A Few Words with Rapper Pigeon John
PJ: For me, I was born in Nebraska; Omaha, Nebraska, and then later on, moved to LA, like in the 4th grade. Up until the 4th grade I listened to 80’s pop music pretty much and then I met my man B-Twice in Inglewood, and he used to buy all of these hip hop records. So, you know, I started listening to the older stuff; Beastie Boys, 3rd Bass and De La Soul, and fell in love it with it pretty much. I started doing music after that, but with the roots of the pop music mixed in with the hip hop, is kind of what created my style.
IK: How would you describe your style in your own words?
PJ: Hotter than a hot dog! My goal is what I would say my style is; To blend the music of The Beatles with De La Soul and combine them together; With my style on top. I love those two groups a lot and I love what they did.
IK: As far as the Beatles are concerned, what elements of their music?
PJ: The songwriting, the melodies, the chance takingâÂ?¦how the great songs of De La Soul and the great songs of The Beatles became other people’s songsâÂ?¦even bigger than themselves because of the topics and the melody.
IK: Did you try anything new with Pigeon John Sings The Blues?’
PJ: Yeah, for myself I tried something newâÂ?¦definitely was not on purpose because I wrote those songs at the time I was writing the last record, Pigeon John is Dating Your Sister. It just ended up being a collection of more somber songs, so after that record came out, originally, I was going to put a little EP out, Sings The Blues, accompanied with a book of poems, and put it out independently, but basement records heard it and wanted to put it out and it came a year later. So, I had added 3 remixes, 2 bonus songs, and 2 videos to the one EP to make the record that’s out right now, but in reality it’s still the EP.
IK: How has the tour been playing with Living Legends and Jedi Mind Tricks??
PJ: I love it dude! Its like magic when I see the Living Legends sell out the Fillmore, and to know them for such a long time selling tapes and whatnot, knowing Eligh & Murs right out of high school, its like, seeing them blow up, and seeing them still right now independent. They didn’t blow up because they moved to a bigger label so that now they have more money behind them. They’re still on Legendary Music. With Jedi Mind Tricks, it’s something totally new. It’s something that me personally, I didn’t think it was going to work, but it’s working. The people like it and that surprised me. They’re very, very cool guys, you know, one of the coolest groups off the stage. You know, for the level of success that they have, they don’t let it get to their head. Should be hard to do, I would guess.
IK: Where do you see hip hop headed? Do you see any trends?
PJ: I think the mainstream is going to continue to create its own island, pretty much where glam rock was in the 80’s, hip hop is right now. Very glamorized, very clean. It’s almost reenacting what P. Diddy did ten years ago with Biggie. What it’s doing is, it’s forcing something new to happen, which is how new music is created every generation, so I think its only going to get good. You know, when I look around, I’m amazed, because it’s mostly kids in high school into underground hip hop. When I was in high school there was nothing underground, Hip hop acts like De La Soul were on major labels, they were on BET, they were on MTV, hip hop was in its teenage years or whatever, so there was no separation, there were no sub-divisions. Nowadays there’re sub-divisions, which is cool because it brings more freedom where you can create different styles of hip hop. Plus it brings a lot more people.
IK: Where did the infamous Pigeon Dance come from?
PJ: Man, I don know where that freakin’ thing came from. I think I did so many shows, and one thing led to another, before you know it, it’s in my routine now, and I don’t know what to do. I really should stop that, because I’m getting people that say, “my favorite part of your whole show was when you do the Pigeon John dance,” and I’m thinking, Hey, didn’t you like that fresh verse I kicked? I was flippin’ it. “No, no, no, that doesn’t even matter, my favorite part is the Pigeon Dance.” I want to do something that hits them where they’ve never been hit. I try to hit them to where they try to remember, oh yeah, Pigeon JohnâÂ?¦
IK: What’s in future for Pigeon John?
PJ: Exciting thingsâÂ?¦One, I got signed to Quannum Projects, halfway done with that record. I’m going to hit the road with a Quannum Artist, so I’m going to have the new single come out in the fall. I just did a song that’s going to be on the next Blackalicious album, which is incredible; the biggest thing I’ve done. Chief XL floated me the beat, gave me a call out of the blueâÂ?¦I like when things happen like that, soâÂ?¦
IK: I hear my boy DNAE produced a couple tracks for you�
PJ: YeahâÂ?¦they’re most likely going to be on the Quannum record. At first, I never met the guy. You know, you get emailed, you never know who it is, might be a thirteen year old kid, you never know. But, he floated me some stuff and he told me what was going on and I really liked it. I did two songs so far with himâÂ?¦I’m trying to be everywhere at the same time, just trying to stay as busy as possible. So, for the next record, I’m making it like the grand old Pigeon John partyâÂ?¦party timeâÂ?¦hardcore party time. Pop it in, instant party satisfaction. That’s what I’m going forâÂ?¦
