Last night, I had the opportunity to talk to Mike Mike of the classic bass group 95 South. They are best remembered for the hit “Whoot There It Is”, and they are back with new music for 2016. The group, now down to two members, Mike Mike and his brother Daddy Black, just released a hot new single “Ridin In My Chevy” just in time for the summer.
Q: Many fans already know, but can you tell our readers a little background information on what 95 South represents as a group?
A: 95 South, in my opinion, represents fun hip hop. Not to say we don’t take the lyrics seriously because we do. I want people to have fun when 95 South comes on the radio or in the club.
Q: The new single is called “Ridin in My Chevy” can you tell our readers a little bit about the concept of the song?
A: Ridin in my Chevy is a concept from the mind of Que the Beat who co-produced and came up with the idea. In Florida, and everywhere else in the Deep South and west coast, Chevys are what we drive. And we wanted to give our fans something different from what’s out there now. We wanted to make a song that was about the South. We wanted to bring fun back to the clubs and radio.
https://soundcloud.com/95south/sets/our-original-tunes
Q: Correct me if I’m wrong, but Riding in My Chevy definitely has a summertime feel. Can we expect a video soon?
A: Definitely. Our management company is reaching out to Chevy itself. We got vintage Chevys, Donks, muscle car Chevys for the video, it’s a fun record and the video will reflectthat..
Q: Is there an album on the way?
A: Well first we are gonna see where the 1 or 2 singles go… It’s not like the old days when you put out an album and let the fans pick the single.
Q: A lot of people initially heard the name 95 South when you dropped your single “Whoot There It Is”. Around the same time there was a song that dropped called “Whoomp There It Is”. For the readers out there who don’t know the story, how did that come about?
A: Well in late ’92 early ’93, we just happen to be living in Atlanta at the time we recorded “Whoot There It Is”. Once we were done with the record, we took it to a few of the DJs that were living in Atlanta at the time. One of the DJs that we took the record to just happens to be one of the guys from Tag Team. Lo and behold a month and a half after we released our single there was another song by the name of “Whoomp There It Is“. And the rest is history.
Q: What thoughts did you and the group have on the situation at the time?
A: We were hurt. We felt like we had the better song. We had the bigger selling album, but their song ended up selling more. But after all the legal stuff was settled, we ended up getting paid off both songs so we didn’t mind .
Q: How has the group 95 South evolved over the years?
A: It started out Jay Ski, producer CC Lemonhead, myself, and my little brother Daddy Black and Jay Ski’s little brother AB. We did an album that took off, and we started to get calls from labels. Epic needed a group, so we got two female dancers and formed Dis N Dat. Another label called, and I jumped in 69 Boyz. Jay Ski ended up forming Quad City DJs. So that left Daddy Black and AB to lead 95 South. Eventually, it was just Daddy Black in 95 South, and he asked me to rejoin the group. Which brings us to where we are today.
Q: I know “My Boo” is considered more Atlanta Bass style then Miami Bass, but it recently made a comeback with the Running Man Challenge. Do you think Bass music as a whole could make a comeback?
A: Well Miami Bass is a little faster, more chants, more hooks… When Atlanta got a hold to it, they started to add more R&B. I definitely think it can make a comeback because people wanna dance. There’s a lot of people not on pills or weed that just wanna have fun.
Q: Would you say that you all are incorporating some of that sound in your new music?
A: Yes, we love making timeless music. We are still doing shows off music we did 20 years ago. Making timeless music is the key .
Q: What’s a major difference between the music game now and back when you all started?
A: One major difference is the mixtapes. Back in the day you only put out music to sell, never to give away. And in the past, one producer or one set of producers did an album. So it resembled a movie… artists took you into their world. When I listened to NWA’s album, it took me to Compton. 2 Live Crew took the listener to Miami. Outkast took you to Atlanta. Nowadays, it’s so many producers on an album, it doesn’t resemble a movie. It’s a bunch of nice scenes, but they don’t go together.
Q: Any last words you want to leave our readers with?
A: Shoutout to our DJ, his name is Bernard B. We are still touring every week. We’ve been blessed to have made timeless music.
To find out more about 95 South, visit them on their WEBSITE, TWITTER, SOUNDCLOUD, YOUTUBE, INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK. Ridin In My Chevy is available on iTunes.
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Follow GBoogie the Scorpio on INSTAGRAM. Read his bio and listen to his music on WORDPRESS.
SOUTHERN LACED 