These two brothers from LA have been on the indie hip hop scene for a while with a loyal West Coast following, and now us East Coasters are also diggin' it with their current album, The Rapstars E.P., and anticipating their new album release coming in 2008. They kinda remind of us of 311 and a little bit of the Beastie Boys and their carefree, witty lyrics set them apart from those emcees trying to be all serious. They have their own style for sure and its guaranteed that true hip hop heads and hot chicks will be making it to their shows...oh yeah, and Perez Hilton.
L and F: Lexicon basically means vocabulary or even dictionary. How'd you come up with this name?
Oak: Ever since we started making music (mid-late 90's) we've always been outcasts. First we were the only white guys in our area rapping and freestyling with the best of em, and even when underground hiphop eventually became saturated with white rappers, we still were thought of as weird and different. We'd be talking about girls and drinking when all the other white MC's were talking about more abstract stuff with real dense lyrics and topics. Just not our style at all. And since we fused rock and hiphop, we don't fit into either genre at all. So to make a long story long, our name represents our originality. Each field of work, politics, sports, etc, has it's own lexicon (like you said, vocab or words that are specific to that field). Because we're so different and always have been, we're our own lexicon. And since our job is to work with words, it makes even more sense.
Nick: plus it sounds like the future.
L and F: You guys have fused hip hop and rock really well and we think fans of both genres can appreciate. Who are your musical influences?
Nick: We grew up on groups like A Tribe Called Quest, De La, and Diamond D and all of the other amazing hip hop that was coming out in the early and mid nineties. So that whole era is a huge influence to us, but at same time, our ex-hippy parents were bumping The Police and Talking Heads and the Rolling Stones and stuff like that so by the time we were at a mature enough age to like more than one style of music, there was a jumbled mess of everything in my collection.
Oak: I think our hiphop schooling made it possible to fuse rap and rock in a dope way. Nobody who has ever really tried it before was a hiphop head first and foremost...instead they were rockers trying to rap. It doesn't work. I think and hope that we bring an integrity to our music that you can only find in real, true, from the heart hiphop, regardless of how "rock" it sounds.
L and F: Your raps talk about getting with girls a lot. Do you think this helps or hurts getting ass after a show?
Oak: All of it...girls either a) think its charming, b) think we're chauvinist pigs, or c) think we're too much drama. But it all doesn't matter anyway cause we both seem to always have girlfriends.
Nick: Yeah, i kind of see it as a bat signal to my future wife. It's really the only reason i'm doing it. haha.
L and F: Perez Hilton, the Queen of All Media, gave you props on his site. There's no one better to be on your side right now. Did you see a boost in your fanbase?
Nick: The girls emailing us on myspace became a whole lot more attractive. But yeah it was pretty crazy. The day Perez featured us we got so many hits on myspace that then they featured us.
L and F: You sample the Geto Boys in Big Money which is real hot, do you guys live like big money rock stars? Like, do you still have jobs and drive your mom's Plymouth Voyager or are you balla' status already?
Oak: Glad you're feelin it! Although totally exaggerated, the song is kinda true about the way we live. We're lucky enough to be making money from what we love to do and don't have day jobs, but things get scary about oh, every other day. Can we claim "super-minor balla' status?" "Ballin a few times a month?"
Nick: I just make sure I look good and go to places that have open bars so I can look like a big tipper.
L and F: What can we expect from Lexicon coming up? Any shameless plugs (not butt
related)?
Nick: Album is done! Final touches are being put on it now but it probably won't be out until the first half of 2008 at some point. Vague enough? We also have some crazy big stuff in the works but seriously, as douchy as it sounds, we are contractually bound to not speak of it. I swear.
Oak: it really truly will be worth the wait...we hate that its taken so long to get this album out there. We're gonna be putting up some previews on our myspace soon...keep checkin back!
The question we always ask...
L and F: When you guys get super big, will you become media whores, driving around
all drunk and showing you privates like some celebrities we know?
Oak: We're supposed to wait until we're super big to do that stuff?? All I do is drive around (in my beat up civic) buck naked, drunk, with so many guns stuffed under my seat that i can't even move the chair forward or backwards. Wait, what?
Nick: Hahaha. But yes. Yes. Without a doubt. I already have a reservation in rehab.
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