The first seeds of Psycho Realm were sown in the tough downtown Pico-Union neighborhood, right across the street from Doheny Park. First-generation Americans and the eldest two of the four Gonzalez boys, Jack and Gustavo, a.k.a. "Duke," grew up in the contentious neighborhood in the mid- and late-1980s.
"Our side of town is the 'Sick Side' of town. They have the South Side, North Side, East Side, whatever. Our side is the Sick Side," Jack explains over a lunch of Argentine Lomo and Mimosas on Hollywood's Melrose Avenue one recent Sunday, fresh off a series of concert dates in Italy.
The patriarch of the Gonzalez family came to the U.S. from Mexico at the age of 15 and supported his family by painting cars. Their house was filled with music: classic oldies, which surface prominently in Psycho Realm's tracks, along with regional Mexican music and giants of the 1960s and '70s like Creedence Clearwater Revival, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix.
Immersed in hip-hop as a middle-school student, Jack's neighborhood friend, Yonjo, got ahold of a record featuring a guy out of Miami rapping in Spanish. They threw it on the turntable and, inspired by what they heard, the boys wrote a Spanglish rap about all of the friends they grew up with and the growing specter of neighborhood gang warfare that would crest just a few years later in the early 1990s.
Older brother Duke was attending Cal State Northridge (CSUN) at the time, and Jack and Yonjo made the trip out one weekend to see Latin hip-hoppers A Lighter Shade of Brown play the on-campus pub. When the following act was late to the stage, a deejay friend of Duke's threw on an instrumental beat and persuaded Jack and Yonjo to get on stage. Their song about the neighborhood characters got the crowd going crazier than the headlining act, and Jack was hooked.
Eventually, Yonjo dropped out to work for his family's business, Duke got in on the act, and his days at CSUN soon came to an end as well. "I think he went with the intention of doing something, but didn't know what he wanted to do," says Jack. According to his little brother, Duke spent most of those two years with his '79 Regal backed up to the door of his dorm room, juicing up the batteries on his hydraulics with free electricity, courtesy of the Cal State University system. When the party was over, he left.
By now Jack was attending the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies' (LACES) magnet high school Mid-City. Always a talented writer, he once won an essay contest for an opportunity to travel to the Soviet Union, but those plans were derailed by the ill-timed collapse of communism. Jack also played first-chair trumpet in the band and rubbed elbows in Miss Cox's music class with Lucas MacFadden (a.k.a. DJ Cut Chemist of Jurassic 5, Ozomatli and the Brainfreeze projects with DJ Shadow), and a certain actor you may have heard of named Leonardo DiCaprio.
Jack admits that he and his boys used to give Leo a hard time, but when they ran into each other years later at a Playboy magazine party, there were no hard feelings. "He was like, 'Hey, your music's tight.' I was like, 'You're acting's dope,'" Jack remembers.
After graduating from LACES, Jack also took a stab at higher education, attending Santa Monica College on scholarship, taking random courses for credit like weight training. "My dad always wanted us to do the college thing," he says. "Get a good job, make eighty-, a hundred-thousand-dollars a year. Live the good life, you know?" But with an infant daughter to support (he's now the proud father of five girls) and a waning interest in academics, Jack decided that his energy was better spent working and nurturing Psycho Realm's music.
About that time, Psycho Realm caught what could be considered the band's big break. It was 1993 and they were playing a free "End Barrio Warfare" show at the Olvera Street Plaza downtown, which happened to be attended by B-Real of Cypress Hill. B liked what he heard, met with Jack and Duke after the show, and eventually signed Psycho Realm to his production company and the Ruffhouse/Columbia/Sony label, mentoring the fledgling duo. "He was a good mentor," says Jack. "He helped us structure our songs more.
Live shows, he taught us how to work the crowd."
B-Real was so impressed with Psycho Realm that he actually wanted to join the group and make it a trio, but Jack and Duke were reluctant to let anyone else in the fold. "We had the mentality of the old rock bands: If you can't do an album on your own, you ain't shit," says Jack. The brothers told B-Real they would pass, but he was persistent. "We told him if you're going to be in the group, you've got to do all the promotional stuff, too. You don't get superstar status. And he was down with it, so we were like, 'Let's do the whole album.' And we did the whole first album with him."
The Big Debut
When it came time to put out their self-titled debut album in 1997, Jack and Duke were adamant that it was credited only to Psycho Realm, minting them as their own brand. Sony didn't go for it. "On everything, every sticker, it said, 'Featuring B-Real of Cypress Hill,' " recalls Jack. "You can't really blame them because they're sinking so many dollars into it. They're going to go for the marketing aspect." It wasn't all bad news, though. Even now, when Cypress Hill comes up, Psycho Realm usually gets a mention, and vice-versa.
Timing was not on their side, however. Simultaneously, Cypress Hill, Nas, and the Fugees were all on the Ruffhouse label, and they all had big radio hits. Not being a radio-friendly group, Psycho Realm fell into a no-man's land, and consequently fell through the cracks. "They didn't know what to do with us," laments Jack. "Two Mexican guys from L.A. rapping. They were just like, 'What is this? How can we market this?' "
Psycho Realm eventually decided it was best to part ways with Sony. "Sony did give us a worldwide promotional campaign, so we're known all over the world now," says Jack. "We can go to Europe and have promoters pay us to do shows. And we have fans that are coming to the shows all over the world – Mexico, South and Central America, Europe, Australia."
With a DIY work ethic, the Gonzalez brothers have also cultivated a vast network of independent distributors around the globe, keeping their music, their fans – and their profits – close to their chests. Jack breaks it down: "Instead of making eighty cents a record, we're making six or seven dollars a record. It's more of a direct contact with the streets, too, because on a day-to-day basis I'm going around to stores dropping off product. People at the shows buy it, people see me on the streets. I'm out there every day. It's being accessible. I think a lot of people can relate to us and the fact that we're in everybody's face, we're standing next to everybody, it makes it that much more real."
The ugly face of Los Angeles street violence got a little too real for Psycho Realm in late January 1999, just a month before their second album, "A War Story, Book 1," was scheduled for release on their own Sick Symphonies label. After a Delinquent Habits show at the El Rey theatre, Duke and a few friends went in search of late-night nourishment, ending up at Tommy's burger stand at Beverly and Rampart. Following an altercation in the parking lot, Duke was shot in the neck, severing an artery, with the bullet ending up right between the "L" and the "O" of his "Los Angeles" tattoo.
War Story II
By the time Jack made it to the scene, Duke was already on his way to County-USC Medical Center, and only his jacket remained in the street, ringed by yellow police tape. He caught up with Duke in the hospital hallway, barely alive and disfigured by swelling, bandages and clamps. Duke survived, and the police arrested the shooter, but his injuries left him a quadriplegic at 28.
Jack calls the months after Duke's misfortune "The Dark Ages." "I wasn't really doing much," he says. "Not really making music, just cruising the streets." Duke eventually convinced Jack to get back to making music, and he hooked up with dedicated foot soldiers of the Psycho Realm promotion machine and fellow Angelenos, Street Platoon. Together they recorded "The Steel Storm," released in 2001. Dad went to nursing school so he could care for Duke full time and Psycho Realm eventually got back on track.
Now, along with his musical contributions, Duke runs Psycho Realm's cyber-domain, maintaining the Web site and mailing list. And L.A. hip-hop's favorite sons released their long-awaited third album, "A War Story, Book 2," in November 2003. On one of the 15 new tracks, "Poison Rituals," MTV News' Kurt Loder even recounts the night Psycho Realm's lives changed forever at the burger stand. Standout and single-worthy tracks also include head-bobbing party track "Good Times" and street anthem "The Killing Fields."
By all appearances, Psycho Realm barely missed a step. When they threw a record-release party at the El Rey, the same theater where they attended the Delinquent Habits show that fateful night in 1999, Sick Soldiers lined up around the block, and the 600-plus fans that were turned away incited a near-riot. The L.A.P.D. even showed up, decked out in riot gear, though the situation eventually ended peacefully.
"We do it all ourselves," says Jack. "For two guys [Street Platoon], me and my brother, who's quadriplegic, we're not doing too bad."
ONLINE:
For a list of independent retailers carrying Psycho Realm's catalogue, tour dates, news, and merchandise, visit www.psychorealmonline.com.
Gun Control
The Psycho Realm Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
With guns like that, don't matter who's deeper
Crew or solo you say fuck it
The streets are armed to the teeth the bullets comes,
Duck it
Enemies suck it, sum hollow points from my joint
Squeeze the trigger like it ain't nothing
You got gats with a nickel wrap stash out the mini mack
Who got their finger to the pulse of the street
It's the soldiers on the ave. with the toast or the
Heat
Keep friends at arm's length enemies closer to me
Whack'em out in the ride and re-upholster the seat
Tommy D. way with Jimmy The Gent Conway
Wrong place, wrong time and definitely the wrong day
To dabble a bit in the ex-coin way
Use your gun to commit a heist, preciese robbery It's a
Hobby
Will you steal again? Probably
I win the lottery when I stick 'em up come on pick 'em
Up
Your hands where my eyes see I ain't sloppy
I got Crow waiting outside in the gilapi
Surveillance watch me cover my grill with the mask
Properly
Flip the camera off with sick mockery
All these guns trying to pop me I'm dodging constantly
On top of all that I got the one time stalking me
Hook:
In my city blocks are just like battlefields
With soldiers on the street It's kill or be killed
Tephlon shields still laeve heads revealed
So even if you got a bullet proof keep you eyes peeled
In my city gun control means one thing
How you handle your gun and control the sting
Through weapons trafficking on the streets form crime
Rings
We're heavily armed ready for anything
(Cynic)
I'm from the city where it's needed to be heated and
Carry a piece
No matter your street
You weak you're getting smoked or caught by police
You bot to speak don't go for the cheese
You'll be fine just stay alive don't die while you
Sleep
You see we different we're high in degree, knowledge is
Deep
Carry the metal to settle and cook up the beef
We stay cool during the heats smoking swishers sweets
Where armed to with females, weapons, lyrics and beats
An army we deep, in whatever city you want we could
Meet
We're hardto defeat, my military train the elite
You see the technique, your armed forces couldn't
Compete
You big or petite, the nine will you straight off your
Feet
Cause we're two calibres, too big for your frame
Rhymes and fist you don't want to exchange
We're some animals thet can't be contained
Some phenoms that can't be explained
Sorrounded by peons and snakes that want a piece of the
Cake
Hook:
In my city blocks are just like battlefields
With soldiers on the street It's kill or be killed
Tephlon shields still laeve heads revealed
So even if you got a bullet proof keep you eyes peeled
In my city gun control means one thing
How you handle your gun and control the sting
Through weapons trafficking on the streets form crime
Rings
We're heavily armed ready for anything
(Jacken)
Sck dogs run street politics so stay out of it
A handful of sickos determine just how it gets
A hollow tip headed your way sometimes you just swallow
It
Bystanders get slipped you don't got to be a part of it
-More guns, nofunds-These blocks are strapped and broke
You don't got to do much to provoke
When You're eyeing that muthafucker that's toteing the
Iron
He got the nine in the waistline bullets are flying
(Cynic)
Don't get caught in the cross fire
There's several different metals to settle the bullshit
With bullets
One banana clip would cause a big movement
Homeboy froze, got perced, now he's leaking fluid
You don't belive me watch when your closet go through
It
This is some real shit, get broken quick
Get your spirit ripped, you get your people clipped
The red dot don't miss, It's either mine or his
My millie's well gripped
Hook:
In my city blocks are just like battlefields
With soldiers on the street It's kill or be killed
Tephlon shields still laeve heads revealed
So even if you got a bullet proof keep you eyes peeled
In my city gun control means one thing
How you handle your gun and control the sting
Through weapons trafficking on the streets form crime
Rings
We're heavily armed ready for anything
The Psycho Realm's song "Gun Control" talks about the prevalence of guns in their city and the culture of violence it breeds. In the first verse, they discuss the power of guns and the fear they instill in people. No one is safe on the streets, and even if you have a bulletproof vest, you need to watch your back. The second verse discusses the Mafia's involvement in the gun trade, and how they use guns to commit heists and robberies. The last verse talks about the necessity of being armed on the streets, and the violence that results from it. There is a constant need to be on your guard, and there is no end to the cycle of violence.
The song highlights the issue of gun control and how it affects the city. The lyrics are a commentary on the excessive use of guns, and the harmful impact it has on the society. The lyrics suggest that, while gun control may be necessary, it is not enough to stop the violence.
Line by Line Meaning
What makes a crowd scatter more than street sweeper
The intimidating presence of guns can make people scatter faster than anything else
With guns like that, don't matter who's deeper
In a situation with guns like that, it doesn't matter who has the advantage in numbers or backup
Crew or solo you say fuck it
Whether you're with a group or alone, you have a 'fuck it' mentality regarding violence
The streets are armed to the teeth the bullets comes, Duck it
The streets are heavily armed and bullets are coming, so you better duck to avoid getting hit
Enemies suck it, sum hollow points from my joint
Enemies can take some hollow point bullets from my gun
Squeeze the trigger like it ain't nothing
Pull the trigger without hesitation
You got gats with a nickel wrap stash out the mini mack
You possess guns (gats) wrapped in nickel and stashed in a mini mac-10 weapon
Cancel the little rat that's how we interact
Get rid of the small-time snitch that interacts with us
Who got their finger to the pulse of the street
Who understands what's going on in the streets
It’s the soldiers on the ave. with the toast or the Heat
The soldiers on the avenue are armed with guns (toast or heat)
Keep friends at arm's length enemies closer to me
Keep friends at a distance and enemies closer to me for better control over the situation
Whack'em out in the ride and re-upholster the seat
Kill them in the car and change the car's appearance to avoid recognition
Tommy D. way with Jimmy The Gent Conway
Reference to two notorious gangsters known for their criminal activities
Wrong place, wrong time and definitely the wrong day To dabble a bit in the ex-coin way
Doing something illegal at the wrong place and time can have severe consequences
Use your gun to commit a heist, preciese robbery It's a Hobby
Using guns to commit robbery is a hobby as it is done in a precise manner
Will you steal again? Probably
It's highly likely that one will steal again in the future
I win the lottery when I stick 'em up come on pick 'em Up
I win big when I rob people
Your hands where my eyes see I ain't sloppy
Keep your hands visible where I can see them, otherwise, I'll shoot thinking you're making a move
I got Crow waiting outside in the gilapi Surveillance watch me cover my grill with the mask Properly
I have my lookout( Crow) waiting outside with a disguise (gilapi) while I cover my face with a mask effectively hiding my identity to avoid surveillance
Flip the camera off with sick mockery
Showing disrespect to the camera by flipping it off to show that they don't care about being recorded
All these guns trying to pop me I'm dodging constantly
Avoiding the bullets from the guns that are being fired at me
On top of all that I got the one time stalking me
In addition to everything, I'm being pursued by the cops
In my city blocks are just like battlefields
In the city streets, life seems like a constant battlefield
With soldiers on the street It's kill or be killed
The presence of armed men on the streets leads to an environment where you either have to kill or be killed
Tephlon shields still laeve heads revealed
Bulletproof vests are not always enough to protect the head from getting hit
So even if you got a bullet proof keep you eyes peeled
Even if you have a bulletproof vest on, continue to be cautious and alert
In my city gun control means one thing
In my city, gun control boils down to just one thing
How you handle your gun and control the sting
It's all about how you use your guns and how you approach violence
Through weapons trafficking on the streets form crime Rings
Illegal trading of weapons contributes to the formation of crime groups
We're heavily armed ready for anything
We are well-armed and prepared for any situation or eventuality
I'm from the city where it's needed to be heated and Carry a piece
I'm from the city where it's necessary to carry a gun for protection
No matter your street You weak you're getting smoked or caught by police
Regardless of where you come from, if you're weak, you're either going to get killed or arrested by the police
You bot to speak don't go for the cheese You'll be fine just stay alive don't die while you Sleep
Don't be tempted to speak about things you shouldn't (go for the cheese), just stay alive and don't do anything stupid
We different we're high in degree, knowledge is Deep
We are different and superior, possessing a high level of education and knowledge
Carry the metal to settle and cook up the beef
Carry a gun to settle disputes and end conflicts
We stay cool during the heats smoking swishers sweets
We remain calm during stressful situations, smoking cigarillos to relax
Where armed to with females, weapons, lyrics and beats
We are equipped with not only weapons but also talented female singers/rappers, and great music
An army we deep, in whatever city you want we could Meet
We are a massive force that can appear in any city if needed
We're hard to defeat, my military train the elite
We are tough to defeat, as our military is trained to a high standard
You see the technique, your armed forces couldn't Compete
Our technique and strategy are superior to that of your armed forces
You big or petite, the nine will you straight off your Feet
Whether you are big or small, our guns will knock you off your feet
Cause we're two calibres, too big for your frame
We are two types of guns (calibres) that are too powerful for your body to handle
Rhymes and fist you don't want to exchange
You don't want to engage in a battle of rapping or violence with us
We're some animals that can't be contained
We are like wild animals that can't be tamed or controlled
Some phenoms that can't be explained
We are considered extraordinary beings that can't be understood or explained
Surrounded by peons and snakes that want a piece of the Cake
We are constantly surrounded by unimportant people and enemies who have greed for power and wealth
A handful of sickos determine just how it gets
A small group of mentally unstable people decide how things are done in the city
A hollow tip headed your way sometimes you just swallow It
Sometimes you can't do anything to avoid getting shot by a hollow tip bullet
Bystanders get slipped you don't got to be a part of it
Innocent bystanders can get hurt, you don't have to be a part of that situation
More guns, nofunds-These blocks are strapped and broke
The city has plenty of guns but lacks money, resulting in a poor and dangerous environment
When You're eyeing that muthafucker that's toteing the Iron
When you're watching someone carry a gun
Don't get caught in the cross fire
Don't become a victim of violence that doesn't concern you
One banana clip would cause a big movement
The firing of one round of bullets can cause a significant reaction or impact
Homeboy froze, got perced, now he's leaking fluid
The person froze, got shot, and is now bleeding profusely
This is some real shit, get broken quick Get your spirit ripped
This is a dangerous situation where you can get badly hurt or feel defeated
The red dot don't miss, It's either mine or his My millie's well gripped
The red dot of the gun's laser sight won't miss its target, either the enemy or the artist. The artist has a firm and confident grip on the gun
Contributed by Elena K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.