We met up with Byrdie for an interview the day before quite possibly the biggest show of his life... Opening for Nas and Public Enemy in front of thousands at Seattle's Bumbershoot festival. Check the technique..

Belly) You seem to rep the NW in a lot of your music, are you originally from the Northwest?
Byrdie) I was born in San Jose but came up here when I was 2 months old so I definitely consider the NW home.

Belly) Alright, how about giving us a brief history of how you started rapping and trying to make it in the industry.
Byrdie) Most importantly I try to use every avenue and resource possible. I started off like any typical artist just free styling and what not but I fell in love with it before it was about the glitz and the glamour. I didn't turn on the TV and say, "Oh I want to become a rapper" because of what I see, it's about the music. When you're a kid you don't know about the cars you just realize it's an art form. The first time I heard it I fell in love with it and it was something I was just blessed with as far as I look at it.

Belly) Do you have any specific memories from early on?
Byrdie) Yeah, Run DMC and LL Cool J. Those were some of the original cats that I really have a vivid memory of being inspired by. LL even to this day because of his longevity. I look at him as definitely someone to look at as far as having consistency in the business. LL Cool J and Run DMC back when all those breaking movies were going on. I used to break dance pulling out the cardboard boxes and everything. So around that time is what I remember the most, when it started becoming popular.

Belly) How about a brief rundown of releases you've dropped.
Byrdie) I've done work on a number of different projects but as far as a solo, I released an album called "Poetic Epidemic" about 2 years back, I've featured on numerous others. A lot of mix CDs, I think the most current would be Dow Jones "West Coast Offense". I definitely try to pick wisely about who I work with too. Not as far as artistically, I just want to make sure it actually comes out. I don't want to put my blood, sweat and tears into a verse and then the album never comes out and it's just lying around the house.

Belly) How'd N' Flight get started?
Byrdie) Originally, it was just an effort amongst my friends. Everyone believed in me and said we need to try to take you to the next level and the next phase. Everyone started coming forward and putting forth all their resources and motivation, everything that comes along with it. We decided why not just form a company and put out everything ourselves vs. shopping the record and just learning throughout. That's basically what it boils down to is we were all friends and decided to put everything out on our own.

Belly) So are you independent for life or looking for love on a major label?
Byrdie) I look at it like if any opportunity presents itself, everything's negotiable. (laughing) I mean ideally I want to remain independent and have confidence that it could possibly happen but again, the latest trend that's most popular is the slash deal, that's what I call it where the major is pretty much a parent company that allows the record label to do what they do. For instance Deerty Ent. slash Universal, the list goes on. Sometimes an artist has to make a sacrifice and sign on as an artist hopefully someday getting his own imprint so, like I said, everything's negotiable. But it's all N' Flight no matter what happens it's gonna defiantly remain N' FLight.

Belly) Tomorrow, your on the same stage as Nas and Public Enemy, two of the great rap acts in history. Massive Monkees too for that matter, how big is this for you?
Byrdie) Very huge. Those are definitely people I admire for all different reasons. Public Enemy for their political views, Chuck D on a personal level, he goes around giving lectures at colleges and all that. I love a revolutionary, fight the power. And Nas, the list goes on. There's another cat who's had longevity but lyrically, not many can come close to him and he's creative. Just being able to grace the stage with those guys is honorable.

Belly) You think there will be a bunch of industry reps out there watching it?
Byrdie) Yeah, I would assume so. Of course there's local press but that's one thing I always say is you never know who's watching. I look at it like a good performance, which will definitely happen will launch more opportunities. Whether it's getting booked at more shows or winning over a lot of people who never heard of me. A lot of people are coming from different areas such as yourselves coming from Portland. I have a nice fan base locally in Seattle but people come from other parts of the state who may have heard about me but haven't heard the music.

Belly) N' Flight turned out to be a pretty diverse album, you've got pretty much every style on there, lots of different sounds. Was that a conscious effort or was it just the way it came out?
Byrdie) I look at it like an album is a reflection of your personality vs. I'm gonna try to cater to this or that specific group. When I make music, what I put out is a reflection of me whether it's a party type of guy or the guy who's socially aware of what's going on or the girls, my favorite. The guy who's about the ladies. Every aspect of my personality is on there. I think that's kind of cool especially the way the industry is now where a lot of stuff caters all to one demographic, I try to make it multidimensional. The beat tells me what to do though.

Belly) Speaking of beats, talk about Bean One.
Byrdie) Bean One... Bean One is amazing. That's one cat too as far as making beats, his beats are really diverse, he has more than just one style. Bean really came through for us too on this project. A lot of producers try to hold out and hold onto that beat they think some big time superstars gonna come knocking on their door for. Not with Bean, he's got that hot stuff and he gives it to you, he doesn't hold back. He knows if an artist is gonna compliment his beat it's gonna help him even more so. He really came through and helped us out on this project. I think he's one of the most premier untapped producers out there and will be extremely huge in the industry worldwide.

Belly) Tell me about these tracks off N' Flight the album in your own words. How about "Ways of the World"?
Byrdie) "Ways of the World", that was written about the time U.S. forces were looking for Saddam. It was around the time things were really crazy and going haywire. I heard that beat and that's what it was telling me to do. I think stuff has to be addressed about what's going on in this country it was just important writing it at that time, now looking back because obviously Saddams been captured if that's what you want to call it. So years from now, someone can listen to that song and see what was really going on.

Belly) How'd Onry Ozzborn become a part of it?
Byrdie) Onry's a respected cat out here. I tried to grab someone who would compliment the record. My man Aaron is a big fan of his and appreciates his kind of music so he'd play me the music before I even had a chance to meet him. So Aaron suggested it and as I was listening to him I was like yeah perfect.

Belly) How about "Northwest"?
Byrdie) Ahh yeah. As far as the song?

Belly) Yeah
Byrdie) Man representation, a lot of people fail to realize we're from the Pacific Northwest. Much love to the West Coast, East Coast and down South and all that but we need to have appreciation of home, appreciation of where our region actually is. If we're from the NW let's represent it so I reached out to a few artists I respect. Vitamin D who is a triple threat as a producer, emcee as well as a DJ so much props to him. He's definitely well respected and very talented. Citizen Cane is from Central Intelligence, a group based out of Seattle that's really popular. My man Candidt who's very talented as well. I figured on reaching out to different people to give the song some variety and try to create an anthem to generate pride. I think once we generate some pride and quit wishing we were from other places, something could happen.

Belly) Are there any cats from the NW you like right now?
Byrdie) I'm feeling my man Tuff Nitti, who's my hype man and my close friend who's got a real unique style and flavor. The list really goes on and this is what I hate because people get offended if I don't shout them out. As far as an emcee I feel Livio. I think he's definitely one of the illest out here lyrically. That's a hard one cause there's a lot of cats on the come up trying to break into the scene without any material like Bad Luk, he's buzzing right now. I think he's dope. The whole Oldominion crew's dope. As a whole, I'm gonna be honest and cats might get mad about this but there's a lot more weak rappers than there are good ones. There's a smaller percentage of actual legitimate talent, kind of like the NBA or any number of other scenarios. There's those star guards and there's those other types of team players but overall it's good cause the talented artists sound even better that way. It's reached that point to where I think the cream of the crop, if we're gonna take it to the next level, the people who have product, are talented and even have different styles need a massive movement and take all our fan bases and bring them together and just run. A lot of the cats that it's probably not for them but they think it's cool, they have a computer and throw an acid beat on cause it's the cool thing now and everyone wants to do it. I think people who have been doing it for a long time and love it should rise up and let the rest of them practice more.

E) That's like when we did an interview with Cool Nutz, he said just cause you have a computer doesn't mean you have a record label.
Byrdie) Yeah you got a business card and a fucking business license and suddenly you're a CEO with all these names and terms. Definitely back to that though Cool Nutz, definitely artistically but also on his business practices he's had longevity and is an icon here in the NW. Shout out to him definitely.

Belly) If rap was a woman, what would she look like?
Byrdie) She'd look like one of those tropical women, one of those women who are mixed with everything, she's got Phillipino, White, Black, Mexican, Asian all that cause she's so diverse. She'd be colorful cause that's what Hip Hop is, it's just so many different colors man.

Belly) What would she act like?
Byrdie) That's the thing, she's have multiple personalities man. She'd be bi-polar, one minute she's political, the next minute she's gangster, the next minute she's positive, the next she's wanting to party. She'd have crazy personality man and I love every bit of her.

Belly) So what's coming up as far as releases, tours, anything?
Byrdie) Yeah, we're working on a college tour with some acts out here. We just shot a video we're gonna launch around the holiday season, booking a lot of shows, we've been getting a lot of radio play too. We've got three different stations playing I think 4 songs now, 2 on regular rotation on the playlist.

Belly) What stations do you have?
Byrdie) We got Kube 93. Much love and admiration to them, 104.5 KIMH and KEXP 90.3 and that's pretty big for a local artist to get that. Overall things just continue to move, we got distribution for the project so we'll be in some different markets besides Seattle. I also think this performance will launch more performances once people see how Byrdie gets down. Hopefully it will start a snowball effect. Maybe next year I'll be headlining.

E) Was it hard as and independent artist to get play on KUBE?
Byrdie) Honestly, I think they're just like any other person with a set of ears, humbly speaking. If it's good music, they'll play it. That goes back to what we were talking about earlier that there's a small percentage of people that are actually talented or have good music vs. the ones that don't. Usually it probably doesn't get played because the quality is bad, lyrically it's not that strong or just the product itself. Anyone who knows good music usually will give you some recognition. There's been other artists as well but a lot less but that's because a lot of other artists out here in general aren't...You know.... talented. It's hard to say cause I'm a real humble person but it's reached that level where there's a lot of garbage going on and it makes it harder for the artists who have good music to get noticed. But KUBE is good people, they're just like anyone else man so much love to them cause they've been really supportive throughout.

Belly) I'd ask for shout outs here but why don't you just do an N' Flight outro.
Byrdie) N' Flight, it's definitely happening 2K4 it's our year, it's a beautiful thing. Northwest stand up, if you're from Idaho, Portland, Seattle, much love to Canada too cause they show much love for NW artists. Also thanks to all the organizers for the show. That's what's up, buy the album it's in stores buy it online. Stay supportive it's out turn.


You can pick up Byrdies album N'Flight and the B.Y.R.D.I.E. b/w Scattin 12" right here and catch him live at this years Po-Hop celebration live. Read the album review here..