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Welcome back all the smoke Jack.
We got a good one today.
Been waiting on this bro Come on Man legend in the game mc actor man, you name it, he does it, Buster round.
Legend, oh Man legend Legends, yeaho legends.
General drop the new project in November.
Talk to us about that.
Yeah, the name of the new album is Blockbuster, And ironically the name originally came from I mean, you know, the obvious with the video staring shit. But q Tip one day told me that I should name the album Blockbuster, So big up the q Tip from Trip called quest Rest of Peace Fife Dog. But the funny shit is probably like four or five months later, as I was talking to Swiss, he felt like I should name the album Blockbuster. Mind you he never talked to q Tip,
two separate conversations, two different places. Shit, that was like the divine shit going on. So I decided to call it that. But I think the most incredible part about the album is just the love and the support of how my bros from twenty five years and better, which is Swiss, Timbaland, and Pharrell came together and decided to assist me on executive producing the overall project. And that shit actually came about from us just chilling on a yacht in Miami. Farah, you know, he had a day
with the family. He was just chilling and he invited us to come and pull up. And this was right after it was actually wild Swiss was completing dmx last album, rest in Piece of the Dog. So we on a boat and we listened to DMX album and we about four hours into the yacht experience, and I'm looking at these motherfuckers and I'm like, none of us going to talk about doing a project together. This shit crazy than
the motherfucker. Like, I ain't gonna sit there looking at early on and not at least bringing this shit up, you know what I'm saying. Like, my bro's been a part of all of my projects at one point or another, whether it's two out of the three of them or one out of the three of them. And when I mentioned it, it started off as an idea to just do an EP six joints, two beats from each producer and that was it. So then when they gave me the six beats, I still felt so much spired that
I kept working on songs with other artists. And I think it was around the time when the first BET Awards happened. Post COVID. Motherfuckers ain't get to see each other for like two years because all that shit was shut down, and I think motherfuckers was just so happy to see each other. Everybody was just pulling up on each other in each other's studio sessions. And I got most of my collab work done for this album during
that time. So by the time it got to like thirty records, I just had so much incredible and eventful moments. I would send all of them the joints. Being that you know, it was understood that they was going to co executive produce the album with me. I wanted them to be a part of every decision making process. So they was a part of every decision making process, and what ended up becoming a body of work was a collective decision making. I wouldn't say it was a smooth
you know. There was a lot of shit like, motherfucker, you need to take that one off, be some shit that I was married to.
And be like, get the fuck about it.
I want to keep this record, and they'd be like, nah son saved that for another moment. But it's like, you know, these children, these records like your kids. When you make these shits. You know what I'm saying, You put your time into what you tweak shit, You sit and wait until it's the right time to put it out, and then you ship with the world.
So it's like.
When the project was done, and big up to everybody that participated, Quavo and Coiler, Ray and Bea and Chris Brown, Shincea Gigs, Blue Vandros, Blast Moray, my Kids, Tea Pain did I say the Baby the baby and all of the producers. You know, it just really came together as a as an incredible body of work of just feel good energy, throw the fucking couches around when you win the club, swing from the chandeliers, hanging from the ceiling
and shit, and just have a good time. And I felt like it was a great, a great way to come after the Extinction Level Event two album because when I did that album, we released it in the middle of the pandemic that came twenty twenty October, so you know, you we were speaking directly to the shit that was
going on. The motherfuckers was frustrated, you know what I'm saying, were looking at the shit you was fighting for with George Floyd crazy, and we're looking at the riots and the fucking protests, and you know, just to divide with the whole shit with the you can't be around motherfuckers if you ain't got a mass, you can't be around motherfuckers if you ain't got a vaccine shot. It's like
this shit just felt like segregation again. But once we got back outside and motherfucker's just was really appreciative of some shit that you take for granted, the little civil liberties that motherfuckers really don't think could ever disappear in
two seconds, you got to really see the joy. And in addition to that, for me, I think like I'm just at a place in my life where not only am I excited that I'm still passionate him, still love this shit and will still bust anybody ass and want small, but I'm enjoying doing this shit with my children.
That's different what I'm saying.
That's the illest feeling in the planet for me, because I remember rocking and missing so much shit. You know, when they was young because they couldn't hang out they was too small. Now they all grown, they not only could hang out and ship, they could actually participate. Because my kids they get busy and they I got a son into it.
Not to cut you off all of them into it somehow someway.
Yeah, I got a son that produced that actually taught the youngest one how to rhyme because he was rhyming first. So the one that rhymes on the song called Legacy on the album, my middle son taught him and then started to produce instead of being in MC. My oldest son is the executive and by the way he he he really really made it his business.
To understand finances.
So it's like he ended up evolving in such an amazing way in that space that he works for Black Rock, you know what I'm saying. So my daughter plays, I got a daughter that plays classical piano. I got a daughter that sings. I got a son that rhyme. My youngest son he the only one that ain't really too much into the music, shiit he he's trying to be like y'all, y'all his hero nice with ball and you know what I'm saying.
He got six six, Yeah, I got six A lot.
You got.
Right.
I want to start the job and in the sixth man, you know what I mean?
How do you feel like you're what what has been the what's the process been like from the first to the to the latest as far as in the studio thought process understanding, you have to continue to evolve to stay relevant. You've been in the game thirty plus, yeah you know what I mean and still listen to, still respected. How has your process evolved each time you've gone in and to where you are now?
I think for like the first four albums, especially because they were so conceptually driven. All of the albums are conceptually driven like I was and still am always like I was raised and not take shit on face value. So I'm from the era of when it was cool to be smart motherfuckers and the five percent Nation of
the Gods and Earth was very present. Zu Nation was very present, and you know, groups like Public Enemy and Daylight and Tribe and Poor Righteous Teachers and x Plan was the shit, not just culturally but in the club too, So I'm from that shit. So for me, you know, reading between the lines and understanding shit that they don't show you was the ship that we dug deeper than want to get the information on, so approaching shit creatively,
which is why the albums was called The Coming. And when disaster strikes an extinction level e vent, all of this shit that's sounding like any of the world shit. My process took a lot of research and a lot of writing pen to paper, you know what I'm saying as time passed, But I always balanced it with making sure that I gave you some some just straight heat like. It was always a good balance of science and heat. But for me, it's obviously easier to do the heat
shit because it ain't so deep research wise. The evolution from then to now for me is the writing stop, you know what I'm saying, Like the time that it would take for me to put what I'm good to say anyway on the microphone and then put it on the paper. I just say it, because if I got to say it anyway, to write the shit, you might as well just say it and tell an engineer the press record, and you're capturing the shit that you're gonna
write on paper anyway. Plus, I used to get annoyed like a motherfucker if I would write a rhyme a certain way and I get to like, if it's the sixteenth bar verse, I get to like the fourteenth bar, and I ain't saying the rhyme over and over. I might have forgot the bron pattern flow wise that I had for the fourth ball and be mad as a motherfucker that I didn't just say it, you know what
I'm saying. So now I got to try to remember how I concocted the flow so that the shit just would fall in the pocket of the beat the way that.
I initially pend it.
So now I just go in the studio now and I'll sit here just like this. I'm not standing in the mic booth no more. I sit down now. Don't get it fucked up. Ain't nothing wrong with my knees, on.
My age, my back, everything can't wait the twist.
I'm just cozyting them all for stude. It's like the crib now. I don't feel like the workplace no more. So that's another thing. It's just having a pleasurable experience when I go in now. It's like, if I feel like I'm overthinking that shit, I ain't supposed to be recording that song no more. I walk away from it, and I'll revisit the shit the next day when I'm excited about it again. So every song that I'm making
now is just coming from a good energy space. It's like what they call that shit the greatest catch or the deadliest catch. Yeah, the TV showing you try to catch the grab and shit, it's the same process. I just ain't risking my life in no fucking ocean and possibly dying falling over in the water and drowning and not catching nothing. But yeah, I go in the studio and I throw my fishing it in the universe and if I catch a vibe, like a motherfucker, and that
means I caught the most crabbed at night. If I don't catch a vibe, I just take my ash back to the crib. And you know, I don't look at it as a loss because I'm going there with nothing in my head.
Anyway. I let the music in the moment inspired.
The vibe or what's uh? Was the single with You and the Baby? Was that's your first thing the album?
Nah? That was actually the third.
Third, okay, because I've seen the video was the first one was with A second one was with the Baby came with the day of the album release.
Yeah.
The reason why I asked about that because you are a big influence on him when he's the way he shoot his video absolute a huge, a huge influence.
Did you ever talk about that, dope?
The sea is professhing to see because it was once you kind of stopped, but to.
See him on the video together, see how how you started it to where it is now, it was beautiful to see.
Thank you so much. I love that it's three generations on the song, you know what I'm saying.
And and t Pain.
You know, he definitely was by my work as well, and we've all talked about it. Because they inspire me too, you know what I'm saying. Like the reason why I fuck with what they do is because they inspire me to keep my blade sharp because I can't accept none of them busting my ass on the record, you feel what I'm saying. So it's like I'm a huge fan of what they do. I love how hard they work, I love how consistent they are. And they feel like we're from the same tribe. You know what I'm saying.
They feel like kin to me, you know what I mean. So one day the baby was actually I think, looking at some videos and minds on a computer and he just hit me in the DM and he was showing me shit that he was looking at that was my videos. And he just sent me a message and was like, yo, bro, you one of the biggest inspirations ever than me. When they come to this visual shit, you said the standard thank you so much, man, and I just felt like, you know, for me, when it was my turn to
finally get the shot, I just didn't want to. I ain't want to be one of those dudes that the error influenced us. Like you had to be different from the next motherfucker. You wasn't allowed to bite somebody else shit, look like somebody else shit, sound like somebody else shit. And you know, when I was younger, I was a cartoon fanatic, so the animations and shit, and I would watch whether it was Tom and Jerry or some woody woodpecker shit, or Bugs Bunny or whatever the fuck, Transformers Voltron.
I'm looking at all this shit and I'm like, yo, if I was one of them niggas, how would I do it? Then I get in front of that camera and I would create my way of doing whatever I felt if I had the opportunity to do it when I was watching they shit, what would I do? And that's how the videos came, Like put your hands on minds could see I'm looking at the Coming to America shit.
I'm like, if I was Eddie Murphy. I do it like this.
Lead the weapon and ship we did the Dangerous video. I paint my face like the white dude, like but what's his name again? Like if I was this motherfucker, this is the way I would do it. The Janet Jackson video terminated too with the liquid robot. If I was that motherfucker, this is the way I would do it. So this is how the ideas would come. I'm just a big movie and TV buff. I'm inspired a lot by other ship that's happening and entertainment, and I think
that's the beauty of the art. Like we all should be able to inspire each other. If you contributing great.
Ship, you rap like you rapp into for a score of a movie.
Thank you, bro.
That's that's because when you when your videos, when you make your videos, it seems like the way you rap and you rapping like to to put it into visions, you know, for people to see it, Like everything you write is for a video.
Thank you, bro.
And I try to do it that way because I'm want you to see what I'm saying. Even if I don't get a chance to shoot a visual for it. We can't shoot a video for every song, especially the way my shitch was costing. I was breaking the motherfucking
bed every time we shot some shit. So it was like, you know, for the shit that I can't get around the shooting, I want to make sure that even when I get to perform it on stage, I can sell that shit visually in the illus way live because I'm painting these pictures through the bars that I can actually deliver in my performance and you get the chance to see the shit whether I'm performing live or you get
to see it from what you're hearing. And I really got inspired in that way by nw A. You know what I'm saying, Like that's straight out of Compton and
the Niggas for Life album. When I listen to those albums, those was the first albums where I actually thought I was watching a movie when I listened to it, from the way they did their skits to the way Dre would mix shit, and you know how in the movie sometimes when you're sitting in that motherfucker and you hear some ship that happened on one speaker, and then when the car drive past, you hear the shit pan over to the next speaker, Like the Nigga dre Be doing
that ship in his mixes at a time when motherfuckers wasn't doing it. So I just thought this motherfucker was on some real what's this dude that he scores movies and he does I forget his.
Hans Zimmer first, guess Hans.
Fucking Zimmer d word.
So yeah, I try to create that and paint that picture for the people so they just get to enjoy. I just want to make sure that the shit ain't being done in vain. I'm not one of them motherfuckershere. I'm just making it for me. I could do this shit and sit in the crib and play rewind on fucking day and listen to it myself. If I'm just making it for me, I'm making it for the planet.
I want to.
Affect motherfuckers in the whole world with the shit that I might catch a blunt munchie behind bowl of cereal. You know that this I did right here that was inspired by this blunt munchie.
Fucked the whole planet up.
Shook the world.
You know what I'm saying.
Your style, your energy, your tempo, where did that come from?
The combination of it came from absolutely hip hop. You know hip hop was the first art that I actually fell in love with. I wanted to do everything in that motherfucker. I was able to break dance. I was nice at that, I was nice at popping, I was I was iight with the graffiti shit, I was iight with the DJ shit. And then when I was forced to rhyme, circumstantially, I think those circumstances forced me to become a dangerous motherfucker lyrically.
And I think.
Prior to the hip hop shit, which I'll get back to, why circumstantially I was forced to rhyme, but I think a lot of what I ended up incorporating and my being an artist as an MC repping hip hop was dance, tall culture, and my Jamaican upbringing. Because before I was even starting to rhyme, you know, my family's Jamaican. So in order for me to go outside or do shit, you gotta do certain things to earn your right to being able to go out the crab. You gotta clean
your motherfucking bedroom. You gotta spread your bed, you gotta you gotta do your homework. You gotta make sure all the little chores and shit in the crab is done, and the way that I would pass the time doing shit like that was always listening to the music that my moms and my pops had in a crib. In the crab, they used to always have the illess collection of Jamaica music, R and B. Shit you don't do American shit, you probably find in the cred was Kenny Rodgers,
Michael Jackson, and motherfucking maybe some jazz shit right. Other than that, everything was Bob Marley and Dennis Brown and Big Youth in Michigan and Smiley and like these is all like legendary whalers, the whalers, these is legendary Jamaican and reggae artists. I'm listening to this shit left and right while I'm trying to do the shit that I needed to do so I could go outside to fuck
with the homies. So between that and then as I got older and I started to watch like the sound clashes in dance halls, which was like battles right, and you would see Shopper Ranks and super Cat and they had a dude named Papa San and another dude named Lieutenant Stitchy. Them two was actually the first dudes I ever really heard due the speed rap shit. This was
in eighty six. They had a battle at this shit called Sting, and these motherfuckers was going so crazy with the speed rap that that's where I first seen it and tried it. This was nineteen eighty six, Like you could google it right now. Papastan versus Lieutenant Stitchy. Actually, there's an artist that's out right now that works very closely with cooland Dre and Hitmaker.
His name is Bean.
That's Papasan's son, and he's nice, you know what I'm saying. But Papa San and Lieutenant Stitchy was the first two that I've ever seen speed rap ninety six. I ended up trying that shit in ninety three on the Second Leader's album on a song called Dealy Vermanda, And that's the first time I ever did a speed rap. I don't know if that was the term, because I don't remember calling a speed rap. But it wasn't called on regular rap shit neither, you know regular, It wasn't no
real name for it. It was just could you do this? And I was getting busy, but I wasn't at the level that I eventually evolved into now. But it was really just a combination of the dance soul shit. Because when you would watch a shopper during those days in the eighties, it's a straight rhagonomics that all the crack
being sold of me wearing a hood. And you would see these motherfuckers on these DVDs or these videotapes, and we would cut school and go to these hookie parties and we would go and see the motherfucking bootleggers that were selling these ships on the street and East Flat was Brooklyn, and we would get these ships. We'd get
our a little twenty bag of chocolate townweed. Niggas is rolling, they shit up and the slowest burning cigar, and you in the crib and we at the hookie parties and fucking around with the homies, We fucking around with the chicks, were watching these shits on the videotape, we smoking everybody bugging. You would see these dudes perform. They kicking their feet all over the place, they throwing their hands all over the place, they wearing mad colorful shit, custom linen shit,
big jewelry hanging down to their shin bone. So all of that shit that you see Slick Rick doing come from his Jamaican upbringing. Even though he was born in England. Slick Rick Moms is Jamaican. My mother and my father's Jamaican. A lot of my family live in England too, But that's that Jamaican shit, that's that dance hall shit. Cool herk was a Jamaican, is a Jamaican. Excuse me, you know what I'm saying. So I think that the dance hall culture and hip hop is kind of like brothers
in a sense. But yeah, the hip hop shit is what gave birth to bust and rhymes, and I incorporated everything else that made me who I am culturally and morally and principally and integrity based into the shit that I did. And I just always wanted the motherfuckering have fun and get people that feel good energy. So I was always known for the while out because I was the same way at the hookiy party. I was the same way in school, was the same way in the
block when we was hustling with the homies. I was the same way all the time. Make motherfuckers laugh. I always every every gangster movie, but there was Scarface and good Fellas. One of the most dangerous niggas was the niggas that made you laugh. Joe Peshy made niggas laugh. He was a loose fucking cannon scarface. He made you laugh.
Gom here Pelican, Pelican, Pelican to.
Y ass up though, So you know, I was always intrigued by the gangster that had a sense of humor, you know what I'm saying. And I was around a lot of motherfuckers that was doing shit that other people might have classified or categorized its terrorism. But those were the same dudes that raised us. Those were the same
dudes that taught us integrity. They taught us respect. When the parents got off the school bus, I mean the public transportation, whether it was the B thirty five on Church Ave in Detroit or it is you know, the subway. You see moms, you know, walking up the block with the shopping bags and you blowing tree, nigga, put your weed out, homie. Put the cigarette out, homie, and don't
curse when she walked past us. So you better help her with the shopping bags too, And if you don't, we're gonna fuck you up when we take upstairs and we come back outside. So that shit was important, like they was crazy to many, but it was very civilized to us, and it was the same dudes that if it ain't have nothing better to offer, they was gonna
guide you while you was doing your dirt too. But at the end of the day, if they seen that you had potential to do some good shit, the motherfuckers would be encouraging you to go over there and do your good shit. Stay away from this shit because you might be the one that saved the rest of our asses. That you get it, you know what I'm saying. But all of that shit combined is what made the buster Mom's energy that the people ended up getting and continues to receive.
High school you crossed, Big jay Z special Ed talk about that high school experience, all them legens in one vicinity.
Man, it was two different schools. Me special led chip Fuol from food Schnickings. We was in a school called Tilden High School in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. Me Bigg and jay Z went to George Westernhouse Technical and Vocational High School that was downtown Brooklyn. I went to Tilden after Westernhouse. So my mom's I was getting in trouble when I was eleven or twelve in Brooklyn, so she decided to take me to Long Island when I got to Long Island.
That's when I met leaders of the new school. By the time I turned fifteen, my mother wanted to move to Florida. I ain't want to go, so my mom's and my pops had a divorce. My pop stayed in Brooklyn. I moved back to my father's crab. When I moved back to my father's crab, where my father lived was
in the school district where Tilden was. But because my father is a licensed electrical contractor, he wanted me to go to a trade school, so he ended up for naggling it so I could go to George Westernhouse Technical and Vocational High School because it was a trade school and he wanted me to learn his trade. He wasn't supportive of the rap shit at the time, because you know, it's old Jamaican father. He on some fuck that rap shit. There ain't no future in that. You're gonna learn his trade.
And I'm the oldest of the two kids that he had, me and my younger brother. But he was in his head, you know, I guess, feeling like he's doing the thing that worked for him. It provided a stability for him to provide for the family, and he know this, so if I learn it, whether I like it or not, at least I got some shit to fall back on if whatever else I'm trying to do don't work, I ain't appreciate that shit till later on, you feel me. So that led to a lot of conflict with me
and my pops. While I'm in school at Westernhouse. Big wasn't Roman in school, but he was rhyming. Dangerous motherfucker. He just wasn't doing it in school for niggas to knew what was going on. Biggie was bubbling a little weed in school.
Hole.
We knew he was rhyming because he was already putting joints out with the originators, and everybody was getting to the little hustle money. Remember it's the eighties, so it's very economics. Ever, so we was all getting to that, you know what I'm saying. And you know again, one day, me and Hove, I don't know how it got put together,
but somebody mentioned battle on some speed rap shit. I'm gassed thinking that I could fuck with it a little bit because I'm seeing this Papa San and this Lieutenant Stitchy shit, and I'm already practicing this shit a little bit in the crib, but I wasn't really ready to display it. But again I still wasn't. I wasn't concerned with none of that. I was with whatever smokers, So me and who we go, We do our battle thing
and I took the l that day. That moment is what turned me into the motherfucker that nobody don't want it with now. Hope don't want to give me no remssage, not on the.
Now.
But Hope was always just. He was always a fly motherfucker in school.
Like he.
From the jewelry game to the clothes. He was always flying. He was always smart past his classes. He wasn't fucking around, and you know he got to the bread even though he was on his job with his school shit. Biggie, same shit, everybody was on their shit. I ended up
dropping out of school because my opportunity came. I was seventeen, and my moms came back from Florida because she heard what I was doing in the street and she didn't want it to be a guilt that she felt she was living with if something happened to me, because she bounced and let me stay. You know that mother's maternal instinct ship, you know what I'm saying. So she ended up coming back and I moved back to Long Island.
But before I moved back to Long Island, I went to Tilden and I got with Special Led and Chip Full. Special Lead was the first one to put the records out though, and Special Lead was that fly motherfucking.
I got.
The Redskin.
And he had the chase was on him and he got busy with his pen and he had the most legendary producer at the time, which was hit Man.
How We tea like you couldn't with Howie T.
Howie T was doing everything U TFO shit, chub rock shit, real rock, saying shit. It was just everything that was scorching was Howie T and Special Led. He was the youngest in charge at the time, and it was just incredible to be around all of it because these these motherfuckers that was getting it Hove and Special Led. Hove wasn't doing solo shit yet, you know, he was rocking
with Jazzo and with the Originator Originators. But when when Special Led came with his solo shit, it really made this belief and this dream that much more tangible to me because I wanted that shit so fucking bad. How's a little nigga? I was staying at this babysitter when my mom used to work nights. Her name was on Mitzi. She had a son named Alfonso. This nigga was one
of the Illis graffiti artists ever. So in the night he would go and bomb the subway, but I would watch him for pear in the crab before he would leave. Some motherfucker would get these like shoe remember the roll on the shoe polysies that you would shake and it had to brush on it and wipe it on your church sneaks your ship before you go to church. This motherfucker.
And remember when you used to ride on the subways and used to see the tags on the subways with the thick magic markers and the shit would drip and drive with the drip. So he created those some shoe polush bottles where he would take a chuck board eraser and you know in the chuck boardy racer got like five strips of the felt for you to erase the chuck. He would rip a strip of that ship off and bend it. Niggas squeeze that ship and take the brush
off the shoe polus. He squeezed it in the motherfucking shoe pilars, put the top back on, shake it, use the shoe polus as the ink, and then he had the That's how he made the fact tip magic marker. Now I'm watching this motherfucker do that. This is hip hop in front of me, so I'm watching him doing this. And back then, they had this radio station called WHBI, and on WHBI it was Africa Islam from the Zulu nation. Red Alert would spin on there. The Supreme team who
made Buffalo Gals was on that shit. And this shit would come on from like two to five in the morning. So a lot of motherfuckers ain't know that station was coming on at that time. So I'm so hyped to see what Fonzo would come back with story wise and picture wise, because they used to take pictures of the shit that they was doing. I would stay up and
I would make my pause tapes. Sometimes they would play their battles with the Cold Crush Brothers against the Furious Five, or the Cold Rush against the Foursome Seeds, the Kumo d Battle against Busy b and these battles was being played live from the actual battle themselves, so you would hit the crowd in the background and the whole shit. You know, I was too young to be in the street hustling shit because at the time, you know, I'm like fucking nine, ten years old. I'm at the babysit
or whatever. But still I want to come to school with the Pumas and Adidas on my nigga. I'm lying when I make the pause tape, and when I played this shit in school for motherfuckers, motherfuckers will be.
Like, yo, how you get that used to a nigga? I was dead. I was dead nigga.
My cousin stuck me in there and son, you want to copy five dollars? And I was selling in the hustle these tapes that I was making from this underground station until I had enough Puma and Adida's money. And that's how I kind of school on my fresh shit.
That's that was the start of my hustler mentality. But you know, going to school with Big and Hole and going to school with Chip Full and Special led that shit was really dope for me because I was able to witness first hand that under eighteen motherfuckers was getting to it bad, doing and driving their own fly ship to school and read up in school, and because moms had to sign they deals, bro because they wasn't eighteen, you know what I'm saying. So that's what it was
for me. It was just being fortunate enough to be at the right place, at the right time and around the right motherfuckers, like a.
Magical time, good old day, early nineties.
Would you say the African Medallion movement around that time, how do you.
Feel the state of hip hop got like that?
And do you think it'd ever get back to that point where it's so much unity and hip hop like it was around that time.
I don't know.
It's hard to say.
H Yeah, it's definitely hard to say, and I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't know if it'll ever get back to that unless they allow the success to lead as an example in that way that will attract motherfuckers to follow the win, because motherfucker is only attracted to the win. So it's acting like a savage is winning. Motherfucker's going or followed being savage because they feel like
that's the way they gonna win. Like I was saying earlier, I come from the era when it was cool to be smart, you know.
What I'm saying.
So having knowledge itself was important. That's why you had brand Nubian and ex Clan and like Kim Shabbaz and Poor Righteous Teachers and Public Enemy And you would hear all of these records on the radio say it was so cool to be smooth, to be smart. Then nig Guy's cube went from being a gangster to becoming a Muslim, you know what I'm saying. And even though he always wrapped his gangster shit, even with that, you know, he he felt comfortable enough repping something that was a direct
exemplification of being a civilized motherfucking man. And you know, I think Public Enemy and they success had a lot to do with that, and Rock Kim, you know what I'm saying, and and Wu Tang and you know the presence of dudes with knowledge yourself was super strong. And I think that in addition to that shit being cool, it was cool because it was also a success. Motherfuckers was able to put platinum records on the wall. Being smart.
Motherfuckers was able to get rich being smart, King King Asiatic, you know what I'm saying. Like and motherfuckers wasn't oding on drugs and going to jail, right, And we wasn't beefing a lot of motherfuckers at the time. We was just you ain't really hear about no beef, and if there was a beef, motherfuckers addressed each other because you ain't have no choice. It wasn't no pop shit through
the gram because it wasn't no social media. You had to be a little more mindful of what you said because you can run into a motherfucker get your shit broke for real, you know what I'm saying. The accountability was serious, so it was it was you thought before you spoke. Nowadays, obviously, the difference is you don't got to earn your right to passage to be heard. We
had to earn that shit back in the day. And I'm not saying that it was better then, because there's a lot of shit that's happening now that you can benefit from in a way that we wasn't able to
back then, too, you know what I mean. I just think that the evolution and being in tune with the evolution and taking the best from the evolution, and being swift and changeable in order to stay remainable is what we ultimately got to do, because if you stay in the same way in any situation, or you get stagged and or stuck, you ain't growing no more. Anything that ain't growing no more is dead. So we got to take the good with the bad. You know, I do
think it can happen. I just think we had another Lauren Hill moment where the shit she did and how successful it was doing what she did, and it wasn't a bunch of none of the shit that we see
that's happening. And I ain't knocking nobody. But if we had another one of those moments right now that could do the numbers that she did now without having to do the shit that girls feel like they got to do now in order to get them numbers, you see a chollion in them starting to follow her as because what she did was so magical and it was done without having to exploit shit that could eventually be used
against you with time. So I don't rule out the possibility of nothing, you know what I'm saying.
I just know.
All you could do is your part, and you hope your part is a significant enough contribution and influence to make a couple of motherfuckers want to do it. The way you did it, but still make it their own. You know what I'm saying.
Who were your rap influences? I knew you said you was big fans of LLL and Slick Rick.
LLL was the dude that made me write my first rhym. Circumstantially, I was getting disrespected by the c Brown from leaders of the New school when I first started the rhyme.
I went to Junior High School in Long Island when we first moved out there, and you know, a lot of parents felt like going to the Long Island side of suburbs was the way to get your kids out of the trouble making mischief they was finding for themselves in the hood, whether they was from Bronx, Queen Staten Island, Brooklyn, whatever. They slid us all along island. You fucked around and got the Long Island. You ended up being around a bunch of the same motherfuckers from the hood anyway, So
you ain't escape shit. You ain't escape shit. So you out there and brown. You know, when a new kid from the hood king of the island at the time, like they would be little rumblings about the new motherfucker from the hood. So at the time I was getting the rumbling and brown. Obviously, he ain't want the attention to be taken from him. He was he a Queen's kid, I'm a Brooklyn kid. He started rhyming in the schoolyard
after school one day. I want to be in a circle of hip hop niggas, so I go over there. I started beatboxing for him. Small fucker started dissing me while I was beatboxing.
Oh wow, wow, he.
Was on your beat, expected to sit out of me.
So I'm doing the beat for the small fucker and he blacking on me because he wanted to make sure that people see the new kid from Brooklyn. Ain't that dude. I'm that dude. I ain't had no raps for his ass that day. And I'm fucked up because I'm like, do I stop doing the beat while this niggas or do I just keep doing the beat and not be on no party poop and shit. So I kept doing
the beat. I kept it cool. I looked at him after he try to dap me talking about he was just joking, nah my nigga, IM gonna see you.
The mom went home.
I started listening to mad ll shit and then I wrote this rhyme called polse rate and when I wrote that rhyme, that rhyme was the rhym. I came back the next day and I lost his ass immediately. He wanted to be in the same crew, and you won't get down with me. You what I'm saying you. So we ended up forming a crew. There was a third of them, see by the name of Mystery, that was down with us. This was before Dinko. Mystery was in the street. He was hustling by two years passed by,
were trying to figure out how to get on. He ain't had a patience. He like, fuck this rap shit. Brown found Dinko, brought Dinko to me. I liked with Dinko was doing, and we ended up agreeing to just
become the group. Malo, which is the DJ, is my mother's sister's son, so he's my first blood cousin brought him in to be the DJ, but eventually he wanted to rhyme too, so it became the four of us, and I think we didn't start showcasing Malo Karam until we got to scenario remix, and then when we got that look, it was like fuck that I ain't turning back. I like this shine of being in the front as opposed to being in the back with the two turntables.
But yeah, that's that's that that that.
Llo influence was important. Slick Rick was one of my greatest influences. Rock Kim, he pm D, Big Daddy Kane and I say that, oh, Chuck D is my greatest influence. He gave me my name, He gave us the name leaders of the New School. He taught me everything, like he's like my big brother and my father when they
came to this rap shit. So I was raised by some of the most increable motherfuckers and they used to let me come pull up on them like I could come to their crib and ask questions, ride around in their cars and ask questions, come to their studio sessions and ask questions. Big So they really really embraced and we were just always super respectful and humbled and grateful to be around them. And we showed them that you know what I'm saying, and I mean, any other act
was blasphemous. You try to disrespect a grandmotherfucking a grand master and the shit you you was playing yourself. So you know, again, being fortunate enough to be around the right places, right time, right people. Never even know when you was ever gonna meet these motherfuckers when they was just your inspirations and you meet them and sometimes you know, they say, don't meet some of your heroes because they might let you down. And shit, not one of them ever let me down.
Bro.
You know what I'm saying.
They gave me the nourishment I needed to just become greater and great there and to this day, I baked them up. I pull up on them. I'm finding something that we could do together, and that shit ain't never gonna stop.
Tribe called quest take us through a studio session with you and the brothers.
Okay, so.
I got them mother st So some of the funniest stories would be like, say, you go to the studio with Q tip, this is the ship that I do rest in peace fight all the time because.
Fife Fife dog.
It was kind of like, you know, like when you would ask your moms if you could do some ship and she say no, and then you go ask your your father and he'd say yes, and then you you act like you ain't never had a conversation with your mom at all about it, and then that ship might get them to a little argument. I used to play fife and q Tip like that, so I ended up on mad Tribe songs because I don't think people realize how important q tip is on the East Coast. Q
Tip is like the East Coast Doctor Dre. So many artists and people came through q Tip that if we was all signed to q Tip, q Tip would be the East Coast Doctor Dre financially because all of us mean most deaf D'Angelo tribe, so many different things came through q Tip, and he justever was interested in signing nobody,
which was admirable at the time. I think that shit crazy than the motherfucker signed everybody because we all grew through his, his tuteligion, his knowledge for music, his production's ability. So every time you go to a tribe session, q Tip got the Illis beats on the board him and Ali Shahid if he didn't like the beat. And at the time, motherfuckers is recording on two inch tape reels. Right, It ain't like pro tools where you know you could you could record ninety nine tracks worth of shit and
not erase nothing. You get your twenty four tracks worth the shit you record that shit on the two inch tape reel, and if you don't keep that shit in the right temperature, the tape could get brittle and be destroyed. Right this motherfucker Q tip would be called the Illis Beat and then if he didn't like it, he would erased the ship off the reel. Niggae one man trash is another motherfucking man treasure. If you ain't like it, give the ship the bus rhymes Dade, let me fuck
the beat up. But he wouldn't. He wouldn't, he wouldn't listen to that. So every time leaders had an argument, because after scenario I became like one of the most sought after dudes for features. Everybody wanted that dungeon dragon shit on their songs, So it started to create a
little conflict internally with leaders. With me and Brown Dinko was always fine with it, and the understanding amongst the crew was, Yo, no matter who get a feature, get on that motherfucker record, shout the crew l n s, and then go pop your shit. The more the more features we do between the three of us, the more we promoting the click. But everybody, as much as they said cool to that, it wasn't cool to them if they wasn't getting the same amount of feature looks that
I was getting. Long story short. Every time we get into an argument, I would pune to motherfucking tribe session, but I would always hit Q tip. So a couple of times the nigga Q tip be like, nah, that's a private session. I'd be like, yeah, right, nigga fight. Flip right down the block from Q tip, I go to fife crab fight.
What up, brother?
What you doing going to the studio? All right, I'm coming with you. Come on bus. I ain't telling nigga nothing about what happened with me and Q Tip. I get right in the studio session. Nigga q tips see me. Nigga just look at me with the frown. Nigga turned on the beat. I'm here, what we gonna do? Turn the beat on? And then I would end up on shit, Oh my god scenario. Well, we was all supposed to be different scenario, but oh my god. A song called one two shit il Vibe for my first solo album,
a song called ah ah Man. There's a song on the Rhyme and Reason soundtrack that we did, and we rhymed over a sample that was done by this producer and cash money from Philly, and he chopped up motherfucking music from Return of the Dragon Bruce Lee movie, and me and Q Tip ronde on that, but it's on the Rhyming Regions soundtrack and I forget the name of it.
But my point is I ended up on all of these records with Tribe and collapse of me and Q Tip because a lot of the times I was just trying to be where I was welcomed when I felt unwelcomed by my own crew, you know what I'm saying. And those brothers always took me in and made me feel like I was a part of they crew, like a little brother, and they was never hesitant to let
me get on and rock with them. And I think it was also entertaining because I was in the studio going so fucking crazy just to make sure that I showed my appreciation for them letting me get on shit that I would overdose the spas out so could overdose I.
Because I want them to let.
Me stay, and then I wanted them to let me rock, and then I wanted them to let me stay on the song. And then I always wanted to feel like I was in their group because I was huge fans
of Tribe. Tribe probably was the first group that made me cry when I heard shit that was so fucking dope that I wish that I did it and was mad because I ain't know if I would ever be able to come up with the shit that they was creating, so I would want the shit so bad that I would sit there and listen to this shit and just start crying like I can't believe what the fuck I'm hearing.
Try.
Probably the first group to do that to me. Chuck d did that to me. Public Enemy did that to me with Rebel without a pause. So you you ever heard of the white boy group called Young Black Teenagers? You watch the House Party movies, right, yeah, kidn't play right? Remember the kid Cameron and White with the drags?
Yes?
Yes, yeah, So can you imagine that ship today just that name alone.
Young Black Teenagers are all group today.
But see that's the crazy shit, right, Hank, Shockley and Chuck They was like mad scientists. They would do shit that they knew was just gonna fucking give create the old shit reaction. But they had these group names on the wall on a bulletin board and they didn't have no group members to fill in the group names. So like they had fucking Son of Berserk and the hell Raisers as one group, and they had the logos for
these ships because Chuck was ill. I think he went to college for like animation and illustration or something, so he drew these logos and came up with these concepts Kings of Pressure, True Mathematics in the Invisible Empire, Funky Frank in the Street Force, leaders of the New School. Did I say some the Berserk and the hell Racist all right? So these is all of these group names they had, and then they had these auditions. So you come up there with your group and everybody start rocking
and shit, and they'll look at you. It'll be a line of motherfuckers waiting to get on. After they'll look at you and they'll be like, you know what.
You fit? Funky Frank in the Street Force.
Your man, you fit True Mathematics, and the Invisible Empire you fit Son of Berserk. Y'all looking at each other like these niggas is breaking us up. And depending on how bad you wanted it, we'll determine whether or not you was gonna do it. We come up there. We was the Destiny three em c's my name is chill old Ski. Out this motherfucker name sound trash.
I know.
Chill old Ski was my rap name son and the l shit is At the time, the three part names was the ship.
You had ll Cool J.
You had Prince Monkey D from the Fat Boys. You had cool Rock Ski from the Fat BOYSKI the three part Nakumo D.
The three part names was cool human box.
You know what I'm saying, Human beat box. My ship was fucked up though Chill o' ski three part names signed trash so so so so we come up there Leaders of the New School. Well as the Destiny three season, we saw the name Leaders of the New School and the logo had looked like Raiders of the Lost Art,
so Leaders was bent over like Raiders. And then of the Lost Art was of the New School, and we saw that ship and the young black teenager dudes with the Jamal Kid cam he came up there with DJ scribbling. These two other white dudes, I forget their name, but.
We was all cool. At the time.
They wanted the name Leaders of the New School. And when they tried that breakup shit like they wanted to put me with Funky Frank in the street. For us, I was like, that name don't even sound cool, and I'm not breaking up with the Coup, and the Coup ain't breaking up, and we all stood our ground. So they respected it. And it was ill because Hank Shockley was like the bad cop and Chuck d was the good cop, and that's how they moved on some bomb
squad shit. Eric Vietnam Shadler was one of the main producers. Keith Shockley was one of the main producers. So they said, y'all want that name because both groups wanted the name. So hey, come Hank Shockley with his bad cop bullshit. Okay, y'all motherfuckers want the name, then y'all need to go home and write a song called funck the old School. What are you talking about. We're not dissing the architects, bro, you heard what I said. Go home and write the record.
And whoever got the hottest record winsday name. Obviously we won record. We won, We got the hot fucking record, disrespecting all of the greats, crying while we're writing this ship emotionally fucked up, and and and I don't know where that song is but I hope that ship don't never resurface because we violated everybody, Flash Furious five, Crash Crew, Cold Crush, Cool Her Africa Band. We dissed everybody the block,
every block. But you know what, man, it was it was a testament to really just it was a testament to how bad we wanted it. Them dudes just was wanting They just really wanted to see how how much we was willing to go extremely hard to secure the win. And they wanted to see how much we was willing
to sacrifice and secure the win. And with all of that being said, Chuck D said, Yo, that chill o' ski name ain't the shit if you're if you're gonna be leaders at the new school, you gotta lead the new so you can't hand no old ass out of the name or nigga, get that shit out of here. Nigga came through because they used to always ask me to bust a rhyme too, and why don't you bust around for this nigga because they used to love seeing
the animation and the aggressive shit the nigga. Chuck D one day, He's like, Yo, you and mommy of this football player named Busted the Rhymes used to play for the Minnesota Vikings in nineteen eighty five. I think he was a wide receiver and I was like, word the nigga brought the card with the fun fucking athlete on the card and his name was Buster rhymes with an Er, and I looked at that shit and I said, this shit is hell yo, A real dude named Busta Rhames
that played for the Minnesota Vikings. So I took his exact name, b us t Er. Never met him then when time started to pass, because I ain't like the name at first, but I thought it was dope, but I just was so much on my I changed from Chiloski to Lord Tiim because me being five percent, that was my attribute, its five percent. But it wasn't nothing unique about it because they had so many other guards with their names. Is they MC name like Kim Shabaz and King's Son and you know Lord Jamal from the
Brand Nubian. Everybody had this, you know. So when Chuck said b bust Rhymes, he was like, just try it. If you don't like it, you could go back to all of them names you got. So I gave it a shot and probably like a year or two of them bringing us to shows and letting us open up for them. He had a lady named Jessica rozenbloun Hon, A man that shared Demi, a man that shit. Demy is the widowed wife of Ted Demi, who created your
MTV reps. He used to run shit in the downtown area with the clubs, and that's how we was able to perform as leaders of the New School and get the buzz going. Dante Ross, who was at Tommy Boy who signed Dayla Soul and them, he saw us at a club in the Lower east Side called pay Day one time and he was leaving Tommy Boy to go to Electra, and the motherfucker was like, y'all so incredible,
I want to sign y'all. But all of that grooming in the two three years of being able to go out with chucking them and get that schooling and be able to ask questions and learn how to really perform all of that shit. It was like the boot camp training that we needed before we started getting in these clubs and getting seen and all of that shit is
what provided the opportunity to get the deal. So Buster Moms was born December fifteenth, nineteen eighty nine when I was seventeen years old, after being.
I ain't gonna let you let that one down breakout?
Oh you broke out solo career or was the process of this debut app the debut album to coming and putting together wooah.
Got you all in check? Talk about that?
So I was scared to go solo. I was super nice with doing the features. And while we're scared, I was scared because I was never a solo MC. I was always in a group. I was responsible for my sixteen bars out the fucking way.
You know what I'm saying.
When you got to do three sixteens and the chorus for twelve to fourteen records, shit is a weight. And then you ain't got nobody to really bounce no ideas off of. I'm used to having Brown and Dinko around and bounce the ideas off of having a nigga tell me yo, this shit, dope that shit.
Ain't you know tweak? These two three bars over here.
And who I did have those relationships with, like a Q Tip or you know, dayline them, I was they was busy, so I didn't have the same access to them that I would have with my own crew. The thing was though that forced me to figure it out was as the youngest member of the group, I was the first one to have a child, so I had
to find my way to provide for my child. So that's when I kind of started o ding with the features enroment on everybody's shit, and I used the buzz from scenario to sell myself and solicit myself to make sure that I ended up on everybody's records because I had to find verse money to keep taking care of my kids until I figured out what I was doing as a solo artist. Once I got to the solo artist opportunity, I remember there's a skit after It's a Party.
If you listen to the album sequence in its full form right and in the skit, it's like you hear this band like just randomly playing the instruments like they find tuning the instruments. And I acknowledged that and then I do some little short ass freestyle. That was the very first thing that I recorded for the first solo album. And it happened like that because I was shooting Higher
Learning movie at the time. I get the call from Dante Ross and he told me because when they did the deal, and initially they signed us as individuals as well as a group. So when we broke up, we still was stuck at the label. So he telling me that I'm getting a budget that was way more than what we got for each leader's album and I ain't have to split that shit with nobody. I was excited then the motherfucker about that, but I wasn't excited about the solo artist responsibility.
I called Q Tip.
He come to La Fuck with me and were going to studio. I think we went in like three days straight. I couldn't come up with nothing. I'm angry than the motherfucker. And then this brother named was Shad Smith Tumbling Dice. He produced the One More Chance remix for Biggie, He produced Doing It Well for LL, He produced Woha Got You on the Check. He produced Dangerous for me as well.
The Wuha sample was played in a Rampage session. Rampage was working on a song and I think when Shad needed a horn sample for this beat, he ended up pulling out the Golt McDermott ship, which is the sample for the Wuha shit from the Hair Broadway played soundtrack. When he plays this shit, I'm like keep that for me and shit crazy my nigga, he make the bead lopid. I'm riding around in the whip. First week passed, I don't come up with nothing. Two three weeks past, I
don't come up with nothing. A whole month passed, I don't come up with nothing, two three months pass, I don't come up with nothing, four five, six months past. I don't come up with nothing by the seventh month. And I got sued by telling this story on Jay Leno. I never cleared the sample. And I think Sylvia Robinson's son he sued me because I told him myself trying to give credit. So I'm already paying for it.
So you can tell it now.
I can tell it again freely.
Rest in peace to Sylvia Robinson's son too, because he passed away shortly after he was in the room with me while I was forced to make a deposition than any event. Read Alert was doing the Old school at No. One on Hot ninety seven. He plays the eighth one direcord by the sugar Hill Gag, the Lorns and Ron Yes then Ron my neck woo ha got you all the check A let's scream a less shout let's turn this function now to keep keep it on.
I heard that shit I called a shard, I said, I got it.
Meet me in the studio tonight. Went to the studio, made that shit, the hook, wrote the verses on the spots. Song done. We put the shit out. That shit went platinum in six weeks. When I started to see the money from them shows and the money from them royalties and the publishing deals and all that shit, I said, I like this solo shit, and I like the responsibility of a being a solo artist. And if this shit takes seven months to write, but pay like this, fuck it.
But going.
But you know, once you taste the steak coming from canned food, bro that motherfucking tastes butter, and that palate change. It's like my whole way of thinking started to change. And you know, I'm taking care of my family. I'm watching baby mom smell get bigger. I'm watching my mom smile get bigger. And that first thing I did with the success of that told my moms quit a job. And once she quit a job and helped me run
the rest of my shit. That's probably the most rewarding feeling that I have, because that's the first thing I did, Like before I bought myself jewelry and cars and all of that, I took care of my mom's because she signed my deal when I was seventeen. I could have woke up one day and did some shit to piss her ass off. It would have never been a buster rhyme signature in that contract, and then y'all would have never knew me, and I'd have never been sitting here with all the smoke.
So big up to Mom Dukes.
Yeah, that's dope.
What goes in obviously you spoke to you know, your greatness across the board, but obviously on features. What goes into hopping on someone else's song and in your thought process because you have so many, you know, songs you hopped on that you made magical, not this.
Track, that's what you're going on saying, yeah, you're gonna go out, but not on this one.
Not this Yeah.
For me, it's always respectful competition number one. But we are always battling, just respectfully battling. You know, I'm gonna get on your record, bro, I'm gonna give you the biggest hug and a pound, and we're gonna joke and laugh Willfore it's time to work doing the work. I'm coming for blood. I don't want no friendship. Don't talk to me nothing. When the show is over with the bars in that booth, Nigga, we could be the best
kumbaya in the motherfucking world after that. But that's what it is on every song, and that's what it's been every time, And for me, I think it's we all got this instinctually. Any click we move with y'all playing on a team, who the fuck want to be heard by? You don't want to hear nobody talking about you the weakest link in no situation, not on a team, when
you playing ball, not in a beef. If y'all got to defend each other in a fight, not in a motherfucking nothing, you don't want to be classified as the weakest link. And it's really those same instincts I think we all just culturally have been raised with. You know what I'm saying. I just apply that shit in every aspect of my life. And when it come to these records and how good the game has been to me and these opportunities have been to me, I don't play with it.
And another way of.
Showing the most high and showing the person that gave me the opportunity to rock with them that I appreciate it by putting my best fucking foot forward.
Talk about some of your your your classic collapse. I mean, I'm thinking how well they did at the time, But can you imagine this TikTok generation right now?
Oh yeah, it would have been stupid.
Hell yeah, Now, ain't gonna front some of this TikTok generation.
They still got my definitely, definitely, definitely tell us a little bit about each We're gonna try to run through these. Put your hands where my eyes can see. I mean, one of the coldest beats ever.
Thank you, cam. Big up to my man Schamelo d Rest in peace. Shamelo passed away a couple of years ago. He made the beat with my brother Buddha and big up to my man Gerald odham a ka fab Ries. He brought the beat to the studio after they made it. So that beat is one of those beats that was evolution point for me because it's probably one of the first songs that y'all heard me on on my calm shit you know what I'm saying, And I ended up
roming on the record on some calm shit. Because I went to a Diddy session one night at Daddy's house and back at the time, Diddy told me he was like, my nigga, why don't you just rhyme on your calm voice? My nigga, Like, bitches don't want to do that like a dungeon dragon shit with you all the time on no song. Bitches don't want to do that, my nigga. So just calm your voice. Talk to the chicks, bro, talk to them like talk on this beat. That ship
got room to breathe on it. You ain't gotta be doing aways, killing with the flow and killing with your regular voice.
You got a good You got one of them James Arl Jones voices when you're talking regular, and I listened.
To in fact, Joe was dead too. Joe was dead in Fat Joe. He was chiming in and pretty much telling me the same shit. That was the record that set the tone for sure.
What's it going to be with the lovely Miss Janet Jackson again?
Buster Mom on some calm shit. I just combined it with the speed wrap.
But that song came about as a result of Janet touring for the Velvet Rope album that she did. She was on Hot ninety seven with Angie Martinez at the time when Angie was there before she went to Power one on five and she was doing an interview with Angie and I'm driving from Long Island to the city. And at the time, I owned a Toyota fore Runner. It was my second whip that I ever had. It's
ninety eight. I also had a Benz and I didn't drive the Benz this particular day because I was in a rush and I had twenties on the Benz and I was always running into a situation when you hit a pothole. Was the most annoying ship. So Angie asks Janet what rappers has she never worked with that she would like to work with. She said, Bust the Rhymes nigga almost.
Crashed my ship.
I pulled over and I'm on the belt Parkway. I pulled over and I immediately called Mona Scott Young from Violator and I said, Mona, you need to get in touch with Janet now. She said High ninety seven. She said she want to work with Bust the motherfucking Rhymes until her I got the perfect song for it, and I ain't have no song so we had to find a song, and a brother named Delight produced the record, and he got a young lady, I forget her name
to write the hook Pin the Hook for Janet. When I heard it, I fell in love with the shit immediately because nothing had sounded like it at the time on the radio, and it was something that it actually plays into me being able to speed rap on it perfectly. So I immediately got the record. Mona got in touch with Janet, sent it to Janet. I didn't write the rhymes yet.
We pick us, We pick a.
She picks the studio session and it's somewhere in a different state from New York. And we go to the studio and I researched everything that Janet likes, what type of flowers she like, the type of candles she like, with the fragrances is that she like, and we dressed the fucking studio up exactly with all of the shit that she likes. Her security came, They advanced that shit.
They walked around searched every fucking room like they was screening and looking for fucking wire taps and bugs everywhere some president ship. This was probably like three four hours before she showed up. And then when the queen showed up, I gave her a nice brief greeting, hugged her, asked if she needed anything, and left her with the track with all the vocals on it for her to sing them over. And I'm bounced. I ain't even want to be around her long enough to do some shit wrong.
I'm not fucking this Mombrian, not even by accident. Right, Piermman ain't nothing fashion than pem money, Right, I got the funk about it here, hunfashioned pume.
Yeah.
I went in another room next door and I wrote all the verses and then I spit them. Then I came back and I let the engineer imported in a session, revived, listened to it a couple of times.
She was happy.
I was super bugging out, couldn't believe this moment was real. And then when it came video to shoot time and that terminated, two movie came out and I saw that shit. I said, yeah, this is all that liquidy make you wet shit wet dream all at talk called Hype Williams. I said, this is what we're doing. Big Bro called Sylvia roon. I was scared to have that conversation because
when Hype sent the budget back. That shit was two point four million dollars for that video to him, most expensive hip hop video ever shot to this day, and that was in fucking ninety eight.
That's what I say.
You can imagine that terminated two million and fucking and fucking Titanic. The special effects company that did the Titanic movie was called Digital Domain.
They did the effects for that video.
O d overcharging niggas because they won all them fucking Oscars for the Titanic movie at that time, so there wasn't no negotiating with them.
You just got robbed.
I mean, the finished product was phenomenal, but it's so funny when you compare the prices to the shit that they charged me then to amazing shit that I'm able to do now. Of course, times is different and technology advanced a lot, but it was crazy when you did the research to find out what the fuck they was charging you for a while and they charging you like that later on, not too long after neither, I would
say two three years ago. I just was starting to be really confused about why did I get charged like this? And you know, we was getting so much money, we didn't even care. Man, it was like, fuck a royalty. You know, we're getting publishing deal money millions, and were getting touring millions, and we're getting all type of other shit.
It was just like whatever. But again, that was an unbelievable moment and Janet, by the time it got time to shoot the video, all of that nervous shit was out the window because now I'm fright in front of the camera.
I gotta make it look like that's my wife. Wasn't That wasn't hard. That wasn't hard at all. Is Bard a big up to Janet Jackson.
Night Front twenty twenty three was the first time that we got to perform that record together together in twenty five years, because last year was the twenty fifth anniversary
of that song and that album. So thank you to Janet for bringing me out at the garden where I was able to celebrate twenty five anniversary of that song in my backyard in New York, and I tried to recreate the whole environment in the studio because after the song, I bought all of them flowers in the same shit that we had in a stewl on stage to give her her flowers.
Yeah, br I love it.
I know what you want with flip mode in my childhood crushed Mariah, How was that experience?
Yeah, I ain't gonna lie that shit was an incredible fucking experience too. Yo, I'm gonna tell you what was bug me? And split was on a tour bus and I'm not I wasn't. I'm still not the biggest fan of flying, but I really was fucking not fucking with the flying. And I had built a tour bus in two thousand and three when I first went on tour with fifty and jay Z for the Rock to Mic tour, and I built a brand new bus from the frame and.
We was driving back and forth from New York.
To LA so much said I think, I think, I think I put like one point seven million miles on this engine. And I had a man that was doing the maintenance and he was our tour bus. It was a couple, Cisco Kid and Marta Kid, and they're from Florida. Well they're from Ohio, but they lived in Florida. Cisco rest in peace. But he up kept the maintenance on that bus so phenomenally that we never had to put a new engine in that ship. Never At motherfucking Cisco was a genius with them buses.
That bus probably Fred Sam from uh to yard right now.
Probably said one point seven million miles gre but but but but The crazy shit is we riding on the bus. I got a beat tape from Rick Rock, Big Up the Rick Rod from the bed, and he sends me this beat tape and were vibing on the bus and were drinking and a shuit and we going cross country and the beat came on and we just me and split bugging out. And I think I came up with the melody first and then the words came later. But when I sent it to Mariah, she was with it
off rip. The crazy part, though, is she goes on these vocal rests periods where she don't talk at all, so that you know she don't fuck with a vocal cause, because over a period of time it's not abnormal for US artists to get PALOPs on your vocal cards. I had to have a vocal cord surgery to remove PALOPs because the PALOPs started to get so big they could
block your breathing passage. And at the time when that shit was happening to me, combined with being overweight, when I was super out of shape, a shit had blocked ninety percent of my breathing passage, so I had to get an emergency surgery. And she obviously does the smart thing so she can avoid that with the vocal rest.
So at the time when we needed to record the record, we couldn't speak to her on the phone, could only text her because she was only gonna communicate by writing, So we had to wait until she did her vocal rest, which took like four weeks or some shit, and when that was done, then she was ready to sing.
And when she sang that shit, she bodied it like.
Super quick, sent it right back, put flip Mode on it, because at the time I was actually setting up a flip Mode album that we was putting out because we was on Jay Records Clive Davis label at the time, and I had did a label deal there and had a project that was almost done with flip Mode. But after this album, which came out in two thousand and three, I had did a two album deal at Jay Records, so I put out The Genesis in two thousand and one, which Kavas was on, and then Yeah, this song was
on the two thousand and three album. Two thousand and three, when my deal term was up after six months of the release. I ended up signing The Aftermath with Dre and got a label deal over there too. So when I left Jay Records, they dead at the Flip Mode album. But I was using the Mariah song as like a single setup Flip Mode shit, so we could just bust ass.
And that's pretty much how that played out. But long story short, Mariah really she always pretty much delivers for us whenever we we need her.
She's dead.
Whenever she needs me, I'm there. She just actually brought us out to rock the Garden with her as well for her Christmas. You know how she turn it up and give it up for Christmas every year. Shit, But she did. She did a couple the sholds at the Garden and brought me out to fuck it up with her and I had a great time.
Riah, we love you, queen.
Breaking that Grammy nominated live performance is incredible.
You talk to us about that.
Before I got to Aftermath, I was shooting schaff in Canada and Dre was shooting training day at the same time.
Was that up there too?
Were just shooting at the same time.
We was both shooting at the movies. Wasn't out yet I was shooting Shaft, he was shooting training Day. We had a schedule where the off days that coincided with each other. And I think that the Grammys right before those movie productions was greenlit. I've seen Dre. Drey was
with a brother named Mike Lynn at the time. Mike Linn was helping Dre, you know, run with his aftermath shit on the executive level and just going out there and working with a lot of producers and bringing them to the table so that you know, Drake could scoured through the producers to see who was worth bringing on his production team. Mike Lynn was with Dre when I had my moms at this particular Grammys with me.
As we was leaving seeing Dre and Mike Lynn.
My mom saw Dre first, and I wanted to introduce my moms to Dre, and then I also wanted to big up Dre.
Mike Lynn.
He kind of made the whole get together official. I tell Mike Lennon at the time, I was leaving like I was a free agent from Jay Records, and I'm like, Yo, Dre, whatever we gotta do to get in the studio together, I'm gonna make my and the Debuggain happen. I don't give a fuck where we gotta go. Dre said, cool, So I'm in Canada. I'm shooting chaff. I had these off days. I called Dray to see what his availability was. He had off days. I get to LA. He said,
I got two days. I said, how many songs could we do? He said as many as you could record.
Wow.
I said, what I get the fucking LA. I go to the studio. I slept in that bitch two days, no showering, on nothing, and like when niggas just hustling back in the Reaganomics, right in a drug spot, Nigga, you ain't leaving no money unaccounted for.
I stayed in that motherfucking studio.
He put a beat after beat after beat after beat out of five songs in two days. Three of them ended up on the Genesis album One Call Holler, One Call Bounce, and Break Your Neck. Truth Hurts is doing the background vocals on Breaking Neck. And when we did the record, Dre said, this is your single and he chose it. He knew and it's one of the biggest
records that I made today. Just sales wise and everything at radio and everything like Dre always you know his ear is he got bionic ears, Like he hears shit different from every regular human in the planet, and then everybody falls in line with the way he hears the shit, because I mean, as we all know, when you hear dre finished product, that shit got a crystal sparkle on that bitch. It's just so, it's so, it just sounds
different from anybody else's finished product. So Dre is my favorite producer in the planet, along with J Dillar, rest in piece to J Dillar and Q Tip Oh can't forget DJ scratch too, my full favorite producers in the planet. I got other producers that I love, but those are my full favorite. Oh can't forget the Big up Knots too. It's the ruler from Virginia, Swiss Beach, tipulated paral.
I can't stop the sad.
Grace.
Last, but not least, look at me now, Chris Brown, Wayne, how that track come together? Because that's different generations.
I'm gonna tell you how that shit came together for me. I'm in Platinum Studios, which is Jerry Wonder Studio in Midtown Manhattan. I was working with the artists at the time who we had did a remix for his song, and on the remix there's a few MC's and Nelly was one of them on the song. I think the methad man was on the Cameron was on it. So Nellie coincidentally was working in the room next door to the room that I was in. Were on the same floor. So when I found out Nellie was over there, I
go over there. I dap him up. I say, yo, we mixing the record, so you should come over and approve how your vocal sound before we print the mix.
He goes cool.
He come over to the room, he hear the verse, He happy with it. He go back in his room. When he go back in his room, look at me now. Beat is playing, but I couldn't hear it the way you obviously gonna hear it when you walk in the room. But that eight of waights is so heavy on that beat. This shit was rumbling through my room and I was like, what the fuck this dude is playing in his room. So I just got on my nosy shit and I crashed the session. And when I got in there, Breezy
was in there. He playing look at Me Now for Nelly, and he's speed wrapping the nelly, and I looked at it Breezie in the jokingly manner, like, Nigga, you don't know what you're fucking doing with that speed rass shit. Let me sure you how to keep the dice rolling when you're doing that thing.
That's exactly what.
Yes, that's exactly.
That's how it ended up on the song because when I was saying it to him jokingly, he was like, what you just say? I said, Nigga, you don't know what you're doing with the speed rap shit, and you need to let me show you how to keep the dice rolling when you're doing that thing over there, homie, because you don't know what you're doing with that day Nigga. He goes, I need you to say that shit again to me while I'm speed rapping. Interrupt me say that shit and then just go crazy. I said, fine, give
me the beat. I go back in my room, scribble a verse up. Two hours done, I record the shit. I come back in the room. I had like towards the end of the verse, I would say, like within the last six bars, I had like two or four bars where I kind of slowed it down from the speed rap because I felt like I owe deeds so much and I might need to let niggas get a breather before they catch a seizure in this bitch. So I played it again for him. He goes, why you slow it down? I need you to spas through the
whole shit. You going crazy? Could you just make that adjustment?
Please?
Bus I'm like this nigga telling me I go write my shit. Fuck it, I'm gonna go. I got you, King, And when then I made the adjustment, I came back. That was the end of that next thing I heard when the record is finished, no Nelly on the song. Little Wayne got on the song. So I hit a record. I heard Little Wayne go bad like that too. I was like, this shit crazy. Time to shoot the video. We shoot the video, video, come back looking phenomenal. I'm like,
this shit is crazy. Did I know that the motherfucking world was going to react like they did to it?
Nope.
But I'm gonna tell you who was very, very instrumental in that record becoming what it was besides it being dope, And I have to credit this woman would be in the first one to probably ever invent the challenge that now exists on social media. When everybody want to do a challenge, okay, and she wasn't even doing it as
a challenge, but it evolved into that. When Angie Martinez was on Hot ninety seven and she was decorating her motherfucker dressing her Chinese food with the duckt sauce and the hot sauce, and while she was doing it, she was spitting the shit and DJ enough was behind he, DJ mister C was behind her, and like the whole staff was behind her, turning up and she just did spitting the shite a way and get away and get a wing, knowing where and every day it ain't want
to hunt me, just know that. And she blacking while she dressing the food. It made it seem like, damn, a woman learned this shit before me. And I'm a dude and a kryme. And when that shit hit the internet, it just spread like wildfire, and everybody else jumped in and wanted to do what she is doing. So Angie Martine is the voice of New York as far as I'm concerned, is the founder of the challenges learning look
at Me Now. First, it definitely had motherfuckers and they feeling that a woman got it together before dudes.
Bean shown.
Chico Bee too, because he killed killed Angie got him first. Chico Bean, you definitely did your thing. But I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you who else. What's his name? Man? Let me yo, pass me, pass me look on my Graham real quick. I just got a big up this dude because this is the most recent dude, the body at the most and I've seen a married couple kill it. I've seen a wife do it at at at performing. I don't know if it was their wedding or whatever.
But you see the dude that's on the that's on my gram. He's he did this ship like he was an auctioneer. I think I seen you've seen that, right. I think I said, Yo, that ship was so crazy for the bro that he actually put up a post about how that shit got like thirty forty million views. And when I posted it, it helped, it helped contribute to the to the way it went viral for him so much. I just want to acknowledge his name correctly.
You got you got it, you got you got the post, broke, give me my give me your phone, all right, here go. His name is Crank Lucas. Crank Lucas. Crank Lucas name Crank Lucas. Crank Lucas is incredible. I like that Crank Lucas, Like.
Hey, but he was a bunch of different characters. He was like three characters.
That was hard. He killed that ship.
That's hard.
Obviously getting a chance to meet or you know, become friends with Biggie early. Give us one of your favorite Biggie stories.
One of my favorite Biggie stories. One day there was an accountant by the name of Bert Poddell. Burt Podell was like the dude that everybody used to have to go and pull up to to get their bread from when it came to like labels and shit. He was like the top shelf accountant for all of like the big executives at the time. I've had to go to get some of my bread from features that I've done from Burt Podell. It was one day Biggie was over
there getting a feature. We're not getting a feature, getting a check from Burt Podell, and we was riding back to Brooklyn and I ended up going to Burt Padell. I saw big yet ask Biggie where he was going. He said, he was going to Brooklyn. I said, you need to ride. He said yeah, So he came in and wh with me. We jet back. We go to Brooklyn, I go to his crib. When we get to his crib, now he let me here the Ready to Die album,
the fucking crazy shit is. While we did, he told one of his niggas to let everybody know that he got the Ready to Die album done and he about to give it to everybody in the street. So niggas, you know, here already popping with the fucking kicking the Door record and all of these shits is playing as like the singles to build a momentum or whatever. And biggie feature game was crazy because did he had him on one twelve shit and total shit and everybody else shit.
So it was like extremely.
Intriguing and strange to me at the time because this is during the time where you would beat the fucking bootlegger up for selling your shit for five dollars. Biggie had the hood lined up in front of his building like a crack spot, but he was giving it to niggas for free. He wasn't even selling it. And I couldn't understand, bro, what are you doing niggas say your bus I'm gonna make sure that the nigga that don't
got my album look like he the hater. That was the illest way of thinking at the time, because it was brilliant marketing. You already get promo shit to give the DJs and certain motherfuckers for free anyway, because you need them to play it. The advertise that your shit is out, and that is hot, right. He took it to a whole of the place. He had the double cassette JVC box in the crib and he was dubbing his own fucking tape and just giving the shit away
for free, free promotion, free promotion. It was one of the most brilliant marketing schemes I've ever seen. And that was the one that was one of those incredible moments. One other incredible moment, and I never told this story, not on the record. So there's a song in the middle of the Biggie of the Tupac Beef and he recorded the verse in my studio session. The studio was called Soundtracks Studio is located Broadway between twenty first and
twenty second Street. At the time, I thought it would be brilliant to have these three MC's on a J. Dillar Bet as I mentioned, he's one of my favorite producers to ever exist. First studio session it was at a studio called Unique Studios, around the block from Quad where Tupac got shot. This was a studio that Easymo Be another one of my favorite producers. He produced Flavor in Your Ear and many other classics, the most are
Ready to Die. He used to work in the studio a lot, so I ended up booking the session and the song was supposed to have nas method Man, Biggie and Buster Rhems on the same record. J. Dillar Bet, I got a ten thousand dollars check in my pocket for Big. I think Big just got into the car accident with Sees, so his leg was fucked up and the elevator wasn't working. Big coming to the studio, he downstairs, Yo,
I'm here, bus. I said, all right, well the elevator just stopped working, so you gotta come up the stairs. I said, mephanze here. He was like a word, tell lebros. I set it up, but you ain't gonna see me tonight, My nigga fuck I looked like climbing up them stairs, my size and my foot fucked up. I said, my nigga, I got your brad nigga. I don't give a fuck if you had a trillion dollars upstairs, I ain't coming upstairs to night bus the convicts and fuck you and
fucked that, and Biggie bounced. We had another session. We're in the same studio, no beg Interestingly, I don't know if anybody wrote they rhyme or even a piece of it, but nobody laid they shit because motherfuckers wanted to see what Biggie was gonna do. Never got the nis. In meth verse, I go to sound tracks. The third day, Elevator's fine, big and Seeds come. They pull up methan and nis came two days in a row. Now no Biggie,
so they was not coming on the third day. We and the motherfucking stew at the time branching and selling the most incredible bud in the hood, and he would sell them in these jars that looked like motherfucking pickle jaws, Mason jaws. Seeds would roll the blunts and Biggie would come with the branching jaws and they're rolling weed blunt. After Blunt after Blunt and Biggie just sitting in this one of the studio chairs that got the wheels on it that roll around. He's sitting in that shit just
doing this while a beat was playing. One hour, two hours. He's just smoking. He ain't writing nothing. Said about three hours in.
I'm just like my.
Nigga, you ain't gonna you're gonna do this verse one, nigga. The nigga said, I'm ready. Buss said ready, you ain't right, shit, I'm ready, Bus, You're going to booth. He does the verse. Diamonds on my neck, chron drop top nigga seenland pound of green. Ooh wee you see the ugliest money hungriest Brooklyn Lockness nine millimeter one test, comfort tests and that and the winner is not that thin a kid Ban Danna's tattoos, my skin never bruised, laying still cruise Frank White.
So you know what he's doing. You know he doing that you shooting?
Yeah, that's your guy though it's my guy. Yeah.
And he goes and this other party goes. He goes.
Kai actor needs chiropractor for crack jaw. Yes, I rocked your chatter box danger Rishia not I gets down, twist your body round and round upside down. I said, Big, I ain't putting this out, putting this out bag because Pop was my friend too. Pop choked the sound man out for me at a college show when we was leaders of the New School because we got there late. The nigga turned their equipment off and wouldn't let us get a sound check. The stick of Pock ran up
on this man and just choked him. We only got one album out. He calling us legend. He's still dancing for fucking Digital Underground. We ain't legends yet, but in poc eyes, we was the legends. I love these niggas, man, I got to be the mediator. I can't add fuel of this fire. I ain't put it out. So when Big pass Pop passed, did he working on a Born
Again album? And if you listen to the Born Again album, Biggie was Diddy was looking for verses that might have been laying around that was never released commercially that Big had recorded. And I told Diddy that I had this verse for a long time. So when did he wanted diverse? I said, you gotta give me back the money that I paid Big. You could have a verse because I already know that number one. I wasn't putting it out
with the back and forth. And I also knew that once Biggie passed, yes, whatever was gonna happen with Big, Big Moms needed to sanction it. She needed to bless it, she needed to be okay with it. I knew Puff had to clear it. So I wasn't gonna be able to put it out anyway, even if I did do it the way that I ended up doing it on the Born Again album, Because if you listen to the Born Again album, there's a song called Dangerous some Seas and I told Diddy, if I give you this verse,
I need to control this record creatively. So I went and got one of my favorite producers, Notch the Ruler from VA. He gave me one of the craziest beats. Snoop Mark Curry, myself and Biggie is on a song, but in the lines where Biggie might have said something to Pop, I muted those lines and I put bars there to cover up those dishes, so it sounded like me and Big going back and forth. You know what I'm saying. And that's one of the gems that the
world finally got the hair about. Wow, that's dope. So y'all getting that story from the motherfucker. Y'all getting real smoke.
Quickly quickly speak on and not quickly speak on your relationship with Pop.
Yeah, My, my relationship with Pop was super duper beautiful. I'm gonna tell you something. Biggie and Me was closer than me and Pop, But my relationship with Pap was incredible. This is this is the moment when I knew me and Pop was really solid. While I was shooting the Higher Learning movie Me Pop on my epps. We all stayed in those awkward oparments them fully furnish its in the West Coast, but this one in particularly was on Hollywood and Fuller and at the time, I think me
and Pok stayed on the same floor. So I would come out of my apartment, walk down the hall, bust a left, and go to pock apartment. We both was on the first floor. During this time was when a lot of the crazy shit started with Poc jacked the rapper in Atlanta and he sent his motherfucking six' four down there and he ended up shooting the cop off through the police. Pac was staying in the Oakland apartments
in Hollywood and Fuller. When Pop got back from that, Pop became superpowerl because he felt like the cops was going to be out to kill him no matter what state he was in, so he had gotten wild arsenal.
He kept an NPC beat.
Me in the crib and like I literally watched them write about seven songs to the same Misley brother sample. Each song was about different shit. I couldn't understand that. After a while, I get tired of hand the motherfucking beat. I don't want to hear that beat to write no more songs to it. I'm write the one damn song to it. I'm off the damn beat. He wrote seven
songs of the same beat. The next thing that was happening to him or that did happen to him, and we used to just build all the time and just smoke and chop it up. But the next thing that happened to him that I had to play a rolling was before the Source Awards was on TV, and before the Source Awards with the Ship which with Sugar and
all of them towards Diddy. You know, at the time, we would perform off of these dat tapes, right, So It's not like an instant we play or like the Serado where you could just press the button and shit start over. Right, you gotta the wind that shit like a cassette. It's like a mini VCR tape. Right, it's called that tape. Did you do audio tape? You press that shit and it goes. If you don't go with the motherfucker, you miss your placement. So if a motherfucker
press play, you just go. So Tribe had won Best Group award at the Soorcial Wards at the time, and while they were doing their acceptance speech, whoever the producer was of the show, this nigga press pocks that. So it looked like Poc came out in the middle of the acceptance speech on some fuck them shit. So he looked like he was dis Tribe because he just came out performing on the top of the acceptance speech, like he didn't care that they just won their award and
they trying to do their acceptance speech or whatever. That shit led to instant beef. So Tribe and some of the Zulus they stepped the pocket and that shit almost became something. Poc comes back to La and calls me and tell me come higher. At him because he know how close I am with Tribed. The world know at this point because you know scenario and all of that shit, and we you know, everybody, and we see me with
Tribus one thing or another. I'm with Tribe, right. So Pac calls me and Donnie Simpson was on beet still at the time, and Tupac when I get to his crib, he just was like, yo, bro, you know everything I just explained to you. He explained to me. He was like, you know, I would never distribe like I love them niggas. Them niggas don't be disrespecting nobody, and I'm fans of they fucking music them niggas is incredible. You know.
They pressed my dad.
I thought it was time for me to go, so I just went, you know what I'm saying, I ain't know what was happening with the speech and all of that, so I want you to if you can get me on the phone with Q tips so I could let him know it wasn't intentional. I got them on the phone. They squashed the beef. The arrangement was they were supposed to do something on BET to make a public truce so that the world could see them showing each other love and embrace, and I think it was supposed to
happen on Donnie Simmons or with Rap City. I don't know if Rap City was on yet with Tiger. That's how earlier this shit was because Donnie Simpson was video soul. He was video soul, and how Learning came out January. It came out early ninety four, So I don't know if Rap City was on then, But Donnie Simpson, I knew they to go on his shit, get the show, and the coordination for them to get around to it
didn't happen. And then Pop died two years later in ninety six, so they never got the chance to squash.
It for the world.
They squashed it in front of each other, but they really wanted the world to see it because Poc really real shit. Poc really was on some He loved the East Coast so much that he was doing a one nation project where it was a bunch of East Coast niggas rocking with West Coast niggas. Greg Nichan, all of them was involved with that project. Buckshot bad App, you know,
he was involved with that project. It was a lot of New York MC's rocking with West Coast MCS under the vision that Tupac had to create this unified front and call this shit one nation to settle down the East Coast West Coast shit, you know what I'm saying. And he didn't get to see that through yet neither. I mean, these songs still exist, that project is still around,
you know what I'm saying. And I got I got, I got a few of them sessions in my own hard drive, you know what I'm saying, Because I was supposed to get on a few of them songs. But the point that I'm trying to make is from choking a motherfucker that wouldn't let me get my soundcheck done when I was in Leaders at the New School all the way to and mind you, leaders broke up in
ninety three. We're talking like ninety two ninety one. This shit happened all the way down to ninety four, ninety three, ninety five, even I would say ninety four ninety three, him wanting me to play a role into squashing this shit with him a Q tip. It just it's a testament to how much of a respect and a love that we had for each other because we helped each
other be solution based on shit. Like even when he got into the beef with the soundcheck man, we were straining him, like, my nigga, we don't want you to get in trouble over some shit that ain't worth it. We ain't never it was never about doing shit to be advocates of create a problem. It was always advocating to find solutions to solve problems. And that was the relationship dynamic with me and Pop and with us and Pop. And you know again, at that time, your mentality was different.
Nobody was on some yo was get on the gram and end nigga out or get on the record and end nigga out. Nine niggas called each other and wanted to pull up and figure this shit out, like what's really good? You know, if it's gonna be something, then let's settle it this way and get it over with. You know, we ain't got to Nobody gotta get shot right, Nobody don't even got to know you know what I'm saying. Let's just handle it the way we're going to handle
it and stand on business. And that was it, and miss them days, but we still love pol those integrities and those morals and principles on this side believe that what.
Is your thought and you don't have to go too deep into it, but obviously kind of being neutral as far as having love for too of the main people in the East Coast, West Coast, beef rivalry, whatever you want to call it, How did you play that?
Or you just step all the way back and just watch. Nah.
I did everything that I could at the time. I wasn't able to have the same access to Pop, so I had no real influence in the situation. When it came to him, Like when he got around death Row, it was different, you know what I'm saying, Biggie, I was able to speak to him, and the beautiful thing about Big is he didn't even really want to respond to none of it because he loved Poc and true story, he had a lot of appreciation for shit that Poc gave him as gems to help evolve his way of
thinking to become who he became. You know what I'm saying. Pac was obviously out before Big, you know what I mean? And when they got super cool, you know, he was able to give Big some game that Big was able to apply in a real way, and he loved and appreciated Poc for it. You know what I'm saying. I think Big was more hurt than disrespected, Like he felt more hurt, you know what I mean, than anything. So it wasn't hard to have those conversations with Big because
Big really just wanted it. He wanted to settle it. He didn't want to provoke it, you know what I'm saying. And it's kind of challenging to talk about it because you know, I know certain shit that I'm not going to disclose that. Sometimes it's interesting to hear young dudes, you know, speak about the situation and they don't really know what they talking about, you know what I'm saying. Like Biggie and Poc, they had absolutely nothing to do
with what happened to him. You know, Pop got involved with shit in New York that he should not have because of his desire to want to be accepted and loved by his thugs. And sometimes every dog ain't pro your movement for the empowerment of thugs. Some of them gonna look at you like a Burger or Frankfurter with fucking hands and feet, ye, and it become food to them.
And situations can get manipulated for you to fall into certain traps, and unfortunately something of that nature could have been avoided if Bro just would have moved a little different. I just don't like that it ended up bleeding into it becoming this biggie in poct thing when it really wasn't even about Picky and Pot at least not the shit that happened to Pop. The ship that Pop, I guess was disappointed in was completely separate from any of that which it was so simple and petty. They could
have spoken and resolved it. So with that being said, I really wish that I was able to have a stronger influence knowing the real dynamics of this shit, you know what I'm saying. But ultimately, what we know now and what we have the ability to do now is keep the motherfucking thoughts and all of the ideas that they sparked his thoughts in our minds and the greatness of their legacies. We're gonna keep them shits alive forever because them dudes is both heroes to me.
So you talked about your health, your health journey, where were you at mentally physically or you said it really hits you when your father passed.
Yeah, I didn't know how to deal with my father passion at all. You know what I'm saying for two reasons. I think the first reason was I never experienced the death of a family member that close to me prior to my father passion.
Yeah.
I had auns that passed, you know, grandparents that passed. You know, I've had cousins that passed. But if father, there's nothing that could replace that, nothing to co replace your mother. So that was weird to me, and I didn't know how to deal with it. Second thing was, you know, like I told you all, my father wasn't the biggest fan in the rap shit. He wasn't really supportive of you know, I was able to talk to my moms about the first time I had sex and
shit like that, Like my moms were super cool. She would, she would, she would really encourage being truthful and being comfortable in my truth, you know, with her. My pops, I talked to him about getting some ass. He's like, he don't want to add that ship because you need to be focused on the ship that's that's going to help you. You got time to get with girls and shit, like get your school ship to get so that mentality with my pops I learned to appreciated later because he
just wanted the best for me. At the time, I just was like, we ain't fucking with me, so it made me not feel like fucking with him. And when he got sick because he caught a heart attack, and he caught two heart attacks, the second one is really what fuck them up? But I was also having conflict with my brother, my only brother, and my pops didn't want nothing more than for me and my brother to squash.
Shit before he passed.
And between having my frustrations with him as my pop and my brother, I was on some fuck that shit and I'm grown and I'm paying my own bells and I'm taking care of my whole family. I'm doing this shit on my terms, which was selfish and it was stupid.
So by the time I get I got cool with my pops, it wasn't long enough for me to enjoy him before he left, so I left with I lived with that guilt for a long fucking time, and that shit led to me drawing myself and work, drawing myself, and smoking, drawing myself and drinking, drawing myself and staying out late because I ain't want to be angry around the kids or angry around my woman at the time that was living with me, and I just was a
grouchy motherfucker and extremely unhealthy. So all of this shit that I was doing, it made me gain weight to the point where I was the heaviest I ever been in my life. And I got to three hundred and forty pounds, and I was looking fucked up and I was feeling fucked up.
And then.
I think just hearing that shit from my immediate circle of loved ones is what really started to make me feel crazy, because now you ain't the cool pops no more on you know what I'm saying. We concerned you, this ain't this is not the person that we love you something you turning into some other shit, you know what I'm saying. So when I started to hear that shit, that's when I was like, all, I gotta figure this shit out. And then the shit that really hit the fan.
I think.
I was shooting the video for Czar, which was the first single on my second my last album, Extinction Level Event two, and my stomach was so big that the stylus at the time, which was a brother that I've been working with since, like not too long after. Put your hands with my eyes can see who came through June Ambrose, the legendary stylus. To make my stomach not look so big, these motherfuckers had to duct tape my stomach down. So this shit was the most embarrassed and shit.
Literally like the big thick silver tape. It wrapped a thin saran wrap around my shit so that the tape wouldn't be against my skin. The duct tape Son and walked around.
My body taping my fucking stomach down, Son so I.
Wouldn't look as crazy as I actually look. Individuals, that shit was the worst fucking feeling ever. Video turned out banging.
That same night.
I think it was the anniversary of Biggie Passion. We go to this club called Poppies in La. My bro Fred Matters is DJing and I'm getting super drunk celebrating the video on him and Biggie Life. I overdid it to the point where that combined would sleep apnea and the PALOPs on my throat. I couldn't breathe properly. And then you drunk, so you're sleeping heavier and deeper when you drunk we get to my crab and the security
couldn't wake me up. My oldest son who works at Blackrock, who was the three year old in the Wuha video, who's now thirty at the time when he was my road manager when this happened. It's all transpired in like twenty eighteen forty five minutes it took for them to wake me up to get me in the crab. He got so scared that he told the security everything that
he felt. He was too scared to tell me because he ain't want to hurt me my feelings, so he asked them to say it to me, and they said it to me the next day, And the next day was when I went to the doctor by my breathing because I felt the shit wear the next day and that's when the nigga he stuck this shit in my nose and went down into my throat and.
He's like, oh my god.
Nigga just kept saying, oh my God, Like you're gonna say fucking on my guard again and not tell me what's going on and what you're saying, or you're gonna tell me on my guard and tell me what you're saying. He's like, you gotta go to the emergency room because ninety percent of your breathing passage is blocked. If you go to the crib and take a shower and your central ear system is on and catch a cold, at last ten percent of your breathing passages get blocked. You
won't be able to breathe. You will be drowning above water. I said, I ain't going in on ambulance. He said, okay, well, you gotta sign this agreement right here, because I want to make sure that I'm exempt. If you're leaving something happened to you. You're not suing me because I'm telling you what they're doing. You ain't listening. I went straight to U shl a medical big up to doctor Chetrie. Doctor Chetrie is the one who saw my shit, kept me in there for two days, prepped me for the surgery,
did the surgery, told me to go home. Now you gotta go and vocal rest like Mariah for the next two weeks. And I did it, came back. I ain't have to see another doctor about it. Palate problem when the lost weight transform turned into my little hercules shit.
Then after that I got comfortable and gained my weight back A little bit, and then I went on tour with fifty and I came off for that motherfucker weighing probably the I'm probably the lightest I've ever been since Leaders and right now I'm in like two twenty six. When I went on that tour, I was two sixty. I think I'm gonna come down about ten more pounds and I might throw the action figure Nigga back on.
Me as well, you know what I'm saying.
But yeah, it was. It was tough dealing with the loss of pops like that. Shit was.
It's a domino effect. I'm definitely let it. It domino effected every single thing.
Else bro.
Higher Learning, Ice Cube Classic. I think y'all shot a light right, Yes, we did, yeh In my school talked to us about that process up, especially just I always pictured just y'all beating the skin just about that movie and just that process.
Yeah, I'm gonna be honest with you, that was the most incredible experience for me because that was the first time, like I had a coach starring role number one, So I was super gassed by that. I was super gassed with working with John Singleton. All I was thinking about with this the legendary boys of the Hood.
God.
Yeah, and he was putting all of us in position of power more than any other director ever the MC's you know what I'm saying, the black actors, whether you you didn't have to have no skill set, no film or television acting history. He believed in you enough to pull something out of you to execute the job, and he put you in position. So I salute John Singleton.
That made John Singleton's soul continue to rest peacefully. But I'm gonna say this, the thing that I learned for the first time on his set was how motherfuckers stay in character even when they say cut. That ship was weird because I ain't understand it. And when niggas say cut, I knew how to get back to bust rhymes. I knew how to get back to Trevor Smith. I knew how to get back to Lord Tyen. I knew how to get back to chill O' scheme. You might see all the bigger than one Night, like Yo Yo Yo
so so. The dude who was the leader of the Skinheads, I forget his name, but he's a super known actor, super successful actor. But the leader of the Skinheads, who you know convinced Michael Rappaport to become a skinhead. He stayed in character the whole film. This motherfucker used to come on set and go into the trailer with like Nazi paraphernalia that he brought himself. That ship used to
bug us the fuck out, bro. He would walk past you and not say nothing like fuck you, looking at Nigga like he was on it, on it for real, like so and he was the nicest dude in the planet like but he just stayed in character the entire film. It really wasn't until it was done that he interacted with people. And that ship was crazy cube at the at the at the end of the day, me and Omar we stayed in the same apartment complex with Tupac, which was the Oak with the States in Fuller in Hollywood.
So we was vibing all the time. And I ain't had I ain't know. This was the first experience. I ain't know to have a barber with you bring your own barber, so I had to use on my Epps barber.
I think we called him Shorty.
No, he actually was killing my ship because I had much to do, because I had to dream line, right, you know, he just give me a nice lineup and I'm Gucci. But Cube, for the first there's time I saw a motherfucker have their studio in their trailer, Like Cube had a full blown studio in this movie trailer. So he was recording on the set. And I will never forget this day when Na's second album it was written,
was coming out. Bro that ellmatic fuck the streets up so bad that we was on the set counting down the days to get that it was written album from Nas. Like the conversation every day when we would come to the set in the morning and eat breakfast and freshen up on our lines and pop out a little shit amongst each other. That Na's conversation was every day on
the movie set. Regina King, she was incredible, Like I'm such a huge fan of her, super duper proud of her, Like she's one of the best actors in human beings and one of the most beautiful women in the world to me. Super big up to Tyra Banks too, you know what I'm saying. At the time, Hunt John, I think they was in a relationship and he just was
taking care of his people, man. And you know one thing that I could say about John, not only did he take care of his people, because he came back and got us for shit like he got you know, he put tyres in position, he put cuban position, He put me in position to Raji. He brought me back for fucking shaft like he would come back and get us. You know what I'm saying. It ain't like he would just use you one time and that was it. He came back and got you. Come on back, Let's do it again.
Fuck it.
But for John, the reason why I'm really bigging him up is because when you really think about his legacy and you think about boys in the hood all the way to snowfall on me, I don't know if there's another motherfucker that did it is ilaz him from start to returning back to the essence he did it to illis So I thank John for everything.
Rest in Peace or Rest in Peace of the King.
Nominated for twelve Grammys. Still haven't received that trophy. Obviously, your career is decorated and cemented as one of the greatest of all time. You know, athletes, we play to win championships. Grammys is kind of like a championship. Do you feel like you need one for self validation because we already already know what you are. But what would it mean if you were able to get one?
I like and I enjoy what I've experienced last year because what I've experienced last year in my thirty three years are professionally recording. Actually this year makes thirty four, right, but in thirty three years of doing it, And I say thirty three is because my thirty third year, which is the Jesus year, is when I've received my flowers in an abundance that I've never received it in before.
From the Lifetime Achievement Award at the BT Awards, me being able to have all of my children since they've been born.
In the same room together.
I never I never had a picture with all of my kids in the same room until last year. I still haven't. You know what I'm saying. My happiness and my joy is at a level that I've never I never knew this kind of happy existing.
I love to hear that that's deep until.
Last year, bro, and the fucking fun that I'm having. I don't know if y'all noticed, but I don't think before last year, I haven't posted as much as I've started posting about the blessings, Like every post I talk about the blessings ain't stopping, So we ain't stopping.
Stay blessed.
Everything is just I'm appreciated, grateful the way I'm being blessed, I'm super grateful, and it's just getting more and more incredible, man Like I got incredible people that really love a motherfucker, and I want to keep experiencing that. None of that is gonna determine the greatness I think we do this shit and the reason why we end up receiving these beautiful things. And I always say, you know, ain't no timing better than the most highest time, and God clock
is the best clock ever. When we do this shit, we love and it's coming from a place of passion. And it ain't for the bag you already won. You already won because you're gonna do it anyway. It's provided something else that the bag probably can't.
It's giving you a fulfillment, self fulfillment, you know what I mean. Nothing else could give you it like that.
But the beautiful shit is because you do it from a place of love and personal fulfillment. When you get the bag on top of it, it's so fuck amazing because it never feels like work. You feel what I'm saying. So if I get the Grammys, yes, I'm gonna add that shit to the botanical garden.
The flowers up and received like a motherfucker right up.
But if I don't get it, it don't change the fact that I can still go down in history on my Bob Mally shit because Bob ain't never get a Grammy either. You know what I'm saying, But you can't tell Bob Marley legacy nothing right, And I'm comfortable.
With that too.
That's dope, all right. Last question before we get the quick hits. This shit's been amazing. So yeah, your influence you've had on artists such as Eminem Tai, Lib Quality k Dot, you Major Mark thirty three, thirty four years now, what do you think back when you look, you know, on your journey, where it started, where you are now, the people you've encourage, the doors you've opened, the people
you've got to meet. What do you sit back and think about because I feel like often we're on the hamster wheel, so we don't get to kind of look back, and man, man, I had to run. So when you get a chance to kind of sit back and think, you know what comes to your mind.
The first thing that comes to my mind all the time is just how incredible I feel that the Most High has blessed me with this gift and the ability to share it. You know what I'm saying. I think that's why I overwork. I don't miss a day in the studio, even if I'm sick. I go to the studio with my medicine, my chicken noodle soup, my ginger root, the whole shit, and I will sit down and just lay there. Even if I don't feel strong enough to record, I'll go there and just lay down and relax. Because
being in them four walls therapeutic for motherfucker. I could think about being the all five, six, seven, eight Avengeance combined, and I could be that nigga in that fucking studio and can't nobody tell me nothing, and the studio don't argue with you, and the studio ain't talking back and trying to manipulate and over talk you and act like it don't want to listen. I avoid all of that when I go to the stool. So sometimes it's the sanctuary. I actually heal quicker because I ain't got a cater
to nothing in there. I'm at the most piece when I'm in the studio number two. Every name that you just said, they're my favorite artists. I'm gonna keep it a buck. I don't think nobody could fuck with Eminem. I'm sorry, doctor Umar, stop it, Wolence.
That's all I need to be said, man, Wilence.
And and there's a lot of shit that doctor Umar said that I agree with, but this is one particular one when you way off the kilt. Bro. You know what I'm saying, Eminem is the truth, Bro, you know what I mean. I actually I got a song coming out with with with an artist you know, that I had to address about, you know, his testimonial and the opinion on Eminem two. I had to check him on his own song in rhyme form. Oh so, y'all just stay tuned for that. And I'm a huge fan of
the artist that I made the record with. But the beautiful thing is what makes these moments specialists when you could be honest on these records and we ain't got a front, So don't put yourself in a situation and then asks me to rhyme with you because I'm going to check you when you can't argue with me, because I'm the fucking of the statesmen in the timeless great Now. With that being said, Kendrick is my favorite, Eminem is my favorite, Ta lib Quality is my favorite. Loot is
one of my favorites. Smeno JD J. Cole Drake, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross. Huh word, I got way too many favorites. Rock Chim is one of my favorites. Caine, Slick, Rick, krs One, Chuck d. I'll be here forever going down this list. But what I'm saying is to the younger ones or the ones that might have came after me, to hear them actually acknowledging, big me up and give
me my flowers. Whether it's in a conversation piece, it's in an interview, that feeling and the thought that crosses my mind is super humble, humbling and gratitude and appreciation. And I'm such a giver of love that even if you don't big me up in that way, one thing I know is the difference between the truth and the lies. The truth don't change, only lives do. So even if you don't speak it, it's showing prove us. You know what I'm saying, we know who my DNA is in pause.
But at the end of the day, you know, the great thing is motherfucker's actually acknowledge that. You know, we all take a little thing from each other. I'm not gonna front like I could see Kendrick, and I can to Kendrick and watch Kendrick, and I want a rhyme with Kendrick because he is evoking and emotion in me. Eminem is the same shit. He brings the best out of me. These dudes bring the best out of me. I did a song with Eminem called Calm Down. I sent it to him with sixteen bars. He gonna send
back forty eight. Not doing that to me on my record. I sent to fifty four. He sends me back sixty two. I sit back sixty eight. Who we making the song for at this point? Yeah, movie, we ain't making no song for the consumer. We just battling, not a record a seven minutes. They ain't playing it in the club, They not gonna play it in the radio. We might get some satellite radio spins, we might get some motherfucking blogs to talk about this shit, because it's an eventful moment.
But we turned a record that could have been a radio joint into a Me and you straight raw hip hop fuck the rules moment because we love it so much that the competitive nature we both have forced us to bring the best out of each other. Only dudes like that can cause me to be this way. So I love em, I love Kendrick, I love ty Lip Quality and every other MC that I just said, And these is the dudes when they pick me up, it just really feels fucking incredible.
I'm gonna put you on the spot right here. Named one MC that represents each borough in New York.
One MC that reps each borough in New York. Let me think of this one good buster rhymes, I rep every borough.
Because I'm on my.
New York shit hat to the back of my New York shit. I'm on my New York shit. Tim's with the shorts of my New York shit. Fuck you talking about I repped the Giants, the jadge to New York. Next telling me clothing in my New York stitch, my chick banging, what you see my New York bitch?
Fuck you mean? Ill rap all the burrow man, every burrow man.
Next question, who is your childhood crush.
Janet off grip and got off rip when I used to watch her on fucking good times and even when she was Willis golfriend on different strokes. I ain't gonna lie two penny bro facts of life, Kim Fields Bro. Yeah, she was a mean one for me to now plate grown now to y'all.
Yeah, right, I'm outside, let me stop playing. Hey, that makes sense though, why you did the studio the way you did for Jenna appreciative, but at the same time, there's a little bit of loving that.
Love respect, and I still had that crush and that nervous right I had to get out the road, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, Now, my moms did an amazing job with making sure that being a gentleman was first and foremost, and Kim Fields and Janet, the respect level is so tremendous, you know what I'm saying. It's too It's so many women I would love the bigger, bigger, Missy Elliott Man.
She okay, so she's one of my favorite. Talk about Missy for a seconds, she's one of my favorite. I don't think she gets to her and Tim, but don't they don't really get the what they did for that era of music.
I'm gonna be honest, she's getting her fucking flowers now, brother.
Yes, I hear.
She got the Vanguard Award from the vm as she just been became the first female hip hop artist to ever be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Like that ship is the most prestigious decorated award ever. Like hip hop existed fifty years now, they never ever gave it to one female MC.
Prior to her.
Wow, fifty years. No, No, not one female guy that before Missy. It's a testament to what you're saying, though, how much has she has done and what Tim has done, it's definitely a one of none. There's been a lot of female MC's, but you gotta think about it, Like Missy writes for the most successful other artists ever, produces
smashes everybody with her own ship. She could fuck up the live shows when she feels like doing it, but she got so much money that you will very rarely see her on the stage, and her visuals is probably the closest thing that could fuck with anything that I've done out of everybody's. That's the female twin sister of buster rhymes. I hold Missy in the highest regard. I love that woman in a very like She inspired as
me so much. Bro, we inspire each other. You know, I've been putting my ship out before Missy, but Missy she showed me the same love and appreciation from her very first album. She she was probably the first person to get me on an album and and not even make me rhyme, like just get on here and talk some shit and fuck around. But I just want your voice on my ship, you.
Know what I'm saying.
She from the inception of hip hop. Miss's the first one to get the rock and roll Hall of Fame. So hats off to miss you know what I'm saying. And yeah, yeah, she she She ain't stopping no time soon either, now that am mine. We just cut from a cloth manufacture no more.
Came Most Underrated Foodspot New York.
Most underrated food spot in New York.
I don't know if anybody's familiar with it personally, but there's a West Indian restaurant on Utica and flat Lands and it's called Topaz. It got the wickedest butt.
I shrimp.
Bought shripn Corey Lobster. That my Wicked As Team snap out with her crime vegetable hell, coury chicken pat regular beef pat call card at them, the Wicked as hawkstail. Yeah, that's got all got every amazing food. They've been catering all of my album photo shoots pretty much my entire solo album career. And big up to Ali trus Sho was the art director for all of my solo albums up until up until probably The Big Bang and then
and Ali Trush is a legend. She did fucking o DB's return of the thirty six Chambers with his picture in the welfare car. Now like she's different type of legend with this ship. But she made sure that every photo shoot for every album that Topaz was in the building, praise and trays of each fucking dish that I wanted
to eat. So to all of those that get a chance experience that toe Pads experience on Utica and flatlands and these flappers Brooklyn, and to the owners and the shareholders of the toe Pass Corporation, we have to have a new discussion.
In a different text backing. Now, Yeah, let's tell maybe, let's expand Stuck on the Island. Three movies to show in rotation.
I want snowfall, of course, gotta have it, funk that gotta have snowfall. There's a fucking series that only had one season and it was on Amazon Prime.
Was the Regina the Netflix? A minute, seven seconds, seven minutes.
That was unbelieving. I didn't see that.
I gotta out.
I got only one season season, right, That's why we're still talking about it.
I'm watching that ship tonight, yo. But the ship I'm talking about. The aim of the ship was it was the same name three times, with no spaces in between the words. It was a show about some drug dealers and some some like all this old man mafia, that old man godfather that was actually in charge of bringing like this big, super out of control portion of drugs to these mafia families because he took took money from them or whatever.
And zero zero zero son, There he goes again, zero zero zero, There he goes again.
Looked it up?
Okay, zero zero much credit out?
That shit is crazy one season. It never came back.
That ship is crazy Amazon, Amazon's Amazon Prime. One season. That shit never came back. It's super crazy, all right? So I got a third one? What is my third one? This might just be a movie. This not might not be a series. I don't know why I love this movie. This movie just did something else to me. But when you said seven, there's a movie called seven. Yeah, with the Deadly Me and all of that ship. The movie
was fucking ill to me. To crazy, right, they sold that nigga mouthfucker, Margaret Freeman, and so they wouldn't eat.
Because he was a glutton. You know.
Not this movie was so crazy, but that it would be that type of ships that them action dramas.
And and suspense suspense thrillers.
I'm a fanatic for them ships, big bro. So yeah, if I was stranding on the island, them three ships is what I need.
One guess you would like to see on All the Smoke, But you have to help Leu's get your answer on the show.
Twist.
But I'm gonna interrupt this question. I normally don't if you got a personal relationship with Missy that would make my whole years.
I definitely do. Please, I'm gonna tell you something now. I'm gonna be honest with you. Go to see now that's different because your step.
That's one thing she she it's hard to get her to step.
Out we'll step in.
Yeah, missy will step in respectfully. Shoes no shoes on neither.
Now, that's that's my sister.
And and I will definitely reach out and and and I would let her understand this is not regular. Rest the piece magoo too well, Rest in peace to Magoo. Man, rest in peace to Magool. Or they just recently passed. Man, it's it's it's crazy. And my mom's always would say, you know, we're not old, but we're grown. And the more grown we become, the more regular it becomes when we see our people pass. And again with that being said, motherfuckers,
take full advantage of the present. That's why it's called the present. And and and value the present like the scene gift that you value when you receive it, with the fucking gift wrapping the ribbon on it. Enjoy it the same way, you know what I'm saying, Because one thing, the most hid on os is another five seconds out this bitch real shit.
So enjoy it. Value it.
Don't be afraid of reluctant to tell your people, your folks, you love them. Fuck that bear hugs is okay amongst grown men, you know what I'm saying. And and and women and men. I mean, you know, it's a little weird with the sexual assault shit. Trust me, I'll shake your hand before I give you women a hug, But overall, I'm gonna still hug the ones that I know what.
My hug means.
And I just feel like, you know, Missy, we love you, Yes we do. I'm gonna say it right now. I love all of my fellow brothers and sisters in this shit period. And as y'all can see, I don't have conflict with people, nobody. I don't have those problems. I love people. I'm a giver of love. We're gonna keep it that way too. In fact, we're gonna step the ship up and keep each other lifted up while we love each other.
That's right, man, that.
Part bus Man, we appreciate. I mean, just to get an opportunity. This has been one of my favorite interviews. And I think the owner of the building, We're sorry, we're probably.
An hour and a half past. We couldn't turn this off, couldn't turn this off.
This was beautiful.
You know, the chance to obviously be a fan, but you know, befriend you over the last handful of years.
And then get to know more about you. Thank you know what I mean, and just how you you know what you've done.
Obviously you accomplishment speak for themselves, but I think you know a better man, if that makes sense, than a great artist and great a lot of things, but to me, a better man. So it's just like it was an honor for you to sit down and come fuck with us.
I'm gonna tell you both, I've been a fan.
Appreciate it.
Thank you. That made me a lot of money on bets. I'm not. Let me tell you something.
The thing that I love the most about y'all both and particularly outside of being champions and being boss and a part of the elite group of the greatest athletes to ever do it, I love what y'all stand on and represent.
As black men. Thank you.
I don't cause no trouble, but y'all ain't got no problem finishing that shit with grace, with grace, with grace.
You feel me.
I've watched I've watched both of my brothers check motherfuckers, and it ain't about being tough. It's about being men. And they be trying to misconstrued a ship with the toxic masculinity talking all that fuck shit. No, we got young men's, young men's children and young men teenagers and young men that still think they.
Men. But it's a difference between being a man and being a male. You have a male.
You got your little Johnson swinging between your legs. You got a little legal adult age. You think you are man. You're not a man, bro you a man, You're an adult male. A man means you could take care of yourself and you can actually assist taking care of other people. Distinguish the difference between the two and stop moving around here like you're a man when you not. You know
what I'm saying. Being a man that shit come with us standard and it comes with a responsibility that you have to be able to successfully execute and be able to take the good with the bad and be indifferent and just you know, living down your own iniquity and know that the justice is the reward or penalty for one's actions of deeds.
A lot of times niggas.
Don't even understand. They it's going to blame everybody else for their shortcomings.
Men don't do that.
Male adults do that until you understand the difference, and you could do that. Don't talk that man shit. To me because I got kids that I got a raise to be men straight up. You know what I'm saying. I've watched my brothers defending the integrity as men, and they will definitely let you know that you can get your face broke. We ain't here to start the trouble.
We don't want to, but we will handle will handle it.
And it's important that we understand the difference that gangster ship is not.
It laid out, be a man, talk about it.
You don't need to be a gangster. You don't need to be trying to fight. You don't need to even get in trouble. Liabilities ain't getting to the bag. You got the bag running from you when you are liability.
Let's let's make it to where being smart is cool again.
Let's make it the way being smarter.
Ye, don't let you today's decisions affect your futureself.
You can catch this on all the smoke production you two. Man, this is another legend theory. Bust the rhymes in the building.
Man.
We'll see y'all next week.