Questloft Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. All Right, ladies and gentlemen, as promised, welcome back to Quest Loft Supreme. To our second part of our conversation with the prolific Masterful Rizza aka Prince Raqem, the Abbot, Bobby Digital, Bobby Steeles, the Scientist, Prince de Light, Prince Dynamite was exact exact. Allah, what's up brother?
How you doing?
Says simple lessings, Thanks for inviting me back.
I have to tell you that, you know, when they initially told me that you were coming out to do the back Mud project, just based on the title alone, I didn't know what to expect. And for those who don't know it's out now. I mean this is as straight ahead as classical music as I've heard it. I knew it his classical music, but I thought it would be rizified, but he kind of went straight ahead with it. Can you give me the basic genesis of how this project came to be?
I mean yeah, I mean it started from finding one of my old lyrical notebooks during the pandemic, like a notebook to have my lyrics from the age of like fourteen to nineteen, and in that book is like all types of stories and ideas of being younger, first time, smoking, drinking, sex,
et cetera. And certain lyrics in there. You know, back in those days there's writing three page lyrics, so certain lyrics had these long stories and these ideas, and I was like, I should record these lyrics and write music to it. You know, I'm busy doing my TV show, I'm doing post and that, so my brain is in composer mode. And I said, I want to actually try to write an opera or something with these lyrics. And as I started doing it, first of all, somebody corrected me.
It was a guy named Evanberg. It was like, operas are usually an Italian wizzard, so I think you're gonna be able to do that. So okay, cool, he said, but you know ballet or sweet so like the Nutcracker or Peter and the Wolf, that type of thing. And so I said, okay, let me take that approach, and then I did. But when I started writing the music or playing music and composing it, it all started to
not need lyrics. It started to not be something that would just be a continuation of what I'm known for, that to show an evolution of of of my creative mind and yet still to me have the story and the spirit of what I was trying to say in the music. You know what I mean. She said something that you're a scientist or history and all that. But I'm gonna correct you on one thing you said. It
wasn't rizzified. But if you actually take a listen right, and you will hear the staccatoists of Triumph burn a lotus arriving you're here, like the Bobby Digital like on the song the type of track about it do much
is actually saying here he comes Bobby Digital. So it's like the cats of Howard Ryan or the cats of the vibe that I bring, like MCing shows up in some of the melody lines and then the keys of which a lot of my tracks come out in, right, you know, or the sample heroes like you know Marcone a hero. You know, it's one of my heroes. Quincy Jones of course, rest in peace, Isaac Hayes, like a lot of my heroes, and how they would do something, you know, they did it with soul and with rhythm
right music right. I removed all all the rhythm, all the percussion, all the lyricism, and then left that as the ballet.
So well when I'm at Riz, like for me your relationship would this chords sort of classing I mean some like knowledge God, which to me, it's the type of composition that I guess the term is uh with synesthesia, like where you could see, like you can visualize, you can see the notes you paint such these pictures with dissonance minimalism. That that's what I thought. We're based on
the title the Ballet through Mud. But this isn't the first time that you've done kind of full circle, fully realized thing like, if anything, I mean you're in full renaissance move like be it, you know, directing your movies, your various projects that you've done with other artists and whatnot. If anything, I think you're probably the most prolific figure that we have as far as someone actively putting creative
prints and almost in every creative medium. For you, though, was the story that you wanted to convey with Bellion.
Well, one of the lyrics that it started with, right, it's called Joe was a nerd, right and Uh in that lyric, I could do a few bars of the lyric. Right. I don't think I did it last time. I was here, but you didn't know.
Okay, So Joe was a nerd, right, so part in the cadence and part in the lack.
Of MC love.
Apologize.
It starts off like a Sue was this girl who was really quite fly.
Brad was real cool when he was her guy. Lisa was freaky, she loved to have sex. Her brother name was Dexter, but they called him Decks. His sister name was Monica, and she was a verge. Joe was just their friend and he was a nerd. Brad bought the beer, Shoe bought the smoke. Lisa had sheets Decks that had coke, but.
Joe was the type who didn't get high, nor did Monica. She was willing to try, so Brad did a joint, passed.
It that Joe said, come on, man smoking and Joe said, no, what's wrong? Are you scared? Was asked by Sue or you was just a nerd? Joe said that's not true. Monica said come on, just have a taste, and she puffed on the joint due to smoke in his face. Now on Monica, Joe had a crush. He didn't wanted to smoke the weed, but felt that he must and like many we know, love made him a fool, so he pulled on the joint to prove he was cool. At Lista was like, yo, forget about Joe. They said, yo, decks,
where the heck is the blow? He pulled out two grams, said it's all that I bought, but it's more than enough that they proceeded to snort. Now, at this time, Joe had finished three beers and Brad was like, here, have another, you queer, and Joe was like no, while holding his stomach, and while face said Monica, he saiddenly vomit. She sed, oh my god, shit, how observed, and every want to laugh and said, Joe is a nerd. Joe is a nerd. Joe was a nerd. Joe brought embarrassed,
so he did the bird. They chased him. He ran inside of old shack, and then was this sound, the crashing glass. It was dark inside, so Brad had to get a light and they checked to see it. Jee's all right. But when they found them, he had quarts of red blud spitting from his head. And Monica said, oh my god, Jorvia's dad and he all started to run and never mentioned this incident again to anyone.
So so anyway, I'm amazed at anyone that's able to sort of retain that amount of text in their heads. You when did you write this year?
I probably was sixteen, So yeah, wow, man, Okay, so you actually quoted a good friend of mine, Jazzy Jeff, when Jeff once famously said a quote to like leave nothing behind.
A lot of our hip hop generation we know that like a figure like a Tupac leaves earth. But has you know, so much product left over? Like Prince has over five thousand songs in his arsenal. But for you, you said that you subscribe to the theory that you know, get it all out, leave nothing behind, like just on a daily for now, assuming that you're not in the fight or flight hustle mentality that you were back in ninety two ninety three when you were putting the clan together,
you know, trying to shoot your shot. How is just your daily creative muscles flowing at this stage.
It's like creativity is the energy it's to flow.
It's it's almost like we're breathing in a way right in the sense of it's just seen you right, even how we talk.
It's just it's a creative cadence or a flow to that.
So for me, you know, to say that, how do I take that energy and put it into a structure that's to say, right, mm hmm. Yeah. Daily, you know I make I'm either making music or writing down, you know, ideas for a film, or writing lyrics or or making beats. It's like I never stopped treating. It's like I can't stop treating. To be quite frank with you, like like you know, like not to get too personal here, but you know, my wife, she made a joke. So the
god from Supreme he rebuild it. One day I saw him on Instagram and he was talking to He kind of quoted me or something. But he came to my crib and you know, you know, I was showing on no Videl and showing in my crib. But I don't know what was what got U say every room?
But we right up.
You know in the bedroom because of my bedroom, I have beat machines. I gotta I got my bed and I got my piano. You know what I mean to my wife, you know she sleeps beside the piano. Just say she called that, you know what I mean, She's life right, So she went roll with me because that's what she's with right, get it right? So what point being made. I'm just saying that to say of how
much that creativity is around me and in me. So talking of the Valley through Mud, a lot of it was written right in front of my wife when I found the book.
I can tell her, so she became my first audience.
Right then I'm playing something and she gonna be sitting there watching, you know, you know, like I said, started doing the pandemic, So she might be watching the news and she's watching the news and me scoring or writing something to this story I got and I'm scoring her world, you know what I mean at the same time, You know what I mean, I got it. The creativity is like that for me and even for whether it's lyrics. I got a phone full of lyrics, you know what
I mean that? And Jeff gave us some wisdom. He said, try to die empty, but it's probably not possible. I don't think it's possible for me because at the end of the day, the book that I'm talking to you about, it's four hundred lyrics in that one and I got two of them. It's just like if I didn't say Joe was a nerd. Nobody's going to hear Joe was in nerd except for if he was hanging out with me back in high school. Right. So that's just how it is, right, But that's the art of growth, art
of creativity. It evolves right in all of us. And at the level that at my level of creativity, it's like I understand more about what I what inspired me. Right, if you mentioned knowledge Guard, or if you mentioned anything from the treatment from the Purple tape, right, it's almost like even my experience then was more darker, more gritty, more aggressive towards the world, you know what I mean? And not saying that I couldn't get like that anytime.
And stuff on my feet, right, Like see, I might Tyson slap Jake when he stepped on his feet, but Jake shond have stepped on his toe in the.
Ring, right, But oh yeah, woke, come up.
Right, I'm just saying, give your stuff on his toe and then deep right made is that you know that energy you're always gonna exist. But we've been blessed to put that in our back pocket and put in our front pockets. We could wear our creativity, you know, wear our cheet wear our positivity. And not to tip this to you, but it's just like yo. You know, you get get up there every United at at any moment, you're gonna you may catch a wave, you know what
I mean. You know, thought might go into something. You know what I mean? You might You know it ain't that be hurt like that. It's just like yo, you might. You may start going, you may go. You may bunk bunk out the band and the dudes may come in on the on the one may come in on the three. You may whatever it seems, you can't. You can't get rid of it.
You know what I mean?
And so I'm the same.
What are your current preferred weapons of choice when it comes to beat making? Now?
I think once again, like all of us, all these I got so many toys, it's ridiculous.
But but that in Sonic, don't call it.
They got two of those. I got one in my office that uh with the floppy disks, Yeah, with the floppy disc.
I got a dog. To this day, D'Angelo you you must have said something to D'Angelo back in ninety five. To this day, to this day, still uses that in Sonic. And I don't know how he finds floppy discs and scuzzies like for for for listeners out there, you know, this is this is pre pre pre pre pre pre pre, but pre gigabytes, you know what I mean. Like and but to this day he still has his original nineteen ninety five and sonic and and scuzzy and the floppy discs.
And he said that, like you said something to him about that machine, and that's been his inspiration since then.
Like you know, it was a powerful machine and it still has something you know, I think, Yeah, still got a couple a lot of mathematics, you know, a lot of thematics.
Actually did something really cool a few years ago.
We did an album for The Soccer Continues where he had the musicians play and then he just ran everything through the ASR and it shit sounded like it sounded adventage, like you know what I mean. It wasn't totally totally bunk bung, but it was over eighty percent closer to what the invented sample would be. But it wasn't the sample. It was just musicians playing through the ASR. So for anybody out there who can't find the ASR, there's another thing called the DP four which is Sonic made, which
has a lot of the effects of the ASR. So the ASR had like fifty built in effects that you can put your sample to do right Vanderpoles and and it would have low pass filters and et cetera, et cetera. But the DP four was the flagship effects model for it. So if you can't find an ASR ten or or EPs sixteen plus and you can find a DP four, you can actually still get that ASR sound by running your new equipment through that. So that's one of the
share that which the viewers my listenership. And then I'll say, right now, for me, I think what MPC did, right, I think MPC has for hip hop and for creativity mastered the way uh the newer the PC the mp But yeah, but it's a software and it's a hardware
all at once, you know what I mean. And so that to me is my favorite piece right now because at the end of the day I can put it at the center of everything and then have the simple no with of how to work with the MPC right, and then run all my ship through it without even looking at my pro toubs.
Speaking of leaving empty, what becomes of all the residual riser beats that were not used between when you first got your machine, and these even dates back to the Prince of Queen days of ninety one. What becomes of the volumes and volumes of just leftover beats and whatnot.
Well, for what people will consider, you know, my prime time, it's not a lot. Because I had two floods, you know what I mean.
That's my worst night, man.
Yeah, I had two of them.
Though, It's like, how'd you get two?
Right? And you said left on the floor, Yeah, because I'll be thinking decent and the floppy disk being those little cases eighty in the case, and you don't mind you said it on the floor under the keyboard. I didn't. I never expected that to be an issue until it was. Until my just was floating, right, And then I build my ship differently, and the water can't come from the bottom,
motherfucker comes from the top. But I laughed at it, right because at the end of the day, I had a flood right after thirty six chambers, right before we get to that. Then I had a flood right after Liquid Swords, you know what I mean. And then and then I moved to another studio build that up and had another water issue then, and that's to run it all together.
Here go the funniest part.
And while we're filming the Wu Tang series and I'm composing the music for it, and it's an episode that Malluo van Peebles is directing, which is about the flood it cost me that morning, and I'm talking about in my Charlie house. Water is coming into my house. We got the street line backed up and it's and I told him, yo, gee, this ship is real.
Are you a water signed person or like I'm a cancer.
So I don't know what that means. I know it's a moon, but I don't know if it's water mud. But I will say that at the end of the day though, it means sometimes you gotta be set. Noah had to get in that arc, you know what I mean, had to close those doors and move.
So are your archives protected? Now?
No, not like that. I'm gonna say you didn't learn. No, I'm gonna say no, I don't think you could protect what's going to go. That's just my opinion. So I might be too philosophical there. But at the end of the day, you know you're gonna get it out what you get out for the time. You have to get to do what you do, and don't be shy to get a lot of it out if you can, right.
I remember Sky was something that ever could that on that versus he was like, girl, drop that shit, you know what I mean, So get out what you can. But of course some of it, it just existed for the moment. It's still in the universe. It's still there even if you on even play that track one time, it's still captured in that cube of time. But yeah, my archivan, I've never been good at that, I said, I will say I never really good at archiving.
I feel you living in the moment. Yeah, I always wanted to know what your feelings were of your level of soul kind of having two renaissance periods. One could say that the quote unquote Chipmunk soul movement like two thousand and two thousand and one to two. You know, like basically I will say, when just blazing kind of with with Justin and and with Kanye as well. But also I definitely feel now, especially like post Griselda stuff your old drug and you know, rock Manciano your old drug.
I mean just there's like almost a second wave of it. How do you feel that have you ever got the itching? And I know, like most creatives don't want to go back, They want to push for it, and you're definitely pushing forward. But is it a part of you that when you hear your ideas still resonating twenty thirty forty years later, does that give you the itching to reaching your stax records politics, to come back in laces again.
I don't think so, to be quite honest, it's almost like damn, okay, no, seriously, I don't think so.
It's more like for me, if something happens naturally right.
Then I'm just gonna do it. But but I won't be like if everybody start going shell to Adidas, am I gonna throw on those shelteres in that, you know what I mean? One of my blessings in my flaws is kind of you know, probably personality thing putty self centered on me pretty sure that you know what I mean, Like like I'm mean, you know, like you know what I mean? Pretty pretty, you know, and and and and strive.
It's hardly even say it because as I'm older, my humbleness is here and my humility is here, and I said, all praise is due to a law.
But I definitely came from that personality.
Just like you know what I mean, Like like dudes, is you know, kind of my humility. But like me said, you feel some certain way. It's almost like I'm Bruce Lee. Yo. They doing what they doing, like yo, you know this. Look, let me let me do a little ego in it. They breaking boards and you gotta respect them. They trained themselves to break a board. But I'm breaking bricks all right, I'm breaking bricks. And so if you want me to come back to the gym and break some bricks for you,
you know what I mean, I'll do that. But I don't need to break bricks no more. Right, It's like I don't need it for the external. I better now be in the internal. So so if we go back to the ballet, it's like yo, okay, do that kid, right, get it?
And then you do that.
Okay, now you're doing that. Cool guess what. Okay you did that. Now watch me do virtue OsO shit that you can't do because now you got put it into ten thousand dollars in So that part of me is a is a thing so let me say though, but it's a but it's flattering too, and it's complementary because at the end of the day, and I said this to Uh, I think I said it's to Kanye doing twisted dark fantasy sessions. When I said WHU Tank Forever, I wasn't just talking about us as the figures of it.
I was just talking about to be brought to the game. Yo. That energy, man, that energy ain't going nowhere. Y'a somebody gonna pick that up. I don't care if you pick it up from old Dirty, you know what I mean. My in my analogy, and this may sound crazy, but in my analogy, you know, Dirty helps the South, you know what I mean, Dirty helps another energy expound is expand Dirty helps miss the Elliott right in my analogy. Right.
So it's just like, because I'm seeing him as I'm seeing the one artist him as an example, I'm seeing that artist able.
To inspire other artists, you know what I mean, to make them.
Like Buster once said to me, he was like, Yo, when he heard his album, they freed his brain, you know what I mean. Freedom? So so you made somebody may get that from meth. They may get it from ray like briz alday they ripping.
I love Brizil. They put this shit on. You listen to this ship for two hours and.
Still be and still be zoning in with another joint, right, because the catalogue has grown like that. But yeah, but do I hear ghosts driven here when it may be an unknown MC like is lord indictus of their m C who took and who it might whether he did it consciously or subconsciously, is able to see that she be inspired and then put it back out in a different way. And I just and with this. So they say, brush Lee is the father of m M A. You know what I mean?
He makes G Condo, Right, So G Condos took boxing, fencing, judo, ju jitsu, wing, chun cho, a young fat you.
Know what I mean? Hung god, you know what I mean? He put all that, you know what I'm saying into one thing, studying Muhammad Ali and studying Japanese kimbo. Right. So point being made is that he's one of the first ones that pioneered at But as time goes on, maybe somebody else will say, oh, that's the man, like the ain't a whiteson man, you know what I mean? Or whatever not like that. The bute point being made
is that so it's flattering. It's a blessing to see that that whatever we added to the culture is still there and the others are able to find their voice. You know. I think Drew did a joint recently with with with one of my woul brothers, you know what I mean. I was with Rock a few months ago, just you know, just chilling and he's just like yo, you know what I mean. He's like yo, you know at being an abbot. Cause I say this real quick.
So a habit is the one at the temple. He don't fight really, no more like that, you know what I mean. He's let it throw a little wisdom out now. He could fight, though I don't get a twisted now the average is staying on one finger, you know what I mean.
But he should be past that. He should be a spiritual guide an example.
So for me, going back to the ballet, I'm continuing to show us that there is no limitation of the art that founded in us, that started as hip hopp is our entry into art and culture, you know what I mean? And connect the same entry, connect same energy find itself in a classical place where you're sitting there and everybody got on a suit and tie and there's somebody from our to no nah that's presenting that night.
Can you sit there and and and and watch a film and be like, oh shit, that film was done. Like right now, Frank Ocean is about to do his first movie. Yo. You know what I'm meaning? Oh that shit is wow, Frank Ocean is what is this artist who who had this hip hop on be foundation? What it's his cinematic expression? Right? I've seen Zoey Kravitz movie Blake twice, Right, you watch that one same thing, Like, look at this artist evolved right where some actresses will
never be brave enough to even take that chance. So I'm I'm doing that as well in my travels.
All right, I feel you, but I definitely feel as though it's an homage to you and how your you know, your styles is influential. But I definitely see the importance of taking steps forward and not looking back. But sometimes I just get it itching and you know, go back to the old neighborhood and have a fish sandwich exactly, you know what.
But like I said, if you get that inch and if I get that itch, I do it. You know what, there's a couple of joints that's in the that's in the oven.
You know. Sometimes be in the studio or somebody one of my little brothers may pop over. Okay, just hit play and be called something, and it'd be like and is it? It may just stand stay in the studio. But there's always something in there, right. And it's like I said, when I made beats or make music. No, of course, of course there's days where you know I'm digging. At our last Vegas show, I bought my MPC right because sometime I like to open the show with just
a lot of eight O eights and stuff. But in this particular and I got like fort these joints, but in this particular one there's a there's a sample and so since we had some downtime, I loaded it and it just start hitting play. Uh and scratch was there? Deck was that capit It was yo. They was like give us that ship.
It was it was it was sounds and records that dudes happened stumbled the poor chet. It wasn't even stack ship.
It was just you know, whenever you dig, you dig, and you you sample it and you hold it right but I was like, I told Scratch Show, just come and see you how give it you? He ain't come, you know, not that I wasn't moving, but if you would the guy there within that hour, I'll be like, oh, yeah, you play with it and do and do what you're gonna do with it. Then.
So I'll ask you in your arsenal, can you name five of your favorite creations.
I don't know if I could do that, but I can tell you, like certain ones that that I felt that'd be interesting. Let be uh like there's some there's always a moment when you feel like there was a boom. Yeah, yeah that nobody nobody did that, and they I did that and they can't do it and they might can never do it. Well maybe they can, especially technology back then. So when I did Glaces of Ice, you know what
I mean? Yes, yeah, niggas and niggas can't fuck with me, right, I was that feeling of with that track, And it took a few days to make it. So that's another thing. It wasn't like I made it in fifteen minutes, but I made that in fifteen minutes, right, But you could tell just lookes drums and and fucking actually doing the mutes and and and solos on the spot. That's what
makes it so bouncy. I'm just doing that ship live, right, But on Glaciers It's just like I really composed it in a way, you know what I mean, and I kept changing it. I was very cool with the idea of what it would of what it became, and then I did that right because lasers, I made Lasism before Randy Days and then Randy Day sat on the grill for three days too, right, And what I like about it, it's just that there was just a vibe of feeling right.
It's not that complicated in all reality, but everything from the sample that intros to the thunderstorm to the girl I sing for him but he isn't here, yo, son, and that fucking that fucking string uh fucking trimblo down to fucking boom boom. It's like base, It's like what the fuck? All that shit just came to that moment and then the hook, Like when I told Blue Vaysberry, I want you do the same this ship.
Yo, Can you please tell me how did Blue Raspberry get in the game, because to me, like she doesn't get enough credit or whatever for like her ad lives and what she adds to the game, like how did she wind up in the Click?
Well, I think Ray Kwalm met her first early on too, back in Atlantic City. I think at one of those early rap things he got contact with her. She actually sung for us that night. She sung Whitney.
Houston as good as Whitney Houston like then she went and blew. She hit that patty note as you hit that note in places that.
Yeah right.
She was one of the only person to do it beyond you know, in real life.
And so I just always brought her to the studio, and when I would do her, it was just like, I'll just tell her to say this song, saying this song, say this song. And she had such a good repertoire, like on method Man saying man right, this this is that's again. I'll tell her sing these songs and then I would take them and then put them in the ASR and chop them into something else. And I just thought it was as unique that she was like a living two box. So her name was Candy, of course.
But let me say one thing about her that I'm proud to say. Earlier this year January of this year, I did a concert in Colorado. So I'm part of this imagination artist, so I have to owe them three concerts. This was my second one. I did do the links orchestrated, you know what I mean. So we trotted it out. We got the Officer to play, and I bought Blue Raspberry to do her parts. And Bro, she got a stand at the ovation. She just was and she came out like she was.
She was like a She came out like a week being Gladys.
She had this dress on. She I mean, she felt so good that night and I was so proud of her, and Yo, she was flawless. She's like a celebrity, you know, one of those every celebrity don't make it, Bro, you know what I mean, somebod are locked in jail.
Well, some of our greatest it could be an a mental asylum.
Some of our greatest are stuck right in that home because they pregnancy or or from something like that turned that rote a different way, and not saying that. You know, she didn't get some accolades, and she had some success in her life, but for her level of talent, the crowd like they just they I didn't tell them to stand up. She just was chilling that ship.
Was there ever going to be a Blue Raspberry album? Yeah?
I wanted to do a Blue Raspberry album. I had to assign the foundation the fourth disciple, Okay, but he you know, he was kids and ship being kids and focus kids being kids and shit.
All right, So you said Glaciers of Ice and.
I mentioned rand.
I was just stand special. I think Brandon Ruck is a special really, yeah, I'll tell you.
I think Brandon Ruck is a special follow it right, so hard to follow it that that's what makes it special to me.
I don't even count that as the first song on thirty six Chambers like for me, like same on is the first.
Makes it same? It's contained, but even though same goes a little bit off the rails, it is prettyktanined. I'm gonna challenge you, okay, no, to go ahead and follow it because it actually and I didn't know that, right, but it's actually a composition, almost like an orchestrated composition. Yes, it starts one way, it builds up it gets to this. So I just think that the part of beat making that I that I feel confident in. If I want to say, you ask me about what I think is dope.
I think that when I'm able to tell a story with the music before the MC even gets on it, Like if you take the rap off and just listen, it's still shit happen and the shit is going. It ain't just like a full ball phrase that I'm just dropping the snare, dropping the drum, add in the high ask and doing the one on a four drop. It ain't that.
It's a lot going on in that motherfucker.
You know what I mean? That to me, it's my thoughts when you actually like what impresses me? When I'm able to do that, you know what I mean?
Got it for me? I'll say that. I know you're always tired of cats asking you like, if you were to pare down WU Tank Forever to a single album, would you be able to for me deadly Medley, I want to redo that joint because that, to me is one of the heaviest I don't know that was a crazy That was the value that makes me want to card drack a garbage truck and just ramming in a wall.
Like uh see, now you see. So I'm glad you respond to stuff like that. So some stuff is for the aggression. It's straight up for fuck that we kicking it.
That's that's my walking music in the morning, when I do my five thousand steps in the morning. Nellie Melly is on that mixes. It just makes you walk different.
Man, that's crazy. That's what you know what I like on that album m that was a wall that would be called bum. Yes, the track like that.
I like the track like that because once again, if you don't have the lyrics, it's telling your story.
Look now now that you open up that record, I gotta ask you man, first of all, let me finish my my other four Stroke of Death on on ghost Face record with the backwards record. Shit. Oh god, yo almost now I literally almost crashed my card that ship.
Like you know, I just like I said, that's that was a question. But it's like it's remember remember I don't I know you remember this look Sometimes at the block party mm hm, the DJ throw something on and somebody get punched in the face. That's how hip hop was, you know.
For this podcast, a lot of those that have been privy to going to Latin Quarter would tell me that when Steti Sonics goes, Stetsa comes on exactly that man, Yo, run.
Run exactly.
My third joint, probably my all time favorite Wu Tang Cannon song, is the stomp by ODB.
To this day, like he started the foundation of that beat though he so so od B he bought that beat to me. I got him an as r. He made four beats in his life, okay, right, or four that he played me, and this was one of them, you know what I'm saying. And I was like, all right, and all I did was after beats and you know, a few souschool but that group too too. Toom Zoom doom the boat. I put that little thing in there that's to add to it. But that was the total groove.
It's total rhythm and Brooklyn's dowers. Well, people don't give od B the credit for that either. To Mask get most of the credit, and I get some credit for it too, But no, od b Uh, he only made a few beats, even though he was a human beat box. He could have made a hundred beats, but he just he was the equipment, you know what I mean. And ship but that's one of them. So I'm glad to hear that that's one of.
My last one. And again it's only because when we were living in London, broke, hungry, borderline depressed. We have a way different relations and shit with Ta Cal than you did, like and I know Metha always says like I hate that album, but that album kept our sanity. Like we were living in London at the time when just like all you had there was no internet, no streaming, so you were forced to listen to against your will like I'm a scatman and like just all of whatever.
It was on pop radio at the time, so we just always kept but PLO style on to Cal was like that was you know what, actually, you know, it's weird. There was one time, I'll say like maybe around ninety four ninety five we were basically pick a Western European country and stay there for a month and just hit every city, every club and whatnot. There was one time when we played in the south of France, and this
is how sneaky pre internet life was. There was a crew in France that basically committed the entire to Cal, the entire built for Cuba Links and the entire returned to the thirty six chambers and we sat backstage, We're like, yo, these motherfuckers are actually doing the whole entire thirty album from start to fit, as if it was their joints, Like I know these lyrics from somewhere, and you know they use other instrumentals and try it, but the audience
didn't know any better. I mean, two of your most eccentric creations I'm obsessed with. First one, how did black Shampoo come to be?
Fucking uh? I think that's the coast well right right, So I think it was I think the machines, but you you know, I knew the lyric. He had the lyric, and so I was like, fuck it, let him loose on it. It was definitely very It was that, to be honest with you, it was Black Shampoo. And there's another one that wasn't on the American album called sun Shower.
Wait sun Showered from wait that ghost released?
Or no no, not the Sun with slip Wick and all that.
Okay, no, no, no, I'm talking about son Showers the Power Nope, because there's a ghost version of Okay.
It's one.
It's one.
It was on a Who Tank Forever album, but only on the European person Okay, I'm not understand that that. In Black Sampool were two of the last tracks and it was kind of at the time, I think I was really.
Falling into Bobby Digital creatively, right.
You know that we recorded Whutank Forever and the Grave Digger second album at the same time. You know that.
I didn't know that he did it. Okay.
I had everybody live in La well for at least two months. He mus a ping pon, but we had to stay in LA for two months. Grave Biggas came out, We had an American studio, had the whole shit locked down. I was just going to room the room making both albums, you know what I mean. So I think, and then at the end of the day, Bobby Isuel was coming.
So I think that I started like stop sampling and started playing all of the machines and black Wool as a result of that, and you got a lyric, you know, some baby oil shit.
You know.
We got it. Okay.
Yeah, I was gonna say in your second most eccentric beat that I'm obsessed with how many people ask you about the Guitar Center commercial. Oh shit, you don't understand, yo, there's an obsession with trying to figure out like it's so wild and crazy.
I don't remember it told me, but I knew you weren't aware of it.
There is an underground society of beat makers that like, I'm trying to get my boys Jroe Elliott right now, who's in the roots to like flip it? Like you you remember you doing a demonstration beat.
Up on the spot of some shit on that on the spot, right. I remember Dallas Foston had made this machine called the beat Thing. Right. It was the first machine that I saw that had a battery power for two three hours, meaning you can make the beats on the plane on the plane and exactly right. And so you know I bought it, yes for that. I never released a song from it or nothing. But it's just like I'm on a play. I'm not wasting just messing around, right, I get it. And then that Good Talk Center I
remember him talking. I said, you gotta bother that s was just this ship and you can just do this ship. Yeah, I don't remember the beat at all, bru.
There's a whole underground society trying to figure out because you know, the crazier your beats are. It's like we just sit and try to analyze that ship, like try to figure it out.
But even if it's ugly appreciated.
No when it's ugly and stinking and unorthodox, it's even better for me. You know, I don't I don't consider like a good song bat song.
It's just like us Thomas doing the dog.
Yes.
Absolutely, of the many disciples that also like co produce what you who's the disciple of your arsenal of or your generals of producers that you worked with that later went to, you know, Helm for the projects, not like which which ones? Do you feel like?
Really?
I mean, I'm not trying to make it play favorite.
So I can pat those bumpers down a little bit from my you know, from the avid seat. Look, first of all, I think fourth had the most potential. I'm gonna say something my Foult disciples, you know, for those times. I don't know how as Tom said, but during that time period he didn't have a lot of records.
He made his collection of beats and songs almost from one crate.
Okay, you know what I mean.
This one create that he had contained one hundred tracks for him. They have sample Love Story four or five, maybe even ten times for his catalog. You see what I mean? Because of really the way he did it, the pieces that excited him or the rendition of the version of that song, you know what I mean. So I think he was very special, but yet don't have a lot of material. True Master, I think, who was already making beats and you know he was hanging with us,
hanging with Premier. You know, he introduced us to Premier. You know, I knew Keep before that. But but True Master, I think if you listen to True Master tracks, he's I think he's the most consistent at staying at a sound right. He stays at that.
He did fish I think, yeah, I know you did fish on on on Goods joint. You've been warned, and he did a Brooklyn Zoo too correct.
Yeah, exactly got it. So he's consistent with like it's going to be hip hop, it's going to sound like it ain't going to sound too far fetched on the left, you know what I mean. But then the brother who I think put the most time into it is the fifth the last people who is Mathematics. You know, he
he he came in late, but he never stopped. He's still you know, right now, Mathill dropped some ship on you right now, and it's like, yo, you know tu Mass has sent me a few tracks recently and for something he wanted me to, you know, help him with and and you know it sounds like I said, he's consistent. But math Math can make a stacks album with musicians and make it sound like a Wu Tang thing.
I believe. He said in an interview that trailing Quentin Tarantino for Kill Bill prepared you for your your directing debut, Man with the Iron Fists. What's it like to work with Eli Roth? Because I only know Eli Roth because he makes one of the most disturbing, uh you know, her afflicts of all time?
So well, first of all, in Man with the Iron Fist, Man Eli, we laughed because I vote the first draft myself. But I was still you know, at the at the I won't say novice level. I was at the intermediate level. I wasn't good enough to really write a whole movie. I was getting there, you know, for so let's just say this was my college sheet. But I needed help. And Eli you know, he used to always be at Clinton House. You know, we watched a lot of movies together.
I considered him a classmate. It's like four of us, you know, like maybe Edgar Wrighter be up there, you know what I mean. So he, you know, helped me finish, help me write now with the Iron Fists, and because I got it written, I was ready to direct it. But the funny thing is, as a writer and we did the film, it was like some of the stuff that is gry, like he'll, I say, they're gonna.
Blame him for it in Mail Dyan Fense, like they chop his arms off, all that shit.
No, and then some of the stuff that was actually funny and soft it was him, which is interesting because exactly it doesn't make right.
Exactly.
Funny thing is, you know, don't forget I'm a grave.
I got you.
But the thing, you know, startying with Quinn was a blessing. That's got to say that. You know a lot of people got to go to college, uh and get there and get their education. I was blessed to get it through. I'm gonna just use this world as a definition of it. Do apprenticeship, you know what I mean. I was willing
to sit beside great masters. You know, every every time I acted in the film, like you know, when I was an American gangster, I'm sitting beside really scott y know, and being the resid helps you know what I mean meaning like I'm not doing some bomb some bare related like you know what I mean. Right, I traveled well you know, not to use money here by my multimillionaires, so it's not like I need anything, right, So so yeah, I could beat you in Italy, you know what I mean?
And we could talk about it.
So what was camp Quinton like? Because for me, one of the things I'd like to do the most if I ever have free time. I love going to his two movie theaters. I always go to New Beverly Nice, like I'm always. I'm always because his collection is just the illness as far as but I know that studying under him, and he's so like he likes the energy of creative people. Like what was the whole process like with kill Bill? How do they call you?
And well, like you said, his movie theaters before his movie theaters.
It was his house, right, all those prints he would show him at his home and invite his friends over, you know what I mean? And I was amongst those friends. And then I was, you know, brave enough or humbling enough to be like, y, can you teach me? You know? I want to learn? And him also he doesn't know how to use music equipment. But he's a very musical guy. He could have been a music producer based on him here, you know what I mean. So he was like, okay,
share you share that knowledge. And so we shared knowledge with each other and sportship, friendship and spent a lot of time together. But the time is. If you want to make movies, then watch movies. If you want to write books, then read books. Right, want to write a movie, then study scripts. I bought fifty scripts just to read them. I'm like, I'm reading Breakfast the Tiffany's you know what
I mean, I'm reading the Breakfast Club. Fuck it. I read both of them, right, because these are successful scripts, you know what I mean. And then at the end of the day, though, I also get to you know, like before kill Bill was finished, you know, he read it to me parts of it, and then when it was finished, he gave me a copy, you know what I mean. You know Jango I was writing now nine is while he was writing Jangos, he was on page forty. I was on page ninety. So I was blessed and
Eli as well, you know what I mean. It was it was you know that crew, Elvis Mitchell, you know a certain crew with people and all that knowledge, and me I was sponging the knowledge like I was.
I was allowing the knowledge to sponge on me.
Take it and the doorb it uh and then just give you one idea of how something like how a day would go.
It was like, yeah, I got I'm doing a double feature tonight, you know what I mean?
It could be uh, Paul Mazerke's film, right, fucking you know what I mean, Chris Christofferson's fucking four films or something like we're gonna do Convoy and maybe casting over Wong one of his joints, right, And so I'm like cool, and and so we go and watch them. You know, we've watched so many films. The Queen was such a film cinephile, right, Yeah, that he had thirty five million to print, so you watched it in a big d that's one thing. But then he had sixty milli plints.
So now that means you got to watch it in the living room, right, what it's going the morning? Now? Who tapped out? Who made it? For the next one? Me? I I'm you know, we hipot that's studio time. But us I got older, I could go to six in the morning, and then he had all the books and that that he allowed access to, like yeah, you want to take a book, the book whatever, you know what I mean, you.
Know, yeah, yeah, like that to me is that's the dream, like for real, like I love old archives and movies like i'm I'm I was. I was so envious that you had access to that man. That's that's I.
Would say something about him real quick too, so people would, you know, just for sometimes people like he says this world and this movies a lot and all that, and it's like this hospitality. It's like, you know, my brother freedom, my younger brother. You know, there's some time and all that. You know, even if I wasn't in town and Quinn was sewing movie, you'll let my brother come and watch it with him and give him a room to spend the night.
And freedom is straight up. And it's just like when you family, you family and.
If you know. And that's so he was the godfather, you know what I mean. It was he was the abbot of film for me, you know what I mean. And I would come with my peoples and he always had supreme hospitality and and also always would give us a little bit of wisdom. You know, remember one day one of my mans that got murdered, and this was the night that we had a plan to do something together and I was gonna you know, I came because I said I'll be there.
So I got there, I said, I'm actually don't.
I don't want to go. I got you know, I got a problem I gotta deal with. So what you're talking about? Hold on? Hold on? We playing this ship like a month ago, right, So I'm like, yeah, so hold on, let me make your margama to talk about it. And I sold. So we talked about the problem, like yeah, my man that and so you know, maybe I don't know, right, Bong bong, right, yeah, and also deal with some things, right, he said, hold on the miss playing style to you said,
you gotta understand. You said you're up here, right, and there's not a lot of people from your community, from your generation, from your culture that's up here. Say you're up here just so that you can reach down and pour somebody else up. That's why you're here, so you can always be able to reach down and pour somebody up if you ever go down. There's nobody up here that can reach down. M You know what I mean, so keep moving up here.
That's kind of what I want to close with. You know, I've been studying you, and this is kind of what I brought up the last episode for you personally. And I feel like there's a few of us that, you know, when we make it, there is a survivor's guilt that
sort of overshadows us a little bit. How do you deal with the idea of survivor's guilt or the idea of like, not everyone can come with you that sometimes you have to save yourself, put your own oxygen mask on first before you can help other people.
At the end of the day, I do help, right, I continue, you know, you know, that's just what we we gotta do that because that's that's part of our blessing. Right at minimum that just use the Bible on this one. At minimum, you got ten percent times, you know what I mean. So at minimum, you know, so I start to compartmentalize it. You know, I have my wife, you know, as a good head on her shoulder, and I have my older sister, and sometimes we'll choose who to help.
Who've been helped five times already? All right, that's the fifth time. Let them go, you know, what I mean, But we all here to help believe that and know that, right. And the blessing though, hope, I hope you feel the same, is that sometimes you do go out to the world and you see, you know, whether it's homeless people. You know.
I remember lying with Jay one day and we got to a light and he stopped the call your old stop stop stop and going down this windows just pulled out from under his getting some homeless that all right, go you know what I mean? And yeah, I do the same shit. That's what that's why, it's my man and whatever. But it's like I've seen the natural I've seen goes through the same thing. Right, It's that's how
we are, That's how. But the beauty of it is that because we deal with hopefully we deal with all the stress and the and the obligatory thing of helping others, uh, the pressure of family needing.
Help a lot and not never satisfied.
Because you may help them five times, they won ten times, right, But then you're still able to go home to your peace. If I wasn't able to go home, you know what I mean, Like if I go back to East and I go to the room mansion, that ship is in the woods. Bro it's quiet. So I go back to that temple. Then I'm able to calm my shit down, reevaluate, and go back out again. So the best way I can say that is that you gotta be able to
plug them back into yourself right. And then the last thing I say is that at this age, I realize that really helping people don't mean giving them no money. You know, that's the first that they want, you know what I mean, That's not what they need, you know what I mean? The money, it's almost.
Like it's like food, You're gonna eat it and ship it out.
You know. They need to know how to fast, They need to know something else. And at this age, I've been doing that more, you know, like striv into like Okay, hey, I'm gonna give them a little blessing.
But now help people now. But now I got to.
Now let me hit them with this. If they don't take this after I gave them this, then that means they don't want me. They want this, and they go better go find that someone else. Because money, uh, money is something that you bless your family with. But I will say this too, money is something that is earned. Man. It's It's something that is earned. If you don't earn it, you know what I mean, you will never know the value of it.
There it is, brother, Thank you, brother, Thank you. I appreciate you. This is a Quest Love Supreme our our Part two conversation with Riza uh Man of Renaissance. And you know, I'm not even going to ask you what do you have next down the pipe because I know You're always going to have something down the pipe. But thank you man for for just years of blessing us and inspiring us.
Man.
I appreciate that. Thank you for coming on Quest Love Supreme.
Man, Thank you question asp Baz.
Thank you for listening to Quest Love Supreme. Hosted by a Mere Quest Loft Thompson, Are you saying clear? Sugar, Steve mandell An unpaid, Bill Sherman. The executive producers are Amir quest Love, Thompson, Sean g and Brian Calhoun. Produced by Brittany Benjamin Cousin, Jake Payne, Hyah Sainclair, edited by Alex Conroy. Produced by iHeart by Noel Brown. West Love
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