Issue 013
May 2006
Los Angeles has got two things in abundance: rappers and jiu-jitsu academies. Sooner or later, the two had to meet, and that’s exactly what happened when Dilated Peoples member Rakaa found himself at the Gracie Academy in Torrance. Introduced to the sport by a friend in the late 90’s, it took only an introductory class to get Rakaa hooked with the ‘gentle art’.
“One good thing that I think helps separate it from other martial arts is it allows people to really enjoy it, and still push themselves,” says Rakaa. “In practice or in a tournament, you’re going full speed, full impact. You can go all out pretty hard; you’re really able to test yourself.”
Rakaa trains at the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu academy in Torrance, home to three members of the new generation of Gracies, Rorion’s sons Ryron, Rener and Ralek. All three are blackbelts, and with plenty of success in BJJ and submission wrestling competitions, Ryron is the first to make his move into MMA. “The vibe over there, you know, these guys are the hip hop generation. It's great- I was blessed to be accepted as Ryron was just out of high school, Rener was still in high school, and Ralek was in junior high school. They were young, so the vibe was great- you’re dealing with kids who were halfway between normal high school kids and child prodigies.”
“I walk into the academy and I go into the changing room and my group’s poster is on the wall. The first album was called The Platform, you see me next to a picture of Helio Gracie in my personal page, the second album, Rener and Ryron are both there on the mat with me, the third album I’m rocking the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu hat, and from our new album, our latest video they’re there with us on the rooftop.”
Rakaa managed to persuade his partner Evidence from Dilated Peoples into joining him at the academy (he has been training there a year now), it seems the two groups are happy to share their respective skills. “Ralek Gracie is rapping now, I’ve been working with him for nearly a year,” says Rakaa. “He goes under the name of Rio Life. He’s just working and writing material now, I don’t think its time for him yet, he’s young. He’s in training right now.”
While currently busy touring the US as part of the launch of their latest album, Rakaa has an interesting gig lined up for himself back in LA. “I’m about to start hosting a segment on a TV show in LA, they’re getting it finalised right now, a show called Passing the Guard. Sinister Clothing is run by a good friend of mine, and he sponsors a lot of fighters. He started a TV show on cable in California, and is hoping to go nationwide and even worldwide with it.”
“It’s a MMA TV show, they go and cover fights and stuff in Southern California. I’ll be doing some colour commentary and some post-fight interviews, building that bridge between me as a rapper, a practitioner and a fan of MMA culture.”
Listening to their latest album, it is easy to pick out the jiu-jitsu references in their tracks, but there is a deeper, subtler parallel between Dilated’s music and Rakaa’s chosen martial art. “You could grab ten or twelve random songs, put them in a random order and put a title over it and call it an album, but there’s no flow to it, there’s no connectivity, no common thread or vibe that brings it all together.”
“In jiu-jitsu it’s the same thing. You could do a Mata Leo (rear naked choke) or a kimura, or any number of moves, but if you understand the flow, then everything is connected, everything rolls. It goes from a series of moves, or in music a series of songs, to a complete composition or a complete album. The beauty of that is it lets you set people up, it gives you control over what position you’re at.”
One thing that’s apparent when listening to Dilated Peoples is that they aren’t rapping about the same kind of stuff that many commercial acts are. “We’re constantly at war with our own record label,” says Rakaa, with the air of someone who has fought many long battles. “In our video department, even the women will come up to us and tell us there needs to be more tits and ass in it. The scene is so crazy, but thats what it is. We’ve been doing this a long time. We’ve worked with some great people, some excellent producers, making some great music and some crazy stuff, but we saw that you can talk about anything, if you do it right.”
Rakaa is obviously of the viewpoint that there is more to rapping than just selling records. “People say ‘you don’t look like a rapper, where’s your platinum chain?’ but I just happen to not rock those, that’s just me. Our approach is to do what we do at the highest level possible. For 15 or 20 years I’ve been in Rocksteady crew and Universal Zulu Nation, and out of that you really get a sense of real hip hop culture, not just rap music, but the dancing, the graffiti art, DJ culture and beatboxing, the entire culture, not just what the corporate world thinks they can sell, which is just the rapper. We make music the way we always wanted to make it. I’m making the songs that as a kid I dreamed of making.”
