Monstah City Freekz

Monday 24th July, 2017 by JohnnyO | 0 Comments

- ""

Welcome back Faygoluvers’ Family and Friends! It always feels so good to come back with a new edition of the Underground Spotlight and once again we’ve got an amazing interview for you. Sitting down with me this time around are two members of the German horror core group Month City Freekz. If you haven’t heard of them before, this is one you’ll definitely want to check out. We cover everything from their latest release, which I will have a review for soon, to the struggles of rebuilding everything they had after a massive flood hit their studio/home.

So, take a seat (well, you’re probably already sitting) and strap in for an exciting interview this time around. Here we go again…

Johnny O: First off, I’d like to welcome you to the Faygoluvers Underground Spotlight and thank you for taking the time out for this interview. Can you start us off with a brief introduction of Monstah City Freekz for the Fam?

Haka: Monstah City Freekz (M.C.F. for short) is my crew, my homies, my fam. We are many freekz that support each other, musically active are 10 Rappers/Beatproducers: Schlackus, Gorlab, Jot S, Bagerly, Harleykin, KetZer, Quato Loco, Gaijin, ClintBeatWood and me.

KTZ: I see it as a Family, where everybody gets inspired by another ..if it’s about Music or staying together in really weird Times… each and everyone of us has a BIG Talent and Quality in all of this. HAHA. We are Friends..we hate, forgive, love and respect another ..and just survive and live in this little, growing Freekworld.

JO: So, before we continue, can you please give us a little insight into the name?

Haka: M.C.F. that’s who we are, Freekz from Monstah City (Monstah=Muenster our hometown). Me, my brother and our homies from back in the days started M.C.F. in the end of 1999 when we were younger.

JO: Being from Germany, what was the music scene like growing up?

Haka: I’ve never listened to German music that much, at the age of eleven or twelve I listened to a few German Punk groups, but was more into american artists like Rage Against the Machine, Body Count and Biohazard.. I think that was around the time the “Judgement Night Sampler” came out and that’s when we heard of Onyx, Cypress Hill and all that for the first time.. from there on out rap music snuck slowly into my life today there are some really sick german rappers, but still 99% of what I listen to is american underground rap.

KTZ: I really didnt give a fuck for the German music scene except RAMMSTEIN “Du hast” HaHa.. I grew up listening to English and American Music.

JO: What has it been like in your own local scene in recent years, have things changed much?

KTZ: No ..not at all ..they still hate us and try to ignore us ..which is impossible ;)

Haka: The problem is that we got a Hip Hop scene with all types of genres, but there is no local scene for hardcore/horrorcore/freekshit at all.

JO: How has the reception towards your music been in your home country versus here in North America?

Haka: We get messages from all kinds of countries over the world, mostly from Germany and the US, and it appears to be very similar. Even in countries in which people don’t understand what we say, they can still feel what we do. Reception and feedback has always been good and in a strange way somewhat equal on both sides.

KTZ: That’s hard to answer cause I’ve never been in the states.. but this kind of music puts the freeks, the lost and the outsiders together…and that’s worldwide, isn’t it?!? Thats what I love about ICP and the Juggalo Spirit. What I do in Music is definitely influenced by those two Clowns a fuckn lot! And I also think there is no, or should not be no “versus” in Clownlove.

JO: Would you say that reaching a more international audience is a priority or is the focus mainly on growing the German based fan base?

KTZ: Priority is makin music, expressing ourselves and bringing some fun to those who like us..no matter where from. Some of our music is heard worldwide, even if most don’t understand a word of German haha… Everybody is welcome!! If its the USofA, Australia, Europe, Mars or Vulcan.. even on the Death Star.

Haka: I don’t care where u are from if u like it, cool, if not, fuck off.

JO: How did all of you come together? What brought about the decision for you all to collaborate and work on as a group?

KTZ: Well, MCF already existed when I joined in back in 2009. It’s based on Friendship. We all live in the same City ..and even in the same quarter of it. (Karma?!) only the GIANT Harleykin, Gaijin and ClintBeatWood are not from Muenster. It’s like it just had to be like it is …and I am pretty thankful to have such talented Homies, or let’s say Friends around. The Rest is History :)

Haka: Like I said, me and my brother and some homies started M.C.F. in ’99. We started out as 7 individuals, doin grafitti and holding freestyle-sessions in a homies’ basement, basically just hanging out together. Approx. around ’02-’03 we began producing our own music, making beats and systematically working on songs, taking music more serious, and giving people the chance to decide if that’s what they want to be doing or nah.. ’05 was the year we dropped our first free download project (‘Der SperrmŸll muss raus’ = trans: ‘The bulk garbage gotta go’).. Over the years, some left, some joined, and we grew from there. Ketzer came to us in 2009, Jot S and Bagerly joined in 2010, Harley in 2011, Gaijin and ClintBeatWood came to us in 2016.

JO: You’ve been at this for a while now, how have things changed for you throughout the years?

Haka: Same struggle different day.. I guess the only thing that really changed is that we matured and work more focused now.

KTZ: You might not know it, but I time-travel and in all of these decades really fuckn nothing has changed with mankind.. even not me.

JO: Your 1st EP FREEKMUSICK was just recently released, but not without some trouble along the way. So, before we get into the record, can you tell us about the massive challenge you had with the recording studio?

KTZ: Well… Hard Rain..High Water ..as “Faith No More” said once, “Everything’s ruined”.. What once had been a Studio turned into a fuckn Swimming pool. So we had to start from the beginning. We did …and here we are …still.

Haka: We had to build up everything from scratch. A massive rainfall in 2014 caused havoc in our city, and my apartment, in which we had built our studio, was completely flooded. Interior and music equipment was destroyed and damaged to the point of no return.. On top of that we had been making plans for our own festival (‘FreekEnd #3’*) around the same time the rain hit us. The place we were planning to host it at was also flooded, so we had to cancel the date and postpone it. In the end most people could’t make it anymore and we lost the rest of our money. Still, despite the horrible weather and the hassle, some people showed up and we had a great time that weekend.

So then, with our backs against the wall and almost no money, we had to find a way. We eventually received a little money from insurance for the flood and some help from our landlord, but it wasn’t much, and it took us damn nearly 2 years to rebuild the apartment from the ground up: New floors, new walls, a new living room, a new recording-booth and all this time I been sleeping in this ragedy-ass, mouldy piece of shit hahahaha but we made it! Now that we had a new room for the studio, we needed equipment of course, and we needed money for equipment obviously..And thanks to who the fuck ever, someone came along who believed in us, as a group and in the whole freek thing, and he gave us the much needed money on a private credit, so we could finally get a new mic, a pre-amp, basstraps, you know, all the shit we needed to re-install the ‘Karnickelbau’ again.

We then took what was left to press an album, print some shirts and throw a release party. Being granted the chance now to be completely independent and work on our own terms, I decided to open the label. Hahah that’s the short version, I could elaborate HAHAHA.

(*FreekEnd is kind of like our own private, annual mini-gathering which we started in 2012 to have a time and place to meet with the Freekz and play our own music..We eat, party and hang out together for an entire weekend, the idea came from Nyna, a juggalette from our town, whom i met at a juggalo meeting in berlin in 2008. Her vision was to do a festival in style of a real gathering, with music and camping and everything. We haven’t had a FreekEnd since the last one, which was the 3rd one, but we’d love to host another. )

JO: After all of that, what made you keep pushing to get everything in order and ready to record once again?

Haka: Music and my homies kept me alive, how could I give up on this? That’s all I got, my fam and the ability to express myself in music and art both help me to loosen up and release a lot of anger and hate..I don’t know where I would be without all that.

JO: What can fans expect from the album and how would you say it differs from your previous work?

Haka: Those that know us, know they can expect what they know: 100% Freekshit like always! Just with a better sound now. To those who are hearing from us for the first time: know that you can expect 100% Freekshit!

Everyone of us is a unique character and is influenced by different styles of music..that was always something special about us we’re so fuckin different, but once we come together, we’re one. That’s what Freekz are about, be what u wanna be, but do it 4 the homies and the fam.

KTZ: You kiddn me??!!! :) HaHa ..they can expect FREEKSHIT the best we can …like always and forever. The difference is …Fuck, we’re gettn old :)

JO: Along with the albums release, you ve also founded your own record label. What is like running a record label as well as working on your own music?

KTZ: It s big step into the Unknown…

Haka: It s just a whole fuckin lot of paperwork, which comes with the responsibility to keep our own business aliveÉ This was something I really struggled with in the beginning. So much stress and so much work that I had never occupied my mind with before, structuring everything, making plans and blueprints, finding contacs and ways to realize our plans. stressed me the fucked out manÉ And you know how hard it is to get 10 people on point together?! HAHAHA I knew it would be a lot of work, but I never would have imagined it to be THAT much.. Still, I have to admit though that it had always been our aspiration to manage everything ourselves, have it in our own hands, you know. A now that we’ve set up everything, finished the first project and have a foundation in place, we see the fruits of our labor and we’re beginning to harvest them. I learned so much on this journey, and I’m noticing the growth in how I approach work, whether it’s musically or business-wise. This would be Haka the CEO’s answer HAHAHA
In actuality it’s just a name under which we, as M.C.F., can do what the fuck we want musically.

JO: Have you had any shows recently or coming up that you can tell us about?

Haka: We just had our release event a couple weeks ago, 26th of May, and currently getting ready for ‘Tank mit Frank’ festival on 22nd of July. We’re working out dates for more shows for later this year, but they’re not confirmed yet.

KTZ: When we do our shows there are a bunch of Freekz from all over Germany around. They can expect a great, peaceful time.. expect that we do the best we can on stage… and after that …having beer, beer, beer…, a good smoke and a fantastic time. And, as Haka mentioned before, we will perform on a 2-days Open-Air-Festival “Tank-mit-Frank” in July. We are the only Rap-Crew there among a lot of Metalheads :) ..but that works great! I had been there last year as well ..having a guest appearance with a Metal Band. That was fuckn awesome!! ..and this year we will be there all together!

JO: Is there anything currently in the works that you could let us in on?

KTZ: Everybody is working on something right now. There will be a lot of Solo Projects coming up, but also new stuff where we are together. Us 3 Clowns, De2l Haka, Harleykin and me had an album out some times ago called ‘Der Wanderzirkus’ (The Traveling Circus) that was a Juggalo Thing for example. We’re thinking about a 2nd Album like this.

You can expect a lot of music from all of MCF this year!! I just did another track with my Bros from the States ‘Razablade Real’ and ‘J-Biz-R’ on their album ‘The World iz dying’ my plan is to make a solo album with my good friend and Beatmaker ‘BassBone’ …and that will be with lots of guitar sounds. Really looking forward to that!!

Haka: Yeah Schlackus is working on a solo album, Harleykin is working on a solo and I’m working on my solo as well. Then we got Gaijin who is one of the new guys on M.C.F. he has a lot of new songs in the works and hopefully we can finish an M.C.F. album with all of us this year. Oh and we got some craziness in the pipeline with a metal band called ‘PrellBokk’ as well..

JO: Where can fans or perspective fans find more of your work or even pick up the new EP?

KTZ: You’ll find all those links below.

JO: Over the years, I’m sure you all have had your share of musical influences. Who would you each say have been your biggest influences in your career?

Haka: I had all kinds of influences over the years..it’s hard to say what the biggest influence was. Really every kind of music can inspire me. My Family, my homies have been big influences too, real life inspires me and of course the whole Juggalo world all day.

KTZ: For me… Bon Scott!!! I had been 9 years old when I heard him for the 1st time… I so loved the voice and the atmosphere but didn’t understand a damn thing. My Bro-in-law was from Scotland and I forced him to teach me english and to help me translate that shit …and I loved what Bon Scott had to tell me in his music. Without that I wouldn’t probably speak or understand English. And later on I got flashed about what ICP did and still do a totally new kind of music and lyrics.. so there’s a big influence cause of them too.

JO: On the reverse side, we all have those that keep us going in tough times. Who has always been there for you, kept you pushing and believed in you?

KTZ: It’s the Freek family around!! ..and I have to mention an amazing lady named Witch Zarpa. She keeps away all the trouble from us, so we can concentrate on our music. (BIG LOVE HEXE ZARPA!!!)
AND …being a Juggalo helps a lot!!! You are never alone in this strange world then!! JUGGALO4LIFE!!!

Haka: Yea what he said; the Freekz around me! Especially our good soul Witch Zarpa. A close circle of loved ones and mysterious people.. HAHA

JO: If given the chance to reach out to one artist for a collaboration, who would you choose and why?

Haka: To give an answer that represents everybody on M.C.F. is impossible because everybody likes different types of rap music. Me personally, I could say ICP, but I think that’s obvious. Today it’s hard to say, there are many great artists out there, but if I had to choose one at this particular moment, I would pick Hoodoo, cause he’s fuckin dope!!!

KTZ: I am glad that I already had a few colabs with amazing artists over there in the States like with Shadow Sweets, Jon Gorton, Gravesight, Cykotik, Razablade Real, J-Biz-R and Mr. Frank Nitty of Project Born. I would love to colab with Bon Scott (will do in Shangri La)… or the 90’s Kylie (You can imagine why, right?! HeHe…) ..and a song with Shaggy and J would be really THE SHIT!! (come on Johnny …tell em and make that happen for us HaHa)

JO: If I could put in a good word with the Clowns, I definitely would. (C’mon Scottie D, make this happen for some German boys!) That aside, whom could we find each of you currently listening to?

Haka: Mostly just our shit when working in the studio, HAHAHA. But yeah, for the time I’m not in the studio, I got a few albums on my cellphone to listen to. At the moment it’s “F.T.F.O.M.F.” by Shaggy, Hoodoo’s “Asylum”, “Hells Pit” , “Contact” from Lex and Onyx “Against All Authorities”

KTZ: Me? …while I wrote this it’s Rage against the Machine running in the Background. But the album I hear most right now is “The World iz Dying” from Razablade Real and J-Biz-R! Make sure you’ll get this Fam!! You will love it!

JO: So, is there anything you’d like to say to the Faygoluvers family before we sign off?

KTZ: LOVE and PEACE Family!!! Forget all the hate and just love the music ..if there’s music you don’t like ..just ignore it instead of hating it. Life is kind of a wrestling show, if you want it…a lot of action, fun and crazy people… where nobody gets fuckn hurt!! WHOOP WHOOP n MMFCL!!!

Haka: Thanx 4 taking your time and for putting us on the platform. And also much love and appreciation 4 all the good work y’all put out over the last years, without u guys we wouldn’t know half the shit of what’s goin down in the Juggalo world/underground world. Keep it fucking wicked!!!

To the Faygoluvers out there; Hold your hatchets high! Y’all know how it goes. Whoop Whoooop!!!.MFWCL FROM GERMANY

JO: As always lets end this thing on a happy note with some shout outs.

KTZ: Shout out goes to the whole German and European Freek family of course!!!..to name one very important Ninja: Jake Jgglo!!!! And for the USA its my Bro Mike Schlupp and Family!!! Moises Mena, Lu Breezy, Shadow Sweets, Jon Gorton, Razablade Real, J-Biz-R, Frank Nitty, Gravesight, Cykotik, and Faygoluvers of course!!! …and so much more Supporters and Friends over there and everywhere!! Peace and Clown love!!!

Haka: Shout Out to all the Freekz in Monstah City and worldwide, everybody KetZer said plus everybody else. Too many names to put them here but they’ll know!!! and Milky Himself, the ‘Fremdsprachenkorrespondent’ HAHA

FREEKZ 4 LIFE!!!

I hate to say it, but that will again do it for another edition of the Faygoluvers’ Underground Spotlight. I want to thank Haka, KetZer and of the Freek Musick family for taking the time out for this interview and holding it down for the scene over in Germany. Be on the look out for my review of their latest EP and the upcoming Underground Spotlight mixtape, which will feature MCF and many of the best artists I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing.

Now before I officially sign off, as always 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. So, until next time…