The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Ed Lover On The Evolution Of Radio, Biggie & 2Pac's Friendship, Yo! MTV Raps, Movie Roles + More

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

The Breakfast Club sits down with Ed Lover to discuss the evolution oof radio, stories about Biggie & 2Pac, and Yo! MTV Raps. Listen for more!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha God. We are The Breakfast Club. Jess is on maternity leave, so Lauren LaRosa's filling in. And we got a special guest in the building. Ed Lover, ladies and gentlemen.

Yes, sir. Is it all right to clap for yourself? That's right. Absolutely. How you doing, legend? I can't complain, brother. Everything is good. The kids are good.

The wife is good. The family's good. The grandkids is good. The kids are good. The wife is good. The family is good. The grandkids is good. The tour is good. So I'm good. That's all that matters. I'm good. For most that don't know, Ed Lover was the first celebrity I ever met.

We're from the same hood, son. From the same hood. So I'm from Queens. Ed is from Queens. And I used to go to this school called St. Joker, Manan. And across from that school, Ed Lover's, one of your kids went to PS34. Yep, absolutely. And Ed was dropping his kid off, and Ed would have to walk through the park where we would play in the afternoon.

And that was my first time meeting a celebrity, and Ed would walk through the park to drop his kids off and talk to all the kids out and about. And that was the first opportunity of meeting a celebrity and seeing how cool a celebrity was. Oh, that was so hard. And me thinking that every celebrity was that cool. But then when you get in this industry, you realize not every celebrity is not that cool. Every celebrity is not that cool. But that was my first time meeting Ed Lover and the influence of learning what he does when he was hosting MTV to the radio, to all that stuff.

But that was my first influence of how a celebrity is just sitting there and stopping and talking to her kids, how much that can do to you so who did that for you uh who did um everybody running them you know running i live four blocks away from jam master jay wow so running them did that for me ll used to stop by when i was a high school security officer stopped by in front of the school pull up in the drop top holla at me and all that stuff so it was those cats that really like, because they're from Queens, and Queens, we were like the forgotten borough in hip-hop when hip-hop was blowing up. It was like, y'all from the desert, y'all are

corny, y'all live all the way out there. So those cats were the ones that really kind of gave me the influence to let me know that I can do something in hip-hop too. LL actually made me put the microphone down. I was an emcee before that. I was emcee Eddie D back in the days. Remember everybody had a D? The D didn't even mean nothing. Well, you actually made me put the microphone down. I was an MC before that. I was MC Eddie D back in the day. Remember everybody had a D? The D didn't even

mean nothing. Well, you say made you put it down. Because I know I wasn't that nice. Did he tell you that though? When I heard LL, I knew I was not that nice. Now, with running them, I figure I can hang because I used to be in the park. You was outside with the bucket.

I was in Jamaica Park, 192 Park, 34 Park, just slaying cats on the mic. When I heard that little 15-year-old dude, I was like, nah, I got to figure out a different way to get in the tip-off. At least you was honest with yourself. Yeah, absolutely. That was the first thing.

But I was a trumpet player before that. So that's, you know, I was in the top 40 band from the time I was a kid playing trumpet. So that's why what I'm doing right now, Ed Lover Presents the Live Mixtape band. It's full circle for me because it's back with being with a band again. So music has always been a part of your life.

Music has always been my entire life. Top 40 band is when you play everything that's on the radio at the time. You know, all the Isley Brothers, Between the Sheets and all. We used to play all of that. And we were one of the youngest bands in New York City back when every little bar had a band and a DJ. Wow.

Do you remember the first time you heard LL? Because I'm sure it was before records. Yeah. Yeah. The first time I heard LL, I think it was on Farmers Boulevard in one of those parks over there. And he was on the mic. He was about 13, 14 years old.

And he was a monster at that time. Wow. So by the time he got signed, it was a wrap for everybody. How did you get into radio and hosting, right? Because it wasn't a job that people really thought that they can get, right? It was just something that we seen, and people were in that business for 40 years. What set I can do that? Because you were the originator, really, of the urban radio thing.

I wouldn't say that. I would say it was one of the original frankie crocker fred bugs who's a mentor to me to this day those cats that i used to listen to chuck lennon and all of them when you know yeah lindy green big up lindy green i've been pd green pd green yeah well that too but lindy green too and you know um von hopper you know those are the cats that that paved the way for me. But what I decided to do once we got the opportunity to jump on the radio is to be my authentic self because I remember meeting,

and this is no shade on Chuck Leonard, but the way he sounded in person is not the way he sounded on the radio. So when I got my opportunity to be on the radio, I was like, I'm just going to be my authentic self and be exactly who I am and use my voice and what I wanted to say. How did that opportunity come? It came from your own TV riots because they were flipping Hot 97 from a dance station into an all hip-hop station.

So the late Steve Smith, God rest his soul, came down and said, we needed some people that's authentic and respected in hip-hop and gave Dre and I an opportunity. And I said, hell no. I was like, am I doing no radio? Get up at 5 o'clock in the morning and be like, no, I ain't doing that. And then my manager at the time, Charlie Stetler, wrote down on a piece of paper what Howard Stern was making every year.

And he was like, if you could get almost that good, I could guarantee you I could get you a lot of that. And I was like, that's the money that people make on the rail. Let's do it. How much was it at the time? At that time, Howard Stern was probably making $4 million, $5 million a year. Wow. Yeah. And I was like, that's the money that people make on the rail. Let's do it. How much was it at the time? At that time, Howard Stern, Howard probably making $4 or $5 million a year. Wow.

Yeah. Then? Yeah. That's crazy. It was the 90s. Do you think people respect urban radio like they do some of those other places? Like, you look at some of the numbers that these white guys making is pop radio, right? And you're talking, I mean, I think Howard makes $90 million or something like that.

He's on satellite. Still, though, he was making $90 million, $20, $30 million a year on terrestrial radio. So do you think that they respect, and why don't you think they respect the urban jock as much? Because they put us in a box, man, and that's the thing that kills me about it. Like, they will absolutely, some of these companies will put

you in a box that say all you can do is urban radio, but they won't do that to somebody else. A lot of the black program directors and what they call brand managers now, they put them in the urban box. They can't program a different station or like all you guys know is this. This is not all we know. We know a lot of things.

I know a lot about country music. I know a lot about sports. I was offered a about country music. I know a lot about sports. I was offered a job in Atlanta on sports radio because I'm a sports fanatic, but they put us in the box and won't let us do other things. But you take a white PD or somebody like that, they'll let them program a black radio station when they didn't even grow up in this music before they give us the opportunity to even make that leap

from being on air to programmer. They'll take a white dude and let him program a black radio station, but won't take a black dude who has programming history and success and let him program a country station. It's all programming. What's the difference? So they put us in this box

that we urban. Urban is a nice way of saying black and you can't get out of the box. That's why, you know why as a personality I always say you have to diversify your guests. Whatever your interests are, if you're into comic books, politics, movies, bring all those artists on. Don't limit yourself to just the urban

guests. Yeah, absolutely. I remember when I was here at Power, when we were the other place, we used to be right next door to Whoopi Goldberg, and we put Jon Bon Jovi on the radio. Oh, come on. You remember when I had Oprah on the radio, and people was like. Classic moment.

Yeah, how you doing that? Like, you know, Bon Jovi don't know he cool with black people until we tell him. So we have to diversify and go outside of the box. Did that really happen organically like that? Was Oprah just like down? It was Jamie Foxx did that, bro. Okay. I had Jamie up

and I said, Jamie, you know, Oprah's, you cool with Oprah. Oprah's getting a reputation that she don't like hip hop. You should tell Oprah, come holla at me. So I guess he told her that she was in the city. You know, he told Gail and they were in the city and Gail said, Jamie said

that at Love & Loves You, we should just roll up there. And she just came. Wow. I wasn't there, bro. I was not there. My cousin had gotten killed, and his wake was there, and I left early. I was in the afternoons then. I left early to go to the wake, and we're driving, and my car,

I get the car out the lot, we're driving, me and my assistant, and he gets the phone call, yo, Oprah's up here, and she's looking for you. I'm like, please, get out of here. Oprah hope y'all played too much right and we hung up and they called us back it was like no for real oprah's here you need to and i jumped out the car ran back to the station and she was there and she came so cool man she had one security upstairs with her one downstairs in the lobby her and gail and me and i just cut all the music off at that point yeah oprah's here it was crazy that's the one and only time oprah's ever done Bobby, her and Gail, and me. And I just cut all the music off. I was like, ladies and gentlemen. You had to at that point.

Yeah, Oprah's here. It was crazy. That's the one and only time Oprah's ever done hip-hop radio. Yeah, it's the one and only time she's ever done hip-hop radio. Yeah, she's never done anybody else. How do you be feeling now when people attack Oprah, saying she's not for black people or black men, all that? You know her in real life.

You got to know Oprah, man. Oprah, she does so many things that she doesn't advertise. She gives away so much of her wealth that she does not advertise. Remember when she opened the school in Africa and people were like, she didn't do that in the United States. She's done that. She just doesn't advertise it all the time.

So she's a different cut from a different cloth. And it's funny knowing her because people will always tell me to call Oprah and ask Oprah to do something. I'm like, no, I ain't calling Oprah. I call her on her birthday and Christmas. That's it. That's not a call you just casually make all the time.

Nah, what I'm supposed to do? Yo, Oprah, my man got a movie he trying to make. I'm not doing that. What was your most monumental moment besides Oprah on the radio? And what was one of the worst moments on radio for you? One of the worst moments on the radio was somebody that I won't name that I was working with that we got into an argument on the radio. That was crazy because we actually saw each other not too long ago,

and both of us apologized for our parts in the fiasco. You know, you get older and you learn, right? If you don't learn, then you're just stuck. But one of my favorite moments probably was, Oprah was definitely my favorite, but my favorite from your TV raps is two. One was definitely having James Brown on for a week because James Brown's a godfather,

so the backbone, the most sample man in hip-hop history. My daddy calls him the first rapper. Absolutely, right? It was funny with James because the whole time he was there, everybody around him had to call him Mr. Brown. And he let myself, Dre, and T-Money

call him James. Especially when he found out that my first name is actually James. So then he was talking, yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't know what he was talking about.

It was cool having him on, man. That was so dope. And probably when we had Bill Cosby on way before all the trouble, he actually called looking for me. Wow. And then I left a number, and I called him back, and he actually picked up the phone.

Did he give you a lecture? No. That was crazy, Charlamagne, because, you know, Eddie Murphy had said he only calls you if he wants to tell you he don't like what you're doing or if he loves what you're doing. So I'm nervous when he gets on the phone and he tells me that he was in his office with his daughter and they're watching you on TV raps and I was doing a character. And he was like, man, that thing was so funny. And then he was like, listen, I'm going to have you on my show and then I'm going to come and do your show.

And he was a man of his word. Yeah, you did do an episode. Yeah, I did an episode of the comedy show. I did it twice. The first time we got cut out. And then the second time they interwoven me so much in the story that it was impossible for me to get cut out. The argument you was having on the air,

what was it about? It was about shakiness on the show at the time. Oh, so it was like something that should have been internal. Yeah, that became... Yeah, yeah, yeah. It got blown out of proportion. You know, do you think... Well, first of all, I don't know if you've seen Lisa G, but Lisa G works up here.

Did you see Lisa G? Oh, no, I didn't see her today. I gotta go stop by and say what's up. I didn't know that. Yeah, Lisa G works up here. Do you work here? I did not know. Wow. I was gonna ask, you know, do you think radio is too serious, right? Because now when you look at jocks, you know, we play all the time.

But I remember the skits that you used to do and listening to y'all in the morning. It was fun, right? When I watched you on Rap City, it was fun. Now I feel like. You're on TV Raps. You're on TV Raps. You're on TV Raps. It was fun.

Right. Do you feel like it's not fun anymore when it comes to radio? I think it's not fun because of the people take everything that you say too seriously. You know? I say one of my favorite Breakfast Club moments when y'all went viral was Birdman. You know what I mean? Put some respect on my name. I ain't playing all true, y'all.

You come up here with a bunch of goons, they taking everything too seriously now. When we was poking fun at people, people knew that we was just joking around and they didn't take it that that serious there was nobody sitting outside the radio station trying to beat me up because i said a joke about them so i just think yeah radio's getting too serious but it's the times and i hate i hate this time that every time you turn around you're saying rest in peace to somebody or some artist is getting killed or some rapper got gunned down or somebody did this, man. The love is just almost gone out of it.

And the love needs to come back into it because we're losing too many of us. You know, I just heard, and I want to shout out Irv Gotti because I heard he wasn't doing, you know, he had a stroke or something. But I wanted to say love to Irv. Me and Irv, you know that. We all from the same neighborhood. But Irv got it because I heard he wasn't doing, you know, he had a stroke or something. But I wanted to say love to Irv. Me and Irv, you know that.

We all from the same neighborhood. But Irv said, the only thing worse than getting old is not getting old. That's right. You know, I was with Pac. I saw Pac 15 minutes before he got shot. I'm sitting next to Biggie in the Peterson Automotive Museum before he walked out. The last thing he said to me is, do I want to ride with him to Nas and Steve Stiles' party? I was like, nah, I got a Corvette.

I was feeling myself. I got a Corvette. You know, every time I'm in L.A., now I got a little money. Now you got a drop top. I'm getting me a Corvette. You know what I mean? Drop tops. I'm rolling.

And I'm saying, nah. Yeah. Wow. I said, nah, Christopher. And he was always Edwin. And he gave me a bottle of Dom P. He told me, drink half of it and bring it back. So I'm like, well, I'm supposed to drink half a bottle of Dom P.

I'm running around, giving it to everybody. I bring it back to him. He pull out a bottle of Grand Marnier, filled it up, and gave it back to me. So that's my relationship. It was hanging with Big, you know. So I'm blessed to be here, man. I don't like how you speed past him stories. Let me tell you.

Like you and Angie, y'all be saying that stuff so casually. That's like Greek mythology when y'all talk about Biggie and Pac. This is American history. We didn't know these people. Mythical figures to us. Pac was a trip, man. Being with Pac sometimes

was absolutely intriguing, but a lot of people don't understand Pac was a young dude, so sometimes you get caught up in a wave of stuff when you're young. You know what I mean? And I watched him and Big go from two dudes that absolutely adored each other to being at opposite ends of something that just kind of rolled.

It got bigger than them. It got bigger than them, right? So we used to pick Pac up. My man Stretch, too, from Live Squad. You know Stretch from the Hug. Rest in peace, Stretch. Yep. Rest in peace, Stretch.

I got Stretch and them, they deal with Tommy Boy. That was my group, Live Squad. And Stretch and Pac became friends when I did Juice. Stretch went with me to film my scene of Juice. If you blink, you missed it. I was standing behind Queen Latifah. I was about to say, I don't remember seeing you. No lines. So did you see my face? That's why you said that? Yeah. Okay was standing behind Queen Latifah. I was about to say, I don't remember seeing you. No lines.

Did you see my face? That's why you said that? Yeah. Okay, because I'm like, wait. No lines. I'm standing behind Queen Latifah when she says, the winner is Q. I'm right there.

You was there, though. They paid me to find. That's all that matters. So that's when we met Pac. And Stretch and Pac, both heavy weed smokers, and Tretch from Naughty they they all friends so whenever pock came to new york we'd pick him up and the first thing he would always ask is did anybody talk to big we're big at so we holla at big or page big bigger page back and they go to brooklyn

and see and see and see big so they were really really tight to so to see that man oh that just bothered me how much older were you than them? 10. 10 years. Okay, okay, okay. Yeah. Are they OG? Do you remember the turning of that?

Because you saw the love, right? Yeah. Do you remember when that started to shift? Right after the incident in the studio. And were there conversations behind the scenes? We hear about people trying to calm it down, but what was it really like behind the scenes trying to make them understand that by the time it escalated to the point it escalated

to when i was in vegas that fight when pot got killed and i saw pot coming through the betty boot bar and i'm standing there with bishop don magic wand pretty tony handsome dre and all the pimps i'm outside in the bar and they trying to convince me they won't give me a prostitute. And I'm like, I ain't got no time to be watching no woman 24 hours a day. I was like, Ed, you a pimp, man. You got a pimp in you, man. I'm telling you, man. You was a pimp.

I was like, man, I don't want no prostitute, man. Pac comes through with sugar. I didn't see the stomping out of the kid because I was in the bar. So he come through. He stopped. We talking. Yo, what's up? What's good, man?

How you doing, bro? I'm good. I'm like, you coming to Suge's party? I'm like, yeah, bet. I love you. I love you, too. They keep going. In my mind, I'm from the East Coast.

I'm not going to Suge's club in the middle of an East Coast, West Coast war. Even though I'm neutral, I ain't going over there. Y'all going to get drunk and let's stomp out the kid from New York? Nah, I'm not doing that. Do you wish you jumped in between since you knew both of them and tried to put them off? I did. I tried to going over there. Y'all going to get drunk and let's stomp out the kid from New York? Nah, I'm not doing that. Do you wish you jumped in between since you knew both of them and tried to put them off? I did. I tried to talk to Pac.

He just wasn't hearing it. Big was stunned. Big didn't know where it was coming from, why it was coming. He was hurt. And C's probably told y'all that before. Big was honestly hurt by it because they loved each other that much. Once that ball got rolling, it was just impossible. And then you got Vine magazine

and all of these people doing East Coast, West Coast beef. It wasn't that, it was bad boy, death row. That was it. How did y'all handle that on radio and TV back then? I'm minding my business. That's what I did. I'm minding my business. I wasn't getting in between that stuff, man.

Because it was hurtful to see two friends just turn what they love they have into ashes right so i just try to stay out of it as much as i can no one to ask you the personality back in the day how did you know that you had to be multimedia because you did tv you did radio movies you did movies how did those things did those things just happen or you were intentional about being multimedia i was intentional about about it because my mother and father, I was lucky enough to grow up with both parents in the home. They were always

instilling me that when you get an opportunity to do something, you take that opportunity. So just like you writing books, you're on your third book now? Congratulations. When I had those opportunities to do that, I took the opportunities. Even if some of them didn't work out I

still I still took the opportunity I remember talking to Angie when Angie was gonna make her album and I was in the studio with her during one of her shows I think I was there late for some reason and Angie was like man Ed I'm gonna do this album I don't know if I should do it supposed to come out whack I said Angie me and Dre did the album take the opportunity I said are you gonna regret it if you don't do it? And she was like, yeah. I said, then do it. That's all.

You take every opportunity that's presented in front of you. Now, every check ain't a good check. There's been some endorsement stuff that I probably wish I never got involved with, but it's the way it is. You take the opportunities when the opportunities presented themselves. That's why when I had the opportunity to do this band thing. We gonna get to the band. We gonna get to the band. You got so many good stories.

We getting there. He's here for the summer tour. Ed Lover presents the live mixtape summer tour 2024. So he's on tour for that. So we definitely gonna be talking about that. We gonna get to that. But who's the man come up? Yeah, I was gonna say, who's the man?

How did that happen? I wrote it. I wrote who's the man. I wrote the story for who's the man. I knocked on Dre's door. And then Dre and I expanded on it. And then Charlie, who's our manager, said it's a good idea. Let's take it to New Line.

And then New Line said, yeah. And then we said, we're not doing it unless Ted directs it. And Ted was like, bet. He wanted to do it. And then they found a screenwriter, because I didn't know how to write a script. And the screenwriter wrote the script. And we sat with him and said, take that out. No, nobody talks like that in a barbershop.

Take that out. Take it out. And then they greenlit it, man. So it was a good idea. And if you look at it, when you watch it, it says story by Ed Lover and Dr. Dre. Because we wrote the story. How's Dr. Dre doing now? Dre is recovering.

Dre has been not well for a while. You know, he's suffering from diabetes and legally blind, but we got Dre in a good place right now, and he's getting back to being Dre again. Now, he's still my partner. We still talk all the time. He's still a damn fool, and we still do a lot of stuff together, so he's

good. You didn't do other films after Who's the Man, right? Yeah, yeah, we did. We had a three-picture deal that fell apart. Wow. It's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. I've done a lot of movies, bro. A lot of stuff, yeah. I wanted to know, at one time,

you talk about your finances and it went bad. What made the finances go bad? Because when you hear the stories, you hear the movies, you hear radio, you hear this, what happened? What was the money that was spent on or maybe somebody took advantage? IRS, bro. We just were talking about that this morning? Yeah.

I heard y'all talking about this morning. IRS. But I bounce right back off of that, bro. Thank God for the love of a good woman. My wife is smarter than me. And she is the one that was like, don't worry about it. We'll get it together. And when they freeze your account and take your money, that is a new world, bro.

I was so happy I was getting paid the next two weeks. I was in the house crying. I ain't got no money in the IRS. They took like $90,000 straight out of my account, bro. Just like wiped me. I was like, ah, I'm going to die. I got paid. So my wife was like, nah, just push the car no back call these

people push that back push this back and push it back and i did and and i was able to recover off of it you know it's a good thing but you gotta pay that irs baby you better because they coming for their money they don't care when it is what is the live mixtape exactly? The live mixtape is a journey of music. Like I was saying earlier, it's me coming full circle. These two beautiful individuals that you see behind me do all the singing. That's Carrie Epps. That's Sherwood Brown Jr. They do all the singing.

I do all the rapping. And we got a full band. And we take everybody on a musical journey. And we just have fun. We do everything from LL to Sheryl Lynn to Rick James to Nicki Minaj. We do everything. You got to hear them two sing, man. They monsters, man. If you're in the New York area, he's going to be at SOBs this Friday,

and Wednesday he's in Atlanta. So if you're in the area, Friday SOBs, Wednesday Atlanta, definitely go check them out. I see you were in Boston a couple days SOBs, Wednesday Atlanta, definitely go check them out. I see you were in Boston a couple days ago. Yeah, yeah. How was that? Boston was all right. But you know what was live?

The cities that you don't think are live are the cities that's live. Pittsburgh, crazy. St. Louis, crazy. Philly came out heavy. They was crazy. Nashville was crazy. And the first time we did Atlanta was ridiculous. Yeah, They was crazy. Nashville was crazy. And the first time we did Atlanta was ridiculous.

Yeah, that was cool. I was gonna ask you, how do you feel about these hip-hop media personality lists? And do you think icons like the Big Boys, the Sways, the Angies, even yourself, do you think that y'all should still be on them? Because I feel like they gotta have some type of other

all-time Hall of Fame list for y'all. I don't even think they should put y'all on still be on them because I feel like they got to have some type of other all-time Hall of Fame list for y'all. I don't even think they should put y'all on those things anymore. Yeah. You know what? I think everybody's list is everybody's opinion and everybody's always going to differ whatever list they come out with. Who's the greatest that

did this? Who's the greatest that did that? It's funny because we were just having a conversation because I just recently heard somebody was like I think tank said chris brown was better than michael jackson or something like that and i was like huh ridiculous it's just ridiculous and i think now people do because everything is so social media people do stuff for clickbait so i think everybody that has their list is their list my list is always going to differ from their list somebody's always asking me who's my top five rappers of all time. I get the same answer.

I don't have one. I don't have one. I go by eras, but I just can't say that this person is better than this person or that person is better than this person because you're always going to leave somebody off, somebody that's dope. Like somebody might say, you know, it used to be Jay-Z, Biggie, and Nas at one point, right? Who the better Jay-Z, Biggie?

But how do you leave 3,000 out of that? How do you leave Black Thought off of that? Tupac back then. Tupac back then. You know, how do you leave most deaf off? It's just too many. Right. So everybody, let's have your list.

It don't bother me. I think it's feeling, too. Like, to me, growing up, driving to school every day and hearing, what's up, up y'all what you got to say who's on the phone with at least cj at least andre it is moments that you never forget right but there's some kids out there that never heard that moment and their moment is good morning usa yo yo yo yo yo yo you know and it's generation because i don't think they actually understand what it was and what it meant to people it's all generational like we when i was a kid we had our

thing you know, listening to Z100 early in the morning. Then I had my time for the generation, and there's generations of people that listen to you guys every single day. It's just a generational thing. It doesn't make one thing better than another. It's just what we had for our generation and our time, and now it's somebody else's generation and their time.

The stuff that my grandson listened to is, the stuff that my grandson listen to is not the stuff that my daughter listen to. You know, I don't even understand it. It's a whole vibe, grandpa. I'm like, okay, he's wack. Hold on, that's what I was trying to say. I like the Mount Rushmore conversation though because I feel like they are founding fathers,

founding mothers who shoulders we absolutely stand on. So if you're talking about hip hop media, Mount Rushmore, you gotta be on. Absolutely. You got you're talking about hip-hop media Mount Rushmore, you got to be on. Absolutely. You got to be on. Thank you, brother. Thank you.

I would hope so. Who's sitting there with you, though? Who would you say is sitting there with you? Well, Dre is definitely next to me now. Y'all a package, I think. Yeah. Yeah. So that's one.

Y'all a package. Y'all are one. Who else is there? On the Mount Rushmore? Hip-hop media personality. Oh, jeez. Damn. I cannot leave Angie Martinez. Gotta have Angie Martinez. Of course. Damn, I cannot leave Angie Martin.

Gotta have Angie Martin. Of course. And I can't leave Flex off. I can't leave Funk Flex off of there. There's no way. You know, especially if you're talking New York, but this country is so big, and there's been other people in other cities

that have done wonderful things, like we got the roll call from the Baker Boys. Wow. In California, I had to call them and ask them, can we do this? Steve Smith tried to give it to us. I was like, I ain't stealing nobody's stuff. Let me ask them. And they were like, yeah, man, y'all go ahead. I was like, I bet.

Let's do the little twist to it and do it our way. So, you know, what's my man name? Ah, Dan, you're in the room. Dan, what's my man name from K-Day? Back in the days. You know what I'm talking about. Greg, he was big in LA. K-Day, back in the days. You know what I'm talking about. Greg, he was big in L.A. When K-Day was the first AM all-hip-hop radio station.

He's straight pioneer of this stuff, man. What would you say? Not Julio G, right? No, I used to work with Julio. Pick up Julio, too. What would you say as an old man? Who would be the other one, though? Greg Mack. Greg Mack from K-Day.

Greg Mack from K-Day. Who would be the other person on the Mel Rushmore? I don't. Sway, big boy. Sway, definitely big boy, yeah. Flex, Angie, me, Dre. Y'all. Y'all made your mark, man.

You made your mark. You deserve to be on there, bro. Would you not put Wendy on there first? Wendy, oh, yeah. Wendy has to be on there. I'm sorry, my bad. Forget Wendy started the radio. Yeah, Wendy, definitely. No Wendy, oh yeah. Wendy has to go on there. I'm sorry, my bad. Forget Wendy started a radio. Yeah, Wendy, definitely.

No disrespect, Wendy, you definitely belong on there. I was going to ask, as an OG listening to different radio personalities, what do you like and what don't you like when you listen to any other radio?

I don't like the fake and the phony. I like the authenticity. I listen to y'all. I like what y'all are doing because you're authentic and you say what you feel and you mean what youall. I like what y'all are doing. Because you're authentic. And you say what you feel and you mean what you say. You know what I mean? Y'all didn't get shook at all when Birdman came

up in here. Y'all didn't get shook at all. Y'all just looked at him like, word, okay. You really think it's that easy, huh? So, you know, the time you checked out, who'd you check for saying something crazy about your wife? Samira. Who?

Tyrese. Everybody. That's who I am as a person. So who you are because I've known you for a while. I've known Charlamagne for a while. I just met you Lauren. Who y'all are is what we hear on this radio. And that's what I respect.

I don't respect the fakeness now all of that. Yall don't y'all never say my man this my man that because y'all know this business you've been in this business you know all that stuff is fake man these people are your people why you could do something for them then when you can't do nothing for them no more they ain't your people no more correct so that authenticity is what I respect and what I like and the fake and the ph the phony, I don't have any room for that in my life. Was it more beneficial to be friends with artists back in the day? No.

Okay. No, it still ain't. No. My friends now are the same friends I've always had. But I think probably my closest friend, I was closer to the reps than the artists. Always been closer to the reps than the artists. Probably my closest friend was probably Pac and Heavy. Heavy D was very,

we were very close. Rest in peace, Heavy. Yeah, rest in peace, Heavy. I just see his daughter just got his catalog back. Yeah, that's dope. After fighting for so long, she finally got the catalog and everything back. Did you ever think of suing the NFL when they took the whole come on something from you? I didn't have to, bro. They paid you? Absolutely.

Wow. I didn't have to, bro. They paid you? Absolutely. Wow. I ain't have to, yeah. Six-figure range. It was nice. It was nice. It was great. All right.

My daughter got a master's degree. That's all I got to say. Okay, what school did she go to? She went to Montclair State, and then she got a master's degree at William Patterson. Let me Google how much that took. Hold on. So they reached out to you? Nah, we had to reach out.

We did a little reaching out. I was scared because it's owned by Disney, and I was like, damn, I ain't going to be able to take my grandkids to Disney World. I'm going to be a big picture head love up there. Did not let this fool in, but it worked out. They tried to say they started. They know they ain't started. It was too blatant.

It was a blatant rip, bro. It was a blatant rip. They even wrote it the same, except they put man. I was like, all right, nah. We ain't going to let y'all get over with that. Not at all. Do you believe the New York 90s hip-hop scene has been properly documented? No. No, not yet.

Not the whole scene? Yeah. No. No, nobody has done that yet. They've properly documented certain parts of it, right? The whole tribe part, but nobody's delved into Mobb Deep and Big and Jay and Nas and all the cats and Black Moon and Wu-Tang and all that stuff existing at the same time. That film hasn't been done yet, so it hasn't been documented correctly. No. And radio at the same time. That film hasn't been done yet.

So it hasn't been documented correctly. No, and radio at the same time. Yeah, what New York radio was back then was incredible. We burst on the scene. There was no other all hip-hop radio station in New York City but Hot 97. So when we used to have these parties and we used to, oh, we number one again. And then we'd pat ourselves on the back

and i'd be like number one against who we're competing against us we're the only ones here why are we happy about being let's beat everybody and then we can say we number one you know so it was that time was special when you're living it you don't realize how special that time is it was just so much going on. So to answer your question, no, nobody has documented it. I wish somebody would because there's so many different parts of it. Fashion, right? The fashion was crazy.

Carl Canine. Fubu. April Walker. Echo. Varsity. 5001 Flavors, what they was doing. Everything, all that was happening at the same time. The parties. Chris Lattimer doing Cancun every year. We used to go to Cancun.

That's where that, the one mistake Chris made, and all of us slept on this. We did, nobody trademarked what happens in Cancun stays in Cancun. Vegas took it and trademarked it. It's theirs. Wow. Yeah, that was, I was saying, what happens in Cancun, stay in Cancun.

Because debauchery was happening in Cancun, bro. Everybody was smashing everybody. So it was like, this is Cancun. We not bringing this home. Sweetheart, I know we had a good time in Cancun, but we home. We ain't. It's not happening no more. I know you live in Minnesota.

I'm never coming to Minnesota. So you originated the Block List? We had fun. We was wildin'. Do you feel like, I mean, cause now a lot of that fun gets turned onto people, lawsuits are happening, all that. I understand it now.

But when you see that, like all that happened until like our legends, like Diddy and you know, Russell, like different people, how do you feel about that? Cause I know you had said one time, like you can't take away what Diddy's done. I mean, for music guys. You can't take away his legacy.

Yeah. But what he did to Cassie that we saw on camera was atrocious and deplorable. And he should be ashamed of himself for it. Now the rest of it, I don't know. Have I been to Diddy parties? Yeah. Did I know what time to go home?

Yeah. Have I hung out with Diddy? Yeah. Have I been to Diddy parties? Yeah. Did I know what time to go home? Yeah. Have I hung out with Diddy? Yeah. Have I had fun with Diddy? Has Diddy always treated me with love and respect? Hell yeah. So all I could go by is what I know about Sean Combs. What I saw, deplorable and despicable and disgusting.

And as a father of four girls, Diddy would have had a problem if that was my child. But I can't erase his legacy and what he did musically and what he meant to music. And I think he's learning a hard lesson right now that all them people that you thought was your people, they was never your people. So what should happen to Diddy now? Because we talk about his legacy, right? You know, people talk about forgiveness. People talk about he should lose everything. What's your thoughts on what should happen to somebody like a D?

I think if there is something legal, let the courts play it out. But in a court of public opinion and morality, that's something totally different. And he hasn't been convicted of a crime. So the man is innocent until proven guilty, and I would hope that somebody would feel that way about me, but I think he has to make amends for what we saw.

We saw a video. Yeah, we saw a video. Can he make amends for that? What's my man name? Ray Rice? Remember he used to play for Baltimore? He did a thing in the elevator and you know, he didn't get to play professional football anymore. So I think, you know, Diddy got some soul searching to do and he's going to have to make amends for what we saw can he make amends for that though like how do you do that

like after something like that it's super public it's at this point his reputation is what it is like how do you come back from something like that I've never been in that situation so I can't answer that question but it's gonna be tough the first you gotta take care of what you need to take care of as far if i was in that situation i don't know how or what i would do i would think i would just have to rely on my god and and just take everything one day at a time but i would definitely try to make some amends for it and probably get some counseling for it and what you said is true and i don't understand why people can't explore that like your emotions do be complicated when situations like this yes

what he did is disgusting right but we still can't act like we Like your emotions do be complicated when situations like this happen. Yes, what he did is disgusting, right? But we still can't act like we didn't wild out the All About the Benjamins and we didn't love that whole bad boy era at some point. We played 112 in the show, man. You gotta do the mace part. You know what I'm saying? Humble you want to, humble you want to.

Can't erase that, that's fire. I mean, you've never been in a situation like you said, but when I hear y'all talk about separating a man from the music, I feel like with R. Kelly, people instantly, like, stations stop playing songs and all that stuff. Stations stop playing them. People bang R. Kelly and they call. But I'm just saying, like, there was, like, a corporate, like,

movement around R. Kelly, but it was different with Diddy. It was a soundtrack to what he was doing. Yeah. Like, when you hear about what he's doing, you hear AJ ain't nothing but a number. It seems like it's different. The music was about that. Man, that was a good song.

That's so bad. I say, I think also, and this is going to sound crazy, I think Diddy was, I don't want to say more relatable, but he was more in tune to hip-hop. I would see Diddy. We would go to Diddy parties.

He was more, I know Diddy. I don't know R. Kelly. You know what I mean? So it's a little different when you're dealing with people like that. Yeah, yeah. And with Rob, with Diddy. I don't know R. Kelly. You know what I mean? So it's a little different when you're dealing with people like that. Yeah. Yeah. And with Rob, with Diddy, you're not hearing nothing about underage. You know what I mean?

You're hearing about wild parties. You're hearing about what happened with Miss Cassie Ventura. But you're not hearing about him taking advantage of underage girls and boys. And that's what we got with Rob. It's not bad though. That was an open secret in the music business for years. That's what Rob's preference was. Yeah.

You ain't heard that before? I mean, I've heard people say that. Yeah. It was an open secret, but I mean, why do people allow that, I guess? He was making money. People allow a lot of stuff when it comes time to make money, right?

I wanted to know, back to the radio, you were talking about white program directors and white people running the industry. When Hot 97 flipped to hip-hop, and of course hip-hop is our culture, did you ever feel a way that the bosses were white and they were pretty much telling us

what to do for our culture? In the very beginning of Hot 97, I can't say that I've ever felt that way because they were always in tune to what we were doing and open to listen. It wasn't just like this blanket. When I went to Steve's office and said something to Steve, Steve would always listen. When Tracy was there, if I go say Tracy, I think that we should be doing this, that, and the third,

Tracy would always listen. And if there was a corporate reason why we couldn't do it or there was a financial reason why we couldn't do it, they were always open to listen. So I never felt that way over there. I never felt like I wasn't being heard, even though this was the music that we grew up on and the music that we gave to the world. I never felt that I wasn't being heard because it though this was the music that we grew up on and the music that we gave to the world.

I never felt that I wasn't being heard because it's the same way at MTV. Everybody that was my boss at MTV was white, but I can always talk to Ted and Peter, and they will always fight that good fight for me, Dre, and Fab. I love Tracy. Tracy was the one that made me do radio. Yeah, Tracy's great. Salute to Tracy.

Shout out to Tracy. How did your approach on TV differ from your approach on radio? Well, radio, as you know, this radio is automatic. That's great. Salute to Tracy. Shout out to Tracy. How did your approach on TV differ from your approach on radio? Television, well, radio, as you know, this radio is automatic. It's right in front of your face. It's like,

as soon as you walk out the house, whatever you said, people are going to repeat back to you. Television, you do your job, you act, and they may see it later or they may not see it

and may air this day. It may not air this day. Radio is the most immediate thing because people get, you get it automatically and they're in your face and that's it. So radio, I approach radio differently than television. Most of the time if I'm

on TV I'm acting. But if I'm doing radio it's just me. Is it true that you were only making $500 a week the first week of Yo MTV Raps? Yeah, hell yeah. The first

eight to maybe a year. Yeah, first year. Yeah. Because they didn't know what to do with the show. Fab was already there. Thank God for Fab.

Fab Five Freddy, y'all. Fab Five Freddy. He decided. I know you like Fabulous was there? No, not that Fab. There's another Fab before Fab. It. Fab Five Freddy, y'all. Fab Five Freddy. He decided. I know you like, Fabulous was there? No, not that Fab. There's another Fab before Fab. It was Fab Five Freddy.

Got you. He was already there. He got on in 88. So this show blew up. They wanted to do a daily show. So when they decided to do the daily show, Dre and I got the opportunity to audition because Peter knew Dre.

Peter Daugherty, God rest his soul, executive producer knew Dre. Ted Demme knew me. And Ted called me in. Ted had the foresight to put me and Dre together. They had $1,000 a week for a host. So Dre took five. I took the other five.

It didn't last that long. We got our money. What was the biggest check you got, if you don't mind talking from radio or TV, the biggest check that you got? At one time, just like one check in my hand, $100,000. What you was doing on the radio? That was from TV. I had an opportunity to do a late night TV talk show.

And they gave me a $100,000 check in my hand. For a few episodes? No, it never aired. It never aired. We shot the pilot at the David Letterman Theater and it was a good show and everything was a go and then they called me and said, oh, we decided

to go with Keenan Ivory Wayans where they gave me $100,000. I'm like, fine. I mean, Keenan is a great guy. They gave me a $100,000 holding fee. So I was fine with that. That's when they hold you like for a year. You can't do nothing else. You you can't do another talk show. And they just

handed me a check for $100,000. But Dre and I went from $500 a week to a quarter million dollars a year after the first year you're on TV Raps. Each. It feels like back then it was more about hip hop culture

than hip hophop business. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Money, I think at some point money ruined hip-hop in a certain way. Because it was about the culture. Like, you had to be nice, right? You couldn't just get in. Like, you couldn't just go and, you know, I'm wet like the water.

Hurt, heat, hurt, hurt. I'm wet like the water. Wow, I'm so young and traumatized. I'm like, that's a little...'m wet like the water. I'm so young and traumatized. I'm like, that's it. She rocking. She rocking. She's so young, she rocking. Water, water's flowing.

And I'm flowing. So you know you had to have some kind of skill. If you came around with that, you might get beat up and told to get out of here, right? So you had to have some kind of skill level. But once the money got involved and everybody started making money and you saw Death Row, $100 million company, you saw Bad Boy, $100 million company, you saw Rockefeller, $100 million company, you saw Rough Riders, $100 million company,

sooner or later it transitioned into we're just trying to move units, we're just trying to sell units. We're just trying to sell records. We're streaming now. So everybody, you know, with Soulja Boy, which is another one of my favorite interviews y'all ever did. Drake! Drake! Drake!

Oh, then I found out that that was true. You know what's so funny? You brought up Soulja Boy. I remember being in New York. I forgot what year it was, and you was going on a Soulja Boy rant. I hated Soulja Boy. I hated Soulja Boy. And we cool, too.

We cool right now. We're not playing that no more. What was the issue with Big Draco? Back then, after the first couple of records, I just thought he was trash. You, bro. Yeah, I just thought he was trash. I hated that one. That's a hot record, though.

But guess what else I missed out on? Y'all not ever going to believe this, son. What? Mike Kaiser. Y'all never going to believe this, son. Mike Kaiser. Y'all know Mike Kaiser. Of course. Mike Kaiser came to Hot 97 and played Get At Me, Dog, for me. And I said it's the worst record I ever heard.

Oh, you got it. I missed out on that. So I missed out on Big Draco, too. So I apologize. Damn. I missed out on it. Was that your age? I was like, man, you're barking.

I'm like, man, he barking. We already got a dog. We got Snoop Dogg. Why do we need another dog? And then the beat that was used was the old knick-knack paddywhack off of EPMD. I'm old school. You don't bite nobody else's beat. You don't use it again.

And then we went to Westchester County for a Hot 97 hot shot basketball team we had. And that DJ dropped that, and them kids lost it. I was like, Ed, you was wrong. You was wrong on that one. I didn't think Social Boy was going to last. What other things did you miss out on that were like, now they're like, we look at the moments like, oh, my God, like that you could have been a part of or could have been a first on?

My daughter, my oldest daughter, Tiffany, I should choke the crap out of her. Lloyd Banks was in her homeroom class giving her the G-Unit mixtapes before they were signed. And she never once said, Ed, their dad hears this group called

G-Unit that's floating around and Fifth is from Southside, Jamaica, Queens. But would you have done it back then? Because Fifth had beef with everybody from Queens. Absolutely I would have did it. He liked that type of stuff. That was on thick kick, right?

Because a lot of people stood away from 50 back then. I would have probably tried to squash the beef. I would have probably went to Black Just and like, yo, Just, man, talk to Preem, man. We got to stop this, man. We got to get this kid going. This kid, you know. Matter of fact, y'all need points?

What y'all need? Yeah, my daughter, man, she did not tell me Banks was in her class. Here go the crazy stuff. He went to August Martin. My daughter went to August Martin.

Come to find out, Banks' mom was in my homeroom class at August Martin High School. Wow. Yeah. Wow, I seen Banks last week. What's up to Banks?

I seen him in there. Shout out to Banks, man. How has the game evolved since you started? And what changes have surprised you the most? I think them in there. Shout out to Banks, man. How has the game evolved since you started, and what changes have surprised you the most? I think the change that surprised me the most is we don't know how people are getting paid from their music.

The streaming thing, I hear a lot about it, like, this person streamed this many streams, and I'm like, so how are they getting paid? And then I saw Snoop complaining about he don't even know how he get paid off of his stuff. I always thought that we would have hard copies of music.

Like, it's easier to say this person sold, actually sold. This person is popular because they actually, people go out and consume and bought and paid for it and took it with them and lived with it. Like when Get Rich or Die Trying came out, we was running around the city trying to find somebody that had it. You couldn't find it in the record store. So I think what shocked me the most is the streaming and probably the lack of balance in there, Bob.

The balance is not there. The love is gone. Even if we had even if we had Kaya, right? We still had Latifah and Light and Salt-N-Pepa and it was always

a balance. If you had NWA you had some conscience over there, right? You had Public Enemy. You had Talib Kweli. The balance yeah talib quality the balance is just is gone why you think that is though i don't know i i don't know some people say it's the record companies i i don't know i just think it's what people think they need to do to get on nowadays yeah because i feel like the conscious artists are there but the controversy and like the other stuff breaks through so we just they don't breaks through. They don't get the light.

You gotta be like a cult fan of someone who's conscious nowadays. Like the J. Coles, right? J. Cole breaks through, though. He does give the balance. The cats like critting them. They give the balance. Rhapsody is one of them. I've been telling people about Rhapsody five years ago.

I love Rhapsody. She's the balance. The 3D Natties. I love Rhapsody. She's the balance, the 3D natties. I love that young lady. They give the balance. The Lola Brooks, I like Lola. There's a lot of young artists out there that I really like,

but we need more of a balance. How do you feel about the new wave of music in New York that likes sexy Drew? It ain't for me. It don't mean it's bad. No, no. I mean, I can't see you dancing to this. It ain't for me it don't mean it's bad no no I mean I can't see you dancing it ain't for me you gotta understand what's for you what's not for you right

and I get to a point now where I'm like okay that's for them if that's your vibe that's your wave cool because I remember when my father used to get at me about hip hop he's like that's crap that deep that deep anybody can do that I'm like dad it's like that's crap that deep that deep the deep deep dude anybody can do that i'm like dad it's music hey music so the way i don't get in the way of the young artists coming

up do your thing god bless you y'all make a way more money than we ever made so good we open the door for y'all go ahead run through that door and keep the door open for the next generation because y'all ain't gonna understand the next generation. I never thought I'd see the day you know when you see a cat be like, who Jay-Z? If Jay-Z wasn't a billionaire they wouldn't know his music. That's real. You know what I mean? Some people, no shade to Jay-Z. I love you Jay-Z. No, some people be like

nah, I don't listen to that. If it wasn't like some people know him as Beyonce's husband. They don't even know a lot of the stuff. They don't know he ever made a record. My niece knows him as Beyonce's husband. I think that's crazy. That's insane. That is insane. Shout out to Beyonce, too. Send me some of that new whiskey you got coming out. I'll drink bourbon.

Well, tonight... Tonight, he's gonna be at SOB's. Ed Lover's at SOB's. What time tonight? Does the star get your tickets right now? 7 o'clock. 7 o'clock. Ed Lover presents the live mixtape band. We rock a straight hour and a half. It's New York, so we might do two hours tonight.

And it's all good music. Come on out, guys. It's a date night. Bring your girl. Ladies, bring your fella. They have food there. It could be a ladies' night out. They recreate some of the biggest records in hip-hop and R&B.

Ed Lover does the rapping. They do the singing. So I can't wait to— We got Miss Carrie X on vocals. We got Mr. Sherwood Brown Jr. on vocals. And we got a hell of a band, man. A bunch of really talented young cats. And we appreciate you for joining us this morning.

Thank you, man. I appreciate y'all having me, man. I'm on The Breakfast Club. Look at this. Absolutely. Listen, you're one of the icons whose show do we stand on. That's right. I appreciate you, man.

And I always appreciated the fact that when Power 105 let me go and y'all came in, y'all never crapped on me, man. And I always appreciated the fact that when Power 105 let me go and y'all came in, y'all never crapped on me, man. And I really appreciate that. You have to crap on that, luckily. I appreciate that, man. We want to do things that you did. You know what I mean? We've been trying to figure out a movie for a long time.

People always try to stir something up. Now what about the Breakfast Club, man? Why you about the breakfast club? I'm like, man, me and Envy from the same hood, son. I said, you ever heard the Breakfast Club say anything bad about me? No. Then I ain't going to say nothing bad about the Breakfast Club. And so y'all do what y'all do, man, me and Envy from the same hood, son. I said, you ever heard the Breakfast Club say anything bad about me? No. Then I ain't going to say nothing bad about the Breakfast Club. And so y'all do what y'all do, man.

And shout out to Jess, and congratulations. Me and Jess did the Essence last year together. She's a joy to work with, man. We had to fight so many of your listeners when we first started. Oh, man. I'm going to tell you, one of your biggest listeners who was on our head, Warren Sapp. Oh, Warren Sapp was on our head.

Warren Sapp used to tweet, who are these young punks on the radio? Warren Sapp was on my head. When I first got the power, and we flipped power from the RB from Jammin' 105 to Power 105,

that's the same calls I took that morning when we flipped the station. Where's such and such? Where's this person at? Who's that? I don't want to hear no Ed Lover and Dr. Dre on the radio, so it's full circle, man. Shout out to Sap, though. Alright, well, it's The Breakfast Club. It's Ed Lover. Good morning.