Your Favorite White Boy

If there’s one thing that defines this thing called hip-hop, its the creativity of artists and fans alike. And you never know where, or from who, that fresh perspective will come from. As many YFWB readers should know, I’m a fan of people and artists that create their own lane. I’m happy to introduce you to two guys doing just that.

Its The Real is the online home to hilarious sketches about hip-hop current events, industry craziness and clowning your favorite rappers. Since it launched in August 2007, it has quickly become a fixture in the hip-hop blogosphere and beyond, getting shoutouts in blogs, websites and both XXL and VIBE magazines.

On the personal tip, I got put on to Its The Real after Eskay posted their classic video, Deconstructing Biggie, and I’ve been a fan ever since. YFWB recently had a chance to sit down with one half of the brains behind Its The Real, Eric Rosenthal, to chat about their love of hip-hop, their humble beginnings and what it feels like to share screen time with rap stars.

YFWB: For the uninitiated, who exactly are the Brothers Rosenthal?

Eric: Together with my brother Jeff, I run ItsTheReal.com, the Hip-Hop Sketch Comedy website. We’re two East Coast brothers who love Hip-Hop, love comedy and felt that in this day and age, if no one else was gonna do anything about it, why not us. Yes We Can!

Hmmm…sounds familiar. Just from the dialogue in the sketches alone, its clear that you all are long time hip-hop fans. How did each of you first discover rap music?

Eric: My first memories of rap were from hearing it in New York City when we would go to visit our aunt, who lived there, and who certainly didn’t understand the music. But what really had the biggest effect on me was the group Arrested Development around the time I was in 5th grade, and Snoop Doggy Dogg and Dr. Dre in 7th grade. Two sides of the culture, with interesting similarities and stark differences at the same time.

Itsthereal.com promotes your particular brand of humor, “hip-hop sketch comedy.” What came first, comedy or hip-hop?

Eric: I’d say probably comedy. Hip-Hop is part of who we are, and it’s ingrained into our material. We touch on a lot of subjects, from politics to art, from sports to entertainment and because we are Hip-Hop, the commentary we espouse naturally includes that.

Cool. Tell me a little bit about the kinds of hip-hop you guys bump. Any Def Jam artists?

Eric: Of course! We don’t hate Def Jam. Honestly. We’re friendly with people over there and they understand that their artists have provided a lot of laughs over the last year. Not necessarily on purpose. We support Jay-Z, Kanye, Young Jeezy, Ludacris, Freeway, Beanie Sigel and many others underneath the Def Jam umbrella. Even Rick Ross. Really, we like his music. Really!

You use a lot of your friends and relatives in your sketches. Is it hard to get them to participate?

Eric: Not really. We’ve always made videos with our friends and family, and any reluctance to be on camera and go along with our scripts has gone away a long time ago. And if there’s any hesitancy at all, there’s nothing $10 can’t get you…

It got me this interview! Are your friends fans of rap music as well, or are you like me where you talk about hip-hop and they just nod blankly?

Eric: I think it’s safe to say that everyone around us knows a lot more about Hip-Hop than they did before we started The Real.

I’m still not getting through to mine. Did you make a deliberate choice to present yourselves as you are in real life, rather than creating on-camera/public “personas”?

Eric: Great question. Yes, and I think that’s why people are responding to us. Overall, we’re very careful not to insult the culture or the audience, because we respect the art form too much to do so. It’d be way easy to do some of the simple jokes we’ve all seen on tv and in some films, but that’s not us. In today’s climate, people are looking for something real, and we’re trying to give that to them.

The Internet provides a medium for almost anyone to promote themselves, but that also means thousands of websites competing for attention. How did you manage to push through all the clutter and find an audience?

Eric: Quality and quantity. We put out a great product every week, and you know where to find us and when. There’s lots of people who make a one-time video and get a ton of YouTube plays, but they don’t follow it up with anything. We’ve produced something fresh each week, with a different look, a different feel, and people appreciate that.

Makes sense. Did you have a specific plan to get your site in front of as many people as possible, or were you just doing it for kicks and the hits just came afterward?

Eric: Initially, we pitched the show around (as part of a bigger project) to tv, websites and print magazines, so yeah, ideally we envisioned a big audience. And everyone thought it sounded cool, but couldn’t see how it would work. So we did what we could do ourselves: set up a blogspot page, write, act and direct original material in a niche that no one was occupying, and our first videos did very, very well. Lloyd Banks’ Retirement Party and Deconstructing Biggie got us huge numbers right away, so it was always about keeping the audience and then building on it.

Was there a particular time, event or sketch that took you to the next level, in terms of readership on itsthereal.com?

Eric: Lloyd Banks’ Retirement Party was important ’cause it was the first video and sent a shockwave around certain circles. Bun B being on the show was huge, cause it proved to us that we could work with a big artist and turn out a quality product. And the one with Fall Out Boy, while not our biggest video ever, has created a significant amount of buzz and has opened us up to a different demographic.

Tomorrow: Part II

Tags: Humor, Its The Real