Q & A With Luckyiam From The Living Legends

When I asked the Living Legends if they'd be available for an interview they replied, "Who do you want to interview?" Now this question struck me by surprise. I'm usually the one asking tough questions. Who should I interview? I mean 9 members and they're all very talented. So I listened to some songs searching for an answer. I started with "Never Fallin", being it's my favorite song of theirs. I've had one of Lucky's quotes from that song on my myspace page for days. I guess their question wasn't as tough as I initially thought and my decision was made.




















What's your take on todays mainstream rap world?
Ummm, it is what it is. Some good (Kanye, Jay, Outkast, T.I., NaS) then there's a lot crap. It's not that different than the indie scene, the rappers just get shot more.

Being in a group with 9 members, how often do ego's clash and how does it affect your performances/tour experiences and even cd's?
We don't have ego's so we never clash. (Hahaaa!!) It makes performances fun & unpredictable and sometimes unbearable. Tour stories turn into seedy novels or fight club and the quality of everyone's individual cd's is effected by a healthy sense of competition.

Would you rather succeed independently or within the group? Do you think other members would feel the same way?
I was the last one in Legends to pursue my solo career. Personally I'd rather rap in a group and be a standout member on a team due to the merit of my style & skill. The concept of being a solo artist is very narcissistic in my opinion. To me, rappers and solo singers come off like they're on some "Me, me, me, me" look & listen to me shit!"

I think I stand alone on this point, everyone else in my crew has proved where they are at with this topic, meaning everyone has solo careers. It's every man for himself around here, that's the way that we work. I aint mad though, get yours. I guess it would suck though if I wasn't a decent solo artist.

It seems that all rappers like collecting shoes and cars. Do you have any interesting collections that aren't so obvious?
I collect babies. I have one on every continent and every race combination. They are custom made/limited edition.

My favorite verse of all time, hands down, is the verse you do on the song "never fallin". Can you explain that verse and what it means to you?
WHOA! Exaggeration! Are you serious? Thank you. That verse was about me and how I'm a scum bag womanizer/liar and it was written in Maui where we recorded that album "Classic". I had a secret love child and my girl @ the time didn't know shit. It was eating me up inside.. I left clues about the situation in various songs. So on "Never Falling" I further told on myself in a emo-ish metaphorical way "learning forces me to search, exsume all my skeletons a room full of demons with a angel as a prisoner, she's tortured for the visitors, listeners read between the lines and stay inquisitive to dissect these sentences". Which was basically saying I was too chicken shit to come clean but I spill my guts constantly in songs. She came to visit me on the island and she's chillen in a house where we are listening to mixes of songs with all these hidden messages in them. Inner demons on the loose flying in and out of ears. Nuff said, if you listen to my raps and look a little deeper you can catch all my fuck up's and triumphs. The poor angel I was going out with was just a prisoner of my madness.

Due to scheduling conflicts, how often if ever are you guys all in the same room working on a song? Has anyone written a verse or a line that got vetoed by the rest of the group?
hahaaaa..I like your questions they are very un-lame. Well, earlier this year we all got together in the studio and wrote songs for the Gathering..but other than that we are only ever in the same place at the same time if we are playing a gig.

And a couple of guys have gotten they're verses vetoed or removed from a song completely .

(I never have) But during the "Gathering" sessions The Grouch got mad @ me for making a cocaine reference on a song called "Where u @?"and a huge argument broke out while I was laying my verse..it was mayhem. It's all love though, we are family and families feud sometimes.

You guys ever consider adding or subtracting members? Besides all the rumors, I am available!
hahaaaaa... There was a time when I wanted Pep Love or Fatlip in the crew. As for subtracting..I think Legends is blood in/blood out. You gotta get jumped out.

For the 95% of people who will never get a chance to perform on stage, can you describe what it's like? What kind of emotions do you go through?
it's magical..I've had a handful or more of life altering moments in the live arena. Connecting with the supporters or earning new fans is euphoric. Bringing people to tears performing "Memory Loss" for example, it makes me remember what's important in life and my pursuit of art.

What are some of the pros and cons of being in such a big group?
this question is a variation of a previous one. I take back my un-lame comment!

Pros: variety of styles

Cons: touring is F'n expensive for 8 plus doots.
Pros: we have strength in numbers
Cons: we are only as strong as our weakest link
Pros: we can kill a live show and fill the entire stage up
Cons: all the single guys want the same ol pussy.

What's your favorite random place to eat at when your on tour?
Cracker muthafuckin Barrel bitch! Excuse me, I meant Cracker Barrel. I Love that place. I love the old style gift shop, the rocking chairs out front, the green beans and mash potatoes, the little puzzles they have for you at the tables while you wait for the food, the sweet tea and the overt racism.. God Bless America dammit.

In most interviews someone will ask about any crazy tour stories. What about any crazy stories outside of touring?
I was in Vegas a few weeks ago for my homies Bday. We had a dope ass suite on the 51st floor of the Wynn. The NBA was in town, it was the last pre-Olympic basketball game, they whooped Canada's ass & there was a big boxing match going on as well..

So due to these events there were soooo many fine women in town for the weekend. You could walk around the casinos dragging your jaw in amazement. Anywho..I ran buck fucking wild Thursday - Saturday then I burnt out. This caused me to punk out and stay in Saturday night and watch adultswim or jackoff to hotel porn. (*Order the porn you want to see..finish yourself off..then call the front desk and say the movie isn't working right & they clear your room of the charge*Ssssshhh)

After I was fast asleep my homie comes back up to the suite drunk as hell @ like 4am and he's like come on lets go out doot. So I did. Nuthing major, We went downstairs to B-bar @ the Wynn..5 minutes later my boy met a Cuban Cougar..raaaaawr. She had a thick ass Cuban accent, nice boob job..She was pretty cool for a 45 year old "possible" hooker @ 4am. She reminded me of Charro. It turned out she wasn't a hooker so they kept talking. He wanted to get her upstairs to our suite but she said she was waiting for her friend and then she proceeded to do the usual "girl thing" co-signing for her friend, building her up..telling us that her friend was beautiful & blah..blah..freakin blah...We didn't belive her and it was 5am so it wasn't really gonna matter anyways. Time passed, I fucking cracked and drunk-looked at my ex's myspace page like a dumbass so I felt like a piece of heartbroken drunken shit..

Time passed & the Cougar's friend finally made it to the bar, it was pushin 6am But she was HOT as fuck! OmFgN! Ok, besides the fact that it was 6am & she was a stripper (weird) & she had a 8 month old baby @ home. She looked like she never went through the pregnancy part of new motherhood. We took them upstairs and wasted a good hour of our lives talking to them about every fucking thing on earth, battling bad translations and exhaustion,drunkeness and other elements. Finally someone in the room got smart & decided to get it cracking, so next thing ya know titty's started coming out all over the room and the mood changed quickly. To make this long-winded story a little bit shorter. I woke up soaked in breast milk with the sweet taste of the nectar of life in my mouth, I can't say anymore, I've said way too much, fuckin crazy doot.

There you have it. Another interview in the books! Somehow I've managed to pull off interviewing some of the coolest and most talented rappers out there so far. I am definitely lucky! Make sure to check out Luckyiam and the Living Legends on their myspace pages.