The Hip Hop Chronicles - Chapter 5 - Grip Grand
Who: Grip Grand aka Mr. Versatility
What: MC from Rec-League with an incredible catalog!
Where: California From Broakland to SF to LA
Grip Grand! Mr. Versatility! This guy can rap.
His first album Welcome To Broakland was recorded in his bedroom on a 4track!
You can’t tell by looking at him that he has hulk like rapping powers!
It’s like he is walking around with his rapping ability hidden in a set of Hulk Smash gloves!
I am very picky about the type of rap I like and this guy fits what I like in a big way. He spits crazy verses that don’t ever seem to stop! Need an example? This is one of my personal favorites, and a track I have listened to hundreds of times in the short 2 months since I first heard Mr. Grip Grand, it’s 96 Tears (DJ MF Shalem’s Talk About It mix):
Here is another example of his skills and in your face ability! This is a one take live recording. Grip Grand is the shizz! Song is called Popular Demand and is found on the Cassette Trippin’ Mix Tape
The guys over at Routinefly.com keep churning out awesome music! Grip Grand is working on a new album and to keep us at bay he has released a track to hold us over. It’s called “Take Photos” and it proves he is still on a roll
You can find his entire catalog of music at gripgrand.bandcamp.com
Let’s get to what you came here for, some good answers!!
Go Grip:
1. Why Hip Hop?
Since before I could walk, I was raised on a steady diet of jazz, blues, and soul from my parents’ extensive record collection. Hip-hop is, for my generation, what those other genres were for theirs. It was just a natural progression.
2. if you had $100k Drop in your lap right now what would you do with it?
Put it toward the down payment on a house for my family. I wish I had a more exciting answer—“Rocket-powered Scuba-Bike!!”—but real estate is a better investment.
3. If you could have 1 super power, what would it be and how would you use it?
I guess I should quote my 2002 song “Superrapper” here: “I’m faster than a blunt gets lit at a reggae show/Capable of not being heard about on the radio/I’m able to stop a speeding bullet by being shot/I’ve got the power to run away if a superthug won’t put his gun away.” Other than the powers I already have…I guess I’d go for some kind of all-encompassing reality-control like Marvel’s Scarlet Witch has. She used it to eliminate every mutant in the universe, but I would use it to finally achieve world peace. What other goal is there?
4. Do you have any skills in the kitchen? If yes, what’s your signature dish, if no why the hell not?
Yeah, I get busy in the kitchen, and I like to do everything from scratch. I don’t know if I have a signature dish…I range from chicken tikka masala (I’m big on stuff that reheats well the next day) to my grandmother’s Jewish pot roast (but only when the brisket’s on sale). I like to think that my specialty is seasoning, making things taste good. Homemade sauces, dressings, marinades, dips, spreads…I got that.
5. Tell me the worst stage experience you are willing to admit to the public?
I had a show at a restaurant of some kind, pretty much my first public performance as a rapper…we were performing as part of an art opening, something like that, but when we got up on stage, the opening hadn’t really begun yet, and there were still people sitting at tables, eating with silverware…awkward. Especially since we were about to start jumping around and rapping (i.e. shouting and swearing) at them. I only got up there for one song, but there was some kind of problem with the mic and the monitors, I didn’t have enough experience to know how to handle it. Bottom line, the sound system erupted in squealing feedback during my first verse, no one could fix it. I was left standing there with a hostile mic, this loud-ass beat banging, and no way to continue my verse. So they just stopped the music, and I basically had to walk off-stage mid-song, humiliated. I’ve since tried to forget that it ever happened, but people keep bringing it up. Thanks a lot.
6. What is the #1 Junk Food you just can’t ever refuse?
Oh, how to choose just one? I have a real sweet tooth…chocolate is my thing, that’s the one I’d have the hardest time giving up. I always have some kind of candy around the house, but my favorite combination is chocolate and marshmallow, hands down. Also, I do keep a box of chocolate sugar cereal on hand, which I only eat after midnight. If anyone is interested, the most chocolatey cereal available, in my opinion, is the Vons/Safeway store-brand Cocoa Nuggets. They’re like generic Cocoa Krispies/Pebbles, but stronger. Also, Chocolate Lucky Charms…I only ever saw them once, but if they’re still out there somewhere, go get ‘em.
7. What was your first job as a kid and what did it teach you?
I did some little kid stuff like washing cars, but the first paycheck job I had in high-school was assisting at an architecture firm. I made copies, hand-colored building plans for them, stuff like that. I guess nowadays they’d do that on a computer, I just used colored pencils. It was a decent gig, plus they had a whole drawer of free candy bars for employees. I like candy (see above). But it taught me that I do NOT like office buildings, and every time I’ve worked in one it wound up draining off a tiny little bit of my soul. Keep your cubicles, thanks.
8. French Dip Sando or Lobster Roll?
French Dip. Meat, bread, salty juice…hard to improve on that. And I’m a beef guy, I admit. Plus, I don’t like cold lobster, so most lobster rolls are out for me. But a hot lobster roll—hot buttered lobster on a grilled, buttered bun…I might pass up a French Dip for that. I hear they make ‘em in Connecticut. I wouldn’t know. But they make one called The Connecticut at The Red Shack in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and I go out of my way to get it when I’m there visiting my in-laws. Wait, did I actually have to choose between the two sandwiches to answer this question? Let’s just change the “or” to an “and”.
Bonus Question: After tasting it for the first time, do you like GreenLight Jerky??
Yezzir. My favorite was definitely A Bit Spicy. My wife preferred the Jamaican Jerk. My 9-month-old, who maybe shouldn’t be eating jerky, I dunno, he really seemed to dig the Prime Rib Dinner. Something for the whole family!
Thanks For Playing Grip! Great interview.
