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Thursday, December 4, 2008

Sermon Of Sermon's Domain Chops It Up With BFochs!



BFochs: Mr. Sermon, how goes it? Thank you for taking time off from the grizzy to chop it up with the Fochsman. What's crackin'? What's goin' down in Seattle right now?

Sermon: I'm real good. Can't complain. I appreciate you taking the time to want to interview me. It's real cold here in Seattle.

BFochs: The South has it too good, us 'up north' cats get the bitter temps before you do lol. Let's get things on the right track with an intro. Tell 'em your name, where you're from and the name of your site and the stupidest thing you've seen another blogger post.

Sermon: My name is Sermon from Seattle, Washington. The name of my site is Sermon's Domain and the stupidest thing i've seen...umm...would have to be stuff I posted back when I was beefing with DJ Tech Support. Haha.

BFochs: Ah, gotta love the e-beef lol. You've been runnin' your site, Sermon's Domain for awhile now, how long exactly have you been in the blog game? What was the blog climate like when you stepped foot into the e-streets? What are the 3 main reasons you decided to make Sermon's Domain?

Sermon: I been blogging since January 10th, 2008. We're almost hitting that year mark!!! We gotta pop e-champagne. Hahaha. The blog wasn't as abused as it was when I started. There weren't blogs that shouldn't be there. Now EVERYBODY got a blog and think they are doing something. People don't understand like they come out of the blue being disrespectful and just steal stuff. I'll admit there was a time when I had no connects, but I built them the way I know how to. This isn't some hobby to satisfy my time. I want to work in music when I get older. The 3 main reasons would have to be: 1. I want to be doing something in music and what better way to start a blog and build up connects? 2. Lowkey wouldn't put me on as a reviewer. Hahaha. I actually wrote my 1st review for his site, but it wasn't what he was looking for. 3. Just complete boredom. I was bored the day I made my blog.

BFochs: Damn, almost a year in the e-streets, congratulations on that sir, shit is real in the e-field, these people don't realize that I don't think lol. I guess we can kinda thank Lowkey for inspiring to leap into the blog world on your own, it seems Mr. Lowkey helped some notable faces, such as you, Splash and Mr. X make that move into the blog game. Three solid reasons to start a blog. Everyone has a style or a way they go about running their site, If you had to compare site running style to any artist you listen to who would it be and why?

Sermon: My site running style would have to be like Gucci Mane even though I hate him. Gucci is flooding the mixtapes with music and the same way I kinda flood the blog world with music. Even if it isn't something your gonna listen to, I still put it out there. I'm just consistent with it.

BFochs: Consistency and content is king. [Gucci Mane] Myeaaaaaaaah[/Gucci Mane] Lol. You have been somewhat of a trailblazer for breaking new artists and not following the norm of most bloggers. Has your choice to do things on your terms and not on the e-streets terms positively or negatively affected your success thus far?

Sermon: Well it depends on how you look at it. There was a time when I was hitting the thousands in terms of numbers, but now I'm down to my lowest and I would guess it has something to do with the overcrowding of blogs. That's just me. I think it's positive in the sense that I know people that nobody else does. Everybody can have a blog, but how many people can say they can hit up Agallah or Cory Gunz just like that? I don't know many. Negative in numbers ,but numbers don't mean anything to me anymore. I do what I do regardless if its 1 or 1,000 people reading. Anybody would agree that it's better to build with an artist or DJ then to have 239048394 hits a day. The hits are just hits. You have relationships with the people, they last. And if your trying to be in this business then most def. you would want to build with people than get hits.

BFochs: Real talk, site views should be the least of a good bloggers worries, it should be more about education and positive promotion, some sites just post full albums for view-gaining purposes. News flash folks, posting full albums on a blog is not tha bizness, you are not cool for doing it, regardless of how many hits you get. Take your ass to the hit store and buy some respect bitches! Lol. Not only do you run Sermon's Domain, but you are also a promoter for Team Afficial. How did that all come about?

Sermon: I became the Team AFFicial promoter, if we really wanna break it down, thru Mr. X. It was like February when I asked X if he had anything coming today. (I used to always ask him that hahaha). He said he had some little thing coming. It wasn't like a big record, but I wait till about 2pm my time and he told me to check his site. It was Geolani Ft. Stack Bundles & Dramills-Never Stop Winning (Prod. By Metro Beats). It was crazy when I heard it!! I loved the record. A few days later Geo hit me up on AIM and thanked me and what not. Then I guess from there, we just start building till one day he asked about doing a blog and I said I would love to. So that's how www.teamafficial.com came about.

BFochs: Double duty bloggin', I can dig it. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being least beneficial and 10 being most, how would you rate the importance of your assignment of Team Afficial promoter in regards to the overall success of Sermon's Domain?

Sermon: 10. The Team blog is always top priority. That's the 1st emails I read, but lately its been just mixtapes haha. I'm about to whip the artists into shape or possibly add new artists (with Geo's approval of course). I want to start a Team AFFicial Throwback day because there is sooo much music because all of the artists been in the game at least 4 years. Geo since like late '90's. So we are just 6trying to keep it poppin' and help out other artists we fuck with like The Ill Spoken or Noize Mob or Crown City. If nothing else works, Just let the Team Blog ride.

BFochs: Indeedly do, you heard it straight from the Sermon, T.A. promo job=important to Sermon's Domain. That Throwback concept would be dope, Educating viewers on the start of T.A. to what we see now would be interesting and cool to see. Not only do you blog for your site, Sermon's Domain, and the Team Afficial blog, but you get your writing steez on by doing reviews for your blog. When did the desire to write come about, how many reviews have you done to date, and which review has been your most well-received? If the CEO of XXL, Vibe or another popular urban magazine contacted you and offered you a job, but didn't tell you what you would be doing, would you accept?

Sermon: My desire to write had to be when I started using the internet more. I had always wrote. Back in 5th grade I wrote poetry...I swear it must've been good because the teacher had me write one in front of her, possibly because she thought I was stealing from others. I've done too many reviews to count. I have a list, but I would say close to 20. The review I feel was most recieved is the Nas-Please Listen To My Demo review. DJ Mike Nice gave me a chance and it turned out real good. It sold over 5,000 copies and just recently leaked on the net after like 6 months. (It came out in March or April). That's when I started with Mixfeed so we built promo on it greatly. We leaked a few joints, posted the review on both of the sites. So I feel it was great. Personally, my favorite magazine is XXL, but I read all of 'em mostly. If I was offered a job I would most def. take it. It's not like there was something bad that I could be doing. I mean they could make me janitor of the building but I'd still be making dough. So it would most likely be a win-win situation.

BFochs: Word, just working at a magazine would be a good look, having foot in the door is usually not a bad thing. Off topic, but important, I must get your 2 cents on this topic. America=in the shittier economy wise. It seems with the election of Barack Obama an overdue change to this country might be coming. What are your thoughts on Barack Obama winning the election and the overall state of the U.S.A.? If you had the chance to make a suggestion to Obama on what to do about this mess what would you tell him?

Sermon: I think it really didn't change much that Obama won. I'm happy, but its like everything is still normal. My life isn't different. U.S.A. is messed up to the fullest! We got everybody asking for a bailout! I'ma ask next. Gas is cheap though. Too bad I don't drive yet haha. Just America is messed up. Nas's "America" song basically says everything best. My suggestion to Obama would be stop wasting money on things that don't need it. Stop paying the Feds to raid mixtape stores or DJ's. Jeez.

BFochs: Word em up, that whole RIAA fuckery is for the birds, he needs to get that shit in check, because DJ's can't get a bad wrap for making a living and promoting artists, shit's disgusting! Anywho, back to the blog-related bizness. Being that we roam the e-streets a lot, we encounter internet gangstas time and time again. What is your take on this new-aged phenomena/plague known as the 'e-thug?' What are your thoughts on haters overall?

Sermon: E-thugs are LAME! I got people threatening to punch me if they see me for no reason. I don't sweat them. I been called an e-thug, but never have threatened someone. That's dumb as hell. I got better things to do than threaten someone I'll never ever probably see. Haters are lame too. We all make mistakes. Its like they hide and wait for a mistake to happen and come out and just won't shut up. Even when your doing good, they hating. That tape Raze, Blu Division, and I did got a few people hating. Don't be mad because no DJ's want to work with you or your wack blog! Foreal. The internet is only part of it. If the net don't like the tape, the streets will. Haters can just die slow. If you don't try something or listen to something, you can't hate.

BFochs: Indeed, my philosophy on haters is quite similar, negative energy don't do shit, why waste time being wack when you can be awesome? Sheesh...well that's about it for normal questions, time for some questions that should hopefully provoke more thought than those above. First off, if you had to compare your blog to a character from the Mario Bros. video game franchise which character would it be and why?

Sermon: Whoa...That's tough. Lemme think...I'd probably be one of the ghosts you saw in the N64 version because you know I'm there but im not the big dog. I'm no Bowser. I'm a ghost in the blog world most of the time, but still contribute way more then some blogs. The ghost contributes a level of difficulty to the game so I contribute that same to the blog world.

BFochs: That was a dope answer, them ghosts ain't no joke, mofos who played the Mario Bros. game already know what's good with them things. Next question, what if the DMCA/RIAA decided to break bread with Sermon's Domain for one post and one post only, meaning, you could post WHATEVER song/mixtape/album/etc you wanted. What would you post and why?

Sermon: Is it something that is already out on the internet or am I getting the song/mixtape/album/etc. from them?

BFochs: It could be an old item or an exclusive item that you came upon, doesn't mattter, the main point is you wouldn't be violating their laws by doing so.

Sermon: Hmm...I would probably post...These questions are really thought provoking haha. I'd post something off that new Kanye album. I don't post full albums no matter what. His album is the best of 2008 because it has a deeper message then what most people would hear. I'd post "Pinocchio Story," but if I could I would post a studio version of it, if it exists. The song is sooo dope. There really isn't much that I could think of to post if I could because the DMCA people don't bug me that much and when they do it's usually something old from a few weeks ago so I don't bother to put it back up.

BFochs: DMCA=fugazi. Another witty response, 2-2, let's see if Sermon can make a clean sweep...last mindbogglin' question lol. Let's say there was a blog election, and you were elected blog president of the internets, and you had to get it crackin' with a state of the blogion address. What would the intro of the speech and the outro look like? To some up the body of the speech use your favorite song...from...2007! GO! lol.

Sermon: My Intro would be "my fellow bloggers and readers, I appreciate everybody electing me. First thing we gonna do is get rid of wack blogs who don't contribute nothing but space. Second thing is gonna be better blog options via blogger. We need stuff like Wordpress but not as complex." The body of the speech is real easy. Joe Budden's "All Of Me" joint. The outro would look like "To close, These new changes will be effective as of now! We will make blogging one of the best things you can do on the internet. So everybody who actually does blog, doesnt have to worry about wack ones. My name is Sermon and I approve of this."

BFochs: Tres for Tres, not too shabby Mr. Sermon, not too shabby. Well that's all I have for you, any shout outs, last words, or comments before we wrap this historic event up?

Sermon: My shout outs could go on for days. Shouts to Team AFFicial, Noize Mob, Crown City, my mentor Lowkey, all the artists that mess with me, all the DJ's who mess with me, Razeone, Gary A., All my readers, anybody who enjoys good music, And Rapmullet and all the good people there. "The world loves beautiful music" -Donny Goines "As The World Turns" off "Minute After Midnight." One of the best albums that will drop this year from an independant artist. Lastly, a REAL BIG shout out to you, BFochs, for giving me this opportunity and having real good questions that made me think. The dopest blogger from WI indeed!

BFochs: Thank you sir, I do what I can, big ups once again for the chance to interview you, keep up the good work, I wish you the best for you and yours in anything you do in the future, take it easy homie.



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