The Questlove Show - QLS Classic: Jazzy Jeff (Part 2)

Episode Date: September 21, 2020

Grammy-award winning DJ Jazzy Jeff joins Team Supreme (again!) to talk hip hop, DJ culture, and what it was like to work with Will Smith. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. West Love Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to part two of DJ Jazz and Jeff on Kul. CLS Classic. Now this is a little bit different. Part 1 was courtesy of August 2018. We didn't even get to part 2

into almost a full year later. So here we are May 15th, 2019. Almost a year later with the great DJ Jazzy Jeff, Part 2, QLS Classic. Let's go. I'm tired. We eating and breathing in 2019. Suprema. Suprema. Supremea Subrima Roe Call Supraima Subra

Roca Supremea I'm so Supremma Role call Both bills and Lyre Yeah Sugar Stephen Quest

Yeah And Jazzy Jeff I repeat Quest Yeah I cannot breathe Roll Call So

Supraima Role call Subima Role call Subima Subrema So My name is Fonte Yeah

And I'm just kicking it. Yeah. On QLS. Yeah. With the magnificent. Roll call. Suprema. Subrema, sub, sub, sub, suprema roll call.

Suprema, sub, sub, subprima, roll call. My name is Sugar. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm always high. Yeah. Didn't we interview? Yeah.

This guy. Roll gone. Suprema, Subima, sub, sub, sub, subprima, rocaw. Supremea, Submira, rocala. Submma, sub, sub, sub, subprima, roal. First you grab the hat. Yeah.

Then you grip the hat. Yeah. Then you flip the hat. Yeah. Make sure it's a starter cap. R. Suprema, Suprema,

Roca Call. That was a really good. Supraima, Role call. I'm on pay bill. Yeah. Don't get it silly. Yeah.

How could today be any more Philly? Roll call. Supraima, Supraima, Suprema, Suprema, Roe call. Suprema. Subrema, Roll Call.

Miss Laeam. Yeah. Back with Jeff. Yeah. A better Aquarius? Yeah. I ain't met one yet. Roll call.

Superma, Sun, Sufrima, Role Call. Supremma, Role Call. Supremma, Roe Call. My name is Jeff. Yeah. This is true.

Yeah. I'm back on QLS. Yeah. For part two. Roll call. Suprema. Subima. Submira.

Subrema. Roll call, Suprema, Subima, Subma, Roll call. Suprema, Subrema, Roca Supremea Roca

Daughter Cobra Daughter Capp. Okay, okay. My other roll call would have been something about 1,9009-09. Jeff.

Oh, wow. You're on with that one. He's a mirror. Amir alive. Amir, are you okay? All right, so. Bon Bell. Yo.

Shout out to boss Bill. Uh-oh. Who made it explicitly clear that he didn't want any eating on this show. That's because you have a seaweed cracker situation. Now we know why, right? I should have, yeah, I should have listened. Because you almost died during roll call.

Like, we have this, shout out to the studio. We're still in our Philly Pilgrimage. We're at the Milk Boy studio, aka the studio. And their fancy cheese here. Fancy cheese that my eight-year-old takes the lunch. There's something about when that organ's drill starts, there's a level of panic in the air. And that's like,

your ghostetz's the intro. That's some early QLS reference for our listeners. Yeah, and I heard it. Oh, yeah. My love for Latin quarter stories. Yes. When those drums happen, do you do, do, do you do.

That means someone's getting their ass beat at the Latin quarter when those rolls come in. Yeah. But when I, I heard the organ thing, I was like, oh, I'm eating cheese. Oh, I don't know. I'll swallow it real quick. And then that was it. I was choking. So, um, this is a historical first, ladies and gentlemen. Yes. We have our first repeat guest. We knew this moment was happening. Kind of. Wow. Okay, half the people weren't here at the time when Jeff came before. So this is the full, the full throttle, jazzy Jeff

episode with all the members present. Would you like to tell them why we had to have a part two? Why do we have to have a second? We didn't even get the Will Smith. Yeah, Will Smith did not even enter part. Wow. So we can start like the Biggie record. Previously already to die.

So Jeff, you were five years old when you got your first first. All right, Jeff. So in 1978, all right, we ended talking about the DMC battles. Yeah. Oh, good memory. And how Jeff wanted to. It's one of my favorite episodes. I actually, not only my narcissistic, I'm also a sponge full of information.

I remembered that he used the wrong turntables and still won the battle against. Was it DJ Cheese? Yes. Okay. Cheese? That's ironic. You used the wrong turnstay. You used like a belt draw or a direct?

What was wrong about him? It was two setups. And one of them. wasn't acting right. And everybody that used that setup lost. Ah, shit. And he dissed me, and I got mad, and I wanted to beat him on the bad setup. So I did.

So I did it. He whooped his ass, yes. So then once you're crown king, what happens? I mean, they gave me a big cup. And you went back over the West Valley. All of the DMCs after that, or the new music seminars, they gave a belt, and they gave me a cup. I mean, I appreciate the cup. You know.

First you take the cup. But, you know, I came home. The funny thing is I came home and went straight to WDAS because, you know, we just... Did you cut... Did you cut... Is that the night that you cut, baby let's go-go? you went to DAS This is in the 80s

And you stayed on Only thing that a musketing You cut big jump beata Big jump beater Four minutes straight And it's what they're Roxanne That wasn't me No no no no

You were cutting I did it four minute straight Yes you were cutting big jump Yes I don't know if it's after this night In particular No I probably wasn't You know we lived in DAS

You know, we kind of had card blanche that you just kind of show up. Stop by when you want to. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. D.S. was like that. I like that.

Yeah. Shout out to everyone at D.S. Jay ones and, and, well, J. ones is now, uh, we're the best. Uh, he's. J. One's, like the record. He's a record. Jay ones is now the right-hand man of DJ Callet.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know. That was doing the no rap work days at D. That's crazy. No.

I mean, you know, back with Power 99 had there, mixed show at Friday nights between like 930 and two. That was Cutmaster Butter and... Who was his name? Lawrence Levine. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's also the night...

Larry Levine. No, no, no, no. It was a guy from Philly name, Lerdy. Yeah, always these glorious names that... Yeah. If you're a French name, a black dude, you're... That's quite glorious. So I guess we can start with, how did you meet Will Smith?

Oh, okay. Well, you know back then it wasn't like a bunch of really big groups. You know, it was everybody had a DJ on their block. And then we would all kind of get together, you know, at the wind, the hotel, Philadelphia, Wagner's ballroom, just all of the spots in the city. So I knew of Will. I knew, you know, he was on a flyer with me for a couple of shows, so I knew the group that he was with.

What was this group? The hypnotic emcees. Okay. Yeah. And it was crazy because this is kind of, well, not kind of. This is pre-cell phone, pre-anything. This is like, yo, I got to call you in the crib if you don't answer. We're done.

Right. And somebody called me and said, hey, I got a party for you on 59th in Woodrow. Cress tonight. And I picked up the phone and I called Ice, who is my MC, and Ice wasn't in the house. Wow. And, you know, I was like, okay, you know, I got to go and do it.

So, you know, we jumped in the car, we drove up there. Come to find out there was two doors away from Will. So when I came and set up, of course, you know, Will and I want to come down in the basement and kind of see who's doing a party and then realized it was me. It was like, oh, man. So he was like, hey, where's ice? I was like I couldn't I couldn't find him

he's like yo you mind if I rock and I was like no and we got on and it was a it was a anybody who DJs or anybody who raps for a good DJ

knows that there is this chemistry and you know my brain works in bars so I kind of know like listen your fourth bar is going to be your punchline bar so I'm kind of like yo I'll drop out or just do a scratch there. And it was just, but it was also, Will was somebody that watched and was like,

okay, Jeff does this with this hand, and he does this with this hand. So he would tell me to do something, but he would always tell me to do it while I was on the opposite hand to set it up. So for me to realize that he paid that much attention, and then him realized that I paid that much attention, it was kind of like one of those things, like I was like, yo, this is the best night of my life. and this is crazy. And what you're doing tomorrow? I got a party to do tomorrow. And, you know.

So essentially you two are having an affair with each other. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. How do you tell your respective crews? Well, I don't know. I don't really know how he handled it. I know. You came back with the black guy.

You know what? It was a couple of shows that Will and Ice did together. And you could definitely tell the difference. Is there an age? difference between the two? Ice might be a little bit, maybe two years older than Will. So is that dog years and MC years? No, no, no, no, no.

Well, you got to understand this was so early, you know, it might have been 20 rat records out. Period. So we're not even talking about the records. We're just talking about everybody, you know, it was a main cruise in Philly. Right. And it was just kind of like.

What year is this, by the way? 85. Okay. 85. And it was, it was, no, there's, was it 85? Yeah, it was 85. So you're still cutting a shout? Oh, yeah.

We're doing all of that. You know, we were doing something with a drum machine. I had a routine that I did with a 909 that was, that, I used to do this thing with a 909 and this boss foot pedal that on a, back of the 9-09, there's a trigger out. And the trigger out

is the rim shot. So if you plug the boss foot pedal up to the trigger out, anytime you hit the trigger out, it's going to trigger the boss foot pedal. There was a mic input on a boss foot pedal.

So me and Will used to do this thing called the copy rock, that all you had to do is program a beat and just leave the space at the one that if he would you know, it was almost like Cust Love Supreme. And he would say a punch line

and I would go from record to play and it would automatically play and everybody was like, oh my God, Jeff and Will are, he's scratching Will's voice. Yeah, we was always ahead of it. Wow. Well, you were always ahead of it.

Like, you were in technology. Nah, dope. For real. Listen. I did a session with Jeff in 2006, seven, and he was recording vocals in Ableton. Like back then. And I want to say I found out about final scratch from you.

Yep. Yeah. Yeah. I was... Somebody quoted you or something. Yeah. Listen. And I smoked my first vapeak pin with you.

See? Listen. I'm all the way across the board, man. Ain't no shame in my technology game. Listen. You know. So, I mean, even back then, how are you finding about you're not up on this next? Like, how...

I don't think, I don't think you are. You know, you, you know, you know, I grew up going. going downtown every day going in a Funkermar every day and staring at the equipment that you can't afford. Right. You know, and then getting cool with them. Like, you know, listen, I bought a,

I bought an echo machine on layaway. People don't even understand the layaway. I was going down there putting $3. They got mad at me because, of course, you know, they got a right every time you put money down on the receipt. And my receipt, that shit was going to the back side because it was like $3.

It's $2. And they're like, listen, man, why don't you, don't bring nothing down here less than a 20. Because I can't do three, you know, but it was just so

I could get on the mic and go do it, do it, do it. Like, that was the shit to me. Wait, were you, were you ever that type of DJ where you did your own, listen. Shut up,

you got to understand. Listen, I was DJing before they were rappers. Wow. So, like, what else are you going to do? You get on the mic, shout out to Suss and Such

From 52nd and Addison Go girl, girl, girl You know Your mama's coming Yeah Right, right Yeah, right Your mama's here

Yeah I know them So In doing these routines Then how do you guys What's the next step? Is it word up records? Yeah

Well you know what Everything happened really fast Because Will was on his way to college. Where is he going to go? He was going to MIT. Whoa. Oh, yeah.

He was going to MIT. Like, he was, he was serious. And it was kind of like we hooked up. Like, I want to say that this party had to be sometime in maybe January. And

I know you'll remember this. Like, Philly has a schedule. Philly has a calendar that You know, from you got January, February. As soon as March come, Bartram would always have the first prom of any of the high schools. Right.

So that kicked off prom season. So every Friday, it's Bartram. Then it's mass bomb and such and such and such. So if you were a DJ... And you're grabbing all these gigs. Oh, listen, you worked. You know, not... Even if you didn't do the prom,

you went with GQ George for the after-party. After-pum. At the win. You know, either at the wind or it was, what was the joint on Parkside? Carna Cautopia. Parkside eat your cornucopia was the small ones. But all the schools that had good money was on Parkside. Wait, time out.

So Spahn, our engineer in the other room, is putting his hands up for cornucopia. Yeah. Side note, I went to the wrong cornucopia. Oh, no. There's a cornucopia bar on 52nd and Gerard. Yeah. And I walked in that motherfucker. Like, no.

Oh, 50 second of woodrow. Right, right. And it was not the after prom. It's not cornucopia. So, okay, so this is also, because you got to also explain that. With hip-hop culture in the 80s, we weren't

going to the mainstream clubs or none of those things. Like, all this was neighborhood. It was running ballrooms. Like the wind was a ballroom. The win wasn't a club. Right. You rent it to win.

You rented to Hotel Philadelphia. We didn't have, like, I almost want to say that the first club that we actually had was after midnight. Wow. Like after midnight was a club. Was a club. Yeah. And, you know, that was something that we. It's no noun.

It was the spaghetti factory. No, no. I'm talking about the first after midnight. I know. Oh, wait. Where was the first? What was the eighth and cherry? Yeah.

First after midnight was Ath and Cherry. Eighth and Cherry was L.L. Understand the spaghetti warehouse after midnight, oh, that shit lasted about three months. That had the potential to be Philly's best club ever. And the people in the neighborhood was like, no, y'all not doing that here. Oh.

They had a skating ringing after midnight. Yes. Yeah, listen, that was open for about three months. Really? Yeah. Wow. So that's the night that L.L. Did that freestyle?

That was Ath and Cherry. Wow. Yeah, that was Ethan Cherry. Boss Bill, were we allowed to play that freestyle? No. Sorry. I mean, I'd rather ask permission or I rather apologize. You can play it.

I'm just going to go. No. Someone's got to follow. I'm just trying to figure out, you got that? Yes. You never heard it? Of course I heard. I was there.

I'm just shocked that you got. Well, no, I'm not shocked. Come on, young. Do you know who he is? I forgot who. No, I absolutely know who he is. So what historical shows have you seen? Besides you being historical...

Listen, I mean, you know, everything that was after midnight Because like I said, you know, once after midnight came, we wasn't really going to the win. Okay. Because we had a club. You know, that was kind of like, yo, this shit is popping every week. So you would go down there and, you know, and Elle would come through and Big Daddy Kane would come through and Stetsasonic would come

through and, you know, it was, it was the home. I finally got Big Daddy King to talk about the jazz fresh battle. Yeah, I got that. I got that. You have a battle on tape? Yeah. Yeah, I got that. Chef.

Sounds like there's going to be a trade happening here. We don't ever trade. We just give each other stuff. We don't call it trading. Okay. That's a trade being. Yeah, that's, I see. By the way, Fontaine, by the way, Fonte,

the after midnight is definitely the Philly Latin quarter. Yeah. Okay. Absolutely. Especially when, I mean, a big part of Philly's presence in late 80s hip-hop also has to do with the fact that because with the exception of the muscle of Carol Lewis getting a fresh vest into maybe the Nassau Coliseum, Madison Square Garden really wasn't having that. So you really couldn't get good hip-hop in proper. proper venues, thus you either go on a Latin quarter or you're going down 95 south to Philly to do the spectrum.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, right. The spectrum, of course, for that stuff. So how do you guys, how do you put routines together when it's time to do, how long are these DJ gigs for starters?

Oh, man, you just playing for an hour. Wait, that's it. Well, you got to keep it mind. It was 97 DJs on. Like, it was always. a million deal. Come on, man. Listen, don't make me pull out the Bobby dance flyers and see how many people

were on those shows. You weren't doing three to four hours a gig? No, first of all, let me just explain because I invented that. I invented that. You invented that, man. You know how many people booked me? It was a Quest. Love play four hours. I was like, yeah, okay. They don't do that. I don't do that. I can't do that.

Look what you did. Really? Just an hour? Look what you did. Well, listen, back then, well, not just that. What you have to understand, the live at Union Square show was 20 minutes. Wow. You didn't do shows for an hour.

Shit, we had two records. Like, they didn't know that we were going to fill in the gaps like that. Like, that was, you got to understand when we started doing shows, we just were taking what we were doing at the win. We were taking what we were doing before we had records, and you would add that to your records. So it's kind of like, yo, I'm going to start off. and I'm going to cut these three records.

Ready Rock C. He's going to come out. He's going to do the beatbox and then we're going to do these two records. It was almost like a variety show. Yeah, exactly. So you were only there to do girls in a number of trouble

and touch of jazz. Everybody was. Get out. That's it. That's it. And you just, you know, it was kind of like, yo, we need to,

you know, we need to show. Well, first of all, you got to understand, we didn't know what they were doing. We thought, what we were doing in Philly, we thought is what everybody else in the world was doing right so we got to new york and started doing it and it was just kind of like

everybody's going crazy and i'm just kind of like what are you going crazy for y'all don't do the same shit i found out when uh reek first got to stretching barbitos reek thought everybody was freestiling oh no no so that's why reek became such a stickler for freestalling because again it's like well who taint must be doing this and naz must be doing this and trying to hear them same albums on yeah absolutely absolutely so Wow, okay. So, okay, well, making your 20 minutes, then, are you thinking of like,

okay, song of the moment, or? No. No, I mean, everything was DJR in it. You know, it's kind of like, you knew the records that were DJ records, you know, it's typical. You know, dancers, drummers beat, this, this, this, this. You know, what is something that people know

that you can manipulate, that they can see what you're doing and, you know, that they know that what you're doing is something. special. That you're there. So you just got these records that you would just do and you would just change them up. You know, if you got

if you, if you you got a hundred different records that you can cut and you only need to cut two, you know, that's 50 shows doing different routines. But when did you realize that certain records are hotter in other cities

that you might not have been Oh man. You know what I mean? Did you do? Let's answer the drum just pre. Let's dance to the drum was beating Houston? No. Would it have the same? No, no.

I mean, and trust me, it wasn't until we started going out that you started realizing. It was two things. I remember us doing, I remember us doing a Richmond Coliseum and I did a DJ routine and halfway through it

I looked up and everybody was just staring at me and I was like, you have no idea what I'm doing. And it was like, wow. Like, if you pay attention, that's why on The Magnificent, you hear Will telling me what to do and then I do it. Like, we realize how you have to do it is you have to tell people, Jeff, scratch it like a bird. And then when you do it, everybody's like, oh, my God, like, they didn't get it.

Like, hip hop hadn't come that far in all of those places, you know, that to the point that people understood what a hip hop DJ was doing. So it was the same thing that it's kind of like, okay. okay, I'm cutting dances and drummers beat, and then you get someplace and you do it, and you got that look like, okay, they have no idea what this record is. That's where Rock the Bells came from. That's where Peter Piper came from,

because you cut records that everybody know. Like, that was my biggest criticism when I used to watch DJs and DJ battles that they would do these amazing routines off of records that nobody know. It's kind of like, how do they know what you did to it? Yeah Yeah

You have no perspective on it At all No, no What it is, yeah I'm trying to figure out That for Stroh right now Because still I feel like the only people

That are truly mind-blown At what Stroh Elliott does And Jeremy as well Is the roots on stage Because the whole audience It's just like A silent stunt Like, you know

Occasional Instagram Would be like Oh, Strow Elliot Like kicking All that is Is just picking popular records But and he does them how they're supposed to be done

and then he flips it. Once he flips it, it's over. Hipop 101. Right. Same, basically the same concept. We got to figure out a way when he was saying like instructions chirp like a bird

and break it down right here and that sort of thing. And when do you decide like, that's what I was asking. Like when do you decide when I go to D.C., okay, I'm going to play my shit but also I know I can play this because this record was hot here and they know that.

Well, you almost have to go to find out, you know, because God bless that time, music was different in every place that you went to. And you appreciated that. You know, I enjoy doing those shows that Columbus, Ohio was different. You know, you go to, you know, D.C. or Virginia, you know you got a little bit of that go-go stuff that you can kind of add it. Like you heard what each territory's musical taste was, you know. I'm scared of that today.

Oh, yeah. We don't have that. We don't. You were just talking about that the other day. Regional. Like, there's no regional sounds. No. It's only the foundation.

Like, I know, I feel like Jamaica Punk is like a regional record. Like, it's like a D.C. Those kind of classes. How did you in, I mean, you and Will, when y'all first, so your first deal wasn't directly with Jive? No, no, no, no. How was who was the first deal? Well, we did, you know, it was funny.

You know, Word Up was an extension of pop art, which was, you know. Lawrence. Lawrence Goodman? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, understand, Dana Goodman owned Word Up. So, you know, it's the Goodman brothers. Yeah.

I didn't know they were brothers. So it was funny because Dana lived around the corner from Will. So me and Will did the demo of Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble. And Will gave it to Dana. Because we were, you know, we weren't even on that radio. What did y'all even cut it on? Oh, listen, I had a drum machine and a four track. Oh, you had a four track.

And it was just kind of like. The original was done on a four track? Yeah. Well, understand, the original original was done over moments in love. Wow. Yes, I have that mixtape with a doo-doo on the shoe. Do you still have that? No, I don't, and I need that.

I need that too. Will will go crazy for that. Dude, we lived on, in London, we have that. Somewhere in my storage unit, I got that, she had doodoo on a shoe. Yeah, don't we got to go to the storage unit tomorrow? There you go. Yeah, we do. But yeah, you know, we did it.

he gave, and he gave the demo to Dana. So it was funny because Will called and was like, yo, Dana wants to come over and talk to us about putting out of record. And I was like, all right. So Dana comes to my house and Dana walks up on a porch. And you know, you hear stories of Dana and Lawrence. Dana walks up on my porch and my next door neighbor, Keith looked at Dana and said, pie and Dana looked at him.

So first of all, I'm like, who the fuck is pie? And Dana looked at him and said, Hawk. So now I'm kind of like, who the fuck is Hawk? And then they hugged. And it was like, yo, man, what's going on? How are you doing? And he was like, what are you doing here? And Dana was like, I'm coming to check out the young

boy in his you know, in his demo. And Keith's face got really serious. And he looked at Dana and he was like, pa, that's Jimmy Town's son. I mean, Jimmy Town's brother. Don't

fuck with him. and I was looking like What's going? He said, that's family. I never forget that. He's like, that's family. So what did he just save you from that? You don't know what just happened?

Well, Well, I know Dana pulled a gun out on Will. Wait, what? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's a whole bunch of that. But yeah, none of that ever happened to me. Okay. Yeah.

So let's talk about the government. Wait, let's not gloss over it. Yeah. The crafting of girls ain't nothing but trouble was some major shit because it was like by that point you could choose you could choose two squads

You could either go The school E-d squad Of where everyone else was going What I call like You know like blues is A blues is crafted You know like the first chord Then the fourth and the fifth

In other words you know, your setup line right here and then your second set of line right here and then your third set of line right and then the punch line and if she don't no-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-then then I'll take a sister-to. With Schoolie D, it's the same thing.

It's like the two set-up lines. I went to the right-da-da-da-da-da. And then I could, and then I go, no-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-and-in the punch line. Then I pulled my gun. Y'all could have easily went there. because everybody and their mom was going to the school E.D. Narrative route.

You guys chose, I felt you guys were more trying to go the Slick Rick route, which kind of Will's version of Slick Rick, he sort of carved his own lane, which I still don't know what people decided to call it or whatever, but it's more like, you know, I felt like, you know, I felt like that was the next step that Lottie Dottie should have went for for Doug and Rick and it didn't.

Now it's you guys. Yeah. So like how did you guys craft it? It was just like, okay, let's rhyme over Dream of a Genie. Will was a great storyteller. So he had girls ain't nothing but trouble written. And I just programmed a beat

and grabbed the TV tunes record and played I Dream a Genie. Ten minutes. yeah and and he wrote it but you know like I said I remember doing shows playing the you know cutting the instrumental of moments in love and Will would do moments you know Will would do girls in that but trouble and I was blown away at how everybody was looking at his mouth like waiting for the next line and I was like yo like this is crazy like this he's got some power if you know what I mean you're telling something that that that's

that visual that you can kind of see it in your head. So he was always a start. He was all, yeah, he always had that, that level of, of writing, uh, uh, that was very visual. Now, doing business with Goodman. Yeah. What was, I mean, listen, you know what? This is, this is, this is, this is back in the day. Um, there was, I, I, I had no aspirations to make a record. Like, that wasn't it, you know, my, in my brain I had my life set.

I was about to go work at PGW because they had great benefits. I was going to take a two-week vacation and why I would and I was going to get a house on Kyle's Creek Parkway so I could look across the street at some grass.

That was the life. I did as dead ass serious. Cobbs Creek was the life. That was it. I really thought that that was it. Go to Pathmark. So when it was kind of like, hey, let's do this record.

We go on the studio and basically, you know, take my drum machine and record it and fly girls in that more trouble in and Will does it and he puts it out and it starts getting played on DAS and then it starts getting played on BLS in New York and then we have to go to New York and then we do Latin quarters and we do this and next you know when North Carolina like this this was all happening really fast girls dropped two days before Will graduated from Overbrook oh wow so like that listen

I was, oh, man, like, he was the, the, the graduation party? And you got a record out? He was bawling. He was bawling. Because it was a hit. Oh, man, it was, it was playing it everywhere. Like, and it was also in my brain, I'm like, okay, he about to go to college. So this is about to be over?

We end up, we go to L.A. and start doing stuff. And the next, you know, we got a call. Like, they, you know, this is blowing up huge in London. They want you to come over and do top of the park. Pops. And we didn't know what Top of the Pops was. Y'all did Top of the Pops? No, listen.

So we get over there and we didn't have work papers. Oh, shit. So they wouldn't let us perform. So we literally flew over there for them to say, hey, this is DJ, Judge, Jeff in the Fresh Prince. And we said, hi, everybody. And they played girls in nothing but trouble. But you couldn't perform. No, we couldn't perform.

I hate London like that, man. What is that? What is Pops? Top of the Pops was like, like Dick Clark. They're American best. Yeah. But it was, you know, and it got. to the point that it started gaining so much traction that Will kind of went to his mom and dad

was like, you know, I got to see where this go, you know. Are they looking for you? Well, no, you know, it was crazy because it was played on the radio and us doing all of that traveling. You got to understand we didn't have a family member that had ever been to London. So it was kind of like, listen, I can't say nothing. I got, okay. Oh.

You know, and that was it. Like it started and never stopped. You know, we did girls in that of trouble. Of course, you know, Dana wanted to do guys ain't up in trouble because everybody wanted to do an answer. So he was like, let's answer our own record. So is ice cream tea related to him? No, no.

Like, you know, ice cream tea. I think Lady B knew ice cream tea. So we did guys in nothing but trouble. Then we did just one of those days, which is the record that I. I love With a I love

You take that record Let me tell you why Let me tell you why You kick the feel like that Listen So Dana Dana is in the studio So first of all

The first lesson that I get Don't rule my childhood Is girls in him But trouble comes out And that shit says Produce and written by D. Goodman Oh And I was just kind of like

Okay If he did that I'm just trying to figure out what did I actually do. Right. Like I'm trying to figure it out because I know we came in the studio. And then Dana would give these instructions like

turn the kick jaw on up. And you could tell the engineer who was terrified of Dana, he's kind of like, I would watch him put his hand on the knob and never turn it. And he'd be like, turn the kick John up. And he would turn the volume up. They had Uri speakers, that the old Uri speakers had

the light that when they would clip, the light would come on. Every time the light came on, be like, that's it. And I'm just saying, he just turned the volume up. Right. But you know what? Your secret is safe for me,

because I know he didn't really know what he was talking about. Right. So, Dana. Wait, time out. I believe that the studio's own Jeff Chester. Okay, I thought it was he also did the Goodman stuff.

All right. Yeah, no, that was Joe to Butcher. Okay. So Dana felt that the hook of girls ain't nothing, but trouble, follow me, was too slow. The hook was too slow. So he kept saying, I want to speed it up.

And I'm saying, you can't speed up the hook and not speed up the record. So they spliced the tape and sped it up. So if you listen to just one of those days, oh yeah, get to the play. Oh, wait. I know what you're talking about. Yeah.

You're lying. It gets really fast and then it slows down. Always wondered about that. Yeah. Yeah. I thought that was a purpose. You have to understand that the hair on the back of my neck is rising that you're playing this. Where nothing at all seem to go your way.

And we got to get to the hook. Well, this is my song. Wait, wait. Wait. to do what do that thing right? And when the day was over, you just had to say,

you said, man, it's just one of those days. Hold on. Watch the tone change. Hold on. Bye. Oh, wow.

Just that part? Yeah. And he did it. And he released it. Yeah, I always thought that was kind of weird. But I thought that was just how we did. No, no, no, that was, that was... So the Goodman's, I mean, were they were they street guys?

Like, where did the reputation? Okay, gotcha. I mean, and, and, you know, not taking anything, not taking anything away from them. Yeah, I'm sure. Are they not incarcerated? Listen, I don't know. I mean, but, you know, the funny thing is, like, Dana and Lawrence Goodman, especially Lawrence Goodman, when you think about it, Lawrence Goodman was the first death jam.

Lawrence Goodman had salt and pepper, you know, Lawrence Goodman had... Molly Maul. Molly. Like everybody. Roxanne Chante. You know, everybody. He had everyone. What happened?

You know, I, hey, man. You know, sometimes you can't separate church and state. You can't leave the, damn. Because his sons, his sons were the youngsters. The youngsters. Those were songs, yeah. Oh. Yeah.

It's all coming together in my head down. I thought he worked for like PGW or something. Yeah. Me. So, you know, it was, and it was crazy because then we put the album out. We went in the studio. recorded the album. Thank God he didn't speed anything up other than that on that.

And the album comes out and the album starts to blow up. So the only money that we were ever making was from shows. Like, you know, and, you know, I knew where this was going. And then what happened was Jive reached out and was like, yo, they want to pick the record up. So I remember I was going up to the meeting with Jav and I was just praying like

because to me, the only chance of success that we would have is to get either off of, of WordUp records or have major distribution like we did with Jive. Was he just the label or was he the manager? No, no, no, no. He was just a label. Okay. He was just a label. So when we signed or when he signed to Jive, you know, that's when we could officially get rid of the RunDMC album cover. I love that though. No. Whose idea was that? That was Dana's. Man, that shit was Wack.

That was whack. He took Run DMC's album cover. And we did it. And man, like... Did they feel some sort of way about it? Listen, fuck them. I felt some kind of way. We lost street crap. People was just like...

You bite. Yo, how are you going to just had it? Run DMC cover? See? No, listen, that was not cool. That was so not cool. That was absolutely not cool. I mean, I still have a copy of that and I'm not getting rid of it.

Yeah, that's cool. One, it's very expensive to find. Yeah. And to collect. But I saw it as homage. I never saw it as we biting. Well, he was biting. It's called Rock the House.

He was biting. Rock the house. Yeah, he was biting. Oh, damn. But, you know, if it's under five years, then it's biting. But if it's over 10 years, it's homage. Maybe that's the rule now. Homage.

I mean, listen, Run DMC had just come out. Yeah. Did they ever say anything? No. Okay. No. I mean, thank God. Listen, the people who bought the word up vinyl did not equate to the people who bought.

The Jive. Philly was corny. I get it. So it's kind of like cool. So the whole, so the word up rock the house, was it the exact same record? Yeah, it was the same record.

Well, y'all did another version of girls. That wasn't on, that wasn't on that album. That was, yeah. That was on the Jive record. Yeah, but that was also after, that was after parents. Yeah, yeah.

That was Jive, with the Jive chasing some shit. While we're talking about Jive and you guys signed over there, was there any trepidation because they already had a jazzy jazzie Well, you know what? Let me tell you something.

What saved me, because he sued me. Really? Oh, yeah. He tried to sue me for $20 million, which I thought was the absolute joke. Because I was just like, where the fuck you're going to get that at? But when we sat down in that meeting talking about, you know, like when we were doing the distribution deal, I said it.

I said, wait a minute. Are we going to have an issue because you have a Jazzy Jeff sign? to your label and they said no we'll take care of it by take care of it they mean stop promoting his record you know right and then it was just that jazzzy Jeff like what was he was it was it was that was Jazy Jeff from the Funky 4 Plus one more yeah wow okay yeah he did a solo deal

on job um and then you know when when everything started I don't know what happened with him but it you know after some years he was just kind of like yo like you you took my name and I'm like nigga, my name is Jeff. Like, I ain't ain't no other name that could have gone before Jeff.

You know. Funky Jeff. Did you have another do you have other options or? Janky. Oh, man, I was mixed. I was Mixed Master Jeff before I was jazzy Jeff,

but that shit was way too expensive. You try to go and getting a shirt with Mixed Master Jeff paying 25 cents a letter. I was like, you lucky my shit wasn't Jay Jeff. Since we're on the topic,

Since we're on the topic of the name, I want to fact check discogs really quick. Are you on this because all boys records? Yes. Okay. Corner Boys. Yes. Okay. That's all I need to know.

Oh. Yeah. Yeah. And what were those records? What were those? They were Philly groups. Philly groups that I did scratches on. Okay.

Like this was before. Yeah. Oh, wow. Wow. Listen, you was just trying to be on a record. Like I said, man, I was trying to get cred down at PGW, which is Philadelphia Gavis. I was trying to be down there like, yeah, you know, I did scratches on that.

No, you didn't look my name, you know. I didn't expect the shit that happened. You mentioned earlier when you was talking about Goodman, they was like, you know, that's Jimmy Towns brother. So what was your brother for him to have that respect? What did your brother do? That was the 70s, you know, they was in all kinds of shit. So, you know, it was just like people knew.

Like I didn't know the level of respect that my brother and my brother's friends had until after I got older that you realized, you know, like, okay, they was, you know, this is back gang wars. Yeah, you're about to say, this is black my feet. Yeah, like, you know, this is all of that. So, you know, I think they knew, you know, they knew of each other.

And evidently for him saying that had more to do with, you know, I know how you get down and I'm just letting you know that's family. Yeah. Wow. That's dope, man. That's crazy.

When y'all did, the first album Rock the House when it went to Jive Was there any other Who else was on? Was Houdini there at that time? So like who were the other

I mean what made y'all say I think this is a good fit for us Well well first of all School you too Let me just say Any label was a good fit back then So it wasn't like we was picking and choosing It's like whoever came

They're fucking with it You know Because you really looked at it Like, my closest path to success is getting this so that everybody can hear it. And everybody wasn't going to hear it on WordUp Records. And how did it rock the house? Did it go gold? Yeah.

Before he's the DJ, I'm the rapper? No, before. Okay. Just on it to America. Yeah. So it was, you know, and that was, we got a chance to tour. And we, you know, that's, we went on tour with Houdini and we went on tour to run DMC. You know, that's where everything starts.

You know, and in 1986, it was, it was us, it was kid in play, it was salt and pepper, it was mantronics, it was Kumod. Like, all of us did a million shows together because we all came around and came out around the same time. All under the Rush Banner or? Well, no, it was just like, you know, like I said, it wasn't that many hip-hop groups. So the hip-hop groups that came out and popped and were. were Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince, salt and pepper, you know, man-tronics, kid and play. Who am I missing? Houdini used to have a dude.

You know, well, Houdini were already out there. Well, Eric B and Raq-Kam, like, we all came out at the same time. Chuck D would dub you guys the extra strength posse. Yeah. Whenever I was like, damn, what I got, I always wanted to know, like, if the roots were out back then, like, what category were in the episode? Yeah. of a black man. Salt instrumentalist number 12.

I was like, what I got to do to be the extra strength bossy? A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions,

my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

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And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. In 2023, former bachelor star Clayton Eckerd found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story. This began a years-long court battle to prove the truth. You doctored this particular test twice in so much, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to crack the case. I wanted people to be able to see what their tax dollars were being used for.

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Do you acknowledge that you're the first person to use funky drummer? You know what's funny? Bambata said that to me. Bambata said that to me at the new music seminar when I won. Bambada, because Bambata had heard the magnificent. And he was, like he came up to me and he was just like you both you a bold motherfucker and i remember looking at him and he was just like because you you let the record go because people were scratched

no one ever let it go yeah i was just like okay i'm you know i can't tell you the amount of times that i have tried how many times i've made paul tapes just to this when I heard this I was like what the hell is this I would take this to Funko Martin you know Bob gets down the market come on

Bob rest in peace Bob I no one could tell you who it was and for like at least a year and a half until I discovered in the jungle groove like a year and a half later that I know where it came from how come nobody

use that break. I don't know. Listen, they weren't using breaks then. You just said I was the first person to do it. And you're the first person I ever heard use impeach the president. And I'm not just talking about just the drum break. You actually use the rest of the as we go.

Or was he? Dana. Project who was first. Oh, okay. Yeah, if she said. Well, wait. Yeah, 87, 88. Yeah, but you used it in a musical.

Yeah. way a more flushed out musical way where Marley Mall just used Project Ho as a stab or that sort of thing so okay

so in doing this record can you give us any what was doing those post post Fresh Fest I guess they were Def Jam tours by then

or whoever's had the time LL tours or what was that like oh man that was that was amazing you're it's 20,000 people really 20,000 people and you're you know and you're going you know you're you're it's 20 000 people in albuquerque new Mexico so you also like I said you understand I'm still thinking I'm supposed to be at the gas company what am I doing in albuquerque new Mexico we were going to cities by this point you're still thinking like when this is over I get a real job oh man I didn't think this shit was going to work

I got until a couple years ago. I still think that. A couple years ago, like 2000. So after Rock the House, like, because that went gold, I mean, did that change financially? Like, we're all good. I mean, no, no, come on. Come on. We're talking about the music business.

We ain't never been good. But what I will say is, you know, you're making money doing these shows. You're doing tours. You know, and it was funny because I went through this thing of, I remember, you know, Will and I, I don't even remember exactly how much we were getting paid. know is I was pretty much coming home with about $2,000 every show. So I would not put it in the bank. Like, I put that shit in a box underneath my bed

and until it got to the point that I don't have enough box underneath my bed with this. And, you know, I was afraid to put it in the bank. Like, you want me to take it. So I went to the bank. I opened up the bank account. I probably gave them about $15,000. They put it in the bank And I would come to the bank every week

And deposit my show money You know, you take some out, deposit my show money And one time I went Because when I wanted to buy my first car I wanted to withdraw And they said my signature didn't match So I'm like, wait a minute My signature matches every week

When I make a deposit But it doesn't match when I make a withdrawal And I got mad and asked to see the bank manager And pulled all No, it was citizens. It was, no, it was Melon. Melon.

Wow. I still got my red debit card when the debit card's first came out. But yeah, you know, you don't, I didn't think this was going to be real, you know. And we got through the first album. And when we went in the studio

to do, he's the DJ, I'm the rapper, we actually did the DJ album because it was a double album. We did the DJ album first. in Philly. And then we went to London to do he's the DJ I'm the rapper

and while we were in London we got a call from Barry at Jive saying Dana Dana wants to sell the rights to Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince completely to Jive and I was like

oh shit like because understand any money that we would have gotten paid from Jive had to go to Dana first how did that happen? I mean come on on, dude. We were signed a word up. Word up signed a job.

Yeah. So. They wouldn't, you know, I would never sign direct the job in that first joint. But why would he mess up a good thing? Listen, I don't know. You know, people get in trouble. I'm cashing out.

Yeah. You know, he needed something. And, you know, and it was, listen, it was this weird balance because he wanted to, he wanted to sell it Monday. Then we get to call Tuesday. He said no. Then he went back Wednesday. Yeah, I want to sell it.

And then he said, no. and then it was kind of like we want X amount of dollars and then he came back and he wants more and you know it just kept fluctuating and I remember the day that they called and said the deal is done you're assigned directly to jobs so we at least you know once again

we think okay we this gives us the best shot but that that sparked the call to Mr. Magic to get the cassette of live at Union Square and say hey let's put it on the album that, you know, that spark parents just don't understand and nightmare on my street. Yeah, you got to tell the story. Hold on, real quick.

The second album was always intended to be a double? No, no, no, no, no. The whole idea was okay. Everybody likes Jeff as a DJ. Let's do a DJ album. So it would have been like a side for him and aside for you? No, it was really supposed to be like a DJ album. You know, these are beats and Jeff Scratching and all the rest of this.

And it was just kind of like, I don't know if the world is ready for this. And we did it. And it just kind of sat there. So when we went to go into the studio to do the Jeff and Will album, the idea came out. Why don't we mix all of this up and make it a double album? Oh, okay.

And so all the, all the MC stuff y'all did in London at the Jive Studios in London. So the album would have been, initially the album that is side three and side floor. side for was the DJ out and that was completed as is Will was sort of on it We did we did some extra stuff in London

Like we did He's the DJ I'm the rapper in London Like a lot of the DJ stuff Of me cutting and Will rapping With just routines that we would do At parties House party style Yeah like that but that was all

You know We would be at the YMCA and Dore on job rhythm tracks And we'll just say hey Jeff You know what do you think about something. You would answer with what? Is it too late? I got to say that's one of the strangest songs that I've ever heard on the radio.

I grew up in Indiana and that song was always on the radio. And I, yeah. Rhythm tracks house party style. Really? Yeah. They would just play it. They would play it on the radio. You know what? I got to admit that I was six seconds old. I'm now realizing that, oh, yeah, he's the DJ on the rapper is a

MC side and the DJ side. Like even the sticker on the front of the album said it comes with bonus DJ album or something like that. Yeah. Damn. I, or scratch record, I think they called it.

Yeah. It was trying to work out. I'm 21 seconds. You're, I'm 21 seconds old. Like, I'm just realizing that right now. Y'all had to live in London when you recorded?

No, we did it in a month. Oh, wow. Oh, so was battery studios not fully developed in New York in the Jive building yet? No. It was on the way.

So they made you all fly to London. In London. That's why he did the album in London. A state was done in London. I see. I see. Okay, so making the video, obviously, wait, time out.

Nightmare on My Street. Please tell the story of everything. Of the fat boys. Well, listen, we, you know, it was, we did the record Nightmare on My Street. I used the people. piano line from Nightmare on My Street and this, and it's discreet and all the rest of that. And it came out and the, you know, parents of the son and stand came out and just went crazy.

And we knew we had nightmare. Like, it was, you know, it was funny back then. Record companies would try to hold records back. But radio stations were playing parents and nightmare at the same time. So it was kind of like, you already know what the second single is going to be. I'm just like, oh my God, as big as parents is, nightmare is going to trump this by a million. We shot the video and we went on tour.

And what I didn't realize, like we had a segment on tour that Charlie Mac would dress up in the sweater and he had a Freddie mask and Freddie Glove. And he would come on stage and he would kill me and the lights would go black and all. Like, we had a whole skit. I didn't realize that New Line Cinema sent lawyers to follow us on the tour and they watched this.

We got everything. And then all of a sudden, we just got a lawsuit that was like, New Line Cinema is suing you guys for Nightmare. So our lawyer basically went to New Line Cinema because radio, unfortunately, New Line got the Fat Boys to do a nightmare record. And they had to promote. So now radio stations are doing the nightmare contest. Which record do you like the best?

So we're blowing the fat boys out. I don't even remember that. And they were getting met. And it was almost kind of like, Are you ready for that was saying? We were trying to express to them that this is going to do nothing but help your movie. And just out of principle, they were like, nah. So they sued us.

What they did? And, well, I mean, we gave them a bunch of money. And we had to agree to perform in two movies. What way? In a nightmare? Listen, so this is funny. We had to agree to perform in two movies. but it was up to us to accept or decline.

So the first movie that they gave us the script for was House Party. Because if you think about House Party, it's a DJ and a rapper. So they made House Party around me and Will, and we were like, nah. That is weird. They just can't admit they were wrong and just let the song go. Let it right. No. Instead, like, oh, y'all bet on the wrong horse.

That's why that whole thing of the video disappearing. Like, I had a copy. Did you leave that video? No, I didn't. You know it's back on YouTube, right? Oh, listen, it's the whole video's up now. Yes. I mean, but you have to have done a lot with New Line since anyway.

No, we didn't. Did you ever do the two? No. Listen, like I told us. What was the second movie? It was, I don't even remember what the second movie was. And we were just like, no. Will has never done a New Line movie?

No. No. Understand, this was. Before, like, we didn't look at it like they're offering us a movie role. This was kind of like, yeah, this is kind of like, yeah, you know, this is payment, payment back. So we were just like- Oh, and it would have been for free. No, no, they probably would have paid. I'm very sure they would have paid.

Wait a minute. But House Party was an acclaimed script. Yeah, but, okay, you're talking about House Party as we know it now. Somebody giving you that script in 1987, 1988, you might not have thought that. You know, this is back when we don't know what to do with rap So we don't even know if we wanted on television So let alone you're going to try to put it in the movie We're kind of like, listen, we're not trying to

We're making rapping. Raping, I'm like, this is like, Mario baby. You're about to say, Beat Street or? Just one second. Now, Beach Street was 80s. This is what they choose. I've heard this song maybe once in my life. It's sound like Michael Jackson, right?

Or Seinfeld Yeah That just Yeah that just That wasn't it That wasn't it New line y'all fucked up And then who didney came with the next one

For the next movie What Anyway I got to swing it That was And then the video was like Taking place outside the The nightmare Nell Street house or something

How do you know I miss that? Because I was that whole thing Because I was on BET Every day after school Boss Bill knowledge Every day after school You serious?

Yeah. It's called any way I got to swing it. I'm pretty sure, yeah. Man. Like the knife? That's a nightmare on Elm Street song? Welcome back, Steve. Man, how did it, for the, like, the samples,

because it wasn't until I got older. Well, a lot of the, I was saying, the samples that y'all was using, like, I mean, like, what's just the lady? Like, shit like that. Like, how? You were the first to use jazz samples? Yeah.

Pretty much, I'm a, I became a crate digger because of a touch of jazz. Like, I need to know what that Harlem River Drive sample was and all that shit. Those were the first records I bought. Were the records that you used on Touch of Jazz. Was there a reason that you didn't go to... Everyone's using...

James. Well, everyone, yeah, using the ultimate beats and breaks. You could have easily went there and just made a mix of that, but instead using records that weren't on ultimate beats and breaks. Well, you got to think... This is what you also got to... think about what what volume of ultimate beats and breaks was dance the drums beat three yes

so I had three volumes to choose from like this is what I'm saying like this was so early there were only three volumes out oh like it was 1920 we didn't have this plethora of sampling information that we had then this was all my brother you know my brother and the record you know like I

I grew up with Chick Korea, Herbie Hancock, Mahavishnu Orchestra, you know, Stanley Clark, George Duke. Then my dad was West Montgomery, Jimmy Smith, all of us. I'm the sponge. So all I decided to do was kind of like, yo, let me go and grab some of the records that he would play. You know, I know those albums front to back, not just for the samples.

It was just kind of like, you know, shit, at 10 years old, I can't listen to Houdini. So, you know, I wasn't the Marvin Gay Stevie Wonder. I was the Chick Korea and returner forever. Wow. At 10? Wow. Yeah.

Listen, I got to get my brother credit. Like, he, my brother came in and he showed me how to take the record out of the jacket, put the record on the turntable, don't put your fingerprints on it. And he was like, listen. Don't get beat up. I can, if he was like, you can use my stereo when I'm at work. worked our day. So I was 10 years old and I would put a cassette in

and I would make tapes. Wow. You know, and like I said, I'm making Chick-Korean tapes. Explain how you've told me this story like years ago and I was just like, what the fuck. Explain how you were up for a Grammy and yet y'all are broke.

How does that happen? I mean, I think everybody in the room know how that happens. But, you know, it was... Is this the year you guys boycotted the Grammys? No, no, no, no. This was another year. This was after that.

So the year you y'all boycott was 80... 88 was the boycott. 88 on the rooftop. Okay. And that was for... Y'all were nominated for he's the DJ. I'm the rapper, right? Y'all got nominated a year.

Yeah. Okay. They didn't want to televise it. Right. You know, they were kind of like, no, we think we should give another category to Garth Brooks. We was like, yo, he got nine. Like, you can give hip hop one, especially if hip hop is easily the one, two, or three

top-selling genre of music. Like, you know, you got nine country and western categories. Like, you, you know. But this was at a time that they were very much, you know, you almost felt like you were on this scale of, is hip-hop going to be here? Or is it not? And there were powers to be that kept saying it's not, it's not. And we would get mad every time somebody said that because, you know, this is your dream.

Like somebody's, you know, basically trying to squish your dream. So, you know, we felt like we needed to take that stance, you know, for them to kind of understand. But, you know, you have this vision of grandeur. You know, I'm signed to this label and this is how it's going to be and you're going to make this money and you're going to do this. and we sold a bunch of records and, you know, we... Because the second album went, well, he's DJ, that was double, right?

Triple. Triple. And you made money, but you're never paying attention. Like, the one thing that I realized, especially back then, if, you know, you're 22 years old, and you put out a record,

and the record sells, and somebody gives you a $200,000 check. I don't know, a person alive, that check. it to see if it was supposed to be 200 or was it supposed to be 900. Like you don't check it. And, you know, looking back in hindsight,

they knew that. You know, they knew that. Just like record companies knew that, you know, listen, you're never going to take this to an entertainment lawyer for him to read your contract. You're going to take it to your cousin, who's the plumber? Because he's the most business savvy person in your family. Yeah.

You know, because if I'm trying to get a record deal, nine times out of ten, I need money. And you think I'm going to take money and give it to a lawyer? Like, no, I'm going to keep every dime I have to be on a safe side. But they know that. So it was the same thing that, you know, you get to the point that, you know, you learn these terminologies like cross-collateralization, you know, that you're just kind of like you don't. pay me my money before you have to give me the budget for the next album and you say that the budget for the next album came from the money you're supposed to pay me and I'm kind of like that shit makes no sense like it was gangster it was gangster but it was just kind of like you're paying

me with my own money yeah you know like and and you you know back then you couldn't really fight it you know you would you would say something and then then you're deemed a troublemaker yeah You know, if you're asking questions that somebody don't really want you to ask. So, y'all, so this was for the third album, for the, the, and in this corner. Well, no, like, all of this stuff started to happen. You know, it started on the first album, and it really came, you know, it really came on, he's the DJ, I'm the rapper, and, and, and then the third album. How different was the post YOM TV rap effect of your life once the second album comes out and blows up?

Because you're saying that, okay, the second hour went triple platinum, but that was very unusual for 1988. Completely. That was unheard of. Well, you know what? Back then, you know, hip-hop was solely urban. It was solely urban Like most black music That would come out

The whole idea is you have the black stations That are playing it And then if it catches on They would say that it's going pop And that just meant it went over to The white station You know And that's when the record

So what I knew is Everybody's idea is we You know you know you got something When it goes pop Girls ain't up with trouble Was a black record Parents just don't understand came out as a black record

and turned into a pop record and that's when the whole Jeff and Willa from the suburbs and all of the rest of this is happening which confused the daylights out of me because I'm kind of like to me girls ain't up with trouble and parents just don't understand

on the same record this is a different subject matter How did you keep the secret sauce sample of that song So, man How did you keep it secret?

I don't know. Is it still secret sauce? I don't know. I don't know. Listen, man. Okay. Listen, I would not be sitting here if...

Did you deal with it? No. Okay, never mind. No. I mean, listen, I don't... But the song is so ubiquitous. Like, how do they not... I don't know.

Wow. I have no idea. Man. Wow. I have no idea. And I don't believe that... I don't believe that... I don't believe...

that the powers to be didn't hear it. I think it was kind of like, hey, man, that sure is cool and just left alone. Right, right. What was the time difference between parents just don't understand? And then, because I felt like the TV show came in my... Wait, we're getting there.

Hang on. We're skipping. I didn't want to know. You got like two years ago. That's why I just wanted to know two years between. Okay, thanks, Bill. And, yeah, I bought it in this corner album. And like, it just, what was going on with y'all court?

I was 11. Wait, timeout. Wait, you about to slender in this corner? I was about to say. I was not. I was not at it in the discord. We about to fight. Yeah, because I love that right.

What was y'all jails on her down? Everything. Yeah. Really? Yeah. Then she bit me was my shit. You were? Yeah.

That was genius. We're number one. It was funny. To use the bathroom. Gotcha. I was drafted. Yeah, I was drafted. No.

Girlie had a mustache. You got it? Donut. I mean, come on, bro. I did. I was, I don't know. All that glitter? I can, yeah, I could dig it.

I could dig it. I know. You know what's funny. You know what's funny? I feel as though that's my favorite record of yours. Really? It's no, not mine.

Wow. I had a conversation with somebody and they were asking me about all of the albums and what I told them is every last one of our albums signifies a time period for me.

So, you know, you got, you know, girls ain't up in trouble is new, you don't know, I always tell everybody you have your whole life to make your first album.

You only have from the top of, from your first album to your second album, to make your second album. And, but, you know, we did, Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble, for the most part, in my mom's basement. We did, he's the DJ, I'm the rapper in London.

So both of those records were done in solitude. So I came up with the idea of, I want to do the third album at Compass Point in the Bahamas. Oh, wow, okay. So we went to the Bahamas because I, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm just. Why compass point? Well, first of all, it was fly because it was in the Bahamas.

But I was really, you know my theory about being comfortable. Listen, I'm bored. I was really trying to keep the cycle going of solitude because we were so big when we went into the studio to do that album that we needed to go somewhere off the mat. What the problem is, we were big and had a lot. lot of money. And let's talk about the fact that the Bahamas held all of our equipment and customs for about 10 days and we're down there on the beach with a casino. So it was, you know, we had a house on a beach and we were flying people down and, you know,

and it just, we were not in the right headspace. Like, that's what I'm saying. Like, I can listen to that album and I understand everything that you're saying because we were in, you know, like, it was, you know, Will would write for 20 minutes and be like, yo, I'm not feeling. I'm about to go to the casino. Wow. You know, and we left after a month with about two and a half records done. So, of course, it was kind of like, oh, we're in trouble.

So we ended up in K-Jam in Philly and we finished it. But when you think about it, you know, girls ain't nothing but trouble is kind of relatable. Yeah. Parents just don't understand is relatable. I think I could be Mike Tyson. Only a motherfucker that know Mike Tyson who's making some money would say that. We didn't even pay attention to that.

I have a story about that song, but go ahead. But the thing is, is that it's kind of shit talking, which is relatable. Because everyone says, I can fuck that motherfucker up. Yeah, but you know what? Having Mike Tyson in the video and all the rest of that.

Now, we was on some shit. Yeah, because for me, I guess like, Because I was a big Tyson fan, and nobody thought that. Like, nobody really thought they could beat Mike. Like, you see this nigga fight? Like, you watched the video, and I don't think y'all believed it either. No, we didn't. So, I mean, I don't know what we believed back then.

I think that was why the song, I think that's why I think the goal. The rollout of that song kind of derailed and in this corner, which I still feels a solid record. Yeah, I think it's a solid record. Wow. And I have a story about the song, I think I can beat Mike Tyson. Mm-hmm. I believe it's fifth grade. music class, fifth grade music class.

The assignment is everybody has to lip sync a song for the class. So I choose, me and my friends, we chose. I think I can beat Mike Tyson. And the teachers, you know, he films everybody's lip sync routines. And we're watching them while we're doing ours, and he's got this angry look on his face. And at the end of the performance, we're like,

why are you so angry? He's like, oh, I turn the camera off. We're like, why? You can't bring music with cussing in here. apparently he didn't like when Will says, I'm getting the hell out here and at the end when he's like, God damn. So we got in trouble for that.

Oh, wow. Thank you. Hell and damn. Thank you. Thank you. For PG cussing. Yes. Yeah, I think, yeah, I have, yeah, my, I think one of my, and so this was third grade for me,

we had to, or fourth grade, we had to recite like a poem or something or some shit. And I think I wrapped Will's verse from time to chill. That was my recital I got an A on the assignment But I got to tell you

I normally frowned At any use of the jam As a break Really? No more Ono was the shit That was the shit Why do you have something against the jam The break?

I mean because It's like the NIA thing Like anytime I heard it I just think of VH1 So then you don't like Ashley's Roe clip either, dude. I really don't like

Ashley's Roeck Clips. I respect it, but I never liked it. You never liked it. Really? I haven't never heard you, Boysville. I never like

Ashley's Rochclip. It just reminds me of like Millie Vanilly. The soul of the H-1. And even Millie Vanilla, if we're really going to talk about it, that Mila Vanilla album was slapping. Thank you.

I was. No, I listened to that while we're on this subject for a second, I listened to that Millie Vanilli album a couple weeks ago. Yeah. And people were only pissed off because the dudes on the cover didn't sing the record.

It wasn't the ones that were singing the records. It was a good record. It was a good record. So the quality of the songs didn't matter to nobody. No. And I think, too, with Millivinilly, the tragedy with them was that they were too ahead of their time. If Millivinley was to happen now, nobody would care. Nobody would care.

It wouldn't matter at all. That's going back to why everybody was pissed off about the brandy MC cover. It wasn't authentic. Listen, put the Red of MC cover out now and we'd be good. Y'all were pissed on. Okay. Matt, I get it. Settle, please settle a long, you know, debate, whatever.

Who wrote summertime? Will wrote summertime. It was not Raq Kim. It was not Rakim. It was not right now. Who was it made for? No. It will.

Listen, let me tell you what's funny. Wait a minute. Hold on. Let me tell you what's funny. For me to be there and to hear all of the, like, understand, the first time that I had experienced this, was when we were on fresh prints and I started getting the

Will stop the show so he can go car shopping and I remember coming in mad like yo that shit never happened how did it just go sit and Will just started laughing like yo that's what they do like they just blatantly lie and I was you know I'm kind of like you can't blatantly lie

but oh you can't So understand Will wrote summertime. Summertime was made for Will. You know what? It wasn't any other. Who told us that the music was made for Rock Him? I've heard it. I've heard that something.

It probably came from somebody that didn't want to admit they liked Will. Pulling fingers. Someone came on our show and was it Search? Oh, who did say that? All I'm saying is I'm going to take you. I was there. You know what? I'm like so wait a minute

Jeff. Sure said no No it wasn't for Raqam it wasn't written for Raqam that song was birthed from will being in L.A. for the first year of the Fresh Prince and of course the seasons changed

and it's not the same out there as it is in Philly in Philly first day today outside everybody's outside cars blasting cars clean They're driving down the street. South Street is popping right now. Yeah, Fairmont Park.

That's what we all had. Anybody who has a four-season climate know when spring comes, everybody comes out. The girl gained a couple pounds, and she looks great. She was skinny last year. And Will called and was just like,

yo, what's up? I was like, yo, 75 degrees out. Just got my car clean, went to the plaque. We're just having just Philly dialogue. And that was reminiscent. that, you know, that was something to him that that's what he wrote about. Like, the whole verse of summertime

is basically talking about the season changing from winter to, you know. Wait, we're forgetting something. We're forgetting a very important fact. If it were not for, I think I could beat Mike Tyson. Will and Jeff wouldn't have performed that on the Arsenio Hall show.

Oh, yeah. And then Quincey Jones would have never seen that performance. So technically... So that formed the show you. That song saved... Changed... It was the paradigm shift.

It wasn't totally that. They paid attention to parents. That's what I thought. Yeah, because if you were... So they've been watching since... Oh, yeah. They paid attention to parents. Like, from parents on down,

they were like, he can act. Yeah. They kept the set for the opening credits. Yeah. You know, so, you know, Quincy was just kind of like, I got something for you. I remember my mom being upset

that they didn't use the mom from the video. Wait, there was a different mom? Yeah. Who was that, man? Who was that, mom? On what? The Pindo mom. The mom.

Listen, man, these were extras. I don't know. You know, she's somewhere on this earth. Yeah, Vanessa Williams. Vanessa Williams was the girl in the car with Will. That's right. Yeah. Vanessa.

New Jackson. That's just. Rockabagabagreb. Rockabah baby. That's her? Yeah. And you know that's Nola Darling in the tone low video, right?

Yes. Yeah, I know. Were you always a part of that equation, Jeff? They figured out the show stuff? Just acts like he not. Okay. No. When did they realize they was like,

this motherfucker right here, we're missing out? No, listen. They, Will did the pilot. And then when they first started doing the episodes, they were just like, you know, because you and him had chemistry in a video, you should come and do the show. And I was like, no.

What? Wait, what? I mean, listen, first of all, I didn't, that wasn't what I wanted to do. It was also weird because when Will went out and did the audition and came back, and he was like, yo, I got a TV show. Understand, I'm thinking this is a dude holding a camcorder.

I didn't think it was a TV show. Until he showed the pilot, and then it was people that you've seen, on television in the pilot but then you realize that this is professionally done I'm like oh shit this is like this shit looked like the Cosby show so when they were like hey

you know you you want to do it I was kind of like no and they were like listen we want to put you in three episodes and if you like it you got two more to look forward to if you don't like it you got only two more to do I hate to tell you this now

my favorite cutting scratching of yours. Oh my God. It's from the pilot when you're cutting up the classical music. Like, I can tell you authentically cutting it.

But is this the fact that you're doing setup cups for a stab that don't exist? I was. You're like, you saw that. You saw it. I had to be true. Nothing.

Nothing. And it was. I love, like, I watched that so many times, man. You talked before, me, you've had a conversation, you were talking about how the difference between music money and TV money and how TV takes so much better care of you. Oh, man, listen. Please.

Listen, we, you know, it was funny because, you know, back in the day you had a Nike connect. Right. And then Nike was sent you some sneakers. They sent you, you know, some Airmacs or something. And then we get it on TV and they are bringing boxes and boxes of stuff in. You know, so we was getting music stuff and TV stuff. The TV stuff was just ridiculous.

They would have you go to the warehouse and you would just bring it. They would just, you know, your car was full of stuff. You know, and they just took care of you. And what I didn't realize was there was an episode that we did of Arsenio Hall. And they would always black out the Nike swoosh. They would put an X over it. They would always, because, you know, you couldn't sell it. And Arsena asked me something about me still living at my mom's house.

And I was like, listen, man, I love my mom. I'm comfortable here. And when he said it, I took my feet and I put it on the couch and I crossed my feet. And that Air Jordan logo was there. Yo, I never got laced with that much stuff in my life. ever just from crossing my feet and that logo up there because it was kind of like they couldn't blur it out yeah it could yeah it was a lot man listen

the boxes just kept coming so outside of the money though Jeff when was the moment that you knew I kind of like this shit the TV you mean yeah the show I didn't do it ever no at some point you liked it I didn't no I didn't you know what was cool well first of all you're doing a TV show and you're used to being on stage with 25,000 people. It's 100 people there.

So it was not an ounce of nerves at all because it's 100 people. You know, and you don't, but because your brain is not thinking of how many people are actually going to see that. And it was really different because it really changed the your going out process. It wasn't, you know, I could go to, you know, I could go to Springfield Mall

and kind of get away with it. You know, you do the TV show and you're going to spring for a mall and it's 60-year-old white women calling you jazz. Are they trying to pick you up and throw you in? I always thought somebody would try to rum up on your ass with them. Yeah, no, we're not doing that. We're not doing that.

This shit is all TV. Y'all realize that secretly, the Fresh Prince of Bel Air is responsible for friends, right? How so? Really? All right, so you know the, you've seen the Jay-Z video for, oh, that's right. The black jar?

No, which one? Which one? All right, so basically. I'm not boycotts shit. You got a boycott shit. For, uh, for, uh, for, I just didn't see it. I heard about it. All right.

So I think I saw it. The one that he did for. Yeah. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah. So basically, uh, I don't, was Brandon Tartikoff still president of NBC at the time when you guys were doing Fresh Prince? Yeah.

Okay. So he had a chance to also get living single. And he said one of his regrets was letting his staff or his, yeah, his staff or his coworkers talk him out of getting living single. He said, I always love that show. And their thing was like, well, we already got Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Like, we don't need to. It's basically the same show. And so it went to Fox and in his regret he was like,

yo, I always wanted a show like living single. So then he told Marta Kaufman and them to make me a white living single and thus made friends. Oh, wow. But based on the fact that they already had the black comedy show on NBC, so we don't need a second one. That's crazy. We've got to wait 10 years for a black person on there. I said Gabriel Union and Iisha Tyler. Oh yeah, she was on, yeah.

Gabby and Iisha Tyler, that was about it. That's only if you watched Friends. Oh, I might have watched. I didn't watch this shit. I didn't have to wait. But y'all watched sex in the city, though. I didn't watch sex in the city. I watched sex in the city.

I just know that Jesus knew. I was informed. Because these sex in the city had fucking in it, so it was like, right. It was informative. Yeah, you know. Damn, we want no black people on that need. Blair Underwood. Blair Underwood.

City of the movie. You show. Yeah, he did. He did. So with the meteoric rise of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, um, and instead of this being a side gig to Jazzy Jeff with the Fresh Prince, how,

how are you now figuring out what your life is about to be as far as... Oh, I was terrified. Really? Well, I mean, because... So did that David Spade joke upset you? What David Spade joke? Never mind. I want to know.

You don't remember the Hollywood minute where on Saturday Night Live, they'd let him watch SNL. They'd let him just go, like, Eddie Murphy actually, Eddie, Eddie, Charles, wouldn't go back on Saturday Night Live because of something that. But Charles Murphy came to 30 Rock to whip David Spade's ass, and David, like, hid, like, actually stayed away from SNL.

Like, that's why he won't come back to any of the reunion specialists, too, right? No. Well, he came back. finally for the 40th celebration. Yeah, but he wouldn't do Bill Cosby jokes. Okay.

But he came back at least, but you know, it's like Spade just going rogue for three minutes and I guess the punchline was and Jazzy Jeff wants to know are you going to eat that? Oh, wow. You got that joke instantly.

Why would you get that joke? I think David Spade's funny. So, So, okay, at that time, you didn't, I mean, did you think that this is the end of the career and that we're just going to act from that one? You know, you got to understand that when you think about it, the fresh prints came out when we had summertime out. So we were actually on the biggest high we've ever been on. You guys premiered the video on the show. The same album is Ring My Bell.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah, it was. That was home base. But you got to understand that you're also paying attention to the trajectory of other rap people. And it's kind of like, okay, we had not gotten to the point that we had any legacy artists. So it was kind of like, okay, I don't know if this shit is like three albums, four albums, and then we're going to go to something else.

You know, understand. It was a huge accomplishment to have, you know, you. you know, go from 3 million records to a million records on and in this corner was deemed a failure and come back with summertime. There had never been a rap comeback. So, you know, to kind of get to the point. Because, like, this, would you have to keep in mind, we won a Grammy in 19. 89. 89 or 88.

88. And we won one in 90. like who else won a Grammy in that time span that that was hip hop so we were supposed to be old and done so summertime you're looking at like okay we're back but the thing that scared me is this is uncharted territory I can't call it you don't know if you're like beta testers

listen and that was that was that was scary because you know you like to be around with girls ain't in my trouble parents just don't understand and then young MC came out with Bust the Move was a completely left field now we got tempo now you're dancing and ain't nobody was dancing and girls ain't number of trouble

so you started seeing all these shifts and now you're trying to pay attention to what the shift is so and then the TV show came and I'm like okay I'm a recurring character the money is great but this isn't what I'm trying to do

so but they're giving you more storylines now you're getting Mr. Chamein. It's like, man. You know, we don't walk down that aisle. That shit kills me every time. Yeah. On us.

Karen White. Caramillina White. Yeah. Shamein. To float on. Of Shamein from the Cosby show. Oh, yes. Or from the, from Lido.

B. Lee. Oh, yeah. Because you don't take care of your possibilities. Oh. Limp with Malcolm Jamar Warner for over a decade. Really? Probably, yes.

I like her. Wait, really? Yeah. That was his lady. He was engaged to, um, to, what's your name? He died. That was like, Michelle Williams. No, no.

What was her name? Justine, Justin. Yeah, but that was way after. Michelle Thomas. Michelle Thomas. I said Williams. Oops, man. Sorry.

So, like, how, when y'all got to the last album on job of the Co-Red album, how did that, I mean, because you would think that, okay, we on the TV show, the show's still popping, like. Man, listen. So we got to, when we did the promo tour for the album after home, matter of fact, when we did a promo tour for Home Base, you know how you go into different regions, you know the promotion got there, and we got cool with a couple of them.

And it was wild because I remember him saying to Will and I, he said ever since and in this corner, Jive has been betting against him. you guys. He's like, they don't, they don't believe in you. He was like, you, did you have the biggest record of your career and they think it's a flute? So they're, they're really not, you know, believing in you, you know. And so you started to kind of feel that, that it's kind of like, that energy. Yeah, it was just, you know, because, because, you know, around that time was when they start messing with new kids on the block. You know, now, now, understand, they got straight,

dedicated pop acts. Back Street boys. Yeah, backstreet. And then, you know, and then, you know, so they're making money over hand over fist, you know, and you almost start to become this afterthought. The only thing is we had the popularity vote because of the television show. But they, you know, they were kind of like, nah. So when we, you know, we got to the last album, in my brain, I was kind of like, okay, what other hip-hop actor do you know that has reached their last album?

Right. So I'm, you know, so now, now my business brain is going in. It's like, okay, you don't cross-collateralize every album that we had. When you get to the point that you have nothing to cross it to, you got to pay me all that back money. So I'm like, oh, my God. Like, you know, let's just keep up, you know, so that we don't have a complete failure, but we're going to end up getting some money. So the funny thing, in our deal,

they had an option for greatest hits. Oh, wow. So first of all, a greatest hits in hip hop deems your career is over. So when we got to the last album, they were like, listen, you know, we want you guys to do the greatest hits. And we were like, well, we really don't want to do greatest hits because we're not done. And we think this signifies the end. And they were like, well, we really want you to do the greatest hits. And it was wild because in the mail,

a $400,000 check came. And it was for the album. And I was just like, yo. For the greatest his album? Oh, yeah. Like, as soon as we cashed it, then we're liable. And what they didn't expect is we sent it back. Because we knew, like, you know, we got a TV show and all the rest of this.

We don't need you. So we basically sat down. Keep a little funk-ass 400,000 dollars. We sat down and basically said, listen, you know what, we've been on job for 10 years. You can't really say that for a bunch. We had a lot of success, but Will wants to go and really get deep in his movies. Jeff really wants to go and get deep in his production.

Quietly, Will and I were looking to sign a really, really big record deal with somebody else. And, you know, they were like, hey, no one has ever come to us and said this. You know, we're going to sit down and we're going to think about it. And we were like, okay. And two weeks later, we got hit with a lawsuit. What? From? Oh, yeah.

Oh, from Jav. Oh, yeah. Oh, we're leaving? Oh, listen. Jav sued us because they said our extracurricular activities were interfering with us making music. And I'm like, wait a minute. Did Barry really care? Didn't understand.

I don't think it was Barry. Like, this goes beyond the president and the vice president. And, you know, but it's, you know, it really got to a point that I was kind of like, that was the. wow so this is my retirement party and I don't get a gold watch I don't get a party I don't get a cake

I get a lawsuit right you know what I mean 10 years you know me and Will probably collectively with albums and singles sold 10 million records for job and we got a lawsuit like that's that's how we went out like and I said this people don't understand

will and I have zero ownership of any of the records we did. None. So everybody, oh my God, you know, you guys, Summertime is the anthem. Every time they play that shit, we get zero because we had to do that in the settlement with Jav. Now, what I will say my redemption was that gave me my freedom.

Everybody kind of looks at it like, you know, you and Will kind of split up. I could have went with Will to Sony. I couldn't go back into that. I was, I was just broke. It made so much sense for Will because Will had a movie deal at Sony.

So the movies are telling you. Yeah, yeah. But what I loved was the first record that Will did, like every record that Will has done, I had some level of involvement in it. First record Will did was the Wawa West soundtrack and that sold 5 million copies.

The next record that Will did was Big Willie Saw, 26 million copies. We did the American Music Award, and we got in the elevator with Barry. It was Barry, the owner, Clive. It was a couple other people. Old job people. And we got in the elevator and the elevator door closed.

And Barry was like, hey, man, you know, congratulations. you know, to you guys, you know, went in and, you know, like, oh, thank you. And it got quiet. And I looked over at Will and it's kind of, listen, I'm pretty sure you know REEK. You know when RIC is going to say or do something. We got to look. We have a whole conversation. And I looked and I saw, when I looked and I saw Will's jawline bulging, I was like,

oh, and Will turned around and he said, yeah, this is really good for someone that you threw in the trash. Oh, yes. And listen, it was no, we didn't do that. We didn't do it. No, it wasn't like that. And something like that. You know, and everybody calmed down. The elevated doors opened.

And listen, I jumped on Will's back. Because that, if there was ever a redemption to think that you did, you know, you thought like, okay, it's over. Yeah. It's over and done with it. Nope. You know, and it was kind of like, okay, cool. Wow. Wow.

Wow, wow. It's like, we got a little song in a movie called Men and Black. Yeah. Man. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying.

Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement

to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversation. with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations,

stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and a TikTok podcast network on TikTok. In 2023, former bachelor star Clayton Eckerd found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story. This began a years-long court battle to prove the truth.

You doctored this particular test twice in someone, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to crack the case. I wanted people to be able to see what their tax dollars were being used for. Sunlight's the greatest disinfected. They would uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg O'Spy and Michael Marantini.

My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trap. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Ladies and gentlemen, breaking news at Ameriopa County as Laura Owens has been indicted on fraud charges. This isn't over until justice is served in Arizona. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never. mess with her friends either. We always say that, trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends, oh my God, this is the same man.

A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care, so they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he did. serves.

Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. You took residency up at Studio 4. You always had residency there. Because when I was intern in that

Roughhouse Records, you always had your studio there. So talk about developing the second phase of the sound of Philadelphia with Drey and Vidal and with Carvin and Ivan. A touch of jazz.

I mean, it's, you know, it was always my passion for production. And I basically took all of my money and bought equipment. You know, so I always had a room. You know, I always had a studio. And it was just really the desire to have or find like-minded people that wanted to make records. I remember when I got to studio four and I put the studio. studio in, I almost had a meeting with all of the studio owners in Philly. Because they didn't, they thought that I was trying to open up a commercial facility.

And I was like, no, no, no, no, no. I'm opening up a production studio, which I knew. They all thought I was crazy. And I was like, no, I'm opening up a studio that's just going to be for music production that we do. Because I know if I don't have this, I'm going to rent one of your guys. Y'all motherfuckers. I'm just, we're already on equipment, so let's do it.

And it was just literally, you know, you start finding guys. I would go to music stores, you know, and you would see somebody in the music store playing keys and hey, what's up, man, you know, you want to try to do such and such. And it just started. Like, we had no idea what we were doing, you know, and you just learned by experience. You learn, you know, by cutting stuff that wasn't good, doing stuff unorthodox. Docs. You know, it was a lot of the records that I made, I did stuff that you weren't supposed to do.

But that's how you learned to do. You know, with Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Plains. So it was the same thing. The entire time, we had a touch of jazz. No one ever knew. We never had an engineer. It was never an engineer. So who would engineer the session?

Oh, we did. Like, Vidal, Keith, you know, myself. We never had an engineer. And hear me. When I say we never had an engineer, Jill flowetry, music. Oh no.

We did all of that. Listen, if you look at the back of Jill's album, you know who mixed Jill's album? Who? George Glass. You know who George Glass is? Marsha Brady's imaginary friend

on a Brady guy. I did wonder about that. I just figured there was, you know, George Glass could be a real name. They would not have accepted that I mixed that album. We weren't there yet. We weren't there yet.

First of all, you got a hip-hop guy that is responsible for this kind of music. Like, I was smart enough to know. Don't put your name up. Like, I know people who, and this is side track, I know DJs that have mixers out, that their name is on the mixer.

And I'm like this. You know how hip-hop is. I'm sorry. It could be the greatest mixer in the world. I can't fucking use it. it if your name is on it. Right, yeah. Like, I think it's the genius thing that we have people

that run major music festivals behind the scenes that people don't know because they know this can't be the Suss and Such Festival or the Sussons... Like, hip-hop isn't based like that. So it was the same thing. Like, I'm not going to fucking listen to anybody singing that Jazzy Jeff got something to do with. Yeah, it's like wearing puff daddy jeans.

Yeah. You just don't, you just don't, you just don't. don't say anything. But still, I don't believe. So all that shit, so all those guys, because I mean, at the time when we first, when I first really met you

was around that time, it was like 0, 203, when the listening, it kind of just came out. And everybody was telling us like, yo man, Jazzy Jeff, I got a copy of your album from Jeff. And I was like, he knows who we are. Like, I didn't think you had no clue who the fuck we were. Listen, I'm, I never

stopped scouring for music. And I know that now. I just got listening for people. You know, that was the whole thing. Like, it's, it was a love before it was a job. Jeff's up on everything. So you just, you know, it's kind of like, you know, you, you, it's when you hear something and it resonates, you want to pass it on. And that was, that was another thing.

Like, with, with Jill, when we did, we, I met Jill twice. My son's mom introduced me to Jill. And we saw each other and we talked and it was almost kind of like this ain't the right time. And I remember riding up the street and I rode past footworks when Bobito and Rich had it and Jill was standing outside and she said, hey, what's up? And I said, what's up? We started talking.

Jill, I took Jill to the studio and I went through a bunch of music and I gave her a track and she left. And the next day Jill called and said, I wrote something. And I picked Jill up and drove and we parked on Penns Landing and Jill sang me long walk from beginning to end. Whoa. And went to the studio and cut it.

And it was just kind of like tell Vita Aldre, listen, you know, we're cutting. And we just, all of Jill's songs, the bulk of Jill's first album was done in probably about nine days. Wow. That she was just cutting and we would do it. What I did that was extremely unorthodox, especially at that time, I had a CD burner. I burnt those nine songs and I gave it to everybody I knew that loved music.

Because before you were kind of like, oh, don't keep it. I gave it to everybody. But it was crazy because it actually ended up in the Sony office that the Sony executives thought it was something that they signed

because everybody was playing it in the office. But that's how it got to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and they flew us out there because they wanted to sign it. And it made its way to John McClain. What made you all choose Michael Jordan? Well, you know what? I didn't choose Michael Jordan.

I choose Steve McKeever. Hidden Beach. I mean, by the time, it was like, Michael Jordan was label. Let me tell you. Okay, so I'm going to tell you half of this because I know you would understand the other half. Okay. I chose Hidden Beach because I knew they were going to let us do the album with no interference. because I had a very good friend,

we had a very good friend that I realized did some stuff that he didn't get credit for. And that was the deciding factor to make me go to Steve. I'm not, listen, I'm not, because I'm, I'm trying to decipher this one. No, right, it's like a puzzle.

That's not. I know he would know and, you know, but it was, it was crazy because it was almost like, it's almost like, have a really good friend that tells you don't mess with this girl. Right. And that's why you chose the person that you're with now.

Right. And it was, you know. So wait, where was you got me in this equation? I'm just in the- Slightly around the corner. Wait, do you remember driving the yellow pathfinder? All right, that's fine. That was my yellow's pathfell.

Well, you mean, do I remember driving? So, all right, remember, I told you all the heavy D's going to kill me. It's a me too. Yeah. Let me talk. I told you all the heavy D's going to kill me story. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, the original one was, right, was Amir's first drive-by.

I was walking down, like, late at night on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, and this yellow pathfinder drives by me and then stops. And then, like, gray Poupon style comes backwards and rolls down the window, and I was secretly shitting on myself. I was like, oh, this is where I die. someone's going to kill me in a yellow pathfinder. A yellow. Somebody killing you in a yellow pathfinder.

And a banana yellow path finder. And it was Jazzy Jeff. What do you say? Yo, you're in the roots, right? I'm Jazzy Jeff. Oh, Jeff, I love you, man. And then he sped off. And that was how I met him.

But then I started working at Studio 4 and, you know. So then in the jail and you got me. how did that timeline work? I first saw Jill there was a poetry slam 52nd in Baltimore 54th in Baltimore like deep West Philly

She was doing the sexy poems Yo That was recently No I'm telling you all Jill was always But that was that whole poet scene Yeah the Poonani poets and all that But she, it's something about Jill's voice similar to that of when Deanna Williams talked.

It's like, you will do anything. And it was just unexpected because everyone else was coming from, you know, backstage. Okay, and up next we have a young brother from, no, no, no, no, give it up for Richmond Deney, ladies and gentlemen. Come on to his poetry and leave. Jill Scott decided to sit in the audience and so we had no clue he said up next we got a sister from

North Philadelphia give it up for Jill Scott ladies and Joe and no one came on stage and then this woman starts singing Jonasi's freaking you a cappella from the audience Oh wow

Every time I close my arm She just marches right to the stage And I was like I I Who is this woman? I put two and two together. I met Jill during the Do You Want More era?

Apparently her ex-boyfriend, not the L word. Her ex-boyfriend. Not ex-husband. Yeah, not ex-husband. Was cheating on her with a girl that lived next door to me. Getting in the way. on South Street. Well, I don't know, whatever.

But the first word she said was, I'm going to cut that motherfucker's dick off. So that's how Jill Scott entered my. So then I put two and two together that, oh, that's the I'm going to cut that motherfucker's dick off. And she also, the glamorous life girl. Can y'all just, is that a rumor? Is Jill the glamorous life?

In Colsey's Glamourous Life video? I don't know. I never heard that. I heard it wasn't. I heard it wasn't. What did you told me one time, Jeff, that Jill initially when she came to y'all,

she didn't really want to sing. She really wanted to just do poetry. She was heavy on that. Yeah, like, Jill did not want background vocals on her songs. Wow. You know, so we had to kind of convince her a lot of that. Like, the funny thing

is I remember when we did, is getting in the way. She did not want to put background vocals on that. And Drey's mom was in the studio. And Drey's mom, actually sang backgrounds with her on that because Dre's mom was like, girl, if you don't get your butt in that boo.

So that's Jill and Dre's mom. Man. That was an official first single, right? No, you know what's funny? The first single was Long walk. You know what? I remember being at the radio station and being like, y'all need to hear this in the way.

It threw everybody off because their first single was a poem. Yeah, but that was the streets wasn't ready for that. I remember being in the radio station. Long walk. I thought it was Love Rain. No. Either way, that wasn't going to work. It was Love Rain.

It wasn't going to work for the black stations. We needed the ones where she's going to put the Vaseline on her face. And I remember selling that at the radio station like, but then she's going to put some, come on y'all. Everybody wants to hear this shit. It's Philly. Sorry. Fighting over soul records. Fighting over soul records.

The journey is real. We still fight. How did, how did, what was the difference between like, say, the Jill record and then the Florida situation? Like, how did that go? Success. Really? Like, when I tell you, like I said, it mirrors.

you know, we did Jill and music pretty much simultaneous. So for both of them to come out, we were on Cloud 9. You know, they were just sending people down. It was weird because, you know, they would send people down with instructions. Like, we want a Jill record. And it's kind of like, well, we can't give you a Jill record because we gave it to her. We can give you whoever you're sending record. And that was really the first time that I understand.

understood that record companies, Steve McKeever said something to me that I never forgot. He said, everybody in the music industry wants to be second. Oh, yeah. I've heard everybody's lining up. So everybody wants to be second. You reminded me of a story. So the day that we shot that Soul Quarian photo for vibe. The beginning of the end.

Right. So, okay, 9 a.m., we shot, we did a shot in the same Vibe magazine, with Jill. The Roots and Jill did their thing, right? It hit me that Lear Cohen knew that this shoot was going to go down in Vibe magazine. Oh, wow. And begged and begged. Please let music inside of this photo you guys are doing because he's part... At the time...

Did I know music? No, I didn't know music. I had no clue. and music soul child yeah music soul child it just sounds where you need to say did I know music no I didn't know music I believe that just to force the will on us no pun

they had music and his people waiting downstairs in a car service to see if there was like a change of heart and it was always like like it's very unfortunate that that's how I was reminded and I totally forget about the times where he came to the jam sessions

and all that stuff can you like deliver pizzas or something yeah exactly and so because there was Bilau too so well yeah it was like it was like literally like who who and the vibe people were like yeah can we Leora Cohen wants to add him in the photo as well can he can he shoot with you're just like yo we know each other

Like, I don't know who music sold child. I had no clue who he was at the time. So it just, it started what could have been potentially an even worse taste. Once I did two and two and like, oh, the guy from Philly and, oh, he used to come and then it was like, cool, whatever. But at the time, I remember that music almost was in that photo. Wow. Almost in that photo. Well, that was a house to Carvin and I even built.

Yeah. Yeah, so break down, like, the cruise, when we talk about Touch of Jazz, it was Carver and I. Carvin I, Keith and Dee. Keith and D. And it was Adelaide. And then, so.

Peace mover. Pat. Shout up, I'll rise. Pat, you know, it was, it was multiple. You know, you had Kev Brown. Yeah, I was also saying, yeah, shout to Kev Brown. You have Kenwood. Odyssey, Kenwood.

Yeah, Odyssey. You had, you know, Peace Move or Pat, Pat McLean. James introduced me to Pat McLean. Okay. And he, because I remember, I think you told me, or maybe it was Kev told me, the, on your album, the, Africa, Port-au-Prince.

Yeah, yeah. That was a two-track. That was a two-track. That was a two-track. I love that song so much. Everything he did was a two-track. I love that song. He shot up my home town.

Pat, Pat was, let me choose my words. And by two-track. Pat was eccentric. He was very, centric. Like Pat would make the most beautiful song you ever heard and he would say, you know what?

The universe doesn't want this to come out and he would cut his keyboard on. And we would be in the room like no. But see, you know, he was also the guy that he would do a record and make some money and you would give him like $3,000

and Pat would leave out the studio and the reason why I rise is laughing is because she was there for. all of this, that Pat would come in and say, God is going to bless me. I just gave a homeless man $3,000. And you were kind of like, Pat, you're homeless. That was your blessed.

Like, you're homeless. Nick, I gave a homeless man $3,000. And what's that music soul, child? Because he was homeless, too. Listen. So, but what all the emcees that were there, like, where are there, like, Paulie, Black? Polly M's Black.

What's going on with those guys now? Do y'all still still in touch? No. Wow. I mean, you know, Paul, when I started going back out on the road, I took Paul. I took Paul when the Magnificent came out because, you know, I wanted that to be kind of a launching pad for Paul. And then, you know, baby black. Chef Word.

Chef, you know. You know what's crazy is when I started going out on the road, I started going out in like 99, 2000. Okay. And went overseas Was completely blown away At the fact that I'm in this club And it's 2,000 people here And I'm kind of like, well, who is performing?

I'm used to the win ballroom And it was a strong 250 in there And you know, when you start doing these And not just that You know, just going through all of the issues In the music business I'm playing for 2,000 people And at the end of the night

Somebody's hand me an envelope with $4,000 in it. And I'm kind of like, well, damn, I got to wait like seven months for my $4,000 from the record company, and you just gave it to me afterwards, and I got to play tomorrow night. For another.

And the night after that, and the night after that. So it really took that first tour, and I came home, and, you know, and everybody's asking, when is the check coming? Because everybody's waiting for a check

at the record company, and, you know, you've got to wait until everybody delivered the songs and all the rest of the time. this. And, you know, the agent call was like, yo, they loved it. They want you to come back. I went back. And the second time, I lied to everybody and was like, I'm coming home a week later. So now I'm coming home with about $40,000 to do all of my shopping and get all of the shit that I want. And no one knows I'm home. So the phone's not ringing. Nobody's complaining. And then the third time when they called, I was like, you know what? I'm out. I'm out. Because I already see, you know, I see this hamster.

wheel and I'm like I can't keep running on I can't keep running on this you know you you um like there was a level of I felt you know even you know even with like the Jill's situation you know I felt that we were in a good cop bad cop situation that the record company is always the good cop like I will watch the record company buy her gifts and take her on trips and all the rest of this you're paying for that and well it wasn't even the fact that I was I mean I mean I You pay for, I mean, the artist. You know, I felt like there was a certain point in time that Jill was looking like, how come you don't take me on trips?

And I'm sitting like, because I'm waiting for the motherfucking money that the dude that took you on this trip to send me. You know, not understanding the record company regime. That it's kind of like you're the good guy and I'm the bad guy. So, you know, it was. So you became Dana in a way. Not Dana the person, but I just mean it's interesting how to roll flip, right? Yeah. And I was like, nah, no, I'm not doing.

that. So I tapped out. I was like, I don't, I don't want to do that. I realized that and also my second tour was a tour in Asia. Okay. And I went to Bangkok. And

why are you laughing? It's not what you think. Okay. It's not what you're going to. Okay. So listen, I went to Bangkok. And there's a mall in Bangkok that my man took me to and everything in the mall was illegal. everything.

And you could go into this store and you could get DVDs, which you know DVDs are big, MP3s, which are small. And they were selling DVDs. They were selling the Beatles anthology, everything the Beatles

ever made for $12. And I remember you were going and you were looking at a book and you give them the number. the Beatles were 100 and such and such and they had jazz guitars so I was like okay I can sample this and get this and you know I'm giving this guy like $36 and he gave me all of these DVDs or all of this music and I remember walking in the middle of them all and I said yo it's over it's oh because this hadn't hit the states yet and I was like it's over I just bought the Beatles anthology for $12

how much is my shit worth like I'm I'm out so I'm I'm out so I was like I'm I'm I tapped out because of something I saw before it came here. I saw it coming. That's why I went so long. You know, and. How did your soldiers feel about that, though? Because did you give them, like, how does that work? Hell, no, I ain't get nobody no notice.

Listen. Listen, first, let me tell you something. If you tell everybody in the hood you moving, oh, you ain't going to have no furniture. They don't steal all your shit. So trust me, I had a whole covert thing. I had a guy that took all of my equipment and put it in the store. He came down and scouted out the studio. And, you know, I was like, listen, this is what I'm going to take.

I don't care about this. And, you know, I knew the studio hours. I knew everybody staying there until about 4, 35 o'clock in the morning. So we came in at 6 o'clock, and they cleaned the entire studio out. And by the time everybody, you was going on. Oh, man, they came, and it was, it was, they opened that door. And that shit just swung open with that wild, wild west breeze and tumble. I'm not laughing because I thought that was not laughing.

But like at the exact same time that I closed the studio, I actually moved out of Philly. Yeah. Oh, my God. Oh, yeah. Interesting timing. Oh, yeah. So you know what's crazy?

Everybody. You have to tell the story. And listen, this is the funny thing. The only person that I kept was IRIS. So IRIS knew all this covert shit. She knew what I was. Listen, you know, she knew. And it was, and it was crazy because everybody

thought like this is this is this is this is tell you something about the ego I needed everybody to think I was doing bad and this was at a time that I just once I discovered that whole DJ thing so I understand I was in the DJ atmosphere before the DJ bubble

hit yeah so I'm sitting here like yo I ain't never made this much money ever and no one would expect that and it was kind of like, yo, so me closing the studio and moving, it was like, yo, what happened to John?

I heard he's not doing too well. And you had to eat that. Like, I was cool with eating that. You knew the truth. You can't stunt. Oh, I was cool with eating that. Listen, I remember the first time, it might have been about seven, eight months

after I moved. I remember it was a fight coming on and I invited James down to my crib for the fight. James. James Poezerzer. I invited James. And I started. stood in the door because

when James pulled up to my house James sat there and I know he was kind of like I know this nigga only here like get out of here and I opened the door and my dog ran out so he's kind of like this nigga got a dog

like what is this Delaware house? I had the paveways and the light in the pavement and walked out and I was like hey and James was like what and then I ended up breaking it down you know because you ended up selling you sold your old crib

I sold it to his mom right yes I did listen oh yeah down on the water this was funny I remember that apartment wait I'm literally like wait oh my mom I put it up for sale and the person backed out the person backed out

the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and I think I text Amir because Amir said something to me he was just kind of like yo damn why didn't you tell me you was selling the crib. And I was like, oh, man, I didn't know. You know, I didn't know to, you know, I wasn't just going to randomly pick up Quest Love and be like, hey, I'm selling my credit, you know. And it was crazy because I hit him on Thanksgiving. And I was like, yo, the sale of the crib fell

through. Let me know if you want it. And he said, I'll call you back. And he called me in 10 minutes. He's like, we want it. Listen, that was it. That was a done deal. Does your mom still live in that group. We just re-did the entire crib. Oh, good. She's still there. You still got the deep fry? We had to take all that. It's a brand new. It's a 2019 house now.

Yes, Miss Jackie. Get that. That's the first time I met you. You don't even know that. I was driving in that apartment with Deanna. And she saw you as you was coming out. We was coming in. And she was like, you know, it's jazzy Jeff. I said, is she! Jeff. please tell us

how you organized all right first of all yeah you moved to Delaware and we were all like why but then you also like lured a lot of people to

Delaware I didn't lure because Tarique came for a minute right he was there I forgot even Tarique was down there for a second but I meant like James and tuba and like I now see the allure of living in Delaware.

However, can you explain what the playlist retreat is? It's almost like a secret that no one knows about or really understands what the magnitude this is. They get salty and jealous even though they still should, they know they shouldn't be there.

You are literally like, your playlist retreat is the... Professor X, yo. I love one of them videos come out of us. It is the Illuminati. It's the Illuminati of producers and musicians. Yeah. And having gone there and seen it myself.

You were at the first one. I was at the first one. I got into the last one. Yeah, he's like being a satellite line. I came late to the last one and had about four tacos. Yeah, you did. And didn't realize that all them tacos were laced with each. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, good. Scocher. I thought I was going to die. Y'all got mad photos of me sleep on your couch. because I was just like... Yeah, I think my first time, it was before... It was before you were fishing doing the playlist.

But the first time I came to your career, me and Poo, we did the Little Brother song. And that, honestly, man, like, I never told us, but dude, that really changed my life. It totally made me rethink what success, quote-unquote, looked like. Because we got there, and the first thing he did, Jeff cooked some chicken.

I always do that. He made some chicken, and then we was like, all right, we're going to do whatever. I'm kind of salty. We're doing this now here, because I thought, like, Just go to his crib. I didn't even ask, can we do the next one? I'm sure it's going to be a part three.

Listen, y'all can do it at the retreat. Hey, I'm down. Don't make jokes, Jeff. I'm just saying. You know you only got five women there at one time. No, we don't. No, we don't. We are good with diversity.

Do not. All right. I'm making, I'm auditing because I was like, is there some female music makers up and now? Absolutely. I know the vocalists be there. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, but nah, it was like you cook chicken and then we went downstairs.

And you told me how, like, you got the Mexicans from Home Depot, the studio shit. That's it. And then you was like, yo, I'm like, so where are we going to sleep? He's like, oh, I got these rooms. And I just remember, like, sleeping at night. And I was like, yo, Jeff got a hip-hop bed and breakfast. Like, you really, like, this is a whole other business. And so, like, when me and my wife, when we bought our second crib, I was like, yo, I want to do that.

Like, I want to have a place where I got my studio. If we go late, somebody who wants to crash. It's the room right over here. You can crash. So now when they come to your studio. Fonte, like they come spend the night? Like when you said... Yeah, like, well, when Madison came down, her and her, her and Ned, they stayed in the hotel right around the corner. But, you know, while we were in there, if Ned was like, I'm gonna go lay

down, he could go right in the next room. And it just, it really just was a big inspiration for me to like, so to the point where I, quote unquote, was in a booth not too long ago in the session, and that shit felt totally like what is, like, that felt antiquated. Like, because we just did all that stuff right in the room together. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, yeah. Like, you know, it's, it's funny. I do a lot of work with Red Bull 3 style, which is a global DJ competition.

And maybe like the third or fourth year that we did it, you know, each night they would have a special guest DJ. So you would see Z-Trip, you see A-Track, you see crazy, you see all these guys. The third year, they decided to bring all of the DJs in and keep them there for the entire week. So this is what I realized This is the first time that I have ever

Spent a week with one of my peers Like I'd see you at a show I see you that night Like when you get to spend a week You get to have a lot of conversations You get to talk about the good stuff You get to talk about the bad stuff You start getting personal

You start swapping music And when I realized that That became my motivation and my energy to DJ for the entire year. Like, everybody couldn't wait for three-style because it's like, we're going to get together, we're going to squat, we're going to do it. So I was like, you know what?

I want to have a DJ retreat. Like, it really started off as a DJ retreat. I did... How did you convince these people to travel from all points of the globe? These aren't people coming from, like, New York, and maybe a cat from L.A. This is like Kydie from the UK.

Yeah. The cats in Australia, like... Australia, like... When, um... I remember when, um... My wife threw me a 50th birthday party. Matter of fact, Laiaaida and Iarise was there. I think I...

You were supposed to be there, but you sold me up. I think I was there. No, no. Nope, you didn't know. Will Kay. He made time. So, so... Um, but it was funny because the, the level of preparation that was put into that

birthday part, like, understand. I did a show for the NBA for their London game that I was accidentally put on the late flight. Like everything about this shit, I was mad. Like, I'm getting mad right now because, you know, I considered myself kind of a savvy person, and I had no clue. Like, my wife to this day still think I knew. I had no clue that they sent me on a show out of the country and put me on a second flight because all of my friends from overseas were on the first flight.

Wow. Wow. Oh, yeah, they mapped it. So, you know, we came back, I landed. Wife picked me up from the airport. You know, it's kind of weird because she picked me up. She's like, hey, you know, I know you're going to have, because she asked me what I wanted. I was like, I want to get together some of my friends

and let's do a man dinner. And she's like, I know you're going to do your man dinner. So I want to celebrate your birthday with you today. Okay, cool. So we drive. The whole crew leaves. We drive to a hotel. and take a shower, change my clothes.

She got my suit. She got everything. I'm kind of like, okay, this is cool. And we get in the car, and she starts driving. And we get on 95. So I was like, okay, I guess we're not going to dinner in Philly. So we're driving, getting in a good conversation. We get off at my exit.

So I'm like, okay, maybe we're going somewhere in Delaware, and she wants to kind of check up on the kids. So it wasn't until we got to the edge of the driveway that she stopped. And she said, happy birthday, babe. And I said, thank you. And she said, close your eyes. And I was like, what? And she said, close your eyes.

And I was like, oh, fuck, she got me. And I closed my eyes. We drove down the driveway so I can feel, instead of going to the back, she goes around the circle. And she said, okay, you can open your eyes. And when I opened my eyes, it was two black dudes with parking attendant jackets and heat lamps. and I was like, what the... Oh, man, man, man.

And it was so thought out and elaborate the way that my brain works that instead of saying, oh, my God, this is great, I was like, we can pull this shit together. So the next day, and the president of Sarado was there, so the next day, I was like, listen, I want to do a DJ retreat and says and says, and the president of Serrado was like,

hey, you know, we'll be one of the sponsors. and we pulled out a yellow pad and we started writing the idea down. During that time, I was, you know, same thing, me knowing about you guys. I would always collect music. And I got linked into Stroh.

I got linked in the tall black guy. Got linked into 14KT. And it was one of those things that I got it and I started using Twitter because when I would know, you know, when I knew it was Stroh, I just went to his Twitter page and just like, hey man, it's Jazz Jeff,

yo, got some of your music, big fan, he hit you back, oh my God, and then you end up getting a folder of music from him. So now I show up, and I'm playing all this shit, and everybody is like, yo, what the fuck is that? What the fuck is that, you know, and you kind of get known for playing stuff that's really dope that no one knows.

So, and picking the DJs for the retreat, I was kind of like, well, why don't I invite the what the fuck guys too. You know, like, because now what we can do, Quest Love DJs, Strow makes music. Wouldn't it be great if Stroh made the music, give it straight to Quest Love, and Quest Love is the music messenger.

And that's how it started. And then puts him in the roots. Listen. Right. Listen. You know, but it was really to kind of get people together and kind of collaborate. You know, I started feeling some kind of way

as much as I love my role as a producer, I started getting mad because it became extremely selfish. Nobody, like, everybody got a laptop, everybody's making their own beats. You know, the reason why I touched jazz was special and the reason why the Root Studio was special is because it was a hub where everybody kind of came

and did music. Now, everybody's hub is their computer. And you can hear it in the music. There's no collaboration and it was kind of like, no, no, no, no, we got to, let's figure out a way to get it back. Also, what the biggest thing for me was,

I get mad that a lot of the equipment manufacturers make equipment without ever consulting the people who use it. Man, listen. And I'm kind of like, and then you get mad because you make some shit and then I get it and I'm like, you know, I don't like this shit. And then you're mad. I was like, well, maybe you should have talked to me before.

You did it. So it was kind of like, I want to create, I want to, I just want an open dialogue. I want to invite the manufacturers that you can tell us, make everybody sign an NDA. Tell us the new shit that you got and let us tell you if you should even do it. You know, nah, that's not a good idea. Have you talked someone out of doing something that they thought was needed on the marketplace? Or wait.

Well, we didn't. How did you remember that first year? How did someone present you with a needleless turntable? Yeah, I'm about to say, you're the guy. Like. I would think that you would at least want to hang on to nah. I remember that you was mad at me when Jeff started going Crail.

You know I am a purist. And I play for purists. What happens is you get on this stage and it's me and one other guy using turntables. So now they don't care. They don't even put the center blocks. under the table now. I know. They, you know, and they got subs on the stage.

And I'm listening to the dude before me sound amazing. And I'm telling the guy, take all the bass out. So now I don't sound as good as he does, you know. So it starts to get to a point that, you know, okay, so I'm the last Mohican. And it's not even that I switched. I still chose something that enables me

to do everything that I do. So right now you're using needle, arm, I'm sorry, armless turntables. Right now, no, no, see. Oh, you're on some next shit? Oh, yeah. Are you in a visa right now, DJing,

and you're giving me this interview? No. But what I will say, like I leave Wednesday for a month-long tour. My first show is Friday. Just check Instagram Saturday. I can't imagine what's more mind-blowing than DJing without a needle. Check Instagram Friday.

He's going to be DJing with his mind now. But I ain't wrong when I say you did introduce Serato at least to this market because I feel like I remember when DJs was like pissed. I wouldn't have a career if it weren't for Jeff. I was one of the early Cerrado guys. Yeah, I remember you. You were one of the first CDJ guys. Jeff got me on CDJ.

CDJ. You was fast. Jeff was how I found out about final scratch, which was predated to Serato. Yeah. Well, actually, no, Richie Hardin was how I found out about final scratch.

And then I found out you used it and that kind of made it official. So are they, with scratching now, have they, do they have it so you can pretty much scratch streams now? Yeah, you can do that. Yeah. You can do that.

Hope just made, what do you call it? Title. Yeah. Titles and Cerrado friendly. Have you tried that yet? Yeah. The only issue with that, which is smart, because of course, you know, my brain is always trying to go into

finding the workaround. You have to have Internet. Yeah, yeah. That's why I don't like it. You have to have good Internet. You have to have Internet. Because I downloaded something, I downloaded something, and it worked perfect.

And then I cut my Internet off. And when I went to go load the track, It was gone. It was like, you need to sign on the internet for this. Because think about it, you can record in Serato. So you can basically stream that song and record it. And not just that, even if you have internet. See, uh-huh.

So you play it ain't go there. But this is the crazy thing. You're not a boo leger. When you push record, it tells you that it's a song that you're playing that can't be recorded. And it stops the recording. So they found workarounds. So I was like, I'm cool. I'll just get the record.

Do you think that I was say yes? So do you think that'll replace the MP3? Do you think that it's kind of what can kill it? No, no, no. I mean, listen, let me, you got to keep in mind that vinyl sales are at an all-time high. But, you know. Is that because they're just charging like 40 bucks for a single slap of vinyl now? Yes.

Well, no, you know, it's just, it's a new generation. that, you know, when you really sit and think about it, there's a new generation that miss what vinyl gave you. Vinyl gave you a cover. Vinyl gave you credits. Vinyl gave you something to look at that not only could you listen and you could touch it. So, you know, there's a reason, you know,

everybody who's tried to press vinyl in the past four or five years has seen an extreme significant time of getting your vinyl because of urban outfitters. Oh, yeah. You know, they're selling very. I didn't even know them.

I just knew Urban was showing. But yeah, I'm about to solve that problem too. I've kind of stopped buying records and I've started buying CDs again. Really? Yeah. Really? And I'll tell you why. Because, I mean, I have accounts with multiple streaming services and it only takes, you know, one person.

Not one rights holder to be like, fuck it. Yeah. It's like get rid of my favorite song off the stream service and it's no longer there. So fuck it. I might as well just have the CD in my arsenal so I can rip that. motherfucker to my iPhone whenever the fuck I want to. And tag it how I want it. Yeah.

No, I'm with you. I still got all my CDs. I still, I haven't got rid of them because you just never know. Never know. Like they just, like I went on Spotify Monday and Thundercats whole shit was gone. It was like, what the fuck?

What? Yeah. I mean, it's back now. Oh. But it was just gone. I was like, what now? He paid that bill? I mean, yeah.

I mean, it's, I supplement with my own personal streaming server now. All right. So you won't reveal. let us know what's in the future but you know what it is I think I want you to see it okay

don't don't want you to see it because I could have I got it and I've done it in the house and it was just kind of like you know you had that desire to just shoot it

and just post it and I was like nope I want to be in front of a thousand people and do this shit and get that reaction and then I'll post it because once I posted, you know,

it was kind of like when I used the needleless turntable and I was picking it up and, you know, people freaked out. I can't wait for it. What can you tell us about the upcoming well, the play this project? The first one was Glenn Lewis. Oh my God.

And you did that in a week. And that was in a week. Y'all did that I'm in a week. In a week. Which I know I've done that before and I'll never do that shit again. Well, you know what it is? The trying to record it

and release it in a week is hard. Recording it in a week, piece of cake. Piece of cake. And especially when you kind of get a routine and a method down. Like we got the method. We, you know, we got the Cheek. Don't ever

stop. Don't ever stop. What's the difficult part of releasing it now? Because I mean, all you got to do is just upload it. Well, no. Do you know what it was? Is we had to mix it. Okay. We had to mix it and we had to master it. So it's kind of like, okay, we recorded. And it was basically, we, with the first one, we finished

Glenn cut his last vocal about 6 p.m. Friday and we needed to be done by midnight on Sunday. So Vidal and I basically stayed up for seven two straight hours and not only mixed it, but there was a guy sitting in the mastering lab that as we mixed it, we had to send it to him, and then he had to send it back and let to approve it. So it was kind of like when we got there, I was like, we ain't never doing this again.

Listen, I'm in a bid at 9 o'clock if I ain't doing the show. Yes, you are. I'm happy with that. Man, listen, I get to see the sunset and rise. That's how you stay looking 12. Listen. Hello. Listen, I can't do that.

So the new one with Mamuna. This, ooh. It's a Mamuna, man. Man, man. Is that already on the services? No, no, no. Will it be in June? It'll be released in June.

Okay, so it may be released in June. But let me just say this. For anybody, that has been looking for anything and I don't even like making comparisons. To someone that was awesome 20 years ago?

Yes. Oh listen. When I tell you you have never in your human life heard someone sing and rap like her. It's always been there. But yo, when I

I tell you, when you hear, yeah, then. She's grown now. She went there. She went there. She went there. She went there. It's time. It's time.

Brother Jeff, thank you. Amen. We finally closed a chapter. No, we got to close it. We have to close it at the retreat this year. I was about to say, we got that on tape. Listen. Well, I mean, you'll be back for way more episodes.

This is the fifth year. I never in a million years that we would get to year five because you have no idea what it takes to throw something like this. Like it is emotionally, physically and mentally draining, but it is worth all of it.

You know, like, Stroh wouldn't be on, in the roots if it wasn't for the retreat. Yeah. You know. True indeed. You know, we never posted it, but we put up almost like a chart of people and the connections that they made and records that they made. And it's absolutely ridiculous.

Yeah, one of my records came out of the retreat. The fourth, the Tigallero, the me and Ero, the waiting for your record. Yeah. Stroll in Paris. Yeah. And Rich. Yeah. That was a retreat record.

And this is June, right? Because I'm about to start looking at the calendar. It's in August. It's in August. August. Let the record show. August I mean I'm like

Should I say this out when it is? I'm like It's early August Because you just got to understand It's just you know Oh good black star It's August Man shout out to

Montez Montez is at the retreat every year So First World Fight Club Anyway Jeff we thank you very much Shout out to Corey towns I get that shot to Corey That's my dude

I text I'm so disrespectful. Cat. He said about so terrible. I texted, so that we and Corey like slander all kind of shit. It's so great. Well, then shout out to Tina too, because she brought us Jill. I'm going to be going to be able to.

There you go. All right. On behalf of the Bills and Corey. And Sugar Steve and Fantigolo and Lady Eliahia. Jazzy Jeff, thank you very much. Yes, sir. Another great episode. Thank you.

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