Posted on 05/07/2008
P.O.R.N. [Acronym to be explained later] and Truck North are protégés of The Roots’ school, and what some insiders would consider the Last of the Mohicans of that school. In addition, they comprise half of the Money Making Jam Boys [Black Thought and Dice Raw]. Some may be recognizing them for the first time on the Roots latest effort Rising Down, but they’ve been here before. Truck North did work on The Tipping Point and both represented on Game Theory. They credit their skills and lyrical fitness to fundamental conversations with The Roots crew that helped them locate their individual identities by honing in on specific social currents. Now, with notable exposure, they don’t plan on becoming complacent. P.O.R.N. states, “If you can’t keep the people that work with you interested, than you’re not going to be able to keep the people who want to work with you interested.”

Discussing different social currents, whether it’s politics, the Philadelphia murder rate, or the generational gap in the African-American community, P.O.R.N. believes, “You either drink, smoke, or pop a pill. I don’t know how you live in this country sober.”

Something is evident, The Roots & company have opened the door to individuals who represent the same mentality and grind, yet still keep their own identities. The Jam Boys know their time is coming but they’re not waiting for it to fall in their laps.


OKP: When did you guys know that music was going to be your life’s work?

Truck North: To be honest I always had a bunch of friends that were rappin’ in middle school but I wasn’t really the rapper in middle school like that, but which ever year Only Built 4 Cuban Linx and Mobb Deep’s The Infamous came out I took my lunch money and went to Strawberries and bought both records and it fucked my life up [laughs]. That is a pinpoint moment in time where I was like fuck that, I’m in.

P.O.R.N.: I’m an eighties baby so I was basically raised around the time when rap exploded in junior high school in ’86, I was part of that whole movement, so since junior high school I was into it.

OKP: What was the culture like for you growing up in Philadelphia?

Truck North: Honestly I was kind of young on the Philly explosion with the Cool C and Steady B and the Tough Crew. I remember feeling a certain kind of vibe like yeah that’s us, n*ggas was proud. My first experience was on The Roots, Bahamadia, Radioactive at nine o’clock at night pull your tape out and put it in the cassette deck type shit.

P.O.R.N.: My childhood growin’ was like rap, hip-hop, and the youth was sort of synonymous because it was all one movement because everything we did was rap. If it hadn’t already been on a record it became a record so we felt like we were all apart of that. Whatever dance was hot at that time we were doin’ that, whatever slang was out; it was all one thing and as we grew the music grew.

 (Above: Black Thought with P.O.R.N.)

 

OKP: What are your opinions on hip-hop’s growth?

P.O.R.N.: Well, I think it’s coming back around to that, like the eighties are back. I think that rap is going through a stage of evolution and I think that it was so new in the eighties that nobody knew anything about it and it has grown and become itself but it’s still becoming itself. It’s something that went from being broke and then it fed itself until it got rich and now it’s got so rich it’s like, damn I’m not like I was when I was… and I just don’t feel it the same and now it’s starting to go back to there. Everybody done bubbled and popped and now it’s like- what do we do next? And it’s like, I remember when we used to do it like this and it’s going back to that. I even think the down South music is a version of boom-bap music, it’s just up to date, but I think real rappers and real hip-hoppers are going to shine again.

Truck North: I think right now at least in Philly the vibe is just real loose there is no unity…

P.O.R.N.: In Philly, I think they’re scrambling in Philly, everybody’s looking for a direction in Philly.

Truck North: Yeah, it’s like the tree is shakin’ and everyone’s falling out that mothafucka’ and as far as on some rap aspect at least what I see in mom & pop stores and retail stores is that they’re trying find what music is poppin’ in other regions. This is not unheard of but I’m not tryin’ to sound like nobody! I’m not tryin’ to sound like the cats from Queens, I’m not tryin’ to sound like I’m from Brooklyn, I’m tryin’ to sound like I’m from Philly and we’re going to do our own Philly sound and a lot of cats from Philly is scramblin’ for some down South shit or some extra hard beef shit but there’s a certain few that go against the grain.

OKP: Describe the history of how the relationship formed between you two and The Roots?

P.O.R.N.: We worked on the last album with them and Truck worked on the last two with them. It’s a group effort and you can pick up a lot of stuff because they’re real transparent as far as they’re not afraid for us to see and learn. I can insert my opinion, but just don’t be afraid to get a yes or no to a question and things will be alright. You have to have a certain amount of mental toughness and mental fortitude to be able to sit there and take criticism and learn and grow.

Truck North: And let Rich [Nichols] (The Roots’ manager/producer) shit on you [laughs].

P.O.R.N.: Yeah and let Rich shit on you and you’ll be all right and things will be real cool. He’ll destroy you but he’ll also build you back up.

Truck North: Like if you can sit there and get totally broken down and be shown why you were fucked up [laughs] and then go on to do shit the right way, it’s dope, but a lot of cats don’t make it through them stages [laughs].

P.O.R.N: Yeah we’re like the last ones, we’re like the two survivors off the island.

OKP: If you can what are some of those transparent lessons that you’ve learned?

P.O.R.N.: Truck was on before me and we were in the same building but I was just working with Dice [Raw] exclusively. I knew The Roots but I never worked with them, they were always like the animal at the other side of the cage for me, so I was more looking at them from the outside in. Then I made a song and Shawn Gee (The Roots’ other manager) heard the song and when he heard the song he suggested that they should work with me. From there, that’s how I got on.

When I first got down we had more social conversations before the music. I had to have a certain social understanding whether it’s over the top pop or underground, I had to have my pulse on some kind of social current. I had my finger on so many different pulses but I didn’t have anything that was particular which in no way made me wack, but definitely didn’t make me attractive to one lane. So that was the first lesson I learned, who am I?

Truck North: It was different for me because I was always around.

P.O.R.N: He was directly associated with a member of the band.

Truck North: Yeah, I grew up with Kamal’s younger brother and we were bustin’ rhymes in sixth grade so I would always be around them and everyone. Once in a while I would see the Landcruiser pull up and they’re [The Roots] piling shit in and piling shit out and it was like, damn, that’s The Roots! It went from that to when they started working on The Tipping Point and I had more of a working relationship with Kamal, knockin’ joints out with him, and me just fine-tuning as an emcee not necessarily in a particular direction but just the opportunity to do me and that turned into well, why don’t you come to The Tipping Point jam sessions? which was totally fuckin’ bananas!

P.O.R.N.: I missed all that and I was one room over.

Truck North: I had to be in this crazy ass environment on one end of the wall and on the very other side of the wall it’s live instrumentation and improvising and n*ggas jammin’.

P.O.R.N.: God knows how many verses you have to write, it’s a process.

Truck North: ?uest called me to do a fuckin’ re-write at four o’clock in the afternoon and he wanted me to get to New York by six and I was at work [laughs]! I was doing re-writes to the end; this shit is not a one shot deal.

OKP: So for the tracks that you guys appeared on Rising Down what was that scenario like? We’re there a lot of re-writes etc.?

P.O.R.N.: Not for me [laughs]!

Truck North: P.O.R.N. lit the fire on this mothafucka’ because for a second there wasn’t anything but P.O.R.N. verses on this joint, he had a couple homeruns on this shit, I had some doubles.

P.O.R.N.: But see on the last album when we worked on Game Theory Truck had more homeruns even though some of the stuff they didn’t use, he was closer to the finish line that I was.

OKP: Names, what does P.O.R.N. stand for and the same question goes to Truck?

P.O.R.N.: Ah you should’ve started with Truck first [laughs]!

Truck North: Mine is simple, Truck is a name, North is a part of where I’m from. And that’s pretty much that.

P.O.R.N.: I haven’t defined what the acronym means yet [laughs]. They’ve been calling me P.O.R.N. for years because of some crazy episode with some chick when we were teenagers and then I was already a big Slick Rick fan so it made me seem like I was some up-to-date Slick Rick type of dude. So that’s basically where the name comes from and I’ll let everyone know what the acronym means later. I really have most of it I just haven’t figured out the “N” yet [laughs], it was Random Narcotics but I ain’t sure yet [laughs].

OKP: We look forward to the final answer! 

Listen to The Roots - "Singing Man" feat. P.O.R.N. & Truck North

- Dale Coachman