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Stalking Keak da Sneak, part 1
Sep. 15th, 2006 11:08 amAt my birthday dinner, I told my friends I would be driving out to Sacramento Thursday to interview Keak da Sneak. Because it was my birthday, they gave me free range to talk about my crush. And Matt said, "I thought you were going to say Keak da Sneak is your crush and you're going to Sacramento for a rendevous."
Then I thought about it, and I do have a crush on Keak. He's my favorite hyphy artist, with a totally unique sound. He's called "the Tom Waits of hyphy" because he has this crazy rasp. And he says things like, "Yadadamean? Yadada I'm sayin' though?" And it's like, "I have no idea what the hell you just said."
This video is probably the best to understand both hyphy and Keak. I hung out at Ben's Burgers last weekend with the sideshow documentary makers, and that place is more or less rad:
Of course, Super Hyphie is all Keak, and awesome
Tuesday, Keak's manager called and said, "Can you come tomorrow? Around 1 p.m.?" OK, sure.
THE LONG JOURNEY
They called me the next morning and changed the time to 3:30, which was fine by me, as I was out watching Dem Hoodstarz at Mighty til 2 a.m. the night before. I crawled back in bed. I meant to leave at 1:30, but at 1:30, I had a panic attack when I couldn't find the black tape recorder, the one with the Mistah FAB interview STILL IN IT. I call FAB's manager and ask if he's seen it. Fortunately, I have a second silver tape recorder I don't like as much. (Yeah, everyone gives me shit for not being digial, I know.)
Also, I had had to park 15 minutes away because of stupid street sweeping. So I left around 2. I remembered that my car, which has been running brilliantly since they replaced the ignition coil, still has no AC. But it was nice and cool in the Bay Area, and I had hopes that I wouldn't end up sitting in a pool of my own sweat.
No such luck. I met the heat at Vacaville. By the time I got to Sacto, my face was flushed bright red, and I had sweat running down my back. I also had no idea that 80 would fork, so I took the wrong 80, and ended up lost downtown, instead of at Chili's by Arco Arena, which is where Keak wanted to meet. I almost got in a wreck, being distracted trying to figure out where the hell I was. I didn't notice the traffic in front of me has STOPPED. I slammed on the brakes, and my tires screeched and my car swerved in a very frightening manner.
My heart was racing as I pull off the freeway to figure out where I was. So I was going to meet a hip-hop star, I was late and I looked disgusting. And I almost died.
I called the manager in a panic, and he said they weren't there, and he gave me some directions. So I backtracked on the highway, got on 5 until I ran into the second 80. Finally, I arrived at Chili's at 3:40 and called Peter again (at this point, we're on a first-name basis).
Phew! I got us a table, got some water and went to the bathroom to pat my red face with wet towels. My hair, fortunately, had not frizzed out from the open windows. I was relishing their lateness. I ordered fried cheese. I went over my questions and reframed them. I made another call to hunt down my missing recorder. Then I tested my equipment. Silver tape recorder is playing back slow! Ruh-roh! I had forgotten my batteries.
I gave the waiter my credit card and said, "I'll be back!" Now, I'm in a strip mall. I hit every store that might have batteries. Every store was super specialized. You remember the SNL about the tape store? We had some sort of computer store (no batteries), a store that sells garage storage cabinets ONLY, a store that sells only cartridges, a Kinko's (no batteries), a Sprint store (no batteries). I almost offered a guy on the street $20 for batteries, but he didn't have any.
I called Peter. "We're here! We're at your table." - Panic - "But Keak's not here. He's one his way. You have time to go get batteries."
There's another strip mall across the street, but by across the street I mean across six lanes of high speed traffic. This mall has Wal-Mart, Staples, a Shell station and Radio Shack. I got in my car and had to wait two full minutes at the light. I missed the Shell station and thought, "Damn, I have to go to Wal-Mart," but I spied the Shack. I ran in, bought a pile of batteries. To get across the street this time I have to wait two full minutes at two different lights. Finally I arrive back at Chili's again. I am once again, sweaty and disgusting.
I walk in, and find two handsome young Latino men, dressed in office casual, sitting at my table. They've got it arranged so I'm sitting next to the MIA Keak. I put new batteries and the recorder is still playing slow. I switch it out of slow mode. It's 4:12.
Then I thought about it, and I do have a crush on Keak. He's my favorite hyphy artist, with a totally unique sound. He's called "the Tom Waits of hyphy" because he has this crazy rasp. And he says things like, "Yadadamean? Yadada I'm sayin' though?" And it's like, "I have no idea what the hell you just said."
This video is probably the best to understand both hyphy and Keak. I hung out at Ben's Burgers last weekend with the sideshow documentary makers, and that place is more or less rad:
Of course, Super Hyphie is all Keak, and awesome
Tuesday, Keak's manager called and said, "Can you come tomorrow? Around 1 p.m.?" OK, sure.
THE LONG JOURNEY
They called me the next morning and changed the time to 3:30, which was fine by me, as I was out watching Dem Hoodstarz at Mighty til 2 a.m. the night before. I crawled back in bed. I meant to leave at 1:30, but at 1:30, I had a panic attack when I couldn't find the black tape recorder, the one with the Mistah FAB interview STILL IN IT. I call FAB's manager and ask if he's seen it. Fortunately, I have a second silver tape recorder I don't like as much. (Yeah, everyone gives me shit for not being digial, I know.)
Also, I had had to park 15 minutes away because of stupid street sweeping. So I left around 2. I remembered that my car, which has been running brilliantly since they replaced the ignition coil, still has no AC. But it was nice and cool in the Bay Area, and I had hopes that I wouldn't end up sitting in a pool of my own sweat.
No such luck. I met the heat at Vacaville. By the time I got to Sacto, my face was flushed bright red, and I had sweat running down my back. I also had no idea that 80 would fork, so I took the wrong 80, and ended up lost downtown, instead of at Chili's by Arco Arena, which is where Keak wanted to meet. I almost got in a wreck, being distracted trying to figure out where the hell I was. I didn't notice the traffic in front of me has STOPPED. I slammed on the brakes, and my tires screeched and my car swerved in a very frightening manner.
My heart was racing as I pull off the freeway to figure out where I was. So I was going to meet a hip-hop star, I was late and I looked disgusting. And I almost died.
I called the manager in a panic, and he said they weren't there, and he gave me some directions. So I backtracked on the highway, got on 5 until I ran into the second 80. Finally, I arrived at Chili's at 3:40 and called Peter again (at this point, we're on a first-name basis).
Phew! I got us a table, got some water and went to the bathroom to pat my red face with wet towels. My hair, fortunately, had not frizzed out from the open windows. I was relishing their lateness. I ordered fried cheese. I went over my questions and reframed them. I made another call to hunt down my missing recorder. Then I tested my equipment. Silver tape recorder is playing back slow! Ruh-roh! I had forgotten my batteries.
I gave the waiter my credit card and said, "I'll be back!" Now, I'm in a strip mall. I hit every store that might have batteries. Every store was super specialized. You remember the SNL about the tape store? We had some sort of computer store (no batteries), a store that sells garage storage cabinets ONLY, a store that sells only cartridges, a Kinko's (no batteries), a Sprint store (no batteries). I almost offered a guy on the street $20 for batteries, but he didn't have any.
I called Peter. "We're here! We're at your table." - Panic - "But Keak's not here. He's one his way. You have time to go get batteries."
There's another strip mall across the street, but by across the street I mean across six lanes of high speed traffic. This mall has Wal-Mart, Staples, a Shell station and Radio Shack. I got in my car and had to wait two full minutes at the light. I missed the Shell station and thought, "Damn, I have to go to Wal-Mart," but I spied the Shack. I ran in, bought a pile of batteries. To get across the street this time I have to wait two full minutes at two different lights. Finally I arrive back at Chili's again. I am once again, sweaty and disgusting.
I walk in, and find two handsome young Latino men, dressed in office casual, sitting at my table. They've got it arranged so I'm sitting next to the MIA Keak. I put new batteries and the recorder is still playing slow. I switch it out of slow mode. It's 4:12.
