Simon Rex is an actor, comedian, and producer of both films and music. These days he’s focusing more on his rap career with the moniker Dirt Nasty. His lyrical madness can be heard on such hits as “My Dick”, “1980” and “Cracker Ass Fantastic”, and his songs have been featured in movies and TV shows, and his videos on YouTube have been and still do hit record numbers. These days, he stirs up trouble with his upcoming Nasty As I Wanna Be album dropping in stores on August 10th. I was able to catch up with him for a Simon Rex/Dirt Nasty interview and talk about his respective musical career as well as his many other ventures.
Parlé Magazine: It seems like many movie stars have gone the extra mile when it comes to venturing towards music after being successful in films, what came first for you: movies or music?
Simon Rex/Dirt Nasty: I’ve been interested in music ever since high school, me and my friends would fool around on the karaoke machine spitting freestyles to rap songs. We’d make mixtapes all the time. I was doing music creatively first, but I never thought of pursuing it. After high school when I wasn’t really doing it anymore when I was one of the last MTV VJs in 1996 if anyone remembers what they were. During my time as a VJ, I met EVERYBODY. I was into acting and I wasn’t really focused on the music part too much. I interviewed so many people from Jackie Chan to Tupac so one day I met Adrien Brody, we became friends and he showed me how to make beats, I really fell in love with producing so I started producing music in between acting jobs. I got into it more as a hobby. I started to rap a bit in my stand-up act. The crowd loved it so I kinda really started to get into it and the next thing I know I’m getting buzz so I decided to try my hand as a rapper. I just do it for fun and for the love of music.
Parlé: Where did the name ‘Dirt Nasty’ come from?
Dirt: One day a friend called and asked me what I was doing, I told him I was sittin’ on the couch dirty nasty and he says to me, ‘Dude, that would be a great name as a rapper.’ So I kept it, it kind of started off as a joke, but it’s worked for me. It’s also a homage to my dirty lyrical style. I grew up listening to people like Too $hort and 2 Live Crew, I wanted to bring that musical style back. I’m not really feeling the rap music that’s out these days.
Parlé: People may remember Malibu’s Most Wanted when Jamie Kennedy wanted to be a rapper afterwards, people may start to wonder if this is another white actor playing a part.
Dirt: I’d have to say no, Jamie is a good friend of mine but I think he was doing it more as a joke whereas for me if you remember his TV show where he played a lot of characters, I think that’s where it came from. He wasn’t trying to put out real music or do real shows whereas for me, although it is a joke in a way because I write jokey songs and write about things other people wouldn’t, I am more serious about my music. I have some serious producers on there like Alchemist, Kool Kojak, and Cisco Adler.
Parlé: With your Nasty As I Wanna Be album dropping soon, your second album, what kind of Dirt Nasty songs can fans expect?
Dirt: It’s gonna still be raunchy and dirty. I didn’t wanna just go off in a new direction, a lot of what my fans liked from the previous album is there, but it’s also something new. With this album, I stepped it up a bit with the production value, most of the stuff is still pretty comical like I’ve got songs with Ke$ha, LMFAO, Too $hort, Warren G, Andre Legacy, Andy Milonakis, Beardo, and Benji Hughes.
Parlé: Dirt Nasty as well as Andre Legacy and Mickey Avalon teamed up to form a rap trio known as ‘The Dyslexic Speedreaders,’ where the name came from?
Dirt: Well, the name came from a friend of ours who had just gotten out of jail at the time, he called us that as a joke so when he went back in we kept the name for him because afterwards he went back to jail. I am sad to say that the group The Dyslexic Speedreaders is no more. We’ve toured for six years and without getting into too many details, after being on the road for so long we were about ready to kill each other.
Parlé: As an artist, what do you feel needs improvement in the music business?
Dirt: The majors right now are a sinking ship. I have so many friends that are artists and they tell me the record execs aren’t like what they use to be. Now they offer these “360 deals” or they only sign you based on one song. It used to be you’d get an advance for a whole record and they’d do it that way. I’d wanna make sure that the artists aren’t the ones in debt.
Parlé: If you could call up anyone right now and do a record with them, who would you like to do a Dirt Nasty song with?
Dirt: I actually had a dream come true recently and I was able to do a song with Too $hort. I could retire from rap right now because that was dream come true, I grew up listening to his music and a lot of my style came from that. I remember listening to Too $hort and 2 Live Crew when I was younger and my mom would be like “Cut that noise off.” I wanna make rebel music that people can just listen to. The dads would hate it but I want the Moms to wanna bone me on the low. If I could I’d like to do something like Eminem did with Elton John but if I could I’d rather work with like Sade or Barry Manilow because I can’t get into a lot of the rap music these days, I mainly just listen to the classics. I’d like to do a song with Sade, I’d be rapping all crazy and she’d come in singing the hook.
Parlé: Being one of the last MTV VJs, how do feel about the direction MTV has taken from Music Television where they would play music and videos to nonsensical reality shows?
Dirt: I don’t wanna diss MTV because thanks to them they jump-started my whole career but when I was leaving they started showing more Road Rules and The Real World more than videos. I asked them what that had to do with music and they told me that these types of shows draw in more revenue. I do like the Wildboyz show but I am glad to say that I’ve never watched more than two minutes of The Hills, I just can’t get into but hey, they’re all making money so more power to them. They started MTV 2 and that was supposed to show more videos and music but it kind of feels like now if you wanna see a music video then you’ve gotta YouTube it.
Parlé: Exactly. On another note though, how do you spend your free time?
Dirt: I just like staying creative. I like golfing, surfing, snowboarding, and just regular white boy shit. I’m always pitching TV shows and writing scripts trying to do this L.A. hustle. Music and writing, I just shot a video with LMFAO’s Song “Yes” which is produced by Jamie Foxx, that will be out soon online, I play a sports announcer in the video. They also helped with a song on my album called “I Can’t Dance” about being Jewish and White and not really being able to dance. We shared a brief laugh when I mentioned how white break dancers can dance better than I do.
Parlé: With all the fame, money, and influence, how do you find the time to stay humble?
Dirt: I think it’s because I’m older now. When I was younger, I lived in Europe, I modeled and I worked for MTV and unless you’re someone like Leonardo DiCaprio, you’re not always gonna get work so I keep that all in mind. Yeah, when I was humble it was definitely hard because I’d have all these people in my ear telling me what to do, and the yes men around that it’s very easy to get a big ego but I was humble from an early age.
Parlé: How do you find the time to give back to your fans?
Dirt: I understand that I have a good fan base but I know that I’m no Eminem so if fans wanna hang out with me during a show, get an autograph or take a picture. It’s easy to just take a picture with a fan even if I don’t wanna do it than to say, ‘No, I don’t wanna do it.’ Because they’ll turn on you in a second. I’m grateful for my fans.
Parlé: What do you say to those who don’t know Simon Rex as Dirt Nasty and want to see what he’s all about?
Dirt: Buy my record if you like good party music, something to dance to, and fun lyrics. Buy my album even if you never heard of me and you wanna see what I’m all about, you might be bored one day doing whatever and you can just pop in my album and enjoy it. I never get mad when people diss me because I’m having fun so I can’t lose either way.
I had to thank him for his time to do this Simon Rex/Dirt Nasty interview. To all the readers and fans who like LMFAO, Ke$ha, or 3OH!3 then you’ll definitely enjoy Dirt Nasty. With movies, comedy, producing, and now music under his belt, it seems as though Dirt is looking to take over the entertainment world.
For up-to-date information on Simon Rex a.k.a. Dirt Nasty as well as all the latest news on his upcoming album, Nasty As I Wanna Be, you can follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
We hope you enjoyed this Simon Rex/Dirt Nasty interview.
Image Credit: Instagram
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