Published: Wednesday - June 28, 2006
Words by Starrene Rhett
Fresh Daily (Photo: UV Ink)
The name Tarzan probably conjures images of a damn near naked white man swinging on vines through the jungle. But flip that image, throw in a dope MC and hip-hop in the mix and you'll get ill Tarzan; the self-proclaimed epitome of Brooklyn boom-bap who's been rocking on the underground circuit for seven years, having opened shows for Pumpkinhead, Nuclear Fam, Jean Grae, Smif n' Wessun and more recently Talib Kweli.
Although years of grinding have proved to gain more and more exposure for this talented young rapper, he may have been getting too much notoriety. So much so, that the family of Edgar Rice Burroughs -- the original writer of the Tarzan book series -- is presenting him with legal drama, forcing him to change his name from ill Tarzan to Fresh Daily.
Although hit with the frustrating news, Fresh Daily, formerly known as ill Tarzan, is not going to stop his grind. The talented MC, graphic illustrator, and sneaker head speaks on his latest album, touring in Japan, his name change, his place in hip-hop and why he won't stop.
Ballerstatus.com: First things first, how did you come up with the name ill Tarzan?
Fresh Daily: My name used to be just ill as in I-L-L, and people would write over it on open mic lists [where I got my start] because it was too short, or people would say eww like e-w-w instead of ill. So, I added the Tarzan on because I knew no one would ever over look that. You're not gonna meet anyone else named Tarzan and there's a lot of strong word energy behind it too. Plus, when you look at Tarzan -- even when you took him out of the jungle -- when he got back to civilization, he was still climbing buildings and stuff, which is cool. So, I kind of took that and added it to my own aesthetic. If you take me out of the hip-hop environment, I'll still bring that jungle to it.
Ballerstatus.com: After seven years of rocking with the name ill Tarzan, you've changed to Fresh Daily, what happened?
Fresh Daily: After looking up the name in the encyclopedia and seeing that the definition of that name can be translated as a strong man, I said "Yo, that's dope," because there's a strong word energy behind it. But, I never really took time to check to see whether there was going to be a legal problem down the line. What happened is my name is so unique that if you were to look for it only two things would come up, the Tarzan brand series, and my stuff...that's it. The family of Edgar Rice Burroughs gets millions of dollars every year for that name in plays, books, amusement parks, soundtracks, movies, and the television series. They realized that I was doing something under that name and they weren't seeing any money from it, so they had to shut me down.
Ballerstatus.com: Does that mean you got cease and desist papers?
Fresh Daily: They sent me legal papers, yes. It was a seven page document letting me know that it's come to their attention that I've been performing and selling music under that name. So, what it boils down to is the bottom dollar. They know hip-hop is a multi-billion industry and if they're not seeing any of that money legally, then you can't be seeing any of that money either.
Ballerstatus.com: From my understanding, in the legal documents you were served they cited one of your songs "Cannibalism" (from your first album, Life Music) as saying that the song contains violent lyrics. I know you can't really talk about what was in the documents, but not only did they erroneously call the song an album, they said it contained violent lyrics. I listened to the song and it's clearly a battle rap. They obviously didn't do as much research as they should have because the song is metaphorical and lyrical. Is this an attack on hip-hop?
Fresh Daily: Obviously corporate America doesn't know their ass from their elbow when it comes to hip-hop, even when they're making money from it. But, "Cannibalism" is a euphemism for beating MCs in a battle. When you're in a hip-hop battle and one MC won, the battle people say, "Aw, he ate him, he ate him up." So taking from that, that's where the title came from, but when you're in this to get money, you're gonna find any loop hole, any tiny little crease to make your case work. I'm sure they didn't even listen to the song, but it's all good.
Ballerstatus.com: The new name is Fresh Daily, but why didn't you just keep the name and change the spelling?
Fresh Daily: I did that all under the guidance of my manger Ope, who is very knowledgeable on legal issues, and to stay under the radar. I'm not trying to get fined and I'm not trying to get sued. It's a new day. Anyway, Fresh Daily was one of my AKA's, but I was never the person to really use the AKA like that. I have a dozen other nom de querre's I tend to use, but I think Fresh Daily is the most apt. I always find myself gravitated to the newest and freshest, you know what I mean? I'm a dope MC, I'm a fresh MC and you'll remember me. It's a culmination of just me, the visual, the rhymes...it's just me, and Fresh Daily works.
Ballerstatus.com: Something similar happened to Smif n' Wessun, where they had to change their name. They were forced to change their name to the Coco Brovaz, but now they're back to Smif n' Wessun. This proves that they won, so is there any possibility of you trying to fight this?
Fresh Daily: At the end of the day, money talks. If I had the bank to do anything about it, then that would happen. But, my current status is unsigned and I'm a relative new jack as far as the professional game goes. I can't afford it right now at this juncture in my career.
Ballerstatus.com: You mentioned that you're unsigned, but you roll with an indie label called UVink. What's your situation with them?
Fresh Daily: Unlimited Vinyl Ink is a record label/graphic design firm and it's also a collective like Super Friends. We all have similar goals and we all cover each other's backs as far as getting those goals accomplished, and we put out good music. Since we're so small and so local, we don't put it out on a grand scale, but we're hoping to change that. Unlimited Vinyl Ink is Substantial, Fresh Daily, formerly known as ill Tarzan, God's Illa, Illumeenous, Gnorman Insanate Baites, and we have several other satellites and affiliates like Soul Department, RnB, and Purple Haze. We just put out hip-hop music on a good level.
Ballerstatus.com: Are you guys trying to secure distribution?
Fresh Daily: That's the goal. Ultimately, we want to make enough buzz, so that we can get distribution on our own...so that we run and own our own music.
Ballerstatus.com: Who are some of your favorite MCs?
Fresh Daily: Jay-z, Common, Kanye West, MF Doom and Ghostface.
Ballerstatus.com: You have two mixtapes out called Treats, which got bigged up by Adam Bernard in Elemental Magazine, and Mad Flavas, but there's a story about those. Can you elaborate?
Fresh Daily: With Treats, I was late with the rent and I had tons of music in the house that I never put out. I took all of these 16 tracks, put them on one CD, drew up the cover, made 25 copies at Staples, hit up the open mic circuit, sold the CD's, and paid my rent. People liked them so much that when I decided to join up with UVink, we had to press it up officially. Substantial spiced up the graphics a little bit and we officially released it. It sold out on UndergroundHipHop.com and did pretty well at shows. We sold 250 copies, so that was cool. But then, with the whole ill Tarzan name being shut down, we weren't able to give ughh.com any more copies of Treats.
Ballerstatus.com: Let me guess, this is where Mad Flavas comes into play right?
Fresh Daily: Yep. The new mixtape is under the name Fresh Daily. It's called Mad Flavas because your boy Fresh got mad flavas. This one features Pumpkinhead, Mr. Mecca, Conquest, and Substantial...it's pretty dope. It's not available online yet, but hit me up on myspace at myspace.com/freshdotdaily and we'll make that happen. This has to be to date, my favorite recordings. It's catchy and the most fun to listen to. It's real hip-hop, it's real dope, and people will really enjoy it. There's also one or two joints from the up coming album on there as well as snippets from the up coming album on there, so you definitely need to hear that.
Ballerstatus.com: When is your new album due out and what is it called?
Fresh Daily: It's called Fresh Daily Is The Gorgeous In Crimes Of Passion. As far as production goes, I got Illmind, Prism from Soul Mafia (he was also on Life Music), and Donnan Links. As far as collabos, I got Pumkinhead, Cool Calm Pete, Substantial, and tentatively speaking I've got Hasan Salaam and Planet Asia. Because of the legal woes, we're looking at September for a release. My favorite season is Fall anyway.
Ballerstatus.com: Going back to your name Fresh Daily for a minute, it's obvious you're you're into fashion and style. Judging from your myspace page (the wallpaper is all Nikes Dunks), it appears that you have a particular obsession. What's that all about?
Fresh Daily: I wouldn't call it an obsession. I'm more of a collector or a sneaker head if you will. I have an insane collection of kicks. I'm on some "Good looking n---- sh--" like DJ Clark Kent said.
Ballerstatus.com: Thanks for clearing that up now back to music. Do you have any tours coming up?
Fresh Daily: I'm going to Japan in September with Substantial, who's already pretty big out there. We'll be touring for about a month. But for now check me out for news, info and updates on Myspace.com/FreshDotDaily.
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