Welcome back, Fam! It’s Johnny O. and I’m proud to say we have an extremely exciting edition of the Underground Spotlight this time around. Whether you know the name or not, Reznik is innovator, creator and in his homeland of the Czech Republic the God of horrorcore. Annually playing massive festivals of over 10,000 plus crowds and rocking stages with the likes of Tech N9ne, Ill Bill and R.A. The Rugged Man to name a few. This man has pushed the boundaries of freedom of speech, gone to court, won the case, turned around and made a video mocking the whole ordeal.
A career that only began in 2005 has greatly influenced the music scene in the Czech Republic and it is an honor to hear from an international member of the family. So, let’s get to it and welcome Reznik(translated as “Butcher”) into Faygoluvers land. Ladies and gentlemen this one may not be safe for work… or anyone.
Johnny O: You have amassed a large following in your native country, but could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your music?
Reznik: Yo, first of all a fucking big up to Faygoluvers.net for doing this interview with me. I´ve been a fan for years and I´ve discovered a lot of great music through your site, so thanks! I´ve been in the game for like 10 years and it was a really long journey to get this far. When I started doing this kind of shit (it´s a mixture of horrorcore, porn rap, gore and comedy rap) nobody was really ready for it and I got dissed a lot. Now over a decade later I have released about 11 albums, a shitload of music videos and every weekend I am doing shows. Compared to the size of the country I am living in (Czech Republic) I am not afraid to say I am something like ICP is in the US (a lot of diehard fans).
JO: So, what is the music scene like in the Czech Republic and how do you fit into the country’s musical landscape?
RK: Haha, yeah well the music scene is very shitty here. There is quite a good grindcore and metal scene but all the mainstream shit is wack as fuck. It doesn´t even follow any current trends, it sounds like some fuckin 90s disco. Plain wack. As for the hiphop scene – there´s really no aggressive or hard rap at all. And I am not even talking horrorcore, I am talking like Onyx aggressive. And that´s maybe why I gained so many fans when I started doing this horrrorcore shit.
JO: You are literally a ground breaker in the Horrorcore genre in your part of the world, can you tell us how that has been for you as an artist?
RK:It is really great and I still cannot believe it! As I said – it was a really long journey. But I still make the same music as I did when I started and that´s awesome. Well yeah I have improved technically, lyrically and my voice is stronger, but it´s still the wicked shit!
JO: Sodoma Gomora is a side project with fellow horrorcore artist DeSade, how did this whole project come together?
RK: We met at school and we started doing some hip hop together. We did some shows, but it was really shitty and then I started doing my solo horrorcore stuff which he disliked and we separated. Later it grew on him and he came to me and we founded the Sodoma Gomora. We are homies back from the day and we still do every live show together which is great and it matches perfectly.
JO: Sodoma Gomora has had the chance to open for some big name artists, including Tech N9ne, Necro, Ill Bill and Jedi Mind Tricks to name a few. How was it sharing the stage with some of the big names from our part of the world?
RK: It was great honor and huge experience! We were really blessed to do this and we even had a chance to chat with these guys a bit in the backstage. Meeting Tech N9ne was a dream come true because I have been a fan since Absolute Power and I never imagined he would ever come to the Czech Republic cuz he was not really that big back then. Necro was also cool, in fact I am still in touch with him because I am selling his CDs and shirts on my eshop here in Czech and I am also sending him my new music vids and shit to check which he approves :)
JO: Though your music is definitly controversial in the Czech Republic, you have a huge following and regularly play festivals with 10,000 or more in the crowd. Does the fan support from the people surprise you since it stands in stark contrast to the way the Government views your work?
RK: Yes it does! The music is very gory and depressive yet sometimes funny but still people love. The Czech people have a good sense of black humor maybe that´s why. And a lot of people in here are pissed – they hate their lives and this kind of music is a relief and they can identify with it. However Czech Republic is quite a cool place to live: cheap alcohol, not that much of a criminality and you can practically smoke weed everywhere in here. But we had a long era of communism and a lot of minds are just fucked from living in it.
JO: Speaking of government run-ins, you were actually facing a prison sentence of up to three years for violent content depicted in one of your videos. Can you explain this incident in a little more detail for us?
RK: Well there were some cases of burning homeless people here in the Czech Republic so we based a track and music video on it and we were rapping from the point of the killers. We had some burning people in the video but it was all actors – friends and nobody got hurt. Some faggot thought we were for real, spreading hate and trying to motivate people to kill bums and he reported it to the police. They got me quick but they couldn´t find the other 2 rappers who were also on the track and I said I didn´t know them, haha. After a year they still couldn´t find them so they put it on TV and got them immediately. At the court we proved our innocence – fucking freedom of speech – and we were free of charge!
JO: Of course, you ultimately beat the case and even made a video mocking the whole incident. What brought about this decision and was it vindicating to see the video reach well over 2 million views on YouTube?
RK: Well I thought since I have been through this shit I want to make as much of it as possible. I rented a real court room and shot the video. The lyrics are all true (there are English subtitles for this one on youtube) with some mocking of the police and the faggot who reported it. 2 million views are truly unbelievable!
JO: In 2013 you won a “Cesky Slavik” music award (similar to an American Grammy award), but you were actually banned for your violent lyrical content. This caused a bit of a uproar because even the media defended you in this instance. Was it hard to win this prestigous award and then be pushed out due to the type of music you create? and how did it feel to have so many, including the media, stand behind you?
RK: First of all it´s not a very prestigious award – it´s shitty, but it´s the biggest award you get in Czech in the music business. It´s something like a Grammy – which is prestigious, but this one stinks, really. There was this new category called “Internet Star” where you could poll online so I sent my diehard fans there to vote for me. I really did it for fun, I was not expecting to win it and I was not really interested in winning it. But it happened and when they found out who I really was and what my lyrics were about they banned me and gave the award to some teenage pop rapper. These people are so close-minded that if they could get Eminem to perform on the ceremony they would be out of their minds happy. Only if they could understand the lyrics, hypocritical cunts. This is a big difference between the USA and Czech Republic.
JO: Your most recent release, “Bateman,” was a double disc album that dropped in 2014. How has the response from fans been?
RK: I sold about 1000 pre-order copies which is great compared to the size of this country and fans love it! But I guess they love every record I put out so it´s still hard to keep up with it! I try to do my best.
JO: Is there anything in the works for Reznik or Sodoma Gomora that you can give us some information on?
RK: Yeah we just released a brand new Sodoma Gomora video called “Chcipni” (Die) and it was a blast! We are working on a new Sodoma album which should drop in 2016 and I am working on a solo as well and that should be out in November / December 2015.
JO: Where can fans looking for more from Reznik or Sodoma Gomora find you?
RK: We have this old website http://sodomagomora.znk.cz which is now being redesigned, but I guess for English speaking fans it´s best to follow me on twitter, where I post in English https://twitter.com/ReznikZNK and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/reznikrap – you can message me there or at [email protected]
JO: Who would you say have been your inspirations throughout your career?
RK: I discovered ICP when I was like 16 (through Wolfpac which I discovered through Bloodhound Gang, haha) and I was really impressed. It was hard to get some info back in the day, because the internet was so fucking slow! I remember downloading the Halls of Illusions video for a whole day! I bought The Great Milenko CD and I was down from that day! I was also inspired by Necro, Tech N9ne, King Gordy and Esham / Natas!
JO: You have been fortunate enough to work with some big underground artists such as Bizarre, King Gordy, Sean Strange and Mastamind to name a few. If you had the chance to reach out to any artist, who would you absolutly love to work with?
RK: Twiztid, Hopsin, Madchild, AMB, Necro, Dope D.O.D. ..I would say Tech N9ne but he out raps everyone :)
JO: Who or what is Reznik currently listening to?
RK: I have been bumpin the new Tech N9ne, Special Effects, lately. The new ICP, which surprised me, and Yelawolf´s Love Story! I still look for new music.
JO: So how about we end this with a few shout outs before we go?
RK: Thanks again for this interview! Shout out to Faygoluvers.net, shout out to all the horrorcore artists worldwide and biggest shout out to my fans, I love you, you cunts! You made this possible! I would love to perform at the Gathering some day, so maybe this will bring us closer to making it happen!
There you have my friends, we have once again reached the end of our journey and provided you all survived this one unscathed I expect to see you back here soon. If you liked what you saw/heard/read here be sure to check out more from Reznik and Sodoma Gomora, spread the word and who knows, maybe they’ll see everyone at the Gathering next year. Either way, I want to give a big shout out to Reznik, DeSade and the whole crew holdin’ it down and reppin’ horrorcore in the Czech Republic. I also would like to thank everyone involved in the translation of this post into the Czech language, if you’d like to see that version just click —-> HERE.
Now before I officially sign off, if you would like to be featured right here on the Underground Spotlight, shoot me an e-mail at [email protected]. Make sure to include a short bio, why you would like to/should be featured, a track or two and a couple of pics. Of course, don’t forget to include UGS or something similar in the subject line(I know there are some of our FLH forum members that see me looking their way). So, until next time…
Peace,
Johnny O.
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