T. JONES: “’Rack Lauren’ was the last album you put out. What was your favorite song on it?”
RACK LO:  “I would have to say ‘Love Is Love’. Track 14. The reason why I think it’s so special to me it dates back to 1989. That’s when I met my Lo-wife. The song is about when we got married an all that. It’s a monument. A song that’s real personal to me. I got other jams on there too. ‘Bad Habits’ and ‘The Constitution’. I wrote my own hip-hop constitution to inspire people. Y’know what I mean? I’m real political too. I try to shine from different angles.”

T. JONES: “For the people who don’t know… could you explain who are the Lo-Lifes? How did it all start? What’s the history and what is everything like now?”
RACK LO: “Lo-Lifes date back to the 80’s, man. It all developed into street fashion.  We basically took street fashion and put it on a whole different level. The way we took a liking to a particular brand. The way we supported the clothing. We came from poor communities, single parent households. It was global and universal the way we rocked the clothing, you know? At the same time, Lo-Lifes came from the golden era of hip-hop. Lo-Lifes are old school in a way because we had Eric B. And Rakim, Public Enemy, Run-DMC, and the whole Krush Groove thing. Right now, we are taking a lifestyle that we help to create and we are trying to elevate it whether it is through the music, the clothing, the books, the films, and the documentaries. You know? That’s where we are at now.”

T. JONES: “In the music industry only, who are some of your influences?”
RACK LO: “The golden era… the beginning. When I really started understanding what hip-hop was about. Eric B. & Rakim. Krs-One and Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy, Ultramagnetic MCs. People like that… De La Soul.”

T. JONES: “Outside of the industry, who are some of your major influences?
RACK LO: “Myself, my family, and the people I work with.. Thirstin Howl III. The people that surround me.. My family.”

T. JONES: “I cannot talk about the Lo-Lifes without talking about stealing. They are a deep crew and they have seemed to pride themselves on being master thieves of Polo gear. Are there any fail-safe ways to steal? What kind of state of mind do you have to be in before you walk into a store and steal?” 
RACK LO: “It all depends on purpose, you know? Some people do it to be down with other people, to be part of a trend that was already set. Some people do it for survival. Some people do it for the fashion element. Just to be fly and get chicks and sh*t like that. My purpose was survival. More or less. If I didn’t steal, I wasn’t gonna eat that particular night. Not to glorify it, but for me, it was more like a job. I went on three different mias every single day. When I say ‘MIA”, that’s like a mission. ‘M-I-A’.”

T. JONES: “How would you get rid of the sensors or the alarms?”
RACK LO: “Like I said, the game elevated. In the beginning, we would basically remove the alarms. We had a special technique where we would remove the alarm and it wouldn’t damage or ruin the merchandise. But after a while, we just started saying ‘The hell with that’. We began taking the merchandise with the alarm on it. We would let the alarm ring. If the security guards come, it’s like whatever – whatever. There were many tactics. We have a book coming out that has all the secrets, shoplifting techniques and ways of getting over. You know?”

T. JONES: “So if a security guard stopped you (if the alarm went off or didn’t go off), what was your first instinct?
RACK LO: “To get away. What to do in order to get away is a different story. In some cases, you get away or to dodge the security guard without causing any physical harm.”

T. JONES: “What’s the illest thing you saw happen to a security guard?”
RACK LO: “On the real, I’ve seen a security guard get splashed. They call it a buck-fifty. A box cutter, a razor. You know what I’m saying? Right in the face… In the fid-ace…from the face down to his neck. At that particular time, people were young, you know? A lot of bad choices were made and it was a period that many people went through. It’s been worse than that… It’s been much worse that that.”

T.JONES:  “Howl has a song called ‘Dreams Of F*cking A Cartoon B*tch’. What were some of your favorite cartoons?”
RACK LO: “The Jetsons… Aquaman…I would have to say also Fat Albert.”

T. JONES: “How did you and the first lady come to meet?”
RACK LO: “Actually, we met in 1989. I was going through a period where I was doing so much dirt. I was out there. In the back of mind, I always knew that I couldn’t feed the streets forever. At some point, things come to an end. I would end up with me being either incarcerated or me dead or me balancing everything out. Balance everything out where I can survive, have my freedom, and live in society like a normal person. You know what I mean? It was a big choice. In 89, I got in a GED program. I never even went to high school, man. I left school in the 8th grade. I never really had a chance to go to the 9th grade. So after the 8th grade, I basically, you know, pursued my GED. That’s ill, you know… at such a young age. I met first lady because her grandmother was the director of the program I was in. That’s how that came about. We just hooked up. We started in 1989 and been together ever since.”

T.JONES: “What is the key to keeping a long relationship together?”
RACK LO: “I would say trust. Knowing that you can trust that person, you know. You can be a support system for each other. I would say trust and just being supportive of each other.”

T.JONES: “How does being a father change your approach to hip hop music?”
RACK LO: “It affects it in a big, in a major way. Not to long ago, like a year or two ago, you know, I wasn’t too focused on the business part of hip-hop. As far as being a father and wanting to create something, I wanted to build a foundation for my child so they don’t have to go through the same things I went through. Unfortunately, my father didn’t do anything for me or my brothers and sisters. We had to start from scratch, you know. Someone depends on me. As a father, I take what I do seriously as a career. I go for the gusto because everything I do is for him. He has to carry on my legacy. Lyrically, I really haven’t changed, man. I have to express myself. I don’t have a problem with my son hearing about the things I had to do when I was growing up. Whether it was in my household or with my moms, I really don’t have a problem sharing that with him. This is so he could really understand what I went through fully and how I got to where this point where I’m at today. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to share that with him but it’s important to let him know right from wrong.”

T. JONES: “What other new songs or artists that just came out that you are feeling right now?”
RACK LO: “Nas…that song ‘Ether’. The Jay-Z diss. It’s blazing, you know what I mean? It’s lyrical. He really came with something. Other than that, that song with Phil Da Agony and Defari from The Alkaholiks on ‘Underground Airplay’. I’m not really the commercial type, you know. I tune out from that stuff a lot.”

T. JONES: “Did you hear the Jay-Z retaliation to ‘Ether’? What did you think of it?”
RACK LO: “Nas killed him, kid! From an emcee standpoint, Nas is real lyrical. You have to respect that he’s really doing his thing. I think that if you are a real emcee and you understand lyrics, hip-hop, longevity, and you’re saying something and can be in-depth with your wordplay, you have to respect the kid Nas. He’s one of the best, you know what I mean? I like the competition as well, you know. That’s where hip-hop stems from. Competition and battling. Grab the microphone and crush any and everybody that wants to go against you. There are a lot of historical battles. As long as it stays on wax and stays competitive.”

T. JONES: “What are some of your all time favorite hip hop LPs?”
RACK LO: “’Paid In Full’, (Eric B. & Rakim), That’s one of my favorites! I remember back in like 86, my uncle used to D.J. and throw block parties. He was one of the nicest D.J.’s in the Brownsville era. When that song ‘My Melody’ came on, I got chills. Every time I play that album to this day, it takes me back to that time.”

T. JONES: “What advice would you give to some of these kids who are just getting involved with shoplifting, stealing and boosting?”
RACK LO: “First of all, I don’t glorify my past behaviors. I’m not saying that it’s a good thing or a bad thing. For me, that was my only choice. I didn’t know how to go out there and get a job. It’s a choice you make. Shoplifting and boosting can lead to bigger targets but you have to understand what you are getting into and understand the effect it has on your career. It effects you for a long time down the line.”

T.JONES: “Did you hear about Wynona Ryder got caught shoplifting like $3,000 worth of stuff from Saks?”
RACK LO: “To me, that’s weak. That’s like real embarrassing. It’s a choice you make though. People have to understand that for every action there is a reaction. There are consequences for every action you take whether it’s good or bad.”

T.JONES: “Would you agree with the statement that shoplifting is addictive?”
RACK LO: “Definitely, man. It depends on your purpose. If you have to do it to survive or to eat, to feed the family or to pay your rent, for your bills, to pay your gas, your phone. Your lights could be cut off. These are the reasons why we shoplifted. Of course we wanted to look fly and be the flyest boosters to come out of Brooklyn and take things to an international level. We had reasons though. There were reasons for the madness.”

T. JONES: “What direction do you think hip hop is going in right now? As Lo-Lifes, what are you contributing?”
RACK LO: “We are not offering anything. We created something from the golden era. I think street fashion plays an important element in hip-hop. The way we speak, act and dress. It’s hip-hop. Even back in those days, back in ’88, it’s always been about fashion.”

T. JONES: “On some of your previous indie-released LPs, Lo-Lifes used well-known instrumentals from acclaimed emcees. (“Slang Editorial” by Cappadonna, “So Ghetto” by Jay-Z, “Lifesaver” by Guru, etc.). Lo-lifes are known for stealing and you are ‘stealing’ the tracks…Did you get into any legal complications?”
RACK LO: “It just means that we are hungry emcees, you know. We want to be heard. We are not letting anything stop us. We are for the people and they love us. When we did those songs and put those albums together, it was more or less, we were hungry. No one wanted to give us any tracks. No one wanted to give us any deals. So, this was the only way we could be heard so we would put it out like that.”

T.JONES: “Sometimes, I personally think you rip it better than the original emcees…”
RACK LO: “Like ‘Stole” which used Black Rob’s ‘Whoa’, We replaced the word ‘whoa’ with ‘stole’ and made the track our own. We try to flip it like that.”

T.JONES: “Where were you on the September 11th World Trade Center terrorist attack?”
RACK LO: “That’s ill, kid. I was home. I didn’t even know that it took place. My wife at work, called me and said ‘A plane crashed into the World Trade.’ It was unbelievable… like what?!?! I looked on TV. and it was shocking…. All those people! It was unbelievable!”

T.JONES: “How do you think the U.S. should deal with Bin Laden and terrorists?”
RACK LO: “It’s like this, man. To me, it’s not just Bin Laden. We have to look at it as a whole. He’s just one person. People get sidetracked, you know what I mean? They want to pinpoint somebody and put the blame one person. But to me, it goes deeper than that. I say, deal with the problem (of terrorism) itself, the root of the problem..”

T. JONES: “Much of Spitfactory is done via the Internet and via mail. You can’t walk into Sam Goodie or Best Buy and get the new Rack Lo cd. Has the Anthrax scare and the terrorist threats via mail affected your business?”
RACK LO: “I don’t think so.”

T.JONES: “Pro-choice or pro-life?”
RACK LO: “Abortion? I’m against it, man. I don’t want to sound to personal. But from my personal point of view, I’m against abortion. I think everyone should have a life, you know.”

T.JONES: “Death penalty… For or against?”
RACK LO: “I’m against it.. It makes no sense.”

T. JONES: “Do you have a drug of choice?”
RACK LO: “(laughs).. Not really. I blaze trees now and then.”

T.JONES: “How old were you when you first smoked weed?”
RACK LO: “I’m fairly new at it, man. I would say like only 6 or 7 years ago. I say that I am fairly new because when I was running with Lo-Lifes that were a little older than me,  they were puffin’ trees then. It didn’t have a big impact on me when they were doing it. I was always like ‘How can you do that? I could never do that!’.”

T.JONES: “Do you have a favorite type of gun or firearm?”
RACK LO: “I would say the 3-80.”

T.JONES: “If it weren’t for the music industry, would you still be boosting? How would you make a living?”
RACK LO: “I don’t know. I really can’t call it, man. I know I would be making it though. I can’t really say what I’d be doing. A Lo-Life is going to survive by any means. Even whether it’s killing for legal tender because that’s real too.”

T.JONES: “Do you have any advice for aspiring underground emcees?”
RACK LO: “If they are underground, I would tell him or her that if they are serious about their career, stay underground a little longer and learn the different corners of this industry. You should be striving for perfection and be doing what you want to do on a day-to-day basis. You make this your life. At the end, you can get hoodwinked or get jerked because you didn’t inform yourself. Information and knowledge is everything. It’s all on how you play your cards.”

T.JONES: “What are some of the biggest mistakes that emcees make?”
RACK LO: “One of the biggest mistakes an emcee could make is giving up all their damn publishing. That’s one of the biggest mistakes you could ever do. People give up all their publishing and their copyrights and it’s the end of their careers. That can really affect you down the line.”

T.JONES: “In these days, what are emcees lacking? What would you like to see more of in hip-hop?”
RACK LO: “I’d like to see more originality. For some reason, hip-hop doesn’t have that same feel. It doesn’t have that same feeling that it had back in the 80’s and early 90’s. It’s like anybody could make a record now. Everybody is putting out material that is not innovative. They follow trends that are already set. I would say originality and taking chances. Nobody takes chances anymore! Outkast are one of the only groups nowadays that really take chances. They are really innovative and creative. They try to take their music to different levels and steps. I think Outkast is a good example.” 

T.JONES: “What are some emcees that you would like to work with in the future?”
RACK LO: “I could work with my clique forever. Don’t get me wrong, I think expansion is a good thing. I don’t think working with other people (outside of the Lo-Lifes) would make me or break me.”

T.JONES: “What producers would you like to work with in the future?”
RACK LO: “Premier. I think he’s one of the greatest. There are a lot of producers out there like Al Chemist. But before I give any of those guys a shot, I’ll stick to the producers I’ve been working with… the people who set it off with me from day one like my man, Will-Tell, Mr. Noise. You got Thirstin Howl III doing beats now. He’s doing like 90% of my next album, ‘Aracknophobia’. I’m working with people who have been working with me. I’m not trying to get a budget and run major producers.”

T.JONES: “How did you end up setting up the label (Spitfactory)? How did you get the money to hook it all up?”
RACK LO: “The first albums, ‘Thou Shall Not Steal’ and ‘Skillionare’, were all done on Thirstin Howl’s Skillionare label. That’s like all our label, the foundation. That’s where it all started. Spitfactory is more or less, distribution and promotion. With Spitfactory, I wanted to get a world-wide presence on the Internet.”

T.JONES: “Favorite T.V. shows?”
RACK LO: “Good Times”

T.JONES: “Favorite movies?
RACK LO: “Wild Styles. Movies don’t really turn me on like that, you know? I’m more in hip-hop mode. Everyday all day.”

T.JONES: “Now I’m going to name an emcee or a group and you say the first word that pops in your brain. So if I said ‘Chuck D.’, you would say something like ‘revolutionary’.”
RACK LO: “Okay, I got you.”

T.JONES:“Tame-One of The Artifacts”
RACK LO: “Lyrical”
T.JONES: “Heltah Skeltah”
RACK LO: “Real.”
T.JONES: “Mos Def”
RACK LO: “Creative”
T.JONES:  “Common”
RACK LO: “Lyrical”
T.JONES: “The Coup”
RACK LO: “Political”
T.JONES: “Dead Prez”
RACK LO: “Socially-conscience”
T.JONES: “Redman”
RACK LO: “Ill wid it!”
T.JONES: “Freddie Foxxx”
RACK LO: “Real… Street… and lyrical”
T.JONES: “Sadat X”
RACK LO:“Classical”
T.JONES: “Kool Keith”
RACK LO:“Genius”
T.JONES: “Gangstarr”
RACK LO: “Hip-hop”
T.JONES: “Big L”
RACK LO: “Trendsetter”

T.JONES: “What is it about Polo that the Lo-Lifes love so much?”
RACK LO: “Let me say it like this: Before Rack Lo came along, even though we weren’t Lo-Lifes, it was always a period before me. What made us like Polo so much was that it was so exclusive. It was hard to find. At that time, you rarely would see a person in the ghetto or in the hood with Polo. The same thing goes for the real Gucci. It was hard to get. We wanted to be exclusive. We wanted to dress like nobody else around the way. Even though Polo was our main liking, we rocked everything.”

T.JONES: “What was the illest thing that you have seen happen at a Lo-Lifes show?”
RACK LO: “The love and how people appreciated what we did. We contributed to the (hip-hop) culture in a big way so people really appreciated what we did. To me, that’s one of the greatest things we did and still do in our live performances. If you have never traveled around the states and the world and rocked shows with different kinds of people, you will never know the love. There may not always be love (in hip-hop shows). People hate. You got to be out there to feel that. I would say the illest things we have seen or experienced in our shows are those feelings of love and appreciation.”

T.JONES:: “What does the name RACK LO actually mean? Where did it come from?”
RACK LO: “’Rack’ stands for stealing. My name goes with my lifestyle. I used to ‘rack’ up a lot. When we used to go into stores to shoplift or steal, I would come out with multiple items. It was never just one item. I took a rack of stuff. I took whole racks of shirts, racks of pants, racks of leather coats. (laughs) The ‘Lo’ is the affiliation with Lo-Lifes. We all have ‘Lo’ with our names.”

T.JONES: “In many of the early recordings, there were many tracks that were freestyles. Do you still freestyle and what are some of your techniques?”
RACK LO: “It all started out as freestyling and rhyming everyday. Rhyming words without picking up a pen. Coming into the cipher and spitting off the dome was something we did on a regular basis. We trained ourselves.”

T.JONES: “In the studio, do you write there or do you come to the session with pre-written lyrics? Do you have to hear the beat first?”
RACK LO:  “I work all different ways. Maybe I’ll get the words ahead of time. If I know what I want to say, I could plot it all out in my head. I can go to the studio and write the lyrics on the spot, right then and there. Either way. Sometimes, I’ll do it before and sometimes, I’ll do it there.”

T.JONES: “Before, you were stealing an incredible amount of stuff and now you are involved in more legitimate enterprises. How did you (or how do you) adapt? Was it hard to change your way of life?”
RACK LO: “For me, I don’t think the transition was very hard because I didn’t go to school for business. I basically learned from hands-on experience, actually putting it into practice. I did it on a regular basis. Whatever I learned when I was out there (stealing) as a Lo-Life, it definitely helped me. For example, it helped me understand people. I learned how to work my way through different parts of business.”

T.JONES: “Some of the Lo-Lifes have had horrible family situations. For example, Thirstin Howl’s mother had a jerk of a boyfriend who would beat his mother. What was your family life like?”
RACK LO: “I grew up in a 2-family household. My mother never worked. My mom would sometimes only work like one day. My mother relied on welfare. My father would always work odd jobs. They are still together. That’s one of the things I picked up from my mother and father. Unity. And my father taught me to never give up and if you start something, finish it. Never walk out on something you started. That rubbed off on me and the relationships I have to this day.”

T.JONES: “Being poor and living in the ghetto is obviously extremely stressful. Was there ever a point in your life that you wanted to kill yourself (commit suicide)?”
RACK LO: “Never.”

T.JONES: “How does being a thief (or an ex-thief) help you in the music industry?”
RACK LO: “I’m like a mind-reader. What people in the industry say and how they perceive you is very important. A lot of people are shiesty. Some people want to see you do good while others want to see you do bad. At the end of the day, I think it’s all up to you. Whether they like it or not, we’re going to do this music. It was like that back then too. Whether they like it or not, we were going to steal.”

T.JONES:  “What do you want on your epitaph or your gravestone? What are your last words?”
RACK LO: “That’s an ill question. To be honest with you, I haven’t thought that far. I still have a lot of work to do.”

T.JONES:  “Do you have any last words for people who will read this?”
RACK LO: “This is Rack Lo. Continue to check for that spit-tastic spit-matic, spit-tacular spit-hop coming from the Spit Squad! The Lo-Lifes album is coming out soon called ‘Crownsville’. Stay tuned to the website ( http://www.spitfactoryonline.com ) for all the info pertaining to Lo-Lifes, Rack Lo, Thirstin Howl III, etc…. Just stay tuned. Represent that exclusive hip-hop!”

“Thou Shall Not Steal” and "Rack-Lauren" are available now at http://www.spitfactoryonline.com  along with other Cds by Thirstin Howl III and more. Rack Lo's "Aracknophobia" will be coming out soon.
 

Thank you RACK LO!!!!!!
-Todd E. Jones