Reason Interview: lazypakman

5th Letter · December 2016

5th Letter- Where are you from?

lazypakman- Just outside of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, A place notorious for Asian kids trying their best to get killed on bicycles.

5th Letter- Expound on that?

lazypakman- Well we have one of the most well known universities in the world, so it's a massive melting ? of all creeds but mostly Japanese and Chinese students are prime amongst the foreigners, the city itself isn't actually that big (something that really works in it's favour) but when you have so many students content on cycling in what is at the best of times a fairly congested center it tends to get hectic at times, there's like 3 bikes to every person here.

5th Letter- What is it like out there?

lazypakman- aside from wanting to go on a ? frenzy and screaming ''gouranga!' at these cyclists actually pretty good, I only work in Cambridge so spend a lot of time there due to the daily commute, as far as cities in the UK go it's one of the better ones quite simply because it lacks any rough or deprived areas so you very rarely get any kind of trouble here or any tension between communities. I however live in a town about 20 mins away which is a complete ? , been here all my life, you know your town is a cesspool when it makes the cover of a nationwide book voted for by the public named

Life isn't great here, especially when you can be as introverted as i am and especially during free time when you realise that there's a harsh severity of things to do.

5th Letter- What makes you introverted?

lazypakman- perspective mostly, growing up i was always the extrovert in my social circle, would never have a problem making connections or being the one spurring other's on to make the most of their time, I think pretty much the entirety of my friends deciding to settle down, get married, have kids etc kind of left someone like me, who never had a clear plan of what exactly i wanted to achieve in life, getting left way behind and that in effect made me a lot more withdrawn from the world, the realisation that years worth of building up relations with guys i've known since i was a kid came down in the end to nothing is something that really humbles an individual.

The explosion of the internet as well as the way the media dictates news has made me retreat, it's not like there wasn't a world filled with morons back before all this, it was just really the lack of a platform for everyone to be able to communicate with each other that changed with social media exposing the fact the world is literally full of idiots, you can argue the pros and cons but the ignorance i see on a daily basis doesn't make me want to get involved so i tend to keep myself to myself. Thankfully i'm married to a woman who's my best friend and smoke that good ? so i just about manage to stay sane. Won't deny there's days where i feel like standing up in a heavily crowded public place and shouting ''ALLAH HU AKBAR'' just to see who does what.

5th Letter- What was your early life like?

lazypakman- Raised on a surbaban estate which was built around the time we moved and was about 90% white families, there was only one black kid in my school and a handful of asian kids including myself, yeah the landscape used to be massively different back then....but it was a real good place to have a childhood, it's amazing to see kids nowadays being so reliant and infatuated with technology that the days of just fooling around at a park or actually being active outside with the other kids in areas like that doesn't seem to exist anymore.

Father was the breadmaker, usually was working in logisitics, mother was your typical housewife.My family were practising muslims, religion was something i never succumbed to and being integrated in surroundings like those without a real sense of community didn't really help matters along the line, it ended up feeling like having to live one life internally with family and being a completely different person externally, creating different ideals to the ones my parents had tried raising me on and more in line to those that i could to relate to then those i couldn't. I had an easy adolescence admittedley, trying to fit in with everyone else around me and find a balance was probably the biggest hardship i had to go through.

5th Letter- You say you grew up Muslim what made you not buy into religion?

lazypakman- Maybe if my folks had settled somewhere where there was an actual established community which we could integrate ourselves into it might have been different, It was hard to find semblance in those ideals when there wasn't anyone to relate to, plus it just never fully stuck to me which in turn led me to being pessimistic about the whole concept, i found i was always the most open minded child in a room full of muslim kids whenever i found myself in that situation, like no one else was bothering to ask the questions that i would be in fear of being reprimanded.One thing that always annoyed me about our culture is the notion of if your born into it your stuck with it, there isn't anything else that you should adhere to and to question anything else isn't the 'right way', my parents were never outright strict with me but never at any point bothered to have a conversation about why we do what we do and why they believe in what they did.If i ever have any children i will tell them at an age in which they can understand that they are free to follow whoever they want and there would never be any pressure on them to live upto any standard (in a religious sense) because of who we are and what we have always been led to believe.

It wasn't until i got older and decided to study history (which was probably my favorite subject) that really all the contradictions throughout texts in books covering all faiths really cemented the thought in my head that religion,even if it serves a purpose, is nothing more than organised funding in this day and age.I don't really have an issue with anyone who practices as long as they don't try to impose their beliefs on me, my wife is a devout muslim funnily enough but she's open minded enough to let me live my life however i please within reason.

5th Letter- If you don't mind answering what do you do for a living?

lazypakman- I'm a test engineer for a company that manufactures biomedical machines and equipment, my job is to build the machines from base level, calibrate and test them and then someone else takes over to complete the order for the customer.I like my job, mostly because i get given my workload at the start of the month and then can plan it out as i please, most days i can just sit with my ipod on or listen to podcasts and no one has any issue as long as my ? gets done, but i don't envisage myself doing it for life, i started working as a technican a few years ago and have been jumping around a few companies trying to make my way up bumping my pay as i go along.longterm wise i don't really know where i'll end up, my wife is a pharmacist and has the option of opening up her own pharmacy somewhere down the line so helping her with that could eventually be a pertinent option.

5th Letter- How did you get into that field?

lazypakman- Just by putting myself out there really, i spent most of my adult life working in warehousing because the money was good and it was simple work, got made redundant and then just started pursuing technical jobs, i've always done repair work on the side growing up (mobile phones, laptops, pc's etc) so it kind of made sense to try and find somthing of that manner.

5th Letter · December 2016

5th Letter- Did you go to school for that?

lazypakman- Nah nothing like that, just always had a knack for fixing things, as a kid for instance any electrical appliance in the house that was faulty or not working at all,i would open up and look to see how the components were set, after a while you just pick up the general layout of things and through trial and error manage to learn how to find faults, you could usually figure out what a specific problem would relate to. With mobile phones i picked that all up from a friend who had his own mobile phone repair business, nowadays its so easy what will a plethora of videos on youtube even a monkey could do it, but people still a heck of a lot more than they should do for someons else to fix it.

5th Letter- How did you get into hip hop?

lazypakman- Coolio's 'Gangsta Paradise' was the first track that really got me, over here i was really only exposed to any sort of rap at a young age through commercial radio, im remember dubbing a cassette with that just that track playing repeatedly on both sides and would listen to it all the time, a while later this white kid moved from another city to my school, i must have been about 9 or 10 and this kid was years and i mean years (remember i was in a white surburbia) ahead of the curve in terms of what he listened to, dude put me onto 'The Fugees' and the Tim Westwood show and i developed a steady interest, but again because of the limitations of where i was it was hard to access anything beyond the commercial stuff.

It wasn't until another friend blessed me with 2pac's greatest hits that my obsession really started taking off, now i know there plenty of pac stans on here who would bleed to prove their allegiance, but in my prime i don't think anyone was matching me in terms of the lengths i would go to prove my loyalty.I remember saying on here before i bought a replica Death Row chain for myself and would ride into school all W's up screaming '? BADBOY!' even if no-one knew what i was talking about.Used to also have a binder containing all the theories printed off the internet, maaaan i was certain Pac was chilling in Cuba and would come back to run for president one day.Thankfully i grew up and managed to tell the distinction between art and reality, I resented Biggie that whole time purely of because Pacs attitude towards him until i actually sat down and listened to 'Ready to die' (to study the enemy) which was arguably better than any album Pac ever put out and recognized he was clearly the better rapper.'Enter the 36 chambers' was a massive influence for me as well, thought it was dope as ? that these guys created this visionary world based off old Shaw Bro's flicks (which was what i was raised on), liked they truly believed and lived that ? , It's a shame they haven't been able to match that intensity collectively since.

2 things happened after that made me a student of the game, first the explosion of Napster (all about that T3 connection) and me coming across a book called 'The rough guide to hip hop' written by Peter Shapiro, which was an A-Z breakdown of virtually every artist who had ever dabbled in hip hop in any way and their discography,that ? was like the bible to me (still own it and reference it to this day) and taught me more than i ever knew.So i used to download albums in mass amount (soulseek crew shoutout) and would always buy the ones i liked.

5th Letter- Who are your favorite and least favorite rappers?

lazypakman- From the Old school, Nas (the undisputed goat in my eyes), Jay, Black Thought, Talib + Mos, Natti (of cunninlynguists), Dilated Peoples, MF doom (aka Zev Love X), Red + ? , Ghostface, Luda, Guru (r.i.p.), Xzibit in his prime, ATCQ, Busta, Outkast, Common, De la, Rakim, Freeway, Goodie mob, Cube around the predator era, Jeru, Lord Finesse, Roots Manuva, Braintax, Masta Ace, Prodigy, Little Brother,Chuck D, CL Smooth, Royce, Elzhi,Clipse.

New school, All of TDE, Cudi ( he needs to get his ? together though), ? Jenkins, J Cole, Danny Brown, Killer Mike ( even if he's been around for a while RTJ is the first i've heavily ? with him), K.r.i.t, Black Milk, Denzel Curry, Oddisee, Freddie Gibbs, Mac Miller, Stalley, Yelawolf. Outside of the dedication mixtapes i've never understood the hype for Wayne, dude wouldn't even ? my top 50, all this mumble jumble nonsense can ? right off as well.

5th Letter- What are some of your favorite albums?

lazypakman- Too many too list but i'll give it a shot, Like water for chocolate, Things fall apart, Midnight Marauders, All Eyez on me, Aquemini ( or ATLiens depending on mood), The Blueprint, Illmatic, Blackstar, A Piece of strange, Marshall Mathers LP, Chicken & beer, Man on the moon, CD + LR, Lord Willin, OB4CL, Supreme Clientele, Moment of truth, The Grind Date, A Long hot summer, Fantastic Vol.1, Cypress Hill, Music to driveby, Lets get free, Dj Shadow Entroducing..., It's dark and hell is hot, Supa Dupa Fly, Infamous, watermelon chicken n gritz, 40 dayz and 40 nightz, Stress the extinction agenda, Mecca and the soul brother. Plenty missing, especially the more recent stuff but that's a fair list.

5th Letter · December 2016

5th Letter- What are your thoughts on today's hip hop?

lazypakman- It's in a good enough place, think about how many transitions it's gone through in it's history, I think todays scene is like a culmination of styles and inventiveness that we really haven't seen before.....exposure is relatively easy to achieve in this day and age so everything get's amplified.especially when i've seen some of these guys who are at the top now, bubbling under the radar years ago , getting to levels which i never really thought they would achieve, but always hoped they would because they had the potential.

my only true reflection of a general opinion on hip hop as a collective is this site (aside from a friend here and there) , this place about 10 years ago was definitely more celebratory on skills rather than ignorance, the reason was a place where actual hip hop was discussed in a different way, i'm pretty sure i co-founded the 'foreign exchange' forum. now it isn't popping now (june 2013 last topic lmao, just get rid of this excess fat already mods), and it certainly wasn't popping back then, but posters were way more open to an outsiders opinion then whereas now there virtually isn't much regard at all, it's strange how back then this place was 10x more diverse than it is now, that's crazy to me.

the bootleg (which we went onto mod) did used to get a fair amount of traffic, there were good separate conversations going on in there from the reason focusing purely on the underground, that culture in terms of this site doesn't exist anymore, in reality that's down to social media getting to this site, this place certainly isn't about the music anymore.Maybe that might be me not needing to know everything that goes on a rappers life outside of the music (there should be a separate forum for all the nonsense that isn't purely related to an artist releasing something new) but like i said before about morons being too apparent in the world, that sentiment sadly seems to have taken oven here as well when you look at the reason, threads tend to get derailed with farce before they get anywhere.

as far as my opinion on hip hop goes, i'm at an age where the ignorant ? (whatever you want to label it) just goes over my head, i'm sure in my youth and in the right setting i'm sure it would have done the trick, but now it just annoys me so i don't pay it any attention, but in terms of progression it's probably the best it's ever been, a lot of the guys who came up in the 90's and the 00's who were on top, you look at the best rappers out right now and they seem to be more in control of their destiny in terms of creative output, than those guys who came before them ever were, like some of the puppet masters strings have been cut off if you know what i mean? there needs to be open mindedness in places like this forum that a rapper now doesn't really have to be exactly that, he can be an artist in general and be free to broaden his mind as long as they don't veer too far off to the left with it.As much as i'm a sucker for bars and beats hip hop probably makes up about 40% of what music i listen to in general.

One thing i would like to see is some dream collabo albums, there's a clear transition happening right now and it would be cool to see some of the old guard maybe team up and do it whilst they're still have some prime left, and something to say that could make a difference whilst they're still got it in them.

5th Letter- Expound on your thoughts about this clear transition?

lazypakman- look at the artists whose voices are resonating the most with listeners now, it certainly isn't the one's that i grew up with, most of those guys are pushing into their early 40's, some who's legacy is cement, some who still have bars and manage to put out a good project every now and again, others who revert to type and stay in their lane more than likely because they need cheques to come in, which i have no problem with, and those who try to adapt by jumping onto/trying to keep with trends.I get hype as everyone else when someone the stature of a Jay or a Nas drop something, but less so when someone like say DMX puts something out, as much as i love that man i don't really want a crackhead rambling at me over the course of an album.

I look at a few albums which completely changed the landscape, first was '808's' which i listened to once, didn't get it (at all for the most part) and pretty much ignored it for a year until a cold winter came along and i revisited it, and then it just clicked for some reason, retrospectively he didn't really go as left as it seemed then, he really set the blueprint to a lot of what would take over......which leads me to 'So far gone', i didn't know a thing about Jimmy back then but because this caught me at a time in my life where it completely resonated with me, and also because hip hop heads in any sense did not seem to be ? with it (the rnb never bothered me, always preferred rnb to hip hop) but his buzz out side of a general hip hop audience was still pretty big, i ? loved that album i won't even deny it and was convinced in a couple of years time this guy would be the biggest thing in Rap/Hip hop, it was obvious.For the better or worse that actually came true, i still like his music but he has regressed over time but credit to him for making the choices to get to that level.I've never seen as many imitator rappers trying to jump onto the buzz and sound of an artist (outside of Cudi) as i did the couple of years after he dropped that album.

Then there's 'Section 80', i'd been onto TDE for a while and whilst everyone was gradually improving on their potential, that was the first album that knocked me for 6 in a long long time, at that point he was clearly the best rapper in the group and one of the best in the west, it's taken a long time for lyrical rappers to really come to the forefront from there but maybe it was a generational thing, that's not to say there ever weren't (xzibit is one of my favourites quite simply because his flow and cadence wasn't like anyone else's from there when he came out) but what other conscious rapper from the west has ever garnered as much attention as he has?

Along with Cole (who dropped FNL the year before which was equally as important in terms of what he was trying to achieve), there's a just a whole new blood right now who are the ones connecting the most because they have the platform in place to reach out as wide an audience as possible, be it whatever which way you will.

A bigger audience also brings in more of the nonsense, it's never been easier to blow up with a good beat and a decent hook, but now people are literally blowing up off ahot beat, i got into quite a heated argument with a friend over 'Panda' like come one man, this gibberish fuckery is what this generation are inspired by? the disparity between ? rappers who people will listen to in abundance and actual emcee's who tend are spitters to tend to get overlooked disheartening to see. shoutout to the new ATCQ album as well, brilliant gift and nice to see all the recognition and love it's got.

5th Letter · December 2016

5th Letter- How did you discover the IC?

lazypakman- im not sure but it was about '01-'02, i used to post on a couple of other forums before (primarily timbalands beat club forum) just looking for new music, at some point i must have stumbled across the site and joined up, think Ley was head mod along with odeisel when i first got on here.

There used to be a large community of UK posters and we had our dedicated thread in FG&S, which was always buzzing, that's pretty much where i spent most of my time.We were a tight knit bunch, met some cool people thanks to that thread, sadly that demographic isn't present here any more, most of the British posters i see post in the Football (soccer) thread or just randomly here and there.

5th Letter- What are your earliest memories of the IC?

lazypakman- I don't really remember a lot (that's probably down to the drugs so some of these details might be fuzzy) The reason was pretty much pure discussion for a number of years there were classic discussions but no drama, for that Donkey was the place to be.It's so tame now lol, like softcore porn (shoutout to Julia Kruis Mia Zottoli) compared to the ? porn it was when it got popping

Like in it's prime all the traffic used to be there, they used to have the section at the bottom of the page with the active users in the thread with you right? Numbers were insane, the things i remember? Any 'exposure' or 'roast' thread would just lock down things for days if it seemed legit, There used to be so many more women for a start, Kat's constant gift giving is the stuff of legend, there was a thread about her (maybe fake) sister made by a poster sthrncomfort doing all sorts of suggestive delights for the eyes with a plastic water bottle and then i think in the same thread more of kat's ? leaking later on All the beef the site had with SOHH and everyone going to each others forums and chatting nonsense, there was like splinter cell type ? infiltration going on.There was a guy who's username was like ^- who we named symbol boy who was claiming to be from SOHH (but was probably an alias), dude was like the original supergangster, but actually talking as if he were Camron when he started rocking everything pink, he even used to type in that colour really dedicated to it man.Made a thread about Ley once calling him out, said he would rock up to his workplace, knew who he would be because of the string vest or some ? ended up turning into a absolute roast when Ley tried coming back.But he was in his pure IROC being the original shenco, difference being this guy dropped an ENTIRE album in The Reason, Good Lord that was a brutal day.The Memphis Bleek threads in The Reason were classic

Everybody's Ip addresses were waaaay more accessible back then, this place has definitely locked things down on that side as it's progressed as long as it stays kept private between the mods People used to get banned constantly,on a daily basis,say the wrong thing to ? off a mod in any thread and you was gone i remember going power crazy with that tool one time, 2 posters in the UK thread would annoy me to the point i would just ban them carefree for no reason (make them create a new account when they logged back in) i thought it was hilarious but yeah they probably didn't deserve it as much.One of them i still see post here every now and again.The Day where the mass ban happened This place was a jungle, It was a shitload more diverse, when it went down the first time it kinda survived but when it was off for what like a year or something it ended up being a mass exodus.I'm sure there's still posters around from that era but i certainly don't recognise any of them now. Kat's still here though

5th Letter- What are some of the craziest things you've seen since you've been on the IC?

lazypakman- IheartCalis exposure was pretty wild, when the photos dropped where she was drenched in ? ...yeah the IC shutdown that day.

The mass ban as well which i mentioned before, if someone can remember the particulars then please refresh my mind, i think i caught a glimpse of the thread before it got rid, but it was arguably the biggest implosion this site had seen, like the mood that day wasn't jovial in any sense, heck of a lot of people that day caught feelings over whatever and the true nature of certain personalitys came out....the following times were dark days.

5th Letter- Who are your favorite and least favorite posters?

lazypakman- Can't really say that i have any favorites since i don't really know anyone in a personal sense, but posters who make me laugh and seem cool in general and tend to share the same sensibilities as me? supergangster has me in stitches, i'm fairly certain he's someone who's been around for a while, i remember there being a deathrowzorrow sn before. genocidecutter, i know this sentiment has been shared before but fair play to the guy for always sticking to his guns, no-one gives a ? about ICP on here, no-one has or never will yet he still continues good on for the fella for sticking up for himself as well. Nah son, that guy is jokes as well.

rip.dilla, jono, lou cypher, achewon, built4cubanlinx, silverfoxx, waterurseeds, jee504, shoutout to all these guys, in the reason at least, dontdiedontkillanyone posts a lot of ? in the rnbalternative section which i probably would so i appreciate it, but hardly anything ever gets checked out, shoutout to him for the continued hustle.plenty of others i can't think of, i don't do reactions and all that nonsense but if you recieve one from me, consider it a blessing. The LCA people get a mention too, Broddie has always been a poster who's opinion i've always seen as (mostly legit) it's hilarious when others don't agree with him, anyone else who has a dope taste in movies like i do.all the lot who post in the 'i watched recently' thread, keep informing us of whats out there.

Shoutout to anyone who ? with Choi Min Sik. Shoutout to anyone who ? with Paella. There's no one i overly dislike, couple of exceptions to the rule, whos that guy....Zzombie? Yeah ? him, he's a smart guy but in the wrong way....people like him are a part of the problem, not the solution. 1CK1S as well, 1000 raging demonic bulls i will summon onto this ? if i knew who he was, get a ? life you weirdo and stop spamming this forum with your nonsense, vermin, pure vermin you are.

5th Letter- What are some things you'd like to change about the IC?

lazypakman- get rid of a lot of the clutter, so many dead sub forums and what not that people don't even use. I would also love to see a more broad acceptance of what is outside of hip hop in terms of music posted, but i know that's something that won't change. A refresh on the layout wouldn't go unnoticed either. Aside from that nothing much, place is cool as it is.

5th Letter- Any last words before we wrap up?

lazypakman- Yeah sure, i would write some rhetoric about how as humans we should stop pandering to that of what others (society) expect from us, how true fufillment comes from within and being entirely comfortable with the person you are or aspire to be. Instead i'll say that we will all be resignated to the footnotes of history eventually, we have one planet to share, the expansiveness of which is lost to a lot of people on sites like this.If you can ever make it out find the opportunity to travel and broaden your mind you should take it, i bet theres people on here who have never even left the state they stay in to quote some bars from 'respiration' Not to conform to idealist bs but lets just try to be amicable to each other in the long run.Ignorance runs foul in this world ignorance which sadly is pushing its self to the forefront amongst the masses more and more as time goes on if you can manage to live a life without letting it influence your mind personally i think we might be alright.

just.might.b.ok · December 2016

? looks like the Wale's firt MMG album compared to other interviews.

LcnsdbyROYALTY · December 2016

lazypakman wrote: »

Cudi ( he needs to get his ? together though)

You heard that Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' yet bruh?

Nah Son · December 2016

This was a very interesting read. Appreciate the shoutout my man and wish you the best

RickyRich · December 2016

Who is this guy

AggieLean. · December 2016

Dope interview and good list of artist that you listed as your favorites; especially new school artists

Stew · December 2016

Edit: imma ? lol

Dope intv fellas

Lou Cypher · December 2016

Dope interview i read it all trying not to start working.

dontdiedontkillanyon · December 2016

Cool interview, and nice one for the shout out as well.

achewon87 · December 2016

Dope interview, dope poster...

@lazypakman your Detroit mix was fire...

Skepta - Numbers Ft. Pharrell Williams

https://youtu.be/xFjmwL8S7G0

achewon87 · December 2016

5th Letter wrote: »

I resented Biggie that whole time purely of because Pacs attitude towards him until i actually sat down and listened to 'Ready to die' (to study the enemy) which was arguably better than any album Pac ever put out and recognized he was clearly the better rapper.