Not only was I able to grab a few words with DJ Clay the other night, I had the opportunity to talk to Cardz the following day. Now for those of you who don’t know who this ninja is, you may have seen him perform as part of the group Undaground Disciples, although lately he’s been successfully filling the role as DJ Clay’s Tour Manager.

POLMAR: Well first and foremost, we’ll get right to it: How amped are you for ‘A World Upside Down?’

CARDZ: Man, I’m super duper amped! Being there from the day the idea hatched to everything during and after I can’t wait for the juggalos to hear AWUD! Clay worked crazy hard on this one for you guys!

P: Do you have a favorite track on the record that you just can’t stop bumping?

C: I dig em all man to be honest, but Goblins and Scream def go extra hard.

P: DJ Clay played the entire mixtape, from begining to end, at the release party. How do you feel the crowd’s reaction to it was?

C: He did yes, yes. I think the crowd was crazy hype man. From the mosh pit to the cats poppin and lockin. It was literally over a hundred degrees in the room. It was so hot I guess a couple of juggalos went deaf and blind!

P: Now you were in charge of setting this event up, correct? Do you feel the night was a success? Are you happy with how everything turned out?

C: Yea man I set it up and ran the show. I feel it was a huge success considering the amount of time and I am very happy with it. As long as my artist (DJ Clay) is happy than I’m happy and he was at that. I believe it was sold out at one point.

P: What was your reaction when Clay told you he wanted to do a solo set at the end? That seemes like it was kind of a last minute surprise for everyone.

C: Well, him and I go over the show from top to bottom and all of the “what ifs” it was def last minute. He was feeling it so naturally he wants to keep the party hype. He is “the” DJ of the juggalos man so if shit is popping the DJ in him is going to come out. I don’t think he can help it when it comes to keeping it live. You can take the lion out of jungle but you can’t take the turntables and mic away from DJ Clay.

P: You guys have a busy summer coming up, this month you’re touring with ABK and next month with Mars.. Are you pumped up for these road trips?

C: No doubt! We are working to stay even busier than that. We feel any day off from live shows in the summer is not good. If I could keep Clay booked 483 days a year I would man. You know what I mean? Regardless Clay is always making music. The kid makes beats while he’s taking a shit! I am not fucking kidding! He never stops making music.

P: Are you in charge of planning and organizing all the tour dates yourself, or are you working with the other artists’ managers as well?

C: I book the Jump Offs 100% directly now and for touring we have agents that book those. I pretty much get together with Clay and go over the shit as it comes in and he either wants to roll with it or not. As of right now Clay is my only artist. I feel like we have a lot of shit that needs to be accomplished and we won’t stop ever. Always hustling and grinding. There are a few artist I would like to work with when the time is right. I have had a couple approach me but where I’m at now I’m very appreciative for and work hard for it.

P: Does Cardz ever plan on dropping some rhymes? Haha, I think that would be pretty dope.

C: Yeah, I [am] an artist. My old band Undaground Disciples has two videos on YouTube for the songs “Infiltrate” and for “Metropolis” We also have an ep out on iTunes called Havoc Supreme. Check it out if you have time. Artist management is my full time gig but every once in a while Undaground Disciples get together for a show or to drop something new.

P: Have you toured previously with DJ Clay and/or Psychopathic?

C: Yea man I have. I’ve done a lot of shows with clay all over the country. I did the Bang! Pow! Boom! Tour as the opening act. I was actually hired last minute by my closest homie Southwest Sol to be his hype man in Chop Shop during that tour. He called me literally 48 hours before that huge tour took the road and was like come down to rehearsals at some big ass theater in Royal Oak, MI. If you were at those shows you might’ve noticed I had huge football quarterback wristbands on with a plastic window on them. I had the lyrics to the songs typed on both arms. I would hold one arm up like I was pointing at somebody in the crowd but really I was reading a line of lyrics off of my sleeve. lol those were some great times in my life and that’s how I met a lot of the cats at Psychopathic.

P: What are your plans after touring? Back to the office, or taking a break to relax a little?

C: After touring I usually take like a day or two to get acclimated to normal life again and then its right back on the grind to whatever the next project is. Then again the music game is nowhere near “normal life” haha

P: Now we don’t often get an inside glimpse into the Hatchet, tell me a little about what it’s like working behind the scenes at Psychopathic Records. I imagine it can be a lot of fun but also very intense at times.

C: For me its actually pretty cool because I am not technically on Psychopathics payroll. I work directly for DJ Clay. I have my own company called Smash Entertainment. I am at the office quite a bit with Clay and spend a lot of time in the studio. I’ve gotten to know Joe Strange pretty well and he is definitely one of the coolest most knowledgable cats I know. Everybody at the office is very cool and professional. Psychopathic is an amazing place I can tell you that much. You look at the walls inside and to see all of the plaques and everything that has been accomplished is truly amazing to me and inspiring. To be in the presence of those type of people whether we are conversing or not is an honor. The place is gigantic and its one big cohesive machine that has a monstrous goal in mind and its steadily moving towards it constantly. I can go on forever about how dope that place is. Haha

P: How long have you been working with the Hatchet? Was Music Management the career goal you originally had in mind?

C: I started out in the game as an artist. From the minute a left high school I was on the road. Literally man, school was over and that weekend I was on tour. I knew from like junior high that I wanted to be in the music biz. I spent the better part of over 10 years touring in vans in small clubs in the USA and Europe getting to know the ins and outs of the game. Getting signed and dropped and all of that shit. When I went out on Bang! Pow! Boom! and got to share a bus with my homies I was literally brought to tears. I had spent so many years grinding and sleeping on floors with roaches all over the world and to have a little ass bunk to myself on a tour bus was amazing to me. In no way did I feel like I deserved it but it was definitely nice to have moved up to that level after grinding a certain way for so long. Listen the music game isn’t something you just walk into and get your 40 hours a week, health and 401K and all of that shit. It’s not for everybody and you truly have to have a hustlers mentality but also and most importantly know the difference between right and wrong. Thats where a lot of cats go wrong and crash and burn. You run across a lot of the same people so of you’re out there dropping sticks of dynamite on bridges then people aren’t gonna fuck with you. That’s why I think I’m great at artist management and tour management. I know the artist side of the game so I strive daily to make sure my guys are good to go, artist and crew. It takes me 2.5 seconds to put myself in their shoes and then I’m like ok, they need, this, this and this. You feel me?

P: Now you’re obviously Family, but were you a Juggalo before this, or was the culture somewhat new to you when you first started out in the ranks?

C: Man, I was the first of my crew to get into ICP. ICP was from my area so we always knew who they were you know. When the riddlebox sampler came out on cassette I grabbed it for free from this record store in Southgate, MI. Called the Record Exchange. Yes an actual record store. Damn, that place was so dope! Kids today have no idea how fresh it was to get up and go to the record store on Tuesday to get new release and dig in the crates for gems or go to the local Section (which ICP dominated) and see who’s coming out with new shit. ICP here in Detroit could not be fucked with when it came to promo. They were literally everywhere man! Everywhere! If you were in the Detroit music scene you respected their hustle. So yea I’ve been a legit fan since riddlebox. Again I always knew about COC and Ringmaster and all of that but something about Riddlebox grabbed me and pulled me in. I’ve been down ever since.

P: Do you ever find it difficult at all to juggle work and your home life while youre out on the road?

C: If I was just some single dude then it would be a breeze but when you bring the females into the picture it gets tricky. My last girl I actually met on the BangPowBoom tour she was part of the stage show. We were

Together for a long time but now my new girl doesn’t know anything about music. I can name off an artist and chances are she’s never heard of them. Now I think this is awesome because she keeps me on my toes. The downside is the touring part gets to women. My girl now is understanding though. She knows its how I Make a living so she doesn’t really go too hard on me.

P: Do you have any future plans for things you’d like to set up? Tours you’d like to see happen, or events, collabs, etc..

C: Yea man, more touring for Clay and more and more and more. I want to keep getting him endorsement deals with products he truly digs and uses. Collabs, I want to see him produce beats for anybody and everybody. The kid is great at his craft and can adapt to anything. This sounds crazy but there is a group I dig now called Imagine Dragons and it would be cool to hear Clay produce a track for them. Maybe ill try and set that one up? Hmm.

P: Thank you again for taking your time to talk to us, it’s very much appreciated! Do you have any closing thoughts to leave our readers with?

C: Thank you man. It’s great you’re getting the point of view from cats behind the scenes like me. We care a lot about the quality of what you guys get out there and want nothing but the best for you and our guys but aye don’t try to fuck with us! Go cop A World Upside Down as its an instant classic!

CARDZ at the house of horrors in Cleveland where those girls were trapped for 10 years and escaped in May 2013

[youtube]http://youtu.be/ZTLVpsGbMFA[/youtube]

Interviewer: Polmar

Interview Date:06/01/13