WEBVTT - A Reaction To The Chuck D Episode Of The Questlove Show 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:04.000 Quest Left Show is a production of iHeart Radio. 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:24.040 Open Mic Man, Happy Thursday, Happy Thursday, and Day Absolutely. Man. 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:25.600 You got any plans for the weekend? 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:29.280 Yeah, I'm shooting video this weekend. That's the biggest plan shoot, 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:32.000 shooting a music video for the new project. What you 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:35.360 Gotta Treatment? Everything laid out? You kind of it laid out. 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:37.320 We've shot most of it already. It's the last day 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:38.720 of shooting. It ought to be nice and easy. 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:41.600 Oh man, I can't wait for that one. I saw 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:46.200 a little visual content on the Grammar online. I'm eager 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:48.400 for this one, and I love you know. I was 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:50.920 thinking a lot about Wild Pitch Records recently. I was 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:53.760 in something I think it was an old episode of 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:58.000 QLs and they were somebody was talking about Stu Fine 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:00.200 and before they got to the punchline, I'm like the 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:02.680 founder of Wild Pitch. And to me, even before Ruckus, 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:04.760 that was always a label I could trust most of 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:06.680 the time. And I feel like we've gotten away from 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:09.039 that a little bit. There are labels that you've worked 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:11.959 with over the years, but I do feel like Backwood 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:14.040 Studios is a brand you can trust. 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:16.960 I feel like they're like the last sons of Krypton, 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:20.360 you know what I'm saying. Like they are like the 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:23.640 the vestiges of the underground that I used to that 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:27.880 I came up in and I saw so many labels. 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:30.120 See this is and and I'm already off on a 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:33.880 tangent what we do. It's a rabbit old platform to me, 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:40.280 the unspoken story of the sort of deletion of the 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:43.800 hip hop middle class. And how like you know, a 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:46.800 lot of times now it's just like superstar rapper or 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:51.000 struggling indie. There's there's not a lot of working rappers 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:54.920 in the in the stratum in between. And part of 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:58.200 the story of that is how many labels used to 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:01.480 exist that are gone now you used to have And 0:02:01.520 --> 0:02:04.880 this this goes back I think too, when the majority 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:06.920 of money that was coming in was based on selling 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:10.120 CDs and physical product, that there was enough money coming 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:12.880 in to make sure that these labels were able to 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:16.200 stay afloat and keep putting enough money in rappers pockets 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:17.959 every time they dropped the album, that they were able 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:21.120 to stay afloat between that and touring. Yeah, and so 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:26.040 many of those labels are gone, and Backwoods feels like 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:30.880 the last sort of connection to you know, not only 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:34.440 the aesthetics of of the older days, but a viable, 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:40.840 well run business that's putting forward the new voices in 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:42.639 that same family tree. 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:45.720 Absolutely new voices. And then you know, I mean even 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:51.120 what I consider veterans yourself. Yeah, you know, it's just 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:54.480 one exactly. You know, they've been very kind to some 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:56.640 of the They put out some great product with some 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:58.160 of the folks that have been kind to me and 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:00.760 that I've gotten to you know, share some airwith over 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:03.720 the years. So yeah, I'm looking forward to that. And 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:06.280 on the subject to hip hop, you know, we're talking 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:10.040 about the last episode we've run in June, which is 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:12.520 part of you know q LES. I think this is 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:15.959 year four or five of our Black Music Month initiative, 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:19.280 where episodes to the catalog are run every day if 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:21.760 it's not a mini episode like this or a new episode. 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:26.360 But the final new episode of this month is none 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:29.560 other than Chuck da Public Enemy. And I really was 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:32.920 hoping when you and I got together in the studio 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:34.520 with the Mirror and the rest of the team in 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:36.760 LA I was hoping it was going to be the 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:40.839 same day as Chuck, but it didn't work out that way. 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:44.240 But man, it was that was something something special. Man 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:44.480 he is. 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.920 He's such a dope dude, and it's just like we 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:51.360 have some real and I hesitate to use this term 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:54.440 because it also covers a real crew with some homies 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:58.640 in mind. But we have some real living legends in 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:03.400 this thing. The real rap giants ha still walk the 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:06.960 ground and can still have a conversation with you, and 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:09.320 they're not often venerated in a way I feel like 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:15.920 they should be. But Chuck d is just an incredible 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:22.520 human being that was a titan in this rap thing, 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:27.479 and it's just amazing to hear him in conversation, like 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:29.200 that's just amazing here. 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:31.880 He's one of those talking he talks, he talks, and 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:34.000 he knows he talks. He laughed. You know, He's one 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.479 of those people that could read the ingredients to a 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:39.480 box of tricks, and I would enjoy it. Just his voice, 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:42.280 his conviction was funny. On the way to the studio, 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:46.160 I'm originally from Pittsburgh and I am a hapless Pittsburgh 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:48.840 Pirates fan, and he and I and Chuck's daughter Dominique 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:50.599 were taking the elevator up and I've said this to 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:52.760 Chuck before on the phone, but it was our first 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:55.440 time being in you know, a small space together. I 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:59.240 was like, man, aside from Clemente, Roberto Clemente, you have 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:01.280 done so much much for the pirate hat. And he 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:02.960 looked at me, He's like, you know, I'm a Mets fan, right. 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:06.440 And last I was like, man, all the literal elevator 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.480 conversations a guy who idolized his public enemy could have 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:13.320 with Chuck D. You know, I you know, I shot 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:16.960 the brick. Yeah, well that's on him though, Yeah, yeah, 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:21.600 well no, I mean, you know, but I so appreciate him. 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:24.719 It was funny like Chuck was not a last minute 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:27.080 booking by any extension, but kind of a last minute 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:29.640 agreement while we were in LA and he had a 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.480 very busy day and he was very generous with his time. 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:35.839 And I think, much like Questlove and Open Mike Eagle, 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:38.520 I think a Mer and Chuck D will be a 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:43.240 series of conversations, right because the conversation really goes from 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:48.279 like nineteen childhood memories up until about nineteen eighty eight 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:50.560 eighty nine. And I'm okay with that. I'm ready for 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:53.440 another hour. You know, great, what stood out to you 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:54.000 with this one? 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:56.880 You know what really stood out to me. First was 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:00.520 him talking about the sample for Public Enemy number one, 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:04.360 and Emir asked him why that song, why that James 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:07.080 Brown song and nobody else really used And when he 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:11.680 told that story of the roller rink and how like 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:16.080 that was the song that was the signal for all 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:18.640 of the real skaters to get out there and cut 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:21.640 it up. And it's like, damn, you can hear that, 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.039 and I just like, that's the sort of things that 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:30.720 fascinate me. It's like the real life reasons that people make, 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:32.800 the choices that you hear on records that you would 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:35.600 never understand, you would never know, you would like it's 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:38.360 because the song's not about roller skating. You don't talk 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:42.200 about that in the song, but it's such a great song, 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.760 and you never would have known that it was this real, 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:50.440 visceral memory that he wanted to invoke. Yep, that is 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:52.200 the reason this song sounds like this. 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:53.599 You know, I agree with you, and I think of 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:55.719 that in life a lot, just the butterfly effect of 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:57.919 small decisions. But I didn't, you know, I grew up 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:00.480 there were still roller rinks in my neighborhoo and stuff 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:03.680 like that. I I can't skate to save my life. 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:06.719 But the idea of the roller rink is a place 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:11.240 to hang out and meet folks, and like that's so 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:14.360 that that's a little antiquated to me. But to hear 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:17.960 Chuck talk about that in here one record, then the 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:21.720 blow your Head joint, you know changed, I will I 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:24.320 knew I knew Public Enemy number one before I knew 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:25.880 the Fred wes Lee James Brown joint. 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:27.080 So it's same. 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:29.800 Yeah, And I figured, like the the the founders of 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:33.040 hip hop and how one creative records, you know, one 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:38.960 choice from one DJ ultimately shapes livelihoods, legacies, incomes all 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.760 of the things. You know, It's just crazy. So it's 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:44.840 also interesting. He mentioned roller skating again in that conversation. 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:49.240 I've never seen this, but correct me if you understood 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:52.640 it differently, But he alluded to performing in roller skates, 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:53.720 like being He. 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:56.440 Did say he could do a couple of his songs 0:07:56.440 --> 0:07:59.360 on roller skates. Yeah, that was he said. There really 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:02.400 smooth to what I'm like, Wait a minute, nothing. 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.040 About that, Like twenty twenty six sounds a special, but 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:07.120 it sounds cool if Chucky's doing it. Have you had 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:10.880 many Chuck or Pe show going experiences, So. 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:15.200 I've never seen a Public Enemy show. But I did 0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:17.800 have quite the chuck the experience. And if I ever 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:19.680 get a chance to talk to him, gonna ask him 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:23.680 if he remembers this day because I went to College's 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:27.680 Southern Illinois University and he was brought up. 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:30.000 Is that an Urbana Champlain. 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:32.240 No, this is a Carbondale, Illinois, so comarad south of. 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:34.800 I've been there too. I always confuse my schools, but 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:35.400 go ahead. 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:40.240 Yeah, yeah, yeah, they're easily confusable. But he was brought 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:44.720 in to give a speech and the large Ornate Central 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:48.960 School auditorium where you know where if they had a 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:51.439 ballet company come or they had a theater company come, 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:54.240 they do it in this big Ornate must have been 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:59.400 two thousand seat auditorium. And he's about to give his 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:04.000 speech and the tornado sirens start going off. And this 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:06.520 is the Midwest, this is southern Illinois. It's very flat, 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:09.640 and you know tornado watches and tornado warnings or things 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:14.200 that happen, but this was a serious one. And it's 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:16.640 not the sort of thing. When you're in a tornado warning, 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:20.000 you can't just like send people home, right, you have 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:25.280 to go to shelter. And so I don't and So 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:29.640 the part that I don't quite remember correctly is how 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:32.120 this would have worked with the laws of physics. But 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:39.960 everyone who was there was put in the basement, Chuck included. 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:42.760 And so we go from this big ornate theater with 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:46.559 you know, gilded ceilings and all of that. So now 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:51.280 we're all in a basement where the ceiling is about 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:54.920 you know, a shade over six feet high, and Chuck 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:57.400 d is down there with all of us, in the 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:00.320 middle of this tornado warning, and he just starts doing 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:03.120 the rest of his speech right there in the basement 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:06.040 and did a Q and A with us right there 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:09.120 in the basement. Wow, And it was just it was 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:12.679 just one of the most amazing moments I've ever had, 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:18.400 and really watching somebody adapt deal with the situation, not sweat, 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:22.040 not trip out, just roll with it. Now we're in 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.960 the basement. So now the talk continues, and I'm just 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:27.839 standing there, riveted the whole time. I can't remember word 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:31.800 he said, but I do remember him giving this speech 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:34.200 in this basement because we had a tornado warning. 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:48.080 Was he there to speak about hip hop? Was it 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:51.880 about you know, other issues? Or do you remember that 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:52.319 part or not? 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:55.000 I do think it was it was something to do 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:57.520 with hip hop. I think a lot of times stuff 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:02.000 on our campus was about, you know, how we turn 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:06.839 things around into black community sort of sort of sort 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:11.040 of talking points, you know, save people from falling into 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:14.800 street violence and then those types of issues. I believe 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:17.320 that's what it was about, but I honestly don't remember. 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:19.880 He would have to remember that. I imagine that when. 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:22.559 About so but I can imagine, like that's the thing. 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:24.440 He was so cool about it. It was one of 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:27.640 the things that made you think, like, how many wild 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:31.120 days does this man had just wild days to where 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:33.679 this is nothing to him? You know. 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:36.520 Think he made a comment to Amir in the interview, 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:38.680 or maybe it was the moments before we started rolling 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:41.920 where he said, I'm so glad you're around because people 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:43.920 don't have to come to me to be the talking 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:47.160 head for every documentary everymore, Like you know, whether it's 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:51.040 about hip hop or black entertainment culture or whatever. It 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:53.880 is amazing to me that Chuck could sit for a 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:56.840 whole hour and he's not somebody who repeats himself. He 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:59.480 spoke about writing as he drove. I knew he was 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:02.320 a messenger like that part always heard, but I never 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:06.240 had clarification whether he was you know, like a bike messenger, 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:08.880 like I never knew how to picture it, or it 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:11.720 sounds like he delivered photographs two different you know, he 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:14.199 was kind of a courier but by car. But the 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:18.080 idea of him writing some of his most classic material 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:21.439 while driving at night was dope. 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:26.840 I love that psychotic. That's just pure psychosis. You were 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:29.720 trying to tell people rappers are insane. Even even the 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:32.640 most lucid of us, You could tell we always got 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:36.040 a little screw loose somewhere. And I feel like that's 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:38.080 like the way he talked about that is like a 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:41.360 perfectly legal and safe activity. 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:45.559 Yeah, was amazing that. And then there's this moment too 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:47.600 and this Amir looked at me and we just started 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:50.400 laughing because and this is so cool to me too. 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:54.240 Of like you hear about the cobbled together resources that 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:57.400 you know brings hip hop. I got a turntable, you 0:12:57.440 --> 0:12:59.880 got a turntable bringing them together. They got a mixer. 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:02.840 But Chuck was saying, you know, with the bomb Squad, 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:05.800 and I feel like, you know, people often think of 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:07.920 just the production. They think, oh, you know, Hank and 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:11.679 Keith Shockley and Eric Vietnam Sadler, but like Chuck was 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:14.520 very integral to that production, and he down like you 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:17.720 don't hear him asserting his own credit, but he was 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:22.240 describing how, you know, in Roosevelt, Long Island, I think 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:24.280 it was Roosevelt, they had this like they put all 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:27.760 their records together in one place, and they like created 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:30.760 a dewey decimal system of where each record could be, 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:34.480 you know, not alphabetical, not like the jazz is over here, 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:38.080 the funk is over here, but that way you could 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:40.640 look at a book. And Chuck was priding himself on 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:43.800 his penmanship. I just love that, Like that is that 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:46.920 is elder leadership right there. He was like you could 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:49.520 look and go, okay, cool in the gang this album 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:52.680 show five, you know, like you know, like you're in 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:54.480 a big box store. And I just thought that is 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:58.480 such a great image when they're making, you know, the 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:01.600 second and third Pe album of just those layered samples 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:03.319 and all that they did to make it sound the 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:03.840 way it did. 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:07.880 You know, you remind me too, how often it is 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:12.319 when you really go back and look, how often our 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:16.079 rap legends were involved in the production in ways that 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:20.600 we would never really understand as listeners because that weren't 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:22.360 the way. That wasn't the way things were talked about. 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:27.560 I think about Daylight Soul's involvement and a lot of 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:31.400 their records, like the like Pass and Day of themselves 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:33.760 bringing in samples or having the goal of Okay, I 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:35.280 want to I want to flip this, I want us 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:38.280 to use this, or making the beats themselves at home 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:41.160 and bringing them into the studio, and a similar thing 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:44.520 with like Organized Confusion. How you know, Paul C was 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:48.680 with them early on, but through their next couple of albums, 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:51.120 most of them were you know, it was it's Prince 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:55.080 Paul and Farrell themselves making the beats. It's always interesting 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:58.160 to me to sort of wrap my head around how 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:01.160 involved a lot of these rappers were in the production 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:03.520 in ways that you know, we didn't know. 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:06.360 Yeah, it's it's interesting too. Like I always look at 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:10.000 Organized as the last disciple of Paul C. But to 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:12.720 my knowledge, and I could be mistaken, I don't think 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:15.080 that there's a released credit of like A Paul And 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.640 I know Paul was both an engineer who doubled as 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:20.400 a producer, but I don't know that on the first 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:23.280 self titled album, there's a policy credit. 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:26.120 Yeah, you know what, I don't actually don't remember those credits. 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:27.520 And I feel like, if you had to ask me 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:29.760 to place a bet, I'd say, yes, he's got a 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:32.000 credit on there. But that's only because that's what I think. 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:34.520 Like, I actually don't know one of those. You know, 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:36.960 there was another thing and you and I talked about 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:39.720 this before we got on. But like the reason why 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:42.240 I still love the interview even though that, you know, 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:45.480 I get to produce one of the best music podcast 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:49.200 period is you'd get these accounts of things that aren't 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:52.920 there anymore, right, And I'm always like my wife, I 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:54.880 annoy the hell out of her because we'll walk around 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:57.040 Philadelphia and I've only been here twenty five years, but 0:15:57.080 --> 0:16:01.480 I'll talk about what was here before this new building 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:04.160 is here. And I really I like that, and I've 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:07.160 always wanted hip hop to have more of that, you know, 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:09.400 I'm always fascinated. Like just yesterday, I was in New 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:11.560 York and I was on thirty seventh Street and I'm like, man, 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:14.400 I remember being in D and D Studios and it's 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.160 a lost now and I wish I had taken a photo. 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:18.840 Like I know they're online, but I wish I had 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:19.520 taken a photo. 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:20.080 I feel you. 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:24.800 And Chuck was speaking about old venues and he said 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:27.760 something in passing of it's not there anymore. It's not 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.640 there anymore. And I just wanted you know, in your 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:34.920 journey and in your creative career, but also your fanhood 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:37.960 of all of this, like, are there certain venues that 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:40.320 you miss, you long for I wish you could have 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:42.360 been in. I know that's probably an obvious question. 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:45.080 So most of my performance history has been while I've 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.960 been living in LA So you know, one might think 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:51.400 that I would miss places in Chicago. I saw shows 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:54.120 in Chicago, but I never really performed there at the 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:57.440 beginning of my career. So like the knit In Factory 0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:00.480 that was here in La, Like, it wasn't a great place. 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:04.080 It wasn't like it it was in Hollywood in like 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:07.199 a shopping center, like the same block is like the 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:09.720 Chinese Theater, so it was hard to get to and 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:11.919 hard to park and all of that. But I just 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:17.679 remember seeing some amazing shows there when I first moved here, like, 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:19.760 and I didn't have much to do, I didn't know 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.639 that many people, so like that was often a place 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:26.159 I would end up at I saw like jasone player, 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:28.920 like slick rick player somebody, you know what I'm saying, 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:30.600 and it'd be like, oh, this is this is so 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:33.000 dope to be able to see this. And that's that's 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:36.480 gone now. My favorite venue in the world, my favorite 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:40.520 venue to perform at, was this place in Portland, Oregon 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:44.080 called the Doug Fur Lounge. And there's a place that 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:47.919 was like connected to a hotel, but it was like 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:51.399 under the ground, so you wouldn't even have any idea 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:53.480 that there was like a big venue here, but they 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:55.199 it was under the ground, but it was huge. It 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:57.760 was like three hundred cap room that you walked downstairs 0:17:57.800 --> 0:18:03.440 into and it was decorated like like a log cabin 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:06.880 almost like there was like these wood logs that were 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:10.119 on the sides of the walls. And not only did 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:12.280 that add an aesthetic, it was really dope for making 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:14.800 the room sound good too, the way that it's soaked 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:18.320 up the sound. And it was just my favorite favorite 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:23.560 venue in the world. And it's gone now. But that's 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:27.000 that's what happens. Especially in the pandemic. We lost so 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:30.040 many of the rooms that are the size that I 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:32.680 like to play that you know, I like a three 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:35.560 hundred to five hundred cap room that either shut down 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:39.240 because they couldn't have shows anymore, or Live Nation swooped 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:41.639 in and bought up plenty of them. So they're different 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:43.080 now even when you do get the chance to go 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:43.960 back and perform there. 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:47.080 And I only kind of put that together on the 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:51.000 fan side recently, but I miss some of those those spaces. 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:54.639 I miss places. I notice it because I live in 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:58.719 a part of Philadelphia and I'm often on the street 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:01.760 South Street that is still where there's a couple of clubs, 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:04.480 and you know, I'm regularly walking by. I think where 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:07.160 you perform when you're in town. Milk Boy, yep there, 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:09.439 And I just remember all the different marquis you used 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:11.160 to look at, just like step in and see who's 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:13.760 coming up if you didn't have a city paper, And 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:16.239 a lot of those are gone, and it's it's one 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:18.439 of those things like bars open late that we just 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:19.520 lost with the pandemic. 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:22.040 Man, there was a period. 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:23.800 Of time in two thousand and eight where I was 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:28.280 brought in to possibly do a memoir with Eazymo B 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:30.680 And they were like, yo, you know the woman who 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:33.080 hooked it up, Nikiah Hicks, who I think is very 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:37.879 much part of the Young Dolph pr camp and shout 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:39.679 out to Nikia if she happens to hear this. But 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:41.960 she was like, come up to Times Square and spend 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:45.000 an evening with Ezimo in the studio. And I didn't 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:46.920 think much of it. I mean, like, I respected him, 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:48.359 I'd interviewed him, but I was like, I don't know 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:51.359 if this book is viable because he's not He's not 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:53.320 Chuck d he's not out there speaking all the time. 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:56.760 He's not a front facing exact pop Yeah, you know 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:00.679 exactly and you know heads no, but not everyone does. 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:02.040 But I went to the studio and he had a 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:04.560 bunch of Heinekens and I don't typically drink on the job, 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:06.080 but that was kind of a spec job. So we 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:08.680 had a few beers and it was the first time 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:11.119 in my life somebody showed me not like a tutorial, 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:14.639 but he was triggering samples off the sp twelve hundred, 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:17.199 and it was just fun to watch his delight, Like 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:18.840 he didn't really want to talk to me, which only 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:21.800 spoke to my consternation about the book. But watching this 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:23.920 man's delight, and then at the very end of the night, 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:25.600 you know, I needed to catch my train back to 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:28.239 Philly on my bus, he was like, do you know 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:32.399 what this studio was? And he goes, this is Unique Studios. 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:35.919 This is what he owned it from my understanding, and 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:38.680 he sense it's closed down, but it's where Miles Davis 0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:41.919 recorded his last era of material. And he took me 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:46.360 into a room because Moby produced the last the Doubop album, 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:50.359 the Miles album with wrapping his fundamental on it. And 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:51.600 he took me in the room. He goes, I don't 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:53.639