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Who Iz Kalasol Read on...................
The Business:
Kalasol (Kolassale) is a rap artist from the San Francisco Bay Area. He first gained attention during the insurgence of the Hyphy Movement with his debut single "That’s Oakland".The single was released on Wee Drop Entertainment, a label which Rally Ral and Kalasol started in 2001.Kalasol has worked with artists such as, Mistah F.A.B. Turf Talk, San Quinn, Deep C and Rally Ral, and with producers like E-A-Ski & CMT, 4th Quarter, and AAGEE beatmaker for Oakland's Hieroglyphics. Kalasol has also performed with E-40, Too Short, Casual, Fat Joe, Dead Prez, Young Gunz, JT Tha Bigga Figga, and Messy Marv
The Bio:
Khalid Salaam, better known as Kalasol, grew up in the Bay Area and began his career in hip hop with the release of his 4th Quarter-produced single “That’s Oakland”, which received heavy rotation on [[KNGY|Power 92.7 With the release of the single "That's Oakland" Kalasol began working on his first full length album "Boss Of the Bay". At the same time he made various guest appereances on a host of projects,mixxtapes & compilations. Most notable DJ Juices bay area mixxtape series Vol 6 Hosted by Too Short & "Get your hustle right" San Quinn's 2006 release 4.5.7 Is the Code Part III & DJ MOE1'a "Boss of the Bay" series.
In 2008 Kalasol formed his own company The Organization. In addition to the re-release of "Boss of The Bay Vol1" The Organization released Vol 2 - The Wessseruction Album" & "Vol 3 -Delayed Gratification". Kalasol continues to represent the unique bay area sound nationwide. In 2008 the single "The Panther" released on the Almost Famous Soundtrack introduced Nu Dynasty & Sunni the Lost trejja two artist/groups Kalasol has put under the umbrella of "The Organization".
Guest appearances, mixtapes, and compilations :
San Quinn — 4.5.7 Is the Code Part III (2006, Sumo Records)
DJ Moe1 — Boss of the Bay Volume 1 (2006, Double Impact Productions/Wee Drop Ent./"The Organization"))
DJ Juice — Bay Area Mixtape Volume 6 (2006)
DJ Louie Lou — What Can I Mix with My Mix CD (2006)
DJ Juice — Jofficial Grimiest Volume 5 (2005)
Flomaster Inc. — Jofficial: Grimiest Volume 4 (2005)
DJ Juice — Bay Area Mixtape Volume 2 (2005)
DJ Backside — Got Bay Mixtape Volume 2 (2005)
DJ Juice — Hip Hop Mixtape Volume 12 (2004)
Be Like Muhammed—Songs in the Key of Imam (2007, Remarkable Current)
Sunni — The Bargining Chip (2008, Real Money Monopoly "The Organization"))
DJ Moe1 — Boss of the Bay Volume 2 (2008, Real Money Monopoly "The Organization")
Almost Famous Soundtrack -"The Panther" Nu Dynast feat: Kalasol (2008 "The Organization")
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Online Mag interview 08'
How long have you been in the business?
every since my daddy put some game on my mama and didn't kno when 2 pull out like bsh in irq
i 've been doin music i guess like 5 + years to put it simple LOL
Simple to say the least interesting metaphor.. how do you feel about the war since we're on the subject?
I totally disagree with this new world order plot to opress people of color
it's a sham and a low down dirty shame rich get richer poo die poo'er
Well. let's move foward.. Do you see yourself as being a legend?
Yes I want to be more then a rapper I want to start a movement but use music as a vechile 2 do it
i am a simple man, and i want to be one of the best emcees in history i want to be a good leader and follower, I want to be .......and go buy ur
What what's "K's" child hood like much hood in the child hood?
Well I had like 50/50 my parents were able to move out of oakland but I spent 90% of the time w/ my grandmother in the heart of east oakland so I saw the crk and gun violence and pmps and o'z but i got a chance to not have to see only that, ny dad worked a lot but he was around alth i got all my lessons from uncles and cuzzins about the streets ,i was blessed to see the good ..the bad...and the downright ugly..I want to promote the truth from my point of view all sides of it.....what ever level that you are on today, gansta, thug, hustler, student, teacher dope fiend..whatever it's all about elevation...I'm sure by the time someones reads this I will have grown not saying I will have changed all my ways but some of them...I want to make it from the block to the boardroom ain't that the Amerikkkan Dream? Them corp cats are just as gulley as any street cat u kno' ..so the best cats in the streets are the best wherever you drop them @ .... they can adapt. Watch me adapt then look for my metamorphasis too occur....
I like that you don't promote Drug trafficing like some other popular artisit WAIT .. you don't right?
Nah i've told stories .....about what i kno i only dibbed and dabbed so i can't talk about bein nino brown and i really feel if u were scarface why did u start rappin ' ...stick to what u did best b'cz if u got keyz and no floz ..stick to keyz
i try to tell the full story..on whatever the topic is pro's cons good and bad and im always evolving G-d Willing
plus check out some of my sites: google Kalasol
Excerpt from Mistah Fab & Kalasol Interview:
Kicking back at West Oakland's Soundwave Studios while waiting to kick down a rhyme with the emcee Kalasol -- whose signature Town song, "That's Oakland," garnered heavy rotation on Power 92.7 FM before the station went down in October -- Fab seems enervated from all the long studio hours, heavy blunt-smoking, and constant stress of being on the grind. The emcees are recording a track called "The Product," which Kalasol describes as a metaphor for the dope game: "It's like we're the dope on the streets, and the Bay Area fans are fiending for it, but right now all they're getting is placebo," he says, proudly gesturing at Fab. But Fab doesn't respond to his homeboy's accolades -- he's staring googly-eyed at a computer screen, totally engrossed in the selection of hip-hop honeys at Myspace.com.
Yet when it's time for Fab to lay down his part, he ambles into the sound booth and grabs the mic with an exhilarating screech -- the vocal equivalent of Jerry Lewis' piano glissandos. The studio heads look up from their analogue synthesizers and their blunts as Fab unleashes lyrics he penned just moments before -- I spit liver saliva and speak hot trash, he barks for an imaginary audience. Kalasol leans back in his chair and smiles, proud to see his metaphor made flesh as Fab turns flesh into metaphor.
--Online Interview---
To tell this story correctly we must go back before 2004 where a pudgy ganster rap prodigy homed his skills in a dilipated studio frequented by various east bay artist..
At that time Kalasol was in a group 3rdegree and learning the life of an artist first hand.
“We would live in the studio and record songs whenever we could, the studio was actually in a renovated basement and we called it “basement records”. Everyone would come thru from Deliquents , Seagram to Dangerous Dame at the time and I got a chance to match my witts with all of them.”
Basement records only produced 1 compilation album at the time that Kalasol appeared on . The company sooned closed due to death of the ceo.
“all of the artist and producers who called basement record their home kinda stuck together and vowed to always work together again..it was like whoever get their foot in the door first” Kalasol went on to work on various compilations until in 2002-2003 he met Rally Ral formerly of infared/no limit.
“when I met Ral he had just recently left priority and was working on his new project, he played his songs for me and then I played mine for him, he issh sounded 3-D compared to mine the production was just top shelf”
A few dranks later Rally Ral and Kalasol decided to join forces together and form WeeDrop Ent. Rally Ral being the president and Kalasol taking vp and 1st artist on the rosters role.
“ I was young and naive , I thought that all you had to do was spit the best ..u know be the tightest artist and everything would just fall in your lap, I had a chip on my shoulder, I’ve spit versus I feel the best in my area and beaten 98% of them freestyling, but the club won’t play what the radio isn’t playing and radio won’t play what the club ain’t playing and I didn’t understand how people pay deejays and radio execs to get their shit played…I didn’t know all you had to do was grease some palms, pay some deejays or be related to somebody to get your shine..I didn’t want to be a local artist with just local fame ..I want longevity ..I want to be a mogul …not hood rich some mother#&$*@ looking at the block I’m looking at the globe”
So Rally Ral (Rdot) and Kalasol went back to the drawing board. To customize what would be the signature Kalasol sound.
“The entire idea behind Kalasol is everything is real big thoughts ,swagger….everything I’m a big dude I do errthang larger then life, so the slap has 2 be big pound make heads nod..and the bars have 2 be on some ..whaaat did he just say…everything is big and at the same time grimmey 4 my ngz who everybody else 4got about who u thought u left behind but is still in the trenches a ready 4 the opportunity”
The sweat , blood and tears that Kalasol left in the studio produced in 2004 “That’s Oakland “ Kalasol town anthem that paid homage to all bay area rapper past & present. It bridge a gap between old & new bay and brought a new gritty sound to the airwaves.
“When I was recording the song radio was the last thing I was trippin on, I wanted the streets…. I wanted to tell a story like nobody had ..I wanted to show my skills”
Kalasol & Rdot decided to take the song as the lead single for the debut album.
“The album wasn’t even finished we just pressed up some singles and hit up every station we could…some of the big boys weren’t fkn with us period I don’t know if we got lost in the shuffle or what but I’m a hustler period, If I got bills due and I can’t get no zips from you I’m going to take my money across town and get zippers man just because you won’t sell me no dope u think im not about to be on my grind?” …” We took the album to other smaller stations and they played the isshh and it went #1 in they countdowns above juvenile and usher songs and ishhh”
The emcee was finally get the recognition and respect he wanted. “It’s a catch twenty two and a half, big radio is a cool way to get your music heard by a huge amount of people but…..you can start movements with smaller radio stations and the internet has changed the game. Independent hustling is where it is at right now for me. Kalasol looks off in the distance as the words and raw emotion pour out. “I’ve gotten this far … not from paying for my spot but earning it the old fashioned way….I’ve sat in meetings trying to ink deals with the majors Atlantic ,Capitol , Geffen all of them it was a great experience but right now I’m like DO 4 SELF. I can push 900 plus thousand on every release independent that’s a good piece of change for doing what you love…yeah I’m a fan first. Kalasol drifts back to his performances seemingly looking out at his audience “When That’s Oakland was on the air and I did shows with all the biggest bay names it was a high bigger then any …..to have the fans say your lyrics to you …I didn’t even have to flow they were going crazy saying my lyrics back to me……so now I’m like yesterday the bay tomorrow the industry.” Kalasol has stuck to his hustlenomics by releasing Boss of the Bay Vol 1 and 2 and making the “Real Money Organization” a group of intellectual trigger happy starving artist who collectively have created a buzz as he say with “Just good music” The Real $$$ Org is Sunni Ali, Logik,IQ and with the help of DJmoe1 they are gunning for the #1 spot not underground but above ground.
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Kalasol Hip Hop Quote-ables:
"You judge a tree by the fruit that it bears we been getting our vitamins and minerals from these pimpz and playerz"-from, P..O...E
"I spit the best flo the uuuuu--- --ssss know
life's a btch put her on the corner in stillettoes" - Kalasol from ryding by
"I’m the west coast gullest phenom
I hustle from the cock-a doodle doo till the fiends gone,
I’ll show you what a clip & glock will do come at me wrong
Drop the whole west coast on yea
come at me wrong
spit thru ya Teflon
They ain’t prepared
My flo is closed captioned for the game impaired "- from On Blast
" I got love 4 my sister on welfair Kalasol care .....since 2pac ain't here yeeeaahh" - Kalasol from by ur side
"I'm so fly that I prolly got the bird flu ....you ain't talking about money I prolly ain't even hearrrrrddd you" - from Real Money
" Ya boi is lethal still kill at will,
I got Cliff Huxtable money ......they got little bills" -from heavyweights
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