Bud Bundy's Rap Career?! Hear David Faustino's Music

Kevin Scanlon

In this week's cover story, "Bud Bundy, Original Gangsta," I delve into the remarkable hip-hop trajectory of David Faustino, who, while playing Bud Bundy on Married...with Children, threw one of the most influential rap parties the west coast has ever seen.

In the early '90s, along with three of his friends -- also white, privileged teens who dressed like thugs -- he hosted a party called Balistyx, held at Whisky A Go Go. There, acts like N.W.A., KRS-One, and Above The Law performed, and its night-ending freestyle battles effectively launched the career of will.i.am.

Faustino was also a rapper himself, but his heart wasn't really in it then. Now, however, he's back with songs under the rap name Lil' Gweed, which you can hear on his Soundcloud page. What Faustino is most excited about, however, is the rapper signed to his Old Scratch Records label, Patience Price, an MC out of Portland who helped him run his now-shuttered weed dispensary. Price just released a free mixtape, Adrenaline & Vodka, which is now available as a free download.

If all of this sounds too bizarre to be believable, don't worry -- even my executive editor thought it was a hoax. But no, it's all true. (You can learn more about Faustino's story on this Hypemen podcast, which inspired me to write the piece.) And, below, are some excerpts from our interviews that didn't make the story. Topics discussed include will.i.am's early success as a battle-rapper, Faustino's 2007 arrest in Florida, and a story about how Arsenio Hall once hurt Ice Cube's feelings.

On the Hollywood tour buses that drive by his house constantly:
It's a newer phenomenon, it never happened when I first moved in. Sometimes when we're here in the studio playing around and having cocktails we'll go out there and mess with 'em. But now that they decided I'm a friendly guy, they decided it's cool to ask for me anytime.

[One time] I was just having one of those days. And this guy comes out singing the Married...With Children theme to try and get me to come out. But this would happen every day -- three or four times a day. So once, he had a van full of people and I asked [them], "Are you all taping this?" I said, "Good, 'bro do me a favor, I don't mind you coming by and saying hello - I appreciate it. But I cant have you singing Married...With Children all the time. My neighbors don't like it they don't want to hear it all day long." He's never done it since.

On choosing Whisky A Go Go, which was owned by the father of Balistyx co-founder Nic Adler, as the venue for the party:
The Whisky was the perfect place because Lou [Adler] had some special licenses for his establishments that other places don't --like a restaurant license for the Whisky. So we were allowed to have all ages in there. But we didn't want to make it just a teen club, we wanted it to be for everybody.

And hip hop was so young at the time too, relatively speaking, that we had a lot of kids but we'd also have your random older guy. It was like, "Holy shit, whats going on here?" It started off with kids from Beverly Hills, West Side, Westwood, Brentwood...We literally had a line down Sunset from the Whisky stopping past the street and starting again. It was crazy.

On being pals with Ice Cube back in the day: