Artists in conversation: lamonte bombay
It’s a Sunday evening at Druid Hill Park, and I’m sitting down at a picnic table shooting the breeze with rapper, producer, poet - and more - Lamonte Bombay. When I met him, back in 2015 (or ‘16, I forget) he’d gone by Fishermann Cap. But now the early 30s rapper has put that name, and some other history, behind him as he continues to carve out his own space and identity.
It’s the first day of fall and the cool breeze and cloud-obscured sun, makes for a calm - and slightly chilly - evening. Just an hour ago, we were listening to beats at a Beat competition at Peabody Heights. Surrounded by vinyls, beer, and cool arcade games - the Records Bazaar was a place to shop for vinyls old and new but to also connect with fellow producers and beatmakers. Then we spent another ten to fifteen minutes hunting a rental car he was driving after, before finally getting to the park.
Just yesterday, we’d been at MAX Gallery down near Hopkins Hospital at his Butterfly Sessions - intimate gatherings of artists and creatives to connect, network, and share. I happened to come on a whim, and was thrust into an exciting two hours of cyphing, dancing, beatmaking, and monologue performance, where I also read a piece from “24”. There, Bombay’s intentions of creating a safe space are realized. Community is something that’s always been important for Lamonte - since starting a cypher group in high school till now. As someone from the DMV looking to find his footing out in Baltimore, Bombay is making cautious but intentional steps to shaping his community by his own terms keeping his passion for hip hop and inner work at the core.
INTRO
Tito: First thing’s first, I’ve known you a couple of years but there’s a lot of people who are reading this who don’t know you. So can you introduce yourself - name, age, what’s your story?
Lamonte: My name is Lamonte. I go by Lamonte Bombay or L. Lawliet. I’m from Oxon Hill, Maryland. I’m 30 years old.
T: You from Oxon Hill?
L: Yeah.
T: I thought you were from Ohio.
L: Well see that’s the thing, I was born in North Carolina and my dad was in the Air Force when I was born. So like, Fort Bragg, that was the base. I was born there, but my mom is from Louisiana, you know what I’m sayin’. I was literally just born on the base but my childhood I was moving from place to place based on where they was from. Growing up wise, I always tell people I’m from Oxon Hill because a lot of my childhood I honestly don’t remember. Something I haven’t really talked about - a few close ones really know, and you, telling you now - as a kid, my folks told me I had a comprehension deficiency. And basically what that is - I had a hard time processing my observations.
Sometimes, I could see a lock and I would know what it is, but I wouldn’t fully understand how to unlock it. It would take me a second to unlock the door even though I’m knowing what it is. I done seen other people use it before. Even in conversation I’d heard my mom and my dad say something and know what it means but I’d still be confused.
L: So, yeah, Oxon Hill is my home. Grew up there. Stayed in Anacostia a bit. Basically, my story is appreciating life. Seeing life as art and advocating for everyone’s life because in my eyes, we all are creators. A lot of people assume you have to physically write or draw, but it goes deeper than just visual. It’s music. It’s spoken word. It’s storytelling. It’s film - the moments you capture You know what I’m saying? It’s a lot of creation all over the world. I just try to remind the people that I meet, as well as the people I already know, to just keep being their best selves because they’re inspiring people even when they don’t know it.
T: That’s beautiful. I do feel you stay true to that. Yesterday you had Butterfly Sessions which was a very beautiful event I must say. I had a really good time and I think the energy you brought into the space was multiplied and felt amongst everybody. It was like one big pot - everybody putting in their seasoning and we just made a beautiful rasta pasta. I don’t know why rasta pasta is on my mind, but it is. But yesterday’s rasta pasta of energy was very good - very rich, very fulfilling.
GETTING STARTED WITH ART
T: You said you were an artist, but I don’t think you told people what you do.
L: Exactly, you right. So I produce. I make beats. I write. I freestyle. I write poetry in my spare time. I’m tryna think, what else do I do. The funny thing is, I started drawing as far as art forms, when I was six. It was more like doodle-esque type drawings. And I’ve revisited that earlier this year, but I definitely fell off with drawing. Just admiring other visual artists, and not really understanding the mechanics of more refined drawing. So I kinda fell back. But I picked up songwriting when I was 11.
T: Okay.
L: Yeah. Then year after year I’d go from writing for myself to writing and sharing with people. To sharing with the choirs I was a part of like my school choir in 6th grade - The Peace Choir. I’d share it with them and we’d perform at the pep rallies and other school rallies. And as I got older and older I’d try to figure out new ways to bring my writing to life. Like DIY DAW software - the first software I got was Audacity.
T: I never used Audacity.
L: That’s definitely an OG one. Very simple, straight to the point. I’m not gonna say not a lot of tools -back then I didn’t understand all the tools - but it was pretty easy to use. But then I got older, and I upgraded to CoolEdit Pro. And then by the time I went to college, I went to PG for a year, between 2012-2013. I took a mass communication class that kinda help me understand broadcast boards. Went from Cool Edit Pro then to Adobe Audition then I started working on multiple DAWs at that point - ProTools, Cubase, Studio One. Then in 2012, the same year I began that communications course, that’s when I started working with FruityLoops.
T: Communications, what were you looking to do with that?
L: So, essentially I wanted to get into radio ‘cause when I was younger it was a pipe dream that if you can get into radio you can kinda understand how to navigate the industry a little more with all the professionals that come on there with the interviews. I watch a lot of interviews. I like dialogue. I’ve always watched interviews whether its like the Breakfast Club or Hot97 at times. When I ended up leaving PG I fell off pursuing radio because I just understood I wasn’t into radio being personnel, but moreso the content and dialogues they were having.
CURATING EVENTS
L: I spent a little time curating events starting from 2015. Actually, you might remember the one in 2016? It was a brick ago, but you and Joy came out.
T: [laughing] In DC?
L: Yeah!
T: In the building with the orange room?
L: Yeah! It was Culture Coffee.
T: That is —funny story about that. So, I probably shouldn’t have been at that event because my aunt was going -. So I was living in Baltimore at the time, right. My aunt was going out of town and I was living with her and she had a dog. Rest in peace Ladybug. My responsibility was to watch the dog, make sure the dog ate, make sure the dog was walked on time because the dog has a schedule. So my aunt was supposed to go out of town, so I was like “It didn’t matter if she was gonna be there or not. I’m gonna go to DC and I’ll walk the dog when I get back from DC.” Tell me why I get to DC and she text me asking me where I’m at cause it’s like 10:30, 11:00.
L: Oh God.
T: She’s like “Jeremy, where you at? Have you walked Ladybug?” I’m like, “Not yet. I’m still out and about.” Not being very specific. Lo and behold, she’s still at the house.
L: Oh my God!
T: So I asked her, “How’s the trip?” and she’s like “I’m still at the house.” I’m like “Oh.” So i didn’t tell her where I was at. I literally left. I called an Uber from the event to her condo. It was $60. Lo and behold, I get there and she’s like “Oh its so late!” and not that it mattered. She just told me she walked the dog. She was like “I pushed my trip back, I’m gonna go tomorrow instead. I already walked Ladybug, so you don’t have to walk her.”
L: Awwww. That’s crazy.
T: $60. And I had to leave the event early. It was a good event. I do remember it.
L: Dang.
T: Is that place still a thing?
L: Yeah. It is. They actually have another building. I haven’t visited, but they have - a Culture Coffee 2.
T: Okay! Shoutout to growth. You know Black businesses can’t do that.
L: They’ve definitely been a staple for a multitude of different artists throwing their own events there. I’m just happy that I was able to curate events during Culture Coffee’s inception of allowing artists to use their space as a venue. After that 2016 event, they definitely was applying pressure for artists to start putting deposits. I don’t know if we responsible for that, that event we did specifically, but yeah.
THE GOLDEN RULE AND EGO
L: I don’t regret being supportive of anyone - for the record. I’ll never regret supporting or being there. The way I look at support, I always go off the golden rule. My mantra. One of the first things I remember my dad teaching me as a kid is the golden rule- treat people the way you would want to be treated.
T: Mhmmm.
L: I do that on the aspect of not expecting that back from that person but as an energy you’re manifesting and the intention you’re putting into the universe. My existence embodies respect. Wherever I go I will show respect. That’s how I try to manifest that back to me. I found myself fighting ego like “Why am I really doing this for XYZ when they did 123.” And at that moment that’s when I took music, production, writing, storytelling very seriously because that became my therapy. It became my medicine. It became my coping mechanism. You know what I’m saying? Like really understanding myself through what I’m saying. And the production serving as soundtracks of my life.
L: I’m telling my dad like, with everything that you don’t know that I know about art, please let [my little brother] know that these things exist. You know what I’m saying? Since he’s young, you can be ahead of the game and position him into some very beneficial opportunities. Opportunities that I didn’t know existed until this year or last year. Talking about fellowships, residencies, grants for artists. I didn’t know that was a thing. Between the time I started making music up until 2018, to an extent, but not really understanding the realm of independent artists and freelance artwork to last year, I was just one of those “I’ma make some beats and spit some flows. Ima put some tapes together and hopefully I’m loved.”
“MAKING IT”
T: What does “making it” look like to you?
L: Thank you. I’m glad you asked that question. Back then ––
T: Before you say that, I just wanna get my camera ready for this answer.
L: My definition of making it. Back in the day when I was younger, my definition was being discovered because of my passion of the art from industry execs. You know, like a life changing 360 where you put a project out and then they bless you with a good amount of money that could change your life, and still being knowledgeable of the type of deals and what not to do because they gonna own your masters. Back then that was me wanting to make it. But as I got older, me making it was just finding solace with the actual trauma that I know I’m not 100 percent healed from and holding myself as accountable as possible with the emotions I have to deal with just myself without projecting that anywhere else.
T: So you want your art to heal you?
L: Yeah. Yeah.
T: Okay.
L: I feel like art is one of the greatest teachers that we have in life. Because it’s like from visual art, even including mediums like documentaries, we learn so much about humanity and ourselves and all it takes is an observation - a perspective. Time itself, you know what I’m sayin. Cause even when you’re a certain age, you might have a different perspective five years later if you revisit that subject. I spent a lot of these recent years reflecting on everything. Everything I’ve done - the rights, the wrongs, the times I where I know I’m better now. I just laugh at myself for being naive at times.
T: Sometimes all you can do is laugh.
L: Exactly and along with laughing, just remembering to prioritize having grace - for yourself and for everybody else.
JOY + COMMUNITY
T: Damn.
L: I wasn’t talking about it. The only person who knew I was doing it was Joy.
T: Shit!
L: You know what I’m saying.
T: Oooo! Let’s talk about Joy. I love Joy.
L: I love her.
T: Uhmmmmm…[laughs]
L: Nah, for real.
T: Yes! She delivers all the love.
L: Yeah.
T: How do you know Joy?
L: She a day one from Oxon Hill. We both went to Oxon Hill High. She was two grades under me. We got really cool off just off of - she knew one of the artists in her same age group that would always cypher with me cause when I was in the 11th and 12th grade I was one of the main ones to start the lunch cyphers. I would be the initiator.
T: Okay, so you were the problem child?
L: Well, see, funny thing is, I don’t know if I see myself as that. I know that exists. But I don’t think that was for me. I just wanted moreso wanted to get a cypher started and then people just so happened to crowd around. I think that was just the passion attracting everybody cause I was having so much fun.
T: Okay, that’s a good excuse.
L: Like shit. Yeah, so, I remember Joy was in the yearbook committee - I believe. Definitely gonna have to correct me if I’m misquoting. But she did an article for the cyphers we were doing.
T: Awww. Not her making history.
L: The origin story of why I like community so much is because I was trying to create groups in high school. I had this group called Panache Trend and she was a part of that. Basically, that was my first attempt to try to introduce community building and bringing different types of artists early on. It was me. It was Joy. My man Tone. A couple other people and basically we were all doing different things, but we all enjoyed hip hop and writing. Joy was the best poet I knew that was in school. We was all just big fans and lovers of creators and writing. I just like bringing people together and back then I just made it a group.