Cali Swag District just dropped their new album, The Kickback, on Tuesday, following the success of their massive hit "Teach Me How to Dougie." But the accomplishment is bittersweet since it arrived nearly two months after the murder of Mante "M-Bone" Talbert.
The remaining members of the group — Yung, C-Smoove and JayAre — hit MTV News' "Rap Fix Live" on Wednesday (July 13) and, after refuting rumors that they were involved in M-Bone's death, talked about the last time they each spoke to their late friend.
"We was talking about shoes. I just bought the Cool Greys, the Jordans," Yung said of his last conversation with M-Bone. "He was like, 'Man, I can't find those nowhere, let me buy them from you.' And I just had bought 'em, and I was like, 'Nah.' And [then], I was like, 'You know what? I don't even want them.' But then I was like, 'No, but I do.' And then he was like, 'Fine, I'm just going to go buy them myself.' So what he did was he went to the store and he bought them and he took a picture of them [and sent it to all of us]. I was like, 'It's all good, though. We all got them, so we a team, you feel me?' I used to tell him that all the time, I used to be like, 'Yo, we a team, B.' "
JayAre was playing a video game with his fallen friend the last he saw him alive. "I think the last time we talked, we was playing [NBA 2K11] or something," JayAre said. "I always got the Lakers, he played with the Heat. He was a Heat fan. I think he won that game that time."
C-Smoove said, "Last time I talked to Bone, he was like, 'Hey, is Kickback jumping?' I'm like, 'Yeah, man, we up here.' He was like, 'I'm on my way.' Came to the studio; he came comfortable man — basketball shorts, little Heat jacket, some Nikes or something — he wasn't even trying to impress nobody. He was just up there chilling in his little giddy-up. He just woke up, drove to the studio. We was just chilling.
"And that's right before he went to the store, man," Smoove recalled. M-Bone was shot in his car on La Brea Avenue, not far from the Inglewood, California, spot Airport Liquor and Groceries. "That was the last time I talked to him."
Smoove's comment sparked a particularly fond memory for another member of the group. "I remember that whole day too," Yung said. "I remember we all was at Smoove's house for his birthday. [M-Bone] pulled up on the side. We all sitting in the cars and stuff, we got girls out there, 'cause we always got girls somewhere. It's like 20 people, [and] like 19 of them was girls. So we out there, and Bone, he wasn't there. And he just pulled up in his Camaro and he was like, 'What's going on here?!' I was like, 'Don't worry about it; either you with us or you ain't.' And he was like, 'I'm with you.' So he parked and hopped in the car and then he was with us."
M-Bone's murder remains unsolved.
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