Dom Pachino P.R. Terrorist of Killarmy interview

Dom Pachino of Killarmy in the Trenches

3/10/06 - LatinRapper.com exclusive interview

Dom Pachino of Killarmy image

Considered by many as an underrated artist, Dom Pachino aka the P.R. Terrorist made his mark as part of the Wu-Tang affiliated group Killarmy, formed by best friend and younger Brother of Rza, 9th Prince. Dom would move over half a million CDs with Killarmy, including a top ten Billboard spot for their debut.

Born in uptown Manhattan and later moving to Shaolin's Stapleton Projects, Pachino would eventually become the first member of the group to drop a solo album. Also featured on other Wu albums, Pachino established an indie label in 2002 entitled Napalm Recordings. We speak with the first Latino Wu-Tang affiliate in this exclusive interview.

LatinRapper.com: Your last album dropped end of last year, are you doing anything new solo or with Killarmy?

Well right now I'm working on a solo joint slated to drop mid-June, Puerto Rican parade, called "Rice and Beans."

Who's doing the production?

I got a whole bunch of cats, some who did work on the last Killarmy CD. Fallin Down, some of my in-house producers, Dub Sonata, did something for Nature, Bone Thugs, he did maybe most of the album so far. Couple of up and coming cats, 4th Disciple on there.

Have you been doing shows to promote your music?

Yeah, I just got back from Chicago. Wherever they take me, I just did Brazil, couple other spots, Chile, international tour. I go overseas and s**t like that. I aint touch Europe yet, I'm trying to get out to Europe.

You’ve been one of the only, if not the only, Latino Wu Affiliate for a long time. What do you think about the creation of the new Wu Latino label?

Well, I mean, I like the fact that Wu is opening the doors for Latinos. I'm not sure I agree with everything they doing, they didn’t come to me with an offer being the first Latino, being that I wrapped a lot of the Latino market, ya feel me? I kinda don't respect it on that level, but I don’t know, I didn't hear nothing hot that really caught my ear, know what I mean. I'm not really like, what you call, promoting the whole thing over there 'cause they didn’t really holler at me. I don’t got love for nothing that don’t got love to me. No Wu Latino without Dom Pachino, I'm on that campaign right now.

For those unfamiliar with them, tell the readers a bit about Team Napalm.

Team Napalm is like a group of cats, my production team, and lyricists. A couple of fans of mine that got at me, fans around the way. Couple of them been in contact with me for a while, always submitting music and wanting to get on. I gave a couple cats a shot, then Crunch Lo been around the block, with Cappadonna, the only cat with Napalm that was more like a peer, know what I'm saying. Team Napalm is a group of producers and lyricists, basically what it is, just the Barber, Crunch Lo, Nails, Dub Sonata and Chapel. We growin' every day, I'm signing more and more producers.

You were signed at age nine, how exactly did you become a member of Killarmy?

I wasn’t signed at nine, I had a couple of little deals with old school cats, DJs and stuf like that making noise back in the day, I didn’t have a deal. You know the Real Roxanne?

I know who that is

I was trying to get signed with Chubb Rock and then back in the days, and I lived a block from Real Roxanne, they were trying to sign me up as one of those young Bow Wow type of dudes, but that didn’t work out. But as far as the Wu Tang goes, Rza lives across the street from me, I was best friends with his lil' brother, Wu Tang came through and did their thing, we came up aspiring to be like them and shit, knamean, lyrics got tight when we got old enough, Rza and them was like 'lets put these cats on, the young generation,' that’s how that happened.

You have a label, Napalm Recordings, are you out seeking new artists or just putting out CDs from people on the roster?

As of now, I'm not really looking for nothing, I'm looking for that start quality right now. If it happens to pop up my way I'll roll with someone heavy, but right now, its more than just rap. My cats aint gotta be the illest rappers, but they talented and work hard, that means a lot more to me. When I say I put a couple of fans on, its real, they carry boxes, they bring equipment to the studio. Dedicated, I'd rather put someone dedicated on than someone else. In front of the crowd, getting them hyped, instead of taking someone's lyrics. As far as the Napalm imprint, if I find something real talented, imma snatch that up and run with it. Right now I'm with R&B, looking for more or less that, a hot Latin bilingual Jennifer Lopez, but something slick like that. I'm trying to get some pop money. I'm about to do the straight executive behind the scenes thing soon.

You’ve stuck with the military theme throughout your career, how do you feel the music industry relates to warfare?

Man that’s a weird one. Public Enemy came through, militant approach. Onyx came through, been a lot of military stuff. Dead Prez, I guess it gets embraced but from afar. They don’t really let it in because its revolutionary, but its more than just that. A lot of cats around the hood wear camouflage and are like little military units, I think it’s a street thing too. They see it in a different light. Its not really meant to be commercial. I'm trying to take it so that I can still rock the camouflage inside my suit. I may have to go chameleon and have a nice reggaeton track, and have women with camouflage thongs on, but I'm still sneaking it in there (laughs). But I gotta twist it to take it to that level, but that’s a question for the industry right now. Like I tell you what, I'm repping that militant fly gangsta s**t to the fullest.

You’re referred to as the PR Terrorist, do you get any negative feedback from people in the industry or parents of those who bump your music?

Nah, I haven't yet, I'm not gonna lie, but I lightened up on that based on the whole 9/11 thing because I didn’t wanna affect sales, or retail, I didn’t want people to get it twisted. I terrorize anything for the Puerto Rican population, on that kind of note, ya feel me? But people twist it around and can blackball you, but I had to lighten up on it a little bit. But on the album I had aka P.R. terrorist, and a lot of Latin retails stores were buying my stuff , embracing it based on the Puerto Rican thing. It helps also, its weird, but you gotta think on a larger scale.

As far as politics goes, have you ever been involved with ongoing protests like those involving Vieques?

Nah, I didn’t do no protests or nothing like that, it wasn’t part of life back then. But if that was the case, I would have done whatever I had to do, some benefit stuff like that. We been trying to do something for the people at 9/11, a militant tour at the army bases. We were trying to hook up a tour, it was a coincidence that the album dropped on 9/11.

Outside of the MC game, you’ve caught the acting bug, correct?

Yeah man, I'm trying to really get into the thing. Right now we shooting a little independent, its in the pre stages of production, but we shooting right now. I'm trying to touch that screen on a different note, but not like I gotta be on the West Coast playing an ese, I wanna go more like a romantic joint, drama, something touchy. I like what Mos Def is doing right now, ya feel me. Not just gangsta roles, ya feel me, I'm trying to get roles like, 'oh s**t, this dude can really do it,' but whatever works right now. You might catch me in a couple of gangster roles before I get the role I wanna get. I been doing music so long, the acting is my second love, I like the whole direction, productions, I be reading credits, I'm into all that, a lot of talented brothers.

What have you appeared in?

I did a couple of skits, Gary Shandling show, I did Comedy Central, Jon Stewart show, Bobby Digital movie, I was one of the henchman in that. That was actually a nice little flick, I'm pretty sure you heard of it, it just never came out. He [Rza] dropped Domestic Violence as a short, and dropped Bobby Digital, I'm not sure what he's doing with that. I just did CSI New York, little part in there, little things.

Do you ever have Latinos showing you love for being Puerto Rican?

Yeah, I get a lot of love and lot of support. Sometimes I be in the trenches a lot, and I come out and go to a little event, I don’t be popping up at ever Wu event. I kinda pulled myself away 'cause I'm building my own thing. But when I do make an appearance, its like 50 Cent walked in the building, the fans been waiting to see, but its definitely a lot of support, a lot of love. And back to the Wu Latino thing, I created that love, you feel me? I opened a lot of Latino eyes, people seeing a Latino repping Wu. For me not to be like hey, given a position up there, I didn’t really take a liking to that. Basically I'm not really like supporting that movement, I'm not trying to shut them down, but same time aint no Wu Latino without Dom Pachino. A couple of cats I bumped into the streets, they burying the W with it. I don’t think they would be saying that if I opened it up for them, but because they doing reggaeton, I think that might be the situation.

Any last message you'd like to add?

Let them know rice and beans is coming soon, mid June, late June, it will be in stores everywhere. And keep a lookout, check out dompachino.com, napalamrecordings.com, I promised the fans I was gonna keep them fed on Dirty Weaponry, I drop something all day. Rice and Beans, everything else was just a project, this was the actual first project, my freshman album. I wanna say peace to all my Latino fans, and peace to LatinRapper.com, ya feel me, thanks for the interview.