The Questlove Show - Questlove Supreme: Slum Village Part 2

Episode Date: August 9, 2023

Slum Village sits down with Questlove Supreme as part of a month-long celebration of 50 years of Hip-Hop. In Part 2, T3 and Young RJ describe their group's evolution through the years—including J Dilla passing the production torch to his former pupil, RJ. The veteran duo discusses new music, working with The Dramatics, and how Slum Village has become one of the most perseverant groups in Rap history.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 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. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. Welcome back to QLS. This is Sugar Steve from Team Supreme. Last week, we gave you part one of our interview with Slum Village members T3 and Young RJ. In that interview, they talked about their early days of Slum Village and somebody that I got to know during the Soul Quarians era, the late grade J. Dilla. It's always great to hear from people who worked with him firsthand and got to know him from a young age.

Please make sure you check out that episode if you haven't. Now we have part two as Questloaf Supreme celebrates 50 years of hip-hop all August. We hope you enjoy it. I remember one of the earliest arguments I had with, we were just talking about, we were going through song for song. And, you know, I was explaining that the frustrating thing about making things fall apart was the fact that Malik and, just his very weird. Malik's almost like Batman.

Like, Malik shows up to the studio at like 3 a.m. Like, when the engineer's just cleaning up and ready to go home. And he would always just come in at like odd hours, 1.30 a.m., 2.30 a.m. and look on the floor, go to the corner. And he would read the reels off. Like, okay, what do they work on the day? And that's just an engineer don't know. So he's just like, well, here's a mirror. There's beats he were making. Here's da-da-da-da.

And Malit would just be like, hey, put one of them things up. Now, the thing is, is that, you know, I'm also using this album period. Like, you know, there's other projects I'm working on, but I'm also using this album period to develop my sound or try to figure out what my sound is as a producer. And so I'm practicing stuff that Dill is teaching me. Like, he taught me shit on the 1,200. I didn't know he taught me stuff on my.

and beat. So, and I'm sure that you know about this, RJ, like, you go through this period as a beat maker where you need to practice first and emulate, like, first I did the bomb squad, then, all right, I'm going to practice this Wally Mall track, and then I'm going to practice

this premiere track or whatever. Like, you've got to practice before. And the thing was, Malik would always, he would do complete songs to shit that I never intended for the public to hear. And I told, it was hitting me that I was hell bit, I was like, yo, there's no way that I'm going to let my slum influence

out on this Roots record. And it would only happen when like Malik would just unknowingly take some shit that I had no intention for you all to hear. A good example is like the table content song that that intro is the album or the don't see us, we see you like shit I never intended for the public to hear. So for you. For you, though, like, again, is it, is that weird, like, to know that you're that influential? Like, you're a pioneer before you're an artist yourself. Yeah, I mean, I'm definitely thankful. But, man, I don't know, man.

I think Dilla, of course. And I would have to thank all of my mentors, man. Like, Amfielder, RJ, Rice. I mean, we had a lot of people that was really just looking out for no reason at all. You know what I'm saying? Which was, especially for me, I didn't even grow with a father. So you're telling me this random dude name, Amphillian, going to let you come in his house, you know, make some people.

You know what I'm saying? You know, rap and do all of this just because he wanted make sure we ain't in the streets doing no foolishness. You know what I'm saying? So it was like we had the community, the whole slum village, as you will, that was helping us. You know what I'm saying? RJ, I wanted to ask you, man, specifically. with your dad being who he was in the game and, you know, just having that base for

RJ's late arrival. What was some of the things he taught you? You talked about musically, but like business-wise, were there any principles or just kind of things that game he gave you that kind of helped you in your journey? Yeah, he just told me never take a man's dignity. You don't want to put a man in a position of where he got a bed or and never wait to pay a man. You know what I'm saying? Because he got a family that he's.

taking care of as well you know I'm saying he waiting on that money to come just like you waiting on the money to come so you know I'm saying it's a lot of Jews that he that he taught me with how to do business and you know cultivating relationships and things like that you know some things you may have to do for free you know what I'm saying in order to grow the business so you know it's a lot you know I think them all the time you know I'm saying I couldn't have a better father mentor and I enjoy working with them too Is your mom, she still seen?

She's still seen. They just put a new song out. They just dropped a new song. Yeah. That's what's up, man. That's beautiful. I found an audio recording. It's the craziest thing I've ever heard of my life.

It's an audio recording. And I'm assuming that you're holding a video camera. You guys are in a car together. And this is the only, I only know the audio part of it. And Dill is driving and you ask him a, question. You say, hey, man, what's the day? Oh, yeah. Oh, you know about this? Okay. It just jars me every time I hear it. You're like, hey, what's the day, man? And Dill's like, I don't know, Thursday. He said, no, man, what's the day? And Dilla's like, oh, okay, it's February

10th. He's like, yeah, and what's the day? He's like, yeah, man, February 10th is the first day that we're making our new album, Fantastic Volume 2, baby, and y'all just talk about it. And, man, I'm just like, it really, I was like, wow, just, you know, because for a lot of us, February 10th, being the day of his transitioning,

is such a, you know, such a thing for those that, you know, follow his music so closely. But to hear that clip and the excitement of you guys, like talking about your future and all those things, Like, would that often happen?

We had to, you got to understand this. First of all, Slum Village had to wait for Diller to blow because Diller is, you know what I'm saying? So I was still kind of hungry and broke me in 10 and Dill was making money already. You know what I'm saying? So we had to wait on that. So we had to be patient. So for the day for us all to come together and say, this is the official day for us to work on this. Shout out to Wendy Goldstein,

who was, who was lathe a lot of us at that time. I know. Wendy Goldstein was that was my saving grace too. Yes, that's what I'm saying. She laced us all.

And, you know, we got the opportunity to really just go in there and do it. And guess what? We had no guidance. You know, you know what I'm saying? They just let us do what we want to do. And which is beautiful. You know what I'm saying?

And shout out to RJ now for solidifying. and solidifying that deal. I wish, I wish. Now, I think about it, we had a couple of deals on the table. I wanted to go with Dev Jam in my heart, because we did have a possible situation with DevJam, but we decided to go over who we went with. Really?

Yes. So there was a Def Jam deal on the table and Interscope, and any other labels? It was about five, I think, Universal. Okay. Yeah, we had some deals, but we just chose what we chose. And I think we went with A&M first, which was terrible. Did you guys at all work with John McLean?

John McLean is the one who got, who was like part of getting the deal at A&M. John McLean is one of those figures that, you know, even I'm working on the slide doc right now, and he's a part of Sly's 80s, you know, attempted several attempts to come back or whatnot. But he's one of those brothers that's so elusive in terms of, like, like talking to the press or whatever. What were your interactions like with John McLean? I didn't have many. I was mostly your dad and management talking to him.

I was really brief. The Indian I had. So that was mostly RJ and Tim, Tim Maynor, mostly spoke to him most of the time. I was not in business. I was such a studio nerd. I was, that's what I was at. Yeah.

I didn't, you know, care to meet executives and all those things anyway. Like, that was like, my manager did that. But, you know, occasionally I would have to have conversations about, like, the concept of the group or, you know, those sort of things that you don't want to have with label executives and whatnot. How did that deal fall apart? Because I thought I saw a tangible version of what I thought was a fantastic volume two on Interscope. Later found out there was a bootleg or whatever. I'm going to tell you how I fell apart. This is high.

No disrespect, but what happened was, Burrup, he decides to do the double album. Oh, no. Corruption joint. The West versus the East. Yeah, I know. That album shut down the whole rap department because the lack of-

Yes. And guess who was coming right next after that? It was Slum Village. then the bootleg on top of that it was like, well, the only thing we could do, I guess we're going to start touring in Europe. So we was able to tour in Europe

in 99. That was super early for us to go down there to our first European tour, which was an ordeal too, because Dill acted like he lost his passport for a while because he didn't want to go because he had to finish some remixes. It was like, man,

Stilich was just going through it. Oh, I can't find my passport. Oh, shit. So, yeah, I was about to say, So this is also the period in which, like, he's going to leave a group or whatever. So explain how just the adjustment readjusting the group without him on stage with you. Well, he said he would do select shows. He was going to do the West Coast.

He was going to do Detroit, maybe something else. That was all he was, even when we was doing the OK player, you need. You know what I'm saying? We got them for two shows, at least. Right. Right, you got it for two shows. Right. So that's all he was going to do

because he wanted to catch up with all his work at that time. You know what I'm saying? Because he was hot, and people wanted those remixes like ASAP. So, you know, he was doing all that, then he was producing on different albums. So he just wasn't there.

Now, the whole thing when he decided to leave, you know what I'm saying? We had a brand new deal on the table. Right. You know what I'm saying? That was the whole capital deal. So it was like, where are you going? we got a whole situation.

You know what I'm saying? But he decides to go and do it, does the MCA deal, you know what I'm saying, with Franken Dink and get his own label situation popping over there. So, I mean, he said and told me, man, you're going to take over the group, man. I did not want to. Because I enjoy being the middleman. By the way, you know, less pressure. I can just go out of one, two, and we go.

You know what I'm saying? I'm out. You know, so it was hard to restructure. So one of the main pieces I had is all the people at the studio, and one of the main people was Young Jay. So me and him was already bonding over beats and doing stuff. And then, Batten, you know, was barely showing up. Kind of like what you're telling me with Malik B.

You don't know what he's going to record to. Exactly. That we wasn't even working on. You know what I was saying? Right. Yeah, okay. He had this machine in the back, and he would just make songs all day.

machines from the randomest beats. I don't know, you know, someone was waji, someone was this, someone was that, you just didn't know. And we tried to piece this album together, and it was a difficult process. You know what I'm saying? But we got through it.

You know, luckily, that's how we got close with Kareem and Kareem contributed, young Jenny and black milks, you know, coming up and all this at one time. And, you know, I had to mix it up. I had to make some magic. Yeah, I wanted to ask you, man, I had a blessing before he passed to talk with Batten. I interviewed him. This has been years ago. And he talked very openly about his mental illness and just kind of things he was struggling with.

How do you manage that? I mean, navigating a group is hard enough as it is. How do you manage that? Having someone in your group that has those kind of specific problems. How did y'all navigate that as a crew? Well, number one, when you're young like me and we was, you think, okay, he's just eclectic. You know what I'm saying? Right, right.

You don't think it's something clinical. Right. You know what I'm saying? Once I figured out that it was a real situation, we was at the climax. We did the climax video, and his sister had a spell or whatever that we had to shut down, you know, the video and it was... Is it Tina, Tina Marie? Is that?

Yeah. Tina? Yeah. Yeah. So on the record, she had a spell, man. We had to shut down this. It was a bit much. I've never seen anything like that. It's scared the daylight out of it. You know what I'm saying? Wait, when you guys were seeing the climax video in L.A.? In L.A.? Oh, shit. I didn't even know. Okay.

Yeah, you was right there, but you wasn't, you didn't see all of that. But yeah. Boy, because y'all just keep me in the car listening to beats. That was a diversion. Amir, sit here and listen to it for two hours. I was like, oh, I'm in heaven. Great. Y'all ready yet?

No? More beats. Wow. Yeah, she had a whole spell. And then I knew it was bipolar schizophrenia. And we figured out it ran in the family. You know what? About 10, even.

And so I didn't really know, like I said, I just thought he was eclected. And it just got worse and worse. And to the point where it was, it was, it was, it was a bit much. So we had to have a whole handler. Kind of like ODB, you had to have a handler with 10. Okay, this is your job, QD.

I remember one time, this guy, we got to go on stage. I'm talking about 10 minutes before we go on stage. He decides to go grocery shopping. Like, word?

I'm very familiar with actions like these. Yeah. Oh, wow. You very, yeah. And this is after, this is, you talk about this is, After Fantastic Welcome to is out.

This, this Trinity time. It's true. You're out on capital already. Yeah, we're on capital. Yes. Yes. It just got worse and worse, man. But, you know.

Did he have a reaction at all to always wanted to know if, because people often ask us, like, you know, what was Malik B's response to water when he heard it? But Elzai's verse in reunion, did he ever respond to that or, you know? Yes. They talked. They talked on the side of the building. Else I even talked to him before they, he put out the verse. Okay. So we went to show.

And at this time, by 10 was kind of not doing so well, and he kind of showed up at the show on the side of the dog, like what else said. Right. And you know what I'm saying? And it was a tough situation. That's the reason why I brought him back in the group afterwards, because I just wanted him to,

try to get itself together, you know what I'm saying, take this medication because I learned in the music biz there is a lot of people who's struggling and just deal with it every day. It's real, like a lot of us are carrying a lot of what they call epigenetics, kind of passed down through generations. Your great-grandfather had something, and now your grandfather has and your father has and so on and so forth. A win is a win. A win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clever Taylor the Four. 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.

I always wanted to know. you know, it's also with the Trinity record where you guys really did have like your moment in the sun, especially like with Detroit Delhi and with Trinity. I mean, you have something that even the roots can't claim, which is like you got fully embraced by like the 106 in a park audience. And there's a moment where it's almost that slum village. I mean, what do you look at as an eclipse or a shadow of Dilla versus O Dilla's group? where you guys on your own are about to, you know, find an audience, find a home, find a groove and a movement.

What did it feel like with the success of Tainit and also working with like Kanye on? Selfish. Selfish. Yeah. Can you talk about that period? Number one, it was the hurt feeling for me, man. But, you know, I'm not having Dilla a part of it.

to get a touchdown, but... Yeah, yeah. Not officially part. I mean, we made sure he produced records on it. We was going to do that. But, like, when we did the video shoot for selfish, you know what I'm saying? And, you know, it was a glorious day. It was 300 women there.

It was ridiculous. You know, you got Kaya, you got John Legend. And then I was like, man, I heard Dillard was here. I didn't even get a chance to talk to Dillel. It was so many people, so much going on. You know what I'm saying? And I just felt that detached that I never wanted to feel with him. You know what I'm saying?

Perfect strangers. Yeah, you know, but I'm happy I'm made it in a good space. But at that time, I wanted it to be what it was, but it couldn't be. You know what I'm saying? So I was always like that, man. Every time I have success with Slum Village, I would always be, like, caught into some weird or some situation where I can't even enjoy this. you know what I'm saying I'm just not getting to a space now with Slum Village

man Jay where I can I enjoy what I'm saying and kind of do that but it took a while because it was just so much conflict it was always something new every day you know what I'm saying? See but the thing was this though three because when you were shooting like I called Diller to come to the

selfish video shoot so when he get there we're watching him shoot and he like yo man y'all good y'all don't need me no more and i'm like bro what is you talking about shit what we're doing you you you the foundation we always gonna need you we're like nah nah y'all need me no more man you know and i'm like he had just got out the hospital i'm like this weird you know what i'm saying but you're rolling with it so it was like things along the way you know what i'm saying that he was saying to kind of like i don't want to say like prepare

everybody for what I think he felt was coming. So, but that was like the last time that I saw him in person where, you know, everybody was there and able to kick it and have fun. Man, I wanted to ask y'all what was the, how did it come about with bringing Elza in the group? Well, well, let me tell you this. That was necessity. Okay, so here's the situation. I'm managing Elzai.

That was my artist at the time. So I managed him. I did not know this. Yes. Yeah. I'm managing. That's my artist. And, you know, I'm about to put him out next.

I'm about to get him going. Cool. So at that time, then I, they'll tell me he leaving. So I'm like, okay. And then we got a big deal with capital all at the same time. So they're expecting us to pull off an album. you know, and they gave us a two album deals. So I was like, well,

I can't turn down this money. I can't turn down in this situation. I can't, I can't. So then on top of that, Battene wasn't showing up for the studio. I'm like, man, I can't make the, I'm telling R.J. Rice, I'm like, man, I can't make an album by myself, man.

And call it Slum Village. You need a lot of man. I cannot. So I was like, man, I'm going to have to bring L in, man. I'm going to have to bring Ellen. And he's just going to have to fill in. I'm going to how you do so many songs. Elle, you just can come in.

It's going to be your, you can go in the group, and you can bounce off this and you can come in. Like, all right, man, cool. I'm with it. You know what I'm saying? You know, he still wanted to have his rough and rugged persona. He sold some of the girl records that I had to convince him on a little bit that he didn't want to do.

He didn't want to do Tate it. I heard it. he didn't want to do that because he was trying to still be you know that lyrical spiritual god and then nothing wrong with that but but we had to make some records because we had to get you know we got pudding as long as you're right you know what i'm saying so i'm sitting there and and you know we pulling it together i'm finding these new producers black milk uh cream is um you know be our gunner coming through the whole squad you know i'm i'm producing we just pulling it together man you know what i'm saying and dillusay go give us some beats but then when that happened he goes

and remixed all the beats i choke you know what i'm saying so it was just a lot when we did that record so you know what i'm saying god bless we even pulled it off that was a producer um that y'all had uh that was i don't know if he was in the camp but i would see his credits on stuff Ron E. Ron Estill. I know he did the Bahamadilla joint that y'all was on. Yeah. What's the deal with him? Is he still making records?

Like, who was he? Ron Estelle was Dwele's, you might as well say, like, signed to Dwele. You know, Dwele was signed to him. You know what I'm saying? So he was like a guy that produced back in the day and had produced some records and stuff that Sella didn't want to do, you know what I'm saying? He'd be like, you know, I ain't doing it. And then he'd be like, okay, I give it a shot.

You know what I'm saying? So Dillon would like pass off the work. Gotcha, gotcha. And RJ, one, B.R. Gunner, that was you and Black. Y'all were production team at that time. Correct. Yeah. Not at Trinity time.

Not at Trinity time. Right. Yeah, but yeah, y'all were production team at that time. How did y'all come to work together and what was your collaboration process like as producers. For me, me and black met through that kids group that I had, kid you not. The guy that was closest to my age was in a group with Black Milk. And he played me some of their songs over the phone.

One of the songs that I heard was the beat for What Is This? And I was like, On Trinity. And I was like he should come up. And then he had another relationship through about 10. You know what I'm saying? And so everybody had kind of like, was like, okay, he came up there. We started working through like mixing the records and stuff like that. By the time we was done with Trinity, me and him was like friends.

You know what I'm saying? So we was like, shit, we're doing all the work. We might as well just make a production team. You know what I'm saying? And get it cracking because we're doing all the work. And then that's kind of how BR going to start it. And then it just kept going. Wait, I'm one second years old.

I didn't realize that B.R. Gunner was a... Black milk and young R.J. Yeah, B.R. I actually thought B.R. I was going to say, wait, how come no one's mentioning B.R. Gunner right now? Like, I thought it was the actual person. I'm thinking like, oh, maybe they got beef with him or something, but... Oh, I'm probably the only person I know that actually spends late 80s in my set. like obviously your parents are on it as well

is there a longer version of the late 80s sketch that that was on Trinity? No, that's on Detroit Delhi. Oh, yeah, I think it is. It's in one of the machines that T. was talking about because we recorded that on like a digital machine. I forgot. There's two versions. The one on Trinity.

Yes, that's the one I'm speaking of. Yeah, yeah, it's on a machine. in the back, yeah. Yeah, we're cute, right, with QD on that one, and your mother, right? And Dule. And dule. Yeah, and dule.

That's my shit, man. And also, the original version. All right, so the version of Fall in Love that is the hidden track on Trinity, the one based on the remix. What happened to, with Samaya? Well, yeah.

We was going to do this group called a S band, which was Slum Village's band, right? And somebody was a part of it. And we was working on some records. I was working on some records. Me and her worked on that record. Me, her, Vernon, and Jay worked on that, producing that record.

But what happened was, I think it just got mixed up because I was kind of dating her and that kind of got mixed things up a little bit. Sorry. No, I'm. I did that and it just got messy and my bad. You know what I'm saying?

I don't just to smile. Yeah. I see. I can take it. I said. After the self-title album comes out, the one in 2005. Call me's on that, right?

The Isley Brother's joint. Yeah. That's my shit, man. Word. Even post that, like, and again, I know that some people are just like, only Dilla Fish or not, whatever. No, like, the entire Slim Village canon to me is, like, there's so much magic on all these records of though.

Like, how, for you, though, T3, with what's happening, especially with the transitioning of Dilla and Batten, and with L.L. eyes, a dismissal of the group and whatnot. Like, how is this weighing on your mental? Do you feel at some points maybe the universe is telling you, like, well, maybe I should do something else, da-da-da-da-da. Like, what is it that's keeping you still in fighting shape and wanting to keep this this thing alive until, you know, you say it's done?

I don't, you know, I did go to a turn where I was kind of going through my thing for a minute, kind of down and out. But luckily I had a nice support group, man. Shout out to his dad, Big RJ. And RJ, they helped me out a lot, man. You know what I'm saying? To the point, you know, where I just went through it. You know, I lost everything for a minute, my girlfriend and everything.

I just lost my house, the place I live. And they really just helped me, you know, help me get myself back together. You know what I'm saying? So it did weigh on me a lot. You know what I'm saying? And it broke me down. for a millisecond. But you know what I'm saying?

Well, you know, we kept working, man. And, you know, luckily I have some brothers with me to help me out, man. And that's how I got through it, man. You know what I'm saying? But it was tough for a second. Jay, you remember those days when we were trying to put that stuff together. For sure, I do. I definitely do.

Yeah, it's tough. I was going to ask you, ask you a man. So me and Black, you know, we had a conversation. This was a while back. But we were just talking about how with some village, we were talking about kind of difference between y'all and LB and like how y'all, because y'all had those two records on Capitol and y'all had those two big singles and how that translated, I guess, across touring, how did that show up for y'all on your side? Like, were y'all able to see a difference when it's like you do your set and then all of a sudden you do selfish and people like, oh, that's the one we know or they do tainted and it's like, oh, that's the one. or over time was it people, were they die hard? Like, yo, we want volume two.

We want, you know, volume one. Like, how did that look for y'all, you know what I'm saying, as a group that had that major labor experience? It looked just like you said. You had a divided group of folk. You had these diehard, volume two people. There's also volume one people, too. Right.

And then you had these two big singles. And they didn't always mix together. Really? I'm saying? You know, and that's how it was. So we, and then they would put us in different venues and different situations to see where we fit. Like one tour we would be with somebody extra hip hop. And then we did a tour with Indyri, which was like, it was not the best way, by the way.

Yeah, I don't know. I don't see climax going over good with an Indyiree audience. No, I don't know. It was like Marsha, and Brosia and Indiari and Slum Village. Like, where do we come in and this? I don't even know what you do, really. You know what I'm saying? So it was a lot of people don't know where the place was because of what selfish did or what Tainted did.

Speaking of which, I got to talk about Cloud 9, man. yo just how the anger I had so I had to do this tour once in which Marsha is doing about 30 dates with us

and it's one of them things where like she sends an mp3 to my phone like this is the song I want to do and I'm listening and I'm like oh shit I gotta play this every goddamn night it's one of the most nightmarous

loopings of gospel drumming. Like way past the end of Jay-Z showing what you got. Like, or anything that I've ever clown just plays for about that? This is past any like Rush Stuart Copeland.

Like, it's the craziest thing. Can you talk about that, that, like, what made y'all want to do this group and they're not, for picking the most unorthodox shit ever to rhyme over it was one of those things where uh we was in detroit working and um a guy that who was around the time scrap dirty was like yo here goes uh marshes out focus has sent it over because he had produced it shout out to focus man yes so we like man this this shit is crazy. We need this.

And he was like, I mean, it already came out of it. And we was like, man, we don't care. And then we reached out to focus. And he was like, yeah, shit, y'all can go ahead and use it. And he sent it. You know what I'm saying? And everybody liced it. Yeah, 10 came through.

Yeah, we had a fun time for that. And we got a chance to perform in a couple of times with Marshall Live. That's a funky record. That's a funky record. It's funky, but it's a drummer's nightmare. So every jam session, I'm like, get her backup drummer because I ain't doing those roles ever getting this lifetime, man. I want to ask you all specifically about scheming, man.

Y'all were able to get, you know, De La and Fife, you know what I'm saying, and just really kind of bring it, make it complete. How did y'all put that together, man? Scheming started out as a young RJ record. I was making a soft. solo record in the midst of doing slum and then they ended up hearing the record and was like this is crazy so T was like man this is how I think we should do it I think we should do it where because T wrote the hook and he was like I think we should do it yeah he was like man

we should do it where day line saying something and then maybe somebody else is saying the hook and somebody else is saying it and then we just start reaching out because I had done the Forever record for Daylock. So I was able to pick up the phone and call. You did forever? I did Forever in Morning, Ross. God damn. To this day, we still close our show with Forever, man.

That is, that's one of my favorite, like, top 10 songs ever, man. I love that shit, man. Can you talk about, like, for you as a creator, as a beat creator, especially, you know, the last of a Mohicans, you know, I mean, I put you up there, milk up there, Riggins up there. You know, there's some cats in Detroit that are doing the thing as well. But like, in 2023, how foreign is the lay of the land for you at least in terms of where hip hop is today musically and where people are going? And like, how do you adjust to it?

Like, what's your process of creating records now? I'm gonna keep it on a hundred. It's not a lot of inspiration out there to be like, yeah, this is crazy. Let me go in the studio and work for the most. Unless you're digging, you know what I'm saying? And you just kind of know, like, okay, this dope artist just dropped something on the underground scene or something. But like I was talking to Black at our show in Detroit.

And I was like, bro, we all we got to inspire each other. Like, you know, if you're not going to. make that shit or everybody ain't going to you know going to go in there and we ain't going to bounce ideas what else do we have for inspiration So it's just kind of like when I go in there. I'm just making what I want to hear I'm past the point of trying to please people Musically. I'm like if if I'm going to throw it up there then it's just going to be something that a piece of art and that's how I treat it and either you get it or you don't and that's just kind of where Me and T yet now even we're working on these new records is like we create creating art that we want to do that we feel ain't there.

And y'all get it or y'all don't. You know what I'm saying? I love it, man. I love it. I want to ask y'all as well, man, with the new single that y'all got out. And, bro, like, how did you hook up with the dramatics? Like, where, what was that like?

Oh, we got hooked up with the dramatics through, that's Pops, because he was touring and all of that stuff and mixing and mingling and him and ron banks had a super close relationship on top of that at the time t was dating her daughter i mean his daughter at the time so you know we just kind he would come up to the studio all the time telling stories him and possibly talking shit and then you know it just kind of got to the point where he was like yo you know y'all should record something so the first record we we did with the dramatics we was do our thing.

That was on Prequel to a Classic. And Kareen Wiggins produced it. And then from that, we did the B.R. Gunner record. And then after that, we did some other songs, and we just set on vocals. So it's like songs that I got with the dramatist, with L.J. Ron, and all the original members, that we just hold on to vocals.

Did they tell you of any of their experiences or stories or whatnot. Yeah, probably three or four years ago, I didn't realize the movie Detroit was about the dramatics, even at the time when we did a song on that record. So when we got sent over a copy of the movie to see it, I didn't realize that the dramatics went through hell.

For sure. To become where they were. But I'm always here Even in Snoop's First cover story for the source There's a A brief shootout moment that happens And the dramatics

They're like coming back The source story starts With them leaving the video shoot For Doggy Dog World And It just goes Like they've been in the craziest situations Whatsoever

Have they ever shared these stories With you guys? Yeah, yeah He was You know A lot of drug use, a lot of drinking. You know what I'm saying? So, you know, he would just come up there and kick it and, you know, talk about the riots and, you know, what he experienced seeing and living

through that and, you know, what it was like going from the big stage to doing smaller shows that was like less people, but they would do multiple shows a night. You know what I'm saying? And so he was just saying like the adjustment period of that and, you know, like how to keep a group together and members leaving and, you know, all of that. Those is all the things that, you know, I'm saying, we would talk about and, you know, they would give advice on. Man, I wanted to ask you about one of my favorite records of yours that you did. You did a record for pool. This was back when you and pool were working together. This is, I mean, got 20, 2008, 9, something.

This is years ago. But you did a record for him called What We Are. We ended up putting it on the left back record, but it was originally a solo jump in. And I love that song, man. Word. Body that shit. Just talk about kind of like the production of that song. And one thing I always admired about you, you would always incorporate, you would incorporate live instruments, but it would sound like a sample.

It would sound like something that was vintage. How did you achieve that in the studio? Was that something that you kind of had in mind or how did that come up? It started off, you know, with the sample. You know what I'm saying? That was chopped up. And then I had a drum set set up, you know what I'm saying? At this, at the house.

And then I just got to a point where I was just, would get on the kit and play. And then I have musicians come over and add bongos and all that stuff. And turn it into a jam session, you know what I'm saying? Because at a certain point, music was like, getting stiff yeah you know what I'm saying so I was like you know we just we was cranking our stuff and then I want to make sure pool has some joints you know I'm saying so I was like super locked in and focused you know what I'm saying I'm I felt like me and pool was both underdogs you know I'm saying in terms of

how people viewed us and it was like yo we're gonna we're gonna go in here and lock in and make the you know the doping shit we can make and you know bringing Craig Lane, you know what I'm saying? He was playing on keys on some of the records. You know what I'm saying? That's what it's always been about making, filling up the speaker. A sample can only give you so much, you know what I'm saying? What are your weapons of choice when you're making this, these songs?

Like, are you still on the 3,000? Have you upgraded to how people? No, I'm on the NPCX, nah. But I still track everything I like analog. You know, I don't just bounce to fire. So I still get hit the patch bay and go through the EQs and Mike pre's lining and all that stuff the iboxes it's just to me you can't get the sound that I'm used to without it I don't know how to achieve it so I still go old school now don't change bro you don't have a MacBook pro you don't you don't just like

I'll sequence everything in the computer I mean with the drum machine right I'm saying, but when I go to track out, you know what I'm saying? I'm tracking out through all vintage stuff. So is there a new round of young producers that are in Detroit that are sort of being mentored by you and Milken? And Rick is the way that you guys were mentored through Dillon? It's guys out here. You got, you got people who's coming with dope ideas.

It's attitude that's handling them, though. for some reason they're not able to jail with anybody. You know what I'm saying? So it's like... There's not a hip-hop shop sort of epicenter that someone, in a way that Maris through that stuff for you guys, there's not someone carrying that tradition now?

Nah, but that's what me and T was talking about. We was talking about trying to open something. You know what I'm saying? Where we can have the community to come. You got to spot the... the spots like Perimuda here that do little dope DJ things, you know what I'm saying, like around electronic music fest, things like that. But it's not a whole lot of like a hub anymore that people can go to. And that's what we need to get back to, you know what I'm

saying, in order to be able to raise up that next crop out to city. Okay. And I guess in terms of terrestrial radio is concerned, like, does that have the same whole? that it once held in Detroit? Like, is there any figure in radio that is just as expansive or wild or crazy as, you know, growing up in the early period was for you guys? You got T3 on the radio now.

So that's where, you know what I'm saying? You're getting that other variety of music. Okay. Yeah, I do a two-hour show on Sundays. And they basically let me play what I want to play. I ain't going crazy, though. I'm not Mojo crazy. Go crazy.

You got to, no, man. I'm telling you, you got to go Mojo crazy, yo. Yeah. You got to. Okay. Okay. I'm serious. Like, that's...

I remember question is, go crazy. Right, right. Blame it on him. No, but I feel like if that to me is... That opens up so many creative portals. Because even the first night, the first night, you know, when you go there, you're sort of like, okay, I want to see what these cats really about,

because it sounds crazy on record, but let me see what they're about. And I'll never forget the first night that the three of you were in the basement together, right before about 10 leaves, he's like, yo, he tells Adela. He's like, yo, man. He's like, I want you to make a joint

to Herb Alpert's Route 101. And I was like, wait a minute, That's the song I always hear when, like to me, that's the ultimate yacht rock Dennis song that, I mean, when you're the dentist office or you're shopping. And I was like, wait, did he actually say he wants to rhyme to Route 101? Like, that's the most craziest, like, doesn't he mean rise by Herb Alpert, not Route 101? He's like, no, he wants to, like the world's happy song.

It's like, you're going to flip that shit? He's like, hell, yeah, I'm going to flip that shit. like to me it's I feel like what makes Detroit special is that you guys are not quick to say the word no as fast as

other people would and I think that that's that's kind of notable you know and you already see the evidence of that and how the ripple effects and how it affects people so yeah I know to you're just like hey I do two hours show on Sunday and it might not matter but

you know even if you reach one person that that spark happens to you then you know i feel like that's that's a job well done now seriously bro i mean me and tea we've taught i mean we've all three of us we've like talked you know at different points of time but seriously man i just had to you know just say to y'all bro as we celebrate i twin if you're an lb and i'd tell people all the time and we were making our first album you know the listening like i had we listened to fantastic volume too religiously i played the fucking MP3 tags off that down album. And like, I will hold it up in the studio and I would tell Nike pool, all the crew straight

up like, yo, if we ain't making nothing they can fuck with this, then we don't need to waste our time. Right. Like, this is the bar. If we ain't bringing it like these niggas, right. Back it up. Yeah. It's still in my north start to this day, man.

100%. Oh, no. Man, love y'all brothers, man. Just thank you for everything. Love, man. Appreciate you. So on behalf of the team, Fontigo, Lai. unpaid bill, sugar Steve, myself,

the great R.J. Rice, and the one and only T3, Detroit's own slum village. Support your gods, man. There's still here with us. And Karen on an awesome legacy. It's Questlove Supreme. And we will see you on the next go-round, y'all. Thank you. Peace. Questlove Supreme is a production of Iheart Radio.

For more podcasts from IHeartRadio, visit the IHeartRadio 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 which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

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