MARCUS'S EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ABOUT HIS NEW PROJECT AND MORE!

Welcome to the World of the new project. Marcus has had so many new avenues open up for him recently, like Reverbnation, Facebook,Twitter, Blogspot, and more to come. He has been working on another avenue for you and is getting ready to release it on the world. Its called his "project", formally the EP. As Marcus was working on the EP, it became so much more then that, turning it into the project. Marcus was gracious enough to give us an exclusive interview about the album and what is coming ahead for his fans and his work. 

Lettey: Tell us Marcus, how is the EP going so far? 

Marcus: It is going great .  I changed it from being an EP to just a project, because I’m in all aspects of it. I’m really like creating almost all of the aspects of putting this product out to people.

Lettey: So you are producing the project as well? 

Marcus: I'm doing production, engineering, and my homie John, he’s painting these 24x24 canvases for the album art. He's really dope. 

Lettey: Who will we be hearing on this album?

Marcus: You'll be hearing County Boi Frizz, Lena Chanel,Jessica Renee, and myself of course. 

Lettey: What has been your inspiration for making this album? 

Marcus: : I was trying to get away from the Internet. Anything not dealing with the Internet was my inspiration. I had to really dig deep into my thoughts and l really had to go out and look for answers. Like going outside and seeing things and taking adventures. Like when I’m going to work or something. That was my inspiration, just seeing everything around me and thinking about how I could make this better or how could I understand this better.

Lettey: Would you say this album was about getting back to the basics for you?

Marcus: Yes it is. I really had to be patient and just really go to the basics of everything. Like certain beats, I didn't want certain beats in the same key. I wanted features to be features  and  I wanted them to be on subject. I want to be sure that the songs fit the subject matter of the album. When I create something I know what I’m looking for.

Lettey: How will this project be available for fans to obtain? 

Marcus: Right now I am looking at getting some vinyl made. It will be a really exclusive deal. I'm only going to print like 100 and that's it. Then it will be available on Itunes for purchase. 

Lettey: Do you have any shows or events planned in the future? 

Marcus:: My home boy B reached out to me about a show on Sept 26^Th but all my focus has been on getting this  project done, cause I’ve been saying I’m been working on this project for a long time and I just have to get this done and then that will open up more shows possibly.

Lettey: Tell me what you think about your cousin's new album "Something Else" and about the song you were featured on "Feels Like Heaven." 

Marcus: Man, I love the whole process of "Something Else." He was working on "Something Else" when I had come back from college, I believe. He's been working on it for a long time. Ya, I love that whole album. The song "Feels Like Heaven" that I did with him, is like crazy you know? I think I just really love the verse that I wrote and the verse that Aaron (Tech) wrote. It was just like, amazing, and we just came together as Aaron Yates and Marcus Yates to just share our imagination with people. It was just all love on that track. It was like the theme of everything was perfect. It was perfect and I was really proud to be a Yates when that came out. 

Lettey: There will be a featured Fan Blog, were your fans can tell how your music has changed their lives. What do you think about that? 

Marcus: I think that's amazing. Cause when I create I'm only creating with my brain and my heart. It's just crazy how something that comes from me, like from my imagination, can effect other people. That is just mind boggling to me. I mean, I am thankful, but it's just mind boggling how it can touch somebody. 

 

Lettey: Did you watch the VMA's and hear about the controversy with an artist? Do you think that artists have a duty to act a certain way in public as role models to people? 

Marcus:I didn't even watch the VMA's. You can just follow your Twitter feed and see what happened and what Miley did and the pictures of her butt. All I got was Twitter quotes, messages, and Tweets about the VMA's. I didn't watch at all. What Miley did and what she wore, she wanted to do that. So she did what she did, and there will be backlash for anything you do. Especially when you are in the limelight like that. You can say you love God and people will still say you are bad or something. I don't know, I don't get into it. Especially being it seems like everyone is judging. Every one's gonna judge anyway so hey, what the heck. Turn the T.V. off! I could be creating instead of looking at the comments and opinions. 

Lettey: What is your plan after the alum release? 

Marcus: I’m taking everything a day at a time and creating deadlines and everything. I really don’t know. I know I will be creatively drained after everything goes out, because of my role and everything in the project. Cause a lot of people don’t mix their own project and create their own beats and write and record, a lot of people don’t do that. So ya I’ll take some time out and just promote this and probably get a couple of videos done. That will be an easy thing to do, sit in front of a camera and act. Be innovative. I’m trying to do something really hip and get people hip to the different dimensions of how people watch videos.

Lettey: Are you interesting in signing to a label, or are you staying independent? 

Marcus: The best thing to do is to stay independent. I have not gotten any offers from anybody yet, unfortunately. Would I sign? It depends. If they grant me money to get my imagination out more, then yes I would. If they wanted to loan me money to get my imagination out, then no. It looks good on the outside with their gold chains and such. But then you find out that is all they really have and it's different when you meet them. 

Lettey: When is the project set to release? 

Marcus: November 12th 2013

Lettey: All your Facebook fans are dying to know, are you single or off the market?

Marcus: I am dating. That's about it. 

 

Well I know I can speak for many of his fans when I say we are all anxiously awaiting the release of "the project". We will have more updates to come as we move closer to November and don't forget to post this blog and get the word out. Till next time this is Lettey saying Goodnight and don't forget to drink your oval-tine! haha.  

 

MARCUS'S FANS TELL ALL!

We hear lots of stories online about how a certain artist or musical genre changes a person's life.So we are going to take a little time and get the info straight from the fans. I asked Marcus's Facebook fans to tell me what inspired them about his music and how it has changed their lives. This is what they had to say.

Christopher Fulton

"Well I started listening to Marcus through Tech N9ne and Krizz Kaliko. Most notably the song "Gumbo".   I loved how he sounded. He fit right into the world of Strange Music. The music he wrote actually had meaning and depth and with him being so close to my age, it inspires me that this generation has talent instead of the popular trash on the radio.I would always send messages to my favorite artists on Facebook hoping to talk to them and tell them how much I respect them. Marcus was the first one to respond. Within a few days too. He seems so down to earth and I can not wait to see what he has in store for his album. I am a lifelong fan."

                                                                       Megan Pickens

"I remember when I first got a listen at Marcus Yates' style.  It was in "I Love Music" when he rapped "Music ain't a hobby, it's an organ, of my body, that the creator provided back in January of '92.  So don't you dare say that music skipped my generation."  His lines fit perfect and spoke against the crowds of people saying "Hip Hop is dead."  Hip Hop was never dead.  Too many clowns have been given the spot light leaving real artists in the dark.  I was excited to hear more.  Later, I fell in love with Krizz Kaliko's "Gumbo" and heard his familiar voice.  I ended up buying a ticket to the SOS tour and got to see Marcus live.  He really put on a show and his style goes unmatched.  He has this feel good/relaxed vibe that really gets you lost in his music.  I can't wait to hear more from this dude and definitely can't wait 'til the day one of his CD's is in a big box store."

                     Ben Beal
"I'll be looking out for your EP and buying it when it comes out."

These are just a few of the amazing fans that have had their lives touched in some way or another by Marcus's music. He is so humbled by this outreach of fans and will keep bringing great music to everyone til his last breath. When I asked Marcus what he thought of all this, he said "It's great. It's amazing. Just wow." He told me its a wonderful thing when you can make music for yourself and it moves over into another person's life and reaches out to them in the way it did to you. Check out more comments and fan dialogue at www.facebook.com/marcusiyates and stay tuned this weekend to an exclusive interview with Marcus about the new album, formally an EP. 

THERE BE NO DEBATES ON THE TALENT OF MARCUS YATES!

Marcus Yates may be working on changing his name from Oobergeek, to his God given name, but what isn't changing is his dedication and passion for what he does. 



Marcus came through Portland, OR on his stop for Summer of Strange, the highly anticipated tour featuring Krizz Kaliko, ¡Mayday!, and Stevie Stone. I was extremely grateful to get to spend the day with Marcus during his stop, pick his brain on music, and get a photo-shoot done for him by Shawna aka Ms Bunny, a very talented Portland Music photographer. Marcus told me before we started, "Portland is one weird place, but I like it." 
The day started out with us meeting up with Marcus at the Roseland Theater for lunch, and well, the rest is history!

Lettey: " So Marcus, formally Oobergeek, tell the world why you decided on the name change. 

Marcus: "I just wanted to change my name, because my imagination is centered around Marcus, not Oobergeek. It's Marcus."

Lettey: "What do you think your fans will say? Do you think they will be accepting of it?"

Marcus: "I mean, I don't have a whole lot of fans, to be honest, yet. I appreciate their support and everything and I hope they understand. If they don't, well I still have to do what's right for me."

Lettey: "Do you think changing back to your given name will help with the confusion ,making you feel like it's less of a gimmick and more you? 

Marcus: "Ya, I think it would." 

Lettey: "Tell me about the tour. How are things going?"

Marcus: "I'm just soaking everything in. Just looking at all the views. All the different views of the different cities. Cities I wouldn't think to go to on the regular. Like hey let's go to Tucson." 

Lettey: "Portland being your favorite city though, right?"

Marcus: "Ya, Portland is one of my favorites. Tucson was a good one. Santa Cruz was a good one. Ah, all of them were dope, but like, Santa Cruz and Tucson stuck out cause they were innovative  a very innovative city, and I like that."

Lettey: "Tell me, how has your experience been in Portland so far?"

Marcus: "Uh, its been great. A lot of weird people. Weird is good, if it ain't killing nobody. I just love the vibe here." 

Lettey: "What are your expectations for the Portland show? Have you seen the crowd yet." 

Marcus: "I have not seen the crowd yet, but I expect Portland to be awesome, just because Lette and her sister are here."

Lettey: (Lettey laughs) "Thanks we are glad to be here too. Tell me a little about how you've grown on this tour, and what you are taking away from it when you're done."

Marcus: "Being around other artists and just seeing how they live, even like living on this bus with 12 people. Its just looking how people are, people you look up to and seeing how they live, its dope." 

Lettey: "Can you tell us any funny behind the scenes stories from the tour bus?" 

(A  member Mayday yells out “don’t tell them anything..just kidding”)

Lettey: "What happens on the bus stays on the bus right?"

Marcus: "I mean we turned it up a few times. Don’t give this voice recording to Travis tho (Marcus laughs) We turned it up a few times. Everyone  here is mellow, everybody is cool. Krizz just came off of it (previous tour), he’s resting right now. Everybody is cool."

Lettey: "What's the plan after the tour? What will you be doing next?" 

Marcus: "I’m gonna make an EP. I am starting to work on some tracks right now. I’m working on the EP and  I’m gonna get it done."

Lettey: "This new EP has a jazz feel to it, right?"

Marcus: "Ya its Jazz based, its really jazzy. It's not gonna be all jazz, but something jazzy in a way. That’s were I’m from."

Lettey: "Are any collaborations coming from this tour?"

Marcus: "Especially ¡Mayday!. Krizz of course, uh everybody on this bus. Yep, everybody on this bus. We said when we have time we’d find out about collaborations. When everybody is busy here, its hard to focus on plans. We’ll do it when the tour is done.  We can play our beats out loud here for everyone tho. Everyone on this bus is dope."

Lettey: "Tell me about getting to get down with ¡Mayday!" 

Marcus: "It was cool. To find out someone has that funk like you, they know how to get down."

Lettey: "What would you like to leave with at the end of this tour?"

Marcus: "A bigger fan base, more listeners and eyes and ears for when I put out my EP!"

Lettey: "Your Facebook likes and YouTube views are increasing dramatically every day. How do you feel about that?" 

Marcus: "I think that is awesome. I really had fun creating that song with Futuristic and Krizz. When we met up, some tour they just got off of, it was amazing."

Lettey: "Can you tell me about your upcoming song with Tech on his new Something Else CD release?" 

Marcus: "I can’t really say the title, but its dope. It's crazy. Man I don’t know if I should talk about it, but like some of the lyrics were like about manifesting things for yourself. Getting better as you get older. Some of them were taken personally."

Lettey: "Any finals words for your fans?"

Marcus: "Communicate!" 

Marcus, myself, and Ms. Bunny spend the rest of the day photographing him around Portland, showing him the sites, and just getting to know each other. The bands were very welcoming to us and all the guys really got along well and had fun with what they were doing. 

I feel privileged every day to to work with such an enthusiastic and humble person, who has such a strong talent and desire to move forward in his work. I look forward to bringing everyone more information on this amazing up and and coming artist and helping everyone transition from Oobergeek, the name, to Marcus the man. Once you meet him you'll see there is no need for a fancy name or gimmick  he's just Marcus plain and simple, tho there is nothing plain about this friendly and funny guy. 

Just check out the pictures and see for yourself. 

 Marcus saying "I'm #1" while picking up his lunch from the counter.

 Marcus's first Portland Furry experience haha.

 Marcus enjoying the beautiful Japanese Gardens and a slight hazy down pour during our shoot. Thanks Portland.

 Marcus backstage dealing with the lovely Portland rain!!

 Kicking it on a statue during the photo shoot.

                                                  Rocking Portland Oregon on stage!

SUMMER OF STRANGE TOUR IN MOTION!