The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Joe Clair Shares Rap City Journey, Interviewing Biggie, Family, Music, Comedy + More

Episode Date: October 13, 2023

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Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Charlamagne Tha Guy. We are The Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in the building. Hold on. Let me just...

The legendary. Oh, man. I see he got his Morgan State jersey on. Oh, really, bro? Really, bro? You know, I just want to put my helmet here. Oh, baby. We got the brother Joe Cleezy here.

Joe Cleezy. The legendary Joe Cleezy. Good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning. How y'all doing, man? Explain this to me now. I know the Hampton Howard rivalry, but what's Morgan State? So every HBCU thinks it's the greatest HBCU that has ever been HBCU. That's correct.

The only real one is Morgan State. But then the other ones still feel like they are a Morgan State. So you have that Howard-Hampton thing, or Morehouse thinks it's Morgan State. You know, FAMU thinks it's Morgan State. And you have that Howard Hampton thing on Morehouse thinks it's Morgan State. You know, FAMU thinks it's Morgan State. I love those institutions. Great institutions who turn out incredible people, but they're not.

Watch your mouth. Morgan State. I was gonna go to Morgan State because that's the first school that's on the tour. That's not helping your argument here. I'm gonna tell you, I was gonna go to Morgan. I was gonna go to Morgan, Howard, VSU, Virginia, Union, and then Hampton. Hampton, right? When I went to Morgan State, I remember it like it was yesterday.

It was the first thing we go on a campus. Well, you want to call it a campus? Oh, no, you didn't. Just because y'all got that little river running behind y'all little school. I heard this story before. And then you know what I seen on my dad's scene? Y'all were playing craps on the steps. And my dad was like, this is the same thing as Queens.

Why are you going to leave Queens to come to Baltimore to watch them play craps on the steps? That's what made me go to. So mine was the complete opposite. As soon as I seen the crowd, I was like, this is the place for me. This is definitely the place for me to get a degree. Oh, it was perfect. Made them five years. Them five years served me well. definitely the place for me to get a degree. It was perfect.

Them five years served me well. You didn't do it in four? No I ain't do it in four. Me neither, I did it in five too. I did my five and I was an RA. I did everything you could do at school. I was the mascot one semester. I needed a gym credit. I needed a gym credit. They was like, you want to go lift weights or you want to be the mascot? I said, man, give me the bear outfit. I was the most DC bear I had on my new balance because it was a raggedy suit. Right. Listen, Charlemagne, it was a raggedy suit at the time.

We didn't have the funding to get a new mascot outfit at that time. Right. Morgan State was going through some things. So they gave me the old one that they used to have. The head was perfect. The suit, the feet, garbage. So I used

to rock whatever the band would come out rocking fresh new butter. New butter Tims. Beef and broccoli is what you want. And everybody, who is the band? He's fresh. Whoever the band is, he's want. And everybody, who is the bear? He fresh, whoever the bear is. He fresh. The freshest bear we ever had.

Honestly, if you walk on an HBCU campus and rolling dice scares you, you might not need to go to an HBCU. It is scary. My father was like, this is the same thing I've seen in Queens. And I don't want my kid, you know, rolling craps. So what it is, we wasn't rolling craps. That was a probability study. See, your father wasn't. See, your pops wasn't craps. That was a probability study. See, your pops wasn't here.

That was just a probability study from some kids in the engineering department. Now, let's talk about what's going on in Morgan right now, Morgan State. You know, there was a shoot in there recently. You guys had canceled the homecoming, and there was a lot going on. So have you reached back out to the school? How is everything happening now? Because I know you're big when it comes to giving back to that school. So I was supposed to actually host our homecoming gala,

which is the biggest fundraiser of the year. I hosted the gala each year, shirt, you know, tuxedo out, and that got postponed to December the 8th. The game, you know, all of the, let's say this, the official homecoming got canceled okay but black people homecoming went on as planned oh they were still partying oh they were still partying they called it because the homecoming got canceled brunch okay because the home government got canceled day party because the home so we you know you have thousands of people

who were looking forward to this weekend so they came down and had a great time and showed solidarity. After the shooting, you had mothers. There was a group of mothers who got together who didn't have students, didn't have kids in school, who came up just to show support for kids who were far away from home who needed a mom. Oh, wow. If you need a hug, if you need to ask a mom question real quick i'm we're standing right here oh wow and so while you know the tragedy happened and we you know our prayers are with those students and their families and everybody affected

there's also this gigantic push of solidarity this gigantic push of unity um This is a new Morgan State and we're gonna stand together to shake off some of the old reputation, that rolling craps reputation that we had and move in a new positive way. When things like this pop up it it throws a monkey wrench into the we're a new Morgan thing so we came out even stronger. That's why I've been I've been orange and blue since that day you know my kids are walking around with the hats and everything else and I'm screaming it out as much as I possibly can these institutions you know I don't have to come on here and preach to you what a HBCU means for our community so um you

know at this time in my life I'm happy to be able to be there for my school, whatever they need. They call me for anything. If the students need anything, my frat brothers need anything, they hit me up and like, let's go do X, Y, and Z. Do you think they should have canceled oncoming? I think it was a good call by Dr. Wilson

is an incredible leader for that school. And with, let's imagine if he didn't cancel. This black mama ain't canceling the view it's a tragedy so he did the smart thing he did the the thing that someone in academia should do let's cancel this everybody else though we went and partied and everybody had a great time because all the events around homecoming none of that got shut down no hell no you ain't you ain't canceling red essence you ain't canceling red S's. You ain't canceling the go-go because, you know,

you're not even supposed to have a go-go in Baltimore in the first place. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the fact that you got a go-go in Baltimore or we coming, and you're not canceling that. Why you can't have go-go in Baltimore? It's too old. It's two different cities. So Baltimore.

Break it down. Most of the country doesn't know that there is an unspoken rivalry between the African-American community in Baltimore and the African-American community in D.C. Okay. We're 30 miles apart, 40, 50 miles, a half hour apart, 40 minutes apart. And for us growing up, Baltimore is a whole nother country. We don't even know that Baltimore is there. And for Baltimore growing up, D.C. is a whole nother, they south't even know that baltimore is there and for baltimore growing up dc is a whole nother they south and they country yeah they think that we country we think that

they're country and you very it's a field trip when you're growing up baltimore is a field trip unless you have family there baltimore is a field trip you get their tv stations maybe you know if you live outside the city you get some of their TV stations. They got their own language. And so we have two. We grew up with two different, like you said, cultures, different accents, music, food we dig, way we dress and the like. So when I got to Baltimore, there was no go-go whatsoever you did not don't even don't even bring that up in baltimore now because of i think because of the 20 30 years that dc has been heavy going to morgan state making alliances in the city my wife is from the west side first let me say

that my wife is from the west side of baltimore and when i married a bal woman, the D.C. women were like, hold on, uh-uh, Joe. Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh. No, that's not what we doing. I was like, oh, that's what we doing. Oh, you ain't... Go ahead and say it. You don't sleep with her. You haven't had some of that old beta she's serving.

She's got a crab boil for your ass that you don't know nothing about. And so, I think that there's slowly but surely there's an alliance that has been coming between Baltimore and D.C. At least the hard line has been

softened. I won't say there's an alliance, but the hard line has been softened so that you can have a go-go in D.C. D.C. still is hardcore. We won't accept like Baltimore night, but I love Baltimore. Club music, house music. It's such an incredible and rich city that I gained so much respect for by going to Morgan State and then by having friends who were from Baltimore. And eventually I met that woman and then that just deepened my appreciation for Baltimore. I actually just opened a business in Baltimore, substance abuse treatment facility in the city of Baltimore.

My wife and I, I have a degree in psychology in case you didn't know. And so we did that. So that's me in Baltimore and and for most people you did there's a documentary oh god I wish I could remember the name about Baltimore house music that goes into their culture and then there's a there's tons of documentaries about go go you see our culture but you never hear about this rivalry that we had that goes on I think it's the stupidest thing ever I think that the two communities,

African-American communities in those major cities, D.C.'s a major city, Baltimore's a major city. I think we need to come together. Is there anything that brings y'all together? I would think like comedy, right? Because I think y'all got such an underrated comedy. There's an underrated comedy scene in Baltimore, D.C. Because you got Dave, you got Donnell,

you got yourself, Earthquake, Jeff Hilarious. So here's how we feel about that. The same applies. So it's like this. Growing up, anything coming out of Baltimore, you just automatically X. And if you in Baltimore, anything coming out of D.C., you just automatically X. Nah,

you don't know them. I learned that from my Baltimore goons. What's up with y'all? I ain'ttimore goons what's up with y'all i ain't saying no names what's up with y'all but i know some straight goons and and you know baltimore but people don't you know the wire was real let's let's keep let's keep it a buck the wire was real yeah and the the climate in Baltimore is serious. It's very, very serious. So there's going to be, it's going to take 30, 40 years for that alliance to pop off.

Hey, 30, 40? Let's keep it real. Can I keep it real? Of course. You know how niggas is. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We talking about black folks who are setting their ways, who have, you know, we are slow to change. Black folks are very, very slow to change.

Yeah, that's true. And unless you have a reason to change, a very straightforward reason to change, ain't going to be that much change. Big shout out to Baltimore, and I see that there's a lot of people that I graduated from college with and people who are upperly mobile, they are doing incredible things in Baltimore. And I'm watching my brothers and sisters in D. the exact thing so I'm like it would be really cool if we had this cohesiveness because we're right there and we could be extremely powerful but I'm a dreamer um I always look for the best in people and always you you know, I'm a namaste kind of guy. So, you know, that's just me talking here with you guys

about how I feel, why you don't have a go-go in Baltimore. When you say substance abuse treatment, what is it for? Heroin or? For whatever you want. Whatever you want. Codeine? Whatever substance that you want. Right now, of course, everybody's,

the opioid crisis is the biggest thing that hit our country. So let me back up a bit more. I got a degree in psychology, but my first job was a social worker. I'm in social services. I come from helping brothers and sisters, right? That's what my parents instilled in me,

and it just made sense to me. Comedy started paying the bills, though. So comedy started paying the bills. I was like, boom, I got to go do comedy. But I always kept the philanthropic things moving. Then I watched my dad have a problem with substances back in the day. Then I watched my brother, who was my biggest hero on the planet, come through recovery like he's the poster child he was

on meth don't nobody come off of that you know you ain't coming back from that right now he's a he he got off meth and became a personal trainer wow at 61 years old wow bad did can i let me lay this out for you what most people don't know my oldest brother came out the closet when i was 11 years old so he started that persecution started with him early in his life and that was a different time coming out the closet back here nobody understood the way the way i'd say it more difficult the way i say it on stage and the jokes is he's the first gay person because it was, we talking 81. Yeah, that's it. You know what I mean? Black history, my fact. Right. Joe Grant's brother. The first gay person, right?

He comes out and he stands on his truth that this is who I am when nobody is standing with me. At 11? I was 11. You was 11. And he's seven years older than me, so he's 18. He was 18. And he stands on his truth and like, this is what it's going to be. The hood already knew.

I didn't know. You know, it's one of them things hood knew i was like y'all heard my brother gay and he was like nigga you heard your brother gay we been knew your brother was gay you just ain't know because that's my older brother i how would i know anyway he stood on his truth by 1988 he was HIV positive he came through that then substance abuse prostate cancer all of this stuff and then one day he just was like

I'm just gonna be the greatest nigga on the planet and just took to recovery like a fish to water took to the gym like a fish to water. I'm sure he has his bad days. He has his trials, his tribulations.

He's my biggest hero on the planet. I can see if he came through all of that. All of it. And he's six foot four. We have different dads. We have different dads. My dad raised him, though. When my dad met my mom, my brother was two.

His father was a ball player. And he's 6'4". He's 61, 6'4", gorgeous. Just gorgeous black man. Cut. Walking around now at 61. He ain't never do an athletic thing in his life. Right now he's 61 and cut and is like living

like the best life he could ever have and thank y'all for letting me talk about him on the breakfast club you know the funny thing is that what you said is he he was like he's six foot four and then you looked at yourself like we had different forms yeah i saw myself in the glass i could see me i was like you're not six foot nothing he's like an hiv advocate too he he he's a he's an advocate for being aware what he is an advocate for and this is how he put it down for me he's an advocate for us knowing who we are having safe practices and getting ahead in the world as the younger brother he never tried to talk to me about uh gay versus straight this versus that what your opinion is he never tried to make my opinion his opinion mine he never tried to impose any of that shit on and

for all the people who think oh you gay you grow up around gay people you're gonna be gay nah man it's not contagious not at all you know how much does he i mean not anyway do you know how often I fuck my wife? Anyway, he never did any of those things. And his thing was like, I'm gay. That's not y'all. That's me. That's what makes me me he never tried to push that agenda and even let me say this neither did any of his friends his friends came through our house Christmas Thanksgiving it was our house was the house to come to because my brother did have a supportive family those brothers who didn't have a supportive family I would ask I was like why are you over here every Christmas he don't go see his mother and stuff and then my brother's, his mother and father don't want to see him.

He's been put out the house. I was like, what do you mean? I didn't know that that went on in the gay community because my parents didn't. You know, this is my brother. This is my nigga. You crazy? So your norm wasn't the norm for most people in the LGBTQ community. Exactly.

Over time, I found out that what happened in our house was not the norm. How did that change your perspective on how you even just approach your allyship, I guess, in the world? It just made me more of an ally when I need to be. I don't go out waving the rainbow flag for my brother. He was like, that's corny. Yeah.

If you're not living that every day, that's corny to go out and wave the flag. Do what you do. Right. First of all, are you a halfway

decent person in the world? That's what his biggest thing was like, before you can even support anybody, what kind of person are you in here? That's real.

You might be a raggedy motherfucker in the first place. That's real. We don't need your your support you're a funky we don't even want you around us you know or if it's a performative thing please don't come around so that was always what he pushed for me and you can understand why i'm so uh passionate about this is my big brother right this is my older brother that's what i learned everything from he He taught me to fight, taught me, I got an overhand right that'll tear your ass up. You're stupid. You're stupid. You're stupid.

I'm a comedian, Envy. So you got into comedy. Yes. Okay. And then comedy led to radio or TV first? Comedy led to radio. No, comedy led to TV first. I was watching the doc last night, and it was so funny.

I'm watching the doc. They're texting me saying, yo, we got Joe Clifford tomorrow. I'm like, oh, shit. So I'm watching the doc. Oh, so you ain't do this? I mean, I put it in motion. OK, cool. I told you when I saw you at the BET.

Right. You got to have you on. But I'm watching the doc, and I saw that you called RAPCITY every day listen bro I call RAPCITY once a week I call BET once a week I was watching the show every day like everybody else RAPCITY RAPCITY who was the host at the time Dejo and Chris okay and Les had just come on Les had just come on and I'm watching every day now I had Ricky Lake I got on the Ricky Lake show a year before. This was her second season when she was still doing some newsy shit

on the Ricky Lake show. Can we cut? I can cut from here. Yeah, of course. Well, see, I'm sorry. I have another life now. I do the news in Washington, D.C. every day, so I have to watch how I speak to you, Envy.

Okay, well, you can say whatever the fuck you want to say here. Thank you very much. So I'm fucking doing comedy. Anyway, so I'm doing comedy. I'm going up to the payphone. I do the Ricky Lake show, and I was like, if I can get on Ricky Lake. So this is what got me really on it.

So I do the Ricky Lake show, and then I go to the club on Thursday. Ricky Lake came on Wednesday. I go to the club Thursday. Nigga, I'm blown up. Everybody saw you on Ricky Lake. Wait a minute. Hold up. You was on Ricky Lake

yesterday. Why? Yes, I am. Bitch, I told you. It was like I was just standing here last week in the same spot in this club and you was standing right there and you looked me in my face, lady. You ain't, I was nobody.

I get on Ricky Lake, oh. You was on Ricky Lake yesterday? Like, like, drinks. What you gonna, you gonna hang out with us after? And I was like, this how they treat you when you get on TV? I gotta get on there every day. Oh, I'm calling, right?

So, I was like, let me call BET. BET is, I was living on Capitol Hill at the time. BET is in Northeast, which is not too, it wasn't too far from my house. So I'm like, I'm close. I'm this close. So I started calling, like, 411. And then, can I have the director? And they finally give me Keith Paschall, and I get his voicemail.

And when he didn't, I leave the message and he didn't call back. Let me call again. You know when you're 19 and you got that, you don't have any clue how the industry works. Now, you know, that's the corn ball, and this nigga keep calling my phone. He's never going to get a job. But when you young you don't know that right so i just kept kept kept kept kept kept calling well um he never called

me back but a friend of mine jay nice who was in the episode last night dj jay nice was dj and he's like i'm gonna be on rap city tomorrow so you gonna be in rap city tomorrow uh can i roll with you like yeah sure i said where y'all shooting at? He said, I don't know. I said, tell him they can shoot at my house. He's like, all right, cool. I'll tell him. Now, I hadn't told anybody I was calling Rap City every week.

It looked like goddamn food. So he called me back and said, yo, we'll be at your house tomorrow at 11. I said, you going to be at my house tomorrow at 11 to shoot Rap City? He said, yes. Now, you know what this wasn't in the doc yeah break it down because i thought you know when i dj rap city of course it was a lot of years later there was a set right so before that there was no set no set this is and in the doc there was a bunch it's a doc so they had to cut out a bunch of stuff just like he got to edit this for the full oh okay cool okay just just push play so so they come to my house and alphonse who was the producer at the time alphonse mccullough shows up he got chino xl

with him wow chino xl and at the time this is before eminem had dropped so remember chino xl was the king of the you know marty schottenheimer right you know he was the king of the, you know, Marty Schottenheimer, right? You know, he was the king of that type of shock, metaphoric, battle rap-ish lyricism. Chino XL was the king of that shit at the time. So he showed up, and I was like, yo, it's fucking Chino XL. You didn't have a set?

They were just gonna shoot you in your living room? No set. They shot in my living room. You had to sign no waiver, no nothing? I ain't none of that shit. This is the early days early days of the bet you had your own house at the time i had my own me and my me and my roommate was living on capitol here okay my line brother and the the the the thing was when he said we'd be there tomorrow i gotta back up a little bit when he said we'll be at your house tomorrow i said cool i hung up the hung up the phone. I go in my room. I was like, all right, God.

They said you do stuff like this. Like, but for real though, God? Like BET coming to my house? Like, hold up. For real, man? You do this for me, man. I'll do whatever you ask me to do, God. No, for real. And for people listening that don't know, BET used to be out of D.C.

Right. They weren't in New York. They used to be out of D.C. It was out of DC right they were in New York it was out it was out of it was out of DC so sure enough they show up the next day and Chino XL bop a moon so I'm like oh man I'm you know my mind blown I'm a hip-hop head on my mind whatever y'all need I got beer in the refrigerator we had no we had no furniture I had a bomb it was exposed bricks wall spiral staircase fireplace

there no furniture it was perfect for a rap city shoot refrigerator full of beer perfect then yeah it was like a dre video this is back when you remember dre and the video i was fresh out of college i want my to look like drayton yeah yeah so but i was drinking 40s a genuine draft i was i wasn't doing OE. Y'all, this is New York shit. Anyway, the producer said, hey, man, you a comedian? I said, yeah. He said, I saw you. You open for Paul Mooney.

Now, I snuck in Paul Mooney's show and begged for five minutes. Like, I used to go to everybody. I don't give a fuck who was coming to town. I'm going to go stage door. Can I get five minutes like i used to go to everybody i don't give a who was coming to town i'ma go stage door can i get five minutes this time they always told me no but this time one of the security knew me from the club like nah that funny put him on so i got on they let me do that fast forward eight months later yo you open for paul mooney i was like yeah he's like man you funny as but i didn't know your name. Blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah. Hey, we might be looking for, all he had to say is we might be looking for, I'm your guy. Whatever the fuck you looking for, I can do it.

And he had me shoot a few things while I was standing there with Chino XL and them. And then they gave me a couple of auditions. And next thing you know, I was the co, I was co-hosted with Big Laz. You know what I realized last night watching that doc, man, not realized, it reminded me, you and Laz had some of the greatest chemistry

I've ever seen any duo have, period. Did y'all know each other before that? It goes back to my brother and how I was raised. First of all, I got a strong mother, and I come from strong women. I had strong-ass pops, too, but I had strong, strong, strong women. Respecting women was just what you do at our house. There's no two ways about it. And it's a modern woman.

You're not delegating them to any other thing, but as equal as they want to show up that day, that's who she is. I took that with me out in the world. If you look, I always work with women. Me and Les,

me and Takara. When I hosted, me and Takara had the game show we had take the cake me and takara uh melissa ford came on mad sports when i hosted a couple of times it was great i did morning radio me and sunny me and poet me now i'm on the news every day i'm with marina i'm with more in so i work really well with women specifically because of what I was taught about women. And then my brother taught me about respecting people, period. One of the narratives that's missed is it's a person in here. We like to think about the titties and the ass and how she's looking today.

Or the ladies like, oh, he got the chain. He got the old whatever's going, the physical attributes of a person. But it's a person in there. She got up this morning, had to do everything she had to do to get out the door, to get to work, to be on time, to shoot this show. She nervous too. She don't know everything.

Nigga, the last thing she need is me trying to throw her some dick. So what would you do if it was her brother? How you doing today? Good to see you, man, let's get this in. And that's how I treat, that's what me and Les were off the break. And she, since she was already there,

she knew more than I did, so I kind of gave her this big sister thing. Yo, show me this and show me that and how does this work? And I don't know these hip hop guys. And oh, who is that? Can you introduce me? That type of shit. So it was never, that's how that chemistry worked out. and I don't know these hip hop guys. And oh, who is that? Can you introduce me? That type of shit.

So it was never, that's how that chemistry worked out. Now, some of her friends. What's up with y'all? It was a different chemistry. Lad, what's up with y'all? Let me show you what little bro do. But it's crazy though because y'all used to do

last city radio. No, my brother's gay Not me I like vagina Y'all did Rap City Radio But I'm like damn Nobody ever tapped Joe and Les

To do a morning show That never happened That's insane And I was doing morning radio I know You know I was doing radio I worked with Shout out to Russ Pa

Shout out to Russ Pa. Shout out to Russ Pa. Shout out to Frank Ski. Frank Ski, of course. Yes, indeed. And then, of course, I had my own morning show for a good while. No, nobody ever tapped us for a radio show. That's insane.

Hold on a second. Nah, I feel like, you know, you got all of these, you know, you got what you call an adult contemporary hip hop station. Hip hop station's coming up, yeah. But even now, even just regular, this is, we old. We all in the 2554 demo. For sure. It's like, that's a no-brainer to me. Yeah, hey, I hope everybody's listening.

Now, so why did you leave, what ended with Rhapsody? Why did you leave Rhapsody? So, Stephen Hill came in, and, you know, Stephen Hill, I'll tell you both versions. The version from where I sit now in my 50s, Stephen Hill was a guy coming into BET who needed to make his thing work. He had been hired to make this thing work. That means people are going to get let go. Sets are going to get changed. Systems are going to get tossed up. I was new to that though i didn't

know that that's how that worked and we were a bet family up until that point now from when it happened steven hill called me and liz in his office and he says so uh you know we're going to go in another direction I was like cool what's the direction which which which that way that way I can go any way you need you know I was ready you know I got a gay brother I can go any way you need you know

which way I'm open I'm open I'm in you know I'm an ally which way you need us to go I had I had never heard that before You know, I'm an ally. Which way you need us to go? I had never heard that before. I had never heard we going in another direction before. I heard that four times. I had never heard that before.

Every time I heard it, fired. Right, exactly. That was the first time I heard that, and that meant that you were getting let go. From how I understood the industry at that time, I thought that was just the most fucked up move like he shake my hand and like take us to lunch and be like bro we love you but you know this is what it is and then it was just a cold heart we're going in another direction they don't show that in the

doc either they show we're moving to New York and then it's just like yeah and uh you know I decided Stephen Hill like I decided it needed to be one host and I'm like wait a minute that can't be it you just don't move Big Les and Joe like that like what are you talking about had to be more to the story yeah it was it was you know and and to his credit man each of us sitting here could imagine if we had to be an exec moving into a network a storied, a very storied successful network, you're going to have to come in and do some things a certain way to make some shit pop off. You can

imagine some people got to get fired, some people got to get let go. The way that y'all were doing things is cool, but you're not, that's going to keep you playing at this level. If you want me to get you to this level, it's going to be like that. So to Stephen's credit, man, he came in and did what he had to do and look at where BET went from there.

It became such an iconic brand for everybody. But I was wondering and I was thinking about the doc watching this last night. Did you and Les even get a chance

to audition for 106? Because that was the other thing that happened. They launched 106 and 106 kind of phased Rap City out. They didn't even ask. That was the no-brainer to me.

So what happened is... Did it phase Rap City out? No, Rap City kept going. Rap City kept going. It didn't even ask. That was the no-brainer to me. So what happened is... Did they change Rap City out? No, Rap City kept going. Rap City kept going. But... It wasn't the shiny jewel no more than that one. Rap City.

And you'll see more on that tonight on the... Part three of the Rap City doc. Last night. You saw it last night in the Rap City doc. I didn't even know about 106 and Park until I got tapped to do Mad Sports. I was living here in the tri-state.

I was living in Jersey. In Hackensack. Shout out to Hackensack. I lived there. I lived there. Lived there. Shout out to Hackensack. And I was coming into the city all the time.

And so they changed. New York's a new hub and all this other stuff. And I started doing Mad Sports. I started hosting that show. So I had to come up to the BET offices one day and I see AJ. But I had known AJ from

Howard. He was a party promoter and a kid you know dude around town in DC from you know college scene we would bump heads a lot so I was like oh the fuck you doing here he's like yo on the new show I was like what's the show he's like 106 and Park I was like boom alright let me know if you need anything you know my nigga good going good to see you I'll catch you I'm doing mad sports and that was that's how I found out about 106 and Park we there was no audition for us but at the time Liz was living in in LA she had left and gone back to the

west coast she was she left New York was living in on the west coast and I was living up here and so that the DC thing had kind of it was a different story but the corporate headquarters were still in dc all of the paperwork and everything was getting done all the money it was in dc it just baffles my mind because when you got two talented people like yourselves you would think that y'all would always be top of the mind for bet it's the game yeah the game yeah come on you've seen it you've seen both of us all of us the game is and let me say this for the people who are listening, when you get into this industry, media, music, entertainment, all those other things, remember that you chose this game because the game's got rules that you did not set in place.

You got to learn how to roll with them rules and keep getting ahead or become a bitter, old, used to be, I could have been type of motherfucker. I was like, all right, them's the rules. Keep it moving. I still go out every weekend and go get a bag telling jokes. You know, so when they making all these changes and things are going up and down, okay, I'll see y'all on Monday. Because I'm in Tallahassee this weekend or you catch me, you know,

I'll be in L.A. this weekend telling jokes. So for me, a lot of that got to roll off my back, and I'm remembering. It's the game, man. And clearly they cut all this out the doc, because I know you sat down and told all this. I told whatever they asked. I'm sure I did. I did whatever they asked.

The documentary, to take 20 years of a show, to truncate it into three hours. They had a huge task, man. And then after you guys was Tigger. And then Tigger, so Tigger was on with us. Tigger started doing news and then he became like his three hosts. So it was me, Les, and Tigger.

And then Steven came and was like, okay, why don't we just keep Tigger? And that's how that worked. Now Tigger and I go back to Sunday Night hip-hop show on WPGC, and that's where we, me and Tigger used to flow every Sunday night. So, like, we would rap, we would each write a written and then do a freestyle live on the radio every Sunday night in D.C. Shout out to DJ Flex.

He was our DJ at the time. And so that's how I knew Tigger from that's where we you know became friends so when he came on the show it was a no brainer it was you know go ahead do your thing kill him knock him dead and so that's how he got in

you was always nicer than Tigger too by the way I just want to throw that out there as a rapper salute to Tigger I was reminded of that last night too, but even when I was- Salute. I'm on the doc, right? Thank you, sir.

There's raps I remember, like I'm sitting there, I'm like, I remember Joe Clair sitting there with Raekwon and that was the freestyle that made me be like, God damn, Joe Clair can really rap. So that rhyme, so that rhyme, can I talk about that rhyme? Of course. So I put that rhyme so that rhyme can i talk about that from of course so i put that rhyme out there um now i gotta back up uh i always was i could always rap but i didn't know i could be a rapper

right i could always rap though like since since the first day i heard um rappers that like we get on the bus i could always come up with a couple of lines, and then as I got old, I could rap. But in D.C., being a rapper is not a thing. In the years I'm growing up, and being a D, no, you got a few rappers. Shout out to Stinky Dink, shout out to Scorpio, Black Indian, rest in peace.

There's a bunch, a couple more than I could name, but it's not a popular thing. It's not like it is today. And so I kind of kept it to myself. Comedy started paying the bills, so I had that, but now I'm on Rap City. And I can't not write. Like, this phone is full of rhymes now.

I still produce and I still spit, because I have to. When it came up to hey Joe such-and-such going freestyle you won't get in the cypher you motherfucking right I'm about to get in this I think you got it right and then the producers like you really right yeah When's the next... So I was always waiting. I was always writing for that reaction. Word. And I remember that.

I was writing for that reaction. While I am a comedian and I take hip-hop very, very seriously, I never tried to be on the show saying, I'm a rapper. Let me stay in my place because this is to highlight cats who have record deals, cats who are moving and shaking in this industry that we love so much. So let them shine. But if you're going to put on a beat, nigga, you better at least be better than me. That's right.

You never got offered a deal? Yes. Okay. Reggie Osei. Shout out. Combat Jack. Rest in peace. Rest in peace to Combat Jack.

Took me around a couple times. Big shout out to DJ Ski. Ski was, Ski was, Ski Beats. Ski was giving me. Oh, Ski from North Carolina. Yeah, Ski was giving me beats. Kid Capri taught me how to make beats. There's, I guess y'all haven't heard the story.

No. Man, y'all ain't heard this story? No. Man, I had the Hard Knock Life beat. Oh, I did hear that. I heard that. I heard that. Man, while I was out shopping that deal, trying to get a deal, Mark the 45 King in his house

gave me the Hard Knock Life beat. I went home, made a record, and I was trying to get my bread together so I could buy the beat. Because, you know, that track, I was like, he going to at least need 20, 30 racks for this thing. But I wasn't as serious as most people who, if I would have known what that track was, I would have did everything to get that paper together

to go in there and make that record. So the story was Kid Capri. I thought, was it your song? Or he was playing the instrumental? So Kid was, I was on tour. So I'm on tour on the Def Comedy Jam tour. So you, okay. So that's how me and Kid became close.

Right. And that's how he started showing me. And his manager was my manager at the time. Shout out to Christy Clifford. And so Kid was playing. And at first I was like yo what the fuck is that he's like oh that's my man mark beat blah blah blah and when he said my man mark i don't know he's talking about 45 45 king i'm like oh i know the fuck mark the 45 king is so

he said yo let's go over mark house and let's do some tracks he said he got some tracks for you i was like i'm going over i'm still like a fan so i'm like i'm going over mark and he gave i was like can i have that track too he gave me a bunch of tracks and he gave me that hard knock life beat wow at his house me and kid kid took me over mark's house and that's how i got my hands on it went home and wrote a hard knock life song my hard knock life song was about a kid growing up in a hood but he's he has disabilities and he's got he really got a hard knock life and and you know from that perspective coming from the social work shit and everything and then i heard jay-z record and i just deleted my just deleted my hey ski can you can you lose those uh eight acts make sure you lose those eight acts please yes

lose all of those tapes that that's on. Because nobody never needs to hear that shit. But you're working on an album now, I heard. So we'll call it an album. I just continuously make music. I continue to make records. And here's why. First of all, the movement is called New Music for Old Niggas. Okay.

Point blank, period. This is our culture. And one of the things I hear people cry about is, they always taking our culture. Oh, they always taking our culture. why we keep giving it to them if we are whatever the age we are if you are hip-hop within where's your record i need to hear what you have to say at 50. can you tell us about credit can you tell us about marriage what about foreclosures can you put it in a round high cholesterol high cholesterol in the right but but that's that's sort of the

ideal but not i'm i'm not rhyming about no colonoscopy right i ain't rhyming about colonoscopies and like that but there is a stance that we can take that is a bit more mature right um the first record that i put out is a record called gone g-o-n-e i saw this quote uh from that there was a a blog called a blog post and it said that that black men are the white men of straight black men are the white men of the black community right let me go write this rhyme let me go write this rhyme so i wrote it from that perspective and i'm coming from that perspective. I think that brothers should keep rapping, and brothers, it's cool to not have to rhyme about the block and your guns. You 50, bruh.

And that's when you look corny. Yeah, y'all look. Let me thank you. Let me say this. This is Joe Clair. Do I look at the camera right there? This is Joe Clair saying it. Bruh, you can spit your ass off,

but you rhyming about them AKs and you got these grays in your beard, it doesn't match up. It don't match up. If you doing that much crime, my nigga, you can't be a rapper at 50 if you doing that much crime. If you 50 and you got that AR right here, you ain't got time to rap about shit.

You out. That's right. If you 50 or even 40. For that matter. 30. For that matter. Young guys who come out with all the gun talk makes sense to me. I want to ask, too.

Back then, when we seen people on tv for some reason we automatically thought they was rich right we thought they were getting bread they thought that that's what you thought right because you see him on television right do you remember how much you were making back then did anybody see the documentary when deborah lee said we were on a shoestring budget i did you know that little thing at the end of the shoestring? Yes. That's the budget we was on. Not the little plastic part. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the budget we had at Rap City.

So that's why I kept a radio job and comedy on the weekend. I'm going to tell jokes. The comedy bag is more money than the radio and the TV put together on the weekend. So on the weekend I'm gonna make this money up like this no problem so that rap city when I do rap city or do television do radio those things are just adding to I'm already getting but I wasn't made I wasn't becoming wealthy how big were you but I did but hold up let me say this part for any young person who sees i fucked off a lot of money i was young getting checks oh boy oh i was having a ball with

it and um i didn't have the wherewithal that we all have now we all gain it over time and you know if i would have been smart i started buying houses earlier i would have you know started doing you know savings early and all those other things but i was making i was making more money than uh if I would have been smarter, I started buying houses earlier. I would have, you know, started doing, you know, savings early and all those other things. But I was making more money than regular job. I was making more money than some regular job bosses, than some execs. That's right.

You know, because I'm adding up the three. And then I'm picking up speaking engagements here or maybe a quick endorsement over here or some things of that nature. So I was, mm-hmm. You know, it it's interesting if you looked at it from that perspective when i used to watch rap city but not millions let's go ahead and put that out not millions not million but when i used to look at it i never thought about the money i was just like i just wanted to be good i'm like everybody on that show is good joe claire is good good dig is good i want to be good but but now you know you got to worry about the money yeah yeah the money comes when you good money does come with you when

you good but the deal can be fucked up when you good so a lot of a lot of times you know when you are good that's usually when you get the issue deals right and then sometimes before you can get what you're worth they let you go in and they find a new yet next young thing and the reason I asked that is because you know growing up the Queen's i would see ed love all the time yeah and you would see ed lover driving the nice car and a nice change so you always like wow that's at level on television even with tigger like when i when i dj in the basement probably six seven times but you know back then i changed it was on mtv though huh that level was on mtv though i just

said tigger that one was that level was on mtv but even with said Tigger. That one was that level. Oh, every level was on MTV. But even with Tigger, when I go to check, you would see his chain. The chain. So automatically you see the new fresh clothes. He's getting it. He's getting it.

He's getting it. You know, always wonder back then, what was getting it? But then I heard, but then, but then, so then for me,

I hit my, I hit my 20s and then I realized them chains don't mean shit. Nothing. This nigga could be at home broke as, that might be all he got is the chain. So I never, if you see, this is the only jewelry I rock. Your wedding ring.

My wedding ring. My wife has talked me into going and replacing my Apple Watch with a watch watch. Because as a realtor, I'm out as a realtor as well. I do real estate. When you show up sometimes, it's how you show up. Appearance. Appearance is, you know, like the chain. That chain.

So for grown people, you're walking with that watch, like, oh, this guy's not fucking playing. He's established. I prefer my Apple watch, but because I'm in this meeting, let me go ahead and put this other Breitling on or whatever the fuck she wants me to get and let's go ahead and act like it's something else. And have a firm handshake and a nice watch.

Firm handshake and a nice watch. And if you got your numbers together, nigga, you can own the world. That's right. You can own it. This is real talk. And black children need to know that. Another thing, too, I was watching the doc, man.

I've always loved the interview you did with Big. That's an iconic interview. Big, yeah. And I knew that was Big's last interview. It was his last television interview. I think Sway might have been his last. Radio. Yeah, he went and did the radio.

Now, did y'all shoot that in LA? Shot it in LA. That's when he was laying in the park, right? When he was sitting down. So we're on a sound stage, and what you can't see is the cameras are facing me and him is uh fences and everything behind us we're on a lot a studio lot studio lots have is a lot is just a bunch of soundstages when you hear people say i'm on a lot today i'm on the paramount lotto the

such and such lot we want and la has a bunch of lots and then the lots have sound stages sound stages have gates around them and you so we were on one stage on one lot. And they were shooting the hypnotized video. The dance scenes were going on in there. So they took a break from that, sat us outside, and that's how that interview popped off. The day before, what they didn't get to show in this documentary, the day before we were supposed to get that interview,

we sat in Santa Monica in the bay, in Marina Del Rey in the bay, waiting to go out in a little dinghy, right? Waiting to go out. It's chilly out there. You know, L.A. get cold. It looks sunny, but, know, LA get cold. It looks sunny. But nigga, it's cold.

We out there. The boat where Biggie and Puffy are with the helicopters is, you know, I could see it. From the hypnotized video. From the hypnotized video. I could see it. We supposed to go to the boat. But they got all these explosions and everything. So the director's like, too much pyrotechnics.

We can't do it. I don't feel safe doing an interview here. Can do it another time they say okay you'll do the interview tomorrow oh so you're gonna do any of you on the boat well do the interview I was supposed to sit on that yacht and do that interview they say no we'll do the interview tomorrow say boom no problem I'll go to the comedy club like cool no problem take me my hotel then I go to the comedy club go tell jokes come back the next day always wondered were you concerned for your safety shooting that in LA at the time because it was all the East Coast West Coast beef and all that like just sit out there broad daylight with big I

I'm concerned for my safety every day yeah so my head is always from us on a swivel you know I'm from we made it through the cracker so I'm always when I came here I was in y'all green room. Open the door. Who is that? Oh, okay. They working. So my head is always on a swivel. So I didn't feel any more concerned than I normally feel when I go to L.A. I just know, like, doing Rap City, the thing that I knew was when you go to la i just know like doing rap city the thing that i knew was when you go to somebody

hood when you go to a city you abide by their rules you shut your mouth don't start no won't be no you come to dc you have you just like you come to my city shut your mouth come have a good goddamn time we'll have a ball but if you come talking about my city this and my city that and you oh these gonna let you know what they're gonna leave you right where you were so no i didn't have any extra concerns for my safety that day we had plenty of security and i'm a civilian yeah yeah that's funny because i thought when you see the picture as a kid or you know growing up i always thought it was outside i always wondered like how it is well it's outside it's just the stage it looked like a real park like they was in the hood that's what it's just a park some trees and stuff but it's a sound stage like right there

yeah yeah and so um then we do the interview we we we bust they they stopped down production for a second to do this rap city interview uh uh what's my man's name was right there with me tried to join me out that day uh uh uh latimer uh chris latimer yeah chris chris chris what's up chris chris said some clothes a bit chris yeah chris i need clothes chris african-american college yeah i know he need i need that morgan state chris y'all be y'all be front on my school chris send him some ham to chris so chris he was on set he was on set that day advising and doing some other things some he was advising and doing some other stuff. And so I meet Chris.

We dap up. And Chris start, you know, some people, when they find out you're a comedian, they want to point out that they're a better comedian than you. And so Chris starts that shit up. I'm like, Chris, I got to do the Biggie interview. I'm trying to get my question. He's like, I'll be with Joe Torre and them niggas.

And look at your shoes. And I'm like, Chris, I don't have time for this. And then he kept going. And then Joe Clare came up. And Chris was like, OK, go ahead, Joe, stop. I was like, no, don't. Fuck that stop shit. No, ain't no stop now. Here I come, big.

Ain't no stop now, nigga. Unloosen that belt. I can see. You know, I'm just going, going. Then I sit and I do the interview. It's a great day, because Chris is sitting there laughing with us. Our producers are having a great time. Season Junior Mafia right behind us.

The dancer girls are over there. And of course, you know, when you see dancers, you're like, oh, I'm going to holler at Shawty after this is over. You know, you're having a great day. Then Biggie said, you want to smoke something? Ah, that day just got better. Yes, I want to smoke something. You Biggie Smalls, if you want to smoke, andgie said, you want to smoke something? Ah, that day just got better. Yes, I want to smoke something.

You Biggie Smalls, if you want to smoke, and I said, I'm not a smoker, but if you're going to smoke with somebody, you're going to smoke with Biggie Smalls. All right. Smoked a couple L's. Boom, boom, boom. They showed that in the doc a little bit. So because I had to, and since it got postponed, I had to catch a red-eye that night because I was going out on the Deaf Comedy Jam tour. This was the first night.

The first night was on that Friday. So I had to fly home Wednesday after getting the interview, pack my bags, fly red-eye, go home, wash clothes, pack my bag, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The tour bus is coming from Kid Capri, Linden, Jersey, coming down to D.C., pick me up, and then we drive to Dallas. We do the show in Dallas, and next night we go to Houston, do the show in Houston. Had a ball, and 3.30, 4 o'clock in the morning, Kid called my phone. Like, yo, they say Biggie got shot. You know, it's 4 o'clock in the morning. You've been out drinking and shit. I'm like, whatever.

This nigga's tripping. You know, it's just some old hip-hop hearsay bullshit. Then my girl called me. My girlfriend at the time called me. She was like, they say Biggie got shot. I was like, hold the fuck up. That's two people. Hold on.

Let me turn on headline news. Y'all remember headline news used to every half hour? First story. Rapper Christopher Wallace has been gunned down. There's no fucking way. At this point, the interview wasn't out. The interview's not out. This is Sunday morning.

I just was there Wednesday. This is Sunday morning at 6 in the morning. So, nah. no interview out. They ain't get time to chat. They still in L.A. partying. They ain't even get time, none of that. And just those next couple of weeks with that, days and weeks with that, was just like a blur.

Just like a big blur. And when I got to reflect on it, I realized I was just numb to this shit. Cause Tupac had just died and now Biggie got killed. I was like, we cannot be that dumb. Are we? Black folks, we really not that stupid, are we? Is this who we are?

Time has shown that unfortunately yeah niggas gonna need niggas going did you did you i hate to say it man it's sad it's sad and and i and let me put this in context on y'all show i'm a i'm a kid who had progressive parents both parents college educated both parents have this beautiful ideal of what we can be as a african-american community what can happen my pops was an attorney who worked for the department of education my mother became a professor she's a writer her books have gone all over the world and everything else but my my pops had another job after at five o'clock he was the weed man that's a whole nother story so he was an attorney so but they had this picture for who we could be at that point i was like nah pop i don't

think we're gonna make it in our lifetime i don't think i'm gonna see it i don't think we're going to make it in our lifetime. I don't think I'm going to see it. I don't think you're going to see it. We're going to have to individually keep running towards the goal, but everybody coming together to run towards this goal? Ain't going to happen. Nah, that means the frontrunner is going to have to stop, slow down, and come back and get the niggas who's not thinking about nothing and pull them along. You know how hard it is? Working

in social services, I know how hard it is to pull somebody along. It's difficult. It is difficult to change your mindset, to change your heart, to change the way people see things. It's difficult. That shit, it hit me. It was one of those times, Charlamagne

and Envy, where I really just I'm very us i was like man i man a lot of that so a lot of the like hanging out and shit i just did not want to do like i it it's watching us was a reflection of how bad we can get i don't necessarily think you're a bad guy but i know that if this is in the air, this is our culture right now. Right now, our culture is two of our biggest have gotten killed and homicides ain't slowing down every weekend.

Shootings is still going on every weekend. As a matter of fact, the records are getting even more brazen and the gun talk and everything else. After these tragediesies so when I looked at my brothers I was like nah we got to put I gotta hear what's coming out your mouth I gotta watch your actions to actually feel like we back to this because I don't know what you on and then I've and I watched cats I knew you know I want man I watched some of the most righteous dudes next thing I know

he come with the chain and the and he gotta get his swag together you you already you you been made

since you was 19 years 10 years old you been made you been a man I know your family I know what you staying on

you switching up cause the you think this is what the culture doing fuck my head up and has colored how I see us You switching up because you think this is what the culture's doing? Damn. Fuck my head up. Damn. And has colored how I see us since then. Nothing has changed in your mind about it?

I mean, so that happened, and everybody can do their own narrative of how it impacted them because I was sitting in the middle of it. And remember, leading up to that, I sat in the middle of it and remember leading up to that i sat in the middle of the east coast west coast thing every week every day every rapper's got something to say about the other coast so i'm sitting there watching and i'm like it was cool when the rappers were saying it but then when the a and r saying it and then when the the other label guys saying it and then when you know it's popping up on the news i was like this is the corniest dumbest this is fucking stupid we first of all we both fighting for our

rights against the oppressor in the first place where you from ain't got shit to do with it not at all but then to see the mindset and that's that's how I understood how powerful that's when the other part was how powerful media became for me at that time because I was like watching grown motherfuckers that I knew change their whole shit to be part of the shit I was like really is that what made you start saying east coast west coast worldwide I took it straight from the Lost Boys. Okay. Shout out to Mr. Cheeks and everybody else. Yes, we really need to do this. Big shout out to Mac 10 and Fat Joe.

Because I don't know if you guys remember, they did a movie. Thick of the Water? Something like that. And Fat Joe realized. And Fat Joe used to be coming up to the show like, man, fuck that. I'm keeping the flame going on this East Coast, West Coast shit. After that, I see Joe, and he's like, yeah, nah, I found out them some cool niggas over there. He didn't say nigga to me.

Everybody be about how Joe used the word. I'm being a comedian and he was like nah they cool and then as you see Mac 10 and Mac 10 like nah they cool

they super cool and then you found out it was it really wasn't the East Coast versus it was the media making it

and it was Pac against Biggie and they used to be best friends and now we looking at really this came down to two best friends fell out now they have other influences and that just got bigger and bigger and bigger it was out of their control out of control because if you look at it now you don't do you think twice when you go to la no right you go you you might hold up you mind the streets yeah i do you mean you you

mind the streets yeah of course but you don't feel like because you're east coast dude it's on and popping on site no right i just see what happens in la you know right but that's the same way i feel when i go to chicago i lived i lived in la for a decade and you know i never had i never had a problem in los angeles i i have great friends who are still there and you know, I never had a problem in Los Angeles. I have great friends who are still there. And, you know, there's a difference. Let me put this out there. There's a difference between Hollywood and L.A. Absolutely.

And all my dudes was from L.A. And they started breaking down what hood they're from and where. Don't go over there, homie. Hey, Joe Clair, look here, homie. You don't want to be over there after it gets dark. And I'm like, okay, I ain't going to be over there after it gets dark. And I mind my business. You know what I'm saying?

And I love L.A. I had such a ball. I miss it so much. I miss it so much, but my wife was not happy. Trust me. You ain't even got to say no more. I understand. I overstand what you said. Yeah, my wife was not happy trust me you ain't gotta say no more I understand I overstand what you said my wife was like she couldn't do it West West side of Baltimore to go to LA she's like I'm gonna kill everybody out

this month okay baby let's go home you know we have conversations on the Breakfast Club that I've ended up confront. Did y'all have any of those on Rap City that y'all didn't have? I never, not one time, had any problems with any rappers. The only person who ever tried to sum me, he summed me one time. This was my first live taping we were at the ritz nightclub this was mark barnes's club you know y'all know mark barnes mark barnes club back in the day i'm in there and i'm interviewing pete rock and cl smooth oh boy who's my heroes my i know the album back to backward and forward know everything. I know every syllable of that motherfucking album.

So it's like, five, four, three, two, go. I'm like, hey, it's Rap City, Joe Clay here, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I do my thing. So what's up with you? What's up with you? And then I don't get nothing from CL. He's pretty. So then the cameras cut off.

He's like, yo, son, you mad extra. I said, say what? He's like, yo, you mad extra. I said, what you mean? He's like, yo, over the top, B. You like mad extra, son. Yo, yo, bring it down a little bit. Five, four, three, two.

All right, y'all It's your man Joe Clay Here on Rap City Blah blah blah I got bigger Nigga I don't know you I love C.L. Slu But I don't know you Now you turn back

Into Craig or Calvin Or whatever C. Stan for And this my city We back in my hometown We are great friends now We How did that end?

No I For me I took it as a vet somebody who was in the industry showing me what he thought i should be no skin off my you know that's what you think i should be i already know joe clare and if there's nothing i know joke i know what joe clare do and i i stayed extra for five years i stayed actually for five years and I stayed extra for five years. And we, no, I saw him maybe a year later. All love.

How's everything? Good to see you. How's the show going? Everything's groovy. I saw him, I want to say about three years ago, he came through the station when I was at WPGC. It's nothing but love. Nothing but love.

But he was the one person out of all of them that just had that thing. After that, it was all super cool and then i can't say who the rappers and there's this i can name about six or seven of them i guess they knew i was a social worker before whatever man they would do they come in here and tell y'all they problems oh yeah oh yeah yeah absolutely it blew my mind when that shit started happening i can't say who but he's like you know when you get an image of him he's hardcore straight hardcore all day every day staying on it like a man there's no nothing there's no no fragility no nothing over here. Camera's cut off. Man, this nigga talked to me about problems with his wife.

You know, IRS. I need a mental day. Joe. I was like, what the fuck is going on, bro? How did things work out for this brother? How did things work out for him? He's fine. He's fine. I see him all the time.

He's fine. But it was just like, wow. How do things work out for him? He's fine. He's fine. I see him all the time. He's fine. He's fine. But it was just like, wow, that, you know, these people that have these personas are real ass people who are going through a lot of shit in their life. Absolutely. And that's, you know, so thanks for letting me put that out there. We appreciate you, brother. Nah, I appreciate y'all.

Make sure y'all watch this conversation. Oh man. And we just, shit. Let me get, there's a few things I like to get off my chest. Make sure you follow, make sure you follow me at Joe Claire on all social media platforms.

Um, if you are in the DMV, watch me every day at three o'clock on Fox five. It's called the DMV zone. I am on news every day. And you'll see it when you tune in. And other than that, just follow your boy, man. Oh, and catch me if I...

All right. A lot of people did not know I was a comedian first. So, please, if I come to your town, make sure you come see my show because, nigga, boy, I'm hilarious. When are your next shows? Shit. Let me see. So, we just finished the big comedy festival in in the DMV myself Donnell your boy

me Donnell Rollins Pierre uh Tony Woods Tommy Davidson and Red Grant killed it with Yvonne with Yvonne Orgy as our host she's from around the way as well. I do my own shows monthly at a spot called Bowie in Bowie, Maryland. So I don't know if you guys know about Bowie, Maryland. Bowie, Maryland is the... So Prince George's County storied history as the best place for black folks, median household income. And Bowie is the highest median household income in Prince George's County. So we do a comedy show

in Bowie. Very intelligent, well to do black crap. So I love going in there. We got heavy hitters coming through each and every month so just you can just check the schedule there. And then let me see. I'll be at the I'll be in Atlanta.

Go to JoeClaire.com. There you go. Just go to Atlanta. Just go. Thank you. He's struggling'll be in Atlanta. Go to JoeClaire.com. There you go. Just go to Atlanta. Just go. Thank you. He's struggling. He's struggling. I'm sure the dates on JoeClaire.com. Thank you.

It's there. And then back in D.C. and Baltimore, I got shows coming up. And I tour all the time. I just am not with the big guys touring. I'm still on Chitlin' Circuit. I'm still on Hennessy and Chicken, certainly. You come see me, it's going to be a smaller venue, blah, blah, blah. And then every now and again, you get to see me with the big guy on a bigger stage.

Shout out to Samoa for putting me on tour this past. Yeah, Samoa put me on tour, and I got to go back on the big stages because I don't live in New York. I don't live in L.A. I'm in D.C. operating by myself, so I go get it. But I'm out telling jokes every weekend. There you have it. Well, it's Joe Clear, ladies and gentlemen.

Make sure you watch the Rap City Doc on BBC. It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. Wake that ass up. In the morning. The Breakfast Club. Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own?

I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my God.

What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zaka-stan. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-a-stan. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, guys. I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with

celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post High is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay. Have grace with yourself. You're trying

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removal together. So listen to Still the Place on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hi, I'm Dani Shapiro, host of the hit podcast family secrets how would you feel if when you met your biological father for the first time he didn't even say hello and what if your past itself was a secret and the time had suddenly come to share that past with your child these are just a few of the powerful and profound questions we'll be asking on our 11th season of Family Secrets. Listen to season 11 of Family Secrets on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.