Redrum-187: What's up Mac & A.K, how are you doing?
 
Mac & A.K: We good fam. Thanks for gittin at us.
 
Redrum-187: Despite the fact that you have done Bay Area rap for over ten years, you are probably still a less known group for some of our readers. Could you give us a brief introduction, who are Mac & A.K?
 
Mac & A.K: Mac & A.K. is a well respected rap group from out of East Palo Alto, a small city in the Bay Area in Northern California. We’re twin brothers and have been a group since 1993.
 
Redrum-187: Let's start the interview with your history. How did Mac & A.K first come about back in the days? How long have you been doing music and how did you end up in the music business?
 
Mac & A.K: Mac & A.K. came together after Mac left the group Black Jack back in 93. After leaving the group, A.K. came up with the idea of starting a group, and we decided instead of coming up with a dumb name for the group, we would just combine our rap names into a group name like they did in the early days of Hip Hop.
 
Redrum-187: Did you have any musical background before entering the rap game?
 
Mac & A.K: Mac grew up playing the drums in church. Our musical background also came from soaking up the game from artists that came before us. We listened to everything from The East to the West Coast, and also we were hugely influenced by The Soul music from the 70’s which is what lead to us into the music production.
 
Redrum-187: Did you have any artists or groups in heavy rotation in your early days, who have influenced your sound, style or lyrics?
 
Mac & A.K: We grew up right at the time Hip Hop really started to take off so we listened to it all no matter what coast it came from. As kids, we listened to groups such as Run DMC, The Fat Boys, Eric B. & Rakim, 2 Live Crew, Too Short, The entire Juice Crew, Whodini, NWA, Egyptian Lover, L.L Cool J, Ice T and plenty more as far as rap went. But we also listened to the soul greats like Barry White, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Parliament/Funkadelic, The O’Jays, Prince, Michael Jackson and more.
 
Redrum-187: You come from East Palo Alto and it's probably not the first place that comes to the mind of an average rap fan when talking about Bay Area rap. Would you say it was harder to break through from East Palo Alto in the 90s than from places like San Francisco or Oakland?
 
Mac & A.K: East Palo Alto was a city of about 20,000 at the time with a respect level similar to cities like Oakland and San Francisco which were way bigger. It was damn near impossible to compete against cities with 500,000 to 900,000, but you couldn’t tell us that. We were and still are the underdog city in the Bay, but for such a small city, we put out a lot of great music that has stood the test of time. We had groups like Rated X, Totally Insane, M.O.G., Chunk and S.I.C. who were also kickin up dust and we were sellin big units back then so it made it easier to be accepted.
 
Redrum-187: What was the main reason Mac & A.K got noticed by a well-known record company, Tommy Boy in the mid 90s? Was it just good luck or was it more a result of hard work and promoting yourself?
 
Mac & A.K: It was a lil bit of all the above. We had a great team at the time, and we worked hard in a short amount of time to pull that deal off. We made really good music together even though we were a group for a short amount of time. The smartest thing we did was get a manager to help us handle the business as we soaked up and learned the game. We ended up getting out of the Bay to get more attention then we ever could have gotten in the Bay. What people don’t know is we had a huge bidding war going on between the biggest major labels out there but Tommy Boy seemed to be the best place at the time.
 
Redrum-187: You released Westbound (For Riders Only) EP in 1996, which was (and still is) a great album and probably one of the first records that made East Palo Altos rap scene known for rap fans outside of the Bay. Because of the classic status of the Westbound, I have to ask a couple of questions about the album.
 
You released the Westbound EP independently, though you already had a deal with Tommy Boy. Did you start recording the Westbound before the record deal or what is the story behind this arrangement?
 
Mac & A.K: Westbound was actually Tommy Boy’s idea. We had just finished recording our first album for Tommy Boy called “Drastic Measures”, but the label got cold feet and were scared to release it because as a group we had never released any music previously. They thought it would be better to put out a EP and make it look like it was being released independently so we could create a buzz. We just took six songs off of “Drastic Measures”, plus an extra song we had laying around, and came up with a title for it, and there you have it. It really back fired because we never did get the chance to drop the real album we had worked hard to record.
 
Redrum-187: One thing that's noteworthy about the Westbound is its production. It is really close to the quality which, for example, Jive had in their 90s releases and I would imagine their budget was a bit more expensive than yours at the time. Who did the production for the Westbound?
 
Mac & A.K: For those that don’t know, Mac has produced all of Mac & A.K.’s music. Also Westbound really wasn’t a project we sat down and recorded. The songs we used weren’t even the best songs from the album. It really was just us taking songs off of another project to please the label. The good thing is we mixed those songs down at a top notch studio and mastered them at  Bernie Grundmans in LosAngeles so the sound quality was definitely major label standard.
 
Redrum-187: So, you had a deal with Tommy Boy and you actually recorded two albums for the label (please correct me if I'm wrong), but the label decided not to release them. What was the main reason behind this decision? Didn't the label agree with your point of view, regarding the style and content of the albums?
 
Mac & A.K: They didn’t decide not to drop the albums, we actually asked to be released from our contracts. Tommy Boy was fumbling the ball with our music and we saw what was coming and decided to get off the ship before it sank. If you look at what happened, Tommy Boy ended up folding a short time after we left the label. A lot of key people at the label really loved our music, but as a label they weren’t really equipped  to push a West Coast group like us. They were a label that was great at recognizing talent, but if you didn’t have a gimmick, they had no clue how to push you.
 
We felt it would be better to get off the label than to let them take our career and destroy it by not properly promoting our albums. Those albums should have put Mac & A.K. on the next level but it is what is. At least we didn’t let them ruin how we wanted to be portrayed to the public.
 
Redrum-187: Is it still possible to, one day, see the release of the unreleased Tommy Boy albums, or are the masters all gone?
 
Mac & A.K: We own the masters and all of the original reels so it’s possible we may put those albums out one day, but right now we’re not too worried about any of our old music since we’re still rockin and putting out new music.
 
Redrum-187: You, however, continued releasing albums through your own label E&K, and your last album "Legendary" was released in the summer. The album was solid and easily one of the top-10 albums of the 2007, in my opinion. I have also read positive reviews of the album and its production. Are you satisfied with the outcome and the feedback the album got?
 
Mac & A.K: “Legendary” was a good project to release after being gone for 3 years. We knew we were going to have re-establish our selves so we recorded two albums at the same time, and put out “Legendary” first to test the market to see if we still had what it would take to be successful. If you notice, we didn’t put any big name features on the album. We wanted the fans to focus back on Mac & A.K. Just like when we dropped “Westbound”. We feel the album had the potential to do a lot more, but the game has changed and there are a lot of new faces in the game, but we expected there would be a lot of rebuilding to be done so we’re happy it reopened doors for future releases from us.
 
Redrum-187: How would you describe the "Legendary" to our readers, who are not yet familiar with the album.
 
Mac & A.K: “Legendary’ is a great album to pick up if you want to hear great beats and lyrics from Mac & A.K. That album really shows our staying power. We goin into our 15^th year and we’re still hungry as ever. Mac produced the entire album, and brought along a lot of up and coming artists we wanted to showcase to the rap world. As OG’s it was important to give back to the game by helping other cats get heard. We got cats from East Palo Alto, Oakland, Atlanta, The Bronx etc. all on the same cd.
 
Redrum-187: You decided not to go with the Hyphy sound on your latest album. What are your thoughts about this slowly fading "movement"? Was it a positive boost for the new Bay artists and groups, or do you think it labeled the entire Bay Area rap scene as a Hyphy?
 
Mac & A.K: I think the new generation of artists in the Bay are hugely talented, but the same thing that happened to groups like us is happening again because local radio and our fans don’t support us where the numbers matter. Todays fans would rather download your music and take money out of your pockets, when they really should be buying our music so our numbers are impressive.

The region has great music, and artist end up getting signed because of this, but the labels don’t really know how to push music from here. And since Bay artists don’t sell the type of units we did in the past, the labels are afraid to invest the type of time and capital it takes to be successful. The Hyphy movement would have been huge had the labels took the time to invest in nationwide radio play and made videos and gave the artist tour support like they do artists in other regions.
 
Redrum-187: Since you are working for your own label and have a good view of the industry, how do you see the future of the independent artists and labels?
 
Mac & A.K: The independent game is pretty much what you make it. You may never get rich, but at least you’ll be doing something you love to do, which is always risky, especially in this day in time when bootlegging and piracy is so rampant.

The bad side of of being independent is not being able to get your music out fast enough to make a profit before your album is put up for download for free. How can we survive when people would rather steal the music. That’s not really showing support to artists who spend their hard earned money to put out a quality project. We don’t have money put away for a rainy day, we make our money directly off of sales of our music and if you refuse to buy it and steal it, the independent game will continue to dry up and no more great artist will be exposed as they will decide it’s not worth the risk to play the game anymore. As fans of music that should be scary to know all you’ll have left is the watered down bullshit  the majors try to push on you.

But it’s also the fault of artist who have continued to force mediocre music on their fans and expect them to continue to spend their hard earned money on a loust album with a great album cover. Pretty soon, the game will be over if it contiues this way. I know I’m not gonna continue to invest in projects that won’t make money, it’s just not good business.
 
Redrum-187: You were also a member of the "Bay Area Rappers Cares" group. Would you like to tell us something about this important project and the recently released track "Stay In School"?
 
Mac & A.K: My boy Kontac is putting a project together called “All Rap Aint Bad”, which will be a album of all positive rap songs for today’s youth who are being spoon fed a lot of negativity. Today’s youth are failing life at a all time rate and we have to realize this or you become part of the problem. Kontac came up with the idea of putting together a posse cut similar to songs like “Self Destruction” and “We’re All In The Same Gang”, but with all Bay Area rappers.
 
Redrum-187: How did you end up in B.A.R.C?
 
Mac & A.K: Kontac has been friends with us for a long time, plus we come from the same city. He got at us about spittin on the track and we didn’t hesitate for a minute. He also came up with the acronym B.A.R.C. which stands for Bay Area Rappers Care.
 
Redrum-187: What kind of music are you listening nowadays? Which were the best albums last year in your opinion?
 
Mac & A.K: For me, I listen to pretty much nothing but oldies. I really can’t get into what’s goin on right now.  I honestly thought this was one of the worst years musically. The majors have totally turned their backs on promoting good music nowadays and would rather put out bullshit that nobody will remember by the end of the year. The beat album I heard in 2007 probably was the new Scarface album that didn’t get any promotion at all.
 
Redrum-187: Last but not least; What can we expect from Mac & A.K and E&K Music in the 2008?
 
Mac & A.K: We’re gonna drop our new album entitled “Only The Strong Survive” some time this year. The album is produced entirely by Mac. He stepped his game up another notch for this one. The album features San Quinn, Planet Asia, Dem Hoodstarz, Mistah F.A.B., and a few more surprises. We’ll probably drop another mixtape and stay on the grind doin shows and features on other projects.
 
Redrum-187: Thanks for a your time! Is there anything else you would like to say to our Finnish readers and Bay Area rap fans in general?
 
Mac & A.K: One love to all our fans and keep supporting our music.

www.myspace.com/macnak
www.eandkmusicgroup.com

                                                          Haastattelija: Johan Strömberg