I’m not even gonna front, this one actually stung quite a bit as I found myself trying to process, figure out, and handle what it was that happened to Spiega of the Monsta Island Czars. He was a friend. He was my brother. He was a mentor. He was an inspiring MC. Spiega was definitely a huge inspiration to me. He had such a dope voice on the mic, baritone in nature coupled with very potent darts and really ill punchlines. Spiega is also the ONLY Black person I know personally that has blue eyes. It’s crazy because you get the sense that they are hazel or light brown but up close they are blue!
As my big brother, man, we spent many nights together at shows rocking the stages and putting it down. Bodying sets… our chemistry alongside Kong was amazing as we all brought out the best in each other and just had a ton of fun on stage.
After doing our thing quite a bit, we linked with Mez (yall may know him as MF Mez or Juro Mez Davis – the multi-platinum mixing engineer of J. Cole’s Dreamville), and eventually K. Sise and Junclassic who would all join the group about 2 years after I officially got down (we all have so many memories together yo – I wish I could give yall a data file, lots of laughs, lots of shows, and we all encouraged each other yo…it was dope). Actually, Mez joined like 8-10 months after I joined; the difference was, I got knighted in on the Long Island side by Rodan and eventually accepted by Kong and the others – Mez got Knighted in from the Manhattan side of things via the founder himself because Mez is a Manhattanite.
Years ago, I wanted to get better at MCing really, really badly. My main skill at the time, ever since getting started in the year 2000 was music production. I was writing poetry and rhymes here and there but my voice, the way that I could fully be myself, was through making beats. That same year, I was working and attending school part-time at Hunter College for Mathematics. I was a transfer Electrical Engineering student (from Northeastern University in Boston) that just wanted to pivot away from that highest levels of nerd-like dedication to math and science into trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to do with my life. Building circuits and writing computer programs was really not gonna do it for me… I was already an accomplished visual artist and there was no such thing as “Graphic Design” as a major, no such thing as photoshop etc., so my guidance counselor sent me to engineering school… HUGE pivot away from art but let’s get back to what had happened…So what had happened was, I found my way at Hunter and began to participate of the “Hip-Hop Advocates Club” where Omowale would lead weekly meetings about the current state of rap music while discussing how we as students can potentially push to balance the authentic voice of Hip-Hop. This was the explosion of Bling Bling era where corporations were really pushing artists to make a certain type of commercially viable music. This was definitely post Shiny suit rap era so rap music was changing a lot as NYC started to pivot away from its grittier, raw, boom-bap style. Yes we still had those records but… it was lighter but was just different, the rawness was lacking. So the club at Hunter evolved into us creating an actual non-profit Hip-Hop union in 2001 called “The Grassroots Artist MovEment (G.A.ME).” Our Hip-Hop union gave artists free general healthcare, free dental, free legal advice, and free show bookings for $5 a month. The founding members were myself, Omowale, Francis, Neh and m1 of dead prez. We also had VERY strong support from Immortal Technique that was with us from day 1 and led countless union meetings for us. My role with G.A.ME was to promote and recruit as many Hip-Hop artists as I possibly could to join the membership and be a part of the movement to balance the voice of rap music that was currently on the airways. Long story short, m1 of dead prez gave me his phone book and I reached out to everyone from Talib Kweli, to RZA (through Dreddy Kruger who brought Killah Priest to the meetings), C Rayz Walz, Sean Price, and lots more. I mean LOTS, LOTS more. Constant phone calls – email was not really poppin like that nor was text messaging cuz our Nokia phones looked like bricks lol. I reached out to that entire phone list but also – I knew about MF DOOM and the Monsta Island Czars after finding out about MF DOOM on the UGHH.com website. I used to go to the Monsta Island website weekly to see if it would update at all but it rarely updated – the website was insanely mysterious without much info at all. I decided to email the site and the admin got back to me. It was X-Ray. I gave him the info about the union and at the next meeting I believe it was Rodan, Kong, and Kamackeris that came through. It may have been X-Ray instead of Kamackeris, I can’t remember but the meeting was dope – the Czars were interested in the info but maybe not sold on joining G.A.ME’s membership. But it was cool because like many others that came to the meetings but didn’t necessarily join, they respected what we were trying to build. Before leaving, I gave Rodan a beat CD with my phone number on it. About 5 weeks after giving him the CD he called me and wanted to use 2 of my beats to make 3 songs. It was my first ever music placement on an album of an artist that just had amazing success with a group album “Escape from Monsta Island.” (At the time, Rodan and Inspectah Deck were my favorite MCs holding down the #1 spot on my top 10 list. I don’t make the top 10 list anymore cuz there’s too many amazing artists but Rodan and Deck were my #1). After that, I started to hit up X-Ray’s studio with Rodan more to just be a fly on the wall and listen. I knew how to make beats but I wasn’t at the level where I could make consistent heatrocks that people would enjoy.. back then, I was like 50/50 at making beats. I knew how to produce but sometimes I made a bunch of “banter” like beats – not stuff to really rap on but creative nonetheless. Anyways… X-Ray’s production inspired me the way Pete Rock and DJ Premier’s beats did. He is definitely one of my favorite producers and I admired how he put things together for the Czars – he is a DJ too so he just really knows music and putting stuff together well. Prior to meeting Spiega, he would play me some stuff and I would just wonder what these brothers even looked like. Up until then and even until now (except in Spiega’s case because of him posting a bunch on Facebook) when it comes to Rodan, Megalon, Kong, Kamackeris, and Raylong there aren’t many pictures online of them at all. Which I think is really amazing because it adds on to the mystique of who they really are as artists. So back then, social media didn’t exist like that, so I just had no clue what brothers looked like. I heard some were from Long Island near the Freeport / Long Beach area or lived in the Port so I was curious, maybe I knew them or knew their siblings. That’s what I enjoyed about the aforementioned MCs so much – they were very low key and would appear outta nowhere in typical kaiju fashion to activate whether at live shows or in the studio and just body sh*t. Like all the time!!
Shortly after linking with the Czars, I got deathly ill and ended up in the hospital (I will save this story for a book). I went blind, I couldn’t walk, couldn’t talk, couldn’t really move, and I had a fever of 103 for a few weeks – it was going up and down every day – crazy sh*t – I was able to write and I wrote my mother a note to get 3 albums for me:
- Escape from Monsta Island – by Monsta Island Czars
- Only Built for Cuban Linx by Raekwon
- Lauryn Hill’s Unplugged – by L Boogie herself
The above 3 albums were what I would listen to all day long and they gave me life. The Monsta Island album really helped me a ton…especially songs with Spiega and Rodan on them. Spiega being the last Czar to be added to the group of Czars featured on the Escape album (Kong has to share that story of how Spiega “Became a Monsta” pun intended) is amazing because no one really heard Spiega spit prior to and the first joint he laid down on the mic I heard was so impressive that he seamlessly earned his seat amongst the others. It also didn’t hurt that he was Kong’s cousin as well. All of the Czars songs helped bring me back to life, especially Spiega’s verse on Under Pressure and his “Became a Monsta” song. His voice and his darts on there are just flawless yo.
( L to R: Spiga and Kong – photo by MeccaGodZilla)
Kong and Spiga (Traver Brown 🕊) were always there for me. Spiga was kind from day one cuz we have the Freeport connection, and we know lots of the same people from the Port but Kong!??😆😆 Kong showed tough love from day one. We actually almost squared up and fought cuz Kong was being insanely brash when I first pulled up to meet him and I wasn’t having it. The convo got heated haha. If Kong doesn’t like you or thinks you’re soft as cool whip, he’ll definitely let you know… and admittedly after that moment we kicked it a lot. I remember months later he was battling 1 of the Czars (Kong never loses a rap battle yo) and he was like what, you want some RAVAGE?? Lol. I don’t back down either even though freestyling is NOT my thing AT ALL lol. We ended up battling back and forth for a while off the top, again, Kong just trying to see what I’m all about before defeating me. I definitely brought it cuz I was in a great mental space so my darts were flying. We went a good 6-7 rounds off the top but Kong is a DIFFERENT type of animal yo. He gave me props but let me know he dont lose. That’s the only L in my life I’m proud of. Lol. Ok, enough of the tangents and back to Spiga, Spiga taught me a lot about people, a lot about recording, and a LOT about rapping. I asked Spiga once how he got so nice and he told me “RAVAGE I don’t know man, all I do is breathe and let God speak to me. I just write it all down”. Y’all don’t understand, Spiga writes insanely dope raps in like 10 mins – like it’s too fast. I actually have songs with him he wrote in less time like 5 mins and the bars and metaphors in those verses are insane.
My homie Quest lived in Dix Hills. I met Quest through Divine Mine aka Jamal of Freeport and we would hit up Quest’s studio often. That’s how I met Sage and would eventually introduce Sage to E.R. of Richsonz Inc. in Freeport (they built a studio together). At Quest’s studio, we would go to work on songs. Rodan, Kong, Spiga, and I have a joint called “Chrome Teeth and Brain Damage.” Rodan had an amazing idea to do a Stronghold and Monsta Island album. Him and I would go check Immortal Technique often at live shows and then go kick it on the late hours afterwards. It was fun chilling and building with Tech man and it was dope cuz the camaraderie between Ro and Tech was always dope. We were cool with Stronghold (C Rayz Walz, Poison Pen, Breez Evaflowin, L.I.F.E. Long, Immortal Technique and more – Strong Hold had a bunch of members too), so the idea was to make songs that were … lemme NOT tell the idea haha.. Cuz then some of yall might just go do it… so lemme say this…the idea was spoken about and some of the Stronghold members were into it. I already started making beats for it. Some of the Czars were into it… Chrome Teeth and Brain Damage was 1 of the songs but just never came out… There’s a part of this song where Kong made the beat stop while Spiga is still rhyming and Kong instructed to have a new entirely beat come one and Spiga had to catch the new beat and keep going- so as Spiga is rapping, the beat pauses, then changes to a new beat and Spiga double dutches his raps onto the new beat and it’s just insanely ill how he caught it cuz it was unrehearsed and he dead ass caught it in 1 motion and kept recording. That type of creativity made the studio so much fun when Spiga and Kong were there.I saw everyone do dope sh*t in the studio yo.
Below is an illustration of Spiga that I did around 2004 or 2005. It was an album cover concept or illustration for his album’s booklet. Back then I drew each one of the Czars, except for Kamackeris (I didn’t get a chance to) an illustration. Rodan’s was the first and that illustration featured on Theophany album cover. Next, I did one for X-Ray but never finished, then on to Megalon’s which featured on his album, and then Kong which was used for the Shackles Off album cover. I was really proud of this Spiga concept below. As you can see his a half spider half being type of monster. Spiga in the Godzilla films is a giant spider featured in the “Son of GodZilla” film in addition to Destroy All Monsters I think and a few others…Spiga makes an appearance in Godzilla Final Wars too. Spiga’s rhymes were Godly to say the least, so it made me think about a monster that was on another level. In the illustration below, Spiga’s 3rd eye is open, the traditional 2 eyes are closed…he’s creating a planet from his abdomen – literally spinning Saturn and bringing that one into existence. sSpiders are 1 of the oldest creatures on this planet and I am sure (no thanks to that episode of Love, Death, and Robots) that they are some of the oldest in this entire universe. I wanted to bring some of that into this illustration.
here are a few more that I made before albums were done. I don’t think I ever really posted these online before so here you go:
(Rodan’s “Theophany album cover created by KEO of the X-Men & MeccaGodZilla (illustration and photography))
I remember connecting with billy woods for the Soundclash Vol #1: MeccaGodZilla vs. 007 project. One of the songs I was happy to share is called “Oceans of Fire.” Raylong was the lead off on the 007 beat, I rhymed 2nd, Spiga rapped 3, did the hook, and Kong was clean up rapping 4th. Everyone bodied that joint and the studio session was mad fun cuz everyone was turning up in the booth and leaving that mofo SMOKING after recording their verses. There were 2 recording booths stacked next to each other, so say if you are sitting on the couch on the far wall, when you look forward, you will see the back of the engineer who has the big mixing console in front of him, and in front of that is the booth where you can see both MCs through the glass, they are separated by a soundproof wall in between. The way the booths were set up was so fly yall. Really amazing design by Quest and I believe Sage helped him build it. Spiga knocked that hook out so fast and it set the tone for the song! So fast forward, we had Oceans of fire done and also Chrome Teeth and Brain Damage – I remember we had a show billywoods invited us to perform at. Hasan Salaam was on the bill too. Both him and Badsportt tore the show out the frame. We were up next – it was myself, Kong, and Spiga – this was our first time ever meeting Junclassic and K. Sise I believe. I believe those 2 got sent to see what it was that the Czars did before eventually becoming Monstas themselves. So Kong, Spiga, and I start rocking and as I shared above – Chrome Teeth and Brain Damage has a pause in the middle where the music cuts out so we get to that part in the song, and Anton of backwoodz studios pauses the music hahaha.. So Spiga starts to rock and we all notice the beat doesn’t cut back on, so Spiga stops and I speak to the crowd like “yo the unexpected technical difficulties haha” everyone is so hype cuz we literally are bodying the sh*t and I tell the booth like “family what happened did you cut the music off?”
Anton: Yeah cuz I didn’t hear anything I assumed it was done.
MeccaGodZilla (me): (smiling) bro, this song dead ass is almost 5 mins long – no matter what you think is going on with the track itself, don’t pause the music, even if you can’t hear anything haha just let it play and watch what happens”
Anton: copy!
It’s all smiles and all love. Def good vibes always with Anton and billywoods. So we start that mofo song over from the top and this time, the crowd is on tilt because the first half of the song they already know the hook at this point, so boom… Spiga gets to the part where the music cuts out – he’s rockin acapella style and then double dutches right into the next beat (same song) and the crowd goes WILD – definitely one of the illest switch ups in a rap song – and the beat change was conceptualized by Kong – like the whole song design for this one in particular was really Kong’s idea and it was genius. We absolutely BODIED that show – and people never really saw that type of thing done in a song – so it was a good feeling to be a part of something so unique.
Thing is, there was no social media back then. No camera phones to record video. No Instagram reels. No TikTok or snapchat stuff. Nada. So a lot of these experiences, we just don’t have recorded and it kinda gets me because we did A LOT of shows. I can tell these stories all day but there’s nothing like being in the same venue and experiencing the actual energy with Spiga and Kong and the rest of us on stage. Spiga and Kong body it.
Spiga was so EASY to work with. And so FAST. Rodan always had rhymes on deck. I have never seen him write a rhyme and Spiga was the opposite, he would write joints quickly on paper. Both artists were phenomenal and FAST to work with. Spiga wouldn’t really take more that 1-3 takes to lay down a verse and when it came to adlibs, I used to watch him 1 take those ALL THE TIME. He was amazing at timing when it came to adlibs. (Random side note, Rodan usually 1 takes a verse – I never really hear him make mistakes with his darts to where he would have to record it over and over. Usually 1 take).
( L to R: billy woods, Kong & Spiga (back), MeccaGodZilla & Rodan (front)
The way that Kong and Spiga bounced off of each other in the studio would manifest the same way during live shows on stage. They were like the Ghost and Rae of the crew. They were so much fun to be around during live shows AND they always encouraged me. In the beginning, I had to learn how to be louder on the microphone – at first my vocal strength was too low for the actual stage. Little by little I got better with the mic thanks to Spiga, Kong, and K. Sise (I appreciate you fam – you taught me a LOT about breath control on the mic too). We have a song from the kill bill sample Kong told me to flip as well where the fam go nuts on it!
We used to really get busy at shows. I don’t care what false info gets shared about the old group online, a lot of people weren’t there for the trenches when it came to the actually shows…
(L to R: Spiga, Junclassic, MeccaGodZilla, Mez)
The same way I humbly entered the group and just watched, listened, and kept my mouth shut as I wasn’t there for those earlier shows – post the Escape album I not only helped booked shows at the Knitting Factory with my networking skills acquired from building up the G.A.ME union, but I also rapped at shows a bunch with Kong, Spiga, Mez, Majesty, Junclassic, and K.Sise. We were younger cats rolling with 2 of the vets that showed a TON of love and we did MANY, many shows yo. Many.
(L to R: Kong, Spiga (on the mic), & MeccaGodZilla)
(L to R: Kong, Spiga (on the mic), & MeccaGodZilla)
That reminds me of the Knitting Factory show. This was the first time I ever saw Spiga and Stonz. So with this post about Spiga, please note, I am allowing my memories to quickly go back and forth throughout the timeline I spent with Spiga. These memories aren’t chronological order. I am just recalling them and writing them all down. So back then I knew a promoter named James who was throwing a BUNCH of underground rap shows in NYC. So I hit him up to book Monsta Island. It was X-Ray, Rodan, Kong, Kamackeris, Megalon, and Spiga. Stonz was there too. We rode out to Manhattan when the Knitting Factory was off of Broadway just south of Canal Street. We get there and some heavyweights are on the bill. Pumpkinhead, Substantial, Karniege, Jean Grae, and LOTS more. The show wasn’t long, long at all but Monsta Island was kind of headlining the event – the thing is all of the opening acts got real busy because they were underground vets. So dudes were going insanely nuts on the mic. Ahhh a lot of the members of the Plague, Scheme Team, and other underground rappers were in the building actually. If you know then you know! So the air was getting a lil thick cuz Monsta Island was waiting a while to take the stage. The late, great, and legendary Pumpkinhead (aka PH) is on the mic building with the crowd during his set before his next song and I kid you not, Kamackeris goes on to the little stage area, grabs one of the side mics, and says “Monsta Island, Monsta Island, Monsta Island” over and over again haha. I swear I wasn’t sure if it was about to pop off (if you are an MC or musician then you already know if anyone gets on stage while you’re rocking it’s kind of not a good look hahaha). Monsta Island is def none to fux with but PH and them other heads were from Brooklyn and Brooklyn heads love to fight too. It was a fine line and PH played it off like “no doubt fam, you good fam?” I know for sure Kamackeris said “Monsta Island like 2 more times and kinda chilled out – It was just getting late so I know the feeling – as an artist you wanna def get your rocks off especially when the crowd is thick like it was. Things didn’t escalate at all thankfully and PH did like 2 more songs before ending his set. The LAST joint he did was a posse cut where it was the first time I saw Substantial and Karniege on the mic. It was a LOT of mofos on that posse cut and EVERYONE spazzed on it. Being an artist on the come up – it was inspiring to watch. Monsta Island was next up and Rodan set it off as X-Ray scratched in the RUN DMC instrumental “Down with the Kings” record. Monsta Island’s set was dope – chicks were on top of the bar dancing and all that. It was ill – towards the end of the set, Spiga and Stonz grabbed the mic to spit verses and that’s the first time I saw Spiga spit on stage- he was ill. Really ill. It was all love after the show.
I should write a book about the experience. Saying all that to say, no matter how many times Kong and I bumped heads, when I listened to Kong, he always had a plan to just get the music out because rap to him is fun, he makes it fun, and he’s amazing at it. Kong always wanted Spiga to rep with him and I love that they both always had each other in mind to record joints. Spiga was always there, with positive energy to add on. The Shackles Off album features Spiga all over it cuz it really was a family affair for those two.
(L to R: K.Sise (fka Monsta X), MeccaGodZilla, Spiga, Junclassic)
Thinking about Spiga and encouragement, he always showed love when I spit. He always encouraged me and got into it – even though he was WAY nicer with the pen than I was. He always, genuinely supported what I was trying to do with the beats and what I was trying to say with the pen – and you will see him in a few pictures right behind me making the stank face in full support when I’m spitting. I will NEVER forget that yo. The vibe was real. That was my brother for real for real.
(L to R: Kong and Spiga)
I’m sincerely grateful I got to be around all of the above I just mentioned. Spiga leaving really hit hard yo. Like I still haven’t even begun to process what it means.
(L to R: Spiga with the camcorder and MeccaGodZilla)
Oh snap, last story haha. So Spiga is NICE with cars. Nice with fixing cars and even nicer with auto body repair. The legend on Long Island is NOBODY did collision work better than him – pound for pound, Spiga was that DUDE! So one day I visited him in a garage off of Babylon Tpke kinda like the Freeport/Roosevelt border. I run up in the shop and it’s kinda late – and Spiga is working on a car that got hit and you can see the grace and detail he used to actively work on the damage as we are having a little build session. He’s showing me why he’s doing certain things to the car and why certain tools and techniques won’t work and he’s really beasting on it… it’s dope to watch cuz some of us, like me, basketball was my thing. I loved to hoop and I was nice with it so it was the same thing – seeing him with the cars was like seeing him with a first love. It was dope. Anyways someone walks into the shop and they say “Yo OP do you have XYZ?” I forget what the guy asked Spiga about but it was only myself and Spiga in the shop- it was late after hours. Spiga replies to dude and dude bounces – I look dead ass at Spiga like “bro, who the heck is OP?” haha we start laughing and he’s like “ME SUN!” haha. I’m like bro are u kidding me!? ‘You’re OP?” – I’m like bro I HEARD about you all over the Port for Cars but I never met you and didn’t realize you were him until just NOW – but like people always ask me if I know OP and I’m like heck nah who is that?? …yet here we are – hahaha I legit knew you this whole time hahaha – it was wild! It happened on another occasion where someone called him TJ and I’m like bro – who is TJ and he’s like “ME!” haha We laughed a bit -it’s funny because Spiga touched so many circles – friendship circles, the music stuff with us, the common Freeport and Roosevelt circles, the car community, some of the religious and spiritual community, and more. He knew a lot of different kinds of people who all called him something different haha. But we all knew the man with an amazing heart. Amazing dedication to the higher power that some know and call God. We all knew the man that was pushing himself to just be better each and everyday to do the best he could for his family. He didn’t have it easy – but I admired the vulnerable moments where he shared with me some of the challenges and how the music business could’ve been better to him – those convos were hard because he was VERY passionate about his music. And when it came to recording he wasn’t picky, he just wanted to work and have the opportunity to cook up in the studio. It was literally him channeling God to write the words each and every time. The Monstas featured on the Escape album are legends. They helped amplify the presence of the Rhymesayers music label adding a very raw, gritty, and real street element of music to that label. They made Hip-Hop history with that album and it was an honor to get to know Spiga, who was one of the most influential voices on that record. It was an honor to realize after meeting him, that I actually went to High School with both his younger sister and younger brother. What’s crazy is, I didn’t know this until maybe 6-7 years after I graduated High School lol. I was already in a rap group with Spiga and didn’t realize that I knew of his siblings. Small world for sure. I wish Spiga got his flowers for rhyming while he was here.
(L to R: Vordul, Hicoup, Creature, Sav Killz, Spiga in front – photo by MeccaGodZilla)
If you have read this far, please be well. Speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil and don’t be evil. Just enjoy your life and enjoy the music he left for us.
Also, side note… the God Rodan is NOT Mr. Fantastik. Rodan’s bars are way, way, way deeper than what Mr. Fantastik rapped about. Anyways enjoy the music yall.
Peace and love. 🙏🏿💪🏿 Spiga, we will def meet again, I am still vibing to “Now That’s Sweet” which is my favorite song of yours – Thank you for everything bro.
