After signing with Strange Music and releasing his debut on the label, Dinner And A Movie, Brotha Lynch Hung’s career has taken on a new life. After flying under the radar for a minute, Lynch is back on the saddle: enjoying the success of Dinner And A Movie and gearing up for his first nationwide tour in over a decade, The Strange Days Tour. We were able to catch up with Lynch during his drive from California to Kansas City (he’s not a fan of airplanes) for this exclusive Strange Music Blog interview.

Strange Music Blog: Everybody knows now that you’re with Strange Music; a lot of people don’t know how that all came about. How did you guys hook up?

Brotha Lynch Hung: When the Everready album came out about four-and-a-half years ago, I came out to the Tech N9ne release date party where he came out on some white horses and a carriage. I drove all the way out there from California. I went by the office and Trav hollered at me before I left, like: “Do you want to sign to the label?” I was kind of iffy because I had just started my label–thought I was going to do it for myself–so it didn’t happen. Four years later, Dave Wiener called me and said he’s back in business and his first mission was to come grab me; so I took the opportunity–and I’m glad I did.

SMB: Any other circumstances behind how you originally met Tech?

BLH: Naw, not really. Tech and I had been knowing each other for almost fifteen years–I mean we was doing our thing. We were signed to JCOR together and we just kind of kept in touch over the years and stuff but I was just glad to be down with the nigga.

SMB: So how do you feel now being with Strange, the independent giant that it is?

BLH: Well I’m loving it because I can be me–you know what I mean? It really feels like I’m signed to a major label right now so it’s gravy. It’s less stressful because I already know the machine behind me is going to do all the things that I would have to do if I was signed to myself; it also lets me concentrate on Madesicc’s artists and do all those things for them.

SMB: The collaboration you did with Snoop, Daz, and Kurupt, “Anotha Killin”, you produced the beat yourself on that one. Had you been sitting on it?

BLH: Yeah, I’d been sitting on that song for a little minute now. I went out to LA–like around the time of Everready–and we dropped the cut. I went in there and there was a whole bunch of niggas in the studio. I did my part and smoked weed all damn night and went to sleep. I came back and Snoop and Daz and Kurupt had got on it and they shot me the song and sat there and did some songs with Warren G and Xzibit and all that stuff. I guess they kept that stuff. When I took the song back to the motel and listened to it I was like: “I’m about to sit on this until I get a good deal.” Then Strange came.

SMB: You seem like the type of person that doesn’t really pay attention to what people like you or what people are influenced by you.

BLH: Yeah, I always did my music for myself because I never knew what people were going to like–but I knew what I was going to like, so I just keep it there. For some reason motherfuckers are starting to catch on, so it makes it easy.

SMB: Is there anyone you’re wanting to work with these days?

BLH: Yessir. I want to work with Eminem–you know everybody’s wanting us to do a track together, so I hope that works. I want to work with Method Man because he’s a spitter. I’m gonna do that with Crooked I–I gots to get in some shit with him–and basically, that’s it.

SMB: We’re coming up on The Strange Days Tour, it’s about a week out. How’s your anticipation level for it? Are you excited?

BLH: Hell yeah, man–you know what I mean? This is like the biggest tour of my life–and the longest one. I’ve had big tours but they were sporadically spread out; this one is on some major label-tour type of shit so I’m hella excited to get it going.

SMB: When was the last time you did a United States tour?

BLH: Man, I did one from about ’95 to about ’97 with spread-out shows all over the United States, so it’s been a long time. When I did my last tour it was in 2003–but we did mostly just the west coast and stuff, so it’s going to be good to get back out there and get into these odd places and shit.

SMB: How do you feel being out of California for so long?

BLH: I love that sun. You gotta love that sun. You gotta love that drop-top-in-the-summertime type shit and bikini’s and all that shit.

SMB: You have a few nicknames: Coathanga Strangla and Spydaman. Are there any other nicknames you’ve got? Where do these come from?

BLH: I can’t reveal the reason why I call myself Spdyaman you just kinda have to catch on to it. People catch on to it the more they’re around me. I’m pretty sure Strange got a dose of it–you don’t know where I’m gonna be at and that’s all I can really say about Spydaman–but the Coathanga: he’s my homie, my little brother. He lets me jump in his body every now and then and say what I want to say and do what I want to do.

SMB: We know you’re a huge horror movie fan.

BLH: Yep.

SMB: Give us a few of your favorites.

BLH: Well you know I like Hostel one and two–that’s my shit. I just recently watched Saw and that got up into my top five. You know I’m an old-school cat so I got to go with the Jasons (Friday the 13ths); the earlier Jasons though, not later on with part six, seven, and eight and all that shit. I also like real true-life documentary stuff like Ed Gein.

SMB: I know you’re into serial killers too. You told me before that you have some papers over the Green River Investigation? Tell me a little more about that.

BLH: Yeah. On the low, I got a special connection–I aint gonna say who it is–but I got the paperwork for The Green River Killer and I’m writing a movie about it. That’s going to be one of my favorite projects–and that’s all I’m really going to say right now because I don’t want to hype anybody up right now, so I can finish.

SMB: You enjoy writing all kinds of things: rhymes and you got a whole bunch of screenplays in the works. Are there any directors or any other people you’d like to work with?

BLH: Well I want to work with Rob Zombie. We’re around the same age so I want to do some stuff with him. I follow him on Twitter right now and I’m hoping one day he’ll hit me back.

SMB: So while you’re signed with Strange you’re still doing your thing with Madesicc Muzicc. What’s going on over there?

BLH: Well I got my boy C-Lim with me right now. I got COS, he’s been around for like a million years, he’s a deep-type rapper. You know–and C-Lim: we keep it Crippin. I got Tall Can, he’s the president of the company; I got Don Rob, he’s vice-president. We’re looking for some young artists and stuff like that. I’m about to sign my boy Fab Sic–they’re about to go on tour in July so look for that.

SMB: People were really feeling C-Lim and G Macc on “Colostomy Bag”. How long have you been working with G Macc and how long have these guys been around you?

BLH: Man, everybody I’ve been around I’ve known for over ten years and that’s how I like to keep it. It just feels better that way. Just the politics of the game means we’re moving a little slower than most labels right now.

SMB: Are there any other artist, public figures, or anybody you’re really feeling right now? We heard you’re into Lady Gaga. That’s interesting.

BLH: Yeah, I listen to Lady Gaga. You know what the thing about her is? She’s creative, and I’ll listen to any artist that’s creative and that writes their own shit. A lot of singers don’t write their own shit and she’s one of the ones that do. Rihanna, Usher–them cats write their own shit. That’s how I stay out of my zone; I get out of the rap zone for a minute to give my brain a break before I start writing an album.

SMB: Before you make your albums do you like to watch a lot of horror movies?

BLH: That’s all I do: The Discovery Channel, The History Channel, anything that’s got something on about a serial killer and all that. I don’t really watch the movies too much before I write because I done seen most of them but I watch the documentaries. Even if I watched it five times I’ll still watch it before I write my albums just to get my head in that right, similar situation.

SMB: The concept of your album trilogy, is this something that you’ve been thinking about and wanting to work at for awhile?

BLH: Yeah. Ever since Everready when I was down here I already had the full concept and I knew it was going to take me a long time to get it cracking, and I knew I didn’t want to release it until I was on a label that was going to put their all into it. I had wrote three albums before Dinner And A Movie and before I came to Strange and wrote this album; so I got a whole bunch of loose cuts everywhere like “Butcher Shop” that I could’ve gave Trav but I wanted to come in and do something new.

SMB: Was it harder to approach Dinner And A Movie as a concept album instead of just a collection of songs?

BLH: Yeah sort of because I’m all about lyrics, and I still had to–this whole time–keep in the whole concept thing; so it kind of weighed down on my lyrics a little bit. If I was to make a regular song my lyrics would probably be better but I wanted to kind of stay in this realm of what I’m doing. That’ll be for Coathanga too and Mannibal Lecter.

SMB: So you’re starting to write Coathanga Strangla. Are there any cuts you got done or any ideas you want to share a little bit on?

BLH: Yeah. I wrote my first song a couple weeks ago called “I Love My Teeth”. I did it at the homie’s house but I’m looking forward to coming out to KC and putting it down for the real.

SMB: You’ve already got a trilogy of videos and six more to come. Have you heard any talk? From what I’ve heard, people are really excited about these videos.

BLH: I pay attention to the views but I don’t really read comments. I’m like Tiger Woods: I don’t want to read that shit. I’m like Kobe Bryant: I don’t want to read it, negative or positive. I don’t want anything in my head but concentration on what I’m doing. Usually when I do an album I don’t listen to it afterwards; I try to move to the next level–I don’t like any of my albums to sound remotely alike–but when I first got the videos, I watched the shit out of them. I’m moved past that point and ready to go on to the next.

SMB: Are you going to have any more of yourself in the upcoming videos or are you going to keep it in the shadows?

BLH: Yeah, I’m going to stay behind the scenes more. We hired these actors that are in the videos to pretty much do all nine videos. I’ll do a couple rap words but I’m just going to keep it like that–Spydaman, you know what I mean?

SMB: The video concept, was this a whole idea of yours or was this also with help from Liquid 9?

BLH: Oh yeah, definitely; Liquid 9 put in about fifty-percent of the idea of it. I just came when I first signed to the company and basically told them what I wanted to do–as far as doing the videos that create a movie–and they just took off with it, and ran with it, and came up with all this crazy shit.

SMB: About The Strange Days Tour. This tour is pretty much a Strictly Strange “part two” with with it just being all the cats on the label. Are you looking forward to being able to spend more time with the fellow artists?

BLH: Yeah! That’s my thing from the beginning when I signed with Strange: I wanted to get close with the cats so I can feel comfortable around them and they can feel comfortable around me and get to know my ways–they can know what I’m capable of and what I’m not capable of. That was a big thing and it’s finally going to happen with this Strange Days Tour. It’ll be interesting.

SMB: It’s a short tour, it’s not super-long.

BLH: Shit…

SMB: Well, compared to other Tech N9ne tours, this is a short one.

BLH: Oh? Damn!

SMB: Are there any specific cities or towns that you’re looking forward to hitting?

BLH: New York. I’ve never been to New York before so I can’t wait to get there. Pretty much everywhere else we’re hitting except for the awkward–you know, the smaller towns. I have nothing against them, I just aint done shows there yet so I don’t know what they expect. But going to New York for the first time is going to be really big.

SMB: Before you said you want to work with Method Man, do you think you have a little bit of influence then that came from New York?

BLH: Oh yeah. Man, all them cats influenced me. I don’t know who I influence out there in New York, but I was influenced by a lot of them cats. I grew up to New York rap. I used to be a straight-up hip hopper even though I had my rip gut shit in there. I’d love to fuck with a lot of them cats out there–Saigon–they all influence me. It’s the lyrics: New York is about lyrics and most of west coast is just about making hits–like Dre, you know what I mean?

SMB: So how do you feel about the current state of hip hop where it’s not about lyricism anymore? It seems that it’s just all about that club banger.

BLH: Well, I think that we need it all. Without it all, anything else or any one thing would just get boring. So it’s good, it’s just not my thing. If somebody come out with a cool little hit to keep rap on the map I’m cool with it–except for all these auto-tunes all the damn time.

SMB: So you’re not into the whole auto-tune thing?

BLH: Naw, I’m good. If you can sing you don’t need auto-tune; if you can’t sing you need auto-tune.

SMB: You were definitely huge in the early-nineties and what not. How do you feel now where you’re at and looking back?

BLH: Well, it’s starting to feel like the Priority days. All these fans are popping up again–and the Juggaloes, I’m getting all these Juggalo fans and it’s starting to feel like back then again, little by little, just like Trav said he would do. So everything’s perfect, perfectly gravy…and meat.

SMB: Talking about Juggalos too and that whole horrorcore scene: you started it with rip gut in the early-nineties and also there’s people on the east coast and Detroit doing that were doing horrorcore and acid rap. There’s many names for it but how do you define your style?

BLH: I call my style “rip gut” because it’s mostly based on eating and wearing skin. Horrorcore to me is a tiny tiny bit more commercial. I done have a lot of my albums cut in half, and inserts cut out the album because of my rip gut style. You can get away with a little more when you want to label the shit “horrorcore.” When you hear rip gut shit you’re going to know it’s rip gut. Being with Strange, they’re going to let me do most, ninety-five-percent of what I want to do; so it’s good, whereas other labels take fifty-percent and cut off the rest.

SMB: So Juggaloes are definitely getting into it and you were talking about wanting to do a collaboration with Psychopathic Records, or Esham, or somebody out of Detroit that had influence in the 90s as well as you.

BLH: Yessir.

SMB: Do you think that would be something huge for you? The Juggalo community is ever-growing.

BLH: I mean it would be real big especially if I get to work with the person in the studio at the time. It has to be something different or don’t release it–I mean very different. It’ s easy to make something a little different but you got to make something very different. If I’m going to be able to work with someone in the studio, that’s going to be really good.

SMB: Is there anything else you want to say?

BLH: Just keep hitting up my social website and my YouTubes man and stay up on me. Shit is about to get dangerous now that I’m with Strange Music. Also look for my label. C-Lim: Season Of The Crip is coming soon; G Macc: The Vampire, that’s coming soon; COS is coming soon. Don’t forget about my Madesicc label. You can’t do that, it’d be dangerous.