Introduce yourself to everyone that doesn’t already know who you are.

Thanks. If you don’t know me I’m professionally known as Sly Boogy & I’m from the
Inland Empire (San Bernardino), California.

Before we get into your music, can you describe your history about how you got into

the industry and what inspired you?

Well I’ve always been around music my whole life. When I was younger my father, Uncles

and Aunt were in an R&B quartet. I have alot of uncles and some of them are gifted

musicians and most of my relatives are gifted singers. My Uncle Elisha (RIP) played

the piano and sung & I used to sit down beside him on the bench & watch him sing &

play. He’s the one who actually taught me how to play sevenths chords which I later

used in my music theory courses in school. I have a another uncle named Benny who

is blind and plays the guitar and piano. And I’ve seen him pick up other instruments

and play them on the spot. So Benny gave me one of his hand-me-down guitars, my pops

brought back a keyboard and boom box from Saudi Arabia, and I saved up my Burger

King paychecks and bought a Boss Dr Rhythm Drum machine. That was my first studio. I

used to record this hip hop show on the college station based in Riverside called

KUCR. It would air from like 10pm to 2pm with nothin but hip hop from both coasts. I

started writin raps around junior high and started recordin in high school. I ended

up being introduced to this band from Philadelphia through a couple of the homies

from the hood. There was two jewish dudes, Jonathan Asbell and David Wilder and this

brother that was originally from Chicago. I actually signed my first deal off of the

work that I did with them and my homeboy Bookquarm from Rialto by way of Brooklyn,

New York. The deal that I signed was with a label that was though RCA and it was

owned by a jewish cat named Happy Walters and a girl name Amanda Sheer. So I guess

that would be considered my official entry into the industry.

Can you tell us how you came up with the name Sly Boogy?

I got the name from an inside joke with some people I used to talk to. I happened to

tell them a story of an incident where I had gotten pulled over in LA and had a

substantial amount of marijuana and a pistol on me. They went through my trunk and

ended up lettin me go by the grace of God. So they use to joke around with me and

tell me how sly I was to be able to get away and out of a situation like that. I

added the Boogy to it when I used it as a screen name and ended up adoptin it as my

moniker and it is now my officially registered service mark.

In your personal view, what was the music scene like growning up in the Inland

Empire?

Growin up the IE music scene was heavily influenced by LA Hip Hop and East Coast Hip

Hop. You never really saw any South influence with the exception of like 2-Live Crew

and the Geto Boys. The dance culture was definitely diverse. There were pop-lockers

and breakers, rappers, and graphiti artists. There were some artist who came out of

the IE and were pretty successful like Rodney O and Joe Cooley, JJ Fad, Me and My

Cousin, and Bobby Ross Avila to name a few. The Riverside College station KUCR would

play hip hop from both coasts and that had a major influence. So the music scene in

the IE was very diverse grownin up.

There are a lot of up-and-coming artists coming out of the IE…Why do you feel as

though you’re one of the few who stands out amongst the rest?

Well….I actually never felt that..lol. I think everyone has their own platform. 40

Glocc, Dirty Birdy, Diamonique and Dr Stank are all recognizable names out of the

IE.

Have you ever felt like too much time is passing in the game where you have to make

it and that window is closing?

No I don’t feel like that at all because I don’t perceive it that way. I’ve already

“made it.” When I first got signed and had my first commercial release I “made it.”

And making it to me means that you have a substantial amount of people who know you

exist. Thats it. A lot of aspiring artist perceive the “game” as a quick path to

fame and money because thats the way the media has portrayed it to them. But its not

like that at all for me. There’s more to it than just being able to put your shades

and your jewelry on and play the rap star character. When you’ve had a positive

influence on hip hop culture, that’s when you’ve really made it. I don’t give a

f*ck about puttin on any jewelry and shades and standin on stage in front of the

camera with my chest poked out triumphantly while everbody bows down to me because

I’m “hot.” Lol… That does nothing for me. But when I see people understanding the

messages in the music and responding to it that gives me a feeling of accomplishment

beyond any platinum certifications or grammy awards. I had a cat in the penitentary

tell me that my song “One Day” was him and his wife’s favorite song and that they

used to play it when they spoke on the phone together. To me that is “making it.”

As of right now, who in the industry would you say you listen to on a regular and

would probably like to work with in the near future?

As of right now I really don’t listen to anyone on a regular like I used to. There’s

so many artists that I like that have specific things that I admire them for but

there’s not one specific that I listen to regularly. I’ve always wanted to do a project

with a live band so I wouldn’t mind doin somethin with a band like say The Roots.

I’ve always like their sound. Or maybe even a band like Lincoln Park. In order for

me to work with an artist I would have to have some type of chemistry with them.

Like for example, When I was in the studio with Scott Storch we had a good

chemistry. We made songs from scratch with him askin me for my input on which

direction the track should go. I’ve been in the studio with artists who are on some

funnystyle shit and it just didn’t work. So to answer your question if I worked with

anyone I would prefer to have some type of repor with them first as opposed to just

knowing their music.

Are fans responding to your new music the way you want them to?

I don’t go in with any type of expectations of a response. Different people respond

to different music so I don’t go in expectin everyone to respond to my music. I

haven’t even found all of my “fans” yet but I’ve been blessed to be able to find a

good number of them online and they always make it a point to let me know if they

are feelin a specific something. Now if you wanna talk statistics then that would be

a different story. If I was trying to hit some type of statistical goal, like

soundscans and BDS then I would be more concerned about the response.

What direction do you think the West Coast is heading in 2011?

I think things on the West coast are gonna go back to the way they were before

gangsta rap went mainstream. I think gangsta rap is gonna be underground again and

dance music and pop is gonna be mainstream. I think you’re gonna see a lot more

independent record labels. I don’t think you’re gonna hear too much West Coast music

in the club unless it’s uptempo dance music. I have a slight feeling that there

might be a resurgence of conscious/political music.

How would the fans go about contacting you?

You can reach me on pretty much all the major social

networks…facebook.com/slyboogy7…Twitter.com/slyboogy7…myspace.com/slyboogy7…

linkedin.com/slyboogy7…reverbnation..etc. I always have updates on what’s goin on

and also new music and video footage. If you’re lookin to do some studio work you

can send me a message at any of these sites.

Thank you Sly Boogy for providing Dreamsblen.com with this exclusive interview, do

you have any shout outs?

Yeah I’d like to shout out Rob Money my engineer, Gina Nicol Photography, Hurtz

Enterprises, Hoopla Media, Bobby Blu and Wess Wess Clothing, Urban Kings and OE

Clothing, Warren G, J Dillon, Venezzi and Soundwerks Studios, Dubcnn, HotNewHiphop,

WeSerious, The List, DaStreetbuzz, Siccness dot net, Greg and Street Approved Mag,

Street Product Clothing, Jose from Guerilla Union and La Mirage Night Club, TWhy,

Ramy Sabre and CD Digital, DJ Stealth, Dennis Blaze, Bille Knight, DJ Rush, MZ the

African Jew, Felli Fel, DJ Dirty Draws, Clothing, SoWestRightNow, 210Radio, No CEO,

Noah Ayala, Tweek Beats, Ethics Gallardo, Cutty Dre, Ave 143, DJ Age, Dirty Birdy,

RnB, 40 Glocc, Quiccshot, West Side Bugg, Shorty Moe, Gambit, Diamonique, Mash, J

king, Kristen Noble, The Cantina Lounge in Fullerton, Enstincts, Noah Jones, J

Steez, Crooked I and COB, Frank Nitty, Yound Dee, Kool Boy, Knocturnal, XL

Middleton, Ecay Uno, Carlos aka The Bleezy Man, DJ Clean, DJ Vendetta, Gary

Greenburg, Syphon, DJ Wicked, Bryant Ramsey, and anybody else I may have left out.

Aight then Kayla Kane..stay up!

Sly Boogy from chris stallworth on Vimeo.