The Questlove Show - Questlove Supreme: Diamond D

Episode Date: December 21, 2022

Diamond D joins Questlove Supreme in Atlanta to discuss growing up with Hip-Hop pioneers in his literal backyard. The acclaimed producer/MC/DJ triple-threat discusses his career, from Ultimate Force and Stunts Blunts & Hip Hop, into his new album, The Rear View. QLS brings back its sample-spotting game as we sit down with the best-kept secret.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clivert Show on the I-Heart Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, all. wherever you get your podcast. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft, and we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's

East-West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make, to the players flying under the radar.

This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to understand. miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and TikTok

podcast network on TikTok. Questlove Supreme is a production of Iheart Radio. Here we go. Just follow us. Supremia. Supremia Roe. Subrema, Subramo.

Submima, So, Sabrina roll. Some, sub, supremo roll. Some say I'm Crazy. Some say I'm ill. Yeah. Fuck you talking about. Yeah. You chill.

My name is Fonte. I ain't hard to find. And I'm not like Sally. I got a two-track mine. Supremia. A little story about Sugar Steve. She wanted diamonds. Gave her the D.

No time to rest It's time to learn From hip hop's finesse My name is Diamond My beast the best I'm down in the A now Chiller with my man Quest You like that reverb at the end

Yeah I'm learning the new button every week Yeah Yeah Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Questlove Supreme. I'm your host, Questlove. You know, we're down here in the A in Atlanta doing our first drafts of in-person episodes. It's been three years, and, you know, glad to be with the fan.

Spoke to Unpaid Bill this morning. Oh, how's he doing? He's fine. He's chilling with Grover and Oscar on Sesame Street. On a Saturday. Wait, today's Saturday? Right, right. Nah, when I got in the Uber this one,

I was like, oh, damn, it is Saturday. Oh, it's... Mm-hmm. You go to work. You go to work. It's Saturday? Mm-hmm. Probably not when they're airing this, but yeah.

I'm all, yeah, I'm just all messed up. No more days of play. Well, I thought it was Thursday. No, no. Oh, damn. Okay, it's like that. Anyway, how are you doing, I am doing? I am doing great.

We back in the A? I barely recognize it. I ain't been here in 20 years. I love it. I'm kind of mad because I'm here in the A, but I've yet to go to, strokers and probably is that like a new street with strokers

I don't even what the hell is that I'm from the Magic City gentlemen you know it's okay so this is what I'm learning about my Atlanta trip number one you know it's it was sort of a topic of the past but now I get the feeling that people

actually go to the strip clubs here just to eat so I heard Magic City just up their menu literally everyone behind the cameras was like yeah ain't like I was heard like Magic City they don't Uber eat I was like, nobody you see, you want to eat Magic City.

I hear Magic City has the best wings ever. I hear that Diamond D got really quiet when we start talking about it. No, listen, all right. Our guest today, I know I always say this. Like,

this is one of my favorite shows. But any chance that I get to nerd out on the production techniques that really drew me to hip hop and drew all of us to hip hop, no matter who you're, like it's, It's always a good episode.

And so this gentleman has been a force to record with, even before his solo career, like the work that he's done, you know, is this strong city? I don't, is strong city at all associated with Aaron Fuchs? No, not at all. Not at all. I just get. I know.

Yeah, I'm afraid even if I say the label, it might get litigious. That was Jazzy J and Rocky Buchano. Right, okay. All right. Well, yeah. No affiliation, though. The resume is strong. Some of my favorite producer moments comes from this gentleman years.

I mean, all of his records, son's blunt and hip-hop. Hatred. I've got to ask you about your sophomore. Hatred, passion, and infidelity. Like, dime piece, the Gotham, and now your brand-new joint, the rearview, which is excellent work. You've been doing quality, excellent work. And sometimes it's easy to sort of take for granted. People do excellent work and they often get overlooked.

And when top five list and top ten list are named and, you know, sometimes a person is so effortless that you tend to forget their contributions. But, you know, that's what Questlove Supreme is for. So that said, let's welcome the one and only. Finally. Finally. Diamond D. Wait, am I allowed to call you Diamond D now?

Of course. Okay, number one. What's that? Can you please? When were you never allowed? No, no, no. But here's the deal. I have two versions of the album.

Okay. When it was like Diamond D's dumps in here. And then there was Diamond. Right. Well, it was Diamond and Psychic Nerotics. Diamond psyched neurotic, yeah. Diamond and psyched neurotics. So what was the situation with your name?

Was there another Diamond D like back in the day that I don't know about? You know what? I'm not sure, but I think it might have been originally, somebody that was signed to Western Records. Oh, wow. Out of New York. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They did Tanya Gardner, Heartbeat.

You know, Hot Shot was on that label. But I think somebody had the name, yeah. Okay, okay. Well, you know, this is my favorite nerd-out moments on Questlove Supreme. So I'm going to start from the beginning. What was your first musical memory? Time out. Let me go to OG style.

Where were you born? I was born in Manhattan, New York Hospital. Wow, I never heard any, yeah. Born. Get to, all right. New York, you know, all right. But what was your first? In the Bronx.

Okay. All right. Your first musical memory? Sitting in my uncle's room and him just playing music. He had a large vinyl collection. So I was just sitting in his room like eight, nine years old and just listening to him play records. What was you playing? Everything.

Mostly funk jazz. So, you know what I mean? Shouts out to Gary. Was he very? was he very meticulous with the collection? Like I've had a older cousin that was that way, but you couldn't touch the wax and

you know, he was like precious. Yeah, definitely. You know, you had to hold a record like this with both hands. He's very meticulous about his winos. And then, you know, when I came along with the DJ, you know, we had to put our hands on the record. I was going to say how, okay, so sometimes I'm trying to

explain to people the trouble. You know, I mean, it's easy. now that hip hop is in its about to be in its 50th year for us to also take for granted its development and how far it's come but you know I try to explain to people that

a lot of those pioneers you know flash got so much kickback or pushback if you will you know because the general idea is that you're going to destroy the needle or destroy the belt

drive or the turntable like putting your fingers on the grooves Those are big no-nows Yeah, I got punishment Trying to You know Like my first introduction And of course

Was you know Grandmaster Flash On the wheels of steel And You know Trying to practice Or my dad's You know

Why he's not looking And see what happens And you get in trouble But yeah Like how do you discover What that is In the Bronx And were you like privy

To any of those Like block parties Or anything Oh yeah They were like right outside You know Explain it Take us there

Growing up Farthest projects, me, Fat Joe, Lord Fennes, we would all see DJs like... Y'all were in the same building,

the same complex. But we would see God like Grand was in the theater, mainly theater, um, sometime Flash. At that point,

they were already making records, but we were able to just go downstairs and just see these jams going on in the parks. What was it like seeing, because I'm assuming that you're too young

for Harlem World? Correct. Right, so I'm assuming that you're an 11 or a 12-year-old. Correct. So how does the trickle effect happen to you? Like, were tapes a thing instantly, or how do you get the information? Just watching it firsthand. You know, you've seen people out there, you know, with boxes, you know, recording or whatever,

but, you know, I saw it firsthand. You know, when Flash made Grandmaster Flash on the wheels of still, I had already seen him do some of that, you know, outside. out in the parks, cutting up good times, you know, shit like that. But just being

close in proximity to it is what drew me. And in fact, Quest, when I was a little kid, whenever I saw the DJ reach for the damn right I'm somebody album cover,

by the J.Bs, you know, I would lose my mind because I knew he was going to play blow your head. And that stick, like even now as an adult, that always sticks out to me. A lot of time people ask me,

you know, song to draw you into hip hop. I mentioned blow your head. It's not a rap record. I know. It's just a breakbeat that was real popular. And as little kids, we'd be to lose our fucking mind when that shit came on. So, all right.

So Chuck D. once explained to me the effect of that. Because I asked, like, why was that the first record that introduced the world to public enemy? And he explained to me that, you know, because, okay, I grew up with an old, like a father and older uncles and older cousins. And so they came more or less from the, I mean, I'm not saying like I inherited the critical thinking, but the way that, you know, I'm sure a classic album comes out. We all get together and discuss that shit critically.

That's how they were, you know, because my dad was a musician and all that stuff. So in my household, James Brown was kind of over by 73. Okay, yeah. Like, my, I distinctly remember the very first album my dad panned. Like, this is trash. He didn't like the payback. I don't think he liked the idea of paying $15.90. So typically, I guess, back in 73, 74, an album would run $3.99.

A single album's like $3.99, maybe $4.99. So when you're paying $11, $12.99 for a double album, the first thing, and, you know, I'm three years old, But my dad's like, wait a minute, there's only eight songs on this record, and it's a double record, and each song's like a meandering. I never knew what meandering was, but by the time you get to the side three, time is running out fast, whatever, like 12 minutes. You know, he just took it off, and he's like, I don't like this. And so in my mind, James Brown was over in 74,

but Chuck D tells me, he's like James Brown commercially might have had his last heyday of string, you know, after Poplar, don't take the mess, but he's like, in the hood, we never stopped playing Goodfoot and, you know, if anything, like we brought those singles back, but it was just hood stuff. But for some reason, me and myself, I never liked blow your head because in my mind, I imagined James Brown's like, okay, so Stevie Wonder got a Moog and made miracles of it. That's funny.

With him, it was almost like I could see, I could see like the bubble wrap on the floor and him just, and this is the thing, even James Brown's musicians himself will say like he was the worst soloist of all time. Correct. But one of those guys were even he was wrong, he's right, so for him to do like all this

crazy solo in and whatnot, just never understood why y'all gravitated to that record. It's just to have an instrumental that was fast to let B-boys go off or... Yeah, that's all it was. You know, I'm a little kid, so I'm not really thinking about the musicality of it.

Right. But just the effect that record had when it was played at party, like, you know, people would lose their fucking minds, you know, that little one part. To touch on what you're saying, I did read where Fred Wesley said that James went in there behind their backs, and he put that Moog sound over it up, yeah. Right.

He said it wasn't on there at first. Yeah. But the irony is that that's what drove it. By the time these young black and brown kids We're listening to it, you know, in 78 and 79 at these parties. Yeah, I was going to say we're now an I-heart affiliate. And so we're, like, limited on the times that we can play songs. But just for that you people know what we're talking about, this is blow your head.

Oh, thank y'all. So y'all was talking about that. Yeah, we know that. Public enemy number. Okay, thank you. We're all like, okay, we're here now. We're here. Yeah, so, you know, but this is also what I want to know.

Do you have any memories because this is kind of the one thing that hip hop pioneers really don't talk about? But, I mean, I can only put two and two together that if it weren't for the blackout of 77, we might not have had hip hop culture because I'm just assuming that because of the of the looting-esque of it. Oh, yeah. I'm a little kid during the blackout. No, no, no, I'm not saying where you're there. But I have heard stories about a lot of equipment came into possession during the blackout. So, you know, it definitely pushed it along a little bit. Right.

But, I mean, it was there before that. But what I want to know is how, because I'm also aware that as the years and decades go by, maybe revisionist history sets in and stories get exaggerated. it. But how officially loud were these speakers at these block parties? Were they like concert level

size or were you guys satisfied with... Loud enough where you can hear them three blocks away. How do you get power electricity in a park? Street lights, I believe. Landposts. So someone who had to risk their life climb up a lamppost or...

A lot of them knew about equipment. So they were break into a lamp post, get the power lines, and do some shit in the next thing you make. Now we had Kwame's dad here to explain. Right, right, right.

Kwame's dad used to tell, like, for the longest, Kwame's father was still the neighbor's gas. Like, he knew how to run a line inside of their basement or whatever and just, yeah. What sourceful people? Exactly.

If nothing else. So how old were you when you officially, when you considered yourself like, all right, I'm getting to this music shit. Like, how old were you? I was saying about 12. About 12 when I asked my mom to buy me some turntables. Yeah.

Did you want a DJ or you just? Yeah, no, I wanted to be a DJ. I didn't care about ramen. I just, you know, I was, my whole focus was the beats, the break beats. I would just go to these jams to stand by the road. and try to see album covers, you know, just how they find these little parts with the drums. That's what really, like, intrigued me.

You know, all of these records with these little drum parts. So I was just drum crazy. When you were a kid, what was the record store that was like the go-to? The Wiz. Nobody Beasts. There was another store on Third Avenue. I remember the name, but the first break I bought was Shangri-La. Really?

Yeah. Okay. But we called it Paradise is very nice And Irv Gotti He mentioned it in documentary He said he used to cut that as a kid And I was like, oh shit That's crazy

But yeah That was the first join I bought my own money So This Yeah So that's the slick Like That's Frisco Disco

But De La Salle So Sample dis on something So in your mind What was it about? it because in your mind wasn't that disco and wasn't disco off limits or no no no a lot of breaks was disco you know that super sperm was disco frisco frisco disco the mexican is just begun what so whatever kept people dancing long that was good enough for you mean you know yeah as long as the break was

there all i need is you tonight by arthur prysock yo a lot of disco joints sarone was a disco record Rock it in the pocket. It's a disco record. Wow. Okay, wait a minute. All right, so would you spend it on 33 or 45? Well, I mean, 45, if you want to rhyme to it, but on 33, it speeds up. Right, okay.

It's a disco record. Caron is a disco artist. I didn't know that Rockin' And Bockeet sped up. Okay, so I'm one of those people at least with the basic breaks, especially with the stuff that's more disco-fi. Like, I mean, there's two ways to listen to it. And I'm, yeah, like, the first maybe 20 years. in my life I'm very guilty of

needle dropping. Yeah. No, no, no, oh, there's a drumming. Right, right. But then, you know, those that are really into it, they study the song to figure. So, like, what is your process of how much patience do you have?

So when you go and you bend shop and you get, come on with 400 joints or whatever, right. Then is it like wine? Do you just let it sit there until you get to it? or... It all depends on how intense the day. How much patient do you have to, like, know...

They're not going to sit there too long. You know, and that's going to... But in your mind, is there always a part that's usable and you figure out? Because maybe with Dilla... So Dilla told me he... Dilla never made a beat on a Sunday. Okay.

And he would house clean and do chores or whatever and just have records on. Okay. And he said he'd do about three or four hours or whatever. You know, sometimes he'll record some shit and just listen to the car and drive around. So, yeah, like, are you one of those people that, like, you'll listen to something over and over again until it hits you or you just... No, I just go through it when I'm there. But when I'm there, I'm focused.

A win is a win. A win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators,

and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't. don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right what you need to be.

Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And Rule 2, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends... Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care, so they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed I will be his last target.

He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects.

From hidden traits, teams look for, to the director. the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice Podcast on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok. How did you make the transition from, you know, DJing to then making tracks, producing? Well, most producers started off as DJs,

but to answer your question, I would say like around 1990 when me and Premier did Lord Furness' first album, The Funky Technician. Well, before that, it was Master Rob, I'm not playing? Well, I didn't produce that, but I bought the record. Ah, okay. I didn't know how to program. Jazzy Jay programmed it.

Oh, okay. And I say, yo, Jay, looped this part up. The album. Clean this back for the hook. You know, put these guitars in the... in the chorus. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't know how to work it.

So I got to ask you this question. Of course. And you know I'm about to ask you. Okay, so for me, you know, and outside of New York, you know, I grew up in a 3,000 record household. Of which, you know, truthfully, maybe only 10, maybe 15% appeal to me. Okay. And the rest was just my dad's boring stuff. Like, I'm not listening to Arthur Priceout.

the Beatles and all this other stuff. But of course, you know, once I hear nation of millions, then suddenly, like, I'm like, oh, that's dad's stuff, that's dad's stuff, that's stuff. Now it's like, I got to go through all them records,

and then I discover it like, oh, God, this is how they make hip-hop. So here's the deal. So I became a bomb squad junkie. Okay, me too. And, I mean, for me, there's nine seminal, even though they've done more, but to me they've done nine important documents

as far as like they're canon. And really like sampling laws kind of killed them off. And you know, there's other inner issues in the group. But for real, it's like for me it was always, you know, Burn Rush Nation, Black Planet, I do count because they did a majority of it, poison by BPD. Correct.

Even the non-bomb Squad songs sounded like them. Of course America's most want it. And for me, just to farm our love? Yeah. And I'll now consider Terminator's first joint But the last two records In their canon that I consider

Part of that document, of course, was young black teenagers And son of berserk. Now, when I heard Are You With Me? I thought that was like Just one of the most craziest things I ever heard in my life But didn't realize that they just Put the needle on my record Right.

I was like, wait, you can, you can sample, if so meta. Like, they sampled a sample of you. I didn't understand that. So when you heard it, what were you thinking? When I heard that, I flipped the fuck out. But you know. So it wasn't an honor like, oh my God. I mean, it was mixed feelings, honestly.

But I turned to Jazzy Jay and I said, yo, these dudes just basically just rhymed over the instrumental. So, you know, but listen, um, Strong City was distributed by uni. Right. son of berserk was signed a uni but still

that's the master how the publishing get worked out let me all right so let me play the 10 seconds I can play

that's my fucking record meanwhile I'm dreaming like damn I wonder what part Eric Sadden like because I see the bomb squad

just as some synesthesia like the way the guitar stems are made and then I heard what you did and I was like

oh damn they just took the diamonds join and looped it. So what happened when you heard that? I went to Jazzy Jay. I pointed it out to him. Right. Because, you know, he had a vested interest in it

and it never went further than that. I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened with that. I don't even know if he were credited on the publishing side. I just never looked back. Wow. What was, at that time, I've read, you did an interview, this was years ago.

You talked a little bit about Wild Pitch and Stu Fine. at the time. What was he like as a business band? How did the wild pitch business structure work? Well, you know, Stu Fine. I'm going to give Stu his props. You know, he signed Gangstar. He signed Law Finesse.

He signed Lorde Professor in Maine Source. Chill Rob G. You know, Stu Fon and his wife, Amy Fon, they had a good ear for good hip-hop. Stu never really did anything personally toward me, But being around my man, Lord Fanness, and listening to his grumblings. You know, if your man grumbling about something, you're going to grumble too. You know what I mean?

So, you know, yeah, I took that shot. I made that one line at him on the show business. He didn't really do anything to me, but, you know. But just listening to Lord Foness grumble all the time. Yo, man, man. I'd be like, damn, word? You know. Ah, man.

But shots out to Stu Fine. You know, he actually, um. I'm 10 seconds years old. He actually threw me a pass laid on a life on his LL track that I did. Anyway. Is he still alive? Is he still alive? I believe he is.

I'm not sure. I'm not sure. But Wild Pitch has a legacy. They do. No, straight up. You know. I'm leaving off some artists too. But, yeah.

45 King? Well, no, no. I mean, he did gang stars. Bust the move. Boy. You know what? Stu gave me. Two men, back when Search was working at Wild Pitch.

See that? Yeah, search was like briefly, I guess he signed OC to Wild Pitch, correct? Correct. I left out O.C. That's right. Yeah. And we were shooting a lot of great artists. A lot of great artists.

We were shooting solid treatment on my birthday, and Search hit me off with two mint copies of Bust a move for it. Nice. But I let them sit on a radiator, so it's work. Oh, wow. Shut up, Steve. You got to take care of your records, man. Shut up, man.

All right, damn. So, um... It was interesting. The premiere, it wasn't producing yet. Yeah. The, the pre-premer, gangstar. I was the 45 King fan, so, you know, he's one of my mentors, too. That was my joint.

Okay, before I get, you know, I became aware of you, even though I knew of you and didn't know of you because on cassettes, they really weren't putting on credits and all those things. And, you know, I primarily brought my joints on cassettes. But do you leave those on the radiator too? Yes, I did. But can you tell me about the environment of, like, the record conventions and, you know. Friendly competition.

Okay, just take me when you, just hypothetically. walked me through y'all are talking about like vinyl conventions so they were they set up record conventions and like hotels like hotel Pennsylvania and yeah you used to go there the Roosevelt also

so okay so you find out a record convention is coming right what time do you want to get there and who's waiting in line already before you get there I mean you're liable to see anybody you know we did 7 a.m. Kid Capri, Buck Wilde,

law finesse Rashad Smith, Gerobi, Q-Tips. Giroble. You know, Diller was there a few times. Pete Rock. Your man, Prince B. I heard, yeah, I heard Prince B. I heard Prince B.

He would get there early in, yeah. You know, Prince B, you know why he was winning? Because he didn't, he didn't negotiate. He didn't haggle. We all negotiating with Dillers. Prince B, oh, 800, all right. You know, so they loved them. So they would set stuff aside for him.

They loved him. Everybody else was like, you know, yo, eight, how about seven? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, we all in there trying to cut deals, but Prince B, I give him his props. He had that I die without you money. He was good.

Right. Okay, so it's, it's friendly competition, but still the Wild West. Right. And you guys are paying for gold. That's it. In your mind, do you already know the dealer

you want to go to? Like, how do you, Without the aid of the computer and all that stuff, how do you know? After you're going a few times, you pretty much know what dealers you really want to, really want to rock with. My man, John, 88 Keys. He used to be up under John all the time. I forgot my man, what's my man's name?

Bleaker Street Bob, Black dude. Yeah, yeah, Bleaker Street Bob. I remember him. I remember my man Bob from Boston. Me and Kit Capri, we like Bob from Boston. Bob had, he had the official, I don't know where he was getting these joints from, you know, but a lot of good memories. I remember when the power Zeus was out.

Okay. And everybody was on the proud for that. But I remember one year when it first came to our attention, it might have been like 20 copies there. And, you know, we all, you know, everybody that was in the know, we all got one. But those are good memories. I know, I remember them days forever. I was going to say without, you know, like, I'll say the generation after you, which I guess that's where I come to play, whatever. But, you know, we were always going on these wild goose chases because of the whole biz.

I don't even have to say it, but, you know, searching for these bellless. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Mardi Gras. But what was a real record that was just like you? heard about and I don't you know I don't mean like the fake bellis matagra shit but like

what was a real like record that y'all were like you heard about or that sort of thing that you just had to get um it vary from digger to digger but for me it was the whip of Jenny the whippa Jenny album by Dave Matthews

oh okay Dave Matthews was and not Dave Matthews band but James Brown's former she's like I do that James Brown's former composer. Yeah. He was also attached to the De Felice Trio

in some way, shape, or form. But he put out an album on People Records. It's the only psychedelic funk album that was on people records. So that was like always on my list. Besides the show is Funky Down Here record? Yeah, okay. But that was James Brown.

But this was like an offshoot. That is crazy. Which made it even more rare. See, that's another one. My, my, all right, so Christian McBride, a jazz guy bassist. His uncle was also James Brown freaking worked at a jazz station. Okay. And we were in high school together.

So we always had, Chris had Whippered Jenny and had, so it was funky down here. That's the rare albums. Right. But we put them joins on. I was like, ah, this is horrible. And that's the thing. We were never in the mind space. of something's on here

that we can loop and make it work. And only when I became older, I was like, oh, so many joins on here. But, yeah. Yo, can I ask a really maybe dumb fundamental crate digging question to both of y'all? There's never any dumb question. Okay, because I always,

I couldn't never understood how you set the price point and how you know. I mean, I know rare issues or rare issues, but how you know that this record is worth this? What they say is worth it? Yes, how do you know, and especially when you just start now, how do you, and then is it a learning,

process? It comes with years of digging. You know, you just, you know, albums you see often compared the ones you don't. Okay. But it's also, he's, okay, so there's, maybe I should explain to the top of the show that what makes diamond unique is, so the first generation of sampling, of course, you know, you got, this is why I always shout out Breakbeat Lou. Break B. Lou basically took the fundamentals like the easy stuff. Funky drummer,

impeach the president, like beats that you've always heard all your life on those early records. Like up until the Marley Mall Rick Rubin period. So like up from, up until 86, 87. So I'll say like the, what we call the classic period of hip-hop between 87,

kind of 90. Yeah, the Bomb Squad era. Right. What, what Break B'Loo, would do is basically just make these compilation records, put seven songs on each record, and then you buy that record, and then you sample it.

Made it easy for dweeps like me, so I didn't have to go spend hours in a goodwill, and I could just cheat and get the Wikipedia version of these songs. So then, you know, Diamond's part of what I call the first wave of Renaissance

beat makers in which, it's almost equivalent to so basically there's a collective producers that are like, yo, we ain't going to do the Captain Avi's shit and sample James Brown and funky drummer. We're going to do the hard shit and go in our parents' record collection

and get this old, you know, Galt McDermick record. And so they made art out of, we were taking the chitlins, like the part of the carcass that, you know. So y'all also made those prices go up, too, as the years went by. Correct.

But the thing is, is that I want to know. Now, once y'all, for me, once they use some shit, now I'm the next generation after him. So when I go to the sound library, like a day's price. It's lots of days price. Yeah, Monty Alexander's love and happiness. That's a great example.

So after the beat nuts used that, suddenly that Monty Alexander record is $75. bucks. Mm-hmm. And even before that, when Tip used it on gangster bitch. Yeah, yeah. It was on the radar. So, for those who know.

But what, she set me up for a good alley-up, though. So what I'm asking is, were records super expensive if it hadn't been utilized, used yet? Okay. So say, like, there's a time before, let's say in 89 Eugene McDaniels, where no one has sampled that record yet before Tribe. Right. Are you still paying $150 for it?

Because after Tribe used it, this is $150. Right. To a jazz collector, yes. If I'm a jazz collector, I'm not concerned what hip hop is doing. It's still a good body of work. It's vinyl.

Eugene McDaniels, he only made a handful of albums. So, you know, it would still be worth money. It all depends on the individual. Okay. What's the most you spent on a record? Yeah, I was going to say. for, what do you use it for? Giving your top five most expensive joints?

Man, I don't even know, Quest. The Whip was Jenny, that was one of them. Okay. Because I was looking for that. I don't know. I just have no clue of what the most expensive, like, I'm like, how far can it go? Can it be $15,000?

I mean, look on discogs. Yeah. You know? It doesn't have to be a breakbeat. It could just be something that's a collector's item. Yeah, I'll say, well definitely you know like quality

records are like 75 I'm trying maybe there was one there's one ridiculous like normally if it's mint condition then it's whatever like someone try to get me you know like maybe 200 for back before they

reissued the sweet Charles okay and you were one of the first ones right but you on the first one that was a break you know the Farrell ever talked in the parks Did Farrell ever talk to you about that?

No, not yet. Oh, man. Like, for him, the shut the fuck up interlude was his favorite joint on... Stun's Blunts? Stunton Blunt. So him making drop down and get your ego on. The follow-up to Hatton here, Nelly's joint. Like, he was like, that was me trying to do my Diamond G joint.

That was like his... Ferrell, he always showed me love, but he never told me that story yet. How did you get signed, get your deal as an MC, you know, to make your first record? I was actually doing a demo deal for an artist. They wanted to sign. The artist's name was Joe Control. Okay. So, yeah, I was just making the beats for him, like a two-demo deal.

And I rhymed on one of them. So... What were you making your tracks on at that time? Say it again? What were you making your tracks on? At that time? Yeah, yeah. Um, I had a Kai 900, just a sample.

Everyone has a, yeah. And I had an HR 16 elices. Wow. Okay. But the elis is it has 16 pads on it. You know, 8, 8. So I had 16 triggers on the sample. It's on the sampler.

How many seconds? Oh, with the 900. And I have done plenty. No, I, you know, I did my album on that. I made Flojo on that. I'm um the score punks jump up to get beat down anything between 92 to 96 I was still using that wait a minute you got to answer this question now I know like well first I want to know is it safe to say that you were Jazzy jay's apprentice like his protege no doubt no question

so your first generation Zulu that said please tell me what is the drum machine that he used on suicide for busy B that was um the SB 12 No, that's not a stock joint. You're trying to tell me that's a stock? The SB 12. Oh, the SB 12. Not the 1,200. The 12.

With the floppy disk, like a 7-inch. Dog. I sat there and I watched Jay take funky drummer. One, two, three, four, dink. Right. Right. Think, think, think, think, ding. I lost my mind, yo.

I lost my mind. Yeah. And I just gave it away, but... I mean, that's basic, George. Right. So your first deal for how you signed, how you were doing the demo deal for... Okay, for Stunts Blunts or Strong City.

Well, yeah, I guess start with Strong City. For Strong City? Mm-hmm. The MC in the group, his name was Rob. Rob came in my house and said, yo, I seen Jazzy Jane the projects. I said, nah, you're lying. He said, nah, he...

Right over there now. So I go downstairs, sure enough, Jay had on the first generation Def Jam jackets, the satin joints, all purple. And we met him. You know, this is around the time when, this is a little bit after Jazzy Jay had a song called Cold Chilling. In the spot.

Right. Cold rock stuff. Yes, yes. For DeF. Russell. Yeah, with Russell. Yeah. Where he just talked trash on there.

Right. That's my shit. So, you know, he helped, he helped, he actually helped put Def Jam on the map, along with It's Yours. And I believe he did, I need a beat. You know, but anyway, we go over there and we meet him. It comes to find out, he's friends with a female in the projects. And he gave us his number. And we went to see him a few weeks later and just develop a relationship.

then he eventually signed us. Okay. Yeah. But that's how it happened. You know, my man saw him in the Jex. That was around what year? Oh, that was like, um, 88. Okay, that's 88.

Yeah, 88, definitely. And then from there, how did, from that situation, how did you make it to, you know, Mercury to being, you know, doing something. Okay, so after the ultimate force came out, didn't really blow up. You know, we made some noise regionally. Man, they used to play that record in North Carolina.

Yeah. Oh, were? Bro. It was a show they used to have on No Kind of A&T was the Black College in Greensboro where I grew up called The Full Moon Block Party. And they would play, I'm not playing. And I didn't find out it was, you know, you until like years later. I was like, what the fuck? But I used to love that record, man.

I was like nine. Yeah. No, that's the first record to incorporate the blues. Right. You know what I mean? And I used to cut doubles of that. The beginning, Albu King. Right.

I found it going through my grandfather's records. He had one. This is maybe like 84. So my first year of high school, but at this point I'm still, I'm actively looking for beats. And I said, oh, shit, this is nice. And then maybe a year later, I caught another one.

But I used to cut it. So when we got through with Jazz DJ, I said, yo, we're going to flip this right here because, you know, nobody really fucking with the blues. And, you know, it's a funky. beat. But that's how I got signed to Strong City. How I got signed to, um, for the stunts blunts, I was doing, I was doing a demo for

somebody. I robbed on it. Mm. So about a month later, they call us down there. So I'm like, okay, I'm about to get a check with these motherfucking beats. So I go down there like, all right, yeah, what's up? You know, they're like, yo, we want to sign you. I was like, me?

Oh, that's what's up. All right. You know, let's do it. I wouldn't even really looking for it. for the deal. But who was the A&R at the time? Do you know? Brian Chin.

Oh, Brian Chin. Yeah. He was a big shot over at priority. Yeah. He signed special ed. All of those groups over there. Brian Chin. I thought it was a little harsh to the MC that I was doing the demo for, but I think

they might have just broke them up with some money or something. But, yeah, I actually deal just kind of fell in my lap. But Brian Chin, he'd like, he'd like. like the music and he liked what I was rhyming, what I was rhyming. And you really didn't have any intentions of like being an emcee. No, it was just something I did.

But around this time, I'm around law and finesse almost every day. I'm around Grand Puba and Maxwell because he was signed a Strong City also in a group called the Masters of Ceremonies. They were in Strong City? That's great. Sexie, cracked out.

Right. That was Strong City. Yeah, so I'm around these dudes and, you know, it's just rubbing off for me even though my thing is DJ and is still making beats but I knew how to rhyme and one of the first demos I recorded was Best Kept Secret and then when they heard that they said,

okay, we're going to do an album on you. How long did it take for you to make that record? How long? Stats Blunts? Yeah, yeah. About eight months. Yeah, about eight months. And at that time, were they with samples and stuff

Was it just, you know, while, wow, wow, west shit, just whatever, or how did y'all handle it? It's just a collection of records that. In terms of clearances, like clearance samples, was it? Well, I didn't care about that. That was a label's job. You know, at that, you know, back then,

you just turn it in, give them the names. You know, the names you want to give them. That part. But what I want to know is, were you conscious at least to, avoid ultimate beats and breaks? Definitely. Because the part I didn't get out was

you know, again, like the reason why you're part of the way And the one Renaissance guys is you know, there's Premier, yourself, watch professor. That's after stuff blunts. Ali and tip. That's after stunts blunts. Right, but I just meant when we're talking about the

what I consider the people that went outside the circle, what I call the Ivy League circle of sampling where you guys are now acquiring records that aren't easily available, that's what stands you guys apart. But back then, was it just a general rule? Like, no more ultimate beats and breaks, no easy James Brown shit. Like, I got to find some shit that no one has and make some shit out of that.

I don't know if it was general, but amongst that core group of diggers, we had already progressed. and you know me living in the Bronx a lot like you said a lot of the beats that Lou was putting on them records we already knew about right you know what I mean so

well fuck what you heard I said people always say hey like the way you make beats he doesn't use break beats right that wasn't a jab at Lou that was just me being honest yeah I guess you know but but it pushed the envelope further

correct a win is a win a win I don't care what you're saying Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

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

I felt like I got hip-hift. by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest, The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galko, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12. and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. So in your mind, who of the initial Renaissance crew? And I'm talking Pete, I'm talking Premier, Tippin Ali, large professor. Like, who did you consider, like, real nice with theirs?

Like, I got a... Well, like, did anyone ever flip some shit? No, I'm going to answer the question. Well, I got to start with Prince Paul for his work on Daylai's first album, which really showed me because at that point it was a lot of James Brown, as you know, Quest. But that Daylor album in 89, it opened the doors for me. Like, you know, it's so much other stuff out here that I knew about,

but really wasn't on my radar. So I got a shout out of Prince Paul. Of course, Tribe Corps Quest, their first albums, Jungle Brothers, all these albums influenced me. Out of the members you just named, obviously, Pete Rock's first album. You know what I mean? And the work that me and showbiz was doing. So, you know, you just take all of that in.

And then... Has there ever been a moment where, and again, like, you know, I'm listening to it. Like, I don't have a deal yet. So anything you guys are doing Are like, oh man, this man are from heaven But I know that There comes a time where like

Ah man, I had that record I should have used it first or whatever Like has there ever been that moment of like Ah, they got to it before I did or Yes, it's been sounds like that Yeah And I know I've used joints that people ran behind me and used Oh yeah, I was like New York shit

And were bigger than when I did it What joins? New York shit Buster For New York Yeah, yeah That's one example Yeah

Yeah That's one example But I consider that An homage join Like if 15 years Go by He told me that's what it was Oh it's definitely that

Yeah Just the two of us Chub Rock Yeah It was no DJ Scratch said When he did that He had never heard

I went from mine before What? He said he was on the road DJing from The Hit Squad in 92 And Stutz Bluntz wasn't on his radar I couldn't call, I couldn't call dude a liar.

You know, Chub Rock, he used the Albu King's joint after me. Doss effects, they want effects. I used that for Law Finesse first. Oh, wow. I mean, I can go on and on. Yeah, yeah. I forgot about that one.

Yeah, I think in general, a lot of people when they create, like, I think there are people that are creators and then people are listeners. Right. Like, I'm a listener. Right. So I'll absorb it. But, yeah, oftentimes I'll meet creators that aren't hip to.

But that's in all parts of music, you know. Yes. You know, I would ask the revolution, like, was Prince sitting around, like, ah, damn, I got to beat Thriller. And, like, that sort of thing, like, was he? And I think Lisa told me, like, Prince listened to Thriller, like, for the first time in its completion. Like, I think when they were on...

when the last tour, like the parade tour in 86. Right. But for the most part, they had to put him on this shit. Right. My joint off the record, my favorite joint off stunt splints was Check 1-2. Ah. That was like. Yeah.

That's my favorite joint too. Really? Yeah. Yeah. And like, I always, the thing I always like about you, because, you know, I think with producers, I think there's something about producers that rhyme, that y'all have an understanding of just really using your voices as instrument and like complimenting a beat

rather than just I'm gonna bar you to fuck up you know I mean like you Pete Dilla rest of Pete like you know y'all all had a thing and so I wanted to ask you about one of my favorite verses of yours like ever it wasn't he on your album the way you started off runaway slave Phil Diggins

you're back on the block with my name ain't Quincy right what do you remember about that session or in the making of that album because that's like in terms of y'all's crew like that album those are good times yeah we were all in studio together. I wrote it on a spot. You know, and Quincy had that album out back on a block, you know, so it was a cultural

reference, you know, a pop cultural reference. Yeah, I mean, shit, it's crazy. Those, a lot of good memories, you know, back when we all, we were just all forming. We already, we already, we had already known each other for years. We all grew up with each other. But around that time, we was like, yo, you know, we can all come together, try to form. you know, and make a statement, you know, and I would definitely say DITC definitely pushed the culture forward as far as, you know, trying to dig for music that wasn't touched

already. Yeah. You know, just trying to stand apart. I'll say the first time I was really aware of your existence, like for real, of course, is, and a lot of us, it was show business on the low-end theory. Correct. How did that come? How did that come in?

That's crazy. You know, I went there to play beats for tip. I had chopped. Just to play them some beats to. Yeah, I went, you know, I went there. I chopped up to Jimmy Hendricks joining. He was really feeling it. And he knew I had a deal.

And Poo-Bah, Poo-Bah was on the track originally. And the label felt he said some things he shouldn't have said. And Tips said, yo, Poo, Poo, you know, I really. wants you on here, but the label wants you to, you know, change your horse up. Okay. And, you know, Puba, 91, 92. Puba was like, I ain't changed the shit. Couldn't tell them anything.

You know what I mean? Now, the guards, Sadat X and Jamal, they like, shit, we want to be on this fucking record. You know, we love Tribe. So while I'm near, Tip is like, yo, you want to be on the joint? I'm like, hell yeah. You know what I mean? And, um, I wrote it all the spot.

that's a notable I mean even though it's not a debut Right But for a lot of us we feel like that was like your Well that preceded my album Right so it was like an alley oop It was a great setup It was a great set up

You know what kids What's up? Uncle It's time for the return of Bipit bit bit bit bit bit bit bit bit bit bit bit bitch you guess it Oh yes Oh you thought I was going to have Diane

You thought we was going to have him on the show And not do a round of bitch you guessed it It's been a minute All right. So I do this to every beatmaker that I respect. Okay. In which, you know, again, I'm adhering to the rules. No, you're doing good. I'm just making sure they're listening. I know. It's like, I feel like there's like 42 warriors in the...

All right, cleared it with Jake. He knows what time it is. We good. All right. So, one, I'm going to upgrade the game because Fonte always insist on playing. No, I'm not playing. I ain't going to play? No, I'm going to let you win this too because I've up the game. This is what happens when you're in quarantine and COVID. You think of new ways to. New rules.

So I'm the bitch you can't guess it here. Is that the idea? All of you. All of you in. All right. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to play a list of Captain Avi's songs, of which I've isolated a specific part to see if you can identify the sample. I think you're up for this.

This one's very easy. And I'm going to allow, I will allow two clues because, you know. Yeah, I need it. That's all right. All right, let's go. All right. Sample number one.

What is this sample? And I've detuned it to throw you off. Let me know when you need a clue. I don't even know what detuning mean, so. Oh, that's, uh, uh, it's, uh, it's, I don't want to, I know it. I don't want to say it if you know. I know what it is. It's, uh, it's, uh, but he's playing.

Say it. It's, uh, it's walking by, right? Yeah. What? Nice, nice, nice. Here we go. Detuned. Number two.

Oh, I got that. Say it. If you know it's it. I'm not right. I'm not right. I was like, is a ball involved? No. Okay.

Sounds like ball. So I don't know why I thought that song. I don't know what that is. Okay. Okay, let me... Is that Brenda? Oh, okay, no, I wouldn't. Press Constructions, the Messenger, used on in W.A's, I ain't the one.

All right, that was a little advanced. I'm sorry. Okay. Number three. Not from that a little piece. I don't know what that is. Oh, that's a... That's a... It's... Scarface used it for money and the power.

I don't know the original break. Love serenet, Barry White. Damn, maybe I made this a little too advanced. It was a detuning. It was a detuning. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You see, I got to throw off the smell first, man. Yeah.

I want to come out to gate, Captain. I like this. I like, all right. Here we go. Number four. Is that, um, end of that snare. It's a good old time, funcadelic? Yeah, yeah.

Don't say nothing. That's the funkadelic. Yes, good old music. Good old music. I was good old music. Yes, you're correct. Magic tones first. Right.

By the magic tones. All right. Yes, you're right. Boing. I just found. That 45. I was like, what the book? Both on westbound.

Right. And that's even better. Yes. That is even better. And I got to talk to you about your 45 game. All right. This is number five. Is that James Brown?

No. Oh, that's Bill Withers. Oh, no, it's Harlem. Close. Yeah, use me. Ah, you were right. I was in the neighborhood. What's the fucking the detuned?

I don't. All right. Let me not detune it to die through you all. I like to detune. I mean, I don't know. You're winning. Okay. Why?

Can everybody get a fair chance? All right. You know, I mean, you know, of course I just detuned them. I could have gotten it. Okay. Yeah. I think you could too, Donna. Number six.

Steve, you don't know this? Oh, it's jazz. No. No. Oh, okay. You got Steve? It's not many. I have no idea.

Is it Mavis Staples? Ah, crazy. Eddie Kendrix. Ah. Wow. Eddie Kendrick. Yeah. The little snippets, like, you know, that's why he won't play two seconds.

Well, I'm only allowed to play two seconds, so. Right, right, right. That's like a half of a second. I dig, adik, adik. All right. See, now I feel bad for this next one because it's only the reverb, but, all right, I won't detune this one. See, every song. out here is I think it's Brenda Russell.

I mean, that's a really good guest though. Yeah, yeah. That's what I can't do. Oh, that ain't, no. I have no idea of this is. I don't know this one. Really? Oh, wow.

Great shows, night clubbing. I don't know that one. Good one. I didn't even know she was the first one to do that? Yeah, that's her record. That's her record. I did not know that. Shout out to slime Robbie.

Right, that's right. So. The kings. I would say that when Miles Davis's ex-wife, Betty Davis. She signed the Island Records in 77 to make a fourth record. That was supposed to make her a star because she's so headstrong and producing him right in her own joints. He dropped her and then Chris Blackwell.

And then, you know, she just faded into obscurity. But basically, Slime Robbie had brought grace to his attention. and instead he signed Grace Jones to Island Records. Oh, crazy. The Nightclub was supposed to be Betty Davis' record? I mean, not. I don't know. I mean, Chris definitely had visions on what he wanted her to do,

but part of her story was, like, I write and I control. She got the Commodore's a record. Like, I didn't realize, like, it was her songs for the Commodores that got them a deal with Motown. They offer her a deal, and she's like, do I own my publishing? They're like, nope. She wrote that Harlem song that I used for the Chambers Brothers Yeah, yeah.

Like, she wrote a whole bunch of songs, but then they'd be like, yo, you want a deal? And she's like, if only I own my music, 100%. So because she was so headstrong on her join, they just kind of got blackpaw. All right, these are my last two.

Okay. And I won't detune it. Number eight. This game's freaking me out. Yeah, it's essential. There's two events. Let's go. Let's see.

Oh, that's, that's him as heroes. Jimmy Daniels, yeah. Eugene McDaniels, uh, freedom and death dance. All right. This is one that all of you should know. And I am detuning because I feel like it's captain obvious. Slide Stone? Close, but no.

I'm out. The airport? Is that one, two, three, four, five? Point of sisters? Yeah, yeah. Oh, 155. I could tell in your eyes like you that you kind of knew where it was. All right, I will go home and retool my game.

Damn it. No, it was fun. Has anybody won this outside of Fonte? Any of our guests? Fonte always beats them all. I mean, I think Just Blaze was the closest. And Pete, Pete was pretty good on it, too. Pete wasn't, well, I was unfair to Pete.

I was doing, like, high hats with Pete. Before I just do, like, a high hat. Pete knew him, too. That was, it was crazy. Right. I was going to ask you about your second album, because that was the one for me, like, I mean, that was, like my album. It was, you know, I was, I think, like 16 that came out.

And of all your singles, man, the hiatus, bro, like, talk about putting out that album at a time because this is 97. It was 97, yeah. So this is like the head, this is like bad boy, you know, like all the, you know, what radio was. So how did you figure out kind of your lane in the midst of all that? Well, the plan was to just, you know, still do Diamond D,

but just had, you know, to have a little more radio, accessible joints compared to stunts, blunts, and hip hop. So, I did the joint with Veronica Cream and Sunshine. She was signed in Mercury Records at the time. Okay. But, yeah, good memories, the hiatus.

A lot of people thought that I sampled Swahili land for that. Gene showed me that record. I was like, nah, bro. It's not that. You know, hey, me and Diller, we both influenced each other. You know, Diller went on, Diller has going on a record to say,

I was one of its influences, you know, the same with Pete, same with Premier. You know, we all influenced each other, but that was not Swahili land. You know, those who know where the sample came from, y'all know. But, yeah.

And, you know, that album, what I learned was, in the process of recording that album, was, you know, we all want to be signed directly to a major. label but in hindsight I should have stayed with the label that signed me which was chemistry I should have stayed with them because they were the cheerleaders and when I was on mercury

I was just another artist they were excited about me but they weren't as excited as the people that chemistry records were chemistry they were your translators for mercury like they right well I was signed chemistry first you know Brian chin was over there so he was the one fighting for me Once I'm with the Mercury, you know, Hanson is over there. Oh, wow, yeah, because it's the middle of the name. Oh, no. Vanessa Williams.

Yeah, they did. Oh, I think the only, they had, I think the only, they had, it was I'll out scratch still over there at that time? They were over there, you know what I mean? The roots were almost there. Word. Oh, really? We, remember I told you that we got the contract and they just spelled our names?

Yeah, right, right. Mercury? So, yeah, Brian and Kenyatta Bell. We signed. We even went to the Jingle-Jangle. We went to the Legion. Jangle video shoot that Friday. They took us out to dinner.

And we're like, yo, man, we're going to be down with Black Sheep and everything. And this is the first time I'm hearing Jingle Jangle. Right. And the way the piano just dropped down the shit. We just like, yo, we made it. We made it. And we get the contract. And because they misspelled, me and Tarika,

Malik's names. Of course. Clerical era. Right. But crucial era because I guess when three or more people in the party are misspelled, they have to give you a new contract. Kenyatta's assistant forgot to FedEx us Thursday to Friday, the new contracts. So they were like, all right, look, we'll sit in Saturday delivery, you'll get it Monday,

you'll be cool. And that gave Wendy Goldstein enough time to land a plane and we horse and pony show. we didn't think we were going to sign into this shit. So we just asked for the world and she gave it to us and we're like we're going to Geffen. And literally that's what happened. That might have been the better move anyway

in hindsight. I'm still here. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere

along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes

of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me

or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl.

You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me?

The cops didn't seem to care, so they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft.

And we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East-West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make, to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode.

Listen to the Sports Slice Podcasts on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, for wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. I want to ask you two specific records, two of your favorite records, my catalog for me.

Fairmont, Shine. Ah, right, right, right. People don't mention that record. Man, listen. They mention the light more. Oh, yeah, I mean, we talk about light, but, yeah, like, shine, that was the one. Yeah, um, yo, Marge is like, yo, you got something for me, D? I was like, yeah.

So, you know, I sent them, like, two joints. And I was one of them. I didn't really make it necessarily with him in mind, but I knew something like that that's bouncy. The way the baseline bounces off the unkeys and his xylophones, that that, that he might like it. You know, and that's one of my favorite joints that I ever produced. Nah, that joint, I love that record.

That one and also as well, oh my God. The score? Well, the score, but it's a recent one. It's magic. Evan, uh, with Al and Elle, Evan Al. Right. It's not like Nautilus, but it's not. Yes.

Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Talk about that, man. Was that just, you just send it to him? Like, how did that come together? Yeah, I just, you know, I just sent them the joint. and, you know, the stepbrothers. That was Alchemists and Evidence.

And they were like, yo, we want to touch this one up. And once they laid the vocals, I added the, you know, the, oh, man, what's the name of that group? It's magic. Right, right, right. What's name of the group? That's bad. Something for?

The fear is for. Fearless for. Fearless for. And we were dissing it to be. Yeah. But I knew, but that's when it came together. Dude, yeah, that's crazy. We got to talk to the score, though.

I mean, we got to, like, the score. Wait, I got to kind of mention something. Yeah. Even though there was like a little, there was a little occasional friendly jabbing between the two groups. What groups? The Roots and the Fugees. Oh, okay.

But, you know, it's weird because in this age, in this age of, um, misinformation. You know, you hear something and you think and you act on things without verifying first. Right. Like, mad people get in our ears like, yo, man, I heard the Fuji system. But everybody was in our ears. The day that the score came out. And at the very beginning, Wycliffe says,

you rock it live, but you ain't saying nothing. And, yo, that, like, if I could just go back and tell 24-year-old Amir and Tarik, Like, dog, verify some shit first before you bust a shot out. But in our minds, like, we were always, we were already hearing shit. I mean, again, we were friends. No, no, we toured together. We were friends, but it was definitely like, oh, they're going to blow up for real, for real. And when we heard that, we're like, yo, you think that we had like conversations.

Like, are they talking about us? You rock it live, but you ain't saying that. Whatever. Oh, wow. That's from one of the earlier records. I know that. I was a scratch. So shout out to Salam Remy for put me on.

But it was after the fact. And so we might have made a song called What They Do. Oh, that's, I never knew. And ironically, today is the 26th anniversary of Ilydev Half-Life. Someone had to remind me. Oh, that's what I forgot about that. Congrats. Yeah.

Happy anniversary. Yeah. Dude, I, yeah, but talk about where, when has, have you ever played a beat? for an artist that they front of them on that you had to give another artist or that? Yeah. Hell yeah. Like who should have gotten what?

I'm not going to name names, but you know. No, no, no. But it happens, you know, somebody passed on something and somebody, you know, hey, it's just like, it's just like women, right? Was one man's trash and next man's treasure. Right. You know what I mean?

Just like man. Yeah, right, right. Yo, yo. Definitely. That too. That too. From downtown. No doubt.

Damn. You. I love it. I love it. I love it. Dude, before we wrap, I gotta talk.

Dude, for me, let's do it. For me, man, first of all, can you, on streaming,

I can't find grown man talk nowhere. Yeah, it's not on there. And that to me, I gotta put it on there. You must. Yeah,

yeah, yeah. And I feel like, 50 ways. No, time will heal you. Time will heal you? No, no, no, no, just the whole joint. Like us.

Right, right, right, right, What y'all hitting, like, just that whole join. Yeah. Because it came from... It was a mixtape, yeah. But it was so unexpected, and I wasn't expecting it. Right. And, but for you, why do you...

Because even with the rearview, like, you're still... After a while, like, after album number five or number six, most cats might just phone it in. Mm-hmm. And be like, all right, you'll give me like $7,000 for a quickie record or here, whatever. But when I still hear your stuff, it's like you still care. Right. And...

But for you, like... What keeps you motivated? Like, in your mind, are you like, yo, I'm gonna fuck somebody up with this in the way I flip? Like, even the way you did the joint with POS on review with the Flying High Commodore's joint. Right, right, right.

That killed me, man, because I didn't even think about that shit. But, like, how long have you had that in your pocket? Flying high? Yes. A while. It's always been back here. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I just never really got to it. And then when I, when I approached Paz, he said, yo, send me a joint. I say, you know what, I'm going to flip that, I'm going to flip something that I can hear Dayla's soul on. And that's definitely I can hear Dayla on. And, you know, soon as he heard it, he sent me the verse back maybe like 48 hours later. Wow. Yeah, just like once a year, somebody will loop something that's just like.

It's not a loop. It's just different parts. Well, not loop, but just use a part that just like, ah, why don't I think about this shit? Oh, man, I got to ask you, EtoG busted and alcoholics. the next level. Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The baseline, the baseline. Talk about that.

I forgot about that, but somebody brought that up to my attention not too long ago. I guess because ATOG's version didn't really do what it was supposed to do. I changed the drums up. I changed the drums up

and the licks picked it up from there. Wow. You know, I'm going to tell you something else that y'all might not know. There's a song. There's a song by, Saddak's called Petty People. You know that song?

No. It's on the Wild Cowboys album. I got it. Pull it up real quick. Play a quick second. All right. I made two beats on this day. That was one of them.

And the score was the other. Yes. Okay. But I kept the same drums. Yeah. This is for my people in the rule. Where I grew up with the school like this. I remember this one.

Ah. Right, right, right. I remember this one. Oh, yeah, that is. It is. Wow. But also. Speaking of Etto G., man.

Yeah. The streets of the ghetto jaw, man. Oh, that was crazy. But this is what I want to ask you, because that specifically, how are you, like, what is your microchopping game into? Because there will be some joints that will fluctuate speed-wise as far as loop. I happen to know that the source of that sample is one of them things where I can't loop it perfectly and my chopping game wasn't good enough for that. You know, it wasn't like we had Ableton to just stretch a joint or whatever. But like how aggressive are you to force something to work?

Because that's definitely one of them joints because it wasn't the looping part. This is the fact that you got to add drums and everything on top of it, then you realize, oh, my. My shit might be off or whatever. And that's, that particular loop on streets of the ghetto. Right. That, and I'll play a little bit. Right. Right.

Even there, I hear a little gap in there. Where, but for you, like, how determined are you to make some shit work, like, as far as your chopping game and... I mean, if I can loop, if I can loop it or if I can create a loop, I'll be able to put the drums under it. you know, that's the easy part. It sounds easy to just the regular ear. Right. But knowing the frustration of there's some records in which you might find that magic four-bar loop. Right.

And then they might fluctuate or whatever, unless you're good at microchopping, you might be asked out. That loop right there, that was just a two-bar loop. And the drummer was pretty on point for that. But the awesome joints where the drum is a little off. And you have to really, like, go in between, you know, and do what you do. I feel you. Yeah. You came to Atlanta.

You know, there's a slew of New Yorkers that have migrated down south. A lot of them in North Carolina or whatnot. Right. What is it, like, what is it about this city that attracted you to come here? And do you feel a stranger? I didn't come in for it. for the music. I came here because, you know, I looked at what 300,000 would get you in New York. And I looked at what 300,000 would get you down here. I didn't come down here.

That's everybody's first motivation for real, for real. I didn't come down here for the music. I was already coming down here doing a lot of work with Dallas Austin. Illegal. Joy, Shades of lingo, illegal, me and Eric Sermon. So I was already down here. but the house had I said yeah you did crumb snatches right crumb snatches I had a nice house and not far from Livingston, New Jersey

nice spot I sold that property tax crazy in Jersey right no and just just what you were able to get for your money back then

is what really led me to come down here how long have you been down here since 2009 so you've been down here for a minute yeah yeah you're from the A So do you feel like a stranger in a strange land based on what you do for a living? Well, you know what?

All right. You know, boom bapt does not drive down here. There is a boom bat scene here. Yeah, I was going to say. Is there... So when you do your 45 sets and all that stuff? Right. I don't really do them here.

I travel and do them. You know, I have done 45 sets here, obviously. But just as far as being an artist, you know, I'm still basically, you know, a boom-bap artist. for lack of better words. So, you know, if you're a boom-bap artist, you know, you live on serious XM. You've got to just be comfortable with that.

You know what I mean? You know, it's just real talk. It doesn't matter if you live in Atlanta or any other Southern City or West Coast City. That's your platform. Right. It's just the music that I do. Is it hard to not get influenced by the culture?

Like, we've spoken to DJ Drama, who was like, yo, I'm straight backpack. Blah, blah. But once you moved down here, it's like, Okay, well, I got to adjust. Yeah, well, yeah, he did what he had to do, and you see where he's at now. Shouts out the drama.

But, yeah, you know, hey, well, you know, drama, when he came down there, he was a DJ. Right. I'm a producer, so it's a little different. But definitely, you know, it rubs off, it rubs off on you. You realize that, contrary to what people believe, there are people down here who are, who can spit.

Right. You know, whether, you know, it's trap or drill or boomback, whatever. Okay. You know, just, you know, stereotypes are just that. I feel it. But, you know, it's a good balance for me to be down here because, you know, I'm up in New York almost every month anyway, you know, for the past 10 years.

Well, brother, man, yo, thank you. We finally made this join happen. And, you know, I'm just, I'm happy we finally got to come and give you your flowers and nerd out on your history and your catalog, man. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me, man. Diamond D, ladies and gentlemen, Questlove Supreme. All right, so on behalf of Sugar Steve, Laia, Fantigolo, and Unpaid Bill.

This is Questlove, the Immortal. Diamond D. We'll see you on the next go-round of Quest Love Supreme. Peace. Quest Love Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. For more podcasts from Eye Heart. Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor

the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. Let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands.

I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe, on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest.

The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the SportsSliced podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.