Thursday, January 15, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Music: Get your beats on

Grand Buffet serves up old-school sound

By Newt Briggs

The Grand Buffet story may begin in a depressed industrial area of America's heartland, but it does not end with a meteoric rise to hip-hop superfame--at least not yet. Currently, the tale has stalled in a Pittsburgh living room where Jarrod Weeks and Jackson O'Connell-Barlow occasionally convene to drop funky diatribes about industrial capitalism, victimless crimes and the religious right.

The tangible result of these gatherings has been THREE self-financed EPs and a longplayer--a reasonably impressive output for two broke-ass white boys with nothing more than a pair of mics, a stack of old synthesizers and an Astrovan. Although the records have not inspired a lot of interest from the majors, they have, in Weeks' words, "blown up shit proper." And, he adds, "nobody's gotten shot." Recently, the Mercury tracked down Weeks to gab about white rap, the state of hip-hop slang and the best buffet in Las Vegas.

Mercury: Where does Grand Buffet fit in the peach-colored pantheon of Vanilla Ice, House of Pain, Eminem and Bubba Sparxxx?

Weeks: Wow. I don't even know if I can answer that question. I will say that Vanilla Ice's last album is the shit. It's half rap and then half rap-metal. Pick it up. It's called Bipolar. I'm not even trying to come ironic; that record is the bomb.

M: Is there anything more exasperating than having white rappers from the past thrown in your face?

W: To be honest, there's nothing I can really do about it. It used to be exasperating, but now it's just kind of like, you know, fuck it. People attach too much significance to the whole white rap stigma anyway. Like, it doesn't matter if a dude has a unicorn horn or if he's got bat wings or if he wears his dick as a rat-tail. If you like the shit you're hearing, it just doesn't matter. If a person digs a jam and then stops liking it because of how the performer looks or whatever, then that person's a fucking sellout.

M: But there are an inordinate number of white guys cutting rap albums right now.

W: Oh, definitely. I feel completely comfortable saying that there's way too many white boys in the game. And when I say "white boys," I'm not talking about Caucasians in general, I'm talking about those ignorant, cracker-type white boys. That shit's frustrating. And it would totally bum me out to find out that people are putting us in that category.

M: Do you guys consider yourselves old school?

W: Not across the board. I wouldn't say that we're just straight up old school, but we try to keep our shit raw. And it is intentional--you know, for any dumb fucks who think we were trying to sound like GTR and just totally dropped the ball.

M: So, of the following staples of hip-hop slang, which is the most played out: phat, shiznit, homey, dawg, benjamins, trippin' or bling-bling?

W: That's a trick question. None of those is played. They're all fucking hype.

M: What other slang are you into?

W: Dude, I dig everything I've ever heard. I mean, it's all in how you say it. Any one of those things could hit the nail on the head if you say it with the right swagger. Really, though, I like to make up my own slang. Like, instead of saying goodbye, I made up the word "savaage." I mean, sometimes I say goodbye because I'm not a chump, but when I don't, I say, "savaage." You know, it sounds like it's in another language, but it's not. It's just gibberish, but it's cool.

M: What's Grand Buffet's official stance on Kangol hats?

W: I think they're fresh. I've never rocked one, but I might. Someday.

M: What about the Hummer H2?

W: I don't dig Hummers, dude. I've never driven one, but just going by aesthetics, they don't look cool. They're either too futuristic or not futuristic enough.

M: When you're in Vegas, will Grand Buffet dine at the MGM Grand Buffet?

W: Um, no, we'll dine at the Bellagio because they have the best buffet in Vegas. I feel more comfortable in Vegas than I do in almost any other city, save for maybe New Orleans or Reno. I love debauchery, I love gambling, I love hookers, I love all that shit. And I love the Bellagio buffet. It's like 25 bucks. That isn't shit.