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Originally from Winston-Salem, a NASCAR-and-nicotine-stained small town in North Carolina, Los Angeles transplants Brother Reade have become darlings of the underground hip hop scene over the past two years. Mic man Jimmy Jams and DJ/producer Bobby Evans' unwavering positivity within the Echo Park DIY art and music communities has seen them collaborate with other Angelic do-it-yourself heroes like Teenage Teardrops' label head Cali Dewitt and punk noise bands No Age and Mika Miko. This week Brother Reade hit London for their debut UK performances supporting their no nonsense debut full length, Rap Music.
Dazed Digital: What was it like being a teenager in Winston-Salem, North Carolina?
Jimmy James: It was one of those things that you hated at the time, but in retrospect the small town we grew up in was the thing that formed us the most.
BE: In Winston, if there's going to be anything going on, you have to make it happen. You have to start your own shows, have your own bands...
JJ: For this reason, there's a crazy DIY arts and music scene, which exists on its own, virtually unaided by the local press and the city.
DD: Were you enticed by hip-hop's romantic notion of DIY independence from an early age?
BE: Yeah, but it it stemmed more from punk.
JJ: That's true but it's not a coincidence that the two feed into each other. Lyrically, rap is really motivational. The proverbial hustle is pushing the same agenda as the DIY culture in punk. It's pretty telling that both of these ideas came up in the Reagan era, when two huge populations of youths felt they really had to struggle to do things on their own.
DD: Are the LA arts and music communities welcoming?
JJ: Yes. The scenes we're involved in aren't exclusive like the typical cliché, they're the antithesis of the red-carpet and the velvet rope. There's a current in Los Angeles that's doing something beautiful and amazing, and the fact that it's located in "Hollywood" makes the rejection of those conventions that much stronger. The arts in LA right now feel alive, and immediate. More people are young than not. Less people are educated than not. It's one of those times that in eight years people will be wishing they were living in.
DD: Can you explain what's going on with community hot spots the Family bookstore and The Smell?
BE: Family is a bookstore in the heart of Hollywood and The Smell is an all-ages venue downtown that's been around longer than we've lived in LA.
JJ: Both are vital. You need places in your town you can trust so that you can go to any event there and it'll be awesome. They really make LA a different place. Family is fly because reading is fly. The Smell is fly because punk is fly.
BE: For other impeccable spots, Ooga Booga gets less mention than the aforementioned, but is another killer spot for events and things you can't find anywhere else.
