Family Legacy

Mr Gary Edmonds Im Gary Edmonds, I'm a teacher with the San Diego Unified School District and I teach at Garfield High School. And as this school year comes to an end, I just want to say to Generation Z, there's something special about you. You have perseverance and we need you. The nation needs you. The world needs you to keep getting up, keep going forward and hopefully do what's right, not just for yourself, for others, for humanity to encourage hang in there, go after your dreams and we wish you the very best. God bless you. casjnoir You are now listening you are listening to the PE project project. Speaker 3 Good morning. Welcome to the season finale of the Parker Edison Project. Per usual, will be examining the culture and things that really make America great and know things made America greater and hustlin. I come from a long line of go getters, people who made opportunities where there are none. My great aunt on my father's side who's had, you know, well, she sang with Count Bases. Band appeared in 15 movies, including Kings Row with Ronald Reagan. Speaker 3 She auditioned for the role of Mammy in Gone with the Wind, but lost to Hattie McDaniels on my mother's side. My cousin Debra started off as a faceless accountant in the 90s and worked her way to Prince at Paisley Park and Dr. Dre at Interscope Records. The Chronic. They made something out of nothing. The title of this episode is Family and Legacy Who You Are and What You Do. The Ford family built cars. The Jackson family made hit records. My family shared the art of hustling the strategic skill set needed to succeed in this world. Harsh conditions. They didn't give me fish. They taught me how to. And I've been eaten ever since. My first guest gave me my first job and taught me everything I know. We call him King Rhon. He's my older brother. Speaker 2 Do you remember the G.I. Joe racket? I was like in first like grade and you would be like, yo, find out which G.I. Joes the kids don't have in their collections and then just tell them that you got that in your collection. We would go with air quotes, procure them King Rhon the ones that we that they didnt have. right and sell it to them, kid. King Rhon That's right. Do you remember how you came up with that racket? King Rhon Actually, I was thinking about a new way of music. Speaker 2 Let's say I didn't have a certain CD, Arab Iraq or some whatever, but I know my homies had access to it and then somebody else was asking me, hey, I need a public enemy or whatever. I didn't have it. Then I might have to go try to fill that quota to get what they needed. But at the same time, I'm getting what I needed. That's what gave me the idea for that. I was like, whatever toys you ain't got, we're going to try to make it happen. Speaker 2 Do you remember what life was like at that time with the street element? Was like, was it safe outside? King Rhon I think in our in our bubble every day we seen it was like a normal everyday day. But back then that was where I was. Back then we were on the east side. So it was like a lot more gang members out of work by drive bys, police chases. You know, I don't remember any parents being around like, no, our parents were either working or they weren't there. Speaker 2 I remember there was this water balloon thing that you would do. We would get water balloons, get them to the kids and one group of kids, we hit the other kids water balloon and then those kids would get water balloons from us by buying them. And then we would almost start this kind of water balloon war in the summer. The kids would be buying the water balloons and we would be getting the water balloons, procuring them with air quotes and selling them back to the kids. King Rhon That was us watching them like Spike Lee do the right thing. It was I you know, we had no hydrants. We could we could jack like that because the water balloons and get a crack and know everybody got out, we got a hose. We don't have the kids throw them at each other. And but, you know, in retaliation to the organism, water balloons to retaliate, which, you know, cause you know its gonna cost you to get the retaliation balloons. Speaker 2 Do you remember how old you were during that period? King Rhon Mean that was fourteen. Everyone, at the end of the day, I remember Jackie being a big part of getting those water balloons. King Rhon Jackie was a major part of that. You know, I must say, you can say Jackie was my CEO. I recall Jackie being a young maybe fifteen, sixteen year old boy, about a hundred and forty pounds who wore a tracksuit with no pockets, literally. He would literally steal boxes of candy from the local stores with no backpack, no backpack. King Rhon I'm I'm I'm flabbergasted to this day. Do you remember what you started doing next? King Rhon Had the kids come over to come watch back to the future? We had to go back to the set before anybody else did. Yes, perhaps we had the candy, sometimes some popcorn charge or whatever, and then they come over to watch the movie. You know, we keep rotating. King Rhon Multiple screenings in the Debro multiple, multiple until at least four o'clock. Speaker 2 What happens at four o'clock or five? King Rhon That's when the cleanup process begins. You know, everybody got to go every day. Got to go back to the way it was at 10 o'clock, you know, going home at five. So they've got to be back to normal. The rubber water balloon tips, we get picked up off the ground outside all the candy wrappers from I mean, everything. You know, everyone just kind of had that. The kids just kind of knew that was the process. Speaker 2 Yeah. One of the things that you did was you would literally turn a speaker out the window and just play music. Why? King Rhon I had a lot of music that nobody else had. Everybody get a get a piece of what whatever wasn't here. You always had stuff that other people didn't. And like I got my love of of besides from you and rare records like all all of that a like masta ace. Were you a fan of Masta Ace, his stuff get play with you? King Rhon the symphony. The symphony. Masta Ace, was it the Juice Crew. Masta Ace was official. Speaker 3 When does one person's experience become part of culture? When that experience is shared and people agree, there's value in that kind of cultural currency can be passed down by a trusted source, someone of authenticity, like a family member or a close friend. Is there something special your family handed down to you? Chris 'KillCrey' Reyes Yeah, music would be the thing that is a connecting line from my uncle to my cousin to myself. It's kind of like our family legacy. Speaker 3 That's Chris Reyes. He's my business manager and head of sound editing here on the pep. While he was editing the first clip, we began to talk about our upbringings. We realized it fell right in line with the theme of this episode to discuss. So he called up his relative and the similarities appeared instantly. Chris 'KillCrey' Reyes Tell me your name. And where are you calling from? Gabriel Godines My name is Gabe Godines and I'm calling from San Diego, California. Chris 'KillCrey' Reyes I was listening to Parker and he talked to his brother for this episode. And it made me realize, bro, like, oh, man, like I had I had an older brother hearing what Parker and his older brother did and all their experiences. And there was so many similarities between you and I and Parker and his brother, even though you and I are brothers. Gabriel Godines Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's I think every time somebody asks, are you an only child or you have brothers or sisters, it always comes out the same. I grew up right next door to my cousin. And I mean, we grew up like brothers. Like it was like we were together every day, like, yeah, we're cousins. But I mean, we had that kind of brother connection pause Chris 'KillCrey' Reyes it's important that, you know, my cousin and I only children to single mothers shared a father figure and our uncle John Barajas, J.B. was an accomplished musician and a part of a local legendary band named The Velvet Tones. This dude's face is on a mural in Barrio Logan right now. Nino gave us a bunch of games I've always wanted to do a pause do you remember when you played baseball for Memorial like you were playing at a memorial rec league? What happened was a gang member had gone through the wrong part of the neighborhood. The gang from that neighborhood was chasing this kid through the park. Gabriel Godines I remember that like it was yesterday. Like I and I've retold that story to people before because it's something it's one of those stories that did get imprinted. I remember being in the outfield and I remember I saw that there was some sort of scuffle happening over near the benches. And yeah, as they chased him, they went running through our dugout kind of area and started grabbing those bats. And I remember like seeing that something was happening and feeling like, oh, shoot. Like, I don't want to be out here by myself. And as I went towards them, that guy that they were chasing was running kind of towards me. And we crossed paths. And I noticed that he had a big knife in his hand. And, yeah, they beat him down with some bats. He did end up dying. Days later, there was a story of him dying in the hospital Chris 'KillCrey' Reyes yeah, well, I remember you ran over to see if I was good and you always did that not just for me, for like a lot of the kids in the neighborhood. Do you remember being, like, the organizer and kind of like the extra parent? Gabriel Godines Probably because I was one of the old older ones in the neighborhood. Probably felt some sort of like and it probably came from our uncle, probably like, you know, you got to leave, you know, you got it. You got to you got to kind of run things and kind of, you know, make sure there's some order. It's funny that you saw this from from that perspective. Like you said, like you kind of looked up to me as Big Brother and I was just kind of living life, not necessarily feeling maybe I would be eating right, like being a teenager, like I was trying to, like, influence anybody. Chris 'KillCrey' Reyes Like my first introduction to hip hop was like deep prayer underground hip hop that you were playing. What do you credit your case to like? Where did that come from? Gabriel Godines I think I've always been curious and it's curious that I never went the direction of becoming a DJ. Say I probably could have gone in that direction. I just never did. Chris 'KillCrey' Reyes You kind of were, though, like at least to me and my friends, like, we'd be like, oh, oh, what's he playing like? Gabriel Godines Honestly, I honestly don't know where it's like even how I started coming up on on hip hop and and, you know, because there was no Internet. I mean, there wasn't I guess it was just it was it was the Warehouse and Sam Goody and Tower Records. Chris 'KillCrey' Reyes OK, last thing. So there was two major hip hop influences that you gave me very early on. One of those tapes was inner city griots by the Freestyle Fellowship, possibly one of the greatest hip hop records ever created. And the other one called the Symphony Ma. The Symphony. Gabriel Godines I remember, Masta Ace. And I remember the symphony, I remember that I used to just grab those maxi singles and and, you know, anything that wasn't like anything that was new, I like I said earlier, like just a curiosity, like with Masta Ace. Chris 'KillCrey' Reyes I remember what he did for me. He had a sound that sounded East Coast. Right. He rap like he was from the East Coast. But the music that he played, you could play in cars. And I remember you really like speakers and his music always had a little bump in it. Gabriel Godines I guess i had OCD about that kind of stuff and just playing it over and over and over again Chris 'KillCrey' Reyes tell people really quick how they can follow you and the things that you're doing? Gabriel Godines You can find me at Mavin Workshop something that might seem small and insignificant, like sharing your favorite movie or record can have an impact that reverberates across generations. In some instances, it creates a scaffolding culture that shapes who others become. My next guest, it's not related to me, it's not a personal friend, but his experience is directly affected me as if he was and I think he did the same thing to the people around me. It's an honor to even discuss his contributions. What's your name and what city are you in? Masta Ace Masta Ace? I'm from Brooklyn, New York, but I'm actually in northern New Jersey right now. I moved to New Jersey a few years back. Speaker 2 This episode is about legacy and family. Your legacy is immense, where where should new listeners start in your catalog? Masta Ace They could really start at my album, Disposable Ice, which came out in 2001. I mean, I had three albums prior to that. It was really until two thousand and one when I got my independence as an artist that I really started to I feel like my creative muscles and use my writing ability to really get the message across to to the listeners. So if you just want to get a real sense of who I am as an artist and as a person, I would start at disposable arts and go forward from there. Speaker 2 That's dope because I grew up with your records, man. I had had, you know, had your classic stuff and disposable arts was brought to me as an adult by somebody outside the culture. And they could be like you. You've got to you got to sit with this. Masta Ace I felt like the the training wheels were off at that point because I wasn't I wasn't I didn't have to answer to any record execs. I didn't have to compromise my creativity to appease someone who was above my project. And I was the first time that I was on my own to do my own thing as an artist with no feedback from anybody outside of my creative space. Speaker 2 While i was going through your catalog last night, I found 'the son of Yvonne' just crazy. Is there anything you could tell me about how what inspired that album? Masta Ace Yeah, absolutely. I guess the first inspiration came from the MF Doom beat because he had released all of his instrumentals on a series called Special Herbs, where he basically took every beat that he had previously released on different albums with different people he put and he compiled all of those instrumentals on one huge like box set. Friend of mine had had a copy of maybe 40 of those beats, and he was playing them in his car one day and asked what it was that he told me, you know, these are mafune, beats, instrumentals or whatever. And I was I was kind of dope. And then the next time I saw him, he just, like, handed me a CD like here for you to listen to. So I would drive around listening to the instrumentals and a bunch of music that I never heard before. And no real dumb fans know all these beats very well. I'm you know, I'm listening to them. And I just started getting some inspiration for some rhymes over some of the beats. So I started kind of like like we writing just little rhymes in my head while I'm listening to these beats, just like I should do a mixtape. Just just take a bunch of these Joycean just to mix tape and just release it for the fans or whatever, because I was kind of in between projects at the time and I mentioned it to my partner, so rich. And we were we were at a meeting at Phat Beats Records about another project that we were doing and which just kind of offhandedly mentioned this mixtape that I was working on. And they were like, are you going to release it for free? Oh, yes. You know, we talk about it free and they came to the table with an actual deal to distribute this project. And so at that moment, I realized I couldn't just put a bunch of throwaway freestyle just kind of off the cuff rounds because it makes to me a mixtape. You just kind of just spin, you know, just going and whatever. But once once they decided that they were actually backing and release it as a real official release, then I felt like I had to you know, from a writing standpoint, I had to give it a little bit more. So I decided to dedicate it to the memory of my mom who had passed in 05. And, you know, I was still struggling with that. It was it was 20 something before I came on in twenty twelve. So my mom passed it on five. So up to that point, I was still having a tough time dealing with it and coming to grips with it. And I needed a way to kind of release some of my feelings and thoughts and things I didn't get to say. So I decided to kind of put that on the album and make it about my childhood as it relates directly to her. So I take the listener back to me at around the age of 12 or so, and I take you back to my old neighborhood and get you get a chance to kind of peek into the relationship between me and my mom during that time period. And I decided to make the album about that. Speaker 2 Do you have siblings? Did they hear the album? Was it a point of conversation? Masta Ace I'm an only child, which was which probably lends to the difficulty I was having with her passing unexpectedly like that, and I did share it with other family members, cousins, aunts, uncles, like those types of folk. I said a few copies out to a few family members around the country. And, you know, they they gave me their reaction and their response and it was all positive. They they just kind of knew I was going through stuff. So they were just happy that I did it. And it kind of became a in a certain way, became kind of like therapy for me to release that album. And to put it out. Speaker 2 There is a track where MF Doom shouts out Guru from Gangstarr and now doom is passed away. That is super surreal. Did it feel especially as it is now? Masta Ace No. When he shouted out, go on the song. It was because the night that we the night that I sat down with him, we we were on will be booked on the same festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival out of Europe. And we were booked on the same festival and we were actually on the same bill. So the night. After we saw the night that we performed together, I went on stage part of my show at that time because it was pretty close to the past. It was recent to the passing of a guru in my show. I would do. I would do a gangster song, I would spend a whole verse, I will perform that every single night. And so he actually was stateside when I performed the joint when he started to write his verse. Months later, I guess he drew inspiration from that night seeing me do the song. And that's what kind of helped him, I guess, put his lyrics together for his version. Guru quote I was raised like a Muslim. Playing to the nature of my life really was like a kid because I was planning to do when I stayed on a plane. I was going through your catalog and I've seen this happen a couple of times for you, man, like your appearance on the symphony, you do a born a role completely like revitalizes car culture and rap. What's the secret to being at the pulse of some of the most important moments in rap? Masta Ace A lot. But what I will say is I wish I took more pictures. We live in an era now where everything gets captured. You know, everybody has a phone. Everybody has a basically everybody has a camera. And coming up in those times, you don't realize what you're in the mirror and you don't capture it because you live in it. Right. And then 20 years later, you're looking back like, oh, yeah, I was I was talking to him right outside the club that night or whatever, and he was hanging out like we went got somethin to eat..But the only memory of it is what you have in your head. And so when I look back, you know, what I what I have is, you know, bits and pieces of certain memories of things that happen. And sometimes I'll run into somebody in the industry appear that will bring up a story that I totally forgot about. I was like, oh, yeah, I was there. Yeah, that's right. But if I had the photos, you know, it would have solidified those memories in my mind. I'm happy that I was a part of so many moments in hip hop over the years and have really kind of seen hip hop from its very beginnings and so to where we are now. Speaker 2 When you're done, when you decide, hey, I'll go do something different, I'll find something else to do. What will be one of the things that you're personally proudest of? Masta Ace Oh, without a doubt, proudest. Of the fact that I was able to do the them the level of forming that I was able to do. You really look at my career, such a late stage in my career, you know, for I was on my fourth album before I really started to tour the world. And then in two thousand, everything changed. And all of a sudden I became this commodity in Europe and Australia and Canada where I could consistently come back to these markets and pack and pack clubs and perform songs for different levels of fans, different age groups of fans, fans who only knew the first three albums but didn't know the later albums. Fans who only knew the sports was forward but didn't know the earlier work. And I started to bring together, you know, people from the ages of 17 to 45 to my shows, which was just pretty amazing and incredible for an artist like myself who hasn't had, you know, gold and platinum success. You know, I had a few radio hits, but never to the level of what guys are getting now in terms of radio play. So I think I'm proudest of really making lemonade with the lemons I was given in the latter part of my career where you mentioned, you know, what I'm going to do next after music. And I'm already I'm already at that at that transition. I'm writing a hip hop musical right now. I'm about two and a half, almost three years into writing this musical. I'm partnered with a hip hop theater company, Quorums over Beats, and they're helping me put together this musical I meet once a week with. My dramaturge is a new term that I didn't know until recently. And my my dramaturge name is Kate. We meet once a week, VSP assume we read the script. She gives me feedback, she tells me where there's problems. And I go back and I try to fix those problems. But we've been developing this. It's been me and Harben been Zoom chatting for two years now, almost always for years. And so. That's one of the things that I'm fully working on, and these will be the things that, you know, to me will be the transition into the next part of my career because I'm a writer at heart. Music is one of the things that I do with my writing. But I'm a writer at heart later this year, if I can really get into it. I've been working on these other writing projects, so it's kind of slow me down. But he knows that once I get going, I'm gone. So yeah. Well, we will be rebuilding the master's Marco Polo, a.k.a. Master Polo. One more. One more again later this year. Speaker 2 That's the scoop right there, man. That's the scoop right there. brueklan story 2? Masta Ace we not callin it that. Speaker 2 We don't care what you call it, brother, we just want it on the shelves. Masta Ace Yeah, it's coming, honestly. Speaker 2 Where can we find you? You have a website. Masta Ace My website is Masta Ace dot com. Instagram is Masta Ace Pics Speaker 2 Ladies and gentlemen, you have had the honor of listening to the Grand Imperial Masta Ace. Thank you for your time, brother. Thank you. Masta Ace No problem. And I appreciate it. Speaker 3 Throughout the season, we looked at what makes a culture from neighborhoods to religion to fashion. But family legacy is the most important. Masta Ace used his childhood as fuel for his Son of Yvonne album. Where he's from played a huge part where he would go. I'm greatly moved by that album, and it's recently become a book into the numerous Master Ace Records, the soundtrack My Life. My brother earned street cred by sharing those same records and inspiring neighborhood kids. They say it takes a village to raise a child and master Ace is a surrogate big brother and mentor to everybody in rap world. And the fact that an official rap legend, a GOAT, one of the greatest of all time, would take a few minutes to talk to me here, doubles down on that and extends the longevity of his legacy. It deepens the impression he's made on my life. Speaking of musicians who make a difference with their work, we have a live in studio performance from Tres Sojourn Hodgens. He opened the season with a musical message and we had to have him back. Ladies and gentlemen, sojourn. Sojourn We want to praise you and some not for you. So journalists, media studios, pe project season finale. comm (COMMERCIAL BREAK) Hello, this is Maya from Maya Cookie, San Diego, we are America's number one black vegan cookie company. You can check us out on our social media. At Mayas Cookie, San Diego. I love you. I think I always will. Even now, I'm reeling from the effect that you have on the rest of my life. I'm different now. As badly as I want to feel the heat between us, I know exactly how this is going to end. Now, streaming your platform collection, Dotcom is the new filmshort 'Run Ric!', a who's who of San Diego Talent, brought to you by the good people at platform collection. Speaker 2 You are now listening to the PE Project show close ... S. Parker The PE Project is produced and hosted by Parker Edison and the good people at Platform Collection. Be sure to subscribe and catch the next episode on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast, if you have any comments or questions. Visit the parker edison project dot com. Kurt Kohnen is audio production manager. Kinsee Morlin is podcast coordinator, Lisa J Morrissettte is operations manager, and John Decker is associate general manager for Content. This programing is made possible in part by KPBS's Explore Content Fund. Speaker 9 Who are you? I am Shirley Parker. What do you do? S. Parker I'm the mother of (King) Rhon Parker and Parker Edison. Parker Edison Yeah. Yeah, you are. PEP EPISODE 10 FULL.wav.txt You're currently signed in as kurtkohnen@gmail.com Kurt Kohnen Displaying PEP EPISODE 10 FULL.wav.txt.