I caught Grieves at the Mystic Theater in Petaluma, CA. I laughed on the way when we passed the Birkenstock sandals headquarters. That ain’t gangsta. When we got to the show and my wife said, “It smells like manure,” I laughed again; hell of a setting for a night of rap music. On the car ride up we’d been listening to Kendrick and YG spin tales about Compton, or “Bompton” if you will. I was a little sad to see that no one in Petaluma was “bickin’ back bein bool.” And yet, when Grieves took the stage I was transported to another world. One where hip-hop and culture are a nation without borders and there is the promise of transcendent unity in booty shaking. All it took was flow, and heart and Grieves had them in abundance.

What is the power of hip-hop? What drew you to the culture and music?
To me, hip-hop as an art form has no boundaries. I was always drawn to that. Musically, it felt like a collage of all the music I grew up on, except for the brief phase where I didn’t wear pants and only listened to hardcore German techno. I was always into music but had a problem sticking with one style. Hip-hop allowed me to put it all in one place and tell my story the way I wanna tell it. Shit saved my life.
Why do you have a skateboard on the cover of your new album, Running Wild? Did you ride that board or did you get a set designer to thrash it up for you?
This story is from the February 2018 edition of THRASHER.
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This story is from the February 2018 edition of THRASHER.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign in

The Cool Kids
The Cool Kids are officially back. After a lengthy hiatus, Mikey Rocks and Chuck Inglish have decided the timing was right to pick up where they left off and have already released two new singles: “Running Man” and “Connect Four” ahead of their upcoming 2017 release, Special Edition Grand Master Deluxe. As the duo was in Miami attending Art Basel, they had some time to talk about their reunion, rappers going crazy and why 2008’s The Bake Sale EP never would have happened without skateboarding and Vicodin. —Kyle Eustice

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Grieves
I caught Grieves at the Mystic Theater in Petaluma, CA. I laughed on the way when we passed the Birkenstock sandals headquarters. That ain’t gangsta. When we got to the show and my wife said, “It smells like manure,” I laughed again; hell of a setting for a night of rap music. On the car ride up we’d been listening to Kendrick and YG spin tales about Compton, or “Bompton” if you will. I was a little sad to see that no one in Petaluma was “bickin’ back bein bool.” And yet, when Grieves took the stage I was transported to another world. One where hip-hop and culture are a nation without borders and there is the promise of transcendent unity in booty shaking. All it took was flow, and heart and Grieves had them in abundance.

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