All Mental – Uncontaminated Hip Hop Purist keeping the Culture Alive…

You are the definition of Hip Hop purist, but over the years, I have come to know you as so much more , for those of the readers that may not know you , please tell us who you are , what you represent and what you do?

My name is All Mental I am a hiphop fan, I am an event organizer in the NYC/NJ area I am also a radio personality on 8 Squad Rebel Radio, the show that I do is called “Against The Grain’ I do the show with Queen Bee, A-$harp & DJ Polarity. I started in radio at my Alma mater Kean University in Union, NJ WKNJ 90.3FM. The first show I did at Kean University was with my Friend Sha Mega, he is an individual I have a lot of respect for. The second show I did on WKNJ was with another Friend John Jay Hustle it was an awesome experience working with him as well, the third and final show I did on WKNJ was “Ear 2 The Streets” with my Brother from another mother DJ Absurd. It was a fantastic experience I had on all three shows that I did at Kean University. The First event I ever threw was at the Court Tavern in New Brunswick, NJ on January 24th 2007 in which you performed in and it was the same day that your second son was born.
 
 
Behind the microphone I am sure you have interviewed many people, so the tables are turned now here with me interviewing you! What would you say makes a great interview?

The elements of a great interview is when the audience and the person doing the interview at the end can say “I Learned something new about the individual, that I never knew” or the audience leaves feeling that as good as the interview was they want to learn more about the person.
 
 
For as long as I can remember , if there has been a Hip Hop show worth seeing , I would see you there or see a picture of you there if I wasn’t able to make it, What makes attending so many Hip Hop events so important to you?

The reason attending hiphop events are so important to me is I feel artist need a support system & if an artist is talented and trying their best it is important that as fans of the culture we should show support. Especially if you want venues to be around we as a community need to support the artist & venues. Many people complain about situations & circumstances when it is too late.
 
 
Social Media has so much negativity going on with it, when I look to your posts , more often than not I am inspired by the consistency of your positive outlook on life in general, where you always like this?  What is your motivation behind this?

When I was a Graduate student at Kean University in Union, New Jersey I was having difficulty in my Graduate thesis class, then one day a class mate & I were talking about how difficult the class was and then that same class mate opened up & started telling me about there personal problems. The stuff that my class mate revealed to me made me look at my life differently and I realized my life was not the bad and that some how, some way I could get through this. It was at that time I decided to write positive messages every morning.
 
 
What do you think makes a great album?

The ingredients that make a Great album are lyricism, Production, consistency through the album and sequence order of the playlist. Because an album is a book and it has to have a good story line. Each song is a chapter.
 
 
Who were/are major influences in your life?

As far as my personal life my influences are my Parents, Jesus Christ, Malcolm X close friends and inspirational individuals such as yourself. When I see what you have achieved and other like you have accomplished it makes me want to strive and it inspires me to make the effort to achieve my goals. Professionally my influences are my co-hosts on my radio shows both past & present. As much as people think I might know I want to learn more. Because it is a big world & life has plenty to offer.
 
If you could change 2 things about the Tri-State Area’s Hip Hop scene right now , what would they be?

If I could change two things about the Tri-State Area Hip Hop scene right know the first thing is to make top 40 radio more accessible to independent artists. Because there are so many talented emcees on the underground that I feel if they had a proper chance and given the right exposure they could blow up. The second thing I would change is have more venues for artist to perform. With all of the Gentrification that is taking place with in the Tri-State area venues are closing business are shutting down its difficult to find good performance venues for artist to showcase there talent.
 
 
You spend a lot of the time behind the mic on radio or hosting shows. Can you tell us about an interesting experience having to do with an artist you dealt with that never made it on air?

When I was doing “The Ear 2 The Streets show” with DJ Absurd on WKNJ 90.3FM legendary hiphop radio personality Special K from the Awesome Two came by and he had an artist he wanted us to interview by the name of P.Black. Special K had already arrived in the studio we were waiting on P. Black to arrive at the station. When P. Black arrived the person who drove him to the station was hiphop Legend Greg Nice from Nice & Smooth. Greg Nice was cool as ever but he didn’t want to get on Air because he was under the weather that night.

How do you believe radio has changed in the last 15 years if at all?

The way radio has changed in the last Fifteen years is the internet & social media have made a huge impact on radio. For example: you could be living in New York and listen to Los Angeles, California based radio station through the internet. With the internet you can reach the globe. In order for a radio station to stay alive they need a strong social media presence
 
 
If you could pick one radio host to narrate your life movie , who would it be?

If I could pick a radio personality to narrate my life it would be the iconic hiphop legends Teddy Ted & Special K (The Awesome Two). Because at one time these guys were the saviors of hip hop radio in the tri –state area & after becoming friends with them I see how they have a genuine love for hip hop culture.
 
 
If you could travel back to the past to see any Hip Hop show where would you go and why?

If I could go back in time there are actually Two hip hop shows I would love to go back in time and see they are the 1984 Fresh Fest Tour with Kurtis Blow, Run-DMC, Whodini, The Fat Boys, Newcleus & The Dynamic Breakers, New York City Breakers, Turbo & Ozone. The other one would be the NITRO WORLD TOUR this show had LL Cool J, Featuring Public Enemy, NWA, Big Daddy Kane, Too $hort, EPMD, Slick Rick, De La Soul & Special Ed. The reason I chose these Two shows is because they both have all of the elements of a hip hop concert from break dancing, deejays cutting up scratching the record and of course dope rhymes. I love history and I feel it is important to know the past of any craft you choose to be a part of. The Fresh Fest Tour was the concert that helped pave the way for big time hiphop events such as hiphop radio stations across the United States having Summer Jams, Rock The Bells, and many other hiphop festivals. As an event organizer I would love to go back in time and see what the curators of these events did right and what they did wrong so that when I do an event I have a better understanding of the process.
 
What do you love most about the state of today’s Hip Hop, what do you like the least?

I love that there is a variety of hip hop from the backpackers, the street intellectual emcees even the commercial rap has its moments where it is good. What I most dislike is that when it comes to hip hop is grown men and women still do not know how to conduct themselves in venues at events. There is no need for adults to be fighting and using weapons. Let’s take it back to the origins of the culture if you have beef settle it on wax and leave it there. Another thing that I do not like is that many of the new era emcees are not following the blueprint that the pioneers of this culture set. An example: Many artist do not have deejays or break dancers or when it comes to production many of our artist do not sample records properly or they don’t sample at all. Hip Hop started behind the deejay, you always heard the deejays name first even in groups example you had Eric B. & Rakim, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Pete Rock & CL Smooth in Heavy D and The Boyz you knew his deejay was Eddie F. & his dancers were G-Whiz & “Trouble” T. Roy. Basically what I do not like is Corporate America telling the hip hop community what we should do with the culture of Hip Hop when Corporate America only came around once they saw the Dollar Signs. I am all for evolution and being creative or being different but stick with in the guidelines of Hip Hop. If you are not going to follow the guidelines of Hip Hop Culture please do not call it Hip Hop.

 
If you could pick a top 5 of emcees that have came on your shows and freestyled live on air over the course of your career, who would they be and why?

In the course of my career in radio a top 5 freestyle is hard because there have been so many talented emcees that been on all of the shows that I have been a part of but I will say one that stood out and that had the whole staff on the show in amazement was when Baltimore Maryland emcees Jay Royale, Guy Grams & Ill Conscious came on the show and there freestyle session had to be for ad least 10 minutes. This was on the” Against The Grain Show” in 2018. The interview had just finished up we were going to play there music. But DJ Polarity was playing an instrumental that he had made in the background all three of the emcees were feeling it and they all started to go in. The freestyle was so good that we all nearly forgot to play there songs.
 
Where do you see Radio being in the next 15 years?

In the next 15 Years I see radio being a platform in which everyone will have to pay for if they want to have it. Because now we are in a time of satellite and internet radio. I see happening to radio sort of like what happened to television. There was a time years ago when you went to the store and you purchased a television set plugged it in & you got your basic channels. When cable television came out at first people were astonished at the fact that they would have to pay to watch television but then people conformed to the norm. Now in order to have basic television channels you need cable. In the next 15 Years I would not be surprised if we just to get basic AM/FM radio station that we would need satellite radio and have no choice but to pay for it.

What is next for you?  Upcoming Projects?  

Just continuing to do the radio show and attend great hiphop events.

Last Words?

There is still Excellent music that is out there. People please do not get discouraged there are many talented emcees both in the underground and on mainstream commercial radio. Keep an open mind & give new artist a chance. Shout out to Cymarshall Law & Hiphop in The Flesh. Peace & Blessings

~ Interview by @cymarshalllaw