Me & Sam (Meuwl): Interview with Justin Leonard aka L-No (Meuwl’s

Hype-Man)

PM: How did you and Sam meet?

Lno: We met at South Charleston Junior High through mutual friends Mike Rude and Preston Shomo aka Ozker. We were all little skate rats who were into hip hop and punk rock, so that’s how I got started hanging out with Sam. Skateboarding in South Charleston and getting into shenanigans.

PM: What is something you know about Sam that most people don't?

Lno: He was a talented juggler. That’s no joke, back in Junior High he was a mad juggler. To me, it was another example of Sam being able to be the best at whatever he decided to do. Juggling, skating, soccer, rapping, graffiti, whatever. If he got it in his head that he wanted to do it, he got nice with it.

PM: What is your performing highlight wit Sam?

Lno: Just the fact that he wanted me up there with him early on was a big deal to me. I could tell from the first time I heard him spit that he was onto something different, and I wanted to be a part of that if I could. The times in Morgantown were my favorite though, we had a really good streak of shows going around late ‘04-‘05. The shows at 123 with Blueprint and Illogic, RJD2, Diplo. Getting to perform with people I looked up to was awesome. All the Dayone/Soundvizion shows…123 Open Mic Tuesdays were a blast. I look back on ‘04-‘06 when we did Sooooo Hot Right Now and the Killer Affiliates album as one of the best periods of time in my life. Meuwl, B Rude and I basically lived together at my crib in South Park one summer just hanging out, making music and crushing Hero Hut every day. Classic shit.

PM: What do you think it was about Sam that made people drawn towards him?

Lno: Definitely his personality in general. In “Meuwlo” he said “maybe cause I radiate awesome vibes”, and it was true. I can’t tell how many people have come up to me after he passed and told me about their one Meuwl interaction and how they’ll never forget it. If he were here, he probably wouldn’t remember it at all, but he had a way of meeting someone and making them feel like they’ve known him all of their life within 5 minutes. You can tell that impression really stuck with a lot of people

PM: What is your personal favorite MEUWL song?

LNo: Man, it’s so hard to pick one. If I had to pick just one, I’d probably go with “Warm the Mic Up”, just because it’s gone on to be one of the most universally liked Meuwl songs…plus I’m biased because I produced that one, haha! It was definitely cool after I’d moved to DC and Meuwl and Rude were doing Rabble Rousers shows when I’d come home and they’d still play that and the bar would go bonkers. Purely verse-wise, I’d have to say the joint he did with Paycheck Game “Discombobulated Man” is the illest verse. “Aw naw, he straight from the banks of the raw Kanawha don’t call the law” is my favorite line ever. “Go Apeshit”, “Scrambled Eggs” and “Pinceone” are up there too.

PM: What were the artistic goals the two of you had together? LNo: Our goal when we started the Dayone thing was to do what we wanted to do, how we wanted to do it. Get the whole crew involved and have everyone play their role, which we did. Meuwl was nice with the beats and rhymes, B is one of the best rappers ever, I made some beats, we had Ozker and the graf team doing cover art and T-Shirts and some crazy graf productions. The graf team did and still does get it in…we’re everywhere…Charleston, Morgantown, Huntington, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, all over. We wanted to make music that wasn’t like everything else we heard and listened to, but could be appreciated universally. And we wanted to do it ourselves…the only collabs we really ever did was with the SoundVizion dudes, but they were our homies and we were chilling in the studio with E all the time anyways, so it just made sense. The main thing was just kind of ignoring genres and barriers, we played with punk and hardcore bands, hardcore gangster rappers, and just about everything in between. We played grimey shows, frat shows; whatever and usually got similar responses. It was nice to have our own style and have people appreciate it. People owe us for the haggard chic, we started that shit, haha!

PM: Whats one thing everyone should know about Sam?

LNo: That he was genuinely one of the best dudes ever. He was a great friend to everyone who knew him and always kind and generous with people he didn’t know. I literally can’t think of one person who ever seriously had beef with him…he was impossible to stay mad at. Also, he occasionally wore some of the most suspect gear of all time. He picked me up to hit a hot dog spot on the West Side of Charleston driving his Grandpa’s old S-10 pickup wearing a dashiki (with chest hair blazing in the deep V of the dashiki and no undershirt), jeans and unlaced Etnies skate shoes once. He was dead serious with that look too…I always loved hating on his gear, but only with love!