WEBVTT - QLS Classic: Top Shelf 1988 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:03.840 Of Course Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. This 0:00:03.880 --> 0:00:12.560 classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora. Ladies 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:14.800 and gentlemen, what's up? This is Questlove and you're checking 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:20.640 out QLs Classic. So some time back, way back, I 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:25.960 think around twenty eighteen, there was a mythical unearthed with 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:30.640 quotations project called Top Shelf nineteen eighty eight. It featured 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:32.400 like a lot of the all stars of the what 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:35.960 I call the Latin Quarter era of hip hop, the 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:39.480 Latin Quarter era known as the classic hip hop era. 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:43.000 A lot of those songs that are now staples and 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:48.000 hip hop they basically got their debut when. 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:50.640 DJ Red Alert was spinning at the Latin Quarter. 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:55.720 Womonarias like Chubb Rot, also Grad Master Cast, Belly, Mal 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:59.760 Smooth be Of Nice, Smooth Dress, A Black Sheet, Masta, 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:04.040 A Grandpoopa, Jungle Brothers, Dougie Fresh, Special, Led, MC Light, 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:07.440 Craig G, Big Daddy, Kane, Bis Marquis, and of course 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:11.920 MC Search. What can I say, man, this is like 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.560 one of those rare summit meetings that I've always dreamed 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:21.640 about having a conversation with my uh, you know, my 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:26.520 comrades and the gods that built hip hop culture as 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:30.080 I knew and loved it. Ladies and gentlemen, let's go 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:34.120 back back in time to a classic era and Quest 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:37.839 Love Supreme history. This is the Top Shelf nineteen eighty 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:39.600 eight episode Let's go. 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:47.360 So Luke that man. 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:50.920 Hatt's just let's just kick it off. Ladies and gentlemen, 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:54.000 do not attempt to adjust your your. 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:56.000 Doing your dial. 0:01:56.760 --> 0:02:03.800 This is probably my my, my greatest dream manifesting right 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:06.600 now in front of in front of my eyes, Ladies 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:10.720 and gentlemen, I'm surround the ride, all my idols literally 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:15.600 in front of This is Quest Love Supreme. Only on Pandora. 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:19.120 We have the world's greatest right in front of me. 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:22.560 I'm gonna introduce you one by one. Starting up, we 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:25.040 have sur Kane, Big Dady King, Hello, I will talk 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:30.320 to you. Craig g Yeah, in the house. 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:31.160 I want you, sir. 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:32.240 This is amazing. 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:36.280 MC light is in the house. Good evening, Hello, Special 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:39.080 Ed is in the house. What it is like flat 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:42.320 buy church as stand up for me? All MC search 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:43.480 is in the house. 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:45.880 White people stand up. 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:54.600 We also have Vinji Greenberg from Roston Records, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh. 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:57.760 Did you bring me a Bromani brothers, I gotta go 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:00.960 back and get you on about that. And brotherly, I 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:03.840 el I'm gonna put your name bro. 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:14.160 No, no, I'm. 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:11.639 Gonna say it one more time. 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:16.079 I I led there. 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:17.600 Get your jew right. 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:23.360 I know I'm trying to one more time. Elkare Yeah, 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:23.800 I did it. 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:27.040 I mean, Louis Vats get it right. 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:29.239 Word. 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:34.880 We are here to I guess, kick off or celebrate 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:39.280 the Top Shelf project. I can't stress enough to our 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:42.760 listeners how crucial the year of nineteen eighty eight was 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:47.160 for hip hop history. And you know to hear of 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:50.120 this project. First of all, this came out of nowhere, 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:53.520 at least for me. I never heard of this. The 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:56.120 idea of can you give us who can who can 0:03:56.200 --> 0:04:00.640 best describe to me the history of the Top Shelf 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:02.720 nineteen eighty eight project, the genesis of it. 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:03.560 I'll take that. 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:05.080 So. 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:08.160 I had moved to New York in two thousand, was 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:11.800 working at a record company as an assistant, and I 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:15.200 was working on producing and writing music at nights and 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:17.719 on the weekends. And so I started making beats and 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:20.920 I was getting better at producing, and a mutual friend 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:23.640 of me and Chris's introduced us, and Chris was big 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:26.760 into digging for records and all that, and so he 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:28.240 came over one day and we just made a track 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:31.919 and it ended up being the track what was the 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:35.240 first one we made Grand Poobas. So anyway, we made 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:36.599 a track and we're like, oh, this is really dope, 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:38.720 but it sounds like it's like nineteen eighty eight. This 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:42.240 is in two thousand and three. And he kept coming 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:43.799 over and we kept making beats, and all of a sudden, 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:47.120 we had this group of beats that we loved, and 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:49.320 we didn't know what to do with them, because you know, 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:52.159 it wasn't like fifty cent, who was popping off in 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:53.560 two thousand and three, was going to get on these 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:55.120 beats that sounded like nineteen eighty eight. 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:55.960 So we came up with. 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:59.279 This idea, like what if we got like our idols 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:02.920 from nineteen eight eight to somehow get on these records. 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:05.000 And we didn't I didn't know anybody, really, it was 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:08.560 just like a dream. And then we came up with 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:12.720 this whole backstory of top shelf Studios and all the 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:15.120 tapes were lost in the Tompkin Square Park rides and 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:18.200 we just sort of just we were just just dreaming 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:21.680 in my bedroom. Literally just like coming up with this 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:25.240 story to somehow give this project some context. And it 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:26.680 wasn't even a project at the time, it was just 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:31.120 a dream. And so a friend of mine introduced me 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:34.160 to five to five Freddy and I went to it. 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:35.640 We went to his house and we played him a 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:39.479 bunch of beats and he really liked it. He loved 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:42.440 the concept of it, which was basically there was the 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:46.400 studio from nineteen eighty eight called Top Shelf. All the 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:49.640 greatest artists came through there to record after shows, hanging 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:52.720 out whatever, and during the Tonquin Square Park rides, all 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:54.520 the tapes were lost. 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:57.479 And now crazy by the way, thank you. 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:02.000 And now now fifteen years later, in two thousand and three, 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:05.320 we find these records, right, But now it's fifteen years 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:08.960 after that. Because I didn't have I had, I was 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:11.080 able to. We were able to make the record, but 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:13.720 we like no one was interested in putting it out, 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:18.200 and so it wasn't until we had success with Rostroum 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:24.320 and we're able to do it properly that it's now 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:31.080 properly coming out now thirty years after the fictional Top 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:34.240 Shelf Studios was looted during the Tompkins Square Park rides. 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:35.000 Wow. 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:39.240 Well, yeah, I think it's only apropos that you do 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:41.760 it on an even number, which is thirty years into it, 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:44.680 So it seems like it's all come full circle. How 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:49.320 did you How did you pitch this idea to each 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:51.839 to the artist, yes, to each member. 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:56.599 Well, I thought that by having fat five Freddy on 0:06:56.640 --> 0:07:02.599 my side would help because if it's like two thousand 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:04.560 and three and it's just like, hey, my name is 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:07.560 Benji and I want to make this record, that's you know, 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:10.160 So it was a lot more effective to be like, hey, 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:12.240 me and fib five Freddy because he came on as 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:13.520 an executive producer of it. 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:14.280 Back then. 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:18.080 You know, we're making this record and blah blah blah, 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:23.160 and and people like the beats. I think that's what 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:25.360 it came down to, is people were feeling the energy 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:27.200 of the project. I mean, you'd have to ask them, 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:30.880 but to me, it was like, you know, to me, 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:35.400 it was a celebration of the music that we grew 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:39.560 up with and that we loved and what got me 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:44.800 into music in the first place. And so I think 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:47.200 people felt that energy or I hope they did, which 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:48.840 was just like it was a celebration and it was 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:51.280 just like a cool concept idea and like, let's just 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:52.720 all get together and make a record. 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:56.040 So I have to ask, were the tracks initially made 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:57.760 on n SB twelve hundred. 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:02.520 Or no cheated a little bit. We cheated a little bit. 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:05.280 We actually made them on an MPC two thousand XL. 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:11.640 That's close and uh and yeah, yeah, so you know, 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:14.560 but yeah, no, he didn't make them on sp. 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:18.080 Well, definitely the spirit of idiot is in there. Like 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:21.200 I've never thought i'd see the day where you know, 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:26.640 someone's spitting over something that's one hundred and eight bp ms, 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:27.520 which you. 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:28.360 Know, for me, like. 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:32.840 I mean, I'm I'm just a lover of of of 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:36.440 fast wraps. So even with chub Rock's track, I was 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:38.240 like whoa. Like the second I heard, I was like, Oh, 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:40.600 there's no way he's gonna map and then he started 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:46.200 like out the now. Yeah, absolutely, So I have to 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:52.600 ask this room. There's there's one sort of common thread 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:57.800 that's on almost every Quest Love Supreme show, which. 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:00.760 I feel the. 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:05.080 Common denominator of all of you, because of course the 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:10.960 Latin quarter, of which no one salivates more over Latin 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:12.040 quarter stories. 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:12.199 Than I do. 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:15.760 So yeah, without my corehorts here, who will make fun 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:18.439 of me of doing this. I have to ask questions 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:30.640 about the Latin Quarter. They literally, yeah, they made that 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:33.920 jingle just for me because they know and I ask 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:37.200 too many questions of it. But for me, I mean, 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:41.120 I'll be remiss to not let any stories of nineteen 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:46.440 eighty eight go by without without any Latin Quarter tells. 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:50.080 First of all, was this room at all like socially? 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:51.800 Because this is. 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:56.640 Oh yeah, oh tell y'all man, I'm too young to 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:56.920 know what. 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:59.560 You Yeah, I was gonna say, I don't think you 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:00.600 know right. 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:04.720 I don't know what you're talking about. That spot really funny. 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:12.160 You two are actually Juice Crew remembers stars I was 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:14.920 gonna say. I was gonna say, was Juice crew members. 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:20.760 To agree with ed? I was really young, but I 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:24.960 have Yeah, I mean when the symphony was out, I 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:25.520 was fifteen. 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:28.880 Yeah, the shouting when I was twelve twelve. 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:33.240 And but here's the thing about Latin Quarters. I met 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:35.400 searching front of Latin Quarters when you had the Hate 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:37.839 Girls song. And the way I wound up in Latin 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:40.480 Quarters was I used to hey boy, my bad. 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:41.359 Yeah. 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:44.040 I used to answer the phones at the Rap Attack 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:48.360 for mister Magic, and some nights I would wind up 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:52.280 in Latin Quarters with mister Magic underage, scared to death, 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:55.120 and I remember bumping into Search in front of there. 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:59.200 I remember seeing a couple of shows there, but I 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:01.959 didn't go off, but I would wind up there coming 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:03.880 from the radio station. So it was kind of weird 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.880 that New York didn't really care about your age. And 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:09.320 because I had to have been at least fourteen years old. 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:12.479 Well they made sure that you got a wristband for alcohol. 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:15.040 So I was at Latin Quarters are fifteen, Yeah, and 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:16.760 it was okay, And I didn't even want to be 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:19.800 near a bar, like it was so much going on 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:22.800 just on a music front, you seeing all the dancers 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:26.559 and everything, that liquor was the last thing on my mind. 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:29.440 I agree, I mean I wasn't even I think I 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:32.600 maybe went to the bar. I can probably count on 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:35.439 one hand. And it was all five times we're read 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:38.440 alert to have poopoo juice because he would call us 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:41.840 all to the bar, all the violators and have poopoo juice, 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:45.960 which was myers rum pineapple, and I forgot the third thing, 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:49.440 but yeah, so that was his drink. And I've never 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:51.960 been anywhere in the world where they know how to 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:56.520 make poopoo juice, access the Latin Quarter and one bartenders 0:11:56.600 --> 0:11:58.360 in Peace Chris Lighty, Yeah, definitely. 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:01.480 Well, first of all, Search is being modist because Search 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:05.280 was the king of Latin Quarters. It's like, you know, 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:08.680 when when you come in Latin Quarters, it's like just 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:13.280 you know, it's Red Alert Paradise Gray. 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:17.400 Mc Search. You know. 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:20.920 Yeah, that's how that's how it falls. I mean, it's like, 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:23.679 if you come in there and you don't see Search, 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:27.200 you gotta think something is wrong. You're for real. I mean, 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:29.760 it was like he was the king of Latin Quarters. 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:32.000 That's where I met him first, like really, like like 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:34.400 when he the Hey Boy song, Like I remember the 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:37.079 night when Search walked in and Read threw it on 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:39.920 and gave him love and Search ran on the floor 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:43.440 and started breaking it down dancing and everybody and everybody 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:45.280 was screaming it for him. I was like, Okay, you see, 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:47.640 that's what I need to be doing, you know. 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:50.560 For real. Wait, now you mentioned something great, you said 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:53.560 that when you would go with Magic. But I'm under 0:12:53.600 --> 0:13:00.000 the impression that Latin Quarter was more broad alt. 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:03.800 Well, now, now the thing about it was is we're 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:07.840 talking before the bridge was like, we're talking when I 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:11.600 had like the song Transformer out. That was a couple 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:14.280 of years before the whole conflict started. 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:17.000 So what was the official first year of the Latin 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:18.760 Quarter that we know is at eighty six? 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:22.800 Celebrity Tuesdays? Eighty five Tuesdays and nineteen eighty five, Yeah. 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:27.160 Celebrity Tuesdays with Paradise and Lamumbo Cars Awesome, too awesome, 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:30.560 too awesome, too right, and Paradise was working, but it 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:33.920 was special right, that's exactly right, special Teddy Ted had 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:35.040 Celebrity Tuesdays. 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:35.880 That's exactly right. 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.920 Eighty four it was before like the whole drama started. 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.600 So I would go with Magic, and the funny thing 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:46.400 is Magic would leave me. I'd hit Latin Quarters by myself, 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:49.200 just like what the hell's going on here? And I 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:51.040 never went to the bar because I had my little 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:53.199 rope chain on in the corner, and you know who 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:55.520 I would see. I would see Hawk and he would 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:59.320 make me feel safe. That was my brother, because he 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:01.240 would make me feel safe, and then I'd get a 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:03.960 little confidence and hang out for a minute. 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:06.760 But he's talking about the guy that I'm going against 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:08.160 in the eight and a half step in video with 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:08.640 the Braids. 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:10.640 Yeah yeah, yeah. 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:13.040 Is this the Hawk that you gave a shout out 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:13.800 to in Rapid Game? 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:15.800 Yeah that Hawk. 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:20.080 Yes, I'm about to play out one second for half 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:23.760 a second before he was a black thought Trek was 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:29.040 Hawk Hawk Smooth and his acronym was Hype African Warrior, 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:30.720 keep kicking this smooth. 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:33.840 I'm sorry listening. I'm sorry to. 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:40.000 African Warrior keeping it smooth. I'm sorry, good night. 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:44.720 But it predated the South bronx Bridge beef, so you 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:45.360 know what I mean. 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:48.120 But that was kind of Brooklyn. Yo. Did you take 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:49.480 the train from fall rockaway there? 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:52.760 I just took the second street I would take. 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:55.120 The Age was the Latin Quarter. 0:14:55.320 --> 0:15:01.080 The the was before the Latin Quarter was New York's 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:05.480 regional then, Like, was this the first Manhattan? 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:11.800 Remember to me? Like I was so for me? 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:17.240 Eighty three was lynn Brook Hot Skates, Empire, Roller Rink, 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:21.400 United States of America and Queens like the only place 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:24.640 to really hear hip hop was split between hip hop 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:26.160 and dance music and the Five. 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:28.000 Boroughs Roxy and dance. 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:34.040 But they were real strict about young boys going in there, 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.800 like they were real like you it was it was 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:37.480 tough to get. 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:38.440 In there when you were young. 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:39.200 And dance Tarrian. 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:42.360 Yeah, you were getting your hip hop from the roller 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:47.000 Rins without questions, questions, skates, skate. 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:51.560 My first show at USA, I got boot what yeah, I. 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:54.520 Think I got my first show at Empire Roller Rink. 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:57.480 I got booted because I had a trash record called 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:04.200 Melissa that was trash. But I could dance really good, 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:08.080 so that would save me. But that record was trash 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:09.880 because you got to remember, I went to high school 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:12.400 with Dan to Dana slick Rick, so I thought if 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:14.760 I came out with a British accent, I would be fly. 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:18.080 Oh my god, and it was terrible. 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:21.960 So I performed at Celebrity Tuesday because you got some 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:25.000 towour playing the record, and I went there and I 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:28.080 got on stage and people are looking at me like 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:28.720 I'm alien. 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:30.200 So I started dancing and they were. 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:32.120 Like, oh, white boy, go white boy. 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:35.160 So I was like, oh, okay, like this I'm saved. 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:37.360 Like I figured it out, like I could be whack, 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:41.080 but I could dance. And then Vanilla Ice came and 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.920 just you know, took that whole steak. But I decided 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:47.080 to kind of grow and have lyrics and you know, 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:50.920 become something better than just a dancing I. 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:56.200 See wait, you said you got how so well, I'll 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:56.960 never forget it. 0:16:56.960 --> 0:16:59.040 It was again with Miss the Magic. 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:05.880 Joe Sla was performing and I wasn't even supposed to perform, 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:09.199 and something happened technically with Magic just threw me on 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:11.680 the mic and no DJ knew what was going on 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:13.840 or nothing, and I had to kick an a cappella 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:16.320 and they weren't really friendly with a cappella's back then 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:20.560 because it was dances. So you know, about eight bars in, 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:23.399 I think I'm kicking some hard rhyns. This is again 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:25.520 before I heard Kine and I threw all like seven 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:26.360 rhyme books away. 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:28.240 Yep, So my rhyme. 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:31.280 Was mad basic and like I said, I mean, I 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:33.320 just wasn't good and I was nervous as hell. Again 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:35.800 I'm like fourteen years old. I don't know no better. 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:38.920 But it didn't deter me, you know what I mean. 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:42.480 But it was weird because when he mentioned USA, it 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:44.960 was like one of the read like in queens everybody 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:48.119 came through USA. But growing up in Queensbridge, the Recenter 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:51.080 was almost like a celebrity spot, so you had mad 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:54.200 people come through. I remember being ten watching Grand Master, 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:57.040 I mean Graham Wizard did or cut with handcuffs on, 0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:00.560 and I'm like ten years old, like with my sepkin On, 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:01.639 just amazed at it. 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:04.800 So I've seen a lot of stuff. But my brother. 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:08.560 My grandmother lived across the street from Harlem World and 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:11.679 forced the projects and my brother would come home. The 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:13.600 thing about New York back then is it wasn't as 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:16.119 regional as you thought. There was somebody from any borough 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:19.119 at any show. It didn't matter how far away it was. 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:23.440 Brooklyn was always somewhere. So I would get first hand 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:26.960 copies of like the Fantastic five cro Crush Battle. So 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:30.800 I would say, like even before Latin Quarters, like Halem 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:33.359 World was the spot, like you had to be nice 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:35.800 to perform at Hall. I wanted to perform at Halem 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:38.200 World when I didn't even write rhymes. I just was 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:40.159 rhyming off the top of the head non stop, and 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:42.840 I was like, Halem World's the spot until I wound 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:45.919 up at Latin Quarters scared to death, or Union Square 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:48.840 because I was always by myself, magic with I'd get 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:51.000 in this car with him and then he'd break out. 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:52.359 Just leave it. 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:57.480 Union Square was my first spot outside of Brooklyn, really, 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:00.400 my first hip hop spot outside of Brooklyn can matter 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:04.199 of fact, Yeah, yeah, Rock Kim, I used to just 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:04.920 go to Empire. 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:06.720 I ain't going nowhere. I was a kid. I walked 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:09.719 the Empire and walked back home. Okay. 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:13.040 Yeah, so we just was in the hood, local local spots, 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:16.800 little parties in the hood and stuff like that, block parties. 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:21.000 But yeah, Rock Kim was at Union Square. My brother 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:24.640 won tickets on the radio. Yeah we went, Yeah, we went, 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:27.440 and you know, we never stopped going. 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:30.560 We was like, oh so even after youngest in charge 0:19:30.600 --> 0:19:33.040 came out and legal don't I don't know what the 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:37.760 last official year of Latin Quarter was, but nineteen eighty eight, damn. Okay, 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:39.120 so yep, that was it. 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:43.359 And it's it's really a very sad story because it's 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:46.640 I don't think I've ever told this story, but don't cry. 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:52.760 Yeah nah, So me Fat Raoul, who was the original DJ. 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:56.080 We came in there on a Thursday night just kind 0:19:56.080 --> 0:19:59.440 of was me Chris Light he may rest and peace, 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:00.080 big diar. 0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:05.199 Read and we just strolled up in there on a 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:05.880 Thursday night. 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:11.800 And in fact, Raoul was DJINGHM and we were going 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:13.399 to turn it into a hip hop night. We were 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:16.400 just like, Yo're like, let Red get on the turntables. 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:22.600 It wasn't a hip hop nightdays. 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:24.040 This particular Thursday was not a hip hop night. 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:28.800 And what gay cabaret night? And was doing it? 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:31.800 You just decided no, no, no, you don't understand like we 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:35.520 we were just we were just rolling around the City's no, 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:38.920 I need to verify, like be clear. 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:44.840 Like I'm like like Twitter right now verified. 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:47.720 You ain't had to tell this story, you know, no, 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:51.040 I think it's important, like we on we on, you know, 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:52.280 we on Quest Love Supreme. 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:56.560 We need to get supreme. So so I spised out 0:20:56.680 --> 0:20:58.880 like I was. I think, you know, I've been smoking 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:01.119 or whatever. And I spised and I told all the 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:04.040 people that wasn't bee boys to get out, and I 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:07.199 said something real derogatory about gay people. And I was like, 0:21:07.400 --> 0:21:10.120 if you ain't a bee boy, you need to get out. 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:14.680 And Big Daryl he just got charged and he went 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:19.280 downstairs and there was this cock diesel dude with his 0:21:19.400 --> 0:21:21.639 man and we went up to him and this dude 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:27.440 knocked Darryl out, laid him out flat, and Baby Chris 0:21:27.480 --> 0:21:30.600 grabbed me put me in Mike Goldberg's office and he 0:21:30.640 --> 0:21:35.280