Cymarshal Law
If there’s one thing to learn in this week’s Hot Seat, it’s never go to Amsterdam with Cymarshall Law.
1. Tell us about your craziest touring experience.
Ok I’ve had plenty of crazy touring experiences but the first that comes to mind would be the summer of 2008 in Holland (The Netherlands). The day started out beautiful the sun was shining and I felt good, pumped because I had two shows that day ahead, the first was in a city called Breda in the early evening and the 2nd in Amsterdam at night. It was my first time performing in that country so I was very excited to do so, we got to the first show which was about a two hour drive from where we were staying (Utrech) in the back seat of a friends van with no seat belts just my brother/partner (Skit Slam) and I hanging on for dear life! So anyway we got to the show which was at a festival after mingling and meeting the show promoter soon after it was time for my set, I stepped on stage to a crowd of 2,000 roaring and cheering for me, as I started performing on stage I felt like I completely lost it I was caught up in the moment as if the holy ghost had possessed me, since it was my first time there I was almost shocked to see people in the crowd singing the words to my songs (goes to show how music can travel) when my set was over I hopped off stage into the crowd and began selling cds and signing everything to baseball caps, t-shirts to human flesh the circle around me became such a distraction that the host of the show got on the mic and had to tell me to leave from the area of the stage because otherwise he couldn’t properly introduce the next act, when I finally looked up I realized I had missed the train to go to my Amsterdam show and again I was bailed out by the friends who had drove me there in their van although they wanted to stay for the rest of the festival they were kind enough to drive about 2 and half hours to Amsterdam for me, so after finally getting to the city we tore down the show and towards the end of the show I lost my voice because I was going so hard at the show I had earlier in the day, my friends did not stay for the show because they had a long drive back to Utrech but It was cool we had another friend in Amsterdam who we were supposed to stay with that night, mind you its pouring raining cats and dogs out, the show finishes and the “friend” we were supposed to stay with for some strange reason bails on us so now we have no place to stay… were sitting in the venue and the promoter is like ok were closing the building its been fun but you guys have to leave…. its about 2 am in Amsterdam pouring rain and we have no place to go with ALL of our luggage, there’s 3 of us now including my manager and we all have a huge suitcase and hand luggage each out on the street in Amsterdam not very far from the Red Light District. We are told by various people that right then it was going to be impossible to find a hotel for a decent price and our train wasn’t leaving until 10 am, in disbelief we walk about a mile and a half now soaking wet to the nearest hotel and our worst fear was realized we found about 3 hotels where you needed P. Diddy type of money if you thought you were staying there, we caught up to a taxi and asked him to take us to a cheap hotel he barely understood us but agreed so we get in and travel about 15-20 minutes pay the man and he drops us behind some building and says its too hard for him to get his car to the front its easier for us to get out there and just walk a minute around to the front were like ok thanks alot!! So we get out and walk around to the front…. No Hotel… we got GOT we were tricked and money stolen by the cab driver, so once again the 3 of us stood outside in the now lightning storm soaking getting more aggravated by the minute, I was tired my body ached, my feet hurt and I was running low on cash, now if you’ve ever been to Amsterdam you know it is NOT a city you want to sleep outside in during the night especially with all that luggage looking like tourists, we caught another cab to the train station and stayed up all night in the rain walking from place to place looking for shelter dodging mysterious looking local characters but sometimes having to hold conversations with some people that had obviously been taking all types of drugs in the city, 10 am finally came and we got on the train! Hooray!… The story would have ended there if not for after reaching our destination after an hour my brother realizing he had left his laptop on the train! He caught the next thing smoking back in the direction we had just came from hoping to retrieve his possession risking missing the ship we were to catch to go to England, luckily he got his laptop back and we were able to catch the ship in time, when we got back to England we rested laughed about it and the next day got on a flight to Hungary, were more crazy things happened but that is a story for another time.
2. What type of college class would you’d most want to take and why?
Media Production because I’ve always been able to listen to an idea or songs and visualize what it should look like in my head pretty clearly so I would love to learn another way of bringing my creativity to life because I already do it through writing songs.
3. What city in America is the most fun to visit and why?
I enjoy going to Los Angeles, every show I’ve ever rocked there has been on point, the weather is nice as hell. I Love the feeling I get there that its a place where Dreams really come true, kinda like NY but I’m always in New York so its different also if I have certain medicinal needs its not a problem to get that taken care of!
4. What’s some of the best advice you were ever given?
Be yourself, don’t follow the crowd if you don’t want too, so many things can go wrong not listening to your gut feeling and intuition. Nobody knows yourself like you do, be a leader and people will follow be a follower and people may never know your there.
5. What’s in heavy rotation in your MP3/CD player right now?
My 2 new finished unreleased albums Freedom 2 and Freedom Express Line and new Cymarshall Law & Mr. Joeker some Stephen Marley some Nneka…. some joints from an upcoming Emcee I know by the name of Magiver Knowledge…. among other things ooo that new Jake One and Freeway album too…
6. The last good book you read or TV show you’re addicted to.
The last good book I read or actually and still reading is Scar Tissue autobiography of Red Hot Chili Peppers vocalist Anthony Kiedis and TV show I’m addicted to would be “Entourage” and am pretty sad to be watching the last episode of “Nip/Tuck” this coming Wednesday.
7. What’s the first concert you ever saw - how was it?
I was really young and can barely remember but can remember the feeling of being in awe of the artists releasing their raw uncut soul on to the crowd, I was about 5 or 6 living in England and it was Reggae Sun Splash concert a Nice Sunny Day that ended with Gun Shots and us running to the car!! 8. What are three items you can’t live without on tour? Plenty of Water, My Toothbrush and my International Transformer Converter that enables me to charge my American Gadgets such as phone and camcorder… 9. Who are your major musical influences? Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, KRS-ONE, Slick Rick, My Dad and My Brother/Partner Skit Slam . Any random messages or tips you’d like to give to mtvU watchers? Yes counting another’s blessings never amounted to anything for you , if you put out negative energy that is what will be returned to you, instead turn the negative into a positive and know that success is the best revenge, Gandhi said it best “First they will ignore you, then they will laugh at you, then they will fight you… and then you win.” Thank You for reading and for your support, peace and respect! www.twitter.com/cymarshalllaw I’m on Facebook as Cymarshall Law and www.cymarshalllaw.com Bless!!!
