Below, you can read our interview with producer Fedarell and listen to the album Quarter Block Vol. 2. Check out our full review of Quarter Block Vol. 2 here.
Q: Great to be speaking with you, Fedarell! You are from East Palo Alto – the per-capita murder capital of the world in 1992. For people who only know the Bay Area as Silicon Valley and tech money, what do you want them to understand about what it actually meant to grow up there?
A: Growing up in EPA in the late ’80s and early ’90s is something I’d never change because it taught me toughness, resilience, awareness, and how to navigate complex environments and relationships. But the reality was harsh. There was almost no diversity — 80% Black, about 10% Mexican, and 5% Tongan and Samoan — and constant turf wars.
I remember it getting so bad in 1992 that multiple friends’ homes were shot up during the height of the beef. My parents pulled my brothers and me out of school for a few weeks because even kids were fair game walking to school if the opps had a chance.
Most of my friends came from single‑parent homes or no real family structure at all. Like my mother, many parents were directly impacted by the crack epidemic, and if not them, then someone close. With a failing school system and no real resources, kids turned to the streets early — selling drugs, robbing, stealing — all things that got them caught up in the system before they even hit their teens.
Most kids I knew had been arrested before or right around middle school. By the time they turned 16 and were technically job‑eligible, they already felt written off, so they were fully committed to the street life.
Q: You didn’t even know your cousin YB rapped at first because he was so deep in the streets. What was that moment like when you two linked up and realized what you could build together?
A: Around 2007–2008, I heard a few verses YB laid on another local rapper’s project, and I was shocked at how dope he was. We spent most of our childhood together, and somehow music never came up. Once I heard that, we went straight to work and started putting out projects and compilations over the years.
Q: You grew up listening to everything from Scarface and 2Pac to Luther Vandross and Red Hot Chili Peppers. How does that unusually wide palette actually show up in your production work?
A: Being an ’80s baby, rock, soul, disco, and R&B were everywhere — MTV, Video Jukebox, the radio. Songs like “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Under the Bridge,” and “Give It Away” were part of the soundtrack of our childhood.
That influence shows up in my production through gritty guitars, synths, strings, and a more musical approach overall. I try to make my beats feel bigger than just a 4‑bar loop. I pull a lot of inspiration from that era.
Q: The album opens with a real news clip from the murder-capital era, featuring people you actually knew – including someone who was killed. What made you decide to open the record that way?
A: Very few people know the real EPA. Most outsiders assume East Palo Alto is just like the wealthy Palo Alto across the bridge, but they couldn’t be more opposite. I wanted to paint the gritty reality of what it was like back then and introduce the world to this small city that locals call the “small town cemetery.”
Q: Quarter Block Vol. 2 is a sequel. How do you approach a follow-up when the first record already told a significant piece of the story? What did you feel was left to say?
A: This project is different. The first Quarter Block was YB’s first official solo album — executive‑produced and produced by me — and it focused more on his personal story: coming up in the streets, the things he had to do, the flashy hustler side, the dopeboy side. Quarter Block also references our block, “The Vill,” where we were active, so it was more micro.
Vol. 2 is a broader, macro look at the city and at ghettos everywhere. That’s why YB says there’s a Quarter Block in every hood.
Q: Perhaps in some unspecified amount of time, your musical career explodes in the best of ways. What does that look like for you?
A: I don’t make music for the money. I make it for the creative expression and passion behind it. I’ve been a commercial banking executive and business owner for over two decades. I do this to give back and help other rappers who do this full‑time reach their dreams and build a real living for themselves.
Q: You get to collaborate with anyone of your choosing. Who is it?
A: AZ Chike, YoungBoy NBA, Kodak Black.
Q: Your favorite album of all time? (Yup, you gotta choose one.)
A: Easily All Eyez on Me.
Q: Your favorite song of all time? (Again, only one!)
A: “My Ambitionz Az a Ridah” by 2Pac.
Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
A: Music is a timeless imprint — a snapshot of your legacy, your mindset, and the era you lived through. I create these bodies of work so my kids and anyone who loves me can always have a piece of my essence when I’m gone.
(Want to be interviewed by The Ark of Music? Click HERE.)