What’s up Fam? It’s that time once again for another installment of the infamous Underground Spotlight. So, once again it’s Johnny O. and this time I’m back to bring you an interview with Northern Arizona’s own Mental Cases. The group is currently hard at work on their forthcoming album, but unfortunately there is no official release date. If you can’t wait be sure to check out the Fresh Tracks section for a Faygoluvers exclusive of “Murder” featuring Mars.

I’m sure there is more to say and we know I could go on forever, but fuck it… Let’s just get this damn thing started, shall we?

Johnny O: First for those you haven’t heard of Mental Cases yet, can you tell us about yourselves?

Mental Cases: We’re a rap duo from a no place town called Cornville. Growing up, it was slim picking to find anything to do, so we started spitting raps in our friend’s computer using a shitty computer mic. People liked what they heard so we decided to try and do something with it. 8 years later, here we are. We always try to do something different, whether by writing an emotional story to just going hard as possible with our flow, and always do something unique with our shows.

JO: No one wants be defined, but if you had to, how would you describe your style?

MC: Lyrical Chopper Wicked Shit, if you had to call it something. We try to bring plethora of styles. We like to switch it up, but it’s almost always got that dark chopper shit in the mix.

JO: What’s the underground scene like out there in Northern Arizona?

MC: I didn’t know there was one. HAHAHA In Northern AZ there’s pretty much just flagstaff. Other than up there, there isn’t much going on. There’s a lot of local talent starting to get shit going, but its just starting to bud here in Cottonwood. It’s a very country and rock type of town where we live.

JO: Most recently you released the Therapy Sessions Vol. 1 Mixtape (FLH Download Link); can you tell us a little bit about the project?

MC: That was a fly by night comeback type of ish. We threw that together in like 3 months just to get something out again. We kinda took a hiatus for a while before that. We put together a release party that was off the chain and filmed our first professional music video for We’re Back (FLH Link). That’s on FLH right now. (Thanks Scottie D!)

JO: I know that you’re currently working on a new track with Mars; how did this collaboration come about?

MC: Facebook. Money. We hit him up to see if he would want to get on some shit with us and he did. So we did. And then it was done. It’s the first track that we got a feature on, that was made from the ground up by Dj Trebloff, so we’re pretty excited about it.

JO: Is there anything else in the works right now for Mental Cases?

MC: Yeah. Right now we’re working on our next real album called “Been Committed”. The album is being produced entirely by our Dj/Producer, DJ Trebloff. He’s doing the whole album with us so it’s bringing a new element of control to the project. We’re just fucking around and coming up with our own sounding beats for a change, instead of buying them randomly. We can perfect them the way we want, which is hella nice.

The album also has a dirty south kinda vibe and has features from Mars, The Jokerr, Hopeless Child, and Imm Gone.

JO: You’ve done tracks with Krayzie Bone, Twisted Insane and Bizarre of D12; is there anyone in particular you’d love to work with?

Tha Skeptic: Personally, I’d like to work with Kung Fu Vampire, Koshir, Twista, or anyone at all from Psychopathic or Strange Music.

PsiKosiS: For me, I think it would be dope as shit to do a track with E-Dubble, Madrox, or Prof.

JO: Having been in the game for over eight years now, dropped three full-length albums and played shows all over AZ; what do you see next for Mental Cases?

MC: Right now it’s just working on the album and once that’s all nice and sparkly like, we’re gonna to start doing more shows in Phoenix, and trying to get on a good tour before the year is over. Just keep pluggin ya know?

JO: Who would you say have been your inspirations?

MC: The three biggest influences to us that inspired us to try and do our own shit, would be ICP, Tech, and Bone Thugs. ICP and Tech have the best live shows around and I think we take alot of the drive to make our own stagesets and theatrics from them that’s getting us known. And then the chopper style from Bone and Tech. We’ve always liked those fast syllable rhyme schemes so that’s kind of what we fell into as far as our style goes.

JO: Who are you currently listening to?

Tha Skeptic: Right now, I would say: Twisted Insane, Rittz, and Dj Quik.

PsiKosiS: I pretty much just bump Pandora nowadays. But E-Dubble, Copywrite and Palmer Squares, would probably be my tops lately.

JO: Where can fans check out more from Mental Cases?

MC:

www.reverbnation.com/mentalcases

www.facebook.com/therealmentalcases

soundcloud.com/mentalcases

twitter @mentalcases

JO: It seems we wouldn’t be where we are if it wasn’t for those who supported us, so how about a few shout outs to end this interview right?

MC: Thanks to all the fans that come to our shows and support us, Faygoluvers.net for putting us on here, Antics for always leaning the Mental Case way, Evangelist, Trebloff, Sandy, Nick, and anyone who takes the time to read this interview.

Well, that will do it for this edition of the Underground Spotlight. I want to thank Mental Cases, both Tha Skeptic and PsiKosiS for taking the time out for this interview. Don’t forget to check out their track “Murder” featuring Mars over in the Fresh Tracks section. If you’re from the Phoenix area make sure to catch them when they open for Stevie Stone alongside other notable underground artists such as Intrinzik and McNastee.

Of course, I want to say THANK YOU to all of the fans out here in Faygoluvers Land for taking the time to read through this interview. As always, remember if you’re an artist and would like to be featured right here on the Faygoluvers’ Underground Spotlight just hit me up at [email protected]. Make sure to include a short bio, why you want to/should be featured, a pic or two and a couple tracks. Of course don’t forget to include UGS or something similar in the subject line. So, until next time…

Peace,

Johnny O.