Jurassic 5 interview
Jurassic 5 are arguably the most popular act to come out of the L.A. underground — specifically the open mic night movement at the Good Life Café.
Appearing: 9/1 at House Of Blues (329 N. Dearborn) in Chicago.
It was in this South Central health food mart/performance space that the Pharcyde, Kurupt, Ahmad, and The Freestyle Fellowship all came out to show and prove onstage . . . and get booed off it if they broke the no-cussing rule. It was also at the Good Life two groups, The Unity Committee (Chali 2na, Cut Chemist, and Marc 7) and The Rebels Of Rhythm (Zaakir and Akil), came together in 1993 to become one. That group became Jurassic 5, who would soon after add their sixth member, DJ Nu-Mark.
J5 have experienced a lot of growth since then, and along the way have put out four albums — each more diverse than the one before. Some 13 years after their inception, J5’s man behind the boards (Nu-Mark) and their deepest-voiced MC (Chali 2na) discuss how they became the most successful group to emerge from the world-renowned Good Life. Sure, all movements begin underground, but when a group of old school hip-hop preservationists goes on to make songs with Dave Matthews and become beloved by college-aged kids across the globe, it’s almost too good to be true.
“We do good music and our timing has been kind of impeccable more so than anything else,” explains Chali 2na, a Chicago native who moved to Southern California at age 16. “It’s a blessing to be able to be at the right place at the right time with the right product.”
Being at the right place at the right time includes having shared the stage with the Dave Matthews Band, which eventually lead to the recording of their melodic new single, “Work It Out,” with Matthews. But beyond good timing, J5’s longevity can be attributed to the fact they just plain get along.
While the group’s original DJ/producer, Cut Chemist, recently left to focus on his solo career, J5 haven’t skipped a beat. As Chali says of Cut’s departure, “We’ve been able to hold down the shows and shit for the past year, year-and-a-half without Cut. Big up to my man — Eric’s my dude — but it’s a void that’s been filled by our ingenuity as opposed to you watching the show like, ‘Man, this shit’s just not the same.’ It’s not like that.”
Nu-Mark can attest to how each member’s respect for each other has helped J5 thrive. “We have a low tolerance in our group for big egos and I think that’s what breaks up a lot of groups,” he explains. “And the other thing is, we’re always just fans [of music] and we still feel like we haven’t made it. And I think just the part about us feeling like we haven’t made it yet is the biggest driving force ’cause we’re really hungry.”
As J5 have performed for receptive crowds as large as 60,000 at Bonnaroo in Tennessee, it’s hard to fathom what more they could want to achieve. But as much as getting on the stage remains the core of J5’s focus, there are still unattained goals on their minds — especially mainstream radio play. All things considered, tracks like “Quality Control” and “W.O.E. Is Me (World Of Entertainment)” have done well on Billboard’s rap singles chart. Yet because radio programmers don’t know where to place their upbeat, oft-throwback styled rap, J5 simply don’t get spun.
With their fourth album, Feedback, they hope to change that. “That’s really the missing piece with J5 and that’s what we’re trying to achieve in this record, for sure with the Dave Matthews track,” says Nu Mark. “It would be great to be on the radio because for us, keeping it real is actually being on the radio. We grew up listening to Run-DMC, PE [Public Enemy], De La Soul, [A] Tribe [Called Quest], and everybody else on the radio from our school, so we’ve never thought that being on the radio is selling out or by any means diminishing the J5 brand. If anything it would validate us,” Nu Mark adds before letting out a chuckle.
To read more about Jurassic 5’s dalliance with fame, grab the August issue of Illinois Entertainer throughout Chicagoland.
— Max Herman
