In Irish folklore the number three has always been considered mystical and lucky, in much the same way as the number seven. So with a name like 3Deep, with three members who've been together for three years, surely there shouldn't be a need for a horseshoe or rabbit's foot but remember, this is the hip hop game, in Ireland! The two MC's and a DJ crew comprises of Kelt (The Mad Psycho Warrior), Kal (DJ Lyrical Genius, and numerous other pseudonyms too perverse to put onto paper) and the absent Jesse, described by Kelt "As a body building, funny, mean bastard, who you do not wanna fuck with". His description sounds like an enlarged Joe Pesci character but I'll say no more for fear of getting my ass kicked. It can't be denied that 3Deep have the talent it seems they are just missing the luck. Oh yeah! If you do admit aloud that these guys don't have talent, there's a body builder and an American Football player to tell you other wise. Four leaf clovers, horseshoes and a rabbit's foot for everyone.



> FIRST THINGS FIRST, HOW DID Y'ALL HOOK UP?

KELT:
We hooked up when me and Jesse were working a night shift job coming up to Christmas a few years back, I knew him from Ballybrack, where we're both from. We both got to know each other's taste in music and love for hip hop when we were working, blowing out the old school hits, making money for the man...sike! That's actually where a lot of the lyrics for the jam "I wanna be 3!" came from. Kal at this stage was DJ'ing around Dublin and doing the radio show "On The Q-Tip" on Super Q 99fm but I had met him through my brother. They were playing American football for the Dublin Tornadoes, I knew he was a shit hot Hip Hop DJ. So I approached the two of them, talking about getting the crew together, they both needed a lot of coaxing. It went something like "Do you want to get a crew together?" and they looked back at me and replied "Eh, OK!" At least that's how I tell it. I'm sure they would disagree, but who's doing this interview and that's about 90% accurate, so that s good enough.

KAL:
He's being a bit modest. I was like cool. I'd tried to get it going with some friends of mine but they had no bottle. When he rang I was like - finally!



> KAL, YO DO THE PRODUCTION FOR THE GROUP, WHO WOULD YOU LIST AS INFLUENCES AND WHAT GOT YOU INTO IT?

KAL:
My production influences have to be The Bomb Squad, Primo, Pete Rock, DJ Muggs, The Pharcyde and early Puffy. 3Deep got me into production. Somebody had to do it and I had the tracks for the samples and stuff. It just started from there.



> WHAT DO YOU THINK OF PUFFY NOW?

KAL:
I used to be down with Puff before he crossed over. I loved them early joints with Craig Mack "Flava In Ya Ear", Biggie, Meth & Mary J "All I Need" remix but he's making pop tunes now.



> YOU USED TO PLAY AMERICAN FOOTBALL WITH KELT'S BROTHER, HOW DID YOU GET INTO THAT?

KAL:
Bo Jackson had all them Nike ads running, Bo knows this & that. I thought I'd give it a watch on the TV. Bo played for the Raiders so I started watching them. I was in town buying a Raiders jersey when the guy in the shop said there was a Dublin team. I headed down to watch them train, got roped into some stuff and the rest is history. Now I'm Player/Coach of the Dublin Rebels.



> WHAT GOT Y'ALL INTO HIP HOP?

KELT:
Can't really say why I got into it, I just loved the beats and as a kid some of the lyrics appealed to me. I started listening to all the early Public Enemy, Run DMC, and Beastie Boys and hung out with a few breakers around where I used to live. The beats is what originally got me hooked, I love drums and I play the bass so with the heavy beats based around these tow sets of instruments, it was fairly inevitable for me to get hooked on phat joints.

KELT:
I caught an early Run DMC track and I thought Jam Master J looked cool behind the decks. That's what started me DJ'ing too. What made you turn around and think one day "I wanna be a rapper"?

KELT:
A few things, I thought they were really fucking cool in the videos, there is an attitude within Hip Hop that no other type of music can seem to touch. They have an air about them and plus the fact you can put 8 songs on an album just talking about how fucking good you are. Put it in any other form and who the fuck would listen to you blow your own ego? Plus the fact, have you seen the honeyz in these videos? You get some little 15 year old who loves honeyz and rap, and you got a kid that wants to be a rapper!



> SEEING AS HOW THE EMERALD ISLE IS PREDOMINATELY WHITE AND HIP HOP PREDOMINATELY BLACK, WHAT KIND OF REACTION DO YOU GET WHEN YOU TELL PEOPLE WHAT YOU DO?

KELT:
A lot of people laugh, but then again, you put a mic in their hand and you would be lucky to get a couple of vowel sounds before they turn a funny shade of red and piss off to the jax (toilet) to puke. Where as I feel if you have some dope rhymes and some people are willing to listen, get up and shake the room! For fuck sake, Jesse's old bird used to give him stick for rhyming and if anyone is going to stop you it would be your bird. I mean the lads are cool and all but you just can't fuck them! But if you are going to do it, you will not listen to anyone else and just do it, do you hear this I sound like a Nike campaign! and that's what Kal, Jesse and I did, and I have never looked back. Any crews that have had an impact on you?

KELT:
One crew that made an impact on me when I was starting out was Scary Eire (probably the first Irish rappin' crew). I saw them do a gig and said to myself, I can do this too. They did not give a bollix and got up and did their stuff and for that, they got my respect. So there is my propz to Scary, keep bustin'.



> SPEAKING WITH THIS CREW YOU GET THE FEELING THAT THEY ARE NOT AFRAID TO SAY WHAT THEY FEEL, THAT BECOMES CLEAR AS CRYSTAL WHEN DJ KAL IS ASKED WHAT HE THINKS ABOUT THE "ROOKIES" IN THE HIP HOP GAME.

KAL:
I think that Canibus is a sap! to put it mildly. I think sell-out Wyclef used LL to jump start Canibus' career. I like Big Pun a lot. I am getting tired of the same beats his clique keep using though and I'd rather an album where the artist gets more exposure and less press than the guest rappers. All rap albums these days are like soundtracks because of the amount of guests. DMX is cool but again he has the same ol' New York sound. By this I mean the beats. They keep using the same drum machine. I know it's sad but I can tell what drum machines they use. Noreaga is the same again.



> DO YOU THINK ANY OF THE OLDER CATS HAVE FALLEN OFF?

KAL:
Nas, the little jumped up wanker, I saw him play in the States, nobody loves him more than himself. Snoop's still falling. Meth's second album sucked. Ice Cube's making a comeback but he's not there yet and Rza puts out more tracks than Puff, he needs a rest.



> SPEAKING OF RZA, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF HIM AND THE REST OF THE WU?

KAL:
Wu used to be the gods of hip hop. The Wu logo's almost as well known as the Coke sign. But over exposure will kill you every time. Rza needs to take a break and take stock. One of my favourite albums was Ghostface's which Rza produced. But Meth and Rza's new solo projects don't hold up, and their Wu-Tang affiliates aren't cutting it. Having said that I do like Cappadonna, bad album though, but he's good in concert.



> SO WHAT CREWS ARE YOU FEELING AT THE MOMENT?

KAL:
My favourite stuff at the moment is The Whoriddas, Company Flow, and of course the one and only Jurassic 5. They remind me of how the music used to be. All about the beats and rhymes, non stop hip hop all the time. I'm really into Blak Twang from London as well. I have the tape constantly in the car. What do you think of the state of hip-hop at the minute?

KELT:
Old school is coming back and that can only get better and maybe Puff will get a sudden burst of conscience and shut the fuck up! But I won't hold my breath.



> CAN YOU SEE A FUTURE FOR THE IRISH HIP-HOP SCENE OR ARE WE JUST PISSING AGAINST THE WIND HERE?

KELT:
I would like to think we are not, I know we have the hip-hop fan base here, but it needs to be done right and not just have any old shit thrown out at them. Some people still have to understand that if you are not from Compton dont write fucking rhymes about it then, keep it real. But the Irish fan is an intelligent and conscientious listener so you cant fob them off with shit, so think of the listener before you play some of those cuts! Seeing as how 3 seems to a popular number with the group, 3members, 3 years together.



> WHAT ARE YOUR DREAMS FOR 3DEEP 3 YEARS DOWN THE LINE?

KELT:
That is a hard one to call, Jesse is not as involved as he was but there will be a 3 deep or at least some of the essentials to produce better tracks then we ever have before. I will be laying down funkier heavier bass lines than before and Kal is producing beats that the RZA will some day aspire to and ODB, if he ever get parole! We will never die the beats will keep coming at you!

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Written by DJ Shaft The Funkadelic Celtic