The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Reuben Vincent & 9th Wonder On Preserving Classic Hip Hop, Vocabulary vs Virality, New Album + More

Episode Date: October 24, 2025

Today on The Breakfast Club, Reuben Vincent & 9th Wonder On Preserving Classic Hip Hop, Vocabulary vs Virality, New Album. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Morning, everybody. It's DJ NV. Just hilarious. Shalameen the guy. We all the breakfast club. We got some special guests in the building. Yes, indeed. We got the brother, ninth one that he's back.

And Ruben, Vincent back. What's up, guys? How are you feeling, man? All is all, man. I love seeing this because I always feel like the young, younger lyricists need to get with the OG veteran produces like somebody like knife and create magic. Absolutely.

I don't think that there's, and I could be wrong, but I don't think that there's anybody that can, you know, do for Rubin what a knife could. Sound-wise. What you think, Ruben? I agree. Just being real. I mean, I don't think it's been done on this level. You know what I mean? I feel like, you know, there's been a few folks that might have deal records, but it's either sending the beats off, and then they over there, like, we really sat in the studio with each other. You know what I mean? I moved in the studio for six months, sleeping on the couch. So it was like, you know, he's going to his crib, but I'll wake up, go to the gym. He pull up at 12 o'clock, and we just, really, the synergy was there. You know what I mean? So I think this is the first of his con for sure.

nine when do you have the time because you're also a professor like when do you have the time i've seen nine so many times and it really never has to do with music it's always i'm at a school speaking or something like that or basketball yeah when do you have the time brother man that's the beauty about living in north kylana dog like there's no rat race to run really and so i kind of you know i teach twice a week i teach a duke on wednesdays and wake forest university on thursdays and but outside of that the rest of the week is either comprised of doing stuff with basketball or just making music and so that's how I

deal with it but I think the biggest thing between me and him is what teaching has helped me do that too teaching has helped me understand the next generation way more than anybody else most people only deal with like 17, 18, 19, 20 year olds that's like family members

blah blah blah and they use those people to like put a blanket on how every 18 year old acts me I've been looking at 18 year olds and 22-year-olds since, what, 19 years? Now, this is my 19-year-old teacher. So an 18-year-old in 2006, an 18-year-old in 2016, and an 18-year-old in 2025,

them three different 18-year-olds. So I kind of look at it that way. But the thing about me and him is a lot of people don't think that these two generations can't communicate well. And that's kind of, we debunked that with this. I mean, even when I first met him, that's how it's been but we kind of you know getting away to as far as time yeah man i just i'm just

real focus charlemagne though i'm just real focus on what i do what i need to do i like serving the culture all the time and yeah man if i'm not helping the culture then i'm taking away from it i feel like with hip-hop though uh you know young men like reuben are trying to do what y'all already did so they got to come to you for that sign you can't say man i want to make a elmatic i want to make something that sound like reasonable doubt i want to make something that sound like the first little brother i'm like you got to come to the people who did that then yeah man i think it's each one's each one you know i mean and you know they talk about you know the they say it didn't exist but the willy lynch letter but you know i'm saying it's real common to what really happens you know i'm saying from breaking

generations apart and you know separating us but you know i had my father we didn't live in the same house but you know he always used to pick me up on weekends so i know how to take a person's counsel you know what i mean and i also too is like i'm a sponge you know what i mean so it's like i'm willing to learn you know what i mean where i feel like you know people my some people my age they'll be turned off and try to like you know cool but i think for me it's just like i want to know and then also too they were our age when they were making the ill maddicks they were our age when they was making the reasonable doubts you know what i mean they make it seem like now me being 24 and me being like having depth to my lyrics or wisdom is like like whoa you know what i mean like oh

you sound like an old nigga, but it's like, you know what I'm dead at 25? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, right, right, right. So it's like, yo, like, it's not uncommon, you know what I mean? And it's only right that, you know, you go tapping with the pioneers who've been there before because they're the only ones they can tell you. You know what I mean? You sitting and listening to somebody who ain't never done it.

It don't make no sense to me. Is there a place for lyricists in this game to be at the top of the game, right? And the reason I say that, as you mentioned, you mentioned, J, you mentioned Naz, you know, you could talk Pock, you can talk big. Yeah. They were lyricists, but they were top, and people respected them as being the top. You can look at Outcast and even TI,

like they were at top, but now it seems like that lyric is they put in a box. You know, what Outcast, man, we have to understand what Outcast. It took a couple of albums for everybody to truly respect Outcast. It wasn't from the South. I mean, Southern Playalistic, okay. You know what happened to Source Awards.

Then ATLNs. It wasn't until they got to Equimini and Stankonia, that everybody was like, okay. you know what I mean but even with Big and Jay that's kind of where hip hop was taking a turn you know before that hip hop wasn't as

commercial everywhere like whatever but when Big and Jay came especially when Jay came on them DMX and now we're looking at hip hop more people that don't look like us is listening to hip hop way more than ever you know what I mean so that's kind of what that was but I think it's

man I'm gonna say this man I just love and I remember I know we all do remember when the culture was ours we had our own validation points

if you were on rap city your MTV raps our senior hall show soul train in the back of the jet magazine the albums

the singles they showed your house and ebony if you were on those cover the source essence magazine double looks up if you were in the hair salons, the barbershop, the music,

if you went outside with your homies after church and played whatever you was listening to the car, if you were in all those places at one time, that's validation enough. You made it. You made it, you know what I mean? You made it, yeah. And it's not trying to say, because I'm here,

this is one of the few last rites of passages, past passages for people. Y'all look like us, you know what I mean? And you got to come through here, to be validated we need more of that you know what I'm saying like so when we say mainstream top of the game this is the part of the top of the game right here to me and I also feel like when you talk about lyricists thank you too night for that I also feel like when you talk about lyrics you got to know how to make a song you know what I mean and I think that's the biggest thing

with this album that people won't see from me like we was just talking about it where it was like what was the turning point for you where a lot of people we did a listening on Friday and everybody was like yo you really like showed your songwriting you know on here and like you have choruses and it's like now you could tell you a lot of time it was just me in the studio you know what i mean by myself so i feel like a lot of the lyricists of this time is still proven they're trying to rap on their records and they're not giving nothing that people can relate to or people can feel is always i'm just trying to show you i can do this crazy wordplay like now i want to make records that you're going play monday through friday when you on the way to work when you on the way to school you getting ready

you know what I mean or even before the party you know what I'm saying or at the party you know what I mean and I think this album that was the example and I feel like that's the only way of lyricists can really reach them heights

is if they know how to make a record and they gotta be taught right if you watch Nause and Naza tell you I don't know if it was tragedy but taught them how to make a song like this is the components to make a song I love Big Big is probably my favorite artist ever

him and Jay but I don't know if Puff wasn't there I don't know if Big knew how to make those type of songs and how to break down those songs it would have been that It would have been party in bold, but Puff taught him like, no, you need to make a song like this. You need a hook, you need this.

And I feel like that's what's missing a lot of times in this game. Kobe Bryant needed to Phil Jackson, and that's my field Jackson. Drey, Snoop needed Drey. So what is the creative process like? You know, making this project. Making this project. Well, welcome home. Welcome home.

I called Ruben in a special place. Ruben came to me and said, man, you seen the Lego movie? I see I saw it one Ferrell's like yeah he's like man I ain't know Farrell was close to tribe like that that he revered tribe called Quest I'm like yeah he said that's who I am I come from that I'm not like yeah like I knew this whole time

I'm just letting him realize like I you know sometimes you have to step out the way and let you figure it out on your own but then while we're recording it we're recording we're recording we thought we was done Ruben started falling for somebody okay okay all right and so i'm coming in the studio i'm coming in the studio you always got to catch him what they are i'm coming in his studio he's on the phone he facetime he on the phone oh you love

jones oh you love it like a cup cake at work and i'm like you know but i have to catch him where he is so now all my beats start to turn a certain way for him to talk about what he wanted to talk about that he found somebody and I thought that was amazing which something we talked about there's nothing wrong we're talking about embracing black women on your project yeah young men young men don't do that a lot and I think even my the routine again like right before like he said he let me figure it out on my own when I got my when I first got my deal with rock and I was moving around I was in LA and then you know I started to see how weird the industry can get and then you know a lot of people was in my ear like you need to make this type of record and this type of record

that don't necessarily fit who I am. So when I watched the Lego movie, I was like, oh, this is my tree. I come from the tree of tribe. I come from the tree of Kanye West in his early stages. I come from that tree. Okay, let me navigate that and, you know, study and really figure it out. But then also, too, my mom and, like, living in Charlotte, you know,

my mom, she's an African mother. You know, she's from Liberia. So she was always supportive of me, but the industry started to change. Money started to slow up at a little bit. And she's like, yo, you either got to go back to school or get a job. and I was like I ain't doing none of that you know what I mean so I called knife we talked about it he was like yo just come down to Raleigh

sleeping on sleeping on the couch for six months my routine was I wake up say my prayers go to the gym by the time I get back from the gym I take a shower could we have a shower at the studio which is a blessing like there's a lot of artists can't say they have a mentor who has a whole studio that you don't got to pay for studio time

so I'm going to take all advantage you know what I used to know if you don't know if you don't have to pay for it yet wait until you see that up you don't know he'd wait till he might be an invoice $1 million dollars come in if I hold on Nah but um Then after that You know like he'll probably get to the studio around 12 o'clock

And we'll sit there We'll discuss talk about you know What movies remind us a home What music videos that we Our favorite rap music videos Then we're going through samples You know what I mean So the way the studio is set up

Ninth got his beat room And then we got the recording room and then we got the living area where I used to sleep at but 9th will come in around 12 o'clock we'll sit there, chop it up maybe watch some basketball

watch some videos he finds some samples he'd make the beat I'm sitting there he's gonna air it he's all right I'm an air drop it to the big computer I'm gonna run to the other room

accept it on the big computer record then he's gonna be in there watching basketball 30 minutes later I come back around I think I got something I got something

yeah and then he'd come in there hear it and then do what he does as a producer what made you want to work with him no room because i mean a knife because i'm sure it's a million artists that come to you especially in north kentilina now we got to know nice i want to get with you i want to do something with you okay so i was on tour in germany um and had the day off and somebody on i was doing to ask ninth on twitter and somebody said to me said i ain't got

no question it's this kid you need to listen to i have no dog in this fight i don't know this kid I don't know this kid. And usually, I, you know, I know how it goes. Some people want they trying to get their family members on. You don't know this kid, but that's your uncle. Exactly. But he did not know the dudes from Oakland. I never had been to Oakland.

I was 13 at the time. And he sent me the link and I listened to it. I was like, man. And I think one of the rhymes, he said something about Kooji rapping. I'm like, hold on, bro. Like, this is you're 13 years old. So then I shot him in inboxes. It's on Twitter.

And I say, yo, is this? He's like, yeah, how are you doing, man? And I was like, hey, where's your parents? Like, and so he put his mom on, and I was like, I'll be home in a couple of weeks. I got home. They showed up, him and his mom showed up in my studio. I dabbed him up. He's about this tall.

And I said, man, you want something to eat? What do you say? I just want some Pop-Tarts, some strawberry milk, and some pizza. 13-year-old diet. 13-year-old diet, literally. But it kind of went from there And the first song we did It was a song called Extraterrestrial

And I looked at my president My man Cash I said man he ain't breathing He's just rapping He's not breathing And he did You did nine songs that weekend Three days

And made a beat on a machine That I had never touched before that I said yeah he's different What What got you in the tribe Was it that Lego movie? No beforehand So what put you on the tribe

And Kooji rap And that era of music I can see you playing Fife in a biopic, too. Oh, yeah, I would love to. I didn't ever thought about it until you. I would love to. I would love to. So my father, you know, again, both of my parents are from West Africa, Liberia.

And when he came to the States, he lived in New York for a little bit, and he moved to North Carolina and met my mom, who my mom. So to give a little bit of background. Like, the Queens? Jesus. You're talking farmers. I got to ask. Yeah.

I got to ask you. Yeah, I probably got to ask them. Yeah, I probably got. to ask him but um he went from my my dad experienced the Liberian Civil War in the 90s so he was a refugee came to America still very young while my mom she got here when she was 16 and lived in the DMV before moving to Charlotte but her dad fought in the war passed away in the war all of that but when he came down a lot of he he said in Africa they used to listen to a lot of Tupac and Biggie during the war and so when he had when they had me granted they had like separated when I was

born they my dad always used to pick me up on the weekends and he used to have a blue Cadillac and he would drive me around playing all eyes on me ready to die blueprint get rich or die trying so i that was the way me and my dad bonded when i was four years old so then by the time i was able to write i wrote my first rap when i was five years old and so i already had a little bit of knowledge and my dad gifted me late registration when i was six seven years old so when those little moments were like rabbit holes for me because then by the time I was like 10, 11

YouTube was available so now I'm looking up okay late registration okay blueprint okay reasonable doubt okay then the recommended Nas ill Maddh then it's like

oh Kooji Rap then it's like oh tribe called Quest Midnight Marauders I just started going down a rabbit hole and just became like super like

just like floored with everything you know what I mean so by the time I met 9th I was already like so knee deep into like what I liked and then also too around the same time I was 11 12 years old

Joey bad ass started emerging on the scene you know what I mean and you know what he was doing at the time so you know I was just like it was floored and I just started to do my deep dives I want to ask you what artists I'm glad you said joy because what artists I guess from your generation reminded you of that obviously Joey Kendrick Lamar Cole um Earl sweatshirt in the early in the early times still to this time I was big on them like super early you know what I mean

the wallets like all of them like that era the blog era was like where like I really died deep into like who they were those were like the ones who raised me outside of like the 90s so how do you balance being lyrical and cultural in a time when music rewards

virality over vocabulary well I know I'm playing a different game I know I'm playing a long game I know that I've seen in the last three years people get viral and get lit and then go on the next day

you know so I know that there's no foundation of that where like you know what I'm doing I know that 10 years from now I'm going to be able to stand on and be able to like you know live off of still because you know I'm taking the route you know I've been patient this long

I've been patient since 13 you know what I mean so why would I stop being patient now just to go do something that's not going to make me fulfilled at the end of the day. What do you think? Ninth? Like, how do you, how do artists, how should artists balance being lyrical in a time and it's all about going viral or actually rapping? I think, first of all, artists shouldn't be afraid. A lot of artists are afraid to try. They rather do what they think will work instead of running a marathon. But I also believe, and it's come from me teaching,

we cannot get lost on the fact that there is a generation of kids where young adults, They want to hear that, what you're talking about. They want to hear it. It's out there. Like, I see them all the time. I see them on my classes. And on top of that, it's crazy to say, me and his mother are the same age. So now you're dealing with the generation, that's the offspring of Generation X.

So now what do we, like you said, what are we playing in our cars, right? We're playing all of these classic records and they're picking it up when they're very young and taking it on. You know what I mean? So we can't assume there's a generation of kids that don't want to hear it. It might not be as big as this generation of kids that want to hear this over here. But it's there. When Tribe was Tribe, you had Tribe's fan base, but then you had Ice Q's fan base. Not to say Q was on something way different, but Q was, you know, had a larger fan base.

Doesn't mean the Native Tongues didn't have their own fan base. And you see what the Native Tongues fan base birthed, rest of peace of DeAngelo, right? it birthed an entire Q-Tip has his own family tree by itself bro and so that's what I'm saying like you cannot deny that that it's kids out there that want to hear and want to hear soulful and feel good music not necessarily preachy all the time because I think we need we need to separate conscious and feel good sometimes at all it's not sometimes we put conscious and a warm feel-good beat in the same box but then you have slum village that talked about a threesome you know what I mean?

Like you can't do you know what I'm saying So we have to kind of get out of that man It's this younger duster when he wanted something different But do you think of the Q-Tip family tree I can't just you got to teach now I can't just let you say that Who broke the down Q-Tip family tree? Oh man so the Q-Tip family tree Q-Tip was one of the first ones

to not sample funk and soul only Right Q-Tip was one of the ones like oh I'm a sample an artist by name of Kyle Jader and I'm an sample of an artist by the name of Les McCann and Freddie Hubbard because Q-Tip grew up in the neighborhood of jazz musicians. You got the jazz.

Exactly. And so that euphoric feel like I always say Benita Applebum is like the tree of life for everything after it. So if Benita Applebum is not made we're not getting well first of all, with our tribe

we're not getting outcast. Backs. Right? They said it. They said it all the time. We're not getting Alcass. We're not getting the roots. We're not getting Badoo. We're not getting Jail. We're not getting Little Brother.

We're not getting DiAngelo. We're not getting this thing called Neo. So we're not getting... Kanye West. We're not getting anything that feels euphoric and feels good. We're not getting that. Because core changes wasn't in hip hop in 89, 88.

We had... We was just talking about public enemy. It was just... You know what I'm saying? What night of the bass is? But Q-Tip, when he sampled those chord changes and all of that, that's what made everybody turn the corner. And we're still, we owe a lot to that dude for making that turn

and making the music that he did. Well, making the music that tribe did. So why, I agree with you, but damn, where did Daylor come in to play it? So Daylaw was, of course, Daylaw was before that, and Jungle Brothers before that, you know, the Native Tongues movie. Also, Queen Latifah was in that box, you know what I mean? tribe was more it was a

it's a different thing from daylight day lie was way left the center right you know what I think and this is going to sound crazy because daylight was from Long Island and more street tribe was tribe was more street because remember tribe is really they're from farmers

they're from queen yeah linda boule right like you go up a little bleak that's LL Kooj's area you go to the left a little bit that's you know 50 sitting them so they were more street than dayla I was and you noticed it because when Dayline Tribe kind of dressed the same on their fur on three feet

and people's distinctive they dress the same by the time Tribe did low end theory is baseball jerse and hats bro like they totally just changed everything and even the production of like I said a Q-tip he says I made

low-end theory drums sound the way they sounded because I heard NWA's second album so he was listening to you know what I mean but you got these thunderous drums but then you got this weather report sample on top of it you know I'm saying like it was just it was just a different thing but that feeling has extended itself for now 30 plus years now they're always thinking out you know you could be a tribe called Quest fan and a Koogee rap fan back the day right

you could be a tribe fan and a mob fan it seems like now they put you in the box where you can't because back then you could I could I listen to tribe growing up but then I listen to mob D but then I listen to Kee but then I listen to Kain but now I feel like it's it's it's Lanes where they try to stick you with like I can only listen to Rubin because I can't if I listen to Rubin. That's not even how I was raised, right? So like as much as I'm giving y'all all the influences of like the outcast, the tribes, the Nazis, and then giving you all the blog error, I still went to an HBCU where I was lit when they played no hands in the club. You know what I mean? And I was listening to Chief Keith and stuff like that. So I feel like that's why I'm able and that's I'm glad he said I went to A&T. Yeah, yeah. So I I'm a I'm and that's why even I say I'm so much tribe is because yes I loved everything I just named I love art I love pan-Africanism everything on me is designed by African designer you know I mean this is my man's my DJ's you know brand but at this real yeah yeah so and and then at You know, I let it rock. At the same time, like, I, you know, I'm not a street in the streets at all, but I'm not a, I'm not a street in the streets at all, but I had cousins in the streets, you know what I mean? Like, I grew up around all of it, so I embrace it all, and you hear it in my music, the things I talk about.

I'm not sitting there, like, you know, conscious piece B and all of that stuff. It's like, no. burning incense, you burned some incense. Yeah, no, I ain't burning no incense, you know what I mean? Like, I watch Friday just as much as I might watch the Michael Max autobiography, you know what I mean? So, you know, it's crazy. Coming from the Carolina's, and ninth, though, at least growing up, we didn't have a, there was no Carolina sound. No.

We weren't like Atlanta or New York. We had hip hop that we could gravitate to us. We listened to everything. Yeah, Killer Mike said the same thing. We had to listen to everything. And North Carolina is second when it comes to number of HBCUs, Alabama's first, North Carolina is second. So you got to think of all. the music that's coming from all these places is being playing in the dorms i remember on my my

dorm room hall i went to north canada central and i stayed in the hall called chili hall it was a dude from dc detroit baltimore then it was like all on the same hall so you walking down the hall here and go go go baltimore house dc that go go go shit down down the street right but yeah but that's the envy yeah go go you know what i'm saying so it's all of that all of those things and it's a you're hearing everything in one time and like you said yo you can tell a lot about people man when you open their cd book a dog word you flip that cd book you're flat when you see that we had i had a two short album a tribe album that tony braxton first album souls the mischief album

and Ice Cube the Predator like all at the same time I think now like you said I don't think a lot of people are fans of the culture they're just fans of a person for us if we were fans of hip hop that means we're checking out everybody but the filter was different

we're not facing 700,000 new songs a week on streaming either we didn't face that that's real we didn't face that and that's the sad thing because you can't hear everything that's the difficult part Because it's like, you know, life be lifeing. Like before it was like, I remember listening to, let's say,

Norrie's album or Fuji's album or whatever. It lasted the summer. It was like four albums that lasted the summer. And you rock through, I drove to school in it. I drove back to school in it. And now it's like the way the music goes, like even with Clips album. Clips album is one of my favorite albums now.

But I haven't heard Clips album in about a month now because I'm listening to new stuff, which is crazy because there's so many new things. So much. Yeah, a student, and one of my students told me, said, Professor Knight, you've got to understand, like I got 15 albums in the queue I ain't listened to last week and I'm like godly I think when I

one of our greatest release days was September 29th 1998 that is Al-Qas Equimini Alcass all the same day Hard-knock life Hard-knock life tribe the love movement and most different quality of black star

Like all this came brand new in foundation All came out on one day So we're going to the store like, I got about $15. How much you got, though? You get Quimini, I'll get. And so now we got to share it. You know what I mean? You're forgetting one thing, too.

Looking in that Source magazine saying we've got to get a Quimini because they got five. They got five mics. You got to get Jay because that's Jay and he had just got four and a half for Arlock. Like, got to get these two. Everybody else I catch later. It's different. But then you heard the most entire leave from somebody else who's like, oh, I got to go get that. Right.

If we was on Canal Street, we go get the bootleg, we get all $15,000, we got all four for $15,000. Who are selling them? Right, right, right, right. Who was selling them? I don't know. We are African, y'all. The Africans are.

We are African, you know. We are African, you know. Now, how does the classroom compare to the studio when it comes to influence? It's the same thing for me. The classroom has taught me how to communicate, dog. Like, it is really taught me how to communicate. and communicate you can't I can't talk to every artist the same way they don't learn the same way

so in the classroom I'm standing in front of my my hip-hop class on Wednesday is a duke man in the spring is 140 kids so I'm sitting there looking at 140 kids and I have to get through every kid whether it be the black kid whether it be the white kid you know you can't assume every kid that takes my class and want to do this and especially in man and duke man i got i got girls my class is like neurosurgeon whatever i'm going to be a neurosurgeon but i want to take your class you know what i mean that knows nothing about the culture at all and except the one person they listen to and you teach hip hop history for people that don't know right hip hop history i teach three classes at duke i teach hip hop history i teach black cinema of the 90s where we watch all the black cinema

of the 90s like love jones juice all that and i the hardest class they get into is my hip-hop production class We just straight make beats and talk about the art of production for a semester. But it has taught me how to not only communicate by how the next generation thinks when it comes to consuming music, what do they think? Our qualifiers ain't the same. Who we think are great rappers and why, and who they think are great rappers and why, is two different reasons. And we try to force our reasons on them, and it don't work.

Like, you know what I mean? So that's truly helped me out a lot. When you work with people like Jay-Z on Thread or Erica Badu on Honey, how do you stay true to like that artist, that artist's iconic sound but still staying true to you as a producer? You know what? The turning point for me, man, was when I did Girl by Destiny Child, that was the one.

I did Girl in the sheet of reason. And when I got in the studio with B, B looked at me and was like, B was there the night when I played beats for J. in 2003. Wow. She was there. And when we got in the studio in 2004, I was like, what do you want for?

I'm thinking, what do you want for me? Because again, we talk about labels. I'm looked at us as the backpack, nigger to make stuff on, excuse me, make stuff on computer. In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you. Don't let them down.

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and so they sort of become outsized indicators of inflation. Listen to the big take from Bloomberg News every weekday afternoon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey there, I'm Kyle McLaughlin. You might know me as that guy from Twin Peaks, Sex and the City, or just the Internet stand. I have a new podcast called What Are We Even Doing, where I embark on a noble quest to understand the brilliant chaos of youth culture. Daddy's looking good. Each week, I invite someone fascinating to join me, actors, musicians, creatives, highly evolved digital life forms.

And we talk about what they love. Sometimes I'll drizzle a little honey in there, too, if I'm feeling sexy in the morning. What keeps them going? And you're maybe my biggest competition on social media. Like when a kid says bra to me. And how they're navigating this high-speed roller coaster we call reality. In Australia, you're looking out for snakes, spiders, and f***is. Right.

Hey, he's no train McDougall. This is like the comment section of my Instagram. Join me and my delightful guests every Thursday. And let's get weird together in a good way. Listen to what are we even doing on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You know what I mean? That's what I'm looking at? And I'm like, what do you want for me?

Because they had Survivor out and can you pay my bills? I'm like, what do I fit into this? And she said, I want you to do you. But I also want you to think about us as the emotions, the 70s group, the R&B group. And I was like, wow. So I'm like, well, how can I bring that up to the? And so is she the reason and girl, I made them, though, I made them records thinking about SWV.

And so I do that with every artist. And I did it with him. His album is a combination of three or four albums in my head together. And what it will about? I can't tell you that. We'll tell you off air. We'll tell you off air. You don't want nobody's still in the sauce.

I can't tell you that. And who's the most difficult artist to work with? And when I mean difficult, not as in wild out and crazy, but just that that artist was too for now wanted it done a particular way. You know what? Somebody's asked me this question

another day. I've been lucky, man. I've been very lucky to be in the studio with. Jay wasn't tough at all. Jay was the pressure cooker, man. I had 25 minutes to make that beat. Same thing with Destiny's Child.

That was the number one girl group in the world at one point. Mary J. Blige, same deal. Eric about do same deal Kendrick Anderson Pack I've been lucky when you're making like

great music and soul music man and you're working with professionals but once I got to like Anderson Pack and Kendrick now I'm not the the young one in the studio just waiting for the chance now I'm controlling the session

so it's been I've been lucky man I've been very very lucky when it comes to work with artists I want to ask you Rubin like in 2025 What truth does your music need to tell right now? That's about other issue with a lot of this generation

with everything going on in the world. I feel like nobody's reflecting that with art. I mean, I think the biggest truth is telling a young black experience and me just trying to figure it out. You know what I mean? I'm not sitting on the album like, I'm going to shoot you or I'm lying

like I got a million dollars in the bank. You know what I mean? Like I'm telling you exactly what it is. I'm telling you my real history. human experience my real story and I think that's why I'm so excited for this album to come out because I think it's going to shift music in that way because I feel like we haven't and excuse me if I'm wrong we haven't had somebody from my age group just talk about their human experience you know what I mean and everybody's trying to be a facade and you know hold up a mask and

you know try to be something that they're really not and everybody's really searching you know I mean and I feel like with this album you know I talk about you know my my upbringing you know with my heritage you know talking about being from West Africa seeing you know my uncles talk about the war I talk about you know my desires and aspirations me coming from a HBCU I talk about you know embracing the black woman I talk about my mother you know I mean I talk about my family heritage and I just talk about you know I have a song called I'm good whereas like you know when you people ask you how you doing you just are I'm good but in the verses I'm like give you in detail of like no there's stuff wrong but every time you ask i'm good you know what i mean but

i feel like that's needed you know what i mean and i feel like that's that's what i want to do just tell like true human experiences be honest you know what i mean because i feel like honesty is going to take me further than being something i'm not that's why i went with my real name but my artist's name so and it doesn't and also to we need everybody's story we need his like you know what i'm saying we need your story like NBA young boy story that's his human experience in facts yeah we need that like we need you know i don't like when you know when people say oh we got to have this and not this and this and that we need a balance man like i can't i cannot stop a kid from telling their story whatever that story is you know i mean so we need it all i need heads i need

i need young boys i need i need it we had it what's the difference you know what i'm saying so what does black genius look like in hip-hop today the you name oh god um and who's carrying the torture of black genius I mean he's one I think it goes without saying that Kendrick is another one right there's a few out there man

and I'm trying to get out of the hip-hop box man I like black music y'all you know what I mean I really like black music I was talking about we was having a conversation about this album and that's all about black music I think we lost an incredible genius the other day, man, or Tuesday, last Tuesday. DiAngelo?

Yes, man. And, you know, for me and what he's done, it's him, Stevie and Prince. Like, I don't think anybody could have seen this man the last 30 years of music, man. When it comes to black music, it's him at the top. But, I mean, that's what it is, man. I just like black music, man.

And it's a lot of black geniuses out there that goes across genre. you know not just hip-hop you know I mean I want to see more of producers speaking of black you know music I mean and correct me if I'm wrong I want to see more people inspired by what Roberta Flack and Donnie Hathaway I'm talking about man it's the fit it's called the feeling y'all it's called the feeling and that's where we try to do on this album is create a feeling it's like a lot of a lot of music lacks that particular euphoric the thing about DeAngelo man and which a lot of us was raised in the church.

That feeling is not in music now. And it doesn't mean it can't be there. That feeling has been as this James Brown, man. It's been there since temptations. And it showed up in so many different ways, whether it be through Rubin, whether it be through a scissor, whether it be through Solange,

whether it be through Cleo So, who I love. You know what I'm saying? Like that feeling is there. And I think hip hop and the feeling has got separated over time, which it used to be like this because in the 90s, hip hop had samples in them that was the feeling.

No matter what the subject matter was on the top. So I think it just has to, you know, that's got that feel good, man, nothing wrong with that. And then it's also, how do you keep people's legacies alive, right? Because I swear, since DeAngelo died,

you can just be out and you'll hear somebody humming or De Angeles. I'm talking about humming. I'm not talking about just you hear it. I've been around people and they just you know last night I was at the Odell show and as soon as he got off

they played brown sugar shout out of Odell yeah oh deal is another one but my thing is where is that when these people are here like how do you keep that alive is it urban AC radio like what is it

yeah you have to the 12 o'clock throwback mix yeah you know what I mean you know that's a corporate conversation man we can't head out of but um no we can go talk night no I mean I'm saying man like

we got to bring DJ envy we have to bring DJs were the spokesman for the hood man or for black people on what was good and what was not everybody

ain't good right just because you made it it ain't everybody's not I know music is subjective I cool everybody's DJs was supposed to be the ones that told us

what was good and what was not we trusted the DJ has been like this since the beginning of hip hop and so that's what we need man and we can't we can't abandon we can't get a certain age and just say man I don't want to hear that old stuff anymore other cultures don't do that bro they don't take a special ed and throw them to the back burner whoever the country version of special ed is whoever the country version of big daddy cane is they don't throw them to the back burner we need to make sure our legends are great and revered

just like they're doing the grand old opera in Nashville on any other genre. The Rolling Stones still rocking because people are still going. For us, it's out with the old and with the new. That's the thing about black people because we're so creative. We just on to the neck so fast.

We cannot abandon who got us here and who continues to still do music. It's up to us. We cannot wait on anybody else to do it but us, bro. And they're starting with the stations. Because growing up, no matter what market you, and it was always a classic rock station. I was always going to have that.

And we're starting to get that now with, you know, 80s and 90s, you know, hip hop stations and things like that. But the reality, all urban adult contemporary stations have to do is just update the playlist. Like old school now is what we came up on in the 90s in the early 2000, but they still playing, and they should, but they're playing earthwind and fire. Yeah, a little bit too throwback.

But that's why I'm glad that we do, on Fridays, we do have past dogs with Nala, Nala Simone has put me on to you, like that she's how I found you in O'Dill and a lot of other artists that she has put me on with. So the DJs definitely, you know, you got DJs with good ears, man. That's like, look, you put your ear to the music and these are the things that you feel are like kind of rare. She putting them out there every Friday. Like I said, she put me on to you and a lot of other people that I listen to you now. It's important. It's important. I even think, like you just said, I think, you know, y'all do a great job of that just having her on

broad aid doing the past ox and i think it needs to be more because even like envy i would just saw a video where you you was the first person to play hit him up you know what i mean and i feel like allegedly that's his story don't give neck ready i don't know i don't know i ain't heard nobody else say that nobody else will go against him and then he sat over and accepted it too like i sure no i heard the tape i heard the tape and i tell you i got it from shot money excel i used to produce a little he gave it to me left the studio he gave it to his first DJ But I heard it was on a Dirty Harry, man.

Definitely was it. Dirty Harry, though. But now, like, real talk, like, I just feel like, you know, you, like, again, she does it incredibly with Pastor Ox. But I feel like, you know, we need to honor the young DJs and, you know, allow them to have that space because, you know, they're going to be the ones putting us on the music now. You know what I mean? Just like you were who kid, you know, clue, like, you know, it's, it needs to continue. again each one teach one you know what I mean so yeah it's wild because now when you watch NFL games you watch NBA games when they go to the commercial they plan like

nothing but a G thing and a war tour and I remember when Jalen Rose was you know the NBA a commentator like I was I said I wonder if Jalen Rose got influenced at what they playing when they go to commercial break because they play who got the props one day and I was like wait a minute but it's that we are I think Jimmy Fallon is a prime example of where we are in the time continuing because to be the Tonight Show host and your band be the roots tells you everything.

And he always says, Black Thoughts my favorite rapper. Talib Kuali is my second favorite rapper. And he's, what, 50 years old? So I mean, I think we just need to do more of that, man. We just cannot abandon our classics like that. Yeah, I agree.

I couple more questions for you, Rubin. You said Knife taught you a lot of discipline. What's the hardest lesson he gave you that you didn't want to hear? Mm. Ooh. Mm. honestly man don't listen to people who ain't never did it you know what I mean and

granted you know I always took his his counsel guru's counsel yeah our label president cash counsel but I think you know I had a unique situation because I met them super early so I didn't really put other people's like opinions and stuff over there's like I'll always go back to them and be like yo such and such says something to me what you think you know I mean and they'll be like man but at there were certain times where people would try to get in my ear, you know what I mean, and be like, oh, don't do this and don't do that or move this way and, oh, you don't need to be making them type of records, you know what I mean? It's not going to get you nowhere and stuff like that

or just trying to tell me stuff and they ain't never did it. Yeah. You know what I mean? You ain't never been in that position. You ain't never did it for you to be trying to, and I think, you know, that came with age and, like, you know, growing up. But, you know, when you're young and, you know, you're around your friends and, you know, they're trying to, you're trying to feel accepted. You you know what I mean and then you realize like I'm sitting in this dorm room with y'all y'all trying to tell me when I'm about to go on the weekend to L.A. and possibly be in the studio with Terrence Martin and all of them and y'all ain't never been in the studio these folks you know I mean so I just had to navigate that but as I got older you know it was it was off to the

races with that and then also too I think another thing is discipline wise is you know just staying true to who you are and you know it's going to take longer but it's If you continue to be yourself and just follow the course. He said that since the day he's met me. Stayed a course. You stay the course. It's going to pay off. You know what I mean?

There's been times where, you know, I'm like, man, it's not working out. You know what I mean? Maybe I just need to quit, you know, give up. And, you know, a week later, Swiss beats his my phone and stuff like that. You know, just stuff like that. So I think he's always told me to stay the course and it was hard because, you know, you're young and you want it. Yeah. You see it.

And then you're seeing your peers like shoot up. You know what I mean? And I've seen that a lot. So I think, you know, staying, of course, is one of the, another hard thing. And Swiss B's hit your phone with you at 16, by the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, facts. And, you know, people describe you, Ruben, as a bridge between eras. Do you ever feel pressure to carry that responsibility?

Or do you want to redefine it? I want to redefine it. I think I am a bridge because, again, like, you know, I've taken counsel, and I'm not a person who's stuck up and stubborn and have an ego where I can't listen to any of y'all in the room trying to give me some game. You know, I'm always trying to soak up the game because I know I got years to, you know, fulfill still. You know, I know I'm still super young. And I'd rather listen to somebody who's been around the block and know a few things, then me go make some mistakes that probably won't help me in the long run.

But I think I want to redefine it because, you know, they have a stigma on lyrical rappers. You know what I mean? How we dress, how we move and stuff like that. And I think me being young, you know, knowing what's in, but also still being true to myself. You know it shows in my style. It shows in how I dress. It shows in how I appear. You know what I'm saying when I come off and I think, you know, redefining it for 2025. I'm not trying to do what folks did in the 90s. You know what I mean? I'm trying to give y'all the same feeling y'all felt when y'all heard ATLians and an equipment now, but I'm not trying to recreate that. I'm trying to make a Ruben Vincent, 2025. You know what I mean? Who are your peers? Who is considered your peers? Marco Plus. You know, yes, Chris Patrick, Kai Caj. Nico Brim Suavei

Mavi He was another one from Charlotte Those are a few people That's my peers That's up and coming right now That's in my class Knife what lane do you think Ruben owns that none of them can duplicate

I think it's the way He talks about Black women I think that's That was a I know it's not about Recreating the 90s But I think that's something

That has left You know what I mean Like just the banter and conversation Honey check it out you got me made I want a girl with extensions in the hair Banu Williams like that Like it's the way he does it

You know what I mean Trying to milk it and I'm a spoil Yeah right exactly Exactly Because we've had that conversation a lot man There's this narrative that's going around That young black Not all young brothers

Some young brothers Only want to be around women When it's time to do get intimate and that's it They love pussy but hate women Mm-hmm Facts

No conversation No nothing No none of that You know what I mean In HBCU culture We didn't grow up like that We're trying to go chill You know what I mean

You have conversation And blah blah blah blah I got five sisters You know so I feel like that That influences me Right So for him It's the way he's

To me I think he's a If 10 crack commandments Was a thing You know For dope dealers That Biggie put out he's given that his version in like three or four songs on this album this is what you need to do this is what you need to say but he's not telling you

this is what I'm doing so if I'm doing it hopefully it can influence not only a 24 year old but it may be a 15 year old to pick up picks up his album you know what I mean so I think that the way he approaches it in a fun lighthearted kind of way and just being unapologetic about feeling for somebody in a positive light what's wrong with that man like and that's i think he does that better than anybody right now in age what's your favorite tribe record the album or just in general uh oh my god lyrics to go oh my god yeah those are two of like the top ones um honestly midnight marauds from top

to bottom it's just crazy but favorite g rap record mm hmm fast lane with noss that's that's my just because i'm a big noss fan yo i got guns with siddily smoke trees you know what i mean like the way he came on there like in just the beat so those are two of like my favorite records from them can now's perform at the Super Bowl um night nah man

let me answer first then I'm gonna come to you knife okay not what you want to see yeah yeah I was about to say I'm a like think about some of them the white people perform you and no half their songs that's why yeah but they make up 80% of the population okay so this is this is my this is my opinion I'm listening

Nas, I think Nas, it just depends on his song selection. Could he do it? Yes or no? Yes, song selection, though. It got to be song selection. For me, it's song selection. It's a song selection with any artist, man.

That's what it is. If it was perfect the way Dre did it and had different, if Nas does it in a way, But we also dealing We have to be realistic We're dealing with the Super Bowl man And it is a A majority of people that watch it

And majority of people that can even go Because I think this is what we get lost on this too I know we're at home watching it But you also got to think about the people That's at the game He paid that ticket to get in So that's what it's going to be I think it needs to be

Not only one halftime show I think it needs to be several shows around the Super Bowl period maybe before the show maybe after the show but i think if he places it places he got to place it the right way it has to be placed the right shots to adam blackstone because adam blackstone is a fantastic musical director that did the dray show that did the reaughan the show like he knows what he's doing so if he got with adam blackstone i think he could also i love now now is one of my top five favorite rappers of all time but when i see people say things like if dray and snoop can do it i'm like do y'all realize how big dray and snoop was yeah that's a different conversation that's a

That's a different. It's a different combo, but I do feel like Nyes can do one mic, I know I can. The world is yours. Bring out Lauren Hill. There's ways to. That's what I made. It's a way to do it.

That's what you think. What you think? I think it's a feature. I think Uchi Wally would kill him. You know what I mean? Are we doing Uchi Wally at the Super Bowl? You can't Uchi Wai. You played it.

All right now let me ask you all. Are y'all let him do you owe me? At the Super Bowl. That's why I'm actually. No, no, no. I just we just going to be doing Uchi Wiley at the Super Bowl One mic

If I rule the world The world is yours You don't think so I'm stuck in the house now I would get on me You know how much people hated you owe me I know I know that's why I'm like That was the terrible

If I was there I'm up for it though Notra Dama's got shitted on when it came out Y'all don't think they'll be What The old white folks would be in that short No maybe no And then you bring out G-E-1 Oh Lord

I've got a couple more questions. Ninth, you don't have to answer this if you don't want to. Okay. May the Lord watch. Okay. Everybody wanted to know why 9-400 didn't participate in the Little Brother documentary. That's a long story. I don't think we got that kind of time.

But I will say this, man. You're talking about in the documentary? Yes, why you didn't participate in the movie? Yeah, that's a long story. We do have as much time as you will. No, no, no, no. We're not doing that. I forgot there was up in.

We had that conversation. That was a while ago. We're not doing that. I'm going to say this. And sometimes people think I say something. some political reasons y'all who watched me for years both of y'all have watched me for years i have never been a person to go online and in public to try not to say that they did that to me but to deface and talk negative about another man or woman that's never been my thing

and that's their feeling that's how they respect and you have to respect how they feel about everything or whatever. But as far as there's success, as far as we being a part of each other's history, I cannot change that at all. We have our own, little brother has our own children. Kendry,

Drake, Cole, Big Sean, Waleigh, Ruben Vincent. We got our own children, right? So again, it's a story behind it, but that's, I believe in family business, bro. That's how, this is how I was

raised is how I am and you know we're at the age now I'm 50 years old bro y'all know how this goes man we lose people every day bro we're losing family members listen God bless them brothers man let them keep doing what they're doing I think they are on tour right now they got shows they're still doing shows Fonte is incredibly talented although we may have disagreements or whatever incredibly talented one of the illies exactly you know what I mean I've seen Pugo from being one artist one rapper to another rapper to the level that he is we've made magic and without me they made magic and i'm leaving it at that man i believe it look bro i'm serving something else now bro

this is how i am what would a little brother mean to you a little brother reunion i mean i seen it i seen it i seen it happen uh how was i 17 yeah when they came to derm i was backstage you know what i mean um that's right yeah and you know i think it was dope because it was something for North Carolina you know what I mean they also raised me just as much as tribe did slum village Kanye you know what I mean

like they they were a part of that um you know again like he said I think you know the biggest thing is you know one thing I can say about 9th and this is not even just because he's sitting right here I would have said this if I would have did this interview alone it's just how spiritually and how you know

he's handled you know the situation with grace and i think you know that's another thing that i've learned from him even with people around me you know you got to move with grace and you know i i would love you know i'm just me being a fan obviously i would have loved for you know what i mean but we're definitely in a different time now you know what i mean and it's it's a new time it's a new regime it's a new place you know what i mean and it's just you got a sometimes the history is supposed to be where it is and people's supposed to move on and that's what it is to me without without no without no fonte Colme would not be a Drake.

That's a fact. Drake, Drake completely 1,000% and he says it a million times. Studied him, revered him, imitated him. Everything we know about Drake rapping and singing is Fonte Coleman.

Fonte and Joe Button. Huh? Fonte and Joe Button. Fonte Coleman. And button's my man. You know, but that, again, going back, listen, man, like,

that's how it is with me. I got to keep moving, man. I didn't see the documentary at all. I never watched it. I've heard about it from everybody. But I got to keep them moving, man. I cannot stay in that space. We don't have the time on this earth to stay in that space.

I got work to do. This is my work now. I got other work to do as well. This is my label Jamler. That's what it is. But again, saluting brothers, man. God bless them, brothers, man. That's how they feel.

They have the right to express it. I didn't go online and say anything about it when it came out. I heard everything about it, blah, blah, blah. Difference of opinion, and we move on. My last question. If hip hop is a conversation across generations, right? What message are you, too, trying to send back to the coach that would welcome home? Oof.

If hip hop is a conversation. That the feeling is not lost. You can continue to give the feeling. And there's not a division between a generation. There's not a division, man. we have more in common than you think especially if you're on the same wavelengths and I really I really really want

the elders not old old ends and elders are two different things everybody everybody old niggas and out yeah everybody everybody ain't everybody in an elder and the OG man and sometimes OGs

sometimes old Nick want to talk down to the young ones and try to give them advice and young they ain't about to take that from everybody you know what I mean leave them alone leave them alone bro

look the NBA young boy concert is coming to Raleigh North Carolina man old niggie stay home if you go out there and get hurt and you go out and get hurt but like you know it's not for that's not for us

bro we don't we don't do a good job of giving the young ones their space the VIP belongs to them now the streets belong to them now we are on the sidewalk so i think what i want our album to do is that you can have a relationship this can work whatever this is we are 25 years apart this can work and

music can be made with this that's the biggest thing i want to get across man and i think for me whether you are NBA young boy whether you are a reuben vincent whether you are a any other name that I can name right now. Show up as yourself. Show up as yourself and perform at a high level, regardless of who you are. You know what I mean? Regardless of the background,

you come from, but show up as yourself. And I think, Welcome Home, I showed up 100% Rubin. Everybody always say, you know, Rubin, you have an old soul and stuff like that. And this is stuff I've been dealing with since I was a kid.

You know what I mean? I remember being made fun of. You know what I mean? For like going to my bus stop and I'm like, yo, have y'all hurt? illmatic and they're like bro we on this chief keef i don't know what they're you talking about and i embrace chief keef too i still rock listening to chief keith to this day but they you know i would get looked at a certain way if i came and i'm like yo y'all got to listen to illmatic y'all got to listen

to reasonable doubt y'all got to listen to not even just those y'all got to listen to pimper butterfly and they like ain't nobody trying to hear that but show up as yourself you know what i mean and it's like yo i want to perform at a high level in rap i'm not sitting here i ain't rapping to just drive a Honda accord, bro. You know what I mean? Like, but I'm gonna do it as myself. I ain't here to compromise. None of that. But I am gonna be one of the greatest of my generation. I'm gonna say that. That's just a fact. You know what I mean? And I'm gonna do it being 100% Ruben Vincent. I'm always rep Africa. I'm gonna always rep Charlotte. And I'm gonna always rep showing up as yourself. And that's exactly what this album is about. Hey. All right. What you want to hear right now, man?

What we're gonna play? We're gonna play Dr. Sidney. What's to join? What's the join? What's the, that's not the that I'll be sure, Sam. Oh, got to get it? I got to get it. Which one y'all want? It's up to you, man. You pick it. Let's do both of them. Yeah, I'm about I say, let do both.

That's my joint. Got to go. Let's get it. You're fired, but got to get it is my joint. It's Ruben Vincent. Ninth one, do we appreciate you, brothers. Yes, sir. Album comes out this Friday.

It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Yeah. Every day I wake up. Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club. You're all finished or y'all done. In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you.

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