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Posted 21 years ago #Any ideas as to why Smile Oak left PUTS?
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Posted 21 years ago #good question man - on the back of AMV1 it says that one track is from 'ex-member Smile Oak' and when I read that I was confused too. Isn't there a lyric where Double K (?) says something like 'we used to be 3 but now we're only 2'
Anyway, as far as my investigation lead me, Smile Oak was just a member in the same was JazMak is - like the third member that goes about with KK and Thes on tour and appears on a few tracks and just chills with them...
So far I think PUTS have had 3 'third members' - Smile Oak, Kidd Lexus and now JazMak - Peter Agoston told me that Smile Oak was the 3rd member for a little while before the 1st album then it was kidd lexx and now it's jazmak...
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Posted 21 years ago #Good detective work fellas. You pretty much got it but here's the deal.
I had been hanging out with Dub making beats listening to the beatnuts and what not in 95 basically messingh around with 4-tracks and thinking about how to get down. When we met we were doing our best making beats on tapes with loops and what not but we had both recently switched to professional samplers - I had been producing on the MPC-3000 for a little while and I was bugging out hearing what Mike was comin up with on the SP-1200. We were kind of part of other crews at the time (which we can get into at a later date if you guys wish). I started College that year and the first day of classes I met Smiley because we both went to the wrong classroom and ended up arguing about who won the Hobo-Heiro battle. Anyays, somehow him, Dub and I ended up at my house a few weeks later ( i was still living at my parents house at the time) and we recorded two songs just for fun as "People Under The Stairs". The first track was Dub beatboxing with all of us freestyling and the second one we sat down and wrote to a beat I had just made. The song ended up being about 9 minutes long and we called it The Next Step. Following that we recorded about another 6 songs with Smiley which is basically the first PUTS album.
The track listing is chronological and roughly as follows: The Next Step, Bitchkill, Day In Day Out, Mental Battle, Rockin' Tonight, I'm Smiley (released on AMMV1), and Hardcore (released on The Next Step album). The "Next Step" I just mentioned is not The Next Step II that is on the Next Step album. So at this point PUTS is officially 3 members and we were working on that first album. Smiley then took a year off from school and moved back to the Oakland/SF area. This made it difficult to keep the group together so Double K and I started working together as PUTS being just the two of us. We made a few songs that were kind of weak and then we decided to take a road trip up to the Bay to visit Smiley and dig for records/hang out. We had a blast and came back with all types of stories and inside jokes. The first song we made afer that was San Francisco Knights, a tribute to that road trip. I think this was crucial for us because we started trusting that our personal experiences were good enough to make songs about. Also on that trip Dub saw Michael McDonald singing about "Wannabe's" in a parking lot in Solvang, Ca. and we wrote the song Wannabe's. Following that was Mid City Fiesta, etc. Etc. and before we knew it Mike and I had finished the first full PUTS album on our own by 1997. Smiley was still doing his own thing so that pretty much sealed the deal on who the P would be.
I should point out that my man Smile-Oak is working with a group called Cosmic Truckaz out of LA and they have an album out as well.
For the record Smiley never made it out on tour with us and JAz is the only cat to ever travel with us as PUTS. Reeespect. After Smiely left it's been two ever since, thus Dub's lyric.
Thes -
Posted 21 years ago #i feel like i'm gettin entertained and educated at the same time. good stuff, thanks thes.
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Posted 21 years ago #thanks for telling us about your journeys in life and such, and the fact that you and dub work well with each other and rap about your experiences is somthing that should not be taken for granted as in other genre of music (all genres of pop music) dont talk about the life experiences as raw as The P. Its laid back magical vibes and tunes that feel of pure soul and heart, and man the club mofo's can hit the d*ck eh?
The Next Step, a step back into the past. -
Posted 16 years ago #
from thes:
Smiley then took a year off from school and moved back to the Oakland/SF area. This made it difficult to keep the group together so Double K and I started working together as PUTS being just the two of us. We made a few songs that were kind of weak and then we decided to take a road trip up to the Bay to visit Smiley and dig for records/hang out. We had a blast and came back with all types of stories and inside jokes. The first song we made afer that was San Francisco Knights, a tribute to that road trip. I think this was crucial for us because we started trusting that our personal experiences were good enough to make songs about.
...and its been that way ever since. "on and on"
dont mind me, im bored at work lookin thru every last thread from day one errr three...whatever.
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