California’s own Skribbal chops it up with ROX-TV in a brand new interview. We talk about the new album “Black Eyed Children”, his background, and much more.

Thanks for taking the time out of your day to speak with the readers at the ROX-TV website. We like to give artists a platform to showcase their music. It sounds like this is a busy time in your career. You just dropped a new video for “Find My Way” which is getting great movement on YouTube. It’s just broke 16,000 views with no signs of slowing down and you also have a new album, the anticipated “Black Eyed Children”. Before we get into those items though, let’s go back a little further and help the readers get a better sense of who you are, your music, and much more…..

Skribbal I always like to give the artists a chance to rep their hometown and area, so can you tell the readers where you at tonight?

I’m in beautiful Los Angeles County

I believe I read that you were originally from Oregon, before moving to California. Can you talk about how you made your way to Cali and a little background on that? I understand you were in foster care, could you talk about that if it isn’t too personal?

Sure. It’s not a problem at all homie, I don’t mind. I was placed into foster care at the age of nine years old. I won’t get too deep into it but let’s just say my parents had some substance abuse issues. So much so that we moved on a constant basis. I’m talking every few months or so. We literally lived in a fucking barn and had to get creek water with a bucket and boil it for clean water. At one point my sisters were living in an old yellow school bus and I was living in a tiny little camper with half a door on the same property. So yeah, this was definitely gonna result in foster care sooner or later. So we were all placed into the system. After two years I moved here to LA to live with my grandparents. As far as foster care goes, I could have had it a lot worse. My foster parents were Pentecostal. Very strict. I didn’t know a thing about religion.

The first week I was there I carved a giant pentagram into a very old piece of furniture in the house. I had no clue what it represented. I had just seen it as tattoos on all the biker type dudes who were always at our pad when I lived with my parents. I just thought it looked cool. So when I carved this thing and was yelled out and learned what it symbolized I was scared shitless. No one ever told me about Satan or God or angels or demons. I just knew that kinda shit from leather biker jackets and tattoos. So my foster care experience consisted of a lot of instilling the fear of God and religion into my already fucked up kid brain. Overall though, they were good people. I know a lot of people who had to go through much crazier shit than me though. Thank God my grandparents came through.

You started rapping a young age, back in 2003. Can you talk about that some? How did you get the inspiration to pick up the pad and pen, and start rhyming?

Music has always been my thing. In second grade we were allowed to bring in our favorite book to read in class so I read the lyrics to Black Sabbath’s “Electric Funeral.” In 6th grade English class I turned in Megadeth’s “The Skull Beneath the Skin” as an original poem and got a fucking A. Haha! But as far as writing my own songs, I was trying to write lyrics at 8 years old. Just back then I was trying to write metal style lyrics. I got into hip hop the moment I got to Los Angeles. You couldn’t escape it. It was everywhere. I was trying to teach myself the guitar and bass but just wasn’t connecting to it. Hip hop attracted me because all you needed was your voice. And of course like most, around 12 and 13 years old is when I started working on music constantly and have never stopped.

Growing up in Michigan I was lucky enough to be exposed to some of the underground greats. From the Detroit underground Esham, to ICP, to early Kid Rock and a few others. Can you tell me about some of the music that helped shape you as an artist? Or at the very least, inspire you to try different things?

Yo I love that you just mentioned the early Kid Rock shit. Most people don’t know that at one point he was viewed as a legitimate underground rap star. Dude was selling thousands of records independently and selling out huge clubs in Detroit. Kid Rock definitely had an effect on me. I mean c’mon, he spoke to the trailer park kids. He was like speakin’ directly to us. Kid, Eminem, Limp Bizkit. Those were my gateways into hip hop. Without those names I wouldn’t be listening to shit I love now. It was a gateway into a bigger culture. Some other pivotal artists that inspired me were artists like Redcloud, Canibus, DZK, the first KJ52 album 7th Avenue, bands like Megadeth, POD and Body Count. Ice T is probably my all time favorite. Slayer. Shit, everything. All of my favorite shit has inspired me. You can hear it all if you really listen.

From my research, it would be safe to say that music was going to be in your life one way or another. Your father and grandfather both had relationships within the music community? Can you talk about that some, I find the story about your grandfather to be particularly interesting and kind of a bummer. He actually had a hit in the seventies but was double crossed by his other band mates.

Well my whole family is musical. It’s kind of crazy. Going back to my great grandfather Bud was an amazing blues and country guitar player. His son was also a blues player. My pops is a killer guitar player. Some of the heaviest yet grooviest riffs I’ve ever heard came out of that man’s guitar. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out for him. They had a chance at a Pantera tour back in the 90s, but some shit went down and so did them being on that tour. My uncle Abel is also an amazing drummer. He actually played the famous Pot of Gold concert with Korn, filling in for Ray Luzier who was having a baby at the time.

He’s one of the greatest drummers I’ve ever seen and can switch it up to any style. As for my grandfather, he was a song writer, guitarist, and bass player. He was jamming with the early version of Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds and actually had a part in writing their biggest hit “Baby Falling In Love.” They kicked him out of the group right before they went to England to sign a major deal in the early 1970’s. Well of course they used his shit and never paid a dime or gave him writing credits. He was bitter about that until the day he died. He told me once he felt it was because he was dark-skinned and the rest of the guys were white and very “safe” looking. It’s a fucking shame man.

Now that we’ve got some of the background down for the readers, lets shift gears and talk about what’s going on right now. Let’s talk about your new video for “Find My Way”. I understand this was your first video drop in two years. If you could, please walk the ROX-TV readers through the filming and experience.

Sure homie. It’s of course the lead single for the new album and the perfect kind of come back song. The video was shot and directed by my homie Emycst for Herban Roots TV. He’s an indie artist here in my city and when I heard him spit, I just knew I had to link with this kid. His cadence, his flow, his bars… everything was perfect. He was also doing all his own videos and shit, so I asked if he’d like to shoot one for me. That whole video was shot on his phone and with a drone. He just blew me away with his natural talent of directing and coming at me from certain angles that make the video unique. Emycst killed that.

The new album, “Black Eyed Children” is almost here. Without giving too much away, can you give the readers a feel for the new stuff? I hear you have some pretty dope people on the album including Marcos from P.O.D., Chris from Cannibal Corpse/SFU, Celph Titled, Mr. Dibbs, and also The ROC. I was a House of Krazees fan for many years, I enjoyed P.O.D. back in the day as well. Looking at that list of artists, it also is a very wide ranging and diverse sound. Can you talk about that some? You seem to have lots of different influences. I think that makes the artist even better. I think we can always find a new way to do things or at least be open to other ideas, as that creates evolution. What do you think?

Yeah man absolutely. If you were to ask all the greatest rappers and musicians what they listen to I guarantee it won’t be only one thing. It’s gonna be a lot of shit you would never guess. All genre’s. I listen to BB King to Cat Stevens to black metal band Immortal to alternative 90s shit like Everclear. As for the features, it just proves my point. When I approach a death metal legend like Chris Barnes about doing some hip hop shit, I wasn’t skeptical because I knew he was a hip hop fan. Because he listens to more than metal. Same with Marcos from P.O.D. These guys are extremely cool and down to earth and most importantly down with my shit. Ha! I remember seeing the music video for “Alive” when I was nine years old and thinking P.O.D. looked and sounded like the coolest band in the world. It’s just surreal to hear my voice over that same guitar that I heard back then. Redcloud was also an amazing get for me too. I listened to him religiously as a teenager so to work with him was just fucking rad!

I’m a Halloween Junkie. I love it and have always celebrated that fucking dope time of year. I understand you have a song called “Halloween Apples” that you did with Celph Titled and Damian Krypt? Can you talk about that track and how that song came into existence? Is that going to be on “Black Eyed Children”?

“Halloween Apples” is absolutely on the album. That all came about when my homie Damian Krypt asked me to hop on this new joint he had. Damian came up with the title, so I just wrote a hook around it and put down what I interpreted the title to mean. I think the song came out great. The beat you hear on this version is actually a remixed beat from the original. Actually its not even a remix, it’s a completely different thing. My homie Pragmatic put that together and when I heard it I knew I made the right choice. Any horror freak like me loves Halloween so it was an easy song to write.

If you had only one thing to tell the readers at ROX-TV website about your music, what is one thing they have to know?

I’d say listen to Black Eyed Children. It’s a perfect mix of my last album Skinwalker and a new more conscious style.

Where can the readers at ROX-TV find your music? Merch? 

Thanks to Sony Orchard, the new album is worldwide. Wherever you get your music, it’s there. Just follow my socials if you want merch.

The world is starting to open back up, at least some. The shows in the Detroit area have started again and I’m so thankful for that. I believe that music is essential to rebellion, evolution, love, and a meaningful life. Do you have any plans to hit the road in support of the new album?

I’d love to get out on the road to promote this new record. I could have waited another year to drop it, but it’s been a bit too long already. If covid gets us all locked down again obviously I won’t be able to support it like I really want. But hopefully we get the green light.

Any special news you want to break on ROX-TV or are the fans just going to have to wait a little bit longer?

We’re shooting a couple more music videos in the coming weeks and there is also an animated music video for the song “The Man That Fell from the Sky” coming soon from the new album. It’s a song I wrote all about the legend of DB Cooper. Coming from the Pacific Northwest as a child, we all knew about DB so I thought it’d be dope to write a song about it. The video is being done by the homie Trevor Vine, who did my last animated joint for “Blame It on Me” from the Skinwalker album.

I’m from the nineties and I believe in the shout outs. Who is Skribbal shouting out tonight?

Shout out to you homie. This was dope. Thanks for the interview.

Thanks you for your time tonight. That includes the interview. I can’t wait to hear the new album. I will be looking for you and can’t wait to see what you achieve this year and beyond. From the ROX-TV family, congrats on the new album. Until next time….

 

 

Signing Off,

Mike Shepard

ROX-TV Head Writer

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