The Questlove Show - QLS Classic: Roots Picnic 2016 Part 1

Episode Date: June 19, 2023

Recorded from the 2016 Roots Picnic in NYC: Part I features appearances from X-Ambassadors, Stretch and Bobbito, and Lady Leshurr.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 2%. That's the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter. And on my podcast, 2%. I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange, modern world. Put yourself through some hardships and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person.

Listen to 2%. That's TWO percent on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora. What up, y'all? It's Laia, and this QLS Classic is taking us back to October 19, 2016. Imagine it. Roots Picnic, New York City, two days.

Well, myself and Team Supreme decided we were. would a hole up in a hotel across the street from the Ruth's picnic and interview as many of those artists as possible. Yeah, the first and the last time we did this. But check it out. This is the episode that features appearances from ex-ambassar, Stretching Bobito, and Lady Leisure. It's a good one.

I hope you enjoy it. What's up, y'all? Welcome to a very special edition of Questlove Supreme. Once again, this is a road trip. Well, not exactly a road trip. We're kind of up the block from Bryant Park in New York City. I'll say that 20 years ago when the roots were first formed, we made and cut our teeth on the festival circuit. And festivals are like now a thing in America, but back in the early 90s, it was like really unheard of to have different genres together under one roof like doing a festival.

We always said that we had enough pool and, of course, enough finances. We were going to bring a festival to whatever city that we chose to do. And of course, I guess most of you guys are familiar with the Roots Picnic. That's our Philadelphia Homegrown Festival event. So this year we decided to take the Roots Picnic to Bryant Park in New York City and entertained over 20,000 people for two days. So many acts played the picnic. David Byrne, Wutan Clan, DiAngelo, John Mayer, even Alicia Keys, Dave Chappelle, Cappell, Common. Of course, the Roots performed as well.

We even had Nile Rogers and Sheik. That's a lot of lineup. Anyway, we recorded these special episodes of Questlove Supreme live during the Roots picnic. I was running around quite a bit, too. I popped up in the show occasionally when I had a minute, but I was basically rehearsing. But don't worry, the team Supreme held it down, and they really did an amazing job running the show with my absence. That's right. We got Fonte, boss bill's still there, unpaid bills there, Sugar Steve is there,

Lai is there, and a whole cast of others. This particular episode, you're going to hear some really, really great interviews with DJ MoMA. Who else? We got the ex-ed ambassadors, Tish Hyman, Chill Moody, Smashin' Hearts. We got the legendary New York hip-hop radio DJ stretching Bob Bito, some of my favorites. I want to be them when I grow up. And all the way from the UK, we got Lady LaSure. I really hope you enjoy the show.

This is part one of the Roots Picnic, New York Edition. Quest Love Supreme. Let's go. Suprima. Suprima Ro. Call Suprema, sub, sub, sub, subprima roll call. Suprema, sub, sub, sub, suprema roll call. Suprema, sub, sub, sub, sub, subprima, roll call.

My name is Fonte, yeah. But have no fear. Yeah. I'm running this ball. Yeah. Because Quest ain't ill. Roll call. Suprema, sub, sub, sub, suprema,

Role call. Supraima, sub, sub, sub, suprema role call. I'm unpain bill. Yeah. Y'all don't know. Yeah. Roots Picnic. Yeah.

Here we go. Yeah. Hey, that's going to be better than mine. Supraima Role Call. Supremma, Subrema, Subrema, Subrema, Subprema, Role Call. My name's Laia. Yeah. And it is cold.

Yeah. Don't worry, fellas. Yeah. Because I keep you bold, I don't know. Roll call. Supima. Suprema, Subima, Subima, Roe Call. Supremma, Subrema, Subrema, Role call.

My name is Steve. Yeah. I am so tired. Yeah. I am not high yet. Yeah. Let's get high. Roll call.

Suprema, Supraima, Supriam, Rocall. Supraima, Supraima, Supremal, Roll Call. House Bill is here,

and I didn't prepare. Yeah. So I'm just gonna read the rest of this ad from my Furness large one bedroom. Roll Trial! $17 million. New York, New York,

One Zero, Suprima, Su, Supremal Role Call My name is MoMA Yeah I'm a music man Yeah

I'm African Yeah Represent Queens New York man Rowe Call Supra Supraima Rocall Supra Suprara

Suprara Ro call Supra Supra Ro call Supra Suprara Ro call

I was trying to do the laugh The Quest Love laugh The First Love laugh. That damn must sound like the Jada Kiss laugh. Crazy for this. It's how he got emphysema. Welcome to Questlove Supreme, our faithful and righteous cult leader. Our furor, Questlove, is not here today.

He's a little busy. He's a little busy. He's a little busy actually doing his job. Yeah. One of his job. One of his 19 jobs. So many jobs. So he's actually working today on the Roots picnic.

So we're holding it down in his absence. I'm Fonte, Fantigga, New Ticcolo, New Ticolo, Nucigolo, aka Gullet Blancher, aka Haxaw Jim Thugger, aka Young Player Underwood, aka Wolfgang Flores. A.k.a, that's enough, you know what I'm saying? Enough. Aka, album in stores. Album and stores.

I always got album in stores somewhere. Yeah, holding it down, Fantigolo. So to my left is the lovely miss. I don't do it to you. Because he, Questlove came up with a great nickname for you. What is it? Margaret.

Loudia. Oh. I'm not loud. I don't know. Okay. That's fine. That's fine. You just proof the point.

I love you anyway. We love you. We love you. We love y'all back. It's good to be here today. Hello, fellas. Hey. Yeah.

Also joining us, you know what I'm saying? My brother, my man's, my middle of my man's, unpaid bill, Bill Sherman, who is here. Although I just, I just found out. out, he is now paid. He found out there's a text message. I did. Yeah.

Thank you. I can't afford that applause track yet. You got it. Thank you. It's a big day. You got that PayPal notification. I did. So unpaid bill, Bill Sherman, he's in the building.

Direct deposit bill. Sugar Steve. PayPal, Bill. I like that. Sugar Steve, your hardest working engine is your business. How many hours have you been up, like, completely? All of them.

I don't know. The last two nights have just got. got a couple hours of sleep so damn oh we gonna get all into that I want to do so you're a little delirious today every day yeah a little more than usual and he had his weed yet so we got we got some weed his medicine we got to get him some med we won't call it weed I don't think we can do that yeah we're we're we're we're we're we're we're I have many jobs like Quest also you want to list them yeah go ahead I work at the supervisor at McDonald's you got promoted I hear

not washing lettuce I was washing lettuce no we're simultaneously recording the picnic multi-track recording of the picnic and we're set up an SIR for rehearsals over the next two days as well and we're recording those and we're recording these

so I got like three Pro Tools rigs all around town we're on Steve's busy Steve is the fucking man I'm not really doing much I have an assistant who's doing much that's what's up I gotta get that level I can get me an assistant. If it ain't now, Fonte, then win.

I don't know when. I don't know. I think I have a problem letting people in my life in that way. That just got really personal. Really couch. At least you're not talking about, you know, writing stuff on the toilet. No, no. The desk in your toilet.

Fonte, what would you do with an assistant? I feel like, man, I don't know. I just, because you got to let, you got to really trust in your assistant. Like, that's somebody, they got the passwords to your shit. You know what I'm saying? if you got a side piece, they got a no. Travel arrangements. Travel arrangements.

Look at Momah shaking his head. Travel arrangements. So, it's like, so yeah, man, I don't know, man. That's just someone else in your life that you that could just write a book about you later on. I don't know if I trust that shit. They don't do that. Can end up as a guest on Questlove Supreme after you die?

After you die and be like, yeah, Fonte was doing all the Coke, nigger. I don't want to, I can't fuck with that shit. I don't know. So, I don't know. I get through that. Maybe with some counseling and all later, I can get through that. But fuck my problems.

Listen, the man we got right here. My man right here, this brother, I will let him talk about himself, but allow me to introduce. This brother, he is the lead, the head DJ, everyday people. Right on. Everyday people, which is Chef Robles. Chef Robles and Sada. Oh.

Awesome party. Awesome party. Yeah. Awesome party. How long has a party been around? This is like the end of the fourth season. Okay. Oh, wow.

Okay. Yeah, I was this funny. supposed to do one of them in Charlotte. Right. I ended up having to go, I think we had a tour date or something, so I missed it. I was like, damn, I missed it.

But anyway, ladies and gentlemen, the man of the hour, the man with the plan, with the sound, all that flash shit. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up a DJ MoMA. What's up?

What's up, man? Thank you for doing this, man. Thank you for coming here. My pleasure. Getting up early in the morning. This is early for, like, musician hours and shit. Pretty much.

It's noon. Yeah, noon is. No, 30. Yeah, that's still kind of early. I biked here so I could wake up. Did you really? Oh, shit. I live in the city, though, so I'm not like no hero.

You biked over a bridge. He didn't come from like Bay Ridge or anything. No, no. Oh, wow. You've been doing a lot of stuff this past week, right? Because you filled in for Quest at Brooklyn. I filled in for Quest at Brooklyn Bowl. And also did a closing event for Summer Stage with Janelle Monet in Central Park.

So it's been a fun week. You know, and we got Roots picnic tomorrow. Today. Today. Shoot. Today. Today. It's happening.

That's dope, man. Shit is real. So tell me a little bit about your style, man. I was looking through your, unfortunately, like I said, I didn't get to come to the party, so I miss actually seeing you do your thing. But we had you send over just some tracks, you know, before. And I was just reading the tracks. I was like, yo, this motherfucker is in my iTunes. Like some of the Jones you speak like the Gregor Reporter, 1960 what?

Right, right, right. Donald Bird, love has come around. Like, just, I was like, oh, my God. Like, this dude is like me. Yeah, man. I mean, my style, you know, it covers a lot from like really like esoteric, mixtape radio show stuff to like more mainstream generic. And, you know, when I first started DJing, I was in a place where I was either in like

in a bar in Brooklyn playing like Roy Ayers vinyl and Weldon Irvine or whatever. Or I was in Manhattan playing like Britney Spears and Justin Timberlitt. And, you know, obviously one of those two was a struggle for me, but I was getting it done because it was a check. And I think, you know, after like 12 to 13 years of DJing, I've been able to kind of like reconcile everything in the middle where I've just found that happy medium where in one of my parties you may hear like a soulful joint. But you're probably, you're also going to hear Drake and future. And I've been able to kind of like eliminate all like the real disposable pop shit. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So in terms of my style, I would say it's basically. basically like the best of black music that I love, you know, hip hop, R&B, Soca, House. You're able to play soccer? You can get Soka. Oh, come in. He's in New York. Oh, in New York. You got to. Yeah. You got to, man. You said Africa. What part of, what car of the continent are you from? I'm from Sudan. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Yeah. So how does that, how does, I mean, because most people don't know the musical influence in Sudan. Do you, is it any, do you ever play anything?

You know, we don't have that big of Sudanese community in New York. So if I were to drop a track, they might bomb. But I'm also like part Eritrean and the whole like East African connect. That's what I see. So there's a lot of like Ethiopians and Eritreans that come through to my events. And so I got that music on deck. And when I do drop it, it's a riot. You know, you have people who are not familiar with it.

Be like, what the hell's going on. But the ones that are familiar, you when they lose their fucking mind. Yeah. Totally got you. So I mean, I just do that late night. Late night. Not in the middle of prime time. So if it bombs, it's okay.

Got you. But, my man, Odyssey, I don't know if you're over him. He's Sudan. Yeah, that's my homie. Oh, okay. He's from Sudanan as well. Odyssey's producer, MC, was based out of DC. I think he's here now, but incredible, incredible artist.

Your start, like, what leads a person to want to be a DJ? Like, what is the, you know, people have, some people want to be emcees, some people want to be producers. What is it that drove you to say, I want to select the sounds for people? I don't know, I think it was maybe the easiest way for me to touch music, being that I just don't play instruments and I don't sing. When I was in high school and college, I used to rap. I think we all did. Yeah, you had your little crew. You did?

I'm sure you did. No, I did not. I did not. Have you heard me rap before? I have, but you just did it. Exactly. But everybody rapped in high school. I mean, that was like a rite of passage, I think.

Right. And I think the Roots used to do something called Black Lack. Lily's? Yeah. I even like, I got on stage on that as one of the emcees that went up during the open mic and that was like, that was my hip hop career highlight of my life. I don't remember what year this was. Late 90s, early 2000s, I don't recall. But around that time, you know, I became like really disenchanted with hip hop. It was super jiggy and I just kind of fell out of love with it. So I started researching all the samples behind the music and that's when I started collecting vinyl. And, you know, to go back to your question, I don't think, I don't think, I A lot of us who started DJing in maybe late 90s or before that, I don't think anybody starts DJing with the goal of becoming a DJ. You just love music. You collect vinyl. And after a certain amount of time, you have enough music and you have enough experience

that you could actually rock a party, which is kind of different than the way it is today. Got you. There was never anything where you said, okay, I want to get paid for this. It was like you didn't start off with the intention of, hey, maybe I can make a commission of this. No, because I was working a full-time job. You know, I went to college for electrical engineering. And so I came out of school. I was working a full-time job,

which I actually helped for like, you know, over 10 years. And I was doing both at the same time. Living in Manhattan, working in Manhattan, DJing in Manhattan. So I never really had to worry about getting paid for DJing. So I just kept, like, honing my skills and, like, refining my craft. And ultimately, you know, I became so good

that I didn't have to work anymore. It's interesting you say that. I had a talk with a friend of mine a couple days ago. He was asking me about, like, okay, when do you make the leap from your hobby to your real, from your real job? From your hobby to your jobby.

Right. Your hobby to your job. And my, I said almost verbatim what you said, I was like, listen, as long as you got something that's paying you that steady check, stay with that shit.

Don't walk away from that fucking check. What the fuck is wrong with you? You gotta get that money. Get fired because you gotta get that unemployment first. Yeah, because you never want, I just feel like you never want desperation to fuel your artistic decisions.

Right. You know what I'm saying? You can't focus on being a great DJ when you ain't got no fucking. roof. And that job can finance your craft. You know, if you buy turntables, you want to buy Pro Tools, you want to buy Mac, you want to like start getting more records. Yeah. What was the, so making that transition, going from the joby to the hobby, like, what was that like? When did you know like, okay, officially I can do this full time and I'm good? What was that like for you?

I just think it came at a point where I became, I started to feel miserable. What year was this? This is like, honestly, I was going back and forth from the corporate life. Okay. Because I'm like, you know what? I got enough money. I'm about to DJ and travel for a year or two. And I'm like, oh, shit, I'm broke. We go back.

And I think the last time I just, like, you know, cut off the umbilical cord was 2014. Oh, wow. Yeah. So not that long ago. But I just started to feel miserable. There was such a huge difference between how I felt at the office. And, you know, I really like engineering. It's a great job.

like really building things and it's problem solving all day long. But I just start to feel miserable versus, you know, the high that I would get when I'm out DJing, doing day parties with 300 of my friends. I was like, all right. I'm not at the point where I can make up that income. But I think having my time and my life back was probably worth like six figures to me at that point. So I was like, fuck it.

I start from the bottom and build it back up. And, you know, it happened pretty fast. That's dope, man. That's really dope. I'm sitting here with the man of the hour, DJ MoMA, of everyday people. I was sitting here. So this is Roots Picnic, so I want to talk picnic stuff. What is, when you got this gig, like, what was your mind state in terms of saying, like, setting up your crates or your playlists or whatever?

Like, what was that, like, for this kind of crowd? Like, how would you rock this kind of crowd? Well, I had gotten a nod for Roots Pick. in Philly. Okay. So that gave me like a good introduction. And then when when Quest told me about Boots Picnic, New York, I was like, oh man, that's like a home game. That's just going to be so easy. Truth be told, I haven't even thought about it yet. Okay. It's going to be in a few hours, but it's not that long as set, 45 minutes. It's going to be so easy. I'm just going to do a mixture of like, you know, like some hip-hop hits, but also like some more like global, danceable stuff. I'm thinking

Brazilian vibes, African vibes. Try to bring something different. Try to warm it up out there. It's a little cool. Yes. Yeah, it is a little cold. Take you guys to the tropics. So you don't, you don't pre-plan your sets at all? Yeah, that's a nice question.

I don't. I did the Red Bull 3 style the same way. I pulled up to, it was at South Paw, and I was just chilling in the green room, and I started looking at some crates. You know, because when you've DJ enough, you have all these micro sets that are in your head. So sometimes it's a matter of piecing the right

micro sets together and having the right transition records to go from one genre to the other. I don't think I've ever done a set where I've gone song by song because maybe song number seven didn't hit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, maybe my intuition is like, nah, don't play this right now. Yeah, I was going to ask you. So a lot of it is definitely you have to read the crowd. I mean, you can have something in your mind, but it's like, I don't think this is work.

100%. I think that's basically like my main attribute. I'm not necessarily like a turntable list or I don't talk on the mic too much. It's mostly selection mixing and timing. So selection's key. 2%. That is the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter.

And on my podcast, 2%, I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world. I'll be speaking with writers, researchers, and other health and fitness. experts, and more, to look past the impractical and way too complex pseudoscience that dominates the wellness industry. We really believe that seed oils were inherently inflammatory. We got it wrong. Many of the problems that we are freaked out about in the world are the result of stress. Put yourself through some hardships, and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person. Listen to 2%. That's T-W-O-P-P-Sent.

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you hear some noise, it's just me and the boys. It's playing a goddamn simple. Now, we're live on location. We're at the Bruce Picnic,

and so if you hear any kind of booming or any kind of drums, or coughing, it's unpaid, bill in his emphysema. Or is Steve with his medicine. Or Steve with his medicine. Or if you're any kind of drums

or anything, probably our boss man, Questlove playing nearby. So it may be some sounds from the picnic that you guys hear. I think they got the picture. You got it. Okay, yeah. All right, cool. It's good.

It adds to the ambiance, you know what I'm saying? Like, adds to the authenticity. Fuck it. Ladies gentlemen, we are proud. Once again, we're here. We're happy these brothers took time on a show day to enjoy us, because it really means a lot for him to come here. These brothers are based out of Brooklyn.

Ladies and gentlemen, please give a big warm Questlove Supreme. Round of applause for the ex-ambassadors. What's up? What's up? How about us here, man? Fellas, fellas. How y'all feel?

What up? Feeling good, man. Feeling great to be back in New York. It's funny, you know, we actually all, I know this is going to create some groans. We all just relocated to L.A. Oh, wow. Yeah.

So we're all out. in LA but it's oh my god so lame I'm telling you just like getting off the plane it's just like seeing this gray sky and it's like a low 60s I'm feeling it man so in it I'm so in it homesick how long have you guys been out in LA about a I mean I mean yeah you've been there a year we've been on tour so he moved there a year ago but he hasn't been there yeah I moved there like two months ago I moved there last September I spent I've spent maybe like four weeks There total since I moved. Wow.

So you're not a douchebag yet. Not yet. Not yet. But I've had some avocado toast that was... Oh, it's a slippery slope right there. Once it hits your lips is so good. There's not much you can do. Avocado toast.

You're not up on that? Oh, my God. I'm in the South. So much avocado. This is true. Okay, so you got to break this down. So is it toast? Spread with a potato bread?

It's just simple. It's just avocado kind of shrew. smeared on some toast. I still got the smear. And it's delicious. The Jewish New Yorker. So it's like a boogie peanut butter and jelly kind of. Kind of.

California cream cheese. It's a gentrified. California cream cheese. That's exactly. It's chintrified cream cheese. California is gentrified cream cheese. I got it. All good.

All good. Okay. Well, thank y'all for coming through, man. Oh, my God. It's our pleasure, man. So we got with us today just so everyone can hear. and qualified. All right, so we got Casey Harris

on keyboards and then lead vocal, Sam, Harris. And then on drums, Adam Levine or Adam Levin? Adam Levin. He gets that. Oh, my God.

I didn't know how to. I mean, I'll take it back. One minute? No, no. No, no. Listen, because it's so funny. Every airport we're at, every time like someone calls his name

to the desk, the lady's like, Adam Levine. when they start looking around What it really is is the guy holding the sign The SUV So there's like kids crowding around him He like spells my name wrong So it says Adam Levine

And then there's like kids standing around him With cameras ready And then I get there and say it to me And everyone's just like oh shit Lots away Such a disappointment Have you ever played to it though Like have you ever actually like went with it?

One time I was in Mexico About a month ago and I was trying to go to this really fancy restaurant, and I put my name down, and I got there super late, and I guess Adam Levine had gotten married at this restaurant randomly. And so I got there, and they were like, oh, we thought it was going to be Adam Levine,

and I schmoozed them a little bit. So it didn't truly work in my favor, but I did get to sit down. You got something. I still got a little something. But mostly it's just disappointment. This actually reminds me of something. something I read in the New York Post the other day about a man in Manhattan, his name

was Denzel Washington. Oh, no. Yeah, he was arrested for strangling a woman by the name of Aretha Franklin. Oh, my God. But the headlines at Denzel Washington strangled Aretha Franklin. Oh, my God, that's a match. It was the ultimate clickbait. It was perfect.

It was perfect. Only the post, man. Yeah. Yeah. Best newspaper in the world. They know their headline business. Yeah. It's like heat.

Slow news day. Oh my God. That's hilarious. That's great. I want to talk a little bit about how you guys first started and just, you know, what turns you on the music? Like what made you, you know, want to pick up that instrument or like start writing songs? What was the beginning for all you guys?

Well, so Casey and I grew up in a college town, upstate, Ithaca, New York. And we always kind of have been playing music together since we're kids. My mom's actually here. What's up, mom? Shout out to moms on the couch. And my mom is a singer growing up. So there's music in the household all the time. And we used to sometimes accompany her at her shows.

We'd be the guest stars. This is like when I was maybe like eight or nine. And Casey was 10. And yeah, we started our first band in middle school and just kind of played music all throughout middle school and high school. and then moved to New York. And, you know, we've been a band. We met Adam first year of school at New School University.

Oh, wow. And freshman dorms. And we played three. What year was this? 2006. Yeah, 2006. Oh, my God. I think y'all were there around the same time I played one of my first gigs there.

Oh, yeah? And my first group of Little Brother, we played New School University. You did? Around the time we released our album, the Minstrel Show, and it was around that time. but New School always showed us love. Yeah, it's a great place. It was a nice chick. Oh, my God.

I do remember that. Those college shows always are. Oh, man, come on, yo. The first, but you know what? Here's the funny thing. So for us, we have, for many, many years, kind of based, we can always judge. And this is not always true. It's not always true.

But back in the day, at least, especially with college shows, we'd always judge, like, okay, if we're getting a lot of money for the show, it's going to suck. It's going to be really. More money. It's like the worst the show. So the first show we played at a college

that was like the biggest check it was like $2,000 or something for us. We were stoked. We'd never made that kind of money.

We'd never made that kind of money at a show. And we drove, it was outside of Philly and it was at this, it was like on a Tuesday night in like the student lounge. In the rec room.

In the rec room at like 10 p.m. And there's nobody there except the promoter. and one guy playing pinball on the very back. The promoter left. The guy who was playing, it turned into just a rehearsal.

Yeah. That we got paid. A paid rehearsal. This is really not bad. Yeah. So, very anticlimactic. Very anti-climactic.

Not bad at all. That was our highest-paid gig at the time. But I digress. Sorry. Oh, no. We've been a band for about like 10 years now.

And yeah, we love it, man. That's what's up, man. You guys, I noticed in your music, like, you have a lot of hip-hop, like, references. You use like interludes on your records. Yeah. And, you know, the interlude is like a staple.

Yeah, it's a hip-hop staple. Yeah, I'm saying? You could always judge your albums. You know, the music was the music, but so many classic skits. Yeah. So many albums have been defined by like the classic. You remember the carnival? Oh, come on, man.

Oh, my God. Bishit! Oh, my God. It's not true but false. Biship. Change my life. Changed my life. Biship.

Who the fuck is Bish. Oh, my God. The greatest. And so, so we grew up listening to, to, to, records like that, like, you know, like, even, you know, even the skits on 36 chambers, those samples that, you know, and like, Stankonia. Yeah, the score. What are some of your favorite hip-ops?

You know, like, let's reenact some of y'all favorite hip-hop. Oh, my God. Like, one of mine is, maybe Lai can help me with the Kim and Cookie from, from Stangony. Oh, come on. Ring, ring. Oh, my God. Rang, right. Hello.

Hello. Hello. And the fact that she didn't work on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was listening that record the other day. I just got it on vinyl. It's like one of my, that's, that's one of my top fives. Mine is definitely, red, red man, muddy waters.

I got a soda busket. And he's getting on the, on Tyrese. Right. He's picking on the Tyrese commercial. That might have been like that before, but that shit's hilarious. The carnival definitely is no. All those. Yeah.

Oh my God. See, I still A-O-I. I still like Ghost Wheat. I'm stuck on Ghost Wheat. Ghost Wee was good. Ghostweed was good. Ghost we. Ghost we.

Yaka rhyme like stonso. Ghostweed, these are all classic skits from hip-hop albums. That was the Ghost We were referenced that's from A-O-I Bionics. Yeah, De La Sol. Yeah, De La Sol.

That was the time, man, it was that, like, time in music, too, was when everyone was crushing the interlose as well. I don't know what it was about that. And it seemed like all the best albums had

at least a few skits in there, man. And we really wanted to kind of incorporate it, incorporate that into our sound too. The whole album itself is a kind of a throwback to all of our influences. That's dope, man. Thank you. With you guys playing this gig today, this is something that the audience...

You mean the greatest show that we've ever played? Like your first... Right? It's a first... You have no... So, okay, talking about bands that influenced us growing up, like... Talk about it. The roots...

Oh, man. ...were everything to me. They were everything. everything to me. What made them everything here? What was it? I don't know. I mean, the fact that, well, first of all, I loved hip hop, you know,

ever since I was in, like, elementary school. The first time I heard hip-hop, I was like, this is the music that I'm going to listen to for the rest of my life. And they were also a band. They played, I mean, they played their instruments, and they were so good. I was such a fan. I even saw that.

Remember that movie that Black Thought started? Brooklyn, Brooklyn, Blah. I saw that movie. Yeah, so did I. So did I. I was great. I wasted 90 minutes of my life. Oh, come on.

It's okay. They know it's that. I thought Tariq was grading it though. Like, I mean, I was, I think it was just just a story. Yeah, it was just, it was just everything. It was like that Romeo and Juliet kind of. Yeah.

But it just didn't have, it didn't tug at my heartstrings like an interracial love story. It's supposed to. I need more passions. from the black and Jewish love. I need to sum a little more. It wasn't convincing. It wasn't convincing at all. It wasn't convincing at all.

Fair enough. When we have Tariq on the show, we have to ask them about that. We will. We will talk about that. So with you guys playing this gig, is there a different kind of preparation that goes into it because... Okay, well, first of all, what is it like to play for... Because I've been in the situation before.

So I want to hear from you guys. what is it like to play for quote unquote your heroes like what is that like is there a different kind of preparation terrifying it's terrifying but also you know that the lucky thing for us is that we have been again we've been a band for so long that we've had a lot of preparation time so you know like at the end of the day like as as nervous as we might get you know playing in front of our heroes or playing for some of our heroes i think i think we can bring it I feel like it's... When the time comes.

It's almost easier this way. I'm pretty confident playing our set. I have to admit, though, when we jammed with the roots during South by, I was shitting my pants before. Yeah. Yeah, so we sat in with them. They did a whole thing at Southwest Southwest Southwest this year where they invited some of the musicians playing to play,

and we were lucky enough to sit in and play with them. And that was the craziest, craziest thing. It's one thing to play, like, you know, your set, the music that you, you know, have written and know, you know like the back of your hand and it's another to just you know go into a live jam situation you know where you you've had maybe a one quick rehearsal and and you know the you know the roots of pros yeah yeah it's serious concert music he runs such a tight ship up there it's so it's so cool he does he doesn't we wouldn't know anything about that's spring but talk about that real

quick because the way that quest like throws his cues at the same time while he's playing drums like he's music directing yeah he'll say just you know Adele Dahl Dahl I'm sure they've run through the songs, you know, a couple times before. I don't think so. But they may, yeah, just have the charts. Yeah. It's amazing. And he'll just say, you know, like, you know, all right, slow it down or give me, give me four hits or, you know, just, you know, we're ending, you know, two bars, you know.

And just, and they do it like it, like it was, you know, practiced a million times. It's crazy. That's very prince. Like the revolution. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I read the prince was a big influence on you guys. Yeah, man. He was a huge influence.

You know, I would say that my two pillars that I always go to with. anything that I ever have written or write or will write in the future or do just in general. It's like there's always there's Bruce Springsteen. Okay. And there's Prince. Yeah. What about those two? What about what about what about?

Well, I feel like if I do anything that I could see maybe being in line with either of them, then it's then I'm on the right track, you know? Like Prince was just the consummate entertainer and performer. and he just, I mean, he's, like, so many people can speak way more eloquently on the man, the myth, the legend that was Prince, you know, than I can. But he was just a huge, huge influence on everything that I do and such a great performer and singer and musician. And Springsteen, his storytelling is what gets me and his just authenticity. And he's so generous. You know, I just saw him play at Barclays recently.

the way, have you guys seen his, his show? I mean, it's like a, on TV. Yeah, well, what he does, it's like he starts this show off. The house lights are up in the arena, and he just walks on stage. Oh, wow. The house lights stay up for the first three songs. So it's just like a wedding band is there playing for you for an arena, but it's Bruce and his whole band.

And then the lights go down. He does the show and it gets more theatrical at the end. Lights come back up in the last like six songs of the set after he's, He's played for, what, like three hours or something? He's taking requests from the audience. He's bringing people up on stage. He's just so good with his fans and with his people that I, you know, I just like, I really admire that. What's it like to have your songs everywhere?

Like I was in the supermarket the other day and Unsteady came on. And I feel like you're like, it's surreal to me to think that like you're in your house one day. It's surreal to me because I never hear it anyway. And people always are just like, I hear it everywhere. And I'm like, ah, what world do you live in? Because I don't hear it ever. Like, I have small kids who listen to pop radio all day. And it's one of those six songs that like every 20 minutes you hear it again.

And again, it's wonderful. It's just a, it's good to hear. Yeah, I mean, it's good to hear that you say it's wonderful because I was about to say it's one of those things where it's really flattering. But I'm also always nervous that it gets obnoxious for people. I don't want our songs to become the that annoying song. Oh, God, that's on again, man. It's the children that are annoying. My children are annoying, not yourself.

I'm sure they're angels. Oh, yeah, little angels. Totally. Just flap around. Daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy. That's how I go. Yep. 2%.

That is the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter. And on my podcast, 2%, I break down the science of mental toughness. fitness and building resilience in our strange modern world. I'll be speaking with writers, researchers, and other health and fitness experts, and more, to look past the impractical and way too complex pseudoscience that dominates the wellness industry. We really believe that seed oils were inherently inflammatory. We got it wrong.

Many of the problems that we are freaked out about in the world are the result of stress. Put yourself through some hardships, and you will come out on the outside. other side, a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person. Listen to 2%. That's T-W-O-P-Sent on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Young lady we have in the house right now, I first became familiar with her opening for Jill Scott back in 2015.

And I was just like, man, like, she's fucking dope. I just keep it real simple. Thank you so much. Some of you may have know if you're up on Ty Dollar Sign. Shout to my man, Ty Dollar Sign. His record, Horses in the Stable Off of Free T-C. She wrote that record. We got to talk about that.

Yeah, we're going to talk about the Horses in the Stable. I also wrote for Diddy every day. She was in the movie Shirek, which I want to talk about. I actually saw that one. And I want to talk to her about something that's very important and near and dear to my heart. I want to talk about her got them ribs. Yes. That's really what

That's the focus Yeah, my real game. Just saying my real game is crazy. Ladies and gentlemen, give a big Quest Love Supreme Round of applause for Tish. Yo! What's up, guys?

What's up? Welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you for taking this time I own a show day to do this with us. Thank you so much. Oh, thank you for having me. Okay, so listen.

All right, fuck out of bullshit. Reels. Yes. All right, so reals. Really? Okay. Okay, so what's your, I don't want to give away your, you know, don't give away your formula, but what do you, do you smoke or you a, what's your, what's your preferred method? Chalko, gas, break it down for the people. I mean, you know.

Sweet baby raise, drive, right. Let's go. Let's go. Let's talk about it. Well, first I got to get some really nice pork. They have to be pork ribs. Of course. Beef ribs is, it's not the same.

And I'm out. It's like, it's cool. But it ain't the same. You know, you got to get the pork ribs. You know, get a nice rack of ribs. Got to have. Then I season these ribs overnight. Now, I get a rib rub.

You know, I get a Laurie's rib rub. You know, get a little large rib rub. I rub it down. You know, I massage it into the ribs. It's all about the massaging. You can't just, like, pour it on it. You got to massage it in, you know, flip it over, turn it. Massage it.

You got to really get involved in. Yes. It's like smack it up, flipping, rub it down. So I'm rubbing it. So I'm rubbing it. ribs, right now with the rib rub. Then I take a little nutmeg and a little cinnamon, and I get that in there, and I put that on it.

I'm rubbing these things in. And now I'm like, all right, baby, I'm going to put it in the fridge, you know what I'm saying? It's going to stay in the fridge. The baby's a rib. Yeah, the baby's a rib. Because, you know, I'm loving this rib. You got to make sure the rib got lots of love. When I cook, I cook with love.

I don't cook every day. But anybody who knows me knows when I cook, I cook with love. I go all out. So, you know, the rib go in there. Now, minimum of three hours, but I've done an overnight thing. It depends on how soon I want to eat these ribs. Got to do them slow and low. You know what I'm saying?

So I let them sit in there for a couple hours. Then I come back, put on a big pot of boiling water, and I put nutmeg in that water, cinnamon in that water, a lot of ground pepper. Excuse me. You don't take some. You know what I'm trying to tell you, like, this is like, I just. It's the process. It's the, it's my one dish, honestly.

It's not like, it's not like my chili. It's not like my chili. It's like my chili. Yeah. I'm mac and cheese is hit her. Man, sometimes it's dry. Last time I made it, I messed it up. You know what I'm saying?

So I'm not going to say, you're like I got, but this one I got. You know, I got it. And my salad game is on, too. Okay. So let's get back to the rice. I put them in the water. You know what I'm saying?

Let's talk about it. The ribs are in the water. They're boiling on a nice medium fire. I leave them to do what they do with the water. They're boiling. They got the nutmeg. Everything's happening. I'm starting to smell, the aroma in the air.

It's like, you smell a sweet smell of cinnamon and nutmeg. It's in the air now. I was like, oh, snap. So now, you know what I'm saying? After like two hours of boiling them, I think they're already, you know? They got to be falling off. You got to see little meat bits. And, you know, foam at the top.

That's when you know. You're like, do what the foam is this? Right, right. Now I'm draining out the foam, draining out the water. And I'm taking this nice succulent cooked meat already. That's all marinated in this greatness. And I'm taking the Sweet Baby Rays out now. Woo!

Sweet Baby Rays, for those of you who may be listening, is one of the top barbecue. in black households. Yes. It comes in several varieties. It has a sweet and spicy. It has like, it's a lot. It's a terriaki?

They come in for, they do have a terriac, but I wouldn't fuck with it. You want to stick with the sweet and the spicy. They come in for Jack Daniels, they're coming for their corners. That's what they're doing. You know what?

I stick with the original sweet baby. Because, you know, this is the one I know. And I jazz it up, though. I don't just pour that on it. See, that's not where we stop. First, we get the sweet. baby raisin I grab a little honey. Then I go grab the nutmeg and cinnamon once

more. Okay, wait, the Quest Love doll is drooling on. I ain't even know that was Quest. I tried to name him Tyrone. That's Krusty, baby. I said, I'll see the sticks now. Okay. But yeah. So yeah, yeah, we're going to hook you up, Krusty. Yeah, so you know what I'm saying? Now we don't got the, oh, shoot.

Well, Quest, lay down. Now we don't got the, you know what I'm saying? We got to sprinkle that on. So now I pour the honey on top first, because that's going to give it the sticky part. You put that on once and now. I'm turning this thing over about three or four times before I'm serving this. That's right. And doing this over and over.

The first layer is honey, boom. Then I go pour some cinnamon nutmeg because it's going to stick to the honey. Then I get my little brush, paint it on, boom, boom. Then I pour a sweet baby raiser a little bit at a time. On top. Then I cook an oven. Cook it for 15 minutes. Flip it over.

Do it again. Flip it. Flip it. Until I'm tired of flipping it. I don't really have no amount of numbers. Until I'm hungry. They look good. And I just keep doing it.

Man, I'm talking about, like, you got the rib, you got the thick layer of, like, glaze, barbecue. And it's not, it's not, like, all, like, too much juice. It's just, like, right on the rib. And then the ribs's just falling off the ball. Yeah, you know, I got to do it again, man. I haven't made ribs in a minute, but yes. Ladies and gentlemen, that was my wish. With the award winning.

And as far as I'm concerned, I'm done. I'm done. I got the hiatus, just from listening to that recipe. Oh, but wait. She sing and she rhyme too. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we're going to get to the music. But we're hungry.

But we're hungry. We're hungry. Sorry. Yes. Important. She ain't bringing on with her though. Ah, see. I just landed at 6 a.m.

Because I just was thinking, I was like, if I would have known it was into my ribs like that, man, I could have hooked that up real quick. Man, you got a show. I got you. It's a show day. You know that. You got rest up. Way more important things.

It's like your first Ruth's picnic performance, right? Yes. No, no, no, no. I've done a Ruth's picnic. I did Ruse Picnic in Philly, but it's the first Ruse Picnic in New York. Okay. Period. So I'm so glad to be a part of that.

Man, I listen to your music, and I hear in a fantastic way, not in a derivative way at all. I'm definitely hearing some Lauren. I hear Missy. Talk to me about your influences. Like, what kind of stuff did you grow up listening to? You sing and rap, like, equally as well, which is very rare because, like, some cats can either do one or the other. You should know. I mean, you know, I try.

Every now and again, I get it right. But no, you have raw fucking talent. Thank you so much. And so talk to us about just honing that, like what you listen to coming up. What was your start? I really loved music a lot. So, well, when I was very young, my mom had me singing under a little light with her. I was like six.

And we used to sing like all kinds of different old school songs because that's what my mother plays. She had me singing Frankie Lyman. Oh, wow. Like old school. Yeah, yeah. She was all about that life. So she had me on the Frankie Lyman. She had my sister singing,

Whitney Houston's The Greatest Love of All. I sung Dionne Warwick's Das, What Friends are for? Did you have to sing? Because I think it was a rite of passage in every black, like, entertainer singing the greatest love of all at a talent show. Did you have to do that? No.

You know, at the time, see, that's what led me into rap because at the time my sister could sing that, And I never got the chance because my mom would like, oh, you ain't got the chops for that. You're going to sing a, you know what you sing good? You're going to sing Dionne. And I was like, and I would be like, cool, no disrespect to Dion. She's a legend and amazing.

But I was like, this is not that hard. That's what friends are for, you know. I thought it was so easy. And my sister's getting to go, the greatest love. You know what I'm saying? She's getting all the moments. I'm like, man. So I got into rap after that because I was getting tired of being like,

told to sing this or that. I was like, man, my sister can sing, man. I don't need that. What was your first rap? What was your early hip-hop and music? Shoot, like, my brother, really, because, like, honestly, in my neighborhood, everybody rapped. Like, that was just the way it was.

Like, we hang out, rap, but my brothers were older. Like, my brother's a few years older than me and his friends were older. But for some reason, we all wanted up hanging out all the time. Like, it was kind of strange. Like, it always seemed like. Around what year was this? Shoot, I mean, you know. You know, 93.

Oh, wow. You know? Yeah, so we was rapping. That's what was popping. So, you know, it was interesting, though, because I was probably about 10. And, you know, but I was hanging out. Everybody was hanging out. And it was just like, lots going on.

You know, we were like little adults. And we were rapping. And everybody rapped. My brother rapped and everybody, I remember the first time I seen him rap. And he was just like, I don't know what he was saying. But I remember the word was like, get off. My ball, Zach. And everybody was like, oh!

Everybody's like, oh! Oh, fish bone! And I was like, yo, that was dope. And I started, like, actually, I wanted to rap. And he started writing my raps for me. Oh, wow. He wrote me, like, two or three raps, and they were dope, and I would spit them. And then people were like, that sound good, but your brother wrote it.

And I was like, oh. Do you remember any of those? Nah, man. I mean, I remember my early raps that I began to write. Like, I think I don't remember anything he wrote because I was too young, but I quickly got out of that. I just started stealing his raps without permission. and like rewriting them. Like, you know what I'm saying?

Because that's how I was getting my templates. And then I moved to a better neighborhood because it was real violent in that neighborhood. So it was like shooting all the time and robberies and everybody was fighting. I had so many fights like by that time. It was crazy. This is the Bronx. Yeah, yeah, this is in the Bronx. So it was just a crazy time.

So my mom was just trying to like get us away from there. So she moved us uptown to the Bronx. It was a little bit better. These kids weren't as wild as the kids I grew up with earlier. The little adults that we were. These were actual children, their parents really, like, were in there. So when I moved uptown, wasn't nobody really rapping like that. So I kind of, like, just chill.

I was, like, 12, and I was just, like, trying to focus on, like, school. But I started writing, like, songs. Okay. And these were singing songs, not, like, rap songs. Yeah, yeah, yeah, because Montel Jordan came out with, This is how we do it. And it's, you know. We're very familiar.

Yeah, and when it came out, I just got. I just got transferred to this new school. So, you know, I didn't know anybody really in my class, and I'm sitting there. And I remember hearing the song, and I just was in this class, and I go, this is all we do it. And the thing that everybody loved the best was that I did, shana-na-na-na-na-na-na-na. And everybody in class was like, yo, this thing is. And I was in, every day they were like, shan-na-na-na-na-na-na.

I'm saying. After a while I was just like, I became that musical person. Everybody's like, yo, you're funny, you're musical. And they used to call me Biggie. They used to call you Biggie. Yeah, man. Why Biggie? Because I would rap in class and sing and it got to a point, like, after the start

getting popular, you know what? So I started loosening up. I'm starting to just, now at the lunchroom, you come to lunchroom, you see me like, you know what I'm saying? We all telling everybody, like, oh, oh, oh, they're like, Biggie, Biggie. And it was just like a, it was like, and I was, and I was, and I was, and you know what, Honestly, I was young. I was in an awkward stage.

My hair was really weird. And like, I was kind of fat, you know? I was like, I'm chubby, you know what I? Yeah, okay. So. And I sounded like biggie. I don't know. It was weird.

So I was reading, you know, you have, you know, been working out and you drop more than 40 pounds. I dropped 75 pounds. Ooh. 75 pounds. Yes. You are, like, tweeting, talking about my life right now because that is my struggle. because I won't lose 75 pounds,

but I love ribs. So how do you balance? Talk, talk us through. This is a very good question. That process, like, how do you negotiate? Well, first of all, congratulations on that. Congratulations. Amazing.

Thank you. And how does that, you know, being in better shape, working out, how do you work that into your creative time, like recording? Does it do your creative time? Like, how does that all work together? Well, I wake out every morning. Every morning I wake up and I go to the gym.

It's just, at this point, it's part of my life. I think what happens is this. You know, when you were young, you can eat whatever you want, and it doesn't affect you. You can drop pounds really easy, and it doesn't affect you. So as you get into your 20s, you begin to, you still think this way, and it's not really necessarily that way all the time. Tabalism. Absolutely slows down. And I had gotten into a relationship, and my partner can cook, and she was just like, she was cooking and cooking.

It was like she was putting sugar in my water. I was getting so fat. I blew up. She put sugar on your water? No, it was like she pushed sugar in my water. It was like. It's like I blew up like a tick, you know what I'm saying? I was so fat.

I got to 240 pounds, you feel me? And before that, I wasn't really that big. I went through phases, like blow up. I was a skinny, awkward fat stage at 12. Then at 16, I got hot. I thought I was a shit. You know what I'm saying? I staged the shit until like 24.

And then I got in a relationship, got chubby again. And I just kind of went back. I got in the mortgage business. When I was there, I kind of got fat. But what ultimately led it was just coming to an understanding that, A, I wanted to be able to perform. and that was the main thing. Like, I really loved to perform

and I wanted to be able to move and I wanted to feel good and I wanted to fit clothes. I wanted to fit jeans. I wanted to fit designer jeans. That was really the main thing. They don't have to. They don't make designer jeans for men of husk.

No, they don't make them of anyone. No, you know, and like, you would think that, you know, I could fit a man's pants. No. Yeah, they just, like, they don't make them. So I was like, you know what? I want to be able to perform.

I want to look great. I want to buy clothes. I wasn't buying clothes. I was just like buying t-shirts and stuff, and I wanted to just feel good. And it's the best antidepressant that there is, you know? Like, they're just working on. When you know you feel good and you're healthy, like, nothing can get you down.

You don't even have the money, but you feel good about yourself. It was just a dedication. And the first thing you have to realize when it comes to losing weight is that it's a lifestyle change, but it's only, like, hard for a period of time. So, like, it took me six months to lose 40 pounds to look good enough to be like, damn, I'm there to keep me going, right? And from that point on, it was no longer a struggle to even go to the gym, I felt I've seen results. I wanted to see more. So what was seeing those results?

Was that how you got over the hump to just keep it or to make it a more permanent part of your? No, it was permanent from the moment I decided to do it. I was like, that's it. I'm gone on a diet. I went on a diet, intense diet of four ounces meat, four ounces of vegetables three times a day, broth and freaking two crackers, a gallon of water. And that's what I had to do. And I was hungry and I had to sit my behind home sometimes, a lot of the time, and not drink.

And I went to the gym three times a day and I went to hiking. At the same thing. So you're very strong willed? Like, you have to be. Not to be. Yeah. Fonte, you ain't doing any of it. But if you want to, if you really think about it, you only had, I only had to do that for like six months to a year.

And then now it's like, I go through, I'll go based out on a meal, I'll gain 20 pounds in Atlanta. You know what I'm saying? You're just in maintenance mode now, right? But when I gain 20 pounds, I come home, I get on skin, I'm like, damn, you messed up. Come on, Tish. All right, now it's salads, it's salad. It's easier to go. back. So it's just like, it's like a small period of time for you to change your whole

entire life. But once you do it for one year, six months, one year, you're done, like with the hardest part. You know how to do it. You're done. You know what's healthy. You even like it, honestly. Because you start to like, you like feeling like, all right, I'm not eating that too heavy. I can't even make it the six weeks. Man. Fonte, we're going hiking. Look, look, I'm sitting down. And I'm wearing baggy clothes. You're a gym visit. You know what You're three gym visits a week from being where you want. It's not about food for you, really, because you're small. It's like when you're bigger, you're trying to lose weight.

So it's like kind of a little bit more of a struggle. And a woman. You know what? That's what they say. But you know what? As a woman, I will tell you, it is not. It is not true. Talk to them.

Wait a minute. Come on, Dr. Tishth. It's not true. They say that men shed weight much faster. They do shed weight faster with less. We just have to do the max and we'll shed the same. Okay. So basically, like.

We always got to work more. Okay, I'll give what you saying. Yeah, because they can, because they got more testosterone and the muscle. Some of the things they eat will go to the right places. We have water and it just goes to the wrong places. So that just means that we don't cheat and we will succeed. It's just you can't cheat. I mean, can cheat a little.

I don't think the water can go to a wrong place anywhere on a woman. I like some. I can show you some things. I can show you. There's a problem with none of that. I don't mind. You know, if you got the tiger stripes, got a little hell damage on the booty, it's all good. You know, a couple stretch marks is.

or whatever, you know, it's like, no one's perfect. And honestly, there's not the wrong stretch muscles. It's like, whatever. But it's just more about how you feel. And really, honestly, you only get one body, and the older you get, the more you need that body to work the way you want it to. And if you don't work it out and you don't take care of it now, it will affect you at some point.

So it's either now or later, the harder it gets, the older you get a harder it gets. So anytime the time is now. I'm in there. Which is always, you feel me? This conversation is so right on time because I've been trying to get my ass back into the gym. And, like, I just kind of need. needed that push.

I think I'm going to. It's hard in New York, though. It's hard. Don't look at me. Like, me and those disorders. Yeah. No, we should do a Questla or Team Supreme Fit Challenge.

Like, so we all. See, if we do this, then I actually have to follow through. No, I'm saying, bro. We got to hold each other accountable. I'm glad. Think about it. You lose three pounds a week on a good diet. Like, literally, drinking a gallon of water a day.

Eating three, four ounces of chicken, four ounces of vegetable or lean meat and vegetable three times a day. And when you get hungry, sometimes it's not hungry, you're thirsty because the body process is the same. And if you honestly drink a fucking bottle of water before you eat your meal, you'll be so full by the time. You're like, you just got to eat slow. It's like all mental, bro.

Your stomach does not, you don't need that much to survive. You don't. And it's just healthy for you. It is good for you. And honestly, it takes, you can, if you want to lose 20 pounds, right, three, six, nine, 12 points you know what I'm saying? Oh y'all was doing math? If you really, I was trying and then I was like,

eh, thank you. Just under two months and you're good. But you feel what I'm saying? Like if you really, really look at it like, boom, boom, boom. I swear you'll just, it'll just change you. 2%. That is the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available.

I'm Michael Easter. And on my podcast, 2%. I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world. I'll be speaking with writers, researchers, and other health and fitness experts, and more to look past the impractical and way too complex pseudoscience that dominates the wellness industry. We really believe that seed oils were inherently inflammatory.

We got it wrong. Many of the problems that we are freaked out about in the world are the result of stress. Put yourself through some hardships, and you will come out on the other side a happy, you're more fulfilled, healthier person. Listen to 2%. That's T-W-O-P-Sent on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We're sitting here with Tish.

You know what I'm saying? Tish. Hi, Tish. A good, rapper, singer, rib cooker, extraordinaire, motivational speaker. For real, for real. She is like doing all kinds of ministry right now. This is Custlove Supreme on Pandora.

We're broadcasting live from the... Roots Picnic. I want to talk about your newest project, dedication, dedicated to. Yes. Who is this project dedicated to? Dedicated to is dedicated to anyone who's ever felt like because of where they're from or their circumstances that they could not do more or they were in a bad place. And I'm also dedicated to letting these people and everyone know that no matter what it is

you want to do with your life, you can do it, you just have to be dedicated to. And, you know, it's just a lot about. The story, for me, the story just is inspirational because I've been through so many things and I've still managed to be happy and be a nice person and continues to do what I love. So I hope that it inspires people. What are some of the things that you've been through that you felt? I mean, you know, well, first, I was in a foster home when I was a kid for a few years and that sucked very badly. Lots of incidents in there. You know, lost a lot of friends to just different deaths, violence, drug abuse.

some accidents, jail, my cousin got killed, and just lots of stuff happens in life. I'm sure everybody has their own hardships, but sometimes when these things happen so you feel like you're defeated and you think that it's over, but it's really not. So my whole point is like one bad day doesn't make a bad month, one bad month doesn't make a bad life. It's just like to stay happy, stay dedicated to being happy because it's free, honestly. And it's the one thing that really

can't no one take away from you. Very much so. You can give that to yourself. Do you ever feel sometimes like being a person that like made it out of that, you know, that situation that negativity, do you ever sometimes feel like, you know, Survivor's Guild

or do you feel like the one that made, like what is, because I have those feelings, you know, for me sometimes, but what is that like for you to know that you're one of the few, if not the only to escape that hardship. Well, it is definitely difficult, and I definitely have felt that feeling.

I guess more in the beginning of coming into any success as when I was in the mortgage business and I was making money and I was helping everybody. It still came with its feeling of, damn, I wish that they were just good without me. And I've moved to California and I've been there for five years, you know, getting the news from home that's not always feel pleasant. Yeah, but ultimately everyone's life is in their hands. I have to come to terms of that. And also, I'm not giving anything.

I'm working so hard to achieve the things that I want. And I always have. And I think that that's the only thing that can get a person where they want to be. So ultimately, no, I feel like when I get these people that have things going on, or I feel these feelings or people make me feel this way, I make them feel like, well, I can help you do something, but if you're not willing to do something, and then this is on you. Exactly. You know, and it's not, it's not, it's, it's never, it's nothing to do with me.

When you say you're working so hard, what is your average day? Like what is, in terms of your creative process, is it something you do every day? What, what is, what is, what? Well, they vary. It's been, it's been through cycles. So when I first got to L.A. every day, I was in studio sessions, about three or four. day. I was recording. Is that how you and Ty hooked up? No, me and Ty

met IHop. Oh shit. Random, you know, me and Jill Scott met at a party, you know, just hanging out by the pool, freestalling for 10 hours. So it's just random stuff. L.A. is very small in the industry. But when I first got there, I didn't know anyone. I wasn't published. I needed

to make money or figure something out. So I just went to as many sessions as I could. I worked so much. I would sometimes not even be able to speak, but I could sing, and I would just go record. So that was the first two years And then the third year I spent recording this album And days were like

Those days were actually I was going through a lot of financial strain And I was trying to put together the record I was still very overweight And I was not I wasn't managed And I was just trying to figure it out I did three or four records

Every three or four months You know So it was interesting in that period And in 2014 I spent touring a bit and like performing much more and started spreading awareness about the album, you know, and it's just been

kind of like, it just changes, but right now, my daily day consists of, I wake up in the morning, I go to the gym, first thing. As soon as I wake up, I go to gym, spend about an hour there, come home and walk the dogs and, you know, just start working on the phones, you know, finding out what I have to do for the day.

Right now, I'm recording a new album, So I'm doing a lot of that and then bouncing around to performances. When you record, are you, you record yourself? Do you have engineers? I have an engineer. I record at Universal Studios, my publisher. And they're very supportive. They're the best publisher in the world, I think.

They've been great to me and they have always been behind me. So I use their studio and I have an engineer and I have my producer friends. And we kind of just all hang out, pile on the studio. And I usually have ideas that I have already before I come to the studio. so that we can kind of work on and this album is just so awesome because I got dedicated to out the way dedicated to is the autobiography basically

this album is more about like what I'm doing in LA or like love it's going to be much more sexual there's a lot more going on in the second album so I'm very excited about it too there's a lot more love well that's good to hear I wanted to tell people the beginning

I feel like people skip steps and I don't want to skip any. So although I was dedicated to it was about how I felt from birth to maybe like, you know, early 20s. Now I'm in a whole other place mentally, but I felt the need to make sure people understood like, yo, this did not come without this. Oh my God. This, you know what I'm saying? It's so good to hear you say that. I have a son, my youngest, oldest son is 15 and he wants to do music. And I have to explain to him that I think for for kids coming up now on social media, pretty much all they're seeing is like a highlight reel.

And it's trying to get them to understand that like, you're seeing a very carefully curated selection of shots from a person's life. So you'll see, you know, Rick Rawls, Drake, whoever on the jet, but you don't see what it took for them to get that jet. You know what I mean? So for you to hear you say that you take people through the whole journey and not just, I'm on, nigga, I'm cooking ribs. Yeah.

We build up to the ribs. Oh, yeah. And still building. There's a lot of glamorizing that happens outside of the industry. I try not to, it's not like I'm trying to de-glamorize it, but I try to be a little bit more realistic about it because I don't want to, I don't like that all kids want to be artists and all kids want to be basketball players and all kids.

When I was a kid, you know, there was various fucking professions people said. I said, where do you want to be me from? I want to be a doctor. I'm going to be a lawyer. I didn't even. secretary you don't mean fucking president you know what I'm saying now I'm like I'm be a rapper I'm gonna be a rapper it's like and it's ridiculous and it's like so for me I try to tell them like look before you get all those tattoos on your face and

think that you're just gonna come in here rap about nothing and you're gonna make it yeah you might want to think about it because there's not any money and unless you're trying like really like these rappers I'm gonna how they're getting these chains I guess they're getting them for free I don't know but there's no freaking real money right now unless you really really really are doing something now there's a few that they pop up and you know you get your time but if you're spending all your money foolishly then you're

going to be right back and now and nowadays with the drugs being so heavily promoted in music that's a big campaign I'm running now on my Instagram and social networks I'm fighting lean I hate lean I think it's I know it's synthetic heroin and I know that it's being marketed in our communities and so our children via rap music

and I know it's no different than when crackers put on our corners in the 80s No different whatsoever. Church. Yeah, that's, nah. And it's so much worse than the 80s, because at least in the 80s, no one knew. I mean, I guess it's the same, but I guess crack was just so fucked. By the 90s, you're like, don't do crack.

It's like so obvious. But now it's like, doodling, dude this is. Yeah, that was never. Are you fucking kidding? Yeah, it was different. Like, I think in the 80s and 90s, rap, we celebrated the drug dealer, which, I mean, had his own set of dysfunction anyway. That's probably as well. We celebrated the drug dealer.

but now we celebrate the drug user. And I'm like, how the fuck do we get here? I mean, even then in the 80s, if you really think about it, like the bigies and the drug rappers, right, they said it in retrospective points of view. Like, I used to sell this, now I'm doing that. And now I used to do this. These motherfuckers are, like, I'm shooting niggas today. Wait, y'all got to. I'm drinking.

I'm right now. Wait, I'm Papa Zanz right now. Y'all got to break down lean because. I'm a thing. I'm a fan. Yeah. That's a new singer, right? Y.

Y. Y. Yaa, yaw! The new single from kids. I'm shooting the niggas today. It's fucking horrible. Okay, we got to break down, lean, okay, for some people who made our culturally unaware, listeners. Okay, lean.

It's like sizzoline. Here we go. It's not. It's sizzling. It's horrible. Okay, sizzling is a synthetic fucking meat. Food substance. It's like spam meats.

I'm glad somebody knew what sizzling was. I was like, is that Jamaican for sizzling? No, that's a good. Beepadine, my own. Yeah, don't lean, susteniggin. Nah, that's, okay,

so lean is a substance. It is like coating mixed with what it's promethazine, yeah. It's promethazine, and people will miss it, mix it with, like, soda,

Sprite, so with, like, Jolary Rancho's. Yeah. Why do I know all this stuff? I know, I know. I listen to much.

It's in the music. That's why. They're educating me and promoting it to children that of 14 and 15, let's just be clear. It's fucking heroin. They put it in a soda with some candy and they stir it up.

They look like damn assholes and they make people think that that's cool. It's horrible. It's fucking horrible. Shout out to Gucci, man, who overcame his own. Exactly. He dropped the gut. He is like eating like vegetables and shit now. Yo, and you know what?

He still got the face time. He still got the ice cream. But that's his past right in front of him. That's his past right in front of him. He's being a black leader. I fucking love Gucci Man because, you know what? I didn't even. listen to his music. I only knew one Gucci Man song was a very freaky girl. You know what I'm saying? Because me,

I always was missed on a lot of that era. So, you know, when I seen Gucci Man come out of jail and, like, just be this amazing example of what not wanting to be in prison can do to you, because I'm not going to say what prison can do to you. It's not wanting to be in prison that does this to you. It's like, oh, shit, I don't want to be here. And, like, I'm like, thank you. And I just hope and pray that he will make music that reflects his new behavior and his new train of thought, which I think he will. And not only that, but he's also a very respected man in the business and in the street. And I hope that this will bring some light to the shit because this shit is killing these kids, man. They fucked up, they're walking around here looking like zombies.

And I've seen it. I've seen it too many times. And I'm tired. We're broadcasting live today from the Roots Picnic in New York City. It's going down. I'm joined by three young men today. these brothers their sound to me

it belies their age I listen to it and they sound extremely polished you know what I'm saying for their ages way more polished than I was at fucking 18 my demo's 18 didn't sound shit like what they were doing my shit was actually really fucking bad

but uh but y'all guys are dope Dylan Martin and Jaden ladies gentlemen give a big quest love supreme round of applause for the smashing heart How y'all? How y'all'all's feeling today, man?

Good. Good. I'm excited. So is it, so have you all performed? Have you all performed yet? Yeah, we just got offstage. How did it go? How was it?

It was crazy, like. Like the vibe of the crowd and everything like that was awesome, and especially playing, like, for the first time of the Roots Festival in New York. Dope. So on stage, what's the setup? Who does what? Says I will, I play keys and I sing, and I play guitar.

I sing and I play guitar. And you have an organ up on stage too. That was dope. Yeah. I had organ today. Yeah, that was dope. B3. Ah, you said the good old Hammond B3.

What the preachers ring out on it's time to take collection. You know? It's time to get that money. Go to the B3. That's true. Base. Jay, your base rig. Yeah.

Okay, that's what's up. Okay, so I think it's you, Dylan. Yeah. That I can clearly see. The son of Dwayne Wiggins. Oh, yeah, I see it too. You see it. It's both of you.

You're both. You're both. You're all right. Okay. Y'all are brothers. Okay. It's son's the way with it. I want to talk about you guys' sound.

Listen to the EP. I was pulling it up. Like I said, I mean, the subject sounds really, really polished. And it sounds very, very focused. And it just has a lot of, I don't know. It's just a lot of maturity way beyond you guys' ages. You know, it just sounds very, very, you know, on point and just

way more focused than I was at 18. Tell me that, you know, being that, you know, your father was who is, for those, for the listeners, their father, Dylan and Jayden's father is Dwayne Wiggins from

Tony, Tony, Tony. An incredible R&B soul group from Oakland, California. Bay. You know what I'm saying? Okay, I'm thinking Oakland. stroke is it wasn't it yeah yeah that's okay yeah I want to fuck it up demahama right

demahamah yeah and oaktown 35 that's right that's right all of them yeah yeah so uh big ups to big ups to them so being uh that you guys what growing up like what was that like was being around the music like what did that playing influence yeah definitely of course you know where you grow up and how you grow up definitely plays the influence of what you're going to do so the fact that our dad and uh his dad before that was in the music, play guitar, blues player. It was obviously, you know, we're going to be musicians no matter what. Wow.

Yeah. I mean, not like forcing, but it's just like, it just came to us naturally. It's what we wanted to do. So when did you guys start playing? What ages? I don't remember not playing. Wow. Yeah.

And then we started getting lessons probably when we were like seven, five. That must be crazy. Duane Wiggins your father, Raphael Sadiq, your uncle. Were they harder on y'all? Honestly, I didn't even really know that there were the Tony, Tony, until like maybe around 15, 14, and I went to a public school, and everybody was like, dude, you know where your dad is? You know what your dad is?

I was like, yeah, I think so. But that's interesting, though. I, you know, I was, like I was saying, I have a son. Name Dylan. And it's very similar. You know, your kids don't, I mean, because, you know, growing up, it's just dad. Like, you don't really know. I think it was the same thing my kids were younger.

And it was just, okay, daddy's going. somewhere and he comes back with money for food and that's just the extent of it. But, you know what I'm saying? But then as you get older and people see it, it's like, oh shit, your dad is so-and-so.

Initially, were they supportive of you guys, like, going into music? Definitely, yeah. 100%. I wanted to be a basketball player though at first. Oh, wow. Yeah, they were supporting me doing that too, like, coming

to all the games and, like, we go out of the state to do games and shit. That's what's up. You guys, ages Jaden, I'm 18 18 as well Martin and I'm 18 I'm 20

Oh wow Okay 18 18 18 and 20 Dylan 20 Like what am I doing with my life What man y'all You're making me questions My life right now I'm so old

Oh my God 18 18 and 20 And for what I understand You Dylan I have already You're like the musical advisor or the for insecure.

Yeah, I wish I was an advisor, but... Oh, okay. You're not the advisor. No, yeah. I'm the scoring assistant. Ah. So, like, coming up with the scores behind certain scenes and, like,

change in emotion with the score, that's what I do. And that is for the listeners. That is for HBO's new show, Insecure, featuring Issa Ray of Awkward Black Girl fame from the internet. She has a new show entitled Insecure that is out now.

and what was the exact title? Scoring assistant. That's what it's labeled as, but I don't even know. That whole process is pretty crazy. Because you know how much work goes into it, and then when it comes on the screen, it just looks so effortless. Like, even though a lot of things were timed up

and, like, reversed out and all this kind of stuff. So that's dope to see that happen. And then we got a song in there, too. We have a song called Girls that we haven't released that's going to be on the show. So it's not in the first episode. Not in the first episode. It's going to be in the season, though.

Oh, okay. It's in the season. Yeah. Okay, gotcha, gotcha. That's really dope, man. So, being that y'all have accomplished more in 18 years and most people have it in the whole life. What? We're looking at you, Bill Sherman. I've accomplished some shit. Was that the insinuation? No, it was, it was from him. That was a... You have the G, the E, the T. I do that he has a grammy. I've scored films and TV shows. It's hard. And it's hard.

The shit is hard. And it looks like you're the... Like you said, like that shit comes easy. That shit is not easy. It's very mathematical and very precise and time consuming. But he could do it. He had to age. Hold on. How much time do you guys spend on an episode would you say? A week.

A week? Yeah. But there's a lot of changes that go into it. Right. Like little changes. And so then if they want to change one thing, we got to rush back to the studio, change it before the day. Wow.

Before the day. Wow. Yeah. Man. So, yeah, so my question, where do you go from here? like what do you guys see yourselves on next? Because, I mean, honestly, what you're doing now is generally thought of, I mean, just working the music. That's goals.

And that's like kind of like the form and grill of most musicians. Like they hope to get to the point where you're doing now. So what is the next step for you guys? We're just going to keep taking it day by day. It's like because everything we've done so far, we haven't really planned out. It's just like we've been following what we want to do and it's just happened. So we just want to keep following that and see what happens. Has your dad, has he given you any advice in terms of, okay, son, let me tell you what not to do.

Like, what has that been? Sometimes, yeah. They're, like, my dad and Uncle Ray are both, like, they give their opinions a lot. And they have no, no filter. Like, that shit sounds sloppy. Okay, so what, they, I mean, as much as you can share, you know, without, like, what, what's some of the Uncle Ray and pops? Well, Ray called Martin the weakest link of our band. Oh, no, you did.

Yep, in the very beginning. Mark Tillaback. You can say a bunch of shit. Martin ate this shit the whole time. No, but they had to call him out. He said that on the first week. Like, when we started rehearsing at his studio, and then now he's like, I think, Martin tearing that shit up.

To save, Dylan. It's just to say. Maybe he was just trying to light a fire in your ass. That's what it was. That's what he said. He was like, watching him come back. But Martin, you're the drummer, right? Yes.

So, like, do you, who would some of your drummer influence is? I mean, you don't have to say. That's a, I don't know, everybody always asks me that. I mean, I just listen to so many people. It's kind of hard. Like, everybody from, like, Art Blakey, like, back in the day to, like, Thomas Pritching, you feel like, I know, like a lot of people. That's dope, man.

That's dope. All right, you pass that test. Yeah, you did. We won't tell Questlove. Don't worry. You don't have to just. He won't be mad at all. Yeah, he won't be mad.

He won't be mad at all. Well, brothers, thank you so much for coming by. Thank you for your time. I know these things, doing this on a show day is like not the most fun thing to do. But, you know, I'm into your music and please just stay. Keep doing what y'all doing, man. Keep doing what y'all. I've been blessed to have people in your corner that, like, kind of can guide you

and hopefully can keep you from making a lot of mistakes that a lot of young artists make. And keep working, keep refining your sound. You guys are fucking talented, man. Thank you. Thank you. You really appreciate that. Hey, what's up y'all? It's Questlove.

And you're listening to a special Roots Picnic edition of the Quest Love Supreme Show. We're an hour number two of the show. And I just wanted to jump in there because I wanted to make sure you guys really understood how important these two dudes coming up next are to the world of hip-hop. Stretching Bobito, Stretch Armstrong, Bobito Garcia. They hosted a radio show in New York in the 90s that fundamentally changed hip hop in our lives forever.

What they would do is feature exclusive demo tapes and in studio freestyles for many unsigned hip hop artists and gave them a chance to be discovered. Look, I know what you're thinking. Unsigned hip hop artists on a radio show. Woo, big deal, but, you know, it was a big deal. And there was a turning point for many artists.

Here's a short list of some of the acts that were featured on the show before anyone knew who their names were. Nas, Big Pun, Jay-Z, Buster Rhyms, Fat Joe, Cameron, D-Mex, Wu-Tang Clan, the Fujis, Talib Kuali, Bigel, Notorious BiG. Stretch and Babito really, really changed the game forever with their radio show, and it really had a huge impact on the roots. And they were important to me and any kid that loved hip-hop. So I really wanted to make sure anyone listening knew how important these dudes were to hip-hop. Oh, and their documentary is really, really, really amazing.

Check it out. Now back to the show. We are gathered here today with two luminaries. I don't think that's over-selling. Yes, special luminaries. Wait, wait, wait. Who is that? Oh, wow.

Ladies and gentlemen. Who, me? The Questlove. Oh, yeah. You're like the West Love. Hey. Who's probably here? I'm like Charlie Brown.

I'm not even the star of my own. Christmas special. We're just happy you here. We just happy here. No, the man of a million-in-one jobs, he was able to step away from the drum kit and come in. So, many jobs. So this is always a pleasure to be.

Without these two literally, I don't know. I mean, they're, I don't know if they are the, the Pavlov's bell of hip-hop or not. You ready that before? That's a new one. Hey, I'm just saying, like, you know, Way back in, even back before we got signed, I remember one of the first, like, the most exciting international things that ever happened to, the square roots.

Back when we were still busking on South Street was the fact that we got invited to play an event for Bobito. Who, I guess you just recently left his Def Jam post, your job at Jeff Jam. And you were just about to start the show. up at Columbia. And so that was like a big deal. Like super big deal. Anyway, I think I'm, did I just take over this introduction?

Not, man, it's a show. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the show. Stretch and Bobito. Woo-oh. Yo, I just want to... Wait, we need a... You got to, ooh-oo-o-o-o us.

You make it official. Thank you, that's it. I just want to start off by saying that it is. one of my life goals is one of my life goals to be as happy one day in my life to be as happy as Bob Bito was doing the ad libs at the end oh at the end of MF Dumes right like that really peanut butter sauce buttery biscuits and I get lost and I get lost oh man um we we recorded that in my credit MF Doom brought his sampler

and there was a lot of producers at the time who used to come by stressed the same thing. We both have a ton of stories of cats coming to our credit to borrow records. But Doom was like, y'all, I'm going to borrow a record and I'm going to bring my sampler and he recorded, he looped it up there and he brought the mic and he was like,

yo, just say some stuff at the end. I was like, all right. I was thinking about, you know that Def Jam song from 85, Russell Rush? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, cold rock stuff. Yeah, yeah, I was thinking about that. to when I was like doing my little. Oh, that was your version of Cold Rock stuff.

Russell Rush. Did y'all do that whole record in your, at your career? No, no, no. Just that, just the rhymes like down. Man. Y'all want to talk about particular fondulum records, which was one of the most uniquely named. Yes.

I still. It was a subsidiary of squeeze them. Fondelam. Records. Yeah, much like what Amir was saying and what you guys did for his band with my first group, little brother, I remember when ABB,

Benny B, I remember him telling us that y'all were playing our stuff and I was like, holy shit. That was, we had arrived to us. I'm like, stretching by, I was playing us. Like, that was... Little did you know. Man. What was your arrival back then

was merely a memory. Let me backtrack. a little bit just to revise Quest Love's history. So the relationship between the Roots and Me and Stretch's radio show actually dates back to a cat. I don't remember his name right now

but he had a hip-hop show. AJ Shine. That was my former manager. Yeah, on Drexel. Yeah, AJ was the Stretching Bobito of Philadelphia. No doubt. Okay. And I used to send him records. And so from 89 to 93 I was a promotion's rep at

Def Jam. So he sent me Organics CD when it was pre-released and brought it up to the show Me and Stretch played that. This is like probably, I guess, 93. Yeah, 93. And then, so we had started on the radio show in 1990,

had been given love to plenty of Philly artists. That was like nothing brand new. I mean, three times dope. Bahamati and. Baham, yeah, I mean, all of them. But then I was also hosting unsigned artist showcases at the New Yorker Rican Poets Cafe. Prior to that, I was doing them at the Village Gate.

It was a jazz meets hip-hop showcase called Bebop, which eventually became all that. And the Roots played that pre-De Geffen signing. So there's a lot of organic, you know, meshing of the two, stretching bar and the roots from early, early on, and then, you know, as it goes on and Blackthaw comes up, solo. I was going to add that that actual show, Even though I physically wasn't there because Rosel was beatboxing, I was stuck on a gospel tour.

But not like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Wasn't like the Mighty Claus of George. No, no, it wasn't like, you know, Ralph Tresbant as. Okay. Your arms too short, the box of God. Just named Lilo Thomas. No, it wasn't that type of gospel tour. Like, our bass player hub had a friend who did gospel music that basically toured churches.

Like, we toured nightclubs. Okay. So I just happened to, you know, it was like extra money, which is one of 500 bucks for like two weeks of work. So I wasn't there. So Rosel, they got Rosel to beatbox the drums instead. And so I was in Oberlin, Kansas. in the cornfields and listening to them on long distance

like, like. So you're on the phone. I'm on the phone and one of my managers, Richard was on a pay phone playing, playing the, and they were playing. I know, the roots were live, like beat boxers. Oh, this was live on the show and you.

But it was that show that the A&R that eventually signed us to Geffen saw. Wendy, those things. Well, Wendy, well, Derek Jackson and the late Fran. Fran, she just passed away. Frannie, uh, ah, it's escaping me right now. The head, not the heart.

Yes, she's still in my mind. Oh, Spiro. Thank you for saying that. I don't know why the head not the heart. I mean, I think of Francesca Spiro. Wow. She died? I didn't know that.

Yeah, Francesco Spiro passed away like, like. Wait, Francesca, they used to work at Rush. Yeah, yeah. She passed away like three months ago. Oh, I ain't know that either. Yeah. We used to work together when I was at death jam. Yeah.

But her and Derek Jackson, why are you laughing? I'm just smiling. I always have a tendency to kill the mood on this show. Yeah, I was like, ooh, Amir announced another death. No, no, it's like a total hashtag. No, it's all good, man. Thanks for coming.

Thanks for really appreciate it. I'm sorry. We were doing so well until you showed up. Sorry, man. We were going to rename the show. Anyway, it was that show that Stretching Bump, you know. Although coincidentally, that show was broadcast from a church. Really?

Wow. For when they were redoing the station, we were, WKCR was in Riverside Church. Matter of, yeah. So I was going to say, I think the first time that we came there. So that was a church I was coming to the whole time. Yeah, it was the old WRVR Jazz Station that we lived in for like just two years. bugged out, little side fact. Talk about taboo, sacrilegious.

Yes. On a weekly basis. Guaranteed. If they knew if the cloth knew what was going on in their building, I don't think we would have lasted. 2%. That is the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available.

I'm Michael Easter. And on my podcast, 2%. I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world. I'll be speaking with writers, researchers, and other health and fitness experts, and more to look past the impractical and way too complex pseudoscience that dominates the wellness industry. We really believe that seed oils were inherently inflammatory. We got it wrong. Many of the problems that we are freaked out about in the world are the result of stress. Put yourself through some hardships, and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person.

Listen to 2%. That's T-W-O-Persent on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wait, this is what I would always want to know from you guys. How often would you guys, because I'd never saw muscle at your radio station? Like when I would go to Def Jam, there was always muscle. There was always a big security guy and plexiglass. But how often would you guys have to say the word no to certain people? Luckily, because I was DJing for four hours. We didn't have commercial breaks, nothing.

I was DJing the whole show. So this guy. Damn, Freddie Fox, I didn't hear the phone ring. Like how does that work? No, I mean, you know, the muscle was the brilliance of our show. So luckily, like, 99% of the cats in the world, like, had so much respect for us and didn't want to cross us, you know. But there was definitely some incidences of defacing property at the station when I was at the door and were like, yo, I'm sorry, I can't let all 30 of you in the studio because we don't know you and we've never heard of you.

and we had quality control about who we'll get on the mic. So, you know, everyone wants to be on because they knew that that could be the step to get assigned or to getting, you know, if you're assigned the step to get in love and record sales and all that. But one time my- Who's that group on stepson, Bill Stephanie's label? And they have like- Young black teenagers. No, but it was like, no, that's soul. But they had-

Stop it. Oh, Troubleneck. One time Troubleneck brothers. Troubleneck brothers. They came to Philly to AJ Sean show like 50 deep, like five van loads deep. And I was like, how does Perdium work in that situation? So, yeah, like who had the biggest crew that would show up? Wu-Tang.

Yeah, well, actually, so a little background history for those who have seen Me and Stretch's documentary title Stretching Mobita Radio that changed lives, there's a moment in the film where we're discussing the Wu-Tang moment, the Wu-Tang incident when they showed up 30 deep to the station. What's her name? With Mimi Valdez, the former editor-in-chief. I never knew she worked there. At Vibe? No, I never knew she worked there.

Oh, yeah, I mean. See, I knew her as the vibe editor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That did not like the roots. You got to see the movie. I've seen the movie. So anyway, so. Stop, stop.

No, stop it. I got over it. I saw the movie. What did you get over? I'm a little salty that. you know, see, the thing was, me and Tarreek held to show up such a high honor that we thought that everybody that came on that show freestyled their ass off. We didn't know they were doing like

deep cuts. So, our standard was like, yo, we have to be as good as da-da-da-da. So that's why Tarik would just train himself like a boxer to freestyle. And so to find out that it wasn't. That it wasn't that. No, I just That's what you had to get over to see to... For some reason, the communication was down. You know, I'm in like every music documentary. Yeah, I do know.

Amber, Amber. Except for the stretching Bobbito show. And you... Get backstage. You were invited. We can show proof of emails. Yeah, I know, I know. Why didn't you make that documentary?

I gave Zara a week off. Blame it on the assistant. That's why she's not in here right now. She ran out. Anyway, my point was that, yeah, I didn't know that Mimi Valdez actually worked at the station. So anyway, so going back, there's a little trick in filmmaking that, so there's a lot of moments in our film where we had no video footage of, including the Wu-Tang moment. So we actually used footage of the Troublemack brothers walking through the entrance as the B-roll and cut that with footage of the artifacts. showing up to the station door and the B-roll,

because you could just see silhouettes of people. It's the same thing. MOPB, Troubeenek Brothers, Artifacts. But Troublemak might get the vote for biggest crew. Yes, I can attest to that. They were large. We have the building surrounded. I think they're still trying to divvy out per diem from 1990.

Did you know that? That was the Chauberneck brothers and artifacts in the Wootenks scene? I didn't. A little cheating. I knew it was artifacts. I could see Tame walking in. Yeah. Yo, can I ask y'all an interviewer question?

Okay. Who was the artist that came to see y'all who you appreciate their presence, you respected them, but the interview process was kind of like, ugh. Watch B, Rakim. No. Are you going to answer that, really? You want to? No, I'm just surprised that you would because you're so Mr. Positive, you know. Well, no, I mean, the thing is that we didn't really interview people.

Well, I mean, who was not loquacious? No, I'm saying, we didn't. Who is disappointed. We didn't do interviews. So artists came up to our show and we had kind of like a high standard for people rhyming. So when emcees arrived they knew that they were there

for one reason. If we want to talk and snap and whatever, that was great on top of that. But the main thing was like, okay, yo, the mic is open, you know, kick your verse and and stretch would be doing the beats and everything. So

nobody that we really were excited about let us down really. I mean there were you know, there were people that Surprised you? We can't even remember. Were there somebody? Oh, wait. Didn't you have a Dr. J.

story? Dr. J. came on the show? Dr. J did. He was there. Yeah, he came up. That was, that was lackluster.

When? He didn't really, this was probably in 95, right? This is probably the most of the end there. It's like, East Coast, West Coast.

So he can't. Steve Rifkin brought him up, right? And, you know, Dre, even then was larger than life, right? And the post NWA chronic, like, that's Dr.

And he didn't really know what he was doing there. Somehow Steve, I guess, convinced him to come up. And he kind of was just looking around like, what is this? I don't think he really knew. He just, he just circumvented the underground. You know, he didn't really. Nah, he really did. He just threw him down to steps.

And he was kind of stiff. Yeah, he didn't rhyme. He didn't really joke around with us. It's like when DiAngelo showed up to our show. He had to know. Right? Yes. And let it.

I mean, let him be known. He won't get in for like five minutes. It was like, nope. Yeah, seriously, he said three words and went out for a cigarette break and then did not come back. And he never came back. And then we lost a bet. Yeah. So episode one, I promised them $2,000 if I could get DeAngel, very reclusive, extremely late all the time to show up to the show.

And, yeah, yeah. And DeAngel just accidentally just came in the show. Everyone. Just noddle in. Sat down for a bit. Technically said three words. It's more R&B. Steve was like,

here are some headphones. And then smoke. Yeah. More R&B. That's all. Those are the three words he said, it's more R&B. He said just enough smoke and never came back.

The sister in family matters. Hashtag abandonment. She went up to the room and never came back. That was it. Yeah. And we lost two grand. Yeah. No money for you guys.

But Steve Rifkin also brought up Quincy Jones, who, by the way, completely got what was going on and was incredible. I'm not surprised by that. And sat with us for an hour. I was right to say, did he always, like, was he illiquacious? Did he talk a lot? Oh, yeah, yeah, he was great.

He had attitude. People were trying to snap on him on the phone, and he was telling people to sit down. He handled it. Tell him to sit down via phone. You know what? This reminds me. I think the night I mastered I LaDolfe Half-Life, did you not have Beck on the show once? Or was it either did Mike D.

call the show and y'all even spoke about Beck? Like I turned on the radio. It was like five in the morning. Dang your memory. Mike never called when I was there. I don't recall that at all. He might have. And maybe MCA, because MCA used to hang out at our crib.

That may have happened. MCA used to hang out of our crib. But also, the BC's sampled our show on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's my shit. I'm sorry. So that was you.

That beat box. You got to tell them what? What song was that, Alta Beasts? It was before on Hello Nasty. Come on, Bill, that's what you're here for. This is more fun. That's you, unpaid, Bill. That sounds like Spanish joint.

That's what I thought it was. I'm going for it right now. Now I have to look at our database. It was on Hello. It was on Hello. I'm here. The Beastie Boys guy? Is that why I'm here? I'm happy they think you are.

because I get that and I'm not. Thank you. House of Pain and Beastie Board knowledge. Oh, no. Oh, wow. Stereotypes. You're here for Richard Dimplesfield. Yeah, I'm here for the middle house music.

And I'm here to be loud. I get it. And you're here for T-Bain. Billy Chau. Yo, Fonte and Questlove. I want to flip this around. I want to ask y'all a question because this happens to me and Stretch. This happens to me and Stretch all the time for 25 years.

And it happens between me, legs, and Tony Touch as well. all the time and I don't think I look anything like stretch and me and legs don't look nothing alike except that we both Boriwa but yo

does it ever happen to you where people be like yo ninth wonder like yo the other day I'm in Harlem and this kid recognized you know I used to listen the radio show

yo B I just sort of film on showtime yo was crazy you worried up B gave me a pound a hug

I'm with my son like yo good look at B he's like I ain't stretch later I'm like you know we're in Harlem B, come on. I haven't got... White, downtown.

I haven't gotten like... You know what is? Five, Puerto Rican, uptown. Stretch. Stretch has... Bad hairline. Stretch has the more exciting name. Like, you see Stretch Armstrong's in that sort of D.C.

Comics font or that Marvel font. So maybe that just... Excite. You know, what is... You have? You have. Because people occasionally will say, Yo, black thaw.

You know, black thorn. Wow. So it's... So it all feels so bad. Is Babito like in the... Because people are naturally think that I'm the leader of the roots, not the guy in the background. But last week with knife at the opening of the museum.

National African American History and Culture Museum. That's what you're here for. Say it again. The National Museum, excuse me, the National Museum of African American and History and Culture. Say that one more time fast. Say it under 10 seconds. The National Museum of African American History and Culture. Three, two, one.

The Nemecahawk. That sounded like Hebrew. What the fuck was that? Can you hurt me? Somebody gets robbed. He's about to fall out. Somebody get Bob. Yeah.

Yeah. You know, this is like Seder. Oh, no. My people. Can you do that quicker and quicker? Yeah. Pretend it's Passover. Can we turn the air on in here?

It's dumb hot. Wow. No, I've never got Knife before. I've never got Knife. Knife got most. Like, Knife gets most. Knife was chilling with me. And so people just naturally thought it was like,

Yo, you know, Quest Loving Most Def? Y'all here. He got more. And he's very angry at that. And Knife looks like also he gets, well, we would joke on him, Guy Davis from Beat Street. He looks like double K.

That is too obscure the reference. Well, I mean, that was like all the in-house thing. Like, all the thing about is making the beats of the ballet scene. What's the big deal about eating oatmeal? It's not a deal. It's tired for real. Wait, who in his lifetime would be that deep?

For you to know that reference, you had to know your hip-pop. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that was like inside thing. We would joke him about that shit. But I know it got in night. I've never gotten, I've never gotten, I've never getting a knife. I've got Big Pool. I've gotten Central Entertainer before.

Word? I've gotten Central Entertainer. Oh, when you do a foreign exchange and wear the hat? I got Sage Intertator. And my latest and greatest misnomer is Wendell Pierce. No! I see that. I can't.

I can't. Don't say that. I'm fucking Bunkmore. You are a fucking Bunkmore. You are. No, you're just, I mean, I think he's not sexy, but you got that boo. You know what I'm saying? You know what I make it work for me.

Craig Robinson once told me and showed me proof of the, the joys of him being Quest Love whenever he goes to like Canada. So I can say on record that Craig Robinson has enjoyed being Questlove more than I ever had. That is a different fro. It's just a little bit more manicured and Steve Harvey. It's like all looksame.com, man. It's just, he's up in Northern Canada, you know.

But I'm like, if you're in Northern Canada, if you're in Northern Canada, like, how would you not know the office? and no quest love. Yo, can you turn the air on in here? We did, we just turned it up. Wild hot, yo. But you guys because you laugh at so hard. It is.

It is. Yo, can I share something again? Yes. And we keep into our news stories. We're new with this. This is like our. No, yo, Fonte, it's a pleasure to meet you. A, because you're friends with Zoe,

my wife, Sydney, from D.C. And bus how, yo, I never knew what you look like. Now you know. To this moment. No, I'm going to be dead. Oh, DeRue. I'm Wendell Pierce. Ninth, I've met a bunch of times, right?

But, yeah, I'm a vinyl dude. So when the records were coming out on ABB, there was no artwork. And then you were on Donnie's album, which I love. Oh, my God. You're on Donnie's record? I'm on the second record. Like the second album. Oh, it was the second album.

Yeah. There was the daily news. I mean, you know, I'm a fan of foreign exchange and, you know, all that. I never knew what you look like, B. There's no photos of you on foreign exchange albums either. Yeah, no. Me and Nick, we don't really do photo. Yeah, so.

What did you think he did? And it's weird that him and Nick didn't even know what they looked like. I want to know. I want to know what your preconceived picture was. I don't, I don't think I ever had a, nah, I never even had a conception of what you look like. I just, my wife would tell me that you sent her funny videos off of YouTube. Oh. Oh.

That was like, funny videos. Like you, Zoe and her were like all shared like, funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We would just be, like, we would just have threads. I can remember just, just, like. It's so cold in the D. That's one of, I feel bad about that. I was one of the people to help break that video.

You did. It's so coldly. Yes. Yes, you did. And I felt kind of bad that I released that scourge upon America. But fuck it. It was worth it. But no, man, yeah, I was very surprised.

You know, Zoe, he was telling me, he was like, man, Bob, like, loves my record. And so I just didn't know, and I kind of want to ask you guys about that. As much as you are, as much as y'all are known for, like, hip hop and, you know, like, playing all that. You guys. you know, house, soul, like, funk, I mean, where did all that influence come from? Like, how did you guys get into that? We're getting serious. I mean, we ain't got to keep it serious, but, like, I was just, when I heard, I mean,

when Zoh called me, he was like, yo man, he's like, Bob loves Sunstorm. I was like, are you serious? Yeah. He was like, yeah. He was like, man, Bob, he was hit me up. And then when he put out man made, he was like, yo, Zoe is, for the listener, Zoh is the musical director of Foreign Exchange in our touring band, keyboard player. We're in the Jefferson's apartment.

Florence, can you get that thing? It's DeAngelo. It might be. Come to say three more words. But no, he was just always saying how big of a supporter. My dude, I'm going to keep it 100 with you. Like, during the nine months of my wife's pregnancy, we used to listen to Man Made. Wow.

And even the night that she went into labor, we were listening to. Wait, look at Fonte's eyes right now. I'm just first not hearing this. No, no, no, I told Zodis. We were listening to the album as a means to, you know, just get like the ambiance and the environment, positive in the house every, you're 100% of being much love. That is amazing. Are you going to share what your son was conceived to?

Was that DeAngelo? Yeah. Was it? Percy Miracle's greatest hits. There it is, there it is. But, no, I mean, you know, for me, I, I, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, My dad was a Latin jazz musician, and my mom was heavy into all the great vocalists of the 50s and 60s. So, you know, I'm born in 66, studied piano for 10 years, played drums.

That funny stuff? Played drums in college. I'm just thinking about the movie where... A lot of people don't know that. I was horrible, though. Oh, I saw that photo. Yeah. You saw a photo of me playing.

That was ill, man. That was ill, though. And, you know, it's just music is music. You know, we got known around the world for hip-hop, but even during the 90s when we were breaking and Nas and Biggie and Wu-Tang and, you know, all them, you know, at the crib, we would just listening to, you know, everything, probably like in any era of my life, I probably have always listened to hip-hop the least of any genre. But that's not, you know, in the 90s, that's not what we were known for.

But if you read my Vibe Magazine, that's where all the other love for, you know, other music came, spilled out, and the people were like, oh, wow, you know, and then when people were sound check, that was. Yes, that's our fibrin of a. line toss. Bitch, guess it. Right.

And Stretch, I mean, you know, he's a, I mean, he can speak for himself. Well, I mean, I grew up in a house

with a father that was a, like a classical music nut and I was just not feeling it at all. Did he play or? He played violin. He made violins.

But he did a lot of, he played semi-pro basketball. He was a pro tennis player. Like, he was a unique Renaissance man. Wait, and your uncle was a, my uncle was a conductor,

but I have another, uh, second cousin, Mike Lipskin, who's like an incredible. incredible jazz pianist. So music's in the blood, but just New York. I had an older sister that was into disco. But I had parents that were just super liberal and open, like, whatever. I mean, they dropped me off at the pier when I was like, I couldn't have been more than 13 years old to go see The Clash and Curtis Blow opened for them. And I'm like 13, like completely. And I look back now and I actually, I've seen pictures of that show and the type of people that were hanging out outside. and I'm wondering, were my parents good parents to draw me off there?

Because it was bananas. But I mean, I'm lucky that they were like that. But I look back and I got a question, like, were my parents sane? Yeah. But definitely having an older sister that, you know, she became like a punk skinhead. So, like, she was bringing reggae records home.

And that's how I just... So the trickle-down effect of those? Yeah, because she was only a year and a half older, but as a female, she matured a lot faster. and she was whiling out, going to clubs and coming home. She was hanging out with the Beastie Boys, Rick Rubin. And I'm just, like, soaking it all of, like, trying to get out of the house so I can just get downtown and be in that.

I was going to say that post the post-radio show period, haven't seen you guys DJing a lot in New York, like 98, 99. that really opened me to the idea of breaking a lot of rules that I didn't know. I guess the idea of open format DJ. Before it was called bad. Yeah. I mean, there was one night where you just started playing just some obscure heavy metal song. I never heard before.

And this is before the days of Shazam. So, hi, Zara. How are you doing? We were talking about you there. Sarah, this is the reason why I'm not in the movie. But anyway, yeah, I'm just saying that, yes, I know you guys' knowledge is crazy. For those of y'all just joining, we're broadcasting live from the Roots Picnic in New York City. We really want to thank you guys for everything that you've done in hip-hop culture.

For real. Thank you. You guys have really been ambassadors just for the world that large, just for good music all the way around. Just, you know, to know that y'all are fans still, look the music we do. Yeah, I can't thank you guys enough for what you've done, seriously. Or, thank you. And as a former college radio DJ, I just want to say that basically every college radio DJ copied you guys. That's basically you guys were the blueprint for everything that came after.

So, thank you. Thank you, yo. Well, yo, being here makes me remember, makes me reminisce about our own show because y'all having mad fun. So thanks for having us as a guest. Thank you. For all those out there, the film is called stretching by Bito Radio that changed lives. It's available on Showtime. It's about to kick off on Netflix.

Oh, that's public now? Nah, not really, but whatever. Exclusively. We ain't going to be on put it. It's on iTunes. It's on iTunes, Vimeo, YouTube, Amazon. You can download it directly from a website, stretchingbobito.com.

It's on DVD. At local barbershops, too, the bootleg version. 2%. That is the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter, and on my podcast, 2%, I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience

in our strange modern world. I'll be speaking with writers, researchers, and other health and fitness experts, and more, to look past the impractical and way too complex pseudoscience that dominates the wellness industry. We really believe that seed oils were inherently inflammatory. We got it wrong.

Many of the problems that we are freaked out about in the world are the result of stress. Put yourself through some hardships and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person. Listen to 2%. That's TW0% on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Right here, I'm sitting in front of a young brother who I feel is not just an emcee, is a dope MC, just come to. out of Philly. I think he exemplifies the things that I look for in an emcee. When I'm listening to an emcee, I'm looking for wordplay, I'm looking for

a command of the microphone. You know, you want charisma, you want some engagement, and you want a cat that really sounds like he's living what he's talking about. You want a guy that walks it like he talks it. And this young brother certainly exemplifies all those things.

ladies and gentlemen and he like has his hands in a lot of potts super entrepreneurial like a motherfucker ladies and gentlemen let's give it up one time for my brother

Chill Moody what up yeah yeah yeah that means a lot man that means a lot in my top five

MZs that really means a whole lot that you said that I was trying not to tear up oh man yeah look crying in your beard yo chill you gotta tell

you know I know I know you're tired of me saying this to you But they are new, so they don't know. You got to tell the story of your Roots Picnic Evolution. So how you got to this stage, because you are an unsigned artist still. Yes. And you come from Philadelphia, but now you're doing this New York Roots Picnic. This is my third Roots Picnic that I've performed at.

I meant to ask Quest when I seen him. Is it like a law that you can't do it more than once? Because I don't know nobody that's done it more than once other than me and a little Uzi now because he did the one earlier this year. But I went from like legit sneaking into the Roots Picnic, sneaking backstage to you know one year at least getting like a general emission ticket and sneaking backstage again meeting um i ran into fonta actually one year you were in the crowd just watching yeah i was like oh nine yeah i think um red meth was on stage of that time yeah and i got to meet method man that day

um yeah just went from from that to performing um we did the joint the two day the first time they tried to do the two day joint and um i went on right before rakem and it was like a hurricane like legit like the craziest torrential downpour you have ever seen and I was performing that's when we had the tent everybody flooded into the tent because of the rain and you know escaped the rain so I went from at that point which was a crowd of like let's say like 2000 to like five like that quick in the middle of my set

and I'm just looking like yo this is crazy like Billboard wrote about me it was hot as hell in that tent too really hot but Billboard magazine wrote about me I'm like I'm not I wasn't even selling music at that point was that the year when the tent flooded oh I don't know that's the day lie you No, that was the year Kid Cuddy didn't come. Oh, the two-day journey with Raq Kim and Kid Cuddy. I think I was there.

I think Major Laser went on and then Diplo went on in the tent. Yeah, I do remember that. Yeah, they called it Diplotent that year. Right. Oh, Diplo Bid. Then from there, did the first year they had the ping pong in stages. I think Bronson was on that year with me, Chenelle Monet, I believe.

So it was like, what's this, 2016? So I did 2012, 2014, and now 2016. Every two years. Yeah. So with all that you've gotten into, we're going to get into that. So, you know, with your beer that you're drinking. Thank you, by the way. Nobody brought anything but you.

My mama told me right. She did. You come into a picnic. You got to bring something. You got to bring something. And not cups, you greedy motherfucking. Ice. Yeah, green ice ring utensils.

Like, you fucking people. Who raised you fucking the animal? Yeah, I was broke, man. I was broke. We'll excuse you, boss, Bill. You keep it together. So we'll excuse you for break. in cups.

So with all that you have going on, you know, with your, with your beer, Doc Street, nice things, IPA. Yeah. And this man has his own, he's the Prince Akeem of beer. When I say he has his own beer. He has his own beer.

He has his own beer. He has his own beer. You got to check that shit out, dude. It's delicious too. I have some. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

So with the hands, with everything that, you know, you have your hands in, is it even worth signing a deal for you. Do you weigh that out at all? Yeah. I mean, if somebody's listening that wants to sign me, it's definitely worth of because you become a lot on your own.

Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Very true. Very true. I don't know nobody else. A rapper with a beer. Like, like, I made this beer. It's not like You ain't endorsed it. Yeah, I'm not endorsed. I didn't get signed to Sirrock and, you know, produce it. I mean, endorse it or whatever. It's like, I made this. I went and sat at Dock Street probably like four months straight, twice a week maybe. just rigorous hours of drinking

I was about to make it say like a good but I'm talking like for like 12 to like five like just drinking wow and sleep the rest of it until the next day they put a whiteboard up and they teach you about you know so I learned a lot about beer too

so like I really like got into it and got heavy into the Philly beers and we got like a crazy beer scene in Philly right now What made you want to get into that? I mean beer is good it's really good it's lucrative is moving right now in the city and I have

They hosted a couple of events for Philly Biers Scene. I did the, I presented an award, the Philly Bureasian Awards, and they have a band of Brewers, or a battle of Brewers, where every brewery somehow in the city, for some reason, all these guys play music. And so they do a battle of the bands, but you have to work at the brewery. So. Philly shit. Yeah, it was crazy.

It did a World Cafe Live, and it was popping. So I hosted that. And after every band performed, I bought a couch onto the stage, and I sat and I interviewed, you The band, what do you think about your performance, whatever, whatever, whatever, what beers y'all got coming up, whatever. So doing more stuff with the beer scene. I kept getting into it, and I'm, like, looking around, like, hip-hop's not here. Like, there's no hip-hop here. I mean, it wasn't brown in the room?

It's not a bunch of brown in the room, either, but it's really, like, no hip-hop. I'm like, all about putting hip-hop in places that it hasn't been. Like, I'm the first artist to perform at City Hall. First hip-hop artist to perform at City Hall in Philly. It's been a couple since then, but I can honestly say I opened the door for that to happen. My mom is hyped that I can be. able to say shit like that. Stuff like that.

No, no, no, shit. No, but I could say it, but I can't say shit in my mom. I was apologizing to my mom. But, yeah, so I forgot your question. Well, no, that's what means you got your beer. Beer tastes good. That was a very simple answer. In summation, beer tastes good.

And that's good a damn enough. All right. Keep it simple. Hell, don't make it calculus when it's a riffing thing. Oh, beer is good. Yes. What did you just say? Don't make it calculus when it's arithmetic.

Is that an original? That's original. Oh, shit. You are gold. New tigolo. You know, I have my bones. New ticolo, new ticlo. Every nine and again, I get it right.

Every night and again. So, so talking about in terms of coming up in Philly, just as an outsider, you know, coming up in the South, I didn't really get into the geography of, rappers until I really, you know, kind of started rapping myself. So to me, everybody was from New York. Like, you all had accents. Like, I couldn't do it like, rock him and three times dope and cool C. And like, it was all just,

like, dudes from New York with chains on. And I just love this shit. That was, that was just, it was just one big kind of blur. Coming out of Philly, what was that like for you coming up? And who were your, influences? Like, who were you looking up to by the time you came along? Um, there's a lot of different, different answers. Like, coming up, I, you know, Cool C lived around the corner from me. I remember Cool C pulled up in the, um, in the G wagon. No, it was like one of G money joints, like the G money jeep with the, with the whole, with everything off, told everything off. Yeah. Oh, no, those bitches. And he, um, he hopped out and I'm actually, I'm going to,

come back for the cocaine. Came back with space for your face. Um, New Jack City. We, um, we, um, A modern Negro class. I'm grabbing my mom some sale on light 100s from the Chinese store. And I'll come out in cool seats right there. I'm like, oh, that's dope. Like, can you sign these, like, this pack for me, like this pack is there? So, like, seeing how, like, he hopped out with chains on and everything. Like, just running the store to get, you know, probably something to drink or something.

I don't know. But just seeing that he was just still in the hood just doing things, like chilling. Like, it was like, oh, I could be that. And then as I got into that, and I'm like, all right, I could be more than that. Like, I don't want to just be a Philly celebrity, a neighborhood superstar. I can be more than that. So I start seeing, you know, stuff that the Roos was doing. You see the stuff that right now I'm admiring stuff that, like, Kevin Hart is doing.

Taking out of Philly, you see stuff like that 50 always did. These people all did more than just the music. They always say hip-hop got me here, so the music got them there, but then they expanded into something else, like Queen Latifah and Will Smith again. Like, just watching them. I'm like, I want to be more. I want to do more than just rap. but, you know, I'm good at this.

So I'm going to use this to get me, you know. Yeah, and get everything else I got to get. You remember, like, your first rhymes, that you remember? Yes. My first, first raps was in, like, third grade. We won this third grade talent show. And then it turned into, like, a weekly talent show we used to have in Dr. Mason class. You had a residency.

Yeah. And so we won every week. Me and my guy, Lose Marshall, shout out the Lus Marshall. My rap, but it was like, I had, like, three bars. It was like, yo, back in the days, I used to. They hate my teachers. And everybody said I used to wear crummy sneakers. And that was it.

That was it. And that was third grade. That's better than my role card. And then Lewis came in with something and then that was it. Nica, you took a couplet and stretched it into a residency. That's fucking amazing. I'm saying back in the days. I'm in third grade.

A lot happened before third grade. It was popping. Oh, man. So from those, from Bristol's early, you know, back in the days, my sneakers and all that. from that couplet, how did you go into building songs? I know for a lot of emcees, a lot of times, you know,

when I was coming up, it was, we just wanted to rap. We just like, bars, a nigga, bars, bars, bars, bars, bars, bars. And bars and bars. Rapity, rap, rap, rap. I'm rapping because I'm rapping. So, I'm just going to rap y'all. I need the two of a goddamn coma.

Yeah, like, after a while, you're rapping about rapping. So, like, it's like, all right, let's make some. some music. So what happened was when I started college, um, city bank or something. And finished. Yeah, I did finish college. When did you come out of college? Where did you graduate from? Millersville

University. I graduated in 2009. Tell him who went to Millisville. We went to Millisville. Blackfield. Yeah, exactly. That's right. Sean G. Um, who else went up to the village? What was your mission? Balak B. Yeah. What was your public, public relations, speech communication.

Of course. Wow. So originally it was psychology. I went with, I had a full academic scholarship. Um, drank that away and it changed my major like junior year to it was psych and then I switched to PR because I'm like yo you only need like 117 credits to finishers let me just get out of it but when I started college

you know freshman orientation these credit card people is out there yo you need you need to build your credit whatever no Discover got me so Citibank got me on two joints you wanted to their free t-shirt didn't you yo that's what it was it said college I'm not lying no I I know.

I know it. Trust me. College, a free t-shirt, you can do. Yeah. You can get anything out of a college student if you offer them a free t-shirt. Y'all got shirts. All right, I bet. I went to both studio equipment with the credit card.

I went, you know, bought a mic, boy, like, cue bass, cool edit and a bunch of stuff. And I don't know any of this stuff. I'm not, like, musically inclined, like, you know, I'm not an engine. I don't know. But I just start recording stuff. And I'm like, all right, let's make songs, making records or whatever. and just seeing my family is huge. So all of them, like I started to rap to fit in with my bigger cousins, my older cousins.

Like they introduced me to Wu-Tang and Nyes and all of that, like early on. So I wanted to rap to fit in with them. But growing up, Philly at that time when I started rapping, the figures was out state property. So I was rapping about some nonsense. Like I said, I had a full academic scholarship, but I shot everything and killed everybody. I did all kinds of stuff. Sold all the weight. All the weight.

That space don't look like you do. Right, right. So my cousins was like, yo, it's lyrical, it's there, but that's not you, tell your story. And that came with, you know, rapping as my, like, I had rap names. And then it was like, yo, your name's chill. Like, why not just be chill? Like, I was like, oh, yeah, you. So chill is?

I've been chill since I was six months. I've never heard nobody called me nothing. I mean, I've heard people saying it, but, like, my father's never called me nothing different. Teachers always called me chill or they called me Moody. Moody's my real last name. So, like, I've always been chill moody. But I had, like, I was tag. I was young, chill,

with a block captain spelled young ch-yo I'm gonna spell it it was Y-U-N-G of course C-H-I-L-H-A B-L-O-K-K-K C-A-P-T-T

apostrophe in Do not forget my apostrophe or it's gonna be a problem That is so like that well you were like Anderson Park before You were the block Amoson Puck

You were the Block And I had an album called Street Cleaning Like I was Young Chil the BlockCat And then I had the neighborhood watch and then I had the neighborhood watch too and then I was like yo I'm drolling But it's so interesting that you had that name

because that's such like a 90s name because the 90s rap template name was like name the adjective J-Roo the damage Pudgy the fat bastard Pudgy the fat bastard paradox the bilateral metaphor

You had to have like this is me and I am the adjective This is how I do it And then this is my title the bigger figure. JT. The bigger figure. Not just the figure. Oh, no. The bigger. I'm the bigger film. The larger one. Much greater statue than your. Wow. A block chapter. But that's real though. So when you made that shift

from, you know. I made that shift and also made the shift in the lyrics. Like, all right, let me tell my story. This is a chill movie. This is who I am. I'm a Philly guy. That's, you know. How was that? What was, what was that story? What did you want to come up? What did you want to come above all else? It's like, yo, I rap like better than yo. Like, I just want to, like, express that and, like, really be, like, on my, you know, this is me and, you know, it's lyrical. Like, I ain't got to lie and be lyrical. Like,

it's a lyrical at first, but it's like, no, like, I can just tell my story. So it's, like, big family oriented guy. Like I said, my family is huge. I can walk to, like, probably, like, 12 family members' houses from my house. Yeah, we all from, from, yeah, shout out of Schooley. That's my guy. Yeah, man. Schoolie D. We had an end. interesting night with him one time playing a Root Show. It was, I think you know,

I bet it was interesting. Like, did he bring the feather boa? Did he bring the feather boa? He didn't bring the feather boa. He, he, it was boy, boy.

This was like, he like a man, he like a man man, you know. This was, oh, God, five, something,

I can't remember. And he was doing, Amir was playing, I'll never forget this. And just to see the sheer look of terror on Amir's face when Scooley wouldn't leave the stage Man, that shit was hilarious

I don't think it's one person in music that doesn't have a schoolie D story Like that guy is epic Like and then his stories are even more epic Than anything you can say Like he's like, so it was me, Prince What he, what's that story he told us that thing? He's like yeah, Madonna was there

But anyway, let me say He's telling me about like the sneakers he had on That's the point of the story like But my sneakers though But yeah so Prince is over there He's doing his shit with that But the sneakers Like, schoolie, like, you're just going to buy press.

The fact that Prince of McDonald's over there, like, yeah, they go all over there. Whatever. Like, schoolie's a homie. He'd been to the house, like, like, come to the cookhouse and stuff, my mom crib and stuff. And he's a really on. Another emcee. I'm always fascinated by emcees who take emceeing and then do other great things with them. Right.

And him doing the cartoon. Yeah, adult swim cartoons and stuff like that. He painting now, like, or he got back into the art. He just did these converse, like the, what's his first time? Saturday. Not Saturday night. you know the album he drew, it's the yellow

and Saturday night. He did some converse that, like it's just the artwork. But he's drawing, like doing them himself and like just selling them like just really like going old school just drawing. He got a big house on that.

From listening to you, man, you sound one of the things that I find very refreshing is that you seem to God damn, oh that you got a whole jug of that shit. Oh, Hillary! I'm about to ask for some more. A refill on the Docks Street Brewery beer

You know this This nigga pulled out the Prohibition It definitely Oh it's not enough though It's a grower Flood handle Jewel Yeah

Sure movie is not With the three Xs on it Right right with that That fucking Hulu That's the moonshine That's dope that it comes In that kind of bottle We really are in the look how

Is there a pineapple situation Yes yes sir Is that like a thing? Yeah Is that what I was tasting I was trying to find What we did was Is that when you went to like beer

beer class and you sat there for six years and learned all about beer and brewed it with your own goddamn hand. You learned all about the shit and that you took that you fucking cut up the pineapples. We really cut the pineapples up. He actually cut up a couple of pineapples up my attorney and put a couple drinks in there.

You got your lawyer cutting up pineapple? Good movement. I ain't touching that night. Childs and Jason Berger. Child of Jason Berger. $500 an hour to cut pineapple. You performed already. Yeah.

You performed already. Yeah, earlier too. Crazy. Crazy. Compared to those ones. Crazy. My family, I got a lot of family up here in New York, too, so a couple of them came through,

and my mom, my sister's birthday, so they're there. And in the middle of it, or towards the end of the set, I see the guy, say, you got five minutes left. And I'm like, all right, I got one song left,

and that's shown like three. So I'm like, I could probably just get an a capella off real quick. And I just start rhyming. And then I, as I'm rhyming, I'm like, oh, yeah, that's the verse. I'm rapping right now. So I, like, I just went off.

And in the verse, I shout out my mom, I shout on my sister and talk about some things that we got going up to family and, you know, whatever, whatever. And no bullshit, it's tears. Like, I was like, wow. Water works. What's the song?

What's the song? It was just a verse. Just a verse. But, you know, I said, this LP that I'm working on, I might call it, Mom, you ain't got to work no more. Tell my big sister, she ain't got a hurt no more. That's all I'm working towards. And then everybody just hugged each other. I was like, oh, shit, I probably should have done it.

Nah, that's a great moment. It just kept going. I just got to chill. I could never. That was always hard for me. I admire people they can do that. Like, I always would tell my family never to come to my gigs.

Really? Yeah, I was like, y'all stay with the fuck about that. Because it just kind of, it just adds an unnecessary, not pressure. It's pressure. It's pressure. And it's just like, it's almost like,

just for me, I mean, it almost feels like you're undressing in front of your family. Like, that is the most vulnerable. Really? You know, yeah. I don't really like having my people. My kids told me play for the first time last night.

Tix and four. They came to the show. Did they enjoy it? They just kept on waving to me. You had a show? Yeah, I felt like, yeah, I felt like, thanks for inviting us, Bill. Yeah. Thanks for inviting to the Bill Sherman reviews.

Yo, yo, it sold out in six seconds. What? What? What? We played the Grammarcy Theater last night. Oh, dope. It was fun. It'll be talented.

Hey, man. Bill Sherman. I got shit to do. I got some beer to make. He's got that Oscar to work on. He got that Oscar. He got that Oscar. He got to give them the O.

I need to win an Oscar whenever you want to do that. My first couple shows, like having a family there was the most vital part because they like 30 deep. Yeah, all his family come through. That helped fill the crowd up. Like, they 30 deep. Everybody bring one friend. And they be high.

And it's a small little, I got 60 people in there right now. I was like, so that's how, that's really how the buzz started in the city because, you know, when the family leaves, everybody goes back to a different spot and they tell them more people, they tell them more people. And it all just worked up. Brilliant. That's dope, man. So I'm happy when I look out in the front. My mom right in the front row every time. Listen, man.

Chill, man. Brother, thank you so much. Thank you. For taking this time for coming out and for doing this on a show day. And bringing beer. Bringing beer. Thank you for the beer. You know what I'm saying? It's Fonte.

2%. That is the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter. And on my podcast, 2%. I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world. I'll be speaking with writers, researchers, and other health and fitness experts, and more, to look past the impractical and way too complex pseudoscience that dominates the wellness industry. We really believe that seed oils were inherently inflammatory. We got it wrong. Many of the problems that we are freaked out about in the world are the result of stress.

Put yourself through some hardships, and you will come out on the other side a happier, fulfilled healthier person. Listen to 2%. That's T-W-O-Persent on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Fon Ticolo, holding it down for the boss man and our cult leader, Questlove, who is busy working today. We're broadcasting live from the Roots Picnic in New York. In New York, New York City, the city and the state.

We got lovely Laia. Unpaid Bill Sherman. My man Sugar Steve. My man Scott Yeo. This young lady is one of the new voices and one of the more prominent voices of the Grime hip-hop movement coming out of the UK. And she has been very patient with us

after coming out of her performance today from the Roos picnic and waiting for us. And she showed up with some liquor. And that was. It's a sure way to get to people's heart. Ladies and gentlemen, and I'm going to say her name, and then after I say her name, I'm going to take your sip,

and that shit's going to sound like goddamn bill. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Lady Leisha. I told you, but I love that. I love that. First Ruth's picnic performance. Yes. Yes. How was it?

It was amazing, you know. I didn't think I was going to get that reaction, but a lot of them out there knew who it was already. That was incredible. One of the things I think is so fascinating about emcees from the UK is that we speak the same language. I mean, we're both speaking English. Almost. But right, almost.

The dialect is just something. Yeah, it's the accent really. That's, well, the accent to me, I can, you know, listen to the accent. like I can the accent doesn't get in the way of me understanding what you guys are saying a lot of times it's just the I guess more so the dialect is how you just will have certain terms for words that we just you know we just don't use or even like the way another one of my favorite singles from you came my man Dornick who is incredible he does the same thing I notice you do you guys use F's for TH so it's the I don't even know if you knows it but like you don't say think you say think yeah I I said think. You said, or was it, she said, she did it right.

She said it right. She said it right. She didn't say the F? No, she said think. She said think. What? She did something with an F. She said something like that.

You know what it is? It's because I'm actually from Birmingham. Okay. And maybe he's from London because London accent and sound and dialect is completely different to anyone from up north in the UK. Gotcha. We have like a lot of melody in our voice.

Ah. You know what I mean? And they're very monotone Londoners. Do you think that comes? Do you think that comes from, like, is that like the kind of Caribbean influence? No, I don't think it's that. I think it's just basically, you know, you have Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester. They're up north and they have a different sound, a different vibe and energy to Londoners.

Londoners, they just laugh at us when we speak, you know, because it sounds like we're singing. They say we're singing basically when we're talking. Okay. And yeah, some things they say that we don't say. And some things, so they say glass, pass, fast. We say glass, past, fast. So I'll say it kind of like we do. Where is the R in fast and past?

You know, it's glass. It's glass. So that's what we do. That's what we say. We pronounce things properly. But London is, you know, they always win because they're the biggest city, you know. They don't some others. That's where Ars come from, Z.

A.R. S.E.R. S. That's extra. So many extra fucking consonants. Good point, Fonte. Yeah, man, fuck all that. So in doing your performance today, do you notice a difference between performing for crowds in London versus here?

Are there any adjustments you have to make in performing in the U.S.? Yeah, 100%. I feel like in the UK, they get it straight away, because the music I make is grime and that's straight from the UK, that's gritty, that's us, that's what we've created. And when you try to take another genre of music that people might not have heard of

to another state, another area, they might not take to it as well as the original place it was created in. So in America, I mean, I'm not going to lie, I think it's incredible when they actually, when they're nodding their head and they're listening and their vibes into the music because it's UK music,

music, you know, and I respect that. But at the same time, what I try to do whenever I come and do a show in America, is I try to merge American beats or I try to connect with the crowd by, you know, today I play Biggie, you know, it's New York, isn't it? I got a New York hat on. But I wear these all the time. This isn't just, I don't just... Yeah, you're not just pandering.

I got it. I just didn't fake it today. But yeah, man, I try to connect with the crowd as much as possible. And, yeah, and try to show them. that I'm British as well as being able to understand and relate to them as well. So it goes down of it. It depends, actually. Americans are kind of assholes when it comes to like listening.

Like music, appreciating music. I felt like that when it comes to America. Comparing them in the UK, yes, I feel like you guys are way more open-minded and accepting. That's why a lot of groups, especially, well, I say Europe, but that's why a lot of groups here, like I think of the roots, you know what I mean? Like the roots were touring 300 days a year in Europe. They can do that here. I think that used to be the case.

I think more so now, I think the internet is kind of the great equalizer. You know what I'm saying? Like, I think back in the day, like maybe 20 years ago or so or whatever, like the UK and like Europe was kind of seen as the promised land. So it's like if you were fucking bricking over here, you could go to Europe and you could be the guy.

But now if you're bricking here, you're fucking bricking everywhere. You know what I'm saying? Like no one like the jig is up because you're just a Google search away. And if you're whacking New York, you're whacking London, Birmingham, Manchester, England, England, everywhere. I don't know why I want to hear that shit. So it's not, I don't think that's the case anymore.

In terms of your music, how did you get started? And what were some of like your earliest recordings? What were they like? Okay, so I wrote my first lyric when I was six years old. And that was just like a... A lot of young writers on this show. Man, yeah, six, eight. Just a little, a voicemail for my mom on her phone.

So whenever anyone would phone, it would go straight to that. That was over a reggae track, sister Nancy Bamba. Bam Bam Bam. Yeah, so everywhere I go I have to perform that. I don't care if people don't even know about it or reggae. That's something I have to do for myself. And then at the age of 12, I discovered Eminem, and I was just totally in love with him.

And I knew from that point I wanted to be a rapper. There was nothing else for me. You know when you just feel like you know you're certain of something, I knew that I didn't want to do anything but rap. So from the age of 12 to 14, I learned how to mix and master my own stuff, produce, DJ, rap, sing, act, dance. I was trying to do everything.

One-stop's up. You know what I mean? And at a young age and I had the experience, you know, to be who I am now, you know, and to perfect on my craft. So I've been working for so long. I had my first show when I was 15. And because I'm Caribbean and I watch a lot of like dance hall shows and stuff, the way they, they've got the crowd.

put the flag in the air where you're at all that stuff I learned that from early so I'm not I'm not scared to to put myself out there when I'm on the stage even if the crowd doesn't react to me I don't care because I'm in my zone

and I've learnt from the best you know So who were your teachers? Eminem Little Wayne He's just he's one of my biggest teachers A little bit of Missy Elliott As far as just having fun And not caring what people think

And the crazy visuals Buster Rhymes same with the visuals, ludicrous with the visuals and the flow. But there's a few UK artists I used to listen to as well. Who were that? Who were you in? So there's Kano.

I don't know if you've heard of Kano. Was he so solid crew? No, no, he wasn't so solid a crew. He was in a crew called The Movement, but then they were all doing their same, their own thing. So there was scorcher, Kano, Geto and Devlin in this crew. And Geto is like,

He's so amazing. I think he would do great here. I think the UK don't get him. He's so, he's like Eminem. Like, he's so articulate. He's crazy with the flow. And because of that, I don't think the UK get him. And I think he'd be amazing here. Like, people would respect him or here. But Gets was a big part of my career. As far as, like, flow and technique and content and syllables and trying to hit every pocket, he was that guy. In terms of listening, being in the UK and hearing American music, were there some parts of our music that just did not translate over there or were there some parts that culturally it was kind of like, okay, I like the music, but what exactly are they talking about? Not at all. I think for a very long time, England and UK have worshipped American music. Even me, growing up, I thought, you know, to be a very long time, England and UK have worshipped American music.

Even me, growing up, I thought, you know, to be a rapper, you had to be American. So when I was younger, I was spitting an American accent because I just thought that was it. That, you know, I'm not going to make it with a British accent, especially from Birmingham. That's a completely different accent. So what does it, what does that sound like? Oh, no, you know, we have to rap, but just, like, talk in an American accent. What does that sound like? Oh, my gosh.

Because we imitate y'all all the time. Oh, is that I? She just did it. She just did it. You just did it. I got bars, son. you know, I do this. I really do this.

I don't know what this accent is from. I don't know what city, what area. New York? New York, okay, I got the new era on, the New York. You know, we got this. I'm inside with Pandora. No. Now, seriously, like, literally, I do this all the time.

Like, when I'm on Snapchat, I always do the American accent. I love it. I actually love America. Like, I just think you guys, at the time, at the time when I started, rapping and stuff, I thought that was the only way to make it. But I think after like a decade, things have changed now. And a lot of the American artists are looking at the UK. And it's refreshing to see that they're finally reaching out to us.

Like Chris Brown has worked with a few UK artists. Drake has co-signed a few UK artists. Yeah, we're just like with Skepta. Like, whatever it is that I'm really, he's really kind of. Yeah. And he's been doing it for so long, you know. And it's just good to see that finally something that the UK has created, which is Grime.

It's finally getting seen on really big platforms. Can you break that down? I was going to, yeah, I was like, Grime is, like, to, over there, like, to us. Grime is 140 BPM. So it's quite fast.

It's like, it's quite fast. It's a slower than drum and bass. I don't know if you've heard it. Oh, yeah, yeah. It's slower than drum and bass, but it's very, it's very gritty. It's very raw. It's street.

It's, it's just us, you know. You can tell you. how a grind beat from a hip-hop beat. And whenever an American artist goes on a grind beat, they always hit it in a different way to a grime emcee. You know, we're hit it with the spit flows like, blah-da-da-da-da-da.

And then an American artist would be like, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You know what I mean? So we have our own sound. You know what I mean? And we hit it. It's very aggressive. It's very hard-hitting.

It's powerful. It's energetic. It's omniscient, man. It's... I'm surprised we haven't tried to steal it from you yet. You know, like Drake hasn't come over. It's going to happen. Eventually.

Eventually. Give it a couple years. Give it a couple of years. Don't speak too soon. After they leave the continent of Africa, they'll be back. In terms of, like, because I also saw that you're a singer as well. Like, you sing as well. Or do, or?

Well, I tried to sing. I'm not a singer. Okay. But, yeah, let's swiftly move on. I'm not a singer, guys. I actually, not a singer. I just know how. I grew up in a church.

Like, I used to be in choirs and stuff like that. So I know about melodies. I know about harmonies and stuff like that. But I wouldn't say, I'm not like. That's better than a lot of singers. I mean, that's a singer like Nikki Minaj is a singer. I think she can actually sing with me. I need a lot of work.

I need a lot of melodine. I need a lot of attune. You know what I mean? I need a lot of that because I know, I know I can't hit those notes that Mariah Carey hits, you know what I mean? So I saw her. but I performed at New Orleans

Essence Festival. Oh, did it? Oh, wow. What was that like? Because that's a very black experience. Okay, that was... Very African-American experience. That is like a specifically kind of black experience.

It's put on by Essence magazine. Black Woman's Magazine. Just for everybody doesn't know. And it is held in New Orleans, which is one of the... You know what? I feel like, because I'm British, they straight away, they're locked in because they hear a different accent. It's refreshing for them.

It's unique. It's new. So I didn't really have to do so much. much to win the crowd over. There was just like, wow. You know what? It ain't a stale. Who is it?

No, you don't know. I lit. Yeah, man. But I saw Mariah Carey at this festival and she performed every song live except for Heartbreaker and she managed to hit that. I can't even do it. But you know that thing that she does.

She managed to hit that and I was just like, okay, you've still got in you. You know what I mean? So that's dope. Yo, the voice is something that is very, it's an instrument that's very delicate. I mean, you have to really treat it like it's an instrument. And it's something that, you know, one of the greatest tips I received was from a guy who was telling me, I was asking about care and stuff.

And he was saying, you know, you have to treat. If you look at what all the other players do, at the end of the night, they put the instrument in the case. So you got to do the same thing with your voice, you know, at the end of the night, put it in the case. Yeah, and you can see I'm doing that. And a little brown. Now, a little bit ago, it will knock a little of the cold off to help you get those real, you know, that real grit.

It kills all the, you know. It'll knock that cold off your course. You can sing in them holes where you want to. You might not remember anything. It really will. It'll get you there. So we're here now. So where are you at now in your creative process in terms of what you're working on?

you know, in terms of records. What is your creative process like? Okay, so at the moment, I'm working on my album, Queen of the Scene, which will be out next year. And my process is quite weird because if I'm not in a good place, I can't make good music. I know that sounds as easy as I've said it, but it isn't, like mentally I have to be in the right place

to make fun music, which is what the Queen's Speech Project was all about. So if I'm in a happy place and I'm in a good place, I can make happy, funny, good music. If I feel sad one day, I'm going to make Drake music, you know, that, you know. Hey, but that's honest. That Bryson, that's here, that Genet Aiko music, you know. Isn't it, is it that you prefer to do, like, happy stuff or in the dark stuff? I do, I do prefer to do happy stuff because I just love to see people laugh, man.

That's what I'm about, like my personality off mic as militia, because that's what my name is. I just love to see people laugh, make people. laugh and just, you know, have a good time with my people. So that's the only reason why I thought of doing a project that is funny and relatable and can connect to any common man around the world, you know what I mean? Like Queen's speech,

the things that are saying that are things that people can be like, oh yeah, I know someone who does that, I know someone with Krisby Bacon Nips, I know someone who don't change their panties, I know someone who don't brush their teeth. You know what I'm saying? You know, some people do that, you know? Some people just wake up, they've got their panties on already, they've slept in the panties and they just, they bus out, they go, they go work, they go, they go to their friend's house.

Who are these people, these? Now, I, I, now, I would, I will, I will, I will, I will, I'm, I will say, there are some men. Men, men, do it. Okay, yeah, men do it all. There's some men that like a little twang on that thing. You know, you know, they like a little twangling. Come on, you know what, that's sad, man, the fragrance has to be A1, man, you can't be. Where?

I didn't do it. Yeah, we can't blame Lai on this. Okay, come up. All right, wait, I'm going to ask you guys a question. Please you ever left the house without washing. Underneath. You don't want to ask me a question. No, I do.

I do. I do. That's why we want to ask. Not by choice. Not by choice. Say what now. It depends. Okay, all right, okay.

It depends. Okay, here's the thing, right. For me, if I'm just in the house, just in my natural, just whatever, then, yeah, I mean, it may not be necessary for me to shower if I'm just running. into the store because I haven't been sweating. Yeah, that's fine. But like if I didn't left the gym, I'm not going to go to the gym then hop my ass in the bed

and then get it. No, that's fucking trifling. I'm pretty sure there are like laws against doing that. Yes, there are. So, no, but no, but. Okay, so have you ever came out your house without washing, but you've gone to a club as well? You've accidentally just ended up. That's that's happened. That's happened.

Oh, man. I know. I don't know. I'm a lot. I'm a lot. I'm a There's no shame, because listen, if we went to Isman times back in the days, you know, back before I was covered by the blood of Jesus. Back back when I was out there in the world, there was a time in my life where I would go to the club. I go to the club, you know what I'm saying? You sleep, you know what I'm saying? You come home, you crash like two, three in the morning, wake up, you know what I'm saying? And then you realize I'm shit, I'm hungry, whatever.

So then you make your way to like the fucking I hop or whatever. and you still are in your club clothes. So what happens when you're in the club and you meet a beautiful woman and then you connect and then she's like, okay, I'll come on with you. So what happens then? What happens at the bathroom?

The whole time you're praying that she ignores you until the next time you run into it. Well, I mean, listen, man, let me explain something. And you can record you. It's all good. You guys, he's covered in the blood of Jesus. He's totally fine. Let me explain something.

Let me explain something. Let me say, okay, listen, I personally like a woman's natural fur moles. Oh, okay, okay. So, for me, I'm the type of guy that's like, listen, if you go to the gym and you in your spin class or whatever, when you come back, so it's like, I don't want you to watch that off just yet. Oh, okay, you gave me high. You know, I do some.

Let me swing around this. Hallelujah. Listen, I like some twangles. on that thing. So, you know what I mean? Added flavor. Yeah, it's added flavor. It's added presence.

I need to know it's there. Like, I know it's like it's that let me know it's real. Yeah, yeah. But you know, a real woman doesn't need that added ingredients, you know. We have that already. Well, it's not about the woman.

It's about me. I'm a nasty nigga lady. No, I love that. I mean, like, preach. Preach right now. You know what I'm saying? I got a lady in my life. And she knows these things.

This is not new. who she accepts me as I am. She is blessed. She's blessed. But, you know what I mean? The best thing you've ever said. So, yeah, so for me, if I felt, if, folks, to answer your question, if we're in the club and it's been a night and it's been a little must or whatever, you know, I might

want to freshen up or whatever. But for her. Well, hold on. If you're in the club, everybody is a little must-be and stanky and nasty. And that's what drives it. The great equalizer. Yeah, we all funky. So let's be funky together.

And we're drunk. What? Let's go. We drunk and funky. We drunky. We're drunky. It's a combination. So, yeah, so that's the thing. But, okay, so now let's get off women's hyphen.

A lack of the ruff. She took the conversation. No, I respect that. I love that. I don't actually respect that. I fuck with you. So working on the new record, if you need an interlude,

talking about that, it feels free. I can drop that on for you. You can sing it for that. Yeah, I think I'm going to need you for that. I got you. I drop it on. It's all good.

So you, um, working on it on the new record, um, be out next year. Uh, in the meantime, what are you doing, just touring, the EP? Yeah. So I'm just touring at the moment. Um, a lot of shows, a few special features. Yeah, man, I'm just here and there. Um, and tomorrow I'll fly to Atlanta now for AC3. A3C, uh, A3C.

A3C, AC free. I get it mixed up to the way. A3C. Yeah, A. Yeah. AC3. So yeah, I'm just all over the place, man. No sleep. Enjoy it. Enjoy it. Enjoy the ride. Are you still, do you still have your clothing line, the freaking L line? No, it's so crazy when people say that to me because I just didn't think people would be

researching to see that. You know what I mean? That was just the little thing I was doing on the side of music. But at the moment, I'm just, it's out of year.com.uk. It's got all the, you know, the little, the relatable quotes I say in my Queen's speeches like Krisby Bacon, can brush your teeth, change your panties, you know, with that one eye and your man fet you up. Them little things there, you know what I mean? Because I knew people would want at least some type of merchandise. I've got the toothbrushes with the brush your teeth on my logo.

I've got the crispy bacon lip balm. Nice. I wish I brought some for you guys, you know. I'm not saying that you need it. That tastes like bacon? No, it doesn't actually. It actually tastes like cherry. Oh, okay.

It's actually nice, you know. It's okay. You brought brown rounds. Yeah. Next time, man, I have to hook you up. with some stuff. All right. Well, Lady Lechior.

Leisha. Lady Leisha. Lady Leisha. Thank you for probably one of the most open segments. We've got to give you a little on Quest Love Supreme. And, you know what I'm saying?

We wish you much love and much success on your journey and on your tour. You know, be safe. Good luck at A3C. And just thank you for being apart. Thank you for taking time Thank you for waiting and just, you know, I know how it is.

So, ladies and gentlemen, Lady Leisure on Quest for Supreme. Lady Leisha. Lady Leisha. Lady Leisure. It's a song by Johnny Gill called Lady Du Jure and that's just in my, Johnny Gill is in my brain right now. In my lady. Oh.

Oh. You got no notes. Such a lady. I'm going to call you for real, though. Hit me up. I do hooks. I do folk. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeartRadio.

This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora. For more podcasts from IHeartRadio, visit the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. 2%. That's the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter. I'm on my podcast, 2%. I break down the signs of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world. Put yourself through some hardships, and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person.

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