(Ed’s Note: Green Team Official T-Shirts will be available for pre-order this Friday! #OUTHERE #GREENTEAMOFFICIAL)
Green Team Official is the new album from Green Team released on July 10th. Green Team is essentially a duo of two of the best producers in the area–G_Force (aka Calvin Valentine) and Lawz Spoken–but also encompasses the featured artists on the album and the friends they reference in songs. It’s a name for their whole crew.
Although G_Force, who’s beginning to be widely known as the powerhouse behind the majority of any good hip hop to come out of Portland, normally takes his music very seriously, this is an outlet for the two of them to make good music for fun, for almost free, and for (mainly) their friends. It just so happens making music in that vein has caught a lot of local and national attention. (Stoners.)
In a way, this project has been a long time coming. After running in the same circle for a year or so, the first single they worked on together, “Never Coming Down” featuring Epp [http://lawzspoken.com/home/downloads/ferrari-friday-x-frv2-x-never-coming-down/], was released in November of 2010. It was originally released as a single for Ferrari Rap Volume II, the long awaited collaboration album between Lawz Spoken and Epp. The name for their group came later though. “Green Team” came from a series of light hearted twitter hashtags and inside jokes. It went from being a tag for silly comments about smoking weed and being high to a badge of honor for people or things they respect. Once #greenteamofficial started trending on twitter, fans and spectators started to wonder what Lawz and G were referring to.
The album is full of references and shout-outs to their friends and favorite things which not only makes it enjoyable for their existing fans, but also serves as a way to break into the Portland hip hop scene. On the surface it may seem like just a fun little weed record, but the replay value is impressively high! Between the skits, figuring out the samples from movies, and catching all the references to other artists, songs, videos and projects, this album remains light and fun on the surface but offers something new with each listen. You can hear G_Force throughout the whole album supportively repping different Green Team Official honorary crew members by impersonating them with vocal effects and quoting their catch phrases. My favorites are his Illmaculate impersonation “Skrill Talk! Skrill Talk! Cha-Ching! Time is money!” and his Mikey Vegaz line “It’s all Gucci.” At the end of the track “Watch It Burn” featuring Illmaculate and OnlyOne [https://weouthere.wpenginepowered.com/2012/07/03/green-team-watch-it-burn-ft-illmaculate-onlyone] there’s a skit in which they’re in the car listening to the song “Flavin” by Fli Boi Moe and Mikey Vegaz.
As they’re putting the finishing touches on the album, I asked the duo what their goals are for this project. They say the dream is to have a full length animated movie soundtracked by the album. Everyone featured and referenced has such defining characteristics and voices that I could see this being a huge success. Lawz jokes about exaggerating features like G’s swooping haircut and putting a tiny little surfer guy on top of it.
I caught up with the G_Force and Lawz Spoken in the studio where the Green Team album was made, and they let me in on some secrets. I’m no good at keeping secrets, sorry guys.
What inspired the concept for the album?
Lawz Spoken:We knew it was going to be a Green Team project, but we didn’t know where exactly we were going to take it. But, the album kind of made itself — the first sample we pulled up was the one for “Wake ‘N Bake” and it was just perfect, so we made that beat. The next song we made was “Rolled Up” it just kept building on itself, really. Then we decided to make it about a day-in-the-life of the Green Team.
G_Force: If you want the history of the Green Team, it just started off because once me and Lawz started kicking it hella, and all the homies were chillin’, we’d just smoke hella weed all the time, so we came up with “The Green Team” just to call ourselves something. Just as some homies, it was kind of like a funny thing. Our homie Craig [Sprecher] who does a lot of our artwork decided to make some artwork for Green Team, and that became a thing. And that was the hashtag on twitter that we used hella. So we got folks out in the UK and other places repping Green Team. WOHM offered to make some T-shirts after seeing the buzz. So then we just decided to make the project.
L: It wasn’t even supposed to be a full LP either. It was going to be a track and three beats, but then we started making the whole album…
G: Without knowing really, we’ve been promoting this shit throughout all of our releases. Before Valentines Day even. We’ve been pushing it without even pushing it, which is funny.
What are each of your roles when it comes to making a beat together?
L: I’ll chop up a sample and just know that G needs to come through and do magic.
G: It’s real collaborative, you know. I’ll usually do the drums, but I try to do them in a way that fits with Lawz’ production style, and he’ll usually make the sample chop, and we’ll build on it from there.
Do you both play keys?
L: Not like G. G’s one of a kind. Naw, he can play some shit. That’s his signature.
G: That’s more of what I bring to it, Lawz is bringing the grimey-ness.
How would you describe yourselves?
G: Lawz is Cheech, and I’m Chong.
L: I’m the funny Mexican, ‘cause I am, and he’s the funny stoner hippie.
G: Yup, basically. That’s how we get along, through pot smoking…
L: …and being funny.
There are a lot of scenes from movies sampled on the record. How does this play into the concept?
G: After we’d make the beats, we’d go chill and watch movies. We love Friday, Cheech and Chong, Half Baked, so that’s where all those sampled skits came in. So we got “Pops” [from the movie Friday] talking about the macaroni, and that happens to be a type of weed that we like to smoke. We added the samples from the movies before we wrote any of the songs. As we were doing that we developed a pretty good idea for who we wanted to have on each song.
L: I listened to a lot of WU-Tang when I was younger and they always sampled scenes from movies.
G: MF Doom and Madlib always do that shit, too. It gives it a little more flavor, and bring a little more life to it.
L: Some albums don’t need it though. But this one definitely did.
G: It worked with the overall theme of it
L: And gave it something comical.
You recorded a lot of skits on the album that tie all the songs together. This is a bit of a flashback. Were there any albums in particular you listened to growing up that inspired this style?
G: Masta Ace’s Disposable Arts and A Long Hot Summer. Those are both really good albums and they tell a story throughout the whole album with the skits.
L: We also had a lot of the song titles before the actual songs were made too. The skits were what we did at the end to really tie the album together.
G: We wrote the songs around the concept of a day-in-the-life.
L: Like, driving to the TRON (Beaverton), getting weed, going to a show, getting pulled over.
For some of the hardest working artists in Portland, it seems like you guys are taking this project really lightly?
G: That was the whole point of it, just to make a fun project. When I wrote a lot of the raps I tried to write them from the perspective of not just me but also what Lawz would rap about, or maybe Mark Steez or Verbz [honorary Green Team members] who don’t really rap, what they might wanna rap about.
L: Yeah ‘cause I’m all about Ferraris and stuff.
G: Exactly. It was kinda like that. I approached it differently than if I were writing a Calvin Valentine project. You know, it’s for the Green Team.
How did you decide on who to feature on the album? Are they all people you’ve both worked with before?
L:While we were making the beats it was an all of the sudden thing ‘Oh we need this person in it!’ Pretty much once you hear the sample, and chop it, you just start to know.
G: We’ve worked with them all before except for Dizz, and Mikey and Moe.
L: I did a Cool Nutz song and Mikey’s on it.
G: Cool Nutz is the homie and Mikey and Moe rolled through and peeped some beats, after we made the Green Team joints. They’re cool dudes to work with, and their doing their thing. You gotta respect who are on their hustle and are good at making music and are from the town. And then Dizz actually just hit me up on twitter and offered to do a feature.
L: And he killed it!
G: He knocked it out the park! I’ve produced for, but never rapped on a track with Illmac or Only, so that was new.
L: Only’s in Sandpeople with Illmac, and I’ve known him forever. Plus I did a whole album CHRON, with OnlyOne. The two of them did an album together, Police Brutality. Which is why the track “Watch It Burn” ties together so well because… they don’t like cops.
The song “Blue City Nights” seems to be a preview for another new project in the works. Can you tell us more about MRTS PRPL/Martis Purple and when to expect an album out?
G: You can thank Epp for that confusing name. But it’s fantastic. This song is the first introduction to MRTS PRPL, which is myself, Epp, and Ife, who shoots most of my music videos, he’s a part of Artistic Outlet Media. We came together in August 2011 and made an album called Last Night in Vegas.
L: It’s my favorite shit that he’s done.
G: We’re all busy, ya know. I’m just waiting for the right time to release it. It’s one of those records that I feel will last. Like, in two or three years it’s still gonna be relevant. When it happens, it will happen. It’s all about havin’ fun and partyin’ hard. That’s what their group is about. We did a show in Portland opening for Sandpeople, and just swagged out the whole time. By the end of it we had hip hop kids that were just chopping, dancin, cuttin, and gettin’ hype.
L: There were old dudes being like “I’m going to remember that name, Martis Purple.”
It seems like this album is a true representation of a day in the life of the Green Team. You’re working hard, getting shit done, but still having fun along the way. It seems like you’re living the good life. On some of the other recent releases, like Calvin Valentine’s Boat Shoes or On My Way videos from the album Red Eye Flights, or Lawz Spoken’s Ferrari Rap album series, there is this extravagant lifestyle that is being portrayed. I want to get inside of that one. What inspires these themes of luxury to come up so often? Are fast cars and yacht parties really you?
G: It’s a mind frame. We’re Ferrari living all the time. Don’t necessarily have to own a Ferrari.
L: Exactly, we’re happy. We’re more like telling stories.
G: Everything I’m rapping about, I’m doing. Talkin’ about Ferraris, like you can see in the video, we’re chillin on Ferraris. When I was out in Miami, we were living that life. I never said I owned ‘em. You can hear it on Green Team album on the track “Rolled Up”, I say “I’m still riding around in my own Accord.” My Honda Accord. I’m not frontin’. I whip that shit like I own a Porsche. It’s a mind frame. That’s why I say that.
L: And one day, we’ll have a whole bunch of ‘em.
G: That’s the thing too, it’s a little bit of foreshadowing. It’s not like everyday we’re chillin on a beach. But ya know, we’ve done that stuff, and we’ve got a taste of it. And we want more.
Do you think that it’s clear to the fans that’s what you’re trying to get across?
G: I think so. If you listen, then yeah. The image is fancy, but if you pay attention to what I’m rapping about then you know.
L: People who fuck with us know.
G: You know, there’s nothing wrong with having fun with it. Dressing in fancy suits, or sitting on fancy cars. And I’ve had the most underground hip hop heads hit me up and say they ‘fux wit’ Boat Shoes heavy. But, I would say that Green Team is as real as it gets. We’re flossin’ on our own level.
Green Team Official is out now. Pick up the album at http://greenteam.bandcamp.com/ for $1.50, (another reference that you’ll just have to figure out for yourself after listening).
ADDED BONUS SUPER SECRET TEASER: Lawz and G flipped this joint [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGjk8JPu-Ns] for the song “Train Wreck” featuring Fli Boi Moe, Mikey Vegaz and Epp, and you can almost taste how grimey they made it.