By Amanda Koger
Pugs Atomz is a Chi-Town emcee who has many talents. He’s also an apparel designer, a visual artist and a radio host. But when it comes to hip-hop, he has worked with some of the finest independent rappers in the game like Psalm One, Molemen, Robust etc. Since entering the scene in the mid-90s, he has released several albums but it wasn’t until dropping a compilation called CTA Radio: Chi City Hip-Hop in 2006, when he finally started picking up a substantial buzz that is steadily growing. Digiwaxx caught up with him to get the scoop on how he became the talented individual he is today.
You moved to Chicago from Pittsburgh, PA when you were little. Do you remember Pittsburgh at all or were you too young?
Yea, I was too little. But I would go back to visit my family in Philly which I liked a lot. We lived in the Pill Hill area, which was very urban and cultured. And at that time my mom was a painter and my dad was a radio host so I had the opportunity to see some exciting things.
Speaking of your father is it true he was an ex-Black Panther?
Yes, he was a Panther, then he was a communist, and then he was a radio host.
What was it like growing up with your dad and trying to be a rapper?
He was pretty against rap when I was younger. He was just like, “it’s a fad, it’s going to play out and it’s not going to last.” Then he came home one day with the first Common album, Can I Borrow A Dollar?, on tape. He was like, “here if this is what you want to do.” My reaction was like, wow he brought me a tape and I looked at it like, wow Common Sense then I added it all together.
Did your dad associating himself as a Panther play a big part on your music? You talk a lot about obstacles that Black youth face.
Something that he always told me is that our music should reflect our struggle otherwise its not doing much more than making some noise.
Did seeing your dad change his view on rap encourage you to to do it more?
It was slow thing. With me, graffiti and hip-hop always pulled me in. From the first time I was on the train and I saw somebody spelling on the rooftop I was like, “man I want to do that.” It was one of those things that were always pulling me. As a kid I would always draw characters and letters so it was already kind of forming. And then I got a Casio keyboard for Christmas and I was trying to do something with it. So it was always there I just didn’t know what it was until I met other people and watched TV before I started to see and realize that this was the thing that was pulling me.
You wrote your first rap in fifth grade, do you still remember it?
All I know is something about the Lord has been mighty good to me. It was about prayer because I was in Catholic school and we had to write a poem about God and then I did the poem in class and everybody started to call me a rapper after that so I just fell into it. But a lot of my cousins were break dancers and rappers so I used them as examples of what to do and what not to do.
Were you a very religious person growing up?
For the most part. Just like any other Black kid growing up if you have a grandmother who goes to church then you have to go to church. And if you go to Catholic school then you have to go the Catholic Church. I saw both sides of it, I was an usher in regular church and I was an altar boy in Catholic Church. It was as apart of me as watching the Cosby Show.
I read that you are apart of a program called University Hip-Hop at the University of Chicago? Tell me more about that.
I used to teach at the University Hip-Hop, which is a separate thing. It was founded by this pretty established graffiti artist along with a couple other people and they put together this thing where you can learn all about hip-hop and the kids can come and get shown how to do graffiti murals, shown how to skateboard, shown how to break dance pretty much all the elements of hip-hop. Now it has became apart of the After School Matters Program so now high school students can get paid now to come depending on the program. I’ve been teaching since I was about 18 or 19. My mom was the Artistic Director at one of the art centers in the Englewood area. But I had a radio show at the University of Chicago along with Kevin Maxy for the last 11 years. We pretty much focus on Chicago independent music and also music from around the world. Everybody from Wu-Tang Clan to anybody has been to our show and J. P Chill. And that is actually the place where Common battled Kanye West on the J. P Chill Show. He has been doing this since ’86 and then he put us on.
Changing gears, what is the name of your new album?
Rooftop is what it’s called. We’re still working out the kinks but it should be out towards the end of June. It’s pretty much about the bird’s eye view. As you were saying, a lot of my stuff deals with struggles so this is pretty much the overview of struggle and understanding of what you’re up against and also the understanding of just the simple things. I have this one song called, “The Figure.” And it’s just pretty much talking about when the relationship is over, but the different reasons that the relationship can be over. And that mood that you’re in right when you know that it’s over and you’re about to let them know how you’re in that bird’s eye view looking down from the top. You see it all now and can just go ahead with it.
Is this your favorite album out of all your projects?
This is my loosest album. Most of my records are real serious but with this one I was real loose. At first this record was supposed to be a mix tape. But I was pushing singles from this record and the first single was “Rooftop” and then there was a song called “Blue Blazer” and then “Wait and See” with Sadat X. With the response from those three songs and everyone hitting me up through emails and phone calls, I was just like, I guess it should be an album.
As you know, Lupe and Kanye are out of Chicago. How would you say that you fit in among them?
I’m more just the hip-hop guy, you can say. For me I was always more about creating the network. When all of them were really about to go to the next level I was more about my crew and we were more about graffiti and throwing parties and we would put out compilations of our whole crew. Now my whole focus is more on me, because it is easier to push one thing rather than fifty different things.
Do you think that you should have focused on that before?
That wasn’t what my goal was. I mean, at that point, I really wanted my crew to do it–that’s what it was about. Now everybody wants to be famous don’t get me wrong but for me it was about giving props. And also too my path was more of an independent path. I had my own label at a time with a few other people. And most of the labels that I really messed with were on a smaller scale. I was never really one to go out looking for a Sony or a Def Jam to sign my records. I stuff is really self-contained. We made our own shows, we do our own shows, we booked our own tours and still that’s how it goes. I don’t really have a crew per say but the individuals that I surround my self with are pretty much on the same thing.
A lot of your songs are about Chicago. How has Chicago impacted you?
It’s everything; it’s my backbone so it’s only right for me to talk about it. And also to give kids that same thing that I got when I listen to New York rap. I almost believed that I was really in Harlem because it is almost like you would get hit in the head with so much of what’s going on their lives. I think that one of the reason for like Wu-Tang, Jay-Z, and a lot of those guys to really kill it because they painted such a picture of their surroundings. You felt even if you didn’t know what the hell they were talking about that the place they were at had to be cool. So I try to show a sense of pride that this is ours and represent for the people that put me on.
What is your view on the up and coming Chicago hip-hop scene, do you think it is a good crop?
It’s the same as always to me. It’s always going to be very great artists, and artists that are ok but they get a lot of light. But I think right now the best part to be an emerging Chicago artist is that you have a real opportunity to take it somewhere else and really get it in. I mean a lot of the new guys like Kidz In The Hall, Hollywood Holt, to The Cool Kids, to Kid Sister. All of those groups are really going hard at and they really have doors to really make it further. As a teenager growing up you only really had Common and Twister and even at that time they were doing there thing but they weren’t doing it to the level in which they are doing it now. And I think now kids have more of a chance to do whatever it is that they want to do whereas when I was coming up you were either a battle rapper or you were a commercial rapper.
Any last words?
You can go to my MySpace and YouTube, and you can Twitter Pugs Atomz and google Pugs Atomz. But really if you’re creative just be creative in whatever you do. From running a store to driving a cab you can make it your own thing and do that. And don’t be afraid to do it the way you want to do it. I think that’s one part that kills it all for everybody when somebody is on your shoulder telling you that it’s not going to work. Granted sometimes some of those people are right but a lot of those other times they are wrong. And you can come up with the best idea that you ever had but listening to them you’ll never get to see it. Thanks to Jugernaut for letting us do the interview.
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