New Rory & MAL - Episode 357 | Becoming The World's DJ (w/ D-Nice)

Episode Date: March 28, 2025

We got a legend in the building! Rory and Mal are honored to be joined by a pioneer of hip-hop - the "World's DJ", D-Nice. The guys kick off the interview learning about D-Nice forming Boogie Down Productions with KRS-One, and continues with reflecting about how D-Nice brought everyone together with "Club Quarantine" when the world came to a complete stop due to Covid. Plus, D-Nice reflects on his rap career, and what it was like DJing for high profile political figures such as former President, Barack Obama See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down,

and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the Outer. My Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfields of conversations with athletes,

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On our podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, Football, soccer is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Alarcon and John Green on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Cardano! And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, Rant, and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to me. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know.

Listen to Help from a Hypocrite Wednesdays on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The volume. All right, Roy, today is one of those days. Yeah. Where we are privileged and honored to be joined by somebody who I think we both have an immense amount of respect for me personally. This gentleman today is one of the reasons that I think I fell in love with. with hip hop. I found hip hop being from the Bronx. His name was like, you know, a god in my city and growing up on Fordham Row and Creston in the Bronx. Today we are joined with legendary DJ

producer, photographer. Rapper. Rapper, the human TR808. He only didn't think I know that. Jeez. Legendary DJ D. Nice, man. Like, this is like... Oh, when he walked in and said, you know, thank you guys for having me. I was like, no, thank you. Thank you. What the fuck? Don't thank us. This is, this is, and I was just telling me off camera, I remember running home from school

just so I could catch self-destruction on video music box growing up, man. And that was like one of the reasons that I think I fell in love with hip hop growing up in the Bronx to see all of those artists together on TV at such a young age. And everybody representing the culture in the city to me was legendary. And a dope cameo, one of my favorite movies. I'm going to get you sucky. Oh, man. You know what I'm saying?

That's like a legendary, legendary movie. So, yeah, we're honored to have you here today, and we just want to nerd out, man. Like, we just want to just ask. I'm about the nerd out, bro. When I was walking in the building and I turned around and saw you, I fanned out for a minute. I don't know, like, we're not doing that. It's the truth. It's like, I think that's probably why I'm still here in part of the culture because

I don't lose the spirit of like, of just honesty. Yeah. I mean, like, I see people. I'm like, oh, yo, what's up? I look at you the same way. I feel the same way if I ran into, like, Barack or someone. You know, it's like, people you admire. People were doing great things.

Right. But sometimes you see them from afar. It's my first time, like, really, like, really meet you guys. I've been at a few parties you DJ, but never had the opportunity to walk over and shaking. Yeah. Wow. I gaze from GA.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, those are some of my favorite parties in Brooklyn that you were doing at one time that I would, we would just stare. We were just in awe. Didn't even dance was just like, this is the best DJ set I've ever seen. Yeah, yeah, it's incredible.

They've been like quite, I mean, even for me where I'm like, you can, you could tell when you're in that zone. My favorite parties happen to be when I'm rocking with other people, you know, like when I would rock with Stretch Armstrong, Rich Medina, you know, Clark Kent, God bless Dad, you know, Tony Touch, when we all do back-to-back sets or just someone who I know loves music. and we don't have a set. We just play what we feel based on who's in front of us.

Those are always like the best sets to me. Yeah. Yeah. We rarely do this style of interviews where we do like the life story shit, but Maul and I were both like, no, we have to start at the beginning. Yeah. Since you've seen this entire thing happen that we all fell in love with. Like where does it start with you, KRS, Scott LaRock, BDP in general?

Man, it starts... So Dave Chappelle is one of my friends. And one day I was sitting with him and three guys from De La, you know, peaceful always to Dave from De La. And we were just talking and he asked me, he was like, yo, just random question. Like, I never thought about this. How did you meet KRS? And I lived in the Bronx on Woody Crest Avenue at the time. I'm sharing this story with Dave, you know, living on Woodycrest Avenue near your.

Yankee Stadium. Mm-hmm. And my cousin's boyfriend, we all lived together in like this tenor and an apartment, one bedroom, my great-grandmother. I was sleeping in the living room for years, you know. And so he was a security guard at a men shelter in the Bronx called Franklin Men's Shelter. So, you know, at the time I thought, you know, I mean, I've always tried everything, so I thought I was going to be a chef.

Yeah. So he asked me to bring him some food, brought some food over to him. And he said, hey, I want to introduce you to someone. And he took me into the office and introduced me to the social worker that worked there. And Scott Sterling was his name. But at night, he was DJ Scott LaRoc. And Scott saw me and was like, yo, can you rap? I was lying.

I had never written a rap song. I was like, yo, yeah, I can rap. Absolutely. He was like, yeah, you're going to be the LL Cool J of my group. You look like that kind of vibe. Like literally just like that. And then he introduced me to KRS who was living in the shelter at the time. Okay.

And when I shared this story with Dave, Dave Chappelle, he was like, man, did you hear what you just said? He said, you walk three miles with food to feed your future. So had I not taking that journey, I'm not here right now. You know what I mean? That's crazy. So yeah, man, I'm forever grateful for those beginnings. What was your first impression of Scott and KRS? KERS and I, like, initially, I mean, I don't want to say we didn't get along.

It was just like, why do we need this young kid, you know? because they were much, not much, but they were like seven, eight years old than me. Scott was, you know, I mean, he's the reason why I love, love just the business side, you know, of not just hip-hop, but just any business, just being in control of, like, your own destiny because he was hip-hop, but he was still kind of corporate. He was walking around with his briefcase with, like, a pair of Nike's on, you know what I mean? Like, so he, I mean, truly was like this big brother, you know, and, um, and, and, part of the reason why I've maintained this

kind of sense of independence was because like Scott LaRocke, you know, like he was the reason that I'm here. So I felt like me doing this. I'm always like, you know, reminding people of the incredible job that he did with music and also just inspiring people. Yeah. What was, I was talking to my brother, hip hop last year and we were laughing because it was the whole 50 year anniversary of hip hop a couple years ago. And

There's been things online in a couple of videos popping up where people are saying the actual first hip hop party was in Brooklyn. Like somebody has a flyer where it predates the Kuhirk party in the Bronx. It's like a party that was in Brooklyn before Kuhirk and they had it on Cedar Ave in the park. Where do you stand on that? Like where do you feel like because you obviously you were there to see it become what it is today? Where did it start as far as you concerned? Well, I'm not that old to, you know, seeing the inception of hip hop, the very beginnings. But, you know, just from my understanding.

And I also grew up near Cedric Avenue, near where he threw that party. That's like maybe like 10 streets away from where I grew up. So I'm always going to lean to the, you know, be honest with you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nothing else matters. Even if the history is false. It's still wrong. No, no, I believe that too.

But it is kind of interesting. to hear those things like, you know, because that's part of the history too. Like if there was a party before party that Hirk did, it's like, okay, we need to know about that. What was that like? What did it sound? I mean, I've actually never heard that. But now I'm kind of interested in like kind of going back and like doing some research because there were DJs that I heard about. By the way, I'm not like, I wasn't deep into hip hop at that point.

I was just deep into the hip hop because I was, I was young, you know, 13, 14. I'm chasing girls. I was a kid, you know, when I got down with the group. But I did start learning more about Grand Master Flowers and all these other people who were from other boroughs. But just to, from my understanding, is that it was, all those parties started in the Bronx with Herc. What were some of those early sessions like with Scott and Kara,

especially you being younger and lying that you even knew how to rap? Yeah, those young sessions, I mean, two things. It could be young sessions in terms of studio or young sessions in terms of like the shows we were doing. Studio-wise, it was just, I was fascinated by it. You know, like we did, we produced, well, I didn't produce it. I watched Scott produce our first single South Bronx. We were like in Queens at someone's house, like on the 16 track. I knew it.

You know. You know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We were out there. Like, yeah. And that was just, that was interesting to me because I had never been in the studio.

I had never, like, that wasn't my life. you know, I kind of walked into this. And, and that was, that was fun. But by the time, by the time when Scott passed, by the time the second album started, I actually knew how to make beats at that point. Because I knew how to DJ then. I knew how to sample. I was out digging for records because I'm a nerd dude.

Like if I, anything that I'm involved in, like, I literally break it apart. Like, I'm not making this up. I, like, open it up to see how it works, you know? and like physically open this up, you know? And so I learned how to use all the machines. And, you know, I was doing tracks. And I would go out and find the samples for, like, if you know, like BDP records, like I'm still number one, you know, my philosophy, I was mixing records.

You know, like I said, self-destruction I did when I was, I was 18 years old. Because I just loved the music at that point. And I loved, I was fascinated by being in the studio because of what I learned. with Scott LaRoc. In terms of shows, man, we've had, man, we've, the thing that I love most about KRS and the experience of hip hop was that we didn't travel the way we travel now. You know, now we're like, all right, I need a first class ticket. I need, I'm not standing at that hotel.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bro, we were on planes where we didn't even have money to get back. You know what I mean? Like, we were flying one way, hoping to get our back in. Yeah, yeah. Not even back in, hoping to get all of the money. Because no one sent deposits back then. Right.

And, you know, I do recall, like, the first time I was ever on a plane, we were going to Rochester, New York for a show. And it's my first time on a plane. I'm like, wow, like, this is great. And when we arrived, we didn't have a hotel room. The promoter had a stand at his parents' house. The three of us, but Scott came with, like, a girl. And the dude's mom was, like, super religious.

Oh, shit. And she saw her rolling. she was like, you guys can't stay here. She's going to stay. You're not doing this. She came out with like holy water and started, I wish I was lying. She started sprinkling holy water on us and literally kicked us out. What was the girl's reaction?

She was just looking like, what are you? We're all young. We hid now. So me, Scott LaRock and Karras ended up breaking into like a motel six. And like we had no one. money no credit cards we broke into this joint and i slept on the floor no caro slept on the floor scott had the bed and i i slept on top of the desk that was there but we had to be out before housekeeping came you know and um so those early days like that was pure hip-hop to me yeah yeah

absolutely what we experience now is kind of glorious and it's great by the way like i'm not in the front you know right still be here all of these decades later and the treatment it's great but like those days were like the grittiness. Yeah, the true foundation, even of just our group, man. It's some amazing experiences. Talk about, you know,

we coming off from one of the biggest battles last year in hip hop, but you also being right there next to one of the earliest, most legendary battles with MC Shan and KRS. What was the energy like? And fuck y'all for Bridges over.

Bridge is over. It's crazy. A classic. By the way, as someone who, listen, I'm not trying to say that I'm an expert on battle hip hop but I actually love the Drake

and I love this Drake Kendrick vibe that was going on. I hate to see where it ended up. I don't agree with lawsuits and all that. I mean, to me, battling with all is fair, you know what I mean? Because I came from that generation of KRS

and Shan and Kumodea and LL and you know, LL and Shan, like that's what we saw, you know what I mean? Like that was a part of, it was like sparring. Yeah. You know, I was never a great lyricist. I literally, every song that I ever released were my only lyrics.

Like, so I wasn't that kind of emcee and never tried to be. It was never battling anyone. But to be in the presence of Keras and to watch him, it was just, it was just, because like I said earlier, I'm still a fan, no matter what. Even if I, like, even being in the group, I'm still a fan. And it was just magical. like wow like and you know but I also it was also magical watching Shan because I was a fan of Shan and like to being a party I remember being in this party Bridges Overwoods out I was in the party in the Bronx on Tremont Avenue by myself because I would always roll alone and I watched Shan and the Jews crew

walk in and the way they were walking like the swaggerness was like crazy and Shane with the rubber bands on his pants and walking with his can go on and it was like we're battling these dudes. Right, right. It felt like BDP was much bigger than it was. It was really like three of us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the juice crew was like a crew.

Yeah, yeah. But it was just so dope to see, man. And I do kind of miss that energy of like hip hop, man. Yeah. I mean, because we do have some younger listeners. How did the KRS and Shan beef even start? Well, battle. Let me not say beef.

Yeah, no, I don't really, you know, from my understanding, as a part of the group. I do remember Kara saying that, you know, there's a legendary DJ, Mr. Magic radio DJ, who, you know, was a part of the Jews crew. I think he was like one of the owners of the Jews crew. That Scott LaRock went to play him a demo. I know that there's going to be different stories about all of this, but this is just what I

remember that, you know, they laughed at the demo, like, nah, get out of this, it's trash, you know, and that kind of like sparked the beef, you know. Okay. And like Karras has something to prove. Yeah, absolutely. And he did it though. Oh, absolutely. In a major way.

Yeah. Yeah, you know. Major way. What was his energy like in that session creating Bridges Over? Ah, that's funny. I was only in there for South Bronx. Okay. The Bridges Over is a funny session because I went over to Scott's house the next day.

I didn't even know they were in the studio the night before. And Scott was like, listen, yo, here's our new record. And then he played the Bridges Over. And I was like, whoa. because it was just raw hip hop Yeah You know no one was like really singing on these records No one was really like I mean Keras

You know I know uh um herc and you know he's Jamaican But a lot of people weren't really doing like Just kind of like infusing like like like you know Rigging music like hip hop so like that baseline is like I think that's like old like super cat or something like that Oops and like but nobody was like really doing it like that You know um so like to uh To hear that record for the first time, I was, like I said, I was like a fan, even though I was in the group.

I was like, yo, this is incredible. Incredible. What was life like when South Bronx dropped? Like, outside of being local celebrities, probably. But South Bronx, I think, probably took it way more global. No, it actually didn't. It's funny, man. For me, the excitement was I lived in the Bronx on a fifth floor walk up.

And, you know, the first time it was. was on the radio. I was in front of my, like in front of the building on the stoop. And I just remember my cousin, like, my cousin, she just opened the window and yelled out, they're playing your song on the radio. Like, I didn't, you know, like that feeling, I will never forget that moment. Like that, that was just like one of those moments you see in movies where it's like that was the event that just sparked everything.

In terms of like one day, um, Bismarkey, when I started. DJ and Biz says something to me and he said, you know, what will make you a great DJ is when you go into these towns and you also recognize the local hit records. He was like, because remember nobody beats to Biz in South Bronx, those were those are local records. Yeah. And I never thought about that. I was right. Those were like really local hits. You know, is, you know, the first BDP album, Criminal Mind is a classic. But to the core of it, it was really like. like an East Coast record. Sure.

You know, and so, like, we didn't have that kind of global success until the second album came out, by all means necessary. And, you know, then when I had my solo projects, you know, that was different.

Hip-hop was different, and we had more radio play. But, yeah, those were, like, local records. What was the photo shoot like for a criminal mind, dude? Because one of the most iconic covers and is our work in general. So I was a straight-up hood kid,

like, and I didn't want to do anything but sell drugs. I wanted to be that dude. I wanted to be in the streets. And Scott LaRock said to me, yo, if you don't get your shit straight, you can't be in this group. So, and I was like, man, fuck this group.

I'm out here. I'm hanging with my boys. I'm doing this. And he was dead serious. So that photo shoot, I was not there because I was like, I don't want to be a part of this. You know, and it wasn't until like, because I didn't grow up with a father

you know like you know around me anything it was all women and then I was in the hood I was trying to figure out how to get out of the hood so that was the first moment of me realizing how how someone really like cared about your well-being you know which kind of like that's why I live my life

the way that I do now because if I didn't have those conversations with him I wouldn't have been here now I will say this about the album cover that I do know the album cover was shot when we were on this or record company called Rock Candy Records. So the album cover that you're looking at,

that same desk by day, daytime. They were also shooting porns on top of that desk. A lot of sex scenes going on on that desk. It's like when we stay in the Monjaon in LA, I'm like, I've seen this porn thing before. Why do we keep staying in this hotel? I don't think you ever look at that album. Yeah, that's wild.

It's wild, bro. Maul, I am here to talk to you and all of the. artists out there about our guys over at Distro Kid. Distro Kid makes music distribution super easy and they never take a cut of your royalties, which to me is probably the most important thing, especially for the up-and-coming artists. It's the easiest way to get your music into all the streaming services and stores like Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, as well as social platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

That's like one of the toughest things I feel like for up-and-coming artists. How do I even get my stuff on DSPs? Distro Kid distributes your music to over 150 stores worldwide. Mall, I have been releasing music over, I don't know how many years, whether it be my stuff or people I'm working with, Distro Kid is like the first step when it comes to figuring out what you need to do to get it out to the world. Without this step, nothing even really matters. Your Distro Kit membership also comes with a ton of free products and features to help

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A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagine. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show.

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I'm Sam Jay and I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84's big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode

where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so... Thank you for finishing this. sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When you listen to podcasts about AI and tech and the future of humanity, the hosts always act like they know what they're talking about and they are experts at everything. Here, the Nick

Dick and Poll Show, we're not afraid to make mistakes. What Kugler did that I think was so unique He's the writer-director Who do you think he is? I don't know You meet the president? You think Canada has a president You think China has a president

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Listen to the Nick, Dick, and Poll show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know, there's a lot to break down. Gorsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. I like the bougie style of Housewives show.

I think it looks like it's going to be interesting. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise, the drama, the alliances, and the team everybody's talking about. As an executive producer in reality television, I'm not just watching it. I understand the game.

As somebody who creates shows, I'll even say this. at the end of the day, when people are at home, they want entertainment. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Why did you stop rapping? Because my name is Dee Nice was a joint. Yeah. So. And did you write all of it?

Yeah, I wrote everything, except for part of the first verse of that song, KRS was the one who was the guy. I was going to say, it kind of sound like a KRS. Yeah, he was like, yo, you got a flow. like this. That song wasn't really supposed to come out. I kind of have an accidental career. I did that track, the beat for it. I did that in the song, I'm still

number one at the same time. And I played them both for KRS and he chose, I'm still number one beat. He's like, yo, this is crazy. I need that. And then I was giving that other beat to Kid Rock, because I got him signed to Jive. And we were trying to figure out, like,

well, what, because I also was like writing songs for Kid Rock. Because at that point, I was like a writer. Yeah. I wasn't like an incredible lyricist, but like I knew how to write. Yeah. And I wrote two songs on his first album. But that beat was, I was giving it to him.

And I was like, no, you could just rhyme like this. And I went in and recorded that. And then actually when I heard it, I was like, oh, this is actually kind of dope. And then we just kept it. I wasn't supposed to have a record out. But I did the crazy, went up to like the radio station and played the record for Red Alert. And then he went to the program director and let him hear it. And then they put it on rotation.

I didn't even have a release day, which was different back then. Like now you can just go in the studio. Yes. And then you're good. But then you had to be in the system. And you needed like a four-month kind of like lead time in order to get the record. You can't even get it pressed up. So I kind of went against that.

And then because the record became a hit in New York, my career kind of like was kind of forced on job so they had to put it out. The reason why I didn't have, you know, my career was kind of short in hip hop as a solo artist was hip hop started to shift.

I was in this business for five years since I was a kid at that point. Now everything is now it's Pac and now it's Biggie and Bad Boy and everyone had their crews and I wasn't really a part of anyone's crew. I was just Dee Nice out on my own. And

And, you know, for jive, for, you know, signed a jive at the time, you know, we just, we started to clash. You know, I wanted to continue making the kind of music that I wanted. They didn't want to go in that direction. And I couldn't, you know, at that time, those deals were like ironclad joints, you know, like, so they shelved me. So I didn't, that's why I was saying, like, earlier about when the clapping stops, like, what do you do? Right. But no matter what, I kind of look back at life, like, I'm not. here right now if they didn't do that.

You know, I could have still been trying to shop a demo. I could have still been trying to be hip-hop. And hey, no knocking anyone that's been in the game for a while, but I could have just been an old-school rapper. But because I, you know, I was kind of forced to figure out how to live and how to, you know, I didn't have money at that point. We weren't really making a lot of money in hip-hop then, you know what I mean? Like, you know, 100 grand for the year.

Right. But if you have no shows, you have no records, and there's no income. So I had to sit back for like seven or eight years trying to figure out life, you know. And just fell in love with photography and web development. And I started a company called United Camps with about $500. Picked up Motown as my first client. And I was building websites. Most people didn't even know that.

So like diarrhea of Alicia Keys, I built that. that, you know, Tirees first album, his, his website, you know, Annie Linux, Boys Demen, AT&T, I was just working on everyone's websites, which is how I was able to change my life, you know. Did they know D. Nice was making their website? Nah, no, they didn't know.

The funny thing is I was not trying to be D. Nice. So I did the G-Unit sneaker, right? So I was doing online marketing with, with, with, for, through violator because Chris loved, Chris Lottie loved what I was doing. Rest in peace. Yeah. Rest of peace to Chris. And he brought me in to build the violator website. So I did that site and then he brought me in to do to help them with online marketing for the G.U.

and issue because that was early online marketing days. And I was sitting in this meeting with Chris and Steve Stout and Paul Fireman who started Reebok and like his team and then this. Now I, I was anti-DUACD. nights. I was Derek Jones. Yeah, yeah. This was, I was 10 years removed from hip hop. Yeah. And I hated hip hip hop. I hated the business. I was

like, oh, this is terrible, man. I didn't treat people. Yeah. But what made me fall in love with it again was the current Reebok CEO, Todd Krenski, walked into the meeting and he walked around the table,

said hello to everyone. And when he got to me, he didn't say hello, he just stood there. So I stood up like, hey, I'm Derek Jones. And they all laughed because they all in on it. And he said, he was like, hey, man, he said, graduated from Boston, you, and I wrote my thesis on a song from your first album, a song called A Few Dollars More on my first solo album. Wow. And in that, in that moment, I was like, holy shit. Like, my mind, you know, the wills are always turning.

I was like, yo, all these years, I've been running away from D. Nice. But that's the biggest asset that I have because the music that we all listen to when we're in school. Right. Those are the songs that really define your life. Right. And, like, I was at that point in my life where it wasn't a lot of hip hop then. And if you made it, the LL Cool Jays, Kumodee, Public Enemy, you were special. Right.

It wasn't like a one hit thing. Like, we were like literally, we were a part of someone's life. And these people are now VPs and CEOs. And I was like, yo, I need to do it after. I thought about that in that meeting. I was like, man, I should do like after work mixers. like throw parties to just get the people to come out to like, yo, and then, you know, try to work it that way

just so I can get more business as a web developer. I couldn't find a DJ. So I started playing the music myself. That's crazy. And then became like obsessed with it. Like really obsessed with it. Like, yo, I mean, nobody, open format wasn't a thing then. You know what I mean?

Like, you either played hip-hop. or you played, I mean, EDM wasn't really a thing either, but you either played hip hop or you play hip, or you play classics like Q-Tip, you know, and Mark Ronson, but nobody was like really playing like everything like that. Or I don't want to say no one, but, you know, not the places that I was going to, which was very limited. And I went to, I became obsessed with it, and I went to,

and I wasn't really DJing like that. I went to a party, Q-Tip invited me to a party, because no one was inviting me out. No one, because I wasn't on, I wasn't hot on the scene and they didn't know what I was doing. Right. But Tip invited me to a party where he and Mark Ronson were playing. They had this party in New York called Authentic Shit every Thursday night at a place called Table 50. And when I walked in there and I just watched them and I was like, holy shit, like you could play Blondie and then play Brand Newbians.

Yeah. You can play the old school shit. Right. And the way it looked, it was like, Tip. was playing James Brown, and they would go, they would play 30-minute sets. Yeah. And Monson, Mark would get on. And Mark was playing all 90s, early 90s hip-hop.

I had never been to a party like that. Right. You know, and because of that, I really became obsessed to the point where, you know, I stopped, I stopped even focusing on my web company because I wanted to DJ. I was very serious about that. And I called Chris Lighty up one night. And I told him, I was like, bro, I think I think I just want to DJ. And Chris said, are you sure you want to get back in this business?

Because these motherfuckers are animals now. And I was like, nah, I think I really want to do it. And he was like, all right, I'll support you. And, yeah, I just, I started DJing more and more. I would play in local clubs here in New York, but no hip hop clubs because no hip hop person wanted to hire me. But one dude, one dude, this cool-ass white boy was like, yo, you play rock and rock, I was like, yeah, I grew up in the fucking 80s.

He's like, yo, play this party with me. And I started playing like rock sets all night. So I kind of reversed my way back into like hip hop because I played everywhere else but hip hop. And yeah, man, just took off. Did some of the resentment you have for the business?

Does anybody think that story is fucking insane? I think I'm sitting here like I'm listening to a, watching a fucking movie. I like, I like zoned out and forgot what you're doing it. Like that is fucking insane, bro. The fact that DJ started from trying to network with websites is the craze shit. It's like fucking insane

nuts. This is crazy. I would have never guessed that. And it also makes sense with you and Tip because I think producers make the best DJs. Yeah, I believe so too. They're by far DJ differently than just regular DJs. They view shit because they go through crate samples, everything. They live in for you. That's literally what it is. That's their shit.

The resentment in the business outside of like being shelved and everything that a lot of artists go through, did you have more resentment because of the Kid Rock situation. I've heard the story that he told of how you discovered him, but the fact that Jive wouldn't compensate you or even shelve you at that time

when you brought somebody that was one of their most profitable artists to date. Well, it wasn't... Kid Rock wasn't profitable for Jive. He only had one album on Jive, and that was the album that Too Short and I, you know, we did the production on. And then after that, they dropped him. And then he started doing independent stuff,

and then he signed to Atlantic Records. I thought it was all through Jive. No, no, no. He was gone. So all his big albums were through Lava, Lava Jason Flom's company. So yeah, but listen, at the end of the day, bro, like I was playing, not physically playing, obviously. I'm not an athlete, but I was DJ and ESPN Super Bowl Party. This was like maybe around 10 years ago.

And the former CEO of Jive records was there at the party. and was like, wow. Like, I hadn't seen him in forever. You know what I mean? He's like, yo, this is crazy. So he watched me play this big ear. This has nothing to do with club quarantine. Like, you know, I know a lot of people think I was on the scene because of that.

But I was already playing, you know, inaugural ball. Barag. I had already done all of this stuff, which is why this whole journey is so beautiful. But I will say this, that I remember when CQ happened and, you know the guy I ended up like a year after club quarantine I was the music for the Oscars like for you know like literally all of the music until until they started using the live band which was like the second half but for the entire beginning of the Oscars the infamous you know that Oscar I was the music and in that same guy who signed me to Jive sent me in text while the show was on and he was like

wow who would have ever thought this like D. Nice at the Oscar You know, and it's, yeah, that's why I always tell people, man, like, my journey. Did you have a petty reply? Yeah, I said, I did. Yeah, fucking awful CEO, if you didn't see the talent that I had. Like, what the fuck? He said, who would have ever thought this? Yeah, I did.

Me. You know, and, yeah, that's a great feeling, though. Yeah, no, for sure. That's why I said, I can't be mad at that because. Yeah, no, it allowed the space and opportunity for all these other great things to happen for your career. Man, that's kid. This is like, I don't even know what to ask at this point.

How did you get, let's talk about, because like you said, you was already DJing and doing some of the hottest parties in the city before club quarantine happened. But COVID happens. How does Dean Nights become the world's DJ at that point? Because that's exactly what you were. anybody during quarantine that had to be home and we were on our phones, we were waiting for

Dean Nice to go live. Yeah. So we can just all for a second, for an hour to just get away from it all. Feel better. And how did it feel knowing that you literally had what felt like the world waiting for you? I was having dinner last night with one of the guys who worked at Meta at the time, who kind of help, you know, me be able to do that, which I didn't know. I knew him for years.

It was my guy, but I didn't even realize he was over there and he saw what I was doing on the first day. I think the reason why my situation worked versus what anyone else was doing was that, one, I was very vulnerable, you know, like I, I mean, I was in front of this camera. You know, I never used Instagram before. I mean, I used Instagram, but I never used a lot before. you know, they had periscope and all this crazy. I'm like, who wants to watch someone go live, you know? Right. And I'll tell you the crazy story about it was, so this was March, so maybe like eight months prior to that, I was playing the main stage at Essence Festival.

Janet Jackson was performing. I was the main stage DJ. And before, like, there so before the show, someone from Facebook reached out to me and said, hey, we got this new feature. on Facebook called Live, which I don't think I've even told this story. It was like, oh, we got this new feature called Live. You should use it. And I was like, well, how much are you paying? Yeah.

And it's like, we're not paying anything. It's a feature. Open your phone. But once again, my mind was like, wait a minute. Somebody was squatting on the name D. Nice on Instagram. And I knew they own Instagram. And I was like, I sent the text of the email back. Like, look, if you give me my name on it,

Instagram, I'll go live on Facebook live, you know, when I was off of the main stage. Right. So two days later, she said, I couldn't promise you. I can't promise you that, but two, three days later, I opened up my IG and it no longer said DJ D. Nice. It just said D. Nice. And I was like, yo. And I couldn't even, because the dude was blocked.

He had one follower. I couldn't even send him a message. Like, yo, I don't buy my name. I mean, I am DJ D. Nice. I want D. Nice. Yeah, right. And so when that happened, I was like, yo, I got to go live. I went live from essence.

And then a few days later, she emailed me and was like, you got to see your analytics. Like people like you. It's kind of interesting. I was like, no, I'm good. I didn't want to do that again. I was like, I felt crazy walking around with a phone like, yo, you see this? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because that's what I thought it was supposed to be.

Right. Man, I didn't know eight months later that, you know, I woke up that morning. and I went live on IG for the first time because I didn't have anything else to do I was like I'm gonna go live I wasn't DJ and I was like I just want to tell some hip hop stories and then I went live I would play like the original sample to South Bronx

and then I would tell the story about being in the studio then I would play South Bronx and I just kept seeing these names in there it was like all of my friends it wasn't even like I mean there was some famous people you know John Ledger you know whatever like Yeah. But it was like really like Chuck Bone and like Jessica Rosenblum who used to throw all of the

parties in New York. She's in there and they're like, yo, this is crazy. Yeah. Yo, Jamil, what are you doing in here? Like it was like I'm reading these comments, but I'm telling stories and I'm playing records and playing songs for my laptop. And then it just felt good. And by the time the end of the day, I was like, wow, like that was different.

And then I did it again. And then it was more people. Yeah. And, you know, that first day I went live with, I'll be sure. Yeah. He was the first person. The crazy thing is I was calling all of my friends because I heard that you could split the screen. This was the very first day I went live.

Yeah. Called Kane, called Dougie. Yeah. They were all. Kane went on. He went live with me. But Dougie was like, man, it sounds like bullshit. I don't do this.

With the screen. Like, why don't want to do this? Yeah, yeah. I was like, I don't know, bro. This is fascinating. Yeah, yeah. So then I hit John Legend up and then I went live with John and his daughter, Lula.

Yeah. Is it Lula or Luna? Luna. Luna. Yeah. She was on his shoulders. I went live with him. And then my numbers spiked from like the 300,

it was like 6,000 people. Yeah. I'm a tech dude. So I'm like, wait. Yeah. He's telling people his followers. So now I'm obsessed with that part. Yeah, yeah.

I was like, I just got to keep going live with people. Yeah. Yeah. And, yeah. And DJ Clark Kent was like, you should actually DJ now. I was like, wow He was like, she should actually DJ I didn't even have DJ gear at home

I didn't believe in DJ at home And then I ran out to a guitar center Came back home Created a flyer Yo, I'm going live I treated it like it was a party Yeah And that shit changed everything

That's incredible I mean taking that approach I think What made it feel behind some more shit Like clock is always Clark is always behind some of the most iconic shit in our culture. And if he was here, would make sure you knew that that was his idea. I told him.

I told me, which is why I love Clark so much. He's like, yo, I told him to go and actually DJ. I'm like, bro, I was already playing music live.

I was just playing it for my laptop. I'm playing the same song. He's like, but no, you should actually mix the records now. Yeah. But I think that approach you took with the party flyer to made it a party.

Like in the comments, it became a party. Because it was approached that that way. That's how it became club quarantine. I did not create that. It was literally people in the comments. This was before the world knew about it. It was people by day three people in the comments.

Jessica's like, yo, I'm at the door. You're not on the list. It literally became like this party. And then Jay Valentine, Jay Valentine was like, you should stop calling it homeschool. Because it was called homeschool because I was talking about the samples and everything.

I produce. I'm like, oh, I'm educate people on hip hop. He was like, you should not call it that. You should call it club quarantine. And I was like, man, that shit sounds hot. Yeah.

And then that's how, yeah, that's what it became, man. That's, you know, people in the comments were having like full-blown conversations like they was at the bar. You know, my home girl's in the section now. I'm sitting in six bottles. You had the most, like,

wasn't Barack in there at one point? You had one, like it was names in there. It became, it got so big. It became like a marketing thing. for brands. Yeah. Like, you would see fucking Geico in there

trying to have their moment in the comments. Like, it was a thing. Bro, today marks the exact fifth anniversary of that. So before I came here, I posted something on IGM.

You know, I just want to just swipe in a couple of things because my mind was actually just blown away by how massive this thing was. And I'm like, this is like Forbes. D. Knights is breaking the internet, lifting spirits.

worldwide. Then you switch again. D. Nice, host of the live social Disney, and Beyonce is there. Then Oprah's like, best party, one of 100,000 I've ever been to. Then they get the DM from someone, hey, major congrats. Oprah just asked for your number. She wants to talk to you. Then it's like Ava Duveney. Then it's

Mark Zuckerberg. Like, you know, D. Nice just threw the best. I'm sitting, I was today, I was sitting there like, Jesus Christ, this is crazy. Look, Joe Biden stopped by D. Nice is social business party. Social distance party. It's called club quarantine, Joe.

It was six feet away from the door. Did you talk to Oprah? I did talk to Oprah. What was that kind of like? And we talked and then she interviewed me for her Apple show. Yeah, I remember that. And then later on in the quarantine, she had her, you know, she had the book club.

And then her and Gail were like walking on Oprah's property. And then they went live on Instagram with me. So we talked about books while I was DJ. Yeah. It was crazy. man. The time, I'll say this. COVID was horrible for so many people, which is why I still do, I'll go live on IG when I'm home if I'm not doing anything or, you know, I go and I'll do my club quarantine live shows. Because the time was like so dark, man. But the beautiful part was, you know, we were so nice to each other. Yeah. And we were creative. We found ways to stay connected. Like club quarantine really. wasn't about the music that I was playing. It was really about the connection that people had. The community. And the community and the conversations. And that's what was just beautiful, bro.

Especially since it's the anniversary today, which is also crazy, the way you were sitting in a violator and that guy from Boston University came up and said that, you realized that that music had stuck with him since a kid. You do realize you have that same shit with people now with quarantine. Like that was a moment that's going to stick with us forever. Because it was a fucking awful time. That shit brought so much joy that I don't know if you realize that that really will stick with people the same way South Bronx did. Absolutely. Like that was our thing. I think it will stick with people even longer and it's more heartfelt than a record. You know, I, um, it's just funny. That same essence, um, I met a woman, you know, not even, not even a flirtation.

situation. It was just like we happened to be in the same hotel in the lobby and, you know, those festivals. It's just a lot of people. And she was just nice to me. And didn't exchange numbers or anything. But when club quarantine happened, I was like, oh, that's the doctor. Oh, you know, and I would always shout out every single day. It would be the same. It would be a lot of people in there. But I would see like sometimes it would just be the same people. If I was there playing a 19-hour set, Melbourne Moore was in there for 19 hours. And this doctor was in there for 19 hours. I had never seen her again other than that one time until like a year and a half in the COVID when the world started to kind of reopen. She happened to be in L.A. and she said, I know this

is going to sound crazy. Do you mind if I stop by your house? I want to introduce you to someone. I'm like, stop by my house. Like, that's crazy. But then I'm like, wait a minute, I don't really know this person. I would never just give someone my address. But I know she's a doctor and she rode with me during CQ. Like every single day. And I was like, yo, you know what? You can stop by. I'll come outside. She was like, I really want you to meet someone.

I got to, she came over to the house. I came. I was like, all right, I'm coming out. Went out and had my baseball cap on. She's like, no, you need to put the other hat on. I was like, all right, cool. Put the hat on. It's a crazy request for the strange. Like, the fact you got me out of my house is one thing. So I walk over to the car and the back window

rolls down. So I don't see a body. So I'm like, I lean in and I see a car seat. It was like two-year-old kid in there. And his mom was in the front seat. And his mom looked back and was like, baby, who's that? And this kid was like, it's D-Nice. Yo, I'm almost tearing up now just thinking about it because that's crazy. Yo, for that kid, that's all he watched. Yeah. During COVID with his parents. Yeah. That's what they had on the screen. Right. They were dancing all day. Yeah. Right. And to know that you, that something like that was done that started in my kitchen. Yeah.

That brought families together and brought communities together is like it's probably the highlight of my entire career. I feel like everything that I've done in my career was to lead up to a moment like that. Right. Because Barack or Michelle, they weren't in there because they just heard about D. Nice. I was literally calling people. Right. You know, because I DJed for them. call this one's assistant like hey there's something magical happening right now like you should

just listen yeah you know and you know in the beginning it was kind of hard to I mean how do you tell somebody I got a party on the phone yeah yeah trying to explain that like how you explain that it's normal now yeah that was normal it's completely normal now it's like how do you explain that but like people when they saw what was happening they took a chance and they just came in and just changed the world man absolutely absolutely yeah I mean what were some of the responses after you had to, you know, explain that and they experienced it. What were those follow-up phone calls like, even if it wasn't celebrity related? Yeah, now the phone calls, you know, there was one celebrity,

nameless, you know, that called and offered me the morning of the 21st. It was like, yo, can you promote this for me? I got $100,000 for you. And I wouldn't do it. I was like, it's not that I didn't. need the money like who none of us were working you know what I mean like I could have used a hundred grand you know but for me it was like there were two things I've always been like the side dude to someone you know in BDP care rest was the face he was yeah he was the guy I was not that

lyricist yeah for every DJ gig I had the fight to be someone's opener or to you know or wasn't my party because I was doing private events. So yeah, I'm playing Jay's party, but this is Jay's party. You know why you come here to see me and have that kind of career since 86 until a moment of March 21st, 2020, where people were literally coming to my IG for me. I didn't want to promote anyone's thing. I didn't want that to become. Yeah.

So I was very like aware. I was like, and I said this to that person. I was like, bro, there's the first time in my whole career that this is actually for me, man. And then I didn't want to promote anything. People were hurting. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so that when this thing exploded on the 21st, 2 o'clock in the morning, that person called me and was like, wow, congratulations. You made the right decision. You just became one of the biggest DJs in the world. Incredible. And I'm glad I stuck with that, you know. And yeah, man, it's a great feeling. I'm sure that came from the decades of having to reinvent yourself.

going through bullshit business, knowing what it's like to be broke and going, I could use this $100K, but I know it's not going to make sense for the bigger picture here. Like, I struggled before. I could skip over this.

Yeah. Yeah, that's beautiful, man. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

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available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Talk about, because you sold out some of the most iconic rooms, DJ in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center. What is that like as a DJ from a guy from me? the Bronx that, you know, grew up in this culture and to where you are today. What is it like to be in those rooms where, honestly, you know, our culture, hip-hop is really not maybe accepted in those rooms all the time. Like, nobody has really ever had a hip-hop concert at Carnegie Hall,

Lincoln Center. Like, so what is it like for D. Nice to be in these rooms bringing hip-hop culture? I mean, it's, yeah, I always think about that kid from the Bronx, you know? Like, I never imagine selling out the Hollywood Bowl as a DJ. Even before I even mentioned anyone that's going to be a special guest, you know, sold that place out in four days. You know, Carnegie Hall sold out Carnegie Hall twice. I played it three times twice just as my show. And then once I played and sold out, but I was a part of like Jerry Seinfeld and like

and Kevin Hart, like it was a whole collective and that was great. But like to be able to to play like these iconic stages in, in, in, in, in, From hip hop, but also respecting those stages. Absolutely. So like I sold out like Kennedy Center Opera House. Like I just sold it out in January. But like that was like my third sellout, you know, where I rock with an orchestra. You know, so it's not like my thing was like if they're going to let me on these stages, I got to bring something different.

You know, you know, I don't I don't want to just be a DJ up there and just take all of the money. I want to invest back into my show. Yeah. and to do something different with it. So, you know, I remember I called Too Short Up and I was like, bro, I'm playing. No, this is the one. I called Jada Kiss. Hit Jada up because it was too short was the Kennedy Center.

Jada was Carnegie Hall. And I was like, yo, I'm playing Carnegie. He was the first person that I hit up. And it wasn't based on like knock yourself out or any. It was all based on we're going to make it. Because when I stood on. That stage, like when we did the deal and I did a venue walk through, I was standing on that stage at Carnegie Hall and I was like, yo, I made it. I'm going to bring hip hop like this to this.

But I want everybody to be fly. Like they had hip hop there before. Jay played it. Knows played it. MC Light was the first person to play it as a part of a collective. But like it had only been Jay and nod. Like for a full show. Yeah.

I was like, but it was no DJs like hip. pop DJ. None of that. I was like, yo, I need Jada kiss because of those strings. I was like, I'm going to bring the orchestra. And the woman from Cardi was like, wait, you're really going to use an orchestra? I was like, yeah, absolutely. Like full strings, everything while I'm DJing. Track is going to still be playing. I'm just going to add the energy to it. And I told Jada that. He was like, I don't know about this. Ben. The day he came to rehearsal and we were all sitting there talking, I was like, all right, yo, let's go.

And I started playing a record. And then the strings came in. Yo, he was like, yo. Another level. I never heard my music like this before. This is crazy. Yeah. I was like, yeah, but we all got to wear tuxedos.

He brought Stiles P. out with him. Jada had his tuxedo made out of like track wear. It was flying. He had to draw straight. He's like, yeah, I had to have this made. You know? I'm about that life, you know. I got to be cut.

I'm hip hop. Styles is himself at every moment. It's like you got a low style. It's great to be able to like, not just as D-Nice, but to be able to be someone to bring people who have never played some of those stages. Yeah.

Deserve to. To, yeah. Deserve that stage in their own way. Come on, bro. I had to ask too short, you know, to do. I'm like, bro, I need you to do blow the whistle. Yeah. I don't know how that's going to.

I don't know how that's going to sell. That sounds crazy. Like, I sell it to me, D. Night's because I'm with you, but I can't see it. Bro. Yo, it was crazy. Short was like, he's like, I want to, I just want to sit in the crowd before because I had him going on last. Yeah. Man, by the time he watched the whole show, EPMD.

I had everybody on this joint. Hip-hop. I had diggable planets. Like, everybody with the orchestra with me DJ. Man, short was like. Like, I had never seen anything like, this is crazy. So to be able to bring our icons and hip hop on the on two, because I know, listen, I'm hip hop, but I also know that I'm more popular culture these days.

Yeah. And I respect that. Yeah. But I love my hip hop culture as well as, like the producer side. So to me, it's important to combine that. Yeah. My hip hop side to always remember, you know, like tomorrow night, I got nice and smooth sharing the stage with Melbourne more. and Shirley Jones of the Jones girls,

but I got Daylau's soul and I have Raq Kim closing, but I have Tracy Spencer going on first with me rocking, singing tender kisses. You would normally, normally, you'd be like, yo, this shows a little all over the place. But when you think about what club quarantine was, it was all of those people in there.

Yeah. And to have a fifth anniversary and to not find a way that we can all share the stage and share the love and Deppra Cox and to be able to do that, I think it's important. I think it's just like breaking new grounds by doing something like that.

Did any of the producers from those songs hit you? Like, did Alchemist? Yeah. Like, I wish there was a video of you on FaceTime with Alchemists when those strings were playing. The funny thing is it wasn't, like, Alchemist has been in the live when I was DJM, but it wasn't the hip-hop producers that reached out to me.

Okay. It was Jimmy Jam, was Now Rogers. It was like the, not that, you know, Alchemist and then the icons. Definitely icons in their own right. But like, Jimmy Jam is Jimmy Jam, bro. Terry Lewis are different. And like, Jimmy Jam is in it every day.

And I'm playing a song. I mean, I was playing like, you know, I'm sure you all know, Alexander O'Neill and Sherell, Saturday Love. I'm playing the song. Jimmy's in there telling the story on when he rocked it. Like, yo, oh, we're in this studio. You can't pay for this type of shit, right? That is fucking incredible.

You know, I start playing shit. and all of a sudden, like I'd open up for Nile Rogers, like years, maybe like 2012, a Nantucket, but it wasn't like now was my guy guy. Yeah. But then we became close because I was playing so much chic records and now we're come in there and Madonna would be in there. And then, but then Fat Joe was in there. It's just like.

It's crazy. Yeah. By the way, I know this all sounds crazy and I hope no one takes this and, you know, like I'm bragging anything. Yeah. But to see all of these people from different eras of music and different genres and like, you know, I would have randomly, like I woke up one Sunday morning and, you know, I was like, man, I just want to play gospel music. Like, who the heck? I just started playing a gospel set.

And then all of a sudden, all of the gospel artists were in there, Fred Hammond. And like, so for club quarantine or just my IG live to have been this space of like community, but also this kind of safe. space for for artists too you know to be able to still share their love of music and tell their stories and you know and which is why you know 99% of the music that I played I tried to play the clean versions just because you never know who's listening who's on the other end yeah do you think um meta let me not even put it on meta do you think the major labels are stepping over a dollar to get a penny by now striking and copywriting all music on IG live yeah is that is that hustling I think it's

I think because it's all their whole business is all based on streaming so for them that is taking away the business from them but technically

I looked at it more from a radio station perspective you know like if I'm playing these songs I played a lot of old school music you know

because I wanted this kind of nostalgic feeling and then have you know so people on these some of these platforms to just not allow

people to play the music it's like bro it's only you're playing a snippet of it you're playing two minutes, that person may want to just go and buy this. So that was like my argument during COVID on how I was able to still play because I went to them.

I'm like, oh, you can't shut this off. You know, like this is saving lives. And then they kind of like help make that happen. And to me, because they're supposed to be smarter than all of us. But again, to me, it's hustling backwards because after you would do a set, I would go on my timeline and find the nerd that made the D-Nice. playlist for this day and the streams went up for every song. It was like

promotion. I don't understand why they're trying to do this now. I'm done with IG Live because I can't play music on it. It makes no sense to me. It's promotion. If somebody hears this shit now, you think they're not going to want to go listen to that song again? So I don't have any

shares of meta. I don't have any meta checks. Well, you know Zuck. But I will say this man, it's like, it's not necessarily just their fault. I think the major labels more than it's meta. It's more on the music side because it's not, that's not a streaming platform. Yeah.

You know, so major labels probably don't feel like, you know, how are we benefiting from it? You know, like, but I'm like, bro, this is like promoting the music. That's how you're benefiting. You know, that's how the artist benefits, you know. Even like a program, the way they do with verified checks, if there was a way a verified DJ would get all free range to play whatever. I don't understand why majors aren't trying to make a program like that. Me and Mall used to do battles of different artists during quarantine back and forth

that was getting 20,000, 30,000 people in there playing mixtape Wayne and Fab shit. I don't understand why certain people, if you're verified to some degree within the music industry, that you're not allowed to do that because it's going to be promotion for everybody. You're not going to lose money on this. Platform is allowing you to do it. That's just not the platform that you chose, I guess, you know? Yeah. Because YouTube did whitelist a lot of people. Fair.

They did allow people to play music. Obviously, Twitch. Oh, I mean Twitch, they smoke Instagram's boots after that. Yeah, you know, because it's own, you know, Amazon or, you know, like, so it was more like IG wasn't really it. But IG was just, IG is the perfect platform, you know, especially at that time for playing music because it was like one-stop shopping. Exactly. You know, you open your phone, you check it, Instagram. You see someone live.

You're like, oh, I'm going to click on that. Yeah. That's why it pisses me off that IG went that route because I get Twitch and YouTube, but like, damn, this was the best community I had was here. And, yeah, and Twitch, even though sonically it was better, you know, because you had stereo sound, IG was just mono. Yeah, yeah. Everything about IG was just wrong, but it was just the best platform, the grittiness.

Yeah, it was a feeling. And like, yo, I'm looking. at my pictures and then oh let me go oh all right my mom's on let me see that yeah oh yo oh shan is live yeah you it was like a radio like a tv station yeah just you know Twitch you had to go there because you wanted to hear that person where you know but yeah man but hey listen I i wish I wish it was a lot easier I wish people had free reign to play what they wanted to play you know it just makes it that much easier and um and you know not promoting their platform I will say this.

The music changed their platforms. Absolutely. You know. But on the flip side, I think it's just me. I'm not a doctor. None of that. But I personally feel like suicide rates would have been higher if we didn't have that connection during that time. One million.

If we didn't have. If we couldn't dance, you know what I mean? If we couldn't just talk to people. I think the pressure. would have been a lot higher. Anxiety levels through the roof. Because you really think about how many people were, like, here's the deal. Like, you have kids, you have a job.

Wake up, 6.30 a.m., getting your kids ready for school, drop them off to school. You're going to work from 9 to 5. Kids come home. You know, from 6 to 8. There's the only time you actually spent with your kids, dinner, go to bed, repeat. So you really didn't spend that much. much time of your family, quarantine hit. Right.

Stuck 24 hours with everybody. Abusive relationships. Like, couldn't go anywhere. Some people put headphones on to escape. Absolutely. Like, it was magical. You know what I mean? It gave you someone to look forward to as well.

Absolutely. A flyer meant something at that time. Like, three more hours. I know what I'm doing tonight. People were getting dressed up in the crib. People were getting dressed up in the crib to dance in their living room in their socks. Yeah.

with full gowns. Right, right. And on top of it, the silly shit that I was doing during, I can't even imagine just, I used to get up in the middle of the night when a bathrobe and PJ is like, yo, this is after dark. Yeah, yeah. Just take you out of the dark. I can't, I can't.

I'm like, I looked like, what was I thinking? But we didn't have a choice. We were stuck at home. Figuring that out. I mean, I had this character. I was Chinchilla Jones. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Somebody sent me a Chinchilla Jones.

cup. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm with the diamonds on it. I looked at that the other day. I'm like, what was that? Figuring it out. But in that moment, it was crazy. It was like, yeah.

Yo, we needed the entertainment. Absolutely. But for people, they were doing the same thing. Yeah. I remember saying like, so crazy. I got a DM from someone from NASA, literally from the NASA handle. Like, yo, remember during quarantine? That's not nuts.

That's not nuts. That's not. That's not nothing. Who says that? That was crazy from NASA. NASA? Remember they lost a rocket during quarantine?

Yeah, I remember yeah. Yo, they were like, we want you to be the theme music. What? For my IG Live, we had like, yo,

I was playing David Bowie while they were launching. I was playing ground control you're in the age of top. You know, it's wild. Holy shit.

The whole experience of like crazy, that's crazy. Getting a DM from NASA is fucking rich. That's ridiculous. Like, who sent it? That is crazy.

What's up now? Yeah. Like, how do you get your first name? How do you respond to that? Like, what the fuck? Oh, man. Yeah, that's crazy. Backtracking a little bit, just a personal question.

Why wasn't Time to Flow as big as my name is D.N? Because I thought that was my shit. Time to Flow was a better record than call me D. Nice. Yeah. Sonically, I think the problem was I didn't know myself as an MC. Okay. So I went into it trying to compete, trying to keep up with Tretch. Okay.

Because I was doing that, I was rhyming like him. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, I only know this now because looking back, I was a kid when I did that, you know, but I was trying to like, yo, I'm just nice. But that's not why people like me, you know what I mean? So I don't think I had my own personality in that record. Okay.

I think it sounded like, which is so crazy because everyone wraps the same right now. but during yeah everyone's doing the same flow same cadence everything right but then that was like a no no you know what I mean we talk about that a lot like back then you got clown for sounding like anybody so I think the record Tretcher's so unique as well

yeah the record for for the people that like D-Nice so call me D-Nice that just wasn't it for them you know what I mean but for me that was like that was my shit bro that was my shit like it was so was my shit you know and I did that track with with KG KG came in with the drums

and all that. Yeah, Dave, who played piano on their records. It was, like, fun, but it probably would have been a bigger record if it was just a trech record. Okay, that makes sense. Yeah. Do you have any trech stories? One of my favorite people.

Man, treach. Tretch and pop, listen, the two of them, man. I don't know who has better stories, by the way, between D-Nice and Prim. Yeah. Cream one day, I just, I asked Prim where the bathroom was and then found out through that question that him and Pock was roommates on tour once. I said Prim. I just wanted to know with a bathroom. The amount of times I just would go to Prim's studio just to ask one simple question knowing I was about to get a three hour and I would just sit there like Indian style.

Because when you're living in the history, you don't even realize it. You know what I mean? Like I remember, you know, this is a Pock story. I mean, I was in Atlanta. My cousin who was my DJ, we called him Mick Boo. He was in BDP. He was like in the crew BDP. We were in Atlanta. I didn't smoke weed. We at this party. Pock is like, yo, the music is loud. Pac's like, yo, you got a blunt?

And I was like, no. So he got a blunt from someone. Split it open. Brood it up, talking. You got a light. No. Got a light from someone. Did he went to pass me the blunt?

And I was like, no, I don't smoke. Yo, he was like, yo. You don't smoke the grot? Yo, you don't smoke the chronic? I'm like, nah, I'm not feeling bad. So my cousin was like, yo, he wanted some. So Pock handed him the blunt. The flashlight was the cops.

You and you come with us. You're under arrest. Literally like clowning me in two minutes late, not even two minutes later. You're getting arrested. You're getting arrested. This is why Pock shot those cops in Atlanta. It all makes sense now.

So we're, now they're in the kitchen of the club. What I will say about Pock, bro, he was a stand-up dude, man, because he wouldn't let them arrest my cousin. Solid. He was like, yo, don't arrest him. Solid. It was mine. It was mine.

No, I don't arrest him. I'm seeing all this from afar. Right. And they let my cousin go and they arrested him. You know what I mean? Like, he was a solid dude, man. Yeah, yeah. And Tretch, Tretch was the same way, bro.

Like, Tretch, not even just walking. But Tretcher is a solid dude. You know, like he, you know, he was just, he was just wild, though. Yeah. He was just different. Like, who goes, performs on stage with a machete? Like, literally with a machete. Yeah.

Like, yo. But it was fly. Yeah, absolutely. That was his thing. Absolutely. And Tretch, of course, comes across, rightfully so, is one of the scariest people. Also one of the nicest human beings. One of the nicest human beings.

But don't cross him, though. You know, I used to. I would never. Yeah. I used to go where. where they lived in East Orange 118th Street. I mean on 18th Street. I grew up on 118th Street in Harlem.

But like I would go out there and hang out with them because, you know, even before they got their deal, because Shaquim, Shaquim and Queen Latifah and I were like, like, I mean, obviously they're still the best friends and business partners, but I was always with them.

You know, like, like Dana and I, we all lived in the same building in Jersey, this old pencil factory called Dixon Mills. Like right in Jersey City. We all lived there. I looked at a few spots there. Yep, she had her video store.

And remember back then you couldn't wire your rent money. It was all rentals. So if she was on tour, if I was on tour, if he was on tour, like we would pay each other's rent. You know what I mean? Just get it back from each other. But like we just have all these stories of like, that's crazy.

Great time. So I would always hang with Shai. and like, yo, let's go, let's go to East Orange, hang with naughty. So, yeah, man, it's, but my stories, bro, like, just to have been in hip hop this long and to still be here and to still be respected by my peers, old school, and younger cats, you know, it's just beautiful. It's, I mean, just sitting here and just kicking it with you today, man. It's just, you know, it's a testament of exactly how much the culture will take care of you if you take care of it.

And I think, and just listening to you in your story, you always had, you respect with you. Whatever you did, you respected it. Like you said, you took things apart. You wanted to learn it, how it works, how it functions. And I think that's just reflective of, you know, even with club quarantine, again, not knowing it, but then once you figured out what it was and how to do it, became the biggest DJ at a time where we all needed music to get us through. The other part for me, it's like how much the younger generation rock with me.

You know, like, I'll be 55 years old, bro. I don't feel it. I don't think I'll look at all. Give me your skincare routine. It's probably melanin, but, you know. I'll be 55. And to have been around this long and like to, I remember when I was, when I told you before, like a lot of hip-hop DJs weren't really trying to.

let me open up for them or, you know, and this was like early on. The one person that reached out, Jermaine Dupree. I'm like, Jermaine. I even know Jermaine like that. He had a social, so-so-deap holiday party in New York. And Jermaine was like, yo, I want D. Nice. Yeah, I got a call one day from Axe Dodorant. One of the execs was like, you know, Mr. T.I wants you to open up for him.

I was like, T.I. knows who I am. I love that they said Mr. T.I. I wanted you to open up for him. I'm like, yo, he knows who, because I felt seen. Right, right. To be away from hip-hop for so long. Right. To feel seen by the younger people, you know what I mean?

It was like, well, the newer artists, I don't know, I'm saying, the younger people, but the newer artist was like, yo, so it made me always want to incorporate their music with what I grew up with to the records that we sampled, to so that's why in my sets, y'all, I play everything. Jay to Sammy Davis Jr. If it feels right, he's going to throw a Sammy Davis song. But if the beat flows with it and I can get it in there and like,

and like take you on this journey, then I'm going to do that. Is that how you approach? Yeah. You approach every party differently. Like you got to feel it while you're there. Yeah, I don't have any like playlist at all. Damn. Like I don't have a playlist literally.

Like the only thing that will look like a playlist on my computers because sometimes at the end of the night, I'll be like, yeah, and that that set was crazy. I just kind of want a reminder. Okay. In case I'm like, yo, what did I play that night? That one song that I just randomly put on, then I'll go to that folder from that day. I'm like, oh, my gosh, that's what it was.

Like, I forgot how dope, what's his name? Derek Bentley joint was with Andre 3000. Gotcha, yeah. Literally the other day, I had not heard that song. in years. Yeah. And like last, like two weeks ago,

I was at home and I'm playing a set on IG for fun. And I started humming that. I'm like, yo, what was that? And then I figured it out and just dropped it. Now I'm like, I got to make this a part of my set.

Yeah, yeah, there's three stacks went off in that show. Yeah, and the beat is crazy. Yeah. Yeah. That record is super underrated.

But that's how I DJ. It's like, I'll feel, I'll remember something. Got you. And then it's like, I got to go there. But the other part that's beautiful is,

I'm not a hip hop DJ. So I get to play whatever it is that I want So that feeling doesn't just have to be with any one specific genre I can be playing like, you know, Hove and then I'm like, oh Oh, this this goes crazy with this Bowie record, you know, fame Because of the drums like oh, and you know, I'm gonna blend it in based on that And then it's just magical, it's like painting, you know? I know you probably signed some NDAs, but what's the craziest record that you saw

Barack just knock his head to? all right the craziest baroque record story would be because baroque likes he actually likes hip hop like trap hip hop and like you know but he loves music his his playlist that he you know the list he puts out is truly a reflection of like what he likes you know and definitely have an n d a but i can say this because this is just one of those moments where i was like yo this is crazy now i'd already DJed the inaugural ball. This was before COVID. He wasn't in, no, he was still, he was still president at the time.

So no, I didn't play, because I played like the second to the last party at the White House. There's like a viral video out with everyone swag surfing in the way. Yeah, I was DJ in that joke. But we were on Martha's Vineyard. This was the craziest scene to like see a sitting president like on vacation. We're at someone's house, one of his boys. I'm DJing this party. And I just, I had to get there for sound check.

It's like mass secret service coming in. Like, I get to see how crazy that situation is. Yeah. They had, you know, artillery that I've never seen before. Yeah. Very specific scope. I was like, yo. Shoot your mustache off.

This isn't even in Call of Duty. I was like, yo, this is crazy. Yeah. So now I'm DJing. party, it's like 50 people. You know, so I'm, I'm playing a party and he came over to me. He was like, hey man, what's that song

he playing? And I was like, oh, it's called Candy Rain. Then he walked up. Then he came back. He's like, who sings that? I was like, so for real. Yeah. And then he started laughing and joking. And you know, like, if you, you homies, he put his arm around me, I put an arm around him,

I'm laughing. And then in this one moment, I remember it where all of those people were set up. Yeah. If I do anything, you know, I'm done. Shooting that hat, shooting that hat off. Getting your head blown off to candy rain. It's crazy.

Oh, yeah. But that's dope, though. The Barack folk with Candy Rain? Yo. That was a jam. That was a joint. That was a joint right there. That's hilarious.

Before we get out of here, what was your favorite verses during quarantine? Because it was you in versus. Outside of the DJ that ended racism, I forgot his name. What was his name? David Gettah tried to end racing. Oh, he tried to end races. Crazy. I actually like David Geller.

No, we do too. That was the craziest clip I've ever seen in my fucking life. That was crazy. Yeah. Yeah. But he's still trying to recover from that. As he should have told him. Yeah.

That was crazy than us wiping our groceries down for sure. Absolutely. Oh, my gosh. Absolutely. But yeah. I mean, versus, it was you and versus, in my opinion. What was your favorite one? My favorite.

versus, I mean, I'm going to be biased because I was on a versus. So I, I curated the Earth, Win and Fire versus the Isley brothers. So, you know, like, I put the songs together. The crazy part about that was I was very vocal. I love Earth, Win and Fire. But I love the Isley brothers. Yeah. And I would always say that.

And I forgot that, like, Philip Bailey and them were always on my IG. Yeah. So when they found out that I was the music. Oh, they thought you were setting it out. They're like, oh, he's sending it up. We were wanting to do that. Yeah, he's rigged. And I'm like, yo, I love both of them.

I'm going to pair the songs. They approach a battle. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You think a rapper would approach that way. Earth would approach that way. Earth would be like, nah, fuck that. No. We're not doing that.

That's crazy. But I was pairing the songs based on what the feeling was. I'm like, yo. And then on top of it, they gave me, they said we want to do a different kind of verses. we want. Which is producing, by the way. That's not, dude, that's producing. It's a hundred percent.

But they gave me a break of, like, I can play six songs back to back of my own many verses of their songs. Oh, wow. So in that verses, I just played a whole set where it was like I was going back and forth from one eyes either this one and that. And it was like, yeah, she was flying, man. So personally, I'm going to say that one was my favorite. Yeah.

Yeah, that's, that's it for me. I mean, that's, I mean, that's, you told Earth went and fire. I mean, who's going to argue with that? Who's going to argue with that? To put you on the spot quickly, doesn't have to be in order. Top five DJs of all time, excluding yourself. Yeah, I'm definitely not top five, so I wouldn't even do that. But that's different.

Depends on the genre, you know, like. Yeah, it's all different because, listen, I like Calvin Harris a lot. Yeah. But he's not Grand Master Flash, but I like, I like, I'll go to his show and I'm like, yo, this is crazy. So if I just stick to like hip hop, but stick to hip hop, man, damn, that's different.

Then it's party DJ versus everything you're saying, like people like Clark or Scratch, like you could put them in any scenario. It doesn't have to be hip hop and they're going to shine. So to me, that's really what I'm asking your top five DJs. It doesn't have to be a genre period. DJs no matter where they go, they will shine. I love Mark Ronson.

Yeah, Mark is incredible. You put Mark in any room for anybody and Mark is going to shine. Producers make the best DJs. Yeah. Clark Kent for sure. I love Stretch Armstrong. Yeah. Y'all, Stretch will shine.

Yeah. Don't let him play. Renge said. Right. He's bodying you. Yeah. You're looking at this white boy like, yo, how the hell does he notice? I did the corny.

shit. I introduced myself to stretch on the G train. He was sitting there and I was like, I can't not say like, hello. I introduced us, man. I was like, y'all, I just want to say what I'm a fan. Like, I felt like I played myself once I got off the platform, but I was like, there's no way I'm just sitting on the train.

There's not. You got to say what's up to stretch. Trying to think, who else do I like? I really like, he DJs for Usher now, but he's like older generation but he's still rocking on DJ Mars. Yeah, hell yeah. I go to Atlanta and he would, y'all, bro, he was having the party's crazy.

Like to the point where I didn't want to get on with him, man. I'm like, because he knew those records. Yeah, yeah. And man, who else? I got one more. I got one more. Rich Medina is a different. Oh, okay.

Rich Medina is part of the reason that I play with the soul. I know I named a lot of New York DJs because that's who I was going to hear. Right. You know, and I got to spend a lot of time and I see the love of music. But like Rich, Rich's knowledge. You know, he doesn't brag about it, but he's like Cornell dude with Cornelia. He's like literally like, just this brilliant mind, but he's this guy that fully loves music. I think he loved music.

Clark was more of a showman. He did love music, but it was the showman. The showman, yeah. Rich just the music, bro. Yeah, yeah. And like, or Quest love, like, Quest, Quest is crazy to me. It took me a minute to understand his DJ and because I couldn't figure out. I'm like, why is he doing that?

Like, what's he playing? And one day I went to a party. Quest would be my sixth man. I would say that because I went to a party and totally changed how I DJ. I went to a party. I walked in, he was DJing. And he was mixing Nirvana and poison and Belbiviv de Vogue poison. I'm like, in that moment, he was like the poison drum.

And then he would switch it to the, um, that dun dun dun da, And I was like, oh my gosh, he's a fucking drummer. Right. He's not playing from the baseline. He's playing from the drums. Right.

He's not four on the floor. He's playing like the feeling of the drums. Holy shit. Right. And then totally changed everything. I was like, oh no, I got to like really pay attention to these. That's incredible. Quest DJs the way Jay Dilla produces.

It's the most unorthodox shit. I would just go to Brooklyn Bowl by myself sometimes, just to, see a Quest Love DJ set. I tell you this. I know we got to go. I'm sorry to take up this time. I'm good. So two years ago, I was supposed to DJ

Jay and Beyonce's Gold Party, Oscar joint. And it was the night, so it was three Oscars. So it was the night that I was DJ on the Oscars. So like a DJ to Oscars, then I played the Governor's Ball, right after the Oscars. Then I left there. I played Vanity Fair for one hour. And then I was supposed to end up at Jay's party.

But Jay found out that I was also doing Madonna's party in Madonna and Gauss series. So Jay is like, yo, those are the parties that everyone want, they all want to go to. So Jay is like, nah. You can do that. We'll do you another time. So in the following year, when he hit me up, It was like, he put this pressure on me because he said, yo, you ready for the gold party? Well, why am I trying to sound like that?

You know, I'm over here. With the canes and everything. You know, this is a special party. It's like, this ain't no regular party. There's no regular party. What Quest Love did was masterful. Yeah, yeah. You sure you can handle this?

My ego was like, man, I can't. What you're talking about? Jay is such an asshole. Yo, Lydia ass was like, yo, Jay, what are you doing, bro? Yeah. He was like, no, I got to know. Like, this is the goal party.

Yeah, yeah. Yo, what he said was right. It is the goal party. Now I'm nervous. And I'm like, man. Now you second guess. Yeah. So I call Questlove because Jay said,

Questlove played the best set that I've ever heard ever. So now I called Amir up And I'm like, yo, Jay said You played the best set he ever heard I probably shouldn't say it's from sad anyway Amir was like, you want to hear a set? I recorded it. I was like, wait, what?

Then I listened to it And it was probably one of the most perfect sets that I've ever heard because he didn't stay with one thing. But I was like, it's the fucking way I already DJed over. Right, right, right. I was like, oh man, this dude

putting all this person. on me. Yeah, this is what I do. Man, I played the Go Party last year. Like after that, after hearing a mere set, I was like, no, I'm going to do me. And it was me and Clark. And I played my set. Yo, Clark tapped me on. He was like, yo. He was like, yeah. Bro. Actually, he didn't say that. He said, naga. Yeah. Yeah. He was like, naga. Yeah. Because it was, it was the zone. Yeah. You know what I mean? To find that zone and to be comfortable.

Right. It's like as a DJ, you know, when you play a song where you can feel that everyone loves it, where all you can do is just smile because you can do no wrong at this point. It's like the people are, once they believe in you, first of all, when you walk into the door, if you're a fantastic DJ, the fact that you walked into that door, that changes everything because part of that set is them seeing you. Right. Like, yo, yo, stretch Armstrong.

I can see it. Oh, this is about to be some... So part of the work is done by you just showing up. Part of work was done when I walked into the gold party. They're like, oh, yo. Oh, you rock it? Yeah. Oh, then it's different.

Then you get to play and to be in that zone, man. And I'm forever grateful that Jay can put that kind of pressure to make you want to be great. Yeah. But I'm also grateful that Amir was like, oh, you want to hear it? Yeah, that's fine. And I was like, yo, this is crazy. So I'm going to break an NDA with this entire thing. I think Jay-Z put that pressure on you because Jay-Z secretly wants to be a DJ.

Probably. We, I mean, I don't DJ, but our Palooza crew, J&B booked us twice to do parties for them, like private shit of the Paloosa crew. Yes. The entire time, Jay-Z was hovering over the DJ booth on us making every, I was like, yo, do you just want to get on the wheels of steel here, bro? Jay wants to be a DJ. Yeah.

I can see it. He was like, yo, you should blend this with this. I'm like, yo, awesome. he got it. Produce. I can actually see that. I loved it. It was very interesting to see him in a vulnerable place of just being a music lover.

Like I think Jay-Z wants to be a DJ. Yeah, because even like during that set, you know, of course I had an indie for that too, you know, during that set, like I was, what's Kendra's cousin name? Keem. Keem. I never even heard that record, you know what I mean? Like, you're talking quarantine being nice. Yeah.

I'm playing all the classics. Like new records was like, that wasn't my new record zone. You know what I'm saying? Like that time, I didn't even know anything about it. He's like, yo, you got to rock that. Yeah. Yo, joint went off. And I was like, so I think he probably secretly does want.

Oh, you know, the amount of requests he made in the two parties that we did for him in real time. Also, computers is Jay-Z's favorite song. I want to let you know that. He made us play computers three times in a row. Yeah. Get the party rocking. Yeah. That's just fun.

Wow, this has been incredible. This conversation has been great for me, man. This is like a dream come true for me, man. Just growing up watching you, you know, following your career and everything that you've done in the culture, hip hop. We just thank you for coming by today and kicking with us, man. Like this is like, I'm all over the place right now. The stories and just the knowledge and everything that you've given us. We appreciate it.

And thank you for club quarantine. This is the five-year anniversary. You rocking the Apollo this week. And then where you, I've seen you somewhere else next week, I believe. Oh, that I just promoted it. Yeah. No, I'm doing club quarantine in Baltimore. Baltimore.

During the Preakness. Okay. Yeah, that's actually a big one too, man. Yeah, that's crazy. Do you have Baltimore Club music? Yeah, but I want to have a little bit of that. I can give you a folder if you need one. I'll call Jay Z.

You got a folder for sure. I can send you the wave file of swing that shit if you need me to. As long as I can rock that song with the orchestra because I'm using an orchestra with that too. Okay, fine. I'm using the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra with it. Love that. Incredible.

But yeah, man, like I'm excited about it. So even with that, you know, I got the call from the first lady of Maryland. It's like, hey, you know, like literally her calling me like, hey, they want to bring club. quarantine, CQ5. She didn't even call it club quarantine. That's how I don't know she really follows. She's like, I think we want to do CQ5 doing the pre-ness. Yeah.

I was like, oh, well, let's do it. Yeah. But yeah, man, but I do want to say thank you. I'll be 100% honest. I was like, when I got the call, I was like, I know who you guys are. And I'll follow it. I'm like, man, they're not going to find my story interesting. You know what I mean?

Like, this is probably going to be. What? You heard me ask, I was like, how long? I asked one of your producers, I'm like, y'all, how long is this? What? Well, we got the option for the date. I hope it's quick. They said D. Nice.

I was like, bam. You cool? That was D. Nats was like, what? Why would you even ask with that? Yeah.

This is a dream for me, man. Like I said, I, you know, you are definitely one of the reasons I fell in love with hip hop, man. So thank you for coming by kicking with us today. Yeah.

And first time meeting you, I also understand why club quarantine worked outside of your DJ skills. You have great energy. Like, I think that that probably somehow was involved in one million percent. I agree with you. It was, not just the blends.

Yeah. Yeah. It was D. Nice. I also get it now. Yeah. This is a good person. Thank you, man. That was D. Nice.

The legendary D. Nice. Hopefully y'all enjoyed that as much as I did. If not, I don't give a fuck. Because this is just personal for me. If he didn't have to leave, we could have won another three. Yeah, this is, this is personal great. D. We thank you and we salute you and we support you forever, brother.

You know, I got to pull his camera out. Oh, love. You got great lighting here. Got that, Peach? Yeah. The Knights took my photo. Y'all niggas can't tell more. Nothing.

On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

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