The Los Angeles based hip-hop quartet, Far East Movement, producing chart topping hits such as: “Like a G6”, “Rocketeer”, “If I Was You (OMG)”, “Live My Life” and most recently “The Illest” are back in Malaysia for MTV World Stage 2013!
The group was formed in 2003 consisting of Kev Nish (Kevin Nishimura), Prohgress (James Roh), J-Splif (Jae Choung) and DJ Virman (Virman Coquia). As you must have surely heard the hit “Like a G6”, this single was what gave the group the title of the first Asian-American group to earn a #1 hit on the Billboard top 10 in the United States.
Taken with the Nokia Lumia 720
We sat down with the boys to discuss K-Pop, their fashion choices, “The Illest”, new work, and their favorite part about coming back to Malaysia.
K-Pop is big right now in Asia, which K-Pop group or artist would you like to collaborate with?
Kev Nish: Great question. /to the other members/ would they be considered K-Pop?
Prohgress: I don’t think so. It’s rock music.
Rock works.
K-N: We’re huge fans of YB. We met him and he actually let us rehearse in his recording studio, it was amazing. He had it set up old school Hollywood rock style: with the carpets, everything soundproofed and all these crazy guitars. It would just be amazing to do something completely outside the box with him. He also did the famous Korean soccer chant, so we’d love to do a chant with him.
P: Actually, (DJ) Virman said he wants Hyori Lee to be in the next video.
J-Splif: Aha! She just got married, dude. Leave her alone!
P: Doesn’t matter. We just want her in our video.
Far East Movement: /laughs/
You guys have been around for a long time. You’ve collaborated with a ton of people during the past few years like Justin Bieber, Flo Rida, Snoop Dogg, Ryan Tedder etc. Out of all of them, who was your favorite working with?
K-N: Oh no, we’re going to hurt some feelings. But we’ve gotta say it. For the legend, Snoop Dogg. He’s our favorite because we grew up listening to Snoop whether it be on the radio or on MTV. He represents for us, the whole L.A. lifestyle and when you meet him in real life, it fills every expectation. I remember we were really stressed out, we were getting ready for this TV performance and when Snoop gets to the set, he just smiles, says one joke and it calms like, literally all 200 people that were working. When you have that much charisma and control, that’s when you know you’ve got a true legend right there.
What is the biggest challenge that comes with where you guys are right now?
P: Virman. Virman is our biggest challenge. I’m just kidding. /laughs/
K-N: Challenge wise though, I think it’s learning about the mainstream industry. We’ve operated so long as an independent crew from the business side. Every aspect of the business we handled and we had our hands on. Adjusting to a mainstream platform was the hardest, whether it’s TV performances or you know, music videos with budgets. The whole adjusting to the mainstream had always been a learning experience and a challenge. But I think overall, because we came from a do-it-yourself type of platform, it’s helped us. It’s helped us take that challenge and figure out how to make it a long-term career so that we’re able to keep going in a sense. It’s reinvention, whether it’s a product or a business, it’s about morphing it, changing it or reinventing it so that it stays fresh.
Taken with Nokia Lumia 720
What are the things that you’ve picked up from collaborating and working with big mainstream stars?
P: We uh, steal pieces of their shows after every tour. /laughs/
K-N: Yeah, you know that keytar?
P: Yup. That was from (Lady) Gaga. We also took a pink tank from Rihanna.
K-N: He’s right though, we learn backstage on these tours. Like “Oh, look at how that lighting guy is doing this, look at how their stage crew is operating for the quickest setups”. We’re back there like students. Instead of watching the shows, we’re really watching how things are put together.
P: I mean, we learn like, ways to transition into songs, how to pace sets, bringing flow, accelerating it as well as giving the audience a little bit of time to breathe. You learn that from different kinds of artists.
What’s new with you guys, when can we expect a new single?
K-N: We’ve been working nonstop. “GRZZLY” was just a taste, like we wanted to start a new album but we wanted to experiment before we put out a new album. For us to get comfortable and find a new sound, we put out a free mixtape which was just us, going into the studio with a few producers and being like mad scientists, going hard with it. We’ve got two songs from that project that we felt should be up on the album, one being “The Illest”, and the other being “There Will Be No Rain”. Now we’re working on another free mixtape project where we mix West Coast with Trap/House. We’ve got Kurupt on there which was a huge honor to work with him and that is what we’re going to put out in a few weeks for free. Through that, we’re collecting a few keepers for the album, but we don’t know when we’re going to finish since music is changing constantly, so we don’t want to commit to anything yet.
This is your third time in Malaysia, is there anything you’re expecting here?
K-N: Always expecting food. /laughs/
P: Kevin is a HUGE fan of Malaysian food.
K-N: It’s because it’s spicy you know? It just has all the right ingredients.
The energy from the crowd, too. Last time we were here during Merdeka and the energy there was just, phenomenal. Our first show here also had some amazing energy. So we’ve come to learn that the Malaysian audience knows how to party and is probably one of the liveliest audiences in the world that we’ve seen.
P: Great after parties too.
K-N: Where do you guys get all that energy from anyway?
P: Must be in the food.
FEM: /Laughs/
You guys have a very good style of fashion, do you guys take music as the biggest influence in terms of your style?
K-N: Definitely. The way we approach style and fashion is very similar to our music in a sense that it grows organically. When we’re making a song, whether it’s a certain bass sound or a certain hook line, we’re like “that looks like this” /points at his clothes/ “It would look like this cool tie with palm trees behind you”. I don’t know, a song is not done until you can visualize it. “The Illest” to us, represented that “badass” moment like, let’s say you’re at work and you’ve had it. You’ve had it with your boss. Everybody’s had that moment where it’s like “ugh, when is this day going to end”. Everyone at work deserves that one day where you can just, rebel and give it back to your boss, just that illest moment. For that, we automatically thought when making that song “We’ve gotta take it to the office. We’ve gotta do our old jobs or jobs we’ve had and completely make them dysfunctional”. It’s a sense of where you visualize it.
Taken with Nokia Lumia 720
You guys are setting the trend right now, could you name 5 must have items in your everyday wear and why?
K-N: Extra large team jackets, what do you call them?
J-S: Coast Jackets.
K-N: Gotta have “The Illest” tee as well, we can’t wear it in interviews though because it has a bad word.
P: Duffel bags are great for 2-3 day shows where you don’t want to wait for your bag at baggage claim and stuff like that. Whatever can fit in your overhead compartment on the plane.
J-S: Always keep an extra pair of socks and underwear in your bag when you do check in because you could lose your bag in transit.
P: We’ve had to do a show in our pajamas.
K-N: We love collecting tour tees too /points at his MTV t-shirt/ other than that, we love our sneakers.
About “The Illest”. During the shoot for the music video, what was the funniest moment you guys had?
K-N: Oh man there was so many. /pointing at Prohgress/ he just went around torturing people because he was the boss in the video. There’s this movie called Office Space and there was this annoying boss that would just be like- actually you do it.
P: /in a raspy monotone voice/ “Gonna need those reports uhhh on uhhh Monday I know uhhh we don’t work on weekends but uhhh this weekend you’re gonna have to work….”
K-N: He was doing that ALL DAY, terrorizing people!
P: and I had the uh, I was actually one of those old school Korean/American bosses with the slippers and a golf putter since they’re golfing all the time so yeah, it was fun. I don’t usually get to bully around people that much so doing it with a smile and a coffee mug man, I’d do it at all times.
K-N: Actually, Riff Raff was trying to jack his shoes during the whole set. /laughs/
J-S: He’d be like “can I wear them?” “What, why?” “For the video!”
P: It was also pretty great because Virman dressed up as a grandma for one part.
Virman: I felt old.
And that’s the end of the interview! Thanks guys!
FEM: Thanks so much for having us!
Be sure to check out Far East Movement’s newest single “The Illest”, available on iTunes and look out for their newest work on the way!
A super big thank you to Nat Low for speaking to them on behalf!