Hello reader! Today we are interviewing Rufat Agayev and he is a funny dude. As he gears up for the Comedy Spore show at Cobra Cabana tonight, alongside comedians Weston Suggs, Amber Hendrix, and Mary Jane French, Rufat opened up about how his roots in Christian hip hop, his Armenian-Azerbaijani heritage and his receding hairline has wrapped around into his dick joke infused stand-up.
Gabriel Santamaria: Icebreaker question: Have you ever been to Richmond before?
Rufat Agayev: I have and it could have been awful. We took my grandfather, who lives in Pennsylvania, to the beach. So, we drove, got an Airbnb, and it was just me, my little brother, and my younger cousin—all the men taking our grandfather out. He gets there and he’s like, “Yo, let’s do shots,” and we’re like, “No, I’m good.” So, he makes himself some coffee, takes a shot of tequila, and a shot of Hennessy, and literally within the first 15 minutes, he walks out of the bathroom, falls down on the floor, and collapses. We called an ambulance, thinking this dude is dead. He had just thrown up, and they were like, “Yeah, you know, it might be something you ate or did,” but I was trying to make sure he didn’t throw up on the Airbnb’s carpet, so we wouldn’t get charged. But basically, in the first 15 minutes, we thought our grandfather was going to be dead. But then we had a good time after that.
GS: That was in Richmond?! Were you headed to the beach and stopped off in Richmond?
RA: Actually, that was in Virginia Beach. My bad! Richmond isn’t Virginia Beach.
GS: Richmond is in Virginia. Virginia Beach is by the beach a couple of hours away from the beach. Well, that was your Virginia experience! [laughs]
RA: Oh, fuck me. But yeah Virginia. [laughs] Yeah, my Virginia geography got mixed up there. I wouldn’t have any reason to visit Richmond if it weren’t for comedy. I’m not knocking Richmond; it’s just nothing else really drew me here.
GS: Well, you gotta hang out sometime. Cobra Cabana has great burgers, great bar. Shout out to Cobra. Anyway, I did a little background on you and you were doing Christian hip hop?
RA: Yes, and regular hip hop too. I did hip hop for the Devil a bit longer than I did hip hop for The Lord.
GS: Did you transition between the hip hop for the Lord and hip hop for the Devil?
RA: I mean, yeah, anytime you start something as a kid, especially with music, church gives you a lot of opportunities. So,I started in church and then, like when I went to college, I kinda fell away from God as a whole. Then I just started making “regular” music.
GS: I got you and I agree with you. I’m actually a bass player, and anytime someone asks me for advice on learning to play bass, I tell them to go play at a church. You learn how to play music, you’re around musicians who are better than you, you need to be at rehearsals on time, and you have to dress nicely. It’s all part of being professional in whatever you do. So yeah, a church is a great place to start with music.
Since you’re into hip hop, do you have a favorite sample? I read you’re into some backpacker type stuff. Maybe your top three favorite samples?
RA: Top three favorite samples? Interesting. Let me think… One that really stands out is the violin sample on “Still Tippin'”—it’s pretty amazing. And that’s not even a backpacker beat. I listen to everything, though. I started with backpack rap; Kanye was very influential to me, but also the artists who influenced Kanye, like Talib Kweli and Mos Def.
GS: One of the funnest parts about hip hop for me is looking up samples. I love discovering where they originally came from—they can be from anywhere and everywhere.
RA: I’m like, very surprised at like, I’m gonna date myself by saying” kids” nowadays, but when they hear something, and it won’t even be that old of a sample—like maybe 15-20 years old—they’ll be like, “I didn’t know that was another song.” And it’s like, when I was growing up as a kid in the Napster generation, as soon as I heard something on a song, I would go look for the sample and start listening to that actual musician. I’d start listening to like, you know, Kanye and he got me into Gil Scott Heron, I started listening to the Isley Brothers. Yeah, I just listened to anything that was sampled, and then I was like, “Oh, this stuff is way better than the actual thing that samples it most of the time.”
GS: Any time hearing the roots of something or just knowing the roots of something, just like, I like knowing where that’s from. Even if you hear the sample somewhere because you know, they reuse these samples all the time like the “Funky Drummer” drum sample with James Brown stuff. Like, it’s been used so many times. It’s cool to know that. I know exactly where that came from. When did the transition to comedy happen?
RA: I was like 27, when most people kill themselves, but instead of killing myself, I just was like, I think that rap is not something that I could see myself doing as like an old old man and it kinda depressed me that I can’t be geriatric and still participating in my art form. So, that’s when I started comedy.
Then I just really became obsessed with it. It was a lot like hip hop and now I’m actually gonna release some music here and there butI’m a lot less like trying to make a career out of it and just doing it for fun. But yeah, I think comedy helps me tell more of my story – I still talk about my dick and rap but in comedy I could talk about where I’m from and stuff like that.
GS: You’re Armenian and Azerbaijani? That’s a whole different thing, which is awesome. But also, yeah, you’re Christian, too. That’s so interesting and all that you’ve got. You’re like a big culture clash with hip hop, Armenian, and Christian hip hop.
RA: Yeah, man, I’ve lived a lot of lives, and I don’t know if I’m better for it—I think I’m just run ragged. But, yes, I’ve worn many hats and I own many hats because I’m trying to keep my face young and block out the sun. And, I’m not too happy with how my hairline is turning out as I get older, but yes, I am a man of very many hats.
GS: Growing up, what made you laugh?
RA: Like, yeah, let’s do like, I really fuck with “The Jamie Foxx Show,” “Kings of Comedy,” the “Tom Green Show.” Yeah, “Napoleon Dynamite” was very important even though that was when I was a bit older. I think I had a good blend of just like “The Wayans Brothers.” And as far as comedy, you know, I like Daniel Tosh’s stand-up. I like, um, I don’t know, I just like Katt Williams. I was always into comedy. I never knew that it could be an option for me in my life.
GS: Well, hell yeah. You’ve been working a lot too. Did you post that you’re doing an hour on July the fourth?
RA:Yes, I’m running my hour on July the fourth. I’m going to do a pretty long set in Richmond. I’ll actually be running what I’ll use for my special in North Carolina on September 5th. I’m recording my special, so I’m going to be putting something out, trying to knock it out of the park, and putting out my first album in a decade.
GS: Yeah. I mean, everyone talks about the first special, like it’s the hardest one to put out, but it’s also about getting past all the material because it’s literally everything they’ve ever written up to that point. It’s a big moment, but I guess the first time you have to, some people are like, I might have to say goodbye to some material after this because it’s on the web, you know.
