SmartShanghai | Interview: Ugly Duckling

Interview: Ugly Duckling

By Ian Louisell, May 22nd, 2009 | In Nightlife

Often compared to De la Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, Ugly Duckling are one of Long Beach's finest hip hop exports, known for their hype-free stance on hip hop and honest roots flow. Dizzy Dustin, Young Einstein and Andy Cooper, came on like Voltron back in 1993 and this Friday (tonight) they carry on The Shelter's streak of hosting quality hip hop behind their new album Audacity. Don't miss.

Here's some bad news though: Over on The Beijinger's blog, they've got news that one third of the group, Dizzy, was unable to get a visa and is therefore not in China. The situation has lead to the cancellation of Ugly Duckling's Beijing show. A text message from The Shelter's manager Gary elucidates, however, that the Ducklings are going on tonight anyways. Nice.

We caught up with them over the emails to talk about the mainstreamness of hip hop these days, eggs for breakfast, and hot mix tapes.

***

SmSh: Ugly Duckling, thanks for taking the time to answer over email. I wish we could ride sketchy motorcycle taxis to a local dive restaurant and bullshit over meats of unknown origin, but time and touring schedules constrains us to this...

How's your swine flu checking out? If you've got it you can't rap for us... Is swine flu a lot of hype like Asher Roth or glbl wrming?

UD: No swine flu, but I love to wear the Michael Jackson mask.

SmSh: I imagine this is your first show in China, what's your perception of the country? What about the music scene here?

UD: Actually, we visited China before (about five years ago) but we're anxious to see the development, especially in the big cities, post-Olympics. Hopefully the hip-hop scene has grown a little because the first time it seemed brand new.

SmSh: If you were making a mixtape for a fine honey you really wanted to bang what five tracks would you start with?

UD: Mixtape for a lady: "Agua de Beber" (Astrud Gilberto), "After the Dance" (Marvin Gaye), "I'm So Glad You're Mine" (Al Green), and "Sunny" (Bobby Hebb). Hip-hop isn't generally seductive.

SmSh: You guys have been in the game for the last decade. We've seen the rise and fall of Eminem, and now this smegma-worm Asher Roth. How has being white people in the hip hop game changed over the past decade? Are people still like [sneeringly] "who are dez' white boys..."?

UD: As for the white rappers, there are many more than there used to be when I was young but it's mostly on the underground level. Mainstream culture still likes their rappers black, American, and from the ghetto. Hopefully, we will all evolve a larger vision for the culture.

SmSh: Obama keeps Jay-Z and Eminem on his iPod. Hip hop has certainly reached a level of mainstreamness many wouldn't have expected during the 80's or 90's. What are the positive and negative aspects of this?

UD: I loved hip-hop culture when it was very small and on the rise but all empires are best that way, aren't they? It would be selfish of me to want it to be kept away from the masses but I'll always love that period in the late 80's and early 90's when the development was in full-swing but barely touched by commercialism.

SmSh: Tell about a gig/bus ride/tour travel that went terribly wrong...

UD: One night, during a show in Glasgow, Scotland, the fire alarm went off and the police made everybody in the club stand out on the street for an hour until they made sure it was safe. We were in the middle of a song and we had to jump off of the stage and line up to exit and stand on the curb outside in the freezing cold. Most people went home but we rocked the rest of the show for the people that stayed.

SmSh: Just listened to your song, "Rio de Janeiro." I heard about these crazy bass parties run by cocaine-lords in the favelas, where everyone packs ex-soviet weaponry. Did you experience that in Brazil?

UD: Actually, we've never been to Brazil. I read about all of those places in a book I got at a travel store. Someday we'll get down there and enjoy the danger of which you spoke.

SmSh: Do you guys support the use of Autotune in any way?

UD: We did use a little auto-tuning to correct some mistakes I made but we don't like it to be obvious. Unfortunately I'm not a very good singer.

SmSh: What does Ugly Duckling eat for breakfast?

UD: I love eggs. In fact, if I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, it would be eggs. Not because they're the best tasting thing in the world but because it's something you can enjoy consistently and serve in many forms.

SmSh: I saw something about your 10th anniversary coming up. What are your plans for that?

UD: We are very proud to have made a living as a group for ten years. We may never make it big but we have created some cool music and performed for people all over the world and that's really a dream come true.

***

Ugly Duckling performs tonight at The Shelter. Quality Cali hip hip, yours for 60rmb. Starts 10pm. Support from the always stellar Lab crew.