Fifteen years ago, Jurassic 5’s sophomore follow-up to their self-titled debut became the breakthrough the Los Angeles collective needed. Yes, Quality Controlfor many could be strongly considered one of the quintessential alternative Hip Hop albums to come from the West Coast. Despite breaking up and lacking a full-length album since 2006’s criminally underrated Feedback, J5 continues to have a tour schedule most established artists would die for. The sheer dedication of their fanbase is clearly a living testimonial of their harmonious delivery that’s even helped them on solo endeavors. Sitting backstage at a recent show in Downtown LA, DX gets a chance to speak with members Akil and Marc 7 about their longevity nearly ten years since their last major release outside of the one-off Heavy D produced “The Way We Do It.” Most importantly, is another album in the works?
J5 Remembers The Day “Quality Control” Hit Shelves
DX: 15 years since Quality Control. How you guys feeling?
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Marc 7: Blessed to be here. To still be here is an accomplishment. Taking a long absence and coming back together for the fans. They accept us as if we never left.
DX: When Quality Control was released, West Coast Hip Hop was in a different position than it is now. The day the album dropped, what was going through your minds about the reception?
Marc 7: For me, I remember that day. I believe we had an outside show at a record store in Glendale, California. It was at a Tower Records. I remember the fans being lined up and the energy; anticipating the album coming out. From us being in the studio, the records before that and us being overseas, having a…
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Akil: Major push.
Marc 7: Yeah, major push.
Akil: Well, so-called major push.
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Marc 7: It was like this is happening in America right now. The feeling of rolling up to the store and seeing our names everywhere. It was our time to go. It was real special.
Akil: That was amazing.
DX: The album came out as the internet becoming prominent in music consumption both legally and illegally. How have you guys evolved with the change in technology?
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Akil: Right now, we’re still trying to get our foot in because like you said, everything happened so fast. We actually sped up when YouTube came out around that time. We really didn’t have a chance to deal with that aspect. Us being back right now, it’s the question of whether or not we’re going to put something out right now. It’s not the same ballgame of how you put stuff out, where as back then we put out a CD and you had to go to Tower Records. I mean record stores don’t even exist anymore like that. So, it’s finding that medium in putting out something right now. I mean a song on the internet has the life expectancy of like two days now
[Laughter]
Because people have ADD and are like “I got it but, what’s next?” For us to put out something, it has to be tangible because we’re used to making whole albums.
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Marc 7: Right.
Akil: I don’t know if people are even into making whole albums at this point.
Marc 7: So you have to bring in a whole new thought process to get what’s going on. You’re talking about monetizing everything and making it substantial so it can work for you. He’s right, it’s a whole different game.
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Akil: The thing about Instagram or something like that is that people get instant gratification. The original Instagram or Twitter is the live show. That’s something we’ve always honed as kings in our own right. It’s nothing like being live and up close in front of someone. It’s always that story of someone whose album you love but when you see them live, you’re like, uh. We’ve never had the big hit but you go to our show and people are like, “who are these guys.” That’s cool that a live show has never gone out of style even with the digital age.
Marc 7: And, I actually watched it from the time we were coming up to where there was a point in music for an artist to say, “I’m making money off this record, shows are whatever.” There was a point in time where shows were secondary for an artist. And some stars were like whatever to the fans. Now, the live show is everything. It’s been switched in where artists have to give back to the fans. That’s been something we’ve been doing since day one. I watch artists and we’ve performed with some artists who didn’t have to go out and do live shows because they had record sales that were generating money. That’s not the case anymore. It’s about getting shows now. It’s funny watching that kind of flip.
Akil: Especially with us performing at like Coachella and stuff. We were out for like eight years and came back to do Coachella. You got people out right now who are like, “I wish I could perform at Coachella.” It’s like we don’t have anything new out and we’re on Coachella. That should be telling you something right there.
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Marc 7: That’s on the main-stage.
J5 Calls Last Year’s “The Way We Do It” A Litmus Test& Talks Individual Projects
DX: Last year you guys dropped “The Way We Do It,” which was produced by Heavy D. Many thought you were finally coming back together to do an album.
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Akil: That track was already recorded. We did that like eight years ago when Heavy D was still alive. We were working on our last album and stuff. We did a few tracks with him but this particular track sounded like J5 and felt like something we could put out as well as giving Heavy D is props. We thank him for blessing us with that track too. It just felt like the timing was right for that particular joint. We have lots of material that’s never come out.
Marc 7: We have a lot of good B-side material and just material in general.
Akil: For us, we’ve never been up-to-date. We’ve always had an old school sound. It’s kind of an oxymoron for us to try to make new music for sounding up-to-date or for this time. We have a whole bunch of music together. It’s about how we get this placed out for the people. That was a good litmus test for everything.
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Marc 7: The response to that was great.
Akil: We just need a follow-up.
DX: What’s it like watching West Coast Hip Hop and the various scenes that have popped up over the years?
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Marc 7: For me, I think it’s great because there was a lapse in LA Hip Hop. Now you have Nipsey Hussle and YG along with these other younger cats coming out. And, they’re holding their own. They’re striking the independent thing. I mean Nipsey Hussle’s grind is incredible. I give nothing but kudos for them in going out on their own and making a name for themselves.
Akil: Look at Kendrick who really took things over the top. I love that, he’s one of my favorite artist right now.
DX: Let’s talk about what you guys’ plans individually. I know you just passed me your latest project Akil titled Sound Check.
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Akil: I know right? Well uh, I just gave you my little debut on what I do as a solo artist and stuff. I did the majority of the projection on there and just a couple of features. Sound Check is something you do before the show and for me as a solo artists, you know me from being in the group. I have to sound check with the people first. That’s what Sound Check is. Let me change my frequences and see who’s feeling what I’m feeling as well I want a sound check.
[Laughter]
Marc 7: That’s a nice play on words.
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Akil: I released my first solo record last year called Food, Clothing & Shelter. Then I followed-up with When Sounds Attack Vol. 1 and that’ll be a three part series. That’ll be finished next month God willing. Hopefully, everything will be out by the end of the year. Right now, I’ll just keep writing because it was different territory for me. I’m so focused on J5, being in a group and writing as a group. It was more of a challenge but, the more I challenged and attacked it, the more confidence I felt. I’m at the point right now in which I know what I want to do. I’m just finding my sound.
DX: One of my favorite tracks are you guys is the “Baby Please” track from Feedback.
Marc 7: Akil brought that beat for us. Who did that beat? I remember when you brought it to us.
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Akil: Blu and Exile
Marc 7: Naw, just Exile. What’s good Exile?
Akil & Marc 7’s Best Tour Stories & If A New J5 Album Will Ever Happen
DX: What’s it like touring 15 years later?
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Akil: It’s all the same for me. I guess there was more enthusiasm or excitement. Not to say we’re not excited as it’s always excitement getting back together as a group. I don’t know. When you get a little older, you have more patience. When you’re younger, you’re more eager. Now, we’re honed into who we are and what we do. We just stick with that. It’s the same. A live show is a live show. You want to give that energy and make sure the people are into what you’re doing. Hoping you’re not doing a Miles Davis and not performing with your back to the crowd.
[Laughter]
Marc 7: The first week of the tour is fun and after that, everything turns into work.
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DX: Have any cool tour memories?
Marc 7: We have a lot of them but the most memorable was in Rhode Island. It was steaming hot inside the club. It was burning up inside and out. It was raining incredibly hard and Nu-Mark wanted to take a shower real bad. So, he went outside in his boxers. It was raining so hard that his bar of soap was lathering. He literally soaped up in the rain and took a shower. I wish we had it on video. It really lathered up. Dead serious, he took a shower right then and there.
Akil: We were sweating like crazy too. I think for me, you have different fans come to the bus and stuff. We were parked one time on an off day. I think everyone went to the movies or something like that. I stayed back to make beats or something. I’m sitting in the bus and I see two people walk by; a girl and a guy. The girl doubled back and looked. I was like aw man here we go. They doubled back and started knocking on the door. I was like aw shit. She was like, “hey what’s up?” I’m like hey! I’m kind of getting annoyed. She took off her hoodie and was like hey! I was still like, hey! She was like, it’s me, Nelly. It was Nelly Furtado.
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DX: Awww man
[Laughter]
Akil: And we did a song with her too. Big ups to Nelly Furtado though. It was crazy because I felt so bad.
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Marc 7: The funny thing about that is that I’m a huge Nelly Furtado fan but Akil is her homie.
[Laughter]
Marc 7: They friends.
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Akil: We really bonded from that point on.
DX: Clearly you guys like touring together. However, it’s been some time since the last project. Will the world ever be blessed with a J5 album?
Marc 7: Personally for me, I’d love to see another J5 album. But, we have to get together as a unit, put everything to the side and actually commit to an album. Will it happen? I don’t know. Would I like for it to happen? Yes.
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DX: Must feel good to still tour and be respected for the work you’ve guys done even if you never release another album as a unit right?
Akil: That feels great to me. That’s the wonderful feeling. I noticed that our last album. I’d ask the fans what they thought about the last album. They’d reply with that’s cool but I like what yall did on Quality Control. We’re becoming one of those groups where they don’t want to hear any new shit. They just want to hear what they like. Before we broke up, I understood that. That’s pretty cool because you can have a career for the rest of your life on those types of things. When I think of James Brown and Aretha Franklin, I don’t want to hear no new shit. I want to hear what I know and then they can sneak in some new stuff. That’s cool. I never known a group to split, come back together and make a successful album. If you can think of one, cool. But, I don’t know one.
