Philieano’s story unfolds

PHOTO by JOHN GILHOOLEY

In Japan last month, they knew what Long Beach was and they knew who Sublime were, and although they didn’t exactly know Philieano, they figured him out fast: “The first time they hear you, they really pay attention to the songs,” he says, “and if you got a catchy hook, they’ll be singing along right away.” Now back home in Long Beach, 25-year-old MC/producer Philieano—whose brother Opie Ortiz was just in The District a few weeks ago, and whose first album Holy Homework is part of a set of recent releases signaling new life on the venerable old Skunk label—is still a little dizzy from a Japanese tour that had him testing alien audiences every night, though his inborn battle-rap ethos made sure he left no showgoer unslayed. He’s in transition now from someone you’ve heard of to someone you can actually hear—Homework just came out in April and it’s as much introduction as it is retrospective, cherry-picking songs from a rapper who very first wobbled on stage (with Sublime, actually) when he was nine years old. (One of its best songs mines Morricone the way Dre did Funkadelic for Philieano’s own bold take on a Pancho-and-Lefty story.) And although he says he thought he was ready for a Skunk record years ago, he says now it’s been worth the wait: “Everything fell into place,” he says, and if you can’t find his record at Fingerprints, he adds, he’s sure you can pick one up at Tower in Nagasaki. (“And cop that Toko Tasi album while you’re at it!”)

Has Opie tattooed anyone besides you with the album cover yet?
Funny you say that—people have been telling him they wanna get that! Friends of the family. But I don’t think Opie has put the same exact one on anyone yet.

How much of a role did Opie have in you becoming a musician?
I grew up in a house full of a lot of talented people. My uncle played drums for Parliament Funkadelic and toured with them for 15 years. I’d been to a lot of shows when I was real little—I was knowing George Clinton as Uncle George! I saw him walk in the studio when I was like six and he looked like a normal guy, with normal short hair and a white T-shirt and jeans—‘That’s Uncle George?’ And then I’d see him dressed up later at a show—‘What the fuck?’ Tripped me out! There was a lot of percussion in my family—Opie always played drums and I grew up around Sublime and all them. That made me want to rap—I was into hip-hop a lot in elementary school. In third grade, I’d write my own little things! Sublime would play little garage shows before they got big and I was called on stage once when I was like nine years old, and I did my little rap and everyone cheered because I was so young. That’s when it clicked in my head—this is what I wanna do!

How do you fit into Skunk? I know you’re still younger than a lot of the people on the label.
I’m a whole other page to the Skunk deal. It’s more like family—we’re all close, we’ve all known each other for years. I grew up knowing everybody since I was a little kid—Sublime and everyone hanging around and partying and everything. I felt I was ready when I was like 16—I was rapping strong! But they were like, ‘You aren’t ready—build up, build up.’ So I kept building, and then they gave me my chance when they’d seen I could handle it. My first album [Holy Homework] barely dropped. It’s a little different to try and fit straight underground hip-hop with Skunk—people think Skunk is just like Sublime. But it works. I got a lot of reggae influences—even the way I talk, sometimes some reggae patois slang! But it’s all the same. One track on my album is one of the beats Bradley was picking for ‘What I Got.’ It was on the same CD. He wanted to write for the one I used but it was too gritty—too hip-hop. Marshall [Goodman] gave me the beats and then told me later that Bradley had wanted to write for the one I picked. ‘Time Is Now’—there’s a lot of history in that.

SKUNK PRESENTS PHILIEANO WITH PAULIE NUGENT, TOKO TASI, THE STYMIES, CAPITOL EYE AND LONG BEACH ALL DAY THE VAULT 350 | 350 PINE AVE | LONG BEACH 90802 | VAULT350.COM | SAT 8PM | $11.50 | ALL AGES

Tags: hip hop, phileano, skunk records, sublime