Luvva-J (Live from I-5/KAOS) and I go back like Dr. Emmit Brown & Marty McFly. I met him through my friends Keith & Kenneth's older brother Leonard. We were young kids that tried rapping, but Leonard and his friends were looked at as the OGs. They freestyled, rocked the Hi-Tek boots, the s-curl gumby fades... they literally looked like the rappers we saw on the tape covers.
While the twins and I were in middle school working on our chops, their older brother and his crew were recording tracks in studios. The demos they cut, in my opinion, could have got them signed to some sort of label deal. The group was called "4 Real" and it was made up of Leonard Woolridge, Jose (Luvva-J) Gutierrez, Robert (SP) Spruill and Kortez Eaton. Whenever they would hit the studio and record a track, Keith and Kennith would sneak into their brother's bedroom and let me hear the tape that Leonard had of their latest demo. To this day I still remember some of the punchlines and lyrics the four of them dropped on their demos. (and I honestly haven't heard most of them since the early 90s') Robert was my favorite member of the group and he had this one line from one of the cuts that went, "I make dollars, f**k making pesos!!!"
They had about an EP worth of tracks and as far as I know, this is the only track that still exists. The other tracks they did may be on some cassette buried in a box, but I have no idea. This joint, "Just to Survive," was saved because Luvva-J had the reel to reel from when they recorded it at Zoo Studios in Lakewood, WA. (back in 1992) Luvva-J was the lead producer on the cut and blended Gregorian chants with "The Message" panting a rather dark street theme. This was one of my favorite tracks they recorded and I hope it can now get the shine it deserves.
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