Jeru the
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Five minutes with ...
Jeru the
Damaja
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Brooklyn rapper , Jeru the Damaja , comes from a neighbourhood that ’ s contributed as much to the skate scene as it has to music . So when the time came to get his new project - The Funky Pandas - on the road , teaming up with DC ’ s Special Delivery Tour was a no-brainer .
The Funky Pandas ’ ( comprised of Jeru and The Beatnuts ’ Psycho Les ) “ Do The Right Thing ” tour accompanied each stop of DC skate ’ s European tour . Their album “ Certified Bamboo ” will follow later in the year , but for now the guys are working on the material live through the tour rather than rushing to get it down .
We caught up with Jeru ahead of the London stop of the tour ...
So Jeru , where did the idea for Do The Right Thing concert series come from ?
Well I love Spike Lee - he ’ s from my neighbourhood in Brooklyn - and that was one of my favourite movies . I said that in one of my lyrics , “ Do the right thing , we might let you go .” And I was talking about like , kidnapping hip hop , and so I thought that it was appropriate that nowadays , you know , everything has become so commercialised and so not about the music , not about the fun , not about the party , and that ’ s what we need to make it about . The music , the fun , and the party .
How did you end up hooking up with DC ?
I have a pretty long history with DC , I guess - in terms of years . Because you know I had a collab shoe with Josh Kalis . But I hang out with a lot of different skaters , I used to hang out with like Vinnie Ponce , Zara Bastard , and Danny Supa and all of those guys - like I used to kick their ass in Skate . As in the video game .
I even have a song on Tony Hawk ’ s Pro Skater 3 that I did with Chad Muska . So I ’ ve always been around skaters , u
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