Redlands, CA rapper PABLIZE Shares His Inspiration for Music & Camaraderie in an Exclusive Interview w/ ThaWilsonBlock

"You could reach whatever goal you set for yourself it doesn't matter what kind of past you had trust me I grew up around gangs and pushing drugs to make money but I'm creating a path to a better future" -Pablize

Mistah Wilson: Yo, Pablize! Thanks for coming thru for this exclusive interview with ThaWilsonBlock Magazine! We're glad to have you here with us. What's tha latest & greatest?
Pablize: Well just pretty much working in the studio on the new project a mixtape don't really know what I'm going to call it yet but I'm working on it with my boy Zahid my little homie Raw The Savage and my boy Saint we just started recording a few weeks ago so don't really know the exact release date but you can bet we can be in a studio working hard man so you ready for that.

Mistah Wilson: Big thanks for filling out the formal artist introduction​ to tha network. For our audience reading this, could you give us just a quick background on yourself?
Pablize: Well I was born and raised Southern California in the Inland Empire County of San Bernardino in the city of Redlands I'm 34 years old and I have the hopes of one day becoming hopefully sooner than later I guess you could say famous for music cuz music is my passion namely rap I always been good at it I always have had Big Dreams and the necessity to live a better life and out here at least for me and a lot of the people that I grew up with sometimes the only means to better yourself is found in the streets pushing work or Jacking fools but fortunately .God blessed me with the Talent to rap so to me I look at it as a means to create a better life for me my daughter my family and the people I grew up with to better myself and show other people it come from the same background as I do that if you work hard enough and have enough persistence and don't give up on your dream you could reach whatever goal you set for yourself it doesn't matter what kind of past you had trust me I grew up around gangs and pushing drugs to make money but I'm creating a path to a better future don't get me wrong I don't regret anything that's happened and I wouldn't trade the life that I've lived or the people in my life for anything in the universe because all of the things that have happened and all the people that have gone through them with have all had a part in the person that I am today what you get from me as a artist is realness if anything my music doesn't concentrate around money cars parties and girls I mean don't get me wrong all those things are nice and those are all things that everybody wants everybody wants to be rich everybody wants to drive nice cars have a nice house guys want to be with beautiful women and women want to be with handsome men but what you get form my music is the truth I'm never going to put out a record talking about things I don't know about when I tell people in my songs people know me in Redlands cuz I grew up there and I'm from the hood out there rest assured if you go to my neighborhood and ask about me people are going to know who I am when I say things about selling dope and weed and being in around when things happened in the streets it's because I really been there and seen all those things I'm not trying to be fake like a lot of rappers now.


Mistah Wilson: How was life growing up in tha Inland Empire?
Pablize: Growing up in the Inland Empire was pretty cool it's a mix of everything right here we just don't get as much recognition as Los Angeles because the city all of Los Angeles is known all over the world because it always comes out on TV movies music the news Hollywood is there so automatically get more Focus but we have a lot of the same things going on out here they do over there the neighborhood that I grew up in is predominantly Hispanic located on the north side of Redlands people think that not much happens here because it looks nice and it has some beautiful

areas but don't get it twisted a lot of things happen out here that make this pretty rough area to grow up in the only difference from here and the bigger cities Like Los Angeles and San Bernardino is that Redlands is pretty well kept and I think that stems from the fact that those of us that grew up here have a lot of pride and we were from so we don't really let it look that bad because we don't want it to look run down or anything another really positive thing that happens out here in Redlands is that when you grow up out here most of the time you have real life long friends like me and my homies have literally watched the years pass together I cant Name very many people that I haven't known for at least over 10 years so you create strong bonds with everybody that's one of the main things that I'm proud of from out here now those of us who have children our kids are growing up together and it's really likely that they also are going to develop lifelong friendships and strong bonds and keep the tradition that many of us here have experienced the people here are some of the realest people you'll ever meet not only in the street sense but in life in general I can honestly say that it's literally like we're big family and most the time everybody means well towards you if you're doing good they're happy if you're doing bad and you need some help they got your back I've been a lot of places in my life as well as other states and I can honestly tell you that I've never seen anyone anywhere have the type of friendships that we have out here we really take care of our own in all aspects life can be pretty fun out here especially in the summertime for the most part and then unfortunately there's those times when things happen that are not so good growing up we seen a lot of violence and people tend to make money from hustling another such activities but that doesn't make the people out here bad people we stick up for our own when people disrespect and do whatever we got to do to provide for a our families I got love for a lot of cities in the I.E. but you already know in my opinion and a lot of other people's opinion Redlands is the best City it makes some of the Downest most loyal people you could ever meet.


Mistah Wilson: From your point of view, what has tha local music scene been like in Redlands, CA?
Pablize: That's actually a really interesting question because Redlands is a really small town so to tell you the truth there's not really that much of a music scene but there is a lot of talent there I think one of the first most influential people in the music scene in Redlands is my homeboy from my neighborhood Lil E he was one of the first to start rapping from Redlands he actually got pretty far but he was more involved in the Chicano rap circuit he came out with an album called "just tell me why" and he did a lot of work with high-power records and a rapper from there named mr. Criminal then there's other people such as myself my homie zahid and in the younger generation We Got Talent like my boy Raw and everybody's talking about this new kid name lil xan I personally haven't heard his music but he's from the city so I'ma shout him out oh yeah and how could I forget my boy J.O.E. and we also have a really good producer that works with him a lot my boy Raw.B so like I said there's not very many outlets in Redlands but there is a lot of very talented people out there that given the correct opportunity I think would have a really big impact on hip hop in a positive way.


Mistah Wilson: What led you to start rapping?
Pablize: I just always thought it was dope how MCs represented the area where they were from and they were almost like a celebrity where they grew up I found out that I had talent for rap when I was like 11 and 12 years old I mean I was cool but I wasn't that good but the more I worked on it the better I got by the time I was like 15 I was battling at school and beating a lot of people so I kept at it but mostly I was rapping just when the homies wanted me to and just saying things to represent my neighborhood in my raps but the more time went on and the more people that heard me the more they were saying I was dope finally when I turned about 17 or 18 years old my homies started telling me that I should really start taking this serious so I worked on a couple tracks mostly in people's houses recording out of closets and garages but I was still too caught up in the streets to really take it serious finally when I hit my 20s I started focusing a lot more on it and turning into the MC you see today.


Mistah Wilson: Back in 2011, you appeared on The First Installment by Triple Beam & Black Ice ENT. What led to your involvement in the project?
Pablize: Well a few years earlier when I had barely started taking rap serious my homegirl Susanna worked at a gas station and one of her everyday customers came in and asked her if she liked hip hop because he was throwing a show at a local bar she said yes and he invited her out to come to the show then she told him she had a friend that could rap which was me and I guess somehow she ended up signing me up for the show but when she told me about the show she just invited me to come out and check it out with her she told me about it and I was like yeah sure so then the day of the show comes luckily for me that day I just went to the swap meet where they used to have this little both will you could record for $20 a song and I had just recorded a song called why does it rain but I still had no idea that I was signed up to perform at that show so I recorded the song later and later on I go to the show with her my homeboy short my homeboy grumpy and shorts girl Anique and I'm right there just chilling and checking out the show when all sudden I'm getting called up to the stage to perform mind you had no idea that that was going to happen so I just look at my homegirl and I was like what ?!and she said oh yeah I forgot to tell you I signed you up to perform man I was trippin out luckily for me I just recorded that song that day so I still had the beat in the car so I told my homie to go grab the beat out the car I gave it to the DJ he threw it on I performed the song everybody was vibing to it and when I got off stage the guy that invited my homegirl to the show came up to me shook my hand and told me that he was interested in having me work with his brother that guy is my boy Alvo which is smokes brother smoke was also on the first installment with his brother young Reese so I started working smoke and performing at shows with him and then at one of the shows Alvo introduced us to the guys from Triple Triple Beam my boys Young wise and Quest Beats and we started working on songs and Doing shows together and so that's how we all came together to work on the 1st installment.


Mistah Wilson: You had two features on tha album "All The Way Down" & "Nothing to Loose". Who were some artists off tha album that you've personally worked with?
Pablize: Well, as far as the first installment goes I personally worked with everybody on that project and actually became quite close to everybody that I worked with I was already part of the Black Ice Entertainment camp and we were really close with triple beam so close that we might as well have had the same name for the squad like we used to see each other almost on a daily basis then I met fade through young Reese and wise and then they introduced us to Trax Knox out in Pasadena and we ended up recording the first installment at your instalment a Traxxs house so yeah I worked with everybody on that project closely.


Mistah Wilson: You had a sharp verse in "Nothing to Loose" and tha music video was on point. Who helped put it all together?
Pablize: Nothing to lose was a collab between me wise and fade and as far as the video goes I think that was Young wise idea to shoot the video and we're working the videographer at the time named Freddy so he shot the video for us he was also our photographer a couple times. So Wise ends up telling me he wants to shoot the video and he ends up coming with the concept that for my scene I should make it look like they came to where I be at with my homies so I let my homie pelon know that I'm shooting the video and asked if he wanted to be in it he said yeah then I go to a couple of my homies from my neighborhood and invited my homies to come out to the video only a couple of them made it to the shoot the homie Buddha his cousin that used to be from the hood cloudy and my other homie big boy plus my homie Pelons nephews and my boy from San Bernardino Temps and we shot my scene but overall I think the one that really put the video together as far as organized it and everything was young Young wise.


Mistah Wilson: Are you currently independent or are you rocking with a management team?
Pablize: I'm currently independent which I like because it gives me the freedom to do pretty much whatever I want with my music take any direction I want to go when I write and everything but sometimes I think I would rather be rocking with a management team because it would make it easier for me to focus on just music you know recording writing songs things like that not to mention it would be way easier to get shows and get promoted the right way from people with the right plugs so I'm not opposed to signing under management as long as the management is legit and has the best interest of me and mine at heart so if any of you managers out there are good people straight forward not scandalous and underhanded and you like my music hit me up maybe we can work something out.


Mistah Wilson: Have you rocked any shows lately? If so, where?
Pablize: Man, I haven't Rocked a stage in years! I would love to don't get me wrong but I haven't worked on nothing new in so long that I have no new songs to perform so once I get more songs out there and start doing more work with more artist I will definitely be hitting the stage again right now it's pretty much just rapping for my homies in the backyard sometimes just like back in the day.


Mistah Wilson: Who are some musical figures that influenced tha artist you are today?
Pablize: I have a lot of influences as far as my music goes of course two major influences in my music are Tupac and Biggie Tupac for his real lyrics cause he was able to paint a picture with words and how no matter if you're from the hood or one of the richest suburbs most likely you're going to be able to relate to at least one of his songs biggie for the fact the he was just a skilled lyricist other influences are people like Jadakiss Lloyd Banks Big Pun for their work play and punchlines I even have an influence from a whole different genre of music the genre is Narco Corridos and the singer is Chalino Sanchez and the reason he influences my music is because he was a great composer he wrote

his own songs I don't know about the music but the lyrics and the way he put everything together and plus the way he talked about things that he was really involved in and that is Sean where there's also a lot of people that glorify and talk about smuggling drugs and doing that kind of thing but in reality they never did it but Chalino did so when he talked about it and wrote about it in his songs you were getting it from somebody who really been there and you can't make up the feel it's just real and that's what I want people to understand and feel when you listen to my music it's real.


Mistah Wilson: Who are some artists that you've worked with and would like to work with some time in tha near future?
Pablize: Well, I worked with quite a few underground artists like my homie smoke loc my homie young Reese Young wise Quest Beats track Knox young fade JReal the realest my boy EnstinctZ my boy Raw There Savage my boy Zahid but homie saint my homie lil E my homie Steve. IE my homie J.O.E. I'm a boy Raw B. As far as who I would like to work with in the near future I would really like to work with anybody on the Sucios camp but especially King Lil G I would like to work with people like Scarface & Lloyd Banks but honestly I'm pretty much open to working with anybody as long as your work ethics right and you really do got skills.

Mistah Wilson: What techniques do you use when writing about your life experiences in your songs?
Pablize: Where I draw more of my inspiration from to write lyrics from is either from an experience that I've been through something I'm going through at the time or when I'm talking about a dream or goal but I have or how I feel about a certain situation or person a lot of things that I talk about have to do with the streets and the things that I've gone through and seen some things I've done while growing up also the lessons that life.has taught me.


Mistah Wilson: You mentioned kinda falling back from tha music for a few yeara to deal with real life. What have been some challenges you've faced along your journey as an artist?
Pablize: Yeah I took a long break from rap because of many reasons but I think the main and first one was after we recorded the first installment after about a year everybody that was working on that project seem to be doing their own thing smoke left state I lost contact with fade and Reese after a while I also lost contact with wise and Quest I tried to keep pursuing my career at first and it looked like it was actually going to work out because at some point a company wanted to pick me up they had drawn out the contract and everything so I took the contract home before signing to have my homeboy then went to school for a paralegal check it out in the time of my homie was checking out the contract for me I don't know what happened within the company itself but a week later I get a call saying that they didn't want to pick me up anymore because they were having internal legal problems so basically they were sueing each other so needless to say after all that I was really discouraged and it kind of threw me off my game I went back full time to what I was used to the hood I mean people were telling me just stay focused and what not but I think inside I had given up then in 2016 I met my daughter's mother and I went to live with her in the small town in Nevada named Fallon it's an hour from Reno it's one of the smallest places I've ever been in my life it makes Redlands look like a big city the biggest store there the one Walmart that they have there's no public transportation and there main industry is Dairy so there's thousands of cows the only problem only problem was that in a place that small obviously there's no recording studios so I couldn't record then after a couple months we find out she's pregnant so I immediately start trying to find a job out there but the town is so small if you haven't had your job for a while you won't be able to find one because there's not many places to work and obviously people are not going to hire someone they don't know over people that they've known forever so I had to go back and forth between Nevada and California all the time to be able to hustle up money for my family in the same year I got married then we came over here back to Cali financially we're doing way better but our marriage started having a lot of trouble and this year in August we separated so yeah that's what I've been going through all these years that kind of took my focus away from music.


Mistah Wilson: What are some more of tha rewarding things you are proud of?
Pablize: There are a lot of accomplishments that I'm proud of I'm proud of the friendships that I've made through the years I'm proud of how out of nothing I went so far the first time with music because it showed me that I have the capacity to do it again and this time already have experience in what to do so this time I could do everything right but the thing I am most proud of is my daughter I'm honored that God would trust me with a little life.


Mistah Wilson: What do you want to accomplish through your music?
Pablize: I hope to accomplish with my music is honestly to put out good music and make some money so that I can have a better life and get my daughter everything she needs and wants and help out everybody that I grow up and everybody around me.


Mistah Wilson: How important is giving back to tha community for you?
Pablize: Giving back to the community to me is extremely important because the people are the one who make you what you are if they don't like you music they don't buy your CDs if they don't buy your music your nobody so I don't think any rapper should think they're too good to stop and talk to fans or sign something not just that but I think you should give to good causes if you have the means to better your community that's exactly what I intend to do especially in Redlands I intend to help out a lot around there if I make good money off of rap and become a celebrity I will invest in the schools the city the parks I will set up more programs for low income people try to do things to make programs for the kids to stay away from the bad side of the streets make it easier for non-english-speaking parents and children also and as far as my circle of people I know I will do as much as I can for them because they were there with me when I didn't have anything so they'll be there with me when I have everything.


Mistah Wilson: What positive, encouraging words do you have for other aspiring artists?
Pablize: What I would say to a young artist who's trying to make their way in the music business is don't give up no matter what that's the most important thing you got to remember keep fighting for you dream because it's going to be extremely difficult there's going to be times where everything is great and then all of a sudden everything falls down around you but you got to rebuild everything every time is going to be the hardest fight of your life but you got to win you going to be dealing with the circumstances of your real life and the circumstances of your music life sometimes is completely in order and the other one looks like a tornado hit it and you have to figure out how to make it so that you cannot only fix the window it's messed up but keep the one that's good from getting messed up and that's going to be super hard but you can do it if you really want to my best advice to you would be to use your life to write your music if you're feeling happy write songs about being happy if you're in love write songs about being in love if you're mad write songs about being mad use life and the struggles and triumphs it gives you people know when you put a piece of you in your music or not and in my opinion when the song comes from the heart that's going to be a hit for sure when you 
transferred your feelings onto the track use your struggle and you'll get there.


Mistah Wilson: Where can people follow you online?
Pablize: People can follow me on Instagram @pablize1215 that's pretty much the only social media platform I'm using right now but I'll be getting more sites up and running as time progresses.


Mistah Wilson: Yo, Pablize! It's been great having you here with us for this exclusive interview with ThaWilsonBlock Magazine. We look forward to following your movement. If you have any shout outs, drop em' now ..
Pablize: First of all I would like to thank God for allowing me this opportunity I'm even giving me the talent the experience everything in order to even be doing this interview second I like to give a shout out to my mom for always supporting me no matter what no matter what kind of stupid thing I did or how much trouble I was in she's always there to lend a hand third to my homies you guys are all my brothers I love you all V"s up I hope I can make you guys proud one day. I want to give a shout out to my boy smoke Reese everybody from no good Hustler 111. To my boy Zahid my boy Raw The Savage and everybody that I'm working on this new project with you guys are my boys and I'm extremely happy and extremely proud to be working with MCs of you guys is skill level speaking of people that I'm working with on this project I want to give give a shout out to my boy they were recording with at his Studio my boy the audio King he's a beast if you're in the Inland Empire area or anywhere in Southern Cali and you want great affordable work hit him up I'm telling you you won't regret it shout out to my boy MC Lyfe Food referred me to the audio King I want to give a shout out to my boy EnstinctZ my boy EIG Noah James he is a Inland Empire hip hop Giant hope to One Day be as successful as him another artist I want to give a shout out to who I'm supposed to be working with shortly the homie juice Malone oh yeah which reminds me any artist looking at this man if you guys want to work with me as long as you got skill and you got a solid work ethic hit me up shout out my homie Pelon he's always been like a brother to me a big shout out to my homegirl paysa for kind of kicking off this big Journey for me big shout out to anyone who ever been in any of my shows or liked any of my music or supported in any way shout out to you and last but not least thanks to you for having me.