Delinquent Habits - das Interview
Marius von Holleben - Kemo und Ives sind momentan auf grosser Promotour für ihr neues Album `The Common Man´. Auf ihrem weg nach Ljubjana stoppten sie gestern in Baden um einige Freunde zu besuchen. Pünktlich um 12.00 Uhr trafen wir die Delinquentes im Tattoostudio `Innerfire´ zum Plausch. Währen...
How does it feel to be back on tour?
Kemo: It’s a privilege to me, you know, I’m a person who comes from the hood - it means quite a lot. There are not that many people who get to hop on an airplane, you know. For me to get an opportunity to be here in Europe, to be able to do music and to be able to be with the group and have fun – that’s great. I love it out here in Europe.
So how do you travel on tour?
Kemo: Oh, we actually are travelling by bus, by van, by plane or trains. We’re really doing it like off the feet. To be honest, Its amazing because you get more experienced, you get more to see and so you learn more... Can’t complain about that.
Do you have some local helpers who organize everything for you?
Kemo: Yes, we have a tour manager and lucky for us it’s Ives wife Elena. You know, she’s Swiss. So she is always on point with everything. It’s going well, just because of her. She’s balancing everything out, it’s just perfect.
So is that the reason why you are here in Baden today? Do you have any connection to this region?
Kemo: As a matter of facts, Ives wife is born here. Baden is her hometown. She lives here and so we’re chilling with her people. That’s how we end up here. Ives is right there (zeigt zum anderen Ende des Raums) doing a tattoo here right now, what you can obviously hear (die Maschine surrt seit Beginn des Gesprächs im Hintergrund). So yeah, that’s how we got in.
Let’s talk about the new album. What were the incentives to do it?
Kemo: The common man is just basically what the name says. It’s for the common man, for the guy who has to get up in the morning and catch the bus to get to work. No matter where you work at, if you work at Mc Donald’s or whether you be a trash man, you know what I mean, or a plumber, no matter. This album is for them.Because now a lot of music back in LA has all to do with bling bling and gold chains, but that sends out a wrong picture to people like the common man. Especially where we come from it’s like, if you want to be the big guy to get a lot of money, you gotta do something bad. That’s why we put this album out there, to encourage the simple people to keep on doing their thing, working hard but being honest. That’s the right way, you know. So the most music is not saying that you have to work hard to get money, it is saying: “rob, steal, sell drugs and so on.”But then with the new album we also want to put a party vibe out there, because after a long working day you have to blow off some steam. On Friday and Saturday you wanna relax and party, that’s why we put out this mixture of a good positive message with party vibes. You know, music is strong. So you can either send out the bad message or like we, we like to send out the good one.
Where did you record the common man, any features this time?
Kemo: Yeah, as a matter of fact the whole album has whole new producers, whole new sound, just whole new everything. The last album was exclusively produced by OG Style, he did everything and this time our door was open. We worked with a lot of different producers also from Europe, so the whole album was kind of a new project for us. It took almost close to a year, like nine months, to get everything ready and press it and so on. All in all it was just a whole new experience for us. Everybody worked hand in hand, that’s why this record is so strong.
So would you say, you did it this time in a more professional type of way?
Yes, absolutely. You know, during our last album our DJ was kinda coming to an end. He was thinking whether he wants to continue his career. My man Ives and I, we were still hungry. We wanted to do more music, new music and we still had a lot to say. So our last DJ just became lazy and started to do everything by computer and so on and that was just not what we were looking for. And now, this new album turned out to be very strong. When we perform on stage it’s just great. People react really well to the good and strong new sound. We had the whole album mastered in New York by a world famous guy, so the sound and the voices everything is just to the point...
What distinguishes you guys as musicians from other acts?
Kemo: Well I mean we’re family men. We have families back at home. We got sons and my buddy Ives always tells me that you gotta break the cycle. When you grow up with your parents and your grand parents, totally reckless not caring what the next generation could be like, that’s when you gotta break the circle. And for Ives and me that’s what we’re doing with our music. We don’t want to be seen as gangbangers or something like that. We are family men; we’re worrying about the next generation. I think that’s what makes the difference.
Being on your biggest tour now and having boys at home at the same time, how do you deal with this double pressure?
Kemo: Oh man, I have to say at the same time I’m here back at home I have a good woman, Ives has good people with him so our kids are taken good care of. I mean we call them and tell them what we do. Besides that I leave them a good amount of money, the bills are paid. So while I’m on the road they get to do what they’re basically want to do. I don’t have to really stress about that. I guess in future my and Ives Boys will understand, that what we’re doing now is setting a good foundation so they can move on and pursue a career by themselves. If they wanna do music, okay. Or whatever they want to do...
You mentioned that you like Europe a lot. Could you think about moving abroad and give your kids a chance to experience a whole different culture?
Kemo: To be honest before I started touring years ago I didn’t know a thing about Europe. But now, I like it more and more, it’s a totally different lifestyle here. It’s more low and relaxed, you know. You can walk down the street here without fearing an attack of some gangbangers or getting harassed by cops or something, so that’s always a plus. So yes why not one day, everybody wants to have a bit a better lifestyle...
Ives beendet die erst Tattoo-Session und kommt zu uns...
Ives, after we heard already about the new album and the tour lets talk politics. I have heard you’re quite interested in what’s going on?
Ives: Yes, you know with me it’s like that. I go online to check the news everyday. I’m someone who likes to know what’s going on. Not necessarily for me, but for my children. Cause all the decisions that are made now, are going to affect them. America is like a big advertising gimmick – marketing all the time. Before Obama, the whole world had this idea of America as a big war hungry machine, a capitalistic monster that eats everything. With Obama, I think it was just to make the world think the American dream is still possible. The truth is the American dream is further away from us than it has ever been. Especially after he has been elected. The spotlight that was on all the big problems is now on him. So with Obama coming in, the whole world was blinded. So the pressure on everyone and on the government of the United States to make the American dream possible for everyone was suddenly gone. Everybody just went: Oh hurray. Hurray to Obama!The truth is he did less than any president in the history of America. So if no one starts to tell the truth like if your stuck in the ghetto you gotta find a way out by yourself sometime, if your super rich you gotta pay more. I’m just disappointed. That’s also why I intend to move to Switzerland not after too long, with my kids and my wife. Hopefully I can contribute to the society here.I love my country, don’t get me wrong. But America is not America no more.
So what has changed?
Ives: You know, the gun rules the world. Politics is a bloody mess. It’s all threads like I do this and you give me that. It’s just fucked. Our deficits are higher than ever and nobody cares.
Do you actually express your anger through your music; do you talk about that in your songs?
Ives: To tell the truth, I have started to do so by doing the new album. The common man talks a lot about the struggle between classes and the frustration that people around the world feel. All the rich people who think they do something noble by establishing business ideas and cashing in the profits, the middle class actually generates... Save a life instead! You see somebody crying, stop and ask him if you can help him. Somebody falls, you pick him up. That’s real life, that’s noble.Donating Millions to an orphan its great, but you are just doing it to get a tax break. Do something from your heart, something that takes from your personal time. You know it’s also heard for me to realize that. I used to think it’s all about the money and all about the bitches – it’s not.In the end it’s just about making a change. Just because I do Rap music it’s not like I cant tell the people what I think is right or wrong. You don’t have to be U2 to make a difference.
When did you realize that bitches and money is not everything?
Ives: You know, I never planned on getting there. Like becoming a Rapstar with all that comes along. But when you’re there you realize it doesn’t change anything. You’re not happier. You can sleep with 50 women a night and not feel any better. Same with money, it’s what you do is what you have. It’s what you do for the people around you and not even what you receive back. It is what you do. That’s everything how me myself was able to find happiness.
If you want to make a difference you gotta take a stand, get up and say what you believe in. America, Afghanistan, Switzerland, it is the same everywhere; you just gotta open your mouth. My father in law told me about the voting thing here. You get to vote in your Kanton on everything. Here the Christians can vote if they want to have a Muslim tower in Baden or not. I say, hell no! That’s my opinion. I just don’t think that you should have in such a beautiful country a big tower. They can worship their religion in every building also without some big Muslim tower. It causes conflict and that’s what the devil wants.
Thank you very much for your time and stay calm while finishing off the tattoo...
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Die Jungs sind noch bis Anfang Januar auf Tour und werden insgesamt sechs Konzerte auf schweizer Boden spielen. Alle Tourdaten und viele mehr gibt es direkt auf www.thedelinquenthabits.com
Interview: Mathias Tünnerhof und Marius von Holleben
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