FSD: That was so unexpected — you must’ve thought she was joking about featuring him at the time?
Kosine: We were doing the red carpet at the ASCAP Awards and we were just doing what we do, and we were talking about things we were excited about. And the star power that was Rihanna and Chris Brown had our asses on MTV News the next day. Our management called us going crazy like “WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING!” But all we said was, “The remix is gonna shock the world.” That’s it.
Tuo: The press took our words and ran with them. We woke up the next morning to headlines like “Tuo from Da Internz said Rihanna’s remix with feature Chris Brown” and it was all over the world. It was gone.
FSD: Did it make you mad that the press took your statements and ran with them like that?
Tuo: Honestly, nah. I laughed my ass off about it [Laughs]. A week before I had said to Kos like “What are we gonna do on the press end to really get out here.” And then came the ASCAP event. Come on, man. They even ran the clip on MTV.
Kosine: Our manager was pissed. Def Jam was pissed. But I thought that shit was dope as fuck.
Tuo: And ever since then people have been hardcore checking for us. Fans have really been following us.
FSD: So was that your tipping point?
Tuo: I think as far as notoriety and exposure, yes.
Kosine: “Ass” was a great record, but a lot of people could say “Well, they got lucky. They got one. What else you got?” When we came right back with “Birthday Cake,” they knew we were official.
Tuo: Then a week later the Nas “The Don” joint dropped…
FSD: Right, so that’s three major records right in a row. How has your life changed over the past year?
Tuo: Life is good, man. This is the facade people don’t know, and the side of the game people don’t see. You go to LA and you get a deal. But you have to pay for your studio, you gotta pay for living. You’ve got family and stuff — kids. So everyone just assumes that shit is sweet. But we’re in the business of create your own check. Which means, you might get in a room with someone, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to get paid. The music has to speak for itself.
So we spent a whole year in LA trying to figure out the industry. We were just trying to find our place, and figure out how the whole thing worked. We had to do pop music for a year, which wasn’t our swag at all. But we got blessed and ended up on Justin Bieber’s album — but that was without even trying. It just happened.
Our manager is Troy Carter, who also manages Lady Gaga. We figured since he managed us, we were just gonna be rich. Like with the snap of the fingers, we were gonna be rich. No. That’s not how it goes at all. We had to hustle and do all types of things to stay afloat. Our publisher over at Sony ATV came to us like “We signed you guys for your sound. We didn’t sign you to do pop shit. We signed you to do what you do.” So from that moment forward we went back to our urban swag, and it’s been a wrap ever since.
Our sound is urban rhythmic music. We call our shit, gourmet hood music. We got that gourmet for you, and we’re able to have multi-format records. It’s not just some street stuff — it can play anywhere, and appeal to all audiences.
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how do they have a diverse sound when ass, birthday cake, the don and 88’s all sound alike? chicago has to do better smh at supporting this coonery