Mad Mike interview
Posted Feb 20 2007
So far all the most famous electronic labels, producers and artists currently hitting the charts in the UK, Japan and Europe are just as obscure here in the inner city of Detroit and America as we are. That wasn’t the case in the 70`s and the 80`s. What changed? Artists ask your labels to do something about that, especially if your label has "World Rights" to your music. Labels ask your US distributors what the f*** is going on? Why aren’t you trying?It’s a big world and many, many people that your pre-conceived
stereotypes would lead you to believe they have no interest in your music would actually love to at least have the chance to hear your music. Don’t let STEREOTYPES limit your music we didn’t and neither does HipHop. Isn’t it strange that seemingly the most intelligent musics seem to become exclusionary? Once music reaches the upper crust of economic society and the more privileged it suddenly adopts their same hierarchical class structures? I think that’s the lesson for all of us to learn.What does a House and Techno Label has to offer kids who want to "make it big" fast?
Nothing ... we can only offer a spiritual situation in which you can find exactly who UR thru the music if your sh** is good enough in a global market. Anything more than that is a blessing. For most small independent labels that’s all we can offer HOPE. Many artists come to us initially humble and with only the desire to make a record, hear a DJ play it, see people dance to it. But often especially with UR you may get a chance to travel. The kid may see the world, see the money, see the lifestyle and see the women. At that point often the desire changes and the innocence lost. The music loses its original impetus and its edge and consequently your sh** doesn’t come out on UR and its time. We lose artists to this phenomenon constantly. And what’s sad sometimes you can’t blame the guy. It’s truly their only possibility at a better life. I only get mad if they don’t help another guy from a similar situation and mentor them. That’s f***ed up and selfish! But it has happened. In fact the only guys I can truly say did music from their hearts and continue to push the boundaries and take chances is Jeff Mills and Rob Hood. They are both honorary lifetime members of UR and often help us financially, with gigs, appearances, projects, mentoring or with global advice as we don’t get out as often as they do.
Hasn’t the success of the whole Bling-Bling-Lifestyle that a lot of Rap/HipHop is promoting these days made a more grassroots approach like yours harder?
Contrary to popular opinion most people in our neighborhoods associate that lifestyle not with success but just what it is: "entertainment". Nothing more. Crazy kids just having fun. And
believe it or not many of these kids don’t take it serious either because they know what lurks on "The other side of Bling". And for people who actually take "Bling" serious. They are often associated with "Ballin". Which for those who don’t know is selling dope. Some people perp fraud and dress bling hang out with Ballers but they don’t roll, a dangerous thing to do. All these people are seen by the community as people who unfortunately by their own choice must live life fast due to the high death rates associated to their way of life ... It’s like the life of a mosquito or some sh**! These guys know damn well what lies in wait for them. So they live everyday like there’s no tomorrow and are very cautious not to "Slip" a term they often speak of in their lyrics. Needless to say statistics prove these guys are more mouth than fact and not very successful at all. Legends in their own minds, killers of their own people, kings to the small weak bands of fools that follow them. And all too often easy game for the never seen never heard quietly humble combat proven veterans of the sh**.If they make it to prison they`re lucky and they can use their hard earned "dope" money to pay for protection or rent! If they make it on TV they really lucky and usually "punk out" abandon the game, they hood and get that f*** outta dodge to the suburbs and mail they crew a check! But for the majority with no record deals or videos there’s no pool party with half naked girls for them, except the pool of blood they gonna be layin in with they stomach and eyeball blew out, their Bling laying in their lungs, gasping for air with shit leaking out of their asses while people dig thru their pockets and snatch that f***in’ Bling off their neck. The only place they "make it" to is stacked up naked in the freezer of an overcrowded morgue we have here.
I applaud the many rappers that do try to teach this part of "The Game" to the youngsters. The unseen side of Bling has always made it much easier for many "grassroots" operations with a real purpose and committed to bettering the community to survive should that organization choose to tap into "the lifestyle".
If so, how do you handle this change of values and ideas within the youth?
The most effective tool I’ve seen that changes young peoples’
values here in Detroit is the Detroit Public Schools "Morgue Tour". It works and is brilliantly effective. Again most of us aren’t successful Rap/HipHop artists, so those videos you see aren’t reflective of everyday life for most of us. We have some outstanding young people in our community that will go on to do great things for humanity. Unfortunately no one is interested in making four minute videos of each one of them. So currently they have no "world platform" and very little representation. We need more Jeff Mills, Rob Hood and Carl Craig videos desperately they represent the true potential of Detroit’s youth.Where do you see the future for Underground Resistance and Submerge? What are your future plans?
We will continue to drop code and hidden sonic clues in our ongoing Electronic Warfare with the programmers who seek to contain our minds. And we will scour the hood for hungry sonic assassins and audiovirus creators like the Aquanauts, Nomadico, DJ Skurge, The Illustrator, Pervtech, Atlantis and others! Also we know that we cannot compete with such huge promotional budgets, magazine advertising costs and publicists fees that are entrenched in the music now as you can basically purchase your popularity now. We will continue to have faith that you cannot buy soul, you cannot buy funk, you cannot buy life experiences, you can’t pay people to dance when they don’t feel it and you cannot copy our uniquely f***ed up, warped perspective of this music. But in the future even if we are dead and gone. We have been successful as our records will survive us and maybe on some old f***ed up 1200 turntable a thousand years from now an unknown young warrior will drop the needle on an old scratched up UR record and the "Moor Horsemen" will ride again. This interview has been coded "For those who know"."You will find the strength in the sound and make your transition."
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