Yungun - City Breaks

"So one day I’m a move to where the booze is cheap
Where you don’t get poisoned by the food that you eat
To where you stop work in the afternoon to sleep
I refuse to be another sheep in the flock
I got a higher purpose
I might find it writin’ verses
‘Cos if you don’t create nothin’
Then your life is worthless"  

Dead Prez - Globalization

Boogie Down Productions - T'cha - T'cha

"I represent the Bronx, but I am a New Yorker,

all vegeterian, never eat pork or

chicken in a battle yes my brain starts clickin”

SFSM (Sna Francisco Street Music) - Golden Child

It’s All Love With Myka 9 | The Kitchen Mix

It’s All Love With Myka 9 | The Kitchen Mix (repost)

TKM: Well, you obviously played a role in that project. I think “Mood Food” was the name of the piece you collaborated on. Can you talk about your relationship with food, and specifically how it relates to the creation of your music?

M9: Food, more than just a fuel, calorically speaking – it inspires me because if I eat the right amount of food and right…Ayurvedically speaking, you know I get that energy and then sometimes, like when I eat heavier foods I don’t want to work on music…so, yeah.

TKM: Oh, Ayurvedic huh? Word.

TKM: Well, I know you travel quite a bit, can you talk about food culture in America and how it compares to food culture in other places?

M9: Well, American food I’m used to. And other places, like, you know in the U.K. I don’t really like the meat and stuff…that much, uh…off and on I’m vegetarian. I was vegetarian for like 10 years. And then, I’m flexible now. Um…when I was in Amsterdam I had some Indonesian food that was really good. I was in Japan a couple months ago, I like their food. I steer clear of stuff that’s really gamey and stuff that’s a little bit out of what my pallet’s used to. I have to admit, um…I love Ethiopian food…and Indian food.

TKM: So, you’re really able to appreciate food from cultures outside of the U.S.?

M9: Yeah…

TKM: Are you good at cooking? Do you cook? You get down in the kitchen?

M9: I’m actually pretty good. I season to taste when I cook. And sometimes I use the same seasonings in almost everything that I cook. I end up using a lot of Creole-Cajun seasonings. And um…yeah.

TKM: Is there a recipe you’d like to share, or a dish that you make really well?

M9: I got a good vegetarian spaghetti that I make. And it’s beautiful because I make the vegetarian pasta taste like meat. Yeah…vegetarian pasta – spaghetti.

TKM: Alright, thanks I appreciate your time. We’re gonna hafta try our hand at making our own vegetarian pasta…gluten-free of course.

M9: It’s all love.

Infinito 2017 | The Kitchen Mix

Infinito 2017 | The Kitchen Mix (repost)

1. How does food relate to the creation of your music (and your work on canvas)?

"Food has nothing to do with my music; my music is mainly centered on the African Diaspora. I think food in general is for “health” and survival, nothing more."

2. How would you rate your kitchen skills and are you comfortable in the kitchen?

"My cooking skills are pretty good I cook as a need and what’s needed to nourish my
body. I’m not worldly or materialistic so it’s not anything that excites me. I’m
pretty good in the kitchen for what I use it for."

3. I’m impressed by the quantity of visual art and music that you are able to put out and still maintain a high degree of quality and social integrity, where does the inspiration come from? Talk about work ethic and discipline. Advice?

"My work ethic comes from me being self driven and motivated. I give respect to my Mother and Grandmother for being so driven in their own work ethic. So I’d say my main family members are a motivation to me."

4. If I were to categorize your music by a region (ex. – Chicago Hip Hop, Southern Underground, Midwest) what would it be and talk about the food of the place that you claim.

"My creativity is based exclusively from the South Side Chicago and the entire African Diaspora worldwide and any of the Indigenous regions of the earth. My creativity is black / Nubian inside and out and full of culture and content."

 5. I’m a Nacrobats fan. Have continued to follow many of the members as they ventured off on their own paths. Can you talk about that experience and creating music within that collective?

"What do I say, I’ve made over 25 albums (tapes, CD and Vinyl) prior to any knowledge
of Nacrobats. I have made over 120 more projects during and prior to the connection. I have to admit that Nacrobats for me was just a very minute part of my music life. The connection to the Nacrobats crew for me is mainly like a partial collaboration for a small period of time. The only person in Nacrobats I have any connection with after 2004 is Thaione Davis. I mainly do all my work for Infinito 2017, Marcellous Lovelace and Joe Left Hand Records."

6. If you could artistically or musically collaborate with any artist, who would that be? Why?

"I’d work with Stevie Wonder because he seems to know what feels good in music
making as far as I’m concerned. I’d like to work with De La Soul, Madlib, Bob Power, The Roots, Sun Ra and someone like Norman Conners because they all know how to make vocals warm and the music nice and tight. Just to name a few."

7. Does spirituality play a role in your artistic creations? Explain.

"No, I’m not involved in any outer body operation with my creativity. It’s all a self
motivated process. I wake up and breathe, life alone drives me to create. Life is a gift so I will not waste it."

 8. What are your thoughts on food culture in America? Regionally?

"I think food culture in America is extremely poor and many people eat to feed an emotional need be it the lack of sex, money and opportunity. Based on my theory, America on a whole is completely materialistic and loaded with folk who drown themselves in waste matter and gluttony. The sad part about the underprivileged parts of the cities like the South Side of Chicago where I’m from is there aren’t many healthy options or diversified food choices, people are improperly trained to destroy themselves through diet, education, and social health on a daily basis."

9. If you could have anybody (past, present, famous, family…) make you a meal who would it be and what would you like? Why?

"Someone who knows how to make a hearty and healthy vegetarian / vegan meal? I went to a place in Brooklyn, New York once that had some good tasting, vegetarian, meatless food."

10. Is there a recipe you would like to share with our readers or share with us to possibly try and feature?

"Veggie Tacos
Get you some vegetables any kind, possibly some ground tofu or veggie burgers. Red
Beans, rice. Some Taco Shells, any kind you like. Get you some lettuce, spinach etc.. Some seasoning, I use milk free taco seasoning for taste.
Cook all the peppers, onions, veggie burgers into large skillet until it’s all
grounded similar to the look of traditional Taco Meat. Mix in seasoning, etc …
Place in taco shells and eat. Hot Sauce and or Salsa etc as needed. (I’m not the type of person who wants anyone to know too much personally about me if they are not my immediate family)."

11. If I were to describe myself using food I might say: spicy, organic gottta-have-that-crunch, grass-fed, not too sweet, home cooked and satisfying meal
What would you say? How would you describe yourself?

"Sustainable, I’d say I’m something that lasts through all things."

12. Comment on the following – True or False: You are what you eat.

True, don’t eat pork or allow yourself to be fed diabetes based, high blood pressure junk. That’s just me… Oh don’t drink alcohol or intake any type of drugs. Man Up …

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A Conversation with the Great Pharoahe Monch | The Kitchen Mix

A Conversation with the Great Pharoahe Monch | The Kitchen Mix (repost)

“This rhyme, will remain in the minds of my foes forever in infamy
The epitome of lyrical epiphanies
Skillfully placed poems and carefully planned symphonies” – Pharoahe Monch

TKM: Pharoahe, let’s talk about food.

PHAROAHE MONCH: Let’s do it.

TKM: Alright, most important question – how does food relate to the creation of your music?

PM: It’s everything, man. Being a chronic asthmatic I realized that diet plays a big part in the reaction I have to food. So, it’s a big part of the change I’ve had to make in my life. So it’s everything to me right now.

TKM: What do you mean “a big part of the change?”

PM: I try to eat a lot cleaner.

TKM: You mean in terms of where the food you eat is coming from?

PM: I eat a lot cleaner in the terms of the way that food is cooked.

[Pharoahe speaks on his asthma a bit in this D-Nice interview]

TKM: OK, so you’re attentive to ingredients that are put into what you’re consuming?

PM: I stay away from processed food and stuff that has wrapping on it.

TKM: Ah, so you have a good understanding about the differences between real food and chemical-laden, preservative filled edibles.

PM: Yeah. I Try and eat more natural and as organic as possible.

TKM: You trying to gravitate to anything in particular? Any specific foods?

PM: For me, being asthmatic, one of the more simpler things that’s very key is water.

TKM: Yeah, I read that the majority of the people we see walking around us are suffering from ailments that are directly related to a lack of water. Asthma was one of the things mentioned.

PM: I try and drink tons and tons and tons of water. Water. Water, water, water.