Outerspace: Livin' Life

Planetary has been hard to get a hold of as of late, but there are reasons. First, his wife recently gave birth to their third child on his birthday. The AOTP album is gaining more and more fans. And oh, Planetary's group Outerspace just dropped a new album, entitled Blood Brothers, which looks to be one of the best drops of the early fall.

Although Outerspace are relatively unknown, the duo are enjoying the ride and doing what they love in a city that that they love. While driving through Philly, Planetary -- one half of Outerspace, which includes Warchild -- spoke to BallerStatus about life, the internet's effect on hip-hop, what made him initially pick up the pen and their new album, Blood Brothers, which is out now on Babygrande Records.

BallerStatus.com: How's everything?

Planetary: Good, good. I just had a kid two days ago on my birthday.

BallerStatus.com: Really? Well, happy late birthday to you and your kid. Boy or a girl?

Planetary: Thank you. Another boy, that's my third boy.

BallerStatus.com: Does this make the wife happy? I bet she wants a girl.

Planetary: Uh, well, she had a lot of brothers and she's used to being around boys.

BallerStatus.com: She pretty supportive of your career?

Planetary: Oh yeah, big time, big time. She's a ride or die chick man.

BallerStatus.com: Being an underground artist these days.. well, I mean with technology, there doesn't seem to be as much of a difference anymore. It's easier to make it on up isn't it?

Planetary: Yeah, there are underground people that sell more than people on major labels. People like Atmosphere and then others probably sell about the same.

BallerStatus.com: How much does technology, specifically the internet play into that?

Planetary: Oh, big time man. I don't think I'd be where I'm at without the internet being around today.

BallerStatus.com: How much of your fanbase can you attribute to that?

Planetary: A lot of it man. A lot of it because how else would people overseas... That's really the main outlet. That's even -- to be honest -- the main outlet for everybody -- mainstream, underground, everything. Last year, there were more record sells through internet and downloading, than there was retail. So now it's like, is there even going to be a CD store? In ten years, what's it going to be like?

BallerStatus.com: I don't know. That's an interesting thing to think about. Music is going to change in so many ways. There's probably going to be a new medium. Ya'll don't have a ringtone out yet do you [laughing]?

Planetary: Not yet. You know what's funny? I just bought a new phone today and I thought about that. I was like, "Damn, I wonder how hard it is to get a ring tone." People can make money off that sh--.

BallerStatus.com: And Babygrande has been helping a lot with the underground groups. What's your relationship like with them?

Planetary: Oh they're good man. They are filled with good people man. Chuck is a real good dude. He understands us personally as people, and understands what we go through and the things that we have to do in the regular life situations. So, he helps put us with those situations. They're good dudes over there. They're hectic, but good. They're over their heads in material. They're coming out with sh-- every week it seems. They're running a good business though.

BallerStatus.com: They are. Man I got to say -- and it may not make you happy -- but the Phillies suck. What a waste of talent they are.

Planetary: [laughs] Well, they just got their talent, so now what they got to do is build a team around them.

BallerStatus.com: I'm unfortunately a Yankees fan, born and raised.

Planetary: Yeah, if you had said Mets, I'd have probably hung up on you right then.

BallerStatus.com: Yeah, we're wasting our overpaid talent too. Phillies, at least have something to look forward too. And they have the integrity of not trying to buy up the entire American League.

Planetary: Yeah, you guys have had good teams for a long time man.

BallerStatus.com: Are you a pretty big sports fan?

Planetary: Oh yeah! We all are... we're real dedicated to our teams. Philly fans are real dedicated to our team out here.

BallerStatus.com: I bet you're happy to get Terrell Owens out of there aren't you?

Planetary: Yeah, he was a f---in' pain in the ass that motherf---er.

BallerStatus.com: He was wearing a cyclist shirt on TV today, as he was riding the bike.

Planetary: He's an a--hole. I don't know why Dallas thinks they're not going to have a headache, but they will. Believe it.

BallerStatus.com: I see you've got Royce and Sheek on this new album. How did you corral them in?

Planetary: They were pretty simple man. They were basically a phone call away, which was awesome. I had met Royce's people before and been in contact with them like a couple years back. I just had to remind them who I was and it basically unfolded pretty easily. The Sheek [track], Sheek was a little harder, but not too bad. We got with him and got it done. It wasn't bad.

BallerStatus.com: What's next with your involvement with AOTP (Army Of The Pharaohs)?

Planetary: Um, it's kind of hard to get us all together to tour because everybody's... You know, there's so many of us. And all of us have our own life situations and life schedules and stuff. We did [a show] in Rhode Island, which was in Providence. I don't even know how we pulled it off, but we did it, and everybody was there.

BallerStatus.com: What's the best place to play in Philly now? I've been out of the loop a bit.

Planetary: Philly is not as popping as it was man. There's not much. There's a place called Grape Street; that's been doing a lot of hip-hop stuff lately. They went down in a flood though. They're regrouping, but yeah, they were popping for a minute. The 5 Spot, that's like the main venue. We're had a release party there, us and Vinnie, on September 15th. So, it's like the main spot where people go. They give you a good deal; a lot of people use that spot. South Street's got some sh--, but it's more of a yuppie situation.

BallerStatus.com: Lately, I've been trying to take it easy, so I read a lot. What do you like to do to get away from things? You know, the tiresome work life?

Planetary: My time home with my kids is real important to me. If I'm not working or recording, or all that sh--, or not on tour, I try to soak that quality time in as much as I can. My whole thing is listening to music man, because at all times -- even if you're relaxing -- you still have to inspiration and stuff that keeps you going. So, I listen to music man. I go out a little bit. I don't go out too much. I go to the streets and see the people from time to time. I go to the bar, get a little toasty. The normal sh-- everybody likes to do. But, for winding down, my time home is real important to me.

BallerStatus.com: And being both an artist and father, what do you think the appropriate age is for kids to start listening to some of the rougher music? When should that certain time in their life be?

Planetary: I think it all depends on the unit man. It depends on the family and who's raising who. There's kids that I know personally that are five, six, seven, and eight years old and they curse. They hear some sh--. They hear radio songs, but their parents aren't enforcing discipline. So, I think it really doesn't matter because if they're young, they really don't understand what the rappers are talking about anyway. But, I have my kids pretty much trained to know what bad words are, and they know what not to say. And all that other stuff they really don't understand. I think it's like anything, once a kid turns a certain age, there's really nothing you can do.

BallerStatus.com: They're going to hear it at some point?

Planetary: One time... me, I was rebellious when I was 16 and didn't give a f--- what anybody told me. I was running around in the hood, just listening to whatever I wanted to listen to. But, I still had discipline. I still knew right from wrong. A kid is going to experience wrong no matter what because they're curious. The rougher stuff though man, it's so invested, in radio and such. You really can't control it. I was at this dentist appointment the other day, right? And the dentist office had... I'm a city dudel I live in the ghetto man. I don't know if this had something to do with it or not. It was a f---in' dentist office. I'm sitting there and realizing they're playing Hot 97. Usually at a dentist office, they're playing easy listening. But, I'm sitting there hearing, "I was getting some head." You know that song?

BallerStatus.com: Yep, that's my girl Shawnna.

Planetary: And I'm like, "What the f---?" This is a dentist office. So, it's taken over so much that there's really nothing you can do.

BallerStatus.com: People say sometimes that you're music is controversial. You know I like that and I try to be controversial in my writing, because if you look at the status quo of the way the world is right now, we need controversy. If things aren't good, then somebody needs to step out of line.

Planetary: The way that the government and the world have the people trained man, you grow accustomed to negativity. Being positive is like being in a minority now. You see negative sh-- all day and all night. Like right now, I'm at a stoplight and some lady just smacked the back of her kids head. Not real hard, but it's negative. You see more negative sh-- than you see positive sh--. So no matter what, it's how you're raised and brought up to handle things.

BallerStatus.com: Exactly, it's about certain things in your early life that guided you to be who you are now. When you fly to venues that are further away, you fly commercial don't you? You don't have that special luxury jet?

Planetary: Nah, nah.

BallerStatus.com: I was wondering because I'm seeing this stuff on television talking about the war on terror, and they're talking about how they're going to have to racially profile now. That's funny because some elderly white lady at a Kansas City airport couldn't tell the difference between an Arab, a Hispanic or an Italian. Some backwoods people see four colors: white, black, brown, and yellow. They'll be stopping everybody that isn't white, black or Japanese looking and giving them hell. I just wonder how far this country has come if we start doing that. It seems like we've lost the war on terrorism once we shed our freedoms.

Planetary: Yeah, that's the truth man. And that's why the sh-- that's going on shouldn't even be going on. It's all a plan. They want us to live like that. They want to be in such control over everybody. They want us to be like that. They want to give us the E-Z passes. They want to know everything you're doing man.

BallerStatus.com: They want you to have the ID card and know where you're at all the time.

Planetary: You can't go anywhere without everybody knowing your business. And they're trained. Five years ago, all the conscious MCs and everybody were talking about never falling into that trap. Now everybody's got debit cards, iPods, huge cell phones and all that.

BallerStatus.com: I know you're on MySpace Music. Do you know who owns that site?

Planetary: Nope.

BallerStatus.com: It's owned by Rupert Murdoch. The same guy who owns Fox News and might as well be called Satan, for all he's done. You don't even realize it and you can't help, but be a part of it, even though you don't know it.

Planetary: Oh yeah, yeah. It's such a network employed right now. You really have no choice. You can be on it and ten minutes later ten people checked your page and they want to hear your music and be your friend. It's hard to turn down that kind of attention when you're trying to sell some records. You have to have it. That's like what I'm saying. They force it upon you so much, you feel you have to do it. If working artists, trying to make it, weren't on MySpace, they'd be crazy. People that you wouldn't even think of as computer literate have sites that would blow your mind. Everybody is computer literate right now, which is probably a good thing because there's so much you have to use it for now.

BallerStatus.com: The artwork, I love the artwork on this new album, Blood Brothers. It seems like all of your albums have had exceptional artwork. Who does it?

Planetary: We had a guy up here come up with the initial idea, but the image guys who work for Babygrande put the finishing touches on it.

BallerStatus.com: Is there a theme to the cover, an underlying message, or just a nice drawing?

Planetary: Yeah, there's like a Puerto Rican flag on a shield. It came from the code of arms of Puerto Rico. It had a bunch of symbols that represent Puerto Rico around it, but we changed it up with the flag and the wings. That's the way the shield is. And we built Blood Brothers around that.

BallerStatus.com: You really excited about this album?

Planetary: Oh, very excited, very excited. I'm waiting to go on this tour in about five weeks, and can't wait to tell everybody what it's all about.

BallerStatus.com: How long was it in the works?

(Planetary stops to talk to a buddy as he rides through Philly)

Planetary: Sorry about that. This new album has been being prepared since the last one came out. It took us like six or seven months to do it.

BallerStatus.com: I've listened to a couple songs. I like them a whole lot man. I love the production on it.

Planetary: Yeah, that's why it took a little longer. We were real picky with that sh-- man.

BallerStatus.com: Who was doing the beats?

Planetary: We had several cats like 7L, and a few others. We had a lot of new cats though man. A guy named Vanderslice. I can't remember them all, they all deserve props though, a lot of new guys, and new names.

BallerStatus.com: Journalists like to ask artists how they got into music and stuff like that. I want to know why you did. Why rapping? Why hip-hop?

Planetary: Well, I remember when I was younger, my dad was a big DJ in Philly and he played a lot of Motown. I was able to meet people like Barry White and so forth. I got to meet Teddy Pendergrass. I liked spending time in the radio station with him. I was always into music and I remember the time when Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff came out. There was this guy that I lived around that knew Will Smith and we were playing ball at the court -- I was young maybe eight or something -- and this guy at the court was bragging that he could rap. He started kicking out "Road To The Riches" by Kool G Rap. He spits that verse and I'm thinking this dude is the man. It amazed me how good this dude at the court could rap. I thought it was hot. So, I go home and I'm listening to the radio station and hear that song come on. And I hear the same verse. That made me mad because it wasn't even his sh--, so I thought that was corny. I thought, "Damn this motherf---er is playing with somebody's verse." I was 11. That's when I started writing because I wanted to be original. It's kind of a weird story, but I loved it so much. And now that I'm an adult, I take it more serious. Now I'm trying to make a living off of it.

BallerStatus.com: I want to help out in the world and share ideas through communication. Beyond doing music as a career, do you see it as a calling?

Planetary: I do. I mean, I think that's what I was put on earth to do. I think everybody has a special talent and they should utilize it. When something's given to you man, I don't see why you shouldn't use that. I know this artist and he draws. This dude is the most amazing artist I've ever seen or met. But, he doesn't use it to his advantage. You have one life to live and if you have something that can make that life good, then use it rather than going through the everyday struggle.

GO BACK TO SITE