Up next in 10
Don’t miss this exclusive Sway In The Morning interview with Sunspot Jonz, the Oakland legend, as he opens up about his journey through hip-hop, life in the Bay Area, and his pivotal role in shaping the underground music scene. From co-founding the iconic Living Legends and Mystic Journeymen to creating his latest project, "Bad To The Bonez," Sunspot shares raw, unfiltered stories about Oakland’s culture, DIY independence, and the evolution of conscious rap.
Tune in as he breaks down community-building, reflects on battles like the legendary Hobo Junction vs. Hieroglyphics, and discusses the influence of Bay Area greats like Too Short, E-40, and Souls of Mischief. Sunspot also gets real about his upbringing, the importance of fostering unity, and his passion for empowering the next generation through initiatives like his hip-hop health fair and children’s books.
If you’re looking for hip-hop history, Bay Area pride, and a heart-driven narrative that redefines independent artistry, this is the interview for you! Subscribe now for more exclusive interviews, stay inspired, and explore the culture with Sway’s Universe. #LivingLegends #SwayInTheMorning #OaklandHipHop #BayAreaCulture #BadToTheBonez
#cml #freestyleclothing #sunspotjonz #ebkjaaybo #aesoprock
#3mg #aesop #freestyleclothing #sunspotjonz #3melancholygypsys
CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro
01:17 - Oakland’s Many Dimensions
05:44 - What is the Living Legends?
10:21 - Members of the Living Legends
12:52 - The $2.99 and Top Ramen
14:32 - Importance of Community
17:10 - Your Mom Carried a Gun
18:55 - MacArthur Blvd
22:32 - Early Bay Area Hip-Hop Legends
26:13 - Sunspot Jonz: Living in Hawaii & Immigration
32:20 - Caller from California
34:30 - Sunspot Jonz on Consistency & Honesty in Art
38:00 - Sunspot Jonz on New Artists He Respects
40:10 - What’s Next for the Living Legends?
42:33 - Sunspot Jonz Gives Sway a Gift
44:19 - Final Words
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Sunspot Jonz: The Oakland Legend Speaks Out! 🚨 | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
https://youtu.be/MIEef_eKJhU
Sway’s Universe
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
hey man that voice right there man this man has come under many identities hey
0:07
you know and brother from another planet that's right
0:13
right um what was it psc psc is my brother in
0:20
Mystic Journey man that's right right yeah yeah we the same though but yeah the same right okay uh Lucky Jam no
0:28
Lucky I am on PSC lucky I am you know the other side of Mystic Journeyman that's right bfap and PSC that's right
0:36
yeah this sounds like special code right it is it is special it's Morse code for the underground so y'all know how to
0:42
wear you know where to go and channel through okay i love that and I I you
0:47
know I met this man just in the neighborhoods you know I got him by a
0:52
year or two you know yeah don't tell him too much now don't tell him too much now
0:58
we ain't that old yeah we not We look great [ __ ] we don't crack we
1:03
don't crack in this town business at And when I say this is town business at its finest people got different
1:08
interpretations of what Oakland is and it's not a monolith it's not uh
1:14
onedimensional it's many dimensions right and some of those dimensions don't
1:19
get the exposure that others have that's real not to knock the others that doing it but Oakland has always been defined
1:26
by a multitude of of um contributions and creations right and what living
1:33
legends um mystic journeymen um have done um since the mid 90s right we
1:40
telling too much see yeah since the beginning since the beginning yeah there we go since the beginning we've been
1:46
there kind of in the beginning no but it's it's been when you think of folks like Hobo Junction when you think of
1:52
folks like um Souls of Mischief and um and the hieroglyphics right when you
1:58
think of Fast Forward Lar Russell when you think of E40 and the Click that was
2:03
way before you know Living Legends and Mystic Journeymen but the thread the mentality that artists have always had
2:10
in our culture in Northern California the DIY do it yourself we not gonna wait on a major label to put our music out we
2:17
ain't gonna wait on a major magazine to do an article on us that's the spirit of where we come from and I dare say man
2:26
Living Legends what you've done Sunspot Jones personifies
2:32
exactly what it means to come from where we're from thank you brother the way you've navigated this industry thank you
2:38
brother i could do nothing but commend you you know I could do nothing but have a standing ovation i'm proud to be on
2:46
the Bad to the Bones project i got my own interlude y'all they spell my name
2:52
right on this one give me a round of applause come on now high street man high street man come on high street
3:00
MacArthur Boulevard Giant Burgers the car wash i grew up with cleaning cars all that yeah man yeah man what's Giant
3:07
Burgers you clean cars on man no right next Giant Burgers and that car wash on high
3:13
yeah man come on macarthur right there right there by Everton Jones barbecue
3:18
man it wasn't there then it wasn't there then it was a Chinese restaurant back then but yeah man oh come on man we
3:25
going back uh KFC was right down the street oh it's still there the the h
3:31
What's the other restaurant the bay the something on the bay cafe on the bay oh wow you taking me way back yeah that's
3:37
still there you know the hardware store yeah true uh Ace Hardware ace oh no laurel laurel Hardware lauren
3:45
family that's right right come on man we going down the block if y'all walking with us you walking with us right now walk further down you go to my junior
3:51
high bretart Jun redart that's my knew that was mine too come on where Lord got robbed every weekend come on man come on
3:58
man lord ice cream if you knew we went we both went to uh you went to Bretart i went to Bretart that's right was on that
4:05
57 every day to get to get there man come on yeah man that's right that's
4:11
right we got Oakland roots like Oakland roots man that's what I'm saying sunspot Jones get this man around hey legends
4:20
legend legends hey hey and the the greatest part is too we can even go back when we said hobo man i was there at the
4:26
Hyro Hobo battle remember i was standing right behind you standing i was there when the pop pop went pop you know what
4:32
I mean pop went pop that's right man so we going to have a conversation today
4:37
that's a legendary battle that took place in Northern California with the Hobel Junction and the hieroglyphics and
4:43
if you were there this was before YouTube yep yep but we had the sense to
4:49
film that [ __ ] bro yeah man that was crazy brother we We That was crazy that was one of the greatest times of my life
4:54
because I knew hip-hop was still emerging and it wasn't just about the gangster rap thing that was always
4:59
happening in the Bay the underground was coming out and Kielle who you know we already know supports only a certain
5:05
kind of sound they all of a sudden was supporting the underground and we was up there and we was like showing people what the skills were safir RIP he was up
5:12
there just killing it you know what I'm saying hiro was killing it and it was just a good battle it was good it was
5:18
good for the culture Bay Area culture especially it was great cuz it was really about bars and freestyling yep y
5:25
freestyling and bars but people were so passionate mike you should have saw this it was outside the KO building was a
5:32
whole another festival that was the second part of the whole thing i told you the pop pop went pop you know what I mean that's a whole another story but it
5:39
was odd because people were passionate about what they do they were invested in
5:44
their art the whole nine we're talking Bay Area culture sunspot Jones is here living Legends yes to I try to explain
5:52
the Living Legends um to a lot of different folks to me you guys the Living Legends Collective um
6:00
I think really personifies what hip-hop has always been about you know when people felt disenfranchised
6:06
um uh by the systems or this or the institutions we just went and did our own thing living Legends when Kiel used
6:13
to do um the the one u the Summer Jam events that would not have artists like
6:19
Living Legends on there you guys would do your own Summer brokeass Summer Jam broke ass Summers and that was a thing
6:26
because you know the radio didn't want to support you know artists that weren't paying into their playlist or wasn't paying into you know whatever they was
6:32
doing when it came to getting their money so we was like you know for all the people that don't have enough money to promote themselves to even be seen on
6:39
this label or all the people that don't have enough money to even really you know be looked at as um so-called
6:46
professional which is so so fake in turn we're going to create our own festival we're going to create our own thing
6:51
we're going to create our own community we're gonna create our own way of looking at hiphop in the Bay because in
6:57
the Bay at one point it was only about rap like when I say rap I mean more like
7:02
the street gangster rap our stuff is about street you know and and like where
7:07
we from but we wasn't talking about killing and and and robbing and and like you know selling drugs our culture was
7:14
built in a different thing i was more of a conscious rap and and you know that's that's kind of like I went to Berkeley High too that's probably where some of
7:20
that came out too you know what I mean like you know that whole hippie thing of like you know being a little bit more um
7:25
grassroots to the to the ground and stuff like that even though I was from East Oakland just like you I was able to
7:30
see both going being able to go to Bret Hart Junior High and then like after that going to um Berkeley High it was a
7:37
big transition of understanding the contrast of what the Bay was you know what I mean and I feel like that's what
7:43
our our music personified is that like you know contrast that understanding of like we're more than just one thing out
7:49
here you know what I'm saying we we get money but we get money in a different way you know we don't have to go out
7:55
there and and like risk our life and end up in jail like most of the people that that grew up around me and went to you
8:01
know to a place that didn't understand they true potential we was like we were
8:06
we realizing our true potential in every way and we going to be respected for this and you going to see us you going
8:11
to see us that's what it's all about you going to see us yes and we saw you living legends man and and I thought it
8:17
was incredible um even when you listen to this album Bad to the Bone right and
8:22
the I want to say in the and well there's a few lyrics you you say in in
8:28
different songs that I got identified with growing up in Oakland i never sold
8:33
drugs you mentioned that right it was important to you it was important to mention that because it's this
8:40
perception that people everybody from Oakland took a certain path and it's not true right yeah and um you and you talk
8:48
about having family members in the acorns and the acorns if you know break down
8:53
what the acorns man acorns is like you know hey it's kind of like you know I don't want to say it's our projects in
8:58
the west you know on the west Oakland but it it's an area where you know I I
9:03
don't know if a lot of people know about East Oakland and how West Oakland is but it's two different mind states and like
9:10
you know it it's really it gets raw out there it gets raw in East Oak don't get me wrong but it gets raw on the west and
9:15
you know I had a lot of family members that's passed away out in the Acorns in that area and you know it's just not it
9:22
wasn't the place where the positivity Yeah was seen you know what I'm saying so you know now I work at Martin Luther
9:28
King um elementary the school that's over there and and like I see how kids
9:33
you know see themselves and I I see how I saw myself back then and it was just a different world you know what I'm saying
9:40
and um it's just important for us to let people know that you can see yourself in a different light you can be in a
9:47
different place you don't have to fall into every stereotype that everyone says about you like that that is just wrong
9:53
and you're not doing yourself justice because you're so magical you're so powerful you're so like you're so just
10:00
like in a level that you will never see until you try to stop and see it and that's what I'm about you That's what
10:05
we're all about you know when it comes to this living legends underground motivation of picking yourself up and
10:12
building a new experience for all of us yeah man i love it man sunspot Jones is here we talking about the living legends
10:17
hey hey hey hey okay so the live the living legends let's name the members let's give the
10:24
members spotlight right now all right so you already know it's Sunspot Jones it's
10:29
PSC also known as Lucky I am it's the Grouch shout out to the grouch um is
10:35
Asop Fables is Eli it's Picasso
10:40
and um it's Scarab and you you might know my other little brother but he he's like inactive but he's active merse
10:48
merse yeah who I raised as well up in East Oakland you know what I'm saying that's right that's right what does Merse Merse grew up in where did Merse
10:55
grow up merse grew up in Mid City here in LA right okay but then he went away to college in Santa Cruz Cababrio
11:02
College and then that's where we kind of all met up and stuff and he was already cool with Eli and Scarab the other two
11:08
people in my group because they went to junior high in high school together so it just kind of came together cuz we
11:14
were living in um Santa Cruz with the guy Lachland i don't know if you remember back in the day 480 little
11:19
Buster and uh yeah so little buster little buster but you know it's all good i had to throw the old school term on it
11:25
little buster ass buster but you know it's all good he he he did what he need to do yeah 408 and he was shady himself
11:32
but that's a whole different world white boy yeah it's a white boy man you know that's how I met Eric Arnold too i don't
11:38
know you know Eric Arnold as well eric so basically you know he got you know we
11:43
were all like-minded like I said like-minded people we got together and at this time you know we were throwing our own shows and I was like "Me you're
11:50
dope i I appreciate your energy and all that stuff you gonna be down with us as well." And then you know next thing you
11:55
know he moved to Oakland with us and we got this warehouse uh me and Lucky I am and and Picasso and Big Gay Big G we got
12:03
a warehouse on 58th and in and East 14th you know what street I'm talking about international we will let that go and
12:09
and basically you know the rest was history we start you know start throwing shows at Jackson Street Studios you know
12:15
what I mean we start throwing shows anywhere honestly if you had a backyard we would throw a show there because
12:20
nobody was giving us love and then it got to a point we did a show with the Loonies it was Mystic Journey with the
12:26
Lonoies crazy the craziest lineup ever they they did the pop pop there of course because you know it's the bay you
12:31
know it's the bay and you know we just start building up that momentum and you know Merse you know he was just always
12:37
down with us and you know I love that brother you know and he did great for himself man he's given you a lot of beautiful history in a nutshell but the
12:45
sunspot Jones should have your your own docu series of just telling your bay stories because what you learned through
12:52
that point y'all used to also collect canned foods yeah so what we did is at our shows we were so broke unsigned and
12:58
hella broke that was the name of our thing because you know we were unsigned and hella dope but we were also not
13:03
making the money that all these fake commercial artists were pretending to make you know what I'm saying so we we
13:10
like I said we built a community our whole thing was about building a community so we threw a show at Flankers which is on Hagenburg another place that
13:16
had the pop but you know we changed the whole community around and and it was a thing of like we start saying you know
13:22
what I don't want to charge you all this money to come because we know people in Oakland at this time a lot of our friends too they didn't have they didn't
13:27
have jobs they're big dreamers we're going to charge $2.99 with a pack of Top Ramen to get in and trust me we ate that
13:33
Top Ramen bro oh y'all really ate it we ate that i thought y'all was giving out to the needy hey we was the needy
13:38
brother we was the needy all right now all right we ain't lying about it so and
13:44
then you know after a while we moved to Maritime and um we and and the Fillmore
13:49
in San Francisco and we started charging $2.99 with a um pack of Twix or a pack
13:54
of Starburst we always just try to keep it like kind of we didn't want a lot of people this is the thing that's wrong
14:00
with our industry okay people are always trying to get in in America right now people are trying to get as much money as they can out you trying to bleed you
14:06
dry we don't we don't see that as family we don't see that as community we all need to be a part of this whole thing so
14:13
we're going to charge you exactly what we know you could pay and that's how it started off now we need a little bit
14:19
more of that money just so we can cuz you know the price of living you know and all that stuff has changed and we want to build bigger things but back
14:26
then it was about and it still is it's all about the community and it's all about doing stuff for all of us not just
14:32
the money i That's what I love about living legends mike I know you learning right here i see you taking in
14:38
information hey we got the gold chain swag man something might jump jump in man
14:45
yeah I'm I'm really fascinated by the concept that you have of of community um and I felt like you were redefining and
14:51
creating comm community before that became a moment like on social media how do you look and view the community now
14:57
as a part of the business model well I still think it's a very important part and aspect to this whole you know thing
15:05
that we call hip-hop culture like we started doing shows at the back in the day another place called La Pena La Pena
15:10
Community Center shout out to Elena shout out to Paul Greg and like you know it was a thing of like without the
15:17
community there's no understanding of what we're doing we you know there's such a short term as an artist you know
15:22
what I mean that you have like a lot of people they get the record deal and they might be big for that year they might be
15:29
big for like six months but once that's over it's over cuz you know what we never understood who you were we never
15:34
understood what you were doing we never understood where your heart was at it was so important especially for me
15:40
that's why we created the magazine unsigned and hella broke magazine because you know they wouldn't put us in the magazines we're like you know we
15:46
learned from the Gilmore we learned from the punk rock you know the whole thing like go out there make the community
15:51
yours that's the only way you're going to survive that's the only way we're going to see you after all these endeavors that you might do
15:57
collaborations and partnerships with after they're dead we want to know that you're still alive we want to know that
16:03
you still have a a art you have something that you're giving to the culture and that's what we're about that's what I'm about and so community
16:10
is 100% about that i grew up in foster homes um I was adopted at four grew up
16:17
in foster homes from four until about like 15 75% of my my life because me and
16:22
my moms we had problems and stuff uh every time report card day came out you know it was a bad day but uh I mean
16:28
we'll let that go but it was a thing of like I needed the community in the foster homes i needed the community you
16:34
know my foster brothers my foster sist sisters i needed the community when I when I got older that were say the all
16:40
the fans that came they were foster brothers and foster sisters too we might not been connected by blood but we were connected by mind we're connected by
16:47
heart community is the number one reason why I do everything I do because I want to build an understanding that people
16:53
that are like-minded like myself and have the same kind of heart like myself you will be seen you are important you
17:01
are a part of every reason why we do what we do and thank you that's what I'm
17:06
about community that's why it's so important sunspot Jones j O N Z give
17:12
that man a round of applause that was awesome man when you talk about your mom you you you mentioned on the song
17:18
MacArthur Boulevard that's on the um Battle to the Bones part one project uh
17:23
by the way MacArthur Boulevard is probably the longest Is that the longest street in Oakland and and it runs
17:30
outside of Oakland right to that um you you talk about your mom packing that
17:36
heat oh yeah pop pop yeah your mom used to carry a gun what what what was that
17:41
dynamic with your mom and you well you know my mom she's from the South okay she from Monroe Louisiana and if you
17:48
know any anybody from Monroe Louisiana or Louisiana the South period they do not play yeah there's only so much lip
17:54
they gonna take before it comes out okay and you know my mom sadly enough she kicked me out of the house for not
18:00
getting her a pack of cigarettes when I was in 12th grade and she you know she was like "Go get me some cigarettes." It was 11:00 at night and I was like "Dang
18:07
mom why didn't you tell me earlier?" She said "Dang you just cursed at me." Went and got it kicked me out really went and
18:14
got it went and got it kicked me out cuz she only takes so much lip she don't play games she pointed it at you just
18:21
got it no she just got it and had it in the hand she didn't have to do that cuz I already understood what was up i seen
18:26
her do it already to other people okay so yeah my mama she just one of them people that you know and like I I'm
18:32
really thankful my mother is who she is because you know I can deal with anything because of it because of this
18:37
you know what I'm saying she she didn't she didn't raise no punk you like you know if it's time if it's if it's time to go let's go you know and she taught
18:44
me that you know what I'm saying but yeah she just did not play and whenever there was anybody that had anything to
18:51
say to her that she didn't like she had that right there man sunspot Jones um and you you mentioned that on the song
18:57
MacArthur Boulevard and you making a song you made in the 510 which is the
19:03
area code we grew up in MacArthur Boulevard this is a a landmark in Oakland that you know you you you don't
19:09
we take it for granted right i love MacArthur Boulevard all my favorite restaurants is on Macarthur Boulevard
19:15
see and so listening to the song I was like "Yo I never really looked at MacArthur Boulevard like that." But
19:20
these streets be telling the stories of our lives oh yeah you know there'll be there's landmark corner stores you know
19:28
grocery stores things that that happened on that boulevard right what made you
19:34
spotlight MacArthur Boulevard well MacArthur Boulevard once again was a street that I was just on every day
19:39
because I had to get home whether I was on the 57 bus you know riding to to go
19:45
to Bretart to go to you know Berkeley to go to Berkeley High but it's also the street that I ran home when I was late
19:50
for curfew every day you know what I'm saying cuz my mom did not play i had to be at home when that sun went down you
19:56
feel me and they had the Lies there i don't know if you remember the Lies remember the Lies yeah yeah so that's the place where I first got my first job
20:02
not as inside the job i would be the kid in front asking people "Could I carry
20:07
your bag for 25 cents or 50 cents?" The independent spirit started already when I was like six or seven years old you
20:14
know what I'm saying and then it was the car wash right next to Giant Burgers where I asked you know can I wash your car for a couple of dollars you know
20:19
what I'm saying so I went to school in different levels you know whether I was actually going to school or I was
20:25
learning from the streets right there you know all the drug dealers that was at the car wash were like my big brothers they they taught me about the
20:31
streets you know what I'm saying john Sweat which was another school that was down the street i went to that you know what I'm saying so all my best
20:38
experience worst experiences learning experiences all happened on MacArthur Boulevard that's right i went to Skyline
20:45
i took the 79 up from High Street off of you know MacArthur so Skyline that's right how'd you get in i Hey m Mama Mama
20:54
Mama did that little you know that little thing got the gun she carried the gun no she didn't carry the gun up there
20:59
but you know we lied about the address like a lot of people i should have been going to Fremont okay but if I went to
21:04
Fremont I would have been a whole different person let me tell you cuz I would had to keep up in a whole different way than I had to do at
21:10
Skyline when I got to Skyline I started seeing a whole I started seeing the hills i started seeing the flats of I
21:16
started seeing Yeah not just nature i started seeing the heights of where you could go black people in the hills
21:21
something that I didn't really see before like on Hansom you know what I'm saying on streets that I wasn't going to
21:26
because I didn't go to school there montra you know all that up there i was like "Oh Montlair oh what's this up here
21:32
you know what I mean so yeah once again Berkeley High and Skyline taught me
21:37
higher elevation where I could go where I could go and the irony is these places he's speaking of Skyline it take you 10
21:45
minutes to get up that hill yeah but it's a lifetime away wow it's a whole different world it's a like I grew up in
21:50
a flat what they call the Flatlands 23rd Avenue in High Street with my grandmother and we all see each other a
21:57
whole another world between Piedmont between Skyline
22:02
hey I'm gonna tell you another thing with MacArthur Boulevard once you pass MacArthur Boulevard it's a whole
22:07
different mentality everything below past Walgreens and all that stuff it's a whole different thing by the liquor
22:12
store the the meat market liquor store down there before you get to uh Foothill it's a whole different mentality once
22:18
you start going above MacArthur you're like "Oh wait a minute this is Oakland." Yeah this is Oakland redwood Heights
22:24
people happy up here yeah i'm at Lincoln Square getting sodas and people are smiling at me what's going on they're
22:29
saying hi they're saying hi they not you know what I mean there was eye contact yeah you know what I mean that MacArthur
22:34
is that divider line of of mentality when you guys were coming up there was a lot of activity still in the mid 90s
22:42
early 2000s that was happening in the Bay you mentioned the Loonies uh of course Two Shorts Spice One um E40 um
22:50
all of these Sway and Tech we signed a major record label deal that was an early follow for now rock the Ho there
22:55
you go so you know we we we were the major labels record deals but y'all you know but we we got out of that deal and
23:03
start doing the wake up show and start doing more stuff independently but who were some of those artists that y'all
23:09
had relationships with in the bank so my big sisters I I love them to death the
23:15
conscious daughters oh my gosh carla RP Carol yeah rest in peace they would like
23:21
I mean Carla would always have parties at her house and she would have artists from the east coast i mean at her crib
23:27
like Method Man or Inspected Deck or something i'd be like whoa we could touch this we could touch we can all be
23:33
a part of the same thing you know she also would have Sugar Tea over there who I was in love with when I was a kid
23:39
there's no lie about that i mean the click you know what I'm saying and um too short I didn't meet him over there
23:45
but he is a major major influence in my life cuz he was grow you know he he was out the the trunk he was one of the
23:50
first people to do it out the trunk and like you know he he spoke his mind and it was the beats just hit and Banks one
23:57
of the best producers to come out of Oakland you know what I'm saying always had slap and and you know these were the
24:03
artists that I looked up to but the artists that like you know I met early was Dell dell and me like he grew up
24:10
around the corner from me we used to exchange cartridges like when we were 12 years old and stuff he still has my Castlevania we talk about it sometimes
24:17
and like you know I mean you know I let it go but uh it sound like you didn't
24:23
know that Castlevania was game boy man game Boy but no um so these were some of
24:28
the people that I was around but definitely Conscious Daughters um Carol
24:34
and and Carla they showed so much love because they were just in a different spectrum of hip-hop or what they were
24:39
doing and what we were doing you know what I'm saying and uh they still looked
24:44
at me as the same as what you know hip-hop was where a lot of times we're
24:49
funny style to people because we're not talking about hoes we're not talking about money we're not talking about cars we're not talking about certain aspects
24:56
we're not Oakland enough we're not rapping on funk and stuff like that we're not Oakland enough you know what I
25:01
mean even though I grew up in the trenches where people would be afraid to go to after 6 p.m you know what I'm saying but we are not Oakland enough
25:08
because we are not being nigorish enough you feel what I'm saying and I feel like a lot of times it was racism a lot of
25:14
times people look at this stereotype understanding of who you this archetype of who you're supposed to be and you
25:20
never ever was that and you never wanted to be that yeah so like you know that's another thing you know I feel as a
25:26
dark-kinned brother you know you as well we we fighting that whole profiling of
25:32
what people think we are before we even open our mouth mouth you know what I'm saying so yeah look at it like that
25:37
sunspot Jones man yeah it was racism too you know and it gets ourselves too it's
25:43
against ourselves you know and and a lot of times what you know when you come from there a lot of people was rapping
25:48
about [ __ ] they never did they just knew how to speak the language yeah or their cousin did it or their brother did it or
25:54
someone died on their block and they doing the story you know what I mean yeah i've seen dudes become hardcore
26:00
thugs as they became rappers but weren't they with the Bread art it's a dress up
26:06
it's a dress up well Brenard got some hard we did have some people got we got a lot of Yeah right u man Sunspot Jones
26:13
is here give his man a big round of applause i saw you guys in Hawaii recently and and I was so happy you know
26:21
what you know that just to see man that it's 2025 and y'all is living in your
26:27
dream living in your purpose and and and it's great to be able to be in Hawaii
26:33
and I know you always conscious of what's happening in the mainland and around the world but at the same time
26:39
y'all were in Hawaii we was seeing what was happening with ICE you know and and
26:44
what's happening with im immigration right here in this country and I know you always have a you know you outspoken
26:50
about your thoughts right what is what is your thoughts about what you're seeing right now what's going on now and
26:56
how things have gotten out of control there's a couple things I want to build on with that first and foremost Hawaii
27:02
is one thing that was able to happen to us because I always tell other artists if you if you're true and loyal to your
27:09
art form it'll never turn its back on you'll always be there for you that's why we were there and we were able to
27:16
keep going and and being there i went to college there too shamanad University on Aahu a liberal arts college and I went
27:23
there straight out of Skyline and you know I was able to see how how that world is you know Hawaii is
27:30
is really um tourism is kind of taking over you know the island politics of how
27:37
things are so now I want to relate that to how ICE is and how seen the whole thing
27:43
same thing you know tourism runs America in a lot of aspects and the people that are working behind in these jobs are not
27:51
the people that are really coming up off of the whole tourist moment you know what I'm saying and when it comes to
27:57
like farm workers that are feeding all of us basically putting food on all of our tables going out there and picking
28:04
and you know making cultivating the crops and making sure we can have you know regular lives you know they're
28:11
they're not they're not getting nothing out of this moment so when I saw it I I was reminded you know how Hawaii and
28:17
tourism is kind of messed up the the kind of is hella messed up the island it It's It's messed up America and it feels
28:24
like you know everyone's talking about immigrants and and foreigners and all that let's let's get this straight everybody on this on this land is a
28:31
foreigner you know except a small you know small percentage of people the
28:37
indigenous people you know what I'm saying shout out to Aloney tribe you know what I mean and it's it's a thing of like I feel if if you want to sit
28:45
there and tell people what they can and can't do then honestly you got to look at yourself too and the people that are
28:51
making the rules the people even Gavin Newsome's punk ass I'm sorry I shouldn't even say that but I did um even Gavin
28:57
Newsome's punk ass i I I feel like these people are so out of touch on what's
29:02
going on in America and they the people that are making the rules is all wrong you know and ICE going and breaking up
29:08
families and ICE you know probably themselves you know are are the people
29:15
the same um race as the people are kicking out some because the everyone is a diverse you know hiring system you
29:22
know it's a sad moment and it's sad for America and it's sad for our community and it's sad for us to see that we are
29:29
we are isolated we are kicked out of places that we deserve to be because if you're helping build up this country you
29:36
need to be here cuz we need help and you earned it yeah you earned it and they did the same thing to black folks you
29:42
know what I mean all of a sudden you know we were allowed to come here and then all of a sudden we weren't citizens or we weren't citizens from the get but
29:48
they they want to make it so we weren't citizens we couldn't vote and all this stuff this is the same pattern that keeps going on and on and on and the
29:54
only time we're going to see each other as people same blood is when the aliens come down and we're like "Hey we're
30:00
humans together." You know what I'm saying that's the only time until then it's going to be this skin thing the
30:06
skin thing has nothing to do with the blood inside your heart you know what I mean but they want to play off us they
30:12
want to divide us they want to make us feel incompetent then you know what's going to happen it's going to be this
30:18
civil war in the long run and you know who's gonna lose and you know who's gonna win and that's the sad part yeah
30:25
sunspot Jones man i love I love always hearing your your opinions and your perspectives you out there on the ground
30:32
um he got the new project Bad to the Bones part one i'm featured on it that's
30:37
right i'm featured matter of fact for now I [ __ ] with that when you like talking but I didn't do it
30:45
this me right here hold i swear man people should be hiring me to do interludes at this point you just killed
30:50
that right there that was great that was great and the best part about that is it wasn't nothing fake about that like
30:56
really we got history and it's amazing that even after all these years that we
31:02
could still come together and share our history and share you know what we went through because it's so important like I
31:08
said black men we need to be together and and and you know rise each other up because you know it's always going to be
31:14
some sort of you know obstacle it seems like against us and we got to be you
31:19
know as warriors be together you know i love that i'm with you brother that's why we here today that's why we here
31:24
today okay and that's why I'm working on children's books now i don't know i was telling you about that i do children's
31:30
books now and I'm trying to teach kids you know how to get together and and and like you know the first book I did is
31:36
called The Dentist and the Fire Breathing Dragon and it's about oral health and that's also you know teaching
31:42
kids at the fairyland i tell you every year now I have a event where it's a health a hip-hop health fair where we
31:49
give resources to the community and we let people come out and learn about themselves also learn about hip-hop we
31:55
have hip-hop workshops you know my my nonprofit um hip hop Scholastics along with my boy Ato Garcia and we come and
32:02
also Martin Luther King and the Acorns like we we come and and we show people you know how to better themselves and
32:09
get resources that are offered to you and learn more about your heart and where we go i love it man sunspot Jones
32:16
is here man i keep saying his name cuz I want y'all to follow him and pick up his project streaming there's a lot of game
32:22
a lot of gyms in the project bad to the Bones part one we got uh Alex on the line alex welcome to the show where you
32:28
calling from Alex alex what's going on good morning rosie California right here
32:34
okay all right welcome to the show 8887423345 so talk to Sunsteer
32:40
long time by the way first time first time hey hey hey what's good okay and
32:46
I'm a road warrior as well to get and we got a
32:52
road warrior up in here too torch hey come on man just want to give his
32:58
flowers my boy put you on uh put me on to your
33:04
music uh Living Legends and uh Mystic Journeyman uh Angel of Dirty Faces that's that's one of my favorite tracks
33:11
our respects man yeah and uh right now too mr mr journeyman who did the beats
33:17
for all you guys right now um Dirty Faces I produced and right now
33:23
Grouch and me produce that and a lot of times you know it be inside that's one
33:28
of the first things I started doing was making beats and uh from there you know I I get the homies to get into and like
33:35
a lot of legends beats are made by Eli and yeah it it just depends on what song but uh Dirty Faces I produced that and
33:42
right now I was grouching I added you know little flare to it great question man you You really in it
33:49
huh you listen no that's right hey how many solo albums have Sunspot Jones put
33:54
out take a guess six
34:00
nah the damn near double plus some put out 15 16 16 okay no no it's 20
34:09
actually and that's my own solo i got Mystic Journeyman albums you You know I got Living Legends albums i got Stony
34:16
Hawk albums i got Skywalk i I got different incarnations and my own but yeah definitely it's a lot of them it's
34:22
a lot of them alex so you got a lot of listening to do man thank you for calling up brother you're a super citizen i swear to Thank you Tracy G
34:31
tracy you want to ask him a question oh my gosh absolutely sunspot I rock with you bro sincerely respects mama thank
34:39
you the way that you illustrate this rich history you know Sway he can freestyle an entire encyclopedia worth
34:46
of knowledge and lived experiences about Oakland and so the point that you can still teach me things is incredible and
34:54
I also love that Thank you you know when you're speaking about your origin story and then who you are now what's been
35:01
consistent is your level of zeal and ambition you know for this culture you
35:07
care not only about your immediate community but about the community at large and so I just love that we are
35:14
able to hear this and blast your words on these airwaves i'm wondering Thank
35:19
you on the You're very welcome on the flip side of consistency I'm curious about perhaps what has changed in maybe
35:27
your beliefs or your approaches when you first um uh founded Living Legends
35:33
versus where you are now do you have any different beliefs from when you were you know back in the 90s versus 2025 or
35:41
different approaches to community building and business
35:46
i mean I I think for one me and Lucky I am um founded Living Legends um
35:54
my whole understanding of who I am as a person of course has grown as I gotten older i thought before more I mean in
36:02
the beginning I was really about not trying to impress people but I was cognizant of like what I was doing and
36:09
how I infected affected people and made sure that at least I saw a boundary you
36:15
know so I could still be legible and understanding of what I'm doing now I
36:20
don't give a [ __ ] now I'm more like it's heart all out you know what I mean it's
36:25
like I don't need to hide nothing from nobody i don't need to pretend that I see a boundary because there is no
36:31
boundaries there's only ways that you can like show your heart and show the
36:36
energy that you're trying to do and show like you know the tress because this is
36:42
all the truess this is all what makes the truess the more realer you are about who you are and and your your feelings
36:48
the more the listener can be real about themselves they can be in on the the
36:54
movement of captivate being captivated by the art as well it's so important for
36:59
you to be honest you know and I think as I got as I got older I just wanted to be
37:05
more and more honest where before I hindered that a little bit because I was scared because I was young you know what I'm saying i wasn't scared in the sense
37:12
of like I was trying to hide all this stuff i just felt like like I said there's a lot of archetypes about people
37:17
coming out of Oakland i I feel like you know I I fell into some of them as as a
37:23
young person you know of like okay I'm going to just only show this much and not really show this now I'm like I'm
37:29
showing everything because if I don't show everything then that means I'm not giving the listener a chance to free
37:34
themselves right if that makes any sense like I I see my I see my art whether
37:40
it's it's illustration whether it's movie making because I make movies I I I animate I I make beats I make music if I
37:47
am not being truly honest in every aspect of this art then I am being a fake person and I'm not allowing the
37:54
person to release themsself and it's so important that I can help you understand
37:59
the power in yourself if that makes any sense to you amen sp Jones that makes a lot of sense man let's give a man a
38:05
round of applause real quick um two-part question who are some of the newer
38:11
artists that that you collaborated with if at all or that you paying attention
38:17
to um people have collaborated i don't know if they're new but there's Blue from Exile and Blue blue is one of the
38:24
most amazing rappers I've heard um I I have old school homies that have collaborate tash like he's on Tash from
38:31
Alco one of the rawest rappers I think has ever been um when it comes to new
38:37
I'm not I'm not really a big like Playboy Cardi moment you know i'm not really on those those things travis
38:43
Scott though I mean I respect like I respect Black Men doing their thing and I appreciate like the the heights that
38:48
they've gone with their whole art and all that stuff i I'm uh I'm still I'm still like you know I still listen to
38:55
like I still listen to Fitty Sin i'm not going to lie stuff like that i still listen to two short you know what I'm
39:01
saying i still listen to you know I still listen to Dangerous Dame if you remember that brother you know what I
39:06
mean come on i mean I I'll bring Yeah I'll bring old school i love A Scar X i love Board Stiff if you know Bard Stiff
39:13
out of Fris man the Derelicks old school hip-hop but it's still you know it's still new to me so I still find you know
39:19
new stuff whenever I listen to their stuff but and I listen to I mean I know people hate Kanye i love Kanye stuff too
39:25
because you know it's um it's it's another level of of seeing it in a in a
39:30
pop way um I love uh trying to think who else do I really That's good man you did
39:38
I I listen a little bit of everything you know what I'm saying kendrick you Kendrick did you I love Kendrick come on now come on all day kendrick uh Keem um
39:47
I I think that I I find a little bit I mean what what Quincy Jones said this he
39:53
said "There's only good music and bad music." You know what I'm saying if it's good I'll listen to it i don't care what
39:59
kind of genre it's from you know what I mean i'm not sitting there listening to iHeart Radio though i'm going to tell you that because like you know that's
40:05
more of a the Poppy thing but like I I'm listening to stuff that's good and it's
40:10
enriching to the soul that's what I'm about okay man and then finally Living Legends man I feel like the first time I
40:18
really got a chance to talk with Grouch and meet him was at a sound set
40:24
Minneapolis a couple years ago we was all staying at the same hotel you know
40:29
and I was like damn [ __ ] and I walked away from that like I've known this man known of this man known of the movement
40:36
but I've never really had a real conversation with that dude up until that time that was a few years back but
40:42
I was so happy you know the place the face the body the person with all the
40:48
living legends what's next for the living legends bro well my brother
40:53
Grouch also has a name me Cory we're both Cory's um he just dropped a new album called um the 50-year-old rapper
41:01
um and it looks like the 40-year-old Virgin the cover is pretty funny but uh that's new with him i have a new album
41:08
that's coming out called uh the purple EP it's kind of based off my album Purple Kush or my song Purple Kush and
41:14
as far as living legends we did an album when we played Red Rocks last year we got a house in Colorado for um like
41:22
maybe like 10 days and we got with this producer Starski and Josiah they're
41:27
called the Chef Boys and uh DJ Fresh dj Fresh dj Fresh one of the dopest as well
41:32
he was just on the show okay yes my brother and um we we um basically put put together a new album we haven't
41:38
named it yet but we have a new album and we're playing Red Rocks again it's going to be our fifth time playing Red Rocks
41:44
and it's going to be us um atmosphere hieroglyphics dilated people it's going to be a dope you need to be at
41:51
that show it's going to be lit it's going to be It's going to be on September 19th 3 days after your boy birthday viros viros in the house and
41:59
yeah you already know and uh yeah so basically what we're doing is we're just keep going man we're not stopping
42:05
there's no reason to stop making art you know i mean we're not the most famous um
42:11
group in the world but we're not the least famous group in the world you know what I'm saying and we've taken it
42:16
around the world like I said I've gone to Norway Amsterdam UK France Australia
42:21
Japan Philippines it goes on and on i've been able to go around the world with this art so the whole idea is just to
42:28
keep showing his heart through this art and letting people know that Oakland ain't nothing to play with there you go
42:33
man sunspot Jones man living legends mystic journey man from another planet
42:39
man he's here bad to the bone out right now you got me something yeah about all
42:44
right town business town first first and foremost I I create brands so this is one of the brands I make this uh Oakland
42:51
the town the bay you want me there you go I mean I know you love them hats man you used to wear big hats now you got
42:57
smaller hats there you go you saw the whole evolution hey I've seen the whole evolution right there this is nice and
43:04
I'm making you an honorary member of the living legend with a you got your shirt
43:09
brother you got your shirt it looks just like this living legend put your name in
43:14
the front there we go that's what we do man with the name i'm going to wear this in September hey there we go you show up
43:20
you better show up man hey that's what's up and And I want you to know I make all my stuff at home that's another thing
43:26
taking the independent spirit to the next level i create all my art and and merchandise at the crib and and that
43:33
right there was made at my crib and you know I package it at the crib and and that's what I do i take independent to
43:39
the whole next level on every aspect animator filmmaker editor music maker
43:45
clothes maker it don't stop love maker ask your mama ask your mama ask your
43:52
mama that's right how many ask your mom hey none baby that I do it right i do it
43:57
right now you know that's why I can't keep working hey there sunspot Jones
44:03
y'all follow him at sunspot su n s p o t j o n z hey and and my I'm sorry my
44:11
website sunoverver you got Sways Universe i got the Suniverse sunspot Jones Universe s U N I V E R Z.com
44:19
grab some merch see what I'm up to see the books and And I can't leave without giving a special shout out special shout
44:26
out not just to my cousin Kim but also Brenda Johnson my mama i love it there you go man hey man this is awesome
44:33
brother hey you already know man we could do it again too man hey I want to come back i got more thoughts and thoughts yeah n come back bring the
44:40
fellas up let's do some get a cipher going let's do it oh and shouts out to Mr fab too mr fab man that's right 10
44:48
toes down in the town right now you already know all stuck in the community i love it right come on man i love you
44:53
brother sunspot Jones Mr journeyman Living Legends get the new album Bad to
44:58
the Bones Parts you check out my track track seven um oh yeah the hottest track
45:05
on the album the whole hottest track hey hey hey
45:11
then we going to end the show with MacArthur Boulevard brother can we do Oh and look out for my film She's Got a Plan with Fatima Washington out right
45:17
now on Amazon amazon amazon what's it called she's Got a Plan she's got a Plan you did you produce it i wrote it direct
45:23
co-directed it and I produced it i'll be watching it this afternoon you know you know we don't stop oakland don't stop
45:29
town business and on that note we got nothing left to
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