The Questlove Show - QLS Classic: Kurtis Blow

Episode Date: June 15, 2026

As The Questlove Show celebrates Black Music Month, we're revisiting a classic 2019 Questlove Supreme conversation with one of hip-hop's true pioneers, Kurtis Blow. The legendary New York MC reflects on the genre's formative years, giving credit to the peers and innovators who helped build the culture from the ground up. He also breaks down his classic catalog and revisits some of the records that helped change the course of music from the late 1970s onward. It's a firsthand account of hip-hop history from one of its most influential architects.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. It's that time to put on your jersey and wave your flag, whoever you root for. Why do I watch the walk up? That's like asking me, why do I breed? And it's beautiful. The guys are young and cute and fit.

It's not just a game. It's your culture. I like watching it with my dad. It's a connecting force. From Futuro Studios, I'm Fernanda Chavari, and this is American football, a show about soccer culture in the U.S. and its underdog roots. Listen to American football on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Joy is essential and it's also elusive, but now there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence.

Joy 101. It's a new podcast hosted by me, Hoda Kotby. If you're craving inspiration to maximize your joy, tune into these candid, uplifting, and moving on-air chats. Open your free IHeart Radio app. Search Joy 101 and Listen Now. Joy 101 with Hoda Kotfi is presented by CVS. All right, listen up. The Jonas Brothers here.

Our podcast is called Hey Jonas. We've here since everyone has a podcast, we wanted to as well. And we've had some incredible guests so far. And now our good friend, Nile Horn, is joining the show. How's it going, boys? Hey, Niall. It was the same thing with Slow Hands. The whole answer is not about anything else really, is it?

You know, or taste so good can't be about food. You do the same, Nick, with some of the stuff that you've done. You too, Joe. Drop what you're doing and listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Everyone sees me as a football player, but before anything else, I'm human. Every single day, I'm still learning how to live with problems, mistakes, relationships, emotions ever since I was born. This isn't a normal podcast. Everything here is spontaneous, real and genuine, just honest conversations about what it means to be alive.

I'm Javier Tchariot-Orenandez and listen to Learning to Be Human on IHard Radio, Apple Podcasts, or whatever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was hiring. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to you.

He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Quest Love Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. What's up? It's June, and that means it's Black Music Month.

And every year on Quest Love Supreme, and now the Quest Love Show, we honor it by bringing you an episode every day that celebrates Black music, It's history and its impact. My team and I have selected episodes from our archive that we feel are especially relevant to the celebration, offering history, insight, and a little fun along the way. So be on the lookout for four brand new episodes throughout June, each connected to the past, present, and future Black Music. We're going to highlight trailblazers, innovators, cultural conduits, and revolutionaries whose work continues to shape the world around us.

Happy June, happy Black Music Month. Suprema, Sub-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-Rima roll call. Suprema, Sub-S-S-S-S-Sprima roll call. Suprema-S-S-S-Sprima role call. Suprema-Su-ROM. I had a brilliant roll call for Curtis Blow. Yeah. But for some reason, y'all ain't never going to know it.

Roll call. Suprema. S-Sah, S-S-S-S-S-S-Pri-R. Supreme a Roll Call. Supremma, Subrama Roll Call. My name is Sugar. Yeah.

I love you all. Yeah. But once and for all. Yeah. Baseball. Rocahn. Suprema. Suprema, Subrema, Rocawn.

Supremma, Submina, Submina, Rocahn. Yeah. Coming off the cuff. Yeah. Brum of words in English. Yeah.

So why does it have to be so damn tough? Suprema, SUHSA, SUPRIMA ROL CAR Supremma, ROCOR ISLAIM Yeah With Curtis Blow Yeah If you're hip hop

Yeah You should already know Roll call Suprema Suprema Subima Roll Car Supreme I can't believe I messed on my role on

Supreme A Roll Call One, two, three, four Hit it Yeah Now Yeah I'm going to spit it. Supreme.

Supreme. Sat, Sucrema, Sucrema Roeca. We'll come back. Suprema. Sat, Sucrema, Sucrema, Sucrema Rocah. Suprema Rocahn. Supremma Rocahn. All right.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Cuest Love Supreme. I forgot the name of my own show. We are at IHeart Radio. Thank you very much. We're here with Team Supreme, Unpaid Bill. Not here. It's not here. You are not Unpaid Bill.

You are our boss Bill. Wow. I knew what I was saying. I knew. I was just testing to see if you knew who you were. Of course, we got Sugar Steve, and we have Lai'eia with us. Unpaid Bill right now is doing his thing. Broadway.

Yeah. Whenever he's hit on Broadway, he don't have time for us no more. Ladies and gentlemen, plain and simple, you know, you hear of kings and pioneers and people bragging about their status in this culture. I assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that the gentleman that we're about to introduce is literally the pioneer of this amazing art form that has made trillions of dollars. What can I say? First rapper on a major label. First rapper to get a gold plaque. for his rapper to cover a song

first rapper to make a love ballot first rapper to tour overseas I mean his production credits loom large I mean for God's sakes he produced the record that was Jay Z's very first purchase of a full hip-hop album

speaking of the fat boys debut I mean through this man like this is how we know he was the entry of Russell Simmons into the world of run into the world of full force into the professional world of Allison Williams of the great unherald Larry Smith

and his production credits the aforementioned fat boys not to mention gave Salam Remy his first start in production Oh my God, you know that? A 14 year old, yes, do we do our homework? Not to mention what I credit as one of the rare

legit hip-hop movies about hip-hop culture This man is starred in as a political activist working with anti-apartheid Sun City Project, not to mention organizing the King Celebrate Holiday. I'm in so many, so many credits. Oh, Jesus, for a lot of us, our entry to Bob Dylan in hip-hop culture came to this dude. Yes, I'm pointing to the one and only. First rapper on Soul Train.

You know Soul Train means everything to me. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm so honored to have a. on Quest Love Supreme, the one and only. Curtis. Blow to Quest Love Supreme. Thank you. Thank you. Man, this is a long time coming. We have a gazillion questions.

This is like a, this show is such a, it's nerd out culture going awry. So it's just, bear with us if we ask too many nerdy questions that might. That intro was so incredible. I mean, you kind of like. like had me shook there for a second. I didn't know I did so much stuff. I'm sitting here like, whoa, wait a minute. I'm remembering things now.

We're literally about giving flowers where they're due. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, there's so much more that you're doing. I've been known to me like 15 minute intros and then it's time to go. Grand opening, grand closing. Right.

So what I really, this is like one of our first chances to interview someone that was there for the beginning of hip-hop culture before it came a professional business. So I have so many questions about its start and its formation in the Bronx, like the parties and all those things. Well, for those that don't know that listen to us that are younger,

where were you born? I was born and raised in Harlem. Okay, Harlem world. Okay. Yes, sir. So could you give us kind of, I guess, a prototypical idea of what the environment was when hip hop was just a local block party thing, when it was just, you know, like on a Saturday, let's pick a Saturday in 1978.

Before it was a business. Oh, man. What was, you should probably go back before 78. It's really amazing. And it's a story that, you know, the energy and the vibe. and the spirit that was going around New York City to five boroughs during that time was something that's so hard to explain.

You really had to be there to really understand that energy that was happening. See, we were all like a group of people who understood and really related and loved this culture way before it became a culture. So it was just like something new that we were trying to do. do and represent. Of course, you had disco on this side of the fence and then you had R&B soul music and

most of us grew up on soul music and we love James Brown and the Motown sound and the Isley brothers and all of that stuff and soul music. We started playing soul music when disco became the most prominent thing that you heard on the radio. But if you remember the Motown sound that we grew up on in the 60s, the snare drum, we're talking music theory now. The snare drum was on the one, two, three, and the four. Pop, pop, pop, pop, tap. Right.

Da, boom, baby, baby, you know. And then disco comes out, and it went back to the same four on the floor now. We're talking about the kick drum, right? The boom, boom, boom, boom. So that beat for us wasn't like James Brown, because James Brown in between disco and Motown had a musical revolution with the sound that we call boom bat.

So the boom, bat, bab, bab, bap, bap, bap, bap, bap, bap, bap, bap. Syncopated rhythms, and the drummer, you know, Clyde Stubberfield was incredible. So as kids, when we heard this new sound, we were like, we lost our minds. Everybody wanted to be James Brown and dance like him.

and that's when we started going down to the floor whenever we heard the break because the break of the music was the most important part of the song that's when everyone did their best dance moves that's when we created the circle of people just literally wanted to wait for the breakdown like okay

that's what it was it's really going to get crazy and I'm talking to 1972 73 so here comes Cool Herk the DJ who understood this that the break was so very important and we were be-boats, and B-girls because we dance to the brakes that Cool Herk would play.

And he would play these funky, incredible songs like Give It Up or Turn It Loose or Getting Into Something by the Isley brothers or Listen to Me by Baby Huey or Jimmy Castor has just begun. The Mexican, you know, the melting pot, Apache, you know, all these incredible songs were they were soul music but they were fast. And it was the same kind of tempo as, disco music. It was dance music. I call it obscure dance music. It was funk. And we just lost our mind. So we represented and created those circles around us just like Saturday Night Fever.

You know, the movie with John Travolta with the white suit on. You create this circle around him and pretty soon somebody comes in the circle and they do a competition and a battle. And the winner of that competition was the most popular guy. He was the hero of the story, right? And so that's what happened at the cool hurt clubs around 12, 1 o'clock in the morning, he played this Give It Up a Turn and Loose and everybody was standing around waiting for the break. When that break came, we went off. And that was hip hop, the first early days of hip-hop.

Now, for that particular record that you gave an example of Give It Up or Turn It Loose, which that particular recording was made in 1969. So even though James Brown himself was trying to to keep up with the trends of the day and make disco records. You're basically saying that you guys never left those records alone. So a song like Get on the Goodfoot still had life way beyond its 1972 release. Like it still was something in 74, 75, 76, as long as it had a funk break.

So did you guys look at the commercial music at the time as kind of like how we look at modern pop radio now? I don't listen to that. I listen to... No, it was cool. It was all right. You know, we listened to it. It was on the radio. But nobody was breakdance into like Stevie Wonder's I wish.

You know. No, it was more like, you know, the village people. Why? I'm saying. Oh, okay. So like the commercial disco stuff. Okay. Donna Summer and stuff like that.

Right. We were like, yo, we want James Brown. You know what I mean? I see. So, so, so hip hop became that, that rebellion to disco. I call it, you know, ghetto disco. Okay. For those that have been collecting tapes and really keeping up in sort of the early formation of what hip-hop was,

the role the MC was once the co-star to who the DJ was. So, can you, what I want to know is, and I've heard like some of these like DJ Hollywood tapes. Right. Where in my mind, he had an endless vocabulary, an endless combination. an endless combination of rhymes that came of nowhere. Now, I mean, most MCs I know really have a good 15 to 20 minute repertoire before they run out of space and steam and, you know, don't know what to do. But his things seem endless.

Like, who was, who in your mind were like the top five? First of all, who was the one, was Hollywood the pioneer of the call and response, rhyming cadence, at least in the hip-hop sense? I know there was Jaco Henderson and all that stuff back in the day. Yeah, of course, of course. But who was in terms of hip-hop? Was DJ Hollywood first? Like, where does Hollywood and Eddie Chiba and, like, all these other emcees that really weren't making records?

Okay, so after Herc, you have to see, there were two different kinds of crowds. Okay. First and foremost, you know, Flash, Grand Master Flash calls them the shoe people and the sneaker people. Oh. So there's Buzwan. Okay. You know, the sneaker people, you know, we partied at the block parties and the community centers and the park jams and the small around the way clubs, you know, like 371 disco fever up in the Bronx and places like that. But, you know, Grand Master Flash was so very important to this transition from the DJ being the focal point of the party.

He controlled the music, he controlled the ambiance, he controlled the lights, he controlled the tempo of the songs he was playing. He hired and fired the emcees. The emcees were first so dime a dozen. All we did was we went to the house and we got the equipment and took the equipment to the gig and set it up. And at the end of the night, we break it down and carry it back to the house. And the DJ would let us in free, you know. So that's your plus. That's your getting on the guest.

And so, you know, if we were nice to him or if he was nice to us and feeling good, he would let us make announcements like, Yo, Joey, your mom's out start, it's 10 o'clock, you're going to go, you know, Sam, your car's getting towed, you know. Right, okay. And so Flash, you know, now Herk played a whole song. He had the most incredible playlist, all the songs I named, and there were about 25, 30 songs, maybe even 50, soul music. in a club. And so Flash understood that the most important part of this song that he played was the break because he knew all the B-boys would go down to the floor and start doing their best moves.

Everyone got crazy and started yelling and screaming, you know, when the break came. And so he wanted to try to find a way to extend this break because the break was only 15, 20 seconds long. And so he got two copies of the same record and he started playing the break. Hercr would play a whole song. And you have to stand up waiting for the break to come. Right? Flash went there. He just started the break at the top of the song.

You know, he played a break. And when it got to the end of the break before the singing started coming back in, he played the beginning of the break again. So he actually extended this break and made it from 15, 20 seconds to three, four minutes. Right. Right. So we had to do more as MCs than make announcements. So I have a question.

At the time, what was the transition? Because are people, they're not, are we scratching yet? Right. He started scratching and flash, okay. All of all. He was very, very fast because you got to go from one turntable to the other to catch the beat before it ended and got to the whack part. Right.

And so he extended the break. Shout out to Theodore, too. Right. Theodore listens to the show. He'll get mad. Yes, Theodore, we know you invent. it to scratch. Okay, that's what I was okay. Grand is it. Yes, yes, we love you. And so, you know, it was like DJs like that that gave us the opportunity to shine. So we became like, instead of standing

on the side of the turntables, just making announcements, we went out front. Okay. And started rocking the crowd. And we had to do more. So we started telling stories and rapping in rhythm and, you know, using crowd response, throw your hands in the air and all of that stuff. And that's how, you know, it really came off so high. Hollywood, get into Hollywood, he was a master at the crowd response. And he had a Puerto Rican DJ by the name of DJ Junebug, rest in peace, the best DJ I ever saw in my life. Very fast, accurate, would keep the beat going for Hollywood, and he was just tearing it up. When I saw Hollywood at this club 371, it blew my mind.

I never knew that there was something like this possible. You know, that a guy could just take control of an audience and have them eating out of the palm of his hands just by the way that he was rapping in rhythm. First time I ever heard rhythmic rap was DJ Hollywood. You know, of course there were other emcees before him like Casey to Princess Soul, JJ to Disco King. You had up in the Bronx with Herc, you had Coke La Rock. He was the first emce up in the Bronx rocking just talking smack on the microphone. Right. You know, but Hollywood put it together with rhythmic chants.

Like, throw your hands in the air and wave them like you just don't care. And if you got on clean underwear, somebody say, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. You know, everybody, you got to say, oh, yeah. You know? I got on clean underwear. No, I don't. I'm commander.

I didn't need to know that. I'm playing. I'm playing. Yeah, mama, I got clean on. So it's, was that a ureica? moment for you? It was a eureka moment. You know, just seeing Herc. The first time I saw Herc, it blew my mind just to the fact that he had this big, huge, humongous sound system. And he was playing these songs that I grew up with that I just thought that, you know, give it up a turn and lose. It was my

favorite song. And he played it loud and everyone went crazy. And then you had Grandmaster Flash was another one, blew my mind with the speed on the turntables. This guy had white gloves on with rings on, and they were just flashing. He's going to turntap. I saw him at the hotel diplomat one time, and that was just amazing to see how fast he was and keeping that beat going. And it's real what we call turntabism, this evolution of the turntable, the DJs. And Flash gave us the opportunity, along with Hollywood. Everyone mimicked Hollywood when he came out.

He blew my mind as well. Did you guys ever venture out of the boroughs? So was there a thing of like, you know, was touring for you back then like, okay, I'm going to do a party in Queens or would Long Island be a part of this folklore as well? Staten Island even like. Newark. Or was just, or even Newark? Like, were, or did Burroughs just like stick to themselves until Rat became a business? Well, me, I was a traveler.

I went from Harlem, you know, I had 14 years old, 15 years old travel on that number four train riding up to the Bronx, you know, to check out cool, Hurk at. the executive playhouse. And it was scary. You know, that was during the time when Roots had came out, where Alex Haley's Roots. Right. And so there was a lot of that, you know, right, straight out of the civil rights movement

and cats were like filling themselves. And there was a lot of violence on that train. You know what I mean? A lot of people were getting. So you risked everything just to see. Man. It was worth. That's why I want to know.

What makes, that's the one thing I didn't have. Like, I had strict parents. Right. They were just like, no, you ain't going. So whenever I hear, like, the generation after you talk about the Latin quarter. Right, right. And I'm like, yo, y'all risking your lives to hear this.

Like, you might get stab shot killed or hurt. No, but understand, understand. There were so many things going around in the community in New York City that was happening during that time. And I'm telling you, hip hop was like a saviour, you know, like, you know, like, you. you know, we had the gangs. The gangs, like that movie The Warriors was real. There were a lot of gangs. I remember running home from school, you know, in the early, early 70s

because all you had to do is say, they're coming and we're out. You know what I mean? You know, going to the corner store for my mom, it's like, yo, you want me to go to store? Risk you a lot. Okay, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one that goes to that. It's crazy. And then you had. For toilet paper and then you got to map out.

You had the drug wars of, of, of, of, you know, of the Bronx and Harlem coming out of the Frank Lucas story, American Gangsta. Right. You know, when he went to jail, and I think it was 1974, 75, they had a big drug war. Everybody was fighting for his territory. So there were a lot of murders and gunshots and all around. People were just dropping like flies, you know. So it was kind of dangerous.

It was dangerous living during that time. So for me, you know, it was my savior. I used to love to go to the club and just, you know, go to the speaker and stick my head in the speaker and the bass was rumbling all the way through my toes. And I just closed my eyes and go off. And that's hip-hop. He just told the story of the first time I ever went to a club. Everyone has a picture.

You put your head in the speaker and it just changes your life. Yeah. What do you think hip-hop culture would have been if there was no blackout of 1977? A lot of cats talk about that because a lot of equipment was obtained during those years, doing that blackout in 1977. But for me, it was more like, you know, we hit the local bike store and I got like three bikes. So you wanted to travel. See, you're a traveler. See?

I told you he didn't want to be on a... You didn't want to be on that train. Yeah, he's a partner. No more four train. That's a long ride, though, to the Bronx. Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is. But, you know, just traveling around New York City was special for me.

I just thought that, you know, I had cousins out in Queens and 40 projects and Cambria and aunts and uncles all around Queens. So, you know, I used to spend my summers out in Queens, actually. You know how we all used to go south. Down south. You go to Atlanta. Where are you going to Atlanta? Where are you going to? Carolina, where you going, Kim and Kurt?

We're going to Queens. Me too. But it's like another world, probably. You know, and it's suburbia. Suburbia, that's not going to say Jamaica. That was, I used to get sent out to Jamaica. Oh, that part of Queens. Okay.

Yeah, yeah. And so just spending my days out there whenever I could, you know, having a lot of family out in Queens, I hung out with Russell Simmons because I met him in college. and he was from Hollis Queens and we opened up a club in 1978 called Disco Fever. I mean, night fever disc.

Okay, okay. I was like, wait, you were part of that? And you opened up a club? And that was 2001st Street in Hollis Avenue. And that's where I really got good as a DJ, you know, DJing and the club and for a year. And then we actually used propaganda and Russell started putting my name on fly,

It's Queenie's number one DJ Curtis Blow. Oh, okay. So he built the folklore of Curtis Blow, and that's how... Russell was a sociology major. So he understood about the masses and the spectrum and the different movements of people and what they would like and stuff like that. So he convinced me to let that propaganda happen. So is he the one that talked to you into...

Would you say that your entry into hip-hop? is what really put the focus on the MC as opposed to the DJ? Hmm. No. Because I think Hollywood did that. He was actually the first king of rap. He was so hot. He was the first guy that charged $500.

Before that, we were making $30, $40 a night MCs. Or, you know, the popular ones were getting $150 a night. But Hollywood was the first to charge $500. You want $500. But Hollywood at your party meant a guaranteed show, you know. Oh, yeah, it was packed. You have a line around the corner, you know. And so Kat started, you know, trying to charge $500 a day.

They were like, shit, nigger, you ain't Hollywood. Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart. IR Radio. Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts, including IHAR Pride. Canada, your favorite hits and must have party bangers, plus personalized and curated playlists like back in the day pride.

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That's like asking me, why do I breathe? I inherited that fandom for my mom. It's a connecting force. From Futuro Studios, I'm Fernanda Chavari, and this is American Football, a show about soccer culture in the U.S. and its underdog roots. We go beyond the game to the people and the stories that make it great. A soccer game is a festival. It's not just a game. It's your culture.

I took an elbow to my head, which cracked my skull. It is an American game. The Brazilians don't like it. like hearing that though. Are they the only ones that don't like that? Nobody likes that. As we get ready for the men's World Cup this summer, listen to American Football as part of the My Coutura podcast network available on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Hoda Kotby, host of the podcast, Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby. Together, we're going to have meaningful conversations with the world's most fascinating people, like when actress Olivia

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else, I'm human. Every single day I'm still learning how to live with problems, mistakes, relationships, emotions, ever since I was born. And I still have so many questions. Where do we come from? What happens after death? How do you deal with cancellation? Cristiano or Messi? Do aliens exist? What is love? Real Madrid or Barza? From every day and ordinary to the deep and extraordinary. This isn't a normal podcast. Everything here is spontaneous, real and genuine. This podcast is like a deep talk with your closest friends, where vulnerability comes out. Conspiracy here. The series end up on the table and goals and lessons are shared. All in this life has an order perfect and all is just.

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Listen to learning to be human on IHard Radio, Apple Podcasts, or whatever you get your podcast. All right, listen up. The Jonas Brothers here. Our podcast is called Hey Jonas. But I figure since everyone has a podcast, we wanted to as well. And we've had some incredible guests so far. And now our good friend, Nile Horn, is joining the show. How's it going, boys?

Hey, Niall. It's the same thing with Slow Hands. Slow Hands is not about anything else, really, is it? You know, or taste so good can't be about food. You do the same, Nick, with some of the stuff that you've done. You too, Joe. Drop what you're doing and listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

So I guess technically your first single was Christmas rapping, correct? Yes, 1979. Okay, so please, how did that come about? And how did you avoid Sylvia Robinson and Joey and also Bobby Robinson at Enjoy? There's no relationship between the two, right? Like they just both coincidentally have the name. Right. So enjoy Bobby Robinson and Sylvia Robinson were not related, correct?

Yeah, Bobby Robinson was from Harlem. He had that store on $120. 50. Okay. Bobby's records, you know, and he goes back to the 40s and 50s. You know, he has a lot of contacts. Everybody knows him and soul music and R&B music. And so, you know, during that time, of course, Sugar Hill Gang, when they came out,

well, let's give a shout out to King Tim III. That was actually the first record personality jock. You just grab your hands and you stop your feet because you listen to the sound of the show's your beat. I'm the K-I-N-G. And so here comes Sugar Hill. Every bus, every car, every train wanted to play that rapper's delight song. I said, the hip, hot, the hip bit, the hip, hip, hobby, you don't stop the rock.

Every taxi, every boom box, every record store was playing at 24-7. And so we were in the studio in October. And so we were trying to get a record deal. I think I got my record deal because Rappers' Delight was so hot. We went to 22 different labels, though. Yikes. And everybody hated the record except for two people. The first guy liked it.

He wanted to sign it up, sign me up. So he took it up the flagpole to the vice president and president. And they said no. What label was that? That was the guy's name was Corey Robbins. Okay. Now, Corey quit his job because of this. And he went and started his.

own label and two years later he signed run DMC and the label is called profile records right so the next guy is the english fellow john stains he's anon director for mercury polygram records over in the UK in london he said we can recoup this record in six months let's sign them up so actually actually I became a British artist really signed to a company called Mercury Phonogram out in the UK and my records came back to America on an import. Wow. Wow.

Crazy deal. So they had you first and they knew you first. Yeah, so I was the first artist signed to a major label. So can I assume that your ANR was the person that said twice the night before Christmas? Before you interrupted him with. Hold it now, wait. Hold it now, wait.

Was he the twice the night? That's him. How did you guess that? or is that like always the situation? No, just put two and two together. The guy was English and, you know, and that, those, you know, a lot of the earlier records is really weird, especially with your catalog. A lot of your catalog, and I hope I'm not opening up a, well, hopefully the grace period is over. Even as I was recapping your catalog, I didn't realize how much, in particular, the bomb squad, when Public Enemy was,

make a nation of millions. Right, right. Used a lot of your records as the basses for their rhythms. Right, right. I just found out today that from the back popular demand album. Right. One of those songs is the basis for the Night of Living Bassheads remix, which is weird.

They could have just sampled James Brown, but instead they were like, all right, let's sample. It's meta. Like, let's sample Curtis Blow sampling James Brown with the extra kicks in there and all that stuff. So anyway, I'm falling in a rabbit hole. but my point is yeah you were one of the very first

rappers to travel overseas so what is that like literally being the Trojan horse or the Neil Armstrong or the flagged Jenny pig I don't want to say Christopher Columbus because I don't believe No but I'm just saying

On Columbus Day Right exactly Like to be the the flag bear of Like was there a resistance was there, or did you find that in Europe like they were really more open? Because you also did Top of the Pops, right? Right, right, yes. What was that like?

Man, it's like a dream world. You know, I tell people this many of times that my life is like a dream world. It's hard to understand reality when you're in the right place at the right time. And, you know, big shout out to Debbie Harry, who actually flew me out to the UK for a big, big, big press conference. And, you know, being on a major label, that means, you know, major press, that means we have a major office in every major city around the world. And being a college student, you know, I wanted to work the system.

And so I went to the publicity department. I said, man, send me everywhere. I want to travel all over, you know. And when I got there, I sat up in the conference room and we had all the press, you know, lined up from print, magazines, newspapers, radio. television. It was incredible and awesome to just be a part of all of that stuff. And it was documented, you know, this new thing called hip hop. And I was representing this. So was it tiring, like, trying to explain to people what this was. No, no, no. You know, the history of it.

No, no. Being a communications major. I was going to ask what you major was. I, I, uh, I, uh, love to talk. Right. So, and then it was so very, very important. Like you said, you know, we had to, actually, you know, be good on stage. You know, because that was very, very important to the success of the culture when people see you live on stage. And during that time, if you didn't have a good show, people the next day would not go out and buy your record. Right.

That's how, you know, the music business operated. You know, you go out on tour and you sing your new song, your new album, and then the next day everyone goes and buys the record. This is how they support it. And so going out there on stage for the first times and seeing these audiences and the audiences seeing me for the first time or seeing hip hop for the first time. A lot of that, you know, where's your band? You know, but at the end of the show, they're all saying, oh, you know.

And it was so very important for us to rock the house. And that was key to, you know, my experience in being in the, New York City around the five boroughs, just, you know, playing the clubs and, you know, like the night fever disco and the hotel diplomat 371 disco fever, you know, the block parties and the park jams, just being used to handling a microphone and mic control, an MC means mic control. And it was so very important. I just thank God that I had that experience, seven, eight years in the biz before I made my first record. So in touring behind the single, especially mainstream,

assuming that you did tours with regular acts and whatnot. Yeah. Okay, so I know now, I mean, especially with, I mean, even in modern times, like watching the Wu-Tang series that's on TV right now. And it's to the point now where, at least of this recording, where like the Rizzo is starting the tour and what I call like rapper problems like with the monitors not working

and the you know the proper channels for the DJ and all those things and the mic's not working like how difficult was it as far as like opening first of the lot like what what mainstream bands were you touring with back during this period like who were you opening for in America at least Okay. People like Cool and the gang and the Gap Band and Confunction. I remember going on tour in 1980, the All-Platinum tour with the Commodores.

The Commodores were really, really hot. I know Richie had all those ballads and stuff. And while we did about 120 shows around the country. And they took me places I never heard of before, like Tupelo, Mississippi. you know and a lot of college towns it was incredible just being a part of that tour and meeting people and and and for me it was like you know I had this thing I had to it became a mission of mine to meet my heroes that I grew up all those soul singers right that I that I listened to as a kid I just wanted to meet them and hug them and so I had again my record company set it up the publicity department Beverly Page she said

up with people like I met Aretha Franklin. Really? Over and she invited me for lunch over at Hittsville studio and we sat and talked for an hour and you know She talked about her rapping son. Oh yes. I'm sorry. Like if you have any dealings

if you're in the hip-hop nation and you have any dealings with Eritha Franklin, trust me her son's name's going to come up. Trust me, I know. My sister went to high school with him. Really? Yeah. He's still looking for a deal right now.

So wait, how earlier on was the Aretha meeting? Because I'm wondering, I'm like, how did she know that she needed to have a conversation? It's like 81, 1981, 2001. You got to understand, like, he was a star out the gate. I understand that before Aretha Franklin to understand that is a whole number of. Especially with roller skating culture, like, really hitting it Zenith in, like, 19. Like, the brakes to me, that song was tailored me for roller skating culture. Like, between 78 and 80s.

three at least roller skating culture. So it was like I feel as though that roller skating cultures would allow boogie music. Like the brakes wasn't a disco song. So it wasn't like but it still had a groove to it that was like disco but slower.

So it made it easier to navigate on skates. Yeah, all levels. All levels. And so yeah they're like I don't recall like we went roller skating every Sunday in the summer of 1980 and the brakes had to been played five times

five six times like without between like Curtis Blow and Rick James like it was like the battle of who owned roller skates so how important

our relationships because I also know that it's kind of weird I'm a soul trained expert so here's the thing about your particular episode so when Don's talking to you and this is something

that he's known for every episode he kind of lets in a snarky thing like I'm an old guy I don't understand but you know the kids love it I don't get it whatever but I mean at least the resistance how much resistance did you have to not only to get your record deal but like what was it just like for people not to see the future because people hate change more than anything well even if it's good for them there's a story behind that. You know, again, it's 1980. Right.

And I was just coming off a tour in Europe. Okay. I think I did about 30 shows and 33 days or something. Monumental tour. But during that time, Millie Vanilli over in Europe was the hottest thing on the press, with the press. Right. Everyone was talking about them and their show, their live show, their lip singing. Okay.

Right? And it was like the record company came to me. The promoters came to me. Oh, you can't lip sing. Make sure you don't lip sing. I'm telling you they're going to boo you and this and that. We don't play that over here in Europe and you got to do an hour and a half. You know. Oh, I'm a real show. Right? And so I'm like, okay, no problem. And, and, you know, I'm made for that because I have a, on every song, most every song about the first 10 singles, I have the B side has an instrumental and I rap live. You know, we call it half playback. So I got through the tour. But when I came back to America and I'm setting up for Soul Train, I'm sitting in the makeup room and Irene Kara is sitting right there. And at the forefront of my mind, I'm thinking about, you know, millie-vinilly and what's going on there. And I know that, you know, they lip sing on Soul Train.

That's their policy. So here comes down. Oh, well, the stage manager comes in with the microphone. The microphone's got this phone. little plug. Right. It's all right, you got a lip sing and make sure you, you know, you word the words, you know, you mouth the words just like the song and, and be in rhythm and stuff.

Do you do camera blocking Beckman? I'm like, look. We're weird, right? I am not going to lip sing. That's not what I do. This is hip-hop. We do hip-hop here. This is live.

And plus, I got cry response. I need to say these words, the cry response, and have the whole audience answer back. to me, you know what I mean? It's very important. This is hip hop. I'm not lip singing. And they were like, oh, Don Cornelius came in. What do you mean? You're not going to live singing. This is our rules. This is our policy. Well, look, Mr. Cornelius, I'm going home. How about that one? Irene Carrer looked at me like, boy, you crazy.

Right? And so... Because isn't it everyone's dream to be on Soul Train? Yes, yes. And it was a big thing. But I... I did not want to get the Europeans and America hasn't, you know, gotten this news yet about Millie Vanilly yet. Well, you're predating it. But you mean just with lip singing and stuff? I didn't want to have that reputation. Right.

You know, so I was the first artist to sing live, the breaks on Soul Train. So that's why Don comes out with that snorke. I don't know what everybody's making so much a big fuss about this thing. Oh, is that what he said? Oh, yeah. It was a little, it was a little snarky. It wasn't like. And I was shocked because I looked at him like,

no, you didn't. Right. So by this point, was Run your DJ on this initial run? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Oh, but no, no, no.

After that, after the, before the Commodore's tour, here's a story about Run. Run was my DJ before the Commodores tour, that all platinum tour. so run was out playing basketball with this guy down the block named Jason Mizelle Right So he breaks his arm

Playing basketball And so I'm like Yo, we got to go on tour, man I was asking his dad His dad's no you can't go out on tour Please dad let me go let me go He said no no you got to stay in school He said no please dad let me go into you

Look you got one arm you can't DJ Yes I can't look back Right Right And so he didn't get to go and he stayed home so when i got back off a tour about about four months later that's when i heard that he started a group called run dmc with his fellows that were up in the attic practicing and hanging out with him and uh so the story is if if run didn't break his arm

there would be no run dmc he would just been your dj yeah can i have and russle didn't have enough pool to be like dad i'll take care of him like was russell also traveling with you at the no dad was running the show yeah yeah dad that was very powerful he bought run the turntables okay because it's three brothers right like danny russell and run right and who's the oldest is the only okay yeah okay i was wondering russell's the middle child and joey is the run the youngest can i ask you a question about that makes that explains so much what russell's a middle child oh yeah you got makes yourself distinct yeah What was your question?

About touring, because I know since you were the first to ever tour like this internationally, there had to be like some mistakes. There had to be like some moments where you and you and Russell were like, okay, so we're not going to do this like that again. Like, there were just so many new things to you guys. Like, did you even know about writers? Did you know, like what didn't you know that you learned in your first? How many lost passports?

Yeah. I had to learn it all. I learned it all on. Where's your traveling on to? On the fly. Oh, it was incredible. I was the most sought after live act because it was just me and my DJ. Just two people?

Two people. Two turntables in the microphone. Really? Yes. So not the first to start the entourage. Right. Right. So you're easy to work with.

But then Russell in 81. Oh, boy. Yeah. So here he comes with Larry Smith or Larry Smith. was playing bass. Right. Play bass on the breaks and Christmas rap.

So Larry Smith produced Orange Crush was the band for all those for Christmas Rapids? No, no, no, no. Not Orange Crush. That came after Russell took $40,000

of my money and bought all this band. He gave it to Larry. Larry bought the band equipment and they said, all right, you're going out with a band. I'm like, what?

How could you do that? I didn't okay this. He said, wait, hey, hey. I'm the manager. I'm the manager. So you built Larry, Larry Smith's career. Well,

you provided the budget that got him on the equipment. I got to give props to him because he was excellent. Yeah, yeah. Excellent musician, incredible producer. Right. You know, I remember many of the nights we sat up

and talked about, you know, my sound. and trying to get a sound that was in between James Brown and Sheik. Right. And Larry was the man. He was definitely the man. I love him. So who worked on Christmas rapping and rap and blow and?

Yeah, that was Larry. Larry was on the bass. Okay. But you had John Trope. Okay. It was on guitar. And we had Jimmy Brayalow, who actually went on to become a Lindrum. Consulting.

A Lindrum programmer. Okay. And he was on drums and, you know, so during that time, you know, we recorded in the studio like the 70s and the 60s. It was a live band. Right. You know what I mean? And we had to rehearse and, you know, oh, let's play it one more time and record it. And hopefully it would come out okay.

I'm sorry. And we do rough. White guy in the corner as a question. Yes. So John Tropia, the guitarist. Yes. So was he the guitar? He's a, to me, he's a famous jazz guitarist.

Right, right. And I, he's on the brakes. Wow. That's his work? That's his, holy shit. He's work. He's on the brakes. Is he on?

School me on him, you know? Is he on run DMC stuff? No, that was, uh, Eddie, they're not Edichonzo. Well, Eddie Chanzo did. Martinez. Martinez. Martinez. Yes.

Eddie Martinez did rock bucks. Wow. No. I, I got, I need to process. I'm not schooling me on anything. I don't know too much about, about him. I just, I'd have a few records. He don't get blown away easily, but it is Curtis Blum.

No, that's just so really weird. Unexpected. It was unexpected name, yeah. Yeah, but he's a legend, definitely a legend. Wow. You know, I remember seeing him in the studio because my producer, J.B. Moore was also a guitar player, and he couldn't do the guitars right the way we wanted it. And the way he wanted it, actually.

And so when John came in and played it perfectly. Perfect rhythm. And it was just immaculate, you know. Char drives the song. So for your first album, like, whose idea was it to do, like, taking care of business? To do all the girls. What's the other one? Ooh, the slow one that's like, mm.

All I want in this world. Yes. To find that girl. Yes. Yeah, people don't even credit that as the first love ballad. So it's like, for you, you were making a format that was palatable the radio. It was like Frankie Crocker on your mind. like, okay, or was it the label saying we need something that, you know, that...

Right. Well, it was all by design. Of course, you know, we wanted to, you know, have a fusion with other forms of music because it was so brand new, this thing, hip-hop, and rap, you know. So why not rap over a rock and roll song? Why not have a reggae rap? I was the first to do a country and western rap. Way Out West.

That Way Out West song, you know. You know, we just tried to be different. and tried to give something new. Sky was the limit, man. In retrospect, though, do you see how, like, free you were in that moment? Because I feel like a lot of emcees today out the gate couldn't just say, I'm a producing that.

And this different genre, they won't be allowed to. Well, here's the thing. I always wanted to be a singer. And I remember singing those singing songs that every album I put on the singing song. Yeah, all those joints. But listen, folks, it took me, A couple of weeks to do those movies.

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Hey Jonas. We're here, since everyone has a podcast, we want it to as well. And we've had some incredible guests so far. And now our good friend Nile Horn is joining the show. How's it going, boys. Hey, Nile. It's the same thing with Slow Hands.

Slow Hands is not about anything else, really, is it? You know, or taste so good can be about food. You do the same, Nick, with some of the stuff that you've done. You too, Joe. Drop what you're doing and listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. So in 83, in Philadelphia, party time, very big record. Oh, yes. Which, of course, you know, well, Laya would know that.

Tracy Lee. Hey, Tracee. Yeah. Like, try to bring that back. So that was the first time I ever heard full force on record. So how did you hook up with those guys as far as like, did they produce that record? Were they just the band or like, what was, how did you guys? No, they became producers after that because we sat in the studio and talked about, you know,

J.B. Moore and Robert Ford and what they were doing on my stuff and how they wanted to do the same thing, but differently more funky or more creative. So they were incredible. I met them through J.B. Moore and Robert Ford. And very, very, very talented musicians and singers. And it was incredible just to be a part of that. But the Go-Go song. Talk about it.

Trouble funk? Wow. Trouble funk. That was EU. So here it is on my birthday. I turned 21 years old. I had the number one record in the country. and so I'm going down to play the Capitol Center down in D.C.

So I had my band. You remember the Orange Crush band? I got Timbalis and, oh, man, we got like eight, eight, nine pieces, right? Right. We rolled down to the Capitol Center. And I'm headlining this concert, and they have all these local bands there. And I didn't know what they were, you know, what it was. So I walk in the spot, I'm here.

First time you're in Go-Go? First time I'm hearing Go-go The whole crowd is going to go and the whole crowd is going crazy I'm saying, oh, I'm about to tear this place. Right? Yes. So they were going crazy and it was a band called Troublefunk. Then another band came on EU Freeze, right?

They went on and same thing. Fonty. And the crowd is going crazy again, even more crazy. So I'm like, wow, Chuck Brown was there. Oh, my God. Right, the Godfather. He comes out and tears up the spot, too. So it's my turn.

So I go out there. I don't like where you take the story. Let me cue this music up. So go ahead. It is easy. I throw on Christmas rapping. When we're playing Christmas rapping, the band is tight, clean, and everything. But the crowd is like this looking at us like,

I'm like, oh my gosh. We better get to the brakes. And, you know, quick on this one here, right? Right. So I'm speeding through the set. And then we throw on the brakes. Clap your hands. There you have.

Right? Right. And then like, still. Still, right? Number one record in country. And so that night I got my butt tore up three or four different times. And for me, it was like, my mom's always said, if you can't beat them, join them. Hell yeah.

So I got all that numbers. Okay. Nice. Nice. Next year, I called my boy Sugar Bear. Yeah. And we did. Sugar Bear and then playing on party time?

We did party time. Damn. Okay. Yeah. Okay. And it's just wonderful to have them in the studio just doing that thing live. And it was incredible. How many pieces in the studio in that moment?

Oh, yeah. It was like seven. Eight pieces. Yeah. And so you were the first for that, too, I'm guessing. The first to do a go-go collab. Well, no. No?

Because Flash and them did a live version. Well, they actually signed Troublefunk two Sugar Hill records. Right, right. The first live go-go that I've heard was Troublefunk live on Sugar Hill. So the Robinson's got there early on that. And then actually, actually, the first sample loop, right, was on the song, if I ruled the world. And the sample was trouble funk.

You know that pump, pump, pump, pump it up. That was your... I took the percussion part. And laid it under if I rule the world. Okay, okay. How did that feel for you to have that song come back and for people to learn that you're the origin of that particular song? because that song means so much to...

I like your harmonies to best stuff. He got better harmonies. Okay. What was you saying? Throw Lauren in the trash one. I'm not just saying that song right there. Curtis, you know, you got up top of Lauren. It was just...

That was you and Allison Williams, actually. Right. That's Allison singing. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Finder Ray too, right? Yes, yes, yes. Finder Ray. I know that name. You have the heavy hitters.

And Audrey Wheeler. Yes. You had the heavy hitters. Wow. See, I knew the harmonies were better. It was awesome It's the ultimate and flattery To hear your song on the radio

That you recorded some time ago I remember when Sony sent me the tape They sent me a cassette tape And it was awesome I sat there and played the tape in my car For about three hours Kept rewinding and rewinding it You know

And it was like oh my God That's got to be Lauren Hill That's got to be Lauren Hill You know So I called them back. I said, look, Sony, you guys got a big major, major monster hit on you. You better put all your promotion in this because this is going platinum. It went triple platinum.

Yeah. Now, did you think that were too close or? Same thing. You saw it, but you heard it. But I didn't hear it. I didn't hear that song like I sat and, you know, listen to it if I rule the world. Because I feel like the checks are the same. Like that song gets played more than if I ruled the world, right?

Yeah. Talk about next too close, y'all. It was huge at one song of the year, I think, in 90s something. Jesus Christ, I forgot about next. That's all the song that you get annoyed because it just played all the time. Hey, that keeps the dance for, you know, as a DJ, I need that song, so I get it. I know I don't want to skip 84, and I know that your involvement in the King Celebration thing was important. Can you tell the story?

I've heard the story about you personally, like Prince Funding. Is this thing celebrate? Is that what you're talking about? Yeah, King. Yes, yes. So how did the idea come to be? Well, I got a phone call from Dexter Scott King, Martin Luther King's son. And it was incredible. Isn't he the only one?

No, so they all love. Here he goes, hello, Curtis. This is Dexter Scott King and I'm the son of Martin Luther King. And I want you to produce. a song about my father. So, no, no, I hung up on him. You know it was a prank? Right? I thought it was a prank. He called me back. I hung up on him again.

So the third time I listened to him, I was like, well, he's got to be real. He's calling three times. So we got together, became good friends. So another guy, Philip Jones, who was the elder producer on the set. And I went back to Mercury, Polygram. And convinced them to sponsor this song and they paid for the studio and I called all the artists. It was no one said no. So the idea was to use all the people that weren't in We Are the World, right? Yeah.

Yes. Including an unknown Whitney Houston. Whitney said yes. Right. And Stephanie Mills said yes. Manuno with Ricky Martin. It was incredible. Can you give us one know?

Who was the one artist? It was like, I don't know. Yeah, I'll make it and then didn't. No, everyone said, yeah,

it was incredible. It was such a meaningful song, you know, to be a part of that. And it was, it was a lot of fun to make, you know. So what was Prince's,

so the record company did not want to pay for the video, the music video. Okay. So, Dexter, Dexter, and got with Prince

and asked Prince, when he paid for it. And he calls me up and said, Prince said he's going to put up $90,000 for this music video. And I was like, oh my gosh, yes, it did. And Prince and I became friends after that. I mean, he was really, really a nice guy.

I forgot. And you know me, I'm trying to, you know, hang out with all the stars that I could. And so I went back to my record company. I said, hook up something for me and Prince. We got to do something together. So they did Beverly Page. She hooked up this picture autograph session with me and Prince.

I think we were in Detroit somewhere. And the club was packed as a line outside of all these women. Right? And so Prince signs about 1,500 autographs and takes about 1,500 pictures. And me, I took about 10 pitches. Really? He was a big, huge superstar. loved him, man. What a great guy.

Wow. Yep, yep. So uncharacteristic of him. You never know. Working on the Crush Groove movie. Yes. Well, obviously, you know, we know that's based on the life of

Russell Simmons, but how was that experience for you in general? Well, it was a lot of hard work. I'll tell you the truth, because during that time, I was a producer. and so I was producing the Fat Boy's second album and producing my America album

with If I Rood the World on it. And also the Crush Group soundtrack. So I was producing three albums at one time and had deadlines and all that. So I was going to three different studios every day. You know, and it was hard work, hard work. And then I had to wake up at six in the morning to get on film set, you know, to do the movie.

And it was a lot of work. As a matter of fact, I kind of like took a break. You know, the last thing I did was a Martin Luther King song. And then I took a break for about five years. Didn't go into the studio. Couldn't go into the studio. Too much working. It was too much.

Because you didn't produce the third Fat Boys record. No. What was it like just man? Well, were you managing them at the time or just producing them? Their manager was a guy by the name of Charlie Stettler. From Disco Fever. Right, right. And he also manages Scribbles, D.E.

Jay Scribbles and Dr. Dre and Ed Lover from your MTV Raps. But Charlie was their manager and they were signed the Suture Records and Morris Levy. It was, it was... Wait, Morris Levy owned Sutra? Yeah. Oh, wow. Oh, no. Yeah.

A Levy, Steve. Yo, that explains a lot. I never knew. I thought after Ruleette Records and the Hitman book, I thought Morris Levy just left the business he do. You just got to read Hitman. The title is not good. The title's not good.

His book is Hitman, you know. Yeah. Right, right. Marsh Levy owned sutra? But they were some good guys, I mean, you know, from Brooklyn. Well, good fellas. No, the fat boys. Oh, those guys.

Yeah, yeah. Okay. I'm talking about Morris Levy. Wait a minute, man. Jesus Christ. Yeah, like, for me, that album managed, you captured their humor spirit in a way that

hip hop hadn't seen before and especially that first record I think everyone that's of my age now that was their first experience either that or the run DMC record but yeah just producing I mean how hard was it trying to explain like they don't need music

and just beep the culture beatboxing and how did you manage it? takes what it takes to get like those songs perfected. No, they were great in the studio. It was awesome. What is on the record, that humor, that, that, that genuine personality comes through? Because I just, you know, let the record button go. And I remember Buff, rest in peace, he said one time, he said,

Yo, yo, you, Kurt, man, yo, all I want is a car. You got two houses and all of this stuff, man. And these guys were incredible. And they love music. I found out as a producer, the basic job of a producer is to make people's dreams come true. You know, you take them around the bases and bring them home.

And when you get home, you know, you have that finished product. And that's our job. Well, how weird was it letting a 14-year-old produce you? Because Salam Remy got to start as a 14-year-old kid. Well, he had the tracks. Okay. You know, and I wanted to give him a shot. His dad was a very good friend.

He worked at the record company. He was one of the promoters, promotion department. He actually introduced me to his son and said, you know, he's got some good stuff. And I said, well, I'll give him a shot. How about that? You know? So he did the Back by Popular Demand song. Yeah.

You know, and that was great. He actually asked Molly Maher to do the scratches on it. And Molly came down to the studio. Really? Because of this kid. Oh, wow. And got on the record and started scratching. And, wow, the rest is history.

That's crazy. So at the end of the day, what do you want your legacy to be as far as, your, I mean, you've done so many things. To be first of this and first of that, like, where do you see the history of hip hop as far as, like, preserving it and those types of things? Like, how do you want to see the culture preserved? Well, I'm working...

What do you think of rap today? I hate when I get asked that question. Well, you know, there's a project we're working on called the Universal Hip Hop Museum where we're working on, where we want to document this history and put it in a brick and mortar location where the whole world can come and visit and see and be a part of it.

And just, you know, the many stories, the many lives and the many careers and so much talent that has been a part of this way of life that it needs to be documented. It needs to be stored and cherished and supported. in one place and we're doing that working on that right now. So you can go to UHHM.org to find out more information about the Universal Hip Hop Museum.

But as for me, I want people to remember me as a guy who actually was a big part of practical study. So very important, even in music, whatever it is that you want to do in life. I think that practical study is very important. You go and do your research in that field of whatever it is, Dr. Lawyer, businessman, rapper, singer, a DJ, doesn't matter. Study the history of it. And within that history, find out someone who was successful and study the steps that they took to achieve that success. And then repeat those steps, mimic those steps.

And then I guarantee you also will achieve success. So do you think then, basically, since you were the first in so many situations, because I'm thinking, as you're speaking, I'm like, Curtis Blow is sitting next to us. He was the first person to get a major endorsement deal, right? In 2019, Roberts was just bloomer of endorsement deals. Basically, it seems like it should be a part of the education and matriculation of an MC to have a Curtis Blow education since you were the first, right? I mean, there are other classes on other. Well, I'm a big, avid supporter of education, education is the key to. success is the key to getting out of the ghetto research you know bring the the classroom into the

culture and the culture into the classroom very important doing your research like I said and and we as rappers just speaking on rap you know the oratory we are orators we are communicators so I majored in communications and studied the greatest orators of our time like Barbara Jordan and Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King Malcolm X. And I found out that we have all of these options and windows that we can open, doors that we can open as the orators of this culture. Like, for instance, public speaking, politics, you have broadcasting, you know, television and radio broadcasting, journalism.

Here's one for you, preaching. I forgot. You are Father Walker. You're ordained, correct? Ordained minister. And so, you know, and studying all of the great orators of our time, I found out that the most passionate of the speakers, the orator, the orators, were the preachers and the reverence. You know, many of those speeches like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, you know, gave me the fortitude and the will and the want to, to take it to the next level in this feel. And as an emce, that means that you're a master of the ceremony. It doesn't matter what the ceremony is.

You can be on the street corner and a circle full of 20 people. You can be at a club. You can be at a block party or a park jam. You can be at a community center. You can be at a concert with five people or 20,000. You know, you can be at a bar mitzvah, you know, wherever it is. Shut up.

I'm a minutez. I've played a couple of bar mitzvres in my time. Yes, yes. And, you know, so that is the story. You are a master of any ceremony. I don't know anybody who has used their communications degree to the levels that you have. In this moment, I just realized that. I was like, all my life, I think as a communications major,

I was like, maybe I should have did business or something like that. But now that you've broken it down like that. No, you got some windows. You got some. You're in communication. You're literally. I am, but you know, you got to have some multiple hustles. As you know yourself as a former radio host.

Yes, yes, yes. I just want to stay away from politics these days. We need more people like you, you know, in front of the masses, you know. What can I say? Wait, I want to mention the net. The net, please. I totally forgot. I'm so caught in the history.

I totally forgot. So yeah, the hip hop nutcracker explain to me this project. Like how... Wow. Well, the hip hop nutcracker is a modernized version of the classic Chikovsky's incredible classical music. We are now doing hip hop dance and break dancing and ballet and bringing the story to the masses with the culture of hip hop. forefront and so it's a new modernized version is really something that every family should see is during the holiday season you know when when when love is in the air and everyone's hugging on each other and trying to thank each other for putting up with you all year long you know just go out and have a great time seeing this classic classic um rendition of of chikovsky's hit but um so like all the songs are filtered through hip-hop, so there's like trap versions of the sugarplum song.

You might need to do that if it's not in the... It's incredible because we have a DJ who is actually playing beats under this classical music. And we have an electric violinist who's doing that thing. But the creators of Jennifer Weber want to give her a shout out. She's also the choreographer and director. And Michael Fitterson put together this piece that is a great, great holiday family fun classic. So it's a show that everyone needs to see all ages, all races. It doesn't matter.

It's incredible. It's really a good look for hip-hop and a good look for music in general. That's good. I mean, for you being on the forefront of one of the first hip hop ballets and, I mean, you were there when hip hop was in stadiums with the Fresh Fest and to go from there all the way to where we are now. That's quite a journey. We thank you for coming on the show. Yeah, I thank you for having me, you know, and a big shout out to all the dancers who are part of that because we have so much talent that's out there. You know, these young dancers are coming out from all over the world. And they have so much mad flavor, so many different styles from power moves to, you know, to the wave, to pop lock in. You know, it's incredible to see how it's all put together and how Jennifer Weber did this thing.

And the choreography is incredible. Wow. Well, thank you. Can I thank John and your wife Shirley too? Because this has been like a year and a half in the work. I know. We've been waiting. Yeah.

And like, thank you, Shirley. Thank you, thank you. Thank you for me. Thank you, Curtis too. But you know, take a strong woman. You get it. Well, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the crew, the Team Supreme, unpaid bill, boss bill, Sugar Steve, and Laya, this, of course, love.

Thank you very much. who's bar mitzvah did you did you play stop Steve yeah

maybe I know them we are stopping right here this is this is course of Supreme we'll see you

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