Extracted from the AOR Vault: 2008

After hearing “Deth Season” with you and Snapp, I was bent on picking your brain. How did that come together?

K-Rino: I have to give the credit to Snapp for that one. He called me up and I went to his spot and we did the song. I didn’t think much of it cause I do a lot of features. He called me up like a month after we did it and said he put together a video for the song we did. He shot it himself. So he came by with his equipment and it wasn’t a high budget production. He brought his stuff to my living room and we did it. He put that affect on it that gave it that look. That’s why everyone was like “Man!” Because it was something different and something no one has done before. So I have to give the credit to Snapp.

You’re definitely not a new jack. Can you tell us how you got started and you’re involvement in the S.P.C. (South Park Coalition)?

K-Rino: I go back to the early days of Hip Hop. It was like 1983 when I started writing. I came up listening to the Sugar Hill Gang, Kurtis Blow, Krs-One and people of that nature. Growing up in that golden era of Hip Hop, that was my motivation. I think that’s what molded my diversity and made me into who I am now. In 1987 I started the South Park Coalition because there was so many hard rappers in H-Town and in my neighborhood alone. We were all spread out at different schools and were going against each other and I wanted to bring us all together. The South Park Coalition was a collaborative effort that stemmed from that.

I found myself playing catch up. You have a very extensive catalogue. Can you give us a run down of your projects up to the present?

K-Rino: I might not be able to remember every one but the first record I released was in 1986. I was in a crew called Real Chill with two of my other old school colleagues G.T. and Preppy Jay. We dropped the song “Rocking it” back in 86 when I was like in 10th or 11th grade. That was really the second major rap release that came out of the city of Houston behind the original Geto Boys. The Geto Boys dropped a record that same year just a little earlier. Then in 1989 I was in a different group called C.O.D. with one of The Coalition members Dope-E. We dropped an album in 89 titled “C.O.D.” I went solo in 1992. I would say from that point on I dropped about 18 solo projects and a few group albums. With this new album Blood Doctrine this will be like my 21st project.

That’s a lot of work! What was the inspiration behind the new album Blood Doctrine?

K-Rino: If you look in the dictionary and look up the word doctrine you’ll find it’s a principle. It’s a principle based on policy. Whether it is a government policy or a religious policy, that’s a doctrine. Blood is life, so when you put the two together if you sign that doctrine you’re basically signing your life over. The particular doctrine I’m speaking of is anything that represents the United States government and the policies they’ve been carrying on since before the Bush administration. The album is a political based title but it’s mostly a warning for anyone who wants to go down that road. If you partake in those activities then the ways and principles of what this country stands for at that moment then you’re signing that “Blood Doctrine.” You’re signing your life over.

Is the production strictly from people in your family?

K-Rino: Normally I do. Over the years I have established a core of producers that I work with on most of the albums. They might rotate from album to album. Then you might see a mixture of those producers. On this album I used one of the legendary producers in H-Town I never worked with called Mike-B. He did a lot of work for Rap-A-Lot and a lot of groups from back in the day. Then you got Dope-E of the Terrorist that’s one of my main producers. He’s one of the O.G. South Park Coalition members. I actually didn’t get production from him on this album but he’s one of my main producers. Then you have a guy out of Germany named Kyzer Soze. I have been working with him for that last 23 years. I like to be diverse and I don’t like to get all my tracks from the same person. I like to give the album different sounds and different tones. Not to mention I might sneak in a few myself every now and again.

 I didn’t know you did production?

K-Rino: I don’t consider myself to be a hell of a producer. I’ve always produced out of necessity. If there’s a situation where I don’t have any money for the track and its something in my head I think I can put down, I do it myself.

Do you handle how you market yourself as well?

K-Rino: Like I mentioned, South Park Coalition isn’t just rappers. We have people that are involved in every aspect of the industry. Video, magazines, radio, street, whatever category you can come up with. You’ll see some videos peel off of this album. I just established a promotion and marketing team that I want to put into effect and get a major push on this project. I have a street team and an Internet team. So that’s really going to be the thing that’s going to springboard this project to the next level. It’s going to reach a lot more corners than my usual projects do.

Do you have shows planned? Are we going to be able to see you on the east coast?

K-Rino: We don’t have anything planned out that way but I’m a businessman. If the right call comes with the right opportunity I wouldn’t hesitate to go out that way. I’d definitely put it down on the east coast or anywhere I might get that call. Not just America but overseas. I’ve done shows overseas. We constantly do shows and we are all about branching out into the world. We don’t have a set schedule, it’s a bit sporadic but when that call comes we’ll move.

You give out Rap tips, which I found interesting. You don’t see that from much artists. They say the game is to be sold not told. What inspired you to share that knowledge?

K-Rino: Because no one sold it to me. The part that wasn’t told to me, I lived it. I have taken a lot of lumps in my experience in the music business. I’m still taking lumps. If I can possibly help someone evade those pit falls I feel like I’m obligated to do it. It’s like when Michael Jordan first came to the league, he went to Dr. J and asked him for advice. Dr. J didn’t say, “Nah I can’t tell you man.” Dr. J gave the game up. A few years later when Kobe came to Mike, Mike gave the game up. That’s what really keeps the game fresh. You have people saying it’s messed up or Hip Hop is dead and that’s one of the main reasons. If we decide we want to hide the light under a bushel basket then it’s going to die. We have to be able to pass on information to the new generation so they can come up rooted with the realness.

I definitely have to give you respect for that. There’s not enough of that going around.

K-Rino: It’s not only the artists that aren’t passing the information. A lot of the media outlets aren’t passing along the information. I can use my city for example, Houston. There’s no respect for the history in this city. Not even the history of the city itself. Radio stations don’t make the effort to inform them of the people who came before them. I’m sure that doesn’t just go down in H-Town. I’m sure it’s going on in a lot of different cities. It’s a situation of if you have a magazine, radio station, TV show, you have to infuse the veterans with the new generation in order for them to have a better appreciation of how things got started. It also can make you a better person. You can look back and pick out the tidbits of knowledge that can help make you a better man.

So you feel Houston isn’t what it should be?

K-Rino: My take on it is that Texas used to be shining like four-five years ago. Texas isn’t hot anymore. They had a few artists that came out and did their thing years ago. The mistake that was made was those guys and the record labels didn’t bring in any new artists while they were hot. They basically rode their wave out till it played out. Now they hit a brick wall, everything has died out. To me there isn’t much going on out here in terms of heat. There are a lot of artists out here that have heat. There are plenty of talented artists out here. We live in a reality where you get the cold shoulder. Everything is about flash. The imagery that’s being put out there is watered down rappers we can shoot out for the day. Five years later when people are done doing their thing and making lolipop songs it’s over. We need to insure the ones that are doing the real talking should continue to be recognized.

Should we expect to see you on any other features?

K-Rino: Not at the moment. I’ll be featured on a lot of underground stuff you probably won’t be familiar with. You’ll hear me on the new Scarface album; I did a cut with him. That will probably be the only thing on a worldwide scale people will be familiar with. That might be the project that introduces people to me for the first time. I’ve been flying under the radar for most of my career. Other than that I’ll be in the hood working with a lot of underground cats.

That’s a good look getting on the Scarface album. There’s a lot of talk saying this could be his final go around.

K-Rino: Scarface is my people’s man, we go back to the mid 80’s. It was long overdue that we put something down. You know when Scarface calls you drop what you’re doing and go put your work in.

Any last words?

K-Rino: Look out for K-Rino and look out for South Park Coalition. All the people who have supported me I appreciate ya’ll. For those who don’t know of us, give yourself the opportunity to investigate and check us out. I’m sure you’ll find something you like.

Connect: IG I YT I South Park Coalition Official Site