Pacific Division Interview

Pacific Division is the crew. They up there with Free Speech. Glad to see LA reppin’. AHH got them for an interview. Check them after the jump…

Tim “Styles” Sanchez Writes:

When you think of a group from the West Coast,you get automatic images of gangbangers in khaki pants, Chuck Taylor’s,red or blue bandanas and a ‘64 Chevy Impala bouncing on hydraulics asG-Funk blasts in the background. Despite West Coast groups like The Pharcyde and The Alkaholiks for years constantly trying to break that image from people’s minds, the Gangster/Gangsta image is still thepopular stereotype. With a new crop of rappers and MC’s rising out of the West, the Pacific Division are three young MC’s dedicated to makingmusic for what they describe as the regular person, because contrary to popular belief, not everybody is bangin’ in Southern California. The Pacific Division is out to show that MC skills and musicianship is alive and well on the West Coast and in the world of Hip-Hop.

Who the members of Pacific Division are…

Like: There’s
myself Like, Mibbs and BeYoung. Mibbs and I are brothers and we were
born and raised in Los Angeles. During High School we moved out to a
suburb called Palmdale and that’s where we met BeYoung. We all played
basketball together and shared the same interests in rap. Being on the
West Coast it’s kind of hard to find other people that like Ghostface
Killah, Wu-Tang and even The Pharcyde, so my brother and I had good
chemistry with him [BeYoung]. The three of us have been together as a
group for about three years. Initially there were nine or ten of us,
like our own Wu-Tang Clan, but things happened and we had to downsize.

How they fit in to a West Coast scene that is mostly known for its Gangsta sound…

Mibbs:
The West Coast is known for the Gangsta sound, but there are a whole
lot of young black males in California that don’t fall in to the
Gangsta category. They are just regular dudes that work regular jobs –
that like to look fresh on a regular basis. They have a different
mindset of what cool is. I feel that we fall into that category. People
like to label us as “backpack”, because anything that is not gangsta
out here is thought of as backpack [rap]. We really don’t like that
label. We are just here doing music that’s us. We call it life-music
because it’s music to live to. If we fall under the backpack label,
then so be it, but that’s not what we are trying to push.

On the release that’s coming soon…

BeYoung:
We are going to put a digital EP for the internet with all new
material. It’s going to be strictly for the internet and that should be
out by the end of March. As far as an album is concerned, that all
depends on what kind of label situation we can land.

On their reception outside of the West Coast…
Like: We’ve
been getting a great response. We don’t regionalize our music. Our
music has a universal influence from listening to music from every
region when we were growing up. I feel that our music reflects that
too. When you listen to us, you can’t even tell where we are from. It’s
world music.

An opinion on Hip-Hop and how it has changed over the years…
Like:
It’s changed a lot because of the internet and because of people in
positions that pump out generic music — music that isn’t timeless.
Everything sounds the same. I mean, it was like that before but it’s
even greater now. Downloading has also had a bad effect, that isn’t
helping out either. In today’s rap world, you have to really make your
show-money. You’ve got to start a movement for whatever you are doing.
Also now you have albums full of singles -they try to give 12 or 13
tracks of just singles. We feel that if you give people a reason to
follow you and not just an image to like, then they will follow what
you stand for. If what you are saying is heavy, then people will stay
with you for a long time. If you are shallow, then people will stay
with you only for a minute and then go follow the next thing that
sounds just like you.

Pacific Division – F.A.T. Boys