By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
The earth seemed to rattle as the gold van, with its sound system’s treble to the metal, pulled into the W&M Bar-B-Q Burger parking lot in Kaimuki.
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| Former University of Hawai'i football players Doe Henderson, center, and Gerald Lacey, right, are completing work on a musical CD with friend Shonny Guess.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser |
Then the van doors opened, and out stepped the men — the silky voices on the sound system — who have turned hip-hop into aloha-hop.
"I love this place," said Doe Henderson, speaking of both the fast-food place and the Islands.
"Hawai‘i," added Gerald Lacey, "will always have a place in my heart."
These days, the two former University of Hawai‘i football players have found their lives to be filled with rhyme and reason.
Two weeks ago, they were the opening act for a Snoop Dogg concert.
They have completed work on a CD that will be released nationally next week. Already, one of the tracks, "Life in H.A.W.A.I.I.," has received air play locally and is regularly voted into I-94’s "Eight at Eight" nightly countdown.
"It’s one of the most requested songs," I-94’s Pablo Sato says of the track, which offers props to Restaurant Row, World Cafe, Pipeline Cafe, Wai‘anae and Waimanalo. "Music that talks about plate lunches, beaches and the girls always does well."
It seemed unlikely that "Doe Mac" and "G-Lace" would pursue hits off the football field. After earning his degree in 1997, Henderson moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a counselor at a youth detention center. The admittedly reserved Lacey had opened an auto-detailing shop in Las Vegas after a similar venture failed in Hawai‘i.
But Henderson and Lacey, both graduates of Crenshaw High in Los Angeles, remained in contact. While driving around Las Vegas, Henderson, an all-league safety for UH, would improvise rhymes. And just like that, they decided to invest their money, time and talent into producing their own CD.
"We weren’t scared," said Lacey, who was a UH wide receiver. "I’ve been taking risks from the beginning. I didn’t even take a recruiting trip out here (in 1992). I said, ‘Hey, let’s go to Hawai‘i.’ Whatever I do, I put all of my energy into it. I’ve been successful. I’ve been lucky."
Lacey also was reluctant to rap, insecure about his rhyming skills, and he left the free styling to Henderson and the rest of the group now known as "Dynasty." But while in a recording studio, Lacey was encouraged to improvise.
"I’ve been addicted ever since," he said. "It’s almost like football. Once you keep working at it, you can make it."
Lacey formed a publishing company; Henderson started a recording company. Both wrote all of the songs on the "Hustla’s Anthem" CD, including "Life in H.A.W.A.I.I.," which recounts their memories of UH’s 1992 championship season.
Big Teeze, an I-94 disc jockey, produced one of the tracks on the CD. It was Big Teeze who previewed "Life in H.A.W.A.I.I." on the air.
"I think they have the potential to make it," Sato said. "Hopefully, all of the cards will fall right."
Said Henderson: "Hawai‘i taught us a lot. We always come back. That’s why we did the song. We wanted to give something back."
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