Middle Finger Recordz - Interviews: Sylent Interviewed by Brown Sound Magazine

Sylent
Interview Conducted By
www.BrownSoundMagazine.com
(3/6/2004)

I'd like to start things off with you giving us an introduction of yourself.

The homies call me Sylent. I come from the Norwalk City in the 562 area. South East Los, repping Middle Finger Recordz. So far, I've dropped two demo CDs on the mix-tape circuit called "562" and "The Walk". The past couple years, I've been on a break from dropping tracks, trying to get the homies into the game and promoting to get M.F.R. out there.

Can you tell us how and when you got into the rap game. Also, why or how you are where you are now?

I'm not here to bullshit anybody so I gotta keep it real and say that I'm still not really in the rap game. Right now I'm still under the underground. I started rapping seriously when I was about eighteen, after a homeboy of mine told me to try to flow some poetry I had written over a beat. I had written some raps before that but nothing I took serio. My first CDs I dropped were more on mixtape-status. I didn't have any connects in the game at the time and I had a lot of shit on my chest that I wanted to release and move on from so I recorded my first songs myself using a cheap $20.00 microphone, a CD Recorder and some taxed beats, "Low-Budget-But-Fuck-It". I didn't care that it wasn't studio quality, I just wanted to be heard. Maybe one day in the far future they can look back at the first things I recorded and see how much my lyrics have grown. I figured if the gente liked what I was doing when it was just a hobby and not for the feria, then it was all worth it.

Your style is straight-up Westcoast gangster, can you give us a little more detail of your rapping style?

On the serio, my style ain't Westcoast or gangster. I don't rep that Westcoast shit 'cause to me that's too commercial. If I'm gonna rep anything, it's going to be the area that raised me.

As for the songs being "gangster", I'm not a gangster so I don't feel my songs can be labeled that. They may come off as "hardcore" but that's because I'm close to the streets and that's what I'm here to rap about and represent. You'll never hear me call myself a gangster. Although most rappers try to fool you, not every rapper is a gangster. I'm not but that doesn't mean that I haven't survived through the same pedo. Many homies in the game need to swallow some pride and just be themselves.

Who all makes up Middle Finger Recordz?

Middle Finger Recordz isn't really a large label. I can't really name names 'cause the homies come and go. Some who say they're gonna roll with us record a little something and then disappear when others don't record at all. So far we've got songs from the homie JuliO.G. who will be dropping his debut CD "The Beginning" soon. We got the homie Ese Joker Loco riding with us who you've probably heard on the track "Shit's Going Krazy" with the vato DannyBoy, who's also a homeboy of ours that dropped two tracks for one of our upcoming compilations. It was planned that he was gonna roll with M.F.R. but the homie went back to the street life. There's also my prima Mz. Precious who's riding with us. She's been the one pushing me out there and making sure gente hear me... But to be honest, it's hard getting that hyna to find time away from her drama to record her debut "Brown 'N Beautiful" so the gente gotta wait a little longer to hear from her. That's M.F.R. Like the saying goes, "Somos pocos pero locos". We try to keep it close. There's just too many labels recruiting people just so they can ride deep to concerts incase any drama goes down. Most of the vatos on those labels don't give a fuck about each other. M.F.R. keeps it close so that if drama should ever go down, we're all ready to die for each other.

On your CD titled "The Walk", you have a track on there called "Wife Beater". I'm sure that has got to be stirring up some controversy. What's been the response on that track? How did that track come about?

Yeah, I had alot of bitches hitting me up talking shit about that track... And when I say bitches I don't mean "women"... I mean women who just want to bitch about stupid shit. For one thing, that track was written and recorded for the listener to not take so seriously... I actually ended the song with the "proposal" to show that the song was strictly for entertainment... But some people are just quick to hate. It was obvious that the song should not be taken literally but I guess common sense isn't too common. I had a lot of people hit me up and tell me that they thought the song was the funniest shit they've ever heard in this game of ours but I also had hynas hitting me up telling me that I should be ashamed of myself for beating on my wife and bragging about it. I'm not even married. I wrote that track the way I did because it is something that all men feel like doing sometimes when their lady goes a little too far. The hynas that have complained about the track didn't even know that the song is about hurting a woman physically because she cheated and destroyed her man emotionally. They just thought it was an anthem for all men to put hands on their woman... I ain't one to cheat on my lady so I don't play games like that. I have felt the temptation to put my hands on my lady before and this song was to express what would happen if I gave into that temptation. To me it's like a warning to my future wife that if you fuck up, you get fucked up. Chances are that I won't cheat back... I'm probably gonna get you where it hurts... So let's love and fuck and live our lives. I'm not gonna apologize for the lyrics because that's reality and that's what I'm here to represent. I know a grip of hynas who need to get straightened out that purposely push their vatos a little too far and have the nerve to cry when that vato pushes back. A man can only take so much. I know you've seen hynas all up in their vato's face slapping him infront of his family and homies, screaming in the street "Hit me. You know you want to." What do you think those hynas will do if their man really did hit them? What do they do when they finally get what they deserved? What they do is they hate on me for making a song about it. Don't criticize me for expressing reality in my music. You can use it for entertainment or you can criticize it... Either way, I'm living my life the same.

What's your personal favorite track that you recorded and why?

I had the most fun recording "Wife Beater" but I have to say that "Kiss My Dick" is my personal favorite. It was one of the last two songs that I recorded for my first two CDs. You can hear it in my voice that I was more comfortable on the microphone. I liked my delivery on the lyrics more on that one that the other rolas. It's not really a favorite on the streets like "Papacito" was but I think it's one of my best and that's all that really matters.

Growing up, who were you jammin' out to? Was there a favorite artist and/or style of music you listened to when you were growing up?

The first rap tape I ever had was Cypress Hill's "Black Sunday". I used to bump that shit when I wasn't listening to oldies and bullshit love songs that are fucken corny to me now. I was proud to hear some rappers talking like me. I also used to listen to anything with Bone Thugs until I admitted to myself that I didn't know what the fuck they were saying. One time I listened to all my Bone Thug CDs and paid close attention to them, when I noticed that in every song they say the same thing over and over. That's when I lost interest in that tongue-twist style. That's probably why I rap at a slower pace than most of these Chicano rappers. Fuck trying to impress... I'd rather have the gente know what I'm saying and be able to sing along.

Do you enjoy performing? What can we expect at an M.F.R. Show?

I don't think I would have good stage presence 'cause I'm a shy person and I don't like to be the center of attention. I haven't performed anywhere yet and I honestly don't plan to until I'm more known. That way I know if I should throw some CDs into the crowd, people will try to catch them instead of just letting them fall to the floor 'cause they dont know me. I've seen that shit happen to a few rappers and I don't plan to let it happen to me any time soon. But if M.F.R. gets enough buzz to drop their own show, it'll be more than just a headlining rapper on stage with five homies hyping him, tripping over each other as they walk back and forth on stage. We're entertainers and we'll probably come with some dramas and video skits. Who knows? It's hard to say because most Chicanos are stuck in that "Swapmeet/Lowrider Show Circuit" and I personally don't want to be known as someone who's stuck doing only that... If I get on stage I want to make sure the gente have more to walk away with than just a free CD and T-shirts. Until I know we got our shit together like that, I won't hit the stage.

Can you tell us what you think of the music on the radio nowadays?

I can't tell you a damn thing about the music on the radio today because I stopped listening to it a few years back. It got too fucken corny... Everybody's in love or pimping. Every now and then JuliO.G. talks me into tuning in to Power 106 during the "Pocos Pero Locos" show but that shit pisses me off too. Almost every song is a love song. And if it's not a love song then it's a commercial song that they've been playing for the past three years or however long ago it was when the show first started. A two hour show with one hour's worth of commercials and half of the songs being played are from three to four years back. Fuck that... My radio is turned off if Howard Stern isn't on.

What's your thoughts as to why a chicano artist has not broken through to the "big time" yet? Do you think it's our own people holding each other down or do you think it's something else other than that?

We can't point our fingers at a scapegoat. There's many reasons why Chicano rap is not blowing up. Sometimes we hold ourselves down. I've seen homies with talent who swore to ride with us and then turn back to that old crazy ass lifestyle. Look at me, I'm holding myself back by trying to bring the homies up first even though they're not really inspired at the moment. I'm also a little nervous about hitting the studio. It's been so long since I last recorded that I feel my style might have changed too much since the gente last heard me. I don't know if they're ready to hear me rap different from how I used to.

Another thing holding us back is that Latinos don't support their own. I walked the streets looking for gente to support and all I ever got were people asking for freebies. One time, Mz. Precious handed a vato a free CD and the vato asked her why my CD was called "The Walk". She told him that's short for the Norwalk City and the puto gave it back. To me it looks like "Brown Pride" is just something that gente tattoo on their necks or something that rappers just say in their songs 'cause as long as I've been dropping tracks, I've never met any rappers that tried to help me out in the game and I have never met gente that would hook me up with any connects without worrying about what they would get from the deal first.

When I was growing up, I bought every Latin rap CD available. I continued to do that while I was recording my CDs, thinking that they would support me if I was walking in their Cortes'. But when I finally dropped my own, I didn't get much support from other Chicano rappers. They didn't buy my shit so that's when I stopped buying all of the Chicano rap CDs I saw and started to keep a short list of who to check out. I guess some of these "Swapmeet Superstars" really think their brown skin's gonna go platinum so now they're like, "Fuck the unknowns". Pride is definitely something that's holding this game back.

What future projects, short-term and long-term, can we expect from M.F.R.?

We'll be dropping the compilations The 562 "S.E.L.A." and "The Prophecy". JuliO.G. will be releasing his debut "The Beginning" sometime later this year. As soon as I find a producer who understands what I'm trying to do with my music, I'll also be getting my ass into the booth to record my first "studio-quality" CD titled "1ower 3ast". I don't want a producer who just records me. I want one who will give me feedback while I'm recording and loves the music as much as I do instead of just worrying about how much studio time I book and when I'm paying for it.

But M.F.R. is not just about msuic. It's about entertainment. M.F.R. will be dropping a few books such as a book on poetry, from the gente and for the gente, and a book about how to get started in this music business independently. We have scripts written for movies that we plan to make some time when the financing is set. We even got some scripts for porno movies that M.F.R. plans to get involved with some time in the later-later future... Not that the script is important in porn. There's a lot more shit in the works from M.F.R. but I don't wanna say what 'cause we got a lot of motherfuckers copying everything we're doing right now. We wanna keep 'em guessing like a hoodie who don't know who her baby daddy is.

Is there an artist, either main-stream or underground, who you would like to work with or collab with?

I would work with any artist willing to work with me that I don't have personal pedo with. I'm down for whatever as long as they don't try to censor my lyrics and have any ego trips. There's a grip of homies in this game that talk and talk about getting some tracks done but in the end they just want to see what you can do to help them out. Let me put it this way, if there's any rappers reading this shit right now that wants to get down with me, swallow your pride and hit me up with a beat and I'll do my thing. It's that easy. Why play games?

Well we wanna thank you for taking this tiempo to do this interview con nosotros. Any last words, shout-outs and/or plugs that you would like to make before we close this interview?

I just want to say thanks for giving me a minute to feel like I'm important. You know I gotta thank all the haterz out there for promoting my shit... You can all kiss my dick. Before I bounze like Muff Club titties, I just wanna give love to my daughter Mariah, to all the gente who got my back and actually picked up the CD without asking for free handouts, and nothing but respect to the entire M.F.R. familia. To all the gente reading this, hit up the site www.MiddleFingerRecordz.com Keep trucha for M.F.R. 'cause we're gonna do our thing and I don't wanna hear that you only liked our shit after the M.F.R. bandwagon starts.

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