Drink Champs - 50Sips

Episode Date: August 31, 2023

50 Sips celebrates Hip-Hop from the perspectives of legends and future legends of the culture. A roundtable-style chat with Grandmaster Caz, MC Sha-Rock, Bun B, Scar Lip, Symba, Risk, NEMS, DJ Stakz, and BBoy Moy – hosted by N.O.R.E and DJ EFN from Drink Champs, and Cipha Sounds and Peter Rosenberg from Juan Ep is Life.  The discussion follows Hip-Hop from its inception on the streets of New York and beyond through the key pillars – The DJ, MC, Breaking, and Graffiti. The conversation delivers unparalleled insight and stories from the artists who live it. Here’s a 50 Sip toast to Hip-Hop.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. down that day. On Medal of Honor, Stories of Courage, you'll hear about these heroes and what their stories tell us about the nature of bravery. Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A lot of times big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. Small but important ways. From tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chastain. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Why is a soap opera Western like Yellowstone so wildly successful? The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network. So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th, where we'll delve into stories of the West and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today. Listen to The American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Good morning. Good morning.

Good afternoon. Good evening. Good night. Nah, we're not starting like that. Let's go. Let's do this the right way. What it good be hoping to do for Subway? It's your boy N-O-R-E.

Hold up, hold up. It's your boy DJ E-FN, and this is Clean Chips! Our intro doesn't include making noise. That's why it sucks. Yeah! And he comes in with the catchphrase. Why does it have to be abuse right away? Go ahead, do your cute intro. Go ahead. No, no, we're done. We're done. We're done. Hey, listen, I'm Cyp cute intro. Go ahead, go ahead. No, no, we're done. We're done, we're done. All right, listen,

I'm Cyrus Sounds. I'm Peter Rosenberg. And we're from One Up Is Life, the first ever hip-hop podcast ever. Ever first. Ever first,

but we're joined by the most successful hip-hop podcast. That's right. N-O-R-E and DJ E-F-S. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. And we're also joined by

an incredible cast of legends to celebrate Hip Hop 50. We got newcomers who are going to be legends. We have absolute icons in our midst. EFN, this is a crazy collection of people. This is wild right here. We got pioneers. We got people doing it right now. The game hasn't stopped.

Hip Hop is 50 years old right now. 50 years old. We're calling this 50 Sips, ladies and gentlemen, because we're getting drunk. Okay. Let's go. Okay. I want hip-hop. Toast to that.

Yeah. Toast to that. Toast to hip-hop. Whose crazy idea was this panel? It's a great idea. It's a conglomeration of some monster energy. Was it monster go in the boardroom

and say, let's just do some fucking crazy shit? That's how they sung it, too. Yeah. It's like, let's just do some fucking crazy shit. That's how they sound, too. It's like, let's put everybody together from every generation. Whose idea was, I thought you were going to claim it, Rosenberg. No? I'm happy to claim it. But I would be utterly lying.

Now, this is super exciting. EFN, can you announce the man sitting next to you, please? This is crazy, man. Legend. Grandmaster Kaz does not need to do that. I mean, I... Thank you. It's like hip-hop is officially here if Grandmaster

Kaz is in the building. I may be the only one that was 50 years. You're really the only one. You don't look good. You look fantastic. What about introducing who's next to you? I mean, guys, we're talking about

the original female MC of B-Girl going back to 1976. Shaw Rock, ladies and gentlemen. But also, let me add that to you. 1977, I became the first female MC of hip-hop culture.

Before records. Before records. Before 1979. Wow, wow, wow. That's my sister. We on Rock the Bells radio Monday through Friday. Yeah. That's right. Every single day.

And let me just start. Before we get to all these other introductions, I do want to start with you guys, the OGs, the true OGs here. How has Hip Hop 50 been treating you so far? Have you been enjoying the celebration? Most definitely. We've been on radio for about almost two years now. And so we chronologically go over the history of the culture on a regular. Since we've been on the radio, that's what our show is about.

And this year has been amazing. I mean, we saw it coming. You know, we talked about it. But actually, when it came in, everything came to fruition. And it's like, you know, we just hope that it continues in year 51. Like we talked about earlier, this is important. This is a milestone. And this is going to be our first 50th and our last 50th. Because we're not going to be around to see another 50th.

We will not be here for the next one. So it's extra special to us. My thing, yeah, my thing is that, and this is what I want everybody to understand. When we're talking about the 50th anniversary of hip-hop culture, there is no way that we are supposed to be just celebrating the rap aspect of hip-hop culture. The culture and all its aesthetics of hip-hop culture, all the elements, the DJ, the B-girl, the B-boy, the graffiti artist, you know what I'm saying?

The MC. We are supposed to be celebrating it. For everybody that's watching this show right now, if you're not celebrating all of those aspects, you are not representing hip-hop culture to its fullest. You're not. You're not. These guys came with an agenda i like this no no this is something that i preach no no this is something that i preach all the time this is something that i preach all the time and my thing is that you don't have to be out

there b-girl and b-boying you know but the dj the mc we're all celebrating these are what encompass what hip-hop is these are the elements that is called hip hop from the time that Keith Cowboy first coined the name Keith hip hop culture. This is what hip hop is about. And so when you hear, you know, the status and you hear some people, you know, saying, oh, you saying, yes, yes. You got to know where that came from. You got to understand the history behind it. So there's no gender there. It's just the history of the culture that we're celebrating

50 years of hip-hop. And you got to know what that means and it entails. Bottom line. I feel like make some noise for that. And it's funny you say that

because I feel, you know, like you said, the four elements, DJing, graffiti, emceeing, and then breaking. And later on, they added knowledge, beatboxing. That came later. But said, the four elements, DJing, graffiti, emceeing, and then breaking. And later on, they added knowledge, beatboxing. That came later.

But those are the four core elements that encompass what hip-hop is. And I feel breaking sometimes gets treated lesser on the totem pole. So we got a B-Boy legend, B-Boy Moy, in the building. Who's been part of taking breaking to the Olympics. So, bro, come on, man. Yo, man, first off, I just want to say it's an honor and a blessing to be

surrounded by legends in the game. I started breaking in 95, but to be surrounded by so much history, I mean, honestly, I get chills to be here and to just elevate the culture and where breaking is going with now Paris 2024 and breaking now being on the Olympic platform. I think breaking is finally going to receive that reinforcement that is always needed because back in the 80s,

I mean, it was definitely seen in movies like Flashdance or documentaries like Style Wars. And breaking was elevating the culture in so many ways, but the breaker was always getting pushed back in the back burner. But thanks, Chirac, for bringing that to light, because the B-Boys and the B-Girls were a big piece of the culture, and it got to be combined together and reinforced. And I just love that, just the concept and the idea of hip hop culture growing and to be a part of it,

man, it's a true blessing. Well, it was hard to see B-Boying and breaking because think about it. Like the DJ, it plays the music and it's part of foundation. The MC's original job was to pick up the DJ. And then you take graffiti where your goal was for the graffiti to be seen everywhere.

So that's why they put it literally on a train so it would move around the city how it was breaking represented, you know what I'm saying? So now it's going to be in the Olympics and on the main screen. It's going to show a whole other level of culture. Look, the B-Boys, the B-Girls, they don't exist without the DJ. They don't exist without the MC. They don't exist without the MC. They don't exist without the artwork. All together, it paints a beautiful picture.

And I just hope that the IOC, the International Olympic Committee, can really reinforce that. Because, you know, the opportunity of being part of a big platform, you know, everyone has a little fear that the essence of hip-hop culture might be diluted, but it's important for people like us to kind of voice our thoughts and opinions and kind of bring that expertise to the table and make sure that we go out there and do that. I just want to see what commentators they have from NBC calling the breakouts. That's the conversation we had, right? Because I'm a B-girl in 1976, right? And so, of course, you know, Kool Herc, 73, you know, father of hip-hop.

We coined him the father of hip-hop because, you know, he had the A1B boys, the Keith and Kevin, which, you know, was called the legendary Lynn Twins, and he changed their name, you know, recently, right? No, for real. And then you had Trixie, the first B-boy. Hold on, hold on. No, that's true. I'm laughing. I'm laughing. No, for real. And then you had Trixie, the first B-boy. Hold on, hold on. No, that's true. I'm laughing. No, it's true. I'm laughing at...

I didn't hear what you said. No, I'm kicking the finistics. I'm laughing at when you said that his face was like... No, that's what they were called by Cocoa Rock back in the days, you know, the first MC. So we knew them as the Tw twins, but as they got older... How did you know them as Rosamond? How did you know them? Twins.

I didn't know twins. Thank you, bud. They recently changed their name. They recently changed their name. I'm sorry, man. They recently changed their name. But the thing is, what I'm saying is,

like you said, as far as the B-girls and the B-boys, and we'll get to the graffiti, you know, how they intertwine with hip-hop, you know, in general. But yeah, the B-boys and B-girls are underground, and my thing has always been, listen, if they go into the graffiti, you know, how they intertwine with hip-hop, you know, in general. But yeah, the b-boys and b-girls are underground. And my thing has always been, listen, if they go into

the Olympics, you got to know where it came from. And yes, people like to say, oh, b-boylism, b-girlism started back, you know, in the 30s, you know, when you had, you know, different older people, you know, breakdancing. But we're talking about hip-hop culture. And Cass has this saying that, you know, hip-hop culture and Cass has this saying that you know hip-hop didn't invent anything we reinvented everything so I hate when people come yeah well it started in 30s and started in the 40s no hip-hop was reinvented and all of those elements were reinvented you know to uh you know to make up the culture of hip-hop so I would like to see and we talked about that of how breakdancing is going to or b-girlism or b-boylism is going to, how it's going to affect, you know.

I want to see it taken from the beginning to how it is now. One thing we've got to note is that I don't think hip-hop would have grown internationally the way it did without the b-boys and b-girls and graffiti. Because before they understood the lyrics, they was dancing to the music. They was tagging up. It's none without the other. I can't wait to see the Bulgarian Olympic b-boy team. No, I heard the

Bulgarians are fire. You gotta watch out for Bulgarians. We started with the Uproxx. The Uproxx in the 70s and then it progressed to the floor moves and all of that. Maybe they'll create a sequel to Cool Runnings. Right, right. About the Bulgarian b-boy team? That'll be something.

Syfe. Rodenberg, you can shout out the Bulgarian twins. You shout out the Bulgarian twins. Syfe, if only we had someone here from the graph world to, you know, explain the graffiti side of things. You mean the OG LA graffiti legend Risk?

I'm like a fly on the wall here, man. I'm just listening to everything. It's an honor to be here. This is fucking amazing. Risk, can you tell us a little bit about your origins, your origin story, and when you went to New York from L.A. for the first time? Yeah, man.

So, you know, I was introduced to graffiti from somewhere from New York, and I saw the trains, and Star Wars, and, Star Wars and subway art. That was like the Bible to us, stuff like that. And all I wanted to do was paint trains, right? So we didn't have trains. I went and painted some freight trains.

That wasn't the same feeling. I graduated high school. I hitchhiked that day to New York to hit trains. And I was like, I was on a mission. I'm sorry, what is exactly hitchhiking? What is exactly that? When you put your thumb up and look for a ride. I thought that was just a mission. I'm sorry, what is exactly hitchhiking? What is exactly that? When you put your thumb up and look for a ride. I thought that was just on TV.

People really do that. You got to try one of these days. I didn't even get out of Hollywood. Someone's like, what are you doing? I said, I'm hitchhiking. You don't have to pay trains. He goes, you're fucking stupid. He goes, take my car.

I'm like, what? He's an actor. He goes, I'll pay you to drive the car. I said, great. So it was a little easier. But I made it to New York, and I met some great legendary dudes, Ghost and Vin and Reese and Ket and Chino and all these dudes within like five minutes of getting to New York.

And they were like, what are you doing? I told them, they said, that's fucking wild. They go, you're going to get killed. You're fucking out of your mind. And they hooked me up, man. And they took me in, and they took me into all the yards and the trains, and we started painting. I met Lee and all these dudes, and to Henry's studio and it was fucking amazing.

And that was my introduction to graffiti, to becoming like on the platform of graffiti with all these giants, so to speak. And I was always embraced by New York and I was a West Coast dude and I have a New York style and that's where it came from. That's how it started. You know, I was started in 83 and yeah, love it. Love the art form. I appreciate every aspect of it. I appreciate every aspect of hip hop. And let me let me co-sign with you, sir. When you talk about graffiti art, a lot of people like to say, OK, so graffiti, you know, it was had their own their own section. Right. But how we came in to play hip-hop culture is because you had the people like Buddy Esquire, who was the king of flyers in New York, and then you had Anthony

Rowling, and then you had other artists that were painting on the trains in New York City. And what happened was in 1978 switched the whole game of graffiti coming into play with hip-hop culture. And how that started was is that they took what they were doing on the trains and transitioned it to flyers. And so that's how, and a lot of people say, okay, well, hip hop, you know, graffiti is not flyers, but that's how it came into play with hip hop through the graph artists that were painting on the trains,

like the Buddy Esquires and Anthony Rowleys that would transfer that information over to flyer makers. And so Buddy Esquire became the first graffiti artist, you know, that make flyers. He was a part of my group, the Funky 4 Plus 1 and the Brothers Disco. And he began to start making flyers for every single group artist that was out there, you know?

And so that's how, you know, graffiti intertwined with that. And he started drawing graffiti on people's pants. Like I said, graffiti. Huh? Make it sound French. Graffiti. Well, I'm living in, I'm from the Bronx, right? I'm from the Bronx, but I'm living in Texas now, so you get the Bethel book world, right?

So you get the Bethel book world. So what happened is that he started drawing on the pants and the dungarees, you know, the eight ball jackets and all that stuff. And on my DJ's car, DJ Breakout on the dune buggy, he started doing graffiti on dune buggies and cars. And that's how graffiti came over to hip hop culture as one of the elements for hip hop culture. I want to look at graffiti and eat linguine. Hey, Bun, can you tell us a little bit about your coming up, your first sort of engagement with hip-hop? I always ask that to New York artists, but growing up in Texas, what was your first engagement with hip-hop culture? That's a great question, actually. So I had a stepmom that was really into music, and she would keep a lot of music around.

And it was a mix of music, right? So there was some hip-hop, early hip-hop thrown in there, but then there was also, like, Millie Jackson and Dolomite and, like, real wild shit, right? You know, so as hip-hop started to become more reflective, I was like, okay, well, the shit they were making then is kind of like this, but with different beats and all of that. But I think for me, it was obviously the message

was the first record that I was like, damn, broken glass everywhere. What the fuck are these people living in, right? Like, we had projects. Like, we had, no, but we had projects. It was crazy, but it wasn't broken glass everywhere, right? You know what I'm saying? People picking on his stuff and nothing.

Just don't care. They were being bitches, right? Of where they lived at. And the more you listen to it, like me being in Texas in the small town of Port Arthur, I'm like, yo, this shit happening in L.A. that kind of sound like it's happening here. This shit happening in New York that kind of sound like it's happening here. I just don't get those words, right? And then you start meeting people. You start to break down the lexicon.

Oh, that's what that mean? We just call it, like, stabbing a nigga. So that's what buck 50 mean. That's what, okay, all right, cool. And then you start, oh, I'micon. Oh, that's what that mean? We just call it, like, stabbing a nigga. So that's what buck fifty mean. That's what, okay, alright, cool. And then you start, oh, I'm like, oh yeah, and then the ghetto boys made the song, you know, the world is a ghetto. And we realized that everything that we're doing, everybody

else is doing, we use different words, we say it a different way, we say graffiti, right, but we all know what we're talking about. But I wanted to be an active part of it, right? I came in as a fan with a real big appreciation of lyricism, and I was like one day, I saw Microphone Fiend, and I was like,

I want to be cool like that. Like the video, black and white, walking with the light, had the little dude with the chain. I said, I'm going to get old, I'm going to have kids, my little man going to have a gold chain, we're going to be fly, all that type of shit. You know what I'm saying? But it was something that I felt like I had to be a part of. It felt so different from everything else that everybody was doing.

And there was a clear entry point for me to get in. So I started out actually breakdancing first. You know what I'm saying? My move was to suicide because I was a big dude. You used cardboard? You used cardboard? Yes. Oh, hell.

I remember going to break in two, we just started break dancing in the movie theater. Wow. You know what I'm saying? We just started battling. But when I picked up the pen and I started writing, and I was trash, to be very real. My first rhymes were trash. They were garbage.

But I was on beat, which was better than half the niggas in the group I was with. They ain't even about to take a beat. But I wanted to be a great MC, right? I wanted to be where if I ever did go to New York and I met somebody that I looked up to, like a Big Daddy or a Coogee Rap or Biz Markie or Mass Ace, I was a big Juice Crew fan, obviously. Because they were like one of the people that perpetuated 808 bass, right? And in South, bass was a big part of the culture. So it was very easy for us to enjoy New York music.

But I wanted, when I met MCs, to be like, yo, you can rap. You know what I'm saying? It wasn't, and when I started rapping in 88, it was not about getting money. It was not about being rich. I never knew if I would ever make any money off of hip-hop. I didn't know if I would ever put a record out. But I wanted

people to say I was a dope MC. And here I am 32 years later, still beating niggas up on the mic. You know what I'm saying? Cool. And can we add burgers to the hip hop element? Yeah. The number one burger in America.

Oh yeah, and I do burgers, too. Let's make some noise for Trill Burger. By the way, if you've never been there, it's one of the coolest spots in the world. You go there, you can just chill out. No one's going to bother you. They're so used to stars there. Like, everybody's VIP.

It's like, and I stayed online like a regular person. I paid my tab like a regular person, because I am a regular person. And it's a great spot. But the thing about it is, when you think about, that's hip-hop. Like, that shit is hip-hop. Like, it almost should be on every, you know, on your rider. Like, on your rider. Like, I don't even care if you don't go to Texas Radio.

Not to diss someone on the radio. I don't even care if you don't. You go straight to Trillburgers and get your hip-hop experience on. No, because there's hip-hop music playing. There's murals on the wall. Like, you know, we try to make sure. For me, it's about cultural experience, right? We're all representatives of the culture.

We all inherently carry culture with us. So every time we come outside and people meet us, we may be the only representation of hip hop that they see. You know what I'm saying? So I feel like my restaurant, it may be one of the first cultural buildings that they may come to and actually experience a hip hop environment. So I needed to look like it's true. I needed to feel like it's true. I needed to sound like it's true, but we already know the burger tastes Trill. But that's what I want when somebody from New York or Miami or L.A., whatever, when they come down, they should feel like I'm in Houston right now. I'm in Bambi shit right now. You know what I'm saying?

Because that's all we do is provide cultural experiences for people. We're these cultural conduits to the world. And sorry to say that, but because so many people, besides Jay-Z, rappers would never be the entrepreneurs. They would always say that we was the stupid people who signed these contracts with perpetual long deals. Yes. And we would sign it like this.

I know people that still sign to their contract right now, and people don't get a chance to have a second career. So you know what I mean? Or some of us, a third career. You know what I mean? So just to see you in the culinary arts, what is that called? Culinary arts. Culinary arts.

There you go. But it's really a cultural brand, right? Because what happens is, as we go out into the world and we become more influential or whatever, we're carrying cultural equity with us. And typically, that cultural equity is always co-opted by the sponsors and record labels or whatever. They basically try to pay us a bunch of money to sell their products so that we don't turn around and use this cultural equity to sell our products. You know what I'm saying? And that's where the real transition comes in. When we realize the real power we have, well, if I'm doing this for them, if they're paying me 500 racks to promote

this product, they're going to use my cultural equity and they're going to make millions. So I got to get my hands on a product that I can sell to the people and get my own millions. So I found my burger and I encourage everybody to take the cultural equity that you inherently carry as a, as a representative of this culture and find your burger. Now, Kaz, at what point was, did you realize that this thing that you guys were doing back in the late 70s could one day become something that has cultural equity and leads to millions of dollars? Like, was there a moment when you went, oh, this thing's gotten way bigger than I even realized? Yeah. People ask me all the time, did you ever, you know, did you ever feel or envision that hip-hop would grow to the extent that it has?

And I'll honestly answer, like, hell no. I'd be stupid if I said, yeah, I knew it was going to be this big, and I have no equity in it, except for who I am. That's equity, though. Yeah, that's a piece, but it's a lot of people. If I'd have known, I would own hip-hop, okay? You could have literally trademarked hip-hop.

You could not have a hip-hop chicken store or a hip-hop clothing store or a hip-hop... Hip-hop is the biggest culture in the world. It's the biggest business in the world, and it's the only business you can get into without answering to nobody. You ain't got to answer to nobody to say your product is hip-hop. You don't got to be certified by nobody.

There's no governing board of the culture of hip-hop. It's just a free-for-all. Now, what other industry industry whatever conglomerate whatever corporation do you know just hip-hop and boxing that you could just walk into and benefit you know what i mean so in that sense that's why it's grown to the proportions that it has and had i known i definitely would have uh taken a stake in it. But we were part of developing it. It was in the process of being done. We were in the creative process. We wasn't looking at how to market it to the masses or how to mass produce it. You know what I mean? We were

individuals all trying to make a name for ourselves in the Bronx, you know what I mean, or wherever we were. When people started really blowing up, when the first rap stars started happening, right? Well, I'm getting to that. I'm getting to that. The first time I knew, okay, there was a couple of signs that showed me, okay, this is going past what we're doing right here. The first thing was in 79 when Rapper's Delight came out, okay? when the first commercialized rap song came out and um we knew okay this is going somewhere past where we thought the second one for me was the movie wild style when we did the movie wild style it was like a stamp of validation from outside like yo that shit y'all doing is valid.

It's cool. I don't care what people... Because hip-hop in the beginning wasn't like, oh, wow, what's that thing you're doing? That's great. People was like, what the fuck is wrong with y'all? Turn that shit down. Why y'all in the park? Why you scuffing up your sneakers, spinning around on the floor?

You're not supposed to connect to that lifeboat, sir. What is you saying? You know what I mean? That's not music. That's all we heard. Okay? And the fact that it got past all that and grew to the proportion that it is

is a testament to the power of hip-hop. And like Bun B said, you know, find your burger. Okay? Because we all got a stake in this culture. Especially us that have been here the longest one thing i think that there needs to be a distinction made between the culture that is hip-hop and the industry that monetizes hip-hop calling itself hip-hop isn't that

like the hip-hop union that we've been talking about like like that's what me and efn like when we first um started our shit we felt like you know, every other job that you have, like, you have pensions. You have shit like that. And there's people who put in time in hip-hop. And I feel like... With that equity that Bud's talking about. I feel like every artist, you know what I mean, should go to, like, build a damn near trust fund. Like, I don't know how much money it is, but, you know what I mean? To go, like, build a damn near a trust fund. Like, I don't know how much money it is, but you know what I'm saying?

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So what's science and what's just really good marketing? On this episode of Dope Labs, me and Zakiya cut through the hype and get into the real deal behind probiotics with help from gastroenterologist Dr. Roshi Raj. So yes, bacteria is definitely having a moment and I'm very excited about that. From probiotic drinks and gummies to face creams and pillows. Yep, we said pillows. The probiotic boom is everywhere. But how much of it actually works and what does

it all mean for your gut, your skin, and even your mood? Join us on Dope Labs where we break it all down in the lab like only we can. Listen to Dope Labs on iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We should have a pension. I feel like, you know what I mean? Like, after 25 years you're in here, you should get a big-ass check. You know what I mean? And your family should be straight. Like, no one in hip-hop. But see, the problem is that everybody within the culture agrees with the concept,

but the funding has to come from the people that monetize the culture. Right. And we're never going to get the labels to agree on that. So unless we, the actual practitioners, take it upon ourselves to protect each other and help each other, it's never going to happen. It's for the new artists. So I want to add to that, Nori, because you have Curtis Blow, you have Chuck D, you have Special Ed, they have the Hip Hop Coalition. And that is what they're trying to do right now. So they're still trying to form, you know, similar to, you know, a union. KRS-One is a part of it, too. MC Lyte is a part of it, too. So they're still trying to form, you know, similar to, you know, a union.

KRS-One is a part of it too. MC Lyte is a part of it too. So they're still trying to form it to ensure that exactly what everybody is saying, it does come to fruition. Because if you go to Hollywood, like there's funds for actors. There's literally a house in Hollywood where an actor, it's a big mansion.

And when actors get old and they can't afford to pay rent, you can go and live in this house. Yeah, no, it's a big, nice house, and they just take care. Yeah, yeah, exactly. You know, so, but again, everybody has to figure out

what their level of participation is going to be. Do we make the Jay-Zs pay more, right? Do we make the Scarlet's pay less, or do we just have a general amount right that everybody contributes to and then somebody's got to monitor the finance and we all what's the problem is is that because so much so many of us inside of the culture have had such bad financial situations within the culture have been taken advantage of by contractual laws so we come in with a lot of apprehension about money you know what i'm saying

so it's going to take literally the same way that we have this diverse group of individuals representing the culture here we need hip-hop lawyers we need hip-hop accountants right like that's part of the culture too somebody's got to help protect us from the vultures are they out there and it hasn't been to be To the B-boys The B-girls That's what I said So we just have to Really find a way To agree on what The level of participation is

For different representatives Of the culture And it would benefit All of us Simply because At some point Kaz and I We helped create

This culture And then you have Nori And then we have you You know And then we have Scarlett At some point We're all going to Get older, we're all going to get older and we're all going to become

legends, pre-legends, you know, or legends, whatever. Or old school. Or old school. We're all going to become old school and OGs, so this is to protect all of us and for the people that's going to be coming behind us. So you say there could literally be, so you could literally be like a card-carrying member of hip-hop

culture. The only issue is if you look at like workman's unions and teams and all of that, all of the people in the union genuinely make the same amount of money. Right. Right? So they're all getting the same shit pulled out of their check. We have too many varying levels of income in hip-hop, so we just gotta figure

out if you're this level of rapper, you contribute this. If you're here, you contribute this. If you're here, you contribute this. If you're independent and you get a higher profit, you know what I'm saying? And not just a rapper, I'm a singer. You're gonna have to kick ass. Yeah, yeah, I'm a singer.

If you're a podcaster, if you're the most successful podcaster, your shit's up here. That's my idea, that's my idea. I know how this works. But you say contribute. That's true. I'm co-signing. But we have to get the corporations that have benefited and have not really given back until the anniversary of hip-hop.

That's right. Every corporation has benefited. When we talk all this hip hop, let's talk to the youngest artist in the building, Scarlett, make some noise for Scarlett. When you hear all this Hip Hop 50 talk, what do you think, and your generation, and you hear, does it even make any sense

that it's 50 years old? Right, I thought it was really older. Right, right. I ain't that young. Like, 50 years isn't that long. Right. No, no, we're babies. We're babies in terms of entertainment. It's a very new,

in the grand scheme of things, a new culture, a new genre. You know, it's 50 years now, but it's like, think of, you know. In comparison, right? Yeah, classical music is hundreds of years old. Like, this is very new.

And do we all look like old men to you? We look like a bunch of old freaks, right? Oh, you look at my wet feet. I just see legends. Oh. That's what I'm talking about.

Because I really like, I really, like, I'm from the Bronx, and I really like the resurgence of the Bronx in hip-hop right now. There's, like, so many dope artists. Especially the Bronx female MC.

Exactly. The Bronx female MC. Like, you must be so proud. I am. I went to her. This is the year of female MCs, which is crazy. Yes. And really. There's so many dope girls right now.

So many. And I went to Scarlett off-record, and I told her how proud I am of her. Because many. And I went to Scarlett off record. Yeah. And I told her how proud I am of her. Yeah. Because the first thing people like to say when they know that I'm an OG

and the first female MC of hip-hop culture, well, what do you think about the female artists that's out here today? And I rock with all of them. Why? Because a lot of times

when we talk about hip-hop, and I said that before, people just look at the rap aspect. Yeah. But we are all individuals. If we all sounded alike, then it wouldn't be rap music,

and it wouldn't be hip-hop. So I love what you have brung to the table, especially being a new artist, because I told her when I heard her song, and I was driving on the highway in Texas, and she was like, back the fuck up. Move the fuck back. You know what I'm saying?

And I was on the highway like this, telling everybody on the highway, back the fuck up. Move the fuck back. Because I get it. I get it. You know what I'm saying? And I was on the highway like this, telling everybody on the highway, back the fuck up. Move the fuck back. Because I get it. I get it. You know what I'm saying? This is how we live. Not just in the Bronx, but also in New York City. We always had that type of attitude in New York. Look, I just got up. Don't

fuck with me. Let me get myself together. And I respect her so much. People think out of New York, people think New Yorkers are rude. We're not rude. We're just in a rush. Like, do me a favor. Back the fuck up. Move the fuck back.

You know, we got things to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Me personally. But it's also crazy to think about now where hip hop can still go. Because if you look back at the last 30 years, we've had all these moments. I mean, Latifah and Moni put out Ladies First 30-some years ago, right? And you're like, wow, it's time. It's time. Fast

forward. You get Lauren. Fast forward. You get Nikki. We keep going. And it really was. This is the first year where the women have truly dominated the whole thing. It's amazing.

Women have always been on the front line. We've always been on the front line. It's just that y'all dudes wasn't talking about it. Y'all wasn't talking about it. But we've always been on the front line. Y'all was like, a lot of opportunity for all types of different females to come in the game. Because before, it wasn't really like that, you know?

But like now it's just like a whole bunch of females able to just take over and do what they want. There's enough room for everybody. I think they're winning because they're so different from each other, you know what I mean? Whereas a lot of the males, it's such a male-dominated

genre as far as numbers are concerned. And it's pretty much the same. You're hearing the same thing constantly. So when you hear something different, it's innovative. It's bright. It's young. It wakes you up. You're like, okay, let me go over here.

And that's where everybody is right now. And that's one of the reasons why Scarlett is winning right now because people wouldn't expect adult emcees and female to come out and be that aggressive. But at the same time, you know, ladylike. You understand? Because what you did was you appealed to so many different aspects, not just the men, but the women. So your content for every female that's out there, your content at some point has to be different. Because if it's not different, you're going to be in the Rams with everybody else until you have somebody like Scarlett that came out and said, back the fuck up, move the back. And she got the attention of everybody because her content was different.

And in order to stay in the game as a female artist, you got to start bringing different content. And that's how you're going to survive. And she signed to the perfect label, Rough Riders. Yes. Perfect label. Perfect label. Rough Riders. We all know had great success with a female artist. You know what I'm saying?

But not only that, the streets and, like, if I was to say that the first time I heard her music, I would say that was a female DMX. I would say that. You know what I mean? And to be with Ruff Ryders, I'm like, this shit is perfect. This is God coming down, Swiss beats.

This is DMX coming to Swiss in a different form. I got too deep? Did I get too deep? Did I got too deep? Yeah. You don't know, but it is. But it is. Just think about it. If we believe that life continues, DMX never moved on.

DMX is in her spirit. I mean, sorry, but that's hard. I feel like that's hard. I feel like that's hard. I feel like that's hard. Another young artist who's impressed a lot of people and who just, like, from the first second I saw him felt like he had that spirit and conscience of classic hip hop mentality, caring about more than just the surface, is the Bayzone Simba who's with us today. Oh, where where did you get sort of your hip-hop sensibility?

Because you are not like everyone who comes along in the game. But still very contemporary. Right, right. Well said. Exactly. First off, let me say, allow me to be patient with answering this because I'm still fucked up that Bun told me they recorded Riding Dirty in the bathroom. I'm still trying to put all that together. But being somebody from the West Coast, especially being from the Bay Area, we grew up with an independent mindset. So we grew up with this mindset of like, we could do it all. We can make the beat, we can promote it, we can write the rap. For me, a big part of hip hop was my mom. My mom was a real estate agent that used to be a rapper,

and she sold houses all around the world. So as a six-year-old kid, I knew what it felt like to be in Brooklyn. I knew what it felt like to be in Atlantic City. I knew what it felt like had a sister in Texas. So I seen the world a lot as a kid, and one thing I would notice was West Coast music didn't really translate the best around the world. So I was like, when I started making music, how can I make something that translate to the hip hop culture in general? So I never was like obsessed with trying to impress the youth as much as they say hip hop is a youthful sport. I still feel like youth is very fleety. I feel like they grow up at a point in time and they still need

guidance. I was always trying to impress my peers. So when Norrie came to Oakland in January and was like, nigga, you the new Nas, you listen. That gave me everything. That meant more to me than my first check. Because it let

me know I made him proud. It let me know I made Joe Budden proud. It let me know I made Jay proud. It let me know i made him proud it let me know i made joe budden proud it let me know i made jay proud it let me know when bun just told me oh man we did the song i was mad about my vocals it let me know i made him proud so more than the money more than anything i came in this shit just wanting to make my peers proud and be accepted by people i looked up to yeah and that's where i love your story your hustle i remember you told a story where somebody invited you to the studio in L.A. You had to fly to the Bay, and then you drove right back.

Yeah, Nipsey. Nipsey, right? It was the first time I met Nipsey. So I was in Atlanta. This is around 2012. I'm just young, trying to figure it out. And I'm running around, you know, got a little money. And it was A3C Fest.

And I kept hearing about, you need to go to these festivals, like South by Southwest and A3C Fest and all these different things. So I was like, man, let me get a ticket and go. So me and my homies went out there. And at the time, they had this club called Compound. I don't know if it's still up. OK, OK, OK. So Nipsey was in Compound. He was like, man, what y'all do?

I was like, man, I do music. He was like, next time you in L.A., hit me. I straight up lied to him. I was like, I live in LA. You know what I'm saying? Like, I live in LA. Like, when you going back? He was like, I'm going back Monday. I'm like, me too. So I flew back to the bay. My car was parked at the airport. I didn't even go home and got clothes. I got in my car. I put gas in my car. I had a Camaro at the time.

Got in my car. I put gas in my car and drove straight to L.A. I got on the grapevine. I text Nip. He had just landed at L.A.X. Where you at? He takes me back 20 minutes later. I'm downtown.

Pull up. Sent me the address. Came through and he had a wall of books. He had a wall of books. And we did a song and before i left he was like i want you to pick a book before you leave and i really want you to read it and the book i picked was the 22 immutable laws of branding and i read that book and it taught me how to look at myself like a product not a person and i got that from nipsey that's something NAMS does without even reading the book probably

but you ever disrespect me calling me a librarian yo but NAMS tell us your story because literally all of my NAMS story is just a few years ago it was pandemic it was during the pandemic i don't know maybe we met another time at a random sobs or whatever but my boy top shelf premium was having an event in brooklyn early pandemic super spreader event by the way um and i'm not oh super i did all right but something didn't do as well. When you were outside. So I'm on the block, and I see this dude who just looks like somebody. Like, this is a super underground event. Not a ton of people who look like they have something.

This dude just like, I'm like, who is this guy? He looks like a superstar. Standing outside a car, posted up. Little do I know that at this time, this man is just finishing up his garbage route, literally. Like you were still on the job. Right. But the look he had was superstar rapper. And then, bro, within I swear to God, within 18 months, you became a superstar rapper. Like how how did you just like we heard Simba's story of how he kind of figured out his brand. How did you figure out how to get the whole Gorilla Nems thing together?

It was day one. I've been everywhere I go since I'm a teenager yelling out, fuck your life. It's been my shit since as long as I can remember. You know what I'm saying? It's not nothing new. Yeah, nah, it's not nothing new. When I first started rapping in the early 2000s, I had a group of us, my friends, it was like, yo, we're going to call ourselves.

I was like, we're calling ourselves Fuck Your Life. That's it. You know what I'm saying? If they don't like it, if they're not with us, then fuck their life. You know what I'm saying? And then I started battling. I went to the fight club. You know, they told me about it.

I started just beating everybody. I had like 20 wins and no losses. I beat everybody. I had like 20 wins and no losses. I beat everybody. And it started though with the branding with graffiti. Before I was rapping, I was doing graffiti. Because I knew that if you saw my name on the wall, you was going to talk about me. And then when I started rapping,

I'm not good at art or none of that. I just would write Nims as big as I could on any wall that I could. I kept a marker with me. And then it started just every block in Coney Island said NIMS. And then every block all over the city. And then people started noticing me from that. And then the

Fight Club shit happened. And then people thought I was just a battle rapper. But what I was doing was taking verses from songs and just beating people with it. You know what I'm saying? And I just kept going. And then I kept trying and not doing it. But I always knew that I had something.

You know what I'm saying? And I knew that no matter what, you keep throwing shit at the wall enough times, shit's going to stick. You know what I'm saying? And then I went to jail. And then I got fucked up on drugs. And then it was just like's going to stick. You know what I'm saying? And then I went to jail, and then I got fucked up on drugs, and then it was just like, you know,

one night I just had like a moment of clarity where I was like, yo, I can keep going how I'm going, I'm going to be dead by the time I'm 30, or I can stop everything right now and live my dreams. The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. Recipients have done the improbable, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves.

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Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your gut microbiome and those healthy bacteria can actually have positive effects throughout your body. Not just your gut, but your mental health, your metabolism, your immunity, your risk of cancer, heart disease, almost any disease under the sun. Yep, you heard right. Probiotics might actually impact everything from your brain to your heart. So what's science and what's just really good marketing? On this episode of Dope Labs, me and Zakiya cut through the hype and get into the real deal behind probiotics

with help from gastroenterologist Dr. Roshi Raj. So yes, bacteria is definitely having a moment and I'm very excited about that. From probiotic drinks and gummies to face creams and pillows. Yep, we said pillows. The probiotic boom is everywhere. But how much of it actually works? And what does it all mean for your gut, your skin, and even your mood?

Join us on Dope Labs where we break it all down in the lab like only we can. Listen to Dope Labs on iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The next day I woke up I ain't touched nothing since. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't do nothing. I just focused on winning.

And then I just kept doing it. And then I just kept, Instagram came out, I just kept showing my personality, showing the people on my block, fucking with people. Just real New York shit, you know what I'm saying? We on the block every day. My era is from, I came up right before the internet, so before cell phones, right in that midst of it was coming out.

So when I used to come out, it was like, yo, if you leave your house, you can't get in touch with me. We used to meet up on the corner and joke on each other. And if you don't got jokes, they're gonna kill you. You're gonna have a bad night every night Getting on people but in New York people don't understand that's like a bond You know that's like bond and if I'm joking on I'm not gonna do If I don't know you if I don't like you I with you. If I don't know you, if I don't like you, I'm not going to fuck with you.

Get the fuck out of here. You know? So, it just, I found a cheat code. You know what I'm saying? Like, everybody thinks I'm like a comedian. Nah, I'm a rapper. I've been doing this. You know what I'm saying?

I've been chopping people's heads off balls. You know what I'm saying? I've been battling, beating everybody. And I've been nice with the bars but that shit wasn't getting me this way so I just went this way. Started joking on people and fucking with people and then they started taking notice

and then between every don't ever disrespect me video or bing bong side talk, I throw in a freestyle. Yo, hey, hey, hey. You know what I'm saying? Take that and then eventually... And then the bing bong shit also. Remember that, Cass? We talked about you on the radio then eventually And then the bing bong shit also Remember that Cass Remember that

We talked about you On the radio right Cause Cass say bing bong What the fuck is that So I say Cass Watch what the fuck happen That shit gonna go viral And what probably

You liked about the next week Bing bong He started saying bing bong That's a product I mean bing bong Yeah Nah that's a product Of straight hip hop

Blizzard Bong Bong So what I used to do is I had the merch Yo, I mean, bing bong. Yeah, now that's a product of straight hip-hop. RZA, bong, bong. So what I used to do is I had the merch, and I used to show it every week when I dropped new shit, and be like, yo, check the new shit, bong. Check this new shit, bong, on my Instagram. And then one day I was like, bing bong, bing bong, and then people started laughing.

I was like, yo, I got something. When that side talk came, we did a video, and I was like, yo, I'm going to start saying that. Bing bong, bing, and then it just took its own world, you know what I'm saying? And I was like, all right, I got something here. And then just kept doing those type of videos. And then, you know, I did the album with Scram Jones, and then we met up with Paul Rosenberg. Congratulations, by the way.

Congratulations. All it is is hustle That's all it is is hustle Like I knew I got something And by this point where we at today It's like yo like switch up Like right to where Bing Bong was It was like I was working a regular job But it was like I've been doing this rap shit now

For probably like 10-15 years If I just quit now That's like working a job about to retire and just saying, fuck it, I don't want my money. I don't want my retirement money. Nah, I'm going to just quit. I said, nah, I put in too much time to fucking quit. I'm going to keep doing this shit until this shit happens.

And then, you know, shit happens. You know what I'm saying? The thing you said when you said about it was just hustle. Like, don't underplay your success like that. Because you was hustling 12, 14, 16 hours a day and then fucking off for the other eight hours. And that shit will negate all the hustling you did. You know what I'm saying? You see it all the time with people like, I work all day, I grind, then I go blow a check.

You know what I'm saying? You got to have checks in the mail coming to blow a check. But at some point, like you said, I stopped doing the drugs. I stopped drinking. I stopped everything. And you locked all the way in and made hustle like your life's plan, not a lifestyle. You know what I'm saying?

I made it fun. I made like, so since I don't drink, since I don't do none of that no more, what's fun to me is making money. When I go to the club, that's just not fun to me. When I'm getting paid to go to the club, that's fun to me. I just fuck it around in my head where it's not fun unless I'm making money. You know what I'm saying? And then, you know, just even before this rap shit, I bought my mother a house.

And just that's all from the grind. You know what I'm saying? Because I'm not willing to take anything less than what I want to do. And since I'm a kid, this hip-hop shit has been in me, instilled in me, since watching the fucking Disorderly's Fat Boys, you know what I'm saying? That was like my favorite movie back in the day. Underrated movie. Yeah, because what happened is my father died at four,

and then Coney Island and the project, Dwyer Gardens, my projects, you know, like my moms would go to work and I would just Island in the project, Dwyer Gardens, my projects you know like, my moms would go to work and I would just be in the crib by myself and all day I would just watch rap movies and listen to albums and like, I'm like a fucking encyclopedia for hip hop you know what I'm saying, and hip hop raised

me and I knew since day one this is what I wanted to do with my life and some people give up. You know, life happens. But I just wasn't willing to give up. Simple as that. That's all hip-hop mentality because I always say, lately I've been saying,

if anyone asks me my culture, my religion, my background, I say hip-hop is the answer. Yeah, I say hip-hop. Yeah, hip-hop is the answer. I'm not a political, what is it? No, no, no. I'm Republican or Democrat. I'm a hip-hop. I'm a hip-hop. I'm not a political, what is it? No, no, no. I'm Republican or Democrat. I'm a hip hop. I'm a hip hop-a-crat.

I'm a hip hop-a-crat, yeah. I don't know if it makes sense, but I'm just rolling with it. No, I like it. Just rolling with it. Hip hop-a-crat. Hip hop-a-crat. Sound like a drug. Hip hop-a-crat is crazy.

Fuck it. You better brand it. Yeah, fuck it. You better hip hophop it again. Hip-hop it again too. Hip-hop it again too. Hip-hop it again. That should be a t-shirt.

Copyright it before somebody type it or brand it for you. Trust me, I know. You know it. Well, that's the power of hip-hop. And then I want to say DJ Stax. That's right. And the building of International Club King. He's where I first heard your record.

Scarlett's record. Yeah. He was was playing it we was doing an event together and that's what the importance of a dj is still to this day i know everybody breaks music on tiktok and on the on the internet but still there's nothing like a dj playing a song loud in a club or at an event and that's what this guy does man and he's like pure hip hop. Stax, what was your path to finding DJing? Oh man, I think it's a little different from everybody else in a sense of, I was born and raised in Brooklyn.

Yeah. Both my parents are Haitian, but when I say Brooklyn, I say different because I feel like people from the Bronx are like, that's hip hop, right? You used to live in the Jamaican middle? No, no, no. But I'ma get to that though, but I be feeling like Bronx is like hip that's hip hop, right? You still with the Jamaican belt? No, no, no. But I'ma get to that though, but I be feeling like

Bronx is like hip hop, hip hop, right? And in Brooklyn, where I grew up at, in like Brownsville, between Brownsville and Flatbush, it was very Caribbean, like super Caribbean. So the old part was, growing up, my older brothers, they used to run with this sound called stone love that you probably know about, older Jamaican, right? And my parents are Haitian, so the Haitian music was there,

and Spanish music, all types of music. My father, he was like a real music collector, so it was anything from Whitney Houston to Phil Collins, whatever. Now, my hip hop really honestly came from Queens. Because my older cousin, I knew it. My older cousin, right?

My older cousin lived on 112th and Springfield. And I used to go to the crib and see the turn tables and all that and then, you know, rest in peace, like one of his boys used to come over and who was one of his boys was Jam Master Jay. So I used to be in the crib with them and they would curse at me, don't touch my turn tables and I'm over here sneak playing.

And I started realizing the difference in music with dancehall and anything else, there's but so much technique you could actually do certain things break it down a record and all that and with hip-hop it was like I could break this record down and tell a story I could do certain things with this I can't do with everything else and then plus it was bars you know it was less singing and more you know words and lyrics and stuff like that so you know that's my that's where I came from with that and in the fashion you know the eric peter rock ems the epmds and then the queens hip-hop to me that

really caught me was the mob deeps the cnn you know saying naz like like so i must say like first things first just being on this panel right here and sitting amongst like real legends is like super dope and I truly appreciate it. And I just did my homework. I started just doing research on hip-hop and where it came from, and I started listening to West Coast and Midwest, and I started listening to the Bumbees and all that.

So it was just weird. I was kind of confused for a while because I studied music so you know i studied samples where did this record come from where did he get this from and i was kind of lost for a minute but then i started realizing where the money at okay the money's hip-hop like not for nothing and then the lessons are in hip-hop like it's so much more to be told and learned from to me so i kind of just went that route, and I've been Gucci since. Like, I literally play most of the biggest festivals

across the world right now. Dope. That's where I'm at with it. What's up? Thank you, Dory. Yeah. Yeah, man. The first time you drank Ace of Spades,

what was that like? Hip-hop champagne. I was on drink champs. I was super excited. Yes. I was a mix of scared and I was super excited. Yes. I was a mix of scared and excited. You looked a little scared walking into the room. Yeah, I thought Nori was going to, like, really throw me to the wolves.

Not in a bad way. Because he do it his own way. I watch him. He do it his own way. There's a lot of shit you can get from me. I know what you're saying. And he did. They didn't actually steer me into that much of it.

Now, did I know that two weeks later, they'd then have one guest after another who hated my guts and would rip me to shreds? No. Oh, I didn't know that either. That wasn't planned. That wasn't planned. They have whole clips on why they hate Peter Rosenberg. It's because there's been a couple. There's been a couple.

There's been a couple. My thing is, every time I would link with Norik, I've only really spent like five extended periods with Norik. The third one was Drink Champs, right? But the first two times, pissy drunk. Just in general interaction. I went to projects. I got there by like 5 in the afternoon.

I ain't leave till like 3 in the morning. And we just out. We drinking champagne. We drinking Armadale. We just on the block. Niggas getting slapped. Niggas getting fucked. It was hilarious.

That shit was hilarious. Just pissy, pissy drunk. So then when I get ready to go to Drink Champs, I'm like, I'm going to do this interview. I'm not going to, 80, 90 minutes. I'm not doing all of that. Three hours later, like, my interview with him at Drink Champs is literally two hours and 45 minutes.

And we try to stop from, like, 90 minutes all the way. And we just, the show restarts, like, three times. Because it's like, you know what, let's do this. Bud, let me ask you this. And I'm like, what's up? Oh, nigga, let's go. Keep it real. This is when we was learning ourselves.

You and the Beatnuts, we fucked up on, like, I can't wait to redo our episode. Yeah, we got to have you back. Now I got our shit together. Now I actually, I'm actually articulate with this motherfucker now. Like, before what we were doing, like, me, Irfan, and Fat Joe just put a mic in front of us and started talking. And then we threw the episode out, and it was like, everybody likes this. Like, we don't understand that us just talking to each other is gold. I kid you not.

I kid you not. I know I'm going to sound like a... But we knew something. We knew something. But let me say something. Between you and Fat Joe together, that's like a four-hour episode. But look, I'm going to tell you. It was.

Nas had hit me. I forget what period career this was this is alright this is the time where Talib Kweli Moose Def and who else

was on that cover oh what you mean the oh cannabis you mean no no no what do you mean

the source cover it was like backpack hip hop okay and Common maybe I don't remember it was like

it was like and Nas came, we met up, and we was just talking, and he was just like, how you feeling about the cover? I was like, you know, he was like, yeah. And then we was just talking, and then we talking, and then we talking, and then he said to me, he predicted it. He said, yo, one day, I don't know if he said one day they're going to pay us for our conversation or one day they're going to pay you for your conversation. I forget. And then I remember that. I was like, holy shit. And then you

assholes kept letting me go up to the motherfucking morning show and y'all let me talk. And then I realized I knew fucking Hot 97's number. 1-800-223-9797. I was like, what the fuck am I doing?

I'm working for them and I don't even know me. So you found your Trill Burger. Yeah, I found my Trill Burger. Yeah, yeah, I definitely did. I found my Spanish Trill Burger first. Nori's key to success is that Nori might be the most genuine person in hip-hop. And when I mean genuine, I've known Nori through all these different stages of his career. Same exact dual. Wild words made up on the spot. Lots of drinking involved. Pregarious conversation.

Big personality. Comes in the room and takes it over. That's always been a part of that. But also, Nori has been ridiculously underrated as a man in this fucking game. Make some noise, Goddamn. Everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody. Everybody picked a wall around him and a roof over him that never held.

Nori was not supposed to go as far in hip-hop as he went but he still had bigger records the were way better you know what i'm saying because personality like people genuinely want to be in your company right yeah you know what i'm saying because the medal of honor is the highest military decoration in the united states recipients have done the improbable, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves. This medal is for the men who went down that day. It's for the families of those who didn't make it.

I'm J.R. Martinez. I'm a U.S. Army veteran myself. And I'm honored to tell you the stories of these heroes on the new season of Medal of Honor Stories of Courage from Pushkin Industries and iHeart Podcast. From Robert Blake, the first Black sailor to be awarded the medal, to Daniel Daly, one of only 19 people to have received the Medal of Honor twice. These are stories about people who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor, going above and beyond the call of duty. You'll hear about what they did, what it meant, and what their stories tell us about the nature of courage and sacrifice. Listen to Medal of Honor

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing.

So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your gut microbiome and those healthy bacteria can actually have positive effects throughout your body. Not just your gut, but your mental health, your metabolism, your immunity, your risk of cancer, heart disease, almost any disease under the sun. Yep, you heard right. Probiotics might actually impact everything from your brain to your heart. So what's science and what's just really good marketing? On this episode of Dope Labs, me and Zakiya cut through the hype and get into the real

deal behind probiotics with help from gastroenterologist Dr. Roshi Raj. So yes, bacteria is definitely having a moment and I'm very excited about that. From probiotic drinks and gummies to face creams and pillows. Yep, we said pillows. The probiotic boom is everywhere. But how much of it actually works and what does it all mean for your gut, your skin, and even your mood? Join us on Dope Labs where we break it all down in the lab like only we can. Listen to Dope Labs on iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The only difference between going on Drink Champs and hanging on the corner with you

is microphones and cameras. It's true. It's 100%. Going to your show is like going to the barbershop. I know Nori. I always say Nori was my first rapper friend. We were almost the same age. The first rapper that was successful that was my friend is Nori. And I met so many artists say Nori was my first rapper friend. We were almost the same age. The first rapper that was successful that was my friend is Nori.

And I met so many artists through Nori before they were ever big. I met 2 Chainz in your studio before he was big. Lil Wayne, Project Pat, David Banner. All was in the studio with Nori because he didn't worry about wherever they was from. He showed love to everybody that came through. And, like, you came to New York, and he would pick you up, or you come to the studio, he got weed for you, he'd take people to the tunnel or the club.

And it's like, everything he's doing now, exactly like he said, he's always been the same. It's just, you know, I guess EFN gave him a little direction, like, do it this way, and then... Yeah, but by the way, while we're... While we're giving out... EFN was like this,

talk right into it. Although he still can't get him to talk into the microphone, but still. But also, but while we're giving out flowers to people just being the same people all the time, I was literally just having a conversation with someone yesterday

about like, as radio people, and really the three of us as DJs, DJs and radio people, it's kind of a similar thing. Like, our relationships with people

have ebbs and flows. And there are people that you're super close with for a time, nine times out of ten ten when they reach a certain level of success i'm sorry they get funny and they stop they stop returning the calls the number goes green you never hear from them again we are sitting amongst the two most normal non-weirdo motherfuckers in the history of the game between Bun B and Nori. There's not a stage that I've been in, anything I'm dealing with

where people are saying shit about me that you guys don't pick up the phone and show love. And like, I'm just sorry, a lot of your peers, they may be great in many ways, they don't hold on to that quality though, which is endearing. Yo, that goes a long way.

Yo, that goes a long way in That goes a long way in hip-hop because getting in this game, I meet legends that I came up listening to and you meet them and you're like, this dude's a fucking corny. You're like, now I understand why they was dissing you, you motherfucker. You know what I'm saying?

But then you meet genuine people that might have not been your favorite, but you're like, I fuck with him so much. Just because the energy and the love that they show, and it goes a long way just being yourself. It's a big part of life. Now listen, I try to embody that because I meet the legends like Bung,

and I meet Nori, and they genuinely who they are and who you think they are. Because so many times in this rap game, you meet rappers that you think who they are and they're nothing like that no but if i if i could say something to that because earlier you talked about the coalition and the reason why coalitions and hip-hop don't exist is because people have not found around the right circle yet yeah it's hard to find the humility and the genuine the genuine people that can actually come together in a trustworthy and create a trustworthy journey

that people can trust. And so like the concept of building a coalition has existed for many years. But the reason why... Or union or whatever. Either way, right? At the same time, the reason why it doesn't exist is because everybody can talk

about it, but very few can actually do it. Absolutely. What Bun shared about, like, financial freedom or creating financial equity, like, who's talking about that? Nobody is. And the reason is everyone's thinking it, but very few can actually come together to do it because, you know. We need to stop doing what you're doing for you. Exactly. Right?

And start executing for us. And everybody, quite frankly, just isn't. Take finance out of it. My people's mentality is not built around them taking things away from themselves for the greater collective. You know what I'm saying? Because a lot of us come from circumstances where we never had nothing. Then we finally get it. And you're like, why should I share it?

You know what I'm saying? With people that won't even appreciate it. So it's just, you got to find that inner circle, a diverse group of people from all walks of the culture, right, represent all walks of the culture that we trust, like just people that we trust. But like you said, most of these things ain't even who we think they are. They're not who they present themselves to be,

and you get them in a room and you talk about some real shit and they ain't got no conversation for it. I'm glad you brought up the entrepreneurship because that's one of the things that the younger generation said. OK, y'all don't kick the older OGs, don't kick the ballistic to us. They don't taught us how to move. Only thing they say to us is you shouldn't be rapping like that. You shouldn't be doing this. You shouldn't be doing this. You shouldn't be doing that. And this is how we bridge the gap between the younger generation, you know, and the older

generation, you know, to kick those ballistics and let them know, okay, this is how you move. You want to be a rap artist, be a rap artist, but take that money that you use and put it into something else because you may not always be that rap artist. So you have people here today to be able to kick those ballistics to the younger generation and say, look, you know, we're going to give you the knowledge, but you have to take the knowledge. We're not talking at you. We're just talking with you. You just have to listen and you don't have to take everything that we say, but just take it into consideration because what we all may have went through with different, right. We have the experience. But some older artists don't want to connect with young artists. And they should.

I'm going to be very honest, right? A lot of older artists, and I'm talking about my generation. Before we even get to Kaz's generation, my generation, right, they look at what newer artists are doing, the level of success that they're attaining, the amount of money they're making for doing basically the same thing we did. And in some people's minds, we did it but they made more money for it. That's just a sign of the times. That's got nothing to do with it. When you take the money out of it, we're all fighting the same struggle to get somewhere.

One thing I can say as a young artist for real, all the OGs really been supporting me for me. And giving me advice and stuff like that, like Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, stuff like that. We watch all the way.

We watch all the way. One thing I'm noticing is like, when it comes to artists like me and Scarlett, who feels nostalgic, y'all open. Y'all give it to us because we fit the criteria of what y'all feel like hip-hop's supposed to look like. But when it's like... And we respect that, but when it's like a younger person that ain't necessarily speaking

when we speak, y'all alienate them. And then that fucks up the culture as a whole. Not saying... You know what I'm saying? Just saying as in general... I was looked at in my early years. What UGK was doing in 92 was not popular. No.

Right? We were not looked at. We were not included and shit. You can go back and look. There's no videos. There's no music videos because the red company didn't want to make them because they didn't think people were going to like us. There's not a lot of magazine shit.

My first magazine cover was 22 years after I started. You know what I'm saying? It wasn't trendy to embrace Southern artists on the East Coast at that time at all. It wasn't trendy. And so I can look at an artist and realize they're getting a bum rap just on how they present themselves. Like, I was with Sexy Red on Friday at Rolling Loud. Sweet girl. Beautiful

girl. You know what I'm saying? People look at her approach as being different. No, that's always existed. That's always existed. Hip-hop has always had this idea of reclaiming their bodies and their identity right that comes from slavery right people came out of slavery they either wanted to recapture their soul because they felt broken and they went to the church or there were people that wanted to

reclaim their physical body because they've been raped they've been slaved indentured servitude all of that and those people went to the juke joint so both of those are equal representations of the black experience in America and the experience of people of color in America. So we can't look down at people who aren't bar centric, right? Because that doesn't mean that they're the best people for the culture. They're just better at what they do. But maybe that's all they can do is rap. That's it. They're no good at any other part in their life. So for me, if somebody isn't necessarily purely lyrically driven, then there's

got to be other aspects of their personality that people are gravitating to. And we have to look at that and see like, well, maybe there's a part of life that I didn't experience based on where I grew up or my age that they're experiencing and this person vocalizes that. We got to be open to that because

we were talking about crack and shit like that when it was not a popular thing. But it also wasn't everywhere. And then your OGs were saying the same thing. Oh, we ain't with that. Yeah, absolutely. That's a generational gap, right? That exists in society, period.

It's got nothing to do with music. Your mom's music was crazy to your grandmother. Your music is crazy to your mother. Your kid's music is crazy to your mother. Your kids music is crazy to you. That's a generational gap. We shouldn't be on the same shit at 50 with 18 year old niggas. We should not be on the same page

on no level other than just bettering our situation. That's the only thing I should have in common typically with a young person is drive, momentum, hustle. You know what I'm saying? Locking in on your goal. Those that, so if we can't connect on the music, we can't connect on the content, that's cool.

I'm not supposed to like everything young people are saying, but I'm supposed to support most of what young people are doing. That's fast. Fast. Hey, my mom did not understand me listening to bread. My mom still don't know who Bumby is. I can't remember. Wait, wait, wait. My mom don't know what listening to bread. My mom still don't know who Bubby is. I can't remember. Wait, wait, wait.

My mom don't know what I'm in this world. In the same way. She know I make rap music, but I send my mom money. She's like, don't send me that. That's too much. The same way that you just broke that down is how we look at it as younger artists. So it's like me personally, when Nas dropped last night, I felt like I had to be the first to support it. When Hov dropped 444, I felt like I had to be the first to support it because these are people that show me how to exemplify myself as a man.

But when I get the 47-year-old rapper that's still talking about being on the block fucking five girls and doing all that. Nigga, you got a fucking wife with five kids. Tell us about that. What's life like that like? I don't want to hear you compete with me. They're trying to talk to you and they shouldn't be talking to you. They should be talking to people that were 18 when they were 18. Now they're 25 when they're

25 because where I'm at in life is pretty much where everybody that started with me is in life. So the minute I stop trying to connect with them about where we are now, that means I want some of what y'all got. And I'm never going to get it. I know every young rapper out here, I can go get a verse from any person,

but do people really want to hear that? If I go get a verse from Future, and I can go do that, do Future fans want to hear me with him? No. Do my fans want to hear me with Future? No. Can we mutually agree but still have respect for each other?

But do all of us want to see future go to Trill Burger? Yes. You know what I'm saying? That's the shit I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking about. That's why I love you. Can I ask a question real quick? What about the other side of it? Hold on. Let me say something, though. Okay.

Let me say something. Sorry. Sorry. A lot of times. The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. Recipients have done the improbable, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves. This medal is for the men who went down that day. It's for the families of those who did make it. I'm J.R. Martinez. I'm a U.S. Army veteran myself, and I'm honored to tell you the stories of these heroes

on the new season of Medal of Honor, Stories of Courage from Pushkin Industries and iHeart Podcast. From Robert Blake, the first Black sailor to be awarded the medal, to Daniel Daly, one of only 19 people to have received the Medal of Honor twice. These are stories about people who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor, going above and beyond the call of duty. You'll hear about what they did, what it meant, and what their stories tell us about the nature of courage and sacrifice.

Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Business Week editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall

Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your gut microbiome and those healthy bacteria can actually have positive effects throughout your body, not just your gut, but your mental health, your metabolism, your immunity, your risk of cancer, heart disease, almost any disease under the sun. Yep, you heard right. Probiotics might actually impact everything from your brain to your heart. So what's science and what's just really good marketing? On this episode of Dope

Labs, me and Zakiya cut through the hype and get into the real deal behind probiotics with help from gastroenterologist Dr. Roshi Raj. So yes, bacteria is definitely having a moment and I'm very excited about that. From probiotic drinks and gummies to face creams and pillows. Yep, we said pillows. The probiotic boom is everywhere. But how much of it actually works and what does it all mean for your gut, your skin, and even your mood? Join us on Dope Labs where we break it all down into the lab like only we can. Listen to Dope Labs on iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A OG will come and approach a young artist. And because it happened to me when I was the young artist.

When I was the young artist, and they, you, yo, this is DJ Chubby Chubby from such and such. Like, okay, what's going on, Chubby Chubby? And they sitting there, and they talking, and then I can't identify with them because it's just we from different eras, right? So I'm like, all right, cool, cool, cool. And you know, everybody you don't know.

Like, we didn't know every single person in the NBA. You was a fan of Chicago Bulls, but you can't name every motherfucker on the goddamn team. So, that shit happened to me until I became the OG. Then I was walking in and people was like, well, who the fuck is this nigga? You know what I'm saying? The young niggas was like, yo, okay, what's up, Norm? But what I had to do was I had to recreate my whole shit

I was like ah shit I had to start wearing these jewelries for these people something for them to identify something for them

to be like oh okay I don't know this old motherfucker but he got on a nice watch or he got on something like that he must have been good

at what he did and sometimes sometimes that's the way to relate to them because a lot of times I don't relate to all of them. So what you say, you say, we accept, you know, y'all three because y'all got bars and y'all got things like that.

But a lot of the times, we don't even know how to approach you because y'all energy wasn't the same. Like, we wanted to meet Michael Jordan. Like, Allen Iverson wanted to meet Michael Jordan, then crossed him over. But he wanted to meet him first. You, Allen Iverson wanted to meet Michael Jordan, then cross him over. But he wanted to meet him first. You know what I'm saying?

And a lot of times, as now I'm an elder statesman, I don't feel like the young generation be wanting to meet us. I don't feel like they want to. But they wear Jordans. But they wear Jordans.

They don't wear LeBrons. They do want to meet you. They don't wear Steph Curry. But they wear Jordans. That is good, though. Where the space is, where we occupy the same space, right? And where's the level of entry for young people?

A lot of times what you think is apprehension is really like, man, I want to say something to dude. And I don't know how. I don't know how to. That's the thing. I'm so happy for her. I'm so happy for her because I know her crew. I know everything that she represents. So it's easy for me to say, yo, homegirl, yo, Lil,

yo, I'm so happy for you. You know, Nims, I didn't even know he was rapping. I thought I'd just seen him on Instagram. I didn't even know, like, he's actually a legend. I was like, damn, man, I learned that the other day. You know what I mean? And it's just like, I want to relate, but I also don't want to feel stupid.

So this is what we need. I don't want to walk in. So this is what we need. I don't want to walk in that room and they're like, whatever. In the same way that Monster can put this room, right, with generational counterparts and contemporaries in here, we as a culture got to make sure

that there's better entry points for these conversations. You know what I'm saying? So we're going to take drink chats at Trill Burgers. What else is hip hop? Come on. Let's make some more hip hop products. Oh, English. know what I'm saying? So we're on tape drink chest at Trill Burgers. What else is hip-hop? Come on. Let's make some more hip-hop products.

Oh, English. Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm back in my era. I'm sorry. Earl Simmons wine. Diamond chains.

Diamond chains. Who? Diamond chains. Diamond chains. Okay. Hip-hop don't own that, but we're going to own it today. Come on. We got enough jewelers of color.

Yeah, we got enough jewelers of color. Donny James. Donny James is a color. Yes, yes. Yes. And we We got enough Jewelers of Color. Yeah, we got enough Jewelers of Color. Donnie Yang, Donnie Yang is a color. Yes, yes. Yes. And we should have a real hip-hop day like in every state.

No, we should have like a hip-hop retreat. Yes. That'll be fire. That only rappers go to, not journalists and people like that. Like people that are,

you know, like people that are active participants in the culture. Where you don't have to have your ego. Well, we need to workshop and build with each other, right?

And it can't just be on a weekend where there's parties and other shit that's going to take us away. Has to be real shit. Yeah, we need somewhere where we can build

with studios and bars. Everything that we would want to participate and indulge in should be on the site so nobody feels like they need to leave and go anywhere. Whatever we need for us to

manage three days together somewhere, have it there on the site. Lock out the whole fucking resort. It's a conscious effort. Even the young generation, because I think it's very important to include the young generation. Simply because

there's not an artist, a young artist that's out there that I don't know about. I know about every single rap artist that's out there now. Why? Because I'm making my business to understand where they're coming from.

Because they're really speaking some of the stuff that we lived. It's just that they're talking about it more now. And so we have to include, hip-hop has always been inclusive. Everybody has always had a table at hip-hop. And we have to ensure, like Von B, UGK. I knew about y'all before y'all even started making songs with Jay-Z.

Because I had the best of both worlds. I'm from New York, the Bronx, but I was in Texas. So I appreciated y'all even before he knew about y'all. So I think if you open up and learn about these different artists, you don't have to like what they're saying because I don't like everything that's out there, but I respect their craft. And until we get together and bridge that gap, that is the only way that hip-hop is going, and rap music within hip-hop is going to survive where we're all respecting the craft from everybody to come through. That's real.

The culture is alive and well. The business, eh, not so much. You know what I mean? But because of the Internet and because of our access to information now, everybody's better. Everybody sounds better. Everybody sounds better. Everybody speaks better. Everybody knows more.

Everybody's a little more in tune with everything. So we take that, and we put that into the things that we're trying to put together as far as preserving this culture called hip-hop. Now I gotta bounce. I'm out. Alright? Can I ask you one last question?

Before we lose you, first of all, on behalf of all of us here, thank you. You being here means this whole thing doesn't exist without you. But is there anything, as we celebrate Hip Hop 50, is there any one specific message maybe that you feel like people are not getting? The importance of it is that we established the foundation for a cultural movement that rivals any in history. Any war, any, you know what I mean, calamity, anything. You can put hip-hop up in the same breath as anything that you can mention that happened in history. And I'm proud of that. And I'm proud to be part of the fabric of that.

Thank you. Thank you. in history and I'm proud of that and I'm proud to be part of the fabric of that. Thank you. Thank you, my brother. He hopping on a flight to get some more money. Come on, god damn it. We love you, we love you. And this should be how hip-hop is. No one's to get some more money. Come on, goddammit. We love you, man. She's bad. Yes. Can I ask you a question?

And this should be how hip-hop is. No one sit in his seat. No. No one sit in his seat. His seat is reserved. Put his jersey right here. That's right. Put his jersey right here.

I want to ask Rosenberg and Cypher a question before we get out of here. Please. Being radio guys that came from traditional radio, how did y'all feel about the evolution of podcasting?

They were the evolution. I know they were, but they come from... Basically, do you guys look at podcasting the way Kaz looks at writing? Right, right, right. He ain't one of the original guys. No, I'll be honest.

Drink Champs is overcharging for what they did to the one... It's a thing that's put in the past. It's like you owe us for all the years that you owe this. Listen, we started... Me and Rosenberg got put on the radio by... Ebro introduced us and he said, y'all going to do a morning show together. And we didn't know each other. So this man had the smart idea.

He said, yo, let's do a podcast so we get to learn each other's personalities. So you had like the religious marriage. Yeah, basically. It was arranged. It was an arranged marriage. A boy band. Exactly. You're supposed to be called Arranged marriage. Arranged marriage. They call it boy bands. That's what you're supposed to be called. That's what you're supposed to be called.

Boy bands. You're supposed to be called arranged marriage. All right. There's a lot of stuff that Rosenberg says and does that I hate and disagree with. And he got a lot of ops. I feel like that's overstated now. He got a lot of ops. I do. I'm a big op guy.

But why I will always defend Peter Rosenberg is for his love of hip-hop. Me and him can talk hip-hop for hours and hours and hours. And what we did, we didn't know what we were doing back then. We just, we were lucky enough to be in Hot 97 and

a large professor was dropping New drink shams this week, last week. Large professor was dropping a re-release, 20th anniversary of Main Source or something. So he was stopping by Hot 97. And he would always grab them and be like, yo, can we go in the back room and do an interview?

Which then became 1UP Interviews. And the 1UP Interviews, just two hip-hop nerd fans getting the oral history of hip-hop. I'm going to be honest. Y'all was ahead of y'all time. Yeah, we know that. No, we know that.

1UPs were like, this is what it was. Like, we were at Hot 97. We trained at the Curse. Like, y'all trained us. Like, I would go to Hot 97, I would think of everything I'm about to say without a curse word.

Like, I would be, I premeditated every interview. And then y'all would come in the room and be like, to the next room, it's like, we're in the principal's office. But then y'all would say, let's go to the dean's office. And then say, you could curse here.

I'd say whatever you want. We never trusted y'all. It was let's go to the dean's office. And then say, you could curse here. Say whatever you want. We never trusted y'all. This is a setup. And somewhere we're going to say something, and then we're going to be banned. And then I did get banned. Not really to us, though. Not really to us. Yeah, but that's, I know, I know.

Jesus, let's not talk about that. No, no, no. But that's why. The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. Recipients have done the improbable, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves. This medal is for the men who went down that day. It's for the families of those who didn't make it.

I'm J.R. Martinez. I'm a U.S. Army veteran myself. And I'm honored to tell you the stories of these heroes on the new season of Medal of Honor, Stories of Courage from Pushkin Industries and iHeart Podcast. From Robert Blake, the first black sailor to be awarded the medal, to Daniel Daly, one of only 19 people to have received the Medal of Honor twice.

These are stories about people who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor going above and beyond the call of duty. You'll hear about what they did, what it meant, and what their stories tell us

about the nature of courage and sacrifice. Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding.

But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick.

Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your gut microbiome and those healthy bacteria can actually have positive effects throughout your body, not just your gut, but your mental health, your metabolism, your immunity, your risk of cancer, heart disease, almost any disease under the sun. Yep, you heard right. Probiotics might actually impact everything from your brain to your heart. So what's science and what's just really good marketing?

On this episode of Dope Labs, me and Zakiya cut through the hype and get into the real deal behind probiotics with help from gastroenterologist Dr. Roshi Raj. So yes, bacteria is definitely having a moment and I'm very excited about that. From probiotic drinks and gummies to face creams and pillows. Yep, we said pillows. The probiotic boom is everywhere.

But how much of it actually works? And what does it all mean for your gut, your skin, and even your mood? Join us on Dope Labs where we break it all down in the lab like only we can. Listen to Dope Labs on iHe it all down into the lab like only we can. Listen to Dope Labs on iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. That's why I came off like, I would always say, probably this is your fault, Rosenberg. I was like,

this podcast is nerdy. And EFM would call me and be like, let's do a podcast. I'm like, damn, I know I helped the nerds get on with Pharrell

I mean we're a billionaires boys club right now holy moly guacamole but I was like maybe we're not that nerdy at EFM and EFM was like listen I'm telling not that nerdy yet, EF, man. And EF was like, listen, I'm telling you. I'm telling you. And then he was right.

But that's nerdy enough. That's nerdy enough. Yes, yes. And I'll tell you what's crazy about that. I'm in L.A. one night, hanging out with Kid Cudi. Excuse me, I was with Alchemist. That's a big difference. Huge.

Not even similar. It's a big difference. No, no. Here's what happened. It was Frank Sinatra. No, it was Michael Jackson. No, no, no. I'm with Alchemist, and he goes to me, let's go to this Kid Cudi show.

Okay. There we go. At the time, I'm in hip-hop purgatory. I don't know if anybody knows what hip-hop purgatory is, but you're going to receive it at some point. And that's where you go from being like here to like down here,

but you're like right here. And you don't know because if you're like right here. Right. And you don't know, because if you go up, you made it. But if you go down, Sold. No coming back. Going to the garbage. Back to the garbage truck.

For real, you gotta realize, they get tired of us. After a while, they get tired of us, and they want to kick us to the fucking curb. That's the reason why we made Drink Champs. We want to make people that's been here so long. So anyway, what arguments? And he goes, let's go to this. I don't want to be seen.

Like, I don't want to. Like, I'm in purgatory. Like, I'm like, I'm not confident. So, damn, this is ill, right? I ain't going to lie. I feel deep telling this story. And I'm about to light a blunt and act like I don't know if we can smoke or not. I'm not sure.

We're going to figure that out later. So anyway, I walk in and then, I don't want to say nerves, but all of these hip-hop alternative people came up to me and was like, you're the god! And I was like, why? I was like, I didn't shoot nobody over here. You know what I mean? And I didn't realize... I'm sorry, that's how I identify with

being a man, like, back then. Like, you had to pop somebody, you know what I mean? But they're coming to me, and what I don't realize is, they're like, you put on Pharrell, like, the first mean? But they're coming to me, and what I don't realize is they're like, you put on Pharrell. Like, the first time we seen Pharrell is, and he's our God. And I was like, this is this whole other alternative hip-hop

that Kanye and, this was like, holy, this is not gangster. There's nobody in there with a bandana, nobody crip-walking, nobody, nobody, nobody. In L.A. I'm like I'm like you ain't gonna ask me what hood I claim like you know because I'm used to who you would claim like no I won't no this was alternative did this word you used yes alternative word and I looked and I was like wow there's a whole nother section of hip-hop that a tribe called Quest. Because they attribute it to me through Pharrell, but Pharrell is not where it comes from.

It comes from actually a tribe called Quest. And then what's the Native Tongue? Well, it's all under the Native Tongue. And I'm looking like, holy shit, it still kind of went back to New York. But I'm in L.A. and that's when I discovered what is it called? Did they mean the backpackers? Um, uh, uh, uh, the Kanye. It's not backpacking.

No, it's not backpacking. This is upgraded from backpack. This is a different, um, it's a kid cutting. Yes. Alternative. Alternative. Alternative. Yes. And, and I realized this other places, like in my day, yes. And I realized there's other places that hip hop, like in my day, I'm sorry, this is horrible, but if I performed and nobody got stabbed, I was like, this is a horrible show. You're in the wrong room.

So I liked it. If I did what, what, what, I wanted somebody to get what, what, what, you know what I mean? I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I wanted somebody to get what, what, what. You know what I mean? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I went too far, guys.

I'm sorry. Why go to a show if no one gets stabbed? No, no. I'm so glad I don't rap no more. I'm so glad. I like. When I did reggae, though, I was like, I'm never going back. You want me to go back to rap?

I just seen people dance all night. Hey, gasolina. Holy shit. This is no... And nobody gets stabbed. Nobody, like... Hip-hop was fucked up at one point. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry to even remind y'all of that. I know. It had nothing to do with the 90 people you walked in with. No. Absolutely. Backstage area being in with. No. Backstage area being completely full. Nope. It had nothing to do with me at all.

I'll tell you that. You got a question? I'm sorry. I'm going to tell you this quick story before we get out of here. I think I'm in like the fourth or fifth grade. I'm like fourth or fifth grade and I'm arguing with my teacher. And I tell the teacher, I'm like, you don't understand I'm finna blow up.

I don't even got to be here, right? So she like, what are you talking about? So I'm like, you want me to learn this and learn that when I already know what I want to do in life? I'm going to be a rap star. So she was like, where is that going to take you? And I was like, to the moon. And she says, what, right?

And I look at her and I go, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what? And the whole class, the whole class starts saying this shit. To the point, I just did an interview on BET and my mom told the story about when she got the call that I was in the class standing on top of the desk going, what, what, what, what, what? I appreciate that.

By the way, greatest story out there. There's no better way to end it on this note. And he ain't alternative. Holy moly guacamole. This was great, man. I want to thank everybody here, even though I'm not moderating.

Put it up. I'm not moderating. This boy, you're holding court. Put it up. Put it up. Shout out to Monster Energy, Monster Energy for putting this together. It's the 50th year of hip-hop. 50th year of hip-hop right here, man.

Toast to everybody that done this. I always say rappers was my father when I didn't have one. So I appreciate Hov. I appreciate Nori. I appreciate Big. I appreciate Pac. I appreciate X. I appreciate Scarlett for being appreciate Big. I appreciate Pac. I appreciate X. I appreciate Scarlett for being a female that's not hypersexualized

and giving men something to shout out that women can vibe to. We could all be in a club together. So when I'm in a club, I want to tell them to hold the fuck up. That's right. Move the fuck back. That's on us. That's hip-hop. It's the 50th year right here. The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States.

Recipients have done the improbable, the unexpected, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves. This medal is for the men who went down that day. On Medal of Honor, Stories of Courage, you'll hear about these heroes and what their stories tell us about the nature of bravery. Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A lot of times, big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding.

But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. Small but important ways. From tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chastin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.