The Okayplayer Interview: SpaceGhostPurrp Reveals The Mysteries of Phonk

Interview by Eddie STATS & anto

Before the SpaceGhost conflict with A$ap's man--about the time Twelvy dissed the Raider Klan--SpaceGhostPurrp sat down with Okayplayer to expound on the mysteries of phonk. The highly rated producer/MC touched on everything from trillwave (he's all trill, no wave) to Trayvon Martin. Along the way, we finally get a breakdown of the knowledge (all science, no math) behind his single "Black God" and how he squares the hieroglyphics of "Osiris Of The East" with a rep built on tracks like "Suck A N**ga Dick 2012." Purrp also speaks on how he balances his time between rapping, making beats and a [prospective] career in porn. Read on to learn the answer to these and more pressing questions (and download his LP Mysterious Phonk in instrumental form here)

OKP: In some ways you have a very Miami sound but it also kind of cuts across L.A., New York, Memphis and a lot of other places. How does that fit together?

SGP: It’s just who I am, what I been into all my life, what I know about. If a n*** asks me about underground Memphis rap, I talk to him about it like this [snaps finger]. That’s all I know. That’s all I would listen to, if I wasn’t listening to local Miami rap, I was listening to Memphis rap, or Houston rap or underground New York rap and underground West Coast rap. My whole thing was underground. Cause I felt like people in the underground wasn’t getting credit like they should. I just put it all in one and made SpaceGhostPurrp.

OKP: What’s the science behind [your clique] Raider Klan? That’s something that people might identify with a West Coast-type of vibe, the Raiders hats and all those things. What’s the origin of that?

SGP: The way we come off, it’s phonk. We all about that, about that 90s sh*t. We been on that vintage West Coast sh*t hard. In my eyes, West Coast hip-hop back in the days was untouchable. Now it’s in another lane. I’m not from the West Coast but I got enough balls to say “You know what? If nobody else don’t f*** with that type of sh*t, I’m gonna f*** with it, because I love that rap and I’m gonna bring that sh*t back, I wanna keep it going. I don’t have to talk about gangsta sh*t or about killing and selling drugs – it can still be phonk without talking about that. So that’s all we’re trying to do.

OKP: I’m curious about who some of those early influences are because your stuff--it’s not necessarily Miami Bass but there’s definitely a Bass aesthetic to it. Is it mostly Miami cats or what did you come up on?

SGP: We came up on Trick Daddy. I’m talking about early Trick Daddy. He had the bald head. Thug.com; that type of sh*t. That’s Miami, that dark, gloomy-ass, storytelling-ass sh*t. That influenced me growing up, and Three 6 Mafia and all of them did, too. But my music basically shows how that raw Miami gutter sound really sounds. People will say it sounds like Memphis, it sounds like Houston but at the same time Miami represents that same sound. Our underground has that same type of sound. We will listen to DJ Screw and old underground New Orleans music cause we was on that same sh*t. We all from the south. Me never had the chance to expose that to the industry. We had Uncle Luke with the whole Bass movement but you know, I show people what our sound really sounds like – our dark sh*t.

OKP: So you’re the dark side of Miami.

SGP: Exactly.

OKP: A lot of people have described your sound as “trillwave.” Again talking about what goes on in New York and other cities too – do you feel like that’s a real movement that you’re part of? Or is that just something that people put on it?

SGP: Yeah, it’s like a label. I think they’re doing that cause I came to New York and people in New York support my music and I love that. But the whole “trill” thing, that’s not a movement to me, that’s a way of life. Just like Raider Klan is a way of life. It’s a lifestyle to be who we are. Being trill in the south, that’s everyday. We don’t even got to say the word “trill” to be known as that. It’s all about what you do, less about saying it.

OKP: Speaking of that, especially because of your tracks for A$AP Rocky and other stuff that you put out in that category, a lot of people knew you first as someone who makes beats. Now you’re obviously recognized as a rapper first. But in terms of your own growth, did you come to making beats first or did you start rapping and just needed beats?

SGP: I started rapping when I was 7, started making beats when I was 13. I got better over the years. I’m just trying to balance it all out.

OKP: Time-wise, how do you balance it? Do you make beats and then write to the beats you’ve already made?

SGP: Yeah, I make the beat and I get a little tune in my head, a little sound and I talk/rap to the beat and whatever until I find that sound and then I go to writing and come out with some crazy sh*t.

OKP: Do you think there will be some changes to your creative process now that you’re on a label?

SGP: Well it has slowed down a little bit. I haven’t had the chance to really make beats like I wanted to. But when I get a chance, it’s gonna speed back up.

OKP: Talk a little bit about the title of your LP, Mysterious Phonk? Where does that come from?

SGP: It just represents the sound of my music, describing what it sounds like. When people hear my music it’s gonna give them that reaction. They’ll react like “ok, I like this sound, it’s kind of mysterious. I can’t really figure it out but I like it.” And then it got a phonky tone to it, as they used to say in the old days. That’s why I call it Mysterious Phonk.

OKP: I guess part of the reason I ask is because just going off of the tunes that people know you from – from “Suck a D***” to “Black God” it’s a big leap, at least it struck me that way--I was kind of surprised when that video dropped. Are you a 5-percenter, is that part of your philosophy…or was that more of a metaphor?

SGP: I’m the rapper who raps what’s on my mind. So “Suck a D***” was like… I didn’t even expect that sh*t to go about the way it went. I think what made it go all over the internet was that it had the vintage Three 6-sample. And that was my biggest influence. So that’s what got it out there. But I’m the rapper to just do what’s on my mind and do everything that I learned growing up. I just put it in one big blender and I just do it.

OKP: So if it’s “Suck a D*** For 2011” does that mean that that’s over for 2012, is there a new steez for 2012?

SGP: I actually got a song called “Suck a D*** 2012,” the afterparty. I wanted to show people that I can lyrically explain it. Cause the last one was just on some old school-down south-sh*t, where you’re just in the Cadillac and you got two 12s in your trunk and you got some drink in your cup in the parking lot and you’re bumping some sh*t saying “suck a d***” over and over and you’re chilling with a b****, you know what I’m saying? I did it on some old sh*t like that, on some vintage sh*t. But the 2012 version was just to really get ‘em open. Like b****, you not a h** but suck this d*** right here.

OKP: What about the other side of it. What was on your mind when you recorded “Black God?”

SGP: When I did “Black God,” I was in deep thought around that time. When I’m in deep thought, I write stuff like that. Actually I was in New York when I wrote that. I was writing and I was looking out at the skyline and sh*t. I had made the beat and I was just high as f***. I was chillin’, I was just laid back and was like “Who be the god of black, it’s me, SGP” and I just kept writing. When I came back to Miami I recorded it and it came out excellent. It was just my steez.

OKP: So was the whole “God of Black” EP recorded in that same type of mind-frame? Was that all conceived at a similar time?

SGP: Yeah, when I came back to Miami, I made the EP. And I was just in a laid-back, humble mood at that time and I wanted people to see that side of me, show them that I can be more lyrical and not just make tracks that are like one minute long, but actually make a real song and be laid-back. That’s what the whole concept was about. That’s why I had a woman’s silhouette on it. For the ladies to just get high to and sh*t.

OKP: But I think with that specific song, “The Black God”, people definitely take that phrase to be – if not 5%, then at least a pro-black statement, a little deeper. Is that something you wanted to convey with that song?

SGP: When I wrote “The Black God,” at the time I was thinking about all of these accomplishments, about how I’m the God of my own situation, of what I’m doing. I’m the God of my craft. I’m no longer no normal black male who just looks for a job, trying to live a normal day and work 9 to 5. I became the God of my own blessings, that’s producing and making music. That’s the point. And the verse was just explaining my steez, talking to people, introducing myself. And when I say “we’re in mansions with 35 Godesses” that’s my dream, that’s where I wanna be, where I see myself at.

OKP: I can’t help but notice you have an Egyptian eye on your cap.What does that mean to you?

SGP: And here (pointing to the faded Egyptian eye tat on his throat) That’s the eye of Horus. When you look up Horus, he helped people in Egypt. He guided them and sh*t. It’s similar to what I do. If somebody sticks their hand out to me, I’m not gonna say f*** off, especially when they need help. I help people. That’s why I got it, because it’s similar and that’s my ancestors. He’s from the Motherland, he’s from Egypt, that’s my ancestors.

OKP: Is that something you study up on a lot?

SGP: I take a lot of inspiration from that and I study on it from time to time.

OKP: I guess that song, when I heard it, reminded me of Rakim and some of the those 80s cats, because when they first came out, they were among the first to set off the trend of ‘gangsta rap’ but at the same time they also brought in a more conscious, pro-black thing. Do you f*** with any of those 80s cats?

SGP: Yeah! When I say Raider Klan, I say Public Enemy, I say X-Clan, I say Wu-Tang, I say… what was that guy named, I think he was from the Bay Area and he was real pro-black, a light-skinned dude…

OKP: You’re talking about Paris?

SGP: Paris! He changed my life. When I first saw his videos, I was like f*** this shit man, I gotta f***in push this Raider Klan for my generation. He was the shit.

OKP: Since you’re bringing up your generation – you’re accumalating a lot of people behind you right now. Do you feel like you’re growing into a leadership-type role? And how are you dealing with that?

SGP: I see myself as a leader and I see myself as a good friend. But one thing I don’t want people to get wrong is I don’t want people to feel like I owe them anything or that they owe me anything. I just see myself as a person being there when they need that advice, when they need that knowledge to be better and get out of any situation that they’re in that’s bad. I’m gonna always be there. I see myself like that right now.

OKP: This is a little bit of a tangent but I’m interested to know--you being from Florida, the whole Trayvon Martin tragedy, that’s gotta hit real close to home. What’s your perspective on that situation?

SGP: Me and him was born in the same hood. Me and him as children came up in the same area. His best friend and him actually was fans of my music. I didn’t know him--cause he was younger than me--but it’s a small world. Him and his best friend would rep Raider Klan all the time. His best friend is in Raider Klan now. I told him, I reached out to him like look, y’all Klan, man. Even though he’s not on earth right now, he’s Klan. In spirit he’s gonna guide us. And in Raider Klan when somebody dies, we call them the Gods or the Angels. They watch over us. So Trayvon is one of the Gods of our Klan.

OKP: Do you feel like that incident and all that has resulted from it has changed things in that community? What’s the energy like?

SGP: Yeah. I’m sorry to say it and I’m not a racist but y’all can’t walk through that hood right now. You can’t. It’s f***ed up what happened. We’re not racist in that neighborhood. For that to happen to him, that’s f***ed up. I’m gonna be real: if it was a black-on-black crime I’m pretty sure the killer would’ve got locked up faster. But the fact that Trayvon was seventeen – and he didn’t do sh*t, he didn’t say sh*t to this man, started nothing with this man – the fact that man approached him and the fact that Trayvon defended himself as a real man and he gets killed for that? That’s f***ed up. Especially if he gets released from jail. You shot him. I heard this sh*t. And that motherf***er is saying help? He’s crying for help? Trayvon is a humble dude. N****s in the hood always say he’s humble. Now they’re saying he sold drugs. He’s a teenager! What teenager does not get high right now? I mean, be real. Who didn’t get high in High School? It’s called High School, what the f***? It’s just bullsh*t, man.

OKP: Sounds like there’s a lot of anger—but is there something positive too that’s come out of that?

SGP: I feel like the youth in Miami got more involved than in a long time. That was the first time in years that Carol City came together. There’s usually a lot of beef going on, but everybody came together to show love.

OKP: That brings to mind what we talked about before, connecting with people from different cities and this generation, this movement. Do you feel like something is building up that’s about more than music?

SGP: I just think like, it’s our time now, for my generation. I think the legends know it. The OGs know. They know they have set the way for us. Like when Big Daddy Kane was out and then Method Man and all them came out. I think that’s happening again to the game now. You got us, you got eXquire, you got Odd Future, Kendrick. So I think it’s going in that direction.

OKP: Now that your album is out, what is next for SpaceGhostPurrp?

SGP: A lot of mixtapes, a lot of videos, even short-films. Sh*t, maybe porn. I don’t know. It’s going down!