Web Exclusive: Ellay Khule (a.k.a. The Rifleman): The Fastest Gun in the West
By Travis Jensen
(Images appear courtesy of Travis Jensen and EllayKhule.com)
With twelve albums under his belt and appearances on countless compilations and mixtapes, South Central Los Angeles native Ellay Khule, a.k.a. "The Rifleman,” is revered a legend in the underground rap scene. If you’re truly up on your hip-hop, then you know about Khule. If you’re not already in the know, then it’s time to do your homework. Start by typing Khule’s name into Youtube and watch a few of the many live clips of him destroying the mic. Yes, unlike many of today’s emcees, Khule kills it live and doesn’t need a bunch of backup dancers, hype men or half-naked ladies onstage to put on a good show. (However, half-naked ladies on stage are always a nice touch. Kidding.)
Khule, who's been in the rap game now for almost 20 years, is an original member of LA-based open-mic workshop and artist collective Project Blowed, which was formed in the late ‘80s at The Good Life Cafe, a once famous hip-hop venue in South Central Los Angeles. Other renowned Project Blowed artists and groups include Freestyle Fellowship, Abstract Rude, C.V.E., Busdriver and 2Mex, among others. Khule is credited with coining the term “Chop-Hop,” a fast-tongue, machine gun style of rap pioneered and collectively used by Project Blowed emcees.
Khule also makes up one half of the Hip Hop Kclan, a group consisting of him and younger cousin and fellow Project Blowdian, Pterradacto. The duo has released three albums to-date.
Khule is featured in “This is the Life,” a feature-length documentary by Ava DuVernay that explores the racial, social and musical implications of The Good Life Cafe, where Khule and crew literally held court throughout the '90s. The film was named “Best Documentary” at the 2008 Los Angeles Pan-African Film Festival.
In addition to creating music, Khule runs a clothing line called LA Streetz, which offers a full line of urban apparel for men, women and children. LA Streetz also specializes in custom design, silk screening and heat pressing. For info: www.lastreetz.com.
Khule released two albums in 2008. One, the“LA Streetz Mixtape Vol. 1,” featuring tracks by Sick James, Brittany J, South Sintral Natives, Pink Palace and Menace 2 Sobriety, among others; the other, a Hip Hop Klan album titled “Planet 2 Planet.” Both albums, as well as past Ellay Khule, Rifleman and Hip Hop Kclan releases, are available in the store section of Khule’s website, www.ellaykhule.com.
I conducted the interview below back in 2001 when Khule and friends were in town for a show at the Justice League (now The Independent). I removed a couple questions that are no longer relevant, but otherwise this interview is raw and uncut. A much shorter and edited version of the interview later appeared in "Vapors Magazine, Issue 10" (Feb/Mar 2002). I remember this interview kicked up a lot of dust when it first dropped. You’ll see why. There are a few places in the text where other people are speaking, and I’ve noted that with their names, Pterradacto and JXL (former Hip Hop Kclan member). JXL had just finished serving a four year bid at the time of this interview. Now I’ve interviewed tons of different people over the years, but this still stands as one of my all-time favorites. Enjoy!
Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles.
What was it like growing up there?
It was wild, man! I went through so much crazy shit growing up in the inner-city of LA. It's the wildest. I wouldn't have changed nothing, though. It made me the person I am today. I went through a lot of crazy ass shit. I was shot at when I was eight years old, you know...drive byes, robbing cars at ten. I mean, shit, I was going through possibly everything you can think of growing up in the ghetto. South Central LA is one of the wildest places on earth, man. You saw the ‘92 riots, right? Yeah, we started that (laughs).
So how did you get into music?
My family is mostly all musicians, so it was just a natural progression for me to get into it, too. I've been rapping personally since like 1984? Maybe like two years after that I started getting a little bit more serious about it. My first two years was just freestyling and shit, you know.
Who were some of your earlier influences?
In hip-hop, my earlier infuences would have to be Run-DMC, Fat Boys, LL Cool J, UTFO, Whodini, Melly Mel, Kool Mo Dee, Chill Rob G, Just Ice and Kool G Rap.
So how did you get the name "Rifleman"?
Well, that actually has like two stories to it (laughs). There's a tame version and a wild version.
What’s the wild version?
The wild version derived from the ‘92 riots, I’m gonna keep it real. We was fucking shit up in LA, doing our thing, and my sister came across some artillery. Then she gave it to my homeboy, but I took it from him like, "Naw, this is my shit, homie.” You know, “This is my family, so I'm taking it." It ended up being a 30-ought-6 rifle. I started carrying it in the back of my trunk, rolling all through LA with that muthafucka. One night, we were out at some little hip-hop event and the homies was bagging on me saying, "This is the only fool that carry a 30-ought-6 rifle in his trunk. He also got that dimple in his chin and kinda' looks like Chuck Conners, too." They were like, "This muhfucka think he the Rifleman." I thought that shit sounded kinda' tight and was like, I’m gonna flip it on all and just kept the name. It ended up being bigger than anything.
So you used to roll around town with a loaded rifle in your trunk?
Yup.
Pterra: He had it in a pool stick case. You would have thought he was a pool player.
I would be bringing it up to The Good Life and pulling it out in the parking lot and shit…
JXL: Tell ‘em how that muhfucka sound…
That shit sounded like a cannon.
JXL: BOOM! (laughs).
I had to lean up against the wall the first time I shot it, ‘cause people were telling me, "That shits got a hell of a kick," and I was like, "Okay-okay." So I leaned up against the wall in the backyard and Boooom! (laughs).
(Pictured above: Ellay Khule and Pterradacto)
So you go by both Ellay Khule and Rifleman?
Yeah, see really it's like two different entities. Rifleman, he's like a wild boy. He rides around bout-it, bout-it, you know, always ready to kick up some dirt. Ellay Khule, see, he's really on the more creative and innovative shit, you know, more progressive. I break their music into two separate categories.
Are you tight with everyone in Project Blowed?
Not really. What do you say when somebody let's you in, but it's not official? (Pause)
Pterra: Honorary.
Yeah, I would call them more honorary Project Blowed, because they didn't go through the thick and thin of what the real groups went through. We would all battle each other everyday. We would get teams up, like me and Aceyalone vs. Mike 9 and Riddlore. We would battle each other solo and in teams, all that shit. A lot of fools didn't have to go through that, like Acid Rain. Fuck it, I'm gonna call them out.
There was another group called Log Cabin. Some of them are now in Living Legends. We came with a crew called the Lumber Jacks and dismembered those muhfuckas. We were actually going up to them individually, riding on ‘em, you know? People always take this rap shit for just rap. We were the hard grain of The Good Life and Project Blowed and still are. We were the muhfuckas that didn't take no shit. Like if you talked shit, we was gonna fight, fuck it. Almost every time something happened, we were involved.
Ya’ll pretty much kicked them (Log Cabin) out of LA, right?
Naw, we just made them break up that group. We didn't really care if they left LA or not, because they would never come around that much anyway. We hardly ever saw them, but when we did, we would sweat ‘em like, "What's up? Ya'll some biting muhfuckas." We were like forget rapping at the time, we were gonna beat them up, really. That's why they broke their little crew up. But now, I'm cool with a couple of them. Some of them got their own style now. It took them a couple of years to actually break off and get something original.
Obviously, I know that it bothers you that people bite your style and all, but do you ever take it as a compliment?
It depends on who, what, when and where. I've gotta couple of homies that did a little of nibblization here and there and that's flattering to me, you know. But the whole thing that sets me off is when a muhfucka try to do my style, and then turn around and battle me with it. You know, you better give homage and bow down.
What other groups or crews are you affiliated with?
I'm affiliated with a lot of muhfuckas, but mostly Project Blowed: Hip Hop Klan - of course, Freestyle Fellowship, C.V.E., OMD, Legion, Cypher 7, ATU (Abstract Rude and Tribe Unique), Busdriver, Easty Boys, Rumble pack…I'm cool with the visionaries, Jurassic 5, Volume 10, Urban Props, Medusa, Solo, Feline Science, The Five Footers, Super Nat, Phoenix Orion. We even had affiliations back in the day with Korrupt. Who else? Um, Hobo Junction, The Living Legends, The Mystic Journeymen -- those are my folks right there! That's basically it.
What about The Pharcyde?
JXL: We punked The Pharcyde.
Pterra: Yeah, we beat them up.
JXL: It was all bullshit.
That was Wreccless. Wreccless was in Hip Hop Klan when he beat up Fat Lip.
When was this?
This was a few years back.
JXL: There was two of them though. We beat that nigga out his shirt and shoes. I socked him so hard that his sweater came off.
We did a lot of wild stuff, you know. We're actually living that real LA hip-hop life.
JXL: We some gangsters that rap, know what I mean?
Didn’t you and a couple other heads serve Eminem and his crew at The Good Life?
Naw, that was actually at Project Blowed. They were out here for a battle in LA. We served them. It was Thurston Howell, Wordsworth, a cat named Juice, Eminem and Quest the Mad Lab. They were battling against me, P.E.A.C.E, Othawize, Ridd and Aceyalone. We fuct ‘em up. We fuct them up bad. It was short and quick. They were begging us just to stop saying, "It wasn't supposed to be like this.." This was right after Othawize served up Eminem on a solo battle.
Who else have you served?
Damn, there's a lot of people. Shit, everybody we've came across. Collectively from the Blowed, we've probably served at least half of the industry. I remember when Abstract Rude served some of the Wu Tang Clan on the radio…Capadona, I think?
Wasn't Killa Priest in it, too?
Killa Priest was probably in there. That was when the whole East Coast vs. West Coast thing was going on.
I heard you had some incident with Mobb Deep. What was all that about?
We pulled Mobb Deep from up off the stage at their show.
JXL: Oh my God! We took the microphones right out them niggas hands.
We took their Moet, too (laugh). They were trying to do that song “LA LA” and we weren't having that shit. We had the whole crowd yelling, "WEST COAST! FUCK MOBB DEEP!" (laughs)
You pulled them off the stage at their own show?
We were on the edge of the stage and pulling on them muthafuckas, grabbing the mics and taking their Moet. Shit, they only like this tall (motions their height with his hands.)
JXL: We'll bang on whoever the fuck wants to try and fuck with us, end of story.
Did any of you ever get caught up gangbanging?
JXL: I did.
Not really banging, more personal shit. The problems we have are more on some personal shit. I've had to knock some people out at the Blowed, but that was on some personal rap shit. You know, battling, that shit gets serious. A lot of people don't realize how serious it is. They snatch the mic out of your hand and hit the top of your cap or some shit and it’s on.
Pterra: I don't care what the fuck you call me, but when niggas start touching me then I'm gonna touch ‘em back (laughs).
JXL: We fuck with everybody, homie. We fight with the police. We don't give a fuck. We fought the police at the Blowed.
Yeah, that shit was funny. For a while, the police were watching the Blowed. They had some people coming in there looking like hip-hoppers to see what was going on.
Pterra: They said we were communists….
They had there little infiltrators coming in, but we knew what was going on. Then they started coming in to see if we were taking money, because it's supposed to be donations, and they would confiscate the money and little shit like that.
Pterra: Then one week they came in with a blow horn and told us to go home.
Everybody was like, "We ain't going nowhere!" There was like fifty officers there with their little gear on and they told us to walk down the street towards Crenshaw, but we kept saying we weren't gonna move.
How many people were there?
There were about fifty people in the action. A lot of people kept talking and talking, but when the police got closer they were gone. Those of us that were left started swinging, throwing chairs, tables and bottles and shit.
So it was like 25 on 25?
No, there were like 50 police officers and 25 of us. There were a lot of kids out there at first talking all that shit, but when it came down to it there wasn't that many of us.
Damn, that sounds crazy!
What’s in the future for you and the Hip Hop Klan?
We’re just trying to expand and reach as many people worldwide as possible. That’s the goal right there.
Any last words?
Pick up on that Hip Hop Klan, Rifleman, Ellay Khule, Project Blowed and Afterlife shit. It's big, man. Get it before it gets you. We're the innovators of the fast, rodeo, chop, flip, twist or whatever you want to call style of rappin. We pioneered that shit.
Any shout outs?
Shout out's to all the hip-hoppers, my family -- my blood family and my hip-hop family, all the listeners. All the people that don't listen, start listening. (Laughs) Yeah, I'm giving them a shout out, too. Shout out to all the rockers, choppers, hip-hoppin', graffiti writing, Djing, spinning on they heads, scratch masters…all of ya'll! One love from the fastest gun in the west.
Ellay Khule Freestyling at The Goodlife, LA, CA., circa 1994
