A.V. Club: Best of the Decade

The Cranberry Show brings the steeze

The Milwaukee hip-hop duo wants to clean out your system

Arcane (left) and Young Focus (right) are The Cranberry Show.
by Adam Lovinus June 25, 2009

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The freshest faces on the Milwaukee hip-hop scene are two rappers named Arcane (a.k.a. Sir McFresh) and Young Focus (a.k.a. Revenge Of The Burbs), who come together to form The Cranberry Show. Dropping skater-influenced rhymes reminiscent of Chicago phenoms Lupe Fiasco and The Cool Kids, The Cranberry Show has built a growing following thanks to punk-style performances that involve stage diving and balcony climbing, as well as hot tracks like the gurgling "Grind It Out" and the kiss-off "Must Be A Poser," which are posted on the duo's MySpace page. The Cranberry Show expect to release a full-length record in November, but you can check them out tonight at Stonefly Brewery. Decider met up with Arcane to talk about the "steeze," posers, and why you should leave your expensive camera at home before seeing The Cranberry Show.


Decider: What’s the dynamic between you and Young Focus? Is it a fire-and-ice thing?

Arcane: Focus is the MC, the guy who orchestrates the songs and figures out exactly what he wants to say. I’m the skater of the group, so I bring that flavor—the steeze.

D: The steeze?

A: It’s a skate term. When a skater does, like, a super-fresh trick, it’s steezy. Basically, like, steeze are the things you can do that other people can’t do. Like, when I decide to wear a Ninja Turtles turtleneck and some overalls—and look fresh in it—that means I got steeze. I’m doing me and nobody else.

D: Most of your songs have skateboarding references, and your style is undeniably skater. Why has skateboarding become part of hip-hop culture?

A: Skaters were always outcasts, so naturally they came together with hip-hop. If you look at skating DVDs, they’re always using hip-hop music in the background. But there wasn’t a big explosion until cats started accepting each other. Really, the first cat to come out with some hard skate stuff, from what I can remember, was Pharrell as Skateboard Pete. I think cats started moving away from being gangster when they realized it was okay to not be gangster. The old hip-hop cats, like Kool Moe Dee and Rakim, weren’t about all that cussin'. After NWA, it went to everyone trying to be a gangster. Now it’s coming back—it’s cool to be yourself again. If you wear skinny jeans, wear skinny jeans. If you wear Dickies, wear Dickies. 

D: “Must Be A Poser” has that message. Is it directed at anyone in general?

A: Well, no, not really. Some cats just like to pose. Our thing is that we’re so much about individuality—about being yourself. Cranberry Show is not just rap. It’s attitude. It’s like how people say they’re so gangster, but they’re living with white picket fences. We’re just tired of that whole situation.

D: Is it true that your name has something to do with urine analysis tests? You know that cranberries don’t actually help you pass a drug screen, right?

A: [Laughs] The name Cranberry Show comes from how we’re thinking of the rap game as a system, and we’re cleaning out the system because we have the dopest show in the world.

D: You guys have a reputation for getting pretty wild onstage. What are some of the craziest things you’ve done during shows?

A: This photographer brought a $10,000 camera to one of our shows. Water got thrown on it, and then when we were stage diving and crowd surfing, we ended up breaking it. I was like, “Why would someone bring a nice camera into the front row? We’re rockin’ it, so get out of the way!” Sometimes, at Live On North, I climb from the stage to the balcony and hang off of it. That’s the kind of stuff we go for with our live shows.

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