Drink Champs - Episode 420 w/ Young MC

Episode Date: July 26, 2024

N.O.R.E. & DJ EFN are the Drink Champs. In this episode we chop it up with the legendary Young MC! Young MC joins us to share his incredible story. Listen as he talks about the importance of Major & Independent record labels, the value of owning your publishing and much more! Young MC also breaks down the creation of his iconic song “Bust A Move” and much much more! Lots of great stories that you don’t want to miss!! Make some noise for Young MC!!! 💐💐💐🏆🏆🏆   *Subscribe to Patreon NOW for exclusive content, discount codes, M&G’s + more:  🏆* https://www.patreon.com/drinkchamps *Listen and subscribe at https://www.drinkchamps.com Follow Drink Champs: https://www.instagram.com/drinkchamps https://www.twitter.com/drinkchamps https://www.facebook.com/drinkchamps https://www.youtube.com/drinkchamps DJ EFN https://www.crazyhood.com https://www.instagram.com/whoscrazy https://www.twitter.com/djefn https://www.facebook.com/crazyhoodproductions N.O.R.E. https://www.instagram.com/therealnoreaga https://www.twitter.com/noreagaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. legendary queens rapper hey hey segre this your boy n-o-r-e he's a miami hip-hop pioneer what up his dj efn together they drink it up with some of the biggest players in the most professional unprofessional podcast and your number one source for drunk it's time for drink champs. Drink up, motherfucker. What it good be hoping it's your boy N-O-R-E. What up, it's DJ E-F-N. And this is Military Crazy War Podcast.

I don't know why I keep saying that. It's Drink Champs, bitch. It's Drink Champs, motherfucker. Make some noise! When I tell you we started this show and we said we wanted to interview legends,

people that came before us, people that paved the way for us. I said this to everyone that was here earlier. I said, if I had an artist, I would put him through his school of being an MC. I watched this man rock a party like no one else can rock a party.

I've watched this man. When you say an icon, you say a legend. You say a person that has been in this game, monkey-footing this motherfucker and going through it and doing it and continue to do it. He came late.

Two minutes late. To me, that's early. No, it's not. But we have the privilege of interviewing and getting young motherfuckers. Now, here's what's crazy. Here's what's crazy. Here's what's crazy.

When I think of you, I think of West Coast. But when you Google you. Yes. They say you're from Queens. Of course I'm from Queens. Hollis and 211. Or 109th and 211th and 211th. Okay, get it together.

No, 109th and 211th. 109th is here. 211th is here. Hollis1th. Okay, get it together. No, 109th and 211th. 109th is here. 211th is here. Hollis is here. Okay. So it's really the coast of Queens Village because after Francis Lewis, it's Queens Village

and then the other side is Hollis. No, but it's... He got super quick. I'm serious. But that's what's crazy is one of my favorite moments in hip-hop period was a record called All In The Same Gang, right?

That West Coast unity. Recently, I just seen Kendrick Lamar. He had put the West Coast together on stage. Now, his was crazy about that. I'm such of a, to these young guys, I'm such an old guy to them, that I looked and I didn't know that that was actually rappers. Oh, yeah. So when I put it together, I was like, I didn't see this since All in the Same Gang.

Well, the funny thing, what Kendrick did on stage, and this is just me watching it and having a visceral reaction, it's the culmination of what we were trying to do with All in the Same Gang. Wow. Because he had different sets. He had made a big deal of saying, oh, you know, it's more than records now. It's bigger than me now.

We have sets from all over the place. Because that was the goal. Wow. Because, I mean, Deuce was still dying, but Deuce was really dying at that point. And just to shine a light on it. And the funny thing was that the man that put it together, Mike Inception,

that put it together, for him... All in the same game? Yes. Okay, my man in a wheelchair, right? Now, the interesting thing about that, and I relate some of that to even Suge's experience, is that you got people

that are outside the music business and they're able to cultivate that into something really powerful inside the music business. I want to say it was Grand Jury Records that Mike had. Oh, wow. And so we put out all in the same gang, but he did stuff after that as well. So circling back, including someone like me from the East Coast, I don't know a lot about the West Coast, not involved in any gangs but to get my perspective on a record like that shows some foresight because i can easily see someone putting something like that together

so he ain't from out here he don't know nothing about out here people know who he is but why do we want to hear what he has to say and i still got eight bars on the single i got 16 bars on the I went, I've been touring a lot, you know, the whole time. My stage muscles are strong. So. Sorry, did you say stage muscles? My stage muscles. I like that. I was telling people how good your show is.

We'll continue. Well, no, I mean, no offense, no DJ, no hype, man. I open, so I have to literally just carry my tracks and just go and try and get the best show I can. But I had not done my same gang verse for years and years and years. And then I saw an artist do it. And an artist that was on the record do it. And I'm like, okay, I should get on. And I started doing it in my show, my longer shows.

Now I got new music out. So it'll just be my 30 or whatever that I do that in. But for several years on this 90s tour, I've been doing my all in the same gang verse. And it just fits in. shows now i got new music out so it'll just be my my 30 or whatever that i do that in but but for several years on this 90s tour i've been doing my all in the same gang verse and it just fits in especially people having shorter attention spans whatever 16 bars is a whole record to them you know i mean was bust the move had four 16s and all that all that other stuff so um yeah it's it's just as the years go by i see the power of that record and as the years go by, I see the power of that record. And as the years go by, I'm more proud of my involvement in it.

It wasn't just a call and get on. And to even go further, me and Tone are the only two people that were in both the self-destruction video and all in the same gang video. I did not notice that. In the video? Well, here's the thing. We both had multi-platinum records. I remember you guys in that video. They had a short scene with us in there. Interestingly enough, they did put both of us behind a cell and had us stay in the hook from behind the cell.

And then somebody from back said, now we can't have them looking like that. So if there's a cut you've seen where I'm not in it or we're not in it, it may be because they took that out. Because that cell part was with Just Ice, I think. That verse? I don't even know, dude. I don't even. But the interesting thing is, this is a short period of time. I'm a New York kid.

Yes. Went out to LA, come back, and all my heroes are in the room. So I'm taking pictures, dude. I'm literally in the way. You shouldn't take pictures. Yeah, Instagram back then? Please. I'm fucking with you.

It's called Polaroid. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, Polaroid. It's Instagram. We barely had CDs back then. Wow. CDs were new on my phone. I got your cassette. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, for the Royals. We barely had CDs back then. Wow. CDs were new on my phone.

Yeah, look, I got your cassette. Yeah, exactly. So I'm there taking pictures like a fan, annoying people, whatever, whatever. I come out for Same Gang, and I'm a peer. They're like, all right, well, where do we need Young to be? Blah, blah, blah. Make sure his verse goes here.

Dr. Dre producing me. It's a total different experience. Right. So I culminate that by saying if i stayed in new york no offense in new york but if i stayed in new york you never would have heard of me you never i couldn't have wrote wild thing there i couldn't have wrote since we started with this record i want to stay on here a second okay is there any awkwardness because think about the type of record it is. It's about L.A. culture.

It's about actually territory in a sense. And MCs can be territorial. Was there any awkwardness you not being maybe from their perspective of the culture being on that record talking about the culture? Okay. Pretty much everybody on that record I played with. Everybody on that record I shared a stage with. Right. So even N.W.A., D.O.C., Cube. played with every everybody on that record i'd share the stage with right so even nwa doc um

cube i mean i know cube from nwa i knew pock from digital like i'm knowing these people at the beginnings of their career and i'm at the beginning of mine it just turned out at the time that when bustin move hit i'm you know i'm got my penthouse in West Hollywood, and I'm just there. I'm not coming, you know. But I always got respected for what I did on the mic. So to answer your question, when I came on, they wanted to see not only my perspective, but how I would do it, and that I wasn't just mailing it in. That it wasn't just like, oh, I'm Young MC,

and I'm saying my name a bunch of times, I'm saying Bustin' Move a bunch of times, and I'm showing how famous I am on this record. No, I saw Brothers Killin' Other Other Brothers because that's what I'm seeing. Is everybody recording together? No. Oh. Separately?

See, you asked the good questions. I show up to the studio and it's Dre, one other dude. They let me in the door. My man's looking behind me. You know what I mean? There were dudes on that record, to your point, what happened with Kendrick. There were dudes on that record that you didn't want in the same room. Right.

That's why I said territorial. Literally territorial. Yeah, even the video shoot. Part of the reason why the video shoot was cool is because Conception had security all over. Wow. And not hood security, real security. FOI? I don't know

about FOI, but some of it was hood security. And remember, they used green in another color. They didn't use blue and red in the video. They used green and something else in yellow, I think. Because, yeah, dudes get triggered by seeing colors. I hate to even bring this up. I remember when I was younger, a woman I was seeing had talked me into wearing a red suit, a red jumpsuit to one of my shows. And it was at the Casa.

What was she thinking? She wasn't thinking. And I don't know any better. So I'm literally getting ready to do my show and some shit breaks out and dudes are standing in front of me so they don't see my suit before I go on stage. And then from that experience and other experiences, I'm like, okay, you shouldn't wear this here. You shouldn't wear that there. I didn't know. I'm literally,

my entrance to LA was on USC campus. So I'm only finding this out as I went on. Having said that, I know that dudes have been looking out for me, you know what I mean? And I want to give them a shout out just on GP. I've had a pretty good experience in this business, seeing all that I've seen and being around all the people that I've been around. But like same gang, like I said, as the time goes on, I've really cherished that experience. Like that's a once in a lifetime thing. Yeah. It's an incredible record. It definitely was. I want to tell you a funny story.

I consider him my friend, Jamie Leie lefrak oh god yeah i'm jamie lefrak right and i'm in his house and i i didn't realize how rich he was until i got to his house right and then i realized i said this motherfucker's really rich rich rich rich right but so he's he's telling me the whole time he's like like, I'm going to blow your mind out with these performances. So I'm like, okay. So he's like, you don't want me to tell you? I'm like, nah, I'm more of an organic guy. Just let me just go over there and let me just see it.

I seen Tim, when you got on stage, sing every word. I was so impressed. And then he says to me, this is my high school. I had a couple of drinks. I thought he said he went to high school with you. I'm like, I've been running around saying, Jamie, I reckon y'all gonna see we just school together, motherfuckers.

And what he was saying was, he was saying, this is my high school. This is my whole experience. And I thought that that was so dope for me to see a person of that caliber fan out. And I'm going to tell you who else was fanning out. I don't know if you've seen it. You said hi to him. It was DJ Khaled.

DJ Khaled, when you got on stage, I was mad that DJ Khaled knew just as much as words I knew. I was like, man, you better stop it. I'm the... Do you understand that these kids nowadays records go away.

It's a disposable. And you have a record that's over 30 years? 35 years. 35 years. 35 years. And it still... To me, I just watched you that day. And I've been to a couple of your shows.

I snuck in a couple of times. And I just see that. And that's... If a young artist was to come up to me right now, I would say, this is, this is who you should follow. This is how it should be because,

but then you got these people who got records right now. It just go away. When you hear records like that, that just go away. What do you think? It's the industry. I mean, it went from a physical product like you have where you see a picture and you see liner notes and you see all these things that it's something that you own of the artist to streaming and downloads and it's air.

You disconnected. Right. So what is the fan commitment or what is the listener's commitment to the artist today? Right. Two minutes so you can get the stream money, a minute and a half. And they listen to what? 70, 80, 100 songs a day. So how do you expect them to commit to you enough to say, okay, I'm going to come out to a show?

Then the real money is in the shows. And then you got, but the shows aren't necessarily as important to the labels unless they have a 360 deal. So you got the artists, for whatever reason, not putting the emphasis on show performance as they should. Because the records become disposable. Who guessed it on it? Who did the track? Where's the sample from? It's like, for me, I'm looking at every record I make, if it's the last song I ever make, I want it to be the best song I ever make.

Every show that I do, for the most part, every show that I do, if it's the last song I ever make, I want it to be the best song I ever make. Every show that I do, for the most part, every show that I do, especially publicly, I want it to be the best show that I can physically do. Because I don't want somebody seeing it saying, oh, you know what I mean? My analogy is this. I got new music out. So I'm a 57-year-old

rapper. Make some noise for that. That's right. The song I now is called Lo fun parts following behind it, but I'm a 57 year old rapper. I equate that to driving on the highway and you get into some traffic and you see that there's an accident on the side of the road and people are slowing down and slowing down to look over, see if they see a leg sticking out. That's how they look at a 57 year old rapper's career. Cause I would look at it like that. Like, what is he doing making records like that? But I've been on stage so much that I love

it. I mean, I love it. The idea, it's the first time I've made music with the stage in mind. Like, how is this going to translate to the crowd? Like, meaning you made the record for the stage? Absolutely. Okay, that's deep. Absolutely. Usually you make the record saying, oh, well, what will it do for radio? And what's the genre? And is it, you know, just all those things. And then you got to worry about the short attention span. So the set that I did probably is a 20-minute set. And I probably had eight songs in it, you know, the one that you saw.

Because it went from three verses to two verses on some to one verse on some records. Just a bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. So that if there's a record you don't like, just to bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. So that if there's a record you don't like, just wait a minute. It'll be like Miami weather. Just wait a minute. It'll change to something that changes something that you like. So I went into making these new songs with that in mind, like, okay, you know, three sixteens are out. So let's go 16, 12, eight, let's go 16, you know, 16, 12, and then repeat something from the first verse just to reinforce things. But also then I know I can do the whole record on stage as opposed to

saying, okay, what verse am I going to cut out to do this on stage? So yeah, man, I mean, if I was in any other business, I'd be behind a desk, CEO or see something, oh, knowing so much in my experience and all that, in this business, they want to dispose of you in your late 30s, to be honest. So I'm just looking at it in a different way, approaching it. But here's what's ill about your show. Like I said, I've been to others.

I have a dilemma when it comes to me doing music. Like my DJ literally has to go and look at the crowd, right? And my DJ has to say, okay, we're going to be Latino tonight. Or we're going to be, you know, we're going to be hardcore. He has to look at the crowd. You are one of the artists that I don't think have to do that at all. Yeah, well, not from the stage. I try and do my do my homework

before i get on stage right but i have a little player that i that i use that um and it's a it literally has about 30 to 40 different show versions and lengths in there oh so so literally i can look and say okay this is more of a dance crowd this is more of a you know not even an urban crowd but you know i'll do more mid-tempos. These are people that are more into this kind of thing. And I'll have a set and a set length that will appeal to them. Man, that's professional. Yeah.

That's a well-seasoned stage artist. Dude, this 90s tour, I've been on this 90s tour since 2015. And we're probably, you know, even with COVID, we're talking between 400 and 500 shows. In 2016, I did like 110 shows myself. Julio Godrest did like 150 in a year because they were going Thursday to Sunday every week. Wow. You know what I mean? So I would do three days a week and four days a week sometimes, but I still was well over 100 for that year.

So in doing that, I started with CDs. I'm like, oh yeah. Then somebody put the CD player too close to the speakers. It just started jumping and went, oh, got to find something, find my digital player. And just if I can do it, I went in the studio, mastered all the shows, did all the show lengths, put them in, name them. So literally I know, okay, how much are we doing tonight? What's the crowd like? Blah, blah, blah. And pick the show and go.

And that way I know what I'm doing. I literally have this thing where when I'm driving to the airport, I rehearse the show that I'm doing that night. I've done Bust a Move thousands of times. Still going to rehearse it on the way to the airport, you know, just to have it in my short-term memory for when I get on stage the next time. And it's crazy because for some reason it's like Bust a Move is like, it's like a white boy anthem too.

Like the white people love that shit. Yeah, I mean, I guess. I mean, I just saw it in a prescription drug commercial the other day. Really? Yeah, my boy had sent me a video of it and I was like, okay. I mean, I think it was like for an eyes, literally like irritable bowel syndrome drug, like bust a move. I didn't put you into it. No, no, no, no.

You got me. You got me. That's a good placement. That's a good placement. But the funny thing is, if you know what pharmaceutical companies go through in terms of what they pick so that it doesn't affect their brand right you know i'm not even thinking about my brand as much as like to get to that point you know with all the right all the places that the records been i can tell you stories about different people that have said it and used it and stories that i've seen and all that just adds to it as opposed to you know one placement being a representation of everything i do so so please

tell me that all your business was correct when you created that record so that the publishing that's been generated is yours. Listen, that was his number one question. Plus the records that you've written, but let's just stick on Bust a Move right now. Okay. Literally when I wrote Bust a Move, my original record deal gave away my publishing. But I knew this. I knew this. Hold on. I knew this as I was making the record. You knew that you didn't have it published yet. I knew I didn't have it.

I mean, that's just what it was. You signed a deal. You knew what deal you were signing. But I'm learning more as time goes on. So Bust a Move was the last record I make. So I write Bust a Move and I read it to the label owners over the phone and they say they like it. And I say, good, well, I'm going to sell it to this person over at RCA unless you give me about publishing on this in the next two records. I got publishing on the first three singles just for doing that.

And I'm in college at the time. I'm doing this from a dorm room. You know what I mean? But I looked at it like, this is mine. I knew what it was going to be. And at that point, Tone's records had come out, or at least Wild Thing had come out. And obviously, I didn't have publishing on that. So I'm here to get it.

You wrote Wild Thing? I wrote. Let's wheel it back. We got plenty of time. We got to talk these things through I'm sorry everything intertwines It seems like I'm all over the place We with you

Don't worry Hold up When Irvin rolls up Irvin has Can we look at that tape These are things that I cut when I was a kid Those two And I'm like why do you have Tone Loke Can we look at that tape? And these are things that I cut when I was a kid. No, no, no, those two.

Tone Loke? Tone Loke. And I'm like, why do you have Tone Loke? You didn't know? I didn't know. And he goes, you didn't know? And I go, no. And he goes, he wrote.

Well, all right. So you got to break it down, please. Thank you. Tone was on Delicious with me. I had made, I think I had made Principal's Office already. And ironically, that was supposed to be my first single. And I'm glad that it wasn't. But they gave Tone the track to Wild Thing.

And they had him write some stuff. And they didn't feel it was, you know, it was a little too raunchy for what they wanted to do, especially with a rock track trying to, you know, cross over on radio. So they come to me. And I am like full-on New York MC, like nobody writes for anybody else. What are you talking about, you know? And especially because I've seen Wild Thing blow up. I'm like, when am I coming out?

What am I going to, you know what I mean? Or rather, no, because this is really in the writing of Wild Thing. I just felt that I was waiting a long time. Had you already written and recorded? No, Bust a Move was written and recorded after Wild Thing and Funky Comedina were not only made, but had come out. Okay. So that's why I'm confusing a little bit. But basically, I'm like, why am I waiting so long? I get signed in 87.

My record doesn't drop, you know, to almost two years later. Now you're at me, you know, in 88. Know How barely come out. They just got on Island, and they want me to write for Tone. And this is delicious vinyl. Yeah, this is delicious vinyl. So I say, okay. I said, fine.

Give me a half hour. I'll give you a record. Literally. Talked to him on the phone. 35 minutes later, I gave him four verses, and three of the verses are verbatim in Wild Thing. Wow. Now me and tone have always been cool, but at the time the label had told tone that they had wrote it right.

Because they felt that he wouldn't take it. If he knew that I wrote it, they wrote it like literally the guys that were on the label. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They said that. Now,

mind you, I mean, yeah, yeah. I mean, the, the, the, the liner notes, all that is announced. He can't tell us. So we spoke and, you know, found out that I did. He was cool with it. And once again, as years are going on, we see how incredible that relationship is and what we've meant to each other's lives, because he credits me, obviously, for writing some of his biggest hits.

But I credit him for showing me the blueprint. Because if Bust a Move is coming out and there's no Wild Thing and no Funky Cole Medina, I don't know what the ceiling is. Right, because those are huge records. I get to be, at that point, I'm like, going in circles. When me and Tone, when Wild Thing was finished, we hoped it would sell 5,200,000 records

He's like He wanted to buy a car And I wanted to pay off My student loans That was literally The conversation that we had The goals Yeah

Right Four million Four million singles Now mind you Four million singles To the point where the label's like Ah Maybe we should stop

Pressing singles Maybe we should start Pressing albums Albums yeah Right The only thing that could Even come close to it Was We Are The World

That was the only thing That was close to it was We Are The World. That was the only thing that was close to it. So that's one thing. Bustin' Moves stayed on the Billboard 200 charts for 40 weeks. 40 weeks. Outlasted my second single, outlasted my third single. So it's like, when you have success like that,

I would not trade that period from mid 88 to mid 90. I would not trade that period for anybody else in the world in terms of the experience of what the impact we had on on on hip hop, the music business. You know, my Grammy was the first televised Grammy. All of that stuff happening in that period of time. It's like, dude, I can't I can't be mad or bitter about anything. Haven't experienced that. And when me and Tone get together and we talk is great. You know, and on that note, I'm a lead the conversation a little bit. Let's go. I got a shout out Kyle Eustace. OK, because Kyle is a writer that knows knows F and really well and and help make this happen. But she did an interview with me and Tone where some of the stuff started coming out.

And she gets stuff all online. And it just really made, it really opened my eyes. Because how I just throw the names around. These are my friends. These are my life experiences. But other people react because people, you know, people are legends. I don't consider myself a legend. But a lot of people, you know people That I've been around are legends

One last thing I'm going to blow your mind Guess who my first DJ was Battle Cat Oh shit Battle Cat? Battle Cat Yeah, the Battle Cat

Wow He was out with me And then we couldn't find him And when I heard I've not discussed this with him But when I heard He got locked up But it was something

We got jammed up in. And three weeks went by and I had to hire somebody else. So I hired, I want to say at that time, Julio G, another mix master. Yeah, yeah. Right? Wait, Julio G from the radio station? Oh my God, this is my man. The mix masters, when we were coming out on Delicious, M-Walk, who's a mix master, that's

Tony's DJ to this day. Right. And then Tony G, who's like the godfather of all of them, he was the DJ for the majority of the time. Right. You know what I mean? Damn. And when Tony G, it was too much on the road for Tony G, so we literally had an audition.

My man Eric won the audition. He was my DJ until I stopped having DJs. Wow. You know what I mean? But it goes back to that much. If you saw the shirt that I was wearing in here, it's the little bird record player. That's how I look at it. Old school. It comes from the vinyl for me. It comes from, it's the little bird record player. That's how I look at it. Old school, it comes from the vinyl for me.

It comes from, that's the essence. It doesn't come from instruments as much as it comes from... How did you meet Battle Cat? I mean, I want to say he was a mix master. So if I'm going to K-Day... Right, that's how you connect. Yeah, they literally have a stable

of the best DJs and the best known DJs in L.A. And for a lot of these cats, it's the first time to really get out and travel. You know what I mean? To do with all the places we're going. So, yeah. Wow. Now, who is that on your shirt? Okay.

This is an A.I. representation of me. Okay. On stage. I thought it was you and Kanye West had a baby. No, no, no, no, no. I'm kidding. And this right here is Disco Teresa. This is my AI character.

I know you guys have discussed AI. Yeah. So it's an AI character. She's like the label mascot. She's on all my new records. So I'll picture it like this. You got too deep. No, no.

You went above all that. Okay, I'm not. If you look at a label tag or a producer tag, you know, Mustard on a B-Hell. Did you just say Mustard on a B-Hole? Yeah. Okay. All right. Good day.

Good day. Maybach music, all that. Yeah, yeah. Me, especially during COVID, have a lot of downtime. I'm like, okay, if you took this, first thing, I didn't even know, like, the Maybach music was actually a person. I thought it was a voice program, like, seriously. Right, right. So I said, okay, if you took that and you fully animated it,

where it was literally an element in the track that could answer you, what would that be like? So I created it on the audio side, and then we got a video that's pretty much all AI for Loose that creates it on the video side. And I literally, as the singles go on, I'm having an AI character kind of like, like, co with me on the records. That's crazy.

Yeah, yeah. When you hear it, it's dope. And I won't even lie. Like, that's the thing that's motivating me to make records at this age. Because I can be like, ah, whatever. Especially if you're doing the same thing over and over again. If I want to get through 16s, I'm like, I got to do something that's interesting. So for me, that's interesting.

Disco Theory, Disco Teresa, all that. The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network, hosted by me, writer and historian Dan Flores, and brought to you by Velvet Buck. This podcast looks at a West available nowhere else. Each episode, I'll be diving into some of the lesser-known histories of the West. I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian Dr. Randall Williams and best-selling author and meat-eater founder Stephen Ranella. I'll correct my kids now and then where they'll say when cave people were here. And I'll say, it seems like the Ice Age people that were here

didn't have a real affinity for caves. 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. I know a lot of cops, and 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.

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It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and six on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We have Will.i.am on here, and he was describing this AI shit,

and then he had his AI turn British on us. It was spooky. Yeah, for me, I just wanted, I'm very rudimentary, just I don't want it to imitate anybody. I don't want it to be anybody. I want it to be an element in my music.

That's all I wanted to be. So as an old school artist, you're accepting AI, that's what you're saying. Because a lot of people don't accept it like, especially what's going on right now you know, Drake actually did a... Well, it depends on how you accept it. I'm sure you don't expect, you don't want AI to start

just generating music and X out the artist. I had people come to me like, yo, yo I make a hundred songs a day, you want to make a song? I'm like no! Right. Well, you know I'm using it for a specific purpose for a specific reason, you know in ways that someone hasn't used it before. Right. But all that stuff with imitating voices and without the estate's permission, I'm not with that.

Right. And that's not something I would use it for. Right. I use the technology in my mind to make the music better. It's kind of interesting because one of my weird quirks that I have is that when we were working on 24-track tape, I literally could have all the tracks memorized and know that we had enough or didn't have enough before we even laid a single beat down. So now I'm thinking in three dimensions when I'm making a record. Like, okay, if I leave a space here, I could have the AI say this. If I leave a space there, if I could have the AI say this and lead me, blah, blah, blah. So being able to think, it's kind of spurred me on in terms of how I'm writing.

It's like being in a group and the AIs are the members of the group. Yeah, kind of. But it's funny. When I put the record out, I got a comment online like, oh, you signed Disco Teresa. What other artists are you going to sign? I'm like, she's not an artist. She's not even a she. You know what I mean?

It's an it. It's an element that I wanted to put in music. Like I said, like I haven't seen people use before, but I still want to have my artistry be the forefront of all of it. I want to ask you, because my engineer peeped it when I walked in. When I walked in and I was telling everybody and I was like, yo, I bet he has a different version of Tupac. Yeah.

Because one of the things that I love is people that met Pac prior to him going to death row. Because, I mean, me being, I know Geminis. Yeah. Jesus, relax. But I know Geminis, what I'm trying to say is like, it know Gemini's. Yeah. What the? Jesus, relax.

But I know Gemini, what I'm trying to say is, like, it's two different people, right? But you, what I like to say, probably know the original version of Pac. I knew Pac as a member of Digital. Right. Okay? And if you don't mind, I'm going to take you on a little trip. Please, please. We got off board and pass.

Let's go. This goes to one of the main reasons I don't drink today. OK. When I was a kid, 11, 12 years old, I had a liver disorder, went into the hospital, lost a bunch of weight. They told me not to drink in my teens. So by the time I was able to drink in my early 20s, I drank a little bit, didn't like the feeling of not being in control of my body and just where my mind was. So I stayed away from it. So years went by and normally if I was in a situation and I was offered a drink, I just wouldn't take it. Then one time I was in a circle where I just couldn't turn it down. Bottle was

being passed. And I think this is the only time in my life that I've taken a bottle from somebody. Gentleman passed the bottle to me and said, we're going to toast this person. And it's the same person, by the way, that I saw do the all in the same gang verse. So I take the drink. And it's Hennessy. It's something sweet. So it may be Hennessy, but it's a bottle passed around.

This is blaming on Hennessy, not on alcohol, period. Continue. The person who passed me the bottle was Shaq G. Rest in peace. The person that I was the bottle Was Shaq G Rest in peace The person that I was toasting was Tupac And that's probably 20 years ago And that's the last drink that I've taken So your last drink you ever had

Is with Shaq G and Tupac That's kind of like a legendary drink But that's what I'm saying It's a personal choice First it was health, then a personal choice. And now I'm not going to start drinking now if I put it in that perspective. Right. You know what I mean?

And once again, my heart hurts, man, knowing Tupac. I knew Tupac as a member of Digital. So, you know, Eli and Money B and, you know what I mean? I knew him as a member there. He had told an interesting story and and because Tupac would after his passing and you know he would come back to me um I was performing a new a newer record at a elementary school and some kids had come up to me and they said we saw Tupac and and we asked him about this new fast style of rhyming that we're

hearing all over the radio. And he said, it's cool. I like these artists. I like, you know, those people. But, you know, Young MC created that style. And these are little kids coming and telling me this. So I was like, wow, man. Like, I didn't know because I wasn't terribly close to him.

We didn't hang out. But I would see him at the shows, you know, like I'd see other people. He was always cool. He was always cool. But you knew that there was something there when he could break free. Shock was a great guy. Artistically, he was dominating. So there was a lot that other artists in digital, you know, may have wanted to do.

But the vision of Shock kind of controlled digital and it was very successful. So when Tupac went and did his thing, I was like, yo, I've never been in a group, but I can only imagine having stuff in me that I can't get out in this group that I can get out on my own. So my whole vision of Tupac was his ability to express himself musically, politically,

all those things, and to see that come to fruition to express himself, you know, musically, politically, all those things, you know, and to see that, you know, come to fruition. Come to fruition, yeah. Yeah, yeah, from someone that I knew that was in a group. Did you guys interact after he broke free from digital? Like, how were those interactions? I mean, when I saw him, it was cool. I think I'd seen him with Sugar a couple times, and it was always cool.

It was always love. I'm like Switzerland, dude. I just— You seem like Switzerland, yes. You got no drama. Well, no drama. And also, my aggression is on the mic. So, like, anybody can say whatever they want about me, but they'll never, at least honestly,

question what I do on a microphone, even in my 50s. So, like, that's always been my approach. I could have done something else. I have a college degree. I easily could have done something else. But I have not only a love for this, but I know I'm good at this. So one of the big things, when I first came out to L.A., there were other guys that came from New York. And they get up on stage, yeah, New York this, New York that. And I'm thinking, these people are paying.

These people, you know, they want to big up their own place. This is before L.A. hip-hop got really big. This is in the, you know, Toddy T, Ice-T, Bat-A-Ram. This is when people go on stage and say, it's Brooklyn in the house, and everybody go L.A. hip-hop got really big. This is in the, you know, toddy tea, ice tea, batteram. This is when people go on stage and say, it's Brooklyn in the house, and everybody go crazy. Yeah. Like, KT was probably around. Yeah, yeah.

So this is 87. Right. And my thing was, these people accepted me. So I'm not going to go up here and say what my neighborhood's like. I'm not in my neighborhood right now. I'm in L.A. Right. So part of the reason I think I got accepted for, you know,

being part of all in the same gang, because they knew that I, that if I was going to claim anywhere, I was going to claim LA. You know what I mean? Even if I wasn't in the streets and wasn't doing any thug shit or whatever, I would, you know, if you said just like you thought I'm West coast artists, people, I never get up and say, yo, I'm from the East coast. It's not, I mean, I'll tell people what my background is, but I'm not, I'm not going to bang the table and disrespect the place. It's not, I mean, I'll tell people what my background is, but I'm not going to bang the table and disrespect the place that's basically, you know, created my career.

If, like, once again, if I stayed in New York, you never would have heard of me. Just wouldn't have. You know how New York is. Yes, I do. The older dude, I would do block parties and I'd try and break into a new cadence and like, no, you don't rhyme like that.

You got to rhyme just like this. Da-da-da-da-da-da. It's like, come on, man. And I'm coming up at a time where you literally have all of hip-hop if you take a subway map and just extend the right side out to long island every artist you know is on that subway map that's how i grew up was there anybody on on uh self-destruction that wasn't from new york i don't think so no or from the tri-state area if they were they didn't claim it but on on uh on same gang you and def jeff that i

could think of yeah yeah def jeff's in new york yeah because he's he's not yeah he wasn't from la yeah really yeah i didn't peep that neither but that but see that to me that's the brilliance of conception that he was like i want everybody on there i want all these you know all these viewpoints so that anybody who's listening who isn't familiar can have something to hold on to or something that they can identify with in terms of a path of looking at it so i'm i'm in front of the you know most lily white crowds in the last you know couple years doing same gang and i gotta do same gang and there'll be some places and people pull me to the side yo i'm glad you did that verse we don't hear that that you know that you know that record too often so it's like yeah good and i was gonna say did you ever feel because it seemed like the era that you're coming

out in this is kind of like the beginning of what some people might say is the golden era late 80s going into the 90s right i would i would say most people would say that some people put it more into the 90s i'm gonna stop both of you right there okay no offense the golden era what considers there No offense The golden era What someone considers a golden era Depends on where they're from If you're in New York your golden era starts earlier If you're in the west it starts a little later

If you're in the south it starts even later than that I'm in the south You can't be in the south Saying that your golden era started in 85 You can't No no no not mine I'm just saying a person in the South saying that your golden era started in 85. You can't. No, no, no, not mine. For me... No, no, no, not you personally. I'm just saying a person in the South

is not going to say that their golden era started in 85, 86. Whereas if you're in New York and Run DMC is out, that could be part of your golden era. Right, that's part of your golden era. But if you're from the South, it probably starts with Uncle Luke, right? But I mean, I don't think it should be regional. I think if you're talking about the consensus of hip-hop, a lot of people put it like 88 to like

93, 94, something like that. If you're putting it within 10 years...-hop, a lot of people put it like 88 to like 93, 94, something like that. I guess, but it's influenced by regions. So you go earlier than 88 from East Coast. You go later than 93 from the South and from the West. That's my point, is that people throw around this term golden era, and that is a regional. I honestly think that's a regional distinction. That's not something you can say all of hip-hop. Because all of hip-hop, hip-hop has been regional. I honestly think that's a regional distinction. That's not something you can say all of him because all the hip hop, hip hop has been regional.

It's becoming less regional now. Right. But during then, no Internet. It was it was regional. Well, it depends because you could have been only looking at hip hop through the scope of what you got, which mainly was coming out of New York. Right. Yeah. So so a regional artist outside of New York is not going to say, oh, you know, when Eric B. is president came out that I consider that the golden era. No. What Eric B. is president influenced in that region. That's where the golden era starts. That's that's that's that's what I think. Great point. That's that's what I think. It could be debatable. I think it can be debatable. But I can see where he's coming from. But I understand where you're coming from.

But my point being is that, and again, this might be debatable as well, because I'm young at the time, but the perspective was that diehard hip hop heads looked at anybody that went commercially on the radio as like selling out. The Hammer thing. Did you get any of that backlash that Hammer got? I got some of it and and and to even go before tone came before me and i remember people saying that tone sounded like a broke rock hymn i remember that and this is before this is before that's crazy and that's my man dude that's like but he's like blood to me so i'm hearing that only but this is before he sells four million records and he wasn't broke after that 4 million. Not only that, but I have a saying. Usually people that talk shit ain't done shit.

I want to make some noise for that saying. That was hard. Yeah. So a lot of the stuff I would hear wouldn't be coming from artists. Right. There could be an artist whose music I don't like. I'm not going to say something to disrespect him because I know the struggle. So seeing someone sell as many records as Tone did and seeing, you know, what what other artists from other regions when when records were coming up after mine, I wasn't hating on it, saying it wasn't me.

I'm like, good for hip hop. The day after I won my Grammy, I wake up in the morning. I got to come down to do press. I'm literally wearing a still wearing a suit jacket. I come in front of this British reporter, I think she was of Indian descent. And she looks at me, she says, oh, I'm surprised you don't have your Grammy around your neck on a chain. I love your impression,ican as well. That's why they keep calling you your cousin. The island is so small, it could be. But the thing is, I'm coming down and I'm trying to represent. And I get that. And this is me.

I'm standing next to Bruce Hornsby. I'm standing next to all these other people. And they treat me as a peer, especially the people that know that I wrote Fatone. They're like, yo, this is a real artist. This may be a different genre. He may not be singing or whatever, but he's selling real records, and this is real stuff. So it's like more media and more hoopla in terms of the stuff that you get backlash from.

I didn't really pay it any mind, you know what I mean? Because once again, especially now with social media, it's ridiculous. You can just sit Cheetos, Mom's Basement, type, type, type, and you're supposed to be on the same platform as someone's out there doing stuff. Right. Come on, man. Now, because you came from the era where people were still calling hip-hop a fad.

People were still saying that. I remember the Biggie Smalls line, did you ever hear that hip-hop will make it this far? And it's like, I know it's a cliche type of thing, but you now got to see it turn into business. Yeah. Like, it went from being about true school to now, it's all about money. Everyone wants to be rich or whatever, but now it's a business. Did you ever think that hip-hop would turn into a business and less about the culture? I always knew that the business side of it would

would evolve but i always felt the culture would remain um so just because it's not the biggest selling record doesn't mean that it's not something that keeps the culture going right so that that's always been my approach it's like i have certain records before Bustin' Move came out. You know, dudes would tell me that, you know, let them know. And my name is Young and know how. And, you know, there's certain records that did that were more culture focused. That resonated. Yeah, that resonated more with the culture.

Bustin' Move came out, did its thing, you know, and it changed my life. So I'm never going to say anything negative about it. But I try to make a point of showing that i took part in the development of the culture especially of west coast hip-hop right you know i've had really influential artists after me come up to me and say that you know the impact that i've had on them because i was a good rapper and i was saying that i was from la so there was a lot of guys that they were good rapper. They wouldn't, you know, they would claim any place but LA, but they're in LA making money.

That's how it was for a lot of regions at that time. Yeah, but for me, that was disrespectful. If I'm here and you guys are paying me and I'm living, you know, I'm doing a Casa, Skateland, World on Wheels, Billboard Live, Florentine Gardens, you know what I'm saying? Whiskey Roxy. I mean, I'm doing, those are the places I'm playing every one of those clubs. I wish it was too young at

that time, but that's what I'm saying. Those, those are the places that I kind of cut my teeth. So I can't, you know, go, go from there to saying, Oh, but I started rapping in a crew in New York. Right. There was an evolution that took place and I saw my growth and I really learned the business being in LA. So you say it turned into a business. It did turn into a business because the money was there. At that point, I have an economics degree.

I'm not going to have somebody counting my money for me. Why? It seems like you came in at business already because you were already writing records for somebody else. It wasn't like you came in as your own emcee. Yeah, I mean, I signed as my own emcee. Right. I didn't sign as a writer. The writing stuff came because they saw how I wrote for myself as an emcee.

And so, oh, Marvin would be good to tell the story on Wild Thing. A lot of times, rappers now, I guess it's expected, oh, this producer has a beat, this beat is so hot, I'm going to run and do this. I literally never asked for a beat change on any record. Okay, this is the beat, this is the title, let's go. I mean, I'm talking Wild Thing,

Funky Cole Medina, there's a third record called Showtime that's supposed to be about the Lakers that never came out, by the way. That was's supposed to be about the Lakers that never came out by the way that was supposed to be the third single but that never came out and didn't make the album

yeah for you or for Tone no for Tone but I remember because I had written the first I think I may have I still have my rhyme book

written in pencil because then it wouldn't fade but just sitting down making those seeing what they did, it's like, I can't look back on that and hate it. I look back on that and say, that's an amazing time that won't come back. You know what I mean? So my background and the batteries in my back to keep me going now is looking back then and knowing you know i'm capable of that or i'm

capable of being you know in that space i i try and find a level of reality knowing it's like kind of like having a first girlfriend that it doesn't really matter you know down on down the line how she looked it's that she was your first girlfriend so like bust the mood wow thing some of these records were the first girlfriend for a lot of people in hip-hop they just were they got finger popped parents parents didn't know shit parents wouldn't let them listen to the stuff with curses in it oh but we you know we were able to listen to your record right so you know it's like do you feel you got enough credit for because you obviously broke down a lot of barriers for hip-hop at the time like i'm assuming what records do you remember any of the records there had to be mtv records for your video oh yeah yeah no in terms of hip-hop the reason

well all right i think i started before mtv rap started don't get me done done you know don't get me wrong with that but i have to look back but i want to say that i i know i was putting out some records before mtv rap started i know let Her Know was my first single, and I was hype when Red Alert played it. So I know he was there. Wow. But in terms of getting credit, it was a dynamic thing. It was growing. And I just wanted to be acknowledged that I was there.

You know what I mean? Like, whatever credit I'm going to get, you know, like history is told by the winners. You know what I mean? So people, you know, I saw your interview with DOC and with other folks you know the dog pound and a lot of the stuff they're talking about I know a lot of the people they're talking about I know so I'm happy knowing that I was there

and if my name ever comes up you know then I'm hoping something positive will be said but I was there and I felt that I gave a good contribution to it well our show is about giving people flowers while they're alive, where they can smell them, where the trees, where they can held them, their thoughts, where they can think them and their drinks, where they can drink them. We always, we always quote Snoop Dogg. Snoop Dogg says it's

better than the Grammy because it comes from his people. And this is what we want to do. So many times in our culture, you know, people, they don't appreciate each other. And we want to break that mold and we want to say how great you are because it is real. It's really an honor to honor you. Thank you, man. Well, I was hard, right? So we wanted to do this so bad. I will say that I've won a Grammy,

but on a lot of levels, I'll appreciate this more. Yeah, yeah. Okay, my bad. It's all right. He's digging us up. On a lot of levels, I appreciate this more because this is for a lifelong, you know, this is 37 years of work.

Yes, that's right. So to be recognized i'm telling my friends right you don't go no drink chance for going yo yo yo shout me out so go pick up your friends man i think it's time for quick time slime let's go all right now you're not drinking so but we're gonna give you the honor of having a designated drinker. So you can actually look

at probably anybody in the audience. He's always the designated drinker, Sonny D. To do that, Charlie, you're trying to be designated drinker. Charlie should be designated drinker. Who wants it? Does anybody want it? There's one over there. We got Tuff over there. Let's get it? Yeah, okay. There's one over there.

We got a top over there. Okay, all right. All right, cool. Let's get it. Cool, cool, cool. He's going to drink for you. Thank you, sir. All right.

So you know I suck at explaining these rules. What's up, man? Your friend is going to explain them. Yeah, we're going to get him a chair. Yep. I got it right here. Do you got cranberry juice? Cranberry juice over ice, and I'll mix this with it.

Thank you. Or whatever he's drinking, though, for his shots. Yeah. So you explaining them the rules? I'll explain it to him, yeah. Okay. We're going to give you two choices. Yes.

You pick one nobody drinks. If you say both or neither, we're drinking. Okay. But, and any stories you got with any names mentioned? I will. Please, dive deep. They're all going to have stories because if I know them, they're coming from a place of a relationship as opposed to what I regard somebody as a fan. Right.

You know what I'm saying? So, there may be some that to people that don't know them would be obvious. And to me, like, I would pick Tone Loco over everybody. I would pick Tretch over mostly everybody. You know what I mean? I don't think so. Go ahead. I'm sorry. But by the way, by the way,

I want to take a time out to actually really, really, really big you up because I'm actually looking at your drink selection and I'm really realizing you drink four different things. He said this last time. I don't know what this is.

This is Shout Out Lil' Haiti. This is the Haitian version of Mama Juana. And then you got Mama Juana. By the way, Pitbull, he's so loyal to you, man. Because I can tell he doesn't enjoy this at all. No, I'm not good. We're good. Shout out Mowgli Vodka, bro.

Pitbull. Every time I'm on my Juana, I'm Dominican. Yeah, Juana, bro. Oh, Mama Oka, don't do it. They make that in the toilet. They make that in a bathtub in Kindle. I'm telling you, be careful. It's fantastic.

I'll be playing around. Jake, can I get some ice too? So I just want to, before we get into this, this is a different Marijuana. No, no, this is Haitian. I don't know, what would we consider this, guys? We've established that he's not really Haitian. We can't go to Sunny D. I'm not looking at Haitian, I'm looking at my other friend.

We can't go to Sunny D. He does not represent Haiti. For the Haitian delegation, we cannot go to Sunny D. Listen, I'm going to tell you all some funny shit real quick. This is like their mamawana. It's like Haitian mamawana. So you got Haitian moonshine. Then you got mamawana.

I said it wrong. Then you got pitbull vodka, which you had for like two years. It ain't going nowhere. I sponsored the 30th last year. And then you got beer. And I got beer as well. That's why he's in CrossFit every day. That shit is gangster right there.

I've been doing this for eight years, and I'm still realizing every more day, like, he might be a drinker than me. Okay. I'm going to do my best to be decisive, but even some of them that I say both, I'm going to probably my best to be decisive But even some of them that I say both I'm going to probably give stories behind it And by the way I'm so sorry to change the subject a little bit I met Kirk Franklin I felt like he was bad Did you remind him about

Militant and Crazy Raw Radio? No I did not But he said he would come on the show I told him I'm going to try to get you high, Kirk. Look up Millicent and Craig, you're on the radio, and Kirk Franklin. And we did a prank call. Yeah, we prank called him. It was a little fucked up.

Charlie, if you want to drink this, you got to sit here, bro, and be a part of this. Yeah, you can have two designated drinkers. It's okay. You can have Charlie. You can have some of this, because he wants to drink this really bad. By the way, Charlie got glasses, you got glasses, boy. Those is what I call glasses right there. Get your glasses.

You know Charlie Strong for no reason. Get yourself a shot glass, not mine. All right. All right. All right, by the way, I already know how you're going to answer this. Yes. So I like to let people know when we do this that these questions come from a Dominican and a Colombian. And they're right over there.

They're right over there. So we don't make these questions. They come from them. Okay. Tone Loke or MC Hammer? Tone Loke, dude. Tone Loke. I mean, look, I just got married. Congratulations.

Make some noise for him. We believe in love over here. I went too far. Wow, buddy. Some people don't believe in love, man. What you want? What you want? I'll give Hammer his props for what he did.

That's right. Selling that many records and the impact he had. Tone Loke is like blood to me. Like walking, literally walking down the aisle to marry my wife. Montel Jordan did my ceremony. Nice loss. We respect that. Montel walks in front of me.

I'm walking behind Montel. The time that I was close to getting choked up before I was holding my wife during our vows is when I saw Tone Loke in a suit and Rob Bass in a suit. One, two, three. Oh! This is recent. This is yeah. March 24th. Rob Bass. Rob Bass is there.

Rob Bass was there. Tone Low. Easy Rock. Yeah. I threw a tour together. Is that the tour? The 90s tour, yeah. Freedom Williams was there.

Okay, wow. You know, C&C Music Factory, Montel. He from Left Rock. Yeah. Freedom? Freedom from Left Rock. We have so many. Freedom has so many stories, dude.

I don't know where he's from because the story's in different places. He from Earth. Yeah. And then to round it out, All for One. All the members of All for One came out for my wedding. Flew had a show the night before. All brought suits. It was, dude, it was just so heartwarming.

Because these are my friends. These are people I see, you know, 30 years, 25 years, 20 years, even on this 90s tour. I'm doing 200, 300 shows with people They become like family I see them more than the friends I'm with in Arizona I tell people that all the time There's three ways you can really know a person

Get locked up with them That's fucked up And go on tour Which is kind of similar. It's similar because you're in jail free. You're in jail traveling. It's a moving jail. I'll be honest with you.

I've always used the description that heaven can be hell if you don't want to be there. You understand what I just said? If you don't want to be there, that shit can understand what I just said? If you don't want to be there, that shit could be... Like, I used to go to Paris and hate that shit. What the fuck is it?

I don't want croissant. I don't want chocolate in Switzerland. And then I started to realize, because my pilot didn't leave Queens. Your pilot? Or your palate?

You know what I mean. My pilot didn't leave Queens. Your pilot? Or your pilot? You know what I mean. My pilot didn't leave Queens. He has some of the most creative pronunciations. I'm a pronunciation. Pilot could have worked in that scene. Pilot could have worked. But the thing is that you know him so well that you knew pilot meant pilot. See, that's different.

I don't know. All right, hold on. We're going to move on. Hold on, hold on, hold on. How did your pilot not leave Queens? All right,. Hold on. Hold on. We're going to move on. Hold on. How did your pilot not leave Queens? All right. This one I don't know. He go to flight school.

This one I don't know what you're going to say. All right. And this is a good one. I respect y'all. Tupac or Shaq G? Oh, God. I have to say Shaq G, dude. Okay.

I have to say Shaq. And once again, I'm going for my, I knew both of them, but I'm going for my relationships. Like, Shock, God rest him, if he was alive, he'd have been at my wedding. Shock is somebody I learned so much, even like, even the All In The Same Gang, the whole experience. Shock had asked me about being in the record. Like, should digital be part of this? This is when everybody was deciding whatever. And and before it was all finalized, I'm like, yeah, man, I'm doing it. You were on it before they were even considered or on it.

I had said that I'd approved it, whether what the legal documents did or how long it took, because Delicious is trying to get money out of him, which wasn't smart. All I knew is I had approved it at the time and they had known that. Right. So Shock had asked me my opinion and I said, you know, you should do it. Interesting thing. Before he passed, we had a discussion. I had done a Pepsi commercial and a Taco Bell commercial. And oh, God, I think for both of them, I want to say maybe I got 200 grand Something like that for both commercials Together they come to shock

They offer him more than that But he had heard in rumors that I got a million dollars For those two commercials Great rumor So I'm not even sure It was the same companies but it was the same type of deal Like a fast food soft drink Kind of thing

And he had turned down I'm not even sure it was the same companies, but it was the same type of deal, like a fast food, soft drink kind of thing. And he had turned down like 300, something like that, saying, well, if Young got a million, I should get close to that. And he never took the deal. When I told him how much I had gotten, he's like, man, I wish I had spoken to you instead of taking the rumors. So that's why, like, even seeing that from him, it opened my eyes in terms of what the streets say or what someone says. You know, because once again, if I'm hearing someone talk about money figures that they've never come in contact to with themselves, I have to take that with a grain of salt unless they're the lawyer or the business affairs or someone that's going to have access to the deal. I can't. If someone says a million to me and they've never seen a mil, then come on, man.

Really? Nah. So Shock taught me that. A fun fact for Shock. Gee, he's originally from Tampa. Yeah, I'm out here. This is a fun fact. I know you're going to laugh at me.

You know, I really didn't know that that was the same person. Come on, man. No. No, but he did a great job at the beginning. He did the Arsenio. In Arsenio, when he did the Arsenio appearance.

Yeah. And they came out, I think they came out together because I think he had his brother. I think he had his brother, yes. Let me tell you how... That's how everybody else... But the nose makes...

Yeah. You know, the nose doesn't... The nose and the glasses. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But let me tell you how bad I was fooled. Like, people told me and I met him and I still asked him.

I was like, so is homie going to come out? And knowing him, he would be like, yeah, he's going to be out soon. He be staying in character. No, he literally looked at me and was like, you know, that's a joke, right? Like, it's like the same person. And I was just like. You still didn't believe him. I really didn't.

I really didn't. So that's a fun fact for me. All right, let's move on. DOC or MC Ren? Oh, man. I have to say DOC. And I say DOC because before his accident, I would see him. And I'm very lyrically focused.

So the dopest line he has in Funky Enough to me is he says something that rhymes with G or whatever. And he says, when I'm P-E-R-F-O-R-M-I-N-G-N. Right. So the first time I saw him or one of the times I saw him after the record came out, I said P-E-R-F-O-R-M-I-N-G-N. And D.O.C. looks at me and says, you're the only person that got that. I still don't get it. What the fuck is he talking about? He spelled.

He spelled. He spelled. His pilot never left. His pilot was in Queens. He spelled performing. Yeah. And that's a 10-letter word that he fits into a line. And ironically,

this is once again how much of a lyric nerd I am, all one syllable so you can get away with it. Right. But 10-letter word he spells out in a rhyme. And it just sounds like,

because he does that, ba-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. So they just think that it's more babbling. I'm like, no, he spelled performing right there. And I gave him props for it. He's like,

you're the only person that got that. Then I saw him, you know, with the accident and broke my heart. You're probably still the only nigga that got that. I'm like, no, he spelled performing right there. And I gave him props for it. He's like, you're the only person that got that. Then I saw him with the accident. You're probably still the only nigga that got that. And I opened for him in Snoop a couple of years ago. Well, not opened. I opened for Snoop and he was there. Right. And it was my profile before

my wedding picture, actually. My profile picture on my Facebook was me, D.O.C. and Snoop. So that's why it's D.O.C. Okay, that was hard. That was a hard explanation. He's trying not to get you drunk. He's looking out for you.

I'll say it. I feel like he's looking out for y'all. I'm saying it. I'm trying, man. EPMD or Digital Underground? Oh, man, because I know Eric and Parrish. I have to say, see, y'all want a drink. You can say both because you love them both.

Dude, but it can't be both. I knew Eric, you know, met Parrish, but it's got to be Digital Underground. Like my booking agent, Bobby Besson, love him to death. I've had the same booking agent since 1998. He, one of the last road things he did was being on the road road managing digital underground so him and him and and shock were like this and then i would see shock a lot touring and a whole bit we would have shock was capable of amazing deep conversation right so it's like this is a man who i learned so much from just talking to right So, it's like, you know, maybe you give me two people that I don't have a story

with. No, no, you're doing fine. You're doing fine. This is a good one. I'm saving money on Uber tonight. I'll take this one. NWA or Public Enemy? And we want the stories. Let's go. Okay.

I will say both so y'all can drink, but I'm going to give the stories on both. Salud. Salud. Cheers. He wants you to fill in one. You can have some of this if you want. So first Republic Enemy. Yes.

And I told him this. I did a podcast probably a year ago or so. When you say him, you're talking about Flav or Chuck? No, no, no. I'm talking about Chuck. And see, you bring up Flav. Me and Flav are real cool. Like, oh, God, you start with Flav, I'll go with Flav.

Okay. We did a private event similar to the one you saw with Left Rack. Me, Tone Loke, Rob Bass, Sugar Hill Gang, Flava Flav Hosting. Wow. So I'm sitting, Master G is- Clock on?

Clock on and everything. Clock on and everything. Okay, let's go. So I've done hosting gigs with Flav before. So we're, and this, by the way, this is on a yacht.

Leaving from the, what, the intercontinental in Miami. Oh, I know. And we went in a circle for a corporate event So the yacht was big enough Where we could be on the lower levels

Corporate rental whatever But we could be on the lower levels Listening to what was happening on stage So I do mime Tone goes, Rob goes, Sugar Hill goes So I'm sitting with Master G I don't know if there was a headliner, but for some reason, Flav was still on stage when Master G was downstairs, change clothes. We start talking and we're listening to what happens on stage. Flav goes into a medley.

And I've known this man at this point, 30 years, never seen him do a medley by himself. But I'm only listening through the ship speakers. Every record he had a verse in, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. Both of us, like, Master G is an idol of mine. Some of them are mentors. We're having deep conversations. We both stop.

Let's go. And Flavor's just bam, bam, bam, bam, going through stuff like that. I just have a personal love for Flavor. Flav has always been good with me. You know, friends of friends, short circle. And he's a person, you know, you have highs and lows in this business when the records ain't hitting and all that. Flav has always treated me well. And when it comes to Chuck, once again, I consider Chuck a mentor. Like, if things were to blow up to a certain place or I was exposed to things that I didn't know about this business,

I would go to Chuck to get advice. That's the person. If you said, who would be the first person you'd go to is Chuck D. Okay. NWA, seeing Cube do what he did in terms of being a writer, I think me and him, I had not seen Cube in 20-some odd years, opened for him last year.

Took my now wife with me and the first thing Cube says to me is like, yo, I hope you was cool with the drive-by. Because he played Bust a Move in the background of the drive-by on, was it Death Certificate? Death Certificate. Was it America's Most Wanted

Death Certificate? See, I should know this. I'm sorry. I think it's Death Certificate. Okay, so I said of course, that gave me some of the best street cred I ever had. You know what I mean? But I mentioned to him I mentioned to him like, yeah, I'm thinking of going

back in and making some records. He don't even look at me, he looks at my wife and he's like, you need to get him back in the studio. You know how cute can be, he's kind of, my wife got scared you know what i mean but he but he respects me so much as an artist and writer from back then right and because once again it's all of them on stage but and i respect him because i didn't know all he wrote for them i did not know literally until the stuff i read and see them yeah so well easy actually said it on the record. Yeah. Easy, easy said ice cube writes the rhymes that I say.

And I heard that and I was like, I knew this rhyme and I didn't know that they were written to ghost writing back then. I didn't know that shit. Yeah. So you have cube easy, easy did a big, played a big part of me being accepted on the west coast easy easy okay

wow because i shared stages with them so so and and i'm watching straight out of compton and i remember playing those places like some of those places represented skate land world on wheels right you know what i mean and that's where i I came up. So I would often open for them and, you know, they were always cool with me, always great and easy, you know, accepted me and delicious and ruthless were kind of parallel, you know, at least for at least for a minute. And they had to they had to acknowledge what we were doing on the pop side and we had to acknowledge what we were doing on the pop side, and then we had to acknowledge what they were doing on the gangster side. Right. But it was all L.A. And I'm coming from a point where people were saying L.A. rappers were whack

and all that other shit, and I just wasn't hearing it. Like, I'm not going to go up here and change my style or try and sound a certain way so that y'all, I can fit into what you think an L.A. rapper is. Like, no, I'm from L.A. and I rhyme like this. And I think Eazy appreciated that. And I think Cube appreciated that. So you take those two just in terms of being front men and, you know, Ren and Yella in terms of what they represented for the group.

And then Dre has changed the music of this. Yep. Everything from his production to what, you know, to Death Row, to the stuff with Interscope. Yeah, the economics of. The economics, the beats by Dre. Come on, man. It's like, I just wanted to see y'all drink. I would have picked that.

You know what I'm saying? It's like. Well, it leads me to my next question. Yeah. Ice Cube or Biggie Smalls? I got to say Cube. Okay. I got to say Cube.

I never met Biggie. A lot of respect for Biggie. To me, Party and Bullshit is his best record. If you say, okay. Original Party and Bullshit. Who's the man? Yeah, the soundtrack. I didn't know who that was.

That to me shows how good of a record it is. I go into that record with no preconceived notions. I was a terrorist at the public school ever. Bathroom pass. You know what I'm saying? I hear that and I'm like, oh my God, who's that? It's only like, what, two years later that you actually see Ready to Die and you see who that actually is.

So even going back, listening to everything, you hear the hunger in that record. Yeah, he's a hip hop historian. You see how he breaks shit down? I want to go to a school that you could teach like you you gotta be a teacher build it damn it my bad literally i literally the way you talk i can literally just speak to you all day because and and the knowledge thank you the knowledge that The knowledge. That's real impressive to me. But to finish the question, it was what?

Ice Cube or Biggie? I just made that up. It's not even an unknown. Because he likes to keep that one going. Yeah, exactly. But Ice Cube is just another level. Not only on a personal level, what I saw him do with NWA, sharing those stages, all the shit that they went through, what he was able to do as a solo artist, what he's been able to do

as a businessman, and that's my friend, dude. I consider Ice Cube a friend. And just to be, I hadn't seen him, like when Bust the Move happened, I left. I'm not doing the hood places anymore. I'm not coming back each record. I'm a pop artist at that point.

Got the penthouse in West Hollywood. That coming back each record. I'm a pop artist at that point. Got the penthouse in West Hollywood. That's what's happening. But I always had love for it. So when I see him, I'm like, okay, I hope he ain't salty

by the fact that I haven't been around or whatever. And he asked me about the drive-by. So I'm like, okay, he's feeling some of what

I'm feeling that we haven't been around each other. Coolio got Reston. After I had opened for Cube, we get to talking and he said he had After I had opened for Cube We get to talking And he said he had never

Shared a stage with Cube Or at least hadn't in 20 years Right I'm like how does that happen Different agencies Different approaches You have a record that Crosses over pop

Cube hadn't toured for a while Also some of the You know some of the Harder shit was harder It was more difficult To get on stage In front of people Now he can tour headline

Do whatever he wants So seeing that and just the conversations we had, it makes the two times come together. It doesn't feel like there was a gap. You know what I mean? So that's how I feel about Q.

The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network, hosted by me, writer and historian Dan Flores, and brought to you by Velvet Buck. This podcast looks at a West available nowhere else. Each episode, I'll be diving into some of the lesser-known histories of the West. I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian Dr. Randall Williams and best-selling author and meat-eater founder Stephen Ranella.

I'll correct my kids now and then where they'll say when cave people were here, and I'll say it seems like the Ice Age people that were here didn't have a real affinity for caves. 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. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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So let me ask you. Yes, sir. This is off drink champs. This is not a quick time of slime because you just hit me. God comes down. God says to you, young emcee, one person can tell your story.

Make a movie. Oh, boy. Your choice is Quentin Tarantino. I don't know why I thought of him. Yeah. Ice Cube, Spike Lee, or Robert De Niro? They're going to be your directors. I would say Cube.

I knew you was going to say Cube. I would say Cube. I set you up. You know what's funny? I thought you were going to ask me about the DJ or the producer and the feature for the record to save the world.

That's what I thought you were going to ask me then. Okay, I'm asking now. I have one for that one. Wait, wait. What are we talking about now? No, no. You said you had to make

one record to save the world. To save the world. I want to save the world. So we can get back to that. You said you would let Ice Cube because of your relationship with Ice Cube or that's the perfect person

for the job? Well, I mean... Perfect fit for you. I think perfect fit because he's from the era, from the time, from the region. And he lived through it. But understand the material. Yeah, so

if you had asked me, you know, if Yellow was directing movies or if Ren was directing movies, I don't know them as well, but I would pick them because they know the time and the era and everything. I wouldn't have to explain it. And their memories would coincide with mine. Because that's like, what's crazy, what is it called,

biopics? Yeah, biographies, yeah. Biopics, yeah. Everyone always like relates it to the people that's alive. Like NWA, they say that.

Yeah, I mean, and I'd hate to say anything negative about any art on this platform, but that Amy Winehouse joint, the Amy Winehouse movie, I mean, I saw i saw it early it was so obvious that it was her family that had you know they throw the husband under the

bus and she wasn't really in the you know in into any substances until he came along and that kind of thing it just when it's so skewed and then and then you have somebody like what mark ronson that produces big producer biggest record and basically changed her life, and he barely gets like two seconds in the movie. Is Salam in the movie? Salam Remy? I believe so. He's a big part of her. I believe, but it would be brief. Like, it had to do more with her home life, family, friends, and that just came from, you know, them having the background of it.

But to me, having lived, you know, somewhat of an artist's life, there's so many elements to it, dude. So I look at that and it just disappoints me when you talk about biopics. It's like they have to talk to everybody. Right. And they can't just take it from one side and they can't let one person, especially if the artist is dead. You can't just let one person have say over everything. It has to be unbiased. Yeah, it has to be unbiased so if the artist did something that the family necessarily doesn't like you can't just eliminate

it from the story like it never happened right yeah you're retelling history especially if there's millions of witnesses what happened to this what you know i mean so yeah go ahead yes no that's real that's real so you we're going with ice cube okay okay but what's the record that saves the world the what is the record if god comes to's the record that saves the world? What is the record? If God comes to you. Who's producing the record that saves the world? I'm going to blow your mind because y'all haven't heard neither of these. Scott Storch will be producing it.

Have you worked with Scott? I have not. I'm just, I just, I just. Wait a minute. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I have not worked with either of these people. That's Scott Storch's friend over there. You see how he just lit his face. Scott Storch will produce it.

And the rapper? Yes. Sterang Wonder from OGC. Wow. That's, that, when I say, when I say that's an influence,

and I met them, I met Sean Price before he died walking through a crowd. Rest in peace, Sean Price. Yeah, rest in peace. And he looks at me,

he's like, yo, Young MC, I don't give a fuck what nobody say about you, man. You know what I mean? So, but yes, I don't give a fuck what nobody say about you, man. That's not like a joke. You know what I mean?

But yes, it would be Scott Storch and Starang Wonder. I stand on that. Put the world on that. Hold on, hold on. To save the world, by the way, I'm sending this to clip to Scott Storch immediately. Then we got to send it to Duck Down. But by the way, hold on, hold on, hold on. Yeah, yeah. So if you had any producer in the world, come to you with any producer and you would pick Scott

Storch that is such an honor no no no but because the thing is I'm asking in terms that's my brother by the way in terms of what moved me when I heard it like they might consider him the best producer but but what um god why we thugs with Cube, the stuff he did, gosh, the stuff he did with Method Man. Like that 421 album is so underrated. It seemed like a down point, a downtime in hip hop. I listen to that record. I get inspired lyrically and musically to this day. Really?

You know what I mean? I listen to Why We Thugs. And I'm like, that's not something. I mean, I was happy that when I opened for Cube and literally the 27 records, I like snuck a picture of the playlist.

But I was happy that he did that because he could easily do a whole show and not do that record. But part of what makes both of those so strong for me

is Scott Storch. Wow. Yeah. That's so dope. And in Starrang, Le Fleur Le Fleur is Scott Storch. That's one of the best. I. That's so dope. And in, and in, and in Starrang, Le Fleur Le Fleur, that's one of the best. That's one of the best. An underrated record in hip hop. It's one of the best. Come on. Caustic cuts, crazy. And if you listen. For DJs, the best. If, from an MC standpoint, invariably when

I'm listening to those records and then I go back and listen to like the OGC records. Right. His verses are the ones that stand out. Yeah. You know what I mean? How many corner MCs want to try when strange shit hit up like that 4-4-4? I mean, are you kidding me? And I'm in LA.

So I'm like, what is going to tie me to New York? His lyrics were a link to me to say, okay, this is the evolution of New York rap. This is the evolution of New York hip hop. It's the range. It's absolutely dope. That's the range. Absolutely. That's so dope. You fucked me up. You officially fucked me up.

You definitely didn't come with the cookie cutter on that one. Coolio or Eazy-E? Oh, God. Remember, we could drink. Rest in peace today. I mean, all right. So y'all could drink. I'm going to say both.

Cheers, Chanchi. Cheers. So, look. Now you can get the good stuff Tone Loke is my closest Friend In the music business Like I said like blood to me Over the last

Seven eight years until he passed Coolio Was right there. I opened for him. We spent time together, traveled with his crew, met his family, went to Vegas for his birthday. I mean, we talk about music. And the thing is,

he understood what it was like to be making West Coast music and then have a massive hit record that kind of overshadows everything. But then you still want to be the artist and that kind of thing. So me and him related just on so many levels. It broke my heart when he passed. Right. Easy, as I told you before, easy was someone who made my acceptance by the West Coast a lot smoother.

Because I would be around them and it would be, and honestly, this is before Bust a Move, you know, popped. But from the records I had made, he saw my skill and, you know, acknowledged me for it and was good to me. You know what I mean? So I have reason to love both men. Right. Would you have wrote for Eazy if you'd asked him? Oh, and was good to me. You know what I mean? So I have reason to love both men. Right. Would you have wrote for Eazy if you'd asked him? Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Okay.

I'm not going to say no at that point. But what if he would have asked you to write like a drive-by record, like a gangster record? Well, there's only so much. I mean, look, it's funny because I looked over all my albums, and the album that I kind of went furthest away from myself is my 93 What's the flavor album okay Ali Shahid Muhammad produced some um but but the single was one that I produced

but you know they had me wearing calm you know they had me wearing fatigues and then you know just just trying to look like something I wasn't necessarily because everybody was there was such a backlash and they wanted stuff to be gangster but I wasn't going to change my name and I wasn't necessarily because everybody was there was such a backlash and they wanted stuff to be gangster but i wasn't going to change my name and i wasn't going to start cursing on the record just wasn't going to happen so you know um if easy had asked me i'd have done it if i had to curse in it for him i would i'd have done it yeah i mean it's work and also i'm the kind of person where i like to see the people around me experience some of what I experience. Part of why I'm so hyped about putting out new music now is that I have friends that have been my friends for 25 years that have never gone on the ride with me, never seen me with a hit record. And just to know that I have someone with that level of commitment to me when records aren't hot. I'd love to have a record that's hot

and be able to text my man that, you know, absolutely. Do you think you was the first young? Yes. Absolutely. How ahead of your time were you with the Young name? And it's my last name.

Oh, you didn't know that. I didn't even think of it either. Marvin Young is my last name. So he wasn't even faking the Young. It's like legit Young. I'm the 12-year-old hanging around the 18-year-olds at the block party, you know, but I can rhyme as good or better than them

that they're not happy about. But yeah, I was the first Young. With an O, spelled correctly, and I had the trademark. You ushered in the parent of the Young. O, spelled correctly. And I had the trademark. You ushered in the pair of the young. Oh, not Y. You and, yeah. Did you ever think at that time that there would be a plethora of young MCs, literally?

You know, dude, and you go online, there's people imitating, impersonating, trying to, yeah. I mean, it is what it is. I mean, imitation being a form of flattery, all good. That was dope. Okay. Self-destruction or all in the same gang? Yeah, all in the same gang. Okay, we obviously know that.

I told you, this comes from Colombians and Dominicans. Big Daddy Kane or LL Cool J? Wow. Oh, man. All right, both. Y'all can try. We got our shots lined up. Cheers, cheers. All right, both. Y'all can try. We got our shots lined up. Cheers, cheers.

So a little. Me and Kane. It's tasty. It's funny because when Know How came out, I know me and Kane had a discussion because he had, what was the fast one he had? Was it I Get Raw? Raw was one of them. Raw was one of them, yeah. Yeah.

So we had a discussion about fastest rapping and stuff like that. And I've always respected him. And I was a fan of his before I came out. LL, to see what that record did from radio on, what he has done as an actor, rocked the bells, all that. It's impressive dude it's just it's just really impressive so on both levels i got you know i would give both of them their flowers ah that's dope that's dope you got the next one de la soul or a tribe called quest oh man i love pasta news dude but i gotta say tribe got to say Tribe. Ali produced the record on me.

Q-Tip has always been good. Fife. And I get so inspired. There's no record that moves me like Check the Rhyme. No record. Check the Rhyme, y'all. Oh, God, yeah. No record that moves me like that.

Heavy D or Chub Rock? I would say Heavy D. I would say I had done a few shows with Heavy D. And I still remember when, not only when he passed, but if you remember, his dancer passed on tour. And that was heartbreaking for all of us that were doing it, because we were all doing it at the records crossed. He was one of, he's really one of the first to have rap records that consistently cross into urban radio.

So they wouldn't go all the way pop, but you see the R&B stations playing a lot of heavy deal. Yeah. So that was a big deal. That was a big deal because once again,

it just kind of spread the scope of where hip hop could go. That's real. You got this? Yeah, I got this one because it's going to hurt. Group chat. L.A. or New York? Oh, no.

I know you ain't going to like this. I already know I'm not going to like it. You made this chopstick. I got to say L.A. You got to say L.A. I respect that. I respect that. It's been the last 10 to 15 years. It's been the last 10 to say L.A. You got to say L.A. I respect that. I respect that. It's been the last 10 to 15 years.

It's been the last 10 to 15 years. But like I said, if I stayed in New York, you wouldn't have heard of me. You being a New York emcee, if you're around a lot of older New York emcees, they don't want to hear about you having a new style. They don't want to hear about you having a new. It just was like we own all this blah, blah, blah. L.A.? There's so many New York artists that get put on from other places so yeah yeah i understand because because like it's not a big area so you can easily have

someone that's in control of a whole lot there's a lot of gatekeepers right where there wasn't there wasn't that much of a of a gate to keep in la there were a couple artists that were out but i played all these places and opened up for all these acts and especially, you know, the ability to cross over. You know what I mean? There was no resentment in LA.

If I crossed over from New York, there would have been resentment. That's interesting that you say it that way. That's how EFM feels. That whole thing that I said about in hip hop, they would have frowned upon someone going commercial.

In LA or the West Coast, you weren't going to feel that. Where do they make commercials, dude? Where do they make commercials? They make more commercials in L.A. Oh. I thought that was a trick question. I mean, excuse me. I didn't go to your school.

There were so many examples. I mean, Ice-T makes colors, and now he's an actor. So it's like, oh, he's on, you know, SV or whatever. You're literally in Hollywood. Yeah, he's in Law and Order, so I'm not going to whatever. No. Whereas New York, at least, now, once again, this is my experience as a child, not being able to get into clubs. And you know what I mean?

So it's a little bit different. I wasn't able to get indoors. But just from what I had seen and what I was able to access when I got to L.A., yeah, it's just different in L.A. So big up L.A. It's okay. It's okay? Thanks, buddy. It's okay.

Yeah, you got this one. I got it. Go ahead. Gangstar or nicest move? Whatever stories you want to say. I would say gangstar. Oh, yeah? Yeah.

Premiere? Premiere as a producer, guru. Rest in peace guru. Rest in peace guru, but guru as an emcee. Just how groundbreaking it was in terms of going over straight samples and hip hop. Gangstar made anthems. Nicest Move has some good records, I won't lie, but Gangsta, to me, at least in my experience,

I saw anthems, several, coming out of Gangsta. Nicest Move has one of the best rhymes I ever think I heard in hip-hop. Well, collaborative. Anybody want to ask me? Nicest Move with Gangsta. Anybody want to ask me? Yeah, what's the rhyme?

It said, no matter how many times the ball bounces There's still no bones in ice cream I love that Are you sure that's the rhyme? You never heard that? No matter how many times the ball bounces There's still no bones in ice cream Why would he make that up?

You can't Well, I mean, the pilot might not have left I swear to God I heard it on my pilot and queen's iPod that up. You can't. Well, I mean, the pilot might not have left. No, no, no. I swear to God, when I hear... I heard it on my pilot in Queens iPod. That line is always like the dopest shit to me, because I still don't know technically what it means. Right.

Okay, yeah, I want the lady to bring a drink, yes. Eh? Okay, I'm going to the next one. Fresh Prince, well, Jazzy Jeffs and the Fresh Prince, Rob Bass, and Easy Rock to the next one. Fresh Prince. Well, Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Rob Bass, and Easy Rock. Oh, man. All right, I have to say Rob Bass and Easy Rock. I know you're grabbing the truth, but I can't.

No, that's cool. I mean, I've done hundreds of shows. It Takes Two is probably one of the most iconic hip-hop records. Here's the thing. On some level, some people were saying that Bust a Move was based on it takes two there wasn't a lady singing in a hook until it takes two and that came out before bust the move you know i mean now i know the difference of it it's a different style different but in terms of

single rapper rapping over a breakbeat you know somewhat melodic female singing i could see it over 110 beats a minute. There wasn't that much of that then. If you're talking 88, 89. So there was definitely some influence. Just straight feel good record? Yeah. Well, yeah, that's what it is.

And just to go off on a little tangent, when people talk about keeping it real, if I was to change my name, start cursing in records, whatever, that wouldn't be keeping it real to me. I have 35, 37 years. I'm not cussing in records, whatever, that wouldn't be keeping it real to me. I have 35, 37 years. I'm not cussing in records, making feel-good party records. That's my real.

You and Rakim. So that's the thing. And a DOC joint, when you brought up that he didn't swear, I didn't realize he didn't swear. He's so good at it. I didn't realize it either. I didn't realize it is in cursing his records. I'm like, man, if I could get it like that where people didn't notice, that's dope. Okay.

Beastie Boys or the Fat Boys? Oh, Beastie Boys, dude. And the Beastie Boys for several reasons. The Dust Brothers produced Know How. So before the Dust Brothers produced the Beastie Boys, I had a couple records on with them.

Yeah, yeah. So there was a link there. I want to say Tamara Davis, and if I'm messing up names, she was affiliated with the Beastie Boys. And she directed, I think she did the Principal's Office video. And there would be clubs in LA and plays in LA I'd see them running around If they move to LA, right? For Paul's Boutique, I feel that

They'd have to to work with The Dust Brothers, right? And that That's like a sample heaven, hell record There's so many samples It's a groundbreaking record in terms of production So that's why I would say Beastie Boys because there were so many things they did as a group, but in

terms of my own personal experience, what they were able to do in that hip-hop space with guys that I'd work with, you know what I mean? It was special. Battle Cat or DJ Quick? Man, you haven't thought this long in a minute

What's the name of this drink? Cousin Francis And you can get a Cousin Nori when you Add a little bit of vodka It's called a Cousin Nori now I'm sorry I gotta say quick I gotta say DJ quick

He He is such an inspiration to me. And also he has let me know how he's been inspired by me. AMG is a close friend in his crew. I saw them at a couple shows recently and that whole crew is just a great representation of West Coast hip-hop to me.

And I feel a lot of the same journey, even though Battle Cat did DJ for me way, way back in the day. A lot of Battle Cat's more recent success I haven't been party to as much as I have Quick. Just his journey as an artist, him as a lyricist,

there's part of me that would put Quick in my top five because he's so underrated. Artist and producer or just artist? He's just saying MC. He's so underrated. I can go off on another tangent if you want, but... We like your tangents.

Okay. You're a Jet fan. Continue. You're a Jet fan. It's hard. I know. It's hard. Okay.

Yes, I am a Jet fan. Last year, me and my wife were taken to, and we did my fiancee at the time, but my wife now, we were invited to go see the Jets play the Raiders in Las Vegas. Okay. It sounds horrible so far. Yeah. One of my good friends, Brad Armstrong, owns a bunch of roller rinks, has season tickets. If you ever watch a Raiders game, you see the guy that holds up the fist?

That's my man Brad. So he has season tickets. He'd get us in. I go wearing a Quincy Williams jersey. My wife goes in an Xavier Gibson jersey to show you how current. If you know the squad, you know that those are high players from the last year or two. I'm trying to figure out where the story going. He takes us to the tailgating in Raider Alley in Vegas.

All they're banging is bass shit. You're hearing like we're still in Oakland. DJs had the best tacos of my life but people looking because we're the only ones in jet jerseys walking down Raider Alley. You set tripping right there.

Super, super, super. No, everybody was respectful but the bottom line was I heard a whole bunch of bass stuff to the point where the new records that I'm putting out, people have said, why do you have such a Bay influence in your music? Because that experience did so much for me. But the only artist that I heard that I recognized was Quick over something that sounded like Down, Down, Down, but wasn't Down, Down, Down. But it was obviously an older record, but it was able to just go with all the bass stuff.

And Quick's not from the Bay. Right. But there's such a respect for him, and his stuff blends so well and keeps the vibe going. That always stuck with me. That's right. Like, what he can do in terms of opening doors and getting into places with his music, it's really impressive. No, production-wise, he's incredible. Yeah.

Is that story true? Artists and production. Yeah. Is that story true that he locked himself? And I never asked him this. I should have. He'll be here Monday. Well, yeah, let's do it because we're going to ask him.

Let us know. Please give us some insight. No, no, no. He'll be here Monday. That he had locked himself in the studio or locked himself down with his equipment for two years to learn how to play well.'re gonna take this clip and we're gonna show you're gonna ask him a question yeah no no because because it's obvious that he's an amazing player but i know some guys that were classically trained and the like and and that was that was the story

that was the story that he just literally you know put himself in front of his equipment for over a year not if not two years to learn how to get better as a producer and then just came out with, you know, with his sound. So, anyway. That's dope. That's dope. Okay. You got it? Yeah, you got the next one.

UMTV raps or music video box? Oh, y'all could drink both. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. music video box who I y'all could drink both okay yeah video music box Ralph McDaniels vid kid influenced me while I was still in New York before I even went to college UMTV raps was more of an influence once I got to LA and was able to come back with a hit record so it's really two different parts of my life that you're asking me to, you know, so I'm not going to say, oh, the later part, when the record blew up is better than the early part,

because I was influenced by video music. I said, ooh, Channel 47. You know what I'm saying? That was my thing. But then MTV, now MTV Jams, everybody didn't have cable. I'm on a road for a lot of it, but I saw the influence of it. And then when they allowed them to get everybody in hip hop on there, that was serious. That's when MTV was at their peak and hip hop was really getting established.

So if you talk about hip hop on a global scale. MTV. I'm sorry. Your MTV raps did a lot more for that. Yeah. Okay. Soul Train or Apollo? I'm sorry, your MTV rap's still a lot more for that. Okay. Soul Train or Apollo?

I'd say Soul Train. I'd say Soul Train because in terms of exposing, you know, the joke I have is like people, like black people can tell space and time. you say yeah yeah that's right around the year Soul Train started letting white people on you know what I'm saying like every person that watched Soul Train be like I remember

that Soul Train did more for me in terms of exposing more people to more music the Apollo was like you went into an arena, you did your stuff, but in terms of exposing people to music,

it was less about that as it was about just the personality of the Apollo to me. Yeah. Yeah. Intimidating place. The Apollo's like paying your dues, like a part of paying your dues. The story I'll tell, my second album,

this is during a time when we have dancers. So I think I had either four or six dancers at the time. And I'm doing my song. I want to say that's the way love goes. And there's a little break in there. So I get the crowd hype during my break and realize that I've gotten so hype that my next verse has started. Oh, shit. And yeah, throw your hands.

You know what I mean? Try not to show that you made a mistake. I picked up my verse from the choreography. Fifth line. And yeah, throw your hands. You know what I mean? Try not to show that you made a mistake. I picked up my verse from the choreography. Fifth line, they walk back. I say this. Boom, jump right in. Nobody ever missed it.

But it was my nerves of being on the Apollo. But then I'm like, oh, I'm capable of doing that. Because they was booing people back then? They wasn't going to pull me. Right, right, right. Yeah, but they've always been people. Oh, you said booed. I thought you meant pulled. Oh, no, right, right. Yeah, but they've always pulled people. Oh, you said booed. I thought you meant pulled.

No, no, no, no. I mean, I mean. They've always booed people. Yeah, they've always booed people. I don't know if I got booed. I don't think I did, but I would have if I had just stopped then. Right. But I literally was able to pick up the verse from the choreography, so that's my Apollo story, yeah. Okay, boom.

Boom. Queen Latifah or MC Lyte? Oh, boom. Boom. Queen Latifah or MC Lyte? Oh, man. I got to say Queen Latifah. Okay. Me and Dawn go back, dude. This is Mark the 45 King. Oh, rest in peace.

Mark the 45 King was my inspiration when I was still in Queens. So we're talking, you know, 15, 16, 17 years old before I went to college, before any record deals, before anything. And I can tell you the thing about the record deal too, that's another New York to LA thing.

But Mark the 45 King was a big inspiration to me. And to see what he did with Queen Latifah at the jump, and I knew her as Dana. You know what I mean? So it's like, yeah, MC Lyte, I met MC Lyte, I want to say, as I was coming up,

and to this day, she's still really good friends with good friends of mine. But in terms of my personal influence, I'd have to say Latifah. So you knew her personally? You just called her Dana, man. I know, I know. That's why I'm like, don't be a little more personal than that.

But I knew her as that. You know what I mean? I knew her as that. So it's like, I don't know if it was parties or functions, events, whatever. But we ran into each other from back then. They just had an incredible show at the Hollywood Bowl with The Roots. Okay. Yeah, that shit looked incredible. Lat at the Hollywood Bowl with The Roots. Okay. Yeah, that shit looked incredible.

Latifah? It was The Roots. I think The Roots Picnic on the road. Oh, really? Latifah. I believe MC Lyte was there. Moni was there.

The Far Side was there. Drez, Black Sheep. It looked incredible. Just real quick. You guys had Cassidy on. And when I saw Cassidy... DJ. Yeah, DJ Cassidy

along with Steve Rifkin. So when I saw DJidy, DJ Cassidy along with Steve Rifkin. So when I saw DJ Cassidy's episode, I texted him because he mentioned a record store called Rockin' Soul. And he would have been

going there mid-90s, I guess, something like that. I went there in that era too. Yeah. I went to that record store in 1983.

1983, 1984, at the worst. I DJ'd my own prom in 85. So I was DJing and getting records from there, buying everything on Def Jam. Like, oh, it's got that, it's got the burgundy label? Boom. Give it to me. And the dude that introduced

me to the guys at Delicious worked at Rock and Soul. Guy named Eric. And it goes that far back. And I'm going to school at 94th and Park, detouring my way to go to 36th and 7th before I got on, before I went home. Now, I'm good.

Why you home? You got to try. You got to try sometimes every now and then. You think I'm going to get enough of a contract? I am. You see something he said? I know this is indicative of an era. There was an era of MCs that were DJs before they were MCs.

Oh, yeah. Yes. And yes. I like how you just caught that. A lot of MCs from a certain era were DJs first. And I don't know, they made a certain kind of MC being DJs. Well, see, and that's the thing. That's why I don't get why today everybody's like, oh, you hear a beat and you just jump on. And it's like, no, like I hear the whole record. So I'm not going to hear somebody's beat and be like, oh, I got

to write something. I got to get inspired the whole way through. Wild Thing was like, here's the beat. You need to write a record. Call this to this. Go. None of this, I can't rhyme over this or I can't write to this or I can't get an idea. Can you slow it down? Can you change the sample? No. That's the beat. Go do it. Four times platinum. You know what I'm saying? Like, bust a

move. Here. Here it is. The only thing I did, I called it make that move when I wrote it down and they changed it to bust a move. 90 all four verses don't change the word double platinum grammy you know what i'm saying i'm not gonna be like oh i heard this beat now i'm gonna come up with this no i gotta hear the whole thing i have to hear the whole record going on please don't hate me but i just want to double back you didn't get publishing on those records not on one thing bust a move by publishing okay yes So you can sleep good at night. I just, I'm counting. I'm like, man,

if the publishing, if you would have had it intact with all those records, it would have been crazy. Even though, I'm going to say this, but I can't go deep into it. No problem. Right. NDAs and all that. Y'all know what reversion is? Yeah. 35. When you get your master's back. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So I only did half, but my 35th year was in May.

It includes those. Yeah. Oh, let's make some noise for him. We have so many legends on here waiting for that 35th year. Yeah, I know. No, no, no. Trust me, dude. I feel so fortunate that I still have my wits about me, that I can still go on stage and

rock a crowd and experience it. That's why that happened. I'm like, oh, I can make new music now. Not that I couldn't before, but it's not, I don't have the pressure of like, make the music, got to sell this amount, got to make this. I can actually plan something, especially in this era where it's the Wild West out there in terms of records. Yes. But I'm going to definitely, you know, I'm going to keep in touch with both of y'all. And you could literally now give your music to definitely, you know, I'm going to keep in touch with both of y'all. And you could literally,

you could literally now give your music to your family. Oh, yeah. Like a trust fund. His, his. That type of thing. Absolutely. That's what is like actually ill.

Yeah, I mean, well, and the funny thing is the reversion is different than selling catalogs where the real big numbers come. So in terms of catalog ownership, I still have, you know, my portions of my catalog.

But my thought in making new music is that that not only increases the value of the new music, obviously, but increases the value of the whole catalog. One of my biggest strengths in the music business has been licensing. And part of the reason of that is that it's just me. I don't sample, but my voice is almost like a sample. Like I can get the voice, same voice that was on Bust a Move, but I don't have to pay six figures for the license from the big company. I can get a new record, a different record, a record that even sounds more like what I want my movie to sound like and have that voice on it. All of my albums, really all of my subsequent albums, because even Relentless, I've gotten licenses on, but all of my albums were able to be paid for by licenses without any shows. If I never did a show,

I would have still made money on an album just from licenses. And this is going through like six, seven albums outside of Stone Cold Ramen, Brainstorm, What's the Flavor, six, seven albums that I've made since then, since 93. Everything has paid for itself from getting licenses. Everything from Honorage on down. So, are you saying

when they play your music and do Where's My Car, they have to negotiate with you? No, that's the point. Okay. If they put Busta Moves and do Where's My Car, they're negotiating with the label.

Okay. Right? And even though I have my publishing, the administrator of the publishing. So I don't have much of a say. I have more of a say now. Post-reversion, I have more of a say. But up to that point, I don't have much of a say. My thing is those negotiations, because you have so many people at the table, those cost a lot of money. But if I can give you

something newer and it still has my voice on it, all you got to do is either call me or my representative. Yeah, let's go. Let's do it. We'll do it for this money,

that money, maybe just performance rights. Cool. Just get the record out there. And I was able to do that literally for half a dozen albums and make the money back. Because here's the part

I don't understand. These record labels that got dissolved and they don't exist no more. Right. How? Why? Bought up. Yeah, they get bought up. They get bought up.

So the next person that buys that. Yeah. Oh, okay. All right. If your Rolls Royce gets repoed, it's not going to stay on the street. Damn. My bad. You see what I'm saying?

Yeah. Like somebody with some money is going to be like, either I not going to stay on the street. Damn, my bad. You see what I'm saying? Somebody with some money is going to be like, either I'm going to fix it up for myself or I'm going to sell it or it's going to just be part of it. It's going to be part of my garage when the cameras go by even though I can't drive it. Somebody's going to do something with it. Damn, I never looked at it.

Yeah. I never looked at it because you know what's crazy with my records, when the labels get sold, what happens is one of my most sampled records in the movies, Pharrell produced them. So Pharrell would negotiate for me instead of the labels. I didn't even know. Like, you just taught me that. I didn't even know that.

That's a little scary. Well, maybe. And then you said Entourage, too. Entourage, they got me, too. Oh, yeah. No, but. They got me too oh yeah no but no no but no no big up to big up to mark on that because no he he put in a record called feel the love which is a record that i produced i have a hundred percent of and it just literally went to my my my publishing rep and you know yeah i'll give you the you knew you knew

i would you know when he was marking mark that, that's when he actually movie did it and heard my shit playing. I was like, oh, shit. You know what? I swear to God, they ain't negotiate with me at all. In all fairness, that's happened with me before. Like, what was it? Blindside. I have connections with a lot of PR companies that work with the movie studios.

So I had a rep that said, oh, you need to come to this Blindside preview. I didn't know that the song was in the movie. It has a really integral scene before they get in the car accident of the little white kid and the football player going back and forth doing my lyrics. Just really, if you look at it, it's really amazing. And they didn't tell you that prior to that? No, well, it's not that they don't have to negotiate with me. They don't have to ask me, at least pre-reversion. They don't need permission.

Yeah. Having said that, you might get a little worried and be like, oh, what if they put you in something racist, whatever, whatever. They're on the ride with me. You know what I mean? So if they put it in something stupid, that's costing them money too. Right. So I've just been cool with that.

And now, like I said, things are shifting and I'm good. Let's make some noise for that. Thanks. We still on Quick Time with Sly. I'm a good guy. Slow Time with Sly.

No, no, no, because we learn a lot. Right. You got it? Run DMC or The Treacherous 3? Run DMC, dude. Run DMC. I canacherous Three? Run DMC, dude. Run DMC.

I can't even. Treacherous Three inspired me when I was younger, but I couldn't tell you where they were from. I couldn't tell you all the, you know. I mean, Kumo D, obviously, a friend. Run DMC just changed so much, especially me as an artist that had a big record that crossed over and the like. Plus, I grew up on, once again, 109th and 211th.

So I could walk a few blocks. Jam Master Jay got his haircut at the barbershop down the street from my house. Hollis and 211th, there was a barbershop. Jam Master Jay got his haircut there. So that's childhood,

that's influence. I did a private with DMC last year. Amazing, dude. You want a story? Mark from Sugar Ray. It was one of his good

friends. Mark McGrath. Must be getting a contact. Mark McGrath, sorry, did them must be getting a contact. Mark McGrath, uh, put on a show with me, Tone Loke, he was playing and then DMC was playing. Um, Mark McGrath and DMC did fight for your right to party. And when I say, and this saying this is maybe 200 people.

I don't even know. It was in a restaurant. McG, if you know the movie director, it was his restaurant in Huntington Beach or something like that. But I taped it all and I chose. I'm like, I'm not going to post any of this. I literally was standing three people back from the stage taping and and saying i'm just going to be a fan tonight so to go from hollis to seeing something like that it's like dmc is is you know he's an icon to me yeah he's an icon to all of us he's a dream champs alumni as well thank you excuse me he's a dream champs alumni oh good, good. Okay. Biz Marquis or ODB?

Oh, Biz Marquis, dude. Ah, man. Once again, you talk about rest in peace, Biz Marquis. Rest in peace both. Yes, rest in peace both. I'm sorry. Biz Marquis did probably 100, 150, 90 shows with me. And Biz Marquis, me and M-Walk had this discussion.

We didn't realize that we both were in the New Music Seminar in 1988. I think K-Day had sent him and Delicious Vinyl had sent me. And I went up, I forget who I went up against, but I know I was better than him,

but I still lost. Biz Marquis, out of all, and he's an idol of mine at the time, Biz Marquis came up to me and said, you know you won that battle. I'm just letting you know. I saw that you won that battle. Thank you, Biz. You know what I'm saying? And we get to talking and watching one of the greatest experiences I had.

I did a halftime for the Carolina Panthers. Myself, Rob Bass, Biz Marquis. I want to say Rob went first, then I went second, and they broke into You Got What I Need. And the loudest response from the crowd, regardless of how much Busta Moved and the other records are sold, was people responding to You Got What I Need with Biz Marquis up there at a halftime. It was amazing. So the rest in peace to both. Yes, sir. Tretch or Redman? Tretch.

Tretch for God, for so many reasons. Like once again, like I said, you go through highs and lows in the business and the like. Tretch has always been kind, supportive, positive with me. Like he appreciates what I do, what I've been through as an artist. Naughty isn't going out together anymore. Right. So Tretch is going out himself. When Tretch was going to go solo and start doing his thing, it almost makes me tear up.

He came to me and was asking me questions about being a solo artist on stage. Being the only one without anybody passing on and passing back and forth. We had a legit discussion about that and I'm hoping that I helped him with that. He's an amazing

solo now, but Tretch is a dude that it's like whenever I see him that it's like, whenever I see him, it's good. He's a top tier MC. Oh yeah, no, if you hear, because I'm an Eminem fan, when you hear what Eminem says about Tretch, that even

over my eyes more where I go back and listen and say, because Eminem has done stuff that has inspired me in terms of what's possible, lyrically. But he, Eminem, says a lot about Tretch doing that for him. I think Tretch is overlooked because he's in a group, but he's an ill MC by himself.

Well, that's the thing. I mean, and he wrote so much of it. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Okay. KRS or Coogee Rap? Oh, KRS. KRS. I actually did Sly and Robbie. They're the Jamaican

duo. You ain't picking up Jamaicans tonight. We've been waiting for it. What do you want them to do? I don't know. Ponder River? Ponder River. Ponder River.

I did two records with Sly and Robbie called Living a Lie and Under Arrest, to the point where when I went overseas and I was doing Bust and Move, people were calling for those records in Germany. Both of those records were produced by KRS-One. Oh, shit. And those songs almost didn't happen because there was legal stuff with Delicious not wanting me to do it, but I was fighting for it.

They knew my Jamaican background. KRS knew my Jamaican background. And I had done nothing in terms of outside other than maybe Same Gang. I don't even know what came first, but I just had not done much outside of Delicious. Right. And yeah, Living Alive, Under Arrest,

Island Records, produced by Karis, one, Sly and Robbie. Wow. Yeah. I have to- I love this history. I'm thankful for this because I never get to discuss a lot of this stuff.

Like you bring it up and I'm like, oh yeah, you didn't do that. Like 37 years didn't go for nothing. Because you know why? These young dudes, they put everything on Instagram. Oh, yeah. Yeah, but that makes you. And nothing at all.

Yeah. And it's nothing, yeah. Everything and nothing at all. But I always say that. I say, yo, I love interviewing people that didn't have Instagram when it was lit. Oh, yeah. Like, when it was lit. Like, I love that.

OK. DMX or Big Pun? Rest in peace to both. I never met either one of them. My man wants to drink, too. He said it like this. Just dare me.

Just dare me. Just dare me. I will say DMX And I say DMX for this reason Of every MC that has ever Picked up a microphone Nobody improves the quality of a beat Like DMX

DMX could rhyme over A finger snap And it slaps That's DMX Never met him All the stuff around That's DMX. Never met him. All the stuff around. That's what I try and do. It's so amazing to me how many of my friends or people go,

oh, I make tracks. Because everybody wants to run over my tracks because I have an ability to at least take your track to a certain level. DMX could take any track to the highest level. From an MC, hearing that, his style, his approach. The passion he brings to the...

Unparalleled. No one else could do it. So it's got to be... We got to make some noise for that. You know, that's probably the only thing, and he said it just now, and I know we're going to try

to get Scott Storch on FaceTime in a second, but when he said it just now, like, and I know we're going to try to get Scott Storch on FaceTime in a second, but when he said it just now, I really literally looked at my phone to call DMX, and I just forgot. Damn. You know what I'm saying? You know what's hard, to be honest? Do you want

to erase the number? I don't. You know what I'm saying? I have not. And then, so I'll type. Let you finish, because the fans is going to say, I don't erase my dead homie's number. Right. I don't know why. I have not. And then, so I'll type. Let you finish, because the fans is going to say, I don't erase my dead homie's number. Right. I don't know why. I have a cousin. I don't.

And it was crazy, my bad for you all. But you know what's crazy sometimes? Yeah, the messages you got, too. If I, you know, you ghost dial or hit somebody by mistake, and then they'll start talking, you realize that this person, they took your homie's number. That's not even who you're talking to. So that's just scary. I don't know how we got here.

I have a cousin named Colin who lives in Baltimore. So we touch base, text, holidays, whatever. But I'll type CO and I'll see Coolio come up. And I'm like, you I mean I'm not gonna take it out it hurts me to see it but that's my man in my phone you know what I mean but yeah you ever ever like

did what I just said like ghost text somebody you smoke more than me dude so I'm ghost you know what I mean there's a lot of ghost shit that be happening I'm talking about in my phone like like you know like pocket dial that's why I said ghost but my bad it's pocket dial and when I'm looking about in my phone, like, you know, like pocket dial. Yeah, pocket dial. That's why I said ghost, but my bad. It's pocket dial, and when I look and I look and I see somebody

that I know been dead for 10 years. Yeah. And they answer, because you got to remember that number, like you said about the rose voice. That number, someone else policies it up and uses it. So that shit is spooky. Luckily that hasn't happened to me.

God bless. You want the next one? Yeah, friend. And by the way, why is Charlie drinking juice? It's not juice. You're welcome to drink it. He's running through that bottle. I'm not sure, man. You can try it, man. It's good.

This is a good batch, actually. Marvin Gaye or Al Green? Wow. Y'all could drink. Okay. I like that he's now enjoying us. I like that. Marvin Gaye,

let's get it on in terms of the hits, but Al Green, with me growing as a producer And seeing What some of those records were and what they Did, I wasn't as big of an Al Green fan when he was out But the more I've learned about music, I've become more

Of an Al Green fan So yeah, I would say both I love how he answers everything so musically Correct, I love it Thank you man,. I love it. Immaculately. He is very accurately. I'm fighting for the drink champ guests that don't drink.

Represent, represent. We have to put that up, the people who don't drink on drink champs. Right? Monie Love or Roxanne Shante? Monie Love. Monie Love had a cadence, and I think she still goes out is that the London side of you going back for her

she's our sister I mean up until this current crop of female rappers for decades Monie Love was the most intricate speed rapper as a female and it was like boom boom boom boom

there's certain You know there's certain Levels to it And I try and pride myself On it that regardless Of how fast I rhyme That you can understand me Right

But Monie Love Monie Love She's an ill MC Monie Love was right there By the way Since we talk about fast rapping Shout out to Twista Oh yeah

Twista would be in my top five But go ahead But Twista followed you. When we come to speed rap, Twister was after you, correct? Yeah, but Twister... And Chip Foo from the Fushnikans. I won't even lie. Twister does stuff with consonants that I've never heard.

I mean, there's other guys that come close, but the way he hits... Nah, he's ill. Some of his syllables... Did you say consonants or continents? Consonants. Like vowels, the opposite of those. I'm going to just act like I know what that means Like vowels, the opposite of those. I'm going to act like I know what that means. It's the opposite of vowels.

Opposite of vowels. Ask your pilot in Queens. He knows what's up. It's not I-E-O-U. But I will say when I want to see if my rap skill is still on, I do the Pope Pym verse. Oh, okay. Well, a motherfucker might be broke and shit, and they can let the note broke at this,

but I spit my gate like a mouthful of poker chips to get the hoes with the open lips and the provoking hips, and that's it. When I do that, when I hear that, that is such a level of artistry and not just rhyming fast to say I'm rhyming fast, but what he does with cadence, It's like, oh man, it's like just to grab a little of that. And like, like you said, if I was to write for easy, when I'm quoting something like that, I don't mind cursing. Now Young MC's not going to curse in his records, you know, but Young MC and Marvin, the rap fan are two different people at times, but go ahead.

Biggie or Big L? Biggie. Biggie, man. Biggie just. And I love Big L, you know, but Biggie, it's just you talk about level of influence. And especially Biggie was blowing up at a time when when other regions were dominating. You would know being being from the East Coast. So there was a time when Biggie was representing the East Coast, especially in records that Cross and I mean, he was, you know, flag waver for Bad Boy and all that. This, you know, I got to respect that. That's real.

That's real. This is a good one right here. Yeah, you take it then. A drink champ's favorite Prince or MJ? If you got stories, we want them. OK, before I give the answer, I'll give you the stories and I'll say who. I love that. stories, we want them. Okay. Before I give the answer, I'll give you the stories, and then I'll say who. I love that.

Let's get to it. Okay. I'm going to pick one, so I'm sorry. If y'all want to drink now just to drink, y'all can, but I'm going to pick one. Let's drink one. I'm going to get a regular drink, though, Jamie. The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network, hosted by me, writer and historian Dan Flores, and brought to you by Velvet Buck. This podcast looks at a West available nowhere else.

Each episode, I'll be diving into some of the lesser-known histories of the West. I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian Dr. Randall Williams and best-selling author and meat-eater founder Stephen Ranella. I'll correct my kids now and then where they'll say when cave people were here and I'll say it seems like the ice age people that were here didn't have a real affinity for caves. 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. I know a lot of cops, and 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. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission.

This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st

and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Right when Heavy D had guested on a Michael Jackson track, and around that time, I don't think it was the same track, but around that time, I had heard that there was some interest in me guesting on a Michael Jackson track. And my manager at the time was trying to get money out of him. Out of Michael Jackson.

Out of Michael Jackson's camp. Because I was getting paid for everything, whatever, whatever. And I never was able to get into it where I could say, yo, I'll do it for free just for the look or whatever. That's one of my biggest regrets. Because I'm not big on guesting, but there's certain things that where

if you're going to guest, you just do it. Michael Jackson, yeah. So, and obviously, I mean, Thriller, Off the Wall, just musically, just amazing. So you're saying you're friends with Michael Jackson? I didn't, I didn't. I mean, like, I'm kind of like, dude. Well, that's part of the reason I rep myself now.

It won't be me. And that's the thing, by the way. You would know as an artist. Because you said it so nicely, but it sounded like you flipped on Michael Jackson. If your manager or somebody in your camp makes a decision you don't agree with, then it comes back and people are pointing at you because you're the face of it. That is a fact. You know what face of it. That is a fact. You know what I'm saying?

That is a fact. That's what I wanted to kind of avoid. So you were telling me Mike called management. I don't know if Mike called management. No, I'm sure it was Mike's team. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's what I meant. Mike's team's called.

And what did they, like? No, no, no. It all got to me later. Okay. It all got to me. I'm out touring. I'm out, you know what I mean? It all got to me later okay it all got to me I'm out touring I'm out you know I mean it all got to me later that it didn't happen but it could have happened and to be fair

to your team they're probably like Michael Jackson there's money here there's a budget Michael's not gonna do something for free for somebody else right so let's just make a business but for any young artists or any artists listening right now evaluate the artist that's asking and this is for the team the artist because for you you would have made that money a hundredfold over. The shine, the shine is the shine. Or if you had the publishing on whatever you did on that or or performing the record or whatever, you would have made that money. That's the thing. A million times over. Especially looking back now. Now, there was a time when people had longer attention spans where if you just did your guest spots, you know, your guest verses on records, it would seem like a choppy show. Now, if you were to just go do your guest verses and they were all known, that'd be a banging show, especially to younger people.

So to think that, like, I could pull a verse out from a Michael Jackson record the same way I could pull out my verse from all in the same gang and just throw it up and people would know it? Come on, man. Come on. So that's Michael Jackson. Prince, playing all the instruments. You met Prince, too? I met him. Met him.

He knew who I was. Dude. I got to ask. I got to ask. Both of them were tuned in, though. Both of them were plugged into this. Is this ass out Prince or this regular Prince? He didn't have his ass out when I saw him.

Not his ass out. Okay, let's continue. It's all right. I'm in Larrabee West B off of, I think, Santa Monica, and he's in Larrabee West A. So I saw him in the studio. I think it was Bar One. I see him in. I'm not think it was Bar One. I see him in.

I'm not sure if he made it to Roxbury. I was in Roxbury four nights a week. But, yeah. And just inspiration. Actually, I did see him in Roxbury. Yeah, I did see him in Roxbury. Okay, so now when you say in Roxbury, you're talking about, like. The club.

The club. That's an iconic club. Now, here's the funny thing. It's a great movie about the night at the Roxbury. Yeah. I lived. I lived less than a mile away, maybe. I mean, I was at Santa Monica, and Roxbury was at Sunset. So part of the reason I never got in any crazy trouble was that, one, I would leave early because home was close.

But if someone said, oh, we're going to this person's house, most times that person's house was further away from Roxbury than my house was. So me going to my house would be closer than going deep into Beverly Hills and getting into whatever trouble. So I just went home. But Ely was a good friend. Tia Carrera, absolutely. I would be in Roxbury a lot. And there was, you know, when certain public events happen and all that, just to see the reactions, the people I'd see in there. I mean, Arsenio would be, you know, up in there and form the relationship with him and be on his show. The all in the same gang appearance on Arsenio, that to me is an iconic moment. Oh, we got to talk about that. You know what I mean?

So, yeah, I mean, just, yeah, yeah. Come back to that. All good. I feel like you smashed a lot of white girls. You know what Listen He didn't say about the rock It was party time

You know what I'll say this out of respect You're right Early on in my career I had one wild week You said you had one wild week in your whole career Well Basically and the wild week was I didn't say no.

Oh. You know what I'm saying? You gave yourself a hall of fame. Yeah. You said, you're allowed. I am allowed. I'm single. The record's cracking.

You know what I mean? You became Charlie for one week. Six and six cities in seven days. And I, this is pre-internet Pre-cell phone I'm at the end of it like this ain't fun I'm losing phone numbers And I'm like that's somebody's daughter

That's somebody's sister You know what I'm saying So like I'm having I'm having these thoughts at 22 I'm having these thoughts So the next Next pretty thing that says something to me Dude, I'm having these thoughts at 22. I'm having these thoughts. Very mature.

So the next pretty thing that says something to me, it's like I've been through this. I didn't enjoy that week. You didn't enjoy it? I didn't enjoy it. He was looking in the mirror like, I can't do it no more. I respect that. So that's me. And the interesting thing is is like my wife now Chantal

it's the first time I've been married the first time I'm getting married you know 50 yeah 56 got married

and I said this in my vows because I felt this from the first time I met her that's how I know she's my you know

know that she's my wife and meant to be my wife I look at her and I said your face looks like home to me. Like, I see pretty...

One, two, three. Aww. Thank you. I tell her my face looks like home to me, and it's interesting. I said that in my vows, and Montel said, you should have told me that before the wedding. I could have wrote a song. But it's like, it's that kind of

emotional attachment that, you know, that I want to have. It's like, even's that kind of emotional attachment that I want to have. It's like even leaving her and being away from her for a couple of days, I got to go to West Virginia to do a show after this, but I can't wait to get back and be around her. Right. So to me, me knowing that I've waited this long to be in a relationship like this, I'm not going to see something at a show and be like, oh, I'm going to have those feelings for some random person I meet. You know what I mean? So that's why it's one wild week and I learn. Part of the reason I'm here is because I learn,

I wouldn't say from my mistakes, but I learn from my experiences. You learn before your mistakes, thankfully. Yeah. Well, I learn before experiences become mistakes. Exactly. But I'm going to keep it 100. Only one week?

A lot could happen in one week. Slop, you've been out. You've been outside for quite some time. I've been out. I've been out. He just said he went loose for one week. That's a lot, bro. That could happen.

With a hit record? With a big hit record? With a record like that? A huge, huge record. I know how trifling your ass is, so I knew that question was coming. I knew that shit was coming. I know what trifling your ass is, so I knew that question was coming. I knew that shit was coming. I know what you're saying. But that's dope, man.

Because you know what I am? I love love. So I don't know. Because if he don't drink his shot, he will drink it when he comes back out. Okay. Okay. Aretha Franklin or Patti LaBelle? Aretha, dude.

Aretha. Rock Steady. Rock Steady is like, I put that up as one of the best records in terms of the hype, her singing, the track, the chant. Ha! Hit it! You know what I'm saying? Like, there's the breakbeat in it. Just that one record.

And then, I mean, you know, there's obviously other big things that she's done and the like. But from my hip-hop heart, Aretha Franklin. Okay. I respect that. Ice tea or ice cube? Cases of the ice. Oh, man. Both, go ahead and drink.

All right, I'm in. Me and tea, I haven't seen tea in ages. I like how you call people, you got special names for other people. No, I mean... You call people, like, you got special names for other people. You call Dana, you call Queen Latifah Dana. I just, I haven't

seen him in a long time, but we It's a shot you gotta take. Yeah, continue. This motherfucker drink the whole shit. What the fuck? I've been seeing him in a long time. Ice tea? Yeah, ice him in a long time Ice-T? Yeah, Ice-T in a long time

But the influence The influence that Colors had And to take that And, you know, that was a massive Massive record On the West Coast Influential Eye-opening to people

That were outside the culture Or outside of L.A. Didn't know about gang culture There was so much that went with that record. Yeah, I was scared watching that video. Yeah, I know, right? I was scared. And then Cube, obviously my experience with him in

NWA, what he's been able to do as a solo artist. It's Cube versus Ice-T? Yeah. It was late to the party. Late to the party. It's almost, although they do overlap, it's almost like asking me about two different sections of my life

because I knew Ice-T when he was an established solo artist in L.A. when I was first starting out. And I knew Cube at the same time as a member of N.W.A. to see him grow to that.

So that's why I'd say both. He said both relax he just took homie shot because he wanted to keep drinking that orange yeah i don't know that orange don't look good at all no it's good it's really good actually yeah it's really good good all right cool go to the next one mama here we go did you say hold... Hold up, we got Ice-T on the phone! Young MC! What up, man? That's Young MC right there!

Hey! Young MC, man. Young MC! Young MC! When's the last time I saw you, dude? Grab the phone, grab the phone. When's the last time I saw you? Turn the screen, turn the screen. Turn the screen.

Turn the screen. Oh, shit. Oh, yeah. Yo, you still there? What's up? Where you all at? I'm at Drink Champs now. I'm doing my episode.

Yeah. Okay, that's what's up. That's what's up. I'm ignoring you, man. It's all good. I just can't believe how long it's been since I've seen you. Since I got out of L.A., it's been ages, dude. Hold on.

Wonderful, man. Thank you, man. You get the same from me, man I'm so proud of you to see what has developed You know, with you and your career And like I was just telling them Colors is one of the most influential records Still, to this day

And I think started the path to what we did on All In The Same Gang Culminating with what happened with Kendrick at the pop-up. I mean, with Kendrick, that got me kind of emotional to see all the LA things on TV. But that's what all of us were trying to do. I know that's what All in the Same Gang was trying to do, was what Kendrick

accomplished in terms of having people from different places all up on the same stage like that. Yeah, but unfortunately, why it happened, but, you know, it's kind of like, West Coast has a feel they have a common history, not just the enemy, but even the opponent.

And when the West Coast feels their attack in any kind of way, they join up. They lock in. And, you know, the first the first truths happen behind the police right right that happened when the cops you know with the riots and all that so we true stuff but then you know when uh kendrick sounded that alarm says yeah he not he not liked us uh la joined forces, which hopefully

we can make that a real thing, not just a video. I think it felt so good that I think there's more that's going to come from that. Yeah, and you know, and then it doesn't have to be about anybody or an opponent or a rapper. It just

needs to happen for LA, period. Exactly. I'm going to give you back to Norm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. to happen for LA, period. Exactly. I'm going to give you back to Norm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. I'll hit you later. I appreciate you, man. Thank you so much. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, my bad. It's love, my brother. Always. My nigga. I know you, my nigga. I'll hit you later.

My nigga. Yo, no. Yo, nah. He's such a legend, man. He's such a legend. You know, skipping around like how you said earlier, it was kind of like a moment. Like what he just said, he was like, you know, it's unfortunate because, you know, at the end of the day, we don't want to see two black people beefing, right?

We don't want that, right? But now we got to also look at the good with the bad. A seesaw goes up and down. You can support it without being against the that, right? But now we got to also look at the good with the bad. A seesaw goes up and down. You can support it without being against the opponent, right? But like I said, it was so crazy that when I seen that picture, again, I did not know that that was rappers. I thought it was just people. But you mean the group picture at the end? Yeah, the group picture.

That was all the artists that performed. I didn't know those were artists until the end. Until the end. But when I seen that, That was all the artists that performed in the dance room. I didn't know those artists until the end. Dance with everybody, yeah, yeah. But when I seen that, I was like, that's all in the same gang. Yeah. That's the first thing I,

and maybe my soul is old or maybe I don't care. Like, I was just like, I saw that and then it was like, yo, we got, we got Yung MC on. I was like,

this is so perfect. It's a perfect timing because again, you're originally from the East Coast of new york like how we established but you made your bones and you how you said you cut your teeth in la yeah so you seeing that i know i asked you something like that earlier but to reiterate it like when you saw that what was you thinking no it warmed my heart because that was the whole thing like i said

like when we recorded all in the same gang, there were certain people, you couldn't have all the artists in the same studio recording it. You had to book appointments. Right. I don't even, I don't think I drove myself. I think I was picked up,

did my shit, picked up, taken home. Wow. Nobody else there. Well, you not gang affiliated. No.

And people said that, sorry to cut you, but people said that about the artists that were at the pop-up. They said the same thing, that a lot of those artists and their entourages, those sections could not be together. And this is the first time that a lot of these people could be together. But, you know, I did hear that, but I also heard that they actually went to rehearsals together.

No, no, but I'm saying the whole vibe. The way it came together. So everybody had to be with it. Right, they had to be with it. They all had to unify. Right. Crazy way it came together. So everybody had to be with it. Right. They had to be with it. They all had to unify. Uh-huh. Right. Crazy.

That's crazy. I put that West Coast shit together, too. Big up. Big up my man Ice T. He was Beijing up, too, by the way. Listen, don't talk, buddy. I've been rewinding time. Wiping time.

Rewinding Beijing. Yeah, rewinding Beijing. Juice or Boys in the Hood? Connect. No, no. Boys in the Hood. I went to college with John Singleton. John Singleton was one year younger than me.

So I remember walking out of Boys in the Hood speechless. Not only because it's my friend, but just to see the drama of it. Coming up, learning about LA... Through cinema? No, through living there. It was there. Yeah, it was there.

But seeing now it being depicted is what you're saying. And like I said, I miss John. Going to school with John, too, just to see what he became as a director is amazing. So, yeah, I miss, I miss John. I, you know, going to school with John too, just to see what, what he became as a director. It was like amazing. So yeah. Okay.

That was simple. Last but not least. Oh, that's where we at? Yep. Loyalty or respect? Sorry, y'all don't have to drink,

but I'm going to say loyalty. And the reason is there's a lot of people that can respect you, but you can respect somebody you don't know. You can even respect somebody you don't like.

But if I know somebody is loyal to me, I'm going to bust my ass to make sure they respect me. Because the worst position you could be in is someone being loyal to you who doesn't respect you. Like that's, that is like, to me,

that is almost like slavery, like forced servitude. Like I can't leave, like, you know, I'm going to show you my loyalty, but I really don't respect you. That's a mixture of feelings that I can't even relate to. So if someone expresses loyalty to me My actions are gonna dictate that hopefully they'll respect me, but if someone respects me I Don't know what it's gonna take for them to be loyal to me and I probably don't care

But if I know the loyalty is there that's gonna be you know nourished and cherished You know with respect. I've never heard that statement. I've never heard that statement. He personally fucked me up. I'll drink to that. Yeah. He'll give you all the reason to drink. Yeah, yeah.

Dale, que tu puede. All right, guys. Hasta luego. That's me and you too, man. Don't break the chair, Charles. All right. Let me make sure. I know I asked you somewhat of this.

Circles? Yeah. No, because you know why? We didn't touch it. hip-hop changed so much. Yeah. Like I said, I said it earlier, I sincerely believe that I would have done hip-hop if I didn't get paid.

But then it became a business, and people forced me to think like that. Right, right. Forced me to want to be in big business as opposed to being in the big artistry. And I didn't care. This is a question that we didn't ask you on Quick Time with Slyme,

and this is me and EFN's question that we always, you know, part ways on, but we agreed to a certain extent. But if you had a chance to choose, would you say independent or you go with a major label? Today I would go with independent. Okay. 25 years ago, I'd go with a major. Can you explain that?

Independence only had so much sway. And the big advantage of a major is that they had the money and the access to pressing plants. They had the monopoly on it. They had the money and the access to pressing plants. They had the monopoly on it. They had the monopoly. So if you wanted to sell a million records in a month, you couldn't really do that as an indie. You'd have to front the money to a pressing plant that didn't have something else going on that could make that many records,

get it out to the stores, and you don't have a stick to hit those record stores over the head with. You're a universal. You put out a record. they don't pay you. Like, yo, you want the next Eminem? You better pay me on this last one. You an independent,

and you put a record out to the record stores, and they owe you for a couple hundred thousand records, and you don't have another artist. You're waiting on them. So that's why I'd want to be with a major then. Now with the streaming, whatever, I'd rather be with an independent. But you talk about the business.

I make the first record, get into a lawsuit with Delicious Vinyl, find out about publishing, all this other stuff, make a publishing deal outside with Alamo Irving. Delicious wanted me, but I took less money to go outside.

I make a record called That's The Way Love Goes that was for an artist named Johnny C. Johnny C was either a de facto member or affiliated closely with the Ghetto Boys. So I fly to Houston. He's the one that they thought would

cross over. He was on Rap-A-Lot? I met Jay Prince? Yeah, I met Jay Prince. And Bushwaken, yeah. So that record ends up not happening. But I'm I have a six figure publishing deal that I have to fulfill. So that's the way love goes. All of a sudden becomes wanted to make sure the publishing company that backed me for, you know, 10 full songs was made whole. When the biggest song that I was trying to do for the publishing deal didn't happen, I'm like, okay, fuck it, I'll put it out.

It's fine, but I know if I had the ability to approach it just as making a record for me, that probably wouldn't have been the record. It was a record by necessity for business as opposed to being a record for artistry to move Young MC forward. I was just moving the business forward. So I get it. That was great. That was great.

I'm so impressed that I'm impressing you even high and drunk. I'm impressing you. No, no, no, no, listen. That means so much to me. impressing you even high and drunk. I'm impressing you. No, no, no, no, listen. That means so much to me. Let me ask you another one. Yes, sir.

What is your favorite? Making the record or performing the record? See, we ain't in the Quick Thomas line. I'll take a drink, too. I know you would. I know you would. You know what? I have to say both.

All right, I'm going to take a drink. I'm just going to drink my drink. You ain't got a shot, though? No. Come on, crazy hood. Come on, make sure he's got a shot. He finished the bottle, dude. He did.

Before, I would make the record saying, this sounds good. Let me see what it's like on stage. Now I make the record knowing what the stage is going to be like this will be the the part that people call in response there's you know the bottom end literally i was taking i was taking my new record to my shows and sound checking it and then looking at the monitors that the soundman had to see what frequencies needed to be raised or lowered, putting that in my phone and then going back and doing a session. And I would do that two and three times. I'll tell you, the song is called Loose.

This is the cover for it. I worked on it for two years. Like no bullshit. And that experience. One record. One song. One song. Two years.

Two years. But it wasn't like every day whatever whatever but i'm thinking the record's done oh what if i do this and then the ai component like oh what if i took the disco theory and i made it a character so all of that stuff was over that time putting on putting all that together but the culmination of that is that i perform that record as well or better than anything else that i do. And did you have a clear heart? Do I have a what? No, it's his. That's his.

Can we hear this record? Yes. Can you play it on your phone? I have, dude, I have my computer. I mean, either on here. I like he called you dude. He's been calling you dude. I've been jealous all night. What's his name?

Yellow Wolf called me dude. You never, nobody ever called you dude? I like being called dude. Get out of here, bro. I've been called nigga my whole life. Being called dude is okay. I just want to hear this record. Okay.

Extended Master. But we can't put it to the system? I have my computer. I could send somebody the track. I think we got a little budget. I don't think we're going to put it in the system. I don't know. It was playing great earlier. I literally can email it to wh little budget. I don't think we're going to put it in the system. I don't know. I literally can email it to whomever.

Mr. Lee. This is our first time here. No, he was playing from his phone. He was playing from his phone. He got Dominican Republic service. I can literally email it to somebody right now. Yeah, go ahead. You can copy and paste too.

What's the Wi-Fi here? If it's a sauce or a garnish, I think it's a good thing. If you're trying to make music from scratch, you know, supposedly on the streaming services, there are thousands of records made that don't have actual artists and all that. I'm not with that, dude. I'm looking at as a tool to enhance what i right like auto tunes was a tool that people use the way i look at it

is like this in 2008 i finally after after 20 some odd you know 28 years of rapping i decided to really look into rhyming dictionaries because my thought process was, it's not that the words are not in my vocabulary. They're just not in my head at the moment I'm writing that line. But if I was to see something, if I have a line in mind and I see a word that rhymes with it, that'll spark other lines. So I said, let me use that as a tool. And I've already written, I mean, I've written multi-platinum records in like three different decades at that point. So I'm like, okay, let me try and make the best of it. Let me see what I can do. And I fell in love with like the four and eight line couplets. In terms of rhyming A and then A, A, B, B, I almost don't do that anymore. You get to the third third line I want to bring back the rhyme again I have a record called Nocturnal Made that in 08 Has to me the best verse

That I've ever written in my life And I still perform it At least in my longer shows To this day And it just falls into the same Thing of Continuing the rhyme scheme I'm doing a

I was doing a 90s show And I'm sound checking And I see this dude Setting up chairs Young kid Maybe 20 So I start my third verse Of Nocturnal

I get through four lines He's bobbing his head I get to the fifth line Continue the rhyme scheme He starts smiling I get to the ninth line Continue the rhyme scheme He's like almost laughing

I get to the 13th line He's looking at me to change it And I don't change it And rhyme scheme. He's like almost laughing. I get to the 13th line. He's looking at me to change it, and I don't change it. And he's like, he's dancing now. And then I finish the whole verse, and I'm like, that's what I want. This kid was working. He's like, I was just background until I became more than background. You know what I mean?

So you want me to spit? I'll spit. No, no, if you want. Yeah, yeah, spit. We're here. Okay. Okay. I'm setting the tone for those that were sweating alone.

You were thinking that your life was just set in the stone. If you worry about your sins, you better atone. Because I be creeping through the night just like a predator drone. Let it be known. Call your people, get on the phone. Calm your homegirl down. Look like she ready to bone. Someone got her, licked her up, and gave her steady Patron.

I can smell it on her body like some heavy cologne. Let her go home. Put her in the bed on her own. If she feel sick, let her put her head on the throne. Because it's better than a stranger trying to get her to moan. Thought he had a green light. There's some red in the zone. Never be known. Things that can never be shown. In the cover of the night, though the cover was blown. There's a happy ending here. Tragedy postponed. But tomorrow night is still unknown. It's nocturnal. Woo! Man, you wrote a verse about Charlie, bro.

I did that in the show that you saw me do. Okay. That's one of the records I did in the show you saw me do. Yeah. Let me ask you. Yes, sir. Have you ever fell out of love with hip-hop? No.

Never? No, because hip-hop has never been one thing. Like, no one could ever change hip hop for me. Hip hop is going to be what it's going to be when I was 10 and first went into Jeff Taylor, a.k.a. Grandmaster Keys' basement on 210th Street in Hollis. You know what I mean? And I'm rapping over two good times or two bounce rock skates or two walk this ways or two big beats. That feeling you've maintained. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Right. Yeah. But you have to be disappointed. In what? I'm asking. What am I going to be disappointed in? Okay. I mean, when my record was out,

I didn't want everybody sounding like me. Cool. So when other people's records are out, why should I feel I need to sound like them, do exactly what they do? I took some of the heat you know for the time when hip-hop was trying to get established by the time i stopped having hit records hip-hop was established so if someone else is out there fucking up it's not on me it's not on me i still got mine i'm still doing mine i'm still performing still doing all that it's like oh, I really hate what they did to what I love.

No, it's too much of a dynamic. You know, entity to say that someone has changed it to the point where I'm going to generational. Yeah. And dude, I could have done something else. I have a bachelor's degree. I could have gone to grad school. I could easily do something else. I choose to do this. So nothing is going to keep me. Nothing's going to keep me from doing this, dude. So regardless of what I see out there, I would you know, I wish certain things wouldn't happen and things wouldn't get. You know, I'm here about the scene down here in Miami, how violent it gets and that kind of thing. I wish those things wouldn't happen. But in terms of my love for hip hop. Now, that's that's a blessing that you wish those things wouldn't happen. But in terms of my love for hip hop, nah, that's unbreakable. And it's a blessing

that you could make a living doing this. Yeah. I've written Musician on my tax return for 37 years. God damn it. You know what I'm saying? It's like, what else would I do? Even people say,

oh man, you hate having a record like Bustin' Moo. If you say that there's what, 360, 370 million people in this country, that's around there. If I said 200 to 250 million of those people, no bus to move. If I were to say that.

My thought process is, regardless of what school I went to and all that, what else would I do to touch that many people? One hit wonder or not. I know I'm not a one hit wonder, but I'm saying if that's all you know me for, you know me. Cool. Most people are just trying to get known. That's what I'm saying.

Let's hit that first verse of Busta Moves. Let's hit it. Really? Let's hit it. Come on, come on. Let's go. That's what you want to hear because I'm rhyming you want to get that? You got me in the mood. You got me in the mood. Let's go. I never do act but I will do it for you. You got me. You got me. My man in the mood. Let's go. I never do act colors, but I will do it for you. You got me.

You got me. My man taping me. I mean, I don't know if you know me. He's on the team. He's on the team. He's on the team. He's on the team. He's on camera.

He's with us, yes. That's fair enough. Fair enough. Really? All right. I'll tell you something real quick A lot of times Some of them want to get up on stage

And say they know the hook And sing the hook Invariably And I've had this talk with Master G Where you get to a certain place In the record And they think they know what's coming Like after the first verse

You don't say you want it You got it It's But girls will start singing You want it You got it Where it doesn't belong And like in Rapper's Delight

The first time you say Hotel Motel, it's not Holiday Inn. It's what you're going to do today. But the first time they say Hotel Motel, invariably, somebody's like, Holiday Inn. Like, no, nigga, that's not it. You know, so literally, my first hook I get to, I'm like, somebody say yeah. Just to drown out the people singing You Want It, You, you got it, because they don't know it. And I need to know where I am to kind of, you know what I mean, go forward.

So anyway. Okay. This here's a jam for all the fellas. Try to do what those ladies tell us. Get shut down because you're overzealous. Play hard to get females get jealous. Okay, smarty. Go to a party.

Girls are scantily clad and showing body. Chick walks by, you wish they could say except for just standing on a wall like you was. Boing, Dexter. Next, smarty. Go to a party. Girls are scantily clad and showing body. Chick walks by your wish to get sex up, but you're standing on the wall like you was Boindexter. Next day's function. High class luncheon. Food is served in your stone cold motion. Music comes on, people start to dance, but your HMS really splits your pants. Girl

starts walking. Guy starts gawking. Sits down next to you and starts talking. Says she want to dance because she likes the group. Come on, fatso, and just bust the move. Hey! No! No! No!

No! No! Don't! Don't! Don't put false information out there. That don't go there. Wait, can we do one more request? Do you know your verse off of this?

Yes, I do know my verse of that. Oh, yeah, because you've been... I've been performing. I think this verse is so ill, man. Okay. Can you do it? Yes, I can do it. We're going to talk some more.

It's written? This is what's dope about this record? Yeah. That I didn't... Wow. That's fire. Yeah. Hold on. Or would you just let him get his verse, though? No, no, Yeah. Oh, no.

But you just let him get his verse, though. No, no, no, no, no. He was supposed to remember it. But I'm looking. He said he's performing it. No, no, I've been performing it. So, no, but it's interesting. And above the law, yeah, shout out to Hutch, man.

Golly. Ice-T, Michelle A. Michelle A. Oaktown 357, Hammer, Digital, JJ Fagg. Come on, man. And that's the single version. I only got eight. I only got eight in the single version.

Brothers. Kill another brothers. I thought the idea was to love one another. Open up the paper to one more death. If y'all keep this up, then there'll be no one left. I try my best to send an example saying hype lyrics over hip-hop samples not just to brag or to boast but to inform because we're living in the calm before the storm you see i believe that the children of the future

but what's it all about if in the future they shoot you we're all human beings if a cut would bleed and i want to see all young people succeed do nine to five not five to ten just go to work and not to stay penned Cause you live better When you're out here free That's coming straight to you From the Young MC Come on

I will preface it with that I perform it better now Than I wrote it But just The cadence To have that On a West Coast record In 1990

Was not done Nah And the video The way you came into it. Yeah, it's just like, they had me walking, I was in a white t-shirt. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you know what's the crazy thing about that message? It's like, we still have to have that same message now. But see, but that's the thing.

The brilliance of my conception is knowing that I could give that message. I'm not going to talk about sets and places and things I don't know about. I'm not going to talk about sets and places and things I don't know about. I'm not going to do that. And we didn't even have to have a discussion. I'm on here. People are listening.

They're expecting one thing. Let me give them, you know, what I'm feeling. And even getting on stage, like there's some places I don't do it where the record doesn't resonate as much now, but I want to do that verse. And it's, you know, yeah, man, it's good. No, but I mean, in general, for like black people in hip hop, the fact that that record is still relevant because we're still going through that type of conditions in the communities.

What do you think? Like, that's great. Self-destruction as well. Like self-destruction. Yeah, same thing. Like these records were actually dope. They were dope records with great messages that resonated. And now it's like it feels like we can't do those records.

Well, here's the thing. You remember this. Both of you probably remember this as kids. You know when some crazy shit would happen in the hood or crazy stuff would happen and it didn't make the news? And nobody talked about it except in the neighborhood, people that saw it, story to story. With the internet, that doesn't happen. Any little thing, crazy thing that someone does it's worldwide right so not saying that there's less going on now but what there is going on now is amplified so much in a way that wasn't before so there's no

sweeping under the rug there's no keeping it on the low everything's just blasted out there so you see the need for it but you're seeing the need for it a record like that in the context of every little piece of news being amplified like it's, you know, on a 6 o'clock news. Amplified without context as well. Yes, because everybody has short attention spans. So who, why, where, now, now,

what happened? Oh, you know, once again. And everybody's polarized as to what's going on. Right, right. So if I go on your iPod right now. I don't own an iPod, but I hear you. I go on your music selection. Yeah, yeah, yeah. iPod is even, you dated yourself with that one.

Yeah, my bad. Who is the young MC to you? Wow. Who is a young MC that reminds you a young MC to you? I don't, you know. J. Cole? Yeah, man. Stop leading the witness.

I mean, who are you back there with your baby blue outfit? Well, that's the thing. I mean, I have love for J. Cole because the idea of, and even, you know, Drake to a certain extent, the idea of singing and rapping were two different things in my day. Like, you couldn't become melodic in a song without being considered a different type of artist. Like, Eric Sermon was one of the earliest people I remember trying to do that. Right. And J. Cole got out of that beef immediately.

Exactly right. And he did the right thing. So I listen to a lot of people just to see where they're taking the music. You know what I mean? Like what they're doing, what they're doing with the music. So there's not one specific MC

that I'm like, oh, waving a flag. Drake's done a lot. Drake has done a lot in terms of establishing fan base, in terms of the different types of records he makes. And Kendrick is a lyricist. He's done a lot for lyricism. Well, here's the thing. I'm coming from a time when lyricism and West Coast were never said in the same sentence. So if you are going to somebody who lives on the East Coast now,

they could literally say, Kendrick Lamar is the best lyricist. I never thought I would ever hear anyone outside of the West Coast saying that a West Coast artist was the best lyricist or represented lyricism in a way that Kendrick is now. So like all of those things, all of those artists, I look and I can appreciate different elements of what they do, battles notwithstanding. Kendrick being known as the consummate lyricist and being from the West Coast shows an evolution of hip hop that I did not think I would see in my lifetime. Just did not think. Yeah.

Because of the perception of the coast. Perception of the coast. Although Cube, I think, was respected as a lyricist early on. No, Cube was respected as a lyricist early on no cube was respected as a lyricist but the thing was is that cube was such a figure with nwa with what he said all it's just different now in terms of you know a backpacker will look at at kendrick and and kendrick's lyrics and kendrick's lyrics like kendrick happens because he's influenced by so many things and people, you know, so someone like Kendrick on the West Coast. On a different stage. He's taking it on a different stage.

Yeah. So, so, um, no, all respect to Q, all respect to Q. I'm looking at it that this was a lyrical exercise and, and, you you know all kind of subject matters all over the place and and kendrick is regarded as the lyricist because because i think la did have a hub for lyricism you had like the exhibits the alcohol oh yeah the rascals the rascals is the delafunky home safe game is a lyricist yeah of course and even the loonies, like... No, no, even quick, but I'm saying in terms of... But I get what you're... If you went out of the West Coast sphere, influence, a lot of those names...

It wouldn't translate. Exactly. Now it translates. Now it translates. There's somebody in Brooklyn, there's somebody in the Bronx that'll say Kendrick Lamar's the best lyricist. Like, nobody on the West Coast

was ever considered potentially the king of hip-hop. Right. The top tier. Right. But now it does. Lyricist. I mean, that concert, when I seen that Kendrick concert, it did seem like he was being crowned the king of hip-hop.

Like you have the Jay-Z's, the Nas, the Biggie's, the Kendrick. Not of the West Coast. Even though it was a West Coast collaboration and all that, but that night when I watched that concert, it seemed like he was being

crowned king of hip-hop. That's what I think. That's what I think people need to understand. Like, it's a pro for hip-hop. It's a positive for hip-hop. Yeah. You could love

what's happening there and not have to be against Drake. You don't have to be against Drake We ain't against Drake over here We like light skinned people Drake has done things Drake has done things That no one has done in hip hop

And he's been able to He's been able to open Open things up to a new audience And just his approach Internationally, right And there's been so many rappers That have come from mixtapes That weren't able to translate it Into albums and he has right yeah there's usually guys that

it's true he comes from the mixtape side there's there's dudes that that there's dudes that did mixtapes were okay and become amazing artists and the dudes that were amazing on mixtapes and you don't hear much about it or the first album comes out and it's not you know cohesive enough for people to really digest it as an album he seamlessly went into that right that that's impressive to me and what's dope is like you know um uh you know you know the world is probably trying to say that like that was a loss for him but the fact is if he doesn't seem damaged he'll be be okay. He's not going away. I look at it because it's like how I said that I get different inspirations from different artists. I see it as a different lane.

For him? Yeah. I just see it as a different lane. There's places that he goes and audiences he plays in front of that other people don't. So, you know, and same for Kendrick, same for J. Cole. Like, they have their niches. So I don't necessarily see it. I see it, really what I see the upshot of it is, is that the record companies are getting scared.

Because you had guys making records in a week, putting it up there. But on the go, it's the same record label. No, no, no, no, no. But my thing is this. And the scope and universe was the same people. But here's the point yeah these records were conceived of in a week put up and then they take down the top artists that you've been planning with all your departments for months stop putting don't put out that record because this is happening because bad so so regardless of what label all right

they're in one lane but one artist or two artists can get into a beef and be putting out records to the point where major labels are like yo hip hop artists to show off the power of hip hop as well two hip hop artists

can get into a beef be putting out records to the where the major label says you rock act you pop act you're going to have to wait until these dudes feud is over

because everything we do with all our departments can't fuck with this right now that's crazy dude yes that's true. That's crazy, dude. Yes. That's, to me, that's the upshot. That's an ill way to look at it. That's the upshot of all of it.

It's like, it's literally like a speedboat stopping a tanker. Right. It's like, oh, no, we got to let the speedboat go by. We got to let these two speedboats race it out, and we're going to stop this ocean line until they're done. Because they have the water right now. That's right. We don't have the water. That, dude, that's the way you need

to look at it. So, Drake and Kendrick, I would like to personally thank y'all. I have been fully entertained. And even J. Cole, I like the J. Cole shit. I even like that he just left so fast. No, but to me,

I'll defend J. Cole. I've never met him, but I'll defend him. That was a mature move on his part. That's how you feel. That's what I'm saying. I'm not mad about what he did, man. You know, I saw— The grown man in me like that. Right.

The little nigga in me that is not. I saw— I saw an interview with DJ Head, who was the DJ that— Shout out to DJ Head, man. Yeah, absolutely. Shout out to Head. Never met him, but he was with Big Boi, who I met. So I'm watching an interview, and he said that he's only listened to Meet the Grahams only four or five times because it affected his spirit listening to it.

I respect him. He's in Kendrick Lamar's crew. You know what I mean? He's close to it. He's very close. Super close. I mean, we see him. He's close to it, yeah. He's close to me. He's very close, super close. I mean, we see him, he's there. He's in that circle, and he felt the comfort to be able to say that, to say that that's what's in his heart.

To me, that shows such a growth that everybody doesn't have to be like, okay, whatever happens, we're blindly following. That shows such a level of maturity. It's true. Yeah. Once again, my day, wouldn't see that. You with me or you against me? You can't say anything that you can't. Man, it's like there's so much of that that made me feel so good that I was even involved back in the day. If back then you would have had Twitter,

you think you would have been out here in DMs? Out here in DMs? You know what? What does that mean? You know what it means. I know what it means. I may have been, even if I didn't want to be. Even if I didn't type the DMs, you know, somebody would type something to me and then post that. You know what I mean? So there's a lot of us that are thankful that social media wasn't what it was. Some of the stories that I know, you know what I'm saying? Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Because y'all was living wild back then. You only had one week wild. Yeah, he had one week. I don't believe that one week at all. No,

it's true. You had one year and it looked like one week. Yeah, dude, it was one week and I had enough for 20 years.

You know, he decided it was one week. It was crazy. No, but yeah, but that's the thing, dude. It's like,

I learned from my experiences that's that's why i'm still here that's why i'm you know that's why i'm still good what's what's your favorite part of the culture like if you could praise one thing about the coach it's this dude you know it's right it's funny because i'm here with you whatever it's the camaraderie you and i don't know each other very well we've only met each other a couple times. We could hang. We could have discussions.

We love hip-hop. Love hip-hop. It's like us playing a sport. You're part of my family. I'm a part of yours. It's like us playing the same sport in two different leagues. We haven't played each other. You know what I'm saying? That kind of camaraderie, when I hear athletes

that retire and say that that's what they miss, that's why, like, all the questions you asked, if you had anybody that was on a 90s tour, I'm going to pick them because they're my family. Right. You know, a couple hundred shows in the middle of nowhere, all the jokes, sitting around. There was one, since COVID, it's been very difficult to find people to clean hotel rooms. So invariably, we'll be sitting, a bunch of us, for hours in hotel lobbies in the smallest places. So me, Tone, Montel Jordan, sitting in the lobby, talking at least a couple of hours.

Stories coming up. This is how y'all do it. Man, just fun. Just fun. Yes. We caught that. You see? Yeah, we do. You like it. You like it. You like it. You like it. I for... Yes, we caught that. You see? Yeah, we knew.

You were like, you were like, you were like. Nah, nah, I was just kidding, bro. Yeah, I see. I kept talking like I didn't hear that shit. No, but you know what? You are very correct, man. You know, like I said, I was saying earlier, like how going on a roll with somebody,

like you get to learn that people, you get to understand that certain people's feet stink. And you're like, damn, man, I don't want to be around him in this hotel room. But I realized that I would do this show in Hot 97. It was called Hot Night Jamaica, right? And we would go there. And everybody who I went there with,

I always formed a relationship with. And it's because of what you just said. It's just like, you know, we're a fraternity without calling ourselves a fraternity. That's what it is. I've not seen Mix-A-Lot. I had not seen Mix-A-Lot in a couple of years. And we just had

a show, I want to say it was, was it outside of... Sir Mix-A-Lot. Yeah, Sir Mix-A-Lot. Oh man, I want to say, no, it wasn't Memphis. Outside of Tulsa. Okmogi, Oklahoma, I want to say. Me, Tone Loke, Rob Bass,

Tretch from Naughty by Nature, Sir Mix-A-Lot, and I think one other act. But we had not seen each other in a long time, and to get the picture and to sit and talk and whatever, it's like we never spent any time apart. I hadn't seen Tretch in a hot minute. He was supposed to come to my wedding. He couldn't come. You know what I'm saying?

It was just that feeling and knowing to be a part of it, especially when guys can go out and see other guys' sets. That new song, I can't wait to do that new song in front of Trach. I think he's going to be with me tomorrow in West Virginia, but I know over the next two weeks to three weeks, I'm going to do a show with him where I'll do that in front of him. And just to get his reaction to it and, you know, talk to him about what I'm doing and that kind of thing. It's great. You see them more than you see your friends. You see them more than you see a lot of your family. And but there's a mutual respect. So that's why I'm still going at it, you know, at this age. God damn it, man. I just want to thank you, man, for everything you do for hip hop, man.

Thank you, man. For being here on Drink Champs, man. I want to shout out, I've got to shout out one person. Absolutely. Continue. My best friend, best man at my wedding, Antonio Knox. Young rapper that I met him as, came out of Baltimore. But he has been such an inspiration to me and just kind of keeping me grounded and being a good sounding board. So when I told him I was doing this, he's like, yo, man, this is, you know,

he knew how big this was for me. And after all the discussions, like a lot of the answers I gave, I've discussed with him, but I'm not throwing names out and whatever. But Antonio Knox is my man. Well, big him up. But let us tell you, man, like, you know, when we give these people flowers, when we, y'all are heroes, man. Like, you know what I'm saying? To me, when we, y'all are heroes, man. Like, you know what I'm saying?

To me, everybody, and I know how it feels, man. I know how it feels to walk in those shoes. I know how it feels to be in those locker rooms. Veterans, man. Y'all veterans. And you know what I'm saying? So what we do is so much, you know, sometimes underrated. You know what I mean?

That you just, I just, I love this, man. I was so excited to have you come through. We were betting on you. I lost the bet. I lost the bet. You were betting that I wouldn't. You think I'd ghost you like ice? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. We bet on time. We bet on time. I said you would be here at 345. Me and Jason went out and we had sushi down the street. That's the only reason it's two minutes late because it took a long time. I don't know what they talking about, man. I'm an artist. You know what's crazy? As an artist, I always came late, but then as a businessman, I never come late.

I always there so early. I always understand, but we got him. We got him. He said that if he had to pick a beat between anybody in the world to save the world, he would pick Scott Storch. Oh, look at that beat. We got Scott Storch right there.

You see him? Great to meet you, man. That young MC, Scott Storch, he said if he could save the world, he would pick you to make the beat, Scott. Where's the volume on this? Oh, shit. Whose phone is it? Let's make the beat, bro. You can tell he don't spend no money on his phone on my back it's all the way up he knows he knows that's what he said no i'm down dude i you know

feature whatever you want you know i mean i'm down i'm a big fan of your work from what you did with from what you did with cube and what you did with method man i'm a big fan of your work From what you did with From what you did with Cube And what you did with Method Man I'm a big fan of your work And you inspired me As an artist and a producer dude That's what's up man Because I've watched Several episodes

And nobody drops your name I'm like no It would be you And then the MC would be Sterang Wonder From Boot Camp Click Oh wow You know what I'm saying

We gotta track him down So absolutely man So wonderful to meet you, dude. Likewise, likewise. My man, Scott Stewart. Thank you, Scott. Thank you, thank you. Thank you so much.

You got to upgrade your phone, man. Yeah, man. Your shit sound like a Metro. You got, what's the shit? What's the next tail? You sound like you got a next tail. It's your phone, man. It's you.

Nah, that was dope, man. I love that, man. I love it. He just snuck off. All right, here, you can come and take a shot for no reason. Let's go. This is the way it works. You're going to take a shot for no reason.

Because you take it for Young MC. That's what we mean. Oh, okay. Yeah, just give him any shot. So, this anything, let me ask you this. Yes, sir. Is there anything you ever passed on that you regret? Specifically, I was such a... I saw how bad sampling could get people in trouble

after what happened with Three Feet High and Rising. Yeah, and then the... Thank you. And then the... Gosh, what record, what record, what record? The Bismarckie. Before all samples cleared, the one they pulled. So I'm watching this and I'm saying, it's so much going on.

And even some of my records that weren't clear, stuff had to come back and be dealt with. So the record that would have been a single for me, I had a huge sample in it, and I chose not to go that route. Changed it around. And I didn't really realize at the time that a lot of what people liked about those records was the sample itself. Yeah, the samples, yeah, because they was familiar with the subconscious. I just saw, and Bustamoo had samples in it, but they weren't well known. So my thought was

if you can get it to sound like a sample or sound like it from a piece, without it being something obvious, you could win like that because I've had life experience doing that. But in hindsight, looking back,

if I was more open to putting samples in my stuff back then, then I think I would have been able to continue my career on an on a certain level a little bit longer okay let me extend that question just a little bit yes sir now let me relate it to an artist is there any artists that you had an opportunity to work with and you didn't have to do that you know I, I would say no. I mean.

Prince? No, no, no. But if Prince reached out to me, you know what I mean? Like no one, no one on that. Oh, no, we said Michael Jackson earlier. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Something he did. So, yeah, if someone had reached out to me, you know, I've never really been in a position where I'm saying no to a big artist or whatever. It's just never come to me.

I wasn't in those circles. I went home too early. Right. Okay, so I'm going to ask you one more question. You can ask me 10 more, dude. I'm here. I flew here to be with y'all. We actually spoke about it earlier.

Yes, sir. But let's speak about it again. Now, we said the one record to save the world. Yeah. Right? You didn't even pick yourself. Right. You picked Scott Storch and you picked Homeboy from OGC, right?

Yeah, but I thought you said it as a feature. Now, you got, for you, one record, Dead or Alive, what artist would you like to work with? Oh, wow. That you feature on it. That you feature on it. That's you with them on it. Yeah. Dead or alive.

I would say Prince. Prince? I would say Prince just because I'd want the challenge of whatever he would do musically. Right. And I pride myself on being able to rhyme over anything. Right. So if Prince, and it's iconic, if Prince were to come up with something and it was a theme or whatever, I'd love the challenge. You wouldn't want him to come up with it?

No, I mean, I'd be guesting on his record. I'm not going to ask Prince to feature. Right. I mean, I'm guesting on his record. No, that's prince to feature right i mean i'm guesting on that's what i'm asking you i'm asking you this is your feature i don't know man i don't know dude there's so many people that i you know that i love and respect and and it's i i wouldn't i wouldn't know i really i really wouldn't know. Because it's not, you know, out of my circle, I would say Tretch. You know what I mean? Like, my dream record would be me Tretching quick.

That would be, if you said features and said each got a verse, me Tretching quick. That sounds like a mean record. You need to make that record happen. I know, and I'm pretty sure, but I want one of mine. That's my whole thing, man. It's going to be on Dream Chance compilation. I want the opportunity to have a record crack and then be able to pull in who I want to pull in as opposed to putting the pressure of trying to get a current record to do something on the three, I just want, I want to make that record for fun on, on an up, on an upswing,

you know, or at least being at a certain plateau as opposed to saying, Oh, these artists that haven't, whose biggest records were X amount of years old, you know, trying to do something now I'd want to kind of be beyond that, you know,

in terms of doing that. Jeez Louise, Papa cheese. Um, you ever met James Brown never no never met James Brown okay I just feel like you his cousin you feel like

um I know people I want to say some people at the agency had worked with him touring and I've heard stories and that kind of thing but never never met him personally that's a bit before my time but also in the 80's we could have crossed

paths but it just wasn't it just didn't come to fruition like that I swear to God when I asked you that question I said Dead or Alive I thought you were going to say James Brown but you said Prince which is, that's in the same league. Yeah, yeah. I mean, just in terms of his artistry and just, I wouldn't know what I was going to get.

And that's what I'd want. There's so many different sounds that worked so well that whatever he came with, I know there'd be a level of genius behind that that I wouldn't necessarily see coming. And I'd have to step up to that game, so that's why I'd say Prince. Oh, fuck off. He's supposed to take your shot. You been here bullshitting. All right, my bad.

You wasn't supposed to let him get away with that. You wasn't supposed to let him get away with that. He been there way, Nigel. Jamie, can I get some ice, please? Yeah, man. I'm going to be honest. I want to big you up once again once again man and just tell you how much you mean to hip-hop not just me not just us it's it's like i said i know i know this job i know this job i know what it takes you can never take off your uniform.

Being a rapper, you can never take off your uniform. No, you're right. Sometimes I admire people that work at McDonald's because when they get off at work, they can take their shit off. We can never take our shit off. No, you're right. Wherever we go, we have to be, it's either you could be a target, you can be somebody they love. You can be somebody they bother. You know what I mean? So I know this job. And this job is, and to be doing it for 35 years and to have a smile on your face.

I'm what MC8 would call the happy rapper. You don't want to be the happy rapper. When he said that, I'm like, at this age, at this time, that resonates with me. Like, I'm that guy. That's dope, being a happy rapper. I think so. Hell yeah, because there's not a lot of happy rappers. No, trust me, I know, dog. But thank you, man. We appreciate this,

man, sitting down with us, doing drink checks. But also, and I'm not saying this just to say this this is your house so many people um if you can't be used you're useless so many people don't understand that and so many people think that you know but this is your house when you want to come and you perform or you want to you want to talk about you know your tours this is it man like you you we come and we. This is it, man. Like, we come, and we're going to support it, man, because what you did and what you've done for our community is something that we're always going to salute.

Thank you. Now, there's a question you didn't ask me. Let's go, then. That I'm going to force it and answer. Force it. Let's go. You asked if you would ask radio or podcast. Oh!

Let's see. Oh, the Colombians and the Americans. Oh, I like that you got a point Radio or podcast I would say I would say radio for now But podcast in terms of How you view them evolving When you said you want to make a podcast

For somebody to break a record and put it out And go right to the audience and direct the consumer that's the way it could be if it was regarded as such radio still has its sway you know what i mean but if podcasts could get to where is that organized and it wasn't so because there's no such thing as a regional podcast there's only a podcast there a regional podcast. There's only a podcast. There could be a podcast that's set in a region, but it's competing worldwide. Yeah.

Right, by the mere distribution of it. So that makes it difficult because you're literally picking one because guaranteed, whatever your nearest competition is, will say, well, if you go on Drink Champs, you can't come here.

Whereas if I go to the, you know, if I go to the biggest station in LA, I can still go to the biggest rate station in Dallas. Right. Right. Even if they're, you know, family related, whatever, I can still do that. That that's the power of radio podcast needs to get to that point so that because young people would say podcasts, cause they don't see what radio did. I remember having to go to Houston and I got to go to five stations. If I go, if I go to four, I'm gonna lose all of them. Right. So I better having to go to Houston and I got to go to five stations. If I go to four, I'm going to lose all of them. Right. So I better go to five stations in Houston.

You know what I'm saying? That's the power of radio. Right. So, yeah. Damn. I remember we can't even get our records. Like, I remember I had to physically go to London. Yeah.

To, like, have London play my record. And we didn't speak about your England. You're England a little too, right? You England? I was born in England. 1967. Went to New York in 1970. And then left New York in 85 to go to college.

So no British accent. No Jamaican accent. I sound like I'm from the Midwest. You can turn on your patch when you want. That's what Drain does. He'd be like Jamaican and English when he wants to. He's British Jamaican as well. Yeah, like when he wants to. I see his accent jump out.

Some Jamaicans come around, he be like, yeah. He starts sucking his teeth. And he decides, is it a London Jamaican or is it a Jamaican from Jamaica? I see somebody from England come around and him and act like he was English, too. He was like, he's being sophisticated. They're like, you don't do that. You don't do none of that. No, no, no.

You're just young MC. I'm just, yeah, I'm just me. Okay, all right, cool. Except when I was imitating that lady at the Grammys, because that was- You did it very good. Thank you very much. It was very natural. Thank you.

Well, thank you once again, man. I want you to know that everyone here wants to be here to salute what you've done, what you continue to do, and keep doing this shit, man. You're an inspiration to us all, man. You know what I'm saying? We love for you. Let's do it. I'm going to have you sign a couple of these things.

You got a pen? Oh, you got it. By the way, that's his real CD. He didn't go online. That made me his real tape. I'll sign tones, but I'll leave a space for him to sign because you should have him on. We need him on too. Drink Champs is a Drink Champs LLC

production, hosts and executive producers n-o-r-e and dj efn listen to drink champs on apple podcast amazon music spotify or wherever you get your podcasts thanks for joining us for another episode of drink champs hosted by yours truly dj efn and n-o-r-e please make sure to follow us on all our socials. It's at Drink Champs across all platforms. At TheRealNoriega on IG. At Noriega on Twitter. Mine is at Who's Crazy on IG.

At DJ EFN on Twitter. And most importantly, stay up to date with the latest releases, news, and merch by going to drinkchamps.com. Hazardous Sounds, Rise of the Machines, Pasture Mentals Volume 1, available now on all platforms. Download today. Rise of the Machines song contest. Seeking out all artists that want to take their career

to the next level? Go ahead and join today by downloading the album album picking out your favorite beat and making a song verse or hook to it submit it to hazardous sounds at gmail.com and you will be judged by celebrity judges dj efn drink champs own sp killer platinum producer and scram jones multi-platinum producer as well you can also submit via IG by recording a video and performing the song simply tag rise of the machine song contest and we will repost your video as well winners will be announced

September 7th join today and may the best artists win. This is an iHeart podcast.