Prach is no longer a mystery among many Khmers with the debut of his successful demo CD "The End is Just the Beginnin." Prach's promotional/celebration party at New Paradise was not only a treat for Khmer Connection, as it also opened our eyes to the many new talents that exists. We were introduced to Vise, Verse, & Versatile, three young ladies from Long Beach, who possesses the ability to harmonize through rap as well as singing. With our notebook and camera in hand, we head out to conduct an interview to shed some light on their hidden talents. What enveil were three very sophisticated yet easy going artists who not only spoke of their music but brought forth an understanding of what music is really about.

KC: First off, who's who?

VV&V: Vise is Sokvy Ngong, Verse is Sarah Yiem, and Versatile is Lisa Mony.

KC: How did you guys get together?

VV&V: High school. We were all friends in high school. First it started out with me (Verse) and Vise. Versatile displayed her talents at a party and we recruited her in.

KC: Do you guys sing for fun or what?

VV&V: Yeah we do this for fun. It's cool to make our own songs.

KC: How did you come up with each individual name?

VV&V: Well, we went through a lot of different name. I (Verse) go by Kid, because I'm the immature one. She (Vise) is Shimy because she always wear glitter on her eyes. And she (Versatile) goes by Bug because she likes Bugs Bunny. Now that we are mature we gotta change our name. Vise and I (Verse) will change our name, but Versatile will be keeping her name.

KC: What genre would you classify your music as?

VV&V: Many styles. We're open to many types of music so basically we got our own style. We rap, we sing, we freestyle. It's a variety of things we do ya know?

KC: Where do you get the inspiration for your beats and lyrics?

VV&V: From our experience with people and from life itself.

KC: What kind of obstacles have you encountered so far to get where you are now?

VV&V: None so far. Our parents are very supportive. There are no obstacles since we just go with the flow and do this for fun. We don't take this to the point where we focus it mainly as a career. If we get big, we get big. But it's not like we are pursuing it. We know that we can get somewhere if we pursue it because we're very persistent.

KC: So if the opportunity comes up, you wouldn't mind making it a career?

VV&V: Definitely. We would even do it for free just because of our love for music.

KC: How did you guys get to know Prach?

VV&V: Well one of us knew him since the 8th grade and by high school, we were all friends.

KC: If you guys have the chance to perform with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

VV&V: "MOSSSSS DEFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!" Vise would like to work with Nate Dogg

KC: When did you make your first public performance?

VV&V: At the Khmer and Lao New Year this year at Silverado. It was just for fun. We didn't care what specific beat they played, which happened to be Asian beats. We adapted to it and like all the old people were dancing. Props to the old people!!!

KC: Is there anyone who inspires you? Not necessarily in the music industry?

VV&V: "MOSSSS DEFFFFFF!!!" And Brian Gibbs. We met him at Starbucks and we were freestyling. He came up to us and asked "You girls freestyle?" From there on we became good friends. He taught us that we're cool and everything, but we need to be acknowledgeable. We began practicing freestylin' with him and kickin' it with him. He basically became a mentor. He taught us about life and the whole aspect of life. He helped us develop our mind. Instead of seeing things in a narrow point of view, he helped us open up our mind. Instead of talking about that girl with nappy hair and poking fun at her, he taught us to ask why. Don't focus on her nappy hair, focus on why. Don't judge, just ask why.

KC: Do you mainly listen to Hip-Hop and R&B?

VV&V: We mainly listen to Hip-Hop and R&B but we listen to everything. We're trying to come out with a hip-hop album. We're in the process of it.

KC: How far into the year to you think it will be released?

VV&V: Whenever Prach gets a studio!!!

KC: Any good luck charms?

VV&V: Good luck charms? Umm, myself. It's US.

KC: What do you do to get ready for a performance?

VV&V: We listen to ourselves, we hype ourselves up, or we'll freestyle.

KC: Where do you see yourself in a couple years from now?

VV&V: We'll still be doing this on the side. I don't know if it'll be a career. We all go to school right now. I'll (Versatile) be doing network analyzing. I (Vise) wanna be a school teacher. And I (Verse) will be in communications.

KC: Do you feel intimidated stepping into a field that is dominated by Caucasian and African Americans?

VV&V: No, we're not intimidated at all. We have self-confidence. You can't intimidate us, you know? We're very diverse, we hang around the African-American people, the Asian people, whatever. It's like we learn from their style and we grow from their style. We take each of their cultures and combine it into our own style.

KC: What separates you from other Asian groups?

VV&V: A lot, we got many styles, too many styles. We're not fobby.

KC: So do you look down upon the other fobby groups?

VV&V: No, no, no. Respect is given where respect is deserved. That's what we do. We don't hate, we just do it for fun. We'll play around but we don't hate. Just because we don't like it doesn't mean it's not good. There's no such thing as bad music and good music. It's all about what you like and what you can relate with. On our album we have so many styles that you might not like all the songs but you're gonna like at least one song because we make music that reach to a lot of people.

KC: What one word best describes your style?

VV&V: Abstract. We bust a lil' reggae in there, a lil' hip-hop, a lil' singing.

KC: Are you planning to make your own beats on your next album?

VV&V: Yep definitely, we got beat makers who work with us but we kinna want to do it on our own. We feel that we have this mind for music and we know where we want our sounds to be. We don't want someone else making it for us to where they can't relate to how we feel about it.

KC: Who writes the lyrics?

VV&V: Oh we do, we write all of it and we do not remake them. That's what separates us also from other Asian groups.

KC: Is there a process you go through in writing a song?

VV&V: We can just be rolling along in the car and something will just pop in the head. Or we'll just sit together and ask each other, "are you done yet?"

KC: What advice would you give to those who are inspired to get into the music industry?

VV&V: Don't let anyone put you down. If somebody talks $hit about your music, it doesn't matter. You're not doing it for the people. You're mostly doing it for yourself. Say if a new group goes up on stage and they didn't do good on their performance and someone talks $hit bout it, they shouldn't feel like they don't want to perform again. They should be happy because "haters makes us greater!!!" That's our motto. Haters makes us greater!!!

KC: How do you feel about hip-hop getting more commercialized?

VV&V: Now, hip-hop is so commercialized, it has so much to do with money, it has nothing to do with music anymore. I like the melody but I don't like the whole concept and message of it. It's all about ego nowadays.

KC: How do you define Khmer Pride?

VV&V: We don't have pride. Cuz pride is an ego. We don't want to have pride for nothing. We think it's wrong to have pride in something. We're happy to see that the Cambodian community is coming up but we're not proud that it's coming up. It's like an ego. If everybody had pride, everybody would be self-centered. And we don't see things that way.

KC: Are you planning on working with any other Khmer groups?

VV&V: Of course, we love to collaborate with other people.

KC: Do you have anyone in mind?

VV&V: Um, at the moment, Dozer and Mujestics.

KC: So you'll appear on his (Dozer) album?

VV&V: We want him to appear on our album. We also plan on not just collaborating with Asians. We want to work with other ethnicity. We have a couple of people in mind.

KC: So besides music what are your interests?

VV&V: Arcade!!! We like to play games. Eat, eat, eat, and eat some more. Tennis, rollerblading, the beach.

Vise, Verse, & Versatile Demo CD

1 Change My Mind - Produced by Tracey Spencer 2 Racing - Produced by Mercedes 3 Micro-ology - Produced by Roots Manuva 4 Freestyle (Reggae Beat Box)

KC: Where do you normally hang out?

VV&V: Everywhere, mostly at the arcade and at each others' houses and at a lot of different restaurants.

KC: Any last words you want to shout out to your fans?

VV&V: We love our mom, our dad, but not our brothers!!! We think what you guys are doing here is very good for the Cambodian community. It makes everybody recognize that we too are a community and we need to be heard and known.

Vise, Verse, & Versatile were kind enough to provide us with a demo CD of their current work. The four songs below are the full version but the quality is bad due to it being recorded at their home on their computer, but their ability to harmonize and the diversity in their music is still intact.