THE FLOOD SPEAKS ABOUT GROWING UP IN ALBUQUERQUE, THE ALL STARS OF INFAMY ALBUM AND A GLIMPSE OF THEIR 2017..

Baamogetswe: Yo, peace fam What’s good? Would like to start off by giving thanks for the opportunity to have this interview with you fellas, its much appreciated..

Throwbak; Yo what's good Baamo, We'd also like to thank you for reaching out and giving us a chance to answer a few questions for you.

Kuma: Word thanks for having us man.

Baamogetswe: Can you each just give me a brief description of where you guys are from, where you grew up etc..

Throwbak: Yeah no doubt, we're coming out of Albuquerque, New Mexico (US) the biggest city in our state. I'm originally from Albuquerque, born and raised.

Kuma: I was born in Southeast Los Angeles, lived there till I was eight years old, Moved to northern New Mexico for about 14 years, Then I moved to Albuquerque in 2001.

Baamogetswe: How was it like growing up in that area? Did your upbringing somehow have an influence on your love for the culture?

Throwbak: My upbringing was far from bad, but it wasn't the easiest coming from a single parent home with just me and my mother for so many years. Overall Albuquerque is always gonna be where my hearts at. It can be rough though from time to time, there's a pretty high volume of crime, drugs and murder throughout the city and state. Like most people immersed in the hip-hop scene or lower class you see pretty much about everything at a young age. My background definitely influenced me into my position in Hip-Hop today.

Kuma: Oh man, yes. Hiphop was alive and well in southeast L.A. when I was a young buck. My cousins were break-dancers and would always have battles in my front lawn. Every family get together would turn out to be a b-boy battle, I have footage ha-ha. The first rap song I heard was “the roof is on fire” a party anthem. I couldn’t believe they were cussing on it! It was shocking.

My older brother was in a gang, and I wanted to be like him by tagging their name all over the place. (I got caught) I think because of this I later became a graff writer. My older brothers always had the freshest mixtapes to hit the streets, and had banging car systems. So, hiphop was all around me

Baamogetswe: Okay so The Flood consists of? Can you guys explain your individual roles within the group..

 Throwbak: Actively I'd say The Flood consists of Kuma (Producer/Beatmaker, MC, DJ,) Throwbak (MC), Hate The Pessimist (MC), and DJ Presais (DJ)

Kuma: Word there are in-active members that we still consider an extended family as well. Me, Throwback, Hate and Dj Presais are holding down the squad now.

Baamogetswe: How did you guys meet and what point did you decided to work together? 

Throwbak: Kuma and I had connected around 2011/2012. We met through our boy Joe Gee, shortly after we became friends and shared the same love and interest in the music. After some amount of time of working and vibing in the studio, Kuma and Joe begin pushing tryina get me in a group we were heavily involved in at the time called the "Dezert Banditz". Eventually I was initiated and we began laying down collabs here and there, working as a collective, and rocking shows, opening up for some big names in the underground scene.

Kuma: Right. A lot of Flood members actually were rivals in the beginning, but after our battles we eventually joined forces.

Baamogetswe: Apparently there was a The Flood before that didn’t consist of Throwbak, can you tell us a little about that? what happened to the previous members?

Throwbak: I'll let Kuma elaborate and expand on that one for you.

Kuma: The Flood was founded in 2001 by Ray Syfe and me. We had been rhyming since high school. We finally got equipment and started making demos in my mom’s old basement which we called The Kave. To this day we still call it that and the name of our label is Kave Productions.

We had a few other members join throughout the years, like DJ Sho-nuff, Kintaro Grymes, Dr. UNK and Eric James They have all decided to pursue other ventures in their life, but are always welcome back.

Baamogetswe: I seem to ask this question in all my interviews to try and establish where the artists love for the culture came from. What is it that you heard or saw that made you decide "yo, fuck it, you wanna be a rapper"

Throwbak: Let me preface this answer by reminding you all. I'm a young cat I'm 23 years old, born in 1994, so before I really started digging in the crates of the pioneers and legends from the 80's and 90's which I'm more heavily influenced by today. I had what was in front of me at a young age. My first vivid memory was around 4 or 5 when I saw "Party Up (Up In Here)" video by DMX, shit was bananas to me. I was hooked ever since. Shortly after I started listening to more and more rap Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, NORE, Wu Tang, Biggie Smalls, etc.

Kuma: Yea Throwbak is an old soul. He impressed me when I learned of his hiphop knowledge at his age at the time.

I used to watch the movie Breakin 2 all the time as a kid, I wanted to be a b-boy. I fell in love with the culture, the style. I always try to dress like Ozone from that movie. I sometimes listen to that soundtrack to remember the love I had and have for hiphop.

We would always try to rap as kids. My older cousins in L.A. had and still have skills. It was natural to cipher with other emcees.

Baamogetswe Before we get into what you guys are working on this year, i would like to find out from you who you fucking with right know, what artists are in your top five currently?

Throwbak: My current top is Daniel Son, Conway, Roc Marciano, King Magnetic & Meyhem Lauren

All Time: Nas, Biggie, Method Man, Styles P, and Big L

Kuma: I stick with the legends too. Nas, Inspectah Deck, Guru, Necro, Kool G. Rap.

Of coarse it too hard to name everyone I listen to. There’s too many to name! Haha

Baamogetswe: I assume these are artists you’ve either worked with or aspire to in the future?

Throwbak: Yeah no doubt. Thankfully so far we've been fortunate enough to have tracks with King Magnetic and Daniel Son. Kuma's got a beat on that Everything Happens For A Reason. "Drunk Right Now, Go peep that

Kuma: Word, Yes we’ve been blessed enough to have had those chances. Ive recorded Keith Murray, King Magnetic, Cappadonna and even had Necro over to my studio. Shit is un-real.

Baamogetswe, So fellas can you tell us a bit about what your working on currently and can we expect a project dropping this year? Any special features on singles we need to look out for? 

Throwbak: The next big release is The All Stars Of Infamy Album which we're aiming for a May release date. This is some of our best work to date, the production, beat selection, rhymes, guest spots, scratches, samples, everything is on point. This album's gonna be a big game changer. A lot of work and time was put into this project. As far as cameos this one's loaded. We have features from Ras Kass, King Magnetic, Pawz One, and Gutzilla with a couple little suprises on the side. Kuma and I also have dropped a few singles lately which you can peep on soundcloud and have a few more in store including solo and Flood EP's in the works.

As far as catching us live in the city we've roc'd stages at multiple venues, mostly in the downtown area. We will definitely have plenty shows booked when this next album drops, and we're always looking to open up for the illest names in the underground. Maybe Kuma can expand on that a bit more.

Kuma: Word, it feels like just the beginning. The beats are getting doper and the rhymes sharper. Were reaching out to our favorite artists and getting our props. The new projects are absolutely bananas! Its like were making the music we’ve always wanted to hear.

Baamogetswe: For those in and around your area who would like to catch Throwbak and Kuma rocking live on stage, where can they catch you fellas?

Kuma: We’re all over this city. You can catch us doing shows at leaset every few months. Now that we have a project, the tour is next.

Baamogetswe Ive noticed you guys have a very different sound yo, if you were to describe it for me in one word, what would that word be??

Throwbak: Dungeon/Major-League

Kuma: Hiphop

Baamogetswe, We appreciate the effort of this interview fellas and we hope it helps get your art out to countries even further than South Africa, we hope it helps you find your fans so infinite hip-hop would like to give a shout out to you guys for the opportunity, are there any special shout outs and big ups you would like to give out??

Thowbak:  No doubt Baamo, once again thank you. I just wanna shout out all the real MC's, bloggers, producers, beat-makers, DJ's, fans, etc. keeping the culture alive and not eating up the bullshit the media tries to feed you. Shout out all the homies and collaborators, Joseph Gee, Hate The Pessimist, Rome, Sais, the whole Flood. S/O all the local pioneers Cero Deala, Physics, Skull Control, etc.

"A-yo, you must be buggin', B you ain't even let me say what's up to my hoes"

"Oh yeah, we gotta say what's up to the hoes, man"

Kuma: Thanks for this opportunity. Like you said we will find our fans with some help. I think there’s a demographic that would eat this shit up. Peace to all the lifers, hiphop heads that keep doing this for the love. Who aren’t dissuaded by commercialism. Let’s keep this culture alive and strong.