I remember when I first gave Brooklynati a listen through, I was instantly hooked on "Just Not True", one of the more "rappity-rap" tracks on Tanya Morgan's opus. It was Von Pea's verse that really stuck out, and I remember tweeting a few lines and attributing them to Pea, and him hitting me back, saying how a lot of people didn't pick up on whatever line I posted. I don't know if my subconcious stuck to that, or it was just deeper listening, but I realize now that I started checking for Pea more after that encounter, especially some of the shit I had loved but hadn't listened to in a while. Dude comes with a mixture of ill rhymes, be it something introspective, or humorous. Deep or conversational, Von Pea isn't one to sleep on with a pen or on the beats. His album, Pea's Gotta Have It, is set to drop tomorrow, and I wanted to speak with the Brooklynite about the album in a few different contexts, and also just get more of an idea about this nigga who can drop a Julie Newmar reference in a rhyme... but you probably missed that one!khal: You’ve been known primarily as 1/3 of Tanya Morgan. How does it feel to be creating and promoting your first solo album?
Von Pea: The creating wasn’t new because we have been doing solo music the whole time, but putting it out there in a bigger way is new for sure. We were in our own world so hard that we didn’t realize the solo thing was something new to people haha…
khal: When did you first start working on Pea’s Gotta Have It, and when did you realize it was done?
Von Pea: The middle of 2007, and I knew it was done when I got tired of changing it every month lol… a bulk of it was established in 2007, and the rest of the time was perfecting it. I wouldn’t change anything about the album at all at this point. The one nitpick I have about it is there isn’t a rappity rap song on the album really. There’s a lot of conversational lyrics on the album, either I’m talking to the listener in general or telling a story.
khal: You structured Pea’s Gotta Have It as essentially a day in the life of what one might picture you in high school to be. What was it about approaching the album and sequencing in that manner that interested you?
Von Pea: I came across my journal from high school and between looking at that, my yearbook, and Facebooking old high school classmates and shit, a lot of memories came up and I remembered what it was like to be me back then. I thought it would be something that I would care about long enough to finish! If I would’ve just made a collection of solo songs I probably would’ve gotten bored with it like I have in the past. I have this album that I STILL haven’t finished that’s been sitting around since Tanya Morgan started! I think ill start that one over, keep certain things, and put it out early 2012 or something.
khal: One thing I was surprised about was that, while you’ve got a number of BANGERS under your belt as a producer, you didn’t do a lot of the beats on your own album. Was that by design?
Von Pea: First of all thank you! Second, this album wasn’t about me as a MC/producer because I was working on production for Brooklynati the whole time and I’m not that prolific a producer to give both albums my full attention, beats-wise. I produced both albums in the traditional sense, but as far as making the beats I did half of Brooklynati and only 3 beats on my own album. I’m working on changing that in the future though, I plan to produce (as in, doing all the beats too) my next album in its entirety, as well as Donwill’s next album and an upcoming Elucid album. All 3 of those are started and a few songs in. Actually, I want to do my next album all alone, no one on it at all! It’s my next challenge.
khal: You started the tape out with an homage to Biggie’s classic freestyle for Mister Cee. Where did the inspiration for that come about?
Von Pea: Haha you already know the answer to this one! I’m Brooklyn born and raised. I remember being in 8th grade and someone saying “that nigga Biggie is so crazy he has a fucking greatest hits album already” and as soon as I could get downtown Brooklyn again I went and found this “album”. Turns out it was a mixtape and of course it became apart of my life for the next few weeks/months. I got the idea from the 10th year anniversary of Big’s death. Listening to the mixtape that day, and saying I want to pay homage. I won’t front, people talk shit about the Notorious movie, but I lived it out as a fan. I was scared to cut school the day they bought his body through Fulton St. that last time. I mention the movie to say this: I was mad choked up during that scene in the movie. This poor kid from BK went on to influence everybody and he came back through the Brook one last time… that’s deep for me. The freestyle is just me paying respects and saying thanks.
khal: There’s one aspect that I love about the collaborations here – they sound like real collabs, and not just “this nigga spit a 16 on my track”; what I mean is, you’ve got “Dreams”, where Ilyas, Jerm and Spec bounce off these insane daydreams based on whatever they are doing while sleeping, or the hilarious tale that yourself and Danny Swain crafted on “Open School”. How did these work – did you give these cats an idea and had them expound on it, or was it more like everyone coming up with the idea together?Von Pea: Random collabs are eh alright… but you can tell SO much when it’s more than that. I wrote “Dreams” in Chicago in the tour van a few years ago and when I rapped it to Donwill he thought I’d lost my mind. It’s a Brick Beats production, so I heard Jermiside on it first since they’re in a group, and I explained my verse. He sent back a verse about him dreaming too, and then I waited for a while for Ilyas because he’d said he wanted to think about where he was going with it longer. It was done for a few months until I realized Spec wasn’t on the album yet, and all this teen dreaming… SOMEbody is dreaming about sex. So Spec did that part. Me and Danny! are just scary. I knew he’d gotten in trouble for really… I mean allegedly changing students grades in college. I didn’t want to ask him to rap about that not knowing if it was a sensitive subject or not but he read my mind! With him, Che Grand, and Donwill, I can send them anything and give the most vague idea and we’re just on the same page out of nowhere. Danny! and myself are supposed to do an album, but right now its in limbo until we get it together. It’s going to happen though, you all have my word. I guarantee that.
khal: I like to say that I’ve always noticed your talents with the pen, and it looks like this LP really allows you to express yourself and showcase your varying talents. Did you go into this project trying to really go in lyrically, or was it more of just an extension of what you’ve been doing with TM and other past projects?
Von Pea: You know what, I stepped away from the album today for the first time. I feel like, as only a listener and not the artist on the album, it sounds very conversational. Some people may hear it and feel it’s still a very raptastic album (haha), but to me it sounds like I’m just hanging out with the teenage me. Even songs where I don’t rap as a teen make sense because when I WAS a teen I’d write like an adult, or write like I was “on” already so it all makes sense. The songs that are just raps are supposed to be the songs I wrote in class, and everything else is me as the teen. The very last song is from the teen’s uncle’s perspective. I needed an excuse to speak as an adult based on experience so I did it on the last song.
khal: Which track on PGHI came about the easiest, and on the flip, which one was the most difficult to complete, and why?
Von Pea: I wrote “Boombox” like signing my name. I fell in love with the beat and everything just came out. Again, I didn’t even realize how laid back the lyrics were until I stepped away from it and just listened like it was someone else’s song. It’s almost like my CL Smooth impression or some shit haha… but yeah, that one was easy to write. Also, “The Yorker” was really easy to write, too. “Pep Rally” was the hardest. I knew I wanted a certain attitude to it, but couldn’t find the right words. It all came to me when I thought about Staten Island never getting the first shout out hahaha… unless you’re in the Wu Tang Clan. Like I said in the song, they always get love late when people are shouting out the boroughs, so I wanted to shout them first. It was really that simple to get the 1st verse going. The 2nd took forever, too, but I realized something else while on a plane… I’ve never seen a milk crate carrying milk. That got the 2nd verse moving. Those 2 random ass realizations got that song written. That’s some Seinfeld shit.
khal: Do you have any certified favorites on your album?
Von Pea: “Outro!!!!” is my favorite because it affects me a certain way every time I hear it. I also love “Dreams” and consider my verse on that song the best verse I’ve ever written. If I could write more songs like that or “The Yorker”, I’d be very happy.
khal: You’ve dropped PGHI, The Sandwich Shop, So Motivational!: The Most Skullduggery of Mixtapes and other projects in 2010. 2009 was a great look for TM with the critical love Brooklynati received. What does 2011 hold for Von Pea as a solo artist, as well as TM and the Lessondary crew?
Von Pea: I feel like I did too much this year, but with attention spans being shorter mayb
e I didn’t? I took So Motivational off of my Bandcamp because I felt like having that, Sandwich Shop AND trying to promote the real album I worked so hard on was too much. I’ll put it back up later but for now it’s PGHI. With that said though… I’m working on having the Elucid album I’m producing finished and out before the winter is over, and the next Tanya Morgan album will be done before Spring is over. After that I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a Lessondary album by next fall, but getting us focused on that is like getting Nas and Primo to do a new song. It’s not impossible, just hard as hell (lol)! Now, once those 3 are done I do plan on dropping another solo, finishing Don’s next solo and getting the Danny! and Pea album going. Realistically, the first 3 can and will be out next year.khal: I’m no 59Fifty expert at all, but when I copped Donwill’s album, I grabbed the deluxe package for that red Brooklynati fitted, and have been hunting for shit ever since. With what I consider to be a fitted-enthusiast’s anthem in “The Yorker”, do you have any favorite fitted caps in your collection? If fitteds aren’t your thing, what do you really nerd out over – shoes? Movies?
Von Pea: My only prized caps are the Brooklynati fitteds. I hate wearing them because I look at them like my 2 plaques for that album and if I lose one that’s it! I’m sure they’re all gone at this point. I’m a sneaker head for sure. I don’t spazz out like others, they don’t have to be spotless or anything. I grew out of toys as a kid but I still look at sneakers the way a kid looks at toys. I literally have to avoid going in sneaker stores. It’s really hard to walk out of a sneaker store without some new kicks. I love new sneaker smell and I’m not ashamed to say that because I know other sneaker heads feel me! haha
khal: The boy Spec moved out to Amsterdam earlier this year, and I know you’ve been touring outside of the US over the summer and not too long ago, right? If you could move to any spot in the world for 6 months, a year – where would you go?
Von Pea: Barcelona is beautiful. When we were there, people of all ages were out partying in the streets and drinking publicly at 3AM, but the language barrier was hard on us. I now love London, but I have a hard time knowing that I’m really spending almost double US currency everywhere I go… lol. Give them 100 us dollars and get back like 60 pounds. In all seriousness though, we always have a lot of fun in Toronto. People have their Canada jokes but little does the US know, there are even more jokes about America! I’d take my ass to Toronto for a few months. It’s like… New York, with kindness.
khal: What is Von Pea’s place within the game? What do you want your legacy to be?
Von Pea: I don’t know what my place is. As a member of Tanya Morgan we walk such a weird line where we can go overseas, we can perform anywhere in the states, and our colleagues and legends respect us, but at the same time there’s a lot of indifference towards us. That’s dangerous because there’s 0 passion in indifference. People bank on being hated now because people talk about what they hate. I personally don’t hate dude, but Soulja Boy has basically replaced Vanilla Ice as the rapper to refer to when calling someone wack. That keeps him as popular as his fans do! I don’t want to do no fuck shit to get the indifferent people talking though. I was telling Donny Goines the other day that I’m out of the business of trying to prove myself. There’s a lot of music you can download that proves what I can do. Some kid sitting in the crowd waiting for the headliner might not give a damn about me, but the headliner loves TM. From this point on it’s about respecting the fans we already have and not worrying about if there’s enough of them.
khal: Any shouts or final thoughts before we wrap this up?
Von Pea: Final thought is this: speaking of the fans, know that we appreciate y’all and need y’all more than you know. Yeah we need the money you spend to get to the shows and buy CDs, etc., but the love truly does keep us going. And that’s not some PC fake humble shit to say, that’s real. Thank you for that, and to show my appreciation, I’m gonna continue to work on not being wack. Haha…
Pea's Gotta Have It will drop on October 12th; make sure you cop that, and if you're in the NYC area, head over to SOB's on the 12th for the PGHI album release party, which features cats like J-Live, Homeboy Sandman, P.SO, Meka from 2DBz and more. For all things Von Pea, head over to his website, vonpea.com.
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