Travis Barker & Fat Joe Freestyle On MTV’s ‘RapFix Live’
Fat Joe’s “RapFix Live” interview on Friday (August 6) was heavy on highlights. One of the more surprising moments arose when rocker Travis Barker joined the Terror Squad rapper’s sit-down.
Barker — at the MTV News offices for a separate interview — warmly greeted Joe, who recalled fond times with Barker’s late pals DJ AM and Lil Chris. While Travis may be best known as the drummer for rock outfits Blink-182 and +44, he’s since branched out, becoming a familiar figure in the hip-hop scene. Barker has remixed songs by stars like Soulja Boy and hit the stage with the likes of Jamie Foxx and T-Pain. Joe even dubbed him “our hip-hop drummer. He gets it in. Ain’t nobody like him.”
Barker said that he’s been inspired by both rap and rock for a long time.
“Ten years ago … I’d be on tour with Blink or Transplants, one of my punk rock bands, and they’d be like, ‘What are you listening to?’ They’d be expecting me to say [something] like, ‘I’m listening to Minor Threat or Sex Pistols,’ and I would say … ‘I can’t stop listening to Low End Theory [by] Tribe Called Quest,’ and they’d be bummed,” Barker revealed. “That stuff changed my life when I was a kid. I’d always be real honest and up-front about it. I listen to everything. I listen to Minor Threat just as much as I listen to Tribe.”
In fact, Barker is working on the solo project Give the Drummer Some, which features a major cast of hip-hop talent, including Game, Lil Wayne, Swizz Beatz, Rick Ross and Beanie Sigel. Joe said MCs respect the drummer because he’s blurring the boundaries of hip-hop and rock by bringing the two genres together.
“For somebody like Travis to tell Rick Ross or Game, ‘Yo, get in the studio,’ and they get in like this [snaps fingers], it just shows how much they appreciate what he’s doing towards the culture of hip-hop or rock or whatever you wanna call it,” Joe, who recently dropped his The Darkside, Vol. 1, said.
Then, the two stars demonstrated what a hip-hop and rock collabo looks like with an impromptu performance. Barker brandished the drumsticks he always keeps on hand and took it back to the schoolyard, thumping out an uptempo beat on a stiff notebook. Joe leaned back in his chair, and with casual swagger, began to rattle off a swift freestyle.
Continue reading to watch 2 more segments from the show, where the Bronx lyricist talked about confronting hip-hop nemesis 50 Cent, his memories of the late Big Pun and his strained relationship with Remy Ma.
Via MTV.
