The Last Dragon is into Hip Hop now? After mastering the Glow Leroy picked up a mic? That’s what his brother Richie Green (RIP) is saying.

The Last Dragon has had a strong influence on Hip Hop, just look at all the mixtapes and songs that in someway pay homage to the motown/kung fu cult classic. I guess it was only a matter of time before The Last Dragon himself starting rapping. His real name is Darnel Hill but his journey has earned him the name Bruce Leroy. In this interview with the Tacoma based hip hop artist, guest writer Clarke Illmatical, channels The Last Dragon’s Richie Green to tell the story of Bruce Leroy the rapper.

Listen to Bruce Leroy

by Clarke Illmatical (in the voice of Richie Green)

The streets have been calling for his story. First it was Harlem, then NYC. All city. The network gave us burn in the 90s. All world. They were balling on the Internet, wondering where he’d been. They wanted him back. Some said sequel, a few others hollered remake.

You see, my brother put a dent on the Jheri curl and Converse mix. Red glow has been on indefinite pause. He puts his feet up in the Sho’s row. He has the Kung Fu shit on lock and he ain’t worried about no Black Toaist.

Still with Laura Charles. I never quite got over that Mr. “I – would – like – meet – her but don’t even have a paint brush”. She says he’s a master. After all of this, glowing body, catching bullets in his teeth, this high yellow nigga still gets lost. The coolie moony kid knew that his story was needed; he just didn’t know how to tell it.

I did the only thing a thorough dude like me would do. Like those old chop socky flicks, where the hero had to go through some excruciating trials to get some skills, I put my brother through the motions.

“Carry me on your back and rap!” I exclaimed.

Being the chocolate-covered-yellow-peril that he can be at times, he was dumb founded. This nigga Leroy, he needed to search for some dumb guy, I mean Sun Dum Goy all over again.

We didn’t start our journey in Harlem, but on the left coast. Tacoma, then L.A. and back to Tacoma again. A necessary quest for supreme wisdom, the forgotten lessons from 1985.

Being the spotrusher that I am, I thought I’d lay it down for you. Line for line, line for line, this is how we get down.

My brother started out on some “What it smell like/ What it is/ What it look like/ Yeah baby/ Do it/ What it be like/ …and that shit sounded terrible. It took some time, but he put that broken language together. Lyrically, he was spellbound. In 2012, my brother decided to tell the world his name. He got that 7th Heaven flow.

Darnel Hill, the Tacoma based rapper, who previously went by DH, didn’t realize he had the glow. It wasn’t until after an arduous journey, searching for the wisest man in the universe, that he realized who he was. After releasing the EPs “BLACK EVERYDAY” and “TO THE DEATH” years earlier, Bruce Leroy decided to shine with the eponymous LP entitled “LEROY“, in 2012.

He kept it real with me, his journey was 99 Problems and then some. Bruce Leroy said

“Oh yeah man, It’s like, when you’re doing something, everybody is there to support you. When you’re trying to do something, people are there for you, but once you actually need the support, they fall off. People have that crab in a bucket mentality. Once you’re almost to the top, it’s their instincts to pull you down. It comes with the territory of being an artist.”

Bruce Leroy ain’t never lie.

Them maps on Google will say that he is a West Coast rapper, but my brother does the knowledge to artists across the country. His influences include Ice Cube, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Wu Tang, Outkast, Redman, Cannibus, Brother Lynch, Spice 1 and Mac Dre.

The contrasting styles are evident on the 13 track LP. On HIGHS & LOWS, you’ll hear a rapid flow, paying homage to a PO PIMP from DO or DIE. “Belo, he has one of my favorite rap voices” explained Bruce Leroy. Whether it’s the motivational WAKE UP, the chillaxed BACK TO THE INDICA, the menacing ONCE UPON A TIME or the heart crushing NO LOVE, he continues to show-n-prove. Bruce Leroy has bars y’all.

On the track LEROY, our superhero goes half man, half amazin. He said Hip hop ain’t dead and it has a superhero.

“When you listen to that song LEROY, that song is actually it is a reflection of my personality, it is kind of funny, I got some bars in there, I tried to make sure nobody can put me in a bottle” says Bruce Leroy.

Ironically, an entire song devoted to our favorite film, isn’t on any of his albums. He vacillates from good to bad guy and superhero to villain on “100 BARS OF DEATH“.

Bruce Leroy explained how it came to be, saying

“I never put the track on an album, because I was in L.A. getting that Hollywood run around for a long time, when I was out there. Somebody sent me the beat, and I was like, this sounds like some old Blaxploitation joint, kung fu shit. I didn’t know it was going to come out to be 100 bars. I was trying to do The Last Dragon and capture that movie.”

Line for Line, with 100 Bars of Death, this is how Bruce Leroy gets down.

“I’m the baddest mofo down/ Around this town”

“It’s The Last Dragon nigga/ So bounce and bow down”

“No ninja mask/ Just a sword and a hoodie/ I’m in it for the cash not chasing a fortune cookie”

“Ladies love me long time/ Cuz of my yellow glowing/”

“You can’t get warm with the wool of a sheep/ Or the trigger nigga/ I be catching bullets with my teeth”

“I’m conceited/ But I’ve been romantically linked to Vanity”

“I’m on point/ I eat my popcorn with chopsticks”

“You don’t want no problems/ Don’t believe me nigga/ Go ask the Shogun of Harlem”

“This ain’t Daniel son/ Nigga it’s Bruce the truth”

My brother’s determination and mental toughness, he put them together catching bullets on the streets of Tacoma. Back in the days, son was known as CHILL OUT LEROY.

“I grew up fighting, doing a bunch of things I should not have been doing. I feel like now days, people they hang out with are not from the streets and that is not a bad thing. Everybody don’t have to be from the streets. When you get into an altercation, everybody wants to get tough and buck, that is the difference between the soft cats and the cats who have really been there. When you really get into those altercations, they don’t know what to do. They want to talk it out, they think that you’re gonna find some paperwork. Nah, it don’t work like that bro! Once we get to fisticuffs, It’s a wrap hommie! We gonna square up and I don’t mind squaring up! That’s always been my problem. I’ve always been ready to fight, but I’m growing out of that mentality” said Bruce Leroy.

From DH, to CHILL OUT LEROY, to a name that was just right. He looked inside of himself, and a film he related to.

“I’m an 80s baby, and I loved the movie when I was young. Me being the light skinned cat, everybody wanted to try me all of the time. I live in Tacoma, we rank like number 21 in the United States on violent crimes. People can’t really point this city out on a map. It’s a hard body spot. People assume, you’re gonna be light weight or soft or something. I’ve been tested. When I look at Bruce Leroy from the movie, he was a cornball light skin dude walking around with a Karate gi, and nobody thought he was anything special. But he’ll whoop your ass! That is where I got it from. He was a little pretty dude. You wouldn’t be intimidated by him at first” said Bruce Leroy.

For my brother, writing isn’t an option. He doesn’t care who’s listening. Whether you like it or not, his pen hits the pad, he couldn’t live any other way.

“I try to put my energy, whether it be positive or negative into my music. It’s my outlet. A lot of people, they do music because it is cool… it sounds really simple. I do it because it’s what I have to do. I’m a writer, when I’m stressed out, when I’m happy, when I’m in a good mood, I want to write something. It just so happens that somebody enjoys it” explained Bruce Leroy.

At first, no one was feeling the appellation. None of his friends. Not even the dead homiez. He realized that his music would name him king.

“I got some of my friends who come and say ‘I hate your rap name!’ I got some people, that get it. But I have had people come up to me and say that I should change my rap name. I ask people all of the time, what is a Little Flip? What is a Bun B? What makes that name cool? It’s you, you make that name cool! Once you get your music out and it is popping, anything is going to be cool!” said Bruce Leroy

He sees the metaphorical messages, encouraging the master within, in what many categorize as a cheesy Blaxploitation film.

“Especially the Sun Dum Goy part. He’s searching all this time, he’s looking around… You think there nothing to be learned. You just learned something by chasing the bullshit. He’s running around chasing this bogus theory, this guy, and he pretty much, it was him the whole time. At the end of the day, he was more important that that anyway” said Bruce Leroy.

My brother got his mind right. It took some time, but my brother don’t carry me on his back no more. He’s been through the chambers. He’s bodied 100 lyrical Mr. Nuffs. On the mic, Laura asks him for moves. The only rapper to rewrite history without a pen ain’t better than Bruce Leroy, the master with inception, he writes rhymes in his dreams.

Bruce Leroy came back, like ya’ll wanted, but not how you expected.

My brother put himself through the motions. You see, chasing that Sun Dum Goy, we fail to realize the master within, we chase the bullshit. We give our power away. It’s safer to live through others.

Y’all been out here on the nets, begging for my brother to come back. You want to see him in sequels, you want to see him in remakes. All that time, failing to hear the message he bought to you in 85.

Whether it is our favorite film or an and independent rap album, we feel more comfortable having Bruce Leroy take that journey for us. Right about now, ya’ll hearing your names of the illest shit I ever wrote.

When you decide to take your journey, when you decide to look within, you’ll hear a reoccurring message.

What I’ve been trying to tell ya’ll all along.

It’s what Darnel Hill heard when he set of for city of angels. What Louis Venosta told me in Times Square years ago. The same message Willie Hutch gave you, at the exact place he told you you’d find it. Around the same time Craig Sutton broke down The Wisdom of The Last Dragon: