Thirstin Howl III (aka “The Skillosopher” aka “The Skillionarie”) has traveled a long, hard road from poverty and thievery to producing beats, rocking microphones and starting an independent record label. The Brownsville native was one of the founders of The Lo-Lifes, the infamous crew of thieves who were known for not only stealing massive amounts of merchandise but also always looking sharp in Polo clothes. With a love for Ralph Lauren and a hunger for hip-hop, Thirstin Howl III put out his own CDs and now just got a deal with Landspeed Records. With intense support by the huge family of Lo-Lifes, Howl controls his own music and handles his own business. He is truly an inspiration to us all. Like a phoenix, he has risen from the ashes of poverty and ghetto life to being a well-respected and very lyrical emcee and talented producer. Welcome to the mind of Thirstin Howl III as we take a trip to “Skilligan’s Island”.

T.JONES: “How are ya doing today?”
THIRSTIN HOWL III: “Good, man. I’m hustling hard, hustling hard for Skillionaire Enterprises.”

T.JONES: “I (and many other people) first heard you on Rawkus Records’ ‘Soundbombing II’ compilation. You had the song ‘Brooklyn Hard Rock’. You rocked over The Artifacts beat for ‘C’mon Wit Da Git Down’.”
HOWL: “You know what’s funny. I never really knew that was the Artifacts’ beat. When I did the song, I never heard that Artifacts song before. On some real sh*t, I STILL haven’t heard it.”

T.JONES: “’Skilligan’s Island’ is the new album… how did you approach it? Who produced it?”
HOWL: “’Skilligan’s Island’ is more or less a ‘Best Of Thirstin Howl III’ compilation. I released a lot of stuff before. My first album was ‘Skillionaire’. Then, there was ‘Skillosopher’ and ‘Serial Skiller’. There were a lot of banging joints on those albums but I did all of that sh*t on 4-track so I never got a chance to actually mix it down and make it with good sound quality when I was putting those first 2 LPs out. Landspeed Records approached me to put out my best work together on one disc. I went back to my 4-track, dumped a lot of my old sh*t into the computer and tightened the sound quality up. We also put 3 new banging joints on there, which I produced myself. Also, on ‘Skilligan’s Island’, Will Tell helped to produce songs along with P.F. Cuttin and my n*gga Steve Bossman, who is out there is Boston.”

T.JONES: “What was it like working for P.F. Cuttin (originally from Blahzay Blahzay)? How did you hook up with him?”
HOWL: “I met P.F. when he gave me some beats. He did the song ‘Polo Rican’ for me. He worked on that whole Game project. I got a beats CD from him and it was wild. Once I got the money and the budget, I stepped to him. I told him that I wanted to do this joint ‘Polo Rican’. He came with me to the studio and we made it. Me and P.F. also did a couple of other songs. He didn’t produce the other ones but he helped me with the whole project. He helped me mix everything. We built a relationship from there. Then, we did the whole ‘Serial Skiller’ album together. P.F. Cuttin has a lot of experience and a lot of years in the game. I trust his judgment on a lot of sh*t. He’s been making beats for a long time.”

T.JONES: “P.F. Cuttin’s beat on ‘Danger’ by Blahzay Blahzay is a classic.”
HOWL: “That’s classic sh*t. Actually, ‘Danger Part II’ the remix is even hotter to me. He did that one too.”

T.JONES: “Do you have a favorite song on ‘Skilligan’s Island’?”
HOWL: “You know what, man. I listen to the sh*t so much that I don’t know what to expect from the songs anymore. When we work on sh*t, I hear the song like thirty thousand times. It gets to a point where you don’t even know anymore. Believe me! Any song that I do, when I lay it down, I be tripping off of it. So nothing else matters after that.”

T.JONES: “What was it like growing up in Brownsville?”
HOWL: “Real. It was a beautiful experience, man. Everybody just hears the bad things about it but a lot of good came out of those bad experiences, all of those hard times of being poverty stricken. There’s so much that is there for you. I would never change how I came up. I look at it like this: There are a lot of people that go to Yale and Harvard but nobody can pay for the kind of schooling I went through. That’s an experience you can’t even apply for.”

T.JONES: “Who are some of your influences in the music industry?”
HOWL: “Kane, Big Daddy Kane, Dana Dane… The early sh*t like Kool Moe Dee. I mean even before ‘How Ya Like Me Now’. That was his commercial hit. He was the inventor of the speed rapping in the early 80’s. Krs-One dominated and so did Ice Cube. When Cube came in the game, he was my favorite. Krs-One? Nobody dominated the golden era of hip-hop the way Krs-One did. A lot of people don’t give him his props now. You got n*ggas like Nelly trying to holla at him. Me, myself? I’m a loyal muthaf*ka! I wouldn’t try to hear that. I’m loyal to Krs-One. I would step up for him in a minute. F*ck that! Respect that man!”

T.JONES: “How did you hook up with Eminem on ‘Watch Deez’? What was it like working with him?”
HOWL: “Eminem is a real cool cat, man. He’s a humble n*gga and he’s the real thing. There isn’t a gimmick to him. He’s just a natural fu*cking emcee. He’s real natural. Wendy Day from The Rap Coalition put us together. She set up a Rap Olympics where all of these rappers were suppose to battle in teams like the Olympics. She made a team up with myself, Wordsworth, Eminem, Juice and Quest. I met him on that and we clicked from there. We stayed in touch and he came out to New York one day. We went to the studio and did it. Damn, I even had Eminem hanging out in Brownsville! No doubt!”

T.JONES: “For those who do not know...Who are the Lo-Lifes? And what do they do?”
HOWL: “The Lo-Lifes are historical as far as the streets are concerned, as far as fashion is concerned, and as far as survival is concerned. Lo-Lifes were inner-city kids from a poverty-stricken environment, who came up. They had f*cked up backgrounds and dysfunctional households. They did whatever they had to do to survive. The only thing that separated us and went hand-in-hand with that was that the Lo-Lifes made a fashionably loud statement. They represented the gutter and the grime but at the same time, they did it in a fly way. They were being pretty about it. They were pretty thug n*ggas! I’m one of the founders. There weren’t any Lo-Lifes until we came. The history of Lo-Lifes goes years before we even labeled ourselves Lo-Lifes. Everybody was already involved in the street, in the hustle, in the b*tches, in the boosting….We were all getting fly. It just so happened that when we mastered it, that’s when everybody came together. We started running to other people and it clicked on. It spread all around New York to even now, it spread around the world.”

T.JONES: “Are there some fail-safe ways of stealing without getting caught or that guarantees you to get out of the store?”
HOWL:  “If you got a good ‘Knock Out’, you’re getting out. If you can knock a motherf*cka out, you are guaranteed to get out.”

T.JONES: “How do you get ride of the magnetic or metal sensors?”
HOWL:  “There are a lot of different ways. We, The Lo-Lifes, had special bags that we developed where we can throw the magnetic stuff in there and the alarm would not go off on the sensors. A lot of times, we just cut around that sh*t! Cut a hole in it! On a rush, it doesn’t matter if a store has a metal detector. When we’re on a rush, we rush the whole motherf*cking store! Anything goes!”

T.JONES: “What is the illest thing you saw or experienced when you were boosting?”
HOWL: “It happened to me! The illest sh*t was being chased by heroes. They were innocent bystanders that were just in the area and happened to see the crime. They started to chase me. One incident, I was being chased by heroes and I ran at least 6 blocks. The further I ran, the more heroes joined in the group. By the sixth block, I had a mob on my back. Sh*t, I tried to fight them but there were too many of them. They held me down when they finally got me. I punched a couple of them in the face but there were a lot of men. They were innocent looking people and some of them looked like they never had gotten in a fight before. They held me down until the police came. When the cops came, you should have heard the applause in the streets. The whole street was applauding ‘Yay!!!’”

T.JONES:  “You had a single titled “Dreams Of F*cking A Cartoon B*tch”. were your favorite cartoons as a kid?”
HOWL: “As a kid, The Justice League was my favorite. Spiderman, Rocky & Bullwinkle.”

T.JONES: “In the song you name a whole bunch but…if you had to choose just one, which cartoon woman would you like have sex with and what position(s) would you choose?”
HOWL: “If I could bring her to life? It would be Jessica Rabbit. Her t*tties were the realest. (laughs). She was f*cking with a rabbit. You know that they say rabbits f*ck like crazy, right? She would be getting her nuts off!”

T.JONES: “What new songs by other mcs/groups are you feeling now?” 
HOWL: I like 50 Cent a lot. I think he’s the future. I definitely respect whatever he represents and how he represents it. He’s holding it down. He’s out there trying to work a business and he understands the streets, the game, and the grind. I wish 50 Cent mad luck. I really want him to blow.”

T.JONES:  “What are your all-time favorite hip-hop LPS?”
HOWL: “I got em all! I got everything from the golden era! You name it, I’m holding it! I’m a fiend before everything else. I collected everything. I did a lot of years in prison and I collected in prison as well. There’s nothing else to do but collect music through the mail. I used to get everything and my family used to send me everything. I got all the classics!”

T.JONES: “How did you meet Unique London?”
HOWL: “I met Unique London doing MTV work. I worked as a Production Assistant there for a lot of years. I was on a work release program and I got a job up in there. She’s a make-up artist. Now, she works for BET. On 106 & Park, she’s Free’s personal make-up artist.”

T.JONES: “Are you and Unique London together?”
HOWL: “Unique London is my family.”

T.JONES:  “What advice would you give to the kids out there who are just getting into stealing?”
HOWL: “If you don’t have to do it, don’t do it. I know some motherf*ckers who have families that bought them everything that they wanted but they still came out to boost for the rush. Don’t f*ck up your record if you’re still young.”

T.JONES:  “Would you say shoplifting is addictive?”
HOWL: “If you don’t have any food in your fridge.”

T.JONES: “What direction do you think hip-hop is going in now? What do you think you are offering hip-hop and what direction would you want to take hip-hop?”
HOWL: “I want to bring it back to skills. I want skills to matter again. Not catchy hooks, skills! When hip-hop began, the more skills you had, the more respect you earned. Now, they have all of these sing-a-long happy- go- lucky motherf*ckers who don’t know sh*t about skills and they get ultimate respect. They’re not in the hood. They are not coming out of the hood like that. They are talking all of that sh*t and living someplace where that doesn’t go on. When you talk that sh*t and you live there, it’s going to come to you. You know?”

T.JONES: “Where were you during the Sept. 11th World Trade Center Terrorist Attack? What were you doing and how did you deal with it? How do you think it will affect hip hop?”
HOWL: “I was right here in Brownsville watching my T.V. When it happened, the first thing that came to my mind was that this music sh*t ain’t worth nothing! So, go out in the street, start collecting. They were rioting out here. A lot of things were happening in different cities but those incidents weren’t being reported on the news. The media didn’t want to start the chaos or the panic. Over here, they were hitting all of the stores. All of the shopping areas were getting touched up. You never heard about that. It wasn’t on the news or in the papers.”

T.JONES: “The abortion stance…Pro-choice? Or Pro-Life?”
HOWL:  “Pro-Life”

T.JONES:  “Death Penalty… Are you for it or against it?”
HOWL: “I don’t give a f*ck about the government and their justice system. I’ll put it like that. Everybody has their own laws. Whatever they stand for, I don’t stand for. I believe in equality. I believe in God being a consciousness.”

T.JONES:  “Drug of choice?”
HOWL: “Alcohol! My name is Thirstin! I ain’t never tried anything but alcohol and weed. I never tried anything else ever and I never plan to try anything else.”

T.JONES: “How old were you when you first smoked weed?”
HOWL: “I was 7.”

T.JONES: “If you were not in the music industry, would you still be boosting?”
HOWL: “Nah. I wouldn’t be boosting. I would be doing something behind the scenes, where the money is at. I am an older and more mature man now. I am more educated and I have an understanding how that dollar revolves. A lot of my peoples still do their thing, boosting. They benefit and they live good but I am trying to look at greater things where my freedom is not in jeopardy.”

T.JONES: “What advice would you give to the aspiring underground emcee who wants to succeed?”
HOWL: “Don’t let anybody tell you whether you are good enough or not. There is an audience for everybody. Push your own sh*t! Don’t wait on anybody! If you believe in yourself, you can make a 100 more motherf*ckers believe in you. And, that 100 is going to make a thousand.”

T.JONES:  “In the beginning, when you put out ‘Skillionaire’ & ‘Skillosopher’ on your own, how did you go about promoting yourself without the help of radio or TV?”
HOWL: “I really didn’t. I just ran around battling everybody and pushing my albums through the Internet. That’s what helped me get things is motion. Also, the little Rawkus thing I did on Soundbombing II was helpful. I know it was only one verse of ‘Brooklyn Hard Rock’ but everybody was open when they heard that one verse. From what I was told, I really stood out on that album.”

T.JONES:  “How did you hook up with Rawkus Records to put 1/3 of your song ‘Brooklyn Hard Rock’ on the Soundbombing II album?”
HOWL: “Rawkus came to me. I did the freestyle on the first Lyricist’s Lounge album. After that, I did the first Lyricist’s Lounge tour.”

T.JONES:  “What’s the biggest mistake that you have made in your career?”
HOWL: “I haven’t. It’s all trial and error. I feel that if I did anything wrong, I corrected it the next time I went around. One big mistake I did was take on management. That mistake put my career in someone else’s hands. I had 7 deals on the table and I didn’t walk away with anything. Somebody did something wrong. Me and Master Fool were working with a management team because we were just doing too much. But, it didn’t go down. I believe that if I handled things and had my people on it, things would have went down a lot better.”

T.JONES:  “What emcees would you like to work with in the future?”
HOWL: “I wanna work with 50 Cent. Canibus. Everybody is sh*tting on Canibus now but the boy’s a genius. I didn’t really feel his last album (‘C True Hollywood Story’) but he needs to come back with the grimy n*ggas. ‘2000 B.C.’ was hot and his first album was hot. Regardless of the production, nobody can really compare to him on a lyrical level. He says incredible sh*t that you have to wait 10 years to think of and figure out. I feel when 1998-98 came around, a breed of super-emcees were born. The more hip-hop got saturated, the hungrier more artists got considering what they were spitting. Canibus came out as one of the breed of super-emcees. Eminem too. Also… Supernatural and Chino XL. I put myself in that category as well. Every line! Every motherf*cking line is going to slay!”

T.JONES:  “What producers would you like to work with in the future?”
HOWL: “I want to work with D.R. Period. I like his sh*t a lot. Plus, he’s a Brownsville head. He did a lot of stuff like M.O.P. and Trigger. I’m going to be working with him on my next album. D.R. Period is mad tight.”

T.JONES:  “You are from Brooklyn and The BK is truly a strong force in the hip-hop nation, what makes BK, THE PLANET such a strong force in hip-hop?”
HOWL: “Brooklyn is all about respect first. Before they do anything, n*ggas go out there and get their respect. They ain’t settling for nothing less than respect. The environment teaches us that so everyone that comes from here has that same pride. You must respect me. I’m coming to take over. Everybody here has that ‘takeover’ mentality and attitude. That’s some serious sh*t.”

T.JONES: “You (and The Lo-Lifes) are known for your intense love of POLO clothes. What about POLO you love so much?”
HOWL: “It was an evolution as far as B-boy clothes. It wasn’t that it started with Polo or something. Polo was what we stuck by and it was the most expensive and exclusive stuff in our day. It started with the Adidas suits and the Puma suits but Polo was still B-boy fashion. It was classy. We were all thugged out but we looked like we went to Yale or Harvard or somewhere. We loved to get what other people could not get. When we started to rock it, they never saw Polo in the hood before. You see Polo everywhere now but when we started getting it, you had to travel to get Polo. You had to go to the big department stores or the rich areas. It was a good feeling to come back to the hood with some stuff that only the white boys up in Midtown were wearing. We would get all of the b*tches when we did that. We took it and we ran with it. When we did Lo-Lifes and we named ourselves, I never truly thought that it would really be for life. It will be forever.”

T.JONES: “What was the last incident of racism that you encountered?”
HOWL: “Going out to Massachusetts. People saw me and their first impression was of what I look like and not of the person I was inside. I can’t say what image I project. Everybody has their own perception. If you are not white over there, don’t expect to feel welcome. In their eyes, if you dress good or look like you got money, they think that you are a drug dealer or that you are doing something negative. I’m not feeling that. I walked into certain stores and people are afraid. I’m not a savage. They fear what they don’t understand. I learned to accept that and not give a f*ck.”

T.JONES:  “Do you believe in aliens?”
HOWL: “Of course. I believe that anything is possible.”

T.JONES:   Many tracks on your earlier LPs were freestyles…what are some of your techniques in mastering the art of free styling?”
HOWL: “I just did it. I just did it for fun. That’s how I learned it. I could never even rhyme. I never wanted to be an emcee in my life. I never grew up thinking to myself that I was going to be a rapper. As much of a hip-hop fiend that I was, I never thought of being a rapper. I did everything in hip-hop and never considered rapping. I never even tried. One night, we were just chilling and drinking in the spot, and all of us started free styling. I didn’t know I could freestyle like that. It turned into an every night thing. I felt that I was the greatest in the world. I ran out that to battle everybody.”

T.JONES: “When recording, do you go into the studio with pre-written lyrics and pre-produced beats or do you just let it flow in a spontaneous manner?”
HOWL: “I do both. A lot of times, someone would ask me to come do it and I’ll do it right on the spot. I’ll write it. I free-styled certain songs. I’ll just go in the booth and keep spitting until they are satisfied. I’ll do 20 or 30 takes and they’ll keep every single one.”

T.JONES: “How did you meet Rack-Lo?”
HOWL: “I grew up with Rack-Lo. He’s an original Lo-Life. I know his whole family. I hung out with his uncles. You know how somebody is just always around. Even before the Lo-Life era, I hung out with his uncles and him. I’m a couple of years older than Rack. His uncles were thugged out. His uncle, Dr. Tango, is a DJ in Brownsville. He had a big influence in hip-hop in Brownsville.”

T.JONES: “I read in the Source that you had some violent episodes with your mother’s boyfriend at the time. How did you physically and emotionally survive that time period?”
HOWL: “Being where we are from, we can’t show emotions. We are not allowed to be emotional. Even as kids, there is so much peer pressure and other sh*t that emotions are just not accepted. So, we learned to swallow that sh*t sometimes. What I did with my mother’s boyfriend, I changed the situation when I was able to. Once I was able to change the situation, I made sure that I kept it changed.”

T.JONES: “What was your mother like?”
HOWL: “My mom was thugged out.”

T.JONES: “Your mother ‘s mug shot is in the CD booklet. What did she get arrested for?”
HOWL: “I was in jail when she got arrested that time. What she told me, somebody with a lot of jewelry fell asleep in the train station. My mother tried to steal it. I guess the person was an undercover cop. That’s entrapment.”

T.JONES: “How did she die?”
HOWL: “She died in a car accident.”

T.JONES: “That’s horrible. My respect goes out to you and her.”
HOWL: “No doubt. Thanks, man.”

T.JONES: “How did you start Skillionaire Enterprises?”
HOWL: “When I made the ‘Skillionarie’ album, I never had any intentions of making an album. I put the CD together for myself to listen to. Those were just a bunch of songs that I had myself. It was not an intentional album. I put all of my songs on one CD to listen to. I made a couple of copies to shop it as a demo and certain spots called me up to buy some. I had like 20 of them and people were like ‘We want a 100.’ I went a made those 100 copies and started flipping them. People were buying 100 copies and re-ordering another 100 three days later. That’s how my label, Skillionaire Enterprises was born.”

T.JONES: “Who are The Alaskan Fishermen?”
HOWL: “That’s my new group from Massachusetts. The group consists of me, God Forbid & Father Time. We have a whole album that’s completed. It should drop in October. We wanted to give it some time before we dropped it. I did some production and Ronny Raygun from Boston did some production too. He’s part of the group as well. He produced a majority of the album while I produced about 6 joints. I’m also featured on the mic throughout the entire album with them.”

T.JONES: “As a producer, do you have a favorite kind of drum machine or sampler?”
HOWL: “I use the MP. The MPC 2000. I’m a new producer. I just started producing so that was kind of simple for me to understand. I already know what my ears like. I have to learn the functions of the sh*t. I did Rack-Lo’s whole new album and I just started making beats last year. I’m taking it real serious.”

T.JONES:   “I’m going to name a group or an emcee and you say the first word (or thought) that pop in your head. So, if I said ‘Chuck D’, you may say something like ‘Revolutionary’.
HOWL: “Alright.”
T.JONES:  “Common”
HOWL: “Erykah Badu got him whipped.”
T.JONES:   “The Roots”
HOWL: “They cool.”
T.JONES:   “Jay-Z”
HOWL: “I feel he’s the greatest of all time… in my book.”
T.JONES:  “Redman”
HOWL: “One of the greatest of all time.”
T.JONES: “Black Moon”
HOWL: “Represented Brooklyn Strongly.”
T.JONES:  “Sadat X”
HOWL: “His voice is still killing motherf*ckers!”
T.JONES:  “Kool Keith”
HOWL: “He’s a weirdo now. Kool Keith really had a big impression on New York when Ultramagnetic MCs were in their prime. They had people open off of his sh*t. He just went far to the left.”
T.JONES:   “Big L”
HOWL: “Rest in peace”
T.JONES:  “Gangstarr”
HOWL: “What’s up to Guru!”

T.JONES: “You said something cool about Sadat X before. Why do you think people sleep on him?”
HOWL: “You know why people sleep on him? Because they never heard the ‘One For All’ album by Brand Nubian. All of these motherf*ckers just came out their house in ’95 and ’96. They don’t see how Sadat X put it down. Even his solo album is hot. That song ‘Hang Em High’ is blazing! I got respect for Sadat X. Every time, I feel him. His voice is still outstanding. His flow too. Everything.”

T.JONES:  “What do you want on your epitaph? (Your headstone when you’re dead?)”
HOWL: “I want to be cremated. I don’t give a f*ck. Cremate me like my moms. My moms wanted to be cremated. My grandmother and everyone else argued that the Bible said it’s wrong and we’re not suppose to do it. I’m like, damn. That’s my moms and those were he wishes. If I did it wrong and it is a sin to be cremated… then, cremate me as well so I’ll suffer the same punishment as my moms.”

T.JONES: “Are you a religious person?”
HOWL: “I believe but I don’t go to church everyday and all that sh*t.”

T.JONES: “What is the lowest or dirtiest thing you ever did for money?”
HOWL: “Everything we and the Lo-Lifes did can be considered dirty or low. We had to get that money. We had to live. We had to survive. I had to take care of my moms and my sisters. I had to get my house fly. I had to make all that sh*t look nice.”

T.JONES: “How old were the first time you stole something?”
HOWL: Damn, I don’t know but I know I stole way before Lo-Lifes and way before stealing clothes. I stole in the morning before going to school. Nobody gave me any money for school. I stole my sunflower seeds and cotton candy and soda. I used to take the little 16 oz soda bag off of the counter. I used to walk around the store like I already bought it.”

T.JONES: “Do you have any non-Lo-Lifes collaborations coming out?”  
HOWL: “I did some stuff with A.G. called ‘Deceive me’. I did a joint with a kid, Mike Styles, from Boston. I did production for Black Kennedys and Trigger The Gambler. I also did work for Ruck of Heltah Skeltah. I grew up with Heltah Skeltah. Ruck is my peoples, man. I see him around the way every day. He gave my moms a rest in peace shout-out on that album ‘Magnum Force’.”

T.JONES:   “Do you have any last words for the people who will be reading this?”
HOWL: “Check Skillionaire Enterprises and Spitfactoryoneline.com. We are going to be in hip-hop forever and we are going to carry it on forever. We are going to make sure of that. The hunger we have along with the determination and our professionalism will make us be here for a long time. We got fans out there so keep spreading the news. Tell everybody. There’s going to be a new Lo-Life album. We got the new Rack-Lo album coming out called ‘Aracknophobia’. We got my group, The Alaskan Fisherman that has an album called ‘Fire & Ice’ coming out soon. We got the Master Fool album called ‘Brownsville Kid’. All of these albums are complete. You can peep the new Thirstin Howl album ‘Skillitary’ next year. I ain’t put that out until these other albums drop. We are consistent with our sh*t and we are even re-issuing our old albums. We are remixing and re-mastering them and adding more songs to them that were never heard before on those albums. We’re giving you a lot more sh*t. Pick up that ‘Million Man Rush’ book series when it comes out. Peace.”

You can purchase ALL of the THIRSTIN HOWL III albums and other projects by The LO-LIFES by going to:
http://www.spitfactoryonline.com

THANK YOU THIRSTIN HOWL III!

-Todd E. Jones aka The New Jeru Poet
(toddejones@yahoo.com)

Note: you can also read my review of "Skilligan's Island" by Thirstin Howl III