WEBVTT - QLS Classic: Kwamé (Part 1) 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:03.800 Of Course, Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. This 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:10.760 classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora Ladies 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:13.320 and Gentlemen. This is part one of two. 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:16.159 Part QLs classic with the Man We All Know and 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:19.080 Love Kwame. One of those. 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:23.520 Bugged out illicit stories in classic hip hop. Every story 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:25.640 Kwame tells, I mean, he goes through it all man 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:29.040 has to be heard to be believed without further ado. 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:36.120 This is part one Kwame's interview on QLs from October third, 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:37.400 twenty eighteen. 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:58.120 Enjoy Supremo, Supremo, Ro Supremo, Supremo, Ro Suprema Supremo, Ro 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:02.720 Supremo Supremo. Roll call. 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:09.360 Yeah yeah, kitchen, Yeah, it was cool. 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:17.679 Supremo roll So Supremo. 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:18.440 Roll Call. 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:22.399 My name is Fante. Yeah, Joe texts I got you. Yeah, 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:31.679 my only question? Yeah, where's Tasha? Roll roll call Bremo. 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:37.560 Roll Call. My name is Sugar. Yeah, I'm a sweet thing. 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:45.679 Yeah like Hawaiian Punch, Yeah, kool aid or Tang Supremo, 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:52.560 roll So Son Supremo, roll call Unpaid Bill. Yeah, and 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:53.560 we've gone too far. 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:54.320 Yeah. 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:57.160 When quest love eats dinner, Yeah at an oatmeal. 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:02.360 But come Supremo roll call. 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:08.480 That was all talking about rolls. My name yeah and 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:09.480 the mic is mine. 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:10.200 Yeah. 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:15.480 I've been a fan of Kwame. Yeah since eighty nine. 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:22.240 Supremo roll call, s agreement something Supremo roll. 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:27.400 I'm like em yeah Kwame, Yeah, thank God for him. 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:30.240 Yeah, talking about some day roll. 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:38.280 So Supremo roll Supremo son s Supremo roll. 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:42.120 No, my name is Kuame, y'all see me while Yeah, 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:45.760 Quest put me on this spot with this free style. 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:55.560 Roll Supremo Supremo roll call, Supremo Supremo roll call, Suprema 0:02:55.840 --> 0:03:00.000 So Sun Subpremo roll called Suprema. 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:06.760 So sure, okay, So Bill just out at me. Yeah, 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:12.880 I was eating oatmeal for your choices. Man, that's great. Yeah, 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:19.000 that's fantastic. I saw eat oatmeal and I ordered a 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:23.920 chicken a grilled chicken salad. Wait a minute, we're healthy. 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:27.560 Yeah yeah yeah I can. I can eat now, you 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:31.320 know what I mean? He just puts clothes, told me 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:32.680 your tooth still hurting? 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:39.400 No? No, no, no, no not now. Yeah. Weeks ago when 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:45.800 I was absent, my bambacay kicked. Then I'm good. We 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:48.320 were having the all important cream of weed versus steel 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:51.840 cut oatmeal question. Wondering what exactly the steel cut referred to. 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:53.760 I just don't like the marketing steel cut like. There's 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.240 nothing tasty or advertising about. 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.880 It's not try to market steal cut like free range. 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:01.320 You know what I'm saying. 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:05.280 Fifty for some not for nothing. 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:07.280 There's a frozen version of still cut oatmell. You can 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:08.920 get it a trader jails. It's really good. You just 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:11.920 mirk away for two minutes. It was that trader Joe. 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:13.440 You go, you can't get it an MP. 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:23.120 Still something, yes, man, they call Audas in the East Coast, 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:24.320 the A M p ouds. 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:28.280 These is the place. 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:35.720 Town you got associated, you know, yeah, the only place 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:38.440 where we could talk about super market and markets before 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:41.120 we even introduced our guests. Ladies to tell me this 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:45.440 is another episode of course Love Supreme Quest Love, Say 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:45.760 what's up? 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:51.039 Team Supreme Solid okay uh. 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:57.400 Today we have a favorite, a personal favorite of mine. 0:04:58.720 --> 0:04:59.680 He don't get bailed. 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:02.680 But bigger than everybody, yeah, you know, and on the 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:04.080 low for all of. 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:10.359 The no, but for for all the props that I 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.039 give to Daylight transforming my life. 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:15.320 If you really. 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:22.120 Inspect a lot of photos of me between eighty nine 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:27.679 and I will say that our guests had a big 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:35.480 hen and life and fashion choices. Yeah, I proudly rock that. Actually, Yeah, 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:39.000 Teka and I. At one point the the U when 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:43.719 we were Black to the Future, we went to hats 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:45.440 and the bell for you to buy those hats with 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:48.000 the hind with a propeller on it. 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:49.240 Because Kwame rocked it. 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:56.800 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome the legendary yo yo yeah kwalm course, yes, 0:05:56.920 --> 0:05:58.039 the man we all know love. 0:05:59.040 --> 0:05:59.440 What's up? 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:01.640 Brood Man? How are you? Thank you for having me? 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.719 Man? Thank you for doing this. You know this, this, 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:08.279 this is this is honor for all of us. Thank you. Yeah. 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:12.719 So where'd you grow up? Where did you grow up? 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:16.039 I grew up in now is that my? How you're doing? 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:19.680 Where'd you grow up? Let's go back to the beginning. 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:21.200 Let's go back to the beginning. Where are you from? 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:23.000 I don't know where you're from. 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:27.400 I am from East Elmhurst slash Corona, Queens, New York. 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:31.640 So you started out as in New York? Yes, okay, okay, 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:32.720 you were born. 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:36.680 Born in Queens. My whole family is in Queens. When 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:39.919 I got my deal, I was in Queens and in 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:40.840 height Seeing. 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:43.200 And Philly a lot because it was and. 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:48.520 They liked me, so I would be here a lot. 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:52.360 No, seriously, at one point I was just like, maybe 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:53.640 he's from Yayden. 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:55.240 No, you know what it is. 0:06:56.839 --> 0:06:59.320 My manager Dave, who's here, he's from Yayden. And Tap 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:02.600 Money who's also from yad and he wanted to say 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:04.800 he's from West Philly, but he's lived in Yden more 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:10.560 than West Philly. But anyway, Tat, Tat Money, I forgot right. 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:11.640 You saw the video and I was. 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:15.520 Like, is that yeah, so Tat was. I met Tat. 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:19.000 I met Tat, Steady B and Cool C before I 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:22.280 came out. I was tagging along with Kidd and Play 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:25.240 and Herbie love Bug and they had a show in Richmond, 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:29.040 Virginia with Steady and the show got snowed out so 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:31.520 we were stuck in this We couldn't even get to 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:34.480 the hotel, were stuck in the venue overnight, and we 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:37.440 all just got cool and Tat was real cool, and 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:39.200 I was like, hey, man, you know I got this, 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:42.120 And I pulled out the poster board of the mock 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:44.640 up of my first album cover. Yeah, you know, about 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:45.960 to be coming out. Hopefully I can get to do 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:48.640 shows with you. Guys and everything and steady and cool. 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:51.680 See they were all right, but Tat was more personable, 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:53.800 and then we just hung out. We wrapped all just 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:57.440 pretty much all night. And then when my original DJ 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:01.480 B flat wasn't able to rock with a anymore, our 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:04.160 first person I called was Tack, So that became my 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:08.160 Philly connection. And then I got went, started hanging out 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:11.920 and Philly with Tack, got very cool with Eest chuck 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:14.640 nice what he would and we all just was a 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:17.960 little click. They were all yep. 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:18.440 Leading to doom. 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:20.040 They were all coming to my house. They would stay 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:21.920 weeks at my house. I would stay weeks to their house. 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:23.560 My mother wud be like, okay, one of your friends 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:25.880 going back to Philly because we were like sixteen, seventeen, 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:28.200 eighteen years old. So that was that's y'all. 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:31.040 Were you You guys were like our native tongues. 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:31.840 Yeah yeah, yeah. 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:32.719 So when you came and co. 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:36.240 Signed Philly me, that's the first time I felt like, Okay, 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:39.560 Philly can be cool. Because again, I mean, you're you're 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:41.880 not saying what you really want to say about cool 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:42.600 and steady, but. 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:46.640 No, they were just they were post drug dealer cool, 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:48.080 like you know, no. 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:49.920 No, you know what it is, it's nothing. It's nothing 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:53.880 to say good or bad about them. But they just 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:56.719 weren't the kind of guys that I was. You know 0:08:56.760 --> 0:08:59.400 what I'm saying. You know, we're not from we didn't 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:02.320 have the same way, so it wasn't I would never 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:04.640 be hanging I would never hang out with them where 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:07.480 Tat is cut from that same cloth. So you know, 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:11.319 I would definitely hang with Tat and and you. 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:13.400 Know, so that's how that's pretty explains why I saw 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:15.800 you and Philly a lot. Yeah, okay, I just thought 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:16.760 you have property and. 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:20.240 I should have had Robberty if I was smart. 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:25.800 Now I get it, not Philly. So in Queens, what 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:27.880 was your what was your experiences of music? 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:32.760 See my neighborhood. You know, you know everybody likes to 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:34.880 really big up their neighborhoods, But for me, I think 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:37.640 my neighborhood is a very special place in Queens and 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:39.839 anybody can look it up. So if you go the 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:44.160 history of East Elmhurst Corona, it's right next to LaGuardia Airport, 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:47.120 so literally you can, like my grandmother's house, my house, 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:52.640 I can walk to the airport and within that neighborhood post, 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:57.960 I mean pre rap. You had el Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte, 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:04.040 Louis arm Strong. Uh, James Brown was in St. Albans, 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:07.960 but but he wasn't. He wasn't in that. I'm sorry. 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:13.280 I want to say Dinah Washington and a lot of 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:18.080 a lot of influential blacks moved to this area of Queens. 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:20.080 But then when you get into the hip hop era, 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:26.480 you had kidd and play Herbie Lovebug, Eric b Cool, 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:32.480 g Rap, Myself, Salt and Pepper. We were all within 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:39.040 a three to five block radius. Nokay, No, it's closer 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:42.400 to the city. So we're like fifteen minutes the most 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:47.160 into New York City. So we're Northern Queens. Jamaica's Southern Queens. 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:49.760 So how is on the lawn like? 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:58.280 It's it's I would say the equivalent of Winfield maybe 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:03.719 Winfield's slash, you know West Philly area. Yeah, but it's 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:06.080 not Overbrook Farms. You know what I'm saying. It's not that, 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:10.040 but it's pretty cool. And then you have some see 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:13.400 East Elmhurst is more of the homes with front yards 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:17.600 and backyards. I lived in a row home, so most 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:21.640 like the Philly homes. My grandmother would have a house 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:23.800 with a front and backyard. But then you have Corona, 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:27.440 and that side is Northern Boulevard. You cross Northern Boulevard. 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:31.120 Corona's a little bit more grittier than East Elmhurst. So 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:34.240 I lived in between both neighborhoods, you know, my whole 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:39.559 childhood pretty much. And so from there, my parents got 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:43.760 a divorced I was fourteen. A couple of years later, 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:47.080 my father got remarried and moved to Inglewood, New Jersey. 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.880 So now I'm in Inglewood, New Jersey. And in Inglewood, 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:55.240 New Jersey, my best friend was Redhead Kingpin, and so 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:57.599 I had all of those Queen's guys next to me. 0:11:57.640 --> 0:11:59.920 And then my best friend that I first, first kid 0:11:59.920 --> 0:12:02.880 I meet when I moved to Inglewood is Redhead. And 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:07.680 then you have Big bubb from today and Redhead introduce. 0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:09.400 He said, Yo, this lady's gonna give me a deal 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:11.320 and you should come too, all right, who we go 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:21.800 to Sylvia Robinson's house. So Sylvia Robinson offered me a 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:26.240 deal at fifteen. So and it was so funny because 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:29.160 at the same time I'm saving up money, I'm you know, 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:33.120 I'm making demos. I'm trying to impress Herbie and he 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:34.439 runs around with my demo. 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:34.960 Sylvia. 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:38.720 Here's the demo and the deals coming at the same time. 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:45.760 But the difference between Atlantic Records, Sony Columbia then Sylvia. 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:48.080 Sylvia's was like a one page note. 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:55.000 And so, you know, just to you know, just to 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:57.520 give a quick recap, those are like the different people 0:12:57.600 --> 0:12:59.320 I feel like, mister Rogers, those are the people in 0:12:59.320 --> 0:12:59.880 my neighborhood. 0:12:59.880 --> 0:13:03.480 Those so before the rabbit Hole nerd him right now, 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:06.480 we're hanging on everywhere. So were you signed before Redhead 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:07.760 or did he sign his deal? 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:11.720 For Red Redhead and a group called New Style later 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:15.240 known as Naughty by Nature, they decided to sign and 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:18.520 they she wanted to change sugar Hill Records to Bone 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:21.280 of Me and I was like, I don't even know 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:22.480 that even sounds hip hop. 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:25.120 You know, she owned Bone of Me Records. Yes, I 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:25.880 remember that label. 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:30.000 Yes, So she was boning me and New Style came 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:34.480 out on Bone of Me. Red got out of it 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:37.480 because he was underage and he lied about his age 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:41.959 and he was sixteen as well, and he got out 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:47.360 of it. I never signed then. We was we weren't 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:48.920 good kids, you know, I'll be honest. 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:49.079 With you. 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:51.800 I'm not even an lie of you. We weren't. We 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:54.320 were good kids, but we didn't always do good things. 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:56.280 So we got in trouble, all of us. Like at 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:58.359 the same time we were running around. 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:02.080 In the street. Yes, we got, we got. It was 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:03.640 like stupid, like stupidity. 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:06.680 It's something I would never even talk about in detail. 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:09.040 But it was me, Read and a couple other guys 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:13.080 and we did something stupid. And at that point my 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:17.160 father was like, some of the guys actually got into 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:20.520 real trouble. Some of us didn't get thank god, didn't 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:24.480 get into any major anything. But the thing was, you're 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:27.000 moving out of Jersey. This is the wrong environment for you. 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:31.920 Mind you, this was a very nice neighborhood. It wasn't 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:36.320 anything grimy in the stretch. It was just board kids 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:41.440 doing stupid stuff. Yeah, so he moved. I moved back 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:46.160 to Queens. So now I'm in Southside Jamaica, Queens with 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:49.960 my mother. And then in that neighborhood you have a 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:52.600 different type of element. The block was cool, but then 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:58.040 you had like you had you know, real killer drug 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:01.640 dealers and you know, these type of people that were. 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:04.280 That everybody was safer for you to be in that 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:06.400 in Queens than it was to be an English. 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:10.840 Well here's the other side. He decided to move to 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:14.360 I have a farm in Virginia. He moved on to 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:17.840 the farm. So when he moved on to the farm 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:22.240 in Virginia, I was there was no way I was 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:24.240 gonna move on a farm. I just got a record deal. 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:26.240 There's no way I'm living on a farm. 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:26.880 Said well you can. 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:29.480 You can wrap from the farm and you just come 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:29.920 to New York. 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:31.560 When I was like, there's no. 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:34.680 Way I'm doing that. So I ended up backing Queens 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:37.920 with my mother. And like I said, that close area 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:41.480 where my mother was was cool, but the surrounding, like 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:44.000 everybody that like fifty cent raps about and all this 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:46.440 kind of stuff. Those were people that came to my 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:49.960 house that I knew like they were actually that part 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:53.600 of Queen. So so it was a whole nother environment 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:55.200 living there. 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:59.960 And so, okay, Queen. There's such a folk glory about Queen. 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:05.800 When so you're saying that there's multiple sections of Queens, 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:10.600 like the tripod quest Queens versus the Rundiom Sea Queens versus. 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:13.520 So I lived in the Quist. So my part of 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:18.040 Queens was q Tip, Sweet Tea. We all lived in 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:23.080 the same little section. Tip was a little bit further out. 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:26.800 Tea was in between me and where Queue Tip was. 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:33.120 So that section is south Jamaica, right where Rundium cll 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:36.240 cool j Ja Rule. They're in Hollis. They're on the 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:38.680 south side of jama but they're not the furthest south 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:41.560 part of Jamaica. And if anybody needs to understand Queens, 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:43.480 look at a map, look at Long Island. At the 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:47.120 end of Long Island is Brooklyn and Queens. They're literally together. 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:51.680 It's one thing. But then you have Northern Queens. So 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:54.800 for example, you have parts of Queens and Northern Queens, 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:59.280 say Flushing Queens. If I take any of you guys 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:01.840 the Flushing Queen, knock you out and drop you in 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:04.600 the street, you would think you were in Hong Kong. 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:07.480 Hong Kong. If you've ever been to Hong Kong, you 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:13.520 would literally it's the same thing, the exact same airport. 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:15.920 Sometimes yeah, but go in. 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:19.359 And when I was a kid, it was white, it 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:24.560 was Italian and black. So flash forward, say thirty years, 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:29.520 it's all one section Korean, one section Chinese, and then 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:32.679 a small section Japanese. All the street signs are in 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:38.080 Asian all the stores. It's one thousand percent. So that's 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:43.280 that's Flushing Queens. But then you go further toward Brooklyn 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:46.520 and you say you're in Richmond Hill. Richmond Hill is 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:50.520 it was when I was a kid, predominantly all Irish. 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:54.480 Now it's all South American, so it's Peruvian and stuff 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:58.159 like so. And when I was my neighborhood, Corona, it 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:04.120 was all black. Now it's probably thirty percent black, mostly 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:07.680 South and Central American, you know. 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:10.000 So it's Queen. 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:13.160 Yeah, beet nuts are from Corona as well. So Queens 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:17.120 is such a diverse area. And then there's a part 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:19.640 of Queens that most Queens people don't even know about 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:24.520 called Malba. Malba is if you know, the White Stone 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:27.040 Bridge is right under the white Stone Bridge. If I 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:28.879 take you to Malbury, you would think you were in 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:36.280 bel Air or or Beverly Hill, somewhere off the water. 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:40.840 For neighbor seas you're driving, the cops will be there 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:43.439 in one point four seconds. If you are off of 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:49.360 a darker shade. To me, specifically, there's no dark shaded 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:53.680 people in that area. And that's by whites. That's that's 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:55.359 next to the white Stone Bridge, and then you have 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:59.240 other real diverse areas like Bayside and you know the 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:03.080 city left Rack is left Rack is one neighborhood from 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:07.520 mine that goes into mass Beth and mass Beth is 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:11.600 another very diverse area. This it's it's crazy if I 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:15.960 take you on a Queen's Toys because everybody that's a. 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:20.320 Queen's Bridge, right, queens Bridge, Yeah, you know queens Bridge. Okay, 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:23.920 where there's not and that's its Manhattan, right. 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:27.439 Yeah, Queen's Bridges. You can walk to Manhattan from from 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:29.320 queens Bridge. You can walk over the bridge. It'll take 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:32.280 you five minutes and you're on fifty sixth Street and 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:34.439 First Avenue. So you know, what were you? 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:35.280 So? 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:39.320 How did hip hop reach you at a young age? 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:43.560 Because I'm almost certain that other boroughs were like another 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:46.520 world to you, or another city of hip. 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:49.680 Hop reached me. In nineteen seventy nine, I can remember 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:53.280 exactly what I was doing where I was at. I 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:56.760 was playing with Star Wars men on the floor with 0:19:56.880 --> 0:19:59.399 my best friend's name is Dak Carr, and me and 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:01.840 Dak called blaming Star Wars and Rappers. The light came 0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:05.399 on the radio and from that point. Literally from that 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:09.560 point begged my mother to buy the record. My you know, 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:12.879 I'm six years old. I see the recognition of you know, 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:15.359 sugar Hill the label. So anytime I go to a 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:19.040 record store, anything that said sugar Hill was bought. And 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:22.840 that's from six years old. Anything affiliated with sugar Hill, 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:25.879 which was Enjoy Records was bought period. 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:26.159 It was. 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:28.400 I didn't have to hear it. I didn't know it. 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:31.800 My favorite record to this day is Freedom Series five 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:36.720 and eighth Wonder, the second and the third record I've 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:40.760 ever bought, still have the exact records. So hip hop, 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:45.919 but I never understood that hip hop was an actual 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:50.040 It's weird, you know. It became a culture. It became 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:52.520 what I was doing, what all the kids were doing. 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:54.959 We were all breaking, we were all doing graffiti, we 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:58.480 were all you know, everybody wanted two turntables, you know, 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:04.000 everybody wanted the whole elemental aspect of hip hop. And 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:07.000 then there was a guy on my grandmother's block, rest 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:10.520 in Peace's name was Messiah, and Messiah was partners with 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:13.600 Red Alert. So I used to beat box as a 0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:15.919 little kid. So I would go to Messiah's house and 0:21:15.920 --> 0:21:20.000 Messiah would put me on the phone with like uh 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:22.399 Africa Islam or people like that. 0:21:22.520 --> 0:21:24.320 Look at this little kid beatbox. 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:27.720 I had no I have no clue what it was. 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:32.400 But it was just all immersing, you know what I'm saying, 0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:35.880 and and and you know, running around the neighborhoods looking 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:42.720 for uh uh refrigerator boxes to break on, you know, 0:21:43.359 --> 0:21:46.600 tying or tying our jeans up with shoelaces and and 0:21:46.640 --> 0:21:51.120 putting on uh union Jack Katson and getting our our 0:21:51.359 --> 0:21:52.880 you know, the the what do you call those things? 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:58.120 The press on letters on our sweatshirts and spiked spiked, very. 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:00.840 Fable, even way before you have a record budget to 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:01.600 even start. 0:22:01.720 --> 0:22:02.320 Oh no, I was. 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:04.880 I was all into the gear everything, you know, getting 0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:08.160 your name belt, that was like that was one hundred 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:12.680 percent life for us in the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth grade. 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:14.080 You know, that's that's what we did. 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:15.840 So can I ask what your parents did because you 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:17.560 mentioned your dad went to a farm and that just 0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:18.720 really threw me for a second. 0:22:18.880 --> 0:22:23.080 Well, my father, my father, you know, my father recently 0:22:23.080 --> 0:22:26.560 passed not even a month ago. So so my father 0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:33.720 was a very incredible person. My father, he worked for 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:37.359 the light company Conditisent, but My father was like the 0:22:37.640 --> 0:22:43.280 weirdest hustler type dude ever, and we didn't understand it 0:22:43.400 --> 0:22:46.320 as kids. Just to give you a quick view of 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:49.840 my pops. Pops used to push a seventy eight VW 0:22:50.160 --> 0:22:53.680 red and white van. It had no heat. 0:22:54.240 --> 0:22:55.639 Yeah wait here, I can see this. 0:22:56.240 --> 0:22:59.000 And no air conditioning. So in the middle of the winter, 0:23:00.119 --> 0:23:05.400 he would line the van with quilts and and plastic 0:23:06.440 --> 0:23:10.440 and put a kerosene heater in the middle in the 0:23:10.560 --> 0:23:16.080 middle of the van and would tell us, y'all hold 0:23:16.119 --> 0:23:18.480 on to that so it don't tip over and around. 0:23:21.240 --> 0:23:23.040 So and these are things that my father would do. 0:23:23.119 --> 0:23:25.480 But there's a reason that I didn't know at the time. 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:27.159 So you know, it's gonna be a funny story that 0:23:27.200 --> 0:23:28.480 turns into a tragic story. 0:23:28.720 --> 0:23:31.200 So so it's one of those stories. 0:23:31.240 --> 0:23:35.440 So we would come home and it would be no 0:23:35.720 --> 0:23:39.880 phone service. So my father would climb up the phone pole, 0:23:41.320 --> 0:23:46.040