Still Relevant: Larry Larr

Categorized | Interviews

Posted on 30 January 2009. Tags: Larry Larr

Larry Larr, the breakout Philly artist that had the whole city bumping his single, “Larry- That’s What They Call Me” in ‘90’s sits down with Brittany Graham of Hip Hop Lives (HHLO.net) and reminisces on how he got started in the industry, his future plans on helping developing artists get exposure, and the mix-up with Grandmaster Flash and Larry Love the dancer…

Hip Hop Lives Online: Hey Larry, can you give us a quick background on Larry Larr the artist? How did you get started in the industry?

Larry Larr: Larry Larr, L-A-R-R-Y L-A-R-R, one of Philadelphia’s Hip-Hop legends. Came out with the group “Three Times Dope” in 1989 on the “Three Times Dope” album, “Original Stylin”. At that time they had the top 5 song on the “Billboard Music Charts”… The head rapper in that group was my best friend so helped me to establish my own album, which lead to me branching branched off and making my album called “The Wizard of Odds”. It came out on Ruffhouse/ Sony Records. The same label that discovered Kris Kros, Cypress Hill, The Fugees, and Lauryn Hill. Larry Larr was the first artist to basically enter the “Billboard Top Ten” music charts from Ruffhouse Records. That was from ‘91 to ‘93. The name of my single at that time was “Larry- That’s what they call me” and that was a remake of Grandmaster Flash’s song, “Larry’s Dance Theme”. It was an easy step for me because someone who was already popular at the time, here on the East Coast, walked me in the door…

HHLO: What about the talent showcases that you’ve been hosting? I heard that you’ve been doing a lot in the underground East Coast scene.

Larry Larr: Ok, flash to today. From 1990 to ‘93, Larry was focused on being a solo artist and in ‘94 I went back to college at Worchester State for business… And that was in Massachusetts. And from there I started getting together local showcases in Boston. From about ‘95 to ‘98, I put together local showcases helping to break up and coming artists in the Massachusetts area. In ‘99 I went back to Philadelphia and started an industry event called “Industry Tuesdays” where local artists from Philadelphia would come there to perform. And from 1999 to the present, I just ended it 3 weeks ago, to 2009, for the last 10 years I’ve watched countless artists come to my showcase. Cassidy, Beanie Segal, Eve, The Roots… I’ve watched a lot of different artists. Kurupt from Tha Dogg Pound came through, Lil’ Kim, the list goes on. Everybody used the showcase, this industry event, to break new material.

HHLO: So I was googling you the other day and I kept getting results for Larry the dancer who was associated with Grandmaster Flash… Now I know you did a re-make of Grandmaster Flash’s song, which could be the main source of the confusion, but can you clarify everything for our readers who might not know the full background story?

Larry Larr: Ok let me tell you briefly so you can better understand what happened. Grandmaster Flash had a song in ‘85 called “Larry’s Dance Theme”. So in 1990 to 1991 I remade the song and used the hook “La la la Larry” and I put a video behind it. So now when everybody thinks of that song they think of me because I put the video behind it and they actually had a face to go along with it. But the original one was created in ‘85-’86 by Grandmaster Flash but when I remade it, at that time I was with a group called “Three Times Dope”. And we were like #2 or #3 in the country so we were real big back on the East Coast. So whenever people think about “Lar lar lar larry”, they don’t think about the Grandmaster Flash time because they didn’t have videos and stuff for it. Videos didn’t start coming out until like ‘91, ‘92 so it didn’t become big on the East Coast until then and that’s when I was putting videos behind it. So when everyone says Larry they assume that I’m Larry Love as well because we have the same hook but Larry Love was a dancer and Larry Larr is a rapper, that’s me. So I guess that’s the confusion with everything. Are you familiar with the old song “La la la Larry”?

HHLO: So tell me a little bit about what your doing now. I heard that your doing a talent showcase in Philly…

Larry Larr: Yeah, I started a showcase in Philadelphia where all the artists from Cassidy, Beanie Siegel, Freeway… everyone came through my showcase. Jazmine Sullivan, everybody. So a lot of people know me from the old school but I get just as much love for what I’m doing today because of how all these artists came through my outlet. So now, I’m working with Comcast, I’m filming and airing the stuff all throughout the New England area from Connecticut all the way up to Maine. And I’m working on filming the stuff out here in Philadelphia so I can open this market as well. So the goal for me now is to have my show broadcast all the way from Philadelphia up to Maine, controlling the whole East Coast entertainment scene.

HHLO: Ok that’s hot. So you’re broadcasting the shows where the East Coast artists are going to be performing.

Larry Larr: Exactly. Artists that are in this area, I’m going to record their performances and do interviews on them and show it to Comcast. Do you guys have Comcast out there?

HHLO: We do, but a lot of people in my area have Time Warner…

Larry Larr: Okay it’s big in Philadelphia. Just between New Hampshire and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, we have about 4 or 5 million people that can view the show.

HHLO: Is that something that will be exclusive to Comcast? Kind of like how Time Warner has “On Demand”? Is it something where only Comcast subscribers can view it for free?

Larry Larr: Yes, exactly. Everybody that has Comcast can view the show for free

HHLO: What if they don’t have Comcast? How would they be able to tune in to the show?

Larry Larr: Well if they don’t have Comcast, we’re working something out where they can view some of the stuff online but the whole goal is for more people to subscribe to Comcast so they will be able to see it for themselves. They can see local artists that they know from around the way on T.V.? So the only way they can see these artists is by subscribing to Comcast. They will be able to see their friends or even themselves. So that’s what I’m working on now. And the name of my new show is “Beyond the Music Television”. The new show is really about up and coming artists as well as major artists, just giving you updates on what everybody’s doing. It gonna be sort of how “Rap City” is on B.E.T. We’re going to play music videos and do interviews and stuff like that. But that’s what I’m doing today. And it’s sort of cool because I went from being an artist myself to being behind the scenes helping artists get exposure.

HHLO: Do you like being an artist more or being behind the scenes more?

Larry Larr: I love being behind the scenes more. It’s so much more comfortable for me. Now with me, I always wanted to be behind the scenes to be honest with you. And what better way to work behind the scenes than to help other people get to that level? It’s a good feeling for me. And to be abler to make a living from it? To make a living for helping people is a beautiful thing. As a artist you have so much pressure and you’re really the last one to get paid. You know, your producers have to get paid, your managers have to get paid, and the record label has to be reimbursed for all the money that they put out so as an artist in the Entertainment business you are the last to get paid. So I’m very comfortable with helping others. Once I got in the door I mainly fell in love with the behind the scenes, not so much the artist side. The artist side was okay but making moves and seeing things come to light, I fell in love with that so from there I wanted to focus on behind the scenes and I never looked back as an artist.

HHLO: Who are a few artists that you’ve interviewed recently for the show?

Larry Larr: O wow. Freeway… What I’m going to do is give you my Myspace and there’s a lot of it on there, even some video clippings.

HHLO: What’s your Myspace?

Larry Larr: www.myspace.com/industrytuesdays

Anything from pictures to even some old videos that I made are on there. It has what I’m doing now and everything on there.

HHLO: Do you have anything new out from you as an artist? I saw something about Benja Styles and Larry Larr, The Philly Movement…

Larry Larr: Yeah, once again, I have all the artists from Philadelphia that was coming through my outlet so it was from a showcase… And I also run one of the hottest clubs in Philadelphia. But yeah, I made a CD and put all their music on it from all the clubs as well as showed their videos on my video outlet. So in a humble way, a lot of the stuff that comes from Philadelphia usually comes through one of my outlets… So me and Benja Styles, who is a DJ, we decided to promote some artists from Philly even more by bringing out a mixtape and we called it “The Philly Movement”.

HHLO: When did that mixtape come out?

Larry Larr: That came out in the summertime but every week I do the showcase, “The Industry Tuesdays” so that’s more current than anything. That’s something people can check out on the web or wherever they’re at…

HHLO: So if an artist is from Philly or wherever they’re at and they’re looking to perform at your showcase and get in contact with you, how would they do that?

Larry Larr: They can always go to my Myspace… Industry Tuesdays. I prefer Myspace because they can get more information on me on Myspace.

HHLO: Is there anything you want to spotlight for the website? To tell people to go check out? Anything more you want them to know?

Larry Larr: If they can go to the Myspace website, they can go to a link to the television shows and find out what’s coming up because I’m going to be changing things constantly. I’m having a fashion show March 7^th so I’m going to advertise that and when I’m having a big showcase I’m going to advertise that.

HHLO: And I saw on the flyer, it said if artists get there early they can just sign in and perform so they can just sign up and go on? Usually there’s a screening process for the shows or you have to sell tickets…

Larry Larr: Yeah, they go right on.

HHLO: Do they get feedback when they go on? Is it kind of like Apollo? Has anyone ever got boo’d there?

Larry Larr: The thing is I don’t allow boo-ing at my place because my showcase is to motivate others, not so much to break them down so I make that known. But actually, I just stopped doing it weekly two weeks ago but I will still do one showcase once a month. Just don’t want to do it weekly. I want to focus on other things. If people go to the Myspace it will have the monthly events that’s coming up. I just want people to keep logging in and checking what’s coming up in the Philadelphia, New York, and Delaware area.

HHLO: Do you have any aspirations to come out to the West Coast? Do anything out here?

Larry Larr: I would love to do something out there! I’ll be out in Santa Cruz this summer and I have a lot of friend’s out there so I’ll definitely be out in L.A.

HHLO: Thank you for doing this interview with us. We appreciate your time

Larry Larr: Thank you.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbpGtpFDKkc[/youtube]

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