IT IS WHAT IT IS - EPISODE 28 #ITISWHATITISTALK

Episode Date: August 15, 2023

ICE CUBE & THE BIG 3 CAME THRU & KICKED IT WITH US...

I said it's only one. Oh, he ain't got it, he ain't got it. We done heard his tongue, heard his tongue. Welcome back to It Is What It Is. I'm Treasure Wilson, a.k.a. Stat Baby, along with your hosts, Kim and Mase. Yeah. Now, Kim, is there, you know. Yo, Kim, what you doing?

Any reason you standing up? Yo, today's show is sponsored by Dipset New York, you know what I'm saying? I know it's hot as a motherfucker out there right now, but when shit cool down, you can look as cool as me. This is our fall lineup. If you want some shit like this

to be as cool as me, go to dipsetcouture.us, nigga. Huh? Pardon me. I had to let niggas know how I be, you know what I mean?

Real quick, sorry about that. No, no, no. Yeah, you know. It's all good. Yeah, man. There you go. So, no, no. Yeah, you know. It's all good. Yeah, man. There you go. So we're getting closer and closer to fight night.

Errol Spence versus Terrence Crawford will happen on July 29th. The 12-round fight will be the first bout for all four major welterweight belts in boxing history. Who do you predict to win, and what are your thoughts about the fight coming up? Damn, Nerda, they've been asking me this same question for a month and a half and I still have no answer. I've been watching the All Access. Yeah. It's hard because, pause, because Terrence Crawford is training up in Colorado where

the altitude is high and Er Errol Spencer's training in Dallas where it's fucking hot as a motherfucker, like a heat advisory to where they like people could die. So they're both getting some good training. And I still have no clear cut answer for this question. I think it's going to be a hell of a fight. I think they're both very determined to win. If I had to pick one person, the only reason, and listen, this is really, really a touchy situation for both boxes because Bud is my man, Errol's my man, both of them are my peoples.

And I've been watching. If you pick somebody, the other person's like, stay over there forever. Don't ever come back. So I'm like, damn, I don't even want to pick anybody if I had to pick I'm gonna go with Errol Spence off one reason solely I don't know if I said this on the show before but I said it to somebody else is that is a video circulating with you type in Errol Spence street fight, he's going toe-to-toe with rib shots, no gloves, no nothing, outside somebody's house, just rib shot for rib shot

with somebody that's like 260 pounds, and he made them quit. Now, Terrence Crawford may have these same type of videos, but I didn't see them. So if I'm picking somebody somebody i'm only picking it off of that video terence crawford could around and knock out i have no idea who's going to want to fight but if somebody had a gun to my head and say pick somebody that is the reason i'm going to pick aerospace solely off the video if you go to youtube and type in aerospace street fight that's the only reason i'm picking i. I'm not picking him off his championships.

I'm not picking him off his training. I have no idea, but if somebody had a gun to my head, that's the only reason I'm picking him because Terrence Crawford could knock him out as well, but that's why I'm picking him. He gave a lot of information. I think for some reason I just think Terrence Crawford is going to win I wouldn't do it against him

I saw the videos with Errol Spence like everything camera wise look like Errol should win so it's kind of hard to pick but I wonder who Vegas with Terrence Crawford.

Because if you saw the all-access, how Errol was shadowing the trainer and then the trainer switched southpaw and he still kept hitting him, it lets me know that he trained especially for Terrence Crawford. And it seemed like Terrence Crawford trained just to fight Terrence Crawford's fight. Like, he's not training for Errol. He's like, we're going to stick to what we do. Gotcha. So it's like, that's a talk, you know.

You don't know really who's going to win. That's a great point because Terrence Crawford. Because I have no reason why I should go for Terrence other than he's just elusive. The way he box, he's got all the gifts. It looks like

Errol is going to win, but I'm still just going with Terrence. It's crazy because bringing that up, that's the one thing Terrence Crawford could fuck you up with in round two. I've seen him do it. He comes orthodox first round. He be like, I see something.

I'm going to go southpaw. Yeah. And fuck a nigga up. Yeah. Be like, oh, I got this. And so you have to get prepared for that because Errol Spence never trained. Mm-hmm. Not that I know of, never fought anybody who could just, you know what, round four, we're going to go southpaw.

Yeah. You know what, round four, we're going to go southpaw. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Then not only that, and when I watched Floyd Mayweather talk about him sparring with Errol Spence, and the rumors are this. This is the rumors. Yeah. Because Errol Spence never talks about it, really. He doesn't talk about it. The rumors is this. He came to Floyd Mayweather's gym, sparred with Floyd Mayweather, gave Floyd the business.

Like I said, Floyd, my man, I don't know if this is true or not. And it was so bad that they told him, get out. They said, yo, get the hell out the gym. You doing that? The fuck is wrong with you doing that to the champ? And when he got to his car, they said, no, no, we bugging. Come back in. So when I watched Floyd Mayweather talk about training with Errol Spence,

Floyd's answer was this. Well, I just got out of jail. Because if y'all remember, I had to go to jail, right? So I was about to fight the guy. And he gave me some good work. I needed that work to get my body where it need to be. But when I trained him, my body wasn't there to be where it need to be. But I can't lie, he gave me some good work.

Did they ever revisit it? That would be the question. That's the question. But that lets me know because I never seen, and Floyd didn't say that I would fuck them or nothing like that, but I never see Floyd that humble. Yeah. I didn't see Floyd, fuck you mean.

He's powerful, man. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, TBE. Yeah, TBE. TBE. Exactly. I never see Floyd. And then he also said, I just got out of jail.

It was like a lot of little. It was like excuses. I'm like, oh, no, I never hurt that side of Floyd. But then he got me ready for Guerrero and I got my body back where it needs to be you know and I got my body back where it needs to be

but the guy gave me some good work so when they asked Aruz Spence about it I seen the one particular on Gillian Wallow by the way RIP my man Gillian's son man he passed away yo you knowillian wallow by the way r.i.p to um my man gilly gilly's son man uh he passed away yo you know gillian wallow a big reason that me and murder even speaking again yeah so we want to give

their family and loved ones our condolences and our prayers yeah um but i seen them on gilly's show and wallow's show and they gilly g. He's like, nigga, I heard you whipped Floyd ass, nigga. I heard you gave Floyd ass a visit. He was trying to get him to say it. Then Errol kind of laughed at her. He said, he just got out of jail. You know.

It was like a when I can't count. He said, I just got out of jail. So Gilly's like, nah, nigga. They said you gave him the business. And I was just like, I'm not going to say. You know what I'm saying? So, at the end of the day, those are two reasons I'm kind of going with Errol.

But if Crawford wins, I wouldn't be surprised. But I love you, too. I'm just going over those two things. I have no other reason to pick against you because if you knocked him out in the third round, I wouldn't be surprised and vice versa. Yeah, when it comes to this fight, after hearing you speak, I really thought about it. That Bud has been hurt before. I've never seen Earl hurt, so I don't know what he'll become if things go that way.

Especially when you're a forward-foot person and you're always fighting going forward. It's almost like when we saw Tyson had the box backwards. Right. He didn't look the same. You get what I'm saying? Because he never had to go backwards. Tyson Deontay Wilder exactly when when those guys are put on a back foot is just just like like I saw a bug get hurt and I saw but respond right so I think arrow is a phenomenal fighter he has everything to

make Terrence Crawford quit but but I never seen him hurt. When you talk about people being proven, I've seen this guy get hit and want to fight more versus start dancing around and running around trying to get back. Rob Markman, Which that's a great point. The word is you never seen him in any adversity. Yeah. I've never seen him in no adversity word is you've never seen him in any adversity. Yeah, I've never seen him in no adversity. Like, he had to weather

through this storm. Like, I've seen Terrence get clipped and say, let's go, let's go. Yeah, right. You know what I'm saying? That's a different fighter than most people get hurt and it be all over. Right. I agree with that. That's a great point. But I will say this.

I think that they both want to win so bad that somebody's going to get knocked out. Yeah. Somebody's going to get hurt. Somebody's going to get hurt. I wanted to go to 12 because this is going to be a spectacular fight. I hope it goes 12, but I see somebody wanting to win so bad that they're going to get caught slipping. I don't see it going past 10. Yeah. Somebody's going to get caught slipping. I hope not. I would love to see

a 12 round fight because I know it may be the first two, three rounds. I'm not saying it will be. It may be fucking Hearns Hagelin. They come out going crazy the first round. But I see the first two rounds going a little slow. You know, pores filling each other out. The niggas like, the scorecard's starting

to kick in. Let's get busy, nigga. You know what I'm saying? So we'll see what happens. I think this fight from the bell ring is going to be a fight. From time, first round. I don't see Arrow letting him get comfortable. I see Arrow pursuing him from the jump. So either Crawford is going to put him on the back foot,

or he's going to be going forward the whole entire fight. And that's a bad fight. So I got Arrow, you got Crawford, so neither one of them can be mad at us. That'd be cool. That'd be my big shit, man. Well, it'll be very interesting

to see what happens. Let us know who y'all got, but we'll be right back with a very special guest excuse me after last night performance we're gonna do this again And make sure you close the door behind you. What? Damn. I'm Rico fucking Strong. I'm talking fucking Strong. All right, talk to me. Baby!

Hey. I'm back. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. oh my god now right now right now yeah Now. When? Now. Right now. Right now. Yeah. Welcome back.

So today we're joined by a very special guest. He's a rapper, songwriter, actor, film producer, and a big contributor to the world of hip-hop. The Los Angeles native created his own song, such as It Was a Good Day, but was also a member of the classic hip-hop group N.W.A. that was formed in Compton. They created the hit songs such as Straight Outta Compton, F the Police, and Dope Man. The film Straight Outta Compton was then later produced by Ice Cube, which depicted the rise and fall of the group. He continues to create in the hip hop, film, and now sports space. Welcome Ice Cube.

What's up baby? What's up with you? What's happening with you? Oh man man, thanks for having me. Thank you so much for coming bro. Anytime. I'm not gonna fan out or anything, but we appreciate you coming. Let me ask you something real quick.

You don't curse? Did she just say F the police? I don't say? Did she just say F the police? I don't say the whole curse. No, I'm just thinking we've been 30 episodes in. I don't think I've ever heard a curse. No, you won't. Oh, so I didn't even know that. Yeah, that's crazy. Fuck the police.

He made. I don't want to get out that way. I don't want to pay attention to that, man. Thank you so much for coming, man. Anytime, man. I love what y'all doing here. Thank you so much, man. Yo, Q, thank you so much for coming, man. Anytime, man. I love what y'all doing here. Thank you so much, man. We appreciate it.

So, look, I'm going to jump right into it. It's been a lot of things going on that you've been circulating as far as you and the NBA with the big three. Yeah. And you've probably, not even probably, you've definitely been doing big business on a high scale longer than anybody in this building right now. And you say lately, they know what they're doing behind the scenes and everybody knows what they're doing behind the scenes.

But for the average person who may work at McDonald's or 7-Eleven or Dunkin' Donuts or doesn't understand ad revenue or sponsorship or anything like that they might not understand what you're saying when you say what they're doing behind the scenes what exactly do you mean when you say that the NBA are doing things behind the scenes the you know stagnate the big three well you know when you got when you got a league like this the biggest uh revenue is media

and sponsorships you know i mean ticket sales is cool but you really uh you really looking for that big media deal or you looking for you know for great sponsors and so you know you spend your time you know not only you know building the business behind the scenes, you're talking to all these Fortune 500 companies, especially the ones that advertise in basketball. You know, we go right after them because they got a track record of performing in basketball. So a lot of them already got a sponsorship with the NBA. But they sponsor the NCAA. They sponsor all kinds of other sports, too. So it kind of sucks when we get there and we get in and we get down the line where they want to do it, and then they call us and say, how's your relationship with the NBA?

how's your relationship with the NBA? And once we got to tell them that, you know, it's not totally 100 with the NBA, then they start to backpedal and say, you know, if y'all can work that out, then we can do a deal. You know what I mean? So that's happening too many times to count. You know, in seven years, it's countless of times and then what you run into is that the pool of sponsors that deal in basketball starts to get narrow you know I mean you can't just go to any company and say hey yo you know invest in the

big three or sponsor the big three when they don't do basketball you know you're going to Gatorade you're going to Nike you're going to Gatorade, you're going to Nike, you're going to Geico, you know what I mean? You're going to all the people that usually do it. And so, you know, that kind of hurts the league. We can't grow as fast. Gotcha. Yeah. Do you think that your league being in direct competition

with the WNBA may be a problem while the NBA treats y'all like that. It could be, but that's only because we're not coordinated. You know, if we was working together, we would make sure that we didn't play on the same days they played. And we kind of, you know, could schedule it out. You know, I don't think there's, you know, there's room for both leagues for sure. And if we was kind of working together, we can work out any kind of conflicts that may be there. Absolutely.

It's because we're not working together. Now we're bumping up right against them at times. Gotcha. What made you guys not work together from the beginning? They didn't want to. When we first thought of this, it's like, if you're on the block and we're coming through with a product,

we want to talk to the people that were on the block. It might be a problem. You know what I mean? So that's what we did. We went bearing gifts. We said, yo, we're going to start this. We want to give you guys 10% of the league for no money, just cooperation. And they said, thank you we're going to start this. We want to give you guys 10% of the league for no money, just cooperation. And they said, thank you, but no thank you.

And we told them we're going to do it anyway. And so we proceeded to do it. And, you know, at first they was cool because they thought it was going to be like some bullshit. Right. They thought it was going to be a waste. Nigga shit. So then they realized, oh, damn, this is good. It's definitely professional, and it's got class to it.

So from there, that's when they start telling some of the people that's analysts but was playing in the Big 3, like, you know, I don't want to name them names, but he was telling them, y'all, don't mention the Big 3 when you're on the NBA telecast or broadcast. Do not mention the Big 3. And that's where it kind of started. Have they asked you anything like what will make it become cohesive together? Like, is it a percentage or is it? Nah, they just look at us as competition.

And, you know, that's the problem. We're not competition. You look at what we're doing and what they're doing. They make billions of dollars every year. We're just six years into it. So we think we're complementary. And by them labeling us competition, there's bylaws in their owner's agreements that can't invest in a competing league. So a lot of NBA owners want to invest in Big 3, but they can't because of their clothes. But they can invest in slam ball.

They can invest in pickleball. They can invest in NFL, MLB, soccer league. A nfl mlb soccer that black people don't own yeah there you go that's that's what you guys let's get into it i was waiting for that that's basically what you're saying yeah so let's let me ask you some questions about the big three so the quality of the players in the big three, because I watch big basketball for me, it makes you play basketball. Went to college. I still play camp. Yeah.

I don't know. I don't know what in the 40 and over fire league, firefighter league, whatever you play at. Let me ask you this. So do you hold like, because that's the one thing I was thinking about the victory. I'm like, why isn't City related? Why isn't, like, why isn't the L.A. whatever team or Seattle whatever team or New York whatever team? What was the formula of forming teams? Well, you know, we thought of the league as, you know, like you would think of UFC or NASCAR.

We wanted to start this and be able to pivot fast and be able to do things and make sure the league worked, you know, before we start selling teams off. So now we're in a position where it definitely works. People definitely see, okay, this league is viable. Now we're in the process of selling teams. So you will have, you know, a Miami team or a New York team or, you know, wherever we can, you know, find the right owners with the right plan. Because, you know, you can have the team,

but you got to have a plan for how you're going to, you know, affect the city, how you're going to do with the young three. You know, do you have a plan to really make sure the team and the city are working together? We don't want to just stick a name, you know, on a team and not really have a cohesive relationship with the city and a plan. So right now we got a few guys we vetting who want to be owners. And, you know, we're going to start selling teams off. That's what's up. Congratulations, Lord. Do you think that there should be, like,

an age where people can't play in the big three? Yeah, I think so. You know, I think, like, but your body tell you that. You know, it's a level of basketball. You know, a lot of people are like, oh, it's three on three, half court. Oh, these dudes, you know, half court. These dudes, they're not in the NBA. Some of them might be past their prime. But in this setting, playing half court to 50 once a week, these guys really, their skills are really fine tuned for that.

Now, some guys, yo, Mahmoud played, he was 50-something, he played. He was still able to give work to the 20-somethings, you know what I mean? So we got some guys that's in their 20s who can't play at this level. So it's really a level of basketball. Either you can do it or you can't. And what's different with the big three and five-on is three on three, you got to have all skills. You can't be a specialist.

You can't be a three-point guy or a defensive guy or a rebounder. You got to dribble past, shoot, and defend, or you're just going to get exposed out there. So there's guys that can do all that, and they do good in the league, and there's guys that can't do all that, and they don't. Right. Let me ask you this. Now, y'all are paying players. Do you hold them to a standard of being in shape? Or is it a drug test? Or when you come in, you say, look, you can't cheat the fan, especially that we're paying you. Are y'all going to be in shape when the season starts and throughout the season? Do you hold them to any type of standard of being in shape not to cheat the big three fans?

Yeah, you know, and it's not just me holding them to that standard. They're teammates. Right. Yeah. Holding them to that standard. You know, people think it's easier to play. It's like your motherfucking money. Yeah.

So it's just like, yo, don't come in here bullshitting when I'm paying you. You get what I'm saying? You know, if they're not ready, they get cut. Dudes, you know, release them. Bringing up guys that's ready. You know, the player captains are the, they like the GMs too. So they get to pick who they want to play with. You know, so if I grab, you know, somebody like Rashard Lewis,

he'll pick, you know, Reggie Evans. I want to play with this guy. So he get to pick two of the guys as his co-captains, and then they draft another two guys. So, you know, if nobody working out, if it ain't working out, they send you back to the draft pool, pull another player, and, you know, the competition stays high. You get paid more if you win than if you lose.

So that makes it a play. That's incentive for you. Yeah, that's incentive to be in shape and play. And if you don't come in shape, your tongue is just going to be hanging out when it's 12 to 6. Right. Yeah. Because it's still the same size as an NBA court.

But do you know who sent you back to the dry pool when it happens? Yeah. You do. That pool when it happens? Yeah, you do. That got to be crazy. Yes. He sent me back. He sent me back to the pool. He'll send you back. You know, if your dudes got released the other day, you know they're bringing in a couple more.

So we'll see if that works. Yeah, that got to be crazy to know. It's almost like playing in the park and somebody didn't pick you and they had one last pick yeah exactly yeah it's all they're looking around like who to pick you you standing right there and you gotta see him yeah later on so moving forward what do you think is a resolution do you and i heard you say not five and following for years but you like oh fuck him i don't really need to work with the NBA or anybody else. I'm going to go on this tour and let people know what's going on. What is anything that you want to let people know about the big three moving forward?

Because we're fans already. And just getting the word out there. Because what network did you guys start on? We started on Fox. Right. Now we're on CBS. CBS. Yeah.

What happened with Fox? Was that part of the NBA? What happened with that situation? Nah, with Fox, Fox kind of changed their business model. They decided to, you know, they sold a lot of their properties to Disney. And then with their sports, they had these RSNs. They had these RSNs. I heard that. they had these RSNs they had these RSNs

I heard that regional sports networks that they used to have they would have Fox Sports West or Fox Sports whatever and so they sold those too we was trying to buy those but Sinclair kind of jumped in and got them

so they kind of busted up how they was dealing with their sports. You know, now they just really go for football and baseball and wrestling. So I don't think they even got basketball in their game no more. So then we moved to CBS. It's been number love over there. You know, they got us over there with the big boy teams, saying people to do the Super

Bowls and the NCAA games, doing the big three games. Rob Markman, So what happened in between where you said you guys were looking to buy it, but something else happened? T.J. We got outbidded. In the 11th hour, we kind of glad we didn't get it because then the pandemic happened and the sports shut down. Rob Markman, So they was going to sell it to you? We kind of glad we didn't get it because then the pandemic happened and the sports shut down. So they was going to sell it to you. Yeah, yeah.

St. Clair ended up swooping in and buying it. You know, it took us a minute to get all that money together. And then they just beat us to the punch. Well, good, man. I'm good on the basketball, man. I just want to get what I really wanted the people to know as far as the big three is that you're a black owner, basically. And we've been doing business for a long time. But a lot of times you have the average viewer that don't understand when, like you say, they know what's going on because we know what the fuck you're talking about.

But you got the average person who talking about. Yeah, exactly. But you got the average person who's like, yo, why does Q not tell us? So I really wanted you to come here and break that down and all the sneaky shit that goes on and all that foul shit behind the scenes that people don't know because they've never done business on the level you have. And I was like, Q, keep saying you know what's going on.

And I really want you to come up here and explain that to people because everybody doesn't have the business mind or the ethics that you have, man. I appreciate that, man. I appreciate you allowing me to be able to speak on it. Get the fuck out of here. Because, you know, I mean... Cut this conversation.

The whole thing. No, the whole thing. You can come up here anytime you want, man. I appreciate that, but the whole thing was to be able to find these alternative outlets that's not mainstream media. Where you can say what you need to say without the host kind of steering you the way. All that kind of stuff. So I just appreciate you guys even

got this show because sports needs this you know what i mean sports needs a new uh flavor new angle some realness um and so you know i was excited that you guys you know got this going and running and you guys you know we appreciate it they need to come cut the check and put y'all, you know, Sam. No. Well, yeah. Thank you for that. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. They need to come on, put them on, put them on so everybody can see them, uh, you know, on those big networks. Yeah. Just definitely. Cause my nigga, like I said, we grew up on you and your longevity pause murder.

No, we're going pause pause. Murder. No, no. We're going pause. Pause free today. So basically, it's a testament. You've been doing this for a long, long time. We bark on her. She's 22. She's never seen Friday.

Okay, that was nice. She's never seen Painter 4. This is a fucking problem. This is a fucking problem. She's not missing painful. Like, no, no, this is a fucking problem. This is a fucking problem. She's a part of the problem. She's a part of the problem. She's a part of the problem. Yo, we put about five episodes on her about this, man.

Like, we almost going to suspend her behind this shit, man. Yeah. You got some homework. I do. Yes. Can I ask you a question, though? Okay. No, I'm sorry.

I just made a question work. No, all good. She thought it wasn't. I just wanted to get basketball music yeah but um so um I'll speak on what they were saying overall you're very very very humble and like even though I am younger and they get on me about that like like he said your longevity pause we all have kind of followed your journey and watched what you've done so my question is basically so the big three made history as the first black owned sports league

which is a huge deal you didn't even say it you just kind of sat back and watched but i'm gonna say because that's a big deal what does that mean to you and for people watching what would you want them to know um i mean it's it's an honor you know i don't want to be the last so hopefully we got some young entrepreneurs out there watching with it with idea that, you know, if you got the talent around you to bring it into fruition, go for it. And, you know, just being an example, you know, showing that if you put your brain to work and, you know, you can think of something cool that people can get into. So, you know, I don't know you know, sports is, to me, universal. It has no color. So being the first black sports league, you know, that's cool.

But I want everybody to come out to the game and enjoy the sport. You know, it's really for everybody. You got anything else? Yeah, I had a question. I definitely had. I'm cool on the music. On sports, I'm ready to go music crazy. Rob Markman, Yeah.

I wanted to ask one question before we go deeper, pause into the music. One thing that I was really admiring is that when you started in music, the way you switched to movies and doing this, what was your brain thought in doing that? Shit, man. John Singleton. John Singleton, director of Boys in the Hood, he discovered me, man. I wasn't even thinking about movies. When you in the gang, you're just trying to be the best rapper

in the world. You know what I mean? You ain't really thinking about nothing else. He had got me just focused on the movie and he invited me to his house one day. We were watching movies. He's showing me movies and shit. That's all he did was show you different movies. He just asked me one day, he was all he did was show you different movies. He just asked me one day, he was like, man when you gonna write a movie? And I was like, what the fuck? I was like, man I, I didn't even thought about it. I'm like, just now figuring out that I can act and shit.

I thought you had to go to Juilliard or some kind of school for that. And so he said, man, if you can write them songs at Vivid, you can write a movie. And so it put a bug in me that like, oh shit. So I looked at the script and I'm like, yo, this format is pretty easy. I can think of a story when I start writing. So I went and bought a computer that day. And just I started writing. The first movies I wrote was whack. They was just garbage.

He was helping me, but they wasn't good. And then the third one I got to was Friday. And that was one that was like damn, this actually can be a movie. You can actually shoot this. So it was really John Singleton that kind of put that bug in. I seen your audition tape for Boys in the Hood, too, the first time.

Yeah, that first one was good. He's like, you didn't take this shit serious. I didn't. Right. Then you came back and you nailed Doughboy. I didn't even know it was him. I had met him a year or two before that. And then my manager was like, one day she was like, oh yo, somebody want to put you

in a movie? And I was puzzled. I'm like, what? I ain't no actor. What the hell? And when I get there, it's him. John's sitting there like, yo, remember me? And I'm like, yeah like yeah yeah i do remember you

and he's like man so we went in for the audition and i pulled the notes out of my pocket the size and was just reading them and i was just whack and um he looked at me he was like dude you're terrible and he said uh he said uh i'm gonna give you more shot Q, because they want me to bring in some actors. I'm going to give you one more shot. Go home and read my script man. I know you didn't read it because I could tell. Read the whole thing, come back tomorrow and we're going to give you one more shot.

So when I got home I read it and I was like, oh shit, that's about our neighborhood. I was actually, my wife Kim, like damn they making a movie about our neighborhood. That shit movie worthy? You know what I mean? Right there. He was like, shit's movie worthy how we grew up? She's like, yeah I guess. They doing a movie on it.

So I got it. So next time I went to go audition I'm like, yo I got this. I know all these niggas. So next time I went to go audition, I'm like, yo, I got this. Rob Markman, Right. Yeah. Rob Markman, I know all these niggas. Right. That's what's up. Rob Markman, So that's kind of how it got going. Dope.

Rob Markman, Movie game. That's crazy, because I got Cube in my top five best rapper, actors. Killa is in my top five, too. Yeah, yeah. I appreciate it. I know we're near Cube. I got about two and a half movies. Rob Markman, Nah.

No, but when I saw the movie, when I saw it, I was just like, yo. That'm nowhere near Cube. I got about two and a half movies. No, but when I saw the movie, when I saw it, I was just like, yo. That was cool, man. That was nice of you, man. Yeah, nice of you, man. Thank you, bro. I ain't nowhere near Cube, nigga. Yeah, when I saw Killer in the movie, I almost teared up. I said, yo, he really believes that.

So your movie was like that, too. I was just like, wow. Movie I did, it was based on Harlem. I couldn't fuck that up and go back home. Same thing as this. Rob Markman So that's the same thing that you just said. It's like- Rob Markman Your neighborhood.

Rob Markman It's the neighborhood and then we did it for our neighborhood. Let me ask you this. How accurate is the movie Straight Outta Compton? Straight Outta Compton is very accurate. It's accurate as you can take 10 years and try to shove it in two and a half hours. Gotcha. So, you know, you have things you have to summarize because you want people to feel what it felt like and also you know you're

you're you know you got a movie so you gotta you know introduce the characters you know put them in some shit get them out some shit you know that's basically movies yes so you got to follow those movie beats and they gotta be dramatic, but everything happened. Some things may have happened in a week and we put it in one scene. Got you. So you gotta kind of scrunch things together to make sure you get the whole story. But basically we wanted to tell a story, a universal story, because if not, it's just rap movie shit.

And people's like, yo, it's a rap movie. I was like, nah, it's bigger than a rap movie. So we wanted to make a movie about friendship, breakup to makeup, David versus Glyde, rags to riches. to Make Up, David vs. Glyde, Rags to Riches, all that is universal stories that we had with the backdrop of that time and that era and the real dialogue that was happening and the shit that was going on. So it's tricky. It was the hardest movie I ever made because of reality.

When you're just dealing with fiction, it be like, man, fuck it. We don't have that car, get this car. We don't have that house, get this apartment. You know what I mean? You could just... But with a movie, you're trying to be accurate. And it's a period piece, so we want people to feel how it felt like in 86 87 88 89 90 you know so um it was a lot of things to try to juggle to be able to to get that story but you know you got me there you got dre there you know ran yella dlc everybody is kind of giving their input on their version

of what happened. A lot of shit I didn't even know. When I broke up with the group, I'm over here with the lynch mob and my shit, they over there doing their thing. I don't know what's going on with them. In making the movie,

I'm discovering, so what happened when I left? And then finally getting the chance to really hear what happened. So I was like, damn, if I'm discovering new shit, the audience is going to be the same way. They're going to be like, yo, this happened. I didn't know half of that shit was happening over there. Rob Markman, Jr.: Yeah, once you don't fuck with niggas, you don't fuck with them.

Your son did a great job. Thank you, man. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. I'm proud of him. So let me ask you this. Working with Dr. Dre, is it very tedious?

Because he seems like a professional. We had a session, dip set that is, with Dr. Dre. We had a session with Dr. Dre. We was in there maybe 14 hours and nothing got done.

I mean, shit got done, but Dre was like, nah, nah, yo. Say it like this. And then we were like, we think and we say it. Because you know, we from Harlem, so we think we the one take boys. We go in there, jump in, say our shit, yo, we done.

Nah, nah, y'all ain't done. What you mean? That shit was fire, Drake. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Say it like, put your shirt. I don't even remember what it was. But we said about 100 verses apiece. Then he wanted a girl's voice.

And I'm like, yo, this process is kind of crazy. Yeah, look, you said we not playing today. I'm just saying. No, I'm saying, yo, this process is kind of crazy. Look, you said we're not playing today. I'm just saying. No, I'm saying I'm thinking as a Harlem nigger sitting there for 14 hours. We walking out. No, that's what I'm asking. We're walking out.

Drake want to get every syllable right. We end up sneaking out. That's what I was thinking. You want to get every syllable right. And it's not right to you, it's right to him. He want to hear it a certain way. So yeah, you're going to work when you-

Rob Markman, And he was like that in the beginning? Yeah, yeah. He was like that. You just had to get it right or he wasn't going to put the record out. It seemed like watching the movie that, yep, since most still to this day, your pen was always on fire. So they had to kind of favor what you said because Eazy wasn't a rapper or Dre didn't know how to rap and maybe Ren did but it seemed like you were always the best writer so that's why I was asking

you, when you first started with N.W.A. did he tell you to make your syllables and everything like that? Yeah, I mean that's how he always been. Since day one? Day one. Got you. That's crazy. And so how could you argue with him?

Especially after the hits start coming. Rob Markman, But in the beginning you didn't have the hits. Rob Markman, Boys in the Hood was the first song I wrote and we did it for easy. Once we got that standard, it was kind of like, this is the bar we got to stay at. You know what I mean? So, and he, I mean, Eazy was not a rapper at all. So you can imagine, that session took like four days or some shit. Right.

Like, getting him to get them three verses in on that song, maybe four verses on that song. But, you know, it's a hit, you know what I mean? What can you say? Like, tell Dre, nah, man, this shit is done. I got it. I'm gone. He's just going to stand there, get a man what he want. Get a man what he want.

And then after you do that, he'll probably call you back in when he's mixing and saying, yo, man, I need you to say these couple things over. Right. And so, you're working with somebody like that, you just got to be like, yo, I'm a tool right now. You know what I mean? I just got to get this man what he want. Right.

And just keep hitting him with ideas, you know. Keep hitting him with your ideas. See, some people get in with Dre and they freeze up. You know, they think, okay, this Dre, he gonna have all the ideas, but he want them, he want you to come, keep coming with, you know, he don't care if it's whack, just say it. You know what I mean?

Give him an idea and then, you know, let him chop it up. So yeah, you know, you gonna work when you working with Dre, you know, let us chop it up. So, yeah, you know, you're going to work when you work with Dre, you know, bring your bring bring a lunch for sure. That's wow. So I was looking up that day. I forget who's who's who's show was on things who can if I'm not mistaken. Right.

You think that you and I disagree, I'm not mistaken. Yeah, Who Kid. Right. You think that you, and I'm not disagreeing, I'm actually, the number one diss record ever. Yeah. Of all time. Of all time. Anybody, it doesn't matter if it's Jay-Z, Nas, Kumo D, LL Cool J. Which record is this? No Vaseline. Yeah, it's Chattelab.

Yeah, yeah. No Vaseline. No, here's why. Yeah. Here's why I think it's the best. Right. Rob Markman, No, here's why. Here's why I think it's the best. Because you got one MC taking out four motherfuckers and the manager. You know what I'm saying?

So it's like, to me, you can't beat that. Rob Markman, Four MCs and the manager. It's crazy. Yeah. Rob Markman, And that was part of the movie that was really interesting that you say you probably learning that when I was watching the movie and they heard the song for the first time, it's good that they had Dre and everybody there. They said Jerry Heller went on a rampage in the house when the song came on.

They wanted to sue and all type of crazy shit. But it's a lot of diss records. You number one ever? Number one ever. I mean, you know. I don't argue with you. I love, you know, I love diss records. Yeah. I don't think nobody had to really deal with that.

Yeah, that was a lot. Deal with 4MC1. And not only that, they was on fire. They was on fire. I thought you loved it. Yeah, they was on fire. I had a part two wrote, because I knew. You know what I mean?

You had a part two wrote? Yeah, it reminded me know what I mean? You had a part two rope? Yeah, it reminded me of Harlem Nights, you know? It's like, you know what I mean? They shoot. You just pop up. Pop, pop, pop. You think more and more of your shells coming. You just look up, they all laid.

You're like, whoa, okay. Are you right? Because when I heard you say that, I'm like, I googled, I said, they just did never, never, never really recovered from that. Yeah, they they were to me in a process of breaking up. Like Dre was, you know, going through. This is what I end up hearing after the fact, you know, in doing the movie that Dre,

you know, shortly after I left, it started, in doing the movie that Trey, you know, shortly after I left, it started to get rocky over there with Eazy and Trey. And so, and DLC. So I don't think, you know, they was, they was cohesive enough at the time that I dropped the record that they could come back. Do you think it's all cause of Eazy's relationship with Jerry Heller? I think Jerry taught Eazy what to do.

Now, Eazy... How to rob niggas. Yeah, that's still going on today. I think Jerry taught him how to do it because Eazy didn't know the business. Eazy was a new dude coming around. Right. And he was hanging and he started to be like, yo, I like this music show. I'm trying to get out of the game.

I want to get into music. I'm going to be a manager and I'm going to have my own label. And we all like, yeah, whatever, whatever. And then, know just got serious yeah he started to come with he was like this is what the label gonna look like he started getting label copies made and all this stuff and we looking at this dude like yo yo and then he started to connect with people first he connect with uh lonzo who ran the wrecking crew because dre was part of the wrecking crew one thing I'll say, that motherfucker Lonzo

is in everybody's documentary. Yeah, Lonzo. You know the little documentaries? He was a hustler. He was a, first he used to throw parties and stuff, and then he would hire like, you know, book run DMC to come, Salt-N-Pepa. I never met him, but he told that shit. Lonzo, this shit would never have happened without me, a hustler character. Book Run DMC to come, Salt-N-Pepa. And he was like, fuck it, we're going to start making money.

This shit would have never happened without me. He said, none of these motherfuckers would have never existed without me. It's true. So Eazy started hanging with him, you know what I mean? Then I think Jerry, I mean, Eazy. Lazo introduced Eazy to Jerry. And then, you know, Jerry started teaching Eazy the game, and then we started making records kind of at the same time.

So I just felt like at the time, Eazy really didn't know the game enough to be robbing niggas. He had to be taught that by somebody. Rob Markman, Jr.: Got you. Yeah, he had to be taught that by somebody. Gotcha. Just what we said, Jerry Toye, I'm the problem, basically. And was that the reason you left the group? I left the group because he lied, you know, and I caught him in a lie. When you say he lied, who lied? Jerry lied to me.

Okay, gotcha. I was a young dude, you know, young MC. Like the whole business part of it, you know, I was kind of naive to it. But then I started hanging with the publicist that we had for NWA. She ended up being my manager named Pat Charbonnet. You'll see her name on the Friday credits. But she was saying, you know, you know Jerry? I'm like, no, I don't know these dudes, you know.

I don't know Jerry. She's like, make sure you look at your paperwork, you know what? I'm like, no, I don't know these dudes. I don't know Jerry. She's like, make sure you look at your paperwork. I got a lawyer if you want to talk to him. Make sure everything is straight. I didn't want to tell Jerry I had a lawyer.

I was like, my mama want to see my contract, I said, my mama, I said, my mama want to see my contract before I sign it. You know, I put it on, cause I felt like he would think she, you know, black mama, so give it to her and we'll get it back. So he kept saying, I'll get it to you.

I'll get it, I'll get it to you. How old were you at this time? I'm 17, 18, about 18. Right, he's small. I'll get it to you, I'll get I'm 17, 18, about 18. Right, you're small. I'll get it to you, I'll get it to you, I'll get it to you. It wasn't coming. And then I told my mother, I said, call him.

You know, and then he said, so my mother called him. So I asked him, we was on the road, we was on tour. So I asked him, I said, man, you talking to my mother? He said, yeah, I talked to my mother? He said, yeah. He said, yeah. I talked to her, and she cussed me out, Q. She called me all kind of names in the book. I sit back, I'm like, wait a goddamn minute.

Now, my mama ain't going to do that. You know what I'm saying? She ain't going to do that. You know what I mean? Not only are you handling, you you in my you doing my business she ain't gonna fuck up my business like that so I knew he lied on it and so I caught her and then she went off about him lying so I said okay this motherfuckers a liar you feel like my mama and don't think I'm a double check. Right. He's a fucking scumbag.

Yeah, he's a scumbag. You know what I mean? So I said, okay, I can't trust him. If you lie on your mama, you can't trust him. So they wanted us to sign the contracts while we were still on tour. That's when you seen the scene where I'm like, I ain't signing. So that was real. Then the movie. You said, why the room so dark in the office?

Yeah, all that. All that because we was in Phoenix, Arizona. We was in Phoenix, Arizona at the Double Tree Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona. We had the Phoenix. And everybody's going in. You know, Jerry, we signed the contracts today. You know, so everybody's going down there. So it was my time.

Y'all didn't go together? No. One at a time. That's crazy. One at a time. One was my time. Y'all didn't go together? No. One at a time. That's crazy. One at a time. One at a time. That's crazy. But think about it.

Not to cut you off, Murda. Just think about this. Because Murda Mays got his deal in 1996. And I think I'm on in 1997. This is the 80s. The house storm. Because when we got a record deal, we just fucking happy to get a record deal.

Like, yo, we got a deal. So how strong and smart you have to be to turn that down. But I wanna hear the real story. At 17, yeah. But remember my mom said she wasn't signing the contract. The first deal we didn't get. That's a fact, but we just- Cause it's the same thing.

We was like, fuck that. We swear to God. I'm sorry to cut you off cause I really wanna hear how this happened. So he pushed y'all down one on one. Rob Markman, Yeah, one by one it was my turn. Rob Markman, Was they happy, the people that came out before? Like after they signed? They had $75,000. So they was happy.

They had a $75,000 check. Rob Markman, In the 80s. So I go in and it is, it's like dark and shit. You know what I mean? Like sitting behind the contracts and this light on the contracts. It's like real, you about to sign your soul to the devil type shit. Rob Markman, Right. Rob Markman, Yeah.

You know, yeah, it was like he was trying to, he knew that I was asking about the contracts and shit. So I guess he was trying to, you know, intimidate me or, you know, had this one-on-one, you know, session. Me and him just kind of, he was just going to convince me to sign this contract. So I sat down, he was telling me, you know, the record is doing good and it's great and we got, you know, just money for you and everything is great and all you need to do is sign this contract. I'm like, I said, I can't sign the contract because I don't know what's in it. I've been trying to have you get it to my people and you won't do it, so I need to see what's in that contract. If I sign it. And he was like, we got $75,000 for you, Q. I'm so I said, well, ain't that my money anyway?

Whether I sign it or not, because the record is out. Right. So that's my money anyway. I can't give it to you. Easy said, do not give it to you unless you sign. He said, easy said. I can't give it to you. The guy is crazy said, Eazy said, don't give it to you. I said, I can't give it to you unless you sign. I was just like, well, all right, man. So you're not going to sign?

I said, I can't sign it. I don't know what's in it. I don't know what I'm signing. I just got up. That barge was wrecking all the fucking records. Yeah. I'm sorry for Adlib. I'm just thinking like that.

And he's putting you against Eazy. Yeah. I don't mean that. He's writing Eazy shit. Eazy can't write. So go ahead. I'm up for it took against Eazy. Yeah. I don't mean that. He's right in Eazy's shit. Eazy came, right? Yeah, you're right. So go ahead.

My fault. I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah. So I just got up and left, and then I started to get around to the group that I didn't sign and shit. So we was on our way to the show. It was clowning my ass in that car. You know, it was in the van.

Everybody's like, man, 75,000. I don't give a fuck what that shit say. I don't give a fuck what that shit say. I don't want my money. Like, it was all talking about what they was going to do with their money and shit. They thought I was a dummy. You know what I mean? I was just taking that shit on the chin and rolling.

Rob Markman Yeah. And then that's to the point what I was saying is that he's writing all the shit. Everybody I guess outside of Ren. D.O.C. was writing. Rob Markman Okay, D.O.C. was writing too. D. Everybody I've guessed outside of Ren. DJ Premieres DLC was writing. Rob Markman Okay, DLC was writing too. DJ Premieres Yeah, yeah. Rob Markman But they saved him for last so it could be harder for him to say no.

DJ Premieres Listen, that's what I was talking about. Rob Markman They did a skit about it and all kind of shit. DJ Premieres Yeah, that's it. Rob Markman They did all kind of shit calling me about that. DJ Premieres Yo, so when America's Most Wanted came out, I used to go to Englewood in the summertime to... My aunt lived in Englewood and Cali off Los Angeles and Evergreen.

So when that shit came out, that shit, I went back home when the summer was over with khakis and shit on. It's like, what the fuck are you doing, man? I said, yo, my nigga, fucking Q got this shit going crazy, nigga. I'm like a Cali nigga because I was going out there in 1990, 1991. Like three summers in a row I was going to Englewood and you had that shit in the smash. And then I was a real NWA fan too on the album you wasn't on. And I'm like, oh they going hard because nobody ever knew your name. And I'm like, who the fuck is that shit?

They start calling and I'm like, oh the fuck is that old shit? They started calling, and now I'm like, oh, they're kind of going crazy on you right now. But I like that album, too. I'm not going to lie. Then you came back, and I'm like, damn, man. See, I wasn't going to diss them. If you listen to America's Most Wanted, I don't mention N.W.A. at all.

Yo, straight up, my shit, Once Upon a Time in the Proud, all that shit, I was out there. So I was kind of out there. Every playing that was going crazy so when i came like i said i came back home wearing khakis and all type of converse the thought i was crazy for about two three months yes when i came back home yes infectious man you know i mean you get around there and get around them folks absolutely yeah you Yeah, you start. So what about, I know I always see Dub C with you. Yeah. At your shows, everywhere you go,

whenever I see you perform or sometime, we be at the same place in just different times. Is the West Side Connections still together sometime? Nah, nah, we don't get down like that. You know, it's just me and Dub. Me and Dub, we from the same neighborhood. So we grew up, you know, right around the corner from each other. So we always been down from day one.

And I'm just happy he's still, you know, hanging out and go out with me. He his own artist, but he still go out with me. And you know, we've been all over the world together. So it's been a great thing. So, like, y'all don't, it's a problem with Matt? Yeah, it's a problem. You know what I mean? It's a, you know, it's a thing where, where, you know,

it's just a violation that can't be overlooked. Okay. Yeah. We'll leave it at that. You mind sticking around for one of the topics? Come on with it, man. Yeah. I'm having a ball.

Okay. So we'll be right back with more questions. Thanks. She called this thing about toxic Four years and counting Got you feeling like an option Maybe I'm my own problem, babe She tired of hearing, I don't know What's happening, me won't fall

Dealing with this thing called trust But she really thinking about She wanna be free Welcome back. We're still here with Ice Cube and Mase had a couple questions. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wanted to more so talk about,

like, where did you find Chris Tuck at? Oh, man. Chris had done, I seen him on Def Comedy Jam. Yeah. And when it was time to do Friday, actually DJ Pooh was supposed to play Smokey. DJ Pooh, he wrote the movie with me and he plays Red in the movie.

So he was supposed to play Smokey. New Line had a problem with that because he had never done a movie before. And then Chris had just done House Party 3, but they didn't use him. They used him like half a second. Rob Markman I didn't know he was there until you just told me. Rob Markman Yeah, he like half a second. And I said, they underused that dude. And so when it was time to do Friday and we was looking for people, they was telling me,

you know, try Tommy Davidson and try these other people. And I'm like, nah, I want somebody nobody has ever seen before because he's going to feel like he from the neighborhood, you know, like Smokey. And so I said, man, I seen this kid that I know he can do it named Chris Tucker. And they was like, who, who, who? I said, man, just get him out here. Let us do a screen test together. You know what I mean?

Let's do some scenes together. If it don't work out, then, you know, we can just send him back home. And so they agreed. And we sat down. And it was funny from jump, you know what I mean? It was like, yeah, yeah, this kid, this is like a new kid. I'm like, he already been in a New Line movie? And they was like, which one? I said, the house party.

He was like, oh yeah, okay, he can do it since he's been in one of our movies before. So that's kind of how Chris got it. Rob Markman, Let me capitalize on what you were saying. Yeah, I wanted to say what made him, when it went so well, not come back and do like Friday 2? I don't really know. It's like we didn't decide to do the second Friday until like five years later. I actually wasn't going to ever do a sequel.

You know what I mean? I was just like, that one is like... He was super gone by that time. You know that I mean? I was just like, that one is like... He was super gone by that. You know that? It's classic, leave it alone. And then, New Line was bugging me,

yo, is it a sequel? You know, is it something? I'm like, yeah, I can think of something. And then, you know, I had a whole concept.

Then I realized he wasn't going to do the second one. You know, at the time he said he didn't going to do the second one. At the time, he said he didn't like pushing the marijuana and the profanity.

I was like, damn. I was like, damn. This is not going to work. It's religious. Hey, man. Don't blame God, man. Don't blame God. That's the pastor.

Yeah, yeah, no, no. You can't blame God for it. But it's cool because I was like, yeah, you know, we can't be on the block without Chris. So I got to take this off the block. And then I was thinking, okay, you know, Craig has a crazy cousin. Like, we all got crazy-ass cousins. So we're going to go out there and deal with his crazy-ass cousin, Day-Day. So then that's how Mike Epps, you know, I saw him at a, he was doing stand-up. I was like, that nigga crazy right there.

Right. Yeah. Did you and DJ Poo fall out over the movie Friday at any particular time? No, DJ Poo, what happened was, Did you and DJ Pooh fall out over the movie Friday at any particular time? No, DJ Pooh, what happened was when it was time to do the sequel, it was a situation where something happened with Pooh and his contract when he first signed the contract with New Line. So it was a situation that we cleared up. And so, you know, me and Pua Cool to this day,

we actually, you know, I was actually having them help me with the fourth one until, you know, New Line, you know, they didn't want to do it after we got it done. But, yeah, it was an issue with his contract when he first signed with New Line. So we got that cleared up. Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah, and my last question I wanted to know, since it's 50 years of hip-hop,

just looking back over everything, recapping everything that happened between East Coast and West Coast. Yeah. What it what what's your outlook on it? Looking, I think it was something that. Like what could have prevented it, what all that type of stuff? I don't know what could have prevented it. You know, I think, you know, it was just a kind of a territorial thing in a way. I think when it first started happening, it really started happening when the West Coast started to blow up.

It seemed like it took a lot of attention away. And it was like some industry folks that was not liking that, you know? So it was kind of a theme going around like, yo, let's keep it real. That keep it real, that keep it real term came out of the East Coast, West Coast beat because it was kind of like, yo, what we doing on the East is real hip hop. What they doing over there is just like gang bang music,

and it was kind of being discredited by the industry. That was bubbling before Biggie and Pop got into it. I remember Tim Dogg did a record called Fuck Compton. Rob Markman Yeah, he's from the Bronx. Rob Markman Yeah, we used to dance in the parties. Rob Markman Yeah, I was like, whoa. We didn't understand where that was coming from. Rob Markman Yeah, I don't know where, but you know what?

I was young. I was about to say, we was probably 10, 11 years old, but what we all know or not, y'all was a big deal on the East Coast. So, it got to the point where niggas on the East Coast just,

I take it as a 10-year-old or 11-year-old, like, oh, they can't take it no more. This is the only way to get back at them because we loved

what y'all guys was doing as well. I mean, we love the East Coast. Our favorite groups was all East Coast groups. You know what I'm saying? Our favorite groups

wasn't West Coast groups. It was, you know, EPMD. It Coast groups you know I'm saying our favorite groups wasn't West Coast right it was you know EPMD it was you know run DMC rock Kim Kara s you know those are favorite groups so when that came I was like whoa and then it was a couple other songs that kind of came out in that vein. I think Master Ace had a song called Slaughterhouse. Yeah, I remember that. So it was bubbling. And then what happened was the thing that happened at the Source just kind of took it over the top with Suge and Death Row and going against Puffy and the Bad Boy team.

So that's just kind of, since both teams was at the top of the heat, it kind of just made it go, made it blow. We did West Side Connection because we felt like, okay, our legacy is going to be erased. We had a blip of six, seven years, but that all would be erased if we don't put a flag in the ground and be like, yo, this is West Coast, this is us. We did have an impact in hip hop. Because the whole industry we felt was on the East Coast.

It was like MTV Raps, BET, it's like everything that we needed was on the East Coast. And we felt like, yo, if we got this sentiment going and we don't put our flag in the ground, our whole time that we bubble might get erased. Gotcha. You know, so that was kind of our take on it. And I'm glad we passed that. You know, I think that time with the East and the West going at each other, it made the South blow up too. You know, it gave the South blow up too.

It gave an opening for the South. So now you have pretty much three coasts that's bubbling. That's really good. Cause not to cut you off, but I was thinking about that as you was talking, cause I could remember those times. And it's funny how on the East coast, we think in the same way, the exact exact opposite but the same way we're thinking well they got we got the home we got music but we got to go to LA for everything we got to go out

there to do movies we got to go out there to the war so it's funny to hear you say that because on the opposite side, we're thinking the exact same thing. Yeah. We was, we was worried that the industry would look at our, like discredit our, our, you know, our time that we had, you know, from NWA, I want your iced tea on, you know, we didn't want that to happen. And, and, you know, it's, it's crazy because, you know, at the end of the day i think

both coasts really respect each other and respect you know each other's contribution to the game and um it's just a it's just a dark period in hip-hop yeah this would be my last sorry mace this will be my last question because i know y'all going, Mase may have something else he want to ask you. Capitalizing off what Mase was saying, when you left the group NWA, you were one of the first people to work with Public Enemy. Did you take any backlash from the West Coast messing with Public Enemy because they were from the East Coast? Were they cool with that? Not at all. It was cool. My favorite producers was the Bomb Squad.

You know, it wasn't Dre. Right. It was like, I love Public Enemy, you know, and I love the production. You know, I think, you know, when it comes to sampling, nobody was better than the Bomb Squad. You know, you got Eric Sadler, Hank Shockley, Keith Shockley, Chuck D.

And so I was happy. I was like, yo, I got the best producers in the game about to work on my project. And I did hear that when they heard I was on the East Coast making a record that they laughed because they just thought it wouldn't work. It was like, yo, taking this West Coast shit to the East. It's just going to be a train wreck. And so it wasn't because we had brought a lot of records with us. Me and Sir Jinx, we had brought some records with us

that we was actually gonna do. So we was dedicated to make sure that it still had West Coast flavor in it, even though it was done Green Street Studios right there in New York, right there. That's really dope. Do you have a quick question? Actually for all of y'all.

So would you consider yourself a fan of today's hip hop? Some of it. I don't, you know, a fan. A fan is somebody, you know, that's constantly, you know, buying it and, you know, kind of absorbing it. You know, I ain't in it like that. I think what I'll say to answer your question before Cube goes,

because that's the second one I study, I still go, is that I may not listen to all of it, but what I do say is that you got to let, because I have friends who hate on it, like, yo, this fucking garbage and all this stuff. And I think it's generational. I think that you got to let... because I have friends who hate on it, like, yo, this fucking garbage and all this stuff. I think it's generational. I think that you got to let the 19-year-olds like what the 19-year-olds like, or you got

to let the 15-year-olds like what the 15-year-olds like, or else you're going to sound like an old ass hater. You know what I'm saying? Because when you was 19, there was somebody over... your grandmother may be like, what the fuck are you listening to that? I can't understand what you're saying. Rob Markman I try to get into it. I come at it with that angle.

If the youngsters is playing it, I want to know what they like about it. Why they into it. Some of it I feel. Some of it I think. It's a lack of quality. Is there by chance a specific artist that comes to mind that y'all don't understand the hype?

I'm not going to say that. I'm not doing that. Stats tied. She thought NWA was networking with us. I'm just curious. Stats tied. I figured I'd ask.

Now Q got to get out of here. Okay. Appreciate this so much. Thank you so much. Thank you for coming, man. Thank you so much, man. Love what you guys are doing. Thank you again, man.

We appreciate you. Thank you for being here. As always, stay tuned for the next episode and y'all know it is what it is. It is what it is. Outro Music