WEBVTT - E-40 0:00:00.420 --> 0:00:10.549 Questlove Show is a production of iHeartRadio. Hey, what's up? 0:00:10.610 --> 0:00:13.890 It's Questlove. And this week, we're continuing our conversation series 0:00:14.330 --> 0:00:17.329 with artists who've charted their own path and redefined music 0:00:17.450 --> 0:00:20.480 along the way. And we've teamed up with Levi's on 0:00:20.500 --> 0:00:24.300 their Behind Every Original campaign to highlight the creatives who 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.120 didn't have a blueprint for what came next, so they 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:30.230 had to make their own. Levi's has been the uniform 0:00:30.430 --> 0:00:34.470 of originals for over 150 years. The people who don't 0:00:34.630 --> 0:00:37.610 just accept the status quo, but reshape it through how 0:00:37.650 --> 0:00:41.110 they live, create, and show up. And that spirit feels 0:00:41.190 --> 0:00:46.970 especially relevant to today's conversation. Weird enough, Levi's is kind 0:00:46.990 --> 0:00:51.630 of what connected Tariq and I together. Because the first 0:00:52.020 --> 0:00:57.580 moment we met, he marveled at my jacket. He never 0:00:57.780 --> 0:01:04.200 met someone whose parents allowed their kid to ruin their 0:01:04.980 --> 0:01:07.179 good clothes. Like, you know, you got school clothes and 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:09.400 your play clothes. And the fact that I had like 0:01:10.580 --> 0:01:12.560 paint on the back of my jacket, like, you know, 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.759 Jackson Pollock and wore a peace sign and whatever. Like 0:01:15.940 --> 0:01:19.950 I was a hippie. And he's like, yo, your mom 0:01:19.970 --> 0:01:21.730 lets you do this to your jacket. And then he 0:01:21.750 --> 0:01:24.650 borrowed that jacket for like four months. So kind of. 0:01:25.290 --> 0:01:29.010 Having this jacket on is probably a weird connection that 0:01:29.110 --> 0:01:33.209 I have to, like, two friends in high school not 0:01:33.310 --> 0:01:36.869 knowing they're about to embark in a, you know, almost 0:01:36.970 --> 0:01:41.920 a 40-plus year mission. So, yeah, man. Shout out to 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:44.780 Levi's for that. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we have 0:01:44.860 --> 0:01:48.960 a real tycoon in the building. He's coming straight out 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:53.060 of V-Town where there's a street, even a day named 0:01:53.260 --> 0:01:57.150 after him. He is the Ye area's own. He was 0:01:57.210 --> 0:02:00.810 pushing units out the trunk with his click back when 0:02:00.870 --> 0:02:05.970 getting access to the majors was nearly impossible. He was 0:02:06.070 --> 0:02:10.190 sick with it from day one, stacked a Skrilla, built 0:02:10.230 --> 0:02:14.720 his own label. Simply put, this legend is the architect. 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:18.980 And he came with the blueprint and the slang which 0:02:19.060 --> 0:02:23.920 mang with more than 30 plus albums under his belt. 0:02:24.590 --> 0:02:30.020 E-40 just released his most ambitious project yet. It's called 0:02:30.100 --> 0:02:35.200 Turning My Money Over, and it's a 40-song quadruple album. 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:39.040 And once you listen, you know right away that he 0:02:39.060 --> 0:02:41.820 has not lost his step, ladies and gentlemen. And he's 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:45.780 joining us live right now in California while I am 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:49.340 here in New York City. Brother E, this is a 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:53.000 long time coming. I appreciate you granting me this audience. 0:02:53.020 --> 0:02:53.500 How are you doing? 0:02:54.350 --> 0:02:55.030 I'm doing good. 0:02:55.050 --> 0:02:57.540 I appreciate you, buddy. That was a great intro. 0:02:58.260 --> 0:03:01.619 Look, man, it's nothing but respect. Always been a fan 0:03:01.660 --> 0:03:03.400 of yours, man. Always been a fan. Thank you. 0:03:03.419 --> 0:03:04.239 Vice versa, folks. 0:03:04.540 --> 0:03:07.260 Thank you. Trust me. I want to know what your 0:03:07.380 --> 0:03:11.270 first musical memory was, but really what I want to 0:03:11.290 --> 0:03:17.500 know is what did Vallejo sound like coming out the 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:21.989 car windows? What was the soundtrack like? of your block 0:03:22.070 --> 0:03:25.370 as a kid before, you know, the Crest developed you? 0:03:26.169 --> 0:03:28.250 I lived in the Crest when I was very young. 0:03:29.010 --> 0:03:30.390 I moved out when I was eight. I went to 0:03:30.430 --> 0:03:33.450 Country Club Crest Child Care Center. I went to Loma Vista. 0:03:33.470 --> 0:03:36.730 Then I went to Elsa Wiedemann, and I played baseball, 0:03:37.270 --> 0:03:39.770 Little League. The field was named after my granddad. It's 0:03:39.810 --> 0:03:42.410 called Thurman's Field, and that's in College Park. Then my 0:03:42.450 --> 0:03:44.870 mom and dad divorced, and then I ended up being 0:03:45.630 --> 0:03:47.280 on a whole other side of town I had no 0:03:47.350 --> 0:03:49.000 idea about, and it was called the Hillside. 0:03:49.510 --> 0:03:49.730 Okay. 0:03:49.750 --> 0:03:51.390 That's how much of a soil baby I was. I 0:03:51.390 --> 0:03:52.790 didn't even know it was a whole other side of 0:03:52.830 --> 0:03:53.930 town called the hillside. 0:03:53.990 --> 0:03:54.620 You know what I mean? 0:03:55.250 --> 0:03:57.280 So I go to the hillside and, you know, there 0:03:57.300 --> 0:03:59.540 was a whole different atmosphere. What I mean by that, 0:03:59.580 --> 0:04:01.840 it was the urban community. It was the trenches, but 0:04:02.020 --> 0:04:06.720 it had like goats and chickens in the backyard. You know, 0:04:06.750 --> 0:04:09.610 that's why we call ourselves the hillbillies. We call ourselves 0:04:09.630 --> 0:04:10.510 Beverly Hillbillies. 0:04:10.550 --> 0:04:11.250 You know what I'm saying? 0:04:11.270 --> 0:04:13.910 Because it's really called Beverly Hills and some of the 0:04:13.930 --> 0:04:17.550 streets are named after in the real Beverly Hills in LA. 0:04:17.610 --> 0:04:18.369 You know what I'm saying? 0:04:18.610 --> 0:04:18.810 Really? 0:04:18.830 --> 0:04:19.909 But it's nothing like that. 0:04:19.970 --> 0:04:20.789 Yeah. Okay. 0:04:21.170 --> 0:04:23.290 That's why I say my life was nothing like Bel Air. 0:04:24.010 --> 0:04:26.530 High speed shootouts and things, but I loved it there. 0:04:26.850 --> 0:04:30.770 You feel me? But anyway, yeah. So the music coming 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:33.300 out the cars, out the windows and everything. I mean, 0:04:33.339 --> 0:04:35.740 it was just, Vallejo was Vallejo. It was a small city, 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:37.740 you know, at that time, probably 11 exits. I don't 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:40.260 know how many you got now because they're constantly building 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:42.919 and it's getting bigger and more population. You know what 0:04:42.940 --> 0:04:45.089 I'm saying? So, But it was very small. 0:04:45.410 --> 0:04:48.349 Yeah. You know something? I always wanted to ask you this. 0:04:48.470 --> 0:04:51.010 I think I mentioned this to you when we were 0:04:51.050 --> 0:04:55.529 touring with LL. But, you know, I had just directed 0:04:56.010 --> 0:05:01.440 the Sly and the Family Stone documentary. Oh, you directed that? Yeah. 0:05:01.750 --> 0:05:04.820 That was me. Dope. There's a stunning moment that I 0:05:04.900 --> 0:05:10.280 couldn't include in the doc. And, you know, we pretty 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:14.420 much had to gather worldwide footage of of every aspect 0:05:14.460 --> 0:05:15.850 of Sly's life, you know? 0:05:16.770 --> 0:05:17.250 And there's a. 0:05:17.290 --> 0:05:23.610 Moment where this cat from Europe decides to just ambush 0:05:23.890 --> 0:05:28.250 and kind of literally walk through the Bay Area looking 0:05:28.310 --> 0:05:35.300 for Sly Stone. And one of the most amazing five-minute 0:05:36.060 --> 0:05:39.760 sequences I've ever seen is he's just walking the streets 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:42.950 of Vallejo and then suddenly he pans to the left 0:05:43.529 --> 0:05:48.229 and says, hey, there's some teenagers over there. Because he's 0:05:48.310 --> 0:05:52.670 even amazed that some people might or might not remember 0:05:52.710 --> 0:05:57.130 Sly Stone. And so it's almost like him on National Geographic, 0:05:57.170 --> 0:05:59.570 but he's in the hood. And he has an accent 0:05:59.650 --> 0:06:03.400 that of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. He's like, oh, 0:06:03.700 --> 0:06:05.940 there's some high schools over there. Let me ask them 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:09.460 what they know about Sly Stone. And yo, he rolls 0:06:09.660 --> 0:06:15.780 up on the click. You guys back in, I believe, 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:18.850 this might have been 1989. Right. 0:06:18.870 --> 0:06:22.410 Sounds like it. 0:06:22.410 --> 0:06:25.170 1990, maybe. There was cars driving by, and I think 0:06:25.210 --> 0:06:28.650 I heard a Tony, Tony, Tony song. So it's almost 0:06:28.890 --> 0:06:32.119 telling me it might have been 1990. But he literally, 0:06:32.180 --> 0:06:35.800 you guys just talked to him for like five minutes. 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:38.909 And you more or less talk about- you know, what 0:06:38.930 --> 0:06:40.930 you're from. Cause he's like, Oh, you guys are into music. 0:06:41.650 --> 0:06:44.089 Do you remember anything about this moment of just some. 0:06:44.190 --> 0:06:47.339 It sounds very, very familiar. And it's a trip because 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.540 Vallejo is an interesting spot. You know, you got Sly, 0:06:51.080 --> 0:06:52.960 you know, Sly and the Family Stone. You got, you 0:06:52.980 --> 0:06:55.240 got the Confunction that came out of there. I think 0:06:55.360 --> 0:07:01.100 Andre Hawkins, uh, recorded, uh, Oh, Happy Days in Downtown Vallejo. Uh, 0:07:01.180 --> 0:07:03.109 you know, you got, um, some of the first, the 0:07:03.140 --> 0:07:05.830 first rappers that coming out of Vallejo was the Lover Twins. 0:07:05.870 --> 0:07:08.430 They from, um, day from the bridge side over there 0:07:08.470 --> 0:07:12.240 off of springs road uh you know kairi uh kairi 0:07:12.250 --> 0:07:14.440 from young black brothers he had that was his first 0:07:14.660 --> 0:07:16.660 uh uh group that he put out and he would 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:19.700 they was the first ones with actual record you know 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:22.160 um so you know you had jay king which is 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:25.000 uh the guy who called out um you know club 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:28.960 nouveau and social club yeah yeah and choice what they 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:31.420 call new choice Yeah. You know what I mean? He 0:07:31.570 --> 0:07:34.300 stayed for Millersville, you know, but he moved to Sacramento. 0:07:34.340 --> 0:07:37.700 So sometime he claimed Sac, sometime, but he claimed Vallejo too, 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:39.720 because we all know he from the V, his whole family. 0:07:40.260 --> 0:07:40.480 Okay. 0:07:40.500 --> 0:07:42.660 But it's all love and respect. And he was before 0:07:42.740 --> 0:07:45.380 us and I salute them all, man. And, you know, 0:07:45.420 --> 0:07:47.180 here come me, you know what I'm saying? Me and 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:50.840 the Click, you know, here come Mac Dre, here come, 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:53.780 you know, just so many other rappers after us, you know, 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:59.400 N2Deep and Baby Bash and Oh, man, Telly Sale. Oh, man, 0:07:59.420 --> 0:08:00.580 we can go on Mack Mall. 0:08:00.940 --> 0:08:01.240 Okay. 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:03.600 Oh, man, there's so many people in the V. So 0:08:03.620 --> 0:08:05.500 much talent in that small little city. I can go 0:08:05.540 --> 0:08:06.300 on and on forever. 0:08:06.700 --> 0:08:10.640 Did you have history with any of those acts, like, 0:08:10.860 --> 0:08:14.560 pre-record deal at all, like high school? Yeah, yeah. 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:17.510 So, In Too Deep, it's a trip. Of course, me 0:08:17.530 --> 0:08:20.650 and Telly Sale. We played ball together. Our parents knew 0:08:20.690 --> 0:08:23.300 each other and still know each other. And, uh, we 0:08:23.330 --> 0:08:26.320 from the hillside. I'm from magazine street. He from magazine 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:28.980 street in Hollywood. You know what I mean? Right there 0:08:29.140 --> 0:08:29.940 in the same neighborhood. 0:08:29.980 --> 0:08:30.280 Yeah. 0:08:30.380 --> 0:08:33.300 We grew up together. Selly sale became a gold selling artist. 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:33.739 Yeah. 0:08:33.980 --> 0:08:36.280 Uh, got the big record is going down tonight. You 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:39.300 know what I'm saying? And, uh, and then, um, you know, 0:08:39.340 --> 0:08:41.640 of course, you know, be legit to click all of us. 0:08:41.660 --> 0:08:45.570 We all family. You, we from magazine street, baby bash, uh, 0:08:46.170 --> 0:08:49.210 He produced the first song I did with Spice One. 0:08:49.250 --> 0:08:50.850 I just did some talking. I was glad to be 0:08:50.910 --> 0:08:53.050 on that album because Spice was already signed to Jive. 0:08:53.350 --> 0:08:53.570 Right. 0:08:53.750 --> 0:08:57.110 And then In Too Deep, Jim Trujillo, you understand me, 0:08:57.150 --> 0:09:00.210 and Tim, they both embraced me, got me on there. 0:09:00.230 --> 0:09:03.170 They were signed to Profile Records, and I'm still independent 0:09:03.870 --> 0:09:06.189 at that time, and they were signed to Profile Records. Man, 0:09:06.210 --> 0:09:09.590 I had an opportunity to have breakfast with them with 0:09:10.190 --> 0:09:13.770 Run DMC. Yeah, with Run DMC. Yeah, because they was 0:09:13.830 --> 0:09:15.989 all on Profile Records, and Right, okay. We ate it 0:09:16.030 --> 0:09:16.910 off of Highway 29. 0:09:16.910 --> 0:09:17.750 Yeah. 0:09:17.890 --> 0:09:20.170 Yeah, but anyway, moving forward, so, you know, they gave 0:09:20.190 --> 0:09:23.080 me my first record. My first gold record was by 0:09:23.220 --> 0:09:25.340 N2D because I was on a song called V-Town. 0:09:25.550 --> 0:09:31.620 Okay. Yeah. Okay. Look, your voice is an instrument all 0:09:31.700 --> 0:09:35.300 on its own. Like, the intonation, the pitch, the bounce 0:09:35.340 --> 0:09:38.420 of it all, the way you stretch your words out. So, 0:09:38.940 --> 0:09:43.319 when you first got on the mic, did you sound 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:47.320 like E-40 or did you... have to find him and 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:52.300 invent this persona. Who were you listening to that shaped 0:09:53.100 --> 0:09:54.500 how you talk on a record? 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:57.500 You might have to pack a lunch for this. Uh, 0:09:57.660 --> 0:10:00.260 first it was New York was heavily, there was a 0:10:00.300 --> 0:10:03.000 big influence on us. Influential. 0:10:03.020 --> 0:10:03.300 Yeah. 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:06.380 Um, first and foremost, you know, the first rap song 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:09.219 I heard was sugar hill gang. And I fell in 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:11.890 love with, you know, some of the artists as earlier, 0:10:11.910 --> 0:10:15.970 like just ice grandma's flash and the furious five, Melly male, um, 0:10:16.190 --> 0:10:21.030 mostly Curtis blow. Also, um, You know, Kengo from UTF-4 0:10:21.050 --> 0:10:23.800 was a big influence. His voice was amazing to me. 0:10:23.820 --> 0:10:24.460 Kengo from UTF-4. 0:10:24.620 --> 0:10:26.520 There you go. Now you hear a little bit of 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:26.960 E-40 in there. 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:27.400 Oh. 0:10:27.420 --> 0:10:27.699 Right. 0:10:30.820 --> 0:10:38.680 Oh. Because he was. Oh, my God. Yo. Yep. Yep. Ice-T. Yep. 0:10:39.870 --> 0:10:43.230 Run DMC. And, you know, locally, you know, Too Short. 0:10:43.330 --> 0:10:45.390 Too Short definitely was a big influence. Some of his 0:10:45.429 --> 0:10:48.360 tapes before even. You know, made it big. He had 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:52.100 tapes circulating. Magic Mike and Calvin T out of Richmond, California. 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:52.679 Yeah. 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:54.179 You know, my cousin and them used to come down 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:57.040 from Richmond, blapping that, and they blew 5.0. You feel me? 0:10:57.059 --> 0:10:58.340 And my folks, you know what I'm saying? 0:10:58.500 --> 0:10:58.780 Yeah. 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:01.060 You know, shout out to Derrick Brown. Shout out to Pops. 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:03.500 You know what I'm saying? My cousin Pops and all 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:05.300 of them up out of Richmond, man. They come through 0:11:05.780 --> 0:11:07.920 blapping that thing, you know what I'm saying, with us 0:11:07.980 --> 0:11:10.620 on Magazine Street. So we just, you know, of course, 0:11:10.820 --> 0:11:13.400 LL Cool J, man, KRS-One. 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:13.920 I did a lot. 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:17.760 I learned my ad-libs from KRS-One. KRS-One used to do 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:20.860 a lot of ad libs. So you're talking to third person. 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:24.510 See, I thought with your interview style, when you answer yourself, 0:11:24.790 --> 0:11:28.110 like when you do your interview thing, I thought, like, 0:11:28.170 --> 0:11:31.230 that's definitely a slick Rick. Like, overdubbing it. 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:32.740 It can be some of that, too, because I listen 0:11:32.780 --> 0:11:33.340 to all of them. 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:33.980 Okay. 0:11:34.020 --> 0:11:37.900 But mostly KRS-One. All right. I was blapping Big Daddy 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:40.840 Kane for show, too. And many, many, you know, shoot. 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:42.699 You know who was my ex-clan? 0:11:43.059 --> 0:11:46.969 Yeah. Oh, Brother J? Yeah, Brother J. Brother J. Yuck. 0:11:47.610 --> 0:11:48.020 Yeah, yeah. 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:48.890 You know what I'm saying? 0:11:49.730 --> 0:11:53.209 Yeah. Brother Jay, what you say? Oh, come on, man. 0:11:53.230 --> 0:11:56.350 Some of the great music, man. You know, Public Enemy, bro. 0:11:56.390 --> 0:12:00.050 We could go on. Man, you know, Tidy T. Tidy 0:12:00.110 --> 0:12:02.860 T out of L.A. Bat around, yeah. Bat around, you 0:12:02.890 --> 0:12:05.900 feel me? Mixed Master Spade. Bobby Jimmy and the Crickets. 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:09.240 That's Russ Parr. Guess who else I used to blab? 0:12:09.500 --> 0:12:09.700 Who? 0:12:10.059 --> 0:12:11.359 You ready for this one? Hit me. 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:12.360 The Symphony. The Symphony. 0:12:12.910 --> 0:12:13.730 The symphony. 0:12:14.030 --> 0:12:17.250 Oh, Big Daddy Kane. Yeah. Cool G Rap. 0:12:17.470 --> 0:12:18.330 Yeah, Cool G Rap. 0:12:18.590 --> 0:12:18.990 Yeah. 0:12:19.090 --> 0:12:22.030 I used to rock with them boys, too. You feel me? Okay. 0:12:22.100 --> 0:12:24.920 I like that, too. So, man, it's a trip because 0:12:24.940 --> 0:12:26.660 I'm older than a lot of them cats, man. You 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:27.000 feel me? 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:28.520 I kick back. I'm like, damn. 0:12:29.059 --> 0:12:31.219 I've been in this game for a long time. Since 0:12:31.220 --> 0:12:34.200 88 was when I first released MVP, Most Valuable Players, 0:12:34.220 --> 0:12:34.760 with the click. 0:12:35.260 --> 0:12:39.200 It shouldn't be a surprise, though, because, like, you know, 0:12:39.380 --> 0:12:45.410 I mean, the Bay Area was always... Like the Bay 0:12:45.530 --> 0:12:50.500 Area and D.C. have absorbed way more music than any 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:53.800 other territory that I've seen in the United States. Like 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:58.699 it's almost like you guys are like this encompassing sponge 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:01.760 of just information. So I tend to notice that in 0:13:01.780 --> 0:13:06.550 the Bay Area, regionalism really isn't a thing like, you know, 0:13:06.570 --> 0:13:10.230 it would be elsewhere where they're just guarded with their territory. 0:13:10.270 --> 0:13:13.840 So I absolutely see... that happening. 0:13:14.020 --> 0:13:16.940 It's like everybody, the debate was making so beautiful as 0:13:16.980 --> 0:13:21.380 we got like people, we got like the hieroglyphics and Dale, 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:25.060 the funky helpers, homo sapien and, and, you know, and, uh, 0:13:25.300 --> 0:13:28.290 souls of mischief. And we got, you know, then you got, 0:13:28.370 --> 0:13:30.329 you got your spice ones of the world's in the 0:13:30.490 --> 0:13:33.030 eight forties and the loonies. And you got, you know, 0:13:33.690 --> 0:13:37.270 underground and it's just so many different, like, you know, you, 0:13:37.410 --> 0:13:39.450 it's just a mixture of everything. I can go on 0:13:39.490 --> 0:13:41.190 and on and on, but I'm just saying growing up, 0:13:41.230 --> 0:13:43.530 that's how it was, you know? So we just won 0:13:43.570 --> 0:13:44.370 big gumbo pot. 0:13:45.270 --> 0:13:48.449 True. All right. So you and Be Legit went to 0:13:48.490 --> 0:13:52.850 Grambling when you guys were really getting serious about your 0:13:52.890 --> 0:13:55.229 participation in hip hop. But I always wanted to know, 0:13:56.530 --> 0:13:59.199 and I guess another person that can answer this is 0:13:59.220 --> 0:14:02.220 also Master P, but in reverse. But what did you 0:14:02.300 --> 0:14:06.640 learn or what did the South teach you that the 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:07.840 Bay Area couldn't? 0:14:09.510 --> 0:14:11.700 The South was, when we came from grandma, we was 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:14.320 the first ones saying, bruh. Because all they used to do, 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:19.620 it's 1987, 88. We went in the fall of 86, 87. 0:14:19.620 --> 0:14:22.220 So when we got back, you know, because of all 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:24.540 the New Orleans cats and all the Baton Rouge, when 0:14:24.580 --> 0:14:26.560 we getting on the elevator, when I'm in Drew Hall, 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:30.200 be legit, it's in Pinchback. One thing is we was 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:32.800 up and down the stairs. So we always on the elevator. 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:35.720 So one thing they used to always say, hold that Vader, bruh. 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:40.580 Hold that Vader, bruh. You feel me? It was bruh. 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:41.520 It was bruh. 0:14:41.540 --> 0:14:45.320 We've been saying that forever, ever. You know what I'm saying? 0:14:45.340 --> 0:14:47.040 I got a lot of stuff like cutting up. That's 0:14:47.060 --> 0:14:51.550 from Louisiana. My grandparents, they came down from Louisiana, from Bernice, Louisiana, 0:14:51.910 --> 0:14:54.530 and Homer, Louisiana, and they had 11 kids. And that's 0:14:54.610 --> 0:14:56.780 one thing they used to say. They say, y'all cut 0:14:56.840 --> 0:14:58.860 up last night when we got in fights and stuff 0:14:58.900 --> 0:15:00.960 like that when we was young. Y'all got to stop 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:02.740 cutting up like that. You know what I'm saying? Like, 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:04.760 that's how I used to go. So, a lot of 0:15:04.780 --> 0:15:06.490 stuff used to come from the South and, you know, 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:08.910 just are, just having that South in my blood. I 0:15:08.930 --> 0:15:11.050 feel like that's why I be feeling like little boozy 0:15:11.070 --> 0:15:13.470 and all them Birdman and Mastapenium because I feel like 0:15:13.730 --> 0:15:15.990 we all, for some reason, and Juvenile and we all, 0:15:16.010 --> 0:15:18.490 for some reason, we feel like we cousins or something 0:15:18.510 --> 0:15:21.370 because I feel them. Even though I'm I'm in Vallejo, 0:15:21.730 --> 0:15:24.410 but I got Southern ways. Like, you know, we come 0:15:24.450 --> 0:15:26.710 from there. My daddy from Mississippi, you feel what I'm saying? 0:15:26.730 --> 0:15:29.000 So it's like, it's crazy. So I learned a lot 0:15:29.030 --> 0:15:30.980 in Grambling, man. It taught me how to be independent. 0:15:31.380 --> 0:15:33.080 What I mean by that is like how to, you know, 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:36.420 be a man. We used to have to stretch $ 20, man. 0:15:36.460 --> 0:15:38.480 We'd make it last for 20 days, you know what 0:15:38.660 --> 0:15:41.900 I'm saying? You know, eggs and bread and some milk, butter, 0:15:42.260 --> 0:15:45.020 you know what I'm saying? Some ground turkey. Everything was 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:46.980 cheap way back then. You put that in your little 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:48.820 refrigerator in the dorm and I had a little skillet. 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:50.540 You know what I'm saying? I make all kind of 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:52.730 little tycoon meals, you understand me? 0:15:52.830 --> 0:15:53.010 Right. 0:15:53.250 --> 0:15:56.150 You know, so I self-taught myself, man, how to do 0:15:56.170 --> 0:15:58.430 a lot of things being independent and grambling. 0:15:58.750 --> 0:16:02.650 Incidentally, what was your major going to be at Grambling? 0:16:03.230 --> 0:16:06.210 So I went for commercial art and cartoon art. we 0:16:06.270 --> 0:16:07.970 used to hang out with the band all the time, 0:16:08.050 --> 0:16:09.970 even though I played band from fourth grade to 12th 0:16:10.010 --> 0:16:12.850 grade when I was living in Vallejo. You feel me? 0:16:13.250 --> 0:16:15.590 So when I went, Be Legit, I think he went 0:16:15.690 --> 0:16:19.120 for electronics. You know what I'm saying? I went because 0:16:19.170 --> 0:16:21.660 of Be Legit. You know, we went one year and 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:24.260 that one year felt like four years of experience because 0:16:24.300 --> 0:16:27.120 we learned so much in a small amount of time. 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:29.680 And we got right back and pursued our career because 0:16:29.700 --> 0:16:31.859 we was doing music before that. We just never was 0:16:32.380 --> 0:16:34.260 like really, we were serious about it, but we didn't 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:35.930 have the opportunity. So as soon as we got back, 0:16:36.210 --> 0:16:40.730 While we was at Grambling, me, B-Legit, my partner, Waller Mandel, 0:16:40.750 --> 0:16:45.290 Dominium III Jr., Ed Williams out of Oakland, and a 0:16:45.330 --> 0:16:47.250 few of my cats from Marin City, they had a 0:16:47.290 --> 0:16:49.850 boom box, you know what I'm saying? Big, tiny, big fun. 0:16:49.890 --> 0:16:52.770 We called him Big Fun. His partner, Jay, had a 0:16:52.810 --> 0:16:57.410 boom box. And so we recorded original concept instrumental. 0:16:57.450 --> 0:16:59.430 He took it and looped it. Yeah, get a little stupid. 0:16:59.590 --> 0:17:01.729 Remember to acknowledge me, oh, man. 0:17:01.750 --> 0:17:03.790 Acknowledge me, oh, Lord, yeah. That one right there. 0:17:04.730 --> 0:17:06.889 Yeah, so we turned that into the, I think it 0:17:06.930 --> 0:17:10.300 was Walla Mandel Dominium III's idea to come with a 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:14.760 song all about the school. Everything that went down on 0:17:14.820 --> 0:17:17.260 campus at Grambling State University. So we called it the 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:21.580 Grambling State University School Alma Mater. And it circulated, back 0:17:21.619 --> 0:17:24.770 then people was dubbing tapes. So it circulated all throughout 0:17:24.810 --> 0:17:27.830 the campus and it got famous. Everybody knew the song. 0:17:28.290 --> 0:17:37.830 It was like Grambling University, Grambling University. Grambling University. Grambling University. 0:17:37.910 --> 0:17:40.909 And my voice was hella just tiny. 0:17:40.980 --> 0:17:42.100 Right. You know what I'm saying? 0:17:42.180 --> 0:17:44.920 It wasn't this developed, but you could tell it was me, right? Uh-huh. 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:48.160 And so then it was a talent show. We entered 0:17:48.180 --> 0:17:50.740 the talent show, bruh, and won the whole thing, bruh. 0:17:50.940 --> 0:17:52.540 We walk out, we famous. 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:53.640 We famous. 0:17:53.660 --> 0:17:56.250 We was already like hella popular on campus because we 0:17:56.270 --> 0:17:57.510 used to, you know, I used to be the flyest. 0:17:57.550 --> 0:17:59.960 I didn't always have this baller belly. I was, you know, 0:18:00.340 --> 0:18:03.070 I'm 18, 17, 18. I'm 18 years old and I'm, 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:03.680 you know what I'm saying? 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:04.379 I'm clean. 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:06.869 I stay fresh. You know what I mean? So anyway, 0:18:06.890 --> 0:18:09.389 to make a long story short, we, uh, Soon as 0:18:09.430 --> 0:18:12.540 we got back on Bay Area soil, we found the studio. 0:18:12.580 --> 0:18:15.760 My brother, Desha, found Studio Tone Studio. I went and 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:19.050 found Pilot Studio, who did all of him and James early. 0:18:19.530 --> 0:18:23.970 Found a studio on Sonoma Boulevard right there where Mr. 0:18:24.070 --> 0:18:26.470 MC Hammer used to. So we would see MC Hammer 0:18:26.490 --> 0:18:29.200 sometime when we were coming out. When we going into 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:31.810 the studio, Hammer coming out. And he, you know, and 0:18:31.850 --> 0:18:34.190 he was legendary right there. Hammer was doing his thing. 0:18:34.210 --> 0:18:36.010 We was just so happy to just see him. And 0:18:36.030 --> 0:18:38.030 he always embraced us. You know, he's a big OG. 0:18:38.050 --> 0:18:39.930 You know what I'm saying? We all, Hammer, one of 0:18:39.950 --> 0:18:41.189 the realest. You know what I'm saying? So it was 0:18:41.210 --> 0:18:43.090 just a beautiful thing, man. So we went in there 0:18:43.109 --> 0:18:45.730 and recorded. We was called MVP. So we recorded four 0:18:45.770 --> 0:18:49.220 songs and knocked it out the way. And then we 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:52.760 changed our name because we felt like we really, you know, 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:54.080 we got hella game, bro. 0:18:54.100 --> 0:18:54.460 And we got. 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:56.540 It just wasn't us. We was trying to like get 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:59.859 radio play and try to take the shortcut instead of 0:18:59.900 --> 0:19:02.560 really being us organically. So I say, check this out, man. 0:19:02.580 --> 0:19:04.200 We're going to be the click. We finna spit nothing 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:08.679 but straight soil, just soil activities, how our life really is, 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:11.469 the whole woo-wop. You feel me? And that's when we 0:19:11.510 --> 0:19:15.090 became the click. First EP was Less Side. So we 0:19:15.150 --> 0:19:17.810 had four songs on there. Yeah, we had those. And 0:19:17.830 --> 0:19:20.990 then we had, then I came with Mr. Flamboyant. 0:19:21.010 --> 0:19:21.850 You know what I'm saying? 0:19:21.869 --> 0:19:25.290 That was the EP. You know, in 1990, we came 0:19:25.310 --> 0:19:27.570 with Down and Dirty. That's what took it over the 0:19:27.609 --> 0:19:30.350 top right there. You know, we was already making. Mr. 0:19:30.390 --> 0:19:33.090 Flamboyant was really doing his thing. Both of them, left side. 0:19:33.130 --> 0:19:34.990 But when we came with Down and Dirty, that album 0:19:35.010 --> 0:19:35.690 was amazing. 0:19:35.950 --> 0:19:39.230 The click. What I want to know is now when 0:19:39.990 --> 0:19:42.810 Too Short was on the show, he explained how his 0:19:42.869 --> 0:19:48.350 mixtapes got him in the game. But from your point 0:19:48.390 --> 0:19:50.959 of view, can you walk me through? Because the one 0:19:50.980 --> 0:19:54.460 thing I always hear about Bay Area is, you know, 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:58.600 you guys sell it out the trunk. Yeah. So what 0:19:58.660 --> 0:20:02.629 is the process on the business side of things of 0:20:02.710 --> 0:20:05.850 how you sell it out the trunk? Like you make 0:20:05.869 --> 0:20:07.969 the tapes, you make the product. Now, how do you 0:20:08.010 --> 0:20:10.080 get it in the record stores? Right. 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:13.480 So that was the problem. Distribution didn't come to us easy. 0:20:13.540 --> 0:20:17.050 So we had to make our own distribution outlets. So 0:20:17.090 --> 0:20:19.550 the way we did it was we would press up 0:20:19.609 --> 0:20:23.030 a certain amount of CDs or cassettes or vinyl. Our 0:20:23.070 --> 0:20:26.710 first EP, MVP, that was all vinyl. We didn't even 0:20:26.750 --> 0:20:28.450 have no cassettes for that. I think we got the 0:20:28.470 --> 0:20:29.379 cassettes hella late. 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:31.200 Later, yeah. 0:20:31.220 --> 0:20:33.820 Yeah, so we would put them on what they call consignment. 0:20:33.859 --> 0:20:36.960 So my Uncle St. Charles, he was a musical genius. 0:20:37.730 --> 0:20:40.810 He had records in the 70s, like 72 and 74. 0:20:40.810 --> 0:20:43.150 So he kind of already knew he's like a jack 0:20:43.170 --> 0:20:45.470 of all trades. One of those uncles you look up 0:20:45.530 --> 0:20:49.949 to this very highly smart and know a lot. And 0:20:50.010 --> 0:20:52.780 so he taught us how to do consignment sheets and 0:20:52.820 --> 0:20:54.940 you go to the store and you, you know, you 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:57.760 drop off. Maybe maybe let's say just let's go vinyl. 0:20:57.780 --> 0:21:00.140 Let's just say vinyl. We go to our trunk, pull 0:21:00.180 --> 0:21:02.949 out a box. They want 10 vinyl or something. You 0:21:02.970 --> 0:21:04.670 know what I'm saying? We got 20 left. So we 0:21:05.190 --> 0:21:08.410 go Eminem. Just say Eminem liquor for just for instance, 0:21:08.590 --> 0:21:11.670 as an example. We get them, you know, 10 vinyl 0:21:12.230 --> 0:21:15.100 or discount liquor right there on the corner of Magazine 0:21:15.140 --> 0:21:18.920 Street and Sonoma. And so we would drop them off. 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:21.859 They sign the consignment sheet, drop it off. So, I mean, OK, 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:23.720 we're going to get this to you for this amount. 0:21:24.400 --> 0:21:26.160 When we come, you call us and let us know 0:21:26.180 --> 0:21:28.040 when you out. They'll call us, let us know when 0:21:28.060 --> 0:21:30.810 they out. And we'll come drop off another 10, 20, 0:21:30.810 --> 0:21:33.189 whatever they want. This time we want 20. Okay, we 0:21:33.230 --> 0:21:35.080 give them 20. And that's how I was going. That 0:21:35.100 --> 0:21:38.320 was how I was circulating in certain stores. A lot 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:40.960 of the mom and pop stores, a lot of places 0:21:40.980 --> 0:21:46.960 that actually... not your traditional places to carry music. Like 0:21:46.980 --> 0:21:49.250 Bills and Wheels, you know, where everybody go to get 0:21:49.270 --> 0:21:51.470 their rims and tires at, their Zeniths and Vogues, their 0:21:51.490 --> 0:21:54.030 Appliance and Vogues, their Trues and Vogues, whatever they're going 0:21:54.050 --> 0:21:56.669 to get. Right. It was a one-stop shop for, you know, 0:21:56.710 --> 0:21:59.750 for slippers, for shoes. You know what I mean? So then, 0:22:00.410 --> 0:22:01.070 you feel what I'm saying? 0:22:01.190 --> 0:22:01.390 Yeah. 0:22:01.410 --> 0:22:03.889 So going to places like that and then hooking up 0:22:03.930 --> 0:22:07.169 with music people, which was a one-stop, Jason Blaine and 0:22:07.210 --> 0:22:12.250 his dad, Elliot Blaine, and we would hook up with them. 0:22:12.270 --> 0:22:14.370 So they was our distributor. It was a small one-stop. 0:22:14.830 --> 0:22:16.669 We hooked up with them, and then we hooked up 0:22:16.690 --> 0:22:19.590 with City Hall Records later. City Hall Records didn't take 0:22:19.650 --> 0:22:22.430 us at first. They thought, and I tell them this 0:22:22.470 --> 0:22:24.050 all the time, we probably made them more money than 0:22:24.130 --> 0:22:27.189 anybody when we was with them because they didn't want 0:22:27.210 --> 0:22:29.930 to take us. They said, they literally told my Uncle St. 0:22:29.970 --> 0:22:33.230 Charles this, seriously. This is something I don't really tell people, 0:22:33.250 --> 0:22:37.270 but I got love for Walter Zellman. I'm just saying it. 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:41.340 He told St. Charles on the phone. He don't know 0:22:41.380 --> 0:22:43.119 we was on the three-way. We was on the three-way. 0:22:43.140 --> 0:22:44.080 This is way back. 0:22:44.119 --> 0:22:46.640 We on the three-way. Okay. 0:22:46.700 --> 0:22:50.080 You know, hey, man, you know, I hate to, I 0:22:50.100 --> 0:22:53.290 got to tell you, man, you know, the one guy 0:22:53.310 --> 0:22:57.010 with the voice, you know, he raps too fast, man. 0:22:57.070 --> 0:22:59.570 And then, you know, he talking about me, right? Yeah, 0:22:59.590 --> 0:23:02.910 I know. And then he said, and the other guy, 0:23:03.390 --> 0:23:05.950 you know, with the deep voice, he sounds like he's reading. 0:23:06.990 --> 0:23:09.290 And I'm like, where'd he get this from? It's somebody that's. 0:23:09.150 --> 0:23:12.540 Working there, something that's on some gold tending, hating. Because, 0:23:12.560 --> 0:23:14.180 you know, come on, man. 0:23:14.720 --> 0:23:15.580 Man, check this out. 0:23:15.600 --> 0:23:18.780 So all that did, I'm telling you, haters don't ever, 0:23:18.840 --> 0:23:20.740 y'all should not even never say nothing. If you want 0:23:20.760 --> 0:23:23.120 me to stop being raw, you shouldn't say nothing. Because 0:23:23.160 --> 0:23:25.760 when somebody hate on me, I become a whole nother 0:23:25.859 --> 0:23:28.960 monster in a great way. I'll kill you with my success. 0:23:29.420 --> 0:23:30.430 I'm telling you right now. 0:23:30.450 --> 0:23:33.830 I have so many Rasheed Wallace questions, but go ahead, continue. 0:23:34.770 --> 0:23:36.610 Okay, I'm going to finish this. So what I'm saying 0:23:36.670 --> 0:23:38.090 is what I want to tell you is this. 0:23:38.190 --> 0:23:39.110 Crazy. 0:23:39.550 --> 0:23:42.429 So look, hey, listen to what I'm saying. So basically, 0:23:42.869 --> 0:23:45.129 what that did, that motivated us. We was like, our 0:23:45.190 --> 0:23:47.450 feelings crushing everything. I'm like, man, we got one foot 0:23:47.490 --> 0:23:49.530 in the soil, and then we got one foot in 0:23:49.550 --> 0:23:51.629 the vocal booth. I'm like, you know what I mean? 0:23:51.670 --> 0:23:52.030 Damn. 0:23:52.510 --> 0:23:55.229 So I'm like, okay, we're going to show them. So 0:23:55.260 --> 0:23:58.159 that's when we, that same, then we came with down, 0:23:58.180 --> 0:24:00.619 we came with left side. When we came with left side, 0:24:00.980 --> 0:24:04.280 he called Uncle Charles, maybe about maybe four months, five 0:24:04.320 --> 0:24:07.300 months after and just, Hey, uh, St. Charles. 0:24:07.660 --> 0:24:10.960 Yeah. Uh, you know, those guys, uh, you know, uh, the, the, 0:24:11.020 --> 0:24:14.180 the click or whatever. Right. And he was like, yeah. 0:24:14.540 --> 0:24:17.879 He said, can I get 5,000 CDs like that? And 0:24:17.940 --> 0:24:21.020 after that and St. Charles, we did a COD, you 0:24:21.060 --> 0:24:22.660 know what I mean? Picked up a check that day. 0:24:22.680 --> 0:24:25.750 So something nice, something chunky, not that day, but you know, we, 0:24:25.910 --> 0:24:27.609 we already had them on deck. So I got you, 0:24:27.750 --> 0:24:30.399 you know? Yeah. So anyway, We did that. After that, 0:24:30.440 --> 0:24:31.800 we just started making hell of bread with them. 0:24:31.880 --> 0:24:32.420 Hell of bread. 0:24:32.440 --> 0:24:35.220 We became cool and everything. I always felt like that 0:24:35.300 --> 0:24:38.679 motivated me to become who I am. Being in a 0:24:38.740 --> 0:24:43.920 meeting with the, what was it called? The pro music DJ, 0:24:43.940 --> 0:24:48.020 the pros DJ organization. It was like a DJ pros 0:24:48.119 --> 0:24:51.420 back in the day. We played our music for them. 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:54.700 The MVP, I think it was the MVP, Most Valuable 0:24:54.720 --> 0:24:58.240 Players EP, a dude by the name of Casper. He 0:24:58.280 --> 0:24:59.360 was playing as our manager. 0:24:59.380 --> 0:25:00.020 Good dude. 0:25:00.500 --> 0:25:02.280 And so he was like, hey, man, what y'all think? 0:25:02.420 --> 0:25:05.290 After we played it, nobody in the room said nothing. 0:25:05.770 --> 0:25:08.490 This is way back in 88, 87, 88. No one 0:25:08.530 --> 0:25:11.230 said nothing. 0:25:11.270 --> 0:25:13.369 They was just looking at it like, oh, these dudes. 0:25:13.869 --> 0:25:17.350 I have not yet seen not one pro music DJ club, 0:25:17.890 --> 0:25:19.890 nobody that was members. And there was about 100 in 0:25:20.030 --> 0:25:21.870 the room. Ain't nobody ever came up to me and say, 0:25:22.190 --> 0:25:24.350 I was in that room because they embarrassed because they 0:25:24.369 --> 0:25:26.030 didn't know that I was going to be the guy 0:25:26.070 --> 0:25:26.610 that I am. 0:25:26.650 --> 0:25:27.609 They didn't know this. Right. 0:25:28.240 --> 0:25:30.340 You feel me? But they crushed me. I had anxiety 0:25:30.359 --> 0:25:32.520 and everything. They had me stressed out. I'm like, a 0:25:32.520 --> 0:25:34.200 lot of people stress me out, but I don't hold 0:25:34.240 --> 0:25:35.879 it against them. I just keep it pushing, man, and 0:25:35.920 --> 0:25:37.119 that's how I became who I am. 0:25:37.310 --> 0:25:42.510 How do you talk yourself out of sabotaging if you 0:25:42.530 --> 0:25:44.689 feel like it's a setback? How do you psych yourself 0:25:44.810 --> 0:25:46.430 up to push through? 0:25:46.630 --> 0:25:47.530 That's what fuels me. 0:25:47.570 --> 0:25:50.709 That's what people don't understand. It fuels me. 0:25:50.730 --> 0:25:55.119 It makes me better. I discipline myself. I'm from the ghetto. 0:25:55.150 --> 0:25:58.070 I'm really from it. You know, not trying to act 0:25:58.109 --> 0:26:00.060 like it's something great. It's just, I was in the, 0:26:00.450 --> 0:26:02.560 he was raised in the ghetto by force, not choice. 0:26:02.980 --> 0:26:03.220 Okay. 0:26:03.260 --> 0:26:04.679 It ain't like I was in the suburb and I'm like, 0:26:04.720 --> 0:26:06.180 I want to go to the ghetto and live there. 0:26:06.240 --> 0:26:08.899 Like, nah, bro. It's like, I was there by force. 0:26:09.380 --> 0:26:14.139 In the clique, you know, it's your family. It's, you know, D-Shot, 0:26:14.560 --> 0:26:19.500 Sugar T, Be Legit. Of the clique, who was the 0:26:19.580 --> 0:26:24.070 hardest critic in the room in terms of like, Whose 0:26:24.090 --> 0:26:27.360 verse gets sent back the most? Who's the coach that 0:26:27.420 --> 0:26:28.720 whips everyone into shape? 0:26:29.340 --> 0:26:30.780 Me, but I'm going to be honest. I didn't really 0:26:30.820 --> 0:26:33.840 have to. Me and my sister, because she was raised 0:26:33.880 --> 0:26:35.070 by three brothers. 0:26:35.440 --> 0:26:35.700 Okay. 0:26:35.869 --> 0:26:38.050 And so she tries to be the boss of me 0:26:38.430 --> 0:26:40.119 and all of us. And they're like, you can't be 0:26:40.140 --> 0:26:42.340 the boss of me or none of us. So we 0:26:42.359 --> 0:26:45.129 would clash because she's thinking I'm goaltending her ideas. And 0:26:45.170 --> 0:26:46.910 I'm like, no, I'm letting you have your freedom, but 0:26:47.109 --> 0:26:49.190 I know what I'm doing. I know what I'm doing. 0:26:49.230 --> 0:26:51.770 So we would clash like that, but we still make 0:26:51.810 --> 0:26:54.050 great music and still, you know, that's my sis. So 0:26:54.109 --> 0:26:55.619 it is what it is. We're going to continue to 0:26:56.060 --> 0:26:57.800 work together and, you know, get through it. But as 0:26:58.020 --> 0:27:01.459 far as being the overseer of everything, D-Shot, he was 0:27:01.480 --> 0:27:03.939 the boss of him. B-Lil the boss of him. And 0:27:03.960 --> 0:27:06.600 we just made great music together. Like, what does working 0:27:06.619 --> 0:27:07.359 with family mean? 0:27:08.430 --> 0:27:11.969 Protect you from at least you know because when you 0:27:11.990 --> 0:27:15.150 start popping and you know i'm taking a reference from 0:27:15.390 --> 0:27:18.850 from crush groove like as soon as you start popping 0:27:18.950 --> 0:27:22.090 i know people are coming out the woodworks like yo 0:27:22.130 --> 0:27:24.790 let's let's do some business together whatever but also on 0:27:24.810 --> 0:27:28.110 the other side of that coin working with family can 0:27:28.170 --> 0:27:31.070 also be risky you know because now you're in business 0:27:31.090 --> 0:27:33.369 together so what what's the pros and what's the cons 0:27:33.410 --> 0:27:33.770 of it all. 0:27:34.650 --> 0:27:38.850 The pros is that you're doing business with family, which 0:27:38.890 --> 0:27:41.310 you would love to do, what everyone really would love 0:27:41.350 --> 0:27:43.570 to do if everything went smooth. 0:27:43.630 --> 0:27:44.230 You know what I mean? 0:27:44.590 --> 0:27:46.630 And I'm talking about, man, I'm being honest with you. 0:27:46.690 --> 0:27:48.330 I'm not trying to be a meat monster, but I 0:27:48.369 --> 0:27:53.250 am responsible for putting probably more relatives on than anybody 0:27:53.270 --> 0:27:54.850 in the history of hip hop. And I'm not just 0:27:54.890 --> 0:27:57.409 talking about my siblings and my cousin. I'm talking about cousins. 0:27:57.890 --> 0:27:59.030 Okay. You know what I mean? 0:27:59.190 --> 0:28:00.650 It's a long list. You got to pack a lunch 0:28:00.670 --> 0:28:03.060 for this one. So I don't even go through all that. 0:28:03.100 --> 0:28:03.580 You feel me? 0:28:03.840 --> 0:28:05.220 But everyone that knows knows. So you put on for 0:28:05.240 --> 0:28:08.790 your family? I really put on for my family. Got you. 0:28:09.070 --> 0:28:10.770 I never seen nobody in hip hop put on for 0:28:10.790 --> 0:28:12.890 their family like they put my family on. I put 0:28:12.950 --> 0:28:14.409 them on like a light switch. 0:28:15.130 --> 0:28:19.170 So for the beginning phase before Jive came along, I 0:28:19.210 --> 0:28:23.790 would assume that like Studio Tone and Mike Mosley did 0:28:23.890 --> 0:28:26.429 a lion's share of the production and the music and 0:28:26.470 --> 0:28:29.560 all that stuff, right? Mm-hmm. What is their beginnings? What's 0:28:29.600 --> 0:28:32.260 their origin? Like, who taught them how to make beats? 0:28:32.940 --> 0:28:37.440 Shoot, studio tone come from it. Mike self-taught himself, man. 0:28:37.500 --> 0:28:39.560 He always had interest in it. But me and Mike, 0:28:40.180 --> 0:28:42.920 we from the trenches. And we used to, you know, 0:28:42.960 --> 0:28:46.990 move around in the traffic together. And we both had 0:28:47.050 --> 0:28:49.110 interest in rap. And we was like, hey, man. So 0:28:49.150 --> 0:28:52.070 we ended up, man, started getting equipment and working together 0:28:52.090 --> 0:28:55.810 and everything. We just became friends. You know, he started playing, 0:28:55.870 --> 0:28:57.790 programming them drums and stuff. Went and got one of 0:28:57.810 --> 0:29:00.310 them Elise drum sets. What's it called? 0:29:00.870 --> 0:29:03.530 Elise, I think. But he got that. Ooh, but he 0:29:03.570 --> 0:29:04.650 got that. It was over. 0:29:04.690 --> 0:29:08.490 But Studio Tone, since a kid, he was just born 0:29:09.150 --> 0:29:11.880 knowing how to play keys and guitar. And he just 0:29:12.280 --> 0:29:14.780 one of the most talented people I ever met besides 0:29:14.820 --> 0:29:17.540 my uncle St. Charles and my dad. You know what 0:29:17.560 --> 0:29:20.700 I mean? My brother D-Shot was always this research king. 0:29:21.320 --> 0:29:24.640 You know, he would he found a spot right down 0:29:24.660 --> 0:29:27.390 the street from our clothing store on Solano Avenue. It 0:29:27.400 --> 0:29:29.770 was called New Fat Clothing. So recently I posted a 0:29:29.810 --> 0:29:32.190 picture with me and my son Droopy in front of 0:29:32.210 --> 0:29:35.670 my 1970 Cutlass across the street from Church's Chicken in Millersville. 0:29:36.210 --> 0:29:38.790 Right there was in front of our clothing store. I 0:29:38.810 --> 0:29:41.400 bought us a clothing store yesterday. understand me? And we 0:29:41.420 --> 0:29:43.120 had Rayon shirts. So a lot of people saying, yeah, 0:29:43.140 --> 0:29:44.380 they got Rayon shirts in there. 0:29:44.420 --> 0:29:44.740 We did. 0:29:44.760 --> 0:29:45.680 We had Rayon shirts. 0:29:45.900 --> 0:29:46.990 Rayon. 0:29:47.010 --> 0:29:50.210 Spray painted shirts. We had Carl Canai. We had Major Damage. 0:29:50.270 --> 0:29:53.510 We had We had all that good stuff back then, 0:29:53.530 --> 0:29:57.030 you know? And so D-Shot was like, hey, man, Studio Tone, 0:29:57.050 --> 0:29:59.750 because Studio Tone was over there by the Empress Theater, 0:29:59.790 --> 0:30:02.110 his location. So he's like, hey, Studio Tone, we got 0:30:02.150 --> 0:30:03.890 a spot for you right down the street, right next 0:30:03.910 --> 0:30:06.820 door to Rich Arts Barbershop. Right there, right on the same, 0:30:06.880 --> 0:30:08.890 right in the same shopping center is our store. So 0:30:08.990 --> 0:30:10.800 I'll go make my little money from the little store. 0:30:11.130 --> 0:30:14.230 From our store, take my little profit, go put $ 50, 0:30:13.930 --> 0:30:17.470 $ 100 down for pre-production. It was $ 10 an hour. I 0:30:17.630 --> 0:30:20.830 pay Studio Tom pre-production. So I booked that. All I 0:30:20.850 --> 0:30:22.880 needed was four hours because while I'm down at New 0:30:22.890 --> 0:30:26.700 Fat Clothing, I'm not only behind the register or whatever, 0:30:27.040 --> 0:30:30.500 I'm writing lyrics. So that's where you crafted them? 0:30:30.880 --> 0:30:31.810 Okay. Yeah. Yeah. 0:30:31.830 --> 0:30:32.750 So, so sometime. 0:30:33.070 --> 0:30:33.310 Yeah. 0:30:33.330 --> 0:30:35.150 So at that time, and I had so much, I'm a, 0:30:35.300 --> 0:30:37.440 I'm a soil dude. So I got a lot to say. So, 0:30:37.960 --> 0:30:39.760 you know, sometime I'll go down and do the tons, 0:30:39.780 --> 0:30:42.320 just book four hours just to make the beats. Let's 0:30:42.340 --> 0:30:44.760 just make beats from scratch. Then I take them beats 0:30:44.860 --> 0:30:46.730 and then write to them, then come back and record 0:30:46.750 --> 0:30:49.370 them over there. But anyway, he was a research King 0:30:49.410 --> 0:30:51.210 because I want to give my brother D shot a lot, 0:30:51.270 --> 0:30:53.070 a lot of love on this one. One thing people 0:30:53.090 --> 0:30:55.610 don't realize is he found this lady by the name 0:30:55.650 --> 0:30:58.600 of Marianne Collins and And it changed the game for 0:30:58.660 --> 0:31:03.910 many independent artists because Mary Ann specialized in getting your videos, 0:31:03.950 --> 0:31:07.350 because we shot videos back then, getting them on the VHS, 0:31:08.110 --> 0:31:11.010 getting a hell of them duplicated and distributing them to 0:31:11.270 --> 0:31:16.590 all the major resources that any mom and pop video shows, say, 0:31:16.630 --> 0:31:24.310 versus Houston. Say, for instance, let's say, for instance. Oh, nationwide. Nationwide, bro. 0:31:24.410 --> 0:31:27.830 Even video jukebox. She was and we pay her. We 0:31:27.870 --> 0:31:30.710 had to pay her. She give us this invoice and 0:31:30.730 --> 0:31:32.600 we got to pay for all, you know, for the duplicates. 0:31:32.620 --> 0:31:34.540 She get them done. We give her the master. She 0:31:34.560 --> 0:31:36.520 get them done. And then we give we pay her 0:31:36.560 --> 0:31:39.040 for her services. And everybody in the base start using 0:31:39.060 --> 0:31:41.360 her from Master P to I'm talking about all of us. 0:31:41.420 --> 0:31:43.780 But my brother, I found that plug without no Internet 0:31:43.840 --> 0:31:45.240 and that man, I say it's a bad boy. 0:31:46.130 --> 0:31:48.790 Damn, man. You just reminded me of Video Jukebox, man. 0:31:49.130 --> 0:31:51.430 I miss Video Jukebox, man. That was an era. Me too. 0:31:51.490 --> 0:31:52.270 I miss it too, bro. 0:31:52.290 --> 0:31:55.340 What would you describe as the sound of mob music? 0:31:56.060 --> 0:31:58.360 So let me just tell you this, man. Okay. 0:31:58.540 --> 0:32:02.020 Mob music at the end of the day in real life, sincerely. 0:32:02.600 --> 0:32:06.980 Too Short, E-40 and the Click, Studio Tone, Am Banks, 0:32:07.320 --> 0:32:13.340 Mike Mosley, Sam Bostick, you know, I'm talking about from 0:32:13.360 --> 0:32:14.500 the beginning of this thing. 0:32:15.440 --> 0:32:15.840 Seriously. 0:32:16.540 --> 0:32:20.060 The term was coined by me. We brought C-Bo and 0:32:20.160 --> 0:32:23.990 AWOL Records into our organization where he developed that sound too. 0:32:24.030 --> 0:32:26.490 Shout out to C-Bo and my cousin, Freddie T. Smith. 0:32:27.110 --> 0:32:30.050 You know, AWOL Records. He started AWOL Records. And then 0:32:30.430 --> 0:32:32.710 some of the producers, like the DJ Duros and stuff, 0:32:32.730 --> 0:32:35.770 they started doing it. Their sound was not that. It 0:32:35.810 --> 0:32:38.300 was not that. No disrespect, but it wasn't that. Ours 0:32:38.320 --> 0:32:41.280 was mob music, heavy bass lines. I created the term 0:32:41.320 --> 0:32:43.820 mob music. Everybody know it. That's why I do it 0:32:43.880 --> 0:32:46.400 the best. Me and Too Short, I give it to 0:32:46.440 --> 0:32:49.420 Too Short too because, you know, he's the funk. He's 0:32:49.440 --> 0:32:50.180 the godfather. 0:32:50.720 --> 0:32:51.580 I'm the ambassador. 0:32:52.340 --> 0:32:53.820 You know what I mean? And that's why we roll 0:32:53.860 --> 0:32:55.740 like this. We get along. You can't break me and 0:32:55.780 --> 0:32:56.300 his bond. 0:32:56.360 --> 0:32:58.220 Nobody can. I mean, I've been coming to the Bay 0:32:58.280 --> 0:33:01.680 Area for like the last three decades, but I think 0:33:01.720 --> 0:33:05.060 maybe in the last 10 or 15 years is when 0:33:05.740 --> 0:33:11.840 I finally got the message that Vallejo... and Oakland are 0:33:11.920 --> 0:33:14.720 two different places. Like there's some people that think like 0:33:14.790 --> 0:33:17.310 Jersey and New York, even though we're just a bridge away, 0:33:18.410 --> 0:33:21.790 you know, are the same and they're not. Or, you know, 0:33:21.830 --> 0:33:23.950 people get mad when I think Australia and New Zealand 0:33:23.990 --> 0:33:29.040 are the same. It is. But like how were relations 0:33:30.080 --> 0:33:34.100 between Oakland and Vallejo as far as like hip hop 0:33:34.140 --> 0:33:34.979 culture is concerned? 0:33:36.180 --> 0:33:39.230 Hip-hop culture was a little different than street culture. The 0:33:39.730 --> 0:33:43.050 town loved us because we pretty much been in town. 0:33:43.070 --> 0:33:45.150 So for you, is it street culture first before it's 0:33:45.190 --> 0:33:45.830 hip-hop culture? 0:33:46.590 --> 0:33:49.480 Yeah, because it took a minute for us to break 0:33:49.540 --> 0:33:51.780 through because we're a small city, so it took a 0:33:51.820 --> 0:33:56.400 lot for all the major cities or the more urban 0:33:56.840 --> 0:34:00.620 cities to accept us. We paid our dues to earn 0:34:02.010 --> 0:34:04.590 the credibility that we have now, and we were some 0:34:04.610 --> 0:34:08.390 of the pioneers there. The Click and people like Mac Dre, 0:34:08.670 --> 0:34:10.950 all of us, we really had to pay our dues 0:34:10.969 --> 0:34:13.190 for them to recognize us. You know, the town was 0:34:13.230 --> 0:34:14.029 really on the click. 0:34:14.050 --> 0:34:17.029 Was it hard at first? Heavy. Hell yeah. 0:34:17.310 --> 0:34:20.320 We from the streets. Me, B-Legit, D-Shot, we from the streets. 0:34:20.360 --> 0:34:22.380 So we knew a lot of cats out there, you 0:34:22.420 --> 0:34:24.920 know what I'm saying? So in the town in Oakland. And, 0:34:24.980 --> 0:34:27.660 you know, we play our music for them. And my mom, 0:34:27.719 --> 0:34:30.219 she used to get our CDs and she used to, like, 0:34:30.260 --> 0:34:33.450 go to my cousin Rose's house on 2-4. And they'd 0:34:33.489 --> 0:34:35.529 go to apartment C back in them days. And on 0:34:35.550 --> 0:34:38.460 the way home, moms, you know, she said, I got 0:34:38.500 --> 0:34:39.920 rid of a few of y'all. I gave some of 0:34:39.940 --> 0:34:42.549 y'all CDs to some of the cast members, you know, 0:34:42.969 --> 0:34:46.609 that pull up at, you know, I forgot the name 0:34:46.630 --> 0:34:48.549 of the burger spot I think Quarter Burger or something 0:34:48.570 --> 0:34:50.390 like that so she would go there and she was 0:34:50.410 --> 0:34:52.870 just giving you know giving our CDs to anybody that 0:34:52.910 --> 0:34:56.120 was real like of the culture and she helps spread 0:34:56.140 --> 0:34:58.000 the word as well and then us out there you 0:34:58.040 --> 0:35:01.040 know you know hitting going to all the events and 0:35:01.100 --> 0:35:04.509 everything and just moving around and People just adapted to 0:35:04.570 --> 0:35:07.350 our style. When we went to T.Y. Uzi's, when that 0:35:07.370 --> 0:35:09.840 side hit T.Y. Uzi's and they seen that album cover 0:35:10.200 --> 0:35:13.540 with the Xenus and Vogue and whatnot, man, they was 0:35:13.700 --> 0:35:17.280 on it. They loved it. Everybody started buying it. We 0:35:17.320 --> 0:35:20.580 was the ones out of Vallejo, the first that Oakland embraced. 0:35:20.620 --> 0:35:24.440 The clique was who Oakland embraced. And Oakland is the nucleus, 0:35:24.480 --> 0:35:26.440 the hub. I just want to say that. 0:35:26.560 --> 0:35:41.609 They are. I respect it. let's get to it all 0:35:41.630 --> 0:35:45.549 right you've talked in the past about reading the dictionary 0:35:45.610 --> 0:35:51.890 to expand your vocabulary so when you invent a word 0:35:52.130 --> 0:35:57.439 or term do you write it down first or does 0:35:57.480 --> 0:36:00.420 it just come out in conversation and you catch it 0:36:01.000 --> 0:36:05.680 and memorize it and Is there an obscure word that 0:36:05.739 --> 0:36:10.330 you desperately tried to flip into a lyric that just 0:36:10.350 --> 0:36:14.770 wouldn't fit in your classic cadence? I've tried that several times. 0:36:14.790 --> 0:36:16.120 What did you want to make a thing that you 0:36:16.140 --> 0:36:23.219 couldn't find a name for? I've really, really tightened up 0:36:23.280 --> 0:36:26.759 my verbal paintbrush. Because sometimes, you know, it can mess 0:36:26.780 --> 0:36:28.339 the flow up, but at the same time, there's some 0:36:28.360 --> 0:36:30.450 of the flows that trying to get too many words 0:36:30.830 --> 0:36:33.390 in one place. That's the beauty of E-40 because I 0:36:33.430 --> 0:36:35.529 have been able to do it. But now I'm really 0:36:35.610 --> 0:36:38.470 flawless with it. Like, you can't stop because I've mastered 0:36:38.550 --> 0:36:41.060 it so many years, but You know, I used to 0:36:41.140 --> 0:36:43.460 rap really, really, really, really fast to the point where 0:36:43.480 --> 0:36:45.200 I had to slow down my spit so the squares 0:36:45.219 --> 0:36:47.219 can understand me because they wasn't understanding. But all the 0:36:47.260 --> 0:36:48.100 soils did. 0:36:48.120 --> 0:36:49.220 I was the squares. 0:36:50.900 --> 0:36:52.739 And I was really saying some stuff. I wasn't just 0:36:52.780 --> 0:36:53.660 people don't understand. 0:36:53.739 --> 0:36:56.750 I know this. That's the problem. That's the problem with 0:36:56.790 --> 0:36:57.390 the bloggers. 0:36:57.430 --> 0:36:59.610 If they don't understand something, no matter if it ain't 0:36:59.630 --> 0:37:00.190 got to have nothing to. 0:37:00.150 --> 0:37:00.529 Do with me. 0:37:00.870 --> 0:37:02.860 It could be another artist if they don't understand it. 0:37:02.870 --> 0:37:05.770 But everybody else do. If those bloggers don't understand, oh, 0:37:05.810 --> 0:37:08.350 he's wacky. It's like, bro, just say you just don't 0:37:08.370 --> 0:37:10.549 understand or you ain't with it or you just, you 0:37:10.570 --> 0:37:13.230 can't get with it or I'm cool on him or whatever. 0:37:13.270 --> 0:37:15.819 Just don't, but don't just say it's wack. And when 0:37:15.860 --> 0:37:18.620 I say squares, I'm not talking about rappers. People think 0:37:18.640 --> 0:37:20.160 I'm talking about rappers when I'm saying squares. I'm not 0:37:20.180 --> 0:37:23.190 talking about rap. I'm talking about the people that's dictating rap. 0:37:23.790 --> 0:37:26.330 you know, the narrative, like saying, you should listen to this, 0:37:26.370 --> 0:37:29.250 you should listen to that. The gatekeepers, that's what I'm 0:37:29.290 --> 0:37:30.650 trying to say. It ain't got nothing to do with 0:37:30.790 --> 0:37:33.049 rappers or, you know what I mean? Or, you know, 0:37:33.110 --> 0:37:35.330 it's like, I just don't, I don't understand. It's like, 0:37:35.630 --> 0:37:37.330 people don't want you to be creative anymore. 0:37:37.830 --> 0:37:38.550 You know, be creative. 0:37:38.590 --> 0:37:41.690 It's a lot of creative artists in the game these days. 0:37:41.890 --> 0:37:43.290 And I like it. I like a lot of the, 0:37:43.310 --> 0:37:44.989 a lot of them are creative, but a lot of 0:37:45.010 --> 0:37:47.489 them are not. People like to play it safe. They 0:37:47.510 --> 0:37:48.710 like those who play it safe. 0:37:48.910 --> 0:37:52.330 I think, yeah, people are afraid of change, but, you know, 0:37:52.370 --> 0:37:56.460 those that move the needle, have to ruffle feathers, you know, 0:37:56.780 --> 0:38:00.360 but now it's like, you know, you're, you're, you're a dignitary, 0:38:00.400 --> 0:38:02.500 you're in King level. It just took a while for 0:38:02.540 --> 0:38:05.450 us to, to adjust it. Wait. So for you though, 0:38:06.010 --> 0:38:09.649 when was the moment you realize how influential you were? 0:38:09.730 --> 0:38:13.089 Like for me, I think the first time I heard 0:38:13.130 --> 0:38:18.029 the term, uh, Oh, when I heard broccoli for weed, um, 0:38:18.130 --> 0:38:20.049 when we first started going out to the Bay area, 0:38:20.090 --> 0:38:24.939 like 93, 94, You know, then it went global. You know, 0:38:25.020 --> 0:38:30.219 it was viral. So did that feel like a validation? Like, 0:38:30.300 --> 0:38:32.379 were you shocked? Like, what do you know about that? 0:38:34.020 --> 0:38:38.070 So what it is, Quest, people don't understand. Let me 0:38:38.110 --> 0:38:41.530 tell you something, bro. Before I did my P & D, 0:38:41.989 --> 0:38:46.330 pressing the distribution deal with Jive Records in 94, before 0:38:46.370 --> 0:38:49.370 I did that, you know, I was in certain states. 0:38:49.430 --> 0:38:51.790 I was in Texas. I was in Atlanta. I was 0:38:51.910 --> 0:38:55.580 in You know what I'm saying? Nebraska. I'm in all 0:38:55.600 --> 0:38:58.840 throughout the West Coast. I'm all through the Midwest, Indianapolis, Indiana. 0:38:58.890 --> 0:39:01.029 Like our music was really that underground like that. But 0:39:01.050 --> 0:39:02.110 it was it was circulating. 0:39:02.270 --> 0:39:02.430 Right. 0:39:02.469 --> 0:39:03.850 That's how we make. That's why we was able to 0:39:03.890 --> 0:39:06.530 get all them. You know what I'm saying? All those P.O. 0:39:06.530 --> 0:39:08.330 's and making all the money, their money. You know 0:39:08.350 --> 0:39:10.790 what I'm saying? And so then when I signed with Jive, 0:39:10.850 --> 0:39:13.489 Barry Wise, the president of Jive, sat me down and 0:39:13.510 --> 0:39:15.830 say he took he showed me the sound scan, the 0:39:15.890 --> 0:39:18.190 Nielsen sound scan. He say, you see these see the 0:39:18.210 --> 0:39:19.710 city right here, see the city right here, see the 0:39:19.730 --> 0:39:21.920 city right here. all these going to be filled up 0:39:21.940 --> 0:39:26.280 because you're going to have major distribution now, right? So, bro, 0:39:26.380 --> 0:39:30.200 he was not lying. When I made my debut record 0:39:30.880 --> 0:39:34.319 in a major way, it was everywhere. People, you don't 0:39:34.360 --> 0:39:38.360 just go platinum. People think, oh, well, nobody outside of 0:39:38.400 --> 0:39:40.160 California listens to it. 0:39:40.239 --> 0:39:41.280 No, you dummy. 0:39:41.360 --> 0:39:46.029 You're dumb. I probably got some old sound scans and 0:39:46.090 --> 0:39:49.150 recent like one of my most popular areas is new 0:39:49.190 --> 0:39:51.969 york if you go to instagram some houston and new 0:39:52.030 --> 0:39:54.310 york you know it show you the regions with people 0:39:54.390 --> 0:39:57.129 rocking with you at los angeles and this i'm like 0:39:57.170 --> 0:39:59.410 wow that's crazy but i've been through this you know 0:39:59.430 --> 0:40:02.020 what i'm saying so it's like i'm i ain't local 0:40:02.060 --> 0:40:04.939 i'm global like people don't realize this so all those 0:40:05.060 --> 0:40:07.920 spaces on the east coast midwest the south all was 0:40:07.980 --> 0:40:10.839 filled out with just nothing but record sales bro you 0:40:10.860 --> 0:40:12.680 feel what i'm saying so i've been doing the shit 0:40:12.700 --> 0:40:15.160 since moby dick was a goldfish it's just You know, 0:40:15.460 --> 0:40:17.660 it's a lot of lames in the game. So, you know, 0:40:18.120 --> 0:40:19.560 I'll talk your ear off. You know, you got to 0:40:19.580 --> 0:40:19.960 stop me. 0:40:20.420 --> 0:40:22.740 That, Jake, is the promo clip. 0:40:25.700 --> 0:40:26.759 Okay, I got to ask. 0:40:27.640 --> 0:40:31.390 I've had this platform for a good decade. And I 0:40:31.410 --> 0:40:35.190 will pretty much say that I probably have been 98% 0:40:35.190 --> 0:40:42.150 no gotcha journalism or anything sensationalist. But just a fan 0:40:42.190 --> 0:40:46.180 of me wants to know this one question. Mm-hmm. Okay, 0:40:46.540 --> 0:40:53.200 so the infamous Biggie article where he's rating and whatnot. 0:40:53.820 --> 0:40:57.630 And the thing is, like, surely you saw a paradigm 0:40:57.670 --> 0:41:04.750 shift come 96, 97, when suddenly, you know... stubborn East 0:41:04.810 --> 0:41:09.170 coasters are finally getting acclimated to places that are outside 0:41:09.190 --> 0:41:12.270 of New York. As far as adaptation, you know, we 0:41:12.290 --> 0:41:14.720 were folding our arms at bone thugs in harmony. We 0:41:14.739 --> 0:41:17.560 was looking at, we was looking at Snoop a little crazy, 0:41:17.620 --> 0:41:20.500 you know, for some people, but for you, like, did 0:41:20.540 --> 0:41:24.460 you ever get to talk to big about him being 0:41:24.480 --> 0:41:26.820 put on the spot and like rating rappers off the 0:41:26.860 --> 0:41:29.380 top of his head without knowing their history of the story? Like, 0:41:29.400 --> 0:41:31.830 did y'all ever meet at all? and talk about that? 0:41:32.110 --> 0:41:36.330 You know, after the situation, yeah, Stanley, uh, I had 0:41:36.370 --> 0:41:39.339 seen him in, um, Vegas. So we, if y'all see 0:41:39.380 --> 0:41:42.840 a picture of me and Biggie, that was in Las Vegas, 1995, 0:41:42.840 --> 0:41:44.640 the Mike Tyson fight. 0:41:45.080 --> 0:41:45.259 Okay. 0:41:45.280 --> 0:41:47.060 Him and Puffy was in the lobby. We was in 0:41:47.080 --> 0:41:50.430 the lobby of, uh, MGM. And, uh, you know, we 0:41:50.469 --> 0:41:52.610 just like, you know, we, we, we just left it 0:41:52.670 --> 0:41:54.810 alone and just to, Hey, let's take a picture. We 0:41:54.870 --> 0:41:57.090 all took the picture, you know, he was happy. I 0:41:57.130 --> 0:41:58.790 was like, cause he had already had said, you know, 0:41:58.830 --> 0:42:01.009 Hey man, I rock with you. I'm, You know, it 0:42:01.050 --> 0:42:02.670 pretty much let me know he was just talking out 0:42:02.690 --> 0:42:04.550 the side of his neck when he did that. 0:42:05.230 --> 0:42:06.660 I can tell he just put him on the spot. 0:42:06.860 --> 0:42:08.700 I think he was just drunk and just whatever. And 0:42:08.719 --> 0:42:10.660 he might not have really felt me, but he did say, 0:42:10.680 --> 0:42:13.640 he said, I fuck with Sprinkle Me Duke. He meant that. 0:42:13.660 --> 0:42:14.899 When we had that little youngster and me. 0:42:15.260 --> 0:42:16.299 He meant that. I know. 0:42:16.700 --> 0:42:20.219 I believe it because Sprinkle Me, East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, 0:42:21.420 --> 0:42:24.020 everybody loved, you know, the South, they all love Sprinkle Me. 0:42:24.020 --> 0:42:25.900 The video was on all the time, so we couldn't 0:42:26.680 --> 0:42:29.399 avoid it. Like, once your videos came on regularly, like, 0:42:29.989 --> 0:42:30.670 we all knew it. 0:42:31.080 --> 0:42:32.739 Man, I go to New York now, bro. I mean, 0:42:32.780 --> 0:42:34.279 I walk the streets of New York. I just came 0:42:34.320 --> 0:42:36.279 from a promo run. You know, I was doing my 0:42:36.320 --> 0:42:39.200 press stuff, man. Everywhere I go, man. And it's been 0:42:39.239 --> 0:42:41.680 like that from the beginning of my career. Fouty, Fouty. 0:42:41.969 --> 0:42:42.509 Ba, ba, ba. 0:42:42.550 --> 0:42:44.989 You know, just, man, I'm talking about everywhere. Like, New 0:42:45.030 --> 0:42:46.509 York rock with me. They do. 0:42:46.910 --> 0:42:47.210 We do. 0:42:47.690 --> 0:42:49.730 I know that for a fact. Not trying to, like, 0:42:50.110 --> 0:42:51.910 hope they do. I just know they do. And I 0:42:51.930 --> 0:42:57.400 remember when I came with, in 2006, I came with 0:42:57.460 --> 0:42:58.779 my Get a Report Card album. 0:42:58.820 --> 0:43:00.000 And I performed. Mm-hmm. 0:43:00.480 --> 0:43:04.110 And a small little, it was like the Tunnel. It 0:43:04.150 --> 0:43:06.290 was just like the Tunnel. They called it the Tunnel before, 0:43:06.330 --> 0:43:09.049 but it was like a duplicate of the famous club 0:43:09.090 --> 0:43:09.710 called the Tunnel. 0:43:09.890 --> 0:43:10.950 Okay, yeah. Remember the Tunnel? 0:43:11.090 --> 0:43:13.319 Yes. So this was like, this was all, man, they 0:43:13.360 --> 0:43:18.299 was going crazy off my album, bro. We did the 0:43:18.360 --> 0:43:19.140 record release party. 0:43:19.160 --> 0:43:23.140 They was going crazy. You feel me? Tell me when 0:43:23.160 --> 0:43:27.160 the go came out. We first heard it when we 0:43:27.200 --> 0:43:31.290 were shooting Dave Chappelle's Block Party. Yeah. And we were 0:43:31.410 --> 0:43:36.989 all backstage. And literally, Kanye, Common, Dave was blasting it. Like, 0:43:37.010 --> 0:43:40.580 when we did that movie. And he was trying to 0:43:40.600 --> 0:43:43.640 explain to us, like, yo, this whole movement. Like, Hy-Fee's 0:43:43.660 --> 0:43:47.359 going to be doing things. Can I ask you something? Yeah. 0:43:47.400 --> 0:43:50.430 In your heart. Do you feel, like, when Tell Me 0:43:50.450 --> 0:43:53.610 When To Go came out, even, like, me seeing the 0:43:53.630 --> 0:43:56.569 reaction here, and that, like, my DJ sets, that would be, like, 0:43:56.610 --> 0:44:00.239 my 10th record. Like, literally, that's how hard it went. 0:44:01.800 --> 0:44:05.560 Did the hyphy movement do what it was supposed to do? 0:44:05.660 --> 0:44:09.520 Because part of me just, like, I got excited, because 0:44:09.680 --> 0:44:13.230 as a drummer, there's new rhythms, and it's faster, right? 0:44:14.160 --> 0:44:18.149 Could it have gone farther as far as being nationwide 0:44:18.250 --> 0:44:20.190 and worldwide? Like, I feel like it could have been 0:44:20.210 --> 0:44:22.969 a worldwide hyphy movement. Most definitely. 0:44:23.050 --> 0:44:26.680 I mean, it's youngsters that was, you know, three years 0:44:26.820 --> 0:44:30.240 old at that time. And they still feel like they 0:44:30.280 --> 0:44:32.450 missed out. They wanted to keep going right now to 0:44:32.469 --> 0:44:35.140 this day. Because it was such a great time, you know, 0:44:35.420 --> 0:44:36.200 and it was. 0:44:36.520 --> 0:44:39.540 But did it officially stop or is there still movement? 0:44:40.180 --> 0:44:43.280 So it was things like, man, look, so the Bay 0:44:43.340 --> 0:44:46.840 Area consists of, you know, mob music, all kind of 0:44:46.880 --> 0:44:49.680 different music. But a lot of the cast that was 0:44:49.719 --> 0:44:52.489 doing mob music or you want to say gangster music, 0:44:52.510 --> 0:44:55.720 they felt like, you know, hey, man, I'm not doing that. But, 0:44:55.910 --> 0:44:57.830 you know, I'm not doing that. So I'm a hate 0:44:57.910 --> 0:45:01.250 on it. Or it was some people that hopped into it. 0:45:01.250 --> 0:45:02.290 It was resistance? 0:45:02.310 --> 0:45:07.850 Kind of like. Yeah, by cast as, you know, stubborn. Like, 0:45:07.910 --> 0:45:10.790 I'm the oldest out of everybody, out of all them cast. 0:45:10.810 --> 0:45:12.750 Me and Short, and we the ones who went in 0:45:12.830 --> 0:45:15.270 and dived in and was like, hey, man, we've always 0:45:15.370 --> 0:45:18.230 adjusted to our environment. Why don't we just hop in it, too? 0:45:18.730 --> 0:45:20.690 You know what I'm saying? We joining in, too, because 0:45:20.730 --> 0:45:23.069 this is our environment. I mean, no matter what kind 0:45:23.110 --> 0:45:26.140 of music was going down throughout our career, no matter 0:45:26.160 --> 0:45:28.300 if it was G-Funk or whatever, we're going to adapt 0:45:28.360 --> 0:45:28.600 to it. 0:45:28.640 --> 0:45:30.160 If you turn, you got to turn with the times 0:45:30.200 --> 0:45:31.279 or the times going to turn on you. 0:45:32.000 --> 0:45:33.839 And but the way you do it is still be 0:45:33.940 --> 0:45:36.719 you at the same time like they know my voice 0:45:36.739 --> 0:45:38.660 they know my how i rap all you got to 0:45:38.700 --> 0:45:41.150 do at that time up temples was the ones even 0:45:41.170 --> 0:45:43.390 though some slow hyphy songs too but up temples was 0:45:43.410 --> 0:45:46.430 the ones people like rick rock created a certain sound 0:45:46.450 --> 0:45:48.810 that was just like was undeniable and i was part 0:45:48.850 --> 0:45:50.410 of that and you know we just came with the 0:45:50.450 --> 0:45:52.759 blaps and you know if you if you're a great 0:45:52.840 --> 0:45:56.420 artist you're going to be able to do anything so Anyway, 0:45:56.620 --> 0:45:59.040 it was some artists that came in and may not 0:45:59.360 --> 0:46:01.700 represented it as well as they should. What I mean 0:46:01.719 --> 0:46:03.420 by that, some of them was just really just like 0:46:03.860 --> 0:46:06.960 it was terrible. You know what I'm saying? But then 0:46:07.000 --> 0:46:08.859 you had the ones that poked out that just had 0:46:08.920 --> 0:46:10.600 blaps like, you know what I mean? But some of 0:46:10.620 --> 0:46:12.980 that stuff was terrible. You probably don't know some of 0:46:13.000 --> 0:46:15.339 the artists. We don't probably know them, but it's just 0:46:15.380 --> 0:46:17.980 kind of like start getting a little bit too oversaturated. 0:46:18.610 --> 0:46:20.350 I want to make this clear for the record. 0:46:20.610 --> 0:46:20.810 Okay. 0:46:20.890 --> 0:46:23.910 I did not create Hy-Fee. Hy-Fee, the streets of Oakland, 0:46:23.930 --> 0:46:25.210 California created Hy-Fee. 0:46:25.469 --> 0:46:28.140 Gotcha. Oakland did it. Okay. 0:46:28.219 --> 0:46:32.060 Then as rappers, you had Mac Dre and Keek Da Sneak. 0:46:32.850 --> 0:46:33.110 Right. 0:46:33.370 --> 0:46:35.830 They were headed there. And I just joined in like 0:46:36.090 --> 0:46:38.590 every other like every rapper. The way when I grew, 0:46:38.860 --> 0:46:40.319 I didn't want to grow dreads. I was just I'm 0:46:40.340 --> 0:46:42.759 just sarcastic. I'm like, I ain't got nothing. I just 0:46:42.800 --> 0:46:44.160 did it just for the end. I say, I'm a 0:46:44.180 --> 0:46:46.299 really grown man. I grew them things and people you 0:46:46.320 --> 0:46:48.580 can Google it. You know, it ain't it ain't a 0:46:48.980 --> 0:46:50.620 I and none of that. I really grew. I did 0:46:50.680 --> 0:46:53.920 do it. And yeah. You know, and I just adapted 0:46:53.960 --> 0:46:56.740 to the times and just like everybody adapted to something 0:46:56.760 --> 0:46:58.400 that I helped create called mob music. 0:46:58.560 --> 0:46:59.640 You know what I'm saying? Right. 0:46:59.700 --> 0:47:03.390 So it's just like you just maneuver, you know. When 0:47:03.410 --> 0:47:05.529 the South, I was in two different lanes. I was 0:47:05.550 --> 0:47:07.590 in the South lane with the snap your finger movement. 0:47:07.610 --> 0:47:09.569 I was on the biggest song in the South. Snap 0:47:09.610 --> 0:47:11.370 your finger. That's the dang the three million. 0:47:11.489 --> 0:47:11.729 Yeah. 0:47:11.930 --> 0:47:13.230 You know what I'm saying? And then I had you 0:47:13.270 --> 0:47:16.839 in that booty, you know, with T-Pain and Candy. You 0:47:16.880 --> 0:47:20.480 know what I'm saying? That thing. Almost three million right now. 0:47:20.640 --> 0:47:22.759 That didn't have nothing to do with hyphy. You know 0:47:22.780 --> 0:47:23.340 what I'm saying? 0:47:23.660 --> 0:47:24.180 That was big. 0:47:24.200 --> 0:47:26.219 That's all more than tell me when to go. It's 0:47:26.239 --> 0:47:29.000 just so happened that that ghetto report card album has 0:47:29.080 --> 0:47:30.190 slaps on it. 0:47:30.560 --> 0:47:31.360 I'm talking about. 0:47:31.320 --> 0:47:34.989 Muscle cars, your area. And you know what I'm saying? 0:47:36.270 --> 0:47:38.830 What else? What else? Do your head like this. 0:47:39.150 --> 0:47:41.670 Can I ask you something? Because little John told me 0:47:41.690 --> 0:47:42.650 this and I couldn't believe it. 0:47:42.750 --> 0:47:43.270 Yeah, go ahead. 0:47:43.570 --> 0:47:47.430 Yeah. Do you regret passing on Blow the Whistle? 0:47:49.650 --> 0:47:51.339 You know what? It should be really eat me up. 0:47:51.700 --> 0:47:57.740 But it's happened to such a such a legendary artist 0:47:58.840 --> 0:47:59.780 by the name of Too Short. 0:47:59.950 --> 0:48:01.149 He's a good friend of mine. 0:48:01.810 --> 0:48:05.950 I'll probably be kicking myself in my face like I'll 0:48:05.969 --> 0:48:08.980 probably punch myself in the face if if it wasn't him. 0:48:09.460 --> 0:48:10.100 You know what I mean? 0:48:10.340 --> 0:48:12.140 It was a good moment for him. And y'all had 0:48:12.160 --> 0:48:14.880 y'all moment. So I get it. Right. Cause that's my partner. 0:48:14.900 --> 0:48:17.280 You know what I'm saying? It's like, I sincerely didn't 0:48:17.300 --> 0:48:18.850 know what to do with that. I might've been burnt 0:48:18.930 --> 0:48:21.630 out on slaps. Cause I had slaps, like, you know, 0:48:21.770 --> 0:48:22.430 major hits. 0:48:22.510 --> 0:48:23.790 And so, and I. 0:48:23.730 --> 0:48:25.469 Just didn't know what to do, but Tushar is such 0:48:25.510 --> 0:48:27.490 a genius. And he, you know, he grew up playing 0:48:27.530 --> 0:48:29.879 drums and stuff, you know, marching band, the whole thing 0:48:29.900 --> 0:48:31.819 when he was in junior high, you know what I'm saying? 0:48:31.880 --> 0:48:32.180 In school. 0:48:32.200 --> 0:48:34.339 So, He made a lot. People don't know he made 0:48:34.400 --> 0:48:36.180 a lot of his beats. He made a lot of that, 0:48:36.540 --> 0:48:38.420 you know what I'm saying, the Dope Fiend beat and 0:48:38.880 --> 0:48:41.799 all them earlier slaps he did, the Freaky Tail. He 0:48:41.860 --> 0:48:43.879 was the one playing the bass lines. That's what people 0:48:43.900 --> 0:48:47.060 don't understand. You know what I mean? So he knows music. 0:48:47.080 --> 0:48:50.740 He's a professional, bro. And that man put it together 0:48:50.760 --> 0:48:52.759 like the weatherman and made it a smash. And it's 0:48:52.840 --> 0:48:56.219 winning right now to this day, and I love it. Otherwise, 0:48:56.830 --> 0:48:59.049 I'd be like, damn, I really messed up. And I 0:48:59.070 --> 0:49:00.589 did mess up, but at the same time, I didn't 0:49:00.610 --> 0:49:02.980 mess up to the point where I messed up, messed up. 0:49:03.020 --> 0:49:05.140 It went to a great person. And this is how 0:49:05.160 --> 0:49:06.860 the universe works. And this is how God do it. 0:49:07.610 --> 0:49:11.390 So you bringing your son into the game now, which 0:49:11.450 --> 0:49:14.049 is a beautiful thing. He grew up watching you and 0:49:14.090 --> 0:49:17.950 now he's, you know, the hottest in the game right now. 0:49:18.670 --> 0:49:23.160 Did Droopy teach you anything? that you didn't. 0:49:22.900 --> 0:49:25.320 Know it's like when he was in his mama's stomach 0:49:25.340 --> 0:49:27.549 it was like he was just in there just like 0:49:28.070 --> 0:49:31.209 taking no attention like because he just came out knowing 0:49:31.250 --> 0:49:33.509 how to do mob music and stuff like that and 0:49:33.530 --> 0:49:38.600 just up tempo blaps and He just an amazing, it's 0:49:38.680 --> 0:49:41.799 in the blood, you know what I'm saying? And, you know, 0:49:41.880 --> 0:49:44.279 Droopy was, see, the cool part about it, he was 0:49:44.300 --> 0:49:48.350 the first kid rapper. I know I'm always saying we 0:49:48.370 --> 0:49:50.270 was the first this, we was the first that, slang 0:49:50.290 --> 0:49:53.710 and everything and whatever else, the independent route and all that. 0:49:54.370 --> 0:49:55.650 Mind you, I want to say this too, and I'm 0:49:55.670 --> 0:49:56.510 going to go back to Droopy. 0:49:56.690 --> 0:49:57.129 Go ahead. 0:49:57.230 --> 0:50:01.200 As a CEO and an independent artist, I funded my 0:50:01.340 --> 0:50:04.859 own projects. I never had an executive producer. I never 0:50:04.920 --> 0:50:08.680 had somebody, a silent partner. Many artists that y'all love 0:50:09.400 --> 0:50:12.279 have silent partners or people that funded their stuff. I 0:50:12.280 --> 0:50:15.660 did this from scratch, from the grassroots. So I just 0:50:15.700 --> 0:50:17.239 want to let y'all know, please salute me. If you 0:50:17.260 --> 0:50:19.260 don't salute me on anything, salute me for that. 0:50:19.580 --> 0:50:23.469 We're absolutely, we're aware of this. We're saluting you. Right? 0:50:23.570 --> 0:50:25.830 So I'm just letting the fans out there. They don't know. 0:50:25.850 --> 0:50:28.650 A lot of audience don't know. So my son, Droopy, 0:50:29.270 --> 0:50:33.160 he actually, he was the first When he was two 0:50:33.200 --> 0:50:35.779 and a half, three years old, he was three years 0:50:35.860 --> 0:50:37.330 old on a federal album. And I had a song 0:50:37.350 --> 0:50:39.069 called Questions because every time I used to take him 0:50:39.110 --> 0:50:42.089 to kindergarten in Vallejo, he would ask me, Quay, you 0:50:42.110 --> 0:50:44.580 be in the backseat. You know, I'm a street cat. 0:50:44.600 --> 0:50:46.760 I'm thumper it up the whole woo-wop. He in the backseat. 0:50:46.780 --> 0:50:49.350 I'm looking like this, seeing what's going on. And he 0:50:49.410 --> 0:50:51.230 asked me a hell of questions, and I'm paying attention 0:50:51.250 --> 0:50:52.770 to him. I'm a good dad. I'm a good dad 0:50:52.790 --> 0:50:55.089 because I'm listening to everything he says. I'm not ignoring him. 0:50:55.469 --> 0:50:57.000 I'm like, well, son, it's this, that, and the third, 0:50:57.040 --> 0:50:58.900 and this is how it's going to be. So we 0:50:58.940 --> 0:51:01.980 ended up making a song called Questions on my federal 0:51:02.120 --> 0:51:05.739 album in 1992. So we did that, and that made 0:51:05.780 --> 0:51:08.239 a lot of impact. And then I put him on 0:51:08.280 --> 0:51:10.819 my album in a major way. He was five years 0:51:10.900 --> 0:51:12.379 old at the time, but I told him to say 0:51:13.340 --> 0:51:16.390 six-year-old veteran. So he put that in there, and he 0:51:16.430 --> 0:51:19.680 was really gassing on a song called It's all bad. Now, 0:51:19.719 --> 0:51:21.680 mind you, I wrote the lyrics for him, but just 0:51:21.700 --> 0:51:24.219 for him to be five years old to deliver it 0:51:24.260 --> 0:51:27.270 like that was amazing. I say, this boy got something. 0:51:27.310 --> 0:51:29.750 So later on, he started hanging out with D-Wiz in 0:51:29.770 --> 0:51:32.690 the studio. And as he got older, his mom put 0:51:32.710 --> 0:51:35.750 him into piano and whatnot. Put him into piano, took 0:51:35.770 --> 0:51:38.810 piano lessons, and started getting into it. And he became 0:51:38.850 --> 0:51:43.020 a rapper slash producer and an amazing, talented young man. 0:51:43.600 --> 0:51:48.020 Okay, so you got to let me know, how do you... 0:51:49.300 --> 0:51:55.319 craft and organize four albums in one. First of all, 0:51:55.460 --> 0:51:58.480 it's 40 songs. So how do you even know why 0:51:58.560 --> 0:52:01.360 challenge yourself to this? I mean, I know you have E40, 0:52:01.400 --> 0:52:04.899 so I assume that you're releasing 40 songs for that. 0:52:05.020 --> 0:52:08.480 But what was the mind state behind this mission? I 0:52:08.520 --> 0:52:10.540 have a hard time dealing with one record. You're dealing 0:52:10.560 --> 0:52:12.279 with four. Right. 0:52:12.340 --> 0:52:14.440 I do what everybody else don't, man. Like I say, 0:52:14.480 --> 0:52:19.040 music is therapeutic and healing. I never went with the grains. 0:52:19.620 --> 0:52:24.670 Always went against the grain, you know. I think that's 0:52:24.890 --> 0:52:27.570 the reason why I'm so successful and I do it well. 0:52:28.610 --> 0:52:32.670 I never sounded like nobody. I'm just a different dude, 0:52:32.930 --> 0:52:34.819 you know what I mean? So I wanted to do 0:52:34.880 --> 0:52:39.380 something different. I've already did double albums in the 90s. 0:52:40.180 --> 0:52:41.940 I did multiple albums. 0:52:42.140 --> 0:52:46.340 On one day? Yeah, I did. Revenue retrieving and yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:52:46.880 --> 0:52:49.879 The Revenue Retrieving series, I did Revenue Retrieving Day Shift, 0:52:50.320 --> 0:52:54.070 Night Shift, Graveyard Shift, Overtime Shift. These are all separate albums. 0:52:54.730 --> 0:52:56.670 You understand me? I was dropping them, two of them 0:52:56.710 --> 0:52:58.890 at a time. So in between, after I did the 0:52:58.989 --> 0:53:02.489 Overtime Shift and Graveyard Shift, I did Mob Music and 0:53:02.530 --> 0:53:05.549 Function Music with Too Short. That was two CDs we 0:53:05.570 --> 0:53:08.080 dropped the same day, right? As a group album, me 0:53:08.140 --> 0:53:11.420 and him. Then I came, no, no, I did the 0:53:11.440 --> 0:53:14.500 Blackboard Show, Welcome to the Soil, one, two, and three, right? 0:53:14.580 --> 0:53:18.549 Then I came with Mob music, function music, we dropped 0:53:18.570 --> 0:53:20.029 those on the same day. 0:53:20.130 --> 0:53:22.049 Then I came back and did. 0:53:23.030 --> 0:53:25.729 Welcome to the Soil, the Blockbro, the Blockbro Show, Welcome 0:53:25.750 --> 0:53:28.850 to the Soil 4, 5, and 6. 0:53:28.850 --> 0:53:29.410 You feel me? 0:53:30.090 --> 0:53:32.140 Then I just started, then I started doing the other ones, 0:53:32.180 --> 0:53:34.400 like the D-Boy Diary and all them. And you know 0:53:34.420 --> 0:53:36.520 what I'm saying? I just didn't stop. And so I 0:53:36.520 --> 0:53:38.040 was like, you know what? I ain't did none in 0:53:38.080 --> 0:53:40.000 a while. And before that, in the 90s, I had 0:53:40.040 --> 0:53:43.540 did the Southwest Riders double CD, Me and Be Legit. Um, 0:53:43.660 --> 0:53:46.219 we did the, uh, I did my, my, uh, the 0:53:46.280 --> 0:53:50.160 element of surprise. First and foremost, everybody say apply pressure. 0:53:50.200 --> 0:53:53.400 I've been saying apply pressure. That was way back in 1996, 97. 0:53:53.400 --> 0:53:56.760 When I did the element of surprise, double CD. 0:53:57.560 --> 0:53:57.940 Right. 0:53:59.260 --> 0:54:02.520 I was on the only triple CD that I know of, 0:54:02.560 --> 0:54:04.560 but that was a ball. I was on that album, 0:54:04.680 --> 0:54:07.460 a ball, uh, loss. It was called loss. I was 0:54:07.520 --> 0:54:10.160 on that album with him. I was on crazy bone, 0:54:10.320 --> 0:54:13.420 double album back in the nineties. I was on that album, Me, Him, 0:54:13.460 --> 0:54:15.819 and Gangsta Boo. The song was called It's the End 0:54:15.860 --> 0:54:16.400 of the World. 0:54:16.860 --> 0:54:17.279 You understand me? 0:54:17.320 --> 0:54:20.359 I was on the biggest, one of the biggest double 0:54:20.460 --> 0:54:22.819 albums of all time, and that's All Eyes on Me. 0:54:23.290 --> 0:54:23.970 That's Diamond. 0:54:24.530 --> 0:54:26.830 So, man, I just, when I got in that mode 0:54:26.850 --> 0:54:28.009 of the four albums, at first it was going to 0:54:28.030 --> 0:54:31.450 be two. Actually, I pivoted from Rule of Thumb 2 0:54:31.450 --> 0:54:33.529 and 3 because I did Rule of Thumb 1 in 2023. 0:54:33.530 --> 0:54:37.700 And I was like, let me do Rule of Thumb 0:54:37.700 --> 0:54:39.600 2 and 3, make it a double CD, and I 0:54:39.600 --> 0:54:41.180 was going to put 12 songs on each one. And 0:54:41.200 --> 0:54:43.170 I was like, you know what, I want to pivot. 0:54:43.190 --> 0:54:44.650 I was looking at a picture of me when I 0:54:44.690 --> 0:54:46.919 was 18 through my little phone and whatnot, and I'm like, 0:54:47.580 --> 0:54:48.980 you know what, this look like this can be an 0:54:49.180 --> 0:54:52.109 album cover. I was like, something just dawned on me like, 0:54:52.489 --> 0:54:53.069 You know what I mean? 0:54:53.090 --> 0:54:54.410 Okay. I was like, I'm going to make this an 0:54:54.570 --> 0:54:56.090 album cover. Where's that from? 0:54:56.430 --> 0:54:59.069 It's from me at a club. And I think I 0:54:59.090 --> 0:55:01.250 was at, I think I was at Granville State University. 0:55:01.650 --> 0:55:02.469 Okay. I had to be. 0:55:02.650 --> 0:55:04.359 I was at Granville. I think I was in Monroe, 0:55:04.380 --> 0:55:05.839 Louisiana or something like that. 0:55:05.940 --> 0:55:06.200 Yes. 0:55:06.340 --> 0:55:07.819 Because one of my partners told me, he said, man, 0:55:07.840 --> 0:55:10.260 you was in Monroe, Louisiana when we took that picture. 0:55:10.440 --> 0:55:12.859 We was all together. We all had Adidas sweatsuits and all. 0:55:12.880 --> 0:55:14.180 You know, it was back in the 80s. You know 0:55:14.200 --> 0:55:15.319 what I'm saying? 0:55:15.340 --> 0:55:17.660 Now it's fresh. It's fresh. You know what I mean? Yeah. 0:55:17.700 --> 0:55:19.970 Thank you, man. And so I was like, okay, look, 0:55:20.030 --> 0:55:23.420 I got so many slaps, bro. hella, hella, hella slaps. 0:55:24.260 --> 0:55:25.880 Let me just put the... I'm going to take some 0:55:26.120 --> 0:55:27.660 of the ones. I don't want to put all the 0:55:27.700 --> 0:55:29.739 heat on one CD. I want to spread all the 0:55:29.800 --> 0:55:33.899 slaps out. And these are recent slaps. I got so 0:55:33.940 --> 0:55:38.310 many songs. I pulled some from maybe 12 months. 0:55:38.160 --> 0:55:39.549 Ago, but all of them was. 0:55:39.989 --> 0:55:42.220 People was just... I started just getting in the groove. 0:55:42.290 --> 0:55:45.390 So right now, I'm about to hit them at the 0:55:45.430 --> 0:55:48.069 top of the year. I'm letting y'all know right now. 0:55:49.090 --> 0:55:52.989 I'm dropping four albums every... every three months. Not at 0:55:53.090 --> 0:55:57.870 one time. I'm dropping 10 songs in late March, early April, 0:55:58.350 --> 0:56:02.330 probably April, mid-April, right? I'm dropping 10 songs. And then 0:56:02.350 --> 0:56:05.049 three months after that, I'm dropping 10 songs. Three months 0:56:05.110 --> 0:56:07.950 after that, I'm dropping three songs. Then 10 months, I mean, 0:56:08.140 --> 0:56:10.620 every three months. Every three months, I'm dropping 10 songs. 0:56:11.140 --> 0:56:13.340 The name of the first CD is going to be 0:56:13.380 --> 0:56:15.380 called Verbal Paintbrush. 0:56:16.800 --> 0:56:17.940 Okay. 0:56:17.960 --> 0:56:19.379 That's going to be the one that's going to come 0:56:19.480 --> 0:56:20.620 out around April. 0:56:20.920 --> 0:56:21.160 Okay. 0:56:21.360 --> 0:56:24.880 So verbal paintbrush, be ready for 10 slaps. I just 0:56:24.900 --> 0:56:27.940 feel like 10 slaps is no skips. It's just a 0:56:28.020 --> 0:56:31.040 perfect amount of songs because we're living in days where 0:56:31.600 --> 0:56:33.839 people don't have a lot of patience. You know what 0:56:34.030 --> 0:56:37.649 I'm saying? They just don't have patience like that. They're 0:56:37.670 --> 0:56:39.310 ready to move on to the next. So it's like 0:56:39.750 --> 0:56:41.550 I'm going to keep feeding them like I was doing 0:56:42.210 --> 0:56:44.970 a few years back. I took a two-and-a-half, three-year break, 0:56:45.030 --> 0:56:47.170 and it's not like me. So I wanted to give 0:56:47.190 --> 0:56:49.310 my fans a whole bunch of And I want to 0:56:49.350 --> 0:56:52.760 let them know that their favorite artist is still real gassy, man. 0:56:52.800 --> 0:56:57.020 I'm still real gassy. I will outgash your favorite rapper. 0:56:57.040 --> 0:56:59.980 Clearly. They know it, too. Clearly. With all that you 0:57:00.020 --> 0:57:05.850 have in the vault, are you sitting on any unreleased 0:57:05.870 --> 0:57:09.950 verses from Mac Dre or Pac even, or Be Legit, 0:57:10.110 --> 0:57:16.070 or just bangers that you are purposely holding on to until... 0:57:17.140 --> 0:57:17.950 A time to drop it. 0:57:18.060 --> 0:57:23.540 I got maybe one or two Tupac verses in an archive. 0:57:24.000 --> 0:57:27.520 I don't have any Mac Dre verses. I wish I 0:57:27.560 --> 0:57:31.170 did because we were on the way to do music together. And, 0:57:31.310 --> 0:57:32.950 you know, his camp would tell you that. The real 0:57:33.010 --> 0:57:35.150 ones in the camp, they'd tell you that. That was 0:57:35.190 --> 0:57:38.430 no secret. No one expected him to go like that, 0:57:38.450 --> 0:57:40.970 especially in his prime. Like he was, you know, on 0:57:40.990 --> 0:57:43.260 his way up the ladder just doing his thing, you know. 0:57:44.630 --> 0:57:48.010 But no, of course I got hella Be Legit verses 0:57:48.030 --> 0:57:51.070 because that's all me and Be Legit do is record together. 0:57:51.330 --> 0:57:55.220 He's on pretty much 99% of every album I ever did. 0:57:55.300 --> 0:57:57.220 You know what I mean? I don't think I've ever 0:57:57.260 --> 0:57:58.160 done an album without him. 0:57:58.340 --> 0:57:58.500 Right. 0:57:58.520 --> 0:58:00.940 You know what I mean? I think Dustin discussed it 0:58:00.980 --> 0:58:05.200 was Pac's first collaboration with you. What was that experience like? 0:58:05.680 --> 0:58:09.640 It really wasn't. As far as him, it really was. 0:58:09.660 --> 0:58:12.660 Because we did something that didn't come out before that. 0:58:13.020 --> 0:58:15.600 Okay. That's one of the unreleased ones, right? Right. 0:58:15.780 --> 0:58:17.920 And he came down to Solano Avenue right at that 0:58:17.960 --> 0:58:21.260 same studio. There was two doors down from right next 0:58:21.280 --> 0:58:22.000 door to Richard's. 0:58:22.220 --> 0:58:22.419 Right. 0:58:22.460 --> 0:58:25.120 Three doors down from my clothing store. He pulled up 0:58:25.160 --> 0:58:27.570 there and came to Studio Tom. People don't know. I 0:58:27.610 --> 0:58:31.230 had Tupac in Millersville. It's called Millersville. That's their studio 0:58:31.290 --> 0:58:33.190 on Solano Avenue with that picture of me and Droopy 0:58:33.510 --> 0:58:36.860 with the white cutlass. I had Tupac there. We have 0:58:36.920 --> 0:58:40.110 Pimp C and Bum B there. These are separate days 0:58:40.170 --> 0:58:45.330 and times, right? We had, what's our boy name? MC8 0:58:45.430 --> 0:58:46.210 and ODB. 0:58:46.510 --> 0:58:46.690 Mm-hmm. 0:58:46.930 --> 0:58:49.150 Old Dirty Bastard, because Studio Tone did the remix. 0:58:49.170 --> 0:58:52.900 That's right. He did. Yeah, to Shimmy. Yeah. You feel me? Mm-hmm. 0:58:52.980 --> 0:58:55.440 Right? And I was on the song with ODB. And 0:58:55.460 --> 0:58:56.960 then they flew me to New York to go do 0:58:56.980 --> 0:58:58.660 the video and the whole woo-wop, right? 0:58:58.900 --> 0:58:59.040 Mm-hmm. 0:58:59.260 --> 0:59:02.140 So then who else we had down there? I'm just 0:59:02.160 --> 0:59:04.650 saying how legendary just that studio is. Like, our little 0:59:04.690 --> 0:59:06.750 small little city to have them people out there. People 0:59:06.770 --> 0:59:09.610 didn't know that we had these legendary, you know what 0:59:09.630 --> 0:59:09.750 I mean? 0:59:09.770 --> 0:59:09.970 Sessions. 0:59:10.400 --> 0:59:14.080 There yeah right right right sebo used to sebo when 0:59:14.120 --> 0:59:17.140 he first came out he my cousin brought him down 0:59:17.250 --> 0:59:20.330 this is the true story he said man he said 0:59:20.350 --> 0:59:22.330 because this is the owner of awol records he had 0:59:22.390 --> 0:59:25.630 marvelous and all and he had sebo and mississippi and 0:59:25.650 --> 0:59:29.570 all these underground rappers from sacramento right And so he 0:59:29.610 --> 0:59:31.300 was like, but before he had him, he was like, 0:59:31.860 --> 0:59:33.460 he said, man, how y'all doing this, man? Because he's 0:59:33.480 --> 0:59:35.820 seeing us winning. Like we winning. We out there with, 0:59:36.300 --> 0:59:37.860 you know, all kind of color assist. You know what 0:59:37.880 --> 0:59:40.360 I'm saying? It's like, you know, doing our job. 0:59:40.440 --> 0:59:42.280 Right. Like we out there tycooning. Right. 0:59:42.300 --> 0:59:44.180 And he's like, man, how y'all doing this? He said, man, 0:59:44.520 --> 0:59:46.380 he said, man, show me. I say, this is what 0:59:46.420 --> 0:59:50.480 you do. Go get you some artists and circle back 0:59:50.520 --> 0:59:52.120 with me. And then I want you to go holler 0:59:52.220 --> 0:59:54.640 at Uncle St. Charles because that's his relative, too. 0:59:54.890 --> 0:59:55.090 Right. 0:59:55.710 --> 0:59:58.230 He really did it. So he came back. He called me, said, man, 0:59:58.550 --> 1:00:00.810 I got an artist. I've been having it. I knew 1:00:00.850 --> 1:00:01.350 I needed one. 1:00:01.690 --> 1:00:03.790 It's his name, C-Bo. It was C-Bo. 1:00:04.070 --> 1:00:07.770 So his C-Bo was like my celly cell, right? 1:00:07.930 --> 1:00:09.310 Yeah. Okay. Right? 1:00:09.450 --> 1:00:11.880 Then he went and got it. He had a young lady, 1:00:12.380 --> 1:00:15.920 a very known rapper, Northern California and beyond by the 1:00:15.940 --> 1:00:18.040 name of Marvelous. She's a great rapper. 1:00:18.360 --> 1:00:18.540 Right. 1:00:18.700 --> 1:00:21.560 That was his sugar tea. You know what I'm saying? 1:00:21.580 --> 1:00:23.200 Then he had Mississippi. Mississippi. 1:00:23.850 --> 1:00:26.690 There's a dude named Mississippi. He was from Mississippi. That's 1:00:26.710 --> 1:00:28.970 why they call him Mississippi. I think that's why. But 1:00:29.210 --> 1:00:32.270 his name is Mississippi. We had my cousin Levity. So 1:00:32.310 --> 1:00:35.590 he went and patterned his whole record label after us. 1:00:35.910 --> 1:00:36.140 Right. 1:00:36.240 --> 1:00:38.400 And there was nothing wrong with it. We was blood cousins. 1:00:38.760 --> 1:00:41.500 You feel me? He brought Sebo down one day. We 1:00:41.600 --> 1:00:43.580 all waiting for him. We out in front of Studio Tones. 1:00:44.200 --> 1:00:47.360 Rich Ross right there. And Sebo get out the car 1:00:47.380 --> 1:00:51.990 with all Carhartt, all blue. with like a curl, like 1:00:52.050 --> 1:00:52.550 curly hair. 1:00:52.570 --> 1:00:53.070 Yeah. 1:00:53.110 --> 1:00:53.970 You know what I'm saying? 1:00:54.110 --> 1:00:59.240 Loked out, like a real crip, like loked out. 1:01:00.040 --> 1:01:03.439 We fell in love the day he walked in there, right? Right. 1:01:03.460 --> 1:01:05.860 So he was like, we kicking it, we drinking Big Rossi. 1:01:06.340 --> 1:01:08.550 You know, Studio Tone had his session in the studio 1:01:08.610 --> 1:01:11.030 on this side. We divided the walls. And then Mike 1:01:11.070 --> 1:01:15.810 Mosley and Carl Gandy had their session over here. And 1:01:15.870 --> 1:01:19.390 so the first people he worked with was Mike Mosley 1:01:19.730 --> 1:01:20.190 and Carl. 1:01:20.540 --> 1:01:21.040 And they came. 1:01:21.060 --> 1:01:23.220 He went in there and got on the microphone and 1:01:23.300 --> 1:01:25.260 gassed that thing. We over here working with Studio Tone. 1:01:25.300 --> 1:01:25.920 We walk over there. 1:01:25.940 --> 1:01:27.220 We're like, oh, it's going crazy. 1:01:27.780 --> 1:01:30.330 So ever since then, he was introduced to mob music. 1:01:30.710 --> 1:01:32.050 Ever since then, he was locked in. 1:01:32.330 --> 1:01:35.150 That's why he called himself the mob father. You know 1:01:35.170 --> 1:01:37.210 what I'm saying? It's just like we one big family. 1:01:37.250 --> 1:01:41.820 C-Bo done been in some rendezvous, some serious street shit 1:01:41.840 --> 1:01:44.560 with us back in the days, rolling through the trenches 1:01:44.600 --> 1:01:47.140 of Vallejo and all kind of stuff. Like, he really folks. 1:01:47.640 --> 1:01:48.300 You know what I mean? 1:01:48.320 --> 1:01:51.340 So shout out to legendary C-Bo. Tupac, that was one 1:01:51.380 --> 1:01:55.740 of Tupac's favorite artists, seriously, in real life. Because when 1:01:55.760 --> 1:01:58.560 we did We Ain't Hard to Find, we were all 1:01:58.640 --> 1:02:02.570 at La Montrose Hotel off of Sunset. 1:02:02.810 --> 1:02:03.030 Yeah. 1:02:03.550 --> 1:02:08.150 C-Bo with us, Mike Mosley, Richie Rich, all the clique, 1:02:08.170 --> 1:02:11.430 the whole clique. Sugar wasn't with us. These was all dudes. 1:02:11.490 --> 1:02:14.450 And we all, Pac pull up, him and Suge. We 1:02:14.490 --> 1:02:16.330 all in there, we eating barbecue and all that stuff, 1:02:16.350 --> 1:02:18.550 you know, just chilling, slapping bones and playing music. 1:02:19.420 --> 1:02:20.600 And Pac was like, y'all ready? 1:02:20.620 --> 1:02:23.000 I said, let's go. We all get in the car. 1:02:23.020 --> 1:02:25.460 He said, Sebo, you ride with me. You know what 1:02:25.600 --> 1:02:25.820 I'm saying? 1:02:25.880 --> 1:02:27.380 It's real life. It's going to be really sick because 1:02:27.400 --> 1:02:29.280 he had a drop-top Mercedes. Okay. 1:02:29.360 --> 1:02:31.360 And we was on our way to Can-Am. So we 1:02:31.440 --> 1:02:34.100 all mobbed over there deep, hella deep. And that's when 1:02:34.140 --> 1:02:37.790 we made history. You know, you had Sebo in there 1:02:38.150 --> 1:02:41.210 with Mike Mosley. I mean, not Mike Mosley, with Rick 1:02:41.250 --> 1:02:44.010 Rock on that one. Rick Rock produced that. Rick Rock 1:02:44.030 --> 1:02:46.370 was with us too. So Rick Rock did Trade and 1:02:46.410 --> 1:02:48.730 War Stories in one room of Can-Am because they had 1:02:48.770 --> 1:02:53.130 different rooms. You got me, Richie Rich, B-Legit and D-Shot 1:02:53.550 --> 1:02:58.360 and Mike Mosley doing We Ain't Hard to Find with Tupac. 1:02:58.400 --> 1:03:00.360 These are all songs that went on the album. So 1:03:00.380 --> 1:03:01.120 you got all these. 1:03:01.040 --> 1:03:02.760 Different- So he's just recording at the speed of sound? 1:03:03.060 --> 1:03:03.920 Was he just- Yeah. 1:03:04.540 --> 1:03:07.910 Tupac was too quick, man. His pen, he too quick. 1:03:07.990 --> 1:03:10.510 And I'm like, bro, you write too quick. But everything 1:03:10.530 --> 1:03:12.570 was always accurate. He never had to go back and 1:03:12.590 --> 1:03:14.960 do shit over. It was just locked in. So when 1:03:15.000 --> 1:03:16.400 he came in there with us, he was like, y'all 1:03:16.440 --> 1:03:16.820 done yet? 1:03:16.840 --> 1:03:19.720 I ain't rushing. I'm just saying. I'm just checking on everything. 1:03:19.760 --> 1:03:21.660 He going from studio to studio checking on everybody because 1:03:21.680 --> 1:03:24.240 he already finished his shit. Okay. And that's how he 1:03:24.300 --> 1:03:26.690 used to write. But then we did Dustin and Disgusted. 1:03:27.190 --> 1:03:29.710 We did Dustin and Disgusted and all that before that 1:03:29.790 --> 1:03:32.380 whole session right there. That whole thing we did. We 1:03:32.400 --> 1:03:35.200 did that in like 94, 95 because that was on 1:03:35.660 --> 1:03:37.920 in a major way album. And that came out in 95. 1:03:37.920 --> 1:03:40.320 So and then after that for Hall of Game, we 1:03:40.340 --> 1:03:41.620 did my Million Dollar Spot. 1:03:42.480 --> 1:03:43.620 Right. Me and just me and pot. 1:03:44.440 --> 1:03:46.000 And then that's what we did. 1:03:46.500 --> 1:03:47.420 We ain't hard to find. 1:03:47.440 --> 1:03:49.880 That was the last album. Then the last time I 1:03:49.920 --> 1:03:52.280 seen him, he was at my I hope I don't 1:03:52.300 --> 1:03:53.540 go back to slinging Yale album. 1:03:53.850 --> 1:03:56.790 Yeah. I hope I don't go back to slanging. Yeah, yo. 1:03:56.810 --> 1:03:58.650 That video shoot. Yeah. 1:03:58.690 --> 1:03:59.630 Yeah, yo. 1:03:59.650 --> 1:04:00.750 The Earth, Wind & Fire. 1:04:01.330 --> 1:04:03.990 Earth, Wind & Fire and Ramsey Lewis, right? Yeah. 1:04:04.170 --> 1:04:04.470 Yeah. 1:04:05.210 --> 1:04:07.930 And so he was there. We kicked it real heavy, man. 1:04:07.950 --> 1:04:09.169 I didn't know that was going to be my last 1:04:09.210 --> 1:04:10.290 time seeing my guy, man. 1:04:10.290 --> 1:04:14.970 1996. Damn. Well, thank you for sharing that, brother. Yes, sir. 1:04:15.110 --> 1:04:18.130 You would always shout out Carlo Rossi. I always wanted 1:04:18.150 --> 1:04:21.640 to know, did they ever holler at you like, no 1:04:21.660 --> 1:04:24.720 at least give you some gratitude or cause nah never 1:04:24.740 --> 1:04:26.740 never you put you put them more and more than 1:04:26.780 --> 1:04:29.700 any you know what I mean yeah well they they 1:04:29.740 --> 1:04:31.380 right in my backyard too I tried to holler at 1:04:31.400 --> 1:04:33.240 them I just didn't have the connections to do it 1:04:33.280 --> 1:04:36.540 they right there they um raised in you know right 1:04:36.560 --> 1:04:39.780 there in Modesto California you know what I'm saying but 1:04:40.280 --> 1:04:42.580 I just was a fan of it you know I 1:04:42.600 --> 1:04:44.940 was just a fan of it cause my mom you 1:04:44.980 --> 1:04:47.420 know when she come home working two jobs and whatnot 1:04:47.480 --> 1:04:49.780 you know working at Napa State Hospital She was the 1:04:49.800 --> 1:04:50.720 supervisor there. 1:04:50.760 --> 1:04:52.990 Then she'll work at Mr. Jimmy's store right around the 1:04:53.050 --> 1:04:56.210 corner from Magazine Street off Laurel Street. That's the store where, 1:04:56.770 --> 1:04:59.450 you understand me, the neighborhood store, how everybody got their 1:04:59.470 --> 1:05:03.600 neighborhood stores. You go get everything from there. Bread, you know, 1:05:03.780 --> 1:05:09.320 sandwich spread, you know, whatever. Hot dogs, liquor, whatever. So anyway, 1:05:09.360 --> 1:05:13.140 she'll come home on the weekends. And, you know, she'll 1:05:13.180 --> 1:05:14.820 come on. She used to play this song called Living 1:05:14.860 --> 1:05:17.360 for the Weekend. And, you know, her and my dad divorced. Yeah. 1:05:17.600 --> 1:05:18.660 Yeah, exactly. 1:05:18.680 --> 1:05:21.780 And I was the oldest. So I'm sitting up just, 1:05:21.800 --> 1:05:25.160 you know, get to crying. You know, we was living 1:05:26.120 --> 1:05:27.040 in poverty, bro. 1:05:27.060 --> 1:05:29.040 You know what I'm saying? It wasn't as easy. 1:05:29.060 --> 1:05:31.380 Everybody just see the glamour. They don't see what I 1:05:31.400 --> 1:05:33.200 went through. You know what I mean? 1:05:33.740 --> 1:05:35.660 I was the oldest. I was the oldest of four. 1:05:36.440 --> 1:05:39.530 I was eight. D shot six. Sugar tea. 1:05:40.240 --> 1:05:43.160 Four and young Muzzy two, you know? So I had 1:05:43.180 --> 1:05:45.620 to be like the man of the family. My dad, 1:05:45.780 --> 1:05:47.360 I love him. You know, it was just, they was 1:05:47.390 --> 1:05:50.070 just divorced, man. And, uh, you know, that's just something 1:05:50.090 --> 1:05:52.490 that happens, you know? And, uh, but we made it 1:05:52.530 --> 1:05:54.250 through when, uh, you know, she would sit up there 1:05:54.270 --> 1:05:58.209 and play that music and drink her Rossi, uh, So, 1:05:58.270 --> 1:06:00.790 you know me, I'm younger. I get older. I'm seeing 1:06:00.810 --> 1:06:03.790 her do this. As I got older, I snuck into 1:06:03.850 --> 1:06:07.340 it one day. Don't we all? Don't we all? I 1:06:07.360 --> 1:06:08.520 was like, I. 1:06:08.440 --> 1:06:09.140 Said, it's good. 1:06:09.160 --> 1:06:10.820 You know what I'm saying? 1:06:10.840 --> 1:06:11.080 Okay. 1:06:11.100 --> 1:06:12.700 So, I just started, you know, as I got older, 1:06:12.740 --> 1:06:15.420 I started being a wine. I liked the 40 ounces, 1:06:15.460 --> 1:06:17.640 but I started becoming more into wine. Then I ended 1:06:17.680 --> 1:06:18.700 up making my own wine. 1:06:18.880 --> 1:06:20.800 Yeah, I was going to say, would you consider an 1:06:21.260 --> 1:06:24.670 easier business to do or was it harder breaking in 1:06:24.710 --> 1:06:26.610 with liquor than with music? 1:06:27.290 --> 1:06:31.090 Well, music is the platform for me. Music is what 1:06:31.130 --> 1:06:36.510 makes everything around, all your surrounding occupations and whatever you do, 1:06:36.550 --> 1:06:39.550 your side hustles. Music is the main thing, the trunk 1:06:39.640 --> 1:06:43.180 of the, the rest is branches. The trunk is music, 1:06:43.240 --> 1:06:48.860 keeping your name ringing, protecting your brand. That's really, that's 1:06:48.880 --> 1:06:52.680 the most important. And that made it easier for me 1:06:52.720 --> 1:06:57.410 to hop into the Wine and Spirits game And also 1:06:57.490 --> 1:07:01.390 being that everyone knows that I love wine and spirits. 1:07:01.710 --> 1:07:04.070 You know what I mean? True. I got two more 1:07:04.110 --> 1:07:06.690 questions to ask. Okay. Just for, you know, like a 1:07:06.730 --> 1:07:09.510 lot of my audiences, you know, they listen around the 1:07:09.550 --> 1:07:16.470 world and whatnot. From you, which Bay Area artists, you know, 1:07:16.510 --> 1:07:19.740 from the 90s or the early aughts, whatever, Who do 1:07:19.760 --> 1:07:23.880 you feel that never got their proper flowers that should have, 1:07:24.180 --> 1:07:29.660 that we should go look up right now and support? Damn. 1:07:30.090 --> 1:07:32.270 That's a tough one. There has to be one that 1:07:32.330 --> 1:07:35.189 like should have made it that didn't, that really didn't 1:07:35.210 --> 1:07:38.830 get the, the. Wow. It's a tough one. 1:07:39.030 --> 1:07:44.290 Uh, I, I, I like casual, casual from, you know, 1:07:44.310 --> 1:07:48.870 hieroglyphic souls. I liked, I feel like casual is, It's 1:07:48.910 --> 1:07:49.870 always been dope. 1:07:50.710 --> 1:07:52.230 That's how it is, man. That was my shot. You 1:07:52.250 --> 1:07:52.810 know what I mean? 1:07:52.870 --> 1:07:54.840 I can go down the line. I can go down 1:07:54.860 --> 1:07:56.380 the line. I can say a lot, you know. 1:07:56.400 --> 1:07:57.740 All right. 1:07:57.820 --> 1:07:58.660 Shout out to Casual. 1:07:58.840 --> 1:07:59.300 I'll give him that. 1:07:59.380 --> 1:08:02.220 Yeah, shout out to Casual. Mac Drake could have. He 1:08:02.240 --> 1:08:02.680 didn't get his. 1:08:02.720 --> 1:08:03.939 He could have, yeah. True. 1:08:04.320 --> 1:08:07.660 I think he was going to be worldwide. He wasn't 1:08:07.720 --> 1:08:10.450 as big as people make him now, but he was 1:08:10.510 --> 1:08:11.450 on his way up the ladder. 1:08:12.090 --> 1:08:12.550 You know what I mean? 1:08:12.570 --> 1:08:16.040 There's people out there right now that think that, I'm 1:08:16.080 --> 1:08:17.280 not throwing shade that. 1:08:17.160 --> 1:08:18.660 He's, he was always bigger than me. 1:08:18.720 --> 1:08:22.200 And they don't, it's like, I've had three different areas of, 1:08:22.390 --> 1:08:24.450 you know, four or five different areas of music that 1:08:24.470 --> 1:08:26.650 I've been, I was popular in the nineties. 1:08:26.990 --> 1:08:28.370 I got like by far. 1:08:28.430 --> 1:08:30.320 You know, but anyway, I feel he would have did it. 1:08:31.140 --> 1:08:32.340 I feel like casual. 1:08:32.840 --> 1:08:33.759 Um, who else, man? 1:08:34.140 --> 1:08:37.040 Um, I feel like if Richie rich didn't stop, um, 1:08:37.950 --> 1:08:39.790 Because he took breaks and he know it. He beats 1:08:39.830 --> 1:08:42.990 himself up at the head, you know, like I took breaks, water, 1:08:43.010 --> 1:08:44.640 you know, I say, man, if you didn't, you could 1:08:44.660 --> 1:08:47.880 have been bigger. You know that, you know, and many more, man, 1:08:48.080 --> 1:08:48.519 many more. 1:08:48.540 --> 1:08:52.700 I mean, because the thing is, is that when cats, 1:08:52.740 --> 1:08:55.229 you know, I'm a few years younger than you, but 1:08:55.270 --> 1:08:57.769 like when cats get of a certain age, they like 1:08:58.530 --> 1:09:02.000 slow down or domestic do calls. But what drives you? 1:09:02.860 --> 1:09:05.220 You'll forever be like a contemporary artist to me. I 1:09:05.260 --> 1:09:07.939 don't see you as a legacy artist or even that 1:09:07.960 --> 1:09:10.120 guy back in the day. Like you refuse. Is it 1:09:10.420 --> 1:09:13.400 just your refusal? Will there ever be a moment where 1:09:13.420 --> 1:09:16.340 you're like, OK, now my work is done? 1:09:16.960 --> 1:09:19.440 First and foremost, thank you, man. I'm glad I'm still 1:09:19.500 --> 1:09:23.990 relevant and relevant in not a dumbass way by trolling 1:09:24.030 --> 1:09:26.910 and doing whatever. You know what I mean? I'm relevant 1:09:26.930 --> 1:09:30.450 putting in work, right? I feel like me doing this 1:09:30.490 --> 1:09:33.840 for so many years, like I said, I just love music. 1:09:33.880 --> 1:09:35.500 I could be a billionaire and I would still put 1:09:35.540 --> 1:09:37.559 out music. Nobody has to buy it. I just feel 1:09:37.580 --> 1:09:38.700 like it's part of my therapy. 1:09:39.280 --> 1:09:40.320 Ain't nothing wrong with me or nothing. 1:09:40.340 --> 1:09:42.840 It's just music is therapeutic and healing. If you want 1:09:42.860 --> 1:09:44.640 to get in a good mood, man, and when I 1:09:44.660 --> 1:09:46.380 want to get in a good mood, and I'm going 1:09:46.400 --> 1:09:49.200 to be honest with you, besides going up beyond the, 1:09:49.740 --> 1:09:52.320 you know what I'm saying, songs like that, church music 1:09:52.840 --> 1:09:55.420 like that and whatnot, and you know what I'm saying, 1:09:55.439 --> 1:09:59.850 I like listen to people like Curtis Mayfield, The Makings 1:09:59.900 --> 1:10:04.890 of You, and the OJs. It's therapeutic. It'll put you 1:10:04.910 --> 1:10:06.610 in a home. It'll wake you up like, man, this 1:10:06.630 --> 1:10:08.370 is the struggle I was going through. Look how good 1:10:08.390 --> 1:10:10.810 I'm doing now. You know, there's a lot of people 1:10:10.830 --> 1:10:12.710 that love to trade places with me. There's people that 1:10:12.770 --> 1:10:16.320 don't have all their body parts, people that's really very sick. 1:10:16.060 --> 1:10:18.720 And I'm still here. And you know what I mean? 1:10:18.740 --> 1:10:21.080 Like you got to just be grateful. So music is 1:10:21.100 --> 1:10:23.680 therapeutic and healing. So I feel like I don't want 1:10:23.700 --> 1:10:26.479 to stop. When I said I'll retire when I expire, 1:10:26.600 --> 1:10:27.360 I really mean that. 1:10:28.360 --> 1:10:30.020 I don't know. I could be a hundred. 1:10:30.500 --> 1:10:33.330 And I feel like I'm so gamed up that if 1:10:33.390 --> 1:10:35.390 I'm in my right mind and I got my life, 1:10:35.430 --> 1:10:38.099 health and strength, With the power of God, I know 1:10:38.180 --> 1:10:40.939 I can still continue to be relevant and still be 1:10:40.960 --> 1:10:44.229 able to rap and still outgast some of your favorite, 1:10:44.750 --> 1:10:45.429 you know, rappers. 1:10:45.470 --> 1:10:46.530 I really do. 1:10:46.550 --> 1:10:48.650 Because I've always been ahead of my time, and I'm 1:10:48.770 --> 1:10:51.390 always going to keep my eye on the ball. You 1:10:51.470 --> 1:10:52.710 ain't going to see me striking out. 1:10:52.870 --> 1:10:56.010 From your mouth to God's ears, man, I appreciate you 1:10:56.330 --> 1:11:00.130 and thank you for just who you are. And this 1:11:00.189 --> 1:11:03.910 is a beautiful thing to see. Because, you know, oftentimes 1:11:04.850 --> 1:11:08.680 a lot of us, Didn't make it after our 20s 1:11:09.020 --> 1:11:12.600 and 30s. Right. Even the 40s and 50s. Like, you know, 1:11:12.620 --> 1:11:14.260 we got to watch our health and all that stuff. 1:11:14.300 --> 1:11:16.780 So just to see you out here thriving. 1:11:16.800 --> 1:11:18.920 Remember they told us 40, you got to stop. You're 1:11:18.939 --> 1:11:20.160 supposed to stop at 40. 1:11:20.160 --> 1:11:22.320 You know, remember that? That was eight. 1:11:22.340 --> 1:11:24.740 That was almost 19 years ago when I was 40. 1:11:24.740 --> 1:11:25.179 Nope. 1:11:25.240 --> 1:11:29.860 I turned 59, God willing, in November, which is a 1:11:29.890 --> 1:11:30.969 month and change from now. 1:11:31.010 --> 1:11:32.939 You know what I mean? God willing, you know. Hats 1:11:33.060 --> 1:11:35.189 off to you, sir. But just to do that 19 1:11:35.189 --> 1:11:35.730 years later. 1:11:36.070 --> 1:11:38.730 And still be, you understand me, doing it, I just 1:11:38.970 --> 1:11:40.710 want to be a good example to the rest of the, 1:11:41.110 --> 1:11:45.099 you know, don't, y'all need to take youngsters, take this serious, man, 1:11:45.140 --> 1:11:47.440 you can help feed your family, you can, you know 1:11:47.479 --> 1:11:49.460 what I'm saying, I'm talking about you can provide for 1:11:49.479 --> 1:11:51.440 your partners now, man, if you make the right moves, 1:11:51.479 --> 1:11:53.920 this is a real occupation, use your talent, man, you got, 1:11:54.439 --> 1:11:57.100 it's easier than ever for y'all, because, you know, streaming is, 1:11:57.120 --> 1:11:59.139 you know what I mean, y'all, y'all can do it, bruh, 1:11:59.540 --> 1:12:02.240 videos don't cost two, three hundred thousand like they used to, 1:12:02.760 --> 1:12:03.979 They might cost $ 200, $ 300. 1:12:03.920 --> 1:12:07.720 Yeah, on your phone. Yes. Right. Exactly. 1:12:07.740 --> 1:12:10.390 So y'all got it. It's there for y'all, man. It's 1:12:10.410 --> 1:12:13.090 there for the taking. Just work hard, man. And don't 1:12:13.130 --> 1:12:15.710 care if you're getting endorsed by anybody else. Go out 1:12:15.729 --> 1:12:17.950 there and make your own. Do your own like we did. 1:12:17.990 --> 1:12:20.250 Go out there, and then they're going to recognize you 1:12:20.310 --> 1:12:22.050 if you put your all into it. 1:12:22.830 --> 1:12:24.530 I will take that, and I thank you for that. 1:12:24.870 --> 1:12:27.190 Wait a minute. One last thing. One last thing. One 1:12:27.229 --> 1:12:29.780 last thing. Yes, sir. Then I'll let you go. Okay. 1:12:29.800 --> 1:12:29.980 Okay. 1:12:30.439 --> 1:12:33.200 You pioneered so much slang that I don't feel the 1:12:33.260 --> 1:12:39.970 world knows that you invented. However, is there a slang 1:12:40.050 --> 1:12:47.630 term that you fully expected to sweep the nation that 1:12:47.689 --> 1:12:51.550 the streets completely slept on? Like, is there a term 1:12:51.590 --> 1:12:56.639 that you really love that didn't catch on? I don't know, man. 1:12:56.700 --> 1:12:59.600 I don't really, uh, slang is my thing, but I 1:12:59.640 --> 1:13:02.450 don't really like, I don't want the world to catch on. 1:13:02.890 --> 1:13:04.150 I don't do it for the whole world. 1:13:04.189 --> 1:13:06.490 I just do it. Cause it's just me. It's just, 1:13:06.550 --> 1:13:07.030 it's natural. 1:13:07.070 --> 1:13:07.610 Like an Afro. 1:13:07.630 --> 1:13:09.929 It's just really what I do. And I'm, I'm raised 1:13:10.090 --> 1:13:12.980 in the Bay where we, we slick talkers and collar poppers. 1:13:13.020 --> 1:13:15.360 Like I'm around it. I've been in, it's nothing but 1:13:15.439 --> 1:13:17.439 Islam around us. And that's all we know. And I, 1:13:17.540 --> 1:13:19.280 I'm just good at what I do, you know, and 1:13:19.320 --> 1:13:22.180 I'm from the streets. So I'm, I'm obligated to, you 1:13:22.200 --> 1:13:24.139 know what I mean? Preach, you know, I'm a rapper. 1:13:24.200 --> 1:13:27.170 So it's, And it's slang can be spreaded all over 1:13:27.189 --> 1:13:29.769 the globe. And I was just tripping off, you know, plug, 1:13:29.810 --> 1:13:33.110 like plug everybody talking about the plug. Like he, we've been, 1:13:33.229 --> 1:13:35.170 I was the first one saying plug. I was the 1:13:35.229 --> 1:13:39.110 first one, uh, you know, uh, screaming so many words. 1:13:39.170 --> 1:13:41.950 I can, I can say, uh, I was talking about... 1:13:41.990 --> 1:13:43.750 I was talking about... What's the other one I was 1:13:43.790 --> 1:13:45.759 talking about the other day? I was talking about... You 1:13:45.770 --> 1:13:47.440 know how you were saying units? You started it off 1:13:47.460 --> 1:13:48.700 saying something about units. 1:13:48.979 --> 1:13:49.219 Yes. 1:13:49.340 --> 1:13:50.080 Units used to be. 1:13:50.300 --> 1:13:50.560 Units. 1:13:50.800 --> 1:13:54.000 The street word for units, you know, was bricks. Right. 1:13:54.040 --> 1:13:54.860 You know what I'm talking about? 1:13:55.060 --> 1:13:55.280 True. 1:13:55.340 --> 1:13:57.900 Like, first one of you screaming units and choppers. You know, 1:13:57.939 --> 1:13:59.939 there wasn't no rapper screaming out of that. None. 1:14:00.330 --> 1:14:02.250 Not one. Not one. I acknowledge this. 1:14:02.270 --> 1:14:04.550 No one was talking about triple beans and droughts. And 1:14:05.150 --> 1:14:06.710 I could talk about all the street stuff, and I 1:14:06.750 --> 1:14:09.030 could talk about all the unique stuff, just regular stuff. 1:14:09.070 --> 1:14:09.809 You know what I'm saying? 1:14:09.870 --> 1:14:09.990 So. 1:14:10.570 --> 1:14:12.630 I don't try to keep... You know, players don't keep score, man. 1:14:12.670 --> 1:14:14.850 I just spread it. You know what I'm saying? I 1:14:14.870 --> 1:14:17.610 just say what I say and I preach for the soil. 1:14:17.950 --> 1:14:22.900 Amen. Thank you, brother. I appreciate you. And, hey, there 1:14:22.920 --> 1:14:26.360 you have it, y'all. This is another classic Questlove show. 1:14:29.840 --> 1:14:33.950 All right. Ask and ye shall receive. You guys have 1:14:34.010 --> 1:14:37.269 requested and requested this one and we're proud to have 1:14:37.310 --> 1:14:46.570 given it to you. Um... So much history, so much folklore, 1:14:46.670 --> 1:14:50.030 so much idioms, so much more new slang I'd never 1:14:50.070 --> 1:14:53.450 heard of before that I'm sure all of us are mind-blown. 1:14:53.610 --> 1:14:59.670 But this was a beautiful thing, connecting with E-40 like that. Oh, man. 1:15:00.430 --> 1:15:06.270 That's one for the record book. Questlove Show is hosted 1:15:06.370 --> 1:15:11.630 by me, Amir Questlove Thompson. The executive producers are Sean G., 1:15:11.900 --> 1:15:18.200 Brian Calhoun, and me. Produced by Brittany Benjamin and Jake Payne. 1:15:19.360 --> 1:15:24.439 Produced for iHeart by Noel Brown. Edited by Alex Conroy. 1:15:25.450 --> 1:15:30.870 iHeart video support by Mark Canton. Logos, graphics, and animation 1:15:30.910 --> 1:15:37.650 by Nick Aloi. Additional support by Lance Coleman. Special thanks 1:15:37.689 --> 1:15:44.849 to Kathy Vrong. Special thanks to Sugar Steve Mandel. Please subscribe, rate, review, 1:15:44.910 --> 1:15:48.410 and share The Questlove Show wherever you stream your podcasts. 1:15:48.890 --> 1:15:53.790 And make sure you follow us on socials. That's at QLS. 1:15:55.390 --> 1:15:58.610 Check out hundreds and hundreds of QLS episodes, including The 1:15:58.670 --> 1:16:04.610 Questlove Supreme Shows in our podcast archives. Questlove Show is 1:16:04.640 --> 1:16:06.320 a production of iHeartRadio.