Hung like a corpse

Brotha Lynch Hung (Kevin Mann) is arguably Sacramento’s most famous rapper, but to be honest, you wouldn’t want to argue with him about it. He grew up in south Sacramento’s “Garden Blocc” neighborhood, where he joined a Crip gang, got shot, went to jail and started making fantastically violent rap music. His first full-length album, 1995’s Season of Da Siccness, oozed with murky synth and wicked, murderous lyrics with tricky internal rhymes, and solidified Lynch’s place in the hip-hop canon. After a fallout with Ced Singleton of Black Market Records, Lynch started his own Siccmade Music, where he released the soundtrack to the straight-to-VHS horror/comedy movie Now Eat (which he also starred in). Last year, Lynch signed with Strange Music (Midwest rapper TechN9ne’s label) and released Dinner & a Movie, the first in a trilogy of albums that details the life of a ghetto serial killer.

How’s it going?

Excited about the new album. I think it might be the best one I’ve ever made. Plus, I was more in my right mind.

What do you mean when you say “in my right mind”? Were you fucked up before?

It’s funny, every time I’d do an album, something dramatic would go on in my life. My mom died during Lynch by Inch, my cousin died during Season of Da Siccness, and during 24 Deep, X-Raided got locked up for life—so I was kind of like I don’t give a f-u-c-k. And this time, I finally got to just concentrate and have a real subject matter and reason for doing this album instead of anger and hurt.

Are you still in a gang?

It was a young thing back then. Once I was able to let a lot of the gangbanging stuff go, the creative stuff came into play. And I like that better. I still give it up for my neighborhood because I love those guys, but I don’t advertise it as much anymore.

So you can just quit? How does that work?

This is what my O.G. told me: “You’re keeping the name of the neighborhood out there with your records—and that’s where you fit in.” So I kind of ran with that. Plus, it’s safer for me. (Laughs.)

One time, I got lost and walked through Garden Blocc. I was scared as shit.

I’d be scared as shit out there, too.

I felt like I was going to die, but nobody fucked with me, because I’m a nerd.

You’re probably safer than I am. To me, the Garden Blocc is its own state. When you go in there, you see so many different things. I’ve walked those neighborhoods for I don’t know how long, and now when I go there, it’s just like, “Wow, I can’t believe I used to live here.”

Didn’t you go to school with the fat dude from Blackalicious?

He actually went to Kennedy [High School]. He [Timothy Parker, a.k.a. Gift of Gab] used to come up to [Luther] Burbank [High School] every day. I heard about Blackalicious for years, and then when I finally ran into him, I’m like, “Wait a minute, you’re Blackalicious?” He was named Tiny back in the day. And I was Ice Cold. It was crazy to find out that that’s who Blackalicious was.

What do you think about white people who rap? There’s a theory that white people shouldn’t rap because they’re doing blackface.

I don’t think so. I like Eminem, of course. And Everlast was one of my favorite rappers back in the day. I don’t really see color like that. Like Loki—who was signed to my label—says “nigga” more than I do. It doesn’t bother me. It doesn’t bother us because [saying “nigga”] is like [saying] “homey.”

Can a white fan walk up to you and say “nigga”?

I would look at it the same way. If it’s set in your mind like that, you obviously grew up on the same kind of stuff as me, so it’s accepted. As long as you accept me, I accept you.

What does getting shot feel like? I mean, it hurts, obviously. But can you describe it?

It was on some old gangbanging stuff, and I really had nothing to do with the situation. I was actually going to break it up between a Blood and a Crip. As soon as I was leaving a party, they saw me [a Crip] and they shot and hit me in my side. It actually knotted up. It didn’t really hurt. I was more shocked that it happened. I went and bought a beer [afterward] and my stepmom, who used to work in a hospital, said, “You got to go to the hospital.” I wasn’t even going to go. The bullet is still inside of me. It dislodged two of my ribs, opened them up a little and went inside there. They didn’t want to mess around with any of that, so they just left it inside. So that was my first sign that I got to get out of this shit.

Well, I’m glad you’re OK.

Thank you. I appreciate that. Me too.

I live in the suburbs.

Oh yeah. I do now!

It’s nice, huh?

Yes, sir. Very quiet. I love it.