Genesis Ian and the Lab Ratz

Just Making Some Good Ass Music

by: Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

Fans of Genesis Ian recall performances where he rocked out a venue with 15 people as if it were a stadium filled with thousands. But it is the duplication of this feat on an international level, playing in stadiums filled with tens of thousands that he and his production crew are trying to reach.

“Who is he?” one might ask. He’s an up and coming L.A. artist with a plan to reach the status of the Dave Matthews Band eventually selling out concerts worldwide. The release of his latest album, Karnivore, is just one step toward that future. Genesis and his cohorts Kush and Mozart from the production team known as the Lab Ratz, stopped by Random Lengths office earlier this month to talk about the album, but the interview evolved into a wide-ranging discussion about building success as DIY artists, with ambitions for internationally renown on the one hand, balanced against concerns about artistic authenticity in a world hooked on Lady Gaga.

Genesis comes from a unique perspective, with a multi-ethnic background, raised by two generations in three different countries the Philippines, Kuwait and the United States. His full name, Genesis Ian Lopez Tzunakus Doyle, suggests all of the influences that have shaped his path, beginning with his grandmother who reared him during the first 10 years of his life, to his biological father and musician Ramone Tzunakus. His mother and stepfather took him to Kuwait for a short time then brought him to the United States, where shortly thereafter, he became a naturalized citizen. Genesis ultimately decided to simply go by Genesis Ian. Indeed, Genesis’s sound is all over the map from soul to reggae to rock and electro pop and back again. Fellow Lab Rat, Kush, explained Genesis’s sound as not just being hip hop, saying, “We do pop, rock, whatever.”

Genesis describes Karnivore’s sound as reminiscent of the sounds he was producing as a teenager.

“I think it’s a coincidence that the first record I did, when I was 17, was a techno heavy metal type, something like what Rob Zombie would produce, but it came out really electro. I don’t know if electro was around at that time but that is exactly the sound I’m going for today,” Genesis explained. “I realized I didn’t have to find myself. It’s all about creating myself.

“So that’s when I said I’m going to let go and embrace everything I’ve done. I asked myself ‘Why did I start doing this? What did I sound like when I started doing this?’ I wanted to get that sound back.”

Of course, when Genesis got that sound back, artist such as Lady Gaga and other such electro pop bands were on the scene. Genesis believes that the thing that separates him from everyone else is the Lab Ratz.

“Thank God I got the Lab Ratz because Kush here, for instance, keeps me grounded as far as keeping things organic,” he said. “He comes from a grimy hip hop background. We are trying to do that and keep the Lab Ratz brand.

“At first, like every beginner artist, you think it’s about finding yourself,” Genesis explained. “In route to finding myself, I thought neo-soul was me. Then, years later, I realized, I’ve only been in Philly for 10 years, before Philly, I was in Kuwait listening to AC-DC, Black Sabbath, and Jimi Hendrix, and Muddy Waters. And before that I was a b-boy listening to Kool Herc, so why try to pigeonhole myself?”

Kush took the explanation of Genesis’ style further.

“His music… his albums are kind of like in the moment,” Kush explained. “G is so creative that the next five songs would be electro pop, and we will all love them. The next ten songs can be reggae, and we would all love them. His range is so wide that it’s kind of like when people would say that's your sound... No. It sounds like everything. That’s just what he felt at that moment, so that’s what came out.”

“We don't want people to have expectations. We could make a track full of farts because we were feeling that first sample. It can happen like that and people would like it,” Kush explained.

Genesis, on further reflection, pondered, “For up and coming artists who ask the question, what if I had two different styles? Do I do each style one at a time?”

“You could do that but the idea is to figure out your greatest strength. I'm finding that out since I went through my soul phase and now that I'm going back to my rock roots. You know what, I'm neither black or white. I'm not trying to sound like Sublime and I'm not trying to sound like D'Angelo. So I'm my own class. I'm from the Philippines,” Genesis said with a smile.

Thinking about his journey thus far, Genesis notes, “Hey I'm everything dude, black, yellow, and white. The confusion you go through as an artist in America... You know what, I'm going to do it my own way.”

A lot of people think Genesis should go in the Sublime direction because he sounds like a rock-reggae type. Genesis doesn’t mind that so much. He just wants that with “some Prince on top” so that he could be marketed through hip hop, r&b, or rock and do whatever.

“There are very few artists that do that… like David Bowie, Prince, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder and other versatile artists,” Genesis explained.

Many great music artists chafe at the boxes they are forced into by the big music conglomerates. Kush elaborated on this process and Genesis place in the system.

“Music in America is more consumer-driven. It's about what's popping right now. G just sounds like good music. But to make it in mainstream music in the U.S. we have to fit in some category, you have to fit the market instead of simply closing your eyes and listen to good music and then open your eyes and realized that was a great album,” Kush explained.