INTERVIEW BY: DJ MINDCONTROL
KOZMOKNOTS CREW MINNEAPOLIS, MN
DJ- Word... So let's start at the beginning. I'm involved with a group of cats in the scene putting emphasis back in team. You cats really have a team thing going on at Yellow Cake. Who are you and let us know how you got into doing a college radio show?
Tone- Okay, I'm Antonio McGee, homies call me Tone. I'm a young dude with ambition and drive to do his thing in this thing they call "the music industry". I'm originally from the 916 but right now I'm out here in the Bay Area. I dig it, shit is way different then Sac-town. So the show on college radio, I started that with the homie Taste Nater about 3 or 4 months back. I go to San Francisco State and I'm a broadcast & communications major, one of the classes you can take is this radio class. You sign up and you get to get down and rock with your own radio show. It's something I've been wanting to do since I first got to this school. And ever since we've been on air we just been doin' our thing.
DJ- You cats been getting a lot of the hype, the great video promos (hilarious)... Your camp has a lot of talent. Are you involved in hip-hop yourself? Or in a group? And can you tell us who all is part of Yellow Cake Radio?
Tone- I was in a group a while back, Northen Cali Rainjaz NCR. You know how THAT go, one of the homies got locked up and when that happens things kinda was on pause. The group thing was fun, it gave me a understanding of what it took to write a song and collab without loosing ya'self in it. YELLOW CAKE RADIO consist of me, the homie Nate (Taste Nater) and DJ B-hold. Really anybody that supports us is down, feel me. Like one of my homeboys Dalton from back home calls in every show, he hits me with records to play, dope records and he just go hard in the paint for the show... It feels good to have homies that ride like that.
DJ- Yeah it sounds like the Yellow Cake fever hit fast, got my homies here in Minneapolis checking y'all out so you can see the impact you cats have had in just these few months. Respect.
Tone- No doubt, the homie told me you're out there bumpin' the show, that's what's up bra.
DJ- Bless for sure. Taste Nater is some talent unlike I've seen out here, real energy. So how and who came up with the name "Yellow Cake"? Shit cracks me up, didn't even know the reference at first...
Tone- Bra, I knew that I wanted to name the radio show Yellow Cake ever since I started going to STATE. I thought the name was hella dope for a radio show. In my head I'm like, radio, or anything really that's about attracting eyes to what you do is ALL about branding. So I said Yellow Cake. That's a name that people will remember. Plus, I figure who don't like yellow cake? Some people like pumpkin pie, some don't. But everybody likes YELLOW CAKE. Name me one person that don't like yellow cake. And on top of all that yellow cake is classic and that's what we're aiming to be over here at Yellow Cake Radio. YCR.
DJ- Word that's classic! I dig that me and my friends started making parallels between making beats and baking... Lots o' ingredients. OK, on the Yellow Cake line-up, you cats bring something real refreshing to the forefront by dissecting the music of past present and future... How did y'all get the idea to play the record used for the track you would bring in? I personally never heard another show do that. Can you tell us a little about that structure?
Tone- Well we both kinda wanted to try and bring something new to the table. We both thought it would be dope to play soul records and the rap joints that sample them. Truthfully I listen to old school and jazz way more than I do rap and when I do listen to rap I'm bumpin cats that do a lot of sampling old soul and r&b. I remember comin up listenin to whatever my pops played and he would throw on the Dells, the Stylistics, James Brown and Sly & the Family Stone. So as I got older I would hear these older records that I used to hear at the crib, being sampled by rappers. So I think that's why I really wanted to have this format for the show. DJ- That says a lot just right there about why cats are diggin your show and also staying ahead of the current as well. I myself as a producer am constantly on the hunt for old soul records and so forth, so to hear this format is like a kid in a candy store. One of the things about producers that's taboo is letting each other NOT know where they got the sample, like some hidden gem or some shit. Kinda comical how we are. But you break that mold and opened up Pandora's Box of goodies. I think it's real refreshing for cats to know where the music came from. So I commend y'all on that move. What do you see for the future of Yellow Cake as far as guests and other things? Let us know what we are going to be seeing from Yellow in the near future.
Tone- Well one thing we want to do is really get out there even more. We're currently workin on a mixtape that'll consist of exclusive tracks from artists that we've had on the show. This way people who haven't heard the show can get a taste of what Yellow Cake is all about. Soul, old school r&b and hip-hop will play the star of the mixtape. We hope to have that out sooner than later. Shout out to the homie Taster Nater for comin' up with the name Cake-Mix, for the mixtape. We're gonna keep it goin' next semester and we're trying get other radio stations to holler at us. It would be ideal to go from college radio to a commercial radio station or better yet a satellite radio station. It will be hard given we don't play bullsh!t hip-hop on our show but we're gonna give it a shot. But we most definitely plan on continuin' this thang.
DJ- That's word, I can definitely respect the moves the station is making which leads us to radio in general, and the state of internet-status radio shows... How has this affected the commercial and more popular stations?
DJ- That's word, I can definitely respect the moves the station is making which leads us to radio in general, and the state of internet-status radio shows... How has this affected the commercial and more popular stations?
Tone- It hasn't. Commercial radio for the most part lacks a spine. Cats that should be on radio ain't, point blank. The internet is the smart alternative. There is a huge selection out there of dope radio stations and shows online. Crack Distributor radio is one of the stations online I check out. I will say though that there are cats at commercial radio tryin' to make a difference. I think Ebro over at Hot97 is makin an effort to correct things over there. Ebro was a cat that started off as a radio personality in Sacramento and has since worked his way to Program Director at New York's Hot97. I don't think things are gonna change because of radio personalities or DJ's, I think it's gonna take program directors like Ebro to take chances on cats like me and Nate who are tryin' to bring something new to radio. I know this format can work at a commercial station, we just gotta build the brand and the following.
DJ- Like you said, "everyone loves yellow cake" ...Haha!
Tone- Yep, that's what I'm sayin'.
DJ- Okay, I wanna thank you for your time and this in-depth interview... Best of luck with the station I'll keep rooting for y'all cuz the music is sick and you cats are funny as well... You wanna give some shouts out?
Tone- Yeah man, shout out to the homie Taste Nater, peace to the fam back at the crib, shout out to all the listeners of Yellow Cake Radio. Peace to the homeboy Dalton, Big Money James, he ill with that camera. And shout out to you homie for doing this write up on the show... And look out for YellowCakeRadio presents Cake Mix.
YELLOWCAKE FROM 11/6
2-3:30pm pst time. Saturdays @ http://ksfs-sfsu-edu.blogs
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