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Sick Jacken (posted September 19, 2007) How's it going? Sick Jacken: It's going good man. What's the concept of The Legend of the Mask & The Assassin? Jacken: The concept is pretty much putting two characters, the Mask and the Assassin, in a surreal environment, based off of what we are going through today. We are kind of telling you in a story form rather than a factual record. Why did it take so long for you and Muggs to work together? Jacken: Timing. I think being able to be around each other long enough to chop it up about doing a record together. I've know him since 94. I think the timing's right now bro. If I would've done record with Muggs before I don't think I would've been ready for it. What role did Cynic play on the album? Jacken: He helped us with the concepts. He added a chorus, a bridge on there, he has a verse here and there. Kind of like the role Ghostface played on the Cuban Linx Raekwon album. Tell us a little about songs like "God's Banker" and "Reptilian Renaissance". Jacken: God's Banker is a story of this Italian guy named Roberto Calvi, and the situation he had over there with the Vatican and the mob. Just the money hungry shit. It's real parallel to what goes on here. Reptile Renaissance is more or less the concept of the reptilian race, you know it's real big with conspiracy theorists. It basically talks about them coming out of the closet. We put a bibliography in the booklet too. People can research what we are talking about. They can look into these things then go back and listen to the record and get a whole new experience. What other concepts did you touch on? Jacken: Religion, the streets, end of the world, rite of passage. I touched on the Muggs/B-Real story - how we came to meet them. How me and Muggs ended up doing a record together on the Mask and Assassin track. Death, you know what I'm saying? Reincarnation, purgatory. Just a bunch of different things. We tried to cover as much of the world's experience as possible in a one hour record. How many Spanish language tracks are there on the album? Jacken: There are two of them. One is called El Barrio which means the neighborhood. It's pretty much talking about the Latin community and how we all pretty much exist under the same umbrella. Ciclon – which means Cyclone. It's pretty much a metaphor for what's going on now. You feel storms coming with all the stuff the president is doing Are there any tour or video plans for the album? Jacken: Yeah, we are shooting a video when we get back from Europe. We get to Europe the 20th and we'll be back in October. When we get back we'll be shooting a video for El Barrio. We are also going to be doing like a documentary style video for the Mask and the Assassin. We are going to show the story of what we are talking about. We are actually going to show real life clips of what's happening in the story, and we are trying to get someone to shoot a video for the Land of Shadows also. We're trying to get a national tour when we get back from Europe. Were you ever surprised that a group like Psycho Realm was embraced by such diverse groups of people? Jacken: Yeah. I'm a kid from downtown L.A. For somebody in Russia to be covering one of my songs and sending it to me, it's crazy. While I was in Chile some kids from Peru kids handed me a CD. They handed me three and on one they were doing like a cover for one of my Spanish songs at a big concert. It's crazy man. I mean you do music to express yourself and it's fun. When it's your gift, it's fun for you to dive into the whole world. For that to turn into something that I can continue to do and feed my kids is a blessing. How does Muggs rank in terms of producers you've had a chance to work with? Jacken: I think Muggs is the only producer I've worked with on a whole album like this. The Sick Symphonies, I produced with my production team. I have a production team called the Drug Lab. Everyone in our group pretty much makes beats. Muggs is the first producer I've done an album with. It was a great experience man. You find that you aren't the only person that thinks along these lines and wants to do this type of music, you know? You get producers that try to give you beats that sound like the radio. Muggs is giving me the complete opposite, which is the kind of shit I like. Just working with someone of his stature, with his track record it was an honor. What's next for Sick Symphonies? Jacken: Right now FM is putting out the street mixes; he's possibly going to be working on some solo projects with different artists, some rock bands and stuff like that. Cynic is going to dive into another street record with Crow, which is his partner in Street Platoon. Duke has been producing tracks for some up and coming rappers, trying to get into the production side of things because he really can't rap. He got shot in 99. Me, I'm focused on this label RMG, Rebel Music Group, and this is the first project coming out my label. After this I'm probably going to do a full Spanish album and start scouting for some talent. Did Duke help out on The Mask & The Assassin at all? Jacken: Nah, Duke's doing a lot of production work right now. That's pretty much what he's focusing on. He kind of gave me my space to do my thing. What's your relationship with B-Real at this point? Jacken: B-Real and I are always good man. B-Real is doing a solo record, plus he's about to finish the first title to the Cypress Hill record. I just did a track with him for the Infamy soundtrack called Kings in The Game which is fucking murderous. We are always going to be good. I was on his Gunslinger mixtapes. We just went on stage together last week and we'll be on stage again at the Cypress Hill Halloween show. That relationship is always going to be there. He's sort of like a mentor, he showed me all the right steps. He pretty much showed me what to do and what not to do. I'm always going to respect him for that. I'm always going to appreciate the fact that he actually had any interest in us and helped up get in this game. If it wasn't for him it probably would've took longer or we would've gave up or whatever, you know? I'm always going to respect that guy. I'm always going to be appreciative for what he's done. What's next for you after this project? Jacken: After this a Spanish album and I'm focusing on this label RMG, trying to get it up. Anything else you'd like to add? Jacken: I just want to give thanks to all my fans and everyone that supports us. We really appreciate that shit. You know people always say "without my fans I wouldn't be here". That shit's true. If you have a favorite artist then support. Buy the CD for ten bucks. You know, go to the concert and buy a T-Shirt. We don't have day jobs so this is what helps us make the music you like to hear. If you like something that you know an artist is bringing, invest in that artist and let him keep making that music you like to hear. All-Star shit aside, you guys help us eat. So you contribute to the fact and you help us keep going so we appreciate it. So anybody that wants to hit me up on myspace it's myspace.com/sickjacken. We are a tight network. You can find Muggs on my top 8, you can find Duke, you can find FM and you can find all the boys, know what I'm saying? Hit us up. We respond to the fans and we respond to the supporters. We'll see you guys on the road. We appreciate it. Drew & Andy