WEBVTT - DJ Premier Talks Gang Starr History, Early Collabs With Biggie, Jay-Z, 50 Cent + More 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:05.000 Wait that ass up in the morning Breakfast Club Morning, 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:09.160 everybody is DJ Envy Angela Yee, Charlomagne the guy. We 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:11.240 are the Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:16.080 the building, DJ Premire, what's up? What's up? Thanks back, 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:19.560 thanks for having me back again. Of course the third time. 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:22.160 Third time. You got a new project hip Hop fifty Yeah, 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:25.960 tell us about it. It's Mass Appeal the label um. 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:29.640 Obviously you know Peter Bennenbender, Nah's business partners, and they 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:34.519 approached me about this ten producer EP where the fir 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:37.519 the one through nine are producers that they chose to 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:42.720 do an EP that contains five songs, and uh, the 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:46.440 ninth one is going to be voted by the fans, 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:48.120 so they all get to say, this is what we 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:50.320 want to do the tenth one. The tenth one's gonna 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:53.040 land on the on the fiftieth anniversary of hip hop, 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:57.280 which is August eleventh, nineteen seventy three, is the official birthday. 0:00:57.360 --> 0:00:59.000 So when the tenth one drops, it to be on 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:01.440 the fiftieth birthday. So we don't know who that's gonna be, 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:03.240 since I guess he'll probably wait till they get closer 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:05.640 to the end. To let the fans choose, so like 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:08.520 every two to three months sort of, it'll be another 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:12.600 one released. I think Swiss is next. It only makes sense, 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:15.000 you nays, you know, for you to kick things off. 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:17.119 I was like, yo, we get to pick who we want. 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:20.800 So I was like, no, you gotta give me. I 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:23.399 know you're part of the company, but you gotta give 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:25.480 me at least one and I'll figure out the other four. 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:27.400 You got like an all star cast for these five 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:30.119 songs too, because you kicked it off a Joey badass yeah, 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:33.680 which I love. He's from Brooklyn man Bob Mon. And 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:36.280 then of course you put Remy Mind Rapteddy together, which 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.039 was a great matchup. Yeah. And then I even I 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:41.759 love this song with Slick Rick and Little Wayne too. Yeah. Yeah, 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:45.880 that was a last minute thing. But the dope part 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:48.000 was Wayne had already laid his verse when I told 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:50.240 Rick about it, and you know, Rick, let me hear 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:53.480 the verse. See what he said. You know, he talks 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:56.920 just like the way like the Children's Story record, And 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:59.040 I was like, he sounds he heard. He's like, oh yeah, 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:00.480 he said, do you want to hook or do you 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:02.120 want a verse? Or do you want to verse? In 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:04.040 a hook. I was like, I want both, and he'said, 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:08.440 all right, So those are the five songs he didn't 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:10.880 maybe in like two or three days. Really. Yeah, yeah, 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:13.240 you know it's interesting to me because I feel like 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:15.760 you have such a long history. Also in this game, 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:18.240 you're from Houston, but then you moved to me wear 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:20.760 a Prairie View. A lot a lot of times it's 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:23.640 it's left out, even though born and fifth Ward and 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:26.000 lived there and moved and we moved to My father 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:29.360 was a biology teacher at Prairie View and that's how 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:31.880 we ended up moving there because he wanted to be 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:33.760 closer to the to the college, which is only like 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:36.320 a forty minute drive, so he built a house in 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:39.000 that town. And that's how my family moved from fifth 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:41.679 Ward to PV. And I went to college there too, 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:44.399 didn't graduate. And then you moved to New York. Yes, 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:46.959 Now why did you move to New York? My grandfather 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:51.040 lived in Brooklyn, Uh, and my mom my mom my 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:55.239 mother which is his father, uh, but just her father. Um, 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:59.000 it's from Baltimore. Okay. So every summer, my you know, 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:00.680 you know, after schools that are we're going to New 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:02.760 York for the summer, and you know, his kids were like, yay, 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:05.720 we're going to New York. So we'd always Then my 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:08.440 father's from South Carolina, she's from Baltimore, so we always 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:11.480 stopped in South Carolina and something to see my family there, 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:15.240 which is the Martin family. Then we go to North 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:18.560 Carolina to see our on Mangel. Then we go we 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:22.040 go to and that's driving. Then we go to Baltimore 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:24.720 see my grandmother and my aunt and my cousin. Then 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:27.360 New York is the finale. So we always stay with 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:30.119 my grandfather, grandfather Bill, who's tattered on my arm because 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:31.840 he was a major part of me wanting to be 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:35.400 in the music business. And uh he was in bands 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:36.800 and stuff. He used to brag and show me his 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:39.520 photo albums of all the places he's been, and I 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:41.960 was just really into that, and I was really into 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:46.000 video I guess you can't really call him video games. 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:48.760 In my age and some fifty six, I was a 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:53.640 pinball expert. You know what I'm saying. You don't call 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:55.960 that video game? What do you call what do you 0:03:56.120 --> 0:04:01.440 I don't know, okay, okay, okay, arcade games? So I 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:04.040 was always battling people in pinball. So whenever I'd go 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:07.200 to stay with my grandfather. And this is right before 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:09.400 I was like maybe eleven to twelve. Because as I 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:12.440 got older and like turned thirteen fourteen, my sisters and 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:14.360 them didn't want to go anymore. They're like, we want 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:17.000 to have someone with our friends and weren't gonna keep going. 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:19.360 In New York Me I wanted to go because he 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:21.520 was in the baseball. We would go to baseball games. 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:23.680 That's how I got into the Yankees. Even I'm a 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:27.000 die hardassro stand for life, I'm Houston everything for life 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:31.840 on that. But when it came to my grandfather, we 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:35.120 would always go to Playland in Times Square and I 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:37.840 would He would give me mad Roles quarters and I 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.760 would just battle people in pinball, say I'll play you, 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:43.440 I'll play you, and I just love the whole action 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:46.719 of the city. And being that he went to I 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:48.640 was in Tokyo. I was here, and he's showing all 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:50.000 these pictures. I was like, man, I want to do 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:52.240 that one day. One day he takes me to play 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:56.320 land and uh, we see some b boys breaking and stuff. 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:58.960 You know, they put the guitar case open to put 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:02.320 money in. You put your quarters and yeah, well just 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:04.440 seeing all you know, I didn't know what breakdancing was, 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:06.520 and just seeing all that and they playing the hip 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:08.080 hop and they got the big bone box, and I 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:11.400 was like, this is different because growing up in my era, 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:14.839 we liked our parents music. You know, now, as you know, 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:17.280 my son is eleven, he's not really into the music. 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:20.600 I'm meanto because the generation is different. Before us, we 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:23.280 were into Gladys Night and you know, Curtis may feel 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:26.160 very white, you know, the Temptations. We weren't like, oh, 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:29.040 that's your old folks music. We all grew liking our 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:33.760 parents music until Prince comes out and you know, the 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:37.000 Confunction and you know, cameo and we started to kind 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:39.039 of My mom was like that's y'r alls music, and 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:42.159 we separate. But when I saw them doing all that 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:44.960 breakdancing in Times Square, I was like, I want to 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:48.279 move here. And then as it building, hip hop started 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:50.719 to grow and records started coming out. I was like, man, 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:53.320 that's me. I could just totally identify, and I was like, 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:54.719 this is what I want to do. Did you listen 0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:57.640 to disco too? Since did your parents listen to that? Yeah? Yeah, 0:05:57.680 --> 0:05:59.640 that was even that. I mean you as a DJ 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:03.159 the twelve and single. I mean, to get it Rabbits 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:05.760 Delight or anything like that, you had to only buy twelves. 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:08.600 There weren't no cassette singles yet. There was no CDs. 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:11.800 You would even even have a turntable. You bought record 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:14.359 in the record say I owned Rabbits Delight, you know, 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:16.400 but we we had turntable. It wasn't twelve hundred, but 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:23.600 we had. We always I've always had a turn I 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:25.320 used to put my headphones in and just listen to 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:28.160 records on the turntable all day. Yeah. So so even 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:30.960 with that um, as it grew, I was like, man, 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:33.640 I'm gonna move it. So an eighty seven I started 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:35.600 to make my move, and I was still checking my 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.920 shame with my grandfather. Then he passed. Once he passed, 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:41.680 I moved in with one of my classmates parents, who 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:44.080 went to prayvew with us. They were from Brooklyn, and 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:46.279 that's how I ended up in East New York, really 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:50.080 deep in the hood and hanging around all these wild guys, 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:51.839 and then you kind of started to blend in and 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:54.919 become part of them. Someone were just wild and crazy. 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:57.960 I would I love the action being from a smaller 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:00.880 town and then you know, I ran the streets, did 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.040 all the crazy stuff, but not to the degree of 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:05.760 where it would get back to my father. The dad 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:08.240 I was doing doing stuff. It was like a gumbo 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:11.200 of music. You had, yeah, taste from Houston and South 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:15.680 Carolina and North Carolina and Maryland and heavy metal. I 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:18.000 remember seeing somewhere that you used to listen to heavy metal. 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.480 She'll do still do. Love love rock, I love jazz. 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:25.320 And my mother's art teachers, so she uh, she taught 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:28.239 all of us art. And because of that, that's another 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:30.680 reason why I was into vinyl, because she had so 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:33.000 many different types of records. And then me and her 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:35.880 would go record shopping and we went to concerts together, 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:38.560 you know, so anything that had to go to concerts, 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:41.280 my mother and I would always go. We go see 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:44.920 it was Rufus at the time, featuring Shaka Khan. We 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:47.880 our whole family would see Ygantina Turner, and I was 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:51.200 that's amazing. I got lost. You know how you in 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:53.280 your seats, but if you're going there's always an aisle 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:56.720 that separate teach row yep, I'm dancing doing my thing. 0:07:57.160 --> 0:07:59.440 I kind of moved to the left and you know 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:01.880 they're not. They're not looking at watching the show. And 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:04.720 as I drift out of the ale that takes the 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:06.320 stairs all the way down to the bottom row of 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:08.960 that section, I ended up in the wrong one. So 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:12.560 now I'm looking like you cried. Yeah, I remember the 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:14.800 first of my mom. I lost my mom and tss boy, 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:16.960 did I cried? Yeah, you got me. I used to 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:18.880 get lost all the time, but like on purpose, and 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.280 I never was upset about it. And then my parents 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:24.440 would be going crazy looking for me. I show up 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:29.680 with a cop bringing me irresponsible. Casey, your son is here. 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:33.720 We have That's what happened to Hey. The crazy thing is, 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:36.080 you know, the ushers like where you don't know? And 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:39.760 I'm like, nah, okay, and they tell they have to 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:43.000 go make an announcement to Tina, so they stopped the music. 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:50.880 A little boy on stage. Yes, they found me and 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:54.720 my mother's boy, boy, you hit it when you get home. 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:58.719 My mother was a disciplinarian. My father was the extra disciplinarian, 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:01.520 but my mom was the one that taught me how 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:03.960 to throw my hands up if I got to fight everything, 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:07.160 So go get your shoes, we gotta fight yea. Yeah, 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:10.080 So so I learned early, you know, to be a 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:12.360 stand up guy because because my mom. And on top 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:14.360 of that, don't you move out of that out no more? 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:18.960 When you at a concert, have you seen that challenge 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:21.840 going around with the challenge with the parents and killing 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:26.680 their kids, Go get your shoes. A lot of people 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:30.560 saying it's disrespectful, right, yeah, but I'll be honest, that's 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:32.439 what I teach my kids. I teach my kids if 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:34.880 mom and dad or your brothers, sister have a problem, 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:37.600 you put your shoes on and you gotta help your family. Yeah. 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:39.880 So it's like I tested one of my kids the 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:42.400 other day and you know, he was like, all, I 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:44.360 put my shoes, Like we got a problem, Dad, let's go. 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:47.120 But that's what my dad taught me. It's timatazing for 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:49.319 the kids who started crying, and then they posted on 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:54.400 social media forever. I literally just saw it, just flashing 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:57.840 the TV and TMZ was on and they were they 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:00.960 were showing Donielle Rollins asking his son do it. And 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:04.360 even though he walked off and went back and the 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:06.560 like the airport a scene like he walks back in 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:09.160 like I'm not doing it whatever, and then they show 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:11.120 the people on you know, the staff on d TMD 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:13.240 and they were the girl was going, that's wrong, and 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:15.600 she was like, then you shouldn't do that, you know, 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:19.080 with the whole energy of like that's not cool. And 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:23.319 but Donnelle didn't and someone like my pap. So when 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:25.360 he walked off, he thought he was gonna run, but 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:28.000 he stayed there. You know, I'm sure done Elle's teacher, 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:29.800 but that's my dad told me. My dad worked a lot, 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:31.680 and he was. He always told me, if something happens 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:34.120 with your mom, you have her back. You make sure 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:35.679 she's good if I'm not here. And the same thing 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:37.640 with my grandmother. Stayed at my grandmother the whole summer, 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:39.760 and my cousins they were they always thought, if y'all 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:41.640 get beat up, it won't get a black guy. Y'all 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:44.120 all better have a's down now. Sign Austin probably is 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:45.880 going to have to protect him one day soon because 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:50.240 I don't know if y'all seeing downell fight. But but yeah, 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:54.280 let's get back into your story though. So you're in Brooklyn, right, Yeah, 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:56.480 And so the first artist that you produced for was 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:59.640 it for Gangstaff for group Um get Gang Star. As 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:01.880 far as joining the group, I was in a group 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:04.480 called we used to be called m Season Control. It 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:08.319 was my man, Top Ski, Sugar Pop and style E 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.520 Teas Tyler team was was our right. He was our 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:13.680 like flavor, flavor of the group. This is all college 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:16.760 buddies from school. And as it got to the point 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:18.240 where we wanted to see if we could make it 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:19.960 in New York, the only one that could really afford 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:22.080 to go was me and Top because Top happened to 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:24.040 be from Boston, so he would always always go visit 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:26.240 his pops and and and it's the reason why he 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:28.600 was in Houston's because his mother lived in the Most City, 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:31.319 which is anybody text to know that's Missouri City where 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:34.080 we call the Most City. So we would always go 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:36.480 to our house during the summer, or we'd be up 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:38.640 in New York. When I was trying to shop my demo, 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:42.600 I was working at a record store in Houston called 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:45.320 sound Ways. It was the store in the hood that 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:48.640 everybody the pimps would come to the come in there 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:51.280 with the gators and the had cock days, dousing and 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:53.880 just you know, telling with the gold one goal to go, 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:55.880 Hey man, you got that ladder mo. You know they 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:58.760 only say ladder more, they say ladder Mo and and 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:01.280 you had to know the genre music, and you had 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:03.680 to know Zyetico music, which you know is you know, 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:08.200 the Cajun music with the kind of the accordion sound. Definitely, 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:11.200 it's big down there. Look up Zydeco. It's super big. 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:14.240 It's like very New Orleans. Uh, but it Texas is 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:17.640 big and it's very heavy out there. Everybody knows the 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:20.920 words said everything like a like a like a before 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:23.040 I let go from Maze, they know the words that 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:26.160 every Zyetco record. So we grew up with that. The 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:27.800 boss at the at the store said you have to 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:31.160 know all that, including country as well and jazz. So 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:32.800 I had a good knowledge of it because of my 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:37.040 mother's record collection. And as that built, Uh, I was 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:39.040 telling the guy that that got me the job. His 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:41.320 name is Carlos Garza. He's a big part of me 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:45.920 getting there because, uh, hip hop was just going on Billboard. 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:47.720 They were having a you know, finally had a hip 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:52.079 hop chart. He became the Billboard reporter. So he had 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:54.360 me become the twelve inch buyer for all the twelve 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:56.760 inch records that come down, so so that he could 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:59.320 do occupy that and they're checking. Hate was popping into 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:01.719 in Houston. Oh this record, this record, this record, and 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:04.120 a lot of independent hip hop were called to get 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:07.960 on that chart by having him report from Houston. While 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:09.360 he was doing that, he's like, Yo, man, you gotta 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:11.720 check out this friend of mine. He could dj. He's dope, 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:14.520 and he's coming to New York for the summer. Stup Fine, 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:18.000 who on Wild Pitch Records, which Gangstar was on at 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:22.440 that time, was like, hey, we we want to hear 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:25.360 the demo. I wasn't ready to for him to hear it. 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:27.800 He sent them a copy of it and I was like, 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.839 why you do that, it's not ready in And they 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:33.760 heard and they liked it, but they didn't want them. 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:35.480 They only wanted me. And I was like, well, I'm 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:37.320 not gonna go with out mind my group because I 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.199 was even not even contemplating being in the group. But 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:44.000 I DJed all the parties at school, so everybody was like, Yo, 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:46.079 you should do it, you should do it. Finally got 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:48.520 my courage up to say all right, we get we 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:51.559 get to New York. He's like, I don't like your MC, 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:53.880 but I'll put you in a real studio and let's 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:55.600 see if you can do a better demo that and 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:57.719 maybe I like him and we could we're interested in 0:13:57.800 --> 0:13:59.959 sign of You. We put the put us in the studio. 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:04.199 Yo still didn't like it. Top was like, Yo, man, 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:06.319 if things don't work out in the next couple of months, 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:08.839 I'm gonna join the military. And Tops a while, dude, 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:11.440 I'm like, you ain't joining the military. That's not even 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:14.839 your style. You two street for that, and He's like, yeah, 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:17.680 I'm gonna do it. One day, when it was a 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:22.040 weekend and we're all living in my man Gordon Franklin's parents' house, 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:24.800 he made us get jobs. Everything. He said, you can't 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:26.800 stay in there all trendy, so you know, you have 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:30.400 to have a job. You can't him, you know. So, 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:32.520 and only we could, we couldn't come into like at 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:34.720 the five, so you know, we get get home at 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:38.560 night from having to stay there, and I mean we 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:40.120 get home at night, and then we got to stay 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:42.400 out until he gets back from work, so we have 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:45.120 nowhere to go. So I was like, I can't keep 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:49.520 doing this. That one Saturday when we're chilling, the doorbell 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:53.160 rings and the recruiting officers in the yutfit goes, hey, 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:55.600 how are you doing. We're looking for Theodore Campbell and 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:58.080 I was like, for what he goes on today is 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:01.360 to day he's joined in the navy and I'm like, 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:04.440 no way, and I'm like yelling down the basement, yo Top, 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:07.040 no time. And he comes up the stairs like, yo, man, 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:10.840 I told you, you know we nobody, they're not interested 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:14.080 in us. I'm gone and I'm like, how long are 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:16.640 you going for? He said four years? Wow. I'm like, oh, 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:19.760 I'm not waiting. If he said a year, was gonna wait? 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:22.040 He said four years. I'm like, dude, he said, I 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:24.360 do your thing. I'm riding with you. He's he's my 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:26.120 boy to this very day. We talk all the time, 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:30.440 bug out and next thing you know, he's gone. I 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:32.520 called back to the students, said, yo, Top, just when 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:35.320 they just the recruiting officers just took him. He's like, 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:37.320 so when you joined Gangstar And I was like yeah. 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:39.520 And that's how it became the DJ. Me and Gurgle 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:41.040 started just talking on the phone because I had to 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:42.920 go back to school to get get another semester in. 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:45.960 I made him beat to words. I manifest and said 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:47.960 I think this would be dope for you to rhyme over. 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:50.640 He called me back and say, yo, I just wrote 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:52.280 a round check it out. And he's like, I, professor, 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:54.320 I don't jest for the words I'm I was like whoa, 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:56.560 because they were already gangs. I was already out, and 0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:58.160 I was a fan of some of their twelve in 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:01.480 singles when forty five King was producing them, and then 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:04.720 from there, you know, and then I was a fan 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:07.200 of Latti, who was on Wild Pitch as well, who 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:10.720 is Apachee's brother, and Lati was one of the first 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:12.920 and Chill Rob g so all of that, and that 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:15.320 was all forty five King, Flavor You and this stuff. 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:18.440 Guru was the only outsider that was on that label 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:21.280 at the time, and I was like, man, this could work. 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:25.080 We recorded the record, Stu calls me back and it's like, yo, 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:28.360 it's popping on radio. Everybody's playing it. He said, but 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:30.920 your version on the album is a little too slow. 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:33.960 We need to make a more amped maybe speed it up. 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:37.480 I flew back there right before Thanksgiving, recorded the record 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.440 and did the extended one, which everybody knows from the video. 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:42.720 He said, we're doing a video back then You're like, 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:45.440 gonna get a video, and we shot the video and 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:47.680 then it just really took off. How is the money 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:49.320 for you back then? And deals that you signed with 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:53.000 this zero broke, you know. And after we made a 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:56.760 name for ourselves, then a guru used to listen to 0:16:56.800 --> 0:16:59.880 all the demos. So he would go to the Stu's house. 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.240 It was a husband and wife label and he'd have 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:05.320 the shoe box of tapes. And when he heard my demo, 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:08.480 the second demo he found was law Ferness and Lawd 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:10.880 Ferness a demo. He's like, Yo, I'm trying to talk 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:13.960 Stuart sign this guy, Lawd Fernst. Tell me what you think. 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:16.600 I just found law Fess a demo that that we 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:19.080 that he's played me and I found I got my 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:21.560 demo back from Stuart gave me my demo back, So 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:23.960 I'm digitizing all that stuff so I can tell a 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:26.879 story later on. But we listened to law Fernest and 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:29.159 he's students to it was like should we sign him? Like, yes, 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:31.919 sign him. So law Ferness was the first artist I 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:35.440 had produced outside of Gang Star and he became my 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:38.800 label mate. And law Ferness brought Diamond D. He's like, 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:41.280 I gotta have my homies from my block. He brought 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:44.040 Diamond he brought show Biz and he brought Fat Joe 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:47.280 ag He brought all of them around, So that's how 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:50.119 I met met them. This is eight eighty nine, and 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:52.600 you were supposed to produce Fat Joe's project or the 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:55.720 Terror Squad project. What was it that No, he signed up. 0:17:56.600 --> 0:17:59.679 He signed me to Terot Squad and we were supposed 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:01.320 to do a project kind of it's kind of like 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:03.359 what I did with this, like a compilation album, like 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:07.000 the way Kalett does albums these features and uh um. 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:11.480 But then when show, I mean when Fat Joe left. Um, 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:14.080 I had it in my contract that if he leaves, 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:15.920 I can leave, because they wanted it to where even 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:18.400 if Joe leaves and go somewhere else, we still gotta 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:21.000 keep you at the label. And I wanted to freedom 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:23.840 to bounce if Joe bounce. So the first single I 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:27.640 was gonna drop was a fifty cent record. Wow. And 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:29.680 this is when everybody wouldn't really mess up with Fifth 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:31.399 to the fullest, because you know he was having too 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:33.919 much drama from after doing How To Rob and me 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:37.040 and Fifth hit it off right right away and clicked. 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:38.920 When I got on the phone with him, he said 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:41.720 they'll do the record, and right when it's about the 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:44.920 time to do the record. Boom, we get a call 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:47.760 Fifth can't do it, and then I'm like why not. 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:50.160 They'd like he's about to sign the eminem and Doctor 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:53.399