Ant Banks and MC Eiht, two legendary, pioneering west coast heavyweights, recently sat down with Lord Rab and the No Vultures podcast, ahead of the Soul Beat Concert Series Presents: Menace II Society show at The New Parish in Oakland, California, to talk about Compton gang banging, early Oakland, the late MC Ant, the legendary Compton’s Most Wanted & making the classic “Duck Sick” song.
MC Eiht also discusses how Kool G Rap was one of the first artists to bring gangster-type music into hip-hop, how he grew up listening to Parliament Funkadelic, The Stylistics, Kraftwerk, and reveals that one of his first experiences with rap music was listening to Too Short.
“The Big Badass” Ant Banks details how Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Melle Mel, and others were the soundtrack to coming up in Oakland during his early years, and how his homies on the block encouraged him to pursue music and not get involved in the streets. Banks also discusses discovering the process of becoming a producer at a young age using a Casio keyboard, how the crack era decimated his hometown, and working with MC Ant to begin his foray into making music in 1988.
Check out the No Vultures podcast interview with Ant Banks & MC Eiht below: