We’ve got a family here! This month, HipHopDX got to catch up with three members of the QN5 family. Tonedeff, Substantial and PackFM sat down to discuss everything with DX and they had a lot to talk about. In the end, stay tuned for videos and links to tracks by the QN5ers, as well.

The three emcees gave us some interesting stories. Why was PackFM chased by cops? Who compared Hip-Hop to a rape victim? Who saw a couple having sex at his show? Who was banned from their own radio show?

Read on to get answers to all that and more as we sit with QN5 for October’s Underground Report.

PACKFM: I F*CKING HATE RAPPERS

DX: You represent an element that is forgotten at times with graffiti. Where did your love for graf start? What's been your wildest experience while bombing?
PFM: You know…graffiti came natural for me. I'd be in my classes in elementary school and I would just write my name on all of my desks so that people would know I sat there. Then we started getting "tag names" and my first tag was "RAT." I don't remember why, but the day I got home, I wrote it on the door of a building on my block and from there it just kept growing.

As for the wildest bombing experience, any graf writer will tell you that the wildest stories come from getting chased by cops. I've been chased many times. One time I was doing a fill-in on a high traffic corner, but it was like 4am so it was kinda dead. I'm on my bike painting this wall, and I see a cop car pull up across the street. When I think back, I realize they probably didn't see what I was doing, but when I saw them I took off! So now they're following me and I'm on a 12 speed mountain bike. I'm dipping down blocks and shifting gears like crazy, I never even used the gears before that day. So after like four blocks the cops caught up to me and pull up next to me while I'm riding and they have the door open with the guns drawn yelling "Get off the bike now!" I stopped and they patted me down. I explained to them I was just catching some tags and I got freaked out when I saw them. They basically told me if they would have seen anything shiny when they stopped me they would have shot me, and let me go. They didn't take my paint or anything. When they left, I rode back to the corner and finished the fill. True story.

DX: Who are some graf artists you admire, aside from yourself, of course?
PFM: As far as tagging goes, I think Chino BYI is the goat, dude is all over the place and has a really dope pen style. The crazy thing is, when I met Chino, I gave him a copy of one of my CDs and he told me he recognized my logo/tag from seeing it around the way. That was cool to me. As far as pieces, T-Kid all day, he must have eaten paint as a child or something, because the shit he does is crazy.

DX: What was it like to drop out? I know you discuss it on record a bit, but after everything, did you ever sit and regret it? Why or why not?
PFM: To be perfectly real, the day I dropped out, I cried. I cried because I was working at McDonald's at the time and I thought that was where I was going to be for the rest of my life. It was scary because it was senior year for me and I didn't have any credits at all. I cut 90% of the classes I took. But I wasn't stupid, I was just confused. I talked to my best friend at the time that had also dropped out and he told me how he got his GED through a college program. I wasn't eligible for that, but it helped me realize that there were other options and my life wasn't over. I don't regret any of it, because going through the things I did, shaped me and the way I do things now. I didn't rely on the school system to educate me, I educated myself. I studied for the GED and SATs on my own, no classes and I got really good scores. And that's how I am now, I don't rely on anybody for shit, if something has to get done, I'll do it myself.

DX: I know you've turned down major label deals. What is your current stance on a major label?
PFM: I think right now anyone who gets signed to a major label is just a tax write-off. It doesn't mean that you don't have talent; it just means that if you aren't making disposable music, they ain't trying to put you out. Think about how many rappers got "signed" to big labels in the past three years and end up putting their album out on Koch. All major labels want is $3 rappers, $1 for the download and $2 for the ringtone. Why waste money on a CD? Tax write-off.

DX: "Fuck you. I rhyme better" is a fresh statement. Is there any MC, past or present, that you actually look up to?
PFM: I look up to Redman and Jay-Z a lot. An MC like Redman has been the same
for the past 20 Years. Grimey, New Jersey funk. I never heard a Redman song and felt like he was trying to adapt or "sound current," every song he's on is just Redman. As for Jay, that dude just screams cool to me. I know it ain't cool for a rapper to be a fan, but fuck it, I'm a fan.

DX: Fair enough. Who you goin' for in '08's presidential election?
PFM: I'm still undecided. More than likely Obama. Like most Americans, I'm not into politics as much as I should be.

DX: I know your next album will be something a little different. I heard you were working with Domingo on the entire project, which is great if your track with him, Slug and Ali is any indication. How did you and Domingo hook up for this LP collaboration?
PFM: I've done a lot of songs over Domingo production in the past, he produced the intro to my album and the original version of "I Can't Win." He has a lot of bangers, and that's the kind of beats I like most. After I finished my album, I had a lot of ideas for follow-up projects and an EP with Domingo was one of them. We did the song with Slug and Brother Ali after we had the idea for the EP, but it was done for Domingo's Most Underrated album. "Sire" is the first song we recorded for the album, and the feedback for that song is nuts so far. If y’all aint heard it, you know where to go...

TONEDEFF: THE NEW HIP-HOP MOVEMENT Continued on page 2 »