The Rosenthal Brothers (Eric and Jeff) of the hip hop sketch comedy web series ItsTheReal are slowly but surely making a name for themselves beyond the blogosphere.  Known at first for poking fun at the biggest rap stars with lots of wit and creativity, the show is now becoming so popular that those same rappers are hollering at them for guest spots on new episodes.  And to think these two fellow jews are from Westchester County too.  In fact, after meeting them at a recent Cipha Sounds and Rosenberg event in NYC, we discovered that we grew up about 5 minutes away from each other (I’m from White Plains, they’re from Harrison) and even had a couple mutual friends (Jewish Geography is sooooo fun).  Therefore, I think it’s appropriate that Westcheddar be the first to find out what’s the real deal behind ItsTheReal…

IP: So, you guys grew up in Westchester County.  Were you “whiggers” in high school?  Jocks?  Rich kids?  Party animals?  Neo-maxi-zoom-dweebies?  Put your teenage years in a box for us.

 

ERIC: I feel like I was very middle-of-the-road in high school.  Wasn’t a nerd, wasn’t a jock; did fairly well socially, academically and fundamentally.  I was the Jewish kid in an Italian town who played snare drum in marching band (and enjoyed it), and all the while had aspirations to play football.  Oh, and for a couple of years, I was way into grunge music, so I wore flannel and grew my hair out.  Any photographic evidence, though, has long-been burned by my parents.

 

JEFF: In our high school, some people wore Armani Exchange, others wore Abercrombie & Fitch.  I was in the latter group.

 

 IP: What were your bar mitzvah themes?

 

ERIC: Our parents got very creative with our Bar Mitzvahs.  My theme was “Newspapers.”  Relatives from Florida sat at the Miami Herald table, cousins from Washington sat at the Washington Post table, etc.  And all the guests left with custom mugs with an above-fold story about my big day printed on it in the style of The New York Times.  I know, I know, liberal media bias…

 

JEFF: Similar to Eric’s, my b’nai mitzvah (which I shared with Twin Brother Dan) was “Magazines.”  While Dan and I split covers (ie: he took Sports Illustrated; I got Mad), we were both TIME’s Men of the Year.  We clearly grew up in a different time. You know, when print wasn’t dead.

 

IP: Ha! What was your earliest exposure to hip hop music as kids?  Was one of you more into it than the other?

 

ERIC: I think because I was older, I naturally was exposed to hip-hop earlier and might have had more of an interest initially.  I was into the hip-hop group Arrested Development early on, and remember Domino’s song Sweet Potato Pie having a profound effect on me.  And just like any other suburban kid, I really got into NWA, Dre and Snoop.

 

JEFF: My first memory of hip-hop (or whatever) was listening to Cypress Hill’s “Insane in the Membrane” on the radio in Eric’s room. It just sounded so different from everything else that was on Casey Kasem’s countdown: Amy Grant, Michael Bolton, Madonna.  No, that’s not true: I remember singing MC Skat Kat’s part from that Paula Abdul song in the back row of the elementary school bus.  That being said, the most meaningful early exposure I had to rap was hearing the Beastie Boys on K-ROCK.  Pretty soon after that, I started listening to Hot97.  I guess that was 1995.

 

IP: How about comedy?  Any idols in the world of jewish humor?

 

ERIC: While I listened to Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks’ 2000 Year Old Man on cassette, and watched Woody Allen films as a young kid, I feel like my sense of humor was shaped more by the time I got to college where I obsessed over Saturday Night Live episodes and films by the Coen Brothers and Wes Anderson.

 

JEFF: As a teenager, I gorged myself on episodes of Seinfeld, The Simpsons, the first season of South Park, and Dave Letterman. Bill Murray and Steve Martin were also big influences on whatever jokes I’d later write.  In college, I got into the mockumentaries of Christopher Guest, Ricky Gervais’ version of The Office, all other seasons of South Park, Arrested Development, and Wet Hot American Summer (which was on constant loop for a couple of years). 

 

 IP: What was your college experience like?  Did you totally love it?  Were you in a frat?

 

ERIC: I loved college.  I went to Syracuse University and found a great group of friends right away, who I’ve kept close to me to this day.  I loved both NCAA and intramural sports, the atmosphere, the girls and the idea of living on my own.  I never considered Greek life – it just didn’t appeal to me. Academically, I used school as a tool to further my ambitions, treating classes and outside experiences like an apprenticeship, and all the while trying to get ahead of my competition.

 

JEFF: Unfortunately, I can’t share my entire Boston University experience, because I’m going to be writing a book about how I somehow survived living with guys named T-Bag, Sakk, and Beast my junior year of college. Let’s just say that it was LIKE living in a frat house, only lamer.  (Among other fun things: T-Bag would chant his own nickname while walking around Boston; Beast would drink and then piss himself, only to be hosed down on the balcony; Sakk got arrested for making fake IDs, and would later live with a hippie named Zeus. File that year under Things That’re Funnier in Hindsight.)  And, somehow, there was me. Other than that, Boston was fine.  I didn’t go to class much, and I got decent grades.  I loved working on the school paper, which was when I realized that I wanted to write for a living.

 

IP: So how did you first come up with the idea to merge hip hop and humor into an internet skit series?  Do you have writing and/or acting backgrounds?

 

ERIC: I majored in film and minored in drama at Syracuse, and graduated thinking that I’d write and direct feature films soon thereafter.  It didn’t happen like that, and after a couple years of writing and pitching scripts, I transitioned into documenting musical artists behind the scenes, on tour and in the studio, which provided me an insight into the music business that most people don’t see.  One day, I heard a commercial for a new hip-hop themed show on Fuse, which sounded so incredibly fake and awful.  I thought to myself: if I ever did TV, I could totally create something real and sincere about this musical genre that I loved and studied; something better than this commercial that I just heard.  Then I thought, why not?  So, I developed a vehicle for Jeff and myself – a three-pronged, 30-minute show, which would include interview segments, live performances and hip-hop sketch comedy – and pitched it around to places like AOL, Rocketboom and Vibe Magazine.  And while everyone liked the idea, no one could see how to make it work in the long-run.  So, Jeff and I boiled it down to the one aspect we could do ourselves, and made it happen.

 

JEFF: It’s nothing like what Eric said, but believe what you want.  Let’s just say that it involved a duck, Ed Lover, a block of gouda cheese, and a paper clip.

 

IP: Interesting.  Why the internet?  Easy access?

 

ERIC: That reminds me of the Eazy-E lyric: “I wear my pants like this for easy access.”  Anyway… We saw the internet as a growing medium where we could create content for cheap and hopefully watch a video or two go viral.

 

JEFF: Absolutely easy access.  We thought, we need to do it ourselves if no one’s going to put money into it.  Unless we ambushed He Who Runs TV with pitchforks and torches – and believe me, we’ve tried – we’d never be able to get people to listen to us. 

 

 IP: I think the first episode I ever saw of ItsTheReal is when you’re trying to sublet Jadakiss’s apartment.  How did you get the balls to start poking fun at these major rap stars?  Have you ever been nervous that they wouldn’t “get it” and come after you?

 

ERIC: We always felt that the music industry took itself way too seriously, and we thought that there’s no reason that someone couldn’t poke a little fun, especially if the ribbing comes from people who love the music and the culture.  On the whole, I think that artists who are more open and willing to make fun of themselves end up being more successful in business than those who are too serious and reclusive, and over the past two years, both artists and record companies have noticed that, and have used us as a resource to help market their product.

 

JEFF: I don’t think we’ve ever been worried that rappers would come at us with wounded egos and steak knives (which is, coincidentally, the name of my upcoming album).  We always thought of ourselves as so outside of the community, and I don’t think I’ve even thought that someone like Lloyd Banks would care about us taking potshots at him when he’s sitting in his (or 50’s) mansion.  I also believe that our jokes are told with respect for capital-H Hip-Hop and fans of it, and maybe rappers see that.  Maybe they see it as publicity, as in the case of Ace Hood (who, after suffering a 12-hour 140-character beatdown on Twitter, thanked everyone for making him a trending topic).  I don’t think we’re invincible, but I don’t think that anyone would touch us.

 

IP: You dissed hip hop personalities DJ Vlad and Star and Buckwild in a recent video.  Any response?  Are they pissed off?  Has anyone else that you’ve goofed on come knocking at your door seeking revenge?  

 

ERIC: Besides some generic tweets directed toward us from Vlad, the only thing we’ve heard is an avalanche of support for our video.  And no, we haven’t had to deal with anyone who took our jokes to heart, though I’d be more afraid of rappers’ friends than rappers themselves.

 

JEFF: Our doorman isn’t Mickey Factz, so we feel pretty safe.

 

IP:  Nice.  You seem to have formed some close friendships and key relationships with the heads of the most popular blogs and internet hip hop sites.  How did you make so many pals in the hip hop industry?  Do you guys go out alot?  Hit up all the parties and events?  Schmooze?

 

ERIC: The best byproduct from any internet success we may have attained, is being able to go to shows and discuss hip-hop history with people we know through the internet.  And amazingly enough, internet people DO actually leave their parents’ basements and congregate regularly around the city at a lot of events!  Jeff and I put our faces out there for people to see online, and when we go out to shows or events, we like to be approachable and open to conversation.

 

JEFF: We’re approachable thugs – – isn’t that a Nas lyric?  For our first year, we didn’t go out to any events.  No one knew us.  We ended up getting invited to Danyel Smith’s [Vibe Magazine] birthday party, which was really exciting for us.  What we didn’t expect, though, was that all of these industry heavyweights would come up to us the entire night and talk to us about the good that we were doing.  We were the third-and-fourth most popular people there, it seemed, behind Danyel and Elliott Wilson [Rap Radar].  It was bizarre.  We walked out of the club that night, and talked about how it seemed to be a realization that maybe we were doing something right.  Ever since then, we’ve made more friends, and expanded our circles.  As for why people like us, who knows?  Maybe it’s that we’re saying what people are thinking?  Maybe it’s because we don’t take ourselves seriously?  Me, I don’t know.  I like to think it’s my looks.

 

IP:  What blogs do you guys hit up on the reg?

 

ERIC: NahRight, first and foremost.  Eskay’s supported us from day one, and we can’t thank him enough for his weekly co-sign.  Miss Info, Complex, RapRadar, The Rap Up, Different Kitchen, RealTalkNY, Money-Cash-Ho’s.

 

JEFF: …Idolator, New York Times, The Awl, Videogum, Gawker, BlackBook.  I also find a lot of different things through Twitter and Tumblr, because I trust the links that my friends put out.

 

IP: You eventually had Cam’ron appear in one of your episodes.  He was pretty good.  How did you make that happen?  Did he reach out to you?

 

JEFF: We were at SOB’s one night when Joey IE from Asylum Records stepped out of the shadows, introduced himself, and pitched us on doing an episode with Cam’ron.  We had always wanted to do an episode with him, but never thought it possible (considering that he had been underground for the past 10 years or so).  A couple of weeks later, Joey called us up and told us that Cam was in the office, and that we’d have to shoot then and there.  So, we hopped in a cab, and it was done within the hour.  Cam was unbelievable: low-key, professional, fun.  And, even though we haven’t taken him up on it, he told us to swing by the Boom-Boom Room (his in-house strip club).  One day.

 

 

IP: And Cam’s obviously not the only rap star you’ve had in your videos.  Out of everyone, who were your favorites to work with?  Was anyone like, really funny?

 

ERIC: Cam’s the best.  Bun B was great.  Joe Budden.  Joell Ortiz is very funny.  We’re lucky that we haven’t had too many bad experiences…

 

JEFF:  This is where I’m supposed to talk about Max B, I guess, but I’ll decline.  Thanks. 

 

IP: You consistently put out a new episode every week, feeding off what’s hot in the world of hip hop gossip at the time.  What’s your creative process like?  Do you write together?  Do you do all your own editing?

 

ERIC: We do everything in-house.  Literally, all out of our apartment.  We write, direct, act, produce, edit and promote, all ourselves.  We like to develop an idea early in the week, flesh it out and send drafts back and forth between the two of us.  If all goes well, we’re filming by Friday or Saturday and editing on Sunday, all in time for a Monday morning debut.  But believe me, we’ve definitely scrapped ideas late on a Sunday and pulled all-nighters to put a better product out by 9am on Monday.

 

IP: Who are the random white girls in your videos?  Does ItsTheReal have groupies?!??!?!?  Have you guys ever double teamed a chick?

 

ERIC: I mean, we’ve got nothing on G-Unit’s Groupie Love… but we’re working on it!

 

 

IP: Any favorite episodes?  Ones that are close to your heart, or that you’re very proud of?  Ones with the most hits?

 

ERIC: Oh man, this is like choosing between children.  I’m not sure I have a favorite, but I do think they’re all a little under-appreciated.  I wish more people saw the movie trailer episode (The Mitchell Report II: Detox), where we took on rappers and their steroid use.  Eh, I have lots to say about lots of episodes, but I think we exhausted all the self-congratulations we were allowed in our 2-year anniversary video.

 

JEFF: The most under-appreciated episode, I think, is the one where we showed a PowerPoint presentation where ad execs talked about being ‘urban’ and using the word ‘swag’ to sell office chairs.  No one watched the episode, but it was pretty prescient and well-written.

 

 

 IP: Where do you see this going?  Is this a stepping stone to something bigger?  Can we expect to see ItsTheReal on TV or even the big screen?  An ItsTheReal reality series possibly?

 

ERIC: We’re striving for a career involving television and/or film, and at the same time not abandoning our internet base.  Can it be done?  We’re giving it a try… As for reality shows, that’s not something that I’m interested in at all; as many commentors on NahRight would attest, my life is way too boring.

 

IP: What else do you guys do with your time?  Can you really make a living doing an internet comedy series?  How do you guys support yourselves financially?  Do you have real jobs?

 

ERIC: ItsTheReal is a big part of my life right now, but I’m trying not to make it my entire life.  This summer’s been tough because I’m a huge Mets fan, and I haven’t been able to enjoy my usual summer distraction as much as I’d like to.  I do believe that one can make a living doing an internet comedy series – we just haven’t gotten to that point yet.  Everything we’ve done for ItsTheReal.com has been out of pocket, and we do not have advertisements on our site or our videos.  I do freelance video work to support myself.

 

IP: What hip hop music are you listening to right now?

 

ERIC: I like to sample just about everything on the rap blogs, so whatever’s current.  And I have a lotta Cam and Diplomats in my gym mix right now.

 

JEFF: Let’s see…I’m really excited for the Kid Cudi album. I’ve been playing Luda’s remix of “Patna Dem” a good amount. I listened to Pac Div’s Church League Champions a few times, gave the last Evil Empire mixtape (Be South 20) a bunch of spins, and downloaded the Soulja Boy Gangsta Grillz, which was admirably awful. Gave it a shot, and felt like Plaxico Burress afterwards.

 

IP: How about outside of hip hop?  Anything in your Itunes that would surprise us?

 

ERIC: I’m a huge fan of Ben Folds.  He and Kanye are my favorite artists of all time.

 

JEFF: I listen to anything and everything. (Right now, I’m listening to a constant rotation of Mike Posner and Passion Pit.) Overall, I have just as much rap and modern R&B as I do soul and rock from the 60s. If you don’t know where the culture’s come from, you won’t know where it’s going. Plug: I get a lot of sampled songs from Ivan at Hip Hop is Read. Probably the most surprising thing in my iTunes is Milli Vanilli’s first (and only) album, which is enjoyable on a level that most (read: all) people aren’t familiar with. 

 

IP: Ok, give me your top 5 albums.

 

ERIC: This may be a cop-out, but I feel like there’s too many for me to name.

 

JEFF: In no particular order: The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, Paul’s Boutique, Graduation, The Supremes’ We Remember Sam Cooke, Ready to Die.

 

IP: Top 5 movies?

 

ERIC: All The President’s Men, The Big Lebowski, Dumb and Dumber, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Fade To Black.

 

JEFF: Wet Hot American Summer, Best in Show, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Godfather, Breakfast Club. Oh, and R. Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet.

 

IP: Finally, is there anyone you haven’t worked with that you’d like to?  I think you guys should do something with Eminem.  That would be dope.

 

JEFF: Eminem would be fun. We’ve got some cool things coming up, and it feels like everybody that we want to work with, we end up working with. So, I don’t want to give up any spoilers.

 

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