Q&A With Bay Area Legend Mars

What is the earliest hip hop memory that you can recall?

I remember was a little kid & my aunt Brandy was listening to the “We Want Some P***y” by the 2 Live Crew & she told me they said “We Want Some Cookies”. But, the first CD I ever bought was Del the Funky Homosapien’s No Need for Alarm!.

 

You’re very renown in the horrorcore scene so that has me wondering: Could you name off your top 5 horror movies?

I like the classics. The original Texas Chainsaw Masscare, the Child’s Play movies up until Bride of Chucky, almost all the Friday the 13th‘s before the reboot, all the Nightmare of Elm Street movies & Faces of Death.

 

You dropped a surprise single on Friday the 13th called “It Gets Deep” under your own label Mad Insanity Records in conjunction with EMPIRE Distribution. It goes back to your roots of West Coast g-funk mixed with the horror themes that helped define your career. What made you wanna do that?

Bad Mind emailed me the beat as I was driving around so I played it, recorded the song & it was already mixed when I woke up the next morning.

 

You’ve released 6 singles & a collaboration EP with Young Swizz this year so far, all independently with EMPIRE backing you up. How much more do you plan on releasing before the year is up?

I have about 5 or 6 albums coming out, but I’ll keep releasing as singles & other stuff while I’m waiting on features.

 

You’re dropping a collaborative album with Danny Diablo under Force 5 Records very soon called “Devils & Demons”. How did that come about?

Danny had hit me up on Twitter & asked me to do a verse for his album. I wasn’t familiar with his hip hop stuff before, but we eventually became friends & the question came up.

 

 

 

You have an EP coming out within the next month called Small Sacrifices. Are these all tracks from your upcoming album or just an appetizer for what’s to come?

It was gonna be called The Murder EP, but we’re getting a bunch of billboards for it & the imagery of the cover-art was too much for the companies. With the exception of “Throw It All Away”, it’s all new material.

 

You’re set to release a solo album within the next 2 months called “Locked Up a Broad”. Could you tell me what to expect from you on there?

It’s crazier because Clayton Van Pelt reached out to me knowing that I needed a producer, so I checked out his beats & rapped on as much of them as I could. It’s a lot of new sounds for me, but same content

 

You’ve been feeding the homeless community around your hometown of Pittsburg & Antioch, CA with the help of partnerships with Kinders BBQ & more locally based companies. You’ve helped get involved in saving a local skatepark for the kids in the area who were being forced out by a local real estate developer & even partnered up with pro-skateboarder Corey Duffel to create awareness for the cause. What made you wanna do all of that?

These are things that personally, I feel something for. I remember one time, I went to a store & bought some sandwiches for everybody. It felt good. As for Kinders, I thought it was a cool hookup for people who really need it. Also when I was a kid, I used to skatepark & it was a huge outlet for me. If I didn’t have it, I wouldn’t be as established as I am.

 

You make a sizable income wearing products from brands or product placement on social media getting items regularly from Oddball Golf, Fadavi & Co., Sprayground, REBEL8, Kangol, PF Flyers, CBD & marijuana companies & Cuts Clothing. Any more plans to expanding this in the future?

I used to buy all that stuff regularly, so for me to represent all this is really dope because I support them all anyway. It just happens sporadically sometimes, people pay me to promote their brands. I really learned a lot from skateboarding.

 

You’ve gotten major label attention on his last single release “Throw It All Away” after getting play from several Northern California mainstream radio stations, but continued your relationship with EMPIRE. Why is that?

For one, an A&R wanted to hear more like that & they just weren’t looking for what I got. I had to be upfront with her about my songs like “Stinky the Rapist”. Horrorcore is just a great representation of who I am.

 

Any final statements before we wrap this up?

Halloween is coming & if people wanna hear a darker side of hip hop, explore a different kind of entertainment than they’re used to. If you’re a horror movie fan, there is rap music out there waiting for you to explore.

Follow on all social media @Mars

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