The Pack Is Shinin'
When Lil' B from The Pack called The Showbuzz to do an interview recently, he wasn't on his way back from the studio, or a gig, or a meeting with his label rep.
"I actually just got back from the zoo," laughs B. "I was just hanging out with Uno and actually my teacher. It was a little field trip."
The Pack - Lloyd "Young L" Omadhebo, Keith "Stunna" Jenkins, DaMonte "Uno" Johnson, and Brandon "Lil B" McCartney - met in 2005 when they were attending high school in the San Francisco Bay area. As The Wolfpack, they released their self-produced album, "Wolfpack Muzik, Vol. 1," followed by a second volume in 2006. They also put out two mixtapes, exclusively featuring their own music.
Their catchy track "Vans" - an ode to a brand of sneakers favored by skateboarders - caught the attention of rapper Too $hort when he overheard someone playing it on their car radio during a visit to the Bay Area. He sought them out and signed them to his Up All Nite records, a Jive imprint.
"We did a lot of self-promotion with our music, handing out our CDs to everybody, just trying to get heard," said B. "Too $hort heard about us through somebody else. This is one out of a million anytime this can happen."
"Vans" landed on Billboard's Pop 100 and Rhythmic Top 40 charts and was named No. 5 on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of the Year for 2006.
The group released their EP "Skateboards to Scrapers" in December, which contains a remix of "Vans" as well as their current single, "I'm Shinin'."
"Young and Stunna skateboard, Uno skateboards occasionally. I don't skateboard at all," said B. "A scraper is an old school car with big rims, 24 inches or 26 inches, something like what your grandmother would have."
Lil B doesn't skateboard for a very specific reason.
"I suck," he said with a laugh. "I can't skateboard at all. So I don't try. Besides it's too dangerous. I don't like jumping off boards and jumping down steps and grinding on steps and falling and stuff. I'm not a big fan of that."
Video: The Pack stops by The Showbuzz studios in New YorkRight now, Lil B and Uno are too busy with their music to attend high school classes, so they're finishing up their degrees with a tutor. Young L, who attends San Francisco State University, is also taking a break from his studies.
Eventually, Lil' B would like to go to college and major in education.
"It was really hard for me to be taught," he said. "A lot of teachers were kind of mean to me and I want to give to kids what I didn't get. The teachers that helped me learn motivates me to be a good teacher."
For now, though, The Pack are focusing on their music and their growing fan base.
"(We're getting) a lot of MySpace fan love. A lot of fans are showing they care, it's really nice. I really don't call them fans, I call them lifelong supporters," said Lil B.
The Pack have been busy working on their debut album. They've recorded a single "Fresh," featuring Dem Franchize Boyz, and have been working with super producer Lil Jon and rapper Jim Jones.
They're also looking ahead to their first tour and have already begun dabbling in merchandising with a jewelry line from Bay area jeweler, Highline Custom Jewelry.
Lil' B says the fast pace can be a little overwhelming, but he's taking it all in stride.
"Life is so crazy to me right now, this is not really real, so I just live day by day," he said.
By Judy Faber