Episode 420 w/ Young MC

He is drink champs, motherfucking podcast man.

He's a legendary queens rapper.

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Together they drink it up with some of the biggest players, you know what I mean? And the most professional, unprofessional podcast and your number one source.

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What Up? Is d J E f N?

And this minitipa crazy war podcast. I don't why when I tell you.

We started this show and we said we wanted to interview legends, people that came before us, people that paved the way for us.

I said this to everyone that was here earlier.

I said, if I had an artist, I would put him through his school of being an MC. I watched this man rock a party like no one else could rock a party. I've watched this man. This, this, This is when we when you say an icon, you say a legend, you say a person that has been in this game, monkey footing, this motherfucker going through it and doing it and continue.

To do it. He came late two minutes later to me that.

No, it's not, but we have the privilege of interviewing and gotten young motherfucker. All right, Now, here's what's crazy. His what's crazy? When I think of you, I think of West Coast. But when you google you, yes, they.

Say you're from Queens. Got some in Queens.

Hollis into eleven or one on night, one on one, or ninth and two eleventh together. One ninth is here, two eleventh is here, Hollis is here.

Okay, so it's really the coast of Queens Village because after Francis Lewis, it's it's Queens Village and then the other side of Hollis.

But that's what's crazy.

Is one of the one of one of my favorite moments in hip hop period was was was a record called All in the Same Game right where that West Coast unity.

Recently I just seen Kendrick Lamar.

He had put the West Coast together on stage. Now his what's crazy about that? I'm such of a to these young guys, I'm such an old to them that I looked and I didn't know that that was actually rappers.

Oh yeah. So when I put it together, I was like, I didn't see this since all in the same game.

Well, the funny thing what Kendrick did on stage, and this is just me watching it and having a visceral reaction. It's the culmination of what we were trying to do with All in the same gang. Because he had different sets.

He had made a big deal of saying, oh, you know, it's not it's more than records. Now, it's bigger than me. Now we have sets from.

All over the place or whatever, because that was the goal because dude, I mean, dude's still dying, but dude was really dying at that point, and just to shine a light on it. And the funny thing was that the man that put it together my conception and put it together for him in.

The same game. Yes, okay, Wheelchair. Now.

The interesting thing about that, and I relate some of that to even even Shug's experience, is that you got people that are outside of the music business and they were able to you know, cultivate that into something really powerful inside of the music busins. I want to say it was Grand Jury records that Mike had, oh wow, and so we put out all in the same gang.

But he did stuff after that as well, so.

Circling back, including someone like me from the East Coast. I don't know a lot about the West Coast, not involved.

In any gangs.

But to get my perspective on a record like that shows some foresight, because I could easily see somebody putting something like that to get to sell here from out here, you don't nothing about out here. People know who he is, but why do we want to hear what he has to say? And I still got eight bars on the single. I got sixteen bars on the long I.

Went.

I've been touring a lot, you know, the whole time. My stage muscles are strong. So did you say stage stage like that? I was telling them people, how good your show is? Continue, Well, no, I mean no offense, no DJ, no heip man I open. So I have to literally just carry my tracks and just go and

Whatever sixteen bars, there's a whole record to them, you know what I mean.

Was Bus the Move had four.

Sixteen's and all that other stuff.

So yeah, it's it's just.

As the years go by, I see the power of that record, and as the years go by, I'm more proud of.

My involvement in it.

It wasn't just a call and get on And to even go further, Me and Tone are the only two people that were in both the self destruction video and all in the same gang video.

I did not notice that in the video.

In the video, and well, here's the thing. We both had Multiplatinum Records, I remember they had. They had a short scene with us in there. Interesting interestingly enough, they wanted to put both They did put both of us behind a cell and had us saying the hook from behind the cell and then somebody from BACKSTD. Now we can't have them looking like that. So if there's a cut you've seen where I'm not in it or we're not in it, and maybe because.

They took that out, because that so far was with just Dice, I think.

I don't even know.

I don't even But the interesting thing is this is a short period of time. I'm a New York kid, went out to l a come back, and all my heroes in the room.

So I'm taking pictures. Dude, I'm literally in where.

You should take the back then, please, I'm with you.

We barely had CDs back while these were new on my phone.

Exactly, So I'm there taking pictures like a fan, annoying people whatever.

Whatever.

I come out for saying gang and I'm a peer. They're like, all right, well, you know where do we need young to be blah blah blah. Make sure his verse goes here, doctor dre producing me. It's a total different experience. So I culminate that by saying, if I stayed in New York, no offense in New York. But if I stayed in New York, you never would have heard of me.

You never.

I couldn't have wrote while thing there. I couldn't, but I want to.

We started with this record, I want to stay on here in this second. Is there any awkwardness because think about the type of record it is. It's about LA culture, It's about actually territory in a sense, and MCS could be territorial. Was there any awkwardness you not being maybe from their perspective of the culture being on that record talking about the culture.

Okay, pretty much everybody on that record, I'd played with. Every everybody on that record I'd shared a stage with, so even nw A, d OC.

Cube.

I mean I know Cube from nw A, I knew Pak from Digital, Like I'm knowing these people at the beginnings of their career and I'm at the beginning of mine. It just turned out at the time that when Bust to Move hit, I'm you know, I've got my penthouse in West Hollywood and I'm just there. I'm not coming, you know. But I always got respected for what I did on the mic. So to answer your question, when I came on, they wanted to see not only my perspective, but how I would do it, and that I wasn't

No, I saw brothers killing other brothers, because that's what I'm.

Seeing everyone recording together, oh separately.

See you ask the good questions. I show up to the studio and it's dre one other dude.

They let me in the door. My man is looking behind me.

You know what I mean?

Because there were dudes on that record.

To your point what happened with Kendrick, there were dudes on that record that you didn't want in the same room.

That's a territorial literally territorial.

Yeah, even the video shoot.

The part of the reason why the video shoot was cool is because Conception had security.

All over wow.

FOI.

I don't know about Foy, but some of it was hood security.

Remember they breed in another color. They didn't use blue and red in the in the video. These green and something else in yellow I think, or.

Something probably because Yeah, dude, dudes get triggered by seeing colors.

Absolutely.

I remember.

I hate to even bring this up.

I remember when I was younger, I was I was a woman I was seeing had talked me into wearing a red suit a red jumpsuit to one of my shows, and it was.

At the concept what was thinking? She wasn't thinking, and I don't know any better.

So I'm literally getting ready to do my show when some ship breaks out and dudes is standing in front of me so they don't see my suit before I go on stage. And then from that experience and other experiences, I'm like, Okay, you shouldn't wear this here, you shouldn't wear that there.

I didn't know.

I'm literally I got.

My my entrance to LA was on usc campus, So I'm only finding this out as I went. As I went on, having said that, I know that dudes have been looking out for me, you know what I mean, And I want to give them a shout out.

Just just you know, just on just on GP.

I've had a pretty good experience in this business, seeing all that I've seen and being around all the people that I've been around. But but like same gang, like I said, as the time goes on, I've really cherished that experience like that's.

A once in a lifetime thing.

Yeah, it's an incredible Yeah, it.

Definitely what I want to tell you A funny story I consider him my friend Jamie Leftrack. Oh god, yeah, Jamie left Rack right, and I'm in his house and I didn't realize how rich he was until I got to his house, right, and then I realized.

I said, this motherfucker is really rich, rich, rich, rich, right. But so he's telling me the whole time.

He's like, I'm gonna blow your mind out with these performances. So I'm like, okay. So he's like, you don't want me to tell you. I'm like, nah, I'm more of an organic guy. Just let me just go over there and let me just see it. I seen him when you got on stage sing every word for what. I was so impressed. And then he says to me, this is my high school. I had a couple of drinks. I thought he said he went to high school with you.

I'm like, I've been running around saying, Jamie that record you see went the school together, mother fuckers. What he was saying was he was saying, this is my high school, this experience, this is my whole experience.

And I thought that that was so dope for me to see a person of that caliber fan out. And I'm gonna tell you who else was fanning out. I don't know if you've seen it. You said high to him?

Was DJ Collin? DJ College? When you got on stage, I was mad that DJ Collin knew just as much as words I knew. I was like, man, you better stop it.

But do you understand that these kids nowadays, records go away. It's a disposable and you have a record that's.

Thirty over, thirty years, thirty five year, thirty five years.

To me, I just watched you that day, and I've been a couple of year shows, you know, I snuck in a couple of times, and I just see that, And that's what that's. If I was listening to young artists, was to come up to me right now, I would say, this is this is who you should follow, This is how it should be. Because but then you got these people who got records right now, it just go away.

When you hear records like that that just go away, what do you think.

It's the industry?

I mean it went from a physical product like you have where you see a picture and you see liner notes and you see all these things that it's it's something that you own of the artist, to streaming and downloads and it's.

Air you just connected, right, So what is it? What is the artist?

What is the fan commitment or what is the listener's commitment to the artists?

Today? Right?

Two minutes so you can get the stream.

Money but minute and a half and they listen to what seventy eighty one hundred songs a day? So how do you expect them to commit to you enough to say, Okay, I'm gonna come out to a show. Then the real money's in the shows, and then you got But the shows aren't necessarily as important to the labels unless they have a three to sixty deal, So you got the artist for whatever reason not putting the emphasis on show performance as they should, because the record's become disposable. Who

I wanted to be the best song I ever make.

Every show that I do, for the most part, every show that I do, especially publicly, I want it to be the best, the best show that I can physically do, because I don't want somebody seeing it saying, oh you know what I mean, this is this is my analogy.

Is this.

I got new music out, so I'm a fifty seven year old rapper. That's what the song I now is called loose fun pause following behind it. But I'm a fifty seven year old rapper. I equate that to driving on the highway and you getting some traffic and you see that there's an accident on the side of the road and people are slowing down. It's slowing down to look over see if they see a leg sticking out. That's how they look at a fifty seven year old rapper's career, because I would look at it like that,

The correct I mean, you made the record for the stage? Absolutely, okay, that's deep. Absolutely.

Usually you make the record saying, oh, well, what i'll it do for radio? And what's the genre and is it you know, just all those things, and you got to worry about the short attention span. So the set that I did probably is a twenty minute set, and I probably had eight songs in it, you know the one that you saw because it went from three verses

It'll know.

That'll change something, that changes something that you like.

So I went into making these new songs with that in mind, like, Okay, you know three sixteens are out, so let's go sixteen twelve. Eight, Let's go sixteen, you know, sixteen twelve, and then repeat something from the first verse just to reinforce things. But also then I know I can do the whole record on stage, as opposed to saying, Okay, what verse am I going to cut out.

To do this on stage?

So yeah, man, I mean that if I was in any other business, i'd be behind a desk, CEO or see something. Oh, knowing so much in my experience and all that, in this business, they want to dispose of you in your late thirties, to be honest, So I'm just looking at it, you know, in a different way.

Approaching it, but his was all about your show. Like I said, I've been to others.

I have a limo when it comes to me doing music, Like my DJ literally has to go and we'll look at the crowd, right and my DJ has to say, Okay, we're gonna be Latino tonight. Oh we're gonna be you know, we're gonna be hard call. He has to look at the crowd. You are one of them artists that I don't think you have to do that at all.

Yeah, well, not from the stage. I try and do my do my homework before I get on stage. But I have a little player that I that I use that.

And it's a it.

It literally has about thirty to forty different show versions and links in there. Oh so so literally I can look and say, Okay, this is more of a dance crowd. This is more of a you know, not even an urban crowd. But you know, I'll do more mid tempos and these are people that are more in this kind of thing, and I'll have a set and a set link that will appeal to Now man.

That's professional. Yeah, so well, season the stage hurt, dude.

This this nineties tour I've been on this nineties tour since twenty fifteen, and we're probably you know, even even with COVID, we're talking between four and five hundred shows. Twenty sixteen, I did one hundred and like one hundred and ten shows myself. Julio God Wrestling did like one point fifty in a year because they were going Thursday, Thursday to Sunday every week, you know what I mean. So I would do three three days a week and four days a week sometimes, but I was still was

I'm like, oh yeah.

Then somebody put the CD player close to too close to the speakers. It shit started jumping and got to find something. I find my digital player and just if I can do it, I went in the studio, massed all the shows, did all the show links, put them in, name them so literally I know, Okay, how much are we doing tonight?

What's the crowd like?

Blah blah blah, and picked the show and go and that way I know what I'm doing. I literally have this thing where when I'm driving to the airport, I rehearsed the show that I'm doing that night. I've done Busting New thousands of times, still going to rehearse it on the way to the airport, you know, just to have it in my short term memory.

But when I get on stage in.

The time, and it's crazy because for some reason, it's like bust to Move is like it's like a white boy anthem too, like the white people love that shit.

Yeah, I mean, I guess, I mean, I just I just saw it in a in a prescription drug commercial the other day. Really yeah, my boy has sent me a video of it, and I was like, okay, I mean I think it was like for an eye, it was literally like irritable bowel syndrome drug like bust to Move.

No, no, you got that.

Place.

But the funny thing is if you know what pharmaceutical companies go through in terms of what they picked so that it doesn't affect their brand. You know, I'm not even thinking about my brand as much as like to

So please tell me that all your business was correct when you created that record, so that the publishing that you've that's been generated as yours.

Listen in a moment that that was. That was the number one question.

Okay, plus the records that you've written. But let's just stick move right now.

Okay.

Literally, when I wrote Bust to Move, my original record deal gave away my publishing.

So but I knew this, right, I knew this. Well, hold on, I knew this as I.

Was making the record, So you didn't have you published. I knew I didn't have that. I mean, that's just what it was, you know what I mean. You signed, You signed a deal that the people knew, a deal you were saying, right, right. But I'm learning more as time goes on. So Bust to Move was the last record I make. So I write Bust to Move, and I read it to the label owners over the phone

Just for doing that.

So and it's and I'm in college at the time. I'm doing this from a dorm room, you know what I mean. But I looked at it like, this is mine. I knew what it was going to be. And and and at that point Tones Records had come out, or at least wild Thing had come out, and obviously I didn't have publishing on that.

So I'm I'm here wild I wrote, let's let's we got we got plenty of time. We gotta talk to these things through. I'm sorry.

Everything intertwined so it seems like I'm all over the place.

No worry, Okay, So hold up a drink, because that's because when if it rolls up if and has that kid on that tone, and I'm like, why do you have tone?

You know?

I didn't know?

He goes you didn't know, and I go no, He goes here he wrote, well, all right, so you gotta bring it down please, thank you. Tone was a delicious with me.

I had made. I think I had made Principles.

Office already, and ironically that was supposed to be my first single, and I'm glad. I'm glad that it wasn't. But they gave Tone the track to wild Thing, and they had him write some stuff and they didn't feel it was you know, it was a little too raunchy for what they wanted to do, especially with a rock track China, you know, cross.

Off on radio.

So they come to me and I am like, full on New York MC, like nobody writes for anybody else.

What are you talking about?

You know?

And especially because I've seen wild Thing blow up, I'm like, when am I coming out?

What am I gonna? You know what I mean? Or rather no, because this is really in the.

Writing of wild Thing, I just felt that I was waiting a long time.

Had you already written and recording? No move Bus The move was written.

And recorded after wand Thing and Funky Comadina were not only made, but it come out. So that's why I'm confusing a little bit. But basically, I'm like, why am I waiting so long? I get signed in eighty seven, my record doesn't drop, you know til almost two years later. Now you're you're at me, you know, in eighty eight, know how barely come out? They just got on Island and they want me to They want me to.

Write for Tone and this is delicious. Vinyl is yeah, this is a delicious vinyl.

So I say, okay, I said, fine, give me half hour, I'll give you a record. Literally talk to him on the phone. Thirty five minutes later. I gave him four verses, and three of the verses are verbatim and wild Thing.

Wow.

Now, me and Tone have always been cool, but at the time, the label of told Tone that they had wrote it right because they felt that he wouldn't take it if he knew that I was.

Label said they wrote it like literally the guys that are on the label. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, they said that. Now mind you.

I mean yeah yeah, I mean the liner notes all that doesn't out, so he can't tell him. See, So we spoken and he, you know, found out that I did it. He was cool with it, and once again, it's years are going on. We see how incredible that relationship is and what we mean to each other's lives. Because he credits me, obviously for writing some of his biggest hits, but I credit him for showing me the blueprint.

The ceiling is, right, because those are huge records.

Yeah, I get to be at that point. I'm like going in circles.

When me and Tone whin wild Thing was finished, we hoped they would sell fifty two, one hundred thousand records. He's like he wanted to buy a car, and I wanted to pay off my student loans. That was That was literally the conversation that we have goal Yeah, four million.

One million, saving I'm mind you four million singles, to the point where the labels like, h maybe we should stop pressing singles, maybe we should start pressing out album.

Right.

The only thing that could even come closer it was We're the World. That was the only thing that was that was close to it. So that's that's wild Thing. Buster and Move stayed on the Billboard two hundred charts for forty weeks. Forty weeks outlasted my second single, outlasted my third single.

It's it's like when you have success like that.

I would not trade that period from mid eighty eight to mid ninety I would not trade that period for anybody else in the world in terms of the experience of what the impact we had on hip hop, the music business.

You know, my Grammy was.

The first televised Grammy. All of that stuff happening in that period of time. It's like, dude, I can't be mad or bitter about anything. Havn't experienced that. And when me and Tone get together and we talk is great, you know.

And on that note, I'm gonna lead the conversations a little bit.

I got a shout out Kyle Eustace because Kyle is a writer that knows that fing really well and helped make this happen. But she did an interview with me and Tone where some of the stuff started coming out and she gets stuff all online and it was just it just really made it really opened my eyes because how I just throw the names around. These are my friends, these are my life experiences. But other people react because people,

Wow.

He was out with me and then we couldn't find him.

And and when I heard I've not discussed this with him, but when I heard, he got locked up, but it was something something we got jammed up in and three weeks went by and I had to hire somebody else, So hied I want to say at that time, Julio G another mixed master, right, God the mixed master is when when we were coming out in Delicious, m Walk who was a mixed master. That's tones DJ to this day. And then Tony G, who was like the godfather all of them. He was the DJ for the majority of

So, yeah, who is that on your shirt? Okay?

This is an AI representation of me on stage? No, no, no, this one is this go Teresa.

This is my AI character. I know you guys have discussed. So it's an AI character. It's like she's like the label mascot. She's on all my new records. So I'll picture like this, you got you d Okay, if you look at a label tag or a producer tag, you knows me well you know, uh yeah, okay, maybe that music me, especially during COVID have a lot of downtime.

The track that could answer you what would that be like?

So I created it on the audio side, and then we got a video that's pretty much all AI for loose that that creates it on the video side, and I literally, as the singles go on, I'm having an AI character kind.

Of like like cod with me on the records.

It's crazy.

Yeah, yeah, when you hear it as Zoe and I won't even lie like that.

That's the thing that's motivated me to make records at this age because I could be like whatever, especially if you're doing the same thing over and over again. If I want to get through through sixteens, I'm like, I got to do something that's interesting.

So for me, that's interesting. Disco theory districts all that.

We had will I am on here and he was describing this AI ship and then he had his AI turned British on us.

It was spooky.

Yeah.

For me, I just wanted I'm very rudimentary, just I don't want it to imitate anybody. I don't want it to be anybody. I wanted to be an element in my music. That's all I wanted. That's that's all I wanted to be.

So it's an old school artists. You're accepting AI.

That is you're saying yeah, because a lot of people don't except like, especially what's going on right now, you know Drake.

Actually it depends on how you accept it, and then you expect you don't want AI to start just generating music.

In South Art, I had people come to me like, yo, yo, make a hundred songs a day. You want to make a song?

I'm like, no, well, you know I'm using it for a specific purpose, for a specific reason.

No, you know in ways that someone hasn't used it before.

But all that stuff would imitating voices and and and without the estate's permission online, I'm not with that, and that's not something I would I would use it for. I use the technology in my mind to make the music better. And it's kind of interesting because I'm One of my weird quirks that I have is that when we were working on twenty four track tape, I literally can have all the tracks memorized and know that we had enough or didn't have enough before we even laid

So it's like being in a group and the AI kind of kind of but but but it's not.

It's funny I got when I put the record out, I got a comment online like, oh, you signed disco Teresa. What other artists you're gonna sign. I'm like, she's not an artist.

She's not even a she's not even a she.

You know what I mean.

It's just like, it's just it's.

An it, it's an It's an element that I wanted to put in music. Like I said, like, I haven't seen people use before, but I still want to have my artistry be the forefront of all of it.

I want to.

I want to ask you because my engineer peeped it when I walked in. When I walked in and I was telling everybody, and I was like, yo, I bet he has a different version of Tupac.

Yeah, because one of the things that I love is people.

That met Pak prior to him going to death role because I mean me being I know Geminis.

Jesus relax, but I know Gemini.

What I'm trying to say, is like it's two different people, right, but you h you W. I like to say, probably know the original version of pac.

I knew Park as a member of Digital Okay, and and if you don't mind, I'm gonna take.

You on a little trip. We got off We got off board and passed, let's go.

This goes to something to one of the main reasons I don't drink today. Okay, when I was when I was a kid eleven, I'm twelve years old, I had a liver disorder, went to the hospital, lost a bunch of weight. They told me not to drink in my teens. So by the time I was able to drink in my early twenties, I drank a little bit. Didn't like the feeling of not being in control of my body and just where my mind was, so I stayed away

Run claiming on Hendessy. Now alcohol period, we continue.

The person who passed me the bottle was Shocked G. The person that I was toasting was Tupac. And that's probably twenty years ago. And that's the last drink that I've taken.

So your last drink you ever had is with shock G and Tupac. That's kind of drink, proper drink.

But that's what I'm saying. It's like it's a personal choice.

First it was health, then a personal choice, and now I'm not going to start drinking now. If you know I put it in that perspective, you know what I mean. And these and once again my heart hurts. Man knowing Tupac.

I knew Tupac as a member of Digital so so you know Eli and money B and you know what I mean.

I knew him as a member there.

He had told an interesting story and and because Tupac would after his passing, you know, they would come back to me. I was performing a new a newer record at an elementary school and some kids had come up to me and they said, we saw Tupac and and we asked him about this new fast style of rhyming that we're hearing.

All over the radio. And he said, it's cool. I like these artists.

I like, you know those people, but you know, young MC created that' stuf and these and these are little kids coming and telling me this. So I was like, wow, man, it's like I didn't know because I wasn't terribly close to him. We didn't hang out, but I would see him at the shows like you know, like I like i'd see other people. He was always cool. It was always cool, but.

You knew that there was something there when when when he could break free Shock. Shock was a was a great guy. Artistically, he was dominating.

So there was a lot that other other artists in digital you know, may have wanted to do, but the vision of Shock kind of.

Controlled digital and it was very successful.

So when Tupac went and did his thing, I was like, Yo, that I've never been in a group, but I can only imagine having stuff in me that I can't get out in his group that I can get out.

On my own.

So my whole vision of Tupac was his ability to express himself, you know, musically, politically, all those things you know, and and then and to see that you know, come to fruition.

Yeah.

Yeah, from some of that, I knew that there was.

In a group.

Did you guys interact after he broke free from digital? And like, how were those interactions?

I mean when I saw him with when I saw him it was cool.

I think I seen him with with Sugar a couple of times, and it was it was always cool, it was always loved. I'm like Switzerland, dude, I just you see, yes, you don got no drama, well no drama. And also my aggression is on the mic, so like anybody can say whatever they want about me, but they'll never at least honestly question what I do on the microphone, even in my fifties. So like that's always been my approach. I could have done something else. I have a college degree.

This when people go on stage and stays Booklyn in the house and everybody go crazy.

Yeah yeah, so this is this is eighty seven.

And my thing was these people accepted me, so I'm not going to go up here and say what my neighborhoods.

I'm not in my neighborhood right now. I'm in LA.

So part of the reason I think I got accepted for you know, being being part of all in the same gang, because they knew that I that if I was going to claim anywhere, I was going to claim LA, right you know what I mean, even if I wasn't in the streets and wasn't doing any thug shit or whatever. I would you know if you said, just like you thought, I'm West Coast artists people, I never get up and say, yo, I'm from the East Coast.

It's not.

I mean, I'll tell people what my background is, but I'm not. I'm not going to bang the table and disrespect the place that that's basically, you know, created my career. If like, once again, if I stayed in New York, you never would have heard of me, just wouldn't. Now you know how New York is all to do. I would do block parties and I try and break into a new new cadence and like, no, you don't rhyme like that, You're gonna run.

Just like this.

It's like, come on, man, and I'm coming up at a time where you literally have all of hip hop. If you take a subway map and just extend the right side out to Long Island, every artist you know is on that subway map.

That's how was there anybody on on Self Destruction that wasn't from New York?

I don't think so. No or from the tri Stated area.

If they were, they didn't claim it.

But on on on same gang you and Deaf Jeff that I could think of, Yeah, yeah, Deaf jefs in New York. Yeah, because he's not Yeah, he wasn't from La yeah, really, Yeah, I didn't keep that in youhood.

But that but see that, to me, that's the brilliance of conception that he was like, I want everybody on that. I want all these you know, all these viewpoints so that anybody who's listening who isn't familiar can have something to hold on to or something that they can identify with in terms of a path of looking at it.

So it's like, yeah, and I was gonna say, did you ever feel because it seemed like the era that you're coming out in this is kind of like the beginning of what's some people might say is the Golden Era late eighties going into the nineties, right.

I would say most people will say that, some people put it more into the nineties.

I'm gonna stop both for you right there, looking offense, have no problem the Golden era. What considers what someone considers a golden era depends on where they're from. True, if you're in New York, your Golden Ever starts earlier. If you're in the West, it starts a little later. If you're in the South, it saus even later than that.

I'm in the South. Damn, I'm in the South.

But it can't be in the South saying that your Golden Ever started in eighty five.

You can't. No, no, no, not mine from me, No no, no, not you personal.

I'm just saying a person in the South is not going to say that that Golden Ever started in eighty five eighty six. Whereas if you're in New York and run DMC is out, that could be part of your Golden Night.

That's part of your Golden ere. If you're from the South, its body starts.

With Uncle Luke, right or I mean, I don't think it should be region. I think if you're talking about the consensus of hip hop, a lot of people put it like eighty eight to like ninety three, ninety four or something like that. Happen, yes, but it's.

Influenced by regions.

So you go earlier than eighty eight from East coast, you go later than ninety three from the south and from the west.

That's my point is that.

People throw around this term Golden Era, and that is a regional I honestly think that's a regional distinction. That's not something you can say all of him because all of hip hop. Hip hop has been regional. It's becoming less regional now, but during then, no Internet, it was, it was regional. Well, it depends because you could have been only.

Looking at hip hop through the scope of what you got, which mainly was coming out of.

New York at right.

So so a regional artist outside of New York is not going to say, oh, you know, when Eric be as president came out that I considered that the Golden era. You know what Eric be as president influenced in that region, that's where the Golden Era starts.

That's that's that's that's what I think.

Great point, that's that's what that's is. I think it could be debatable. I think it could be debatable, but I can see where you can't understand where you can.

But my point being is that and again this might be debatable as well because I'm young at the time, but the perspective was that hard hip hop heads looked at anybody that went commercially, you know, on the radio as like selling out the Hammer thing. Did you get any of that bass that Hammer got?

I got some of it.

And and and to even go before Tone came before me, And I remember people saying that Tone sounded like a broke rock hymn.

I remember that.

And this is before, this is before, and that's my man, dude, that's like but he's like blood to me. So I'm hearing that only but this is before he sells four million records and.

It wasn't broke out that four million.

Not only that, but I was saying people usually people that talk shit ain't done shit.

I want to make some lawyers for that, saying.

Yeah, So a lot of this stuff I would hear wouldn't be coming from artists like I could.

They could be an artist whose music I don't like. I'm not going to say something to disrespect him, because I know the struggle. So seeing someone sell as many records as Tone did, and seeing you know what what other artists from other reads when when records were coming up after mine, I wasn't hating on the saying it wasn't me, I'm like, good for hip hop. The day after I want my grammy. I wake up in the morning, I gotta come down to do press. I'm literally wearing

I love your impression. By the way, Jan that's why they keep calling you your cousin.

The island is so small it could be.

But the thing is, I'm coming down and I'm trying to represent and and I get that.

And this is me.

I'm standing next to Bruce Hornsby, I'm standing next to all these.

Other people, and they treat me as a peer, especially the people that know that I wrote Fotona.

They're like, Yo, this is a real artist.

This may be a different genre, may not be singing whatever, but he's selling real records and this is real stuff. So it's like more media and more you know, hoofla in terms of the stuff that you get backlash from. I didn't really pay it any mind, you know what I mean, because once again it's especially now with social media.

It's ridiculous.

You can just sit Cheetos mom's basement type type type and you're supposed to be on the same platform as someone's out there doing stuff.

Right, Come on, man, now now, because you came from the era where people were still calling hip hop a fat people were still saying that, I remember the bigg the smallest lines. Did you ever hear that hip hop will make it this far? And it's like, I've noticed that it's a cliche type of a thing, but you now got to see a turn into business. Like it went from being about true school to now it's all about money. Everyone wants to be you know, be rich

I always knew that the business side of it would would evolve, but I always felt the culture would remain. So just because it's not the biggest selling record doesn't mean that it's not something that keeps the culture going. So that that's always been my approach. It's like I

How it was for a lot of regions at that time. Yeah, but for me, that was disrespectful.

If I'm here and you guys are paying me and I'm living, you know, I'm doing the cost of skate Land World on wheels, billboard.

Live, Florentine Gardens.

You know what I'm saying, whiskey Roxy, I mean, I'm doing those are the places.

I'm playing one of those clubs I wish, but that's what I'm saying. Those those are the places that I kind of cut my teeth. So I can't, you know, go from there to saying, oh, but I started wrapping in a crew in New York. You know, there was there was an evolution that took place, and I saw my growth and I really learned the business being in LA you know. So you say it turned into a business. It did turn into a business because the money was

I mean, it seems like you came in at business already because you were already writing records for somebody else. It wasn't like you came in as your own MBC. Yeah.

I mean, well I signed as my own MC. I didn't sign as a writer.

Writing stuff came because they saw how I wrote for myself as an MC, and so O Marvel would be good to tell the story on on on Wild Thing. A lot of times rappers, now I guess it's expected. Oh, I you know, this producer has a beat.

This beat is so hot.

I'm an run and do this. I literally never asked for a beat change on any record. Okay, this is the beat, this is the title.

Let's go.

I mean, I'm talking wild thing, funky Cole Medina. There's a third record called Showtown that's supposed to be about Lakers that never came out, by the way, that was supposed to be the third single, but that never came.

Out and didn't make the album.

Yeah, it didn't make.

But I remember because i'd written the first I think I may have I have. I still have my rhyme book written a pencil because it, you know, wouldn't fade. But just sitting down making those seeing what they did, it's like I can't look back on that and hate it, you know. I look, I look back on that and say that that's an amazing time. That that won't won't come that won't come back, you know what I mean.

She looked, it's that she was your first girlfriend.

So like bust and moved, wild thing, some of these records were the first girlfriend for a lot of people in hip hop.

They just were parents.

Parents didn't know shit, parents wouldn't let them listen to the stuff for curses and oh but we you know, we were able to listen to your record, right, So you know, it's like, do.

You feel you've got enough credit for it?

Because you obviously broke down a lot of barriers for hip hop at the time, Like, I'm what records? Do you remember any of the records? There had to be MTV records for your video? Oh yeah, yeah, no in terms of hip hop.

The reason, well, all right, I think I had started before MTV raps.

Don't get me do you know.

Don't get me wrong with that, but I could look back.

But I want to say that I know I was putting out some records before MTV rap start.

I know, let them know.

It was my first single and I was hyper and red alert played it so I know he was there.

Wow.

But in terms of getting credit, it was it was a dynamic thing.

It was growing and there.

I just wanted to be acknowledged that I was there, you know what I mean, Like whatever credit I'm gonna get, you know, like.

History is told by the winners, you know what I mean.

So so people, you know, I see, you saw your interview with DC and and with other folks, you know, the dog Pound and a lot of the stuff they're talking about. I know a lot of the people that talk about I know. So I'm happy knowing that I was there. And if my name ever comes up, you know, then then then I'm hoping something positive will be said. But I was there, and I felt that I gave a good crowd contribution to it.

Well, our show is well giving people flowers while they're alive where they could smell them, or the trees where they can hell them, They thoughts while they could think them, and they drinks where they can drink them.

We always, we always quote Snoop Dogg.

Snoop Dogg says it's better than the Grammy because it comes for his people.

And this is what we want to do.

So many times in our culture, you know, people they don't appreciate each other, and we want to break that mold and we want to say how great you are because it is real.

It's really an honor to honor you.

Thank you man.

Well, I was all right, so we wanted to do this so bad. I will say that.

I've won a Grammy. But on a lot of levels I appreciate this. Yeah, yea, I'm bad, all right, Yeah, I know, on a lot of levels I appreciate this more because this is for a lifelong you know, this is thirty seven years of work, you know what I mean. So to be recognized, I'm telling my friends you don't going on drink.

Chance for going yo yo yo, shut me out, So big up your friends, man, I think it's time a quick time Slyne.

Let's go all right.

Now you're not drinking, so but we're gonna give you the honor designated drink of having a designated drinker so you can actually look at probably anybody in the audience.

He's always the designated drinkery.

Wants.

Does anybody want it? Yeah? Okay, okay, he just went over there. We got tough over there. Okay, alright, let's get it.

Cool cool, cool, he gonna drink for you, Thank you, sir. All right, So you got you know, you know, you know, I explaining these rules. Your friend is gonna explain it. Yeah, get him a chair, Yeah, I got.

You got cranberry juice. Cranberry juice over over ice, and I'll mixed this with thank you or whatever.

He's drinking though for his shots. Yeah, So you explaining him the rules, I'll explained to him.

Ye.

Okay, We're going to give you two choices. Yes, you pick one, nobody drinks. If you say both or neither, we're drinking.

Okay. So, but and any stories you got with any names mentioned.

I will much They're all going to have stories because if I know them, they're coming from a place of a relationship as opposed to what I regard somebody as a fan, you know what I'm saying. So so there may be some that to people that don't know and would be obvious and to me, like I would pick to Loko over everybody, I'll put pres over mostly everybody.

So go ahead. I'm sorry.

But by the way, by the way, I want to take a time out to actually really really really big you up.

Because I'm actually.

Looking at your drink selection and I'm really realizing you drink four different things.

I don't know what this is. That's this is the Haitian version of and then you got Mama Wana. You got by the way, pit Bull. He's so loyal to you, man, because I can tell he doesn't enjoy this at all. I don't know you want, oh, Mama, don't do it. They make that in the to and they make that.

And a back job, and kidd I'm telling you be careful that it's fantastic. I'm just I'll be playing around.

You. So I just want to before we get into this. This is a different Mama wanna no, no, this is this is Haitian. I don't know what will we consider this, Guys, he's not really We've established that he's not really Haitian.

We can't go to the Sunday d Haitian. I'm looking at mother friend. We can't go to Sunny d fund.

For the Haitian delegation. We cannot go to sunn Listen, I'm gonna tell you some funny ship. Real great.

This is this is like.

It's like Haiti Yeah, summer morn. So he got you got Haitian moonshine.

You got wan I say it wrong. Then you got pit Bull vodka. Yep, which which you had for like two years. It ain't going nowhere on.

The thirtieth last year, and and then you got there and I got beer as well.

That's why that's why he's in CrossFit every day, because that gangster right there. I've been doing this with him eight years and I'm still realizing every more day like he might be.

Okay, I'm gonna do my best to be decisive, but even some of them that I say both, I'm gonna probably give stories behind it because and by the way.

I'm so sorry to change the subject a little bit. I met Kirk Franklin. Oh boy, I felt like he was bad.

Did you remind him about militiaman crazy already?

What? No?

I did not.

I did not, but he said he's he won't come on the show. I would tell our found. I told him my mom truck to get you high.

Kirk look up radio and Kirk Franklin, and we did.

We did with frank called him, yeah, Frank call him. Yes. If you want to drink this, you got to sit here, bro be a part of this. Yeah, you got to designated drinkers. It's okay, you, Charlie, you can have some of this because he wants to drink this. By the way, Charlie, Charlie got glass what I call him glass like that? You know, Charlie strong for no reason, get yourself a shot glass, not mine? All right? All right, by the way, already, how you're going to answer this?

Yes, So I like to let people know when we do this that these questions come from a Dominican and Columbia and they're.

Right over there, right over there. Yeah, we don't make these questions.

They come from them, Okay, to own local or mc hammers load, dude.

I mean, look, I just got married, like we believe it.

Not ahead.

What what I'll give give him, I'll give him and his crops to what he did.

That's right.

We need have selling selling that many records and the and the impact he had tous like blood to me, like walking literally walking down.

The aisle to marry my wife. Montell Jordan, did my ceremony nice?

We respect that Motel walks.

In front of me. I'm walking behind Montel.

The time that I was close to getting choked up before I was holding my wife during our vows is when I saw Tone.

Lok in a suit and Rob Base in a suit you know what I mean.

Two three.

So March, yeah, March March twenty fourth.

Rob Base was there, Yeah together, okay, Freedom Freedom. Williams is there okay.

Well also seeing you know, seeing some music factory Montane Left.

Yeah, freedom, Freedom from Left. We have so many discuss Freedom has so many stories.

Due.

I don't know where he's from because the story is.

In different places. Ye people to Earth.

Yeah, and then the rounded out All of One, all the members of Off of One came out for my wedding.

Flew had a show the night before, all brought suits.

It was Due.

It was just so hard woman, because these are my friends. These are people I see, you know, thirty years, twenty five years, twenty years. Even on this nineties tour, I'm doing two hundred, three hundred shows with people. They become like, you know, like family, that's what you see. I see them more than the friends. I'm within Arizona.

So I tell people that all the time. It's three ways you go. You can kind of really really really know a person, get locked up with them that's fucked up, and go on.

Tour, which is kind of similar.

It's similar because you're in jail free, you're in jail traveling. Like I'm being honest with you.

I've always used this description that heaven could be hell if you don't want to be there. Y'all understand what I just said. If you don't want to be there, that's it could be. Like I used to go to Paris and hate that ship.

What the fuck is one croissant? Want chocolates in Switzerland? And then I started to realize.

Because my my, my pilot didn't lead Queens, your pilot or your pilot you know what I mean.

Pilot didn't Queens.

He has some of the most like creative pronunciations.

Could have worked.

It works.

But the thing is is that you know so well that you knew hold on, we're gonna move on, hold on on plot Queens. This one, I don't know. He go to flight school.

This one, I don't know what you're gonna say. Time and this is a good one. I respect, y'all. Tupac or shot g.

Oh God, I have to say, shock g dude, I have to say and once again, I'm going for I knew both of them, but I'm going.

For my relationships.

Like shock, God rest him. If he was alive, it had been at my wedding.

Shock is somebody I learned so much, even like even the all in the same gang, the whole experience. Shak had asked me about being in the record, like should should should.

Digital be part of this?

This is when everybody was deciding whatever and and and before it was all finalized.

I'm like, yeah, man, I'm doing it.

You were on it before they were even considered or I.

Had said that I'd approved it. Where what the legal documents data? How long it took? Because the delicious are trying to get money out of him, which wasn't smart. All I knew was I had approved it at the time, and they had known that, right. So Shack had asked me my opinion, and I said, you know, you should do it. Interesting thing before he passed, we had a discussion. I had done a Pepsi commercial and a Taco bell commercial, and.

Oh god, I think for both of them.

I want to say, maybe I got two hundred grand something like that for both commercials together. They come to Shock, they offer him more than that, but he had heard in rumors that I got a million.

Dollars for those two commercials. So I'm not sure.

So I'm not even sure it's the same companies, but it's the same type of deal, like a fast food, soft drink kind of thing.

And he had turned down.

Like three hundred something like that, saying, well, if young got a million, I should get close to that, And he never took the deal. When I told him how much I had gotten, He's like, man, I wish I had spoken to you instead of taking the rumors. So that's why, like, even seeing that from him, it opened my eyes in terms of what the streets say or what someone says, you know, because once again, if I'm hearing someone talk about money, figure said they've never come

That fun fact. For Shock he's originally from Tampa.

Yeah, here, this is a fun fact. I know you're gonna laugh at me. You know, I really didn't know that that was the same.

He did a great.

When he did the Arsenio appearance, and he and they came out like I think they came out together.

I think, yes, brother, yes, let me tell you how everybody but the nose. The nose makes you know the.

Let me tell you how bad I was fooled, like people told me. And I met him and I still asked him. I was like, so, w is homie gonna come out?

He would be like, henna be.

You know.

He literally looked at me and was like, you'll know, you know that's a joke, right, like it's it's like the same person.

And I was just like, you don't believe. I just really is. I really didn't. I really did. So that's that's the fun fact for me. Let's move on. D O C or m C.

Wren oh man, I have to say d O C. And I say d O C because.

Before his accident I would see him and I'm I'm very lyrically focused. So the dopest line he hasn't funky enough to me. He says something that rhyns with G or whatever, and he says when I'm p E R F O R M I N G N Right. So the first time I saw him, at one of the times I saw him after the record came out. I said p E R F O R M I N G N, and d O C looks at me and says, you're the only person that got that, because I don't get it.

He spelled his pilot never left. His problem was in Queen.

He's spelled performing and that's that's That's a ten letter word that he fits into a line. And ironically, this is once again how much of a lyric nerd I am, oh, one syllable so you can get away with it, but ten letter word he spells out in a rhyme and it just sounds like because he doesn't, so they just think that it's more babbling. I'm like, no, he's spelled performing right there, and I gave him prompts for it.

He's like, you're the only person that got that.

Then I saw him, as you know, with the accident the DRUP and I opened I opened for him and Snoop a couple of years ago and well not open. I opened for Snoop and he was there and it was my profile before my wedding picture. Actually my profile picture on my on my Facebook was was me DC and Snoop.

So that's that's why it's DC okay, that's hard. That was a hard explanation. He tried to get you drunk. He's looking out for you.

I like he's looking at I'm trying man e PMD or Digital Underground man.

Because I know Eric and Parish.

I have to say, see y'all want to drink. You could say both, you know, because you love.

Them both, dude, but it can't be both. I knew, I knew Eric, I knew Eric, you know met Parish. But it's it's got to be Digital Underground. Like my my booking agent, Bobby Beissan, love him to death. I've had the same booking agent since nineteen ninety eight. He one of the last road things he did was being on the road road managing Digital Underground.

So him and him in Shakra like this.

And then I would see shack a lot touring in the whole bit we would have Shock was capable of amazing deep conversation. So it's like, this is a man who I learned so much from just talking to. So it's like, you know, maybe you give me two people that I don't have a story with it.

You're doing five, you're doing five that this is a good one. I'm saving money. Uber N w a oh public enemy, and we want the stories. Let's go.

Okay, I will say boats you could drink, but I'm gonna give the stories on boat.

Okay.

He wants, yeah, he wants. He wants you to fill you want give us So first Republic enemy could And I told him this. I did a podcast God, probably a year ago or so and me talking about No, No, I'm talking about Chuck and they see you bring up Flavor Me and Flavor real cool, like, oh god, you saw a flavor go with Flavor. We did a private event similar to the one you saw with left right me Tone Lok, Rob Bass, Sugarhill Gang, Flavor, Flav hosting.

Wow, So I'm sitting Master g.

Is on.

Everything. So I've done hosting with Flayed before.

So we're and this, by the way, this is on a yacht leaving from them whether inter Con Leonard con New of the Miami and we and we went.

We went in a circle for a corporate event.

So the yacht was big enough where we could be on the lower levels this corporate rent or whatever, but we could be on the lower levels listening to what was happening on stage.

So I do mine.

Tone goes, Rob goes, sugar Hill goes. So I'm sitting with Master G. I don't know if there was a headliner, but for some reason, Flay was still on on stage where Master G was down downstairs, changed clothes. We started talking and we're listening to what happens on stage. Flay goes into a medley. And I've known this man at this point thirty years, never seen him do a medley

So we're having deep conversation.

We both stop, let's go, and Flavor's just bam bam bam bam going through going through stuff like that. So I just have a personal love for Flay.

Flavor's always been good with me, you know, friends of friends, short circle, and he's a person, you know, you have highs and lows in his business. When the records ain't hitting and all that, Flavor's always treated me well. And when it comes to Chuck once again, I considered Chuck a mentor like if things were were to if things would have blow up to a certain place, or I was exposed to things that I didn't know about this business,

Seeing Cbe do what he did in terms of being a writer.

I think me and him, I had not seen Cube in twenty some ideas open for him last year. Took my now wife with me, and the first thing Cube says to me is like, yo, I hope he was cool with the drive by because he played Bust to Move in the background of.

The drive by on was it was it destinate certificate? Was America's despertivity?

See that's I should know this.

I'm so, I'm sorry, but okay, so I've said, of course that that that gave me some of the best street credit I ever had. You know, but I mentioned him. I mentioned him like, yeah, I'm thinking of going back in and making some records. He don't even look at me. He looks at my wife and he's like, you need to get him back in the studio. You know you can be He's kind of for my wife got scared,

I didn't see him.

Yeah so well Easy actually said it on the record. Yeah, Easy Easy said ice, Q writes the rhymes that I say. And I heard that and I was like, I knew this rhyme and I didn't know that they were witten the ghost writing back then.

I didn't know that shit. So you have Q.

Easy Easy did a big played a big part of me being accepted on the West Coast, Easy Wow, because I shared stages with them so so and I'm watching straight out of Compton and I remember playing those places like some of those places represented Skateland World on wheels, you know what I mean. And that's where I came up.

But it was all LA and I'm coming from a point.

Where people were saying La La rappers were whack and all that other ship, and I just wasn't hearing it, Like, I'm not gonna go up here and change my style or try and sound a certain way so that y'all I can fit into what you think in LA rappers like no, No, I'm from LA and I round like this, And I think he's.

He appreciated that, and I think Cube appreciated that.

So you take those two just in terms of being front men, and then you know Ren and Yellow in terms of what they represented for the group.

And Dre has changed the music from everything from his production to.

To to what you know to death Row to the stuff with Interscope, the economics to Beast by Dre.

Come on, man, it's like I just wanted to see y'all drink. I would have picked them up.

Next question, Yeah, Ice Cube or Biggie Small.

I gotta say Cube. I gotta say Cube. I never met Biggie a lot of respect for Biggie. To me, Partying Bullshit is his best record. Like if if if you say, okay, who's the man? Yeah, I didn't know who that was. That to me shows how good of a record is. Like I go into that record with no preconceived notions. I was a sister public school. Ever bathroom passes and you know what I'm saying.

I hear that, I'm like, oh my god, who's that.

It's only like what two years later that you you actually see ready to die and you see you know who that actually is?

So for you know, and even going back listening to everything, you hear the hunger in that record.

Yeah, he's a hip hop history. He breaks it down. I want to go to a school that you could teach like you you got to be teacher. Build it damnit literally literally.

Literally just speak to you all day because and and the knowledge, thank you knowledge, that's that's that's real impressive to me.

And to finish, to finish the question, Matt, it was what ice Cube or Biggie?

I just say that up.

Because he likes yeah exactly, but but ice.

Cube is just it's just it's just another level, not only in a personal level, what I've what I saw him do with Nwa, sharing those stages, all the shit that they went through, what he was able to do as a solo artist, what he's been able to do as a businessman. And that's my friend, dude, Like, like, I consider Ice Cube a friend and and just to be I hadn't seen him, Like when Busting Move happened, I left. I'm not doing the hood the hook places anymore,

COOLi old God rest him.

After after I had after I had opened for Cube, we get to talk in and he said he had never shared a stage with Cube, or at least had it in twenty years, Like, how does that happen?

Different agencies, different.

Approaches, you have a record that crosses over pop Cube haddingto it for a while. Also, some of the you know, some of the harder ship was harder. It's more difficult to get on stage in front of people. Now he can to a headline, do whatever he wants. So seeing that and you know, just the conversations, conversations we had, it makes it makes the two times come together like it doesn't feel like there was a gap, you know what I mean.

So that's that's how I feel about Q.

So let me ask you, Yes, sir, this is off drink Chaps, this is not quick Thomas slid moment because you just hit me.

God comes down, God says to you, young and see one person can tell your story. Make a movie. Oh boy, my choices. Huh, Quentin Tarantino, I don't know why I thought that. Yeah, Ice Cube, Bike Lee or Robert de Niro, they're going to be a director.

I would I would say Cube, I would take cue.

I set you up.

You know what I thought you were going to ask me about the DJ and the or the producer and the feature for the record to Save the World.

That's what I thought You're gonna ask me.

Then okay, I'm asking now, now, let's have one for that one. Wait wait, what are we talking about now?

No, No, if you said you you had you have to make one record to save the world, world, I want.

To say the world.

Get back to that saying you say you said you're gonna you would let ice Cube because of your relationship with ice Cube or that's the perfect person for the job.

I mean fit for you.

I think perfect fit because he would he's from the era, from the time, from the region, and he.

Lived through it but understand the material. Yeah.

So so if you had asked me, you.

Know, if Yellow was.

Directed movies, so if Wren was directed movies, I don't know them as well, but I would pick them because they know the time and the era and everything. I wouldn't have to explain it, and their memories you will coincide with mine.

So because that's like, what's crazy, what it's called biopics. Yeah, yeah, so biopics. Yeah, everyone always like relates it to the people that's alive, Like n w A, they say that that.

Yeah, I mean, if you I mean and I'd hate to say anything negative about any art on this on this platform, but that Amy Winehouse Jointmie one.

House movie this. I mean I saw it. I saw it early.

It was so obvious that it was her family that had you know, they throwed a husband under the bus, and she wasn't really in the you know, into any substances until he came along, and that kind of thing. It just when it's so skewed and then and then you have somebody like what Mark ronson and produces biggest produce, our biggest record and basically changed their life.

And he barely gets like two seconds in the movie.

In the movie.

I believe, So, I believe, but it would be brief, like.

It had to do more with her home life, family, friends, and that just came from you know, them having the

Yeah, it has to be unbiased.

So if the artist did something that the family necessarily doesn't like you can't just eliminate it from the story.

Like it never happened. It's retailing history, especially if there's millions of witnesses. What happened to this?

You know what I mean?

So yeah, go ahead, Yes, that's real. That's real. So you were going with ice Q Okay, okay, But what's the record that saves the world? What is the record the record save the world?

I'm gonna bow your mind because you'll heard NEI of these Scott's stories should be producing it.

Have not.

I'm just I just I just I'm not working either of these people. The Scott Scott's US would produce it. And the rapper, Yes, Strang Wonder from o GC. That's that when I say, when I say, that's an influence.

And I met them. I met Sean Price.

Before he died, walking through a crowd and he looks Russe and he looks at me.

He's like, yo, you don't give. See I don't give.

But nobody say about you, you know so. But but yes, they would be Scott Stars and strang Wonder.

I stand on that put the world on that hold on, hold on to save the world. By the way, I'm sitting this to clip the Scott stor meet.

But by the way, hold on, hold on, hold on.

So if you had any producer in the world, God coming to you with any producer, and you would pick Scott's stores.

That is such a no, no no. But because the thing is, I'm asking in in terms of what moved.

Me when I heard it, Like Dayman considered him the best producer, but but what God, why we thugs with Cube? The stuff, the stuff he did, Gosh, the stuff he did with method Man, Like that four to twenty one album is so underrated. It seemed like a downpoint down downtime and hip hop. I listen to that record again.

I can inspired lyrically and musically to this day.

Really, you know what I mean.

I listen to Why We Don's and I'm like, that's not something.

I mean.

I was happy that when I open a Cube, but literally the twenty seven records, I like snuck a picture of the playlist, But I was happy that he did that because he could easily do a whole show and not do that record.

But part of what makes both of those so strong for me, it's got storage.

Wow, Yeah, that's so.

And then strange Lafleur lafly Scot that's one of the.

Unted record in hip hop. Is one of the best coffee And.

If you listen, if from an MC standpoint, invariably when I'm listening to those records and then I go back and listen to like the OGC records, his verses are the ones that stand down, you know what I mean? How many corner MC want to try when straight shit hit up like that? For you kidding me and I'm in LA So I'm like, what is gonna tie me to New York?

His lyrics.

Like we're a linked to me to say, Okay, this is what This is the evolution of New York rap.

This is the evolution of New.

York kit pop's the range.

Absolutely, though you fucked me up, you officially hooked me up. Definitely come with the cookie cutter on that one coolio or easy. Oh god man, we could drink rest in Peace today.

I mean all right, so y'all could drink I'm gonna say both.

Cheers, so look, you can get the good stuff.

Tone Lok is my closest friend in the music business. Like I said, like blood to me.

Over the last.

Seven eight years, until he passed. Coolio was right there. I opened for him. We spend time together, travel with his crew, met his family, went to Vegas for his birthday. I mean we would we talk about music, he you know, I would, and and the thing is he understood what it was like to be making West Coast music and then have a massive hit record that kind of overshadows everything, but then you still.

Want to be the artist and that kind of thing. So me and him related and just on so many levels. It broke my heart in he past.

Easy, As I told you before, Easy was someone who made my acceptance by the West Coast a lot smoother because I would be around them and it would be and honestly, this is before a busting.

Move, you know, you know pop.

But from the records I had made, he saw my skill and you know, acknowledged me for it and was good to me, you know what I mean. So I've reasoned and the love both men. Would you have wrote for Easy if you to act? Yeah, yeah, absolutely I wouldn't. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say no at that point.

But a lot of people to ask you to like write like a drive by record, like a gangster record.

Well, there's only I mean, there's only so much. I mean, look, it's funny because I looked over all my albums and the album that I kind of went furthest away from myself is my ninety three What's the Flavor album? Ali Shahid Mohammad produced some, but the single was one that I produced. But you know, they had me wearing calm. You know, they had me wearing fatigues and then you know, just just trying to look like something I wasn't necessarily

Part of what part of why I'm so high to.

I putting on new music now is that I have friends that have been my friends for twenty five years that have never gone on the ride with me, never see me with a hit record, and just to know that I have someone with that level of commitment to me when records aren't hot, I'd love to have a record that's hot and be able to you know, text my man that you know absolutely?

Do you think he was the first young Yeah? That's what I like. How a hell of your time? Were you a young name?

And it's my last name? But you know, oh, you didn't know that.

I didn't even think of it either.

Yeah, yeah, Young is my Marvin Young. Young is my last name.

So he wasn't even thinking.

You know, I'm the twelve year old hanging around the eighteen year olds at the block party. You know, but I can rhyme as good or better than them that they're not happy about.

But yeah, I was.

I was the first young with an oh spelled correctly and I and I have to trademark.

Why you and did you ever think at that time that there would be a plethora of young MC's literally you.

Know, it's just dude, and you go online, there's people imitating, you know, impersonating trying to I mean, it is what it is.

I mean the imitation being a form of flattery. All good.

That was dope, Okay, self destructure, all in the same game, all on the same We know that I told you just comes from Columbias and Dominicans.

Big Daddy came j Wow, oh man, all right, both we got our shots lined up, me and Kane.

It's funny because because when Nohow came out, I know, me and Kane had a discussion because he had what was it? What was the fast when he had was it? I get raw?

Yeah, So we had a discussion about fastest wrapping, rapping and stuff like that.

And I've always respected him and.

I was a fan of his before I came out l L to see what what that record did from radio on what he's doesn't you know has done as an actor, rock the bells all that. It's impressive, dude, It's just it's just really impressive. So on both levels, I got you know, I would get both of them their flowers.

That's dope. That's dope. You got the next one? D or a tribe called quest Oh man.

I love pasta news due, but I gotta say tribe. I gotta say tribe. Ali produced Produce produced a record on me. Q Tip has always been good fife and I get so inspired. There's no record that moves me

Do you see the R and B stations playing a lot of heavy D. Yeah, So that was a big deal.

That was a big because once again, it just it just kind of spread the scope of where hip hop could go.

That's real. You got this, Yeah, it's gonna hurt group chat l A or New York.

Oh no, I know you ain't gonna like this. I gotta say l A.

That it's been the last ten to fifteen years. It's been the last ten to fifteen years. But like I said, if I stayed in New York, you wouldn't have heard of me. You be in a New York MC, if you're around a lot of older New York MC's, they don't want to hear about you having a new style.

They don't want to hear about you having a new It just was like we own all this blah blah blah la.

There's so many New York artists that get put on from other places.

So yeah, because because like it's not a big area, so you could easily have someone that's in control of a whole lot.

There's a lot of gatekeepers where there wasn't There wasn't that much of a of a gate to.

Keep in LA.

A couple of artists that were out.

But I played all these places and open up for all these acts, and especially you know, the ability to cross over, you know what I mean, There was no resentment in LA. If I crossed over from New York, that would have been resentment.

Mmmm.

That's interesting that you say it that way.

So that's how that whole thing that I said about in Hip hop they would have frowned upon I'm going commercial in LA or the West Coast, you were going to feel that.

Where did they make commercials?

Do?

Where did they make commercials? They make more commercials in LA. There were so many examples. I mean, Ice team makes colors and now and now he's an actors So it's like what you know, you're going, Oh, he's on you know SV, he's in long order.

So I'm not gonna whatever, know whereas New.

York at least not once again, this is my experience as a child not being able to get into clubs, and you know what I mean, So it's a little bit different. I wasn't able to get indoors, but just from what I had seen and what I was able to access when I got to l A, Yeah, it's just different in LA.

So big of l A. It's okay. It's okay, buddy, Yeah you got this one.

I got it.

Ad Gang Star or nicest move, whatever story we want to say.

I would say gang Star, Oh yeah, yeah.

Premiere Premiere is a producer Guru rest in Peace Guru, but Guru is an EMC. Just how groundbreaking it was in terms of going over like straight samples and hip hops like like Gang Star made anthems like Nice and Smooth has has some good records. I won't I won't lie, but Gangstar to me, at least in my experience, I saw anthems, you know several coming out of gangs.

Ices Moove has one of the best best rhymes I ever think I heard in hip hop collaborative.

Anybody want to ask me? Anybody want to ask me? What's the rhyme?

Is that, no matter how many times the ball bounces, there's still no bones in ice cream?

I love?

Are you sure that's the rhyme? You never heard that no matter how many times the ball balances, there's still no bones in ice cream? Why would he make that up? Well? I mean.

On my Piland and queens iPod.

Oh, that line is always like the dope there's the dopeest shit to me because I still don't know what technically what it means.

Okay, yeah, I want the lady to be in a drink. Yes, Okay, I'm going to the next one.

Fresh Prince, well Jesse, just on the Fresh Prince, Rob bass and easy rock.

Oh man, all right, I have to say rob based and easy rock. I know you're grabbing the dress, but I can't. I mean, I've done hundreds of shows.

It Takes Two is probably one of the most iconic hip hop bric. Here's the thing.

On some levels, some people were saying that Bust to Move was based on It Takes Too. There wasn't a lady singing in a hook until It Takes Too and that came out before Busting Move, you know what I mean. Now,

Just straight feel good record. Yeah, well that.

Yeah, that's that's what it is.

And just to go off on a little tangent when people talk about keeping it real, if I was to change my name, start cursing and records whatever, that wouldn't be keeping it real to me. I have thirty five thirty seven years. I'm not cussing in records. Make it feel good party records, that's my real.

You're rock kill.

So that's the thing when you and the doc joint, when you brought up that he didn't swear. I didn't realize he didn't swear.

He's so good.

I realized it either, I did.

I didn't realize it isn't cursing his records. I'm like, man, if I could be, if I could get it like that where people didn't notice, that's dope, Okay. Beastie Boys are the fat Boys.

Oh, Beastie Boys, dude, and the Beastie Boys.

For several reasons, the Dust Brothers produced No how So, before the Dust Brothers produced a beast Boys, I had a couple of records on with them.

Yeah, yeah, so there was a link there.

I want to say Tamra Davis and if I'm messing up names, she she was affiliated with the with with the Beastie Boys, and she directed I want to I think she did the Principal's Office video. So, and and there would be clubs in La and plays in La. What I see I see them running around and this is right after they.

Moved right love Boutique. I feel that, well, they'd have to.

To work with the Dust Brothers, right, so, and and that that that's like a sample heaven hell record. There's so many samples on her. It's a groundbreaking record in terms of production. So that's why I would say Beastie Boys because there were so many things they did as a group, but in terms of my own personal experience, what they were able to do in that hip hop space with guys that i'd work with, you know what I mean?

It was it was Special Battlecat or DJ Quick.

Yeah, yeah, Oh, I haven't thought this long in a minute.

What's the name of his drink, Cousin Francis, Cousin Francis.

And you could get a Cousin Norri when you get when you added a little bit of baka, it's called a Cousin Norri.

Now all right, I gotta say quick, I gotta say I gotta say DJ Quick. He he is such an inspiration to me, and also he has let me know you know how he's been inspired by me.

Amg is A is a close friend in his crew.

I saw them at at at a couple at a couple of shows recently, and that that whole crew is just a great representation of West Coast hip hop to me, and I feel a lot of the same journey, even though battle Cat did DJ for me way way back in the day. A lot of battle Cat's more recent success, I haven't been Party two as much as I have Quick and just his journey as an artist, him as a lyricist, like this part of me that will put Quick in my top five in turn, because he's so

Okay it sounds horrible. Yeah.

One of my good friends, uh, Brad, Brad Armstrong owns it owns a bunch of roller rinks, has season tickets. If you ever wants a Raiders game. You see the guy that holds up the fist, that's my man, Brad. So he had he has season tickets. Can you get us in? I go wearing a Quincy Williams jersey. My wife goes in an Xavier Gibson jersey to show you how current. If you know the squad, you know that those are those are high players from the last like year or two.

I'm trying to figure out where the story going.

He takes us to the tailgating in Raider Alley in Vegas. All they're banging is Bay shit. You're hearing like like we're still in Oakland. DJ's had the best tackles of my life.

But people look at me because we're the only ones in jet jerseys walking out later Alley.

Superper every no, everybody was respectful. But the bottom line was I heard a whole bunch of West Coast I mean a whole bunch of bass stuff, to the point where the new records that I'm putting out, people have said, why do you have such a Bay influence on your music?

Because that experienced this so much for me.

But the only artist that I heard that I recognized was Quick Over something that sounded like down down down but wasn't down down down, but it was our see an older record, but it was able to just go with all the base stuff and quicks not from the bay. But there's such a respect for him and his stuff blends so well and keeps a vibe going that always stuck with me. Like what he can do in terms of opening doors and and and and getting into places with his music.

It's it's it's really impressive.

No, production wise, he's incredible. Yeah. Is that story?

Yeah?

Is that story true? That he locked himself And I never asked him this, I should have, but.

That he had locked that he had locked himself in the studio or locked himself, you know, down with his equipment for two years to learn how to play.

Well, we're gonna take this clip and we're gonna show you're gonna ask you a question.

Yeah, no, no, because because it's obvious that he's an amazing player. But I know some guys that were classically trained and alight, and and that was.

That was the story.

That was the story that that he was literally you know, put himself in front of his equipment for over a year, not if not two years to learn how to get better as a producer and then just came out came out with you know, with with his sound.

So anyway, that's that's dope, that's dope. Okay, got it? Yeah, got the next one? You m TV raps or Music Video Box all y'all could drink both, Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Video Video Music Box, Ralph McDaniels, vig Kid influenced me while I was still in New York, before I even went to college. Your MTV Raps was more of an influence once I got to LA and was able to come back with a hit record. So it's really two different parts of my life that you're asking me to to,

The Apollo.

It was like you went into an arena, you did your stuff, But in terms of exposing people to music, it was less about that as it was about just the personality of the Apollo to me, Yeah, yeah, intimidating place.

Paying your dues, like paying your dues.

The story I'll tell my second album, This is during the time when we have dancers. So I think I had either four or six dancers at the time, and I'm doing my song. I want to say is that's that's the way that goes, And there's a little break in there, so I get the crowd hype during my break and realize that I've gotten so hyped that my next verses started and yeah, throw your hand, you know what I mean, try not to show that you made

I don't know if I got booze.

I don't.

I don't.

I don't think I did, but I would have if I had just stopped then. But I literally was able to pick up the verse from the choreography. So that's my apollo story.

Yeah, okay, boom boom Queen Latifa or MC light.

Oh man, I gotta say, Queen Latifa, me and me and me and down go back, dude.

This is my mark.

The forty five King marked. The forty five King was my inspiration when I was still in Queen's So we're talking, you know, fifteen sixteen, seventeen years old, before I went to college before any record deals, before anything, and I can tell you that the thing about the record deal too, that says another New York to La thing. But Mark the forty five King was my was a big inspiration to me. And to see what he did with Queen Latifa at the at the Jump, and I knew her

So you knew her personally, I just called a Dana man.

But but I knew her as that, you know what I mean. I knew her as that.

So it's like whether it be I don't know if it was parties or you know, functions events, whatever, but we would you know, we ran into each other, you know, from back then.

They just had an incredible show at the Hollywood Bowl with the Roots. Okay, yeah, it looked incredible. Lats it was I think the Roots Picnic on the road.

Oh real, Latifa. I believe Light was.

There, Ammonie was there the far side was there dress black sheep, it was.

It looked incredible just real quick.

You guys had Cassidy on and when I saw Cassie J Cassidy along with Steve Rifkin.

So when I saw DJ.

Cassidy's episode, I texted him because he mentioned a record store called Rock and Soul and he would have been going there mid nineties, I guess something like that early in that era.

Yeah, I went to that record store.

In nineteen eighty three, nineteen eighty three, nineteen eighty fourth, the worst I DJ my own prom in eighty five. So I was DJ and getting records from there, buying everything on def jam like, oh.

It's got that, this got, this got the you know, the the Burgundy label Boom give it to me.

And the dude that introduced me to the guys that delicious worked at Rock and Soul, guy named er So.

And it goes that far back.

And I'm going to school at ninety fourth and Park detoured my way to go to thirty six and seventh before I got on it, before.

Before I went home.

Now I'm good. Why you gonna try? I gotta try sometimes there. Now you think I'm getting enough of a content. You see something. He said. I know this is indicative of an era.

There was an era of MC's that were DJs before there were MC oh, yeah, yes, and yes he did.

From a certain era.

Where DJ's first, and I don't know it made a certain kind of MC being DJs.

Well see, And that's the thing.

That's why I don't get why today everybody's like, oh, you hear a beat and you just jump on and it's like, no, like I hear the whole record, So I'm not gonna hear somebody's beat and be like, oh, I got to write something. I gotta get inspired. The whole way through while thing was like, here's the beat. You need to write a record, call this to this.

Go none of this.

I can't rhyme over this, or I can't write to this, or I can't get an idea. Can you slow it down? Can you change the sample? Can you know that's the beat? Go do it four times platinum? You know what I'm saying, Like bust to move here here It is the only thing I did. I called it make that move when I wrote it down, and they changed the bust to move ninety minutes. All four verses don't change the word

Please don't hate me, but I just want to go back. You didn't get published on.

Those records, not on why I thing bust the move I published. Okay, yeah, so you can sleep good at night.

I just I'm killing I'm like, man, if the published tem you would have had it intact.

All those records.

Even though I'm gonna say this, but I can't go deep into NDAs and all that.

Y'all know where reversion is. Yeah, thirty five.

Yeah, yeah, so so I only did half, but my thirty five year was in May, so it includes those.

Yeah. Oh, let's make some noise for that. Yeah, so legends on here waiting for that thirty fifty Yeah I know, no, no, no, trust me to.

I feel so fortunate that I'm I still have my wits about me, that I can still go on stage and rocket crowd and experience it.

That's why that happened. I'm like, oh, I can make new music.

Now, not that I couldn't before, but it's not I don't have the pressure of like make the music, got to sell this amount, got to make this. You know, I can actually plan something, especially in this era where it's a wild West out there in terms of records. Yes, but I'm definitely you know, I'm gonna keep in touch with all.

Because literally you could literally now give your music to your family, like as like a trust funds.

It is like actually ill, yeah, I mean well.

And the funny thing is the reversion is different than than than than selling catalogs with the real big numbers. So in terms of catalog ownership, I still have, you know, my portions of my catalog that I but my thought in making new music is that that not only increases the value of the new music obviously, but increases the value.

Of the whole catalog.

My one of my biggest strengths in the music business has been licensing, and part of the reason of that is that it's just me. I don't sample, but my voice is almost like a sample. Like I can get the voice, same voice that was on Bust to Move, but I don't have to pay six figures for the license from the big company, I can get a new record, a different record, a record that even sounds more like what I want my movie to sound like, and have that voice on it.

All of my albums, really all all all of my subsequent.

Albums, because even and even Relentless, I've gotten licenses on but all of my albums were able to be paid for by licenses without any shows. If I never did a show, I would have still made money on the album just from licenses. And this is this is going through like six seven albums outside of Stone Karaman, Brainstorm, what's the flavor? Six seven albums that I've made since then, since ninety three, everything is paid for itself from getting licenses, everything from Honorage on down.

So were you saying, when they played your music and do where's my car? They have to negotiate with you.

No, that's the point. Okay, if they, if they, if they, if they put us to move and do where's my car? They negotiating with the label, okay?

Right?

And and the even though I have my publishing, the administrative administrator of the publishing, so I don't have much of a say. I'm more of a say now post reversion, I over say. But up to that point, I don't have much of a say.

My thing is those.

Negotiations because you have so many people at the table, those costs a lot of money. But if I can give you something newer and it still has my voice on it, I can. You know, all you got to do is either call me and my representative. Yeah, let's go. Let's you know, let's do it. We'll do it for this money. That money, maybe maybe just performance rights cool, Just get the record out there, just get And I was able to do that literally for half a dozen albums and make the money do.

Because he's the part. I don't understand.

These these record labels that got dissolved and they don't exist no more. Right, why brought up? So the next person that buys that, Yeah, oh if.

If your Rose Wars gets repoted, it's not gonna stay on the street, damn.

You see what I'm saying, Like somebody or somebody with some money is going to be like either I'm gonna fix it up for myself, I'm gonna sell it, or it's gonna just be.

It's gonna be.

Part of my garage when the cameras go buy even though I can't drive it somebody's gonna do something with it.

Damn. I never looked at it.

Yeah, I never looked at it, because you know, it's crazy with my records. When the labels get sold, what happens is one of my most sampled records in the movies. For Rell produced them, so for real would negotiate for me instead of the labels.

I didn't even know, Like you just taught me that. I didn't. I didn't even know that.

That's a little a little scary. Well maybe you said entourage to they got me too. Oh yeah, but they got me.

But big up to, big up to Mark on that because no, he he put in a record called Feel the Love, which is a record that I produced, I have one hundred percent of and it just literally went to my my, my publishing rep. And you know, ye, I'll give you this.

You knew, you knew, would you know? When he was Mark Mark? When he heard my play, I was like, oh, you know, they ain't negotiate with me at all?

And in all finished, that's that's happened with me before, Like.

What was it? Uh?

Blindside? I have I have connections with a lot of pr companies that work with the movie studios.

So I had a rep.

They said, oh, you need to come to this blind Side preview. I didn't know that the song was in the movie. Hasn't really integral scene before they get in the car accident of the little little white kid and and and the football player going back and forth doing my lyrics.

Just really if you look at it, it's really amazing.

And they didn't tell you that prior to No. Well, it's not that they don't have to negotiate with me.

They don't.

They don't have to ask me releast pre reversion. Yeah, having said that, you might get a little worried and be like, oh, what if they put you in something racist whatever whatever they were on the ride with me, you know what I mean. So they put it in something stupid that's costing them more money too. So I've just been cool with that. And now, like I said, things are, things are shifting and I and you know, I'm good.

Let's make some noise for that. Thank We're still on quick chop of slat no no, because we learned a lot, right, Uh you got it? Run DMC or the treacherous three Run DMC, Dude, run DMC. I can't even treachers three inspired me when I was when I was younger, but I couldn't tell you where they were from. I couldn't tell you all the you know, I mean coolm ol D obviously a friend run DMC just changed so much, especially me as an artist that had a big record

There was a barbershop. Jamster Jay got his haircut there. So that's that's childhood that's influenced.

I did it.

I did it a private with DMC last year. Amazing, dude, just I mean, just you want to do.

In a story.

Mark Mark from Sugar Ray it was one of his good friends. So Mark McGrath, sorry, the must be getting a contact. Mark McGrath put on a show with me Tone Loak. He was playing and then DMC was playing. Mark McGrath and d m C did fight for your right to party. And when I say, and this is maybe maybe two hundred people, I don't even know. It's in a restaurant McGee. If you know the movie movie director, it is his restaurant in Huntington Beach or something like that.

All of us. D excuse me, he's a dream. Cancelone night.

Oh okay, biz Marky or odb oh, biz Marquis, dude, bis a man.

This is once again you talk about the rest in peace Bismarqui. We did it, yes, rest in peace both.

I'm sorry.

Biz Marquis did probably one hundred hundred and fifty nineties shows with me, so in Biz Marquis, I don't Me and m Walk had this discussion. We didn't realize that we both were in the New Music Seminar in nineteen eighty eight. I think KD has sent him and Delicious Vinyl has sent me and I went up I forget who I went up against, but I know it was better than him, but I still lost. Biz marquis out of all and he's an idol of mine. At the time, bis Marque came up to me and say, you know

With Bismarkey up there at a halftime.

It's amazing. So it's rest and peace of both.

Yes, Sir Trench or red Man Tretch, Tretch for God for so many reasons, like once again, like I said, you go through highs and lows in the business and the like. Tretch has always been kind, supportive, positive with me, like he appreciates what I do. You know what I do, what I've been through as an artist, Naughty isn't going out together anymore, right, so Tretch is going out himself. When Trench was was gonna go solo and start doing

He's a top TIERMC. Oh yeah, no, if you hear.

Because I'm an Eminem fan, when you hear what Eminem says about Tretch that even with my eyes more where I go back and listen and say, because Eminem has done stuff that has inspired me in terms of what's possible lyrically, but he Eminem says a lot about about Tretch doing that for him.

Yeah, I think tretches Overloo because he's in a group, but he's an LMC by himself.

Well that's the thing I mean, and he wrote so much of it. Yeah, yeah, definitely Okay kress or Coolgi rap O.

Krs krus I actually did Sli and Robbie the Jamaican duo. Jamaica's not tonight. We've been waiting for it.

I did.

I just.

I did, Yeah, Ponder River.

I did two records which line Robbie called Living a Lion under Arrest, to the point where when I went overseas and I was doing Bust to Move, people were calling for those records in Germany. Both of those records were produced by kr S one and and and and those songs almost didn't happen because there was there was legal stuff with Delicious not wanting me to do it, but I was fighting for it. They knew my Jamaican background, krs knew my Jamaican background, and I had done nothing

Yeah, I have to I love this history.

I'm thankful for this because I never get to discuss a lot of this stuff like you have.

You bring it up and I'm like, oh, yeah, you didn't do that, like thirty seven years didn't go for nothing.

Because you know why these young dudes they put everything on Instagram.

Oh yeah yeah, but that makes you nothing at all. Everything.

But I said, I always say that, I say, yo, I love interviewing people that didn't have Instagram, Like I love.

That, Okay, DMX a big pun rest and peace of both.

I didn't.

I never met either one of them. My man wants to drink too, Larry. I will say DMX, and I say DMX for this reason. Of every MC that has ever picked up a microphone, nobody improves the quantity of a beat like DMX DMX. DMX could could run over a finger snap and it slaps. That's DMX, never met him whatever, you know, all the stuff around.

That's what I try and do.

It's so amazing to me how many of my friends or people go, oh, I make tracks for it because everybody wants to run over my tracks. Is I have an ability to at least take your track to a certain level. DMX could take any track to the highest level from an MC.

Here in that his style, his approach, the passion he brings to the.

Unparalleled no one else could do it, so it's got got to be.

You. You know, that's probably the only thing.

He said it just now, like and I know we're going to try to get Scott Storch for in a second, but but he said it just now. I really literally looked at my phone, caught the your max and I just forgot you know what I'm saying that.

You know, you know what you know, it's hard to be honest. Do you want to erase?

And then?

And then so I'll type let you finish, because the fans is going to say, I don't erase my dad at homies numbers. I don't know why. I have a cousin I don't And it was crazy my bathroot you. But you know, it's crazy sometimes if you know, you know, your ghost dial or hate somebody by mistake, and then they'll start talking.

You realize that this.

Person that's that's they took your homies number, that's not even who you're talking to.

So that's it is scary. I have a cousin about how we got here.

I have a cousin named Colin who lives in Baltimore. So we touch, you know, touch base text, you know, holidays whatever. But I'll type CEO and I'll see Coolio come up, and I'm like, you know what I mean, I'm.

Not gonna take it out. It hurts me to see it. But that's my man in my phone.

You know what I mean?

But yeah, you ever ever like did what I just said, like ghost Texas somebody? Dude? You know, there's a lot of in my phone like like like you know, like it down.

That's how I said ghost bad it's plucking out. And when I was looking, I look and I'll see somebody like usually I know, been dead for ten years. Yeah, and the answer because you got to you gotta remember that number, like you said, but the Rose voice that number.

Yeah, someone else policies up and and uses it. Sure so that it is.

Luckily luckily that hasn't Luckily that hasn't happened to me.

God bless, God bless. You want the next one? Yeah? And by the way, what was Charlie's drinking juice? Note you're to drink it. He's running through that bottle. I'm not I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Man. You can try it.

Man, it's good. Actually, this is a good batch. Actually, Marvin Gay or Al Green.

Wow, y'all could drink.

Okay, I like that he's loud and joining us. I like that.

Marvin Gay, you know, let's get it on with it in terms of the hits.

But Al Green, with me growing as a producer and seeing what some of those records were and what they did, I wasn't as big of an Al Green fan when he was out, But the more I've learned about music, I've become more of an Al Green fan.

So yeah, I will say both. I love how he answers everything so musically correct. I love it, Thank you man. He is very accurately.

I'm fighting for the drink champ guts that don't drink.

We have to put that out of that. The people who don't drink on drink. Money Love or Rock sand Chante.

Money Love.

Money Love had a cadence and I think she still goes out because I.

Mean, up until this current crop of female rappers, for decades, money Love was the most intricate speed rapper as a female, and it was like boom boom, boom boom. They mean there's certain you know, there's certain levels to it, and I try and prod myself on it that regardless of how how fast I rhyme that you can understand me. But money love, money love, money lover is right there. By the way, since we talked about fast rapper, shout out to Twister, Twisted with Twister would be in my top five.

But guns but twist a followed duty. Huh when we come to speedwat twist was after you correct.

But twisted chip food from the fus niggens.

I won't even lie. Twister does stuff with consonants that I've never heard. I mean, there's other guys that come close. But the way he hits some of his syllables.

Console nanse like vowels, the opposite of those.

Know what that means. It's the opposite of vowel, opposite of vowels.

Ask your protot in Queens, you know.

But but I will say when I'm when I want to see if my my my rap scale is still on I.

Due to pope en verse.

Oh okay, well, the motherfucker might be brocused and they can let the no broken this.

But I spin Madgate like I'm out for the Pokas just to get the hose with the open list of the provoking hips.

And that said, like when I when I do that when when when I hear that, that.

Is such a level of artistry and like not just rhyming fast and say I'm rhyming fast, but what he does with cadence, it's like, oh man, it's like just to grab a little of that. And like, like you said, if I wasn't to write to for easy when I'm quoting something like that on mine cursing, Now, Young MC is not gonna curse in his records, you know. But Young MC and Marvin the raft Fann are two different people, that's at times.

But go ahead, Big Ei or Big L, Big Eie, Biggie Man, Biggie just and I love Big L, you know, but Biggie, it's just you talk about level of influence, and especially Biggie was blowing up at a time when when other regions were dominating you you would know, being being from the East Coast, So there was a time when Biggie was representing the East Coast, especially in records that crossing.

I mean, he was, you know, flagwaving for bad Boy and all that that. You know, they I gotta respect that.

That's real, that's real.

This is a good one right here.

You ticket there, drink champs, uh favorite Prince or MJ. If you've got stories, we want them.

Okay, before I give the answer, I'll give you the stories and I'll i'll say I love that.

Let's get it to it.

Okay, I'm gonna pick one.

So I'm sorry.

If y'all want to drink now just to drink, y'all can, but I'm gonna pick one drink.

We'll get a regular drink. Jamie.

Right when Heavy Heavy D had guested on a Michael jack track, and around that time, I don't think it was the same track, but around that time I had gotten you know, I had heard that there was some interest in me guesting on a Michael Jackson track, and my manager at the time was trying to get money.

Out of him, out of Michael Jackson, out.

Of Michael Jackson's camp, because I was getting paid for everything, whatever, whatever, and I never was able to get into it where I could say, y'all all do it for free, just for the look or whatever. That's one of our biggest regrets, because I'm not big on guesting, but there's certain things that where if you're gonna guess, you just do it. Michael, Yeah, so and obviously I mean, thriller off the Wall, just musically, just amazing. So you're saying front Michael Jackson just like, well,

Now they won't be me.

And that's the thing.

By the way, you would know it was an artist if you said this so nicely.

But it's like if you if you're manager, Michael.

If you're manager, somebody in your camp, okay, makes a decision you don't agree with. Then it comes back and people are pointing at you because you're the.

Face of it.

That is a fact, you know what I'm saying. That is a fact.

That's what I wanted to kind of avoid.

So you're telling me Mike called management.

I don't know if Mike co management, but there was Mike's team.

Yeah yeah, well, yes, Mike's teams called and what did they like?

I don't know.

No, No, it all got to me later. Okay, it all got to me. I'm out touring, I'm out, you know what I mean. Oh got to me later that it didn't happen, but it could have happened.

To be fair to your team, they probably like Michael Jackson.

There's money here, there's a Michael's not gonna do.

Something for free for somebody else, right, So let's just make a business for any young artist or any artists listening right now. Evaluate the artist that's asking, and this is for the team the artist, because.

For you, you would have made that money one hundred folds over the shine. The shine is a shine.

Or if you had the publishing on whatever you did on or or performing the record or whatever, you would have made that money.

That's the thing, especially looking back now, there was a time when people had longer attention spans where if you just did your guest spots, you know, your your get your guest verses on records, it would seem like a choppy show. Now, if you were to just go do your guest verses and they were all known, that'd be a that'd be a banging show, especially the younger people.

In the same gang and just throw it up and people would know it. Come on, man, come on.

So that's Michael Jackson Prince playing all the instruments Prince.

I met him, met him, he.

Knew who I was. Dude tuned in though both of them were. Problem is this ass out prince or this regular prince?

He didn't. He didn't have his ass out when I.

Saw let's let's continue. That's right.

I'm in Larrby West b off of I think Santa Monica and he's in Larrby West A. So I saw him in the studio I see I think it was bar one. I see him in I'm not sure.

If he made it to Roxbury. I was in Roxbury four nights.

A week when.

But yeah, and it just just inspiration. Actually I did see him in roxs Yeah, I did see him in Roxbury.

Okay, So now when you're say in Roxbury you took him about the club that's iconic club.

Now here's the funny.

Yeah, I.

Live, I live.

I lived less than a mile away.

Maybe, I mean I was at Santa Monica and Roxbury was at sunset. So part of the reason I never got in any crazy trouble was that one I would, you know, leave early, you.

Know, because home was close.

But if someone said, oh we're going to this person's house, most times that person's house was further away from Roxbury than my house was, so me going to my house would be closer than going deep into Beverly Hills and getting into whatever trouble.

So I just went home. But e Lee was a good friend. Tia Carrera.

Absolutely, I would be in Roxbury a lot, and they would you know, when when certain public events happened, and all lot of just to see the reactions that people I'd see in there, I mean Our Sinio would be you know, up and there, and they formed a relationship with him and be on his show. The All in the Same Gang appearance on Our Sinio. That to me is an iconic moment, you know what I mean. So yeah, I mean just yeah, yeah.

Back to that.

All good. I feel like you shouldmash a lot of white girls, you know what. Listen what he didn't say about like it was time.

You know you know what.

I'll say this out of respect, no right, I respect my Early on in my career, I had one wild week. Okay, I need to hear, well, we're basically in a while week was I didn't say no, you know what I'm saying. You give yeah, you said you're a lot sing I'm single, the records cracking, you know what I mean, for one week, six and six and six cities and seven days. And I this is pre internet, pre cell phone. I'm at the end of it, like this ain't fun. I'm losing

So so the next next pretty thing that says something to me, it's like I've been through this.

I didn't. I didn't enjoy that week, so I didn't game. He was looking in the mirror like I'm doing number. So that's that's that's maybe, you know.

And and the interesting thing is like my wife now chantalas the first time I've been married married, the first time I don't gett married at you know, fifty fifty six, got married. And I said this in my vows because I felt this from the first time I met her. And that's how I know she's my you know, know that she's my wife, meant to be my wife. I look at her and I said, your face looks like home to me.

Like I see pretty one, two three.

Her.

I tell her, my face looks like home to me. And it's interesting. I said that in my vows and Montell said, you should have told me.

That before the winning I could have wrote a song.

But it's like, it's that kind of emotional attachment that you know that I want to have. It's like even leaving her and being away from her for a couple of days, I got to go to West Virginia to do a show out to this, but I.

Can't wait to get back and be around her.

So to me, me knowing that I've waited this long to be in a relationship like this, I'm not going to see something at a show and be like, oh, I'm gonna I'm gonna have those feelings for some random person I meet, you know what I mean. So that's why it's one while week and I learned. I'm part of the reason I'm here is because I learned. I wouldn't say for my mistakes, but I learned from my.

Experiences before your mistakes. Thankfully. Yeah, but I learned.

I learned before a mistake, but before experience has become mistakes exactly.

But I'm gonna keep it be, honey, only one week happens. You've been out, You've been out time I've been out, I've been out.

But he would.

Happened with a record with a big hugs huge. I know how trifling your ask. So I do that question, but that that that's that's dope, man, because you know what I am. I love love.

So I don't know we're gonna because if he don't drink his shot, he will drink it when he comes back out.

Okay. Aretha Franklin or Patti LaBelle m hm.

Orething dude, Aretha rock Steady, rock Steady is like.

I put that up as one of the one of the best records in terms of the hype, her singing the track the chance, you know what I'm saying, Like there's the breakbeat in it, just that one record and then I mean, you know there's other obviously other big things that she's done and the like, but from from my hip hop heart Aretha Franklin.

Okay, I respect that iced tea or ice cube cases of the ice.

Man, both go ahead and drink.

Me and tea.

I mean, I haven't seen.

Tea in ages.

I like, I like how you call people like you got special names to other people.

But I'm called.

You know, I just I haven't seen him in a long time. But we.

You gotta take yeah, continue the whole ship.

I haven't seen him in a long time. Yeah, I see in a long time.

But the influence, the influence that that Colors had, and to take that and and and you know that that was a massive, massive record on the West Coast, influential, eye opening to people that were outside the culture outside of l A, didn't know about gang culture.

There was so much you know that that went with that recording that video.

Yeah, I know, right.

And then Cube obviously my experience with him in then the w A. What he's been able to do as a solo artist is Cuba's Icedy.

Yeah.

So it's it's almost although they do overlap, it's almost like asking me about two different uh sections of my life. Because I knew Iced Tea when he would is an established solo artist in l A when I was first starting out, and I knew Q at the same time as a member of n w A.

To see him grow to that, so that's why I say bo he said both.

He just took homie shot because you want to keep drinking that orange ship.

Ye, I don't know that that orange don't look good at all. That's good, It's really good. It's really good. Good. All right, cool, go to the next one. Here we go. Did you say, hold one on the ball?

What up?

Man?

Yeah?

It's young right there, Hey, young MC. When's the last time I saw it? When?

When's the last time I saw you? Through the screens?

Turn the screen? You're still that?

What's up?

I'm I'm I'm at drink Champs now I'm doing my episode.

It's so good.

I just can't believe how long it's been since I've seen you, since I got out of l A.

It's been ages.

Wonderful. Man, Thank you man, Well you get you get the same for me. Man, I'm so proud of you to see what has developed, you know, with with you and your career. And like I was just telling them, Colors is one of the most influential records still to this day, and I think started the path to what we did on all in the same game, culminating with what happened with Kendrick get the pop up m.

But but that that's what all of us were trying to do. I know, that's what all in the same gang was trying to do.

Was what Ken Kendrick accomplished in terms of having people from different places all up on the same stage like that.

Yeah, why it happened.

But you know it's kind of like West Coast the AMA with the enemy, but he was the opponent, right and.

When the West Coast feels their attack in any kind of way, they join up, they lock in, right and U you know, the first the first truth happened behind the.

Police, right right. That happened when the cops, you know.

With the with the riots and all that, so we true stuff.

But then you know when Kendrick sounded that alarm, says, yeah we not he not liked us uh la joined forces, which hopefully, you know, we can make that a real thing, not.

Just a video.

You know, I think I think it felt so good that I think there's more that's gonna come.

Yeah yeah, and you know, and then it has It doesn't have to be about anybody or an opponent or average It just needs to happen.

For l a period exactly. I'm gonna give you back to nor Yeah, yeah, yeah, ye, thank you so much.

I don't appreciate you man. Thank you so much. Yeah, it's loud.

My brother always I know, yo yo yo, nah, that's a legend, you know, you know, skipping around like how you said earlier. It was kind of like a moment like like like he just said, he was like, you know, it's unfortunate because you know, at the end of the day, we don't want to see to.

Do black people beefing, right, we don't.

We don't want that, right, But now that we've got to also look at the good with the bat saw goes.

Up and there support it without being against.

But like like I said, it was so crazy that when I seen that picture again, I did not know that that was rappers.

I thought it was just people, you mean the group picture, the group picture, all the artists, everybody.

But when I seen that, I was like, that's all in the same gang. That's the first thing.

Maybe my soul is old or maybe I don't care, like I was, just like I saw that, and then it was like, yo, we got, we got you can see and I was like, this is so perfect.

It's a perfect time.

And because again you're originally from the East Coast in New York, like how we established but you made your bones and how you said, you can cut your teeth in la.

So you seeing that.

I know I asked you something like that earlier, but to reiterate it, like when you saw that, what was you thinking?

No, it warmed my heart because that was the whole thing.

Like I said, like when we recorded all in the same gang, there were certain people. You couldn't have all the artists in the same studio recorded. You have to book appointments. I don't even I don't think I drove myself. I think I was picked up, my ship picked up taking home. Nobody else there.

Well, you know what I mean. You not gang affiliating.

People said that, storry. But people said that about the artists that were at the pop up. They said the same thing, that a lot of those artists and their entourages, those sections could not be together. And this is the first time that a lot of these people could be together.

But you know, I did hear that, But I also heard that they actually went to rehearsals together.

The whole the whole vibe, the way it came together. Everybody had to be with it, right, they had to be with it. He had to unify, right, crazy, that's crazy.

Yeah, I put I put their west Coat ship together too, bigger, bigger man. I see he was Beijing up to.

Listen, don't talk, buddy, I mean Boys in the Hood.

Boys in the Hood I went. I went to college with John Singles and John. John was one year younger than me. So I I remember walking out of Boys in the Hood speechless, not only because it's my friend, you know, but just to see the drama of it coming up, you know, learning about l a uh.

Through cinema, no, through through living there.

It was there. Yeah, I was there, so but seeing now being depicted as we're saying, walked and.

Like I said, yeah, I miss I miss John.

I you know, going to school with John two just to see what what he became as a director, it was like amazing.

So yeah, okay, that was simple. Last Banali's Oh that's where we're at. Yep. Loyalty or respect.

Sorry, y'all don't have to drink, but I'm gonna say loyalty. And the reason is there's a lot of people that can respect you. But you can respect somebody who don't know. You can even respect somebody you don't like. But if I know somebody is loyal to me, I'm gonna bust

He personally give you all the reason to dress.

Yeah, I get the boy, all right, Guys, don't break the chair, Charles.

Make sure.

I know I actually somewhat of this. Yeah no, because you know why we didn't because hip hop changed so much. Yeah, like I said, like I said it earlier, like I sincerely believe that I would have done hip hop if I didn't get paid.

But then it became a.

Business and people forced me to think like that forced me to want to be in big business as opposed to being a big artistry, and I didn't care. This is a question that we didn't ask you on Quick Time with Slim, And this is me and Efn's question. We always you know, part ways on, but we agreed to a certain extent. But if you had a chance to choose, which you would say independent or you go with a major label?

Today, I would go with an independent, Okay, twenty five years ago, I'd go with a major.

Can't explain that.

Independence only had so much sway and the the big advantage of a majors that they had the money and the access to pressing plants, the monopoly. So so if if you wanted to sell a million records in a month,

You're waiting on them. So that's why I'd want to be with a major. Then now with the.

Streaming whatever, I'd rather be with an independent. But you talk about the business. I make the first record, get into a lawsuit with Delicious Vinyl, find out about publishing, all this other stuff, make a publishing deal outside with Almo Irving. Delicious wanted me, but I took less money to go outside. I make a record call. That's the will of goes. That was for an artist named Johnny C.

Johnny C was.

Either a de facto member or affiliated closely with the Ghetto Boys. So I fly to Houston. He's the one that they thought would would would crossover, you know, wrap a lot I believes I met, I met Yeah, and Bush Waken Yeah. So that record ends up not happening. But I'm I have a six figure publishing deal that I have to fulfill. So that's the way it goes. All of a sudden becomes my record even though I

Me for you know, ten full songs was made whole.

When when when the biggest song that I was trying to do for the publishing deal didn't happen, I'm like, Okay, I got I'll put it out.

It's fine.

But I know if I had the ability to approach it, just as making a record for me, that probably wouldn't have been the record. It was a record by necessity for business as opposed to being a record for artistry.

To move Young MC forward. I was just moving the business forward.

So I get it. That was great. That was great.

I'm so impressed that I'm impressing you, even high and drunk impressed.

That means so much.

Let me ask you another one, Yes, sir, what is your favorite making the record or performing record?

See we end in the quick Thomas line, I know you would. You know what I have to say, both.

Before he finished the bottle dude, he did before I would make the record, saying this sounds good. Let me see what it's like on stage. Now I make the record excuse me. Now, I make the record knowing what the stage is going to be like, this will be the part that people call the response that you know

And I would do that two and three times. Tell you the song is called loose. This is the cover for it. I worked on it for two years, no like, no bullshit, and that experience.

One record, one song, one song and two years.

But it wasn't like every day whatever whatever. But I'm thinking the records done, Oh what if I do this? And then the AI component like.

Oh what if I took the disco theory and I made it a character. So all of that stuff was over that time, putting all that together.

But the culmination of that is that I performed that record as well or better than anything else that I do.

And did you have a clear huh? Do I have a what? Can we hear this record? Yes? You can? You play it on your phone?

I have a dude, I'm a computer if I mean either on I like, he.

Called you dude all night. I'm what was his name, yellow dude? You never nobody ever called you dude. I like being due cold nigga. My whole life being cold, dude is okay.

I just want to hear this record, okay, ended master.

But we can't put into the system like I have my computer. I could send somebody there. You got a little budget. I don't put it in the system. I don't know. I was playing email it to whom the first time earlier they were playing, No, he was playing from his phone. He was playing from his phone. He got.

Email it to somebody?

Right now, what's the what's the copy of paste too? What's that?

If it's if it's.

A sauce or a garnish. I think it's a good thing if you try, and if you're trying to make music from screen, you know there's supposedly on on the streaming services there there are thousands of records made general artists and all that.

I'm not with that, dude.

I'm looking at as a tool to enhance.

What I write, Like auto tunes was a tool that people.

Use the way I look at it is like this. In two thousand and eight, I.

Finally, after after twenty some odds, you know, twenty eight years of rapping, I decided to really look into rhymen dictionaries because my thought process was, it's not that the words are not in my vocabulary.

They're just not in my head at the moment I'm writing that line.

But if I was to see someone, I have a line of mind and I see a word that rhymes with it, that'll spark other lines.

So I said, let me use that as a tool. And I've already written I mean, I've written.

Multiplanting records in like three different decades at that point. So I'm like, okay, let me try and make the best of it. Let me, let me, let me, let me see what I can do. And I fell in love with like the four and eight line couplets in terms.

Of rhyme and A and then aabb I almost don't do that anymore.

You get to the third line. I want to bring back the rhyme again. I have a record called Nocturnal made that in O wait has to me the best verse that I've ever written in my life. And I still for it, at least at my longer shows to this day, and it just falls into the same thing of.

Continuing the rhyme scheme.

I'm I was doing a nineties show and I'm sound checking and I see this dude setting up chairs, young kid, maybe twenty, So I start my third verse of Nocturnal. I get through four lines. He's bobbing his head. I get to the fifth line, continue the rhyme scheme. He starts smiling. I get to the ninth line, continue to rhyme scheme. He's like almost laughing. I get to the thirteenth line. He's looking at me to change it, and I don't change it, and he's like, he's dancing now.

This kid was working. He's like, I was just background until I became more than background, you know what I mean.

So you want me to spit, I'll spit if you want. Yeah, yeah, okay, okay. I'm setting the tone for those that were sweating alone. You were thinking that your life would just setting the stone if it worry about your sins, you better atone, because I'd be creeping through the night just like a predator drone.

Let it be known.

Call your people, get on the phone. Calm your homegirl down like you're ready to bone.

Someone got to lick it up and gave her steady patron I can smell it on her body like some heavy coloone.

Let her go home, Put her in the bed on her own.

If she feels sick, let her put her head on the throne, because it's better than a stranger trying to get her. The moan thought he had a green light. That's some redd in the zone. Never be known. Things that can never be shown. In the cover of the night or the cover was blown. There's a happy ending. He had tragedy postponed, but tomorrow night is still unknown. It's nocturnal.

Wo bro, I did that.

I did that in the show that you Saw Me do. Okay, that's one of the records I did in the show and show you saw Me do.

Yeah.

Let me ask you, yes, sir, have you ever fell out of love with hip hop?

No?

Never, nothing, because hip hop has not never been one thing, like no one could ever change hip hop for me.

Hip hop is going to be what it's going to be.

When I was ten and first winning the Jeff Taylor aka grad Master Key's basement on two tenth Street and Hollis You.

Know what I mean.

And I'm rapping over two good times or to bounced rock skates, or to walk this ways or two big beats.

That feeling right?

Yeah, but you have to be disappointed in what and what and what they're asking? What am I going to be disappointed in? I mean, when my record was out, I didn't want everybody sounding like me.

So when other people's records are out, why should I feel I need to sound like them do exactly what they do. I took some of the heat, you know, for the time when hip hop was trying to get established. By the time I stopped having hit records, hip hop was established. So if someone else is out there fucking up, it's not on me.

It's not on me.

I still got mine, I'm still doing mine, I'm still performing, still doing all that. It's like, oh man, I really hate what they did to what I love. No, it's too much of a dynamic, you know, and to say that someone has changed it to the point where I'm going to general Yeah, And dude, I could have done something else. I have a bachelor's degree. I could have gone to grad school I could easily do something else. I choose to do this, so nothing is going to

Happen and things wouldn't get.

You know, I'm here about the scene down here in Miami, how violent it gets, and that kind of thing. I wish those things wouldn't happen. But in terms of my love for hip hop, nah, that's that's something.

Right, blessing that you could make a living doing this.

Yeah, I've written musician on my tax return for thirty seven years.

God damn you know what I'm saying. It's like, what else would I do?

Even people say, oh man, you hate having a record like Bust and Move. If you say that, there's what three hundred and sixty three hundred and seventy million people in this country that's around there. If I said two hundred to two hundred and fifty million of those people, no bust to Move.

If I would say.

My call process is regardless of what school I went to and all that, what what what else would I do to touch that many people?

One hit wonder or not. I know I'm not on one hit wonder, but I'm saying, if that's all you.

Know me for, you know me cool. Most people are just trying to get know That's what I'm saying.

But let let's let's hit that. Let's hit that first verse of Bust to Move, Let's hit it really, let's hit it.

Let's go that's what you want to hear, because I'm ryming you want to go? I never do you got me?

You got me?

My man taping me? I mean, I don't know if you do a camera that's fair enough.

Really all right, I would tell I'll tell you something real quick. Like a lot of times, like some of them want to get up on stage and say they know the hook and sing the hook invariably. And I've had this talk with Master G where you get to a certain place in the record and they think they know what's coming. Like after the first verse, you don't say you want it.

You got it, it's huh huh.

But girls will start singing you want it, you got it where it doesn't belong. And like in Rapper's Delight, when the first time you say hotel, motel, it's not holiday inn it's what you're gonna do today. But the first time they say hotel, motel, invariably somebody's like halladayen like, no, nigga,

It comes off.

People start to dance, but you a so much nearly split your pants.

Girl starts walking God start going sits down seeing you and starts talking since you want to dance because she likes the group, come on that so.

And just bunts the move.

No, no, no, no, don't don't put false information out there that don't go there.

Wait, can we do one more request? Do you know your verse off of this?

We still? Do you know my verse of that?

Oh?

Yeah, because you've been you've been, Uh, I've been performed. I think this verse is so ill man.

Okay, can you do it?

Yes, I can do it.

We're gonna talk to you. It's written. This was the yeah that I didn't that's fire. Yeah, but you just let him get his verse.

No, no, no, no, no, nobody was supposed to remember it looking No, I've been performing it.

No, but it's interesting and above the lad Yeah. Yeah, shout out, yeah, shout out to hutch Man. Gotta leave ice team. Michele A miche A Oaktown three five to seven Hammer Digital, Hey, jj fad Come on man, And that's a single version.

I only got eight.

I only got eight in the Uh could you do in the single version? Yeah, brothers kill another brothers. I thought the idea was to love one another, open up the paper to one more death. If y'all keep this up, then there'd be no one left. I try my best to send an example, say in hype lyrics over hip hop samples, not just to brag up the boats, but to inform because we're living in the carn before the storm.

You see.

I believe that the children of the future. But what's it all about if in the future they shoot you. We're all human beings. If a cut would bleed that. I want to see all young people succeed. Do nine to five, not five to ten. Just go to work and not the state, penn because you live better when you're out here free. That's coming straight to you from the young MC.

Come on, I will classic with that.

I perform it better now than I wrote it. But just the cadence to have that on a West Coast record in nineteen ninety was not done the way you came into It's just like, yeah, they have been walking.

It was in the white Yeah.

But you know what's the crazy thing about that message. It's like we still have to have that same message now.

See.

But that's the thing. The brilliance of my conception is knowing that I could give that message.

I'm not going to talk.

About sets and places and things I don't know about.

I'm not going to do that.

And we didn't even have to have a discussion I'm on here. People are listening, They're expecting one thing. Let me give them, you know what I'm feeling, and even getting on stage that like, there's some places I don't do it where the record doesn't resonate as much now, but I want to do that verse and it's you know, yeah, man, it's good.

No, But I mean, in general for the black people on hip podcast, the fact that that record is still relevant because we're still going through that type of can additions in the communities.

What do you think that's destruction as well? Like self destruction is same thing. Like these records were actually dope.

They were dope records with great messages that resonated, and now it's like it feels like we can't do those records.

Well, here's the thing.

You remember this as both of you probably remember this as kids. You know, when some crazy shit would happen in the hood or crazy stuff would happen and it didn't make the news and nobody talked about it except in the neighborhood people that saw it.

Story to story.

With the Internet, that doesn't happen any little thing, crazy thing that someone does, it's worldwide. So not saying that there's less going on now, but what there is going on now is amplified so much in a way that wasn't before. So there's no sweeping under the rug, there's no keeping it on the low. Everything's just blasted out there.

News amplified without context as well, Yes, yes, because because everybody has short attentions. So who, why, where or now? Now what happened?

Oh? You know, once again, everybody's polarized as to what's going on right right?

So if I go on your iPod right now, I don't know, no an iPod, but I hate you?

But your music select? Yeah you did yourself? Yeah my bad. Who is the young MC to you?

Wow?

Who is a young MC that reminds you of young MC? To you? I don't you know? Yeah, man, I mean leading the witness? I mean, who are you back there with your baby blue outfit? Well that's the thing I mean.

I I have love for Jake Cole because the idea of and and and even you know, Drake to a certain extent, the idea of singing and rapping with two different things. In my day, like you couldn't become melodic in a song without being considered a different type of artry.

Eric Simon was one of the earliest people I remember trying to do that right and Jake Cole got out of that beef immediately and he did the right thing.

So I listened to a lot of people just to see where they're taking the music, you know, I mean, like what they're doing, what they're doing with the music. So there's not one specific MC that I'm like, oh, waving a flight. Drake's done a lot. Drake has done a lot in terms of establishing fan base, in terms of the different types of records he makes.

And Kendrick is a lyricist, you know, he's a lot for lyricism.

Now, well, here's the thing.

Now, I'm coming from a time when lyricism and West Coast were never set in the same sentence. So if you are going to somebody who lives on the East Coast, now they could literally say Kendrick Lamar is the best lyricist. I never thought I would ever hear anyone outside of the West Coast saying that a West Coast artist was the best lyricist or represented lyricism in a way that

Just did not think.

Yeah, because the perception of the coast, of the perception, the perception of the Cube, I think was respected as the lyrics.

No, Cube was respected as a lyricist. But the thing was is that Cube was such a figure with n w A with what he said.

It's just different now in terms of you know, a backpacker will look at at Kendrick and Kendrick's lyrics, and Kendrick's lyrics are pro lyrical like Kendrick happens because he's influenced by so many things and people. You know, So someone like Kendrick on the West Coast on.

A different stage, a different stage. Yeah, So so no, all respected c all respected Cube.

I'm looking at it that this was a lyrical exercise, and and you know, all kinds of subject matters all over the place.

And and Kendrick is regarded as the.

Lyricist because because I think LA did have a hub for lyricism.

You had like the exhibits, the alcoholics. Yeah, game is a lyricist, the loonies like no, no, even quick.

But I'm saying in terms of but you, if you went out of the West Coast sphere, influence a lot of those names exactly.

Now it translates.

Now it translates, there's somebody in Brooklyn, there's somebody in the Bronx that will say Kendrick living no more the best lyricists that.

Nobody on the West Coast is ever considered potentially the king hip hop, right, the top tier, right, But now it does.

Lyricists lyrics.

I mean that Carcert, when I seen that Kindred concert, it did seem like that he was being crowned the king.

Like you have like the jay Z's, the Nods, the biggest liked.

Even though it was a West Coast or collaboration and all that, But it didn't that night when I watched that Carcert, it seemed like he was being crowned king of hip hop.

That's what I think, That's what I think people need to understand. Like it's a it's a it's a pro for hip hop, it's a positive for hip hop. You could love what's happening there and not have to be against Drake.

You don't have to be a Drake.

Drake has done things that Drake has done things that no one has done in hip hop, and he's he's been able to he's been able to open open things up to a new.

Audience and just his approach and come nationally.

And there's been so many rappers that have come from mixtapes that weren't able to translate it into albums and he has.

Right, Yeah, there's usually guys that he comes from the mixtape.

There's there's dudes that that there's dudes that did mixtapes okay at it and become amazing artists. And the dudes that were amazing on mixtapes and you don't hear much about it, or the first album comes out and it's not, you know, cohesive enough for people to really digest it as an album. He seamlessly went into that that that's impressive to me.

And what's dope is like you know, uh, you know, you know the world is probably trying to say that like that was a loss for him, But.

The fact is, if he.

Doesn't seem damaged, he'll be Okay, this, this, this, he's not He's not going away.

I look at it because it's like how I said that that I get different inspirations from different artists.

I see it as a different lane for him.

Yeah, I just see it as a different lane.

There's there's places that he goes and audiences he plays in front of that other people don't so you know, and and and same for Kendrick Sant for Jake Hole, Like they have their their their niches. So I don't necessarily see it. I see it really.

What I see.

The upshot of it is is that the record company are getting scared because you had guys making records in a week.

Putting it up there it's the same record label, no no, no, no no. But but my thing is this that the scope on Universe was the same people.

But here's the point.

These records were conceived of in a week, put up, and then they take down the top artists that you've been planning with all.

Your stop putting it without that record, because.

So regardless of what label, all right there in one lane, but one artist or two artists can get into a beef and be putting out records to the point where major labels are like your.

Pop artists to show up as well.

Two hip hop artists can get into a beef be putting out records to the where the major label says you rock, act, you popack, You're gonna have to.

Wait until he's dues. Feud is old true because everything we do with all other problems, can't fuck with this right now. That's crazy, dude. That's to me, that's the shot of all of it.

It's like, I'm it's like it's it's literally like a speedboat stopping a tanker.

It's like, oh no, we got to let the speedboat go by.

We got to let these two speedboats race it out, and we're.

Going to stop this ocean line until they're done because they have the water right now, we don't have the water.

That dude, that's the way you need to look at it.

So Drake and Kendrick, I like to personally thank y'all.

I have been fully entertained, and even I liked J Coles. I ain't like they just left so fast.

But to me, no, And I'll defend you. I've never met him, but I'll defend him. That was a mature move on his part of that.

That's how you feel, That's how you feel what he did.

Man.

You know, I saw that.

I saw.

I saw an interview with DJ Head, who was the DJ that never never met him, but he was a big boy who I met nothing. You know.

So I'm watching an interview.

And he said that he's only listening to meet the Grahams only four or five times because it affected you know, it affected his spirit listening to it. I respect him. He's in Kendrick Lamar's crew, you mean, he's he's in that circle, and he felt the comfort to be able to you know, to say that, to say that that's

That's show such a level of maturity.

Yeah, like once again, my day wouldn't see that you with me or you against me. You can't say anything that you can't. Then It's like there's so much of that that made me feel so good that I was even involved back in the day.

If if back then you would have had Twitter, you think you would have been out here in d ms.

Out here in d you know what what does that mean? You know what it means. I know what it means.

I may have been even if I didn't want to be, even if I didn't type the d MS. You know, somebody would type something to me and then then then post that, you know what I mean. So there's a there's a lot of us that are thankful that social media wasn't you know, it wasn't what it was. It's some of the stories that I know, you know what I'm saying, and something just oh yeah, absolutely, because y'all was a living wild back then.

Oh yeah, yeah yeah one week. No, it's true, you had one year and it looked like one week. Dude, it was it was one weement. I had enough.

I had enough.

It was crazy.

But but but but but but yeah.

But that's the thing, dude, it's like.

I learned.

I learned from my experiences. That's that's why I'm still here. That's why I'm you know. That's why I'm still good.

What's your favorite part of the culture, Like, if you could praise one thing about the culture, it's this dude.

You know, it's it's funny because I'm here with you whatever. It's the camaraderie. You and I don't know each other very well. We've only met each other, you know, a couple of times.

But like we could hang, we could have discussions.

We could you know, we could look we love hip hop.

I love hip hop. So it's like it's like us playing a sport.

This part of my family, I'm a part of yours.

It's like us playing the same sport in two different leagues.

You know what I mean.

We haven't played each other, you know what I'm saying. So that that kind of camaraderie. When I hit athletes that retire and say that that's what they meant. That's why I like all them questions you asked if you had anybody that was on the nineties tour, I'm gonna pick them because.

They're like family.

You know, a couple of hundred shows in the middle of nowhere, all the jokes sitting around there was there was one Since COVID it's been very difficult to find people to clean hotel rooms. So invariably we'll be sitting a bunch of us for hours in hotel lobbies, in the smallest places.

So me tone Montel Jordan sitting.

In the lobby talking at least a couple of hours, stories coming do it man, Just fun, just just just just fun.

Yes, we caught.

Yeah, I see. I kept talking like I yeah, but you know what, you are very correct man.

You know, like I said I was saying earlier, like how going on the road with somebody like you get to learn that people, You get to understand that certain people feastink and you be like, damn man, you know, I don't want to be around him and this hotelbum. But I realized that I would do this show in ninety seven and it was called a Hot Night Jamaica, right, and we would go there and everybody who I went there with always formed the relationship with.

Like, and it's because of what you just said.

It's just like, you know, we we we're a fraternity without calling ourselves on a fraternity, what is it?

That's what it is.

I've not seen mix a lot. I had not seen mix a lot in a couple of years and we just had a show. I want to say it was Was it outside of Sir mix a lot? Yeah, Sir mix a lot. Oh Man, I want to say, no, it wasn't Memphis, outside of Tulsa, ok Mogi Oklahoma. I want to say me Tone Lo, Rob Bass, Tretch from Naughty by Nature, Sir mix a lot, and and I think and I think one, I think one other act. But we have not seen each other in a long time.

It's great. You see them more than you see your your friends.

You see them more than you see a lot of your family and and but there's a mutual respect. So that's why I'm still going at it, you know, at this age.

God damn it. Man.

I just want to thank you man for everything you do for hip hop. Man, Thank you man for being here on drink Champs.

Man. I want to shout out. I got a shout out one person, absolutely continue my.

Best friend, best man at my wedding, Antonio Knox, young rapper that I did a meta mass came out of Baltimore. But he has been such an inspiration to me and just kind of keeping me grounded and being a good sounding board. So when I told him I was doing this, He's like, yo, man, this is you know, he knew how big this was for me. And after all the discussions, like a lot of the answers I gave, I've discussed with him. But I'm not throwing names out and whatever, but that Antonio Knox is my man.

Well, big him up.

But let us tell you man like, you know when we give these people flowers, when we y'are heroes, man like, you know what I'm saying to me everybody, And I know how it feels, man, I know how it feels to walk in those shoes.

I know how it feels to be in those locker rooms? Is it?

And you know what I'm saying. So what we do is so much, you know, sometimes underrated. You know what I mean that you just I just I just I love I love this man. I was so excited to have you come through. We were betting on you. I lost the bet.

I lost the bet. Now when you think you think I got you, like, no, no, no, we bet on time, this guy. We bet on time. I said you be here three forty five.

Me and me and Jason went out and we had sushi down the street. That's the only reason it's too many.

I don't know what they're talking about, man, artists. But you know what's crazy. As an artist, I always can't relate.

But then as a businessman, I never I always did so early, but I always understand.

But we got him. We got him. Look this is he said that if he had the pickup beat between anybody in the world to save the world. He would steel great to meet you, man, he said, if he can saved the world, he will think you to make the beat.

He's got where's the volume on this, oh ship?

Who's whose phone? Is it?

Make the beat?

Bro?

You can tell he don't spend no money on his phone. My back, he knows, he knows. That's what you said.

No, I'm down, dude. You know, feature whatever you want, you know what I mean.

I'm down. I'm a big.

Fan of your work, from what you did with you, from what you did with Cube and what you did with Methad. Man, I'm a big fan of your work and you inspired me as an artist and a producer. Dude, because because I've watched several episodes and nobody drops your name, I'm like, no, it would be you, and then the MC would be stirring wonder from boot Camp click.

Oh wow. You know what I'm saying.

Him down, so so absolutely man, So wonderful to meet you, dude. Likewise, likewise, my man, thank you, thank you.

You got an upgreat your phone man, Yeah, man, it's just like a metro you got. What's what's the ship, what's the what's the next tail?

It's not like you got the next tail? It's your phone, man, it's you. No, that was that was dope, man. I love that man, look to step off.

You go. You donna come and take a shot for no reason. Let's go.

This is the way it works. He's gonna take a shot for no reasons because you take it for young Yeah, just give him any shot.

So this is anything. Let me let me ask you this sure. Is there anything you ever passed on that you regret?

Specifically?

I was such a I saw how bad sampling could get people in trouble. After what happened with three feet high and rising, and then and then uh yeah, and then and then the thank you, and then the uh gosh, what record?

What record? What record?

The bismarcky before all samples clear? The one they pulled.

So I'm watching this and I'm saying, it's so much going on, And even even even some of my records, you know that weren't clear. They you know, stuff had to come back and be dealt with. So the record that would have been a single for me, I had a huge sample in it, and I chose not to go that route. Changed it around, And I didn't really realize at the time that a lot of what people liked about those records was the.

Sample itself because they were familiar. What right, subconscious I just saw and.

Bust and Move had samples in it, but they weren't well known. So my thought was, if you can get it to sound like a sample or sound like without it being something obvious, do you can win like that? Because I've had life experience doing that. But in hindsight, looking back, if I was more open to putting samples in my stuff back then, then I think I would have been able.

To continue my career on a on a certain level a little bit longer.

Okay, let me let me extend that question just a little bit, yes, sir, Let me relate it to an artist. Is there any artists that you had an opportunity to work with and you didn't have to do that?

You know.

I would, I would say no, I mean.

Prince, no, no.

But if Prince reached out to me, you know what I mean, like no one knowing on we said Michael Jackson. So yeah, if someone had reached out to me, you know, I've never really been in a position where I'm saying no to a big artist or whatever.

It's just never come to me. I wasn't in those circles.

I went home too early. So okay, so I'm actually one you ask me ten.

Dude, I'm here, actually flew here to be with y'all.

We actually spoke about it earlier, yes, sir, but let's let'st's speak about it again. Now.

We said the one record to save the world. Right, you didn't even pick yourself. You picked Scott Stars and you picked a homeboy from og Yeah.

Yeah, but you said I thought you said it as a feature.

Now, okay, you got.

For you one record dead alllive. What artists would you.

Like to work with?

Oh?

Wow, that you feature on that you they feature? Yeah, that all live.

I would say Prince, Prince, I would say, I would say Prince just I could see it just.

Because just just because I'd want the challenge of whatever he would do musically.

And I pride myself on being able to rhyme over anything. Right, So if if if Prince.

And it's like like if Prince were, you know, were to come up with something that it was a theme or whatever, I.

Love the challenge. You will want him to come up with it, you know.

I mean, i'd be.

Guessing on his record. I'm not gonna ask Prince the feature. I mean, I'm guessing on.

That, so I'm asking you. I'm asking you, this is your feature.

I don't know, man, I don't know, dude. There's so many people that you know that I love and respect and and it's I wouldn't I wouldn't know. I really, I really wouldn't know, because because it's not you know, out of my circle. I would say trench, you know what I mean? Like like, I like my my dream record would be me tretching quick. That would be if you said features and say each guy a verse meet me treaching quick.

That sounds like a mean record.

Yeah, I know, I'm pretty sure. But I'd want I want one of mine.

That's my whole thing. Man. It's like dam chance compilations. I want.

I want the opportunity to have a record crack and then be able to pull in who I want to pull in, as opposed to putting the pressure of trying to get a current record to do something on the three. I just want I want to make that record for fun on on an up on an upswing, you know, or at least being at a certain plateau, as opposed to saying, oh, these artists that haven't whose biggest records were X amount of years old, you know.

Trying to do something now. I'd want to kind of be beyond that, you know.

In terms of doing that. Jeez, Louise, Papa cheeze. You ever met James Brown? Never? No, never met James Brown. Okay, I just feel like you his cousin.

I know, I know people.

I want to say, some people that at UH at the agency had worked at work with him touring and you know, I've heard stories and that kind of thing, but never never met him person.

That's a that's a bit before my time.

But also in the in the.

Eighties we could of cross paths. But yeah, yeah, but it just it just didn't come to fruition like.

That because I thought, I swear to God when I asked you that question, I said that alive. I thought he was gonna say James Brown, but you said, Prince, that's just like that's in the same league.

Yeah, yeah, I mean just in terms of his artistry and just I wouldn't know what I was gonna get, and that that's what I want. There's so many different sounds that worked so well that whatever he came with, I know there'd be a level of genius behind that that I wouldn't necessarily see coming, and I'd have to step up to that game.

So that's why I'd say, Prince forgot, he's supposed to take your shot. You behead bullshit all right? Let him get away with that.

Jamie Niggas some ice please, Yeah, man, I'm gonna be honest.

I want to pick you up once again, man, and just tell you how much you mean. It's a hip hop not just me, not just uh. Like I said, I know, I know this job. I know this job. I know what it takes. You can never take off your uniform. Yeah, being a rapper, you could never take off your uniform. Sometimes I admire people that work in McDonald's because when they get off at work, they could take their shit off. We can't never take our Wherever we go, we have to be. It's either you could

You know what I mean.

So I know this job, and this job is, and to be doing it for thirty five years and to have a smile on your face.

I'm what MC eight would call the happy rapper. Then when he said I want to be the happy rapper. When he said when he said that, I'm like at this age, at this time, that resonates with me, Like I'm that guy that's.

Dope being a happy rapper, I think so, oh yeah, because there's not a lot of happys.

No, just I know, dog, But thank you man.

We appreciate it, man sitting down with us doing drink checks. But also I'm not saying this just to say this.

This is your house.

So many people if you can't be used, you're useless. So many people don't understand that, and so many people think that you know, but this is your house when you want to go and you perform, and you want to you want to talk about you know, your toys.

This is it.

Man, like you, we come and we're gonna support it, man, because what you did and what you've done for our community is something that we always going to salute.

Thank you.

Now there's a question you didn't ask me. Let's force it and answer force it. Let's go you as you'd ask radio or podcast.

Oh.

I like it.

I like that you're gonna point ahead radio podcast.

Podcasts, I would say, I would say radio for now, but podcasts in terms of how you view them evolving. When you said you want to make a podcast for somebody to break a record and put it out and go right to the audience and direct to consumer.

That that's the way it could be if it was regarded as such.