It was the summer of 1999 and it was around 4am at a rave somewhere in Orange County, California. Drum & Bass music was bubbling on the underground scene and raves were where you’d go to do a bunch of drugs and watch live performances from both new emerging acts and already established artists on the independent scene. Raves always had very positive vibes as everybody came to party and listen to good music. No fights, no beef. I would go to these shows with my normal group of music homies (shout out to The Creatures!) and while we loved music, we weren’t big Drum & Bass fans. And while Drum & Bass was the main focus at these raves, there were also underground hip hop acts who would perform on the hip hop stage. There would typically be several stages at these shows and often there was a good hip hop room which is where you would find us.
This summer night in 1999, we were at this particular rave to see one group and one group only, The Living Legends. It was rare to see the Living Legends perform together as a group so when we heard that there would most of the crew there, we had to make that drive up the 5 North from San Diego. While most in attendance at these raves were rockin’ the sterotype ensemble (JNCO jeans, bright colors, pacifiers, accessories, dyed hair), we were underground hip hop from head to toe which meant streetwear back then. Skate kicks, beanies, pants sagging, and let’s not forget, our mean mugs. Once inside the rave, it was no surprise to see kids all f*cked up with their ears literally on the large speakers to feel the bass and dancing like nobody was watching. Molly wasn’t around at the time so most people were on a mix of ecstacy, mushrooms, acid, and a little bit of weed. I was completely sober though as I didn’t drink or smoke. I just vibed with the music while waiting in anticipation for the Legends to rip the mic.
Shout out to my homie Myself, PSC, and Scarub
When the Legends hit the stage in the wee hours of the morning, we all got a jolt of energy from the front row we manned. The Legends that night were Sunspot Jonz, PSC, Murs, Arata, Eligh, and Bizarro. The Grouch and Asop weren’t there but otherwise we had a full Legends crew. Sunspot and PSC (aka Mystik Journeymen) always got the crowd hyped and starting at 4am was no different. Murs brought his normal hyped energy and Eligh lurked in the back of the performance but would slither out for his verses and murder each flow. Then he’d sink back to the shadows allowing the Mystik Journeymen and Murs to own the stage. The Legends always gave our crew love at the shows because we were just as hype as them from that front row. It was at that specific show where I have one of my greatest hip hop memories of all time.
On our way to the rave to see the Legends. Still pisses me off that the photographer didn’t get my full graphic of my shirt. #murs316
PSC rapped his first verse of “Nowyouno” and I was rapping every word right with him. I was rapping with The Creatures and Murs was cracking up at us. The Grouch has verse 2 of that song but remember, he wasn’t there. So when PSC finished his verse, Murs gave me the mic and I rapped The Grouch’s verse on the from the front row with my whole crew and all the fans gassing me up. I didn’t miss a word and followed his cadence effortlessly…. Or at least I felt so! All the Legends were listening to me rap for a brief moment and the looks on their faces were out of pure appreciation. At the end of my time on my mic with the Grouch verse, I jumped on stage, and proceeded to stage dive just as all great musicians do. Let’s just say that drugged out ravers aren’t the best types of peeps to catch your fall. My first and only stage dive of my life was horrible and I was lucky that I didn’t break my neck. I jumped far and quick to the ground when nobody caught me. But no need to worry, I hopped back up to hear Eligh’s verse. If you ever saw the Legends perform in the late 90’s, I’m sure you have similar performances. I’ve seen a ton of concerts in my career. The Legends were and are in the top 5 list of live rap performers of all-time.
In the late 90’s, if you were a fan of underground hip hop, you had to put in work to find the albums you wanted. Most record stores didn’t carry underground hip hop so you would have to go to shows or buy albums off the internet from sites like HipHopSite.com (shout out to Pizzo) or SandboxAutomatic.com. Back then, anytime I’d provide my credit card information on the internet I was sure that somebody was going to take all of my money. Shopping online just wasn’t what you did back in those days but I had to do it in order to get my hands on some good independent hip hop. Another site I frequented back in the day was mystik-journeymen.com which later turned into LLcrew.com. This was the website where you could purchase all of the all the music by the Living Legends,
my favorite rap crew back then.
There was a message board (Legends Labrynth!) on one of those Legends’ sites (maybe both?) that I would frequently post as “Evolve in the Lab” on with a community of hip hop heads who were into the same music as me. The first Mystik Journeymen site was actually run by Vlad who went by another name at the time when he worked for a Silicon Valley company (web development I believe). If the name Vlad sounds familiar, it’s because Vlad later became the legendary DJ Vlad. Vlad quickly got tired of maintaining the site which opened the door for Mark Onstad to manage the site and online store. Mark was better known to the Legends as Access which was a name that was given to him by Sunspot Jonz aka BFAP from the Mystik Journeymen. Access was somebody that I linked up with in the late 90’s through my many mail orders for Living Legends’ tapes, CD’s, posters, and VHS videos. For anybody younger than 40, mail order meant that I would literally send cash through the mail to Access, and then he would package up the music I purchased and mail it out to me. Waiting 1-2 weeks for music purchased was a common occurrence and going to my mailbox was the highlight of my day. And boy did I buy a lot of Living Legends music! Luckily Mark has amazing record keeping so we have gems like this below that I can go back in time to. Just seeing the old dollar bills trips me out.
That had to be one of the better orders I placed in the late 90’s. Too bad I later sold the Murs tape Bac For No Good Reason and the Eligh tape Four Tracks: LA and Back when I needed some cash years ago. Still kicking myself for that. For anybody holding old Legends tapes and looking to put some money in their pockets, get at me. This below is another one of the memorable mail orders I had.
Yup… sold the Penguins (aka 3MG) tape too when I sold a lot of my old Legends cassettes. Yup, totally blew it. And oh yeah, I forgot I coined myself “Evolve in the Lab” at one point. Cringeworthy stuff but so happy that it’s documented here. By the way, I’ve never produced so wasn’t sure what this “lab” was that I was speaking of. Other notables on this order are Basik’s Apex Predator cassette and Eligh A Story of 2 Worlds tape. Shout out to Basik who was Eligh’s cousin, had a dope voice, and a fresh delivery. “Mr. Flossangeles” anybody? Banger. On this order you’ll also see my attempt to trade wrestling videos with MURS. We later started sending ECW videos back and forth because there was literally nowhere else you could see them unless you were recording the late night airings in the 90’s. No YouTube back then as well so videos were what we had. What a trip! Last year I wrote a story about what the Living Legends meant to me and I got an email out of the blue from Mark Onstad aka Access which was a blast from the blast. I hadn’t spoken to Mark in YEARS!
Shout out to Access!
Mark and I went back and forth through emails just catching up after so many years without communication. Mark is an important piece of the Living Legends story and while he ran their site and online store, he also opened a record store here in San Diego called Access Music back in 2001. This little record store in Pacific Beach was a savior for all of us underground hip hop fans in SD looking to cop the newest releases that you couldn’t find at Tower Records, Sam Goody’s, and Wherehouse. While the emcees from the Legends were all dope in their own right, I looked up to Mark for opening a business based on a passion for hip hop music. Access Music eventually closed in 2016 after an amazing 15 year run. But now that I had connected again with Mark, I had to ask him some questions about the Legends because I know he has stories for days. Here is an excerpt of my interview with Mark from last year!
Timmy C: What up Mark! How did you first hear the Living Legends?
Mark aka Access: I heard the Mystik Journeymen first on UC Berkeley’s college radio station, KALX around 1994. Then I spotted BFAP aka Sunspot Jonz selling tapes on the street and I snagged one. The first time I saw them live was at Berkeley’s 1995 Juneteenth street party performing with The Grouch. After the show, I bought a tape. They told me about their weekly Underground Survivors shows which I started going to. The rest is history.
Broke Ass Summer Jam III
Timmy C: Can you give me some history of the Legends?
Mark aka Access: Before the actual Living Legends formed their group, it was 4001 San Leandro Street, Oakland. 4001 was just Tommy and Corey (PSC and BFAP). The only other eventual Living Legends member who even lived in the Bay Area at the time was The Grouch (who grew up in Oakland). MJ were evicted from 4001 in early 1995. That's when they said, fuck paying rent, let's tour Europe! The party at 4001 that I attended was in May 1995. Juneteenth 1995 was right after Tommy and the two Coreys had just returned from Europe.
From November or December 1995 to March 1996 (probably for longer, but I don't know the starting and ending dates) there was a two
bedroom apartment in north Oakland that Corey (BFAP) and his then girlfriend were renting, and I think Tommy was staying there too, and
maybe all three of them were renting it together (I'm not sure what the exact arrangement was). That was the first place they were
staying that they invited me to visit, and it was where they were staying when most of the members of what became Living Legends
started landing in the Bay Area and getting to know each other: Murs, Aesop, Josh (Bizarro/Bicasso), Arata. Eligh had landed in the Bay
Area sometime earlier.So from August 1996 to probably the fall of 1997 all seven were living at the Outhouse. I think it was late 1997 that Grouch, Eligh and Bicasso moved out and rented a place just a couple blocks down the street, where they stayed until they all moved to LA, which I
think was 1999 or maybe early 2000. Tommy moved out I think also in late 1997, or maybe early 1998, and he and his girlfriend rented a
north Oakland apartment where (if I remember correctly) they stayed pretty much until they also moved to LA. Sunspot also had an
apartment of his own in north Oakland (with his girlfriend) for at least a year before moving to LA, so I guess by then there was no
more "Outhouse Village"!Before the Outhouse, LL crew members floated between different spots, including the house in Alameda that had been The Grouch’s grandmother’s pad that he described in this interview. For a while, Shing02 let about half of LL crash at his apartment on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley while he was a UC student. Then there was the loft at 4001 San Leandro Street, Oakland which was immortalized on the 4001: The Stolen Legacy album from the Journeymen. Tommy (aka Luckyiam aka PSC) and Corey (Sunspot Jonz) were evicted from 4001 before I met them but I did spend one night at a party in that same loft.
Timmy C: What can you tell me about The Outhouse?
Mark aka Access: It had been a Safeway warehouse, converted to live-work lofts in the 90s. There were a few dozen units on 3 floors and the Legends had the unit at the east end of the 2nd floor. I hung out a lot at The Outhouse where 7 of the Legends were all living with Scarub’s exception as he was attending San Jose State at the time. The others lived there about a year before some of them moved out. So many artists from the Bay Area and worldwide came through, including Hiero members of course.
Timmy C: Wasn’t The Outhouse where the “Nowyouno” video was filmed?
Mark aka Access: Yes! Everything in the video brings back memories, starting with the street outside and the taco truck. The Spanish looking tower behind the taco truck is part of the warehouse complex. You could see the tower from their unit and climb out the window onto the roof under the tower. A minute before the end of the video you can see The Grouch outside the window, at first just his head behind Aesop’s shoulder, before he stands up.
Timmy C: What do you think it was that was so special about the Living Legends?
Mark aka Access: From 1995 on, I’ve heard so many people say how their lives have been changed by the Living Legends. Once I opened the Access Hip Hop record store in San Diego, there were many artists who came through who were inspired by the Legends as well. Nothing is more gratifying than thinking of my involvement in their entire legacy.
This interview still has a ways to go but it has honestly been sitting in draft status for over a year. People have been asking me for this part 2 article on the Living Legends so I now just have to get it out there. Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Living Legends’ album, Almost Famous. To celebrate the anniversary, I wanted to push some new Legends content out your way. And below I’ll kick you with some gems that you can’t find on the DSP’s. Enjoy!