vodka drink. Do something catchy.” When he told me that, I looked at him like, “Are you serious?”

That was hard for you to accept?

Bangloose: Hell yeah it was. That was real hard for me to accept. If Syphe was here right now, he would tell you the same thing. I was like, “Are you serious? Rap about a drink?” So me and my producer Dem Jointz went home and knocked out the beat. The beat was like really corny to me at first [mimics the synthesizer and drums sound]. So I am listening to this beat and I am like, “I am not doing this shit!” That beat sat for about a month before I did anything to it. The same day that we had that meeting with Big Syphe at the radio station, we had come up with the hook that day and knocked it out when Dem Jointz made the beat.

The Fergie sample? 

Bangloose: Yeah, the Fergie sample. Shouts out to DJ Flash Fade for the acapella. We didn’t know where to find the acapella at so we were just hitting up different DJ’s and he came through with it. So I am sitting here listening to this song saying, “Grey Goose got your girl feeling loose” and I am not used to making music like that! So like I told you before, that song sat for about a month before I did it. I just woke up one morning and I was like, “Fuck it. Let me just knock this out.”

Tired of just sitting around, huh?  

Bangloose: Yeah man. Everybody kept calling it a hit. My boy Problem heard the beat and was like, “If you are not going to do anything to it, I am going to.” Everybody liked it and kept telling me that I was crazy. So I woke up one morning and laid the vocals in like 20 minutes. The rap was so simple. So I did it in 20 minutes and called Dem Jointz up and told him to check it out. Dem Jointz said that it was the business! Then I had to let bossman Saccs hear it and I was scared to let Saccs hear it because that is not the type of music that we do. So I let him hear it with my fingers crossed and asked him what he thought of the record. He was like, “It’s cool. Bring it to the studio and let’s check it out.” So I brought it to the studio and he said, “This song is a good record. Let’s fuck with it.” We sent it to our mixer Malcolm so that he could mix it down and then we sent it off to the radio station – to Syphe & D-Lux, Felli Fell and so forth. About 3 days later it debuted on the radio.

No kidding that was on the radio [at Power 106]. Every time I turned it to the station, it seemed like it was on! Were you concerned about what the people from your Hood were going to think about it?      

Bangloose: Naw man. I’ve got cool street credibility. It was a fun record, so when I let everybody hear it, they grasped to it. I was curious about what they were going to feel about me going from The Frontlinerz to “Grey Goose got your girl feeling loose” – you know a Hip-Pop record. This one A & R told me, “This is not a Hip-Hop record. This is a Hip-Pop record.”

Isn’t that what the execs want you to make though? 

Bangloose: With the type of single deals that they are trying to give out, you damn near have to come up with a radio record. Street records are not going to do it and no knock to anybody because G. Malone has got the most gutter record on radio right now, which I love. Glasses got his chance, but a lot of us are not getting the chance to put out the kind of music that we want to put out. Not saying that I don’t like making singles because after doing the “Grey Goose” record it was so fun and especially after seeing the reaction that it got. So I decided to start knocking out some singles and knocking those out were a lot easier than making the type of music that I normally do. As long as I still stay as Bangloose and not get to “corny”, you know what I’m saying? I put out my second single “Rated R” where I was talking about mixing the two drinks of Grey Goose and Patron – which is some gutter shit. Who’s going to sit up and mix two cool drinks like that? But making singles became fun to me. I was like, “I can get some ringtone money, iTunes money, white people money, Asian money, Hispanic money, along with the Hood money – I love it!

Then you released the So Fly, So Fresh single?  

Bangloose: So Fly, So Fresh was supposed to be my 3^rd single. I put that one out but I kind of leaned back to the streets on that one. I was rapping about being fly and being fresh but the radio didn’t grasp that record like I thought they would. The streets grasped it because everybody wants to be so fly and so fresh. Because radio didn’t grab on to it, I pulled it back and made it more of a street record.

You did go back to the Alcohol for this new single “Last Call” featuring Krys Ivory.    

Bangloose: For that record, I was just listening to the radio to see where music was kind of going right now, to see what kind of sound is taking over. By me doing that Grey Goose song for the clubs, it kind of put me in that cross-over category. I was hitting up Hollywood clubs, Irvine clubs, everywhere – just to hear what’s being played. I wanted to do something that would get the dance floor poppin’, so I went to Saccs and described the type and tempo of record that I wanted to do. Wiz Khalifa’s “Say Yeah” record is hot to me. If you’ve been to a club, you know that song or the sample that he used. I like that sound so I decided to make another fun record like that. That’s where the whole “Last Call” concept came about.

So you are set in the direction that you want to go with your music?         

 Bangloose: Yeah, ever since I have been putting out radio records, that’s what I am being known all around for – instead of being Bangloose from The Frontlinerz with that Geed Up sound. Geed Up did not circulate like my other records. I am known as Bangloose, the dude that makes party music.

When are you dropping your street album Sonically Correct?   

Bangloose: Sonically Correct should be out in a few weeks. I am just waiting for the artwork to come back.

That soon?

Bangloose: Yeah that soon. So if this is up before then, get on that dude Nik Bean so we can get this out – like ASAP!

DJ Nik Bean is hosting this? I’ll have to call him up and get on him then [laughs]…

Bangloose: Yeah, Nik Bean is hosting it and its put together by Big Saccs. Y’all are going to call me stupid because I am giving this shit out for free. It’s all album material that I was using for my album Rats and Roaches. I snatched a lot of records off of there and put it on Sonically Correct. So it’s a mixed and mastered album record and that’s why I called it Sonically Correct. Sound and clarity is something that I learned from Big Saccs.

Now why would you take your album songs, drop them on a mixtape and give it out for free?  

Bangloose: Because the records were gutter as hell. There are a lot of records that I did when I first hooked up with Saccs, so the style and sound that I was doing didn’t mix with the new stuff. It’s more catered to the streets but it also has all of my singles on it. You are going to hear the Bangloose that Glasses Malone knows, that Problem knows, that you Styles knows. You know the type of music that I do.

Is your debut album still going to be Rats and Roaches? Or are you going to scrap that and go for something new?

Bangloose: Naw, I don’t give a fuck if I am signed to a major – I am STILL going with Rats and Roaches. I still represent the gutter because I don’t walk around here with fat chains and bracelets. I still represent the Rats and Roaches – that’s where I came from. I would never forget! I don’t give a fuck if I signed to Microsoft. It will be Microsoft Rats and Roaches [laughs].

So what are your plans for the album after you put out Sonically Correct?

Bangloose: Hopefully by then I will have a solid situation. A lot of people are telling me to put it out independently and I feel that. Glasses was talking business. He said that if I don’t find better business then let’s roll with it. But I really would rather put it out through a Machine (meaning major label). Right now though the game is fucked up because all they are offering are single deals. They are just offering crumbs. By us being West Coast artists they feel that they are taking gambles. They are like, “Let’s offer this dude crumbs because we don’t know how he is going to do.” The West Coast isn’t doing to well, although people are saying that it is coming back, and which I do see. We’ve got people poppin’ like Jay Rock, Mistah F.A.B., Glasses Malone, Bishop Lamont, Problem – shouts out to Problem for his deal. I was in the gutter with that dude. I don’t give a fuck what y’all say about Problem, that dude is one of the most gutter-est niggas that I know.

Back to what I was saying – they are offering us bullshit out here. I’ve passed up on a few deals already. That Grey Goose sample was fucking me up! They were offering me the kind of deal where I would have a video out and a budget – but I would still be staying in the hood. The way it is, I don’t care about how much street credibility that you have, once my CD and video comes out – they will think that you made it. Somebody is going to turn their back on you; I don’t care what you say. Somebody is going to plot on you. I’ve got kids and I am not trying to put them through that. I was going back and forth with the label like, “Ok. I will have the video and the budget, but what about me? Y’all are just worried about this music, which I understand, but what about me as a man? Am I supposed to just stay in my same area?” I am going to have Fergie jumping around in my video – everybody will think that I am a damn millionaire!

Was Fergie on you about that sample at all?      

Bangloose: Naw, because we weren’t making big money off of it, aside from my show money. I love that independent show money. Shout out to my DJ’s, DJ Pinky, DJ Official and DJ Maverick. Those people right there are the ones that I broke bread with all of my shows, aside from Big Saccs. If I were to sell it on iTunes and other sites like that, hell yeah, the lawyers would be calling Big Saccs and it would be a wrap for us [laughs].  

You are working real close to Suga Free these days. I have to thank you for letting me World Premiere his new single “My Dice.”

Bangloose: I’ve been working with the Laneway camp for a while now. Suga Free’s new album is close to his first album Street Gospel. Free is going hard on that album – he’s talking shit and slappin’ bitches. That album is pretty gutter. I told him that instead of “Smell My Finger”, it should be called “Spousal Abuse.”

Fans were surprised over the sound of My Dice. Some weren’t used to hearing Free over that kind of snapping beat.

Bangloose: I forget the names of the two dudes who produced it, so forgive me, but these two dudes are dope – dope as fuck. Shouts out to Bob Hernandez because he hooked all that up. Me and Suga Free have been doing a lot of shows together. We are under the same management – as far as road and show management. What’s up Ted? Ted has me performing wherever Suga Free performs. It got to where I don’t just open the show, but I am a part of the main show. Free will perform for about 10 minutes and then I will come out and the Grey Goose beat will come on and the crowd goes nuts. It’s good man.

Comments (7)

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written by Lunatic 63, April 08, 2008

now that is the business! dope interview styles

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written by www.Lyay.net AKA Woodrow, April 08, 2008

Good shit!

Bangloose is tight as hell and it's good to hear that we can expect that Sonically Correct album soon. I've been playing the shit out of that "So Fly, So Fresh" does anybody know if he threw out a radio edit to that track?

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written by ty.shonuff, April 09, 2008

love that last call! love the hook! go bang! go bang! (*does the cabbage patch*)
Much Love
Ty
*Ty da knot*

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written by MsIvory, April 09, 2008

This interview def displays how Bang is a real ass dude....great work Styles...u kno u tha shiiiiiiit! lolz

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written by www.g-funkmusicinc.com, April 09, 2008

Great interview , Shouts out to Bang for laying down the facts . Keep doing what you do homie.

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written by nice, April 17, 2008

Nice interview bang and your a hard working brother and this shit will all pay off for you I see the west coast is on a come back DONT STOP! keep up the good work Bang and tell jazzy I said whats up I know he dont play....

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written by yunwest23, April 27, 2008

checc out my music on myspace

http://www.myspace.com/yunwest23

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