dan monick

Oh No and Roc C are some of Oxnard’s most unstoppable and after years of projects back and forth they are now known as Team Get Em. They speak on a long car ride back from L.A. the day after Father’s Day.

Roc, have you really been rhyming for twenty years?
Roc C: Since I was ten years old, shit! My mom when I was young took me to see Krush Groove and it was over—all the Breakin’, Beat Street, it was like anything else back then. My parents were like ‘focus on books blah blah blah’ but just like rock ‘n’ roll, it was hard to not be a little kid in front of the mirror, learning every word.
When did you meet Oh No?
R: I was in the crew C.D.P.—Crate Digger’s Palace—Madlib, the Lootpack, Kankick, myself, we’re all out of that camp, and me and Oh No been doing it since way back then. Fifteen years ago, we all got stuff together. My first actual album was produced by Medaphoar. The one who got me motivated to do that was Oh No, who was going by the name Kidnap at the time. I used to trip on how he’d do a whole album in one weekend—that was ill! We all didn’t have the money to go out and buy CDs—you gotta make your own music if you want something to listen to!
Why does Oxnard have such an unstoppable work ethic?
Oh No: Cats out here be hungry—just the hungriness. Just trying to get respect. We’re all doing everything—smoking, driving, on the phone doing interviews! Our work ethic comes from being hungry all the time. And it’s fun—if you have fun at what you do, it’s not even like work.
R: It’s wanting that respect! Whether sports of books or whatever—someone from Oxnard is all of a sudden associated with L.A. When you think West Coast music, you think L.A. and the bay. No one thinks of Oxnard—but we been out here doing it a long time. There’s more cats than people know. I think our crew being recognized on a national and international level gives cats the hope like ‘I can do that, too—why not me?’ Back in the day, you had to be from Hollywood or be from Oakland. That’s why so many cats moved to New York around that era—that’s where everyone was coming out of. But we stayed in Oxnard, no matter what trend or era. We stayed doing us, and we’re still doing us and people respect us.
So are the stories true? Like about Oh No throwing up onstage and still finishing the show?
O: I was throwing up and everything is for real—it was a UFO out in Europe, an arena built like a big UFO. That shit was crazy.
Why were you throwing up in a UFO?
O: They signed me up to do a live beat in front of the crowd and flew Roc C out there as well, and before I left, I just got crazy sick. I get sick using headphones—it’s like they’re playing too loud, the decibels in my ear and too much air pressure in my ear, so they were making me sick. Not like flu but violently ill. I was throwing up and everything. I still partied, though. I did a couple beats in front of the crowd.
Is that the worst you’ve been through at a show?
O: Every time I go overseas, I usually get sick, and when I get sick, I’m sick for like a month. So I’m sitting there throwing up like everywhere—in the middle of a show, I’m throwing up in towels and people didn’t notice, so I’m jumping in and doing the mosh pit and everything, then jumping back on stage, throwing up real quick and then go back again! I’m hungry! I make beats, I’ll be sick, I keep doing it—I’m dancing! I feel better when I get the shit out of me.
Unbelievable.
O: I try and tell cats—I’m a sick motherfucker, know what I’m saying?
What records did you pull to make Dr. No’s Oxperiment? Turkish psych-funk?
O: I don’t even remember their names—I wrote them down, but they were too crazy.
How did you get turned on to Turkish psych-funk?
O: From Galt McDermott. I was messing with a lot of everything—worldly sounds—and I was hearing that funk shit, so I hit him up. He gave me a copy but I wanted the whole album—I’d rather have every song, so I can choose some and make beats from it, so he broke me off a little music and I tried to make a little music out of each one. I ended up with like sixty beats—narrowed it down from there to 28, and that’s what got put out. The other beats are too crazy to put on there—I gotta use those for MCs. Get my man Roc on ‘em—I can’t put them out as instrumentals so everybody else gets them.
How much music is in the Oxnard reserve?
O: A gang of shit—years of music. So much music you wouldn’t even know. I even lost a bunch of stuff—SP1200 discs mess up, and I wouldn’t be saving beats, or the hard drive would crash. Something always happens. You gotta keep moving on.
R: I came to Oh No’s and he’d cleaned out the garage and was like, ‘Check out this disc or this DAT I found!’ And I don’t even remember that song! He’d start saying lines and I’d be like, ‘That’s crazy!’ And he’d say, ‘That shit’s you!’ There’s so much music we gotta get it out. Everything ain’t meant for albums, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good music, or that it shouldn’t be heard.
Do you have any songs that you aren’t releasing because people aren’t ready for them yet?
R: We never feel like that. We don’t listen to radio like we gotta follow—we just do what we do, and by the grace of God, we hit on the nail! It’s not like a competition—we don’t feel like the public ain’t ready. We’re not afraid to put it out there—there’s nothing to regret if you put it out. Otherwise I’d always be like, ‘What if?’ I don’t live my life like ‘what if?’
How is Team Get ‘Em gonna build on what you’ve already done together?
R: If you guys go back to The Disrupt—if you really follow, we’ve been letting you know subliminally that Team Get ‘Em is coming. Oh No introduced me on his album, and every single I do, Oh No is on it, and on my album he did a majority—and every time we do a show, it’s not like Oh No or Roc C. It’s Team Get ‘Em. It made sense—Oh No was more established in the public eye at the time, but now it’s time to just move out! You know Oh No is nasty with the beats and the rhymes and he allows me to still do what I do—we play what we do best together, and we aren’t afraid to give it to the world! We could have Oh No produce, but we’re stepping up the game—we got Pete Rock, Madlib, Dilla, Young RJ, Black Milk, Butch Cassidy, Chino XL, Black Milk rapping… we’re trying to take it back to where it’s just good music. Not how cats say it’s ‘underground or commercial’—either it’s good or it’s not! We mess with major cats to underground cats you never heard of—where cats ain’t afraid to be them, to not worry about labels and friends and just don’t be afraid to be you.
Where did you get the panther from the ‘Move’ video?
O: My man wanted to use a panther in the video—he just kept telling us about the panther—so we went to a video shoot at a crazy animal reserve spot. We had to sign a waiver, like an injury release—it was looking at extras like they were snacks and shit.We couldn’t tell people how to get there—we were lost for like three hours trying to find the spot. And Dilla came out, too—it was sick!
R: That panther was sick. The cool thing was if you go to the zoo or you watch TV, you’re like, ‘Yeah, if I see that thing, I’ll kick the shit out of it if it charges at me!’ But then when you see that 200 pounds of pure muscle—it’s like, ‘I’ll do what I want to you anytime!’ The only thing that seemed to be taming him was these big-ass pieces of meat. They had to toss meat at certain spots when he’d walk through the crowd. I don’t know if one of the extras looked like meat or if he just lost focus, but he got to growling—and what’s the trainer gonna do? ‘Stop!’ She’s not gonna jump in! They had bears and lions and other crazy things there, too—the actual owners rent them out. Like $25,000 a day!
Who’s the next Galt McDermott that’s gonna be re-discovered?
O: Honestly, I’m one of those cats that likes everything. I listen to it and I turn it into a puzzle—there’s so much there. My man Roc can put Michael Jackson back in, and listening to Off The Wall, we sit there and analyze—I can make a beat off that! I like Sly and the Family Stone—I’m tripping off him right now.
What was the last beat that really stumped you?
O: All that Dr. No circus stuff was ill—it was different. I didn’t want it all sounding the same, even though it came from the same thing. Like Galt—I didn’t want it all sounding super funky without having some electro in there, because he has that. I’ve always gotta do everything. If someone’s on soul, I’m on something else. I’ll make keyboard beats. Then cats are on keyboard—now I’m back on jazz or funk or classical—country! I’m clowning. I’ll go buy records at the swap meet and get the whole crate—see a few things and it’s so cheap I might as well buy the whole crate and just flip everything in there. ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘50s, ‘20s—just have fun with it.
What’s your most reliable rule for judging a record by its cover?
O: I like sick covers—crazy artwork. Drawn-out artwork. Or a naked lady on the cover!
What’s the best naked-lady record you ever found?
O: I couldn’t tell you—I gotta pull ‘em all out!
Why did you once wake up covered in BBQ sauce and chicken?
O: We got faded, that’s why. We were partying overseas. Ah, that’s sick—you pulled out the crazy quote!

OH NO AND ROC C PLAY WED., JUNE 27, WITH EVIDENCE, INFINIT P’TENCHUL, RHYME ADDICTS, REBELS TO THE GRAIN, KOSHA DILLZ AND DESTRUCT AT THE RELEASE PARTY FOR EVIDENCE’S THE WEATHERMAN LP AT THE KNITTING FACTORY, 7021 HOLLYWOOD BLVD., HOLLYWOOD. 9 PM / $15 / ALL AGES. WWW.KNITTINGFACTORY.COM. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT TEAM GET ‘EM, VISIT MYSPACE.COM/OHNODISRUPT, MYSPACE.COM/ROCTHISWAY OR MYSPACE.COM/TEAMGETEM.