The First 5 with Public Defendaz

Written by Justin Elgie. Published: Friday, February 19, 2010.

Meet the Public Defendaz, a 5-man crew based out of various spots throughout California. Composed of members Oktapus, Royal, J4RD, Taktical, and IyayI, this group first hooked up and started making music in 2006. Their objective? To create quality music and preserve hip-hop in it’s truest form. They are well on their way to this goal with the release of their debut album Tampered Evidence, that was reviewed on aboveGround Magazine today. A digital copy through iTunes will be available this March. Check out their First 5 below!

Check out aboveGround Magazine’s review on Public Defendaz debut album, Tampered Evidence.

1. Tell us something no one knows about you?

Oktapus: I was close to playing Pro Baseball before getting more involved in this music.

Taktical: A lot of people don’t know that everything we do is us and made by us if you know what I’m saying.  From the beats, to the home studio, the management, the promotions, bookings, EVERYTHING.  It’s all PUB DEF!!!

Royal: A lot don’t know that we’ve opened for such a wide assortment of Hip Hop artist.  For example: E-40, Ice Cube, Slick Rick, Zion I, Dead Prez, Rakim, Tech N9NE, Living Legends, Andre Nickatina, Lryics Born, Boot Camp Clik, Mistah F.A.B., and more.  It’s really a blessing now that I really think about it.

2. What do you want people to take away from your music?

Royal: We want the people to know that Hip Hop is still a creative art form.  That it’s not going to get washed away despite popular trends or corporate greed.

J4RD: Whatever they can, emotionally.

Oktapus: We want people to recognize the respect we have for Hip Hop Culture.  Because Hip Hop in general is in a very fragile state and people need to acknowledge all that Hip Hop has done and been through.

3. What is one of your biggest regrets?

Taktical: Dealing with promoters who know nothing bout the business but act like they do, and depend on local support to do the work they should be doing themselves.  Let’s just say we’ve had our run in with these kind of promoters a few times in our past.

J4RD: Hahahahahahaha….like that Spice 1 show.

4. What’s one of your greatest hip-hop memories?

IyayI: Probably has to be sitting in a kitchen with Slick Rick after our show discussing some of Hip Hop’s politics and trading stories.

J4RD: When I was 11-21 years old … 1987-1997. Basically, watching hip-hop grow up.

IyayI: Meeting Knoc-turn’al at Roscoe’s and him telling me some valuable lessons on how to “get on” in the music industry.  Basically he said, “You better have money if you’re looking for radio play!!!”

5. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
We see ourselves touring heavily and having a number of releases under the Public Defendaz imprint/name.  Hopefully by then, we will have had a couple overseas shows under our belts as well.  Also, having our own LLC established and putting on some new artists that we currently work with.  Pretty much just building on the name and making our family stronger. Anything else that comes we’ll just label it “Fate”.

Get more info on Public Defendaz through MySpace, Twitter and ReverbNation.

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