O.U.O is myself Dumi Right and my cousin Pep. My brother Akim the Funk Buddha is also a founding member of the group. We're totally focused on lyricism and rocking over ill tracks with banging beats. Akim and Dumi Right were and are still a group Zimbabwe Legit. We first emerged on the scene with an EP on Hollywood Basic Records. O.U.O stands for of unknown origin or Official Underground Original or Outstanding Universal and Over the top! We've been in the trenches for mad long so its about time that we crashed thru walls and let heads everywhere get up on what we're doing.

What drew you into the Hip Hop Culture?
Hip-hop is like the truest form of musical expression. It also is tailored to the disenfranchised. If you don't have instruments, sample em. If you don't have a venue, cipher on the corner. These are the types of things that drew me to hip-hop. Heads worldwide are drawn to it because it just screams for you to be yourself in it and tell YOUR story. Of course a lot of folks now aren't themselves and are repeating the same old tired stories that everyone else has told. Hands down this has to be the greatest form of communication ever created. When I was in Zimbabwe going through school, hip-hop kept us up on all the trends and slang and gave us a vehicle to let heads know what we had on our minds too. Listening to Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick, EPMD, LL, Run DMC, Public Enemy, I just knew that I had to be a part of it.

What is the Hip Hop scene like in Zimbabwe?
Last time I was there was in 1995 so a lot has probably changed since then. I don't want to play myself and make up stuff that I don't know for a fact. I can however, vouch for the fact that its growing everyday and there are lots of crews and hungry emcees. My nephew wants me to make a track for him, he says he's got the hotness. I told him sure but he had to work on his "hotness" in math first and get that on smash!

Who would you look to as your influences?
De La Soul, Mos Def, Tribe, Black Thought, OC and most certainly Organized Konfusion.

What different art forms of Hip Hop do you practice?
All the members of the group emcee, which heads need to remember is a mic controller who moves the crowd. A lot of people who claim to MC don't know what the word means. I don't know if producing has a category in the 5 elements of hip-hop but I do that. The Zulu Nation indicates that knowledge is one of the elements so I always try to practise that. My brother Akim b-boys and also beatboxes. We got a couple bases covered.

How did you first get heard in the U.S.?
In a nutshell it started with a letter and a demo sent to Dave Funkenklein. He signed Zimbabwe Legit to Hollywood Basic Records. We went into the studio with some dope producers, Mr. Lawnge of the Black Sheep, Phase 5 from Denmark and Shadow did the Zimbabwe Legitimate Mix. The title track on our EP was a track called "Doin Damage"where we switched between slang phrases like "you're trippin" and our native language from Zimbabwe (Ndebele and Shona).

What's the biggest difference between Hip Hop in Zimbabwe and in the U.S?
I guess I would have to say the music industry structure doesn't exist over there the same way it does over here. I mean when I was growing up, there were no DJs or even musicians that were living off their art. It was more like a thing on the side but you had to have the regular grind to stay alive. There was no expectation that one day you'd make enough noise to become a professional entertainment figure. Now hip-hop has grown so much that there's a ton of more artists but I don't think the industry has kept pace with this growth. Plus in a developing country there are more critical things to worry about like the cost of living and daily amenities so pressing up rap records is sort of like an after thought. I mean imagine, people in the U.S are saying the economy is bad, over there its magnified several times since it's a developing country. Here if you aren't rolling with a major, you can always go the indie route. That option doesn't really exist over there so its hard for artists.

You've gone from "Brothers from the Mother" to "Zimbabwe Legit" to "O.U.O." What made you guys keep changing the name and how's you finally decide on "O.U.O?"
We never released any material as the Brothers from the Mother. When we were talking to the label about names, Zimbabwe Legit ended up being the one just because it stood out and was unlike anything else out there. After we put out that project and roamed the underground for a while we just wanted to find a way to reinvent ourselves. Zimbabwe Legit gave heads the expectation that we were going to be rhyming in another language or doing something political and positive. Not that we don't still do all of that but we just wanted a vehicle where we could do a song like "Look Good"Also, Zimbabwe Legit was Akim and Dumi Right. When my cousin came on the scene and we started working on more stuff together it made sense to have another entity to evolve into. Plus now we're going full circle and Zimbabwe Legit is plotting on a comeback mission. We're gonna do like sugar ray Leonard and shock all the so called title holders with some super unorthodox, sick and ridiculous type material. We're lining up producers and co-consipirators even as we speak.

"Looking Good" is a great track, what was the inspiration of that track and how much has that track helped O.U.O get heard?
Look Good opened a lot of doors for us because it got a lot of spins and charted on a number of national college and mixshow charts and industry trades. We came up with the concept for the song before we had a beat for it and we kept searching for an appropriate track. Then one day it just hit me and I banged the track out on my ASR-X. I called up Pep and was like "yo peep this," and we just ran with it, like scissors. I feel like Talib Kweli said, "A lot of cats is hating because we have fun at clubs." I don't understand why heads are always so serious, hip-hop to me is about fun, and having a good time. So we just wanted to put out a funny story rap with a memorable hook. Heads should definitely go to online stores and cop the single. It's got 4 really dope tracks on it and is just some entertaining hip-hop flavor with something for all tastes.

What have you been up to lately?
I'm working on a compilation through our company pH Music. Its called the School of Emceeing Volume 1. We got a lot of real ill cats on there doing some serious shit. It began as a showcase of some of the best and brightest in DC, MD and VA but since I work with a lot of heads that are outside the area, it was only right to include them. I got Storm the Unpredictable, Doujah Raze, Poemcees, Kool Kim (who was half of the UMC's), iCON, O.U.O, Last 8th, NCP, GM Grimm, Cadence and some others. If it does well, Volume 2 will come out to coincide with the Spring semester.
We're also readying a Zimbabwe Legit project and talking to producers for that. Any dope producers that think they might want to get down should definitely holler. Its's gonna be real ill.

When's the O.U.O album slated to come out?
The record should drop in the next couple months. Just working on some last minute details for the terms of distribution, etc. We want it to get heard by a critical mass of people so we're making sure the set up is right.

What's your opinion of the Hip Hop scene in VA?
There's a lot of cats doing their thing, really in the whole DC/MD/VA area. I think the biggest problem is lack of support from the broadcast media. Other regions bump the hell out of their local artists and elevate them. Here its not the case at all. I mean commercial radio is commercial radio but other areas, even just Baltimore, plays a lot more of the artists that are coming up from the area. Here there is no love. Plus there aren't any labels down here so most of the heads that have been able to get things jumping have done so by moving up north.

What's good with Hip Hop right now and what would you like to see changed?
Well in hip hop right now, the wack artists are REALLY wack, problem is that hip-hop fans are like sleepwalkers and don't seem to notice. So a lot of wack artists and getting a lot of light. Back in the days you'd get jacked for being wack /but nowdays cats are getting dap for kicking crap. Its crazy. It's like instead of a rap-off it's a "wack-off" (pun intended). I guess years ago there were hip-hop artists, aspiring hip-hop artists and fans. Now everyone that's a fan raps or has a man that raps or a cousin that runs a studio. Before only real industry insiders threw around the lingo about sales figures, platinum and gold, etc. Now every wanna be emcee thinks he's gonna drop an album and go platinum in a month. I wish hip-hop had standards so stuff would be certified authentic or if a cat dropped a weak album like Moody does for corporations and bonds he'd have his rating revoked or lowered. So and so used to be a Div 1-AA emcee but after his latest record he's been relegated to Div 1-CCC. Ratings would have to be printed on the album just like Parental Advisory stickers.

Shout Outs:
Shout goes out to the whole OUO FAM. Sup to my partner in rhyme Pep, my brother Akim