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L.E.P. - Street Tellers
Interview By: Mina Jasarevic
 Chi town has blessed us with Common, Lupe, Kanye and Rhymefest. The depth and truth in their lyrics has made every hip-hop devotee stop and ask what it is about Chicago that produces such quality writers and performers. It’s not just the emotion that comes through in their songs; it’s not just the lyricism; and it’s not just arrogance. Perhaps what captures us more than anything else is the passion that transcends through their mics to our earphones; fortunately for us, and fortunately for hip-hop, it doesn’t stop there.
On a mission to paint a picture of the city infested with gang violence is L.E.P. – or Low End Professionals – who are coming strong and approaching hard with gangbang music and without an apology. Can violence be described without being encouraged? You be the judge. Their game face is on and they’re inviting the listener to face the truth of the grimy streets where life isn’t so sweet. And once again, Chi has not let us down. From the hard-hitting honesty and vibrant lyrical description, to the commitment for good music, L.E.P. gives us the gangbanging feel with the hip-hop quality.
Their upcoming album features some of the best and no rest including Chicago’s own, Kanye and Twista, as well as Hi-Tek, Nottz and Rick Ross (among others). Nobodysmiling.com caught up with the street tellers to discuss their upcoming album, the unfortunate loss of their member Lil Larro, and the difference between promoting and painting violence.
Nobodysmiling.com : Give us a little Intro. Who is L.E.P.?
 L.E.P. : Well the name stands for Low End Professionals. Lower numbers in Chicago, that’s where we’re from. We’re from State Street and Inglewood where pretty much majority of us was raised. L.E.P. is just straight from Chicago, giving you the other side of the story – the other side from what Kanye is giving you. He giving you the good side, we letting you know the bad side. ‘Cause this is 99.9% gangster city.
Nobodysmiling.com : Who are your members?
L.E.P. : Count and Moonie.
Nobodysmiling.com : You’re giving us “the other side of the story”. Can you explain that a bit further?
L.E.P. : We are a gang-organized city, you know? If you live in Chicago and you was raised in Chicago, then nine times out of ten, you’re in a gang.
Nobodysmiling.com : Can gang-bang music be descriptive without promoting violence?
L.E.P. : Yeah, see, that’s the whole thing. We’re not advising you to go out and gang-bang; go out kill, shoot people, and sell drugs. We’re just letting you know the area we was brought up in. So that’s pretty much us telling our story.
Nobodysmiling.com : What about the critics who say that gang-bang music promotes and provokes violence? How do you respond to that?
L.E.P. : Pretty much the same way I just told you. We get out here and we let everybody know that we just got a story to tell. We’re not out here to promote nothing. We don’t want the crime rate to go up because we tell ‘em the truth about our city that has been untold. We just pretty much letting you know what else is going on, you know? So when you come up here you don’t get the wrong idea, because sometimes Kanye doesn’t really touch on those subjects. It’s the “Good Life” and stuff like that. Well, he made it out to experience the good life but we’re still back here. So it’s not that good for us.
Nobodysmiling.com : Lil Larro, an L.E.P. member, was killed due to gun violence. When did this happen?
L.E.P. : That was last October 4th.
Nobodysmiling.com : What effect has the loss had on the group?
L.E.P.: Ah man, when somebody that you’re used to being with everyday, close like that…just rips you apart. It’s something that we are never gonna forget. I wake up everyday, I think about him. When I go to the studio, I think about him.
Nobodysmiling.com : How does that influence you as artists?
L.E.P. : It pretty much lets us know that it’s messed up inside here. That’s the things that we’re telling you about when we’re letting you know about the things coming up here. We don’t care how close to stardom you is or whatever the situation is. It happens everyday out here, you know? We’re one of the top five murder-rate cities. It’s dramatic, man. I’m a part of that situation. It’s been a year and a couple months and it still feels like yesterday…
Nobodysmiling.com : Was it ever the goal for your music to bring attention to the violence?
L.E.P. : Oh, yeah for sure. We’re not doing music just to let people know ‘look, this is how the city is’. We want to give back. We want to open up community centers and give these young children something to do so they can stop some of the things they are doing. I don’t glorify the fact that we are one of the top-five murder-rate cities. I don’t glorify that; I wish it could be different, you know? We’re definitely trying to do something and trying give back. We’re not just rapping for ourselves and trying to buy fancy cars and nice jewelry and all that – we want to give back to our community and make a change.
Nobodysmiling.com : Can you give us a rundown on your upcoming CD?
L.E.P. : We got a new song on the radio right now with Fabolous called “We ain’t playing”. It’ll be played in 40 different cities after the first of this year. We just working on our album as it goes along. We don’t really have a release date…it may come out tomorrow, hey. We have enough good music and enough good songs that we could drop any day of the week. We was in a situation with Sony, we no longer with them right now; actually, we may be going back to Sony *laughs*. So you know, it’s pretty much just doing our music, getting our buzz the way it needs to be. It’s better to drop an album when people know you than vice-versa.
Nobodysmiling.com : So you’re not releasing the album through Infared?
L.E.P. : No, we’re not gonna release it through Infared. We got a few things on the table right now and we’re pretty much trying to figure out which one is going to be the best offer for us. Like I said, we may be going back to Sony. It may be Infared/Sony; it may be Infared/Koch; Infared/Illmatic. Infared/Def Jam. We got a few situations going on right now. You know, pretty much, after the first Major is when they opened up and dropped them budgets...and got a bidding war going on.
Nobodysmiling.com : Do you have a title for the album?
L.E.P. : You know what? We have so many titles *laughs*. But seriously, we’re not really worried about a title right now.
Nobodysmiling.com : You have crazy producers on this album, including Hi-Tek, Nottz and Kanye. The vocal additions include Twista, Rick Ross, and Fabolous as you just mentioned. How did you go about collaborating with such a diverse group of artists?
L.E.P. : Well, I’ll be honest with you, good music speaks for itself.
Nobodysmiling.com : I KNOW you’re gonna tell me more than that.
L.E.P. : Good music speaks for itself and you have to know people. Pretty much, when you bring in a good product to someone, it’s hard to turn it down. Everybody that hears our music wants to be a part of it, ‘cause they like what we got going on. We’re the next hottest thing, why wouldn’t you want to be a part of it? *laughs*
Nobodysmiling.com : Is the music mostly focused on Chicago?
L.E.P. : Hell yeah.
Nobodysmiling.com : In terms of production, were you going somewhere specific with this album?
L.E.P. : First we get the beat. Then we make the chorus and then we write the verses. We pretty much going along with it as it comes. We lettin’ people know what’s going on in the streets in Chicago but we also touching on a few other subjects too. So it’s not just a whole album of one thing, you know? ‘Cause you can get that done in a song or two; we doin a few things with it.
Nobodysmiling.com : What about those who say that gang-bangers should stick to the streets and rappers should stick to rap. Thoughts?
L.E.P. : *laughs* Oh well. We all are multi-talented. And we pretty much all are able to do a few different things. This guy may be able to deal with cars but he’s great at the stock market. We’re all multi-talented. And whoever says that, I don’t want to be around a person like that because that’s letting me know he’s miseducated.
Nobodysmiling.com : Interesting. Did I miss anything?
L.E.P. : No. You pretty much touched on everything. I got a little cold, so I’m a little congested...
Nobodysmiling.com : It’s OK, ‘tis the season of freezing. I’m from Canada, I should know.
L.E.P. : Oh you from Canada? Big shout-out to Canada, Toronto Raptors. Got Mo P playing for them.
Nobodysmiling.com : He got traded. But the Raptors are holding it down, still…
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