|
|
BY GARRETT CAPLES
One of the most extraordinary products of recent Fillmore history is
Messy Marv, a rapper whose life reflects the neighborhood's struggle
with a half century of urban renewal and the ’80s-era introduction
of crack into America's ghettos. In 1996, when he was still in 10th grade,
he released his first album, Messy Situations (Ammo). Though it sold
around 15,000 units, Mess admits he didn't take music seriously at first.
"I dropped out of high school due to family issues," he says. "I had
to grow up real fast and do the man thing, but I started doin' the
street thing."
Nonetheless, Mess's rap reputation grew, and in 1997 he hooked up
with San Quinn to record Explosive Mode (Presidential, 1998), which
has sold more than 50,000 copies. "There was a lot of hype around the
hood about how he was better than me or I was better than him," Mess
says. "We decided to come together, and we made a classic."
"At that time, I was really on the street, living outta cars, doing
real bad things," he recalls.
"So Quinn and his mom took me in."
Despite his success when few in the Bay were moving many units, Mess
was unable to leave the dope game, partly due to his own addiction. "I
inherited a cocaine habit," the rapper says. "I been clean for a while,
but I had a really bad habit. All I can say is 'Say no to drugs.’” Though
he won't go into details, Mess confirms his triple life as rapper,
dealer, and user came to a head one night at an out-of-state show in
2001, when he was forced to jump out a fourth-floor window. "I broke
both of my legs, crushed my left foot, lost a lot of blood," Mess says. "I
was in a wheelchair for six months. The doctors said I'd never walk
again."
"It gave me a whole new respect for handicapped people. I was doing
shows in my wheelchair, and I rocked the whole crowd. It was a hell
of a feeling that they still accepted me," he says. "That gave me the
strength to get up and walk. I learned how to walk all over again,
by myself, in four months. After that I decided it was time to go somewhere
else with my life."
As if to atone for time lost, Messy Marv has since pursued his talent
with a vengeance, recording a slew of projects for his own label, Scalen
LLC, and labels such as Frisco Street Show, which released a reunion
with Quinn, Explosive Mode 2: "Back in Business" (2006), and just
dropped Explosive Mode 3 with Husalah and Jacka. In 2004, Mess inked
a distribution deal for Scalen through Universal/Fontana, helping him
move more than 20,000 copies each of Disobayish (2004) and Bandannas,
Tattoos and Tongue Rings (2005). While he spent much of 2005 in county
jail on a weapons violation, he still managed to score one of the big
radio hits of the hyphy movement, "Get on My Hype," produced by Droop-E.
Most recently, he's been on MTV and other airwaves with the E-A-Ski-
and CMT-produced "So Hood," from The Infrastructure (SMC), his album
with Hunters Point rapper Guce, released under the name Bullys Wit
Fullys. A self-conscious bid to end hood rivalry between the ’Moe
and HP,the Infrastructure project shows Mess's awareness of the power
of his position as a role model even as he continues to spit with the
most defiant swagger of any rapper in the Bay.
While Mess admits he has major deals on the table and plans to release
the first of a two-volume opus titled What You Know about Me? in December,
he also intends to retire thereafter in a nonbinding Jay-Z sort of
way in order to concentrate on the younger acts on his label. This
intention seems characteristic of the true spirit of the Fillmore as
well as an acknowledgment that despite his youth, Messy Marv has already
written a chapter in the district's history. (Garrett Caples)
http://www.jusnhlado.sfbg.com |
