Quest for the Midwest’s Best
Ric-Hard one of KC’s Native Sons is back in the Midwest to find new talent. Ric-Hard (AKA Richard Baker) left KC for the bright lights of Hollywood to fulfill his dream of becoming a Rapper. Having done that he along with Dis Most from the West Coast has returned to the Midwest on a quest to find new talent. They plan to cover the whole Midwest. Town to town and city to city this is no ordinary quest. They are also promoting “Serious Pimp”, which is Snoop Dogg’s new clothing line and sunglasses. These guys are going where no one usually goes. They are hitting the streets to meet the people, find the music and meet the talent making the music. They are relentless in their pursuit and they are making history. In Parkville, Mo a few weeks ago they did a showcase of new talent at The Rivers Bend Restaurant & Bar located at 2 Main St. It was a total success which uncovered the sensational group PWN, who was pure energy on stage. Everyone was mesmerized and enjoyed their music. They were great!
This was only the beginning for the dynamic duo of Ric-Hard and Dis Most. Next they have been hitting just about every night club and event to mingle with the party goers and continue promoting their quest. I caught up with them at America’s Pub at the Mic Is My Life Concert Series. In fact I got a double treat. Not only did I get the privilege of seeing them perform, but I also got to chat with each of them one on one. It doesn’t end there! Stay tuned for my in depth coverage of their progress. Fasten your seat belts folks! This will be one hell of a ride! But, first get to know this dynamic duo. My Q&A with them starts below. Enjoy!
Q&A with Ric-Hard
CB: How are you enjoying your night tonight Ric?
Ric: It’s going good I can’t complain.
CB: How long have you been doing music?
Ric: All my life.
CB: Who were some of your early musical influences?
Ric: Michael Jackson, Johnny Guitar Watson, Commodores, Four Tops, Ice T, Eazy E, E40, Snoop Dogg, KRS One, Run DMC, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Master P, 8 Ball & MJG, Bun B and Pimp C.
CB: Wow you have a lot of them! They say that Kansas City is a city full of haters. Have you found this to be true?
Ric: You have to understand in this business as in life you are going to find haters everywhere you go. Everybody isn’t going to like everybody, which is what makes this world so different. Even though I now live in Cali Kansas City will always be home. I got love for Kansas City and they got love for me.
CB: Yes you definitely have much love here in Kansas City.
Ric: Yeah I accomplished all of my goals so far. I have a lot more to accomplish, but they didn’t go down how I thought in my head but I still accomplished them. I’ve been in 200 videos getting 200 shows a year for the past 10 years. I rocked the stage with Snoop Dogg on several occasions, was in the top selling book of 2004 with Jenna Jamison and sold more books than Bill Clinton. They had to reprint it seven times. I’ve got music in one of the greatest motion pictures of all time.
CB: Really which one?
Ric: Die Hard 3. My name is the biggest names on the score. The actors involved were Samuel Jackson and Bruce Willis. I made pop lockin back famous in 2010 with Snoop Dogg as quoted by Snoop Dogg. I made pop lock famous again. I’ve been in Hollywood for the last 15 almost 20 years. It’s been crackin I can’t complain about nothing.
CB: You’ve achieved quite a bit. That’s really impressive. Congratulations!
Ric: Ever since I left I’ve been coming back to Kansas 2 to 3 times a year knocking on doors. Going door to door saying come to Cali, come to Cali. Mad Marlon is a direct product of the Ric-Hard School of Grittin. I’ve got a female out in California by the name of Candice Ty. She’s a model. I took her out there from Kansas to California. She’s doing good. Man it’s been a long journey, a lot of hard work, no sleep, no rest, nonstop hip hop first.
CB: What’s your latest project you’ve got going now?
Ric: I’m on a meet and greet tour right now. We started in Hollywood, CA, LA. We’ve been to Albuquerque, Oklahoma, Las Vegas, New Mexico and we ended up here. We’re going to Nebraska next, Arkansas and then Texas. We’re just hittin it all up we may not go back to Cali for a minute. We’re just out here.
CB: Do you have any advice for any up and coming artists?
Ric: Keep it pushin don’t stop. This aint the picture it’s the movie. At the end of day if you aint selling no tickets and you aint selling no CD’s you aint getting no money. You could be dope you can be hot. The way to sell tickets is to have a show like Tech N9ne as a prime example. If your show is boring, if you look like you aint been practicing, if you’re lip syncing, if you’re raggedy, if you look like you just came from work and fell up in the club, then they aint a serious artist but a hobby artist. But if you want to get paid you have to sell tickets and you gotta sell CD’s.
CB: Wow! Those are very inspiring words. If someone wanted to know what’s going on with you do you have a Face Book or Twitter?
Ric: Richard Baker on Face Book. If you’re a rapper, dancer, singer, model, writer, book writer and any of that type of thing and you want to become Hollywood holla at Ric-Hard. I got Hollywood crackin. All you gotta do is holla at me. I’ll give you a chance to party, perform, build a fan base and get paid off your fan base if you got fans. Hollywood Ric-Hard, “Richard Baker” on the Face Book.
CB: I want to thank you for taking time out to speak with me. It’s been a pleasure.
Ric: Thank you.
Q&A With Dis Most the Host on the West Coast
CB: What brings you to Kansas City?
Dis Most: The reason why we’re in Kansas City is because my home boy Ric-Hard who I rap with and I got an album out with was born in Wyandotte County. So, we were sent here from Serious Pimp Sunglasses, which is Snoop Dogg’s new sunglass and clothing company and Splitarillo Cigarillo Blunts. We’re in Kansas City looking for the hottest artists in Kansas City to come out and represent for a documentary that we’re filming and we’re taking back to L.A with us.
CB: How are you enjoying Kansas City so far?
Dis Most: It’s been cool, but me living by the beach and used to that L.A weather this humidity is killin me. The mosquitos have been biting me on the bottom part of my legs which is a new thing for me, but Imma get over it. The weather is kinda crazy to me and I’m not cool with tornadoes at all. I’d rather deal with an earthquake than a tornado.
CB: We live here and we’re not cool with tornadoes either. How long have you been in the music industry?
Dis Most: I’ve been in the music industry 20 plus years. I’m 39 and I’ll be 40 this year. When I was age 17-18 that’s when I used to ghost write for Eazy E. After NWA broke up that’s when I became his ghost writer. I wrote the very last song that was released by Eazy E. R.I.P that was my big homie. My homeboy Ric-Hard pop locked in all of Snoop Dogg’s videos everything from “Steel DRE” up until “I want to Rock”.
CB: Who were some of your early musical influences?
Dis Most: The only early influences I had were Eazy, NWA, Dr. Dre and Ice cube. I grew up with them dudes. I was around in that era before NWA blew up. Before there was a NWA there was a “World Class Wrecking Crew”, when Dr. Dre was making kinda techno pop music. So, I’ve been around since them days so them are my influences and my big homies and don’t nothing surpass or beat that.
CB: In your opinion what do you think about the direction of the music industry right now?
Dis Most: The direction of the music industry is still going in a positive direction, but it’s also lacking a lot of originality. People lip sync over they’re songs that shit was unheard of and it’s a lot of copycat type shit. Back in my days in the 80’s that would have been called “biting”. You would have got your head chopped off and you would have got severely dissed for that shit! Rappin over your lyrics you would have got severely dissed for that shit because that’s showing that you aint got no stamina, you aint true in your heart, aint really worried about what you sayin and its all studio made up. And that’s comin from a “G” right there!
CB: Do you have any advice for any up and coming artists?
Dis Most: My words for up and coming artists is make sure that when you hand a person like me a CD, don’t give me your CD that has a cover on it. Then I open it up and I’m in a club I’m partying having fun in your city I lose your CD cover and I got your CD and it doesn’t have a name or a Face Book or nothing on there. I might hear #5 my homeboy got a million dollar deal over here. He wants to pay $20,000.00 for the song that’s on your #5. He wants to buy the lyrics and the beats for $20,000.00 and you aint got a name or no kind of contact on the CD. That’s one of my biggest pet peeves about rap artists today. Also stop lip syncing! Show that you got that stamina and you really love your music, your craft and your art to heart to where you know your lyrics. That’s my encouragement for up and coming artists.
CB: What projects musically are you working on right now?
Dis Most: The only project musically I’m working on is “Sunset 2 Fig Dis Most and Ric-Hard”.
CB: Do you have a favorite track off your project?
Dis Most: Favorite track off my project is “Bigger than You Think”.
CB: If someone wanted to know what’s going on with you do you have a Face Book or a Twitter?
Dis Most: Face Book “Dis Most”. You can Google and YouTube my name “Dis Most”. It’s simple.
CB: I want to thank you for taking time to speak with me. Good luck on your Midwest Quest.
Dis Most: Thank you.
