The Questlove Show - Questlove Supreme: Kid Capri Part 1

Episode Date: August 23, 2023

Questlove Supreme celebrates 50 years of Hip Hop with a guest who grew up just steps from the culture's birthplace. Kid Capri tells Team Supreme about attending early Hip Hop parties, catching the bug in the mid-1970s, and looking for the perfect beat in the formative years of the culture. Listeners will feel the love in this one.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-heart podcast. Guaranteed human. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

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, 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 Clifford show on the IHeard 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. 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 podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, for wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 and 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 IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Everyone, I'm Ego Wood. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where, you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of,

you know, the cat, just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot in luck. Listen to thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon and this is my friend. He's much more famous than I am. I wouldn't go that far. But I'm John Green, co-hosted the podcast The Away End with my old friend Daniel. On our podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to The Away End with Daniel Auerkone and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Questlove's team. I'm Quast Love Your Host. Yo, we got Team Supreme with us. Start with Sugar Steve. Hello. Steve, what's up, man? Everything's good, you know, working half as hard as I normally do, but still getting by. You're not working half as hard, man.

You got a really, like, monumental jazz. I'm sorry. No, I meant getting paid half as much. half as much I know. There you go. Oh, my fault. Okay. That's real.

I can't help you there. I'm Pete Bill. What's up, bro? You know, man, halfway through the summer, living life, driving around children, that's it. Driving around children. That's what I do. I'm like a bus service for my kids. That's my life.

Getting ready for the street. That's right. New season. What season is the Sesame Street are you guys about to get into? We're wrapping 54, maybe? And starting 55. I think that's right. Yeah.

Okay. So September. There you go. Unpaid Bill was this explaining to us that Sesame Street is exempt from the current writer strike and acting strike as well. So I get paid the same amount of money, Steve, sadly. Sorry. Well, yeah, I saw some Muppets crossing the picket line the other day.

There you go. All right. And Fonticlo, what's up, bro? What's that, bro? Good, man. We are getting ready. We just announced the day made in Durham, Little Brother Block Party, October 7.

So it's like y'all, y'all little picnic joined? Like, what is it? I shit is one day and one day only, and it's for a limited amount of time for hours, and then we're going to fuck home. So this is one day. And Fonte just want to go to the fuck home. I know.

Always, always. He must have the nicest house. Little brother, little brother, big, cool kids, on tall black guy, DJs, Hourglass and Wiley Sparks, Spinnon, and Sam J. Hosting. So October 7th, downtown Durham, Little Brother NC. Hit us up.

October 7th? October 7th, yeah. Damn. Okay. Is this for the 20th anniversary of the listening? Yeah, yeah, twin anniversary. With 20th anniversary just a little brother, period. You know what I mean?

We wanted to do it, do something in our hometown. Are y'all doing, like, the entire album start to finish? Yeah, I would never do that shit. When people come to see his little brother, like, I don't like them whole we're going to do the whole album. All that. Like people came here to jams. So if it's 20 years, we're celebrating

the whole catalog. I get it. Okay. That's what's up. So people, it's, of course, we all know it's hip-hop's 50th anniversary. Pretty much we are going in heavy on the conversations with, you know, our legends,

our participants, our delegates, our ambassadors of the culture. And what can I say? Our next guest is a legend, a legend of the mix. You know, I kind of credit our guests for really elevating the role of the DJ. It was, it was through him that, you know, I first heard the seeds of ideas. I didn't know what we could do. I didn't know that you could take an Acapella from one record and mix it with another record. and, you know, just the amount of road trips that I've done in my life, even pre-roots, with his mixtapes as the soundtrack, you know, it's just, it's, it's, it's, to me, some of

some of the, the best moments of my life hanging with my friends, uh, high school and early, early college years for me, our guest raps, he produces, definitely a, a very recognizable voice and scream. And his, his DJ Echo voice game is, is, is, is unmatched. He's been in the culture, three decades plus and counting, you know, Grammy Award winning albums and, and, you know, shit. He's, he has one accoled that you and I don't have unpaid bill. This, this gentleman is on a Pulitzer Prize winning record, you know, of course, younger fans might know of him as the narrative voice of, of Kenny's a damn album, you know. What happens on those three's on her. Right, exactly. But, you know, are,

our guest has just been ubiquitous with probably the best things about the culture, like one of the best party DJs ever. What can I say? Ladies and gentlemen, welcome Kit Capri to Questlove Supreme. Yes. What an intro. What an intro. Jesus Christ.

Getting better. I get all that. Yeah, yeah, man. You did all that, man. It's time for that, man. It's time for that. How are you today, man? Where are you speaking to us from?

Were you right now? I'm in my studio. Okay. You're still in New Yorker, I assume? Yep, in Jersey. I consider Jersey New York. Everybody was on top of each other in New York. I had to get away. Come over to Jersey when I want to go to New York and go over it. Come back to Jersey.

Let me ask you, because, you know, a lot of the soldiers or the participants of the part of hip-hop culture that I grew up on, and I'm a part of and that you're part of as well, a lot of them, probably in the mid to late 90s decided to migrate down south. You know, a lot of our New York legends like went to Maryland and then North Carolina and Atlanta and whatnot. For you, though, like what has kept you in the city of New York? Like, EJZ don't live in New York no more. Like, it's almost like I'm pressed to find any hip hop legend that's not still living

in New York. Yeah, it's my feel, man. It's the feel. It's what I grew up on. I've been around the world. I've been many places. There's places that I would go and move, but I know I will move there for a short period of time.

But it's just something about being around New York. I'm not even in New York. I'm in Jersey. I'm right over the bridge. But I can get to New York when I'm ready. You know, but it's just the feel of New York, of everything. I come from the Bronx. I was born in Brooklyn.

I was raising the Bronx, home to hip hop. I was raised five minutes away from Hurt. Or Keynes Beach Terrace, Cedar Avenue is five minutes away. So it's just that feel of it. But then also my daughters is there. You know, my engineers there, my role man. Everything I need is right here. I'm looking for a house right now in this area,

a new house, in this area right now to move into. But I consider moving in Atlanta before in Houston. And the price of living is way different. It's way better. But I just feel like I need to be here. I need to, if I move somewhere else, I want to lose something. So that's what it pretty much is for me. Okay.

Home is home. I get it. I want to talk about your beginnings of the culture. Like for you, well, okay, you're a DJ. First of all, what, like, what environment did you grow up in as far as, like, your love of music? Did you grow up in a sort of an open format household where music was prevalent or? My dad was a soul singer. He was the first soul singer to sing with the LeBond Brothers.

The Blan Brothers is a Latin. band that's a world, well-round Latin band that's towards the world right now. And they made an album in 1960. They made two albums. They made one to 68 and 169. He was the first soul singer with a Latin band. And then he left and started doing Northern Soul itself.

And he became really good. He had a record called Baby Hard Times and 73 that did good for him. So he was always doing this thing. My grandfather, his father- What was his name? Dave Love. He had a record called Baby Hard Times.

And his father, my grandfather, he was a trumpet player, which I have his trumpet, brought in 1940. He used to sit in with Miles Davis, Count Basie, Thealonius. He was sitting with all these guys and all these sessions and play with them. So the music always been in my family.

It always been around. At four years old, I started playing drums. How about that? I started playing drugs with four years old. And at the time, we had a record player that you had to stand over and look over, and there's the big TV on the record player. He had to look over into the turn tape.

I used to play the turntay. I didn't know what I was doing, no DJing or nothing. But I was playing these James Brown records. And you know, these reds records with breaks and it and it just, it was just attractive to me as a little kid. So at eight years old, when hip hop came alive, that's when I started DJing. And from there on, I never stopped. And, you know, it all came from me growing up knowing all the music, all the funk music and the soul music for my father and my grandfather.

It's rare for us to have someone that was actually raised in the epicenter of the culture. Could you typically just walk me through, walk me through a day in which you are experiencing what we know is hip hop culture. What days do these block parties happen? Like what's typical for like what they're DJing? What do the speakers look like? What does the equipment look like? Just walk me through your observation of like a typical Bronx hip hop experience.

Back in the days before it was hip-hop records. It was just the break beats. It was just the emcees, rhyming over the break beats. DJs arguing over which records they'd cut like freedom and Apache and I can't stop the records like that. Arguing? Argument. Like, it would be crazy because it would be seven, eight DJs and one MC, right?

And because the DJ was so much more. It was so much more. Remember, the MC didn't come and be so prevalent until records came out. But when you had the Furious Five, we had Fantastic, we had Cold Crush, it was always the DJ first, Charlie Chasing the Cold Crush, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Grand Wizard Theater and the fantastic. So it was always about the DJ more. So they were argue about who would cut each record, what records they were cut because there was so many DJs on this party. So it was that. It was going to the record shop, trying to find the

records and standing in the block parties and DJ and in the rain while it's raining and the crowd still coming and they stand out there and party with you. You ain't making no money. You're blowing your equipment up, all that. But it was so much of, we wanted to have so much fun and want people to see what we're doing that we didn't mind it. We just had, we just went out there and did our thing and it didn't matter what block it was at. We were set up on a pole, plug up to a pole, and that was the beginning of it. And we would just keep going from there. And this went on for a lot of years before records even came about. And even after records came about, it still went on. But before records came about, it was more contained.

You know, and keep in mind, this is the time when they're telling us, you know, that's just noise you're doing. You ain't going to last long. They ain't going to be here long. What are you doing? 50 years later, I'm over here talking with Quest Love. Thank you. All right, so technical questions I always wanted to know or get answers to. So, you know, everyone knows, or at least for those that don't know, the legend, of course, of the first hip-hop party, August 11, 1973. Cool, Herc throws a party for his baby sister, Cindy.

And he gets this epiphany that he's just going to, instead of making you wait for the highlight, which of course, like if you're playing a six, seven minute jam, there's always like a 16 bar part of the song that's the breakdown. That's the best part of the song.

It's just the drums, and everyone goes crazy for those 16 bars, and then it's over. And of course, cool, Herx idea was like, let me just play all the drum breaks at once, you know,

play give it up for Turn to Loose by James Brown, and then play some by the, incredible bongo band just play the breaks so i'm under the impression that these parties last for what five hours at least the first time i heard hip-hop right i'm on my block just kidding this guy named jose he has some dice in his hand he's going yes yes shaw took the beat y'all and he's throwing the dice and i'm standing there looking at him i said what do you mean yes yes yes shaw what is he saying he's kept saying yes yes y'all took the beach y'all i'm like what's he's saying so that friday i went to mom with her projects.

They used to have the parties in the community center. You get to pay for a dollar to come and you go see Rockwell Incorporated. DJB Ward, Kevin Cab Rockwell, all of them. They were right there. And I seen DJB war playing. And I seen the MC on the mic with the echo. Yes, yes, y'all, y'all to beat, y'all, y'all. I said, oh, shit.

So I'm standing there watching. And then I ran home. I said, your mom, I want to be a DJ. She said, what's that? She bought me a mixer that had no headphone hole. It was a Gemina mixer. It was just a phono one, phone or two, orcs in the mic.

No headphone, no plug to plugging in. And I had to guess all the spots on the record. That's how I got better than everybody else in the neighborhood. Whoa. Because I had no headphones to work with. Right. I had no headphones away. And I'm eight years old standing on top of a milk crate.

These older dudes are looking at me like, this little kid's bugging. No headphones busting their ass. And the girl named Olga Carter that was in our circle. The young girl, she was 13 years old at the time. She said, kick a priest out like a good name for it. DJ at the time my name was DJ Dr. Spank. It was a terrible name. But she said, Kit Caprice out, you're getting in with DJ while we're going into the classroom.

I ended up trying to name six months later. She was shot and killed by a straight brother by accident. So I ended up keeping the name. Yeah, her name was Oliver Carter and I ended up keeping the name, took me to the top. But I was there from the beginning watching all of this and being a part of it and seeing what it is. That's why I appreciate my career so much because it wasn't something that was just given to me. It was something I went through all of the phases of getting doors closed and everything that had to do with just learning the business and being a part of it and learning to appreciate what you have when you and knowing when you didn't have it. You know what I'm saying? And I was there for that. So I appreciate it in a big way.

A win is a win. A win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clipper 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. 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 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. 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 girl. 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. What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Wodom. My next guest, you know from stepbrothers anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and dad, I think I want to really

give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot.

He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck.

Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fault and Our Stars, and now I guess also as the co-host of The Away End, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist, and John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old. I watched every game and I fell in love. On our new podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic.

of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer, football, is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable. And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, its heartbreak, and above all, it's beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important.

Listen to the Away End with Daniel Alarcon and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When you're spinning these records, and of course, like, you know, if you study the B-Boy Bible, of course, now, like, people know, like the foundational breaks of the culture, you know, like your let's dance by pleasure or get up and dance by, you know, freedom or or those particular records. which weren't necessarily hits. These weren't songs that were played on radio. So what I want to know is, all right, so take a break like Catch a Groove by Juice, a song that was not a radio song, it was not a hit, but yet was a staple for hip-hop parties.

How do you, like, what is, what would be a DJ's version of, Cashbox, Billboard magazine to know, oh, man, I got to get planetary citizen because that has a drum break in it. Like, and how do you find these breaks? Like, back in between, you know, 77 to even 84 before, like, the ultimate beats and breaks compilations were made, which put all those breaks on one record. I mean, how typical was it for you to go to a local mom and pop record store to see, you know, A bunch of James Brown, give it up for turn to loose or funky dramas just like in the bin.

You had to go to certain stores. And what would happen is a lot of stores started bootlegging records. When hip hop started like blow your head. Blow your head was never a 45 or never a 12 ones. They made a white label of blow your head. So that became so big. James Brown's bull your head, yeah. Yeah, all the Apaches that came out was all bootlegal patches.

It was different labels that put it out like different I guess independent labels or whatever those like Osamaico labels and those Paul Winley labels Paul Winley was official

Paul Winley was the one that put out the Super Disco breaks he would get clamors for all these break beats and put him on these albums and put these albums up but Paul Winley was the first one was the one that put Cheeba Cheva out with George Benson

Right so he did that before the Super Disco base so he was in in that realm And he kind of did it the right way. But a lot of times, like, records was in downstairs records on 43rd Street. They would take these 45s and make these 45s of these downstairs records, and these 45s would become just as important as finding the original record because it was a limited amount of them.

Like my man Louis Lou, he still have those downstairs records. Those downstairs records were like Planetarian Citizen and records like that. These were recorded, planetary Civil was level 45. So to have that is like a gem. You're talking about a break beat, Louis, Lewis Forrest? No, my mother man, Louis Louie Louie Lou down town. Louis Louie Louie downtown, we grew up together. He was in 82, 83, this dude would have, he was, he used to call him a little band body.

He had so much stuff way back then, and he's still collecting. Like, he's still doing it. So, you know, we was way ahead of the game. But a lot of stuff, like I said, a lot of stuff got bootleg on 45, and that's how we got it. Because a lot of time, we didn't know the names and stuff. We didn't know what it was. And even more now that I got older, I didn't realize how much stuff was in the world.

I got so much from Brazil and just so many different places around the world. But when we were coming up with the essential break beats, we didn't think that far. You know what I'm saying? We were going about what Bam was playing, what Charlie Chase was playing, what Flash was playing it was playing. That's how we knew what to play. And how we found out the names is because they were booted,

leg the records. You know what I'm saying? So that's how we go. We go to the record shop for your whole bootleg section. We'll just grab what we needed. We had it. I can't stop. White label. Like it was, that's how we got our people. Oh, okay. That explains it because I was going to say maybe five months ago, Cool Herk had auctioned off a good portion of his gyms and whatnot, some artwork, some flyers, memorabilia. and some of his records. So I copped like four or five of those records. And I was like, wait a minute, these are just white labels.

These aren't the original ones. But I always wanted to know, like, how prevalent and how much of an abundance was like an impeach the president back in 79, 80, 81, 82. You know what, if he's got more rarer to get in the later years. Early years, it was a little easier to get, but it still wasn't, it still wasn't something that anybody could just get. You know what I'm saying? Like, you had to really know that beat,

like Louis, and Louis was the first one I heard play that. And, you know, he was just so in depth with what was going on. You know what I'm saying? But the regular person that just wanted break beats, they didn't know impeach. They didn't know, they knew the regular things

that they heard in the tapes and then later on, impeachment became more prevalent. What year would you say was like the highlight of or the pinnacle of downtown records? Like for you, if you're an upstart DJ, post, say if you like Pioneer 1.5, this is what I took from L.L. Pioneer 1.5. Like post flash, post Theodore, and post bam and hurt. Is downtown records like your mecca?

Is that the only place? Like where would you shop for records in New York City? Oh, downtown. All in our record on Fordham Road, Music World on 34th Street. But what was interesting is that they used to be a Crazy Eddie on Fordham Road in the Bronx. I remember I was in Crazy Eddie this day, right?

Check this out. I was in Crazy Eddie today. And Cowboy and Mr. Ness, Scorpio, they walked in, Crazy Eddie. They had on boots and leather and feathers and all that, but they were rock stars to me. It was like, looking at these dudes like, right, okay, so they came in, seen them, they left.

And this dude walks in with a box. Now, what they used to do with Crazy Eddie, they would take the new record that's out and put it on top of the counter and play the album out in the store. This dude comes in with a box. They pulled a record out, and it was Captain Sky's Super Spirn. Boom! He puts it on top of the counter.

He plays the album. The Super Spirn part comes in, I hear it run to the front. Yo, what the hell is that? Give me two of those. I bought two of those, and I bought two Sears for Cookies. I think I'm the very first dude with Super Spirrame, because I was there the day came in. And it never was it wasn't out before that.

So I think I'm the very first dude with Super Sperm, and then they did, and then they remade the album and put Dr. Rock on the album. Okay, yeah. Right, right. So, but the original Super Sperm album didn't have Dr. Rock on it, and I was dead that day, and Crazy Eddie the day it came in.

So I was there in the, I was trying to get everything at this time, but there wasn't a lot of places, I didn't know a lot of names and stuff, so I would just get it as I go. But Frayette started bootlegging some records, and they started putting stuff again.

And then across the street, right, directly across the street from Crazy Yetty was R&R and records, and they had all the breaks there. They had a lot of stuff there, so people would go over there and buy their stuff. But it wasn't a lot of places, again, on the Bronside Avenue in the Bronx. They had a store where they that we still always go to and they had a lot of bootleg,

12 inches and stuff like that. And that's how we got it. Okay. So, and forgive me for asking a lot of pedestrian DJ questions, but I feel like, you know, a bird in a hand, there's two in the bush and like, you know, you're the closest to, to this era so I can get all my questions out. Okay. So how old were you when you first started DJ in like your first block party?

your first party. I. Okay, so equipment-wise, how are you transporting this? Like, how far from your house is the destination for which you're going to DJ the gig

and how do you get it there? Like, I know if you're a nine-year-old, you're not carrying one turntable at a time, one mixer at a time, the table. So, like, how do you organize? My building was here. The Turtle Park was right up the street.

You set up right in front of the total park. Done. And then across the street was my school. Directed across the street from my house. I can look out my window looking at the school yard. John Peter Tait saw at 143. We do parties do parties up in there, go up in there. Everybody just come grab the equipment, bring it up, bring it down the street. And that's how we did it. Plug it up to the pole. And we was out there all day. And then we would go to other blocks. Two questions. One, how loud is the system, and was it loud enough to rock a party area?

My block, first of all, was the main block everybody would come to. Because all the fly dudes on the block, we just had a way of carrying ourselves on our block. So all the different areas would come. So whenever we was out there with the system, that shit was super loud. And people would just know from Fordham, from Marble Hill, from Fort Independence, from Heath Avenue, from Bailey Avenue,

University, they would just hear the music. They were just, no, then the word of mouth and get around too. You know, kid is rocking out there, they're doing a block party, whatever, and next to you know, the whole whole. whole block of swamp. Okay. He used to be crazy. So my second question is, how are you protected?

Like, you know, as a nine-year-old, you're with turntables and a mixer and your records and whatnot. Is there any situation of like, first of all, are other boroughs allowed to come to your borough to represent, like, as a Bronx child, are you allowed to go to Brooklyn to spend that block party are like are you staying just where you know no i will go where i was invited everywhere because i got at a young age early on my name traveled real quick so i would go anywhere the problem was where you could go anywhere but if you wasn't good you get your ass beat so if like if you come from the blogs you go to Brooklyn and you was not good you may have a problem if you don't

they love it so it was that type of thing has that so i would be so i will wanted to know, has there been situations of like, oh, yo, we're taking his turntables or never, ever. Not for you, but do you know stories of like, ah, man, he got his mixing jacked or? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I've been a block party where dudes got guns put, DJ's got to put out. How are you protected from that action and how often would that happen?

It never happened to me because I was rolling. I had, you know, my dudes is going to make sure I was all right. But I think, I'm going to tell you this question. Even to now, all the, you know, all the tried 200 shows a year, even to say that, it's the, I don't carry that all that people wanted to do things to me. And, you know, it was never like that. I never went to other people's neighborhood and acted funny or, you know, treated people funny.

You know, I just never did that. So I never had that problem. You know, what you're doing here? We're going to rob you or any of that. I never had that energy. But I always had people around me to make sure that I, you know, I was straight. You know what I'm saying?

And I never went places that I didn't, I wasn't straight. I mean, I've been in some dangerous, dangerous places, but I was always good. But my energy made people feel a certain way. So I don't really get that. Even the most gangster is dudes, you know. The reason why I ask you this question, because I actually asked Dre this question, you know, pre-NWA where, you know, so if you remember the scene in straight out of Compton, where he is about to play.

Marvellette's, uh, please wait, Mr. Postman, and he mixes it with Planet Rock. And Dre explains to me like, yo, that was like such a risk for me to do because he was like unlike those other parties, you know, like at any other party, they might give you one chance

to spin a dud that they don't feel and you might have 20 seconds to fix it. But, you know, Jay was explaining to me that he was spinning at a spot that was absolutely relentless and not forgiving at all for like the wrong record. So for him to take such a risk, like he knew in order for him to make a mark, he had to take a risk. And it's like, all right, I'm going to make them think. I'm going to play some old Motown shit. Then they're going to get upset. Then when I had Planet Rock, they're going to be like, oh, shit. So he was like purposely saying that he had the lower expectations, but just,

fast enough to elevate them. So, like, what space does that leave you as a creative, you know, because, you know, I told you, as I explained at the top of the show, that you were big on, like, these, these classic mixes of, like, mixing R&B with hip hop and this a cappella with that song and, you know, things that at least for, you know, maybe it was typical in New York, but I wasn't getting that in Philly. So, like, you were the first. DJ that I was getting in the late 80s, early 90s, like when I was in high school

and whatnot. So how would you find this base? Like, when did you start figuring out, like, ways to make your trademark known? Well, first, let me say this. I'm a fan. I'm a fan of great things. I'm a fan of good music. I'm a fan of good groups and just music, just everything about it.

I'm a fan. When I go to my shows and do my shows, I look at myself as a person in the crowd watching myself and how would I want to feel if I was that person watching? What would make a promoter want to bring me back? What would make these people want to pay to come to see me again? I think like them. So with that, I like things that are good.

I don't put a date on things. If it's good, it's good. And when it's good, it's time is to me. And I could take something that will be unusual, nobody ever heard before, never heard it, don't know nothing about it and make it sound like it's familiar. It's just the way it's just the way it comes across. Keep in mind, Questlove, we DJs.

Anybody can play these records. Anybody can play these records. It's how you play it. It's the impact you give. I'm always an impact, dude, an element of surprise. What's going to make it go to the next level? What's going to make these people feel better than they did before they've seen me? You know what I'm saying?

How can I make them feel like they're never going to ever, go to another event that's going to be better than this. They're never going to feel that feeling. That's my focus. So with that, I'll try certain things. Even if I, you know, I was the one that started playing records to take it off in the fourth bar. And the reason why I was doing that is because I had

deaf comedy janelle with the show and I was doing the concerts and I only had a 15 minutes set. So I had to play records quick. And I'm watching these people go into a frenzy every time I play this record quick. I throw one on and if you pit, and if you don't throw the right one on after each other, you'll

piss somebody off. So it has to be the right one that's what make them forget that one that they like that they want to hear that you cutting off. So I'm watching these big crowds losing their mind of this to this. So I applied it to the parties. And then I seen it working the parties and, you know, DJs follow that. But you don't need a whole lot. Sometimes you play a record too long against Borman. Sometimes the hook is just the best part. Sometimes the count off is the best part. Sometimes the intro is the best part, and you're leaning to something else. But that's building a continuity. That's building, that's painting a picture for people and kind of giving them a story from beginning the middle and you kind of tell them a story.

And I've had somebody tell me that. He was like, yo, I've seen you, I've been to six of your shows. It's like you're trying to talk to us. It's like you're trying to tell us a story. And that's what I'm doing. So if you play, I can play Sabre the Sun. Chris and Joe's Samper the Sun, Boop, Boop, Boot, Boot, right in the middle of the party. way I play it, make the crowd go crazy. But if I played a different way to look at me, like, what the hell is he doing? Right. So it's all the way, it's all in the presentation.

It's all how you deliver it. And I've been very lucky with that. 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

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 Podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more,

follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and 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. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Wodam. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman,

Saturday Night Live and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Farrell. Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with him one day, and I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come,

look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're, you're, banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit.

If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat, just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm John Green.

You may know me as the author of The Fault and Our Stars. and now, I guess also is the co-host of The Away End, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist, and John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old. I watched every game, and I fell in love.

On our new podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer... Football is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable. And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan.

I love this game. I love its history, its hope, its heartbreak, and above all, it's beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Auer Kohn and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What year did you really start DJing? Like what's your actual like first year? 1976. Okay.

In that period in which you're collecting records and doing this, what was the holy grail of breaks or records that wasn't available or as prevalent as it is now for you back then? Like, what was like, oh my God, I found it. Like, even though I never used it, like, finding funky drummer on 45 meant something to me. But I found funky drama on 45, like, what, like 10, 12 years ago, you know? Like, oh, I never knew they made this on 45. And then I found a bunch of them. But for you, like, what was that record?

Like, oh, my God. Like, I can't wait to. What was the hardest record to acquire back of it in your formative years? Lock it in the pocket. Yo, what is, okay, can you explain to me, like, as a break officiantado, and I get it, like, I've heard many of those mixed tapes or cats rhyme over, whatever. I mean, right now as I speak to you, I'm on a break, rehearsal with L.L. Even L.L. goes on. They're like, yo, we got to do something to rock it in the pocket.

We got to do something rocket in the pocket. Like, what is it? And it's rocket in pocket by that? Saron. Sorone. Caron. Yeah, Ceroon is a French drummer. Rocket in Pockets kind of

like a break of his. I don't know if this is a live album or not. There's a crowd in it. Yeah, it's a live record. And we had to put it on 45. On 45, I was about to say. It was very slow. Yep.

What is it about that record? So when that album first came out back then, like all of y'all were going to 8-ship, like, I got to get Rockett in the pocket. I got damn. mind when I remember it was a pool, a pool room. It was a pool room when he fatharming in the Bronx and Louis came to the pool room and they did his party in there and Louis was DJ and he played rock in the pocket, man.

It was like the whole room just stopped. Like everybody was like, what the fuck is that? And he played it, he played it every time he cut it, people, you just seemed, it was just crazy. And then from that day on, that next time I heard it was with Cold Quest. But from that day on, rock in the pocket, like one of the top, and you couldn't find it nowhere. Because there was two rock in the pockets.

There was the studio rocking the pocket. Right. And then it was the live one. The live one is the one. So it was hard to get that live one. So they boot-lated. Ah. Right.

I got to admit, when you spit it on 45, it sounds, it sounds kind of otherworldly because, you know, the guitar is kind of on top of the snare, So it does, it sounds like some futuristic shit, which it just sounds like an industrial breakbeat. So, okay, rock it in the pocket. That makes sense. Yep. Was King Tim the third, in your opinion, was that a pioneering moment for you guys?

Or was it just sort of like shrug? Okay, King Tim the third, no big deal. And what was your reaction to a rapper's delight? Like hearing what you're involved with on a local. kind of a local basis now being on a record. What was your reaction to it? Well, let me say this first of all. Bill Curtis from the fat, bad band is my uncle.

Oh, wow. Oh, word. Yeah, he's my uncle. I just, I interviewed him recently on IG. He gave me some new, he gave me some two inches of some of their old stuff from there of 70 stuff. I ain't go through it yet.

I just did a record for him that's doing real good in London. In New York. He was his master's? Yeah, I have his master's. Have him over him. And, um. Wikiwacky? Yeah, I got

That's what I wanted to use I wanted to do Wikiwacky over That's crazy You said Wikiwacky I wanted to do it over Yo That's crazy I did it

I did the beat I just didn't write the rhyme yet But the beat is done But that's crazy He said Wiki Wacky We just got back from London With the chili peppers And I did a DJ gig

I didn't realize That WikiWacky is a religion And it wasn't until Giles Peterson reminded me That even on the song Maureen by Shadei,

she mentions, like, a good time of her life was her and her girlfriends dancing to WikiWacky in the nightclub. And I didn't realize that when I put that song on, it was like I put on smells like teen spirit back in the day. Yo, Bill, my uncle, man, very talented. I produced a record for them recently

called Bang, Bang, Bang. That's doing real good in Europe for them. It's doing real good, as a matter of fact. He's 90 years old, man. He's still going. They still going to crazy? Still going. Still touring, still traveling, still in the studio,

comes over here to my crib, everything. So he's really moving. But to answer your question, let's go back. Because people think hip hop started with rappers the like. What record started with rap as a like, right? King's 10 to 3rd, the personality job was the first rap record in our way of doing rap, in our way of doing hip hop. But rap started way in the 40s.

The first rappers was the Jubilee, a group called the Jubilee, for a singer, gospel kind of singers, but they rhyme just like a rapper. If you go and you listen to the, listen to go put up their video on YouTube, they rhyme exactly with the bars, with the flow, with everything. It's amazing, and this is in the 40s.

The first time a record was made was here come the judge from Pygmy Markham. Pigmy Markham. Pigmy Markham was a comedian. He had his record, here come the judge. had the crazy hard beat to it, but James Brown was the one that gave the format of where hip hop was going to be.

Pigmy Martin was the first one to rhyme as a rapper, in a rap way, on that type of music. So it was already here. What we're doing is just a remix. Now, in our way, yes, Hertz came in 73 into this room and he's playing these soul records,

you know and that was the beginning but I remember being that young watching everybody break dancing at 73, 73, 74 I remember watching people break dancing the Justin Gun the James Brown

clapped your hands and fast record potential records like that this was back yet and you know I was a young kid watching this so eventually it grew into when 77 came around and DJ started all that was tied together but it was started way

before we even was even born. You know, it's just that, you know, black people, it created so many things that got overlooked. You know, so many things that was pushed to the side. And this was one of them. You know, it just took many more years for us to really catch on and make it prevalent. But it was going, rap was going on since back then.

What do you consider? Because, you know, in my eyes, I consider you like, the first generation. of superstar DJs where, you know, just way past the pioneering stage of like, where Flash and Bombada took it, like,

you as a product, but for you, like, coming out the starting gate, I knew of you and I knew of Ron G. Like, but for you, who were the the main, the forefathers of the superstar DJ errors where you're making mixtapes, where

you're tearing up black colleges where you're starting to get mainstream love on like television shows. Like who do you consider who's the peer group of the superstar DJ era for you? I got to put Red Alert up there. I got to put Tram Master Flash up there. I got to put Charlie Chase up there. And the reason why I say these names because and her of course, because they were the ones that was there first.

They were the ones that, you know, I always say this. I work with everybody. Everybody. You see my BET performance. I curated the whole BET show. My whole thing was to make, to get across that the young and the old could party together and enjoy themselves.

And I think I hit that mark. But, you know, my heroes always the dudes that came before me, the dudes that didn't make the money I made or got the fame that I might have gotten or the accolades I've gotten, but they built it from the ground up. You know, a lot of times,

some of our elder statesmen, they get stuck in their old school way thinking and they don't want to change, you know what I'm saying? And change is going to happen. I remember I had a talk with Hirk one time and I told Herc, I said, you know that it wasn't going to just stay in the Bronx. It was going to go worldwide, you know, because what happened was a lot of times we got selfish.

We was in the Bronx. We made it. We wanted to stay there. Like, this was something that the world was going to take over. You know what I'm saying? So a lot of times the world could be harsh to the ones that helped build it. And it makes those people that help build it feel a certain way. Now when they say something, it looks like they're being old.

It looks like they're mad at somebody. It looks like they bitter. But what it is is that they feel like they didn't get fulfilled in the way they think they should. And that's why hip hop 50 is great because now it's no, it's a balance. It's everybody's being seen. Everybody's making money. Everybody is being appreciated. And the young dudes are seeing how important.

These older dudes are and what they've done in the path that they put for the young dudes. But the older dudes got to understand that the younger dudes is going to change and do what they want and what's rather than to them and what they like. You don't have to like it, but you cannot. Things are going to change. Hi, folks. This is Sugar Steve. And right here is where we're going to pause this interview. Check back next week.

We're looking at your podcast feed for Part 2. In that conversation, Kit Caprice speaks about his transition to album making and production, how Biz Marquis. helped him get a deal and what motivates him today. Thank you for celebrating 50 years of hip-hop with Questlove Supreme. If you haven't already, please check out our interviews this month celebrating hip-hop innovators. In addition to Kid Capri, we have conversations with Stiles P and Slum Village. West Love Supreme is a production of I-Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I-Hart Radio, visit the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. A win is a win. A win. A win is a win. I don't Yep, that's me, Cliford 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. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeard 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. 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 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. to the Sports Slice 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. 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. What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Vodom. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot.

But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on. a calendar of, you know, the cat, just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. I'm Daniel Alarcon, and this is my friend. It's much more famous than I am. I wouldn't go that far. But I'm John Green, co-host of the podcast The Away End with my old friend Daniel. On our podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football. leading up to the 2026 World Cup. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important.

Listen to the away end with Daniel Auerkone and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.