The Pride

Issue date: 2/19/08 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: Rob Deez

It's Friday night once again and the streets downtown are rocking beats all around as homie Rob Deez caresses the mic with his comical ease. With guitar in hand and no backing band, Deez gives it a go, putting on one excellent show. Dropping lines about life and his own personal strife, Rob Deez is a playa and creator of hype. Whether it's at Mueller, Lestats or some other local venue, with his charm and ingenuity, Rob Deez hopes to woo you. Although his songs might not be the cleanest-as he likes to sing about "planting his seed" and run-ins with the cops-his lyrical chops are definitely the meanest. His rhythmic rapping and melodic acoustic guitar is no normal pairing, but you better check him out because his songs are worth sharing.

The Pride: How did you get your start in music?
I got a guitar in 7th grade [and] I played punk rock music on it. At City College I did a few musicals and really fell in love with being onstage with an audience. [Also] in between Jr. High and high school, I started rapping with friends in the garage. Then one day I put it all together, and now I'm the shit.

The Pride: What is your song-writing process like?
I'll get an idea, write it all out, get the lyrics and make them all rhyme. Then I'll find some sort of guitar thing to go along with it. I think a lot of people do the music first and then come up with lyrics. [But] I do the lyrics first because for what I do, that's most important. I'm a lyric master, not a guitar master.

The Pride: Where do you get the inspiration for your songs?
From everything around me. Drinking and women are big influences. Things that are going on in my life-current events usually end up being the sources for my songs.

The Pride: Do you have an album out?
I have. If only you could take a picture of it-I have an award-winning album out. It's the ghetto disc. It was voted for, nominated and won in the 2007 Hat Awards honoring "Acoustic talent album of the year artist's choice award." The Rob Deez ghetto disc is simply a recording of a live set at Lestats that Josh Damigo threw down $20 for. But I am soon going to be recording with the homie Aaron Bowen.

The Pride: What's the first CD or tape you ever bought?
I think I wanna say like Kris Kross "Totally Krossed Out." Maybe Ojay Jones for the tape, (Deez starts singing) "I saw you, walking in the rain…"

The Pride: Do you have a favorite show memory?
I think my coolest memory, or at least the one I'm gonna go with-I've got a lot of awesome memories-is the one when I worked at the Zoo. I wrote a song about working at the Zoo and I played this Zoo house party, and that was the first time I had ever played one of my songs in front of an audience. And like, they loved it. It's like a three minute song that took ten minutes because there was so much laughter in between each line. It was the greatest feeling in the world.

The Pride: Can you share a few lines?
It's like: "Hello, how are you? Did you have a good time at the San Diego Zoo?"…"I can already tell this is not going to be my day because in my first fifteen I called Panda Express and tried to sell them Wa Mei"… "I just want to go home and get irie and lose my sobriety, instead of working at the San Diego Zoological Society." It was awesome. I loved that night.

The Pride: Do you have a favorite song you have written?
Favorite song I've written… I have a lot, I'd say right now it's the "Bicycle Song." It's a lot of fun.

The Pride: What's the biggest lesson you took away from your college experience?
The biggest lesson I took away from college is that I should have paid more attention while I was there. Plus, I mean going to college and doing shows there is what turned me on to audiences in the first place. So had I not done that, I might not be doing it now. I've got an excellent GPA too ladies.

The Pride: Where can people find your music?
Come to the Myspace page dot com slash rob deez. Come to the shows, which are listed on the Myspace page. Buy my CD which is available at the shows. And or fall in love with me and/or vice versa and I'll play for you anytime in the bedroom.

Go add Rob Deez as your MySpace friend: www.myspace.com/robdeez

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