A lot of people in Watsonville like rap, but there 
aren’t a lot of rappers. You can see rappers once in a 
while — I remember seeing people battle at Katz Paws 
in front Watsonville High at lunch and there was a 
battling contest at Music Madness a while back. But 
you don’t really see a lot. 
That’s why I was surprised when I met a rapper at a 
party a couple of months ago.  He told me about his 
rap group, the Warlordz, and how they got signed to a 
label. I even got to see him rap. 
The Warlordz consist of  six emcees, two producers and 
a DJ: Jermz, Sincere, Scorpio, UK, Aziz, Chief, Oddeo 
Kemist and DJ Kane. And it all started out with 
Jermz.  He used to solo rap when he was in high school 
until he and UK battled Scorpio and Aziz at a party. 
Soon after that, they began rapping together. Later 
they met Sin and DJ Kane and the band came together 
with Oddeo Kemist and Jermz as the producers. They got 
a studio in San Jose with the help of the Bomb 
Productions label. 
Their music is raw, rugged and real.  Everyone has 
their own influences including Tupac, the Dilated 
Peoples, Gang Starr and Chino. Sure their influences 
can inspire them to rap, but when they battle it’s a 
different world. You have to, “Feel good about your 
rap when you put it as a form of self-expression,” 
said Jermz. “You put your fists into words, think 
fast, have stamina, be original and stay focused. 
Battling is all about respect and cleverness, you got 
to play it like a sport and dominate that other person 
mentally. Say anything that you know about them, 
anything to make them stutter.” 
Their favorite part about being together is playing 
gigs.  They’ve played in Sunnyvale, San Jose, Santa 
Clara and all around this area. But it’s not easy 
being a rapper: One time Jermz girlfriend, Andrea, 
pushed an emcee off the stage because he was talking a 
lot of trash when he was battling with Jermz. 
And the crowd can get crazy too. “The crowds are like 
fireballs. They are the ones that put the whole show 
on, they could boo you off the stage or praise you for 
your cleverness,” said Jermz. 
They think that Watsonville should build a rap 
scene. “It’s time that Watsonville got a piece of the 
hip-hop culture,” says Jermz. “Right now hip hop is 
falling apart. We just have people like Nelly rapping 
about his Air Force Ones,” said Sincere. “The average 
rapper is about gangster: more infective and in 
festive with his rap shit. Hip hop is a phenomena, a 
revolution type.  Others think that it’s the looks, 
fashion, girls; that’s what they think of as 
commercial hip-hop.”