Club Shay Shay - Too $hort

Episode Date: March 21, 2022

Shannon welcomes in multi-platinum recording artist and executive, Bay Area rap legend Too $hort. Listen & subscribe to more FOX Sports podcasts: http://sprtspod.fox/applepodcasts#DoSomethinB4TwoSomethin & Follow Club Shay Shay:                                                                 https://www.instagram.com/clubshayshayhttps://twitter.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.facebook.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.youtube.com/c/clubshayshay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolf. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everyone. Jake Storielli here from John Boy Media.

I want to tell you about my podcast, Wake and Jake. I've been a sports nut my whole life, and there's nothing I love more than talking about it. If you're a sports fan, Wake and Jake is the place for you. Covering all the hot topics from the sports world, a lot of baseball, a lot of postseason coverage, mock drafts, awards, guest interviews, all of it. New episodes

every Monday and Wednesday. Come watch along on the Wake and Jake YouTube channel, or listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All my life, been grinding all my life. Sacrifice, hustle, pay the price. Want a slice, got the roll of dice. That's why all my life I be grinding all my life. All my life, been grinding all my life. Sacrifice, hustle, pay the price. Want a slice, got the roll of dice. That's why all my life I be grinding all my life. Hello, welcome to another edition of Club Che Che.

I am your host, Shannon Sharp, also the proprietor of Club Che Che. The guy that's stopping by for conversation and a drink today really needs no introduction. He's hip-hop royalty and a rap legend, golden platinum-selling rapper and songwriter, record producer and executive with almost 40 years in the game. The king of the bay, Too Short. What it do? What's up, man? That's a multi-platinum.

Multi. Multi, multi. Yeah, because I did it like seven times in a row. What? Oh, yeah. Well, talk to us about it. I'm just trying to figure. You got a new single coming out called Nasty Dance.

You always seem to have an album coming out. What number album is this for you? I lost count, but it's up to like 20 something, like 21. So? Somewhere up there. So you got this, tell us about the single that you got, that you're about to drop. Well, you know, I'm just trying out new platforms and stuff. I partnered up with a company called Encore.

Okay. And it's just a new style of how they shoot the videos and how they present it. And I'm just, you know, at this age and with my career accolades, I really don't have much to prove. Right. So, you know, we formed the Mount Westmore Group. That's me, Snoop, Cube, and E-40. Right.

And that's kind of like my thing. So outside of that, I'm just freelancing a little bit, doing stuff, having fun. I love rap. So I'm just doing it. You started, you got 40 years in this game. So you started back in the 80s. Obviously, it's a lot different. What's some of the biggest differences that you noticed between rap when you started and currently where it is now?

Probably the platforms is the biggest thing, the internet. Right. And that changed the game as far as, we were so worried about duplicating CDs and copying MP3s and file sharing. Right.

And it just went straight to streaming. Right. And streaming, with streaming brought multiple platforms. Right. And you can maximize,

just like an artist can get one hot song right now. Right. And you make a boatload of money just by the fame you get and the different opportunities you can sing your song on. All these different platforms paying you. So it's a different ballgame. And it used to be a lot about skills and what you could bring to the table original.

Now it's just about popularity. Right. The most popular guy is going to get the money. Table original, now it's just about popularity. Right. The most popular guy is going to get the money. So he or she doesn't necessarily have to be good, but just have a hot song. And a hustle.

And a hustle. And a hustle. So with the new platform that's out, you have the streaming, you have the internet, you have social media, guys, you can go directly. So do you really need a record company? Do you really need a... You need a record company. The majors have the airwaves on lock. They got the big numbers on lock. Worldwide at international, it's on lock.

But you can get in there without a major and you could be like a Young Dolph, rest in peace, Young Dolph, who was making millions independent. It's still a lane to get in there and master these platforms and make room for yourself without a major label. Yeah, I recommend that as much as possible. It depends on who you are individually and what you want out of this, but there is a way to have ownership and run your own show and have your own team and be a major artist. But if you just like, you like, I want to be that guy.

I need to be Drake. You're going to need that big machine. You're going to need that machine behind you. Exactly. Well, you know what? Let's toast.

I have my own brand of cognac. You've been 40 years deep in the game. Yes, sir. You did it your way and you still continue to do it your way. Salute, bro.

Here we go. That's my own brand. Tell me that ain't smooth go ahead talk to me so no it really is good i was i wouldn't even lie to you this it's it's because if you could just drink it and it's not a problem right it's smooth like i don't this cognac man this remind me of the old 90s tell the story we was telling off there said you know what I used to be a big cognac drinker oh yeah I don't really drink as much as I was I don't really partake in the cognac as much as I once did because it reminds me of the days before I really made it big and I was just a little guy you know hanging in the streets with the homies and we get the bottle and pass it around on a cold day. You know, cognac was your jacket.

Yeah. On a hot day, cognac was your air conditioner. I'm from that. And then I start getting a little money going into some different little places. And I'm like, you know what? Let me get a margarita. Yeah. So you got food for you.

You got brand new owners. So that's all. You know, I, I just wish it up a little bit. And then when I, when I sip a little bit, as soon as I sip it and smell it and see it, I'm like, oh, here we go. I'm back on the street corner in Oakland, in my mind, you know. So you know, I, I'm a tequila guy, but at the same time, I have a great Cognac drink that I've, I've made many people over the years that is high calorie, but it's the bomb. So you take an even shot of the Cognac, the Kahlua,

and the Bailey's Irish Cream. They got to be even shots. Put them on a lot of ice and let it just all get together. Stir it up real good. It's like a separator, but with a ghetto twist. Right. And then the other version is replace the ice with ice cream. So a couple of scoops of ice cream, one shot of Hennessy. Well, not Hennessy. We want the Shea Shea. We want the Shea Shea, yeah.

One shot of the Shea. Yeah. One shot of the Kahlua, and one shot of the Bailey's Irish Cream. Mix it with the ice cream and let it turn into a milkshake. I'm trying to tell you. We're going to have to try that. I'm telling you, it's called a Dirty MF.

People such as Allen Iverson used to like it once upon a time. I turned Scarface, the rapper, onto it. Between me and him, we turned a lot of people onto the Dirty MFs. Okay. I like that. So what can we expect from this album, though? You can expect hip-hop to expand, meaning that every time one of your legacy artists who has been around for a long time and Nas still dropping albums, Jay-Z still dropping

hits, rappers who are well into their 40s are doing good. And some into their 50s, you know. Snoop Dogg is at 50. And it's like, we're just expanding hip hop. Hip hop hasn't had 50-year-old rappers that have any type of success. If I had told you in your 20s, in your early 20s, that you'd still be doing this in your 50s,

what would you have said? I would have said, you're crazy. Because I was like, at my early 20s, I would have said, anybody that's 32 is an old man. Right. You calling me an old man rapper? And the young rappers right now see it the same way. They're like, man, you old dudes.

And I'm like, dude, you're going to be an old dude one day. Yeah. And you're going to wish, you're going to wish, if you're a 22-year-old rapper, you're going to wish that you could be a 42-year-old rapper on stage and they wish you don't wish if you're a 22 year old rapper You don't wish that you could be a 42 year old rapper on stage and they love you right? That's hard to do. You know what? My girlfriend say a I've been your age. You've never been mine Yeah, he for living he 40 just said that in the rap You keep living so yeah, man, you know, I Just think it's a beautiful thing to to You know, I just think it's a beautiful thing to do what you do, what I'm doing.

Right. In my 50s. Right. That I did when I was a teenager. And it's still something I love and it's still giving me money. Right. Is that why you do it? Because you still love it? You don't have to do it.

Obviously, you made money. You still make your money. But I do it because once upon a time, I announced that I was retiring. I was 30 years old, and it was a big promotional push behind Too Short retiring. I was on my 10th album at the time, and I remember DJ Red Alert said to me, he was like, you don't ever see jazz musicians retiring or blues, you know what I'm saying? They keep performing.

You know, Diana Ross and Smokey and them, they on the stage. Stevie Wonder still performing. Why does a rapper have to stop? So when he said that, I never, ever considered retirement ever again. Right. And I think that the more I get older and wiser, I'm like, somebody's got to keep doing this. Dr. Dre is older than me.

Right. And he's about to perform at the Super Bowl. It's going to be lit. Rapping. It's going to be lit, too. They didn't go get Young Thug and Gunner. They didn't go get, you know, Moneybagg Yo. They got Dr. Dre.

Well, if you're in L.A., I mean, you got to. How you come to L.A. and don't get Dre? How you don't L.A., I mean, you got to. How you come to L.A. and don't get Dre? How you don't get Snoop? I mean, you can't. But ageism is a real thing in entertainment. It is. And they got Dr. Dre. So that's like, that is the whole narrative of what I'm trying to be a part of.

Right. Is every time Jay-Z steps up to the plate, we accept it. And ever since he was 20-something. So it's like, this is saying not for me, look what I did. This is saying for my young homie, look what I can do. Look what is Tom Brady doing right now for quarterbacks. You know what I'm saying? He's saying it can be done.

I don't know if you can do it. Who are some of the features you have on this album? Features, I'm trying to think right now, because you know, I really don't, I really don't like value that that much. So if I got like, say G-Eazy was on there, in my mind, it's just a homie G-Eazy. It's like nothing I can really like brag on it. But I definitely have some features. I always go out there and get some homies. I do so many projects. You know, like Mount

Westmore, I'm not really focused on the bragging part of it. When it comes out, you're going to see. How do you determine who you hop on the track with? Obviously, if Snoop comes, you're gone. Farty Water, you're gone. It's based on friendships, relationships. I could have a relationship with the label

or somebody at the label and not the artist and they call me and say, hey, I need one. Need you to do one. I'll do it. I got a call from Jazzy Faye last night about an artist.

He's working with Atlanta and they sent me the song. I don't know the artist, but I'm going to do the song because it's a Jazzy Fade production. The beat is hot. So a lot of times it could be, is the song hot? A lot of times it could be, who's the artist? And it's an artist I don't know. I might check the numbers and go, oh, little homie doing it. I'm going to get down. And it could be family. All my cousins get one

favor. And after that, you got to pay for it. Like, cuz, you want your favor to be a show? You want me to show up at your party? You need help with a car? You get one favor. Right. In a lifetime.

When I look at some of the guys that you've been up with, Tupac, Biggie, Jay-Z, Wayne. Best of the best. I mean, yeah. I mean, Dre, T.I. I'm the big homie, though. Because while you're boy-jobbing, you've. Best of the best. I mean, yeah. I mean, Dre, T.I. I'm the big homie, though. Because while you're bulljabbing, you've been at it the longest. I'm the big homie. A lot of people get at me and they ask me these stats and these numbers and this, what

was happening in there. I was like, all these stories you telling, I'm the big homie. And in these stories, in these situations, you talk about Big, Pac, name all these people. I was platinum when these dudes was in high school and middle school and stuff. I was out there living it, kicking it. So when they came to the party, I was already the big dog at the party. Like, you know, Snoop Dogg was in middle school bumping too short. They all, I'm the OG, man.

So, you know, this list of artists I've collaborated with, a lot of times, a lot of times, majority of the time, they were getting at me. Rob Markman Right. DJ Premier They're like, I need too short on the song. I brought a whole lot with me. Rob Markman Right. DJ Premier And, you know, I'm proud of it. But at the same time, when you look back on it, you look like all of us were right there.

But nah, when Jay-Z first got at me over I had way more platinums than I was established all this so it's cool man I love where it all the way it all played out I love that when I look back at it you know I'm a part of an elite group right and and you know and it's history it's it's hip-hop history I mean it's it's I mean when you think about it, think about when you started. I was lit. Look at where we are now. I'm still on the scene. Like you said, you just mentioned Tom Brady. Tom Brady said, look, bro, I'm three generations.

Bro, I did it. 2000, I did it. 2010, here I am in 2020 still doing work. He's playing against quarterbacks that wasn't born when he got to the league. For sure. That was two years old when he got to the league. Did you think you would have this kind of success, this kind of staying power when you started? So when you're a legend and you're breaking records

and you're blazing trails, you don't care about that or even know that. Right. Because you're a trailblazer. That means you're in front. Right. And you're the one burning the trail. Right. You don't realize it until it's a paved road and you look back and go,

oh, I started that. I did that. So I'm saying you're in that status of just like you're doing greatness. Right. You can't think I'm doing greatness while you're doing greatness. You're like just trying to outdo the men in the room with you. And you like, we talk this stuff about sports eras. Right. Who would have been who in what era. Right. And you like, we talk this stuff about sports eras. Right. Who would have been who in what era.

Right. And I'm like, a grown man is a grown man. Size, strength, speed. You put that grown man in any, put him back in Africa 500 years ago, he's going to be a man amongst men. Right. Because that's who he is. Right.

And I think, you know, you drop me off in any era. You drop me off in this era of hip hop, I'm going to shine. I just feel that confident about who I am as an individual. Drop me off in the hood in Baltimore, Maryland. Right. I'm going to get home. You know what I'm saying? Everybody ain't going to make it home, but I'm going to make it home.

Your style. How did you come up with the way you were gonna rap? I was mimicking New York rappers. It's early 80s. And when I say mimicking New York rappers, I just mean party rap, you know? The girl in the blue dress, well, you know? It was like a shout out thing and a fun thing.

You just kind of rhyme in little simple words and just trying to get your cadence and your patterns together. And then I heard The Message. And The Message is one of those songs that came out in 1982. I was in 11th grade. I was one of them little kids that had the beat box, my big boom box, and I'm walking down the street bumping. I always remember this day because I was by myself and had no car.

I probably was walking from somewhere to the bus stop or something, coming from the bus or something and a song came on. I stopped in my tracks by myself. I wasn't even on the main street. I was in like a neighborhood and the song come on and I'm like, I put the radio up to my ears. He's like, broken glass everywhere. I'm like, what?

And I'm in the streets of Oakland. I'm a rapper. I'm pretty popular. I'm like, what? And I'm in the streets of Oakland. I'm a rapper. I'm pretty popular. I'm like little baby popular. Right. And I think to myself, oh my god, I got to start rapping about Oakland. Right.

And literally at that moment, that's what it turned into. And everything from that point on has been like a, it's just been like a match made in heaven. When I put the pen to the paper, I just think about Oakland. And I write songs, and the message gave me that. Yeah, but you write about Oakland. Obviously, Oakland is in you. But you were able to branch out because it wasn't just the Bay rappers that were too short on the hook.

So I spent my early years born in L.A. Right. And I moved to Oakland right after ninth grade. Okay. So I'm of that age where if I was in L.A., probably could have been trying to dip and dodge and avoid gangs. Right. But I get to Oakland, and it's a different thing.

It's not the street gangs, blue and red. It's not like that. To me, Oakland looked like a movie. It looked like a blaxploitation movie that came to life. I'm on set in the movie. Everything was colorful. It was the cars. It was the lifestyle. I'm looking at it. It was totally

different than L.A. Right. It just really like... I think that me telling the story of my experiences and what Oakland taught me and brought to me was partially because of my outside influences. I spent every summer of my childhood in New Orleans. My mother couldn't wait till May, June.

Yeah, school was out, you had to go. Me and my brother, you on the plane. Like, come back. I'll see you in August. Right. Like, you going to get rid of us for two months every summer? Yeah, y'all. Go stay with my sister.

Go stay with my mama. And I think that that music in New Orleans gave me a whole different cultural thing that West Coast rappers didn't have. My knowing and the streets of L.A. and coming up and being around the blue and the red and the hood stuff out here and the music and flutes out here, when I get to Oakland, I bring all this with me subconsciously. And then I absorb all this Bay stuff and the Bay Area, the Bay Area music is sliding the family stone, you know, the whispers, the point of system, tower of power. And this is before rap. Right. And, you know,

confunction is like the Bay has as a I can name a lot of groups. The Bay has a very rich music heritage, even the gospel, the Hawkins family, you know, like it's a lot. And when I come up as a rapper, I'm the first rapper. I'm the first guy who steps up to the plate. And I'm looking at it like, because people, you know, the people that I was working with when I first came up, some of them had been around Rick James. They had been around Tower of Power. They had been around Sly, Larry Graham. Right.

And I'm like, okay, I got to, they telling me the story. You taking me way back. Larry Graham, one of the million, Convunction, Love Train. Man, you know that Love Train. But I'm saying these OGs are telling me, look, Youngster, you know, this is what we did. This is what we, you know. Right. They telling me the greatness.

And I'm like, I got to live up to this. So from the start, it's quality, man. It's got gotta be quality. And you go listen to the early Too Short songs and it's musicianship, man. I got real musicians on there trying to uphold the legacy. How did you link with 40? Me and E-40 have street ties. Okay. So E-40 is definitely a street guy.

Yeah. From the streets. And my whole influence of how I came to be was from street guys. Like, literally, I had a hustle where I sold cassette tapes in the streets. And 100% of our clientele, I had a rap partner named Freddie B, 100% of our clientele was street-level drug dealers who were on the street selling drugs. And through that, through those relationships, when I started the label,

the first thing I went to, I didn't go to Wells Fargo, I went to the street dudes to start the label. If you go back and check almost the entire hip hop industry, a lot of us got bankrolled by the streets. Right. Because you couldn't get a loan. Bank didn't give you the loan. So-

What's your occupation? Oh, I'm an aspiring rapper. Get out of here. So, E-40 and his cousins and brother, they some street dudes who financed themselves. They went and got the game from their Uncle Charles, who was affiliated with the music scene around Vallejo that could function around it. And I got the game from a guy named Dean Hodges, who was also a street dude who was dabbling with a lot. I feel like he wanted to be a rock star, but he really couldn't play guitars or drums or sing. So he surrounded himself by all these music-making people.

And he learned a lot. He taught me how to run an independent label. He taught me how to make music in a studio and mix it down and put it out. And me and 40 was on the same trajectory. He's in Vallejo. I started rapping and getting popular before him. He's motivated by me,

but he's like on a whole nother island 30 miles away, and he's doing it on his own. He's like, I'm getting out there. And I think the way we connected was his immediate crew was literally doing street business with my immediate crew.

And at the same time they mixing in England, we the rap guys, we in the same crew. And we keep meeting up, hanging out around the same crew, not really talking about music, or not even really connecting. Just around each other, what's up? I seen your tape, I seen your tape. Whatever.

It's cool. I know who you are. I know who you are. It's cool. Respect. And then it started getting more and more popular. And he always tell this story that he flagged me down on the freeway.

How you flag somebody down on the freeway? We on the 50, doing 55, 65. Hey, man, we need to work together. You know? He like, I kind of big- wheelied on him a little bit. Like, yeah, okay. And roll the window back up. I don't, you know, I don't think it went like that.

Whether the roll or whether the electric, you know, you can't, you don't. No, this was a roll down day. You know, it's a roll down. You roll it down. And that was that. We still the same. I know him. We still like family, but we not music.

Back then, nobody, man, you don't ask me to use my producer and me try to do a collab with somebody from something. We don't do that. Like, yo crew, yo crew. Love your Public Enemy. Love your beats, everything. But I don't want to use your producers. Right.

You know what I mean? It was just like that. So fast forward a little bit, we had a big event that we used to do. They still do in the Bay. It's called Summer Jam. Rob Markman Right. It was where the radio station would bring the 50 artists out and let everybody get 10, 15 minutes and you know, 30, 40,000 people in the crowd and it's just a big day.

So I had done that a couple times and this particular year, it was 40's turn to be the headline. He's hot. He's about to, you know, big show. And I wasn't on the show that year. Some stuff had happened where I moved to Atlanta and a young group called the Loonies, I got five on it, had mentioned my name in a record. And they mentioned this one line that said,

it was trying to say, insinuate that they were a part of some situation that came my way and they made me move to Atlanta, which is far from the truth. Right. Far from the truth. Right. And I was totally offended that this record,

the line was, that's why the town got rid of Short. And they was talking about some gangster shit, whatever. That's why the town got rid of Short.

And I'm like, what? Like, we them guys in the streets. Me and my, we them guys. Right. And you can't get away with saying that.

You can't say that. And think everything okay. So, I was being diplomatic because the Looney's are literally connected. Right. I could tell you many layers of the story. Like, the way they get in the game is through people that I influence, my guys, all this

stuff. We family. Right. So, I don't go the route of, man, let's just go get these dudes. I'm not even thinking like that. I'm like, we're going to do this the right way. Summer Jam is coming up. That's the show where everybody in the Bay is going to be in the crowd.

The Loonies is on the show. E-40 on the show. We're going to step up in front of the crowd, me and the Loonies, and just say to the crowd, ain't no beef between us. You ain't got to explain the song. You ain't got to just step up there. If you say that in front of them, I'm cool. So I come to the show.

They tell me, you know, we can only give you four passes short, but they gave me them sticker passes. I'm like, I tell my guys, we good to go. I got four stickers. So we go to the show, four guys go in. I send one guy out with four passes, four more guys come in. One guy goes out with four passes, four more guys come in. We do that shit all day.

Right. So the loonies are on stage. And I'm telling the KMEL radio station people, let's do this thing I got in mind. Let's do it. Right. I'll hold up right here. Let's go get this person.

Now the loonies are off stage. They all missed the opportunity. So now we got all this friction backstage. Long story short, not the loonies, but their manager got roughed up a little bit. We went out in the crowd, watched the show.

He was a little upset. I guess the presence of us and the over-exaggeration of how we showed up and what we did prompted them to end the show before E-40 could perform.

Then they went to the scandal of Monday morning. They get on the radio and have a comedian, somebody funny, fake my voice and pretend like I called the radio station and the dude was like, is this too short?

I don't care if your name was E-100. You ain't getting no stage. I'm like, you know, I'll run this thing. And E-40 called me. He had that sort of anger that was not like an angry voice, but he's like, hey man, was you on the radio this morning?

I'm like, nah. He's like, so you sure you didn't call up there? I'm like, wasn't me. He's like, all right, hang up the phone. And then I ever circle back and start coming out about the call and this and that. And then E-40's the kind of guy, he said, I talked to you, and you said to me, man to man, it wasn't you. Did the investigation, wasn't me, it was somebody funny. And long story short, the radio station was trying to

make us enemies. They figured these big dudes, Lil Too Short, Vallejo, E-40 and them, The Click, you know, they're going to beat Too Short up and, you know, the program director was trying to, she was sending around fax machines, faxes and emails, like, ban Too

Short. It was terrible. So E-40, who I give all the credit to, was like, man, you know, we got to turn this negative into a positive. He really wanted to do that show. They really tried to tell him

it was all my fault and, you know, we need to be enemies, but we had already had a friendship. So we took all that and we made this song called Rapper's Ball,

which went platinum. It was our first record we did together. We probably done dozens of songs together. We did dozens of songs since then. And it was almost like he could have took that bait. Right. And just been like, if he would have said, yeah, okay,

partner, when I see you, then it would have just been no turning back. But he's a smart guy. Yes. And that was a great decision because I probably, if she were on the other foot, I don't know what my reaction would have been or yours.

It was a big day for him. Right. He had spent a lot of money out of his pocket to put this big show on. Right. And they shut it down and said,

well, blame too short. And it was just, you know, I always look back at that and I'm like, a radio station tried to end my career, tried to pit me against my number one ally, and all that backfired.

Because we like, our music is from us to the streets. Right. And you're going to put a commercial middleman in there, like, I'm going to alter this, and I can end your career with a fax machine no you can't so now that you mentioned that this transition is that what happening because we see a lot of beasts and maybe the beef is manufactured maybe it's real because a lot of these you know you rap about the proximity of where you grew up you talk about what you see what you've experienced

and because you've experienced doesn't make his experience any less or her experience any less. Is that what we're getting at? Because like you said, 40 could have went a totally different way, but he called you and stuff like a man. He's like, okay, I'm gonna do my due diligence. Too short said it wasn't him. I'm gonna do my due diligence, get to the bottom of it, as opposed to just capping off. And then ain't no turning back from that. Yeah, a lot of situations that we see happening now where we got injuries, loss of life,

could have been handled by a phone call from one man to another man. And just, what was it? Because clickbait is playing a part. Rappers are using the clickbait to get popular. It's the most,

it's one of the easiest ways to get free publicity is to pick a guy. You got to play the same position as you. Right. And you got, we didn't have social media

to call us. No, no, no. So the week before the game, you just start hitting him. You're sorry. You're weak. Hitting no, no. So the week before the game, you just start hitting him. You're sorry. You're weak. Hitting him with the personal. Right.

Your ex-girlfriend. Yeah. He's hot when he see you. Right. But this is a different kind of hot. They sitting there saying, you know, street stuff. Right. And then you got this whole ego thing.

You got to live up to it. Right. And it's so bad, man, where, you where in social media and playing with these streets and this music, you got albums out and videos and your face is popular, but you gonna send out a message on social media saying, I'm on such and such street, F you and your whole crew. And they pull up in five minutes and shoot you. You just told them where you was at. Like, it's really crazy to me because I know what my guys did when I was coming up.

I didn't do what they did. Right. They protected me from that. Right. When they did what they did, they said, man, you probably want to go because something about to happen. And they would even tell somebody, man, get short up out of here. And things would happen.

They would not say, come with us. We're about to go do this. Right. Or come stand on the corner while we do this. They wouldn't say that. They would literally say, stay away from what we do because we need you to be you. Right. We can't get in places that you get into if we don't have you.

So you were a guy for that. We got a guy for this other stuff. We got a guy for this other stuff. And I think that if a rapper is promoting beef in these days with the social media, you got a crew of 30, 40 people. There's only one popular face in your crew. Right. That's you.

You. So your guys do this and that. Y'all done incited some stuff. And then you provoking it with your song. When they see y'all around the town, they only know one face. And that's why I think, personally, I think we losing a lot of rappers is because,

you know, chop it off at the head. Man, that's the bread and butter. When you gun down the rapper, you just gun down five other employees' income. You just gun down school school kids clothes you know what i'm saying christmas right a birthday right dope birthday that was gonna happen you gunned down it and same thing with jail when the rapper do so much dirt with his homies and he ended up

catching the case of going to jail you locked up the income you feel me so i think that we're not looking at the big picture. When I say we, I'm talking about us in the hip-hop industry of the trinkle down, the economic trinkle down of these rappers getting murdered and going to jail. Like, man, you've got a rapper that's

making 50 grand a weekend, not a month. A weekend. Every weekend he go out and make 50 grand. That money go to the crew. We share. You know, you my role manager. You know what I'm saying? Right.

You my hype man. You my DJ. We from nothing. Right. And all that stops while you go do six months, a year, three years in jail. All that stops. So I'm like, we ain't thinking about the big picture. Wake up with football every morning

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Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You lead the bay and you go to the A. I don't know if a lot of people knew this, that Atlanta's been your home for two decades? Yeah, I mean, I stayed in Atlanta 15 years. Okay. I'm back on the West now.

Okay. I came back. So you was in the 90s, mid-90s. I'm from 93 to 2008. Okay. ATL. You know, your boy was there. Your boy was there.

I'm telling you. So you know all about 112. Come on, man. You know about Diamonds and Pearls. I know. You know, your boy was there. Your boy was there. I'm telling you. So you know all about 112. You know about Diamonds and Pearls. You know about the Gold Club. I know everything. Okay. I know it was Diamonds and Pearls, and 112 was at the other location. Yeah.

And then 112 came in. Next to the Kroger. Yeah. Disco Kroger. Yeah, that's where David Justice and, not David Justice, but Andre Rising, the left guy was in there, wild'm out in the grocery store. Atlanta Live, go down the stairs. And then 112 moved to the old Diamonds and Pearl location.

Chester Ridge. Thank you. I know all that, man. I know a lot. I know the original Magic City. Original Belfort. I'm the guy. And Blue Flame.

And Strokers. You name all them spots. I'm the guy. When the club and Strokas. Oh, you name all them spots. I'm the guy. When the club closed, I'm in there hanging out. I'm helping put the tables, the chairs on the table. Right. I'm in the, I'm in the, uh, I'm down there with the house mom. Right.

While all the girls is changing in their regular clothes. They don't let nobody down there. I'm down there kicking it. I got some wings. You been to the Claremont too, haven't you? Everywhere. Eat breakfast. See, people don't know about it.

I'm laughing. You're laughing. Because you know what goes on at the Claremont. Come on. I know everything. But yeah, I can tell you a lot about that ATL. When I got to ATL, it was 93. I went to the Freaknik.

April 93. I went to the Freak Neck. April 93. I heard about the Freak Neck. That Freak Neck happened in 91. It was a picnic. It happened in 92. Piedmont Park sold the whole park out. And they was like, man, this Freak Neck. I heard about it. So me and a whole bunch of people heard about it.

And Freak Neck probably went from 20,000 people to 400,000 in a year yeah i was there i moved to atlanta because of freak me that's my story at the time i was living in savannah i went back so i had went back finishing my schooling but i was living in savannah in the off season and i called my brother i kept hearing people talk about it i said well i'm gonna go to the freak i'm gonna go to freak i called my brother a and I kept hearing people talk about it. I said, well, I'm going to go to the Freaknik. I'm going to go to Freaknik. I called my brother, hey, bruh, they got this thing called Freaknik going off in Atlanta. He, like, went in it. I said, such and such.

He's like, okay, I'll meet you there. Freaknik 93 was life-changing. It was a monster. It was life-changing. We got wind of it, right? We took about probably like 15 dudes from Oakland, like some baller, a little baller crew. Yeah. We went out there.

We checked into a little hotel. It was like a bunch of Detroit dudes, Miami, some Cleveland dudes. And we kind of all clicked up. And our hotel was like a crew. And Freak Nick 93, I went for the weekend. Now, mind you, I'm born April 28th. Freak Nick is my birthday. That's the weekend. Myth. Freak Nick is my birthday. That's the weekend.

My birthday is Freak Nick. I check in the hotel three nights. I check out probably like three weeks later. And one of my homies from Oakland had moved to Atlanta. And he was like, man, what you doing in life? I'm like, man, I'm about to get me a little crib in the town. Probably spend about a half mil up on the hill on them little private roads or something. He was like, you going to spend $500,000 in Oakland?

He was like, let me show you what you get in Atlanta for $500,000. We rode around looking at houses. He's showing me these big old houses for like $350,000. I'm like, what? So it was planted. Yes. I went home. I get home.

Ain't nothing but drive-bys and shootings and violence. And I mean, seriously, man, at the time, friends of mine had split up into a street war. So friends, we're in a small town. Oakland is 400,000 population. Right. We got a small crew of homies that are now enemies. And it's really hard in that situation to determine what's coming your way. Because who picked what side?

I don't know. Who's friends? Who's mad at me because I hang out with them? It was really weird. And I'm going to Atlanta, taking little trips. And I just was like, man, I'm about to buy me a house out here. I went to Jack the Rapper, which is in August, four or five months after Freak Nick. I didn't tell nobody nothing.

We had Jack the Rapper. It's Tupac. It's Snoop Dogg. There's people everywhere. It's not Freak Nick, but it's still an ATL vibe. Oh, absolutely. I had a little rented car. I just drove over to southwest Atlanta by myself and bought a house. And then went back to the convention like I didn't even do it.

And by the end of the year, house was ready. I moved out. The rest is history, you know. That's how it happened. Atlanta was a hick town, too. It was nothing like it was, because I got there. I went to Freak Nick like you. I went to Freak Nick the first time in 92, went back in 93.

I called my agent. That was Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Started breaking down, weighing it down Sunday. I called my agent on Monday. I'm moving to Atlanta. I'm sending a guy up here. He's like, OK, we got this kind of, you got this much money to get a house? I said, I don't care

what you say. Wasn't nobody in Atlanta at that time. It was Bobby Brown. It was, I'm trying to think who was there that was,

that was like, really like, kicking up some dust. I remember my boy, Eric Sermon, got there kind of early. Yeah, well, I mean,

you had like, I think LA, I think Babyface. I'm saying, that was the gang. But, but no, but like, like, I think L.A., I think Babyface. I'm saying LeFace, that was the gang. Yeah. But. But no, but like you said, Bobby Brown was really the only, like.

Celebrity. Celeb that was there. Because I got there and I watched a little bit. And I seen Bobby Brown having so much fun. I was like, I'm about to do what he's doing. Because he's having too much fun. That's when the club stayed open all night. The club stayed open until 7 o'clock in the morning.

Yeah, yeah. I probably. I got there at the end of 93. much fun. That's when the club stayed open all night. The club stayed open until 7 o'clock in the morning. Yeah, yeah. I probably, I got there at the end of 93 and at that point in time I had a platinum album in 89, 90, 92, 93. I had four platinum albums when I got there. I show up, I got my little car, I got like 20 inch rims. They like, what are those? Flying saucers?

What is that? You know, I was like Michael Jackson. That's when you, somebody go, man, you from California. You know Michael Jackson? Of course I know Mike, what are you talking about? Man, I used to be at Magic City. I never really tell this story. I used to be at Magic City. I never really tell this story. I used to be at Magic City. And I had an endless supply of the really good California weed.

And literally, people like you, you want to tell some chick, I'm trying to kick with you. What I got to do? I was open that bag. They're like, what is that? I'm like, what is that? I'm like, that's the Abel Calley, baby. I was having so much fun in 93. But Atlanta, the Atlanta that we know now,

I'm proud that I was there to see it born. Young Dallas Austin, young Jermaine Dupri, young LaFace Records, Outkast came out of all that. Yeah, you got Looter, you gotkast came out of all that. Yeah. You got Luda. You got the T.I.s now. You got the Olympics came. Yeah, 96.

And then they started building up Atlanta with the Olympic money. And when the Olympics left, Atlanta was a nice city. Yes. It was nice. And from that point on, the music industry was establishing itself. And it turned into a whole new Atlanta. The Atlanta it is now.

I just, it doesn't make you proud when you go out there and you see the entrepreneurs and you see the dream, you see the fire in people trying to make it. Yes. Trying to make it like everybody ain't making it, but they be trying to make it. And that's like,

that to me is so important that you try because people have dreams and they sit around and they think of dreams, and they sit around, and they think of stuff, but they don't try it. You said something very interesting early. You said that you left the Bay because there are some things going on. Do you feel that rappers have to leave their hometown, have to leave where they grew up from in order to get away?

Because everybody is not happy Too Short is what he became they like too short when too short was same level we drinking we hanging out he ain't got no more than i got i ain't got no more than he got too short my dog hold on too short got more than i got man too short got three calls man too short they bumping too short stuff so in my my case, it was a lot of violence. And I think that if you close to that, you probably should separate yourself from it. Because anybody that's into that, that's close to you, shouldn't want you to be there.

If you're a ballplayer, if you're an entertainer, whatever it is, help that person. They should insulate you from that. Help people make it out when you say they got a chance. So I think that in certain situations, like I noticed long after I moved, long before I moved, that in the daytime, you shine a little bit. Come by and say hi, what's up?

You know, but at night, it's somebody that saw you earlier that day that was like f him and they might see you at the gas station of the store and just act on that so i used to have like my my um you know different uniforms yeah my uniform for hanging out at night was be i look at everybody else i'm like okay put on some black jeans put on a little black hoodie, maybe a little Raider hoodie or something. And, you know, don't put the fly, what you call it, on something cool. And just come out there, zip it up. You know what I'm saying?

Literally. Don't you stand out. Literally. I went and bought me a 1973 Camaro. I went and took it to the cheapest paint shop, got a cheap paint job where if the little green chip, it'll be blue underneath, you know what I'm saying? And put some hubcaps on it, had my little music inside.

I had a brand new engine. Rob Markman Right. Rob Markman It was reliable, but I would drive that at night and when you pull up, cats just be like, oh that's short. You know, you ain't really pulling up with five chains on and jumping out, acting like you the man. And it just irritates people a little bit, a show off. So what I'm saying is, in certain situations, you don't got to leave the hood.

Just understand that you rubbing it in folks' face. Right. All that social media posting saying you got way more than everybody else. Somebody don't like that, man. Right. And it might be somebody that normally wouldn't even be mad at you, but you making them mad. Right. And then you come around and you're showing off and you're jumping out and you ain't really

sharing because it ain't your obligation to necessarily share. Right. So you're irritating somebody. You might get a jealous reaction. So I think smart is the thing you do, man. You be smart. You be smart how you move. And if you gotta move out, if you don't have that respect from guys who fight good

and guys who are very violent, don't come around them after you make it and you know somebody been, you know, slight way bully situation or it's a dude that, like in the hood, it's dudes like this. You got respect.

All these dudes going to respect you. But it's just one dude that none of them is going to mess with if he go bad on you. Right. Oh, man, Deebo done went bad on you. Everybody who will protect you now, they ain't protecting you. Like, man, tell him to stop. No. Okay, that's Deebo.

Right. So, you know? Right. So, it's all these situations that you got to navigate through. Deebo might not be the guy who want a job. He don't want to be your bodyguard. He don't want nothing from you. He just don't like you because you a punk showing off.

Right. And you in it. Right. So you got to be smart, man. Right. You were in the 90s, in Atlanta in the 90s. Tupac was also in Atlanta. He was there.

In the 90s. He was an early one in Atlanta. He was there. In the 90s. He was enjoying it. He was an early one that got there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, and you were also in the studio with Biggie. What was it like? What was it, I mean, because I talked to Snoop and Snoop. What was Pac really like?

What was it like with being around him in the studio? You notice instantly that Biggie and Pac both, you notice instantly like these guys are not in the same universe as me. Because the way they, the way their method of recording is truly unbelievable. Biggie, no pen, no paper. Doesn't even seem like, you know, the one time I was around him when he wrote a classic rhyme, which was the world is filled. When the Remy's in my system, ain't no teller. You know what I'm saying? Classic. We were in the room and it was drink. It was smoking. It was girls, it was loud, it was

storytelling, it was jokes, it was just a lot of distractions. So we were working on this song, Puffy got the first verse. Carl Thomas is on the hook. The beat is already done. Carl Thomas and Puffy already on it. Puff is playing it, doing his dance thing. And it was Puff's, I forget how his verse started, but he come in slick. Right. And Puff at the time wasn't really known for raps.

He hadn't done a lot on Biggie's first album. Right. This was the second album. Right. And he was proud. He was hitting the knob and like, look how I sound. He crafted his away from everybody. And it was however he did it, he was proud. He was hitting the knob and like, look how I sound. He crafted his away from everybody and it was however he did it, he did it. So that's the first

phase. I'm in the room, I'm supposed to be doing my little 16 bars, but it's a lot of distractions. It's the girls, I'm drinking it, he's drinking, let me hit that. Rob Markman I need to concentrate. Rob Markman So Biggie right there, we laughing, we stealing, and he's like, I'm ready. What you mean you're ready? What's he talking about he's ready? And he go in there, and he's like, he tell everybody,

like, watch him do this in one take. And he go in there, he go, when the rim is in my system, ain't no telling. And he stop. He go, hold on, hold on, hold on. Take it back. He's like, watch. And the next take, he rap that whole verse in one take. And you know, when you, this is what I like, watch. And the next take, he rapped that whole verse in one take. And

you know, this is what I like about rap, whether it's on you or you put it on somebody else, he came out that booth and everybody was like, woo. So I'm sitting here, two verses on the song, the hook is there, the beat, ain't nothing but an open 16 and me i'm like oh man like oh man it was it was it's dudes like that put you in that situation how he did that with all that noise and him talking and right how did he put that in his head and memorize you know jay-z went on to develop that technique and then little wayne, I'm throwing down the pen and now, based on Biggie, Evolution and

Notorious Big, ain't nobody trying to use pen and paper because it's sort of like a straight jacket. It's limiting your freedom of how you go. So, I found my way up out of it. I boxed my way out of it. I love those situations.

I learned that when you get around somebody that's better than you and you ain't got no choice, you get better. You have to. And Tupac was a whole different beast because he actually would take a pen and paper, and I don't know if you've seen any of his written stuff.

He writes really fast, and it's really like it has emotion in the pen. And I don't know if you've seen any of his written stuff. Yeah. He writes really fast. Right. And it's really like, like it has emotion in the pen. And he, and one night I remember in particular, he came in and did something on my album, a song called, This Is How We Do It. And he came in and he's like, hey man, we had already made this song. He's like, man, let me get on that song. Like, you too, Pac, get on it.

And he gets the pen. He gets the paper. And he starts writing. And I'm watching him. And he's writing a line. And he's writing. As fast as you can just keep writing, he just keeps writing. Like, when I write a rhyme, I rap it.

I'm thinking. Right. You know, it take me about 30 minutes. It could take me an hour and get it like a cool 16 or something, you know? This man wrote this verse in like five minutes. As fast as he could write it. And I'm like, he had to know this beforehand or something. But when you find out, he's been doing that everywhere. And he gets in there and he just says, his opening line was,

I finger fucker with my diamonds. Like, you just thought of that? Like, you just come in here? And everybody said it man. They're like, Tupac I have like two verses written by the time you like just starting your first couple lines and he in the booth dancing circles around you. Go listen to a lot of the songs he did with his crew. Got me thrown off now. With the Gaddafi and all that.

And the Outlaws, thank you. Tupac do the first two verses and then they come on. And they say a lot of songs he got with people, he's already on verse two before you can even start. And he just, he go in the booth

and rap it so fast while you still writing. He's like, catch start. And he'd go in the booth and rap it so fast while you're still writing. He's like, catch up. And I don't know how these guys come up with this. I don't know. I just think it's, I wouldn't even call it genius. I would just, I think that, think about people who die young.

They seem to, and do great things. They seem to have an urgency that they gotta hurry up and do this because they seem to know and do great things, they seem to have an urgency that they got to hurry up and do this because they seem to know ain't a lot of time. Right. And Tupac's case, he rapped about it multiple times. He rapped about dying young. Yes.

Getting murdered. People don't realize Tupac was, what, 25? 25. Biggie would have been 25, too. Yeah. And it's hard to accomplish that much at that age. That's the thing where people don't realize. You would think that Biggie and Tupac had 10, 15, 20-year careers.

Like five. We take Tom Brady away at 25, he's not a legend. We take Tushar away at 25, ain't no legend. Yeah. Like, I need time to get to this. Right. He didn't have a Jay-Z career. He didn't have an Jay-Z career.

He didn't have an LL Cool J or an Ice Cube or Snoop Dogg. The longevity. But I honestly think that somewhere in there, you get the insight. I know people who weren't as popular as them that die young, and they did great things. Right. Great things.

I'm like, how do you know to do this? Right. How do you know you got to do this much? So I think those guys were gifts to hip hop. Right. Tupac brought, Biggie brought that style to no pen and pad. A lot of cadences, a lot of stuff. You know, the big guy swag.

But, you know, Tupac, I think, man, if you look at him, how many rappers had tattoos, thug life on their stomach before Tupac? Yeah. You know what I'm saying? How many people was trying to, little skinny niggas was trying to tat it all up and he was, you know, he was emulating gang bangers, you know, Crips and Bloods, but at the same time that's the look of hip hop now.

Right. Like you can't really be a rapper. Like I'm a rapper with no tattoos. I've been laughed at. Girls be like, let me see your tattoos. I ain't got none. You ain't got no tattoos. I'm like, I was before Tupac, baby.

You tell a story about the road trip from Miami to ATL to be on Jay-Z's Big Pimpin'. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, not Big Pimpin'. Yeah, it was Big Pimpin'. Big Pimpin'. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, not Big Pimpin', no. Yeah, it was Big Pimpin'. It was Big Pimpin', yeah. Big Pimpin', yeah. That was the whole thing with Pimp C, UGK.

Yep. Pimp C and Bun B and the Big Pimpin' song. And I hear Bun talk about it, and I knew the story. I knew a little bit of it because the label, Jive Records, we're all on the same label. We're trying to get Pimp to do the song. Right. And I knew Pimp's opinion on the situation.

And it was open and shut. If you don't fool with Tupac, I don't fool with you. Right. No bending of the rules. Right. We're talking about a guy who never met Tupac. Right. He didn't even know him.

And he's like, I'll ride with Pac till the rules. We're talking about a guy who never met Tupac. Right. He didn't even know him. And he's like, I'll ride with Pac to the end. So anybody who ever said this on Tupac, ever, Pimp C didn't like him. Just never would fool with you ever, ever, ever. So he put Jay-Z in the category of, I don't think Tupac liked him. Tupac wouldn't, you know, as Biggie homie or whatever.

I ain't fooling with him. But Bun B, the label, myself included, was trying to say, you know, Jay ain't like that, bro. Jay ain't Jay. You know, it's a great opportunity. Right. It's Jay-Z getting at you. Right. Do it.

I ain't doing it. You know, all this stuff. So whatever Bun and all them did, they talked him into it. The song got recorded. But Pimp still had an attitude about the East, West. He's from Port Arthur, Texas, but he's mad about how y'all feel about Tupac. Right. And Bun B would give you way more insight on Pimp's state of mind about this. But I was given the task of Pimp won't go to the video, the two-day video shoot.

I think it really was a one-day video shoot. They was going to shoot it in Trinidad at Carnival. Right. And this fool got a song with Jay-Z, a video at Carnival in Trinidad, and he ain't going. Like, if Jay-Z would have called me and said, do the song, when? You know the video, Carnival, when? My flight, when? Exactly.

Now, C. C was hard headed. So I was given the task of, can you get him to come to the video? They're going to add another day and shoot Miami. They got to get C. It was a big budget video. I think Hype Williams directed it. So Pimp C had just bought a brand new Mercedes. He loved his new Mercedes.

And I think I had just got this little Porsche. So, I was like, we should... He knew about the video. I wasn't scamming him or nothing. I was like, we should get the cars and go down to the video shoot. You know what I'm saying? We get down there, stay a couple weeks,

get some house, you know, whatever. And I made it a thing. And he probably house, you know, whatever. And I made it a thing. And he thought I'd show up, you know, if I said it. Because I was, just like he looked up to Tupac, he looked up to me. Right. And in all situations, Pimp would be like throwing a fit. And they'd be like, man, go talk to your little brother.

Man, go talk to him. Right. I'd go in there and be like, can't talk him down. But you could throw some logic in there. Be like, see, we came here to get the money, man. Them people out there want to see the show, man. You know what I'm saying? Right.

These people, man, they'll get the money to do the show. This is how we do it, bro. We get at them, deal with them later. And he'd be like, all right, if you say so. But before that, he was throwing stuff around like, F everybody, man. I don't get money. So we took the road trip. say so. Before that, he was throwing stuff around like, F everybody, man. Get money out of them. We took the road trip. Got him down there. Did his singing. We stayed in Miami. We stayed in Miami for a few

weeks. They had a ball. We really did kick it. You love sports. I'm a sports fan. You're a sports junkie. You love it all. Basketball, football, boxing, Bay Area,

Bay Area sports fan. Very biased. You biased. Very biased. So you, Steph Curry, above all. I'm Warriors,

the Warriors. You're the Warrior. You know, I was Monta Ellis. You was there before Steph and Clay and Draymond. You was, what did they call themselves?

That was the Matt Barnes, Stephen Jay. What did they, what did they? The We Barnes, Stephen Jay. What did they call themselves? The We Believe team. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We Believe. We Believe. We had to run TMC, you know?

Yeah, yeah. But look at this, man. We're the Warriors, man. We really question the Mate trade. Mate Ellis. Like, you're going to trade Mate? Who will be our point? The little kid with the weak ankles?

Yeah. People was mad. And Steph, you know, I really think he was that little kid all the way up until he got that goatee. When he got that goatee, when that goatee came. He came in. He grew up. I remember the first time seeing Steph Curry. The Warriors was, they used to club.

You know, the new Warriors don't really club. They a little more refined than, you know, the Steve Kerr Warriors. But the old Warriors, Baron Davidson and them, Stephen Jackson and them, they went to the map bars. They was in the club every night. And I was like, who is that little boy with the Warriors? Who is the little boy? He's like, oh, that little boy with the Warriors? Who's the little boy? He's like, oh, that's the backup point guard.

I was like, he's like a little kid, man. He was a little kid. And he's Steph Curry now, so, you know, for real. So, short athletes, give me your, no, first of all, you say Biggie and Tupac, obviously. Give me your Mount Rushmore rappers. Dang, that's a tough one, man. That's really a tough, tough, tough one.

I'm from a different era than most hip-hop fans. And, you know, with me, you can't do nothing without Melly Mell. And a lot of people ain't going to put him there, but he put the MC in it. He was the first one there, but he put the MC in it. He was the first one to me to just put the MC in it. Yep. Like in it, like on a, not on a New York scale, on a commercial.

National scale. Yeah. Yeah, he was in it. This is a songwriter, rapper, hit maker, Grandmaster Flash, Fierce Five lead rapper, Melly Mel. You know, that's just a tough question, man, because I'm biased on the West Coast. Okay, well, how about this?

Give me your West Coast. Give me your Mount Rushmore West Coast. Well, we just made the Mount Westmore group. So that's it? Which is my guys. So you got 40, you, Snoop, and Q. And I got DJ Quick,

and I got Warren G. Nah, you ain't got before. You got four of my rush, but you ain't been adding no heads to my rush, boy. But, hey, of all time, man, you know,

I would put Melly Mel up there just because of his impact on hip-hop, and I would put Jay-Z up there because I feel like Jay-Z, I don't know where biggie and jay-z would have ended up right as brooklyn brothers if they both had a long career i don't know where they would have went what puffy would have did with big and where it would evolve to but i do

know that jay-z is an extension of biggie and i don't i do know that he I don't notice for a fact, but I do know that he took on Everything Jay-z was gonna be and everything big he was gonna be any say I'm wear both these both these fucking coats and Hold it down for Brooklyn, right? So where he got to is definitely it Rapper wise you can't put dr. Dre in it because he's not a writing rapper, but he's Dr. Dre and he had the best resume, he got the best branches on his tree of Eminem and Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent.

He's a producer. Rob Markman, But rap wise, man, it's just too many. It's too many to just go down the line and go, who's the GOAT? Because there's too many GOATs, man. I got my boy Scarface. I mean, he's GOAT status on the songs he wrote. Like Scarface, you're going to say, Scarface, but go back and listen to the words he wrote. Like the words he wrote, it's so poetic.

Yeah, they're a different style because people don't give... The words he wrote is so poetic. Yeah, they're a different style because people don't give KRS, people don't give KRS's due. But I'm old enough, you and I are old enough to know who KRS-One is. Big Daddy Kane. Kumo, I mean- Kumo did, he was a guy for a while. Rock him. Rock him.

He changed a lot of the way people rap. Right. You know what I'm saying? A lot of people brought a lot to the table, man. So it's hard to goad it with me, man. I can't top five nothing. I'm not arguing no top five arguments. I'm not agreeing with no top five that you got.

It's just not. I can't even top ten it. Not even top ten? I can't, man. Okay, well, give me your Mount Rushmore basketball. Now you can do that. Hoop, let's see. I'm definitely going to go with Magic and Jordan.

Okay. We'll put them on there. Okay. Magic and Jordan. Okay. We'll put them on there. Okay. I got to witness, and I've seen the college clips,

and I've seen a lot of the youngster. It's hard. You know, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, man. Okay. Lou Alcindor. You know what I mean? It's savage. Yeah.

Because we picture his end of his career when he wasn't really going back on defense. But a lot led up to that. Yeah. To still hold. Does he still hold that scoring title? He does. He has it for another year and a half until LeBron. LeBron, yep. You know LeBron going to get that.

He's coming. He got to. He got to. That's part of why he's hanging around. Yeah, yeah. LeBron. I'm going to give LeBron. They talk the LeBron, Steph Curry thing, but I'm like, I have a theory.

You might dispute it. I know you big up LeBron a lot. I have a theory. What's that? That later on, they're going to introduce the technology of human hybrids. And they're going to let us know that LeBron was one of the first.

Like, he was partially a robot. 6'9", 250, could run, could jump, body like Karl Malone. And I always thought it when he was a youngster, because he was a grown man at 16. Right. Literally a grown man. And he held up. And he's still, like, coming down that lane.

Powering on you. I pity the fool that take a charge from LeBron. Like, get out the way. I literally see players. Like, you watch the game a different way than me. But you jump out the way when he comes. Yeah, you ain't got no pads on. Why am I taking an elbow to the chair?

Why am I taking a knee to the chair? I see dudes take their charge and lay there like this. Yeah, I ain't talking to you. He's a robot. Yeah. He's a robot. He done a lot of robot stuff in the game, too. Appreciate it.

Yes, sir. Thank you for stopping by. Wait, don't wait until the end. What's that? Because I need to know. Because I thought you and your brother was twins for years. Who the oldest? He is.

He's the oldest, okay. I'm three years younger. For real? Yeah. You get the twin stuff a lot? No, well, no, not really. But, no, people mistake me for him. They say, well, were you the one that played in Green Bay? Mm-hmm. I mean, people know we're brothers, but they always think... You know I'm a

Raider now, so... Man, y'all... You know I've always been a Raider. You gotta get you a new team, bro. You gotta get you a new team. Y'all ain't gonna do nothing. We about to get us a quarterback. Everything AMC West, you know. Yeah. You know how we get down to AMC West. Oh, yeah. Ain't no love

lost between nobody in that division. Yeah, so where y'all from? Born in Chicago, raised in South Georgia. Okay, so down in Savannah way. Yeah, see, I went to school in Savannah. I'm about 65 miles from Savannah. Okay, so I know everything geographically.

Okay, yeah, so you, not only where do you live, so you parked, you all down there in the Macon, Savannah, going down there, Georgia. Columbus, all that. Yeah, okay, South, yeah. I know it all. I know it all. I know every little town in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas. I done. Georgia. Columbus. All that. Yeah, okay. South. Yeah. I know it all. I know it all. I know every little town in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas.

I didn't hit the back roads. I didn't get to chitlin' the circuit. Bruh. For real. Yeah. We changed the time by a short. Thank you, bruh. Good stuff. All my life.

Been grindin' all my life. Sacrifice. Hustle paid the price. Want a slice. Got the roll of dice. That's why. All my life. I be grindin' all my life. Yeah. All my life. Been grindin' all my life. Sacrifice. I'll see you next time. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal.

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