Brilliantly Real is a Hip Hop Co Op enterprise out of Indiana. I sat down with two of the artist from BR to get the scoop on the group and I got to find out that T. Cleva and Y. Dot are out here repping their areas with honor.
-What’s up yall? I appreciate you sitting down to spread the word on what’s Brilliantly Real. Let’s start it off, where are you guys from and how did you come together to meet as artists?
Y. Dot: I was born in Seattle, always repping the Pacific Northwest with honor, but I moved out to Chicago around 2003. I got kicked out of school in Chicago so I relocated to Indiana to get me back into school. Right outside of Gary, IN is Merrillville.
T. Cleva: I was born in south side Chicago, raised in northwest Indiana in the Merrillville area. I graduated from Merrillville High in ’05. Y. Dot used to live right around the corner from me, we were both huge hip hop fans so we just sort of clicked, you know.
-Did you already have a hip hop scene going when you met each other?
T. Cleva: We were both really young, like 14-15, so not really. We knew a few other guys in high school that were all in to the rap scene so it kind of just took off from there.
Y. Dot: We don’t really know how it happened.
T. Cleva: Yeah, the universe just brought us together.
Y. Dot: He literally lived just right around the corner. He had a set up in his basement, I had a little computer with a cheap $7 microphone I bought at the grocery store.Y. Dot & T. Cleva of ‘Brilliantly Real’
-What made you guys come across the name Brilliantly Real?
T. Cleva: Actually, it started as Basement Records. I mean, literally, we had the fucking set up in the basement. After school, we’d have people coming over to record and it would drive my parents nuts. We’d be like 15 people deep in the basement just trying to make beats and rap, it was crazy. We wanted to keep the ‘BR’ thing going so it shifted to ‘Brilliantly Real’.
Y. Dot: Well, I was locked up for ten years. So I just got out.
-Alright, so with Brilliantly Real, would you guys say you try to give people realism in your music?
T. Cleva: Yeah definitely, we keep it very realistic. We’re not fabricating nothing, you know, it ain’t no mad up shit that we’re doing. It’s authentic! We talk about heart breaking struggles to, well all sorts of shit. It’s all real life that we’re putting in our music.
Y. Dot: Yeah, you know, I’m super introspective. That’s just who I am so that’s what I talk about. I talk about my life and the things that I’ve been through. I don’t like to talk about being locked up, I talk about the struggle that led up to being locked up. It’s hard to do club shit, the shit that mother fuckers are trying to hear, cause I write about my life, you, I write about what I feel and what I see.
T. Cleva: At some points though, I would like to say we’re jumping out of our comfort zones and experimenting with different styles. We want to make music that has a little more up beat to it as well.
T. Cleva of ‘Brilliantly Real’
-So what was the first rap song you heard that inspired you to rap?
Y. Dot: There’s always been one song, no matter, that I can think back and remember, New York State Of Mind from Illmatic. Nas has always been one of my favorite rappers, like before I went away I had every single Nas album. If I had to pick one, that would be my one, when I heard that I was like, “this shit is dope.”
T. Cleva: I remember being a little shorty listening to LL Cool J and shit like that. Big Daddy Kane, and that drifted into the Dre’s, you know, NWA’s, Snoop was always a big one for me. You know, I grew up in the mid west though too so it was like Twista and Bone Thugz, that’s the shit that really clicked with me. My first album, which back then it was a tape, you know, was Bone Thugz ‘n Harmony ‘East 1999’. I bought that shit with my own money so I vividly remember that. That’s a big memory for me when I was really starting to find myself.
-Let’s talk new artists, who do you have respect for that’s making a come up in the game right now?
T. Cleva: Like new-er artists, I fuck with Kevin Gates. I fuck with him because, you know, he’s in that street shit but you can tell what he’s doing is authentic. I love people that do authentic music. A lot of the new shit comes off as a facade, like you’re portraying a character, you know, that’s not who you are. Obviously the Kendrick’s, the Cole’s, I fuck with the ones who got more of a story to tell.
Y. Dot: I was locked up man, out in Yuma there was no radio stations. I was right off the border of Mexico. All we got was cd’s that people were getting sent in to them. If I had to pick a new artist that I really appreciate though, it would be G Eazy. I listened to a lot of his stuff when I was in there.
T. Cleva: If I can add another up and coming rapper right now that I really fuck with, I’ma have to say Rittz. That mother fucker can spit. I respect that he didn’t sacrifice what he does. He did him the whole time and he’s not going to give that up for nobody.
-How long has the concept for your lightbulb logo been around?
T. Cleva: Ummm, for a minute man. 7-8 years at least. I just officially made a logo about 2 years ago. I’m super proud of it, it’s simplistic but it speaks volume.
-Are there any other proud projects you guys want to touch on?
T. Cleva: I’d say the biggest thing is the mixtape, titled Phase 2, it’s got the whole Lightbulb Gang on there. We just trying to keep everybody moving. It’s myself, Y. Dot, Chase Dollaz, Young Denim, Poppa T, D-Money, and King Twon, and we gonna ride with each other until the wheels fall off.
-What do you guys think about the Hip Hop scene in Phoenix right now?
T. Cleva: It’s growing, you know, I’ve been active in the scene around here for the past couple years. Shout out to Feezie and 3B Real cause they were the ones that pulled me in and started plugging me in with shows and promoters. We fuck with Dyligent, shout out to him man. Who else we fuck with out here?
Y. Dot: Breezy, Breezy The Kid, that boy doing his thing. I’m trying to get a track with William Speakz.
T. Cleva: Shout out to Regenerate, giving people the opportunity to network. You know, I think that’s super big and powerful. People like that are gonna help make this shit grow. They are giving artist a beautiful platform to come on and do their thing. Shout out to Respect The Underground too. They’re definitely doing a lot for the Phoenix Hip Hop scene, like doing the Hip Hop fest every year is super cool. We need more people to come together, you know what I mean?
-Have you guys had any memorable performances this year?
T.Cleva: Club Red was lit. We did The Monarch Theater, that was nice too. Other than that, you know, just our little usual spot. We like linking up with the guys from Regenerate and doing shows at Spinelli’s. That’s always home base for us, one of the first few spots we had the opportunity to perform. Whenever they need us, you know, we’re there. Always. We are always gonna come out and show love to regenerate.
-I know since you been locked up Y. Dot, you probably haven’t had a lot of chances to perform in front of people. Have these shows helped you to open up and feel more comfortable performing live?
Y. Dot: It helped me get back to it, for sure. I missed it, I got dumb stacks of notebooks chillin in my closet. Prison creates a lot of personal and social anxiety, you know, so finally getting back out there was dope.
T. Cleva: I used to get super high and drunk but nothing comes close to the feeling that you get performing in front of people. I love doing that at shows and the more the crowd turns up, oh, I’ma die on stage. I haven’t found anything else that gives me that rush.
Y. Dot: I love that shit man, it’s the best feeling in the world having a bunch of people in front of me and just going off.
Y. Dot of ‘Brilliantly Real’
-What do you guys think about the current state of the game? Don’t let it be so black and white even though we all know it’s a very controversial question. I don’t think anyone likes to say the game is ruined or there’s something wrong with it when you are an artist but I don’t want you to just play it safe and say it’s great either. Most people are scared to answer that question honestly so just try to be as straight forward as you can.
T. Cleva: It’s funny, Y. Dot and I were talking about that and we ask each other is we should give the politically correct answer or just be honest. You know, there are parts of it I love, people like Gates that aren’t sacrificing anything. Even local artists who aren’t sacrificing who they are. On the flip side, there are culture vultures that are just doing it cause they’re like ,”Oh, it’s a way to make money. I feel like a lot of the shit isn’t even about talent anymore, you know, it ain’t about just skill or what you put out. Anybody can get a banging beat and say some garbage ass shit over it and it will blow up it seems like. If you got the right connections and the right money to put behind it, it’s cookie cutter shit like, “This is what you gotta do to make a hit.” Maybe that’s just the old school in me, I grew up on 80’s & 90’s Hip Hop when people had character and stood out. I’m not going to say that anybody’s right or wrong but I’m not a huge fan of a lot of the fuckery that goes on. It’s weak but it is what it is.
Y. Dot: I see it and I respect it, but I don’t know, it’s sad because there’s a lot of dudes out there that are still trying to eat man. No one is vibing with them because they’re paying attention to this dude with purple hair who’s got a dope beat with three words in it. It hurts a little bit because, like I said, there’s a lot of kids now that listen to this shit and forget the greatness of Tupac. A lot of these kids that are making this shit were born the year he was gone.
-Alright guys, let’s wrap it up. Are there any last minute things you guys would like to touch on for Brilliantly Real?
Y. Dot: I got a tape coming out soon titled ‘VisionsThrough Slanted Eyes’. We still haven’t set a date for it but we’ll say sometime around October. It’s bout to be dumb stupid, slap mother fuckers upside the head with it.
T. Cleva: I’m going to drop one more mixtape but I’m probably going to step away from mixtapes after that for a little bit and really focus on putting together EP’s and albums with original material. We have some videos coming up in the future, that’s really our next big move. Other than that, working on projects with other artists because I also produce and engineer. I’m going to be putting together a project with Chase Dollaz. I want to make sure all the artists from Brilliantly Real are getting established and are putting out projects by early next year and keep building on that name for BR.
Y. Dot: We got a new single featuring Mighty titled ‘Work’ that we will be debuting for Regenerate at the next Spinelli’s show. That’s that. Lightbulb Gang!
