public defendaz article that I wrote for polyscript magazine 1/21/10

1/22/10

         When I found out I had received the duty of interviewing the hip hop group—The Public Defendaz—I started to recall the first performance I had seen them in. After watching their performance on Halloween night, I felt music is their infatuation. Music is their inspiration and the connection with music allows for the audience to enjoy the group’s passion for hip hop. That night each member on stage was performing to the utmost fullest. They managed the crowd, repositioned themselves around the stage, and rapped so intensely that you had to listen to their lyrics. Their music didn’t seem like a momentary hobby that is overlooked; it appeared music was their everything. After talking to each member my hypothesis seemed correct: Music is their everything—it is their soul, their life, and the bond that intertwines the seven members together to create Public Defendaz. The Central Coast group emerged in 2006 and has been expanding their fanbase ever since. There are seven members: Taktical, Oktapus, Royal, J4RD, Iyayi da Cali Kid, Danny Style, and Shamrock. Each participant conveys a certain aspect of the group that helps them to create a unique style. While each member writes his own lyrics, the group ‘s sound comes from the collaboration of all its members. J4RD contributes singing and engineering. Taktical supplies beat production, engineering, and is responsible for their social networks like Facebook, Myspace, and their Twitter account. Danny Style is their most recent addition, who adds the flare to each song with his DJ skills, and Oktapus produces, graphic designs, and writes lyrics. While Shamrock, Iyayi, and Royal write music and contribute to beat making, all three try to help out the group whenever anything needs to be completed. Before the group came together, each member was composing their solo projects, but they realized they could each bring something to the table to establish the independent group.

Royal said, “We all love music so why not do something together and make it our own…We wanted to build a hip hop scene in San Luis Obispo.”

            So far, they have generated two albums: “Speedy Trial” and “Tampered Evidence.” They also released their Mixtape Premiere in February 2010, which is a Mix tape over the sounds of DJ Premier. Taktical describes the mix tape as lyrics over DJ Premiere’s beats.

He said, “We are looking back on the past and digging out in that era.”

From the interview, the group hopes audiences will be proud of their work. The group smiled and were excited when talking about their work on their recent tape, they also discussed how much time they have put into the tape and their appreciation for DJ Premiere.

Together, the group wants to represent real hip-hop and their mix tape/CD’s are representations of what they feel hip-hop can be. They feel hip hop today is dissimilar from when they were growing up. Today, most hip-hop contains commercial lyrics concerning women, parties, and money. The group enjoys writing lyrics about current issues and being the defenders for the public, hence the name “Public Defendaz.” But, even though they complete many music projects and write lyrics for the public, when they first emerged in the small town market many businesses didn’t want to take a gamble on a local hip hop group. The San Luis Obispo market is largely notorious for rock groups so for a hip hop group to start in town could be seen as risky, but three businesses took a chance. Downtown Brew, J-Neal Enterprise, and Numbskull productions are the three risk takers. All of the members have much appreciation towards the businesses because they took a chance when no one else was willing to. After several shows, Public Defendaz were beginning to generate a name for themselves. It is a name that would soon be heard through the town of San Luis Obispo. A name that would soon be seen on stickers plastered over furniture by college students. The group started to open for sold out acts like E-40, Mistah Fabb, J-Diggs, The Pack, Tech N9ne, and with each performance they got to open for the people whom they admired while growing up. In the future, they want to continue working on music projects and building their fan base.

The group hopes to expand to a more diverse group of fans from both Cuesta and Cal Poly campuses. They make music because they love it and write about issues as a voice for the public. Although they may bicker at times, the group said they overcome their problems.

Royal said, “We’re like a family. That’s what it takes to be a real group.”

So far, they have a substantial fan base in San Luis Obispo and recently they have been asked for autographs around town. In the future, the group wishes they will become successful and travel around the world performing. Towards the end of the interview with Public Defendaz Taktical sums up the group's mutual feeling –“music engulfs my life.”