Raptalk caught up with former Westside Connection affiliate, Big Dutch, who also used to be a part of The Sweat Hoggz group with Gangsta of Tha Komrads with music overseen by Sir Jinx. Although the group disbanded, Big Dutch has embarked on his own career with producer Compton Bub as the duo Brook Central.
The Watts/Compton combo Brook Central released a street CD recently called “The Electric” and will be releasing an official album shortly. In this interview, we at Raptalk introduce you to this West Coast veteran who has been waiting and biding his time in the rap game.
We will be bringing you more from Brook Central right here at Raptalk, so please take the time to read this and get to know more about Big Dutch.
Styles: What’s going on Big Dutch?
BD: Just here ready to talk to the Larry King of the West Coast!
Styles: (laughs) Ok… Well, tell the audience about yourself if you can.
BD: I go by the name of Big Dutch. I am in the group Brook Central as in Willow brook & Central Ave. I’ve been doing this music for quite a while.
Styles: How long?
BD: For over 10 years. I am from Watts, CA. I got my feet first wet back in the day with the Westside Connection. Tha Komrads to be more precise. I started recording around 95/96.
Styles: How did you hook up with Tha Komrads?
BD: I hooked up with them through Ryder, that’s Gangsta’s brother. He found me in the hood somewhere. I was on crutches and shit back then. I couldn’t even walk. He heard that I could rhyme and he scooped me up and threw me in the studio. It was a blessing because I couldn’t walk for like 2 years.
Styles: What happened?
BD: I got shot up with an AK. I survived but they killed my cousin who was with me. The blessing of hooking up with Ryder at that time was that 2 weeks after I could walk, I was on stage performing with Ice Cube. My first real show was in a fucking Arena! Time progressed and things happened. Ryder went away for a minute. I linked up with his brother Gangsta of Tha Komrads. I wrote on a number of their songs especially from their first album. I did the Playa Haters track. The producer who I am in the Brook Central group with now, Compton Bub, produced their first single “Homeboys.”
Styles: Ok. That was him who did that whistling track? That shit was dope.
BD: Right. I was around a lot of shit. The Westside Connection, Allfromtha I, and the whole Hoo-Bangin’ situation.
Styles: When I first met you, you were a part of a group called The Sweat Hoggz.
BD: The Sweat Hoggz was a concept that Gangsta came up with in 95’. What we were really doing at first with that was producing. We were making beats. We lost contact for a few years, you know, life happens. He came to me one day after a long time and asked if I was still doing my thing. He then told me about the group idea using the same Sweat Hoggz name. It was me, him, Devo and Kenny Fats. Now I had already known Devo and Kenny Fats so it was no thing to just transition in to that. Politics ended up happening and things just didn’t happen like we all hoped it would. The good thing about that whole situation though was that I had the chance to work with the magnificent Sir Jinx. In the small time that I worked with him, he taught me a lot just by watching the man work. He is a genius of the craft.
Styles: I know that you mentioned politics. But if you can, tell us what really happened with the group?
BD: Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t know if it was a funding problem or an attitude problem between certain members of the group including myself. I don’t know the 100 hundred behind it, but what I do know is that was a damn good album that we had made. I hated to see it go to waste.
Styles: I was looking forward to that album. So it’s just sitting around somewhere?
BD: It’s just sitting around and collecting dust.
Styles: Wow. Who holds the rights to that album?
BD: Gangsta paid for all of the recording.
Styles: Hopefully we will hear it one day.
BD: We had 19 extreme bangers…
Styles: So the group folded and after some time your name resurfaced again. It had been a year or two since I had been in contract with anybody from the group. So tell us what’s been going on this whole time?
BD: Well, the group hasn’t folded. The name “Sweat Hoggz” has dropped that’s all. We all still work together. They are still my people. In the meanwhile we have all been recording our solo projects. I’ve been a part of the Brook Central group even before the Sweat Hoggz. Brook Central is like my baby. Compton Bub does all of the tracks. I do all of the lyrics. We bring some nostalgia back to the game.
Styles: When is the album coming out?
BD: We are releasing an album that we had on the streets already called “The Electric.” That will be released within the next month. That will be our re-introduction. The 2nd album though is incredible! The production is so much superior than the first album. You will be able to hear the transition.
So as I am recording this whole time, I run in to a bald tall guy named Jazzy D. I’ve been knowing about Jazzy indirectly for a long time. We have a lot of family that is always together. People have been trying to get me to hook up with Jazzy for a while! My little partner Drac, may he rest in peace, he was Jazzy’s cousin and before he passed away he was always trying to get me to link up with Jazzy. At the time I was doing so much and messing with The Westside Connection that I didn’t give it the time. But when I finally sat down and met him, we started talking for like a whole year and then I signed with him. It took long because I do my research when I get involved with something. It’s been a sweet situation ever since.
Styles: The Sweat Hoggz had a very hard street sound. Is Brook Central going to be the same?
BD: It does have that traditional West Coast sound. Bub grew up on all of the old stuff like Funkadelic, Prince, those are the things that he vibes to. The music has that authentic West Coast feel but at the same time Bub throws a lot of dynamics in to his music. You don’t want to just be stuck in one style, so that’s why Bub does that. We hit you with a little down South, some Yay area, even a little East Coast. Just adding different flavors and spices.
Styles: With you being in the rap game for so long, how do you feel when people say that the rap business is a young man’s game?
BD: From the things that I’ve been hearing, it sounds to me that a lot of rappers need more experience behind their lyrics. There’s a lot of stuff out there that I just can’t relate to no more. Hip Hop used to inspire me. Nowadays I just can’t turn the channel quick enough. I respect a lot of older cats in the game due to most of them having a message and something to say, saying something with substance. In my opinion there’s two different sections in Hip Hop. It used to be a young man’s game, but you’ve got to remember that we grew up in this. So it’s just as much a young person’s game as it is mine. I grew up in this. This is the first music that I listened to. The first album that I bought was a rap record. I’ve been rooted in this all of my life. To say that this is just a young man’s game? The older heads definitely have our part in this.
Styles: But do you think that there is a market still for older artists?
BD: A lot of artists that you see in videos, they aren’t selling any records. It’s all a persona and a mirage. But real music always moves slower than the easy commercial stuff because it spreads to thinkers.
Styles: With that slow pace though, how do you make bread?
BD: The only way to really make money right now is through performances and shows. You can’t fake a performance. You can’t bootleg the experience of seeing Ice Cube rock the house live in person. You can watch it on video but there is nothing like being there. That’s what’s going to sustain hip hop.
Styles: Has the live performance department dried up? I don’t mean from a fans sense but from the club owners sense. It’s pretty hard to book shows at venues due to the bad image of rap.
BD: A lot of situations have happened to where they have closed the doors on Hip Hop artists. But my belief is that this is a big country. There’s a lot of towns with a lot of clubs out there. You’ve just got to be gung-ho and go at it. The key is persistence.
Styles: Anything you want to leave us with?
BD: You can check me out at myspace.com/misterbigdutch. You can check out that “Electric” mixtape, it’s all over the Internet and iTunes. I want to send a shout out to my partner Compton Bub and the whole Brook Central clan. Also to Jazzy McGwire a.k.a Jazzy D, Mr. Show-Me-The-Money. And to you Styles, the Larry King of the West. I love what you are doing for us.
**The interview can be found on RapTalk.net**
http://www.raptalk.net/news/features/SpecialInterviewWithBigDutchofthegroupBrookCentral.php
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