BA5E.Hundred – Q&A Interview

For the music junkies who don’t know who you guys are let them know? Where are you from? As blood bros why did you guys decide to make music together? Who started making music first?

Our group name is Ba5e.Hundred which consist of my little brother Dj BA5E and myself L.Hundred. We both were born and raised in the coachella valley. In high school we both got into dj’ing and turntablism. Dj Ba5e got his turntables first, then later I got my own set. In time we got to this level where we were tired of the vinyl instrumentals we had and we always got annoyed when the beat would end, so we both bought inexpensive drum machines and made simple beats that we could loop and scratch to for hours at a time lol. Anyways eventually Dj Ba5e got an Akai mpc 1000 and got into sampling. Once he got the basics down he showed me this one beat that heavily inspired me start taking my rhyming more serious. I used to write rhymes in high school but I never took it serious, in fact I never told anyone. As kids we would always be on some creative shit, there was a connection that we had that no one else in the family could be a part of, and when it came to creating hiphop music it always felt natural to work together.

We notice you represent Palms Springs, CA. How is the Hip Hop movement over there? Were you guys influence by an artist out there or are you guys deciding to truly represent real Hip Hp for Palms Springs and become the influences?

Although the movement is fairly large, we don’t really keep up with the Hip-Hop movement in our city. We have really good friends that are heavily involved with it, and we show our support by attending their shows and collaborating with them on projects. As far as influences, we are influenced by many things growing up in our town. We hope that our creativity & originality can inspire artists in our city to be themselves and try to reach the highest level of themselves. To be honest we really don’t rep for our city lol we rep for our people (whoever is down with Ba5e.Hundred). L) I’ve always had this mentality of “why rep for my city, my city don’t give a fuck about me” at the end of our track in “break the chain” I explain why I don’t do it for my city…

Congrats on success of your LP, “Gone For Good”. Feel free to breakdown the creative process of the project. (features, production, etc). Also why did it take 4+ years to finalize this project?

B: The approach, four years ago, was just a Trap EP. That style is just popular by demand. We CAN do that but it’s not us. Plus, L kept telling me to add some BoomBap drums to the trap beats (which we later found out that !LLMIND created that style which is known as “BoomTrap” lol). After 3-4 years, a few other albums & EPs with other artists, the end of the tour as ‘The Discomfort’, with our best friend Quiet, and a handful of showcases/battles, we got back to work, better than we started. All our tools sharpened, ready to apply our knowledge to finishing the album.

L: Gone For Good took so long because we were a part of a Westcoast tour for a few years, I also put the album aside to work on another album with our good friend Quiet. We also had our 9to5’s which slowed down the process, so most times on our days off we just wanted to drink some beers and chill out. It also didn’t help that we had girlfriends who complained that we didn’t spend enough time with them who thought “AN HOUR AND A HALF IS ENOUGH TIME TO WORK ON MUSIC!” Lol, but I do believe everything that happened in those four years, whether it was positive or negative, made the album that much more better.

Are you planning on releasing any videos to complement “Gone For Good”. We are positive that fans would love a visual to at least a few tracks off of this project?

We have a few videos & video ideas in the works. We would like to do a video for each song if we can (lol). Our schedules are so off that it’s hard to shoot any scenes. For sure soon though, we will release a music video.

With this industry being so fast pace, being so busy promoting yourselves, what advice do you have to those who are barely releasing their first record.

JUST. BE. YOU. Regardless of the fast paced industry. Don’t make music because everybody is doing it. F*** the industry’s format. You have a blank canvas to make whatever drives you. And don’t think putting out a project is “hard work,” that’s still only 10% of the work. The other 90% is business. 80%-90% of artists put out projects and feel like sharing on their Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter is enough for promotion. So be absolutely serious if you want to jump into the Hip-Hop game. BUILD A BUDGET. We, for instance, had a budget of $2000 strictly for promotions, merch, and shows. Plus, people take you more serious when you do so.

How does social media playing a role in pushing your group name BA5E.Hundred? How are fans / supporters helping your movement?

Social media has been really helpful especially when it comes to promotion. Now you can share songs and tag people and promote for events while you’re at home or at the 9to5. As for the fans it makes it even easier for them, click on the link and your 5 seconds away from listening to our album on your smart phone. We do got some fans who repost our songs or flyers for us which means alot even if there’s only 1 die-hard fan doing it sometimes! In time more and more fans will be more supportive.

Our most popular question for both of you. What is your definition of “underground hip hop”?

B) Underground Hip-Hop, to me, is an array of independent artists/groups that aren’t afraid to be themselves. They make music for the fans who can actually relate to whether it’s about life or just plain having fun. Also, its artists that can showcase skills and creativity too.

L) my definition of underground hiphop is authentic art created by an artist who stays true to himself/herself. He or she creates art because it makes him or her feel a certain way which ultimately makes people feel a certain way when the art is shared. that also goes for all the elements in hophop. Doing it for the love!

Where can people find BA5E.Hundred on the Internet? Drop all the vital links.

B) I’m on Instagram and Twitter as
@djba5e.

You can find us and our music at BA5EHUNDRED.com and on IG @ba5e.hundred.

L) You can find me on IG @L.Hundred and on twitter @L_Hundred

Lastly, and shout out?

L) I’d like to give a shout out to our new fans, the ones who took the time to listen to the album, the ones who shared the album on their social networks, and all the artist who had the balls to show us love for our album. We greatly appreciate that.

Ba5e) Shout out to iStandard Producers, y’all taught both of us so much about music, our girlfriends (lol), Karmese Neazer, all our friends and family, and all the listeners with good AND bad feedback! Thank you for listening.

And thank you UNDERGROUND HIPHOP BLOG for taking the time to interview us, listen to our album, and put us on your site!