No Jumper - The Smooth B of Nice & Smooth Interview

Episode Date: July 7, 2020

Smooth B (from legendary rap group Nice & Smooth) sat down with Adam to some monumental stories about working with Bobby Brown, writing for him, his relationship with Bobby and Whitney Houston, his friendship with Donnie Wahlberg, the golden era of hip hop, being part of a group and more! 6:12 Back in the days when artists could be themselves, the definition of the golden era 27:28 Smooth B doing odd jobs to access some key people in the industry then landed a gig going on tour with Bobby Brown 49:14 Smooth B and Bobby had the greatest relationship and would write for him with writers credit, while meeting all the celebrities 52:50 Smooth B explains how he met his counterpart Greg Nice 1:16:54 Bobby did not introduce the wild life to Whitney, she was already on ----- FOLLOW US ON SNAPCHAT FOR THE LATEST NEWS & UPDATES https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_Jumper/4874336901 FOLLOW OUR NEW SPOTIFY PLAYLIST! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/529mn7of2HBKdLfrAMUzcK?si=rWVBWCuWSXeh0TFYb2P-dQ CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE STORE!!! http://www.nojumper.com/ SUBSCRIBE for new interviews (and more) weekly: http://bit.ly/nastymondayz Follow us on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nojumper iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/no-jumper/id1001659715?mt=2 Follow us on Social Media: https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_Jumper/4874336901 http://www.twitter.com/nojumper http://www.instagram.com/nojumper https://www.facebook.com/No-Jumper-198283650194402/ http://www.reddit.com/r/nojumper JOIN THE DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Q3XPfBm Follow Adam22: http://www.twitter.com/adam22 http://www.instagram.com/adam22 and adam22hoe on Snapchat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No Jumpper, coolest podcast in the motherfucking world. And today we are in here with the one and only. Yes, sir. The legendary smooth bean, man, with Adam 22. Of nice and smooth. And I just got done introducing you to like a video part of there's a BMX rider named Joe Tissio who died back in 2001. And his memorial section was actually edited to sometimes around slow, sometimes around quick.

Yeah. And that was kind of like my introduction. And we were just having the conversation about how like a song like that could, you know, take on a completely different context when you view it under the guise of being like a memorial type song. Yeah, that's a fact, man. You know, it's a beautiful thing. And please, you know, Adam told me you're going to send it to me. I'm a post that. You know what I'm saying? Jotisio, man. Blessings, man. Rest and peace. You know what I'm saying? It's like fallen soldiers. And, I mean, this life, man, this shit is interesting, you know what I'm saying? Like, to say the least, you know what I mean? Like, but I was about to tell Adam about how I would experience things where

one time I'm all I'm trying to do, I'm in the Bronx, I'm at my mother-in-law's house, I'm checking on family, I'm seeing my nieces and nephews, and I just say, you know, fuck it, I'm going to the store and give me a turkey and cheese sandwich from the corner bodega because they make the best turkey and cheese joins.

I'm back on the block. I go up in there, get the sandwiches and everything. I come outside. Soon as I come outside, this young guy walks up to me. He goes, oh shit, smooth B. I'm like, hey, what's up man? He's like, you know man you don't understand what your music means to me man my mom used to play your music every day and i was like work he said man in your song cake and neither two was her favorite song and we played it at her funeral and i was like whoa i said for real man and i shook his hand he goes in his wallet

and he pulls out a picture of his mom he said my moms will not even believe right now that i'm meeting you because she always wanted to meet you but I feel like she's present. I was like, that's blessed. Show me pictures of his mom. They said, hey, I want you to take it. I could tell you. That was too heavy.

I was like, I can't take a picture of your mom, dude. Maybe it's like, no, take it. It means something to me. It's a sign. I just hugged them and I was like, listen, man, I can't do that. That's sacred. You keep that. But yeah, man, it's amazing how music can touch people.

You have really no idea. You know, as artists, you put in so much work sometimes. And sometimes you can wonder if it was in vain, depending upon where you think it went or who it touched. And a few years ago, man, I remember about 15 years ago? I'm very close. I know a lot of people, but I'm very close to Donnie Wahlberg. That's my dude.

Really? Okay. Oh, that's my brother. Wow. And one day we were talking, and Donnie knows all my music. He knows it all. So one of my albums that we did, which was the third album called Juula the Nile, I was dissatisfied with the fact of the promotion on it, because when people still hear that song to, I mean, that album to this day,

Like we got songs with Slick Rick Everlast. Like, it's some sick material on there. But due to, you know, the game was changing and all this other stuff, whatever, so many different dynamics because there's a lot of dynamics that goes into putting records out. Right. Long story short, to me it got lost in the shuffle because I saw where it could be the potential of it. And long story short, so, but the weirdest thing is certain people, what Donnie said to me, the point is he said, no, who got it was whoever got it was supposed to be.

supposed to get it. And I was like, hmm. I said, that's a way to look at it. You know, he was like, I know that whole fucking album. And then we just, you know, so. Well, that is a weird thing. Think about though, because nowadays, especially, it's kind of like how your album is going to do,

has so much to do with, you know, streaming services, if the radio decides they're going to want to fuck with you, if you have the kind of fan base that's going to really go out there and support you, et cetera. So sometimes we forget about that idea of, oh, like the people are just going to gravitate to whatever they're going to gravitate to, because now it's so transparent that there's so much marketing and so much going on

that's basically meant to drive potential fans to whatever music the big labels have decided is going to be the sound of the times. And it's like at that time, you were very much the victim of that as well, where like if the label didn't understand your project, they didn't have a hit to go off or whatever, it must have been unbelievably frustrating because you didn't get to have a real role in the promotion, right? It was basically left up to them. Right. And you could have all the conversations in the world, but then somebody else will say, I'm not pushing that button.

Whoa! That she used to be crazy. I mean, trying to imagine, once you come to a level where you feel like, oh, shit, you know, I'm in this. I know this. This is me. Once you receive your art and then you go out and the world receives it, then you start to get an inclination. You start to say, this is what they want to hear. They want to hear what I feel. What makes me feel good is what they want to hear. And then, you know, people always, these cliches, it's not business. I mean, it's not personal as business. No, business becomes personal. Shit, how I'm going to provide for my family, man.

You understand? And I'm trying, I can speak for myself. Like, at that time, I'm like, dude, I didn't came from the streets. I don't seem some shit that a lot of people are lying about on records. You know, that's a fact, dude. Like, I'm really that. I come from that. And I'm not even talking about none of that.

I'm not glorifying it. I'm trying to make people happy and make people dance. You know what I'm saying? With a new sound that I know is going to inspire people to come after me. And then they're going to win if the right people push the right buttons, man. That shit was super frustrating. Was it super frustrating because you felt like there were all these gangster-ass artists that they were taken and shoving out in front of you

because they themselves didn't feel like some more positive or inspirational or intelligent music music was necessarily going to be able to move the dial. Right. Wow. Yeah. And to see it and know that it's a falsehood. Because guess what? I always go back to this reference, man.

You know, back in the days when they just let people be themselves and just look, you can look at a person and say, this person is honest with what they're saying. It might not even be my lifestyle. But there's a certain honesty there. This motherfucker speaking his truth. That's why you will see certain people at certain people. certain times blow up and you'd be like, hi this motherfucker blew up.

He's not doing it. He's speaking his truth. And somebody believed in it and pushed the fucking button. That's it. And so Slick Rick didn't sound like Bismarkey or Raq Kim or public enemy or KRS One or Big Daddy Kane. None of them sound like nice and smooth. But we all were able to come out at a time

that they quote unquote consider the golden error. But what made that era? Golden. People being themselves, authenticity, and having the freedom to rock like that. Now, the funny part is it got closed in. Everything became just numbers. All right, yeah, yeah, yeah. People lie, numbers, don't lie. I get it. But here's what I'm saying, though, dog. The thing that bugs me out, and back then people used to say to me, you're just ahead of your time, you're ahead of your time. It used to bug me out. But I kept going, you know, it is what it is. But the thing was, to be right on time.

Like if somebody says you're ahead of your time and then 10 years later, I'm talking about it, I went from the process of, why are you singing and rapping? Everything we did was questioned. Why are you singing and rapping? And we really didn't care

because especially you teamed up with nice little. It was like, we're on our shit and we know where it come from and we know what we're doing. So we stood on it. So people would say, why are you singing and rapping? And it'd give me an opportunity to explain it.

Nah, nigga, it started melodic. It started. I'm just a throwback. to where how the original motherfuckers did it be you know come on and then and you watch people it's interesting to watch people when they're experiencing something new when they think that they know and they heard it and then you come with some new shit one thing don't lie that neck barb so i was sit in meetings and see motherfuckin their head but because it was so new and so fresh and something that they weren't used to i don't know how that's going to translate your

Your fucking neck just translated it, player. You was patting your feet for the last 15 fucking minutes. It's called body language. You didn't even know you jamming with me. Right. Push the fucking button, man. Stop playing, man. Right.

That was my frustration. Yeah. I mean, there must be kind of maddening at that time, right? Yeah, it was crazy. And especially because you guys were getting love from so many other people in hip-hop that were big at that time to then see, and especially because you start to believe in yourself as a bit of a marketing guru. Yeah.

Just through promoting your own project, so then to be told that you don't know what the fuck you're doing by somebody who... And from your perspective, okay, because there's a lot of conversation that's going on right now about how labels are set up and is there enough representation from black people from people in the culture? Are there necessarily the pathways set up so that people can move from one position to another? At that time, did you feel like the labels were like completely out of touch with the culture? because this is, I feel like the situation may have gotten better, but it still seems like there's a long way to go. Yeah, it was definitely a long way to go. And I'm glad

to still be here to see where it went. You know what I'm saying? So, it was all necessary. But back then, it was like, and it was crazy. They would, man, the shit, the game was a crazy motherfucker boy. Look, at first,

they really did leave it up to the, to the real ones, to the hip-hop pioneers like in the beginning they had cool DJ Red Alert on the radio occupying a space and time and a major platform to play real shit right then they had Chuck Chill out

all of these guys were from the Bronx they knew how it started they knew how to blend and then time went on and they left it to the DJ they left it to play what you want to so the DJs were breaking and making records right and that's a thing that's uh i don't it's kind of like these days people don't really have the desire to break records

and i'm trying to change that you know like nah man feel what you feel man come on stop that bullshit you know because people who choose to sometimes fall in line but if it's dealing with the culture nah man because see especially now everything is digital a person could put a put a record out right now i can talk with you and just press a button and put my shit out every nice and smooth album you heard just period that we've ever released everyone was at least a year after we created it

okay so it was the machine it was what we you know we had to wait so it's due to the album hurry up and wait you know what I'm saying we need that album done okay we charged give me a little bit of bread let me make this happen bam go up in the studio bang it out come back listen to it

well do debate boom boom come to an agreement back we ready yeah when we're coming out Oh, we just got to figure this shit out. Because, you know, we get made to drop LL. And we got to drop public enemy. You know these guys are multi-planet. Fine.

When we're coming out? Right. Okay, bad. A year later. You know what I'm saying? So it used to, it was a trip, but it was a crazy learning experience. And things like that make me appreciate now. That's what, those are things that ignite me and excite me and excite me. I could really create some shit.

And then I got beautiful artists around me. You know, they say, count your blessings, not your problems. You know what I'm saying? So I'm always reminded of that. I try to look, what's going on around me? What do I have access to? You know, what was different? I asked myself several questions all the fucking time.

I'm like my own psychiatrist. You know what I'm saying? I keep asking myself, okay, where are you at right now? How do you feel about this shit? You ready? All right. You know? And so that's what?

but led to new releases, man. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Interesting. So, yeah, when you look at, how much attention do you necessarily put into the hip-hop game at this point in your life? And, you know, it seems like people grow with rap music in very different ways over time. There's a lot of people who might have their main run in the spotlight,

and then they just sort of become sick of it and disgruntled after seeing that. There's some people who will keep listening to the same music they're listening to when they're age. team for the rest of their lives. Like how has that gone with you over the past couple of decades? Yeah, man, I'm going to tell you something. I always have my go-toos. I have my different music that I just enjoyed hearing. So I often revisit the classics. You know what I'm saying? I find myself listening to everybody, man, Doug and Slick and and rock him, some of my favorites from him

and Kooji rap. And then, you know, that along with Because my background is crazy. I love music, so I've been around soul music. I listen to all old classic soul, R&B, Motown. I'm always listening to some shit. And then, you know, one of my uncles, Uncle Lemwood, he told me he's in his 80s. He's an OG. I call him Yoda.

And Yoda told me one time, he said, smoothie. He's a very theatrical, man, brilliant. And he's like, my smoothie, always remember, the mind is like an umbrella. It works better when it's open. And I'm like, okay, you got that. So I'll be, I try to keep open mind. So long story short, now I got a few kids. You and my kids, they're up now.

They're in their 20s and shit, you know. And they're dope artists, the whole nine yards, and they basically kind of like jumpstarted me again. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, watching them and just like, because they were always around me as little kids, even of me or my wife, we didn't have a babysitter. Because my wife is an artist.

So even as little kids, I would take them with me to the studio. They'd have been in the studio with MOP. They've been in the studio from MOP to Bobby Brown to Whitney Houston to new kids on the block. My kids. So, but just because that's what it was. Come with me, where we going, Dad, don't mind about it. Come on, we're going to bring a sleeping bag. We're going over to Uncle Bobby house.

You know what I'm saying? We're recording. They just running around around all this shit. You know what I'm saying? But it started to take a knack. And when I least expected it, because as I grew, as they grew with me, they always just saw me in the dad position. So it wasn't until they were like mid-teens that they really realized

because one time actually I brought them out here to California and I ran in one trip in two weeks. I ran into Snoop, I ran into Ice Cube. And I ran into this guy, they just call them Cockroach. Oh my God, Carpane. I ran in a Carpane. So these are people that my kids know from television. You know what I'm saying?

Obviously, they know who Snoop is, you know, and they know, and they know more of Ice Cube as a movie star. They know him from Barbershop, you know what I'm the state generation. And when they saw him like, snow, and so after the conversations or whatever, my kids would go, Dad, I never knew you knew Ice Cube. Yeah, I know all of them. Then we ran into Snoop. Snoop, and they were a little older, so they didn't even remember meeting him when they were young. He said, oh, man, y'all getting big. So he started talking.

They said, man, I remember when y'all came down to John Lett him? because one time he was in John Letterman, the Letterman show in New York or whatever. Did I say his name right? David. David Letterman or Jay Leno? No. I thought you could kind of mask him up.

I masked him. My bad. David Letterman. Right, there you go. I called him, John. Okay, fuck it. Hey. Hey. You've been in the game for a long time.

You met a lot of people. It's all good. Help me, man. Help me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we went down to the Letterman show. Uh-huh. And, you know, Snoop, he got a long trail of smoke when he come through. So when we got to the, um,

the dressing roll, we was in the hallway, it was just like, lit up. I had the little ones with me, and he came out here, smoke! And we embraced, and they see my kids, and he's like, oh, shit, man, I don't want to be evison, man. Look, they don't been in the studio with me.

They're good. You know what I'm saying? So, but it bugged him out when he saw them again, and he started talking about, I mean, you brought them to the letterman show. I said, yeah. I don't know shit like that. So they were like, Dad, you know these guys.

Yeah, then after that, they started, I mean, they had already been writing, but it was quiet. And they would never let me know that they could rhyme, sing, or nothing. Oh, really? And I had, I walked up on a rhyme cipher. After I came off doing a show on the road, I walked up on the rhyme cipher. And that's how I found out that my kids could rhyme.

Because they were just, they were getting it in backstage. They were in the house. And when I came in, I was dropping my bags or so. I was right in the living room and I'm taking my knapsack off. And my wife's like, so my oldest daughter, she plays the acoustic guitar. So she's sitting in there. And she's just strumming, and my son and my other daughter are just flowing. Shit.

So I'm standing in the doorway, and they giving it up. And I was like, oh, shit. And then my older door, I already see, my oldest daughter, her name is Genesis. So I already knew she could sing and rap and all that. So, but them two, I had no fucking idea. Wow. So she started singing a hook, and then they both came back rhyming. And then my youngest daughter, man.

Like, she's a cosmetologist to this day. She does. Man, she does. Jamie Fox's daughter's shit It's like she does all the next generation Like I knew Jamie Fox from back in the days She does her, his daughter's makeup Uh

Russell Simmons' nieces and shit She does their maker So it's real trippy Right And so long story short I know her to be on her cosmetology shit She started giving up bars I mean real ones

And it just brought tears to my eyes I was just like oh shit I don't believe this So when they looked up and saw me in the door where they stopped And I was like, no, go ahead, keep going, please, please. And they were just quiet looking at me, like, oh, shit, dad caught us. I said, no, no, no, no, no, no, man, keep doing it.

And so they started getting me back into the zone. Then I started listening to what they were listening to. They introduced me to trap. You know what I'm saying? Oh, this is trapped, Dan. You know what I'm saying? This is what, you know, tip down in Atlanta, he's doing this, and this is considered trap.

And I'm like, oh, what? Okay. And so they, you know, and things like that. And so that's, you know, that's kind of like the balance, man, having another generation to expose you to what's going on. But you ever hear one of your kids rap about some shit that you know they ain't really ever did and that's weird for you as a dad,

even though you also kind of know that like the history of rap music is also largely the history of, there's been a lot of rappers who've been talking about a lot of shit they never did. It's gotta be kind of weird though because you hear your kids say something about a gun and you know they never been like that. And that's gotta be a weird feeling as a dad, right?

Oh man, let me tell you something. It's a trip because you start to see that, you see the power of music. And you see how... Because all the shit they're listening to is talking about this. So to them, that's what rapping is. That's what it is. And see, so here was the deep part.

I'm going to tell you, oh, man, that's a great question. Here's the fucking funny part, Adam. These little motherfuck of this. Okay, so they know what it is. And they know what they've been exposed to. And I always tell them, I tell them, I be like, listen, y'all, you know, all the glitters ain't go, you know what I'm saying?

So I just, certain shit, I just throw it out there and I leave it. You know what I mean? and hope that they catch the best part. So my son, he's a young man. So as he was developing, he had this, and he's also an artist, he draws. I guess he was going through this little gun phase, right? So, you know, it was a lot of action movies and motherfuckers shooting shit up. It was what it was.

And so he would draw guns. So my wife found that as a, you know, it could be a tell sign. And like, what's wrong with Malachi? He's drawing a lot of guns. I say, he's just feeling it. You know, maybe he's watching his first. favorite action movies and shit. He was getting into his fascination with guns.

Then I heard a couple of rhymes. I blow your fucking face off. I was like, whoa! You know what I was saying? Because I gave him a past. You know, I was like, listen, you're artists. I'm an artist. I'm your dad.

I'm going to do the best that I possibly can. I'm going to do my gig. But come to me as an artist. We're going to keep this shit a hundred. You won't rock with this? We're going to keep it raw. All that shit, if you rhyming and you cursing, you don't have to stop right to tell me.

I want to blow his fucking face off. They was like, all right, Dad. I put the battery in this little motherfucker back. He came back and, I cut the motherfucker hat off. I blew it face off. The bitch was sucking my God. I was like, hey, hey, hey, pop. What are you doing?

You're 14. All this dicking and sucking and shooting. Right. Pop. And he's like, but I wasn't that. Like, with a dope beat? Like, he's like, see my vision with a dope. Beat.

Woo! I'm like, okay, listen. Okay. It's going to be tough to pick your role. Pick your path here. Like, how are you going to talk to him about this? So I said, this is what I told him. I said, listen, listen.

I said, listen. Remember, before a team. You're doing a lot of dick and then shooting. Okay. Keep that one. I said, but I want you to listen to my songs. I start playing stuff to him. I play cool.

and so I started to tell them, I said, a lot of these OGs, those guys were real deal. But they gave you a morality tale. I said, y'all are not getting the morality tale. You're just getting glorification right now. And no one is teaching this new generation that there was a beginning before the last person that introduced them to the game. And so that's the disconnect. I said, so what I want you to do, you got homework to do.

I said, I'm not knocking nothing. Like I told you, you were artists. If that's what you felt, you feel like saying that crazy shit, say that crazy shit. But we're going to put that right there. Now I want to hear more. And so, boom, time went on, and he just started developing. And then when I introduced him to them, I was saying, now this guy named is Melly Mel. He was in a group called the Furious Five.

And I took them through the history. They was like, damn. And they started seeing how fascinating it was. Then what I did was I took like, let's say it was, I think Tip. A few people sampled the message over the years. But around that time, somebody had originally, somebody that was like of their era had sampled some old Furious Five shit.

Okay. So it was something that was familiar with. I said, you know this song? And it was like, yeah, bo-b-b-bhbhbhbbbbbb. And I was like, yeah, the original song was called The Message. I said, let me show you where this shit come from. So I showed him, I go to the video and I showed him. I said, look.

I said, you see this guy? This is Melly Mel. And he was like, he looked familiar. I said, yeah, because I introduced you to him. They was like, oh, Big Mel. I was like, yeah, that's him. And so they're looking at the video. So you see that background?

It was like, yeah. I said, that shit looked like a scene out of Beirut, right? So yeah, I said, that's the South Bronx. That's where I grew up. This where this shit come from. And I started breaking it down to him. I said, man, motherfuckers, come on, man. It was loss of life, it was struggle.

It was like insurmountable odds. Hip hop wasn't even considered to be a fucking art form. Do you understand what the fuck is going on? My son's like, whoa! So I was like, yeah, now watch, keep learning. Now, tell my daughter, come on, get your ass over here. You rhyme very well. Now listen to Shah Rock.

Y'all rock. Listen to the Funky 4 plus one more. Listen to this one. Listen to that one. And I just kept feeding them. Feeding them. Feed them. Then I waited. Then when I started hearing their music again, I was, oh, now I hear the evolution. Now I hear the evolution. Now I hear more of their truth into what because they realized that they had the freedom to do that. Right. And I told them, I said, it's going to be fire. I said, you know, you're going to play for everybody. And then I would take them around certain people that they might have, like, yo, listen to my son. They're like, yo, that's you? That's your fire.

Well, listen to my, I said, see, now keep going. Then we got to the point where they shit started advancing. And then really listened back, I blew your fucking finger. I don't think I want to put that out there. I was like, all right, cool. Mission accomplished. Because if you as a dad try to just cut them off right away and say, no, you can't do that because that's not who you are or whatever.

Like, you've got to encourage them to experiment in private, right? Yeah, you have to. Because then when you cut them short, then you're just back in the dad box. My dad don't fucking understand me. Everybody forgets that their dad was the same age as them at some time. You gotta be able to dip back and forth between being the dad and being somebody who's actually encouraging the art, you know. That makes sense to me. Yeah, because I was watching a documentary about nice and smooth in the early days,

and they were showing a bunch of footage of the Bronx back in the day when you guys started. And it's like, holy fuck. It's hard to remember. I mean, I wasn't around, but it's crazy to look back on that time here. So that was the time period when the Bronx was burning. the you always hear about, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, there was a lot going on,

and then later on, you know, you start to find out that I guess, I don't know, I don't want to use the wrong term, but maybe the mayor at that time was in on it or the Congresswoman, whatever, but there was a thing where... The insurance scams, right, yeah. Burn this motherfucking building down

and you get whatever money or whatever. It was something that they was doing. So every time you turned around, another fucking building was fucked up. Right. Or the, you're chilling, you're living in a building.

The next thing, all the lights go out. And you're like, what the fuck? fuck is going on you know and it was all of those type of you know situations man and shit was crazy right it was definitely crazy that's a wild backdrop for people who live in new york now and like when you go to new york now it's like it feels like you're in fucking Disneyland sometimes in certain areas that were the the the hood or whatever 10 years ago is yeah yeah i mean you take it back 20 years ago and if you go to 42nd street oh god oh yeah whoa 25 years ago you had to really really really

be secure and have to have a team with you. Motherfuckers, the boy, you could get robbed on 42nd Street. Like, that. Do you appreciate the improvements over the years as a native New Yorker just because now you could go to Times Square with your family and you wouldn't have nothing to worry about? Yeah, yeah, you know, it's definitely appreciated in that sense, you know. Yeah, man, I like, damn, especially when you get a chance to travel. I got a chance to travel different places, you know.

But then I come back, you want, I mean, come on you. the reason we work hard to move to different places to have a better life experience. People live to try to improve their lifestyle. So it's like, damn, can't you... It becomes a thing where you're saying, now, I know what I'm saying? I know what I'm saying?

Like, you start to like, man, come on, man. This shit is ridiculous now. Like, we really got to fuck with this like this? Right. Y'all can't, you know, and so to go, you know, you can go on 40s 2nd Street and it's 3D movies and they got the different sections

and, you know, little restaurants in the movie theaters now. You know, it's a good feeling. Okay, I got you. So your very first introduction to the music business was through going on tour with Bobby Brown? So how did that happen? How did this actually unfold? So, look.

That's pretty legendary. Yeah, man, that was some shit. Okay, so now, mind you, I had a million fucking jobs. I was a dude that just always wanted to do something and get some paper. Plus, it didn't, you know, moms, you know, them households back in them days my era, my mom be like, oh, every parent prepared their kids to be 18 years old to get the fuck out.

And when you, they'd be the countdown. 18, motherfucker. Make sure you got your shit together. Right. You be like, oh, shit. In New York City now, that sounds pretty crazy because what the fuck are you going to do at 18 that's going to make you enough money to have an apartment and have a life, you know? Right.

That's hard to imagine now. Yo, dude. Parents in New York got to be a little more flexible now. Oh, yeah, they're way flexible, man. Right. I just laugh. I look at my nieces and nephews. I just laugh.

Like, cool. You know, good shit. You know what I'm saying? Like, I mean, I wouldn't throw minds out if the shit was like, but it was so crazy. It was crazy back then. But I don't know. It was another kind of sense of, I don't know, maybe a sort of morality because you had a lot of programs back then. And it was like, it was crazy.

But then it was just, it was still like loving. Like, each family. had the I would you say the permission to protect your kids right or check your kids if they see them fucking up in the street So that's everything so anyway next thing you know countdown when you turn 18 How your badge ready little nigger soon as you graduate high school get ready okay fine So I would always you know having a job always over all right fine have millions of jobs So now once I started really really getting into the music after high school I was convinced I said

this shit. I could do it. I started making my demos and all of that. I comes up with this fucking bright idea to become a messenger. Why a messenger? Because when we used to buy albums back in the days, we would flip the album over and read the back. And when you read the back of the albums, it told you the address of the record companies. So back then, I was fascinated with that shit. All my favorite artists, I don't talk about prints, Michael Jackson, Rick James. I always read. So I knew the streets, like I was like, CBS is on 51st Street. you know so in my mind i said if i make my demos and i become a messenger i'll be delivering packages all throughout new york wow and then if i find myself over on 51st street i could slide right up in

cbs and maybe try to drop my demo off you know that was about my way see this is a real long-term hustle that the average kid out there can not fucking comprehend man can't even fucking comprehend no shit that's amazing yeah man so i was that's where my mind was but everybody around me now Knowing and seeing this shit I used to do that one time I was a fucking Receptionist on Wall Street like I had all types of crazy jobs so at this point I said I'm gonna be a message ain't I was like this motherfucker that lost his mind Smooth is crazy I didn't tell him the whole plan now I'm just gonna get a job as a message in my mother was like oh like carrying bags like riding a bike and shit

oh smooth you lost your fucking mind I said okay cool right I'm on my shit so now being this messenger this shit is really happening Like, I'm literally delivering packages, and I'm seeing celebrities. So one day I sort of group Cameo on 59th Street. Like Blackmun in the motherfuckers. I was like, they must have been coming from a video or something. I was like, oh shit. I walk up to him, get this an autograph, no, get the autograph.

That to me was a sign. I'm going in the right direction. Mind you, I got a fucking poster of cameo on my wall. Right. So it was like, at a point in time, all of the people that was on my wall, I fucking started running into. including new edition. The whole shot I had him on my wall.

Curtis Blow. This shit is crazy, but it's real. So I'm doing my messenger gig. If you tell me I run into somebody, it's another inspiration. You're going in the right direction. You're going in the right direction. You're going in the right direction. Okay, fine.

So, one of my boys, DJ Holiday, he turned around, and he went on the road with UTFO. Long story short. The last time I saw Holiday, because we moved off the block. Every building on the block was abandoned. My mom wanted to be better.

She just moves me up to the North Bronx When we moved up to the North Bronx I really started getting dope with my pen And I would come back like every weekend Every other weekend to my old neighborhood So holiday, long story short He says to me, yo Dee I heard you rhyming now

Yeah, yeah, yeah, my name is Smooth Bee He's like, what? Spit something So I start flowing He calls up Mixed Master Ice Your Ice come through Mixed Ice comes Now they got Roxanne Roxanne, UTFO hottest record right at that point

Mix Master Ice pulls up in a BMW jewelry on and shit and he's our age. So I'm looking at him like, yo, this dude is driving a BMW with chains and shit. And he's DJ, hotback gate. That's what I fucking want to do. Two weeks later, two weeks later, I'm in Midtown Manhattan. I go in this pizza shop. Everybody's famous raised. That was a big franchise in New York.

So I'm coming up 7th Avenue. I go into pizza shop, I'm eating some pizza. By the way, it's raining outside. I didn't even want to fucking go to work. Who wants to go to fucking work in the rain? I got my poncho on and shit. So I was like, let me get some pizza, man. Let this rain die down.

I go in there, I'm chilling. Then it gets to a slow drizzle. I'm just chilling. Then I look out the window. And I see Mix Master Ice. He's across the street standing on the corner. So I was like, oh shit, I come out. So mind you, that night when I, like, when Mix Master Ice came,

I rhymed for him. And I went into about 100 bars on his ass. And he was like, yo, dude, you are dope. and I was like, thanks, man. And I said, I'm getting made a break out because I got to go to work tomorrow. And he said, what kind of work do you do? And I said, I'm a messenger.

He said, I used to be a messenger. So when he said he used to be a messenger, I was like, oh shit. This shit is right. You feel what I'm saying? Two weeks later, bro, I shit you not. I can't make this shit up. Two weeks later, as a messenger,

he's standing on the fucking corner. I come out the pictures. I'm going to be old mix. He looked. I said, it's small. He said, yo, come here. I walk across the feet and he said, yo, what's up? He said, what's you doing?

I said, yo, I'm a messenger. So I had to be a messenger. I said, I know you told me. He was like, whir? So what the fuck is up? What you doing? I'm doing. I'm doing delivering a fucking package.

I said, what you doing out here? He said, I'm waiting for Bobby Brown. The name shoes passed me because I know, I know New Edition, but I didn't know them individually like that. So he goes, I'm waiting for Bobby Brown. I said, Bobby Brown. He said, you know, the one that left New Edition, you know what? I said, oh, where?

Now, they had a fucking rumor back then that he had skin cancer and shit. I said, that's the one with skin cancer. He was like, that shit ain't real. He ain't got no fucking skin cans. It's just some shit they put out there. I said, what? Damn, niggas lie about skin cancer?

You know. Now, Bobby comes out the motherfucking hotel. Right. With his brother Tommy. He comes walking out. And he's like taller. Like, in my mind's like, can't, there he go? I think I'm going to see a little fucking kid.

You know what I'm saying? I mean, come on, man. I'm hood. I'm surprised right now. I picture Bobby around being a smaller guy. Right. You know what I'm saying? This motherfucker was my height.

He walked out. I was like, oh. So he come out. He said, what's up, man? So he sees mix and he's shaking mixed hand. And he said, yo, Bobby. This dude, his name is smooth bee. He's a rapper from the Bronx.

This motherfucker's dope. So he said, what? So I said, what's up? Man, shake his hand. And he was like, so bring him to the studio now. And I was like, oh, shit. And so I was like, now, actually, I'm on the clock. So what you do?

because I had put my package on the side. So he said, him and tell me, just was looking at me and shit. So he said, well, look, man, we're standing right here in the Omni Hotel, man. I said, come fuck with us later. So this is an early afternoon session. He was like, yo, come fuck with us later on the night. I said, yeah, man, I said, I get off like nine, and he said, yeah, man, just call him in the room. He tells me information.

Bam. I get home, and my mind is like, do it, nigger. Like, this is a sign. Now, mind you, when I went back to work, I tell a supervisor, which I had new from high school my supervisor was older than me so but in 10th grade he was like a senior but I had formed a little crew in high school so they would see us rhyming and shit and this dude his name was Michael White wherever you all Mike shout out to you he remembered I must have left a fucking imprint on him or something because he

ended up being my supervisor I had end up when I got the messenger job he put me on and so he was my supervisor and the point was when I went back I told my man Bobby Brown the day. I told him the scenario. I said, he wanted me to come to the studio. He said, why the fuck you ain't go? I said, I'm on the clock. What the fuck are you talking about, Playboy?

He said, yo, D, man, I believe in you. I want you to win. He said, you ever get a fucking opportunity? You go to the studio and you call me and say, you go into the fucking studio, and I will punch you in like you were here. So, I'm in. So, boom. Long story short, that night, I go home.

I get me some weed. I'm blowing. Put bars in my eyes. In my mind, I'm like, I'm going to see the new edition, they probably don't smoke no weed. You know what I'm saying? Bacobu Brown was still a new addition to me. Right.

They're probably not into that. I'm blowing, put some vizine in my eyes and shit. Man, let me call, make sure they're there. I call. Brother Tommy picks a phone. Then he gives him the phone. Yo, smooth? Smooth, who?

I said, dude, I met you earlier with mixed mass ice. He said, oh, yeah, from the Bronx. I said, yeah. He said, yeah. He said, yeah. He said, yeah. He said, uh, yo, could you do me for favor? I said what?

Would you bring some weed? I got you. So that was aside. Most of him short, I get there. And 40 ounces wasn't out yet. It was quartz. And he had all these courts in the big-ass radio box.

And that's when I knew he was really in the hip-hop. And long story short, I got a chance to rhyme for him. I'm sitting there. L.L. came to visit him. While I'm sitting there, L.L. came there.

Eric B. and Red Alert. And so one by one, I'm seeing these motherfuckers walk through the door. This is before Mix Master. got this so I'm just sitting I'm sitting off to the side and they start coming in checking on Bob deal is in this motherfucker right and then Mix Master ice comes in so I'm starting to feel a little strange like in a way because I don't know

nobody in this mother but I'm seeing all the real ones all the all the fucking you know stars right so I'm sitting there like oh this shit's crazy mix master ice comes yo smoke like so we come in he giving all of them pounds and he looked and he's like oh what's up man I came a pound he said so you made it good good good Did you rhyme for Bob? Like that's all. He says, did you rhyme for Bob? Like, Agbee and I'm looking.

He's looking. And he's like, I was like, nah, I ain't rhyme for him yet. He was like, no, fuck that. Rhyme for him. Yo, Bob, I told you he was dope. Spitz, Smoo. A star. Wow.

Now I'm rhyming for my life. I'm rhyming for my supper. Over a beat or just. No, Acapella. Now, you got to have a rhythm. Your shit better be tight if you spit in Acapella to legends. Right. And they were young legends.

I start going. First three rhymes, they were just sitting there like, all right, cool. So I'm like, all right, going in my stash. Y' motherfuckers. I can't believe I ain't come with just three rhymes. So you're doing like full verses that you've already written? Yeah, I should write every day. Right.

Just to write every day. And I start spitting. Boom, boom, boom. All right. They was like, all right, cool. Then I went ham. After that third rhyme, so that LL starts smiling.

They start paying attention. Like, wait a minute. This motherfucker, Sybias. I start going, going, going. Redd-Loy's smiling. Eric B-star smiling. And this was right before check out my melody came out. So Eric, after I finished round, he was like,

yo, you remind me of this dude I just rock with my new partner, man, from Strong Island. You was talking that Peace Guard shit. I was like, oh, right? He was talking about Rock him. That's another story. So I was like, oh, word, that's what's up. I'll give a pal.

So I'm, man, I hit him with about 100 bars. Paul pulled me to the side. He seen me start talking to hell hell. No, fuck that. Yo, motherfuckers ain't getting this, motherfucker. So you grabbed me. He put me to side. He said, yo, listen, you got a producer.

Back there, I didn't even know what the fucking producer did. I was like, nah, I don't have a producer. I'm going to be your producer. I was like, word? So he was like, yeah, man, I got you. No, fuck that smooth. Do you do, do, do you. Yo, you can chill, man.

And he's telling me to just chill. I was like, well, I got to work tomorrow. I said, but I'll come back and fuck with you tomorrow. He was like, all right, matter of fact, Tomorrow we're going in the studio. I said, where? I said, what time you're on session? He said, two o'clock.

I said, no, fuck it, I'm going to come to the studio. So I said, I'm going to get some rest. I said, I'm coming to the studio. I called my man the next morning. Yo, Mike, it's two o'clock studio session. He said, go. I get to the studio. Now, at that time, Dr. Ice of UTFO was really supposed to be pinning all of Bobby's shit

as far as rhymes. Oh, really? So he had wrote a song, the title song was called King of Stage. That was the name of Bobby Z. album, the king of stage. So he wrote half of the rhyme and that day he did not make it. Didn't make it. So I see at this point Bobby is distraught. He on the side like, man, what the fuck man? He's going back and forth with mixed mass ice. So I was like, yo, what's up, man? He was like, yeah, man, Dr. Ice was supposed to finish the song and write

this rhyme for me, man, but he's not going to show up and move on him. I was like, I'll write your shit for you. He was like, what? You will? I see it. Just tell me what you want to say. Yeah, play it. So they played the first verse. I listened to Doc Ice pinned. And I said, now tell me what you want to say. Start telling me, y'all want to say this? Want to say it?

Got it. Went in there. And back then Bobby, he was, and then I wrote the rap on, I mean, I went on from that day. But the point I went on to write his rhymes. But the funny part, I have to make this note was that back then, I mean, L.L has sparked everybody. So a lot of people was influenced by L.L.

his energy. Hey, yo! You know, his shit, rock the bells. You know, he was like, so when you hear the, when you hear Bobby's early rhymes, like the rhyme on girl next door, he's rhyming it really with the energy of LL,

but it's the smoothness of smooth beat. So people, and you know what I'm saying? And I'm glad he didn't realize how to be smooth. I'd have been fucked. Right. But the thing was, the song, the rhyme that I wrote for the girl next door

was, what could she have in store? the girl next door of every essence of presence I do adore and being this close is driving me while I love her personality your style your smile boom he goes what can she have the store the girl next door like he's hitting it

and I'm like hey fuck it make it your own you know what I'm saying but in hindsight I'm glad you didn't get that smooth shit down but did it occur to you at all that was there anything out of the ordinary in your mind at that point about writing the lyrics for somebody even if they were like an R&B star like did he seem like an exception to the rules

that every rapper has to write their own stuff? Because people always now like to make it, like, oh, hip hop used to all be about writing your own stuff, and nowadays people don't give a fuck. Was it really as strict as people now kind of, because sometimes people like to romanticize history and make shit seem a little different. All right, here's the fucking thing, Adam.

There were rules set in place back in the days. That's the throwback, throwback shit. All them first motherfuckers, they never got day dudes. Motherfucker, people would fight over now. names. Your name sound too close to mine. Right. Proved that you the motherfucker. It's a duel.

Niggick, like, you could, yeah. Motherfuckers, look, I'm a rob. You arrive. And if somebody say your fucking rap was better than mine, we got to fight. Right. From the breakdances, all the motherfuckers, crazy legs and all, I'm going to tell you stupid. They was tough. These motherfuckers would come to different crews and

neighborhoods. Break dance. I have to fight their way out. That's what it was. So it was a pressure on authenticity. Like if you came into a spot, like I said, they didn't brace you if you just were yourself. But if you came in there trying to rhyme like somebody else, it was like, I paid dues, man, to earn this. How dare you come in this motherfucker and try to, you know what I'm saying?

Dishonour me, you know? So anyway, in the beginning, yes, it was about writing your own lyrics. Boom. But then as time evolved, I was seeing it from my own lyrics. I was seeing it from a perspective of, I realized, I came to realize, because remember, I grew up in the South Bronx, so I saw Meli Mel and them on my block. Like, it was crazy. I saw them in the parks. So I'm just watching the evolution of this shit.

I'm watching them go there at a television show called Midday Live. I remember when they first came on there. And it's just crazy because they were all, they always came back to the hood. That's the one thing that stood out to me about Meli Mel and Furious Five and Grandmaster Kaz and those guys, because they would go do some amazing shit. They'd be in the movie Wild style And then you see them on Fordham Road Walking around, you know, dope shit Anyway, so

Yes, it was emphasis Then the industry said This shit ain't really a true art form It'll never last, right? And then it got past that So now I'm trying to figure out How to get into this fucking complex game Right.

So I see it as an open door I mean, God gave me vision I'm a visionary like I'm seeing how this shit To connect straight up I wasn't haphazard I was like Oh, this shit could be big. He's a singer. New Edition is like the new Jackson 5.

He's leaving. But there's something about this motherfucker. When I saw that he loved hip hop and I seen that he was a real one, I said, no, fuck that. I believe in you, dude. Everybody was like, you can't make it without a new edition? I was like, that's not so. What else you want to say?

And I was like, I was like, this shit is going to work. I was like, if this record comes. company, lets him come out singing and rapping. Woo! And he took him, I didn't want to be my producer. Let's go. And that's how it went. And that was the motivation behind.

It was pretty crazy how controversial the notion of a rapper singing would be at that time because you could fast forward like an additional decade or two. And like the job rule 50 cent beef was like largely 50 calling him out for singing, even though 50 was singing over shit. And now when you look at it like a huge percentage of the whole, huge percentage of the top up-and-coming rappers are blatantly not even trying to be lyrical at all. They're just trying to get by on different melodies. And when you hear these young kids talk about what rappers they like, they don't say so-and-so got bars.

They say, so-and-so, oh, he got the best melodies, you got the best songs. It's just so catchy, yada, yada, yada, yada. You know, now that's 100% normal. Right. That's what I'm talking about. I said, shit, it ain't no fun if I don't get nothing. Well, I guess that's why they call it the blue. I said, fuck that. I'm still coming with shit. You know what I'm saying? But my introduction to this game was through Bobby, fuck around with him.

Boom, by the time the dope don't be crew album, Gumby haircut, is my fucking idea. Were you getting paid properly, as you should have been, for writing on that shit? Hell no. Hell no. And look, and this was the dope shit.

I knew it. See, look, you got to look at an open door as an open door. Way in the game is the way in the game. Way in the fucking game. But the deep part about it was I was a young cat. I try to pride myself on using some form of wisdom. I knew. I said, no, no, no, no, no.

I learned some shit. Sometimes you can fucking know too much. So I was like, I learned some shit. I had learned. Dude, when I started writing for Bobby, I was already on ASCAP. I was an ASCAP member. I don't even give a fuck.

Let's go through the door. This is what we agreed upon. Let's take this paper. Now, the one thing I did say to him, I said, yo, dude, I need writer's credit. That's what I need. You know what I'm saying? Because back then, you know, you got to be honest.

Not particularly him per se, but the industry really didn't. I thought the best, the way to be best effective is to dot your eyes and cross your teas. Right. Learn about the game you're getting into. Then you can be more proficient. That was all, that's what I thought. So I was always doing my fucking homework. But when I got up in there, I was like, oh, yeah, so this is the bo, blah, ba, boob.

I was met with, who the fuck do you think you are? And how do you know that? He's going to be a fucking problem. He came up in here and asked that's about non-recupable funds and what's recoupable. How the fuck does he know that? He's going to be a problem. He wants all his fucking money. He fucked around and took a half million dollar loss with sleeping bag when they filed bankruptcy.

But the only thing that still saved him was a bankruptcy clause that they agreed to, which enabled him after they went back. bankrupt to retain 100% of his publishing. So by the time we went to Def Jam, we already had 100% of our publishing. I thought that was a triumph. I just took a half million dollar loss, ladies and gentlemen. I got an album out and a newborn and no fucking money.

But God is real. So now I just signed with sleeping. I mean, I signed with Def Jam. Let's go. But this is all like years after the Bobby Brown situation. But you're saying that you went. in and kind of made a stink about wanting to get your fair dues for the songs and Bobby and his team were the ones who didn't appreciate it?

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No, no, no, no. Me and Bobby, all relationship was easy peasy. Oh, okay.

I didn't care about none of that shit. I was just like, I want to help you. And he was embracing that. So it was kind of like a barter system. You know what I'm saying? What we agreed upon, and this is crazy. I knew it though. I said, listen, this is what I'm going to do for you.

Because remember, you told me he was going to be my producer. I said, man, I'll write every rhyme you come up with. Give me $500. Right. Give me $500 in my writer's credit. I said, okay, bet. Boom, here. He just gave me $500.

$500. Now I'm like $2,500,000 and? I'm cool. I'm cool with that. Now he takes me out to California. I'm riding around this bitch. I'm hanging out with the Jackson's. All types of shit.

This is a dream, dog. Right. This is a dream for me. I'm meeting all types of personalities, all types of crazy shit. I'm like, yo, this shit is fun. And he's my man. I'm going on the road when I'm being introduced to groupies and shit.

I'm like, what the fuck is this? Right. What? You know? And so it was all of those things. And then I'm also paying attention. I'm soaking his shit up like a sponge. So I'm watching how he deals with adversity.

And I'm learning. I'm like, damn, really? And then he's telling me stories and all that shit. So that shit was priceless. You know what I'm saying? Now the thing was, you gotta imagine. Now, in hindsight, like, when you move forward and you get into the industry,

like before you're into the industry, you're just watching. And so certain things appear to be one way or not another. But there has to be a trust, a value of trust between your inner circle. Dig what I'm saying? Because shit gets crazy. So me and Bobby had that. We had

brotherhood. So the thing was, when he told me oh no, this shit's kind of crazy. Even if it didn't make, it was loopy, I'll be like, okay, well fuck it. There's some shit I don't know about you. Telling me this shit like this. So he would probably, He'd say shit to me. He'd try to give me some hints.

I'd be like, he'd give me the money, and then he'd be like, yo, man, so I'm getting me to come out, man. I went back to my executive producers and everything, and I was talking to them, and they were saying, you got to really talk to the other. He was just telling me the rigum and roll,

basically trying to prepare me not to get right as credit over the motherfucker. I was like, all right, fuck it, I don't care. What are we going to do? So the time goes on. Now, I went on three tours with him.

So now, when the, don't be cruel, that got him. out of here. I was with him when he actually recorded the song My Paragate. In Teddy Roddy's house, in Teddy Raleigh's house, in St. Nick Projects in Harlem. On the first floor, that's how Teddy used

to rock. She was insane. That's crazy. Man. Aaron Hall wrote it. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Shit was amazing. It was amazing. I watched it. I watched it come from scratch. Uh-huh. Who! Paragative.

And then I added my little two cents on the bridge. So when the song goes, Don't get me wrong, I'm really not souped. Ego trips is not my thing. That was my pinnmanship.

Wow. But to watch, to see Teddy. Now, me and Teddy, you know, the barber. A barber brings a lot of fucking people together. Shout out to this guy, Denimo, and he's like Greg's brother. And so Greg introduced me to Dennymo.

All right, let me, I'll move so fast. Let me run back. Let me run back. be right back. All right. I'm on the road with Bobby. We're running around. Don't be cruel era starts. Boom. He's blowing up. Now, one of the times, you know, we go out for a few weeks and then you get like a week off. So in one of the interims, I come back to New York. And when I come back, like when I was on the road with him, I met this guy named Lance Romance. So basically what I'm leading up to is how I met Greg. That's cool. We're going into that journey.

Sure. Okay, great. So while we're on the road, I'm noticing, Bobby is serious. We're making a few demos here and there, and he wants to do it, but he wants me to have a band behind me. Because that's what he knows. and I'm gonna get the dope band because he had a band he was like they can play around you I'll get these drummers and then I'll get these electric guitar

them any record you want if you want to do something that's like an old song they could replay it at that time sampling was the shit sampling was coming in

everybody was sampling James Brown all that shit and nobody was paying for it say it again was anybody paying for it at that point was you having to pay

the artist that you were sampling oh yeah like you know because since it was all new, people didn't even know it. People didn't even know that that could be a problem.

Right. They just thought, I'm gonna take this music because I like it. And when I fucking rap over it, maybe James Brown will like it. Yeah. Maybe one day we'll do a show together.

Like, motherfuckers is just dreaming. Right. Right? Yeah. Yeesh. Till James starts suing niggas. Ooh. So everybody,

why don't know? He took that. shit nigger that ain't whoa that ain't cool so I was like oh shit so I was like back then I said listen man there's a New York sound happening and I have to get back to New York because I feel like I'm missing out I'm missing out on some Renaissance shit going on here man my spidey senses tell me this I'm loving this road shit I'm loving it all I got get back to the hood man fly in so we got two weeks off and it was so it'd be so crazy like I would come

off the road with Bobby and as soon as I come back home it'll be some new shit happening. Yo, smooth, go. Yo, come to this club. So I'm going to different clubs. I'm going up in the Latin quarters. I'm seeing shit happen. I'm like, oh yeah, I got to be here. I got to be here.

I'm missing something, man. Imagine. I leave and going to roll with Bobby. I met Eric B. Eric always had some jewels on. Check out my melody comes out. Six months ago, by I'm on the road. And then I'll actually live out here.

for two years with Bobby it's good when I get back a year later Eric B is dropped around in Benz's and big ass chains and shit right I'm like yo E because we used to talk all the time I'm like yo E you fucking did it oh yeah smooth shit paying the full baby where you're up come get you I'm like oh shit he's like you still doing boom boom you still robin what Bobby gonna do we gonna put you out niggis eating let everybody out right now what's you do then I was like you right you're right now I got to come back to New York so long story short. Had you kind of forgotten about doing your own solo music and you were just happy to be

writing for him at that point? No. Oh, okay. It was still in your head. No! That shit was in the back of my cranium. I was like, I got to come out. That was my, I'm going to write for you, man. And if we do this shit right, we can write forever. I don't get a fuck. That's what I do. But I got to come out. So, long story short, I jumped up. When I came back to New York, I flew in the LaGuardia Airport with this guy named Lanceville Mans. And the whole time we was on the road, I thought Lance was from Texas. Because he only talked about Texas. So we land, and it hits me.

I'm like, yo, what's up? Lance, where you going? He said, I'm going home. He said, I got a rent-a-car. He was like, he was all right-a-s, but he had rent-a-cars and credit cards and shit. What the fuck? And the only thing we knew was that his parents wrote for the soap operas. He's like, my mom, you know, my dad writes storyboards for, All my children, he would just tell us names of soap operas.

All I know is this motherfucker had, credit cards, all this shit. He was doing big boy shit. So we jump in the rent-a-car, and he takes me uptown, and he goes, yo, I was listening to what you were saying when Bobby was talking about the band behind you. And he said, no, you want your shit to be like what motherfuckers is doing? I said, yeah. And they wasn't calling this sampling. Like, I didn't know it as sampling that term.

And he said, and he told me, he said, that's called sampling. You take a sample of the record. And I said, yeah? He said, yeah. He said, I know somebody that can do that shit. And he was talking about Greg. He's talking about Greg. I said, I want you to meet him.

This young boy, man, he's younger. Because Greg is a few years younger than me. He said, this kid, man, but he made dope beats. He's good. And I said, yeah? He said, yeah. So at that time, Greg was in a group. It was him and this dude named June Love.

And so when we all met up, it was me, Lance, June, love, and Greg. Now, at that time, Greg used to just do the human, and beatbox and make beats. So I meet June Love. June Love was a very interesting guy, man. Fly, man, you know. And as time went on, I came to realize that June Love used to be in a group with Slick Rick and him.

He was an original member of the Cango crew before Slick Rick and Dougie Fresh met. Then I also learned that June Love was the one that introduced Slick Rick to Dougie. You know, just different little key points. But the deepest part about it was we kicked it, we hung out. we got into a rhyme cipher man

this shit was beautiful man and I was like yo yo you dope because at that time I was always fond of mixing singing and rap but I all had a lot of different routines and June Love had some routines too so he's singing shit oh look that's fly

and we drinking and we blowing cheese and we rock and it was beautiful and then a couple of days later I went back out on the road and I was out on the road for about a month and within that time period June Love got murdered oh yeah right

so when I came back to New York I found out about all of that and I went to see Greg and you know Greg was just distraught you know I'm saying and you got to keep in mind he had an intend on rhyming so he was like the mouthpiece to do that was the rapper is gone and boom and I said well the last note that we left on was I said one day we're going to do a record together that's the last thing I told you so one day we're gonna do a record together man and he was like all I bet bet bet and I just love that dude

he like yeah like he had a yeah I bet I like like he had that type of old he would talk like yeah that was like a whole way people talked at that time this dude was too fucking cool man he was too cool so uh long story short i says to gregg i said so let me ask you um what was the last song you worked on he said the song called skill trade i said how does it go and he's like together we're cool in the mic we're rulings we're schooling right and i was like it was called skill trade skill trade we know what we doing i said that's dope i said all right i like that i like that i said this what we're going to do I said, me and you're going to put the shit out.

We're going to do skill trade. I said, you got any of them? He said, well, the joint was going to put out with skill trade and dope on the rope. I said, how'd that go? Look, stare, you can go because niceest moves like, well, then it became nicest move is like dope on a rope. So because we revamped it. So I said, dope on the rope. I said, you are the only one that knows June's rhymes.

I said, so, this is what we're going to do. I said, you're going to say it. I said, because who else? So you got to keep his style alive. I said, you're going to say the rhymes that he would have said on those songs, I'm a fill in the blanks. I said, and then we'll put it out and whatever we make from it, or if we get a single deal from a label, whatever,

we kick some proceeds to his family, and we keep it moving. I was like, because at that time, I've just, I had been in groups already. So I was group fed. I was like, I don't want to be in another group. And so we did skill trade, we did dope one row. And then as time goes on, you know, I understand the rest of history, the shit picked up and people started to fuck with us. And then we just started, you know, we started gravitating like that.

So you felt like you were on a fucking mission after he died? Like somehow that puts you in a head space where you were just like 100% certain that this was the move? Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And then when I started seeing different shit happening, it kind of took over because I was like, originally, like before I even jumped into that, it was like, it was like, it was like, it was like, it was like, it was as if the situation with June Love touched a certain part of my heart. Like it touched me in a different way.

And it was like, nah, be like sharing or at least doing that on your word at that moment and time based upon the last thing you told that man is very important. It's like I couldn't get around it. It was like, do this first. And so that's what I did. And then as shit started happening, I didn't even really look at it as me, giving up a solo career. Like I just looked at it as a mission.

Because then I started to get to know Greg. I was like, come on, let's go. And he would make the beats, and I'd be like, I got this. And I'm just right, I'm just right, different ill routines. And it just was like a, it was a beautiful thing, man. The creative aspect of it was amazing. Is there any part of you that resents the group thing

just because it means that there's less emphasis put on your name itself? Like, there's an extent to which, you know, a lot of rappers, like, we know who they are just because they had one big hit. And that's that they're not. name was associated with that. And with the group thing, it's like you kind of, you lose some of that familiarity that you're building. Was there ever a part of that that stood out to you?

No, you know, it was fun. That's a good question. The thing is, me, I guess at core, I'm a team player. So once I got in, once I really got invested mind, body, spirit into the nice and smooth thing, I saw it as a vision, a brand. So I was like, yeah, come on. We won. I just saw it as we were one. Even though we were totally different. Me and Greg Nights are polar opposites, man. We totally different, lifestyle, everything.

But when we come together, the one thing that we had in common at that time was that we loved hip-hop. So I saw us as one. I really didn't care. As time went on, it got interesting because my partner would do a lot of different projects. He'd do, you know, Greg be all over the place.

And I'm like, good, long as you're happy. Like, I don't, I'm a different, I'm a different dude, man. I just be like, what? I did your shit, live, and I do what I do. But people will come up to me, like saying crazy shit, how people, it just make you go, whoa, wow, that's how you perceive it. Like, people will come up to me like, whoa, so Greg Nikes put you on. Like they would say, like crazy shit, I was like, huh?

What do you mean? Like, no, I said, now we're a team. And I just leave it at that. You know what I'm saying? I never, but, you know, as time went on, you know, that's my brother. I ain't got nothing bad to say about Greg, but. That shit started getting to him. He started bugging out.

I was like, what's wrong with you, bro? Like, you're upset with motherfuckers? Like, he would just get mad. I don't even. But it seemed like the hire we was getting, he'd get mad. And I was like, yo, what's the matter, dude? Like, who hurts you, nigga? Like, I'm like, what the fuck?

Like, out of nowhere, like, you have these spirit. I was like, yo, pop. Okay, I'm like, just figure it out. I'll be over here. Let's make this next record. You know what I'm saying? But it did. just got interested.

Did you guys formally break up at a certain point? When did that happen? I mean, it was kind of like a, we definitely took a hiatus. And that was after, actually, after the third album was a little break. I needed that shit. Because I had seen so much at that time. And I was like, nah, man, let me go over here, man. Because it's like, I think that everybody has a little bit of warrior inside them.

It just has to be tapped. And for me, I got, I'm a smooth dude, but when I get on my shit, I'm on my shit. So I was like, no, I cannot. You know, not with my loved ones. Like loved ones, damn, Adam, loved ones could get away with all types of shit. And some of them know it. And I'd be like, I fucking love you, man. Nobody could have just got away with that.

And you know it. What makes you think I'm going to slap you because you my fucking brother or my niece? Man, I'm going over here. You know what I'm saying? And so, you know, after the third, I, my brother started pushing me, man. And I just be like, Greg, man, what are you talking about? Like, I, the fuck, I got love for you, man. I'm the only one in your corner.

It was like a trust thing. Like, he didn't trust nobody. He started talking crazy. I said, all right, fuck this. Before we get to a place where we're not friends, you know what I'm saying? If you make me touch your jaw, man, we might not get over it. We might not be friends. I said, nah, I can't.

My niggas bugging out. And after the third album, I spaced. A few years went by. And then we ended up doing the blazing hot album. Yeah, and that was on Warner Brothers and shit. And then after that, I just felt like, it ain't the same, you know. Like, you know, we could do spot dates.

We could do shows together. Like, we're civil. That's my brother. Do you do that? Do you show up and do the 90s hip-hop festival thing? Yeah. There's got to be some money to be made there, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Get a little bit. You know what I'm saying? But you got to understand. Like, it's the same thing. When you see it from the beginning, right? And you start to make, the partnership is a very interesting thing. You know, it's like because at the end of the day, when you make a name and you become a brand,

if your partner doesn't want to do something at a certain time, you can't do it. Right. You know what I'm saying? Because y'all did it together. And it's a shame because you want to. to, like, there's such an incentive to stay on the same page, but you have to be on the same page. Like, you both have to be

motivated in the same way. And at a certain point, it's just so odd to see those relationships sort of diverge. But it's also weird that because it always happens. Like, for me, you know, G-U and a dipset where, like, my favorite groups when I was like 18, 19, 20, and I've seen them all

do the same thing where they're like, they're real friends, they're really around each other all the time. Then they get into some, like, emotional dramatic shit that they can't get past, So the group breaks up, and then you have four, five years, whatever, and then boom, they're back doing festival dates and doing songs here and there. But in that in-between time, you sort of, like, lose something

because the audience sort of realizes that this isn't necessarily as organic as it was at first. Yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? And so, I don't know. And it was weird because, I mean, for a long time, I think particularly with nice and smooth, like I said, we set the bar high for motherfuckers.

that knew who we were and the coming with that singing rapping shit when nobody was doing it the game kind of like respected our space in a way because they never fucking understood us from the beginning it was no prototype for the shit we was doing you know what i'm saying really so like where these motherfuckers they're so ill and i think that alone gave us a little you know bridge so that people didn't say well they're not who they're cracked up to be you know that we didn't get shit it on like that. Oh, shit. All this time I have my headphones on, it don't matter. It don't matter.

I'll put them on now. Fuck it. I like these headphones. Fuck it. Let's go. When did Whitney Houston come around? How'd you meet her? And what was that like to see her early in her career? Wow, man. You know, amazing. All right. Shout out the big sis, man. Peace and blessings be upon her soul. Oh, man. I always called a big sis, you know. And after I started working with by Bobby, you know, then I formed, you know, nice and smooth and everything.

We started rocking. And you were always on good terms of Bobby along the way? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's my boy, man. You know, I don't like, I try not to burn bridges, but if a motherfucker push me, I blow the fucking bridge up. Right. You know what I'm saying?

But anybody that we can be civil, whatever the case. I'd be like, I, are you good? I let me go over here, man. Because I just like for people to be who they are. I'm like, be yourself, man. Be, you know, whatever. So anyway. All right, so now, Bobby, ironically, my brother, we used to rock.

He called me up. He came to New York. And he would always come to New York and he'd call me. He said, I'm staying at such a hotel. And I said, all right, bet I'll be down there. So now, a nicest move is already established, you know, and there's always love. And he was like, fucking did it smooth. And he was like, I'm proud of you, man.

I was like, no doubt, my dude, you know how we do it. And so time would go on, we'd hang out, whatever. So one day he called me up. He said, I'm staying at this hotel with some swanky shit. I goes down to the hotel and when I got there, he was standing in front of the hotel. And he had some flash, you know, he had those linen outfit crazy fucking. They were like emerald green turtle skin boots. Them shit was crazy.

Like some extra pamp shit. And he had the crazy boots on it. I was like, woo, nigger. He had the El Bremont. He was fly. I said, what's up, baby? I gave him a pound. And he was like, yo, man, I was waiting for you smooth.

He said, he said, he said, I got to break out. And I was, oh, what? He said, yeah. He said, I'm getting me to go on a date with Whitney Houston. I was like, what? She was a household name at this point. Oh, hell, she was fucking, woo!

She was Whitney. I'm your name in tonight. She was multi-platinum. She was Whitney. Mother fucking Whitney. So she was multi-platinning by that time. And this was before, you know, and ah, that was...

That was the end, right? That was the fucking 30 million sold. Like she was really out of here at that point. Ooh, Jesus. So he goes, I'm on my way. I have a date with Whitney Houston. So I see the limousine and she was like, wow.

He said, damn man. He said, you go. whatever I said yeah so he's so he wreaths in his pocket and he gave me $500 just like here man you know I know I told you to come down here man but fuck it yeah and he just gave me 500 so I was like well thanks nigger so I put my body he breaks out uh-huh I said good luck so he jumps in the car and he goes to see whitney so about maybe two three days go by he called me up yo smooth I was like yo what's up nigga he's like I'm still here I was like where I'm at Whitney house I was like, for real?

He's like, yeah, man. She's going to be my girl. She's going to be my girl. Wow. I was like, word. They just hit it off that good from day one. Yeah, man. Wow.

And then when I finally met her, man, she was too motherfucking cool for school. Really? I mean, so Bobby, they had a $5 million, they had a guest house on the premises. And they had a $5 million student. in there, $5 million console. And it was the first time I was ever in the studio

with the flying faders. With the move on their own? Move on their own and shit. Mixed the shit by itself. So he's like, yo, come on out. So, like, where are you at? And he tells me and all of this and give me instructions and shit. You know, I drive out there.

Way out of fucking Jersey, I get there. When we're chilling, we start to record. And like, Bobby, He's always been like a, if I could explain like a bitch magnet. Like whenever me and him get together, it could be an empty house. We could be in an after hour. We could be in a little small-ass bar on some non. Some girls will show up.

They'll fucking show up. Must be nice. It's a bug out. But it's crazy. You know, like we OGs now. Like I'm like, man, listen, I'm on another page. I get around him, Mr. Bitches comes out. It's just like, they start coming.

Like, hey, this bitch game. right so here's the case we in the studio we're chilling and then different people was coming over different friends and and the next thing you know and and some of the dancers and just different people showing up and before you know it it was like a fucking party and it was like 10 broads in there right now they wasn't taking the clothes off of nothing they was respectful and shit but they were just you know they had that that vibe was there right jump on vibe was there and this was the first time I really really got to

know Whitney. So out of nowhere, the music is blasting and we're just chilling. We listen to the music and we vibe it. And then the next thing you know, she just opened the door. She came in there and she had on her track suit. No, matter of fact, she had on a track jacket, some jeans and some pumas. Because I never forget looking down and sitting there with the blue Puma Clyde's on. I was like, oh shit. And she had a New York Yankee fitted on with like a rain jacket. And she just opened the door to the studio. So I was just sitting there. But I felt this energy. I'm just chilling. I look up and I see her come through the door. She got shades on it. But it was like, so she had a doobie and she had the baby.

So I didn't expect it to be Whitney. You know what I'm saying? So I just looked and I was like, is that? Nah, that ain't Whitney. You know? And then she just walked over and she walked over to Bobby. And when she hugged him, I looked. And I said, oh shit, Whitney.

So I was sitting there. She talked to him, whispered some shit in his ear. Went over to the console. Turned the motherfucking music down. Turned around and said, All your bitches get the fuck out of here. She said it. She delivered the message yourself.

Holy shit. She was a G, nigga. She was a G. She said, all your bitches get the fuck out of here. Do you think that was the first time she had to tell him, like, stop bringing random girls around? I have no fucking idea. I have no idea. I'm assuming they had to have that conversation a few times over the years.

Yeah. She came through thug passion and said, all y'all be said, the fuck out. Wow. A'bba was, oh, shit. Hey, by I started picking their shit up. I said, well, fuck it. It was fun while it lasted. You know, I started picking my shit up.

I had my knapsack because I had beats and, you know, we're going to create. So I had my knapsack and I picked my knapsack up. And she said, no, you ain't got to go to Westmoff. That's our first. That was our first. She said, no, not you, baby. You're my brother. Go ahead.

It's cheer. Like, oh, and I had my little cousin G-Soe with me. Shout out to G-Sow. And so we just sat back down. Bob was like, oh, I'll be back. Tripping. He's like, she tripping. Now I was like, I, hey, left out.

And after that, I mean, oh, my God. She used to throw, oh, they used to throw the craziest fun parties. Like, for years, I would go every 4th of July and bring my kids, you know what I'm saying, and we go and they have a dope cookout for the 4th of July, man, and hang out. My kids used to be running with Bobby Chris, peace and blessings be upon her, you know. But those were amazing times. You know, to see people of such magnitude be so real, though,

that the world on a level that the world wouldn't really even comprehend, man. Right. That's the shit. That was the part. That was my experiences with a lot of big-name people. It seemed like the bigger the celebrity, the bigger the star, the real or they really were. Right.

That shit was crazy. That's crazy. Yeah. Do you, because looking back on that, a lot of people, the narrative that they tend to go with is that Bobby basically, like, introduced Whitney to party in and crazy shit and everything. Is that really how it played out from your first book, did? No. She was with the shit before she met him. Oh, look, you know, listen, you got to understand something, man.

Now I'm going to take you back. Fuck a little. Come with me, Adam. Journey. I'm going to take you to the journey, baby. Here's the fucking thing, baby. In the 70s, 80s leading up to this whole shit. I got a chance to see the shit, and even through my brothers, because I'm the youngest of five.

So my older brothers, man, I got a set of twins, shake and blue. They were like street. These niggas is legends. Motherfucking blue, yon. Like, to this day, I meet people. They go, shake and blue are your brothers? I was like, yeah. They were like, oh, shit, those motherfuckers were real.

I was like, yeah. Bam. So I saw the shit go from error to ever. I saw when weed was the shit. weed was the medicinal Bob Marley shit going down you want to summon something you know weed was the go to

then I saw weed go out of style like the shit was corny like you couldn't even bag a bitch in the 80s if you were smoking wheat that's hard to imagine now yeah and bitch look at you you ain't got no weed oh you got this weed

that's for broke niggas from my generation I remember Dr. Dre dissing weed on, I think, doggy style before The Chronic. Like, he dissed weed at one point. And then, like, by the time the chronic came out, he was all about the weed. Which is like, as a kid, I remember being like, did he really just say weed wasn't cool in this song? Right. It didn't add up to me, but there was that time period.

Yeah, yeah. So it was that time period where Coke was it, like the slogan for fucking Coca-Cola. In fact, back, you take it way back, they used to put a percentage of the cocoa leaf, which is the derivative for cocaine in Coca-Cola, my nigga? That's a fact. Okay. So, I've lived in my time to see shit go in and out of style. So the point that I'm making is I was a young, I was a teenager trying to get my,

I just learned how to roll a joint. And I'm trying to go hang out now. It's my hang time. And I'm trying to bag a pretty girl, so I'll come over and I tell her, yeah, I got some, I got a joint. You want to smoke a joint? And the bitch's like, you ain't got no blow? And I'm like, what?

What? You ain't gonna blow it? We're just broke knickers. Oh, man. I know broke bitch. How dear you. Whoa! And walked out my fucking face.

I said, well, fucking you bitch more for me. I smoked my weed. Next thing you know, it kept happening. So I went to my brother, Shake. Yo, shape. Because see, the twins, like, interesting. But they both were identical twins, but one was more like, taught me more of, like,

knowledge of life, read the Bible, Quran, like just knowledge, read good books. Other one was very intelligent, read good books, but he was more street. He taught me more hustle shit. So I had to go to him. Yo, I got to get some coke. He was like, what the fuck are you talking about, man?

I said, no, no, no, no. I've been going to the clubs, and these girls don't want to fuck with me, you know, unless I got some coat. So he bust out alive and he said, all right, I get it, I get it. He said, now, listen, man. So he started taking me through the,

whole shit. It didn't come without a lesson. So you start giving me all these jewels about it. You won't find yourself with this girl, man. You know, give a little, and watch it fly. So I was like, whir? Try to a couple of, I said, shit is a god. Yeah. And so I saw it go from,

I saw a weed be the shit, then weed become taboo, then Coke be the shit, then Coke is taboo, to now the shit coming back again. It's a trip, you know, and you just watch how things change. So the point that I'm making is that before they even met, they lived in real environments. He was from Boston.

He's from the hood. People know the end result. So they know Whitney from the castle. But Whitney from Newark. She hood. They have a vision of her that they want to have in their mind where she was pristine going into the situation just because of her. Her voice was so beautiful. She had so many classic songs and everything.

Angelic. Yeah. But she wasn't new to the game. Yeah, she grew up around the same shit. Everybody else grew up around. She knew that part. And that is the beautiful thing. That's like a rose growing in concrete.

You know what I'm saying? It's like, yo, she came and was able to do that. She kept a soul hunted. She had came back and opened a bank in Newark. People don't even know that she owned the bank. Do you think Bobby and Whitney, like, influenced each other to be worse with the drugs, though? Did they sort of like amplify it in their? relationship. Well, you know, I look, man, I'm put to you like this because their relationship

like they were both a brother and sister to me. So certain shit I really don't know. But what I do know is when you got a whole shitload of money and you can buy whatever the fuck you want, who's a whole other level, baby. Right. You know what I'm saying? Who won't stop you? If y'all both the boss, it's like, you know, babe, today, I want to do four lines. Right. And then your counterpart says, oh, motherfucker, you deserve 10 lines, nigga! You are getting high motherfucker. Right.

You know what I'm saying? And you can pay for it? Right. Have it delivered. If you have infinite money, cocaine seems like a pretty, it seems like the kind of thing people end up getting into pretty easily because it's one of the few things can really separate you from endless money. Like endless money can turn into a normal amount of money very quickly with Coke. Oh, yes. You were never into it?

Oh, man, listen, man. Come on, man. Come on, Adam. Come on, Adam. I party. I've had some parties. Right. Look, I was with the biggest motherfuckers.

And that's another thing. No, no, fuck that. I'm going to give it up. I'm going to give it up today, Adam. The thing was, you know, coke and shit was like a right of passage. Real motherfuckers know what I'm talking about. That's like if you're on top of your game and you let me into your realm, your sphere, and you feel me. You're like, I kind of like fucking smooth, man.

I think me and smooth could do some business together. It's brilliant. Fuck that. We could put some shit together. Right. But I like to sniff this coat. So I have to see how he feels about this. So he might pull that shit out on me.

Now, it's no judgment. I'm like, my motherfucker fucking man, Adam did a lie. Yeah. Cool motherfucker, I don't care What else you want to do, Adam? Let's rock. Yeah, no, that's real. But, now if I be like, oh, Adam,

you know, I, you know, we were, we were, I'm sorry, I'm just not that kind of guy. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not into that. Because that's me now. Right. If somebody were like, oh, let's do some coke, and I used to be the kind of guy who would do a bunch of coke

with somebody and have the crazy bugged out eyes wide open conversation, oh, we're going to start a business, we're going to Sunday morning, we're getting the LLC, we're going to, right. Now I'm not. Now I'm the guy you bring us a car.

That's cool, man. Right. Have a good time. Right. Absolutely. You know what I'm saying? And I hope a motherfucker can accept that for me. Right.

You dig what I'm saying? I've evolved. But shit, when in Rome, do like the fucking romance. Because you know, back then, you couldn't even be intercepted in certain rooms. If you ain't do a bump, motherfucker can't trust you. Who the fuck is this guy? Is you a fed? They're ready high as hell.

I don't know. I don't know. Does somebody plant him on me? No, motherfucker. I just write rhymes, bitch. You know what I'm saying? All right, give me a line, bitch. You know what I'm saying?

Am I cool? You felt like you was being interrogated like. You know what I'm saying? So I found myself in some fucking circles that was not average. You know? But the blessing of coming up how I was able to come up, man,

and being taught by my brothers, I already was bump ready. Like, man, I'm not going to put nobody business out there, man. But I was the nigger that could sit down with a nigger. Do two, three, eight balls. This motherfucker's like this. Yo, smooth!

I see bats! Ah! I'll be like, okay. Now breathe. You know what I'm saying? Two or three eight balls, for the record, is like an inhuman amount of cocaine for everybody at home. That part, I'd be like, I was the cocaine whisperer.

Okay, wait, just breathe. It's okay. Yeah. It's okay. What color was the bat? It was a blue bag. I sit down. First, we got to drink this.

You got any milk in this motherfucker? Like, I used to be breaking the shit for niggas. You got any milk? Wow. Yeah, I got fucking milk in the room. I got milk in the frieger! Okay. Yeah.

Monefuck start drinking the milk. What the fuck? What the fuck this milk? I said, that milk will break all that shit up, bro. Give me some of that shit. God damn. You don't fuck out my heart now. You got me bugging out.

Give me some milk, too. Drink some milk with him. And then we walk off into the sunset. You know what I'm saying? Like, I've always been, I just been blessed to do that, be. Uh-huh. Yeah. I talk many motherfuckers off the ledge.

Special skill to have. Hey. My skill set. That's incredible. Man, I had more questions I wanted to ask you, but I mean, I guess we've been going for like an hour and a half now. So I feel like for my next interview's sake, I kind of got to rein it in, which is unfortunate. We've got to do a round too. Please, come on, man.

Bring me back. I still got some good questions to this shit. I got some shit for you, boy. Damn. I got some shit for you, Adam. You've lived quite the life. Tell me about it. What you've been working on lately, though?

So give me an update, like connect the dots between what we were just talking about. And now what are the things that you're putting your effort into in if people want to check out. Oh, yeah. Okay, Bet. Here we go. I got a new single right now. Oh, really? Oh, my God.

It's called Before. Okay. And it's an interpolation. And I took the melody from Sir Elton John. I guess that's why they call it the blues. And I flipped it. So I'm like, well, I guess that's why they call it the blues. Time on my hands could be time spent with you

Laughing like children Boning like lovers Rolling like thunder Under the covers When I was young I had to beat the clock before I was the first one but Puma's on the block before And I'm just, I take these motherfuckers on a journey with me

And then I tell them, I've been locked up before I hit a nigger with a lock in a sock before I love bitches in shock before Hustleweed and Coke on the block before got a penicill and shot before I smoke a blunt with my nigger Tupac before so I got Tupac stories for you too oh I know yeah that's on the list of questions of things I haven't got a chance to ask you about you know what I'm saying and so that part um I did it in Spanish the hook I'm sending you everything yeah lo viz get you me cares as soon be se a yeah

mecese do lose pass a los ano sanio see I go contando Oi me levando and no stas a milado shit like that shit like that Yeah so we killing them

The song went number one In the last Two months I've been number one Three times On DRT Digital Radio Tracking Urban Influencer

and radio airplay expert Man That sounds incredible I gotta get on that Man I'm gonna sing you everything I'm seeing you the Spanish version I shot the shit in New York, man.

Ah, and God is just real, man. It's like it was the motivation, inspiration. These last few years been tough. I lost family members. I lost one of my brothers, man. My brother Blue passed away. I lost two nephews. And these were people over the years that were my pillar.

My pillars, man. And even on the way here, man, I got some bad news about my mother-in-law. So I'm like, oh, man, God, man. You know, but I'm telling you, man, so it ain't over. And so I have been sitting down. I've been busting my pen at him, you know, and I just didn't know when was going to be the right time. And I went, oh, so Sertrilton John gave us the clearance.

Really? I told you about dotting your eyes and crossing your teeth. It said three months. Three months, my people talking to his people back and forth, back and forth. But I was convinced. I said, no, I'm not putting this motherfucker out. I've never been sued. I'm not putting this song out without proper permission.

And one of my driving forces was the fact that Prince, back in the days when we were doing nice and smooth, Prince gave us clearance at a time when he never cleared anybody's records. So I was like, now fuck that. And everybody around me, and I'm used to this shit. When you want some cutting edge shit, they were like, I don't know, I like the record smooth, but I don't know if you're going to be able to get that Elson John shit clean. And I was like, it's going to happen.

It's going to happen. So long story short, my people's going back for four for three months. one thing led to another. Then we got on a conference, did a little Zoom. I'm talking to this people. I cut in. I was like, fuck it. Let me talk to these motherfuckers.

You ain't telling him, right? So I said, all right, let me ask you something. I said, this is any way possible that Sir Elton John could hear the record. Did you play it for him? No, we didn't play it for him. I said, could you play it for him? And it was like, yeah, yeah, we could do that. They played it for him, you know, in about maybe a week,

maybe four or four or five days went by. My fucks call us back. I said, yeah, he'd love. loves it. Wow. You split a 50-50 with you. Crazy. Tushie, my nigga. Tushie my nigga! That's how you play the game. That part. That part. God damn. Damn, Adam. Hey, thank you so much for your time. I'm coming back, man. Definitely. We got to get that in. Please have me back. Thank you. Of course. Unbelievable. Hey. That was Pesh, yeah, man. Unbelievable. I got some shit for you. Appreciate you, man. I appreciate you.

No job for coolest podcast to the world. Check us on YouTube, SoundCloud, iTunes. Like, comment, and subscribe. Yeah. Drop a comment down below. Nojumper.com if you want to support. Yeah. Appreciate y'all. Peace.