Red Tape Renegades

The Red Tape Entertainment collective dropped one of the tightest releases of 2007 with Red Tape Renegades Vol. 1-a booming collection of 13 tracks from the Queensland crew which consists of local stalwarts, The Optimen, explosive solo emcee, Robby Balboa and up-and-comers, Pure Product. To kick off 2008 for Certified Scribe, here is a recent interview with those involved on Red Tape Renegades Vol. 1. K-West speaks for The Optimen whilst 4th Degree represents Pure Product. Oh, and there’s Balboa too.

The Optimen

How was Redtape Entertainment developed since the release of Boomtown?
K-West: I guess the largest difference has been the solidification of the roster. With Balboa and Pure Product on the label now, it has driven us further to work on making the label something important in the scheme of independent hip-hop music in this country. We’ve now got a real logo too (word up to RealsOne) and have upgraded labs to the new Space Ghost Studio, where Sammsonite lamps on most days of the week. I guess, in short, the vision has been realised a bit more and I think it’s fair to say we’re all sort of aiming towards the same sort of thing with the label. We’re not trying to take over or make it our full-time job or anything, but we also don’t want to let that stop us from making our releases as good as we can.

What was the line of thinking behind releasing a compilation LP?
K-West: We decided to run with the Renegades compilation for a few reasons, but mostly to gain some exposure for the new crew, Pure Product, in lead up to their full-length debut, Eviction Notice, which is dropping in a couple of months on Red Tape, and at the same time to get people excited about Balboa dropping an official release of his own. No question, Balbovitch came through and killed it on this one, so anybody who gets down with Balboa’s goonism should make themselves aware of his wrath. We also knew that it had been a while now since Boomtown dropped and we didn’t want to have to rush our upcoming release in order to put something new out there, and this seemed like the ultimate compromise.

In the booklet for Red Tape Renegades Vol. 1, there is a photograph of a big pile of equipment. Was this purely to visually represent all the influences on your brand of music?
K-West: I guess that’s a pretty good way of looking at it. It’s sort of the kind of paraphernalia that our lives have revolved around up to this point, and even if those of us responsible for graffiti and other forms of vandalism and crime have chilled a little on those aspects of their lives at this time in their lives, it still represents where our heads are at and it also serves as a way for us to motivate anyone out there that’s into the same thing to get active. Plus we think it just looks pretty ill too.

Do you think that the Queensland scene is slightly slept on by the southern states? What affect do you think Redtape Entertainment is going to have on this perception in the near future?
K-West: It’s really hard to say. It definitely felt that way a few years back, but there has been some level of recognition at least since things like the release the Boney and Stoney EP, the formation of the 750 Rebels and the Coalition Crew, Lazy Grey’s solo LP and also Boomtown, but on a more local level I guess there is a lot going on in Queensland (and not just in Brisbane) that interstaters would benefit to know about. Class A Records are a good example of this, with Clinic, Proclaim and Stricknine and KingsKonekted (who feature on the Renegades compilation) both killing shit on the local scene. But it’s just a matter of a time, I guess. Hopefully Red Tape can continue to push Brisbane to the forefront of underground Australian hip-hop, but at the same time, we’re just trying to promote quality music. We’re as interested in working with people all over Australia as we are with people in Brisbane.

Can you briefly describe the acts you have signed to Redtape Entertainment so far?
K-West: Sure. Balboa is that barbaric battle rapper you’ve come to know and be confused by. You either love him or you’ve just been loved by him and you now feel ashamed while reaching for your wallet. But he won’t accept your money, so set that thought to mute and count backwards slowly from 100 while he places a mask over your face and gets your head open like Tony Robbins to the beat.
Pure Product are emcees Marvel, Tendancee and 4th Degree and DJ Butcher, and they’re pretty swell… I guess. Haha. They’re a team of hungry young motherfuckers that are bringing an intensity and technical ability to this hip-hop thing as much or more than anyone in Australia right now, so look out for their Eviction Notice album when it drops. Boom!

Robby Balboa

You have kept a relatively subtle present in the scene up until now, featuring on 4 tracks on Red Tape Renegades Vol. 1. Is this all part of the build up to a solo album or new group venture?
I don’t give a fuck about the scene. The scene is toy as fuck. Every cunt raps now and every other cunt that raps has a mate that wants to rap. I don’t go to shows much anymore because everytime I hit a spot I have some Hep C-having mother fucker spitting syphilis into my face. That shit is wack and shows half of these new breeds have no manners. I am a gentleman deep down and although I have been bad I still open doors for women and I’m laying off the booze which means less of me trying to fuck your girlfriend or your little sister or whatever I was trying to do. I fucking hate booze man. I never did none of that shit when I was on drugs. I was a fucking scholar of niceness then some yobo fuck put a beer in my hand and bang. I’m a fucking terror and I have court dates and shit. Fuck that. So yeah. In between then and now I’ve just been smartening up and kicking all of the shit so the man can’t get me for being too cool or throwing glasses off the balcony at the Uber because I am too sober and intelligent now to really stand for that. I’m a nice man and with my solo adventures I really want to let people into my world a little and show that I can take care of them.

How did the collaborations with Anonymouz come about?
I was at my parents house many years ago with the flu or something similar doped up on home made medicines and I couldn’t sleep so my brother actually put me onto this site that used to exist called Oregon Chat because he had been on there talking smack and throwing dirt onto herbs. I had nothing better to do and prior to that the only other experience I’d had with the net was at my cousins house in Sydney. To cut a long story short they closed that site down and I moved onto some msn rooms and found some mates there and one of them turned out to be Anonymouz. I didn’t speak to him again until he popped up on my msn a few years back and played me some kill they had been working on. He is a move maker so he sent Sythe over here shortly followed by his good self and we set it off straight from there.

Despite not having any releases out, you featured on the track Blue Blooded Allstars on the Hilltop Hoods’ latest album The Hard Road. How did this collaboration come about?
I guess just right time and right place, mate. From how I remember it being told to me, Mr. Trials was chilling with Hoods and they were trying to find somebody from Brisbane to rep on the track and he dropped my name and seeing as I was already down in Adelaide recording some stuff with Vents it wasn’t hard to tee up so they ran with it. Layla from that Western Australian crew Syllabolix was supposed to be rapping on that part of the beat I hit and I never got my lyrics to Suffa so the versions in the booklet is all wrong too but at the end of the day it was a cool opportunity and I’m glad I got to hit it like that so one love to all of the Certified Wise crew and everybody else I got to connect with through that track.

Pure Product

What can you tell me about your upcoming LP Eviction Notice?
4th Degree: It’s the debut album from Pure Product. There are a lot of varying songs on there, from topical and conceptual stuff to the braggadocio songs, personal shit and social commentary. We run the gamut. Production is handled primarily by the Optimen (Sammsonite and Dats with K-West finding a bunch of the samples) and our man Dizz has a beat on there too. It has some of the dopest Brisbane MC’s as features, including, The Optimen, Clinic and KingsKonekted. It’ll be out around March or April - hopefully sooner rather than later.

Can you explain how you became acquainted with The Optimen and the rest of the Redtape crew?
4th Degree: Well we first met K-West when we went into 4zzz to go on the Method Show hosted by Robby Balboa (which is where we met Balboa too) and we did some verses live on air. He offered to talk to Sammsonite to see if we could record at the Space Ghost studio–so we did. I dunno, we just recorded some songs and I guess the boys saw some potential and took a punt by signing us to Red Tape. We jumped at the opportunity because we knew the type of beats and professionalism we would be fucking with. Who wouldn’t? Now the Renegades are one big happy family, haha.

I was very impressed with sentiment behind Puppet On A String. Can you describe what or who inspired the lyrics?
Marvel: No one thing inspired the lyrics to this, it was more of a conglomeration of thoughts and opinions about the music scene as a whole. I had heard this topic being explored in some songs I’ve heard and I wanted to give it my own spin and also express other issues that didn’t get said. Needless to say, I hope I got my point across…

Can you describe some other significant influences on what you write?
4th Degree: The beat and the samples its comprised of is really important in creating the vibe–if the beat bangs then lyrics come pretty easily once we agree on a topic. Our songs are about what we live–our personal experiences, love for music, doing live shows and all that jazz. Normally groups don’t really delve into personal things and keep it group oriented but I think it’s definitely a strength that we bring that personal shit to the group situation. We are good mates too so its easy to vibe off each other when we’re coming up with that next hit! Haha. But really, we’re aiming for Eviction Notice to be a solid first release–so let the music speak for itself.

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