Elements: So who is Styles of Beyond?
Ryu: Styles of Beyond is me, and Takbir, along with DJ Cheapshot and Vin Skully.

Elements: Why the name Styles of Beyond?
Ryu: That name was made up by Cheapshot and Tak in like ’92 just before I joined the group. It was just Takbir and Cheapshot at first and they were doing talent shows and stuff. That name is kind of an early 90's name when you think about it, nobody would really call themselves Styles of Beyond now a days you know. When I joined the group we were gonna change the name and try and come up with different names, but at the same time we were going around doing freestyle battles and blowing up on radio stations and stuff like that so we started getting known as Styles of Beyond so it came to a point where it was just too late to change it or we’d have to start over again. We just decided to keep it. The style of music we do is kind of reminicent of early 90s type shit anyway, like the stuff we got hyped on so we just decided to keep the name.

Elements: How did you and Tak hook up?
Ryu: We hooked up at Pierce College. I moved out to the San Fernando Valley in ’94 or ’95 after I got out of high school. I didn’t know anybody out there so I decided to go to college and take some music courses and stuff. I ended up meeting a friend of ours, named Isaac, at this party and we were freestyling. He told me about Tak and how he was a dope battler. The next day he rolled with me to my music class and it just so happened we ran into Tak in the parking lot. Isaac introduced me to Tak and u’know we just started shooting the shit. We decided to go back to the car and freestyle instead of going to class. I put in a beat tape and just started rhyming together and I loved his style and thought he was dope as hell. He had goals and wanted to take this shit far and not just be this little kid rhyming at open mics and shit. We were both in separate crews with like 30 other people that didn’t want to do shit but smoke weed all day. So Tak had access to a studio because of his brother Bilal, so he asked me if I wanted to hook up and record some shit and those were the first recordings we ever did. We went into the studio and made a little 4 track demos and stuff.

Elements: Was any of that shit released?
Ryu: Yeah, actually one of the songs that was on our demo was Killer Instinct with Divine Styler. It just came out dope. Actually DJ Revolution heard it and he was like “Yo you gotta put this shit out!” and we were like naw man.

Elements: How did you hook up with Divine Styler?
Ryu: Actually Divine Styler and Everlast used to live over at Tak’s house because his older brother Bilal used to produce Divine, Def Jef and Everlast. So that’s where House of Pain came together. They used to have this backyard, we called it The Hut, Divine and Everlast used to stay there. So Tak kind of grew up with Divine. Then, Tak and I started hanging with Divine and one thing lead to another and just decided to get down with each other. It wasn’t that hard and was really natural.

Elements: When did you first start listening to hip-hop?
Ryu: I started listening to hip-hop around when KDAY came out. It was the only station that played rap 24 hours a day. One of my friends on the block came round and we just played that shit all day long. When I lived near Long Beach, CA, they used to throw these breakdance battles at Studio K. So I went there and listened to more rap and got into breaking and shit. Then as I got into high school KDAY was still around and KDAY used to come down to our high school and DJ our lunches and shit. I started DJ'ing, getting into everything, I started writing graffitti and shit. Back then it wasn’t like it had to be the 4 element type thing, it was just something that you did naturally.

Elements: When did you find out you wanted to stick with MCing?
Ryu: The funny thing is I never wanted to be an MC. I started off doing everything else and I was the only one on my block with DJ equipment. I used to DJ for all the rappers in my neibourhood. The guy I was DJing for was a big islander kid, MC 2Ton, my best friend and shit, so I Djed for him and a couple other people. I always wanted to be behind the scenes cause I was too shy to get up and rock the mic, I don’t want to be the centre of attention. Then one day at high school this guy MC 2Ton was battling this kid JayBiz and he had a partner who was a white kid and he fuckin’ sucked. So I was like this guy should not be rhymin’. And they both tried to gang up on my man, so I was like fuck that shit and I stepped up and started battling both of ‘em, I just served ‘em both. My man was like “yo, you gotta start writing rhymes” and I was like “no, fuck that”. 2 years went by! I never even wrote rhymes, I used to just freestyle with my friends and shit, and having fun with it. Then a friend of mine Radeem knew Mike Nordone really well. So, Radeem was going to do a radio drop and he asked me to write a verse and I was like okay I’ll give it a shot. So I wrote a verse and everybody liked my verse on it and I just stuck with it since then. I was like yo this is kinda dope hearing yourself come out on tape. I think Nordone played it on 92.3 The Beat's The Joint. I just kept on rhyming from there and one thing led to another. It kinda happened by accident really.

Elements: Does your location affect your music at all?
Ryu: I think it does in some aspects, I mean if you want to get technical about it, its like the area we came from is kinda like the West coast underground, like when Divine Styler and Freestyle Fellowship came out, they had the real uptempo fast kinda groove. On the other hand the East coast was stuff like Nine and Smif 'N Wesson. Technically we were doing our beats on the West Coast underground hype shit type stuff u’know, not so much the thug stuff. So in that aspect we’re influenced by our surroundings. If we lived in Brooklyn we’d be rapping different.

Elements: Yeah for sure. Who are some of your favorite MCs?
Ryu: Pharoahe Monch. I think he’s an incredible lyricist. One of my favorites.

Elements: Yeah, I’m happy he’s getting recognition now.
Ryu: I know, its about time. I wished he would have brought Prince Poetry with him though. Organized Konfusion is one of my groups of all time. Big Daddy Kane is probably the greatest ever, as far as well rounded, beats, rhymes and everything. Big Daddy Kane, K Solo, he’s dope as hell. Yeah those are my main three right there. Of course Divine influenced me before I ever knew him.

Elements: Any favorite producers?
Ryu: I’d have to say Divine Styler is my favorite. I think he makes the dopest beats on the planet. That’s why we stay with our own team of producers, there’s not going to be guest appearences from whoever. We got Divine Styler, Vin Skully, Cheapshot, we have our own little squad.

Elements: Do you feel you’re most creative with these guys?
Ryu: Yeah for sure. It’s a lot easier to work with people you’re friends with, I mean we could do tracks with other producers, but its real impersonal. You go in the studio with the beat and just drop your lyrics and then peace you’re gone. We’ve only done that once or twice and it just sucks. We’re sticking with our family. At the same time we’re trying to build their recognition as producers so they get business in the long run. We want other people to be like “yo, we want the people who produce Styles’ beats”. We’re trying to build our own squad.

Elements: And you don’t want to be paying a lot of money for beats.
Ryu: Yeah, I mean even some of these underground producers that make dope underground shit, but its still kind of mediocre. Motherfuckers will charge like $20,000 for two beats! And I’m like why dude, your shit ain’t doper than the shit we got, why would we pay you more than we pay our own people? Its just stupid man, like we’re trying to save money and shit.

Elements: I’ve been noticing a lot of cases where someone is featured on someone’s album, they return the favor with no money involved. What do you think about this?
Ryu: That’s a good thing in some cases, on the other hand people get carried away with it and their albums end up being compilations and shit. We don’t like guest appearences either, you probably won’t see any on our next album. I think its cool if people link up, like if they’re friends with each other that’s fine.

Elements: But just don’t get someone because they’re the next big thing or the hot artist u’know?
Ryu: Yeah, I’m not going to use nobody’s name to make my name bigger u’know. I want to do everything ourselves and establish our name.

Elements: What do you think is a classic album?
Ryu: Diamond D’s first record was classic. Lets see, Organized Konfusion’s first album was a classic. Mobb Deep's The Infamous, Wu- Tang Clan's 36 Chambers, Gangstarr's Hard to Earn you know?

Elements: What do you think makes this records classics?
Ryu: Production. I think its 90% production. Some of the beats Premier makes I could care less what Guru is sayin’ on them. If the beat’s bangin’ and the MC has a dope voice, on beat, that’s the elements of a classic right there. That’s it. Sometimes MC will mess it up and rhyme off beat over a dope track. Sometimes a really dope hook or scratch hook, as far as Primo goes u’know?

Elements: How has music in general influenced you?
Ryu: I think music has influenced me in every way. It influences me when I paint, when I skate, when I write rhymes, when I do anything. Music can make you do weird things like you hear a certain song it’ll make you drive fast and shit.

Elements: Do you do any graffitti?
Ryu: Yeah, I run with a crew called AWR.

Elements: Do you listen to a lot of music?
Ryu: I listen to more other shit than I do hip-hop. I listen to Radiohead, the Doors, some punk shit like Suicidal Tendencies. I like energy music u’know?. I like Metallica, anything that gets my adrenaline going, I like. That’s what we do with our music too.

Elements: How is your rhyme style? Like is there a certain way you bring across your rhymes to your listeners?
Ryu: I do in a sense, but I wish I didn’t. Because now that we’re doing the new album I’m trying to change my rhyme style a lot, like different rhyme patterns and stuff. I started to get myself into a groove where I’d use the same rhyme pattern over and over. I have a rapid-fire delivery, where as Tak is more smooth with his lyrics.

Elements: So whats going on with your new album? Are you working on it now?
Ryu: Yeah, we’re working on it right now. We got all the beats together, we’ve got a few songs written and we’re gonna go in the studio and knock the shit out. It should be done by February.

Elements: When can we check for it in stores?
Ryu: There’s no definite release date yet. The label says February but I doubt it dude. I think it’ll be out April or May. There should be a single out in February, another in March, then the album, then another single.

Elements: What else have you been up to?
Ryu: We just got off tour.

Elements: Who were you touring with?
Ryu: LEN.

Elements: How did you hook up with them?
Ryu: Well they brought us out for our first show outside of California. They’re friends with Fritz the Cat (from In Search of Divine Styler Magazine & Vice) so he was in search of Divine and he looked through the phone book and found him. They told him they were having an anniversary party for the magazine and we want to bring you out and shit. So Divine Styler asked if he could bring his boys. So they flew us out and put us up and we just kicked it in their basement. All of us, Mark, Sharon, D Rock, Bill, Glena P, we just connected and bonded. We became friends with like Drunkness Monster and all of them. We just became really good friends. This was like 4 years ago. Since then, LEN started shopping for a deal and they came out to L.A. and we kicked it out here and partied. Then we went back out to Toronto did some video shoot and stuff. Recently they’ve been doing some stuff with the Dust Brothers and we’re signed to their label so we were all over at the Dust Brothers’ and just partied again. We said a long time ago that if either of us ever got big enough we’d go on tour together because we just have fun with each other.

Elements: When was your best live show?
Ryu: The best live show we ever played was actually in London (Ontario) with Divine Styler. That was like three years ago, everyone was going nuts!

Elements: What do you feel your music brings to the world?
Ryu: I think we have our own sound, its different from everybody else’s. Its not so much that its absract or real different, we just have a different feel to us. We just bring that raw energy to hip-hop, which I think is lacking these days. A lot of people got dope lyrics, and the beats are really mediocre and everybody’s an MC. I think our shit is just raw energy, I mean some people like us and others don’t, but the ones who do really know what we’re doing. I think this next album is gonna make everybody catch on. Its like we did on the first album but times a hundred.

Elements: So are you happy with what you’re doing now?
Ryu: Fuck yeah, this shit is comin out so dope. The beats are beyond anything anybody’s every done, the beats are just incredible. A lot of that shit on the first album, 2000 Fold, was old, we did that like 3 or 4 years ago. We put it out independently like 2 years ago u’know? We don’t even rhyme like that anymore. So now our rhymes are updated, they’re killin’ anybodies’, our beats are killin’ everybodies’. We finally got a deal so we got the equipment we need to put out a quality album, now when we put out an album people will know its in stores. The fist album did its job and we’ve had a lot of time to keep an eye on what everybody else is doing and see in which direction we wanna go. I think this album is gonna kill everybody, fools need to quit rhyming after this album comes out, its over, this shit is dope.

Elements: How did the video for “ Easy Back It Up” come about?
Ryu: Its funny cause we were just working with a low budget. We got Frank Sacramento to do the video (who did Everlast videos and stuff). We’re just friends with him and he hooked it up for barely anything. He came up with the concept, this time reverse, back it up thing and we played all the characters in the video. I think for the money we had he pulled it off excellent. Somehow it just worked out well. We got a new video comin’ out for our single “Spies Like Us”.

Elements: How did you get signed to the Dust Brothers’ label (Ideal Records)?
Ryu: I think they heard us through one of their interns. They heard it and loved it. So they emailed Tak’s brother Bilal and said that they were interested.and whatever. One thing led to another and they wanted to sign us. We thought it was a good deal and we were big fans of the Dust Brothers. It was like a dream.

Elements: What are your thoughts on today’s hip-hop?
Ryu: I think its taking itself way too seriously now a days. People are getting into this 4 element this, 4 element that, I mean we got a Temple of Hip Hop Culture? I think it’s a little extreme, dude. Honestly if people would just have fun with it and let shit be what it is and quit trying to put everything in a category. I mean back in the days rap music was rap music and that’s it. There wasn’t “Southern rap”, “East coast” and “West coast” and all this. Now you got the abstract kids who like the Freestyle Fellowship and stuff like that, then the Dilated Peoples crowd, and people who like us, but none of them really intermingle with each other. Back then rap was rap and you listened to everything. Everybody kicked it. You weren’t really bitchin’ about whose style is doper, people where their own characters. Like Biz Markie and Big Daddy Kane where like comic book heroes or something. You don’t have that anymore, everyone’s just a mediocre MC. Everybody’s dressin’ normal and they don’t want to have no gimmicks. But back then it wasn’t a gimmick, that’s just the way fools were. People are too afraid to go against the norm, and I think that’s the problem with hip-hop now. Everybody’s just trying to fit in when they should be trying to improve it. I think if people spent less time critisizing what everybody else does and just concentrate on what they do, it’d be a lot better.

Elements: Where do you see yourselves in the long run in this profession?
Ryu: I feel if we can just keep putting out records that people love, then I could do this my hold life. It doesn’t matter we don’t need to be rich, we don’t need to be broke either, just as long as we can be comfortable and continue to put out music and keep creating, that would be great. We could stick around for a few albums u’know? Like rappers now a days, you put out four albums and you’re a veteren. I talking about putting out like 10-15 albums, like Neil Young or Madonna. Even KRS-One has put out quite a few albums, he’s been around a long time. I think if we just keep on reinventing ourselves every time we come around then I think we’ll be aiight. We just gotta be one step ahead of everyone else.