In the goriest rappers of all-time, few have had the shock value, but no one has had the consistency or longevity of Brotha Lynch Hung. The Sacramento, California emcee has been aborting fetuses, devouring human flesh and decapitating competition since 1994's 24 Deep. Thirteen years later, the fully-independent cult hero says that selling 100,000 copies of his material within three months is no problem.

Although he can be downright gruesome on the album, the now father of a 17-year-old avoids so much as cursing in an interview with HipHopDX. In celebration of Halloween, the Siccmade star describes his upcoming farewell trilogy, his segue in screenwriting and even what Brotha Lynch 'Young' dressed up as for the holiday in his gory days.


HipHopDX: People associate you with a style that you’ve developed. Beyond that, tell me how you discovered Hip Hop and what it was like growing up in Sacramento, California, period…
Brotha Lynch Hung: I had a homie named Phonk Beta from New York. He would listen to Hot 97 and stuff and tell me about the new artists comin’ out. This is the early, early ‘80s. That’s how I basically got into loving rap. I’ve been an east coast fan. Rakim, Slick Rick – I didn’t find myself back then, but I did find out that I wanted to rap. I took those years, from 1983 to 1990 to kind of find myself. Those artists paved my way, as did KRS-One, Run-DMC, LL Cool J and artists like that. I consider myself a Hip Hop, rip-rap type.

DX: With that being said, what you rap about is very real. Real pain. Real depression. How did that become part of your style? To be honest, few rappers, outside of The Geto Boys, were really going towards that direction in the early ‘90s.
BLH: Mostly why I developed the “I’ll say what I want to say” style is because I grew up as a lonely child and felt unlistened to. Stuff like that. When I started doing music and people actually started listening to what I was saying, I felt I wanted to go that way and be real. I’m not really scared to open up about my life - not to find out if anybody cares, but to just give them a perspective on my life.

DX: You mentioned the Hip Hop influence. I know you’re inspired by the concept of mortality, death, gore, all that. How did that hit you, and what did the posters on your wall look like as a child?
BLH: I used to have Spiderman posters and Jason [Friday the 13th] posters and stuff. Mostly Horror movie stuff. I’m a Horror movie fanatic. That’s pretty much all I used to watch as a kid. Even now, I watch a lot of murder investigations and stuff like that – Most Evil, if you’ve ever heard of that. Right now, I’m doing these three albums, connected together. They’re three serial killer albums; I’ve kind of been on that investigations tip right now. As far as back in the day, I love all the Jasons, Michael Myers, those guys.

DX: Without revealing too much, how are the three albums threaded together?
BLH: I decided to do prequels and all that. I have the same actors on all three albums, ‘cause it’s more like a movie. Every album builds up. It starts with the first and ends at the third album. It’s a whole movie put together. It’s supposed to be candy for your ears. It’s supposed to be like if you were to buy audio books. That’s my album. The first one’s called Dinner and a Movie, the second one’s called Coathanger Strangler, and the third one’s called Gangrene, but they all connect together. They’ll be released starting next year. I’ll probably end my career off of the Gangrene album [by 2010].

DX: To what extent do you see a parallel between the stakes or circumstances of a slasher movie to the stakes or circumstances of growing up in Sacramento, California?
BLH: Mostly, back then I used to see a lot of stuff. I was involved with a couple things. Right now my life is so calm. I kind of go off of my creativity, as far as what I write about now. Right now I’m so into…I’m writing a movie about [serial killer] Gary Ridgeway and stuff like that. I got 42 pages of a script, and I also have the case files. My girl’s dad is a policeman in Seattle, so I have the case files. That helps me with these next three albums, writing a serial killer movie and writing a serial killer album, it’s helping me.

DX: Do you feel that the roles of black people in Horror films are typically racist?
BLH: Nah. Not at all. I think that they stay within the lines. A lot of whites do a lot of extracurricular activities, as far as what they explore. Usually it is maybe [laughs] one black person will go camping with these guys. Blacks and stuff, they don’t do a lot of camping and that stuff. I think they have it right.

DX: You were offered deals through Tommy Boy Records and rumors of a deal from No Limit in their prime. I had heard that each of those wanted to censor you. Tell me how it feels to maintain your integrity as an artist for perhaps the cost of fame.
BLH: I never shy away from anything. I remember a time when I was signed with Priority Records. I had some gory stuff on The Season of Siccness album, and they did made me cut some of it down. I had an insert on there where I tried to do an abortion myself, from my girl and stuff like that. Priority always tried to make me go a little bit radio; I wasn’t really into that. I’ve never really shied away. I was always an artist until Eminem came through and opened up to where you can basically say anything now. Up until then, I was kind of struggling with my ideas. You have to respect the person putting the money up for your stuff though, so I kinda took some of the stuff out for Season though. It probably is my most classic album, but dude, it was planned to be a lot more different. That’s what I plan to do with these [three forthcoming] albums. Continued on page 2 »